Though I keep wondering if the ‘invest consistently whether the market goes up or down’ defeats the point of a stock market in the first place.

People effectively keep throwing money at mediocre or failing endeavours, which magnifies any structural problem, and everything seems to keep going up whether it’s good news or bad news, until the bottom falls out.

My reading might be wrong, but since 2020 there is no bad news that seems to faze the market by an iota.

Well, that is what markets do: behave. Rationally or not.

The 1929 panic was also irrational but it happened. There is no way to solve that.

Panics happen and bubbles too, and in the meantime, very long term investments tend to grow (in average), as long as the economy works as expected (improving in average, long-term).

Of course, catastrophes are not impossible (the Black Death, the French Revolution, World Wars...).

Always bet on black at the roulette table, over and over and over again.