During this week in 1929, the stock market in New York experienced events that led to its crash and began the Great Depression that became worldwide. It took a world war, more than ten years later, to boost the world out of that Depression. There were bear markets and downturns that occurred after the war, but nothing that equated with the 1930s. A big scare came in 1987 when, on one day, the market went down more than 500 points, and the nation was momentarily traumatized. A few days before the crash of ‘87 a paper reported on the front page that the Dow had hit a record 2,680.48 with the largest two day point gain in history, 88.48 points. The article (11/12/87) quoted one analyst as saying that there must be a blow-off sometime, but the article closed with another analyst saying that he was betting on continued good earnings, well into 1988. He was only hours away from the worst day on Wall Street since the start of the Great Depression. (Downturns during 2000-2012 were more severe than those of ‘87. As I edit this several years after I wrote it, the Dow has moved up and down in dramatic daily volatility – a troubling matter.)
A few months earlier, in 1987, I invested about one million dollars of the money of the college I served in the stock market. It was my purpose to leave the portfolio in the hands of my successor in good shape. I retired from my office effective June 30, 1987. On this day in late October, ‘87, while I remained in California fulfilling my schedule before joining my wife in our retirement home, the market shrank by about 20%. Hold, don’t sell, was my advice. Our broker, a Christian, recommended the same patience. Our people were uncomfortable, but no one panicked. Within months markets recovered and went on for dramatic growth over the years following – until fluctuation began in late 2000 which extended to the time when I initiated this Page. The college greatly benefited by the unbelievable growth of the 90s. The market went over 11,000, but retreated to around 8,000 in 2003. In 2007 it went over 14,000. In 2008, it fell again at less than 8,000. At this edit in 2015 the Market is near 18,000. But, markets have been friendly to Christian purpose, when the biblical pattern for wealth management was practiced.
There are two large market groups – the investors (to advance business enterprise) and the speculators (to accumulate wealth, principally for the speculator). The speculators are basically gamblers, giving the markets mixed reputation. Many seem to be taken with greed. Some deny it. They take gambles in the hope that the right cards will turn up – at least on enough occasions to assure high reward for risk. The investors, however, believe in what they do. They believe in the companies they serve in what those companies do, and mean to do. The products serve mankind – build homes, provide life necessities, fund research, plan for retirement, and improve society. The market is a major organ of a free social body. It deserves support, and we are rightly offended at its misuses, especially those that can be catastrophic. Such is the situation with any worthwhile thing. Autos, that serve us well, are used by good and bad persons to kill about 100 persons each day in our country. Medical science is distorted by persons who enrich themselves on human suffering. Even the church has charlatans who manage sacred matters for their own purposes. Anything can be distorted to offer evidence of mankind’s depravity. Like Moses’ serpent, that which curses is made like that which blesses. Scripture makes clear that we choose the factors of our lives, and reap consequences. It is common for us to find fault with an institution when persons related to it violate ideals. It is helpful to society to remain aware that some persons sully good institutions. They can make good things ugly. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020