Living through collapsing financial markets, and having heard the continual claims that this is the end of the tunnel, bottom of the barrel, darkest-hour-just-before-the dawn, can be an interesting experience, if only because of the historical perspective one can get.

The president is thinking historically, for instance:

“I know Americans are concerned about the adjustments that are taking place in our financial markets,” Mr. Bush said at a ceremony to welcome the president of Ghana.

He added: “In the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful — both for the people concerned about their investments, and for the employees of the affected firms. In the long run, I’m confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient, and can deal with these adjustments.”"


The only question is--which long run are we talking about? In the long run between 1928-1940, to pick but one example, there was that significant short run of 1929-1939.

The acute financial pain this is going to bring to all of us is a tad less interesting that the notion that things to get resolved over time. The Washington Post has an interesting figure: "About $700 billion in shareholder value disappeared in a single day of trading"

If one major impact of 9-11, the largest terrorist attack on the U.S. in the heart of the financial center of the country, was the deepened collapse of the stock market, how are we to explain the causes for this crisis going on now? Somebody page a historian.

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