Article November 30, 1987 Issue

Staying calm in economic crises

The Christian Science Monitor

I watched in amazement as our modest investment for the future descended in value to an all-time low. Whether we're investors or not, the plunges on the stock market, and their effect on business generally, demand our attention.

Financial analysts give us the economic causes. Some of them are a weak dollar, rising interest rates, the federal budget deficit, the trade imbalance. However, behind the spectacular drop in stock prices that affected markets from Asia to America lies another culprit: fear.

Many market observers have said that there have been two motives on Wall Street, fear and greed, and that suddenly fear became stronger than greed. It seems in this instance that panic pushed reason into the background.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Welcome the Xanthippes