October: The Month Of Market Crashes?

In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday, October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell exactly 508 points to 1,738.74 (22.61%). In Australia and New Zealand, the 1987 crash is also referred to as “Black Tuesday” because of the time zone difference.

The terms Black Monday and Black Tuesday are also respectively applied to October 28 and October 29, 1929, which occurred after Black Thursday on October 24, which started the Stock Market Crash of 1929.The events that have given October a bad name span 80 years.

They are:

• The Panic of 1907 (October 1907)
  A financial panic threatened to engulf Wall Street, mostly owing to threats of legislative action against trusts and shrinking credit. There were multiple bank  runs and heavy panic selling at the stock exchange. All that stood between the U.S. and a serious crash was a J.P. Morgan led consortium that did the work of the Fed before the Fed existed.
  
• Black Tuesday, Thursday and Monday (October 1929)
  The Crash of 1929 was bloodletting on an unprecedented scale because so many more people were involved in the market. It left several “black” days in the history books, each with their own record breaking slides.
• Black Monday (October 1987)
  Nothing says Monday like a financial meltdown. In 1987, automatic stop-loss orders and financial contagion gave the market a thorough throttling as a domino effect echoed across the world. The Fed and other central banks intervened and the Dow recovered from the 22% drop quite rapidly.

The S&P 500 has risen from 2083.79 to 2559.47 in the past 12 months. That is a 22.83% increase. It may feel good but fast rises can also result in fast declines. Historically a significant recession has occurred about every ten years during the past 100 years. While there have been declines since the Great Recession (Dec 2007 – June 2009) none have resulted in a major impact on the economy. I suspect we are due to have another decline in the near future. My thought that could be within the next year or two.

Are you ready?

Advertisements

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein ended months of speculation Monday when she said she was running for re-election in 2018. “I’m all in!” she tweeted and wrote in a Facebook post. At age 84, is Feinstein too old to run again? (If she won, her term would extend past her 91st birthday.)

My question is why should she be denied another term in office because of her age? I have seen her on many Sunday morning news shows and she is obviously able to hold her own against those that question her on the topic of the day. Her big issue is gun control and her responses to Chuck Todd on Meet the Press and Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday are always very well spoken.

Robert Byrd was the longest-serving Senator in United States history. In addition, he was, at the time of his death, the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress. That record was later surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan. Byrd died at 92 still holding the office of senator from West Virginia.

Age should not be a criteria for holding public office. Donald Trump is now 71. If he holds office for eight years he will be 79 when he departs Washington. Ronald Reagan was 69 when he was inaugurated.

59 people were killed by a madman who fired indiscriminately into a crowd all drawn together only by a love of country music.

This is not the first mass killing by a madman. It will not be the last. Sandy Hook (26 people killed), Umpqua Community College in Oregon (9 people killed), Virginia Tech (33 killed), Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado (12 people killed), and so many others.

All of this because of America’s love affair with guns.

Gun manufacturers and the NRA feel no guilt. The nonsensical commentaries by gun lovers bring no change to the never-ending treks to cemeteries.

Americas love for guns knows no bounds and no limits.

This is real personal for me. I have a daughter with a very serious gastro intestinal disease.  She has a Blue Cross independent medical plan that currently costs about $5,000 per year.  The deductible is $4,000 annually.  Until that deductible is paid Blue Cross pays about 50% of each doctor’s visit.  The plan DOES NOT cover all medications.  Consequently the medication for her disease IS NOT covered despite a doctors presentation explaining her need for a special medicine that has no generic substitute.  The consequence is that the medication is bought from a Canadian pharmacy at 1/3 the cost in the United States.  The cost of the medication is $250 for a 90 day supply from Canada or a 30 day supply in the USA.

Summary from CNN

Myth 1: It’s a pathway to citizenship

DACA gives beneficiaries a temporary reprieve from deportation, allowing them to stay lawfully in the country, granting them work permits and allowing them to obtain driver’s licenses. And it stops there.

“This is not amnesty. This is not immunity. This is not a path to citizenship. It’s not a permanent fix,” Obama said when he announced the program five years ago. “This is a temporary stopgap measure.”

Myth 2: They don’t pay taxes

DACA recipients have paid about $2 billion in state and local taxes, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates.  If they work they also pay income tax.

Myth 3: They get Medicaid and Obamacare

Some types of immigrants living in the United States have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, but under DACA, Dreamers are not eligible. DACA grantees cannot get Medicaid, either.

The only way for Dreamers to get health insurance is by receiving it from an employer, being a spouse’s dependent, going to a community clinic or purchasing it on their own outside the exchange, paying the entire premium.

Myth 4: They are going to college for free

It depends. DACA opened the doorway for undocumented immigrants to enroll in college, pay in-state tuition and, in some cases, gain access to financial aid packages.

While DACA students are not eligible for federal financial aid, some states let them pay in-state tuition, and a few offer them state-sponsored aid.

Myth 5: They are stealing jobs from American citizens

There’s actually a shortage of qualified workers in the United States, the Federal Reserve said in a survey of businesses across the country released in July.

Ladies you don’t have to look.  Men of all ages will look.  It is the nature of men.  I have been a fan of Modern Family from its inception because the concept is so damn real in  the 21st century.  Ed O’Neill as Sofia’s husband must love that part.  The program must make lots of older men believe that there is still a chance that they may have a gorgeous young wife.  Unless you are the owner of a very successful business (as Jay Prtichett is in the story), forget it.  It doesn’t hurt to dream!

“Land of the Free – Home of the Brave” we are not quite there.

5 key quotes from Trump’s DACA statement

President Trump just released a lengthy statement following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that the administration would rescind DACA. Here are the key lines:

•”I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws.”

•”This is a gradual process, not a sudden phase out. Permits will not begin to expire for another six months, and will remain active for up to 24 months. Thus, in effect, I am not going to just cut DACA off, but rather provide a window of opportunity for Congress to finally act.”

•”Few in Washington expressed any compassion for the millions of Americans victimized by this unfair system. Before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must also ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, and jobseekers.”

•”We will resolve the DACA issue with heart and compassion – but through the lawful Democratic process – while at the same time ensuring that any immigration reform we adopt provides enduring benefits for the American citizens we were elected to serve.”

•”It is now time for Congress to act!”

Has anyone recently read the words of Emma Lazarus that are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty?

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The year is 2058. America’s greatest foreign relations challenge in the 21st century, North Korea’s desire to obtain a nuclear weaponized ICBM that can reach the United States has been stopped thanks to American and Chinese negotiators. The real threat has become nature. Rising sea levels and a warming climate has resulted in the United States becoming a super advocate for controlling all things that can further harm the environment.

Those that questioned the theory that climate change is real and doubted the effects that will result have largely become silent. They have become as rare as those who claim the world is flat.

Former Vice President Al Gore (deceased in 2036) is remembered as the man who first rang the warning bell about global warming. While his dates and impact were incorrect, his prediction that the world would be experiencing major changes thanks to global warming were correct.

There is now a 6 meter (20 foot) wall at the beach around much of southern Florida. Coastal plains have become part of the sea everywhere that is not protect by a sea wall.

Back in 2017 there were three successive years of Houston, Texas flooding that were called once in 500 years or once in a thousand year events. Even those who grew up there were trying to decide whether it was worth the fight to live in that flood plain. Most people have abandoned that city along with those who have left New Orleans.

Phoenix, Arizona summer temperatures now reach 120 Fahrenheit (49C) or more on the very hottest days. The population has grown because there is now an abundance of water and farming has become a significant industry in that state.

Los Angeles still has a Mediterranean climate along the coast but inland high temperatures now frequently reach 115 Fahrenheit (46C) in the summer. The highest temperature in the San Fernando Valley in 2057 was 120 Fahrenheit and the National Weather Service says more days close to that record are anticipated in the future. The humidity is now more similar to the east coast of the United States.

Solar panels are everywhere. Without them the cost of air conditioning would be too expensive for most families. Even now in 2058 many families have moved into communes to afford living in southern California.

A while ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the Muslim World to boycott anything and everything that originates with the Jewish people.

In response, Meyer M. Treinkman, a Jewish pharmacist, out of the kindness of his heart, offered to assist them in their boycott as follows:

“Any Muslim who has Syphilis must not be cured by Salvarsan discovered by a Jew, Dr. Ehrlich. He should not even try to find out whether he has Syphilis, because the Wasserman Test is the discovery of a Jew. If a Muslim suspects that he has Gonorrhoea, he must not seek diagnosis, because he will be using the method of a Jew named Neissner.

“A Muslim who has heart disease must not use Digitalis, a discovery by a Jew, Ludwig Traube.

Should he suffer with a toothache, he must not use Novocaine, a discovery of the Jews, Widal and Weil.

If a Muslim has Diabetes, he must not use Insulin, the result of research by Minkowsky, a Jew.

If one has a headache, he must shun Pyramidon and Antypyrin, due to the Jews, Spiro and Ellege.

Muslims with convulsions must put up with them because it was a Jew, Oscar Leibreich, who proposed the use of Chloral Hydrate. Arabs must do likewise with their psychic ailments because Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was a Jew.

Should a Muslim child get Diphtheria, he must refrain from the “Schick” reaction which was invented by the Jew, Bella Schick.

“Muslims should be ready to die in great numbers and must not permit treatment of ear and brain damage, work of Nobel Prize winner, Robert Baram.

They should continue to die or remain crippled by Infantile Paralysis because the discoverer of the anti-polio vaccine is a Jew, Jonas Salk.

“Muslims must refuse to use Streptomycin and continue to die of Tuberculosis because a Jew, Zalman Waxman, invented the wonder drug against this killing disease.

Muslim doctors must discard all discoveries and improvements by dermatologist Judas Sehn Benedict, or the lung specialist, Frawnkel, and of many other world renowned Jewish scientists and medical experts.

“In short, good and loyal Muslims properly and fittingly should remain afflicted with Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Heart Disease, Headaches, Typhus, Diabetes, Mental Disorders, Polio, Convulsions and Tuberculosis and be proud to obey the Islamic boycott.”

What medical contributions to the world have the Muslims made?

David Bancroft