Wall St. crash cont'd

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10 11 12 1 2 3 410 11 12 1 2 3 410 11 12 1 3 410 11 12 1 2 3 410 11 12 1 2 3 Friday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 8 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1987 2400 2300 -2200 -21002000~ 190018001/00 Eastern daylight time (continued from page 1: “Stock market crash: Workers will pay”) and confident stock market "analysts"hustlers, whose real purpose is largely to encourage investment—stumbled their way through with choked-up throats. Unable to hide their shock and dismay, they unconvincingly "assured" viewers that the collapse was "only a temporary correction. "After all," they stuttered, as they vainly tried to be convincing, "the economy is in good condition.

President Ronald Reagan issued a similar assessment, asserting that consultations with investment leaders "confirm our view Dow closos at 1950.43 392 milllon shares traded that the underlying economy remains sound." The White House statement added: "We are in the longest peacetime expansion in history. Employment is at the highest level ever. Manufacturing output is up."

But when the market plunged in 1929, President Herbert Hoover issued a statement eerily similar to Reagan's: "The fundamental business of the country, that is, production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.

Small fish are big The fateful day's events by went well into the night. Most of the financial wizards interviewed were unable to say what this means for the American people as a whole, and refused to answer the question all interviewers inevitably posed: "What should the small investor do now?

The best they could come up with was: "If you are not compelled to sell, to pay off [speculative] debts, just stand pat—the market is certain to rebound." But there's the rub. Many of those who bought on margin were wiped out.

The long-term booming stock market had encouraged many, mostly smaller, investors to throw caution to the winds to reap bigger harvests from what appeared to be an unending rise in stock prices. Many of those that borrowed heavily to buy greater quantities of stocks than they could otherwise afford were unable to come up with more collateral to back up drastically devalued stocks, and were ruined.

This time mainly the small fish were caught on the bull market-hook, baited with the promise of quick riches. Some risked everything to gamble on a rising stock market, and lost.

This will have the effect of massively cooling off the economy. Capitalists will hedge investing, unemployment will grow, and many people will postpone major purchases. This will aggravate the already dangerously glutted world capitalist economy.

In their own way, the big investors, the banks, and the U.S. Treasury itself, are also caught in the vortex of an expanded world economy built on sand. And while no one can foreclose on Uncle Sam, he will, nevertheless, have to pay up. In the final

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