February 22, 2009 – A question for you. In what year did the following article appear in a
December issue of Time Magazine? (It wasn't 2008!)
“Not for many years has a Christmas season begun with so many tidings of……
….spreading discomfort
and lack of joy about the U.S. economy…the nation is now also plunging deeper
into a recession that seems sure to be the longest and could be the most severe
since World War II. Consumers who a few weeks ago worried mostly about rising
prices now fear for their jobs and incomes as well. For many Americans, the
Yuletide will be a time of less elaborate meals, infrequent parties, fewer and
cheaper presents.
The auto industry
reeled from a new-model sales rate 35.8% below last November's already somewhat
depressed pace. Ford and Chrysler announced massive new layoffs for this month.
Automakers now plan to close at least 14 assembly plants and put as many as
230,000 production workers, clerks, accountants and executives out of work
before Christmas, and about 20% of General Motors' 500,000 U.S. employees will be idle in
January.
But the decline is no
longer confined to autos and home building, which is down 33%… In classic
fashion, the recession has begun to work its way through the entire economy…
The grim mood is
evident in the talk of business and Government leaders.”
(The
date was December 9th…1974. The bull market began three weeks later, rising
37% in 1975 and 23.8% in 1976.)
Thanks to Daryn Form CFP of Assante Capital
Management Ltd.
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