By 1990, 25.8 million families had their money in mutuals. Until this year, half of mutual investors had little experience with a stock market that goes in two directions. The fear is that new investors who rushed in to an ever-rising market will rush out again if the market doesn't bounce back quickly. Thursday, it bounced. On the anniversary of 1987's 508-point crash, the market zoomed back up.
Happy days are here again.
I predict the kangaroo will be back this week, but where it all ends up, I don't know. Optimism is an American virtue, and it's especially strong here in Silicon Valley. I miss them. Both George W. Bush and Al Gore are cock-eyed optimists, counting on huge surpluses in the future no matter how much they spend in the present. They're promising to create huge new entitlements, boost spending on the military and education, cut taxes and pay down the debt.