In 1989, just before the nation's most recent recession, about 31 percent of American families had stock holdings. That number is now estimated at more than 50 percent. Once a negative wave gets going, it can build on itself quickly. And the leader right now seems to be the president of the United States, which is quite disquieting. It's perhaps not surprising.
Nothing can make someone a one-term president quicker than a recession.
Others believe the current recession talk can't really push the economy into a trough - but might leave a dent. Richard Curtin, who oversees the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and its consumer confidence survey, says the effect of the news media tends to be overemphasized. We have declined faster than we normally would have. True, the economy has slowed in the past few months. Economic growth went from 5.6 percent in the second quarter of last year to 1.1 in the final quarter.