The rate cut may have been the right thing to do, but there's no free lunch. The U.S. dollar is getting clobbered today. So the rate cut may have saved us some dollars, but each of the dollars that we continue to own is worth less. These are challenging times for the good guys -- the responsible investors, regulators, and (if there are any) politicians who are trying to do the right thing.
I realize that many Let's Runners were still soiling their diapers back in 1987 but many were hitting the panic alarm back then and then look what happened during the 90's.
It's a correction! The markets were overheated and lenders made bad decisions for greedy purposes. The Fed will step in, Congress and the White House will craft a stimulus package, the media will overhype the potential negative implications of it all and we'll all have a good laugh in a few years when the economy is growing again.
I also seem to remember that 9/11 and its effect on the markets was going to cause the end of Western civilization and look what happened to the markets up until recently.
I'm not sure if your comments were directed to me.
The October '87 drop, the post-9/11 drop, and the current situation are all very different matters.
The October '87 gave me very little concern. Overvaluation and interest rate changes sparked a sell-off, and rather easily correctible technical problems (along with some panic selling) exacerbated the sell-off. I was very comfortable putting most of my money into the U.S. stock market shortly thereafter.
9/11 gave me slightly more concern from an investment perspective, but I was still comfortable enough with the U.S. stock market to add a substantial amount to my U.S. stock holdings as soon as the markets reopened.
This latest drop in stock prices also gives me little concern. I do, however, have serious concerns with the federal government's fiscal and monetary practices. Those concerns have not abated in recent weeks.
No direction at you. But the federal government is wasting money like no one's business and belt tightening time is coming.
Australia, Korea and Japan taking off!
http://www.allstocks.com/markets/World_Charts/Asian_Stock_Markets/asian_stock_markets.html