The Church of Chicken Little

by Chet

This is a graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday October 10, 2008. There were a lot of very nice peaks, but there were also very, very many more valleys. I love the valleys within the valleys. I’m just a meek PR major, what do I know about economics and/or the stock market. Ladies and Gentlemen I know that when the markets are down, you do not sell. I don’t know who started this wonderful trend of panicking when someone yells, “the sky is falling!” It has the same resounding effect as, and I’m stealing this directly from Dr. Chris White, yelling “FIRE!” in a crowded theatre. Everyone jumps up drops their belongings and runs away crying.

This sheep-like mentality is killing me. I don’t usually watch the markets, but after the whopping 700+ point drop last week, I haven’t been able to stop watching. There are a lot of people that have lost a lot of money in the recent market flops, but I am having trouble sympathizing with some individuals that are selling out, because they think it’s the smarter thing to do. This is what happens when you allow people who don’t know even the basics of supply and demand to invest in the markets. People sell when the prices start falling because they seem to not understand that Warren Buffet is going to come in behind them and buy their newly dropped stock, and the prices will rise again. If no one wants it, then the prices are low. Thusly is everyone sells their shares, the prices drop. It’s a very simple concept. Honestly if I wasn’t living the life of an undergrad, I’d be investing. There are quite a few nice deals out there currently among the floundering prices, Ford Motors is down to $2.00 a share of Christ’s sake.

Maybe I’m too young and naïve to understand what’s going wrong. I feel reassured by the people I’ve discussed this with that I’m not an idiot, but the sellers are. I hope life works out for everyone.