Frum On Galbraith's "the Great Crash"

Just added a post on John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash to the Bookshelf feature. It opens:

In the quarter century from 1983 though 2008, Americans witnessed three stock market crashes: 1987, 1990 and 2000.

The first of those crashes represented the sharpest one-day drop in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Comparisons to 1929 obviously suggested themselves. But when no recession materialized – and the market quickly reversed itself – the investors of the 1980s took a very different lesson from their grandparents: a crash is a time to buy.

In 1990 and 2000, stock market declines were followed by recessions, but mild and brief recessions. Again the markets recovered in impressively short order – and again the 1929 comparison receded into historical remoteness.

But now, Depression economics again demands attention.