Back to the Future?

I want to read you some headlines:

"Business Leaders Hunker Down."

"President Says Underlying Economy Remains Good."

"How Badly Are Republicans Hurt?"

Sound familiar? No, they're not from today. They're from sixteen years ago...today. October 20, 1987 -- the day after the big crash.

The Dow had lost nearly a quarter of its value the day before -- a staggering 508 points. That would be like the Dow collapsing more than 2,000 points today, in one day.

Naysayers were everywhere. Doom and gloom was rampant. No less than the New York Times trumpeted on its front page, "Does 1987 equal 1929?"

So pervasive were the dim views of the world that a lot of publications talked up the financial end of the world.

A leading financial magazine discussed a market rout that would last years. It lasted only days.

Another weekly said Republicans were doomed in 1988. George Bush, Sr. went on to win in a romp in 1988.

Still another predicted a global market tumult that would take decades to unravel. Try weeks.

I found it interesting that when then President Reagan (search) was questioned about the collapse, he blithely remarked... markets go up, markets go down. The country goes on. He was right then. He'd be right now.

We tend to focus a lot on doom and gloom in this country. It sells newspapers and gets ratings. But that doesn't mean it gets to the heart of the issue.

People who dove into the market then, would be richly rewarded now. Even allowing for the Dow's hiccups many, many times since, it's trading nearly 8,000 points, or more than five-times higher than it was then.

Through recessions, sex scandals, bubbles, high interest rates and low interest rates, it has moved on, because we as a country, move on. Heads up. Hearts up. And a lot of us fed up with people who'd knock us down, when we know historically we can only go up.

The crapehangers were wrong then. I suspect they're wrong now. But I'm biased. I believe more in the people who read those headlines and move on, than the folks who write those headlines and carry on.

Watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World with Cavuto.