Have We Forgotten Our History?

Well, here's one thing I do fear: our memory or lack of it.

I fear a country that has forgotten history. Its own history.

I fear a nation that bemoans 6 percent mortgages and doesn't recall when they were 18 percent.

I fear folks who got used to home prices going up double digits each year and forgetting the historical norm of my parents' time, when 2 or 3 percent was just fine.

I fear people who cite a 5 percent unemployment rate and call it a depression, forgetting the time it was 25 percent and it really was a depression.

I fear that without perspective, we panic.

I'm not saying times aren't tough. I am saying they have been tougher, much tougher.

Yet we have a whole generation bemoaning 2 or 3 percentage point swings in the Dow, failing to recall that single day in 1987 we lost nearly 23 percent in the Dow.

I don't mean to sound old and I don't mean to lecture.

But we have a great history, this country. I just wish more took the time to read it in this country.

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