Beating the bear: lessons from the 1929 crash applied to today's world

225 Pages·2010·1.96 MB·English

by  Harold Bierman

BEATING THE BEAR
Lessons from the 1929 Crash

Applied to Today’s World
Harold Bierman, Jr.

Beating the Bear

BEATING THE BEAR
Lessons from the 1929 Crash

Applied to Today’s World
Harold Bierman, Jr.
Copyright 2010 by Harold Bierman, Jr.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in
a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bierman, Harold.
Beating the bear : lessons from the 1929 crash applied to todayÊs world / Harold
Bierman, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-38214-7 (alk. paper) · ISBN 978-0-313-38215-4 (ebook)
1. Stock Market Crash, 1929. 2. Global Financial Crisis, 2008–2009 3. Bear
markets·History. 4. Investments. I. Title.
HB37171929.B387 2010
330.973'0916·dc22 2010014496
ISBN: 978-0-313-38214-7
EISBN: 978-0-313-38215-4
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
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I still think keeping that memory green a useful service,
if only for the minority so saved.
John Kenneth Galbraith

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1. How High Is High? The Stock Markets in 1929 and 2008 1
2. The Events Prior to the 1929 and 2008 Crashes 9
3. Market Myths in 1929 and 2008–2009 19
4. The FedÊs Role in Good Times and Bad 29
5. Practice for the October Crash: The Week of
March 25, 1929 55
6. The 1929 Market in Depth: The Ups and Downs
of the 1929 Stock Market 63
7. The Great Crash of 2008: The 2008–2009 Market in Depth 77
8. Stopping the Speculators: Margin Buying, Pools, Trusts,
Short Selling, and the 1929 Crash 95
9. The Senate Hearings of 1931 Concerning 1929 109
10. Dispelling the Myths of 1929 115
11. The U.S. Government Accuses . . . 141
12. The Prime Cause of the 1929 Crash: The Public
Utility Sector 153