Hoovervilles Would Have Been Painted In Miami Vice Pastels

TigerHawk catches a detail that I missed–today’s date in which the Dow cracked 12,000 is also the anniversary of its crash in 1987:

As the Dow today closes at a new record high of 12,011+, I can’t help but recall October 19, 1987, a very tough day in the market. It was a very big crash [508 points, or 22.6 percent of its value–Ed], with the market closing in the mid 1700s. Imagine that folks. I remember it all too well.

Me too. Given who occupied the White House at the time, the press was all-too-eager to portray that temporary correction as the onset of The New Depression. Obviously, it didn’t quite happen, but then, the media has always demonstrated an enormous flexibility in how they report the economy based on who would get the credit for its success or failure.