Barkley Rosser wrote, > The US stock market peaked on July 17 and has been >sliding since basically. The Fed's cut was supposed to >prop it up. It doesn't look like it's working. Indeed, it >is October, the historical month of great crashes, and >panic finally seems to be seriously setting in. Hold your >hats, folks. This is true enough. But it also has to be remembered that the increased likelihood of a great crash is only a statistical probability. The G-7 bankers and ministers could well come up with a contingency plan solely to avert an OCTOBER crash just so that they can declare "victory" on November 1. By my reckoning, the great crash could happen at any time in the next three or four years or not at all. As bad as things are, the odds are probably about 20 to 1 against it happening THIS month. Relatively speaking, those odds are pretty scary. But they suggest that there's still wiggle room for the capos. My gut feeling is that, despite whatever the historical pattern of crashes has been, this thing will play itself out differently -- not with a bang but a suffocating whimper. This would be in keeping with my view that the system we're talking about is not _really_ capitalism but a kind of a state centralized _simulation_ of capitalism. Like Disneyland's Main Street, it's been designed to look more 'authentic' than the real thing (until you go back stage where they do the security and accounting). Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/