By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – No better way to say it, this was not the year we expected. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
We dealt with threats and warranted fears concerning our security, and the economy was as big a disappointment. At the beginning of the year, we believed that if we talked optimistically and thought optimistically, it would inevitably come to fruition.
It was a year ago that the stock market had seen its second down year in a row. Surely there would have to be a rebound in 2002? I mean, just look how it bounced back after September 11th. And the rest of the economy would do the same. We accepted the fact that we were in recession, but last January, we were on the road to recovery. Would it be the first quarter, at worse the second, and then there were the naysayers who actually had the nerve to predict it wouldn't happen until the third quarter. Some economists brushed the high unemployment figures under the rug; employment is always the last to recuperate in a recovery. Alan Greenspan tried to warn us that matters were worse than we thought. A week later, the clouds disappeared and his comments must have been "misinterpreted."
And would Enron be the one and only scandal to mar the business landscape? Not by a long shot. "The year of the scandal" is how 2002 is now being labeled. And as the third down year in the market comes to a close, even my zeal to put these crooks behind bars has abated. "It was the scandals that brought the stock market down. It was the scandals that made the small investor leave the market." Maybe, but probably not. Stock prices were inflated they fell. And if I had lost my all my retirement savings, I might be a little gun-shy to reenter the market, too. The man who won that amazing bulk of money in last week's lottery was asked, as a successful businessman, what stocks did he invest in? He answered, "I don't PLAY the market." I hadn't heard the term "play" in a long time.
So as we say goodbye to 2002, may we also say adios to unemployment, unscrupulous executives and talks of war, because without peace nothing else matters.
For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro wishing you a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.