08 January 2012

A January 1988 Flashback

Back in January 1988, a presidential task force headed by Nicholas Brady announced its conclusions about the stock market crash of the previous October. The Brady Commission blamed automated computer trading.

The report seems almost quaint at a distance of 24 years as does the trading technology then on the cutting edge.
But it was part of Brady's own journey. He became Treasury Secretary before the year was out.  The elder Bush, who of course became President about a year after publication of this report, kept him on in that job, and he stayed until 1993, in the process helping defuse the great sovereign-debt crisis of his day with the creation of "Brady Bonds."

Okay, this was a random trip down memory lane.  Now return to your regularly scheduled activities.

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Knowledge is warranted belief -- it is the body of belief that we build up because, while living in this world, we've developed good reasons for believing it. What we know, then, is what works -- and it is, necessarily, what has worked for us, each of us individually, as a first approximation. For my other blog, on the struggles for control in the corporate suites, see www.proxypartisans.blogspot.com.