Thursday, October 24, 2019

Today in History - October 24

1929 - "Black Thursday" on the New York Stock Exchange (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

The Great Depression of 2008, by Pastor Kevin Swanson (2008)
Two Crashes Updated: 1929 and 1987, and Another One Coming? by Professor Tom Rose (2004)

The following quotes are from the book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine:

“Being short in 2007 and making money from it was fun. because we were short bad guys. In 2008 it was the entire financial system that was at risk. We were still short, but you don’t want the system to crash. Its sort of like the flood’s about to happen, and you’re Noah. You’re on the ark, ya, you’re okay, but you’re not happy looking out at the flood. That’s not a happy moment for Noah.”

Second quote:

“In early October 2008 after the U.S. government had stepped in to say it would...absorb all the losses in the financial system and prevent any big Wall Street firm from failing.”

Third quote:

“Maybe the best definition of investing is gambling with the odds in your favor. The people on the short side of the subprime mortgage market had gambled with the odds in their favor. The people on the other side – the entire financial system, essentially – had gambled with the odds against them. What’s strange and complicated about it is that pretty much all the important people on both sides left the table rich.”

And the last quote:

“The world’s most highly paid financiers had been totally discredited; without government intervention, every single one of them would have lost his job. And yet those same financiers were using the government to enrich themselves. I can understand why Goldman Sachs would want to be included in the conversation about what to do about Wall Street. What I can’t understand is why anyone would listen to them”
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If you have not seen The Big Short, watch the following trailer before you decide to watch it:

The Big Short Trailer (2015)

1964 - Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes Zambia (Source)

Recommended sermons and podcasts:

Armistice 100: Remembrance Day and Rhodesia, by Dr. Peter Hammond

How I Found Christ?

 How I Found Christ? by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)