The tremors that would eventually destroy this flimsy economic edifice made their first rumblings in September 1929. The stock of some food manufacturers, some retailers, and most tobacco companies was relatively sound, but stock in heavy industry and investment trusts fell precipitously. Her family had bought a farm but were waiting to move on it. After the crash and the ensuing Depression, land values dropped to less than half of what they had been. The raw numbers were ugly as well with $500 billion dollars (the equivalent of $1 trillion today) in market value wiped out in just over six hours.

As you read this article, almost every single stock market in the world is down significantly from a record high that was set either earlier this year or late in 2014. The second question is whether the link between the stock market indices and expectations broke after the crash. …