The American public historically was really not part of the stock market. Ron Chernow More Quotes by Ron Chernow More Quotes From Ron Chernow Once the brokerage house, rather than the bank, became the locus for American savings, that money would find its way into the stock market, because the broker was someone with a much higher tolerance for risk than the banker. Ron Chernow toleranceriskhouse I think those who invest in mutual funds want someone else to do the thinking for them. But the fact that they can move the money around the family of mutual funds just through a phone call lets them feel that they can play tycoons. Ron Chernow phonesmovingthinking In the 1920s you could buy stocks on margin. You could put 10 percent down and borrow the rest against your stocks. Ron Chernow marginspercentdown-and As the bull market goes on, people who take great risks achieve great rewards, seemingly without punishment. It's like crime without punishment or sex without sin. Ron Chernow punishmentsexpeople The securities laws of the 1930s were so important because it forced companies to file registration statements and issue prospectuses, and it remedied the imbalance of information. Ron Chernow tyrantsissueslaw The Great Inflation of the 1970s destroyed faith in paper assets, because if you held a bond, suddenly the bond was worth much less money than it was before. Ron Chernow assetstiespaper Mutual fund managers are trapped in this rather deadly vicious circle: the more successful they are, the more money flows into their mutual fund. Then, it is more difficult for them to beat the market averages or even to match their own past performance. Ron Chernow circlessuccessfulpast What I find very interesting about the mutual funds managers is that here are people who are the new masters of the universe. They're managing billions, yet they're subject to this quiet daily tyranny of numbers. Ron Chernow numberspeopleinteresting The public has lost faith in the ability of Social Security and Medicare to provide for old age. They've lost faith in the banking system and in conventional medical insurance. Ron Chernow old-agemedicalagefaith Reconstruction is the great black hole that remains to be filled. Even experts on the Civil War don't really understand its full significance. Ron Chernow greatunderstandblackwar Unless we know where we've been as a country, we don't know where we are or where we are going. Ron Chernow goingwhereknowcountry There were two qualities about the mutual funds of the 1920s that made them extremely speculative. One was that they were heavily leveraged. Two, mutual funds were allowed to invest in other mutual funds. Ron Chernow 1920saboutmadetwo I think one of the important things that's happened in the course of the century is that life expectancy has doubled. Ron Chernow thingsthinkimportantlife
