The Case Against Fear

The Wall Street crisis/market meltdown/bailout has provided a rich breakfast-table teaching opportunity in my household.

A few days ago our beloved Austin American Statesman’s front page blared that stocks tumbled in the wake of the AIG bailout and, as a result “People are Scared to Death.” The all-caps headline caused our 7-year-old to look up from her current Nancy Drew mystery. What are stocks, Tilda asked me, and why are they so scary? After all, deadly hurricanes, terrorist attacks, stinging insects (Tilda’s fear du jour) are deeply scary … but pieces of paper?

After listening patiently to my “Professor Dad” explanation about the stock market, how we can own portions of companies and what happens when the market tanks, Tilda reflected on my explanation and worked at piecing together this real-life financial mystery.
“Well,” she concluded, “people are weird if that scares them to death.”

Satisfied that I had (yet again) learned something new from our morning session, I smiled and closed the paper, eager to enjoy my work despite all the fearful headlines.