Richard Galant

1 week ago | nowitshistory.com | Richard Galant

On October 15, 1929, economist Irving Fisher spoke to a regular meeting of the Purchasing Agents Association at 2 Park Avenue in Manhattan about gyrations in the stock market. The Dow had climbed by more than 600 percent over the preceding eight years and some forecasters were warning of a coming crash. Traders were getting “yippy, a little bit afraid,” the phrase President Donald Trump used last week to describe anxiety over his tariffs.

1 week ago | open.substack.com | Richard Galant

On October 15, 1929, economist Irving Fisher spoke to a regular meeting of the Purchasing Agents Association at 2 Park Avenue in Manhattan about gyrations in the stock market. The Dow had climbed by more than 600 percent over the preceding eight years and some forecasters were warning of a coming crash. Traders were getting “yippy, a little bit afraid,” the phrase President Donald Trump used last week to describe anxiety over his tariffs.

2 weeks ago | open.substack.com | Richard Galant

I didn’t expect to spend 2025 obsessing over tariffs. I expect you didn’t either. The good news is that there’s an audience for what we’ve learned: tariffs are suddenly a hot topic on social media. People are paying attention, particularly since more than $6 trillion in market wealth vanished after the White House tariffpalooza last week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Americans “don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations” of the stock market.

2 weeks ago | open.substack.com | Richard Galant

When the U.S. imposed the highest tariffs in its history nearly 200 years ago, the effects were dramatic. The “Tariff of Abominations,” passed by Congress and signed by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, contributed to the election of Andrew Jackson that year. It set off a constitutional crisis in the early 1830s when South Carolina asserted a right to nullify federal laws. Only a compromise to reduce the tariff prevented a violent rebellion.

3 weeks ago | open.substack.com | Richard Galant

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