(By
Jon D. Markman)A couple of days ago, I caught an episode of the
American Experience on
my local PBS station that covered 1929 stock market crash. The episode
in question had premiered in 1990, and featured first-hand accounts –
as well as interviews – with historian
Robert Sobel and economist
John Kenneth Galbraith. It has an interview with Patricia Livermore, daughter-in-law of trading great
Jesse L. Livermore and the subject of the annotated version of "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator"
that I just completed. (Publication date is Jan. 10).
Be sure to see the PBS show if it plays on your local station.
One of the most memorable quotes of the broadcast comes from gangster Al Capone,
who – in the midst of the 1920s bull market – called the guys on Wall
Street "crooked," and decided to invest his racketeering profits into Prohibition-era booze smuggling, instead of stocks. Say what you will about Capone, but recent events have proven him right.
We continue to see fallout from the Galleon Group insider trading allegations, as I discussed at length in my Strategic Advantage
letter last week. Rumors of corruption emanating from Raj Rajaratnam's
hedge fund complex are spreading through Manhattan and Silicon Valley.
Consulting giant McKinsey & Co. has begun an internal probe after a
senior partner was charged with securities fraud.
