A real bubble is when you suck in everyone who has no business investing in the stock market. We are nowhere near a bubble, despite the current correction process. There is no risk of an 80-90% decline as was the case following 1929. Many losers obviously didn’t come forward publicly during the Great Depression, but one such loser did. She was a girl of 22 named Margaret Shotwell. She told the press that she had lost more than $1 million and even named the stocks she had owned. The list was Montgomery Ward, Paramount, Cities Service and General Motors—all blue chip companies, no doubt.
Nevertheless, when Margaret was only 12 years of age, her father had brought home a friend to listen to her play the piano. That friend was John Neal, who upon his death left her $l million in stock to Reynolds Tobacco. Shotwell diversified her fortune into other companies on margin. “I was just one of the suckers,” she said during an interview with The Tuscaloosa News. “I lost everything I had in the world. That was $900,000 and I owe $50,000 to my broker besides. But it isn’t smart to be rich anymore. I’ve got lots of company now.”
Above is a video she made explaining her loss from the Great Depression.
