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Teddy Bears
Teddy Bear markets
are childishly explosive tantrums. Teddy Bears are no picnic; they
resemble playground fights, not gang wars.
• The Ike
Teddy: September 24, 1955
•
The JFK Teddy: March 1962
•
The Jimmy
Teddy: September 1967
Baby
Bears: the eurobears
A Baby Bear
is a vicious mauler. He gets very angry — Who's been eating
my porridge? — and inflicts real wounds before he's driven
from the scene.
• The Greenspan
Baby Bear: October 19, 1987
•
The Russian Bear: Summer and Autumn 1998
Papa
Bears
The Papa Bear
is the end-of-economic-cycle bear, and he never fails to appear
when a recession is coming. He's stuffed with salmon and blueberries
and ready to hibernate. He only appears in advance of a recession
and goes back into hibernation a few months before a sustained economic
recovery begins.
Mama
Bears
The most vicious
stock market bears are Mamas. There are two kinds: Mini-Mamas and
Big Mamas.
Mama Bears are the ursine equivalent of Dresden-style bombing. They
kill the guilty and the innocent alike, and continue to ravage until
the core beliefs that allowed the Triple Waterfall to move beyond
the Optimism stage have been totally eradicated.
There have been four clearly defined Mini-Mamas in the past century:
the Triple Waterfall plunges of gold, silver, and oil stocks, and
Nasdaq's collapse.
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The
Original
Teddy Bear
The
centennial of teddy bears was observed last year. According
to the Chicago Tribune, these toys were named for Teddy
Roosevelt, who, on a bear hunting trip to Mississippi
in 1902, failed to bag a bear. The trip sponsors found
a bear, lassoed it, and tied it to a tree, inviting him
to shoot it. Teddy shouted "Spare the bear!"
and freed it. A cartoonist drew the scene, depicting a
frightened cub. Thus was born the teddy bear industry,
which produces one of the four most popular collectibles.
Clifford
Berryman's cartoon of Roosevelt as a Rough Rider with
a bear cub
CREDIT:
Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, artist. "Theodore Roosevelt
as Rough Rider with Clifford Berryman's bear." Between
1902 and 1940. Cartoon Drawings, Prints and Photographs
Division, Library of Congress.
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