To: Cynic 2005 who wrote (6803 ) 11/1/1997 9:59:00 AM From: Cynic 2005 Respond to
To all, the best of Alan Ableson's column this week (Don't worry about the CopyRight police, Dan. This is a quote only -g-)What do you call a 550-point drop We were also supposed to be mightily reassured by reports that the "little guy" was buying. But we can't figure out why we were supposed to be reassured. To begin with, we were completely unaware that brokers now routinely ask customers phoning in orders how tall they are.Don't misunderstand us: Wall Street has always treasured the small investor. But not so much for his sagacity as for his gullibility, less for his courage than for his pliability and much more for his impetuosity than for his cool. The small investor has long been celebrated by the large wire houses, in particular, for his unfailing willingness to pay the highest commissions, his touching eagerness to act as receptacle for the tag ends of sticky new issues and his enthusiastic response to whatever new cockamamie "product" their marketing geniuses can dream up.
