Economic problems not as bad as columnist claims them to be

There are several factual errors in the column Economy sparks constant worry (SN 10/3). I want to point them out.

Krystle Wagner wrote, “Unemployment rates are at an all-time high, businesses are going bankrupt and the stock market is crashing.”

The unemployment rate is not even close to an all-time high. For the month of September, the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent. Just since 1948 there have been 19 years above this rate, and that doesn’t even include the Great Depression (during which unemployment reached its actual all-time high of 24.9 percent).

Additionally, the stock market is not crashing. Later in the article the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 777-point one-day fall is referenced. The Dow closed Friday at 10,325. In comparison, the Dow stayed below 11,000 from 2001 until 2006 (staying below 10,000 for 2002 and 2003, reaching a low of 7,286).

On Sept. 29, when the Dow fell the 777 points that is referred to, it was only a 6.98 percent fall, while the biggest one-day percentage fall in history dwarfs that (on Oct. 19, 1987 the average fell 22.61 percent). If the stock market were to crash, then it would have a 90 percent drop within two and a half years, like it did during the Great Depression, falling to 41.22 on July 8, 1932.

While the current economy is unsettling, it is not nearly of the magnitude shown in this column.

Tom Jandernoa

accounting graduate student