Grin and bear it — for a long time

In the current recession, here's a sunny classic that's depression-proof: Dean Martin singing King of the Road, written by Roger Miller and a hit for him in 1965. One needs such tonics with the US headed into its worst recession since 1982, according to the Financial Times, and sagging Asian economies not very likely to get any lift from China.The Economist says:

According to the Asian Development Bank, 60 percent of Asia’s exports (not including Japan’s) still go to America, the European Union and Japan. A decline of one percentage point in America’s growth rate, the bank calculates, knocks 0.3 percentage points off Asia’s. That may be optimistic.

This could be the Big Bear, which prowls into the market maybe once in a generation and hangs around for a long time, says the Economist's Buttonwood column:

It is beginning to look as if we are in the middle of another of those great phases, what commentators call a secular, as opposed to a cyclical, bear market. Broadly speaking, the 20th century can be divided into six phases; bear markets from 1901-21, 1929-49 and 1965-82 and bull runs from 1921-29, 1949-65 and 1982-2000.

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