1989: Japanophobia is in full fever, as the Land of the Rising Sun seems to be on the verge of taking over the entire global economy. COMPUTERS: JAPAN COMES ON STRONG blares the cover of BusinessWeek. Japan is launching an offensive that will test America's computer might warns the magazine. Clyde Prestowitz, a former Japanese-affairs official at the U.S. Department of Commerce, predicts flatly that the Japanese are going to run away with" the global computer market. "It's going to be another TV industry he adds. BusinessWeek begs Congress to enact a package of industrial policy" before "one more basic industry slips slowly away."

BusinessWeek, October 23, 1989, pp. 104ff.

1868: Memberships, or seats are first made saleable by the New York Stock Exchange. The going rate: $7,000 to $8,000, or about $80,000 in today's dollars. Not bad, considering that seats now sell for more than $1.5 million.

New York Stock Exchange flyer, Key Dates in the History of the New York Stock Exchange 1992