David Fuller's view This is the fourth week in which I have been posting scanned versions of the original hardcopy Fullermoney sequentially. Not having looked at these letters for 26 years, I find the market and economic history fascinating and helpful in terms of viewing current events in a broader perspective. For instance, most of us recall the 1980s as a halcyon era. It was in some respects but time tends to dull worrying memories.

The 1980s commenced with runaway inflation, investor apathy resulting in exceptionally low valuations, Paul Volcker's massive monetary squeeze and record high interest rates. When I launched Fullermoney in 1984 the western world was heading towards another banking crisis following reckless lending to Latin American countries on the assumption that "countries don't go bust, old boy." I discuss this looming crisis, referred to as "debt-pec", at some length in this issue. There was also a growing risk of protectionism. Stock markets were in retreat during what I thought was a bear market but US GDP was also strong, with the US reporting first quarter growth of 9.7%! `I was about to learn a valuable lesson: The biggest mistake many people make during their investment careers is to be too bearish.