Mark Twain’s observation on stock market and Randy Martin’s on finance

We are in mid-October, stock market indexes are falling and economic journalists are crying out and wondering: is the next “October crash” (1907, 1929, 1987) approaching? So this is a proper occasion to recall a good old Mark Twain’s observation made through one of his characters:

“October: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” (Pudd’nhead Wilson)

And this reminded me Randy Martin’s incisive insight from his superb and pioneering book Financialization of Daily Life:

“The magic of finance is its ability to take by giving (p. 16)… Through stock markets and their ilk, money seems to be made out of thin air (and to disappear back into the same ether), but the social effects of this accelerating circulation are quite tangible.” (2002: 192)