I'm Scott Galloway and this is No Mercy, No Malice.

Josh Brown, the C. M. C. commentator and Hedge Fund Manager has become one of our favorite people.

We asked him to do a guest post.

This is adapted from his forthcoming book. You weren't supposed

to see that coming out September 4th. Optimism as a default setting, as read by George

Han. At the turn of the 20th century, banker J.P. Morgan was the most powerful man on Wall Street,

perhaps the most powerful man in the world.

Finance in those days was still the Wild West, largely unregulated and prone to boom and bust cycles,

much more violent than anything we see today.

On several occasions Morgan personally orchestrated emergency measures to stop bank runs that

might have otherwise taken down the financial system, typically increasing his own wealth in the process.

Shortly after one of those near misses, the panic of 1907,

an old friend of Morgans from Chicago came for a visit. The friend was, in the

phrase of Mark Skousin, from whom I got this story, a perma bear. No matter what the market did, his outcome was always pessimistic.

As usual he and Morgan got to talking about the markets and as usual Morgan's friend saw

poor omens in every market indicator while Morgan saw only buying opportunities.

Eventually they headed out for lunch. saw only buying opportunities.

Eventually they headed out for lunch.

And walking up Broadway, Morgan's friend was admiring the towering skyscrapers that were starting to define the Manhattan skyline.

Impressed, he acknowledged they had nothing like them in Chicago.

Eventually, Morgan stopped, turned to his friend. Funny thing about these skyscrapers, he said.

Not a single one was built by a bear.

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