Reader Wants Facts, Not Reassurance

How nice of Tom Petruno and James Flanigan to hold my hand and reassure me that the recent events in the stock market and the financial turmoil in Asia meant little or nothing [“Taking Stock of a Wild Week,” Nov. 2].

However, that’s not why I read your columns. When I want my hand held, I’ll hold it myself. What I want you to do is to provide me with facts I wouldn’t necessarily get elsewhere.

Must I just forget the fact that stock prices are at all-time and never-dreamed-of highs with respect to fundamentals? Is the turmoil in the financial markets of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (combined populations of roughly 280 million) just another one of those things? Do you two really believe that?

If I hadn’t seen you guys write some pretty sophisticated stuff in the past, I’d swear you were both a couple of high school journalism majors.

JOHN RUSSELL HOLMES

Pasadena