Professor Elam

It took less than 20 hours of work per week to buy the S & P in the mid 1970s. 

Now it takes over 50 hours. This means we are no where near the bottom of this stock sell off yet. 

I believe you will be graduating into an environment like the 1970s. Volatility in the stock market will be extreme as emotions ratchet up and down.  INdeed I suggest you study this period of history to realize what you will be facing. Read study, learn to be a better writer, use every opoortunity in class to work on your speaking skills.

Above all do not naively believe that the action of the stock market is failing to predict what will happen. The US went exactly nowhere economically during this period. While I expect Texas in general to outpace the rest of the US as it does now, this will have an effect on our economy. Vacancy rates in downtown SA are already 20%. I notice more and more vacancies in smaller shopping centers and office buildings. You will need an extensive inventory of skills but more particularly an understanding of this period to be successful.  Most people will not understand what is happening.  They will undergo unnecessary frustrations in their job and likely personal relationships  as a result.

For example this period saw Nixon re elected in a landslide, then resign in disgrace, Ford took over and was beat by Carter who was then replaced by Reagan, a tough decade for Presidents.