[adrianN]

Numbers getting smaller on the stock market doesn't destroy any real value. Companies still have all the IP they had before, all the real estate, all machines... If the bits in some computer's RAM are so disconnected from reality that they can change so dramatically without any catastrophe in the real world, then the rational choice is to disregard those bits.

[phildawes]

Crashed markets reflect a real difference in what people are prepared to pay for assets. That has a real direct impact on how people plan and behave.