Around 2001, I went to the library and made a color transparency of various Magazine Covers, going back in time.
 
Just ran across them today in the attic...and thought I'd post most of them.
 
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS:
As I start, I am reminded of these famous quotes:
"Those who don't know history, are destined to repeat it."  by Edmund Burke, British Statesman, late 1700's !!
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" by George Santayana, Spanish born American Philosopher
 "History tends to repeat itself..."
 
I went to the Library around early 2001.......in an attempt to find magazine cover stories about the economy 10-20 years earlier.....in order to make the case that "when all are talking about doom and gloom in the economy, it has always come roaring back.   My case WAS made......the economy roared back starting in Dec, 2002......at least for the next 5 years.....then tanked badly in 2008, roared back in 2009........etc, etc,.....oh the ups and downs.
 
But now.....my opinion is.....see my concluding remarks.
 
BTW, I also copied OTHER magazine covers on OTHER subjects I think you'll find of interest.
BND, BTW......I noticed, going WAY back in time.......who was the number ONE country MOST featured on the front cover of various news magazines........??  Hmmmmm????    ISRAEL!!  What does the Bible say?
 
Zechariah 12: 3
"And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stoen for all peoples;  all who would heave it away will surely be cut to pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it."   WOW!!
 
Aint' it so.....ain't it so....
 
THE SLIDES OF Magazine Covers:  (My comments are in CAPs or ( )'s..... )
1972 - Time, Man of the Year - Richard Nixon    (GOOD CALL!!)
1972 - Time, Murder in Munich  (TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL------YEAR AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR, !)
1972 - Time, Henry Kissinger - "On the Brink of Peave?"  
(Duh.....I DON'T THINK SO.........40 YEARS LATER NOW.......AND STILL......NOOOOOO  PEACE!  NOT UNTIL JESUS CHRIST COMES BACK.......!!)
 
Just for fun....
1972 - Woody Allen...."Everything you always wanted to know about Woddy Allen"   (MY COMMENT I WROTE ON THE SLIDE BACK IN 2002....... "Well.....maybe NOT!!!"   lol  )
 
Jan 1980 - Time, Moscow's Bold Challenge......and  GOLD goes crazy!!!  (Hmmmmm......gold......just before it plummeted for 20 years.)
 
March, 1908 - tIME, Carter vs Inflation...."The President's Demand: Discipline, Discipline, Discipline!"  (OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS, INFLATION / INTEREST RATES....ESPECIALLY INTEREST RATES......WOULD DROP TO ALMOST ZERO.  BUT DISCIPLINE?  SOCIETY HAS NONE..... DISCERNMENT......NOT MUCH OF THAT EITHER. PEOPLE ARE SHEEP.......THEY WILL ALL GO OVER A CLIFF TOGETHER.....AS THEY DID ON REAL ESTATE, TECH STOCKS.....ETC, ETC. ETC.)
 
April 1980 - Time, "Is Capitalism Working?"  (HMMMMMMMM.........THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON THIS ONE!!! LOL)
 
October, 1980 - Time, War in the Gulf? Photo of an oil drum burning.   (hmmmmm.......and what is ALL the talk about now?????   Hmmmmm???????   WAR IN THE GULF......STRAIGHT OF HORMUZ?"    Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.  HEY, if the USA had been drilling for OIL in ANWR, or had learned how to FRAK the oil in the OIL SHALE earlier......the USA just might be LESS dependent on foreign oil....but then, THIS CURRENT MESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST WAS PROPHECIED BY GOD.....AND IS PLAYING OUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF US EVERY DAY NOW!!)   
 
Nov, 1980 - Time, Ronald Reagan - wins presidency: A FRESH START.   (In my opinion, our last GREAT President.  Was he the TIM TEBOW of politics??)
 
Dec, 1980 - Shaking up Communism:  Poland's Lech Walesa  (The break up of Russia was soon to follow..)
 
Dec, 1980 - Business Week:  Reagan's Top Problem:  Braking Inflationary Pressures
 
Dec, 1980 - Time, Rocky Mountain High - Soaring Prospects for the 1980's  (6-7 years later, the economy in the Rockies CRASHED......due to an oil drilling bust.....as prices fell.  Ah, the CYCLICALITY of EVERYTHING economic!  If NO Rapture soon......will the current US/World economy recover.......again......?)
 
March, 1981 - Time, How does Japan do it?  The world's toughest competitor  (Hmmmmmmmm....The Japanese stock market TOPPED OUT AT almost 40,000 in 1990.  It is now at 8,500.  How's that for a 20 years run?  They refer to the US stock market's 10 years from early 2000 to 2009 as "THE LOST DECADE" .....  Well, in Japan, it's the LOST 2 DECADES.  Will the US be like Japan?  Many wonder.  HEY.......NO ONE STAYS AT THE TOP FOREVER.....NO ONE!!  Not the US.....not Europe.........NOT EVERN CHINA.  Lots of talk now about China's economy slowing down.  Did you know that the Chinese Stock market TOPPED in late 2010 at 25,000........and is NOW AT:  19,200?  But, before that, it TOPPED AT over 30,000 in late 2007 !!!  Hmmmmmm.....will ANY of the world's stock markets go back to ALL TIME HIGHs ever??????  Not it there is a Rapture in the near future....!)
 
April, 1981 - Time, Reagan SHOT - Moment of Madness
May, 1981 -  Time, POPE Shot - Terrorist's Target - Why did they do it?   (   Hmmmmm...just one month apart.  Did you know that when Reagan met the Pope shortly after this, they both knew "God had saved them for a reason.....something BIG!!"  Reagan said it was so they could work togerther to bring down the Fall of Russia and the Berlin Wall!  WOW........ and they DID!  This was necessary prophetically.....in these End Times.....yes?!)
 
June, 1981 - Time - The Savings Revolution - Everybody wants your money!!
Bonds: 12.2%
Money market Funds: 16.3%
NOW accounts: 5.5%  (This was checking account from a Savings and Loan)
Corporate Bonds: 15.5%
Treasury Bills:  16.1%   
 
(WHAT??????????  What is the rate now????????   OH, you're going to LOVE this...)
NOW---------TBill Rates are     
.02% for 3 months  (No, that's NOT 2/10's of a percent...that's NOT 2%....it is 2/100's of a percent !!!!!!0
.125% for 2 YEARs.....that's 125/1000's of a percent
2.0% for 10 years.....that's TEN EYARS....THEN, you can 2%
   WHAT THE HEY!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????????????   I find this INCREDIBLE....
 
Going on with the Time Cover:
Commercial Paper:  7.8%
Tax FREE Bonds: 8.5%
Tax Exempt Funds:  6.2%   and.....finally...
6 month CD's......are you ready for this......     15.9% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
(Regular savings accounts ere PEGGED at 5%!!!!!!   Let's face it....interest rates are NOT at these record lows because the economy is GOOD out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   lol......)
 
Whew...Ok...moving on....
 
August, 1981 - Time:   3 Cheers!   Prince Charles and Diana get Married-Photo.  (Boy, that worked out well, didn't it!!???  WHAT A FIASCO.....Who ever would have thought she'd die young in a car crash with her boyfriend, after the divorce.  I liked her........he can take a leap.  I hope he NEVER gets to be King...NEVER!!)
 
October, 1981 - Time, ARMING THE WORLD - What are the Limits?  (Hmmmmm...there ARE NO LIMITS!! Fast forward 30 years...and here we are....with the bullies of the world getting nuclear bombs.  You know, some times I feel like we are all still in Kindergarten......and the bullies are still uncontrollable!!)
 
1982 - Time, Thinking the Unthinkable: Rising Fears about Nuclear War   (Hmm......never seems to go away.....but not with RUSSIA now.........but with IRAN, North Korea.....and Russia is standing right behind Iran.  Some things never change.....only the names of players change....!)
 
Feb, 1982 - UNEMPLOYMENT, The Biggest Worry.....(  Ah.....economic cycles.....they go up, they go down....if NO Rapture soon......will unemployment in the US keep trending down?)
 
March, 1982 - Time, Interest Rate Anguish   (It was TOUGH to get interest rates to come off their all time highs.....but they did!)
 
Sept, 1982 - Time, WALL STREET OLE!  The Economy, Eh?   (The Stock market is, and always has been a "leading indicator" of what was happening in the economy.  So, the market rallies BEFORE the Economy gets better.  It's just the way it works....but, remember......EVERYTHING GOES IN CYCLES.....WHAT GOES UP, WILL COME DOWN AND WHAT GOES DOWN WILL EVENTUALLY GO UP....... UNLESS...... we have the Rapture soon!!  )
 
Dec, 1982 - Time - MEXICO'S CRISIS "We are in an emergency."    (Whew...if you thought it was bad in 1982......IT'S A DISASTER NOW.....GOOD JOB TO THE LEADERSHIP OF MEXICO AND....AND....AND THE UNITED STATES.   And the disaster in Mexico has encroached the US borders, too.....WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can't ANYONE in the US fix our border problem......and the asnwer is?????  Wait for it.........NOPE!!)
 
Jan, 1983 - Time, THE DEBT BOMB: The worldwide peril of GO GO Lending.  (Hmmmmmmm.....wasn't this PROPHETIC??!!! lol.....  And, so......30 years later.....the jury is IN on this one....and it AIN'T GOOD!!!  Wall street figured out how to make a buck by COLLATERALIZING ANYTHING THAT WALKED.  Is it the DEMIZE of Capitalism??  Hey, didn't I see an earlier Cover Story on that????   lol......  )
 
March, 1983 - Time, US DEFENSE Spending:  Are Billions Being Wasted?    (no.......I think it should have said TRILLIONS. Does anything ever change????   NO.....it only seems to get WORSE!!!)
 
BTW.....How many of these Cover Stories seem PROPHETIC to you...looking back now???????
November, 1983 - Time, WORTH THE PRICE?  Resuce in Grenada / Sacrifice in Beirut  (Grenada looks like child's play now.......   and Beriut was just a sign of worse things to come in the Middle East.......Terrorism in the Middle East.....Peace in the Middle east......   shoot, even THEN, I could have told you there would NEVER be peace in the Middle east.  And now...... what was Obama's comment as the US military budget gets slashed?   "The tide of war is receeding."       Hmmmmmm....reading this PAST Cover STories.......does anyone think that's really true??????)
 
March 1984 - Time, That MONSTER Deficit...America's Economic Black Hole.  ( Gosh.....our National Debt was just  LITTLE back then......and now?    IT IS STAGGERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   And yet, what did the stock markets in the US and Europe do over the past 3-4 weeks?   They WENT UP NICELY!!!   HEY!!!!!!!!!!!  Does ANYONE relaly think they have FIXED ANYTHING IN THE LAST few weeks or months.....??  WHAT THE HEY!!!!!!!????????  Gosh!)
 
Sorry.....getting worked up now.....will try to chill out........breathe........breathe............lol
 
OK....moving on...
August, 1984 - Time....inside cover quote:  "Business: The pundits have turned out to be spectacularly wrong.  Using all of the savvy and their mathmatical tools, economists attempt to peer into the future. But their record lately has raised questions about whether the forecaster are worth listening to at all.  Californias Finacial Corporationi of America stumbles badly three weeks after the bailout of Continental Illinois."  (OK.......does ANYTHING EVER CHANGE????  Will the US Government get better at making financial INTERVENTIONS in teh years to come?   DUH!!!  Can you say "Solyndra?"   That is the $500,000,000 loan guarantee the US governement made just a couple years ago....and that company FAILED within 18 months.......   I may have to stop this write up....I'm getting DEPRESSED!!!   lol.....
HEY.....we bailed out the SAvings and Loans in 1990........ we bailed out the banks in 2008....we bailed out US home buyers after 2006 when the home market topped..of course we helped them DEFAULT by allowing them to make loans they could never repay.....and ON AND ON AND ON>>>>>>>>>>>>   OK.....we're DOOMED.....  )
 
NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST 30 YEARS........NOTHING........The old song comes to mind...
"Another year older and deeper in debt..."  Wow.....even THAT song was prophetic!!
 
OK....another deep breath....
 
December 1984 - Time - India's Disaster. The night of Death. A Global Worry (This was the Union Carbide Bhopal, India chemical leak that killed thousands.  I had just started in the stock business....and I remember this.  Union Carbide's stock went from 120.....to 20 on this sad event.  Then, the stock went back up to 120 and split 5 to 1!!  And now, 30 years later, the people in Bhopal, are suing AGAIN.....becuase they got SOLD OUT by their government when this happened.  BAD THINGS HAPPEN.....AND LIFE IS NOT FAIR.......   does anyone LONG for HEAVEN????   I do!)
 
Dec, 1984 - Time, America's Banks  AWASH in Trouble.   (Really?  YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN" YET!!! Just wait 24 more years.  This will look like CHILD'S PLAY!!)
 
Dec, 1985 - Time - Congress:  Outlawing Deficits, Dithereing on Taxes  (Hmmmmmmm......  Can't imagine WHY the US is in the current mess, regarding our deficits!!!     WTF!)
 
April, 1986 - Time, Target: Gaddafi  (Hmmmmm....bad guys never change....it will take 25 years for him to get his just rewards!)
 
April, 1986 - Time - GOOD NEWS (No, not Jesus Christ silly....)  CHEAP OIL!     ( What goes around, comes around..)
 
July, 1986 - Time - Inside cover quote:  Spurred on by economic successes of the US and the duynamic Pacific Rim, countries EVERYWHERE are taking the fetters off individual initiative and cutting back the WELFARE STATE.  (Hmmmmmmmm.........  you gotta be kidding me?  Didn't Greece read this article?  lol.....  Remember, in just 4 more years, the Japanese stock market will top out and start going DOWN for the next 22 years!  Oh, and apparently individual initiative is what got us in toour current US housing DISASTER, by getting creative and deciding to make 100% mortgage loans with NO need to see if they could really pay for it!!  I think I'm getting sick..........)
 
THIS IS PROPHETIC....
Sept, 1986, Time Inside cover quote: Wall STreet takes its biggest dive ever in record trading. Fears that the budget deficit, interest rates and inflation will all rise helped touch off a frantic 2-day sale of stocks. AS successive waves of computerized program trading hit the New York Exchange, the DOW kept going down. Though less bruising proportionately than the crash of 1929, the slide raised the question of whether the 4 year ofd bull makret is over.
(Wow....where to start.  This drop was CHILD's PLAY compared to what would happen in 15 months, October, 1987.  I've always said "ONCE IT HAPPENS......IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN....and it wil be BIGGER THE NEXT TIME!!  WOW, just think of what lies ahead in the US and World stock markets.....NOTHING IS FIXED....and THE PAST WILL REPEAT ITSELF.....AND IT WILL BE BIGGER AND QUICKER THE NEXT TIME....   !!   IT'S NOT IF.....IT'S WHEN!)
 
Nov, 1986 - Time  Reagan's Secret Dealing with Iran   (Hey......haven't we been IN BED with EVERY COUNTRY WE EVER EVENTUALLY HAD TO INVADE ONE DAY????????  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
 
1987 - Time  WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ETHICS?  Assaulted by sleaze, scandals, and hypocrisy, America searches for its moral bearings"    (What???   Apparently, they NEVER FOUND THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  NOTHING CHANGES.......EVER!!  Didn't the Bible pretty much tell you and me of the DEPRAVED nature of man???  DUH!!!!
 
Jan, 1987 - Time - Inside cover quote:  Currency trading is suddenly a gigantic game of chicken. All around the world last week, the mood in money markets was akin to panic. The dollar dropped to a 6 year low against the West German mark and fell precipitously against the Japaneses yen.  Behind the sell-off loomed the memmoth US trade deficit."
(I'm flabergasted here........  has ANYTYING CHANGED in the last 25 years!???!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  )  Is our trade deficit lower?  Is our national debt level lower?   Is the US Conrgess ON TOP OF THIS ISSUE and ON THE VERGE OF FIXING EVERYTHING THAT AILS us FINANCIALLY>........??????    Do I hear a yes out there??????  Just Shoot me!
And yet......the US stock market has rallied NICELY in the last few weeks....along with Europe's....  Anybody getting happy out there????????  lol....... cry......lol.......    Can you feel my pain???????????
 
Moving on.....   I'd better be done soon with this write up....I'm getting pretty depressed......
Only a few more slides....hand in there people......  that is IF you've gotten THIS FAR....lol..
 
June, 1987 - Time - Inside cover quote:  Citicorp sets aside $3 Billion to cover its Third World debt losses.   (Hmmm, looking back, my advice to them would be "Hey....don't sweat this!  YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET guys.  ONe day, you're going to look back on this little problem of $3 Billion and laugh.  Why?  Well the GOOD news is:  In the next 18 years, your stock is going to go from $50/share (on a post-split adjucted basis) to OVER $500/share.  You guys are going to pay yourselves BILLIONS of dollars in bonuses....You're going to have the TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!
 
But then comes the bad news.....and you're going to think I'm crazy.....but then your stock is going fall from over $500/share to under $3......and then do a reverse split of 10 to 1 (?) But there is STILL GOOD NEWS.......  incredibly, the US taxpayer is going to BAIL YOU OUT...and KEEP YOU FROM FAILING!!!  But guys....if the US public REALLY had any say in this.....I think they would have done to you what the French did to their bankers a couple hunder years ago.......CUT OFF YOUR HEAD......Incredibly....NOT ONE OF YOU GUYS IS GOING TO DO ANY JAIL TIME.  WOW........AMERICA.....WHAT A COUNTRY!!!!!....Somebody give me a gun.........!)
 
OK.....getting really near the end....
Sept. 1987 - Time - Inside cover  (Don't you like these the best??!! lol)  America is a country for sale as foreigners rush in to buy, buy, buy.  Flush with cash and encouraged by the falling dollar, investors from overseas are snappin up skyscrapers and shoping malls, corporations and forest lands, refineries and casinos. Is foreign ownership a danger?
(You know....I get tired of the people who keep saying the US dollar is doomed......and foreigners are BUYING EVERYTHIG in the US......  DUH!!!   Is there ANYTHING NEW about this foreign intervention?  What's old is NEW again.....doesn't ANYBODY read history???)
 
Sept 5, 1987 - 2 weeks BEFORE the BIG stock market CRASH
Business Week:  - LEAN AND MEAN - America's most competitive Companies (Almost NOBODY saw this coming.  And IF they DID......they didn't see the QUICK RECOVERY.   MY QUOTE:  STOCKS ARE MADE TO TRADE. THEY GO UP....THEY GO DOWN......YOU CANNOT ACCURATELY CALL EVERY TURN IN THE MARKET, LET ALONE FOR EVERY INDIVIDUAL STOCK......IF YOU DON'T TAKE YOUR PROFITS...SOMEONE ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU.)
 
Nov 2, 1987 - Business Week:  HOW BAD?  Will Wall STreet take the economy down?  (Gee, will anyone ever ask this question again.....on day......???  )
 
OK>>>>>>>   LAST SLIDE>>>>>>YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  lol
Nov 11, 1987 - Business Week:  WAKE UP AMERICA!   The stock market may recover somewhat, but the message underlying the crash remains largely UNHEEDED.  We have SPENT TOO MUCH, AND IMPORTED TOO MUCH. aNDD LIVED BEYOND OUR MEANS, RELYING ON FIREIGNERS TO FINANCE OUR MASSIVE BUDGET AND TRADE DEFICITS.  THE BILL IS NOW COMING DUE:  AMERICA'S STANDARD OF LIVING SEEMS BOUND TO SUFFER,,,,,"
 
My Comment:  HOLY COW......was this amagazine cover in 2011?   2008?   2001?   Really?  It was as cover in 1987?????????????????
.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS:
 
As I wrote this.......even I was amazed at what I saw........(and depressed.....)
 
If ALL of this isn't leading up to the Rapture.......than I see nothing optimistic in any of this information.  Things are certainly MUCH MUCH worse, economically, than they were 25-30 years ago.  NOTHING has been fixed.....NOTHING......  at best, the leaders of the world have only managed to "kick the can down the road" a little while longer......
 
Isn't it interesting that nothing ever really changes......
BAD guys, remain BAD guys, until the end!!!
History DOES repeat itself........world events DO go in cycles....again and again...... Decade after decade and century after century...
 
If it's happened before.....you can expect it to happen again......whatever "it" is.......
 
Regarding the economic cover stories.....either
1) History WILL repeat itself, and the stock market and the world economy WILL get fixed and go back to record highs, despite all of the current pessimism....
 
OR
 
2) THIS TIME IT's DIFFERENT!!!!
 
As for me, I've lost my optimism about it being fixed by man.....and I am waiting for a DIFFERENT OUTCOME, as told by Christ to His Desciples....and the Bible IS TRUE....... it DOES tell what the future holds.......and
 
THIS IS the FINAL GENERATION.............
 
I sure hope I'm NOT wrong.......and the time IS ......SOON!!
 
Personally, I beleive, with all my heart.....that ALL THE DOMINOES ARE ALL LINED UP ALL AROUND THE WORLD.  Everything aspect of our life in this world teeters on the verge of total collapse and anarchy.....some day soon.  Look to Greece......and Europe......it is OUR future, here in the United States.  
 
I believe the SPARK that will knock down all of these dominoes waiting to fall is.....THE PRE-Trib RAPTURE opf the Church.  Come Lord Jesus.....soon....please.....
 
I hope you enjoyed this. It took a couple hours......but I'm done JUST IN TIME to go watch Tim Tebow!! That should be interesting!!!!!!!!  Good Bless you all.......
YFIC,
Randy

BTW,another quote by Edmund Burke:
 “All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
ie, Germany, 1939.......almost 200 years after he said this !