The brass bell of Wall Street

Sir, – Occasionally on international TV news channels I see live coverage of the opening of a day of business at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street at 9.30 am local time.

The starting brass bell is rung by a celebrity guest or by some representative of one of the top trading companies.

This is accompanied by clapping and cheering from assembled onlookers who look, for all the world, as if they have just won a lottery jackpot.

What is actually wrong with these people? – Yours, etc,

A large swathe of the country look at the 2 Johnnies and see themselves

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PÁDRAIC HARVEY,

An Cheathrú Rua,

Co na Gaillimhe.