What They’re Saying About the Stock Market’s Nose Dive

Armand Hammer,chairman of Occidental Petroleum

‘I think small investors should hang on to their stock. This is an opportunity for investors to pick up bargains, (but) I never gamble in the stock market.’

Lee A. Iacocca,chairman of Chrysler Corp.

‘This isn’t a correction anymore; it’s a board right between the eyes that had better wake us all up to the simple fact that we can’t keep romping forever on borrowed money.’

Sam Walton,chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, whose personal stock holdings declined by about half a billion dollars Monday

‘It’s paper anyway. It was paper when we started and it’s paper afterward.’

Melvin Belli,San Francisco attorney and once a “marker� for the Pacific Stock Exchange

‘The only thing that can keep us from prosperity is if Mr. Reagan says he has a plan. If he says everything is going to be fine, we should get in a row boat and head for Europe.’

H. Ross Perot,chairman of Electronic Data Systems and one of the richest men in America

‘There’s too much money chasing too few stocks managed by 28-year-old boys paid $500,000 a year who don’t know what they’re doing.’

John B. Connally,former Treasury secretary under President Nixon who recently filed for protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy laws

‘In the long run, you are going to have to have a whole change in mental attitude. The get-rich-quick syndrome is going to have to be purged. Swapping of dollars, corporate mergers and acquisitions have produced enormous incomes but no wealth.’

William E. Simon,former Treasury secretary under President Ford, now building a savings and loan empire in California

‘The markets are finally catching up with reality. The remedy is to get down to fundamentals, start paying our debts and stop saddling our children with them.’

Reginald F. Lewis,chairman of the company that has agreed to purchase Beatrice International through a $985-million leveraged buyout

‘There’s just a lack of confidence and a lot of uncertainty. The move in interest rates is as responsible as anything. It’s only human to be a bit more careful and a bit more cautious (about my own investments).’

Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr.,former speaker of the House of Representatives

‘There’s no question in my mind that the President ought to call a round table of the top economic people in the country. And he ought to sit down with the Congress immediately and end all this confrontation over the budget. Politics is the art of compromise, and people are tired of confrontation.’

Donald T. Regan,former White House chief of staff under President Reagan and former president of Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc.

‘People are going to cut back on what they are buying. They are going to slow down on the style of living they’ve grown accustomed to. They’ve lost every cent of gain on the market in the last 12 months.’