Whether it’s specifically about the stock market, or about businesses, or life in general, when the times are good, it seems like those good days are going to never end, but they do so eventually end; and when those times begin to turn bad and then subsequently turn very, very bad, most of those that were on board to begin with, make it their point to change their mindset from being money hungry or greedy to just plain survival. That is the essence of why things always go down a whole lot faster than up, because while just about everybody enjoys being part of the winning team, nobody ever wants to be the last person holding the bag on what has now become the losing team.
For instance, when a given company loses the confidence of its customer base, that relationship has fundamentally changed from one in which deals are made, honored and respected, to the very opposite of such. Those that seemingly smell “blood in the water” now look at contracts with a jaundiced eye and will do everything possible to sabotage agreements that are cut and dry, by basically taking actions to preclude the agreement from being honored by the terms, that were previously agreed to in good conscience.
Once one party no longer has an interest in continuing a relationship, even a relationship so done “for better or for worse,” then everything that was once considered to be the norm is subject to arbitrary change by that one party that no longer has a vested interest in continuing with it. In truth, no matter how ironclad a given contract is, or the guarantees behind such, or promises so made; in actuality, a lot of what really goes on in relationships and businesses, is built upon mutual trust and the belief that being connected one to the other, is done so on a continuous basis, and once that belief is gone, or it has been irreplaceably damaged, it all begins to fall part; first slowly, and then very, very fast.
Most people aren’t stupid, rather, they are practical. This thus signifies that when the dynamic changes, people are often perceptive enough, to make those adjustments so needed to keep their head at a minimum, above water, or even better, to excel whereas others might just hesitate or do nothing of substance. Those that simply believe that a particular object in motion, will always continue that same motion, seem to have dismissed the reality that once that object meets another unanticipated object or something unstable that affects their object, then things will and must change.
Once confidence is irreparably breached, that relationship has changed. Additionally, once one party determines that they are not in it for the long term and further that there isn’t any perceived downside to their taking particular actions which are detrimental to the other party, then such is probably going to happen. As they say, nothing goes up forever, and the bigger that they are, truly, the harder that they do fall.