Asian Stocks Drop to 4-Year Low on Growth Concerns from Bloomberg:

Asian Stocks Drop to 4-Year Low on Growth Concerns; Mazda Falls
By Patrick Rial and Ian Sayson

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks slumped, driving the region's benchmark index to the lowest level in four years, as Japanese exports missed estimates, commodities prices tumbled and South Korea's worst financial crisis in a decade deepened.

Mazda Motor Corp. plunged the most since 2000 as the yen surged against the euro and Japan's September exports rose a third as much as projected. Korea Electric Power Corp. declined 7.3 percent after forecasting a loss as South Korea led a rout in emerging markets after Belarus requested aid from the IMF. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group fell more than 9 percent as European regulators signaled they may block a merger and raw materials prices dropped to a four-year low.
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The Nikkei only needs to fall about 800 points to be back at a level last seen in 1982. The generation since then saw both the rise of Japan as a manufacturing superpower and subsequent deflationary spiral that hindered growth for more than a decade. All equity indexes in the region open for trading lost ground.

My reaction:  News stories like this are warning signals, and they are as clear as day.  Any investor who is expecting a return to normalcy rather than a financial collapse is dangerously deluding themselves.