"During the progress of this famous bubble, England presented a singular spectacle. The public mind was in a state of unwholesome fermentation. Men were no longer satisfied with the slow but sure profits of cautious industry. The hope of boundless wealth for the morrow made them heedless and extravagant for to-day."
-Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Mackey's excerpt is from his discussion of the South Sea bubble in 1720 England, but it could just as easily describe the 1637 Tulip Mania in Holland, The Mississippi Bubble in France in 1718, the Tech Stock bubble of 2000, or the 2003-2006 American real estate market. Something about human nature...........
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