Comments on: Some Past Financial Bubbles

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:30:09 +0000

Hmmm Tech II bubble. I would HOPE that investors remember all those dot coms with no income. We shall see if you are right as soon as facebook opens its books

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:28:49 +0000

Economics major lol and while I can’t remember all of macro economics that stupid bubble stayed in my mind

By: Greg McFarlane

Greg McFarlane — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:04:27 +0000

It took me a day, but I did think of one thing that might count as a bubble: tech stocks with tons of users but no obvious way to generate decent revenue.

Meaning stuff like Digg and Facebook. I think it’s already starting to pop. A year ago, people were seriously evaluating Digg’s worth at $250 million. For the ability to read my home bookmarks on my work computer? Yes, because that’s a feature I can’t live without. Same deal with Facebook. It might be a worthwhile diversion for millions of people, but again, in 2009 it had been estimated to be worth as much as $15 billion. Forgive me if I think that Cigna and Kroger, who provide something tangible, are better investments than an economy built on FarmVille credits. Investors are as excited about Facebook’s eventual public debut as they were when News Corp. bought MySpace, which News Corp. can’t give away today.

By: FinEngr

FinEngr — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:38:57 +0000

That’s pretty crazy – tulips? My history would have started me at the trading company, how did you find out about the flower mania?

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:09:28 +0000

Any “it” Christmas toy! HA!

Also, I don’t know much about it, but I have read int he past that there was a baseball card bust in the late 90s (that is when I realized I didn’t give a sh!t about baseball or their cards).

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:08:05 +0000

2 thoughts:
1) I think the bubble definition has to do with the speed that price inflates. Newspaper prices (to the public) grew with inflation over the course of 150 – 200 years (maybe it was faster or slower than inflation during certain periods). While the price of a single tulip grew at 100x inflation within a year.

2) Does anyone still spend money recklessly on something of questionable value that they didnâ€™t spend such money on before?
100000% Yes. 100000000% Yes. Gold lol…joking I don’t know enough about the gold market.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:04:10 +0000

MFO and Invest it,

Just stick with it! I love writing my random thoughts…sometimes I get yelled at (see 2 posts ago about teaching lol) and sometimes I have meaningful conversations

By: Mike - Saving Money Today

Mike - Saving Money Today — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:52:02 +0000

I always found the tulip bubble fascinating. People today might think it was crazy to be so obsessed with tulips, but are more recent crazes over beanie babies and Tickle Me Elmo dolls any better?

By: Greg McFarlane

Greg McFarlane — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:07:06 +0000

If college tuition declines in price, that doesn’t mean it previously existed as a bubble. A lot of value evaporated from the newspaper and recorded music industries in recent years: does that mean newspapers and CDs were “bubbles”?

If you define a bubble as rampant inflation of an item’s price, far out of proportion to its utility, it’s hard to think of anything that still counts. Does anyone still spend money recklessly on something of questionable value that they didn’t spend such money on before?

By: Invest It Wisely

Invest It Wisely — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:39:21 +0000

There have been quite a few PF blogs started over the last six months, eh? (Mine included!)