Women's magazines ran articles on how to invest, and stock brokers provided women with amenities like special rooms with their own ticker tapes. Well known financial figures, among them A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, said that their companies' stocks were too high. In the long run, both Fischer and Giannini were right. Some of the stocks that were high-tech speculations in the 1920s are today's boring blue chips. Others imploded, taking their investors along with them.
Bubbles are fun while they last.
Avoiding a hangover after they burst makes them even better. Click here for more op-eds, Issue Papers, and Issue Backgrounders by Linda Gorman. This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action.