Sunday, Jan 10, 2010

Worth a good old read

Cnn: 5 centuries of bubbles and bursts

History is replete with financial frenzies that seem ridiculous in hindsight, but were viewed as anything but at the time.

Posted by mark @ 08:07 PM (1119 views) Add Comment

16 Comments

1. devo said...

no mention of the nascent green bubble?

shame on you, CNN!

Sunday, January 10, 2010 08:38PM Report Comment
 

2. hpwatcher said...

I thought this was good up until the last bit. I just don't accept that Gold is a bubble, (yet). The mania simply hasn't happened (yet).

UK and US housing represents a real bubble, gold is no where near that (yet).

Sunday, January 10, 2010 09:02PM Report Comment
 

3. estrader said...

@2 I agree, I don't think gold is a bubble yet. If/When I hear people in the steam room at the gym talking about 'investing' in gold then I will concede it is a bubble.

Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:28PM Report Comment
 

4. fallingbuzzard said...

Cash bubble may have been avoided

Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:36PM Report Comment
 

5. hpwatcher said...

@2 I agree, I don't think gold is a bubble yet. If/When I hear people in the steam room at the gym talking about 'investing' in gold then I will concede it is a bubble.

Yes, I think far too many people are calling it a bubble. This is keeping, and will keep, a lot of potential buyers out of the market.

Monday, January 11, 2010 06:03AM Report Comment
 

6. brickormortis said...

hpwatcher: "I just don't accept that Gold is a bubble, (yet)." Is that not the classic psychology concomitant with bubble frenzy? Nobody ever thinks they are in a bubble till it bursts!

Monday, January 11, 2010 08:07AM Report Comment
 

7. Cashrichassetpoor said...

I'd say that gold is at risk at being the next bubble. I haven't got a graph of cost of gold against time but I'd imagine it would look a lot like the lifecycle of a bubble graph; with gold is currently towards theend of the awareness phase.

Monday, January 11, 2010 08:36AM Report Comment
 

8. hpwatcher said...

hpwatcher: "I just don't accept that Gold is a bubble, (yet)." Is that not the classic psychology concomitant with bubble frenzy?

Not at all. Hardly anyone is buying Gold because so many people - like you, for example - are saying it's a bubble.

Nobody ever thinks they are in a bubble till it bursts!

Well then don't buy any....we don't have to argue about it.

Monday, January 11, 2010 08:39AM Report Comment
 

9. p. doff said...

''Hardly anyone is buying Gold''

Erm ... Not quite true. You can't watch telly these days without seeing several adverts each evening from the various 'we will buy your unwanted gold jewellery.com' brigade.

Of course, for every buyer there is a seller and we could be at the stage where the clever money is still scrambling to buy the stuff, whilst the sucker sheeple are being conned into parting with it.

Monday, January 11, 2010 10:07AM Report Comment
 

10. hpwatcher said...

You can't watch telly these days without seeing several adverts each evening from the various 'we will buy your unwanted gold jewellery.com' brigade.

Erm......yes, but not buying. That's the whole point.

and we could be at the stage where the clever money is still scrambling to buy the stuff

But we aren' t there yet. The one clear indication of a bubble is the ''new paradigm'' and we simply aren't seeing that in relation to Gold....nor are we seeing the widespread mania/frenzy, like we saw with houses.

If Gold does go down, it will be because people are investing in other things and no longer need a safe haven...it won't be because it is a bubble - as it simply has not reached the heights (yet).

Monday, January 11, 2010 10:30AM Report Comment
 

11. the number cruncher said...

There are lots of blogers and conspiracy theorist constantly banging on about gold and how important it is - most have a position and desperately want gold to become a bubble so they can become wealthier without working for it.

If I was a dictator I would have them strung up on lampposts next to the bankers.

I work for a living and am very proud that I contribute to society and then society rewards me for my efforts in a simple relationship that benefits all. Usury and speculation should be taxed out of existence and with stiff jail terms for abusers

Monday, January 11, 2010 10:52AM Report Comment
 

12. p. doff said...

I'm playing Devil's advocate today :-

''desperately want gold to become a bubble so they can become wealthier without working for it''.

I don't think that's strictly true either. I see it as a load of people being worried about losing their savings and wealth through the actions of the greedy, exacerbated by the reaction of the incompetent (governments). They could simply be trying to preserve what they have, which in many cases was hard earned.

@HPW. We seem to have a misunderstanding. You said 'hardly anyone is buying gold'. I was merely stating that lots of companies ARE buying gold - and advertise for it daily.

Monday, January 11, 2010 11:12AM Report Comment
 

13. mr g said...

NC @ 10 "I work for a living and am very proud that I contribute to society and then society rewards me for my efforts in a simple relationship that benefits all. Usury and speculation should be taxed out of existence and with stiff jail terms for abusers"

I agree 100% with this statement. I am now retired but feel that I contributed to society by working in manufacturing, actually making something which was exported unlike the parasites in the financial sector who simply leech off the majority and feather their own nests.

Monday, January 11, 2010 02:11PM Report Comment
 

14. hpwatcher said...

If I was a dictator I would have them strung up on lampposts next to the bankers.

There is a word for people like that.

I work for a living and am very proud that I contribute to society and then society rewards me for my efforts in a simple relationship that benefits all.

You seem to be saying that no-one should take part in any form of speculation?

Were you annoyed when you wrote that?

Monday, January 11, 2010 03:51PM Report Comment
 

15. estrader said...

@9. p. doff "whilst the sucker sheeple are being conned into parting with it." I would say you are exactly right. Remember, the public is always wrong. I work with someone who sold his "2nd hand" gold at around $950/oz excited by the fact that he got so much for it. "The merchant said he has never seen the price so high" ..I implied he may have done the wrong thing by selling...gold is now around $1,154.50/oz ...N.B: This person is also telling me I ought to buy property now because even the estate agent says there is so much demand! This man is over 60 and he is quite intelligent, but he seems so gullible at times...maybe I've got it wrong...?

Monday, January 11, 2010 04:55PM Report Comment
 

16. tenyearstogetmymoneyback said...

p doff wrote "Erm ... Not quite true. You can't watch telly these days without seeing several adverts each evening from the various 'we will buy your unwanted gold jewellery.com' brigade."

We discussed this a few weeks ago. I think you will find that the buyers are people like the Bank of India who recently bought 200 tons.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125722876971624729.html

It takes an awful lot of 9ct gold earings to make that amount.

Monday, January 11, 2010 07:52PM Report Comment
 

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