Swings and Roundabouts Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I am currently reading an interesting book called “Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley Investment Classics)”Charles P. Kindleberger, wow what a great read it is!

The amazing thing I have found when reading this is what a short memory I have. Does anybody remember the collapse in Japan in the 1980’s where the banks were nationalised, the Argentine crisis? The Mexican Crisis, the 1997 Asian crisis, the dot com bubble bursting, the 2003 collapse?…it goes on and on and further and further back. I certainly remember them now that I am reading about them, but I certainly have not appreciated them lately until now. For some reason we all tend to have short memories and all seem to continue to learn the same lessons over and over again. When one bubble bursts it creates another somewhere else.

So where is the next bubble likely to be as a result of the bursting of this one?