The straight-faced comparisons to the inflation-adjusted valuations of the Mississippi Company and the South Sea Company made me chuckle: both of those companie

The straight-faced comparisons to the inflation-adjusted valuations of the Mississippi Company and the South Sea Company made me chuckle: both of those companies ended up in calamitous crashes! * The Mississippi Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company * The South Sea Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company None other than Isaac Newton lost a fortune by speculating in South Sea Company stock: http://www.businessinsider.com/isaac-newton-lost-a-fortune-on-englands-hottest-stock-2016-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/isaac-newton-lost-a-fortune-o... By the way, we may owe the use of the word "bubble" for describing financial bubbles to the appropriately named Bubble Act passed by Great Britain's parliament in 1720, during the South Sea stock mania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Act