A belated AOM 3 blog

What was the terribly powerful financial instrument used to create society's financial depressions and wealth?...Thats right, the stock market! Created by Dutch monopoly in spice trade, the West India Trade Co. during the 1600's. Now, who invented the very first stock market bubble?... A Scottish man by the name of John Law, child of a wealthy goldsmith and heir to a vast estate, but how did he create a stock market bubble? His story in England where Law murders a man in a duel over a woman.Then of course John is sentenced to death, but wait- plot twist- John escapes from prison, god knows how, and finds himself in nowhere other than Amsterdam. Which lucky for him happens to also be home of the spice trade monopoly: West India Trading Co. The Dutch concept of the company gave John an idea he saw how the company would trade stocks created through supply and demand making the company's shareholders extremely rich. Our main character John, inspired by this concept relocated to Paris, France which was in a massive Louis 15th war debt; John saw this as an absolutely flawless place to run his first experiment: his very own company. John wanted to construct a bank such as the ones back in Amsterdam however this one would issue paper money at 100 livers a note, but why does John want paper money? He had a plan to restore economic power by running a large scale monopoly trading spot like the West India one in Amsterdam. John called his the Mississippi Co. which was meant to turn debt into shares. His plan of course was working because in 1719 livers had risen to $10,000--> the higher the price the more people wanted to buy. By then law had control over French indirect taxes as well as 26 mints, all tobacco trade as well as all trade with Africa and Asia, Law had gone from gambler and murderer to France's prime minister. However John was running a Ponzi scheme which created un unsustainable bubble which of course burst leading to our dear friend John escaping another country. Hmm a corrupt stock market bubble sounds familiar *coff coff* Enron.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

COVID-19 Blog

As the coronavirus rages on, an important question arises: should western countries aid the so-called "third world," particularly Africa, in combating the pandemic? I believe the answer is no, for two main reasons. My first objection is rather obvious: the United States currently has more confirmed COVID cases than all of Africa combined, and it isn't close. There are several possible explanations, including the warmer weather, but the exact reason isn't necessarily relevant. After a domestic coronavirus response which can only be described as a disaster of earth-shattering proportions, who are we to go on an international health crusade? There are millions of vulnerable Americans who are currently unable to receive adequate care. Our resources need to be going to them first, not abroad, and most certainly not to parasitic, too-big-to-fail corporations. My second objection: when was America's last successful large-scale international intervention, viole...
Read more

SARS CoV-2, COVID-19, and The World

It's no secret that right now the SARS CoV-2 is wreaking havoc across the world. As of today, the United States has surpassed China as the nation with the most cases of the novel coronavirus, with over 86,000 cases in our country to date. This is all pretty crazy, especially considering that this is all because of a pathogen that supposedly started with either bats or pangolins (the only mammal in the world known to have scales) in a small localized region of China. Of course, it's not only the health effects that are wide-reaching; the social effects are also just as prevalent. One of the ways in which the world is rapidly changing in regards to social effects is through panic buying of goods at places such as supermarkets and hypermarkets such as Walmart. However, the good news is that food in general is not going to run out; there may be shortages of certain particular items, nevertheless, as certain nations have curtailed exports. What is bound to change, possibly permanent...
Read more

COVID-19 Blog

As the spread of COVID-19 becomes greater many opinions on how to respond to this global pandemic have surfaced. Just a few months ago much of the population in the United States felt unthreatened by the virus as it spread through China, being concentrated in Wuhan, and later spreading in Europe. It was not until the virus quickly erupted in the United States that we each understood the true severity of this pandemic. Now we are seeing how individuals are being greatly impacted by this virus as we are all being asked to stay home and the everyday parts of our lives have been flipped upside down. In the opinion piece about what responsibility developed countries have for helping less developed countries I both agreed and disagreed. My initial response is that if places, like the United States, are struggling with medical resources how can we even begin to be helpful in less developed countries. Hospitals all throughout the United States are beginning to have to make life or death decisi...
Read more