Funny Money: Sad but Somehow True
Sometimes parody can be closer to the truth than what we care to think: the Onion, a widely read satire news site read by the 18-44 year old demographic recently published an article about the recent string of economic bubbles (namely the dot-com bubble and the housing bubble).
The article suggests several possible alternatives around which a bubble could form, including this one, which sounds like a bubble which may have already long since burst:
The most support thus far has gone toward the so-called paper bubble. In this appealing scenario, various privately issued pieces of paper, backed by government tax incentives but entirely worthless, would temporarily be given grossly inflated artificial values and sold to unsuspecting stockholders by greedy and unscrupulous entrepreneurs.
“Little pieces of paper are the next big thing,” speculator Joanna Nadir, of Falls Church, VA said. “Just keep telling yourself that. If enough people can be talked into thinking it’s legitimate, it will become temporarily true.”
Funny thing. Last I checked, there was quite the bubble for paper - Federal Reserve Notes or the US Dollar since 1913.
