These crazy booms should be watched. Alan Greenspan didn't think so. He's a capable man but he's an idiot. You should not make him the father of all banking. His hero is Ayn Rand. It's an unlikely place to look for wisdom. A lot of people think that if an ax murderer goes around killing people in a free market it's all right.
After the South Sea Bubble, Britain outlawed public corporations—only private ones allowed. And they led the world for 100 years. A modest amount of liquidity will serve the situation. Too much liquidity will hurt human nature. I would never be tenured if I said that. But I'm right and they are wrong.
南海泡沫事件指的是南海公司事件。这家英国的股份公司成立于1711年,旨在帮助减少英国的国家债务。直到第一次世界大战,英国才通过央行的印钞机实现了赤字融资(deficit financing)。在英国政府向众多议会成员提供了好处后,南海公司最终获得了垄断南美洲贸易的特权。由于其垄断权和涉足利润丰富的政府债务业务的前景,南海公司成了当时最受欢迎的公司,其股价不断上涨,最终远高于公司的内在价值。当收益无法兑现时,其股价崩盘,包括一些贵族在内的许多人都失去了他们的财富。在反思该事件后,英国颁布了《1720年泡沫法案》(Bubble Act of 1720),禁止成立没有获得皇家特许状的合资股份公司,且获得特许状的公司也不得上市流通。在接下来的100年里,英国主导了世界的商贸。该事件使我们对流动性的理解加深了,流动性衡量的是将资产变现的能力。在上述例子中,流动性指的是如何快速出售股票,实现变现。某些股票的活跃程度越高,其流动性就越强。华尔街为衍生品提出的一个说辞就是,衍生品可以增加流动性。然而,它的代价是什么呢?这种代价值得吗?芒格认为不值得。
I remember the $0.05 hamburger and a $0.40-per- hour minimum wage, so I've seen a tremendous amount of inflation in my lifetime. Did it ruin the investment climate? I think not.