The Inimitable Tiff

Cap­i­tal­ism did not in­vent the bub­ble. Sri Lanka, I have just been read­ing, is cov­ered in the ruins of a mas­sive, an­cient ir­ri­ga­tion net­work that was aban­doned just as it was fin­ished. The most par­si­mo­nious ex­pla­na­tion is that an­cient Sri Lanka had a bub­ble in aque­ducts. Per­haps the an­swer to why the Maya built so many splen­did cities, and then aban­doned them, is a bub­ble in the build­ing of splen­did cities. Egypt had a bub­ble in tombs; Rome had a bub­ble in con­quest; Eu­rope had a bub­ble in chivalry. Bub­bles are a human fail­ing; cap­i­tal­ism is unique be­cause it pops them. The stock mar­ket is this pointed in­stru­ment.