History Repeats Itself

I recently went on a cruise to Alaska and realized how similar the Klondike gold rush was to real estate bubbles.

We spent time in museums, and lectures learning that in 1896 the word -gold- caused major actions on the part of unsophisticated and naive people.

When the report came that some people had made it rich striking gold, the word went out that oodles of gold was just lying on the ground for anyone to scoop up, 150,000 people pulled up stakes, quit their jobs and took their life savings to come to Alaska. They did not bother to research what the truth was. Anyone who thought of a way to make money off these people were the ones who got rich- including newspapers, supply sellers, and local vendors. (more…)