print, borrow and occupy
He was called the scoundrel who invented credit. John Law was a Scottish libertine who rescued France from ruin, then ruined her again, by basing prosperity on credit. He gave us a glimpse of the...
View ArticleOle’ Miss: beating the system
A Scottish libertine named John Law rescued France from certain ruin after the death of Louis XIV, the Sun King who had emptied the treasury. However Law then ruined France a second time by basing...
View Articlebank heist: meltdown on the Mississippi
It is really a case of the greater fool hypothesis. That is, no matter how high the price of something gets whipped up in speculative frenzy, there are always others who are willing to pay for it. The...
View Articleget rich quick : bubbles in biloxi
He was brilliant. But he was something of a scoundrel. Some of the ideas were there that bore resemblance to John Maynard Keynes. Some of the ideas were there that resembled the classic stock swindle...
View Articlewhen you can charge it
He was called the scoundrel who invented credit. He was a Scottish libertine named John Law who rescued France from ruin, then ruined France again by applying his theory of prosperity based on credit....
View Articlemadame de tencin: liberation of null and void
A rockin’ nun. The liberation of Mme de Tencin. From convent to court, from bank to boudoir, she was always prone to argue. It was the beginning of the eighteenth-century and the rays of light were...
View Articlearguing from bank to boudoir
Powerful advocates brought Alexandrine’s pleas to the ear of the pope, and in November 1712, her vows were formally annulled. It was the liberation of Mme de Tencin. From convent to court, and from...
View Articletencin: stockjobbing the abbe and others
It was the Regency period in France, beginning in 1715 and was a hey-day of cynical license in the last legs of the aged Louis XIV. And Mme Alexandrine de Tencin found no lack of companions. Her vows...
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