In this blog post I am reading the Preface and Chapter entitled “Money Mania – The Mississippi Scheme” from the book Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay.
I will be reading here LIVE @ 7:45am HST / 1:45pm EST every weekday until the chapter is finished.
Preface and beginning of Money Mania to page 17 – The Mississippi Scheme John Law spending all of his father’s money and becoming a professional gambler, creating a Land Bank in France, and creating a company to sell shares in profits to be attained in exploration of the Mississippi among other places
pp. 17 – 24 Money Mania – The Mississippi Scheme The crazy things people did to get shares of stock from ladies pretending to be in a car accident and young aristrocrats murdering stock holders
pp. 24-27 John Law is wealthy and put on a pedestal in France, and the government even buys an expensive diamond with public money
pp. 27-30 of Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay – People start cashing out their shares and French paper money for gold, silver and jewelry and take it to England and Holland in secret. The French government and John Law try to preserve the currency by passing a law forbidding people to have more than a certain amount of Gold, Silver and Jewelry and then chaos ensues
pp. 30 – 38 The bubble bursts and John Law goes from hero to villain as the value of his stock and paper money drops, and the value of coin increases
p. 38 – 42 John Law leaves the country.
p. 42 – 45 John Law and the French Regent who helped him start the land bank pass away, never to reach the same pinnacle of success/failure again.
