Oddly enough the beautiful
tulip created the first economic bubble in history, now referred to as
Tulip Mania. In the 1630's a craze throughout western Europe for the recently introduced tulip sent prices to extraordinary heights. The collapse came in February 1637 and created the first economic bubble - when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values. Similar irrational mania contributed to the two most recent bubbles, the 2008 mortgage crisis and the 2000 Technology collapse. Seems we are bound to repeat the same mistakes. Canon 7D, 1/160 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 800, 50mm prime lens.