Ascent of Money

I am watching part 2 of the PBS documentary- The Ascent of Money. They talk about an interesting Scotsman named John Law. He fled Scotland because of a murder conviction and went to Holland, saw how they did finance, and then traveled to France and set up a financial system there. He established a company that held the colony rights to Louisiana and became rich selling shares in that company. Unfortunately, he spread false information on how easy it would be to form a colony in the swamplands of the South. And when word came back on how 80% of the colonists died in the first year, the stock lost 90% of its value, and John Law fled the country. This all happened back in the early 1700's. How little has changed since then!