Tony Deden on the tech bubble (1999)

Let there be no doubt, that what we are witnessing is, indeed, history's greatest financial bubble.  The indescribable financial excesses, the massive increase in debt, the monstrous use of leverage upon leverage, the collapse in private savings, the incredulous current account deficits, and the ballooning central bank assets all describe the very severe financial imbalances which no amount of statistical revision nor hype from CNBC can erase. 

As it happened in 1929 - a boom and bust with which this bubble is often compared to but which pales into insignificance when compared with it - as it happened in 1972, in 1989 in Japan, or in 1998 in East Asia, booms are followed by busts - they are called recessions, depressions, etc. - because booms sow the seeds of every succeeding bust. 

Their cause is not the fault of capitalism as it has been suggested, but an excessive amount of money and credit created by central banks.  Yet, this seems to escape the understanding of those who will, in one day, convene congressional hearings to determine what caused this destruction.  The culprit is, as it always has been, the same organization, which professes interest in bringing about price stability and low inflation: The Federal Reserve Bank and its policies of money market intervention, credit creation and loose money.

~ Tony Deden, "Reflections on Prosperity," Safe Haven, December 29, 1999