InvestorMind

With continued volatility in global markets, 40 year veteran, Robert Fitzwilson wrote this exclusive piece for King World News. Fitzwilson is founder of The Portola Group, one of the premier boutique firms in the United States. Here are Fitzwilson’s observations: “In our opinion, the beginning of the dot-com bubble started with the Netscape IPO in the mid-1990s. Prior to Netscape, companies had to have a track record of earnings and cash flows before going public. It was normal to receive a prospectus or two per week prior to the Netscape IPO. Afterwards, it became a flood, almost a daily occurrence to have prospectuses arrive at our research department.” Robert Fitzwilson continues: “Bubbles occur when perception achieves escape velocity from reality. Asset values routinely oscillate between over- and under-valuation. Indeed, in normal times, the only way to “outperform” is to have an iron stomach and solid conviction (to buy when everyone is selling and to sell when there is a...

An animated short about the history of one of the most sensational get-rich-quick schemes that took place in France over 200 years ago. With economist John Law at the helm, the plan was to open a bank and exchange bank notes for gold at wildly inflated share prices to mask the fact that the country's gold had been depleted in the building of Louis XIV's palace. When the inevitable rush to cash in the notes takes place, poor John Law is left broke and broken-hearted. This is pretty much how inflation, over printing of the money supply, manias and a bubble works.