speculation

Examples of speculation in the following topics:

• Economic Booms and Busts

  • The Market Revolution produced an upsurge in speculative investments, which resulted in periods of economic boom and bust.
  • These speculative investments were frequently made with borrowed funds, resulting in large-scale cycles of boom and bust in the early 1800s.
  • The tremendous growth in the agricultural sector in the late 18th and early 19th centuries encouraged land speculation, or the purchasing of land with the expectation that its value would continue to increase.
  • In 1837, the nation once again faced a financial crisis as a result of the speculative fever of the Market Revolution, known as the Panic of 1837.

• The Panic of 1837

  • The financial crisis of 1837 was based on speculative fever and contributed to a five-year economic depression.
  • The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis, or market correction, driven by speculative fever.
  • These speculative investments were frequently made with borrowed funds, resulting in large-scale cycles of boom and bust in the early 1800s.
  • The tremendous growth in the agricultural sector in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries encouraged land speculation, or the purchasing of land with the expectation that its value would continue to increase.
  • However, Jacksonian Democrats argued that the Bank had funded rampant speculation and introduced paper-money inflation, and was therefore chiefly responsible for the crisis.

• Wall Street Crash of 1929

  • Many Americans engaged in speculation before the crash, investing heavily as shares steadily rose until an unstable bubble had formed.
  • The crash followed a speculative boom that had taken hold in the late 1920s, which had led hundreds of thousands of Americans to invest heavily in the stock market.
  • Speculation thus fueled further rises and created an economic bubble.

• Bankers and Lawyers

  • From 1816-1818, the Second Bank aided the agricultural boom in the United States through lending policies that encouraged speculation in land.
  • Many blamed the economic turmoil on the banks' irresponsibility in funding rampant speculation and issuing excessive paper money unbacked by bullion reserves.

• The Panic of 1819

  • It was made worse, however, by land speculation and poor banking practices at home.
  • Speculators took advantage of this boom in the sale of land by purchasing property not to live on, but to buy cheaply and resell at exorbitant prices.
  • But this new institution only compounded the problem by making risky loans, opening branches in the South and West where land fever was highest, and issuing a steady stream of Bank of the United States notes, a move that increased inflation and speculation.
  • Land speculators lost the value of their investments.

• The New Era

  • Dangerously high credit levels combined with excessive speculation in the stock market led to the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
  • Yet the dangerous practices of credit extensions, stock speculation and excessive government spending under Hoover brought the good times to a calamitous end.
  • President Herbert Hoover advocated individualism and business enterprise, but his policies that created an economic boom enabled credit extensions and speculation that resulted in the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

• The Second Bank of the United States

  • This involved the use of sovereign powers for the regulation of credit to encourage the development of the economy and to deter speculation.
  • The bank aided this boom through its lending, which encouraged speculation in land.
  • This lending allowed almost anyone to borrow money and speculate in land, sometimes doubling or even tripling the prices of land.

• The War and Its Consequences

  • One of the biggest problems confronting the British Empire in 1763 was controlling land speculators whose activities often led to frontier conflicts in both Europe and the British colonies.
  • Almost immediately, many British colonists and land speculators objected to the proclamation boundary, since there were already many settlements beyond the line and many existing land claims yet to be settled.
  • Prominent American colonists joined with land speculators in Britain to lobby the government to move the line further west.

• Scandals

  • Beginning with the Black Friday gold speculation ring in 1869, corruption was uncovered during Grant's two presidential terms in seven federal departments.
  • Corbin himself had $2 million invested in the gold market, and had given both First Lady Julia Grant and Grant's personal secretary, Horace Porter, $500,000 speculative accounts.
  • Grant unexpectedly issued an order not to give any more immunity to persons involved in the Whiskey Ring, leading to speculation that he was trying to protect Babcock.

• Banking and Finance Reform

  • The Emergency Banking Act, also known as the Glass–Steagall Act, also limited commercial bank securities activities and affiliations between commercial banks and securities firms to regulate speculations.
  • Several provisions of the act sought to restrict "speculative" uses of bank credit.