Why Did John Law Fail?
The Gambler Who Broke France
📜 What Happened
A Scottish gambler-economist convinced France to let him print paper money and merge it with his Mississippi Company — shares in the 'boundless riches' of Louisiana swamps. Shares rose 20x; the word 'millionaire' was coined for the winners. Law printed money to prop up shares, shares to prop up money — a doom loop wearing genius's clothes. The 1720 collapse ruined a generation, made 'banque' a dirty word in France for a century, and helped set the fuse for revolution.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
Backing the currency with the stock and the stock with the currency — a perpetual motion machine of confidence, which is to say, nothing.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
When the system's collateral is belief in the system, one doubt is a bank run. Complexity that no one can explain isn't sophistication — it's the hiding place of the flaw.
📕 The Antidote Book
Everyone obsesses over predicting change — markets, elections, technology — and the track record is a graveyard. Housel inverts the telescope: the highest-return knowledge is what STAYS THE SAME. People will always…
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