Chapter 15 (Bubbles): Throughout the long sweep of history, the bursting of asset bubbles has nearly always been traumatic. Social, political and economic upheavals have a bad habit of following asset bubbles, while wealth destruction is a guaranteed feature. Four characteristics of bubbles are observed: that they are self-reinforcing on the way up (higher prices become the justification for higher prices); once they pop, the game is suddenly and permanently over; they are roughly symmetrical in time they take to peak and fall; and they are roughly symmetrical in price, returning to their pre-bubble status. Dr. Martenson concludes that the housing bubble is itself just a symptom of a credit bubble, leaving a final catastrophe of the currency as our most likely outcome. http://www.chrismartenson.com