OK, I guess I should have saved the Tulip thing for another day.

The real problem here is not the speculation, per se. The crises of
over-production that have been recurring SINCE the Tulip Panic are
exacerbated by speculation, but they exist anyway, and are sufficiently
troublesome without speculation. These have been documented by economists
and historians of every persuasion, including apologists and cheerleaders
for the status quo, for more than a century. In fact, when Marx first
started writing about this, PRIOR TO 1847 (!), there was already a large
body of literature that both documented and attempted to explain (or
justify) the periodic crises of capitalist production. This body has grown
tremendously since.

I can provide a reading list for those who may be interested.

- Don DeBar