Name: 史上最慘！10個吞噬無數人血汗的經濟保麗龍！ (Top 10 Economic Bubbles That RUINED Lives)
Uploaded: 2026-03-06T17:00:38.000Z
Duration: 16 min 29 s

Now it's exactly a week since one of the biggest, supposedly most stable cryptocurrencies took a massive tumble.

距離一個最大、號稱最穩定的加密貨幣崩盤，到現在正好一週了。

And today we're exploring moments in history when common sense went out the window, prices went through the roof, and

今天我們要探討歷史上那些常識蕩然無存、價格飆升，

the resulting crash left millions of regular people with nothing but empty pockets and broken dreams.

接著的崩盤讓數百萬普通人身無分文、破碎了夢想的時刻。

It seems amazing that a business as huge as this can fail in this way.

這麼龐大的事業竟然會這樣失敗，真是令人難以置信。

South SEA BUBBLE In September, when the bubble burst, England was plunged into an economic and political crisis.

南海保麗龍 九月，保麗龍破裂時，英國陷入了經濟和政治危機。

This was one of the first examples of a financial boom and bust, and

這是金融繁榮與蕭條最早的例子之一，

was the event that gave rise to the use of the term bubble to describe a spectacular market failure.

也是「保麗龍」一詞用來形容驚人市場崩潰的事件。

In 1711, the South Sea Company was established to assume a portion of Britain's national debt in exchange for exclusive trading rights to Spanish South America.

1711年，南海公司成立，負責承擔英國國債的一部分，以換取對西班牙南美洲的獨家貿易權利。

The lure of this supposedly vast untapped wealth ignited an unprecedented speculative fervor.

這看似廣闊未開發財富的誘惑，點燃了前所未有的投機狂熱。

It's worth remembering that the South Sea bubble occurred when the concept of hands off investing was quite new.

值得注意的是，南海保麗龍發生時，放手投資的概念還很新穎。

The development of the Joint Stock Company in Britain allowed businesses to attract large amounts of capital from investors who could easily sell their shares to someone else if they needed their money back.

英國股份公司的發展讓事業能夠吸引投資者的大量資金，這些投資者如果需要拿回錢，可以輕鬆地將股份賣給別人。

The success spawned a proliferation of absurd bubble companies, including one famously described as a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but

成功催生了大量荒謬的保麗龍公司，其中一家公司被戲稱為「一個有巨大優勢的事業，但

Parliament passed the Bubble act to curb these rival firms.

國會通過了《保麗龍法案》來遏制這些競爭對手。

But this ironically drew attention to the South Sea Company's own questionable value.

但這卻諷刺地引起了對南海公司自身可疑價值的關注。

As insiders began to sell, public confidence evaporated and the price of shares collapsed, leading to widespread bankruptcies and a massive political scandal in Britain.

隨著內部人士開始拋售，公眾信心蒸發，股價崩盤，導致英國出現大範圍的破產和大規模的政治醜聞。

The South Sea Company was kept alive, but scaled back significantly and kept under stricter government control.

南海公司得以維持，但規模大幅縮小，並受到更嚴格的政府管控。

It was broken up, with some of its capital being transferred to the bank of England.

它被拆散，部分資本轉移到英格蘭銀行。

they continued to do some trade with South America and even entered the whaling business with little success.

他們繼續與南美洲進行一些貿易，甚至進入了捕鯨業，但成效不大。

密西西比保麗龍，我將開設一家銀行。

好的，它的運作方式是這樣的。

I give them a receipt, a banknote, a piece of paper, but it's just as good as gold.

我給他們一張收據，一張紙鈔，一張紙，但它跟黃金一樣有價值。

Following the War of Spanish Succession, France found itself in a dire financial predicament with crippling national debt.

西班牙王位繼承戰爭後，法國陷入嚴峻的財政困境，國債沉重。

Enter John Law, a Scottish economist with a radical solution.

蘇格蘭經濟學家約翰·勞提出了一個激進的解決方案。

Replace metallic currency with paper money, backed by the wealth of the French colonial territories.

用法國殖民地財富作為後盾的紙幣取代金屬貨幣。

I see the Mississippi river and that land they named after King Louis, Louisiana.

我看到密西西比河，還有那塊以路易十四命名的土地，路易斯安那。

It's rich in diamonds, gold, furs, Rubies?

這裡有鑽石、黃金、毛皮、紅寶石嗎？

In 1717, Law established the Compagnie d', Auxilant, granting it a monopoly on trade with the vast Louisiana territory.

1717年，約翰·勞成立了「公司」，獲得了與廣闊路易斯安那地區貿易的壟斷權。

However, the perceived wealth of Louisiana proved largely illusory and actual profits were meager.

然而，路易斯安那的所謂財富被證明大多是虛幻的，實際利潤微薄。

As astute investors began to cash out their paper money for gold and silver, public confidence wavered.

當精明的投資者開始將他們的紙幣兌換成黃金和白銀時，公眾信心動搖了。

When the bubble burst, the value of the shares and the paper money they backed evaporated almost overnight.

保麗龍破裂時，股票以及其支撐的紙幣的價值幾乎在一夜之間蒸發。

John Law slipped across the border in disguise, broke and broken hearted, never to set foot in France again.

約翰·勞喬裝打扮，逃過邊境，身無分文、心碎，再也沒有踏足法國。

How soon before it was converted to steel rails for a proper steam railway?

鋼軌鋪設，蒸汽火車上路，這一切究竟要多久？

Well, the railways converted in the 1830s.

嗯，鐵路在 1830 年代就轉型了。

It becomes part of a network and part of the mania that's sweeping Britain.

它成為了席捲英國的熱潮的一部分，也成為了網絡的一部分。

Throughout the 19th century, the industrial revolution was in full swing and railways were the undeniable future of transport.

整個 19 世紀，工業革命如火如荼地展開，鐵路無疑是交通運輸的未來。

This fertile ground for innovation quickly morphed into a speculative frenzy.

這塊孕育創新的沃土，很快就演變成了一場投機狂熱。

Is there any single figure that stands out in this great expansion of the railway?

在這場鐵路大擴張中，有沒有什麼特別突出的人物？

If you're talking about railways, we have to talk about George Hudson of York.

說到鐵路，我們就不能不提約克的喬治·哈德森。

The railway king was he became styled through the 1840s and Hudson really came from nowhere.

他在 1840 年代被譽為鐵路之王，哈德森確實是白手起家。

Thousands of railway companies, some legitimate but many outright fraudulent, sprang up each promising lucrative routes and unimaginable returns.

成千上萬的鐵路公司，有些合法，但許多則是徹頭徹尾的詐騙，各家都承諾著豐厚的路線和難以想像的回報。

But the tracks led many straight to ruin.

但鐵軌卻讓許多人走向了毀滅。

By 1847, the bubble of over speculation and unrealistic projections began to deflate.

到 1847 年，過度投機和不切實際預測的保麗龍開始縮小。

He had his own money, but even so, how could he have afforded this?

他有自己的錢，但就算這樣，他怎麼可能負擔得起呢？

It's where a little bit of sharp practice came in.

這就是一些不軌行為開始的地方。

And this was the beginning of Hudson's downfall, really.

這真的就是哈德森開始走下坡的開端。

It was found that he was falsifying accounts.

He was selling land that wasn't his to sell.

The bank of England, facing a gold drain and a broader credit crunch, aggressively raised interest rates reaching 8% by October.

英格蘭銀行面對黃金外流和更廣泛的信貸緊縮，在 10 月前積極提高利率至 8%。

This move further squeezed the over leveraged market.

這項舉動進一步擠壓了過度槓桿化的市場。

Countless nascent railway companies ran out of funds or were exposed as pure fronts.

無數新成立的鐵路公司資金耗盡，或被揭露為純粹的幌子公司。

Shares then plummeted, wiping out entire fortunes in a matter of weeks.

股價隨後暴跌，幾週內就讓無數財富化為烏有。

What does the rise and fall of George Hudson and the whole railway mania that you've described, what does that tell us about the Victorians?

喬治·哈德森的興衰以及你所描述的整個鐵路狂熱，告訴了我們維多利亞時代的人們什麼？

What the railway mania tells us is there was an appetite for everywhere to be connected.

鐵路狂熱告訴我們，當時大家渴望四處都能連通。

It's unifying the country in a way that nothing else can do.

這以一種其他任何事物都無法做到的方式團結了國家。

Men take to the streets offering themselves and their skills for $1 a week.

男人們走上街頭，每週僅以一美元的價格提供自己和他們的技能。

Suddenly for millions of Americans, nothing to do and all day to do it.

突然間，數百萬美國人無事可做，卻有整天的時間。

當找到工作的希望完全破滅時。

Eyes are lowered, hands held out as the unemployed shuffle along and accept a quarter.

失業的人們垂頭喪氣，伸出手，接受著微薄的施捨。

The so called Roaring Twenties were a period of unprecedented optimism in the United States.

所謂的「咆哮的二十年代」是美國前所未有的樂觀時期。

Speculation ran rampant, with citizens buying stocks on margin, meaning borrowing heavily to finance purchases convinced that prices would never fall.

投機猖獗，民眾透過融資購買股票，也就是借入大筆資金來購買，深信股價永遠不會下跌。

The illusion shattered over a terrifying week in October, culminating on the 29th, better known as black Tuesday.

這個幻象在十月一個可怕的星期裡破滅，在 29 日達到頂峰，這一天更為人所知的是「黑色星期二」。

But the real disaster began when the panic spread to the banks.

但真正的災難始於恐慌蔓延到銀行。

5000 banks shut their doors to depositors now in greatest need of their savings.

5000 家銀行對急需存款的儲戶關閉了大門。

Massive runs broke the system, wiping out the life savings of millions.

大規模的擠兌擊垮了整個體系，抹去了數百萬人的畢生積蓄。

Unemployment soared to an unprecedented 25% in the US with families facing destitution and homelessness, the Great Depression remains the ultimate warning of of what happens when the dream of easy wealth curdles into a nightmare of breadlines and shanty towns.

美國失業率飆升至前所未有的 25%，家庭面臨赤貧和無家可歸，大蕭條仍然是關於輕鬆致富的夢想如何變成排隊領麵包和貧民窟噩夢的終極警示。

Private industry joins with relief agencies such as the Red Cross to do what they can, filling food baskets and setting up soup kitchens.

私人企業與紅十字會等救濟機構合作，盡其所能，分發食物籃並設立湯麵廚房。

Japanese asset price bubble Plaza cord was a kind of agreement which accomplished much more than everybody expected for the meeting.

日本資產價格保麗龍的《廣場協議》是一項協議，其成果遠超眾人的預期。

When we went to plaza meeting, we are quite prepared to see substantial increase in yen's value.

當我們參加廣場會議時，我們已經準備好看到日圓價值大幅上漲。

In the late 1980s, Japan was a manufacturing titan.

在 1980 年代後期，日本是製造業的巨頭。

Following the Plaza Accord, the economy was awash with cheap credit, leading to an extravagant binge in real estate and stocks.

在《廣場協議》之後，經濟充斥著廉價信貸，導致房地產和股票市場出現了奢華的狂歡。

Land prices in Tokyo soared to unimaginable levels.

東京的土地價格飆升到難以想像的水準。

At one point, the Imperial palace grounds were rumored to be worth more than the entire state of California.

有時候，傳聞皇宮的土地價值比整個加州還高。

I thought it was the East's revenge on Western capitalism.

我認為這是東方對西方資本主義的報復。

If it comes to it, I thought we should buy all of the United States.

如果有必要，我認為我們應該買下整個美國。

We really should have bought more of America.

我們真的應該多買一點美國的。

The Nikkei 225 stock index reached nearly 39,000 on December 29, 1989.

日經225指數在1989年12月29日飆升至近39,000點。

Everything changed for the worse in 1990 when the bank of Japan jacked up interest rates.

到了1990年，日本央行提高利率，一切都變糟了。

The aftermath ushered in Japan's lost decades, a period of prolonged economic stagnation and deflation.

這之後迎來了日本的失落數十年，一段經濟長期停滯和通貨緊縮的時期。

Banks were saddled with dud loans and the bubble's burst led to decades of job insecurity and a decline in Japanese living standards.

銀行背負著不良貸款，保麗龍破裂導致了數十年的工作不安全感和日本生活水準的下降。

We worked it out at the time in the bubble years that as a piece of real estate, Japan was worth the whole of the United States seven times over.

在保麗龍時期，我們當時算出，日本的房地產價值是整個美國的七倍。

Every day, America Online is making it easier for people to live, work and play.

每天，America Online 都讓大家的生活、工作和娛樂變得更輕鬆。

I'm just finishing up here with my new kayaking friends.