How many bubbles have you seen?

cubiczirconia

cubiczirconia

New member
In my adult life (21+), I have seen the following:

1. Foreign husband bubble. Many of you haven't seen this, but I have. Any techie who worked in US commanded a huge dowry from 1997 to 2000. (a cash+gold gift given to the groom in India at his wedding from the bride's family). They took over doctors, other engineers, and CAs/CFAs. Almost everyone wanted a groom who lived in CA, and settled for NY if they couldn't get hold of a CA groom. Dowry market came crashing for the techies with the tech bubble burst.

2. Tech bubble in US. I remember those days when DH and I went to bid on one of the houses in Sunnyvale. It was a condo actually. There was an open bidding.. something that I hadn't seen in my life before! And people were accepting down payment in stock options- esp YHOO, Oracle and MSFT. Wonder what happened to them later... We thought we would never be able to afford a house in bay area. But we were wrong. Prices went crashing as did the stocks.

3. Housing bubble in US. From "Oh my God! My house made me rich", to "Oh my God! This thing will never go down, I made a mistake selling" to "Oh my God! I can't believe I bought in Irvine" to "Oh my God! What if I go underwater" to "Oh my God! I have equity in the house" in past 3 years.

4. Gold bubble. Was around $300 per oz when my first one was born. My MIL had gifted me a credit suisse bar.. and saw it go even low after that, and climb steadily over these years. But when it touched 900, I knew there was a bubble coming.. We are in the bubble currently. Don't know if we have topped, or this is just the beginning.

Share what you have seen..

Oh, I forgot the "java" bubble! Not many people were affected by this, but almost everyone did some course in Java and got huge salaries for doing I don't know what. Have seen many electrical/ mechanical engineers turn to Java and then back to their original professions when things crashed..
 
[quote author="Cubic Zirconia"]In my adult life (21+), I have seen the following:

1. Foreign husband bubble. Many of you haven't seen this, but I have. Any techie who worked in US commanded a huge dowry from 1997 to 2000. (a cash+gold gift given to the groom in India at his wedding from the bride's family). They took over doctors, other engineers, and CAs/CFAs. Almost everyone wanted a groom who lived in CA, and settled for NY if they couldn't get hold of a CA groom. Dowry market came crashing for the techies with the tech bubble burst.

[/quote]

-- I read that part in your book! I wasn't sure how much fiction was in it, but it sounds like truly not much. Any particular reason for the trend... shall I assume it directly relates to said "Java bubble"? <!-- s:) -->:)<!-- s:) -->
 
What I wrote had toned it down largely.. truth was even worse than that.. The dowry went up and up and away.. until the JAVA bubble came crashing.. Yes, you are right- they went up together and crashed together.

There was a time when a techie groom would have portfolios (of potential brides) lined up for his approval. These days not many people want to send anything their way. Doctors are back in demand..

*Thanks for linking my book;-)*
 
1. Frozen Yogurt bubble:
First happened in the 80s with all those Golden Spoon , Heidi's, Penguins and now again with Yogurtland, Red Mango, Pinkberry... Golden Spoon is still around but I doubt many of the new ones will stick.

2. SUV bubble:
When gas started getting cheap again and people were using HELOCs like water to buy the biggest baddest 4-wheel drive that never went offroad... then gas prices went up, home prices went down... POP.

3. Gas bubble:
Remember when it was nearing $5 a gallon when home prices were at their highs?

4. Big Corporate Party bubble:
Never been to one... but the stories were interesting... opulence was an understatement.

5. Schadenfreude bubble:
At the blog that shall not be named... it used to be a shark frenzy... now it's mostly jpegs from AZ.
 
I almost gave in @ SUV Bubble. But took so long to decide that the bubble busted..
Yes! Those $5/gallon days were miserable- I had to travel a lot and there were rumors that gas would eventually be $7.

Does anyone remember the rice shortage last spring? Costco had 1 bag per person limit and people hoarded rice as if they would never see it again..
 
In no specific order,

Was:

Pet Rocks.

Cocaine.

The Yankees.

Cabbage Patch Dolls.

Atari.

Legwarmers.

Seeing Star Wars (in the theaters).

Milli Vanilli.

Ray Bans/Croakies.

John Grisham.

Guess jeans.

Real Estate.

Transformers.

Is:

Snuggies (coat worn backwards - redux).

Pomegranite (redux).

Gold (redux).

Skinny Pants (redux).

Bokugon (redux).

Wii (redux).

Real Estate (redux).

and those effing Yankees (redux).
 
[quote author="Blueberry East"]
[quote author="Cubic Zirconia"]Apple bubble. ipod, iphone, itouch, iwhatever.
[/quote]

But this is going to get bigger and bigger until it eventually will burst in a couple of years. Before that, iPhone (and other Smartphones) will doom GPS devices and e-Book readers. Why have three devices when you can have it in one?[/quote]

That's right. It will get so big that it will fail itself by overproduction and underinvention(?) one fine day. GPS is doomed, but can't say the same about ebook readers. Smart phones are too small to sit and read comfortably from.
 
I have to break form to participate in this conversation. Maybe not exactly bubbles, but growing up if you would've had the guts, I would've bet you my life's wages that these would all stand the test of time and would've preceded to laugh in your face?

Beta VCR's
Z Caverrici
Pogs
Blublockers
Flobee
Ginsu Knives
Swatch watch
Reebok Pumps
My Buddy
Rico Suave
Gloria Estafan and the Miami Sound Machine
Pound Puppies
Floppy discs
Rubik's cube
Tie dye shirts
Alpha Beta
Fedco
Gemco
Cassette walkmans
Tom Vu Investments

All I can come up with now, but this list has no end.
 
[quote author="IrvineRealtor"]
Skinny Pants (redux).
[/quote]
Darn... now I need to change what I asked Santa for.

If we are predicting bubbles that will pop:

6. Flat Screen TV bubble:
This one probably won't burst until we have holographic TV. It's amazing walking into Best Buy and seeing a wall of LCD/Plasmas.

7. GPS bubble:
Probably going to end up being standard on every car in 5 years... already standard on almost every new phone.

8. Twitter bubble:
C'mon... how much info can you really share with only 140 characters?

9. Kogi Truck bubble:
Haven't heard much from them lately.

10. BK not on TalkIrvine bubble:
He's got to give in some day. I'll start posting a picture of a 3-car frontal garage house every day until he shows up.
 
[quote author="Blueberry East"]
[quote author="haiku"]I have to break form to participate in this conversation. Maybe not exactly bubbles, but growing up if you would've had the guts, I would've bet you my life's wages that these would all stand the test of time and would've preceded to laugh in your face?

Beta VCR's
Z Caverrici
Pogs
Blublockers
Flobee
Ginsu Knives
Swatch watch
Reebok Pumps
My Buddy
Rico Suave
Gloria Estafan and the Miami Sound Machine
Pound Puppies
Floppy discs
Rubik's cube
Tie dye shirts
Alpha Beta
Fedco
Gemco
Cassette walkmans
Tom Vu Investments

All I can come up with now, but this list has no end.
[/quote]

What is all this? OK, I remember walkman, floppy disc, and the Rubic's cube. But the rest? Did they really exist?[/quote]

Schneewitchenwienerschnitzel,
Yes, all this really existed...you were either still stuck in east germany or you're the guy parked down by the river...
 
6. Flat Screen TV bubble:
This one probably won't burst until we have holographic TV. It's amazing walking into Best Buy and seeing a wall of LCD/Plasmas.

LED will replace LCD for now?

7. GPS bubble:
Probably going to end up being standard on every car in 5 years... already standard on almost every new phone.

True. Remember CD player came as an option a decade ago?


10. BK not on TalkIrvine bubble:
He's got to give in some day. I'll start posting a picture of a 3-car frontal garage house every day until he shows up.
>> May be this wish was granted already?
 
[quote author="IrvineRealtor"]Snuggies (coat worn backwards - redux).

[/quote]

Snuggies! How could I forget those! They are in almost every store I walk into, including Costco, and Amazon has a few of those too.
 
I remember Fedco, Gemco, Alpha Beta... what about Builder's Emporium and Miller's Outpost? My children laugh at me when I accidently call Home Depot "Builder's."
 
My family and I have a solemn pact. If they catch me in one of those "snuggies" they can punch me in the nose.

I remember when a wedgie was a snuggie.

Did not see anyone mention the Starbucks/coffee house bubble or what I consider a biggie: Y2K bubble.
 
[quote author="Soylent Green Is People"]Did not see anyone mention the Starbucks/coffee house bubble or [/quote]

That's the real "java" bubble - just plot SBUX over time (ouch!!!).
 
Isn't anybody here old enough to remember hula hoops (1950s)and citizen band radios? I think that was about 1980.

"That's a big 10-4 good buddy!
 
The Mini Truck Bubble
and now....

I'm seeing a ballroom dancing bubble.

and its about to burst.

I'm also saw the satellite bubble, the classified project bubble and most recently i've seen the aerospace/commercial airplane bubble.

take it easy
 
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