Bubble definition

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Henry Liu's essay on "Too big to Fail":

"A bubble is formed when there is aggregate overstating of financial
value.  Its existence saps real growth because profit can then be
earned more easily from speculation than from increased productivity.
That was the virus that seriously wounded the Japanese economy and
kept it depressed for over a decade.  It is now killing the US
economy."

((((((((((

CB: Henry, thanks for this definition of "bubble". I have heard the term so 
much, but
never had a clear picture of it like this. Of course, the very metaphor of the 
bubble
implies that it is fragile to bursting easily. So, I don't know why the 
bourgeois
economists would chose that image except that they themselves are implying it 
is a
sort of illusion that must burst. I guess a bubble could burst gently.