You would think that we would learn something from our bubbles bursting every time we see some kind of “new” money making thing that catches on. However, this isn’t the case. As a matter of fact, as a capitalistic nation, we tend to try to make money the greediest and fastest ways imaginable. In the case of the recent housing bubble, there were a lot of shady business practices that were happening to lead up to the burst.

So what are some of the things that economists are looking to in order to try to figure out what the next bubble will be?

Number one on the list might just be gun sales. While some Americans are anticipating anti-gun legislation to be passed down from Congress, they are in the stores buying the guns and ammunition up. There have been many places across the country that have simply run out of ammunition and factories can’t keep up with demand. Many guns have already started to ascend in value and the trend is expected to continue.

I find that the gun sales thing has no merit simply because it’s scared consumers driving up the prices themselves. This is all thanks to what these people are seeing as severe gun control and they are creating false demand for the products. Most of the fears will not subside unless they have another gun-loving Republican in office.

Another item that may soon be finding itself in a bubble is incandescent light bulbs in Europe. The European Union has banned the old, traditional light bulbs and wants everyone to switch over to the CFLs or other energy efficient types of lights. The ban has caused many of the consumers in those nations to begin hoarding the light bulbs in anticipation of the ban. Companies that produce these light bulbs have seen a huge increase in demand, and in September, when the law goes into effect, the bubble will burst and these companies will have to start churning out the energy efficient bulbs instead.

Thanks to a drying up of endowments, higher education may be another one of those bubbles to watch and its happening now. Some colleges rely heavily on endowments and many schools aren’t getting the money that they were even a year ago. This has caused over dependence on the endowments and colleges are really feeling the pinch now.

Maybe sometime far in the future alternative energy will become a bubble and it too will burst. For this to happen there has to be an update of the energy grid on a national level and there also has to be a new way of getting credits for tapping into green energy sources.

Of all the bad that Bank of America has done in the past, at least it is trying to make up for it in the future, or at least they say they are. With the new regulations, Bank of America has decided that it would not hike credit card rates or increase fees before the new law is to go into effect.

New regulations are set to take effect in February. The new laws are meant to reform practices in the credit card industry including limiting banks’ and other lenders’ abilities to raise their fees and rates. It also requires that they give borrowers a greater understanding of the lending process and the costs associated with borrowing through greater disclosure.

The regulations may actually be moved up two months. Lawmakers in Congress have introduced some legislation that would cause the new laws to go into effect on December 1st instead of in February. The reason for the move is that credit card companies are raising rates and charging higher fees ahead of the new laws. Unfortunately for the borrower, the bureaucratic process takes longer than a credit card company’s decision to increase the interest rate on their card.

Some credit card companies have taken it upon themselves to change the terms of their agreements with their borrowers. Discover cards decided that it was going to “transition” some of its fixed interest rate card holders to a less-than-ideal variable rate. It is business practices like this that caused the government to take action against the companies and to set new laws and regulations for the industry.

Bank of America has done a lot in the past to make their customers leave in droves. The company has really taken a more consumer oriented approach in an attempt to gain back some of the customers that it lost when it started the shady business practices that are now being regulated against.

Bank of America was once one of the worst offenders. It was raising rates for customers who never missed a payment and would even pay more than their minimum payment.

You would think that we would learn something from our bubbles bursting every time we see some kind of “new” money making thing that catches on. However, this isn’t the case. As a matter of fact, as a capitalistic nation, we tend to try to make money the greediest and fastest ways imaginable. In the case of the recent housing bubble, there were a lot of shady business practices that were happening to lead up to the burst.

So what are some of the things that economists are looking to in order to try to figure out what the next bubble will be?

Number one on the list might just be gun sales. While some Americans are anticipating anti-gun legislation to be passed down from Congress, they are in the stores buying the guns and ammunition up. There have been many places across the country that have simply run out of ammunition and factories can’t keep up with demand. Many guns have already started to ascend in value and the trend is expected to continue.

I find that the gun sales thing has no merit simply because it’s scared consumers driving up the prices themselves. This is all thanks to what these people are seeing as severe gun control and they are creating false demand for the products. Most of the fears will not subside unless they have another gun-loving Republican in office.

Another item that may soon be finding itself in a bubble is incandescent light bulbs in Europe. The European Union has banned the old, traditional light bulbs and wants everyone to switch over to the CFLs or other energy efficient types of lights. The ban has caused many of the consumers in those nations to begin hoarding the light bulbs in anticipation of the ban. Companies that produce these light bulbs have seen a huge increase in demand, and in September, when the law goes into effect, the bubble will burst and these companies will have to start churning out the energy efficient bulbs instead.

Thanks to a drying up of endowments, higher education may be another one of those bubbles to watch and its happening now. Some colleges rely heavily on endowments and many schools aren’t getting the money that they were even a year ago. This has caused overdependence on the endowments and colleges are really feeling the pinch now.

Maybe sometime far in the future alternative energy will become a bubble and it too will burst. For this to happen there has to be an update of the energy grid on a national level and there also has to be a new way of getting credits for tapping into green energy sources.

Source