1999: Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan asks whether the U.S. stock market is a bubble about to burst. "[H]uman nature has exhibited a tendency to excess through the generations with the inevitable economic hangover," drones Greenspan. "There is nothing in our economic data series to suggest that this propensity has changed." While new technology has enhanced productivity, it's "another question altogether" if investors have "appropriately priced?assets which are involved in this new set of technology." After Greenspan's remarks, speculators give their answer: They drive NASDAQ another 1% higher, to a new record high of 2544.15.

The Wall Street Journal, June 18, 1999, p. A3