Investigating two of the most notorious con men; the Ponzi scheme is named after Charles Ponzi; Ivan Krueger uses an elaborate variant of Ponzi's swindle; the three ingredients that most Ponzi schemes share; how to identify scams.

The freewheeling financial market; the staid system of the post-World War Two era; the stability of financial markets; how the present system has evolved; the types of markets; why we live in an era of busts.

The British stock market in the early 18th century; a financially-strapped government and a public craze for investing creates ideal conditions for one of history's most brazen stock manipulators; John Blunt's use of the South Sea Company.

The Mississippi bubble is an early 18th century financial crisis; it is sparked by speculation; John Law is the bubble's instigator; he is a Scottish gambler; he gains control of the French economy; he plunges France into economic collapse.