The rising prices have also brought in speculators.
The grandest wines were quickly squirrelled away in speculators' cellars.
In speculators and ratings agencies, Europe's left has a ready cast of villains and rogues.
Others are confident that measures taken by the government have been enough to rein in speculators' excess.
Although hedge funds and private-equity firms played almost no part in causing the financial crisis, politicians in places like Berlin and Paris can claim to be reining in "speculators".
In "Speculators Get a Break in New Rule" (Fair Game, Sept. 25), Gretchen Morgenson noted how Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, was objecting to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission rule proposal regarding how many financial contracts traders can accumulate for any given commodity.
Some economists point to the real estate bubble as a prime example of the dangers of too much cheap money washing in: Speculators drive prices sky-high, setting markets up for a punishing fall.
Critics said the policy resulted in speculators buying up valuable housing stock too cheaply.
Later, through an opulent inheritance, he was set loose in the speculator's heaven of "development", and became rich again.
