Markets depend on the free flow of ideas, but as hedge funds have ballooned in size, they have moved from the fringes of Wall Street to being the engine fueling recent market manias.

To some extent we're in the mop-up that inevitably follows market manias.

But today's market mania is also a selling point.

It is also an exploration of the market mania that overtook many people in the Internet bubble.

In many ways, the public market mania for Internet companies has been fueled by the succession of mind-boggling stock-for- stock transactions.

Wasn't one of the lessons of the late great market mania that rose-colored glasses, while providing a pretty view, can also blind you?

"Compared to many historical incidents of market mania, the collapse Monday was rather mild," Mr. Dreman said.

But in this current run of market mania, even corruption appears to be a buy signal.

The market went so far, so fast and included so many of the classic signs of market mania in the 1990's that its consequences are unlikely to have been resolved this soon.

Other bills from the 1990's market mania, like these covering customer complaints, continue to come in for payment.