The financial markets have always been plagued by crises and bubbles of one sort or another. Students of economic history will be familiar with the South Sea Bubble, the Dutch Tulip Bubble, and the Wall Street crash of 1929, as well as more recent events such as the 1997 Asian currency crisis and the 1998 bailout by the U.S. Federal Reserve of the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management (LTCM). Crashes are nothing new and, far from being viewed as something rare or odd, should instead be viewed as the norm, and inherent to the nature of free markets. Finance has always suffered from crises, and this is true irrespective of whether the financial system in place is open or closed, simple or sophisticated.