When Benjamin Franklin returned to America in 1762, after almost five years in London, he was shocked at the housing prices.
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INSURRECTION Members of the Sons of Liberty raise a “Liberty Pole” to protest the rule of King George III.
“The expence of living is greatly advanc’d in my absence,” he commented. “Rent of old houses, and value of lands … are trebled in the past six years.”
Franklin, it seems, had come home to a real estate bubble. It eventually popped — bringing on a credit crunch and deep recession that was the macroeconomic backdrop to the American Revolution.
