A closer look
Billionaire brothers Nelson and William Hunt attempted to corner the entire global silver market in 1979, buying up so much of the precious metal that the price skyrocketed from six dollars to nearly fifty dollars an ounce in just one year, essentially breaking the global commodity exchange and causing widespread panic that prompted ordinary citizens to melt down their family heirloom silverware; the ridiculous stunt ultimately collapsed on Silver Thursday in 1980 when regulators aggressively changed the trading rules to stop them, causing the price to plummet and leaving the brothers owing billions of dollars in margin calls, which remains a beautiful testament to the absolute chaos of unregulated capitalism and proves that with enough inherited oil wealth and sheer hubris, two random guys from Texas can accidentally trigger a massive international financial crisis over materials used to make shiny dessert forks
