Plush Bubble

"The Plush Bubble - When we thought stuffed animals were a retirement plan" dissects the Beanie Baby craze of the late 1990s. For a few years, rational adults spent thousands of dollars on $5 bean-filled toys, convinced they would increase in value forever. It was a tulip mania made of polyester. Financial journalist Laura Bennett profiles the secretive genius behind it, Ty Warner, who manipulated supply by "retiring" specific bears to create artificial scarcity. The book describes the madness: families broke up over collections, a murder was committed over a transaction, and a famous court photo showed a divorcing couple sorting their Beanie Babies on the floor in front of a judge. "The Plush Bubble" explains the psychology of speculation. It shows how the belief in "greater fools" (someone will always pay more) drives asset bubbles, and serves as a warning for modern collectors of NFTs and sneakers.