Fact #58745

When the US gold market collapses, a banking panic ensues. At the root of the disaster, popularly referred to as Black Friday, are a pair of crooks, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk who tried to corner the market on gold, buying as much as they could and driving up the price. However, the government finds out, and releases $4m worth of gold into the market, driving down the price and ruining Gould, Fisk and many other investors. Steely Dan borrowed the term Black Friday for a song about a crooked financial speculator.