I. INTRODUCTION
Many observers, including this author, have compared the recent demand for internet-related stocks to the Dutch tulip craze of the seventeenth century. In an earlier article, I commented that the price of Dutch tulip bulbs had skyrocketed 5900% before collapsing, and noted that internet companies, like tulip bulbs, had skyrocketed in price, but generated little revenue and often failed to return a profit.1 The comparison is now even more apt, as the prices of many internet-related companies, have, like the tulip bulb prices of the seventeenth century, collapsed. In that article, I noted that prudent landlords often required substantial security deposits from internet-related companies, usually in the form of a letter of credit, to secure the tenant’s obligation under the lease, and discussed how lenders could perfect their rights and interest in letters of credit posted by internet-related companies, to protect themselves in the event the tenants failed.
