You also need to consider the playing - around factor, the extent to which investors of the day have elected to make themselves feel good (or bad)
about their financial circumstances by assigning a temporary price to stocks higher (or lower) than the one that would apply if the number were determined by making reference to real financial transactions.
(Many homeowners defaulted on their mortgages over the past few years because they
lied about their financial circumstances and / or worked with unscrupulous lenders who overlooked deficiencies in their loan applications in order to generate more business.)