On Apr 12, 2009, at 3:17 PM, Jim Devine wrote:
c b wrote:
I still have a problem with the basic way in which risk is discussed
in relation to financial speculation. In terms of their combined
probabilities, if we take the speculation of all the bigtime
financial
speculators, they would not make big net gains if there was a greater
chance of loss than gain.
Speculation, like any form of gambling in which the odds are the same
for both parties, is a zero-sum game. What one gambler wins, the
other loses
So, most of the "speculation" must not be
_risking_ money, but rather putting it on a "sure thing". Well, up
until the latest big losses.
Making the "net gains" zero, except---
what's important is the
rustling up of fees and the like, along with the potential gains from
embezzlement and other Madoff-type activities.
So, as in every form of commercial gambling, the net winner is always
the "house"--in this case, the brokers and embezzlers.
Shane Mage
This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
kindling in measures and going out in measures."
Herakleitos of Ephesos
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