DISGUSTING! An article SUPPORTING terror futures market!

[Emboldened Chimp]

July 31, 2003
A Good Idea With Bad Press
By HAL R. VARIAN

THE Pentagon-sponsored futures market in terrorism indicators was announced and squashed in all of two days. Too bad. It was a good idea, killed by terrible public relations.

Consider the problem that intelligence agencies face. They have to consider the likelihood of various destabilizing events — like assassinations or terrorist attacks. That's a major part of their job; there's no way around it.

In assessing such likelihoods they draw on expert opinion, but they also make considerable use of market data — oil price futures, currency exchange rates and the like — to see how market traders assess risks of political instability.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/31/business/31SCEN.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[barbaraann]

1. Yesterday Lou Dobbs had an email supporting this stupid idea

from someone named "John Brown" in "Los Angeles, CA."

They think we're stupid.

[sangha]

2. There was also an LTTE in the NY Times

with a similar argument. Hmmmmm

[gristy]

3. Hal Varian is the author of this article

He's an economist from U.C. Berkeley. I just don't think he thought this all the way through. A U.S. Gov't sanctioned futures market in terror - that there is anybody still supporting this horrific idea is just indicative of the depraved times in which we live.

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal/people/hal/biography.html