Terrorism Futures Market
Finally, my finger is feeling a little better. It was a ligament, not a tendon that was causing all the ruckus.
Still, let's keep this one brief.
In the greatest theoretical blunder since the inception of the Reagan Administration's SDI missile program in the 1980s, today the Pentagon withdrew its proposal for a so-called terrorism "futures market", where people would bet on the likelihood of specific acts of terrorism such as the assassination of Yasir Arafat or the hijacking of a commercial airliner.
No surprise, this aborted program was to be headed by John Poindexter, who was also involved with SDI as Reagan's National Security Advisor. What will Poindexter think up next?
Here's an article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution
Posted by Eric on July 29, 2003 07:11 PM
But how were they gonna do the wagers? pari-mutuel? spreads? if so, over and unders? where would you place the bets? OTBs? Hey, this reminds me when the revolution is finally televised (Last Poets, I think) how much is ad time going to run? would there be a corporate name on the Revolution? Like The Capital One Revolution? Or Valvoline Revolution? The Revolution brought to you by Kellogg:It's gonna be a great day!
you sound like a serious gambler there! i didn't read anything about the nitty gritty of the betting. honestly, i don't think NAPRA had any grip on reality. on NPR i heard them point out the fact that people would be betting on events that the government was trying to prevent. and also that people invloved in terrorism might gamble on things with which they were involved.
but yeah, this is total Last Poets material right here. very cynical: profiting from the misfortunes of others. instead of trying to solve the problem, why not use it to make a buck?
oh btw... what is all that "pari-mutuel? spreads? over and unders?" stuff?
