Greed is good

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Fri Jun 12 01:37:11 PDT 1998


Michael J. Cykana wrote:


>> Who said "fair" = "equal" ...?
>
>
> What's your definition of fair?

I didn't start this thread; someone I responded to made a statement that sounded to me like they were equating fair and equal.


>>> In other words economically speaking BG's life is worth
>>> the lives of 4 Million average Americans.
>>
>> I think you have a twisted idea of what a life is "worth" ...
>
> In the courtrooms of this country an economic value is
> placed on human lives every day. What do you think a life is worth?

Much more than BG/4M ... I think the original equation had something to do with GDP, so really this is more like GDP per-capita, which is what, $27k in the US? Yes, I'll say it here (and I'm sure that French guy will call me some other kind of name for it): I think a human life is worth more than one year's per-capita GDP.


> What is the _huge difference_ between
> accepting risk and taking risk?

Accepting risk is what you do when there's no alternative. I wouldn't even characterize it as risk, though I'm sure in the common usage of the word you'll see it thrown around.


>> Think interest rates.
>
> Why do you think interest rates have anything to do with risk?

It's a good example of how common the notion of 'greater risk, greater expected reward' is; someone (was it you?) said that they thought this was a myth and couldn't come up with a single example of something in the real world where that was true.

Interest rates are a perfect example; your rating goes down? Expect to pay higher interest rates. Russia? You pay 53% today, because everyone thinks you're a big risk.

/jordan



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