Commodity futures, such as you mentioned at the end of your note, are a zero sum game. Therefore the knowledge to be consistently successful grows constantly (Kind of like an arms race does with weaponry). The futures market for 'terror' developed by DARPA would eventually, IMHO, lure the terrorists to invest (and back up with action) in order to fund their plans or a hedge fund for their failures. -----Original Message----- From: Mark Wonsil [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 8:15 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [HP3000-L] OT: War Futures (Back to OT) > "Betting markets even beat Hewlett Packard official forecasts six > times out of eight at predicting HP printer sales." > > You should read the entire article at: > http://techcentralstation.com/1051/defensewrapper.jsp?PID=1051-350&CID=1051- 073003F Here's another. Fortune was on this one way back in Feb/Mar. http://www.fortune.com/fortune/investing/articles/0,15114,471785,00.html A futures system sure seems to be an excellent way to dislodge information from many sources. The lure of big makes a lot of people talk, especially lower profile people who usually don't get the same rewards as the upper level. Come to think of it, a bankruptcy futures market may help many rank-and-file balance their job security with a win at the track. :-o As for the Washington politicians, most really don't understand fiscal concepts, so I take their comments with a grain of, er load of, well, you know. As the article states, if a terrorist group wanted to make A LOT of money, they would be tipping their hand by making the bet in the first place. The secret to succeeding in a futures market is to know a lot about the market. That's how a Suburban Chicago Girl made $60K in cattle futures in one month. ;-) Mark W. * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html * * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *