> -----Original Message-----
> From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On
Behalf
> Of William "Chops" Westfield
> Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 3:59 PM
> To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
> Subject: Re: [OT]: How many ways
> 
> 
> On Apr 10, 2006, at 7:30 AM, William Killian wrote:
> 
> > But casino gaming is certainly not riskier than being an
> > entrepreneur so business is not less of a 'gamble' than craps.
> 
> Yes, it is.

More people go bankrupt as a result of starting businesses than from
gambling in casinos.

> > The Stock Market is no less rigged against the small investor
> > in favor of the large than the slots are set to set to pay more
> > to the house than to the player.
> >
> Yes, it is (LESS rigged)
> 
> These are exactly the sort of wrong assumptions/justifications that
> the "problem gambler" makes to justify their gambling, and they
> reflect exactly the same inability to QUANTIFY risk.  (I understand
> that the human race is generally quite poor at quantifying risk, and
> that that's generally a good thing...)

You can pretend all you want, but there have been many cases where it
has been shown that legally or illegally stock brokers favor large
investors over small investors when filling orders.

A broker with orders to sell a stock as it is falling or buy a stock as
it is rising will fill the orders of larger investors first knowing it
will hurt more if the large client leaves angry than the small clients.

I have absolutely no problem quantifying risk.  Perhaps others need to
understand that preferences and biases do exist where 'the big guy' gets
advantages over 'the little guy' no matter how much we want to believe
the opposite.  Unrestricted free market capitalism considers this a good
thing for what its worth.

I certainly have no belief that an inability to quantify risk is a good
thing.  That makes no sense to me at all.  It is a terrible thing that
people do not understand risks and understand how to quantify them so
they can be compared.  It allows horrific things to happen and politics
to be used to manipulate the populous.




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