Leftists around the world are very critical of the weight of financial markets, and in particular, the recent exponential growth of derivatives products. Since we’re mainly talking about “event derivatives” (a.k.a. event-driven futures) on this blog, we should hedge against the possiblity that, at one point in the future, these leftists include our field in their scathering criticism (when prediction markets experience high volumes and have more visibility in the media). The way to hedge against that is to show to the outside world that we don’t practice censorhip, publish both the pros and the cons, insist on debate diversity and don’t retaliate against whistle blowers. That way, we can hope to shape the public discussion on prediction markets ourselves, instead of being eaten alive by the anti-capitalism mainstream media (which is the norm in the non-Anglo-Saxon countries). I encourage the Midas Oracle blog authors to speak their mind and to publish their opinions here, whether these are positive or negative towards the “industry” or the “community”. Just tell the truth; don’t mind the players’ egos. Midas Oracle is a forum, not a prediction market association or a lobbying group. We appreciate your thoughts, even if you’re at the margin. Remember: Those decerebrated idiots gave the Nobel Prize to Einstein for the photoelectric effect, not for his theory on special relativity, the E = mc2 stuff (which later gave birth to general relativity).
External Link That Prompted This Editorial:
An economy of buccaneers and fantasists – [criticism of global finance and derivatives, in the wake of the Amaranth Advisors debacle] – 2006-10-16
