Entries Tagged 'Economics and Investing' ↓
July 11th, 2012 — Investing
When I first read Professor Manne’s Insider Trading in 1996, I thought his arguments were hogwash. I was the indexer for The Collected Works of Henry G. Manne. But Martha Stewart’s experience made me look again at Manne’s view that insider trading should not be illlegal.
The Martha Stewart case
The imprisonment of Martha Stewart was shocking. Martha, a fabulously rich, very productive businesswoman, was arrested for a pre-authorized sale of stock that saved her a whopping $47,673 in losses. She spent five months in a women’s prison.
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June 29th, 2012 — Investing
Investment is a form of parimutuel betting involving corporations. Yes, corporations are ultimately the creations of people working as a team to achieve a competitive advantage in order to beat other corporations.
Prop trading at investment banks is to parimutuel betting what craps is to casino betting. Proprietary trading is the most complicated bet, but unlike craps, winning at proprietary trading is not a matter of luck.
Cheating parimutuel bettors
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June 20th, 2012 — Investing
Cheating in casino games
If you’ve seen the movie, Oceans 13, you know how the results of casino games can be rigged. Loaded dice, marked cards, a hidden foot pedal that manipulates a roulette wheel, payoffs to employees, and rigged slot machines. In this movie fantasy, the callous owner of the casino is cheated. In real life it is more likely the casino’s customers will be cheated.
How casinos make money
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