Bargain at Intrade

[ciphergoth]

You can buy shares in Sarah Palin being dropped from the GOP ticket at the bargain price of 11.7 as of right now. That means that you can spend $11.7 on such a future, and it will be worth $100 if she's not on the ticket by election day (and $0 otherwise). I reckon it's worth at least twice that, and if I had spare money for gambling I'd buy a few...

Comments

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

Hmm. My Only Puritanical Streak is uncomfortable hearing gambling described as 'buying' or 'shares' though I do look forward to Palin fucking the Republicans over royally...

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Buying shares basically is gambling, though! You're betting on the probability of an event (a good grain harvest, a particular currency depreciation or whatever).

[simont]

Well, not entirely. One effect of buying shares is that their resale value fluctuates uncertainly and hence you may or may not make money out of it. But another effect is that you gain partial control of the company you buy shares in, and another is that you're contributing to their ability to do whatever it is they're doing.

On that basis it seems excessive to describe a pure gambling proposition as a share buy, since you don't end up with, well, a share in anything.

[uon.livejournal.com]

Also, shares don't mature. It's more like a zero-coupon bond with a high probability of default.