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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction
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To: Solon who wrote (51081)9/12/2006 4:53:21 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 90947
 

It is irrelevant whether the game itself has ulterior motives or consequences.

I'm not talking about unconnected or loosely connected ulterior motives. I'm talking about motives at the heart of the futures market and motives that are largely, perhaps even entirely, the reasons for the existence of the futures market.

"Believing that futures provide a net benefit is hardly the same as not believing "zero sum exists"."

Yes, it is exactly the same. Zero sum does not provide a net benefit. It provides an equivalent loss to an equivalent gain. If you deny that then you deny the very essence of what zero sum means. .

Saying that a particular market is not zero sum mean you are asserting that nothing is zero sum.

The question is whether or not the futures game (each and every futures contract bought and sold in the universe) is zero sum or not. The point is that each and every futures contract IS a zero sum transaction. There was never any contention for or against the value of the futures game for society. Until you understand the nature of the game there is little point in expanding the discussion into the social value of the game.

I'm not talking about wider social value. The futures market transfers risk. You can lock in supply of a commodity, or sell pricing risk for a commodity that you produce. A manufacture of products in one country that get sold in another country can largely insulate itself from exchange rate risks or at least greatly reduce their effects. This reduction of risk is a net gain even before the eventual dollars and cents result of the trade is calculated.
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