We will never know if we overreacted. If the threat turns out to be less than predicted, we will assume our actions were merited and responsible. It could be a dry run for a contagion that is far more lethal. Our agencies and professionals will always error on the side of overestimating an unknown threat to public health. Outrage and fear are hard risks to mitigate.
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No government policy can remove the risk of investment; the best they can do is not add to the risks by adding uncertainty to the environment. The reason that strangers from all over the country will congregate to a blackjack
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from Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish, A Tour of Our Decadent Civilization Excerpt: Vigorous civilizations pursue meaningful risks. Decadent civilizations pursue meaningless ones. For a vigorous civilization, adventure ends with an accomplishment. For a decadent civilization, risk is the accomplishment. The
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“He will not go far who knows from the first where he is going.” So spoke Napoleon as he launched his brilliant, tempestuous, and catastrophic career from Versaille via Moscow to St. Helena’s isle. A heroic spectacle for a man,
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In a world of uncertainty it is more important to know the odds than to know the facts. In a business bet, if you have a thirty percent chance of winning one hundred dollars or a seventy percent chance of
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Academics assign risk based on statistical outcomes and probabilities. But as individuals we corrupt risk models with emotion. We look at risk as a combination of hazard plus outrage. We will spend much more to protect ourselves from terrorists than
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