by Henry Oliner | Mar 17, 2020 | Politics
Risk= Hazard + Outrage Insurance actuaries have a good record of reducing hazard to a mathematical exercise that can accurately surmise the chances of you being in a car wreck or dying in the next 12 months; but they are far less able to predict 9/11 or the Covid-19...
by Henry Oliner | Sep 19, 2016 | Business, Economics
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 table at a casino is not to avoid risk. ...
by Henry Oliner | Oct 3, 2015 | Culture, Philosophy, Politics
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...
by Henry Oliner | Aug 18, 2012 | Economics
“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, perhaps, but a less inviting trajectory...
by Henry Oliner | Aug 15, 2010 | Economics
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 winning forty dollars (with return of principal guaranteed) the...
