From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Fri Aug 01 2003 - 19:41:00 MDT
And here's another view, from physicist/gadfly Robert Park; the interesting
part is his throwaway line about why futures markets work when they do:
"What's New" <opa@aps.org>
Subject: WHAT'S NEW Friday, 1 Aug 03
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 1 Aug 03 Washington, DC
1. THE POINDEXTER FILE: WOULD ANYONE CARE TO BET ON HIS FUTURE?
An $8M Pentagon plan to set up a futures market in Middle Eastern
developments was hastily scrapped when it was met with derision
and revulsion. Called the Policy Analysis Market, the plan was
to base intelligence judgements on betting patterns. Uh fellas,
the alleged predictive value of futures activity is merely a sign
of illegal insider trading. Anyway, the person in charge of this
fiasco, Adm. John Poindexter, has already been banished. That's
good, but here's an insider trading tip: John Poindexter has been
banished before. National Security Advisor to President Reagan
(WN 6 Dec 85), Poindexter devised a "disinformation" plan to
mislead Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi (WN 3 Oct 86). There's no
indication that Gadhafi was misled, but American newspapers were.
Then, the infamous "Poindexter Memorandum" sought to extend
government control over unclassified private databases (WN 14 Nov
86). A central figure in the Iran-contra scandal, his conviction
for lying to Congress was later set aside on the grounds that
immunized testimony had been used against him. He disappeared
from public view for several years, only to reappear with Bush II
as head of the DARPA office responsible for Total Information
Awareness (WN 20 Dec 02). Yesterday it was announced that
Poindexter is leaving the Pentagon we hope for good.
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