Dear Dr. Liberal,
Contracts for the proposition “The US Supreme Court to rule individual mandate unconstitutional before midnight ET 31 Dec 2012” are now trading at
62.6% on intrade. Should I take the money I was going to use to by a Fisker electric car and buy some of the activist judge futures?Yours Truly,
Eternally Combustible
Dear Combusty,
Thanks for the question. It is a three-fer. It keeps the Fisker talk going, allows me to haul one of my favorite Flip Wilson catch phrases out of the old TV catch phrase steamer trunk, and let’s me get my Judge John Roberts hate on.
To brief in my readers who are not so familiar with futures markets, the 62.6% in question means that if you buy that contract for $0.63, and the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, you’d make $1.00. Subtracting your initial investment you’d realize a profit of $0.37 and a half cents. That’s pretty good. No brazenly political machinations have paid off like that since Lonnie George cashed his first pay check from Del Tech. (*winks to El Somnambulo!*)
But wait, it is only a good deal if you perceive that there is little risk. And if you are perceptive enough to be a regular reader of DL, then you are perceptive enough to know that this is the safest of safe bets. How can I be so sure? The court is now run by movement conservative ideologues who don’t give a crap about the Constitution. While the country is impoverished, why should we not profit from our awareness of its impoverishment?
Adam Smithianly Yours,
Dr. Liberal
PS. Write me what ails ya. There is no CO-PAY!!