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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   28013 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 7, 2024

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Isn’t the obvious use case for election prediction markets to hedge agains unfavorable election outcomes?

Sometimes actual sports betting is used to hedge against unfavorable sports outcomes. Houston's "Mattress Mack" is famous for promotions like "Buy furniture today, and if [local sports team] wins, I'll give you your money back," which he's been known to fund by betting accordingly in Vegas.

I could imagine doing this with political outcomes ("If Kamala wins, I expect to have higher taxes"), but I can't imagine the market is liquid enough to support doing this for anyone large enough to care about hedging. But maybe it will be possible in the future.

Houston's "Mattress Mack" is famous for promotions like "Buy furniture today, and if [local sports team] wins, I'll give you your money back," which he's been known to fund by betting accordingly in Vegas.

That's fucking genius. Unethical, but genius.

This is the kind of chaotic neutral thinking that we need more of in American entrepreneurship. Fuck Bay Area CS grads trying to come up with robo-dildo-taxis. I want dangerously unstable fly-over people using corporate treasury funds to seed fund a local strip club.

robo-dildo-taxis

...Are these a real thing, or did you just give the porn industry a free idea?

What's wrong with that? I mean it's exactly as playing white elephant as the VC types funding uber for furniture psychics apps to cash out at IPO using low interest loans. Just benefits the common man a little.

I really struggled to parse that sentence.

Have you considered moonlighting in marketing?

I called VC’s investing in companies that produce apps nobody wants or needs in the hopes of cashing out at IPO a game of white elephant with other people’s money.

Oh, I got it eventually. It was “funding Uber for furniture psychics types” that didn’t scan. I think that made it more authentic.

That's fucking genius. Unethical, but genius.

Why unethical?

Responding to @hydroacetylene and @Lizzardspawn.

I'm alright with it! And I'm not sure it's illegal on its own.

It's definitely unethical in that, if that company has a board, there are probably terms that limit what corporate treasury funds can be used on (gambling is a no no). If the owner has sole ownership of everything, it's okay so long as gambling winning come back in as revenue to the company, I think. There's probably some tax gotchas.

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