The analogy I always use (similar to the joke about the economist not picking up a twenty dollar bill) is that the market is as efficient as an evolved jungle e

The analogy I always use (similar to the joke about the economist not picking up a twenty dollar bill) is that the market is as efficient as an evolved jungle ecosystem. Most of us would consider this system highly efficient, certainly more so than one our government could design, but it doesn't mean an animal shouldn't be able to find food. It just means it requires energy to find it -- or, in the economy, to determine a more accurate future price. There's no free lunch.