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>But that applies to having money at all. That can't be enough to call it gambling. It is, because there's no choice not to gamble. You have to make choices, a
by TheOtherHobbes 2mo ago
>But that applies to having money at all. That can't be enough to call it gambling.
It is, because there's no choice not to gamble. You have to make choices, and none of those choices are risk-free. The options are on a scale between low-risk negative-return and high-risk high-return. But the risk is never zero - not even in FDIC insured accounts - and there's an element of randomness involved in the outcomes.
That's the point. There's no option to say "I have this store of value, and if I don't do anything with it it will retain its value forever."
It won't. So you're forced into risk assessment and randomness, not just with money but with assets in general.
This is the foundation of the economy. All non-trivial transactions are based on risk/reward estimates, and some parts of the economy can force risk and hazard on others.
It's not just a casino you can never leave, it's a casino where the management use various tricks to siphon money from your assets into their pockets without giving you any agency over what happens.
- StilesCrisis 2mo agoGovernment-backed bonds are the intended zero-risk option. You know exactly how much you will get and it is designed to track inflation (sorta). If you don't believe in that, precious metals are another way to go. I don't personally subscribe to that theory but that's the idea.
- skinfaxi 2mo agoI think your parent's point is even larger than that. To be alive is to engage with risk. There are no stores of value that withstand all decay.
- Dylan16807 2mo agoIf everything is gambling then we lost track of what we were doing and need a new word for what we're trying to regulate. The answer is not to give up because it's a spectrum, it's to mark off thresholds.
- danielmarkbruce 2mo agoAll you are saying is "there is unavoidable risk in the world". Yes, there is. Gambling is creating risks that don't need to be created, for their own sake. Some people like risk all by itself - gamblers.
- TheOtherHobbes 2mo agoThere's a difference between unavoidable risk and imposed financial risk, much of which is caused by the financial industry itself. Being killed by a meteorite is a statistical issue. Having your house stolen by a bank during a manufactured recession is a crime, and should be avoidable. Yes, that was actually happening after 2008. For example: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna40777392 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna40777392