At least once a day, I think about how the staunchest supporters of “broken window theory” must think it only applies to blue-collar crime.
Visible law and order gets our attention, while real power funneled through shell companies and senators’ pens is hard to trace. These are old themes often set to music and poetry by Dylan, Marley, Cash, Springsteen, Queensryche (sorry, I had to slip in my personal choice — the Operation Mindcrime album).
But what’s jarring is that…well, it’s not even hard to trace.
Or what about futures markets? Those centralized exchanges have lot level surveillance of every trade. Maybe they’re afraid to open their eyes because it’s right in front of them.
Talking to friends running commodity books and the blatant abuse of futures before the Truth Social announcements is just a joke at this point. Traders are piggy-backing too but it feels like blood money. You’re sad to make it, but also your job is to make money come out of the computer.
It’s easy to rationalize that this is not blood money anyway. You’re not the source of the corruption. You’re a distant observer drafting on it, but you know you’re not in control. You could become collateral damage of the next manipulation. It’s almost like you better make money when you’re seeing the ball because you’re aware you could be on the wrong end of a random whim.
More and more, I think the left/right polarization is just bread and circuses to distract us from an Epstein class vs everyone else. Power haves and have-nots. That there happen to be deep ideologues from both red and blue varieties is pure convenience for the puppeteer. A believer without any real power is just a pawn.
Don’t let the words distract you from the actions. Via ABC reporting…
Words:
Trump was asked on Thursday if he was concerned about online prediction markets, through which bets are regularly placed on geopolitical events, such as the war in Iran, and the potential for insider trading.
“Well, you know, the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino,” Trump responded. “And you look at what’s going on all over the world, in Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things. I was never much in favor of it. I don’t like it conceptually, but it is what it is.”
“But they have all these different sites. They have predictive markets. It’s a crazy world. It’s a much different world than it was.”
Actions:
One of Trump’s namesake companies, Trump Media and Technology Group, announced last year that it would launch a prediction betting marketplace called Truth Predict. The White House has said all of President Trump’s assets, including his majority stake in Trump Media and Technology Group, are being held in a trust controlled by his sons.
Polymarket has cultivated close ties to the Trump family, announcing last August that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., would join its advisory board. Trump Jr.’s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, also invested in Polymarket.
Maybe owning stakes in prediction markets is just Trump hedging his lament that the world is now a casino. Great emotional awareness, I guess?
Look, if politics are your personality and you’re not manipulating them for profit, you are a sucker. If you are, you’re something else. But it’s not a sucker.
Which leaves a rhetorical question for you to ponder…what’s worse than being a sucker?