Just so. Thank you. But I think you overqualify a bit. It is not necessarily that the "Real" value of the things was less than we expected. We do not need to make ANY assumption about the "Real" value in order to understand this. The only thing that matters is that some people CHANGED THEIR MINDS about how valuable the "things" were.
(1) Maybe they decided they were worth MORE than before, and thus the "Market Value" increased. (1)(A) Maybe they were correct, and the "Real" value WAS greater than thought. (1)(B) Maybe they were mistaken, and the "Real" value was NOT greater than thought. (2) Maybe they decided they were worth LESS than before, and thus the "Market Value" Decreased. (2)(A) Maybe they were correct, and the "Real" value WAS less than thought. (2)(B) Maybe they were mistaken, and the "Real" value was NOT less than thought. In all four instances, the result is the same: Market Value changes in response to an Internal Mental State, without any change in Wealth - whether the Internal Mental State is delusional or realistic. This happens regardless of whether some kind of Inflation or other process is responsible for making the Internal Mental State inaccurate and now the Mental State realizes its mistake (the Mistake might be the New opinion, not the Old one; makes no difference). --- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Gary F. York" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think we can agree, in this case, that wealth, however we define it, > didn't 'suddenly' vanish overnight. What happened, more or less > 'suddenly', is that we recognize (because of new or more broadly > available information) that certain things we thought correctly valued > were, instead, rather less valuable. In truth, those things never > actually held the value we originally expected. > > As prosaic, really, as if you pony up $50,000 for a car expecting it to > serve you well for ten years and it begins to self-destruct at year two, > you may 'suddenly' realize the car was less valuable than you had > confidently anticipated. Bummer. Sure, nothing has really changed: the > seller got your fifty grand; you got their lousy car. You still feel a > 'loss' and you're still aggrieved even if you eventually decide you > should have exercised greater 'due diligence.' > > G. >
