Re: maybe he would cash himself in? (Re: A Billion for Bin Laden)
At 11:55 AM 8/12/2004, Dave Howe wrote: of course someone *really* cynical might think they already had him, but needed to spring a billion towards shrub's reelection campaign S that's not supposed to happen until October... Adam Back wrote: Maybe Bin Laden would turn himself in in return for a billion $ for his cause (through a middle-man of course). That's actually more credible, though I'm skeptical that anybody would trust the Bush Administration with that much money - if you're not an established government or well-known warlord, don't you become an immediate target of US suspicion? But Bin Laden could get to turn himself in alive, and if he gets killed as a martyr to the cause, lots more people get to hate Bush.
Re: A Billion for Bin Laden
Yeah, about as brilliant as a turd. Didn't they recently call Al-Qaeda's network a hydra? correct me if I don't recall my Ancient Greek myths, but when you cut off one head on the hydra, two more grow back, so are we to assume that future heads that grow back will carry such bounties? A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. I guess they do realize that these guys are idologists and the allmighty dollar is anathema to them, so they have to raise the bounty in order to get someone to betray him... Never discount greed, no matter how ideological someone may be, at some ridiculous sum, someone somewhere will rat him out... perhaps just before the elections. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ --*--:and our people, and neither do we. -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + :War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. - On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote: This is brilliant, worthy of being called channelling Tim M. As it relies entirely on free association and the rational marketplace. Nevermind that the reward is stolen from the sheeple. What the DC future-corpses don't grok is that the Sheik's network is not financially or career motivated, unlike themselves. And xianity (or even amerikan patriotism which sometimes substitutes) is too neutered to counter it.
Re: A Billion for Bin Laden
Yeah, about as brilliant as a turd. Didn't they recently call Al-Qaeda's network a hydra? correct me if I don't recall my Ancient Greek myths, but when you cut off one head on the hydra, two more grow back, so are we to assume that future heads that grow back will carry such bounties? A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. I guess they do realize that these guys are idologists and the allmighty dollar is anathema to them, so they have to raise the bounty in order to get someone to betray him... Never discount greed, no matter how ideological someone may be, at some ridiculous sum, someone somewhere will rat him out... perhaps just before the elections. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ --*--:and our people, and neither do we. -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + :War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. - On Wed, 11 Aug 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote: This is brilliant, worthy of being called channelling Tim M. As it relies entirely on free association and the rational marketplace. Nevermind that the reward is stolen from the sheeple. What the DC future-corpses don't grok is that the Sheik's network is not financially or career motivated, unlike themselves. And xianity (or even amerikan patriotism which sometimes substitutes) is too neutered to counter it.
maybe he would cash himself in? (Re: A Billion for Bin Laden)
Maybe Bin Laden would turn himself in in return for a billion $ for his cause (through a middle-man of course). Seem to remember that Bin Laden was relatively wealthy himself (100 M$?), but you'd have to balance these rewards to not be too excessively much more than net worth of the individual. As a rational adversary would include in his game plan swapping himself for the money for the cause. Especially if it could be arranged in a way which tends to cast Bin Laden in the martyr role him and encourage the hydra effect where it galvanizes leutenants to step in. Bin Laden would have to balance also with how valueable he thought his leader ship was. Of course the lieutenants themselves might do the calculation and figure they would be closer to their goals after cashing in Bin Laden. Adam On Thu, Aug 12, 2004 at 03:37:32AM -0400, Sunder wrote: Yeah, about as brilliant as a turd. Didn't they recently call Al-Qaeda's network a hydra? correct me if I don't recall my Ancient Greek myths, but when you cut off one head on the hydra, two more grow back, so are we to assume that future heads that grow back will carry such bounties? A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money. I guess they do realize that these guys are idologists and the allmighty dollar is anathema to them, so they have to raise the bounty in order to get someone to betray him... Never discount greed, no matter how ideological someone may be, at some ridiculous sum, someone somewhere will rat him out... perhaps just before the elections.
Re: maybe he would cash himself in? (Re: A Billion for Bin Laden)
Nah, if Bush already had him in a hole somewhere to produce him just in time for the elections, he'd collect the billion for himself as his personal reward. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ --*--:and our people, and neither do we. -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + :War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. - On Thu, 12 Aug 2004, Dave Howe wrote: of course someone *really* cynical might think they already had him, but needed to spring a billion towards shrub's reelection campaign
A Billion for Bin Laden
http://www.techcentralstation.com/080904D.html Tech Central Station A Billion for Bin Laden By James Miller Published 08/09/2004 The $25 million reward the U.S. is offering for Bin Laden's capture just isn't enough. Sure, $25 million would induce a Pakistani peasant to turn in Bin Laden, but it's not enough to attract the financial markets to the Bin Laden hunt. With the possibility of earning a $1 billion bounty, however, professional Bin Laden hunting firms would form, allowing the U.S. to enlist the efficiency and creativity of the free market in our fight against Osama. The twentieth century's economic battles between capitalism and socialism proved that the private sector is far more effective than the government at providing services. Unfortunately, though, for many activities such as terrorist tracking, private companies have little incentive to engage. But a $1 billion bounty would motivate firms to join the hunt for Bin Laden. With a $1 billion reward in place, an international group of intelligence, military and terrorist experts that could credibly claim to have, say, at least a 5% chance of finding Bin Laden could easily raise $20 million or so from the financial markets to finance their search. With several such organizations unleashed on the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama's margin of safety would shrink. If my $1 billion free market experiment were implemented and proved successful, the U.S. could offer very large rewards for other international villains. Firms would then likely come into existence that specialized in capturing different types of criminals, some, for example, going after South American drug barons while others concentrated on Middle Eastern terrorists. I suspect that different sub-branches of the U.S. government currently compete for the resources necessary to find Bin Laden. Given how most public organizations operate, however, these resources probably go to the best bureaucratic infighters rather than those with the best chance of finding our murderous prey. The world's financial markets excel (at least compared with governments) at picking possible winners, so we should give them the power to determine who gets the capital needed to find Bin Laden. Those who think $1 billion is too much to pay for one sick man's capture should consider the deterrent effect of this bounty. Our government doesn't seem to shine at locating single individuals, so if they're willing to go into hiding, would-be terrorist master-sickos might not fear our wrath. But knowing that a large bounty would be placed on them might give pause to a few of our potential enemies. If the billion dollar bounty failed and Bin Laden ended up being located by the CIA or the U.S. armed forces rather than the private sector, the bounty wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything. But it still would have sent a powerful signal to our enemies that the massive wealth of the U.S. can be deployed against those who strike us. Many other nations don't seem to care very much about whether we catch Bin Laden and $25 million certainly isn't enough to change their priorities. But $1 billion would make a difference to nations like Pakistan and perhaps motivate them to search seriously for our main enemy. President Bush is reportedly ready to announce major new initiatives at his Republican Convention. A billion dollar Bin Laden bounty would make for the perfect convention proposal since it fuses Bush's dedication to tracking down the 9/11 instigator with a Republican faith in the free markets. James D. Miller writes The Game Theorist column for TCS and is a Republican Candidate for the Massachusetts State Senate. Editor's note: For other articles proposing free market solutions to practical problems see: An Anti-Terrorism Defense Fund Doing Well Against Spam By Taking Revenge Markets Reward Eco-Terror. So Lets Fix Them. Airport Security -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
Re: A Billion for Bin Laden
With the possibility of earning a $1 billion bounty, however, professional Bin Laden hunting firms would form, allowing the U.S. to enlist the efficiency and creativity of the free market in our fight against Osama. This is brilliant, worthy of being called channelling Tim M. As it relies entirely on free association and the rational marketplace. Nevermind that the reward is stolen from the sheeple. What the DC future-corpses don't grok is that the Sheik's network is not financially or career motivated, unlike themselves. And xianity (or even amerikan patriotism which sometimes substitutes) is too neutered to counter it. Get your filthy hands off my desert, indeed, or else. See you in Athens.
Re: A Billion for Bin Laden
With the possibility of earning a $1 billion bounty, however, professional Bin Laden hunting firms would form, allowing the U.S. to enlist the efficiency and creativity of the free market in our fight against Osama. This is brilliant, worthy of being called channelling Tim M. As it relies entirely on free association and the rational marketplace. Nevermind that the reward is stolen from the sheeple. What the DC future-corpses don't grok is that the Sheik's network is not financially or career motivated, unlike themselves. And xianity (or even amerikan patriotism which sometimes substitutes) is too neutered to counter it. Get your filthy hands off my desert, indeed, or else. See you in Athens.
