Banned in the USA
So long, Intrade. Sorry that you were put out of business for the most ridiculous of reasons:
Today, Americans were told that they must close their Intrade.com accounts. That happened because the federal government agency known as the "Commodity Futures Trading Commission" (CFTC) today sued the prediction market, where people from all over the world bet about things like who will win elections.
...
Why did the American government sue Intrade? It was not for operating an online gambling operation, but for allegedly violating America's incomprehensible financial regulations -- specifically, these ones:
"Section 4c(b) and 9(a)(3) of the [Commodity Exchange] Act, §§6c(b) and 13(a)(3) (2006); Section 2(e) of the Act, as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act, to be codified at 7 U.S.C. § 2(e); and Regulation 32, as amended, to be codified at 17 C.F.R. § 32 (2011);"
In English: the government says that many of the things Intrade allows people to predict - everything from what the price of gold will be in the future to whether the U.S. will go to war soon - are legally considered "commodity options," and that Intrade broke the law because it isn't licensed to trade those. The penalty is $140,000 per violation.
More here. The Springsteen lyrics are apt.
And people still have the nerve to claim that government has the capacity to leave well enough alone.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Banned in the USA
It is what the nation wants.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
I'm not sorry to see it go.
May '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Why? I didn't follow Intrade that much. PM me the answer if you want to.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Edward Smith: Why? I didn't follow Intrade that much. PM me the answer if you want to. · 0 minutes ago
After all the arguments over Intrade during the September-Election Day period, you have to ask?
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
They were right on the election when Karl Rove, Prof Rahe, Dick Morris, et. al. were spectacularly wrong. A legally operated private business, filling a unique niche in an innovative fashion, gets railroaded by leviathan and all you can do is say, "I'm not sorry to see it go."
Edited on November 27, 2012 at 8:16pmJun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
FloppyDisk90
Yet for some inexplicable reason you consider yourself a conservative. · 1 minute ago
I thought ad hominem attacks were not allowed under the Ricochet Code of Conduct.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
Yet for some inexplicable reason you consider yourself a conservative. · 1 minute ago
I thought ad hominemattacks were not allowed under the Ricochet Code of Conduct. · 2 minutes ago
Edited.
But I stand by my challenge: how do you consider yourself conservative when you so cheaply feed your principles to the wolves?
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
FloppyDisk90
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
Yet for some inexplicable reason you consider yourself a conservative. · 1 minute ago
I thought ad hominemattacks were not allowed under the Ricochet Code of Conduct. · 2 minutes ago
Edited.
But I stand by my challenge: how do you consider yourself conservative when you so cheaply feed your principles to the wolves? · 0 minutes ago
I don't answer people who start with an attack.
Have a nice life.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
Yet for some inexplicable reason you consider yourself a conservative. · 1 minute ago
I thought ad hominemattacks were not allowed under the Ricochet Code of Conduct. · 2 minutes ago
Edited.
But I stand by my challenge: how do you consider yourself conservative when you so cheaply feed your principles to the wolves? · 0 minutes ago
I don't answer people who start with an attack.
Have a nice life. · 0 minutes ago
That's it, run for the door. See ya round.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
FloppyDisk90
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
ConservativeWanderer
FloppyDisk90
Yet for some inexplicable reason you consider yourself a conservative. · 1 minute ago
I thought ad hominemattacks were not allowed under the Ricochet Code of Conduct. · 2 minutes ago
Edited.
But I stand by my challenge: how do you consider yourself conservative when you so cheaply feed your principles to the wolves? · 0 minutes ago
I don't answer people who start with an attack.
Have a nice life. · 0 minutes ago
That's it, run for the door. See ya round. · 0 minutes ago
Well, there you go again.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Edward Smith: Why? I didn't follow Intrade that much. PM me the answer if you want to. · 25 minutes ago
One thing this definitely does, my friend, is highlight the absolute absurdity of the Obamacrat financial laws.
Remember, Dodd-Frank, the law that Intrade apparently violated, was signed by His Lordship Obama.
Perhaps this will wake up all the Democrats who love to talk up Intrade as the most wonderful thing since socialized medicine that there are real-world consequences to their legislation. Well... probably not, but I can hope.
Dec '10
Re: Banned in the USA
While I disapprove of Floppy's tone-- which is not generally how we talk to people around here-- I do echo his inquiry.
Aside from the fact that this company's prediction market was correct in a way that bummed us all out, why are you happy to see it crushed by the State, Conservative Wanderer?
Is it because you feel their markets can be too easily manipulated, and hence affect outcomes as much as they predict them?
Sep '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Sigh. The dead hand of government strikes again. I take it this is not an "Onion" story.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
KarlUB: While I disapprove of Floppy's tone-- which is not generally how we talk to people around here-- I do echo his inquiry.
Aside from the fact that this company's prediction market was correct in a way that bummed us all out, why are you happy to see it crushed by the State, Conservative Wanderer?
Is it because you feel their markets can be too easily manipulated, and hence affect outcomes as much as they predict them? · 0 minutes ago
See #11 in reply to my friend Edwards above.
And yes, I also feel that Intrade was easily manipulated. In fact, the endless "Obama is winning on Intrade" may have caused some Romney voters to sit at home. I've been arguing that being perceived as a winner matters in elections for quite some time.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
ConservativeWanderer
KarlUB: While I disapprove of Floppy's tone-- which is not generally how we talk to people around here-- I do echo his inquiry.
Aside from the fact that this company's prediction market was correct in a way that bummed us all out, why are you happy to see it crushed by the State, Conservative Wanderer?
Is it because you feel their markets can be too easily manipulated, and hence affect outcomes as much as they predict them? · 0 minutes ago
See #11 in reply to my friend Edwards above.
And yes, I also feel that Intrade was easily manipulated. In fact, the endless "Obama is winning on Intrade" may have caused some Romney voters to sit at home. I've been arguing that being perceived as a winner matters in elections for quite some time. · 6 minutes ago
If Romney supporters are so lethargic and easily manipulated as to sit home because of an Intrade position then they deserved what they got.
Sep '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Business Week has more on the story. Apparently, the original charges date from 2005, well before Dodd-Frank.
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
The financial laws in this nation are so Byzantine it could have started as a violation of one law and ended up being a violation of both.
Remember, Democrats don't believe in the rule of law, they believe in the law of rules... meaning it doesn't matter to them if the regulation in question wasn't in effect at the time of the alleged violation, business is bad and needs to be punished regardless.
It may be uncomfortable, but having these laws fall on companies that Democrats like is probably the only -- slim -- chance we have of teaching them the evils of overregulation.
May '12
Re: Banned in the USA
I don't think the CFTC is out of line. InTrade can take wagers on Academy awards, elections, or other things, but trading derivatives based on U.S. commodities and financial instrucments comes under the jurisdiction of the CFTC. The CFTC has done this for 40 some years, this isn't new to anyone including InTrade.
The CFTC didn't shut down InTrade, the CFTC just brought a civil action against them. If InTrade thinks they are within their rights to trade commodity derivatives, fight it.
May '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Well, yes, voters are more influenced by Polls & Intrade than horses in the race by the track announcer.
But I would just as soon see candidates who know how to keep the voters interested in seeing them win (and deal with Voter Fraud) than go after the Pollsters & Intrade. Doing that ignores the real problem Romney had.
ConservativeWanderer
KarlUB: While I disapprove of Floppy's tone-- which is not generally how we talk to people around here-- I do echo his inquiry.
Aside from the fact that this company's prediction market was correct in a way that bummed us all out, why are you happy to see it crushed by the State, Conservative Wanderer?
Is it because you feel their markets can be too easily manipulated, and hence affect outcomes as much as they predict them? · 0 minutes ago
See #11 in reply to my friend Edwards above.
And yes, I also feel that Intrade was easily manipulated. In fact, the endless "Obama is winning on Intrade" may have caused some Romney voters to sit at home. I've been arguing that being perceived as a winner matters in elections for quite some time. · 9 minutes ago
Jun '12
Re: Banned in the USA
Edward Smith: Well, yes, voters are more influenced by Polls & Intrade than horses in the race by the track announcer.
But I would just as soon see candidates who know how to keep the voters interested in seeing them win (and deal with Voter Fraud) than go after the Pollsters & Intrade. Doing that ignores the real problem Romney had.
ConservativeWanderer
See #11 in reply to my friend Edwards above.
And yes, I also feel that Intrade was easily manipulated. In fact, the endless "Obama is winning on Intrade" may have caused some Romney voters to sit at home. I've been arguing that being perceived as a winner matters in elections for quite some time. · 9 minutes ago
1 minute ago
Why not deal with all of these problems, rather than picking and choosing?