Yesterday I bought the paper version of the Daily Telegraph, to read about how England defeated South Africa at cricket (basically by winning the toss – never mind), and in the City Diary I read this.
Madsen Pirie, the president of the Adam Smith Institute, is feeling pretty smug. Three years ago he wagered £100 at 25-1 on Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming the next governor of California.
The best price you can get now is even money and Pirie is already dreaming of spending his winnings. “I’m going to have an absolutely great party,” he says, before adding, “and I’m going to ask Sir Clive Sinclair to host it.”
Pirie and Sinclair have been mates since they ran Mensa together and our gambler is particularly impressed by his friend’s pad in Trafalgar Square. “Nelson’s his nearest neighbour,” he gushes. “Clive has lots of gadgets so we will be able to show clips of The Terminator.”
So will Arnie make a good governor? “Maybe California needs someone with an economics degree,” Pirie replies. Arnie has one, by the way.
And then, I actually managed to track this story down in its electronic manifestation.
I think Madsen Pirie’s foresight deserves to get around and be celebrated.
Good bet, but how much did he wagger on Arnuld following Adam Smith priciples?
Arnie may become governor, but as a a good friend of mine in the state has pointed out, Arnie has thus far not been very forthcoming on where he stands on stuff like taxes, rolling back government, and so on. He is also in favour of gun control, hardly a winner for libertarianism. Okay, he may be better than Gray Davis (not a great feat), but I have to be convinced that the Terminator has the stature of Ronald Reagan.
I have been recently flipping through Reagan’s collection of radio broadcast transcripts, which kill the idea that Ronnie was some sort of idiot. Quite the opposite. I haven’t seen anything similar from Arnkie, although I recall he has given money to the CATO Institute, which is a good sign.
It’s only £2500 – not that great a bet?
25 to 1 does seem a bit short three years ago- would have taken at least 100 to 1 to entice a penny out of my miserly pocket.
Am I missing something? If he bet three years ago that Arnie would become the next gov, didn’t he already lose that bet? Didn’t Gray Davis become the next gov already?