A Mug’s Game?

Posted by ginag2 on Dec 5, 2012 in Blog | 5 comments

Is horse race betting a “mug’s game?” Does a player really have a shot at making a success of it, or is it just the old ‘snowball up a hill’ thing?

Maybe the better question in our current economic climate would be . . . is the goal of financial security in any form a mug’s game?

The sad truth is that what our Grandparents paid $20 for in 1913 – we have to cough up $467.31 for today! What my parents paid $20 for in 1948 (the year I was born) – I’ve got to pay $191.96 for today.  The estimates are that the dollar has lost 95% to 98% of its value since the 1913 to 1920 period.

That kind of puts the question of ‘saving’ and ‘earning’ for the future in a different light doesn’t it?  The goal of earning and saving part of those earnings is to have more at a future time – right? But the reality of wealth loss (though it is actually being confiscated by others, so lets call it what it is – wealth transfer) via the declining value of our currency sort of turns the whole thing into a mug’s game.

Okay – okay – bit of a rant there – apologies.  And, of course, there are ways to counter the inexorable decline of the purchasing power of the dollar – but that’s a conversation for another day.  So back to the question at hand – success at the races . . .