Zero Sum Game - My Loss Is Your Win
I stopped at a red light today, about to make a left turn. A man was sitting there with a sign that read, "Help, I'm going through tough times." If you've been reading this blog, you know too well that I pondered those words a lot. I had a rush of emotions: one part of me was asking, "What could he be going through?" and another part was wondering, "What if he's a drug addict?" I had so many thoughts and emotions rushing through me that I just took a deep breath, reached into my wallet, and gave all the cash I had. It wasn't much, as it was mostly one-dollar bills. I looked into my side mirror and saw about five other people call him over to hand him cash, with one person handing him an apple. He immediately started eating the apple, and I almost caused a traffic jam because I spent about 10 seconds just watching him in my side mirror. As I drove away, I remembered reading this morning that Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, was potentially heading toward a massive valuation, which would make Elon a trillionaire. Two extremes right there, I thought. I don't have to go into the topic of inequality again, as I wrote about that in a prior post Inequality. This brings us to where my thoughts led me: the concept of a zero-sum game.
It would be easy for me to question why we have someone with billions and another person with barely anything. But I thought, "If I think like this, then I'm depriving myself of the ability to think critically about such a conclusion." Of course, I spent the whole day pondering, and I’m still pondering now, but by writing it down, I can arrive at a more sophisticated, well-thought-out conclusion. Just like statisticians do when working on stochastic modeling by starting from the present item and working their way forward, I had to look at the set of events right in front of me. There I was, driving a car and not begging by the roadside. So, what right do I have, or what gives me the moral high ground, to question someone who was probably driving a better car than me and did not help the man? Or, for that matter, what gives me the moral high ground to question a billionaire? This sort of self-critique is common in the way I analyze situations because what I hate most is failing at being self-aware. Thus, I began questioning whether or not my own "well-being" was responsible for someone else's demise.
Clearly not, I thought. However, I arrived back at my office, and my brain began multitasking: one section pondering what I had just observed, and another trying to stay productive at work. I'll be honest: I spent the last few hours at work struggling to focus, and I'm still processing it. So, let’s assess this together. In some areas, we can clearly see that one person's win is another's loss. What better place to see this clearly than the markets? This is why I love the markets; human behavior is exemplified so clearly there. I'll give examples that show where one man's win is another's loss. One standout is the housing market, where home prices have climbed so high that regular folks can't afford to buy, and they have to take on massive debt just to meet the monthly payments. One would say perhaps people are just broke, and there's some truth to that because wages haven't kept up; however, it is also clear that regular buyers have been priced out. If I have more than one house, I have certainly contributed to home prices going higher because housing is a basic necessity, and most basic necessities are not readily available. The term mostly used for this is "hoarding." Many of you know I'm into stocks and "investing," so I happen to be guilty of participating in an area where there is clearly a zero-sum scenario. If I make money, it means someone else lost money.
There's a referee in a game to ensure there's fair play, because some are going to do the right things to ensure they win. Others will do the right things to win but will fall short of expectations. Some will just have luck on their side, while others will be outright lazy. I found it a little difficult to process this because that man, regardless of what must have happened, was facing tough times, and that's the only conclusion I or anyone else could fathom. If there was any shred of doubt, the way he ate that apple should have been proof to anyone living in the present moment. Like a statistician doing stochastic modeling, all we knew and could infer was that the man was facing a tough time. I have never been one to accuse someone who had more than me. There are things in life that I wish I had the privilege of enjoying but couldn't. Maybe if one person wasn't outright buying five homes, leaving others out to dry, some could possibly afford a home. However, maybe they just sacrificed a lot to have an extra car, while others wasted their privileges. Also, someone born in, say, Singapore, with one hell of a strong passport and the money to travel, doesn't mean they're responsible for someone born in Iran who is very much limited today. Just because I have the opportunity to attend some wild concerts doesn't mean I'm somehow responsible for the guy I passed by, preparing to sleep under a bridge. Just because someone forms a company that others rush to buy, making him millions, doesn't necessarily mean they're somehow responsible for the misery of the man who wasted his money chasing instant gratification. I could go on and on, but I must pivot to what I think is really going on.
Life, in itself, is not a zero-sum game, and many people throw around the phrase, "Putting out someone's candle doesn't make yours shine brighter." Life's satisfaction could not be summed up better than that, and I wish more people would really sit with that thought. I have always been one to hold our governments and elected officials accountable for most of our shackles. They are a good example of a zero-sum scenario involving lobbying, and one could make the case that people having more than the basics to get by has enabled this environment of lobbying. How can you not see that rich folks spending so much to get their favorite candidates elected is unfair to the common folk who thought their vote mattered? Still, this doesn't make life zero-sum, because there are areas where life is not zero-sum. Discovering new technology, improving your skills, or even writing a book or a hit song that catapults you to higher heights are not, in themselves, zero-sum. In my closet, I could pick out a few clothes and shoes I haven't worn for some time, or I might have some spare cash I really don't "NEED." So, I have to end by asking myself: what part of my own excesses is responsible for someone else not having enough? I'm sorry it had to end with a question; maybe you have an answer from your end.
Thank you!
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