When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
reasons.
I said, “That’s all fine, but if you don’t do better, I’m going to walk out of here and go to the other dealership.”
By my estimation, we were now about halfway through the mating ritual. In about fifteen minutes, after a lot of huffing and puffing, we would get the car for the price the third dealership had offered. That would still probably be paying way too much, but I was willing to accept that outcome.
“So I’m going to walk out,” I reiterated.
“Okay,” the manager said. “If it doesn’t work out at that other dealership, come back and we will sell you the car at the price we offered before.”
I stood up and began to gather the kids, all part of the tough bargaining act. They simply watched me, as if theyhad forgotten that this was all part of the ritual. Even if they had forgotten their lines, I still remembered mine. “We both know that if I walk out of here today, I am never coming back.”
To which the guy simply said, “We’re willing to take our chances on that.”
And I walked out.
I was shocked. This dealership had sent me a price over the Internet, come down only $200, and then smiled as I left to buy a car from another place. Given that, I figured the new dealer must be giving us a really good deal. I didn’t have the energy to start another mating dance with the new dealership, so I simply accepted their offer without bargaining. I pick the car up on Tuesday.
For $25 Million, No Way—But for $50 Million I’ll Think About It
(SDL)
At least for me, there are not too many questions that would lead me to respond, “For twenty-five million, no way—but for fifty million I’ll think about it.” Twenty-five million dollars is so much money that it’s hard to think about what you would do with it. It sure would be nice to have the first $25 million but I’m not sure why I’d need the second $25 million.
The U.S. Senate is hoping there are some folks in Afghanistan or Pakistan who don’t see it that way. Frustrated by the failure of the $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden tolead to his capture, the Senate has voted 87–1 to raise the bounty to $50 million. (The lone dissenter was Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky.)
At one level, you have to applaud this move by the government. To a Pakistani peasant, $50 million is an unthinkably large amount of money. To the U.S. government, which is spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, $50 million is next to nothing. If one of the major goals of the Iraq war was to get rid of Saddam Hussein, think how much cheaper it would have been to offer a reward of, say, $100 billion to anyone who could get him out of office by whatever means they saw fit. Saddam himself might have graciously accepted the offer and traded the hassles of running a country for a pleasant $100 billion pension and a well-appointed French manor.
Indeed, we have written before about the virtues of offering big prizes to encourage people to work on problems, whether it is curing disease or improving Netflix’s algorithms .
On the other hand, if I can’t tell the difference between $25 million and $50 million, I can’t imagine that upping the ante will push a wavering Pakistani over the edge of collaborating with the U.S. government.
Much more important, but harder to do, would be to find a way to make it credible that we will actually pay the bounty. I’m sure there is plenty of discretion in deciding to whom and how much of that bounty gets paid. For instance, if I did some statistical analysis that somehow narrowed down his whereabouts to within one thousand yards, andthen the Navy SEALs canvassed that area and found him, would I get the money? I’m not so sure they would give it to me. I’m guessing the Pakistani peasant who has some information on Bin Laden probably shares my doubts.
Indeed, no bounty was ultimately paid. As reported by ABC News , “the raid that killed the al Qaeda leader in Pakistan on May 2 [2011] was the result of
I said, “That’s all fine, but if you don’t do better, I’m going to walk out of here and go to the other dealership.”
By my estimation, we were now about halfway through the mating ritual. In about fifteen minutes, after a lot of huffing and puffing, we would get the car for the price the third dealership had offered. That would still probably be paying way too much, but I was willing to accept that outcome.
“So I’m going to walk out,” I reiterated.
“Okay,” the manager said. “If it doesn’t work out at that other dealership, come back and we will sell you the car at the price we offered before.”
I stood up and began to gather the kids, all part of the tough bargaining act. They simply watched me, as if theyhad forgotten that this was all part of the ritual. Even if they had forgotten their lines, I still remembered mine. “We both know that if I walk out of here today, I am never coming back.”
To which the guy simply said, “We’re willing to take our chances on that.”
And I walked out.
I was shocked. This dealership had sent me a price over the Internet, come down only $200, and then smiled as I left to buy a car from another place. Given that, I figured the new dealer must be giving us a really good deal. I didn’t have the energy to start another mating dance with the new dealership, so I simply accepted their offer without bargaining. I pick the car up on Tuesday.
For $25 Million, No Way—But for $50 Million I’ll Think About It
(SDL)
At least for me, there are not too many questions that would lead me to respond, “For twenty-five million, no way—but for fifty million I’ll think about it.” Twenty-five million dollars is so much money that it’s hard to think about what you would do with it. It sure would be nice to have the first $25 million but I’m not sure why I’d need the second $25 million.
The U.S. Senate is hoping there are some folks in Afghanistan or Pakistan who don’t see it that way. Frustrated by the failure of the $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden tolead to his capture, the Senate has voted 87–1 to raise the bounty to $50 million. (The lone dissenter was Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky.)
At one level, you have to applaud this move by the government. To a Pakistani peasant, $50 million is an unthinkably large amount of money. To the U.S. government, which is spending $10 billion a month in Iraq, $50 million is next to nothing. If one of the major goals of the Iraq war was to get rid of Saddam Hussein, think how much cheaper it would have been to offer a reward of, say, $100 billion to anyone who could get him out of office by whatever means they saw fit. Saddam himself might have graciously accepted the offer and traded the hassles of running a country for a pleasant $100 billion pension and a well-appointed French manor.
Indeed, we have written before about the virtues of offering big prizes to encourage people to work on problems, whether it is curing disease or improving Netflix’s algorithms .
On the other hand, if I can’t tell the difference between $25 million and $50 million, I can’t imagine that upping the ante will push a wavering Pakistani over the edge of collaborating with the U.S. government.
Much more important, but harder to do, would be to find a way to make it credible that we will actually pay the bounty. I’m sure there is plenty of discretion in deciding to whom and how much of that bounty gets paid. For instance, if I did some statistical analysis that somehow narrowed down his whereabouts to within one thousand yards, andthen the Navy SEALs canvassed that area and found him, would I get the money? I’m not so sure they would give it to me. I’m guessing the Pakistani peasant who has some information on Bin Laden probably shares my doubts.
Indeed, no bounty was ultimately paid. As reported by ABC News , “the raid that killed the al Qaeda leader in Pakistan on May 2 [2011] was the result of
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