Futures Market? Yes, as weird as it may seem, capatilism strikes again. This is an ingenius idea, not to mention morbid. At first, the US government proposed setting up a futures market to hedge bets on future terrorist attacks. This idea was quickly canned after the public's collective stomach turned. The basic idea was to create a market where the future of terrorist activities could be traded like stock. You buy more into a specific action, say the potential of a terrorist hit on the White House, if you believe that there was a great likelihood of it happening. The thought being that those in the know, and out to make a fast buck, would bet heavily that this would happen and on what date, in order to make some quick cash. The US government would then respond accordingly to the trends of the market to quash whatever nefarious plan may be afoot. That plan got squashed. Now, a bunch of University researchers are planning on doing the same thing ... only this futures market will trade the futures of what the US government is up to. Like which country will they attack next? Policy directions and such things. Very interesting concept.

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