Incumbents, Not Startups, Are Regulatory Arbitrageurs

Not entirely related, but I very much enjoyed the reference to United States vs Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola[1], which led me to the category of in rem [2] cases. These are most commonly referenced in civil forfeiture cases (e.g. US vs <some amount of money>), and always struck me as slightly ridiculous ("what did the money ever do wrong?").

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Forty_Barrels... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_rem_jurisdiction

I was just reading a statarb paper this morning.

We really should have came up with a different word and left arbitrage alone back in the day.

I can't remember the last time I read about an arbitrage that was actually an arbitrage.

Now everything is basically "garage sale arbitrage". I bought a piece of junk at a garage sale and sold it on ebay for a profit. "Risk free profit", cha ching. Just a total corruption of the actual concept.

I get it though,it is a great word.