In Iraq, the Bomb-Detecting Device That Didn’t Work, Except to Make Money

July 15th, 2013

Step right up, step right up, step right up,
Everyone’s a winner, bargains galore
That’s right, you too can be the proud owner
Of the quality goes in before the name goes on
One-tenth of a dollar, one-tenth of a dollar, we got service after sales
You need perfume? we got perfume, how ’bout an engagement ring?
Something for the little lady, something for the little lady,
Something for the little lady, hmm
Three for a dollar
We got a year-end clearance, we got a white sale
And a smoke-damaged furniture, you can drive it away today
Act now, act now, and receive as our gift, our gift to you
They come in all colors, one size fits all
No muss, no fuss, no spills, you’re tired of kitchen drudgery
Everything must go, going out of business, going out of business
Going out of business sale
Fifty percent off original retail price, skip the middle man
Don’t settle for less
How do we do it? how do we do it? volume, volume, turn up the volume
Now you’ve heard it advertised, don’t hesitate
Don’t be caught with your drawers down,
Don’t be caught with your drawers down
You can step right up, step right up

—Tom Waits, “Step Right Up”

I’m going through my roughly annual research binge on looking for trading systems—that actually work. I’m looking at ES this time. While I have no good news to report on the blackbox development front, the websites and books I’ve been reading about trading the ES remind me a lot of the story below about the expensive fake bomb detector.

With the ES, there is an entire economy the revolves around selling TOTALLY USELESS custom indicators, books, access to private forums, video training courses, etc. I’ve been at this for so long that I can just read the description of what’s on offer and it serves as a bit of comic relief for the grinding reality of what that backtester reports as more data is added…

Anyway, “Step right up!”

Via: Bloomberg:

What McCormick failed to mention was that the device was not, strictly speaking, his own invention, or that he knew very well it wouldn’t detect explosives. The ADE 651 was modeled on a novelty trinket conceived decades before by a former used-car salesman from South Carolina, which was purported to detect golf balls. It wasn’t even good at that.

By the time police in Britain raided his offices nine days later, McCormick had spent three years selling the Iraqi government these devices, sometimes for more than $30,000 each. The best estimates suggest that the authorities in Baghdad bought more than 6,000 useless bomb detectors, at a cost of at least $38 million.

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