The Rattlesnake and the Risk

When you are under the strike by a rattlesnake, the smart money says be very quiet, be motionless, and otherwise not even blink, lest the snake will strike. The alternative money says pull your revolver and shoot the snake. But is there time to shoot? You are at extreme risk. Yet, you don’t know what it will do.

What is your assessment? You are smart, you are practical, and you can see both solutions as viable.

The answer is subtle, and not to be found in textbooks or at the knee of a learned guru. The answer is measured in fractions of a second, and with an intuition of what is best – at the instant of danger.

This is the issue with trade disputes and tariffs. What to do? The smart solution is to lay low, be quiet, and trust on a favorable outcome. The alternative is to take charge, apply the tariffs, and destroy the risk before near certain strike. So we have...

A. Play it safe and hope against risk?

B. Destroy the risk at peril?

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