[pessimizer]

> Consider this obvious thought experiment: given a choice between having to choose between a $10 bill or a $20 bill on the sidewalk, all else being equal, everyone will choose the $20.

All else is never equal. If you change this experiment slightly, you'll get a more interesting result. If there is a $10 bill and a $100 bill on the sidewalk, and you have to choose one to take and one that will return to its owner, most people will choose the $10. The $100 seems suspicious and dangerous (in a "mystical and unpredictable" way.)

Quality is determined by experience and instinct. The personal valuation of a $100 bill might drop below $10 with no added information, other than that all treasure looks less like treasure than a lot of trash does.

Suffice it to say that if there were a market that accurately labeled the values of everything it sold, it wouldn't be a very interesting market.

> the FAANG index in which each company is worth at least $100 billion has pretty much beaten everything else since 2009.

That's because the politics are affected by size. To big to fail is real.