Truth will out....
According to press rpeorts, the possibility that the US government has signficant intervention plans to prop up equity markets in a crisis first emerged during a simulation.
The so-called 'plunge protection team' was first disclosed during a financial war game held by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2000. Journalists reported that simulation participants displayed a willingness to consider government intervention in the stock market in the event of a financial crisis. despite the 'free trade' agenda of the administration.
See a report for Sprott Asset Management by John Embry and Andrew Hepburn called "Move Over, Adam Smith: The Visible Hand of Uncle Sam," Toronto: August 2005.
I don't personally find this surprising. They'd be mad not to.
But it is a good example of how things said or assumed in a simulation can come to public notice and possibly influence the 'real world'. (As in the publicity given to the Iran simulation recently.) Sometimes, you can't do a realistic simulation without revealing your hand.
