EXPECTATION
ideathattheonlyriskherunsisthatofagenuinechangeinthenewsoverthenearfuture，astothelikelihoodofwhichhecanattempttoformhisownjudgment，andwhichisunlikelytobeverylarge。For，assumingthattheconventionholdsgood，itisonlythesechangeswhichcanaffectthevalueofhisinvestment，andheneednotlosehiSsleepmerelybecausehehasnotanynotionwhathisinvestmentwillbeworthtenyearshence。Thusinvestmentbecomesreasonably\'safe\'fortheindividualinvestorovershortperiods，andhenceoverasuccessionofshortperiodshowevermany，ifhecanfairlyrelyontherebeingnobreakdownintheconventionandonhisthereforehavinganopportunitytorevisehisjudgmentandchangehisinvestment，beforetherehasbeentimeformuchtohappen。
Investmentswhichare\'fixed\'forthecommunityarethusmade\'liquid\'
fortheindividual。
Ithasbeen，Iamsure，onthebasisofsomesuchprocedureasthisthatourleadinginvestmentmarketshavebeendeveloped。Butitisnotsurprisingthataconvention，inanabsoluteviewofthingssoarbitrary，shouldhaveitsweakpoints。Itisitsprecariousnesswhichcreatesnosmallpartofourcontemporaryproblemofsecuringsufficientinvestment。