The Committee to Destroy the World

CHAPTER 11 How to Save Yourself

Your Grace, I feel I’ve been remiss in my duties. I’ve given you meat and wine and music, but I haven’t shown you the hospitality you deserve. My King has married and I owe my new Queen a wedding gift.

—Lord Walder Frey to the guests at the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey in Game of Thrones

The guests invited to the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey in Game of Thrones were lulled into a false sense of security by their host, Lord Walder Frey. They never expected Lord Walder to harm them after he offered them guest right, a tradition that provides that after a man invites a guest into his home, neither the guest nor the host can harm each other for the length of the guest’s stay. Guest right was considered one of the most sacred and inviolable social rules in their world, yet they were about to learn that nothing is sacred in the land of Westeros. The wedding celebration was a set-up all along and a bloodbath known as the Red Wedding ensued.

There is no such thing as guest right in the financial markets though investors continue to behave as though they are entitled to safe harbor protection from central bankers. They mistakenly believe that the invitation by central bankers to take greater risks after the financial crisis will protect their investments from losing value, but that is a terrible error of judgment on their part. While The Committee to Destroy the World may not be deliberately plotting to slaughter them like Lord Walder, ...