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Estarlio comments on Post ridiculous munchkin ideas! - Less Wrong
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I have a horrible thought.
Most (legally acquired) debts are dischargeable in bankruptcy. That puts a floor on the amount of money one can lose. If your net worth is "almost nothing" and you can find suckers, er, I mean, organizations with loose standards that are willing to lend you money, then the expected utility of risky bets changes in a way that favors you - because going bankrupt while owing $10,000 isn't much different than going bankrupt while owing $500,000. Of course, going bankrupt is still pretty bad either way, but the upside of winning a risky, highly leveraged bet can also be correspondingly large...
Personally, I don't think this is a good idea and is probably unethical anyway, but it is the kind of crazy thing a certain kind of munchkin would do...
Where are you going to find someone stupid enough to lend you $500k without assets and income? There are door to door lenders but they charge very high fees (though not nearly as much as pay day lenders) and lend relatively small amounts partially because of the risk of someone without much to lose doing this sort of strategy.
Well you become a NINJA. Probably a bit hard to get one now, but you could always wait for the next bubble...
Scary munchkin ideas are obviously absurd, until they happen.