BTW To get the full suckiness hidden in the bland phrase "net loss of wealth" most people need some aid to fix their intuitions. Converting "wealth" to happy productive years or dead child currency sometimes works.
(nods) That certain simplifies the task of comparing it to the loss of happy productive years and/or the increase in dead children that sometimes follows from the bland phrase "using forbidden statistical knowledge."
Once we convert everything to Expected Number of Happy Productive Years (for example), it's easier to ask whether we'd prefer system A, in which Sum(ENoHPY) = N1 and Standard Deviation(ENoHPY) = N2, or system B where Sum(ENoHPY) = (N1 - X) and Standard Deviation(ENoHPY) = N2- Y.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
(I plan to make these threads from now on. Downvote if you disapprove. If I miss one, feel free to do it yourself.)