creepycoug
Well-known poster
their day always comes. that's why you have to celebrate small victories when they do, occassionally, take one up the hershey.
i wonder ... whether one day society takes a hard look at hedge funds, and all the other artificial "investors" who've turned Wall Street into an annex of Vegas, and ask itself the fundamental question: why do we have capital markets in the first place? is it to provide a forum for those who are really good at math to make piles of cash doing nothing more than being really good at math? or is it for the distinct purpose of providing the best economic system for capital formation, which is ultimately a "greater good" kind of argument?
what would happen, for example, if we imposed a couple of simple rules: (1) there is no such thing as after-market trading, and all trades of any capital stock of any company registered under the '33 and/or '34 Acts must be done on an exchange (no dark pools) unless it meets the current requirements for a good private placement; and (2) [this is the big one], all capital stock purchased on said exchange must be held for at least one full day - no trading that position for 24 hours.
i honestly don't know the answer to that question, and it won't be the first time I've been described as a reactionary, but there was a time in this country when you made an investment to make a fucking investment, and it wasn't meant to be another weekend in Vegas. Sure you were betting on a company's prospects, but not like what we have going on now. of course there was other shit going on then, but that's why it became regulated. technology limitations just made it impractical to turn over investments every millisecond, or to make buy/sell decisions w/in milliseconds of this or that news crossing the wire.
one thing is for sure in my mind - the efficient market theory is under more pressure today than it has ever been.
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