... that the stock market is allegedly a mechanism for the 'efficient allocation of capital'.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/high-frequency-trading-of-stocks-is-two-critics-target.html?pagewanted=all> HFT is not allocating capital, but rent-seeking, and is a drag on the free market. <http://moneymorning.com/2009/08/14/high-frequency-trading/> It is economically NO different than mobsters skimming from restaurants and bars that they're 'silent' partners in, like the scene in goodfellsa where you see the meat and liquor going in the back door from the delivery trucks, and right out the front to the trunks of the mobsters. You know, the scene that ends with them setting up to torch the place for the insurance money? They're parasites, extracting rents and producing nothing of value. This is what happens when your economy becomes financialized; when the major industry is finance. It's not sustainable and it doesn't lead to growing the economy. We have decided that the Stock Market is not the engine of growth, but the engine of wealth. There's a simple solution to this: a transaction tax. <http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/u-s-financial-professionals-call-for-transaction-tax/> The Harkin-DeFazio bill would impose a tax of 0.03%. This would never be noticed by 99.99% of Americans, but it would impose a cost on the folks treating the market as the Great Mob Casino, skimming off the top... -- Bruce Johnson "Wherever you go, there you are" B. Banzai, PhD -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/stratalist-ot?hl=en.
