Is trading a useless/unproductive activity??

G

gifropan

Often in the media traders and their activities in the financial markets have been referred to in derogatory terms as parasites and people who do not produce or make anything….

I don’t have a good defense for this allegation other than creating jobs for brokers, whom are party to the whole thing anyway. Any one has any thoughts on this. Are we, as traders, involved in a gainful occupation?
 
There have been many many threads about this same topic so you will probably get yelled at for posting this but I always find it an interesting topic. No matter what employment you seek you will be a parasite. Doctors are parasites that feed off of insurance premiums and medicare. In a market economy we are all parasites. If you are worried that you aren't contributing to society don't feel bad look at 3/4 of state and federal employees they feed off our tax dollars. How about food servers do we really need them? Hell the restaurant owner is the worst parasite because he can hire servers at below minimum wages and force them to live off tips from people that are already paying the owner 200% over the cost of a glass of wine. We are all just passing the money around some people spend it and some people save it and become more effective parasites.

If your conscience is bothering you find someone that needs help and help them the best way you can without worrying about what you get in return. Drug companies might make stuff that helps people but they aren't doing it because it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling :p
 
Quote from riskaddict:

There have been many many threads about this same topic so you will probably get yelled at for posting this but I always find it an interesting topic. No matter what employment you seek you will be a parasite. Doctors are parasites that feed off of insurance premiums and medicare. In a market economy we are all parasites. If you are worried that you aren't contributing to society don't feel bad look at 3/4 of state and federal employees they feed off our tax dollars. How about food servers do we really need them? Hell the restaurant owner is the worst parasite because he can hire servers at below minimum wages and force them to live off tips from people that are already paying the owner 200% over the cost of a glass of wine. We are all just passing the money around some people spend it and some people save it and become more effective parasites.

If your conscience is bothering you find someone that needs help and help them the best way you can without worrying about what you get in return. Drug companies might make stuff that helps people but they aren't doing it because it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling :p
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You made me feel so much better!! Now all you've got to do is to show me how to trade profitably!!
 
i produce taxes. a lot of them. and then my hard earned money go to the true blood suckers. for example the ones,who watching the porno at SEC. this mofo should be jailed..but his punishment was like 1 week off the job..which is basically a vacation..how nice, huh..
 
Traders are cogs in the big mechanism for resource allocation
called marketplace. History has shown that economic agents
access to society's resources based on true price discovery
is far more efficient than any central planning scheme even
if the bureacrats concocting it were brilliant otherwise.
Traders that live off commissions are like toll collectors that
maintain and provide access to the infrastructure.
Liquidity providers get paid for providing the service
and convenience of immediacy and thrive as long as they
correctly jugde short term risk.
Speculators battle it out with others in the price discovery
process. As long as their capital flows towards where it is
most needed and rewarded, they will thrive, if they allocate
wrongly, they will fade away.
 
Quote from gifropan:

Often in the media traders and their activities in the financial markets have been referred to in derogatory terms as parasites and people who do not produce or make anything….

I don’t have a good defense for this allegation other than creating jobs for brokers, whom are party to the whole thing anyway. Any one has any thoughts on this. Are we, as traders, involved in a gainful occupation?
More...

* Most Wall Street firms donate millions to charities.

* Profitable traders pay taxes...taxes pay whatever public system being used by individuals.

Note: Losing traders is a drag on the public system just like anyone else that's unemployed.

* Most pension plans use some of their funds for trading and investing purposes to generate additional income.

My point, in theory, if you remove speculation or remove the markets itself...would there be chaos or an apocalypse ???

Think about it, what would happen if Oil traders suddenly stopped trading because folks think they are parasites or don't do anything useful. Simply, what would happen if the Oil markets just stopped...what about other commodities that are traded every day (e.g. Orange Juice, Cotton, Coffee, Sugar, Silver, Gold, Hog, Cattle, Corn, Oats, Soybean and others) ???

Just get rid of those that trade these markets...all at the same time. Riots in the streets ???

Mark
 
Quote from maler:

Traders are cogs...
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Looks copied & pasted to me!
Maybe I should have a smart answer like this at the ready rather than reiventing the wheel each time and giving different reasons.
:D :D
 
Quote from Mike Okistini:

Posting on Elitetrader ranks higher on the list of useless/unproductive activity.
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That is true.


Well equity traders don't aid in capital formation in the context of benefiting companies. But then, neither does Wall Street beyond IPO's and secondary offerings.


We do provide liquidity to other parasites, and a few of us do pay taxes (for the government to piss away).


There are lots of endeavors that are parasitic. Most wholesalers are middleman. Necessary to a small degree in terms of distribution but would be bypassed, and not missed, if possible.
 
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