What good are we traders for?

[damir00]

Quote from TraderD:

Putting doctors and firefighters above others (which is hard not to do) is just pure occupational discrimination

i completely disagree. doctors firefighters and others intentionally put their own lives at risk to do their jobs which are a service to others.

the only danger we're in is straining the gov't budget by ending up on welfare.

 

[ElCubano]

Quote from damir00:



i completely disagree. doctors firefighters and others intentionally put their own lives at risk to do their jobs which are a service to others.

the only danger we're in is straining the gov't budget by ending up on welfare.

right up until they take out a patients balls when it should have been the patients leg.....Doctors put their lives at risk ( thats a good one ) ...you really mean "Doctors put some lives at risk".......peace......

 

[nslaughter]

ElCubano,

They're trying to put caps on recovery for that kind of doctor's mistake in my home state. I think a set of balls in that case would go for a maximum of $250K, but you could get $150K for them individually.

 

[Mr Subliminal]

Quote from nslaughter:

I think a set of balls in that case would go for a maximum of $250K, but you could get $150K for them individually.

The sum was a little less 30 years ago, but when added to the income generated from a stint in the Viennese Boys' Choir, I had more money than any 14-year-old could wish for. When I started trading a few years later, I used it as seed capital.

 

[klutz]

Quote from Mr Subliminal:

The sum was a little less 30 years ago, but when added to the income generated from a stint in the Viennese Boys' Choir, I had more money than any 14-year-old could wish for. When I started trading a few years later, I used it as seed capital.

Ever get to trade dem wild oats ?

 

[Riskmanager]

"We have no business to think about conscience; for when, like us, men have to fear hunger, and imprisonment, or death, the fear of hell neither can nor ought to have any influence upon them. If you only notice human proceedings, you may observe that all who attain great power and riches, make use of either force or fraud; and what they have acquired either by deceit or violence, in order to conceal the disgraceful methods of attainment, they endeavor to sanctify with the false title of honest gains. Those who either from imprudence or want of sagacity avoid doing so, are always overwhelmed with servitude and poverty; for faithful servants
are always servants, and honest men are always poor; nor do any ever escape from servitude but the bold and faithless, or from poverty, but the rapacious and fraudulent. God and nature have thrown all human fortunes into the midst of mankind; and they are thus attainable rather by rapine than by industry, by wicked actions rather than by good. Hence it is that men feed upon each other, and those who cannot defend themselves must be worried."

( http://www.online-literature.com/machiavelli/florence_italy/19/ )

 

[esc_trader]

Some people would say that providing for your family is a laudable effort.

I wouldn't, but some people would

 

[plumlazy]

This is just another take on the matter and one that may be being overlooked.

Suppose I was getting older, suffering from insomnia, chronic back pain, and had a fair amount of coronary problems, (In short - not very employable) yet I was able to daytrade a small stake for a bit of a profit and make my meger living expenses.

Suppose I wasn't daytrading and instead was filing for disability\welfare instead.

(1) daytrader earning a small living\ = taxpayer contributing to society
(2) qualified to, and could be filing for government benifits\ disability\ welfare etc. = taking from society

Which is best - Just suppose you were in such a position later in your life and you had already learned a craft that you could provide the ability for you to still be a taxpayer well beyond most peoples average retirement age.

The obvious candidates, teachers, firefighters, doctors, engineers, etc.- have all retired and are living off of retirement and social security checks and you, the old daytrader are still paying taxes and still doing what you love to do well into your 70's - 80's. (medical science has come a long way and continues to progress )

Who's the valuable contributor then!

 

[capitalMan]

by definition...traders are parasites of society because we simply

don't produced any good and services..

 

[Dominique]

Forgive me if this point has been made previously. I couldn’t make it through every post on this thread.

But say that one’s passion lies in being artistic, or creative in some other way. Perhaps playing classical guitar or piano, being a painter, or an inventor. I realize that as a society we do not value art, beauty or innovation in the same way it did in the romantic or enlightenment period, but social popularity only affects the relative value, and doesn’t say much about the absolute value of these things. Anyway….

Say I make a decent living by trading and this allows me to produce something beautiful, which would not otherwise exist. Perhaps this creation gives inspiration and meaning to the lives of other people. This art, or beauty, or symbolic expression, would not otherwise exist if it weren’t for my ability to work outside the social status-quo of a corporate job, institution or similar situation – this creation may be an invention that could never be created without the time allowed by a profession such as trading, or the mental freedom that accompanies it.

Maybe you feel like your only value to society is in the economic units that you churn, but there are other possibilities. You don’t need to be a doctor or a firefighter or a non-trader filling some other pre-defined social role in order to have value. You don’t even need to volunteer. I think making a living by trading can allow you to make more of a contribution depending on your situation and your interest.