What good are we traders for?
- Thread starter javaboy
- Start date
I wonder about these people who sit around and think about things like this. If you're concerned about giving back to society then there are plenty of charitable opportunities to do something positive. Get involved instead of sitting on your ass drinking rum, helping someone less fortunate will give you a much better buzz than the rum too with no hangover 
Why do these threads keep emerging? The question was answered succinctly and well. Get over it.
I'm not going to knock Mother Theresa or anyone else that didn't just sit on their ass and complain that someone else didn't contribute enough.
These conversations continue, but the question of value has been answered. "Liquidity" is the word. It keeps the whole grand thing running.
What's with the "honest living" crap? Trading is the most honest living there is. It's "honest," because it's pure. Scalpers, arbs, position traders - everybody volunteers for their side of the trade with a full knowledge of the facts (or at least the ability to acquire that knowledge). You don't sell with puffery if you're a trader (unless you're also in a retail business or on CNBC). You just let the volunteers that are already asking have what they want.
"What you do with the profits" isn't what makes your living important or honest. That thinking is a trap. Robin Hood wasn't an "honest thief," because he gave the money away. If there is any argument for Robin Hood's honesty then it is in who he was stealing from and how they obtained the profits. If you think about his society and the fact that the king's wealth was obtained through oppressive taxation then he was very much like Ragnar Danneskjold. (That's just a sidebar for my Objectivism 101 amigos though.) The point here is that trading supplies the need for liquidity and there is a real constant demand that you don't even have to work to create (as in sales).
If you think that traders don't really contribute something then you can keep on trading, but profits will always be hard for you. You'll either lose sleep or give it back, because you wonder if it's OK to be up $100K. You'll probably experience some horrible combination of losing money and sleep.
Get over this - and get over it fast. It will kill you in any potentially profitable endeavor.
jb, I think you have an excellent point. The same thought has occurred to many successful traders, and I personally have not found a satisfying answer. I enjoy my job as a trader enormously, but I'm aware that I can't compare the social benefit of what I'm doing to a doctor, teacher, firefighter...
But if you are successful, you can contribute in another way: REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. Take from those who have, and give to those who don't have.
Oliver
But if you are successful, you can contribute in another way: REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH. Take from those who have, and give to those who don't have.
Oliver
I try to give as much as I can to local charities in my area. I don't know if I could do that if I didn't make the $ I have in the mkt. One of the things that makes me happiest is being able to buy children's X-mas gifts for a local church every year.
And what I give is just pennies compared to what Paul Tudor Jones and friends have done:
www.robinhood.org
An inspiration.
And what I give is just pennies compared to what Paul Tudor Jones and friends have done:
www.robinhood.org
An inspiration.
So when you trade you think, "Oh, I'm creating liquidity and opportunity." "I won this trade. And I create liquidity and helped the short sellers go in" "I lost... But I helped the guy on the other side of the trade."
Hey... it's a zero sum game... We all trade to screw other people's money. Forget about being a Mr. Niceguy... forget social benefits... WE NEED TO SCREW THE GUY ON THE OTHER SIDE TO MAKE PROFITS.
Doctor, teacher... firefighter? Do they really socially benefit society? Isn't it envy on your side?
--THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED--
Give if you want to. I think it's great to give and hope to give more every year of my life.
It's sad to see some of you with this unearned guilt that makes giving into the payment of a debt. You guys must have been pretty evil in previous lives to be carrying that around with you every day.
It's sad to see some of you with this unearned guilt that makes giving into the payment of a debt. You guys must have been pretty evil in previous lives to be carrying that around with you every day.
