Most people get confused by the difference between owning part of a business (and making money on the long run), and making money by buying and selling stocks.

Most people get confused by the difference between owning part of a business (and making money on the long run), and making money by buying and selling stocks. A stock is a way to divide up a business. The distinction is that you can rapidly trade stocks, not that you should. On the other hand, the Wall Street model favors the short-term traders. For example, in the case of bankruptcy the stock owner loses everything, while the short seller makes big bucks... This doesn't make sense. If you short a private business, the same thing will happen (it is extremely rare to actually do this, but UBS did 'short' LTCM through a swap deal).