>Virtually all trading volume today consists of buying and selling old securities. >I'm not sure having so many of our best and brightest minds going to Wall St

>Virtually all trading volume today consists of buying and selling old securities. >I'm not sure having so many of our best and brightest minds going to Wall Street (and into high-frequency trading in particular) is a good thing, from a societal perspective. Your so wrong. Cash Equities account for notionally c. 50% volume at best the rest being made up from exchange traded derivatives. HFT, MM and Prop firms by speculating and posting contra liquidity lower transaction costs for other market participants. Society benefits from having a fluid and well greased market which reflects all known information. Also get your Keynesian BS out of here.