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From workers to investors. That would be a good thing if we were in the need of economic growth, but we are not.
by danbruc 12y ago
From workers to investors. That would be a good thing if we were in the need of economic growth, but we are not.
- tptacek 12y agoI'm sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to say here.
- danbruc 12y agoThe initial comment asked for the benefits of HFT. All that comes up is that it improves the performance of markets. If you need economic growth it is a good thing to have efficient markets, incentives to invest and be rewarded with a share of the growth you enabled with your investment. But without the need for economic growth it just becomes transferring wealth from the workers to the usually already well-off investors increasing wealth inequality.
- tptacek 12y agoOh, you're not litigating HFT, you're litigating capitalism. Yes: if you think capitalism is bad, it's easy to get to an argument against HFT.
- danbruc 12y agoI would not say that capitalism is bad per se. It is pretty good at what it does and I find it hard to imagine that we could have made the economic growth and reached today's level of wealth without capitalism. But it has its flaws and I see no way it is sustainable for much longer. And instead of recognizing that we can not grow forever and seek for a transformation to something more sustainable it seems to me we are pushing capitalism to its ultimate limits. Not stopping until hitting a brick wall. HFT seems an iconic example of that to me.