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Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp
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I absolutely agree with #4 and would take it further. You only have to visit the Business forum here to find wannabe day traders who are not looking for any value in buying companies, just patterns of ups/downs. This shouldn't be allowed, nevermind taxed.
This would also fix his point on executive compensation. My own company is guilty of doing things to manipulate stock price, cause sometimes even hitting targets means the price dips cause market expectation was to exceed it. If we remove speculation from the market then we won't get these wild swings and companies won't try and play games to influence stock price. Win win.
The problem with point #1 is that many people don't actually own common stock. I don't. I'm diversified via funds, and admittedly I only care if the fund meets the targets I need for retirement. It would be nice for me to say I'd take the high road and buy stock in well run companies - yet those companies aren't making the 6-7% my retirement plans require.
So back to something I've repeated too often: how do I make 6-7% gains in a market with a GDP increase of 2-3%? Someone has to lose for me to beat the market, especially by that kind of margin. Of the 99%, ~40% still have defined pensions which require those gains or they become ponzi schemes, and then there's people like me with self managed retirement plans that need the same. I'll guess there's at least 60% of the 99% that would be very unhappy with their retirement plans being cut in half by accepting 2-3% gains.
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A better example many here can probably relate to: how many here shop at Whole Foods vs cheaper grocery stores? how many shop at Walmart? Whole Foods pays their employees a livable wage with benefits and cares about the products on the shelves - yet the food costs much more. Walmart tries to keep employees part time to avoid paying them benefits which keeps costs down. I'm willing to bet most here aren't willing to take that extra hit to their pocket book to support good local jobs - so why are we protesting wall street when we aren't even looking out for those in our own backyard?
Or another example: how many shop across the border to save money? Not paying their fair share of tax here, and not supporting local jobs here.
I shop at IGA and picked up stuff at Point Roberts today. Are my decisions any better than these CEOs we're criticizing?