Yeah, just making sure ET doesn't close my account because of inactivity. I was just showing the difference, not attacking anybody. It's unbelievable how short-tempered you guys are. -SL
But traders/funds *are* "end customers". Brokers OTOH, are not. Just for "the record", while i'm opposed to a transaction tax as discussed in the media, I believe something *has* to be done to dampen this HFT, short-term thinking/trading. It's reaching outright crazy levels. It seems to have made US market a casino. Look at how bid/ask prices behave! Maybe some sort of sub-penny fee to drive the black boxes the fuck out! Stop co-locating? If it continues, more & more people will be jumping on the tax bandwagon because the current trading environment is dellusional, partly a scam by HFT's/algo operators, and that in itself is *already* a tax on many other participants in the market.
Maybe you are but I am not. I trade stocks for a living and I don't have any other sources of income. So I do it not out of choice but out of necessity. I buy stocks in order to sell them later at higher price to net profit. Just as any other merchant does. I don't buy stocks for consumption. Unless you don't understand what end customer means.
THE ONE thing that came out of the Geithner townhall last night and its analysis today is that we need to be prepared for taxes to go up because it's inevitable and he(Geithner) confirmed that. Now, we know Bush tax cuts will be phased out, marginal tax rates will go up, capital gains up, etc. These are known, and it's the unknown "creative" ways to tax that WILL be brought up for discussion when it's time that should still keep us on the edge. I still think that this will ultimately scare the shit out of us before it goes away, IF "whatever will be will be" ends up being on our side. We all need to keep our ears perked up and do whatever we can when we can until we're in the clear.
I really don't think it's going to happen, but it doesn't hurt to fight it anyways. But just in case it DOES actually happen, it might end up actually having some advantages. A very small tax that eliminates HFT but doesn't hurt intraday traders may cause the markets to actually become easier to trade, as spreads widen, volatility increases, and the noise level is reduced. It really depends on exactly what they would come up with as a tax - if it's too large it would kill us, but if it's very small it might actually help in some ways by getting rid of the bots. There's no way they could give an exception to ANY HFT firms if they passed this tax, because it would just be too obvious and would be reported instantly.
I won't bother to respond to your ignorant comment. And I don't need a "real job", I will do just fine whatever happens. Thanks for the sentiment though.
"We all need to keep our ears perked up and do whatever we can when we can until we're in the clear." clear means the next presidential election with a pro business president.