Who are you going to trade with if there is no HFT? MM and Specialists are undercapitalized. And the same wording scum, front running was applied to MM and specialist not long ago.
As a general rule activities that help create value in a marketplace should be encouraged and those that only exploit the tiny anomolies discouraged. I think the specialist systems made a few guys overpaid but did have value in the day. What HFT does for the marketplace is a mystery to me and I do agree that this type of "legalized" front running makes little sense. They put ridges on coins to prevent the shaving of small amounts of precious metal from the smooth surface. We need some ridges here to keep it on the up and up.
What 90 year old spends ANY time thinking about HFT?? Go enjoy life Munger! He doesn't sound all that smart to me; wasting his last few precious moments worrying about this issue.
Some guys like whiskey, some guys like women or fast cars. Some like all three. My guess is Charlie likes business and it isn't work (as most perceive it) to him.
I am not sure if HFT is the cause of the retail volume demise and hindering price discovery. Rationally speaking, Dark Pools and Broker internalization seems to play a bigger role.