Points well taken dtrader. But I just don't see HFT as frontrunning. It seems HFT algos take all available info and guess what the next NBBO will be for a stock. They don't set the NBBO, they are guessing it. Even if they are right 99.999% of the time, it is still a guess. Also, the money they make over the course of a year, ~3B, is peanuts compared to the total amount traded in the course of a year. Compare that to the ~3T or more spent bailing out Wall St in various forms. HFT and it's impact is simply a smokescreen non-issue that only impacts a small number of people that is being blown out of proportion to deflect attention from more pressing issues.
I wonder where deepest New Jersey is? Summit? Also, I misread it as "swashbuckling backstabbers", heh.