he mentioned it today and the other guests went no like it was a crazy idea. but reality is we could be facing a fight on this in second 1/2 2010 or 2011.will have to look at a foreign mkt like the dax
I heard that and he offered as a reason that it would be punishment for all the bad that the financial firms have done to the economy. He maybe a very smart guy, but that is just stupid. Why don't we add a tax for every bank transaction, and another tax for autos, another tax for fuel, tax all the businesses that are laying people off, and of course tax anyone who uses a credit card, etc etc. We pay enough taxes for our transactions and this guy wants to nail the little guy who trades more than the buy and hold guy. Yes, it hits the big firms, and that does what to help? It prevents markets from going down? It prevents corrupt people from doing things at the fringe of legallity and causing massive problems? How? I give, let the government take over everything and make our lives better. Give all our income to the ruling elite in Washington because they do soo much good with our money. They aren't the kings and queens of corruption, no it's all the evil private sector. I'm done, moving to Montana, oh wait can't do that since the Hollywood elite have bought up all the land to turn into their own socialist state. Is Antarctica still free?
If the idea is to punish the people responsible for the mess, why snare investors in the net at all? Didn't Paulson get around a billion dollars in bonuses from GS? Let's start there.
Well, I did not cause this mess, spent 3 years warning about a housing bubble, and was shorting and buying puts on numerous companies in 2007 that are now bust or <$5 per share. I also provided market liquidity to both longs and shorts day in, day out, during the highest volatility since the 1930s, at considerable risk and sometimes considerable loss. Why should I then be charged enough to put me out of business (at least, the intraday trading I do on the USA would be put out of business) for that? By saying this, John Bogle is admitting he wants to use violent force to cause me a huge financial loss, when I have done nothing wrong to him or any other market participant, and was one of the few who profitably supplied liquidity and price discovery during this difficult period. Meanwhile, his promotion of buy & hold indexing has cost investors literally trillions of dollars in losses. In the legal system, only criminals are punished for their own actions. We do not lock up every resident in a ghetto because some of them murder. We do not lock up all men because some of them rape. It is considered a grave injustice if an innocent person is harmed due to the wrongdoing of another. Yet Bogle wants to bankrupt thousands of traders and cause them to lose their homes and livelihoods, and inflict serious financial harm on those who could remain in business, because of the mistakes and/or wrongdoing of a competely different group of people. Daytraders, dealers, and floor traders did not cause this mess. It was clueless investors - Mr Bogle's customers - and clueless financial institutions who caused it. Bogle's exhortations to steal from and extort innocent people, throw them out on the street and ruin them is grotesquely immoral, and stands against every principles of law, morality, justice, and common decency. He should be ashamed of himself, write an immediate letter of apology to traders, and he seriously needs to educate himself as to how moral responsibility and justice works.
This tax isn't going to happen. Every time there is a bear market, all the liberal douche bag economists start running around saying we need this tax. Obama's top economic advisor Larry Summers is against this tax, and although he hasn't said this specifically, Obama's Treasury Sec. nominee Tim Geither, given his background and prior decision making, it would appear he would not be in favor of it as well.
The term smart is very loosely thrown around sometimes. Just because he was wise in building a business doesn't mean everything he "says" is wise. This is a man who is widely known for absolutely destroying a company that he was chairman of before Vanguard. He is known for common sense investing.. but that certainly doesn't make him an authority on liquidity or some other facet of the market. I think the best example of a smart man who has made some very unwise decisions is Warren Buffet. Yes, he built a financial empire. But could he do the same thing today? Doubtful. His buy and hold strategy worked great over his lifetime, but he has made some laughable decisions recently that cost his investors billions. And of course you have the wise Madoff..