This might not sound so smart but I was wondering if there are any borkers that permit unlimited trades for a monthly fee (even if that monthly fee is very high)? How about for foreign stocks, any country? The two brokers I know who take comparably low commission for trades are; IB and SogoInvest (Sogo doesn't even have a trading software), but have no unlimited trading plan.
Merrill Lynch was, I believe, the first i-bank to create "flat-fee" (based on % of assets) accounts in the 1990s. Nowadays, many i-banks and brokerage houses offer them. You'll typically need at least a 6-figure account, and there might be some (high) limits on the number of annual trades, after all. Here's one quick overview, hot off the press from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/1211/174.html