Dave-great thread idea! isn't it interesting that the poo-pooers have hit it hard and early? i suppose you realize your intelligence will be insulted, you will be referred to as foolish, naive, an idiot or worse. attempts to shame you and all the rest of us who believe it to be worthwhile to promote and participate a broad public discussion about rampant manipulation/corruption among the big boys must be anticipated and endured.
Can we level the playing field? no, probably never entirely. but don't forget that over the past ten years, some leveling that had been resisted for decades upon decades has actually occurred. commission fees have plumeted, for instance, and the brokerage/mm welfare program of trading in 16ths, 8ths, quarters, etc. finally gave way in spite of fierce resistance for a hundred years. also, some, though not nearly enough, important limitations on the arbitrariness of MMs and specialists have followed public pressure by traders so it is patently false to say that public discussion/dissent is pointless. indeed, the intelligent response to such claims is to suspect the motives and loyalties of any who discourage dissent.
given the shenanigans and manipulations that we all witness daily on the boards, we would be stupid to expect that defenders of the status quo will not surface on a board like this and trivialize all efforts to further level the playing field. i am a confirmed capitalist and don't want my comments to be misinterpreted as promoting some utopian/socialist pipedream, but changes in the direction of increased fairness reflect the flexibility of capitalism at its best. some have already been made and more are entirely possible given a sufficiently noisy public outcry, which, make no mistake about it, can be incubated on just such a board as this. even the most powerful are occasionally humbled by a few souls with that rarest of all combinations--decency and cajones :). let the discussion begin!
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