A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS

SOMETHING SEEMS TO BE MISSING.
STOCKS, BONDS, FOREX, COMMODITIES, FUTURES AND OTHER RISKS....
In a TV ad I saw General Motors give credit to the NYSE for its comeback and progress, its recent innovations that seem to have come from the stock market. Not made was any mention of the massive financial assistance given by the Unites States for the bail out that first and foremost made it possible for GM to pause, restructure and trim the fat from their floundering operation.
Having read a great deal recently about the financial debacle we the country, nay, the whole World has suffered I have revised my thoughts on the NYSE. Not only the stock exchanges but the entire spectrum of massive gambling in international finance: Options, Commodities, Futures, Forex, Stocks and Bonds.

Why should this be permitted at all?
In reality the Brokers are bookies (socially accepted); they work for the house, the Dealers (legal). The platforms or trading accommodations are just instruments of gambling (slot machines); They are the odds makers, the financiers and facilitators.
Why should the general public be involved at all. The entire thing is a no-value function. We are delving into something we know little or nothing about just because there is the dream of a massive fortune to be made.. We are in a zero gain activity; there is nothing being built; there is nothing being created, nurtured or developed. It is simply a gambling activity where money flows back and forth with the vig (guarantee to the house), the spread, the fees, lost to the participants win or lose, accruing in the accounts of the bookies, the insiders.
Bet a dollar on any pair in the FOREX market and you already have lost a good percentage... win or lose. This is the same as at a casino gambling table, a horse race, football game or bingo where one buys a card. The promoter, the bookie has his profit guaranteed; His edge is built in commodity trading is the same.
Nothing is grown, nothing is moved, nothing is processed.
Trading in commodities is just gambling with cash on a product that may or may not exist. The price of the consumer product is at stake, perhaps; but no more crops are being grown, no more precious metals are being mined, no more animals are being slaughtered.
The Stock Market as a whole is a stand-alone entity for the foolish, selfish, dreamers where the participant pays up front to participate and the manipulators can have their day along with the bookies/brokers, dealers/financiers and service support providers/facilitators.
Nothing positive grows out of all this. There is no net gain. The money taken out of the stream of legitimate commercial flow does not produce anything; It is only on a path of ill-gotten gains and meaningless use. If all the money involved were employed in building or creating, there would be employment and industrial growth, education enhancement and plenty of funds to upgrade the medical and transportation infrastructure.
There is justification for a place where a person can go to raise money from the public. Participants should look for their income from the corporate activity and not be encouraged to buy into a company with the anticipation of future growth.
The hold out for future growth by corporate managers is the underpinning of massive seduction and even fraud.
One glaring example of this is the Private Prison sector. A private prison company can make an excellent return on the services provided but when the corporation wants growth they have to depend continuing growth in the prisoner population or getting more contracts from BOP, States, Counties and Cities. For this reason, they lobby lawmakers with big bucks, bribe councilmen, mayors, Boards of Supervisors of Counties, state legislators and Federal elected officials and the administrators along the way. In addition, the seek to buy up all the competition so they can fix the prices or eliminate competition in bidding for contracts. That is not to isolate the private prison, is is to pinpoint a problem that is symptomatic of the system that is fostered by the current state of financial affairs.