High-speed trading firms get a two-second head start on looking at the University of Michigan¿s consumer confidence report. Above, traders at the NYSE. (TIMOTHY CLARY, AFPGetty Images / June 21, 2013)
On June 22, 2013, Andrew Tangel writes in the Los Angeles Times:
Investors who would otherwise want to make money by buying or selling based on the consumer confidence reports can’t if the fastest firms have already made their trades.
Economic data often sends stock markets higher or lower. The U.S. Labor Department’s monthly jobs report, which is released before the stock market opens, tends to have the biggest effect.
This is about the “gambling” aspect of the stock exchanges.
More accurately this is not about investment and profit but instead SPECULATION and CAPITAL GAIN. But the media continues to framed the term as investment and investors instead of speculation and speculators when related to the stock exchanges.
Stock purchased from a company and in which the company receives the (typically past savings) money from the purchase in order to produce things is a TRUE INVESTMENT.
The stock market operates on the secondary level whereby stock is purchased from another stockholder who receives the cash from the transaction, which when held for sale at a future time is speculation.
In the first case the stock becomes speculative as soon as that buyer decides to hold it for appreciation but it is important to understand that the money received by the producer company is used to build new asset activity or replace old assets.
In the case of speculative stock buying and selling, this activity does not provide gain to the producer company (even if the price of the stock offered initially (issued and sold) goes up, but instead enriches the holder of the asset (stock). Of course, if the producer company decides to later issue new stock the company owners will receive more money per share of stock issued.
Speculators do not add to economic activity, at least primarily. Perhaps members of society will feel more optimistic with the stock shares (market) going up, and perhaps they will be looser with their savings to purchase products and services. Unless, however, the producer company has new cash to build products and extend services in demand, then speculation will not help. Eventually, the speculators might sell their stock or other asset and use some of that to purchase consumer items, but that is a tenuous trail to economic progress and again it does not assure the producer company having the cash to actually build more things.
Of course, if the money from these sources were sitting in the bank, the producer company could borrow money needed for new production.
What is needed is to implement the Capital Homestead Act.
Right now the Federal Reserve creates money by loaning it to banks, who re-loan it multiple times because of fractional banking rules. With Capital Homesteading, money would be created by loaning it directly to citizens via banks at near-zero interest to invest in FUTURE wealth-creating, income-generating (full dividend payout) productive capital assets formed by producer companies. To build real wealth and also phase out our near-defunct social security scheme, the new full-reserve money would go into a long-term retirement account to be invested in dividend-paying, asset-backed shares of corporations. That way, money power would be spread to all citizens. The middle class would be invigorated using the principle of compounding interest, instead of being decimated by mushrooming public and personal debt.
The Federal Reserve could play a more positive role, removing artificial barriers to equal citizen access to acquiring and owning productive capital wealth. By creating asset-backed money for production, supported by growth-oriented tax policies, the Federal Reserve could truly help promote shared prosperity in a market system.
Support the Agenda of The Just Third Way Movement at http://foreconomicjustice.org/?p=5797
Support Monetary Justice at http://capitalhomestead.org/page/monetary-justice
Support the Capital Homestead Act at http://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm and http://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm
