Guess the year this was written...

[badcompany]

No Googling, first!


There is, to be sure, a legitimate trading in stocks. But, at present, such trading does not constitute five percent of the business done on the exchanges. Ninety-five percent of the trading there is purely speculative and has no relation to the investment demand for stocks.

[RaceBookJoe]

you got me, no clue..but wouldn't be surprised if it was very recent but that's just a guess.

[badcompany]

Originally Posted by RaceBookJoe

you got me, no clue..but wouldn't be surprised if it was very recent but that's just a guess.

I posted that because we so often hear about how the market has become a casino, when, in fact, the only thing about the market that has changed is the technology.

That quote is from this little, timeless, book, published in 1898.

[Hoofless_Wonder]

You can go back much further than 1898 to find examples of the flock being fleeced under the guise of "legitimate" business. Dutch tulip frenzy, anyone?

The amount of fleecing has been changing though. Back in 1980, the financials were something like 4-5% of the economy. By 2006 that percentage had grown enormously, to somewhere between 20 and 35%. Problem is, there's only so much "financial innovation" you can come up with when creating debt, money, and demand. The bill is coming due soon, and it won't be pleasant.