Rant re: "Profit taking" bullshit.

[trackfan]

A headline today read, "Market Down on Profit Taking". BULLSHIT!!!! If it is "profit taking" it is profit taking for traders, i.e. GAMBLERS not for "good sensible investing Americans" who don't play such games. I'm sick of everything being framed from the perspective of people with way more money than the average person. For a theoretical "good-citizen investor" in for the "long term" it is still fucked up - because the MARKET IS DOWN A HUGE PERCENT FROM WHERE IT WAS NOT TOO LONG AGO. Why don't they call it what it is. IT'S GAMBLING. THE HORSE RACES ARE A LOT MORE FUN. I am not saying this due to any personal loss, since I have little, if any, money in stocks. I just can't take the BULLSHIT any more.

[ixion]

1. silly... did you think that the trillions we've forked over were to actually help?

it was just a give-a-way to the wealthy, it wasn't meant to really fix anything.

It's ALWAYS about taking profit.

[gopbuster]

2. "Market Down on Profit Taking by Gamblers/Traders" feel better now? ;)

[trackfan]

4. If that were the headline I'd be a lot happier with it.

It would at least be real, in my opinion.

[Common Sense Party]

3. The short term gyrations are always driven by traders--large and small.

This isn't anything new, although it has been greatly enhanced in a connected, globalized world.

The good sensible investing Americans who don't play short-term games just ignore the wild price fluctuations driven by the gamblers and focus on owning good companies for a long time, and increasing the number of shares we own in those good companies.

I'm in it for the next 25 years. Today's prices mean nothing to me other than they're on sale, so I can buy more.

[HamdenRice]

5. "Why don't they call it what it is. IT'S GAMBLING." Answer: Maybe because it's not?

In gambling, the gambler has no information that can help him make a wise decision about where to put his money. In the stock market, there is massive disclosure of exactly what each company is earning and worth through the SEC disclosure system of prospectuses, 10Qs and 10Ks.

It may look like gambling to the outsider, but it isn't.

Do you think the richest and most powerful people on earth would risk their multi billion dollar fortunes to a game of chance?

[lib2DaBone]

7. Stocks may not be gambling.. but trading is based ....

..on lots of insider information that most folks are not privy to. Now, with the President's Working Group, the market is anything but a "free" marketplace.

[trackfan]

8. If all the information necessary to make money was there,

and equally known to everybody, everybody would make the same profit or loss. If all it takes is having more information, that information should be equally available to all, and equally explained to all; it should not be a "secret" available to only those who can manipulate such information to make money, where others lose it; that's stealing.

[HamdenRice]

10. The information is generally available to everyone

Most people are either unaware of it, unable or unqualified to interpret it, or they simply don't want to do the work. That information is in the form of SEC filings called prospectuses, 10Qs and 10Ks. How many people who invest in stocks in their 401Ks pour through the online financial spreadsheets of companies?

That's the advantage that professionals have, not generally inside information.

[slutticus]

6. Nope.

Not gambling. I knew the market last week was the result panic (as many others did). As the idiots sold....I bought. Instead of making it worse by selling.....I bought some more. Of course it was going to go up. If not tomorrow...then next week...if not next week...then eventually.


Think of these situations as "blue light specials" for stocks. There's nothing wrong with buying something that someone is willing to sell, and then selling something that someone is willing to buy. If you're in it for the long term....then these wild market swings shouldn't concern you too much (unless you are near retirement).

The market will be a roller-coaster for the next few months. Gambling is luck. The stock market is about patience.


And you don't need millions of dollars to trade stocks. I started with $2,000.

[natrat]

9. stock market is a scam if you buy into the buy and hold bs

it's lazy to think you can just plop your money down and take it out 25 years later and be rich. Fucking stupid. If you held all the way through 1930 you wouldn't break even until sometime in the 50s. When your "quality" company's share price is cut in half and doesn't recover for 10 years lot of good buy hold will do you. Half of the game is not losing money.

http://www.data360.org/dataset.aspx?Data_Set_Id=393

[Hannah Bell]

11. That phrase has always bugged me. It's orwellian in its intent to "normalize" what's

actually going on.