Juggling Dynamite

There are many similarities between financial markets today and the late 1920’s. Rampant insider trading is one. An unholy alliance between the financial sector and government is another. Key market moving reports being leaked to an elite few ahead of the masses is another. Record bullishness. Record margin abuse. Unreasonable faith in the powers of big men and women in high places to keep stock prices at permanent new plateaus regardless of over-valuations and a weak economy.

Today we have another one: as in the late 1920’s, some “journalists” are being paid financial incentives when they write market moving stories. This way corporate sponsors and financial firm algo traders can capitalize on the timely release of strategic news to play a naive public. See: Bloomberg pays reporters more if their stories move markets.

Anna Breytenbach has dedicated her life to what she calls interspecies communication. She sends detailed messages to animals through pictures and thoughts. She then receives messages of remarkable clarity back from the animals.

Anna can feel the scars hidden under a monkeys fur, she can understand the detailed story that is causing a birds trauma, she transforms a deadly snarling leopard into a relaxed content cat – the whole animal kingdom comes alive in a way never seen before – wild birds land on her shoulders, fish gather around her when she swims, and wild unfamiliar baboons lie on her body as if she is one of their own. Here is a direct link to an inspiring documentary.

The lack of connection and understanding between humans and the natural world is also mirrored in how little most of us are respectful and in harmony with our own health and bodies.

After a few years now of embarrassing banter on the Lang and O’Leary Exchange, it is nice to see Amanda Lang doing good work in this segment.

“Every day, trillions of dollars are exchanged by buyers and sellers on trading floors across the world. The places where that happens are colloquially known by the faceless moniker of “the markets” but every time somebody buys a barrel of oil, a shipment of potash, a Royal Bank share or a Japanese yen, there’s a real person behind that transaction.

Historically, the system works because people have confidence in the rules and believe they are treated the same as anybody else.

But it’s getting harder and harder to ignore the stories of powerful people cheating the system for their own gain.”

Here is a direct video link.

The new Volcker Rule is a step in the healing process toward some integrity and level playing field in capital markets. Next we need to curtail rampant high frequency gaming through financial transaction taxes and wider bid/ask spreads that will largely remove the opportunity to profit from millisecond buy and cancel orders that serve no legitimate function but to enrich a few at the expense of everyone else. As well as reinstate the Glass Steagall division between tax-payer backed banking and all other investment banking activities which must be pushed back into separate enterprises that place the risks of loss squarely on the partners and operators and far away from government coffers. Yes we can. And the world will be a much stronger, more accountable place to live.