March 28th, 2012
TNR’s Jonathan Bernstein thinks the SCOTUS verdict won’t have any political implications for this year’s election. I disagree.
And while we’re at it, I’d encourage the three of you who haven’t signed up for my Weekly Standard newsletter to do so. Today’s edition is full of Flash Trading, singularity-style paranoia.
Nedward March 28, 2012 at 11:02 pm
Hmm, I don’t see why you’re so down on the BATS, which is as an academic proposition closer to “silly” than “nefarious.” These rogue algorithms almost never move the market ipso-presto and can’t be that malevolent if their existence is assumed (indeed, publicized by their managers)
Extraordinary popular delusions aren’t just the stock and trade of the finance sector, however, so what do you imagine when the opinionators take that stick for a practice swing? The press conference starring Eliot Spitzer and Elizabeth Warren can’t be far behind; SEC licenses every quant in SW Connecticut and Obama’s guaranteeing a 6-7% annual return on all 401ks… To say this would not quite be Skynet is the soft bigotry of low expectations.