Reply #6: Well, I know what you mean.

[bemildred]

But trading is what markets are for, and investing and trading are different things, done with different goals in mind. With trading you are after profit, income, with savings stability becomes much more important. And I draw from that the conclusion that people who were sold stock markets, or any markets, as long-term-savings sort of things were and are gullible and lots of them will get screwed, it's happened over and over. But I am by no means suggesting that that is a good thing, just that that is the way things observerably are.

The problem with housing prices, as you point out, is that housing was turned into a market, a commodity, and hence housing prices no longer have long term stability. There is a term for it: "commodity hell", the situation where your product or service is a commodity available from many sources and you no longer have the price leverage.

I would definitely agree that "High Speed Trading" is a corrupt racket and should be outlawed.