[ExI] How slow is capitalism?

[Keith Henson]

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 12:42 AM, F. C. Moulton <moulton at moulton.com> wrote:
> On 04/27/2011 09:39 PM, Keith Henson wrote:
>> You are right.  The government should change the laws so MIT EEs, MEs,
>> etc graduate don't get sucked into Wall Street casinos and do
>> something useful.
>
> I disagree.  I had written several detail objections but I have deleted
> them because the following was the most important of my list.
>
> The issue of individual liberty.

Fred, the government outlaws people working as hit men.  It has taken
away the individual liberty of working at that occupation because
people generally agree it's undesirable.

> It is ultimately the choice of each
> individual if that individual wants to work in a financial services firm
> who wants to employee them designing trading software or if the
> individual wants to go to work for a Silicon Valley firm who wants to
> employee them designing circuits.

> Yes this means that people go to medical school to become doctors and
> then spend the rest of their lives writing novels instead of practicing
> medicine.   And people study physics and engineering and then spend
> their lives in finance.  That is what individual choice is all about.

God knows the finance people need physics and engineering people to
help them invest wisely.  I see investment money being poured down rat
holes that violate chemistry and physics every day.

But if you look at what these MIT graduates are doing in finance--it
is harming everybody.  Huge expenses for people and hardware, lots of
high bandwidth pipes, and the only effect is to suck money out of the
cracks.

It's purely parasitic, nothing productive about it.

Keith