Redditors Are Right About the Unfairness of the Market
It’s been a bad week for capitalism, with corporate insiders, judges and policy makers all playing fast and loose with the rules about personal investments.
All things being equal?
Photographer: LOIC VENANCE/AFPA rallying cry of the day traders that hang out in Reddit Inc.’s stock market forums is that only by joining forces can they prosper in an environment inherently hostile to small investors. Recent events suggest their suspicion that the decks are stacked against them is justified – which is a terrible look for capitalism.
Daniel Taylor, a professor at the Wharton School, has amassed evidence of widespread insider trading by company executives, Bloomberg Businessweek reported this week. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal found that more than 130 U.S. federal judges failed to recuse themselves from 685 court cases involving companies in which they or their families had investments. And at the Federal Reserve, two policymakers have resigned amid a probe into their personal trading activity.