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A comment on If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power. Parent comment

Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power by jeffreyrogers on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @10:35AM (#17247453)
This doesn't square with my experience. HFT reduces transaction costs for market participants. You can see this in the narrowing of bid/ask spreads from the early 2000s on. Corporations exist for many reasons, but I wouldn't say benefiting the wealthy is the primary reason. More important reasons seem to be: limiting liability for owners, formalizing ownership structures so that owners can benefit in proportion to their role in the business, and simplifying tax and accounting issues.

I agree that the growth in regulation has negative consequences and that the education system is largely ineffective, but I think these are unintended consequences rather than the result of conscious manipulation by powerful people and organizations.

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Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power by crdoconnor on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @11:00AM (#17247672)
>HFT reduces transaction costs for market participants. You can see this in the narrowing of bid/ask spreads

If HFT were a net positive for market participants then those same participants wouldn't be fleeing to dark pools in an attempt to avoid them.

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Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power by jeffreyrogers on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @11:10AM (#17247756)
They go to dark pools because they are less transparent and it's easier to sell large blocks of shares without making a large price impact (in theory at least).
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Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power by crdoconnor on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @11:18AM (#17247817)
Exactly. I believe the term HFT uses for exploiting that is "spearing whales".
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Re:If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power by smolder on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @09:31PM (#17252558)
Capitalism primarily benefits capital holders, and you don't think one of its central constructs serves that purpose? You don't think people with [absurdly concentrated] power exercise it to help themselves, as rational actors?

My understanding isn't without nuance, nor am I trying to claim I have a replacement system. I'm just being intellectually honest about these elephants in the room.

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