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David Dodd

David Dodd is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

Letters

I'm loving the outrage by "Ph. D." types. Dr. Phelps writes, "Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among young adults...". Oh, really? Think about that sentence for a moment. You are saying, in essence, that death causes death. Mencken had better watch out, because as amusing as I find his column, I find your reaction even more amusing. Chew on this for a while, doc: Guns firing are the leading cause of all bullet wounds. And I don't even have to look that one up, Captain Obvious told me it was true. Meanwhile, Dr. Kenzelmann writes, "Suicide is a public health issue that is completely preventable." Seriously? I could off myself RIGHT NOW, and there's nothing anyone could do to prevent that. Honest. If I wanted, TRULY WANTED to punch my time card for the last time, there isn't anyone that could do anything to prevent that. It's a personal choice, ma'am. Call me one of those zany libertarian types, but I'm all about personal choices. Thankfully, suicide is one choice that can NEVER be taken away from me (unless some doctor prescribes a bunch of drugs that control my mind so I don't have that personal choice available anymore). Suicide is not so much tragic as it is whimsical. The "Letters" section of the Reader will forever remain my favorite part of it. Keep them coming, you wonderful doctors, you provide me with at least 15 minutes of entertainment each week. And Mencken, you magnificent bastard, you are the catalyst in the two-part epoxy glue that somehow manages to hold my world together.
— September 28, 2011 11:38 p.m.

San Diego unions push transaction tax

I'll answer that. 1. HFT actually benefits the market. The liquidity offers market stability, the SEC investigated this just last year when HFT was blamed for a sell-off. Later it was discovered that the fault was really when a firm took a multi-billion dollar position in order to hedge another position they took. The real fall took place when most oft the HFT systems decided to go on hold and stop trading because of the large position, which halted liquidity and sent things tumbling. 2. You'll have to be specific as to how that is happening. All trades are reported, and as Jeff points out, investors using HFT even receive small payments in exchange for the liquidity. Where is the undetectable fraud? 3. Anyone who has capital to invest in the market can either purchase the software, or trade through firms that offer the service. The wealthy also drive expensive cars, SP, should everyone then be able to drive expensive cars because otherwise it simply isn't fair? 4. The only people that want a transaction fee are governments (for the ability to spend that much more money on people that would elect them to office) and people that don't understand how HFT actually works. In effect, it would kill off liquidity in the market and promote the type of market instability that led to market crashes far beyond the ups and downs we are currently noticing. And SP, we're having a discussion here, you tend to get a little wound up about it. You bite, and people are prone to bite back. I don't mind seeing people disagree, but really, you and Jeff don't need the name-calling. We're all adults here.
— September 26, 2011 3:18 p.m.

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