"We're going to take on Wall Street speculators and bring them to justice". That line has been uttered by many campaigns across the country, whether they be presidential, congressional or state races. It has been quite the rallying cry for people who are angry after seeing their 401k or investments go down the drain.
What exactly is a "Wall Street Speculator"? Well just about every single American is a Wall St. Speculator if they invest in a mutual fund, have a 401k or invest in stocks on the side. Being a speculator doesn't mean that you just hedge on companies to go up or down, it means you invest in stocks period! By investing in mutual funds, 401ks and other investments we are betting the economy will drive businesses to success and thus increase our stake in the company to a higher monetary value.
Another bit of breaking news: Since when has betting on companies been outside of our typical human nature to make money? Everybody is a speculator on something, for example, I speculate that I will retire one day so I'm saving for retirement. Does this make me a retirement speculator? Everybody is looking to point fingers at some scapegoat for the failure of the markets when the true culprit is the society we live in which over the last two decades has become increasingly loose on credit and crying out for transparency.
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