#Rant
I wasn’t going to comment on the #Occupy protests but I’m so fed up w/how misguided they are that I really can’t help myself even though this isn’t an appropriate forum. I haven’t even been in Chicago for the past couple weeks but have known that the protests have taken place outside the CBOT. Rather than elaborate on emotion or vague debates, I’d like to present facts as various demonstrations have taken place outside the same venue in years past with zero effect.
FACT: Virtually all of those remaining on the trading floor of the CME/CBOT are not in the 1% of top earners or even close to it. The large participants for the most part left the trading floor many, many years ago and those remaining are generally the foot-soldiers that execute what few orders that aren’t done electronically. The executives that run the company don't even work in the building so it's a pointless venue to protest at.
FACT: Futures trading is simply risk transference where participants willingly enter into contracts with others as part of a free market to shift risk as they deem appropriate. Profits/losses are shifted twice daily from winners to losers in a centralized clearinghouse so there are never any losses that result into a devastating build. It’s the purest form of facing reality in real time with no excuses. THE ENTIRE FINANCIAL CRISIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH FUTURES TRADING. Risk cannot be avoid in the world, there are people willing to take it and others who wish to avoid it, so as long as they don't ask for bailouts it's noone else's business.
FACT: There is nothing that can be said to anyone who worked on the trading floor which they can be offended by or not heard worse of before. Verbal joking/harassment was simply a part of everyday life and as a result everyone knew everyone’s opinion of each other, nothing can be said outside of the trading pits which tops what was said within it.
FACT: Independent speculators such as myself are leveraged to the shirt on their back, if I or any others lose then we lose everything down to our home and everything in it. Willingly that responsibility is accepted just as American pioneers accepted their risk/reward ratios to build this great country. To boycott an entity such as CME Group which was reliable and actually prevented systematic losses during the financial crisis is pure ignorance.
FACT: There has never been a contractual default of the Chicago clearing houses in their entire history dating back to the mid 1800s. Protestors may not appreciate it but simply realize that no one will do business with anyone who doesn’t make good on their obligations. It appears to me that all those protesting have never built ANYTHING substantial to understand the responsibilities and obligations it takes.
FACT: I’ve travelled widely to North Korea, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Russia, Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, China, Philippines along w/virtually everywhere else from Sub-Saharan Africa shitholes to back alley India to flat on your ass poor South America……America as they say, love it or leave it! Believe me, there are few in the countries I mentioned who wouldn’t trade places to be a poor immigrant (as my relatives were) in the US and in turn succeed as they wish. Look in the mirror and live life to your full potential instead of being pissed at those who put in the 12+ hour days starting at 4am and reinvest in themselves and businesses over years to add real value to the world. That is a discipline I haven’t seen exhibited amongst the protestors and believe I have plenty of ultra-liberal friends/family which I discuss the same issues with. If you aren’t making it in America, you only have yourself to blame, there is more opportunity to succeed in whichever way you desire than anywhere else in the entire history of mankind here.
FACT: If you’re going to put blame about how the world works, the Chicago futures industry ain’t it and you should find real fault in the “poverty pimps” of Washington and other gov’t centers.
FACT: I no longer give a shit and am in the process of moving from Chicago to Texas where these issues can be generally avoided.