[matlin]

I agree. I think one of the more interesting approaches to solve this particular problem as well as private companies staying private too long is the Long Term Stock Exchange. I don't know a lot about it but from my understanding, it aims to eliminate short term investors which removes a lot of the speculative nature of public stocks. Not sure that this would eliminate stock buybacks but the long-term investors might be more interested in traditional dividends.

[sokoloff]

It also likely eliminates all but the quite wealthy from investing in one of the greatest wealth-creation engines of the modern era.

[LeoTinnitus]

Playing with stocks is no different than selling phsyical commodities, except that unlike selling items on amazon, ebay, craigslist, or your own storefront, you have NO idea what that share will be worth. Plus even a 20% return on 10 shares of say amazon will give you a decent amount of money, all you are doing is sitting waiting to sell. It's not even compounding of an increase. So you need an incredible amount of capital and knowledge of the market to even make it worth your time, much of which most people don't have. It's very easy to lose money in the stock market. It's completely nonsensical to believe that everybody is competent enough to play into that system. Most people understand how to directly translate their labor into a currency. If it was an easy way to get rich, why aren't most people drawing an income off of it? Because they need a job first for their principal. Which tends to often get eaten up elsewhere for a myriad of reasons.