[diabeticApe]

Well seeing as stock trading is inherently risky, democratizing trading makes this risky activity more accessible to more people. Now instead of just the elite manipulating the market to benefit themselves at the expense of the public, the public gets a chance to turn the tables. Some of the newbies will make mistakes or do stupid things along the way. To consider them mutually exclusive seems a bit disingenuous. Also I dont recall this much media turmoil over the credit default swap mortgage crisis fiasco of 2008. But then again that only screwed over the entire economy instead of the few elites that benefited from everyone else's loss.

[quickthrowman]

> Also I dont recall this much media turmoil over the credit default swap mortgage crisis fiasco of 2008.

Were you a small child in 2008 or something? The GFC and its causes (CDS and CDO blowups, among other things) were widely talked about when it was happening, you couldnt go a day without hearing about exotic derivatives and their effects on the economy/markets in the news.