Computer glitch or not, last week's crashhas many thinking about the state of the markets and the overall health of the global economy.
But maybe there's a more important question to ask.
What if the crash had been to the upside?
Would legislators and regulators be railing against high-speed trading?
Would there even be hearings?
"Absolutely not," said CNBC contributing editor Gary Kaminsky. "Find me a senator who'd want to hold a hearing about a 1000-point rally."
Imagine this: Senator Chris Dodd, wagging his finger and grilling investors over how the system's flaws made too many people too much money. The respective heads of NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX could appear on CNBC and fight over which exchange could claim the most credit for the rally.
And what about those busted trades? Forget about them. Think people would question a $100 print on Procter ?
"We just felt that $100 was too much money," NYSE's Duncan Niederaurer could tell CNBC. "So we told the investor that, well, due to the arcane rules of how various transactions are processed, we'd be taking the profits back."
The truth is, if the rout had been a rally, we'd all be counting our money. There'd be no introspection.
Just pure bliss.
- Exchange Heads Called to Washington after Market Plunge
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