Prof. Jeremy Siegel of Wharton interviews Michael Lewis where he talks about his recent work on bashing Wall Street. The book is called — Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt
Here is a sample:
Jeremy Siegel: On page 232, you write the following: “The stock market at bottom was rigged. The icon of global capitalism was a fraud.” Wow. Those are strong statements. They probably have been misinterpreted in a lot of ways. First of all, let me say that I believe a lot of what you are saying about high-frequency trading. It’s true, and we have to get these regulators off their duff to do something about this. But don’t you think words like that scare people away from legitimate investing in the stock market?
Michael Lewis: I doubt any words I could write would be as scary as what high-frequency traders have done and what exchanges have done with them. When I’m writing that, I’m writing through the eyes of the person who’s been investigating the stock market for the previous 231 pages. That’s his view of the matter. A lot of people, when they read the book and the facts of what he’s uncovered, will come to the same conclusions. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t invest in the stock market. It doesn’t mean that you won’t do well in the stock market. But it does mean there’s a systematic stealth that’s built into the stock market. “Rigged” is a fair description of it. It just turns on the connotations of “rigged.” But to my mind, that’s a fair description of it. And to Brad Katsuyama’s mind.
Great read all through.






