Flash Crash: It's a Heart Issue, Not Just a Finance Issue

I don't know much about the stock market. It is a mystery to me. I've tried to understand it; watching videos, reading articles, and playing the stock game. It turns out that even "Stock Investing for Dummies" is too smart for some people (i.e. Hannah Payne). But I do know about people, their perception of right and wrong, their reactions when they feel they've been unjustly wronged, and the constant moral battle that rages among humankind.

The New York Stock Exchange on a Monday morning is similar to a Vegas casino on a Friday night. The bustle and pure madness of the trades are as enthralling and addictive as In both settings, you take big risks and hope for big reward. Sure, there may be more of a science to trading stocks, but the mindset of NYSE and Vegas patrons is the same. Hungry for more money, more power, more adrenalin, more, more, more. And it's not healthy.

The fact that the basement genius, Navinder Singh, can send financial and emotional uproar ripping through the stock market with one fatal click of the mouse is infuriating. The fact that the entire world wept more for the loss of money than possibly a national disaster...equally infuriating. I know that money makes the world go round, and that is a necessary part of globalization and our society's evolution, but when is the line drawn? When is the line between comfortability and greed distinguished?

Accused of repeatedly trading in a very short amount of time in order to manipulate the system, some say this kid just changed his mind a lot. I found that somewhat funny. In realty, Singh entered a lot of huge, phony orders into the US stock market and then just as quickly withdrew them all within the comfort of his parent's basement. The entire market was upset and took the biggest and quickest dip in history. It took five years for officials to unscramble this seemingly simple mess. It makes no sense.

While this blog may be a commentary on the Flash Crash, it doesn't provide many answers. That is because as much as I've researched, I can't find the answers to my questions. Why did it take five years to pin this guy? How are there not more Is the trading system really that easy to hack into/manipulate? Is a possible for a nation to stay powerful yet escape the all-consuming fire of monetary greed? I don't know.

I suppose the only tangible solution is this: Traders must come up with more secure policies, a more secure algorithm, and ground rules. Until they do, the market is constantly at risk of another underwear clad, tech genius crashing the multi-trillion dollar market. As for the "heart issue," this world need a lot more Jesus and a lot less greed. 

Best Buddy Parenting

The socioeconomic climate of the US throughout the Twentieth Century was bound to produce the generally lax, revolutionist, and “best buddy” parenting style of the 1960’s. As the years, wars, and economic struggles progressed, families overcame struggles again and again and raised persevering, hard working children. With every struggle, American citizens pulled together and triumphed. Until the Vietnam War. Fed up with an unjust war, seeking peace, and relatively finically stable, many young adults of the 1960’s began to raise families with only happiness and comfort in mind. The quality of life seemed to triumph life itself. 

Parents were more concerned with the easy, happy, and carefree childhoods of their offspring instead of the formative and instructive ways of the past. Both generations of parents loved their children, but expressed it in different ways. This shift in child rearing rendered tangible results when the teen suicide rate grew by 250 percent during the “Hippy Era.” Maybe being the nice parent wasn't so nice in the long run. 

The aftershocks of this radical change in parenting styles will forever be felt by future  generations.  Millennials, those born between 1981 and 2001 (aka my peer group), are the first generation predicted to be less successful in every aspect than their parents. Is this generational failure completely the parent’s fault? Certainly not. But the tendencies of laziness and selfishness must not be cultivated during childhood in order to create a successful adulthood. Proverbs 13:24 says, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” Now, this is not necessarily referring to corporal punishment within the household (that is a different argument for a different time), but this verse is wisely warning parents that discipline and boundaries are  the best thing for a child’s future. If you can be friends with your children and raise them up to be contributing members of society that make this world a better place, great. But often I feel that “best buddy parenting” translates to “lazy parenting.” It makes life easy to only care if your child is happy in the moment, instead of looking at his or her longterm outcome. Parenting should be individualized for the child. Maybe looking to the past will be the best thing for the future of the United States’ posterity.