Tomorrow’s “Onion” Headlines . . Today!
I can just see The Onion’s retort to today’s lead headline in The Wall Street Journal (“Germans in Talks to Buy Big Board”) — maybe something like this:
“Chinese Negotiating for Large Pipe.”
Of course, the “Big Board” in question is The New York Stock Exchange, as it is otherwise known.
While some may decry the prospect of foreign ownership, the NYSE’s American stewards haven’t exactly done such a bang-up job, as evidenced by last year’s “Flash Crash,” and before that the imbroglio over Richard Grasso’s outlandish pay.
Too, there’s the ongoing taint of high frequency trading, which many have likened to legal front-running by Wall Street insiders.
Personally, I don’t think stock exchanges should be run by cowboys and wheeler-dealers.
My druthers would be a country famous for its engineering, like Germany — or even better, one known for its manufacture of precision instruments, like Switzerland.
