How Wall Street Profits From Government Data
In spite of the prevailing dogma that America operates under a free market economy governed by an almighty "invisible hand" that government should not interfere with in any way, there has been a slow trickle of stories pointing to a reality that many -- including myself -- have long suspected: the "free markets" are actually rigged to benefit the top one percent.
The latest of these stories comes from, ironically enough, the Wall Street Journal. The federal government has rules that allow economic data to be quietly released to journalists a bit early to give them time to analyze the data and write up their articles for the public. Taking advantage of the government's loose rules on what qualifies as a legitimate media outlet, at least one "news service" has gathered this data to be transmitted over high speed lines directly to elite financial firms, who can pay as much as $375,000 per year for the privilege of getting an early look at market moving data that they are then able to trade on before it becomes available to the general public.
It has to be emphasized that this is government data -- gathered and crunched and prepared by government employees whose salaries, equipment, and expenses are paid for by your tax dollars. It's data that by all rights should -- and according to the letter of the law does -- belong to all of us and yet is disseminated in such a way as to provide an unfair advantage to an elite few private organizations with very deep pockets. Since government information doesn't carry copyright protections, not one cent of the profits from this shady trade in government data actually goes to the government.
The latest of these stories comes from, ironically enough, the Wall Street Journal. The federal government has rules that allow economic data to be quietly released to journalists a bit early to give them time to analyze the data and write up their articles for the public. Taking advantage of the government's loose rules on what qualifies as a legitimate media outlet, at least one "news service" has gathered this data to be transmitted over high speed lines directly to elite financial firms, who can pay as much as $375,000 per year for the privilege of getting an early look at market moving data that they are then able to trade on before it becomes available to the general public.
It has to be emphasized that this is government data -- gathered and crunched and prepared by government employees whose salaries, equipment, and expenses are paid for by your tax dollars. It's data that by all rights should -- and according to the letter of the law does -- belong to all of us and yet is disseminated in such a way as to provide an unfair advantage to an elite few private organizations with very deep pockets. Since government information doesn't carry copyright protections, not one cent of the profits from this shady trade in government data actually goes to the government.