Speculation on Margin

Just a quick note:

The problem is not the Federal Reserve. The existence of a central bank or common currency is not all that problematic.

The problem is fractional lending. With fractional lending, a bank makes multiple loans from the same dollar. It is fractional lending that creates the business cycle. Even worse, fractional lending multiplies the debt of a society and creates systemic fault.

People love to hate speculators. IMHO: Speculators play a positive role by providing valuable pricing information to a market.

Problems occur when speculators speculate on margin. A margin play happens when a speculator borrows money for their speculation or places a short order ... which involved borrowing the stuff to sell.

The margin plays sends tainted information into the system. Margin plays also have the effect of magnifying the ill effects of the business cycle.

As we enter a debate about the Federal Reserve, I hope people realize that the real problems lie with this debt culture and margin plays and not with the Fed creating a common currency.

To develop the Two Bit Diner project, I've followed the spot price of silver which follows silver on centralized exchanges. The price appears to be manipulated by margin requirements. The fact that people buy and sell precious metals on margin clearly artificially inflates the price and leads to greater instability.