My husband and I are having an ongoing debate concerning whether or
not it is ethical to play the speculative FOREX market game.
We would appreciate any ideas and links that address this specific issue.
NOTE: this is NOT a question about whether or not we could lose our shirts!
(ranters, please save it for another forum)
This is the question:
How does the speculative buying and selling of foreign funds actually
effect people in those countries, either directly or indirectly?
I am speaking only of the major currencies: US, Canadian, Australian,
Swiss, Euro, British Sterling, Japanese yen, and possibly the New
Zealand dollar.
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Clarification of Question by
timespacette-ga
on
24 Sep 2005 12:28 PDT
Perhaps a larger question is:
what are the ethical considerations of speculative investing in general?
but I would still like to find an answer to my first question.
thanks,
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
24 Sep 2005 13:32 PDT
timespacette-ga,
Nice to see you again. I saw your other question, and thanks for
directing it to me, but truth be told, I don't know who it would be
best to contact for feedback your particular ethical dilemma.
Telling even a bit more truth, I'm even surprised that you and hubby
have latched on to this particular concern.
Sure, if you're George Soros investing in unstable third world
currencies, your investment decisions can really do a lot of damage.
But (presumably) small-scale investing in first world funds? What's
the ethical issue that you and yours are concerned about?
If you're comfortable with capitalism in general, then I don't see any
special concerns about speculating on the future value of Swiss
francs. Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about what your thinking
is...
paf
P.S. Hope you guess right!...you can lose your shirts, you know.
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Clarification of Question by
timespacette-ga
on
24 Sep 2005 18:03 PDT
paf,
I'm surprised by your surpise, actually.
It's a simple question:
How does the speculative buying and selling of foreign funds actually
effect people in those countries, either directly or indirectly?
In other words, does it effect them? And if so, then how?
And I'm not at all sure what your meaning is with the statement ...
"Sure, if you're George Soros investing in unstable third world
currencies, your investment decisions can really do a lot of damage."
Are you being facetious? Perhaps I've asked for assistance from the
wrong researcher.
***
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
24 Sep 2005 18:32 PDT
>>I'm surprised by your surpise, actually.<<
You don't say why. I wish you would.
>>It's a simple question<<
I had to chuckle at that! I've noticed that -- more often than not --
the questions the askers label "simple", "easy", "quick" don't get
answered. The question may strike you as a simple one, but I fear I
have to disagree.
>>How does the speculative buying and selling of foreign funds actually
effect people in those countries, either directly or indirectly? In
other words, does it effect them? And if so, then how?<<
I don't think it effects them in any meaningful way, but I'd be
hard-pressed to provide compelling justification for thinking so.
>>And I'm not at all sure what your meaning is with the statement ...
"Sure, if you're George Soros investing in unstable third world
currencies, your investment decisions can really do a lot of damage."<<
Billionaire George Soros is famously credited with having
single-handedly destabilized the economy of Thailand by speculating on
a very large scale on Thai currency futures. So there are some
obvious ethical considerations there, but I don't think they carry
over to a small investment in Swiss francs.
>>Are you being facetious?<<
I wasn't trying to be, and I hope I haven't come across as such.
>>Perhaps I've asked for assistance from the wrong researcher.<<
You didn't ask for my assistance on this particular question, and for
your other question, I've already confessed to not knowing who you
might contact. So I suppose you might be right!
It's hard sometimes to properly "hear" someone's tone through these
written comments, but you seemed a bit miffed by what I had I written.
I truly didn't mean any offense, and hope we'll be able to work
together down the road apiece.
All the best,
paf
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