QuestionerThis question comes from Robert Miles in Nebraska. The trading apps. What do you think about Robin Hood and other trading apps or fintech companies enabling all ages and experience to participate in the stock market?
WarrenWell, I'm looking forward to reading the S1 on Robin. That's a big thing you file with the SEC when you are going to be offering securities. And it's, you know, it's become a very significant, part of the casino aspect of the casino group that has joined into the stock market in the last year, year and a half. And I do want to see how they handle the source of income when they say they don't charge the customer or anything. I mean, it would be interesting to watch how to describe it. I mean, but, but they, they have attracted, maybe set out to attract, but they have attracted, I think I read where 12 or 13 percent of their casino participants were dealing in puts and calls. I looked up on Apple, you know, the number of seven-day calls and 14-day calls outstanding, and I'm sure a lot of that is coming. through Robin. And that's a bunch of people writing, they're gambling on the price of Apple over the next seven days or 40 days. There's nothing, you know, there's nothing illegal about it. There's nothing immoral. But I don't think he'd build a society around people doing it. I mean, if a group of us landed on a desert island, we knew we'd never be rescued. And I was one of the group and I said, well, I'll set up the exchange over here. I'll trade our corn futures and everything around. I think the degree to which a very rich society can reward people who know how to know how to take advantage, essentially, of the gambling instincts of the not only American public, worldwide public. It's not the most admirable part of the accomplishment. But I think what America's accomplished is pretty admirable overall. And I think actually, you know, American corporations have turned out to be a wonderful place for people to put their money and save. But they also make terrific gambling chips. And if you cater to those gambling chips when people have money in their pocket for the first time and you tell them they can make 30 or 40 or 50 trades a day and you're not charging them any commission, but you're selling their order full. or whatever. I hope we don't have more of it. I'll put it that way. And I will be interested in reading the perspectives. Charlie?
CharlieWell, that is really waving the red flag of the bull.
[3:29]
CharlieI think it's just god awful with something like that would draw investment from civilized men and decent citizens. It's deeply wrong. We don't want to make our money selling things. that are bad for people. But we've got the states doing it with the lottery.
WarrenNo, but that's bad too.
CharlieYeah, I understand. That's very bad. That's very bad. That's one of the things that's wrong with it. It's getting respectable to be to do these things. The states are just as bad as Robin Hood. Well, in a sense, they're worse. I mean, they're really taxing people based on their.
WarrenI know. I know. Yeah, they're taxing hope. Not only that. And they don't get much in the way of taxes from Bear Trump. The states in America replaced the mafia as the proprietor of the numbers game. That's what happened. Yep. They pushed the mafia side and said, that's our business, not yours. Doesn't make me proud of my government. When I was a kid, my dad was in Congress, that a numbers runner in the House office building, actually.