Ok, that sounds like a more convincing argument than the original one.
Speculators are risking their own money re-aligning badly-allocated capital in the economy and correct prices. If they are right they earn a nice commission.
Who says they are? Speculators are betting on what costs will be, but the people selling to them are (tautologically) doing it based on what it costs now. Some speculators win, some speculators lose, but I would say they’re necessarily performing arbitrage.
The same people who always take the losses - speculators. Some of them are the same people who bid the market up; some of them are people who foolishly bought at the top.
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