unhedged - I agree with your sentiments but doubt its practicality - even if you thought there were fraudulent dealings in stocks, you'd have to prove 'intent' and that's what often stops ASIC from acting..... it's just not easy to nail these fraudsters.....
but on a more esoteric level, you have made a fundamental mistake in your concept of the market. The market was set up as a means of raising capital for companies seeking to expand or continue their business and rewarding the providers of that capital with dividends, whilst hopefully preserving or growing the value of the company in the event that such providers required their money back......
today, the market has been turned into a casino, and the ordinary person has been sucked into thinking that the market is a safely regulated place where they too can park their money - alas such is not really the case..... the speculative private investor is the lowest level of the market foodchain, viewed predominantly as a parasite by those who run the casino and we all know what happens to the punters in the casino?......
so you have to take your chances in the shark infested pool, by all means have your own list because there are many worthy contenders for such a place, but thinking the market has ever been or will ever be a level playing field? I don't think so.....
