I really appreciate your response.<p>&gt;Idealist me thinks that Wall Street should invest in those companies they believe in and wish to assist in achieving their business goals.<p>It seems that the general trend is against banks taking proprietary positions. I guess my knee-jerk response is that I agree with that trend as I don&#x27;t want my deposits used to fund someone&#x27;s investment thesis. If I did, I would put my money in a mutual fund or other investment vehicle rather than a bank. At the same time, it&#x27;s certainly not against the law for banks to make longer term investments.<p>&gt;but who is okay with a computer crashing a market becasue it was profitable<p>I am certainly no fan of banks, but this does not seem like an accurate representation of their role in the markets.