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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Texas John, post: 1129894, member: 25813&quot;]Many stocks do not and never have paid dividends. They only produce a profit if they go up in value (i.e., can be sold for more than they cost). According to some, buying such stocks is speculation, not investment. </p><p><br /></p><p>Truly free trade ALWAYS results in an increase in perceived wealth - as two trading partners exchange something that they value less for something they value more.</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem with that statement is that there is seldom such a thing as a &quot;truly free trade&quot;, because that would require trading partners with equal knowledge and who are not operating under different financial pressures as they make the trade. They also would have to be trading in government and coercion-free circumstances, as both government and force distort free trade.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s an example: The US Bureau of Land Management is required by law to facilitate and underwrite the costs of harvesting timber on government land. To that effect, the BLM may have to build a road through a government forest at the cost of $1000 dollars in order to give a timber company access to a tree, for which it pays the government $20 dollars and then sells for $40 dollars. This &quot;free trade&quot; did not create wealth, it destroyed it, as the government (you and me) paid $980 dollars so a private company could make $20.</p><p><br /></p><p>The total cost to the environment, and to the economy because of the lost opportunity caused by spending $980 to allow a company to &quot;make&quot; $20, is staggering to contemplate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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