I knew

I'd find something to write about! My reading of the Mensa Bulletin led me to write this reply to a letter which is not available online:

Don Dibble's (MB 6/05 p6) characterization of brokers and traders as people "who produce nothing" is totally false. As a former and unsuccessful trader, I can tell you that these people take enormous risks to provide you with an efficient market where you can buy or sell any publicly traded stock or bond every business day. They risk thousands of dollars in the process. The wealth is their reward for taking that dog of a stock off your hands. Without them, there would be no market to provide capital to help business grow and provide jobs and a better standard of living for all.

They'll probably print it. Most organizations print all the letters they get because they're hungry for input from their readers. The exceptions are the major newspapers and magazines. A number of years ago, I had letters printed in Forbes, US News, and Investor's Business Daily. You generally only get one shot at those.