re: #28 Barflytom

Except that an initial investor is unlikely to put up money if he can’t cash in his investment at some point. So then he needs a second investor to buy his shares, who in turn needs a third investor if he’s going to realise a profit at some stage…..etc
So the only benefit of stock trading is that it makes raising capital possible in the first place….
I thought you could think things through a bit better than that.

What you just described is a Ponzi scheme.