In investing, the crowds get beta, the smart money gets alpha. It’s kind of undemocratic.

The SEC, who aim* to level the playing field by eliminating all advantages, should say to their agents:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to eliminate all alpha, wherever it rears it head.

____________

* From the SEC home page: The laws and rules that govern the securities industry in the United States derive from a simple and straightforward concept: all investors, whether large institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain basic facts about an investment prior to buying it, and so long as they hold it. To achieve this, the SEC requires public companies to disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public. This provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for themselves whether to buy, sell, or hold a particular security. Only through the steady flow of timely, comprehensive, and accurate information can people make sound investment decisions.