Conclusion

The press heavily covered this scandal

Lewis’ thesis in Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt is quite simple: HFT firms are able to leverage computer speed to steal from average investors by front running. Lewis describes the digitalization of the stock market, investments in co-location, fiber optic wiring, and algorithmic computer programmers as the main drivers behind such front-running theft. I've analyzed each piece of supporting evidence and compared three of them to teachings learned in LIS 201. First, I compared the digitalization of the stock market to the automation seen in the post-industrial service economy.  This comparison helps to grasp the rationale behind Lewis’ proposed opportunity for theft. Second, I turned to investments in fiber optic wiring and compared them to infrastructure technologies, which are communication systems needed to invisibly function (in this case, for economic activities). Third, I evaluated Lewis’ description of algorithms produced by Russian computer programming in relation to my understanding of algorithms acquired from LIS 201. Each of my three comprehensive comparisons served to confirm the validity of Lewis’ supporting pieces of evidence.

It is important to note that Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt includes a wider variety of ideas than those I have analyzed. The aim of my book report was to utilize my knowledge of the information society, that I've gained through Library and Information Studies 201, to decipher Lewis’ main thesis and attempt to either confirm or deny it. After conducting the due diligence, it is my opinion that Lewis is correct: it does seem as if “the market is rigged.” This makes me wonder, are United States government regulatory agencies continuing efforts to solve this problem? When will a solution to this problem be found? It seems as if the success of average investors' retirement plans now relies on government intervention.