But, in the mind of the populist masses that Mr Levine it criticizing it is. I don't work in finance and I'm not going to make any judgments on the industry, just to say that people who are opposed to it would be opposed to HFTs as well.
Also, the people who applaud 'disruption' are not this sort of populist, they don't cheer because of the damage done to incumbents but because the disruption will hopefully mean better products/services/prices for customers. HFT just does the job of the old investment bankers slightly more efficiently. If you think investment bankers are bad, you're not going to think that more efficient investment are an improvement.
When ignorant people don't like something we should strive to explain the benefits more clearly. Not give up and declare that thing bad just based on a vote.
Also, the people who applaud 'disruption' are not this sort of populist, they don't cheer because of the damage done to incumbents but because the disruption will hopefully mean better products/services/prices for customers. HFT just does the job of the old investment bankers slightly more efficiently. If you think investment bankers are bad, you're not going to think that more efficient investment are an improvement.