There is NO DOUBT in my mind that the stock market is currently 100% manipulated by a few players. Yes, I’m saying that a small group of people who hold (or have say over) a large amount of capital decides if the stock market will go up or if it will go down. Sure, there will be definite market forces that will make their will bend and turn, but they will be the driving force. Today for example, a quadruple witching day, we saw huge volumes as expected yet the market barely moved. It was almost like all the trades were known before hand and the counter trades required to keep the market stable was placed there to meet the other side of the trade. Mathematically, it is impossible for a day where a huge volume of trade would not cause a significant move in the market either direction. It’s like looking at volume in terms of a “force” and its ability to move the market. Volume into stock means up, volume out of stock means down and so forth. So it is surprising that a huge force such as today did not move the market in any direction. The stock market has become just like Vegas! Some will win, most will lose, but the house will always take its share of the game. […]

Sure, Ben today said that he is still worried about deflation, and not inflation. The unemployed and in the middle class are wondering where the hell in Ben from. The middle class is having a severe devaluation of their purchasing power and savings. So for those, it is a serious period of inflation because they are making less but spending the same for fewer things. Sadly, we are also having deflation of assets because there is still a large credit bubble bursting. Home prices are nowhere near the levels that can be supported by income. […]

I’m please to see that politicians are tackling the real cause of the financial mess, mortgage fraudsters and Wall Street Criminals. I have to admit that I got a giddy when I read…. “Under the House version, large financial companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. would be hit with billions of dollars in fees and would see new restrictions on their operations.” […]

Here comes the next set of economic beasts that our government, Goldman Sachs, Fed and Treasury will need to work together to battle. First, you have the REIT market that might not make it if housing doesn’t recover soon. Second, you have the bond market that will get marked down as interest rates rise. Unfortunately, for a housing recovery, you need an economic recovery, which will lead to increasing rates, which will end in a bond market mass stampede to the door. […]

You can always tell when the shit is about to hit the fan and the market is about to dive. A herd of worthless companies and their thieving investment banker (usually Goldman Sachs) start to offer the public shares of stocks that have been previously approved for issuing. This usually happens after companies have reported two consecutive growth quarters and an unusually long bull market, but are now expecting to disappoint. So basically, they sell you shares when stocks are high and later buy at a cheaper price (treasury stock). The benefit to a company for buying stocks and placing them into treasury is that they will have fewer shares outstanding and therefore will report higher earnings. The benefit of public offerings is that the company receives cash up front AND if they are reporting a loss, it gets split into a greater number of outstanding shares therefore reducing the loss per share. Based on this common knowledge, one can assume that now Bank of America, Citi and Goldman are working together to raise capital, you know that earnings or lack of will be getting diluted by a greater number of shares. […]