Skip to main content

The Stock Market: A Legal Ponzi Scheme?

OK, maybe Ponzi Scheme isn't exactly the correct term to use, but if you're not yet convinced the stock market is rigged, and designed to facilitate the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy, you might just be after watching this interview with Mad Money's Jim Cramer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Be sure to watch part 2 and part 3, for the really enlightening stuff!

Now don't get me wrong, there is still money to be made in the stock market. Just don't think of the stock market as a form of investing, it's really nothing more than a legalized form of gambling. For every dollar someone makes, someone else loses a dollar, but the big boys always take their cut off the top of both transactions.
Labels:

Comments

Alan P, MD said…
Wrong, for everyone who makes a dollar, someone loses a dollar + commissions + slippage.

While the stock market is gambling, one can put the probabilities somewhat in ones favor. (better odds than Vegas).
2:20 AM
Marc said…
one can put the probabilities somewhat in ones favor. (better odds than Vegas).

Kinda like counting cards in black jack. Are the odds still better?

I did admit though, there is money to be made in the stock market, but one thing I've learned from a lot of intense bike riding, you can't get greedy. You have to know to quit when your ahead.

What I hope everyone will take away from this interview is, you're never going to compete with the "big boys" [the house].

Ultimately, "THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS", or as Jim Cramer puts it, "PIGS GET SLAUGHTERED"
4:08 AM
Marc said…
Oh yeah, and how can you say the odds are better than Vegas (except for maybe the slots which can be manipulated), when the market can be so easily manipulated?

Did you listen to the interview?
5:17 AM
Alan P, MD said…
Well for one thing, your stock market losses are tax deductible (that's an edge you don't get in Vegas).

Assuming you are both long and short at different times, there is a 50% chance that it will be manipulated in your favor.

Yes, I saw the interview live on The Daily Show.
6:49 AM
Marc said…
Ok, I give, you win.

The tax deductibility of stock market losses is an advantage, and the 50-50 odds are clearly better than the 49.7-50.3 odds for Black Jack and 49.3-50.7 odds on craps.

But you know what, I'd still rather gamble it away in Vegas.

Don't you just love the internet? :)
8:51 AM
Reading, it’s not for everyone | Living with MCL said…
[...] Oh well, I can’t get too discouraged just yet. It’s only been just over a month since I officially retired, so I still have time to figure this whole retirement thing out. Maybe I’ll even start gambling in the stock market again. No, on second thought, I don’t think that would be a such good idea. [...]
8:36 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History IS repeating itself

I didn't grow up during the rise and fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany, so for me to claim it feels like those are the times we are living in now, must be taken with a grain of salt. But I have seen enough movies, and read enough history to know, if the times we're living in now are not akin to the rise of a Nazism and Facism in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, then we're not far off. If you can't see the parallels with Nazi Germany, then you must be living in a different country than me. Republicans and other right wing extremists will stop at nothing to subvert the will of the majority, forcing their beliefs, that they are the superior race and have been appointed by God, to impose their will on America, while they blame all our problems on immigrants, blacks and Jews. As I speak, Mitch McConnell, and his minions are raising roadblocks to all legislation designed to help average Americans under the guise of fiscal responsibility. They condone violent and verba...
Post a Comment
Read more

My concerns reaffirmed today

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pet Peeves

Since it's raining today, I didn't have much to do [I couldn't ride my bike], so I thought I'd complain about some of the little things that bug me. I know I'm not supposed to sweat the little things, which I don't [for the most part], but these are so minuscule, I figure they don't really count. One of my biggest complaints are walnuts, or any kind of nuts, in chocolate chip cookies. Nuts have no business in chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are sweet. They're a dessert, and nuts provide an unwanted texture, and flavor that takes away from that. Nuts don't belong in chocolate chip cookies. And come to think about it, nuts don't belong in brownies either, but I don't usually eat brownies (I don't particularly like them), so I don't really care. Still they don't belong. They're OK in Snickers, but that's about it. Another complaint is with people who buy [or rent] a convertible, and then drive around in it with...
3 comments
Read more