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

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...
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

Tacitly condoning racism?

I learned something very discouraging in my current events class yesterday, there are a lot more racists and bigots out there then you may think. They may not admit it, or they'll claim otherwise, but when someone says they place the blame for what happened in Charlottesville on both sides, or better yet, they don't know where the blame lays, then they are condoning the action of the white supremacists groups, and in my book that is a racist/bigot. The truth is, there should be no doubt where blame for Charlottesville lays. It lays with the white supremacists, neo-Nazi's, KKK, etc, plain and simple! The hatred, bigotry, and misogyny displayed and espoused by these groups, coupled with the tacit approval of President Trump needs to be confronted at all cost, and history tells us so. If only the Jews, in pre-WWII Germany, had confronted the Nazi's in the same manner, Hitler might never have risen to power, and we would not be looking at the prospect of a  third anti...
Post a Comment
Read more