The markets are manipulated.  All markets are manipulated.  What’s the ‘take away’ ?  You have several choices:

• A Get a job at one of the manipulators, break off and start your own manipulation firm
• B Find out how they are doing it and do it yourself (if you have a really rich Uncle, otherwise this option won’t work for you)
• C Find a crack in the market manipulation engine and exploit it
• D Day Trading (but this is really, really, really tough and even if you can manage it, your years are limited.)

Ways to not win, or barely beat inflation:

• X Buy and hold
• Y Stock picking
• Z Buy and hope

Both methods, statistically, will lead to ruin.  You would have been right buying and holding the Amazon’s (AMZN) and the Google’s (GOOG) but how about the Worldcom’s, the Enron’s, the Kodak’s.. The Refco’s.. (we did HODL to Refco and we got a check for .30 cents on the dollar via bankruptcy court).  Stock Picking and Market Timing (when will the market bottom or top) is also dangerous because even if you’re a well funded Genius, you can’t be right all the time. This blast from the past is inspired by a first screening of the original “Fight Club” with the family all together, the inspiration of the theme of this site.  We tried to cover this topic on a high level in our work Splitting Pennies – but although this video is still on youtube, the meme remains well hidden from the masses.  Even Zero Hedge, if you ask most people, think that we’re some political site.  Is it left?  Is it libertarian?  No man, it’s just free.  They don’t know what free is, being overwhelmed with thousands of ‘media missiles’ every day.  Democrats, Republicans, and all in between are brainwashed by their own propaganda, their own Dogmas. This interview is just fascinating.. in many ways, most notably how Cramer easily switches from the ‘hedgie predator’ to ‘party line’ as if he’s 2 different people.  Cramer is a smart guy, one wonders what a smart guy is doing as a TV personality, but then again, a TV icon recently became president.