I was expecting stocks to rally sharply ahead of the election, and pull back when the results were announced. It looks like that prediction came true.
I based my prediction on the conspiracy theory that the market is controlled by a relatively small group of ultra rich people who preferred McCain for president. A phony surge in stocks ahead of the election might have convinced some people that the economic downturn was already on the mend, so no need for a change.
I have long suspected that all major movements in the markets are manipulated by billionaires who would like to become trillionaires. They know in advance which way the market will move, because they cause the movement, so they sell high and buy low while the unwashed masses are doing the opposite.
If you based your investing on the conspiracy theory that markets are manipulated by the rich, you would do very well, even if that theory is wrong. For example, you would have bought stocks every time the media told you the economy was doomed, and sold stocks whenever the market was testing new bubble highs, because you cynically believed all financial news was intentionally misleading.
Unfortunately it's psychologically hard to buy stocks when the economy is circling the drain (according to the media) and even harder to avoid investing when things look bubble-iscous. The way to get past that is to convince yourself the billionaires are manipulating all information about the economy in order to fool you. When the media says sell, it's time to buy. (Disclaimer: Do not get your investment advice from cartoonists.)
On an unrelated note, I heard someone refer to President-elect Obama as Halfrican-American. I can't decide if that is clever or racist.
The Dilbert blog.
1 comment:
This is very interesting. Weeks ago when the true colapse started and when the market flactuated wildly (as on Tue and Wed for instance) I commented here or maybe eleswhere about just such possibility that market is manipulated by what I called Free Market Mafia (FMM). Just as Scott says, I suggested that a small group of well connected and super,super rich free marketers, do such manipulation and thus behave just as true mafia,named FMM. It is not out of reality that such mafia does exist. As with any type of mafia the operative word is OMERTA. No one speaks about it outside the "family" and only few selected ones are "made" as new members of this notorious family. Our new government with Obama in charge would do well to look into this possibility. If unchecked they will find new ways to continue with this manipulation and its main forms the "bubbles". They create a bubble and they burst it. On the way up they make billions and trillions and on the way down they do the same. As well during wild flactuation as we see them now. The rest of us? We are left holding the bag, as usually.
Someone do something about it. How abot it Prez. Obama?
Better yet, Peter can draw this to his attention having such an inside track as shown on his blog.
How about it, Doc?
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