Fair enough. A little hyperbolic, but that's to be expected, right? But, c'mon now, given the long list of scandals in the last few years -- High-Frequency Trading (HFT), "toxic" mortgage-backed securities, Libor, London Whale, Robo-signing, structured finance, Madoff etc., etc. -- it's hard not to be little blase about the whole deal, isn't it? I'm not sure where Bonner's been, but if you were to ask Joe Blow on the street, whether he thought the "market was rigged or not," he'd undoubtedly nod his head affirmatively as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it is the most obvious thing in the world. Heidi Moore summed it up pretty well in a recent article at the Guardian. She said:
"Most Americans don't think much about the stock market, and that's just fine with Wall Street. Because once you wake up to how screwed up the stock market really is, the financial industry knows you're likely to get very nervous and take your money out.
"Many are catching on: between 2007 and 2014, investors pulled $345bn from the stock market. E-Trades are down and worries are up, with 73% of Americans still not inclined to buy stocks, five years after the financial crisis...
"Let's get one thing straight: Investor confidence is not the problem. The screwed-up stock market is the problem. It's time to break down the polite fiction that investing in the stock market is something that sane, rational, sensible people do. It is a high-risk contact sport for your money...
"The US stock market depends entirely on the ignorance of regular people who are supposed to just shovel their money into retirement funds and 401(k)s, pay a whopping one-third of your retirement in fees to high-priced managers, and never whisper a complaint.
"It's a wonder that anyone (trusts the market) at all." (Wall Street and Washington want you to believe the stock market isn't rigged. Guess what? It still is, Heidi Moore, Guardian)
The market is totally rigged from stem to stern, which is why it is so hard to feign outrage at this latest sign of corruption. It's just par for the course. What we found more interesting, was the OMFIF's contention that the experimental monetary policies, the centrals banks initiated to deal with the Financial Crisis, have changed the system to what the author calls "state capitalism."
"Whether or not this trend is a good thing," he opines, "may be open to question. What is incontestable is that it has happened."
While you can't expect the media to cover something like this, it's certainly worth mulling over. The fact is, CBs have taken over economic policy altogether. They're running the whole shooting match. The various congresses and parliaments across the western world now merely act as a rubber stamp for the austerity measures demanded by their corporate bosses. Fiscal policy is a dead letter in the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, UK and the Eurozone. Everywhere the bank cartel has extended it's grip, fiscal policy has been jettisoned altogether. It's bailouts and lavish subsidies for the 1 percenters and belt-tightening, shock therapy for everyone else. Isn't that how it works? State Capitalism isn't a conspiracy theory. It's just class warfare taken to the next level. Check this out from Dave Marsh at Marketwatch:
"Central banks' foreign-exchange reserves have grown unprecedentedly fast, especially in the developing world. The same authorities that are responsible for maintaining financial stability are often the owners of the large funds that add to liquidity in many markets...
"Evidence of an increase in equity-buying by central banks and other public-sector investors has emerged from a survey of publicly owned or managed investments compiled by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF)... There are worries that central banks may be over-stretching themselves by operating in too many areas.
"Jens Weidmann, president of Germany's Bundesbank -- spoke yearningly last week of the need for 'central banks to shed their role as decision-makers of last resort and, thus, to return to their normal business.'
"He said this 'would help to preserve the independence of central banks, which is a key precondition to maintaining price stability in the long run.'" (Central banks becoming major investors in stock markets, Dave Marsh, Marketwatch)
You might want to read that first part over again to savor what the author is saying. Here it is: "The same authorities that are responsible for maintaining financial stability are often the owners of the large funds that add to liquidity in many markets."
That's what you call corruption with a capital "C." But then the author does a 180 and waxes-on about "preserving the independence of central banks, which is a key precondition to maintaining price stability in the long run."
Right. The whole independence thing is a big joke. Why would anyone in their right mind bestow such extraordinary powers ("independence") on a group of voracious, cutthroat bankers who have repeatedly shown that they can't be trusted?
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