"The Markets Are Rigged!"

And in related news, the Sun rises again today!!! Stop the presses: Dog Bites Man!!! Sale at WalMart!!!

In a way, I am kinda glad. I can blame my losing trades on something else other than "Moi" now.  Others not so much. The phone is ringin' off the hook here at Wah-nd Central Wambulance Station Dial 111. "They're Front Running our orders, on the level of milliseconds. That's Illegal!!!" Actually they have been pocketing orders since before the first Roosevelt Administration in The Loop and on Wall Street. This has been strictly enforced by that venerable and vicious toothless blind limping Rottweiler we know as the SEC. They're just a little busy on the insider traders these days gumming them to death, that's all. Compound that by throwing them a bag of Gummi Bears. They're just a tinch overloaded.

The real reason that they are rigged is that they are sniffing your orders. They are supposed to keep them secret. They see your order or stop waiting there, then yank the stop before moving in the intended direction, or pull out of reach to grab that order immediately before moving against it. That is just the way things are. That's bidness in their world. If you are in it for the long term which it seems nobody is for that long before they suffer too much, you don't care.

In the big picture if you have money, you should be able to rent it for a fee. However, even the bond market seems rigged these days. Corporate bondholders at GM got scrooged along with the long term investors. That wasn't the deal. Same with those lovely municipal bonds when the overload of political promises finally plugs up the toilet, and you have a whopper to flush on top of it. V and MA aren't exactly doing much better these days if you think credit card companies should solve it. CBOE and CME are also hurting in the general swing of things.

One thing you can't underestimate in that situation is the stupidity of the supposed market cops. They will be "johnny" on the spot to write you a ticket for dumping. Complaints? "It's the High Frequency Dumpers!!!" Don't you feel all better now? They are blaming the casino for taking the best vig they can get. Hey, we want it all, and we want it for free too! You can't always get what you want isn't just a Stones tune though.

These days in lieu of anything real to grow on, so many people feel the same way that in a typical day, the Dow moves up and down 100 points or more, and several times it seems. After a year of Growth-itative Easing, it is tapering off to the reality of nothing happening. Welcome back to Stagflation! Can they write a traffic ticket for that too?