To what extent are the markets being rigged?

[Phred42]

This article on the Plunge Protection Team is RIGHT ON THE MONEY! It's a shill's racket!
The DOW is a scam now and it is going to get worse over time ... NOT better.
We are in for some very strange times ...

BUT AT LEAST WE WILL HAVE A BRAIN IN THE WHITE HOUSE in a couple of months!


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To what extent are the markets being rigged?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/To-what-extent-are-the-mar-by-Richard-Clark-081104-663.html

by Richard Clark


Welcome to the behind-the-scenes world of The Plunge Protection Team

“The Dow is a dead banana republic dictator in full military uniform propped up in the castle window with a mechanical lever moving the cadaver’s arm, waving to the Wall Street crowd.”

– Michael Bolser, Le Metropole Cafe

The Plunge Protection Team is formally called the Working Group on Financial Markets (WGFM) and was created by President Reagan’s Executive Order 12631 in 1988 in response to the October 1987 stock market crash. The WGFM includes the President, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Its stated purpose is to enhance “the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of our Nation's financial markets and investor confidence.” According to the Order:

“To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of funds therefore, the Department of the Treasury shall provide the Working Group with such administrative and support services as may be necessary for the performance of its functions.”

In short, taxpayer money is being made available to manipulate markets. The shady history of the PPT was tracked by journalist John Crudele in a June 2006 New York Post series, in which he wrote:

“Back during a stock market crisis in 1989, a guy named Robert Heller – who had just left the Federal Reserve Board – suggested that the government rig the stock market in times of dire emergency. . . . He didn’t use the word ‘rig’ but that’s what he meant. Proposed as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, it’s a seminal argument that says when a crisis occurs on Wall Street ‘instead of flooding the entire economy with liquidity, and thereby increasing the danger of inflation, the Fed could support the stock market directly by buying market averages in the futures market, thus stabilizing the market as a whole.’”

[raccoon]

1. thanks for the link. rec'd. nt

[Phred42]

2. Yw - This is one we must start talking about publically

[Greyhound]

3. Here's #5, thanks.

Funny, how many of us have been telling folks about this and many other manipulations of this "free market" 3-card-monty game.

We are into at least the third decade of illusionary capitalism, the beams holding it up are rotted through and we don't have the money to replace them, even if it were desirable.

[mopinko]

4. ok, this is just some bloggers opinion. he doesn't know what he is talking

about, as far as i can see. he is interpreting anti-panic mechanisms as rigging the markets. that is simplistic. and wrong.

and just to be clear, i do not say this as someone with any special knowledge of economics, just as someone whose SO is part of the mechanical side of the markets. but anyone who knows any history knows how needlessly devastating a market panic is. the good goes down with the bad. there are lots of things out there designed to slow a panic. i think that is a good thing.

[Celebration]

5. not enough money to rig the stock market

I think the gold market could be manipulated through futures trading, though.

The stock and bond markets are far to big to be manipulated like this, except in the very short run.

[leftofthedial]

6. the only thing worse than a pyramid scheme

is a corrupt pyramid scheme