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Powerful grifters and the global investing markets

catch22catch22
in Other Investing
Not that investing markets 'grifting' is new; but that the 'connections' are different this time. One may find forward valuations to continue to be out of 'norms'. We've used a variety of technical indicators over the years; as well as the 'smell/sentiment' of things for investing. As long as the front running/insider information continues to provide large profits, the markets may continue to seem 'out of control'. It's when the music stops for the 'musical chairs' that remains the tough spot to discover.

The below is an AI sort for a variety of search terms regarding grifting and the markets. I've chosen this overview. Some of the descriptions can be placed into the grifter schemes that have been hatched this year, and continue now.

My inflated 2 cents worth,
Catch

Grifters and powerful financial actors have historically manipulated global stock markets by exploiting speculative manias, technological gaps, and regulatory loopholes. In 2025, these dynamics are increasingly driven by rapid news cycles and advanced trading technologies.

Common Methods of Market Manipulation
Pump and Dump Schemes: Promoters inflate the price of a stock through false or misleading positive statements to sell their cheaply purchased stock at a higher price.

Insider Trading: Trading based on material, non-public information, often involving high-level corporate or political figures.
Financial Legerdemain: Using complex accounting or misdirection to hide a company's true financial state, similar to a magician's sleight of hand.

Exploitative Technology: Utilizing high-frequency trading (HFT) and "dark pools" to gain millisecond advantages over retail investors, which some critics describe as a "rigged" system.

Social Media Gamification: Transforming independent market participants into coordinated "gangs" that can be easily manipulated by viral misinformation.

Influence of Powerful Actors
Political Leaders: Global markets in 2025 show extreme sensitivity to political rhetoric. For example, comments on trade policies or tariffs can cause massive instant fluctuations in worldwide indices.

Large Institutional Players: Firms like Vanguard, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs hold significant portions of global equity, and their shifts in "risk appetite" can trigger massive global sell-offs.

Historical and Contemporary Parallels
The 1901 Boom: Early 20th-century promoters legally took massive cuts (up to 40%) from stock offerings, a template for modern "bull market grift".
The Dot-Com and Crypto Eras: Cycles of "greed and fear" consistently produce frauds like Enron or modern unregulated crypto Ponzi schemes that collapse when liquidity dries up.

Current Concentration: As of late 2025, the top 1% of households control approximately 50% of all US household equity, illustrating a structural accretion of wealth that grifters often exploit by targeting the "gap" between classes.

Comments

  • WABACWABAC
    Nothing here I can argue about.:D
  • JD_co
    A timely post. Is the playing field level? Clearly not.
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Was it ever?
  • MarkMark
    "A timely post. Is the playing field level? "

    Think of the letter K
  • JD_co
    Mark said:

    "A timely post. Is the playing field level? "

    Think of the letter K

    As in K Street, from where the lobbyists control the world?

    (I am bad at puzzles).
  • yogibearbullyogibearbull
    K has become the description of this bifurcated economy. Upper-arm of K represent the uber-rich, the lower-arm the poor and middle class (most of us folks).
  • AnnaAnna
    Expanding - I see those on the upper part of the K have economies on a rising path over time. Those on the bottom have economies on a lowering path over time.
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