Reply #152: The stock market is the biggest con game ever.

[rhett o rick]

The stock market has nothing to do with investing in companies. Once the companies initially sell the stock all subsequent sales are between gamblers. The market is made up of bubbles and bubbles within bubbles. IMO most of these bubbles are manipulated to allow those that do the manipulation to reap the benefits. If you happen to get in at the start of a bubble and get out near the end, you can win big. You also might win the lotto. But most of us average stock market gamblers dont get the privilege of the insider info and cant catch the bubbles right. I am currently helping with the finances of a relative that recently passed away. She had been investing regularly for over 30 years only to see most of her "investment" evaporate in 2008, when she needed it the most. Another family member, a widow, lost a lot of her savings because of an unscrupulous stock broker. He did nothing illegal because he got her to approve his actions but he churned away a lot of her money.