Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Fix Is In - Stock Market Manipulation

Rigged Stock Market


The unmasking of high-frequency computerized stock trading and the method by which a few are robbing the many on wall street.

I haven't read the new book "Flash Boys" by Michael Lewis, but seeing him featured on 60 Minutes talking about the book's subject matter added to my feelings of an unfairly fixed global economy.  And the scary thing about this financial fix is it took a small fish (Brad Katsuyama) to recognize the pattern and bring it to the attention of the big fishes.

It shouldn't surprise us that computers can be manipulated to cheat any system of transaction, but it ain't the computers shouldering the blame, its the crooked human element; the wolves of wall street.

In one part of the show they discuss the trickery of making things so complex that nobody would attempt to look deep into the mathematical algorithm routing the financial transactions.  So what's a few seconds here and a few pennies on the dollar there? By slowing down the high-speed transaction Brad was able to fix the Fix, or so it seems.

Watch 60 Minutes "Rigged" for a good dose of ol'skool scamming using modern technology.  I believe its just the tip of the iceberg of financial market manipulation.  Its what we little fishes don't know that sneaks up and bites us on the butt. Think Housing Market Crash.

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