[Editor’s note: the following article first appeared on the website Bullion Bulls Canada on August 17.]
As U.S. equity markets have mounted a huge, phony “rally” based on nothing but hot air from the propaganda-machine and Plunge Protection Team manipulation, one fact has seemed to defy explanation to myself and many other commentators. How have these Manipulators been able to push U.S. markets this far above any rational valuations?
With another report out today showing that “insider selling” has continued to accelerate throughout this entire “rally”, the people who know these companies the best are demonstrating in the clearest possible terms how grossly inflated U.S. equity valuations have become.
Meanwhile, the hard data on the U.S. economy (i.e. numbers which can't be falsified) show that the economy continues to plummet downward. Thus, the “big picture” confirms the signal which insider-selling has sent to markets.
I, and many other commentators have made continual, disparaging references to “market sheep”, who have apparently allowed themselves to be herded and directed effortlessly by the PPT. Yet, at the same time, we were all flabbergasted that these huge equity markets could be so completely dominated by this “herd mentality”.
What finally struck me over the weekend is that the answer has been sitting right in front of my nose all this time. I have referred on many occasions to Chris Martenson's stunning analysis/presentation which he has titled the “Crash Course”. Among the nuggets of valuable data was a breakdown on the disgusting wealth-distribution numbers for the U.S. population.
With 80% of the U.S. population holding only a minute 15% of total wealth, this means that just 20% of the U.S. population holds 85% of all wealth. However, the even more shocking numbers are the obscene pools of wealth held by the wealthiest 1% of U.S. society. This microscopic segment of U.S. society holds 35% of all wealth, and even more stunningly, they hold 55% of all stock.
It was when I finally focused on that last figure that all became clear. While U.S. equity markets may be huge in terms of the nominal dollar values involved, what Martenson's demographic data illustrates is that controlling and manipulating U.S. markets only requires controlling the actions of a relatively tiny group of investors.
The job of the Plunge Protection Team gets easier still when we consider who manages the vast majority of the wealth for the U.S.'s filthy-rich: Wall Street. For people with these obscene sums of money, it is considered totally beneath them to manage their own money – this is something that the very rich pay others to do for them. As a matter of status alone, these people feel compelled to put their money in the hands of the Wall Street crime syndicate, since for this extremely insulated cross-section of U.S. society, they have still not lost their stature.
Thus, to manipulate U.S. equity markets, not only are the number of sheep who need to be “herded” far fewer than most of us would ever imagine, but the vast majority of their wealth is sitting in the hands of the same people who direct the actions of the PPT. Suddenly, manipulation of U.S. markets becomes a stunningly easy proposition.
With the Wall Street crime syndicate directly controlling more than half of all U.S. equities, in essence, the banksters have “enlisted” the ultra-wealthy as part of the Plunge Protection Team – using their money to do most of the “heavy-lifting” in U.S. equity markets.
Pushing markets completely against the direction of economic fundamentals is extremely difficult when you only control a small percentage of the total equity of the listed companies. However, manipulating markets when you directly control a majority of all equities is so easy that even Wall Street banksters can accomplish this without screwing-up.
What makes it possible to continue this scam, even as more and more pieces of data emerge which refute any possibility of a “U.S. economic recovery” is that the filthy-rich are totally insulated from this Greater Depression. People with $10's of millions, or $100's of millions or billions of dollars in wealth are totally unaffected by even the most extreme collapse of an economy.
As a result, these are the easiest people in society to dupe into believing that “things are getting better” since they have no real-life, database of experience which allows them to comprehend the actual state of the economy.
Clearly I and many other people have been giving the Plunge Protection Team far too much credit for their ability to fabricate this enormous market “rally”. When the Manipulators control a majority of all U.S. equities, and when the owners of these equities will believe anything they are told it should be no surprise to anyone that they can instantaneously reverse the direction of U.S. markets in all but the most-extreme sell-offs.
When we factor-in how completely detached these markets are from reality, it illustrates how totally ludicrous it is to cite the “rally” in U.S. markets as “evidence” that the U.S. is emerging from its economic collapse. The valuations in U.S. markets are just as false and contrived as the numerical fabrications which the U.S. government calls “economic statistics”.
As a final note, with “insiders” (i.e. Wall Street insiders) selling stock at an accelerating pace all through this “rally”, the Wall Street crime syndicate has shown it has no compunction about squandering the wealth of their ultra-rich clients by bidding up stocks to fantasy valuations to allow the banksters to rescue their own vast, stock holdings.
Just as they essentially destroyed their own sector during the reckless greed of their crime-spree, they are now destroying their best and most loyal clients – again, totally in the name of short-sighted greed. Over the long-term, greed is generally a self-destructive emotion. Thus, it should surprise no one that the insanely excessive greed of Wall Street banksters will ultimately result in their own self-annihilation.
This article was written by a member of the Stockhouse community.
To read more work by Jeff Nielson, visit Bullion Bulls Canada.
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