Manipulation is defined by various legal authorities as relates to market activity as illegal trading or trying to gain an unfair advantage in the market through fradulent trading practices etc.The appearence of fair play must be held out by authorities who cannot simply state that no matter what they have attempted to do markets remain manipulated and are grossly slanted against any individual trader.
One of the tools of a market manipulator is Propaganda. Propaganda can range from facts which are embellished by placing them out of context, such as many P/E ratios are, to Deliberate lies told to foward a planned deception on a broad basis.
Merrill Lynch was caught with their pants down on the subject when e-mails from their "analysts" flatly stated that recommendations they made were not true, that in fact the recommendations were based only for the purpose of obtaining other business.
In such a case the entire facade of stock analyst was exposed to show what really existed and the false propaganda temporarily was shattered. Like the wizard of Oz, regulators and the Investment Banks were quick to pull the curtain back lest the whole system collapse from the weight of truth.
When manipulation is obviously occuring it would be an interesting study to see how far the manipulation goes and the extent of the facade.
The emerald city may exist, but the grand and mighty Oz may be just a projection and without the illusion getting in the way it may be easier to "get home".
Wouldn't it be foolish to believe that the system which allowed World Com to exist and Enron and the rest of the public scandals of the last several years did not in some way work to prop up such fraud and misbehavior?
How do the broadly accepted standards for investing stack up against the manipulation which is occuring? Does Technical analysis work broadly as if it were a scientific subject?
Does Fundamental Analysis give a false sense of comfort to the masses who have their life savings or pension funds tied up in investments?
If manipulation is built into the system can an individual trader learn to benefit from it or consistently know the truth of the situation?
What tools exist for a trader that might allow him to flourish in the face of any widescale or systemic fraud?
The first step in answering most questions is to ask them.
