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Some readers may find it annoying seeing me continually characterizing the majority of market participants as “lemmings”. I make no apologies. As the old one-liner goes, “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…”

Contrary to popular mythology, lemmings do not commit “mass suicide” (through a herd simply running off the nearest cliff) – but then again neither do market participants. Rather, both groups are subject to the overwhelming compulsion to “migrate”.

In the case of the lemmings, this compulsion is entirely biological in origin. They receive some cue or stimulus that they are close to exhausting the local food supply and then they scurry-off en masse toward the proverbial “greener pastures”. It is on these frantic “marches” that much/most of the lemming population self-destructs.

In the case of market participants, they are entirely lacking in any instinctive/biological guidance. Rather these “lemmings” charge off in a new direction based entirely on the latest pronouncements from “market experts” and media talking heads. In other words they are basing their decisions on blind faith. There can be no other way to characterize the actions of a “herd” which insists on allowing itself to be led around by a group of people who spend all of one day giving “advice” – and then spend all the next day explaining why they are so “surprised” that their advice went so badly wrong.

And so it is again today. We have market participants engaging in  another “lemming charge” – this time driving markets higher – and all in response to the latest 24-hour band-aid put forth by the bankrupt bankers, and the even more intellectually-bankrupt politicians standing behind them.

Nothing has changed. The “world” is not 2% better off than it was yesterday simply because the Federal Reserve has made its own worthless paper “cheaper” for other banks. While it could always be argued that this lemming-charge was merely intended to offset the (irrational) charge in the opposite direction which preceded it, this doesn’t change the nature of the conduct we are witnessing.

There are only one group of people who are instantly ready to commit their funds to a “new idea”, with nothing but the flimsiest of pretexts to guide them. They are called “gamblers”. Note that it makes little difference conceptually if I substitute the word “gambler” for “lemming” in my analysis. Both groups (as an entire class) are inherently self-destructive.

In the case of the lemmings, their excuse is that they are mindless rodents. Presumably market participants (i.e. gamblers) lack that excuse. With such a large percentage of the (for lack of a better term) “investment community” needing to be protected from themselves, the obvious starting point is the complete abolition of all automated trading algorithms.

While we listen to the media propagandists spout their inane “reasons” for the daily lemming-charges (first in one direction and then in the opposite one), we know that the real catalyst for these insane flip-flops in markets are the totally manipulative trading programs. These market abominations control traders with the same “iron grip” over them as the lemming biology which causes those rodents to go on their death-marches.

Markets were intended/justified as places of investment and commerce and not as rigged casinos for the most psychopathic group of gamblers in the history of humanity. What happened today when media drones gave the “all clear” signal for market-lemmings?

They placed a lot of new bets. Indeed, just one branch of the banksters’ reckless gambling – the derivatives market – is a mountain of (bad) bets more than 20 times as large as the entire global economy.

The gamblers have run amok. If we had any “regulation” of our markets, such out-of-control gambling would have already been reined in. The fact that this has not occurred is proof of the complete absence of such regulation. Proof of the failure of this system (or rather the latest example of such proof) is the collapse-and-looting of MF Global.

Today’s “don’t worry, be happy” drum-beat from the media propaganda-machine is guaranteed to be replaced by more end-of-the-world fear-mongering – if not tomorrow then the day after. Those who continue to allow their financial decisions to be dictated by the words/actions of idiots and criminals have no one to blame but themselves when they suffer the inevitable fate of lemmings.

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written by Jeff Nielson, December 01, 2011

What I see as the biggest problem with all this is the perception by the wider population that these kind of sites are just breeding grounds for conspiracy theoriests.

Too many people have too much blind faith in mainstream media, sites like these are still seen as the domain of tinfoil hat wearing, bunker building, doomsayers.

Dingo, on our site we are totally cognizant of these attitudes AND the constant brainwashing which creates them. This is why I have made two conscious decisions in terms of content.

On the one hand, I am continually providing examples and analysis of "disinformation" (especially on our forum), since this is the particular branch of propaganda being used to discredit so-called "conspiracy sites" the most.

Secondly, we steer clear of many of those sites ourselves. In particular, any site which engages in spreading RUMORS, or which is regularly claiming to have obtained information from "secret sources" is totally shunned on this site.

We do not want to make OURSELVES "patsies" for the media propaganda machine...

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written by Dingo, December 01, 2011

What I see as the biggest problem with all this is the perception by the wider population that these kind of sites are just breeding grounds for conspiracy theoriests.

Too many people have too much blind faith in mainstream media, sites like these are still seen as the domain of tinfoil hat wearing, bunker building, doomsayers.

I know this from my own experiences with otherwise intelligent people.

I'm awake now, I can see through the bullshit that these people offer up.

How do we wake up the rest of the World when most are just too busy with their own lives to care?

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real Peace (or truth) Dalai Lama

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written by Null, November 30, 2011

We are getting in to options trading now. I have subscribed to a good commentator I have been following for a while and I like his take on things. He has a 4 out of 5 track record.

Basically, we put in stop losses at 20% for each trade to limit the losses on the bad calls he makes, and then the other 4 out of 5 go up say 30% each, leaving a nice profit -- historically about 10% every 2 weeks.

Our issue is that we have debt that needs to be payed off, and I do not want to sell any bullion. We do not know how long the system is going to last (who knows, it could be over a year) so we need dollars in the meantime.

Yesterday he put out a buy recommendation for some FXI calls but our account isn't set up yet so we couldn't make the trade and then bam, this morning they were up like 130%! Ugh.

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written by Jeff Nielson, November 30, 2011

TusconJJ, if the markets weren't so totally rigged then YES, there would be WONDERFUL profit-making opportunities to "zig" when the lemmings "zag".

However, with our totally MANIPULATED markets it becomes PERILOUS to attempt to take advantage of what appear to be "golden" short-term opportunities. The problem is that (as we have seen in recent years) the banksters are capable of SUSTAINING some of their manipulations for MONTHS at a time.

That is more than enough time to bankrupt most retail investors trying to "out-think" the market. Remember the old expression which was created BEFORE our markets became completely rigged:

"The market can stay 'irrational' longer than you or I can remain solvent."

I continue to advocate LONG-TERM thinking/investing for readers, as no manipulation can be sustained over the LONG TERM.

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written by Tucson JJ, November 30, 2011

Don't sugar coat it, Jeff, tell us how ya really feel!!

One could make a few bucks on the "lemming" trade, no? A strong TZA buy maybe, after one of these big blasts up?

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