Get out of the Market

The fundamentals of the Stock Market are gone and ethics are out of the window - the only way for the average investor to make money in the stock market is by buying dividend stocks. When the Stock Exchange was formed it created as a way for business to raise capital and allow you to share the risk along with the reward. In addition to an appreciation of the stock price there was the concept of a dividend - the reason was obvious - with a dividend you would continue to own the stock instead of selling and getting out as soon as you made your money and thereby not deflate the stock.

However; the Tech Bubble changed that philosophy; dividends became a thing of the past and that horse was out of the barn and not going back. The problem is you as investors let it happen - we were told that the company could make better use of the money than we could and grow profits even more and raise the stock price even higher and you believed them.

What happened: every got greedy and every one got rich except for you. Instead of that money pouring back into R&D salaries skyrocketed and executive pay compensation went through the roof.  Wall Street Firms became the companies biggest lobbyist and you the small investor got screwed. Much like what has happened to politics over the last 150 years has happened in Wall Street.  In politics business learned long ago that they could get better deals by funding certain candidates - and unfortunately the well funded candidates almost always win because they can sway the most voters with their airtime. Then our right to vote became watered down much like our right in the stock market.

Today a few hundred or even few thousand investors can make a blip in the market - but a single hedge fund or bank playing with millions of people money can and do manipulate stocks which is why the market has been in a constant sway up and down over the last 5 years. And while most of you have lost a significant portion of your retirement it has been banner years for the investing arms of all of the banks. They have been leveraging the ups and downs with options and can buy and sell options and make hundreds of millions each week on a few dollar swings.