MSN: Yep, the Markets Rigged & that's why you should buy into it!

[link to money.msn.com]

Our system is rigged. Unfair. Hopelessly neglectful of the little guy.

All true. But do you really have a better choice? Did you honestly think Washington was going to let it all fail -- and for good? After all, who's backing Fannie Mae (FNMA 0.00%, news) and Freddie Mac (FMCC 0.00%, news), which are almost single-handedly backing the resurgent mortgage market? Who pumped more than $2 trillion into suppressing interest rates to record lows?

This is the lesson we should all be taking as the Dow Jones Industrial average closes at yet another record. It's the lesson of how Wall Street traversed the Great Recession, after it survived (and thrived) past Washington-ameliorated crises such as the collapse of Long Term Capital Management and the Savings & Loan imbroglio. You could -- should -- shake your fist at all the bailouts; the record bank profits that are once again accruing to shareholders and executives; the asymmetry of rescuing now impossibly large institutions when so many individuals had to mail back the keys to their homes. But, in 20/20 hindsight, it was also smart to hedge that runaway cynicism with confidence that the system would take care of itself.

In other words, you should have bought in, literally.

So, let me get this straight, loan sharking is a good thing? Ok! I'm excited now. I just need a lobotomy and to join the Church of Satan and I can be on the commodities exchange.

This is actually a good essay. It reinforces what we, the GLP core group, already know, it's fucking rigged. Duh!

[By the way, my wife calls us GiLP Joes. Since we are diverse group of intelligent, multi-talented people who are theatrical and a little whacky.]