<<Let's you and I sit down to a poker game. I get to have "special knowledge"...>>
That assumes several hands are played. And/or that the duration of the hands are short. I suppose it is if you trade on margin, or with money you can't really afford to "invest" (my time frame for investing is up to 10 years. not 9 months). This analogy may well apply to short term speculators, but I don't have a great deal of sympathy for them.
Yes, we have abstracted this discussion to infinity. Our interpretations of what constitutes a market are diametrically opposed, and there's probably no resolving that. To be completely honest, I'd rather make profits than be right.
What i DO take out of this exercise, though, that I hope benefits everyone regardless of which side they are in this "manipulation" debate, is that successful investing, as opposed to speculating, means:
(1) NO MARGIN
(2) BE PREPARED TO BE UNDER WATER FOR A WHILE. MAYBE A LONG WHILE.
(3) DON'T TAKE ANYTHING ANYONE ELSE HAS TO SAY WITHOUT SKEPTICISM
It's extremely mundane, but I think people need to see it once in a while. |
