Stocks Fall; Firstrade Securites Ill-Advised as Brokerage

Just after noon, stocks did an about-face and headed into negative territory, with losses accelerating into the close.

There was no real catalyst for the event, except for the possible realization that stocks have been trading at nose-bleed levels for months, the entire global financial condition is shaky at best and a complete joke of fiat money and debt piled on top of debt which will never be repaid.

There's a reason individual investors have fled from the stok market in droves over the past few years. In fact, there are multiple reasons, starting with the crash of 2008, which engendered problems that still have not been resolved. There's the flash crash, HFTs front-running every market order, other insider unscrupulous trading activity, the fact that no financial executive has even been indicted for crimes and probably never will be.

It is the same song and dance sen here nearly daily over the past five years and it's gotten to the point at which it is almost not worth the time to publish. There's a 101-point loss on the Dow today. There will be a 150-point gain tomorrow.

None of it makes any sense until one realizes that the game is rigged and completely out of control. The scrounging and skimming of other people's money is not going to end until regular people stand up and take action. Not demand action from their elected officials, because they're part of the problem, but take matters into one's own hands, like they have in Iceland, soon to come in Greece and shortly thereafter in Spain and Italy.

The US will get around to it last of all, if ever, because the living is good here in the states, no matter how bad the economy gets. There's always another way. The stock market is a road to nowhere for you, your money and your life.

Trading in the current climate is extremely risky and likely to end in disaster for anyone, even those with intimate knowledge of the depth of the crisis, the inner despair of Wall Street and the moaning from Main Street. Better to buy land, gold, silver, live off land you own (or, considering the state of real estate taxes, rent from the government) and make your own way as best as possible.

Dow 13,457.55, -101.37 (0.75%)
Nasdaq 3,117.73, -43.05 (1.36%)
S&P 500 1,441.59, -15.30 (1.05%)
NYSE Composite 8,274.77 -81.79(0.98%)
NYSE Volume 3,677,164,500
Nasdaq Volume 1,979,931,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1507-4082
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 326-35
WTI crude oil: 91.37, -0.56
Gold: 1,766.40, +1.80
Silver: 33.95, -0.04