MARKET MANIPULATION alive & well

I know this may not seem like news, but with the low volume of trading activity and collusion among brokers, mutual funds, hedge funds and specialists at the NYSE, it seems fairly obvious that all interested parties are manipulating stock price action, probably by using market basket ETF's, in order to lock in performance #'s and their annual bonuses. The investing public has no clue and is just fine seeing the market stay above 10,000 so they can feel better about there holiday shopping budget.

What is very confusing and concerning is why the so called "smart" market players are not reacting to things that they normally would react to, including but not limited to the following >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

OIL @ $34/brl and OPEC contemplating cuts in production in feb. Natural gas $6.50/btu and shortages foreseen. metals including silver, platinum, nickle, copper, paladium, and gold all at multi year highs. The US$ continuing to press out new lows vs. Euro, Pound, Swiss franc, and Yen. Hints of deflation at the consumer level, first time in 21 years that core consumer prices dropped. Huge deficits in budget and trade that are not being addressed in any meaningful way.

Still no major public outrage about the corruption and fraud at the largest mutual funds or the NYSE, as the regulators seemingly stay out in front with comments about how they will fix what was wrong and how it won't happen again...even as it continues to happen NOW!

It seems to me that way too many interested parties are on the same side of a very unbalanced see-saw, all hoping that the important issues i just mentioned get overlooked until they get back from holiday vacations. I guess we will have to see if there will be an exciting finish to this years stellar market performance or if we can just glide in for a perfect landing. Hopefully, all the interested parties will be able to enjoy the holidays without having to come back to their offices early to deal with something that goes horribly wrong with the perfect landing scenario.

Enjoy the holidays and have a happy, healthy, and grateful New Year!