Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

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ANVX has had some unusual trading activity over the last few months. Moving to NASDAQ has brrought exposure to stock price manipulation tactics, mainly abuse of naked short selling, and a financial media smear campaign totally at odds with what early investors know from researching the company. The SEC has been likened to the quintessential pot bellied sheriff in the wild west who locks up the town drunk while gangs of outlaws rampage unabated. Pre-revenue development companies like Anavex are going to continue to be prey to market shenanigans until improvement comes down from the top. The upcoming election gives ordinary investors an oppurtunity to do something about the problem. Many people are wary of a "nanny state". But one place that has no nanny and could use one is the stock market. Bullies are allowed to run rampant and retail investors suffer the results. It's hard enough to make a good risk assessment without the wildcard of nefarious antics by third parties. Private hedge funds are unregulated and some obviously take advantage. In this regard, candidates need to be evaluated based on how beholden they are to big money financial interests and whether they are even aware that there is a problem. If you think everything that goee on in the stock market is on the level, and intend to vote for a candidate based on their gender or hair style, then you will probably find the following uninteresting. Otherwise, retail investors may want to consider a political solution to an endemic deterioration of trader ethics that is getting worse every year.

How is it that things that go on in the market can get so out of hand? Washington tends to handle Wall Street with kid gloves. But I doubt it would be possible to find or at least prove any instance of collusion. It is more a matter of not biting the hand that feeds you. ( Sorry about the mixed metaphors) :)

At some point, the Treasury Department has come to be largely staffed from Wall Street. For example, the previous Treasury Secretary under Bush, who presided over the infamous $2 trillion or so bank bailouts was CEO of Goldman Sachs (a big bank). The bailout had to be done because we were all about to lose our money and possibly starve after shipping halted, and anything else that depended on credit. Which is just about everything because ours and, not to mention, the workd economy, is based on it.

Although a lot of the bailout got distributed in the form of million dollar bonuses to the same sorts who's screwups caused the crisis, it has since been repaid and all is forgiven. Well, there's a teensy bit more regulation. It must have been hard to find somebody, but the present Treasury Secretary only has a slight affiliation with Wall Street. Goldman Sachs even got their hand slapped with a $20 million dollar fine, after getting caught abusing naked short selling. It's been likened to a parking ticket since billions are extracted from the markets through NSS, but, still, most people try to avoid getting parking tickets, The event may even deter widespread abuse a bit.

Now there is candidate tough talk of "breaking up the big banks". Actually, the big banks are in the position of Brer Rabbit, in effect, "Please don't throw me in that briar patch." By seperating the investment banking (hedge fund type operations) from the commercial banking wing, they can avoid regulation on where the most billions are to be made.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-big-banks-will-break-themselves-up-before-bernie-sanders-ever-gets-to-it-190710540.html#

The government is beholden to the banking system because that is where it gets its money. Taxes just pay the interest and don't even cover that, by the amount of the deficit, which gets rolled into the national debt after legislators perpetually vote to raise the debt ceiling (aka raise the credit card limit). Spending bills get magically tranformed into government bonds by the Federal Reserve, a special bank with a 1913 mandate, composed of, well, banks, which Wall Street then auctions off to, mostly, foreign powers like China. Belgium, a tiny European country, has also been known to buy a disproportionally huge amount of US Treasury bonds from time to time, suspected by pesky conspiracy theorists of being used as a proxy to support bond prices. But, really, we don't want Treasury bond prices to ever collapse, so, best to keep lookung the other way. :)

How the Federal Reserve Creates Money

http://www.mindcontagion.org/fed/createmoney.html

Well, what about the candidates.

" the biggest liability faced by Democrat Hillary Clinton may be her coziness with Wall Street, manifest in copious campaign donations from financial firms, not to mention several million dollars in fees she earned for speeches given to bank employees."

"Clinton has said the donations have not influenced her decisions "

( Well, why should they? They obviously like everything she has been doing all along. :) )

She has counter attacked that Sanders got a big $200k donation once in his senate campaign. Well, yeah, through the DNC, which he could hardly refuse, from the "Friends of Hillary Clinton" pac no less. That's so she can say now, see, nothing wrong with big contributions, nothing to see here, you can all go home now...

Clinton’s Exaggerated Wall Street Claim
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/clintons-exaggerated-wall-street-claim/

Trump is a strange sort who only seems to be disliked more by his fellow republicans in the RNC, who have been trying unsuccessfully to get rid of him, than by Democrats. While he doesn't seem all that cozy with Wall Street (big banks et al), critics suggest that he is a billionaire due to making judicious use of bankruptsy protection in his previously failed endeavors. Basically that means a lot of investors parted with their money and got stiffed. So, in regard to Wall Street hucksters, not in cahoots with them insomuch as somewhat is them, in a sense. Ah yes, what a guy.

Sanders seems to be the only POTUS candidate that might do some good. For example, his proposed 0.5% tax on each stock trade would curtail HFT NSS while only being a minor consideration for normal stock traders.