SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)

[Two-timer]

blasher, hope you don't mind if I take a crack at that answer? The "money pump" consists of $billions in repos (i.e., short term loans provided at very low interest rates) that the Treasury makes available to Da Boyz (central banks) on a daily basis. Da Boyz use the repos--your tax dollars--to manipulate the stock market (not only in the U.S. but abroad) by controlling the futures on key indexes and, in many cases, pivotal stocks within those indexes. It's all done for their benefit and profit. To some, this may be too simplistic an explanation. But that's the essence of this con game we experience on a daily basis. Two