www.moneytec.com/forums/f33/plunge-protection-team-1115 -
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Published on: 10/21/2004
Last Visited: 1/19/2008
I believe Mr. Mauldin has bought into the warped vision of CNBC's Art Cashin, and in so doing has come to a very wrong conclusion about the reality of the PPT.
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The problem, however, with relying on the view of Art Cashin to determine the validity of the PPT's existence is that you are asking a CNBC employee about the credibility of Wall Street as an institution.CNBC is a total captive of Wall Street.It could no more bite the hand that feeds it, than it could climb to the moon on a rope of sand.While CNBC employees are willing to expose specific people and corporations for illegalities, they simply cannot speak ill of Wall Street itself as an institution; it is psychologically impossible for them to do so.When asking Cashin about the PPT, you are asking him if the business he revels in every day is being manipulated.In other words, you are asking him if what he does for his living is really on the up and up.Cashin is an insightful, engaging analyst of the NYSE.He's smart as a whip.And I'm sure he's scrupulously honest.But he's also human, and humans are just not able to OBJECTIVELY comment on the fact that their life's work might not be exactly kosher.
In other words, asking a CNBC employee about the existence of the PPT is like asking an IRS agent about the existence of Constitutional violations in their operation -- you're not going to get an objective answer.How possibly could Cashin face up to the fact that his daily analyses to millions of viewers on TV are a bit on the phony side?The answer is that he can't.He will have to partake in some artful sophistry.He will have to deny that something like the PPT could exist.His refusal to believe, of course, must be backed up with some reasons.But humans are very clever; they can always come up with reasons to believe what they want to believe.The Mauldin ArgumentAfter consulting with Cashin, Mauldin has concluded beyond all doubt that the market could not be manipulated.
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After a lengthy quote from Cashin in his weekly letter of April 4, 2003, Mauldin then launches into his opinion that the market is far too big to manipulate, that the amounts of money required would be too huge, and the losses incurred too staggering.
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While Art Cashin and CNBC's crew of blow-dried script readers will naturally disagree with Ackerman, all savvy traders are in complete agreement with his view.
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This brings us to a final fallacious point made by Mauldin and Cashin.
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"If my horse doesn't win," says Cashin, "the race was fixed -- the horse was doped.
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No, Mr. Cashin; such illogic will not fly.The PPT cannot be ushered out of existence through specious argumentation.