[widebody911]

Let's be honest - when it comes right down to it - isn't the Stock Market™ really just thinly-veiled institutionalized gambling? When you buy n shares of a stock, you're not really investing in the company; you're betting that eventually someone else will pay you more for those shares than you paid. It seems the only reason a company would have the incentive have their stock valued more highly is because the executives and the BOD possess a certain amount of stock, and so their personal fortunes are at stake.

Yeah, this seems cynical, but after you read enough about various scandals, automated/programmed trading and the other various shenanigans - legal or otherwise - it looks like it's all just a big game and it's not rigged in our favor.