Books-and-Authors.net: Why did you write
The Losing Game?
T.E. Scott: I wrote The Losing
Game because I’m outraged by how many hard-working Americans –
like me and my friends, family and neighbors – have been
brainwashed and taken advantage-of by Wall Street for decades.
I’ve seen too many good people lose their homes, savings and
retirement plans because they invested their money in the stock
market. The Losing Game exposes just how flawed the system is
and how it has failed America.
The Losing Game is my way of reaching out and educating Americans
about the dangers of the stock market. The book is designed to
create a grassroots movement that stops people from investing in
Wall Street. If I can expose the stock market for what it really is
(a well-disguised, well-marketed casino), I believe we can avoid
Federal legislation -- which is an eventuality in this unregulated
industry that is destroying the very investors that keep it alive.
Books-and-Authors.net: What inspired you?
T.E. Scott: I’ve been working on
The Losing Game for about 5 years. The recent financial crisis is
the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back – and it pushed me
to get the book published now. It is my mission to help Americans
understand that they can NEVER WIN by investing in Wall Street, not
now, not ever. I realized now is the time to get my message to
Americans so they understand how we got into this mess, and how they
can get out of it.
Books-and-Authors.net: Briefly describe your book.
T.E. Scott: The Losing Game is an
exposé about the true nature of Wall Street: a well-disguised,
well-marketed casino. It shows readers how they have been
brainwashed by the financial industry into unwittingly taking huge
risks – over and over again with each and every trade. The book
describes exactly how brokers, the exchanges, the stock market and
commodity markets are in league to keep the money flowing in and
changing hands – without benefiting the investors who keep the
system alive. The Losing Game also tells readers how they have been
duped into investing their money in an inherently flawed system that
will NEVER let them win.
Books-and-Authors.net: What do you expect readers to learn from the book?
T.E. Scott: While The Losing Game
will shock most readers because it exposes lies that reach the
Federal level, it is designed to empower readers to take control of
their financial destiny, stop trusting a flawed system and take
responsibility for their investment decisions.
Readers will learn that they must protect themselves and invest in
themselves because no one else will. Not the brokers, not the
exchanges and certainly not the federal regulatory agencies as I
point out in the book.
Books-and-Authors.net: How does The Losing Game relate to today’s economic
situation?
T.E. Scott: The recent financial
crisis is the result of years of corruption, greed and lies coming
to a head. The Losing Game explains how we got into this mess and
why Wall Street can NEVER be “fixed.” The system is inherently
flawed, so a bailout won’t help – it’ll only add fuel to the fire.
Economic strategists are telling everyone that this is an ideal time
to “buy” because stock prices are so depressed – this is just one
more lie to keep a corrupt system alive – even when its destruction
is evident to everyone. The Losing Game is designed to expose the
systematic flaws of Wall Street and prove to Americans that there is
NEVER a good time to invest in the stock market.
Books-and-Authors.net: Who will benefit most from reading The Losing
Game?
T.E. Scott: Anyone currently
invested in the stock market. The Losing Game will explain why you
should get your money out while you can.
Anyone thinking about investing in
the stock market because analysts are saying now is the best time to
buy. The Losing Game will explain why this type of “advice” is just
part of the con to keep a corrupt system alive.
Anyone who lost money in the stock
market and thinks they must have made bad stock selections, had bad
luck or bad timing. The Losing Game will demonstrate that there is
NEVER a good time to invest in the market – and it’s NOT YOUR FAULT
that you lost money. The cards are ALWAYS stacked against you, you
can NEVER win; not now, not ever.
Books-and-Authors.net: What are your qualifications for giving investment
advice?
T.E. Scott: I am NOT a financial
advisor, investment strategist or economic analyst. I’m an average
American who learned the hard way that you can’t trust the system.
The Losing Game does NOT give investment advice; it explains IN
DETAIL why you should NOT invest in Wall Street.
Books-and-Authors.net: Why should anyone buy your book?
T.E. Scott: The Losing Game is one
of the few books that does NOT promote a “fad” investment strategy
or “get-rich-quick” scheme. It is a brutally honest look at a
corrupt system that has brainwashed, lied and duped America – and
let us believe it was our own fault for losing our money. Americans
have to understand just how corrupt the system is, and why they will
NEVER win by investing in Wall Street – not now, not ever.
Books-and-Authors.net: Your book makes several inflammatory claims, please
explain/defend them:
T.E. Scott: The stock and commodity markets are minus-sum
propositions for investors.
Minus-sum is one of the
primary factors that make Wall Street a “losing game” for
investors. The book describes this concept in great detail. In
short, minus-sum refers to all of the “hidden costs” that make
it impossible to get ahead in the stock market. These costs
include brokers’ fees and commissions as well as the taxes the
IRS collects whether you win or lose.
Wall Street is a well-disguised, well-marketed casino.
The Losing Game explores the
analogy of Wall Street as a casino in great detail. Basically
the book demonstrates that trading on Wall Street is nothing
more than playing a game of chance where the odds are in favor
of “the house.” Wall Street is based on convincing people to
invest (gamble) on unstable and unpredictable factors, but
expect a predictable result. The reality is, only 5% of
investors “win.” This means 95% of investors lose. Regardless,
“the house” (brokers, the exchanges, CEOs of publicly traded
companies and the IRS) ALWAYS wins. Brokers collect their fees
and commissions, CEOs have access to free capital and the IRS
will continue to collect taxes on every trade.
Wall Street is not vital to our economy.
While Wall Street and our
economy are without a doubt intrinsically linked, it is a
negative relationship. In fact, when Wall Street is doing well,
our economy is actually suffering. This sounds
counter-intuitive, but it is true. The Losing Game explains in
great detail how Wall Street is a parasite on our economy
because it pulls massive sums of productive capital out of
circulation and puts it in the pockets of publicly traded
companies the CEOs that run them.
Wall Street thrives on the financial losers, not the winners.
This point is a result of the
minus-sum theory that I describe in great detail in The Losing
Game. Basically, if brokers, the exchanges, the CEOs of publicly
traded companies and the IRS all collect fees, commission and
taxes on every trade, they really don’t care whether investors
win money or lose money. Typically, the more money an investor
loses, the more they will trade stocks to recoup their losses
(which generates more money for the system) – it is a losing
proposition no matter what investors do.
Federal regulatory agencies protect the markets from the
investors, NOT the investors from the market.
This may be one of hardest
facts to accept that I introduce in The Losing Game. Everyone
assumes that because there are Federal regulatory agencies, they
and their investments are protected. I dedicate a major portion
of The Losing Game to demonstrating that these government
entities are self-serving and operating in self-preservation
mode. They were formed to protect Wall Street, NOT protect the
investors.
Brokers are NOT looking out for their clients’ best interests.
The Losing Game very clearly
explains exactly how brokers make their money – primarily fees
and commission from every single transaction. Therefore, brokers
have more of an incentive to keep you “active” in the market –
trading – rather than winning. With this relationship dynamic,
it is easy to understand why your broker does NOT have your best
interests in mind – and why they call you “hot stock tips” so
often.
Wall Street “creates” motion to make more money.
Motion is a major theme that I
explore throughout The Losing Game. In short, it refers to the
concept that the system makes money by keeping money in motion –
everyone but the investors. Simply put, the brokers, the
exchanges, the CEOs of publicly traded companies and the IRS all
collect fees, commission and taxes on every trade. Therefore
they have an incentive to continually convince investors to put
more and more money into the market – and keep moving it around.
Whether investors make money or lose money is not the point,
only that they keep investing.
The commodity markets are antiquated and we should get rid of
them.
The Losing Game describes the
function and current role of America’s commodity markets. The
book shows that it just another game of chance based on no
predictable, mathematic or scientific formulas. It is a shell
game with a high cover charge and low chance of winning.
The commodity markets are NOT based on supply and demand.
The Losing Game challenges
many conventional beliefs that we have been conditioned to
accept as fact – one of Wall Street’s biggest myths is that the
commodity markets are based on supply and demand. The reality
is, the commodity market prices fluctuate with buyers’ and
sellers’ continually changing attitudes, hunches, emotions and
perceptions. The markets have NOTHING to do with actual supply
and demand.
Wall Street is NOT held accountable and is NOT required to
maintain records or report wins and loses of individual
investors.
No one wants to believe that
Wall Street operates with no controls and no accountability –
but it’s true. As The Losing Game will show, unlike any company
or bank, Wall Street is not required to keep and submit records
about its dealings. This means investors and our government
don’t really know how many investors there are, how many trades
we make every day, and most importantly, who’s winning and who’s
losing. Therefore, we truly are gambling with our life savings
when we “invest” it in the stock market.
Books-and-Authors.net: How is Wall Street like a casino?
T.E. Scott: Just to clarify, The
Losing Game demonstrates how Wall Street is not only “like” a
casino, it “is” a well-disguised, well-marketed casino. The main
difference between the two is, at least you can get a free steak
dinner and tickets to a show with your night of gambling at a
casino. On Wall Street, you trade your hard-earned cash for a piece
of paper with less than 5% chance of “winning” – and no
entertainment value. In the book, I list 9 commonalities between
Wall Street and casinos.
Books-and-Authors.net: Can Wall Street investors ever win?
T.E. Scott: Investors in the stock
market can NEVER win. The odds are stacked against individual
investors and the rules are all designed to protect the system (the
brokers and exchanges) – NOT the investors.
Books-and-Authors.net: How would you “clean up” Wall Street?
T.E. Scott: Wall Street CANNOT be
cleaned up. The system is inherently flawed, therefore a bailout or
“reform” will not fix century-old systematic problems and deception.
The only way Americans will stop losing money in the market is by
STOP investing. It’s as simple as that.
Books-and-Authors.net: How do you recommend Americans invest their
money?
T.E. Scott: People would be a lot
better off investing in themselves, rather than the stock market.
For instance, get a degree or certification in a field where you can
make money; take care of yourself and stay healthy so you can work
as long as you need to; and start your own business, or work for a
company where you can exercise some level of control in your own
future.
The only people who should even think about investing their money
are those that have no debt, live by a budget and can afford to
“gamble” with extra income - therefore they are not risking their
homes, families or retirement funds. For these people, the only
investments I recommend are those guaranteed by the Federal
government. But, these are typically long-term, low yield. There is
NO get-rich-quick investment strategy that actually works.
Books-and-Authors.net: How do you invest your money?
T.E. Scott: I have absolutely ZERO
money invested in the stock market. I have invested in myself and my
family. This means traditional values, hard work, long hours and
conservative risk. I carry absolutely NO debt, I live a frugal
lifestyle and I’ve taken control of my financial future by starting
my own business: Scott Pet Products.
Books-and-Authors.net: Where and when is your book available? How much does
it cost?
T.E. Scott: The book will retail
for $14.95 and be available in mid-November through traditional
online outlets, as well as at www.losinggame.com.
Books-and-Authors.net: What is your next project?
T.E. Scott: Right now I’m
completely focused on promoting The Losing Game. Publishing the book
is only step one – my primary objective is to create a grassroots
movement that gets people to stop investing in the stock market –
and start investing in themselves. The bailouts will NOT work. If we
can’t make changes at the grassroots level, we’ll be forced to enact
Federal legislation that takes control of the currently unregulated
financial markets. If everyone just stops giving their money to Wall
Street, this won’t be necessary.
I
wrote The Losing Game because I’m outraged by how many hard-working
Americans – like me and my friends, family and neighbors – have been
brainwashed and taken advantage-of by Wall Street for decades. I’ve seen
too many good people lose their homes, savings and retirement plans
because they invested their money in the stock market. The Losing Game
exposes just how flawed the system is and how it has failed America.
