Individual stocks favor the insiders. In 1930s insider trading was legal and people still invested in stocks. Now it is forbidden and individual investor is left with the illusion that the playing ground is fair. Let me break the news for you: It is not. Insiders do have the edge and most of them do not get caught. 

Even at macro level, when we think about the global forces effecting the overall market direction, the game is rigged. Savvy traders like Goldman Sachs have their buddies within the government and other decision making bodies. They decide who is going to get bailed out when and those who are connected have first knowledge about what is going on. This is how almost everyday they make money in their trading activities.

But ultimately the social mood directs the markets, economy, politics and the culture. When pessimism as seen in these forums takes hold, markets decline first, and the economy suffers later.

http://www.tradingstocks.net/html/socionomics.html

There is not much a president can do to fix the economy. They can only try to talk it up to improve social mood. Bernanke prints money and bails out his masters. But the coming decline is a major one only seen once in 400 years or so. 

Individual investor is constantly fed propaganda by the mainstream media. Media tries to explain every market move based on news and events. They always find a reason to explain why stocks go down or go up. They try to rationalize it. But research shows news does not drive the stock market:

http://www.tradingstocks.net/html/news_does_not_move_stocks.html

Everyday there are good news and there are bad news. Media chooses the headline based on how the stock market reacts. Earnings does not drive the stocks. Good earnings appear at the top. Earnings decline AFTER the market declines:

http://www.tradingstocks.net/html/earnings_does_not_drive_stocks.html

Thus, individual investor following the news and events is driving looking at the rearview mirror. This is why average Joe will always loose money in the markets. Only the few makes money. The crowd has to loose by definition because markets are a zero sum game. Only the few sells at the top; that is what makes it a top. Only the few buys at the bottom and that is why it is a bottom.

Social mood drives the markets. A bull market is the result of optimistic social mood. A bear market comes when the social mood declines. Our economic problems are not about what we are doing today. It is about what we have already done. Economy is not a machine that you can oil and grease and fine tune to run at a certain pace. Due to earlier optimism, entire population has already borrowed all they can for decades. Money supply was inflated with borrowed money. Prices and salaries were inflated with borrowed money. 

It is now pay back time. Stay out of the rigged game. Keep your dollars safe. Debt is the problem and we have more of it now. There will be demand for US dollars. Do not risk it in the markets.