I say you're underselling my position entirely with that last sentence, in a way that borders on uncharitable. Boiling down today's extreme escalation in corruption (by my measure) into just garden-variety "corruption" is dishonest (by my measure). And I never claimed to refuse to invest in markets, nor recommended such for others, in fact I make it pretty damn clear how I think most folks are best served BY specific investment choices. But nonetheless your phrasing is at least broadly in line with the spirit of my points, yes.

I'm claiming there are at least 2 classes of entity in the market, you and I are in the "get fucked every which way" class. Doesn't mean there isn't money to be made in a broad sense, even for that class, and it seems like we agree on that pretty solidly. We disagree from there, kind of increasingly so, the further we go from those broad points, and it doesn't sound like we are going to get any closer to one another's POV by further discussion.

[Edit: to respond specifically about your "why not buy knee pads and condoms" - because of the nature of opportunity cost, and the nature of finding one's own dignity worth preserving, as I talked about in my "encouraging abusive loops" note above. You don't HAVE to be up in there, trousers loosened, defenses applied, ready to go. Ya could just do other things with your money.

Again, my own is where my mouth is - I largely exited US stock positions somewhat recently due to a timely combination of factors, some old and some new, overlapping with the ones I'm discussing here. The lovely thing is - I'm no longer tethered to this gross beast that promises and delivers ruin, for everyone slightly below my rung on this idiot ladder (with the delivered ruin getting more inescapable and more omnipresent, the farther one descends those rungs...).

And of course ya never addressed the "how can everyone enjoy the fruits of capitalism?" parts, and how that idea can't really hold up to scrutiny.]