A tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”

While 99 percent of the population is engaged in this:

About 36% of all Web traffic is considered fake, the product of computers hijacked by viruses and programmed to visit sites, according to estimates cited recently by the Interactive Advertising Bureau trade group.

–   Wall Street Journal, “The Secret About Online Ad Traffic: One-Third Is Bogus”, March 23, 2014

In other words: More than one-third of all Web traffic is generated by bots and zombies to create ad click-throughs and fake popularity.

More than 70 % of all global email is SPAM.

More than 70 % of all tweets are ignored (according to wired magazine)

Less than 17 % of all facebook pages are viewed even by those who have labeled themselves as "Fans."  (according to allfacebook blog)



Meanwhile in Wall Street:

Over the last decade, institutional management of equity portfolios has increased from 54% to 81%. ...

Institutional buys and sells accounted for 47% of trading volume between 2001 and 2006, but only 29% of trading volume since 2008. ...

One of the most significant results of the tension between fewer market participants and larger parent order sizes is that the share of ‘real’ trading volume has declined by around 40% in the last five years.

–   Morgan Stanley QDS, “Real Trading Volume”, Charles Crow and Simon Emrich, April 11, 2012

In other words:  70% of the trading activity in markets today is high speed trading:  machines talking to other machines, shifting shares around for “liquidity provision” or millisecond arbitrage opportunities.'

The 30 percent of "real trading/investing" is done by only 52 percent of all US adults - including stocks owned in their IRA's.  As US Stock ownerhip stays at a record low according to Gallup.

Of that the top 10 percent of the Wealthiest Americans own 90 percent of all stocks and bonds.

Sure, these are a few random factoids.  But every picture is composed of a few random strokes of paint.  What do these say?  They tell me that while 99 percent of Americans are engaged in meaningless online blather, the other 1 percent is busy sucking every last cent out of the US economy.