Why T.E. Scott Believes Wall Street is The Losing Game

Joining us today is T.E. Scott, co-author of The Losing Game: Why You Can´t Beat Wall Street. Scott founded and spent twenty-five years as CEO of Scott Pet Products. Prior to that, Scott had worked for Eastern Airlines for thirty-two years. We´re going to talk to him today about his new book and the reason he is committed to exposing the true nature of Wall Street.

Welcome Mr. Scott. It´s an honor to have you with us. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Thank you for the opportunity. I´m a retired entrepreneur and business owner with 30 years of labor experience and 25 years owning a pet-supply manufacturing company which employs 150+ employees. I retired several years ago and have been devoting my time to the research and concepts of The Losing Game.

What is it that drove you to begin evaluating Wall Street and how it operates?

I´ve had a fascination with Wall Street for the past 25 years, both through personal experience and the negative effect it had on those around me in my community. The more I studied the markets and how they operated, the more dangerous I realized it was to a vast majority of American people.

When and why did you decide to write The Losing Game?

I kept seeing the little-guys get manipulated by the brilliant marketing by Wall Street, and I experienced first-hand how large publicly traded companies bully around private companies. I thought it was time for someone to expose the true nature of Wall Street. I decided about five years ago to write a book detailing how investing in Wall Street is a minus-sum game, and how Wall Street has marketed themselves as a safe risk for your retirement, as opposed to a rigged casino, which I believe without a doubt it is.

Since I´m not a writer by nature, and since Wall Street is such a complex system by their design, it took a while to get a coherent and easy-to-read version ready to print. With the help of Stephen Edds, who is a great writer and knew how to translate my vision onto the page, we were able to get the book published and released.

Can you tell us a little about your book?

The book takes an easy-to read approach to exposing how Wall Street operates. I like to think it´s a book about Wall Street for people who hate reading books about Wall Street. The Losing Game will change the way you look at Wall Street, especially in these troubled times. I encourage people to check out www.thelosinggame.com and our Amazon page for more details about the book.

Why do you believe that investing in the Stock Market is such a rip-off?

Well, we go into great detail in The Losing Game to map out why, but a few of primary reasons are:

1) At best, investing and trading are "zero-sum gains," which means that every dollar you make comes from one or more investors. So, once you add in fees, commissions and other added costs, you will likely lose money in the deal. (Its´ important to note that if you own stock, that money is lost until you sell to another investor, so you are in a minus-sum game until you exit the market.)

2) People as a whole know that if you gamble consistently, you ultimately will lose money. Very, very few people make money long-term gambling. As we discuss in the book, we make a strong connection between investing in Wall Street and gambling. So, ultimately, when you are betting money trying to predict an unpredictable, (stock prices) you are more likely to lose.

3) Most importantly, Wall Street scandals go back 100 years, there are still no reporting systems in place to track investors´ money, and there is no accountability or transparency required. Why trust a system that has repeatedly violated that trust?

What role does Congress play in keeping "the losing game" going?

Again, this is something we go into detail to describe in the book, but there are two things readers need to consider when looking at the roles of Congress and the media:

When it comes to the regulatory commissions, we describe in detail in The Losing Game how regulators protect Wall Street from investors, not investors from Wall Street. As for Congress, when it comes to their dealings with Wall Street, there are no red states or blue states, it´s all about GREEN!

At the end of January, President Obama branded Wall Street bankers as "shameful" for giving themselves bonuses when the economy is deteriorating and the government is stepping in to bailout major financial institutions. In response, Jim Cramer, host of CNBC´s "Mad Money" compared President Obama to communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Well, it proves how out of touch Wall Street executives are with mainstream America. Let me be clear, I´m certainly pro-capitalism and pro-business, but the field has become increasingly uneven over the years. More importantly, the complete lack of accountability and transparency that exist in the financial services industry is the real scandal that is not being addressed.

As for Jim Cramer, Jon Stewart put it to him the best on "The Daily Show," when he told Cramer; "This is not a game!" Cramer is an entertainer, and should be viewed only as such.

The Losing Game also discusses the role of the media in helping Wall Street "fleece millions of Americans". Just how big is their role and is there anything the average American can do to dim the effects of the media on how they approach investing?

Wall Street has used the media as part of their overall marketing plan to condition the public to believe investing in a system with no accountability and transparency is "safe." The media is complicit because their jobs are directly tied into the success of Wall Street, and the success of their media (TV, magazine, newspaper) is directly tied into the success of Wall Street. This certainly gets them invited to the right cocktail parties, and secures the big-name interviews, but removes a large chunk of "objective journalism" from their job description. Case in point: CNBC.

If the American public viewed any financial media as "infomercials" for Wall Street and took the time to do their homework, you will find that their motives are in question.

Are there any safe investments these days?

Certainly, there are guaranteed investments, like bonds, T-bills and CD´s that are safe. Unfortunately, they don´t have large returns and investors are willing to take a risk for higher returns. I´m not a financial planner, so the responsibility is on the reader to not trust your broker and do your homework.

But when you worry about trying to turn a little money into a lot of money quickly without effort, that´s when it becomes gambling, and that´s when you lose.

Where can readers purchase a copy of The Losing Game?

Thank you for asking. The Losing Game: Why You Can´t Beat Wall Street is available at all major online outlets, including Amazon.com, and at major bookstores nationwide. If they don´t have it in stock, have them order it for you.

Do you have a website or blog where readers can find out more?

Yes, www.thelosinggame.com is a good place to start, and we are also on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

What is up next for you?

My time and passion is devoted to getting the word out to average Americans about the dangers of Wall Street. I did it before The Losing Game was released, and I´ll do it when the book is collecting dust.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

There is a so-called "populist uprising" occurring that has got the attention of the Obama Administration and the mainstream media. Frankly, if that energy is spent wisely and not wasted on harassing honest people who have made a good living, and harassing Congress into enacting REAL reforms on Wall Street, then we would have restored at least some trust to the American people about our financial services system.

Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Scott. It has been a pleasure to get to know more about you and your book.

Thank you for your great questions and the opportunity for me to talk about the book. Again, I hope your readers can pick up a copy and start the discussion.