The Least I Owe You

You may have seen some articles the past several days attacking me about an interview I gave recently where I discussed the kinds of manipulative trading practices that go on every day in the investing community. Let me say this: No one knows and respects the securities laws more than I do. (I didn't go to Harvard Law School for nothing!)

When I was a hedge fund trader in the 1990s, I played fair, and I did nothing that violated those laws. But others did not play fair, and that's why I started TheStreet.com and have been writing about these abuses for nearly a decade -- to explain to my readers how the markets really work. I wanted to give transparency to the market and tell people the good and the bad.

Some professional traders don't like it when I expose how their game is played, and some of the TheStreet.com's competitors don't like it when people are interested in what I have to say. But I am going to continue to write and talk about how the markets really work -- in my own sometimes hyperbolic and tongue-in-cheek style -- and call them as I see them. That's the least I owe you.

Editor's note: Click here to view the video, which aired Dec. 22, 2006, on TheStreet.com TV.