In a typical murder trial, one of the classic, basic requirements for prosecution is to determine motive. This article flat out admits that they have no idea what the motive is. Apparently this strange manipulation was not significantly more profitable than not performing it.<p>I have no illusions about the morality of the players involved in the financial crisis. But this article is trash. Presumably by publishing a piece in a popular news site, the author is at least claiming to have done some researched and gained at least some understanding of the topic beyond what a typical layman might achieve.  If that is the case (and I seriously doubt it is) then the only rational conclusion that I can form from this article is that they might not have been engaging in illegal activities purely for profit. People aiming to earn billion dollar payouts and playing with the volatile fire that is public opinion don&#x27;t engage in needless games and risks &quot;just to fuck with us&quot;.<p>Again, I don&#x27;t doubt at all that something seriously wrong was happening, but this article should never have made it past an editor.