1: Are the Markets Rigged?

There's an undercurrent in our mainstream culture today, a prevailing sense that our financial markets are rigged. This zeitgeist has existed very strongly since the crash of 2007/08. Some may know very little about how the markets operate and yet they tend to harbor at least a seed of doubt; 'maybe the markets are rigged – I would believe it if they were.' Others, who are more fluent in the language of the markets - for example, a hugely popular former presidential candidate, a best selling author, various politicians and regulators, even many market participants themselves  - say regularly and emphatically that the markets are rigged or at least that they constitute an un-level playing field. We wanted make sense of this question and see whether there's a clear answer…