One Year Later: It's even worse for small investors

A year after the markets crashed, Wall Street salaries have recovered nicely, bank stocks have bounced back and the economy is apparently on the rise again. Yet, the investment game is more rigged than ever before. The retail investor has never been at a greater disadvantage -- not that retail investors were ever really supposed to win.

A quick read of the anti-Wall Street classic Where Are the Customer's Yachts? tells you pretty much everything you need to know about how brokerages and other Wall Street sharks view customers. But the crash provided cover for developments that are clearly anti-retail investor and have been largely ignored by the authorities charged with enforcing fairness on stock markets. Let us count the ways.