In the alternative community I always did not understand why people were so against High-Frequency-Trading...
High-Frequency-Trading (HFT) is done in nanoseconds according to proprietary algorithms which Investment Banks use in order to find trends and capitalize on them. Some of them in order to have quicker access to passing on their instructions are optimizing the meters their computers are away from the stock exchange...
So some people do not like this and want to prohibit HFT entirely, forgetting the fact that these trade bots (which are making the majority of transactions each day, some rumor up to 90% of trading. So if you stop them, there goes the liquidity... and more liquidity means less spread and cheaper trading for the average Joe as well.
If average Joe thinks that the current price is lower than what the company is worth and is fine with the dividends, than what on earth does he care if some trading bots sell it to the ground? This is an extra bargain from him, as dividends usually are not affected by HFT. (Only if it is a bank and causes a bank-run or something like that).
Example in Bitcoin in Chinese exchanges: A while ago all the trading on Chinese exchanges was for free, so there were many bots trying to use even the smallest differences between exchanges in order to make a dollar. As the transactions were for free even the tiniest profit counted. Spreads were super low as well. After introducing fees the liquidity dropped like 90%, now only transactions which were profitable enough to also account for fees were done by those bots.
The small guy now has to suffer a bit more...
Regarding strategic Gold/Silver suppression and artificially high stock prices? I would say ignore the stock market simply and buy undervalued assets... These might be Gold and Silver, although they shine in case of a permanent power/internet blackout... and I am not sure if this will happen either..
Disclaimer: this is no investment advice, just my opinion