One thing that is clear, however, is that a perception of great power has a deep psychological effect on a certain class of people and that can be leveraged for a lot of purposes...including robbing them blind.
Extreme claims are absurd. Quite simply, Pirate's operation appears to have been a stabilizing factor since it came into existence late last year. I'd rather have that than uncontrolled serial bubbles causing extreme volatility during an important phase of growth. Concerning as the amount of control is, if it can happen, it will happen.
As the market gains in size it'll become naturally more stable, and it's unlikely that BCS&T would be able to maintain. In a small market, it'd be quite easy for a participant of size to corner the market - potentially one without community involvement.
Question what the alternative would be. I'm sure none of us would be comfortable with Chuck Schumer running the show.
Doubtful. I read it as that being the first time he directly caused major volatility in the Bitcoin market, not that he'd never done a trade before.