> There must be some smart players out there that are doing efficient capital allocation
Right. Either that, or they're encouraging day trading from behind the scenes (which would totally explain the financial news networks). And that's why the system frightens the shit out of me.
No, value investing means you buy companies that you believe are underpriced for whatever reason [0]. Its an important distinction.
Value investing does involve investing in companies you believe in, but that belief stems from research and a deep understanding of the market and intrinsic value of the company you are investing in.
The more you truly know prior to investing, the better your investments will likely perform. The key is to eliminate areas of uncertainty (which may ultimately be gaps in your own knowledge).
If we all just bought indexes, of course, none of that would happen, capital would be divided conservatively according to the index manager. So at a higher level, there has to be some strategy that works beyond a brain dead index one, or markets wouldn't be successful at all. There must be some smart players out there that are doing efficient capital allocation (maybe not day traders, maybe not most of us, but someone...).