I heard an economist say exactly what you wrote, that there's always a seasonal dip in the prices of stocks at a certain time of the year, it's expected.

Bullshit. There are no seasonal drops in stocks, the only season is bull season or bear season.

It is more like media and the elite manipulate public's perception and sentiment to profit from fluctuations.

They barely make it work on their balance sheet. And risk adjusted? Those media manipulators get fucked.

Everyone's getting fucked in this bear market. Well there's survivors, the cockroaches, literally the cockroaches in apartment buildings are have a bright future, whereas the tenants might get shuffled around, musical chairs with empty apartments getting taken out of circulation, like chairs in that brutally honest game.

Pretty sure this holds no water if you observe past trend lines. Even if it did, the %s being lost right right are significantly higher than in any recent year. But hey, it rhymes.