I may be paranoid, but that doesn't mean that they aren't really after me.
As for the "PPT", well there isn't one of those, but there is the Fed Working Group on Capital Markets. It is real, and was signed into law by Reagan after the 1987 crash.
As for the theory of mutual funds colluding to prop up the markets, well that is exactly what the Fed Working Group is all about, the fed never directly buys stocks, they can only encourage private entities to buy stocks. Collusion is also completely illegal unless they were given special authorization by the Fed Working Group. So, you can't have one without the other.
Also, you have to remember that 9/11 was declared an act of war, and it was an act of economic warfare as well as terrorism. That is plenty of excuse for the Fed Working Group to take action. There have been several days this year that looked like crashes until "somebody" bought absolutely massive amounts of S&P futures at the exact bottom for no apparent reason.
Also, it is my opinion that even without the Fed Working Group, the markets are always "fishy" on and around options expiration and elections, and this is no different.