It does seem that the exchanges are a big winner with bitcoin. Not only the high fees they get for simply moving USD back and forth, but they also have the inside information that we don't have.
I'm sure they tweak their software to screw you over in transactions also, like when you do a sale they will somehow match the price and take profits there.
I agree that the exchanges are the winners. However I would disagree that they are somehow manipulating the prices or relying on any kind of inside information to their trading advantage. Doing so would make people want to stop trading with them which would cause them to both lose their advantage but also their commission revenue