I've been hearing about this for a while, and I've never come close to caring about the real-world stock market. And since, as far as I can tell, there is no .win equivalent of r/Superstonk, I figured I may as well ask you guys.
Here's what I do know, from what I've gathered:
Apparently, GameStop, the chain of video game stores, is one of the very, very few organizations NOT owned in some form or fashion by BlackRock, Vanguard, Rockefeller, or anything else of that nature.
Also apparently, Swamp hedge funds are all betting against GameStop, placing "shorts" and/or "puts" on the company so that they'll make money if GME goes down in price or outright fails altogether. I may have some terminology wrong on this point, so please forgive me if I have--again, this is NOT my forte.
I am told that when the Great Awakening happens and companies start to fail left and right because of the chaos, this will somehow make GameStop's stock skyrocket to astronomical levels; as they say, TO THE MOON! And to Hold On for Dear Life (that is, do not sell) until that happens, possibly even AFTER it happens, because owning so much of that stock will make tons of corrupt hedge funds fail in doing so...somehow.
I didn't buy it for a second. As much uncomfortable truths as I've realized since joining GAW back when it was on Reddit and I went by another name, that just seemed like a bridge too far--that moment where the implausibility of the events in a book or movie shatters your suspension of disbelief and you're just taken completely out of the work.
But again, I didn't know anything about how the real-world stock market. This is all completely over my head. It's one reason I made this topic.
And then, earlier this year, I saw a comment here, comparing it to buying a lottery ticket. If it doesn't go TO THE MOON!, then worst-case scenario, you're out a few bucks. But if it does...your family could be so much better off.
Not the best analogy for someone who doesn't like to gamble, since "the house always wins." And yet, it stuck in my head.
So, a few months ago, I decided to take a chance.
Via Computershare, I bought and DRS'd one share of GME. One. After fees, it ran me just over $20. Feels really weird knowing I'm a minority-owner of a large corporation...
But my family is in serious debt. Even after signing on for a debt-relief agency (and thank you all SO much for the advice, guys, seriously), I still felt like I had to do something to help them.
At the time of this writing, GME's price has dropped about 40% since the time I bought it.
Yet I hold on. I mean...what if you're RIGHT?
I'll probably buy some more soon. I've got some personal matters to take care of in a couple of weeks and I've been saving money for that, but once that's complete, I guess it couldn't hurt to "buy the dip."
But it continues to baffle me how this is even supposed to work. How does this screw our enemies over?
That's what this topic is for. Please, explain it to me.
Here's my two cents.
The "stuff" has already hit the fan.
To put things in perspective, imagine you and your friends literally own the world. TRILLIONS of dollars in assets. What do you do with trillions of dollars in assets?
Why, you need to invest that in markets all across the world. Some of it goes to "legitimate" markets like the stock market and the bond market and the commodities market and such like that. With this money, you get power to control these companies, and so you grow that money as much as you can so you can get more and more power.
(Of course, they invest in illegitimate markets such as the drug trade and such.)
Now consider that you are some mid-tier minion in this global supergroup. You are in charge of billions of dollars, and you are supposed to be using the stock market to make billions more, and do whatever else the group needs done.
You have to make some very risky bets because your bosses tell you to. So you need to offset that with some safe bets. Since you can't find any safe bets, you have to CREATE safe bets.
Oh look, there is a company that isn't doing well. It's not one of the protected companies. It's going to fail because "we" want it to fail. OK, let's short it.
Oh wait, it's already 100% leveraged? Who cares, short it anyway -- the naked short! You don't NEED to own stock to short it -- just tell people you do and they'll never figure it out.
Oh no, the price is going up? Quick, buy some stock to cover your short.
Oh no, they aren't selling? The price is going up too fast! Now I am losing money!
Call my boss -- "You NEED to stop trading this stock, and its price MUST go down! Yes, it is a matter of life or death. If you can't do this, WE WILL LOSE TRILLIONS! Not just the billions you gave me -- TRILLIONS!"
This is what is happening.
It's not just this one segment of Evil, Inc that is failing -- they are losing money EVERYWHERE. And they can't just move assets around to cover their losses. They need the Federal Reserve to print TRILLIONS of dollars to get them out of the hole, or they are going to lose it ALL.
Isn't the Fed bankrupt?
Hence the bigger problem.
If it wasn't then, it is now, and it is only alive because people have a good imagination.
IIRC, Trump made the Fed pay for the relief checks during covid. We didn't spend a federal dime on it.