GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage • Hacker News Board

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#21

Post by scsilver » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:51 AM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

> It’s not surprising that when it comes to their investment strategies, that the “you only live once” philosophy and a preference for high-risk high-return investments is preferred. What has this generation got to lose? That is pure irrationality. IMO The real issue is a crap education system which gives neither opportunity, nor good advice-- instead of training rational actors w/ valueable skills it focuses on buil…

And why are teachers teaching liberal ideas? Maybe because the rationality of non liberals and non progressives leads to a pissed off and subversive underclass. If we are being rational, why not fix the system to produce "more rational" teachers.

Programmers and financiers are not the best at shaping childrens minds, its not like those fields teach about childhood development.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#22

Post by seaourfreed » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:52 AM UTC

The US Congress sells out all citizens, via lobbyists. Populist rage comes a rigged economy, where they are losing money.

Rigged pharma. Unethical medical billing. Out of control healthcare costs. 2008 mortgage crisis. High Frequency trading firms front running trades. Panama Papers. Libor. And a million more.

Citizens won't have it any more. Fixing congress (so they don't sell us out), and congress CAN would WOULD fix this.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#23

Post by dragontamer » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:55 AM UTC

Judgmentality wrote: post #3

> And so we see Gamestop story fall out of that. In a nutshell a bunch of retail investors (possibly with help from institutional insiders) decided to pump a small cap stock far beyond what the valuation of the company should be. This completely ignores the fact that the stock was shorted over 100% of float, and people knew it was going to squeeze so they bought in hoping to ride the wave. And that did in fact happen…

> This completely ignores the fact that the stock was shorted over 100% of float, and people knew it was going to squeeze so they bought in hoping to ride the wave. And that did in fact happen, although timing is everything.

Except the squeeze failed at $400, and short interest was still above 100% as GME dropped below $50 by my understanding.

As such, the short-interest story seems to be a weak argument for anything. Clearly, short interest > 100% is meaningless: the stock can go up, or down, no matter what its short interest is.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#24

Post by solosoyokaze » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:56 AM UTC

seaourfreed wrote: post #22

The US Congress sells out all citizens, via lobbyists. Populist rage comes a rigged economy, where they are losing money. Rigged pharma. Unethical medical billing. Out of control healthcare costs. 2008 mortgage crisis. High Frequency trading firms front running trades. Panama Papers. Libor. And a million more. Citizens won't have it any more. Fixing congress (so they don't sell us out), and congress CAN would WOULD f…

I'd add the rules around being an accredited investor. The US government cuts off early stage investment opportunities to non-high net worth individuals "for their own good". The same US government that happily allows for state run lotteries.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#25

Post by 1-6 » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:57 AM UTC

Clewza313 wrote: post #14

> Everyday I see a world where many in my generation have simply given up all hope for opportunity of a family, a house, a stable career and forced to confront an uncertain future in a world that is slowly boiling itself to death. South Korea and Japan are 10-20 years ahead of the same curve here. However, the result has been resignation and stagnation, not revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo_generation h…

On the Sampo generation wiki, 53.5% state that there's no money to save. Although I'm not an expert on these matters, what happened to packing your bags and moving out of Seoul or Gyeonggi-do to save some money? I think the motivation may not be there for some or social pressures keep people where they are in life. In Korea, you can easily raise kids if you're outside of Seoul/Gyeonggi. The teacher to student ratio is very close to 1.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#26

Post by Animats » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:57 AM UTC

Clewza313 wrote: post #14

> Everyday I see a world where many in my generation have simply given up all hope for opportunity of a family, a house, a stable career and forced to confront an uncertain future in a world that is slowly boiling itself to death. South Korea and Japan are 10-20 years ahead of the same curve here. However, the result has been resignation and stagnation, not revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo_generation h…

What countries have successfully resisted the movement of money to the rich over the last 20 years?

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#27

Post by bargl » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:57 AM UTC

0xy wrote: post #18

bargl wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The stock was at around 20/share before the spike and was considered a WIN at that. It's now sitting at 40/share and is probably priced high. It was shorted to below 2/share at some point which is imo insane given what we've seen EVERY SINGLE CONSOLE RELEASE EVER. The media saw an opportunity to make this about populist rage, and we all bit it. But this was started as a short squeeze and a very effective one at…

GameStop's margins are awful, and no amount of hypey releases will save them. Their website is still garbage. This is a flailing has-been physical retail business, propped up by Microsoft and Sony who see it as a billboard.

That's a valid argument, but they showed a ton of revenue lately and shouldn't be valued at 2/share.

I think the stock is between a 10/share and 30/share stock but I'm not a professional. Honestly the professionals aren't professionals and that's backed by some studies but I won't get into that right now.

The idea that you can cover this story without mentioning the short squeeze is lazy or dishonest. While it's an artificial boost to a stocks price it's a completely valid boost to that price too.

I use the PS5 as an example. How expensive is it? 500? Wrong. It's 500 if you put in time and energy, but if you value your time and energy over that of the retail price you can get one on ebay for 1000. Is it worth 1000? Only if you are impatient.

What's GME price? 2/share 15/share doesn't matter. If I have 1000 of something and I know that 1400 people MUST buy it by the end of the month, I can be sure that I'll make some money there. Was 400/share reasonable? I don't think so, that was mania and the fact that this short squeeze got mainstream and people had FOMO.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#28

Post by hintymad » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:59 AM UTC

> Let’s state the uncomfortable truth. The future for many Americans is bleak and their lives are going to be nasty, brutish and short. Everyday I see a world where many in my generation have simply given up all hope for opportunity of a family, a house, a stable career and forced to confront an uncertain future in a world that is slowly boiling itself to death.

But why? Why can't more kids get into STEM fields? Why aren't there more decent jobs, say manufacturing jobs? Why are American kids so bad at basic reading, critical thinking, and basic arithmetics? Why is there an apparent bifurcation in the K5 system, where a large number of perfectly capable kids get misled and tortured by craps like Common Core, while a small number of kids are ready for algebra or more advanced maths? Why do we have kids who get straight A in high school yet can't pass placement test in a community college? Why do we have so many kids who ace through high school think entry-level courses like introductory calculus or organic chemistry are too hard? The questions can go on.

And I certainly don't hope that the answers are what Seattle and California public schools have started to teach: https://equitablemath.org/

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#29

Post by felipeko » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:59 AM UTC

hahahahe wrote: post #11

seibelj wrote: post #4

I find bitcoin to be the greatest innovation in finance in the 21st century, a watershed moment in economic development. For the first time any person can own a financial asset completely decoupled from any government. That’s the value proposition for me. It’s not nihilism - it’s optimism in the individual to succeed over the corrupt state.

Except bitcoin derives its value from...USD. It’s there because you can buy and sell with...USD. You see where I am going?

Value is subjective.

For me, Bitcoin has value because it can't be inflated, and I can carry it on my head over any country's frontier without governments harassing me because of it.

Sure, Bitcoin is a means to an end, I can only "use" it by exchanging it for something else, but so is any other currency.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#30

Post by maerF0x0 » Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 12:59 AM UTC

scsilver wrote: post #21

maerF0x0 wrote: post #2

> It’s not surprising that when it comes to their investment strategies, that the “you only live once” philosophy and a preference for high-risk high-return investments is preferred. What has this generation got to lose? That is pure irrationality. IMO The real issue is a crap education system which gives neither opportunity, nor good advice-- instead of training rational actors w/ valueable skills it focuses on buil…

And why are teachers teaching liberal ideas? Maybe because the rationality of non liberals and non progressives leads to a pissed off and subversive underclass. If we are being rational, why not fix the system to produce "more rational" teachers. Programmers and financiers are not the best at shaping childrens minds, its not like those fields teach about childhood development.

> its not like those fields teach about childhood development.

I agree, Pedagogical science fits in STEM and I think it's very important we deeply invest in childhood development. I mostly think the subject matter of school is questionable, not the fact we go to school (hence why I suggested we also fund STEM degrees for anyone smart enough to finish it)