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GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

stephendiehl.com

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Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#31

Post by bargl »

dragontamer wrote: post #23
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…

No one knows. That's not public information.

It doesn't take into account that at 400 shorting GME became a much more appealing idea than even at 20/share. Everyone knew 400/share was unmaintainable.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#32

Post by nonameiguess »

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.

You could already own land, houses, cattle, ownership shares in companies that produce useful goods other humans want, all things the government doesn't control. If the concern is the government could potentially seize control of those things, sure, but a sufficiently malicious government can seize control of you and no amount of magic numbers on a USB stick is going to stop them.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#33

Post by lmm »

nightski wrote: post #17
cma wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't you do that with gold or even earlier, seashells?

Not advocating Bitcoin but it's a lot easier to have your gold or seashells stolen than Bitcoin.

I'm not sure that's actually true, given how common software security vulnerabilities are.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#34

Post by seibelj »

hintymad wrote: post #28

> 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…

If you have enough money you can move to a good public school district or pay for private school. If you are poor you must accept the monopoly school in your district - that is the rule.

I myself enjoy having choices for myself and my children but that is a consequence of money. This is why I support school vouchers - let parents determine how to spend their money, and let schools compete for students.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#35

Post by [deleted] »

skulk wrote: post #9
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…

> Not wasting the first 18 years of a person's life might be an alternative It's not an alternative, it's strictly necessary. People look around and wonder how 70 million Americans voted for a certain someone, and the clear-cut answer isn't farther than their local public high school. A system designed from the ground up to mold nearly everybody into obedient manufacturing drones in a economy that doesn't rely on man…

[deleted]

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#36

Post by sudosysgen »

hintymad wrote: post #28

> 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…

If more kids get into STEM, then eventually STEM salaries will regress to the norm. It's a non solution.

Systematically, the average American will and must confront quite the bleak future.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#37

Post by lmm »

solosoyokaze wrote: post #12

This could have an interesting point but it's lost in its anti-Bitcoin rhetoric. Bitcoin is like the lottery? It's up thousands of percent over the years. Many, many people have made real money and/or are sitting on massive gains. Regardless of if you think Bitcoin has actual utility (I think it does in spades), labeling it a "failure" means your argument is instantly ignored by every person who's up on their investm…

Plenty of people made money on the South Sea company until they didn't.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#38

Post by loeber »

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…

Strong agree. This is a lazy polemic. Take, for instance, this one amazing part:

> Goldman Sachs, Citadel, Andersen Horrowitz those guys are making transaction fees

"Andersen Horrowitz"? Does the author have any idea who he is criticizing or what industry they're in?

> Failing microcap stock

GME is not a microcap stock, and it was not a microcap stock, even before this entire saga

> I make no pretense that I don’t despise the bitcoin philosophy

Erroneous double negative here, does he even proofread his own work?

Somewhere in here he states that "Bitcoin doesn't work". I've seen a lot of lazy criticisms of Bitcoin, but this one just falls flat -- of course it works. Say what you will, but the entire system works with continuous uptime, the ability to transact, etc. etc. That's why it's worth a trillion dollars.

Saying that you don't understand how bicycles stay upright doesn't make them fall over. And similarly, saying that Bitcoin doesn't work, well, doesn't make it stop working.

Re: GameStop, Bitcoin and the Commoditization of Populist Rage

#40

Post by pattusk »

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…

They are not 10 to 20 years ahead of the curve. The Sampo and Satori generations are very much in the same age bracket as Western millenials.

Stagnation and resignation has also been the answer for millenials in the West. If by revolution you mean the recent Capitol riots, most of the protesters were over 40 and well off. If anything I'm surprised by how politically apathetic this (my) generation is.

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