2020 Fourth Quarter Commentary

Surely, you’ve heard of the video game retailer GameStop stock’s climb in price recently as a result of an online mob’s chitchat to buy.

If you haven’t heard about it, god bless you.  It’s an endless dog chasing its own tail, a rabbit hole on a blank page upon which any story could be told.

One bunch of speculators sought to manipulate another even as they themselves were unknowingly manipulated.

Does it make sense to you?  It doesn’t to me.

I’ll tell you my version of the story.  It’s a scam, one that combined the lure of striking it rich with a desire to punish greedy hedge funds.  It all works, until it doesn’t.
  
Speculators urged others to buy in order to achieve higher prices.  It’s anti-social behavior at its darkest, to entice naive buyers.

Ignore poverty, an economy transforming in favor of the wealthy, climate change or an ailing healthcare system, nothing to see over there.  For the past two weeks, the financial news focused on small-time speculators as they battled big, nasty hedge funds which had bet on a decline in the stock price.  GameStop stock soared +2,300% in one week.

In my old days at the U.S. SEC, we’d have investigated this as a scheme to defraud, a messy case to be sure.

Over its second week, GameSpot stock fell -87% amidst public discussion over how much money was made and lost.  Should have sold out when you had the chance.

We define who we aren’t as we unite over who we are.  Or do they get what they deserve?  It’s a little of both.
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When values fade, empathy darkens.  And GameStop is not the world that I love.