I posted this in the megathread then realized it would generate more discussion as its own post.

If you aren't familiar with WallStreetBets, it's a meme-ified edgy investment subreddit. If you check it out, CW: they use some slurs in their standard slang (r-word, homophobic slurs) that is really distasteful.

Their main thesis seems to be a rejection of the idea that capitalism is a stable system that will bring steady growth and instead a realization that money behaves irrationally and is completely dissociated from real material conditions. Upon this realization, disillusioned with any sentiment of a stable responsible retirement, they YOLO into meme stocks (toss large amounts of money into dumb companies that truly shouldn’t pay off) but due to the stupidity of the market, often come out on top. And despite all of the talk about lambos and other materialistic dreams, as a recent lurker I mostly see people excited that they’ve paid off their student loans or that they can quit their soul sucking jobs and do something they’re passionate about.

Sure there are a few people just trying to accumulate massive amounts of wealth, but my impression is that the majority of people are just trying to alleviate some of the crushing financial pressures of modern society.

The game of large returns has largely been gate kept behind institutional money, and it’s these people that are paying for much of WSBs success. Take the current meme stock: Gamestop. Basically large investment firms bet big that they would go bankrupt and WSB is betting otherwise and apparently winning. If they make $ from this, it will represent a transfer of wealth directly from a multi-billion dollar investment firm to tens of thousands of everyday people. And at the same time, keeping a company employing tens of thousands afloat.

Edit: the narrative of people vs institutions I bring up in the preceding paragraph draws some parallels to populist movements in politics. The rhetoric I see on WSB about institutional investors is very similar to the rhetoric I saw on Bernie Discords/subreddits during the primaries about the establishment. There’s an open recognition that the system is rigged in favor of pre-existing powerful players and disenfranchises everyday people. To be fair and balanced, you could also draw parallels to Trump in the 2016 primaries as an anti-establishment candidate, but I don’t think that helps my thesis.

Of course I’ve only just started lurking there and I recognize they’re in it for the money, not all fads fit that progressive-transfer-of-wealth narrative, and this is probably going to bring me some hate here. Plus they have some really problematic slang that I’m not even getting into. But fundamentally I think WSB is made up of people who are radicalized at the absurdity of modern capitalism. I’ve seen the question pop up here of people feeling guilty about investing into the market and profiting off an unjust system. More often than not, the responses can be paraphrased as " yes, the system sucks, but we all currently live under it. your own financial security should be prioritized." Us lefties often have to overcome moral reservations about investing while WSB is the jokerfied investor just waiting to become a leftist. Thoughts?

  • kegel_dialectic [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I think it's highly likely that for every post showing a successful payout, there are dozens of lurkers who have lost even more. Considering the fact that the majority of professional brokers/traders perform worse than index funds, I worry that it encourages desperate people to essentially gamble away what little they have and lose it to Capitalists.

      • _else [she/her,they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        rich people are painfully painfully stupid, like giving things to other rich people, and laundering their less-than-wholesome money through 'losses'.

        take your pick.

      • Waylander [he/him,they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        It's basically a scam, but aimed at the very wealthy. For example, you set up ten different funds, and every year you retire the one that performed worst that year. After nine years you have one fund left that (randomly) outperformed the average index fund in the past. You advertise that you've beaten the market nine years in a row and rich folks who are gullible will buy into it, despite the fact that you basically gamed your stats.

        Then there's the 'professional brokers' who are either expensive status symbols so you can boast at the golf club dinner about how your broker went to Harvard and Yale, or they're a way to keep your/your friends' failsons busy and out of the way.