It has dawned on me that the reddit kids that are bidding up gamestop are an credible existential threat to wall st. I really didn't get it before but I've gone over to reddit and now I understand their viewpoint. They don't think gamestop is worth $500 per share. They are not stupid. All they know is that "the man" has left his ass exposed by getting too greedy and trying to sell gamestop into the dirt before its time. In addition, while they want to make money, there is a clear vein of nonviolent radicalism and social activism that is extremely valid. They want to use the corrupt system to beat the system. And I think they now have the tools to do it:
- social media
- basic economic understanding about value and scarcity (which many learned from Ron Paul)
- low cost market access
- a herd that cares more about social justice
This
emergency response that robinhood did by limiting purchases for small investors
while leaving no limits for institutions is completely corrupt and the
kids are doing a pretty good job of pleading their case in public.
Texas AG Ken Paxton has just launched an investigation.
When dems and gops were all getting along at the expense of the people
then none of this crap would ever get a fair shake in court. Dems and GOPS would make a big public show of opposition but then they would all go out and have a beer together and laugh about it.
But reddit kids are shaking things up and giving politicians who want to bolster public support for conservatism (mainly because they are scared that the balance of power has been lost to the dems) an opportunity to grandstand and to appear righteous.
I think future history will realize that Bitcoin was just the first act
of economic civil disobedience. It was the kids saying "we know we are
getting screwed by the existing system so we want to start our own parallel wealth storage system". It has been very
successful to the point where wall st is now following their lead on Bitcoin and
even countries are making their own central bank digital currencies. If
the kids aren't clever the establishment sharks will beat them at their own
game. They will take over digital currencies and then explain how
bitcoin and other non government coins are really just for drug runners
and terrorists. With the swipe of a pen they could be made illegal.
But right now there is no doubt, bitcoin has
created some young billionaires and many young millionaires. And the
gamestop thing has created some more millionaires. We know it is hurting wall st
because they are moving the goal posts and changing the rules - that is a
sign of panic, not strength.
The absolutely correct next move
for these kids would be to focus their firepower on platinum NOT silver. If platinum goes up hugely, silver will certainly follow. Folks,
platinum Eagles are legal US tender. The government cannot credibly attack these physical monetary wealth tokens
as being something for terrorists and drug runners. If they tried they
would be the laughing stock. And with only 10 billion market cap of above ground platinum they
could bid it up 65x and still not exceed the market cap of bitcoin. And, as mentioned before, bitcoin has 18 million coins in circulation right now but platinum only has 8 million refined ounces above ground and it would be VERY difficult to dig up more cost effectively in order to meet sudden overwhelming demand.
The
old guard will laugh at this notion and say platinum isn't worth that much
because it doesn't have enough industrial demand to support it. But
these kids aren't playing by wall st rules. Does bitcoin have any
industrial demand?? NO! It's not even a real thing. Nobody has ever
seen or touched or held a bitcoin. The kids say it has value because it
is scarce. That's all. Nothing else. And since its their money, who
can argue? Wealthy people pay huge bucks for shitty ugly paintings all
the time. Why? Because they have the money and they want to spend it
like that. This is free choice in action