Really Getting the “GameStop (GME)” Thing
This is serious, deep and wide, and goes back to the 2008 financial crisis. And they’re just getting started. Buckle up.
I find it interesting, even humorous, that many people do not understand what happened on Wall Street last week with the whole GameStop thing. It was a matter of time. And the chickens have come home to roost.
Those of us who remember the Sept.-Oct. 2008 housing/mortgage driven market crash, and the government’s response, perhaps have sympathy. I certainly do. Not for short-sellers - a high risk investment strategy that I find immoral - but for Wall Street’s victims whom we never seem to hear about.
Until last week.
I was one of the lucky ones. On the very day the market crashed in 2008, my employer’s stock was the only publicly-traded one to go up that day. Stephen Colbert, then a star at the Comedy Central , celebrated (mocked, actually, IMHO) my employer’s stock ascension. Working for, and owning stock in an employer that makes affordable, shelf-stable goods found in over 90% of kitchen pantries has its advantages. At least that day, and especially during a pandemic (disclosure: I still own their stock).
While I certainly didn’t “profit” from the 2008 crisis, my family and I was spared, even insulated from the effects of that fallout. My oldest son’s private college tuition that year was paid in full without interruption. We were damn lucky.
After a great career on politics and government, I could have worked on Wall Street, Big Tech or elsewhere, but I chose, against the advice of many, the good ‘ole, boring, food industry. Millions of others, including people I know, were not as fortunate. I know people whose savings were wiped out in a couple of days, if that. Perhaps you do, too, or are one of them. I count and express thanks to The Almighty for my blessings every day.
The Good Book teaches us to be content in our circumstances. It also teaches us to be wise as serpents (and as “harmless as doves,” so there’s that).
And that was the genesis of a story that culminated last week. This post from Reddit really tells the story better than I can. Yes, I have issues with what they’re doing, and the Good Book advises against revenge. This less about revenge than justice. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
But for those who don’t get it, may be this will help. And the the person who posted this is not alone. Far from it.