Matt Taibbi Tells the Backstory of GameStop

Here’s a reminder that there are two Americas. The backstory of GameStop.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

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    Erich Vieth February 7, 2021 Reply

    On FB, a friend wrote:

    There is no disputing that each of us have characteristics both positive and negative that advance or hold us back. Yet for most, life is what you make it. An uneducated “rough neck” or line maintenance worker can make $100k/yr. A recent HS grad can make mid-$60’s plus benefits in retailing. One of my HS friends was not all that bright. Stopped at HS. Got a job as a fireman. Instead of playing cards at the firehouse he planned to remodel houses in SoSTL. He would buy them, fix them up when not on duty, and sell them. He is a multi-millionaire living in FL today. Retired and a millionaire by 45. In contrast, you can do alcohol, drugs, play video games and watch TV. Not moves likely to advance you. There are people who can be helped, and we need to do that. There are also people that no matter what we do to help them, will not be helped. They won’t help themselves. I’ll end with this story about Roy. He was a much older friend. Little education but he worked all the time. He never made a high income, but he had a home and by frugal life style raised a family and died with enough to leave money for the sons. He once told me that the key to finance was to save something each week and essentially live below his means. While doing that he never hesitated to help others. That is an example to follow. Thank you for engaging.

    I responded:

    Your formula works for many people and I adopt your approach, strongly emphasizing living frugally and saving, and that doesn’t mean that you can’t have an enjoyable life. That’s because many excellent enriching activities are extremely low cost, especially connecting with interesting people. I also get the anger in the above comment–many people were hurt by the 2008 collapse. I saw it first hand that big ivy-league-educated Wall Street rich guys got away with it. Only a few were prosecuted, out of hundreds or thousands that should have gone to prison. In the bond-rating sector along, there should have been dozens or hundreds of prosecutions, but there were none. GameStop was an understandable act of frustration against predatory Wall Street types who get away with destroying businesses for personal profit, legally. It’s shameful to see this: “SP” says this to Taibbi:

    It’s the COVID-19 sell-off and pump. It’s what these guys do. It really does feel as though CNBC is a participant in market manipulation for the rich. These hedge fund guys go on air and it’s like they’re trying to spook the herd in the direction of their trades. They tell everyone to get out when they’re short, and once all the meat is all off the bone, they go long, just in time for the recovery. They get to call the top and the bottom of the market. It’s totally fucked.

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