Person Who Ate Only Beans And Rice After The ’08 Collapse Pens A Powerful Open Letter To Billionaire Jerks Running Hedge Funds, Explains Why They Won’t Sell
The surge of stocks like GameStop, which we all have seen a lot of in the headlines lately, is most often attributed to the use of leverage by hedge funds. But the r/WallStreetBets subreddit has got small investors coming together and using this leverage against what they call big, rich, and greedy guys.
The case is unprecedented because, in most Wall Street fights, common members of the public like you and me have no rooting interest, nor any effect on what’s going on. But this one is the exact opposite. And while independent WallStreetBets traders continue purchasing GameStop stocks, they’re essentially betting against the hedge fund giants. And they’re nowhere near stopping.
And a trader who goes by the handle u/ssauronn has just penned a powerful open letter and laid out all the reasons, black on white, why the independent traders are not backing down and selling. Turns out, the shared resentment for the major Wall Street investors came as a result of the financial crisis of 2008.
“When that crisis hit our family, we were able to keep our little house, but we lived off of pancake mix, and powdered milk, and beans and rice for a year,” u/ssauronn wrote. The Redditor also addressed Melvin Capital in particular, stating that “you stand for everything that I hated during that time.”
Read the full letter down below, which should shed an illuminating light on the much deeper motives that fuel the current wave of independent GameStop traders.
One r/WallStreetBets trader has penned this powerful open letter which explains the resentment for Wall Street investment firms
Image credits: ssauronn
On Tuesday, the investor Michael Burry called trading in GameStop as “unnatural, insane, and dangerous.” In his now-deleted tweet, and said that “legal and regulatory repercussions” should be made accordingly. But it’s not just GameStop that’s getting a boost from a gang of small Reddit investors, though. The chain AMC is also having its stocks reach heights, among other companies.
Another similar letter on how the 2008 crisis affected an entire generation has also been circulating online
Image credits: Hungry_Freaks_Daddy
According to a member of the subreddit WallStreetBets, the stock trading frenzy has nothing to do with the organized attempts to occupy Wall Street. “There’s no targeting going on—WSB is far less organized than all the articles are making it out to be,” a member of the subreddit, Lucas Severyn, commented. “From time to time, WSB gets obsessed with some stock, now it’s GME, and for the first time ever, this stock just keeps giving.”
Meanwhile, the co-founder of Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, told CNBC that the stock buying was instigated by the “challenges against the mainstream media, threads of this in the rise of the populist right… there is this sentiment that cannot be escaped. It is clear to me this is a gesture.”
Many people felt touched by the letters and this is what they commented
I'm Gen X. We all get it. My generation is on its fourth or fifth economic crisis right now (depending on luck). We are all burned and scarred. By the 1980s, the early 1990s, 2008, Covid-19, and for a few of us oldies, even the 1970s! This isn't new, it isn't just one generation, can we please stop "claiming" victimhood? We're all screwed by the so-called "free market capitalism" that costs so much. Peace, and unity, b/c if we poor folks get together, we can scare teh bejeepers outta Wall Street :-)
Boomer here- Survived the OPEC crisis, 18-19% mortgage rates, the 1986 Market crash, the dot com bubble, the housing bubble and many other crises. ALL generations have been or will be screwed. It's a fact of life living in the USA. My generation has f****d over the next generations to come. We know it and some of us actually give a s**t. But this isn't a Boomer vs. Millenial vs Gen X issue. This is a people vs the system that is rigged to serve everyone BUT the people. Until the majority of the country understands this, we will continue to get f****d like we are in every election regardless of who wins.
Also a boomer with absolutely no Wall Street savvy. I've noticed over the years though that whatever is bad for us peasants is usually good for Wall Street. My carefully considered opinion? F**k em.
Exactly. Everyone needs to be educated on this crappy system. My hope is that all the generations realize what's going on and work to fix it. As a GenX'er, I've been struggling with money my whole adult life. At this point, I e just accepted the fact that I will never own a house or any other worthwhile assets. I hope things will change.
Yes. And now people freak out if the mortgage rate hits 4%. Really? *headdesk* the skewed nature of perception as well as the system .... boggles the mind. If socialism is evil, what do you call a system that favors the few over the many in a nation with the motto E Pluribus Unum?!
Ground zero may have always been the US, but be sure that there were always tsunamies of various sizes sprading across the grest of the world. The wreckage has been always much more than what it is in the US. These people have so many more cheering for them than they know.
How is Amelija not banned yet? She def isn’t working for bored panda, bc she would either be verified or it would say by her profile. Honestly, so annoying.
Report by link on right of screen under Contact (in red). Then you'll see some options if you scroll down. Non-app version of BP. This troll makes repeat accounts and keeps coming back. Report but also just ignore where possible. Responding feeds their ego.
Is there a place to report this or something? I have never felt the urge before but this is indeed too annoying
Hello downvotes, but I have a genuine question (because I'm not US-based). Do some people have their 401k's linked to some hedge fund companies? So more people WILL lose their pensions when these Wall Street giants fall?
401k, is the way most people lost "everything" in 08. We had options for investment - possible large returns or steady small returns. Most people want to gamble on the big payout (hedge fund) but don't realize the possibilities of total loss. I see the stock market as a rich mans casino. It is all gambling with "our" money.
That's *exactly* what it is, a rich man's casino, gambling with everyone's money. Smh
While I understand that many IRAs (individual retirement accounts) and 401Ks may include investments in budge funds, what are the chances that someone’s entire retirement portfolio is with one hedge fund? Again, honest question: I have no idea what the answer is.
I never understood why people lend/gamble money which they could not do without. It does not matter if you lend it to a friend or "invest". You should be able to do without payback. Otherwise keep your money close.
Ah - it's that options bit I didn't know. I didn't realise people could choose to (or not to) use hedge funds - I thought it was a kind of default.
Depends on how they are invested. Mine are mostly in household giants like Johnson and Johnson. I don't think this will hurt me and Trump already cost me thousands
Many smart investors don't go into hedge funds because they aren't worth it unless you can dump millions in it.
Thanks for asking the question N G and J Normal the reply. I'm not from the US and was wondering about this too.
Yes, it is possible. And the truth is that however distasteful the market may be the average investor with index mutual funds managed by professionals can do well. Disparities in wealth could be shrunk if those who opt out of the market would just get in. A $1k portfolio isn't much, but a 10% return on $1k, compounded over ten years, is a lot more than $1k frittered away on luxuries and indulgences enjoyed only in the short term.
Isn’t a 10% return unrealistically high? Like Bernie Madoff high? Honest question: I’m not trying to drag you.
@Katchen - if we're talking about the US market then 10% per year over the past decade is conservative. All things considered it is a good place for investors, especially in comparison to the markets of smaller economies and especially by comparison to the Russian and Chinese markets were standards for corporate governance/accountability and actual government oversight are not conducive to transparency. Ideologically the US may be unpalatable to one, but relatively speaking it is a safe and lucrative place to invest.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Somebody gets it. Scams run off emotion.
I'm pulling for the retail investors in this case but I fear that most will be burned badly by what will prove to be a pump & dump play by the Reddit leaders. And even if the origins of this movement are purer than I suspect then basic game theory (think "tragedy of the commons") predicts large-scale defections which eventually will mean those in early on GME and out first will profit at the expense of those slower to see the falling knife. Man the barricades, comrades, but don't gamble more than you can afford to lose.
exactly; there's no way to know what the real position of those posting is, and just as the shorts put out papers trying to get others to sell their long positions, many stock and call buyers are hoping they can convince people to push up the price for their own gains
Actually, Amelija, we all hate you.
I'm Gen X. We all get it. My generation is on its fourth or fifth economic crisis right now (depending on luck). We are all burned and scarred. By the 1980s, the early 1990s, 2008, Covid-19, and for a few of us oldies, even the 1970s! This isn't new, it isn't just one generation, can we please stop "claiming" victimhood? We're all screwed by the so-called "free market capitalism" that costs so much. Peace, and unity, b/c if we poor folks get together, we can scare teh bejeepers outta Wall Street :-)
Boomer here- Survived the OPEC crisis, 18-19% mortgage rates, the 1986 Market crash, the dot com bubble, the housing bubble and many other crises. ALL generations have been or will be screwed. It's a fact of life living in the USA. My generation has f****d over the next generations to come. We know it and some of us actually give a s**t. But this isn't a Boomer vs. Millenial vs Gen X issue. This is a people vs the system that is rigged to serve everyone BUT the people. Until the majority of the country understands this, we will continue to get f****d like we are in every election regardless of who wins.
Also a boomer with absolutely no Wall Street savvy. I've noticed over the years though that whatever is bad for us peasants is usually good for Wall Street. My carefully considered opinion? F**k em.
Exactly. Everyone needs to be educated on this crappy system. My hope is that all the generations realize what's going on and work to fix it. As a GenX'er, I've been struggling with money my whole adult life. At this point, I e just accepted the fact that I will never own a house or any other worthwhile assets. I hope things will change.
Yes. And now people freak out if the mortgage rate hits 4%. Really? *headdesk* the skewed nature of perception as well as the system .... boggles the mind. If socialism is evil, what do you call a system that favors the few over the many in a nation with the motto E Pluribus Unum?!
Ground zero may have always been the US, but be sure that there were always tsunamies of various sizes sprading across the grest of the world. The wreckage has been always much more than what it is in the US. These people have so many more cheering for them than they know.
How is Amelija not banned yet? She def isn’t working for bored panda, bc she would either be verified or it would say by her profile. Honestly, so annoying.
Report by link on right of screen under Contact (in red). Then you'll see some options if you scroll down. Non-app version of BP. This troll makes repeat accounts and keeps coming back. Report but also just ignore where possible. Responding feeds their ego.
Is there a place to report this or something? I have never felt the urge before but this is indeed too annoying
Hello downvotes, but I have a genuine question (because I'm not US-based). Do some people have their 401k's linked to some hedge fund companies? So more people WILL lose their pensions when these Wall Street giants fall?
401k, is the way most people lost "everything" in 08. We had options for investment - possible large returns or steady small returns. Most people want to gamble on the big payout (hedge fund) but don't realize the possibilities of total loss. I see the stock market as a rich mans casino. It is all gambling with "our" money.
That's *exactly* what it is, a rich man's casino, gambling with everyone's money. Smh
While I understand that many IRAs (individual retirement accounts) and 401Ks may include investments in budge funds, what are the chances that someone’s entire retirement portfolio is with one hedge fund? Again, honest question: I have no idea what the answer is.
I never understood why people lend/gamble money which they could not do without. It does not matter if you lend it to a friend or "invest". You should be able to do without payback. Otherwise keep your money close.
Ah - it's that options bit I didn't know. I didn't realise people could choose to (or not to) use hedge funds - I thought it was a kind of default.
Depends on how they are invested. Mine are mostly in household giants like Johnson and Johnson. I don't think this will hurt me and Trump already cost me thousands
Many smart investors don't go into hedge funds because they aren't worth it unless you can dump millions in it.
Thanks for asking the question N G and J Normal the reply. I'm not from the US and was wondering about this too.
Yes, it is possible. And the truth is that however distasteful the market may be the average investor with index mutual funds managed by professionals can do well. Disparities in wealth could be shrunk if those who opt out of the market would just get in. A $1k portfolio isn't much, but a 10% return on $1k, compounded over ten years, is a lot more than $1k frittered away on luxuries and indulgences enjoyed only in the short term.
Isn’t a 10% return unrealistically high? Like Bernie Madoff high? Honest question: I’m not trying to drag you.
@Katchen - if we're talking about the US market then 10% per year over the past decade is conservative. All things considered it is a good place for investors, especially in comparison to the markets of smaller economies and especially by comparison to the Russian and Chinese markets were standards for corporate governance/accountability and actual government oversight are not conducive to transparency. Ideologically the US may be unpalatable to one, but relatively speaking it is a safe and lucrative place to invest.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Somebody gets it. Scams run off emotion.
I'm pulling for the retail investors in this case but I fear that most will be burned badly by what will prove to be a pump & dump play by the Reddit leaders. And even if the origins of this movement are purer than I suspect then basic game theory (think "tragedy of the commons") predicts large-scale defections which eventually will mean those in early on GME and out first will profit at the expense of those slower to see the falling knife. Man the barricades, comrades, but don't gamble more than you can afford to lose.
exactly; there's no way to know what the real position of those posting is, and just as the shorts put out papers trying to get others to sell their long positions, many stock and call buyers are hoping they can convince people to push up the price for their own gains
Actually, Amelija, we all hate you.