Robinhood, Wall Street, and the Reddit revolution

This past week continues the twist and turns coming off of a wild 2020. If you have been following the news, specifically the financial sector, the elite establishment is at it again. Well, perhaps not “again”, I don’t think they ever stop the self-interest and corrupt behavior. This time it’s Wall Street.

Let me explain.

Over the past couple of weeks, a group of “regular” investors uncovered some very large ‘short plays’ by large Wall Street hedge funds betting for the collapse of a company with the outcoming of raking in tens of millions or even billions of dollars of profit. These same regular investors (or called retail) investors are college students, everyday Joe’s, and not the suits on Wall Street. There was discussion on the online forum Reddit and these investors banded together to create a short-squeeze which is taking the stock the other direction by buying up shares of it. As an example, struggling company Gamestop was trading around $43 on Jan 21, but now is at $325.00. The same is happening with AMC movie theater company which was around $2.5 a share last week and shot up to around $20 a share. It’s not strong business fundamentals that’s making the price go up, it’s frenzied buying to stick it to the Wall Street establishment.

Yet, the establishment strikes again. Before I continue, please understand that I don’t personally have a problem with wealth, billionaires, or prosperity at any level. The market rewards those who understand how to apply knowledge and create value. Plain and simple. What I have a problem with is why the regular Joe can’t band together and make money on stocks and get labeled as a “market-manipulator” while Wall Street has been doing the same thing but in different ways for years. Why is it Wall Street can profit billions on the downside of a company going bankrupt or losing tremendous value while people that learn how to leverage the power of transparency and community? It’s another example of elitist double-standards!

Here’s the kicker – the billionaire hedge funds cry foul and want regulation! “Regulate! Get involved senator! As the stocks were skyrocketing and the hedge funds had to make good on their short contracts, the theme was “Help! We’re in trouble! SEC, where are you?” What’s even worse, is that trading platform Robinhood suspended activity for a variety of stocks for a short period of time and placed restrictions on the buy/sell of certain stocks such as Gamestop and AMC. Think about it for one second, Robinhood! The “regular” investors platform cancelled regular investors. And they are feeling the heat for it. Again, the elite strike again, and again, and again.

All over the news are people like Elizabeth Warren crying out for the Securities and Exchange Commission to “step in” and get a handle on what’s going on which is simply the free market system. Billionaire hedge fund leaders like Leon Cooperman are on CNBC complaining that the Reddit revolution is an “attack on rich people.” Maybe. But perhaps there’s a greater underlying issue.

Look at what happened last summer and continuing now in different parts of the country with Antifa (which stands for Anti fascist) in burning down property and opposing authority. (I don’t condone any of that violence and believe that the core of Antifa is completely misguided yet filled with young people looking for a cause to get involved in.) You may be able to argue that Antifa is primarily an extreme leftist group.

Fast forward to the mob who stormed the White House a few weeks ago. Another frustrated group of people pissed off among many things that the election may have been fraudulent and their voices weren’t heart. Again, violence sucks but you have to ask yourself what is below the surface? And in this case, you can argue that this mob was mainly a fringe extreme ring-wing group.

Now you have a group of people who did the same thing to Wall Street, except they ran their pocket books not any buildings and again, the elites cry foul. These are young people who watched their parents lose their homes in the 2008-2011 crash while big banks got huge bailouts and Wall Street profited billions betting against the common citizen.

Now, you have the same thing going on with COVID 19 and politicians who couldn’t get off their ass and make a decision about $600, $1400, or $2000 dollars for a US family while gladly sending billions to Egypt and other countries in a totally defunct “stimulus” plan. It’s a joke.

The Elitist Establishment.

Who are they? In my view, they are the people are the top tiers of government who have tremendous influence and power over policy. They are the bureaucrats who are in positions of leadership not to serve others but to be served and promote self-interest and special interest. They are the ultra wealthy hedge fund billionaires on Wall Street who are in bed with the very people I just mentioned. They are the policy-makers and resources accumulators with common goals of control and power, not servanthood and an equal playing field for all. Restrict and control.

“Oh Zoran, you are being too extreme, we can never become a Communist nation.” Well, coming from one myself, I can tell you the signs are there. We are closer than ever to adopting socialism which is the dirty stepsister of communism. It’s very close.

Personally, I believe we are living in the best of times. Although I hate seeing the division and violence, these micro revolutions are important to the long term stability of this country. Why? Because regular people cannot and should not sit around and become puppets to the establishment. Whether it’s the government or financial markets – we are a free nation. Let free people live their lives within the boundaries of law.

The mob at the white house should be a wake up call to bureaucrats who continue to enrich themselves and live lives of hypocrisy to keep their seats. The Reddit revolution should not back down to the establishment and operate freely, even if they lose money. That’s the free market! There’s no certainty in any venture so let people learn-by-doing and trust me, pain is a great teacher. What I see is that the more you try to control Americans, the more they will oppose you and fight back anyway.

Micro revolutions.

What do you believe the next one is?

I believe we will see a revolution in religion. I believe that it will look different and operate much differently than we can imagine. A Godless society is one that is a doomed society. Rejecting Christ in government, schools, and the public square will lead to destruction. It always has and always will.

I believe we will see a religious revolution in the near term called a revival. It will be an uprising of hope, love, and a great sense of purpose. This revolution will have the power to draw together all the different groups fighting for all different kinds of causes under one cause, and that’s the cause of Christ.

Until then, people will be frustrated. People will latch onto causes that are counterfeit and end with more frustration. Man-made ideologies such as government policy ends in more debate and more contention. More financial freedom actually won’t lead to more happiness, there’s no soul in money.

You know what’s interesting is that Jesus came and really frustrated the establishment. The establishment was a the religious group of his time who was entangled politically with the Roman empire. That same establishment is the group that ultimately ordered his crucifixion on the cross. Jesus came as a friend of sinners. That’s regular people like you and me. It also was the establishment too, except they couldn’t see him for who he truly was. He came so that none shall perish and all have everlasting life. Except not all will accept him, many will reject him.

Frankly, maybe we’re the establishment in our own ways. Would we accept Christ for who He is? I’m not so sure. We can’t even be friends with someone of a different skin color or political affiliation. Or would we reject him to same way we feel rejected by other spheres of society?

Writing this post has been interesting because it turned into something that I didn’t imagine at first. While thinking about it this week, I thought it would be more of a call to fight, a call to press in and let your voice be heard. And not saying not to, I’m not your judge.

But as we are seeing these micro-revolutions take place, what about the one in our own hearts? What about the revolution that needs to happen in our own homes? It’s always easier to look (and blame) external circumstances, but the real revolution is the one the needs to happen with us first and it has nothing to do with government or the financial markets or anything like that.

Deep down, we all are looking for a cause to get behind and a community that we can identify. Let’s just not entrench ourselves with causes that ultimately lead back to where we first started: anger and frustration but to love and hope.

Lots to think about. This are some really interesting times and lets keep our eyes open. More importantly, let’s keep our hearts open too.