What The GameStop Controversy Has Revealed About Wall Street

Sonali Kolhatkar speaks with Doug Henwood about th3 Gamestop madness.

Wall Street hedge fund managers are deeply rattled over a Reddit collective beating them at their own game in stock purchases of the video-game chain store GameStop. Small investors over several months collectively bought up enough shares of the company whose stock prices were rapidly falling in part due to hedge funds’ “short selling” the stock. But the collective stock buys by members of the “Wall Street Bets” group on Reddit drove prices up to hundreds of dollars a share. Hedge funds that had bet on GameStop failing now owe billions as many small-time investors have seen their fortunes rise.

The story has revealed a deep well of public anger at Wall Street investors who have long gamed the system to their own ends but are now balking at small investors banding together. Senator Elizabeth Warren echoed this anger saying, “For years, the same hedge funds, private equity firms, and wealthy investors dismayed by the GameStop trades have treated the stock market like their own personal casino while everyone else pays the price.”

Read Doug Henwood’s article on the Jacobin called, ‘The GameStop Bubble Is a Lesson in the Absurdity and Uselessness of the Stock Market,’ HERE.

Rising Up with Sonali is a radio and television show that brings progressive news coverage rooted in gender and racial justice to a wide audience. Rising Up With Sonali was built on the foundation of Sonali Kolhatkar's earlier show, Uprising, which became the longest-running drive-time radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles hosted by a woman. RUS airs on Free Speech TV every weekday.

Missed an episode? Check out Rising Up on FSTV VOD anytime or visit the show page for the latest clips.

#FreeSpeechTV is one of the last standing national, independent news networks committed to advancing progressive social change.

#FSTV is available on Dish, DirectTV , AppleTV, Roku, Sling, and online at freespeech.org.

Doug Henwood Free Speech TV Gamestop Insider Trading Market Manipulation Rising Up with Sonali Short Charges Sonali Kolhatkar Stock Market