Commentator Ben Shapiro took a stick to the reddit GameStop investors calling them a pox on the purity of Wall Street for launching the GameStop short sales that sent so many hedge fund bosses into despair this week.
Shapiro was not amused at all by the efforts that Internet wags launched to drive up the price of several garbage stocks to force the hedge fund operators to lose millions on their short sales.
No, the young commentator did not think the campaign to hurt the hedge funds was at all funny. On both his radio show and his Twitter feed, Shapiro lamented the reddit investors.
“Much of the enthusiasm for the GameStop prank is rooted in a fundamental misconception that the stock market is merely a casino. This is untrue,” Shapiro tweeted.
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Indeed, instead of finding it amusing that the redditors made life so difficult for the hedge funds, he slammed them as unfairly harming the hedge funds.
Shapiro defended the hedge funds and insists that they provide the “proper pricing of assets through aggregation of information, conveyed through transactions.” Hedge funds are a worthy institution, as far as Shapiro is concerned.
“The GameStop guys believe the market is a casino…and that purely gaming the system is how they make their money. If we all believe that, nobody should invest in the stock market,” he added.
Shapiro added that even though the reddit investors didn’t do anything illegal, they still materially harmed the stock market.
“What the GameStop guys are doing isn’t illegal, because they’re not lying: they admit GameStop isn’t worth much, they’re just in it for the LOLs and the screwing of the hedge fund guys. Which does make this funny, but also reinforces untruths about the market generally,” Shapiro said.
“In other words, there is a reason #EatTheRich is trending. The motivating factor here isn’t really hedge fund corruption — if you’re worried about bailouts, as I am, you should be telling the government to stop bailing out financial firms. It’s pure dislike for hedge fund guys,” Shapiro exclaimed.
Here is Ben’s full Twitter thread:
The stock market provides three goods:
1. Liquidity options for companies;
2. Investment opportunities for stockholders;
3. Proper pricing of assets through aggregation of information, conveyed through transactions.— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 28, 2021
The GameStop guys believe the market is a casino, that stock traders are speculators who do not provide (3), and that purely gaming the system is how they make their money. If we all believe that, nobody should invest in the stock market. Period.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 28, 2021
What the GameStop guys are doing isn't illegal, because they're not lying: they admit GameStop isn't worth much, they're just in it for the LOLs and the screwing of the hedge fund guys. Which does make this funny, but also reinforces untruths about the market generally.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 28, 2021
Some hedge fund guys are jackasses. Some aren't. But undermining confidence in the pricing mechanism of the market to make some quick cash and screw those guys isn't virtue (though again, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh).
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 28, 2021
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