Betting against it is "shorting" a stock. The simplistic explanation is basically this:
Suppose you see a stock you think it likely to go down (like GameStop). You "sell" it for, say $10, even though you not own it. You are holding that $10 and hoping it goes down. If it goes down to $2, you "buy" it for $2 and you are left with a $8 profit. It's very risky, though, because if the stock goes up to $300, you have to buy it for $300, effectively losing $290. And that is what this group of people did to stomp on the hedge fund.
Previously, these hedge funds really would make money doing that. And they have actually forced prices down artificially with their tactics. That's what I was complaining about: sometimes they hurt companies and individual investors with these games. Stock prices, like everything else, is based on supply and demand. If people want to buy the stock and few people want to sell, the price rises. If people sell and there are few buyers, the price goes down. When hedge funds short millions of shares of a stock, it artificially pushes down the price. That is compounded when normal people (not knowing what is happening) then go sell their shares to cut their losses. Now, you have big institutions and little people selling, further driving down the price. The little guy almost always takes a bath, but the hedge fund rakes in lots of cash from the panic sells by buying up the stock it "sold" (that it never owned), profiting all the way to the bank.
And I do hope this might help to put an end to short selling. I think it's a horrible practice. People describe the stock market like a gambling casino. I do invest, but never with the intent to gamble. I buy solid companies that pay dividends. I absolutely hate those companies that manipulate the market by shorting stock.
They repeated it again today with AMC. But, yeah, I suppose they can repeat this a few times. However, there will definitely be a point where the little guys are going to run out of crash to throw at these endeavors. Those folks who pushed GameStock to $350 will want to sell at some point and it might be at $0, given GameStock really is having financial trouble. But, perhaps if enough people feel that losing $300 or $1000 is worth it to stop these short-sellers from killing stocks, fine. I have seen these short-sellers utterly destroy companies before and it's really sad. Those who have been playing these games for decades usually make millions of dollars by shorting and then somebody (maybe even affiliates) buys the carcass for scraps and use the trademarks or whatever to make even more money. It's pathetic. Personally, I'm glad to see the little guy take a stand, but I do not see this as sustainable. (I wish Congress would ban short selling. That would solve a lot of problems.)
They've already taken down the hedge fund guys. But they're not out. They'll be fine. Those who will ultimately lose are those who bought the stock at an insanely inflated price. I have no love or hate for GameStop, nor have I ever held any positions in the company. But looking at the financial data on Yahoo Finance, it looks like a company with some real financial challenges.
I can confirm this was the case when I was in high school. In fact, sometimes the agriculture teacher would ask students to bring them into the classroom if he had a lesson to teach about them, like how to clean them.
Yes, more than once I saw students packing shotguns and rifles down the hall to class.
I don't argue with liberals about morality, Trump's character, or anything. I just point out that Trump worked to create jobs for the people, end wars, etc. Democrats are trying to destroy jobs, take money from big corporations, and escalate military engagements.
To be fair, though, the GOP has no better track record. Trump was truly a different kind of leader.
Graphic depiction of his violation: https://clipground.com/images/man-on-phone-clipart-5.jpg
Anyone creating a web page to enumerate all of the disasters? So far, he has destroyed women's sports, thrown women under the bus on bathrooms, killed oil jobs in PA, pissed off Canada and killed jobs related to the pipreline, admitted he cannot do shit about the virus (after complaining Trump was not doing it right), handed over more control of America to China (as in this example), signed documents he admitted he did not know what he was signing, etc.
I'm sure I am missing some, but what a train wreck in just a few days.
I'm in the camp of trying to not be offensive to people and generally using PC language. That said, I also try not to take offense and don't get offended by use of those words.
But I do use the word retarded a lot. And I've been called a hateful SOB by privileged leftists for it. I actually did some digging on that word once just to understand the origins and use over time. I knew it was a term used to describe a medical condition. What I did not know is that so are all of the other words used for similar purposes, including idiot, imbecile, moron, etc.
Alas, we are safe to use the word retarded now, though, because medical professionals have adopted the words "intellectual disability". That's a good move, because nobody is going to misappropriate that.
Yeah, I can definitely see it doesn't bother you. :)
When I was in high school, people used to throw that word around a lot. Then, it did not seem to ever be used in the context of homosexuality. However, I suspect the word might have originated there. But kids tend to repurpose words sometimes -- at least my class did. And we may very have just been ignorant. Still, I never used the word, just as I never used the word "freak" or similar derogatory words. I will admit to having accused more than one person of being retarded. But, damn, some people are just retarded -- including a good number of people in Congress. I have no good alternative word. I just have to apologize to all of the legitimately retarded people of the world, as I genuinely mean no offense to them.
Thanks for that. So I guess for some, this might be a hurtful term, but as @CanadianEurofag, I guess it depends on its usage, too.
The "oh, I love gay people" comment is definitely something I can see taking offense to. I hear that kind of thing about races, mixed-race marriages (like mine), etc. That said, I tend to only hear those kinds of things from liberals in the north-east. I've been out to dinner with my wife and actually had a lady stop to tell me she thought we looked cute together. That kind of stuff just amazes. It amazes me because I get the sense that they're trying to express their approval while actually holding some internal feelings of disapproval. Yeah, those kinds of sentences don't bother me, but it makes me wonder what kind of bigot they truly are, to be honest. It's funny, too, because (as a Trump supporter), I've been told a million times over the past four years what kind of bigot or racist or whatever I am. I'm thinking they're projecting. I really do.
All that said, I am nonetheless sensitive to the fact that words do hurt sometimes. I appreciate you giving me your view on it.
People can wear multiple hats.