TOWN. .coUNTRY LIVING a aby Vall | aaa cs Sy) pea all Maes |: \ ‘MUSINGS FROM LONG HILL BY RICHARD MORCHOE asionally the Matix opens up and there isa glimpse Class warfare goes 1 /agp teaiesrtintaeriefarhioica Fy, ithas been years since ve seen the movies and they are ‘only imperfectly remembered, 0 | don't know fan analogy of the Matix opening makes sense. A better example might be the Wizard of O2 when Toto pulls aside the curtain to reveal who the wizard relly i \We had similar incident lat month when something that was not supposed to happen did, Inthe Financial word, some cor nated people had their slam dunk ofa deal upended and the business news channels were caught wondering how to view the Itlooked lke the usual shor play. A company whose raison to the Stock Market etre was net a money maker had caught the attention of some people who saw thatthe price ofthe companys tock should go down. They would be more than happy to assist inthe decline ‘and make 2 few bucks doin it Now in buying stocks, one hopes the price wl increase to sell ‘ata profi. How can one make money doing that with a stack that isa deg? To dot with aloserieue, ti old shor Thats the stack ie borrowed and the borrowed stock i fold. The short salle waite forthe price to go dovm and then buys back the stack and re- tums to the owner. The diferonce between what twas sold for ond what iis bought back foris the preft See tanec Insurance coverage that’s tailored to your unique needs. [At McGrath Insurance we believe the things that matter most fo you deserve superior protection: your business, your family, your employees, your home, your car, and more. ur team of experts will develop a custom insurance plan to meet your unique needs and budget, giving you Freedom from Worry*to enjoy allof lifes adventures. Call us at 508-347-6850 for a complimentary review of your insurance policies. * MCGRATH INSURANCE GROUP eer) TOWN BCOUNTHY UVING MAGAZINEClass warfare ‘The hedge fund cool Kids had every reason to belave this would work ell excoptit int ‘The company that was tobe the victim, GameStop (symbol GMB, sold physical copies of computer games when gaming had gone mest digital Some hedge funds saw the opportunity and piled on, sal. lng short more shares than actully existed, Seling shore shares of stock that do not exist called “naked” shor sal ing, One may atk hows this logal? Wall itsnt, and wos ‘outlawed during the Great Recession when the financial n- dustry learned its lessons and bad things were never to hap- pen again, Naked shoring continues te happen, but the als. ae not {ull ofthe comected practitioners. As George Orwell had it, some animals are more equal than thers, ‘The GameStop play looked good forthe raider, but a¢ Scots post, Bobby Burns noted, “The bes lad schemes 0 tice en’ men / Gang aft 2gley” The intemet has changed the world. Whether thas boon forthe better isa mater for debate, Backin the Dark Ages, brokerages, charged hefty fees 10 execute stock trades. For the average person to become knowledgeable about a company's shares demanded, the least, tp to the library and the information there was prab- ably incomplete. Thus, the number of people whe invested who were not employees of financial business, wo limited to those wit resources and suficiant time to gain ome ex: pertse Now, in these latter days, all knowledge is online, Couple shat with enterprises such 2¢ Robinhood that wll execute cus tomer’ stock trades sans commission and the cemocratza- tion af the market seems completa ‘4 multtudo of poople who follow WallSreetBots on the lscustion ste, Reddt noticed the shorting ofthe stack and lke ahve swarm stated buying GameStop. When that hap- pened, the shor sellers faced having to buy back the stock ‘Ahhuge lyin the oinement's, there are enough buyers, ‘theoretically the stock could keep going up forever. The hedge funds would go bust long before that. As the financial lumpan proletariat grabbed ther digital ptchforks to storm the castle, looked ke itwas going to happen. “Town COUNTRYLING MAGAZINE “OCTOBER. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous monthsto speculate in stocks. Theothersare july, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” —MarkTwain The peasent army bought enough shares such thet Melvin Capital, one of the biggest short sellers had to_be baled out to the tune of thee bilion delas. The Bastille hadfllen, Vive fs révolution twas at thie point that the curtain was pulled aside and not by Toto, or ifyou must, Agent Smith ofthe Matrix ‘The establishment wae not amused. On business news channel, CNBC, host of the midday show Halhime Report, ‘Scott Wapner, had as a guest CharmathPelhapitia, CEO ofthe ‘venture capital firm Social Capital \Wapnec hed a problem wit the young billonaie, Palhapi- tiya was standing up forthe insurgents anc Scott came of 8 2 valiant defender of ete capital, but Scot kind of tried ta doin a roundabout way of seeming to sympathize with the poor liso guys \Wopner suggested that GameStop was primed to fall and the litle guy would need tobe protected by regulation. CChamath it not sey Scott was crying crocodile tears but r= sponded, “Don't ll afa sudden ook at a short squeeze, here money is being made by retail and say, ‘Hey they could be and may be the bag holder i the futur, so let ‘make sure they can never partijpate in the future,” Palihap= the said, “Thats cray” Scott denied that was what he was saying and Chammath replioc: "You are soyng tht!” “That's the implication of hat you're saying.” "Tr not saying they should’ beable o participate,” Wopner countered, "You're saying they should partcpate on your terms—" Palhapiia sic "Not" Wapner shot back. Patnapitya countored, “On Wall Strat’ torms, in 2 way here — wien Wall Street can have the best oft they can ‘maybe participate on the side,” Scott claimed all he was looting for was a “hazard sign.” It vas weak and nat tall convincing, ‘Wapner was clearly annoyed as his young bilionare ‘quest dint know the team he was supposed to be on. ‘CNBC was not done. Thay would have as an interview, Leon Cooperman, another member ofthe aggrieved rich People are siting athome getting their checks from the gov- ‘emment, okay, and this sir shore so HAWIARAE (sce note at the end} concept. I's just a way of attacking wealthy peopl. think t'sinappropriate. We all got to work together and pul tagethar” OF course, the previous sentence le certainly @ |8k8488¥8 concept a8 no one expects Leon to be down inthe tronchee with th plobs Tras not just business TV, ether respectable figures spoke ‘out, Former SEC Commissioner Laura Unger was concemed. ‘She compared the GameStop uprising to January 6th atthe Capit. you don't have the police in there at the right time, things goa itl crazy” She did admit it was to-2 lesser degroe,” but was the same “platform-created frenzy that people are operating und." and added Wall Srast was, Ting through “tying bes.” (OF course the “wying times" ae haralycaused by the Gamestop events. They are, t moe, 8 symptom (CNN's Cri liza penned "How Tupi explains the GameStop stock surge.” Atleathe didr'tblame Putn. Hi idea was that was antieltiam asthe diver Maybe 0, but (Cie words could only be considered a defense cf team te ‘our clunrist admis to cheering fr the inargency. He tends to be a Canis she agrees with he late George Cat tv's famous quote about the dito of power inthis eoun- tty, "It's @ big club, and you ain't in it." am not proud of the feeling, tis abit of a churish sens rent, but there Ri. Cains tum may note completly jutied but a heck ofa at of ti, Inthe ond, the evo faled. Robinhood, ho fm that oo estes most ofthe trades forthe GameStop buy stopped any further wading inthe stock Not unreasonably, there were thoughts hat someone big had hada mafia sje stdown with iad Taney int tobe cone fused wih Vind Tepes) head of Robinhood, who wa od hat something bal cul happen ado! Copia cuter Robinhood'srades and thuere- ‘xves information fom the order lw, It aleo ended up bal ing out Mehin Capt’ shor postion. That could not have made them hep. Ihtuned ot that was probably nat the case and Robinhood had severe cath problems due othe huge vale of rades they had been clad onto execute, Tenev tested to that be fore Congress. Se, te glorious ptsch was over. Robinhood! ea get ich nick venue ae valuable a thee card mont. Sl fr the ‘cecasional investor there are wore things than commision fee tedes. Just remember tat the Citadel Capa oe har ‘esting your information and as they sy, for social mach, you ‘76 not the custome, you ae the produc. ‘Als, remember the sage vesting acca of Mark Tain, who war probably the nations grates humorist: “OCTOBER: “isis one of the peculiarly dangerou mnths to speculate in stocks, The others are ly, Janary, September, Api, Novem ber May, March, June, December, August, and February" “Ashi is family magazine, neon Long Hil wish to space cur reeders any ulti. Thus MMHAAN represents the end product of bovine digestion. TORN coUNTRYUMINGMAGAZNE