Welcome to an American Tragedy Waiting to Happen

To preface this post...

I am not a financial advisor. You should NOT read this post looking for advice regarding stocks, investing, or the market. 

Now that that's out of the way... have you guys seen what's going on with GameStop?

I know, it's been all over the news. As I write this post, the GameStop stock is currently trading at over $300. About a month ago it was less than $15.

This screen shot is from 31 Jan 2021

People unfamiliar with the stock market might think that this is amazing and shows that GameStop is doing really well and that if they buy the stock, they'll make money. People unfamiliar with Reddit might be trying to figure out what it is and why it's causing GameStop to trade at such an inflated price. 

Guys, this whole thing is one giant troll.

I mean that in the Internet sense.

Yes, some people are doing this to mess with Hedge Funds. Yes, some ordinary people are going to make a lot of money. 

However, this is an American Tragedy waiting to happen.

This all started when some dudes on a Reddit page noticed that a Hedge Fund was planning on shorting the GameStop stock in the hopes of making a ton of money. This is not an unusual thing to happen in the market - most financial institutes are just smart enough to not advertise what they are doing to the general public. How or why the people of Reddit learned this information isn't super important. We can assume it was public information or at least released publicly. 

What is important is that these people on Reddit - because of nostalgia, wanting to stick it to "the man", pull of the biggest troll of their lives, or to deal with their boredom from the pandemic - decided to buying up the GameStop stock. Thus they drove up the trading price.

More people jumped on the "buy GameStop" train and the value of the stock shot up. This meant that the Hedge Fund that made a bet to short the stock were going to lose a ton of money.

Now, I don't really like the practice of shorting stocks - I don't think it's all that cool to bet on someone or something to fail - so I don't feel much for these institutions. But I'm also not going to go out and tell people to buy GameStop or any of the other stocks these Reddit people are trying to drive up. 

GameStop stock is not work the $300 it's currently trading at. 

What does this mean?

It's a massive train wreck waiting to happen. 

Here's where we get to the tragedy. If you need a refresher on what tragedy is, it's basically when a story ends badly because our protagonist has a personality quirk that's actually a fatal flaw. Think Hamlet or Othello from our days studying Shakespeare (assuming you guys studied this). If you want a quick deep dive into the genre, go watch the Overly Sarcastic Productions video (link here) that came out a couple of days ago. It's funny and informative.

See the thing about the stock market is that it's just another type of gambling. By buying a stock, you are betting the value will go up. The value of a stock usually, but not always, reflects how a company is doing. There are other benchmarks that should be watched and some stocks are traded at future/potential earnings instead of real/current earnings which adds another layer of risk. People who know what they're doing know that there's no guarantee that the money they put in the stock  market will ever be seen again... even if there's also the chance they'll make a ton of money.

From my perspective as an outsider of the situation looking in, I'm entertained by what is going on. A bunch of people on the Internet getting together to disrupt the stock market and stick it to a bunch of billionaires is satisficing in many ways. Its a whole new level of trolling.

But there's going to be collateral damage… and I don't mean those Hedge Funds that are going belly up. Real individual people are going to be harmed by this. 

Though I've been avoiding reading the actual Reddit forums, some of my friends haven't and they're concerned by the number of people bragging about how much money they put in to buy GameStop stock. Some people were claiming that they had put in all of their savings or at least their stimulus checks to join in on the buying frenzy.

I want to repeat that GameStop stock may be trading at over $300, but it is not worth that amount.

GameStop is not doing well as a company. And the most tragic part of this story is that they could easily go bankrupt. If that happens, everyone loses their money. There's no refund for a stock from a company that goes belly-up. 

That's the worst case scenario. 

The real tragedy comes from the people who brought the stock when it was at it's highest and how much they're going to lose when the market re-stabilizes. The people who brought the stock when it was still around $15 are going to make a lot of money, but that's not going to be most people. Most people are going to lose all the money and then some that they put into GameStop.

That's the reality.

That's the tragedy.

I don't think that many of those people who helped drive up the cost of the stock realize this. Investment isn't something that the average American participates in on their own. With the push for investment apps and free trading on the Internet, more people have begun to try their hand at it, but it's still not the norm. How to invest isn't a standard class in schools (though I did take several classes on the subject in both high school and college, but they were electives). 

So no matter what happens next, the market stabilizes or GameStop declares bankruptcy, the people still throwing their money at this stock are going to lose it. I don't know when the bubble is going to burst. I don't know how awful it might be (it might not be that bad).

I don't even know what kind of laws and regulations are going to come out of this. And, oh yes, there will be laws and regulations because of this madness.

Like I said earlier, it's a train wreck waiting to happen. I'm morbidly fascinated being entertained by a situation that I know will end badly no matter what. I am a member of the audience watching a play where the actors are inviting the gullible to join them on stage.

Tragedy is cathartic. It's not positive or negative. It simply is. Hamlet continues to be performed nearly 500 years after it was written even though we know how it's going to end. Heck the first monologue in Romeo and Juliet tells us that our two love birds are doomed to die. There's no mystery to the story. We already know what's going to happen. What we don't know is the "how".

Which is where we are in the GameStop stock saga (as I write this post).

Some people might walk away with a lot of money, but the average person is going to get hurt. Seriously hurt - like Ophelia drowning because she went crazy hurt (that's not a spoiler to a 500 year old play).

And that my dear readers, is why this is an American Tragedy.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Ghost Sightings

Ghosts are real. 

They exist at the edges of our minds to help us deal with the reality that one day we will die and no longer exist as we do right now. We might go our whole lives without ever seeing a ghost, but that doesn't mean we aren't followed by them.

I've never seen a ghost. I probably never will. But I know they're there to keep histories and memories alive for just a little longer.

About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about how ghost stories (at least the best ones) are rarely about the ghosts. You can read that blog post by clicking this link. 

That post primarily focuses on fictional stories and the ones that get passed down from generation to generation as a way to preserve culture or history. It wasn’t my first post on ghosts, nor was it the first time I brought up the fact that ghost stories are a good measure to discover what a culture values. This post will likely not be the last either.

Today I was feeling under the weather. Thankfully nothing COVID related (at least I haven’t heard of a crumbly stomach being associated with the virus). I ended up spending most of the morning under a pile of blankets with a cat curled up next to me and Unsolved Mysteries on in the background. I came back to full awareness when the episode playing was entirely in Japanese.

The episode in question was on the aftermath of the 3.11.2011 earthquake and tsunami. At first I was a bit confused as to why this was on Unsolved Mysteries as I hadn’t heard of anything unusual happening after the tragedy. Then ghosts were mentioned and things began to fall into place.

The episode wasn’t about a murder or disappearance that occurred in conjunction to the day, but about the trauma that happened to the people after over 15,000 were swept away by a wall of water. People began to see ghosts.

I don’t think this is all that unusual after such a horrific disaster. Though the episode does mention that ghost sightings are a rare occurrence in Japan after incidents of mass death (natural or man made), there is a cultural explanation for why this region of Japan had a high number of ghost sightings in the months and years after 3.11 (as the day has become known as).

Mass death isn’t normal. Sudden mass death is traumatic and leaves a gaping impression like a bullet hole.

The amount of death going on right now because of the pandemic feels so much worse. It's like a stab wound that hasn't closed properly and became infected. It'll likely leave a massive scar, if the wound ever heals.

I’ve been lucky. I haven’t seen the mobile morgues. My family has managed to avoid the worst of COVID. I’m still incredibly stressed by the situation.

We’ve seen how humans of the past dealt with pandemics and it was filled with images of death. The great plague that ravaged Asia and Europe in the Middle Ages left us with tons of paintings which featured dancing skeletons and iconography we still closely associate with death. The Dance of the Macabre is familiar enough to most modern people - even if they aren’t aware of its exact origin.

That particular disease really did look like something out of a zombie movie. COVID doesn’t have the tell tale disfiguration or gross puss filled boils like Bubonic or one of its similar plague buddies has. It’s not flashy and easily hidden away from the public eye. 

But the stress and trauma is all around us. I do wonder how our modern world will deal with it.

In the mid-2000s there was a huge uptick in paranormal investigative shows. I won’t deny that I enjoyed them back then. Although, now I much prefer seeing the story unfold rather than watch 40 of people wander around in the dark and then spend 10 minutes trying to tell me that there was a “ghost” on a recording. I like to think I’ve matured in taste since then, but it’s unlikely.

I’m not saying that the trauma of 9/11 was the reason for this sudden splash of TV shlock, but the timing is there. Kind of like how it wasn’t necessarily the counter culture of the 60s and 70s that led to the satanic panic of the 80s and 90s. 

But after traumatic events, we as humans seem to be drawn to what comes after life. Many times the trauma takes the form of ghosts.

I think there’s a reason Gettysburg is known for its battlefields and ghosts more than any other US city. The town and surrounding area was bombarded for three hot days in July. It’s the bloodiest battle to take place on US soil. And the town is filled with ghost stories about those three horrific days.

Will COVID correlate to another surge in live action ghost shows? Will we get more shows or movies like The Haunting of Hill House or Bly Manor? 

If anything, I do hope that the pandemic brings the end of the zombie. For years zombies were equated to disease and that we could fight our way out of it. Nothing remotely like the zombie apocalypse has happened. Please creative types, make zombies go away.

I’m still feeling a little queasy. The only other time I’ve felt like this and didn’t actually get sick was when I had a horribly stressful month at work while I was still new to my career. I couldn’t eat for a couple weeks. COVID has wrecked my nerves in a similar way - don’t know why this was the week for my body to freak out.

I have never seen a ghost - though I wouldn’t mind the experience. I think it’s important to understand that ghosts are very real. Whether or not seeing them is a response to trauma or a suggestion of the mind to rationalize the unknown or they are in fact real is up to you the individual. Right now my body is physically responding to the stress of the pandemic. Years from now, my mind might process the trauma differently.

And boy has my generation lived through a lot of traumatic events. 

If you enjoyed this post or it really (pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Stay safe everyone.

Welcome to Nature's Fury

 So if you guys haven't noticed, the western coast of America is on fire. 

Right now, my family out there is relatively safe. Though one of the major evacuation routes has been cut off by the fires, air quality is beyond poor, and every picture I see looks apocalyptic. Things, of course, could be worse. There could be a major Earthquake or storm to also hit that coast and really mess things up for the people living there. 

I mean it's not like the pandemic is making things any easier. 

To add insult to injury, it has been confirmed that at least one of these fires was started because someone needed explosives to announce their child's genitalia. I honestly feel that the judge for this case needs to throw the book at them. Though it probably won't do much to help stop this stupidity.

I get that climate change and protecting the environment are touchy subjects for some people. Sure, climate change is a natural occurrence that has been recorded throughout history. However, humans are definitely not helping the situation (see my earlier note about the fire). One could argue that since humans are a part of nature that this is still a natural thing to happen to the Earth.

Heck, this isn't even really the end of the world, just everything living on it.

Am I sounding bitter or annoyed? 

That's because I am. Since the I've been around, environmentalism and taking care of the Earth have been major messages in the media. I grew up watching shows like Captain Planet and Bill Neigh the Science Guy. Movies like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer even reference the issue un-ironically. 

We're just now starting to really see the consequences of not doing enough. I mean there are four major storm systems currently hanging out in the North Atlantic with another three on deck. Oh and the west coast of the United States is on FIRE.

Wait...wasn't Australia also on fire earlier this year?

The pandemic's cause my sense of time to warp so badly, it feels like the past nine months have actually been a full decade. Yes, Australia was also on FIRE at the beginning of 2020 and might go up in flames again in 2021.

To quote one of my favorite Broadway musicals: "it ain't right and it ain't natural."*

It's great that we're teaching kids about climate change because the kids really are the ones leading the charge for change. Greta Thunberg might be the most well known climate rights activist child, but also Jamie Margolin, Mari Copeny (also known as Little Miss Flint), and Xiye Bastida (to name a very few). 

We'll listen to these kids, maybe give them a high-five for a job well done, but are the adults in the room doing anything productive?

Not really.

Because it's all about the money y'all and a lot of very wealthy people have their money tied to how things are right now. 

Again, I'm a little annoyed that there is still a debate about what to do about the environment. I mean it's not like we're facing crisis after crisis that has ties to climate change. 

Oh wait we are.

Fires, flooding, massive storms, A PANDEMIC, crop failures, murder hornets (whatever happened to that plot point anyway), and messed up seasons all have ties to environmental factors. We're seeing what happens when you ignore scientists for 50 years.

And for the people who think that God will keep the Earth as it is for another couple of millennia, I would like to point you back to the book of Genesis where it clearly states that the big guy told Adam and Eve to take care of the Earth.

But what do I know?

It's not like I've been on social media and seen pictures of a post-apocalyptic sky hanging over California, Oregon, and Washington. It's not like every couple of days another 1000 people pass away from a disease we barely understand. It's not like Louisiana isn't partially destroyed or anything with another hurricane on the way.

Also, there was an Earthquake in Jersey recently...weird right?

We only have 3 and a half more months to get through this year. Things can still get worse and the only thing we can do is prepare the best we can. Have a "go" bag ready with essential items like bottled water and a first aide kit. Make sure you have an emergency route planned out. Don't forget your pets!

2020 ain't over yet.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. 

*The musical in question is: Hadestown. I can't recommend it enough.

Welcome to...2020 Sucks

I've heard it said that there are some decades where nothing happens and no history is made, and sometimes the history of a decade occurs in a single year. I'm convinced that I am living through one of those times.

I think this street art from Iceland somewhat reflects what I'm feeling.

I mean, I've lived through a number of major historical events, but the year of our existence 2020 seems to take the cake. I think the tone of the year (and maybe the whole decade) was set when I woke up on the first day of the year to #worldwar3 trending on Twitter. Also Australia was on fire.

Come March, everything is on lock down, followed quickly by mass layoffs and demands to "reopen the country". Stress and anxiety have been at an all time high since. I know it's been affecting me because I've been struggling to write and paint. When I do finally sit down to focus on creating something, my mind gets stuck. I either can't finish what I start or am completely dissipated with the end result.

I still try.

In the middle of all the stupidity around people breaking quarantine and lock down procedures, a video of a woman in Central Park asserting her dominance over a black man by threatening to call the police on him...when she was the person in the wrong. She faced a lot of backlash - rightfully deserved, but some of the follow up to her actions have been disheartening (the dog rescue that took her dog after she strangled the poor boy, eventually gave the dog back).

A few days later, a video of George Floyd being murdered by police went viral. Part of me can't help noticing the timing of the two videos. The woman Central Park wasn't just threatening a black man with arrest, but possible violence from the police.

Protests have continued since and we've learned the names Breonna Taylor and Elijah McClain who'd both been killed by police prior to George Floyd. Now there is a federal police presence in Portland, and more coming to cities across the country.

I've watched a lot of videos and seen pictures from the protests and the damage caused by rubber bullets and tear gas. I watched on live TV while protesters were cleared from Lafayette Square so the president could hold up a bible (upside down) in front of St. Johns Church.

Part of me feels that November can't come soon enough, part of me is worried that it won't matter.

At least the president finally said that people should wear masks. The reports of people catching COVID-19 after his rallies was worrisome. A few people have talked about being yelled at by strangers for wearing masks and being "sheep" or perpetuating a hoax.

COVID-19 is not a hoax. Wear a mask.

At least the murder hornet plot point that popped up in May has since vanished. Though I put nothing past what could happen in 2020.

When I started out this year, I was hopeful and optimistic. I wasn't in the best place in my life and thankfully some things have gotten a lot better. However the same can't be said for a lot of other people.

In the coming weeks, without a viable plan, mass evictions are likely to start. People (especially minorities and women) would end up on the streets without anywhere safe to go. This isn't just the usual amount of bad. This is the type of bad that could drastically increase their odds of catching COVID-19. More people are going to die if our government doesn't create a stimulus plan that includes renters, people who are food insecure, and anyone out of work.

There are a lot of terrible things happening in the world right now. It's tempting to delete my social media, turn off the news, and bury my head in the sand and pretend everything will be alright. I'll probably be alright, but the world doesn't revolve around me.

It's tough to know what to do when faced with everything going on. I often feel helpless in the face of so many problems. I feel I can't do a lot to help due to the virus, but I have been writing to my elected officials and donating money when I can. I try to stay informed with what is going on and educating others. These are small things, but maybe these small things will pile up until they have enough momentum to create real change.

2020 sucks.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.