The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The GameStop Uprising

Episode Date: February 8, 2021

Reddit users wreak havoc on Wall Street by causing GameStop stocks to soar, trading firms face major backlash for restricting trades on the company, and Redditors set their sights on silver. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. The stock market, America's number one supplier of Great Depressions.

As volatile as the stock market can be, this has been one of its wildest weeks yet. Craziest business story out there. An internet trading mob is driving GameStop higher. It appears to spite short sellers. Look at the stock. It's up more than 680% so far this year. They realized that all of the institutional investors were hedging on GameStop, so they just bought a bunch of call options, bought a bunch of stock, and created the gamma squeeze that you saw on Friday. Okay, okay, I don't know about you, but that explanation is way too complicated,

short-selling the thing of the long-sell and then the country. Look, what we really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thin th thin thin thin the long sell and then the cont- look, what we really need here is that scene from the big short where Margot Robbie breaks it down for us in a bathtub, you know? And I actually called her to do that, but she blocked my number. So I had to figure out plan B. Basically, there's a group of people on Reddit who don't use the stock market to invest. They use it to gamble. And yeah, that's a group of people on Reddit who don't use the stock market to invest. They use it to gamble. And yeah, that's what a lot of serious investors do too, but these guys on Reddit are more honest about it, and they love to troll the people who aren't.

So there's a store called GameStop that sells video games, not a great business to be in since games can be downloaded now, which is why the serious investors decided to short GameStop, which means to bet against it. But the Reditors are gamers who have a semi-ironic love for the store, so they started making memes encouraging each other to punish the serious people by buying worthless GameStop stocks. Now instead of failing, GameStop is succeeding wildly. Not really, of course, not as a business. But come on, stocks are never real. The serious people have already lost $5 billion and some giant hedge funds have gone bankrupt.

Got it? Good. Now, let's get out Margot Robbie's bathroom before she gets home and ask me what I'm doing here. The last time she caught me here was a bit awkward. Okay now that we're on the same page, yo, this shit is wild! And I know some people are freaking out about this, people like, this isn't how Wall Street is supposed to work. Well, what's going to happen to these poor hedge funds? Let me tell you something. Wall Street is going to be fine, right? There are millions of people who are out of work and thousands of businesses closing and yet the stock market is an all-time high. I'm not worried about hedge fund guys.

They can cry about this on their helicopter that takes them to their boat, that tha. In fact if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if anything, if any any any any any any any any, if any, if any, if any, I thi, I thi, if any, I thi, I thi, I thi, I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th. th. th. th. th, th. th. th. th. th. th. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. to, the. the, the, the, their, their, their, their, the fact, if anything, I think it's actually funny to see how Wall Street doesn't like it when somebody Wall Streets them. Yeah, because when they make moves that cost people their homes, people in Wall Street are like, hey man, those are the rules. But when it happens to them, they're like, the stock prices of other failing companies like

Bedboth and Beyond, AMC movie theaters, and even Tutsi Rolls. Which, by the way, I didn't even know that Tutsi Roll had its own stock. Who was that for? So, it's a candy that looks and tastes like a turd, but it also sticks to your teeth. You're interested in investing? Now, if you think about it, the only reason that these Redditses have been able to pull this off is because of the internet. Yeah, think about it, like Reddit's and all these social media, they make it possible to get together with people who think like you. This wasn't possible decades ago. Like now if you want to take down a hedge fund, you can find people to help you do it. If you want to plan an insurrection, you can find people to help you do it. Hell, if you think you're the only person in the world who's attracted to that part of

a stapler that looks like a face, well I'll see you at Hot Sa the Staple Faces. Mmm. The Game Stop stock explosion. You know, it's the reason your 14-year-old cousin just bought a Ferrari. Traders on Reddit sent the stock soaring this week, causing billions in losses for the hedge funds that bet against the video game retailer's stock. And today, Wall Street decided enough was enough. And this is a Fox News alert now. Draw your attention to Main Street, where GameStop and AMC shares have been tumbling in trading action today as a growing number of firms moved to halt trading on some stocks boosted by amateur traders on Reddit.

The action is so wild that TD Ameritrade and Robin Hood have restricted trading of these stocks. Wells Fargo also banning its advisors from telling clients to buy or sell Gamestop game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game.. Game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game game. Game to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their shares. the the their shares. the their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the the the the toa.m.c.m.c.c.c.. Wells Fargo also banning its advisors from telling clients to buy or sell GameStop and AMC. And now the criticism centered on Robin Hood for abandoning their followers here in favor of helping those who had shorted all these stocks in the first place. I don't particularly like the move on Robin Hood today. I'm talking to people this morning that say, okay, that is anti-capitalism. You can't do that. A class action complaint was just filed in the Southern District of New York against Robin Hood. And this is what part of it says, and I'm quoting, purposefully, willfully and knowingly, Robin Hood removed the stock, GEME, game stop from its trading platform in the midst of an unprecedented stock rise.

Thereby it goes on manipulating the open market. Yeah, that's right people. Wall Street was getting rocked so hard by average people buying stock in GameStop that they just stopped average people from buying it. Yeah, the same guys, the same guys who are always like, the markets must never be regulated. They must never be regulated. They must always remain free. Those same guys are now like,

oh shit, the poor people got a hold of the freedom. Turn it off, turn off the freedom. So thanks to this ban, the GameStop stock that a lot of people bought for a ton of money, is now worth a lot less, which is probably familiar to anyone anyone anyone anyone anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone to anyone who to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to which is probably familiar to anyone who sold a used game back to GameStop. So right now, a lot of people are understandably upset about what Wall Street is doing. In fact, it's bringing together people from all sides. I mean, AOC and Ted Cruz are as far apart as Madison and Austin, and even they're both blasting the Robin Hood app for blocking users from buying GameStop stocks. Everyone's mad. Even people like Jarul.

Jaru who tweeted, Yo, this is a fucking crime. What a Robin Hood is doing? Do not sell. And let me tell you something. When the guy who did the fire festival thinks that you're a fraud, man, and you're doing some shady shit. Last week, you probably remember, day traders on Reddit shocked the markets by driving

stocks in GameStop and AMC movie theaters higher than the Queen's Hay in Bridgeton. But now, Reddit has its eye on something even more shiny. The GameStop saga continues to grow. It's not just stocks anymore, though, Reddit users are buying up silver, pushing up the value of the precious metal. Silver has now hit a five month high at nearly 30 bucks and out. anymore though, Reddit users are buying up silver, pushing up the value of the precious metal. Silver has now hit a five-month high at nearly 30 bucks an ounce. That Reddit group says that they're doing it because Big Banks, specifically JPMorgan

Chase have been, quote, suppressing metals for a long time. Over the weekend, retail sites that sell silver coins and silver bars said that they were getting hit by unprecedented demand and they couldn't meet it. The demand has been incredible. Pretty much physical silver. It's almost all gone in terms of live inventory. We typically have about a thousand silver products in inventory available for purchase. We're getting so cleaned out right now that we're actually, last I checked down to

about 80 items in stock, which is a number I've never seen before and never thought we would ever see. The entire industry is frankly wiped out. In terms of actually finding live silver that you can purchase and receive today, it's becoming impossible. I'm rich, rich I tell you. That's right people. Now silver prices are skyrocketing, which is going to cause confusion at the next Olympics.

I mean, if silver is more valuable than gold, everyone's going to try and get second place. Sprinters will be at the finish line like, after you, after you, after you. No, I insist, brother, after you. Man, you go. I'm always going first. to go ahead of me. Why don't you go ahead of me? Now, while some Reddit users say that driving silver prices higher will cripple banks like J.P. Morgan, others claim that this movement is secretly being coordinated by big Wall Street

firms because it would help the banks. And I believe this, because of course Wall Street will do that. When Wall Street sees a scam going, it doesn't try to stop it, it tries to join in. If Wall Street caught you robbing its mom, it would be like, Hey! Hold her legs down while I take off her shoes. Sometimes she has cash in there. Let me get in there. Let me get in there. But whether it's coordinated by the banks themselves or not,

the fact is, the Reddit search is now spreading from GameStock to Silver, to all sorts of stocks. And one of our correspondence has a pitch for looking to stick it to the hedge funds? Well forget about GameStop and Silver. You gotta invest in Kiwis. I'm Desi Lydic, and Kiwis are the investment opportunity that Wall Street doesn't want you to know about. They're portable. They hold their intrinsic value, and it's easy to think you're ordering 10 ta.

ta crates. Here's a fact. As far as we know, every single hedge fund is shorting Kiwis. And are we going to let them do that to America's national fruit? I don't think so. But if we all buy Kiwis, then... Rocket ship! And Kiwis are more than an investment. They go great in fruit salads. They can be organic truck nuts. And they're the only fruit covered in fur. So if you ever wonder what it's like to take a bite out of a hamster, now

you can with kiwis. And the best part is you don't even have to go through those Wall Street fat cats to get your kiwis. Just call me and let me know how many you want. They. They the they they they the they they they they the. T. T. T. T. They they they they they they they they. T. T. T. T. T. T. T. T. T. T. They they can. They their. They can. their. They can. they can. they can. They can. They can. They can. And their. And they can. They can. They can. And they can. And they can. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And they. And their. And their. And their. And their. And to. And to. And to. And to to. And to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be to their to to to their to their to to their their their their their their their their their their their. their their is, you don't even have to go through those Wall Street fat cats to get your Kiwis. Just call me and let me know how many you want, whether five or five thousand. But this opportunity will not last forever. Got maybe two days tops before it smells so bad in here that my landlord kicks me out. So order now. And remember, the more Kiwis we all buy, the more the hedge funds

suffer. It's just economics, so call today. Please. Honey, what did you do? I'm handling it. Doug Henwood, welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Good to be here. From a distance. Yes, yes indeed, and it's Distancing Show. Good to be here. From a distance. Yes, yes indeed. And it's a perfect time for you to be here. You have really established yourself as somebody who is not just aware of the market and participates in the market, but also calls Wall Street out for what it really is. The biggest story right now is GameStop, Wall Street, hedge funds,

and just a lot of money that is nowhere and yet everywhere. In the shortest way possible, how would you break this down to somebody who had no idea what was going on? Most civilians who don't really know the markets very well have the sense that it's all a big racket, kind of ludicrous, not that different from the casino, like all this image that Wall Street liked to cultivate about itself, that it's rational and it's allocating capital efficiency and all that's efficiently and all that. It's just nonsense. It's not doing any of those things. It does a little of it, but mostly it's just a game to try to outwit your competitors, people on the other side

of a trade, whatever, and run away with the most thiia money thia money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money money the most th. whatever and run away with the most money. It's just, there's nothing terribly rational. It's driven by emotions and psychology and fear and most recently over the last year or so, by a gusher of something like $3 trillion in federal reserve money, which has been powering the markets. So it's, that sense that a lot of people have that,

this is all a bit of a racket is completely accurate accurate. So it seems like, like you're saying, it's like basically people came into the casino and said, we're gonna play against the house and we're gonna make a lot of money. What's interesting here is a market that is oftentimes termed free and capitalistic has now been stopped. Can you explain that element?

Have these people broken the rules? Have they've done thiediediediediediediedied, thied, thied, thied, thied, these people broken the rules? Have they done anything wrong? Well, I think there are a couple of things going on. One is, you know, these Reditors, they're just the wrong kind of people, but they're playing the same game that Wall Street does. And when they're getting together, talking up a stock, talking down a stock, t all the time. And I think it's very funny to hear their professions of outrage that this is just not moral, you know, it's not fair. It's like the markets are supposed to be on the up and up and these guys are not playing fair. That's just utter nonsense. They're just the wrong kind of people. But I think the other thing is, yeah, they just are trying to present itself as the democratic institution, the democratic broker for

the masses are going to overturn the Wall Street order. It's deeply plugged into the Wall Street establishment. That's how they make their money. They feed their orders to establish brokers who then make money on those trades by taking a little bit of the price. So, yeah, I think they're, they are trying to make them an early early their their their their their their their their market in in in in in in in in in in in in in in in in in their market market market in order in order in order in order market in order market in their market market market market in their trade in their trade trade trade trade in their trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade in their trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on their trade on their trade on their trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade on trade in trade in trade in trade in trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in in in their trade in in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade in their trade on early trade on their trade on their bit of the price. So, yeah, I think they are trying to make an early market, but they're also trying to keep the fences up and make sure the rabble can't crash the party. So then two questions.

One, what does this tell us about Wall Street and the market? And two, what do we do to improve this? like an unfair system. It is an unfair system. It's a deeply unfair system. And one of the things that make me suspicious about all this talk of democratizing the stock market is that the distribution of income and wealth is very undemocratic and there's nothing that you can do it by, that nothing that a trading platform can do to change any of that. I mean the fundamentals of the society are not going to change because some people in Reddit got to play in the stock market. But what does it tell you about Wall Street? It is largely of little economic significance.

The standard story is that the stock market exists to raise money for productive corporations to invest in capital equipment, buildings, hire people, do R&D. It does almost none of that. The market really is more about extracting value from companies for shareholders. It really is a machine for extracting value for the top 1% of society. The ownership of stocks is extremely concentrated.

Something like 95% of all stocks are owned by the richest 5%. And you know, if you guys on Reddit, you're really not going to change that fundamental fact. So for those people who are on Reddit, you know, for the people who came in because they liked that GameStop got a new CEO, you know, those people who actually wanted to invest, the people who said, I believe in a future or screw the hedge funds. What position are they in now?

I mean, are they at risk of losing a lot of money now? Or are they in a position where they've made so much from the initial investment that if they get out, they're generally going to be fine? Yeah, I think you're going to exit a position. You just can't start a new one, which is somewhat reasonable. I think some people are going to really lose a lot of money. If people who are sensible enough sold into this rally, you know, if you bought it at 50 or 100 and sold at 300 or 350, you're doing pretty nicely. But I was just looking at the chart for trading in GameStop today, it went from something like 350 to 150 during the course of the day. It's been an utterly crazy wild ride.

none of it making much sense at all. Now, I think a lot of people, however, are going to hold on to their positions, hoping that, well, if it went to 350, you can go to 1,000. On Twitter today, somebody said to me, 4,000, with eight or 10 rocket, This is the nature of bubbles. You know, this larger issue here is that the entire stock market is in an epic bubble. I mean, it really one of the great bubbles of all time.

The market has only been valued this highly at a couple of previous times in history, 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, and 1929 before the Great Crash. So, you know, we're in some really crazy territory. And things like like like are a sign that maybe things are just a little frothy. But you know, I think there is that sense that when people get, people who are new to the market get this deeply involved is a kind of a sign that things are ripening, shall we say. There's a saying on Wall Street that bare market is when money returns to its rightful owners. And I think, I the th th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, I th, th, th, th, th, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin thin thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin-a, thin-a, thin-a, thin-a, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th is th is th is th is thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, th is thin, thin, the is thin, the is thin, thiiiiiiiii, th think we, you know, I don't know what's going to set off that bear market. Bubbles always go further than you think they could. There's certainly no

rationality to this at all. But at some point, somebody's going to be left holding a very depleted bag. Before I let you go, does the person who is holding the depleted bag determine how the situation is dealt, to the big players on Wall Street, if they're the ones holding the depleted bag, is it going to be dealt with differently from the government versus if like the people on the ground are holding the depleted bag? Oh, absolutely. There's nothing right now that we can see that would require any kind of government bailout. A couple of hedge funds may blow up, but nobody cares. There's no systemic risk around that, you know, much the worst for them. But, you know, I think if some Wall Street people left, left holding the bag, there may be some bailout. If, you know, larger entities than just a few

hedge funds run it to trouble, we'll have a government bailout. That's always what happens. Wall Street's quite an amazing game. There is always this, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, their their their their their th. their their their th. th. their this, I don't know, 10 and 15 years, it seemed to run into a wall and the government fails them out. So, you know, they learn that they can get away with anything. There's a famous story about Sonny Barger, the old Hells Angel who woke up from a coma after a motorcycle accident. And the nurse said to him, well, I hope you learned your lesson, Mr. Barger. He said, yes, I did.

And she said, what's that? And he said, I can do anything and survive. Is that the attitude that Wall Street cultivates? They can do anything and survive. The only thing that would really change anything is if there's enough popular outrage. That said we really need to regulate this casino seriously. We didn't really have that serious set of reforms after the 2008 financial crisis. Right.

You know, all right, but not serious. It was not like the reforms that happened after 29 to 32. So maybe, maybe, maybe if we see some kind of very serious mashup, we might finally wake up and have some kind of regulation of this Saturday. Doug Hanwood. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. I hope to see you again. Anytime, thanks. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change.

Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a Second Look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. The Game Stop Uprising. The biggest thing to happen with video games since Sonic got busted for doping. But if you haven't heard the news, what happened was that some Wall Street hedge funds bets a lot of money that the stock price of the video game store GameStop would fall.

But a bunch of people on Reddit found out about those bets, so they started buying game stop shares so that the price would go up and the hedge funds would lose a lot of money. And lose a lot of money they did in the billions of dollars. So, as you can imagine, Wall Street is pretty unhappy with those Reddit investors. A handful of industry leaders are calling for an investigation because of the angry mob that's formed against them. Last week wasn't a free market. It was a free-for-all market. No doubt about it for my 25 years in the business. I've never seen this form of collusion on such a widespread fashion.

This type of behavior is not the behavior that you want to be replicating. I think there is something obviously wrong, and it's the gamification of Wall Street. Talk to an analyst this morning, guys. He said this is dangerous. They forget they're buying a stock and a piece of a company. It's not just some symbol that you play hot potato with. Just because you throw the Hail Mary pass in your backyard and it's caught for the touchdown in the wind doesn't mean you're Tom Brady. What's going through in mind is how irrelevant I feel,

and how every day I just don't want to get out of bed, and how it's the least amount of fun I think I've ever had. Oh man, these Wall Street guys are taking this so hard that the interviews are just turning into therapy sessions. I feel so irrelevant right now, and I'm not having any fun. And I just remembered my parents never hung my paintings on the refrigerator. But the truth is what the Redditors did here is nothing new.

In fact, the only thing that makes this so unique is that this is just the first time that the little guy has used the big guys tactics against them. Because when it comes to manipulating the market and treating trades like a game, no one is better at it than Wall Street. I mean, they do this shit all the time. In fact, let's take a look at a few examples, starting with the scam one big bank pulled just a few years ago. The New York Times reporting over the weekend that Goldman Sachs is running a scheme to

artificially inflate aluminum prices. An aluminum warehouse controlled by Goldman Sachs holds the equivalent of a quarter of the annual North American demand for the metal but only offloads or distributes a required minimum of 3,000 tons a day, no more, no less, whatever the demand. Pushing prices of the metal pushing prices of the metal higher even as demand has declined. Goldman profits from this practice two ways. First from the extended rents paid to store the metal, and second, by the bets made on aluminum futures, by its trading arm. The inflated aluminum pricing by Goldman

and other financial players has cost American consumers $5 billion over the last three years. Yeah, that's right. Basically, Goldman Sachs manipulated the supply of aluminum by only letting out a little bit at a time. You know, the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the the the the the the the the the manipulated the supply of aluminum by only letting out a little bit at a time. You know, the same way Daniel Day Lewis limits the supply of movies is in. I mean, the dude's only been in six movies over the past 20 years. The Rock made that many movies yesterday. Get to work, Danny! By the way, for the rest of the segment, I'm going to be pronouncing it's aluminum, but we had a vote and all the people I work with are American, and so they won.

And I didn't want to accept the election result, but then I was like, no, we don't want to do that again. And I'm sorry, guys, but aluminum should never be hoarded. It needs to be used the way God intended to make condoms for robots, or for Marjorie Taylor Green to wear as a hat. And believe it or not, Goldman Sachs got away with this scheme for years until people caught onto it. So I guess you could say that their aluminum plan was foiled. Wow! Boom, bow, boom, boob.

Now, as crazy as this is, it's actually a common tactic with Wall Street. You take over a market and then manipulate its supply to drive up the price, like how JPMorgan used its control over electricity to fleece California. JPMorgan Chase accused of manipulating energy prices and so driving up the electric bills of millions of Americans. At night when energy prices are very low essentially, they would bid them up so that in the electric bills of millions of Americans. At night when energy prices are very low, essentially, they would bid them up so that in the morning the companies would go to buy energy and find the prices artificially high. It takes a few hours to get a power plant going, so they would have to buy the energy in

the morning when it was very, very expensive. In one case, J.P. Morgan duped California utilities into paying $999 per megawatt hour when the going rate was only $12. Yo, this shit is crazy. It's like these guys were sitting around a table like, I'm tired of just abusing our power metaphorically. Let's do it for real. Basically, because of J.P. Morgan, the cost of electricity went up from $12 per megawatt to almost $1,000 per megawatt.00ot.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00, to, to, to, to, th, th, th, to, th, th, th, to th, to th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, thoom, thoom, th, the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, their, their, their, their, th, th, their, thiiiw, thiol, thiolu, the the the to to to to to toe toe the the the toe the the the the the the the the the went up from $12 per megawatt to almost $1,000 per megawatt.

Even Amish people were like, yo, I don't even know what electricity is, but that shit is messed up, Bee! I hope the Amish community doesn't come after me on Twitter for that one. I mean, at that price, I would actually be less upset if you jumped me and robbed me. At least then it feels like you had to work for it. And the truth is people, this isn't something hedge fund people are ashamed of. In fact, some of them even brag about it on the TV. Jim Kramer once made a fortune running a successful hedge fund. He went on to host his own TV show, Mad Money, that offers stock tips to investors. But as Kramer has found out lately a lot of Americans are mad at him. This video made in 2006 has suddenly gone viral.

Kramer explains to his own financial website, the street.com, how he could influence stock prices up and down as the manager of a massive hedge fund. You know, a lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down. I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures. It doesn't take much money. But it's a fun game and it's a lucrative game and I would encourage anyone who's in the hedge fund game to do it because it's legal. And it is a very quick way to make money and very

satisfying. By the way no one else in the world would ever admit that, but I could care. These people got no shame. No shame. Zero, nada, zilch. He's just out here boasting about his evil plans. I mean, the only people who do that are hedge fund guys and bond villains. I mean, listen to him, listen to him, talk about it. It's legal and it's very satisfying. Just as a general rule, whenever you have to remind someone that something is legal, it's probably shady. You know, no one's ever like, Hey Trevor, you want to go to the cheesecake factory?

It's legal. But when it comes to hurting people in order to make a buck, nothing compares to the great recession of 2008, which was caused by, guess who? Wall Street, manipulating the great recession of 2008, which was caused by, guess who? Wall Street manipulating the markets. During the hot housing market, banks took millions of home mortgages, many held by people who could not afford them, and bundled them into packages as mortgage securities. JPMorgan today admitted that it sold those packages to investors even though

its executives knew that many of the mortgages were highly suspect. When the market collapse, those packages became mostly worthless. Goldman sold investors subprime mortgage packages, but then made its own bet those same investments would lose value without telling investors. Goldman employees themselves used profanity to disparage the deals. Boy, that timber wolf was one shi-d-dil. And when asked if any of the executives at least felt partly responsible the the age the deals. Boy, that timber wolf was one-shoddy deal. And when asked if any of the executives at least felt partly responsible for the financial collapse, there's things that we wish we could have done better in hindsight or

even regret. Regret to me means something that you feel like you did wrong, and I don't have that. When you hear your own employees or read about those in the emails, do you feel anything? I think that's very unfortunate to have on email. Are you a... And very unfortunate, I don't... Please don't take that wrong by. I think it's very unfortunate for anyone to have said that.

God damn. Even the crowd, do you see them? Even the crowd in the chamber was like, Oh! You know how bad you have to screw things up to turn a senatoring into a Jerry Springer taping? But this is how you know how psychotic these guys are. Not only did they tank the economy, but they talk about emotions like their serial killers. Do you regret hurting these people. Regret is a thing that one feels when one has done something wrong. I mean, how can you expect these guys to change their behavior when they can't even express their remorse?

The closest Wall Street comes to reflecting is doing coke off of a mirror. So after all the damage Wall Street has done to people's lives, please miss me with all of this whining about how unfair it is for Reddit to boost GameStop. And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying all these Reddit guys are heroes, but I will say it has been fun watching how some of the people who got rich off of GameStop have been spending their money. While GameStop has mentie of millionaires, many retail investors are using their more modest profits

to pay bills. One Reddit user even posting that he paid off his student loan debt thanks to the money he's made off of GameStop the last few days. Ten year old Jaden Carr. Two years ago his mom bought him ten shares of GameStop. Back then they were six dollars each. Now he sold them for more than three thousand dollars. What you gonna do with the money that you made the game game. th. the game. the game. th. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. th. their, th. their, tho. their, their, tho. their, their, their, to. to. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. are you going to do with the money that you've made on GameStop? I have already saved 2,200 of it and the rest of the thousand is going to go to the Westmore company. Hunter Khan cashed in on the Game Stop phenomenon last week, but didn't just cash in for himself. He used some of the money he made to donate six Nintendo Switches and Games to the Children's Hospital in Minnesota.

One day trader who cashed in on the craze walked into a GameStop store this week and started handing out $100 bills to employees. After the Robin Hood app halted trading on GameStop, one investor charted a plane to fly a banner over the company's headquarters saying, suck my nuts Robin Hood. Ooh, that's a gangster move right there. It's like Twitter, but in the sky. Now, you could say it's childish to spend money you took from Wall Street to dunk on Wall Street, and that may be, but in the words of Jim Kramer, it's legal and very satisfying. The Daily Show with Trevnoa Nights at at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and the

Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at.

That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a Second Look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.