Gamestock Stock Surge

 

"There was absolutely nothing wrong or illegal about anything that was happening on the part of the army of small investors." Wrong. While many jumped on the bandwagon after it got going, many others coordinated to get it started. Colluding to manipulate the price of a publicly traded stock is securities fraud. It is being investigated and will be prosecuted by the SEC.

 

And this is not, as it's being portrayed, a victory for the little guy over Wall Street fat cats. Whenever the stock market is gamed, it's the little guys who always get hurt the most. In addition to small time investors investing directly in stocks, many of the institutional investors are investing the money of thousands of small investors.

 

Some hedge funds will be hurt, but hedge fund managers don't lose any of their money when their funds go down. They share in profits, but they don't share the losses. They don't pay any price for losing their investor's money. If the fund goes bust, they just start a new one. 

 

Blatant manipulation and the resulting bubble that ultimately pops creates great instability in the Market and that often results in downward moves across the board. Individual investors are usually slow to react, if at all, while the professionals quickly adjust.

 

Those who seek to make quick profits at the expense of "Wall Street Fat Cats" need to remember that the Market is always a gamble, not an investment. You too can lose, and lose big. If you can't afford to lose, you can't afford to play.

Funny Vintage Ads (47)

 

 Advertising has always been an interesting way to look at history. But when you see these vintage advertisements, the past seems a lot stranger than you thought.

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Your wife will love hearing how you tried to convince the stewardess to join the "mile-high-club" with you.

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There is a long history of Black people being used in soap ads and comparing their skin with dirtiness. The message here is that without this soap, your precious little white child will be no better than a black wastrel.

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Hey, back off sewer mouth!

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...and put a damper on your afterglow.

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Subtle!
Apparently the more unsexy your product is, the more sex you need to sell it.

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In 1964, the Johnny Seven O.M.A. (One-Man Army) gun was the best-selling toy for boys.

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During the 1950s-1960s many tobacco advertisements simultaneously presented cigarettes as both sedatives and stimulants.

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Beeman’s gum was invented in the late 1800s by Dr. Edward E. Beeman, who discovered that pepsin, derived from the stomach of hogs, could aid digestion.

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Big guy to little guy, "You can suck your stomach in all the way to your backbone. I'm still not interested."

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Even in 1937, these "motoring" helmets were dorky.

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This political ad from the 1860s illustrates the old proverb, "the more things change the more they stay the same." Republicans could run this ad today with the claim that they are now for the white man while the Democrats are for the Negros -- well now they wouldn't say "Whites" or "Negros" they'd call them the "suburban" and "urban" votes.

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Mr Buzzkill should know that Alka-Seltzer (introduced in 1931 by Miles Laboratories) has always been advertised as a remedy for hangovers.

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 The folks who produced this WW2 poster were probably horrified when "victory girl" later came to mean a young woman who exhibited her patriotism by offering companionship, and often sex, to servicemen during World War II.

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Watch her boobs grow while you wait for yours. Which will YOU be; a "cute little girl" or a "tall, curvy teenager." Only time will tell.

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Pacific Telephone's "Vista Booth" never made it past the experimental stage.

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Complexion wafers contained arsenic which made the skin pale by destroying red blood cells. Despite several reported deaths, the wafers were still being sold as late as the 1920s.

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This Pilot Candid Portable TV was released in 1948 and had a 3 inch screen.

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What can you do with a "Service Station Charger" when you don't have a service station -- set your business up on a street corner?

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Hey, radioactivity is perfectly safe, so stop worrying about nuclear power.

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Never bring a blow gun to a gun fight!

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It might be a lot more profitable if the nude figurines were full-sized.

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The Topper (1960-1965) was the only scooter ever produced by Harley-Davidson and it even had an optional sidecar.

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Sadly, with all that 16 bit computing power, the TMS 9900 could not keep away vampires.

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This guy needs a ladder just to look her in the eye.

Hardwick Clothes began in 1880 in Tennessee.

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"A triumph of electronics" Oooh, presets and changing stations with a foot switch.

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“Women everywhere are cheerfully admitting that Campbell’s beat them at soup making.” Of course. What did you think they meant?

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Studebaker began in 1852, when brothers Henry and Clement Studebaker opened a blacksmith shop in South Bend, Indiana and began building wagons, buggies and carriages.

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"Three essentials for proper meat preservation -- temperature, humidity and air circulation." Actually raw meat should be in a sealed container or wrapped securely to prevent juices from contaminating other foods.

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In the first decades of the twentieth century, the only ads featuring African Americans were racist advertisements that used black caricatures to advertise to white consumers.

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Goodyear production began on November 21, 1898, with a product line of bicycle and carriage tires, horseshoe pads and poker chips. By 1916, they were the world's largest rubber company.

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Buy a No Soliciting Sign
That Really Works!

Greatest Generation during WW2 vs Americans' COVID response in 2020

 

Contrast the way Americans responded to calls for sacrifice during World War 2 with how they've acted during COVID. It has become painfully obvious that selfishness is now the cause of much of America’s political and economic problems. And worse, mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing have been weaponized by Right-Wing politicians and pundits as partisan issues.

Many Americans become enraged at any suggestion that they should take other people’s welfare into consideration. They claim it's a love of freedom, but what they call “freedom” is actually a refusal to accept any responsibility for the negative consequences their actions have on others. 

These same people are the ones who elected Donald Trump, who declared in March 2020, “I don’t take responsibility at all,” in reference to the coronavirus. 

Will the people who refused to do anything to keep others safe while hundreds of thousands of Americans died miserably and without the comfort of their loved ones — will they ever regret their selfish actions? Don't get your hopes up.

If we continue down this road, it will be the end of us. Democracy requires for its continued vitality, an understanding and acceptance that we are all in this together.