I want to discuss a hot topic in financial markets right now and that is the r/wallstreetbets (WSB) subreddit and the potential for using these types of platforms to direct donations into RBE type projects. If you are not familiar with the controversy surrounding retail investors on reddit skyrocketing the value of Gamestop and other stocks such as AMC and Blackberry, then check out these sources:
In the youtube video, the retail trader Keith Gill testified to the United States Congress how he used his own analysis of the value of Gamestop to drive his decision to invest heavily in the stock; analysis he learned to compile from his time as a financial educator. The reason why his analysis is so important is that the majority of retail investors do not have access to in-depth financial analysis because the vast majority of investment analysis can only be bought for large sums of money. So by providing this information for free and distributing it widely on reddit and other social media platforms, Mr. Gill was “leveling the playing field” by giving access to high-level stock analysis. I myself decided to invest in Gamestop stock after reading his and others analysis of the stock, and more cynically because I wanted to make the hedge funds shorting the stock to feel the same pain regular employees of Gamestop felt as they saw the value of their company diminish over time. What a joy!
While the value that free investment analysis brings has inherent value in itself for those trying to build wealth such as myself, you might be wondering “where is the TZM angle in this? What value can this situation possibly add to our train of thought?” My take is this: wall street and financial speculation will be around for as long as the monetary market economy is still dominant. Of course, Wall Street should eventually be abolished because it reinforces a gambling ethos, however it also represents an opportunity. The number of people participating in the WSB subreddit is at 9.6 million as of this writing, a very large amount of people organized around a single purpose: to make money. However, that money is not just being used for themselves.
In the CNN article, something that caught my attention and made me glad that I waited to post this blog is the impromptu WSB campaign to adopt gorillas through the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Although the driving force behind this campaign was due to users in WSB calling themselves “apes” and therefore decided to “save fellow apes”, the effect is still immensely positive both for the climate and for the wellbeing of each individual ape adopted. This got me thinking, what if we started a campaign within communities such as WSB to direct donations towards RBE type projects? All it took to kick off a bunch of donations to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund was one person posting their adoption certificate with the adoptor’s name being a funny play on inside jokes in the community to drive up interest in the viral campaign.
My question to those of you reading this is: would it be a good idea to start a viral campaign of my own with WSB since I have the opportunity? If I were to do so, what would be an effective wording be for a post in a money-centered community? I have some ideas on this that I will post in the comments below.
Hi, why do you think idea of pumping money would work? i thought the reason trader makes money is because someone else willing to pay higher than previous person, therefore it is zero-sum game? how do you ensure all member earn money if no one else take the loss?
Sorry, I can see how the wording of my first sentence probably confused you “using these types of platforms to direct [investment] into RBE type projects.” I changed the wording to say donations instead of investment to make my goal more clear. I would not be encouraging more people to join in and start trading, I would be merely directing those currently trading towards RBE type projects to donate some of their gains to (the monies donated by WSB users to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund were made before any real gains have been realized by traders yet, showing a willingness to give even when people do not have giant sums of money to throw around). You are indeed correct that trading is a zero sum game and that one person gains and another losses each time a trade is made, which typifies the market as a whole. I’m just thinking this could be a creative way to educate people about TZM train of thought thru showing them (through a meme I create) that “enjoying a shared world is more fun than a competitive, zero sum world”!
Interesting idea! I haven’t read enough about it to provide you with feedback or suggestions. But if this evolves into a project, then please move the topic into the Projects category
It could act as a way to finance our activism, but then again, aren’t we then just part of the problem? But like I said, I don’t know enough about this.
I think the best way to sum up my strategy for what I described in my post is how do we transform cultural moments (zeitgeists) like the Wall Street Bets phenomenon into a message that persuades towards RBE transition and highlights the negative aspects of the monetary system all in a fun, easy to understand meme?
Meme’s are indeed a great way to create a powerful message that potentially could go viral There are online meme generators with templates you can use.
I think it is a great idea. Although we don’t need money to make the transition, only influence, I personally have taken years to realize that it is ok to play the game if we are good at it and if we understand that our goal is not to make money, but to fund the prosocialization and demarketization. By that I mean that our goal is to spend all the money, not to keep making more. I think you are talking about 2 things.
Fund raising. Which is great. For that you need to find a way to make the economics transparent. You can either do this in the classic way, such as a NPO, or just a business in which you make the accounts and all the costs public and easy to see online. Or you could use a platform like opencollective.com and blockchain.
Tap into speculation. For this you would need to create a TZM token and put that token on a market. The easiest such markets would be a AMM DEX. I have never created my own token but I know there are many platforms that facilitate that. Right now ethereum is too expensive. Soon enough there should be platforms that offer the easy creation of tokens on polygon, xDAI or BSC.
In this case too, in order for the project to be coherent with our values all the spending has to be transparent. It should be made clear to all the you will spend all the gains.
NFTs . This might be the easiest and most transparent option. NFTs are like collector items on a blockchain. You create an image and sell it a certain amount of copies of it and those copies are unique and then can be traded. This allows you to fundraise while also tapping into speculation because speculators or collectors would buy the NFTs to treasure or to plan on selling them in the future. These NFTs could be nice TZM images or memes that include a small text of where the funds will go.
If you like the idea of the NFTs I can look into which platform might be best for it.
