By STEVIE WEBER
Staff Writer
The “American Dream” is shoved down the throats of just about every being with ears and a competent level of understanding. It is meant to be something one works towards, eventually achieving and retiring with a comfortable living wealth. But what those propaganda spewing big-rigs neglect to announce is that their beautiful “American Dream” is just that: a dream. One pretty much unobtainable through natural means. What does this mean? Well, to put it simply; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Or, the poor grow slowly to reach the (upper) middle class and are forced to stay there via high taxes and property payments. Basically, the rich are the ruling class and all the “little guys” are forced to sit and suffer. One would think that more people would be concerned by this revelation — and people very much are — but not where it matters. It’s the little guys who are speaking out. Who are tired of being trampled over. Who invest in stock because they were told it was a smart thing to do to earn capital down the line. Who are exhausted and frustrated when the money that they are owed cannot be given to them due to their broker deciding to go to Vegas and spend it all on a game of poker. Money that is not the brokers to spend. Yet, they do anyway. Who’s going to stop them? Definitely not the little guys. And especially not their other rich friends who are trying to get away with the exact same thing. But what happens when the little guys realize they can make a dent? That they can hurt the wealthy just as they have hurt the little guys? That they can buy up the stock and force the price up, which in turn forces the wealthy to return the money “borrowed” at an even higher rate? Alas, it does not go as good as one would think. Even when the little guys think that they have won, those who run the brokerage systems turn out to be the same demented, greed-filled people who screwed over the poor in the first place. There is just no winning for the lower-middle classes. In no way or form should any brokerage system (which should be holding on to and taking care of individuals’ money) freeze the buying up of stocks just to benefit themselves and the wealthy once regular people realize they can play the same game as the rich. Stocks are a fun game that supposedly everyone can play, until the regular class figures out the hidden rules of the rich. Then, it’s “not fair” and “they can’t do that”. And the rules change to bail out the billionaires.
Buying stocks is said to be a simple and easy way to gain money, as long as one does the proper research before jumping into investing. Investing in stocks is, to put it simply, a person buys a turnip on Sunday for $5. Then next Sunday, the turnip price was raised to $10. Meaning that the person can now sell their turnip at a higher price than what they bought it for. Which makes them a small profit. Anyone can buy stocks and benefit from it. Especially the rich, as they can easily manipulate the market with their exceptional wealth. Their favorite tool of manipulation is short-selling, which “is a strategy in which investors borrow shares of a stock at a certain price on expectations that the market value will fall below that level when it’s time to pay for the borrowed shares” (Elliot Smith). Which means that they will give back even less than what they originally borrowed. Using this strategy can ultimately destroy the business of which the stock was borrowed from, essentially bankrupting said business and allowing the wealthy to get away with their actions. This level of manipulation is not just reserved for large corporations, but for individual stock as well. Even though a singular person invested in stock and is guaranteed some sort of payout, it is still not officially their money to have. Instead, it is actually, “your broker or a clearinghouse called Cede & Co. [who] is likely the registered owner of “your” stocks” (E.B. Tucker). Though it is that one person’s investment, they are not the actual owner of it. Therefore, if that money mysteriously disappears then the person is screwed. There is barely any chance to get that money back unless there is actual proof of the mishandling. Even then, the sheer difference in wealth of the broker who broke the rules and the victim is enough for the rich to silence any discourse with a simple wave of a paycheck.
It may seem like there is no hope in tearing down these walking-moneybags. The wealth gap is just too large. But, what if the individual people start playing by the rules of the rich? By using the same market manipulation strategies? Well, it works. It works out just fine. The working class get their fill of power and greed… for about a week. Then, the rich go and cry on national television that they are being treated unfairly and are losing all their precious gains. Even with their misgivings televised live, there are corporations still willing to back up these wealthy crybabies. So, to prevent the people from winning, those same brokerage services (that let the rich get away with whatever) decide to freeze all buying of stocks. But, they will allow selling. This is a tactic to scare the less wealthy individuals into selling what they just bought, so they make no profit and the rich do not have to return what they borrowed at a higher rate. Even when the game was being played the same on both sides, the wealthy whine and the rules get changed back to their favor.
The American Dream is a reality only for those born into wealth or those who just got lucky enough to live it. For the regular masses though, it is simply an aspiration to hang up on the wall as a way to encourage the inflating of the economy. More wealth to the rich and a couple more bruises to the majority. The only way to stop this cycle of abuse is to play the game with the wealthy’s rules. Make them bleed in the public so more eyes are called to stare at the unjust treatment of not only themselves, but their own money and livelihood alike.