The GameStop short squeeze has become a quintessentially American story. But the David vs. Goliath narrative of the multi-billion dollar saga overshadows what it's shown about the role class plays in American politics.
As bizarre as the whole thing has been Reddit users pitted against wealthy hedge fund investors, online memes jolting the market, financial pundits losing their minds Democrats and Republicans have approached it in a largely predictable manner, at least from a messaging standpoint. For all of its very online and very 2021 quirks, the response to GameStop-gate from Democrats and Republicans is indicative of their longer standing battle for credibility among middle class voters.
The bipartisan call for Wall Street accountability is about curating the appearance of being the party of working Americans and avoiding any perception of coziness with wealthy investors.
Once the trading app Robinhood halted its users from buying the surging GameStop stock amid reported credit issues, a bipartisan chorus of federal lawmakers called for hearings and a reckoning for the finance industry.
This rare flourish of bipartisanship was cemented in a widely shared agreement between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
(Ocasio-Cortez AOC quickly rejected Cruz's overture, telling him "You almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago" in a tweet referencing the Capitol Siege.)
The opportunity politicians on both sides of the aisle saw in the GameStop-Robinhood fiasco demonstrated how the Democrats and GOP operate in an era of growing economic inequality.
Both parties try to present themselves as allies of the working class. Both decry the greed of Wall Street and emphasize they're on the side of the proverbial Main Street, yet they cannot agree on basic components of the next stimulus package.
Republicans vehemently oppose the notion of wealth distribution, while Democrats are in favor of increased taxes on the rich and frequently campaign against GOP candidates as out of touch wealthy elites, as they did during their sweep of the Georgia Senate runoffs.
How we define "working class," "middle class," and other commonly used terms varies widely, especially when compared to the economic data.
Pew Research has an ongoing social and demographic trends study on middle class Americans, and their January 2020 report chronicled how this coveted voting block has lost its overall share of earnings in the American economy over the decades and that was before the pandemic began accelerating economic inequality in the US, particularly by gender.
Around 70% of Americans identify as middle class, but only 52% lived in a middle income household in 2018 based on tax data analyzed by Pew.
Pew Research
Despite the shrinking influence of the middle class economically, they are still the primary broad messaging target for both parties.
As Democrats and Republicans duel over which party is the true champion of the middle class, notable shifts have happened over the past few election cycles with income and party affiliation.
A Pew study found that in many states, those earning $100,000 or more vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. In states like Massachusetts and Maryland, that number is as high as 60%. But states like Indiana and Tennessee have the reverse dynamic, with more than 60% of their six figure earners identifying as Republicans.
Surveys on perceptions of the parties show Americans still view Republicans as wealthier than Democrats.
A landmark 2016 study by Douglas Ahler and Gaurav Sood found respondents believed 38% of Republicans earn more than $250,000 per year, when in reality that income bracket only accounts for 2.2% of registered Republicans.
In the 2020 election, counties that voted for Democrats accounted for 70% of GDP. While that does not mean that only wealthier Americans voted for Democrats, it does show that President Joe Biden significantly outperformed Donald Trump in affluent parts of the country. It also marks a continued shift from 2016, where Hillary Clinton's counties made up 64% of GDP.
Well before the votes were in for the 2020 election, Fox News host Tucker Carlson began work shopping new messaging on the "Republican Party becoming the party of wage earners."
The GameStop fiasco shows that amid mounting income inequality, being seen as on the side of Wall Street is politically toxic for both parties, and they will do almost anything to avoid such a perception.
Passing a stimulus package with broad bipartisan support, however, remains beyond the pale, despite whatever glimmer of hope the anti-Robinhood bonhomie may provide otherwise.
Go here to see the original:
- The media must not give African leaders platforms to spout homophobia it only helps their populism - Open Democracy - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- The AltFi view on Gamestonk: Populism is coming to fintech - AltFi - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Robinhood fiasco shows that populist movement was right all along Robinhood fiasco and the populist movement - Invezz - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- The Century of Populism 01/30/2021 World KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Rupa Subramanya: Trudeau is a left-wing populist who may have bought himself the next election - National Post - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Reddit fever may open a new populist front that the elites can't stop - Telegraph.co.uk - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Budget expectations: Will fiscal discipline trump populist demands? - Mint - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Europe's Populists Ready to Seize on COVID Vaccination Bungle - Voice of America - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- The other contagion: Why the US Capitol attack is a warning to populists - European Council on Foreign Relations - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- The Problems With Populism Go Well Beyond Donald Trump - The Dispatch - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- Republicans in Washington warn Wall Street: The GameStop populists are more powerful than you think - CNBC - February 1st, 2021 [February 1st, 2021]
- The Grassroots Organizers Hoping to Move Manchin in a More Populist Direction - The New Republic - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- RPT-COLUMN-Populist crowd fails to breach the silver fortress for now: Andy Home - Yahoo Finance - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- What Happened to the Emerging Democratic Majority? - Fair Observer - February 20th, 2021 [February 20th, 2021]
- Divided over Draghi, Italy's 5-Star has an identity crisis - Reuters - February 20th, 2021 [February 20th, 2021]
- Guest Column: Is There A Place For Conservative Populism In America? - FITSNews - February 20th, 2021 [February 20th, 2021]
- The American 'Populist Right' After Trump - The Wire - February 20th, 2021 [February 20th, 2021]
- Blow up the outside world - newframe.com - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Time to get canvassing for the wide world is out there waiting for us - The National - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Economics, Finance, Populism, and the Fed: An Interview With David Bahnsen - Foundation for Economic Education - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Geographies of Populism and the End of the Afghanistan War - Telos Press - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Despite the polls, a centrist could win Colombia's election in May - The Economist - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- French Populist Eric Zemmour Vows 'We Will Not Let Them ... - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Farmers and the defeat of populism - The Indian Express - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- The PopuList - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Presidential Election of 1896 - 270toWin.com - December 14th, 2021 [December 14th, 2021]
- Looking back at news from a trying year - The Whittier Daily News - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- We must thank the white-coat army for saving us and the world - Al Jazeera English - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections: Major political parties vying to win support of women - Hindustan Times - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- lancasteronline.com - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- ric Zemmour Is Another Right-Wing Fake Populist Created by Corporate Media - Jacobin magazine - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- A Philosopher in Hard Times - lareviewofbooks - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- It's populist and unethical Oware-Aboagye slams Dampare for obeying traffic regulations - GhanaWeb - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- A Package of Populist Deregulation - Econlib - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- Pakistan's new fault lines: Political polarisation and defiance of institutions - asianews.network - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Johnson is neither a charismatic failure nor a tragic figure. He hasn't made the political weather simply because he has been oversold - British... - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Your brothers keeper - Philstar.com - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- 'Populist hobby horses rather than tackling the cost of living crisis' Mayor responds to Queen's Speech - Hackney Citizen - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Republicans learned some of their political tactics from watching Democrats - Washington Examiner - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Canada's Noxious Conservatives Are Duking It Out for Party Leadership - Jacobin magazine - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Letters to the editor: May 6: 'Pierre Poilievre is making a populist statement that the government plans to control society.' Politics and digital... - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Communist Youth Leaguethats where Xi sees a political challenge coming from. Hes taming it - ThePrint - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- What Doug Ford's shift to the centre says about the longevity of populism - National Post - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Russian Populist Columnist Popov: In Demolishing Monuments To Soviet War Dead, Ukraine Is Siding With 'Sanitized' Fascism Of 'Credit Slavery,' 'LGBT... - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Opinion | What J.D. Vances Primary Win Says About Populism and Resentment in the G.O.P. - The New York Times - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Populist Party - Ohio History Central - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Evidence from the gilets jaunes: Which candidates win the support of populist voters? - London School of Economics - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Kari Lake Reveals Why She Is So Popular - The Future of the Populist ... - May 12th, 2022 [May 12th, 2022]
- Truss and Sunak face Sky grilling as Bank warns of long recession as it happened - The Guardian - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- The BBC is not a luxury in a cost of living crisis, it's more essential than ever - iNews - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Kari Lake wins Republican nomination for Arizona governor - The Arizona Republic - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Arizona House and Senate lineup could impact your life more than the governor's race - The Arizona Republic - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- The Very Good People of Kansas - City Watch - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Jim Jordan Tells GOP To Tee Up And Embrace Populism For 2024 - Daily Caller - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- All aboard the populist bandwagon - BusinessLIVE - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Podemos: party of struggles or populist operation from above? - International Viewpoint - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Lucas Kunce: Populism is about everyday people coming together - The Guardian US - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Can the people rule in Arkansas? Defeating an anti-populist amendment this year is key - Arkansas Times - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Emotional Mobilization in Chinese Online bottom-up Populism - Novinite.com - August 5th, 2022 [August 5th, 2022]
- Conservatives See Soft Spot in Trumps Populist Armor: Handling of COVID - RealClearPolitics - December 6th, 2022 [December 6th, 2022]
- Populist gegenpressing: Why the EU shouldn't expect Orban to back off - European Council on Foreign Relations - December 11th, 2023 [December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Branson Tri-Lakes news - December 11th, 2023 [December 11th, 2023]
- ARGENTINA SNUBS BRICS AS ITS FIREBRAND POPULIST LEADER TAKES POWER - The Sunday Guardian - December 11th, 2023 [December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Index-Journal - December 11th, 2023 [December 11th, 2023]
- Populist legacy will weigh on Poland's next government - Yahoo News - December 11th, 2023 [December 11th, 2023]
- Argentina's populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born - Idaho Press - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Argentina's populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born - PinalCentral - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Food trucks and concerts: Prinsjesdag to get populist overhaul - DutchNews.nl - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]
- Letters to the editor: Ignore the populist bait of an uneconomical manufacturing dream - The Australian Financial Review - April 16th, 2024 [April 16th, 2024]