New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway made a jarring argument about the potential psychological ramifications of the GameStop stock trading frenzy.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle interviewed Galloway on Monday on the frenzy surrounding the short squeeze of GameStop and other stocks like AMC. As Ruhle brought up AMC’s debts, she expressed worry that not enough private investors are aware, and wondered how this might impact the mental health of those investors down the line.
Galloway responded by speaking of the long-term “fundamentals” to which the stock market typically conforms. He predicted that the stocks driven up by Reddit will eventually return to their lower position, then he described what he would’ve done if he were consulting his students who got in on the frenzy.
“Maybe it’s fun. Fine. Maybe it’s a movement, but be prepared to lose 80 to 90 percent of it, and if it’s still worth it, have at it.” Galloway said. “But the biggest loss of capital here will be the human capital of young men sitting and staring at their phone and watching the price of Bitcoin, or the price of AMC.”
Galloway continued by saying the biggest loss in capital will be experienced by “young men who are more prone to gambling addiction, who don’t understand the markets,” and would be better off doing something more productive with their time. This led
I think we are setting ourselves up similar to how there’s a ton of young women out there who became very depressed by sitting this their rooms, looking at Instagram, self-cutting and self-harm skyrocket. I think you’re going to see an explosion in young male depression, and I think a lot of it is going to be reverse engineered to apps that convince you you’re part of a movement or physically addict you to your phone.
Watch above, via MSNBC.