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Re:u/DeepFuckingValue and the GameStop Reddit mania by boring_twenties on Saturday January 30, 2021 @02:50AM (#25967169)
I make something and sell it to you for $5.

Tomorrow, you sell it to a third person for $10.

Who lost money here?

Re:u/DeepFuckingValue and the GameStop Reddit mania by recursive on Saturday January 30, 2021 @03:08AM (#25967268)
Excellent question.

Really no one I think.

I'm definitely wrong about something though. I need to think about it some more to figure out what.

Re:u/DeepFuckingValue and the GameStop Reddit mania by recursive on Saturday January 30, 2021 @10:43AM (#25969934)
A new interpretation came to overnight, as if in a dream. I don't know what's correct, but here it goes.

You and the third person both lost money in some unknown combination. Either you're selling for a lower price, or 3rd is buying for a higher price, or probably both.

In the metaphor, this is aggregated across bazillions of transactions, and ignores benefits like supply and demand are generally evened out over time.

Re:u/DeepFuckingValue and the GameStop Reddit mania by runarberg on Saturday January 30, 2021 @12:01PM (#25970692)
I think the question is flawed... Or at least irrelevant.

Since we are talking about the stock market (and stock brokers don’t make anything of value) a better question would be:

You hire a worker for $2 to make something you sell for $5. Someone buys it for $5 and sells it to a forth person for $10. Who lost money?

Now to make this simplification more accurate, there is a system in place for the $5 to $10 transaction called The stock market where there are bazillions of these transaction. Another question arises. Who is selling something for $5 when they could sell it straight to the forth person for %10? Who has is $10 and why are they paying $10 for it? How did they get that $10? Did they make something worth $10 and sold it for $10?

I think the real answer for who is loosing money is: Workers across the globe are.

Re:u/DeepFuckingValue and the GameStop Reddit mania by recursive on Saturday January 30, 2021 @12:58PM (#25971253)
Without the middleman it seems possible that some of the buyers and sellers never might have found each other. I don't know.