Dozens of members of the New York Young Republicans Club joined the anti-Wall Street wave on Sunday, meeting at Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to attack hedge fund managers targeting GameStop.
Protesters at “Reoccupying Wall Street” called large investors “despicable” for taking steps to prevent the “little guy” race fueled by Reddit over the video game vendor’s actions to sustain it after the money men bet on it tanking.
“There is some blatant corruption going on in the buildings around us and in Greenwich, [Ct.], wherever they are, ”said Gavin Wax, the group’s president, to about 50 protesters.
“There are two patterns,” said Wax. “There are rules for you, not for me. You have these guys from the big hedge funds who are trying to short sell companies, and then they were accused of your bluff by a bunch of anonymous day traders on Reddit.
“And then they have the courage to call these guys unsophisticated,” he said. “God bless the boy for making an honest buck and showing them how the market really works.”
Wax predicted that hedge funds with big pockets “will now cry and have their crocodile tears on CNBC and tell us, ‘Oh, you know, you are manipulating the market.’
“These guys have been manipulating the market to their advantage for years. For years, ”he said of wealthy stock investors.
Sunday’s protest – formed after the left-wing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that started in the park in 2011 – resulted from a move by some Wall Street hedge funds to bet on GameStop’s stock plummeting, prompting Reddit to buy in trading apps like how Robinhood to keep you high.
The furious hedge funds that lost money then successfully lobbied Robinhood to temporarily halt stock trading to contain its losses.
The game store, which was once a reference in shopping malls in the United States, was in serious decline before the populist chased his actions.
Robinhood was assaulted with a class action in Manhattan last week for removing the store’s shares from his trading options.
According to Young Republicans, Sunday’s protest was not about political affiliations – they classified it as a non-partisan event.
“We need to take a stand today, tomorrow and every day that comes up,” said Vice President of Young Republicans, Vish Burra, at the rally. “[Wall Street is] embodying the American dream and mocking American freedom. “
The group stayed in the park for about two hours before breaking up.
Among those who spoke at the rally was the hopeful mayor and founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, who called it hypocritical that Wall Street bankers took billions of dollars in tax-financed bailouts in 2008, just to scream.
“They screwed the little ones once,” said Sliwa. “We are going to catch these hedge fund monsters before they catch us.”