They are young, they are Republicans – and they are furious with Wall Street.
Members of the New York Young Republicans are planning to break into Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Sunday for a “Reoccupy Wall Street” demonstration to protest actions by hedge funds and other financial institutions to undermine Reddit’s populist purchases of GameStop stock this week.
“What we saw in the last few days was absolutely negligible. It irritated a lot of people, ”the group’s president, Gavin Wax, told The Post. “We have the elites and the substrate of everyone else who can’t sit at the table of the big ones and make money for them.”
GameStop, a video game and electronics retailer in a dusty mall, saw stocks rise by more than 1,700% when amateur day traders poured money into stocks to protest Wall Street short sellers who wanted to profit from the company’s failure. The move was initially organized by Reddit’s WallStreetBets page.
As stocks skyrocketed and hedge funds faced losses of billions, several trading apps have changed to avoid additional stock sales. One – aptly named RobinHood – was hit by class action.
“I think they need to be prosecuted. Many of these guys need to go to jail. Text messages and emails need to be apprehended. It was coordinated. There must be repercussions, ”said Wax of the institutional effort to shut down amateur traders.
The Wax Republican Party rally ironically seeks to recapture some of the energy from the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011 – which saw most southpaws turn the park into a homeless camp that has convulsed the city for months.
A hurried Eventbrite invitation invites YR members and other travelers to converge on the park at noon. “Bring posters and dress well,” says the invitation.
But Wax said it wouldn’t be a night like in the old days.
“We have jobs to go on Monday,” he said. “It will be good and organized. We’ll be bathing. “