3d ago

‘I was a multimillionaire, I had a beautiful girlfriend, I was unhappy’: the ups and downs of a supertrader

www.theguardian.com ‘I was a multimillionaire, I had a beautiful girlfriend, I was unhappy’: the ups and downs of a supertrader

Gary Stevenson grew up poor, got rich in the City – then found himself wrestling with depression. Now he says he’s the only person on the left who really understands the British economy – and the people who wield the power

UK Politics @sh.itjust.works

floofloof @lemmy.ca

2d ago

‘I was a multimillionaire, I had a beautiful girlfriend, I was unhappy’: the ups and downs of a supertrader

www.theguardian.com /books/2025/jan/24/i-was-a-multimillionaire-i-had-a-beautiful-girlfriend-i-was-unhappy-the-ups-and-downs-of-a-supertrader

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22 comments

“The rich have got a choice,” he says. “They can lend the money to the government or they can buy the assets. I know what I’m doing.”
“OK, what’s that?” I ask, trepidatiously, knowing the answer.
“I’m buying the assets. Stocks, gold, commodities, property, everything. The rich have got a lot of money, they can buy everything. The government has got to compete with that. They can’t. They’re trying to play chess with no pieces.”
This doesn't sound like the activity of a leftist. But it's an interesting question, to what extent you can play the capitalist game while still claiming to be a leftist? When are you undermining from within and when have you just gone over to the other side, no matter how you conceive of yourself?
- Philanthropy. How many millionaire CEOs declared their past actions unbecoming and vowed to donate their fortunes to charity and pursue a different career path after Luigi did his deed? None. Not a single one.
  If you take and take and take it doesn't matter who it's from. If you take so you can give then worst case you are at least putting money back into an economy. Best case is you are helping people.

Puts his significant other in the same pile as his treasure. Cant get rich enough to be happy with those values.

Now he says he’s the only person on the left who really understands the British economy – and the people who wield the power
Humble, huh?
Stevenson still makes a lot of money trading, which he does “to demonstrate to myself that I’m not insane. A lot of people can say pessimistic things, but not a lot of them can make hundreds of thousands of pounds every year on financial markets. I don’t just say these things; I bet on them. And I make money every year. You can’t do that if you’re not right. If you made every economist who chats shit on the media bet their own personal money on what they’re saying, there’d be a lot less bullshit on the news.”
If he makes money off properties, gold and stocks without realising that that affects the housing crisis, the environment with gold mining, or there's no ethical approach to what kind of companies he gets stocks from... He is still part of the problem. I don't care how much he says he's on the left.
- No you don’t get it he’s a leftist just like my buddy who owns a bunch of apartments in the slums he bought with the money he made off his “Asian massage” parlors. He’s totally not exploiting people for wealth /s
- If he stopped doing all that we'd still have an economy where the rich exploit the poor. The only solution is system change to make a fairer economy - which he advocates for through measures like taxing the rich. The question is has his actions undermined your trust in him to the point that he should be ignored, or do you think he really is advocating measures that would work?
  
  I think what he proposes would make certain things better, but it would still be just a patch to a broken system.
  Don't think he should be ignored, but I also don't think he is this saviour he thinks he is.
- IMO with stocks, one is only responsible when buying from an IPO or other emissions directly from the company. otherwise the buyers money goes to another investor, not the company. at least unless one buys enough that votes actually make a difference.
  
  You may not pay the company when you buy shares from another trader, but you buying the shares drives the price of the shares and with that it makes the company more valuable.
  
  That doesn't make any sense. That way you could only buy stocks and never sell them. Then what's the point of investing? Also you couldn't just leave the company behind if you stopped believing in it and its leadership.
- Why?
  Sometimes it feels "the left" has no idea of what society should be like solely what it shouldn't be like and that's no solution to anything.
  This guy is a douchebag but using the system around you that exploits people isn't your fault and we shouldn't treat it that way, this guy can't change that. Why are you blaming him?
  The left fails because they're too worried about doing no wrong than doing one thing right.
  
  The left fails for many things but mainly because the media works with the elites and blame, create fake news, and dictate what the public think, want and feel.
  Using the system around him and ultimately exploiting people, even if he advocates for good will, it is a choice, and something he can change. That's what I'm blaming him for.
  To me, what he wants is maintaining capitalism but just a little less biased in how wealth is shared. To me that is not real left. It does not address the many problems of capitalism.

Read the headline. Knew exactly who it would be
….. Not quite sure what his angle is yet, but it will reveal itself in time. It always does .

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