Good afternoon, everyone.
I've been in my office for weeks and you people went home?
Can I just say that putting Maxine Waters in charge
of a financial investigation,
that's just (chef's kiss).
We have witnesses from many of the key players,
Melvin Capital, Citadel, Reddit, Robinhood,
as well as one of the retail investors involved.
You say his name.
Deep you-know-what value.
And we've got Andrew Heaton.
I cashed to the AMC stock my grandpa gave me
for my birthday, and I made $15!
Alright, it's our job to ask stupid questions
usually with malicious intent,
and it's your job to just run out the clock
and not really answer them.
Does that sound good to you guys?
Congressman, yeah, I appreciate the opportunity
to address that really important point.
Good work. This is serious oversight responsibility.
This is just political theater.
I have always wanted to play Macbeth in "Julius Caesar."
This is a serious hearing.
The more times you have to say it's a serious hearing,
the less serious it is.
This is not political theater at all.
It's Kabuki theater. They're very different.
I'm not a cat.
No, you are a scapegoat.
Or should I say roaring kitty?
That was my stripper name.
Were you in a naked position?
Depends if they were paying
in quarters or bills.
Right now, in my community is so poor
that I have families melting snow
so they can flush their toilets.
Hopefully they get better representation soon.
Compliance is at the center of everything that we do.
That, and paying fines for ignoring regulatory compliance.
Some on the left are already floating new restrictions,
or think we should protect these so-called
uniformed retail investors—Maxine, Maxine, you need to mute your mic.
Can you mute your, can you mute your mic?
Okay, we were having a technical problem here.
Somewhere between the keyboard and the chair.
But I think it has been corrected.
I have to be honest. I don't think Congress is smart enough to handle this.
Melvin Capital had not engaged in—Maxine, can you—
Oh, sorry.
Madam Chairwoman, I'm sorry—Maxine?
I think, I think you're not muted.
Can someone under 50 please get to Maxine Waters' office?
We have a few technical difficulties,
and we'll be right back.
And we are back.
It goes from five dollars, to a hundred dollars, to two hundred dollars.
You decided to halt the buying of GameStock.
It's GameStop.
Your customers wanted to buy the stock.
You wouldn't let them do it
because you didn't have the capital
to allow them to do it, right?
Robinhood securities put the restrictions in place
in an effort to meet increased
regulatory deposit requirements.
And you materially benefited from it.
It becomes a reverse Robinhood situation.
It's in our name.
Rob? I'm sorry, and I apologize.
How much is your apology worth?
The public thinks that there was collusion,
that the big guys, all of you guys,
were figuring out how to do this
and ultimately, come out ahead as you always do.
We don't answer to hedge funds.
I answer to my wife and my wife's boyfriend,
and nobody else.
We had no role—
Melvin Capital played absolutely no role in those trading platform decisions.
—in Robinhood's decision to limit trading in GameStop.
It all sounds like it's on the up and up.
Melvin Capital was not bailed out
in the midst of these events.
Citadel proactively reached out to become a new investor.
Your fund completely tanks—
Melvin lost 6 billion dollars in twenty trading days.
—and Citadel comes in to invest in you?
Yeah, that's not a bailout.
Just somebody else gave you capital
to cover your massive losses
that would've sunk you as a company.
And it doesn't smell fishy at all.
Robinhood customers have, have earned
more than 35 billion dollars. 35 billion dollars is a meaningless number.
This explains a lot about Congressional budgeting.
Not surprisingly, the situation with GameStock trading—
GameStop—has resulted in knee jerk reactions calling for new laws and regulations.
I didn't hear anyone here today say
that they were ready to pile on regulations.
It's because you're not listening.
It's now House Resolution 328.
Please tell me that's your finger.
Wall Street Tax Act—or your knee—of 2021.
I actually have a copy of it from the last session.
I am so confused by your biology right now.
So I wanna talk about the high-frequency trading.
Only dogs can hear it.
The majority of Americans support
taxing Wall Street transactions.
So you're saying a majority of Americans
think other people should pay more taxes?
The extreme rise in value of GameStock—
GameStop—
originated through a Reddit discussion.
I wouldn't call anything that happens
on Wall Street Bets a discussion.
It's more like a group of profane howler monkeys
fighting over a grape.
Wall Street Bets may look sophomoric
or chaotic from the outside.
You should check out Congress.
They are an eccentric community.
Basically the Mos Eisley Cantina of financial advice.
But they're well within the bounds of our content policy.
See, you don't say much, you're people lost on HomeStop.
HomeStop?
Singled out and moved on social media.
Yeah, you can't manipulate stock on social media.
You gotta do that on television!
The biggest problem facing our people
is of course speech.
Folks should be able to freely express their views
on a stock, and they should be able to buy
or not buy a stock based on those views that they may have.
Why is the only sensible person here in a gaming chair?
The retail investor is known as Dumb Money.
Hey, retail investor here again.
We have to invest in stock
because the Fed has made interest rates so low
we can't save any money.
And if we did, it would be eaten up by inflation.
So, either fix that or shut the (beep) up.
Retail investors are in fact
revolutionizing stock markets.
I've been burnt once and twice in the market.
The problem is you're investing in Boomer stocks.
You need to invest in stocks with a future,
like GameStop, or AMC, or Build-A-Bear.
You admitted to making mistakes.
Specifically what mistakes did you make?
I admit to always improving.
Good save, bud.
And certainly we're not going to be public.
Freudian slip! We're not gonna be perfect.
Just tell me straight, is the game rigged?
I believe you're asking
one of the single most important questions posed today.
Okay.
Alright.