The Long and Short of it Most of the time, commenting on the financial market is a dry affair about interest rates, economic statistics, and market movements. At times, though, some arcane corner of the financial system comes to life and turns out to be quite entertaining – for those that are not directly involved or happen to be on the right side of the trade - where the word ‘right’ is open to debate as you will see. The amazing story today is about GameStop Corp., a retail

The single most striking phenomenon about the stock markets in 2020 was that they rose relentlessly, interrupted only briefly by a steep decline in March, even though a deadly pandemic was sweeping the globe. This apparent contradiction has raised deep and troubling questions about the relationship between financial markets and the real economy, and about the relationship between economic growth and the welfare of actual human beings. Much of this apparent riddle has to d