Game Stopped? (Live congressional hearing on GameStop) | Hacker News Reader

Game Stopped? (Live congressional hearing on GameStop)

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69 pointspmorici56 comments

Well, that was 15 minutes I'll never get back. Listening to Congressmen and Congresswoman always leaves me with the same question - is this really the best we can do?

The same mumbling paid off clown show we could've heard from in 1950 or 1850. Yes, more diverse, but aside from demographics, the same people are still in Congress year after year and are clearly not fluent in the modern world.

As long as there is democracy yes, this is the best it gets. Cherish it, because it will get much worse over time.

Probably a feature not a bug

I think that part of the success of the US is that it’s so hard to change things with all the checks and balances. So the representatives don’t matter much and just a way to occupy the need to appear to have governance.

So Congress is like the Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B [0] and that might be good because if it was full of Ship A people they would just be stomping over each other. and if it was Ship C people we’d be minmaxing and micromanaging.

[0] https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Golgafrinchan_Ark_Fleet_...

Just because we’ve never had a military coup isn’t a very high bar to gauge our system of checks and balances

American exceptionalism intrinsically relies on comparing itself to the worst countries in the world and being ignorant of other developed nations.

It also intrinsically relies on being exceptional.

There’s certainly many flaws, but it’s not luck that we’ve avoided coups for a couple hundred years. Seems pretty well designed and built on lots of previous successes.

My comment wasn’t so much saying US is best, but just pointing out that having idiots elected and futzing about in DC seems like not such a bad idea.

A feature in 1780 that has been a bug for a long time, with several patches around the edges already

Well we need to encumber the two dominant parties with the most restrictions in fund raising, block them from setting rules as to who can be in debates let alone setting onerous ballot requirements. We already do not do enough to prevent them from profiting from their position nor enriching their friends and families. That money doesn't come from the people.

I honestly don't think many of these people are even capable of downloading an email attachment.

That's probably a good thing as if they were we'd have them opening up malware all day long.

Vlad Tenev's "Black Swan", "One In 3 million event is unmodellable".

This guy just reeks of deceptive corporate speak.

He even looks like Martin Shkreli.

Yeah. Calling something a five-sigma event loses meaning if there haven't been anywhere near enough time intervals (here: market days) to validate that thesis.

Here is a decent paper on the topic of n-sigma events: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1103.5672.pdf

Not just that, you have to define the independent units. A 1 in 35M event is crazy over 35M days. It's less crazy over 35M trades. Without knowing which it is, 1 in 35M doesn't say anything.

I'm pretty sure that Martin Shkreli would be on the side of the investors and put money in.

Tenev's "Black Swan" comment is even more ludicrous given that we are currently in the midst of the COVID pandemic which made the Black Swan phrase trendy and known.

Other recent black swans:

- Texas freezing over - Beirut explosion

It seems as though these "black swan" events are happening more and more rapidly.

As a person who is used to black or white thinking, I really don't understand what's the point of this whole thing.

RobinHood CEO didn't give a single straight answer. He deflected or ignored 100% of the questions asked.

Not sure what the public wins from this hearing. Someone please educate me?

Robinhood testimony Congresswoman: <question> I need a yes or no

Company person: <canned statement>

Congresswoman: I need a yes or no

Company person: <continues canned statement>

Congresswoman: I do not have time for this, I need a yes or no

Company person: <continues a canned statement>

Congresswoman: The gentlemen will be denied further comment (or something like this)

The interaction was like watching NPCs

Contrast:

Congressman: Would you buy GME at $45

Gill: Yes

Congressman: ....

One take away I get is that if Robinhood is supposed to fundamentally be about "lowering the barrier to entry and democratizing finance for all", then that kind of corporate speak should be seen almost certainly as complete bs and raise the level of trust/suspicion required by everyone the next time a company wants to peddle the same line. I know it should be obvious, but maybe not, I dunno.

I find the audio issues embarrassing (echo's, feedback, way off volume balance etc.). I would think the congress would install proper equipment in the homes of the representatives.

Bigfuckingvalue has the best sound and he's just a "youtuber".

> Bigfuckingvalue has the best sound and he's just a "youtuber".

Let me rewrite that sentence for you: "Bigfuckingvalue has the best sound because he's in a profession where having a good home audio setup for teleconferences is critical to success."

(I've never done any of this myself, but I've heard from several people that the #1 most crucial investment you can make as a youtuber is in improving your audio setup.)

Yes, this.

Most important for podcasts or YouTube is sound and it is the thing everyone recommends you deal with first.

To start you can get 95% there by: - headphones with microphone - wired

DFV has a "HyperX QuadCast", which according to reviews on reddit, is a decent entry level microphone, I bought mine at €99 a year ago.

I agree with your point that it makes sense that he has the best audio. But regarding "in a profession": I believe he still has a day job; I wouldn't call being a youtuber his profession, being a youtuber is a hobby for him.

His day job is (was? I don't think he did anything illegal, but he may have violated employee codes, and well, he's a multimillionaire now) Financial Wellness educator for Mass Mutual, and in the pandemic Educator also requires good audio.

Amen. The audio quality is trash, bits are dropped, and the mute/unmute/background-noise issues are really annoying. I know these hearings would be a bit a mess even in person but it's amplified greatly by everyone being remote and having bad equipment/etiquette/internet.

It's not just speaking audio, but randomly people talking something without muting their mics, noise popping up, multiple mics at the same time resulting in echoes. I mean, It's Congress still they can't manage to mute everyone and then have an operator only unmute someone when they are required to speak? on the other hand, It's also shocking that people aren't familiar that Muting Mic is a good practice.

Did you mean DeepFuckingValue, or did his brother give evidence too?

BigFuckingValue is his father...and it is Mr. BigFuckingValue to you.

I use this as an evidence point that these people should not be entrusted with making decisions about technology if they cannot even understand it enough to use it at a basic working knowledge. Why should a congress person make a statement or decision on the effects of something like cryptocurrency when they cannot understand the basics of the underlying technology? (I'm not saying they should implement a miner in C, but getting a wallet, buying $100 worth, having a cold + hot wallet, doing a transaction might be considered due diligence)

Also, if they can't evej get this meeting stuff working. How on earth is their email and any other of their communication secure?

good audio makes Bigfukingvalue money. good audio so the masses can experience what their representatives are really like, makes no one money.

There are individual exceptions, but by and large, things happen in the world because it's making someone money or sex.

None of this stuff is expensive or hard to set up.

His “gaming” chair is probably the most expensive, and also worth it. Quotes only because they’re good chairs that should sell even without the gaming branding.

> I find the audio issues embarrassing (echo's, feedback, way off volume balance etc.). I would think the congress would install proper equipment in the homes of the representatives.

I'm quite happy with Congress not spending money on not-cost-effective-for-essentisl-legislative-needs equipment in members home for what amounts to a mostly-cosmetic improvement in temporary operations.

> Bigfuckingvalue has the best sound and he's just a "youtuber".

Why is this surprising? A YouTuber is someone for whom digital A/V production values is central.

Keith Gill is looking good in the suit and had a great intro. I think he's going to do great today.

Anybody know what's up with spez's left eye?

"There are many things I am not. I am not a cat..." - Keith Gill

In addition to referencing "RoaringKitty", that's a fresh reference to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-frHneo95k

Congress is bellyaching about legislating a utopian world where trading is completely value-based, and trying to scapegoat Robinhood and Reddit for existence of internet communications and retail trading. Based on the reps' rhetoric, I think they're most likely using this as cover to hamstring retail traders to help their Wall St. buddies.

They really need to get into how the collateral deposit required by the clearing firm from Robinhood is calculated. It gives all parties plausible deniability but without knowing how it is calculated you can't know all the avenues from which undue influence might have come into play.

I am loving Waters' slap down of Tenev. Tenev refuses to give her the honest answer: Robinhood did have a liquidity problem.

Robinhood had a liquidity problem in the same way as ERCOT is having a power problem. That is, the corporate entity is Ok, and you have to deal with the problem.

I would not say Robinhood the corporate entity was okay, they seriously fucked up and could have seen this coming. Tenev called it a "five-sigma event" - lol okay. Sure it was, as if volatility blow ups happen once every 8 millennia...

Keith Gill part https://youtu.be/ukXQGBpXaVM

Kind of off-topic, but the quality of most of these streams are terrible. Zoom/whatever should add an optional overlay to the corner of every stream that displays the ISP of that user. Maybe the public shaming on these high-profile streams will lead to some change?

Couldn't agree more. Wasn't sure if it was the quality of webcams being used, ISPs, or some other factor. It's brutal to watch though.

I think cameras is the main issue there. Most non-technical people don’t realize how horrible laptop built-in cameras are.

I have no idea why that’s the case. There’s good competition on the market, dozens of companies are making laptops. Technical issues are solved too; smartphone cameras have similar form factor yet modern ones are awesome.

This seems like a stretch to publicly shame companies without any sort of certainty they are to blame. There’s a _lot_ of factors in stream quality, one of which that also on its own has a lot of factors is connection speed. For example, poor WiFi is the biggest ongoing issue in my experience. Another possibility is a particular edge of Zoom or a competitors network is facing a degradation at that time.

Some streams are bad but have nothing to do with connection speed.

Stupid people in large groups do not understand nuance. I would use more hesitation before providing them ammo.

I was just about to say that...they be out there complaining about Robinhood's technology...not muting mics, echoing, you heard someone's alarm go off whilst someone else was speaking, there are people having conversations not muting their mics whilst other people are speaking, I sm pretty sure someone is trying to rearrange their furniture...

...I don't think video is the issue, the audio is so bad, and some people are using laptop webcams/mic. You have to up the professionalism. And it often isn't internet speed, it is bad hardware, WiFi, etc.

Is there a good news source covering this?

Very interesting is this interview yesterday with the Interactive Brokers chairman (5min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TPYuIRVfew

The agenda and all of the opening statements can be found here:

https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?Event...

Steve Huffman, reddit's CEO, is on now.

game estopped shoulda been the title

I'd recommend everyone interested read the opening statements https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?Event... These testimonies are interesting and short and I'd encourage everybody to skim them. (The robinhood one is longer :()

Some interesting highlights to me:

Everyone's starting out with "I went to high school and am a normal person and love my partner and I was an underdog" which is really striking when it's such a strong pattern.

Reddit's CEO describes reddit's governance:

> Reddit additionally uses a governance structure akin to a federal democracy, where the aforementioned policies and teams represent the federal government, and the communities themselves represent states.

This is a weird description of what seems more like a federal dictatorship, where the aforementioned policies and teams represent the federal government (a dictatorship), and the communities themselves represent states (smaller dictatorships).

> We have since analyzed the activity in WallStreetBets to determine whether bots, foreign agents, or other bad actors played a significant role. They have not. In every metric that we checked, the activity in WallStreetBets was well within normal parameters, and its moderation tools were working as expected.

I'd love to know what "within normal parameters" amounts to.

From Robinhood's CEO:

> I want to be clear at the outset: any allegation that Robinhood acted to help hedge funds or other special interests to the detriment of our customers is absolutely false and market-distorting rhetoric.

It strikes me that everyone believing (or believing that everyone else believed...) the conspiracy theory certainly hurt the GME price more than if everyone just knew that it had a relatively boring reason. When robinhood halted things and conspiracy theories multiplied and went viral, the subsequent price fall might have been at least to some degree an own goal. The virality that moved the stock up is the same virality that told everyone the game was (extra) rigged against them.

From the director of financial regulation studies at the Cato institute:

> The fact that GameStop traded temporarily, and perhaps still trades, above fair estimates of the company’s value is not, by itself, a reason for concern. Stock prices move in and out of alignment all the time, and markets are no strangers to bubbles. If a company is valued by the market differently than a review of its “fundamentals” suggests, it might indicate that the analysis is missing relevant information about a company’s prospects or it might indicate that the company’s stock price is due for a correction.

This seems disingenuous to me in a system where "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent" is an accepted truism.

WSB was definitely not within normal parameters as the main threads needed to be unpinned for new ones to take their place due to the sheer volume of comments on said threads. In addition, the likely hundreds of threads opened per minute by bots forced the moderators to take down the subreddit until u/zjz and reddit's team managed to get a handle on the situation and update u/zjz's bots with new parameters to avoid the astroturfing/fud/disinformation campaign.

What a waste of time

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