It's very sad. I strongly believe that far, far fewer people would be doing this kind of risk-taking if their savings account was yielding at or above inflation, as it did from the 80s to around 2005.
There are much safer assets that have generally stable returns. These people are looking to get rich quick
Or in many cases, get not poor quick.
There's this, but they're also unsophisticated investors doing unsophisticated investor things. Many of them truly don't understand what a good or bad investment is.
So are those of us cramming leetcode for FAANG...not so different after all.
"get rich quick" by studying arduously for a full time job interview...
Safer and more stable relative to GME, absolutely. But I'm also worried about the very large group people that have thrown most of their savings into the S&P 500.