Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, you have indubitably heard about the GameStop short squeeze that has the entire nation in an uproar.

Throughout the week, I have been monitoring the situation on sites like Reddit and have seen this short stock plan turn into a nationwide movement. The math-heavy posts from earlier in the week are increasingly different from the highly emotional decade spanning grudge matches I have been finding this morning.

The tale of a son using this opportunity to take his father’s revenge after the family business failed in the wake of the 2008 housing bubble burst or Occupy Wall Street protesters who were jeered by men from high-rise windows drinking champagne. More and more of the posts are calling for holding this stock until these hedge funds are bankrupted. All of this points to these no longer being financial transactions but political actions.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the material conditions of 99 percent of American Citizens have worsened, all while financial manipulation on behalf of the federal government keeps the numbers for stock brokers in the green. Yet, comparatively measly stimulus packages are debated and delayed in Congress to no end, all supposedly for the sake of balancing the budget while massive government bailouts for companies entwined in risky financial strategies barely receive a second glance.

Not one of us has been unaffected by government inaction and Wall Street greed. We all have reason to celebrate when Wall Street receives a body blow. Therefore, I believe that no matter your race, sex, age, gender identity, religion or political beliefs, we all have a reason to Like This Stock.

Max McLain is a freshman in chemical engineering.