As most of you know, the vibe over at /wsb is pretty much that of a bunch of degenerate gamblers, but some posts really take the cake. I offer you this beauty:
I know the text is small, so I’m going to kindly repeat it here, boldfacing some choice bits, and I’ve left this college student’s (!!!) many spelling and grammar errors intact………..
this has been a culmination of what i finally realized was a gambling addiction. luckily i make enough money that this isn’t a big loss but i did feel like shit after a while. gambling addictions are a sickness where you tell yourself you’ll make the money back but you won’t. i am a college student so im glad i learned sooner rather than later. learn from me and just buy shares. i have made all of this back on another account and have been able to repay my mothers money + more from fully buying shares of stocks and holding. (along with work money). i’m at a place where i’m past this and have learned my lesson. i want others who are struggling with this to read this post and understand that even when you’re down $12k (or more) people always recover from bad financial decisions.
Within that little speech are two horrendous blunders:
ONE: I realize that “just buying shares” seems like a 100% guaranteed way to make money. I do not blame anyone born after, oh, the year 1966 for believing this, because it would seem to the naive observer that stocks ALWAYS go up because they ALWAYS get saved. He is not insane for believing this. He’s just wrong.
TWO: Relatedly, the notion that “people always recover from bad financial decisions” is just plain max-tard.
I’d also like to point out that the above chart, with the graph plunging to a 100% loss, is within the context of an absurdly, insanely, preposterously government-supported market. I cannot imagine what /wsb would be like during an 18-month long bear market (yes, those used to exist). I assume every single post would be some variant of the above, for the users who hadn’t killed themselves already.
