I think I actually do understand what is happening with Gamestop, Short Squeeze, this type of stuff, but it's spreading into contexts like AMC with very different dynamics. There are so many metaphors out there in the marketplace, and they're all a little different, and all a little wrong, so generally you just believe whatever you believed before.

I resent, in some ways, being made to understand it. It reminds me of a craps table, where most people just play the line bet or occasionally - you can feel a bitter wind pass through the casino when this happens - bet against the table. There's probably a line to be drawn between that second bet and shorting, but I'm not even going to go into that. I asked my friend Eric about it, the one who works with me on Acquisitions Intoxicated, because in another life he had to know things like this. He sent me this text:

You just got a new Xbox. Before you open it, I ask you to borrow it. I then sell it to someone for $500. I then go to Best Buy because they have a sale for $450. I buy it, and then pocket the $50 and give you back the Xbox unopened. That's short selling.

Imagine getting one of the new consoles for retail price! The point stands, though. The rest of a craps table looks like a fucking summoning circle, USDA choice pervert shit for weirdoes. People are making bets on some real Timecube shit that would get you punched if you tried to say it with a straight face. And about every fifteen minutes there appears to be new evidence of perfidy on the part of these wicked market sorcerers. So: I think I got it yesterday, but "it" keeps changing. And it all conforms, more or less, to how I already felt. Some people find that comforting. I don't. It makes me feel like I'm missing something.

Sometimes I will hear a shriek from the basement where my children are playing. When they hear my footfall on the landing, they say in unison, "We're having fun! We're having fun!" and generally that's true. Sometimes, though, only one person is actually having fun. What I want is for a grownup to go all the way downstairs and turn the light on. 

Motorsports will be Managed at 2pm PDT. Be there.

(CW)TB out.