If you don't know who the sucker is at the poker table it's you. I was joined in this conversation by Wall Street Journal reporter Spencer Jakab. His latest book is “The Revolution That Wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit and the Fleecing of Small Investors.” The frenzy in meme stocks in 2021 was perceived as a Robin Hood style raid on Wall Street. Reddit forums filled with young men holding "diamond hands" taking down the financial industry. The truth was far more nuanced. We also took a detour to look at insider trading by members of Congress.

Spencer Jakab writes for and edits the Heard on the Street Column at The Wall Street Journal. He was Deputy Editor between 2015 and 2019 and wrote the Journal’s daily investing column, Ahead of the Tape, for four years before that. Spencer spent four years at Britain’s Financial Times writing the “Lex” and “On Wall Street” columns and got his start in financial journalism at Dow Jones Newswires where he was part of a SABEW-winning team covering energy markets.

Spencer is the author of two books on the plight of individual investors, both published by the Portfolio imprint of Penguin Random House.

“Heads I Win, Tails I Win: Why Smart Investors Fail and How To Tilt the Odds in Your Favor” (2016) and “The Revolution That Wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit and the Fleecing of Small Investors.” His first career was in finance where he spent years as a top-rated emerging market stock analyst. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three sons.

Here's a link to the blog post and transcript: https://www.sharesforbeginners.com/blog/jakab

Here's a link to the book: The Revolution That Wasn't: Gamestop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors by Spencer Jakab (goodreads.com)

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