The Gamers’ Uprising Against Wall Street Has Deep Populist Roots

Wall Street may own the country, as Kansas populist leader Mary Elizabeth Lease once declared, but a new generation of “retail” stock market traders is fighting back.

A short squeeze frenzy driven by a new generation of gamers captured financial headlines in recent weeks, centered on a struggling strip mall video game store called GameStop. The Internet and a year off in this shut down to study up have given a younger generation of investors the tools to compete in the market.Gerald Celente calls itthe “Youth Revolution.” A group of New York Young Republicans who protested in the snow on January 31 called it “Re-occupy Wall Street.” Others have called itOccupy Wall Street 2.0.

The populist uprising against Wall Street goes back farther, however, than to the 2010 Occupy movement. In the late 19thcentury, the country was suffering from a depression nearly as severe…