Ex-City Trader Exposes Capitalism: Gary Stevenson Explains Why We're Trapped In This Mess

He went from working-class east Londoner to Citibank's most profitable trader. He made his millions by predicting that inequality dooms our economic model.

We discuss his bestselling new book - The Trading Game: A Confession - and why our economic model dooms us to falling living standards, and unless we can get our act together, fascism will triumph.

[kingchamed]

Book is an absolute banger. Finished it in two days. We need these guys in politics, not Tony Blair clones being parachuted into safe seats

[arp_]

I can listen to Gary all day. He’s an absolute treasure - I’ve certainly been spreading the message at every opportunity

[andrewwatts]

Sunak was talking about the importance of math. Heres some simple math logic. 2010 - 2019 UK billionaires doubled from low 20's to mid 50's in a span of 10 years. 2020 - 2023 (to Oct 23) UK billionaires increased from mid 50's to 177 in a span of less than 3.5 years. Let that sink in. Do the math Sunak.

[Gph]

Owen Jones and Gary Stevenson, you are both amazing. Thank you so much for continuing to expose the truth. More and more people are listening, as a result people will demand real change!!

[agravemisunderstanding]

Diagnosing a terminal cancer as a series of seasonal colds is the PERFECT analogy for capitalism damn

[fxylady]

Owen and Gary - 2 of this country's greatest voices at the moment 🎉

[Adamroable]

Great insight! I think the biggest nugget was around minute 28, when Gary said that the wealthy will eat the middle class, not because they are evil, rather because they have no other choice as to where to invest their money.

This needs to become mantra, because it supports the idea that smart government regulation is essential to the long term viability of the economy for people in every wealth class.

Sure, in theory, the wealthy could invest in creating new capital infrastructure, but this is much more work and much riskier and probably less profitable, especially in the short term, than just buying existing assets.

[MaitreyaNow]

I mentioned Gary's Economics to a work colleague a few years back when he was just about to buy a house and have kids. His reaction was so dismissive I was a bit stunned. He's now taken on loads of responsibility and hours to make ends meet and it's just going to get worse. It won't take much to push him under and he's on probably £50-60k. It's kinda crazy the blind faith that people have in our political and economic system and leaders.

[JulieCawthra]

We need the Gary's of this world to keep us informed now more than ever.

[juliewake]

After you announced that you’d left the Labour Party I wondered how long it would take for you to get together with Gary. Great stuff Owen!
And go Gary. 😀

[indricotherium]

"It is naive to believe we can give tons of money to the rich and not make everyone else worse off."
Unfortunately, naivety doesn't come into it if the decision to give it is made by the people who receive it.

[NoraMorgan]

This is the best interview I’ve heard in a long time! Thank you Owen and Gary. ♥️♥️

[rockallmusic]

Thinking about house prices a lot lately has been so bad for my mental health. I'm a millennial renter in London and it's been keeping me awake at night.

[spartacusforlife]

Owen should interview Mark Blythe, author of " austerity, the history of a bad idea" and get his opinion of Labour's economic plans

[Adamroable]

This guy is a hero! He is the Bill Nye explainer for the economy.

[helenvirgo]

A few years ago i helped out at a church serving a cooked breakfast to the homeless. As much as i found the guys stories about how they became - and stayed - homeless very interesting, it was also fascinating talking to the people volunteering. They all voted conservative and believed in charity rather than taxation to help the poor. I found this deeply problematic but struggle to put it into words why that is.

[bubba]

What i got from this is that there is two economies in any country.
The economy of bankers and the stock exchange and the real economy of the average Joe.
When the media talk about the economy doing well, what they mean is the stock exchanges that are propped up by investment banking that is fueled by debt.
When people have less percetage of their pay cheque to spend as disposable income because they have a larger larger percentage of debt payments, then it looks great for the investment banking and the stock exchange.

But, the money that is making this economy grow is coming from the other economy.
This is why we live in a parallel world where high streets are closing because the average Joe has less money to spend, but tje stock exchange is growing at all time highs.

The media and politicians intentionally focus on the stock exchange economy as the real economy has been collapsing for years.

[denismichaeljames]

Brilliant chat. Gary should be on all our news channels. Straightforward, knows the chaotic situation. Would Love to see him challenge Rees Mogg, Hunt etc.. his story is remarkable, real and proven.

[Elspm]

I was wondering when we'd get this interview. The book's amazing, never thought I'd enjoy a book with any focus on financial systems.

I really don't understand why we're not hearing politicians advocating taxing the wealthiest. I wonder if people worry that talking about wealth distribution is too complicated, but Gary shows we can communicate about this using plain speech, and make it really accessible.

[alias]

I did my masters thesis on QE in a German Uni at 50 yrs old after working in banking during 2008/09 crisis. I took the argument QE didn’t work ever and looked into QE for people, Helicopter money for example. QE needs to distribute into the economy where it is spread around and not kept with the rich and propping up old establishments.