PODCAST: Unpacking the Gamestop Blowup with Kyle Woodley
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David Muhlbaum: Every so often the stock market has a “Wait, what?” moment when things don’t go quite as expected. The most recent instance was wild trading in a relatively obscure stock called GameStop. Senior investing editor Kyle Woodley breaks down what happened and what it means to all of us. Also, General Motors says it’s going electric, basically. So will your next car be electric? That’s all coming up. Stick around.
David Muhlbaum: Welcome to Your Money’s Worth. I’m senior online editor David Mulbown, joined by my co-host, senior editor, Sandy Block. Sandy, how are you doing?
Sandy Block: I’m good. The groundhog saw his shadow and that means we’re going to have six more weeks of winter, but also that 2021 will be better than 2020.
David Muhlbaum: Oh, Punxsutawney Phil, what’s his name, he’s been expanding his forecasting, huh?
Sandy Block: Yeh. Even that ritual has gone virtual. He’s on Instagram now.
David Muhlbaum: Do you remember when Bill de Blasio dropped the groundhog?
Sandy Block: What?
David Muhlbaum: Yeah, the mayor of New York. He dropped the groundhog. This was in 2014. The groundhog died, but not right away. There was a coverup.
Sandy Block: This sounds so New York. It’s sad. And funny.
David Muhlbaum: Yeah. I like groundhogs.
Sandy Block: Well, I do too, with onions and carrots usually. Remember where I’m from, folks.
David Muhlbaum: Yeah, put them in the Instant Pot!
Sandy Block: They’re a little tough; you need to cook them long enough. But okay. So since you’re the car guy around here, I wanted to ask you what you thought about General Motors’ announcement that they’re going to phase out selling gas and diesel vehicles by 2035.
David Muhlbaum: Oh, is that because they’re getting out of the car business? I mean, their market share has been declining for decades. I’m sorry. Dark joke. I mean, part of the reason this announcement got buzz is because General Motors has a lot of history in the American economy, and a significance that goes way beyond its current sales or market cap. You know who sells way more electric cars than they do and, whose stock is worth way more? Name starts with a T.
Sandy Block: Oh, I don’t need the T. It’s Tesla. And they only sell electric cars.
David Muhlbaum: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. In all honesty, Sandy, I don’t like talking about electric cars all that much or writing about them. It’s stressful and it attracts hate mail. As for GM’s announcement, color me cynical. 14 years is a long time. Even in car development cycles. The problem with electric cars, or maybe it’s just the problem with writing about electric cars, is that on one hand, they’re clearly the future. Their carbon footprint is much lighter than internal combustion vehicles. They also accelerate like a startled cat. They are fun. The problem, is they’re the future, they’re not the now. Electric cars, it’s still a tiny percentage of new car sales, like 2%. And the bulk of those are darn expensive Teslas. So when does the future become now? When is an electric car, just a car? That’s one of those things I’m extremely loathe to predict.
You know, EV haters gonna hate,, about electrics, which you gave a very Kiplinger spin. . And I think that you can, right?
