Gary Stevenson aka @GarysEconomics

[Pentagon]

Gary is certainly an odd one. I don't even disagree with him, you don't get to places like LSE and Citibank without some intelligence. I read the book and found the whole thing bizarre.

My take is that he was relatively sheltered during his Mormon upbringing, morphed into a bit of an arrogant (but capable) finance bro who managed, against the odds, to reach prestigious levels of an international investment bank, only to get there and be ostracised because he's never going be one of the big boys because of his background. Then throw in the strange mix of cav attire with the political revolutionary hat, hobo gloves and permanent No-Face hoody and no one knows what to make of him.

The proselytizing on YouTube is maybe noble but probably self motivated. Even though he says otherwise, I doubt he's very employable in the finance sector now as the book lists his lengthy employment dispute and I can't help but wonder if he's heavily invested in London new build flats as he mentioned some of his wealthy colleagues were in the book.

He says his media appearances are free but since the PR for the book stopped he's now on Patreon. I think he also works with Novara media, or at least used to, and they're some sort of leftover of the Corbyn/Momentum days.

 

[rainbowlemon]

Perhaps his personality might have played a bigger role in any ostracization than just his origins alone?

The visual presentation does feel insincere and deliberate. It didn't seem like it was just about comfort. Nobody dresses that badly. The look may be #authentic, but it’s carefully curated to evoke a reaction and reinforce that he’s "not one of them" .

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Perhaps his personality might have played a bigger role in any ostracization than just his origins alone?

agreed. Same with presentation.

He wouldn’t have been the only working class grad in his intake, nor in his department - the world isn’t as an extreme caricature of the British class system as working class cosplayer twitter names want us to believe. It’s also not a conspiracy against “the little guy”.

 

[Doc]

He feels like a social steering plant to me.

He’s been around for years, so to blow up and be on every-chuffing-thing seems to be part of a greater project. His past has been “sexed up” and he’s got a very specific, repetitive message.

My step daughter works in behaviour science, from what she’s said about her work before, it’s textbook government manipulation of the masses.

 

[rainbowlemon]

I forgot we had a nudge unit:

https://www.archive.is/oldest/https...se-grossly-unethical-scare-tactics-Covid.html

In this case shift public perception by making wealth hoarding socially unacceptable and greater pushing for greater wealth redistribution. Hypothetical investments, or asset accumulation disappears for everyone?

 

[Doc]

Maybe in this case it’s seeding the idea - you’re going to have nothing, and it’s your own fault for being consumers/not uprising so you’re just going to have to suck it up.

 

[rainbowlemon]

"Own nothing and be happy" comes from 2016. From a WEF article by Danish MP Ida. The idea where people access rather than own things they need themselves.

Hypothetically further linked to Gary: amplifying his critique that the rich sit on assets while the poor suffer to justify a system where ownership is phased out under the guise of fairness.

1. If people can’t afford homes because housing prices are inflated by speculation and investor hoarding combined with wage stagnation means people can’t build wealth. We demand and get the promotion of long-term renting being offered as the solution instead of improved accessibility and fixing the root problem, this shifts the economy toward permanent renting, ensuring people never build wealth while corporate landlords profit. (Look up the “BlackRock buying entire neighbourhoods” video)

2.To prevent inequality, our wealth must be monitored.Smart digital money could ensure fair spending and transparency.

 

[EllsBellsWells]

agreed. Same with presentation.

He wouldn’t have been the only working class grad in his intake, nor in his department - the world isn’t as an extreme caricature of the British class system as working class cosplayer twitter names want us to believe. It’s also not a conspiracy against “the little guy”.

I very politely disagree on this one- the class system very much lives up to any sort of caricature it may be portrayed as.

Take medicine as an example- only 5% of med school students are from a working class background.

The whole of society definitely is stacked against lower and working classes and they make up barely any percentage of well paid and highly regarded sectors, so I don't think he'd have been the only working class person there but I bet he was only a tiny minority and subsequently did have a bleeper time.

I can't warm to him much at all and I think some of it is an act but I absolutely applaud him for what he's doing, because someone has to.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I very politely disagree on this one- the class system very much lives up to any sort of caricature it may be portrayed as.

Take medicine as an example- only 5% of med school students are from a working class background.

The whole of society definitely is stacked against lower and working classes and they make up barely any percentage of well paid and highly regarded sectors, so I don't think he'd have been the only working class person there but I bet he was only a tiny minority and subsequently did have a bleeper time.

I can't warm to him much at all and I think some of it is an act but I absolutely applaud him for what he's doing, because someone has to.

I’m not denying that as I totally agree, the country still has a real problem with class and as an upwardly mobile girly/household I truly care about it too. I’m just being shady and pointing out that the extremes portrayed on Twitter by folks like him or Jack Monroe bear no resemblance to the reality actual working people see in their workplaces - it’s just online hyperbole to create these weird parasocial monetisable relationships with their audience.

He’s constantly repeating that he was the first & only WC person at Citi in the late 2000s and that not a single colleague shared remotely leftist/progressive views? I’m sorry but how thick does he think his audience is? He’s about 2 or 3 decades too late with this narrative, like the docklands regeneration by virtue of where it is opened its doors to nearby working class folk to work in these new buildings (and not just building them - tho my dad did!) in the 80s & 90s? I don’t think it’s particularly progressive to completely erase their contributions so Gary can have his hero narrative?

Another hallmark of the twitter grifter is to completely ignore any privilege - to be white, male, in proximity to London/the outer suburbs depending on how generous you are with the definition of what London is now, and with two parents in work and in fairly good jobs (teacher, postman) is privilege. But you’ll never hear them talk about intersectionality or anything interesting because they have to keep the audience & their cash to themselves. I’ve never heard him come up with anything actually actionable either for state or private sector? And I’m always stunned when I hear these “campaigners” fling around terms like growing up impoverished etc because aren’t their masters level educated parents sat there thinking lol wat babe as I doubt he’d have been eligible for EMA or uni grants with that household income?

I’m not against the idea of wealth redistribution at all, in fact we need wealth taxes asap if even only achievable on the “lower” levels of house market distorting parental gifts, but I still think this bloke is a total grifter/chancer.

I am really relieved to hear he makes your spidey senses go off too about his character - it is really weird, I would love to have heard him in uni/at Citi as I can’t imagine it was like that.

 

[rainbowlemon]

I also liked him because of his background. My grandfather moved to the UK around 55 years ago. Out of his children, one became a doctor, while the other two worked as postmen. My mother was a dinner lady at a primary school. Despite this, my brother and I both qualified as doctors, as did two of my cousins who, like us, were raised by fathers who were postmen.

We had the gift and curse of the immigrant mentality, where education was everything. We were pushed relentlessly. There was little room to explore or take risks the way our wealthier peers could. The difference in opportunity was stark. One of my best friends was gifted an entire house, complete with a swimming pool. Another received a flat for her Bat Mitzvah at just 13. Beyond that, their families had the means to move into the best school catchment areas, pay for private tutors, and provide the safety net of never needing part-time jobs during their studies. They had quiet, spacious homes with dedicated study spaces, while we grew up in cramped housing, with little privacy and nowhere to study in peace. When it came to work experience, they had connections to secure placements in top firms and hospitals, while the rest of us had to figure it out on our own.

The Docklands may have opened its doors to some working-class employees, but that doesn’t mean real social mobility had taken hold by the 2000s or that they had a meaningful foothold in finance. Being a trader or investment banker at Citi is an entirely different level from working in a middle-office or support role. Gary has shared his lived experiences and the biases he faced within the industry. I haven't read every single thing about him, but while he has criticized left-wing groups for not understanding financial markets, I haven't seen evidence that he claimed none of his colleagues at Citibank had progressive or leftist views.

Finance today is still dominated by people from elite educational and social backgrounds. Proximity to London doesn’t automatically grant access to powerful networks, and having two working parents doesn’t mean wealth or connections that smooth the path into finance.

When you grow up knowing there is no house deposit waiting for you, no family safety net, it changes the way you approach life, education, career choices, and financial decisions in ways that people with generational wealth often don’t have to consider.

It’s fair to question how actionable Gary’s ideas are, but he has consistently advocated for wealth redistribution through fairer taxation, higher wages, and a reformed banking system that isn’t as exploitative. He has also pushed for financial education to be made more accessible so that working class people can better navigate a system that often shuts them out. One can debate the feasibility of his ideas, whether they are truly practical solutions or just catchy slogans but dismissing them outright because they aren’t immediately implementable ignores the complexity of tackling inequality. Change doesn’t happen overnight; it starts with shifting perspectives and pushing for systemic reform.

Controversial, but I don’t believe wealth taxes are the best solution. Greater transparency and accountability could be. Taxing the super-wealthy more heavily to redistribute their wealth sounds fair on the surface, but higher taxes can discourage investment and innovation.

 

[DaniellaCruz]

Diary of a CEO has a huge platform. 9.87 million subscribers.

I haven't listened to the entire thing yet.

Gary Stevenson any good? I have only listened to Diary of a CEO once when Molly Mae was on. Is it good. I'm just getting to Gary Stevenson as I have seen him on other podcasts and he seems decent enough. I work on a sales floor in the city and most of the people are working class and listen to him.

 

[DaniellaCruz]

He’s really overstated his accomplishments which is why people think this. It’s very hard to build genuine wealth/get rich just off of a high income, especially a short lived one?

Idk how long he spent working but let’s call it a decade, his income likely wouldn’t have surpassed £250k pa gross in that time just by virtue of how junior he was. Then consider deductions. Like yes he could very well have paid a good chunk off a place to live but he certainly won’t have 7 figures of savings stashed to draw down on now. This is why he’s doing the media grift, he can’t sustain his previous earnings in that environment for whatever reason anymore.

He talks about lot and it's information overload.

 

[qwikti]

He really needs to stop interrupting people. I've watched his video with the South Korean economist, Ha-Joon Chang, and honestly was getting frustrated at how often he interrupted a really interesting point from an educator who wants to teach people to get back to his 'tax wealth' point. If we're on his channel, we understand his worldview, so we want to hear someone else's. I wanted to scream 'just let him speak!'.

It was the same with the commercial lawyer, Stephanie Brobbey, with a similar working-class to well-off to social campaigner trajectory. She seemed bright and willing to teach, much like the South Korean Economist, but I felt he just cut her off before she could make any one point properly. It was frustrating.

Despite his background, which I would never denigrate at all, he embodies my vision of financial bros - bright but when it comes to persuasive rhetoric (traditionally and historically the bread and butter of politics), deficient. Dazzling you with status, not explanations. Excellent market instinct and being really good with money do not make someone good at 'politics'. If he wants his worldview to be adopted by those that instinctively oppose him, because frankly, convincing people without wealth that we need to tax wealth is always going to be an easy score, then he needs to work on a few things.

Generally, too, I think the world of economics is so confusing, and I've often assumed it is by design. I don't feel he makes it seem less confusing, though I don't know if that's his mission. I'll continue watching and see if I can glean what I need from him, and if not, I'll have to look elsewhere.

 

[rainbowlemon]

Generally, too, I think the world of economics is so confusing, and I've often assumed it is by design.

Two channels I love:

1. Epic economist :



2. Neil McCoy ward.

Neil McCoy-Ward

Welcome to the channel focused on helping YOU protect and grow your savings and investments in an uncertain world... And for a growth focused investing community, you can join us here 👉 https://www.patreon.com/neilmccoyward I break down what’s really happening in the World of finance and the...

www.youtube.com

3.Zero Hedge if you like articles:

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[qwikti]

Two channels I love:

1. Epic economist :



2. Neil McCoy ward.

Neil McCoy-Ward

Welcome to the channel focused on helping YOU protect and grow your savings and investments in an uncertain world... And for a growth focused investing community, you can join us here 👉 https://www.patreon.com/neilmccoyward I break down what’s really happening in the World of finance and the...

www.youtube.com

3.Zero Hedge if you like articles:

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Thank you! I'll definitely give them a go!

 

[Periwinkleblue]

Why more people can't see the problem with someone making money (and a lot of it) out of pretending to fight social inequality is a mystery.

 

[zcfthc5]

Why more people can't see the problem with someone making money (and a lot of it) out of pretending to fight social inequality is a mystery.

Hmm i think if anything the most recent Epstein files have taught us that he’s right, the elites are bleeping laughing at us and if someone with the brains, cv and balls is prepared to put their head above the parapet I’ll support them if they are crystal clear about their financial position. I don’t want someone to live off rice to prove their virtue for the cause

 

[BeardyBap]

Thing is, he’s a self declared millionaire who says he has and continues to make a lot of money from the stock market. I like both him and his message, but I don’t think he needs my financial support.

 

[Periwinkleblue]

It's standard grift: self-proclaimed expertise vaunted even though there's documented evidence of it not being true, reveals 'secrets', says trust me I'm on your side, buy my book, like and subscribe....makes money, never does anything concrete for anyone

Seems to appeal to a lot of middle aged women though

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

I've been watching him for a while. I subbed to his channel a couple years back. I thought he seemed decent and had his heart in the right place. I know he's part of patriotic millionaires who advocate for wealthy people to be taxed more and contribute their fair share.

At the end of the day, his story is pretty mad, if entirely true. He got lucky playing some card game at LSE. If not for that, he wouldn't have been in the position he is in. Amazing how things work out.

It was right place, right time, basically. Some of his co-workers seemed like absolute nutcases, and no wonder bankers, traders, and wealthy people, especially men, are the way they are. Massive egotistics and psychopathic narcissists.