YouTube influencers promising quick riches are cashing in on a public appetite for easy money, and the latest clip bragging that the Pelicans “make millions in the stock market” is both predictable and dangerous. It blends two toxic trends: celebrity hustle culture and the same insider-friendly financial world that rewards the connected more than the competent. Hardworking Americans deserve the truth, not glossy ads that smell of get-rich-quick promises and political double standards.
Make no mistake: the Pelicans are part of a sports empire that sits on real, concentrated wealth — the Benson family’s holdings around the Saints and Pelicans are worth billions and their assets appreciate whether or not the average fan benefits. These franchises are businesses that have become enormous financial vehicles, and the people who own them are wealthy enough to play in markets most Americans can only watch from the cheap seats.
Behind the scenes, the Benson investment apparatus makes sizable stock purchases like any large private investor would; filings show Benson-linked accounts initiating multi-million dollar positions in public companies. That’s not surprising coming from billionaires who manage diversified portfolios, but it underscores the gap between elite investors with access to market-moving information and regular families trying to save for retirement.
While owners and insiders legally invest, glossy trading programs hawked online — sometimes by the same personalities who criticize elites — are a different breed of danger. The Hodgetwins’ commerce operation and related shops have drawn repeated customer complaints about fulfillment and service, a reminder that flashy financial advice sold by entertainers often comes with sketchy business practices. Americans should treat paid “insider trading secrets” offers the same way they treat a too-good-to-be-true casino pitch.
Worse is the hypocrisy of public officials and influencers who profit from market moves while preaching different rules to the rest of us. The House Speaker’s recent embrace of a ban on congressional trading highlights how this issue keeps boiling over — even fellow Republicans now say trading by lawmakers creates an appearance of impropriety that corrodes trust in government. If we demand rule of law and accountability, we must apply the same standards to the political class as we do to everyone else.
The outrage is not theoretical. Members of Congress still sell off large stock positions, sometimes in ways that trigger ethics questions and media scrutiny, and watchdog reporting shows lawmakers regularly clear out holdings worth millions. This isn’t about politics so much as fairness: when lawmakers and their spouses can move markets or avert losses while voters take the risks, the system is tilted against the American worker.
Conservatives should be loud and moral about this: defend private investment and entrepreneurship, but oppose any system that allows insiders, politicians, or celebrity hustlers to cash out while preaching financial salvation to ordinary citizens. Push for real transparency, stricter enforcement of the rules, and common-sense reforms that protect Main Street. And do not buy the snake oil of paid trading “secrets” from entertainers — save your hard-earned dollars, invest soberly, and demand a level playing field from those who govern us.
