Today's Top Episodes
The Sunday Daily: Hollywood’s A.I. Moment
Is AI about to write the next Hollywood blockbuster and replace your favorite stars? Dive into the ethical battle raging in Tinseltown!
#634 - Fiona Cauley
Discover how dark humor becomes a superpower for Fiona Cauley as she navigates life with a rare disability and fights for agency.
TIP785: My Reflections on Money, Life, and Happiness w/ Stig Brodersen
Beyond the billions: Unlock the secrets to lasting happiness and make your money work for your true self, not against it.
Will AI Make Bitcoin More Valuable Than Ever? | Jordi Visser
Is Bitcoin the ultimate AI play? Explore how the rise of artificial intelligence could redefine the value of digital assets and your career.
Defending the Disabled
A simple act of bullying, a powerful wave of kindness: Discover how students rallied to defend a disabled classmate.
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Michael Lewis: Revisiting Insights from “The Big Short”
- The podcast discusses Adam McKay's satirical film The Big Short, which explains the 2008 housing crash.
- The film uses unique storytelling techniques to make a complex subject palpable and understandable to viewers.
- Despite the dark subject matter, McKay's approach is noted for its humorous undertones.
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Revisiting Lessons From the 1929 Market Crash
- The 1920s saw an unprecedented boom fueled by the democratization of credit, leading to mass speculation and celebrity financiers, with echoes in today's tech-driven markets.
- The crash of 1929 was not a single event but a "relentless unraveling" caused by a series of bad decisions and excessive leverage, similar to patterns seen in modern financial crises.
- There are striking parallels between the economic and cultural conditions of the 1920s leading up to the crash and present-day trends, particularly concerning "democratizing finance," celebrity investors, and the potential for regulatory overreach or underreach.
Danielle DiMartino Booth: Revisiting an Inside Look at the Fed
- The Federal Reserve's ultra-low interest rate policies over nearly a decade have led to significant disruptions in the US pension system and exacerbated income and wealth inequality.
- A core issue within the Federal Reserve is a pervasive lack of dissenting voices, stemming from a dominant culture of academic, centrist thinking among staff who often lack practical real-world experience.
- The long-term consequence of Federal Reserve policies has been the erosion of the American Dream for younger generations, by undermining the virtues of saving and investment, and creating systemic market distortions that are difficult to undo.
Paramount Gets Hostile Over Netflix-WBD Deal & Ulta: Beauty's Beast is Back
- Netflix has announced an $83 billion bid to acquire the studios and streaming division of Warner Brothers Discovery, which is now facing a hostile counter-bid from Paramount.
- Ulta Beauty's turnaround strategy is showing significant success, with a strong rebound in same-store sales and revenue driven by a new marketplace, in-store experiences, and global expansion.
- IBM is acquiring data streaming platform Confluent for $11 billion, a move seen as a strategic enhancement for IBM's capabilities in real-time data analysis, particularly relevant for AI.
Prediction Markets Enter the Octagon & Disney Experiences a Drop
- Many predictions from 100 years ago focused on futuristic transportation, such as flying cars and moving sidewalks.
- A significant portion of past predictions anticipated significant advancements in food technology and automation, including meals in pill form and robot maids, and a drastically reduced workday.
- Expectations for societal progress were high, with predictions of a universal language, the end of poverty and war, and significantly increased life expectancy.
Will the Shutdown Ease Up? & The Story of Ticker Symbols
- The current shutdown is predicted to be the longest in history, potentially lasting until November 1st due to unreasonable demands.
- President Trump is expected to continue running the country without conceding to the opposition's demands.
- The shutdown may end when Democratic Senators privately agree to vote to reopen the government, allowing Schumer to appear tough by voting against it.
McDonald’s Consumer Reality Check & Tariffs Head to the SCOTUS
- McDonald's is facing a significant sales decline, with prices increasing by up to 43% due to new tariffs and other factors.
- The company has announced the closure of US plants, resulting in the loss of 60,000 jobs and leading to lawsuits from franchises.
- McDonald's is experiencing a customer exodus as competitors like Wendy's and Burger King lower prices, indicating a broader economic warning.
Can Amazon Deliver on Grocery & Novo Nordisk and Pfizer’s Drug War
- Kimberly-Clark is acquiring Kenview, the maker of Tylenol and Band-Aid, in a nearly $49 billion deal aimed at achieving scale and cost savings, despite investor concerns over Kenview's declining sales and Tylenol's potential legal and regulatory issues.
- Amazon's stock surged following news of an agreement to provide cloud services to OpenAI, with OpenAI planning to spend $38 billion on Amazon's cloud services, alongside strong AWS performance that beat forecasts and a significant portion of Amazon's profit.
- Pfizer and Novo Nordisk are engaged in a high-stakes bidding war for the obesity treatment biotech company Metsera, with Novo Nordisk making an aggressive, unsolicited offer structured in two complex steps that has led Pfizer to launch legal proceedings against both Metsera and Novo.
Clinical Trials For AI? with Prof. Karim Lakhani
- AI is transforming from a tool to a teammate, enhancing productivity and providing missing expertise, leading to more positive employee emotions.
- AI adoption has a "jagged frontier," dramatically improving creativity and new product development while potentially hindering analytical tasks like spreadsheet analysis, necessitating careful attention to its application.
- Successful AI integration requires significant organizational change management and workflow reimagining, not just technological implementation, to realize tangible returns on investment.
Inside the Fed Meeting Minutes with Danielle DiMartino Booth
- The Federal Reserve's primary tool is quantitative easing (QE) as they seek "more product" like Treasuries to buy, pushing policy towards monetizing debt.
- Bond market volatility, specifically the MOVE index, is a key indicator of the Fed's success in keeping credit risk at bay, which is their ultimate goal.
- Despite high mortgage delinquencies, fiscal stimulus and accommodations have prevented a household credit crunch so far, which is crucial for avoiding damage to the corporate credit cycle.