The Archive

Could the Silicon Valley Bank collapse have been avoided? On this week’s podcast, we chat about how SVB’s risky investments lead to its eventual failure. We are joined by Sheila Bair, former chair of the FDIC, and Mark Cuban, entrepreneurial multihyphenate, to discuss where the regulation was for these banks, why we don’t bail out citizens like we do businesses, and what’s next for banks with similar investment strategies to SVB.

It’s our first-ever live call-in event! We’re joined by friends of the show Dave Lauer, CEO of Urvin Finance and creator of We The Investors, and David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, to talk about the SEC’s newest rule proposals, PFOF, and the crypto collapse. Plus, we field listener calls and questions about the media, the Fox News lawsuit, and more—including a little love advice.

A freight train derailed in Ohio and released a mushroom cloud of toxic chemicals — so why has the media buried this story? This week, we’re breaking down the shocking but predictable conditions that led to this accident, how rail companies have chosen profits over safety, and what regulatory changes should be made to avoid a mess like this again. Our guests are Julia Rock, reporter at The Lever; Matt Weaver, Ohio legislative director for BMWED-IBT and member of the Railroad Workers United ISC; and Julie Grant, managing editor and senior reporter for The Allegheny Front.

We need to give power to the people, like for real this time

This week we’re talking to Rep. Katie Porter, the Democratic congresswoman from California’s 47th district, who wields her whiteboard like a weapon. She explains (in plain English!) what we’ve got wrong about inflation and why Congress isn’t jumping at the chance to fix it. She updates us on the midterm elections, breaks down the hypocrisy of Republican rhetoric on crime, and blows our minds about why political ads never show members of Congress doing actual work. Plus, we’ve got writers Jay Jurden and Alexa Loftus here talking about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.

Jon is joined by Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, for a chat about why we find ourselves in this current inflation disaster and how we might get out of it. They get into whether the Fed is blowing it, the role of money supply, and whether anyone is looking out for the little guy in all of this monetary maneuvering. They don’t always agree, but Jon manages to score a passing grade from the professor!

When economist and Fed exec Thomas Hoenig told Jon on this podcast that printing money was a bad idea, economists Stephanie Kelton and Rohan Grey took to the internet to start an Economist Battle (it’s more fun than it sounds). Now they’re here to tell Jon about a new approach to economics called Modern Monetary Theory, and why printing money maybe isn’t so bad after all. But first, Jon discusses trespassing bears and the current situation in Ukraine with staff members Tocarra Mallard, Alexa Loftus, and Deniz Cam.

We’re doubling up the content — and the problems. Jon welcomes inflation expert Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, to discuss greedy CEOs jacking up prices. Then Jon talks with Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, about racial injustice in America today.

You've probably heard that inflation is getting worse—and not just from your grandpa who remembers when soda cost a nickel and movies were movies. Jon talks with Thomas Hoenig, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, about how the Fed has destroyed everything we hold dear. Jon is joined by staff writers Alexa Loftus and Kasaun Wilson to discuss the news of the week, including Rand Paul’s TV subscriptions and the gymnastic abilities of skunks.

In this episode, Jon sits down with Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist with a passion for dunking on Larry Summers. They discuss the American economic system, who gets that sweet government cheese, and why Jon wasn’t as wrong as Jamie Dimon insisted.

In the United States, we pride ourselves on having a free market economy—but we don’t actually have one. Corporations are given endless help while workers often struggle to survive. Jon sits down with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, to discuss these two sides of the economy.

Jon is joined by Steve Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics at The Johns Hopkins University, for a chat about why we find ourselves in this current inflation disaster and how we might get out of it. They get into whether the Fed is blowing it, the role of money supply, and whether anyone is looking out for the little guy in all of this monetary maneuvering. They don’t always agree, but Jon manages to score a passing grade from the professor.