Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the first episode of Season Three.

Hedge fund veteran John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and longtime Wall Street analyst Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and as of last March, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.

In this new episode, Season Three begins with the same theme that prevailed at the end of Season Two--trouble in crypto land. When Season Two ended, TerraUSD had just collapsed--a stablecoin that wasn't so stable. Well, the past was prologue--the so-called J.P. Morgan of crypto has just lost $16 billion in about three business days. Turns out SBF, the FTX pioneer, might not have been the elder statesman of crypto he held himself out to be. Who could have guessed? 

We take the deep dive into SBF and team's sudden and extremely goofy failure. Maybe de-fi isn't so de-fi? More like fi in search of a regulated version of itself--it's a cartoon version of finance. 

And of course, no episode of the Betting On Zero podcast would be complete without us bashing Russia. Things suddenly really seem to be breaking Ukraine's way. Imagine a world in which Russia and Iran have collapsed and swoon westward; it'd be interesting. 

Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the ninth episode of Season Two.

John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and as of just two months ago, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.

Gaming Wall Street is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml. The two-part documentary explores the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and the light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street.

In this new episode, as John is midway through his dive down the rabbit hole that is TerraUSD, the stablecoin that wasn't so stable, when Burke gently reminds him about something interesting and highly unexpected that happened last week--Burke got invited to go on Tucker Carlson Today to talk about GameStop. After a whirlwind sequence of events, Burke traveled to Tucker's studio to talk about the meme stock frenzy that of course was the subject of Gaming Wall Street. Tune in to see how the interview went (spoiler alert--Burke did not think he sounded as stupid as he feared he might, at least in his own mind.)

After paying proper homage to Burke's 15 minutes of fame, the conversation turned back to TerraUSD, the crypto stablecoin that wasn't--and what may in fact be the canary in the coal mine for the entire crypto ecosystem and potentially other ecosystems. As much as we try, algorithmic-backing of a digital currency is not a subject we really comprehend. But try, and laugh we do!

And of course, no episode of the Betting On Zero podcast would be complete without us bashing Russia and China for their brutal regimes. 

And of course, this leads us to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter! We'll see what happens! 

Rates are up again and, stocks are down further. Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!

Burke Koonce and John Fichthorn discuss the latest topics of interest in politics, financial markets, and the cultural forces that shape the world around us. This is the eighth episode of Season Two.

John, who regularly appears on financial news networks, and Burke, who runs the Capitalism Maven site for TheStreet.com, have a long history together discussing markets, politics and contemporary subjects. These discussions sometimes get made into films such as Betting On Zero, and just last month, Gaming Wall Street, now on HBO Max.

Gaming Wall Street is an HBO Max Original, produced by our little old Biltmore Films, Prodigium Pictures and Gunpowder & Sky. The film was directed by Tobias Deml. The two-part documentary explores the GameStop and meme stock trading frenzy and the light it cast on the dark plumbing of Wall Street. 

In this new episode, while are still basking in the warm afterglow of getting the documentary out into the world, there is still the seemingly unlimited supply of Wall Street shenanigans to discuss, starting with this week's arrest of former trading superstar Bill Huang. The enigmatic Huang, who once ran Tiger Asia, was picked up by federal authorities for a long laundry list of no-nos, including racketeering and market manipulation. Turns out when you lie to your federally-insured bankers about how much of their capital you have put at risk they don't like it very much. Huang's leverage at his family office Archegos was like nothing we've ever seen. 

Our discussion of Huang's downfall leads into a discussion of the broader Chinese market downturn, which apparently reflects the growing lockdowns in Shanghai and possibly additional Chinese cities, which of course has massive implications for the rest of the world's economy.  Unfortunately, the freedom of the Chinese people to talk about what's happening there is limited, which limits our own understanding. This censorship is the same tool used by Putin to support his terrible war in Ukraine--anywhere freedom of speech is impaired, really bad things tend to happen.

And of course, this leads us to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter! We'll see what happens! 

Rates are up, stocks are down. Tune in to hear more about what's happening in the always exciting financial markets, and enjoy!