Episode 225: The Morality of Trade Deficits vs. Central Planning

04/10/25 • 10 min

David looks at the wildest week in global financial markets in the last five years in the context of first principles – how the administration’s choice to lump allies in with adversaries hurt their cause – and how the need to properly define terms and understand basic economic concepts matters.

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Episode 224: Liberation Day, Bernie Style

David unpacks the economic message of President Trump on so-called Liberation Day.

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Episode 226: The Stock Market vs. The Real Economy?

David talks about all the things that are right in the dichotomy between the “stock market” and the “real economy,” but then goes into all the things that are wrong – namely, that 99% of the time someone is making this distinction, they are doing it wrong, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong way. Understanding what public equity prices measure versus what broad economic data measures is a good thing, but pitting capital against labor is called “Marxism” – and it can be deadly wrong.