Ben Hunt, the author of Epsilon Theory and co-founder of Second Foundation Partners, joins Julia La Roche to discuss narratives and how they shape everything from financial markets to politics.  Ben’s Epsilon Theory is a newsletter read by over 100,000 investors and allocators that examines markets through the lenses of game theory and history and provides novel insights into market dynamics.  In this conversation, Ben details his focus in the investment world on examining unstructured data, which includes “the words that we read and the messages that we hear.” He explains that whether it’s in investing or politics, once you start to understand underlying narratives and story arcs, you begin to see them everywhere.  Ben also discussed how narratives are pervasive in the media and his approach to his content diet. He also outlined his “Fiat News” concept and how narratives get “weaponized.”  Elsewhere, Ben, who has written in praise of Bitcoin, explained how Wall Street co-opted the narratives surrounding the cryptocurrency, and it’s now “just another table at the Wall Street Casino.”  Finally, Ben discussed polarization and how American politics is approaching an “event horizon” that it might not be able to escape.  0:00 Intro/ Ben’s background  4:54 Unstructured data    10:02 Why don’t we recognize narratives/stories?  13:40 Michael Crichton’s Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect  17:30 Ben’s content diet  22:09 ‘Surviving’ in the environment  24:23 ‘Fiat News’  30:10 Weaponized narratives  35:21 The story of Bitcoin 40:16 Wall Street co-opted Bitcoin  45:39 Pervasive political conflict 52:22 How to protect yourself from political crisis  Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/frQ5SPKQMb4

Macro researcher Jim Bianco, the president of Bianco Research, joins Julia La Roche for a wide-ranging conversation on the macroeconomic environment. Bianco’s research style is macro with a bent toward fixed income and dabbles in the traditional macro to highlight things that people are not focused on or emphasizing enough. In the conversation, Bianco highlights three bubbles that existed pre-2020 that were unrelated to the financial markets, including cheap labor, goods, and energy. According to Bianco, the pandemic pulled forward 20 to 30 years of change, and we are not returning to a pre-2020 way of life of globalization, cheap goods, and cheap energy.  Bianco notes that this change drives financial and economic volatility and persistent and chronic inflation. To be sure, Bianco doesn’t see it as an apocalyptic or pessimistic scenario but rather one of significant change and volatility.  Watch the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/D1O4pr8mdKA Follow Jim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/biancoresearch Follow Julia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julialaroche

Anthony Scaramucci, founder/managing partner of fund-of-funds SkyBridge Capital and affectionately known as "The Mooch," joins Julia La Roche for a wide-ranging conversation on life, business, investing, and politics.  Scaramucci details some of his biggest career failures — including being fired by Goldman Sachs, failing the New York State bar exam, and getting fired from the White House — and the lessons learned along the way, from resilience to relationship building.  Scaramucci also discusses the markets and the opportunities he sees in this environment. Once a bitcoin skeptic, Scaramucci talks about SkyBridge's big bet on the cryptocurrency, why he thinks it's "dirt cheap" at these price levels, and his thesis for $300,000 per bitcoin.  Scaramucci famously served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017, before getting fired. Scaramucci, a vocal critic of the former president in recent years, reveals if he could ever "make peace" with Trump. He also shares his thoughts on Mar-a-Lago. Watch the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vS9x2cyewYw Follow Scaramucci on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scaramucci Follow Julia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julialaroche

Texas-based hedge fund manager J. Kyle Bass, the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management and founder of private equity firm Conservation Equity Management, joins Julia La Roche for a wide-ranging discussion on macroeconomics, geopolitics, and investment opportunities.   Regarding macroeconomics, Europe is facing one of the worst winters of high power prices ever due to its overreliance on Russia and policies pushed by shareholders, NGOs, and teenagers. As a result, Bass expects Europe to see a meaningful recession. What's more, he believes the solution to the mess in the short-to-intermediate term is more hydrocarbons and embracing nuclear energy in the long term. Elsewhere, Bass, a long-time critic of China, discusses why he thinks China will invade Taiwan. He also highlights how the Chinese economy is "circling the drain," and the banking system is hyper-levered, especially in real estate. He notes that investors should probably sell Chinese equities to limit the "risk to a genocidal regime that's likely to become militaristically belligerent." The U.S. is still in the best position globally, according to Bass. His macro take is to expect a sharp recession, and depending on how aggressive the Federal Reserve is with its rate hikes; they could make it worse. Bass expects the U.S. to come out of that recession, and the Fed will cut rates by the end of next year or early 2024 and expand its balance sheet again. As a result, Bass is interested in hard, productive assets like rural land that can can generate superior returns that outpace inflation. Watch the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/p0_euL0QnnE Follow Kyle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jkylebass Follow Julia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julialaroche

In this episode, Julia is joined by cybersecurity expert Adam Meyers, the senior vice president of intelligence for CrowdStrike.  Meyers looks after CrowdStrike’s intelligence gathering and cyber-adversarial monitoring activities, which include around 185 adversaries.  With more than twenty years of experience in cybersecurity, Meyers has a talent for breaking down incredibly complex and nuanced concepts in cyber for everyday folks.    In this wide-ranging conversation, they discuss Chinese cyber economic espionage, the greatest transfer of wealth. The discussion also touches on North Korea’s targeting of cryptocurrency and decentralized financial systems for revenue generation meant to increase state wealth. The discussion explores data weaponization by hackers and the worrisome trend of making that data easily searchable and accessible. Meyers sheds light on cyber threats from Russia and details the growing threat of election meddling.

Alan Patricof (@alanjpatricof) is a venture capital pioneer with a career spanning more than 50 years and showing no signs of slowing down. The 87-year-old started his third venture capital business nearly two years ago called Primetime Partners, wrote his first book published this year, and this week he'll be attending Burning Man, and in the fall, he'll run the New York City Marathon for the sixth time. He joins Julia La Roche on this episode for a wide-ranging conversation on life and investing.  Patricof started in venture capital at 36 in 1970, before a venture capital industry existed. His Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc. was the predecessor to Apax Partners, one of the largest private equity firms today. In 2006, at 72, Patricof founded Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm that led numerous investments in digital media companies. He has since left Greycroft to take on the founding partner and chairperson role at Primetime Partners. At Primetime Partners, Patricof, who said he plans to live until 114, is focused on what he calls the "ageless generation" — those over the age of 60 that are part of the fastest-growing part population. Since its inception two years ago, Primetime Partners has deployed capital across 25 investments with a focus on seed and early-stage investments in products, services, and experiences for the aging, including aging in place, financial security for retirees, care management, longevity health services, and consumer experiences. Primetime has also backed older entrepreneurs building companies, with 18% of its founders over 50. With his new book, "No Red Lights," Patricof hopes to encourage the older generation "not to pack it all in and go to the golf course and retire." He also hopes to share lessons with the younger generation to be open to new opportunities and live a life of curiosity.

Today's guest is Ryan Williams, Cadre's founder and executive chairman. Cadre is a tech-enabled commercial real estate investing platform backed by Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz, Ford Foundation, Harvard Management Company, Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, and others. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, entrepreneurship runs deep in Ryan's veins. In this episode, Ryan and Julia discuss his entrepreneurial journey and building that entrepreneurial muscle, from his time selling sports sweatbands as a teenager to first investing in real estate as a college student.  With his college roommate, Ryan began his career in real estate investing in Atlanta during the 2008 subprime credit crisis. The pair purchased foreclosed properties using pooled funds from classmates and, in many cases, helped those families buy back the homes. After working at Goldman Sachs and Blackstone Group, Ryan launched Cadre, which sits at the intersection of finance, technology, and real estate.  Ryan recognizes that real estate ownership is a significant driver of economic prosperity. Since its founding in 2014, Cadre has closed more than $5 billion in transactions, delivered a greater than 25% net average IRR, and returned more than $400 million to investors. His vision involves opening up more access to investing in commercial real estate. 

Prominent First Amendment attorney Greg Lukianoff, a New York Times best-selling author and the President and CEO of The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (previously called the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), joins Julia on this episode for a wide-ranging discussion on free speech. In this discussion, Lukianoff explains what free speech is, some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding free speech, and the importance of fostering a free speech culture. He also covers his work on college campuses and why free speech has worsened since 2015. The conversation also covers FIRE’s expanded mission in the workplace, why journalism is the worst industry for free speech, cancel culture, and free speech on social media. Lukianoff is the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Most recently, he co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt. He’s working on his next book Cancelling of the American Mind with his co-author Rikki Schlott.

Contrarian macro investor and thinker Hugh Hendry (@Hendry_Hugh) joins Julia La Roche for a two-hour, unfiltered conversation that covers everything, from his early years in the hedge fund world to why he’s currently fearful of the economy. In this episode, Hugh discusses his time “healing” from the hedge fund world while living on St. Barts for the past five years. He revisits his earliest years, how he got into markets, and his investment process while running his hedge fund. Hugh also explains why he’s fearful of the economy and unpacks his views on why he thinks we’re currently in the fourth depression in the last 200 years that he argues will end in “a revolution in money.” Hugh is also critical of the Federal Reserve and believes they’re making a mistake with rate hikes while debt is “at warning levels.” The conversation also covers inflation, class warfare, the problems with ESG, current opportunities in the market, why he thinks gold is a “stupid” investment, and his thoughts on Bitcoin. Hendry founded Eclectica Asset Management, a global macro hedge fund that was pretty much uncorrelated to everything in the financial universe. Hugh started Eclectica in 2002 and ran for 15 years before closing in 2017. He made more than 30% in 2008 betting against banks. These days, Hendry is a luxury hotelier on St. Barts, where he spends his time surfing and still thinking about macro. He also hosts a weekly podcast called “Acid Capitalist” and shares his views on Instagram, Twitter, and Substack.

In this episode, Julia is joined by Gerry Parsky, founder and chairman of private equity firm Aurora Capital Partners and partner of Endurance Partners.  When Parsky was 31, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, a position he held from 1974 until 1977. In that role, Parsky was responsible for capital markets policy. He also was responsible for all of the Treasury Department’s international affairs, including trade policy, international monetary policy, investment and energy policy; relations with industrial and developing countries; and U. S. policy relating to the international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.  In this episode, Julia and Gerry discuss the importance of mentorship, public service, lessons from the 1970s, inflation, energy, private equity, and more.  

David Cote, executive chairman of Vertiv Holdings and former CEO of Honeywell, joined Julia La Roche for a wide-ranging discussion of his best-selling book “Winning Now, Winning Later.” Cote knows a thing or two about turning things around. He describes his early years as a “tumultuous beginning.” The first in his family to graduate high school, Cote had a 1.8 GPA in college before he stopped attending classes to be a fisherman. Shortly after getting married, Cote and his wife found out they were expecting, and he only had $100 in the bank. Cote got serious and returned to school, earning straight As. He later started at GE as an hourly worker before moving up the executive track only to be fired by Jack Welch. Cote’s opportunity to change as a leader began in February 2002 when he joined Honeywell as its CEO. During his 15-year tenure, Cote took Honeywell's market cap from $20 billion to $120 billion, delivering returns of 800 percent and beating the S&P by nearly two and a half times.