Rashad Ahmed is a former Treasury and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency financial economist and is currently an economist at the upstart Andresen Institute for Finance and Economics. In Rashad’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the real-world impacts of the GENIUS Act, what US stablecoin regulation means for the rest of the world, the state of crypto adoption, and much more.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on June 27th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Bumper

00:00:31 - Intro

00:01:44 - Rashad’s Career

00:07:33 - Global State of Crypto

00:23:48 - Stablecoins and Safe Asset Prices

00:40:00 - Sovereign Default Risk and Cryptocurrency Adoption

00:56:51 - Outro

Paul Kupiec is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. In Paul’s first appearance on the show, he discusses life at a think tank, the insolvency of the Fed, theories on how to fix the Fed’s balance sheet, Ted Cruz’s call to end interest on reserves, and much more.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on June 24th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:14 - Paul’s Career

00:08:12 - Think Tanks

00:10:42 - Current State of the Fed’s Balance Sheet

00:20:22 - The Federal Reserve and Gold

00:23:04 - The Fed’s Unique Accounting

00:39:28 - Ending Interest on Reserve Payments to Banks

00:50:08 - Outro

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George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University and formerly worked as an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. George returns to the show to discuss the current fiscal status of the US, how the Big Beautiful Bill will impact the fiscal outlook going forward, the history of running deficits in the US, and much more.

Check out the transcript for this week’s episode, now with links.

Recorded on June 24th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Bumper

00:00:29 - Intro

00:01:55 - Current US Fiscal Status

00:05:45 - What Is Inflation?

00:10:18 - Fiscal Consequences of the US War with COVID

00:23:21 - World War COVID

00:25:05 - Before and After War

00:34:02 - Financing with Inflation

00:38:47 - World War II Period vs. Today

00:38:47 - World War II Period vs. Today

00:44:19 - Who Bears the Fed’s Losses?

00:47:14 - How to Foot the Big, Beautiful Bill

00:52:10 - Outro