Hester Peirce is a current commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission and serves on its crypto task force. Hester returns to the show to discuss her time and role at the SEC, the SEC evolving role in the regulation landscape, the problems with our current state of the financial surveillance, the state of crypto for a regulator’s perspective, and much more.

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

Recorded on August 11th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:56 - Hester’s Career

00:07:57 - Peanut Butter and Watermelon

00:17:37 - Crypto Mom

00:20:49 - GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act

00:22:47 - Crypto Task Force

00:24:04 - Feedback

00:26:53 - Being an SEC Commissioner

00:31:24 - Lane Drifting

00:37:31 - Dissent

00:40:20 - SEC Moving Forward

00:47:03 - Outro

Robin Brooks is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Robin returns to the show to discuss his previous appearance in March of 2020, life at a think tank, the changing or not-so-much status of the dollar, Trump’s trade war, the current landscape of geoeconomics and much more.

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

Recorded on August 7th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:50 - Looking Back at the Pandemic War and Fiscal Dominance

00:07:07 - Robin’s Career: From Wall Street to Think Tank

00:18:53 - The Status of the US Dollar

00:27:28 - The Trade War

00:32:40 - Deglobalization

00:39:29 - Geoeconomics

00:47:28 - Secondary Sanctions

00:55:23 - Outro

Aditi Sahasrabuddhe is a political scientist at Brown University and the author of the new book, Banker’s Trust: How Social Relations Avert Global Financial Collapse. In Aditi’s first appearance on the show, she discusses how central bankers’ relationships in the 1920’s impacted the global economy, how the ending of those relationships played a part in the Great Depression, how we can apply those principles to the Great Recession and the present, and much more.

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

Recorded on July 30th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:50 - Aditi’s Intellectual Journey

00:03:57 - Louis Franck at the National Bank of Belgium

00:05:46 - Relationships and Crisis

00:11:07 - Central Bank Club

00:17:06 - Central Bankers and the Butterfly Effect

00:22:33 - Montagu Norman and Benjamin Strong

00:32:06 - Émile Moreau

00:34:48 - Japan

00:38:11 - Benjamin Strong and the Great Depression

00:48:55 - Great Financial Crisis

00:51:18 - India

00:55:25 - Jerome Powell the Central Banker

00:58:23 - Outro

Will Luther is an associate professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University and a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. Josh Hendrickson is a professor of economics and the chair of the economics department at the University of Mississippi. Josh is also a fellow at BPI. Will and Josh return to the show to defend the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, discuss the future of Bitcoin, and contend with the problem of Bitcoiners, and much more.

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

Recorded on June 25th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:39 - Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

00:23:33 - Future of Bitcoin

00:45:07 - Scaling Bitcoin

00:50:46 - Outro

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

Ben Harris served in numerous high-ranking roles as a public sector economist and is now the vice president and director of economic studies at the Brooking Institution. In Ben’s first appearance on the show, he discusses the fiscal health of the US government, including the rising primary deficient, the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill, the proposition of stablecoins and AI as a solution to our debt, his love of basketball and much more.

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

Recorded on June 18th, 2025

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Timestamps

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:01 - Ben’s Career

00:05:18 - Fiscal Health of the United States

00:07:57 - Big Beautiful Bill

00:12:15 - Debts and Deficits

00:14:47 - Costs and Risks of the Rising US Debt

00:37:05 - Stablecoins as a Potential Solution to US Debt

00:41:49 - Debt Ceiling

00:50:02 - AI and the Economy

00:54:58 - Outro