Great podcast episode recommendation thread

[villainx]

Who is Rick Rubin?  And is he interviewing Mark Leonard?

[Spekulatius]

Well, it’s Halloween, so if you want scared, listen to this podcast From Garant Williams with David Murrin as a guest :

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-grant-williams-podcast/id1508585135?i=1000674400029
 

China, Politics, Trump, Brexit - he covers it all.

[Spekulatius]

Regarding perception versus reality:

 

[coffeecaninvestor]

I’ve re-listening to the 1999-2007 AGM and pairing that with the letters. Pretty great and timeless stuff in those years… I am not sure what else an aspiring investor needs other than to absorb that over and over again. Hoping his letter this year is a great one. One of my biggest regrets is not having attended a meeting when Charlie was alive. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/berkshire-hathaway-annual-shareholder-meetings-since/id1445276006

 

 

[backtothebeach]

On 1/8/2025 at 8:04 AM, coffeecaninvestor said:

I’ve re-listening to the 1999-2007 AGM and pairing that with the letters. Pretty great and timeless stuff in those years… I am not sure what else an aspiring investor needs other than to absorb that over and over again. Hoping his letter this year is a great one. One of my biggest regrets is not having attended a meeting when Charlie was alive. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/berkshire-hathaway-annual-shareholder-meetings-since/id1445276006

 

Excellent, thank you for posting. I’ve started with listening from 1994. Great for a long flight!
 

“I know, Mr. Buffett, that you've said that you don't read what other people say about the market or the economy. But do either you or Charlie have an opinion about how you think things are going to go?

Are you bullish or bearish?

You may have trouble believing this, but I, Charlie and I never have an opinion about the market because it wouldn't be any good and it might interfere with the opinions we have that are good. If we're right about a business, if we think a business is attractive, it would be very foolish for us to not take action on that because we thought something about what the market was going to do or anything of that sort because we just don't know. And to give up something that you do know and that is profitable for something that you don't know and won't know because of that, it doesn't make any sense to us and it doesn't really make any difference to us.”

[coffeecaninvestor]

11 hours ago, backtothebeach said:

Excellent, thank you for posting. I’ve started with listening from 1994. Great for a long flight!
 

“I know, Mr. Buffett, that you've said that you don't read what other people say about the market or the economy. But do either you or Charlie have an opinion about how you think things are going to go?

Are you bullish or bearish?

You may have trouble believing this, but I, Charlie and I never have an opinion about the market because it wouldn't be any good and it might interfere with the opinions we have that are good. If we're right about a business, if we think a business is attractive, it would be very foolish for us to not take action on that because we thought something about what the market was going to do or anything of that sort because we just don't know. And to give up something that you do know and that is profitable for something that you don't know and won't know because of that, it doesn't make any sense to us and it doesn't really make any difference to us.”

You are welcome. I recommend 2x speed. 

I do think that what they say about market timing is true, and it definitely helps that they have a constant flow of cash pouring in so they can buy new positions with fresh capital. They do not have to constantly buy and sell large holding especially if the business is a great one like AXP or KO. I think the size of their positions is a factor they might have sold at extreme valuations that mathematically didn’t make sense. 
 

I found it interesting more than once they had trouble buying when stocks were cheap because of concerns about their insurance operations and not being able to use the float. I wonder if that was a consideration when the market plunged due to Covid. 

Edited January 10, 2025 by coffeecaninvestor

[backtothebeach]

On 1/10/2025 at 9:44 AM, coffeecaninvestor said:

You are welcome. I recommend 2x speed. 

 2x?? Lol. I can manage 1.25x.

 

The second half of the 1994 afternoon session is excellent:
 

“…the economic value of any asset essentially is the present value, the appropriate interest rate, of all the future streams of cash going in or out of the business. And there are all kinds of businesses that Charlie and I don't think we have the faintest idea what that future stream will look like. And if we don't have the faintest idea what the future stream is going to look like, we don't have the faintest idea what it's worth now.

So if you think you know what the price of a stock should be today, but you don't think you have any idea what the stream of cash will be over the next 20 years, you've got cognitive dissonance, I guess is what they call it. So we are looking for things where we feel fairly high degree of probability that we can come within a range of looking at those numbers out over a period of time, and then we discount them back. And we are more concerned with the certainty of those numbers than we are with getting the one that looks absolutely the cheapest, but based upon numbers that we don't have great confidence in.

And that's basically what economic value is all about. The numbers in any accounting report mean nothing per se as to economic value. They are guidelines to tell you something about how to get at economic value, but they don't tell you anything.

There are no answers in the financial statements. There are guidelines to enable you to figure out the answer. And to figure out that answer, you have to understand something about business.

You don't have to understand a lot about mathematics. I mean, the math is not complicated. But you do have to understand something about the business.”

Edited January 11, 2025 by backtothebeach

[Spekulatius]

I have got to say, some of Scott Galloway talks and podcasts are insightful.  I think he is correct about many things :

 

 

[Spekulatius]

I posted this in the joke thread, be sure hre presents his content in a funny and cynical way, but the more I think about, the more I view this as really good advice. There are many more episodes in his channel that are worth watching, not all of them relationship related. this fellow is a hoot and a smart one at that:

 

[Ulti]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/macro-voices/id1079172742?i=1000691908224

https://www.macrovoices.com/1392-macrovoices-467-jim-bianco-the-mar-a-lago-accords
 

An interesting podcast with Jim Bianco, talking about the three prong Mar-a-Lago approach. One is the use of tariffs, two is a sovereign wealth fund, and three is a transactional relationship with those who own US debt. Bonds held by by countries should be exchanged with a zero coupon century bond that pays no interest. This would bring the debt and interest on our debt down . In return. These countries will continue to get for lack of a better term ….  Pax Americana. No more free ride for military support and cooperation… hopefully I’ve interpret this right.

[nafregnum]

The Economist put out 8 episodes about a Crypto Investing scam called "Pig Butchering" and it's excellent.  

 

https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/scam-inc

 

Looks like the first three episodes of this series are available without a subscription to The Economist.  I listened and enjoyed the whole 8 episodes, but just hearing the first 3 would be time well spent, and the rest of the details about this new "Pig Butchering" scam are likely to be online in other formats if you're not interested in subscribing.

[nafregnum]

The perfect pairing to "Scam Inc" is a longtime favorite called "The Swindled Podcast" 

 

https://swindledpodcast.com/

 

The guy who does the podcast lives in TX somewhere, calling himself "A Concerned Citizen", and he does deep dives into the stories of greed motivated criminals -- some are about corporations (product safety coverups, pollution disasters, etc) and some are about individuals.  There's insurance fraud such as faked accidents, faked deaths, faked car wrecks ... I think he was first to thoroughly research and release an episode about the man who rigged the McDonalds Monopoly prize jackpots.  

 

Listening to this podcast is a little bit like a class in defense against the dark arts.

 

[james22]

1 hour ago, nafregnum said:

. . . greed motivated criminals . . .

 

I often find myself over the weekend listening to American Greed (on the CNBC channel) when in the car.

 

Yikes.

 

Reminds one never to assume rational actors.

[ratiman]

I'm not usually a fan of Meb Faber because he just reads off a list of questions (easy target for being replaced by AI)  but this with Chuck Clough is very good. Clough makes the case for more deflation and is persuasive although it would have been good if Faber asked one follow-up question to make him back up his arguments. For instance how can demographics lead to deflation when retired people spend but don't produce anything.

 

https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-meb-faber-show/former-merrill-strategist-Y9RUmy2bTQx/

 

[Saluki]

 

This was a printed interview and somebody fed it into AI and told it to produce an audio of it in Druckenmiller's voice.  I can't tell it wasn't real.  

[John Hjorth]

I've spent a part of last Saturday afternon and the last Sunday evening to pass the finish line for the Acquired Podcast about Novo Nordisk A/S.

 

 

It's awesome, if you want to learn something about the Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk A/S, and the evolution over time in treatment of diabetes and obesity. But please be aware, It will end up cost you almost 4 hours of the rest of your life.

 

Link [unembedded] : https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/novo-nordisk-ozempic.

[John Hjorth]

Moreover, if the above podcast episode by Acquired Podcast mentioned by me caught your interest, the I can almost guarantee the following also will :

 

Acquired Podcast [March 5^th 2024] : The Scientific Journey Behind Ozempic (with Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, Novo Nordisk's Chief Scientific Advisor)

 

 

It's the most friggin' crazy story I've heard of, I assure you!

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Right now, I'm lingering about if I'm in a need of a contact to a Russian thug, spy or embassy employeé, for establishing the agreement  of the 'installment' of a transponder into her body, by the use of fake umbrellla, or not.

 

Maybe her workplace maybe after all - geografical - be pretty static.

 

I mean : Every Novo Nordisk shareholder should know - at any time! - in which direction - to roll out the praying rug. <j/k>.

[flesh]

 

If you haven’t heard Dalios thought on what the usa needs to do economically fiscally etc recently this is good. 

[MungerWunger]

Josh Wolfe: Human Advantage in the World of AI [The Knowledge Project Ep. #217]

 

 

 

[Spooky]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-trump-is-getting-the-game-theory-wrong/id1743213122?i=1000697997006

 

Nate Silver talking about game theory related to tariffs.

[Ulti]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd-lots/id1056200096?i=1000699466923
 

excellent podcast with new FTC head Andrew Ferguson 

[nwoodman]

 

Galloway does a reasonable job of keeping his personality in check and letting Dr Fiona Hill provide some excellent insights…at least for me. (Transcript attached)

 

Bio

Dr. Fiona Hill has established herself as one of the world’s foremost experts on Russia and European geopolitics, with a remarkable journey from working-class origins in Northeast England to advising U.S. presidents and leading major academic institutions. 

 

Podcast Summary

• The conflict is evolving from a bilateral issue to a global power realignment, with Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea forming a bloc against Western democracies

• Modern great power politics is bypassing international institutions and sovereign rights, resembling 18th-century diplomacy where powerful nations carve up regions

• Economic leverage matters more than military size - Europe has the economic power to stand against Russia without US support if they find the political will

• Nuclear powers breaking security guarantees (as with Ukraine giving up nuclear weapons) risks global nuclear proliferation as nations conclude only nuclear weapons ensure safety

• Trump and Putin approach negotiation with fundamentally different understandings - Trump seeks deals for business and nuclear reduction, while Putin seeks strategic dominance

• The world is becoming increasingly multipolar, with "swing states" like India, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil gaining influence by refusing to commit to either major power bloc

20 MARCH • EP 341 • 1 HR 7 MIN..pdf

Edited March 21, 2025 by nwoodman

[Jaygo]

 

This was a really thoughtful convo and described many issues that I would have never thought existed.

 

It paints a pretty bleak picture of the past 30 years for Canadian business and provides a roadmap of what we could achieve if we had a little more foresight. 

 

I recommend it to all listeners not just Canucks. The discussion of economics and different trade relations will be  interesting for everyone. Low level jobs for IP transfers as a weapon of influence against Canada mainly by the USA and all I can think of is China is now a threat of doing this to the USA themselves. 

 

It also made me think of my portfolio companies who are directly affected by this. Ive invested in Velan banking on a takeover by a US company, now maybe i'm hoping it doesn't happen as a national pride thing. 

 

Linemar is also a collection of great Canadian manufactures in century long industries and would be a bread crumb for a US company like BRK. 

 

I personally know the owners of 2 and soon to be 3 Canadian manufactures who have sold production and Ip / design to US PE firms in the past two years. The brain drain is real, maybe we already are the 51st state and we just dont know it yet.

 

 

[Xerxes]

My Master of Coin thread got nuked. Cannot find it anymore. Or maybe I am blind. 
 

in any case the All-In interview was good. I like Scott B. Just wished the two joker/hosts would let him talk before interrupting him to throw the next soft ball question.  

[cubsfan]

14 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

My Master of Coin thread got nuked. Cannot find it anymore. Or maybe I am blind. 
 

in any case the All-In interview was good. I like Scott B. Just wished the two joker/hosts would let him talk before interrupting him to throw the next soft ball question.  

 

Agree. Here it is.