Odd Lots

Nearly 200 years ago, the colonialist French power granted independence to Haiti. But it did so under the brutal condition that it pay 150 million francs in exchange for its freedom. This was a staggering sum that imposed a staggering imposition on the Haitian economy. And there's good reason to believe that that initial debt contributed to the ongoing poverty in the country...

Over the last week and a half, the world has watched in shock at the dizzying speed of the collapse in Afghanistan. Events are still unfolding, so the future remains extremely uncertain. One former official who has been outspoken in recent days is Ajmal Ahmady, who was running Afghanistan's central bank on an interim basis right up until the government fell...

David Woo has always been one of the most outspoken voices on the street. A former top strategist at Bank of America, he is now publishing independently at his new site David Woo Unbound. On this episode, he argues that the mainstream economists are getting it wrong, and that inflation will remain uncomfortably higher than what the Fed wants to see. We also discuss the economy more broadly, the virus, and the U.S. relationship with China.

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The last two jobs reports have been strong, but the unemployment rate remains over 5%. And by some estimates, the economy is still 8 million jobs shy of where it would have been had it not been for the crisis. So when will the Fed declare "victory" in hitting its employment mandate? It's a question that's been complicated by the recent rise in inflation...

The last 18 months has seen an incredible influx of people getting into trading. Thanks to a combination of Robinhood, a bull market, and perhaps more free time, trading is part of popular culture to a degree we haven't seen in over two decades...

The economy is in uncharted territory in more ways that one right now. Coming out of the worst of the pandemic, we're seeing a rapid pace of GDP growth, along with elevated inflation readings the likes of which we haven't seen in years. Beyond that, policymakers have engaged in historically aggressive fiscal and monetary expansion. The Fed, in particular, is almost a year into a new framework (unveiled last August at Jackson Hole) that aims to avoid certain mistakes of the past...

Sam Bankman-Fried is arguably the most important and powerful person in crypto. His crypto exchange FTX just raised $900 million and is growing like crazy. Meanwhile, Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Levine probably knows more about market structure than any other journalist. So, on this episode we paired them up for an in-depth conversation about how crypto really works, how it's different from traditional finance, and where it's all going.

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America's ports are a key source of congestion contributing to supply chain disruptions rippling through the economy. Things have gotten a little better, but very slowly. And the disruptions are expected to continue for quite some time. To understand more about what's going on, we spoke with Gene Seroka, the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, to understand how bad the problems are, and how they will eventually be fixed.

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When you think about building a new home, obviously you think of various constraints regarding land, labor, and raw materials. But, of course, you can't build a new home without other basics, like windows, sinks, and bathtubs (or showers). And, just like everything else, these are now in short supply...

You can't talk about supply chains without talking about warehouses. Basically everything we buy at some point eventually sits in a warehouse. But warehouses themselves are changing. Whereas at one point, they were simple and straightforward — goods come in before getting trucked to retail outlets — today they're massively complex, thanks to e-commerce and needing to deal with returns...