This Time Is Different

Welcome to Crazy Town, Population: $1.4 Trillion Margin Debt

US margin debt, what investors borrow from their brokerages to buy securities, rose 54% from a year ago. Don’t take the punch bowl away! Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Malcolm’s prediction that Sam Altman will have to walk back OpenAI's spending commitments in the back half of 2026. The mechanics of triple-leveraged ETFs, and how they're driving 10% single-day swings in stocks like Micron without any individual investor buying the underlying company. The Cut’s article "It's Hard to See My Parents Living So Lavishly While We're Struggling." Stories of rich parents refusing to help their children; a loan a dad wouldn't cosign, and the daughter who found out at graduation she owed $80,000 in loans from her parents. The history of corporations in America, and how an idea that Alexander Hamilton implemented could be used today; profitable companies that serve the public interest. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Polymarket's Fake Bets. Wendy’s Becomes a Meme Stock.

Polymarket reportedly paid creators to post videos of themselves "winning" bets that didn't exist. The Wall Street Journal found 118 videos showing nearly $900,000 in winnings — bets that, in reality, would have lost more than $166,000, placed on a creatively misspelled lookalike site. Meanwhile, Wendy's is drawing more Wall Street Bets chatter than SpaceX, 80% of its borrowable shares are already sold short, and the internet has decided a $7 burger stock might be the next GameStop. Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss.: - The summer box office recovery, and what movie audiences want. - The Polymarket "poiymarket" fake-bet scheme. - Whether Wendy's is the next GameStop. - Netflix as a "durable good" and why it's trading at a discount to the market. - The clipping economy, why one operator estimates 90% of what you see online is advertising in disguise. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Is The Market Too Hot To Trust?

Elon Musk says SpaceX could hit $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, a fifteen-fold jump from 2027 estimates. Parts of the market feel like they're on fire. So where does a long-term bull actually put money when they don't want to chase 40%-in-a-week moves?  Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: * The REITs they're using as cover in an overheated market — cold storage, data centers, and class-A office — and Malcolm's "what's the yield" test for every one of them. * Why "fiduciary" might not mean what you think, and how to tell a real one from a salesperson. * State Farm's plan to cut agent pay and lean on AI, and what it signals about white-collar work. * Why Gen Z is trading like the system is rigged, and whether they're wrong. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge  Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Is the American Dream Dead? w/ Freddie Smith

Is the American Dream Dead? w/ Freddie Smith Over the past 50 years, Americans created roughly $140 trillion in new wealth. Roughly two SpaceX’s worth of wealth reached the bottom half. Actor-turned-economic-commentator Freddie Smith argues the American dream isn't dead, but the timeline to reach it has become unreasonable for the typical worker. Is he right, and what would it actually take to fix it? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge are joined by Freddie Smith, author of the upcoming book Generation F****d, to discuss: * Freddie's radical tax plan: scrap every federal tax and replace it with a 10% levy on gross revenue. * The case for banning stock buybacks, and Malcolm's pitch to just raise the dividend instead. * How a capital gains tax holiday for mom-and-pop landlords could unlock frozen housing supply. * Whether regular 401(k) investors are locked out of the real growth happening in OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Guest: Freddie Smith Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Real Reason for Big Tech Layoffs

Google is raising $80 billion, and nearly 40% of it is going to the IRS, not data centers. Is Big Tech cutting employees to pay a tax bill? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: * Why index funds are forced to buy SpaceX at a bad time * The Nasdaq rule change that helps big IPOs, and possible reasons why the exchange declined to answer Ricky's questions * Why Malcolm is making a list of stocks to buy when the hype dies * Whether RocketLab is still a good investment. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge  Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]