Huge bubbles in AI & US stock market grow, while real economy is in recession episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 21, 2025 · 33 MIN

Huge bubbles in AI & US stock market grow, while real economy is in recession

from Geopolitical Economy Report · host Ben Norton

The US economy depends more and more on enormous bubbles in the stock market and AI. The 10% of richest Americans drive half of all spending, while the real economy in many states is in recession. If the bubble pops, it could cause a severe crisis. Political economist Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXCVrLPTUHQ Topics 0:00 Economy divided between rich & everyone else 1:36 Many US states already in recession 3:11 Biggest stock market bubble in history 5:31 90% of stocks owned by 10% richest Americans 7:23 Magnificent Seven (Mag7) Big Tech stocks 9:07 Ten Titans Big Tech stocks 9:58 AI bubble 11:46 (CLIP) Jeff Bezos: AI is in "good bubble" 13:26 95% of AI pilot programs fail 13:55 Investors keep buying overvalued stocks 15:12 Markets can remain irrational 15:26 Irrational exuberance 15:50 Dot-com bubble 16:28 US share of global stock markets 17:28 US vs Chinese tech company revenue 18:24 Tesla vs global automotive industry 20:49 Top 10 US stocks: 16% global market cap 21:07 Recession 22:23 Stagflation 23:04 AI capex contribution to US GDP growth 25:07 AI is eating the economy 26:01 AI drives up electricity bills 26:50 Trump shuts down renewable energy 27:42 AI adds more to GDP than shopping 28:49 US job growth collapses 32:13 Bifurcated economy 33:01 Outro

The US economy depends more and more on enormous bubbles in the stock market and AI. The 10% of richest Americans drive half of all spending, while the real economy in many states is in recession. If the bubble pops, it could cause a severe crisis. Political economist Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXCVrLPTUHQ Topics 0:00 Economy divided between rich & everyone else 1:36 Many US states already in recession 3:11 Biggest stock market bubble in history 5:31 90% of stocks owned by 10% richest Americans 7:23 Magnificent Seven (Mag7) Big Tech stocks 9:07 Ten Titans Big Tech stocks 9:58 AI bubble 11:46 (CLIP) Jeff Bezos: AI is in "good bubble" 13:26 95% of AI pilot programs fail 13:55 Investors keep buying overvalued stocks 15:12 Markets can remain irrational 15:26 Irrational exuberance 15:50 Dot-com bubble 16:28 US share of global stock markets 17:28 US vs Chinese tech company revenue 18:24 Tesla vs global automotive industry 20:49 Top 10 US stocks: 16% global market cap 21:07 Recession 22:23 Stagflation 23:04 AI capex contribution to US GDP growth 25:07 AI is eating the economy 26:01 AI drives up electricity bills 26:50 Trump shuts down renewable energy 27:42 AI adds more to GDP than shopping 28:49 US job growth collapses 32:13 Bifurcated economy 33:01 Outro

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Huge bubbles in AI & US stock market grow, while real economy is in recession

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This episode was published on October 21, 2025.

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The US economy depends more and more on enormous bubbles in the stock market and AI. The 10% of richest Americans drive half of all spending, while the real economy in many states is in recession. If the bubble pops, it could cause a severe crisis....

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