"This Is Worse Than Iraq" - A Former WSJ Reporter on What Comes Next, with Peter McKay

This week on the Ways to Wealth Podcast, Charlie speaks to Peter McKay, former Wall Street Journal markets reporter and Web3 content creator.Peter covered oil and commodities for the Journal during the Iraq war, reported on the 2008 crash from the trading floor, and says what's unfolding right now with Iran, oil, and the global economy is giving him flashbacks. Except this time, he thinks the uncertainty might be worse.Peter spent over a decade at the Wall Street Journal, where he was part of the team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of the 2010 flash crash. He has since moved into Web3 marketing and content, co-authored white papers on blockchain supply chains for the World Economic Forum and writes the w3w newsletter on decentralisation.This conversation is a wide-ranging look at what's going on in the world right now. Peter and Charlie break down why 2008 started in finance and spilled into the real economy, but this time the reverse is happening, starting with supply chains, oil, and consumer spending before working its way into markets.They get into the concentration of both consumer spending and R&D in the US, where the top 20% of earners now drive an outsized share of the economy. They also discuss why AI might be following the classic hype cycle pattern, why most companies outside of tech still haven't found a real application for it, and the growing problem of bot-generated content on social media that could be undermining the entire digital advertising model.The conversation finishes on blockchain's quiet momentum in finance, including the fact that the clearinghouse behind the New York Stock Exchange is now experimenting with on-chain settlement.Watch all episodes of the Ways to Wealth Podcast here.Check-out Peter McKay’s Linked-in here: Timestamps:00:00 intro00:59 The world right now06:54 The technology shift18:05 What you can actually do23:18 Outro#waystowealth #wallstreetjournal #oilprices #geopolitics #ai #web3 #blockchain #socialmedia #markets #inflation #supplychain #iran #fintech #economy