Cash Course

A burst housing bubble and risky banking practices led to the worst financial crisis in a generation. We break down what happened in 2008, why it spread globally, and how it changed finance forever.

The internet promised endless profits in the late '90s' but few companies delivered. Learn what fueled the dot-com stock surge, why it crashed, and which lessons (and companies) survived.

October 19, 1987, was the worst day in U.S. stock market history. Find out what caused the Dow to drop 22% in a single day, how markets responded, and how it reshaped trading rules forever.

In the 1980s and 1990s, over 1,000 savings and loan institutions failed in a slow-motion financial disaster. This episode explores deregulation, bad lending, and the cost to taxpayers.

The Great Depression reshaped economies, policies, and everyday lives. Learn what caused the worst economic collapse in modern history, how it unfolded, and what lessons it left behind.

Why does the U.S. need a central bank? In this episode, we explore the origins of the Federal Reserve, its role in stabilizing the economy, and how it manages inflation, interest rates, and banking crises.

From wooden walls to trillion-dollar trades, Wall Street has become the heart of the global financial system. This episode tracks its rise and explains how it became a symbol of capitalism and risk. As always, this content is not financial or investment advice and is purely for informational purposes only.

Banking began in ancient temples and evolved into one of the most powerful systems shaping our modern lives. In this episode, discover how banks developed from grain storage systems to global financial institutions. As always, this content is not financial or investment advice and is purely for informational purposes only.

The gold standard once backed every dollar with actual gold. This episode dives into why it was adopted, how it worked, why it collapsed, and what it taught us about trust, inflation, and stability in currency.

Money didn't always look like paper bills or digital payments. In this episode, we trace the evolution of money from ancient barter systems to gold coins, paper notes, and cryptocurrencies. Learn how trust, scarcity, and technology shaped what we use to trade value today.

Discover how companies raise money and investors build wealth through public markets. We explain how stocks and bonds work, what moves market prices, and the risks involved with investing. This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn’t financial or investment advice.

Bring it all home by focusing on managing your own money. Learn the essential tool of creating and using a budget to track income (gross, net) and expenses (fixed, variable). We emphasize the importance of saving, including building an emergency fund, and how compound interest helps money grow. Understand concepts related to borrowing, such as credit score and debt-to-income ratio, distinguishing good from bad debt. Finally, we cover using credit cards, saving for the long term with retirement accounts, using insurance for protection, calculating your net worth, and setting financial goals.

Explore how economies connect globally through international trade. We discuss trade agreements (like USMCA) and the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Learn about various trade barriers, including tariffs (customs duties) and non-tariff barriers. We cover cross-border investment like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), business strategies like outsourcing, and contentious practices like dumping. Understand free trade zones, the balance of payments, currency manipulation, exchange controls, and the impact of multinational corporations.

Shift focus to the big picture: the national economy. Learn how economists measure economic health using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and economic growth. We define a recession, unemployment, and the inflation rate. Understand the business cycle and how governments use fiscal policy (spending, taxes) and central banks use monetary policy (interest rates, money supply) to manage it. Concepts like budget deficit/surplus, national debt, productivity, labor force participation, economic indicators, and stagflation are also explained.

Understand the engine driving many markets: supply and demand. We detail the Law of Demand and the Law of Supply, and the crucial concept of market equilibrium where they meet. Explore how government price controls like price ceilings and price floors can lead to shortages or surpluses. Learn about elasticity, substitute and complementary goods, factors that shift supply and demand curves, normal and inferior goods, and the value captured by consumer and producer surplus.

Dive into the world of trading and markets, defined as places or systems where exchange happens. Learn about the act of trade, how it creates value, and historical barter. We cover comparative advantage, the roles of wholesalers and retailers, government intervention through protectionism and the idea of free markets. Discover concepts like market failure, arbitrage, black markets, and how globalization connects economies, including trade balance (deficits/surpluses) and terms of trade.

Explore the fundamentals of money: what it is, its three main roles (medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value), and the concept of fiat money. We discuss inflation and deflation, how money is created by banks, different forms of money (cash, digital, cryptocurrency), the roles of banks and central banks, the extreme case of hyperinflation, and the basics of interest.