Words & Numbers
Words & Numbers
Free the People
Episode 501: Blowing Bubbles
45 minutes Posted Apr 8, 2026 at 11:00 am.
Introduction: A Month of Chaos
Supreme Court, Birthright Citizenship, and Trump’s Presence
Executive Power vs Congressional Authority
Why Congress Keeps Ceding Its Power
Can a System This Large Even Function?
Ireland’s Guinness Price Investigation with AI
Foolishness of the Week: Texas Campaigning at Quinceañeras
Redistricting, Demographics, and Political Miscalculations
Financial Bubbles and Why Economists Ignore Them
The “Real Economy” vs Financial Markets
Pricing the Unknown: Cars, Dot-Coms, and AI
AI Investing, Speculation, and Bubble Pricing
AI as the Next Internet and Technological Integration
Amazon, Spillover Innovation, and Unexpected Winners
Consumer Power, Corporate Fear, and Market Discipline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Show notes
We return after a brief hiatus to catch up on a whirlwind of recent headlines, from political drama to bizarre claims about aliens, before turning to the Supreme Court’s consideration of birthright citizenship and the broader question of executive power versus congressional authority. We examine how Congress has gradually ceded its responsibilities on issues like tariffs, war powers, and immigration, and what that means for the balance of power in government. We then head to Ireland, where one enterprising citizen used AI to track the true price of a pint of Guinness, before moving to Texas for our Foolishness of the Week, where a congressional race has taken an unusual turn as a candidate campaigns by performing at quinceañeras. Finally, we dive into financial bubbles, exploring how markets price uncertainty, why emerging technologies like AI attract massive investment despite unclear outcomes, and how bubbles function as part of the process of discovering what new innovations are actually worth.
37:22 Consumer Power, Corporate Fear, and Market Discipline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices