Luke & Joe

The Root of All Evil

Business EN ↓ 6 episodes

Curious & Humble Individualists Our podcast is intended for curious, smart individuals who do not work in finance, but would like to keep informed about finance, economics, monetary & fiscal policy, and some miscellaneous topics as well. We focus on digging to the root of whatever financial scandal, debate, or news that happened in the past week, reviewing the source material with you, and then forming our own opinion. We do not claim to know everything, only that we are honest in our search for understanding. We try to have fun with it as well.

Author

Luke & Joe

Episodes

E89 | China Subjugates its Financial System; Treasury Considers Repo Investments; Star Wars Speech 10.05.2026 40:35

This week we focus on a deep dive into a new (proposed) Financial Law in China that gives the CCP expansive, total control over Financial Institutions. It's shocking! We compare the US and Chinese process for passing these kinds of laws, show why this might be form over function. We cover specific Articles that grant the regulators expansive powers: things their US counterparts absolutely do not h...

E81 | Private Credit, Debanking, Oil Prediction, A New American Bank, Bringing Mortgages Home 15.03.2026 46:03

Joe and Luke discuss the last few weeks of financial news as perceived by finance professionals. We got an update to the Donald Trump JP Morgan Debanking case. The JP Morgan defense issued a responses and (SCANDAL!) "admitted" to debanking Trump! Really, all they did was confirm what no one denied: they closed Trump and Trump-adjacent accounts. Luke presents his thoughts on the uphill battle befor...

E79 | The collapse of a bank that wasn't a bank; Scotty B's Prediction; Iranian Sanctions Story 23.02.2026 46:22

Luke and Joe continue to advance against their ignorance in this episode. First, Luke provides six topics which he did not have time to research so that you can research them if interested. The main topic was Scott Bessent's response to a question about Iran posed at a recent Congressional hearing (early Feb, 2026). He mentioned bank, economic, and currency collapses. Sounds interesting! But what...

E76 | Kevin Warsh, Potential Regime Shfit at the Fed, and Dollar Credibility 08.02.2026 24:38

We break down the surprise nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair. Are we witnessing a shift in tone at the Fed — or something more structural? Separately, we discuss two other developing stories: • Renewed government shutdown brinkmanship in Washington • Rumors of potential yen intervention and questions around the strong dollar policy While a short shutdown may have limited...

E77 | Credit Card Competition, RMB Reserve Currency, Inflation by Household 08.02.2026 41:59

The Credit Card Competition Act will not help the affordability issue; Xi Jinping wants the RMB to be the Global Reserve Currency, but has a long ways to go; and a new study shows that households experienced inflation in very different ways.

E75 | Japan Interest Spike, 1929 Book Review, Union Baggage, and the Billionaire Tax Act 01.02.2026 53:14

Lots of interesting happenings this past week. Joe and Luke follow up on E68 and discuss the recent spike in Japanese Government Bonds on the back of PM's announcement to lower consumption taxes. Luke finished reading the recent pop-finance book from Sorkin, 1929, and offers a recap and review of the book. In preparation for the root dive discussion on the proposed 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, Luke t...