Get the edge with Hidden Forces where media entrepreneur and financial analyst Demetri Kofinas gives you access to the people and ideas that matter, so you can build financial security and always stay ahead of the curve.
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The Hidden Forces podcast is an incredibly informative and educational show that delves into complex issues in the world today. Hosted by Demetri Kofinas, this podcast is perfect for listeners who want a deep understanding of current affairs without prior extensive knowledge. What sets this show apart is its objective approach to exploring various topics, providing listeners with a well-rounded perspective and enabling them to form their own opinions.
One of the best aspects of The Hidden Forces podcast is the in-depth nature of the conversations. With each episode, Demetri poses a multitude of questions to his guests, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of the subject at hand. This level of preparation and thoroughness ensures that listeners gain a deeper understanding of the complex issues being discussed. Additionally, Demetri's choice of guests is exceptional, featuring experts and thought leaders from various fields who bring unique insights to the table.
One potential downside of the podcast might be that it can sometimes cover multiple topics at once, which might be overwhelming for some listeners. However, this approach also keeps things interesting and ensures that there is always something new to learn or think about. Moreover, with such diverse topics covered on the show, there is bound to be something for everyone.
In conclusion, The Hidden Forces podcast is an outstanding show that provides in-depth education on geopolitical and economic issues as well as many other important topics. Demetri Kofinas's dedication to thoroughly researching each subject and his objective approach make this podcast a must-listen for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the world around them. Whether you agree or disagree with the discussions presented, The Hidden Forces offers thought-provoking content that will leave you feeling informed and engaged.
In Episode 424 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kamran Bokhari, Senior Director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy & Policy, who has served in the U.S. State Department and as a Senior Consultant with the World Bank. Bokhari first appeared on the podcast shortly after the October 7th attacks to discuss the violence ignited by Hamas, the nature and scope of Iranian involvement, and how various regional actors exploited the growing disorder to their advantage, as the Biden administration struggled to stabilize a region on the brink of another major war. In subsequent appearances, Bokhari has provided the Hidden Forces audience with critical context for understanding U.S.-Israeli and Iranian strategic aims and limitations, the interests and constraints of other regional states (including Saudi Arabia and Turkey), how the events in the Middle East are perceived in Beijing and Moscow, and how the situation may evolve from here. The broader conflict with Iran, which has consistently framed these discussions, has now directly involved the United States following its recent deployment of fourteen 30,000-pound bombs targeting three Iranian nuclear sites: the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the nuclear facility in Natanz, and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. What happens next—and whether the White House's actions will ultimately prove beneficial to America's long-term strategic objectives—forms the central focus of this two-hour conversation. In the first hour, Bokhari and Kofinas update listeners on recent developments, assessing the initial successes and failures of U.S. and Israeli strategic planners, the Iranian response, immediate risks to the United States and its allies, and how this war is likely to reshape the economic and security order of the Middle East over the next five years. In the second hour, Demetri and Kamran widen their aperture to examine how the conflict will affect the economic and military imperatives of the United States and China, along with their respective alliances and trading networks. They also discuss the potential economic repercussions and secondary impacts resulting from America's attack on Iran. The episode concludes with an examination of best- and worst-case scenarios, ranging from a new investment supercycle in the Middle East to the deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons and heightened risks of international terrorism in the United States and Europe. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/23/2025
In Episode 423 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joseph Torigian, an expert on the politics of authoritarian regimes and the Chinese Communist Party, with a particular focus on elite power struggles, civil-military relations, and grand strategy. Torigian is also the author of a widely discussed new book titled “The Party's Interests Come First,” a political biography and historical analysis of Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, the leader of China and the head of the Chinese Communist Party. In the first hour, Torigian and Kofinas trace the evolution, internal contradictions, and complex dynamics of political power and succession within the Chinese Communist Party, revealing the critical role that personal networks, ideological discipline, factional struggle, and narrative have played in shaping Chinese political history and culture. They explore several critical periods in Chinese communist party history, including Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, the period of reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping, and the post-Tiananmen period following the 1989 crackdown. In the second hour, Kofinas and Torigian focus on China's current leader, Xi Jinping, examining the political lessons he has drawn from the struggles endured by his father while exploring how those experiences have shaped his party loyalties and reinforced his commitment to restoring China's greatness and securing its position on the global stage. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/17/2025
Episode 422 is the sixth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with Lawrence Fossi, about the recent fallout between President Donald Trump and his biggest political booster, Elon Musk. This is a critical and sober exploration of the political and budgetary challenges facing the country. It spares no criticisms of either Trump or Musk and is not meant for politically sensitive or easily offended partisans. In it, we discuss Musk's failed efforts to address the budget, his support for the formation of a new third party, and what the future holds for the world's richest man. We also place an equally critical lens over the Trump administration, examining the president's time in office, the sum effect of his actions, and what the next three and half years could mean for the country. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespodFollow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/09/2025
In Episode 421 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ian Fletcher, one of America's foremost experts on industrial policy, about the problems with free trade and how to revitalize the U.S. economy. Ian and Demetri spend the first hour of the episode laying the foundation for the argument Fletcher and his co-author, Marc Fasteau, present in their book Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries. This portion includes a comprehensive critique of free-market economics and a systematic exploration of the tools that can be deployed to build critical industries and ignite flywheels of innovation essential to the long-term success of a modern economy. In the second hour, Kofinas and Fletcher examine international and historical examples of both successful and unsuccessful implementations of industrial policy, discussing what went right, what went wrong, and how those lessons can inform the development and implementation of a successful industrial policy for the United States in the 21st century. The conversation concludes with a series of policy recommendations for the White House and Congress. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/2/2025
In Episode 420 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kyle Chan—an expert on the Chinese economy and China's industrial policy—about why he believes China is poised to dominate high-end technology and manufacturing, and why factories worldwide will reorganize their supply chains with China at the center, as the world's preeminent technological and economic superpower. Kyle and Demetri spend the first hour dissecting China's industrial policy and dispelling misconceptions about the historical foundations of economic prosperity. Their discussion highlights the reciprocal interactions among the state, financial capitalism, and the market economy—dynamics that have driven the technological revolutions transforming modern life over the past two centuries. In the second hour, Chan and Kofinas delve deeper into China's playbook, drawing lessons for the United States. They outline policy choices that are both self-evident and broadly bipartisan: investing in research and development; forging strategically important economic ties with other nations; and fostering a welcoming, attractive climate for international talent and capital. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/20/2025
Episode 419 is the fifth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with fmr. Chief Economist for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Dr. Charles Calomiris about America's economic emergency and what our response to it should be once conditions push the country into a full-blown political crisis at some point over the next few years. In this incredibly timely conversation, Charles Calomiris explains what the recent moves in gold, bitcoin, and long-term bond yields suggest about where we are on the path toward financial repression as we explore the implications of this trajectory for investors, businesses, and everyday depositors who will be conscripted in the battle to fight the deficit as the nation moves from spending like a banana republic to inflating like one. We end the episode with a candid conversation about the sources of both America's decline and the country's potential for renewal once the reality of the current crisis becomes impossible to ignore. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/22/2025
In Episode 418 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas sits down with award-winning journalist Karen Hao to discuss Empire of AI — her inside account of how OpenAI evolved from an idealistic, safety-first nonprofit into one of the world's most valuable private companies in its race to conquer the future. This conversation takes you inside that transformation—from the heady idealism of OpenAI's founding, through the billion-dollar Microsoft deal and the 2023 boardroom coup, to the unresolved questions that hang over Silicon Valley and Washington alike about the private concentration of power in the age of artificial intelligence and the nature of the world we are building. Whether you're an investor, a policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen trying to make sense of today's headlines, this episode will equip you with the context you need to understand what's really at stake in the race for AGI—and the levers we still have to steer it. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/12/2025
Episode 417 is the fourth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with some of the smartest and most plugged-in people they know to help them navigate the once-in-a-century economic, political, and geopolitical reordering that is currently underway. In this episode Kofinas and Williams speak with political-economist Pippa Malmgren about the wide-range of socio-political, economic, and technological challenges facing societies today. They discuss: The narrative collapse stemming from a loss of faith and trust in political leaders and institutions The informational overwhelm and confusion that accompanies technological modernity The lack of credible voices and decline of journalistic ethics in media The increase in conspiratorial thinking and popularization of alternative theories of reality, some of which have improved our understanding of the world, while others have left us more confused and less well equipped to find common ground in pursuit of the public interest. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/08/2025
In Episode 416 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Financial Times correspondent Patrick McGee about the integral role Apple played in helping to build China's advanced manufacturing ecosystem—and the geopolitical interdependencies and national security risks now baked into that relationship. McGee's book “Apple in China” tells two stories. First, it chronicles Apple's ascent from being nearly bankrupt in the mid‑1990s to becoming the world's most valuable company within just 15 years. Second, it traces China's historic transformation from an underdeveloped economy with Third‑World cost structures and armies of unskilled laborers to the world's largest economy (by purchasing power parity) and the hub of the most advanced manufacturing base on the planet. By the time this episode is over, you will have learned exactly how Apple off-loaded almost all its manufacturing to Asia by the late 1990s and early 2000s and then consolidated that entire operation inside mainland China. You will also learn how the same supply chain mastery that turned Apple into the world's most valuable company has left it existentially dependent on a single authoritarian state whose political goals now diverge sharply from Washington's. It's an incredible story with profound implications for all of us who depend on China's manufacturing prowess and intricate supply networks to sustain our way of life. Whether we can extricate ourselves from this web of interdependencies—and the extent to which we should even want to—is one of a number of topics we explore extensively in the episode's second hour. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 05/01/2025
Episode 415 is the third episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with some of the smartest and most plugged-in people they know to help them navigate the once-in-a-century economic, political, and geopolitical reordering that is currently underway. In this episode Kofinas and Williams speak with economic historian, author of “The Solid Ground Newsletter” and Keeper of the Library of Mistakes, Russell Napier about the end of the economic, monetary, and global trading & security order that has been the largest single driver of global growth over the last thirty years. The consequences of the changes discussed for economic and national security, social cohesion, investment, and wealth preservation are nothing short of tectonic. Points of discussion include: The Trump administration's economic and trade strategy Efforts to isolate China The creation of new monetary systems The search for new safe assets The realignment of global power The escalating risk of war with China There is also a long and detailed discussion about how investors can position themselves for: The accelerating repatriation of capital flows The onset of capital controls A prolonged period of financial repression in which wealth preservation will take precedence over making money and chasing outsized financial returns. If you want early access to this conversation, subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/25/2025
In Episode 414 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Mark Spindel about monetizing government policies and how an improved understanding of their effect on markets can enhance the value and performance of your portfolio. Demetri and Mark spend the episode's first hour evaluating Trump's first 100 days in office, assessing his policy objectives and his effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) in turning those policies into tangible economic and political victories for his administration. They discuss: Tariff-induced supply chain disruptions Price inflation Higher interest rates Lower asset prices A falling U.S. Dollar In the second hour, Spindel and Kofinas focus on the investment implications that stem from a more accurate understanding of government policy and its effect on markets. Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of: The government's role in the economy The myth of Fed independence How policy impacts equity and bond performance The role of alternative safe assets The impact of new tax regimes on investment outcomes Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/29/2025
Episode 413 is the second episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with some of the smartest and most plugged-in people they know to help them navigate the once-in-a-century economic, political, and geopolitical reordering that is currently underway. In this episode Kofinas and Williams speak with historian and author of “The Fourth Turning” Neil Howe about his and his co-author William Strauss' seminal generational theory framework. They assess how well it has tracked Trump's first 100 days in office, how well it explains the upheavals we are experiencing in both Western and Eastern societies, and what reasoned conjectures we can make about how events will unfold from here. Access this episode by subscribing to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/26/2025
In Episode 412 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with financial journalist and economic historian, Paul Blustein about the U.S. Dollar's historical resiliency in the face of international shocks and crises, and whether Dollar hegemony can survive the breakdown of the international capital and trading system. In the first hour, Kofinas and Blustein trace how the U.S. dollar became the de facto currency for global trade, savings, and investment and what recent policy shifts in Washington—and how they have been perceived abroad—may mean for the future value and status of the Greenback. The second hour builds on this foundation as Paul and Demetri speculate about what the future holds for dollar hegemony in a world characterized by growing trade protectionism, a breakdown in international cooperation, and a potentially irreparable loss of confidence among foreign investors in U.S. leadership and in the strength and reliability of U.S. capital markets. This could not be a timelier conversation about a subject whose ramifications will continue to play out over many years if not decades to come. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/23/2025
In Episode 411 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Shehzad Qazi of China Beige Book about the impact Trump's China tariffs are having on the U.S. and Chinese economies and prospects for a grand bargain. Demetri and Shehzad discuss: The material impact that the trade war has had thus far on both economies The companies and sectors most likely to be impacted, as well as those best positioned to weather the storm The respective performance of each country's currency and stock market Explanations for the punctuated sell-off in U.S. Treasuries China's action plan to revitalize domestic consumption Demetri also asks Shehzad about Trump's stated desire to “do a deal with China,” what such a deal would look like, how big it could be, and what concessions either side is prepared to make in order to get it done. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/16/2025
In Episode 410 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with investors Paulo Macro and Le Shrub about the consequences of a breakdown in the international capital and trading system—and what this means for markets and investor portfolios. The first hour revisits last year's discussion on “EM-ification,” the breakdown of the rules-based global order, and the urgent search for a new safe asset in a world of deteriorating fiscal balance sheets. Together, Demetri, Paulo, and Le Shrub map out what investors should be paying attention to in the year ahead. In the second hour, the conversation turns to the implications of a full-blown trade and capital war, including: The impact on U.S. assets—especially Treasuries and the dollar—if surplus nations redirect their capital flows away from the United States Resurgent inflation fueled by strategic rearmament and industrial policy A potential decoupling from—and even a hot war with—China The abandonment of fiscal restraint in the face of an economic slowdown amid persistently high or rising borrowing costs for the U.S. government The risk of massive wealth destruction triggered by a dramatic revaluation of the U.S. dollar Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/15/2025
Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams have teamed up to launch “The One Hundred Year Pivot,” a new podcast series that explores the once-in-a-century economic, political, and geopolitical reordering currently underway. These transformational changes demand that we develop new maps and investment frameworks to help us navigate the challenges ahead. Over the course of the series, Grant and Demetri will be speaking with the smartest and most plugged-in people they know to help us chart a path through this gathering storm and position ourselves, our organizations, our families, and our portfolios for the changes to come. You are invited to join them on this journey as they explore the implications of: The breakdown of existing political, monetary, and social institutions The emergence of new economic and financial trading blocks The reprioritization of national and economic security The channeling of national savings into a new military and technological arms race The development of a new investment paradigm with historic implications for investors Premium subscribers to the Hidden Forces podcast and the Grant Williams Podcast will have early access to the episodes in this ongoing series. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/08/2025
In Episode 408 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with James van Geelen, the founder of Citrini Research, which specializes in illuminating and demystifying the transformative “megatrends” poised to shape societies, economies, and the market's distribution of returns for years to come. James and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation exploring a series of narratives and investment themes—including Trump's recent tariff announcement—that have captivated markets and that are likely to be highly determinative of investor returns in the years to come. They discuss the investment implications of a fundamental reorganization of the global economy, along with its supply chains, energy systems, and underlying technological foundations, to say nothing about the changing relationship of government and fiscal policy to the economy and asset markets. In the second hour, Citrini and Kofinas dig deeper into some of the more consequential themes that they identify in the first hour, including: The wealth-driven white-collar recession that could accelerate the adoption of AI and rapidly reshape the workforce. The rotation out of U.S. equities as America turns to fiscal austerity and as countries in Europe and Asia engage in massive fiscal stimulus. The implications for America's Democratic party base if its supporters increasingly find themselves out of work and under threat by the policies and changes underway in the new economy. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 04/03/2025
In Episode 407 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with the Macro Tourist's Kevin Muir about the power of fiscal spending and why fiscal austerity and trade tariffs will lead to lower asset prices, U.S. equity market underperformance, and a falling U.S. dollar. Kevin and Demetri spend the first hour of this podcast discussing the importance of fiscal policy and why government spending has been one of the biggest sources of outperformance for investors in the last five years. They discuss why that's the case, why the effects of fiscal policy continue to be overlooked and discounted relative to monetary policy, and what this means going forward if we take the Trump team at his word about wanting to reduce the deficit and scale back on fiscal spending. In the second hour, Muir and Kofinas dig even deeper into the fiscal spending implications for U.S. equity and bond markets, concerns about rotation risk into global equities, the investment opportunities in Europe and Asia, downside risks to the US dollar, the China gold put, and much more. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/24/2025
In Episode 406 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with renowned geopolitical analyst and forecaster George Friedman about the pivotal institutional and socioeconomic cycles that shape historical events—and how their convergence is driving the economic and political crises of the 2020s. George and Demetri examine critical turning points in American history, including Andrew Jackson's abolition of the Second Bank of the United States (which financed westward expansion), the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes (and the Long Depression), the consumer-driven growth wave following FDR's 1930s reforms, and the neoliberal era sparked by the Reagan Revolution. In the second hour, Friedman and Kofinas apply this framework to the era we are living in today, which according to George, is the first time in American history that both the 80-year institutional cycle and 50-year socioeconomic cycle are occurring concurrently. They discuss how (and why) so-called “woke ideology” and a sclerotic and ineffective bureaucracy are symptoms of the end of the institutional cycle and why the economic policies of this new era will lead to more capital investment and a revitalization of the American economy. Lastly, George provides listeners with a roadmap for geopolitical events in the 21st century that includes reconciliation with Putin's Russia, a new paradigm of peace in the middle east, and a long and challenging period of economic weakness in China that will consume the energies of the Chinese communist party and challenge the PRC's ability to assert itself on the global stage for at least the next several decades. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/17/2025
In Episode 405 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rush Doshi, former Deputy Senior Director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council about the state of the U.S.-China competition, the Trump administration's China policy, and how the United States can compete successfully with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation. Foreign policy in the first two months of the Trump administration has focused predominantly on ending America's war in Ukraine, resetting U.S. commitments to Europe through NATO, reasserting dominance over the Western Hemisphere, and rebalancing trade relationships with both allies and competitors. What has not been clearly articulated in the Trump administration's public communications is how America's grand strategic vision—and any potential “Trump doctrine”—will look over the next four years, how China fits into that vision, and how success should be measured. Demetri and Rush begin their conversation by reviewing Chinese party documents, materials, and analyses of China's communications, conduct, and behavior over the last three decades to understand Beijing's intentions and how they should shape U.S. policy during a time of waning relative American power amid a geopolitical rebalancing. They examine the new bipartisan consensus on China, discuss the Trump administration's strategic foreign policy tactics and objectives—including the use of tariffs and incentives to rebuild American industrial capacity—and explore how the United States can successfully compete with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 03/11/2025
In Episode 404 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with religious writer Rod Dreher about the crisis of modernity and how to open our eyes to the reality that life and the world are far more mysterious, exciting, and adventurous than we have been led to believe. Dreher and Kofinas spend the first hour of their conversation engaging on fundamental questions about the nature of existence, the knowability of God, the centrality of love, and how to find mystery and meaning in a world that for many has come to feel empty and soulless. In the second hour, Rod and Demetri discuss what the eastern tradition of Christianity can tell us about how we should live in the world, how those lessons apply to the culture wars, how to confront evil, and the appropriate role that Christianity should play in policy and politics. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 02/24/2025
In Episode 403 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Russia and U.S. national security experts Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Michael Kofman about the Ukraine peace talks between the United States and Russia, and whether they are part of a larger vision by the Trump administration to reset American grand strategy and the global order. Across the first and second hour of the podcast, Taylor, Kofman, and Kofinas discuss: Ongoing negotiations in Saudi Arabia between the United States and Russia aimed at ending the Ukraine War Russian factional politics The future of Europe and European security U.S.-China relations U.S., Russian, and Chinese nuclear doctrines The future of America's alliance structures The emergence of a new world order shaped by realpolitik, reciprocity, and a more transactional U.S. foreign policy Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 02/25/2025
In Episode 402 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Mark Holowesko, the founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Holowesko Partners—a Bahamian-based, value-oriented investment firm that allocates capital across a wide range of industries, geographies, and market capitalizations. This episode is part of a series in which Demetri interviews value investors, motivated by his concerns about how the global economy's direction and the ongoing geostrategic competition between the U.S. and China will impact asset markets in the coming years. In the first hour, Holowesko and Kofinas discuss: Mark's macro framework and approach to value investing His concerns about government debt and its implications for interest rates and inflation Trends in global liquidity The future direction of the U.S. dollar Why Holowesko believes that 2022 marked a long-term turning point for value investing—with enormous implications for investors In the second hour, Mark and Demetri explore some of the most promising investment opportunities outside the United States—particularly in the UK and Japan—as well as how to assess similar opportunities in China, whether the country is investible, and the risks investors face when deploying capital in Chinese companies and the broader Chinese market. They also delve deeper into Mark's investment process, his views on the role of gold in one's portfolio, opportunities in the U.S. energy sector, and much more. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 02/11/2025
In Episode 401 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares his recent appearance on the Grant Williams podcast in which he and Grant discuss how the interplay of political power, technology, and moral decline in society are driving the unraveling of the social order as we pass through the final stages of what Neil Howe has famously described as “The Fourth Turning.” Demetri and Grant explore how cyclical historical theories apply to today's turbulent geopolitics, emphasizing the rise of populism, shifting alliances, and eroding trust in institutions. Kofinas highlights the role of media in shaping collective narratives and exacerbating societal fault lines, while Williams calls attention to the erosion of personal accountability—an absence that fuels trends in financial nihilism and accelerates the broader moral decline of American life. This decay, they argue, extends to the country's political structures and the integrity of its financial markets. The conversation also touches on the fragility of complex systems, from social structures to global financial frameworks, underscoring the need for intellectual rigor and ethical leadership. Throughout, they urge listeners to stay critical yet open-minded, balancing caution with the desire to seize opportunities that emerge from the transformative changes currently underway. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Joining our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 01/27/2025
In Episode 400 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Federico Sturzenegger, the current head of the Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation under President Javier Milei in Argentina. Demetri asks Sturzenegger about Argentina's political and economic history in the 20th century, comparing its industrial model, capital markets, and political system to those of the United States. They then explore President Milei's initiatives to overhaul Argentina's political economy—including market reforms, changes to labor laws, industry regulations, and price controls. The conversation covers the progress made so far, the challenges that remain, lessons for the United States, and the Milei government's broader mission to transform the Argentine state and fulfill its mandate of restoring economic prosperity and freedom to a nation that was once among the wealthiest and most resource-rich in the world. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 01/30/2025
In Episode 399 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas interviews Bowtied Mara about Argentina's political history, its economy, the local real estate market, the energy sector, and President Javier Milei's efforts to revive growth, combat inflation, and liberalize the country's economy. In the first hour, Mara and Demetri explore Argentina's political history and the roots of its economic decline, drawing comparisons with the United States during the pivotal decades of the 1930s and 1940s. They delve into the legacy of Juan Perón, the significance of Peronismo in Argentine politics, what defines a Peronista, and why Javier Milei's libertarian approach and his election as Argentina's 59th president mark a departure from the country's history of alternating between Marxist and fascist regimes. In the second hour, the discussion shifts to Milei's master plan, his initial priorities upon taking office, and the strategies he's employing to achieve his political goals. They examine specific policy changes already enacted through his use of emergency powers, such as reforms to Argentina's price control system, export tariffs, privatization initiatives, and measures aimed at cutting through decades of bureaucratic red tape to liberalize the economy. The conversation also touches on Argentina's ‘crawling peg,' efforts to align the official peso-USD exchange rate with the unofficial blue rate, the introduction of competing currencies, and Milei's controversial push to abolish the Central Bank of Argentina. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 01/27/2025
In Episode 398 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kennox Strategic Value Fund investment directors Charles Heenan and Geoff Legg about their investment framework and macro worldview. Known for their focus on top-quality, sector-leading companies, Charles and Geoff share valuable insights about what it takes to build and manage a portfolio with a long-term, value-driven perspective. This conversation explores the challenge of finding value in a world that seems to have gone absolutely insane. Not only are developed economies facing challenges and confronting headwinds that require us to think differently about investment risk, but many market participants seem to be increasingly indifferent to value as an anchor for assessing an asset's investment worthiness and the price they are willing to pay in order to own it. In the first hour, Demetri asks Charles Heenan and Geoff Legg about their value investment framework and how it informs—and is shaped by—their macro worldview. They also delve into the process and philosophy guiding their investment decisions, including how they are positioning themselves for a world characterized by structurally high inflation, geopolitical risk, and capital controls. In the second hour, the discussion takes a deeper dive into investment philosophy and the qualities required to be a successful investor. Topics include the distinction between luck and skill, the balance between action and patience, the importance of being risk-focused rather than optimizing for returns, and why the skills that generate success as an entrepreneur or founder could be detrimental to your performance as an investor. The audience also gets a first-hand look into Charles' and Geoff's rigorous process for evaluating potential investments. They share their perspectives on various sectors and asset classes, including energy companies, gold miners, telecom providers, retailers, and other businesses across the United States, Europe, and Asia. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 01/20/2025
In Episode 397 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jim Bianco, President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, about the macroeconomic factors driving the recent rise in bond yields and a range of other variables shaping the economies of the U.S., Europe, and China, as well as their impact on investors' portfolios. In the first hour, Bianco and Kofinas analyze the factors behind the surge in long-term interest rates across the developed world. Their discussion covers the Federal Reserve's role, concerns about government debt and deficits, inflation, tariff policies, and economic growth expectations amid these potential challenges. In the second hour, they shift their focus to the implications of these changes for investors. They explore the resilience—or lack thereof—of the traditional 60/40 portfolio and strategies for mitigating portfolio volatility in a market environment where stocks and bonds increasingly move in tandem. Additionally, Demetri and Jim examine the drivers of U.S. dollar strength, the risks posed by U.S. equity concentration, the potential for a recession, and what the continued decline in Chinese bond yields suggests about the state of China's economy. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 01/14/2024
In Episode 396 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Christine Rosen about her book, “Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World,” which explores the cultural and emotional shifts that accompany our embrace of technology and its effects on our experience of life as embodied human beings. Christine is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on American history, society and culture, and technology and human behavior. Rosen is also a monthly columnist for Commentary Magazine, one of the cohosts of the popular Commentary Podcast. Demetri and Christine spend the first hour of their conversation focused on the philosophical and moral questions that arise from our unreserved embrace of virtual realities and mediated experiences. They explore questions about the nature of reality, how embodiment shapes experience, and whether the virtualization of our lives is the natural progression of our interplay with technology or if it represents something fundamentally different and profoundly immoral about the world we are building. In the second hour, Kofinas and Rosen discuss the effect that these technologies and the logic that animates them have on our sense of self, agency, and freedom. They explore how time spent inside virtual spaces hosted on large tech platforms may be contributing to the rising levels of depression, anxiety, antisociality, and other mental and personality disorders that we may or may not recognize in each other and in ourselves. They also discuss what can and should be done, both at an individual and societal level, to begin to address the problem. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 12/17/2024
In Episode 395 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Zach Abraham and Chase Taylor about the recent revision in the Fed's summary of economic projections, the investment opportunities in Latin America, the economic effects of the war in Syria, the state of the outgoing Biden administration, and the economic prospects associated with a second and more invigorated Trump administration in 2025. They spend the first hour discussing how Fed policy, demographics, and systematic passive flows continue to drive mean reversion in equity markets and whether the most recent drawdown is yet another opportunity to buy-the-dip or if the downside risk to investors is beginning to outweigh the fear of missing out on the next rally. In the second hour, Demetri, Zach, and Chase discuss the political and economic experiment being undertaken by Javier Milei's administration in Argentina, whether the country is becoming investable again, how it may serve as a role model for neighboring countries in Latin America, and how Chase and Zach are approaching this potentially enormous investment opportunity. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 12/20/2024
In Episode 394 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with geopolitical analyst and forecaster Kamran Bokhari about the fall of Damascus and the implications of Bashar al-Assad's ouster in Syria for the balance of power in the Middle East. Kamran last came on the podcast a year ago to discuss the violence ignited by Hamas' October 7th attacks, the nature and scope of Iranian involvement, and how various regional actors, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, and Hezbollah were exploiting the growing disorder for their own advantage as the Biden administration struggled to stabilize a region that was on the verge of another major war. That war has seemingly come and gone, leaving Iran's influence network along the Shia crescent from Damascus to Beirut, along with its proxies and affiliates in utter devastation or full-on retreat. Assad's departure and the fall of his regime in Syria are the equivalent of a geopolitical earthquake and are already dramatically changing the balance of power in the Middle East. Kamran and Demetri spend the first hour of this episode recapping these recent events, enumerating the key players who expect a seat at the table for any negotiation over Syria's future, why the center of gravity in the Sunni Muslim world is shifting from Riyadh to Ankara, and what all of this means for Iran and the strategic vision that has guided the Islamic revolution since 1979. In the second hour, Kofinas and Bokhari go one by one through every major country that will be materially affected by the outcome in Syria. They discuss the consequences and opportunities for Turkey, the new threats and challenges posed to Israel, what this new reality means for the Saudis, the interests of the United States and Russia, and why el-Sisi's regime in Egypt may be the next major Arab government to come under pressure in the years to come. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 12/09/2024
In Episode 393 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Herman Mark Schwartz, a professor in the Politics department of the University of Virginia and the author of three books on economic development, globalization, and the geopolitics of the subprime mortgage crisis. Demetri and Mark discuss an article that he recently co-authored in American Affairs about AI's potential to create a new growth wave of creative destruction that could rival or surpass those of previous innovation cycles, with enormous implications for business, society, and the role of government in the economy. They discuss what these so-called “Schumpeterian” growth waves typically look like, how they create complex interactions across all facets of the economy, and how they ultimately exhaust themselves, making room for the birth of a new innovation cycle. In the second hour, Mark and Demetri apply this framework to the growth wave that we have been living through for more or less the last 50 years and which now appears to be in the late stages of endogenous decay. They examine three scenarios for what might come next. The first is an extension of the current wave, the second is a new paradigm driven by AI as the key general-purpose technology, and the third is neither an extension of the current wave nor a transition to a new paradigm, but rather a series of crises characterized by commodity shortages, energy insecurity, political polarization, and global conflict. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 12/02/2024
In Episode 392 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with author, investor, and financial historian Russell Napier, about how to navigate a seminal transition in the global trade and monetary order. This episode aims to provide you with the tools to understand, value, and manage the assets, exposures, and risks in your portfolios and to capitalize on opportunities that come along only once every hundred years. In the first hour, Demetri and Russell Napier discuss the origins of the non-system that came to shape international trade and finance in the decades after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods international system of fixed exchange rates. They discuss the de-pegging of the RMB from the USD, the closing of the gap between the discount rate and the growth rate in developed economies, and the implications of America's escalating economic war against China. In the second hour, which is available to premium subscribers only, Russell Napier and Kofinas focus most of their time on the implications of this breakdown in the international trade and monetary system for investors. They discuss how developed world governments are likely to repress capital, what you want to own in such a world, what you don't want to own, and how to tell the difference. They also discuss what a new Chinese monetary order might look like, which countries would participate, and how such a system would build off China's efforts to digitize the Yuan and create a Chinese-built digital payments infrastructure that extends beyond China's borders as part of the Digital Silk Road initiative. They also discuss the prospects for a strategic Bitcoin fund, the use of stablecoins as an extension of Dollar hegemony, and the fate of the Euro in a world torn between Beijing and Washington. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 11/27/2024
In Episode 391 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Wolfgang Münchau, the director and co-founder of Eurointelligence and the author of a phenomenal new book about post-WWII Germany, the rise and fall of the German economy, its industrial sector, and the end of what he dubs “The German Miracle.” Wolfgang Münchau and Demetri spend the first hour of this episode laying the foundation to help listeners understand how Germany became the economic and financial juggernaut that we have known it to be throughout the 1990s and most of the 21st century. They discuss the two pillars of the German economy, the supercharging of its industrial growth model during the period of globalization and unipolarity, and the cultural, technological, and geopolitical sources of its economic decline. In the second hour, Kofinas and Münchau zero in on the ten structural sources of weakness for the German economy, including the German capital model and banking system, a corporatism that misaligns incentives between the interests of politicians and those of the economy, the fiscal doomsday machine in the form of Germany's debt brake, a radicalizing electorate, and a political mindset among German elite that treats geopolitical risk as an economic externality to be safely discounted or ignored entirely. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 11/19/2024
In Episode 390 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rupa Subramanya, a journalist at the Free Press, about the de-banking of political dissidents, censorship, and the “right to die.” Rupa first came on Demetri's radar for the work she has done writing about what is known as “de-banking:” the closure of people's or organizations' bank accounts by financial institutions that perceive the account holders to pose a financial, legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the organization. They speak extensively about her work in this area, along with her writings about political censorship of conservative voices and the right-to-die movement in the Netherlands and Canada, between the first and second hours. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 10/30/2024
In Episode 389 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Andy Constan, the founder and proprietor of Damped Spring Advisors about why he believes the Federal Reserve is at risk of losing the long-end of the bond market, which would lead to a reacceleration of inflation and a hard landing for the economy. Andy and Demetri spend the first hour discussing the subject of a recent letter he published in which he warns that the Federal Reserve, by continuing to lower interest rates and ease monetary policy, could cause a sell-off in long-bonds and a rise in term premia, paradoxically tightening financial conditions while intending to ease them. They further discuss Treasury issuance, management of the Fed's balance sheet, the weighted average maturity of assets in the central bank's portfolio, and how conditions in the U.S. economy measure against the Fed's summary of economic projections. In the second hour, Kofinas and Constan dig into the government's finances, its fiscal picture, and how Trump's election may exacerbate or alleviate trends that have been in place for decades. They also discuss equity markets, the broadening of the equity rally beyond the Magnificent Seven that's been underway this year, earnings expectations for these companies, whether they're elevated or conservative, and how we should go about valuing them. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 11/11/2024
In Episode 388 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with semiconductor expert Chris Miller about the state and future of the semiconductor industry in the context of Trump's 2024 U.S. electoral victory, with all its implications for industrial policy, defense spending, tariffs, export controls, trade wars, and much more. This conversation is a deep-dive into the semiconductor supply chain. Kofinas and Miller discuss how money is currently being allocated under the CHIPS and Science Act, the progress being made in domestic U.S. semiconductor fabrication, the challenges facing TSMC's Arizona facility, and the troubles at Intel. They also take a hard look at the outcomes resulting from the U.S. semiconductor export and end-use controls implemented against China, how effective or ineffective they've been, and ways to improve them. They also assess China's own efforts at building out its domestic chip ecosystem and some of the loopholes that Chinese companies are systematically exploiting in order to become fully independent of and eventually overtake Western chipmakers and equipment manufacturers. They discuss the three largest limiting factors to scaling AI data centers, the national security threat posed by Chinese companies leapfrogging their U.S. competitors in the race toward AGI, and much more. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 11/06/2024
In Episode 387 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with political analyst, author, and host of “Beyond the Polls,” Henry Olsen about the state of the 2024 presidential race and what to expect from what could be the most contested election in American history. Henry tells us how each candidate is performing in the key swing states and districts that will determine this election, the frequency of early voting and how it compares to 2020, and shares his views on other predictive metrics that he is paying close attention to. Henry believes that this election could be even closer than the one in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, an election that was ultimately determined by a narrow margin of 537 votes, along with a ruling by the Florida Supreme court to suspend any further recounts. The country is in a very different place today than it was two decades ago, and how any remotely similar scenario would play out this time is truly anyone's guess. Olsen and Kofinas also discuss the economic repercussions of a Trump victory, the role of J.D. Vance as a potentially transformational figure in Republican politics, the effect that a loss on the part of the Democrats would have on their party's realignment, and much more. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 10/31/2024
In Episode 386 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, Joshua Landis about two possible futures for the Middle East: The first will be defined by perpetual conflict, insecurity, and the specter of nuclear proliferation. The second would be defined by a tenuous, albeit hopeful, peace built on compromise and regional security. Professor Landis explains why he believes that this choice is now upon us and that we are at a turning point in the Middle East that provides us with a glimpse into what the future of this conflict-ridden region will look like and how it will fit into the larger global security order (or disorder) that is currently emerging. Between the first and second hours of this conversation, Dr. Landis and Kofinas discuss the wider war between Israel and Iran, the implications of the ongoing war in Lebanon, the Israeli war and occupation of Gaza, the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the future of the Palestinian movement for independent statehood, the rightward shift in Israeli politics, the status of the Abraham Accords, and the prospects for a new security arrangement and partnership between the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia that could result in a historic reset of the political and economic status quo in this still vital region of the world. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 10/23/2024
In Episode 385 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Adam Butler, the CIO of Resolve Asset Management, an alternative asset management firm that focuses on providing cutting-edge, globally diversified, and systematic investment strategies that are non-correlated to traditional portfolios. In the first hour, we explore the structural changes that our economy has undergone since the 2008 financial crisis, along with their consequences for market accountability, monetary policy, and the stability of our political economy, all in the context of discussing Adam's approach to financial modeling and systematic investing. In the second hour, we engage in an expansive and valuable discussion about the mind-bending progress being made in artificial intelligence, how it is already disrupting multi-trillion-dollar industries, the incredible promise that this technology holds, and the dangers that it poses to the stability of our economies and political systems. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 10/08/2024
In Episode 384 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Bob Elliott, the co-founder and CEO of Unlimited, a financial services firm that uses machine learning to create products that replicate the index returns of alternative investments. Demetri asked Bob Elliott back on the podcast today to discuss the big macroeconomic story everyone's been talking about, which is the Fed's pivot from fighting inflation to supporting the labor market by cutting interest rates into an apparently strong economy. Bob and Demetri discuss what sorts of consequences this new policy stance may have, especially if consumers and businesses seek to take on more debt. This would move us from what has largely been an income-driven business cycle to a credit-driven one, potentially adding rocket fuel to an otherwise already strong economy. The two also discuss China's economic conditions, the importance of the recently announced stimulus, and how China's economy matters not only to Chinese investors but also to those with no direct exposure to the country's economy or stock market. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 10/01/2024
In Episode 383 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with James Aitken, a financial markets veteran and advisor to many of the world's most powerful, sophisticated, and successful investors. In the first hour, Demetri and James discuss all that has changed since Aitken was last on the podcast three years ago, which came just as the world had started to re-open from Covid and before the Fed began its very long and determined tightening cycle in the Spring of 2022. They discuss the Fed's recent 50 basis point rate cut, its renewed focus on supporting the labor market (possibly at the expense of inflation), and why James Aitken believes this is a profound regime change in monetary policy that investors need to understand and incorporate into their investment frameworks going forward. In the second hour, Aitken and Kofinas apply the framework they developed in the first hour to help listeners understand a set of interlocking macroeconomic, political, and geopolitical challenges facing investors. These include (1) the economic and national security policy changes underway in China, (2) the fiscal pictures in the U.S. and Europe, (3) and what a Trump 2.0 administration could mean for markets and the economy. They also discuss the case for commodities, the implications of a multi-decade reversal in monetary policy by the Bank of Japan, how the Fed's pre-emptive rate cuts might reignite inflation, and what all this means for the value of the dollar, commodities, and the role that Gold could and should play in people's portfolios going forward. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 09/25/2024
In Episode 382 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jacob Ware, an expert in domestic and international terrorism, counterterrorism, and assassination, about the growing U.S. assassination and terror threat ahead of the 2024 elections. Jacob and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation discussing the two recent assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump, what we know about both assassins, the breakdowns in security, and what needs to happen going forward if we want to avoid a potentially successful attempt on the former president's life. Demetri and Jacob also discuss the growing trend in assignation attempts and compare the terror threat posed by organizations inspired by leftist ideology with that posed by right-wing extremists. In the second hour, the two discuss the terrifying threat posed by dual-use technologies and their deployment in both international and civil wars. They also discuss whether a civil war in the United States is possible, what such a war would look like, and if this term is even useful in helping us understand the evolution of political violence in America. Finally, they explore the potential for such further violence headed into election day, the types of attacks that we might see, and how our information environment continues to be weaponized in a battle for the future of the country. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 09/17/2024
In Episode 381 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with global macro investor David Dorr about the evidence for UAP, UAP disclosure, how investors should think about UAP risk, and what effect different types of disclosures could have on their portfolios. David has been a long-time student of UAP (or what we used to call UFOs) and has continuously emphasized the need for the entire financial community to take notice of this market-impacting revelation and life-changing opportunity for humanity. In the first hour, David and Demetri discuss the history of and evidence for the UFO phenomenon, including well-documented, mass sightings experienced by both military and civilian populations in Washington D.C., Phoenix, Arizona, Colares, Brazil, Ruwa, Zimbabwe, and many other locations. They speculate on what may be the U.S. government's agenda in tightly controlling the disclosure of information related to UAP and how to make sense of this phenomenon if you reject the premise that all of this is some kind of government psyop or conspiracy to fool the public. In the second hour, Demetri and David explore the intersection of mystery cults and nazi history with UFOs and UAP, including the role of consciousness in helping to explain some or all of this phenomenon. David also explains how he and his firm think about and incorporate UAP disclosure risk in their investment model, the impact that further disclosures could have on the stocks of various defense contractors who may be benefiting from their possession of UAP materials, and how eminent domain language found in the UAP disclosure act could further complicate investors' efforts to capitalize on new acknowledgements in the next few years or even months. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 09/09/2024
In Episode 380 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Luis Elizondo, the former head of AATIP, the U.S. Defense Department's program for investigating UFOs (now known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP), about why he and so many other scientists, researchers, and people working in military intelligence claim that we are in contact with non-human superintelligence and how the government has been hiding it for nearly a century. Luis Elizondo and Demetri spend the first hour of this episode exploring some of the more fantastical claims stemming from work Luis Elizondo did at AATIP, including declassified information that defies conventional explanations. The evidence suggests that humanity is in contact with some form of non-human superintelligence that has access to mystifying technologies, that we are living in some sort of simulation, and/or that some of our observations about the quantum behavior of subatomic particles have macro implications that may explain what we are seeing with UAP and UFOs. In the second hour, Kofinas and Luis Elizondo discuss the correlation between UAP sightings and nuclear energy, the relationship between UFOs and water, and alleged evidence of black-budget programs where efforts are being made to reverse engineer alien technology, including claims made before members of the House Oversight Committee that government contractors are in possession of non-human biological material. They also explore the critical next steps that Luis Elizondo would like to see undertaken in the next few years that could lead to more disclosures about a phenomenon that he believes is the biggest story in human history. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 09/03/2024
In Episode 379 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ray Nowosielski and John Duffy, the authors of The Watchdogs Didn't Bark, a book that investigates the troubling story behind the 9/11 attacks and the War on Terror. The first hour includes a discussion about the timeline of events leading up to the 9/11 attacks, the critical meeting in Malaysia monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies in which the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and 9/11 were organized, the CIA's failure to provide critical information about that meeting, including the names of two hijackers who entered the United States shortly thereafter to the FBI and the White House, and what we know conclusively about the role played by agents of the Saudi government in aiding some of the 9/11 hijackers in their mission to kill thousands of Americans. In the second hour, the discussion focuses on the summer of 2001 and three critical meetings that took place at the White House, where material information about terrorist cells operating inside the United States appears to have been withheld by the CIA, the sharing of which, according to the then counter-terrorism advisor on the National Security Council Richard Clarke, would almost certainly have prevented the attacks of September 11th. Demetri, Ray, and John discuss what the CIA was aware of that summer, its possible role in trying to infiltrate Al-Qaeda and Wahhabi extremist networks in the U.S. by working through Saudi agents, and the evidence that some or all of these activities, along with the roles played by Saudi Intelligence and members of the Royal Family were covered up in the months and years afterward. This is a seminal period in American history whose consequences, including the unchecked power of the national security state, the growth of mass surveillance, and the loss of confidence and trust in American leadership, we continue to live with to this very day. Coming to a deeper understanding of these critical events and their aftermath is crucial if we hope to reform our republic and steer this country in a direction that protects our constitutional rights and is more consistent with our beliefs and democratic values. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/26/2024
In Episode 378 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Bob Kerrey, the former governor of Nebraska, a U.S. senator, and a member of the 9/11 Commission, about the latest revelations regarding support for the 9/11 hijackers by Saudi Arabia and troubling details about the CIA's actions in the lead-up to 9/11. Senator Bob Kerrey was first on the podcast in 2018, and in that conversation, he and Demetri discussed the then recently unredacted 28 pages from the congressional Joint Inquiry Report into the Intelligence Community's Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11th, 2001. In those 28 pages, we learned that the government of Saudi Arabia and some members of the Royal Family had provided financial, logistical, and other forms of support to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers and their associates in the months and years leading up to those attacks. In the years since those pages were declassified, additional information has come out, mainly through lawsuits filed by 9/11 family members that provide not only further information about Saudi government involvement but also troubling details about the CIA's own actions in the lead-up to 9/11 and a potential cover-up of those activities by the agency and members of the Bush Whitehouse in the months and years afterward. As we near the twenty-third anniversary of those attacks, Senator Bob Kerrey has returned to discuss how these latest findings change our understanding of one of the most seminal events in American history, what they suggest about how our government works, where power resides in Washington, and what we, as citizens of this country, can do to restore accountability in the democratic halls of power. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/24/2024
In Episode 377 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Patrick Boyle. Patrick is a founding partner of quantitative hedge fund Palomar Capital, a professor of finance at King's College London, and the host of “Patrick Boyle on Finance.” In the first hour, Patrick shares stories from his career in finance, including his time working for Victor Niederhoffer. He and Demetri discuss the market turmoil seen at the beginning of August, including potential causes and implications, and whether the secular economic forces facing Western economies are more likely to be inflationary or deflationary in the years ahead. In the second hour, Patrick and Demetri discuss whether the U.S. economy needs a new industrial policy, what that would look like in practice, and how it may backfire by stifling rather than promoting innovation. They also discuss the challenges of social media regulations, the deterioration in business ethics, the transatlantic backlash against immigration, and much more. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/08/2024
In Episode 376 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned economist, bestselling author, and professor at Columbia University, where he was the former director of The Earth Institute. He is also one of the most reputable critics of U.S. foreign policy and the ‘Deep State', especially as it pertains to the ongoing war in Ukraine and U.S. relations towards Moscow since the end of the Cold War. Jeffrey Sachs last appeared on Hidden Forces in late June to discuss his criticisms of the U.S. intelligence community and American foreign policy. In Part II of that conversation, Demetri asked Dr. Sachs back on the podcast to discuss his central critique of U.S. foreign policy as it pertains primarily to the breakdown in US-Russia relations and the War in Ukraine. Sachs and Kofinas discuss much of the relevant post-cold War history, including NATO enlargement, the breakdown in arms control, the invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, and why we should assume that America's confrontational policies toward Russia are to blame for the breakdown in US-Russia relations if America's more accommodative policies toward China during a similar period failed to produce the opposite result. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 07/30/2024
In Episode 375 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nate Silver, political forecaster, poker player, and founder of FiveThirtyEight, about the 2024 U.S. elections and the battle between Silicon Valley elites and the D.C. establishment for control over the country. In the first hour, Demetri asks Nate for his views about the political battle taking place between Silicon Valley elites (VCs and tech founders) and the coastal establishment of D.C. insiders and legacy media journalists. They discuss the internecine political movements of effective altruism and accelerationism within Silicon Valley, the loss of faith in political institutions, Americans' polarizing risk preferences, and what all of this reveals about the nature and soundness of our political economy heading into the 2024 U.S. elections. In the second hour, Demetri drills Nate on the upcoming 2024 U.S. elections, the tightness of the presidential race, and who he thinks is best positioned to win the presidency in November. They debate Kamala's choice for vice president, the pros and cons of J. D. Vance as Trump's VP pick, Kamala and Trump's respective approaches to doing media, favorability scores, swing state strategies, and much more. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/05/2024
In Episode 374 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with J. Doyne Farmer. Dr. Farmer is a complex systems scientist and entrepreneur who pioneered many of the theories and applications that we discuss today, including chaos theory, complexity science, artificial life, and wearable computing. We live in an age of increasing complexity, accelerating technological change, and global connectivity that holds more promise and peril than arguably any time in human history. Successfully navigating these changes will depend immeasurably on the quality of our economic models because, at their heart, all these changes—the changes associated with trends in automation, digitization, demographics, and financial markets—are rooted in the economy and the network of systems that keep us alive. For the first time, using big data and ever-more-powerful computers, we are now able to apply complexity science to economic activity, building realistic models of the global economy and financial markets that promise to vastly outperform in terms of verisimilitude and predictive power anything that we have seen in human history. This episode is divided into two parts. The first hour is meant to provide you with a foundational understanding of complexity science and its application to economics. We discuss chaos and volatility and compare the explanatory and predictive power of agent-based simulations to the standard economic model. The second hour is an exploration of economic frameworks that treat the economy as an ecological network and series of metabolic processes. We also apply the lessons of the first hour to specific economic and financial questions related to investment styles, risk management, technological disruption, and policymaking. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/02/2024
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