The obscure pool of money the US used to bail out Argentina
The episode examines the U.S. Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), a relatively obscure pool of money that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant recently used to extend a $20 billion credit line to Argentina without congressional approval. Through interviews with economist Brad Setzer and former Treasury official Jeffrey Schaefer, the hosts trace the ESF's origins, its rare large-scale use in the 1995 Mexican peso crisis, and compare that episode to the current situation in Argentina. The conversation explores how lender-of-last-resort principles, political risk, and Argentina's economic policies shape the chances that the U.S. will ever be repaid.
Crypto Pardon, Amazon Automation, and Reagan Tariff Ad
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss Kara's trip to Korea, plastic surgery culture among tech workers, and Donald Trump's tariff threats against Canada triggered by an Ontario ad using Ronald Reagan's anti-tariff speech. They analyze U.S.-China trade and the pending TikTok deal, Trump's pardon of Binance founder CZ and what it signals about corruption and crypto, Amazon's push to automate its warehouses with robots, and Trump's bailout of Argentina, framing these stories within a broader critique of speculative gambling economics and erosion of rule-of-law, before closing with reflections on sports betting and the war in Ukraine.