Desperate Acts of Capitalism is a comedy podcast about money, marketing, and how it all goes wrong. Join us on our magical journey through a wonderland of burning money!
Soylent had a moment in the mid 2010s, but now its star is falling. But why are so many Soylent copycats succeeding today, when the original meal replacement brand continues to flounder? Have the Soy ...
What is private equity anyway? This week, DAOC goes back to basics, to discuss the history and function of private equity.
Edited by Braden
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Vine spawned some of the internet's most memorable videos, many of which are still circulating the meme economy today. So why did it collapse so quickly? And how could its current reincarnation, Divin...
What if there was an amusement park where management literally did not care about safety? What if the danger of dying was part of the allure? What if millions of people flocked to the park to experien...
Radical dude! On this week's episode we dive in to the world of crooked IPOs, the birth of retail investing, and explore the second most famous stock market crash in recent history.
Edited and thumbn...
What happens when you give 3,000 Magic the Gathering nerds billions in capital, a dream, and a poorly regulated options market? Crime. This episode is about Jane Street.
Edited and thumbnail by Noah
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Content warning: This episode contains a couple brief sections discussing sexual assault and rape, so listener discretion is advised.
As you stand in the 100 degree heat, finishing the last sip of yo...
In a world where hot dogs are harder to buy, and brands drown in the muck of online retail, a hero rises from the ashes to offer predatory unsecured loans through an app. That hero's name? Klarna.
Ed...
His grease stains menaced warehouse shelves from Brazil to Calcutta. He was elusive man, an oil man, whose mob ties were debated in hushed tones in New York country clubs. This is how Anthony "Tino" D...
Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault and racism.
Do you ever feel already buried deep?
Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing.
Today we explore the ...
Genius economist and con artist, or genius economist con artist? The legacy of John Law is the invention of modern financial policy, for better and for worse. Join us as we go historical, to the birth...
For decades, Silicon Valley has used pizza as a testing ground for new business models. Pizzerias were the first brick-and-mortar businesses to use Bitcoin. So why hasn't big tech captured the busines...
Last year, advertisements began appearing online for a strange Willy Wonka-inspired popup exhibit in Glasgow. They promised a magical experience for the whole family, full of whimsical sights, sounds,...
On this episode of DAOC, the gang goes back in time. Join us as we venture to the invention of speculation markets itself to explore one of history's first desperate acts of capitalism: The South Sea ...
Sabotage. Intimidation. Disinformation and junk mail campaigns. These were the four horsemen of John H. Patterson, the mad king of Dayton, Ohio. As founder of the National Cash Register Company in 188...
Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of abuse, injuries, and deaths.
Disney theme parks are beloved by countless people around the world. But as Evan found out when he was a child, the...
Starbucks has been struggling as of late. On this episode, we explore what could give one of the biggest restaurant businesses in the world a run for its money.
Edited and thumbnail by Noah
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The social internet could have been Myspace. Modular, user-centered, infinitely customizable. Like so many sites on the early internet, it was more accident than design, ballooning to enormous size an...
Have you ever been watching a movie, and desperately wanted to SMELL the action? Like literally SMELL what was going on in the film? Well, turns out, Hollywood has tried to make that a reality several...
Movies: Are they good or are they bad? It's impossible to say. But what about the folks who make 'em? Hollywood makes plenty of flops and failures, but on this episode of Desperate Acts of Capitalism,...
