Episode

8/25 The Long Story Of Crypto Scamming w/ Noah Kulwin

August 26, 2022

Emma hosts Noah Kulwin, co-host of the Blowback podcast, to discuss his recent piece in The Baffler entitled “Tales from the Thrifts.” First, Emma dives into Biden’s recent executive moves, from codifying DACA to the 10-20k student debt cancellation, and explores the absolutely wild takes from the right on the minimal debt relief. Then, Noah Kulwin joins to discuss the parallel his article painted between the Savings and Loans (SnL) crisis of the 80s and the Crypto crashes of today, jumping back to the 1970s when the deregulation of the SnL industry began amidst inflation, continuing to open it up its investment opportunities and bail it out repeatedly (under both Carter and Reagan), with 1982’s Garn Saint-Germain Act opening the industry up to federally guaranteed money laundering schemes, and the government legislation climaxing with the passage of FIRREA in 1989. Unsurprisingly, Kulwin then walks through the massive influence the SnL sector had in Washington, as the biggest Congressional donors, acting as real estate developers and mortgage lenders at the same time, before they shift to the similarly unregulated market of Crypto, acting effectively as bonds for surplus capital in much the same was, despite their advertisement as a currency, diving into the similar tactics we see between the two sectors, particularly when it comes to broadcasting themself onto the mainstream and bolstering certain illegal and profitable industries. Wrapping up, Emma and Noah walk through the recent collapse of the tied crypto coins Luna and Terra and why Ponzi schemes will never succeed, and the future of the Blowback podcast.

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Brandon Sutton as they explore student debt bondage as a funnel into the worlds of privatized industry, meaning our smartest students have spent the ‘90s and ‘00s working on derivatives and crashing the stock market, and the 2010s on electronic surveillance and crypto. Sophia from Atlanta discusses her mom’s attraction to Andrew Yang’s “Forwards Party,” Dr. Oz responds to claims that everyone hates him, and the crew dives into an openly racist Juneteenth parody party that took place in Rochester NY, and the lawsuit that has since followed. Adam from Rhode Island discusses Biden’s 10k student debt relief and why being better than the Right isn’t enough, Ron DeSantis lacks the Orange Man juice, and Marjorie Taylor Greene discusses being swatted, plus, your calls and IMs!

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Check out Noah’s piece here: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/tales-from-the-thrifts-kulwin

Check out Noah’s podcast Blowback here: https://blowback.show/

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