Advertise on podcast: Desperate Acts of Capitalism Podcast

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 Boys won the long march through the institutions? Join us on today's epic soyventure. Edited and thumbnail by Braden JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: Soylent: How I Stopped Eating for 30 Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NCigh54jg One of the Calif. tech world’s saddest inventions has been hemorrhaging cash https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/california-tech-world-soylent-scrambling-adapt-21219237.php The End of Food https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/12/the-end-of-food Let Them Eat Goo https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/dining/food-pouches-soylent.html Admit It, That Protein Shake Is Basically Soylent https://www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/05/soylent-protein-shake/687120/ Know Your Meme: Two Soyjaks Pointing https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/two-soyjaks-pointing

What is private equity anyway? This week, DAOC goes back to basics, to discuss the history and function of private equity. Edited by Braden JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/02/news/markets-investing-junk-bonds-still-have-fans-despite-a-dismal-showing-in-2001.html https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/business/investing-time-to-jump-back-into-junk-bonds.html https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/02/12/global-entrepreneur-tony-robbins-talks-investing-in-private-equity.html https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3623820

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, Divine, solve the AI slop crisis plaguing other platforms? Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M4eIphOKInXXC2ZcSQOAvU_slyfApBsfAhJpG_pyeZc/edit?usp=sharing

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 experience a culture of lawlessness, free from the harsh rules and draconian safety precautions of most theme parks? Today we’re going to explore the history of Action Park. Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park Class Action Park Directed by Seth Porges and Chris Charles Scott III, HBO Max, 2020.

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 thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: https://companiesmarketcap.com/cisco/stock-price-history/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnazfW1T-ks https://archive.org/details/digitalphoenixwh00abra

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 JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: Why Jane Street, a US trading giant, is in trouble in India https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0zgrevl1o Jane Street invested in start-up turning China’s noodle shop sales into securities https://www-ft-com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/content/112bd653-35c0-4d12-b9af-2c1d38d0e90d Jane Street Strategy and Product Internship, May-August https://www.janestreet.com/join-jane-street/position/7828490002/ How the hell did Jane Street alumni end up creating FTX? https://www.ft.com/content/679d0fa9-8491-44f5-8336-f390d6c877fe Jane Street: the top Wall Street firm ‘no one’s heard of’ https://www.ft.com/content/81811f27-4a8f-4941-99b3-2762cae76542 Jane Street is big. Like, really, really big https://www.ft.com/content/54671865-4c7f-4692-a879-867ef68f0bde Wealthy Wall Street recluse claims he was duped by Harvard fellow into funding weapons for alleged coup in South Sudan https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/south-sudan-coup-peter-ajak-b2777162.html

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 your $28 water bottle, covered in mud and suffering from trench foot, the music of Limp Bizkit echoes in the distance. "Am I in hell?" You ask yourself. No, you're at Woodstock '99. And the chaos is just getting started. Today we'll explore the insane history behind one of the most infamous music festivals of all time. Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING

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. Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: 1) https://www.expressen.se/ekonomi/klarna-miljardaren-berattar-om-de-skakande-anklagelserna/ 2) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/technology-startup100/8428669/Start-Up-100-A-Z.html 3) https://owp.klarna.com/legacy/assets/sites/15/2021/05/28054804/Financial-Update-Q1-2021.pdf https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/04/as-buy-now-pay-later-startups-keep-raising-capital-a-dive-into-klarna-afterpay-and-affirms-earnings/ 4) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/11/klarna-sees-its-value-slashed-by-85-in-latest-round-of-fundraising https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/klarnas-valuation-slumps-67-bln-with-800-mln-raise-2022-07-11/ 5) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/04/klarna-to-start-reporting-uk-customer-debts-to-credit-agencies 6) https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/17/klarna-buy-now-pay-later-system-that-is-seducing-millennials 7) https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/21/klarna-used-an-ai-avatar-of-its-ceo-to-deliver-earnings-it-said/ 8) https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/21/klarna-used-an-ai-avatar-of-its-ceo-to-deliver-earnings-it-said/ 9 ) https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/cfpb-buy-now-pay-later-bnpl-use-debt-research-report/737285/

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" De Angelis swindled America to the brink of recession. Edited and thumbnail by Noah Sources: https://pastebin.com/ixvnrcSZ JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING

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 strange and often controversial history of Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, better known as Katy Perry, and examine her legacy both on earth and beyond. Edited and thumbnail by Noah Sources: https://pastebin.com/TfTXt8UD JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING

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 of paper money itself. Edited and thumbnail by Noah Sources: https://pastebin.com/kpUKLZgU JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING

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 business of pizza-making itself? Well they tried, and this is the story of how they failed. Edited and thumbnail by Noah Sources: https://pastebin.com/XnK6BYG4 JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING

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, and treats. But what families got when they arrived was... not what they expected. Join us as we dive into the strange history of Willy's Chocolate Experience. Edited by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: https://www.vulture.com/article/glasgow-sad-oompa-loompa-interview.html https://web.archive.org/web/20240301025857mp_/https://willyschocolateexperience.com/#faqs https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/willy-wonka-inspired-chocolate-experience-outrage-rcna140726 https://www.ign.com/articles/willy-wonka-experience-promoted-using-suspected-ai-art-was-so-bad-that-customers-called-the-police https://ew.com/chocolate-fyre-festival-willy-wonka-event-infuriates-guests-8601369 ​​https://www.thecut.com/article/willy-wonka-experience-glasgow-fyre-fest.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/world/europe/willy-wonka-experience-glasgow.html https://www.whatsonglasgow.co.uk/event/131453-willy-wonka-experience/ https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/willys-chocolate-experience-nightmare-what-went-wrong https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-68431728 https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/willy-wonka-event-glasgow-billy-coull-ai-vaccine-conspiracy-books-1234976876/

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 Bubble. Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: Great Bubbles, Ross B Emmett, The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble by Malcom Balen, The South Sea Bubble by Helen J Paul

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 1884, he contributed little to the design of the world's first cash registers. As a marketer and ruthless monopolist, he revolutionized sales practices in the United States, building a sprawling empire that went out of its way to gobble up even the most marginal competitors. In time, his monomania and eccentricities led to his own demise, but his legacy as an industrialist was nothing if not complex. Edited and thumbnail by Noah JOIN US ON PATREON FOR EARLY EPISODE RELEASES, BONUS CONTENT, AND MORE: www.patreon.com/desperateactsofcapitalism BIG THINGS ARE COMING Sources: John H. Patterson–John Patterson rang up success with the incorruptible cashier By Mark Bernstein https://www.daytoninnovationlegacy.org/patterson.html John H. Patterson and the early sales practices of NCR By Jon M. Hawes https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349697991_John_H_Patterson_and_the_early_sales_practices_of_NCR Successful Monopolization Through Predation: The National Cash Register Company By Kenneth Brevoort and Howard P. Marvel https://ideas.repec.org/h/eme/rlwezz/s0193-5895(04)21003-x.html 6 things you didn’t know about NCR’s John Patterson By Allegra Czerwinski https://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyles/things-you-didn-know-about-ncr-john-patterson/K65i9ONHk46rKchxEUN2BN/