This Time Is Different

Hosted by Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey

Business Investing

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141

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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About the show

Long-form conversations that challenge consensus thinking about markets, money, and the economy. We question the narratives everyone else accepts and welcome contrarian ideas. Hosted by Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky Mulvey

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60 recent

August 18, 202646 min

The Only Sane Person in Crazy Town

The economy is unhinged! Ricky and Malcolm discuss: Gen Z redirecting investing dollars toward gambling. Malcolm as the lone voice of caution on a CNBC panel of market bulls.  Bill Ackman's return to Netflix as an activist investor and his shaky track record with the stock. Reddit's inclusion in the S&P 500, and why Google and OpenAI need the site for AI ambitions. Cerebras' wild earnings swings, the buildout of "collateralized chip obligations," and Malcolm's case about semiconductor shortage, which may not last forever. Ricky's reporting about margin debt, which is at a record amount in the US stock market.  Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Malcolm Ethridge, Ricky Mulvey Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 11, 202642 min

When to Sell a Stock You've Owned for Years

Malcolm bought a popular tech stock a few years ago and just decided it's time to sell. How did he know? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Why Malcolm is selling a streaming giant after a multi-year run, and why he believes there are signs the company's best growth days are behind it. Mercado Libre, the "Amazon of Latin America," and why a company trading off profit margins for a decade of growth might be a stock you just hold and don't overthink. The little-known Fed rule that hasn't been touched since 1974, how it could effect the record levels of margin in the US stock market. A listener question on the K-shaped economy: what would it actually take for the bottom half of the K to catch up to the top? Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 4, 202651 min

Why Smart People Take Dumb Money Risks

A 24-year-old hedge fund manager said he had more "situational awareness" than anyone on Wall Street. Then his leveraged bets on memory chipmakers blew up, forcing a fire sale to Ken Griffin. Wall Street is pretty smart. Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: - How Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI manifesto and multi-billion-dollar hedge fund imploded within months, and what it says about ego. - South Korea's leveraged ETF boom, and what a 30% single-day swing in SK Hynix says about the stock market. - What free solo climber Dean Potter's story (via HBO's The Dark Wizard) reveals about risk tolerance vs. risk capacity. - Why AI chatbots are quietly rewriting the dating game, and what a Bloomberg story on "chat phishing" says about how people communicate now. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 28, 20261 hr 3 min

ServiceNow's Pitch: A Kill Switch for Rogue Bots

ServiceNow is down 50% over the past twelve months. Investors are doubting the company's place in a world with AI agents. But, maybe the software giant is figuring it out… Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: - OpenAI’s latest scandal. Its bot broke out of a sandboxed test environment and hacked its way into another company’s servers using stolen credentials. - Ricky passing the CFP® exam. - ServiceNow’s pitch for an AI “kill switch,” and why Wall Street isn’t buying it (yet). - Tesla’s robotaxi miles dropped 36% quarter over quarter, and nearly all of its net income came from SpaceX stock gains. - Why Gen Z women are financially “momming” their boyfriends, and what it says about the dating economy. - The financial lessons hiding inside Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 21, 202652 min

Canaries in the AI Coal Mine

Uber, Tesla, xAI, Meta, and now IBM have all quietly signaled the same thing: AI is too expensive. Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Whether "gotcha questions" in media interviews (from Tucker Carlson to JD Vance on Rogan) actually work Why Malcolm bought Netflix into weakness after a disappointing earnings report, and picked up Cerebras (CBRS) as a bet against Nvidia's pricing power. The "canaries in the coal mine" for AI spending: Tesla and Uber capping employee AI token usage, Meta and xAI signaling they overbuilt data center capacity, and IBM's ugly pre-released earnings blaming AI infrastructure costs Why Ricky bought VICI Properties, the landlord behind Caesars and MGM on the Las Vegas Strip, as a hideout trade disconnected from AI The other half of the K-shaped economy: falling grocery unit sales at PepsiCo versus surging same-store sales at Costco A listener question on gifting money tax-free to kids for a home down payment. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 14, 202653 min

Remember Nvidia’s Memory

Nvidia’s valuation is the cheapest it has been since the AI boom. Traders’ attention moved to memory chipmakers. They may have forgotten that Nvidia makes advanced memory systems.  Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss:- An unpaid intern getting “fired” for demanding $32 per hour, and if unpaid internships should even be legal.- What investors forgot about Nvidia.- President Trump’s financial disclosures, and Malcolm’s prediction on insider trading legislation.-  Why Ricky thinks Dave & Buster's has a midlife crisis after the arcade chain announced that it will host raves. Could this be a good time for some activists to get involved?  Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 7, 20261 hr 0 min

Welcome to Crazy Town, Population: $1.4 Trillion Margin Debt

US margin debt, what investors borrow from their brokerages to buy securities, rose 54% from a year ago. Don’t take the punch bowl away! Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: Malcolm’s prediction that Sam Altman will have to walk back OpenAI's spending commitments in the back half of 2026. The mechanics of triple-leveraged ETFs, and how they're driving 10% single-day swings in stocks like Micron without any individual investor buying the underlying company. The Cut’s article "It's Hard to See My Parents Living So Lavishly While We're Struggling." Stories of rich parents refusing to help their children; a loan a dad wouldn't cosign, and the daughter who found out at graduation she owed $80,000 in loans from her parents. The history of corporations in America, and how an idea that Alexander Hamilton implemented could be used today; profitable companies that serve the public interest. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 30, 202653 min

Polymarket's Fake Bets. Wendy’s Becomes a Meme Stock.

Polymarket reportedly paid creators to post videos of themselves "winning" bets that didn't exist. The Wall Street Journal found 118 videos showing nearly $900,000 in winnings — bets that, in reality, would have lost more than $166,000, placed on a creatively misspelled lookalike site. Meanwhile, Wendy's is drawing more Wall Street Bets chatter than SpaceX, 80% of its borrowable shares are already sold short, and the internet has decided a $7 burger stock might be the next GameStop. Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss.: - The summer box office recovery, and what movie audiences want. - The Polymarket "poiymarket" fake-bet scheme. - Whether Wendy's is the next GameStop. - Netflix as a "durable good" and why it's trading at a discount to the market. - The clipping economy, why one operator estimates 90% of what you see online is advertising in disguise. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 23, 202653 min

Is The Market Too Hot To Trust?

Elon Musk says SpaceX could hit $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, a fifteen-fold jump from 2027 estimates. Parts of the market feel like they're on fire. So where does a long-term bull actually put money when they don't want to chase 40%-in-a-week moves? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: The REITs they're using as cover in an overheated market — cold storage, data centers, and class-A office — and Malcolm's "what's the yield" test for every one of them. Why "fiduciary" might not mean what you think, and how to tell a real one from a salesperson. State Farm's plan to cut agent pay and lean on AI, and what it signals about white-collar work. Why Gen Z is trading like the system is rigged, and whether they're wrong. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 16, 202657 min

Is the American Dream Dead? w/ Freddie Smith

Is the American Dream Dead? w/ Freddie Smith Over the past 50 years, Americans created roughly $140 trillion in new wealth. Roughly two SpaceX’s worth of wealth reached the bottom half. Actor-turned-economic-commentator Freddie Smith argues the American dream isn't dead, but the timeline to reach it has become unreasonable for the typical worker. Is he right, and what would it actually take to fix it? Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge are joined by Freddie Smith, author of the upcoming book Generation F****d, to discuss: Freddie's radical tax plan: scrap every federal tax and replace it with a 10% levy on gross revenue. The case for banning stock buybacks, and Malcolm's pitch to just raise the dividend instead. How a capital gains tax holiday for mom-and-pop landlords could unlock frozen housing supply. Whether regular 401(k) investors are locked out of the real growth happening in OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Want to contact us? thistimepod@gmail.com We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm Ethridge Guest: Freddie Smith Engineer: Tim Sparks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices