The Higher Standard

By Chris NaghibiBusiness Entrepreneurship Investing Careers

The Higher Standard episodes

October 13 America’s Hidden Debt Crisis: Why Credit Card Delinquencies Aren’t the Real Problem
America’s next debt crisis isn’t hiding in the numbers. It’s hiding behind them. Credit card delinquencies are either flashing red or perfectly manageable, depending on which statistic you cherry-pick. And somehow, both are technically correct. In Episode 357, we follow the cracks spreading through student loans, subprime auto lending, buy-now-pay-later debt, and the $1.8 trillion private credit market—where Wall Street apparently believes moving risk off a balance sheet makes it disappear. From South Korea’s credit card collapse to the infamous assurances that subprime was “contained,” history offers a familiar warning: the numbers look manageable right up until they don’t. The real question isn’t how much Americans owe. It’s who’s carrying the risk, who’s hiding the losses, and what happens when the paychecks stop.
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🔗 Resources:
How Distressed Are Consumers? Reconciling Diverging Credit Card Delinquency Measures (Federal Reserve Bank of New York )
Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans — All Commercial Banks (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED))
May 2026 Financial Stability Report — Private Credit, Redemption Risks & Bank Exposure (Federal Reserve Board)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 19 min
October 06 The $2 Trillion AI Bubble: What Happens If It Actually Works?
AI may be the most important technology of our lifetime. That does not mean Wall Street has priced it correctly. In Episode 356, we dig into Anthropic’s reported $2 trillion ambitions, more than $500 billion in long-term compute commitments, OpenAI’s even larger promises, and 180 years of investors discovering the hard way that great technology and great investments are not the same thing. From Railway Mania and Netscape to Webvan, Cisco and WeWork, the pattern is remarkably familiar: spend enormous amounts of money today, assume tomorrow will be exponentially bigger, and try not to ask what happens if growth slows. But this time there is an extra wrinkle: the AI valuations only really work if software captures a meaningful piece of something much larger than the software market itself... your paycheck.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Amazon Leadership Principles (Amazon)
2025 Annual Meeting — Elon Musk Compensation & Shareholder Vote (Tesla)
OpenAI Announces Leadership Transition — Sam Altman (OpenAI)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 13 min
September 29 Every Great Company Is a Cult. Here’s How They Get You.
Every great company wants loyal customers. The really great ones want believers. This week, we look at what happens when a business stops selling you a product and starts selling you an identity. From Amazon’s “Day 1” disciples to Tesla shareholders defending Elon Musk like family and OpenAI employees threatening to walk out with Sam Altman, the biggest companies in America have figured out something Wall Street can’t put on a balance sheet: tribal loyalty is incredibly valuable. But now the tribes are wearing political jerseys, CEOs are becoming symbols, tickers are becoming flags, and buying a car, drinking a beer, or choosing an AI company can somehow announce what team you’re on. Totally normal stuff. Welcome to the cult economy. Pick yours carefully.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Amazon Leadership Principles (Amazon)
2025 Annual Meeting — Elon Musk Compensation & Shareholder Vote (Tesla)
OpenAI Announces Leadership Transition — Sam Altman (OpenAI)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 16 min
September 22 AI Agents Organized, Cheated, and Learned to Hide
Apparently 1,200 AI agents left alone in separate sandboxes will eventually do what humans always do: find each other, form a group chat, cheat the test, and start looking for ways around the cameras. In this episode, we break down the real-world “swarm” incident, why reward hacking may matter more than Skynet fantasies, and what happens when the machines get better at hiding how they reached an answer. Then we follow the money into finance, law, AI’s growing safety tax, and an oversight system that is starting to look suspiciously like auditing before Enron taught everyone a very expensive lesson. The machines are already on the trading desk, the black box is getting harder to read, and somehow the people responsible for watching all of this also seem to have chips in the game. Welcome to progress.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
The Hugging Face Incident and the Road Ahead (OpenAI)
Anatomy of a Frontier Lab Agent Intrusion: A Technical Timeline (Hugging Face)
Training a Misaligned Reward Seeker (Anthropic Alignment Science)
Chain of Thought Monitorability: A New and Fragile Opportunity for AI Safety (arXiv / AI Safety Researchers)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 11 min
September 15 The Fed Made This Mistake Once. America Paid for 16 Years.
What if the ugliest economic decade in modern American history wasn’t just history — but a warning label? In Episode 353, we go back to 1971, when Nixon closed the gold window, slapped tariffs on imports, froze wages and prices, leaned on the Fed for easy money, and helped light the fuse on the stagflationary mess that followed. Then came the oil shock, Arthur Burns, double-digit inflation, sixteen lost years for the Dow, and eventually Paul Volcker showing up with a monetary flamethrower. Fast-forward to today: energy shock, tariffs, political pressure on the Fed, sticky inflation, a fragile labor market, and stocks priced like gravity has been repealed. This isn’t a prediction that history repeats perfectly. It’s a question of whether we’re watching the same bad movie with a new cast — and whether the Fed learned anything from the first screening.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
August 15, 1971 — Nixon’s New Economic Policy / “Nixon Shock” (Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum)
How Richard Nixon Pressured Arthur Burns: Evidence from the Nixon Tapes (American Economic Association)
Kevin Warsh — “In Our Time” | Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium (Federal Reserve Board)
Consumer Price Index — August 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
59 min
September 08 Private Equity Is Broken: How Debt, Fees & Leveraged Buyouts Really Work
Private equity sold itself as the smartest money in the room. Turns out, a lot of that “genius” may have just been 40 years of falling rates, cheap leverage, and somebody else willing to pay a higher multiple. We break down how the model actually works, why roughly 33,000 portfolio companies are now stuck waiting for an exit, and what happens when every leveraged buyout starts looking like an adjustable-rate mortgage that just reset. From Krispy Kreme turning the hot light into a cost center, to Toys “R” Us entering the Amazon fight buried in debt, to Red Lobster selling the building and keeping the rent, this is a tour through what happens when spreadsheets understand the balance sheet but miss the business.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Global Private Equity Report 2026 (Bain & Company)
Private-Equity Firms Are Sitting on a Nine-Year Backlog (The Wall Street Journal)
Global Private Markets Report 2026 — Private Equity: Clearer View, Tougher Terrain (McKinsey & Company)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 26 min
September 01 OpenAI Bought the Narrative: The Shocking Truth About TBPN & Silicon Valley Media
Silicon Valley didn’t suddenly fall in love with podcasts because everyone discovered the joys of long-form conversation. They figured out something much more valuable: if you control the pipe, you can shape the narrative. In Episode 351, Chris traces that playbook from Hearst and Murdoch to Rogan, Musk, a16z, OpenAI and TBPN—and asks the uncomfortable question behind the new media boom: are you watching an independent show, or a very expensive communications strategy with better lighting? The money can buy reach, access and influence. What it still can’t buy is trust.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Jeff Bezos declares opinions questioning ‘free markets’ no longer welcome (Nieman Lab)
Joe Rogan Trump Interview Ratings: Chart Shows Subscriber Spike (Newsweek)
Jeff Bezos’ revamp of ‘Washington Post’ opinions leads editor to quit (NPR)
Elon Musk reportedly ordered Twitter engineers to boost his tweets (Fortune)
Bari Weiss isn’t capturing the media. She’s being captured (Columbia Journalism Review)
What Is New Media? (a16z)
OpenAI Buys TBPN // $100M+ for a Podcast Makes Sense When You Do the Math (RockWater)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 24 min
August 25 Treasury Is Buying Its Own Debt — Scott Bessent’s $40 Trillion Gamble
Episode 350, and apparently the milestone gift is discovering that the United States is now paying the mortgage with the credit card. Chris and Rajeil unpack Scott Bessent’s decision to supersize Treasury bond buybacks just as long-term yields hit 19-year highs and the national debt crossed $40 trillion. We go from Venice’s first bond market to the Treasury-Fed Accord, Japan’s yield-curve-control experiment, and why governments have a long, ugly history of trying to bully borrowing costs lower. Then there’s the timing: the accelerated program starts September 9, runs through November 4, and somehow manages to wrap up one day after the midterm elections. Pure coincidence, obviously. Add a Fed already fighting inflation, a tapped-out consumer, and markets beginning to question the price of American debt, and Episode 350 asks the uncomfortable question: when the smoke alarm gets too loud, are we fixing the fire—or just pulling the battery?
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Treasury doubles debt buybacks as Bessent moves to steady bond market (CNBC)
Bond yields fall after Treasury announces surprise move to ease rising rates (CNBC)
Bessent says Treasury buyback operation could be more than $4 billion (CNBC)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 20 min
August 18 Stagflation Is Coming? The Fed’s Inflation & Jobs Trap Explained
In Episode 349 of The Higher Standard, Chris breaks down why cooling CPI doesn’t mean inflation is dead, why the Fed may be walking straight into a stagflation trap, and how a weakening jobs market, rising energy costs, Japan, the yen and a geopolitical oil shock are colliding at exactly the wrong time. From the 1970s and Volcker to CPI vs. PCE, shelter inflation, owners’ equivalent rent and the “ghost” hiding inside year-over-year inflation math, this episode explains why the next inflation print may already be partially baked in—and why the Fed’s September decision is becoming a choice between fighting prices it can’t control and crushing a labor market that may already be cracking. Macroeconomics, but without pretending beef and chicken are the same thing.
💥 Have you left your "honest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️" review?
This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
Inflation moved in the right direction in July (Chris Naghibi via X)
Japan’s Lost Decade - An Economic Disaster (Cold Fusion)
Inflation versus the G7 (Nathan C Jun via Instagram)
Consumer prices rose 0.1%$ in July, as expected, putting the annual rate at 3.4% (CNBC)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 9 min
August 11 Japan Just Exposed America’s Mortgage Problem And It Can't Be Stopped
Everyone is waiting for the next housing crash. Chris thinks they may be watching the wrong thing. In Episode 348, he connects the lessons of 2008 to today’s mortgage market, where major non-bank lenders are under pressure, Treasury yields keep climbing, and Japan’s fight to defend the yen could be making America’s mortgage problem worse. This isn’t a call for another housing collapse—it’s a warning that the financial system is showing cracks in places most people aren’t watching.
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This episode is proudly brought to you by Fridays.
Because real wealth starts with your health. If you want to feel sharper, stronger, and more in control, visit joinfridays.com and use code HIGHER for an exclusive discount.
📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv
👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com
🔗 Resources:
U.S. Treasury intervenes to support yen after Japan steps in, FT reports (CNBC)
Every yen rescue is funded by selling treasuries… (Nicholas Crown via Instagram)
Anthony Hsieh steps down as loanDepot’s executive chairman (Housing Wire)
LoanDepot Founder Anthony Hsieh Returns to Executive Team (PYMNTS)
United Wholesale Mortgage plunges 35% after suspending dividend and raising capital (CNBC)
⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.
1 hr 4 min

About The Higher Standard

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Welcome to the Higher Standard Podcast, where we give you ultra-premium, unfiltered truth when it comes to building your wealth and curating the lifestyle of your dreams. Your host; Chris Naghibi is…