“The Wolf Den” hosted by Dan David

This week, The Pack visits with Cory Johnson, @CoryTV on Twitter. Cory is host of the daily Drill Down Podcast, @DrillDownPod, of the BizPod Network

Cory illuminates the business behind daily stock movers with in-depth analysis and conducts daily interviews with powerful CEOs and investors. His peripatetic career has seen him in prominent roles as a technology journalist, broadcaster, hedge fund portfolio manager, and investor. But fundamentally he’s an entrepreneur -- helping to start media companies such as the Industry Standard, Slam (the world’s largest basketball magazine), and Vibe.

He was CNBC’s first Silicon Valley correspondent, and helped create TV, radio, and podcasts for Bloomberg. He has also worked as the managing member of Epistrophy Capital, as a senior executive at the blockchain startup Ripple, and at several other prominent ventures.

The Pack digs into Cory’s history, from college to his current endeavor, The Drill Down Podcast. Nothing was off-limits, and Cory gives his unvarnished opinion on CNBC, Mike Bloomberg, and the state of business reporting.

Sit back, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy.

Links for Cory Johnson & topics covered on the podcast.

https://www.bizpod.net/

https://twitter.com/DrillDownPod

https://twitter.com/CoryTV

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-j-600718/

https://thedrilldown.podbean.com/

2:43   A log rolling in our time.

3:10   Cory makes up his own major at NYU.

4:41   New York Magazine, Wall Street, Courts & Crime and Wall Street, Courts & Crime and a call from Jim Cramer.

12:04 CNBC and the value of stability.

13:21 Business Journalism & CNBC, a stock is not a story.

16:51 The Human Experience.

20:53 Why this medium.

22:53 Ackman, Ichan, Herbalife and getting it shoved up your ass.

27:40 Elon doesn’t call me anymore.

30:40 I hate it here.

33:45 The Drill Down and why its different.

35:48 Business literacy and getting sued.

37:58 Mike Wilkins, Bill Maher sucks at hoops and the Smithsonian.

41:30 A little bit of Bitcoin.

44:02 Wrapping up and some Felonious Munk.

This week, The Pack visits with Dr. Marian Tupy (@HumanProgress  on Twitter) of the Cato Institute

Educated in South Africa and England, Dr. Tupy is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty, a contributor to the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, the U.K. Spectator, and Foreign Policy, He is a frequent guest on CNN, CNBC, Fox, and others. Dr. Tupy is also editor of Human Progress, and author of the book, “Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting.”

He is a specialist in “globalization and global well‐being”, and indeed in his book and on this podcast appearance he brings us a hearty helping of hope... things may not be as socially, culturally, and economically awful as they seem.  We dig deep into his book and think you will come away as surprised as we did.  It just may not be so bad.

Sit back and enjoy the podcast. Pour yourself a half-empty glass, and hear Dr. Tupy make it half-full for you.

Links for Marian Tupy & topics covered on the podcast.

https://store.cato.org/products/ten-global-trends-every-smart-person-should-know

https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

https://www.humanprogress.org/

1:54   Marian Tupy gives the reasons why he wrote this book.

4:02   The American education system and the lack of critical thinking.

5:07   The evolution of skepticism and every thing is great in Holland. 

11:41 The reception of facts, where the facts came from and where to read the book.

16:20 Global happiness is rising and the Easterlin Paradox.

20:49 The top ten in no order but starting with number 1.

26:10 The kings progress, Versailles and Mel Brooks.

27:39 The cost of electricity and absurdity of period pieces.

32:07 The end of poverty.

35:49 Running out of resources.

40:42 Elephants, Polar bears, Wolves, and Pandas having sex.

49:03 More green then Alaska and Montana combined.

57:11 Leaving the rural communities for the freedom of the big city and the drop in global reproduction.

1:05:16 Decarbonizing the economy, nuclear energy and the birds.

1:11:26 The end of famine and Israeli engineering.

1:19:44 Global peace, kind of. Welcome to America and here is your part of the national debt.

1:26:23 Torture is dead and let’s bring back duels.

1:29:40 Less crime unless you watch the news.

1:31:37 More democracy and the guiding hand.

1:35:00 The 20th century, it was the best of times it was the worst of times.

1:39:21 A big win for humanity.

1:41:00 Real bravery and The US is the best.

This week, The Pack visits with Chris Drose (@bleecker__st on Twitter) of the newly launched activist-short fund, Bleecker Street Capital.

Chris published his first short-report in 2014 while he was still in college. He has since been a regular contributor to Seeking Alpha and was the man and mind behind the well-deserved market-based prosecution and ultimate destruction of American Addiction Centers (AAC).  Chris has worked for some of the best hedge and short funds in the county, and with many iconic figures in activist shorting. Previously operating as Bleecker Street Research when he was solo, he has just launched a fund, Bleecker Street Capital to continue his excellent activist work.

Chris takes The Pack though some of his biggest reports, including his work on American Addiction Centers (AAC). AAC had ambitions to be a best-in-class national addiction help center. However, greed, accounting fraud, and criminal charges that included Second-Degree Murder laid them low (with Chris’ help!). What is next for Bleecker Street, thoughts about the market, and the short world vs hedge funds; Chris tells us all about it, from the comfort of his bathroom.

Drugs, deaths, fraud and short selling. Sit back, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy.

Links for Chris Drose & topics covered on the podcast.

https://bleeckerstreetresearch.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-drose-2a18245a/

https://twitter.com/Bleecker__St

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/27/business/drug-addiction-rehab.html

1:57     Chris gives the back story for Bleecker Street from his toilet.

3:16     Can a 20yo be taken seriously on Seeking Alpha.

4:59     Short selling skepticism and finding the talent to understand the world of shorts. 

6:45     Dan meets Chris for the first time and dinner with the parents.

9:31     Chris, piss tests and the war with AAC

13:20     The analyst who will not be named.

14:30     Murder, money and greed.

19:57     Fake Attorneys, an 18 hour deposition and loving a killer.

25:30     So how much money did you make?

27:14     No one went to jail….. Buying land in the Bahamas.

28:46     What came next for Chris, a hedge fund.

32:39     Dan learns what will take The Pack to the next level.

34:04     The changing game.

38:10     Your research is only good if the market agrees with you.

39:11     Going back to Bleecker Street and what a tease.

42:10     GME, short squeeze, the meme stocks and we got blockchain.

43:46      Advise for the listeners.

44:44      A dire prediction.

50:35      Draft kings and 500K.

53:20      Wrapping it up.

This week, The Pack visits with Carol Roth (@caroljsroth on Twitter). Carol is a vociferous advocate for small business. She is also the Creator of the Future File®️ legacy-planning system, a national media personality, billion-dollar dealmaker, brand spokesperson, investor, board member and a bestselling author.  

Carol takes The Pack though her upcoming book, talks about the NFL and names the greatest running-back of all time, and tackles government overreach and the devastating impact that both the government and Covid 19 have had on small business in America. Touching on China, PPE, supply chains, and the unemployment rate, Carol covers pretty much everything under the sun.

Carol was named a Top-100 Small Business Influencer for 2011-2015 by Small Biz Trends. She has written hundreds of articles for a variety of outlets. Additionally, she is a sought-after emcee, speaker, and moderator at events that included the Virgin Atlantic Conference with Richard Branson, the Chicago Cubs Convention, VALIC, Entrepreneur, and many others.

Carol is the creator of Future File. The Future File system provides you and your loved ones two roadmaps for legacy-planning. The first helps you to organize your wishes and provides important information for your loved ones. The second helps your loved ones know what to do when the time comes.

Sit back, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. 

Links for Carol Roth & topics covered on the podcast.

https://twitter.com/caroljsroth

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroljsroth/

https://bookshop.org/

https://www.futurefile.com/

3:83     Carol and The Pack talk about the NFL and getting her to be a Lions fan.

4:42     How Carol came up with “The war on small business” and the Pandemic.

8:51     Small business are the backbone of 99.9% of the world economy and lets just shut it down for 2 weeks.

11:49     Dan predicts the pandemic in 2018 and gets boo’ed.

13:28     China, Free Speech and Capitalism.

16:52     Empires, the crushing weight of debt and the attack on small business.

24:22     Small Business, the pandemic supply chain, and no booze in Pennsylvania.

30:14     Government Overreach and misspent funding during Covid 19.

34:39     The march towards UBI and Zombie Companies.

36:55     Passive Investment Vehicles and Frauds.

39:14     SPAC Jesus, RTO’s and the golden age of IPO’s.

42:32     Central planning – the soft takeover and dept we cannot service.

46:48     We don’t have a revenue problem we have a spending problem.

51:27     Provident funds, let me invest my own money.

54:24     Why we need a viable 3rd party and inflation.

56:59     The Fed and faux independence.

1:01:50   Free Speech, social media, and censorship

1:04:53   What can people do to help small business.

1:09:43   I got an action figure.

1:12:13   An amazing summary and closing from Carol.

This week, The Pack visits with a friend of the show, Crocker Coulson (@crockercoulson on Twitter). Crocker is the CEO of AUM media and is an award-winning investor-relations and corporate communications advisor for the last two decades.  

Crocker takes The Pack though his childhood watching avant-garde films, his time at Yale and his encounter with the “Skull and Bones Club”, his jump into journalism starting at The Yale Daily News, his first publication, and finally his time at CCG and what those initials really meant.

Crocker was instrumental in bringing to US markets many of the Chinese RTOs that later became targets of Dan and the other China Hustle shorts. We also touch on what Crocker has been doing since the fall of the reverse-merger, including the most expensive divorce in billed hours in the history of New York. 

Crocker is also Founder and Chairman of the MUSE Academy, a school focused on the performing arts, and of the 110-year-old Brooklyn Music School.

Sit back, pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. 

Links for Crocker Coulson topics covered on the podcast.

https://www.aummedia.org/

https://museacademybk.com/

https://crockercoulson.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/crocker-coulson-509675/

https://www.aummedia.org/crocker-coulson-bio

This week, The Pack visits with the great sage Joe Nocera, (@opinion_joe on Twitter). Joe is an award-winning and bestselling author, columnist, investigative journalist, and now podcaster. His latest work, “The Shrink Next Door”, has been turned into a series on Apple TV starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, and Kathryn Hahn.

This Pulitzer Prize nominee pulls no punches in anything he says and does.

Joe takes us though some of his best and most amusing works and articles. These range from a car-bomb in Paris to his groundbreaking interview with the most famous man in Oklahoma, T-Boone Pickens. Joe has made friends and enemies in our small world of shorts and in the wider world of national politics. From MiMedx to Theranos: Joe does not care about feelings; he just gives the facts.  

We visit everything with Joe, including his work, his sometimes-controversial politics, and some current events. Sit back, have a drink, and enjoy.

https://twitter.com/opinion_joe

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shrink-next-door/id1459899275

https://www.nytimes.com/by/joe-nocera

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/authors/AB5jPpvf5C4/joe-nocera

This week The Pack is joined by Sam Reynolds (On Twitter @thesamreynolds & @blockworks), a journalist with Blockworks based in Taipei. With Blockworks he covers digital assets and institutional investors in the world’s most exciting economies.

Prior to Blockworks he was an editor with Taipei-based Forkast News, where he covered blockchain throughout Asia. Sam also contributes to Wccftech, one of the largest technology news websites in the world. 

Sam takes us thorough the world of crypto, digital currencies like the e-yuan, and a bit of policy and politics.  

https://blockworks.co/ - Understand the crypto markets in just 5 minutes.

In this week's episode, Carson Block and Roddy Boyd  (@muddywatersre & @RodBoydILM  on Twitter) join the pack for a special forum to discuss private investigator Derrick Snowdy. 

Derrick has been the topic of recent articles by Institutional Investor Magazine & The Foundation for Financial Journalism. Sit back listen to Dan, Carson, and Roddy as they tell stories and give perspective on the inner workings of some of the top journalists and activist short sellers in the world.  

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1rtgl72qyzdw4/Shadowy-Private-Investigator-Promised-Catalyst-Intel-on-Short-Sellers-But-Came-Up-Short-New-Legal-Documents-Reveal

https://ffj-online.org/2021/05/12/danny-guy-derrick-snowdy-and-the-strange-wars-of-confused-men/

This week, The Pack has a Bull vs Bear discussion on Root, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROOT) with Edwin Dorsey of “The Bear Cave”. ROOT is a provider of direct-to-consumer insurance products. Edwin Dorsey (@StockJabber on Twitter). Has published two reports on ROOT explaining why he believes they are not a viable long-term company. Even after a long-biased tweet & live stream from the “former” activist short seller Andrew Left, Edwin appears to be correct: ROOT’s stock is still down since his first publication.  Sit Back, relax, have a drink and enjoy this special release.

You can follow Edwin’s work and subscribe to Edwin’s email newsletter, “The Bear Cave” at https://thebearcave.substack.com/

This week The Pack visits with a friend of the show Roddy Boyd (@RodBoydILM on Twitter). Roddy is the Editor and founder of the Foundation for Financial Journalism. I think Roddy is among the few remaining investigative journalists on the planet. Before FFJ, he was a reporter for Fortune, NY Post, NY Sun, and Institutional Investor News. In 2011 he published “Fatal Risk – A cautionary Tale of AIG’s Corporate Suicide”, a McKinsey Business Book of the Year. In 2012, The Huffington Post named him “one of the most feared financial reporters in America.”  Roddy takes us through his upbringing, his early work, and events that shaped his career both personally and professionally. Sit back have a drink and enjoy!

 When something like alcohol use is so intimately ingrained in the fabric of our society, it becomes extremely difficult to significantly alter its use and or abuse comprehensively and beneficially. It becomes extremely difficult for many individuals to realistically see the destructive, unhealthy, and sometimes fatal aspects of drug or alcohol abuse. If you need help or think you need help you are taking the first step.  

https://www.aa.org and https://www.nami.org/Home

49:10 Where were you the first time you heard about Ben Wei and Freedom of Speech?

52:20 The time Roddy visited the China Media Express office, witnessed Jeffrey Toobin-esque activities and a sleeping R&D department, and the subsequent stop on trading the next day from the NASDAQ.