This Time Is Different

By Malcolm Ethridge and Ricky MulveyBusiness Technology Investing

This Time Is Different episodes

July 21Canaries 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
53 min
July 14 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
54 min
July 07 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
1 hr 1 min
June 30 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
54 min
June 23Is 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
54 min
June 16Is 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? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
58 min
June 10The Real Reason for Big Tech Layoffs
Google is raising $80 billion, and nearly 40% of it is going to the IRS, not data centers. Is Big Tech cutting employees to pay a tax bill?
Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss:
Why index funds are forced to buy SpaceX at a bad time

The Nasdaq rule change that helps big IPOs, and possible reasons why the exchange declined to answer Ricky's questions

Why Malcolm is making a list of stocks to buy when the hype dies

Whether RocketLab is still a good investment.
Want to contact us? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
53 min
June 02Why Did SpaceX Buy $131 Million of Cybertrucks?
SpaceX is mostly an AI company now. Or, that’s where it sees most of its total addressable market in one of the largest economic opportunities “in human history.” Well, that's according to the company. Malcolm is more skeptical. Is this the last big bang in the AI bull market?
What's buried in the SpaceX S-1 that nobody's talking about.

Whether OpenAI's IPO will land with a thud in SpaceX's shadow

Gen Z trading bars for $300-a-month gyms — status symbol or genuine shift?

Why ChatGPT gave Ricky very bad advice in a Tokyo pharmacy

How American entertainment companies could build “venture capital arms” for content.
Want to contact us? [email protected]
We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] 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
1 hr 2 min
May 26 Microsoft's Early Retirement Offer and What It Teaches Everyone Else
Malcolm flies solo this week to break down one of the more generous early retirement packages in recent memory, and whether "generous" and "right for you" are actually the same thing. He covers:
- What makes Microsoft's offer different from a typical severance package (hint: five years of health care)
- The three-bucket framework for deciding if you can actually afford to say yes
- Why your RSU vesting window might matter more than the cash payout
- The tax trap hiding inside the year you accept, and how charitable giving can help offset it
- What saying no might actually be signaling about your job security

Host: Malcolm Ethridge
Engineer: Tim Sparks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
34 min
May 19 The Beginning of Facebook's Decline?
Meta is losing users for the first time in company history. It has a mountain of debt loaded in other development companies. Is this a blip for an unstoppable force or the beginning of a slow decline?Ricky Mulvey and Malcolm Ethridge discuss: - America’s debt problem, and the landmark of owing more than it makes.
- Strategy backtracking on permanent bitcoin ownership.- Why AI stock trading bots lose money, or the ones we know about. - If Meta is about to follow the same path as Yahoo and AOL.Want to contact us? [email protected] We are proud to be in the Airwave Media network! Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast.Hosts: Ricky Mulvey, Malcolm EthridgeEngineer: Tim Sparks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
55 min

About This Time Is Different

From the publisher's feed

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