David McWilliams Podcast

72sheep · 13-12-2020 3:53am

Amirani wrote: »

I think this podcast has improved again of late (I was quite critical back in Summer). It's gotten a little less repetitive (has dropped the Pandession stuff etc.) and the sidekick guy has toned down his stupidity act a small bit and become a more genuine devil's advocate figure. Have had some interesting guests on too which has helped.

I quite like the sidekick actually.

OTOH Dave's knee-slapping man-of-the-people blarney is wearing thin. He also feigns complete unawareness of how close he is to some really nasty types (and just because they present at a comedy-economics festival does not mean you'd ever want to be seen in public with them).

14-12-2020 1:03am

72sheep wrote: »

I quite like the sidekick actually.

OTOH Dave's knee-slapping man-of-the-people blarney is wearing thin. He also feigns complete unawareness of how close he is to some really nasty types (and just because they present at a comedy-economics festival does not mean you'd ever want to be seen in public with them).

what sort of types are you getting at here?!

Amirani · 14-12-2020 10:44pm

glasso wrote: »

what sort of types are you getting at here?!

Interested to hear this too. Can't say I've considered any recent guests to be contraversial or nasty sorts, but I may be missing something.

completedit · 13-01-2021 5:28pm

I've really done a flipflop on his podcast. Sometimes it just seems too light and breezy but that's because eve been conditioned by college and modern economics to view economics as something completely detached from the early economists. Mcwilliams overplays this but at the end of the day he succeed in his goal of making economics discernible. That doesn't mean you'll listen to his podcast and suddenly be an Economics whizz, it just increases your language and broadens your Perspective. You're not really going to get what you want from an economics podcast if you've studied it in college and expect a more quantitative approach. Every economics podcast I listen to is pretty much in the same mold as Mcwilliams, even specialist topics like Trade.

One thing I don't like is the constant examination of British society. Its just boring and played out. I get with Brexit it has been relevant but I just don't find it an interesting topic. Just far too Anglo centric.

Amirani · 29-01-2021 1:19am

Episode today was horrendous. I think McWilliams actually thinks that a large amount of his listenership are stupid.

Back to this simplistic bull**** of the State should borrow in order to buy all of AIB so it can re-price all loans at 0%. Not a single drawback or issue to overcome apparently, just people not thinking enough like "corporate financiers". Christ.

completedit · 29-01-2021 1:45am

Yup. Awfully boring today.

19-03-2021 10:50pm

Checked out the recent one -> number 118 - "If you tolerate this then your country will be next"

had an ex-US financial regulator guy on - describing what might happen "Davy" and the "Davy 16" if they were in the US jurisdiction.

the guy couldn't but literally laugh at the joke of the situation here in Ireland.

some feather duster regulation bodies we have.

You'd think 10 years plus after the cluster-fack bank bubble that something might have been learned?

I mean the Davy Anglo Bond case was obvious outright theft.

Worth a listen.

completedit · 22-03-2021 10:44am

Currently reading about Iceland and the financial crisis. Came across an article from McWilliams from 2008. He has an amazingly ability to synthesise information and extrapolate plausible and likely outcomes. He gets too much stick from pseudo-intellects.
I've always said that I think the reason he annoys people is that if you've studied economics you've seen how unglamorous and mundane it can actually be. McWilliams just has the ability to illuminate stories using economic theory as the bedrock of his analysis.

http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/icelands-economic-meltdown/

TimeToShine · 27-03-2021 1:37am

glasso wrote: »

Checked out the recent one -> number 118 - "If you tolerate this then your country will be next"

had an ex-US financial regulator guy on - describing what might happen "Davy" and the "Davy 16" if they were in the US jurisdiction.

the guy couldn't but literally laugh at the joke of the situation here in Ireland.

some feather duster regulation bodies we have.

You'd think 10 years plus after the cluster-fack bank bubble that something might have been learned?

I mean the Davy Anglo Bond case was obvious outright theft.

Worth a listen.

I honestly found it embarrassing just how much he was laughing. This guy is no joke, he was the head regulator during the US savings and loan scandal in the 90's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black

27-03-2021 1:06pm

TimeToShine wrote: »

I honestly found it embarrassing just how much he was laughing. This guy is no joke, he was the head regulator during the US savings and loan scandal in the 90's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black

But the situation is embarrassing...

He was probably having a bit of a laugh but then again maybe they do have the odd laugh at how Davy 16 type sleeveens can get away with that sort of stuff here with no repercussions

affects the reputation of the country abroad

Obrieski · 06-05-2021 6:14pm

I generally enjoy the podcast but I find the ones like today a bit wishy-washy to listen to, much prefer when they discuss actual current events more. Hearing about the ancient Egyptians etc is interesting to some I'm sure but it's not like there isn't a huge lot going on at the moment.

For example, I see on twitter a while ago that McWilliams hosted some kind of think tank on the Dublin-Belfast eastern corridor with politicians.
It would be interesting to hear about that, what was discussed, agreed and perspectives from all sides as to what the next 2-30 years will hold for that area. He had previously said about moving Dublin port up the coast towards Dundalk for example, was anything of that magnitude discussed...it would be interesting to hear what the policy makers are thinking after having the discussion.

D.Q · 06-05-2021 11:37pm

Obrieski wrote: »

I generally enjoy the podcast but I find the ones like today a bit wishy-washy to listen to, much prefer when they discuss actual current events more. Hearing about the ancient Egyptians etc is interesting to some I'm sure but it's not like there isn't a huge lot going on at the moment.
.

I've often thought someone should do a study on the business secrets of the pharaohs. Alot to be learned no doubt.

garbanzo · 18-05-2021 10:38pm

Very interesting contribution from Tom Friedman this evening on the situation in Israel. Worth a listen.....very balanced, and for the record, I’m no supporter of Israel.

delldelivery · 19-05-2021 12:07pm

garbanzo wrote: »

...Tom Friedman.... ....Israel.... ....very balanced.....

Thanks, I needed a good chuckle this morning.

CatFromHue · 26-05-2021 12:07am

garbanzo wrote: »

Very interesting contribution from Tom Friedman this evening on the situation in Israel. Worth a listen.....very balanced, and for the record, I’m no supporter of Israel.

Was this Ep 137?

It doesn't seem to be on iTunes. 136, 138, and 139 are there but no 137.

humberklog · 26-05-2021 12:22am

CatFromHue wrote: »

Was this Ep 137?

It doesn't seem to be on iTunes. 136, 138, and 139 are there but no 137.

Yeah they mentioned on today's pod that it was removed by Apple.
Still available on other platforms and worth a listen imo.

completedit · 17-10-2021 10:49pm

Mcwilliams has this warped view that anyone who isn't a civil servant is a budding entepreneur or would be creative sort. He's also far too optimistic about modernity for my liking, for example his most recent use of the tinder of ideas analogy

72sheep · 21-10-2021 10:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118034033#Comment_118034033

His obsession with "creatives" is because he's championing his children as hard as he can in that direction.

My new realisation is that DMW is basically work-shy. He's just another talking head for rent (look at his roster of advertisers). He sounds just like all those US money managers who, once they acquire a couple of million, start quoting the greeks in order to intellectualise their day job. It's a shame as once upon a time he had an opportunity to...

72sheep · 18-11-2021 11:39pm

Ha, one month later and I'm still the most recent comment here...

You're all not missing much on the podcast. Recent episodes are full of ads from financial institutions, now including infomercial-style placements where DMW himself is the voice artiste. I suppose that's his inner-creator coming to the fore again ;-)

Dave is playing around with climate-change-crisis and/or Bitcoin-bashing for the upcoming themes but doesn't sound convinced.

SimpleDimple · 20-11-2021 12:59pm

I used to listen to this fairly regularly but got tired of David’s schtick of asking his sidekick opened ended questions that he will answer himself.

He can be good at times though

Pdoghue · 16-12-2021 4:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118195905#Comment_118195905

Exactly.. what is the actual point of the sidekick? He doesn't really add much to the conversation, and seems happy to function to make David seem an expert in everything.

bamayang · 16-12-2021 5:04pm

I enjoy dropping in an out of this. I will always listen when I see there Is a guest speaker, as you are usually getting someone with an in depth knowledge of a certain topic.

without fail I always fast forward to the 5th minute. As first 5 are usually adds, followed by some oul shite between the two boys that I don’t care about.

As a free service, I think it’s a great listen now and then.

16-12-2021 6:05pm

I didn't know this thread was here. I would have been a weekly listener 2 years ago, thought much as the comments here, some good episodes and some boring, the stooge could be v annoying at times. But I've also switched off over the last 3 or 4 months as it just got too repetitive. A shame, some of his guests were well worth listening to.

Keeping a podcast fresh must be very difficult though.

mistersifter · 16-12-2021 11:40pm

I hadn't listened in ages and enjoying catching up.

I don't mind the side-kick. He's the sound engineer but his presence on the show is something to do with making economics appeal to your average joe and creating a "chatting with the lads in the pub" vibe. He can't really challenge McWilliams on anything, but it's better than just having McWilliams speaking into a mic on his own IMO.

Seems like a decent fella. His voice sounds a bit like Baz Ashmawy , that's his main problem 😝

19-12-2021 2:15pm

Thought the latest episode (197) was a lot more interesting, a good summary of current voting on the island.

72sheep · 21-12-2021 3:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118188932#Comment_118188932

I'm sure it's bad form to quote myself but can't resist. Dave "The Creative" latest ad voiceover: "IG invented spread betting, they allow you to do spread betting on CFDs". UK regulators view spread betting as gambling. (Absolutely no point in checking if Ireland's "Regulators" pretend to have a perspective.)

MercuryBoy · 06-01-2022 4:54pm

That latest episode is hard going, the 2 lads blathering on about DIY, followed by a lad from a Dublin startup incubator basically doing a promo....

Brussels Sprout · 01-02-2022 2:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118331722#Comment_118331722

I was thinking about this myself and I think his function is twofold:

He's a sound engineer so I'm sure he takes care of all of the technical side of things - the editing, getting the audio on the interviews correct all that stuff.
On the actual podcasts he plays the role of the economically ignorant but curious sidekick. This allows him to act as a stand-in for the audience so that he can ask the kinds of questions that allow McWilliams to launch into his lengthy answers which are the meat of the podcast when they're not doing interviews.

I could do without the whole "god remember those days Redzer?" waffle but i see it as a price to pay for the good stuff.

01-02-2022 3:21pm

Howiye head

Ush1 · 01-02-2022 3:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565586#Comment_118565586

I'm just one of the lads, this is great banter.

MercuryBoy · 01-02-2022 3:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565586#Comment_118565586

Have you been on the whacky backy again Mac?

el Fenomeno · 01-02-2022 8:47pm

Did I miss something obvious, or did he me make a mistake with his calculations on the free public transport one today?

He said the revenue received by all public transport for one year is EUR 660m.

So if transport is made free, he says just issue a bond to make up for that EUR 660m, with coupons of almost 1% to be paid. So his whole argument was it would only cost us EUR 6.6m a year to cover it (ignoring the principle, which he touched on about rolling it over).

But that only covers 1 year's revenue/loss of revenue. They are missing out on EUR 660m every year going forward, so surely youd have to issue a new EUR 660m bond every year?

So the cost would be EUR 6.6m this year, EUR 13.2 next year, EUR 19.8m the following year etc, no?

sportsfan90 · 03-02-2022 11:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118567364#Comment_118567364

He made a clarification on this mornings podcast that he got the sums wrong, listen to the last 2-3 minutes.

gypsy79 · 03-02-2022 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118574693#Comment_118574693

His opinions on using "free" debt to pay for all this stinks of the Eddie Hobbs era and piling more and more debt on our kids

He mentioned a ONE YEAR bond today which shows that he maybe doesnt understand interest rate risk and even worse the link between inflation and interest

And I know he does cause he has shown he does in some circumstances. It just proves that he understands them when it suits the hair brain idea he is on about today. Mad that this fella is seen as a "bright" economist

06-02-2022 2:58pm

Thought the episode about Russia was great. Interesting angle from the Russian side of a Irish guy living there. McWilliams has a great network in fairness to him.

72sheep · 14-04-2022 3:01pm

David and the sidekick today tying themselves in absolute knots trying to explain to us how to think about the news that in the EU, Ireland now has the highest % of people who were born abroad. They completely lost the run of themselves - seems you can't be sceptical of the globalist agenda if you like foreign holidays or food, lol!! Just time at the end for an ad for a spread-betting company and then they're done.

15-04-2022 11:24pm

I can't help but think of Alex Jones whenever I hear the term globalist. It's his favourite bogey man.

Dufflecoat Fanny · 18-04-2022 9:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118590482#Comment_118590482

What episode was that? Has it aged well?

18-04-2022 10:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941907#Comment_118941907

Looks like episode 210. Probably hasn't aged well at all!

I recall the Russian media wasn't saying much about war at all it was the west constantly bringing it up.

Wanderer78 · 18-04-2022 5:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118942139#Comment_118942139

to be fair, nato has been encroaching towards the Russian border over the years, the wests interventions in russia post soviet collapse has also been a disaster for russia, liberalisation of their markets has failed, as its largely failed all over the world.....

yankinlk · 24-06-2022 6:00pm

Does DMW speed-up his podcast by default? SOmetimes it seems like he as zero pauses - very unnatural sounding. A cheat to pack in as much content as possible?

sorry if this has been asked and answered before i tried google first and failed

Wanderer78 · 24-06-2022 6:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244759#Comment_119244759

not that im aware, but they probably are trying to pack in as much as possible, particularly the fact, things globally are moving very fast....

as far as i can see, the book festival recordings are in real time, at least i think they are, as i was there myself

yankinlk · 24-06-2022 6:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244793#Comment_119244793

Ok thanks. It was the fintan otoole one that I was listening to...and as thinking i would need an audience member to confirm.

Guess they just talk fast, fair enough!

Wanderer78 · 24-06-2022 6:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244811#Comment_119244811

if you re not irish, it can be very difficult to keep up with the speed of irish conversations, its common enough

yankinlk · 24-06-2022 6:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244855#Comment_119244855

Lol. I'm am but thanks. My username requires a long pint

Wanderer78 · 24-06-2022 6:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119244887#Comment_119244887

hahaha fair enough, no harm in slowing down those talks, theres a lot of info shared in them, very hare to absorb them fully, im gonna re-listen to all the talks i was at over the weekend

gypsy79 · 30-06-2022 10:24am

We should start a David McWilliams bingo

Using 1980s slang for things is his schtick.

Look at the ned on ya. He comes across as a right buffoon most of the time

Wanderer78 · 30-06-2022 10:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119270433#Comment_119270433

...hes actually extremely intelligent, has an exceptional understanding of whats going on, and how to potentially resolve our most critical issues, hes also highly respected amongst his peers....

Sweet.Science · 30-06-2022 1:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119270433#Comment_119270433

Or does his thick dublin accent when recalling a conversation he had with one of those working class folk .

gypsy79 · 30-06-2022 11:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119270441#Comment_119270441

You mean the people he pays to do gigs for him?

Flogging his college lecture notes. Its cringe

His versions of economic theories could drive buses through. Do you remember him saying that print money while it is free and inflation will never happen

Or get sell government bonds to invest in stock market to feed the poor?

David McWilliams Podcast

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