Insider Trading and Risk Society: Steven A. Cohen and David Hindawi

Zero Sum Empire

We’re adopting a new episode naming strategy. We’re doing descriptive titles. Complaints will be stored in the cylindrical file! In the News: We discuss the recent outer space adventures of three people so impossibly wealthy that they each had vanity fleets of rocket ships built for them, seemingly to reaffirm their unshakeable sense that they were each earth’s main protagonist. Billionaire #1: Steven A. Cohen 8/10 on the David Koch Memorial Asset Liquidation Index Welcome to Flavortown! Steven A. Cohen is probably best known for owning the Mets, but a few years ago his firm SAC Capital Advisors was caught up in the biggest insider trading investigation in history. Hedge funds are machines designed to widen the wealth gap between the richest micron of elites and everybody else. They are also often criminal enterprises—organized ways to cheat the markets without getting caught. Steven A. Cohen was the all-time biggest cheat, but he never really suffered any consequences and now he just buys the world’s most expensive artworks and sports teams. He also reportedly paid Guy Fieri $100,000 to recreate an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with him. Billionaire #2: David Hindawi 2/10 on the DKMALI David Hindawi is a ghost man who started a cybersecurity firm. His son seems like a very uncool boss. Joe takes us on a journey through cybersecurity, John McAfee, information infrastructure, risk society, Batman, and anxiety. I think the takeaway was that there are specific anxieties and fantasies associated with the information infrastructure we’ve erected around ourselves. We are all over the place here, but I think it was a fun conversation. Links: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25814289-dark-territory https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-13/tanium-s-family-empire-is-in-crisis https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580328-d573907-Reviews-Daurada_Park-Cambrils_Baix_Camp_Costa_Dorada_Province_of_Tarragona_Catalonia.html https://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2012/03/05/Insider-Trading-How-Hedge-Funds-Look-for-an-Edge https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/empire-edge https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/16/when-the-feds-went-after-the-hedge-fund-legend-steven-a-cohen https://www.nickiswift.com/15287/shady-side-guy-fieri/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physical_Impossibility_of_Death_in_the_Mind_of_Someone_Living