Hidden Forces
Hidden Forces is a podcast hosted by media entrepreneur and financial analyst Demetri Kofinas. It provides listeners with access to influential people and ideas, aiming to help them build financial security and stay ahead of the curve. The show covers a range of topics including economics, technology, and geopolitics.
Episodes
Why Younger Generations Are Convinced They Are Falling Behind | Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak
Episode 504 of Hidden Forces is the thirteenth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and co-host Grant Williams speak with Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, global chief economist at Boston Consulting Group and co-author of "The Kids Are Alright: The Timeless Angst Over Young People and Money," about why the dominant narrative of Gen Z and Millennials falling financiall
Are We Verging on Another Escalation in the Middle East? | Ali Vaez
In Episode 503 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Ali Vaez, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Crisis Group and a closely watched analyst of Iran's foreign and nuclear policy, about where the war between Iran and the United States stands eight months after the start of Operation Epic Fury, how Iran has turned its control of the Strait of Hormuz into a t
Is It Time to Start Buying Bonds? | Jim Bianco
In Episode 502 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jim Bianco, founder of Bianco Research and Bianco Advisors, about why he has turned bullish on bonds after six years of warning they were overvalued, what the K-shaped economy and the dominance of AI-related stocks mean for markets, and how mounting fiscal pressures in Washington, Paris, London, and Tokyo could reshape the investment la
How Melting Ice Is Redrawing the Global Order | Rana Foroohar
In Episode 501 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rana Foroohar about her book, Sea Change, and her argument that, as polar ice melts and new sea routes open, the Arctic has become the most consequential and least understood geopolitical theater in the world, with the great powers competing over trade routes, resources, and military dominance. They discuss: The strategic logic behind
Why the China Threat Is Overblown | Logan Wright
In Episode 500 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Logan Wright, director of China macro and financial sector research at the Rhodium Group and author of Broken China, about why China's economic troubles are structural rather than cyclical, the product of the largest single-country credit expansion in history, how Beijing's official GDP figures obscure what is actually happening to Chin
How to Invest for A Hundred Years | Inigo Fraser Jenkins
In Episode 499 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Inigo Fraser Jenkins, a strategist at AllianceBernstein and author of the research paper "The Hundred Year Portfolio," about how investors should rethinking portfolio construction, governance, and asset management across multigenerational time horizons in a world shaped by AI disruption, climate risk, the breakdown of the post-WWII rule
Will AI Really Kill Us All? | Harper Reed & John Borthwick
In Episode 498 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Harper Reed, entrepreneur and founder of an AI research lab focused on autonomous agents, and John Borthwick, founder and CEO of Betaworks about the real and perceived risks posed by the latest generation of AI agents, how to separate technical safety and existential risk concerns from the media narratives, financial incentives, and pow
The Great Financial Reset Has Begun | Marieke Flament & Nicolas Colin
In Episode 497 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Marieke Flament and Nicolas Colin, co-authors of the Currency of Power newsletter, about why the global financial system may be on the cusp of a structural transformation comparable to the Nixon Shock and the collapse of Bretton Woods, the central role of dollar-backed stablecoins and programmable money in that shift, what China's const
Are Rumors of an Imminent Russian Attack Warranted? | Yaroslav Trofimov
In Episode 496 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Yaroslav Trofimov, Ukrainian-born chief foreign affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of Our Enemies Will Vanish, about the Russia-Ukraine war, CIA director John Ratcliffe's recent visit to Moscow, and the growing risk that Russia will escalate beyond Ukraine's borders to test NATO's Article 5, how America's entan
Bessent's Wager and Why the World is Calling America's Bluff | Henry Farrell
In Episode 495 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with political scientist Henry Farrell, co-author of Underground Empire, about how the United States built its empire, why the hidden infrastructure underwriting American hegemony is now buckling under a compounding series of domestic and foreign policy errors, and what the collapse of the liberal, rules-based order means for the global econ
The West's Forgotten War and the New Russia | Mark Galeotti
In Episode 494 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Mark Galeotti — host of In Moscow's Shadows and one of the most informed and provocative voices on modern Russia — about the war in Ukraine, the risk that it spills over into NATO's eastern flank, and the escalatory paths and deepening dependency on Beijing that will define Russia's place in the emerging global order. The first hour tak
The Internet Will Die and So Will You | John West
In Episode 493 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with computational journalist and author John West about the surprising impermanence of the Internet, the shift from human agency to platform agency, the business models that have reshaped the web, how AI could further remake our relationship to the Internet and to ourselves, and what the collapse of a shared reality means for our politics a
The AI Enshittification Bubble | Cory Doctorow
In Episode 492 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with science fiction author, journalist, and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow—who coined the term "enshittification"—about why he believes the AI bubble will prove more damaging than the 2008 financial crisis and rival the equity sell-off of the 2020 Covid pandemic, the theory he has developed to explain why everything keeps getting wor
How to Win a Trade War | Chad Bown
In Episode 491 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with trade economist Chad Bown—a former chief economist at the U.S. State Department, host of the popular Trade Talks podcast, and co-author of the recently published How to Win a Trade War—about what international policymakers, companies, and individuals need to understand about America's ongoing trade war, what victory would look like for
SpaceX, Europe's China Problem, and the Populist Backlash | Patrick Boyle
In Episode 490 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Patrick Boyle—founder of the quantitative hedge fund Palomar Capital Management, professor of finance at King's College London and Queen Mary University of London, and host of Patrick Boyle on Finance—about the SpaceX IPO and what it reveals about the integrity of America's financial markets, the cult of personality filling the vacuum l
How America Built A Durable Dollar Empire | Mary Bridges
In Episode 489 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with historian Mary Bridges, a senior fellow at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator and author of Dollars and Dominion, about the origins of America's financial empire, the rise of the dollar from a second-rate currency to the most decentralized form of international money in world history, and what could accelerate or inhibit its continued do
The Strong Do What They Can and Suffer What They Must | Jonathan Kirshner
In Episode 488 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with political scientist Jonathan Kirshner about the origins of the Peloponnesian War, the enduring misreading of Thucydides, and what the arc of the Athenian empire on the eve of the Sicilian expedition reveals about the trajectory of American power in the twenty-first century. The first half traces the war's origins alongside Kirshner's ce
Iran's New Grand Strategy | Vali Nasr
In Episode 487 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Vali Nasr — professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, non-resident senior advisor in the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and author of Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History — about the argument that the Islamic Republic's conduct is driven far
Schrödinger's Strait and the New Energy Order | Daniel Yergin
In Episode 486 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and leading authority on energy and geopolitics Daniel Yergin about the surprising resiliency of the global economy in the face of major supply disruptions and the consequences of the US war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for global energy markets, energy security, electrification (includ
After the Fall: Reckoning with the End of History | Ian Shapiro
In Episode 485 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Yale political scientist Ian Shapiro—author of After the Fall—about how the widespread optimism of the post–Cold War era gave way so rapidly to the fractured, combative politics of today, why American unilateralism hollowed out the very international institutions the US claimed to champion, and what it will take for mainstream democrati
AI Governance and the National Security State | Dean W. Ball
In Episode 484 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with AI policy researcher, writer, and incoming Head of Strategic Futures at OpenAI, Dean Ball, about the intellectual foundations of machine intelligence, the governance frameworks best suited to frontier AI, and what's at stake for society, the nation state, and the individual if we get this transition wrong. The first hour builds the phil
Ending the Iran War: a New Balance of Power in the Middle East | Hamidreza Azizi
In Episode 483 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Hamidreza Azizi — expert on Iranian foreign policy and international security, and author of The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East — about the evolution of the US-Israeli war against Iran since the early weeks of Operation Epic Fury, the contours of the emerging peace process, and the broader transfo
Why History Can't Prepare Us for What's Coming | Alap Shah
In Episode 482 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with hedge fund manager Alap Shah, co-author of "The Global Intelligence Crisis," a three-part essay series examining the economic, political, and social consequences of the dawn of artificial intelligence. Alap argues that AI is a categorically different technology from those that came before it, with profound implications for employment, t
How Demographics Will Break the Bond Market | Manoj Pradhan
In Episode 481 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with economist and Talking Heads Macroeconomics founder Manoj Pradhan about his and Charles Goodhart's new book, The Unanchored Central Banker, which argues that structural forces—aging demographics chief among them—are driving real interest rates persistently higher, deteriorating fiscal positions across the developed world, and ultimately
AI and the Collapse of State Power | Miles Taylor
In Episode 480 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Miles Taylor, former Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration and later head of advanced technology and security strategy at Google, about the existential stakes of AI development, the erosion of centralized state power, and the domestic security threats that may define the years ahead.
God, AI, and the Coming Violence | Will Manidis
In Episode 479 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Will Manidis, co-founder of healthcare AI company ScienceIO, 2019 Thiel Fellow, and early-stage investor, about the collapse of secular institutional legitimacy, the reassertion of divine faith and political violence as organizing forces in modern life, and what the concentration of AI-generated wealth means for the social contract, lab
How China Is Winning the Iran War | Jon Alterman
In Episode 478 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jon Alterman, the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about why the Islamic Republic of Iran has refused to capitulate in its war with the United States and Israel,, how Russia and China are positioning themselves to exploit the conflict, and what recent war
US Grand Strategy & the Revenge of Geopolitics | Edward Luce
In Episode 477 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Edward Luce, columnist and US national editor at the Financial Times, about the history of American Grand Strategy and the revenge of geopolitics in a new age of multipolarity and great power competition. Kofinas and Luce trace the decline of American grand strategy back to the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a more risk-averse
Why America Cannot Afford to Lose Another War | Marvin Barth
In Episode 476 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Marvin Barth, founder of Thematic Markets and former head of FX and EM macro research at Barclays, and Chief Economist for International Affairs at the US Treasury about the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and its implications for the global economy, global security, and the future of American military, economic, and f
Who Wins and Who Loses in the AI Economy | John Burn-Murdoch
In Episode 475 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with John Burn-Murdoch, columnist and chief data reporter for the Financial Times, about AI's impact on the economy and jobs, the widening ideological divide between young men and women, the global decline in fertility rates, the rising rates of depression and anxiety among 18-34 year olds, and the affordability crisis that is creating some
The Last Ship Out of Hormuz: Why the REAL Supply Shock Is About to Hit | Rory Johnston
In Episode 474 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with commodity economist and energy market analyst Rory Johnston — founder of CommodityContext.com and host of the Oil Ground Up Podcast — about the mechanics and cascading consequences of the Strait of Hormuz closure, now entering its second month, and what the two most plausible resolution scenarios mean for energy prices, regional securit
Here's Why Trump is in No Rush to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz | John Konrad
In Episode 473 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Captain John Konrad — founder of gCaptain, the world's most-visited maritime and offshore news website, and one of the most influential voices in commercial shipping — about what Konrad calls the Hormuz Hypothesis: a framework for understanding how the Trump administration has assembled the tools to exploit the disruption of commercial
The God Machine: Demis Hassabis and the Quest for Superintelligence | Sebastian Mallaby
In Episode 472 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sebastian Mallaby about Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of DeepMind and the man widely regarded as the most consequential figure in the development of artificial general intelligence, and what his story reveals about the science, the competition, and the existential stakes of the AI transition now underway. The first hour traces Hassabis
Why There Are No Good Options Left in the US War Against Iran | Gregg Carlstrom
In Episode 471 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Gregg Carlstrom — Middle East correspondent for The Economist, based in Dubai and Riyadh, and a veteran reporter covering the region for fifteen years — about the mood across the Gulf States since the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran began on February 28th, and what the conflict's trajectory reveals about the widening gap b
The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control | Jacob Siegel
In Episode 470 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jacob Siegel — writer and editor at Tablet Magazine, U.S. Army veteran, and author of The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control — about the intellectual and historical roots of his argument that the internet has given rise to a fundamentally new form of political regime, one that governs not through force or democratic
America's Gamble: Regime Change, Retreat, or State Collapse in Iran | Hamidreza Azizi
In Episode 469 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Hamidreza Azizi — Iranian scholar, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International Security Affairs, nonresident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, and author of the forthcoming The Axis of Resistance: Iran, Israel, and the Struggle for the Middle East — about how the US and Israeli military campaign against
What History's Greatest Currencies Tell Us About the Future of the Dollar | Barry Eichengreen
In Episode 468 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with renowned economic historian and author Barry Eichengreen about the history of international currencies and the prospects for the US dollar's continued preeminence, drawing on his new book Money Beyond Borders: Global Currencies from Croesus to Crypto. The first hour traces the long arc of international currency history, from the inventi
When Empires Stop Building: The Iran War and the End of American Soft Power | Bruno Maçães
In Episode 467 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Bruno Maçães — geopolitical strategist, former Minister of European Affairs for Portugal, and author of World Builders — about the Iran War, what it reveals about the Trump administration's strategic logic, and how the decision to initiate what may prove to be the most expansive American-led war in the Middle East since the 2003 invasio
The Iran War and the Limits of American Power | Joshua Landis
In Episode 466 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joshua Landis, professor of Middle East Studies and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, about the US-Israel war against Iran, what it reveals about American strategy in the region, and why the absence of a clear theory of victory raises the specter of yet another catastrophic regime-change war i
The Coming Storm: Why 2026 Looks a Lot Like 1914 | Odd Arne Westad
In Episode 465 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Yale historian and Cold War scholar Odd Arne Westad, author of The Coming Storm, about why the pre-WWI era of multipolarity, imperial decline, and great power rivalry offers a far more instructive — and alarming — historical parallel to today's world than the Cold War, and what must be done to prevent the catastrophic descent into total
The Case for a Historic Reallocation to Emerging Markets | Sony Kapoor
In Episode 464 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with economist, investor, and sovereign wealth and pension fund advisor Sony Kapoor about the case for a great rebalancing of capital from developed into emerging markets, generational investment opportunities in India, how the breakdown of the unipolar order creates both challenges and opportunities for EM investors, and whether AI can revi
How Big Tech Weaponized the Internet and How to Fix It | Tim Wu
In Episode 463 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with media and technology historian Tim Wu about how the rise of platform power has become the defining economic event of our time, why it's responsible for much of the current dysfunction (from politics and media to housing and healthcare), and what we can do about it. Wu and Kofinas spend the first hour of their conversation discussing how
How to Build the Perfect Portfolio | Cullen Roche
In Episode 462 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Cullen Roche, the Founder and CIO of Discipline Funds and author of the new book "Your Perfect Portfolio." They discuss the essential principles of portfolio construction by dissecting some of the world's most influential investment strategies―from Warren Buffett's classic approach to the momentum-driven tactics of trend followers, and
The Last Bubble? Finding Value in a World on Fire | Jeremy Grantham & Edward Chancellor
In Episode 461 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with co-founder and chief investment strategist of GMO, Jeremy Grantham, and financial historian, journalist, and investment strategist Edward Chancellor. Together, they have collaborated on Jeremy's autobiography, titled "The Making of a Permabear," which chronicles Grantham's evolution as a value investor and the valuable lessons that can
Why Europe Must Prepare to Go It Alone | Carlo Masala
In Episode 460 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Professor of International Politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich, Carlo Masala, whose book "If Russia Wins," makes the case for European national rearmament and the urgent need to deter near-term Russian threats against NATO member countries in the absence of American leadership. Masala and Kofinas spend the first hour of their c
Iran's Counterrevolution & the Future of the Greater Middle East | Kamran Bokhari
Episode 459 of Hidden Forces is the twelfth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with Kamran Bokhari, a strategic forecaster and geopolitical analyst who specializes on the Middle Eastern and Eurasia, about Iran's nationwide protests, what they reveal about the power and stability of the Iranian regime, and what the state of Iranian aff
The Epstein Files Are Worse Than You Think | Patrick Boyle
In Episode 458 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Patrick Boyle, a former hedge fund manager, finance professor, and the creator and host of one of the most successful business channels on YouTube, with over a million subscribers and nearly 150 million views spread across several hundred videos. Patrick brings a unique combination of domain expertise and media savvy to his analysis of
The Mattering Instinct: Our Desperate Need to Find Meaning | Rebecca Goldstein
In Episode 457 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with philosopher Rebecca Goldstein about her latest book, "The Mattering Instinct," which explores our fundamental human longing to feel that our lives matter—that we didn't just come and go and that it was all for nothing. Rebecca and I spend the first hour exploring the origins of her fascination with the question of mattering, how this ins
Trump's New Strategy for Latin America: Venezuela, Cuba, & the 'Donroe Doctrine' | Brian Winter
Episode 456 is the eleventh installment in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, Brian Winter. He's an expert on Latin America, having lived and worked in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, and possesses a deep understanding of the region's politics, economics, and security dynamics. The three of them beg
Late-Cycle Investment Theory: Foundations for the Coming Decade | Nicolas Colin
In Episode 455 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nicolas Colin, a former French Treasury official and the co-founder of a European startup accelerator whose work sits at the intersection of technology, markets, geopolitics, and global finance. In the first hour of their conversation, Kofinas and Colin break down Colin's "Late Cycle Investment Theory" and the framework behind it. They
Trump's National Security Strategy: A Plan to Contain China or Carve Up the World? | Jamie Metzl
In Episode 454 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with author, futurist, and U.S. foreign policy expert Jamie Metzl about the aims and objectives of the 2025 National Security Strategy and its implications for American prosperity and power in the 21st century. Jamie and Demetri spend the first hour of this conversation digging into the Trump administration's 2025 National Security Strategy
AI Bubble, Inflation, and the Limits of Monetary Policy | Jason Furman
In Episode 453 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jason Furman, the former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, about the state of the U.S. economy, the AI Bubble, monetary policy, inflation, price controls, and much more. Jason and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation exploring his economic framework, what he learned from his time working inside the Clinton and Oba
Diagnosing the Metacrisis: Reality & Meaning in Modern Life | Iain McGilchrist
In Episode 452 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Iain McGilchrist, a neuroscientist and author of The Master and His Emissary and The Matter with Things. His work on the divided brain has helped millions of people find wisdom, meaning, and guidance for living in the modern world. Iain and Demetri begin their conversation exploring McGilchrist's core thesis about the divided brain, how
China Shock 2.0: State Capitalism at the Frontier | Dinny McMahon
In Episode 451 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with author and long-time China analyst Dinny McMahon about the Chinese leadership's efforts to redesign China's economic model in the face of structural headwinds to growth, mounting trade barriers, and growing concerns in Western capitals about Chinese economic and military domination. The first hour is spent exploring why McMahon believes
How to Navigate the New Investment Paradigm | Lawrence McDonald
In Episode 450 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Lawrence McDonald, the founder of The Bear Traps Report and the author of a recently published book about the risks and investment opportunities present in today's radically reshaped economy titled "How to Listen When Markets Speak." In today's conversation, Demetri and Lawrence discuss how social media and the gamification of investing
Investment Implications of the AI CapEx Boom | Chase Taylor
In Episode 449 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Chase Taylor, head of research at Bulwark Capital Management and founder of Pinecone Macro Research about investment opportunities around the buildout of the new "electric stack" and the AI CapEx Boom that relies on them. Chase and Demetri spend the first hour of this episode exploring his methodology, how he extracts signals from noise
Investing on the Front Lines of the AI Arms Race | Nathan Benaich
In Episode 448 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nathan Benaich, founder and general partner of Air Street Capital and the creator of the annual State of AI Report, an open-access compendium that tracks advances across AI research, industry, policy, and geopolitics. Nathan Benaich and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation exploring some of the most important AI breakthrou
A Practical History of Financial Markets | Russell Napier
Demetri Kofinas speaks with financial historian and investor Russell Napier about his "Practical History of Financial Markets" online course, which is provided in conjunction with Edinburgh Business School. Hidden Forces premium subscribers can sign up using their subscriber email + code "HF50" for a generous 50% DISCOUNT. Genius members can access the course for an even more generous discount of
What Happens When Social Trust Collapses? | Peter Atwater
Episode 447 is the tenth installment in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with Peter Atwater, a recognized expert on the impact of confidence and mood on individual and group decision-making. Peter's work has been instrumental not only in helping his clients, students, and readers understand how people make decisions under conditions of chaos a
Trump's Plan to Remake the Middle East | Kamran Bokhari
In Episode 446 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with geopolitical analyst and forecaster Kamran Bokhari about Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan and the new security order taking shape in the Middle East. Kamran first appeared on Hidden Forces in the days following the October 7th attacks to discuss the wider war unfolding between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, and how Hamas's attacks could se
The "Boomer Blues" and a Return to Faith | Roger Mitchell
Episode 445 is the ninth installment in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with Roger Mitchell, an entrepreneur and writer whose essay "The Answer Was Here All the Time," published in Grant Williams's 2025 compendium, explores faith, meaning, and the search for moral grounding in a contemporary West that feels increasingly unmoored and in episte
China's Quest to Engineer the Future | Dan Wang
In Episode 444 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Dan Wang, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, about his pioneering new framework that compares the U.S. and China not along ideological lines or modes of governance, but by state capacity and the propensity to build. According to Dan Wang, China is an "engineering state," focused on building big projects and diffu
The End of Neoliberalism and the Coming Storm | Viktor Shvets
In Episode 443 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with former investment banker turned global strategist Viktor Shvets, whose books The Great Rupture and The Twilight Before the Storm provide an audaciously comprehensive and compelling framework for understanding the forces shaping our world. These include technology and finance, amplified by climate change, demographics, and a series of so
Why America Needs a New China Strategy | Kurt Campbell & Rush Doshi
In Episode 442 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kurt Campbell and Rush Doshi. Kurt is the chairman and co-founder of The Asia Group and served as the United States Deputy Secretary of State in the Joe Biden administration and as the Indo-Pacific Coordinator from 2021 to 2024. Rush also served under the previous administration in his capacity as the Deputy Senior Director for China an
Who Profits in a Post-American World? | Adam Posen
In Episode 441 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, about the profound transformations underway in the global economy driven by America's transition away from being the world's primary insurance provider for international security to its exploiter-in-chief. In a recently published Foreign Affairs essay titled "T
Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity | Paul Kingsnorth
In Episode 440 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Paul Kingsnorth, a novelist, essayist, and former environmental activist who first came on many people's radars during the Covid-19 pandemic with the publication of his viral three-part series "The Vaccine Moment." His current work explores the intersection of technology, culture, and the divine. In his latest book, Against the Machine,
How the Internet Went From Counterculture to Technofeudalism | Douglas Rushkoff
In Episode 439 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Douglas Rushkoff, a pioneering media theorist, best-selling author, and leading voice on how digital technologies shape societies, economies, and cultures. Rushkoff and Kofinas spend the first hour of their conversation tracing the arc of Douglas' career, from his upbringing in a communal 1960s neighborhood in Queens and early work in t
How Stablecoins Will Transform Banking | Charles Calomiris
In Episode 438 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Charles Calomiris, former Chief Economist at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, about his forthcoming paper "How Stablecoins Will Transform Banking," which is based on a presentation he delivered at the Hoover Institution's annual monetary policy conference this past May. Demetri and Charles spend the first hour of their con
Thematic Investing in an Age of Global Entropy | Marvin Barth
In Episode 437 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Marvin Barth, founder of Thematic Markets and former Chief Economist for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury, who previously served at the Federal Reserve and the Bank for International Settlements and has led global macro and FX strategy on both the sell side and the buy side. Marvin Barth and Demetri spend the first hour of the
The Great Rebalancing: Why Debt, Demographics, and Politics Will Crush Forward Returns | Sony Kapoor
In Episode 436 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with economist, policy adviser, and investor Sony Kapoor about why developed world demographics, debt, and political sclerosis will crush forward returns for investors who fail to rebalance their portfolios for the new investment paradigm. Kapoor and Kofinas spend the first hour of their conversation unpacking the thesis explored by Sony in
America Under Occupation: Truth, Power, & Imperial Decline | Jonathan Kirshner
Episode 435 is the eighth episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with leading realist scholar Jonathan Kirshner about how eroding cultural norms, weakened political guardrails, deepening polarization, and the collapse of shared narratives and belief structures are leading to a break-down in the American-led order, paving the way for a new
God Mode: The Technological Battle for Global Domination | Bruno Maçães
In Episode 434 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Bruno Maçães, a geopolitical strategist and the former Minister of European Affairs for Portugal, whose latest book titled "World Builders" explores the intersection of technology and geopolitics. In the first hour, Bruno puts forward a radical new theory of geopolitics and technology that no longer views the world as a neutral battlefi
Failed State: Inside Britain's Governance Crisis | Sam Freedman
In Episode 433 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sam Freedman, a former senior policy advisor in the UK's Department for Education, political analyst, and the author of "Failed State," a timely exploration of the deep-rooted dysfunction within British governance and how to fix it. In their conversation, Sam Freedman examines the origins and nature of the current crisis, focusing on is
Investing in a World of Permanent Stimulus | Vincent Deluard
In Episode 432 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Vincent Deluard, Director of Global Macro Strategy at StoneX Group, where he advises large institutional investors on asset allocation, economic forecasting, and quantitative modeling informed by historical patterns and structural economic analysis. Vincent Deluard and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation exploring Deluard
The Final Phase of the Debt Supercycle | Edward Chancellor
Episode 431 is the seventh episode in the Hundred Year Pivot podcast series. In it, Demetri Kofinas and Grant Williams speak with Edward Chancellor, a financial historian, award-winning journalist, and the author of "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation." Eddie, Grant, and Demetri discuss how excessively interventionist monetary policies and widespread speculative excesses
Stablecoins are Fueling a New Era of Dollar Dominance | Vance Spencer & Michael Anderson
In Episode 430 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Vance Spencer and Michael Anderson. Mike and Vance are the founders of Framework Ventures, one of the largest venture capital firms in crypto and one of the earliest and biggest investors in Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Kofinas, Spencer, and Anderson spend the first hour surveying the current state of crypto—how the space has evolved s
Why Japan's Elections Could Blow Up Global Bond Markets | Weston Nakamura
In Episode 429 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Weston Nakamura, a Tokyo-based financial analyst and the creator of "Across the Spread," a market analysis and information service that identifies key market developments from the Asia-Pacific trading session, exploring their impact on equities, bonds, currencies, and commodities across global markets. Weston recently spoke with members
Capital Flight, Trade Policy, and the Fate of the Dollar | Joseph Wang
In Episode 428 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joseph Wang, Chief Investment Officer at Monetary Macro and the founder of Fed Guy, an educational media platform that provides financial market analysis to investors and policymakers informed by a deep understanding of monetary mechanics and public policy. Joseph and Demetri spend the first hour of their conversation discussing Joseph'
Investing in the Chaos: Macro Signals in a Bot-Filled World | Le Shrub
In Episode 427 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Le Shrub, the author of the Shrubstack Substack who in his previous life was part of a famous team known for putting on "The Big Short" during the 2008 Great Financial Crisis. This recording is the result of a phone call Demetri made to Le Shrub to catch up on markets and life after returning from a recent trip to Italy where he spent t
Trump Doctrine: A New Era of Gunboat Diplomacy | Stephen Walt
In Episode 426 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Stephen Walt, Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, about American grand strategy, the Trump Doctrine of Coercive Primacy, and the implications of Washington's new Gunboat Diplomacy in the Middle East. Stephen is a prominent member of the realist school in international relation
