This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy
February. 22,2019Seasons & Episode
How do you turn a suitcase full of dirty money into cash you can actually spend? To find out, Kal Penn travels across the globe -- along with a million bucks. In this step-by-step guide, Kal learns from former cops and former criminals about how to gain access to a worldwide underground money laundering system.
What is it about having a lot of money and a willingness to step over anyone to get more of it that seem to go together? Is there a correlation between "richness" and "dickness"? How about success in business and being a psychopath? Kal Penn meets some unapologetic one percenters - and travels to a country that has rigged the financial game in favor of its citizens.
Kal Penn meets artificial intelligence face-to-interface, and gets an anus-puckering glimpse of how A.I. is learning -- on its own -- how to self-drive the global economy straight into the next industrial revolution. Could you tell if a robot is stealing your job, or even writing this episode description? The answer will definitely surprise you.
A counterfeit hundred dollar bill might ruin your weekend, but did you know it could also disrupt a nation's economy? Kal Penn meets the folks in the fight against fakes, trying to save industries from the threat of bogus goods and even terrorism. But he also learns that a symbiotic relationship between copycats and creators might just be the thing that lets economies thrive in the first place.
It's the age-old, existential question: What is money, really? Host Kal Penn navigates a modern return to the barter system, the political highs and lows of the gold standard and the "because I said so" logic of fiat currency. Kal also untangles the complexities of cryptocurrency and learns how to survive an economic apocalypse without getting eaten.
How are fancy handbag habits, broken bridges and the Hollywood red carpet connected to a looted economy? Kal Penn finds out as he uncovers the hidden world of bribery, extortion, nepotism and embezzlement. He meets brave individuals who've risked everything to stop corruption and learns how a country's attempts to appear corruption-free are tied to mandatory toilet flushing.
Through the curious mind of host Kal Pen, see firsthand all the surprising ways the economy interconnects and impacts the lives of people all over the planet.