The Bipolar Economy: Trump, Oil & the End of Balance with Carole Nakhle

The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams

News & Politics

4.5 • 692 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a single week, Donald Trump goes after the Federal Reserve, criminalises Jerome Powell, and shakes the idea of central bank independence, the quiet pillar holding the global financial system together. At the same time, two oil superpowers, Venezuela and Iran, slide into fresh instability. Coincidence? Not quite. We unpack a world that feels wildly out of balance. In the U.S., markets are booming while consumer confidence collapses. The top 10 stocks now make up 40% of the S&P 500, profits are rising six times faster than wages, and young unemployment is running at 8.5% while older workers stack second jobs. GDP says “fine.” Lived reality says otherwise. Then we turn to energy, the thing that still prices everything. With oil hovering around $60 a barrel, sanctions wobbling, OPEC under strain, and Iran emerging as the real wildcard, we ask what happens next. Oil expert Carol Nackley joins us to explain why Venezuela’s reserves don’t mean cheap fuel, why Iran could flip the market overnight, and why political chaos makes long-term energy investment almost impossible. This episode is about imbalance, in money, markets, power, and psychology, and why when trust in institutions cracks, the consequences show up everywhere: in your wages, your bills, and the price you pay at the pump.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	In the week that Donald Trump attacks the Fed and its independence by criminalizing Jerome Powell,
0:06.2	we look at two massive, massive stories.
0:09.2	One is exactly where is the American economy now that central bank independence has been undermined.
0:17.2	And then number two, we look at oil, energy, the price of oil, what is happening in Iran,
0:23.9	what is happening in Venezuela, what that means for the world economy, what it means for
0:27.5	your pocket.
0:28.3	That's all with the brilliant oil expert, Carol Natley.
0:32.4	That's all coming up in a couple of minutes.
0:35.5	Just before we start, this is week two of the new monetary economics course that is available
0:41.7	for free if you are one of our valued patrons.
0:46.4	It's going to be about money as a social technology.
0:49.8	We're going to push further into the idea that money is a social technology that allows
0:53.7	strangers to collaborate at scale. We're going to look at money as idea that money is a social technology that allows strangers to
0:54.5	collaborate at scale. We're going to look at money as a kind of a language, something we all believe in,
1:00.0	and what happens when that belief breaks down. And we're going to take you from ancient civilizations
1:04.7	right up to cryptocurrency and explore by destroying money wrecks trust, psychology and society itself.
1:13.0	That's all on this week's week two of the monetary economics course,
1:16.8	and you can get it for free on Patreon or if you'd like to join us.
1:20.7	It's patreon.com forward slash David McWilliams.
1:23.4	Sign up and learn economics together.
1:26.9	To understand the economy, you have to understand human nature.
1:33.0	This podcast is powered by ACAST.
	...

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