AI & Bitcoin continue to dominate the investment landscape. In Episode 29, Bill Mann and Mark Connors go it alone for a mid‑year gut‑check on markets and macro. The hosts unpack the past few weeks’ volatility – from why Ethereum was the only major asset to break into the 95th percentile for returns to how “risk‑on” sentiment has left value stocks lagging. They dig into the dashboards built by their intern team to tease out why scarcity assets like gold and Bitcoin are leading global equities, explore the intersection of growth and quality factors with the AI/crypto boom, and reflect on seven months of podcasting.The conversation then moves to the macro world: Mark explains MicroStrategy’s transformation into a Bitcoin treasury and how it now rivals NVIDIA for performance, before dissecting America’s debt ceiling farce, the resumption of heavy Treasury issuance and the looming prospect of a rate‑cutting volatility event. They explore new stablecoin legislation nicknamed the “Genius Act,” argue that regulated dollar‑backed coins could unleash trillions of dollars of demand for U.S. T‑bills, and debate how young investors should approach custody and risk in digital assets. A listener Q&A on macro risk and some lighthearted pop‑culture references round out this lively, data‑rich check‑in. 🔗 Follow Our Work:📜 Substack: Mark R. Connors - https://substack.com/@markrconnors📜 Harmonic Insights (Bill Mann & Chris Rosa) - https://www.harmoniqinsights.com/📜 SSRN Pracitioner Quant Research - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2035436📜 SmartKarma - Bill Mann -- https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/william-mann-88ce6ae0-716e-4511-98ee-65b1af2765ff/researchTwitter - thenewbarbarianspodcast (@thenewbarbpod) / X00:00 Podcast Reflection and Overview03:04 Market Trends and Economic Insights05:36 The Role of Data and Technology in Trading08:40 Global Equity Performance and Monetary Policy11:00 AI, Digital Assets, and the Magnificent 713:20 Quality vs. Growth in Investment15:52 MicroStrategy's Unique Capital Strategy21:01 Understanding Bitcoin's Market Dynamics25:24 The Evolution of Investment Strategies29:01 Understanding the Debt Ceiling Dynamics33:30 The Role of Stablecoins in Modern Finance35:42 Investment Insights for the Next Generation41:12 Macro Economic Trends and Predictions#Macro #Bitcoin #Ethereum #MicroStrategy #Stablecoins #DigitalAssets #AI #USDebt #Investing