Gabe Bassin (@gabebassin) and Taylor Pearson (@TaylorPearsonMe) join Erik for this episode.

They cover a lot of ground in this episode where they explore some of the coming financial challenges that the US faces and how crypto might impact the markets and the economy in general.

Gabe gives an overview of the current state of public debt and future government obligations. He explains how the fed ended up with four trillion dollars on its balance sheet.

He says that “the market’s been programmed to be saved” and talks about the impacts of quantitative easing, or printing more money. Gabe and Taylor discuss volatility in the markets and potential looming financial crises.

Gabe points out that public pension funds are underfunded and that fund managers need to make a 7% annualized return to meet their obligations. Given that these funds are the biggest players in the markets, this has a number of implications both for the market and society in general.

They close out by talking about crypto and Bitcoin specifically, and how it might have an impact on all of this.

Charts mentioned in this episode:

Inflation as it relates to quantitative easing: https://twitter.com/gabebassin/status/1032259327745253376

VIX Futures: http://vixcentral.com/

Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.

Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.