Episodios

  • The Art of Taxation: How a Crisis Could Save Your City

    The Art of Taxation: How a Crisis Could Save Your City
    Apr 29 2025
    Trump’s global chaos might just offer an opportunity. if we’re bold enough to take it. In this episode, we dive into how a crisis can give countries the political permission to reshape their economies, starting with how we tax, who we tax, and why we desperately need to rethink urban financing. From Roman emperors funding the Colosseum with "toilet taxes," to why Dublin (and most Irish cities) are economic engines shackled by a broken funding system, we explore how cities around the world are grabbing the purse strings and financing their own futures.

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    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    35 m
  • Popeonomics?

    Popeonomics?
    Apr 24 2025
    We mark the passing of Pope Francis by asking: is there such a thing as "Catholic Economics"? If so, what is it, and what strain of Catholic economics did the Pope represent? We start with a lad stopped by the Italian cops on a Vespa in Rome, and a most unusual and uplifting conversation with the Pope, Bono, and yours truly. Yeah, for real. We explore liberation theology, the roots of Franciscan banking, and the common and deeply embedded DNA of Catholic social teaching in the economic policy of Catholic countries, despite widespread secularism. By the way, I did pay the fine!

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    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    46 m
  • Is America About to Lose Europe?

    Is America About to Lose Europe?
    Apr 22 2025
    This episode begins with a moving tribute to Carmel Davis, a nurse, single mother, and a world traveller. From the sandpit to Machu Picchu, her life was full of grit and grace. Beyond the personal, we zoom out to a world shifting under our feet. We explore whether Trump’s economic war with China is backfiring, pushing Europe closer to Beijing, not Washington. Could France, weighed down by debt, turn to China as creditor? Are we entering a new global “Great Game,” where America’s threats drive its allies into the arms of its rivals? If Europe stops financing the U.S. bond market, what happens next? A podcast that moves from grief to grand strategy, with a few French wines, altar boy memories, and Machiavellian moves along the way.

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    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    38 m
  • Paris, Power & Picking Sides: Europe’s Awakening in a MAGA World

    Paris, Power & Picking Sides: Europe’s Awakening in a MAGA World
    Apr 17 2025
    Broadcasting from Paris, we bring a bottle of wine and a warning: the transatlantic honeymoon is over. As America turns inward under the MAGA banner, Europe, led in thought (and theatre) by France, is starting to ask tough questions: Can we still rely on the US? Should we even try? From Macron’s eerily prescient Sorbonne speech to the wild moves in the US bond market, this episode explores why France feels vindicated, why Ireland might soon have to pick a side, and why the real battlefield isn't Normandy or NATO, it’s the balance sheet. With detours through wine laws, de Gaulle in Connemara, and why Nike’s Vietnamese workforce matters more than you'd think, this is a global economic story told with Gallic flair and geopolitical bite.

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    36 m
  • The Molly Bloom Model: Why Economies Should Say Yes

    The Molly Bloom Model: Why Economies Should Say Yes
    Apr 15 2025
    Yes has always been more of a worldview than a word. In this episode, we channel the spirit of Molly Bloom’s iconic soliloquy from Ulysses to explore how saying “yes” can reshape economies. From Joyce’s sensual metaphor for self-abandon to the economics of openness, growth, and transformation, we dig into what it means to embrace change. Why does resistance stagnate nations? What happens when a country dares to say yes to innovation, to risk, to the unknown? This isn’t your average econ chat—this is a literary, philosophical, and economic exploration of transition, agency, and the power of possibility. Yes? Yes. Yes!

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    36 m
  • The Nike Economy: Why Vietnam Is America’s Hidden Factory Floor

    The Nike Economy: Why Vietnam Is America’s Hidden Factory Floor
    Apr 10 2025
    What do Nike runners, IKEA furniture, and half a million Vietnamese workers have in common? They’re all caught in the crossfire of Trump’s tariff tantrum. This week, we trace the hidden supply chains behind the global economy, from Vietnam’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse to how a sneaker company now employs more people abroad than Ford and GM do at home. We break down how the MAGA tariff regime threatens to crater entire economies, sour U.S. relations in Asia, and hand China the long game. Plus, what it all means for Ireland, Africa, and the American empire itself. Are we witnessing a pivot, or a pullback from the world stage?

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    34 m
  • Tariffs & Other Fantasies

    Tariffs & Other Fantasies
    Apr 8 2025
    This week, we watched the world’s biggest economy base its entire trade policy on a formula so dodgy it wouldn’t pass the Leaving Cert. We break down how Trump’s tariffs are chaotic, as well as economically illiterate, dangerously populist, and could have slammed Ireland with more than a 39% hit if not for the EU. This isn’t just bad maths. It’s billionaires mistaking personal instinct for macro strategy, and a White House mistaking nationalism for economic policy. We’re talking supply chains, tanking markets, flying cars in China, Trump channeling FDR, and why the U.S. might be about to run the world like a family business, forever. Strap in.

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    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    38 m
  • The Economics of Employee Ownership

    The Economics of Employee Ownership
    Apr 6 2025
    What if the future of capitalism isn’t tech or tax, but trust? This week, we’re talking about Employee Ownership Trusts: a radical rethink of who gets to own the companies we work for. We’re joined by Alan Coleman of Wolfgang Digital, the first Irish company to take the leap and hand ownership to its staff. It’s a story about building businesses that are more productive, more democratic and maybe even more human. From colonial corporations to AI takeovers, we trace why this small idea could be the start of something huge. And if you're a digital marketer who wants to own where you work, Wolfgang is hiring. Head to wolfgangdigital.com/careers to find out more.

    Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    34 m
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