BlomCast [72] Die strauchelnde Welt – Teil 5
30 snips
Oct 16, 2026 Sebastian Loudon, Austrian journalist and publisher of DATUM, joins historian Philipp Blom to examine the turbulent years 2001–2014. They explore the global financial crisis, Greece’s austerity, the Iraq War’s moral fallout, and the rise of populism. The conversation also touches on Fukushima, Snowden’s surveillance revelations, and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, tracing the collapse of faith in the Western order.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Alexandros Grigoropoulos And Greece’s Unrest
- Fifteen-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot by Greek police after a street confrontation in 2008.
- Philipp Blom presents his death as an early sign of social unrest beneath the financial crisis.
The Sardine Can Theory Of Finance
- A joke describes Sam and Mo repeatedly trading worthless sardine cans at ever-higher prices.
- The cans become valuable only through exchange, mirroring mortgages and financial instruments detached from real value.
How Ninja Loans Inflated The Housing Bubble
- Banks transformed traditionally secure mortgages into tradable securities and short-term collateral.
- Ninja loans extended mortgages to people with no income or assets, allowing the market to expand beyond genuine repayment capacity.