Podcast Summary: Settle In with Andrew Ross Sorkin

Podcast: Settle In with PBS News
Host: Amna Nawaz
Guest: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Date: November 28, 2025
Title: Settle In with Andrew Ross Sorkin
Book Discussed: 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in History and How It Shattered a Generation

Overview of the Episode

The inaugural episode of "Settle In" features a deep, wide-ranging conversation between host Amna Nawaz and renowned financial journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin. The episode delves into Sorkin’s new book about the 1929 stock market crash, exploring the dramatic personal stories behind historic events, the evolution of financial risk and democratization, parallels to current financial trends, and candid reflections on money, regulation, and the enduring human desire for “more.” The discussion is engaging and accessible, combining storytelling, analysis, and personal anecdotes.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Revisiting 1929: Storytelling Beyond Economic Systems

• Sorkin’s Motivation for Writing (02:13):
  Sorkin explains that after writing "Too Big to Fail" (about the 2008 crisis), he was often asked about 1929 but felt unqualified to answer. He took a “nerdy vacation” reading books about the crash but noticed:

  “Most of the books... were written either by economists or told in this sort of way about systems and economics and things like that. And the books that I had always loved... were these character driven narratives... It's about the people who make the decisions…” (04:00, Andrew Ross Sorkin)

• Discovery in the Archives (03:57):
  At Harvard’s Baker Library, Sorkin dug into Thomas Lamont's (JP Morgan head) archives, finding transcripts of phone calls with presidents, which inspired him to recreate 1929 as an immersive, moment-by-moment story.

The Key Players & Cultural Shifts

• The Titans of 1929 (05:18):
  The book centers on figures like Charlie Mitchell (“Sunshine Charlie”), head of National Citi (now Citigroup), who ‘democratized finance’ by enabling people to buy stocks on credit. The antagonist, Senator Carter Glass (of Glass-Steagall fame), championed reform and decried risky speculation.

  “Charlie Mitchell... was really responsible for the first time in America to try to loan people money so you could buy stock... brokerages emerged all over the country...” (05:45, Andrew Ross Sorkin)

• Cultural Shifts in Credit (07:51):
  Buying on credit was previously “a moral sin,” but by the 1920s, financing big-ticket goods and speculative stocks became normalized.

  “Up until 1919, taking a loan was considered like a moral sin... General Motors decided they needed to sell more cars... then Sears Roebuck... and then folks like Charlie Mitchell on Wall Street...” (08:13, Andrew Ross Sorkin)

• Celebrity Financiers and the American Dream (10:59): The era saw business leaders become celebrities and the American Dream morph from rags-to-riches to get-rich-quick via markets.

  “People look at Elon Musk or Sam Altman... and they are genuine celebrities. They are celebrities the way Babe Ruth was a celebrity...” (10:59–11:24, Sorkin)

Shady Practices and the Absence of Guardrails

• Pump-and-Dump & Investment Pools (11:47):
  Without the modern SEC or disclosure requirements, “investment pools” (collusive price manipulation) ruled, with ordinary investors lured into bubbles and left holding the bag.

  “They created what was called investment pools... it might be described as a pump and dump scheme...” (12:12, Sorkin)
  “They would pay off journalists... to get people really interested in what was going on.” (13:37, Sorkin)

• Lack of Accountability (14:09):
  Most perpetrators faced no real consequences; even high-profile prosecutions, like Mitchell’s, rarely led to jail time.

Personal and Generational Impact

• Widespread Psychological Scarring (15:30):
  Losses were compounded because people borrowed to speculate. Sorkin shares the story of his own grandfather, who witnessed the crash as a child and never bought stocks again.

  “There was a generational almost scarring that took place during this period... My grandfather… lived until he was 91 years old and never bought a share of any stock…” (17:30, Sorkin)

Parallels to Modern Finance

• Crypto, Meme Coins, and Modern Pump-and-Dump (18:10):
  Sorkin compares the 1920s investment pools to today’s meme coins and crypto assets, recounting a surreal personal episode with “Sorkin Coin.”

  “This was sort of like the pools of 1929... I’m getting invited into these groups where they’re literally talking about, okay, you’re going to buy... then you’ll buy... and I’m watching this in real time.” (19:24, Sorkin)
  “Whoever these people were, they actually found [my sons] on social media and said, you know, they were offering them $50,000, $100,000 worth of Sorkin coin...” (19:51, Sorkin)

• Democratization—Promise and Peril (21:14):
  Recent deregulatory moves (like allowing venture/private equity into 401(k)s) echo 1920s efforts to "democratize finance," but Sorkin warns about insufficient transparency.

  “There is an argument to be made… people want... The question is when you get the access, what kind of transparency comes with that... that’s going to be a big issue.” (22:24, Sorkin)

Are Today’s Guardrails Good Enough?

• On Modern Regulations (23:47):
  Sorkin is cautiously optimistic that modern guardrails (SEC, FDIC, capital requirements), though imperfect, offer some protection against an outright repeat of 1929, but new risks and blind spots—like shadow banking—have emerged.

  “[We] need more disclosure, need more third party auditing, need more attention on them... there’s always charlatans, there’s always frauds that emerge in these things.” (24:13, Sorkin)

• Rise of Shadow Banking (25:44):
  Regulation is complicated by a shift from traditional banks to opaque private markets (“shadow banking”). “It’s so hard today to figure out where the debt and leverage even is...” (26:09, Sorkin)

• Current Political and Regulatory Climate (27:00):
  Sorkin expresses concern about ongoing efforts to deregulate and politicize financial oversight bodies, especially at a time when transparency is diminishing.

On Human Psychology, Risk—And Money’s Role

• Cycles of Optimism and Danger (28:21):
  Over the past century, “it’s actually been better to be a professional optimist than a professional skeptic,” but that’s only because guardrails have existed.

  “One of the reasons I like to think that we haven’t gone off the rails... is because there were guardrails... The SEC was focused on these issues...” (28:27, Sorkin)

• Fed and Political Pressures (29:24):
  Sorkin contrasts the Fed’s political vulnerability in 1929 to its more recent (but not guaranteed) independence—emphasizing the crucial role of a steady, apolitical central bank during crises.

• Are We in Our Own Roaring Twenties? (31:04):

  “I was just... talking to Paul Tudor Jones... he said to me, we are likely in October of 1999... the stock market went up about 40% after October 1999 before it actually burst.” (32:08, Sorkin) Sorkin highlights the dilemma: get out too early, miss gains; stay too long, risk losses.

Money, Family, and Financial Literacy

• Personal Reflections on Money Talk (33:47):
  Sorkin admits financial conversations in his family are “not well... always been an uncomfortable conversation.” (33:47, Sorkin)
  He describes “Tooth Fairy inflation wars” (settling for $1 or $5 per tooth, compared to peer-pressure economics of $10/tooth in NYC) (34:45–35:17).

• Generational Shifts in Attitude (35:37): Today’s kids, including his sons, are more entrepreneurial and financially aware, often brainstorming ways to make money on TikTok/Instagram, but overall financial literacy is still lacking.

• On the Need for Dialogue:

  “I wish we could teach this at a greater level... we should just have a much more open dialogue about it.” (36:17, Sorkin)

Why Titans Trust Sorkin & The Power of Empathy in Journalism

• Why Major Figures Engage with Sorkin (37:05):
  Sorkin believes it’s due to a combination of deep expertise and empathy:

  “It doesn’t matter to me what title you have on your business card or how much money you have in the bank... everybody’s seriously human.” (38:29, Sorkin)
  “Nothing is black and white. It is always gray.” (39:12, Sorkin)

The Responsibility—and Limits—of Business in Society

• Business Leaders as Politicians (41:23): Since the 2008 financial crisis, CEOs have become active in politics:

  “Every major business leader in America became a politician. Really, they all started making these pilgrimages to Washington... now that’s true of the tech giants...” (41:23, Sorkin)

Final Takeaways: History as Lens—Not Prophecy

• The Human Condition: Wanting “More” (43:37):
  Sorkin references a memorable line from "Wall Street 2":

  “How much money do you need to make, to stop, to be done?... He turns around and he looks at him and he goes: more.” (43:55, Sorkin)

• Balanced Risk, Speculation, and Humility (44:24):
  Sorkin advocates for humility, balanced risk, and remembering that speculative excess and innovation are intertwined.

  “Speculation, by the way, unto itself, is not a bad thing. You need a little bit of speculation in the economy... you don’t want to take all of that away... but you don’t want people to go overboard.” (45:12, Sorkin)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• On Writing “1929” (Motivation):
  “I always thought ultimately the economics and the systems, it’s not really about. It’s about the people who make the decisions that build those systems...”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (04:00)

• On Investment Pools and Manipulation:
  “They would pay off journalists... to write articles saying, this stock’s about to go up tomorrow to get people really interested...”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (13:37)

• Personal Story—Family Trauma:
  “My grandfather... never bought a share of any stock. He would say, Andrew, the stock market is not for us.”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (17:30)

• About Modern Meme Coins and Sorkin Coin:
  “Whoever these people were, they actually found [my sons] on social media and said... they were offering them $50,000, $100,000 worth of Sorkin coin...”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (19:51)

• On Regulation and Vigilance:
  “Anytime there’s a new product... there are always charlatans, there’s always frauds that emerge in these things. That’s what happens every single time.”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (24:13)

• On Empathy in Reporting:
  “It doesn’t matter to me what title you have... or how much money you have... everybody’s seriously human. The title and the money is not emotional armor…”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (38:29)

• On What’s “Enough”:
  “He turns around and he looks at him and he goes: more.”
  —Andrew Ross Sorkin (43:55, quoting Wall Street 2)

Important Timestamps

• 02:13 — Sorkin’s motivation for writing the book
• 05:15 — Introduction to main characters: Mitchell, Lamont, Glass, and Angelina Adams
• 08:13 — Credit’s cultural shift in the U.S.
• 11:47 — Investment pools and lack of regulation
• 15:30 — Personal impact and generational trauma
• 18:10–20:28 — Parallels to meme coins/crypto and “Sorkin Coin” anecdote
• 23:47 — Are today’s guardrails strong enough?
• 25:44 — Shadow banking and opaque risk
• 31:04–32:08 — Are we in our own roaring twenties?
• 33:47 — Money talk in Sorkin’s own family; tooth fairy inflation
• 38:29 — On empathy and why business titans talk to Sorkin
• 43:55 — "More" quote and the universal pursuit of wealth

Tone & Final Impressions

The conversation is thoughtful, candid, witty, and insightful, blending accessible history, sharp analysis, and personal anecdote. Sorkin strikes a tone of watchful optimism: the future isn’t preordained, but “vigilance” and humility are imperative. History may not repeat, but it surely rhymes. For listeners, the episode is a compelling mix of storytelling, financial literacy, and reflection on the enduring patterns of risk, regulation, and human ambition.

Recommended: For anyone curious about the link between Wall Street’s past and present, how finance shapes society—and how it’s shaped by those seeking “more.”