Slate Money – “Boaty McBoatface” (March 27, 2021)

Host: Felix Salmon
Guests/Co-hosts: Emily Peck, Max Chafkin
Main Theme:
A witty deep-dive into the week’s most consequential stories in business and finance: the global supply chain crisis spurred by the Suez Canal blockage, semiconductor shortages, the unraveling of media ventures funded by tech billionaires, and a look at WeWork’s surprising public market comeback.

Episode Overview

This lively, conversational episode covers:

• How the Ever Given ship stuck in the Suez Canal revealed supply chain fragilities.
• The real reasons for the global chip shortage (it’s not all about Taiwan!).
• Tech billionaires’ continuing struggles to “fix” media—and why these efforts often go sideways.
• WeWork’s unexpected rebirth as a public company and what it might signal about the future of work.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Suez Canal Blockage & Supply Chain Vulnerability (00:46 – 14:50)

• Famous Boats, Unwanted Publicity
  Felix sets the stage with the now-legendary stuck ship, Ever Given, and why fame is rarely good for boats (01:00).
  Quote [Emily, 02:20]:

  "The whole point of the global supply chain is that no one knows about the global supply chain... You don't want to ever know the name of the boat."

• Supply Chain Confusion & Disruption
  Max explains that while the Suez incident captivated global attention, it's really just a symptom of wider, COVID-driven trade imbalances, especially with consumer demand surging unpredictably (03:41, 06:06).
• Why Price Mechanisms Aren’t Working
  Basic economic levers (like raising prices) aren’t fixing shortages in certain essential consumer goods because people expect stable prices for things like toilet paper. (04:26–06:06)

2. Semiconductor Shortages Demystified (07:06 – 12:25)

• Chips in Cars vs. Chips for Mining
  Felix and Max unpack the chronic confusion between automotive chip shortages and graphics card scarcity for cryptocurrency mining. Max provides context:
  • Auto-makers canceled chip orders during COVID, so chipmakers sold capacity elsewhere, leading to a lack of supply once demand rebounded (07:06–09:18).
  • Meanwhile, high-end chips (like graphics cards) are being gobbled up by Ethereum miners because mining profitability is so high (09:15–09:34).
• Key Clarification
  Quote [Max, 10:51]:

  "That's precisely not the reason why you might not be able to get a new Dodge Durango—it's a separate kind of chip."

3. COVID Shifting Consumer Behavior (12:25 – 17:49)

• The pandemic shifted global demand from services to goods, straining manufacturing and logistics networks (13:12–14:28). Felix describes “one-way” trade patterns: constant flows of goods from China, with containers piling up in US ports (12:25–14:28).
• Government stimulus and accumulated household savings drive even more goods demand, compounding the crisis (15:36–16:28).

4. Inflation, Price Salience & Amazon’s Role (14:28 – 18:08)

• Panel debates whether consumers will actually notice price increases, with Amazon’s dynamic pricing making inflation less “salient” than in-tangible retail. Quote [Felix, 16:28]:

  "Prices on Amazon are not nearly as salient as they are at Walmart."

• Housing prices in major cities may have more impact on inflation perception than Amazon price shifts (17:49).

5. “Just-in-Time” Manufacturing Under Scrutiny (18:08 – 23:12)

• Does Just-in-Time Still Work?
  Emily cites critiques that JIT has made the system too fragile, but Max disagrees, noting that “responsiveness” can be consumer-friendly (19:08). Quote [Max, 19:08]:

  "It's really better often for the consumer to have this deal. The exception... is, of course, Texas energy markets..."

• Labor Market Tensions
  Emily notes JIT’s dark side relates to cheap global labor (20:52). Felix and Max discuss the balance between robustness, redundancy, and efficiency in global sourcing (21:21–22:32).

6. Tech Billionaires and the Media (23:13 – 33:27)

• Medium, Mel & the “Fix Media” Cycle
  Felix & Emily tackle Ev Williams’ repeated attempts to reshape online journalism via Medium, always with mass layoffs when pivots fail (23:13–27:18). Quote [Emily, 26:23]:

  "These tech companies think they can come in and, like, fix media at the same time they're breaking it."

• Why Media Is Different From Tech
  Emily and Felix argue tech folks underestimate how slow, costly, and people-centric high-quality journalism is (27:50–29:18).
• Are Billionaires Good Owners?
  Panel discusses how not all billionaire ownership is bad (Bezos/Washington Post); the dangers of owner “hobbies” (29:18–30:52).
• Substack, Newsletters, and the Limits of Lone-Wolf Journalism (31:57–33:27) Emily is skeptical about Substack’s promise for original reporting—legal exposure and lack of team support are major hurdles.

7. WeWork’s Wall Street Reboot (39:23 – 48:52)

• WeWork: From Disaster to $9 Billion SPAC? Felix is baffled by new investor enthusiasm for WeWork (39:23). Quote [Felix, 40:22]:

  "My simple question for you, Max, is: what the fuck?"

• The Flexible Office Bull Case
  Max suggests that more workplaces may seek flexible, short-term space as COVID-era remote work rearranges office norms (40:22–43:10).
• But…WeWork’s Real Business Model
  Felix points out that WeWork’s actual model has not historically delivered profits—the “flexibility” may be more theoretical than real (43:10).
• Will Work Life Go Back to “Normal”?
  Emily and Felix debate whether the post-pandemic world will really mean the end of offices, or simply more flexibility (45:41–48:52).

8. Numbers Round – Fun and Strangeness in the News (49:33 – 54:14)

• Oil-Covered Pennies:
  Emily shares a story about an employer paying a worker’s last paycheck in 91,500 oily pennies (49:36). Quote [Emily, 50:48]:

  "How is that not illegal? That's clearly breaking the line between civil and criminal."

• Jack Dorsey’s NFT Tweet:
  Felix: Dorsey’s first tweet sells for $2.9 million as an NFT, reflecting the “charity” phase of the NFT bubble (51:33).
• LaGuardia AirTrain Boondoggle:
  Max: $2B project considered 46 routes, but picked Cuomo’s “backwards” alternative regardless (52:38–54:14).

Notable Quotes / Highlights by Timestamp

• On Suez’s unintended infamy:
  Emily, 02:20:

  "You're not supposed to know the names of the boats... Not since the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria have we wanted to know the name of the boat."

• On pandemic demand chaos:
  Felix, 12:25:

  "We've had a whole bunch of people in America clicking buttons on Amazon and basically trying to pull goods in from China... The natural flow of containers back and forth... has just completely... broken."

• On the tech/media mismatch:
  Emily, 27:50:

  "Journalism—it's... a really different business and product... than tech is."

• On WeWork’s “innovation”:
  Max, 40:22:

  "I think it's people who are genuinely bullish on the cult of WeWork as a thing that will succeed in the return to office atmosphere."

• On flexibility vs. culture:
  Felix, 46:04:

  "The losers are people trying to enter the workforce... who need to absorb institutional knowledge just by kind of going into an office every day."

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Suez Canal Blockage/Supply Chain – 00:46–14:50
• Semiconductor Shortages Explained – 07:06–12:25
• Inflation/Price Dynamics – 14:28–18:08
• Just-in-Time Under Fire & Labor – 18:08–23:12
• Tech Billionaires and Media – 23:13–33:27
• WeWork and the Future of Office – 39:23–48:52
• Numbers Round – 49:33–54:14

Memorable Moments

• Emily on pandemic parents hoarding 'activity kits':
  (12:25)

  "She said she has like a stack of the kits in her house unopened. No one plays with the kits because no one really wants to play with those kits."

• Felix’s penny rant:
  (51:06)

  "Abolish the penny. There is no need for pennies!"

• Max on tech’s hubris:
  (39:12)

  "The core identity of tech... is the hubris to enter into a market in which they have no particular knowledge and then believe that they can succeed."

Summary Takeaways

• The Suez Canal crisis merely spotlights deeper structural issues in global supply chains, made more visible by COVID-driven demand surges and “just-in-time” manufacturing.
• Chip shortages hitting automakers stem more from poor order management than from a lack of raw capacity or direct competition with cryptocurrency mining.
• Tech billionaires’ approaches to revitalizing journalism often misfire, due to a lack of respect for the specific, slow, people-driven nature of great media.
• WeWork’s renewed Wall Street enthusiasm may reflect optimism about new workplace patterns, but it faces significant headwinds in proving its model truly flexible and profitable.
• The pandemic’s disruption continues to play out in inflation, labor, work-from-home patterns, and quirky human dramas—including paychecks in pennies and NFT hoopla.

Listen for the sharp, informed banter, with plenty of skepticism and a healthy dose of humor about the eternal optimism (and sometimes folly) of tech moguls trying to disrupt the world—whether in ships, chips, or journalism.