Slate Money – "Digital Cash. IRL Wrenches."

Date: August 16, 2025
Host: Felix Salmon (A)
Co-hosts: Emily Peck (B), Elizabeth Spiers (C)
Theme: This episode covers the rise of state capitalism under Trump’s presidency, the violence and personal security issues facing crypto wealth holders, and the centrality (and potential value) of Chrome in the evolving AI landscape.

Main Theme: State Capitalism, Crypto Dangers, and Chrome’s Value in AI

Slate Money’s weekly roundup dives into major stories redefining business and finance. This week, the hosts dissect how direct intervention by the US government is reshaping capitalism, expose the real-world risks of digital cash, and speculate on the worth of web browsers in the AI economy.

Segment 1: Trump’s State Capitalism – The US Government Muscles into Business

[02:38–20:47]

Key Points & Discussion

• State-Funded Shakedown Capitalism

  • Trump’s administration announced the US will take a 15% cut on Nvidia and AMD chip sales to China – a quasi-nationalization of tech exports.
    • Emily: "It's really not clear why this policy would exist." [02:54]
    • Felix: "It's also...not clear whether this policy is even constitutional...there is like an actual clause in the Constitution saying you can't implement an excise tax, a tax on exports, and this very much looks like a tax on exports." [03:27]
  • Trump is calling for Intel to grant the government an equity stake—without compensation. [03:53–04:17]

• Mob-Style Tactics

  • The group coins terms like “Cosa Nostra capitalism” to describe these direct, personalized interventions.
    • Elizabeth: "Somebody called it Cosa Nostra capitalism, which is sort of… mob behavior." [05:14]
    • Felix: “If you want to sell your chips to China, you need to pay me.” [05:19]
    • Emily: "You want to operate your restaurant in our neighborhood, you must pay tribute every week." [05:22]

• Corporate Performances & Compliance

  • Companies like Apple engage in PR maneuvers—announcing US investments to curry presidential favor, even if activities were ongoing.
    • Emily: "Often you repackage things you're already doing...and sort of like package it as like, we're doing this now because the White House, you know, wants us to do more manufacturing in the US..." [05:39]

• The Nature and Effect of Trump’s Deals

  • Much of the policy operates on unenforceable promises and on vibes, with the risk that future presidents could adopt these tools.
    • Felix: "It all just lives in the world of vibes and sound bites." [06:21]

• Legality and Precedent

  • Emily: "For the past decades, the US has been cutting taxes… but Trump's policy is… raising taxes. It's just. It's raising taxes. This 15% cut… is. I mean, a tax." [09:10]
  • Felix: "All of these tax hikes that Trump is doing… are constitutionally incredibly dubious. And the whole edifice of these tax hikes could come crashing down at any minute." [11:01]

• Comparisons – Trump vs. Biden

  • Biden relied on incentives and broad, law-based approaches, whereas Trump targets individual companies for tribute or penalties.
    • Elizabeth: "All of those Biden administration plans were incentives… I don't think that's the same thing as saying, do this or we'll hurt your business." [13:15]
    • Felix: "Biden at least made a good faith effort to be corporation agnostic… Trump is very explicitly targeting individual companies." [13:45]

• Ideological Irony

  • Trump’s strong-arming is reminiscent more of Latin American Peronist populism than US free-market ideals; the Republican Party has become the party of command economy tactics.
    • Felix: "Trump is a Peronist in many ways…not and never has been a free market capitalist." [15:10]

• Business Impacts & Prediction

  • If these precedents take root, they could permanently change American capitalism.
    • Felix: “If this winds up effectively creating institutions that can be co-opted by all politicians... that will radically change the nature of American capitalism.” [17:33]

Notable Quote

• Emily [16:31]: "If you go back to how [Trump's] father made his money… it was all based on a government program that he was taking advantage of as a homebuilder. So I feel like the understanding of how, how the government can confer benefits on private market companies and make people rich is deeply embedded in his DNA."

Tone

• Wry, incredulous, with colorful analogies (mob, tribute, "Peronist") and skepticism bordering on exasperation.

Segment 2: Crypto Riches, Kidnapping, and the $5 Wrench Attack

[22:31–32:26]

Key Points & Discussion

• The Wrench Becomes Reality

  • New York Magazine’s story about crypto moguls kidnapping and torturing a peer for his wallet credentials marks a rise in ultra-violent "wrench attacks."
    • Felix: "You can talk about hackers spending huge amounts of time… to try and hack into people's crypto. Or you can do what was known as a $5 wrench attack, which is you bash someone with a $5 wrench until they give you their password… until it became reality." [23:16]

• Options for Crypto Security

  • Lay low and hide wealth; trust a financial institution; or hire security—each undermines crypto’s promise of independence.
    • Felix: "If you are a crypto bro who drives around in Lamborghinis... then probably you are smart/slash stupid enough not to just keep it all in a Coinbase account...but you keep it, like, offline..." [23:16]

• Why Not Use Institutions?

  • Emily argues most risks could be avoided by simply using services designed to safeguard wealth, despite libertarian unease.
    • Emily: "If you have a lot of crypto, put it with a financial services company... Get over whatever principle you have." [26:26]
    • Felix agrees: "I think that's correct." [26:49]

• How Big is the Problem?

  • Is crypto kidnapping just an extension of regular rich-person targeting?
    • Emily: "Rich people have gotten kidnapped for a long time... So this is just like a new spin on it is what I think." [27:00]

• Strange Social Dynamics

  • The peculiar Soho case is retold, involving drugs, a hazing-kidnapping blur, and a supporting cast from the Brandy Melville store.
    • Elizabeth: "The most amazing detail about this to me is that these guys had this sort of posse of young women who all worked at the Brandy Melville store..." [28:37]

• Final Take: Practical Security

  • The panel lands on discretion and institutional custody as the best preventive measures—despite the crypto ethos of secrecy and autonomy.
    • Felix: "Just give all of your crypto to a trusted financial institution and let them look after it for you is a simple and effective solution to this problem." [30:22]

Notable Quotes

• Felix [26:11]: "If you have a large fortune in crypto, then your choices are basically, number one, don't spend any of the money and don't show off...or number two, hand over your large fortune to some kind of financial services company...or number three, spend a huge amount of money on bodyguards."
• Elizabeth [29:12]: "Brandy Melville is a fashion brand that's very popular with tweens and teen girls...the Brandy Melville in soho apparently also employs a lot of people who are modeling part time. So these guys would just go around the corner and invite all the Brandy Melville girls over to a party..."

Tone

• Alternates between darkly comic and matter-of-fact; they poke fun at the overlap of crypto excess and underworld tactics, but don't glamorize the violence.

Segment 3: Chrome, AI, and the Value of Free Browsers

[36:00–47:02]

Key Points & Discussion

• Chrome’s Pervasiveness

  • Emily testifies: "Chrome is my default. It's my life. My web browser is everything to me. It knows my passwords." [36:00, 36:41]
  • Chrome is deeply integrated into everyday life; the hosts marvel at its authority and utility.

• Chrome's Value & Antitrust

  • Despite generating zero direct revenue, Chrome is an invaluable platform for influencing web traffic, user behavior, and potentially AI development.
  • Perplexity AI, mischievously, "bids" $34.5 billion for Chrome to make a point—there are companies who would love to own it if Google were forced to divest as part of antitrust remedies.
    • Felix: "Enter Perplexity AI, which ... basically said... We are bidding $34.5 billion for Chrome... they're basically saying this thing has a lot of value." [37:58]

• AI Integration and Competitive Stakes

  • The major AI platforms covet Chrome’s distribution. Its integration with Gemini (Google’s AI) blurs the lines—browser as super-app.
  • Elizabeth: "The end goal of all these companies is to eventually create a system where you are displacing search altogether...you just ask a question, you get sort of perfect results back." [41:05]

• Evolution of Internet Access

  • From Berners-Lee-ian “surfing” to a search-dominated, then AI-centric, web. The hosts discuss whether the traditional "open web" is dying as AI takes over.
    • Felix: "...the browser is the window to everything that is possible on the Internet...whatever it is you want just comes straight out of the AI and...from whatever it is on the Internet." [42:06]

• Search Erosion and Platform Fragmentation

  • AI like ChatGPT is chipping away at Google search, but is not ready to fully replace it. Host frustration with user experiences on Google, Amazon, Netflix.
    • Emily: "I'm often using ChatGPT just like I use Google Search or Chrome. So I'm like, why am I doing it here? It's not totally clear to me." [44:08]
    • Felix: "Amazon is so bad." [46:17]

Notable Quotes

• Emily [36:41]: "My web browser is everything to me. It knows my passwords. It remembers me everywhere I go..."
• Felix [42:06]: "...It makes sense for AI to be completely integrated into that browser so that whatever it is you want just comes straight out of the AI and if it needs to, from whatever it is on the Internet..."

Memorable Moment

• Emily’s Soliloquy on Chrome [36:41]: “This is the saddest, the saddest soliloquy of my life. My web browser is everything to me. It knows my passwords. It remembers me everywhere I go…”

Numbers Round

[47:36–52:13]

• Felix: “404” – Google’s URL shortener (goo.gl) will be turned off on August 25, 2025, rendering links unusable across the web. [47:36]

  • "Google just kills things...then they break the Internet..." [48:37]

• Elizabeth: “15” – Entry fee, in dollars, for Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park, where a New Yorker unearthed a 2.3 carat diamond for her engagement ring. [48:51]

  • "She's going to use it for her engagement ring...experts say it's probably worth between 10k and 50k." [49:40]

• Emily: “21,000” – Medical bills in dollars for a Massachusetts woman who needed rabies treatment after a bat flew into her mouth, compounded by inadequate insurance. [50:26]

  • "I know what bats taste like now." [52:13]

Overall Tone

• Conversational, skeptical, often humorous with real bite and analogies.
• The hosts provide expert context but make space for irreverence and “vibes” analysis.

Memorable Moments

• Mob Metaphors: Comparing Trump’s business interventions to mafia extortion.
• Crypto Kidnapping Absurdity: The Soho kidnapping saga, featuring Brandy Melville models and confused villainy.
• Browser Confessional: Emily’s emotional, tongue-in-cheek love letter to Chrome.

Timestamps for Important Segments

• State Capitalism Discussion: 02:38–20:47
• Crypto Kidnappings & Wrench Attacks: 22:31–32:26
• Chrome & the AI Browser Wars: 36:00–47:02
• Numbers Round (Fun Fact Lightning): 47:36–52:13

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Felix [03:27]: "There's an actual clause in the Constitution saying you can't implement an excise tax...and this very much looks like a tax on exports."
• Elizabeth [05:14]: "Somebody called it Cosa Nostra capitalism, which is mob behavior."
• Emily [09:10]: "Trump's policy is raising taxes. It's just. It's raising taxes. This 15% cut...is a tax."
• Felix [23:16]: "...the $5 wrench attack was this kind of theoretical thing...until it became reality."
• Emily [36:41]: "My web browser is everything to me. It knows my passwords."
• Felix [42:06]: "...It makes sense for AI to be completely integrated into that browser..."

In Summary

Slate Money’s "Digital Cash. IRL Wrenches." episode unflinchingly analyzes America’s new “tribute economy” under Trump, unpacks the grisly side of decentralized finance, and examines the surprisingly central (and valuable) role played by Chrome as AI reshapes the Internet. Throughout, the hosts cut through hype and hyperbole, bringing informed skepticism and wit to the week’s most important business stories.