Slate Money – "DORKs Are Cool Again" (July 26, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this week’s Slate Money, Felix Salmon (host), Elizabeth Spiers (New York Times), and Emily Peck (Axios) take on the return of meme stocks, the crypto rebanking phenomenon, and the cancellation of CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They unpack why unlikely stocks are surging, what the latest regulatory drift means for fintech, and the entanglements of politics and business in late-night TV. The episode also features an in-depth numbers round, touching on the divergent consumer sentiment among income groups.

Main Topics & Key Discussion Points

1. The Return of Meme Stocks: DORKs Are Back

• What are DORKs?
  Emily explains that "DORK" is a new meme-stock acronym:

  • D: Krispy Kreme ($DNUT)
  • O: Opendoor ($OPEN)
  • R: Rocket Companies (mortgage platform)
  • K: Kohl’s (department store)
  • [02:32]

    "D stands for the Krispy Kreme stock... O is for Open Door Technologies... R is Rocket Companies... K is for Kohl's. Kohl's Cash anyone?" – Emily [02:32]

• Opendoor’s Wild Ride
  Felix recounts how Opendoor, nearly delisted and in dire straits, saw a meteoric stock rise thanks to a social media post by fund manager Eric Jackson, known for a successful play on Carvana.

  • [04:48]

    "[Jackson] gave a really interesting interview...he's like the immediate catalyst for the stock going up is the stock going up. And because the stock is going up, everyone is buying it." – Felix [05:05]

• Sustainability of Meme Stock Surges
  Emily points out that these rallies are speculative and often short-lived:

  "It's true, until it's not true. I think the stock has since come down, since it got really bubbly and frothy earlier in the week." – Emily [06:01]

• Why Now?

  • FOMO, late stage bull market, and people chasing quick returns by investing in unstable, sometimes defunct companies.
  • The culture of meme trading seems to have lingered post-pandemic, even as risk-free rates are better than in the ZIRP era.

  "I know by buying complete shit and hoping that it goes up. And frankly, buying complete shit and hoping that it goes up has been a really good trade over the past couple months." – Felix [10:36]

• Retail Investors vs Institutions

  • Retail’s market influence is still being reckoned with.

  "Retail investors comprise a significant proportion of total volume on the stock market. This is new. This is something that institutional investors are still sort of getting their arms around." – Felix [11:33]

• Adverse Selection and Algorithms

  • Automated home buying, especially at Opendoor and similar firms, is prone to adverse selection:

  "If sellers only accept your bid 1% of the time, those sellers are likely to be the people who know something that you don’t..." – Felix [10:09]

2. Crypto’s Regulatory Free-For-All & Rebanking

• Regulatory Laxity and Fintech’s Role

  • The team discusses how crypto regulation is in a "benign neglect" phase: official rules mostly persist, but enforcement has faded.

  "...all of the regulatory obstacles that you faced a year ago have evaporated into thin air...technically many of the laws might still be on the books, the regulators have made it clear that they're not going to enforce any of them." – Felix [22:23]

  • Fintechs like Meow, Mercury, and Brex are filling the vacuum, banking crypto firms as traditional banks stay on the sidelines.

  "The vibe has really changed. So now all these crypto companies are able to get bank accounts from Meow. I guess laws are more...just words on paper, you know." – Emily [25:25]

• Banking Risks and Due Diligence

  • "Enhanced due diligence" is costly and unappealing for banks, and past crypto-friendly banks (like Silvergate) failed spectacularly.

  "...banking a crypto company is not a massively profitable business...doing enhanced due diligence...is a very expensive thing to do...So you just kind of say no." – Felix [28:24]

• Impact of the Trump Administration

  • Regulatory agencies are understaffed and averse, or even hostile, to enforcement.

  "What the meows of this world have done is they’ve just basically said...we’ll do our best to EDD these companies...they have made the bet that the regulators aren’t going to come down on them..." – Felix [30:36]

• Systemic Risk?

  • While deregulation is spreading, big banks remain cautious; large-scale, systemic risk from these new fintechs is considered unlikely—unless the crypto ecosystem fully absorbs mainstream finance.

  "...the banks are still operating. And as we've seen...the big banks...are not out there banking crypto. If meow goes bust, meow goes bust, it's fine. That is not systemically dangerous." – Felix [37:53]

  • The real worry is if mainstream securities are fully tokenized with looser oversight.

• Changing SEC Attitudes

  • New SEC leadership is more open to giving concrete guidance, unlike Gary Gensler:

  "...the current SEC commissioner seems more willing to give guidance to crypto companies than Gary Gensler was." – Elizabeth [39:49]

3. Paramount, Colbert, and Late Night: Financial or Political?

• Colbert’s Show Canceled: Money or Politics?

  • CBS announced the end of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, citing a $40M/year loss. The team debates financial motives versus appeasing the Trump administration.
  • Colbert’s contract (reportedly $20M/year) and declining ad revenues despite being top-rated drive the decision—but his anti-Trump stance raises questions.

  "It was the highest rated show...but also the one with the lowest ad revenue. Like, it turns out, the ratings don’t translate directly into money." – Felix [46:55] "On Colbert’s show, just days before he got canceled, he called that 60 Minutes settlement a big fat bribe. So...they understand what it is going to look like." – Emily [57:47]

• The Trump Connection

  • CBS/Paramount recently settled a Trump lawsuit and are navigating a pending Skydance acquisition by David Ellison—whose father is a Trump ally.

  "The Alison angle is interesting...by all accounts, he was not consulted on this decision because he doesn’t own or control." – Felix [56:03]

• Broader State of Broadcast TV

  • Declining relevance of time slots and broadcast, the challenge of monetizing major shows, and the shift to YouTube, viral segments, and network faces (the "Jimmies" vs Colbert).

  "If we’re going to make brand new TV for that time slot, which is not by any means a given...we’re not going to spend $100 million a year doing so." – Felix [54:17]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I like this theory: If you buy a stock, it goes up." – Felix [05:55]
• "It's just like, the stock market’s going up. Let’s get in. That’s all it is. It’s just that simple. And nothing Trump can do can stop it. So screw it, let’s do it." – Emily [16:07]
• "Some precipitous falls...markets hate negative surprises." – Felix [17:36]
• "This is deregulation by benign neglect. And it's not just happening in crypto with rebanking...which you might call malign neglect." – Emily [35:59]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------|------------| | DORK Stocks & Meme Mania | 00:31-16:19| | Market Response to Trump Tariffs | 16:19-19:54| | S&P 500 – Magnificent 7 vs. Rest | 19:54-21:24| | Crypto Rebanking & Deregulation | 22:20-39:49| | SEC, Tokenization, and Crypto Systemic Risk| 39:49-41:27| | Stablecoins & Lending Against Crypto | 41:27-44:08| | Colbert Show Cancellation | 44:08-59:03| | Numbers Round (Columbia, Jet2, etc.) | 59:03-67:27|

Numbers Round Highlights

1. 200 million: Columbia University’s payment to the Trump administration in settlement—seen as a harbinger for other universities facing similar federal scrutiny. [59:03]
2. £50: The value jet2holidays put on a package that, via viral TikTok, became associated with disasters. [64:11]
3. 122: Consumer sentiment index for high earners (vs. 89 for <$50k), illustrating growing divergence post-pandemic. [65:48]

   "Now that there is a gap, I think that is a worrying sign. Like, it’s better if everyone’s feeling the same way than if there’s big differences. I think that is bad for social cohesion." – Emily [66:44]

Tone and Takeaways

• The conversation is sharp, irreverent, and skeptical—especially regarding fads (meme stocks, crypto) and political entanglements in business.
• Urban, tongue-in-cheek, and plugged-in, the hosts bring context and background, often with a dash of sardonic humor.
• A clear undercurrent: when regulation recedes or market froth rises, history warns flare-ups are imminent, even if the short-term seems exhilarating or harmless.

For listeners who missed the episode:

• Meme stock madness is alive, but the drivers and risks are changing.
• Crypto regulation has collapsed into a "vibes-based" regime, with fintechs absorbing risk as federal oversight wanes.
• The financial and political worlds are as intertwined as ever, from network TV decisions to university settlements with the White House.
• The rift between economic haves and have-nots is widening, with meaningful repercussions for sentiment and social cohesion.

(Slate Plus segment on beach reads not included in this summary.)