What to make of the AI boom?

Financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, weighs in on the topical issue of the artificial intelligence boom. Can the massive spending by Big Tech produce enough profits to justify their current share prices? This is his take. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.  

Tech firms plan to pour trillions of dollars into developing artificial intelligence. Every incremental dollar of new investment carries an even higher value in the ...

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Edward Chancellor: The US bubble can still pop

Although an immediate crisis in financial markets may have been avoided with Trump's enforced and partial policy retreat on his one for all tariffs, the threat to US financial markets remains, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.  

Donald Trump ...

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Money Makers podcast: 29 Mar 2025

In the latest editions of the Money Makers investment trust podcast released this week, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook and winner of the 2024 AIC Best Broadcast Journalist Award, is joined by Russell Napier, global market strategist and founder of the Library of Mistakes in Edinburgh; Edward Chancellor, historian and author of The Price of Time; and Neil Rogan, chairman of Invesco Asia Dragon (IAD) and Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK), and a non-executive director at J.P.Morgan Global Growth and Income (JGGI).

You can listen to these podcasts in full on the audio players below. Alternatively, you can subscribe via our YouTube channel, and at most podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud; and you can find us listed on The AIC’s Podcast Directory. We are grateful to J.P. Morgan Asset Management, whose no-strings support enables us to keep the podcast free and our editorial integrity intact.

If you are attending the Master Investor Show in London on 29 March, look out for Jonathan who will be signing copies of the latest edition of the Investment Trusts Handbook! The Handbook is now also available as an audiobook edition on YouTube.

If you enjoy the Investment Trusts Podcast, you may also find value in joining The Money Makers Circle. This is a membership scheme that offers subscribers an opportunity to receive additional premium content, including interviews, investment trust performance data, market/portfolio reviews and regular extracts from the editor’s notebook. This week, as well as the usual features, the Circle features a profile of Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA). Future profiles include Invesco Global Equity Income (IGET) and RIT Capital Partners (RCP). Our new expanded weekly subscriber email includes a comprehensive summary of all the latest news plus the week’s biggest share price, NAV and discount movements. Subscribe and you will never miss any important developments from the sector. A subscription costs £12 a month, or £120 for one year with a two week free trial.

265: Russell Napier and Edward Chancellor


0:00:24 – Introduction
0:01:33 – Putting the Trump presidency into historical context
0:04:36 – Market reactions
0:06:50 – Trump’s motivations and agenda
0:11:52 – Will Scott Bessent reign in Trump’s more extravagant proposals?
0:16:00 – A short break
0:16:56 – Returning to capital controls and a loss of independence in central banks?
0:22:21 – Anticipating a change in market style
0:25:34 – Gold
0:27:58 – Putting on a hard hat
0:29:50 – The Library of Mistakes, London
0:30:36 – Close
Recorded on 22 March 2025 at the Weekend of Mistakes, Hay-on-Wye.

266: Neil Rogan


0:00:24 – Introduction
0:02:03 – Upcoming podcast anniversary
0:04:01 – Reflecting on sector consolidation over the past six years
0:06:28 – Changes to the investment trusts world in the last forty years
0:11:02 – Factors persuading the market to allow big discounts
0:14:10 – Invesco Asia Dragon (IAD)
0:21:18 – Is the IAD process a template for others to follow?
0:22:33 – Performance related tenders
0:24:38 – A short break
0:25:34 – Activism and consolidation
0:31:33 – Discount target for Invesco Asia Dragon
0:33:54 – J.P.Morgan Global Growth and Income (JGGI)
0:36:51 – Baillie Gifford UK Growth (BGUK)
0:41:46 – Is the trust industry facing an existential crisis?
0:44:50 – Interpreting the world today and the effect of the Trump administration
0:48:27 – Close
Recorded on 24 March 2025.
About Money Makers

We are an editorially independent research and publishing venture committed to providing high-quality investment information and resources. You can sign up below to be notified about the latest podcasts by email as soon as they become available.  Please note that the podcasts should not be regarded as personal financial advice, but are provided for information and background only. We are very grateful for your continued support and the enthusiastic response to our more than 260 podcasts in the over four years since launch.

Disclosures about the editor’s personal holdings of investment trusts can be found here. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website (www.theaic.co.uk). The producer of the podcasts is the brilliant Ben Gamblin – more details on him here.

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Exclusive to subscribers to the Money Makers Circle Contents - On the podcast this week - Latest trust profile - Trust news over the past week - Recent issuance and buybacks - Thoughts on the news - Good reads - Investment Trusts Handbook - This week's biggest movers - Video reviews - Appendices

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Exclusive to subscribers to the Money Makers Circle Contents - On the podcast this week - Latest trust profile - Trust news over the past week - Recent issuance and buybacks - Thoughts on the news - Good reads - Investment Trusts Handbook - This week's biggest movers - Video reviews - Appendices

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Edward Chancellor: Parting from reality

Should we be concerned about the strength of the US stock market? Absolutely, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.  

The US stock market has hit 50 new highs so far this year. Investors are now anticipating tax cuts and further fiscal largesse f...

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Edward Chancellor: AI – off the rails?

Can AI mania be justified? No, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant recent book, The Price of Time, about the folly of sustained low interest rates. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews, and is reproduced with the author's permission.  

AI - off the rails? The excitement about artificial intelligence is matched only by the technology’s voracious investment needs. Total investment in AI is set to top $1 trilli...

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Edward Chancellor: Japan’s gold mine

Why is Warren Buffett buying Japanese stocks? Because there is value there, says financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant new book about the folly of low interest rates. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews.  

The upside in Tokyo Conventional wisdom holds that stocks deliver around 6.5% a year after inflation. That’s the historic return from U.S. equities publicised by Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel in his best-selli...

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Edward Chancellor: No more Gilded Age

Are criticisms of private equity fair? Financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant new book about the folly of low interest rates, gives his verdict in his latest contribution. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews.  

Private equity squeezed from all sides “Everybody knows that the dice are loaded…the poor stay poor, the rich get rich.” In the 35 years since Leonard Cohen wrote these words, the rich in the United States h...

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Edward Chancellor: Private equity’s future

Are criticisms of private equity fair? Financial historian Edward Chancellor, author of a definitive history of past speculative excesses, from the South Sea Bubble onwards, and a brilliant new book about the folly of low interest rates, gives his verdict in his latest contribution. An earlier version of this article first appeared on the online financial website, Reuters Breakingviews.  

Private equity squeezed from all sides The private equity boom came to an abrupt halt last year when the U.S. Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates. Still, Bain & Company’s latest Global Private ...

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