In Episode 506 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Robert Armstrong, US financial commentator at the Financial Times and author of the Unhedged newsletter, about the scale and structure of the AI investment boom, the growing political and social backlash against the technology, the fiscal reckoning in France as a preview for other developed economies, and how investors should protect themselves in a world where bonds no longer reliably offset equity risk.
The first hour examines the scale and structure of the AI investment boom, why today's hyperscalers start from a stronger position than their Internet-era counterparts, and why GPUs and electricity have become the industry's defining bottlenecks. They also discuss the backlash building around AI, from the local politics that make it harder to build data centers to the anxiety spreading through the white-collar workforce, and why Armstrong believes that industry leaders who refuse to accept accountability for the technology's misuse could see it come back to bite them.
The second hour turns to France, where Robert argues that the unrest in the streets and in the market for French government bonds is a preview of fiscal reckonings awaiting other developed economies, including the United States. They discuss whether inflation is likely to stay structurally higher as governments choose the path of least resistance over genuine austerity, why Europe's chronic valuation discount to US equities may be more structural than cyclical, and how investors should think about protecting themselves when bonds can no longer be counted on as a counterweight to a stock market portfolio.
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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Episode Recorded on 10/26/2026