The Far Middle episode 67 is dedicated to two epic 1967 sports performances. These include NASCAR’s Richard Petty and his 27-win season that featured 10 back-to-back wins, as well as the stacked Philadelphia 76ers (whose lineup boasted some of the best collective nicknames of all time) and their incredible 1967 championship season.

Petty and the Sixers’ magical 1967 seasons happen once in a blue moon, as Nick next discusses U.S. equities and their valuations today that you’ll also only see once in a blue moon. Nick offers two new perspectives to illustrate the inflated levels of U.S. stocks: the valuation and priciness of U.S. stocks compared to the rest of the world; and second, how the price-to-earnings ratio today compares to what it has been under different inflation levels over our history.

Transitioning from equity valuations, Nick looks at what’s driving professional sports team valuations and the entrance of private equity minority ownership in professional sports franchises. He also highlights the allure of investing in a professional sports team, noting that over the past 20 years they’ve outperformed the S&P 500.

On the topic of sports, Nick revisits the episode’s connection to 1967 sports milestones, noting that 1967 was also the year John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins won their first of seven consecutive NCAA titles. Nick then presents his theory on why southern California sports teams never seem to draw huge attendances, “Every game of every team in every sport should be sellouts,” says Nick.

Concluding episode 67, Nick highlights a few of his favorite bookstores, from Pittsburgh to San Francisco and from Washington D.C. to Asheville. And he closes by reflecting on the passing of David McCullough, “Pittsburgh native, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he accomplished it all in his field…he may be gone, but far from forgotten.”

The Far Middle episode 66 is dedicated to Pittsburgh Penguins’ icon Mario Lemieux, “one of easiest decisions in the history of The Far Middle,” says Nick.

After looking back on “Super Mario’s” astounding playing career, including overcoming cancer, his purchasing the Penguins, and community work through his foundation, Nick presents the four faces that would be carved on his Mount Rushmore of best-ever NHL players.

Nick steps off the hockey train to next discuss the reasons ridership is plummeting on most urban public transportation networks, which today are clearly broken business models. Nick says it’s time we stop funding propositions that are denying the inevitable and we must drastically reimagine public transportation.

“And that shaky math of public transportation systems in our cities, it mirrors the shaky math of the Federal Reserve when it comes to interest rates and inflation,” says Nick connecting the next dot: Fed policy around inflation. Nick adds that government spending also factors into the inflation equation. It’s been pouring gasoline on the inflation fire for some time now and recent spending bills—exceeding $700 billion—illustrate it has no intention of putting the gas can down anytime soon.

Continuing on the recent spending bills, Nick examines how the media reported on their passage: “creative writing bordering on economic fiction.” Further, Nick discusses the new competing definitions of recession, and how economic indicators have been hijacked by the thought police just like the scientific ones with energy, climate and pandemic have been. Similarly, Nick delves into how scientific credibility has been taken over by political science.

In closing, Nick shifts from science to sci-fi, highlighting one of his favorite shows growing up, Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery.” He offers two timely Serling quotes, including, “We’re developing a new citizenry. One that will be very selective about cereals and automobiles, but won’t be able to think.”

The Far Middle episode 65 commemorates the 65 World Series games that Mickey Mantle played in, accumulating numerous records. Among them, Nick highlights Mantle’s 18 World Series home runs, a likely unbreakable accomplishment.

In this special Far Middle installment, Nick addresses a range of questions received from listeners over the past year. Nick leads off by discussing one of the most frequent questions: how he develops each episode and chooses his topics. Listen as Nick explains the process that includes featuring topics rooted in the themes discussed in Precipice. Nick also previews a few format changes to watch for in the weeks ahead.

Additional listener questions and topics addressed include the asset class he has the most concern over; which central bank has done the most damage over the past roughly dozen years; a new concert review (per constant listener demand); and, the state of the Colorado River, western U.S. drought and water consumption.

And while Nick would love to answer requests for his list of top 20 movies of all time (perhaps to be revealed in a future essay on nickdeiuliis.com), he does offer one from the list in closing with happy birthday wishes to Robert De Niro. Which De Niro movie? Press play and enjoy!

The Far Middle episode 64 features a unique dedication, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness. While the tournament now includes 68 teams, the tournament’s classic 64-team bracket “is a geometric thing of beauty,” says Nick.

After discussing a few tournament stats and sharing a few tournament memories, Nick connects the tournament’s expansion to 64 teams in 1985 to the inflation we see today—something we similarly haven’t seen since the early 1980s.

The construction industry is in focus this episode, as Nick examines how construction firms are navigating inflation and how they’re being forced to either build price contingencies into bids or altogether pass on opportunities due to uncertain risk. He explains our inflationary situation is both self-fueling and self-fulfilling and explains that “current expectations on the future determine the future.”

Next, Nick steers into the automotive sector, where bureaucratic fantasy, government spreadsheets, and environmentalists’ dreams are all coming to fruition to result in chaos, inefficiency, and pain.

Switching gears, Nick reflects on how the mainstream media seems to regularly ignore public officials switching core positions on the biggest of issues, in particular school choice. On school choice, Nick looks at the return on investment students, parents, and taxpayers are getting (or not getting) from our public education system, and the potential student academic improvement and tax dollars saved if public education dollars were going to private schools.

Following education, Nick provides another example of how the capital markets (specifically credit rating firms) are orbiting closer to the political and ideological and further from the quantitative and the objective.

Concluding this episode is a critique of “elite” economists, including Dr. Janet Yellen, on being horribly wrong on the most basic economic items.

Far Middle episode 63 features a co-dedication to two NFL hall-of-fame number 63’s: the Oakland Raiders’ Gene Upshaw and Kansas City Chiefs’ Willie Lanier.

Listen as Nick recounts the 1968 AFC Divisional Playoff when Upshaw and Lanier went head-to-head, and where Lanier and the Chiefs won the matchup’s coin toss and chose to defend the South goal line. On returning to the Oakland bench, Upshaw told his teammates: “Buckle up your chinstraps. We’ve just been insulted.”

Nick then starts connecting dots, starting with the insults the Biden administration continues to hand down on Americans, highlighting the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act amidst broader inconsistent U.S. trade and energy policy. “What gets interesting is when all these points come together,” says Nick. “We have all of these U.S. government intentions and desires colliding and conflicting into a massive and incoherent and illogical mess.”

Next, Nick discusses how dependent and interconnected everything is to energy, and the natural gas shortage facing the EU. He then transitions to the mounting risks and concerns surrounding public pensions—a topic discussed at length in Precipice, in the chapter, Funding Sources Part 2: Unwitting Retirees (AKA “Other People’s Money”).

Nick concludes by commenting on the four political parties he sees in America today, and then closes by reflecting on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in conjunction with the upcoming 59th anniversary of his “I Have a Dream” speech.