Jonathan Tepper is the founder of Variant Perception, an economic research group that works with institutional managers, hedge funds, and allocators to provide objective and comprehensive data to form actionable ideas from leading indicators and emerging trends. He is also the author of three books, the most recent of which, The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, received widespread acclaim earlier this year. Our conversation covers Jonathan's unusual upbringing, learning about currencies from Big Macs, building economic and liquidity forecasting models, and catering Variant Perception's research to investors. We then turn to The Myth of Capitalism, discussing the history, causes, and ramifications of the absence of competition in U.S. industries, natural and unnatural monopolies, examples in the tech giants, funeral home operators, airports, and hospitals, and what can be done to counter this negative trend.   Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Michael Leffell is the Managing Member of Portage Partners, Chairman of Canoe Intelligence, and Founder and Chairman of 10 East, an investment platform for sophisticated investors to access private markets by co-investing alongside Michael. Michael was former Deputy Executive Managing Member of Davidson Kempner, where he spent twenty-one years before retiring in 2010. He formed a family office shortly thereafter and developed Portage, Canoe, and 10 East out of his investing activities. Our conversation covers Michael’s professional investment career, personal investing following his retirement, and businesses created from those activities. And a little disclaimer is in order: I’ve known Michael for about a decade, and after becoming impressed by the quality of 10 East’s offerings, its research process, and high-quality investment team, I became an advisor to the organization and an investor in multiple offerings. Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership