In April 2025, the bond market did something the stock market couldn’t: it made a sitting president reverse course within days. Financial Times journalist Robin Wigglesworth, author of the new book A Fabulous Debt, joins Joe and OG to explain why bonds, dismissed for centuries as the dull corner of finance, are actually the bedrock everything else sits on. From a murdered medieval ruler in Venice to a Scottish con man who sold bonds for a country that didn’t exist to the hedge fund collapse that nearly took down the global financial system, this is 900 years of history explaining exactly why the “boring” market is the one that actually moves empires.
What You’ll Walk Away With
- Why the bond market, not the stock market, is what actually forced a change of course during 2025’s “Liberation Day” tariff chaos
- The surprisingly wild origin story of the very first government bond, issued in 1171 Venice, and how it got its ruler killed
- How the Dutch turned Venice’s basic invention into a true market, and used it to fund their independence from a much larger empire
- The incredible true story of a con man who sold real bonds for a fictional country and lured hundreds of settlers to their deaths
- Why Long-Term Capital Management, staffed with Nobel laureates and legendary traders, collapsed almost overnight in 1998
- The biggest misconception most Americans have about U.S. government debt, and why the reality is more nuanced than the doom headlines suggest
- Why the oldest investing mistake in 900 years of financial history is still the simplest one: borrowing too much
Why This Matters Now
Most people never think about bonds until something breaks, a rate spike, a market scare, a headline about the national debt, and by then it can feel too complicated to catch up on. But bonds quietly determine mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, and government policy in ways that touch daily life far more than most people realize. Understanding even the basics of how this market works, and how consistently it has shaped history, turns a vague sense of unease about “the economy” into something you can actually follow and make sense of.
From the Basement
A Bond-adjacent trivia detour (the James Bond kind, not the financial kind) reveals that Ian Fleming borrowed his spy’s name from a real-life ornithologist, proof that even a show about medieval Venetian debt can’t resist a pun. Plus, a Wall Street Journal headline on why the job market has quietly flipped in favor of workers without a college degree.
Resources Mentioned
Stacking Benjamins Field Kit — the all-in-one budgeting and net worth tracking tool
A Fabulous Debt by Robin Wigglesworth — Robin’s new book on the 900-year history of bonds
Trillions by Robin Wigglesworth — Robin’s earlier book on the history of index funds
Our Mentor: Robin Wigglesworth
Big thanks to Robin Wigglesworth for joining us today. To learn more about Robin, visit Robin Wigglesworth. Grab yourself a copy of the book A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World
Our Headline
- Americans Without College Degrees Are Having One of the Best Job Markets in Years (Wall Street Journal)
Doug’s Trivia
- Ian Fleming wanted a boring name for his secret agent, so he borrowed the name of a real man named James Bond, who was an ornithologist. What does an ornithologist do?
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Written by: Kevin Bailey
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