Fading the K-Shaped Economy Narrative

Benny & The Squirrel: Ep. 77 wtih Jeff Macke

Benny (Capital Misallocation) & The Squirrel (Blind Macro Squirrel) were joined once again by Jeff. Jeff founded Macke Asset Management after getting his MBA from Stanford in the 1990s. He wrote for TheStreet.com, Minyanville and Yahoo Finance. He was also a founding cast member of CNBC’s Fast Money and an anchor on Yahoo Finance.

Jeff learned his trade on the knee of his dad who was the CEO of Target for over a decade. You could say US retail runs through Jeff’s blood. You can find his subscriber content over at StockMarket TV as well as at Wall Street Beats where he is a partner there with Benny.

The discussion argues that the US consumer is materially healthier in observed spending data than the prevailing macro narrative suggests. The core investment implication is that heavily shorted, low-expectation retail, restaurant, leisure, and turnaround names can produce outsized returns when results merely show that conditions are “fine,” particularly while capital remains concentrated in AI and semiconductors.

The show was recorded at 6pm EST on Thursday 13th August.

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Episode Slide Deck (Below Paywall)