The latest episode of DHUnplugged, titled "Bulls in a Bubble Shop," aired on June 30, 2026, as markets closed the first half of the year with the S&P 500 up roughly 7.5% and the Dow above 52,000. Hosts John C. Dvorak and Andrew Horowitz examined several undercurrents threatening the rally, including an alleged DRAM price-fixing conspiracy and the implications of a new government program.
The episode's deepest focus was on memory chip makers. SanDisk finished the half up 780%, Micron up 300%, Western Digital up 240%, and Seagate up 226%. South Korea's KOSPI surged 125% behind Samsung and SK Hynix. However, the hosts revisited the 2005 DRAM price-fixing case in which Hynix paid $180 million, Samsung $300 million, and Infineon $160 million. A new U.S. antitrust class action now alleges the same three companies control 90% of DRAM and coordinated supply cuts, as conventional DRAM prices jumped roughly 700% over four years. Dvorak called it a "ram job," suggesting that the AI-driven demand narrative may be masking coordinated behavior.
Horowitz reserved particular scorn for the Trump Accounts program, which launches July 4 and provides $1,000 Treasury-funded seed for newborns. He described it as "a forced financial literacy experiment wrapped in a political brand name with a socialist starter check to teach capitalism." The program, he argued, contradicts its stated goals by relying on government seed money rather than private savings.
The hosts also flagged several macroeconomic warning signs. PCE inflation climbed to 4.1%, and the Bank for International Settlements flagged AI-boom financial-stability risks. Japan's yen hit 162 to the dollar, prompting hints of Bank of Japan intervention in the "widowmaker trade." Meanwhile, SpaceX's newly issued investment-grade bonds were already underwater, and gold slipped below $4,000 as Bitcoin sank to $58,600.
Dvorak questioned the AI infrastructure narrative, arguing that compute is heading back to the desktop via Nvidia Blackwell-powered mini machines, which could leave server farms underutilized and memory prices vulnerable to collapse. The episode also covered Chevron's 20-year Project Kilby data-center power deal with Microsoft, Comcast's split-off of NBCUniversal and Sky, and the Interior Department slashing federal drilling bonds 95% to $25,000.
Horowitz previewed an upcoming interview with Peter Schiff on The Disciplined Investor. The full episode is available at dhunplugged.com and on major podcast platforms.
