John Arnold - China, Energy Markets and Fixing America's Systems - [Invest Like the Best, EP.461]
My guest today is John Arnold. John is probably the most famous energy trader of all time and certainly the most successful. One of the things John talks about is cultivating the best seat in your industry – the seat with the best perspective, the most information, the best systems.. John has been closely watching China's convergence in robotics, AI, and EVs, and shares his perspective from his recent trip to the country. We talk about the state of energy markets today – the misaligned goals and incentives, the NIMBYism that prevents building in America, and what he actually thinks about the wave of nuclear energy startups that everyone seems excited about. John is also one of the most innovative philanthropists working today, applying that same analytical rigor to diagnosing structural failures across America — in healthcare, criminal justice, education, and beyond For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at colossus.com/subscribe. ----- Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, Vanta continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit vanta.com/invest. ----- WorkOS is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. Visit WorkOS.com to transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- Rogo is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest. ----- Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit ridgeline.ai. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Timestamps (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:43) Episode Intro (00:03:43) Learnings from John’s Trip to China (00:06:28) The EV Industry in China (00:08:43) How Subsidies Create Intense Competition (00:10:54) US-China Relationship (00:12:42) The Cost of Greatness (00:14:52) Creating the Best Seat in the Market (00:19:30) Baseball Card Arbitrage (00:23:03) Trading Natural Gas Futures (00:24:59) Energy Market Making Explained (00:27:11) Why Energy is Exciting Again (00:31:14) Meeting the Increased Demand for Energy (00:32:53) Why Policy is the Biggest Threat to Progress (00:36:28) Fixing Energy Infrastructure in the US (00:39:29) Advanced Nuclear Technology (00:42:05) The Prospects of Energy Startups (00:43:44) Input Costs in Solar & Batteries (00:47:54) Geothermal Energy: The Most Exciting Sector (00:50:57) Housing Reform in the US (00:53:39) The Role of Philanthropic Foundations (00:57:00) Reforming the Criminal Justice System (01:03:48) Social Outcomes Downstream of Education (01:07:20) Misaligned Incentives in the Healthcare System (01:12:08) Journalism as a Public Good (01:14:17) The Kindest Thing