Circa

The global economy is facing unprecedented challenges—from the US national debt surging past $40 trillion to rising yields, escalating geopolitical conflicts, and rapid AI adoption. Are we headed for a fiscal debt spiral? Plus, is homeownership still the best way to build generational wealth, or is renting and investing a smarter move today?In this episode of Circa, host Vipulesh is rejoined by Kusum Wijetilleke—former corporate banker, public commentator, and advisor to the Leader of the Opposition in Sri Lanka—to break down major macroeconomic trends and pressing local issues.We discuss:• US Bond Market Chaos & $40 Trillion Debt: The clash over yield curve suppression, federal interest costs, and the true cost of government spending.• Productivity vs. Economic Realities: How AI and industrial policy impact labor markets, wealth distribution, and the push for Universal Basic Income (UBI).• The Homeownership Myth: Comparing a 30-year mortgage against equity index investing, housing affordability, and urban development.• Mobility & Gridlock: Why Sri Lanka ranked as the most traffic-congested country in Asia and how mobility directly limits productivity.• Political & Social Controversies: High-profile anti-corruption investigations in Sri Lanka (Airbus scandal/Namal Rajapaksa arrest), transparency in justice, and the state ban on alcohol at school "Big Matches."📌 Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction & Guest Re-Introduction (Kusum Wijetilleke)04:15 - The US $40T Debt Spiral & Treasury Bond Yield Spike09:50 - Public Debt vs. Revenue: Middle-Class Squeeze & Middle East Conflict Shocks18:45 - Market Transparency Concerns & Economic Data Reliability21:05 - AI Value Creation, Industrial Policy, & Labor Disruption38:55 - Universal Basic Income (UBI) & Milton Friedman/Hayek Frameworks47:45 - Is Homeownership a Trap? Math Breakdown: Renting vs. Mortgages56:25 - Sri Lanka Real Estate Dynamics & Generational Wealth01:01:38 - Traffic Congestion Crisis: Why Sri Lanka's Mobility Impairs Productivity01:11:15 - Politics & Airbus Corruption Inquiry: High-Profile Remands & Legal Transparency01:19:05 - The Alcohol Ban at School "Big Matches": Policy, Culture, & Enforcement🔗 Subscribe to Circa for more high-level conversations on macroeconomics, policy, and global affairs.— new episode every Sunday. 🎙️ **Listen to Circa Z**Youtube → https://www.youtube.com/@CircaPodApple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast/circa/id1552622208Spotify → https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/circa-z/---📖 **Read**Substack (P.E.S.T.) → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.substack.comMedium → https://medium.com/@vipulesh123Website & Blog → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.com---📚 **My Book — Sonder: An Existential Manifesto**Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB2RQYNL---🔗 **Connect**LinkedIn Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7454097282641158144All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh---*© Vipulesh Thiyagarajah. All rights reserved.*

In this episode of Circa, I sit down with Kithmina Hewage — economist, former Political Adviser to the British High Commission in Colombo, World Economic Forum expert network member, and World Bank consultant who has advised governments across 17 Asian economies. Kithmina also happens to be the man who taught me debating and Model UN in school. He speaks here entirely in his personal capacity.We get into the forces reshaping the global economy and what they mean for a small island nation trying to recover from the worst crisis in its history. From resource nationalism and the AI race to the IMF, the civil service, and the affordability crisis squeezing ordinary Sri Lankans — this is an honest, unsparing conversation about why the country keeps making the same mistakes.Chapters:00:00 — Introduction03:00 — What debating teaches you about thinking06:00 — Resource nationalism and the end of free trade14:00 — The AI disruption debate: growth for whom?24:00 — Why developing economies are being left behind30:00 — The IMF: necessary medicine or double-edged sword?40:00 — The real problem with Sri Lankan governance50:00 — Politicized civil service and the cost of bad hiring60:00 — Customs, red tape, and why nobody wants to build here68:00 — The affordability crisis and the road to growthFollow Circa and subscribe so you don't miss an episode.📩 Subscribe to PEST on Substack: https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.substack.com🌐 Website: https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.com🔗 All links: https://linkin.bio/vipulesh#SriLanka #Economics #IMF #ResourceNationalism #Geopolitics #Podcast #SriLankaEconomy #SouthAsia #Trade #AI #PoliticalEconomy #Colombo #Governance #EmergingMarkets #CircaPodcast

The human body is the last great frontier of human technology. In this episode of Circa, host Vipulesh sits down with Tony Medrano—a tech founder, biohacker, Ironman athlete, and MBA—who treats his own body like an engineering problem to be solved. Tony shares how he maintains a high-performance lifestyle at 55, holding down a CEO role while completing grueling 16-hour Ironman triathlons. We unpack the massive shifts happening in the health tech market, why Google's Fitbit Air poses a critical threat to Whoop's IPO and business model, and the psychological downsides of over-optimizing your lifestyle. Tony breaks down a realistic, accessible 80/20 rule for supplements, why relationships trump extreme anti-aging routines, and his rules for building and exiting multi-million dollar companies without breaking your health.If you want to understand the future of health technology, the reality behind the peptide boom, and how to build a sustainable longevity plan, this conversation is for you.✨ Learn more about Tony's work and find free wellness resources at longevityplan.ai 📌 CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Introduction & Tony Medrano’s Background02:44 - The Wearables Explosion: Taking Charge of Personal Health04:48 - Wearable Tech War: Is Google's Fitbit Air a WHOOP Killer?07:00 - The Shift from Subscription SaaS Models to Hardware11:15 - Biohacking vs. Common Sense: Unpacking Brian Johnson's Extreme Longevity13:58 - The Harvard Happiness Study: Relationships over Longevity Routines15:54 - The 80/20 Rule of Supplements: What You Actually NeedConnect with Us: All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh🎙️ Listen to Circa on Spotify & Apple PodcastsYoutube → https://www.youtube.com/@CircaPodApple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast...Spotify → https://creators.spotify.com/pod/prof...---📖 **Read**Substack (P.E.S.T.) → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.substack...Medium → https://medium.com/@vipulesh123Website & Blog → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.com---📚 **My Book — Sonder: An Existential Manifesto**Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB2RQYNL---All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh#health #podcast #viral #peptides #weightloss #ironman #marathon #athlete #harvard #stanforduniversity #mba #business #ozempic #ai #news #fitness

One company. JP Morgan acquisition. 100+ Sri Lankan millionaires in the making. Chalinda Abeykoon is the Managing Partner of nVentures — the first Singapore-regulated VC fund built to back founders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the tier-two cities of South and Southeast Asia that most investors can't even find on a map.He built Sri Lanka's first post-war startup incubator after graduating into the 2008 financial crisis. He went to Oxford on the Chevening scholarship. And his portfolio just had a company acquired by JP Morgan — bigger than any Sri Lankan startup exit before it.In this episode we get into:→ Why Chalinda stayed in Sri Lanka when everyone else left — and what that did to his risk tolerance→ The real story behind WealthOS being absorbed into JP Morgan's international consumer banking division→ Why he invests in "boring" B2B fintech — and why that's the point→ AI wiping out Chegg, destroying SaaS seat models, and what founders actually need to do about it→ Brain drain as a feature, not a bug — and why he's pro leaving Sri Lanka→ The trains vs. the rails: why everyone's building the wrong thing in the AI race→ What it takes to get a founder to unicorn statusThis is Circa — conversations at the edge of what's possible.─────────────────────────────────────🎙️ CIRCA is hosted by Vipulesh Thiyagarajah — entrepreneur, author of Sonder, Executive Director at Taian Lanka Steel, and Co-Founder of Getwin Group.─────────────────────────────────────📌 TIMESTAMPS00:00 — Introductionxx:xx — Building after a war and a financial crisisxx:xx — Why Singapore? The nVentures origin storyxx:xx — WealthOS × JP Morgan — what we can actually sayxx:xx — "Boring" B2B fintech and why it winsxx:xx — Chegg is dead. Is SaaS next?xx:xx — AI replacing people — who actually gets wiped outxx:xx — Brain drain: why leaving might be the best thing for Sri Lankaxx:xx — What gets a founder to unicorn status─────────────────────────────────────📲 FOLLOW CIRCA**********All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh— new episode every Sunday.🎙️ **Listen to Circa Z**Youtube → https://www.youtube.com/@CircaPodApple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast/circa/id1552622208Spotify → https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/circa-z/---📖 **Read**Substack (P.E.S.T.) → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.substack.comMedium → https://medium.com/@vipulesh123Website & Blog → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.com---📚 **My Book — Sonder: An Existential Manifesto**Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB2RQYNL---LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/vthiyagarajahLinkedIn Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7454097282641158144All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh---*© Vipulesh Thiyagarajah. All rights reserved.*

In this episode, I sit down with Kusum Wijetilika—political commentator and SJB working committee member—to dissect the systemic rot inside the global financial architecture. From the "spoofing" of the Sri Lankan Treasury to the geopolitical earthquake of the UAE leaving OPEC, we use Ray Dalio’s "Big Cycle" framework to explain why the world feels so volatile in 2026. All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh Topics covered in this episode: ✅ 00:00 – Intro: The intersection of Finance, Media, and Politics. ✅ 05:22 – Treasury Fraud: Was it a hack or just pure incompetence? ✅ 11:00 – The NDB Scandal: How 13 billion rupees went missing for 18 months. ✅ 29:17 – Real Estate Crisis: Why Colombo is now the hardest city to buy a home in globally. ✅ 52:19 – Ray Dalio’s Big Cycle: Are we in the "Debt Death Spiral"? ✅ 01:00:19 – Tariffs & Inflation: Is the U.S. restructuring or just desperate? ✅ 01:28:10 – The Iran War: Oil at $117 and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. ✅ 01:43:00 – Resource Nationalism: What the UAE’s exit from OPEC means for you. All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh— new episode every Tuesday. 🎙️ **Listen to Circa Z**Youtube → https://www.youtube.com/@CircaPod Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/lk/podcast/circa/id1552622208 Spotify → https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/circa-z/ 📖 **Read**Substack (P.E.S.T.) → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.substack.comMedium → https://medium.com/@vipulesh123Website & Blog → https://vipuleshthiyagarajah.com 📚 **My Book — Sonder: An Existential Manifesto** Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB2RQYNL All Links → https://linkin.bio/vipulesh ---*© Vipulesh Thiyagarajah. All rights reserved.*