And we just saw, I think, you know, you look at these mortgage rates right now, for example.

Yeah.

The mortgage rates are up to 7.5%.

Now, that's due to two things.

One, the inflation...

So we've had an inflation problem essentially for five years.

It started in 2021.

So what about alternatives and how could, like, let's say a LIBOR loan, these adjustable rate loans as alternatives to try to spur the housing market and that sort of thing, because we do have these high standard bank rates? I think your dog liked that idea.

So how do you measure

affordability? Well, if your real wages or your real total income is increasing more than prices are increasing, then things are affordable.

In fact, you have a real increase in income and you have a higher standard of living and you don't have an affordability crisis.

So during the Biden administration, For four years, the cumulative effect of inflation was that prices rose about 21% over that four-year period.

Incomes were relatively stagnant.

Median household income only went up by about $1,500, and it was in the $78,000, $79,000 range.

Median income now is up to $85,000.

We'll look at this Iran war that we're in as a small price to pay to not let this terrorist group have a nuclear weapon or have nuclear capacity, because if they did and they were taking this kind of craziness, this kind of terror to the world, what would the world look like?

But is there anything else that would make a significant dent in our $40 trillion national debt?

No.

And I don't know why Congress isn't doing anything.

I've been talking about the public debt for decades.

And every president that comes into office says, well, we'll get through this year.

If we can't get a budget, we'll pass a resolution.

Let's get through.

I mean, to some, it might just be a number they hear tossed around kind of casually, but what are the real world impacts of this national debt?

And as we heard Warsh in that video say that they're focused on the inflation side of their mandate, what does the other side of their equation look like on the employment side? And how does that factor in?

Yeah.

So their mandate is price stability, keep inflation under 2% and full employment.

Well, the economy is pretty much at full employment.

Most economists would say 4% unemployment rate is full employment.

And we're, I think, at 4.1 now.

So we're just about there.

And as we heard Warsh in that video say that they're focused on the inflation side of their mandate, what does the other side of their equation look like on the employment side? And how does that factor in?

So how does this affect the supply side of housing inventory and home prices in general? With With employment strong, does that make it a seller's market for the foreseeable future?

Well, it could, except employment is strong, wages have been strong, but mortgage interest rates are now over 7%.

A year ago, they were under 6%.

So when you take a look at interest rates going up, it adds a few hundred dollars a month to a monthly mortgage payment.

And it may be that someone said, you know, I can't afford it.

And also, since there may be a shortage of supply, because people say, I don't want to sell and lose my 3% mortgage.

So if there's a shortage of supply and with incomes increasing, going up you could see uh housing prices go up and mortgage uh rates go up um this the situation we're in now which should have been a good economic climate is not and really the whole reason for it is the um iran conflict if this thing can get over and it will end eventually but when it does get over and oil can flow again oil prices will plummet, gasoline prices will plummet, all energy prices will plummet.

So what would happen if we just... went the other way and cut rates in advance of potentially the Iran war ending?

Can you break that down for us? What's actually happening on the ground there?

Yeah, this is very good news, going to lead to some high GDP growth numbers.

You may recall in the beginning of the year, I said I thought GDP could hit 4% growth by the end of the year.

And I still think it might.

This ran things, kind of messed things up a little bit.

But I still think it might.

Most of my colleagues are looking for an over 3% growth rate here in the third quarter.

But growth is still growth, right? So are you optimistic about the trend on the manufacturing side?

But just from your perspective, what's your assessment of the current macro picture? Growth, employment, investment, and affordability pressures?

So let's hold off on growth for a minute because that's not as much as high as we thought it was.

But the unemployment rate is down to a full employment level.

Each week, you know, some companies just lay off some workers.

Typically, it's about 200,000, 215,000 a week, while the last number was down in the 180 range, lowest we've had it in, decades.

So that looks good.

Although the press pushes the affordability issue, since President Trump has gotten into office, wages and total incomes have gone up faster than inflation.

What do you see as the role of speaking about this this perhaps risk of communist influence within the nation as the president puts it?

How do you see this move in the context of U.S.-Canada relations and Trump's broader tariff strategy?

So if we look at the big picture here a minute, when Trump got into office and he wanted to address the huge negative balance of trade, and it was approaching $1 trillion a year, meaning that we're buying more from, other countries than they're buying from us.

So why is that? Well, the U.S.

typically puts a very small tariff on products before Trump started this, typically about 2.5%.

And when we did that, other countries put on 10, 20, up to 50.

India, in the case of motorcycles, up to 100% tariff.

because our tariffs were so low their products were inexpensive and because their tariffs were so high our products were very expensive and that created the negative balance of trade so trump came in and he says i'm putting huge tariffs on everybody every single country huge tariffs now with the exception of two countries every country said well wait a minute let's not do that let's sit down and try to negotiate something.

So do you then think that, because Canada is vowing to bring this up in upcoming talks to make sure that they bring that to the table with President Trump, do you think that there might be significant negotiation on this seemingly adjacent issue of these wildfires that are currently happening in these talks on tariffs?

What, in your view, is the significance of these Trump accounts?

I think this is a marvelous idea.

So every child born during, essentially during the four years Trump's in office will get $1,000 in an account.

The account will be invested in what's called an index fund, which is kind of a mutual fund index to the S&P 500.

So over time, the money will grow as the stock market grows.

In addition to that, you can put up to $5,000 in each year.

Doesn't have to be that much, but you can put in.

So how do Trump accounts fit into the picture then?

So what does this mean if you are on a fixed income? What does that particular reduction of taxes on a senior do for their monthly and annual living expenses? How much of an impact does it really make?

Well, it really helps them.

So the amount they're collecting varies depending on what year they retired and were they earning enough wages to pay the full amount in.

Some people only get about 2000 a month.

I think the maximum now, if you work until you're 70, the maximum is now over 4,000 a month.

Regardless, taking a few thousand dollars a year away from Social Security recipients in the form of taxes really means they're going to have to cut back on their standard of living.

By eliminating those taxes, adding the few thousand dollars back, it means now that they have a little more breathing room and that should lead to a better future.

WHAT'S BEEN THE RESULTS ON THE NO TAX ON TIPS AND OVERTIME?