Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 2: You know, like I said, you know people, one way
or another, your taxes are going up, and you need
to understand something that inflation is a tax. Milton Freeman
explained it really, really well. You're either paying for all
of this spending with taxes or you're paying it with
the you know how, your currency is devalued.
Speaker 1: That's the reality.
Speaker 3: You're listening to.
Speaker 4: Carrie Let'sa's Financial Survival Network where you get valuable information.
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Speaker 5: Ever, And welcome you are listening to and watching the
Financial Survival Network. I'm your host, and well got a
special treat for you today. Wall Streets a watchdog. Chris
Martowski is with us, and it's been a while. Chris, Uh,
what's what's happening in the world here? Pretty dull time
of the time of world history, isn't it.
Speaker 1: He owns lots.
Speaker 2: Going on with with politics, and like you can't turn
your head without seeing something going on or somebody getting
uh foe offended by some comment somewhere that oh my god,
I've got the vapors.
Speaker 1: A comedian made.
Speaker 2: A joke and then they you know, it's it's getting
to be, you know, at the absurd and nonsensical. But
it always has been. You know, I've been it's way
of talk. Take that and you put the politics aside.
I'm just I'm laughing my head off because just how
the the Bond vigilantes they're they're here, and they told
the Fed and howl that they could take a hike
with their rate cuts. And it's not just here though,
which is the amazing thing is you're taking a look
at yields rise all across the globe.
Speaker 1: And again, we've got to be politically correct.
Speaker 2: Nowadays seems to be able to say something the United
States of America is the tallest short person.
Speaker 1: In the world. Knows to this right now, because it's
it's happening everywhere. It's hilarious.
Speaker 5: You know what we say on FSN we say that
the US is the best looking house in Baltimore, and.
Speaker 2: There you go, it around the Johns Hopkins Loyola area
the that day.
Speaker 5: I know, well, yeah, so things aren't what they used
to be. But in the meantime, you got like China
appears to be in a financial implosion of which they
have no ability to deal with. We got half the
world trying to blow up the other half of the world.
It seems right with China.
Speaker 2: It's like saying, Okay, I'm gonna throw a ball up
in the air, and what's gonna happen. It's gonna come
down and central planning. It happens every single time it's tried,
and you know, you do to try to control you know,
the you know, mother nature, which kind of is akin
to what you know, economics.
Speaker 1: Really is, is these trillions of interactions that.
Speaker 2: Happen every single day, and you think you've got some
handle on it, you're going to fail. And trying them
failed miserably. I mean, they were going in the right
direction for a period of time and they decided to
go all in maw with Z and.
Speaker 1: Again no shock here.
Speaker 2: I mean, anybody ever believed that the numbers that the
Chinese government puts out their growth numbers anything at all.
It's all a fougazy everything that they put out there.
They've got major major issues taking place. Their real estate
issues are beyond the pannable. Yeah, I don't know how
they're going to go about resetting it. But what was
the announcement today? Was that one point or one point
another one point five trillion dollars stimulus but Zuka?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, they did with Zuka and the market went down.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: You know it's interesting.
Speaker 5: There was once it's always a question of life imitating
South Park. There was that one where everything in the
world was securitized and he wanted to the Sun, wants
to get a refund on the margarita maker, but he can't.
The store won't take it back because it's been securitized.
So he goes to the hedge fund on Wall Street
that owns it, and he goes into their offices and
the way the system they're using to place their bets
is they're cutting off the head of a chicken. And
after they cut the head off, the chicken walks around
this wheel sprouting blood.
Speaker 2: And then no, no, that was after the hedge fund
carried That was when they went the Fed and the government.
And remember that the chicken landed on bailout if you remember.
I mean, you can't make this stuff up, Chris, I mean,
this is like maybe they're not cutting the heads of
chickens off. But maybe they're just looking at entrails instead,
you know. Right now, I mean everybody's just like, okay,
you lowered, you lowered rates by fifty basis points the
you know, for whatever reason it may be. And if
you took a look at the numbers that were coming out,
there was no real justification for it, and the market said, nap.
Now now we're not going along with this. This you know,
this is not going to happen. And right now the
entire world is a washing debt and they're printing more.
Speaker 1: It was funny today it was like you had the the.
Speaker 2: Usual cheerleader for the Fed and uh, you know, big government,
Steve Lisman on CNBC. He's like, I don't like to
give the you know, the treasury you know, pass fail
when it comes to bond auctions. I want to give
it an a because you know, the least they sold everything,
like buddy, the higher the rates are, that's the more
that we the tax payers are paying on all of
this debt. Not you know, not to mention the fact
that's the that's the largest line item on the budget
at this point in time, is interest on the national debt.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it is.
Speaker 2: A big deal, but it's a big deal everywhere. And
it was interesting. Somebody sent me a clip and I've usually,
you know, kind of remember these things.
Speaker 3: I don't remember.
Speaker 2: It was Alan Greenspan saying, hey, listen, you know, one
way to get out of the debt situation is to
force everyone else's hand. Everybody else goes bankrupt. Maybe that's
the case as we're trying to pull right now, or
maybe it was the other one I heard is maybe
maybe the CIA is behind bitcoin and they're going to
run the price up to a couple of million and
then we'll bail our way. No, but right now you
know that that's you know, debt as far as the
eye can see, and nobody's taking it seriously.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So they don't take it seriously until they have
to take it seriously, right.
Speaker 2: I think we have to now. I mean, you're taking
a look. You'll get mortgage rates back up above seven percent.
We have our issues with commercial real estate here in
this cartry. The the the underwater portfolio is worse than
it was stir for the housing crisis during the Great Recession.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how they're going to weasel
their way out of that.
Speaker 2: They're like plan and extend and pretend right now and
hiding assets on balance sheet. But you know, it's it's
a it's an ugly situation right now. And again, we
all know our government finances most of our debt short
term instruments that they can't perpetually roll over again and
again and again. And now they're rolling it over at
higher rates, which is just going to cost a taxpayer
more money.
Speaker 5: Well, eventually they're just going to monetize it right again.
Speaker 2: You know, like I said, you know, people, one way
or another, your your taxes are going up, and you
need to understand something that inflation is a tax. Milton
Freeman explained it really really well, you're either paying for
all of this spending with taxes or you're paying it
with the you know how, your your currency is devalued.
Speaker 1: That's the reality.
Speaker 5: So over the weekend, former president proposed elimination of the
income tax, uh, just putting in tariffs I guess as
a substitute, which in theory sounds wonderful, But how's that
really going to work out?
Speaker 2: Yeah, theory, it sounds wonderful that everybody gets free beer,
but that's just you know, it's just it's a theory.
It's great, it's not going to happen, Nor are many
of these policies. We all know this that a lot
of these things are just used for public consumption. You can,
you know, listen to things that are you know, promised
in the rut up to uh election day or State
of the Union addresses. Now that that's that's not going
to happen. No, it's not feasible. I am all for
the elimination of the income tax.
Speaker 3: I big believe.
Speaker 1: I'd rather go to a.
Speaker 2: National sales tax. I think it'd be a hell of
a lot better than an income tax. Got to do something.
But again, I wouldn't instill anything like that until they
actually you know, repealed, uh, you know, the legality of
the income tax truss government, because then they'll do both
at the same time. We'll have a vat tax and
we'll have it. You know, that's not I don't want that.
But I much rather see, you know, a national sales
tax than what we have right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Well, for one thing, it be a lot easier to
calculate because you wouldn't have to calculate it.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, I mean, what.
Speaker 2: Hey, at the point of sale, how about that consumption
tax at the point of sale works every single time?
Speaker 3: What would it be like?
Speaker 2: You know there John Linder that actually had a book,
I have a called they actually call it the fair Tax,
and how it would be set up. And again he'd
have to figure how that would would go about working.
But again it would also you would be getting rid
of fight as well with that also, and let's just
understand something that your your your fight.
Speaker 1: Attacks is just a tax.
Speaker 3: Yeah again you medic with a.
Speaker 1: Site's South Park.
Speaker 2: I remember the old and Simpsons that the duff Beer
factory where they had like duff Ice, dug Dry all this.
It was all the sane beer just going into the
same spouts. All the money that you're baying is all
going to the treasury. It's all the same thing. Oh
it's yeah, it's going to some lock box somewhere.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: No, no, it's not going to Gringott's bank with the
dragons from Harry Partner Garring you know guard Ar your
solid security money. It goes to the Treasury and it
gets sent out the damn door.
Speaker 5: So so it all all comes down to South Park.
Maybe we should put them in charge of what's happening here.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 2: Those guys are geniuses. I have to hand it to them.
And they call a lot of stuff over the years,
that's for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: The uh you know, Kevin Spacey's a dungeon, you know,
all of this stuff. And they called Donald Trump being
elected president many many years ago.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think Chrisus Simpsons did that. Yeah, the Simpsons did
that way way back in the day. Yeah, it was
one of the calls that they made. But again, they
had so many calls. They've been on since what like
nineteen eighty seven or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a long long time. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So the big question always is you just buy gold
and silver, you buy cryptos, real estate.
Speaker 1: I did need ox, I mean all assets.
Speaker 2: I mean my clients, you know, they you know, they well,
you know, tell me, oh, your wonderful at performance is fantastic.
It's like, I'm like, you know, I appreciate the kudos
and all that, but you've got to understand that some.
Speaker 1: Of this performance has been duped inflation.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not just you know, the you know
the fact that you know it's great that the companies
we got great companies in your portfolio.
Speaker 1: And they're doing well.
Speaker 2: But you need to also understand that these things are
up along with you know, inflation. That plays a part
in this also, and you know your portfolios, you know,
whatever it may be, you know it looks great and
also but it's not worth as much as it was.
Actually saw some numbers the other day. I said, you know,
going back to go back to nineteen ninety six, and
you know, if you had, you know, a million, if
you were a millionaire, then let's the equivalent to about
a half a million tonight.
Speaker 1: It's a big.
Speaker 3: Difference, big difference, big difference.
Speaker 5: But it's so hard to compare prior price levels to
current Yeah, for food, you know, cost of an omelet
or a cup of coffee. You know, I go to
this place called the Inflation Cafe in the mornings and
they just raised the price on my particular drink. And
my drink's a little funky, but basically everyone has their
drink there and it went from five sixty two, five
sixty seven to six thirty two overnight.
Speaker 3: And you know it's no better.
Speaker 5: And you know, when I go back and I look
at their as a did an analysis, it's I have
to send you a.
Speaker 3: Link to the article.
Speaker 5: But basically they've got up forty four percent since twenty fourteen,
and they've cut back on their rewards program by about
eighty percent, and they're making more money than ever, but
yet they can't keep their heads above water.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, that's that's the inflation that matters. I
was talking to the bare necessities inflation. It's the stuff
that you have to buy and every day basis. I mean,
again the wizards of smart economists. Oh, inflation is that
this percent? Listen, Okay, yeah, every ten years or so,
I need to buy a new TV. And that's great
that the price is a lot less, you know, But
the fact is, the stuff that we have to spend
money on every single day continues to go up. That's
what's most important. Whether it be you know, your heating costs,
your electricity costs, your car costs, gasoline costs, your food costs,
your hair cut, whatever, all of the things that you
have to spend money on in a regular basis continues
to go up. And that's why people are so frustrated. Yeah,
like I said, it's great, you know, efficiencies and productivity
driving down the cost of electronics and certain things and
durable goods. But the reality is how often you have
to buy those things. You can't eat an iPad. Yeah,
it's so true.
Speaker 5: And you know, as nice as a tesla is, you
can't You can't do much with it other than drive.
It's and electricity prices up, everything's up. So assets are
the key to surviving here. And if you can get
assets with cash flow, like commercial not commercial real estate,
but residential real estate, like leasing different items that people
have to have, then that's where you really clean up.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I mean any any any You have to
have your money working for you. I mean, if you're
not being again, you're falling behind. That's why everybody they
feel it. You know, you're taking you know, you're working
your butt off. You might get a raise, you're taking
two steps forward, but you're taking three steps back. The
only way you're going to avoid that is you've got
to be you know, prudent with your money, and you
have to be invested.
Speaker 1: You have to be putting money awhay. You have to
beat inflation.
Speaker 2: And because it's it's there, it's a reality. And if
you're not, you know, like I said, you're falling behind.
Speaker 5: We don't really know what the real inflation rate is,
but it's certainly higher than four percent. And what are
you getting at your banker? You know, what is the
you know, short term treasure right now? Right on four percent?
It's certainly hell of a lot higher than that. So
if you buy a piece of rental real estate and
you're paying six and a half percent thirty year fixed mortgage,
I think the inflation rates probably closer to ten percent. Yeah,
so you're basically getting free money something else.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, well yeah, without a doubt, I think inflation
is probably above Teddy, we'll go back with the old
way that they calculated, back to the vulgar numbers. I
think it's even higher than that. So you always have
to find a way to try to, you know, get
ahead of the game. And again you do it real estate.
You do it through you know, you look for great
companies that you can see growth in that are paying
you a dividend as well, and you reinvest that you
compound those safe yields over time, which is a you know,
the royal road of riches is compounding. You do that,
you're able to, you know, stay afloat and get ahead
of this as best you possibly can, because again I don't.
Inflation is the way the world now, you know, nobody
we have neither candidate right now. That is the slightest
bit serious about cutting the government down the size. I mean,
god willing, you know, Trump allows Musk to go in
there and cut a couple trillion bucks because again we
do that. I mean, you're going to talk about, you know,
an economy where we got an enormous amount of potential
we can do unbelievable things that we can get our
fiscal house in order.
Speaker 1: That would be fantastic. But again, am I holding my breath?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: No, I've been alive for way too long.
Speaker 5: Well, one thing that Trump did last time that really
was effective was when he issued the executive order that
for every new regulation you want to pass, you got
to get rid of two. Yeah, and that two turned
into twenty. And imagine if he said you got to
get rid of one hundred, all right, or you got
to get rid.
Speaker 2: Of but yeah about you get along with the whatever
you got to get rid of, like five government workers.
Speaker 1: Right top of that.
Speaker 5: That's on top of that too, one hundred worker, one
hundred regulations and one hundred government employees.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you cut that down the side where well
over two millions some odd.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's insanity.
Speaker 5: And you know, contractors, it's military industrial complex.
Speaker 2: Everything, yep, cut it all out, cut it down the
size again. You know, it's it's disgusting what we're watching
taking place in this country.
Speaker 1: How we spend money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm here in Tampa, Florida, the devastation some of
these areas. Here at the hurricane North Carolina. Here you go,
here's a seven hundred and fifty dollars check. We ever
sending billions of dollars all over the globe to all
of these countries. It's badly absurd, it really is. You know,
we we have the capacity to deal and take care
of our own people here in this country, and we don't.
Speaker 1: You know, I've explained this. You're not the priority people.
Speaker 3: You're not.
Speaker 2: If you were, they would be taking care of you
with with stuff like this happened right now.
Speaker 1: They don't. You're not the priority.
Speaker 2: The military industrial complex is, the defense contracts are, and
obviously they're friends overseas exactly.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 5: They managed to get taken care of. But the people
who really needed these storms have just really exposed the
scam of the federal government. Uh So, when we have
this talk a year from now, Chris, where's the country
going to be?
Speaker 1: Boy?
Speaker 2: Listen, you know, I don't, I be honest with you,
the way the media works nowadays, especially with politics, I
have no idea quite frankly, how you know.
Speaker 1: This is going to turn out.
Speaker 2: With this election, You're basically looking at Donald Trump and
God willing, you know, I'm casting my vote for him.
Speaker 1: I've always been.
Speaker 3: I mean, in.
Speaker 1: Twenty sixteen, he wasn't my choice, Rand Paul was.
Speaker 2: I've always been, you know, the libertarian type, you know,
a big ramd All guy. But you know, to me,
he's the better choice in my opinion at this point
in time. Or you're getting, you know, get Kamala Harris,
you're getting Obama's fourth term. It's Obama's fourth term. Yeah,
she's not running the country. We come on now, I mean,
just be serious, She's not. It's you know, the Obama crop.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's the military industrial complex and the intelligence community.
I see that are running the country. Because yeah, that's obvious.
So scary times, Chris, just tell us.
Speaker 3: Where do we find you? How do we connect with you?
Speaker 5: Your podcast, your website, all that good stuff.
Speaker 2: Easiest way to do that is to get to my
website at Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. I can subscribe
to my podcast there and all the other stuff that
I have. Get to my YouTube channel, all sorts of
great stuff. It's Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com.
Speaker 5: All right, excellent links in the show notes to this
interview on Financial Survival Network dot com. When you're there,
please sign up for your free newsletter. We got over
forty thousand subscribers now and keep adding more one thousands
every month. Appreciate you coming on, Chris. If you've got
a question for Chris, myself Emi l k L at
Carrie LUTs dot com.
Speaker 3: Chris, thanks so much. We'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 1: Pleasure.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me, Thanks for listening to Carrie Letz's
Financial Survival Network, your solution to today's trying times. For
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