Speaker 1: If we zoom out just the hair to the GDP
figures that were released, you know, seeing that decline of
thirty basis points er point three percent. If you kind
of dig in there, a lot of that was caused
by a government spending decrease by quarter percent, which I
think is a really good thing and hopefully you know continues.
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Speaker 3: And welcome. You are listening to watching the Financial Survival Network.
I'm your host, Carrie Letz. After a month long hiatus
traveling the world Europe and Asia, I am back, energized
and ready to do this. We got some job numbers
just came out. Markets have been crazy while I've been away.
We're talking with head Thatcher and Ted. Great to have
you back on the show. So what about these job numbers?
Is it just part of the continuing narrative or is
it real?
Speaker 1: Great question Carrie. It's always good to be with you
and see you again. You know, Honestly, the numbers came
in really close to expectations, and really we're just getting
more of the same. The unemployment rate still sits at
four point two percent. The non farm payrolls basically show
one hundred and seventy seven thousand dollars or excuse me,
one hundred and seventy seven thousand jobs that were created,
basically again keeping that number kind of status quo. My
eye always goes to the revisions, which you know, of
course we're getting more of, and then it just tells
you again and again the way they collect this data
is so convoluted and it's so old school. Now, March
is revised down to one hundred and eighty five thousand
from the two hundred and twenty eight thousand dollars that
were two hundred and twenty eight thousand that were originally printed,
and then February was even revised further down to one
hundred and.
Speaker 3: Two thousand, one hundred two, which is like barely treading
water here. But it's no wonder with all these federal
employees getting shown the door.
Speaker 1: Right, well, sure, yeah, and you know, when you walk
through those federal buildings, you see nothing but empty desks anyway,
So of course it begs the question as to what
was getting done, if anything. And so you know, interestingly,
even you know, if we zoom out just a hair
to the GDP figures that were released, you know, seeing
that decline of thirty basis points or point three percent,
if you kind of dig in there, a lot of
that was caused by a government spending decrease by a
quarter percent, which I think is a really good thing
and hopefully you know, continues.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well that was a first, right, pretty remarkable seeing
government spending drop by anything.
Speaker 1: Well, right, it usually only goes one direction, doesn't it.
It's always there's another thing to buy, another thing to
pay for. And you know, the light that was shown
on everything with US eight, I think really has a
lot of Americans, you know, thankful that there's somebody keeping.
Speaker 4: An eye on the waist fraud and abuse.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, for the first time ever in our lifetimes, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you know we've seen these you know,
I guess trends toward it or talking points. There's a
little bit that was done around Reagan, even you know,
Clinton at times it's been a bipartisan priority to you know,
cut government spending or at least keep an eye on it.
But I think that the light that's being shown on
it now, you know, hopefully is actually well hopefully it
actually permeates and doesn't tread backwards now that Elon is
stepping out of the picture.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Elon wasn't actually doing the work there.
And guys like big Balls, even though it's a family show,
that's his name, he was doing the heavy lifting. And
there's a lot of like CEOs involved, people I wouldn't
have expected to be who you know from tech companies. Yeah,
it's like, look, if you got a case of amnesia
and you wanted to figure out where you spent all
your money for the past year, what would you do.
You'd go look at your check register, right, and well,
you know, figure out where the money came from and
where it went. And I think they're just at the
tip of the iceberg here, honestly tied.
Speaker 4: You know, I think so.
Speaker 1: And I think interestingly this efficiency initiative has gotten such
a a politicized this gotten way too politicized a coverage.
You know, again, this should be a like what American
is interested in, you know, sweeping all this waste, fraud
and abuse under the RUG. I don't talk to any
anybody that has an issue with it, but it seems
like there's a fever pitch about whether we should be
doing this or not. Sure, of course, there's some things
that the government spends money on that are positive, but
when it's so widespread, that's where the issue comes. And
I do think that, you know, there's only one response
to anything Trump does for a lot of people out there,
and that is just only a criticism. And I think
we have to take a step back and actually say, okay,
you know, let's evaluate the the things that are being
done and that have changed. You know, obviously everybody even
talks about, of course what's going on with tariffs, and
you know they every time the market ticks down, even
on one basis point, they want to criticize Trump for it,
but they won't give them any of the credit either.
Speaker 4: On the good days.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, could not agree with you more. And the
kind of exciting to see it actually happen, I never
believe you would live to see the day. And it
just shows you how corrupt the whole thing is, with
all of those people screaming and you know, wanting, uh,
wanting to end doge for the benefit of the public.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, yeah, for the benefit of the public.
That's a tongue in cheek right coming out of Washington,
d C. And sometimes it's for the benefit of the
uh the uh, well, the special interests, right, I mean,
I mean, we'll see if we can get some more
clarity on these trade deals too. I think hopefully the
you know, it's often been cited by the administration as
a negotiation tactic to get these countries to come to
the table. And you know, there's some estimates that are
now being shown because they've made some progress here on
these trade deals, that it could be as much as
a trillion dollars now already with commitments of investments back
into the United States.
Speaker 4: And I think that that's a really good thing as well.
Speaker 3: Amazing, huh, really amazing. So well, you know, what do
you think is next. We're going to see these trade
deals and we're going to see positive steps towards really
reigning in the government and making it fulfill its constitutional duties.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know if I'm that hopeful that everything
or on one of our dreams might come true. You know,
I do think that there's gonna, you know, hopefully this
initiative continues. That there is oversight and over overspending right
in terms of what's actually next with the trade deals,
you know, I think what the market has been dealing
with really throughout this whole you know, everything that's happened
since April second, is just a very high level of uncertainty.
Speaker 4: The market, you know, it just hates not knowing what
to expect.
Speaker 1: And so when we have the high tariff and then
the draw back down and then the spotlight gets placed
on China, it just is trying to figure out how.
Speaker 4: To price it all in.
Speaker 1: And so what's next is pen the paper on these
trade deals. The market needs to see them in action
so that it can stabilize, so that it can properly
price in all of this, well what has been uncertainty
and make it, you know, basically come back to normal.
Also in terms of what comes next, I think everybody's
got their eye on Jerme Powell this week, especially after
all the criticism he's earned from the President, and honestly,
I think Powell has faced a tremendous amount of political
pressure and honestly societal pressure for pressure to lower, of course,
and I don't honestly think that we're going to get
it this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, you know banks don't make enough money.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, we should talk to Jamie Diamond about that
after the earnings.
Speaker 4: Jeez, you know, we'll see what they do.
Speaker 1: I don't expect Powell to lower I think given the
labor data we got, given you know, the GDP figure
that we've got, Betis isn't going to show the data
that he wants to see, you know. And honestly, if
I had to guess, if you made me predict something,
I think we're more likely to see Trump all have
missed her too late.
Speaker 3: Yet again, wit, better late than never.
Speaker 1: Well we'll see if yeah, well when the time comes right,
better late than never. But he's he's I think earned
that criticism.
Speaker 4: You know. I think it's very obvious that Powell.
Speaker 1: Waited too long to raise interest rates. I mean, you
remember it was March of twenty twenty two before he
started raising, and inflation was a far you know, raging
in a far gone over conclusion at that point.
Speaker 3: So true, ay, and of you know, it's he's caught
on tape where a FED insiders coat on tape saying
how much he despised Trump, which there's shock because the
ultimate deep state institution, really the first one perhaps is FED,
and I think that he hates Trump.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh, there's gambling going on here, right, Oh yeah, yeah, surprise, surprise.
I mean, I think that there's been a lot of infighting. Honestly,
I don't think the market likes it. You know, obviously
you saw the volatility when Trump criticized him. The truth
is is, I think if they can make the data
case and I think that that it does exist, that
it's time to start softening rates. Then you know, I
think honestly, not only would did administration be happy, but
I think most Americans would.
Speaker 4: You know, most Americans sixty percent carry a credit card balance.
Speaker 1: And think about just the relief that would have a normal, hardworking,
everyday American.
Speaker 3: Hey, you know what I would love to see? What
is that I would love to see the administration put
a cap on credit card rates?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Sure, no, I think go ahead.
Speaker 3: Sorry, yeah, there's like, there's no justification for rates being
this high, certainly not for non defaulted debt eight it
defaults thirty percent a year, but it is just exploitative
and it really doesn't do anyone any good. So what
it does is enables people, enables people to buy stuff
that they don't need from companies that don't make it
in this country.
Speaker 1: Sure, you know, I think it puts people behind the
eight ball, and it's I mean, that's the other thing
I think is it does rob a lot of Americans
from an opportunity at the American dream, you know, I mean,
how can you be hopeful and excited when you're drowning
in a thirty percent APR? I mean, you can't he
debt slave? Well, exactly. I think that's a good way
to put it. Sadly, I will say this too. I mean,
not to go back to the tariffs, but I think
it's interesting enough that you have such a drastic shift
in economic policy, you know, with these tariffs getting thrown
into sort of the world trade routes as a toll booth.
And you know, if you look at where the market's
at off of it's high, it's literally only off seven percent.
Now obviously that's a you know, a big move, but
that's from the high much less from the.
Speaker 4: Quote unquote Liberation Day on April second.
Speaker 1: And that really is only I want to say, it
depends on where the markets at, you know, at the
very moment, but around four percent off. I mean, she's
four percent off the all time high. And we have
a new spotlight on these trade imbalances.
Speaker 4: The administration didn't lie to us.
Speaker 1: They said that there was going to be a little
bit of medicine that had to be taken. And you know,
if it all, if we zoom out after another nine
months or year, and this is all we had to
pay for it, I think that there's an argument we
made that Americans are getting a good deal there.
Speaker 3: You know, financial enemas are never pleasant.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, no, there's a little bit of a pain
to go with the game, right, yeah, well to be expected.
Speaker 3: All right, Hey, just tell us again where we find you,
How we connect with you on the web.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, easy to find our website Brightlakewealth dot com.
Speaker 3: All right, links in the show notes this interview on
Financial Survival Network dot com.
Speaker 4: Go there.
Speaker 3: Please sign up for your free newsletter like we're up
to eighty thousand already and believe it, and we'll send
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Speaker 4: Bet.
Speaker 3: Thanks for stopping by. We'll talk to you again real soon.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jared, thanks for listening to Carrie Let's this. Financial
Survival Network your solution to today's trying times. For the latest,
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