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Speaker 1: And ultimately when you actually look at what is being done,

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the cutting of unnecessary government spending. Sure, when you're uncovering

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the level of government spending that's going awry, you know,

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people like to highlight who is going to lose their

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benefits because you know, we're no longer going to be

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spending you know, tens of billions of dollars here or there.

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Speaker 2: You are listening to Carrie Lutz's Financial Survival Network, where

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you get valuable information you just can't find anywhere else

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to thrive in today's trying times. You need the Financial

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Survival Network now more than ever. Go to Financial Survivalnetwork

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dot com and get your free newsletter and gift. Financial

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Survival Network now more than ever.

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Speaker 3: And welcome you are listening to and watching the Financial

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Survival Network. I'm your host, Carrie Lutz. Hey, we're at

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the end of February here, DOGE has firmly taken hold.

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Are we heading for a recession? Is the economy salvageable?

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Will DOGE succeed?

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Speaker 4: Well? These are important questions.

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Speaker 3: We've got Ted Thatcher on with us now and Ted,

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it's always great to have you on. So Bright Lake

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Financial that's where you go to and we'll give you

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the website later. If you've got any questions for Ted

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or myself, shoot me an email kl at kerrie lets

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dot com. So first, Ted, the thing that's been dominating

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the headlines now for weeks is doge Elon Musk's.

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Speaker 4: Single handed effort.

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Speaker 3: Obviously there's a lot of people involved in it, but

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is his focus for right now? I guess the'se in

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between rockets to Mars is somehow making this federal behemoth

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efficient or more efficient, less weight, wasteful, to less prone

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to fraud and theft and corruption. You know, a what

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effect is this having on the economy of throwing a

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quote of a million government workers, which is a little

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bit of an oxymoron onto the market at once.

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Speaker 4: I mean, we're.

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Speaker 3: Already seeing bad things happening in the Washington.

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Speaker 4: D c. Real estate market. What's your take on it?

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You know?

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Speaker 1: I think that when it comes to those the overall

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standard and the idea behind it sometimes gets lost in

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all the i'll say political rhetoric around it, and ultimately

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when you actually look at what is being done, the

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cutting of unnecessary government spending. Sure, when you're uncovering the

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level of government spending that's going awry. You know, people

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like to highlight who is going to lose their benefits

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because you know, we're no longer going to be spending

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you know, tens of billions of dollars here or there.

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Speaker 4: But it is.

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Speaker 1: Ultimately really important for the underlying economy because, as we've

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also seen throughout the last several years, so many Americans

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don't feel that the American dream is accessible. And there's

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a couple of reasons for that. Certainly inflation driven at

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many in many ways, largely by government spending, and secondarily

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housing accessibility, and right now most Americans don't feel homes

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are accessible. The thirty year mortgage is still between six

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and seven percent, really so.

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Speaker 4: But rates have been coming down a little bit, haven't they.

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Speaker 1: Sure so, the federal funds rate absolutely has. But that

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speaks specifically to short term interest rates. So yes, our cash,

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our money market accounts, you know, if we are lucky

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enough to have a bank that's going to pay us

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anything on our savings accounts, those rates have been you know,

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more or less pretty good the last several years, but

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they're starting to come down. However, the long term rates

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still are high, and ultimately that is because the long

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term bond market, you know, the market as that they say,

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the wise market has been pricing and inflation, and so

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it's been a governor on the long term interest rate environment.

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And so usually we would think one to one almost

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short term rates start to come down, we'd expect the

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mortgage rates to start to come down. But I think

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ultimately to bring it back to doze, Doze is going

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to have to go a little bit further for the

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market to start to actually believe that the spending levels

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are non inflationary.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So what does it take.

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Speaker 3: I'f those really cut a trillion dollars out of the

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budget and send the twenty percent of it to the

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US taxpayer, so they actually cut the deficit by eight

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hundred billion. Does that restore credibility to the federal government?

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Speaker 1: I think, I don't know if it would make it

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a perfect reputation, but I think it would go a

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long way with the markets. And one person I follow

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really closely is Ray Dallio's you know, different things he publishes,

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and he's talked a lot about this three percent solution.

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Speaker 4: And to your point, if we cut out.

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Speaker 1: A trillion dollars out of the budget, that'll have huge

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effects on our deficit spending. Right now, it's very well

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highlight The deficit spending is seven and a half percent

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above GDP. And so the idea is is if we

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can cut significantly and strategically enough to get that below

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not seven and a half percent, but down to even

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a three percent level, still a deficit, but a three

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percent deficit above GDP, and we can get the economy growing.

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That essentially will restore credibility for the markets to believe

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again that we're not going to have an inflationary environment

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and long term rates can actually safely come down.

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Speaker 4: All right, So what is current GDP? Now? Do you

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know that number?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 1: She sho off the top of my head. I think

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it's I actually don't know it off the top of

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my head. I have to double check.

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Speaker 3: I think it's getting close upwards twenty eight to trillion,

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if I'm not mistaken. Uh uh so yeah, twenty nine

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point seven trillion, So that's thirty thirty trillion dollars, so

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three percent that is nine hundred billion. So I think

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right there, basically have to cut the deficit in half

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to get to dhia's target, right, Yeah, a.

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Speaker 1: Little bit more than half, just from a percentage standpoint,

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but absolutely, and so you know, do you to your

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point too, are we going to throw the baby out

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with the bathwater with these government workers the hockeymoron that

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you highlighted there. I think that that will have some

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negative effects. But the hope in you know, certainly the

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development of that strategy is that those workers are able

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to then participate in the growing economy and actually provide

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productivity instead of essentially a dragon a taxpayer.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, you look at AI and start thinking

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how many jobs are really going to be left in

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the real economy by the time AI reaches its not

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even its full potential ted.

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Speaker 1: No, yeah, I think that that's an honest concern that

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I've thought a lot about.

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Speaker 4: And a lot of people have.

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Speaker 1: The more I really get into it, though, I think

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I believe in a more positive AI outcome than a

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sort of apocalyptic view. The truth is is, I don't

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know if you've you know, started to interface with AI

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and your day to day work life, but it really

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just takes a worker and makes them significantly more productive.

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Speaker 4: Right now, and.

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Speaker 1: Sure, there's this sort of very scary AGI world, which is,

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you know, I suppose there's some probability that that could happen.

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But ultimately, at least the way I'm seeing it being

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applied today, it's tending to make the workforce hopefully more

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and more productive, which is how we've seen technology continue

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to affect the economy, you know, over not just ten years,

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but hundreds of years.

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Speaker 3: All Right, Well, it's going to be interesting to see

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because it looks to me like there's a lot of

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job categories that are going to be eliminated, that are

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no longer going to be necessary, and what are all

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these people going to do? But I guess, according to

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Elon Musk, if the labor component of producing goods and

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services goes to you know, decreases by ninety percent, then

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it'll be free money. I guess we won't even need money, right.

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Speaker 1: I think that some of the applications for AI robots

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like Optimists basically give you know, I would say even

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the lowest income tier in our country access to very,

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very i'll say, productive service sort of jobs.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: You know, if I have an AI robot that costs

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twenty thousand dollars as much as a Toyota, does you

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know even a generally more lower income person could have

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access to you know, like kind of like a housekeeper, butler,

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you know, a cook, you know, a maid, basically all

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these different types of things. And so I think that

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that sort of the hot more positive future view that

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you can take. But obviously it's really reasonable to say, hey,

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a lot of people are going to potentially lose their

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jobs and there needs to be some kind of path

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to help still make them successful in a.

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Speaker 4: Part of the economy.

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Speaker 3: All right, Well, I think it's a challenge ahead, but

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maybe AI will figure out what the solution is the

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problem that it creates, right, That would do you the hope,

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wouldn't it?

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Speaker 4: All? Right?

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Speaker 3: Well, Ted, definitely a fascinating conversation here, a lot of issues.

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What do you guys out there think? How is AI

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going to affect your jobs? How is DOGE going to

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affect you? Are you totally in favor of doge? Do

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you think it's going to work? Let us know? Send

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an email to kl at Harry Lutts dot com.

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Speaker 4: Ted, where do we find you?

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Speaker 1: You can find a songline at Brightlakewealth dot com.

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Speaker 3: Right Brightlakewealth dot com link is in the show notes

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of this interview on Financial Survival Network dot com And

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if you go there, We just ask you sign up

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for your free newsletter. Like over seventy thousand other FSN

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community members have ted pleasure. We will talk to you

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again soon.

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Speaker 2: Great to see you, Ker, Thanks for listening to Carrie

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Letz's Financial Survival Network, your solution to today's trying times.

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For the latest, go to Financial Survivalnetwork dot com. Financial

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