1 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: And welcome. Hello, How are you welcome to the Big 2 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,039 Podcast on this Monday, the twelfth day of January, year 3 00:00:33,119 --> 00:00:37,119 of our lower twenty twenty six, almost set the wrong gear. 4 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,200 Welcome to the podcast. My name is Tom Sullivan. And well, 5 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,079 well it's Monday. Come on, we're getting the cobwebs out 6 00:00:44,079 --> 00:00:47,039 of there. Hope you had a great weekend. Man live 7 00:00:47,079 --> 00:00:52,200 do we have? We have a boatload to go over today. 8 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:59,000 There's a lot of kind of financial topics that I love, 9 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,599 dealing with the about the Federal Reserve, about j. Powell 10 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:10,840 criminal indictment. Maybe, we've got the protests going on across 11 00:01:10,879 --> 00:01:15,680 the nation regarding Ice. We've got the investigation in Minnesota 12 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,359 maybe going, maybe not going. We've got Iran and whether 13 00:01:20,439 --> 00:01:23,959 or not we're going to take some kinetic action against them. 14 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,200 We've got the oil markets in Venezuela. The list goes 15 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,599 on and on and on. I mean, I mean, hello, 16 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:40,359 what about that Epstein story. What happened to that? Oh yeah, 17 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,480 we were on the list of the They were going 18 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:46,280 to release all these pages and then they found some 19 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,000 more pages, and then all of a sudden, all this 20 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:54,159 is this wag the dog. It makes you wonder the 21 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,680 Epstein documents and the list of clients and all that exist. 22 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,599 I don't know where it is, but I haven't seen 23 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:10,439 it in a couple of weeks. The cost of groceries, affordability, 24 00:02:10,719 --> 00:02:15,120 anybody's seen that story lately. Inflation. Oh, by the way, 25 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,199 tomorrow we get our consumer price index for the month 26 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:23,400 of December, so we'll get a fresh inflation report tomorrow. 27 00:02:24,319 --> 00:02:28,319 But I mean, we're talking again about the threats and 28 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,960 the and the kinetic action. We'll start with Venezuela obviously, 29 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,560 and now lots of concern about what we're going to 30 00:02:41,599 --> 00:02:46,000 do about Cuba. What's Cuba going to do? Iran? Like 31 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,199 I said, are we going to war with Iran? Iceland? 32 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,800 We're still talking about going into Iceland. Syria. There was 33 00:02:55,879 --> 00:02:59,159 a number of missile strikes over the weekend in Syria 34 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,879 to basically retaliate against their killing of two soldiers in 35 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,479 a civilian a couple of weeks ago. I thought we 36 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:15,560 already did one of those Iraq Nigeria attacks there. Iran. 37 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,719 I'm going back around again, But I mean, are we 38 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,039 the policeman of the world, because this is what it 39 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,919 looks like, and this is what surprises me about this 40 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:30,080 is that I truly thought that Donald Trump was not 41 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:39,000 going to get as involved in any military conflicts. I 42 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,159 I guess I was wrong. I really did think that 43 00:03:42,599 --> 00:03:44,960 he talked about no more forever wars, Well these aren't 44 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,199 I think in his mind these aren't forever. But then 45 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,599 I'm talking about Venezuela and that we're going to run 46 00:03:49,599 --> 00:03:55,560 it until when we don't know. And speaking of Iran, 47 00:03:55,919 --> 00:03:59,000 we got involved with Iran in nineteen fifty three. There 48 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:06,000 was a democratically elected leader of Iran that we did 49 00:04:06,039 --> 00:04:10,479 not like, so the CIA got rid of him and 50 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:16,519 put in place the Shaw. And the Shaw was fine 51 00:04:16,639 --> 00:04:19,759 for a while, and then he started having secret police 52 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,240 start harming people that were opposed to the Shaw, and 53 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,319 that led to the overthrow of the Shaw. And while 54 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:33,560 we got ourselves the Ayatola. So when you start changing 55 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,959 regimes and start interfering in other countries, you don't know 56 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,120 where these things are going to go. You just do not. 57 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,160 So we got a lot to go over all of 58 00:04:43,439 --> 00:04:49,360 all of that. The President also made some comments over 59 00:04:49,399 --> 00:04:56,040 the weekend about about putting a cap on interest rates 60 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:01,920 for credit cards for one year. You know what he's 61 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,920 trying to do. He is trying to go after the 62 00:05:05,959 --> 00:05:11,439 problem of affordability, and he's trying to help people feel 63 00:05:12,519 --> 00:05:16,800 like he's helping them with their wallet. But if you 64 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,160 do that, the bank stocks all took a dive earlier 65 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,839 this morning. If you do that, banks make a lot 66 00:05:23,879 --> 00:05:26,120 of money off these credit cards, tons of money off 67 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,959 of them. And I have to tell you that what 68 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,199 will happen is that there's a lot of people that 69 00:05:33,319 --> 00:05:36,560 will no longer be allowed to use their credit cards. 70 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:41,279 They will cancel them. Banks are not going to offer 71 00:05:41,439 --> 00:05:45,319 credit cards or keep credit cards in the hands of 72 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,399 people who have low credit scores. They're too much of 73 00:05:49,439 --> 00:05:53,439 a risk, and that's why they charge outrageously high rates. 74 00:05:54,199 --> 00:05:57,680 They are outrageously high. And the whole idea about it's 75 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:03,279 called usery laws. They're used to be usery laws. I 76 00:06:05,079 --> 00:06:07,240 just know that this will make it much much harder 77 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,879 for people to get credit, to borrow money, to get 78 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:18,040 a credit card, to keep their credit cards. Andrew Ross 79 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:23,240 Sorkin over at CNBC was talking about this earlier today. 80 00:06:23,759 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 2: I was on the phone with a bunch of bankers 81 00:06:25,639 --> 00:06:30,839 over the weekend who were basically not just mad, flipping 82 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,720 out of their minds, frankly, and they were flipping out 83 00:06:33,759 --> 00:06:35,600 of their minds. I believe in the argument they were 84 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,680 making is if you don't want credit in America, if 85 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,959 you want us to shut down, you know, millions of 86 00:06:39,959 --> 00:06:42,600 people's credit cards, because that's what we will have to 87 00:06:42,639 --> 00:06:45,279 do to make the economics of these businesses work. That 88 00:06:45,319 --> 00:06:48,600 would be the outcome. I don't know if that's I 89 00:06:48,639 --> 00:06:52,600 don't know if that's a threat. I can't tell you 90 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,720 about the actual math. I do think that what's happened 91 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,000 to the business from what I've told is because there's 92 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,319 so many service that are now being layered on top 93 00:07:01,319 --> 00:07:04,079 of credit cards that the only way for them to 94 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,959 obviously make money really is to actually charge what might 95 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,560 be described as usually rates or not whatever you do, 96 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,240 what kind of services, I mean, there's all of the 97 00:07:13,319 --> 00:07:16,439 I mean, some cards have loyalty points, some cards don't. 98 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,279 Some cards have insurance on the product, some cards don't. 99 00:07:19,279 --> 00:07:21,879 But there's all sorts of things now that are embedded 100 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,000 in your credit card that go far beyond strictly just 101 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:31,839 buying and selling products, you know, whether it's insurance on 102 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,680 when you go to rent a car or this or that. Now, 103 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,839 some of these cards, as I said, their fees, you know, 104 00:07:37,959 --> 00:07:40,439 Mark Express charges your fees. There's other cards that give 105 00:07:40,439 --> 00:07:42,560 you the card for free, but those cards that are 106 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,759 giving you for free, the way they're making up their 107 00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:47,319 money is typically on the other end. 108 00:07:47,319 --> 00:07:50,079 Speaker 1: I mean, they want you to charge everything on it. 109 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 2: They want you not just to charge everything on it 110 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,759 because they're getting the three percent for each sale there, 111 00:07:55,879 --> 00:07:59,279 really want you to actually not pay so that you 112 00:07:59,319 --> 00:08:02,199 pay the answers, right, that's the business. 113 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, and about one third of people pay their credit 114 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,040 card balance every month so they don't incur those interest rates. 115 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:15,000 But that means two thirds of our nation they roll 116 00:08:15,079 --> 00:08:19,120 those balances over and the credit card companies love it. 117 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:25,959 Thank you, thank you very much. So listen. On one hand, yeah, 118 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,199 capping interest rates on credit cards goes against the marketplace. 119 00:08:30,839 --> 00:08:33,879 I am a free market guy. The president is not. 120 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,200 I mean he's not. I know, he's not a Republican 121 00:08:37,279 --> 00:08:40,080 even though he ran on that ticket. He's a populist 122 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,120 and this is a populist move. So what it will 123 00:08:45,159 --> 00:08:48,159 mean that the arguments against it people with lower credits 124 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,759 are credit card score or credit scores I should say, 125 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,000 is going to if you're in a gym, you're going 126 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,919 to have to go to payday lenders or loan shark 127 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,039 for somebody else going to charge you a lot more 128 00:09:02,039 --> 00:09:07,600 than credit cards do. It will the market, The credit 129 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:12,519 cards will leave a number of markets, The number of 130 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:17,159 benefits or reward programs will quickly disappear or be reduced 131 00:09:17,519 --> 00:09:20,759 to only the people who pay their bill every single 132 00:09:20,759 --> 00:09:25,799 month in full. The thing about it, though, is these 133 00:09:25,879 --> 00:09:30,759 rates that they're charging are outrageous. You're talking twenty to 134 00:09:30,879 --> 00:09:38,320 thirty percent, and the cards are enormously profitable, but it 135 00:09:38,399 --> 00:09:41,440 also traps a lot of people that into a debt spiral. 136 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:47,120 There is no question that personal finance bankruptcies will skyrocket. 137 00:09:47,879 --> 00:09:50,799 So it's not I don't I understand what he's doing. 138 00:09:50,879 --> 00:09:55,240 He's trying to do something to pretend like there's affordability, 139 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:57,559 but what happens at the end of one year, because 140 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,120 in one year the midterm elections will have been done. 141 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:06,480 So he's just doing this just for political benefit to 142 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,879 try and get Republicans reelected. He's not on the ballot, 143 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,039 so I don't know if it will really work. The 144 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:17,720 other financial stories that popped up over the since we 145 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:23,000 last met on Friday was he also wants Freddie Mack 146 00:10:23,159 --> 00:10:25,879 and Fannie May to go out and buy two hundred 147 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:31,799 billion dollars worth of mortgage debt mortgage backed securities. And 148 00:10:33,159 --> 00:10:38,120 I used to. I helped one of my clients. We 149 00:10:38,159 --> 00:10:40,960 went in and we started a mortgage banking company many 150 00:10:41,039 --> 00:10:43,639 years ago. So I was in the mortgage business for 151 00:10:43,759 --> 00:10:48,799 about seven years something like that. And I will tell 152 00:10:48,799 --> 00:10:52,639 you this won't this won't do a thing for mortgage rates. 153 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,480 Fannie May and Freddie Mac. I'll have to do a 154 00:10:56,519 --> 00:10:59,759 separate show just on who they are and how they work. 155 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,600 But basically, you go down to your local mortgage lender, 156 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,159 you borrow the money. Let's say you borrow just for 157 00:11:08,279 --> 00:11:12,399 round numbers one hundred thousand dollars. The one hundred thousand dollars, 158 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,159 They take that and they put it in a package 159 00:11:15,159 --> 00:11:17,440 of a bunch of other loans that are similar to 160 00:11:17,519 --> 00:11:22,320 yours in the similar same city or region. They package 161 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,519 them together and then they sell them to Fanny mayor 162 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:30,000 Freddie Mack. That way they get money so that when 163 00:11:30,039 --> 00:11:32,720 the next customer comes in the door and wants to 164 00:11:32,759 --> 00:11:35,639 apply for a mortgage, they have money to lend. It 165 00:11:35,799 --> 00:11:40,480 refreshes their pool of money to lend. Now, Freddy and 166 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,039 Fanny don't hold on to those that never used to 167 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:49,279 They turn around and they sell them to investors, mutual funds, 168 00:11:49,399 --> 00:11:53,720 pension plans, all of that. So by ask by telling 169 00:11:54,399 --> 00:11:57,480 Freddy and Fanny, which used to be independent, which is 170 00:11:57,519 --> 00:12:01,600 another whole topic, they're now part of the government. They 171 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,480 the reason they are is because the people that ran 172 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:06,919 it were a bunch of crooks. A number of years ago. 173 00:12:07,279 --> 00:12:10,080 Before they got involved, Fanny and Freddy was a great 174 00:12:10,399 --> 00:12:14,840 mortgage system in this country. Millions of people were able 175 00:12:14,879 --> 00:12:18,120 to buy homes because of Fannie May and Freddie Mack 176 00:12:19,159 --> 00:12:24,080 and so so they buy two hundred billion dollars worth 177 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,960 of mortgage backed securities. That's not going to deal with 178 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:31,440 thing to mortgage rates, and mortgage rates are not set 179 00:12:31,879 --> 00:12:37,120 by the Fed, Morgan. The FED only controls indirectly interest 180 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,399 rates that are two years or shorter in duration. So 181 00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:47,159 mortgages are more than two years, they're fifteen or thirty. 182 00:12:47,799 --> 00:12:51,960 There's some twenties out there, I guess. But so I 183 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:56,240 don't know what he's doing. I don't understand his motivation 184 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,840 in this. I just it will not move mortgage rates. 185 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,399 But while we're speaking of mortgage rates, mortgage rates actually 186 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:11,120 slipped just microscopic slip below six percent. So rates have 187 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,320 been coming down a little bit, so will six percent 188 00:13:15,799 --> 00:13:22,000 do the trick? There are now more people with mortgages 189 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:27,679 at six percent or higher than people who have three 190 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:32,879 percent or lower mortgage rates. So there you go on 191 00:13:32,879 --> 00:13:35,159 on what that's all about. All right, let's get into 192 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:42,360 as we're talking about interest rates. J Powell, the chairman, 193 00:13:42,639 --> 00:13:47,039 Jerome Palll, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. This caught 194 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:53,440 everybody by surprise. It's something that you normally see in 195 00:13:53,799 --> 00:13:57,799 third world countries where the head of the government wants 196 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:02,960 to manipulate for political reasons, interest rates. The other thing 197 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:09,360 about this is that they have the DOJ has opened 198 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:15,840 a criminal investigation into J. Powell and apparently I haven't 199 00:14:15,879 --> 00:14:19,759 read the charges, but apparently it's going to a grand 200 00:14:19,879 --> 00:14:25,240 jury in Washington, DC. The US attorney that has opened 201 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:32,600 this criminal inquiry the investigation is Janine Piro, the US 202 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,799 attorney in Washington, DC, and she's going to do whatever 203 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:42,360 Donald Trump wants to do, or whatever the Attorney General 204 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:47,320 wants to do. Pam Bondy, but it's lawfair. It's using 205 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:54,240 lawfair to undermine the fed's independence, and the fed's independence 206 00:14:54,440 --> 00:15:01,080 is a major, big deal in the financial world. So 207 00:15:01,799 --> 00:15:06,000 I mean, he's gone after banks, he's gone after law firms, 208 00:15:06,039 --> 00:15:11,679 he's gone after media companies, he's gone after universities. He 209 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,639 went after Lisa Cook and that decision is still pending, 210 00:15:16,279 --> 00:15:17,919 and now it looks like he's just going to go 211 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,159 after the FED chairman. The FED chairman is one of 212 00:15:21,919 --> 00:15:26,559 twelve that vote on the every six weeks on their 213 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:33,559 recommendations regarding short term interest rates, so Jay Powell is 214 00:15:33,639 --> 00:15:38,440 just one vote. The other thing is he's out. Well, 215 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,960 he's out as chairman. Come may not that much, just 216 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,799 a few more months, so I don't I mean, I 217 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:53,159 know all presidents have fussed about the FED, but it 218 00:15:53,879 --> 00:15:58,679 truly looks like vindictive prosecution. It looks like lawfair and 219 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,679 I understand that he's very upset about lawfare that was 220 00:16:02,799 --> 00:16:05,879 used on him. So I guess we're going to do 221 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:11,840 the tit for tat here J Powell. He came out 222 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:16,440 last night, Sunday night, with a statement about this criminal 223 00:16:17,799 --> 00:16:20,799 it's not an indictment yet a criminal investigation. 224 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,919 Speaker 3: The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the 225 00:16:23,919 --> 00:16:28,039 Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment 226 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,000 of what will serve the public rather than following the 227 00:16:31,039 --> 00:16:34,879 preferences of the president. This is about whether the FED 228 00:16:34,919 --> 00:16:37,320 will be able to continue to set interest rates based 229 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,360 on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy 230 00:16:41,399 --> 00:16:44,360 will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. 231 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,679 Speaker 1: The whole idea about FED independence is well. First of all, 232 00:16:50,679 --> 00:16:54,200 it was the Federal Reserve Bank was set up by 233 00:16:54,480 --> 00:17:01,080 Congress as an independent agency. The argument is that j. 234 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:06,200 Powell was testifying before Congress about the remodel and expansion 235 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:12,359 of the Federal Reserve Bank. It's headquarters in DC, and 236 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,680 it does seem to be excessive, it does seem to 237 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:24,319 be unreasonable, but it's an independent agency. And here's the thing, 238 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,519 and people keep getting this mixed up. I'll play a 239 00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:29,200 cut for you coming up with John Yu who's a 240 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:34,200 very bright lawyer, talked about the government money involved. There's 241 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,559 no government money involved. The Federal Reserve is a bank. 242 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,680 It is the Central Bank of the United States. The 243 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,799 Central Bank is called that because all the banks in 244 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:53,440 the country belong to the Central Bank. They have to 245 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:58,079 pay fees to the central Bank. The central Bank controls 246 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,160 them buying or selling treasure. Reason I don't want to 247 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:06,359 get into those weeds. But essentially there's no tax dollars involved, 248 00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:11,400 there's no government money involved. It's all banking money. The 249 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,000 banks that are the members of the Central Bank pay 250 00:18:15,079 --> 00:18:20,480 the central Bank fees. You don't, I don't. The government 251 00:18:20,759 --> 00:18:24,079 is not doesn't have their hands in the kitty at 252 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:30,759 but no nothing, So why does anybody care other than J. 253 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:35,720 Powell looks like he isn't all that great at building 254 00:18:35,759 --> 00:18:41,000 buildings or managing money of the Fed. He's not that 255 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:43,559 great as a FED chairman. In my humble opinion, I 256 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,119 think he was super slow to raise interest rates when 257 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,440 he should have that. If he had done that on time, 258 00:18:50,519 --> 00:18:53,480 we wouldn't have had the big inflation spike and we 259 00:18:53,519 --> 00:18:55,799 wouldn't have wound up with a lot of people in 260 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:01,240 financial trouble. So I'm not a fan of J. Pellll, 261 00:19:02,079 --> 00:19:05,559 but I am a big fan of the FED being independent. 262 00:19:06,279 --> 00:19:11,279 Here's Richard Quest, a long time financial reporter. 263 00:19:11,799 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 4: Is the emperor's new clothes. J Powell yesterday basically told 264 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,519 us that the emperor was naked. Having had this announcement 265 00:19:20,839 --> 00:19:25,400 about the investigation into the FED chair, Powell came out 266 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,240 and declared war, or rather, the administration declared war and 267 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:34,400 Powell has now enjoined it. Because it's really about interest rates. 268 00:19:34,519 --> 00:19:38,559 It's who controls monetary policy, whether the markets go up 269 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,880 or down. It's not really the core issue on any 270 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,319 given moment or any given day. The question is the 271 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,599 independence of the FED. And you have to see it 272 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,720 in context a new FED chair to be announced. Lisa Kohane, 273 00:19:51,759 --> 00:19:55,119 of course, has been attacked and they're trying to get 274 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,160 her off the FED board. Put it all together, this 275 00:19:58,279 --> 00:20:02,799 is just one more example of the administration's determination to 276 00:20:03,039 --> 00:20:04,200 question the Fed's independence. 277 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's exactly why you want independence, because otherwise 278 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,920 federal reserve boards can manipulate the interest rates based upon 279 00:20:12,039 --> 00:20:17,400 political reasons, not financial reasons, not economic reasons. What the 280 00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:22,799 big difference is politicians have short term views, namely the 281 00:20:22,839 --> 00:20:27,880 next election. The FED has long term views. What will 282 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,799 this do to help the economy, to cool inflation or 283 00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:36,359 to boost growth. Those are not short term decisions. You 284 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:39,759 need a long term decision maker and that is why 285 00:20:39,799 --> 00:20:43,759 the FED is independent. So what about the legality of 286 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:50,119 this referral criminal referral that is underway. Here's Elie Honing. 287 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,279 Speaker 5: Whichohn perjury charges are much harder to prove, I think 288 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,039 than people often realize if you are going to bring 289 00:20:56,079 --> 00:20:59,119 a successful perjury case, the prosecutor has to show, first 290 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,880 of all, to direct objective false testimony, and you have 291 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,680 to show that that testimony was given falsely intentionally. So 292 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,480 it's not enough to show that an answer and I 293 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,359 don't know exactly what they're looking at that, Jerome Powell 294 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,920 said here, but it's not enough for prosecutors to show 295 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,880 that an answer was ambiguous. It's not enough to show 296 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,039 that an answer was misleading. It's not even enough merely 297 00:21:22,079 --> 00:21:24,079 to show that an answer was false. You have to 298 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:28,039 show a direct, specific answer that was intentionally false. And 299 00:21:28,039 --> 00:21:30,680 so there's always a lot of talk and speculation about 300 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,519 perjury charges, John, but that's the reason why actual successful 301 00:21:34,599 --> 00:21:38,920 perjury prosecutions are way more rare than the talk would suggest. 302 00:21:39,759 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: Yeah, and the purjury he's talking about is Jay Powell 303 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,880 was testifying before Congress and they were asking him about 304 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,039 the two and a half billion dollar expansion of the 305 00:21:49,079 --> 00:21:55,039 Federal Reserve headquarters in DC, and apparently they did somebody 306 00:21:55,039 --> 00:21:58,440 didn't like his answers, especially about did you put in 307 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:03,799 some fancy elevators, did you put in some fancy rooms, 308 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,160 and things like that. And again Congress gets to ask 309 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,920 the FED all kinds of questions because Congress created it, 310 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,519 but they don't give it a dime. They FED does 311 00:22:15,599 --> 00:22:20,720 not have a dime of taxpayer money or the government money, 312 00:22:20,839 --> 00:22:26,440 none of it. So it's back to Richard quest for 313 00:22:26,519 --> 00:22:27,200 a moment. 314 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 4: To take all of these points. Regardless of how this 315 00:22:30,279 --> 00:22:33,880 plays out legally, the damage is done because the checks 316 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,799 and balances in the US administration of executive, legislative, and 317 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,160 judicial are clearly not working. Therefore, de facto, from the 318 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,799 some point of view, came done. 319 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: God what he wanted already. Absolutely, yeah, but the damage 320 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:52,119 has been done. People around the world, central banks, investors, 321 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,640 pension funds, you name it, are going to be going, well, 322 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,599 wait a minute, who do you trust? Is this FED 323 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,480 going to be a puppet for whoever the president is? 324 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,839 So they accuse j Powell of lying to Congress. The 325 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,680 person who brought this, by the way, is a Republican. 326 00:23:10,279 --> 00:23:14,240 Uh what is her name? She's that congresswoman from Florida. Yeah, 327 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:18,440 it's uh Anna Paulina Luna. And she's the one that 328 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:24,119 said that Jay Powell lied. Well, here's Donald Trump doesn't 329 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,720 even mention that. Here's the president talking about j Paul. 330 00:23:28,079 --> 00:23:33,000 I'm sorry Jay Powell. In just a few weeks ago, 331 00:23:33,039 --> 00:23:34,160 in December, we're. 332 00:23:34,039 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 6: Thinking about bringing a gross in competence which called grossing competence. 333 00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:42,240 Slow sit, it's grossing competence against Powell and left to fire. 334 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,240 But we're so close, you know, maybe it but maybe 335 00:23:46,279 --> 00:23:47,319 I shall might Yeah. 336 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 1: So there. He wasn't talking about the spending of the 337 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,000 money on the on the new headquarters building. He was 338 00:23:54,079 --> 00:23:56,880 just taught he doesn't like Powell. Oh, by the way, 339 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,799 guess who appointed Powell the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. 340 00:23:59,799 --> 00:24:02,920 That's right, that would be Donald Trump. Yes, he did 341 00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:06,880 in Trump one point zero. This was his choice, and 342 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,359 now he doesn't like him. Powell isn't dropping interest rates. 343 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,640 I agree with the president. Rates should be lower. I 344 00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:17,799 agree with the president. Powell was late to the to 345 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,759 the game when interest when inflation started up, we could 346 00:24:21,759 --> 00:24:26,160 have avoided that whole inflationary cycle. So, but the Fed 347 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:32,920 takes longer views. Politicians take short term views. Let's see 348 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,839 what Harrietton has to say on how the public feels 349 00:24:36,839 --> 00:24:38,079 about this very. 350 00:24:38,279 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 7: Very and I'll just say, to quote the movie TOUTSI 351 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:41,519 this is one nutty hospital. 352 00:24:41,519 --> 00:24:42,319 Speaker 8: This back and forth. 353 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,759 Speaker 7: My goodness, gracious, they think it's incredibly important that the 354 00:24:45,799 --> 00:24:48,279 FED acts independently of Donald Trump, and they think it's 355 00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:50,559 best for the economy. We're talking about more than two 356 00:24:50,559 --> 00:24:54,240 thirds of adults, sixty eight percent, ninety one percent of Democrats, 357 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,920 seventy five percent of independence, and even forty one percent 358 00:24:58,279 --> 00:25:02,160 two fifths of Trump's thinks it's important that the FED 359 00:25:02,279 --> 00:25:05,319 acts independently of Trump for the best of the economy. 360 00:25:05,519 --> 00:25:07,960 So when you get forty one percent of Republicans and 361 00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:10,599 ninety one percent of Democrats agreeing on something with seventy 362 00:25:10,599 --> 00:25:13,799 five percent of independence, you know it is a popular position. 363 00:25:14,039 --> 00:25:17,440 The bottom line is the American people vigorously disagree with 364 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,599 the President of the United States on this. They want 365 00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:22,559 a FED that acts independently of him because they think 366 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:23,839 it's best for the ECONI. 367 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,119 Speaker 1: All right, let's bring in John You. He's a long 368 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,160 time he was assistant Attorney General. He's a big Republican guy. 369 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:36,279 He is a conservative. And while let's see what he 370 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,359 thinks about this as a legal issue. That says this 371 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:40,880 is going down the legal road. 372 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:46,079 Speaker 9: Now, I think that both sides here are escalating a 373 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:48,759 dispute into something as you said, we have never seen 374 00:25:49,319 --> 00:25:51,799 in the history of the country. It may be the 375 00:25:51,839 --> 00:25:56,039 case that the Federal Reserve under termin Powell has wasted 376 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,279 hundreds of million dollars in the renovation of the building. 377 00:26:00,039 --> 00:26:03,519 But if President Trump really wants to get Powell out 378 00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:07,039 of office, he's only going to be there until May. 379 00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:10,440 There's no way any kind of criminal probe and investigation 380 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,880 can get going and get into court in time to 381 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,680 make any difference about whether Powell's going to remain as 382 00:26:16,759 --> 00:26:18,720 chairman or not. It just takes too long. He's only 383 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:21,839 going to be there another four months. It may be 384 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,519 something larger, though, maybe Powell's right. Maybe what President Trump 385 00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:28,359 wants to do is to say, well, Powell, you're going 386 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,920 to be on the Federal Reserve another few years, even 387 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,759 after your chairman and maybe the other members of the 388 00:26:33,759 --> 00:26:36,799 board ought to be worried about whether we're going to 389 00:26:36,799 --> 00:26:41,160 investigate you. Although I haven't seen any evidence or proof 390 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,880 yet that would suggest any kind of criminal charges have occurred. No, no, 391 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,960 one last thing is odd is right now the Supreme 392 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,440 Court is going to be hearing a case within the 393 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,359 next month about whether President Trump just has the right 394 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:58,400 to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board directly anyway, 395 00:26:58,559 --> 00:27:01,279 and if President Trump were to win this case, there's 396 00:27:01,319 --> 00:27:04,599 no need to get the criminal justice system involved. This 397 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,799 might be a long way of saying I'm sorry. Maybe 398 00:27:06,839 --> 00:27:10,519 what's really upset the president and gotten the Justice Department 399 00:27:10,559 --> 00:27:12,720 involved as they are trying to root out some kind 400 00:27:12,759 --> 00:27:17,880 of suspected wrongdoing and what looks like overspending on the 401 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:19,920 building of the Federal Reserve headquarters. 402 00:27:20,319 --> 00:27:20,880 Speaker 1: There's two things. 403 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 9: As he said, did he lie? I think that's a 404 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,799 really hard case in general, ever to prove lying to Congress. 405 00:27:27,319 --> 00:27:30,680 It doesn't happen very often. Usually you would expect Congress 406 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,799 to complain about it. First. I don't remember people at 407 00:27:33,839 --> 00:27:38,039 the time Chairman Powell testified saying that he had lied. 408 00:27:38,079 --> 00:27:40,599 You have to prove that he intended to lie too. 409 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,079 So it's not a question of whether he made a 410 00:27:43,079 --> 00:27:46,640 mistake or he slipped up in his testimony. Did he 411 00:27:46,799 --> 00:27:51,119 actually intend to lie to Congress about the building of 412 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:53,799 the headquarters. I think that's a really hard case to prove. 413 00:27:54,319 --> 00:27:57,079 This may be able, you suggests. I think maybe this 414 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,720 may be one hand of the Justice Department not knowing 415 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,440 what the other hand of the government is doing. As 416 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,400 we've been talking about. President Trump has been engaged in 417 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,920 this serious political fight with the Federal Reserve and its independence. 418 00:28:11,279 --> 00:28:13,920 That's going to be settled by the Supreme Court in 419 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,240 short order. It will get a decision by the end 420 00:28:16,279 --> 00:28:19,359 of the summer, in fact, probably the month after Chairman 421 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,799 Powell steps down. Bringing up the criminal justice investigation, that's 422 00:28:24,839 --> 00:28:28,200 a serious escalation in this fight. And as you said, 423 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,000 there's going to be a lot of hard accounting issues 424 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,720 and other kinds of spending and what kind of plans 425 00:28:35,759 --> 00:28:39,400 were put into effect, who proved them, did they realize costs? 426 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:41,920 By God of hand, that might be a really hard thing. Again, 427 00:28:42,079 --> 00:28:42,839 to prove. 428 00:28:42,799 --> 00:28:44,079 Speaker 1: Something was criminal. 429 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,759 Speaker 9: You could probably prove this was way too opulent, This 430 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,640 goes too far. They should spend this much money may 431 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:51,839 not be taxpayer dollars, although it is money I think 432 00:28:51,839 --> 00:28:55,720 that belongs to the federal government. But was it criminal? 433 00:28:55,799 --> 00:28:58,240 I think there's a really high bar for the Justice 434 00:28:58,279 --> 00:29:00,960 Department to prove here. This is what also worries me 435 00:29:01,039 --> 00:29:03,519 is that Chairman Powell and the Fed are escalating this too. 436 00:29:03,839 --> 00:29:05,759 What if they just sat on the subpoena or had 437 00:29:05,759 --> 00:29:09,079 never revealed publicly that they'd received them, and just complied 438 00:29:09,119 --> 00:29:11,559 with them quietly. This is what worries me about this 439 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,319 is not only is a President Trump pressuring the FED 440 00:29:13,319 --> 00:29:16,200 as many presidents have before, but not to this length, 441 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,559 but Chairman Powell seems to want to throw down the 442 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,039 red flag about this too and try to spark an 443 00:29:22,079 --> 00:29:25,200 even bigger political fight when he might have handled it 444 00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:29,200 more politically, more in a more subtle way that would 445 00:29:29,279 --> 00:29:32,880 de escalate matters, not try to spark a major constitutional fight. 446 00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:37,319 Speaker 1: Well, Jay balcomes across as this nice, little quiet man, 447 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,240 but he's not anything like that. He was a big 448 00:29:41,279 --> 00:29:45,519 executive with Carlyle. He's a very wealthy individual. You don't 449 00:29:45,559 --> 00:29:48,480 push him around. And I think he just finally had 450 00:29:49,119 --> 00:29:52,000 had it because Trump has called him every name in 451 00:29:52,079 --> 00:29:55,200 the book, and he he's going to fight back on 452 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,519 this one. One more lawyer on all of this, Jonathan 453 00:29:58,599 --> 00:30:04,440 Cantor is a former assistant Attorney General, so he was 454 00:30:05,039 --> 00:30:09,240 number two in the DOJ and he's kind of shaking 455 00:30:09,279 --> 00:30:10,200 his head at this whole thing. 456 00:30:10,279 --> 00:30:12,240 Speaker 10: And that already with the number of the sort of 457 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,640 politically motivated or would appear to be politically motivated indictments 458 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,160 where they haven't even been able to get past a 459 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,240 grand jury, which is extraordinarily rare due to lack of evidence, 460 00:30:22,759 --> 00:30:28,680 let alone getting to court and an actual conviction. The 461 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,319 other issue here is going to be courts are now 462 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,920 I think, starting to judges in particular, see that politically 463 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:42,119 motivated prosecutions usually don't cross the bench of a judge 464 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,240 with a lot of favor, and those judges are likely 465 00:30:45,319 --> 00:30:49,480 to allow discovery or evidence into whether the prosecution was 466 00:30:49,519 --> 00:30:52,880 politically motivated. So this can get quite messy. But what's 467 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,720 more interesting perhaps here is whether this is, as Chairman 468 00:30:56,759 --> 00:31:02,000 Powell suggests, really just a pretext for removal, and where 469 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,920 the President can say, well, now that there is a 470 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,559 criminal investigation, I now have cause to remove Chair Powel, 471 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,200 and therefore I'm going to exercise that which itself will 472 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,759 set into motion a whole bunch of other legal disputes. 473 00:31:16,279 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 1: So again I remind you that the Fed does direct 474 00:31:20,119 --> 00:31:22,640 short term interest rates, the three months to six month, 475 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,720 the one year, the two year treasury. But once you 476 00:31:25,759 --> 00:31:29,759 get out past five, that's the bond vigilantes out there, 477 00:31:29,799 --> 00:31:32,680 that's the bond market. They're the ones who determine what 478 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,279 the interest rates are. And that's nice what the Fed's doing. 479 00:31:36,319 --> 00:31:41,599 But so this is it surprised everybody in the financial 480 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,880 markets that this would actually happen. Let's get into the 481 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,680 oil markets a little bit, because on Friday they had 482 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,279 that meeting at the White House. The President had I 483 00:31:52,319 --> 00:31:57,720 don't know, there was ten to twenty top executives of 484 00:31:57,839 --> 00:32:02,400 the top oil companies in this and they went around 485 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,039 and had discussions each and every one of them. And 486 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,279 at the end of that meeting, I said to you, 487 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,240 it had just concluded by the time we were taping 488 00:32:11,279 --> 00:32:14,400 this podcast, and I said the president or the CEO 489 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,200 of exon mobile, the word that jumped out to me 490 00:32:19,519 --> 00:32:25,440 was uninvestible. Let me just play again for you what 491 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:26,480 he had to say. 492 00:32:26,559 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 8: The legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today 493 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,319 in Venezuela today it's uninvestible and so significant changes have 494 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,920 to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system. 495 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,160 There has to be durable investment protections, and there has 496 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,720 to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country. 497 00:32:46,359 --> 00:32:50,000 We're confident that with this administration and President Trump working 498 00:32:50,799 --> 00:32:53,319 hand in hand with the Venezuela and government, that those 499 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,160 changes can be put in place. 500 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,599 Speaker 1: So he well, yeah, he didn't get to be the 501 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,200 CEO Oh of Exon Mobil, the largest oil company in 502 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:06,039 the country. By being a softy oh, he's saying, look it, 503 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,359 this is uninvestable, but unless changes had to be made, 504 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:12,640 but I'm sure working with President Trump, it can be done. 505 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:18,079 The President apparently did not like that, and it stood 506 00:33:18,079 --> 00:33:21,000 out to me too, because after the meeting on Friday, 507 00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:23,160 the President said, oh, we had a great meeting. And 508 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:24,839 I don't know why he opened it up to the 509 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:29,240 cameras because it without the cameras there, we would have 510 00:33:29,279 --> 00:33:31,400 listened to him say it was a great meeting. Everybody 511 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,359 was on board and all that. He was all very 512 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,200 positive about it. Today he comes out and says I 513 00:33:37,279 --> 00:33:42,799 may block Exxon Mobil from doing oil business in Venezuela. 514 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:47,839 So he is running Venezuela. He's running the oil business. 515 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:54,240 This was supposedly about drugs, then was about something else. Anyway, 516 00:33:54,799 --> 00:34:00,799 it's oil, that's what it's all about. And so andys 517 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,720 oil industry consultant weight. 518 00:34:04,839 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 11: In this way, Exxon is asking for what the rest 519 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,320 of the oil industry wants, is a change in the 520 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,960 current legal and commercial framework in order to go in 521 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:20,880 there for a decades long investment profile. So there I 522 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,719 think is going to happen is Exon really is spending 523 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,840 a lot of money next door in Guyana where they're 524 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:31,079 producing hundreds of thousands of barrels per day, and see 525 00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:33,920 to increase that production over the next couple of years. 526 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,639 So the industry buy and large, really needs change in 527 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:40,880 Venezuela to spend any money. And that's where we stand 528 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:42,440 today waiting on that change. 529 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:45,599 Speaker 1: So I have to wait and see. But Exxon is 530 00:34:45,679 --> 00:34:52,280 no softy, and their President Trump going up against the 531 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,559 guy who has been around the block number of times, 532 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,239 knows exactly what he is doing. I'll give you just 533 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,440 a little update. As we're recording this, there is a 534 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,239 news conference going on in Minneapolis, and the Attorney General 535 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,920 for the State of Minneapolis, Keith Ellison, just announced that 536 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,719 the State of Minnesota is filing a lawsuit against the 537 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,679 Department of Homeland Security. He says it's because they're targeting 538 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:24,920 Minnesota because of the for political opposition reason. We'll see 539 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,880 where this goes, but they're founding a lawsuit trying to 540 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:32,519 be fight back. They've got a lot of problems in Minnesota, 541 00:35:32,599 --> 00:35:37,039 especially with the fraud in addition to all the issues 542 00:35:37,079 --> 00:35:43,519 regarding illegal immigration in ice so Wall Street today. Boy, 543 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,320 when that came out over the weekend that Japow was 544 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,800 having a criminal investigation by the DOJ, the markets were 545 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,840 all down now was down three hundred four hundred points 546 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,960 in pre market trading. But when all was said and done, 547 00:35:58,559 --> 00:36:02,800 the major indexes went to work and worked their way 548 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,880 back to positive numbers. The Dow up eighty six. We'll 549 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,159 take it. Like I said, it was down three four 550 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:12,519 hundred points, so it worked all the way back to 551 00:36:12,559 --> 00:36:15,320 a gain of eighty six. The Dow at forty nine 552 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:19,639 thousand and five ninety, the S and P up eleven, 553 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:24,800 the NAZDAC up sixty two, Gold new record high, never 554 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:28,119 seen this amount for gold before, up one hundred and 555 00:36:28,119 --> 00:36:32,840 two dollars to four thousand and six oh three, and 556 00:36:33,119 --> 00:36:38,840 oil up another fifty cents, just under just under sixty 557 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:42,880 dollars for a barrel of oil. So that's it for today. 558 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,559 Tomorrow morning we get our CPI Consumer Price Index, the 559 00:36:46,679 --> 00:36:50,639 inflation rate for the month of December. That'll be an 560 00:36:50,639 --> 00:36:53,719 important one and markets will react to that. Thank you 561 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:56,320 for coming by today. We will be here tomorrow and 562 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:57,559 I hope to see you then. 563 00:37:00,119 --> 00:37:01,280 Speaker 9: Six