May 17, 2026 • 55 mins
Join us for expert discussions and analysis on today's politics, economy, health news, the Catholic Church sex scandal, investing and investment strategies along with a study of the Bible.
(00:00) Ryan Young, Senior Economist with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, gives his analysis of the most recent Consumer Price Index numbers, what they reveal about the U.S. Economy and how the numbers warn of what lies ahead.
(12:22) Dr. Tyler Evans, CEO of the Wellness Equity Alliance, discusses the details about and reactions to the cases of Hantavirus along with the conditions which created these cases.
(23:15) Mark Crawford, NJ State Director of Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priests, reacts to the proposed victims settlement from the New York Archdiocese and how it protects the church more than heals the victims of sex abuse by priests.
(33:55) Jimmy Lebenthal, CNBC Contributor and Partner/Chief Strategy Officer with Cerity Partners, shares how navigating the NYC subway system provides lessons for investing and developing investment strategies.
(47:28) Chris DeBello looks at how the Bible gives direction about the use of God's Word.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Welcome to which you stand out of the first.
(01:09):
Those are some recent commentsby Donald Trump regarding the
economy and affordability.
Now, politics, of course, areone thing.
Reality is often quite another.
Facts are found in the numerousstatistics of a release that
addressed the U.S.
economy.
One of the most telling is theConsumer Price Index, also known
as the CPI.
It's a statistic releasedmonthly, reveals a general rate
(01:31):
of inflation growth from theprevious month, as well as
inflation rates for specificitems and sectors that you might
label as oh I know what to do ornecessities.
This past week, the April CPIwas released.
And with us to examine what itreveals, it's senior economist
with the Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
Ryan Gunn, thanks for being hereagain, Ryan.
SPEAKER_07 (01:52):
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
And to learn more about the focus, the many points
of focus of the CompetitiveEnterprise Institute, their
website at CEI.org.
So overall, we're looking at thenumbers here.
Reading off the uh the pressrelease, the all items, and
we'll get into for you listingthe how these are
differentiated.
The all items index rose to 3.8%for the 12 months ending April
(02:16):
after rising 3.3% for the twelvemonths ending March.
And when you when you look atthat number, Ryan, as far as
what is desirable versus whatis, how close or far off the
mark are we?
SPEAKER_07 (02:31):
We're almost at double the Fed's target.
They shoot for an inflation rateof two percent, and we're at
3.8, so that's not good.
And most of that has happened injust the last two months since
the Iran War started.
So the good news from that isthat it's not anything the
Federal Reserve is doing topurposely devalue the dollar.
(02:53):
It's uh mainly energy priceincreases from the Iran War plus
the lingering effects oftariffs.
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
I was gonna say it's not limited to energy.
If you look at the uh the foodand energy, the housing, the uh
the out-of-home meals,everything, at least uh with a
rare exception, I think producemight have been the only one.
Everything else had some tick upto some degree.
SPEAKER_07 (03:15):
Yeah, food is especially concerning.
Um just in the last month, foodprices increased 0.5%.
And remember, if you're shootingfor a two percent annual rate,
you generally want that monthlyrate to be 0.1 to 0.2%, we're at
0.5.
So that is a big increase,whether it's home or food out of
(03:38):
home, we're seeing um energyprices affect everything else
too.
You need energy to ship food.
Farmers need oil products orfertilizer.
Those things are working theirway through supply chains.
So we had the immediate shocklast month and this month, but
as those effects work their waythrough supply chains, it's
actually going to get evenworse.
(03:59):
So I'm afraid three point eightpercent uh might be the lowest
we're gonna see for a few monthsto come.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
I saw some consensus over Congress.
I can't remember the source,unfortunately, but they they
came to a conclusion that theydidn't say it as a certainty,
but it's not out of the realm ofpossibility that five percent
could be a hit number.
SPEAKER_07 (04:18):
It's possible.
I'm hoping not.
Uh the sh the faster the Iranwar ends and uh the more tariff
restraint that the presidentshows, uh the less likely it
will be to hit five percent.
But yes, that certainly ispossible if we continue with bad
policy decisions.
SPEAKER_02 (04:35):
You're asking a lot there, Ryan.
Just want to let you know that.
unknown (04:39):
Fair.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
And speaking of food, like Ryan was, five of the
six major grocery store foodgroup indexes increased.
Poultry, fish, yes, eggs.
They went increased 1.3% overthe month.
Index for beef rows 2.7%, fruitsand vegetables 1.8%,
non-alcoholic beverage index 1.1percent, even dairy increased
(05:02):
0.8 percent.
And you combine that with I sawa report a couple of days ago,
the uh the a report on farmlandbankruptcies for 2025, that
number is going up.
So if prices go up and buyinggets less, the farming industry,
as if they're not already undera strain, that strain is just
going to get heavier on them.
SPEAKER_07 (05:23):
That's right, and beef is the biggest ticket item
there.
And fortunately, once again,that is a supply and demand
issue, not a Federal Reservemessing with the dollar itself
issue.
Uh there's a big shortage inherds right now, and it's it
takes time for cattle toreproduce, so that one's gonna
be with us for a bit.
But 2.9%.
Keep in mind that's not yearover year, that's in one month,
(05:46):
where usually we want to see0.1, 0.2 percent.
2.9% in one month is evidence ofa major shortage.
So hopefully uh the cattle areare feckin' this year and and
herd size uh replenishesquickly, but otherwise that is
pretty harsh for farmers.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
And we so much of one feed into another sector uh
cost of diesel means higherdelivery cost to get the produce
to the stores.
Uh and energy seems to be theend all uh blame all, but as the
report itself shows, th there'swidespread inflation in this.
And to to put it all just onenergy prices, what is how
(06:29):
serious is that overlooking whatthe true cause of all this is?
SPEAKER_07 (06:33):
It's very serious.
Energy ties into everything.
Elect factories need electricityto run, cars need gas, which
affects shipping.
If you do international shippingv whether it's via boat or via
plane, that needs energy.
If you're gonna do businesstravel or take vacations, which
affects tourism, that requiresjet fuel.
(06:54):
Everything requires energy.
So that is a big deal that'shappening right now.
We're hopefully past the worstof the energy spike.
What I'm worried is that pricesare not gonna go back down.
I'm worried that they're gonnasustain themselves at that
really high level, and that canhave a slowdown effect on the
rest of the economy, and thelonger it stays like that, the
(07:15):
worse it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
I mean, walk into a steakhouse where you thought,
okay, uh it's a little pricey,but I could deal with a$30 steak
dinner.
Try finding that$30 steak dinnernow.
You're uh it'll be challenging.
I'll give you I'll I'll give youa head uh a heads up on that.
Talk with Ryan Young, who issenior economist with the
Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
C E CEI.org is their website.
(07:51):
And you are listening to issuesand ideas.
I mentioned that the the CPIreport has certain designations.
What's the difference betweenthe CPI number and the CPIU
number?
That's the all-urban consumersnumber.
SPEAKER_07 (08:08):
That is uh the all-encompassing number with
everything.
Uh the CPI uses a basket ofgoods uh approach.
What do people buy?
So they'll say people spend uhuse this much of their budget on
housing, this much on food andclothing and all the rest.
Uh CP general CPI and CPIU usedifferent baskets of goods.
Uh you know, people in citieslive differently than than other
(08:31):
people do, so that's that's themain difference.
SPEAKER_02 (08:34):
And uh unless you've seen the report listening, uh
the numbers of both of thoseclassifications went up, so that
one was not doing any betterthan the other.
And we we were talking just asecond ago about what lies
ahead.
Is there any cause for concernwhen you look at the the
producer price index, which alsocame out this past week, be
because that showed maybe evenmore of a shocking jump than the
(08:57):
CPI did.
SPEAKER_07 (08:59):
Yeah, the PPI was brutal, and that is a leading
indicator, which means it's asign of things to come.
Uh we were obviously we're setover CPI going up 0.6% in April
and 0.9% the month before that.
Again, we want it to look atlike 0.1, 0.2.
Producer price index, we wantthe same level, but it was at
(09:20):
1.4, 14 times the target level.
And that is that's what'shappening at the wholesale
level, that's what's happeningfurther down supply chains.
That shock is going to work itsway through to consumers over
the next few months.
So when you see a big bump inthe producer price index like
that, you know higherinflation's on the way because
(09:41):
it'll take some time for it towork its way down to the
consumer level.
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
We mentioned the the war in Iran several times now,
and equally maybe even mentionedmore is well, as soon as the war
is over, everything will go backto the way it was.
We were doing 1.8, 1.9% beforeall this happened.
How realistic is that to expecta market structure to readjust
(10:06):
itself with any kind of rapidspeed?
SPEAKER_07 (10:10):
It'll take time.
We'll s we'll see stock marketprices go up and down.
The Federal Reserve meets everysix weeks to adjust interest
rates, and with the regimechange with Kevin Warsh now uh
in office as the Federal ReserveChair, um they'll adjust as best
they can, but it's going to takesome time and there's a lot of
uncertainty ahead.
So it's not just in thegovernment level, but also with
(10:31):
businesses as well.
What do you do with investingwhen you don't know what your
costs are gonna be in sixmonths?
SPEAKER_02 (10:37):
And this is be a certain pr be a pr pretty heavy
first test for Chairman Warshbecause his testimony in front
of his confirmation committeewas the Fed is gonna be
independent, we're gonna look atsituations.
He wouldn't say whether he'sdevoted to raising or cutting
rates.
He said pretty much.
We'll look at what the situationis and respond accordingly.
(10:58):
The belief is that he's gonna dowhat the president wants.
What if he does that and doescut rates in light of what we
have right now in the currentsituation?
How much would that add to theto the weight on the economy?
SPEAKER_07 (11:12):
I could have quite a bit of inflation.
The president wants lowerinterest rates because he loves
stimulus and easy money, whichis nice.
The economy is showing sometrouble signs, stimulus wouldn't
hurt, but there's a trade-off todoing that, and that trade-off
is higher inflation.
Stimulus now means inflationlater, and that is not a
(11:33):
trade-off that most of the restof the Federal Reserve's Board
of Governors wants to take.
So now that Kevin Walsh is in,he doesn't have to say nice
things about the president likehe did in a confirmation hearing
when the president can stillyank his nomination.
SPEAKER_01 (11:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:46):
Um hopefully he will uh be as independent as his
predecessor was.org.
Here's our senior economist,Ryan Young.
Ryan, thanks for helping usappreciate more about what these
(12:09):
numbers mean, what theyforetell, and uh fuel the voter
and arm the voter with uhinformation that they can call
out their elected leaders withto straighten this situation
out.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_07 (12:21):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (12:22):
The news reports about the cases of the
hantivirus have so far occurred,have painted what some call a
let's call it a concerningpicture.
Cases happen where a lot ofpeople are together in limited
space, like a cruise ship,people diagnosed with the
hantivirus or replaced inisolation.
This has caused some to say, ohno, here we go again.
(12:43):
Are we actually watching thebirth of a new pandemic, or is
what's happened so far revealingthat preparation policies
regarding basic health issues,even like the hantivirus, need
to be better followed?
Next guest joins us to discussall this.
He's the former Chief MedicalOfficer for New York City's
COVID 19 response, who's now CEOof Wellness Equity Alliance, Dr.
(13:04):
Tyler Evans.
How are you today, Doctor?
SPEAKER_06 (13:07):
I'm well.
SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
Thank you for coming back here.
Wellness EquityAlliance.com.
Learn more about the doctor'sorganization.
Just for basics in thefoundation, Doctor, what are the
specifics, what are the elementsof the of the hantavirus?
SPEAKER_06 (13:24):
So uh so hantavirus is a uh pathogen that's
typically spread through uhspread through rodent um
excrements, and uh we'll seesort of episodic outbreaks
taking place in um uh throughoutthe Americas.
Uh in the United States, it'susually in the western U.S.
Uh there's been uh a fewoutbreaks uh in California
(13:48):
around uh particularly aroundYosemite again, given the sort
of uh wild uh rodents that arearound there.
Um typically what it in in termsof what it causes, it'll cause a
uh mild symptoms.
Uh you'll get your sort of uhviral prodrome or sort of upper
respiratory um infection-likesymptoms.
Um but again, they're typicallysort of mild.
(14:10):
Uh very, very rarely uh will itspread uh or will sort of um
advance into uh what's calledthe um hemorrhagic fever uh with
renal involvement or kidneyinvolvement or the pulmonary uh
syndrome, hotovirus pulmonarysyndrome.
Um so that's either kidneys orlungs, but again, that's sort of
(14:31):
very uh very rare.
This particular situation uhthat had taken place with the uh
with the passengers uh was quitedifferent, but I could pause
there if there's any morequestions.
SPEAKER_02 (14:43):
So it's just a matter of the the the ship that
these people were on just wasn'tclean, sanitary.
That was the main catalyst thatthey they didn't see a rat
problem, didn't uh get anexterminator in.
Is it really as simple as that?
SPEAKER_06 (14:56):
No, I I I I we what we think was happening here was
the um uh you know uh a few ofthem were infected prior to
boarding.
Um there was a uh a birdwatching uh tour.
They were down in the uh down inSouth America, and uh they uh
embarked around Ushuaia.
(15:17):
Ushuaia is at the the tip of uhSouth American Patagonia, I
actually uh honeymooned there.
Um and uh and so in thatparticular area there's uh
there's this specific straincalled the Andes virus, which is
uh which is one of the onlyknown um strains that can
actually cause theperson-to-person transmission.
(15:38):
So what we believe happened wasthey were on this sort of bird
watching tour, they could havebeen uh infected through some
sort of um some rodents thatwere around the the birds and um
and then ultimately boarded theship.
Uh whether or not they weresymptomatic at the time is not
clear.
Um, but the reality is, and I'lljust kind of jump into this, the
(16:01):
reality is cruise ships are uhone of the one of the most
formidable public healthchallenges that that we uh that
we experience.
Uh when you think about cruiseships, they're pretty much um
just sort of floating petridishes, uh and and specifically
floating uh congregatefacilities, which makes it even
more challenging.
(16:21):
So you've got, you know, in andw when it when it came to the um
Hambias, you've got you knowonly 150 folks, but you know,
typically on these on the on theprincess uh or the uh um
carnival fleets you've got youknow thousands, upwards of six,
seven thousand people.
And they're all in very sort ofclose borders.
Um and so when you have any uhany infection taking place,
(16:45):
norovirus is very, very commonuh in these places.
You know, it's very easy totransmit that.
Uh once in a while you'll getsome upper respiratory
infection, uh flu-like and or orspecifically flu uh outbreaks
taking place in these uh inthese uh petri dishes as well.
The reality is there's nothere's no screening uh
modalities uh at all.
(17:07):
And in terms of response, it'svery uh, you know, you at best
you'll have a doctor on board.
The sort of qualifications ofthose doctors are not really
sort of standardized.
Um, you know, and in terms ofthe sort of the diagnostics and
the um and the treatment sort ofmodalities that they have are
going to be very limited to thesame thing.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
Well, sure.
I mean, when you think about ittoo, I mean, there's one doctor
on a ship, the the thedoctor-to-patient ratio, not
saying that every patient, everyperson, every passenger is going
to get sick, but thedoctor-person ratio uh quite
steep odds for any medicalprofessional, no matter no
matter what their experience is.
SPEAKER_06 (17:39):
Exactly.
And then uh, you know, it's veryit's very hit or miss in terms
of sort of what what theconnection to that that doc or
that medical provider will haveto some sort of other group.
You know, one doctor alone, um,to your point for thousands of
people, is you know, it's notit's not really that sort of
effective.
Um can that person sort of radioin if that person has questions,
et cetera?
(17:59):
Um you know, I mean, this isinfectious disease, not not many
doctors are actually trainedwell in infectious diseases.
So uh so there's a lot of pieceshere that we could sort of, I I
think it's an opportunity toreally shore up um some better
best practice here.
Um and um, you know, I'm I'm I Idon't think my recommendation
would be to sort of force uhrequirements, but I think they
(18:20):
would be my sort ofrecommendation would be to uh
impose you know recommendationsfor um for folks coming in.
Uh if if uh passengers are goinginto you know certain areas,
they should be well aware of youknow any sort of um emerging or
existing sort of challenges, uhprevalence of certain diseases.
(18:42):
You also have to think, too,that um a lot of um a lot of
passengers are older adults.
Uh I don't know what the meanage of uh of cruise ships are,
it's an interesting question,but it's I would suspect it's
probably in the in the 50s.
Um, you know, typically you'llyou'll see uh uh cruise ships,
particularly in places likeAlaska, well, you'll have 65 and
(19:03):
older is very common.
And so, you know, the older theolder that we get, the higher
our risk of um of illness.
And so we have a lot of folkscoming in with comorbidities.
It's just basically doctortalked for a lot of different uh
sicknesses or illnesses, andthat's going to cause sort of
waning immunity as well.
So when that takes place, thenyour risk of infection um ends
(19:23):
your uh your risk of sort of umyou know further advancement of
disease is going to be uh muchgreater.
So we really have to take careof our uh of our older adults.
So I you know strongly recommendthe cruise ship industry to
start sort of changing their uhtheir methods there.
Last thing I'll say too is whenyou think about cruise ships,
they are going through ports ofentry around the world.
(19:44):
So it's just a kaleidoscope ofmicrobes that could potentially
sort of enter these thesevessels.
And and and a big part is thecrew.
I I was the uh I was the onlyinfectious disease specialist at
the time that uh that washelping to um to demobilize and
sort of screen and and isolateand quarantine the uh Grand
(20:06):
Princess in early 2020, um,which was docked in Oakland.
And I I like to theatricallyrefer to it as the last cruise
ship on Earth.
And uh and and about a third ofthem were uh were were uh were
crew and South Asians, uhparticularly uh Indian
Pakasanis, Filipinos.
And so we we had to uh transporta lot of them to UCSF.
(20:29):
They were unaware of the sort ofthe American you know medical
system, there were a lot ofchallenges there.
Um they they you know mostlyhave not had any sort of
screening uh practices as well.
So there's a lot more that Ithink we can shore up.
I'll pause there.
SPEAKER_02 (20:43):
Well, just to wrap it up too, I mean, the idea you
have of having stronger healthrequirements and healthcare
requirements on ships is is anobvious path that needs to be
taken.
But given that there's literallya jigsaw puzzle of the the the
ships and what they're whatnations they're flagged on, how
how would you have some sort ofuniformity in all that?
SPEAKER_06 (21:02):
Yeah, I mean, so there bet there needs to be
better coordination between uhbetween these different uh the
different countries that theyare um that they are sort of
touching and uh and sort of thethe the the sort of you know the
origin of uh of the vessel,whether that's American or
whatnot.
Um you know, there are umcenters for disease control
(21:24):
across the world.
Uh there's the European CDC, ofcourse there's our CDC, the
Chinese has their own.
Um and uh then of course youhave the WHO.
So if we if we really short upbetter practice um in terms of
coordination, um, you know, wecould ultimately sort of create
our own sort of you know cruiseship surveillance um uh system
(21:48):
uh where again there's there'suh there's ongoing sort of
coordination discussions of sortof what's happening.
And but just betterpreparedness.
We refer to it as public healthemergency preparedness.
Um that is it's pretty Prettytenuous throughout the world.
WHO kind of looks at it at avery sort of macro level.
It's not very uh it's not verysort of uh tight in terms of
(22:10):
operations, it's very it's verysort of you know 30,000-foot
view or um some other sort of uhship metaphor.
And uh and then CDC given a lotof the challenges that have
taken place with the CDC and andthe lack of uh leadership now,
uh we're experiencing quite abit of uh of uh stressors uh
there.
So we've got a lot of problemswhen it comes to public health,
(22:32):
uh, but we're really hoping thatyou know to opportunities like
this that we can sort of uhimprove um our uh our our
systems in place.
SPEAKER_02 (22:41):
Yeah, definitely respond to the wake-up call as
opposed to react to it if in theaftermath.
He's the former chief medicalofficer for New York City's
COVID-19 response and now CEO ofWellness Equity Alliance.
Learn more about the work thatthey do at Wellness
EquityAlliance.com.
Dr.
Tyler Evans, thanks for theinsight and the direction of
what better things could be doneto keep anything like this from
(23:03):
not just spreading but fromhappening in the first place.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_06 (23:07):
I appreciate your time.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (23:09):
If you're listening to us via your favorite podcast
platform, don't forget tosubscribe and follow.
How frustrating is it when youthink somebody finally
understands a situation whichrequires them only to have them
reveal that they just stilldon't get it?
This can be said of the CatholicChurch in America for years.
Archdiocese across the nationdenied victims who were raped by
(23:31):
priests, gave cover to thosechild predators, and dragged
court cases out for as long asthey possibly could.
However, as we well know, thevictims refused to fall into
silence.
That finally led to settlementsacross the nation and admissions
of wrongdoing by thesearchdioceses.
Big question that had beenhanging out there was what would
the New York Archdiocese wind upadmitting and doing?
(23:54):
Well, the answer finallyarrived, and it revealed that
the New York Archdiocese wantsthings to be more beneficial for
them rather than for thevictims.
Here to discuss what the NewYork Archdiocese is proposing,
ramifications that could havefor victims nationwide, is the
New Jersey State Director ofSurvivors Network of those
(24:15):
abused by priests, MarkCrawford.
Thanks for being back heretoday, Mark.
SPEAKER_05 (24:20):
Thank you again, Chris.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
And learn more about uh Snap at Snapnetwork.org.
There are chapters in everystate, and you can keep up to
date too with the variousagreements, confessions,
admissions, and well, like we'reseeing here, Mark, the
challenges.
Talk about this this uh proposalfor settlement that the New York
Archdiocese has placed forwardand what troubles victims such
(24:47):
as yourself about it.
SPEAKER_05 (24:49):
Certainly, yes.
Uh at the surface, it soundswonderful.
We're gonna hear it's thelargest settlement ever offered,
eight hundred million dollars,and um they've also promised to
reveal uh or release records ofthose accused.
However, there is one serious,immoral, dangerous caveat.
(25:14):
They're also requiring allthirteen hundred claimants to
unanimously accept the deal.
That means if just one uhrefuses to go along the deal is
dead.
Now and on top of that, theyhave been mentioning, well, if
this doesn't work, we're gonnahave to go the route of
(25:36):
bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy of course would addmany more years.
It's already been uh many years,uh, that they've been uh the the
victims fighting this battlewith the Archdiocese of New
York.
And again, um bankruptcy wouldlikely give them even less of a
(25:57):
payout, right?
And uh it would take many moreyears and the ch the diocese
itself would wind up paying manymore millions to their
bankruptcy lawyers.
SPEAKER_02 (26:08):
However, now here's the crazy part, we'll stop you
right there.
The the New York Arts Diocese isthreatening bankruptcy if you
look at their assets, just inreal estate alone, how can any
bankruptcy court take thatserious?
SPEAKER_05 (26:21):
Oh, I totally agree.
In fact, the vast majority ofthe money from this settlement
comes from the sale of asingular property on Madison
Avenue, uh, that was consummatedfairly recently for upwards of
five hundred million dollars.
So this is just one property inManhattan where the majority of
(26:45):
this money will come from.
Um, so yes, agreed.
I I don't know how they reallythink that um they're gonna go
down that road.
So the process they're proposingmimics a bankruptcy in many
ways, but of course there's nojudicial oversight.
(27:07):
There's no judicial rules,there's no discovery, there's no
releasing of assets.
So it seems like a bankruptcykind of offer, yet it's totally
outside at this point thejudicial system.
So you know, they they'veproposed and said, Look, here's
(27:29):
the here's the carrot they'redangling, eight hundred million
dollars, you won't have to waitlong.
Um, you can immediately get twohundred and fifty thousand
dollars if you don't wanna wait.
So that's an easy one for them,right?
No brainer.
It is actually a win win forthem and a lose lose for the
victims.
And what I mean by that is thatlook, they if if it doesn't work
(27:53):
and it's not likely all thirteenhundred survivors are going to
wanna go down this road butlet's just say one of 'em does
not.
Can you imagine thepsychological pressure or
possibly even active pressure orintimidation from the other
survivors who really would liketo settle.
(28:16):
Um so it pits survivor againstsurvivor.
And that fact alone to me makesthis in a moral type of demand
or uh offer.
Uh it is just even in bankruptcycourt, never, never has there
been in any bankruptcy, not theBoy Scouts of America, not the
(28:38):
USA gymnastics, not any of theother diocese, did a bankruptcy
court require one hundredpercent consent because that
creates a power structure that'seither beneficial to one
individual or to the institutionseeking that uh clause.
(29:02):
So uh it is a horrible, horribleoffer.
And now look, the it really putsthe victims back in in the very
place they were where they hadno leverage, no control.
The church held all the cardsand we're right back there
again.
It's it's further abuse of thesesurvivors from an institution
(29:26):
that constantly claims openly wewant to heal them, we want to do
the right thing.
No.
What they're doing is forcing amodel of coercion.
And the problem with that is ifit is successful, do you not
think any other institution, notjust those in the church,
whether it be schools, colleges,universities, athletic
(29:49):
organizations where there's agroup of victims, do you not see
them wanting to pursue the sametype of avenue?
This would set in a horrible,immoral precedent.
And it's unacceptable.
SPEAKER_02 (30:03):
And and what the church is doing, what the Arts
Dynasty of New York is doing,they're basically trying to
divide and conquer so that theycan have the victims, like you
said, fighting againstthemselves, and the church can
say, hey, we tried.
And you know, add to all thiswhat you said, Mark, the clock
is ticking.
The deadline for this is June27th.
That's not a lot of time for allthese victims.
(30:25):
I know there's one attorneywho's representing 300 of the
1,300, but uh I would wager tobet that even he's trying to
even he's having a challengingtime trying to get unanimity
among the 300 uh that herepresents.
SPEAKER_05 (30:40):
Without a doubt.
Um it's a real hard road to roadto hoe, and and I I gotta tell
you, um, look, they could takelike I said, you know, the the
when what's the person gonnasay?
Well, we tried.
Well, we tried, we put the bestoffer forward.
No.
Um the new Archbishop of NewYork, uh Archbishop Hicks,
(31:03):
should absolutely rescind thisclause.
Look, even if you ask for asupermajority, which happens in
bankruptcy cases, they probablywould still get it.
What they're really trying toensure is that not a single case
gets before the court.
One, because they know any typeof a word in some of these most
(31:24):
egregious cases are going to beexceptionally larger than any
offer, any single one of thesevictims will get under the
current uh offer.
And they don't want others tosee that because of course
that's just gonna buildresentment, right?
And uh at the very least.
Um I I just it's it's uh areally negative immoral type of
(31:52):
position to try and put thesevictims in.
The victims that they had a partin creating, that they i it's
just incredible to me that umpeople don't see through this.
I hopefully they do.
But I'm very concerned becausenot just in New York,
settlements with variousdioceses and other organizations
(32:15):
are ongoing in New Jersey andthroughout this country.
And if this is successful andone of the most affluent
archdiocese in the world, thenwhat's to stop anybody else from
trying to make the same offer?
And it's just not gonna fly herein New Jersey.
I've heard from countlessvictims here in New Jersey who
(32:36):
said that better not happenhere.
There's no way.
I I don't w I want to have myday in court.
So I am fairly certain there'sat least some of those in York
that probably feel the same way.
SPEAKER_02 (32:51):
No doubt.
And it's also part of thestrategy of the Archdiocese.
They they they put on the tablethe document release that they
have to release secret documentsabout historical reports and how
those who raped children, thepriests and the and the bishops
were were handled internally.
How many how many peopleactually believe that?
(33:12):
Because it sounds like you knowhow many how what have we seen
the Epstein files?
Have we seen the JFK files?
Have we seen the UFO files?
We get these promises, theselittle carrots hung before us,
and too many people fall prey tothose carrots, and they're
they're fake carrots, not evenreal ones.
SPEAKER_05 (33:28):
Absolutely.
I'm glad you mentioned itbecause I feel that very way,
and I know many others do, wehave seen for decades them not
produce handover documents, evenwhen court ordered.
In fact, right now there's twoother cases I can think of where
this very issue is playing out.
Seton Hall University, where uh,you know, uh a most prominent
(33:52):
Catholic institution headed up.
Now the head of the Board ofRegents is always the local
archbishop, in this caseCardinal Tobin.
They've they commissioned areport.
They're still fighting to thisday.
And in fact, yesterday morningthere was a hearing on the
release of the documents, andthey're claiming that they
(34:13):
should not be released becauseit's attorney client privilege.
The the uh law firm thatactually conducted the
investigation stated in thereport they had no relationship
with Seton Hall, no legal thisis not under a lawsuit.
This was an investigationcommissioned by the Archbishop
(34:33):
to look into McCarrick'sinfluence at the seminary at
Seton Hall.
And of course, there's a twentythousand page report that's
quite damning from what weunderstand.
I have not yet seen it.
Um but um we've heard reports inthe press about aspects of that
(34:54):
report and it's clear to this tothis day, even though the the
cardinal himself said he wantsit all out, he wants it all
exposed, he's gonna let anybodycome forward.
They stopped the very person whoknows the former president of
Stephen Hall from from uhtestifying or talking to the
(35:18):
committee that's doing theinvestigation.
They don't want the truth out,they don't want to know keep it
hidden.
They're fighting to this day.
SPEAKER_02 (35:27):
Mark wrote a great column that summarizes all that
we talked about here, too.
You can find that and a lot moreinformation at the website for
the Survivors Network of ThoseAbused by Priest at
Snapnetwork.org.
He is the New Jersey StateDirector of Survivors Network of
Those Abused by Priest, MarkCrawford.
Mark, you are indeed a devoted,dedicated advocate to the
(35:48):
victims, and you help usunderstand too why we need to be
as well.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_05 (35:52):
Thank you again, Chris.
SPEAKER_02 (35:54):
Uh question.
You ever ride the subway?
Not any on the city.
Experience can certainly vary.
Some systems perform better thanothers.
There's more route and scheduleinformation available with some
more than others.
While they can all get you towhere you need to go, the times
can vary.
Sounds a lot like investing inbusiness relationships, doesn't
it?
My next guest thought still, hebelieved it so much.
(36:16):
He's written a book based onthis idea.
His story is one of growing upin New York City, learning
underground on the subway, thenlater above ground on Wall
Street and boardrooms.
Shares his story and investinginsight in his book, How to Ride
the Subway, getting around onWall Street and in life, along
with being Chief StrategyOfficer and partner with Serraty
(36:36):
Partners.
He's a frequent CNBCcontributor, and a true subway
collegist, Jimmy Laventhor.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_08 (36:44):
Oh, I'm great, Chris.
And I really have to thank youfor kindly introducing the book
that way.
I may have to record that anduse that myself.
That was so well done.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
Well, you know, I I actually read the book.
I'm one of those odd people, soit's like and to learn more
about not just Jimmy's book, buthis entire financial world,
Jimmy Labenthal.com, SerityPartners, C-E-R-I-T-Y,
TerrityPartners.com.
We have those links over at ourwebpage.
I have seen investing comparedto a lot of things, from cheese
(37:16):
to animals to several pointsbeyond that.
What was your aha moment whenyou connected subways and
everything you need for strategydown there with Wall Street and
the strategies you need upthere?
SPEAKER_08 (37:30):
Great question, Chris.
And you know, the reason towrite the book is that I
frequently appear on TV as aninvestor and somebody who gives
commentary on the markets.
What I find is that when Ispeak, I have about 15 seconds
to get my ideas out before theanchor cuts me off or my fellow
contributors start chiming in.
So I wanted to write a book so Icould give a little more long
(37:53):
format to how I invest.
But just giving a book or justwriting a book about investing
would have been a little bitboring.
And the simple truth is Iabsolutely love the subways, and
I use the subway in New YorkCity to get to the studio, which
is the New York Stock Exchange,for the uh airing of the CNBC
show that I'm on.
And it was just while I was onthe subway, I said, why don't I
(38:16):
use my passion, my love for thesubways, which goes back to age
six in the 1970s.
Uh why don't I use that as ametaphor for investing to spice
things up a little bit insteadof just talking about dividend
stocks or how the markets move,just put some metaphors from the
subway in it.
And I I I hope it works.
I'm happy I did it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Well, I think you should be too because it'll
teach the novices, give a, Ithink, a more focused direction
to those who are wandering.
And for those who are like tothink of themselves as
experienced investors, it justreinforces a lot of basic ideas
and even reminds us.
Like, for example, you start offabout knowing where you're
(38:56):
going, because if you don't knowwhere you're going to go, how do
you know what you're going toneed in order to get there?
What are you going to invest inif you don't know where you're
going to go?
SPEAKER_08 (39:05):
Well, that's exactly right.
And uh again, the metaphor ofthe New York City subway system,
at least in Manhattan, is thatit's very oriented along
north-south axes.
So most of the subway lines comedown either the west side or the
east side or midtown.
There's very few cross Manhattanuh subway lines.
There is the shuttle, but notmuch more than that.
(39:27):
And so if you're trying to getuh from the upper west side to
the upper east side, hey, guesswhat?
The subway is not your spot.
And in a similar way, if you'retrying to make money, then maybe
you don't want to take risks.
Well, you know what?
The equity market is not yourspeed.
You should be in the bondmarket.
It's just and I use that's agreat example, Chris, of the
metaphor that I use.
You know, other metaphors thatframe the chapters in the book
(39:50):
include things like patience.
The subway will arrive, it willget you where you need to go.
So will the stock market, uh,perseverance.
Probably my favorite, though, isserendipity, of just being aware
that the world does move in inrandom collisions that tend to
work out for your benefit.
And so sometimes you can be onthe subway and you can see a
(40:12):
crazy sight.
And I use in the book theexample of an underground uh
rail yard in Upper Manhattanthat uh I came across one day.
And it's just a way of exploringand finding new things, finding
better things, which the stockmarket always gives you an
opportunity to find reallyexciting, good new ways to make
money.
SPEAKER_02 (40:32):
And there are running things you have going
throughout uh your book as well,as far as you think you figured
it out, you think this is goingto work, everything's gonna be
perfect, you know this is thething.
It's not always gonna be thatway, is it?
SPEAKER_08 (40:45):
Listen, that's a good that's a great uh that
forms a chapter.
I think the the name of thechapter is Bad Things Happen.
And I use as the uh enteringanecdote to that chapter, when
Superstorm Sandy hit New YorkCity, I think it was 2013, uh it
it was just a perfect strike onthe harbor of New York City, and
it caused a storm surge wherebasically lower Manhattan was
(41:08):
about 10 feet underwater.
Well, you know, water flows tothe lowest spot, and the lowest
spot are the subway systems andthe tunnels that go underneath
the East River.
So the subway system wasinundated, it was flooded, it
was basically out of service fora couple of days, and in some
cases there was maintenance thatwent on for years to repair the
damage.
Look, sometimes in the stockmarket, bad things happen.
(41:31):
Um, we can look at the last 18months or so and see that we've
had a very dramatic decline whenthe war with Iran started, we
had a dramatic decline uh whenthe tariffs were announced on
Liberation Day in 2025.
But, but the subway system isstill here, and the stock market
is still a great place to makemoney.
As we can see right now, Chris,as you and I are talking, we're
(41:53):
at all-time highs in the stockmarket.
It's just a matter of bearingdown, having the grit to get
through the bad times, whichwill inevitably happen.
Can't be avoided.
SPEAKER_02 (42:04):
Jimmy Labenthal and his book, How to Ride the
Subway, getting along on WallStreet and in life, Jimmy
Labenthal.com.
He's a partner, Chief StrategyOfficer with Territory Partners,
Territipartners.com, both links,of course, at our homepage and
you're listening to issues andideas.
Question on for the purpose ofthe novice or the newbie.
You can hear of a stock, see acompany, maybe you're you or
(42:26):
someone else on CNBC talkingabout it.
You punch in the the tickersymbol in Google and stock
rating.
You will get inundated withinformation, and it could be
confused.
You can have 25 analysts sayingstrong buy, buy, get this now
before it's too late, andthere'll be one analyst saying,
sell it now.
(42:47):
How does the novice try todecipher things like that?
SPEAKER_08 (42:51):
I think there's really two ways of doing this.
You can hire a professional uhlike myself uh to pick the
stocks for you, or you can dowhat I do, which is what I
recommend in the book, which isto really dive deep and become
an expert in the stock thatyou're looking at.
Um specifically, what I mean bythis is getting into the
(43:11):
financial statements, looking atthe footnotes to those financial
statements, figuring out whatyou can find out that the rest
of the world doesn't know.
And again, with this analogythat goes throughout the book,
um, I draw it back to the subwaysystem.
Many people ride the subwayunderneath the East River every
day.
This is probably a hundredthousand or more.
(43:31):
And those tunnels are fabulousconstructions of engineering.
In fact, the first tunnel,subway tunnel under the East
River, was longer than theHolland Tunnel under the Hudson
River when it opened in theearly 20th century.
When the Holland Tunnel openedfor vehicular traffic, uh the
president of the United Statescalled and inaugurated it.
(43:52):
It was a big fanfare, all thenewspapers talked about it.
Nobody talked about the subwaytunnel that was created years
earlier.
And that was longer and still tothis day, as I said, transports
over a hundred thousand peoplethrough it.
That what I'm describing there,yeah, it may be a little bit
geeky, but that's the sort ofexpertise, that's the sort of
(44:13):
level of knowledge that if youwant to be a stock picker, you
really should do.
You should get into thosefinancial statements.
And not just for the companyyou're looking at, but its
competitors, maybe even itssuppliers or customers.
Um so that's that's that's myadvice to the novice is get your
hands dirty, really become anexpert in it.
SPEAKER_02 (44:33):
And you certainly, there's enough material by which
you can everyone can do that,and it's a learning experience
to be sure, but it's for yourbenefit to indeed learn valid
information.
Why don't you wrap up with thisidea?
You mentioned here you certainlymake yourself uh show yourself
to be a proponent of itthroughout your book.
Long-term, holding long-term.
I I said one time to a friend ofmine, are you a long-term
(44:55):
holder?
Said, yeah, I might hold a stockfor up to two weeks sometimes.
I mean, you you j especially ifit's a dividend stock, why would
you be anything else but along-term holder?
SPEAKER_08 (45:06):
Well, I you know, two each their own.
I love the subways.
Some people think the subwaysare dirty and smelly and they
don't want to go in them.
That's fine.
Uh, those people can be traders.
But the beauty about long-terminvesting is if you just stick
with the stock market, and inparticular, stick with
high-quality stocks, the namesyou know, the best companies in
(45:28):
each industry, you can feel verycomfortable that they will get
you through thick and thin.
Now, there's going to be timeslike we're in right now where
the stock market's been rallyingfor four years and everything
seems easy.
But being in those qualitystocks, even through the
downturn, is the way that youcan actually make money coming
on the other side of a downturnwhen those companies thrive as
(45:50):
their competitors sometimes havebeen hobbled uh by the tough
business conditions of, say, arecession.
So for me, the biggest thing,bar none, is to stay in the
market for as long as you can,and I mean years and years,
decades.
Um, I think, Chris, quite oftenabout uh what is the biggest
value that I add to my clients?
(46:10):
And it is frankly holding theirhands when the stock market
looks a little tricky, like wewere just talking about last
year Liberation Day or this yearwith the war in Iran, and just
reminding them that we've mademoney over the decades and we're
likely to do so in the decadesto come.
SPEAKER_02 (46:26):
Yeah, without a doubt, a quality stock is a
quality stock even in a downperiod, and those down periods
last a lot shorter when it isindeed that quality stock.
This is a great book forinvestors of all levels, as well
as if you want some guidance forlife in general, because what
Jimmy writes about can certainlybe expanded into whatever your
specific career is, whateveryour business relationships are.
(46:47):
You'll find it very quickly tounderstand as well.
How to ride the subway, gettingaround on Wall Street and in
life.
Learn more about Jimmy Labenthalat Jimmy Labenthal.com.
He's also Chief StrategyOfficer, partner with Sarah T
Partners, Sara T-C-E-R-I-T-YPartners.com, both those links
at our homepage.
Jimmy, thank you for aneducation and a fun ride through
(47:08):
the subways, no pun intended,and the history because you make
it understandable and everyonecan appreciate the ideas that
you're communicating and benefitfrom them.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_08 (47:19):
Chris, I really thank you.
You've been such a gracioushost, and thank you for giving
me the opportunity to dive alittle deeper into this book
with you.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (47:27):
Reading from Jeremiah chapter twenty nine,
verse eleven, for I know thethoughts that I think toward
you, says the Lord, thoughts ofpeace and not of evil, to give
you a future and a hope.
Paul and Ephesians chapter twoverse ten reveals this to us,
for we are his workmanshipcreated in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God preparedbeforehand, that we should walk
(47:51):
in them.
Additionally, in Romans chaptereight, verse twenty eight, we're
told this truth, and we knowthat all things work together
for good to those who love God,to those who are the called
according to his purpose.
These are just a few of theverses we find in the Bible that
brings us to an understanding ofGod's plan for us.
Those verses supply us with thewhat's the question is who will
(48:15):
lead us in living and receivingfrom God's plan?
It's Jesus who says in Johnchapter four, verse thirty four,
Jesus said to them, My food isto do the will of him who sent
me and to finish his work.
While we eagerly await for thereturn of our Lord and Savior,
God has blessed us with someoneto serve as a living example of
(48:36):
God's plan, who is indeed hisworkmanship.
That blessing is Donald Trump.
Romans chapter thirteen verseone makes this crystal clear,
let every soul be subject to thegoverning authorities, for there
is no authority except from God,and the authorities that exist
are appointed by God.
And when you read Daniel chaptertwo, verse twenty one, how can
(49:00):
this truth be denied?
And he changes the times and thereasons, he removes kings and
raises up kings, he gives wisdomto the wise and knowledge to
those who have understanding.
With the hand of God guidingDonald Trump, we're obligated,
absolutely obligated to placeour faith in Donald Trump.
Second Chronicles chapter sevenverse fourteen gives us this
(49:22):
instruction.
My people who are called by myname will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turnfrom their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven and willforgive their sin and heal their
land.
Donald Trump is a self confessedsinner that does not cause God
to deny Mr Trump the role Godhas chosen for him because it's
(49:44):
written in Romans chapter three,verse twenty three, for all have
sinned and fall short of theglory of God.
As he has brought about the willof God, what Donald Trump has
had to face mirrors in so manyways what Jesus was confronted
with.
Jesus says this in Luke chapter9, verse 44.
Let these words sink down intoyour ears, for the Son of Man is
(50:06):
about to be betrayed into thehands of men.
Donald Trump has been falselyaccused many times, just as
Jesus was, as it's told in Markchapter fourteen, verses fifty
five and fifty six.
Now the chief priests and allthe council saw testimony
against Jesus to put him todeath, but found none, for many
bore false witness against him,but their testimonies did not
(50:30):
agree.
Just as Jesus told hisfollowers, Donald Trump has told
his followers to stand strong.
Let's read Matthew chapter five,verses eleven and twelve.
Blessed are you when they revileand persecute you and say all
kinds of evil against youfalsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,for great is your reward in
(50:50):
heaven, for so they persecutedthe prophets who were before
you.
Now we all know how the evil ofthis world tried to strike down
Donald Trump, yet he roseconquering death, just as Jesus
did.
Romans chapter six verse ninereinforces this.
Knowing that Christ having beenraised from the dead, dies no
more, death no longer hasdominion over him.
(51:14):
Okay.
I think that's enough,especially since I'm now tasting
bile in the back of my throat.
What I've just done is repeatwhat way too many so called
pastors have actually done.
Some you know of, like PaulaWhite, Franklin Graham, Daddy
Billy must just be so proud ofthat boy.
Others you don't, and it wouldalso be foolish of me to mention
(51:36):
their names.
It would only elevate them outof the obscurity that they they
so richly deserve.
These self-professed pastorshave corrupted the word of God
by trying to wrongly apply it tosomeone who, when asked what his
most important Bible verse is,declined to answer, saying,
Well, that's very personal.
That directly goes against whatJesus teaches in Matthew chapter
(51:58):
ten, verse twenty seven, Jesusspeaking, Whatever I tell you in
the dark, speak in the light,and what you hear in the ear,
preach on the house tops.
I referenced earlier how fakepastors use Romans chapter three
verse twenty three to excuseTrump's behavior.
That verse is actually anindictment of Trump, who once
(52:18):
said in an interview withBloomberg TV that he had nothing
to ask God for forgivenessabout.
With that reality established,let's once again read Romans
chapter three verse twentythree, for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.
Regarding the false teachers whoare corrupting God's word in
order to lift up an ungodlyperson, Jesus warns us about
(52:42):
them in Matthew chapter seven,verses fifteen through twenty.
Beware of false prophets whocome to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravenouswolves.
You will know them by theirfruits.
Do men gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Even so every good tree bearsgood fruit, and a bad tree bears
(53:03):
bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear badfruit, nor can a bad tree bear
good fruit.
Every tree that does not beargood fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire, thereforeby their fruits you will know
them.
Now if you want to know whothese false teachers truly are,
Second Peter chapter two versesthirteen through seventeen fully
(53:26):
and completely reveals them toyou.
They are spots and blemishes,carousing in their own
deceptions, while they feastwith you, having eyes full of
adultery, and that cannot ceasefrom sin, enticing unstable
souls, they have a heart trainedin covetous practices, who are
accursed children, they haveforsaken the right way and gone
(53:47):
astray, following the way ofBalam, the son of Baor, who
loved the wages ofunrighteousness, but he was
rebuked for his iniquity, a dumbdonkey speaking with a man's
voice, restrained the madness ofthe prophet.
These are wells without water,clouds carried by a tempest, for
whom is reserved the blacknessof darkness forever.
(54:10):
Just as Catholic priests hidbehind God's word as they rape a
little boys, these falseteachers are hiding behind God's
word in order to rape your verysoul.
So how do you overcome them?
By knowing God's word, and thatonly comes about through reading
it, studying it, praying on it,and asking God to bless you with
(54:30):
the spiritual eyes and ears tosee and hear only His truth.
As we're instructed in SecondTimothy chapter two, verse
fifteen, be diligent to presentyourself approved to God, a
worker who does not need to beashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.
Be sure to check out ourwebsite, issues and ideas
radio.com.
(54:51):
We have more information aboutthe guests who joined us here on
the show today.
And if you've been listening tous via your favorite podcast
platform, make sure you followand subscribe.
Always grateful and thankful foryour time and attention, keeping
us company along for the ride.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
Welcome to which you stand out of the first.
(01:09):
Those are some recent commentsby Donald Trump regarding the
economy and affordability.
Now, politics, of course, areone thing.
Reality is often quite another.
Facts are found in the numerousstatistics of a release that
addressed the U.S.
economy.
One of the most telling is theConsumer Price Index, also known
as the CPI.
It's a statistic releasedmonthly, reveals a general rate
(01:31):
of inflation growth from theprevious month, as well as
inflation rates for specificitems and sectors that you might
label as oh I know what to do ornecessities.
This past week, the April CPIwas released.
And with us to examine what itreveals, it's senior economist
with the Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
Ryan Gunn, thanks for being hereagain, Ryan.
SPEAKER_07 (01:52):
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
And to learn more about the focus, the many points
of focus of the CompetitiveEnterprise Institute, their
website at CEI.org.
So overall, we're looking at thenumbers here.
Reading off the uh the pressrelease, the all items, and
we'll get into for you listingthe how these are
differentiated.
The all items index rose to 3.8%for the 12 months ending April
(02:16):
after rising 3.3% for the twelvemonths ending March.
And when you when you look atthat number, Ryan, as far as
what is desirable versus whatis, how close or far off the
mark are we?
SPEAKER_07 (02:31):
We're almost at double the Fed's target.
They shoot for an inflation rateof two percent, and we're at
3.8, so that's not good.
And most of that has happened injust the last two months since
the Iran War started.
So the good news from that isthat it's not anything the
Federal Reserve is doing topurposely devalue the dollar.
(02:53):
It's uh mainly energy priceincreases from the Iran War plus
the lingering effects oftariffs.
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
I was gonna say it's not limited to energy.
If you look at the uh the foodand energy, the housing, the uh
the out-of-home meals,everything, at least uh with a
rare exception, I think producemight have been the only one.
Everything else had some tick upto some degree.
SPEAKER_07 (03:15):
Yeah, food is especially concerning.
Um just in the last month, foodprices increased 0.5%.
And remember, if you're shootingfor a two percent annual rate,
you generally want that monthlyrate to be 0.1 to 0.2%, we're at
0.5.
So that is a big increase,whether it's home or food out of
(03:38):
home, we're seeing um energyprices affect everything else
too.
You need energy to ship food.
Farmers need oil products orfertilizer.
Those things are working theirway through supply chains.
So we had the immediate shocklast month and this month, but
as those effects work their waythrough supply chains, it's
actually going to get evenworse.
(03:59):
So I'm afraid three point eightpercent uh might be the lowest
we're gonna see for a few monthsto come.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
I saw some consensus over Congress.
I can't remember the source,unfortunately, but they they
came to a conclusion that theydidn't say it as a certainty,
but it's not out of the realm ofpossibility that five percent
could be a hit number.
SPEAKER_07 (04:18):
It's possible.
I'm hoping not.
Uh the sh the faster the Iranwar ends and uh the more tariff
restraint that the presidentshows, uh the less likely it
will be to hit five percent.
But yes, that certainly ispossible if we continue with bad
policy decisions.
SPEAKER_02 (04:35):
You're asking a lot there, Ryan.
Just want to let you know that.
unknown (04:39):
Fair.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
And speaking of food, like Ryan was, five of the
six major grocery store foodgroup indexes increased.
Poultry, fish, yes, eggs.
They went increased 1.3% overthe month.
Index for beef rows 2.7%, fruitsand vegetables 1.8%,
non-alcoholic beverage index 1.1percent, even dairy increased
(05:02):
0.8 percent.
And you combine that with I sawa report a couple of days ago,
the uh the a report on farmlandbankruptcies for 2025, that
number is going up.
So if prices go up and buyinggets less, the farming industry,
as if they're not already undera strain, that strain is just
going to get heavier on them.
SPEAKER_07 (05:23):
That's right, and beef is the biggest ticket item
there.
And fortunately, once again,that is a supply and demand
issue, not a Federal Reservemessing with the dollar itself
issue.
Uh there's a big shortage inherds right now, and it's it
takes time for cattle toreproduce, so that one's gonna
be with us for a bit.
But 2.9%.
Keep in mind that's not yearover year, that's in one month,
(05:46):
where usually we want to see0.1, 0.2 percent.
2.9% in one month is evidence ofa major shortage.
So hopefully uh the cattle areare feckin' this year and and
herd size uh replenishesquickly, but otherwise that is
pretty harsh for farmers.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
And we so much of one feed into another sector uh
cost of diesel means higherdelivery cost to get the produce
to the stores.
Uh and energy seems to be theend all uh blame all, but as the
report itself shows, th there'swidespread inflation in this.
And to to put it all just onenergy prices, what is how
(06:29):
serious is that overlooking whatthe true cause of all this is?
SPEAKER_07 (06:33):
It's very serious.
Energy ties into everything.
Elect factories need electricityto run, cars need gas, which
affects shipping.
If you do international shippingv whether it's via boat or via
plane, that needs energy.
If you're gonna do businesstravel or take vacations, which
affects tourism, that requiresjet fuel.
(06:54):
Everything requires energy.
So that is a big deal that'shappening right now.
We're hopefully past the worstof the energy spike.
What I'm worried is that pricesare not gonna go back down.
I'm worried that they're gonnasustain themselves at that
really high level, and that canhave a slowdown effect on the
rest of the economy, and thelonger it stays like that, the
(07:15):
worse it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
I mean, walk into a steakhouse where you thought,
okay, uh it's a little pricey,but I could deal with a$30 steak
dinner.
Try finding that$30 steak dinnernow.
You're uh it'll be challenging.
I'll give you I'll I'll give youa head uh a heads up on that.
Talk with Ryan Young, who issenior economist with the
Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
C E CEI.org is their website.
(07:51):
And you are listening to issuesand ideas.
I mentioned that the the CPIreport has certain designations.
What's the difference betweenthe CPI number and the CPIU
number?
That's the all-urban consumersnumber.
SPEAKER_07 (08:08):
That is uh the all-encompassing number with
everything.
Uh the CPI uses a basket ofgoods uh approach.
What do people buy?
So they'll say people spend uhuse this much of their budget on
housing, this much on food andclothing and all the rest.
Uh CP general CPI and CPIU usedifferent baskets of goods.
Uh you know, people in citieslive differently than than other
(08:31):
people do, so that's that's themain difference.
SPEAKER_02 (08:34):
And uh unless you've seen the report listening, uh
the numbers of both of thoseclassifications went up, so that
one was not doing any betterthan the other.
And we we were talking just asecond ago about what lies
ahead.
Is there any cause for concernwhen you look at the the
producer price index, which alsocame out this past week, be
because that showed maybe evenmore of a shocking jump than the
(08:57):
CPI did.
SPEAKER_07 (08:59):
Yeah, the PPI was brutal, and that is a leading
indicator, which means it's asign of things to come.
Uh we were obviously we're setover CPI going up 0.6% in April
and 0.9% the month before that.
Again, we want it to look atlike 0.1, 0.2.
Producer price index, we wantthe same level, but it was at
(09:20):
1.4, 14 times the target level.
And that is that's what'shappening at the wholesale
level, that's what's happeningfurther down supply chains.
That shock is going to work itsway through to consumers over
the next few months.
So when you see a big bump inthe producer price index like
that, you know higherinflation's on the way because
(09:41):
it'll take some time for it towork its way down to the
consumer level.
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
We mentioned the the war in Iran several times now,
and equally maybe even mentionedmore is well, as soon as the war
is over, everything will go backto the way it was.
We were doing 1.8, 1.9% beforeall this happened.
How realistic is that to expecta market structure to readjust
(10:06):
itself with any kind of rapidspeed?
SPEAKER_07 (10:10):
It'll take time.
We'll s we'll see stock marketprices go up and down.
The Federal Reserve meets everysix weeks to adjust interest
rates, and with the regimechange with Kevin Warsh now uh
in office as the Federal ReserveChair, um they'll adjust as best
they can, but it's going to takesome time and there's a lot of
uncertainty ahead.
So it's not just in thegovernment level, but also with
(10:31):
businesses as well.
What do you do with investingwhen you don't know what your
costs are gonna be in sixmonths?
SPEAKER_02 (10:37):
And this is be a certain pr be a pr pretty heavy
first test for Chairman Warshbecause his testimony in front
of his confirmation committeewas the Fed is gonna be
independent, we're gonna look atsituations.
He wouldn't say whether he'sdevoted to raising or cutting
rates.
He said pretty much.
We'll look at what the situationis and respond accordingly.
(10:58):
The belief is that he's gonna dowhat the president wants.
What if he does that and doescut rates in light of what we
have right now in the currentsituation?
How much would that add to theto the weight on the economy?
SPEAKER_07 (11:12):
I could have quite a bit of inflation.
The president wants lowerinterest rates because he loves
stimulus and easy money, whichis nice.
The economy is showing sometrouble signs, stimulus wouldn't
hurt, but there's a trade-off todoing that, and that trade-off
is higher inflation.
Stimulus now means inflationlater, and that is not a
(11:33):
trade-off that most of the restof the Federal Reserve's Board
of Governors wants to take.
So now that Kevin Walsh is in,he doesn't have to say nice
things about the president likehe did in a confirmation hearing
when the president can stillyank his nomination.
SPEAKER_01 (11:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:46):
Um hopefully he will uh be as independent as his
predecessor was.org.
Here's our senior economist,Ryan Young.
Ryan, thanks for helping usappreciate more about what these
(12:09):
numbers mean, what theyforetell, and uh fuel the voter
and arm the voter with uhinformation that they can call
out their elected leaders withto straighten this situation
out.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_07 (12:21):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (12:22):
The news reports about the cases of the
hantivirus have so far occurred,have painted what some call a
let's call it a concerningpicture.
Cases happen where a lot ofpeople are together in limited
space, like a cruise ship,people diagnosed with the
hantivirus or replaced inisolation.
This has caused some to say, ohno, here we go again.
(12:43):
Are we actually watching thebirth of a new pandemic, or is
what's happened so far revealingthat preparation policies
regarding basic health issues,even like the hantivirus, need
to be better followed?
Next guest joins us to discussall this.
He's the former Chief MedicalOfficer for New York City's
COVID 19 response, who's now CEOof Wellness Equity Alliance, Dr.
(13:04):
Tyler Evans.
How are you today, Doctor?
SPEAKER_06 (13:07):
I'm well.
SPEAKER_02 (13:08):
Thank you for coming back here.
Wellness EquityAlliance.com.
Learn more about the doctor'sorganization.
Just for basics in thefoundation, Doctor, what are the
specifics, what are the elementsof the of the hantavirus?
SPEAKER_06 (13:24):
So uh so hantavirus is a uh pathogen that's
typically spread through uhspread through rodent um
excrements, and uh we'll seesort of episodic outbreaks
taking place in um uh throughoutthe Americas.
Uh in the United States, it'susually in the western U.S.
Uh there's been uh a fewoutbreaks uh in California
(13:48):
around uh particularly aroundYosemite again, given the sort
of uh wild uh rodents that arearound there.
Um typically what it in in termsof what it causes, it'll cause a
uh mild symptoms.
Uh you'll get your sort of uhviral prodrome or sort of upper
respiratory um infection-likesymptoms.
Um but again, they're typicallysort of mild.
(14:10):
Uh very, very rarely uh will itspread uh or will sort of um
advance into uh what's calledthe um hemorrhagic fever uh with
renal involvement or kidneyinvolvement or the pulmonary uh
syndrome, hotovirus pulmonarysyndrome.
Um so that's either kidneys orlungs, but again, that's sort of
(14:31):
very uh very rare.
This particular situation uhthat had taken place with the uh
with the passengers uh was quitedifferent, but I could pause
there if there's any morequestions.
SPEAKER_02 (14:43):
So it's just a matter of the the the ship that
these people were on just wasn'tclean, sanitary.
That was the main catalyst thatthey they didn't see a rat
problem, didn't uh get anexterminator in.
Is it really as simple as that?
SPEAKER_06 (14:56):
No, I I I I we what we think was happening here was
the um uh you know uh a few ofthem were infected prior to
boarding.
Um there was a uh a birdwatching uh tour.
They were down in the uh down inSouth America, and uh they uh
embarked around Ushuaia.
(15:17):
Ushuaia is at the the tip of uhSouth American Patagonia, I
actually uh honeymooned there.
Um and uh and so in thatparticular area there's uh
there's this specific straincalled the Andes virus, which is
uh which is one of the onlyknown um strains that can
actually cause theperson-to-person transmission.
(15:38):
So what we believe happened wasthey were on this sort of bird
watching tour, they could havebeen uh infected through some
sort of um some rodents thatwere around the the birds and um
and then ultimately boarded theship.
Uh whether or not they weresymptomatic at the time is not
clear.
Um, but the reality is, and I'lljust kind of jump into this, the
(16:01):
reality is cruise ships are uhone of the one of the most
formidable public healthchallenges that that we uh that
we experience.
Uh when you think about cruiseships, they're pretty much um
just sort of floating petridishes, uh and and specifically
floating uh congregatefacilities, which makes it even
more challenging.
(16:21):
So you've got, you know, in andw when it when it came to the um
Hambias, you've got you knowonly 150 folks, but you know,
typically on these on the on theprincess uh or the uh um
carnival fleets you've got youknow thousands, upwards of six,
seven thousand people.
And they're all in very sort ofclose borders.
Um and so when you have any uhany infection taking place,
(16:45):
norovirus is very, very commonuh in these places.
You know, it's very easy totransmit that.
Uh once in a while you'll getsome upper respiratory
infection, uh flu-like and or orspecifically flu uh outbreaks
taking place in these uh inthese uh petri dishes as well.
The reality is there's nothere's no screening uh
modalities uh at all.
(17:07):
And in terms of response, it'svery uh, you know, you at best
you'll have a doctor on board.
The sort of qualifications ofthose doctors are not really
sort of standardized.
Um, you know, and in terms ofthe sort of the diagnostics and
the um and the treatment sort ofmodalities that they have are
going to be very limited to thesame thing.
SPEAKER_02 (17:24):
Well, sure.
I mean, when you think about ittoo, I mean, there's one doctor
on a ship, the the thedoctor-to-patient ratio, not
saying that every patient, everyperson, every passenger is going
to get sick, but thedoctor-person ratio uh quite
steep odds for any medicalprofessional, no matter no
matter what their experience is.
SPEAKER_06 (17:39):
Exactly.
And then uh, you know, it's veryit's very hit or miss in terms
of sort of what what theconnection to that that doc or
that medical provider will haveto some sort of other group.
You know, one doctor alone, um,to your point for thousands of
people, is you know, it's notit's not really that sort of
effective.
Um can that person sort of radioin if that person has questions,
et cetera?
(17:59):
Um you know, I mean, this isinfectious disease, not not many
doctors are actually trainedwell in infectious diseases.
So uh so there's a lot of pieceshere that we could sort of, I I
think it's an opportunity toreally shore up um some better
best practice here.
Um and um, you know, I'm I'm I Idon't think my recommendation
would be to sort of force uhrequirements, but I think they
(18:20):
would be my sort ofrecommendation would be to uh
impose you know recommendationsfor um for folks coming in.
Uh if if uh passengers are goinginto you know certain areas,
they should be well aware of youknow any sort of um emerging or
existing sort of challenges, uhprevalence of certain diseases.
(18:42):
You also have to think, too,that um a lot of um a lot of
passengers are older adults.
Uh I don't know what the meanage of uh of cruise ships are,
it's an interesting question,but it's I would suspect it's
probably in the in the 50s.
Um, you know, typically you'llyou'll see uh uh cruise ships,
particularly in places likeAlaska, well, you'll have 65 and
(19:03):
older is very common.
And so, you know, the older theolder that we get, the higher
our risk of um of illness.
And so we have a lot of folkscoming in with comorbidities.
It's just basically doctortalked for a lot of different uh
sicknesses or illnesses, andthat's going to cause sort of
waning immunity as well.
So when that takes place, thenyour risk of infection um ends
(19:23):
your uh your risk of sort of umyou know further advancement of
disease is going to be uh muchgreater.
So we really have to take careof our uh of our older adults.
So I you know strongly recommendthe cruise ship industry to
start sort of changing their uhtheir methods there.
Last thing I'll say too is whenyou think about cruise ships,
they are going through ports ofentry around the world.
(19:44):
So it's just a kaleidoscope ofmicrobes that could potentially
sort of enter these thesevessels.
And and and a big part is thecrew.
I I was the uh I was the onlyinfectious disease specialist at
the time that uh that washelping to um to demobilize and
sort of screen and and isolateand quarantine the uh Grand
(20:06):
Princess in early 2020, um,which was docked in Oakland.
And I I like to theatricallyrefer to it as the last cruise
ship on Earth.
And uh and and about a third ofthem were uh were were uh were
crew and South Asians, uhparticularly uh Indian
Pakasanis, Filipinos.
And so we we had to uh transporta lot of them to UCSF.
(20:29):
They were unaware of the sort ofthe American you know medical
system, there were a lot ofchallenges there.
Um they they you know mostlyhave not had any sort of
screening uh practices as well.
So there's a lot more that Ithink we can shore up.
I'll pause there.
SPEAKER_02 (20:43):
Well, just to wrap it up too, I mean, the idea you
have of having stronger healthrequirements and healthcare
requirements on ships is is anobvious path that needs to be
taken.
But given that there's literallya jigsaw puzzle of the the the
ships and what they're whatnations they're flagged on, how
how would you have some sort ofuniformity in all that?
SPEAKER_06 (21:02):
Yeah, I mean, so there bet there needs to be
better coordination between uhbetween these different uh the
different countries that theyare um that they are sort of
touching and uh and sort of thethe the the sort of you know the
origin of uh of the vessel,whether that's American or
whatnot.
Um you know, there are umcenters for disease control
(21:24):
across the world.
Uh there's the European CDC, ofcourse there's our CDC, the
Chinese has their own.
Um and uh then of course youhave the WHO.
So if we if we really short upbetter practice um in terms of
coordination, um, you know, wecould ultimately sort of create
our own sort of you know cruiseship surveillance um uh system
(21:48):
uh where again there's there'suh there's ongoing sort of
coordination discussions of sortof what's happening.
And but just betterpreparedness.
We refer to it as public healthemergency preparedness.
Um that is it's pretty Prettytenuous throughout the world.
WHO kind of looks at it at avery sort of macro level.
It's not very uh it's not verysort of uh tight in terms of
(22:10):
operations, it's very it's verysort of you know 30,000-foot
view or um some other sort of uhship metaphor.
And uh and then CDC given a lotof the challenges that have
taken place with the CDC and andthe lack of uh leadership now,
uh we're experiencing quite abit of uh of uh stressors uh
there.
So we've got a lot of problemswhen it comes to public health,
(22:32):
uh, but we're really hoping thatyou know to opportunities like
this that we can sort of uhimprove um our uh our our
systems in place.
SPEAKER_02 (22:41):
Yeah, definitely respond to the wake-up call as
opposed to react to it if in theaftermath.
He's the former chief medicalofficer for New York City's
COVID-19 response and now CEO ofWellness Equity Alliance.
Learn more about the work thatthey do at Wellness
EquityAlliance.com.
Dr.
Tyler Evans, thanks for theinsight and the direction of
what better things could be doneto keep anything like this from
(23:03):
not just spreading but fromhappening in the first place.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_06 (23:07):
I appreciate your time.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (23:09):
If you're listening to us via your favorite podcast
platform, don't forget tosubscribe and follow.
How frustrating is it when youthink somebody finally
understands a situation whichrequires them only to have them
reveal that they just stilldon't get it?
This can be said of the CatholicChurch in America for years.
Archdiocese across the nationdenied victims who were raped by
(23:31):
priests, gave cover to thosechild predators, and dragged
court cases out for as long asthey possibly could.
However, as we well know, thevictims refused to fall into
silence.
That finally led to settlementsacross the nation and admissions
of wrongdoing by thesearchdioceses.
Big question that had beenhanging out there was what would
the New York Archdiocese wind upadmitting and doing?
(23:54):
Well, the answer finallyarrived, and it revealed that
the New York Archdiocese wantsthings to be more beneficial for
them rather than for thevictims.
Here to discuss what the NewYork Archdiocese is proposing,
ramifications that could havefor victims nationwide, is the
New Jersey State Director ofSurvivors Network of those
(24:15):
abused by priests, MarkCrawford.
Thanks for being back heretoday, Mark.
SPEAKER_05 (24:20):
Thank you again, Chris.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:22):
And learn more about uh Snap at Snapnetwork.org.
There are chapters in everystate, and you can keep up to
date too with the variousagreements, confessions,
admissions, and well, like we'reseeing here, Mark, the
challenges.
Talk about this this uh proposalfor settlement that the New York
Archdiocese has placed forwardand what troubles victims such
(24:47):
as yourself about it.
SPEAKER_05 (24:49):
Certainly, yes.
Uh at the surface, it soundswonderful.
We're gonna hear it's thelargest settlement ever offered,
eight hundred million dollars,and um they've also promised to
reveal uh or release records ofthose accused.
However, there is one serious,immoral, dangerous caveat.
(25:14):
They're also requiring allthirteen hundred claimants to
unanimously accept the deal.
That means if just one uhrefuses to go along the deal is
dead.
Now and on top of that, theyhave been mentioning, well, if
this doesn't work, we're gonnahave to go the route of
(25:36):
bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy of course would addmany more years.
It's already been uh many years,uh, that they've been uh the the
victims fighting this battlewith the Archdiocese of New
York.
And again, um bankruptcy wouldlikely give them even less of a
(25:57):
payout, right?
And uh it would take many moreyears and the ch the diocese
itself would wind up paying manymore millions to their
bankruptcy lawyers.
SPEAKER_02 (26:08):
However, now here's the crazy part, we'll stop you
right there.
The the New York Arts Diocese isthreatening bankruptcy if you
look at their assets, just inreal estate alone, how can any
bankruptcy court take thatserious?
SPEAKER_05 (26:21):
Oh, I totally agree.
In fact, the vast majority ofthe money from this settlement
comes from the sale of asingular property on Madison
Avenue, uh, that was consummatedfairly recently for upwards of
five hundred million dollars.
So this is just one property inManhattan where the majority of
(26:45):
this money will come from.
Um, so yes, agreed.
I I don't know how they reallythink that um they're gonna go
down that road.
So the process they're proposingmimics a bankruptcy in many
ways, but of course there's nojudicial oversight.
(27:07):
There's no judicial rules,there's no discovery, there's no
releasing of assets.
So it seems like a bankruptcykind of offer, yet it's totally
outside at this point thejudicial system.
So you know, they they'veproposed and said, Look, here's
(27:29):
the here's the carrot they'redangling, eight hundred million
dollars, you won't have to waitlong.
Um, you can immediately get twohundred and fifty thousand
dollars if you don't wanna wait.
So that's an easy one for them,right?
No brainer.
It is actually a win win forthem and a lose lose for the
victims.
And what I mean by that is thatlook, they if if it doesn't work
(27:53):
and it's not likely all thirteenhundred survivors are going to
wanna go down this road butlet's just say one of 'em does
not.
Can you imagine thepsychological pressure or
possibly even active pressure orintimidation from the other
survivors who really would liketo settle.
(28:16):
Um so it pits survivor againstsurvivor.
And that fact alone to me makesthis in a moral type of demand
or uh offer.
Uh it is just even in bankruptcycourt, never, never has there
been in any bankruptcy, not theBoy Scouts of America, not the
(28:38):
USA gymnastics, not any of theother diocese, did a bankruptcy
court require one hundredpercent consent because that
creates a power structure that'seither beneficial to one
individual or to the institutionseeking that uh clause.
(29:02):
So uh it is a horrible, horribleoffer.
And now look, the it really putsthe victims back in in the very
place they were where they hadno leverage, no control.
The church held all the cardsand we're right back there
again.
It's it's further abuse of thesesurvivors from an institution
(29:26):
that constantly claims openly wewant to heal them, we want to do
the right thing.
No.
What they're doing is forcing amodel of coercion.
And the problem with that is ifit is successful, do you not
think any other institution, notjust those in the church,
whether it be schools, colleges,universities, athletic
(29:49):
organizations where there's agroup of victims, do you not see
them wanting to pursue the sametype of avenue?
This would set in a horrible,immoral precedent.
And it's unacceptable.
SPEAKER_02 (30:03):
And and what the church is doing, what the Arts
Dynasty of New York is doing,they're basically trying to
divide and conquer so that theycan have the victims, like you
said, fighting againstthemselves, and the church can
say, hey, we tried.
And you know, add to all thiswhat you said, Mark, the clock
is ticking.
The deadline for this is June27th.
That's not a lot of time for allthese victims.
(30:25):
I know there's one attorneywho's representing 300 of the
1,300, but uh I would wager tobet that even he's trying to
even he's having a challengingtime trying to get unanimity
among the 300 uh that herepresents.
SPEAKER_05 (30:40):
Without a doubt.
Um it's a real hard road to roadto hoe, and and I I gotta tell
you, um, look, they could takelike I said, you know, the the
when what's the person gonnasay?
Well, we tried.
Well, we tried, we put the bestoffer forward.
No.
Um the new Archbishop of NewYork, uh Archbishop Hicks,
(31:03):
should absolutely rescind thisclause.
Look, even if you ask for asupermajority, which happens in
bankruptcy cases, they probablywould still get it.
What they're really trying toensure is that not a single case
gets before the court.
One, because they know any typeof a word in some of these most
(31:24):
egregious cases are going to beexceptionally larger than any
offer, any single one of thesevictims will get under the
current uh offer.
And they don't want others tosee that because of course
that's just gonna buildresentment, right?
And uh at the very least.
Um I I just it's it's uh areally negative immoral type of
(31:52):
position to try and put thesevictims in.
The victims that they had a partin creating, that they i it's
just incredible to me that umpeople don't see through this.
I hopefully they do.
But I'm very concerned becausenot just in New York,
settlements with variousdioceses and other organizations
(32:15):
are ongoing in New Jersey andthroughout this country.
And if this is successful andone of the most affluent
archdiocese in the world, thenwhat's to stop anybody else from
trying to make the same offer?
And it's just not gonna fly herein New Jersey.
I've heard from countlessvictims here in New Jersey who
(32:36):
said that better not happenhere.
There's no way.
I I don't w I want to have myday in court.
So I am fairly certain there'sat least some of those in York
that probably feel the same way.
SPEAKER_02 (32:51):
No doubt.
And it's also part of thestrategy of the Archdiocese.
They they they put on the tablethe document release that they
have to release secret documentsabout historical reports and how
those who raped children, thepriests and the and the bishops
were were handled internally.
How many how many peopleactually believe that?
(33:12):
Because it sounds like you knowhow many how what have we seen
the Epstein files?
Have we seen the JFK files?
Have we seen the UFO files?
We get these promises, theselittle carrots hung before us,
and too many people fall prey tothose carrots, and they're
they're fake carrots, not evenreal ones.
SPEAKER_05 (33:28):
Absolutely.
I'm glad you mentioned itbecause I feel that very way,
and I know many others do, wehave seen for decades them not
produce handover documents, evenwhen court ordered.
In fact, right now there's twoother cases I can think of where
this very issue is playing out.
Seton Hall University, where uh,you know, uh a most prominent
(33:52):
Catholic institution headed up.
Now the head of the Board ofRegents is always the local
archbishop, in this caseCardinal Tobin.
They've they commissioned areport.
They're still fighting to thisday.
And in fact, yesterday morningthere was a hearing on the
release of the documents, andthey're claiming that they
(34:13):
should not be released becauseit's attorney client privilege.
The the uh law firm thatactually conducted the
investigation stated in thereport they had no relationship
with Seton Hall, no legal thisis not under a lawsuit.
This was an investigationcommissioned by the Archbishop
(34:33):
to look into McCarrick'sinfluence at the seminary at
Seton Hall.
And of course, there's a twentythousand page report that's
quite damning from what weunderstand.
I have not yet seen it.
Um but um we've heard reports inthe press about aspects of that
(34:54):
report and it's clear to this tothis day, even though the the
cardinal himself said he wantsit all out, he wants it all
exposed, he's gonna let anybodycome forward.
They stopped the very person whoknows the former president of
Stephen Hall from from uhtestifying or talking to the
(35:18):
committee that's doing theinvestigation.
They don't want the truth out,they don't want to know keep it
hidden.
They're fighting to this day.
SPEAKER_02 (35:27):
Mark wrote a great column that summarizes all that
we talked about here, too.
You can find that and a lot moreinformation at the website for
the Survivors Network of ThoseAbused by Priest at
Snapnetwork.org.
He is the New Jersey StateDirector of Survivors Network of
Those Abused by Priest, MarkCrawford.
Mark, you are indeed a devoted,dedicated advocate to the
(35:48):
victims, and you help usunderstand too why we need to be
as well.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_05 (35:52):
Thank you again, Chris.
SPEAKER_02 (35:54):
Uh question.
You ever ride the subway?
Not any on the city.
Experience can certainly vary.
Some systems perform better thanothers.
There's more route and scheduleinformation available with some
more than others.
While they can all get you towhere you need to go, the times
can vary.
Sounds a lot like investing inbusiness relationships, doesn't
it?
My next guest thought still, hebelieved it so much.
(36:16):
He's written a book based onthis idea.
His story is one of growing upin New York City, learning
underground on the subway, thenlater above ground on Wall
Street and boardrooms.
Shares his story and investinginsight in his book, How to Ride
the Subway, getting around onWall Street and in life, along
with being Chief StrategyOfficer and partner with Serraty
(36:36):
Partners.
He's a frequent CNBCcontributor, and a true subway
collegist, Jimmy Laventhor.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_08 (36:44):
Oh, I'm great, Chris.
And I really have to thank youfor kindly introducing the book
that way.
I may have to record that anduse that myself.
That was so well done.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
Well, you know, I I actually read the book.
I'm one of those odd people, soit's like and to learn more
about not just Jimmy's book, buthis entire financial world,
Jimmy Labenthal.com, SerityPartners, C-E-R-I-T-Y,
TerrityPartners.com.
We have those links over at ourwebpage.
I have seen investing comparedto a lot of things, from cheese
(37:16):
to animals to several pointsbeyond that.
What was your aha moment whenyou connected subways and
everything you need for strategydown there with Wall Street and
the strategies you need upthere?
SPEAKER_08 (37:30):
Great question, Chris.
And you know, the reason towrite the book is that I
frequently appear on TV as aninvestor and somebody who gives
commentary on the markets.
What I find is that when Ispeak, I have about 15 seconds
to get my ideas out before theanchor cuts me off or my fellow
contributors start chiming in.
So I wanted to write a book so Icould give a little more long
(37:53):
format to how I invest.
But just giving a book or justwriting a book about investing
would have been a little bitboring.
And the simple truth is Iabsolutely love the subways, and
I use the subway in New YorkCity to get to the studio, which
is the New York Stock Exchange,for the uh airing of the CNBC
show that I'm on.
And it was just while I was onthe subway, I said, why don't I
(38:16):
use my passion, my love for thesubways, which goes back to age
six in the 1970s.
Uh why don't I use that as ametaphor for investing to spice
things up a little bit insteadof just talking about dividend
stocks or how the markets move,just put some metaphors from the
subway in it.
And I I I hope it works.
I'm happy I did it.
SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Well, I think you should be too because it'll
teach the novices, give a, Ithink, a more focused direction
to those who are wandering.
And for those who are like tothink of themselves as
experienced investors, it justreinforces a lot of basic ideas
and even reminds us.
Like, for example, you start offabout knowing where you're
(38:56):
going, because if you don't knowwhere you're going to go, how do
you know what you're going toneed in order to get there?
What are you going to invest inif you don't know where you're
going to go?
SPEAKER_08 (39:05):
Well, that's exactly right.
And uh again, the metaphor ofthe New York City subway system,
at least in Manhattan, is thatit's very oriented along
north-south axes.
So most of the subway lines comedown either the west side or the
east side or midtown.
There's very few cross Manhattanuh subway lines.
There is the shuttle, but notmuch more than that.
(39:27):
And so if you're trying to getuh from the upper west side to
the upper east side, hey, guesswhat?
The subway is not your spot.
And in a similar way, if you'retrying to make money, then maybe
you don't want to take risks.
Well, you know what?
The equity market is not yourspeed.
You should be in the bondmarket.
It's just and I use that's agreat example, Chris, of the
metaphor that I use.
You know, other metaphors thatframe the chapters in the book
(39:50):
include things like patience.
The subway will arrive, it willget you where you need to go.
So will the stock market, uh,perseverance.
Probably my favorite, though, isserendipity, of just being aware
that the world does move in inrandom collisions that tend to
work out for your benefit.
And so sometimes you can be onthe subway and you can see a
(40:12):
crazy sight.
And I use in the book theexample of an underground uh
rail yard in Upper Manhattanthat uh I came across one day.
And it's just a way of exploringand finding new things, finding
better things, which the stockmarket always gives you an
opportunity to find reallyexciting, good new ways to make
money.
SPEAKER_02 (40:32):
And there are running things you have going
throughout uh your book as well,as far as you think you figured
it out, you think this is goingto work, everything's gonna be
perfect, you know this is thething.
It's not always gonna be thatway, is it?
SPEAKER_08 (40:45):
Listen, that's a good that's a great uh that
forms a chapter.
I think the the name of thechapter is Bad Things Happen.
And I use as the uh enteringanecdote to that chapter, when
Superstorm Sandy hit New YorkCity, I think it was 2013, uh it
it was just a perfect strike onthe harbor of New York City, and
it caused a storm surge wherebasically lower Manhattan was
(41:08):
about 10 feet underwater.
Well, you know, water flows tothe lowest spot, and the lowest
spot are the subway systems andthe tunnels that go underneath
the East River.
So the subway system wasinundated, it was flooded, it
was basically out of service fora couple of days, and in some
cases there was maintenance thatwent on for years to repair the
damage.
Look, sometimes in the stockmarket, bad things happen.
(41:31):
Um, we can look at the last 18months or so and see that we've
had a very dramatic decline whenthe war with Iran started, we
had a dramatic decline uh whenthe tariffs were announced on
Liberation Day in 2025.
But, but the subway system isstill here, and the stock market
is still a great place to makemoney.
As we can see right now, Chris,as you and I are talking, we're
(41:53):
at all-time highs in the stockmarket.
It's just a matter of bearingdown, having the grit to get
through the bad times, whichwill inevitably happen.
Can't be avoided.
SPEAKER_02 (42:04):
Jimmy Labenthal and his book, How to Ride the
Subway, getting along on WallStreet and in life, Jimmy
Labenthal.com.
He's a partner, Chief StrategyOfficer with Territory Partners,
Territipartners.com, both links,of course, at our homepage and
you're listening to issues andideas.
Question on for the purpose ofthe novice or the newbie.
You can hear of a stock, see acompany, maybe you're you or
(42:26):
someone else on CNBC talkingabout it.
You punch in the the tickersymbol in Google and stock
rating.
You will get inundated withinformation, and it could be
confused.
You can have 25 analysts sayingstrong buy, buy, get this now
before it's too late, andthere'll be one analyst saying,
sell it now.
(42:47):
How does the novice try todecipher things like that?
SPEAKER_08 (42:51):
I think there's really two ways of doing this.
You can hire a professional uhlike myself uh to pick the
stocks for you, or you can dowhat I do, which is what I
recommend in the book, which isto really dive deep and become
an expert in the stock thatyou're looking at.
Um specifically, what I mean bythis is getting into the
(43:11):
financial statements, looking atthe footnotes to those financial
statements, figuring out whatyou can find out that the rest
of the world doesn't know.
And again, with this analogythat goes throughout the book,
um, I draw it back to the subwaysystem.
Many people ride the subwayunderneath the East River every
day.
This is probably a hundredthousand or more.
(43:31):
And those tunnels are fabulousconstructions of engineering.
In fact, the first tunnel,subway tunnel under the East
River, was longer than theHolland Tunnel under the Hudson
River when it opened in theearly 20th century.
When the Holland Tunnel openedfor vehicular traffic, uh the
president of the United Statescalled and inaugurated it.
(43:52):
It was a big fanfare, all thenewspapers talked about it.
Nobody talked about the subwaytunnel that was created years
earlier.
And that was longer and still tothis day, as I said, transports
over a hundred thousand peoplethrough it.
That what I'm describing there,yeah, it may be a little bit
geeky, but that's the sort ofexpertise, that's the sort of
(44:13):
level of knowledge that if youwant to be a stock picker, you
really should do.
You should get into thosefinancial statements.
And not just for the companyyou're looking at, but its
competitors, maybe even itssuppliers or customers.
Um so that's that's that's myadvice to the novice is get your
hands dirty, really become anexpert in it.
SPEAKER_02 (44:33):
And you certainly, there's enough material by which
you can everyone can do that,and it's a learning experience
to be sure, but it's for yourbenefit to indeed learn valid
information.
Why don't you wrap up with thisidea?
You mentioned here you certainlymake yourself uh show yourself
to be a proponent of itthroughout your book.
Long-term, holding long-term.
I I said one time to a friend ofmine, are you a long-term
(44:55):
holder?
Said, yeah, I might hold a stockfor up to two weeks sometimes.
I mean, you you j especially ifit's a dividend stock, why would
you be anything else but along-term holder?
SPEAKER_08 (45:06):
Well, I you know, two each their own.
I love the subways.
Some people think the subwaysare dirty and smelly and they
don't want to go in them.
That's fine.
Uh, those people can be traders.
But the beauty about long-terminvesting is if you just stick
with the stock market, and inparticular, stick with
high-quality stocks, the namesyou know, the best companies in
(45:28):
each industry, you can feel verycomfortable that they will get
you through thick and thin.
Now, there's going to be timeslike we're in right now where
the stock market's been rallyingfor four years and everything
seems easy.
But being in those qualitystocks, even through the
downturn, is the way that youcan actually make money coming
on the other side of a downturnwhen those companies thrive as
(45:50):
their competitors sometimes havebeen hobbled uh by the tough
business conditions of, say, arecession.
So for me, the biggest thing,bar none, is to stay in the
market for as long as you can,and I mean years and years,
decades.
Um, I think, Chris, quite oftenabout uh what is the biggest
value that I add to my clients?
(46:10):
And it is frankly holding theirhands when the stock market
looks a little tricky, like wewere just talking about last
year Liberation Day or this yearwith the war in Iran, and just
reminding them that we've mademoney over the decades and we're
likely to do so in the decadesto come.
SPEAKER_02 (46:26):
Yeah, without a doubt, a quality stock is a
quality stock even in a downperiod, and those down periods
last a lot shorter when it isindeed that quality stock.
This is a great book forinvestors of all levels, as well
as if you want some guidance forlife in general, because what
Jimmy writes about can certainlybe expanded into whatever your
specific career is, whateveryour business relationships are.
(46:47):
You'll find it very quickly tounderstand as well.
How to ride the subway, gettingaround on Wall Street and in
life.
Learn more about Jimmy Labenthalat Jimmy Labenthal.com.
He's also Chief StrategyOfficer, partner with Sarah T
Partners, Sara T-C-E-R-I-T-YPartners.com, both those links
at our homepage.
Jimmy, thank you for aneducation and a fun ride through
(47:08):
the subways, no pun intended,and the history because you make
it understandable and everyonecan appreciate the ideas that
you're communicating and benefitfrom them.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_08 (47:19):
Chris, I really thank you.
You've been such a gracioushost, and thank you for giving
me the opportunity to dive alittle deeper into this book
with you.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (47:27):
Reading from Jeremiah chapter twenty nine,
verse eleven, for I know thethoughts that I think toward
you, says the Lord, thoughts ofpeace and not of evil, to give
you a future and a hope.
Paul and Ephesians chapter twoverse ten reveals this to us,
for we are his workmanshipcreated in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God preparedbeforehand, that we should walk
(47:51):
in them.
Additionally, in Romans chaptereight, verse twenty eight, we're
told this truth, and we knowthat all things work together
for good to those who love God,to those who are the called
according to his purpose.
These are just a few of theverses we find in the Bible that
brings us to an understanding ofGod's plan for us.
Those verses supply us with thewhat's the question is who will
(48:15):
lead us in living and receivingfrom God's plan?
It's Jesus who says in Johnchapter four, verse thirty four,
Jesus said to them, My food isto do the will of him who sent
me and to finish his work.
While we eagerly await for thereturn of our Lord and Savior,
God has blessed us with someoneto serve as a living example of
(48:36):
God's plan, who is indeed hisworkmanship.
That blessing is Donald Trump.
Romans chapter thirteen verseone makes this crystal clear,
let every soul be subject to thegoverning authorities, for there
is no authority except from God,and the authorities that exist
are appointed by God.
And when you read Daniel chaptertwo, verse twenty one, how can
(49:00):
this truth be denied?
And he changes the times and thereasons, he removes kings and
raises up kings, he gives wisdomto the wise and knowledge to
those who have understanding.
With the hand of God guidingDonald Trump, we're obligated,
absolutely obligated to placeour faith in Donald Trump.
Second Chronicles chapter sevenverse fourteen gives us this
(49:22):
instruction.
My people who are called by myname will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turnfrom their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven and willforgive their sin and heal their
land.
Donald Trump is a self confessedsinner that does not cause God
to deny Mr Trump the role Godhas chosen for him because it's
(49:44):
written in Romans chapter three,verse twenty three, for all have
sinned and fall short of theglory of God.
As he has brought about the willof God, what Donald Trump has
had to face mirrors in so manyways what Jesus was confronted
with.
Jesus says this in Luke chapter9, verse 44.
Let these words sink down intoyour ears, for the Son of Man is
(50:06):
about to be betrayed into thehands of men.
Donald Trump has been falselyaccused many times, just as
Jesus was, as it's told in Markchapter fourteen, verses fifty
five and fifty six.
Now the chief priests and allthe council saw testimony
against Jesus to put him todeath, but found none, for many
bore false witness against him,but their testimonies did not
(50:30):
agree.
Just as Jesus told hisfollowers, Donald Trump has told
his followers to stand strong.
Let's read Matthew chapter five,verses eleven and twelve.
Blessed are you when they revileand persecute you and say all
kinds of evil against youfalsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,for great is your reward in
(50:50):
heaven, for so they persecutedthe prophets who were before
you.
Now we all know how the evil ofthis world tried to strike down
Donald Trump, yet he roseconquering death, just as Jesus
did.
Romans chapter six verse ninereinforces this.
Knowing that Christ having beenraised from the dead, dies no
more, death no longer hasdominion over him.
(51:14):
Okay.
I think that's enough,especially since I'm now tasting
bile in the back of my throat.
What I've just done is repeatwhat way too many so called
pastors have actually done.
Some you know of, like PaulaWhite, Franklin Graham, Daddy
Billy must just be so proud ofthat boy.
Others you don't, and it wouldalso be foolish of me to mention
(51:36):
their names.
It would only elevate them outof the obscurity that they they
so richly deserve.
These self-professed pastorshave corrupted the word of God
by trying to wrongly apply it tosomeone who, when asked what his
most important Bible verse is,declined to answer, saying,
Well, that's very personal.
That directly goes against whatJesus teaches in Matthew chapter
(51:58):
ten, verse twenty seven, Jesusspeaking, Whatever I tell you in
the dark, speak in the light,and what you hear in the ear,
preach on the house tops.
I referenced earlier how fakepastors use Romans chapter three
verse twenty three to excuseTrump's behavior.
That verse is actually anindictment of Trump, who once
(52:18):
said in an interview withBloomberg TV that he had nothing
to ask God for forgivenessabout.
With that reality established,let's once again read Romans
chapter three verse twentythree, for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.
Regarding the false teachers whoare corrupting God's word in
order to lift up an ungodlyperson, Jesus warns us about
(52:42):
them in Matthew chapter seven,verses fifteen through twenty.
Beware of false prophets whocome to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravenouswolves.
You will know them by theirfruits.
Do men gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Even so every good tree bearsgood fruit, and a bad tree bears
(53:03):
bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear badfruit, nor can a bad tree bear
good fruit.
Every tree that does not beargood fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire, thereforeby their fruits you will know
them.
Now if you want to know whothese false teachers truly are,
Second Peter chapter two versesthirteen through seventeen fully
(53:26):
and completely reveals them toyou.
They are spots and blemishes,carousing in their own
deceptions, while they feastwith you, having eyes full of
adultery, and that cannot ceasefrom sin, enticing unstable
souls, they have a heart trainedin covetous practices, who are
accursed children, they haveforsaken the right way and gone
(53:47):
astray, following the way ofBalam, the son of Baor, who
loved the wages ofunrighteousness, but he was
rebuked for his iniquity, a dumbdonkey speaking with a man's
voice, restrained the madness ofthe prophet.
These are wells without water,clouds carried by a tempest, for
whom is reserved the blacknessof darkness forever.
(54:10):
Just as Catholic priests hidbehind God's word as they rape a
little boys, these falseteachers are hiding behind God's
word in order to rape your verysoul.
So how do you overcome them?
By knowing God's word, and thatonly comes about through reading
it, studying it, praying on it,and asking God to bless you with
(54:30):
the spiritual eyes and ears tosee and hear only His truth.
As we're instructed in SecondTimothy chapter two, verse
fifteen, be diligent to presentyourself approved to God, a
worker who does not need to beashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.
Be sure to check out ourwebsite, issues and ideas
radio.com.
(54:51):
We have more information aboutthe guests who joined us here on
the show today.
And if you've been listening tous via your favorite podcast
platform, make sure you followand subscribe.
Always grateful and thankful foryour time and attention, keeping
us company along for the ride.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
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