April 8, 2025 • 11 mins
Chris cheers Elon Musk as the Mighty Mouse swooping in to dismantle Peter Navarro’s trade nonsense, spotlighting a fiery clash where Musk brands Navarro ‘dumber than a sack of bricks.’ Navarro’s CNBC rant—dismissing Tesla as a mere assembler and trashing BMW’s massive South Carolina plant—gets a reality check: Tesla’s the most American-made car, and BMW’s $13 billion investment since 1992 pumps $27 billion yearly into the state’s economy with 11,000 jobs. Markowski rips apart the ‘national security’ boogeyman and trade deficit myths, citing history from the Great Depression to Robert Bartley’s The Seven Fat Years. Trade deficits fuel growth, not doom. Is Musk steering Trump away from tariff madness? www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Here, but come to save the day. Yes, mighty Mounce
or Mighty Musk. Yeah, Musk is must saving the day
right now. Certainly looks that way. Again, I don't know
all of the conversations, what's happening behind the scenes, but
it certainly looks like certainly looks like Musk has the
(00:38):
president's ear. This was great, Oh man, this was just
great job. I just gotta give you know, you gotta
clap that. This is just awesome. Musk went after Peter Navarro,
calling him a moron and dumber than a sack of bricks.
(00:59):
I use that line, dumb is a box of rocks.
Musk uses dumber than a sack of bricks. Yeah, uh,
the idea he was. He was ticked and again I
was too watching Navarro on it makes it just I
want to throw something. Okay, So Navarro is making all
(01:20):
these ridiculous statements on CNBC and how elon Musk is
uh you know he's a car He's not. He's not
a car manufacturer, He's a car assembler. Musk goes, Uh,
Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is
demonstrably false. Tesla has the most American made cars. Navarro
(01:43):
is dumber than a sack of bricks by any definition whatsoever.
Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America,
with the highest percentage of US content. Navarro should ask
the fakes. Fake expert he invented ron Vera. Uh yeah,
ron Vera is somebody an economist that Navarro quoted in
(02:09):
his books, but he made the person up. It's him anyway.
Uh yeah. Again. This carried over from this past weekend
when Musk was chiding, uh, Navarro's Harvard degree and that
he hasn't built anything. He goes on TV and he
he says things, and again it makes you want to
(02:30):
rip your hair out, In particular that the comments he
made about, you know, BMW just assembling things there in
South Carolina. Yeah, what else he say? He said exactly
he said about the BMW factory in South Carolina. That
doesn't work for America. It's bad for our economics. It's
(02:53):
bad for our national security. Again, every you know what
they was, They always, always, always have to bring up
national security all the time. As soon as people say
I almost I start, you know, I'm like, we spend
We've been spending a trillion dollars a year for how long?
We got two oceans protecting us for crying out loud,
(03:16):
and every freaking Tom Dick and Harry's got to bring
up national security. We've got a boogeyman and under every corner,
every single place out there, somebody's looking to take us out.
Oh come on, please stop, please, okay, with the national security.
But the biggest issue we have when it comes to
national security, period, nothing else is our national debt. Is
(03:37):
our fiscal situation. That is the biggest concern anyway. Gentleman
by the name of John Cherry put together a piece
on the BMW factory. He grew up close to the
BMW facility in South Carolina. It just so happens to
be BMW's largest facility in the world, largest facility in
(04:07):
the world. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna stop right there, okay,
and we're gon we'll get back to this in a second.
I did a radio show bit podcast on this years
and years and years ago. When when people start talking
about American cars, German cars, this car that, whatever it
(04:27):
may be, and I say, well, what exactly makes it
an American car? I mean a lot of American cars
have foreign parts, a lot of foreign cars have American parts.
Certain foreign cars are made here in the United States,
certain American cars are made overseas. I mean, what what
(04:49):
makes it? What makes it? We're gonna have some sort
of test to determine what what a car, whether what
it is, and where it's from, whatever it may be.
Jeep Jeep Wrangler America stillanis is a Dutch company that
owns that at this point in time. Anyway, Anyway, John
(05:13):
Litterry talked about how he watched this BMW facility transform
the state of South Carolina and the region with more
than thirteen billion dollars invested since nineteen ninety two, eleven
thousand jobs on site and an eight million square foot campus,
(05:35):
ten billion in exports in twenty twenty three, the annual
economic impact of the plant at twenty seven billion dollars. Now,
South Carolina, as far as population is not a very
large state, is those are big numbers. For those reasons,
(05:56):
BMW's investment has been hailed as a turning point and
the state's economic history. The Governor of South Carolina, Henry
McMaster said earlier this year, BMW's arrival in South Carolina
over thirty years ago transformed our economy and global reputation.
It's right. The investment was instrumental in helping the state
(06:17):
transition from a textile dependent economy from most of the
twentieth century to one with a vibrant, advanced manufacturing industry today.
Well no, wait, hold on there, No, we don't want that,
says Pete Navarro. We want to go back and we
want to make T shirts again. In light of all this,
(06:39):
how in the world does Navarro conclude that BMW's investment
doesn't work for America. Ridiculous. Whatever benefits, BMW has also
delivered more than delivered and been more canceled out by
the fact that its sources parts from a global supply chain.
(07:03):
And again, this is what you want to have happen.
The idea that we're going to close sput a wall up,
and close ourselves up to the rest of the world,
and we're just going to source here, build everything here
in the United States and become you know, this nation
(07:27):
that has trade surpluses, trade surpluses, and we're just going
to consume our own stuff. How has that worked out
for China since Xijon Ping has taken over? Has it?
I mean he's trying to force consumption and he can't
do it. This is from Robert Bartley in book The
(07:55):
Seven Fat Years. For Many years of government public a
Plethora of Different Balances nineteen seventy six, an advisory committee
promenent economists looked at these statistics and was moved to
wonder whether any of them meant to anything. The committee
suggested that the words surplus and deficit be avoided insofar
as possible, for these words are frequently taken to mean
(08:17):
that the developments are either good or bad, respectively. Since
that interpretation is often incorrect, the terms may be widely
misunderstood and used in lieu of analysis. The Commerce Department
stopped publishing most of the balances because it had to
publish something. It kept the trade balance, which has been
(08:38):
bedeviling everybody ever since. The trade deficit. Again, people use
that word all the time. Great deficit, economic black hole. Right,
nothing escapes that The United States ran a trade deficit
in nearly all of its first one hundred years. We
(09:02):
ran we don't know where we ran. Surpluses, trade surpluses,
great depression. Trade deficits are quite typical and normal of
growing economies. They require a disproportionate share of the world's resources. Again,
(09:24):
the leftist always, yeah, we only to make up. We
anty make a we're population, but we use and we
consume all of this. Well, we again, because we do
a lot with the stuff that we're taken in, because
we grow, we provide investment opportunities to balance the equation
(09:49):
under accounting. Okay, investment inflows must be balanced with a
deficit on the trade account. But why why pay attention
to this? And again he makes a great argument here
and again this is he wrote this book in nineteen
ninety two. Bartley talks about Manhattan, the Island of Manhattan.
(10:13):
He said, well, you know, for the Manhattan Island, Park
Avenue has a trade deficit with areas maybe Washington Heights. Okay, again,
I've talked about it here on the program. How many
trade deficits do you have? Do you care about him?
(10:33):
Do you care about the trade deficit that you have
with the dry cleaner. Do you care about the trade
deficit that you have with the guy that cuts you
lawn or takes care of your pool, or wash your car,
whatever it may be, that this trade deficit notion is
ridiculous and yeah, yeah, must save the day. Look at
(10:55):
least it's looking this way, and yes, tomorrow's are Moro
on stalk on Wall Street dot com.
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Here, but come to save the day. Yes, mighty Mounce
or Mighty Musk. Yeah, Musk is must saving the day
right now. Certainly looks that way. Again, I don't know
all of the conversations, what's happening behind the scenes, but
it certainly looks like certainly looks like Musk has the
(00:38):
president's ear. This was great, Oh man, this was just
great job. I just gotta give you know, you gotta
clap that. This is just awesome. Musk went after Peter Navarro,
calling him a moron and dumber than a sack of bricks.
(00:59):
I use that line, dumb is a box of rocks.
Musk uses dumber than a sack of bricks. Yeah, uh,
the idea he was. He was ticked and again I
was too watching Navarro on it makes it just I
want to throw something. Okay, So Navarro is making all
(01:20):
these ridiculous statements on CNBC and how elon Musk is
uh you know he's a car He's not. He's not
a car manufacturer, He's a car assembler. Musk goes, Uh,
Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is
demonstrably false. Tesla has the most American made cars. Navarro
(01:43):
is dumber than a sack of bricks by any definition whatsoever.
Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto manufacturer in America,
with the highest percentage of US content. Navarro should ask
the fakes. Fake expert he invented ron Vera. Uh yeah,
ron Vera is somebody an economist that Navarro quoted in
(02:09):
his books, but he made the person up. It's him anyway.
Uh yeah. Again. This carried over from this past weekend
when Musk was chiding, uh, Navarro's Harvard degree and that
he hasn't built anything. He goes on TV and he
he says things, and again it makes you want to
(02:30):
rip your hair out, In particular that the comments he
made about, you know, BMW just assembling things there in
South Carolina. Yeah, what else he say? He said exactly
he said about the BMW factory in South Carolina. That
doesn't work for America. It's bad for our economics. It's
(02:53):
bad for our national security. Again, every you know what
they was, They always, always, always have to bring up
national security all the time. As soon as people say
I almost I start, you know, I'm like, we spend
We've been spending a trillion dollars a year for how long?
We got two oceans protecting us for crying out loud,
(03:16):
and every freaking Tom Dick and Harry's got to bring
up national security. We've got a boogeyman and under every corner,
every single place out there, somebody's looking to take us out.
Oh come on, please stop, please, okay, with the national security.
But the biggest issue we have when it comes to
national security, period, nothing else is our national debt. Is
(03:37):
our fiscal situation. That is the biggest concern anyway. Gentleman
by the name of John Cherry put together a piece
on the BMW factory. He grew up close to the
BMW facility in South Carolina. It just so happens to
be BMW's largest facility in the world, largest facility in
(04:07):
the world. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna stop right there, okay,
and we're gon we'll get back to this in a second.
I did a radio show bit podcast on this years
and years and years ago. When when people start talking
about American cars, German cars, this car that, whatever it
(04:27):
may be, and I say, well, what exactly makes it
an American car? I mean a lot of American cars
have foreign parts, a lot of foreign cars have American parts.
Certain foreign cars are made here in the United States,
certain American cars are made overseas. I mean, what what
(04:49):
makes it? What makes it? We're gonna have some sort
of test to determine what what a car, whether what
it is, and where it's from, whatever it may be.
Jeep Jeep Wrangler America stillanis is a Dutch company that
owns that at this point in time. Anyway, Anyway, John
(05:13):
Litterry talked about how he watched this BMW facility transform
the state of South Carolina and the region with more
than thirteen billion dollars invested since nineteen ninety two, eleven
thousand jobs on site and an eight million square foot campus,
(05:35):
ten billion in exports in twenty twenty three, the annual
economic impact of the plant at twenty seven billion dollars. Now,
South Carolina, as far as population is not a very
large state, is those are big numbers. For those reasons,
(05:56):
BMW's investment has been hailed as a turning point and
the state's economic history. The Governor of South Carolina, Henry
McMaster said earlier this year, BMW's arrival in South Carolina
over thirty years ago transformed our economy and global reputation.
It's right. The investment was instrumental in helping the state
(06:17):
transition from a textile dependent economy from most of the
twentieth century to one with a vibrant, advanced manufacturing industry today.
Well no, wait, hold on there, No, we don't want that,
says Pete Navarro. We want to go back and we
want to make T shirts again. In light of all this,
(06:39):
how in the world does Navarro conclude that BMW's investment
doesn't work for America. Ridiculous. Whatever benefits, BMW has also
delivered more than delivered and been more canceled out by
the fact that its sources parts from a global supply chain.
(07:03):
And again, this is what you want to have happen.
The idea that we're going to close sput a wall up,
and close ourselves up to the rest of the world,
and we're just going to source here, build everything here
in the United States and become you know, this nation
(07:27):
that has trade surpluses, trade surpluses, and we're just going
to consume our own stuff. How has that worked out
for China since Xijon Ping has taken over? Has it?
I mean he's trying to force consumption and he can't
do it. This is from Robert Bartley in book The
(07:55):
Seven Fat Years. For Many years of government public a
Plethora of Different Balances nineteen seventy six, an advisory committee
promenent economists looked at these statistics and was moved to
wonder whether any of them meant to anything. The committee
suggested that the words surplus and deficit be avoided insofar
as possible, for these words are frequently taken to mean
(08:17):
that the developments are either good or bad, respectively. Since
that interpretation is often incorrect, the terms may be widely
misunderstood and used in lieu of analysis. The Commerce Department
stopped publishing most of the balances because it had to
publish something. It kept the trade balance, which has been
(08:38):
bedeviling everybody ever since. The trade deficit. Again, people use
that word all the time. Great deficit, economic black hole. Right,
nothing escapes that The United States ran a trade deficit
in nearly all of its first one hundred years. We
(09:02):
ran we don't know where we ran. Surpluses, trade surpluses,
great depression. Trade deficits are quite typical and normal of
growing economies. They require a disproportionate share of the world's resources. Again,
(09:24):
the leftist always, yeah, we only to make up. We
anty make a we're population, but we use and we
consume all of this. Well, we again, because we do
a lot with the stuff that we're taken in, because
we grow, we provide investment opportunities to balance the equation
(09:49):
under accounting. Okay, investment inflows must be balanced with a
deficit on the trade account. But why why pay attention
to this? And again he makes a great argument here
and again this is he wrote this book in nineteen
ninety two. Bartley talks about Manhattan, the Island of Manhattan.
(10:13):
He said, well, you know, for the Manhattan Island, Park
Avenue has a trade deficit with areas maybe Washington Heights. Okay, again,
I've talked about it here on the program. How many
trade deficits do you have? Do you care about him?
(10:33):
Do you care about the trade deficit that you have
with the dry cleaner. Do you care about the trade
deficit that you have with the guy that cuts you
lawn or takes care of your pool, or wash your car,
whatever it may be, that this trade deficit notion is
ridiculous and yeah, yeah, must save the day. Look at
(10:55):
least it's looking this way, and yes, tomorrow's are Moro
on stalk on Wall Street dot com.
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