Watchdog on Wall Street: Podcast for Weekend of April 26 - April 27 2025

Χριστός Ανέστη! Hurricane Trump! Scoreboard! In Search Of…Recession! Mom and Pop Investors Are Keeping Their Cool! Who Was Missing from The Oval Office Meeting on Tariffs? Greater Fools.  Manufacturing Myths! Student Loan Accountability! Kids Can’t Read!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Well, no one authored investment banker, consumer advocate, handalyst, trader.
Chris Markowski is the watchdog.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
The Wall Street.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Do you want to answer exposing the lines and myths
that the big brokerage firms, the mainstream press, and the
government are pushing to keep Americans away from financial freedom.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
You can't handle the true truth.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Bringing America the truth about what really happens in the
financial world.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Ladies and gentlemen. We're not here to indulge in fantasy,
but in political and economic reality.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
This is the watchdog on Wall streets.

Speaker 5 (00:44):
All right, Christos, honesty everyone. Now, if you're not familiar
with that, wow, people listen to this program. Though for
a long time that my life has been kind of
like my big fat Greek wedding. I got my mother
in law living with me. I visit the Greeks in

(01:04):
the summertime in Greece and all sorts of good stuff
one of the things that they do, and I, quite frankly,
I think it's wonderful. I really do. I think it's great.
My mother in law, she picks up the phone. Now,
anybody calls christ has risen and if you know what
to say, is supposed to reply in return Alithos anesty

(01:27):
he has risen indeed, and they do this for a while.
I think I'm almost up to Pentecost, and it's it's
a great little tradition. Another little tradition as well that
we partake in on Easter is uh break into the eggs. Yeah,

(01:47):
my mother in law basically takes most takes eggs, hard
boiled eggs in a deep deep red color. Now the
red red color of the eggs, it symbolizes the blood
of Jesus and his resurrecs. The eggs themselves represent the
empty tomb from which he arose. And what you do

(02:08):
is is kind of you open up and roll back
the stone of the tomb. Everybody has their own egg,
and you smack someone else's egg and if yours cracks,
you lose. If there's cracks, you win. It's a tradition
we go through. But anyway, anyway, my my Easter weekend,
I always go with my wife to they have a

(02:28):
vigil Mass at midnight, and I get up bright and
early and I go at seven o'clock in the morning
to Catholic Mass. So'm I go to Mass and I
get there probably about you know, six forty five in
the morning on Sunday and this is you know, I
just moved down here to Florida.

Speaker 6 (02:47):
It's a new church for me. And it's a big church.

Speaker 5 (02:51):
Packed it's packed.

Speaker 6 (02:53):
I mean it's busy all the time.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
And I was just Easter Sunday, but it was packed
at seven o'clock Mass, and they have several other masters
over the course. They must have been like a thousand
people there, which I love, which is great. And the
priest he there's homily. He goes up and he talks
about how he lost he lost his best friend. He

(03:16):
was a University of Florida gre He lost his best
friend about five years ago, who was Orthodox Christian like
my wife wereac Orthodox. And he was talking about his
mom's friend and how almost at the time when his
best friend died, how concerned she was for him, and

(03:36):
that he lost his best friend. And he stays in
contact with her all the time. And you know she
will call in this time in Christos and Estes. So
what he did, what he did, which was in my opinion,
was just awesome. He taught the entire church the Greek
tradition the Christos alithos asty told the entire story and

(04:00):
held up his phone, add to the entire church and
had the entire church video, you know, the whole church
saying Christosinest's ali fos and sent it to his mom's
friend and it it was a reprieve for me. It
was just it brought me. It brought me a lot

(04:22):
of joy in a month where I've you know, been
very very stressed out, aggravated over you know, policy decisions
being made, angry. You can hear it, you know, on
my podcast, you can hear it here on the show.
And you know, one of the things that I kind

(04:43):
of really worked on during Holy Week is kind of
understanding getting back to the point in time something that
I believe in. I have to stop stressing stressing over
things I really don't have any control over.

Speaker 6 (05:00):
Am I Am?

Speaker 5 (05:02):
I going to continue to report on everything that is
taking place and the rip percussions and what needs to
be done. Yes, yes, but but at this point in time,
at this point in time, the only thing you can
really do is pray for the people that are leading

(05:22):
this country.

Speaker 6 (05:24):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (05:27):
That's it. That's that's the only thing that you can
do is that they will eventually see the light and
start making wise decisions on our behalf. I I can't
think of anything else. And that's what I'm basically calling
on people to do. At this point in time. The

(05:47):
news cycle will, uh, we'll drive you nuts. Again. I
have to be on top of it because of you know,
what I do and uh seemingly, you know, things change
on a regular basis. And regular I mean, so it's
a minute to minute almost when you're following things and
if I you know, turn away for a minute, the
headline might change. Oh nope, they didn't really say that.

(06:09):
They really meant this, no clarity whatsoever. And it's hard.
I mean, I we handle it in what we do
based upon the fact that we are long term investors
and we own quality and I know, like I said,
business will find a way. Business will find a way.

(06:30):
It's a matter of time. But for other people who
own small businesses that are very much adversely affected by
the policy decisions that have taken root over the past month,
they're in a different situation. So one of the things
that you know we've been doing, we've been doing and

(06:52):
I'm again you need help and not just what your
portfolio because one of the things that we do at
Markowski investment separates us for everybody else. We're your own
little not just your personal CFO uh where you're also
your own personal business consultant.

Speaker 6 (07:10):
We'll be called in, I'll be called in.

Speaker 5 (07:12):
I'll be asked to consult on a small business, a
business plan, whether or not something is going to work.
And you know, there's many different things that we're suggesting
to people to help hold them over during these difficult times.
I know credit is getting a bit tight. There might
be some different things you need to do moving forward.

(07:33):
And that's what we'll do. And you know what, I
don't charge for this stuff. I'm not McKinsey. Okay, that's
not what we're about. We like to see people do well.
We got to obviously, we've got to talk a little
bit about you know, I call them Hurricane Trump at

(07:54):
this point in time. And you want to know how
I know I'm getting I'm doing a good job. You
know what? What the how I can Basically I said,
all right, I'm doing a very good job. That was
a good program. When I get the magas super angry
with me and the far left super angry with me,

(08:15):
because they're both basically that, you know, different sides of
the same coin. My job here is I don't back candidates.
I don't back parties. We've talked last week about this
is we are advocates for the truth, in getting to
the truth. I don't you know, I'm not on this team.

(08:38):
I'm not on that team. I don't do that. I'm
on your team. And that's what you want. Oh, you
got them. You gotta support the president. You voted for him.

Speaker 6 (08:47):
I don't have to do anything of the sort.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
And this is part of the problem, is that you
people need to understand that these people in Washington, d c.
Are supposed to work for us, supposed to work for us.
We're supposed to hold them to account. Now on Easter.
On Easter, you know, Donald Trump puts out a tweet,

(09:13):
Happy Easter to all, including the radical left lunatics who
are fighting and scheming so hard to bring murderers, drug lords,
dangerous prisoners, are mentally insane and well known MS thirteen
gang members, and wife beaters back into our country.

Speaker 6 (09:27):
Happy Easter.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
Also to the weaken in effective judges and law enforcement
officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our nation
to continue, that attack so violent that will never be forgotten.
Sleepy Joe Biden purposely allowed millions of criminals to enter
our country totally unvetted and unchecked through an open borders policy.
Will go down in history of single most calamitous act
ever perpetrated on America. He was by far the worst

(09:48):
and most incompetent president, a man who had absolutely no
idea what he was doing. But to him and to
the person that ran and manipulated the auto pen, perhaps
our real president, and to all the people who cheated
in the twenty twenty presidential election in order to get
this highly destructive moron elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity,
and affection, a very happy Easter. Really, you know, my

(10:13):
son couldn't be with us this Easter. He's a you know,
he's a college athlete and he had a game that weekend.
He sent this to me and he was like, Dad,
Oh my god, what did he just put out there?

Speaker 6 (10:29):
Did this?

Speaker 5 (10:29):
This is?

Speaker 6 (10:31):
This is an Easter message?

Speaker 5 (10:34):
Yeah? Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like something that
goes all right, right along with the Christian Easter message. Right,
But then again you'll have the maga types applaud this
and then call themselves good Christians at the same time,
they'll applaud something like this, Joe Biden for crying out loud,

(10:56):
lives rent free, and Donald Trump's head Joe Biden. Now again,
he's been listening to this program for some time. We
were highly critical of Joe Biden's policies, but we made
it perfectly clear that we were under the full understanding
that Joe Biden was just lady Eloise. He was just

(11:18):
a figurehead for crying out loud running the country, but
not really someone else was doing it for him. And
we ripped his wife for allowing this to happen. We
called it elder abuse. You're picking on Joe Biden, an
old man that has obviously had his mental capacities are

(11:40):
limited at this point in time that you think that
that's a good idea, that that's that's something that people
should do. Now, I again, you know, I don't understand it,

(12:01):
quite frankly, and you know the reality of the situation
is at some point in time, at some point in time,
we have to have a leader that actually tries to
bridge some of the divides. You know, when Jesus was
on the cross Agains Easter, you know what did he do?

(12:26):
He prayed, He prayed for the forgiveness of the people
who tortured him and nailed him to a cross and
abused for them. Forgive them, father, they know not what
they do. That that that to me, those are the

(12:48):
type of people that I want to surround my self with,
the ones that are capable of forgiveness. That was just
this the chorus a Cold Play song. I've cided before
here on the program, Death and All His Friends. No,
I don't want to battle from beginning to end. I
don't want a cycle of recycled revenge. I don't want

(13:12):
to follow Death in All his Friends. I know, I
know it may work well with many people out there,
Get again, get the people going, But do you honestly believe,

(13:32):
do you honestly believe in your heart of hearts that
it's the right thing to do, And don't give me this. Well,
you know the law fair, the all the stuff that
he had to go through. Yeah, yeah, you rise above that,
You rise above all of that. That's what's going to

(13:53):
bring people together. We know, we know what happened. Everyone
knows the law fair and all these various different things.
But you're going back it. Joe Biden in your Eastern Message,

(14:13):
not a not a message of reconciliation, of forgiveness and
if they ripped Joe Biden and rightfully so what was
he was on Easter one year with some trans day
of visibility. We're like, what are you doing? But this
is pretty close to as bad, is it not. At

(14:37):
some point in time, people, some point in time, you
got it. You have to you know, you have to.
You have to take your your I'm on this team,
on that that team. You gotta be on the side
of truth. We have to be on the side of truth.
You have to become an equal opportunity basher. You have

(14:59):
to look at things for what they are. Okay, understand
the terrain, not what you want the terrain to be,
but what it is, and we deal with it together.
That's what is going to move the country forward. Have

(15:22):
to take a break. We have quite a bit today
on the program, another action pack, crazy headline filled a
week and we're going to get through it all. Watchdog
on Wallstreet dot Com. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot Com is
our site again. Become a part of the Watchdog on
Wall Street family, our personal CFO program, our podcast, all

(15:47):
sorts of great things there at the site. Watchdog on
Wall Street dot com or give us call eight hundred
four seven one fifty nine.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Eighty four, bringing America financial freedom, one listener at a time.
You're listening to The Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 6 (16:20):
Look aback, everybody, it's my longtime listen.

Speaker 5 (16:25):
I'm a bit of an old school, old school type
of guy when it comes to everything sports, Uh, you
name it. And I'm not a fan. I'm not a
fan of the the end zone. Never been a fan
of the end zone dances, you know, showing up your
opponent and sack dances, whatever it may be.

Speaker 6 (16:45):
When I played sports.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Now when I.

Speaker 6 (16:49):
Coach, I don't know whow any of that nonsense.

Speaker 5 (16:53):
Yeah, you know, someone on your team scores a goal,
you go and you congratulate them, you know, try to
show somebody up.

Speaker 6 (17:00):
You know, you guys hitting home runs and.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
You know, staring at standing there at the plate and
then walk into first base. Back when I used to
play in baseball, I knew you'd get a you know,
you'd get a pitch in your ear the next time
around if you did something like that when I played.
When I played, and then you'd encounter something like that,
your team was winning you would just say, scoreboard, scoreboard.

(17:25):
Just take a look at the scoreboard. That's that's quite frankly,
that's all that matters. All that matters. And again it
is focus on me, me, me, drawing a ten tent
to myself. No, no, no, no, you're on a team, okay,
your job is to help the team win. Scoreboard. Over
the years, I've I've used the line here on the

(17:45):
program from Bill Parcells.

Speaker 6 (17:48):
You are what your record says you are.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
Now, for whatever reason it may be again again, all
of the sick ephants all you know, all the people
wearing the short skirts and the pom poms working at
Fox News and some of these other programs out there, radio,
you name it, out there, for whatever reason it may be.
Now that Donald Trump is in the White House, does

(18:14):
it matter what the scoreboard says? Doesn't matter? No, no, know
what I'm paying attention anymore. Oh and when Biden was
in they had no problem pointing at the scoreboard. But
when Trump's in there, oh no, no, no, no, no.
Well let me give you the scoreboard. First and foremost,
Trump's approval rating on the economy is the worst it's

(18:35):
ever been, including his first term term. I watched I
watched a guy. He spends a lot of money on advertising,
so I don't know. His face appears a lot on
Fox and other places like that. He's a bit of
a real estate con artist. His name is Grant Cardone.
He's on Laura Ingram's this past week and I'm watching

(18:59):
him and has got that stupid grin on her face
like she always does, and he's saying, well, if you're
worried about your four to one K and your RIrA
step aside, this is not the time for Monday quarterbacking.
You're not in the game, President Donald Trump, is what what?

(19:20):
You're not in the game. You're not supposed to care
about what's going on? Really? Oh okay, let me the
Black Monday market crash in nineteen eighty seven, one point
seven trillion dollars was wiped out on that day. That's

(19:43):
happening on a regular basis over the past three weeks.
That's happening on a regular basis. The Dow is heading
for the worst April since nineteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
Two Team thirty two.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
As far as the S and P five hundred is concerned,
Donald Trump is on a planet all by himself. It's
off to the worst start under any presidency since the
index was created in nineteen fifty seven. Recession. Yeah, yeah,

(20:22):
the idea that there's going to be a recession that's
going through the roof as well. That, my friends, is
the scoreboard. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (20:31):
Put, he's gonna turn it around, right right right.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot Com, Watchdog on Wallstreet dot Com.
Don't go anywhere. We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Taking Wall Streets, liars, crooks, sheets out behind the woodshed.
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
Welcome back, Never fear. The Watchdog on Wall Street is here.
Markowski Investments is here.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Trump's not going to beat us. He's not going to
beat our people, our clients, our investors, my client's businesses,
because just not.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
It's just not.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
He's gonna he's gonna pass us by. It's going to
pass this by, and we're going to see our way
through this. This is what we do. It's what our
personal CFO program is all about, dealing with financial storms, corrections,
and volatility. And take a look at our track record
going back to the dot com collapse, the collapse of Enron,

(21:54):
nine eleven, Great Recession, Asian financial crisis. You're a Pean
bond crisis, COVID twenty twenty two stock market selloff. We
have dealt with it all, with it all, and we
will will handle Donald Trump and this fiasco as well.

(22:19):
And this is why I recommend getting to our site,
signing up for our personal CFO program, keeping yourself in
the know, listening to our podcast every day. You can
sign up for it there at Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com. We still have to go through some of
the stories from this past week. Again, news got out
early on again one day goes another day. I don't

(22:39):
know if this was Monday or Tuesday when it was
found out that you know, basically got sent basically did
a run around and meeting with Donald Trump because he
found out that Navarro was scheduled to meet with advisor
Kevin Hassett, and he, you know, basically rushed into the
Oval office to see Trump to propose the pause on

(23:03):
tariffs and what happened there, basically trying to do a
run around there. This past week as well, Donald Trump
was none too happy, none too happy with Jerome Powell
and the fact that Jerome Powell gave speech at the
Chicago Economic Club and basically said, well, We've got to
watch to see what's going to happen with prices because

(23:24):
of these tariffs. He then, you know, put out a
tweet where he basically called well, he called Jerome Powell
mister too late, a major loser, major loser, lowers interest rates,
the Europe has lowered rates that he puts out this
entire end. Now, listen, I get a presidents are going
to disagree with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve all

(23:47):
the time. That's gonna happen. But you call them up.
You don't put out a damn tweet on truth social
and crash the stock market by a thousand points. That
very Why would you do that? Why? Well, what's the
point behind doing that to make yourself look tough because

(24:11):
you can put out a mean tweet. H Okay, fine,
let me let me explain to you what the issue
is right now and what's happening. Okay, because Donald Trump
right now and we're seeing it. Okay. This is why again,
despite a lot of the band news, I am a

(24:32):
little bit encouraged.

Speaker 6 (24:35):
He's getting pushedback.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
And again, don't doubt me, because we told you this
week one of this month, we went over this, these
these tariffs. It's an executive order, which is nothing nothing.
It can be done away with if Congress wants to
do away with it. And again, you know, I know

(25:00):
certain Republicans. They're being quiet right now. They're being quiet
right now, but mark my words, phone calls are being made.
Phone calls are being made and saying what are you
doing here? Lawsuits are being filed, right they have twelve
states filing lawsuits to basically pull these tariffs. You usurped

(25:20):
your authority when you did this. You've got individual business
owners that are out there suing because of these tariffs.
You don't understand, Okay, you don't understand how many messages,
how many things that are what we're hearing, okay from
people from small businesses all over the country that are like,

(25:43):
I don't know what to do right now. I don't
know if I am going to make it. The stuff
that I source for my business I can't get in
the United States. What am I supposed to do? These
are the consequences. This is the consequences of Donald Trump's

(26:08):
in order to save the economy, we gotta blow it up.
These are the consequences, and they affect real people. One
of the well he's a Republican mega donor, Republican mega donor.
Ken Griffin Citadel. I don't know if he must be

(26:30):
listening to my podcast, because he basically echoed exactly what
we said here on this show that the United States
we are more than just a country, We're brand. We
are a brand. I think I told the stir when

(26:53):
the nineteen eighties when Coca Cola. Coca Cola said, oh,
you know what, well, we've been doing well all this time,
We're just gonna get rid of regular coke and we're
gonna come out with new coke. And nobody liked it.
Nobody liked it. They actually had to come back and
they had to bring back classic called the Classic Coke,
and then they eventually got rid of new coke. We
all know the story of bud Light from just a

(27:13):
couple of years ago. I got an idea, let's put
a transvestite on our can. How did that work out
for bud Light? It didn't. I mean they're back now,
they rebuilt their brand, but you can do damage to
brand USA, and that is what is being done right now.

(27:38):
Got to take another quick break. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot
Com Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com again our site become
a part of the Watchdog on Wall Street family, our
personal CFO program, our podcast, newsletter, all sorts of great stuff.
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
This is the Watchdog on Wall Street.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
One of these.

Speaker 5 (28:19):
Hold like everybody, it is the Watchdog on Wall Streets. Hey, listen, people, Okay,
don't take me okay, because I am not I'm not
a negative guy by any stretch of the imagination.

Speaker 6 (28:36):
We find a way. We'll find our way through.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
They said, I was on the air in the trenches
in the middle of the Great Recession. The sky is falling,
the world is going to end. And guess what we
were right. We guided you through it, We guided our
clients through it at this point in time, and we're
gonna deal with this right now. My aggravationation, my aggravation

(29:02):
right now is the fact that all of this is
an unforced, unnecessary error. That's what it was. Again, go back,
go back, go look and listen to some of the podcasts. Okay,
at the beginning of the Trump turn, go back and listen.
We have it all up there on the UH on

(29:23):
the site. It's on all of the UH. The podcast
servers out there, Apple, Spotify, you name it. I was
excited the businesses that I that I do business, my clients,
the people that I'm talking to all over the country,
the world for that matter. We're thrilled excited about the

(29:48):
Trump presidency. What he was gonna do. We're gonna get
rid of regulation, We're gonna have tax cuts, I'm gonna
look to build, I'm gonna look to invest, I'm gonna
do all of these things taken away. What was it,
April second? April second? You took that all away? And

(30:11):
then I get a phone call, a phone call here
about mack Truck Pennsylvania. Yeah, they're laying off close to
four hundred workers. People. You know, they're not holding back
on orders in regards to trucks. They're gonna have to
lay people off. And these are the stories. This is

(30:34):
the reality now. I means coming in to maga types,
if you're even listening, Okay, most of the time, they
don't like to hear. Again, Oftentimes, when you are a
cult member. When you are a cult member, you are
far left or far right, and you are exposed to
the truth. It's like a vampire. You're you're you're showing

(30:56):
them the cross for crying out loud, and they go
they don't want to listen anymore. This is the reality
of our terrain today today, it doesn't have to be
our reality tomorrow. Got so much more. We gotta go

(31:17):
over people. I'm just getting warmed up. Watchdog on Wallstreet
dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com is our site again.
Become a part of our family at Markowski Investments. The
truth lives here Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com or give
us a call eight hundred four seven one fifty nine
eighty four.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Chris Markowski is the Watchdog on Wall Street, the only

(32:00):
man who is taking on the Walls Street establishment. You're
listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Welcome back, Welcome back. It is the one of the
only Watchdog on Wall Street show. We take the liars,
that crooks, the cheets out behind the woodshed every single week,
every day for that matter. If you want to consider
the podcast again, I gotta give a big shout out again.
This is this something I got to put a smile

(32:29):
on my face. We got about right a twenty five
off twenty sid. We keep adding new offices all around
the country and again, and I also speak with other firms. Again,
you know, we're different than everybody else because we help everyone.
At Markaski Investments, we don't have one of those Oh

(32:50):
you gotta have five million dollars to speak to the
Markowskis or ten million, whatever it may be. We help
everybody out. But again I have relationships with other firms
that again they only deal with super wealthy. Everybody's keeping
her cool. Everyone mom and pop investors are keeping their cool.

(33:11):
The action that you're seeing in the markets, the type
of the violent volatil you want to talk about, violent volatility,
the swings, the back and forth all over the place,
the movements that you're seeing in a short period of time.
That's some that's computers, kids, Okay, that's computerized trading, computerized trading.

(33:35):
And again a lot of I know, a bunch of
trading outfits that went under, made some bad bets here
and there. You can't wait into that, You do not
wade into that. You don't even try to play that game.
Last week we explained it here on the program. It's
like getting caught in a riptide. You don't fight it,

(33:57):
you swim across it, you get out of it, and
you wait.

Speaker 6 (34:00):
Till it's over and again. I talked about Brand USA.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
As far as our financial markets are concerned, our financial markets,
our stock markets are not. Are not supposed to move
like bitcoin or some sort of bloody penny stock on
any given day. Not supposed to be this way. Okay,
this is insanity, not healthy at all. We want companies

(34:31):
from all over the globe to come and list at
the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ because we
have the most solid financial markets in the entire world.
People list there because they want a great pride to
be listed here in the United States in our financial markets.
When you see these types of violence swings, it's no good. Okay,

(34:55):
We're in a leadership type of position. This stuff has
to end anyway. I have to talk about this story.
It's past week. I don't know what day is. Wednesday.
We have the Wednesday, all the things that we're going on.
The CEOs, the CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot,

(35:18):
met the President in the White House. Now I live.
I live in the city of Tampa, in South Tampa.
And in the city of Tampa, do we have a Walmart,
a Target, and a home Depot? Yes we do, Yes,
we do. And again my wife goes to Walmart and Target.
I really don't go in there and there, but I

(35:40):
don't go that often. Home Deepot I go to from
time to time. But you know, also, I've got a
local hardware store and near my house that I go
to often that I utilize. You want to know the
difference between that local hardware store that I go to
often and home Depot. Well, that local hardware store is
not going to get in the Oval Office. Not I

(36:05):
live in a place where I can walk out of
my house. I walk up the road to small business,
small business, small business, one after another, and I can
assure you that none of them, none of them are
gonna have a meeting in the Oval Office. None of
them are gonna be able to plead their case. Not
a one. Even Walmart, Target and Home Depot told the

(36:32):
president listen, supply chain's gonna get disrupted. And what we're
gonna see, what you're gonna see at our stores are
empty shelves. Now, I want you to think about that
for a second. How in the world, how the world
is Carolyn Levette and the other maggot types, Howard Lottnick

(36:56):
and these other ones gonna spin major retail here in
the United States having empty shelves looking like a Soviet
Union grocery store.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
For crying out loud.

Speaker 5 (37:10):
They flat out told the President that prices are going
to go up, going to go up, and shelves are
going to be empty. Another thing, another thing, one of
the reasons why we're starting to see, in my opinion,

(37:33):
my opinion, you're getting the CEOs, you're getting the ken
Lang goones, you're getting other members in the Republican Party
basically saying walk this back, walk this back as soon
as you possibly can. And I called him President Captain
Caveman this past week. You're not familiar with Captain Caveman.

(37:56):
He was this obscure superhero from the nineteen seventy It
was Captain Caveman and the teen Idols. It was a cartoon,
The Teen Itols was kind of like a Charlie's Angel
type of thing. But anyway, Captain Caveman, cave I know,
I know it's gonna be hard for Trump. You gotta
find a way to save face. Okay, you can't admit

(38:19):
that you screwed up, you did it wrong, whatever it
may be. You know, you got people coming out and saying, well,
you know, I support the policies, I just don't support
the execution. What execution? You put out a fake formula
for all the world to see, a fake formula with

(38:41):
some Greek letters in it, that made it look fancy pants,
made it look like you were working at MIT. That
canceled each other out, that meant nothing. You decided to
put tariffs on the entire globe when we thought the
focus was China, and then eight people again execution.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
I I don't who came up with this idea.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
I don't know. Was this Navarro?

Speaker 6 (39:09):
I I don't know.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
I don't know. But anyway, you know, we got a
lot more people, got a lot more. We got to
go over on the program today, we're gonna talk a
little bit about recession, what it means if we're going
into one lot of people are calling it. We're gonna
do a little in search of recession. When we get back.
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com, Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com,
we shall return.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street. Well, no
one altered Investment banking consumer advocate analyst trader Chris Markowski.

(39:52):
He is the watch Dog on Wall Street, exposing the
lines and myths that the big brokerage for the mainstream
press and the government are pushing to keep Americans away
from financial freedom.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
You can't handle the truth.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Bringing America the truth about what really happens in the
financial world.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
Ladies and gentlemen. We're not here to indulge in fantasy,
but in political and economic reality.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
This is the watchdog on Wall Streets.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
All right, wegg back, go back. Two thousand and four
was my first foray into radio Row. Radio Row. This
was the thing back in the day. They've gone away
nowadays as radio has changed and it's become more about podcasting.
But anyway, I'm doing Radio Row Madison Square Garden for

(40:44):
the Republican National Convention and can to meet a lot
of people that I looked up to and people in radio,
and you know, got to interview new Gingridge, John I
mean countless people. It was a real neat experience. And
also to be there, and I remember Arnold Schwarzenegger was

(41:06):
one of the highlights to two thousand and four convention,
and he was up there on the stage and he
gave this inspirational speech and I remember he said, don't
be economic girly men. Never forget that, don't be economic
girly men, and kind of stuck with me. It was

(41:30):
funny at the time, but it's one of the things
that we try to teach investors is that stuff happens sometimes.
I remember Forrest Gump there and he's running and he's
you know, he's running across the country and he steps
in a pile. You know what. Blank happens sometimes, Yeah,

(41:52):
it does, sometimes out of nowhere, sometimes out of nowhere,
And that's one of the things that you need to
learn to deal with as an investor is not to
get emotional, not to get stressed out, not to panic.

(42:14):
Funny story, it's thought of it. One time, I haven't
been a long time. I used to really enjoy scuba
diving when I was younger. And again, as you you know,
this is prior to me having kids. It was on
a scuba diving trip and we were going through a wreck.
We were going through a wreck and I got stuck.

(42:34):
I got stuck in the wreck. The back of my
tank got caught on something, and you know, it could
have done you know, a couple of things could have panicked,
could a panic, could have freaked out that I was
stuck or I could have you know which I did.
I said, you know, breathe normal, be calm, get yourself out,

(42:58):
and you're going to be okay. And that's that's what
you need to do. And then I've talked about that.
We teach this here all the time. We talked about
a great link last week here on the show, the
importance of patience and courage in the face of all

(43:18):
sorts of noise. You know, we are so bombarded with it.
We really are noise. And it's louder today than ever before.
And you know, the funny thing is I've mentioned this before.
I'm a big fan of them C. S. Lewis and
his uh, his book The screw Tape Letters.

Speaker 6 (43:40):
And that the book was written.

Speaker 5 (43:43):
Right right World War two. And one of the things,
if you're not familiar with it, it's a demon. It's
an elder demon teaching his nephew demon how to go
about tempting, tempting people and bringing them over to the devil. Okay,
they call the person they're trying to take tempt the patient.

(44:06):
In that book, it's a great book, and they talk
about noise, the noise that we're surrounded with all the time.
I actually now I've actually I got my wake up time.
Now I'm using up three thirty. I moved it to
three o'clock. I got up at three o'clock in the morning.

(44:30):
So I can have a lengthy period of time every
single day where I have no noise, quiet focus. The
noise is going to distract you. Noise is going to
point you in the in the wrong direction. It does
again and again and again. If you're smart, you're smart.

(44:56):
If you have a portfolio, diverse FID assets, high quality companies,
dividend paying securities, you have to turn off the noise.
You have to turn off what's happening right now. Okay,
And I'm glad to see more and more investors are
actually doing that. Focusing on where you want to be,

(45:19):
where you want to be down the road, financial preparation,
financial prep Okay, doing the same thing, dollar cost averaging.
Tune out, tune out all the nonsense that the parade
of talking heads that invade your life. Much of the

(45:43):
financial industry, including the media, they're enriched by individuals acting
out of fear in an irrational manner. I mean, that's
what they want you to do when it comes to recession. Okay,

(46:03):
you got one economist coming out after another economist, and
again they call they call it the dismal science. It's
not a science. Okay, Economics is not a science. As
much as you know. One of the degrees I got
when I was in college was political science. There's no
such thing as political It's not a science. Okay, let's

(46:27):
just leave it at that. They keep talking about a recession.
What is a recession? And the recession they always tell
you it's this big scary monster, this monster that's coming,
it's lurking out there. I think I told the story
before we were kids. My mother made up a monster. Yep,

(46:52):
she made up this this monster, uh called the Muchker. Yep.
When we were getting a little bit too unruly. Again,
it was four boys in the household. We were younger
to subdue us Markowski kids into submission. The Muchker would
be conjured up and we had to be careful of

(47:13):
the Muchker. Again. The media is muchger. The financial world's
muchger is recession. More often than not, people don't even
know that they're in a recession.

Speaker 6 (47:27):
When they're in a recession. Recessions are called.

Speaker 5 (47:32):
By the National Bureau of Economic Research in Boston. They decide,
they decide whether we're in a recession or not. And again,
nobody knows. We had two quarters of negative economic growth
under the Biden administration, but they didn't call it a recession.
The Great Recession that we're all familiar with. They didn't

(47:55):
call that one until a year after it happened. For
crying out loud, I've equated this in Search of for
Session to again that that nineteen seventy show that I
was a big fan of as a kid, In Search
of with Letter Nimoy and Letter Niemoy on this program
every single week. I love this show. It was again,

(48:17):
it was a precursor a lot of stuff we see today.

Speaker 6 (48:19):
Letter Nimoy was a groundbreak. It's a groundbreaking show.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
In search of Lockness, Monster, in search of Amelia Earhart,
in search of UFOs, whatever it may be. Okay, it
was in search of something kind of scary and cool.
But the reality is, recessions aren't that frequent. They're not
They're not that frequent. They come from time to time,

(48:45):
and quite frankly, I don't change the way I'm doing
things based upon our recession. Why would I? Why would I?
Why would I change the way that I'm doing things.
If I'm gonna try, I guess when there's gonna be
a recession, there's gonna be a slowdown that they're telling
you on TV why you need to adjust your portfolio

(49:06):
this way? And then you know, because this is happening.
Why why is it a permanent state, this recession or
is it something that's gonna last maybe a couple months,
maybe a few more, maybe a few more at worse,
what the companies that I own aren't quality companies. I'm
dollar cost averaging. If they come down, I'm gonna I'm

(49:26):
gonna own more of them at a lower level. Why
would I change the way I am going to do
a darn thing. It shouldn't change your philosophy. I was
asked again several times this past week, come on this proad,
do we want you to talk about your recession? Pick? Okay,

(49:50):
if someone held a gun to my head, yeah, I
think we'll probably go into recession this year.

Speaker 6 (49:55):
So so what we.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Would have most certainly been in a recession under the
Biden years if it wasn't you know all, you know,
if he didn't spend as much money as he did
kept the economy above water, again, borrowed money to do
that we most certainly would have been in one. I
don't care. It's not gonna change my philosophy. What is
the point of getting all bent out of shape over

(50:21):
this recession monster that rears its ugly head with the
frequency of the lockness monster? Listen, Okay, I told you,
I told you again. The fools on TV, the fools
on TV. Yeah, hey, this is main Street versus Wild Street.

(50:42):
That's just the bat. Trump's sticking up for main Street. No,
he's not sticking up for main Street, you fool again.
I'm trying not to get angry, but again, okay, do
me a fake. Stop listening to these idiots. You understand
how stupid that sounds. Trump is sticking up for main Street?
Really did main Street get that meeting at the Oval Office?

(51:06):
Have you taken a look at the trading profits for
the big brokerage firms over the past few months with
all this volatility, have you taken a hard look. They're
printing money, They're making a fortune. It's that main Street
versus Wall Street. Just don't do stupid stuff. If you

(51:31):
don't think that, you know, the business networks in Wall
Street is loving this volatility. They think that this is great,
This is fantastic for them. That the truth about investing.
This we're about here about truth. I don't have any
short cuts. I don't have any magic algorithms. Okay, nothing

(51:54):
like that. The stuff we teach on this program, it's
timeless and it's irrefutable, period the end. I challenge you,
challenge you to find anything else. The truth that we
bring to you when it comes to financial preparation, planning,
whatever you want to call it here on this show
is timeless and irrefutable. I didn't come up with the formula.

(52:20):
Neither did Warren Buffett. They didn't. Again, the media wants
to think that this guy's better, this guy's got a shortcut,
this has got a different way of doing it. Come on,
we have a fiduciary responsibility to preach truth to the news.

Speaker 6 (52:46):
That's reality. What a truth right here?

Speaker 5 (52:52):
Okay. The primary obstacle to achieving real results, real results
in life when it comes to your investments, the not
so much the performance. It's people's behavior behavior, not so
much what your companies and your portfolio are doing. It's

(53:14):
what you do. So what do you do? Oh no,
here comes the recession monster. Raw, nothing, nothing. If you're
set up the right way now, it's not going to matter.

(53:35):
Do not try to predict market bottoms or tops. I'm
not capable of doing it. Buffet's not capable of doing it.
Nobody is capable of doing it. The chattering classes that
tell you that they can do it on TV, they're
not capable of doing it.

Speaker 6 (53:57):
You know, we do this from time to time.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
Kind of take a look at the various different people
that they parade on a regular basis on the Business program,
and I take a look at the money that they
manage and the type of performance that they show on
a regular basis, and I laugh. I laugh because it's
a joke. They're TV personalities. And once you understand that,

(54:25):
once you get your arms around that and understand that
everything in life, everything in life that has meaning and
value involves work, time and effort, you're gonna get through this.
You're gonna get through this with patience and courage. Care

(54:49):
how crazy it gets in the news or what type
of recession monster, whether or not the recession monsters coming
or not coming, You'll handle it. You'll handle it, and
none of that.

Speaker 6 (55:01):
You're going to come through on the other side.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
With a better portfolio, a stronger portfolio, have to take
a break. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet
dot com is our site again.

Speaker 6 (55:18):
People, we invite you.

Speaker 5 (55:20):
To become a part of our family at Markowski Investments.
You do that through our personal CFO program. Get there,
sign up for that, our podcast, all sorts of great
tools and information there Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com or
give us a call.

Speaker 6 (55:37):
Eight hundred and four seven one fifty nine eighty four.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
Just take those over.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
You should believe in math not magic. You're listening to
the Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowskian.

Speaker 6 (56:04):
All right, so we're still trying to get our arms
around Cascanada.

Speaker 5 (56:08):
It's it's mixed messaging coming out of the White House.
You're getting something coming out from the set, You're getting
stuff coming out from Trump. You know, did different different
stories coming out, And again, I I don't know what
to believe at this point in time. However, I'm leaning
towards the fact that they're looking to slowly but surely

(56:31):
de escalate as best they possibly can. Reality is starting
to smack them upside the head.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
And you know.

Speaker 5 (56:40):
Any sort of Trump agenda will be completely derailed, will
become absolutely completely derailed, you know, simply because yeah, you're
gonna you're gonna lose people. You're gonna lose people. You're
watching your approval ratings dip your let you know again,
approval ratings high. When it comes to the border, there's

(57:03):
no doubt about that. You're doing some good things there.
But when it comes to economy, that's you know, that's
really what people voted for, to bring prices down, to
get the economy moving and grooving again. I want to
bring China into the mix right now. Again, we have

(57:25):
done a lot of homework. We've discussed China at great
length here on the program. I I want to remind everybody, Okay,
during COVID. During COVID, the Chinese government locked people in

(57:45):
their homes, in their buildings and bolted the doors shut.
That's what they did during COVID. I know we're getting
the stories now about factories in China that are having
to shut down, that are having to shut down, and

(58:06):
then people here like, well, you see they're gonna have
to cave.

Speaker 6 (58:10):
Look, we're gonna win here. What do we win?

Speaker 5 (58:16):
What?

Speaker 1 (58:16):
What?

Speaker 5 (58:16):
What do we win? I am but again, this is
my philosophy. This is my philosophy when it comes to business.
In all things business, you win in business, would say
a win in business, So it's winning going on. There's
a lot of winning going on. You know you win
the business when both parties walk away happy. That's when

(58:41):
you win in business. Went to my barber, barber gives
me a great haircut. I am happy to part with
the money and give my barber a tip. Barber wins.
I win. If you don't think that deals true deals

(59:04):
can be had, they can. They can, But you also
need to understand that you're dealing with a country that
has a five thousand year history. This is a country
that thinks that the period of time from the mid
nineteenth century almost into the almost the mid twenty eighth

(59:28):
century was one of the darkest periods in their history,
talking about the Opium Wars, things that went on. This
was a country that didn't grow based upon taking over
other countries, that kind of assimilated area nations, kind of
like the Borg where you would have to play tribute
to the emperor. You have to understand their psyche to
some degree. They're different. Can they be dealt with? Absolutely?

(59:51):
And should we deal with them, and should we negotiate
with them, and should we be tough in negotiations, But again,
don't blow it up. The last thing in the world
you want to do. They want to do business with us,
and we most certainly want to do business with them.
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot Com, Watchdog on Wallstreet dot Com.

(01:00:14):
Don't go anywhere. We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Chris Markowski is the Watchdog of Wall Streets bringing America

(01:00:37):
financial freedom. One listener at a time. You're listening to
the Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
We're back everybody. It is the Watchdog on Wall Street Show.
One of the longtime themes we've tried to teach people
here on the program. It's one of the rackets that
Wall Street has been able to perpetrate on the American people,

(01:01:07):
year after year, decade after decade. I call it a
game of demonic musical chairs D D DA DA. Everybody
remembers musical chairs birthday parties when you were a kid,
you know, with the record player out there, and then
you know, you know, somebody would always try to be
eyeball in the person by the record player back in

(01:01:27):
the day when they're going to pick up the needle
off the record when you had to grab a chair.
But anyway, demonic musical chairs. The Wall Street version is
finding a greater fool, finding someone who is going to
be left holding the bag in some sort of crappy
asset at the end. Now, we have talked about this,

(01:01:52):
you know, quite extensively over the past eighteen months to
two years in what many firms are doing they want
you want to call it the democratization of private equity,
getting trying to get as many greater fools and to
private equity, private assets out there as fast as they

(01:02:15):
possibly can, changing the rules, making it easier for people
to come in. There's not a day that goes by
that I don't countless emails, countless emails people trying to
get me to put my clients into some of this junk. Well,
it's not all okay, I got to be very very clear,

(01:02:35):
Okay here, most of it's garbage. Just like just like
most most of the IPOs during the dot com run up,
we're garbage, were garbage, and we were jumping up and
down and warning people about that. At the time. This
before I had a radio show, was doing guest appearances

(01:02:56):
on program I could take a look at a prospectus.
I can almost tell you, you know, to the month
when the company was going to go under. Well, they
are also some good ones. There are some ones that
were put together the right way and not particularly coming
from any of the big name companies out there, and

(01:03:18):
we've been utilizing some for certain clients of ours. And again,
if you are curious about this, because again I know
everybody shoving this stuff down your throat, we did the
same thing when it talked about certain insurance products and annuities.
Use us as a resource. This is one of the
things that we're good for. Okay, another one of the

(01:03:40):
things that we're good for. Frankly, your advisor, your guy
out there, Ah, I gotta put you this private. Well,
it was great. Listen. More often than not they're being
told to sell a certain product by their sales manager.
We don't do that here. Okay. We don't have house products.
We don't do anything. We get what's working, what the

(01:04:01):
best is, period the end, the end. So if you
are curious about what's good, what's not good, whether or
not it's right for you or your portfolio, please please
reach out, get in contact with us as soon as possible.

(01:04:22):
Because a lot of these things are going to blow up.
Many of these things are going to blow up. They
bought many of these companies. I take a look in
the same way that you could have taken a look
at a lot of the mortgage backed securities and the
lead up to the Great Recession and realize that the companies, well,

(01:04:44):
in that case, the mortgages in that security were not
triple A. They were garbage. They were junk people with
five hundred fycal scores for crying out loud with a
triple A mortgage at an adjustable rate mortgage. They were garbage,
and they sold them to you because they could. They

(01:05:04):
got S and p they got moodies to put a
ratings on them, They packaged them up, they created their brochures,
and they sold them to the general public. They sold
them to pension funds, and it was an absolute disaster.
This is not going to have the same type of
fallout that that did, simply because the way that they

(01:05:28):
could lever up mortgages in a way that they can't
do with private assets and private equity. But there's going
to be a blow up, and all of these firms
right now are looking to again look for a greater fool.
They're playing the music. The music is playing, they're doing
demonic musical chairs. Okay, when the music stops, that's when

(01:05:54):
it gets ugly.

Speaker 6 (01:05:55):
That's when it gets ugly again. We're here to help.

Speaker 5 (01:05:59):
Get to our website, sign up for our personal CFO program,
our podcast, all sorts of great things. Watchdog on Wallstreet
dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com is the site.
Or give us call eight hundreds four seven one fifty
nine eighty for us. One of my favorite led zeppem
songs for crying out loud. It's a great song. We'll

(01:06:22):
be back.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Teaking Wall streets, liars, drooks and cheets out behind the woodshed.
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street.

Speaker 5 (01:06:52):
All right, Welcome back, everybody. It is the Watchdog on
a Wall Street show. We're gonna talk about manufacturing. Cause again,
I again, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get countless uh
emails and questions about manufacturing. We gotta bring manufacturing back

(01:07:15):
to the United States. Date your game and we're gonna
You're gonna I get that all the time, Get this
all the time. This idea that all of a sudden,
you know, wow, these various different mills and factories are
all of a sudden gonna come running back here to
the United States. Before we do that, I have to

(01:07:36):
address one thing. To address one thing. When Donald Trump
comes out, he does this on a regular basis. I
don't know who told him this, but it's wrong. Okay,
it's flat Earth wrong. He always comes out and says,
America was we were the wealthiest. We were the wealthiest

(01:07:56):
there when we just we didn't have the income tax
and we just the country got all of its money
on tariffs. And he's talking talking about the guilded age,
the guilded He watched the television show.

Speaker 6 (01:08:10):
It's actually a very good show.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
Ah yeah, America was wealthiest at that point in time.
That's just not true. I don't know who gives him
this information. But you want to believe the president, Well
then you know as well believe the president told you
Earth was flat. I guess you're going to believe that too.
Look it up. At that point in time, did we

(01:08:36):
have Social Security? Did we have Medicaid? Did we have Medicare?
Were we subsidizing student loans? Let me tell you, you want
to know how much our military cost during the guilded age.
Want to know, adjusted for inflation, that means in today's
dollars ten billion dollars. In today's ten billion, we just

(01:09:03):
signed off on a trillion dollar plus budget. We're thirty
six trillion dollars in debt. We have a trillion dollars
in interest expenses a year. None of that existed at
that point in time. Tell you something else as well,
Do you think that the American people had a standard
of living like we do today? Did you have any Again?

(01:09:28):
The United States of America could have ended up being
socialist for crying out loud with the treatment of workers.

Speaker 6 (01:09:38):
You ever read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

Speaker 5 (01:09:43):
And the stories of that the coal miners revolting against
conditions and sending the pinkertons after them. This the country
wasn't nearly as wealthy then as it was today. So
that's just not true. It's not true anyway. Manufacturing, we

(01:10:10):
are told again, we're told that you know, we got
we somehow got screwed over, We somehow got screwed over,
and we lost manufacturing because we got screwed over by
Japan and the Europeans and now China, China. That's not

(01:10:32):
why is that why manufacturing fell off a cliff here
in the United States. There was other reasons behind this,
and these are things that we've talked about over the years,
and some of these things, quite frankly, these are things
that we could fix. We could fix without tariffs. We're

(01:10:55):
gonna get into this. We're going to discuss it again
us about you know, government intervention, the problems the government had.

Speaker 6 (01:11:02):
We're going to discuss the problems with labor units.

Speaker 5 (01:11:04):
We're going to discuss the problems with corporate America, how
America lost manufacturing. And we're going to do that with
a gentleman by the name of Amal naj who actually
was a writer for the Wall Street Journal in nineteen
eighties and chronicled this. When we get back Watchdog on
Wallstreet dot com.

Speaker 6 (01:11:20):
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com, We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (01:11:38):
This is the Watchdog on Wall Street.

Speaker 6 (01:11:48):
Welcome back, everybody, Welcome back.

Speaker 5 (01:11:52):
Do we want manufact we want certain manufacturing come back
here to the United States. Absolutely, absolutely, We most certainly
would love to see companies come back to nights. We've
seen companies set up shop here in the United States.
BMW's got its largest plant in the world here in

(01:12:13):
the United States. Do you know, it's an unbelievable state
of the art plant in South Carolina. If you want
to actually get into see there's a waiting list to
get a tour of that plant. A gentleman by the
name of Amal naj He was a reporter actually for
the Wall Street Journal from nineteen seventy eight.

Speaker 6 (01:12:35):
To nineteen ninety six.

Speaker 5 (01:12:38):
He put out a piece this past week echoing many
of the things that we've talked about over the years
when it comes to manufacturing and the myths surrounding manufacturing
here in the United States. She said, by putting eye
popping tariffs on imports, Trump helps to bring manufacturing back home.

(01:13:01):
What he overlooks, what his administration overlooks, is our culpability.
Our culpability in the current state of affairs. And the
question is whether or not companies here in this country
could actually change.

Speaker 6 (01:13:17):
Reagan tried.

Speaker 5 (01:13:20):
Reagan used a variety of tactics in the nineteen eighties
to restrict steel and auto imports. This gave US manufacturers
time to remake themselves and this onslaught that was coming
from foreign competition. But we failed. Domestic manufacturers failed to

(01:13:40):
rise to the occasion and now they fail.

Speaker 6 (01:13:42):
They failed miserably.

Speaker 5 (01:13:44):
The failure foreshadowed what became a national concern. It's a
national concern today, and I get that extraordinarily heavy reliance
on manufacturing offshore in industries that are critical to our
national security and our economy. Steel, autos, machinery, electrical equipment,

(01:14:05):
pharmaceuticals together accounted for seventy seven point five percent of
the country's one point two trillion dollar trade deficit.

Speaker 6 (01:14:17):
Take the auto industry.

Speaker 5 (01:14:18):
Half of new cars sold in the US and twenty
twenty four were manufactured locally, and many of these had
imported parts. Now, nineteen eighties, think about the nineteen Eightiescan
younger people out there, You're not going to remember. It
was a common refrain in the nineteen eighties that have
General Motors America's largest industrial enterprise. If, oh my god,

(01:14:39):
a General Motors sneeze, the rest of the country.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
Cut a hold.

Speaker 5 (01:14:43):
Steel and a host of other industries dependent on the
car industry's well being. So did many US workers and consumers.
But in the face of growing threats, American manufacturers lived
in denial. Oh no, are General Motors. We're too big.
We can get now, we can never get knocked off

(01:15:05):
our pedestal, and they didn't change. They didn't change a
damn thing and how they fundamentally operated. You know how
often this happens. Ah, we're Kodak, we're cod iristorial digital cameras. Ah,
we're smith than Corona. We even make typewriters. Uh, that's

(01:15:25):
great again, blue chips can die. Unions didn't help. The
United steel Workers and United Auto Workers viewed US import
restraints simply as a means of protecting their jobs and
their wages, which were twice those in Japan. Again, I

(01:15:48):
remember during the Auto baillouts with Bush and Obama and
I said, basically, the US auto manufacturers are benefit companies
that also make cars. That's all they are. There are
health and pension and benefit companies that also make cars.
The union's resistant companies attempts to revise outdated union job

(01:16:09):
classifications to combine tasks into one employee's workload to bolster productivity. Productive. Nah,
we can't be more productive, no way. Business leaders failed
to win over the labor unions and you know, protect
their future as well as the companies against imports. They

(01:16:30):
couldn't come up with a master plan and they didn't
do anything they didn't. The automakers sent confusing message about
the fight with foreign competition. They asked the workers to sacrifice,
but they also got in bed with the competition. GM
signed deals with Isuzu and Suzuki to import their cars

(01:16:51):
into the United States. They formed a joint venture with Toyota.
Other automakers struck deals with other Japanese competitors, and acunity
joining hands to build cars in the US. GM then
lobbied to raise import quotas so it could bring in
cars from Japan. The American companies professed that they wanted
to learn from the Japanese before launching new high tech

(01:17:12):
factories themselves bad call.

Speaker 6 (01:17:17):
Us.

Speaker 5 (01:17:17):
Eventually, they invested billions in new technology and automation to
remake their Henry Ford era assembly operations. Remember Saturn that
GM called its venture Saturn. I remember my brother Michael
did his college thesis on Saturn. Ford had Alpha, Chrysler
had Liberty, and they aimed to reduce drastically the part

(01:17:40):
and labor that went into a car, closed the gap
on the Japanese cost advantage about two thousand dollars the vehicle,
and they planned to do it in four years. GM
unveils a six hundred million dollar plant in Michigan on
Detroit's east side to showcase this industrial high technology. YEP,
robots broke down. They are pro to error. They welded

(01:18:01):
the wrong joints, miss spots. When they spray painted cars,
sometimes they sprayed each other. Workers couldn't get the complicated
machines with their programmable instructions and electronic sensors to communicate
with one another and pass tasks the next station. And
I quote, I have bolted fifty wrong bumpers Cadillac on olds,
olds on a Buick, Buick on a Cadillac. This is

(01:18:24):
a worker. Final blow came when Japanese manufacturers set up
plants across the US. The Mazda plant just south of
Detroit began producing cars for twenty five percent less the
cost than GM on American soil with American workers. Oh,

(01:18:47):
I'm just getting warm, kids, I'm just getting warm again.
Reality has a home here at the Watchdog on radio show,
No Politics, no bs, the Truth, Watchdog on Walston dot com,
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street. Well, no
one authored investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, trainer. Chris Markowski

(01:19:31):
is the watchdog on Wall Street? Do you want to
answer exposing the lines and myths that the big brokerage firms,
the mainstream press, and the government are pushing to keep
Americans away from financial freedom.

Speaker 3 (01:19:44):
You can't handle the true.

Speaker 1 (01:19:47):
Bringing America the truth about what really happens in the
financial world.

Speaker 4 (01:19:51):
Ladies and gentlemen. We're not here to indulge in fantasy,
but in political and economic reality.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
This is the watchdog on Wall Streets.

Speaker 5 (01:20:01):
Yep, you can't indle the truth, Betty can't. Damn many
can't you know? Every week I'm never listening to your
show again.

Speaker 6 (01:20:10):
Okay, what do you want me to do?

Speaker 2 (01:20:11):
Do you do?

Speaker 6 (01:20:13):
You want me to tell you what you want to hear?

Speaker 5 (01:20:15):
Well, you know, then you can either tune in to
what you want to hear on Fox News or you
can turn into what you want to hear on MSNBC
and they will spoonfeed you whatever you want to hear.
You want to live in the real world. You come
here that this is what we do, and this is
what we've been doing for twenty five years. Well, I listen,

(01:20:37):
you know, as as a business model, I'm gonna be
honest with you. Okay. In today's country and today's day
and age, as a business business model, the truth is
not very profitable. Okay, it really isn't you know. It's
it's much more profitable to get the people going and
feed them what they need and get your little your
group there that's gonna you know, live off every whim

(01:21:00):
and what you're feeding them. Wait, we don't do that.
I got I'm here to upset the apple cart people.
I'm here to be honest with you because guess what,
that's what makes my clients money. That's what makes my
clients money, and quite frankly, that's you know, what's right
for the country. I again, I'm living at a place
people here. You know, I've got three kids and God willing,
I'll have grandkids someday. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:21:23):
I want to leave this place better than it was
when I got here.

Speaker 5 (01:21:30):
And I'm here. I'm not here to take orders, pecking
orders from people in power because they're gonna run advertisements
and put money away. We don't do that here on
the program. Okay, we don't do that. Well, you want that,
you can go have it, go have somewhere else. Just
don't come here. Okay, you want the truth, listen up.

(01:21:53):
Manufacturing talking about manufacturing again. Great piece this past week
by a mon homage in the Wall Street Journal. We
talked about we got before we went to break the
Mazda plant that first opened up in the United States
began producing cars twenty five percent less, twenty five percent

(01:22:16):
less than GM on American soil with American workers. Again.

Speaker 6 (01:22:24):
My dad bought one of those Masta cars.

Speaker 5 (01:22:27):
Anyway, I remember, you know, my dad had a whe
an Old. It was like a nineteen seventy Chevy Mouth.
That was a great car. Nice looking cars, solid steel.
Remember some of the trucks that my dad had that
were great. But what happened to American cars? Garbage? Garbage?

(01:22:55):
It quicks story quick said, before I get back into this,
I got to three kids and we got, you know, cars.
Here in one of the cars that I have got
one hundred and fifteen thousand miles on it, and it's dying.
It's dying again. It's gotta go, not an American car
to German car. Gotta get rid of it. I'm calling

(01:23:18):
calling friends of mine. You know, uh, you got the
Ford Bronco. Do you what do you think of that?
New Ford Bronco that you've got. Don't buy it. It's garbage,
one after another, after another, after another and again. You know.
The only one I get a you know, thumbs up
on for American cars is Jeep and it made here

(01:23:39):
in America. But they're owned by Stillanis, which is you know,
a Dutch company. Now, yeah, yeah, I get it. Pick
up trucks, you know whatnot? I guess great, but yeah,
how much you pickup truck costs?

Speaker 2 (01:23:52):
Now?

Speaker 6 (01:23:53):
Pick up truck with you what eighty grand?

Speaker 5 (01:23:56):
Nine grand? Anyway, the us UH Auto Industries demise inflicted
collateral damage on other domestic manufacturing steel makers with their again,
their umbilical cord tied to Detroit Howl the long after
automaker's lead without much thought to foreign competition until it

(01:24:19):
was too late. There had been little talk in board
rooms of modernizing their age old blast furnaces or adopting
new technologies. Heavens the bets. You know, we're American steel manufacturers.
We're on our high horse. Nobody can mess with us,
right sure, Yeah. There was these things called electric arc

(01:24:44):
furnaces that made cheaper steel from scraps.

Speaker 6 (01:24:47):
Yeah yeah, And anyway, in the early nineteen eighties. Domestic customers.

Speaker 5 (01:24:54):
They basically get these steel, these electric arc furnaces. They
could use it, from can and appliance to automotive part producers.
They turned to foreign suppliers for better prices and quality.
Better prices and quality. It wasn't eight yet, No use

(01:25:15):
screwed up. You screwed up. Ford abandoned its storied Rouge
Steel plant in Dearborn, Michigan, blaming the Union. In succession,
steel businesses closed, merged, or disappeared into companies steel workers
had never heard of. These were manufacturers whose names had

(01:25:38):
evoked the might of American industrial power with their miles
long factories converting iron ore and mammoth blast furnaces and
rolling mills. Bethlehem Steel, Jones and Laughlin Nasenttle Steel, Republic Steel,
the last of the great steel makers, American steel makers,
US Steel, remember godfather to Hymen Roth. We're bigger than

(01:26:03):
US Steel, once the world's largest steel company, fighting for
its life right now, fighting for its life. It agreed
to be owned by Nippon Steel, a Japanese company, and
quite frankly, I think that deal should go through again.

(01:26:23):
You have to understand something, people, This happens all the
time throughout history. This happens. What have you ever been
ever seen the mansions, the wealth, the wealth from the
c suite crowd, from the automakers in and around Detroit,

(01:26:44):
Gross Point, all these other places. All they did was
they sent their kids to the University of Michigan. It
was like a carousel. They'd come right back down working
for the automakers, just getting fat and happy. Yeah, get
fat and happy, go out of business. The robots that
US automakers had embraced also fell by the wayside. The

(01:27:08):
American inventor of industrial robots Unimation, along with others that
jumped into the business, such as Westinghouse and General Electric
quit Japan, which licensed the technology from the US, is
now the major robot manufacturer, along with South Korea and China.

(01:27:30):
Now Westinghouse and General Electric. What did they decide to do?
We're going to become financial companies. They're gonna become financial companies.
How that work out? Our basic approach was wrong, the
head of Westinghouse's Advanced Technology group said in nineteen ninety.
It was a classic case of trying to merge an

(01:27:51):
entrepreneurial organization into a relatively slow moving large American corporation
from learning from their mistakes, US automakers repeated them as
foreign competition intensified. In the early nineteen nineties, GM, Foid,
and Chrysler spent billions. This is early nineteen nineties kids

(01:28:15):
to develop electric cars.

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:28:18):
GM unveiled its first commercial electric car in nineteen ninety six.
Hell I remember, I remember an electric car, you know.
This was I think this was nineteen eighties at our
local dominoes in Gilderlin, New York.

Speaker 6 (01:28:34):
It was kind of like a kind of a sideshow
type of thing.

Speaker 5 (01:28:37):
But anyway, eventually these manufacturers gave up because they couldn't
see the future. It was as if Henry Ford had
built his Model T before the discovery of gasoline. And again,
you want to throw the government in this as well.
Government regulations and cafe standards and all this other stuff

(01:28:59):
didn't help. General Motors' chairman nineteen eighty six, Roger Smith
admitted that the car maker was mistaken in believing it
could fundamentally change manufacturing with technology. In one fell swoop,
thousands of little innovations in manufacturing have nothing to do

(01:29:21):
with automation, but find fruitful application through trial and error.
What's known in industry as continuous improvement, aimed at cutting
costs and enhancing quality. These innovations evolve over time, Humans,
not technology, drive the process. In the future, Smith vowed

(01:29:46):
solid human partnerships will form the ground floor on which
high technology systems will be built. American manufacturers have always
known that remaking domestic manufacturing would be hard. It would
require winning labor concessions, good luck with that, investments and

(01:30:07):
training workers and new skills again, something we've been calling
for forever. In ten Days here on the program, Mike
Rowe talks about this all the time, creating a factory
culture that fostered creativity and innovation on the floor level

(01:30:28):
and taking a longer view on the investments to fight competition. Well,
companies said, ah nah, now that's too hard. We're just
going to relocate offshore. They took their business wherever they
could make money. They don't care about trade balances, don't

(01:30:53):
care about them them You think they're going to care
about them now.

Speaker 6 (01:30:57):
Again, all of this, all of this self inflicted.

Speaker 5 (01:31:06):
Japan didn't do this to us, Europe didn't do this
to us, China didn't do this to us. You can't
even get Chinese cars here in the United States. For
crying out Loud, I talked about this several weeks ago.
I want to go take a look at the top
rated autos here in the United States.

Speaker 6 (01:31:26):
Find me some American cars on.

Speaker 5 (01:31:29):
That list, as far as reliability is concerned.

Speaker 6 (01:31:35):
Talk to mechanics about it. For crying out.

Speaker 5 (01:31:37):
Loud, I did this past week. Yeah, got a great
you know, this guy's great. It's got he's got it's
got about twenty or thirty. I think he specializes in Jaguars.
He's got about twenty or thirty of them there at
on his lot. He does a lot of foreign cars.
And I went and, you know, talked to him about
my you know, German car at one hundred and fifteen

(01:31:59):
thousand miles, Like Chris, it's like, no, they even even
to these Durham cars. They said, well, you know, they
don't build them anymore to go over two hundred thousand miles.
He said, the only cars that they they're built that
way is Japanese, are Korean. Here's a mechanic, mechanic and
he didn't want to eat. I said, you know, he said, Chriss,

(01:32:19):
not worth it for you to fix this car. It's
just going to keep breaking. Thanks, Okay, I appreciate his honesty.
You know, the old build a better mouse trap, people
will beat a path to your door. There's something to
be said with that. Am I wrong? My wrong? You

(01:32:40):
think that putting trade protections up is going to change that?
The last American car car that I drove. I'm not
a big suv guy. I'm just not. I like cars.

Speaker 6 (01:32:56):
It's two thousand and eight, two thousand eight.

Speaker 5 (01:33:00):
Again, I was excited before, I guess is before the
auto Baillos Cadillac had their new model Cadillac CTS and
it was a beautiful car, red car.

Speaker 6 (01:33:13):
Gorgeous, you know. Yeah, they talked about the help.

Speaker 5 (01:33:16):
They said, Japanese electronics, electronics systems, Japanese all this suspend
they were talking about it. Part this part was German engine.
Didn't have any problem with the engine, did promp with
the electronics. But the interior of the car. In less
than three years and again, yeah, I'm driving this to work,
I'm driving this to television. You know, appearance whatever it
may be. Leather war out started falling apart. I was like,

(01:33:39):
you gotta be kidding me, man, You put all this
effort into the engine suespecially electrocic. But then you know what,
you're half fast the interior, so it's falling apart. I
was like, never again. You know, once a bit twice shy.
You have to change the way you're doing things. We

(01:34:01):
are going to take a quick break right here, and
I'm gonna actually get into this is again.

Speaker 6 (01:34:05):
This is you know, even blue chips die.

Speaker 5 (01:34:07):
We're going to talk a little bit about the death
of blue chips and bailouts and auto and all sorts
of stuff. Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. Watchdog on Wallstreet
dot com again is our site. Become a part of
our family, the Watchdog on Wall Street family. That's our
personal CFO program, our podcast, newsletter, all sorts of great things.
Watchdog on Wallstreet dot com. Or give us a call

(01:34:29):
eight hundred four seven one fifty nine eighty four.

Speaker 1 (01:34:32):
Get the only man who is taking on the Wall
Street establishment. You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street

(01:34:56):
with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 5 (01:35:00):
Oh right, welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 6 (01:35:06):
Blue chips die, they do.

Speaker 5 (01:35:10):
July of July of two thousand and seven, I put
out a column again this was uh, it was go
go times all right again. You know they were going nuts.
Dow had just hit fourteen thousand. It's just July, yeah,
July nineteenth close. And I remember Maria Barbaromo was at

(01:35:30):
CNBC and it looked like she had just received a
five hundred percent raise and stock options at G five
and uh, you know, all sorts of stuff. And I remember, uh,
CNBC's Bob Pisani when it looked like the record wasn't
gonna happen all.

Speaker 6 (01:35:45):
It looked like his dog was gonna, you know, died
on air.

Speaker 5 (01:35:48):
Fox News at the time had computer graphics and fireworks
and explosions, all great, fantastic. But again, we deal. We
deal in perspective. We deal in perspective. And I suggested
I wrote this column this time again. People thought it

(01:36:09):
was nuts. I said, insert drum roll in certain drum roll,
fireworks and cool graphics. Here we predict that Walmart and
General Electric will no longer exist. Now on remind everybody
at the time, General Electric was, you know, still a
supposed powerhouse, right, I said, that's right, you heard it

(01:36:34):
first here. How can you say that two down components,
cornerstones of our economy, titans of industry, will no longer
be in business? Here to tell you. They won't be
the first Titans to fall, and they won't be the last,
but sooner or later they'll go out of business. And

(01:36:58):
I know I've i've long time listen, I've mentioned this before.
It's a great story and I didn't even realize this.
I was reading about it this past week. The Dutch
East India Company, you know, the Dutch East India Company
had a larger military than the UK. But anyway, in
sixteen o two, the Dutch East India Company was established

(01:37:20):
to carry out various colonial activities in Asia and the
Pacific rim VC. I can't pronounce it. I can't read Dutch.
I can't. I'm not gonna even try for crying out loud.
This was the world's very first blue chip. This was
the first company to establish stock. This was the first

(01:37:43):
multinational corporation. This company was so blue, okay in perspective
on this company was so blue. It issued an annual
dividend of eighteen percent for over two hundred years. Oh yeah,
it went bankrupt, Yeah yeah, yeah? What under? And what under?

(01:38:09):
There's a concept. It's Joseph Schumpeter, economist, Creative Destruction, nineteen
forty two. And what it does? It describes the process
of transformation that goes hand in hand with innovation. Schumpeter's
idea is that capitalism creates entrepreneurs that in turn invent,

(01:38:35):
which then allows for economic growth while simultaneously destroying the
value of existing companies. Want to put it in Layman's terms,
creation builds and destroys, and guess what, trees don't grow
to the sky. Eventually, and using history as a guide,

(01:38:56):
somebody will build a better mouse trap and that bluest
of blue will be no more. Do you think anybody
alive in seventeen hundred would or could even believe that
the Dutch East India Company, a global monopoly, would be
bankrupt a little over a century later. It can happen.

(01:39:20):
It can happen. And guess what, people, This is part
of the problem. Part of the problem we have is
that we get governments getting involved and looking to bail
out companies. Oh remember the auto bailouts started by George W.
Bush and then Ben Barack Obama put it on steroids.
We warned about this. What did we say, Let them go,

(01:39:45):
Let them go, Let somebody else come in and do
a better job, make a better product, do it the
right way. Gordon Gecko, Wall Street. You either get it
right or you get eliminated. Watchdog on Wallstreet Dot, We'll
be back.

Speaker 1 (01:40:16):
You should believe in math, not magic. You're listening to
the Watchdog and Wall Street with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 5 (01:40:27):
In the late nineteen sixties, late nineteen sixties, early nineteen seventies.
Wall Street, they're a marketing machine. They always got to
come up with some sort of gimmick to sell people.
Late late nineteen sixties, early nineteen seventies. I don't I
don't even know what firm came up with it. They

(01:40:47):
gave it was a list out there. It was called
the nifty to fifty, and the nifty to fifty was
a list of stocks. This is what they were selling,
list of stocks that invest could buy and hold forever. Now,
oh yeah, you buy these way you listen to us,

(01:41:08):
You buy these fifty stocks. You can buy and hold
these things forever. Can can you think of anything so
stupid in entire life? Like the companies? Nothing could change
history was stopping at that point in time. Now included
on that list, we're Polaroid, Burrows, Joe Schlitz, Brewing, Kmart,

(01:41:28):
International Harvester, to name a few okay, nineteen nineties. Nineteen nineties,
when I was ridiculed for I don't know, for being right.
I guess I don't know. At the time. You know,
at the time, I was wrong because nothing but dot
COM's were going up, and everybody was preaching this time

(01:41:53):
it's different. It's a new economy. Earnings don't matter. Oh, Markowski,
what do you know about Enron? En Ron was named
Fortune Magazine's Most Innovative Company for the year six years straight,
most innovative company in the country. Uh huh uh huh uh.

(01:42:14):
And then then you can uh, you know, you could
take a look. Then you could say, at the time,
Henry Paulson, just two thousand and seven, I wrote this
came Henry Paulson at the time, uh recently said at
that time, said this is far and away the strongest
global economy I've seen in my business lifetime. That's two

(01:42:37):
thousand and seven. What happened. What happened? You know, it
didn't work out, It didn't work out, and things fell apart. Yeah,
whenever there was something happens, you know, phone linees, grid up,
people freak out, all this stuff. Again, you have to

(01:42:58):
remove yourself from all this stuff. If you have to
remove yourself, like we said first out of the program,
from all of the noise. And quite frankly, there's a
lot of noise right now when it comes to manufacturing
here in this country. A lot of people throwing out
platitudes and excuses. I'm not a big excuse, guy, I'm

(01:43:21):
not I mentioned here on the program. Okay, anything goes
wrong at Markowski Investments, Watchdog on Wall Street Radio show,
it's my.

Speaker 6 (01:43:33):
Fault, it's my fault.

Speaker 5 (01:43:38):
I own it. I own it to watch you know,
you see the ec oh, well I had this problem
and then they're carping over this problem. And you know
we didn't know about you should know.

Speaker 6 (01:43:53):
Okay, you put out crappy.

Speaker 5 (01:43:56):
Products for a long time because you got fat and happy. Hey,
come on, people, we want we watch We watch, you know,
retro movies and see the cars that American car makers
used to make.

Speaker 6 (01:44:13):
They are like pieces of artwork. For crying out loud.

Speaker 5 (01:44:16):
You go back and you take a look at the
cars from yesteryear, gorgeous American cars, pieces of art. Well,
he does that, only gonna make cars like that today?
The Italians for crying out loud, they basically make art
in the cars. They're they're gorgeous. Again.

Speaker 6 (01:44:39):
Whose fault is that, Japan's, Germany's, China's.

Speaker 5 (01:44:47):
No again, you want to fix or probably want to
solve a problem. Don't don't place blame. Okay, he don't
place blame, Own the problem and fix it. If you
think putting tariff barriers up is gonna solve our issues

(01:45:12):
when it comes to manufacturing, you're crazy. I can give
you fact after fact, all the manufact all the manufacturers
here in the United States still complaining, we can't find workers.
Hyundai sets up a plan outside of Atlanta. Can't find
enough workers. We got seven million, seven million men in

(01:45:37):
the prime of their lives that just decide to leave
the workforce. Why because they can? They can because we
have all sorts of government handouts and giveaways. You think
that those government handouts and giveaways are gonna go away,
No way, they're not going away. They're not gonna take away.
You think politicians are gonna take that away, make these
people get back into the workforce.

Speaker 6 (01:45:54):
No, not gonna happen. This is this is our reality.

Speaker 5 (01:46:00):
People. Tariffs are not going to sell it. Have to
take a break. Watchdog on Wall Street dot Com. Watchdog
on Wall Street dot Com.

Speaker 2 (01:46:12):
We'll be back.

Speaker 1 (01:46:32):
Bringing America financial freedom one listener at a time. You're
listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street with Chris Markowski.

Speaker 5 (01:46:42):
All right, welcome back. I'm giving kudos to the Trump
administration for doing uh what they're doing, uh when it
comes to student loans. And again, kids, many kids are
freaking out, freaking out all yeah, lots of videos, lots
of wine in on social media here, there and everywhere.

(01:47:05):
Lynda McMahon wrote a piece this past week. She is
the head of the Department of Education. President Biden never
had the authority to forgive student loans across the board,
as the Supreme Court held in twenty twenty three, but
for political gain, he dangled a cart of loan forgiveness
in front of young voters, among other things, by keeping
in place a temporary COVID era deferment program, thus, the

(01:47:28):
Education Department allowed students to rack up a massive debt
that is long passed due. Between twenty twenty one in
twenty twenty four, federal student loan debt increase by more
than sixty billion dollars a year, while the department manipulated
repayment plans and forgiveness policies until only thirty eight percent

(01:47:52):
of the student loan portfolio was in repayments. Disgusting, completely
unsustainable for both students and tax by. So they're ending
they're ending this dishonest and irresponsible policy. The Department's repayment
options are again they're gonna conform to federal court decisions.

(01:48:14):
They're ending the Biden era practice of zero interest, zero
accountability forbearances that are pushing borrowers into.

Speaker 6 (01:48:22):
Loan delinquency and default.

Speaker 5 (01:48:24):
On May fifth, the process of moving roughly one point
eight million barrows into repayment plans and restart collections of
loans in default, Borrowers who don't make payments on time
will see their credit scores go down and in some
cases their wages automatically garnished.

Speaker 6 (01:48:40):
Again, sorry, kids, some of you're gonna have to get
a second job.

Speaker 5 (01:48:46):
Some of you are gonna have to actually go out
and get yourself a second job.

Speaker 6 (01:48:52):
Sorry again, you're watching the utter collective.

Speaker 5 (01:48:59):
Freakout, freak out by all these kids out there that
feel like they are entitled to this money, that it's theirs.
And again, I'm sorry. You know what, call your parents up. Okay,
your parents allowed you and told you it was okay

(01:49:19):
to take out all of these student loans. Why why
why you can't afford to go to school? Go to
the cheaper one.

Speaker 6 (01:49:29):
For crying out.

Speaker 5 (01:49:29):
Loud, there are plenty of reasonable options out there. Why
they don't want to be it's a matter of being unkind. Okay,
you borrowed the money, you're failing to pay it back.
That's not victimless. The debt doesn't go away. It doesn't

(01:49:50):
go to debt Heaven or debt hell. All it does
is gets transferred to somebody else. If you're not paying
back your debt, I gotta pay it back. My client's
got to pay it back. Your neighbors have to pay
it back. I tell you what, Why don't want to
do this? I said, you know what, you don't want
to pay back your student loan? Why don't you go

(01:50:12):
around to your neighbors and ask them to repay it?
Oh you don't want to do that?

Speaker 2 (01:50:16):
Do you?

Speaker 5 (01:50:17):
Well? Go go plead your case to your your family,
your neighbors, the people in your neighborhood businesses. Hold out
a can saying the government, the government doesn't want to
take my loan, will you help me pay it back
for crying out loud. You have no argument, zero zero,
So stop complaining and pay your bills. Watchdog on Wallstreet

(01:50:41):
dot com. Watchdog on wallstreet dot com, we shall return.

Speaker 1 (01:50:54):
Chris Markowski is the watchdog on Wall Street ticking Wall streets, liars, crooks,

(01:51:20):
and sheets out behind the woodshed. You're listening to the
watchdog on Wall Streets.

Speaker 5 (01:51:27):
Well back, you knows this is the Watchdog on Wall
Street show. Again, more pressure being brought to bear within
the administration and the Republican Party. You had various different
members of Congress, members of the Trump administration on networks

(01:51:48):
talking about, well, you know, we might not keep that
lower tax bracket for the one percenters there anymore. We
might we might raise it up to four thirty percent
millionaires tax. And they're whispers of this going on, Questions
being asked, and one after another, Well, you know, we're
not taking anything off the table. And I'm saying to myself,

(01:52:13):
you ran on this man. You claim that your your
twenty seventeen tax cuts did all of these great things,
and you're you're going to take that away. And again,
most people fail to understand, failed to realize that the
amount of people small businesses in this country that file
as an s corporation passed through corporation and how that

(01:52:36):
was going to hit them on top of the head.
Everybody was kind of pulling their hairt I was like,
are you.

Speaker 6 (01:52:40):
Serious you raised taxes?

Speaker 3 (01:52:43):
Now?

Speaker 5 (01:52:45):
Well Trump, thank god, he supposedly put the kabash on
that this past week and said no, no, he said,
we're not looking to do that. You know, he basically said,
you know, you raise taxes on the wealthy. We live
in a day and age where they're going to just
move out of country. And he's not wrong. He's not wrong.
The same thing happened with businesses under Obama when we

(01:53:08):
had the highest corporate tax rate in the world, Companies
moving to Dublin, Ireland, conducting tax in versions. Hey, it's
right now, you know. In the UK they raised taxes
on the wealthy there. They thought they were going to
raise all sorts of revenue. People moved out, people moved out.
London used to be kind of a place where, again

(01:53:30):
a lot of wealthy people from the Middle East, from
all over Europe, they would sit there. They had a
special tax deal there where any of the money that
they had made overseas wasn't taxed in the UK. The
UK changed that and they left. The revenues went backwards.
We don't need to raise taxes. What we need to

(01:53:54):
do is to cut spending. And unfortunately, whether you're an
elephant and you're a donkey, most of them have no spine.
Outside of Thomas Massey Ran Paul in the Republican Party,
damn cutting nothing. There's money they can bring back to
their districts. Somebody's Republicans in some blue states. I mean,

(01:54:17):
they're just as bad. Why even bother voting for him?
Why are rather voting for a Republican in a blue
state if they're just going to echo what the Democrats
are gonna do and don't want to cut a darn thing.
Saw this story and blew my mind. Thirty just thirty

(01:54:39):
percent of fourth graders in the state of Illinois are
proficient at reading. Fourth graders. Yeah, this is data from
the National Assessment of Educational Progress report card. I guess
they're not even the worse. They're twenty ninth. They're twenty

(01:55:00):
ninth in the country. What was it the other day
I talked about this week ago or so on the program.
Fifty two of the United States reads at a sixth
grade level.

Speaker 6 (01:55:13):
What do I have to say about this. I'm not
gonna say.

Speaker 5 (01:55:15):
Hey, he's gonna spend more money on education. We're gonna
spend more money. I got an idea. Why don't we
build the Derek Zulander Center for kids who can't read
good and who want to learn to do other stuff
good too. Stop blaming the schools, Stop blaming the school teachers.

(01:55:37):
If you have a fourth grader who is not proficient
in reading, that's your fault. Parent. Okay, you're not doing
your job. You're not doing your job. It's your job
to educate your kids, to raise your kids.

Speaker 6 (01:55:57):
It's not the school's job.

Speaker 5 (01:56:00):
Oh yeah, pop out a baby and drop it off daycare.
Then let it go through the entire system and not
pay attention, and let let the state raise my kid.
Don't have a kid, don't You shouldn't have a kid.
If you're not going to raise that kid, you write

(01:56:21):
your face, You, my friend, are a crappy parent. If
your kid is not proficient and aerating, that's on you.

Speaker 6 (01:56:34):
The state can't do it. And that's just my thing.

Speaker 5 (01:56:36):
That's one of the biggest rackets out that the state's
gonna do something bad. It state's gonna make it. Okay, No, no,
if the parents don't care, if it's not important to
the parent, more often than not, guess what, the kid
is not gonna care. It's a rare case. It's a

(01:56:56):
rare case where a kid figures it out and wants
to get him him or herself out of that cycle
cycle of dependence. Very rare. They can't do it.

Speaker 6 (01:57:11):
You know how many clients I have that are educators.

Speaker 5 (01:57:15):
They got to go to people's homes to get kids
to school because the parents are not going to do it.
They don't care. These again, these issues, these issues are
a hell of a lot more important than tariffs. These
are issues that we really need to come up with

(01:57:37):
some sort of solution for. Here in the program. We
have proposed things here on the program. We've proposed a system,
we proposed a system, and you know, national schools, a
myriad of different things. You know, listen, people, I don't

(01:58:00):
I don't know what to tell you. Okay, the state
can't raise your kids. They can't at the way we're
doing it right now. Either, we're gonna get some sort
of national private schools, almost like a Hogwarts type of system.
Or not. But if not, these kids are gonna get
into this awful, awful cycle and it's sad.

Speaker 6 (01:58:21):
Anyway, Man, we're out of time. Hold with snikys.

Speaker 5 (01:58:25):
Gotta go, Gotta go, everybody. Watchdog on wallstreet dot com.
Watchdog on wallstreet dot com is our site. Become a
part of our family. God bless everyone. We'll see you
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:58:40):
You're listening to the Watchdog on Wall Street