June 16, 2025 • 7 mins
America's Money Answers Man Jordan Goodman joined the show to discuss the latest economic news and numbers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
America's money answers man Jordan Goodman joined us this morning
and Jordan last week we heard about a trade deal,
at least a framework or some type of agreement with
the US and China. I'm not sure how much you've
been able to dive into that, but give us the
particulars of what we know at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, if it happens, it could be very very positive. Basically,
China said they will export rare earth minerals which they've
been holding back on. We will export some things to
them that we'd been holding back on. And these tariffs
are set at ten percent by China on US imports
to them and fifty five percent on China exports to
(00:43):
the US. So it seems like there's an agreement there.
Not only is it good in itself, but it could
be a template for future deals. Because we still got
over one hundred countries trade deals supposedly by July ninth.
So if we got the China one, and we've already
had United Kingdom and we can get other deals, that
(01:03):
would be very very positive. As opposed to the alternative
where the talks should break down, we'd have all kinds
of trade wars.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Jordan the deal with China. Was it more that we
both just kind of went swords down or did were
there some significant gains made from the American perspective.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Here, I think there's significant gains made. I mean, the
rare earth minerals are crucial to many of our industries,
and China has about ninety seven percent of the market
and they've been holding a kind of hostage. Now, what
they agreed to was to supply rare earth minerals for
six months and then we'll see what happens after that.
So not giving it up completely, but that in itself
(01:42):
was a major gain. And for the Chinese to agree
to fifty five percent tax was a major gain too.
Remember we were at thirty percent before this agreement, So
that's really hurting Chinese exports. That is going to mean
higher prices for American consumers for all the things that
we buy from China. Jordan.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Speaking of buying things, we had a new inflation report
to give us a synopsis. And if we're heading in
the right direction here, we are heading in.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
The right direction. Both the consumer price index was up
zero point one percent and then the producer price index
was up zero point one percent. Annual rate of inflation
about two point three, two point four percent something like that.
That was lower inflation than expected. A big reason for
it is energy prices to come down to the price
to pump, and in general energy prices are actually falling,
(02:34):
which certainly helps the inflation front. So if we didn't
have the prospect of higher inflation from Tarot's coming, I
think the Federal Reserve would feel they would be in
a position to cut rates. But that just not happened yet.
So over the next month or so, as we figure
out what's gonna happen with tarifs, are they gonna we're
gonna have deals and they're gonna go down, then we're
gonna not have deals, they're gonna go up. That's going
(02:56):
to have a big inflect influence on what the Federalserve
is going to do.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, Jordan, I would imagine if we start to get
some more trade deals announced that Trump may turn up
his rhetoric about the interest rate cuts.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Perhaps he's already turned his rhever a couple lot. I
don't think you can turn up anymore. He and Vice
President Vance have explicitly said lower interest rates. Chairman Powell,
and he is saying no I'm not gonna do it
until I'm sure inflation is staying under control. But again,
the current numbers are really are not quite a two percent,
(03:31):
pretty much three two point four, but still very close
to their target of two percent.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
All right, Jordan, Speaking of things that cost a lot
of money, the housing market is still very sluggish. A
lot of factors go into that. Obviously, the interest rates
are a big one, but we've had sort of systemic
housing market problems for a while. What's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Well, the spring housing season has been terrible. Mortgage rates
are about seven percent, which just unaffordable for enoughful lot
of people. Home prices have still gone up and that
makes it unaffordable for a lot of people. Some other
factors are that home insurance premiums have gone up a
lot because of the tornadoes and wildfires and floods and
(04:16):
hurricanes and hall of things that have hit the insurance companies.
They're raising premiums, which makes it that much more expensive
to own a home. And all this uncertainty about tariffs
and so on makes it hard for people to make
a long term decision like buying a house. They're seeing
the same business people don't want to build new factories
if they don't know what the tariff situation is going
to be. So a combination of all those things has
(04:38):
made the housing market really quite weak, which affects the
overall economy. When there's a lot of home sales, people
buy furniture and carpeting and TVs and all kinds of
things for the new houses. When those sales don't happen,
all those other sales don't happen either.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, And what you're talking about is a big motivator
for the Trump administration to start announcing some more deals.
It starts to provide a little more solid footing and certainty,
at least as much certainty as one can have.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Right, That's exactly right. If we get a lot of
deals and get more certainty on the tower front, and
we're not going to have a big increase in inflation
because of all the high tasks raising American prices, then
that'll give the Center Reserve Conference to lower rates, which
would flow in to lower prices for Americans as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Now, one thing we are certain of Jordan, bitcoin and
gold continue to climb in these uncertain times.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Huh, Right, So the dollar continues to fall, it's fallowing
about ten percent in some other currencies, and gold is
well over thirty three hundred and bitcoin is about one
hundred and ten thousand, and those are the beneficiaries. So
I people want to get out of a dollar when
it's bitcoin, gold, So I think those are going to
go up a lot more. There's just a shortage of
(05:57):
both gold and bitcoin, and tremendous to mean not only
from individuals, but from institutions, from central governments, from companies.
It's a sign of lack of faith in the US dollar.
On top of which the whole uncertainty about Big Beautiful
Bill and how that's going to affect the deficit Jordan.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That leads us into the so called Big Beautiful Bill.
What's the latest you're hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
There, Well, the House passed it by one vote a
few weeks ago, and now the Senate has been considering it.
They're aiming for July fourth completion, which is seeming very
very aggressive to me to have that happen. The Senate's
going to change it in various ways, the salt deduction,
(06:41):
the stopping of taxes on tips, and over time, there's
a lot of things bill which are very very controversial,
and so the Senate's going to have its way with
it and maybe we'll be able to pass. And they
have a very small margin. Ran Paul for example, is
not going to vote for it, so they're down to
basically a margin of two in the Senate. If they
(07:01):
can pass with the Senate, then reconciling it with the
House bill will be brutal. There's gonna be very big differences.
But if they can do that and pass it on
both sides as possible, as could go through, but it
could fall apart as well. These are major major changes,
and there's going to be zero Democratic support on the
House of the Senate, so it's totally done by the
(07:22):
Republicans here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
It is America's money. Answers Man Jordan Goodman, Jordan, thanks
for checking in with us, all right, Thank you, Tod
America's money answers man Jordan Goodman joined us this morning
and Jordan last week we heard about a trade deal,
at least a framework or some type of agreement with
the US and China. I'm not sure how much you've
been able to dive into that, but give us the
particulars of what we know at this point.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, if it happens, it could be very very positive. Basically,
China said they will export rare earth minerals which they've
been holding back on. We will export some things to
them that we'd been holding back on. And these tariffs
are set at ten percent by China on US imports
to them and fifty five percent on China exports to
(00:43):
the US. So it seems like there's an agreement there.
Not only is it good in itself, but it could
be a template for future deals. Because we still got
over one hundred countries trade deals supposedly by July ninth.
So if we got the China one, and we've already
had United Kingdom and we can get other deals, that
(01:03):
would be very very positive. As opposed to the alternative
where the talks should break down, we'd have all kinds
of trade wars.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Jordan the deal with China. Was it more that we
both just kind of went swords down or did were
there some significant gains made from the American perspective.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Here, I think there's significant gains made. I mean, the
rare earth minerals are crucial to many of our industries,
and China has about ninety seven percent of the market
and they've been holding a kind of hostage. Now, what
they agreed to was to supply rare earth minerals for
six months and then we'll see what happens after that.
So not giving it up completely, but that in itself
(01:42):
was a major gain. And for the Chinese to agree
to fifty five percent tax was a major gain too.
Remember we were at thirty percent before this agreement, So
that's really hurting Chinese exports. That is going to mean
higher prices for American consumers for all the things that
we buy from China. Jordan.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Speaking of buying things, we had a new inflation report
to give us a synopsis. And if we're heading in
the right direction here, we are heading in.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
The right direction. Both the consumer price index was up
zero point one percent and then the producer price index
was up zero point one percent. Annual rate of inflation
about two point three, two point four percent something like that.
That was lower inflation than expected. A big reason for
it is energy prices to come down to the price
to pump, and in general energy prices are actually falling,
(02:34):
which certainly helps the inflation front. So if we didn't
have the prospect of higher inflation from Tarot's coming, I
think the Federal Reserve would feel they would be in
a position to cut rates. But that just not happened yet.
So over the next month or so, as we figure
out what's gonna happen with tarifs, are they gonna we're
gonna have deals and they're gonna go down, then we're
gonna not have deals, they're gonna go up. That's going
(02:56):
to have a big inflect influence on what the Federalserve
is going to do.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, Jordan, I would imagine if we start to get
some more trade deals announced that Trump may turn up
his rhetoric about the interest rate cuts.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Perhaps he's already turned his rhever a couple lot. I
don't think you can turn up anymore. He and Vice
President Vance have explicitly said lower interest rates. Chairman Powell,
and he is saying no I'm not gonna do it
until I'm sure inflation is staying under control. But again,
the current numbers are really are not quite a two percent,
(03:31):
pretty much three two point four, but still very close
to their target of two percent.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
All right, Jordan, Speaking of things that cost a lot
of money, the housing market is still very sluggish. A
lot of factors go into that. Obviously, the interest rates
are a big one, but we've had sort of systemic
housing market problems for a while. What's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Well, the spring housing season has been terrible. Mortgage rates
are about seven percent, which just unaffordable for enoughful lot
of people. Home prices have still gone up and that
makes it unaffordable for a lot of people. Some other
factors are that home insurance premiums have gone up a
lot because of the tornadoes and wildfires and floods and
(04:16):
hurricanes and hall of things that have hit the insurance companies.
They're raising premiums, which makes it that much more expensive
to own a home. And all this uncertainty about tariffs
and so on makes it hard for people to make
a long term decision like buying a house. They're seeing
the same business people don't want to build new factories
if they don't know what the tariff situation is going
to be. So a combination of all those things has
(04:38):
made the housing market really quite weak, which affects the
overall economy. When there's a lot of home sales, people
buy furniture and carpeting and TVs and all kinds of
things for the new houses. When those sales don't happen,
all those other sales don't happen either.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Well, And what you're talking about is a big motivator
for the Trump administration to start announcing some more deals.
It starts to provide a little more solid footing and certainty,
at least as much certainty as one can have.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Right, That's exactly right. If we get a lot of
deals and get more certainty on the tower front, and
we're not going to have a big increase in inflation
because of all the high tasks raising American prices, then
that'll give the Center Reserve Conference to lower rates, which
would flow in to lower prices for Americans as well.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Now, one thing we are certain of Jordan, bitcoin and
gold continue to climb in these uncertain times.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Huh, Right, So the dollar continues to fall, it's fallowing
about ten percent in some other currencies, and gold is
well over thirty three hundred and bitcoin is about one
hundred and ten thousand, and those are the beneficiaries. So
I people want to get out of a dollar when
it's bitcoin, gold, So I think those are going to
go up a lot more. There's just a shortage of
(05:57):
both gold and bitcoin, and tremendous to mean not only
from individuals, but from institutions, from central governments, from companies.
It's a sign of lack of faith in the US dollar.
On top of which the whole uncertainty about Big Beautiful
Bill and how that's going to affect the deficit Jordan.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
That leads us into the so called Big Beautiful Bill.
What's the latest you're hearing.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
There, Well, the House passed it by one vote a
few weeks ago, and now the Senate has been considering it.
They're aiming for July fourth completion, which is seeming very
very aggressive to me to have that happen. The Senate's
going to change it in various ways, the salt deduction,
(06:41):
the stopping of taxes on tips, and over time, there's
a lot of things bill which are very very controversial,
and so the Senate's going to have its way with
it and maybe we'll be able to pass. And they
have a very small margin. Ran Paul for example, is
not going to vote for it, so they're down to
basically a margin of two in the Senate. If they
(07:01):
can pass with the Senate, then reconciling it with the
House bill will be brutal. There's gonna be very big differences.
But if they can do that and pass it on
both sides as possible, as could go through, but it
could fall apart as well. These are major major changes,
and there's going to be zero Democratic support on the
House of the Senate, so it's totally done by the
(07:22):
Republicans here.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
It is America's money. Answers Man Jordan Goodman, Jordan, thanks
for checking in with us, all right, Thank you, Tod
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