Rory O'Neill on tariffs, spending cuts and the courts

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, the terrorf situations certainly been a bone of content
for a lot of people in this country. And raising prices,
lowering prices is the great negotiator, got his eye on
the ball. Here is he making the right decisions? Courts
jumped in says no, you can't do that. And now
yesterday the court's decided, all right, you're back on, go
ahead and do it for now. Caroline Levitt had a
little something to say about the judges in this whole thing.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
These judges failed to acknowledge that the President of the
United States has core foreign affairs powers and authority given
to him by Congress to protect the United States economy
and national security.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, there you go and join us. Now, Roy O'Neil,
a little bit more on this whole situation. Apparently, now
the judges the court ruling decided okay, temporarily, we'll reinstate
the teriff while all this case is reviewed. So what
are they reviewing?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Right? President Trump has said that because of these emergencies,
he has the authority to issue these blanket tariffs. That's
been his argument. He cites a nineteen seventy seven law
and that's how he's been off operating to issue these
broad tariffs because in the Constitution, it's Congress that's supposed
to be in charge of tariffs. But the president claims

(01:08):
there's been so much economic damage done to the US
over the years because of poor trade policies. He talked
about fentanyl getting over the border, that this emergency exists
for these tariffs. The three judges on the Trade Court,
one of whom President Trump appointed, disagreed and said you
don't have the power to do this. And then, as

(01:29):
you said on Thursday, and a Palot court said all right,
we're going to let you keep doing the tariffs while
this case works its way through the courts. So this
is likely to get fast tracked up to the US
Supreme Court.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
All right, I want to get your thoughts on this.
Caroline Levit yesterday was talking about this whole thing as
we just heard there, but she also said President Trump
has other options.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
So President's trade policy will continue. We will comply with
the court orders. But yes, the president has other legal
authorities where he can implement tariffs.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
So are there other options? In fact, if this case
decides to go against him again?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Right, So what they're going to argue is that the
President's authority exists beyond that nineteen seventy seven law. That's
what they had argument court. That's why they lost on
that argument. So let's see what case they try to
bring to the US Supreme Court. And keep in mind,
you know, Conservatives Republicans historically, that's the party of free trade. Historically,
they're not big fans of tariffs. President Trump in this

(02:22):
case is sort of an outlier that he loves tariffs
so much. It's his favorite word. So don't necessarily assume
that because a Trump judge is up there that you know,
they may be conservative and may be more Reagan conservative
when it comes to tariff policy. So you can't just
assume that he's got at least three Supreme Court votes
in his back pocket because he appointed three of the justices.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, one hundred percent there, John Rodgers, you know, fools
us all the time, even though we thought every time
he'd be right on the right side, no pun intended
any tell.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Me Barrett too, that's right.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
And speaking of money in our households, right now, there
seems to be nearly half a million more homes for
sale than there are buyers. So why aren't people scooping
in right now? And negotiating some pretty good deals. What's
going on? You hear about the real estate up, it's down,
it's up, it's down, the blind demand. Where are we
in this well?

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Right? It also depends on where you are, right, I mean,
that's a big factor in some of this. But these
national numbers from Redfin show one point nine million homes
for sale, one point five million buyers in the market.
The thing is right, now is supposed to be the
busy season, so many families want to buy that new
home or make complete the move. You know, school is ending,
we want to move during the summer so the kids

(03:30):
can start the new year in the new school. All
that and things are a little sluggish right now. Yes,
the mortgage rates are near seven percent, so that's slowing
down a lot of buyers. The prices are still too
high for many who feel priced out of the marketplace.
And we've seen this economic uncertainty, like a lot of
people are saying, you know what, let's just rent another year,
or let's just stay on the sidelines until things settle

(03:51):
down a bit. And I'm not scared to look at
my four h one k one day and bracking about
it in the.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Well when you see our credit rating globally. The United States,
you know, came down a little bit and immediately interest
rates went up above seven again. So you know, there
may be a lot of houses out there, but I
want better money, I want cheaper money. So is that
having a huge impact on things.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah. The mortgage rates are a big stumbling block, although
I will say a lot of the realtors will tell you, look,
if you like the house, it's in your price range,
get it. Yeah, close your eyes on the mortgage. You know,
hopefully they'll go down in two years. Now, refinance so
it won't cost you too much. But if you find
something that you really like and you can afford it,
they say, make the move.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, a lot of people. I keep hearing it, bite
the bullet, Bite the bullet. It'll pay off in the
long run.