November 7, 2025 • 38 mins
Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong discuss AI valuation fears grip global investors as tech bubble concerns grow. Jim Blake, Regional Manager for Eastern Propane, joins the show to share his experience in the military, how he got involved with the DAV, and how Eastern Propane gives back to those that served. Flight-cancellation plans prompt scramble across travel industry. Bob Barlow, President and Owner of MBA Mortgage, joins the show to share his story of joining the military, getting involved with the DAV, and what MBA Mortgage does to help serve those who served. Mark Voner and Dan Stack stop by to explain how the DAV has changed their lives of those who have served this country, why Mark feels so deeply connected to the DAV, and how Mark made it his mission to save the DAV when it needed it most.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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(00:42):
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Financial Exchange is a proud partner of the Disabled American
Veterans Department of Massachusetts. Help us support our great American
heroes by visiting dav five K Boston and making a
donation today. This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada,
(01:06):
and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Chuck, Mike and Tucker with you here. And it is
a Friday in November, and this weekend we got a
big race that is happening in Boston, the da V
five k, to raise money for the Massachusetts Department of
the Disabled American Veterans. And we are today participating in
(01:34):
our wrko's affiliate, in our affiliate wrko's da V fundraiser
in order to help raise money for Disabled American Veterans,
which is a you know, it's a radiothon we've participated
in for years. At this point, I don't even know
how many. I mean, it's I can't count, quite honestly
(01:56):
how many years we've participated. But it is something that
we think is quite honestly important. These are people that
have spent a portion of their life, risking their life
in order to provide us with the safety and security
that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
They sacrificed years of their life and you know, came
away with, you know, some significant pain that many of
them are still dealing with and disabilities that have inhibited
them in being able to have the way that a
lot of us can. And so this I think is
the least that we can do in order to support
those who have you know, given so much for our
(02:36):
country and so to donate in this radiothon, you can
call nine seven eight six three two one nine eight five,
or you can do it online at DAV five k
dot Boston again that is nine seven eight six three
two one nine eight five, or go to DAV five
k dot Boston. There is also an auction for a
(02:58):
six course dinner for eight people from Chef Paul Wahlberg
that is out there. The dinner is at your home
and with seven of your closest friends and family. It
includes food, drinks, everything. The current bid on that is
at eight thousand dollars and to increase that bid, you
can again call nine to seven eight six three two
(03:20):
nineteen eighty five and we'll be announcing the winner of
that at the end of today's show. We've also got
some guests that are going to be joining us for
the radiothon along the course of the day. We're gonna
be joined by Jim Blake from Eastern Propane, Bob Barlow
from NBA Mortgage, Isaiah Moskowitz, the dav's media manager and
(03:42):
host of the Great American Heroes, podcast, and Garrett Barton
from Circle K is going to join us as well,
So we got a nice slate of guests lined up.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
But Mark Fonner from Veterans Development Corporation, Oh, that's right, Yeah,
Mark's joining us too. So YEAHDV of Massachusetts does a
lot of important things that you know, all the to
same American Veterans groups across the country do also a
few unique things here in Massachusetts that really they were
a first four in the nation.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
So yeah, we're.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Excited to talk to these folks, learn a little bit
more about their involvement with the DAV and and explain
to all our listeners too what exactly is the DAV
does for those disabled veterans here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Again to donate nine seven eight six three two nineteen
eighty five or go to DAV five K dot Boston. Mike,
we had a little bit of a stock sell off yesterday,
nothing huge, but you know, anytime you down more than
one percent in the s and P five hundred, you
look at and you go, okay, like, that's not it's
not nothing, but it's not you know, historic volatility or
anything like that. Continuing today, and this all really seems
(04:45):
to be centered around tech. I mean, and this is
kind of the story for the last week now, to
be quite honest, Microsoft in the last week down more
than four percent, in Vidia down almost ten, Oracle down ten,
broad Calm down five, Meta down six. And that's before
you get to you know, the twenty percent that metafl
after earnings. So you know, Metas down almost twenty five
(05:06):
percent now from its high ye Tesla down six percent
during that time. So the stocks that have lifted this
market over the last six months now running into some
tough sledding. And I mentioned on our show on whenever
it was hey, I think like there's the potential that
this is, you know, a shift in that narrative about
(05:27):
AI this week. And again, only time's gonna tell if
that's actually the case. But it is continuing today with
those stocks continuing to be the ones that are really
lagging and dragging the index day and Video down two
and a half percent, broad Calm down two, Google down two,
Meta down two, Tesla down four, Oracle down three. That's
(05:47):
the stuff that is pulling things.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Down right now.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So it's a Friday, and these fears over valuations didn't
just come out of thin air. There's been commentary all week.
Let's recap a few of the potential pieces that are
contributing to this. I think would be a good use
of our time. So earlier this week, I don't know
if it was Monday or Tuesday we report. I think
it was Monday we reported on the commentary from CEOs
(06:10):
of Goldman Sachs Capital Group. Morgan Stanley might have been
in there as well, and all of them speaking about
rich valuations in US equities, and you know, specifically, I
think it was Goldman CEO Solomon calling for a ten
to twenty percent market correction, saying that would be healthy
for markets and normal. You also had was it Michael
(06:32):
Burry with the short positions that were announced?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Whatever, Michael Burry loves to announce short position.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
He loves to announce our positions. I don't think it's relevant.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But he made a cryptic post on X saying sometimes
we see bubbles.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Yeah, so why does that matter?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, he was taking a bubble bath.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
He famously shorted the market ahead of the Great Recession
and was well since then, has been featured every time
he announces a short.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Right, he makes one great trade and everyone thinks you're
a genius. Not saying he's had a bad career or anything,
but it's like, okay, you know, let's you know, put
this in perspective here.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
So we had those announcements and those slightly sank markets,
although they rebounded i think the very next day and
made up a lot of those losses that they had experienced.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, I mean, it was a choppy start to the
week and now it's looking like a not great end
to the week. I think is how things are setting
up right now, with the obvious caveat that things can
change dramatically in a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Here the stuff that we covered yesterday I also found interesting.
Right we had the CEO of Nvidia making comments about
the AI race in China. We had the CFO of
open Ai making comments about the debt that's.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Going to be needed to finance all this, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And for a government backstop, to the point where Sam Altman,
who's the CEO of open Ai, had to write a
like several hundred word post on x basically saying, no,
this isn't what we meant by a backstop, which of
course makes you think it is what you meant by backstop.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Just didn't like the market reaction to right.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So you know, you've got some of these cross ones
out there, sought you in Adella saying earlier this week,
the real bottleneck is not in compute, it's in electricity.
So you've got like this, this whole thing that's out
there that has people kind of scratching thereds and wondering, hey,
like what gives And then, quite honestly, you had the
chart of the year published yesterday by the Financial Times.
(08:27):
I don't know if anyone listening subscribes to the Financial Times,
but let me describe the chart. It's a blue line
that's going up diagonally from left to right, which is
what you like to see, and it's it's real GDP
per capita, and it's showing you like, okay, here's how
real GDP per capita has increased. They then say, okay,
here's like the path that could happen if just you know,
(08:48):
AI boost productivity by you know, zero point two percent
a year, which is not an unreasonable assumption, and says okay,
like yeah, this things could be better for you know
the world. It then has a dark red line that
goes like vertically up that says, hey, if we reach
the techt singularity, which is basically artificial general intelligence, like
a superintelligence that can solve problems that humans haven't been
(09:11):
able to. You know, how do you produce you know,
fusion power on Earth without blowing it up? Like all
these things. You could end scarcity and real GDP per
capita could go up twenty times in the next you
know decade. Of course, well okay, okay, like sure, that's
that's a path. And then they got this pink line
(09:32):
that goes all the way down to zero and it
says tech singularity human extinction because the AGI could also decide, hey,
all of you humans are the problem. Get out of here, man,
and so like like this is a real chart from
the Financial Times. It's wild. If you haven't seen it,
it's all over you know, social media. So just go
(09:52):
on and be like Financial Times AI scarcity chart and
I'm sure you'll find it somewhere. But this is the
kind of discourse that is now coming out this week.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
So and again, the Financial Times is a very serious publication.
You don't go to the Financial Times for uh no, Mike.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They still print their paper on like brown paper, just
out of historical like stodginess.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
It's like pink, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, it's like out of stodginess, like this is who
we've always been and this is who will always be.
And they're telling you, Hey, here's the path where AI
decides to eliminate all the humans. Oh that's interesting. Let's
take a quick break. When we return, as promised, we're
gonna be joined by Jim Blake from Eastern Propane right
(10:39):
after this again, to donate to the DAV in support
of Disabled American Veterans and the Disabled Americans. Disabled American
Veterans Department of Massachusetts called nine seven eight six three
two nineteen eighty five, or go to DAV five k
dot Boston.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
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(11:18):
Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
This segment of The Financial Exchange is powered by circle
K Convenience Stores. Circle K is now the official convenience
store of the DAV Department of Massachusetts. On behalf of
Circle K. Thank you veterans for all you've done as promised.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We are now joined by Jim Blake. He is the
regional manager for Eastern pro Pane. Jim, great to have
you on with us today. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Thank you, Jack, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Jim, can you tell us a little bit about your
partnership with the DAV of Massachusetts.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
I'd love to.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Partner with DAV in Massachusetts. About three years ago. Previous
to that, we've been supporting veterans organizations within the state
and we were trying to improve, frankly, where the money
goes and make sure it was getting directly to veterans
and stuff. And after about a year of looking around
(12:22):
and talking to people, we were able to connect with
the dav mass and put together a program with them.
Because it's really great. Ninety percent of everything that gets
donated to them goes directly to the people that need
the services, whether it be transportation, housing, mental health, occupational
(12:43):
training is a big thing they're doing now, their food pantry,
and of course the typical claims and benefits, and they
encompassed everything and again ninety percent of everything that they
collect in mass goes directly to the veterans, and that's
the kind of company or kind of organization we wanted
to be partnered with.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I know that Eastern Propane has a long history
of this connection to veterans. Can you tell us a
little bit just about how that partnership with the dav
and other veterans causes has grown over time.
Speaker 7 (13:18):
Well, we do have a long connection. Our family business
started in nineteen thirty two and we actually started writing Danvers,
Massachusetts at a hardware store. And of course back during
the war we had folks that worked with a company
that had to go in even World War Two, and
during those times, if you had a business, they kept
(13:41):
your home. So the family always wanted to do something
to support the people, and we had Frankly, one of
our leaders of the company was a pow in World
War Two when he escaped and came back. So we've
always felt a strong connection so our ability to serve
people because so many people serve to give us that right.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
One of the things that Eastern Propane does is you
use your vehicles to support the dav of Massachusetts. Can
you tell us a little bit about that and how
that has worked for you.
Speaker 7 (14:17):
Absolutely. What we've done is, you know, we deliver fuel
and comfort to people. And so what we started with,
we started with one truck to see how the program
would work, and a portion of every gallon of fuel
that's delivered through that truck goes directly to DAV And
(14:38):
then we added a second truck and this year we've
added a third truck that they're all and these three
trucks off operate in different markets in Massachusetts, and they
operate all year long, twelve months a year, because you know,
sometimes the business has seasonal needs, but we keep these
trucks on the road all year. It spreads the word
(15:00):
about DAV and a portion of every gallon that goes
through those trucks goes directly back to the DAV Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Jim, you've also got in addition to that, you have
something called your Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway. I
believe it's a program that Eastern Propane created in order
to help veterans. Can you tell us a little bit
about that program and how someone can get nominated for
that program?
Speaker 7 (15:29):
Absolutely. The Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway is a
program that we do every sea every winter season where
people are allowed to go on to Eastern dot com
Hometown Hero Season of Fuel giveaway and nominate a veteran
(15:50):
and you can also nominate nominate a police, fire e
MT or active service member, and generally the people that
have fallen on hard times or a family that's having
difficulty because somebody's overseas serving or something, or I could
say one of our last recipients unfortunately had picked up
(16:14):
a disease while they were over in Afghanistan. And so
you go in, you nominate that person through our website,
and then a committee reviews all of the nominations and
that person will receive free heating for this season.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Jim, that sounds great. We really appreciate you joining us today,
appreciate the work that you and Eastern Propane do on
behalf of the DAV and thanks again for the time
and for your effort in this cause.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Thank you. It's a great partnership. We're happy to be there.
We're looking forward to the DAV five K that's coming
up tomorrow. We've got fifty one one of our team
members that have volunteered and are participating out there tomorrow.
So it's more than it's about service and DAV gives
(17:12):
that service, we want to provide them the support.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Absolutely, it's it's a great thing. Jim, thanks again for
the time today. That is Jim Blake, the regional manager
for Eastern Propane.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Again.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
To donate to the DAV in support, you can call
nine to seven eight six three two nineteen eighty five,
or go to DAV five k dot Boston again nine
seven eight six three two nineteen eighty five or DAV
five k dot Boston Mike. One of the things that
(17:45):
is starting as of today, the FAA is restricting traffic
to forty major airports. We covered the list on our
show yesterday. It's basically all the major airports in the
United States and some supplemental ones yep. And so this
is now in effect, and to this point, it looks
like about seven hundred flights have been canceled. Expectations or
(18:07):
that you could see as many as about twenty to
twenty five hundred being canceled daily if this were to continue.
And there's also the possibility that this expands further. This
as the FAA tries to cope with lower staffing levels
due to workers not getting paid.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah, and so we'll see these flights get shut down.
The airlines apparently are trying to focus on the shorter
regional flights so that you have an alternative option to
get between point A and point B. Problem, there is
a lot of these flight crews and pilots commute via
those shorter regional flights.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
So I had a family member who flew for one
of the major airlines, lived in Chicago, commuted to Detroit
every time he needed to fly. So that's the exact
type of flight that they are trying to cancel or
spend here. And we will see, right. I mean again,
if this lasted day or two, probably not a problem.
But if the major airlines need to cancel between two
(19:02):
and four thousand flights a day, you can be sure
there's going to be you know, reverberations throughout the industry
as they struggle to get the other flights filled with staff.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, it certainly is something where these might be the
cancelations that you see, but don't be surprised if there
are other delays, and you know, just trying to get
pilots and equipment to where you need them is challenging
in these situations. Quick break, when we return, we've got
wall Street Watch and more guests for the dav Radiothon.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at
TFE show. Breaking business news is always first right here
on the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Time now for Wall
Street Watch. A complete look at what's moving market so
far today right here on the Financial Exchange Network.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Market's extending their losses as investors continued to show concern
about high valuations around tech and a I. Right now,
the Dow is down nearly two tenths of one percent,
or seventy eight points lower. SMP five hundred down over
two thirds of a percent, Nasdaq selling off over one
point two percent, Russell two thousands down about eight tenths
(20:21):
of one percent. Tenured Treasure realed flat at the moment,
now at four point zero eight seven percent. In crude
oil up about four tenths of a percent, trading right
below sixty dollars a barrel. Tesla shares down over two
percent after shareholders approved a one trillion dollar pay package
for CEO Elon Musk, but offered mixed support to the
(20:42):
idea of the EV maker investing in his XAI ventures. Meanwhile,
sports betting company DraftKings cut its annual sales out look
after reporting disappointing third quarter results. However, the stock is
up three percent. Elsewhere, Airbnb posted a revenue beat for
the previous quarter and lifted its fourth quarter revenue forecast.
Despite that, shares are down two percent. Peloton swung to
(21:05):
a surprise profit in the most recent quarter, sending that
stock eight percent higher. Open Door sinking seven percent after
the property company reported a sharp drop in sales. Open
Door has seen some meme stock action recently, and shares
in video game maker Take two Interactive falling over eight
percent after the company announced yet another delay to its
(21:26):
highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto six game, now slated to
be released November nineteenth, twenty twenty six. On Tucker Silva
and That is Wall Street Watch.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Join us now is Bob Barlow.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
He's the president's and owner of NBA Mortgage out of Braintree, Massachusetts.
He's an Air Force veteran and DAV member, and joins
us now on the line to talk a little bit
about his company's partnership.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
With the DAV. Bob, thanks for joinings, appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (21:52):
Yeah, I glad to be on so starting.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Off here, I want to get to NBA Mortgage and
its partnership with the DAV Would you mind telling us
a little bit about your own military service and your
time with the Air Force.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Yeah. Absolutely. Uh. I come from a family where my
grandfather was in the military, my dad was in the military,
my uncle was in the military, the whole nine yards.
So when it came to be my time, I felt
(22:29):
compelled to serve. I grew up that way always, you know, uh,
community service, country, that kind of that kind of an upbring.
So yep, my turn, I'm in. So if I go
(22:50):
in and you know, I spent a few years yside,
you know, traveling, uh and getting the see a lot
of the country, you know, the best parts of the country,
you know, uh, Mississippi and Oklahoma and western Washington. Yeah,
(23:13):
all the places you want to go. But if it's
still are to still really great experience, and you know,
ten years in and and you really realize that the
people that you're working with is is what it really
becomes all about, you know, more the mission more than
(23:36):
anything else about the guys and girls that are that
are with you when you deploy, that are you know,
in the tent and uh, you know, the proverbial foxhole
next to you so you leave that kind of stays
(23:56):
with you and in the brotherhood, didn't sister heard that
we will always share.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So Bob, tell me a little bit about NBA Mortgage
and how you got involved with the dav of Massa Chusetts.
Speaker 8 (24:12):
Yep. So NBA Mortgages. Well, we're a mortgage company and
it's something that myself and previous partner we started in
two thousand and five because it was always the smartest
thing to do to get into mortgages, right four two
thousand and seven, So we decided that that was a
(24:35):
great time and and I guess because we just started
in seven, we had you know, the hood spot to
get three two thousand and eighty, two thousand and nine.
But anyways, right around when we started in two thousand
and five, my current partner Matt Scott and I, uh,
(25:00):
we're doing a presentation. I forget which town, you know,
hotel lobby room, but we were doing one and Matt
meets Damn Stack and I think we all know.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Yeah, sitting sitting right in our lobby all.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
Right, yea our former edgectant, but basically our you know,
our d av Our d av guy. So Matt meets
Dan Dan's doing, uh, a seminar for veterans in the
(25:46):
same place. So he asked Matt he wants to come
by and talk about the loans and so that and
that's it. And Matt was like, I want you to
meet the owner and veteran. And we met and we
(26:10):
started talking about how we used to work together, and
you know, Dan and I get the talking and uh,
he's looking for us to help him out with some
sponsorships with the golf tournament. So well, like, okay, we'll
do the best ken kind of a you know, ten
man shop. And I don't know how much of a
(26:35):
corporate sponsorship we could do, but this is what I
can tell you I can do. Dan, We are a
very good group of people of networking and getting the
word out, So how about I do that? And I
am very very good at that. And it was Matt
(26:56):
and our team, you know, we're out there meeting business partners,
were talking about client so it was kind of an
easy thing for us to do.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Well Benny, Well, Bob, your story really echoes and mirrors
the stories of so many I've heard from, and it's
all a little bit different, obviously, from a lot of
different industries. But the story I consistently hear that everybody
that partnerships with the DAV is just very impressed by
the work that they do and the impact that they
have here in Massachusetts. Bob, I really appreciate you coming
(27:31):
on the show today, talking a bit about your partnership,
sharing a bit about your own service, and looking forward
to this weekend in Castle Island in Boston.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
So, Bob Barlow, thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you again.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
That's Bob Barlow.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
He's the president and owner of NBA Mortgage out of
Brain Trees, an Air Force veteran and DAV member, and
join us today to talk about their firm's partnership with
the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusett's just a reminder, folks,
the auction for a six Core's dinner for eight people
from Chef Paul Wahlberg still open. The You can place
(28:06):
your bid by calling nine seven eight six three two
nineteen eighty five. You can also make your donation at
that same number or by visiting DAV five K dot Boston.
But we're proud to participate in wrko's Radiothon two benefit
the DAV of Massachusetts. You can donate and participate again
by going to DAV FIVEK dot Boston or calling nine
(28:28):
seven eight six three to two nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
Quick Break.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
We'll be right back with Mark Varner, CEO of Veterans
Development Corporation and their partnership with DAV next on the
Financial Exchange.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Breaking business news as it happens only here on the
Financial Exchange Radio Network. The Financial Exchange streams live on YouTube.
Like our page and stay up to date on breaking
business news all morning. Long Base is the Financial Exchange
Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Welcome back to the Financial Exchange.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
If you're just joining us for participating today in wrko's
radiothon to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts,
you can donate by calling nine seven eight six three
two nineteen eighty five. We're visiting DAV five K dot Boston,
but right now I'm joined by both Dan Stacks, CEO
of the DAV of Massachusetts, as well as Mark Vonna,
(29:34):
the president's CEO of Developed Veterans Development Corporation.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Gentlemen, thanks for coming on again. I appreciate it, Thank you,
appreciate you. So I wanted to start off.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
I know Mark, you you've talked a bit about your
firm's partnership with the DAV, But for those that haven't heard,
talk to us a bit about that partnership and just
how long and and how you got involved with the
Disabled American Veterans.
Speaker 9 (30:02):
Okay, well, I met DAN through my brother Tim, who
was working for DAN as a National Service officer.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I don't know how many.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
Years now, nineteen ninety seve I got involved after that
as a sponsor for one of the golf tournaments and
from there we just grew and grew and grew.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
And for those listening, I mean, it's right in the name,
but talk to us about what Veterans Development Corporation actually
does and beyond the partnership of the DAV, just your
involvement with veterans today.
Speaker 8 (30:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (30:32):
Absolutely. We do a lot of construction work for the
VA Healthcare System throughout New England, YP Florida, in Washington, DC,
so we're doing a lot of renovation work for the hospitals.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
So one of the things that really stuck with me
that the DAV does and of Massachusetts and what makes
it truly unique, is some of the housing initiatives that
you guys have taken on over the course of the
last several years, I know that you are the only
Disabled American Veterans Department in the country to provide housing
solutions for veterans. And from what I understand, you guys
(31:06):
have a new project going on, and so you know,
whoever it can take this one, but talk to us
about that new project, that new initiative that you guys
are doing, and I'm excited to learn about it, and
you can just pull that right towards you there you go.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, what we wanted to be able to do was
take one of the buildings that we have. We wanted
to be able to take one of the buildings that
we had at basically up in Gardener, Massachusetts, and we
have a need for basically studio apartments for single veterans.
On the campus up there. We have twenty two bedroom
(31:39):
condominiums that we give out to families, but we have
the great need for basically single veterans to be housed,
but permanent housing. So we were looking for studio apartments
that could be built naturally. The first guy I called
and turned to was Mark Bonner. Sure said, Mark, how
do we go about this? He's helped put together an
(31:59):
entire team from architectural to everything that we need engineers
in order to try to get this project off the ground,
and we are working with Mark and the state in
order to try to come up with all the funding
that we need for this. But it's going to be
state of the art. It's going to be every one
of these studio apartments, the veteran will have their own kitchen,
(32:21):
their own bathroom, their own basically their living space so
that they too can utilize all of our services, and
we'll try to work with them so that they can
become not only independent living there, but if they wanted
to be independent living elsewhere after they've worked with.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Us, Danamar, I mean, talk to us again. For folks
that are listening now and they're getting their first ever
introduction to the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts, what
are the biggest needs of our veterans in the state
that you guys are trying to serve. I know there's
a lot of different initiatives you have, from transportation to
other types of assistance, and clearly the housing thing is
(32:59):
a growing demand piece, especially in today's housing market. But
talk to us about just the work that the dav
does on a day to day basis because there's a
lot of folks that I'm sure aren't familiar.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The biggest program that we have that we help veterans
out with is literally navigating the VA system, whether it
be the healthcare system or whether it be the VA
benefit system. That is the major job that we do
on a daily basis, and those that's where we serve
the most veterans in the state of Massachusetts. We have
(33:34):
service officers all across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They help
initiate the claims and then we have our staff of
paralegally trained representatives at the JFK Federal billing They're known
as National Service Officers, which give the best advice possible
and actually take a claim before the VA to make
(33:55):
sure that veteran gets the compensation that he's deserving.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
With we have all.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Kinds of veterans volunteers that work within the VA medical
system that helped not only take claims, but they also
help transportation. They also help with basically our Local Veterans
Assistant program, helping veterans that may need their just their
yard rate for crimel or whatever it is. But you know,
(34:21):
Mark talks about his brother Timmy, which I hired in
ninety seven. Timmy unfortunately was a paratrooper and his shoe
didn't open, and God bless him. He's suffering this day
with some very severe disabilities. And that's how Mark and
I got to know each other. But one of the
things I want to say about basically the Vaughner family
(34:44):
is not only did they serve this country right from
their father Victor to Timothy to Mark, but every day
they give back to the VA, whether it's veterans, whether
it's being trying to rebuild the VA medical healthcare system,
and the most office way possible to what Mark does
personally out of his own parket to help the dav
(35:04):
and what his company does. I'll be honest with you,
it was a time that we didn't have anything.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I call Mark. He covered our.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Expenses for one year in order that I could keep
this organization going, and today because of what he has done,
we're in a much better spot that we can continue
on to help veterans.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Mark, I'm going to turn to you on this one
because I could speak to it, but I think you
could do it more justice. Tomorrow is the actual five
K in Boston. You've attended many of them, I've attended
a few of them. I find it to be inspirational
and just a really fun event. Can you tell everybody
that's listening a little bit about the event tomorrow and
what folks can expect, even if they're not running, if
(35:45):
they want to, you know, show up and check out
the event.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
It's always a highlight of the year for Oh.
Speaker 9 (35:49):
Absolutely. It is one of the most amazing days that
I can say I'm part of in my career as
a construction contractor, but as a person in a veteran
this is an amazing day where all these people come
together for one day and we all meet and we
collaborate together. Now, everybody is happy, everybody wants to be there.
(36:10):
It's just one of those days that I think, if
you haven't been there, try to make it this year,
because you'll walk away a different person.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
I couldn't agree more. It's tomorrow. Castle Island in Boston.
Race has been sold out for months now, as it
always does. It's a hugely popular event. Over a thousand people,
fifteen hundred people running, food events, all sorts of really
great stuff and just inspirational stuff too, and so it's
(36:39):
a fantastic event every year Mark Varner, CEO of Veterans
Development Corporation, as well as Dan Stack, the CEO of
the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusett's joining us on
the program today. Appreciate you coming in, both of you.
Always great to see you and excited about the event tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Thank you, Thank you very much, Mike, and we truly
appreciate what the Finance actually Exchange does in regards to
keeping the word off there about what the DAV can
do for veterans. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Thanks gentlemen, appreciate it and see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Taking a look here at markets, we continue to be
in not a full on selloff mode. It doesn't seem
to be accelerating dramatically, but we are seeing markets in
negative territory, with the Nasdaq leading the way down off
one point six percent, SMP off nine tenths of eight percent.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Once again, all day today.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
We are supporting the DAV of Massachusetts and we hope
you can too. To donate, you can call nine seven
eight six three two nineteen eighty five. You can also
visit DAV five k dot Boston and again there is
an auction ongoing for a six course dinner for eight
people from Chef Paul Wahlberg. It's still open, you can
(37:47):
still bid on it, but it will be closing in
the next hour.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
Again.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
To make your bid or to support the dav call
up nine seven, eight, six three two one nine eighty
five and excited to announce the winner of that at
the end of today's show, quick Break a lot more
from the Financial Exchange next
The Financial Exchange is produced by Money Matters Radio and
is hosted by employees of the Armstrong Advisory Group, a
registered investment advisor. All opinions expressed are solely those of
the hosts. Do not reflect the opinions of Armstrong Advisory
or anyone else. Investments can lose money. This program does
not offer any specific financial or investment advice. Please consult
your own financial, tax, and estate planning advisors before making
(00:20):
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this program do not endorse each other or their services.
Armstrong and Money Matters Radio do not compensate each other
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Exchange with Chuck Zada and Mike Armstrong, Your exclusive look
at business and financial news affecting your day, your city,
(00:42):
your world. Stay informed and up to date about economic
and market trends plus breaking business news every day. The
Financial Exchange is a proud partner of the Disabled American
Veterans Department of Massachusetts. Help us support our great American
heroes by visiting dav five K Boston and making a
donation today. This is the Financial Exchange with Chuck Zada,
(01:06):
and Mike Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Chuck, Mike and Tucker with you here. And it is
a Friday in November, and this weekend we got a
big race that is happening in Boston, the da V
five k, to raise money for the Massachusetts Department of
the Disabled American Veterans. And we are today participating in
(01:34):
our wrko's affiliate, in our affiliate wrko's da V fundraiser
in order to help raise money for Disabled American Veterans,
which is a you know, it's a radiothon we've participated
in for years. At this point, I don't even know
how many. I mean, it's I can't count, quite honestly
(01:56):
how many years we've participated. But it is something that
we think is quite honestly important. These are people that
have spent a portion of their life, risking their life
in order to provide us with the safety and security
that we enjoy.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
They sacrificed years of their life and you know, came
away with, you know, some significant pain that many of
them are still dealing with and disabilities that have inhibited
them in being able to have the way that a
lot of us can. And so this I think is
the least that we can do in order to support
those who have you know, given so much for our
(02:36):
country and so to donate in this radiothon, you can
call nine seven eight six three two one nine eight five,
or you can do it online at DAV five k
dot Boston again that is nine seven eight six three
two one nine eight five, or go to DAV five
k dot Boston. There is also an auction for a
(02:58):
six course dinner for eight people from Chef Paul Wahlberg
that is out there. The dinner is at your home
and with seven of your closest friends and family. It
includes food, drinks, everything. The current bid on that is
at eight thousand dollars and to increase that bid, you
can again call nine to seven eight six three two
(03:20):
nineteen eighty five and we'll be announcing the winner of
that at the end of today's show. We've also got
some guests that are going to be joining us for
the radiothon along the course of the day. We're gonna
be joined by Jim Blake from Eastern Propane, Bob Barlow
from NBA Mortgage, Isaiah Moskowitz, the dav's media manager and
(03:42):
host of the Great American Heroes, podcast, and Garrett Barton
from Circle K is going to join us as well,
So we got a nice slate of guests lined up.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
But Mark Fonner from Veterans Development Corporation, Oh, that's right, Yeah,
Mark's joining us too. So YEAHDV of Massachusetts does a
lot of important things that you know, all the to
same American Veterans groups across the country do also a
few unique things here in Massachusetts that really they were
a first four in the nation.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
So yeah, we're.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Excited to talk to these folks, learn a little bit
more about their involvement with the DAV and and explain
to all our listeners too what exactly is the DAV
does for those disabled veterans here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Again to donate nine seven eight six three two nineteen
eighty five or go to DAV five K dot Boston. Mike,
we had a little bit of a stock sell off yesterday,
nothing huge, but you know, anytime you down more than
one percent in the s and P five hundred, you
look at and you go, okay, like, that's not it's
not nothing, but it's not you know, historic volatility or
anything like that. Continuing today, and this all really seems
(04:45):
to be centered around tech. I mean, and this is
kind of the story for the last week now, to
be quite honest, Microsoft in the last week down more
than four percent, in Vidia down almost ten, Oracle down ten,
broad Calm down five, Meta down six. And that's before
you get to you know, the twenty percent that metafl
after earnings. So you know, Metas down almost twenty five
(05:06):
percent now from its high ye Tesla down six percent
during that time. So the stocks that have lifted this
market over the last six months now running into some
tough sledding. And I mentioned on our show on whenever
it was hey, I think like there's the potential that
this is, you know, a shift in that narrative about
(05:27):
AI this week. And again, only time's gonna tell if
that's actually the case. But it is continuing today with
those stocks continuing to be the ones that are really
lagging and dragging the index day and Video down two
and a half percent, broad Calm down two, Google down two,
Meta down two, Tesla down four, Oracle down three. That's
(05:47):
the stuff that is pulling things.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
Down right now.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So it's a Friday, and these fears over valuations didn't
just come out of thin air. There's been commentary all week.
Let's recap a few of the potential pieces that are
contributing to this. I think would be a good use
of our time. So earlier this week, I don't know
if it was Monday or Tuesday we report. I think
it was Monday we reported on the commentary from CEOs
(06:10):
of Goldman Sachs Capital Group. Morgan Stanley might have been
in there as well, and all of them speaking about
rich valuations in US equities, and you know, specifically, I
think it was Goldman CEO Solomon calling for a ten
to twenty percent market correction, saying that would be healthy
for markets and normal. You also had was it Michael
(06:32):
Burry with the short positions that were announced?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Whatever, Michael Burry loves to announce short position.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
He loves to announce our positions. I don't think it's relevant.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
But he made a cryptic post on X saying sometimes
we see bubbles.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Yeah, so why does that matter?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Well, he was taking a bubble bath.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
He famously shorted the market ahead of the Great Recession
and was well since then, has been featured every time
he announces a short.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Right, he makes one great trade and everyone thinks you're
a genius. Not saying he's had a bad career or anything,
but it's like, okay, you know, let's you know, put
this in perspective here.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
So we had those announcements and those slightly sank markets,
although they rebounded i think the very next day and
made up a lot of those losses that they had experienced.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, I mean, it was a choppy start to the
week and now it's looking like a not great end
to the week. I think is how things are setting
up right now, with the obvious caveat that things can
change dramatically in a short period of time.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Here the stuff that we covered yesterday I also found interesting.
Right we had the CEO of Nvidia making comments about
the AI race in China. We had the CFO of
open Ai making comments about the debt that's.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Going to be needed to finance all this, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
And for a government backstop, to the point where Sam Altman,
who's the CEO of open Ai, had to write a
like several hundred word post on x basically saying, no,
this isn't what we meant by a backstop, which of
course makes you think it is what you meant by backstop.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Just didn't like the market reaction to right.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So you know, you've got some of these cross ones
out there, sought you in Adella saying earlier this week,
the real bottleneck is not in compute, it's in electricity.
So you've got like this, this whole thing that's out
there that has people kind of scratching thereds and wondering, hey,
like what gives And then, quite honestly, you had the
chart of the year published yesterday by the Financial Times.
(08:27):
I don't know if anyone listening subscribes to the Financial Times,
but let me describe the chart. It's a blue line
that's going up diagonally from left to right, which is
what you like to see, and it's it's real GDP
per capita, and it's showing you like, okay, here's how
real GDP per capita has increased. They then say, okay,
here's like the path that could happen if just you know,
(08:48):
AI boost productivity by you know, zero point two percent
a year, which is not an unreasonable assumption, and says okay,
like yeah, this things could be better for you know
the world. It then has a dark red line that
goes like vertically up that says, hey, if we reach
the techt singularity, which is basically artificial general intelligence, like
a superintelligence that can solve problems that humans haven't been
(09:11):
able to. You know, how do you produce you know,
fusion power on Earth without blowing it up? Like all
these things. You could end scarcity and real GDP per
capita could go up twenty times in the next you
know decade. Of course, well okay, okay, like sure, that's
that's a path. And then they got this pink line
(09:32):
that goes all the way down to zero and it
says tech singularity human extinction because the AGI could also decide, hey,
all of you humans are the problem. Get out of here, man,
and so like like this is a real chart from
the Financial Times. It's wild. If you haven't seen it,
it's all over you know, social media. So just go
(09:52):
on and be like Financial Times AI scarcity chart and
I'm sure you'll find it somewhere. But this is the
kind of discourse that is now coming out this week.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
So and again, the Financial Times is a very serious publication.
You don't go to the Financial Times for uh no, Mike.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
They still print their paper on like brown paper, just
out of historical like stodginess.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
It's like pink, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, it's like out of stodginess, like this is who
we've always been and this is who will always be.
And they're telling you, Hey, here's the path where AI
decides to eliminate all the humans. Oh that's interesting. Let's
take a quick break. When we return, as promised, we're
gonna be joined by Jim Blake from Eastern Propane right
(10:39):
after this again, to donate to the DAV in support
of Disabled American Veterans and the Disabled Americans. Disabled American
Veterans Department of Massachusetts called nine seven eight six three
two nineteen eighty five, or go to DAV five k
dot Boston.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Missed one of our shows, Catch up any time by
asking your Alexis Smart speaker to play the Financial Exchange.
This is the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Find daily interviews
and full shows of the Financial Exchange on our YouTube page.
Like us on YouTube and get caught up on anything
and everything you might have missed. This is the Financial
(11:18):
Exchange Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (11:23):
This segment of The Financial Exchange is powered by circle
K Convenience Stores. Circle K is now the official convenience
store of the DAV Department of Massachusetts. On behalf of
Circle K. Thank you veterans for all you've done as promised.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We are now joined by Jim Blake. He is the
regional manager for Eastern pro Pane. Jim, great to have
you on with us today. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Thank you, Jack, it's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Jim, can you tell us a little bit about your
partnership with the DAV of Massachusetts.
Speaker 8 (11:57):
I'd love to.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
Partner with DAV in Massachusetts. About three years ago. Previous
to that, we've been supporting veterans organizations within the state
and we were trying to improve, frankly, where the money
goes and make sure it was getting directly to veterans
and stuff. And after about a year of looking around
(12:22):
and talking to people, we were able to connect with
the dav mass and put together a program with them.
Because it's really great. Ninety percent of everything that gets
donated to them goes directly to the people that need
the services, whether it be transportation, housing, mental health, occupational
(12:43):
training is a big thing they're doing now, their food pantry,
and of course the typical claims and benefits, and they
encompassed everything and again ninety percent of everything that they
collect in mass goes directly to the veterans, and that's
the kind of company or kind of organization we wanted
to be partnered with.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And I know that Eastern Propane has a long history
of this connection to veterans. Can you tell us a
little bit just about how that partnership with the dav
and other veterans causes has grown over time.
Speaker 7 (13:18):
Well, we do have a long connection. Our family business
started in nineteen thirty two and we actually started writing Danvers,
Massachusetts at a hardware store. And of course back during
the war we had folks that worked with a company
that had to go in even World War Two, and
during those times, if you had a business, they kept
(13:41):
your home. So the family always wanted to do something
to support the people, and we had Frankly, one of
our leaders of the company was a pow in World
War Two when he escaped and came back. So we've
always felt a strong connection so our ability to serve
people because so many people serve to give us that right.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
One of the things that Eastern Propane does is you
use your vehicles to support the dav of Massachusetts. Can
you tell us a little bit about that and how
that has worked for you.
Speaker 7 (14:17):
Absolutely. What we've done is, you know, we deliver fuel
and comfort to people. And so what we started with,
we started with one truck to see how the program
would work, and a portion of every gallon of fuel
that's delivered through that truck goes directly to DAV And
(14:38):
then we added a second truck and this year we've
added a third truck that they're all and these three
trucks off operate in different markets in Massachusetts, and they
operate all year long, twelve months a year, because you know,
sometimes the business has seasonal needs, but we keep these
trucks on the road all year. It spreads the word
(15:00):
about DAV and a portion of every gallon that goes
through those trucks goes directly back to the DAV Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Jim, you've also got in addition to that, you have
something called your Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway. I
believe it's a program that Eastern Propane created in order
to help veterans. Can you tell us a little bit
about that program and how someone can get nominated for
that program?
Speaker 7 (15:29):
Absolutely. The Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway is a
program that we do every sea every winter season where
people are allowed to go on to Eastern dot com
Hometown Hero Season of Fuel giveaway and nominate a veteran
(15:50):
and you can also nominate nominate a police, fire e
MT or active service member, and generally the people that
have fallen on hard times or a family that's having
difficulty because somebody's overseas serving or something, or I could
say one of our last recipients unfortunately had picked up
(16:14):
a disease while they were over in Afghanistan. And so
you go in, you nominate that person through our website,
and then a committee reviews all of the nominations and
that person will receive free heating for this season.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Jim, that sounds great. We really appreciate you joining us today,
appreciate the work that you and Eastern Propane do on
behalf of the DAV and thanks again for the time
and for your effort in this cause.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Thank you. It's a great partnership. We're happy to be there.
We're looking forward to the DAV five K that's coming
up tomorrow. We've got fifty one one of our team
members that have volunteered and are participating out there tomorrow.
So it's more than it's about service and DAV gives
(17:12):
that service, we want to provide them the support.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Absolutely, it's it's a great thing. Jim, thanks again for
the time today. That is Jim Blake, the regional manager
for Eastern Propane.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Again.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
To donate to the DAV in support, you can call
nine to seven eight six three two nineteen eighty five,
or go to DAV five k dot Boston again nine
seven eight six three two nineteen eighty five or DAV
five k dot Boston Mike. One of the things that
(17:45):
is starting as of today, the FAA is restricting traffic
to forty major airports. We covered the list on our
show yesterday. It's basically all the major airports in the
United States and some supplemental ones yep. And so this
is now in effect, and to this point, it looks
like about seven hundred flights have been canceled. Expectations or
(18:07):
that you could see as many as about twenty to
twenty five hundred being canceled daily if this were to continue.
And there's also the possibility that this expands further. This
as the FAA tries to cope with lower staffing levels
due to workers not getting paid.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yeah, and so we'll see these flights get shut down.
The airlines apparently are trying to focus on the shorter
regional flights so that you have an alternative option to
get between point A and point B. Problem, there is
a lot of these flight crews and pilots commute via
those shorter regional flights.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
So I had a family member who flew for one
of the major airlines, lived in Chicago, commuted to Detroit
every time he needed to fly. So that's the exact
type of flight that they are trying to cancel or
spend here. And we will see, right. I mean again,
if this lasted day or two, probably not a problem.
But if the major airlines need to cancel between two
(19:02):
and four thousand flights a day, you can be sure
there's going to be you know, reverberations throughout the industry
as they struggle to get the other flights filled with staff.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, it certainly is something where these might be the
cancelations that you see, but don't be surprised if there
are other delays, and you know, just trying to get
pilots and equipment to where you need them is challenging
in these situations. Quick break, when we return, we've got
wall Street Watch and more guests for the dav Radiothon.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at
TFE show. Breaking business news is always first right here
on the Financial Exchange Radio Network. Time now for Wall
Street Watch. A complete look at what's moving market so
far today right here on the Financial Exchange Network.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Market's extending their losses as investors continued to show concern
about high valuations around tech and a I. Right now,
the Dow is down nearly two tenths of one percent,
or seventy eight points lower. SMP five hundred down over
two thirds of a percent, Nasdaq selling off over one
point two percent, Russell two thousands down about eight tenths
(20:21):
of one percent. Tenured Treasure realed flat at the moment,
now at four point zero eight seven percent. In crude
oil up about four tenths of a percent, trading right
below sixty dollars a barrel. Tesla shares down over two
percent after shareholders approved a one trillion dollar pay package
for CEO Elon Musk, but offered mixed support to the
(20:42):
idea of the EV maker investing in his XAI ventures. Meanwhile,
sports betting company DraftKings cut its annual sales out look
after reporting disappointing third quarter results. However, the stock is
up three percent. Elsewhere, Airbnb posted a revenue beat for
the previous quarter and lifted its fourth quarter revenue forecast.
Despite that, shares are down two percent. Peloton swung to
(21:05):
a surprise profit in the most recent quarter, sending that
stock eight percent higher. Open Door sinking seven percent after
the property company reported a sharp drop in sales. Open
Door has seen some meme stock action recently, and shares
in video game maker Take two Interactive falling over eight
percent after the company announced yet another delay to its
(21:26):
highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto six game, now slated to
be released November nineteenth, twenty twenty six. On Tucker Silva
and That is Wall Street Watch.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Join us now is Bob Barlow.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
He's the president's and owner of NBA Mortgage out of Braintree, Massachusetts.
He's an Air Force veteran and DAV member, and joins
us now on the line to talk a little bit
about his company's partnership.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
With the DAV. Bob, thanks for joinings, appreciate it.
Speaker 8 (21:52):
Yeah, I glad to be on so starting.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Off here, I want to get to NBA Mortgage and
its partnership with the DAV Would you mind telling us
a little bit about your own military service and your
time with the Air Force.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Yeah. Absolutely. Uh. I come from a family where my
grandfather was in the military, my dad was in the military,
my uncle was in the military, the whole nine yards.
So when it came to be my time, I felt
(22:29):
compelled to serve. I grew up that way always, you know, uh,
community service, country, that kind of that kind of an upbring.
So yep, my turn, I'm in. So if I go
(22:50):
in and you know, I spent a few years yside,
you know, traveling, uh and getting the see a lot
of the country, you know, the best parts of the country,
you know, uh, Mississippi and Oklahoma and western Washington. Yeah,
(23:13):
all the places you want to go. But if it's
still are to still really great experience, and you know,
ten years in and and you really realize that the
people that you're working with is is what it really
becomes all about, you know, more the mission more than
(23:36):
anything else about the guys and girls that are that
are with you when you deploy, that are you know,
in the tent and uh, you know, the proverbial foxhole
next to you so you leave that kind of stays
(23:56):
with you and in the brotherhood, didn't sister heard that
we will always share.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So Bob, tell me a little bit about NBA Mortgage
and how you got involved with the dav of Massa Chusetts.
Speaker 8 (24:12):
Yep. So NBA Mortgages. Well, we're a mortgage company and
it's something that myself and previous partner we started in
two thousand and five because it was always the smartest
thing to do to get into mortgages, right four two
thousand and seven, So we decided that that was a
(24:35):
great time and and I guess because we just started
in seven, we had you know, the hood spot to
get three two thousand and eighty, two thousand and nine.
But anyways, right around when we started in two thousand
and five, my current partner Matt Scott and I, uh,
(25:00):
we're doing a presentation. I forget which town, you know,
hotel lobby room, but we were doing one and Matt
meets Damn Stack and I think we all know.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Yeah, sitting sitting right in our lobby all.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
Right, yea our former edgectant, but basically our you know,
our d av Our d av guy. So Matt meets
Dan Dan's doing, uh, a seminar for veterans in the
(25:46):
same place. So he asked Matt he wants to come
by and talk about the loans and so that and
that's it. And Matt was like, I want you to
meet the owner and veteran. And we met and we
(26:10):
started talking about how we used to work together, and
you know, Dan and I get the talking and uh,
he's looking for us to help him out with some
sponsorships with the golf tournament. So well, like, okay, we'll
do the best ken kind of a you know, ten
man shop. And I don't know how much of a
(26:35):
corporate sponsorship we could do, but this is what I
can tell you I can do. Dan, We are a
very good group of people of networking and getting the
word out, So how about I do that? And I
am very very good at that. And it was Matt
(26:56):
and our team, you know, we're out there meeting business partners,
were talking about client so it was kind of an
easy thing for us to do.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Well Benny, Well, Bob, your story really echoes and mirrors
the stories of so many I've heard from, and it's
all a little bit different, obviously, from a lot of
different industries. But the story I consistently hear that everybody
that partnerships with the DAV is just very impressed by
the work that they do and the impact that they
have here in Massachusetts. Bob, I really appreciate you coming
(27:31):
on the show today, talking a bit about your partnership,
sharing a bit about your own service, and looking forward
to this weekend in Castle Island in Boston.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
So, Bob Barlow, thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (27:42):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you again.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
That's Bob Barlow.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
He's the president and owner of NBA Mortgage out of
Brain Trees, an Air Force veteran and DAV member, and
join us today to talk about their firm's partnership with
the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusett's just a reminder, folks,
the auction for a six Core's dinner for eight people
from Chef Paul Wahlberg still open. The You can place
(28:06):
your bid by calling nine seven eight six three two
nineteen eighty five. You can also make your donation at
that same number or by visiting DAV five K dot Boston.
But we're proud to participate in wrko's Radiothon two benefit
the DAV of Massachusetts. You can donate and participate again
by going to DAV FIVEK dot Boston or calling nine
(28:28):
seven eight six three to two nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
Quick Break.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
We'll be right back with Mark Varner, CEO of Veterans
Development Corporation and their partnership with DAV next on the
Financial Exchange.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Breaking business news as it happens only here on the
Financial Exchange Radio Network. The Financial Exchange streams live on YouTube.
Like our page and stay up to date on breaking
business news all morning. Long Base is the Financial Exchange
Radio Network.
Speaker 5 (29:11):
Welcome back to the Financial Exchange.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
If you're just joining us for participating today in wrko's
radiothon to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts,
you can donate by calling nine seven eight six three
two nineteen eighty five. We're visiting DAV five K dot Boston,
but right now I'm joined by both Dan Stacks, CEO
of the DAV of Massachusetts, as well as Mark Vonna,
(29:34):
the president's CEO of Developed Veterans Development Corporation.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
Gentlemen, thanks for coming on again. I appreciate it, Thank you,
appreciate you. So I wanted to start off.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
I know Mark, you you've talked a bit about your
firm's partnership with the DAV, But for those that haven't heard,
talk to us a bit about that partnership and just
how long and and how you got involved with the
Disabled American Veterans.
Speaker 9 (30:02):
Okay, well, I met DAN through my brother Tim, who
was working for DAN as a National Service officer.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
I don't know how many.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
Years now, nineteen ninety seve I got involved after that
as a sponsor for one of the golf tournaments and
from there we just grew and grew and grew.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
And for those listening, I mean, it's right in the name,
but talk to us about what Veterans Development Corporation actually
does and beyond the partnership of the DAV, just your
involvement with veterans today.
Speaker 8 (30:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (30:32):
Absolutely. We do a lot of construction work for the
VA Healthcare System throughout New England, YP Florida, in Washington, DC,
so we're doing a lot of renovation work for the hospitals.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
So one of the things that really stuck with me
that the DAV does and of Massachusetts and what makes
it truly unique, is some of the housing initiatives that
you guys have taken on over the course of the
last several years, I know that you are the only
Disabled American Veterans Department in the country to provide housing
solutions for veterans. And from what I understand, you guys
(31:06):
have a new project going on, and so you know,
whoever it can take this one, but talk to us
about that new project, that new initiative that you guys
are doing, and I'm excited to learn about it, and
you can just pull that right towards you there you go.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, what we wanted to be able to do was
take one of the buildings that we have. We wanted
to be able to take one of the buildings that
we had at basically up in Gardener, Massachusetts, and we
have a need for basically studio apartments for single veterans.
On the campus up there. We have twenty two bedroom
(31:39):
condominiums that we give out to families, but we have
the great need for basically single veterans to be housed,
but permanent housing. So we were looking for studio apartments
that could be built naturally. The first guy I called
and turned to was Mark Bonner. Sure said, Mark, how
do we go about this? He's helped put together an
(31:59):
entire team from architectural to everything that we need engineers
in order to try to get this project off the ground,
and we are working with Mark and the state in
order to try to come up with all the funding
that we need for this. But it's going to be
state of the art. It's going to be every one
of these studio apartments, the veteran will have their own kitchen,
(32:21):
their own bathroom, their own basically their living space so
that they too can utilize all of our services, and
we'll try to work with them so that they can
become not only independent living there, but if they wanted
to be independent living elsewhere after they've worked with.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
Us, Danamar, I mean, talk to us again. For folks
that are listening now and they're getting their first ever
introduction to the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts, what
are the biggest needs of our veterans in the state
that you guys are trying to serve. I know there's
a lot of different initiatives you have, from transportation to
other types of assistance, and clearly the housing thing is
(32:59):
a growing demand piece, especially in today's housing market. But
talk to us about just the work that the dav
does on a day to day basis because there's a
lot of folks that I'm sure aren't familiar.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The biggest program that we have that we help veterans
out with is literally navigating the VA system, whether it
be the healthcare system or whether it be the VA
benefit system. That is the major job that we do
on a daily basis, and those that's where we serve
the most veterans in the state of Massachusetts. We have
(33:34):
service officers all across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They help
initiate the claims and then we have our staff of
paralegally trained representatives at the JFK Federal billing They're known
as National Service Officers, which give the best advice possible
and actually take a claim before the VA to make
(33:55):
sure that veteran gets the compensation that he's deserving.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
With we have all.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Kinds of veterans volunteers that work within the VA medical
system that helped not only take claims, but they also
help transportation. They also help with basically our Local Veterans
Assistant program, helping veterans that may need their just their
yard rate for crimel or whatever it is. But you know,
(34:21):
Mark talks about his brother Timmy, which I hired in
ninety seven. Timmy unfortunately was a paratrooper and his shoe
didn't open, and God bless him. He's suffering this day
with some very severe disabilities. And that's how Mark and
I got to know each other. But one of the
things I want to say about basically the Vaughner family
(34:44):
is not only did they serve this country right from
their father Victor to Timothy to Mark, but every day
they give back to the VA, whether it's veterans, whether
it's being trying to rebuild the VA medical healthcare system,
and the most office way possible to what Mark does
personally out of his own parket to help the dav
(35:04):
and what his company does. I'll be honest with you,
it was a time that we didn't have anything.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I call Mark. He covered our.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Expenses for one year in order that I could keep
this organization going, and today because of what he has done,
we're in a much better spot that we can continue
on to help veterans.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Mark, I'm going to turn to you on this one
because I could speak to it, but I think you
could do it more justice. Tomorrow is the actual five
K in Boston. You've attended many of them, I've attended
a few of them. I find it to be inspirational
and just a really fun event. Can you tell everybody
that's listening a little bit about the event tomorrow and
what folks can expect, even if they're not running, if
(35:45):
they want to, you know, show up and check out
the event.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
It's always a highlight of the year for Oh.
Speaker 9 (35:49):
Absolutely. It is one of the most amazing days that
I can say I'm part of in my career as
a construction contractor, but as a person in a veteran
this is an amazing day where all these people come
together for one day and we all meet and we
collaborate together. Now, everybody is happy, everybody wants to be there.
(36:10):
It's just one of those days that I think, if
you haven't been there, try to make it this year,
because you'll walk away a different person.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
I couldn't agree more. It's tomorrow. Castle Island in Boston.
Race has been sold out for months now, as it
always does. It's a hugely popular event. Over a thousand people,
fifteen hundred people running, food events, all sorts of really
great stuff and just inspirational stuff too, and so it's
(36:39):
a fantastic event every year Mark Varner, CEO of Veterans
Development Corporation, as well as Dan Stack, the CEO of
the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusett's joining us on
the program today. Appreciate you coming in, both of you.
Always great to see you and excited about the event tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Thank you, Thank you very much, Mike, and we truly
appreciate what the Finance actually Exchange does in regards to
keeping the word off there about what the DAV can
do for veterans. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Thanks gentlemen, appreciate it and see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Taking a look here at markets, we continue to be
in not a full on selloff mode. It doesn't seem
to be accelerating dramatically, but we are seeing markets in
negative territory, with the Nasdaq leading the way down off
one point six percent, SMP off nine tenths of eight percent.
Speaker 5 (37:26):
Once again, all day today.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
We are supporting the DAV of Massachusetts and we hope
you can too. To donate, you can call nine seven
eight six three two nineteen eighty five. You can also
visit DAV five k dot Boston and again there is
an auction ongoing for a six course dinner for eight
people from Chef Paul Wahlberg. It's still open, you can
(37:47):
still bid on it, but it will be closing in
the next hour.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
Again.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
To make your bid or to support the dav call
up nine seven, eight, six three two one nine eighty
five and excited to announce the winner of that at
the end of today's show, quick Break a lot more
from the Financial Exchange next
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