Financial Issues - 07.31.2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Financial Issues, where we join reality with truth,
helping you make the most of your money by honoring
God with your investments. Now listen in as we give
you the practical tools and advice you need to become
a biblically responsible investor.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning, folks, Welcome to Financial Issues. It's great to
be here with you, Seth, you Dinski, with our studio
a team today.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
We've got a packed show today. Grateful for each of.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
You joining us. I hope you're having a good morning.
Thanks for choosing to spend it with us here at
Financial Issues. Welcome to our radio audience, TV audience, Social
media audience, chat audience. Make sure to say hello, however,
you Ken, It's great to have you all here this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Busy show. Here, we'll look at the Fed.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
They gave their interest rate yesterday, the almighty Federal Reserve
descending down Mount Capitol Hill, and we also saw some
big tech earnings. What to make of all of it.
It's going to be fun, fun, fun. You're not going
to want to miss that your questions and comments. Also,
we'll explore which organizations are some of the top donors
to Planned Parenthood, and also the updates concerning the BBB's

(01:06):
destruction of it, which we love and are hoping and
praying that the organization Planned Parenthood is completely destroyed as
soon as possible. May God will it to happen, partners. Yeah. Also,
we got a partner commentary out yesterday, so partners make
sure to check that out as well.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
It's a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
But before we get to all that, folks, a special
treat I've got my friend Mark Manila back on the
show with me today. For these first two segments, we're
going to discuss one of the most important things we
do in our.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Day to day lives and what the Bible says about it.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
Mark. I'm thrilled to have you back, brother, Thanks for
joining me.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
It's wonderful to be here. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Absolutely, man.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
You know, this phenomenon, Mark, that we're going to cover
today is something that some people love, some people hate it,
a lot of people tolerate it, but it's necessary for
our survival. It's the concept of work, specifically working a job,
being employed. This is a stewardship issue, brother, So let's
get it started here. Let's get it off with this question.
In your opinion, what is the definition of work? What

(01:59):
counts as work, well.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
I think you just gave that it's an occupation, a
way to earn a living. That is the most common
definition or understanding of it. As a believer, I think
we need to expand it to a God given purpose
as well, you know, response the responsibility and evolving our
stewardship to care for our families, care for those who
God puts in our path, and to help enhance the

(02:24):
kingdom or grow the kingdom. So that'd be my definition.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
I think that's right on, man, I think it's right on, absolutely.
So work is mentioned a lot in the Bible, brother
over five hundred times, and most of the time throughout
the Bible, if it's not mentioned in a neutral light
like just talking about people working or doing work, it's
mentioned very positively that work is good, that work is
to be God honoring, that we've created to work. For
many of us though you know, our jobs are a joy,

(02:49):
but for many others they're not. For many people, they
work in toilsome jobs. Why do you think this is?
Why is it that for so many people work is toilsome?

Speaker 5 (02:58):
You know, it's really good to dress this right off
the right off the start, because over the years, you know,
I know everybody as a grow older and older, they
always look back and say things were different back then,
and they really were. We had our world has changed
and the world today is more self centered than I've

(03:18):
ever seen it in my lifetime. And when I say
the world, I'm talking about just even friends, neighbors, Christians.
It's an i'my mine world. And because of that, work
has become an unnecessary evil, you know, or necessary evil.
I'm sorry. You know you think about it. People see

(03:39):
work as oh, I have to do this because the
government's not given me enough money. Nobody's gonna gonna just
give me money for nothing. And unfortunately we have a
very and please forgive me. It's not everybody, but we
have a very spoiled society right now. What go through

(03:59):
uh social media and listen, look at all those comments
and everything's about me. Go to Christian music I call
my songs because there was one song came on the
radioship on a worship station the other day and in
the first sentence there was three eyes and one me.
You know, just all it's all about us.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I got it.

Speaker 5 (04:21):
Because of that, work has gotten a bad name instead
of being what it really was, you know, God created
the garden before he created us, and when he created man,
he put man to work immediately. And work was good,
God said at the end of every day, and his
works were good. Work was good that man was working

(04:43):
in the garden. Man didn't feel bad or are put
upon to do that felt blessed because he got to
walk with God and tend to the glory of his creation.
And it was wonderful. It's only after sin that we
really have problems, you know, when came in. Then the
curse on the land came in. Then the curse came

(05:04):
in made it harder to work, but it was still
a good thing in all aspects. You see. I really
believe and I think you might be able to follow
along with this and maybe even you know, put your
stamp on it as well. Seth Sam that when God
created man, he created us to be productive along with fellowship.

(05:26):
He wanted us to be productive, so he built in
us a certain amount of productivity. You know, you heard
about people not reaching their abilities, you know, not achieving
what they could do. Well, there's more in that than
just making money. You see. The more productive we are

(05:47):
with the talents and the gifts God gave us the
more we feel the joy of the Lord. So those
people who say that it's a necessary evil are missing
out on the most important aspect of it, happiness and
joy from the Lord for doing what He has enabled
you to do. It doesn't mean you have to do
what Seth does and be You know this incredible, You know,

(06:09):
host of on a radio show. You know it means
whatever gifts and talents He gave you, you should push forward
to try and hone those and be the best you
can with him. And the closer you get to that fulfillment,
the more you feel the joy of the Lord. And
the opposite's true too. The more you push away and

(06:33):
try to avoid developing those gifts, those talents and utilizing
them to the glory of God, to feed your family,
to care for others, to create great art, or whatever
it is God put in you, then the less you
feel is going Think about this, and really think about
this for a second before you give your answer. Have

(06:54):
you ever met a truly happy, lazy person?

Speaker 2 (07:00):
I can't think of any of the top of my head,
honestly can't think of a single one.

Speaker 5 (07:04):
Yeah. I I asked many people that question over years,
and only one person said yes, I said, well, tell
me about that. He said, well, he was, he was high,
he was on drugs. But that's not happiness, that's numbness.
You're confusing to really important concepts augmented reality.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Was he were you just referring to Hunter Biden?

Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'm just kidding.

Speaker 5 (07:27):
There.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
We go two minutes in and we're already on a politicize.

Speaker 5 (07:32):
As we should be.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Seven minutes, seven minutes.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
No, that's Mark, that's that's that's such good info.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Brother, That's exactly right, and that's kind of really what
my my question as a result of all of this
is so a lot of us and I'm so grateful
in my life. You know, the Lord has really blessed
me with several jobs that I've really enjoyed, this one
being the top. And I'm not just saying that because
my bosses are listening to the show. They are listening
right now, Hi, Michael. But nonetheless, I love this job.

(07:59):
I just love it. I absolutely love it. The reality
is not everybody is in a job that they love.
And for a lot of people, they may think, Okay,
I'm a Christian, I want to work well, I want
to work hard, but I cannot stand this job My
boss is the worst. I don't get paid enough, the
hours are brutal, I can't be with my family. How
would you encourage those listeners who right now are in

(08:20):
a job that they might hate, and they might hate
it for a good reason. How would you encourage them
to still find joy in the job that they're in.

Speaker 5 (08:27):
You know that that's a really important question. That's two
great questions. You know. First of all, we need to
count our blessings right off the bat. We have a job,
we're feeding our family. That's good. It may be a
terrible place to be, but don't look at it as
this is it, this is life. Look at it as
this is a stepping stone our God. We have a

(08:49):
good good father. And while you're there, maybe put you
there for a reason. Remember all the apostles, how they
how they were persecuted, and how they died. You know,
it's very important to remember that God needs us for
his great plan. Well, he doesn't need us. His plans
will be done with or without it, but he allows
us to participate in them. So think about this at

(09:12):
this moment as if your job is paying you enough,
it's if it's helping the family and everything. Think of
it as temporary as God puts you there for a reason,
maybe to impact those that were Maybe somebody needs to
hear the gospel and won't hear it until they see
how you perform under this kind of pressure, how you

(09:32):
honor God by honoring your other workers and those above you,
even the oppression, even those things. I'm not saying you
should stay there forever. What I'm saying is until you
gotten to that place of peace where you know you
can move on. And usually that's because you found a
better job for one and that God has called you

(09:53):
to do that. It kind of reminds me one time
I left a church before. I couldn't get comfortable leaving.
But one day a family came in, new family and
they challenged some not in a bad way, in a
good way. You know, so well you know what I
saw in this passage because it was an open meeting,
and that was the first person besides myself who was

(10:15):
willing to do that. And I realized I was there
to keep people in check that were arrogant sometimes and
now there was a family there and it was time
for me to move on and planted another church. Yeah,
sometimes God has you where he needs you. But don't
think of it as permanent. Yeah, think of it as
a gift. Let's pick up on this conversation on the
other side. Chat a question for you. You guys can

(10:37):
all share this with us.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Give us the job in your life that you loved
the most and the one that you hated most, and
share with that Why so the job that you loved
the most job you hated the most. Later on the show,
we'll get some of those chat comments. Mark, I'm join
this conversation. We'll pick it up on the other side
of the break. More financial issues coming up, folks.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Right after this.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Security is offered through ga Repel and Company, a registered
broker Dealer and Investment Advisor member FINRA and s I
p C. Opinions expressed by Shanna or hers alone and
are for informational purposes only and do not necessarily represent
those of GA Repel or the outlet on what you
are listening. You should consider how the information applies to
your situation prior to personally implementing it, and it consult

(11:23):
any financial professional you work with to make sure it's
applicable to your financial plan.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Folks, we're talking.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
About an important stewardship concept. This morning, which is the
idea of work. And you know, I know for many
of you, whether you're in the workforce or not, maybe
you're retired, you are still working in you know, some
some level. So hopefully this conversation can be a blessing
to you. I know, I'm really enjoying it. So, Mark,
I had a question for you, and I apologize we
were just talking during the break. This is a different
question than the one that I told you I was
going to ask you during the break because it just

(11:53):
came to my mind. So here's here's my here's my
kind of you.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
Know question for this.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
If you're making him work for we're just trying.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
To keep everybody on the toes exactly, is so, Mark,
I genuinely I'm not just saying this because I'm in
the job right now and you all are seeing you're
if you're watching the show, you're actually watching me work
right now. I genuinely love my job. It is absolutely amazing.
It really is the greatest job that I've ever had.

(12:22):
And Mark, I know for some for for some people
they feel that way and the job that they're in
right now, for some they don't. How do you strike
the balance between you know, feeling like you love the job,
versus leading your heart to be able to find more
fulfilment in it, to get to a point where you
can grow to say, you know what, it's not my

(12:42):
favorite job, but there are things about this that are
really good, and then slowly that actually starts to become
you know what, actually do kind of love this job?
Is it just a feeling or is there some level
where we have to lead our hearts and lead our
emotions and guard our hearts as the scripture says, and
maybe that actually causes us.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
To find more fulfilment in the job.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
What are your thoughts? That's a really deep question actually,
because there's so much in there. There's two parts to
loving your job. One is where it becomes an idol,
where you start getting your significance from your job instead
of from God, and you start seeing it as you
doing things instead of God in you doing things. I mean,

(13:23):
quite frankly, we couldn't get up in the morning, we
couldn't do anything if it wasn't for God in us.
It's his power. He's the one who keeps the oxygen
in the air and in our lungs. He's the ones
who keeps us going. He holds our atoms together. You know,
if it wasn't for him, we could do nothing, and
we need to continuously give God the glory for that.

(13:46):
And when we lose that, we start making work our
source of feeling good about ourselves and everything else, and
that's not a good thing. So, you know, it's important
to realize, just like anything else. You know, when you
first started saying, I started thinking about relationships, well, relationship

(14:06):
with work, or relationship with your spouse. You know, think
about your relationship with your spouse. We love our spouses
and we want to care and keep them and help
them and stuff. But sometimes we just don't like them,
you know, sometimes we don't like it. It's hard to
have a relationship and make it work. You have to
work at the SAME's true at a job, at an occupation.

(14:30):
If you want that occupation to grow and be something great,
you have to work at it. You have to work
with those above you and those below you. And it
can be difficult at times, but it also can be
so rewarding, especially when we remember to give God the
glory in it, recognize that God is the source of
everything good, not your work, not anything else, and to

(14:53):
make sure that you don't start being foolish and starting
to claim, look what I have done, because then it's
it'll become a disaster. So see work as a gift,
not a god that that's how I would say approach it.
And if it's a gift, you want to you want
to cherish it and take care of it. And yeah,
maybe maybe it's not the perfect gift, but maybe it's

(15:16):
a gift is a stepping stone to the next gift.
Once you are able to train through that, learn what
God has wants you to learn in there, whether it's
a relationship with with ugly bosses or ignorant uh other
people at your job. Once you've learned those jobs and
you get to a place of peace that you know
you could do more, and you know you could do better,

(15:37):
and that you believe God is calling you outwear maybe
it's time to move on, or maybe you'll see the
change and the people around you as they see how
you represent the kingdom and how you have patience and
kindness and you don't respond in anger when they attack you.

Speaker 4 (15:54):
You know.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Market it seems to me like this idea of contentment
and that's such a popular thing. You mentioned this generation
generation in particular in those younger than me. We're always
talking about I just want to find a job where
i'm fulfilled in Maybe the maybe the problem is not
that you're not feeling fulfilled, but maybe it's that you're
not cultivating the job and working hard enough so that
it starts to be fulfilling. Maybe the first filment comes

(16:15):
when you work hard at it and then you realize, oh,
this is fulfilling because I've worked for it.

Speaker 5 (16:21):
Yeah, because you honed your skills, because you've you've learned
to deal with certain things, you've grown in it for
And now the heart, the big hump's over now and
now it gets easier and you actually do better at it,
and you're you're more productive. And like we talked about
at the beginning the show, the more productive you are
at things that glorify God, the more the joy of

(16:44):
the Lord you feel. Remember, Chariot's a fire. I don't
know how many of our listeners are your listener.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
I got my soundtrack in my head right now sounds.

Speaker 5 (16:56):
Right?

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, maybe the bumper, but there might be a licensing issue.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Ye, right, right, exactly.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
Don't remember when he remember when he was asked, why
do you run his answer, and I'm going to paraphrase
it because I don't remember exactly. It's because he said,
because God created me to run, and the better I run,
the more joy of the Lord. I feel. That's great,
I mean, and that's it with work, that's it in

(17:24):
everything we do, the more productive we are in representing
the Kingdom, in honing the skills he's given us, the abilities,
not trying to keep up with others, but just trying
to realize the fullness of Christ and the gifts and
abilities he's given us and hone them and utilize him
to his glory by caring for our families, by helping others,

(17:47):
by passing that money on to those in need, by
mentoring others, by representing the Kingdom in your attitude and
how you respond to both good and bad, by showing
people you're not addicted to your job, but you're going
to do it well, even if the boss above you
is doing a poor job, or even if the owners

(18:08):
are doing a poor job and never compromising on your ethics. Yeah,
I mean, you'll feel the joy of the Lord in that.
I don't have to promise you. I believe it's all
through the Bible.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
There that's great. That's great.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Mark A quick question for you here. So we've you know,
talked about finding contentment. Sometimes it does, though, come to
a point where you have to make a choice and
you have to say, Okay, it's time for me to
leave this job. Whether it's you know, something like you're
moving or your changing careers or something like that. How
do you know when it's time to leave though? How
do you know when it's the right time where I've said, Okay,
I fulfilled my time here, it's time for me to
find something else.

Speaker 5 (18:41):
Yeah, well, you know, we have to there Again, there's
the economics of it, there's the mental aspect of it,
and then there's the spiritual aspect of it. The economic
is oftentimes when I have coached people about their jobs
in the financial planning process, they say, I have a
good job. Oh well that's nice. Yet you're borrowing, you know,

(19:03):
three thousand dollars a month just to feed the family
and keep the basics going. So maybe it's a comfortable job,
but it's not a good job. It's not feeding the family.
So you have to look at the economics of it
because you have a responsibility and maybe you could find
something that pays better even though this one's comfortable, or

(19:25):
you might if you're not able to adjust your lifestyle,
which oftentimes isn't possible because you're not really living way
beyond any means, you may have to find another job
and start looking and start planning. And part of that
planning would be to be going before the Lord and
praying about, Lord, what is it you would have me do?

(19:46):
What are the gifts and talents you've given me? How
can I best represent the kingdom and feed my family
and be a good steward. Well, you'll pray about that
for a while. It'll be hard, but eventually you'll get
to a place of peace. And it's only at that
place of peace unless you're being forced to compromise your
values that I would I would wait to move on,

(20:08):
always get to that place of peace. That way, you
did your homework. You have the answers, you have opportunities,
and you've gone before God and he said, yeah, come on,
let's go to work in a different place today.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
You know, so, said brother, Absolutely, absolutely, Mark, I got
a stat here that Sam grabbed for me.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
You know, roughly out forty.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Percent of workers say their job is extremely important or
very important to their overall identity. I feel that way
with my job here. I'm sure you felt that also, Sam,
I'm sure you feel that too. I love my job,
but you mentioned the other side of the coin. Especially
for men, we can tend towards loving our jobs too much.
We can tend towards making our jobs an idol. Why
is this and how'd you encourage us to not do this?

Speaker 5 (20:50):
Well, it's very easy, unfortunately, with the majority of the
world telling you that you did this or you didn't
do this, and never pulling God in to it, not
giving God glory where you know, even though we say
eighty percent of America are believers, it's I don't see it.
But if they're believers, they're still on me mind. Believers,

(21:12):
there's so much influence on you to achieve your success,
and really, you know, and that's the hardest part is
in my life, I always felt like I needed to
strive to be better, to be more successful. And it
wasn't always so that I could glorify God with it.
It was because I need to be a rock star.

(21:33):
I need people telling me I'm good because you know what,
when we get our significance from anybody else but God,
it's empty and it's almost like Heroin. You know, if
you're up on stage playing guitar and there's fifty people
in the crowd and they're all a plot and you
feel good. The next day you need sixty, the next
day you need six hundred. The next day, you know,

(21:55):
the fifty doesn't do it anymore. The same crowd doesn't
do any You have to constantly be getting more and
more people telling you you are significant because their significance
is flawed. Their concept of what is significant is empty.
We get our significance from God. It's a trap and
it is like Heroin unfortunately, because you know, when somebody

(22:17):
comes patch you on the back, gives you a raise
and sends you to Hawaii as a bonus, you say
to yourself, Wow, I did good. I like this. People
think I'm great, and you start looking inward instead of
looking upward. Don't lose your focus on why you're doing it.
See work as a gift, not a God. Find your
identity and significance in Christ and that'll keep that from happening.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Mark, it's awesome, brother, man. I so enjoyed our conversation today.
We're coming to the end of it here, but man.
What a good reminder for us that that work is
good first of all, can't be an idol, but we
need to make the most of it. Brother, I'm so
thankful for that.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Give us just a final nugget of wisdom. How would
you courage our listeners to work well in these last
thirty seconds that.

Speaker 5 (23:02):
We have thirty seconds? You know, always stay on give
God the glory. Don't forget to give God to glory
all the time. And when you're at work, if it's
personnel or the job you're doing, be given thanks and
asking God why am i here?

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Lord?

Speaker 5 (23:16):
And is it time to leave if you're really that unhappy?
And wait for that piece to settle in.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Appreciate you so much, brother, folks. That's Mark Manila, Mark,
my dear friend coming onto the show. So grateful to
have it. Mark, I appreciate it. Let's do it again soon,
shall we? Thank you so much, brother Mark Manila. Folks,
We will be right back after this break. We'll share
some more of your comments there, folks. I'd love to
hear some of the jobs that you've been in and

(23:43):
share some of that. Also, we'll look at what the
Fed did yesterday. No surprises as we'll see just a moment.
We'll be back after this. Thanks so much for joining

(24:04):
us today, folks for financial issues.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
Good to be back here.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Let's take a look real quickly at some headlines here
as we wrap up our work conversation. So, Sam, the
Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve. We would have love the Fed,
don't we.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
They made a decision yesterday. They descended down the mountain
with their golden tablets and they kept interest rates steady.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
What a surprise.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
What's funny is it's becoming more and more like Mount
Olypus by the day with considering all those lavish renovations
they're doing.

Speaker 4 (24:36):
I know absolutely it's.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Gonna start serving ambrosia.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, Sam and I have a joke. I questioned whether
I should say this on the air, but I'm going to.
It's too late now. Sam and I have this joke
about Jerome Powell being the Antichrist because his middle name
is Hayden, and so it's Jerome Hayden Powell, six letters
in each name, six sixty six.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Oh, don't think, man, he makes you think.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
We don't think he actually is. Okay, but it's just
a funny. It's a fun joke here.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
But anyway, they did choose to keep rate steady, Sam,
what can you tell us about that?

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well, okay, despite the mounting pressure from Donald Trump, the
fet A Reserve, yes, yet again chose to keep those
stinking rates steady on Wednesday, keeping with the general market expectations.
I said yesterday, I think the expectation was ninety eight
percent believe they were going to keep rate steady. So
if someone was betting on that, they made a decent
amount of money, I suppose. But the decision, it should

(25:28):
be noted, was not unanimous, as SED governors Michelle Bowman
and Christopher Waller they both opposed the decision as they've
both called for lowering interest rates. And this is actually
the first time since nineteen ninety three that multiple FED
governors have voted against a rate decision. So there is
an undercurrent of descent in the FED right now and
that could sway future decisions. Speaking of future decisions, all

(25:52):
eyes are now looking forward to September, when many believe
a rate cut is much more likely, though, of course
FED shared Jerome Powell says no decision has been made
about the future at this time.

Speaker 6 (26:03):
Here he is this is an intermeding period when we'll
get two full rounds of employment and inflation data before
the time of the September meeting. We have made no
decisions about September. We don't do that in advance. We'll
be taking that information into consideration and all the other
information we get as we make our decision at the
September meeting.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Weight in see seth Wait inc.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
They should just call themselves the Weight and Sea Reserve
at this point, I feel like because it's what they're it's.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Not as catchy. Doesn't roll off the tongue.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
That's a good point, but it is accurate.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yeah, you know, Sam, I'm glad you mentioned the first
time it was not a unanimous decision in thirty years.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
I think that's really good. I think it's really good
that there's actually some pushback. I think that there's a
natural built in accountability there, whether or not. And I'm
not saying that you know, Governor's Waller and you know
Bowman are particularly more smart or righteous than the other
ones are.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
I just think it's good to have that.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I think when you don't have a unanimous vote on
something like this, that means that maybe that it's it's
not such a clear cut black and white issue. And
clearly Trump is not the only one who thinks that
rates should be cut. I mean there's people within the
Federal Reserve who think that as well.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
So exactly right. And Waller in particular has been banging
this drum for some time, so it pears his influence
is a growing now that Bowman's on board.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Absolutely, yeah, well good stuff, Sam. I do appreciate you
bringing that up here again. Just have to wait and see.
We'll see what happens with that September meeting for sure,
I know, I know absolutely. Speaking of which, did did
anybody see there were some videos circulating from several weeks ago?
When actually wasn't I don't think it was several weeks ago.
Might have been last week when Trump visited the Federal Reserve.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, it was last week. I was on vacation. It's
kind of fuzzy, but I think it was last There was.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
One that I saw yesterday. It was so fascinating. It's
Trump and Pal next to each other taking questions. They're both,
I should say this, both kind of uncomfortable pals more uncomfortable.
Trump seems to be enjoying himself and somebody asked a
question like, you know, what would be a good thing
for the Federal Reserve to do? And Trump jokingly slaps
Pal on the back and says, how about.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
You cut interest rates? And they laughed about it.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
You know, I thought it was kind of a funny thing,
but it was pretty fascinating to see. You know, there
was some undercurrents there of tension and Trump making no
secrets about what he thinks the Fed schould doing about.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Powell, and I have the real estate mogul from New
York coming into view my building renovations. I might be
kind of nervous, just a little bit, just a little bit.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
So anyway, the battle continues. Probably, you know, if if
I'd go one way or the other, Pal probably won't
be ousted before his term is up in next May,
but who knows. So the markets were pretty calm throughout
the day as they awaited that interest rate decision. By
the time the rate decision came, they sort of went

(28:46):
a little bit crazy, but not terribly crazy. They were
positive throughout the day and then they went negative a
little bit. The Nasdaq finished with its head above water.
The S and B five hundred finished just below the
flat line, and the Dow finished about four tenths of
a percent down, But the pre markets this morning were up, up, up,
thanks in part to some really good earnings that we
got from a couple of big tech corporations. We'll go

(29:08):
ahead and just mention those now here. So Meta reported
really beat on earnings per share and then also beat
on revenue pretty heavily as well, and then Microsoft beat
on earnings per share and beat on revenue too. So
the the tech sector certainly seem to like that, and
as the markets sit this morning, all in strongly positive territory,
especially the tech heavy Nasdaq, which is up over a

(29:29):
full percent. Meanwhile, SMP five hundred is up right around
two thirds of a percent, and the Dow jones just
above the flat line.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Well, now you have Microsoft also is joining the four
billion or four trillion trillion video Now, yeah, that's very interesting.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Are they the only two publicly traded companies that are
that are in that four trillion?

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Right now, just them? I think in Nvidia last month,
maybe it was the month before, crossed across that line.
So now it's Microsoft too, now on to five trillion.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
Yeah, absolutely, So the market seem pleased with that to
be sure, so not too concerned with Powell's kind of
weight and see mode Sam quickly here, let's let's get
to this latest in the tariff news. Trump is now
saying India is going to face twenty five percent tariffs.
So can you tell us about this one?

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Well, this is a mixed bag of tariff's. Yesterday, of course,
President Trump announced yesterday a fifty percent tariff on copper
imports that sent the metals market kind of in a
bit of a tizzy. But he also announced a trade
deal with South Korea. I think it was Thailand and
Cambodia too, But there was also some threats on top
of that, as Trump says India will now face a

(30:35):
twenty five percent tariff, that is, if they do not
come to the table by tomorrow, not much time. They
are the tenth largest trading partner with the United States,
so that could have an impact on some prices here
in the States. Yesterday, Trump posted on true social saying
India will pay that tariff, but he also said that
they'll pay an extra unspecified penalty for buying Russian energy.

(30:59):
Trump on twoday said he's giving Russia only ten more
days before implementing secondary tariffs and sanctions on Moscow's trading partners.
That's accelerating his timeline for Russia to end its attacks
on Ukraine after Trump gave putin fifty days to end
the war earlier this month. By the way, India is
the second largest buyer of Russian crude oil, just behind China.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Nice Hey, Sam, I I was going to make a
point here, you know this, See it seems like this
is almost kind of a mini version of what we're
hoping to see with China.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
India is in.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
A lot of ways for our purposes here kind of
a miniature China as it pertains to us if what
we heard yesterday.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Is generally the better alternative than China when it comes
to trade too exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
But they're they're also there's a little bit of distrust
there too. But we did hear I think was it yesterday, Sam,
that we heard some news that there's the workings of
a deal being made with China right now.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
So that's always been the story. Besant came out yesterday
and he said that he's feeling really good about it,
but the details are still ongoing. That's going to take
some time. Howard Lutnik Commerce secretary the other day said
all the trade deals are going to be done by
August first. Of course, there's still room for negotiation after that,
but there will be an extension for China because that's

(32:11):
just going to take longer.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yep, good stuff. So hopefully we can see that happen
in folks. But once again the Trump administration wheeling and
dealing with these things.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
It's good to.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
See a couple of quick things here. Let's get to
a chat run down. Jason had a great comment with
my jerme Pal being the Antichrist joke, saying Sethie loves
purple two being neutral or passive. Luciferianism focuses on passivity.
We got j Pal cornered. We sure do, brother, that's right,
that's awesome. It is just a joke, folks, of course,
but it is a fun one. Nonetheless, John had a

(32:41):
really good question there. We might have to save John's
question for after the AG report though, So John from Alabama,
we'll get to your question coming around on the other
side of the break here, as we have Craig Hawgard
coming up for the AG report. Good to see so
many of you. Make sure that you say hello on
the chat and make sure that you share your experience
and your jobs as well. I would love to hear
your favorite job that you've ever had and your least

(33:03):
favorite job that you've ever had.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Also.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
All right, here comes Craig Howgard. Then we'll be back
right after this.

Speaker 7 (33:10):
This is Craig Holguard with your financial issues. Agging update
for July thirty first. Yesterday saw corn benefiting from weather concerns.
Now the weather concerns are different in that the concern
has too much rain rather than not enough. I was
the top corn producing state in the US. It's now
running in excess of two hundred percent of normal rain
and half of the state now. It's not knowing what
impact oversaturated soils will have on yield loss, but for

(33:32):
every bushel declined that IWEA experiences, it drops to an
aver national average yield by fifteen hundreds of a bushel.
So this could become a big story moving forward. We
had December corn a penny in a quarter higher yesterday
at four to twelve and a quarter, so I means
were driven lower by a strong US dollar and news
from Brazil which points to a record soybean crop in
that nation as a result of November beans with thirteen
and three quarter cents lower closing in nine ninety five

(33:54):
and three quarters. We'd had a mixed market with modest
buying and hard red winter wheet and modest selling of
soft red winter week. Despite the divergent paths yesterday, both
markets are near their contract lows. In other news, we
had Australia US doing their wheat crop has gotten bigger
by two to three million metric tons since their last
June report. Well, Russia increased their projected exports by four

(34:16):
hundred thousand metric tons, and yesterday's action you can make
exports a very difficult market moving forward. We had Minneapolis
September weet a quarter of a cent lower at five
seventy seven a quarter. Kansas City was three and a
half higher at five twenty two. In Chicago dropped by
six cents, closing at five twenty three and three quarters.
Cotton futures continued slumping towards the low end of their
trading range. December futures end of the day seventeen points

(34:39):
lower at sixty seven fifty. Live stock futures were all stronger.
We had October live cattle three dollars twenty seven and
a half cents higher, closing at two hundred and twenty
nine dollars seventy two and a half cents per hundred eight.
September Feeter cattle were two dollars sixty seven and a
half cents higher at three hundred and thirty nine dollars
and seventy five cents per hundred. October Lenow futures rose
by forty seven and a half cents, closing an eight

(35:00):
and twenty cents per one hundredweight class to e mail
futures match their old life of contract low the closing
ball September futures were nineteen points lower at seventeen thirty three.
This has been Craig Howlguard with your financial issues egg update.
We'll be right.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
Back with more financial issues after this.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
The opinions and recommendations expressed on this program do not
necessarily represent the opinions of the station or any of
the program's sponsors. Additionally, all products or services offered by
the program sponsors may not be known by the program.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
Thanks for joining us your folks on financial issues.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
John. Let's get to your question here.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Johns Ma Alabama was asking an interesting question about colleges.
So part of the joy of the chat is you
have to go back and find it, and it's like
digging for gold, but here it is John's got of Malabama.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Why do colleges not tell people.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
About the list of careers where people are needed and
pay John? That's a really good question, and I think
the answer is, unfortunately, that's not the end goal for
most colleges. Ideally, the purpose of college is to set
kids up to be able to get a good job.
The problem is colleges are businesses too, and so their

(36:22):
end goal is just to make money. What they more
care about is that they want students to go there,
and they could care less if you're there for four
years or ten years. In fact, they probably prefer your
their ten years because you're paying more money to them.
So they say, you know, we want to help you
with careers. You want to put you on a good path.
But they also have their budget to keep, They also
have their staff to pay, and so they're probably not

(36:42):
too concerned. If you have someone who is struggling to
figure out what their career is and they get a
degree and they realize that degree, say it is in
you know, you know, Indigenous gender studies, which the very
lucrative amount of job very wet with that is right
around zero, and they really have some common sense. They realize,
oh my goodness, I can't actually get a job with this.

(37:02):
I need to go back and get another degree. I'm
going to get a teaching degree, or I'm going to
get a business degree, or I'm going to get a
degree in finance.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
They make more money on that.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
They're like, Okay, we don't care you're paying us more.
I'm not saying all colleges are like that. I think
there are a lot of good people who work in
colleges who genuinely want to help young kids. But I
do think that is part of it that with a
lot of these colleges, you know, they got to make
money too, and they make money off of students, off
of student loans, off of parents.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Unfortunately, I think that's the way it works.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
That sweet, sweet government money, which kind of insulates you
from market forces for actually helping students get where they
want to go.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
Absolutely. Absolutely, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
If you're listening to this show, folks, and you're a
young person, maybe eighteen nineteen years old, or maybe you're
even in high school, and you're trying to figure out
what is my degree going to be do me a favor.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
Don't get a.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
Degree in Indigenous women's gender studies. Okay, you probably won't
get a job with that one, and he probably won't
learn much of significance with a degree.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Like if you did get a job in that, call us.
We're very curious.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
I'd love to know what that job would be there.
So anyway, John, I appreciate that question. That's a good one.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Hey, folks, I do.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Want to remind you, you know, there was some news
yesterday on somewhat of a serious note that there was
an earthquake in Russia and now apparently a threat of
a tsunami on the West coast in Hawaii. Sam, I
don't know, have you seen have have any big waves
hit yet? And we're talking you know, we're talking California,
we're talking Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
You know, I've not seen any reports about that, but
I can keep an eye out for it. Yeah, happens
to happen in the next ten minutes.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, I mean, you know, hopefully it's something that maybe
was overblown, but you know, you just kind of never know,
and at any moment, unfortunately, if there's something like this
in that part of the Pacific, and then the waves
come the other way, could hit the West coast at
any time, hit Hawaii at any time.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
So pray for protection, especially for the believers, especially.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
For our listeners.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
I know we have a couple people who are in Hawaii,
So I do hope that you folks will stay safe
if you're listening front it.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
I did see waves have reached Hawaii. I'm not seeing
if they're devastating or anything like that, but it does
say they have reached.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Okay, yeah, so just keep that in prayer, folks for sure. Well, Sam,
let's let's move here now to what's going on with parenthood.
Apparently the Democrats. This is going to come as a
surprise to you all, Okay, so get ready for this.
This is profound. The Democrats are trying to keep planned
parenthood alive. No even going so far as to say,
you're lying.

Speaker 4 (39:12):
What a shocker. What can you tell us about this, Sam.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Yes, over twenty Democrat led states. They're filing a lawsuit
right now as we speak against the Department of Health
and Human Services in an effort to stop the federal
government from cutting off abortion providers from Medicaid funding for
one year. As outlined and Trump's recently signed Big Beautiful bill.
That lawsuit is being led by our very own Seth
Pennsylvania Governor Joshapiro, along with a twenty one state ags.

(39:39):
They argue it's unconstitutional to cut off funding. Who knew
the founding fathers they said, you have to pay to
kill babies. It's in there, right, You got to look
to the invisible ink.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
But it's there, that's right somewhere. I'm sure, Yep, yep.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
They also claim it will deny poorer Americans' access to
cancer screetings and other health care services. If you're curious
about whether or not that's true, it's not. You can
go to Live Action and they do a lot of
very good research and they outline how much of what
Planned Parenthood does is abortion versus everything else. And let's
just say it's not a lot of cancer screenings compared

(40:13):
to abortion. Planned Parenthood, by the way, also sued the
Trump administration earlier this month for similar reasons, resulting in
a temporary pause in the funding cut off. The judge
in that case said patients are likely to suffer adverse
health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable, So it
sounds like the judge is saying that, Hey, if we

(40:33):
cut off funding for something and something bad happens, that
means we have to fund this thing forever and ever
and ever.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Yeah, that's exactly right.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
I don't think that's how government works.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
I don't think so either. I don't think so either, Folks.
I hope you can realize just how ghastly this is.
Never become callous to the fact that in this country
there is an entire political contingent that is fighting as
hard as possible, as hard as they can, to protect
an organization that makes its money off of the bloe
blood of babies. Let me say that again, there is

(41:02):
an entire political caucus in this country that will go
so far as to sue to have the right to
murder babies that they want to protect an organization that
makes its money off of the blood of babies. Sam,
I remember that reference that you made there from live action.
I think correct me if I'm wrong, but I think

(41:23):
it was somewhere around three percent of what Planned Parenthood
does is non abortion and ninety seven percent is abortion services.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but
that sounds about right.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
I could be right.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
I think it's less than ten percent. Yes, very something.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
It's something where you realize, yeah, okay, plant Parenthood is
not a healthcare organization.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
They're an abortion factory. That's what they do. They're an
abortion factory.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
And the other stuff is mostly a tax cover ye,
so they can get the medicating.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Exactly exactly right.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
So I would urge you all to join me in
the imprecatory prayer practice that God would judge these people,
that he would judge them according to his justice, including
our own governor here in Pennsylvania, who's leading the charge
in this.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
It's ghastly.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
It's embarrassing to me as a Pennsylvanian that we have
a governor who's doing this and that God would judge
according to his justice. Of course, you need to be
careful with inm precatory prayers, but I think that they're
in the scriptures for a reason, because the righteous should
pray those things.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
I'm sure. I'm sure, Sam.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Those those abortion factories called plant parenthood, they're so necessary
when it comes to cancer screenings.

Speaker 4 (42:23):
We need them.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
We need to protect women from getting breast cancer, so
we need planned parenthood to be there.

Speaker 4 (42:29):
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
I mean, why else would the judge keep it alive.
That's what she said in her ruling, And as we know,
judges are always rightless, it's ridiculous. That's why they can
overrule the press.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Yeah, I find it so fascinating too. Who said it?
Was it Shapiro or was the judge? Somebody said in
this that there needs to be these kind of services
in poorer areas. Yeah, so they claim its it'll deny
poorer Americans access to cancer screenings.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
Andn't it funny how it's always.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
The poorer communities who need this stuff, Probably poor minority
African American communities, they need Plant Parenthood. You know who
would agree with that, Our friend Margaret Sanger, that philanthropic,
totally awesome Nazi eugenesis who founded Planned Parenthood, would be pleased.
The lefties don't want you to know this, but she
actually targeted poor black communities with Planned Parenthood facilities with

(43:16):
the purpose of exterminating them. That's a crass way to
put it, but that's the way it was. Planned Parenthood
doesn't want you to know that either. In fact, a
couple of years ago they finally distanced themselves from their founder,
years too late, doing that, and they're all doing it
in the name.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Of justice, social justice, racial justice. It makes a lot
of sense. Does we care so much about the poor
people that we need to kill the poor people?

Speaker 4 (43:37):
Ridiculous?

Speaker 3 (43:38):
They'd be better off dead. It's Ebenezer Scrooge. If they're
going to die, they better do it. They better do it.
That's right, they better do it. Folks, would you please.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Join me and all of us here at financial issues
in praying that every single Planned Parenthood in this nation
would be shut down, every single one and either replaced
with a gospel preaching church or a pre orn clinic.
Every single one would be replaced with a gospel preaching
church and a preborn clinic. By God's grace, we're dating ground.

(44:07):
I believe that we can see that happen.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
I really do.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
The battle continues, though, and Sam, we're seeing a lot
of people are donating to Planned parent a lot of
businesses as well.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
What can you tell us about this?

Speaker 3 (44:17):
That's right. So the fate of Planned parenthoods Medicaid funding
is unclear, but it is clear that Planned Parenthood's going
to stick around at least for some time thanks to
private funding. They say that if they do lose this
government funding, they're going to have to shut down about
two hundred centers nationwide, but that still leaves four hundred
centers in the country. And that's thanks almost entirely because

(44:38):
of private companies and private donations. According to Human Life International,
that's a pro life group, they say more than half
of Planned Parenthood's non government funding comes directly from private contributions.
And just to explain who this is, it's mostly big companies.
Top corporate donors from twenty twenty to twenty twenty three
include number one, paypas Well. They gave during that timeframe

(45:02):
one point six million dollars. The next one is Bank
of New York Mellon Corporation that's one point three million.
And then this is a weird one, Levi Strauss the
Genes company. They gave four hundred thousand dollars during that
time as well. Other major donors include Pfizer, JP, Morgan Chase,
and Shell Oil Company just to name a couple of them.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Thanks for bringing out to our attention, Sam, A lot
of names that you wouldn't be surprised seeing on there.

Speaker 4 (45:25):
For sure, folks.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
You got to remember money is what makes all of
this happen. You know, money makes the world go round.
Companies can't do things without money. Planned Parenthood can't operate
without money. We also can't operate without money. Preborn can't
operate without money. Churches can't operate without money. Money makes
it all happen. Money is a neutral phenomenon that can
be either deployed for life or for death, life or death,

(45:47):
for good or for evil.

Speaker 4 (45:49):
That's why we.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Want you to defund darkness with biblically responsible investing. None
of those companies we just mentioned should be included in
your portfolio. They're not biblically responsible. They fund the murder
of babies. So though need to fund the light through
joyful and generous giving. That's why we support groups like Preborn.
Preborn is on the front lines. Preborn is trying to
up end Planned parenthood, and they're doing a really good

(46:10):
job at it, by the way, saving babies by the thousands,
bringing mothers and fathers to Jesus Christ by the thousands.
That's why we support organizations like them. That's why we're
proud to support organizations like them. I hope that can
be an encouragement for you, folks. That is our mission
here at Financial issues, defunding darkness through biblically responsible investing,
funding the light through joyful and generous giving to organizations

(46:31):
like Preborn, to your church. If you feel called to
give to financial issues, that's all good. But we're trying
to do this, folks, because we believe in the promises
of God. We believe that as Kingdom is coming, we're
going to fight for it, and we've got to keep fighting.
It's an honor to fight alongside each of you. God
bless you all. Shanna will be back tomorrow. I'm looking
forward to have her back. We'll also have Bible study

(46:52):
in the morning at six thirty Eastern time. I hope
you'll consider joining us for Daniel chapter seven. Remember, folks,
it's all his. Let's be found good and faithful stewards
with what God has given to us.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
We'll see you next time.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
If we ever forget that we're one nation under God,
then we will