October 22, 2025 • 8 mins
LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
In this episode:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
In this episode:
- The media meltdown over Trump’s new White House ballroom — and why the outrage is ridiculous
- Why it’s probably not taxpayer-funded (and why that matters)
- A look at America’s real estate decay — from Hartford’s foreclosed ghost towers to Manhattan’s modern eyesores
- How our obsession with building fast and cheap destroyed beauty and value
- And why maybe — just maybe — it’s time to start learning from Rome instead of Excel spreadsheets
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Trump's White House ballroom, Yeah, oh my god, lots of controversy.
The lefties are up in arms on MSNBC and other
places with showing pictures of Trump's excavators knocking down walls
(00:37):
there at the White House to put up his boge
It's gonna be wonderful, great fantastic ballroom. Anyway, listen, Okay,
I'm not a fan of what he's doing. Well, I
don't think that this is necessary. I think that's stupid.
(00:59):
Patio he put in the back is ridiculous. But hey, okay,
it's Trump. He's gonna do what he's gonna do. I
take a look at all that gold crap that he
put up everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
To me, it's crap. To each his own. Everyone's got
their own style. Does it make him.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
A bad person because he likes gold everywhere?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Not my thing by any stretch. It's Trump's thing. He
likes it. I mean, it is what it is. It
looks as gaudy as hell to me.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But okay, again, it doesn't make him a bad person.
And again, this is part of the problem we have today,
is the fact that we divide ourselves based upon what
the other political party is doing. I'm a member of
this party, so this guy over here, he's a member
(01:55):
of that party.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
He's doing this. It's automatically horrible and bad.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
If this was flipped, Okay, if Joe Biden was putting
up a ball room, uh, I'm telling you right now,
Republicans would be throwing a hissy fit.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's predictable they would.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
They'd be throwing a hissy fit about what was me
If Joe Biden was, you know, decorating uh, you know,
decorating the the Oval office and areas around there with
the I.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Don't know, the colors of Scranton University. I couldn't tell.
I don't know we went to Delaware or something like that.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I don't know. It would tick off Republicans. It would.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
The next guy is going to come in, They're going
to redecorate whatever it may be. To to each his own,
to each his own. Again, I correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't think the taxpayers are paying for any of this.
I certainly hope not. That's from what I've heard so far.
I said, correct me if I'm wrong. I've done my
(03:08):
homework on this. I think this is all privately funded.
Quite frankly, people say, oh, you know, it made me cry,
and it's ruining the White House. Other presidents have expanded
and renovated the White House. He's not the first person
to do that. Okay, So again, stop with getting your
underwear in a bunch about the entire thing. Quick little
(03:32):
rant on real estate and beauty. You know, we here
in this country for what again, for whatever reason it
maybe again, we really at this point in time, we
have to we have to seriously invest in wrecking balls.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I've been saying this for some time. It was a story,
uh that I actually Scott to today. Another massive blown up.
It's out of Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Massive Plaza constitution Plaza six building six building, office complex,
six hundred and seventy thousand square feet plush. It's foreclosed on.
It was purchased for seventy one million in twenty fifteen.
(04:23):
There's still a forty eight point seven million dollar loan.
They just foreclosed on the vacancy rate Harford's almost thirty
nine percent. I talked about it in terms of New
York City and Manhattan and certain corridors and areas that
are just never going to come back. It's kind of American,
quite frankly. It's in the way that we handle real estate.
(04:45):
We get on a kick and we say we need
to build as many skyscrapers as humanly possible and keep
building them and building and building them without any real
thought of me, where's this going to be ten twenty
thirty years down the road. Look at a city like Manhattan,
okay to me. To me, the coolest areas of Manhattan
(05:07):
are the oldest areas of Manhattan. You walk around the
West Village of Manhattan, or you go go down to
the Financial District and some of those Stone Street and
some of those streets that have been there. Okay, it
looks like it looks like you're like Harry Potter World
for crying out loud, but something that's real. It's one
(05:31):
of the things that again I guess we kind of
screw up here and we're going to have to start understanding.
I mean, what are they going to do in Hartford,
Connecticut with this this six building office complex vacancy righted
close to thirty five percent. You knock it down, you
need to knock it down. And it's again how real
(05:54):
estate is handled as far as tax policy is concerned.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Here in the United States, where you.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Take a you know, take losses in the stock market,
you can write off three thousand bucks a year, you're
taking losses on your real estate. You find a myriad
of different ways of taking writing this down against other
properties and doing a myriad of other things. That has
to stop. We wreck stuff, we wreck stuff. And again
(06:23):
it's it's basically who can afford to pay? I mean,
you think about it, go back. I actually my wife
wasn't familiar. I showed her the old the old train
station post office complex where Madison Square Garden is right
now in New York City. And you says that if
(06:44):
they tore that, I mean, what in absolutely beautiful, gorgeous building,
now tear it down and put up mass right world's
most famous arena.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
It's ugly as hell, Okay it is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And again you take a good hard look at many
of these sky scrapers in New York City. They're ugly
as hell, they are. And now they really don't serve
any purpose because nobody wants to be in them any more.
Just make a suggestion, you know, maybe we should start
(07:23):
sending our architecture students here in this country. Maybe just
send them, send them to Italy. I know that's what
they did, Syracuse Syracuse TEXTA students had to go study
in Florence. You know the Parthenon there in Rome is
a thousand years old dome that their cement is better
than ours. Back then, we still haven't figured out how
(07:44):
the Romans did it. That building's still there. Once you
walk those streets. They don't knock those buildings down. Those
buildings are built to last. They renovate them. It's nice,
the area is beautiful. Maybe we should start to thinking
a little bit more of about the aesthetics of things.
Quite frankly, then, just like I said, designing stuff based
(08:05):
upon an Excel spreadsheet. Watch Dog on Wall Street dot
Com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Trump's White House ballroom, Yeah, oh my god, lots of controversy.
The lefties are up in arms on MSNBC and other
places with showing pictures of Trump's excavators knocking down walls
(00:37):
there at the White House to put up his boge
It's gonna be wonderful, great fantastic ballroom. Anyway, listen, Okay,
I'm not a fan of what he's doing. Well, I
don't think that this is necessary. I think that's stupid.
(00:59):
Patio he put in the back is ridiculous. But hey, okay,
it's Trump. He's gonna do what he's gonna do. I
take a look at all that gold crap that he
put up everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
To me, it's crap. To each his own. Everyone's got
their own style. Does it make him.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
A bad person because he likes gold everywhere?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Not my thing by any stretch. It's Trump's thing. He
likes it. I mean, it is what it is. It
looks as gaudy as hell to me.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But okay, again, it doesn't make him a bad person.
And again, this is part of the problem we have today,
is the fact that we divide ourselves based upon what
the other political party is doing. I'm a member of
this party, so this guy over here, he's a member
(01:55):
of that party.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
He's doing this. It's automatically horrible and bad.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
If this was flipped, Okay, if Joe Biden was putting
up a ball room, uh, I'm telling you right now,
Republicans would be throwing a hissy fit.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
It's predictable they would.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
They'd be throwing a hissy fit about what was me
If Joe Biden was, you know, decorating uh, you know,
decorating the the Oval office and areas around there with
the I.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Don't know, the colors of Scranton University. I couldn't tell.
I don't know we went to Delaware or something like that.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
I don't know. It would tick off Republicans. It would.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
The next guy is going to come in, They're going
to redecorate whatever it may be. To to each his own,
to each his own. Again, I correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't think the taxpayers are paying for any of this.
I certainly hope not. That's from what I've heard so far.
I said, correct me if I'm wrong. I've done my
(03:08):
homework on this. I think this is all privately funded.
Quite frankly, people say, oh, you know, it made me cry,
and it's ruining the White House. Other presidents have expanded
and renovated the White House. He's not the first person
to do that. Okay, So again, stop with getting your
underwear in a bunch about the entire thing. Quick little
(03:32):
rant on real estate and beauty. You know, we here
in this country for what again, for whatever reason it
maybe again, we really at this point in time, we
have to we have to seriously invest in wrecking balls.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I've been saying this for some time. It was a story,
uh that I actually Scott to today. Another massive blown up.
It's out of Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Massive Plaza constitution Plaza six building six building, office complex,
six hundred and seventy thousand square feet plush. It's foreclosed on.
It was purchased for seventy one million in twenty fifteen.
(04:23):
There's still a forty eight point seven million dollar loan.
They just foreclosed on the vacancy rate Harford's almost thirty
nine percent. I talked about it in terms of New
York City and Manhattan and certain corridors and areas that
are just never going to come back. It's kind of American,
quite frankly. It's in the way that we handle real estate.
(04:45):
We get on a kick and we say we need
to build as many skyscrapers as humanly possible and keep
building them and building and building them without any real
thought of me, where's this going to be ten twenty
thirty years down the road. Look at a city like Manhattan,
okay to me. To me, the coolest areas of Manhattan
(05:07):
are the oldest areas of Manhattan. You walk around the
West Village of Manhattan, or you go go down to
the Financial District and some of those Stone Street and
some of those streets that have been there. Okay, it
looks like it looks like you're like Harry Potter World
for crying out loud, but something that's real. It's one
(05:31):
of the things that again I guess we kind of
screw up here and we're going to have to start understanding.
I mean, what are they going to do in Hartford,
Connecticut with this this six building office complex vacancy righted
close to thirty five percent. You knock it down, you
need to knock it down. And it's again how real
(05:54):
estate is handled as far as tax policy is concerned.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Here in the United States, where you.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Take a you know, take losses in the stock market,
you can write off three thousand bucks a year, you're
taking losses on your real estate. You find a myriad
of different ways of taking writing this down against other
properties and doing a myriad of other things. That has
to stop. We wreck stuff, we wreck stuff. And again
(06:23):
it's it's basically who can afford to pay? I mean,
you think about it, go back. I actually my wife
wasn't familiar. I showed her the old the old train
station post office complex where Madison Square Garden is right
now in New York City. And you says that if
(06:44):
they tore that, I mean, what in absolutely beautiful, gorgeous building,
now tear it down and put up mass right world's
most famous arena.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
It's ugly as hell, Okay it is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
And again you take a good hard look at many
of these sky scrapers in New York City. They're ugly
as hell, they are. And now they really don't serve
any purpose because nobody wants to be in them any more.
Just make a suggestion, you know, maybe we should start
(07:23):
sending our architecture students here in this country. Maybe just
send them, send them to Italy. I know that's what
they did, Syracuse Syracuse TEXTA students had to go study
in Florence. You know the Parthenon there in Rome is
a thousand years old dome that their cement is better
than ours. Back then, we still haven't figured out how
(07:44):
the Romans did it. That building's still there. Once you
walk those streets. They don't knock those buildings down. Those
buildings are built to last. They renovate them. It's nice,
the area is beautiful. Maybe we should start to thinking
a little bit more of about the aesthetics of things.
Quite frankly, then, just like I said, designing stuff based
(08:05):
upon an Excel spreadsheet. Watch Dog on Wall Street dot
Com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.