August 5, 2025 • 10 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
Drawing inspiration from A Bronx Tale and classical economic thinkers like Bastiat and Hazlitt, this commentary delivers a powerful critique of America’s current trajectory. From missed post-recession opportunities to the self-inflicted wounds of tariff-driven populism, we explore how shortsighted policies, political tribalism, and ego-driven leadership are holding the country back. Trump’s trade war and economic nationalism may feel good in the short term, but the long-term costs—rising prices, falling profits, and a hollowed-out middle class—tell a different story. It's not just about politics—it's about wasted potential.
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
Drawing inspiration from A Bronx Tale and classical economic thinkers like Bastiat and Hazlitt, this commentary delivers a powerful critique of America’s current trajectory. From missed post-recession opportunities to the self-inflicted wounds of tariff-driven populism, we explore how shortsighted policies, political tribalism, and ego-driven leadership are holding the country back. Trump’s trade war and economic nationalism may feel good in the short term, but the long-term costs—rising prices, falling profits, and a hollowed-out middle class—tell a different story. It's not just about politics—it's about wasted potential.
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):
The saddest thing in the world is wasted talent. That
is a line from the movie A Bronx Tale, and
I sub referenced that movie several times here on the program.
And I wrote a column entitled wasted Talent nine years ago,
nine years ago, and I was talking about our situation
(00:39):
as a country at that point in time. Basically again
you're talking about this is dealing with the Obama years
and the numbers and the type of growth that we
weren't seeing usually getting all sorts of all sorts of
progress coming out of deep recessions, and we got nothing
(00:59):
government being involved. Talked about businesses dying at the time.
All Right, One of the saddest things about our country's
current discontent is how obvious it is as to why
we are where we are. All these statistics gave a
bunch may have been the precursor to the general feeling
(01:21):
of malaise that has taken root in the country. Many
Americans beginning to feel that the American dream is dead,
been taken from them without a doubt. The middle class
in America has been following out. And again I've touched
on this when talking about real estate, real estate values
and what young people are feeling. And I also wrote
(01:42):
that there's an inverse relationship between the size of government
and a country's growth prospects. The smaller the size of government,
there is the greater opportunity for dynamic recovery, vibrant growth,
upward mobility. And it's where I started talking about, you know,
the road to serf them and ACDC Highway to Hell.
(02:03):
The reality people, quite frankly, is that Trump's first term, yeah,
we had some tariffs that were put into place, but
again I think they were kind of used more or
less as a negotiating tactic. They've taken on a bit
of a life of their own, and so has Donald
Trump and his second presidency with his massive, massive populist
(02:29):
shift in essence, trying to run the country out of Washington,
d C. In the same way that Xijianping does. Now again,
people that don't know that, don't know they're out there
touting the wonders of tariffs and how great they are
and how great everything is, and prices are down here
in this country. They're not. They're not. And I bring
(02:51):
receipts when I explain this to everyone. I talked about
it yesterday. Yeah, overall, prices haven't skyrocket, but again, the
prices of the things that we have to spend money
on every single day continue to rise. It is a problem.
Worse yet, we need deflation in these items. Tariffs, how
(03:12):
do they play into this? Again? You had shares of
Caterpillar and Eaten falling today, but again put that aside.
I'm I take a look at the stock price. Yeah,
they're manufacturing costs. Their operating profit fell eighteen percent due
(03:33):
to unfavorable manufacturing costs that largely reflected the impact of
higher tariffs. Its construction business saw profit fall twenty nine
percent compared to the year ago due to unfavorable prices
and higher tariffs. It's resources segment that serves the mining
(03:55):
and quarry industries saw profits drop twenty five percent due
to higher manufacturing costs associated with tariffs. Again, and I
would ask this to anyone who actually thinks this tariff
thing is working. How is this beneficial in what way, shape, matter,
(04:15):
or form was reminded today. Reminded today an economist that
lived a long, long time ago, Well, now not that
far if you actually was what was his date of birth? Here,
I'm trying to get it, get it right. It was
a big you know, yes, eighteen oh one Fred Messi
(04:38):
eighteen one to eighteen fifty. And one of the things
that Messiot taught was the importance of considering all all
economic activity that doesn't come to pass because of a
particular policy wasted talent. Again, as someone that runs a
(05:07):
company has coached kids decades, my job. My job is
to help people. People live up to their potential. They're
not wasting any talent. And I talk about it, you know,
I'd be getting on kids cases when I'm coaching them,
(05:29):
and you know, kids who had unbelievable athletic ability, and
I point to them, I say, you don't work hard enough.
You have all the talent and the ability in the
entire world. But to see that kid over there, who
doesn't have your talent ability is working ten times as
hard as you are, and he's going to eventually pass
you an event you've got to drill listen too, kids
heads because you want them. You want people to live
(05:51):
up to their abilities, like we should be living up
to our collective ability as a nation. This see by Bastiat.
This idea was updated by another UH individual economist, Henry Hazlitt.
Actually today is I want to check out the article.
(06:11):
Matthew Henessy wrote a nice piece about these guys today UH.
He was born eighteen ninety four died in nineteen ninety three.
He said, the bad economist only sees what immediately strikes
the eye. The good economist also looks beyond. Now again,
(06:34):
the maga's out there.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, well, it's all right, it's good.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It cares.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
The GDP is not as igh as supposed to be.
We're gonna stick it to choin them, gonna stick it
trying to bring back. We're gonna restore all these industries.
We're gonna we gotta send China message.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Ken okay, okay, I think that's gonna work. Hennessy rights.
No nation was ever made more secure by limiting its
own potential. No society ever thrive by taking the wind
out of its own sales. Short run considerations are, of
(07:16):
course important, but be wary of those who declare the
race over before the first term. Oftentimes you hear me
talk about the people in Washington, DC and their policies,
and again they're not thinking of the country in terms
of five, ten, twenty years down the road. That's something Again,
when Rome was a republic, they used to think that way. Okay,
(07:40):
that's how they thought, That's how they built. That's how
Rome was built long term thinking. We don't have that.
These people think in terms of election cycles. Oftentimes when
I call them, I called the Capitol Building in Washington,
DC the Grand Cathedral of unintended consequences. Trump's got a
(08:03):
global trade war. People are patent them on the back,
patting them on the back about the three percent GDP
last quarter last quarter, and again we broke it down
for you. It's because less imports listeners. But again, this
(08:24):
is just starting people. This is just starting the people
that again, that that have the minds of kindergarteners, okay,
rather than you know, when I talk about debating or
having conversations with people, when I when I get in
a debate a conversation with somebody, I'm I'm not looking
(08:44):
to win any sort of debate. I'm looking to come
to some sort of truth that will elevate me. I'm
looking to learn the people with their quick little quips
and little one liners and all that stuff. Those are
people that are not interested in coming to any sort
of because they're completely it's more than married. They their
(09:09):
ideas are who they become, who they are become who
they are, unwilling, unwilling to take a couple of steps
back and to consider anything else. Again, Yeah, it's when
the immediate consequence media consequence is favorable. Okay. Oftentimes the
(09:34):
latter consequence consequences are disastrous. And again that's pastia, that's
not me. Bad economists will pursue a current benefit that
is followed by a large disadvantage in the future. Politician,
(09:55):
not just economists, Okay, a true economist will pursue a
large benefit in the future at the risk of suffering
a small disadvantage immediately. How often do I talk about
sometimes you're going to take two steps back to take
ten steps forward. And yes, all of the sycophants out
there or high five and one another turfs are working
(10:18):
turf revenue. I'm like, okay, sure, sure, yeah, you're raising
everyone's taxes again. But they don't think beyond These are
people that don't think beyond their latest tweet. GETA saying
they're not thinking about things like that, They're thinking about
the next tweet. How much coverage did they get, how
(10:41):
many people are following them, how many people reacted to
that tweet? Nothing, nothing else matters, Watchdog 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):
The saddest thing in the world is wasted talent. That
is a line from the movie A Bronx Tale, and
I sub referenced that movie several times here on the program.
And I wrote a column entitled wasted Talent nine years ago,
nine years ago, and I was talking about our situation
(00:39):
as a country at that point in time. Basically again
you're talking about this is dealing with the Obama years
and the numbers and the type of growth that we
weren't seeing usually getting all sorts of all sorts of
progress coming out of deep recessions, and we got nothing
(00:59):
government being involved. Talked about businesses dying at the time.
All Right, One of the saddest things about our country's
current discontent is how obvious it is as to why
we are where we are. All these statistics gave a
bunch may have been the precursor to the general feeling
(01:21):
of malaise that has taken root in the country. Many
Americans beginning to feel that the American dream is dead,
been taken from them without a doubt. The middle class
in America has been following out. And again I've touched
on this when talking about real estate, real estate values
and what young people are feeling. And I also wrote
(01:42):
that there's an inverse relationship between the size of government
and a country's growth prospects. The smaller the size of government,
there is the greater opportunity for dynamic recovery, vibrant growth,
upward mobility. And it's where I started talking about, you know,
the road to serf them and ACDC Highway to Hell.
(02:03):
The reality people, quite frankly, is that Trump's first term, yeah,
we had some tariffs that were put into place, but
again I think they were kind of used more or
less as a negotiating tactic. They've taken on a bit
of a life of their own, and so has Donald
Trump and his second presidency with his massive, massive populist
(02:29):
shift in essence, trying to run the country out of Washington,
d C. In the same way that Xijianping does. Now again,
people that don't know that, don't know they're out there
touting the wonders of tariffs and how great they are
and how great everything is, and prices are down here
in this country. They're not. They're not. And I bring
(02:51):
receipts when I explain this to everyone. I talked about
it yesterday. Yeah, overall, prices haven't skyrocket, but again, the
prices of the things that we have to spend money
on every single day continue to rise. It is a problem.
Worse yet, we need deflation in these items. Tariffs, how
(03:12):
do they play into this? Again? You had shares of
Caterpillar and Eaten falling today, but again put that aside.
I'm I take a look at the stock price. Yeah,
they're manufacturing costs. Their operating profit fell eighteen percent due
(03:33):
to unfavorable manufacturing costs that largely reflected the impact of
higher tariffs. Its construction business saw profit fall twenty nine
percent compared to the year ago due to unfavorable prices
and higher tariffs. It's resources segment that serves the mining
(03:55):
and quarry industries saw profits drop twenty five percent due
to higher manufacturing costs associated with tariffs. Again, and I
would ask this to anyone who actually thinks this tariff
thing is working. How is this beneficial in what way, shape, matter,
(04:15):
or form was reminded today. Reminded today an economist that
lived a long, long time ago, Well, now not that
far if you actually was what was his date of birth? Here,
I'm trying to get it, get it right. It was
a big you know, yes, eighteen oh one Fred Messi
(04:38):
eighteen one to eighteen fifty. And one of the things
that Messiot taught was the importance of considering all all
economic activity that doesn't come to pass because of a
particular policy wasted talent. Again, as someone that runs a
(05:07):
company has coached kids decades, my job. My job is
to help people. People live up to their potential. They're
not wasting any talent. And I talk about it, you know,
I'd be getting on kids cases when I'm coaching them,
(05:29):
and you know, kids who had unbelievable athletic ability, and
I point to them, I say, you don't work hard enough.
You have all the talent and the ability in the
entire world. But to see that kid over there, who
doesn't have your talent ability is working ten times as
hard as you are, and he's going to eventually pass
you an event you've got to drill listen too, kids
heads because you want them. You want people to live
(05:51):
up to their abilities, like we should be living up
to our collective ability as a nation. This see by Bastiat.
This idea was updated by another UH individual economist, Henry Hazlitt.
Actually today is I want to check out the article.
(06:11):
Matthew Henessy wrote a nice piece about these guys today UH.
He was born eighteen ninety four died in nineteen ninety three.
He said, the bad economist only sees what immediately strikes
the eye. The good economist also looks beyond. Now again,
(06:34):
the maga's out there.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, well, it's all right, it's good.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
It cares.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
The GDP is not as igh as supposed to be.
We're gonna stick it to choin them, gonna stick it
trying to bring back. We're gonna restore all these industries.
We're gonna we gotta send China message.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Ken okay, okay, I think that's gonna work. Hennessy rights.
No nation was ever made more secure by limiting its
own potential. No society ever thrive by taking the wind
out of its own sales. Short run considerations are, of
(07:16):
course important, but be wary of those who declare the
race over before the first term. Oftentimes you hear me
talk about the people in Washington, DC and their policies,
and again they're not thinking of the country in terms
of five, ten, twenty years down the road. That's something Again,
when Rome was a republic, they used to think that way. Okay,
(07:40):
that's how they thought, That's how they built. That's how
Rome was built long term thinking. We don't have that.
These people think in terms of election cycles. Oftentimes when
I call them, I called the Capitol Building in Washington,
DC the Grand Cathedral of unintended consequences. Trump's got a
(08:03):
global trade war. People are patent them on the back,
patting them on the back about the three percent GDP
last quarter last quarter, and again we broke it down
for you. It's because less imports listeners. But again, this
(08:24):
is just starting people. This is just starting the people
that again, that that have the minds of kindergarteners, okay,
rather than you know, when I talk about debating or
having conversations with people, when I when I get in
a debate a conversation with somebody, I'm I'm not looking
(08:44):
to win any sort of debate. I'm looking to come
to some sort of truth that will elevate me. I'm
looking to learn the people with their quick little quips
and little one liners and all that stuff. Those are
people that are not interested in coming to any sort
of because they're completely it's more than married. They their
(09:09):
ideas are who they become, who they are become who
they are, unwilling, unwilling to take a couple of steps
back and to consider anything else. Again, Yeah, it's when
the immediate consequence media consequence is favorable. Okay. Oftentimes the
(09:34):
latter consequence consequences are disastrous. And again that's pastia, that's
not me. Bad economists will pursue a current benefit that
is followed by a large disadvantage in the future. Politician,
(09:55):
not just economists, Okay, a true economist will pursue a
large benefit in the future at the risk of suffering
a small disadvantage immediately. How often do I talk about
sometimes you're going to take two steps back to take
ten steps forward. And yes, all of the sycophants out
there or high five and one another turfs are working
(10:18):
turf revenue. I'm like, okay, sure, sure, yeah, you're raising
everyone's taxes again. But they don't think beyond These are
people that don't think beyond their latest tweet. GETA saying
they're not thinking about things like that, They're thinking about
the next tweet. How much coverage did they get, how
(10:41):
many people are following them, how many people reacted to
that tweet? Nothing, nothing else matters, Watchdog on Wall Street
dot com
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