December 19, 2025 • 7 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
The headlines say inflation is cooling—but a closer look shows the data is full of holes. In this deep (and skeptical) dive into the latest CPI numbers, Chris breaks down why 2.7% inflation doesn’t match the reality Americans live every day. From manipulated BLS data and stagnant wages to the soaring cost of life’s bare necessities—food, insurance, housing, and energy—this episode challenges the conventional wisdom that 2% inflation is “success.” Why should the dollar lose value at all? Drawing on decades of experience and the economic views of Judy Shelton, Chris explains why zero inflation should be the goal, why debt and money printing are crushing future generations, and why Washington keeps kicking the can down the road.
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
The headlines say inflation is cooling—but a closer look shows the data is full of holes. In this deep (and skeptical) dive into the latest CPI numbers, Chris breaks down why 2.7% inflation doesn’t match the reality Americans live every day. From manipulated BLS data and stagnant wages to the soaring cost of life’s bare necessities—food, insurance, housing, and energy—this episode challenges the conventional wisdom that 2% inflation is “success.” Why should the dollar lose value at all? Drawing on decades of experience and the economic views of Judy Shelton, Chris explains why zero inflation should be the goal, why debt and money printing are crushing future generations, and why Washington keeps kicking the can down the road.
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):
A deep dive, deep, deep dive into the inflation numbers.
That was what I was asked to do today, do
a daily television hit every single day in San Francisco,
Oakland area. And they asked me, Chris, we need you
to take a deep dive into the inflation numbers. And
I'm like, oh boy, that's not it. You can't take
a deep dive into the shallow end of the pool.
(00:37):
So you hurt your head because that's what we have
the numbers here that they gave us. And again we
got two point seven percent CPI two point six core
versus three point one and everybody's.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Like, wow, look at that way numbers are down. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I took a look at these numbers and there's a
lot of a lot of blanks, a lot of blanks
on this pay You can't take a deep dive as
far as well, comparing October to November, you're only a
couple of things. You can see year over year right
(01:20):
around two point seven percent. There's also some concern when
they collected this data was the latter end of November.
It's when you have all of the sales that come online.
We'll take that and we'll put that aside.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
BLS.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Everybody's asking all the bl ask about this stuff. I
call it the BS Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I call it bullshit, bullshit. They've always been.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Okay, I've covered this for years here on the program.
Even at two points, we'll say these numbers were lickety
split perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The BS did a fantastic job. Have way just kept
up with this? No, no, So.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Again, let's just say you take two steps back forward,
three steps backward, and let's not even factor in the
tariff numbers. And I'll get into those in another podcast. Anyway,
I want to explain to everybody the reality of inflation.
(02:25):
I have an opinion. It's not a popular opinion because
it goes against the watchdog and Wall Street access of
evil and the powers that be. Someone I have a
great deal of respect for economist Judy Shelton. She happens
to think the same way that I do. Interestingly enough,
Donald Trump appointed Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve in
(02:46):
his first term, and she was rejected. She was rejected
because she makes sense, kind of like Ron Paul. They
just make sense, and we can't have that. We can't
have that in Washington, d C. I happen to agreeation
should be zero.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
That's what she agrees. I mean, we've all settled.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It has become conventional wisdom, conventional wism, and conventional wisdom
is poison.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That we need to get place down to two percent.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Why why? The value of the dollar is a unit
of measure. Really, that's it. It's a unit of measure
like calories like yards and feet and fahrenheit. It's a
(03:34):
unit of measure. It shouldn't change, should it.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It shouldn't change, but it has.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I've had Markowski Investments for thirty years now, and since
we started Markowski Investments, the value of a dollar has
dropped by fifty four percent. Fifty four percent. Now people
(04:04):
call me a you know, it's fine. I don't care,
you know, raving lunatic. With the ideas that I've talked
about here on the program and the big firms I
Markowski is and what he's doing, you got to go
with the sixty forty portfolio, Like, are you nuts? I
laugh at these inflation numbers that they put out. I
know it's what the Fed goes with, but let's be
honest here, people, The inflation numbers really matter, the ones
(04:28):
that you have to spend money on every single day.
I mean, the administration was touting yesterday the fact that
hotels are down and airfares are down.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's nice, that's great, but it's not essential. The only
thing that really matters, really matters, and this is what
people are waking up to because it ticks them off,
is the bare necessities.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yes, the stuff that you have to buy.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Live every single that you can't go without in a
modern society.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Matter. You have a car, you have to have car insurance.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You have a home, you have to have home insurance,
health insurance, food, electricity.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Oil to heat your house, whatever it may be. All
of the bare.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Necessities things you're buying on a regular basis, that's what hurts.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That's what hurts.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
You know, if you know it gets too expensive to
go to Disney.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Well you know that sucks. You can't go this year.
You know what, We'll do a staycation somewhere else, but
it really doesn't affect the way you live.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And that's the issue again, the powers that be, whether
they be a donkey, whether they be an elephant, they
want to continue to live their charm lives, to continue
to print money and sparrow and spend money that we
don't have. They want to continue to put it on
(06:03):
my kids and God willing, someday I have grandkids their
credit card, which again, quite frankly, it's like a bad
Jerry Springer show episode.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And we're all okay with that, right, don't look, you're
right in the camera.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
How we need to do this in the American Mike Lawler,
we got to do this with the people Hudson Valley.
We got to extend covid era Obama subsidies for three years.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Dude, that's a half a trillion dollars, your schmuck. You
want to do that? Why don't you cut? Why don't
you find cuts in the budget of a half trillion dollars? Now,
you don't want to do that. You just want to
get yourself reelected. Here you go, I'm giving away cash.
And that's that's the reality. Okay, Everything that we've told
(06:51):
you for the past thirty years. I'm sorry people, and
again I'm not lifting myself by this and I'm not
tooting my horn. Okay, has been accurate in regards to
how to structure portfolios, the nonsense with the sixty to
forty portfolio, the idea that cash is trash, Okay, all
of these things. You think things are better at right now?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
One point two trillion dollars in interest payments at this
point in time, I mean, we've we've gone further into debt.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We continue to go further into debt.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Nothing is being done about this, and quite frankly, that's
job one again. That should be our priority. Again I
talked about priorities. There's no such thing priority balancing the budget.
You want mortgage rates to go down, you want a
better life for your kids down the road, that's how
(07:44):
you do it. Watchdog and 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):
A deep dive, deep, deep dive into the inflation numbers.
That was what I was asked to do today, do
a daily television hit every single day in San Francisco,
Oakland area. And they asked me, Chris, we need you
to take a deep dive into the inflation numbers. And
I'm like, oh boy, that's not it. You can't take
a deep dive into the shallow end of the pool.
(00:37):
So you hurt your head because that's what we have
the numbers here that they gave us. And again we
got two point seven percent CPI two point six core
versus three point one and everybody's.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Like, wow, look at that way numbers are down. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I took a look at these numbers and there's a
lot of a lot of blanks, a lot of blanks
on this pay You can't take a deep dive as
far as well, comparing October to November, you're only a
couple of things. You can see year over year right
(01:20):
around two point seven percent. There's also some concern when
they collected this data was the latter end of November.
It's when you have all of the sales that come online.
We'll take that and we'll put that aside.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
BLS.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Everybody's asking all the bl ask about this stuff. I
call it the BS Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I call it bullshit, bullshit. They've always been.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Okay, I've covered this for years here on the program.
Even at two points, we'll say these numbers were lickety
split perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The BS did a fantastic job. Have way just kept
up with this? No, no, So.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Again, let's just say you take two steps back forward,
three steps backward, and let's not even factor in the
tariff numbers. And I'll get into those in another podcast. Anyway,
I want to explain to everybody the reality of inflation.
(02:25):
I have an opinion. It's not a popular opinion because
it goes against the watchdog and Wall Street access of
evil and the powers that be. Someone I have a
great deal of respect for economist Judy Shelton. She happens
to think the same way that I do. Interestingly enough,
Donald Trump appointed Judy Shelton to the Federal Reserve in
(02:46):
his first term, and she was rejected. She was rejected
because she makes sense, kind of like Ron Paul. They
just make sense, and we can't have that. We can't
have that in Washington, d C. I happen to agreeation
should be zero.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
That's what she agrees. I mean, we've all settled.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It has become conventional wisdom, conventional wism, and conventional wisdom
is poison.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
That we need to get place down to two percent.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Why why? The value of the dollar is a unit
of measure. Really, that's it. It's a unit of measure
like calories like yards and feet and fahrenheit. It's a
(03:34):
unit of measure. It shouldn't change, should it.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
It shouldn't change, but it has.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I've had Markowski Investments for thirty years now, and since
we started Markowski Investments, the value of a dollar has
dropped by fifty four percent. Fifty four percent. Now people
(04:04):
call me a you know, it's fine. I don't care,
you know, raving lunatic. With the ideas that I've talked
about here on the program and the big firms I
Markowski is and what he's doing, you got to go
with the sixty forty portfolio, Like, are you nuts? I
laugh at these inflation numbers that they put out. I
know it's what the Fed goes with, but let's be
honest here, people, The inflation numbers really matter, the ones
(04:28):
that you have to spend money on every single day.
I mean, the administration was touting yesterday the fact that
hotels are down and airfares are down.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
That's nice, that's great, but it's not essential. The only
thing that really matters, really matters, and this is what
people are waking up to because it ticks them off,
is the bare necessities.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yes, the stuff that you have to buy.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Live every single that you can't go without in a
modern society.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Matter. You have a car, you have to have car insurance.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
You have a home, you have to have home insurance,
health insurance, food, electricity.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Oil to heat your house, whatever it may be. All
of the bare.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Necessities things you're buying on a regular basis, that's what hurts.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That's what hurts.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
You know, if you know it gets too expensive to
go to Disney.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Well you know that sucks. You can't go this year.
You know what, We'll do a staycation somewhere else, but
it really doesn't affect the way you live.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And that's the issue again, the powers that be, whether
they be a donkey, whether they be an elephant, they
want to continue to live their charm lives, to continue
to print money and sparrow and spend money that we
don't have. They want to continue to put it on
(06:03):
my kids and God willing, someday I have grandkids their
credit card, which again, quite frankly, it's like a bad
Jerry Springer show episode.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And we're all okay with that, right, don't look, you're
right in the camera.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
How we need to do this in the American Mike Lawler,
we got to do this with the people Hudson Valley.
We got to extend covid era Obama subsidies for three years.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Dude, that's a half a trillion dollars, your schmuck. You
want to do that? Why don't you cut? Why don't
you find cuts in the budget of a half trillion dollars? Now,
you don't want to do that. You just want to
get yourself reelected. Here you go, I'm giving away cash.
And that's that's the reality. Okay, Everything that we've told
(06:51):
you for the past thirty years. I'm sorry people, and
again I'm not lifting myself by this and I'm not
tooting my horn. Okay, has been accurate in regards to
how to structure portfolios, the nonsense with the sixty to
forty portfolio, the idea that cash is trash, Okay, all
of these things. You think things are better at right now?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
One point two trillion dollars in interest payments at this
point in time, I mean, we've we've gone further into debt.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We continue to go further into debt.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Nothing is being done about this, and quite frankly, that's
job one again. That should be our priority. Again I
talked about priorities. There's no such thing priority balancing the budget.
You want mortgage rates to go down, you want a
better life for your kids down the road, that's how
(07:44):
you do it. Watchdog and Wall Street dot Com
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