Podcasts about us treasury

Please join Ralf Preusser in conversation with Yuri Seliger and Meghan Swiber to discuss supple and demand in US bond markets. Strong supply in credit has been well absorbed, helped by a significant reduction in risk delivery to the private sector by US Treasury. Inflows are robust, supported by attractive yields and until recently lower rate vol. We can also observe growing appetite to extend along the UST curve, in particular among domestic investors.   You may also enjoy listening to the Merrill Perspectives podcast, featuring conversations on the big stories, news and trends affecting your everyday financial life.   "Bank of America" and “BofA Securities” are the marketing names for the global banking businesses and global markets businesses (which includes BofA Global Research) of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, derivatives, and other commercial banking activities are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. Securities, trading, research, strategic advisory, and other investment banking and markets activities are performed globally by affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including, in the United States, BofA Securities, Inc. a registered broker-dealer and Member of FINRA and SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, by locally registered entities. ©2026 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, an in-depth investigatory show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (2/20/26). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth is, or claiming they have the answer, is likely leading you astray, for one reason or another. Stay Vigilant. !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");   Rumble("play", {"video":"v73v1co","div":"rumble_v73v1co"}); Video Source Links (In Chronological Order): The Fake Globalist Resistance Ushering In The Globalist Plan Trump & The Zionist/Globalist Technocrats Are Building Your New Society Whether You Like It Or Not Gaza's "Board Of Peace" Seeks To Reimagine The International Order (21) Derrick Broze on X: "$10 billion of US taxpayer dollars to Trump's "Board of Peace"." / X (21) Slow News Day on X: "This is the exact same currency model the US wants for Americans, same with the UK/EU, Russia, China, & every other nation We all live on Planet Gaza" / X (21) Truthstream Media on X: "Interesting Dept of War propaganda released on the same day Trump announces he's taking $10B out of the US Treasury without approval from our impotent Congress to transfer to the Board of Peace slush fund he created and made himself chairman for life. https://t.co/33g9a8KBSM" / X New Tab (21) Rand Paul on X: "In defense of our Republic, the Supreme Court struck down using emergency powers to enact taxes. This ruling will also prevent a future President such as AOC from using emergency powers to enact socialism." / X (21) Okiesmokey on X: "@BenjaminPDixon @RandPaul https://t.co/s1abiAEx8R" / X (21) Liam McCollum on X: "@RepThomasMassie Importantly:" / X (21) JD Vance on X: "Today, the Supreme Court decided that Congress, despite giving the president the ability to "regulate imports", didn't actually mean it. This is lawlessness from the Court, plain and simple. And its only effect will be to make it harder for the president to protect American" / X (21) Justin Amash on X: "According to JD Vance, a Supreme Court decision that upholds the law and halts lawlessness is the real lawlessness. And then he gripes about the president's power being limited. Yes, that's the point of the Constitution. The Framers deliberately constrained the president." / X (21) Mike Young on X: "@SpeakerJohnson Yes, tariffs brought in revenue. They also raised prices on groceries, cars, and farm equipment while inviting retaliation against our exporters. If we truly want to honor American workers, we should choose policies that cut their costs and expand their markets, not ones that" / X (21) Bark on X: "Realizing American citizens paid $175 billion in illegal tariffs and it's being refunded to companies instead of back to us. https://t.co/uKA3HoB6mU" / X (21) Everything is Stupid on X: "@DefiantLs https://t.co/w9AQqPptea" / X (21) The White House on X: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/un5zFbSEJl" / X New Tab (21) Aaron Day on X: "This is the most corrupt admin in US history. I'm not being hyperbolic." / X (21) Max Blumenthal on X: "Trump Inc corruption is so extensive it's difficult to keep tabs Besides cashing in on the tariff policy he personally engineered, financial sleazelord Howard Lutnick is also deregulating crypto while holding a $600 million stake in Tether To paper over the conflict of" / X (21) TenthAmendmentCenter on X: "CORRUPTION, PLUNDER & WASTE Thomas Jefferson said that's just what we'd get with too much centralized power. He warned us. We didn't listen. “our country is too large to have all it's affairs directed by a single government. public servants at such a distance, & from under" / X (21) Aaron Day on X: "The Trump administration is peak corruption." / X (21) Ed Krassenstein on X: "BREAKING: Eric Trump and Don Jr. just said the quiet part out loud! CNBC: "You know what the critics would say… Everyone is here to curry favor." The Trumps: “There is a great honor here. They didn't give us much of a choice. They created this monster!... We just realized https://t.co/nt27qZHLc6" / X (21) Cuckturd on X: "Trump & his kids are opening their own Polymarket. They can now personally profit off every House vote, press conference, executive order, Tariff decision. You name it. Haven't heard the Trump's talk about Burisma for a while.

Patricia and Christian talk to economist and author Dr Phil Armstrong about the least useful pieces of economic commentary from the last 12 months.   In this episode: "Sure, the government *can* create money… (but it shouldn't)" "It's okay for the government to 'borrow'… if it's investing" "The national debt is a time bomb!" "Government 'borrowing' is okay… when interest rates are low"   More to follow in part 2   Full conversation here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/150931987?pr=true   Please help sustain this podcast!  Patrons get early access to all episodes and patron-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/MMTpodcast   ******************************** STOP PRESS!!  JOIN PATRICIA AND MMT CO-FOUNDER PROFESSOR BILL MITCHELL AT THE LAUNCH OF A NEW DEDICATED MODERN MONETARY THEORY THINK TANK - MMTUK POLICY RESEARCH GROUP!  7pm on Wednesday 25 February at Friends Meeting House, London Click here to register as an attendee: https://actionnetwork.org/events/mmtuk-launch-event/ MMTUK will be publishing its Job Guarantee policy on 25th February - read a short intro here: https://mmtuk.org/job-guarantee  ********************************   Relevant to this episode: Join Patricia and Phil (and many more) at Scotland's Festival of Economics (Edinburgh and online) 19th - 21st March 2026: https://www.scoteconfest.org/#learnmore Join the new MMT UK discord server to connect with others looking to promote MMT and ecological economics in the UK!: https://discord.gg/S3UbxFe4FR "The self-financing state: An institutional analysis of government expenditure, revenue collection and debt issuance operations in the United Kingdom" (Berkeley et al, 2022): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sites/bartlett/files/the_self-financing_state_an_institutional_analysis_of_government_expenditure_revenue_collection_and_debt_issuance_operations_in_the_united_kingdom.pdf For more on the (Liz) Trussageddon, listen to Episode 147 - Dirk Ehnts: Do Markets Control Our Politics?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-147-dirk-72906421 "How to Fight Back Against the False Idea that the Government is at the Mercy of Financial Markets" by Sheridan Kates: https://thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative/2025/3/10/scotonomics-monetary-autonomy "There is no need to issue public debt" by Bill Mitchell: https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=31715 Episode 148 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Why The Job Guarantee Is Core To Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-148-why-73211346 Quick read: Pavlina Tcherneva's Job Guarantee FAQ page: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/ Episode 30 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 1) :https://www.patreon.com/posts/29621245 Episode 31 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 2):  https://www.patreon.com/posts/29829500 "Federal Debt and Modern Money" by Steven Hail & David Joy: https://www.global-isp.org/wp-content/uploads/PN-121.pdf "Is exchange rate depreciation inflationary?" by Bill Mitchell: https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=32922     Podcast Description In this compelling first part of their annual Fauxbel Prize discussion, Patricia Pino and Christian Reilly are joined by economist Dr Phil Armstrong to dissect the most deceptive economic talking points of 2026. What emerges is a masterclass in identifying the subtle linguistic tricks that maintain public misunderstanding about how government finance actually works. The conversation begins with Christian's astute observation about the phrase 'the government *can* create money' - a seemingly innocent statement that actually perpetuates dangerous misconceptions. As the panel explores, there's a world of difference between saying the government 'can' create money versus acknowledging that it 'does' create money with every pound it spends. This distinction matters because it allows economists and pundits to maintain outdated frameworks whilst appearing to acknowledge MMT insights. Dr Armstrong brings his characteristic clarity to explaining the consolidated view of government and central bank operations, illustrating why all government spending necessarily involves money creation. Using vivid analogies - from goldfish that must swim in water to the government's unique relationship with the Bank of England - he demonstrates why currency-issuing governments are fundamentally different from currency users like households or businesses. The discussion then tackles the politically damaging notion that governments should only 'borrow to invest'. Patricia explains why this framing misunderstands the true function of deficits whilst inadvertently supporting neoliberal arguments for privatisation. The panel reveals how this seemingly progressive talking point actually reinforces the household analogy and hands ammunition to fiscal conservatives. In his analysis of the 'public debt time bomb' narrative, Phil turns conventional wisdom on its head by pointing out that if foreign debt holdings were truly a source of power, then Britain - as the second-largest holder of US Treasury securities - would presumably have a decisive degree of control over America's economic destiny. Throughout, the conversation illuminates core MMT principles: the operational reality of government spending, the true nature of government bonds as private sector savings, and why exchange rate concerns, whilst legitimate, shouldn't drive us back to defunct fiscal rules. The panel's analysis reveals how even well-intentioned progressive economists can inadvertently perpetuate harmful misconceptions about monetary sovereignty.   =========== Key Topics with Timestamps [02:15] Introduction to the Fauxbel Prize concept[05:30] "Government can create money" vs "does create money"[12:45] The consolidated view of government and central bank[18:20] Why all government spending is money creation[25:10] "Borrowing to invest" - the progressive own goal[35:45] Historical context: Keynes and bifurcating budgets[42:30] The "Tap" system vs bond auctions[48:15] "Public debt = time bomb" narrative analysis[55:40] Exchange rate concerns and industrial policy   ========= Guest Bio Dr Phil Armstrong - Economist and author of "Can Heterodox Economics Make a Difference?". Researcher with expertise in monetary operations and MMT analysis. Key Takeaways Language matters: The difference between "can" and "does" in describing government money creation shapes public understanding All government spending creates new money: Currency-issuing governments cannot spend previously collected money - every expenditure creates new money The "government borrowing to Invest" narrative is counterproductive: This framing reinforces household analogies and supports privatisation arguments A government "debt" clock is a national SAVINGS clock: Government debt represents private sector savings, not a burden Exchange rate policy needs strategy: Arbitrary fiscal rules won't address structural economic vulnerabilities   ===============   All our episodes in chronological order: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43111643   All our patron-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/57542767   Scotland's Festival of Economics (Edinburgh and online)  19th - 21st March 2026: https://www.scoteconfest.org/#learnmore   JOIN PATRICIA'S MMT ACTIVIST NETWORK (MMT UK): https://actionnetwork.org/forms/activist-registration-form   Join the MMT UK Discord server to connect with others looking to promote MMT and ecological economics in the UK!: https://discord.gg/S3UbxFe4FR   MMT: THE MOVIE! "Finding The Money", a documentary by Maren Poitras featuring Stephanie Kelton is now available worldwide to rent or buy: https://findingthemoney.vhx.tv/products/finding-the-money Updates on worldwide screenings of "Finding The Money" can be found here: https://findingmoneyfilm.com/where-to-watch/ To arrange a screening of "Finding The Money", apply here: https://findingmoneyfilm.com/host-a-screening/   STUDY THE ECONOMICS OF SUSTAINABILITY! Details of Modern Money Lab's online graduate, postgraduate and standalone courses in economics are here: https://modernmoneylab.org.au/     For an intro to MMT: Our first three episodes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742417 Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318   Quick MMT reads: Warren's Mosler's MMT white paper: http://moslereconomics.com/mmt-white-paper/ Steven Hail's quick MMT explainer: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modern-monetary-theory-72095 Quick explanation of government debt and deficit: "Some Numbers Are Big. Let Me Help You Get Over It": https://christreilly.com/2020/02/17/some-numbers-are-big-let-me-help-you-get-over-it/     For a short, non-technical, free ebook explaining MMT, download Warren Mosler's "7 Deadly Innocent Frauds Of Economic Policy" here: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf     Episodes on monetary operations:  Episode 20 - Warren Mosler: The MMT Money Story (part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/28004824 Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318 Episode 13 - Steven Hail: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Banking, But Were Afraid To Ask: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41790887 Episode 43 - Sam Levey: Understanding Endogenous Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35073683  Episode 84 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46352183 Episode 86 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46865929    For more on Quantitative Easing: Episode 59 - Warren Mosler: What Do Central Banks Do?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/39070023 Episode 143 - Paul Sheard: What Is Quantitative Easing?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71589989?pr=true    Episodes on inflation: Episode 7: Steven Hail: Inflation, Price Shocks and Other Misunderstandings: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41780508 Episode 65 - Phil Armstrong: Understanding Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40672678 Episode 104 - John T Harvey: Inflation, Stagflation & Healing The Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52207835 Episode 123 - Warren Mosler: Understanding The Price Level And Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59856379 Episode 128 - L. Randall Wray & Yeva Nersisyan: What's Causing Accelerating Inflation? Pandemic Or Policy Response?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63776558   Our Job Guarantee episodes:  Episode 4 - Fadhel Kaboub: What is the Job Guarantee?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742701 Episode 47 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Building Resilience - The Case For A Job Guarantee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36034543 Episode 148 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Why The Job Guarantee Is Core To Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-148-why-73211346 Quick read: Pavlina Tcherneva's Job Guarantee FAQ page: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/   More on government bonds (and "vigilantes"): Episode 30 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 1):https://www.patreon.com/posts/29621245 Episode 31 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/29829500 Episode 143 - Paul Sheard: What Is Quantitative Easing?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71589989?pr=true Episode 147 - Dirk Ehnts: Do Markets Control Our Politics?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-147-dirk-72906421 Episode 144 - Warren Mosler: The Natural Rate Of Interest Is Zero: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71966513 Episode 145 - John T Harvey: What Determines Currency Prices?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/72283811?pr=true   More on bank runs banking regulation:  Episode 162 - Warren Mosler: Anatomy Of A Bank Run: https://www.patreon.com/posts/80157783?pr=true Episode 163 - L. Randall Wray: Breaking Banks - The Fed's Magical Monetarist Thinking Strikes Again: https://www.patreon.com/posts/80479169?pr=true Episode 165 - Robert Hockett: Sparking An Industrial Renewal By Building Banks Better: https://www.patreon.com/posts/81084983?pr=true MMT founder Warren Mosler's Proposals for the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the Banking System: https://neweconomicperspectives.org/2010/02/warren-moslers-proposals-for-treasury.html     MMT Events And Courses: More information about Professor Bill Mitchell's MMTed project (free public online courses in MMT) here: http://www.mmted.org/ Details of Modern Money Lab's online graduate and postgraduate courses in MMT and real-world economics are here: https://modernmoneylab.org.au/     Order the Gower Initiative's "Modern Monetary Theory - Key Insights, Leading Thinkers": https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/modern-monetary-theory-9781802208085.html   MMT Academic Resources compiled by The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies: https://www.zotero.org/groups/2251544/mmt_academic_resources_-_compiled_by_the_gower_initiative_for_modern_money_studies   MMT scholarship compiled by New Economic Perspectives: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/mmt-scholarship     A list of MMT-informed campaigns and organisations worldwide: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47900757     We are working towards full transcripts, but in the meantime, closed captions for all episodes are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp_nGVTuMfBun2wiG-c0Ew/videos     Show notes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/151023856

Welcome to episode 224 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, the US Treasury has sanctioned a Hizballah-linked gold and shipping network operating across the Middle East and Russia, alongside a $1.72 million OFAC fine against IMG Academy for tuition-related violations of Mexican counternarcotics sanctions. In the UK, the FCA's first-ever enforcement action against a global crypto exchange, HTX, for illegal UK promotions, while Transparency International warns that the UK's new Representation of the People Bill still allows "mega-donors" to exert outsized political influence. We also look at the UK SFO's conclusion that legacy e-discovery technical issues have not compromised past convictions, and the UK leads a 2,500-person multinational cyber-defence exercise in Singapore. Finally, we look at the alarming weaponisation of AI in cyber-espionage, highlighting a sophisticated campaign by state-sponsored hackers which marks an historic shift toward machine-speed autonomous attacks.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial.

BUY GOLD HERE: https://firstnationalbullion.com/schedule-consult/ Avoid CBDCs and work with Mark Gonzales! HELP SUPPORT US AS WE DOCUMENT HISTORY HERE: https://gogetfunding.com/help-keep-wam-alive/# Josh Sigurdson reports on the claim by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the dollar is finished and will collapse following a Fox News interview where he claimed in 5 years "we won't have the ability to sanction." This comes as more and more countries are using foreign currencies to trade exposing the lack of faith in the US dollar. This is an admittance that the world reserve currency is no longer holding onto this status as it has been especially since Saudi Arabia made the Petrodollar deal with the United States. As BRICS+ grows in size dramatically and welcomes in new countries, President Trump himself has recently claimed that the dollar is dying, though he claimed a weak dollar is "good for the American economy." This is simply untrue. It's perhaps good for foreign trade on a temporary basis but no where near good for the people of the United States as the scripted monetary power shift pushes forward. The Chinese system has been propped up by the US government itself for decades, from trade deals under Kissinger to the Trilateral Commission using the country as a guinea pig state for technocracy. When one system falls, the next is ready to take over as a so-called "solution." Then we shall have a truly global cashless society with CBDCs and digital IDs. The Chinese Yuan has hit its highest level against the US dollar since May of 2023. China is instructing banks to reduce US Treasury holdings. China's gold reserves has surpassed 74 million ounces with over $367 billion. Russia's gold reserves have reached $400 billion. As Xi Jinping calls for the Yuan to become the global reserve currency, we are seeing the exact shift mentioned at Davos by people like Ursula Von der Leyen who claimed we are seeing a reset similar to Nixon taking the dollar off the gold standard and that this will create a world order. China is by design that conduit right now. Meanwhile, 63 central banks have implemented Basel 3 allowing for bail-in regimes. Most have no idea what's coming. There are real world solutions however. People just need to leave the modern banking system to the largest extent they can logically do so. Stat tuned for more from WAM! BUY TICKETS HERE! https://anarchapulco.com/ Use Code WAM & Save 10%! Get Your SUPER-SUPPLIMENTS HERE: https://vni.life/wam Use Code WAM15 & Save 15%! Life changing formulas you can't find anywhere else! GET HEIRLOOM SEEDS & NON GMO SURVIVAL FOOD HERE: https://heavensharvest.com/ USE Code WAM to save 25% plus free shipping! Get local, healthy, pasture raised meat delivered to your door here: https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life/bonus15?oid=6&affid=321 USE THE LINK & get 20% off for life and $15 off your first box! DITCH YOUR DOCTOR! https://www.livelongerformula.com/wam Get a natural health practitioner and work with Christian Yordanov! Mention WAM and get a FREE masterclass! You will ALSO get a FREE metabolic function assessment! GET YOUR APRICOT SEEDS at the life-saving Richardson Nutritional Center HERE: https://rncstore.com/r?id=bg8qc1 Use code JOSH to save money! SIGN UP FOR HOMESTEADING COURSES NOW: https://freedomfarmers.com/link/17150/ Get Prepared & Start The Move Towards Real Independence With Curtis Stone's Courses! GET YOUR WAV WATCH HERE: https://buy.wavwatch.com/WAM Use Code WAM to save $100 and purchase amazing healing frequency technology! GET ORGANIC CHAGA MUSHROOMS HERE: https://alaskachaga.com/wam Use code WAM to save money! See shop for a wide range of products! GET AMAZING MEAT STICKS HERE: https://4db671-1e.myshopify.com/discount/WAM?rfsn=8425577.918561&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=8425577.918561 USE CODE WAM TO SAVE MONEY! GET YOUR FREEDOM KELLY KETTLE KIT HERE: https://patriotprepared.com/shop/freedom-kettle/ Use Code WAM and enjoy many solutions for the outdoors in the face of the impending reset! PayPal: ancientwonderstelevision@gmail.com FIND OUR CoinTree page here: https://cointr.ee/joshsigurdson PURCHASE MERECHANDISE HERE: https://world-alternative-media.creator-spring.com/ JOIN US on SubscribeStar here: https://www.subscribestar.com/world-alternative-media For subscriber only content! Pledge here! Just a dollar a month can help us alive! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2652072&ty=h&u=2652072 BITCOIN ADDRESS: 18d1WEnYYhBRgZVbeyLr6UfiJhrQygcgNU World Alternative Media 2026

Kia ora.Welcome to Thursday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.Today we lead with news of what seems to be an outlier jobs report that has financial markets sceptical.US non-farm payrolls were claimed to have risen +130,000 in January in delayed data released today, far above the downwardly revised +48,000 level for December and more than double analysts' collective estimates. All the gains seem to be in their healthcare sector. If it stands, it undermines the case for Fed rate cuts.Market reactions have not been supportive, with bond yields rising, rate curves fattening, the equity markets falling, and the USD falling.The detail of this jobs report remains 'interesting' all the same. Raw (not seasonally adjusted) data shows payrolls actually fell -2.65 mln in January from December, down -2.85 mln from November. And nested within this data are revisions for calendar 2025 now showing employment growth for 2025 revised down to +181,000 from +584,000 previously reported, implying average monthly job gains of just +15,000.These revisions bring the official data back looking like the private ADP data - except for the January headline result. Markets expect this to be revised sharply down in coming months.US mortgage applications fell again last week, the third consecutive dip, although not as sharp as the prior two.There was another US Treasury bond auction overnight, this one for their ten year Note. It was well supported. The median yield came in at 4.11%, down from the 4.13% at the prior equivalent event a month ago.Meanwhile, the US budget deficit keeps getting worse. It will grow in fiscal 2026 to -US$1.85 tln, the Congressional Budget Office said overnight. Current policy settings are worsening the country's fiscal picture amid low economic growth, particularly the enormous tax-cuts for the rich. They say the "One Big Beautiful Bill" tax cuts will will add $4.7 tln to US deficits.Across the Pacific, there is still no inflation in China, and it has turned toward deflation faster than expected. Their annual inflation rate eased to +0.2% in January from an already very low 0.8% in the previous month. This is its lowest level since October and below market estimates of 0.4%. Food prices fell for the first time in three months (-0.7% vs 1.1% in December) while non-food inflation slowed sharply too (0.4% vs 0.8%). Meanwhile, Chinese producer price deflation eased to -1.4%.China also released January car sales data, coming in at 2.35 mln for the month. However, that was -3.3% lower than for January 2025 and +-3.8% lower than the same month in 2024. Notably soft were NEV sales in January. Perhaps we are seeing signs of maturing (or exhaustion?) in this very dynamic market. It's is hugely important to China's industrial base, selling more than 34 mln units in 2025.In Australia, the number of new owner-occupier new home loan commitments rose +7.5 in the December 2025 quarter compared with a year ago. On a value basis, that rose +18.9%. For housing investor loans for the same periods, the number of new loans rose +24%, and their value rose +32%.The UST 10yr yield is now just under 4.17%, and up +2 bps from yesterday. The price of gold will start today up +US$58 from yesterday at US$5075/oz. Silver is up +US$3.50 at US$84/oz and extending its new volatility.American oil prices are up +US$1 at just on US$65/bbl, while the international Brent price is now just under US$70/bbl.The Kiwi dollar is up a minor +10 bps against the USD from yesterday, still just under 60.6 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -50 bps at 85 AUc. We are also down against the yen. But against the euro we are up +20 bps at 51 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today little-changed, still at about 63.9.The bitcoin price starts today at US$65,965 and down -5.1% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been moderate at just on +/- 2.8%.You can get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz.Kia ora. I'm David Chaston and we'll do this again tomorrow.

US stocks rose, with the S&P 500 near a record, led by technology and AI on renewed OpenAI momentum. Alphabet's USD bond sale drew over USD 100 billion in demand, allowing it to raise USD 20 billion and tighten pricing on its 40‑year bond. The USD weakened on reports that China's banks are advised to cut their US Treasury holdings. Europe closed higher on strong gains from UniCredit and Novo Nordisk, while Asia followed Wall Street, with regional technology at new highs and Japan hitting another record. Carsten Menke, Head of Next Generation Research, discusses the precious metals market after its record surge and subsequent pullback.(00:00) - Introduction: Bernadette Anderko, Product & Investment Content (00:34) - Markets wrap-up: Mike Rauber, Product & Investment Content (05:48) - Latest news on precious metals: Carsten Menke, Head of Next Generation Research (09:22) - Closing remarks: Bernadette Anderko, Product & Investment Content Would you like to support this show? Please leave us a review and star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show Notes - Episode 143Recorded: 3 February 2026Released: 8 February 2026Episode DescriptionJack the Insider (Joel Hill) and Hong Kong Jack tackle the RBA's surprise interest rate hike, the coalition's post-election implosion, and dive deep into the Epstein files fallout. From Gaza peace plans to Japanese economic roller coasters, plus Carlton's dodgy pre-season training—it's all here.Timestamps & Topics00:25 - Welcome & RBA Breaking NewsThe Reserve Bank hikes interest rates by 0.25 percentage points as predicted, with markets forecasting two more increases this year in response to 3.8% inflation.01:29 - Interest Rates: The Blunt InstrumentDiscussing government spending as the inflation driver and the uneven effects of rate hikes on mortgage holders versus savers.03:35 - Trump vs The FedHow the US Federal Reserve dropped rates under pressure from Trump despite similar inflation to Australia, and the risks of economic overheating.05:22 - Blame the Barmy Army?A tongue-in-cheek theory from KO: Did England's cricket supporters spending during the Ashes tour drive up inflation to 3.8%?06:49 - Cocaine EconomicsAustralia's most expensive drugs in the world, Rugby World Cup memories, and why Western Australia pays double.08:38 - Coalition Chaos: Nationals Hold OnDavid Littleproud's leadership survives as spill motion fails, but Andrew Hastie drops out of Liberal leadership race.09:33 - The Oxford ConnectionAngus Taylor, Tony Abbott, and Australia's history of Oxford-educated prime ministers—from Gorton to Turnbull.10:09 - Angus Taylor's Shadow Treasurer StrugglesTroy Bramston's scathing assessment of Taylor's poor performance and lost economic credibility for the Coalition.11:37 - Coalition Split ContinuesLittleproud rejects reconciliation attempts while Sussan Ley remains Liberal leader, with potential "none-of-the-above" candidates waiting in the wings.12:13 - Listener Ray on Electoral MathThe great compulsory preferential voting debate: why the Nationals win 15 seats on 3% of first preferences while Greens get one seat on 12%.14:26 - Anthony Green's PatienceThe legendary election analyst educates Twitter on how Labor would have won 85 seats under first-past-the-post voting.15:26 - One Nation's Coalition TargetsAnthony Green's analysis reveals 20 Liberal and National seats at risk from One Nation, with only five Labor seats vulnerable.17:27 - Could One Nation Replace the Nationals?Exploring the possibility of a major conservative realignment, with potential Nationals MPs considering defection.19:35 - What Do the Nationals Stand For?From "agrarian socialists" to today's identity crisis—the party that used to represent farmers now struggles to define its purpose.21:05 - Anti-Semitic Abuse at Sydney UniversityFormer staff member Rose Nakard faces court on stalking and intimidation charges for allegedly calling Jewish students "fucking filthy Zionists" and "parasites."24:45 - Community Response Over LegislationWhy community rejection of hate speech matters more than criminalising phrases like "globalise the intifada," and the problems with new laws affecting police discretion.27:21 - $25 Billion Hospital and NDIS DealAlbanese and state premiers sign massive health funding package while agreeing to limit NDIS growth to 6% or less.28:21 - Autism and the NDIS DebateMoving mild forms of autism out of NDIS into schools—sensible reform or cost-shifting? Only 23% of NDIS costs despite larger recipient numbers.29:38 - The NDIS Needs a Medicare-Style RethinkComparing the transition from Medibank to Medicare: why the NDIS needs root-and-branch reform, not just tinkering.31:03 - Chronic Illness Left OutPeople with ME, CFS, MS, and fibromyalgia struggle to access NDIS support while other areas may be over-serviced.33:26 - Spain's Migrant AmnestySpain grants legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants—stark contrast to anti-immigration sentiment across Europe.35:48 - Epstein Files: 3 Million PagesTwo million documents missing, Kevin Rudd brushes off Epstein's name-dropping, and Peter Mandelson's career implodes.36:36 - What Was Epstein's Business?Unpacking the mystery: Victoria's Secret rip-off, half-billion-dollar investment clients, and the missing financial footprint.38:22 - Mandelson in His UnderpantsThe former UK ambassador to the US photographed with young woman, now "unemployable"—very odd for a gay man.39:22 - Chomsky, Woody Allen, and Strange Dinner PartiesThe inexplicable nature of intellectuals dining with Epstein, and Brett Ratner's creepy Epstein photos despite #MeToo allegations.42:33 - Clintons Agree to TestifyBill Clinton offers four-hour congressional interview, Hillary to make sworn statement about Epstein connections.43:28 - Andrew and Mandelson Under PressurePrince Andrew pushed to testify while Mandelson faces questions about unexplained £75K payments and acting as Epstein's lobbyist while a cabinet minister.46:15 - Put Your Pants On for PhotosWhy do old blokes keep getting photographed in their underwear with Epstein? A plea for sartorial sense.48:13 - Board of Peace: Trump's $1 Billion ClubExplaining Trump's confusing Gaza oversight initiative: permanent seats cost US$1 billion paid into Trump-managed accounts, not US Treasury.50:35 - Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the StansThe "very nice countries" signing onto the Board of Peace, while Europe says no en masse and Canada gets uninvited after Carney's tariff speech.51:56 - UAE Taking Control of GazaMore important than the Board of Peace: United Arab Emirates moving to run Gaza's civilian administration with Israeli and US backing.52:24 - Spain's 500,000 Migrant AmnestySouthern European states bearing the brunt of arrivals while finding their own solutions—Italy's Albania processing reduces numbers by 60%.53:50 - France's Budget Finally PassesAfter four months of deadlock, Macron's government gets budget through with no-confidence motions failing, bringing rare stability.54:42 - Global Energy Prices: Ireland Tops the ListHousehold electricity costs compared: Ireland, Italy, and Belgium most expensive in Europe; Russia at just 7 cents per kilowatt hour versus Australia's 26 cents.56:31 - Canadian Energy: 12 Cents Per Kilowatt HourMark Carney's priority to reduce energy costs in Canada, currently lower than the US at 12.5 cents.57:50 - European GDP: Tepid GrowthGermany, UK, and France stuck around 1-1.5% growth, with Spain and Portugal outperforming at 2.5%, while Russia posts 4% driven entirely by military spending.59:59 - Russia's War Economy TrapWith 2% unemployment, 8% inflation, and 20% interest rates, Russia's 4% GDP growth masks an economy with "nothing to go for it" without the war.01:02:19 - Why Would Russia End the War?No economic incentive to stop fighting when military spending drives the economy and ending the war means economic collapse and regime change risk.01:04:22 - European Army TalkGermany and France push controversial European army concept alongside NATO—bad idea with chain of command issues, likely won't happen.01:07:38 - Japan's Liz Truss MomentPM Takeichi's tax and spending pledges spook markets: ¥5 trillion revenue shortfall, £137 billion stimulus, cash handouts, and approval ratings sliding from 75% to 58%.01:10:23 - Chagos Islands: The Deal That Won't DieBritish Indian Ocean Territory dispute: Diego Garcia military base, Mauritius sovereignty claims, and why the US and Australia oppose the UK deal.01:13:48 - France's Immigration RhetoricMarine Le Pen's inflammatory language about asylum seekers, and why "remigration" policies face huge practical and legal obstacles.01:16:28 - London Murder Prosecutions at 13-Year LowOnly 39% of murders result in charges as London's crime crisis deepens, despite accusations of two-tier policing favouring establishment figures.01:19:23 - Melania: The MovieBrett Ratner's documentary earns $8 million in the US against $40 million production costs—but it's about access to Trump, not profit.01:22:38 - Australian Open: Record NumbersWomen's final delivers 3.8 million viewers (up 30% from 2024), total tournament audience up 9.3% to 14.3 million, cementing status as global sporting event.01:26:39 - Usman Tariq's Unusual ActionPakistani spinner's legal but confounding bowling: shuffle-shuffle-stop-bowl delivery frustrates Cameron Green and raises eyebrows.01:28:58 - Should Steve Smith Play T20?Mark Waugh says yes—36-year-old leg-spinner/batsman is Australia's best player. Missing Tim David as Pakistan dominates the series.01:31:24 - Carlton's Training Video DisasterDropped marks and out-of-bounds kicks in pre-season footage—but fans' hope springs eternal until about May.01:32:07 - King Street Chair-Throwing MemeBloke throws chair at bouncers, accidentally knocks out his mate instead. Victorian government announces "toughest chair laws in Australia." Stand up, Victoria.

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.On today's podcast:1) The Seattle Seahawks won their second Super Bowl title on Sunday, beating the New England Patriots by a score of 29-to-13 at Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. The Seahawks' defense came out strong, recording six sacks and forcing two interceptions against Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III was named Super Bowl MVP for his offensive efforts, becoming the first running back to win the award since the Denver Broncos' Terrell Davis in 1998.2) Chinese regulators have advised financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concerns over concentration risks and market volatility, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials urged banks to limit purchases of US government bonds and instructed those with high exposure to pare down their positions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The directive doesn’t apply to China’s state holdings of US Treasuries. Communicated verbally to some of the nation’s biggest banks in recent weeks, the guidance reflects growing wariness among officials that large holdings of US government debt may expose banks to sharp swings, the people said. The worries echo those made by governments and fund managers elsewhere amid a brewing debate over the safe haven status of US debt and the appeal of the dollar.3) Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a historic election triumph, positioning her as the nation’s strongest leader in the postwar era in an outcome that sent stock prices and bond yields soaring. Her ruling Liberal Democratic Party achieved the biggest post-war victory for a single-party in a general election in Japan, an extraordinary transformation of fortunes for a party that was on the ropes last summer before getting behind the nation’s first ever female premier in October. The LDP secured a two-thirds super majority in the 465-seat lower house by itself, according to public broadcaster NHK. A tally of results by NHK early Monday showed that the ruling coalition had won 352 seats in the lower house, expanding its previous razor-thin majority of 233 by a considerable margin. The LDP’s haul of 316 seats gives it a higher proportion of representatives in the lower house than any other party in post-war Japan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Please join Ralf Preusser in discussion with Aditya Bhave and Mark Cabana to discuss the nomination of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair. We will analyse the implications for monetary policy, the outlook for the Fed's balance sheet and the market reaction in US Treasury markets to the announcement. We will also preview US data and review the quarterly refunding announcement.   You may also enjoy listening to the Merrill Perspectives podcast, featuring conversations on the big stories, news and trends affecting your everyday financial life.   "Bank of America" and “BofA Securities” are the marketing names for the global banking businesses and global markets businesses (which includes BofA Global Research) of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, derivatives, and other commercial banking activities are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. Securities, trading, research, strategic advisory, and other investment banking and markets activities are performed globally by affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including, in the United States, BofA Securities, Inc. a registered broker-dealer and Member of FINRA and SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, by locally registered entities. ©2026 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

The rotation out of technology stocks continued, with software shares selling off on AI‑disruption concerns, while cyclical stocks outperformed. WalMart reached a USD 1 trillion market‑cap milestone. German long‑dated yields hit their highest level since 2011 as heavy issuance lifted supply. Precious metals remain volatile but rebounded sharply, while Brent oil rises on Middle East tensions. In earnings, Novo Nordisk expects sales to fall this year due to pricing pressure. Afonso Borges from Fixed Income Research outlines developments in the US fixed income market and our Overweight stance on duration. Nenad Dinic from Equity Strategy provides an update on the earnings season and the outperformance of emerging‑market equities this year.(00:00) - Introduction: Jan Bopp, Product & Investment Content (00:51) - Markets wrap-up: Mike Rauber, Product & Investment Content (07:08) - Update on US Federal Reserve: Afonso Borges, Fixed Income Research (11:48) - Earnings season and EM update: Nenad Dinic, Equity Strategy Research (18:34) - Closing remarks: Jan Bopp, Product & Investment Content Would you like to support this show? Please leave us a review and star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In today's episode, Tom Bilyeu takes you on a deep dive into the radical transformation of the global financial system—a shift that is redefining the rules of investing, and impacting everything from your mortgage rates to international alliances. The era where the US dollar acted as a neutral bridge for global trade is officially over. Now, the dollar is a weapon of economic statecraft, used strategically to reward allies and punish adversaries on the world stage. Tom Bilyeu unpacks the recent moves by the US Treasury and Federal Reserve, their ripple effects on the yen and US bonds, and why the classic “set it and forget it” approach to investing might be obsolete. You'll learn how the age of polite globalism is giving way to a lower-trust, more volatile world—where nations are building financial walls and alliances are driven by survival rather than harmony. Get ready to rethink your approach to wealth, risk, and opportunity as Tom Bilyeu explores how power, not trust, now drives the world order—and what you can do to stay ahead. Let's dive in. Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impactKetone IQ: Visit https://ketone.com/IMPACT for 30% OFF your subscription orderHuel: High-Protein Starter Kit 20% off for new customers at https://huel.com/impact code impactCape: 33% off your first 6 months with code IMPACT at https://cape.co/impactPique: 20% off at https://piquelife.com/impactPlaud: Get 10% off with code TOM10 at https://plaud.ai/tomQuince: Free shipping and 365-day returns at https://quince.com/impactpod What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business: join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER:  https://tombilyeu.com/zero-to-founder?utm_campaign=Podcast%20Offer&utm_source=podca[%E2%80%A6]d%20end%20of%20show&utm_content=podcast%20ad%20end%20of%20show SCALING a business: see if you qualify here.:  https://tombilyeu.com/call Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox: sign up here.: https://tombilyeu.com/ ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast, Tom Bilyeu's Mindset Playbook —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's show, The Right Side, we go beyond headlines and into the hidden architecture of power that shapes nations, markets, and everyday life.This episode breaks down why markets move on confidence, not just data, how the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury operate as two separate keys to the same financial system, and why **legitimacy — not force — is what ultimately holds a Republic together.We explore how money, law, and meaning interact to create stability or chaos, why unelected institutions shape daily life more than most people realize, and how global actors read America's internal signals as cues for pressure, testing, and leverage.This is a civic deep-dive for listeners who want more than talking points — a master-class in understanding how power really works inside a constitutional Republic.

Keith shares how a recent trip to Colorado Springs and a changing commission landscape reveal what really matters for real estate investors now From there, the show dives into the three levers investors truly control—leverage, operations, and relationships—before welcoming lender Caeli Ridge to break down the major mortgage options for investors. You'll hear how different loan types fit different strategies: from your first conventional "golden ticket" loans, to DSCR loans based on property income, to short-term fix-and-flip and bridge loans that prioritize speed and flexibility.  The episode then moves into how more advanced investors can scale beyond 10 doors, navigate debt-to-income and tax strategy, and even approach financing for short-term rentals—all while highlighting why having the right lending partner and long-term plan can make a big difference to your results. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/591 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold with new ways to think about your life through goals momentum in the real estate market. Then learn about various mortgage loan types, conventional DSCR, fix and flip, bridge loans, short term rental loans and more. Knowing which loans to use can save you millions and learn the fatal mortgage mistakes you must avoid today on get rich education.   Corey Coates  0:29   since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads and 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast or visit get rich education.com   Speaker 1  1:14   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  1:30   Welcome to GRE from Winnebago, Minnesota to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to get rich education, the voice of real estate investing since 2014 before we get into the mortgage discussion, where we'll discuss five or 10 different investor loan types and their various pros and cons, which could save you millions over the course of your life. I shared with you that I traveled to Colorado A couple weeks ago, for a goals retreat hosted by the real estate guys, top notch event, I spent extra time there in Colorado Springs, because I find it really livable, and I spent five hours with a local realtor there, one day out and about visiting properties in the area I'm potentially looking for a home or a second home. And by the way, how is this for a price range? The realtor wanted to know what my Buy Box is, and since I'm just learning the Colorado Springs market, I told him I'm willing to spend between 400k and 1.2 million on the property, yeah, pretty wide range, a mile wide. Fortunately, my other Buy Box criteria are more narrow and specific, and I have got to say, I'm surprised at how low the area's home prices are. I thought they'd be higher. Interestingly, before touring homes, my buyer agent wanted me to sign a six month exclusive representation agreement. Fair enough, that's standard stuff. It was on the agreement, though, that I as the buyer pay a 3% commission up on the purchase, and the seller would presumably pay the other 3% to make up that total 6% commission for the agent compensation. Well, historically, the seller paid the entire 6% and this, of course, goes back to the NAR settlement, and that ruling that became effective in August of 2024 you probably remember this, and I talked about it on the show back then, and how it's not really that big of a deal, especially to investors like us, because at GRE marketplace and with our GRE investment coaching, it's a direct model. There's zero commission on either side, and then you, in turn, get some of those savings, but out in the larger world and in the owner occupant world. Well, that rule change that started a year and a half ago. It means that sellers are no longer required to pay the buyer's agent. Instead, the fee is now negotiable between buyers and their agent. The other change is that property listings no longer display the buyer agent's commission offer. But here's what's interesting in practice, and what really ends up happening in the end, in most cases, is that the seller still pays the full commission and compensates both agents that full 6% sometimes it's 5% instead of six buyers and buyer agents, they still operate under the seller pays. And that's largely because that has just been the norm. It's what's seemingly always been done. It's what buyers are used to. And the reason that that often persists. Is because the seller is the party in the transaction that has that thick equity in the property, deep equity, and buyers are the ones often just trying to scrape together whatever they can for a down payment and closing costs. Buyers are not going to be able to come up with another 15k for an agent commission when they're buying a 500k property, that's 3% especially today, this is true because American homeowners the seller then still have record equity positions of about 300k an all time high. Nearly half of mortgaged homes are considered equity rich. What does equity rich mean? It means that the loan balance is less than half of the home's value, yeah, the seller has the means to pay the full commission. So the point is, in practice, the seller, yeah, still pays that full five to 6% commission in the overwhelming majority of cases, and the buyer pays nothing. And if that does change, it's going to take a long time. You know, a lot of these evanescent real estate stories that people think are going to have some seismic impact. It rarely does, like this erstwhile NAR ruling or the 50 year mortgage proposal or banning big institutions for buying more single family rentals. You know, this stuff is like one little baseball sized asteroid striking an entire planet. I mean, it's like a barely discernible impact. Real estate is anchored in one place like Jabba the Hut. It is solid. These stories are interesting, but they're not impactful.   Keith Weinhold  6:52   Instead, I've mentioned it before. What are three things you control in real estate that really matter. And these are evergreen things. First, it's, how many dollars are you leveraging? That's where your wealth is going to come from. In fact, we're going to discuss that today with mortgage loan types. Second, what's the efficiency of operations on your existing properties? And thirdly, what is the quality of your relationships? And actually, we're addressing the third one today too, talking to a lender that you could make part of your team. You can control these three things. They're unyielding, they're evergreen, they're long term, and they all have gratitas and impact those three things, leverage operations and relationships. Now my agent drops me off and picks me up from my hotel here at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. This was also the event hotel for the goals retreat. I just extended my stay to hang out in the area. Look at real estate, do some climbing on Pikes Peak. Pro tip for you on hotel room rates, talk to a human being before I booked my stay, I called the front desk and asked them if they could extend the attractive event room rate to more nights on my extended stay. And they agreed. You might have heard of the Broadmoor. It is well known. It's been here for more than 100 years, and it is such a fine place to stay. Let me tell you about this special piece of real estate. In fact, I've thought it through, and I will now hereby proclaim that it is the finest us hotel experience that I've ever had in my life. I say us because I stayed at an amazing place in Dubai. But what makes the Broadmoor stand alone? It's the details and the service. A lot of hotels are nice, but this is on a different level. And I don't say this to brag, and this is because you probably can afford to stay here, yeah, like I have. You might have paid more elsewhere in your life for a lesser hotel, although I am here in the low seasons. Okay, now, sure, you've got views of the Rockies and a man made lake and waterfall and even a beautiful chandelier in my hotel room. The thing that sets it apart, though, is you have this service that feels old world and not corporate. That's what makes the difference. The Broadmoor is horse themed, since horses are a symbol of the American West. There are about 800 rooms here. It's kind of like a self contained adult Disneyland championship golf courses, a world class spa, even an outdoor lap swimming pool like that has lanes that I swam in one morning for. Fine dining, casual dining, access to hiking, fly fishing, even falconry, zip lines, tennis, pickleball pools. Take the cog railway to the Pikes Peak, Summit. Okay. Now, other nice hotels have attractions that are sort of like that, but when I rave about the service, it's the little things they are knocking on my door before 10am to come in and clean the room. And you know how so commonly, when you first check into your hotel room and you look in the closet, there are not enough clothing hangers, and they're all like stupidly mismatched. These all match. They're all nice wood, and there are plenty of them. So I'm talking about these details. I'm telling you. I had dinner at one of the broadmoor's restaurants the other night. I just happened to take a close look at the tag on the napkin. Sure enough, it is made in Italy. I mean, jeez, no detail is overlooked at this stellar place. In fact, here's what I'll do. You know, I'll just completely stop my Colorado Springs home search right now. Instead, I'm going to stop down by the Broadmoor front desk, tell him to give me some moving boxes, because I'm moving into the Broadmoor and I'll be here for the next decade. Start forwarding my mail here and everything. And hey, at least I was courteous enough to give them notice. I can't stay here too long, or my standards will be rising faster than my net worth. Yeah, yeah. Can't go to sleep with a mint on your pillow every night, I suppose.    Keith Weinhold  11:38   Now, the reason I came here now is to attend that aforementioned goals retreat, and let me take all the time and all the resources that I put into being here and distill them into just a few of the most salient takeaways for you. Goals should be smart, strategic, measurable, actionable, relevant and time based, they must be written down. Now, how would you describe yourself to somebody else that didn't know who you were? Write that down next. What do you think your reputation is? How would others describe you? Write that down now that you can see how you describe yourself and how others describe you, you can see that there's a gap there. That gap is what you need to work on. I learned that goal should be written in the present tense, not the future tense. I did not know that before. For example, say it is January 1, 2035, and I own $5 million in rental property. That's an example of how you would do that. So take future events and write them in the present tense. Other questions at the goals retreat that got really introspective are, what are you really going to do with your life? And write down that answer. Sheesh, that is tough. And if you think that's a hard question for you to ask of yourself, the next one is even harder. It's simply why? Why is that where you're going with your life? And then write that down? I mean, would you answer questions like this for yourself? And you really think about it, that can occupy a new segment of your entire headspace. It is a big cognitive load, and a last one to leave you with is to dream not just big, but gigantic. Get it out there, write down a dream that interests you, but it's so grandiose that you're actually embarrassed to tell someone about this stretch dream, for example, for me, it's the first person to walk on another planet. No human has ever done that, and this would most likely happen on Mars. See, this is so grand that is sort of embarrassing for me to even share that with you. It almost makes you sound Loony, like I would have to learn so many new skills to travel to and walk on Mars. But you should write down a bunch of other goals too. You're sort of brainstorming on goals, attainable goals. Recall that is the A in the SMART goals acronym, you want to write down a bunch of attainable ones, not just that stretch one. So for attainable ones, one of them is for me to become the highest man on earth. To give you an example. And I attempted that goal two years ago, and I failed. I told you about that at that time. But see now, compared to my embarrassing stretch goal of walking on Mars, the highest man on earth feels attainable, I know what it takes to achieve it, and it's worth doing, ah, but it's a grind to get there, yet it would be worth it. Those are some quick take. Ways from the real estate guys goals retreat while on stage the event host Robert helms he took a minute respite from the goals material, and he recognized the fact that, as he calls it, the four OG real estate podcasters are all in the same room. One of them is helms himself, and now I feel like the other three are all older and doing it longer than me. I was one of the four that he mentioned. But you know, there is only one podcast that was mentioned from stage, and that is that Robert helms told the audience that they should be listening to the get rich education podcast. That was a nice thing to say, and he is always a gracious giver.   Keith Weinhold  15:45   Next, we're talking about four major loan types, conventional DSCR, fix and flip and then bridge loans. When we discuss the first two parts of it could sound repetitive, but you'll see why we do this, because then you'll be able to compare it to nichey loan types that we discuss, for example, the speed of a bridge loan, where you can get funded in just one week, compared to a slower conventional loan. The mortgage landscape changes. I still remember how in 2012 we had still somewhat freshly emerged from the global financial crisis, and back then, you could only get four conventional loans, four rental properties, not 10 like you can today, 20 married. So get your loans while you can, you probably won't always be able to get 10 loans. We'll start with loan types that are more for beginners, and then we'll get to advanced material. Let's welcome back one of our favorite recurring guests.   Keith Weinhold  16:54   You can make millions more throughout your life by understanding mortgage loans. This is key, and today it's the return of the woman that's created more financial freedom through real estate than any other lender in the entire nation, because she's the president of ridge lender group. Hey, it's time for a big welcome back to the incomparable, yet somehow still so approachable Chaley Ridge   Caeli Ridge  17:16   my Keith, thank you for having me. I love being here. I love what you're doing. It's my pleasure, sir.   Keith Weinhold  17:23   And our followers, our listeners, have been approaching you since 2015 you're one of the longest running guests, truly one of the OGS around here at GRE and now Caeli, before we discuss loan types. You know, we don't really talk politics on this show rather policies, and we're in the midst of a presidential administration that often, in the name of the word affordability, is trying to supremely shake things up in the housing market. Help us dissect what matters and what won't.   Caeli Ridge  17:58   I have found that at least as it relates to current administration, whoever that might be, I wait for the buzzwords or the taglines to become the actual policy. Like you said, That's a good point in this case. You know, you've got things floating around, like the 50 year mortgage cutting off the hedge fund guys and that kind of thing. Whether or not, those things come to fruition. I'm happy to give my opinion on them. I do not think that it's going to move the needle much for the people that you and I serve with regard to I mean, just taking them one at a time, I don't think that the 50 year is going to come to fruition. Just first and foremost, if it did do, I think it would be a good idea for a homeowner, probably not, but for an investor, maybe if there's some way that we can keep our payment lower, given the maturity date of a mortgage for an investment property is usually about five years. I mean, I know that this is a 30 year fixed mortgage, but statistically speaking, the average shelf life of a non owner occupied mortgage is about five years. So getting a 50 year amortization, if that were going to reduce the payment, I don't think is a bad thing for an investor, however, and this may get a little bit technical for the listeners, so I apologize in advance if we were to go to a 50 Year am the adjustments, something called, and you and I have talked about this before, something called an llpa, that stands for loan level price adjustment, I think would be such that it could end up defeating the purpose of having the longer term amortization, because I think the interest rates would be higher and I think they may offset so that was a long way to say. One, I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think it's actually going to get to its final resting place. And two, would it be a good idea for investors, yeah, I think it would be worth considering if it kept the payment lower. Okay, that's that as the other piece to cutting off the hedge funds, the big, you know, BlackRock, some of the big players, and giving them access to the residential housing and first right of infusion or etc, because they've got such deep pockets. You. It's such a small amount to what our individual investors are going to have access to that I don't think that that moves the needle either. So I don't know if I'm answering the question, except to say anything that they're going to tout, I would wait for it to actually become written in stone and pass by the rest of the powers that be before I would get excited about or concerned about any of it.   Keith Weinhold  20:21   This is pretty parallel with what I've been telling our listeners. All these things seem to make splashy news, but I haven't seen anything that's going to make a deep impact yet, whether it's the 50 year mortgage, which probably won't even come to fruition, or if it's doing these mortgage bond buy downs in order to bring more liquidity into the market and bring rates down, or if it sees any of these other things being discussed with these institutional investors, since they already own such a smaller proportion of the housing market than a lot of people think, we'll discuss seasoned real estate investors and their loans shortly, but first for newer real estate investors, you Know, chili, I kind of think of four or more loan types that a beginner should be familiar with. I think of conventional loans, dscrs, fix and flips and then bridge loans, the first one with conventional loans. What are the basics that someone should know?   Caeli Ridge  21:17   So first of all, you should know that there are 10 of these. We call them the golden tickets. I'm pretty sure I coined this, okay, 100 years ago, the golden ticket. We call the conventional aka Fannie Freddie, aka agency. They go by different names, but they all mean the same thing. We call them the golden tickets because it's the highest leverage and typically at the lowest interest rate you can find. Now I do have a hook in our conversation today about that. I'll get we'll get to it. There are 10 of these per qualified individual. So one of the first things that I would tell somebody is, is that if they are a partnership or a husband and wife team, you want to make sure to keep the debt obligation separate, because if you want to maximize these golden tickets, let's just say it's a husband and wife team. You each have, per qualification access to 10, and that includes a primary residence. In fact, let me just take a quick second and define what counts in the 10, because some people get this wrong. So the 10 golden tickets are counted by any residential property, single family, up to four Plex that has a loan on it, where the loan is in the individual name or personally guaranteed by the individual. That's where people get tied up. So if they went out and got a kind of more of a commercial type loan, that was in an LLC name, for example, but they signed a personal guarantee, per Fannie Freddie guidelines, that particular mortgage is going to count against the 10. So those would be some of the first pieces of news or detail I would give them about conventional    Keith Weinhold  22:40   for married couples, don't take ownership in both the husband and wife's name, either the husband or the wife. That way, you can get to 20 rather than 10. And yes, you do have to be mindful that your primary residence does count in that 10 or 20, whatever it might be. Anything else quickly with conventional loans, LTVs so on,    Caeli Ridge  23:01   yeah, LTV can go to 85% loan to value. So you get a little bit extra than you're going to get in some of the other loan product types. It will have PMI, private mortgage insurance, anything over 80% LTV will always have PMI on a more conforming, conventional basis. So keep that in mind. But the factor is pretty low. I would encourage people that are looking to stretch the almighty dollar. Do the math. Look at the 85 with PMI against, say, an 80% and see what are you giving up versus what you're getting. And then qualification stuff, you guys, my dumb joke, it's Keith's favorite. I'm sure vials of blood and DNA samples are sort of required for the Fannie Freddie loans. So just be prepared to supply or submit us the tax returns and pay stubs and bank statements and and all that stuff,   Keith Weinhold  23:44   you'll feel like you're getting fingerprinted almost for a conventional loan qualification. And the second one that I brought up DSCR loans, that's short for debt service coverage ratio. And these mortgages are pretty standard for rental properties. They're underwritten based on a property's income potential. So you know, the way I think of dscrs Chaley from the lender's perspective, is that sustainable cash flow is what matters. The rent has got to support the property's monthly mortgage payments. So we talked to us more about dscrs.    Caeli Ridge  24:15   Yeah, I love this product, and this is for somebody that either can't fit into the conventional Fannie Freddie box, or maybe they've exhausted their golden tickets and they're graduating and moving on. This is a great option that will reduce the amount of vials of blood and DNA samples that you're going to have to submit. It still provides for a 30 year fixed mortgage. The leverage is roughly the same, 80% in most cases, on a purchase. And to your point, the gross income divided by the principal, interest, taxes, insurance and Hoa, if it's applicable, is the simple formula, the easy method I'll give people, just to kind of solidify that math, is that if the gross rents were $1,000 a month, and if the PI TI was $1,000 a month, when you divide that, your debt service is 1.0 Now you can go as low, believe it or not, as low as a point seven, five, DSCR, they have those available be ready for the interest rate to get a little hair on it. Okay, it's going to be higher than what the 1.0 and above is going to be. But you can go as low as point seven, five, those are going to be for the investors that have found a property, maybe in distress, and they cannot show the current market value rent, perhaps, and it's on the low end. So you can still get that done at point seven, five, just be ready for a higher interest rate.   Keith Weinhold  25:30   So the DSCR loan an alternative for you, which might be especially useful, like Chaley touched on, if you've already exhausted your 10 golden ticket. Fannie Freddie loans, a DSCR of 1.2 for example, means that your rent income needs to exceed your principal, interest, taxes and insurance payment by 20% or more. That's what we're talking about here. And then Chile, those were more of loans for the buy and hold type of investor. Tell us about fix and flip loans.    Caeli Ridge  26:03   Yeah. So these are shorter term loan that will allow you to include not just the purchase of the property, but also some renovation or rehab money if you need that. And we're going to be looking at an ARV after repair value. So you've got a purchase price, you've got your renovation or scope of work budget. And then we're looking for an ARV with the ARV to be somewhere around 75% so what that means, if you've not heard of this before, you're going to take, let's say, $100,000 value. And if we want the ARV to be at 75% we're going to lend 75,000 is kind of the mix there. Those are quicker loans. You're going to be paying much higher rates on those. You know, between nine and 13% depending on the deal. The points are also going to be a little bit higher, but a great option for that quick turn and burn where you know your deal has enough skin in it and you can recapture all your capital and make a good tidy profit on it.   Keith Weinhold  26:53   We're talking about basically fixer upper loans here with Chaley Ridge, the president of ridge lending group, yes, these are jalopies that rarely qualify for traditional bank financing. And oftentimes, when I think about these fix and flip loans, I'm thinking that often there is interest only flexibility with regard to those higher interest rates that you need to pay. And I think of it as, you know, a shorter term loan that you've got during your renovation period, oftentimes 12 to 18 months. Does that sound about right?   Caeli Ridge  27:24   Yeah, 6,18, even 24 months. And to your point, yes, all of these are going to be interest only. And one of the cool things is about these loans is, is that, if there's enough room in the deal, right, based on what you need to borrow and what we think the ARV is expected to be, you don't even actually have to be making those interest payments. You can build it into the final payout when we go to refinance you out of this short term loan, or you simply sell the property and pay off that loan. So for example, let's say that your interest only payment is $1,000 a month, okay? And the value of the property is going to be $200,000 and you only took 120 okay, we're going to be well within that 75% ARV. You can build in that $1,000 say, for 12 months, there's $12,000 and just add it to the outstanding balance that you started by owing, and not have to be making those payments on an ongoing basis. It's not rented, right? So it might be nice to be able to factor that in to the actual payoff when you go to refinance that if it's a fix and hold versus go to sell it on a fix and flip.   Keith Weinhold  28:31   Now, long term, we know that the big gains for real estate investors really come from that leveraged appreciation getting that loan. But sometimes there are situations where we might want to act as a cash buyer. And that brings up this fourth of four loan types that I brought up, the bridge loan, short term loans that can temporarily finance a property purchase while you're waiting for a longer term loan to come through. The bridge loan, so I think of it as a pretty speedy loan, if you sort of want to act like you're an all cash buyer.   Caeli Ridge  29:04   Yeah, I like this, and in many ways it's similar to a fix and flip interest only. Obviously the term is going to be shorter, six months, 12 months, up to 24 months, and based on largely relationship, the bridge loan for the purpose that you described, really comes into play for an investor that we know and we're comfortable with, we can fund those inside a week, for somebody that we've done several of these loans for. So for those that need that really quick turn, once you've established yourself as a seasoned, experienced investor in that space, those are pretty slick and easy to get through.   Keith Weinhold  29:39   Why would someone use a bridge loan, rather than a fix and flip loan.   Caeli Ridge  29:43   So if they're in a very competitive market, that might be another option, because those are going to be faster. The bridge loan is going to be faster where they need to say that they're an all cash buyer and they only need seven days to close, or whatever it is. It depends on the municipality in the state. But what if you're at the courthouse steps? And you need cash quickly. Sometimes it needs to be immediate. So that might not be applicable in this case, but if you put the bid in, and you win the bid, and you've got, you know, three days to perform, usually we can get those done. So it's circumstantial. Those would be two variables or two scenarios that that would apply to   Keith Weinhold  30:17   the bridge loan gives you the advantage of speed, but that speed can come at a cost.   Caeli Ridge  30:22   Oh yeah, yeah, you're going to be paying probably three points, maybe four points, and it's short term interest, 13, 14%   Keith Weinhold  30:30   so with these four loan types that we've discussed, conventional DSCR, fix and flip and bridge loans, you can kind of see that there is a loan for most every investment scenario, and there's no reason to rely on only one type, a flipper. Might start with a short term fix and flip loan or a bridge loan and then later refinance to a DSCR or a conventional loan. So consider mixing and matching based on your needs. You're listening to get rich education. We're talking with Ridge leninger, President Taylor Ridge, more when we come back, including steps for more advanced investors, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold   Keith Weinhold  31:06   mid south homebuyers with over two decades as the nation's highest rated turnkey provider, their empathetic property managers use your return on investment as their North Star. It's no wonder smart investors line up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone, headquartered in Memphis, with their globally attractive cash flows, mid south has an A plus rating with a better business bureau and 4000 houses renovated. There is zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate with an industry leading three and a half year average renter term. Every home they offer you will have brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter in an astounding price range, 100 to 150k GET TO KNOW Mid South. Enjoy cash flow from day one at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid southhomebuyers.com    Keith Weinhold  32:08   you know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds. Don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program when you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products, they've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest, start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom family investments.com/gre or GRE, or send a text now it's 1-937-795-8989, yep, text their freedom coach, directly again. 1-937-795-8989,   Keith Weinhold  33:19   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage, start your pre qual and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally, while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com   Blair Singer  33:53   this is Rich Dad, sales advisor, Blair singer. Listen to get rich education with Keith Weinhold. And above all, don't quit your Daydream.    Keith Weinhold  34:09   Welcome back to get rich education chili when we go beyond this beginner stage that we've been discussing, how about for an investor just trying to scale to 10 doors worth of one to four unit properties. Now, are there any strategies there or more of a loan order that you would recommend in getting up to your first 10 you know   Caeli Ridge  34:29   I think the strategy starts with calling your lender, ideally Ridge lending group, and having that deep strategy call that, that discovery call, so that we can really understand and plant some seeds that say, Okay, Mr. Jones, these are your qualifications today. This is where you want to be in a year or 10 years. These are the steps that are going to be important that we are mindful of and we take to accomplish and reach those milestones. It's really important to have that baseline understanding of what is your debt to income ratio on day one, what are your assets? Sets. What is your credit? Where do you want to be in a year or 10 years? Right? Do you want 10 properties in a year's time? It's going to be a very different conversation than if you're going to slow roll this and want to establish 10 purchases or 10 investment properties over 10 years. So identifying those details is going to be part one, and then next, in terms of order, I would say, largely the higher price point properties, typically, I would say, put those in one through six. And the reason that I'm saying that is is that the underwriting guidelines under conventional financing, they will change based on how many finance properties you have. So of all of the inner working guidelines and things that go into securing a conventional mortgage loan, the three top most heavily weighted are going to be debt to income ratio, credit score and assets. Okay? And within each one of those, the marker or the qualification guideline changes as you evolve and acquire more property. So the higher up the ring you go, or the rung that you go to 10, the more restrictive the guidelines are going to be. So I would typically say, get the higher price point properties go into maybe one to four, one to six, if that's part of your strategy and your diversification of portfolio ownership. Then after you've established having two or three or four properties and that higher price point it as it gets harder to qualify, potentially, if your debt to income ratio is a little bit tight, you've got the smaller loan sizes that might be less impactful in debt to income ratio. All of this is very subjective to the individual's qualifications and needs, of course, but that might be one rule of thumb that I would take   Keith Weinhold  36:39   gosh, this This is absolute gold in helping you structure the architecture of a growing income property portfolio. And we're coming up on this Super Bowl, and whatever mortgage lender advertises for the Super Bowl or has some big, splashy campaign nationally, you know they are not the ones that are going to have conversations like this for you, they might be fine for buying a primary residence, but this is why you want to have a long term strategy and work with a lender that's aligned with you on exactly that sort of thing. And Chaley, is there a specific way in which one can avoid hitting the Fannie Freddie loan ceilings too early if you haven't already touched on it.    Caeli Ridge  37:22   Yeah, very good question. You know, I think that this is going to come down to a debt to income ratio conversation. It's easy enough to ensure that we contain assets and credit. Those are easier conversations. The debt to income ratio is the piece that's more complicated and can get away from an investor without them even knowing it. You don't know what you don't know, right? So I would say that debt to income ratio and making sure that your lender again, hopefully Ridge lending, because we know this like we know our own faces, making sure they know how to structure and provide feedback and consult on that schedule E, part of the beauty of real estate investing is the tax deductions. Right? Many people get into real estate investing, not for the cash flow, not even for the appreciation, but for that tax strategy, because they're high wage earners, or whatever it may be, and they're sick of paying x in taxes. So the debt to income ratio is key in scaling and making sure you can continue to qualify for those loans. The conversations that we have with our clients really go deep about where we can maximize our deductions to ensure that we get the tax benefit without precluding our qualification on a conventional underwriting basis in the DTI category.   Keith Weinhold  38:35   Now, during my growth as an investor, when I got above 10 doors, one gets above 20 doors. When one gets to 216 doors, I began where I needed to qualify more on a DSCR basis, where the lender is looking at the properties qualification, more so than me. So are there any other thoughts with regard to how one can set themselves up for success in really going big and well beyond 10 doors   Caeli Ridge  39:03   absolutely so once we've exhausted the Fannie Freddie, and I think one of the real value adds about Ridge is that we are not a one size fits all, and we are extremely holistic versus transactional. So having that first conversation and understanding what those goals are, so that we can pivot as we need to maximize the golden tickets, whether that be 10 to 20, right? If you're in a marriage or a partnership or whatever, and then setting up for the DSCR loans when the time comes, and taking advantage of those, there is no limit to how many DSCR loans we can get for one individual. We have yet to file an individual that we've had to say no, and we've done quite a few of the high, high acquisition investors, so I don't expect that to be an issue, but yeah, I think it's about planning, planting those seeds, creating roadmaps together and have those smart discovery conversations.   Keith Weinhold  39:50   Now, as you grow, one way you might diversify is to have perhaps at least a part of your portfolio in short term rentals. So what I. Comes to getting loans for sort of Airbnb or VRBO type properties. What does one look for there? How much does the landscape change versus the longer term rentals that we've mostly been talking about here?    Caeli Ridge  40:10   Yeah, I think that the differences are going to be about purchase versus refinance. If we're just talking about purchases, let's kind of try to keep it in one lane. If we're talking about purchasing a short term rental, you may be limited on leverage. You might lose a little bit of leverage, 5% let's say you could get to 75% and maybe on a short term they're going to back it off to 70% LTV, so there may be reduction in that loan to value. And the way in which we're going to quantify the income is absolutely important to share with your listeners on a purchase transaction, we have access to things like an appraisal. An appraisal is going to give us some median rental income, whether it be long term or short term, that we will use to offset a new mortgage payment if that's needed for the individual's debt to income ratio qualification. Now, if they don't need the rental income to qualify, then it's a non issue. But if they do, like most of us, need that rental income to absorb this new mortgage payment that we are securing for them, how that's going to quantify is important. So if it's not in a short term rental area, let's just say it's kind of off the beaten path, and there may not be enough data points to support the income that you need. It's important to know that up front versus way down the rabbit hole, when you paid for appraisals and you're all the way through the transaction and earnest money might be off the table if you had to cancel that kind of thing. So really important to understand the numbers in advance, I would say, when we talk about short term rentals and how the income is going to be quantified from an underwriting perspective,   Keith Weinhold  41:43   why does a borrower often need to make a higher down payment on a short term rental than they do a long term rental?   Caeli Ridge  41:49    You know, I think that in secondary markets, as we talk about mortgage backed securities and things like that, it's looked at as a higher risk. A short term rental is going to be a higher risk than just the stable long term, long burn tenant is going to be there and they've got their lease for a year, two years or whatever, at a time, the short term rental is more volatile and it's seasonal. It can be I mean, there's all those different factors, so higher risk means more skin in the game for the investor.   Keith Weinhold  42:13   That makes a lot of sense. Does that higher risk also translate into a higher mortgage rate for short term rentals than long term rentals?   Caeli Ridge  42:18    Fannie Freddie versus DSCR The answer is no. On the Fannie Freddie side, the interest rate's not going to change on a DSCR loan. Yes, it can be slightly higher, usually about about a quarter of a percentage point on a short term versus a long term.   Keith Weinhold  42:33   Now, are there any particular markets that lenders want to avoid with short term rental loans?   Caeli Ridge  42:39   No, as long as the property is habitable, and all the other metrics fit Qualifications and Credit and assets and all that stuff. No, there isn't a market that we're going to have any issues with now. We do get the notifications for natural disaster areas, and as that relates to the appraisal and things like that, if it's in a natural disaster area or zone, we may have to hold funding until after the disaster is over, and then we can go and take more pictures and make sure it's still standing and there's no major issues. But otherwise, aside from that, as long as it's habitable, no, there is no market restriction.   Keith Weinhold  43:12   Yes, with that variability of income for short term rentals, you can understand how a lender would be more careful in making a loan, and would want you, the borrower, to put more skin in the game for a short term rental. Well, Caeli, overall, what should an investor do in the next 24 hours to make themselves more lendable before contacting someone like you?   Caeli Ridge  43:36   I would say the answer is sticky, but call rich lending group. That's how you're going to make yourself more lendable. And the reason that I can say that is is that everybody's qualifications and needs and goals are inherently different. So calling someone that understands this landscape and can navigate the battleship in the creek like I like to say, that's the visual aid for those of you that need the visual is the first key. And with that conversation, we're going to be able to identify for you specifically what you would need to do to become more lendable. And it may be nothing   Keith Weinhold  44:07   well over there, Chaley, you're growing. You do loans in almost all 50 states. The GRE podcast has more than 5.8 million listener downloads, and you have helped countless GRE listeners acquire smart investor loans for fully a decade now. Just amazing. So talk to us about all of the loan types that you offer investors there at ridge.   Caeli Ridge  44:30   My gosh. Okay, so I think one of the real value adds for us is that we have such a diverse menu of loan products. We touched on a few of them already. So we've got the conventional Fannie Mae Freddie, Mac stuff. We've got our DSCR loans. We have bank statement loans, asset depletion loans. I can touch on those if you want. Keith, we have our short term bridge fix and flip. We have our All In One my favorite, first lien, HELOC we have second lien HELOCs. We have commercial loan products, and commercial can apply to residential and commercial property. A cross collateralization, commercial for residential properties. That just means, if you're putting 10 single families into one blanket loan, that would be cross collateralization, or if you're buying a storage unit that's straight commercial, and probably even more than that, ground up construction, there's really not a limit to the loan products that we offer, specifically for investors. The only thing we don't have, I would say in our arsenal is bare land loans. Those are hard to come by   Keith Weinhold  45:24   It sounds like you recommend a call in order to get some of that back and forth, to learn how you can best help that investor. But tell us about all the ways that someone   Caeli Ridge  45:32   can get a hold of you. Yes, there's a few ways. Of course, our website, ridgeline group.com, you can call us toll free at 855-747434385, 747-434-3855, 74, Ridge. Or feel free to email us info at Ridge lending group.com   Keith Weinhold  45:49   and you might get lucky. Hey, spin the wheel. Chaele does get on the phone and talk to individual investors herself too. So Chaley, it's been valuable as always to cover all these different loan types for beginners, and then what one does when they advance beyond that. It's been great having you back on the show.    Caeli Ridge  46:09   Thank you, Keith. I appreciate you.   Keith Weinhold  46:16   Oh yeah, a lot to learn from Chaley today. You've got mortgage rates three quarters to 1% lower than they were a year ago. At this time, in fact, last month, they ticked below 6% for the first time in years, and their lowest level in over three years. But when you introduce geopolitical uncertainty, well, that tends to make rates tick up again. Now, just what does happen when you have a lower overall rate trend like we have? Well, in this cycle, it's already spurred an increase in housing sales volume. It surged to 4.3 5 million in the latest reporting month, and that is the hottest annualized pace in nearly three years. Some of the same people who said, wait until rates fall, they're about to realize that prices didn't wait. Demand comes back fast. Inventory doesn't if mortgage rates take another leg lower, we could see quite a refinance wave in balanced markets or in supply constrained markets, bidding wars could follow. Now I've shared with you before that I totally do not predict interest rates. I don't know if anyone should. It is a great way to be fantastically wrong and supremely waste a lot of people's time. Instead, I think it's more efficacious for you to be able to interpret the signs that can trigger a further rate drop. Those signs are a weak jobs report that tends to bring lower rates because the labor market needs the help. So does softening wage growth, GDP below expectations, inflation continuing to cool, or a pickup in US Treasury demand. These are all signs that can lead to even lower rates. In fact, right now, with already lower rates and higher wages, real estate is more affordable than it's been in about three years, but overall, longer term, yeah, income properties still feel somewhat less affordable. It's less affordable than it was in pre pandemic times. That's for real for US investors, though, affordability is less about the price of the property, it's about whether the property pays for itself and grows your net worth while inflation does the heavy lifting for you, that's why it still works for us as investors. Higher prices don't kill investors inaction during inflation does you're not so much buying a say, 350k property. You're controlling it with 70k while your tenant and inflation do the rest. We don't rely on hope or appreciation. We start with inflation, tax benefits and debt pay down, and then appreciation typically happens too. A lot of times, the question for us goes beyond whether or not a property is affordable. The question is whether owning an investment property is better than inflation compounding against us, which is an investor mindset for this era, Ridge landing gear. President Chaley Ridge is a regular guest here because the mortgage space is so dynamic and things change a lot. For that reason, we expect to have her with us every few months this year, I'll see you next week. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Speaker 2  50:01   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively   Keith Weinhold  50:30   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building, getricheducation.com   

The group, named the Alberta Prosperity Project, has been pushing for a referendum on Alberta independence and, according to an X post by one of its leaders, plans to ask US Treasury officials for a $500 billion line of credit to “support the transition to a free and independent Alberta.” Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The group, named the Alberta Prosperity Project, has been pushing for a referendum on Alberta independence and, according to an X post by one of its leaders, plans to ask US Treasury officials for a $500 billion line of credit to “support the transition to a free and independent Alberta.” Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes Mario Innecco to the show. Mario Innecco is Financial and Macro Economic Analyst, and also host of the ‘Manneco64’ YouTube Channel. The discussion centers on the current bull market in gold and silver, driven by several fundamental factors. Innecco highlights four primary drivers: de-dollarization, global debt challenges, geopolitical uncertainty, and the transition from a paper to a physical precious metals market. The de-dollarization trend is particularly significant, with countries seeking alternatives to the US dollar-dominated system. Central banks are increasingly buying gold, potentially aiming to hold 40% or more of their reserves in physical gold. The massive global debt, now around 300 trillion dollars, is making it increasingly difficult for governments to manage financial obligations, leading to potential financial repression and currency devaluation. Mario emphasizes the importance of the Shanghai Gold Exchange in challenging the traditional Western paper trading markets. The exchange represents a shift towards physical trading, which could fundamentally change how precious metals are valued. He suggests that the transition from a paper to a physical market makes it harder to manipulate gold and silver prices. Looking at potential price targets, Innecco draws parallels with historical bull markets, suggesting gold could reach as high as $8,300 based on previous price movements. He also discusses the possibility of a gold revaluation by the US Treasury, which could provide a financial windfall without adding to the national debt. The conversation extends to silver, which Innecco believes will continue to outperform gold, particularly in the latter stages of the current bull market. He recommends a conservative investment approach, suggesting investors allocate 90% to physical precious metals and 10% to mining stocks. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:12 – Gold’s Fundamental Drivers 00:04:30 – Debt and Financial Repression 00:05:10 – Paper Market Ending 00:09:42 – Silver Market Bifurcation 00:11:01 – Central Bank Buying 00:14:56 – Global Debt Inflation 00:19:51 – Gold Revaluation Potential 00:23:03 – Mystery Gold Flows 00:26:29 – BRICS Currency Remonetization 00:29:00 – Historical Bull Parallels 00:34:26 – Silver Bullish Breakout 00:39:27 – Commodity Rotation Outlook Guest Links: X: https://x.com/maneco1964 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/maneco64 Mario Innecco is a seasoned financial markets and macroeconomics analyst with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He began his career in private banking in Geneva, Switzerland, before spending two decades in the City of London, specializing in exchange-traded derivatives, government bonds, interest rates, and broader economic trends. During this time, he advised major financial institutions and corporate clients on market strategies and risk management. A dedicated proponent of the Austrian School of Economics, Mario founded the maneco64 YouTube channel in November 2015, which serves as a platform for alternative economics and contrarian views. Through his videos, blog articles, and social media, he educates a worldwide audience on the intricacies of the fiat monetary system, financial markets, and the enduring value of precious metals like gold and silver.

  Farmers protest in Brussels Brussels Mercosur deal between South-American countries an the EU - Read Here Alternative for Germany (AfD), leader Alice Weidel, Speaks out... She said that "the Ukrainians and Zelensky would reimburse Germany for the blown-up Nord Stream" VIDEO EU countries give final approval to Russian gas ban Natural gas EU price View Price Frederic Bastiat, 19th-century French economist : To explain something to a politician, it's best to do so in very simple language and with a single, simplistic example Broken Glass Here Why does a dog wag its tail? Find Out Here Ukraine hits pipeline sending Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia 2014 CNN Report of Ukrainan army shelling civilians in Donetsk A Must Watch Clip The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Why the US take over of Venezuela failed the first time Tepid demand for US Treasury auction shows investor jitters about tax bill, deficit $1.5 Trillion Military Budget Would Add $5.8 Trillion to Debt Over Decade Here Imagine what happens when... (1.) the largest supplier of raw materials, (2.) the largest and most modern industrial complex in the world, and (3.) the largest reservoir of cheap labour join forces. Read Acticle Here Alasdair Macleod, "Physical Silver Market breaking down" Video Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016 Read Report Here "Silver Market Getting Set Free", Andy Schectman Video War Casualties by the numbers 34:1 exchange rate Video report here Is The Russian Economy Collapsing? Reality Vs Propaganda | Economics Specialist: Dr Richard Connolly Explains Speakers BBQ 2022, Brussels Speakers BBS 2023, Brussels Rumble web page Enargia vzw  

After Greenland, the rupture in the Transatlantic Alliance was made visible at the WEF conference in Davos.Mark Carney said the quiet bit aloud. But the real implications are beginning to be felt in the deep financial plumbing that undergirds the global economy. Now, a Japanese bond market sell-off is unsettling larger forces. If Japanese interest rate then rocket, they may need to liquify their massive US Treasury bond holdings. Beyond the geopolitics, this is going to turn nasty – economic levels of nasty. We'll be exploring the full low road prospectus in this bumper-length members-only show. This is our monthly paywalled episode. To get it, simply go to Patreon, type in Multipolarity, and sign up - you can cancel any time.

Jeremy Babener helps plaintiffs and trial lawyers keep more of their settlements and verdicts through tax-saving agreements. In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Jeremy reflects on how he landed in this specialized field during law school – his evidence course was canceled, so he switched to a tax policy class. Before graduating from law school, he was already advising on $20-30 million settlements. He earned his tax LL.M. at NYU, served in the US Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, started his own law firm, and eventually founded Structured Legal, which helps lawyers and plaintiffs make the most of their recovery. In June, he will provide a high-level look at settlement agreements during TLU Beach.Train and Connect with the Titans☑️ Jeremy Babener | LinkedIn☑️ Structured Legal☑️ Trial Lawyers University☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube2026 Programming☑️ Bad Faith Cases (Dan Ambrose and Kimball Jones), March 3-7, Las Vegas, NV☑️ TLU Performance Skills, March 14-21, Winter Park, CO☑️ Case Story Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and Eric Oliver), May 19-23, Hermosa Beach, CA☑️ Dark Arts Trial Craft Bootcamp (Dan Ambrose and David Clark), May 27-June 2, Huntington Beach, CA☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CAEpisode SnapshotJeremy earned his tax LL.M.

Welcome to episode 219 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast. I am Chris Kirkbride. In this episode, we lead with the UK government's proposal to establish a new National Police Service, dubbed a "British FBI." In sanctions news, the US Treasury has designated nine vessels linked to Iran's "shadow fleet," OFSI has fined Bank of Scotland for Russia-related breaches, and a UN expert has urged the US to lift sanctions against International Criminal Court officials. We also consider significant enforcement action, including an 18-year sentence for a fraud courier, a 46-month sentence of a Chinese national for money laundering, and bribery charges unsealed against a former NATO procurement official. Furthermore, we look at a £5.6 million confiscation order against a professional launderer tied to a massive Bitcoin fraud and a landmark report warning that fraud may soon constitute half of all crime in England and Wales. Finally, we cover the EU's progress on a new Anti-Corruption Directive and the FCA's warning to consumers regarding the risks of high-risk securities under the new public offers regime.A transcript of this podcast, with links to the stories, will be available at www.crimes.financial.

Zhan Chen outlines ICMA's engagement with members and regulators on the implications of the SEC's US Treasury clearing mandate and market readiness challenges.

Wall Street pushed toward record highs after tariff tensions eased and fresh data reinforced the resilience of the US economy. Meanwhile, US Treasury yields edged lower as solid employment and spending figures bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve can stay on hold. Elsewhere, European shares rebounded after Donald Trump walked back tariff threats linked to Greenland. In commodities, oil slid 2% as Trump softened his stance on Greenland and Iran, while gold extended its record-setting rally, topping US$4,900 an ounce. Back home, Australian shares are expected to open flat ahead of the Australia Day long weekend. The content in this podcast is prepared, approved and distributed in Australia by Commonwealth Securities Limited ABN 60 067 254 399 AFSL 238814. The information does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider the appropriateness of the information before acting and if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the Crypto Curious podcast — brought to you by the Bamboo App.I'm Tracey, and this week we're looking at a set of stories that all point to one big shift: crypto adoption isn't coming from where people expected.

Protests ramp up and the left goes fascist against ICE; US Treasury sends stark message to Iran; an acquaintance of Charlie Kirk's assassin speaks out Watch VINCE Live on Rumble - Mon-Fri 10AM ET ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://rumble.com/vince⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ As Tim Walz Encourages Resistance, Minnesota ‘ICE Watch' Declares ‘Time Is Ripe To Embrace Militancy' http://freebeacon.com/crime/as-tim-walz-encourages-resistance-minnesota-ice-watch-declares-time-is-ripe-to-embrace-militancy/ ‘Rats Fleeing the Ship': Iran's Ruling Elites ‘Frantically Wiring' Millions Abroad, Bessent Says, as New Sanctions Hit https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/15/rats-fleeing-the-ship-irans-ruling-elites-frantically-wiring-millions-abroad-bessent-says-as-new-sanctions-hit/ Kamala Harris Buys $8.2 Million Seaside Mansion After Warning 'Sea Levels Are Rising' Due to 'Climate Crisis' https://freebeacon.com/democrats/kamala-harris-buys-8-2-million-seaside-mansion-after-warning-sea-levels-are-rising-due-to-climate-crisis/ Sponsors: Helix Sleep - https://helixsleep.com/vince Patriot Mobile - https://Patriotmobile.com/Vince Zippix - https://ZippixToothpicks.com  code: Vince Fatty15 - https://fatty15.com/Vince Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The world order is shifting – the US is playing a global-scale game of Risk, the rand is getting stronger, and AI can't count its ABCs. Amidst the chaos, it's hard to know which market indicators to listen to. In this episode of Magic Markets, The Finance Ghost and Moe-Knows dive deep into why US Treasury yields aren't necessarily the best indicator of risk, while highlighting that the rand has clawed its way back to pre-Nenegate levels. From the potential for missiles to be flying over an annexed Greenland to how Dune can help us understand the oil supply chain, the Ghost and Moe unpack the geopolitical flashpoints that will define your portfolio this year. This week's Topics: The Dollar Index (DXY) vs yields: Why the 10-year Treasury yield is the wrong indicator for US risk right now. The rand's Lost Decade recovery: How the ZAR has clawed its way back to 2016 levels and what ‘fair value' means for your offshore timing. The death of "There's War, Buy Oil": Why geopolitical flares in Iran and Venezuela aren't spiking crude prices like they used to. The credit card cap trap: The unintended consequences of US interest rate caps on Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Taiwan and the semiconductor tail risk: Why the US focus on Greenland and LatAm might be emboldening moves in the East. Reach out to us on X: @MagicMarketsPod, @FinanceGhost and @MohammedNalla or pop us a note on LinkedIn. Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Please speak to your personal financial advisor. Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction & is Canada the 51st State?(00:02:15) - The US and Geopolitical Risk(00:03:03) - The US 10-Year yield disconnect: Why isn't borrowing getting costlier?(00:04:07) - The DXY as the true expression of US risk(00:05:58) - South African Bonds: The carry trade darling and the SARB's credibility(00:08:04) - The rand's 10-year comeback and what fair value means for your offshore goals(00:10:52) - Central bank independence and gold as a safe haven against a dollar downdraft(00:13:01) - Interest rate caps: How US policy is hitting Amex and the banking sector(00:15:43) - Oil & Geopolitics: Venezuela, Iran, and the "Spice Must Flow" problem(00:21:11) - Taiwan, the semiconductor tail risk, and global choke points(00:23:12) - AI hallucinations: Why you shouldn't trust the bots just yet

Part 1 of this essay was published by rediff.com at https://www.rediff.com/news/column/rajeev-srinivasan-trumps-huge-venezuela-gamble/20260114.htmPart 2 of this essay was published by rediff.com at https://www.rediff.com/news/column/rajeev-srinivasan-was-maduros-capture-a-warning-shot-to-china/20260124.htmIt is hard to judge whether the US regime-change operation in Venezuela is a stroke of genius or an act of pure recklessness. This is completely orthogonal to the questions of morality and legality involved in such, well, coups, to put it bluntly. The real issue at hand is twofold: why did they do it? And what is the long-term fallout from it?I consider several perspectives below: the moral/legal angle, the alleged oil bonanza, the alleged drug trafficking, geo-politics and geo-economics. In sum, I am inclined to believe that the Venezuela adventure may not be an indication of American strength, alas, but rather of American weakness. To someone like me who is deeply supportive of the US (especially in opposition to China, the G2 condominium notwithstanding), this is a disheartening conclusion.The morality and legality angleLet us summarily dispose of the entire morality-legality question. At the end of the day, international relations, despite flowery marketing language, is essentially Chanakyan matsya-nyaya, i.e. the big fish eat the little fish, the law of the jungle. Might is right, and that's just the way realpolitik is, let us accept that and move on. The United Nations and the so-called ‘liberal rules-based international order' are syntactic sugar hiding this bitter fact of life. There are a few implications for the little or medium-sized fish: deter the big fish. 1. Bulk up, build up your military and economic strength, including your ability to produce lots of military hardware, 2. Build your economic leverage, so that you are an indispensable trading partner nobody can afford to alienate, 3. Build a nuclear arsenal.This last is significant. Let us consider all the recent (and near-future) invasions by big fish. Iraq. Libya. Iran. Panama. Vietnam. Afghanistan. Ukraine. And soon, alas, Taiwan. Ok, I may have missed some here, but none of them have nukes. If you have working nuclear weapons, and the means to deliver them (such as nuclear-capable missiles, submarines lurking in the ocean depths with nuclear warheads), then it is risky for the invading big fish. No big fish likes body bags, and they certainly don't like mushroom clouds over their cities.In addition, there was the stunning silence from the European Union and Britain, which have been moralizing to everybody about how wicked it was for Russia to invade Ukraine. No clutching pearls this time, eh, Eurocrats in Brussels? In fact, EU leaders were positively ecstatic about Trump's intervention in Venezuela. It is indeed the end of the European century.Ditto with the United Nations, which, by the way, is pretty much on its last legs so far as I can tell: on 7th January President Trump exited 31 UN agencies and a grand total of 66 multilateral entities.This of course hurts the UN's budget, not to mention its relevance.In January the US will formally exit the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO, and it has already exited the UNHRC, UNESCO, and UNRWA. The newly announced exits include the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN Women's Fund, the UN Population Fund, the International Solar Alliance, the International Renewable Energy Alliance, and so on.All this fits in with the ‘Fortress America' part of the National Security Strategy, which I wrote about at some length recently. In my opinion, it is not in the US' long-term interests. The post-WW II “liberal, rules-based international order” with America as its center was good for the US, and its precipitous end will erode pre-eminence, Manifest Destiny notwithstanding. The problem is that the dollar, sanctions, SWIFT and US Treasury debt are losing their clout. Pax Americana too.Summary: Nobody is bothered about morality or legality.The oil colony: is it for real?It could be argued that the unabashed Trump statements about Venezuela's oil are exactly like the British and other European colonization of many lands in the 19th century. It can be summarized as: “we have the guns, we're going to take your butter”. That may well be true, although it is not discussed in genteel circles, where they pretend the Euros were on an, um… civilizing mission.Trump, to his credit, makes no bones about it: he says in so many words that he will henceforth consider Venezuela's oil to be his, and that it will be used for the benefit of both Venezuelans and Americans. To be honest, there is some rationale behind this: the infamous Resource Curse, where resource-rich countries end up with the riches being grabbed by both foreigners and kleptocratic local elites, and miserable citizens get virtually nothing.I am not quite sure how Arab OPEC countries managed to keep their money, and spend it on their own nationals: possibly because their populations were low, and they were used to authoritarian rulers anyway. The same with Norway. But the Resource Curse is a fairly universal phenomenon. I bet the global money managers are laughing all the way to the bank.When I first went to the US in the late 1970s, I had a graduate student friend, a woman from Venezuela. She was there on a generous scholarship funded by oil revenues, just like the Iranians who had studied with me in India. At least some of the money was going to actual citizens, and wasn't disappearing into tax havens. I guess socialism did Venezuela in over decades, as we have seen in West Bengal and Kerala.The country's finances are an absolute mess, through years of economic collapse, US sanctions, and a sovereign default in 2017. There are enormous debts owed by Venezuela to foreign investors, add up to more than $150 billion, or twice GDP; this includes interest, penalties for default, and arbitration awards for the expropriation (nationalization) of oil infrastructure. Venezuelan assets abroad (e.g. the CITGO oil retailer) are at risk.So far as I can tell, the country owes the following:* Bond default in 2017 (sovereign and state oil company PDVSA bonds): face value $60 billion, now up to $100 billion with accrued interest and penalties. Owed mostly to international asset managers such as Fidelity, Greylock, T Rowe Price (often US based)* Oil-backed loans of about $15 billion, to be paid off in oil shipments (China and Russia)* Arbitration awards often based on nationalization/expropriation of (especially oil-related) assets: around $30 billion (US and Canada based creditors such as ConocoPhillips and Crystallex owed around $8-10 billion)This means there's a lot of issues that needs to be settled before Venezuela becomes a normal and substantial player in the world oil market. Besides, despite the exertions of Chevron, an American oil major that still has operations in Venezuela, I don't think it will be easy to ramp up production there, which has collapsed due to a variety of factors, including the non-availability of naphtha to make the very viscous, heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt more easily transportable.It is said, however, that a number of US refineries can indeed handle this heavy crude (incidentally Indian refineries such as Reliance's Jamnagar can as well) and so, over time, the oil will begin to flow, although it is going to cost quite a bit to get there. Their production was of the order of 3.5 million barrels per day in the 2010s, but it has fallen to about 1.1 million barrels now, as the result of infrastructure decay, mismanagement, corruption, and US sanctions.I have read estimates that it might take as much as $180 billion in investments over the next 10-15 years to bring Venezuela back online at scale. This means that any dreams of the US tapping Venezuela's vast oil reserves any time soon are unrealistic. Besides, that could lead to an oil glut, depressing global prices even below the current $50-60 levels, which has the side effect of making America's own shale-based oil production unviable.There is one good outcome, though: for neighboring Guyana. Venezuela had been threatening to go to war over Guyana's oil fields. Given that Guyana has a large Indian origin population, I am glad that at least some diaspora people are becoming oil rich. But then again, Trump may feel free to claim their oil too, who knows?All this suggests that, despite all the talk of seizing the largest oil reserves in the world, this is not the real reason behind the regime change.Summary: The oil issue is overblown, and nothing dramatic will happen short-term.What about the drug-running?There was a lot of noise about how Venezuelan gangs pushing drugs in the US was a major threat, and how that needs to be taken care of. However, on closer scrutiny, Venezuela is not a major producer of cocaine (production is almost entirely in Colombia, with smaller amounts from Peru and Bolivia). It serves as a minor transit country for some cocaine, mostly headed to Europe or the Caribbean rather than directly to the streets of America.Data from the UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) and the US DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) show no significant direct sea routes from Venezuela to the US; the only known direct route is limited air trafficking.DEA reports (including the 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment) and UNODC (World Drug Report 2025) consistently show Colombia as the overwhelming source of cocaine entering the US (around 84%+ of samples). Venezuela ranks low in direct contributions, with most US-bound cocaine transiting through Mexico/Central America via Pacific routes.Fentanyl trafficking into the United States follows a distinct supply chain, very different from plant-based drugs like cocaine. The overwhelming consensus from US authorities is that Mexico is the primary source of finished illicit fentanyl reaching the US, while China remains the main origin for the precursor chemicals needed to produce it.The fentanyl crisis is overwhelmingly a China to Mexico to US southwest border pipeline not linked to Venezuela or South America in any substantial way, per DEA, State Department, and congressional reporting.Summary: The talk about Venezuela's drug-running is a smoke-screen.Is it geopolitics then?The most interesting thing about the extraction of former Venezuelan President Maduro was not the dramatic flair with which it was done, though that was indeed very Youtube-ready. The helicopter gunships, the silenced air defences, the Cuban bodyguard eliminated (by a sonic weapon?): all the elements of a pretty exciting Hollywood film. I'm sure one is coming up soon.What was even more interesting, though, was that a delegation from the Chinese Communist Party had met him just a few hours before. China has been rather chummy with a fellow-socialist, and has been a good customer as an oil buyer. The fact that Maduro was extricated while the Chinese were still in Venezuela was a warning shot: besides, it suggests that they had no clue what was going to happenIn effect, it was a slap on the face of China, and it goes back to my belief that the US is investing in a G2 condominium with them. Stick and carrot, maybe? Collaborate in general in the spheres of influence concept, but hey, you better keep out of my sphere, ok? As I said earlier, China has made serious inroads into Latin America, which the US may now be hinting is simply not ok: stay in your lane, Xi! In simple terms, China will no longer have access to Venezuelan oil.The prognosis is grim: Russia and the EU are mired in the Ukraine mess, China is rampant (certainly in Asia, with their declared intent of invading Taiwan by 2027), the QUAD is more or less defunct. Trump refused to support Japanese premier Takaichi Sanae when she was bullied by the Chinese over her remark that if Taiwan were to be attacked by China, this would create a survival-threatening situation for Japan, which is literally true as Taiwan is only 70 miles away.Parenthetically, India has also realized the same about the US – that it is on its own – after what was quite likely a US-supported regime-change operation in Bangladesh has put the Hindu minority there in real danger of genocide and ethnic cleansing, with daily incidents of burning alive, murder, rape and abduction and threats of capturing Indian territory.The emerging situation in Iran is also likely to be a blow to China: they would lose one more source of cheap oil. But then, they do have buyer power: in other words, major oil producers do have to sell their stuff to somebody, and as China demonstrated in the case of soybeans from the US, its refusal to buy the stuff has severe consequences for the seller.So it is true that the US and China in general have to respect each other and trade with each other. This is perfectly feasible under the G2 condominium, the principal role of which is to give each of them a ‘playpen' if you will, and prevent a new power, e.g. India, from forcing its way into a G3. It appears they both are applying the Thucydides Trap to India.The US is still ahead of China in the geopolitical game, but if it continues to burn its bridges with its erstwhile allies and partners (such as the EU and Quad members) it will accelerate its relative decline. This is hardly the time to alienate potential partners, especially now that a belligerent NATO has pushed a reluctant Russia into the dhritarashtra-alinganam of China.Unfortunately, in geo-politics America is becoming less exceptional, and Henry Kissinger's quip that “it is dangerous to be America's enemy, but fatal to be its friend” is taking on a new urgency. The action in Venezuela (and possibly in Cuba before long) does not encourage other nations to look to the US for partnerships.Summary: The geopolitical fallout is not particularly good for America's image as an ally.It may well be economics, and a desperate fin-de-siecle lungeThe final issue is that of economics and economic history. Over the past several centuries, we have seen how those countries that hold the global reserve currency have prospered and have been financial hegemons to begin with, based on some substantial competitive advantage, but then a strange malady (“the Dutch disease”) sets in, and over time their financial clout diminishes, until at one point they become major debtors and then, they become irrelevant.This has happened several times in the past 800 or so years, and the patterns are strikingly similar, so there is a fair chance that it is happening again. The countries in question are:* Spain in the 16th century onwards* The Netherlands in the 17th century onwards* Britain in the 19th century onwards* And alas, the US in the 20th century onwardsNow, I would dearly wish the US could avoid this vicious cycle, partly because it is a continent-sized nation with immense resources, but I believe that economic profligacy, wasting money on unnecessary things like wars, and complacency fostered by easy money is leading to a mountain of debt, which usually is a bad place to be in. In each of these European examples, initial success inevitably led to collapse. I hope the US can avoid this fate, especially as warnings have been sounded for some time by experts such as Ray Dalio.Great economic powers, particularly those issuing the world's primary reserve currency, tend to follow a recurring historical cycle of rise, peak dominance, gradual (or sometimes rapid) decline, loss of competitiveness, mounting debt burdens, and eventual marginalization on the global stage. This pattern has repeated over the last 500+ years.The archetypal cycle often unfolds in phases:* Rise and dominance: Because of strong education, innovation, productivity, trade dominance, military power, and financial innovation create a virtuous cycle (this is the model that I have in mind of the US. But there is a second model: colonial loot. Spain stole trillions from Latin America, Britain from India. This too leads to (unearned) privilege). This leads to the currency becoming the preferred global medium for trade, reserves, and debt denomination.* Peak and overextension: Success breeds complacency, wealth inequality widens, debt accumulates (often to fund wars, welfare, or consumption), and costs rise relative to competitors. Besides, there is a form of the Resource Curse: the colonial loot or digging things out from a hole in a ground is so easy that all other industries wither away and die. We see this in Kerala today: remittances are easy money, so everybody wants to go to the Persian Gulf (skilled and unskilled labor) or Europe (nurses). Maybe the generativeAI bubble falls into the same category: the money is too easy.* Decline in competitiveness: Education and innovation lag, unit labor costs rise, trade shares erode, and emerging rivals catch up or surpass in productivity and technology. Too much by way of wokeness, social justice and related illnesses means the smart ones leave, and the dumb ones keep congratulating each other. Ruchir Sharma just wrote in the Financial Times about how the continuing exodus of skilled Indians is a big negative.* Debt buildup and financial strain: The “exorbitant privilege” of reserve status allows cheap borrowing, encouraging more debt. Deficits grow, and the currency is printed or devalued to manage burdens. Print, baby, print. But one day you have to pay the piper.* Marginalization: Confidence erodes (via inflation, devaluations, defaults, or crises), foreigners reduce holdings, and a new power's currency gains primacy. The reserve status lingers due to network effects and habit, but the issuing power loses geopolitical and economic centrality.Spain had its colonies in the Americas from which it extracted enormous amounts of gold and silver; the Dutch started the Amsterdam stock exchange and stepped into the vacuum of finance when Spain faltered; the British outcompeted the Dutch in colonization and in industrialization and defeated them in wars; and the US took over when Britain lost its colonies and had nowhere to dump its goods, and was in debt for its spending in World Wars I and II.Some of the symptoms of the “Dutch disease” are showing in the US: enormous debt, wars that have no clear benefit to the nation, loss of manufacturing, geopolitical challenges, loss of competitiveness and brand superiority in industry after industry.US investors are quietly moving their funds to other countries, while foreigners are quietly moving their money out of US treasuries (e.g. China has reduced its holdings from a high of $1.3 trillion in 2013 to $688 billion now) and into gold, the BRICS group is creating an alternative currency and a non-SWIFT settlement mechanism, and many countries are trading with each other bilaterally in local currencies. De-dollarization is a little far off but no longer implausible.Now, as a big supporter of the US, I do hope the dollar will continue to be supreme, but I am beginning to have my doubts. I have had faith in the US and its ability to re-invent itself on the brains of its immigrants, but I wonder if a post-MAGA US will be the beacon, the “City on the Hill”, “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. Maybe not any more. Perhaps cyclical decline, and the rot, are already too deep.This, in my opinion, is the real reason for Trump's little adventure in Venezuela: to be relevant in global finance for a little longer. The petrodollar has been the lifeline allowing the US to run substantial deficits for a long time. Because all transactions for oil have traditionally been mandated to be in dollars, there has been constant demand for the dollar, despite the loss of manufacturing (in other words, nobody needs dollars to buy US goods except a few like weapons, aircraft, and Big Tech software). But everybody needs it to buy oil.Trump is ensuring that Venezuela's giant oil reserves (the largest in the world) will now be sold in dollars, contrary to Maduro's plans to trade in yuan. This is deja vu: when Iraq's President Saddam Hussein planned to trade his oil in Euros in 2000, he found himself deposed. When Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi planned to trade his oil in a new currency called the ‘gold dinar' around 2009, he found himself deposed. Coincidence? Perhaps.This is why I have had the feeling that the Venezuela adventure does not show American strength, but rather American weakness. The dollar is in trouble, and thus the US welfare state. This is an attempt to shore it up.Summary: The real rationale behind the Venezuela regime-change is to ensure that de-dollarization is postponed at least for a while.3450 words, Jan 12, 2026. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

This Day in Legal History: Hattie Wyatt Caraway Elected to SenateOn January 12, 1932, Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas became the first woman elected to the United States Senate in her own right, marking a milestone in American legal and political history. Initially appointed to her late husband Thaddeus Caraway's Senate seat, she was widely expected to serve only as a placeholder until a male successor could be elected. Instead, Caraway defied expectations by entering the special election and winning, quietly but firmly asserting her independence. Her victory came just over a decade after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote and laid the groundwork for their broader participation in political life.Caraway's campaign was bolstered by the support of Louisiana Senator Huey Long, whose populist style and energetic barnstorming helped draw attention to her candidacy. Despite being soft-spoken and reserved on the Senate floor, Caraway developed a reputation for diligence and loyalty to her constituents. She went on to win a full term later that year, becoming the first woman to do so and serving in the Senate until 1945.Her election symbolized a shift in legal and cultural attitudes toward women in government roles. While women had begun entering state legislatures and the House of Representatives, the Senate had remained all-male until Caraway's election. Her success challenged deeply rooted assumptions about women's capacity for leadership and helped open the door for future female senators. She focused much of her legislative work on issues affecting veterans, farmers, and rural communities.U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani announced she would block the Trump administration's attempt to terminate temporary legal status for 10,000 to 12,000 migrants from seven Latin American countries. These individuals had entered the U.S. under family reunification parole programs that allowed them to live legally with relatives while waiting for visa approval. The Department of Homeland Security had moved to cancel the programs, which were launched or updated during the Biden administration, arguing they were being misused to bypass regular immigration protocols.Judge Talwani criticized the government for failing to provide proper legal notice to the affected migrants, many of whom are children, and emphasized that the U.S. must also follow the law. The plaintiffs' attorney called the government's move harmful and disruptive, especially to families and school-aged children. A Justice Department lawyer argued that the administration had the legal authority to revoke parole.The case is part of a broader legal battle over Trump's efforts to dismantle humanitarian parole programs initiated under President Biden, which had provided temporary protection to hundreds of thousands of migrants. Talwani had previously issued rulings blocking similar rollbacks, but higher courts overturned them. Her upcoming order is expected to offer temporary relief to thousands facing imminent deportation.US judge to block Trump move to end thousands of Latin American migrants' legal status | ReutersOn January 10, Indonesia became the first country to temporarily block access to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot, citing concerns over the platform's ability to generate AI-produced pornographic content, including disturbing depictions of minors. The country's Communications and Digital Minister condemned non-consensual sexual deepfakes as serious human rights violations and emphasized the need to protect dignity and digital safety. This action follows growing international criticism of Grok's content safeguards, with some governments in Europe and Asia launching investigations.xAI, the company behind Grok, responded by limiting image generation features to paying users while working to address security flaws that had allowed the creation of sexualized images. However, its public response to Reuters included a dismissive automatic message: “Legacy Media Lies.” Musk, posting on X, insisted users generating illegal content would be held accountable as if they had uploaded it directly.Indonesia's firm stance highlights the absence of similar decisive action from the United States, where Grok and xAI are based—raising questions about America's professed commitment to protecting victims of online abuse. The U.S.'s failure to lead on this issue stands in stark contrast to its claimed leadership in defending digital rights and vulnerable populations.Indonesia temporarily blocks access to Grok over sexualised images | ReutersU.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the government has more than enough funds—nearly $774 billion in cash on hand—to handle any tariff refunds that may result from a potential Supreme Court ruling against President Trump's emergency tariffs. However, Bessent noted that any repayments would be distributed gradually over weeks or even up to a year. He expressed skepticism that the Court would rule against the tariffs, and criticized potential refunds as corporate windfalls, questioning whether companies like Costco, which sued the government, would pass any refunded money back to consumers.While many importers argue that they should be reimbursed if the Court finds Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) unlawful, Bessent claimed the actual number of refundable tariffs is lower than the estimated $150 billion cited by some trade analysts. He declined to offer a precise figure. He also disputed the idea that Trump's tariffs significantly contributed to inflation, asserting that there was little evidence of cost pass-through to consumers.Bessent warned that if the Supreme Court does rule against the tariffs, the decision could be complex rather than a simple reversal, which might complicate refund logistics. He added that a delay in the ruling increases the odds of a decision favoring Trump. Treasury's projected end-of-quarter balance of $850 billion and an expected reduction in the 2025 calendar-year deficit are seen as bolstering its ability to manage any financial impact.Bessent says US Treasury can easily cover any tariff refunds | ReutersFederal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell revealed that the Fed had been served with grand jury subpoenas by the U.S. Department of Justice, escalating tensions between the central bank and the Trump administration. The subpoenas reportedly relate to Powell's June 2025 congressional testimony about renovations to the Fed's headquarters, but Powell described the move as part of a broader campaign of political intimidation aimed at undermining the Fed's independence. He stated unequivocally that the threat of criminal charges was tied to the Fed's refusal to set interest rates according to presidential preferences.President Trump denied involvement in the DOJ probe, but his administration has long clashed with Powell over interest rate policy and spending. Trump has publicly floated removing Powell and Fed Governor Lisa Cook, whose case is pending before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, markets reacted to the news with falling stock futures and a surge in gold prices, reflecting investor unease over the attack on central bank autonomy.Republican Senator Thom Tillis condemned the subpoenas, pledging to block any future Fed nominee until the legal matter is resolved. The DOJ's inquiry is reportedly focused on whether Powell misled Congress about ballooning renovation costs, which reached $2.5 billion. Though the administration alleges possible misconduct, critics see the legal threat as part of a pressure campaign to force Powell out ahead of his term's expiration in May.Fed Served With DOJ Subpoenas, Powell Vows to Stand Firm (5) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

In Episode 234, Dave makes a major announcement regarding the future of the Contra Radio Network and its move to Rumble exclusively. From there, he does a review of the various court cases that Trump has experienced in his first year, the trade deficit, and an executive order that prohibits courts from taking the money the US Treasury is holding for the Venezuelan people and government. After that, Dave discusses the odd timing of the Russian ‘Doomsday Radio Station' playing Swan Lake and the appearance of the USAF ‘Doomsday Plane' arriving and landing at LAX this week. Dave closes the show by discussing the rise in ‘citizen journalists' and ‘civic activists' blowing the lid off of all of the Somali fraud nationwide and CAIR withdrawing their lawsuit in order to avoid discovery as it pertains to their donors and funding sources. Support Dave by visiting his new website at Two Rivers Outfitter for all of your preparedness needs and you can also visit his Etsy shop at DesignsbyDandTStore for fun clothing and merchandise options. Two Rivers Outfitter merchandise is available on both the Two Rivers Outfitter and the davidjkershner.com websites. Available for Purchase - Fiction: When Rome Stumbles | Hannibal is at the Gates | By the Dawn's Early Light | Colder Weather | A Time for Reckoning (paperback versions) | Fiction Series (paperback) | Fiction Series (audio) Available for Purchase - Non-Fiction: Preparing to Prepare (electronic/paperback) | Home Remedies (electronic/paperback) | Just a Small Gathering (paperback) | Just a Small Gathering (electronic)

A review of the week's major US international tax-related news. In this edition:  OECD releases 'Side-by-Side' Pillar Two global minimum tax agreement – US Congress returns to unfinished business – US Treasury to modify final Section 987 FX regulations – US Supreme Court expected to rule on Trump tariff cases.

De-dollarization is growing around the world. Central banks are buying tons of gold, which overtook US Treasury securities in reserves in 2025. Even private investors are diversifying out of dollar assets, as risk rises. Ben Norton explains how Washington's sanctions, Trump's tariffs, and the weaponization of US-dominated international financial institutions have backfired. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVjy1Hlh5zc Topics 0:00 Dedollarization increases 1:36 US sanctions backfire 2:20 Donald Trump threatens BRICS 2:49 Central bank holdings of US Treasuries 3:59 China de-dollarizes 5:29 US trade war on China failed 7:10 Foreign holdings of US bonds 8:09 Government vs private investment 9:53 Central banks buy lots of gold 10:51 No return to gold standard 13:30 Gold as neutral reserve asset 14:28 Gold overtakes US Treasury holdings 15:07 Gold price skyrockets 16:18 Nixon Shock to Trump Shock 17:08 This is not just about Trump 19:04 2008 financial crisis: turning point 20:48 Western seizure of Russia's assets 22:26 Ukraine war fuels gold purchases 23:21 Central bank undeclared gold buying 26:04 Uruguay dedollarizes 27:48 Argentina's Javier Milei 28:40 Sovereignty vs imperialism 29:09 Investors de-risk out of US assets 33:37 Decline of US dollar dominance 34:14 Global South de-dollarizes trade 35:35 New BRICS payment systems 36:25 Internationalization of renminbi 37:15 Financial multipolarity 38:48 Outro

Nik and Michael discuss the events and trends they thought were most important in the Postgres ecosystem in 2025. Here are some links to things they mentioned: Postgres 18 release notes https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/release-18.htmlOur episode on Postgres 18 https://postgres.fm/episodes/postgres-18LWLock:LockManager benchmarks for Postgres 18 (blog post by Nik) https://postgres.ai/blog/20251009-postgres-marathon-2-005PostgreSQL bug tied to zero-day attack on US Treasury https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/14/postgresql_bug_treasuryPgDog episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/pgdogMultigres episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/multigresNeki announcement https://planetscale.com/blog/announcing-nekiOur 100TB episode from 2024 https://postgres.fm/episodes/to-100tb-and-beyondPlanetScale for Postgres https://planetscale.com/blog/planetscale-for-postgresOracle's MySQL job cuts https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/11/oracle_slammed_for_mysql_jobAmazon Aurora DSQL is now generally available https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/05/amazon-aurora-dsql-generally-availableAnnouncing Azure HorizonDB https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/adforpostgresql/announcing-azure-horizondb/4469710Lessons from Replit and Tiger Data on Storage for Agentic Experimentation https://www.tigerdata.com/blog/lessons-replit-tiger-data-storage-agentic-experimentationInstant database clones with PostgreSQL 18 https://boringsql.com/posts/instant-database-clonesturbopuffer episode https://postgres.fm/episodes/turbopufferCrunchy joins Snowflake https://www.crunchydata.com/blog/crunchy-data-joins-snowflakeNeon joins Databricks https://neon.com/blog/neon-and-databricks~~~What did you like or not like? What should we discuss next time? Let us know via a YouTube comment, on social media, or by commenting on our Google doc!~~~Postgres FM is produced by:Michael Christofides, founder of pgMustardNikolay Samokhvalov, founder of Postgres.aiWith credit to:Jessie Draws for the elephant artwork

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger Picture[CB] around the world are dumping the Fed note, they just aren’t taking on anymore, everything is about to change. Trump’s GDP outshines Biden’s. China is now going to restrict silver, silver is used in electronics, batteries,solar panels etc. Silver prices are going to move. [CB] fraud is now exposed. The Tariff system is the future. The [DS] criminal syndicate is being exposed, it’s not just in DC it is world wide. As people learn how corrupt the system is and most of the taxes and borrowing goes to support the criminal system the people will be with Trump to remove the Fed. Trump is in the process of bringing down the entire corrupt temple on the [DS]. Trump moves closer to peace with Ukraine, 2026 is going to change everything. Economy Status of the US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency: USD Share Drops to Lowest since 1994  Central Banks diversify their holdings into dozens of smaller “non-traditional reserve currencies.”  The share of USD-denominated assets held by other central banks dropped to 56.9% of total foreign exchange reserves in Q3, the lowest since 1994, from 57.1% in Q2 and 58.5% in Q1, according to the IMF's new data on Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves. USD-denominated foreign exchange reserves include US Treasury securities, US mortgage-backed securities (MBS), US agency securities, US corporate bonds, and other USD-denominated assets held by central banks other than the Fed. Excluded are any central bank's assets denominated in its own currency, such as the Fed's Treasury securities or the ECB's euro-denominated securities. It's not that foreign central banks dumped US-dollar-denominated assets, such as Treasury securities. They did not. They added a little to their holdings. But they added more assets denominated in other currencies, particularly a gaggle of smaller currencies whose combined share has surged, while central banks' holdings of USD-denominated assets haven't changed much for a decade, and so the percentage share of those USD assets continued to decline.   Central banks' holdings of foreign exchange reserves in all currencies, and expressed in USD, rose to $13.0 trillion in Q3. Top holdings, expressed in USD: USD assets: $7.41 trillion Euro assets (EUR): $2.65 trillion Yen assets (YEN): $0.76 trillion British pound assets (GBP): $0.58 trillion Canadian dollar assets (CAD): $0.35 trillion Australian dollar assets (AUD): $0.27 trillion Chinese renminbi (RMB) assets: $0.25 trillion Source: wolfstreet.com (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");  https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2004750391435755846?s=20 https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/2004928015172821228?s=20 https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/2004946780216328590?s=20  Political/Rights https://twitter.com/Patri0tContr0l/status/2004590513182367845?s=20  https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2005107085865103608?s=20 ICE: 70% Arrested Had Criminal Ties Roughly 70% of illegal migrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the second Trump administration reportedly had been convicted of or faced charges for criminal offenses. New data provided to the Washington Examiner shows the Trump administration arrested about 595,000 illegal immigrants between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE said 70%, roughly 416,000, had “criminal convictions or pending criminal charges” in the United States, underscoring President Donald Trump’s promise to prioritize the “worst of the worst” in immigration enforcement. ICE officials stressed that even those without U.S. criminal records can still pose major public safety threats, the agency said, noting many are wanted abroad for violent crimes or have ties to gangs, terrorism, or other serious offenses. “This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc. The list goes on,” an ICE spokesperson told the Examiner. Source: newsmax.com   New Files Show Epstein Was ‘Too Useful' for Banks to Drop — Trump Was ‘Too Politically Dangerous' to Keep  The newest Epstein disclosures include deposition testimony that illustrates, in unusually concrete detail, how major financial institutions assessed risk, value, and accountability. The transcript does not add new allegations about Epstein. Instead, it explains why he remained bankable long after his 2008 conviction and why his relationship with major banks survived despite generating almost no traditional revenue. That institutional logic is the same logic that later drove JPMorgan to end its ties with Trump Media, and the contrast between the two cases shows how selectively these standards are applied. In the deposition, Paul Morris—a private banker who handled Epstein's accounts at JPMorgan Chase and later Deutsche Bank—described Epstein's financial profile with unusual precision. Epstein's trading was minimal. His accounts produced limited fees. He was not a high-activity client and did not utilize the investment tools that banks rely on to generate consistent revenue. By every conventional benchmark, he was a low-value account. And yet, the relationship continued. The deposition shows why. Epstein was not retained for his financial performance but for his institutional usefulness. Morris acknowledged that Epstein facilitated introductions to ultra-wealthy individuals that the bank viewed as essential prospects. One example was Leon Black, whom Morris identified as a “priority prospect” because of Black's significant net worth and influence in the investment sector. Epstein introduced the bank to real-estate investor Andrew Farkas and discussed a potential connection involving biotech investor Boris Nikolic, who had ties to Bill Gates. These introductions were specific, documented, and initiated by Epstein, not the bank. This is the key element that many public accounts overlook. Epstein was not being managed as a traditional client. He functioned as a relationship broker inside a system where introductions to power carry more internal value than account-level returns. Source: thegatewaypundit.com  DOGE Geopolitical The EU Leaders Shouting About Visa Bans Are the Same EU Leaders Who Sent Political Operatives Into the U.S. to Support Kamala Harris  EU leaders from across the spectrum of their collective assembly, are furious with the administration of President Donald Trump for restricting their entry into the United States by blocking their visa permissions.  However, these same EU leaders are the people who sent operatives into the United States in order to interfere in our 2024 election. The Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, sums up the European position: “The decision by the U.S. to impose travel restrictions on European citizens and officials is unacceptable and an attempt to challenge our sovereignty. Europe will keep defending its values — freedom of expression, fair digital rules, and the right to regulate our own space.” The “attempt to challenge our sovereignty” statement is a particular type of hubris when we consider THIS: GREAT BRITAIN (October 2024) – The British Labour Party is sending approximately 100 current and former staff members to the United States to work for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign in key swing states. [SOURCE – LINKEDIN] Not only did the U.K attempt to challenge our sovereignty, but they also actively worked to influence the outcome of our national election in 2024. It is worth remembering the British intelligence operation, (Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6), was at the center of the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy in 2016. The first EU political group to be targeted with the visa bans includes French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who was one of the architects of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). Also: Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid, and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index. https://twitter.com/GeneHamilton/status/2004656229684224393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004656229684224393%7Ctwgr%5E91706d63d41394916634b106fbd2268d7711e121%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconservativetreehouse.com%2Fblog%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fthe-eu-leaders-shouting-about-visa-bans-are-the-same-eu-leaders-who-sent-political-operatives-into-the-u-s-to-support-kamala-harris%2F https://twitter.com/GeneHamilton/status/2004656234910433405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004656234910433405%7Ctwgr%5E91706d63d41394916634b106fbd2268d7711e121%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconservativetreehouse.com%2Fblog%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fthe-eu-leaders-shouting-about-visa-bans-are-the-same-eu-leaders-who-sent-political-operatives-into-the-u-s-to-support-kamala-harris%2F Source: theconservativetreehouse.com https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz/status/2005058695647166898?s=20 https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/2005035840934723894?s=20 War/Peace   EIGHT, perhaps the United States has become the REAL United Nations, which has been of very little assistance or help in any of them, including the disaster currently going on between Russia and Ukraine. The United Nations must start getting active and involved in WORLD PEACE!   the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.   DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Trump Tasks Military With an ‘Oil Quarantine' Against Venezuela, as Economic Pressure Is Chosen for Now Over Military Action Venezuela's oil industry under maximum pressure.   And now that the extended holidays are over, the socialist regime will have to deal with the veritable siege imposed by the US and its unprecedented armada. Venezuela is running out of storage space for its oil production since some ships are being seized and many others turned around and left.  Now, it arises that Donald J. Trump has directed US forces to enforce ‘an oil quarantine' against Venezuela for at least the next two months. These moves lead many to think that the Trump team will focus on economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas into ousting Maduro. Reuters reported:   Read  more: Source: thegatewaypundit.com Trump Blockade Leaves $1 Billion Of Venezuelan Crude Stranded On Tankers  With a two-month “quarantine” placed on Venezuelan oil by the Trump administration in a foreign policy move called “gunboat diplomacy,” new data estimate that roughly $900 million worth of crude is currently loaded on tankers, unable to depart Venezuela due to the U.S. blockade. “Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade,” independent research Tanker Trackers wrote on X. “That’s around $900M of oil.” https://twitter.com/TankerTrackers/status/2004713684871078162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004713684871078162%7Ctwgr%5E016cd45f97095edcd74bb159f40c4e93caf9794d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fcommodities%2Ftrump-blockade-leaves-1-billion-venezuelan-crude-stranded-tankers Source: zerohedge.com Trump to POLITICO: Zelenskyy ‘doesn't have anything until I approve it' Trump's comments come ahead of his Sunday meeting with Zelenskyy, who will bring with him a new 20-point plan to end the war President Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, in an exclusive conversation with POLITICO. “He doesn't have anything until I approve it,” Trump said. “So we'll see what he's got.” Source: politico.com https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2005352028365848993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2005352028365848993%7Ctwgr%5E1588e24fb392689513bf7b2f064c646c1bf5f470%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Ftrump-says-russia-ukraine-peace-talks-entering-final%2F  Medical/False Flags 19 Blue States Sue Trump Admin to Preserve Right to Perform Child Sex Changes Last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to any provider that offers so-called gender-affirming treatment to minors. “Under my leadership, and answering President Trump's call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” Kennedy said at the time. The Oregon-led lawsuit claims that the decision “exceeds the Secretary's authority and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Medicare and Medicaid statutes.” A total of nineteen blue states are suing the Trump administration in a bid to protect the right to perform child sex changes. His office said in a press release: Source: thegatewaypundit.com [DS] Agenda  https://twitter.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123?s=20   work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped. https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2005011311756017964?s=20 https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2005158623442600391?s=20 https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/2005292438114738555?s=20  diabolical. And it’s going to work until we understand that primaries will be more important than generals from here out on. https://twitter.com/C_3C_3/status/2005016429687701811?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2005351086115405986?s=20 https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/2005030256382464493?s=20  and your tribe. I spent a lot of my life in the Middle East and Central Asia, working closely with foreign contractors and foreign governments to provide support to American military operations. As a US Army officer with a big checkbook courtesy of Uncle Sam, I can't really count the sheer number of times I was offered bribes to award a contract, or falsify records to do things like create larger (fake) headcounts at places like dining facilities, or to just simply be on the take for future illegal requests. Of course I had enough sense to never comply with such requests. Moreover, they were never explicitly structured as “bribes”; instead it was usually along the lines of “Here I have these Rolexes as gifts for you and your wife to show our friendship.” (Unfortunately, too many US officers and NCOs succumbed to this siren song and ended up breaking rocks in Leavenworth.) The weird thing about this to me was that whenever I turned down such an offering, it was treated as a grave insult. I was the one in the wrong, and not the fraudster trying to bribe me. They considered it rude that I was in their country and refused to accept how things got done. After all, why did I not want to help my tribe by helping their tribe? Let me repeat: in these cultures, FRAUD IS NOT EVEN A CONCEPT. There is only what helps your tribe. Such thought processes are so alien to Americans and much of the West. We are raised on the presumption that our institutions are valid, that the rule of law always prevails, and that integrity is universal. We need these presumptions to have working governments and economies, and without those presumptions—without the mental barrier that causes us not to accept outright fraud—our nation would quickly descend into the economic and social hellscape of countries like…. ummm… you know…. SOMALIA! So when we import people en masse from cultures that accept bribery and fraud as routine, acceptable ways to advance one's tribe, we should not be surprised that things like the $8 BILLION fraud schemes of the Somali population in Minnesota happen so easily. Introducing a fraud-based culture based on tribalism into America is like introducing some sort of lethal virus into a population that has no natural immunity. The virus will spread and grow, unchecked, because it is so alien to the host. Similarly, a culture of fraud is anathema to American thinking, and it must be cut out before it consumes the host. So when you see and hear patriotic Americans decrying what is happening in Minnesota or elsewhere, and when they seek deportation of the offenders, it is not “racism,” it is not “bigotry,” it is not “xenophobia”; instead, it is preserving the American tradition of responsible institutions and national integrity. https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2005262465190223928?s=20 https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2005305530651189719?s=20   exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide. To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID. The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network. The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions. Defendants included Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool, each charged for roles ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy. These criminals didn't just engaged in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well. Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and others were charged for attempting to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash. Those responsible pleaded guilty and were sentenced, including a 10-year prison term and nearly $48 million in restitution in related cases. The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing. Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigrations officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible. https://twitter.com/ScottPresler/status/2004932316926193933?s=20 https://twitter.com/HarmeetKDhillon/status/2004976287270731981?s=20 https://twitter.com/rising_serpent/status/2005080344610177489?s=20  https://twitter.com/amuse/status/2005092720927232198?s=20  “skeptical jurors” in federal cases involving President Trump. Co-founder Alex Dodds said jurors have “enormous power” to judge the administration itself. Critics report the sessions encourage rigging trials against the administration, conduct plainly barred under 8 USC §1503. President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2004653262491058216?s=20 accomplished what no one else could. When we arrived, taxpayers were about to be on the hook for nearly $5 billion for a new headquarters that wouldn't open until 2035. We scrapped that plan. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately with required safety and infrastructure upgrades already underway. Once complete, most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in, and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, where they will remain. This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today's FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently.  They Got Her: FBI Caught Hillary Clinton Talking Donations with Foreign Felon on Tape As Hillary Clinton closed in on the presidential nomination in the spring of 2016, FBI field officers advised colleagues at headquarters to press her on the foreign donations flowing to the Clinton Foundation while she steered American foreign policy and whether she had used the charity as a campaign piggy bank. But the FBI HQ in Washington — a city in which the former secretary of state and first lady wields enormous influence — let the trail go cold. FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez advised agents in Washington to ask Clinton several questions about the foundation, which are reproduced in full in documents released to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI and published on Dec. 15. The questions reveal the concerns about foreign bribery that the Clinton Foundation case — codenamed “Cracked Foundation” — had uncovered. Among the evidence available to investigators, according to their questions: A recorded conversation between Clinton and Indian hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal in which Clinton discussed donations to the foundation and her remaining 2008 campaign debt. The new documents confirm that the FBI had at one time been “intercepting individuals associated with the Clinton Foundation.” Source: westernjournal.com  John Brennan's Lawfare Lawyers are Revealing More Than They Intend   former CIA Director John Brennan are sending proactive letters to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida {SEE HERE}.  However, some of the information included in the letters intended to be exculpatory is actually damning against their defense position. You have to go deep in the weeds to see it but if you understand the details of the events, the information being revealed by Brennan's lawyers is the opposite of helpful to his case.  As an example, there is a citation included in a footnote of the December 22, 2025, [fn #20 page 6] letter that links to a March 31, 2022, letter sent to John Durham. Here's page 6 of the 2025 letter. Compare the underlined section to the 2022 letter sent to John Durham. In 2025 Brennan is telling the Florida court the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) conclusion was confirmed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a “very serious review.”  However, in 2022 Brennan told John Durham that Robert Mueller never interviewed him or offered an assessment of the ICA; Mueller just regurgitated it. So, which is it? These contradictions are throughout both of the letters when you compare them side-by-side.  In 2022 former CIA Director John Brennan was trying to escape the Durham review.  In 2025 Brennan is trying to escape a grand jury review. [We are aware that the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, has access to the CTH public library of research into all of these historic events.] There are other citations in the 2022 letter that are certainly worth reviewing because the legally binding statements made by John Brennan at the time have been shown to be false in 2025. Another of the claims in the 2022 letter to John Durham highlights why it was critical for the CIA to assist in the capture and arrest of Julian Assange in 2019. Source: thegatewaypundit.com  Trump: Upcoming Midterms Will Be ‘About Pricing’ The 2026 midterm elections will be “about pricing,” according to President Donald Trump, who said that his administration is restoring the nation’s economy after the condition in which former President Joe Biden left it. “I think it’s going to be about the success of our country,” Trump said in an interview with Politico, the outlet reported Saturday. “They gave us high pricing, and we’re bringing it down. Energy’s way down. Gasoline is way down.” Over the past two weeks, a series of positive economic reports has shown that inflation is decreasing, with the White House highlighting the latest data while addressing cost-of-living concerns nationwide. According to a Politico poll conducted last month, Americans say they are finding that the costs of groceries, utilities, healthcare, housing, and transportation are too expensive. Trump has been fighting to reframe that, however, blaming Democrats under Biden for driving prices up. He said in the interview, conducted Friday, that “electricity is down. It’s way down.” “When the gasoline goes down, and when the oil and gas go down, the electricity comes down naturally,” he said. “But it’s all coming down. It’s all coming down. It’s coming beautifully.” Source: newsmax.com https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2004696380531503505?s=20   the NG will have quick response troops on standby in every state, the FBI building is being moved to a new location, the war between Russia and Ukraine is coming to an end, and all of Trump's pieces will be in place. There seems to be a shift in attitude. I think we are passing into a different phase of the operation. The shadow war will eventually have to come to the surface. 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In today's episode, Kip dives into the latest market action after a rough start to the week, highlighting the volatility and short-term shakeouts in stocks and bitcoin. He explores why these pullbacks are actually signs of a young and bullish market, shares his thoughts on the Federal Reserve's direction with potential new leadership, and introduces a compelling theory about a long-term plan involving US Treasury bonds backed by gold, silver, and bitcoin. Tune into today's podcast to learn more. 

Join Nate Thurston and Charles 'Chuck' Thompson for another lively episode of Good Morning Liberty as they discuss the 'Dumb Bleep of the Week,' highlighting the most absurd moments in politics. From Congress's union debates to discussions on Trump's pardoning powers, New Jersey's plastic utensil ban, and a controversial jury decision, they've got it all covered. Plus, they bring you a hilarious campaign announcement from Jasmine Crockett and a self-own by the US Treasury. Laughs, rants, and insightful commentary abound in this must-watch episode! 00:00 Intro 02:08 Unions 11:05 Presidential Pardons 15:19 Big Pharma Bailouts 19:10 Netflix and Warner Brothers 31:09 Elon Musk and Wealth Inequality 42:19 Energy Drinks and Parenting Responsibility 47:20 New Jersey's Plastic Fork Ban 53:22 The Swastika Incident 57:05 Jury Nullification and the N-Word 01:05:20 Jasmine Crockett's Senate Campaign 01:09:41 US Treasury's Self-Own on Bond Market Returns  

Today the government is getting sued by an app developer, Capitol Cops, FBI agents, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, California, Daniel Richman, Mike Flynn, and a boatload of January 6 rioters — although those last two are basically sham lawsuits seeking to raid the US Treasury with the help of President Treasonweasel. Two judges in DC seem perilously close to holding the DOJ in contempt. And for subscribers, the unbearable cognitive dissonance of Tina Peters.Links:NRSC v. FEC [SCOTUS Docket]https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-621.htmlDoes v. Patel [wrongfully fired FBI agents]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72004388/does-v-patel/Aaron v. Bondi [ICEBlock]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72003579/aaron-v-bondi/?order_by=descFlynn v. UShttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66930673/flynn-v-united-states/?order_by=descTrump Pardoned Them for Jan. 6. Now They Want Millions of Dollarshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-10/trump-pardoned-them-for-jan-6-now-they-want-millions-of-dollarsRichman v. UShttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71982634/richman-v-united-states/?order_by=descNewsom v. Trumphttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70496361/newsom-v-trump/?order_by=descJ.G.G. v. Trumphttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/?order_by=descShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Crypto News: The Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 bps and will start money printing, they will begin purchasing US Treasury Bills on December 12th and will buy $40 billion of US Treasury bills in 30 days. Brought to you by

In 1999, a young US Secret Service special agent is assigned to the counterfeit squad in Chicago, Illinois. Aside from dignitary protection, one of the agencies' roles is to investigate counterfeiting. Across the Midwest, someone is spending up big with $100 counterfeit notes. The level of skill, expertise, and execution required to break the most secure and sophisticated note in the history of the US Treasury is equal parts impressive and intimidating. But the con can't last forever. In episode (insert number), Jac and Alexis detail the life and crimes of Arthur ‘Art' J Williams Jr, whose journey from street crime to becoming the top currency counterfeiter in the country brought him face to face with Special Agent Brad Beeler. This two-part story shows how two men from opposite sides of the law can come to develop respect for each other as they each make their way to the top of their chosen careers, and how redemption is never too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bond-market investors worry that the leading candidate for Fed chair is too close to US President Donald Trump, while HSBC finally picks its new chair. Plus, the EU has a last-minute plan to fund Ukraine's economic revival. Mentioned in this podcast:Bond investors warned US Treasury over picking Kevin Hassett as Fed chairHSBC appoints Brendan Nelson as chair after chaotic searchBrussels floats ‘emergency' powers to raise €210bn from Russian assetsTell us whether your spending habits have changed this holiday season. Email Marc at marc.filippino@ft.com Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts Today's FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Fiona Symon, Victoria Craig and Sonja Hutson. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Michael Lello. The FT's acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show's theme music is by Metaphor Music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) . Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs.Scheduling is easy—once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) just click “Schedule Initial Call” and select a time that works best for you!There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently.If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) and book your call today!Take advantage of our partnership with LifeLock and get discounts using our link: https://lifelock.norton.com/offers?expid=LLONEYEAR&promocode= JSPW24&VENDORID= _JESSUPWM&om_ext_cid=ext_partner_ JSPW24_Productpage $)329 topics: Mixed Economic Signals: November ADP report shows 32,000 private sector job losses; 88.8% chance of 25 basis point rate cut on December 10.Fed Policy Shift: End of quantitative tightening expected to boost liquidity; potential for multi-year market upswing and lower interest rates.Japan's Yield Rise: 10-year bond yield hit 1.9%, reflecting normalization; Japan increased US Treasury holdings by $130 billion this year.Trump Savings Accounts: New tax-advantaged accounts aim for flexible saving options for various financial goals; details to follow.Cautious Optimism: Historical data suggests market gains post-Fed rate cuts; current inflation at 2.32%, signaling normalization and supportive liquidity.

Chuck Zodda and Mike Armstrong discuss markets viewing weak jobs data as good news and why that's a problem. The stock market rode AI to record highs. What could knock it down? Marc Benioff makes interesting claims about how Salesforce is using AI. Bond investors warned US Treasury over picking Kevin Hassett as Fed Chair.

MRKT Matrix - Wednesday, December 3rd Dow rises 400 points as weak ADP jobs report spurs rate cut hopes (CNBC) Payrolls at US Companies Fall by Most Since 2023, ADP Says (Bloomberg) Bad jobs report caused by shutdown, deportations — not tariffs, Lutnick says (CNBC) Bessent says Trump admin will be able to replicate tariffs even if it loses Supreme Court decision (CNBC) Bond investors warned US Treasury over picking Kevin Hassett as Fed chair (FT) Microsoft Lowers AI Software Growth Targets as Customers Resist Newer Products (The Information) Nvidia's Fat Margins Are Google and AMD's Opportunity (WSJ) Nvidia Scores Lobbying Win as Congress Rejects Chip Export Bill (Bloomberg) Anthropic taps IPO lawyers as it races OpenAI to go public (FT) --- Subscribe to our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://riskreversalmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MRKT Matrix by RiskReversal Media is a daily AI powered podcast bringing you the top stories moving financial markets Story curation by RiskReversal, scripts by Perplexity Pro, voice by ElevenLabs

Tariffs are bringing in some serious cash into the US Treasury's pocket. The problem with that money is that it may need to be refunded. A case in front of the Supreme Court could declare several of Trump's tariffs illegal, which would prompt a return of billions of dollars. Today on the show, we look at how that would work and why the process will likely not be easy. Related episodes: Three ways companies are getting around tariffsDays of our tariffsFor sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger PictureTrump is leading the economy and the Fed is trying to crash it. The people will see that in the end we do not need the Fed. The fake news/[CB] narrative is falling apart. Trump puts up graph showing they are lying. The economy, Bitcoin and Gold/Silver are about to boom. The [DS] infiltration runs deep in DC and across the country. The [DS] players, Obama/Soros and other had many years to create their system. Trump is exposing and dismantling their system at lightening speed. Trump is now pushing for peace in regards to Ukraine and Russia, the [DS]/EU/NATO do not want peace and they will fight back to the very end. The entire corrupt criminal system is being exposed to the people . Economy (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); https://twitter.com/TKL_Adam/status/1993316668232417726?s=20  https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1993075213194740140?s=20 Political/Rights https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1993306352358506974?s=20 https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/1993054375854719415?s=20 https://twitter.com/CMDROpAtLargeCA/status/1993018252466045032?s=20 https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1993124677582033146?s=20 the grand jury in the Epstein (Southern District of Florida) and Maxwell (Southern District of New York) cases. This includes a broad set of DOJ-held files related to Epstein, including: – Investigative materials from Epstein’s cases. – Internal DOJ communications about the investigations. – Files referencing individuals involved in Epstein’s prior cases (e.g., potential “client list” mentions). – Details on sex-trafficking allegations. – Records concerning Epstein’s 2019 death in custody (initially ruled a suicide but long questioned). These materials stem from Epstein’s 2008 Florida plea deal, his 2019 federal charges (which ended with his death), and Maxwell’s 2021 conviction. This targeted unsealing could reveal long-buried details about Epstein’s network, high-profile associates, and DOJ coverups. DOGE https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1993106213480112322?s=20 https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1993087579105775858?s=20 What is Trump Going to Use It For?The executive order positions the Genesis Mission as a tool to unleash a “new age of AI-accelerated innovation and discovery” to solve 21st-century challenges and maintain U.S. technological dominance. Specifically, Trump intends to use it for: Accelerating Scientific Breakthroughs: By harnessing the world’s largest collection of federal scientific datasets (built over decades) to train AI foundation models and create AI agents that test hypotheses, automate research workflows, and drive discoveries comparable to historical efforts like the Manhattan Project. Combining National Resources: Integrating efforts from American scientists (including at DOE national labs), pioneering businesses, world-renowned universities, existing research infrastructure, data repositories, production plants, and national security sites to achieve dramatic advancements in AI development and utilization. Addressing Key Domains: Focusing on national priorities to revolutionize areas like infrastructure, data management, production, and security; build on innovations in semiconductors and high-performance computing; and secure energy dominance. Economic and Strategic Benefits: Dramatically enhancing workforce productivity, multiplying returns on taxpayer investments in research and development, strengthening national security, and furthering America’s global strategic leadership in technology. Broader Impacts: Enabling AI-directed experimentation, manufacturing, and problem-solving to tackle existential risks and opportunities, while ensuring secure, interoperable systems across government and partners. This initiative is framed as a response to global competition in AI, building on prior actions like America’s AI Action Plan, with an emphasis on urgency to outpace adversaries and foster economic growth. Geopolitical https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1993073948704096715?s=20  Second Amendment rights for MILLIONS of Americans,” AG Bondi said https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1993094085570126026?s=20  prohibited on private property open to the public unless the owner explicitly opts in. It would establish nationwide that the Second Amendment, post-Bruen, FORBIDS states from inverting the historical presumption—carry is allowed on such property unless the owner affirmatively prohibits it—forcing Maryland, California, New Jersey, New York, and any similar regimes to FLIP their private-property rules and dramatically expand where permit holders may carry for self-defense. It's set to be ruled on likely in June 2026, and to me, it's a GUARANTEED WIN Trump ready to talk with Maduro – Axios US President Donald Trump plans to speak directly with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro despite Washington's move to designate him as the head of a terrorist organization, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing administration officials. The US has formally designated the ‘Cartel of the Suns' – a purported criminal network alleged to operate within Venezuela's security services – as a foreign terrorist organization, putting it in the same category as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Announcing the step on Monday, the US Treasury reiterated long-standing allegations that Maduro, whose legitimacy Washington disputes, heads the group. Source: rt.com War/Peace https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1993323843482427656?s=20 EU Approves €1.5BN Plan To Build Up Ukraine’s Military-Industrial Sector Even as the Trump-backed Ukraine peace plan is said to be advancing as negotiations intensify ahead of a Washington-imposed deadline of Thursday, the European Union continues its efforts to ramp up support to Ukraine’s defense sector. On Tuesday European Parliament voted to approve a 1.5 billion euros ($1.7bn) program which seeks to deepen integration between Ukraine and Europe on military-industrial relations.  Source: zerohedge.com Ukraine Tentatively Agrees To Trump-Backed Peace Plan, Sending Oil Sliding A US official privy to negotiations is claiming major progress Tuesday, telling ABC News the Ukrainian delegation has agreed to the United States’ potential peace plan, at a moment it’s still being hotly debated, especially among the Europeans. “The Ukrainians have agreed to the peace deal,” the US official said, but without specifying much in the way of details. “There are some minor details to be sorted out but they have agreed to a peace deal.” Of course, the proverbial devil is in the details, along with each side’s ‘red lines’ – and so this claim should be taken with caution at this still very early point. The Trump White House has set a deadline of Thursday, or Thanksgiving Day in America, for the warring sides to reach a deal. This suggests these talks are moving along with intensity and a sense of urgency. Source: zerohedge.com Proceed Carefully: U.S. Media Reporting Zelenskyy Has Agreed to President Trump Terms for End to Ukraine-Russia Conflict Remember, (1) Zelenskyy is ideologically opposed to coming to terms for a ceasefire against Russia. (2) Zelenskyy has the full support of the European nations to continue fighting. (3) Ukraine has a habit of using positive statements as tools to try and box in President Trump, only to hold firm to certain positions in an effort to derail peace negotiations. Source: theconservativetreehouse.com Medical/False Flags https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1993298834714403297?s=20 [DS] Agenda https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993329083606827182?s=20  defender, acquitted Abdi Fatah Yusuf on all charges after jurors found he and his wife ran a fake home-health business out of a mailbox and stole $7.2M in Medicaid funds. Jurors say they are stunned because the evidence of fraud, overbilling and luxury spending was “obvious.” Community pressure and political considerations are now being blamed for the decision. Yusuf walks free while taxpayers eat the loss. Abdi will get to keep his new wardrobe from Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Third Degree Heat, Nike, and Nordstrom and his whip a Porsche 911. https://twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/1993178893960851620?s=20 housing.   affiliates in our major cities start going under. Because their cheap illegal labor is no longer going to be affordable. And I’m going to enjoy watching every minute of it. President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1993319619403169935?s=20  to do anything. “Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday warned that President Donald Trump's focus on Venezuela may lead to a “fracture” among those who were drawn in by his campaign promise of avoiding foreign wars.” “Over the last few months, Trump has launched a campaign to eliminate alleged drug trafficking in international waters near Central and South America, mostly through controversial boat strikes – although he has also floated the idea of taking the strikes to land. On Monday, the Trump administration will officially designate Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization – a decision Paul on Sunday criticized. “I think by doing this, they are pretending as if we are at war,” said Paul, chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “They're pretending as if they've gotten some imprimatur to do what they want,” he warned. “When you have war, the rules of engagement are lessened.” How many years has Rand Paul, been in office and when has he ever lifted a finger to go after the drug cartels? Trump is the first president who is waging a real war against drug cartels worldwide and Rand is doing his best to try and stop him. Trump cares about the millions of Americans who are dying from drug addiction and the families, who have lost loved ones. Rand Paul cares more about the drug cartels. And he's crying because Trump doesn't need him for anything. “Democrats in Congress have also expressed outrage over the strikes and the lack of briefings on the administration's actions – something Paul said he too has not received despite his position on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.” “I've been given zero, not one briefing because I am skeptical of what they are doing,” Paul said. “They don't brief me or the general Senate at all. A few hand-selected people may have gotten a briefing but I have not been invited to any briefings on Venezuela.” Why isn't Trump briefing Rand Paul or the democrats? Because you don't brief your enemies on your plans, when you are engaged in war. Rand Paul is nothing but a grandstanding politician and he can't stand the fact, that Trump ignores him and doesn't need him for anything. Do you want to know why else, Trump doesn't listen to him about fighting drug cartels? Here's Rand's solution to the problem: “Paul conceded that the flow of drugs into the country remains an issue but insisted that the government should focus on eliminating the demand for drugs here at home. “We should be trying to work on the demand side, treating it as a health problem, as an addiction problem in our country and trying to lessen demand. And that is part of the overall solution,” he said.” https://politico.com/news/2025/11/23/rand-paul-gop-venezuelan-strikes-00666488 To Rand Paul, millions of Americans dying from “illegal” drugs is just an “issue.” He thinks the solution is to pass legislation that takes more money from the American taxpayer and puts a bandaid on the problem. Trump on the other hand, is enforcing the laws already on the books and waging war against narco drug trafficking states that are clearly killing Americans for profit. We don't need Rand Paul in the Republican Party. He's only trying to get in the way and slow down Trump's efforts to Make America Great Again. The sooner he is removed from Congress the better.  Marjorie Taylor Greene's Resignation Could Spark Another Shutdown Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) resignation from Congress could handicap Republicans in a critical period during which government funding expires, with dire consequences for the MAGA movement. Georgia law dictates that within ten days of a congressman's resignation, the state's governor must call a special election to take place after at least 30 days from his pronouncement. If no candidate wins a majority in the jungle election (during which all candidates run against one another regardless of party), a runoff with the top two vote-getters takes place 28 days later. By prolonging her election, Greene all but assures her seat will be empty during a period where Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — and the American people dependent on a functioning federal government — may need every vote they can get. Greene, by prolonging her resignation for a month and a half, removes much of the urgency of scheduling a special election. Georgia political operatives project Kemp to set a date in March. Source: breitbart.com Vindman Brothers, Who Helped Impeach Trump In 2020, Are Now Under Investigation Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., and his twin brother Alexander are reportedly under investigation for illegally acting as “paid brokers” for U.S. defense firms seeking business in Ukraine. “Pentagon General Counsel Earl Matthews alleges that Vindman and his twin brother Alex did not have approval from the U.S. government before seeking to act as ‘paid brokers' for American defense firms pursuing contracts with Ukraine after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion,” the Washington Post revealed over the weekend, citing a Nov. 19 letter for War Secretary Pete Hegseth.   https://twitter.com/YVindman/status/1992069421372985528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1992069421372985528%7Ctwgr%5E5f28cda2d29a3d17d474e14a7cdd0e88aa077fe9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fgeopolitical%2Fvindman-brothers-who-helped-impeach-trump-2020-are-now-under-investigation Source:zerohedge.com https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1993025823268651228?s=20  application and committed bank fraud. The prior U.S. attorney refused to prosecute these Democrat operatives. So the Attorney General picked a new one who is unafraid to follow the law. What is the Democrats' response? Unsurprisingly, an Obama judge hand-selected a Clinton judge. Then the Clinton judge tossed both indictments. And the first sentence in both nearly identical orders, in which the Clinton judge personally and gratuitously attacks Lindsey Halligan, makes it crystal clear this judge is a Democrat partisan. Democrat politicians, including in robes, shamefully protect their own. Unfortunately, we have two systems of justice. One Democrats weaponize against enemies. And one Democrats weaponize to protect allies. The Justice Department must appeal. And it must move aggressively to bring charges against the Lawfare Democrats in Fort Pierce, Florida. https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/status/1993096660734689379?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1993064224420249957?s=20 https://twitter.com/mrddmia/status/1993348171221659741   the Senate Judiciary Committee. Because too many Republicans would vote NO. Home-state senators do not want to give away their power to hand-select the U.S. attorney who would prosecute them, the U.S. district judge who would oversee their trial, and the U.S. marshal who would escort them to prison. The solution is simple: Have all Senate Judiciary Republicans and at least 50 Senate Republicans sign a letter saying this: “We will vote to confirm President Trump’s U.S. attorney nominees who lack blue slips from home-state senators.” Then Grassley can move forward with a committee vote. But why would Grassley anger all his colleagues and waste limited committee resources, if the nominees will fail? https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/1993291465137831953?s=20 https://twitter.com/C__Herridge/status/1993308443667472479?s=20 Kash Patel Talks In Depth About Attempted Trump Assassin And His Motives FBI Director Kash Patel told investigative journalist Catherine Herridge that hatred for the U.S. government and the two-party system played a role in Thomas Matthew Crooks' attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pa. Herridge asked Patel what motivated Crooks, 20, to try to kill Trump, then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Patel's answer appeared to depart from previous FBI statements when bureau officials said they were unable to find a motive or ideology behind the assassination attempt. The FBI director — appearing on Herridge's show “Straight to the Point” by the Los Angeles Times Media Group — told her that Trump was “satisfied” with his agency's investigation into that fateful day. Patel stopped short of saying the case was closed. “He [Crooks], as has been publicized, had a basically hateful relationship with the United States government, talked disparagingly about both political parties, to include President Trump, and talked about the need to take matters into his own hands. And, unfortunately, that's what he did,” Patel said when Herridge asked about Crooks' motive.  Patel was later asked if Trump was satisfied with the FBI's findings regarding the July 2024 assassination attempt. He emphatically responded “yes.” Herridge asked Patel, “Is the Thomas Crooks case a closed case?” “How we treat cases like this of such great public importance is we put them in a pending-slash-inactive status, so if there's new information that comes in, we can receive it and react to it, and we don't want to foreclose that possibility,” the director said. Source: dailycaller.com https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993323400173887975?s=20   like the Kuwait Liberation Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal sit in more prominent inboard positions. On the ribbon bar, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon are placed ahead of higher-precedence decorations such as the Air Medal and Navy Commendation Medal. On the medal cluster below, the Legion of Merit and Air Medal are buried beneath service medals like the NATO Medal and National Defense Service Medal, which should be near the bottom of the stack. These reversals violate Navy precedence rules requiring the highest honors to appear inboard and for full-size medals to match the order of their corresponding ribbons. https://twitter.com/overton_news/status/1993150617770996056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993150617770996056%7Ctwgr%5E44d0521508949894625558b46595b8eb2aec23cc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fsister-toldjah%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Fmark-kelly-makes-a-damning-admission-when-asked-specifically-about-illegal-orders-n2196541   specific, potentially illegal orders that you were thinking about that were the sort of precipitating cause for you guys to get together and do that?” KELLY: “Here's the thing, Rachel. You don't want to wait for your kid to get hit by a car before you tell them to look both ways.” In other words, no examples and no specifics. https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1993282070152724582?s=20 https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1993345626067853800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1993345626067853800%7Ctwgr%5Eca09c94a37f7c22b3856e0c640694000c3fafa26%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fnick-arama%2F2025%2F11%2F25%2Ffbi-to-interview-the-six-democrats-who-made-illegal-orders-video-n2196542 https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/1993367383281746424  the lower ranks of the nation's military against said elected leadership. https://twitter.com/JoeLang51440671/status/1993138036385701971?s=20   confirmed plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), the White House formally announced on Monday evening that the president has initiated the process to classify specific chapters and subdivisions of MB as FTOs.” “Trump’s order cites MB’s violent activities and support for militant factions, including participation in attacks on Israeli civilians and military targets after October 7, 2023, as well as calls for violence against U.S. allies. These actions, the order says, threaten American citizens and destabilize the Middle East.” https://zerohedge.com/political/trump-tells-john-solomon-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist-designation-imminent Do you think it's just a coincidence, that Mamdani just met with Trump at the White House and the meeting was nothing like what anybody expected? Instead of the meeting being tense, Trump and Mamdani were joking around and acting like old friends. Both willing to work together for the benefit of the people in New York. And now Trump just designated the group that was one of Mamdani's biggest fundraisers, as a terrorist organization. Just a coincidence? The ball is now in Mamdani's court. Trump proved to the world, by how he treated Mamdani, that what he really cares about, are the people of New York. Is Mamdani going to work with Trump, or choose to be a puppet of the Muslim Brotherhood? Mamdani now gets to choose which side he is on. https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1993079037611397563?s=20 President Trump Recognizes Certain Muslim Brotherhood Chapters for Potential Foreign Terrorist Designation The Muslim Brotherhood is the political arm of authentic Islam, and can be considered much like the umbrella organization for a host of different factions of Islamic fundamentalism. The Brotherhood is the unified political voice of many regional chapters, each with a varying degree of authentic Islam behind it. Qatar is the central bank for the Muslim Brotherhood; Turkey represents the Brotherhood's biggest national support network, and Egypt is the intellectual or scholastic battleground where the values of political Islam are debated. The executive order instructs the State Dept to officially begin the process to look at each chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood as a separate entity, and then see if the designation of a terrorist organization can apply to that chapter. As noted in the Executive Order, “relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns.”  It looks like Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt chapters of the Brotherhood will get the first review. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi already dealt with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood once, kicking their leadership out of Egypt.  The leaders fled to Qatar, and then ultimately ended up in Turkey, where Recep Erdogan absolutely loves the usefulness of the Brotherhood. Jordanian King Abdullah has been balancing the Muslim Brotherhood influence for years, and Lebanon is a hot mess with the Hezbollah faction of the Brotherhood.  The Muslim Brotherhood, as a political structure, holds all kinds of extremist factions under its umbrella (al-Qaeda, al-Nusra etc.).   Source: theconservativetreehouse.com 1237 Apr 22, 2018 1:31:31 AM EDT Q !xowAT4Z3VQ ID: 3e4934 No. 1141069  “The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process' with all the word means. The Ikhwan [MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers…” https://clarionproject.org/muslim_brotherhood_explanatory_memorandum/ Q 3881 Feb 24, 2020 8:36:43 PM EST Q !!Hs1Jq13jV6 ID: b03e04 No. 8238822  EMHyS2xXkAA8JrB.png https://twitter.com/cain_nate/status/1231066589996318720 Listen carefully. Think: re: why [no] arrests (justice) yet? What if (almost) every critical position [sr] within the US GOV apparatus was infiltrated? WHAT MUST BE DONE FIRST? THE SWAMP RUNS DEEP. +Sleepers Backgrounds are important. MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD List of ‘in the news now [names]‘ w/ known ties to Islam? THIS IS NOT ANOTHER 4-YEAR ELECTION. [assumptions correct – package well rec [known]] Q (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

To fill NY Assembly seat Zohran Mamdani endorses a woman who believes that 9/11 should be blamed on America. Just down the eastern shore, Trump hosted a potentate, who, according to the CIA, is responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Mount Rainer about to erupt. Four morons try to cash a stolen $27 million dollar US Treasury check. Will Dearborn, MI, be ground zero between Christianity and Islam? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trader, writer, and Spicy Italian Meatball (!!) Vince Lanci returns to the podcast to close the loop on our now three-year financial & geopolitical bromance which began with the help of the equally great, but not nearly as spicy Tom Bodroviks then of Palisades Gold Radio and now Competent Investor, when we first discussed the idea of Gold-backed US Treasury bonds, as promoted by Judy Shelton.Vince and I cover the implications for the further coalescing of a Russian / Chinese / American currency and bond trade which combines the best that all three countries have to offer to a world which cuts out the City of London, Brussels, the BIS, and, of course, Davos.It's a wild ride.... Vince never disappoints.Show Notes:Vince on XVBL's GoldFixTom on XGGnG on Patreon 

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger Picture Fed Miran is pushing for another rate cut. Secretary Burgum says lower energy prices means lower prices. This is how Trump battling the [CB] inflation machine. Elon explains debt slavery. Trump is building the golden age and bringing us back to sound money and the constitution.  The FBI/DOJ are handling multiple investigations behind the scenes. They just release the Clinton Corruption Files. These files show how the Clinton's accepted money from foreign groups in a pay to play scheme. It has begun the people will begin to learn who has been treasonous to this country. Trump is in the process of constructing a new America. The [DS] tried to destroy it and now Trump is building a new one.   Economy (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); Fed's Miran Pushes Another Rate Cut. A Smaller Move Could Be Enough.  Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran said Monday he could support a quarter percentage-point rate cut at the Fed's December meeting, even though he continues to see a stronger case for a half-point move. Source: barrons.com https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1987969323508363295?s=20 https://twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/1988263397012500691?s=20   laundering. They showed it to you and then they shut it down. NGOs the world over getting unverified, often untraceable, no-questions-asked disbursements from the US Treasury. To the tune of hundreds of billions a year. This was ON TOP OF the billions they were sending to Ukraine and about 60 other countries as 'foreign aid'. They extract a massive amount of wealth from the American public yearly. Around $2 trillion, I think. Then, they used the US Treasury payment system to disburse over 100 billion/year to their NGOs around the world to launder that money to themselves. This was probably one of the BIGGEST revenue streams they had. And it was the first one Trump and the DOGE boys cut earlier this year. When this was happening, you had the lawmakers in Congress and former presidential administration officials SCREAMING at Trump and Bessent to turn the USAID and other NGO disbursements back on. You don't hear much of their whining anymore. They know it's not going to happen. Trump got the US federal government to a surplus in 2 of the past 10 months. I guarantee you NONE of the rat bastards who's carefully constructed taxation-and-theft system he's destroying saw this coming a year ago. And that's a beautiful thing.  https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1988243440685977644?s=20   was caused by the big deficit spending." "So as you bring down deficit spending, inflation will come down. Right now, we've taken substantial tariff income over time that will rebalance as the factories move to the U.S. and that will become the corporate income or wage income - and by bringing down the budget deficit, we are bringing down inflation!" Scott is setting the record straight   https://twitter.com/NewsTreason/status/1988113088449487254?s=20 terms of investment, from the tariffs." Notice he didn't say “stimulus” he said “dividend”….  DIVIDEND: A dividend is a payment made by a corporation to its shareholders, usually in the form of cash or additional shares of stock.

Argentina's Economic Challenge: The Overvalued Peso Guest: Mary Anastasia O'Grady Mary Anastasia O'Grady discusses Argentine President Javier Milei's surprising electoral success but highlights the overvalued peso as his most significant challenge. The peso's artificial strength is maintained by US Treasury support through a $20 billion swap line and direct intervention, preventing investors from entering the market. O'Grady argues that Milei must allow the peso to float and eventually dollarize the economy, urging him to "rip the band-aid off" and accept the resulting short-term inflation. 1930 ARGENTINA