TALK TARIFF TO ME w/ JENNA FROM SmartHER NEWS

Summary

The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz – Episode Summary

Episode: TALK TARIFF TO ME w/ JENNA FROM SmartHER NEWS
Release Date: April 10, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode of The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz, hosts Kelly Stumpe and Lizz St. John welcome Jenna Lee from SmartHER News to discuss the intricate world of tariffs and their impact on the automotive industry. Balancing personal anecdotes with in-depth analysis, the trio navigates through personal stories, current auto news, and insightful discussions aimed at keeping millennial moms informed without the overwhelm.

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Personal Anecdotes and Birthday Stories

The episode kicks off with Kelly and Liz sharing personal reflections on recent birthdays and family traditions.

• Kelly (00:06): Opens with Liz expressing her struggles in balancing her roles as a mom and a nonpartisan news provider.

• Liz (00:40 – 03:59): Discusses her son's 35th birthday, reflecting on family traditions like the "birthday chair" where presents are displayed. She shares her hesitation to print and display old photos, revealing a shift in how she values memories.

  "I felt like, even though it's not a kid's birthday, like, we need to celebrate this. Like it's a kid's birthday because it's fun for the party."
  (03:14)

• Kelly (05:02 – 06:04): Talks about trying to respect her husband's simpler preferences, contrasting her own more elaborate birthday wishes.

  "He's like, I don't care. I want something easy. I want pizza. And I'm like, there's got to be more to that."
  (06:04)

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Introduction of Guest Jenna

The hosts introduce their guest, Jenna Lee from SmartHER News, highlighting her role in providing quick, concise, and nonpartisan news tailored for busy moms.

• Liz (12:28 – 12:32):

  "We're going to talk. I really wanted her to, like, come on and just kind of give us the skinny on tariffs."
  (12:32)

• Jenna (15:10 – 16:19):

  "We do a little bit of everything. Instagram, podcast, YouTube, website, newsletters. And her whole goal is quick, concise, nonpartisan news."
  (15:30)

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Interview: Understanding Tariffs

The core of the episode delves into tariffs, their definitions, purposes, and effects on the automotive industry, guided by Jenna's expertise.

Defining Tariffs

Jenna breaks down the concept of tariffs in an accessible manner.

"Tariff, just a really easy way to talk about it is it's a tax on imports. And whoever is paying the tariff is the person that wants that good inside the country."
(19:24)

Purpose and Goals of Tariffs

The discussion explores the administration's objectives behind imposing tariffs.

• Jenna (22:11 – 24:50):

  "What is the president's goal with doing these tariffs?... building up manufacturing in the United States because the United States is going to become more attractive as a place to build... we're going to make more money through charging these tariffs that's going to help us with our debt."
  (22:11)

• Liz (24:57):

  "Is it a fair assumption to say we haven't totally gotten a clear answer on what the goal is?"
  (24:57)

  • Jenna (24:57):

    "Yes, yes, I would say that's absolutely a fair assumption."
    (24:57)

Impact on the Automotive Industry

Jenna explains how tariffs specifically affect car manufacturers and the broader auto market.

"Especially with the automobile industry, that's what makes this story particularly nuanced and difficult... it's not the makers of the parts that are paying the tariff. It's whoever needs those parts and it's bringing it into the country."
(21:47)

Business Strategies and Consumer Impact

The conversation shifts to how businesses and consumers are adapting to tariffs.

• Liz (28:28 – 32:47):
  Discusses the uncertainty tariffs bring to car purchases and the used car market.

  "Should I buy our cars going to get more expensive? What does this mean for the pre-owned market?"
  (28:28)

• Jenna (32:12 – 33:50):
  Emphasizes consumer influence on the global economy.

  "You're actually very big in the global economy. The decisions that you're making... are disproportionately impacting the global economy."
  (35:06)

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Additional Personal Stories and Car Updates

Liz provides updates on her current vehicles, sharing experiences with different models and their functionalities.

• Liz (13:32 – 14:59):

  "I'm gonna be a minivan mom... I like how my car seat setup's working. I like the bench, I like having the extra seat."
  (14:27)

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Interview Continuation: Other News Stories

The conversation broadens to include other intriguing news stories, maintaining a balance between lighthearted topics and serious discussions.

• Jenna (37:14 – 41:56):
  Shares stories about astronauts stranded in space and President Obama's photobombing incident, illustrating the diversity of news covered by SmartHER News.

  "There was a President Obama just walking by with his security, in the back of their family photo. Like, what are the chances? Like, it's so good."
  (39:45)

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Fun Segments: Ditch the Drive Thru Recipes

In a spontaneous segment, Jill introduces a fun cooking challenge, offering easy dinner recipes to help listeners break free from their usual meal routines.

• Liz (54:20 – 55:59):
  Engages Jenna in sharing quick and healthy recipes, fostering a relatable and practical conclusion to the episode.

  "We're turning chicken to pizza crust."
  (55:59)

• Jenna (55:10 – 56:53):
  Discusses her go-to ground turkey recipes and introduces a unique chicken crust pizza, promising to share the recipe with listeners.

  "It's so easy because I just brown the turkey and you can make tacos... It's a good source of protein, and I don't feel like a bad mom."
  (55:10)

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with heartfelt thanks to Jenna, encouraging listeners to connect with her on various platforms and reinforcing the podcast's mission to provide valuable, nonpartisan information.

• Liz (56:43 – 57:02):

  "Hopefully everyone feels a little bit more informed. I know I do."
  (57:02)

• Jenna (57:02):
  Reminds listeners to subscribe and engage with the podcast community.

  "Thank you for listening to the Carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode."
  (57:02)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Liz (03:14): "Even though it's not a kid's birthday, like, we need to celebrate this. Like it's a kid's birthday because it's fun for the party."
• Kelly (06:04): "He's like, I don't care. I want something easy. I want pizza. And I'm like, there's got to be more to that."
• Jenna (19:24): "Tariff is a tax on imports. And whoever is paying the tariff is the person that wants that good inside the country."
• Jenna (22:11): "Building up manufacturing in the United States... we're going to make more money through charging these tariffs that's going to help us with our debt."
• Jenna (35:06): "You're actually very big in the global economy. The decisions that you're making... are disproportionately impacting the global economy."
• Jenna (39:45): "President Obama just walking by with his security, in the back of their family photo. Like, what are the chances? Like, it's so good."
• Jenna (55:10): "It's so easy because I just brown the turkey and you can make tacos... It's a good source of protein, and I don't feel like a bad mom."

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Key Takeaways

• Understanding Tariffs: Jenna demystifies tariffs, explaining them as taxes on imports and exploring their multifaceted goals, including economic recalibration and debt reduction.

• Impact on Automotive Industry: The discussion highlights how tariffs affect not just manufacturers but the entire supply chain, influencing both new and used car markets.

• Consumer Influence: Listeners are reminded of their significant role in the global economy through everyday purchasing decisions.

• Practical Advice: Liz advises against panic buying in the car market, emphasizing informed and measured decisions amidst economic uncertainties.

• Engaging Content: The episode balances serious economic discussions with personal stories and fun segments, maintaining an engaging and relatable atmosphere for listeners.

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This detailed summary encapsulates the rich and engaging content of The Carpool with Kelly and Lizz episode, providing insights and key points for those who haven't had the chance to listen.

Transcript

[Kelly]

Welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly.

[Liz]

You know, I found myself here. I am just a rinky dink mom, blogger, car reviewer, and next thing you know, I'm trying to bring non partisan news to people, and I'm like, I can't do this. I need some help.

[Kelly]

And Liz, I have also been trying to do something where I listen to my husband and respect his wishes, which is kind of a new feeling. He is just. They're so different from us. Your mom.

[Jenna]

Time off starts now.

[Kelly]

Now.

[Liz]

Welcome back to the carpal podcast with Kelly and Liz. Hey, Liz.

[Jenna]

Hey, Cal.

[Liz]

Wow, it is Thursday.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

Yesterday was Heller's birthday. The big old 35. Wow.

[Jenna]

Yeah.

[Liz]

I'm happy for him. He. It was like the first birthday where I think he wasn't. It's not that he was even indifferent. He, like, didn't want it to come. I think 35 feels very old to him. But, you know, dad said. Dad says birthdays are a privilege. Not everyone has. Like, a 35th birthday is a privilege. Not everyone gets. Yeah. Until I was like, I know Kelly, but he didn't. Like, he wasn't looking for that.

[Kelly]

But, yeah, I'm finding myself already with James giving him just, like, the most unnecessary lecture tidbits, stuff like that. Like, dad did. Dad would find.

[Liz]

Oh, my gosh, I don't know if the car pullers even know about our. Our. Our drama.

[Kelly]

He would give any excuse to give us a lecture. Like, not even. We never did. Kelly and I were such good kids. Like, we were both presidents of our class. We didn't do anything wrong. You know, we had the same old, like, okay, we listen to, like, all time low and, like, shopped at Hot Topic when we were in, like, eighth grade, like everyone apparently did. And dad just loved to turn everything into a lesson.

[Liz]

And it would be. You almost didn't want to talk to him because you were just trying to tell him something and you knew it.

[Kelly]

Was gonna turn into something.

[Liz]

And he spins it. He would spin it into such a lecture.

[Kelly]

Mm.

[Liz]

I can't remember what the lectures were about.

[Kelly]

It was. They were about anything. And I found myself doing it the other day to James, which is crazy because he's, you know, can hardly speak English. And I was just like, oh, my God, I sound like Dad.

[Liz]

I did that too. When I. When I. Whenever I'm driving Georgian Heidi to school, I try to just, like, I want to, like, bring someone. I want to set the day off on a good foot, I guess. Yeah, I guess I'm Dad.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

You know, so I was just like talking about. I need some topics. Honestly, I need like, like a minute. Like a kids devotional or just like a what? Like give me something big. Something big brain, big topic. Like let me just. Also ways to spark conversation.

[Kelly]

Yeah. Ways to support conversations.

[Liz]

But yeah, no, I, I actually love to lecture people. I love to be lectured now. I think that's why I like podcasts so much.

[Kelly]

Yeah, I get that.

[Liz]

Anyway, where were we going with that? Oh, it was Tyler's birthday. It was Tyler's birthday. And I was also. It was the first birthday where I felt like. Which I don't know why I felt like this because George is almost 6. But I was like, even though it's not a kid's birthday, like, we need to celebrate this. Like it's a kid's birthday because it's like fun for.

[Kelly]

Fun for the party.

[Liz]

And Friday it's a family birthday party. So normally for birthdays I print off pictures of everybody and hang them throughout the kitchen and I like print off one to two new pictures a year and it's just like fun to look back on. Like that's like a really cute birthday tradition that I stole from my sister in law and I was gonna do that with Tyler, but then I just like couldn't like bring it to myself to like print off pictures of Tyler in high school. You know what I mean? Because like, who needs to see that?

[Kelly]

Who needs to see that, see that?

[Liz]

But like then I didn't want to like stare at that. And then I just didn't want to do. I felt I kind of started to realize how often I will upload a photo and not worry about how Tyler looks in it. And then when I'm like trying to print out photos one he doesn't have. Like, when's the last time Tyler had a solo photo?

[Kelly]

Yeah, never.

[Liz]

Our wedding. Like they took like one of him. Yeah, it's actually a really cute photo. He's like laughing, sun's hitting him. Right. I guess I gotta put that one out. Anyway, so I didn't do that one thing that we did growing up. We had what's called a birthday chair, which is just a chair where mom put the presents for the birthday. But it was like a big deal.

[Kelly]

You'd walk downstairs, dad would be like, oh, look, the birthday chair is looking pretty full now. Let me lecture you on. Yeah, saying thank you after you receive a present.

[Liz]

Giving is better than receiving. Yes, Giving this, it'd be like, it's your birthday. Like giving's better than receiving.

[Kelly]

Now Remember kids? Yeah.

[Liz]

Anyway, so we have the birthday chair. Um, I didn't. I wanted to just find something again. Tyler doesn't want any presents and we're spending, truthfully, a lot of money to try to, like, salvage our. What's left of our pool. So I didn't want to get him anything. But as you guys know, we have a bit of a fox problem. And I thought it'd be funny to get Tyler a fox Lego for him and George to build.

[Kelly]

Oh. So it's.

[Liz]

It's. It's a fox Lego set.

[Kelly]

Okay. Cute.

[Jenna]

So that's.

[Liz]

That. That, that was on the birthday chair. Uh, and then, of course, some handmade crafts. And then it came down to dinner. And I had asked Tyler, what do you want for dinner? And I just. Like, nothing would. I don't know if he knows this, but, like, nothing would make me happier if for like five freaking seconds he could just think back to any of the delicious dinners I've made him and like, recall on one.

[Kelly]

I know, I know, I know. I think we all share this grievance.

[Jenna]

I don't know.

[Kelly]

What do you want for dinner? I don't know. I don't care. Whatever you want. Oh, my gosh. There's gonna be a freaking idea.

[Liz]

Well, and it's also just like, what's your favorite thing that I cook you dinner every night. I cook you dinner every night.

[Kelly]

Pick one thing that you like.

[Liz]

Nothing stands out.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

And I'm offering to cook anything. He's like, let's just do something easy. Like, I don't. Okay. So we ordered pizza. We ordered pizza.

[Kelly]

Okay.

[Liz]

Like straight up Domino's.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

And it was easy. And I, I just. I, for once in my life, in my marriage, listened to him.

[Jenna]

And he.

[Liz]

Said something easy and I said, fine. I would have done anything. And if my kids don't ask for, like a specific recipe on their birthday, they'll probably ask for pizza. I probably. That's probably a bad idea. I probably sent a bad precedent.

[Kelly]

Yeah. Well, that's okay.

[Liz]

I feel a lecture coming on those kids when I get home.

[Kelly]

Yeah. About the importance of a home cooked meal of.

[Liz]

And your mother. And thanking your mother for making it.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

Freaking kids. But anyway, that was the old 3 5.

[Kelly]

The old 3 5. I have also been trying to do something where I listen to my husband and respect his wishes, which is kind of a new feeling. It just kind of. He is just. They're so different from us, our husbands. Yes, Totally. And like, my birthday, like, I wanna. If we're at home Like, I want to get carried out from a nice place.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

Like. Or I want something so specific, and for him to not have this, like, immediate thing of what he wants, I'm like, now. I have to now. And he's like, I don't care. I want something easy. I want pizza. And I'm like, there's got to be more. There's got to be more to that. So then I'm trying to fix it, and I'm trying to figure it out, and then I fall flat because I didn't just listen to what they said. And sometimes you just have to listen to what they say. So my marriage advice for the day.

[Liz]

Yeah, Active listening. My marriage advice for the day is. I feel like this is a marriage advice that I've given people a lot throughout the years. But, like, sometimes you just. You can't expect one person to fill your whole bucket. And, like, for example, same thing, like, my birthday. I mean, I can. I can voluntol Tyler what to do, but he's not, like, gonna take the initiative. And that's okay because I can just, like, get, like, my birthday girly fix out of other people. Like you. Yeah.

[Kelly]

And I think that, like, I don't.

[Liz]

Need to do a birthday lunch with my husband. Like, that's. That's. It's.

[Kelly]

No, because you want to go. You want to go get sushi with me and, like, get an Arnold Palmer Palmer. And, you know, like, should we get.

[Liz]

That for lunch today?

[Kelly]

Honestly? Sounds amazing. Sounds amazing. I know. I agree. I'm the same way. And I'm. I'm starting to like Maddie, and I do not like to eat the same food. Like, I like a really. Like, I love going to, like, a really nice spot. And I'm going to lie. I'm going to tell you exactly what I would love to order. This is my ideal situation.

[Liz]

Birthday dinner.

[Kelly]

Birthday dinner.

[Liz]

Okay.

[Kelly]

Go to a nice restaurant, right? Italian steakhouse or something.

[Liz]

A tablecloth is on the table.

[Kelly]

Tablecloth is on the table. We're starting out appetizer. I'm starting with a dirty martini, filthy blue cheese olives, because I'm coming hungry. So that's my snack.

[Liz]

And you're gonna order. Order the raw oysters.

[Kelly]

I'm gonna order raw oysters. Maybe like a beef carpaccio.

[Liz]

Yeah, it's raw.

[Kelly]

It's raw.

[Liz]

Raw is the theme of the appetite. Cold or like, a tuna tartar?

[Kelly]

Kelly, I literally said those exact. I told Maddie this is my perfect lineup.

[Liz]

I said, maybe a tuna tartar.

[Kelly]

I said maybe a tuna tartare but probably not a tuna tartar.

[Liz]

I think I can do the whole meal. I really think I can do the whole meal. Tell me if I'm right, though.

[Kelly]

Okay.

[Liz]

Okay. So that.

[Kelly]

That's. Yeah. So I have a drink with each course.

[Liz]

Yeah. Okay. For the main, you order a. You do something kind of crazy. Like, this is something crazy about Elizabeth. Well, I know you're gonna get a steak, probably.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

Or unless there's some amazing fish special with, like, capers involved and you're feeling.

[Kelly]

Like maybe you're, like, wearing sometimes a fish.

[Liz]

Yeah, Sometimes a fish.

[Kelly]

I like getting a fish out.

[Liz]

If you get a fit because you make a steak at home.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

If you get a fish out, you're doing a Chris Sauvignon blanc.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

If you're doing a steak, you're doing a red.

[Kelly]

Yeah. Pinot Noir.

[Liz]

Noir. You're gonna get, like, the veggie side.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Liz]

You're hoping it's asparagus. You'll settle for broccoli. If Brussels sprouts are on the menu. You already got that as an appetizer.

[Kelly]

Yeah. If there's a. If there is a. If I trust the place. I think they make a good pen ala vodka. I'm getting that as my side.

[Liz]

Totally. If not, like, you're not mad at, like, a loaded potato or, like, a potato side.

[Jenna]

Yeah.

[Liz]

You ship that out. You do. Good. If there's a Bernays, you get that to go with your steak.

[Kelly]

Of course.

[Liz]

Yeah.

[Kelly]

It goes without saying.

[Liz]

Then for dessert, you do an espresso martini. You're feeling good, and you do the flowers. Chocolate cake. And you're hoping there's raspberry involved.

[Kelly]

Kelly, I told this to Maddie. To a tea. I said espresso martini, flourless chocolate cake, raspberry ice cream. Hopefully, like. Or some sort of raspberry.

[Liz]

I know. And I think our husbands just start throwing money at the problem, and they shouldn't go, yeah, that's just me and you go have a birthday sister's birthday dinner. What do we need them? I mean, Tyler. Tyler does the most annoying thing at a nice restaurant. First of all, tell her I love you so much. But. And I would say this to his face. I have said this to his face. He what? He makes me order for him. That's crazy. He's like, what am I getting, Cal? And I'm, like, looking at the menu to, like, figure out what I can get for him. And most of the time, he wants to order a Caesar salad.

[Kelly]

A Caesar salad of steak with steak on top. A Caesar salad with steak.

[Liz]

And they're like. And the waiter is like. Like the filet. And I'm like, a strip would be a strip if you have it.

[Jenna]

Because, like, that's a little too.

[Liz]

But yeah, that's what. He cut it up like he's a child.

[Kelly]

Yeah, yeah.

[Liz]

And a Michelob Ultra. Keep it in the bottle. Don't pour it into a chill.

[Kelly]

Don't you bother bringing a glass this man's way. He will send it back.

[Liz]

No, it's fine.

[Kelly]

He'll have his wife send it back.

[Liz]

And you know what? I love his confidence. Okay. That was fun.

[Kelly]

That was fun.

[Liz]

Would you want to do, like, my birthday dinner lineup?

[Kelly]

I think it would be pretty similar.

[Liz]

I think it. I think the dessert is vastly different.

[Kelly]

Okay. So the dessert also. I could see you going, like, lemon drop, Cosmo Avenue if you didn't go dirty martini, but either one of us could go that route.

[Liz]

I would for sure do a steak. Oh, unless. Unless I would do a fish. Yeah, I agree. We're the same on the entree.

[Kelly]

I know. Okay.

[Liz]

For dessert.

[Kelly]

For dessert, you do love a key lime pie, but they don't really have key lime pie on the menus.

[Liz]

I know.

[Kelly]

So then I'm thinking, what is the one that you really like? A tiramisu.

[Liz]

I like creme brulee.

[Kelly]

Okay. I wasn't sure if it was creme brulee or tiramisu. And you would have gotten a decaf coffee with it. Yeah.

[Liz]

Yeah. Good for us. Yeah, I probably would have had two glasses of wine. I don't. I would. I don't like to end with a cocktail.

[Kelly]

Okay, so you would have gotten two glass of wine, decaf coffee, not an espresso martini.

[Liz]

Yeah, but I wouldn't.

[Kelly]

We're, like, so different.

[Liz]

Okay, I'm hungry. Anyway. How do we get here?

[Kelly]

Anyway? We have. Anyway, we have an episode to get to, and we have a guest today.

[Liz]

We do have a guest. We have Smart her news, which is, like, her. Such an iconic name.

[Kelly]

Such a good name.

[Liz]

Such a good name. And I'm really excited to interview Jenna. I followed her for a while, and we're going to talk. I really wanted her to, like, come on and just kind of give us the skinny on tariffs. I. I'll. You know, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say it for the interview. I'm gonna save it for the interview.

[Kelly]

She. So she has an Instagram Smart her news, and her thing is quick, concise, nonpartisan news. And she. She's a journalist, so it's just kind of like a, like a good way to get your news. It's so hard to get like non partisan news nowadays. Yeah, everything's partisan. And then you don't know who to believe and what to believe and what's what and what's well, and the persons.

[Liz]

Are just saying different things, which is just like, how can you guys, how can you look at the same story and say two different things? It's so crazy.

[Kelly]

It's crazy. And sometimes you just like want the information and you want to interpret it how you want to, and it's hard to find that. So we have her on the podcast today.

[Liz]

But hey, before we get to that though, I did want to give a little update on my cars, my press cars.

[Kelly]

Oh, okay.

[Liz]

So I just had, I'm finishing around. I like to do like, I do like four weeks in a row. And if this has been a star studded week, last couple of weeks. Last week I had the Palisade. This week I have the Lexus tx. This coming week. Slash this week. Yeah, this coming week I have the Toad of Sienna.

[Kelly]

Oh, oh, so you're gonna be a minivan mom?

[Liz]

I'm gonna be a minivan mom. It's so funny. Everyone thinks it's gonna change me. Like I haven't driven a minivan before. Like I drive minivans all. I'm. I'm in and out of minivans all the time. But I'm excited to drive the Sienna. I do like it.

[Kelly]

Have you ever had like a long term loan of vin?

[Liz]

Well, I drive a carnival for a while.

[Kelly]

Yeah, I said the carnival though. Cuz you had issues with that one though.

[Liz]

Yeah, mine was kind of a bit of a dud.

[Kelly]

Had some issues, a bit of a lemon, that one.

[Liz]

But they ended up fixing it was just something like with the wiring. Wiring harness.

[Kelly]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Liz]

No, I haven't. Okay. I haven't. You know, I've got four. I've got 42,000 miles on my expedition max, though.

[Kelly]

Mm.

[Liz]

Which is kind of crazy. Yeah, I don't think I would get. I think I'm gonna drive an expedition for a while though. Yeah, I can't imagine like switching to it now because really the only minivan I'd want to switch to would probably be an Odyssey. I just can't imagine doing that right now. I just really like how my car seat setup's working. I like the bench, I like having the extra seat. I like everyone's. I like the trunk space.

[Kelly]

It's working for you.

[Liz]

It's working really well.

[Kelly]

It fits in your garage. It's working for you.

[Liz]

Yep.

[Kelly]

Okay, guys, well, let's get right into our interview then. So, without further ado, we have Jenna with Smart Her News.

[Liz]

Jenna Lee, welcome to the Carpool Podcast.

[Jenna]

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. A big fan of you guys.

[Liz]

I mean, likewise. So generally, if you don't know, she runs the Instagram account media agency. Like, I mean, I don't even know what term you like best, but she. You run Smarter News.

[Jenna]

Yes. So Smarter News. I call it a media platform, but you're right. In this media environment, it's like, what. What do we do? We do a little bit of everything. Instagram podcast, YouTube, website, newsletters. And her whole goal is quick, concise, nonpartisan news. I worked in the media in a traditional sense for many years, works my way up to become a national broadcast news anchor, and then realized that we really weren't serving people well. And I became a journalist because I wanted to serv our community, and that means the American public overall. And I also realized as a young mom that I felt so many women felt like they couldn't access information easily or quickly or seamlessly with their life. And I thought with technology, we should just be able to do that very easily. So how do we deliver quick, concise, nonpartisan information to busy women and busy American families? And that's what Smart News tries to do on. On multiple platforms.

[Liz]

Here's why I love is like, you're walk. It's an Instagram story with meat and potatoes. Like, so many times I'm watching people's Instagram stories, and no offense, like, I'm not my. Hey, mine included. I'm not learning anything. Like, we're just. But you. You do such a good job of, you know, meeting the busy mom where she's at. Or, like, you know, I'll even get as specific as, like, the nursing mom sitting on her rocker in the middle of the night trying to freaking catch up with the world. And you're just. You're talking on your phone like it's the most casual Instagram story, but it's so meat and potato. And that's what I just think it's a genius way. It's my favorite way. Get the news, honestly.

[Jenna]

First of all, that is amazing. Thank you so much. It's a huge compliment. I remember being a nursing mom, and you could never. You know, I'd love to say that I sat there for an hour at times. I mean, it Depended on the kid sat there and could just, you know, just be in bliss and be present. But no, of course not. Oftentimes I had my phone in my hand, placed in an Amazon order and catching up on things. And if there weren't captions right, I couldn't play the video to actually hear, you know, understand what was happening. So that's one of the reasons why we really try to keep Instagram stories active with some captions and some fun. You know, today I did a little bit on what's going on with the stock market, but I also mentioned one of the biggest mysteries that I'm trying to solve, which is where do all my children's socks go? Which I think is just as big of a question as what's going on with the global economy. I mean, you guys, we could put different values on things at different times, but no, I love it.

[Liz]

And one thing that we always talk about, because we do a whole industry news segment, every podcast, but we only talk about the auto industry. And I always say, like, I want to give you guys just enough to keep up with your husband's friend Mark at the trivia night. I want to. You're just well informed enough, like, you know, enough, but we're not going to sit here and bore you. Like you said, it's just concise. Like, this is it. This is for the trivia night, for the small talk, and then you can move on.

[Jenna]

I love that whoever Mark is, he's always the know it all. No offense to the marks out there.

[Liz]

No, I know he's such. I have him in my head.

[Kelly]

Kelly, Kelly, were you hurt by a mark at some point in your life?

[Jenna]

Yeah. Is it a prototype? That's a good question, Liz. Good question.

[Kelly]

Also, why is it, why is it that I can watch an Instagram story with captions with no sound on but like I won't read an article, you know?

[Jenna]

Question.

[Kelly]

Yeah, so like, that's so true. Like when I'm scrolling and like when I'm rocking the baby at night, it's like I will watch an Instagram story with captions, but you won't catch me, like pulling up a news article. So.

[Liz]

Especially on your phone. That's crazy.

[Kelly]

No, it's crazy.

[Liz]

Yeah. Well, I wanted to bring Jenna on because I just need. We need an adult in the room to talk about the tariffs a little bit. You know, I found myself here I am just a rinky dink mom, blogger, car reviewer, and next thing you know, I'm trying to bring non partisan news to people And I'm like, I can't do this. I need some help. So we wanted to bring Jenna on. Jenna, let's start with not even, not even the automotive tariffs. Let's talk about. Define tariff. Let's start there. Like we're five years. Like, for Elizabeth's sake, define tariff.

[Jenna]

First of all, we all need to jump on Investopedia and look at all these definitions again because, because tariff is such an interesting word. I actually just talked a little bit about this because they believe that tariff as an origin word actually dated back to when we were doing trading in the Mediterranean. And there's even a question about whether or not pirates were using the term as a way of saying, hey, we're going to put a charge in something that enters a port. So it's sort of a fascinating background. But tariff, just a really easy way to talk about it is it's a tax on imports. And whoever is paying the tariff is the person that wants that good inside the country. So I would pay a tariff. Let's say there's literally imagine in your mind like a bath of goods and I am crossing that goods over the border. If I want those goods, I'm going to pay for whatever is in that basket. Not the person that made the basket because they don't necessarily need to sell it to me, but I want it inside the country. So I'm going to pay that tax, that custom, on whatever that good is. And that's what a tariff is. It's a fancy word for just a tax on an import.

[Liz]

So in the example of, let's say Volkswagen, Volkswagen of North America is paying the tax to get the Volkswagens here.

[Jenna]

If they're selling it. Yes. So it gets a little bit tricky. So, yes, it's hard sometimes when you have a company that's based overseas and they're bringing a good into the United States, because if it's there, if it's the same company, then yes, they're going to pay that tariff. But let's say it's a random. I don't know. You would know this better than me. A random person that wanted to bring in a specialty vintage car from somewhere and it was going to be. They're going to be the one selling it. If I'm the one selling it, it's not that car company, clearly, that's going to pay the tariff. It's me that decides that I want to present that to a customer in the United States.

[Liz]

Right. Or could it be in the case of, like, Ford gets a lot of their parts from Mexico. So Ford is going to have to pay to bring the parts from Mexico to the United States.

[Jenna]

Exactly. And especially with the automobile industry, that's what makes this story particularly nuanced and difficult is that we know for a automobile there are so many different parts coming from so many different places. It's not those, those makers of those parts that are paying the tariff. It's whoever needs those parts and it's bringing it. And that whatever that entity is bringing it into the country.

[Liz]

Right, right. What could you give us like a super zoomed out, like a very concise and zoomed out view of what is the President's goal with doing these tariffs? Because on the surface, it just seems like a bummer for everyone. But I'm sure there's a strategy. Could you just kind of flesh that out? Like his best case scenario, you just.

[Jenna]

Hit on what is at the center of this story. Kelly, like this is the question, which is what actually is the goal here? We know the President wrote a book called the Art of the Deal. Like are tariffs the end all be all? Is this the moment that he really wants to recalibrate the U.S. economy and balance it out? Meaning that he doesn't like the terms of trade, so he wants to make them more fair in his eyes. And he's decided to just do that in one sweeping move. That could be it. But there's also plenty of folks in the administration, including the Treasury Secretary, that talk about a bigger plan, that really this isn't just about trade. It is about a recalibration of the US Economy. It's slimming down the federal government. It's freeing up federal workers so they could work locally in different businesses. It's building up manufacturing in the United States because the United States is going to become more attractive as a place to build because people don't want to be paying the tariffs or companies don't want to be paying the tariffs. And we're going to have, we're going to make more money through charging these tariffs that's going to help us with our debt. That there's multiple goals to just this tariff story. And that's one thing I would just encourage everyone that's listening to think about, is that so many of the headlines you see right now, now are just about trade and just about tariffs. And the question here is, what is actually the ultimate goal? Is it that the President believes that we are in fact, in a national security emergency and we can't manufacture enough at home? And so this is one of the reasons that we're going to make the US Markets more attractive and people are going to come build here because they're not going to pay the tariffs and we're going to be safer. Is that the ultimate goal or is there something else happening that has more to do with, again, the economy and taking what were old standards and updating them for modern times and creating a more fair trade? Which, by the way, you have to be really careful with the word fair, because as we know as parents, like what I consider fair and what my child considers fair are totally different things. That's also true with countries. And whoever's defining what's fair is usually pretty controversial. So that is really the question, like, what is the actual goal by this administration? And, you know, that's really important. Just from a storytelling perspective. If you tell someone this is the goal, then then the public and the press can, can work toward to understanding whether or not that goal is achieved. When it's a little bit foggy of, like, what actually is the main goal that creates a lot of uncertainty and volatility, whether it's the stock market or in a company, or whether or not I'm gonna, you know, buy a new car or buy a new house? And that's where you have the second or third order effects that feel like, wow, things are really kind of moving erratically all around us right now.

[Liz]

And we feel like, is it a fair assumption to say we haven't totally gotten a clear answer on what the goal is?

[Jenna]

Yes, yes, I would say that's absolutely a fair assumption. And there's been many goals mapped out by different members of the administration, including those larger goals about multiple things happening at one time. You know, a reduction in debt and a safer country. The question is, is that clear enough for the American public and is it clear enough for the business community so that the business community can make decisions.

[Liz]

And remind, like, before this 25% tariff went into place, was like BMW just bringing cars over for free? Like, was there no tariffs and now there's tariffs? Or what is it? I don't even know. Or is it just a percentage increase? Or did we go from 0 to 25?

[Jenna]

It's a really great question. And it really depends on the item, the country, and so many different details of, you know, and what industry that you're in. And that's what also becomes very confusing because we know now that the president, for example, is putting on this past weekend a 10% base tariff on everybody. So what exactly does that mean and how does that apply to different industries. And what happens if you were already paying 12%, but then now there's a reciprocal tariff and what does that mean for your country? So there is a lot of working this out. And to say like it's easy, accessible information would just be false. Like all of this is very difficult unless you're industry insiders understanding exactly what parts coming across or what product is and where.

[Liz]

But we don't know is there any, or has, is there any hopes that the tariffs get reversed or like if get renegotiated? Or do we and you're from what you're hearing, are we just like buckling up and this is what it is for a while.

[Jenna]

So such a great question. There's two different things that I'm hearing and seeing in my reporting. One is what we're hearing from members of the president's cabinet is, hey, we told you about tariffs and they're here. That's it. Like, we already told you they were coming. We ran on this. We told you what's happening in January, we told you what's happening in February, April, here we are. Like we told you, this is happening. This is what things are. This is what things look like. The president just said going into this week that he was getting calls from people all over the world. Now he's saying that we don't, I don't have a way to fact check it. I don't have a reason to believe that he's lying. This is just what he's saying in public. You know, I'm getting calls from all over the place about people that are trying to behave nicely and are trying to negotiate different terms. Terms. The European Commission president, she's a very interesting person, by the way. She's a medically trained doctor and she's the mother of seven children. Ursula Vander Leyen, just as a side note, kind of an interesting story, seven children and she leads the European Commission and she made a public statement today saying that she's open to negotiations with Europe for Europe's terms and would be interested in entertaining a 0% tariff on industrial items. So she's saying that again publicly to say, like, hey, like I might be open to doing this. Last week she didn't say that. This week she is saying that. So that also is causing some chaos, though. Are these going to be smaller deals negotiated that are going to be somewhat beneficial to the United States that then the White House gets to talk about periodically over the next several months or not or like, are some of these tariffs just going to stay and this is going to be that way for the next, you know, several years. It really the possibilities on the table is part of what's making this, this period feel chaotic. And if you're feeling like it's chaotic and you're not an investor, a business owner, you know, owning an automobile factory, like it doesn't matter. It's everybody's feeling that way, that sort of uncertainty of like what are we to make of all of this?

[Liz]

Yeah. And that's where I've really struggled in trying to cover the story and just give my advice. I always like what I started the car mom to feel like I was just like your girlfriend helping you car shop. Like I wanted it to be straight up casual. Almost like here's what, here's what I would tell my best friend and I don't really know what I would tell my best friend right now in terms of should I buy our cars going to get more expensive? What does this mean for the pre owned market? Because so much of what we're doing is cause and effect. Like well if this happens and if this keeps going then yeah, then eventually that's going to happen. To give the example of used cars, no, used cars aren't currently tariffed because they're already in the United States. There's the question of if the new cars get too expensive for people, will people flood to the pre owned market? And then if there's, then it's a supply and demand issue. If used cars are more in, more in supply then they'll probably go up in price as will your trade in increase in value. And then we're just kind of, it's just this cycle. So. So I think where it gets difficult is it's all these countries, it's all these manufacturers, it's all of these cars within manufacturers built in different parts of the world to, I mean again to give the BMW example, all their SUVs are built in North Carolina. All their sedans are built in Germany. All of their engines are imported. So it's like we not. And then we have the parts discussion of it all which is a whole other layer to it. That's just, I mean, I don't have a question. Well, no, no, that's my summary of it.

[Jenna]

First of all. Yeah. When you called yourself a rinky dink mommy blogger at the beginning, I was like no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like you. No, no, no, no, no, no. Like I, that's not even. I understand how all of us feel in certain ways about our chosen career. But like I Love your content. What you, what you produce and what you share with women is so smart, so important. I love cars. I don't know if you know this about me, Kelly. I, I, I drove old Impala like when I was in college. That was early running. Like, I love cars and I love your content. It's so smart, it's so empowering. And the tips are so important because it affects us every single day. And that's what's important about the car market, is that for many of us, we're in and out of our car multiple times a day. It is a huge portion of the U.S. economy. I think it's like 20% of the U.S. economy is tied to the car market, so it really, really matters. Just a side note, but I think one of the things that is, is getting lost in some of the headlines that maybe also ties to how you're looking at this story is there's a question for every business owner right now about how they're going to handle this, including car makers. So let's say their prices go up. Let's just make it easy. Like, let's just take $100. Okay. Car costs $100. And like, the prices are going to raise 20 bucks to make it. So, you know, they were selling the car at $50. They were, I'm sorry, they were making the car for $50. They were selling it for 100. Well, now it's going to cost them $70 to make, make the car, you know, $120. Like, do they actually increase the price the same amount that their expenses are going up, or do they have enough margin to play with? And, and maybe that doesn't get passed on to a consumer or it becomes very competitive in the car market where Ford suddenly will say, we're not passing along these extra price because we believe in what we're, you know, whatever sort of marketing campaign they want to do around it. And so is there a competition there, too? There is definitely a competition amongst car makers, but there's a big question of, like, what in practicality does that look like for you and me? And right now all these major companies are going to try to figure that out. I don't know. They're preparing for it. But do they actually know? I don't, I don't know if we know six months from now what this is actually going to do to the car market.

[Liz]

Yeah. And will it? I guess my overall messaging has been to not rush into a car purchase. Like, I, I, I've seen a lot of other like automotive influencers really use this as a tactic to be like, they're going to go up, better get.

[Jenna]

It while it's good.

[Liz]

And I don't think panic buying is ever good advice to take. We don't know if cars will get more expensive, we don't know which ones will get more expensive. We don't know what that means for your trade and we don't know how long it's going to last. Yeah, it's, I think people just kind of. I heard a quote, it wasn't me who said it, but some guy was like, I think the fear of the tariffs could be more expensive, could be more expensive and damaging than the tariffs themselves in terms of the car market or cause, like, cause more of a panic than what's actually so smart.

[Jenna]

Yeah, I think it's such a smart comment. It's true. And also, let's just also be honest, like, we recently, I know, I can't believe it's been five years since the pandemic started, but we all have that in the back of our minds and we all know what that period was like for a good two years of not being able to get things accessibly and then seeing the price effect on market. So, you know, that's really recent for us. So it's easy to feel that panic sense and feel like, oh man, if I don't buy it now, is it going to cost me, you know, three times as much in the future? And the trouble is, like, we don't really know. And also we can't tell the future. So this is one of the dynamics that's in pricing. But we don't know what else. We don't know what we don't know, which is, is there something else that could happen that could rattle the economy in any way? So it is, it is good advice of just kind of not feeling rushed or feeling pressure unless you know what you want and that's what you want and you're, you want to go get it.

[Liz]

Yeah, well, and then, you know, we had Ford come out, I don't know if you saw this, but Ford's come out and announce that they're offering employee pricing to everybody until June 2nd. And like I looked into it like they're straight up. It's, this is not, this is not coming from a dealership. This is, I can tell you with like certainty you will get employee pricing. Not, not a marked up car that's pretend to be marked down employee pricing on all new Fords that are on the lot right now. And they only said till June 2. So there's been, there's been some people saying, like, this is just like a liquidation thing. They're just trying to. Because Ford will be. And I think they're also, I think Ford's also, if I had to guess, trying to remind, remind people that they're American made even though they're not really American made because they have so many of their parts that get imported. But until June 2, you can get employee pricing on a Ford, which was a refreshing, which I think was refreshing because then we had, you know, Volkswagen come out and say, like, they're adding a tariff fee. Infinity's just said they're going to, like, stop sending some models here. Like, some of the, like, they're lower. They're like, not as popular models. They're going to stop selling. So it is hard when I feel like every day a different manufacturer is coming out with a different way that they're going to approach this. And it's, I think it's going to be a little trial and error.

[Jenna]

Well, can I jump in there for a second? Just because I do think it's easy to. I just talked about this during our. We do a weekly podcast called Scoop just to kind of give people foundation for the week ahead. And one of the things I said is missing from this story is a reminder about how important your listener is right now. It's very easy to walk around this world and sort of feel, especially if you're a busy mom and you're just trying to get through each and every day, like you go to the grocery store, you go into Target, you're going to all these places that you're small in a big world. And what I would say is you're actually very big in the global economy. And the decisions that you're making, whether it's at Target or a grocery store, are disproportionately impacting the global economy. So while companies are threatening things like I'm not going to ship my car to the United States, I'm not going to do X, Y and Z, we are still the largest economy in the world. And one of the risks of this tariff and why there's critics of it, is a question of, like, if we're not stable, if we're not quite as robust, will we. Well, we have that, that leverage that we have right now, which is that people do want us to shop with them. And so I don't want people to lose sight of that, too, which is a lot of countries and companies want access to Our markets, they're going to have a lot of emotions around this, but at the end of the day, they still want your attention, and I just don't. It's funny how you, like, talk to yourself, right. About what you're doing on a regular basis, and it's easy to forget how important you are to the global economy as an American citizen.

[Liz]

Yeah, I think that's very. That's a very interesting thing to think about. Okay, well, let's do. Any other tariff questions, or do you feel up to date now?

[Kelly]

I feel so much more up to date, honestly. I feel like. I really feel like Mark hates to see me coming to the trivia night.

[Jenna]

Oh, Mark is gonna be so in trouble. He's gonna try to tell you something about tariffs, and you're gonna be like, did you know about pirates?

[Liz]

There's one kid. Yeah, I'm kind of. Yeah, okay, let's. I don't really remember. I'll have to. I'll have to work on that. Moving on from tariffs, Jenna, what's one of your, like, what's your favorite, like, fun story going on in the news right now?

[Jenna]

Oh, that is so hard. There's so many, like, amazing stories. I am sort of fascinated with this group of astronauts that just returned from being trapped. They said they weren't, but they were in space nine months longer than they thought they were going to be. Do you know that story about those astronauts? Right? Yeah. I'm sort of fascinated with their trip down. Now that they're here. They've been sharing some of what the recovery is like. I'm sort of fascinated with that. And I love. Suni Williams is the woman that. Can you imagine? You're like, I'm just going to pack for a couple days. I'll just bring a couple things, and then you're there for nine months. Like, I just can't even imagine that. But she has such a nice way of looking at it where she just has said, you know, this is life. Like, you have to pivot. You have to be resilient, you have to make the best of it. And I just can't even imagine that, to be honest with you. I mean, there's plenty of times with my three kids that I'm like, you know, it'd be nice to have a weekend away, but I know that's in space, like, without.

[Liz]

That gives me, like, I feel clauster.

[Jenna]

Come on.

[Liz]

Claustrophobic for them. Like, I don't know, just not being so. Being so out of control of. Yeah, that's crazy. I Died. You shared a recent thing on your Instagram and you died. It was like, Obama photobombed these people.

[Jenna]

Oh, it was amazing. Another favorite story, like, he's just walking along the, you know, the. The basin.

[Liz]

Right.

[Jenna]

Where all the, all the cherry blossoms are. Which, by the way, again, another fascinating story because some of those trees date back more than 100 years to where this was going to be this big moment of diplomacy between Japan and the United States. And there's this great story about this, is that there was a. That advocated for this for years, saying, we just need to bring these cherry trees to Washington, D.C. and finally she got the ear of First Lady Taft. And this is how it all happened. It was one woman that was like, I think this would be really great. And then it was like, suddenly we were so. The blossoms are amazing. And this woman, of course, wanted to get family photos, as we all do, and probably was a nervous wreck. I can imagine, with the kids, because you could just walk right off there to the water. I don't know if you've ever been there. It just. You could easily fall in. Okay, so this was not easy. They were probably really focused on the tree. And President Obama just goes walking by with his security. And what's funny is he actually. President Obama was posting on social media pictures of the blossoms.

[Kelly]

Yeah.

[Jenna]

So it was actually him. You know what I mean? And he's like, in the back of their family photo. Like, what are the chances? Like, it's so good.

[Liz]

It's so good. Oh, my gosh. I love all these little facts. You know, I bet you do do really well at a trivia night.

[Jenna]

I don't know. I get a little, like, a little pressure, though. I don't know. Like, I would never do good on Jeopardy. I. I feel like you're the best.

[Liz]

Are you kidding? I think you would do terrible, excellent on Jeopardy. You know, so many fun facts.

[Jenna]

All of that is because I've looked into some of this. As for smarter news, and without smarter news, I don't know if I would have done it because the news wouldn't have slowed down. Like, everyone wants to focus on those big headlines that are the scariest, worst headlines that you could ever imagine about all sorts of dark things. And when you actually step away and think, well, what's the historical context for this story? You uncover so many interesting things, and without history, the headlines have no context. You know, they don't have the understanding of, like, the depth of what we're talking about. It's one of the things I want to look into with tariffs, because I know there's a lot of comparisons to the past for tariffs, but a lot of those periods of tariffs came in after wartime that were, you know, it's very specific time in our history.

[Liz]

I had that as a question to ask about if we've ever seen anything like this before. Yeah. And it's. It's hard. Not. Kind of like we said, not in the tariff sense, but we've seen the car market shake like this during the pandemic and like. Like, you know, used car values appreciate for the first time ever. So it's just. I think it's hard and I just can't imagine a world. And again, I'm not an economist, but, like, once the cars get more expensive, I just don't see a world where they ever bring them back down. Or like, if more manufacturing comes to the United States, it is more expensive to manufacture here. Like it just then. I mean. Right. Than it is in some of the other countries. So I just don't.

[Jenna]

Yes.

[Liz]

No. If we ever live in a world where even if there's. It's kind of like once. Once these manufacturers can get people to pay and stomach these prices, like, why would they ever drop them unless the. Unless the economy goes really south.

[Jenna]

No, I mean, it's a really important point. And it's one of the problems that we've seen in the grocery store during inflation. Right. And through the pandemic, which is like, once you're paying this for a bag of chips or eggs. Let's use eggs. Like, eggs. Where I am. I have a lot of friends who have chickens. Thank goodness for that. Hens. What do you. What do we. I'm not a farm. I need to get on this bed. I'm like. What do you call the things. They're not roosters. Okay. I know that chickens is fine anyway.

[Liz]

Chickens is fine.

[Jenna]

Yeah, chickens is fine. But, you know, there's. There's. I go into the grocery store, I'm still buying eggs. They're telling me not to. Anyways, the. It's. I know it's, you know, going to cost between six and basically $9 for a dozen eggs. And that's what I've gotten used to. And so it's not. I've adjusted because of that. A certain amount of inflation is expected in the economy. We expect to pay more for a carton and milk than our parents did. That's part of the way the economy evolves and grows. And we know that what's healthy. We do want to see Some price inflation. We just don't want to see so much that no one is buying anything, you know, or that it's so much price pressure that it's the only uber wealthy can do it. It is interesting, the car market, what you say about used cars will be so fascinating to see what plays out because we saw in some cases, I mean I had a personal experience of this through the used cars and a lot were more expensive than the new cars.

[Liz]

Yeah, well, and what, what we're already seeing, which I don't think is a story that people are in the auto space are covering as well as. Because a lot of people in the auto space don't talk about used cars as much as I do. But I working on this new piece and I'm trying to do cars under 30,000 for families of two to three kids. That just like feels like something that Everybody's looking for. Thirty, that's around 550amonth, $30,000 or less, two, maybe three kids. And so I'm starting to like compile my list of cars, cars and there is such a gap in that used car market because there is not the number of cars in 2020 and 2021 because they were not built during the chip shortage. So like now, I mean I'm scrolling pages like to get it and there's a ton of 18s, ton of 19s, a ton of 23s and the 23s are too expensive and the 18s and the 19s are closer to 20. And I'm trying to find that $30,000 used car and it is, it is scarce. So I think, I really think the used car market because that's still suffering plus people are going to go there. I don't know, it's going to be, it's going to be interesting.

[Jenna]

That's really. I think you're, I think you're onto a big story, honestly. And I think it's a very fascinating breaking news. Breaking news. Follow the hot tip. Hot lead here from Kelly the car mom. No rinky dink, nothing here. Okay. Yeah, this is it. But also here's. Okay, I'm gonna throw something into the mix because I'm curious about this. One of the questions about the tariff situation is whether or not, and not to get too complicated, we would see a decision because of what's happening with the economy to force interest rates lower, which would in turn make it cheaper to borrow money to for example buy a car. And what I'd be curious about is whether or not your buyer that you're looking at has access to financing through a used car market. Is there access to financing the same way a new car market? And what does that. Because that might really determine who buys.

[Liz]

So I think what, what I think a lot of the manufacturers are going to do on the new car front is I think most of them are going to try to not raise prices and they're just going to try to remove incentives. So like that's where you know, you go to Toyota thon or like you know, Alexis December to remember and they're giving you money off. Like, like that's probably over for all. I mean that's probably over. They're going to try to not raise the prices, take away those and then hopefully be able to offer financing specials and on the new car side to offset the higher prices. The used car financing is getting a lot more competitive and a lot. What's been really good for the used car market is certified pre owned programs that manufacture. So that's like if, if someone turns back in their Kia lease, Kia will certify the car, they'll extend the warranty and then you can finance it through Kia and sometimes they offer lower rates on those certified cars. So I am, I do think that would be a way to get payments more affordable because it is. And you almost could make the argument like now's the worst time to buy a car because the used car market hasn't really totally crashed yet. Like you're. I actually do believe your trade will probably go up in value. If not go up in value, stay very. I think it'll be worth the same in six months as it is now. I, I do believe that I'm speculating, but I, that's my guess. This is why I can't be a journalist. I forgot what I was going to say, but I was honored for a second there.

[Jenna]

That's okay. I loved it. I was hanging on every word.

[Liz]

I was like, I'll leave you 130 more though. Yeah. Okay. Jenna, I want to know. I have two more questions. Not tariff related, just like fun.

[Kelly]

I have a question for Jenna too.

[Liz]

Oh, okay. I bet they're the same questions or do you want to go first? Mine are standard questions. Okay.

[Jenna]

Okay.

[Kelly]

Well, I have a question because I love how you said that like you like to look at history when you like hear this headline. Like, like where have we seen this in the past? What can we learn from that for us to try? There's. It's very hard to find non Potter's nonpartisan news as you know. So if we hear this headline. If you see a headline, what's, like, the first few questions that you're asking yourself or things that you're looking into to try and dissect the story to get to, you know, the truth of it?

[Jenna]

That's such a great question because the headlines are made to be clickbait. And I've really struggled, even with smarter news of how do we do headlines, Headlines, and how do we say discipline so that they're not salacious? And sometimes what we do is just a direct quote from someone, so it's a primary source as the headline. But sometimes that doesn't actually tell you enough about what's going on. So you do need to be able to summarize really quickly. What I've learned from news articles is that you really can't. You got to be really careful. And I know we're in a place where we're just going through headlines so fast. You just got to be really skeptical of them. And even if you have a moment to read the first two, you know, paragraphs, that would be helpful. What I find as a journalist sometimes to slow me down is I read an article from the bottom up because it'll slow me down. And usually there's, like, little gems at the bottom of an article that. That an editor didn't want to clip out, but probably pretty interesting facts that they're throwing in there that they're. That they don't get to right away. So I kind of use that as, like, it's a strange thing to do, but again, otherwise, I'm just kind of rushing through all these different news wires trying to figure out what's going on. I'm highly skeptical. I mean, that's the thing. I hate to say that, but I'm just highly skeptical of headlines. I want to know exactly why something matters and what's going on for real, you know, so, like, totally a lot of what you're seeing with the headlines now for stock market, for example, it's so splashy to be like, the markets are tumbling. Well, okay, they probably are tumbling. That probably is true. The question is whether or not that tumble lasts for, like, three days or three weeks or three months. I mean, those are totally different stories. And so I'm always looking for the why it matters side, like, to. To make sure that we can condense that for people.

[Liz]

Yeah, that must be so hard to, like, want to run a business and, like. But, like, don't want to clickbait people. Like, that's hard.

[Jenna]

Like, well, it's aal to. Yeah, because, you know, everybody else, I mean, even on our Instagram account, there are certain stories that we just don't cover because I feel like there's a line between information and exploitation. You know, we won't. Because. Because I know that there's a salacious story about some teacher somewhere that did something awful or there's some crime. Listen, we'll cover our fair amount of crime stories, but they better have a good news hook. For example, with the alleged killer of the healthcare CEO in New York City, we won't say his name and we won't show his face. But do you know how many clicks you get if you do that? A lot. I just can't do it. Like, I didn't build this to become something that I hate. There's a lot of parts of the media I don't love, and I think you're totally fair to be curious about all these things. By the way, it's not. I mean, I read all the stories, too, but I do want to create a place that people can come and get information super fast and know that they're not going to get bombarded or assaulted by things that could be extra disturbing or sensational.

[Liz]

Well, I think you're doing great. Let us tell us, since this is like an automotive podcast, I want to know what car you drive.

[Jenna]

Oh, I drive a Range Rover, but I have a story for that.

[Liz]

Let's hear it.

[Jenna]

Okay. Well, it was in New York City. I lived without a vehicle for a very long time, and my husband.

[Kelly]

Because.

[Liz]

What?

[Jenna]

You don't need one? My husband just left the military. We just got married.

[Liz]

Oh, a car. You don't need a car? Oh, car. I'm sorry.

[Jenna]

No, no, no. I'm sorry. So we're like, same difference. No. So I did have a car in New York. I also didn't have a husband, but then I got a husband, and then I got a car because my husband's from Texas and he was, like, out of the military. He's like, can't be in New York City without a car. So we had his pickup, chevy pickup from 2000 that we drove all the way from Texas to New York and parked in, actually, Trump Towers because that was an affordable garage. We had to take a cab to go get our car. It was so insane. But we had a lot of great memories in that car. So when I was pregnant with my second, we realized that the pickup truck, because the way that it was just old, we're like, oh, we're not really going to have a Safe car. What's the one car that we wish we could have? I said, oh, I've always loved these Range Rovers. This is like 2016 or so. I always love these Range Rovers. We walk by a dealership and there's a used Range Rover which we ended up driving and buying. It was great. I was like, oh my gosh, I've never thought I'd be able to drive a car like this. It's amazing. Used car. It all worked out, just felt like it was awesome him. So I drove that car as well. When we moved to Texas, which we relocated about a year later when I was here and never had a driving ticket like always been a knock on wood, safe driver. I got in a car accident that just about killed me. It was one of the worst days of my life. I'm so glad I didn't have any of my kids with me. I was driving in a road I was unfamiliar with two lane road and, and I didn't realize it dumped into a highway. And I for once wasn't distracted. I wasn't on my phone, I wasn't playing music, I wasn't looking at the weather. Like I was totally focused, you guys. Like there was and I still don't really know what happened. I still have questions about it. But the way that this intersection dumps you on, you could easily look at, there's multiple lights and I wonder because I was unfamiliar, I was looking at the wrong one. Anyways, a pickup truck, a double wide pickup truck going 70 miles an hour took off the front end of my car. And if it, if it like was, if I was a second more into the intersection, like I don't know if I would have survived. And that was such a dark time for so many reasons here I left this career that I love so much but felt so conflicted about. You know, I just had these two little kids, I was trying to build a company and I just remember standing in the middle of this intersection like the car was like. So the reason why I'm mentioning that story is Range Rover is fancy. It feels very fancy. And it felt fancy when I bought that used Range Rover so many years ago. But I am like, I talked to one of the firefighters and he's like, well I think these cars now you can tell me this is correct. See I could have bad information. I actually think it might have been the Range Rover dealership later because the car was completely toll. There was no saving it. They said, well the front part is made to rip away so that if you don't have. Like, if you're in this terrible accident, you're not going to get pulled. And that's exactly what happened. So it was really scary. So, anyways, that's how I'm loyal to. We still have that pickup truck, the 2000 pickup truck. It's a collector's item. We still have it, but I probably will always drive a Range Rover for that reason, because I was so afraid.

[Liz]

A lot of people. A lot of people say that who, like, if whatever car they were in, it kept them safe. And you are right. Like. Like, sometimes after an accident, a car looks very scary, but it's almost like the scarier it looks like, the better it did its job. Like, they are supposed to crumple. Like, that's what. That's what they're designed to absorb as much of that as possible to not put it on you.

[Jenna]

So.

[Liz]

Okay. Thank you for sharing that.

[Jenna]

Sorry, that was a big story. But it is. It's hard because, like, when you say Range Rover, like, again, it's just like a fancy car, but it has such a story to it. And it felt like, again, as a young couple, we're like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. We're so lucky. And then I'm like, oh, my gosh, thank goodness I was in that car, because I don't know, in a different situation, if it would have turned out differently. So there's my plug for Range Rover, which I have no idea. I'm gonna have to keep the one I have for the next 30 years.

[Liz]

Well, yes, those. Tara, you're gonna be tough. Okay, Jenna, before you go, we do another segment on this podcast, which I did not prep you for this, so I apologize.

[Jenna]

It's okay. I'm excited. I can't wait.

[Liz]

It's called Ditch the Drive Thru, and it's when we give people an easy dinner recipe to mix it up to get them out of their dinner rut. Like, you're a mom of three. You just, like, wrapped this chaotic podcast interview. You still have to get dinner on the table tonight. What are you making? What's like, your easy go to two things.

[Jenna]

I have something I'm making tonight that's really amazing. I have to find the recipe and send it to you, but typically what I do is ground turkey, and it's so easy because I just brown the turkey and you can make tacos. You could throw it in red sauce for pasta, or I can. Or my kids will just eat it plain with, like, avocados on the side, and I'll eat it and it's a good source of protein, and I don't feel like. Like a bad mom. And you can't really burn it because you just have to cook the heck out of it. So that's my ground turkey I always have in the refrigerator. But my son asked for a protein pizza, and I found this recipe with ground chicken where you can make a ground chicken. You can make a pizza dough, but.

[Liz]

The crust is chicken.

[Jenna]

Yes.

[Liz]

I've seen this.

[Jenna]

It's delicious. And if you are feeling that you want a little pizza, I mean, it doesn't taste exactly like pizza, but it tastes pretty close. Because if you put enough red sauce and cheese on anything, it's gonna be just fine. And so that's what I'm gonna make.

[Liz]

Liz, have you seen that you make a crust out of chicken?

[Kelly]

I've never heard of it.

[Liz]

It's kind of.

[Jenna]

I'm gonna find the recipe and send it to you guys because it is really quite good.

[Liz]

And do you use, like, canned chicken or what chicken do you use?

[Jenna]

No, I just use the. I just used whatever the ground. Like, ground. Where, like, ground beef is. You'll find your ground chicken. Ground chicken, which, yeah, you don't like. I've never really used it before, except for, like, tacos, I guess, but I used specifically for this.

[Liz]

Yeah, we had to get this.

[Jenna]

I'm sending you a photo recipe. We're going to be on a whole new level.

[Liz]

This is exciting. Breaking news. We're turning chicken to pizza crust.

[Jenna]

Hey, by the way, the turkey with a little melted cheese on top. You guys, it's.

[Liz]

It's bomb.

[Jenna]

You're gonna love it.

[Liz]

I'm probably. I'm probably sleeping on. On my ground birds. I'm gonna be honest. I'm not much of a ground turkey. Ground chicken girl, but I. But I could be. I could be.

[Jenna]

I wasn't either until I was like, how do I. I, like, really just could do chicken tenders every night. I know some people are amazing chefs, and I'm like, that's not a talent I have, guys. Just. I'm gonna be totally honest with you.

[Liz]

I think, like, I think you've got a lot going on.

[Jenna]

On. I'm like, the world's falling apart, so I have to focus on that.

[Liz]

Well, Jenna, thank you so much for joining the carpool. People can find you over on Instagram. Your website's amazing. You've got a great newsletter. You have a podcast. I didn't even realize you had a podcast. I'm gonna have to add that to my routine.

[Jenna]

Yeah, it's supposed to be quick, like 10, 15 minutes in the morning on, like, one of the big news stories and just like, I used to do these Instagram lives, but I think podcast is the way to go.

[Liz]

So, yeah, I like it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining, and I really appreciate it. Hopefully everyone feels a little bit more informed. I know I do.

[Jenna]

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for listening to the Carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody you know there's room in the car for.