Chris Cuomo (4:04)
Now, let me tell you what this did to me, okay? I have a really good friend, really good friend, all right? One of my, if not my oldest friend, one of my oldest friends. So I really trust this guy, okay? He is deep, deep, deep in the AI world, okay? And he said, you know, Doge was just about Elon Musk bringing in Palantir and the other AI guys to create databases, right? And I was like, that sounds so tinfoil hat. Like, what are you talking about? It was about cutting spending. Nah, what were they doing to cut the spending? How were they doing it? I said, well, they were using AI, But I mean, just because it's their tool doesn't mean that that's. It was somehow suspicious. He goes, no, they were going into all the different systems that mattered to them to figure out how to use AI to create databases on people. Now, I don't see that as patently frightening because they already do that. The government, everybody is taking our information all the time and selling it and trading it. It's like half the companies you deal with on E Commerce do that. Right. But AI may have had a bigger role for Elon Musk in terms of what he wanted to introduce into the federal corpus, the body of our government. And maybe there is something to it. And I had kind of dismissed it, even though this guy is my buddy and I do believe him and trust him until I saw this provision. Why wouldn't you want states to have any ability to regulate something for 10 years? Why would you ever do that? So then I started reading into what the provisions are. In fact, Greg, while I'm talking, Google why they did that in the budget bill. Ask ChatGPT, see what it says about itself. But here's the interesting thing. Why would we want a centralized, one way, one size fits all AI model when it's filled with so much unknown and risks and concerns? Why wouldn't we want as much potential regulation as possible? Very concerning to me. And I'm going to watch it. Okay? And when I asked the first couple of lawmakers about it, the Democrat didn't know what I was talking about. And the Republicans said, yeah, there's a lot of strange things in there. Like it's always about them. So Greg comes back to me and says they're worried about inconsistencies. That's why they don't want states to do it. I call bullshit. And here's why. They love that on every other issue, every state should have it its own way. That's the 10th Amendment. So 9th and 10th Amendment, depending on how you read the 9th, is the states. They're all their own thing. Why would you want to deny them their ability to do it their way? The way you do it with insurance, the way you do it with a woman's body. So it's okay for states to have different regulations and standards for how to treat a woman's body, but not AI. Suspicious, Inconsistent? Logically, yes. And what does that always tell you when something falls down and makes no sense? It's like the Democrats making fun of Trump with the taco acronym. Trump always chickens out. If you don't like the tariffs and don't want them in place, why would you tease him for chickening out? Aren't you tempting him to put them in and lock them in, which is exactly what you don't want. What does that paradox, what does that inconsistency show you? That it's not logical, it's not thought out. It's just to be nasty. It's just a gotcha. It's gratuitous. That's what this is. It doesn't make sense. We don't want all these different standards. Yeah, you do. You want it on our health insurance, our car insurance, our property insurance. Right. How we educate kids and how we regulate the idea that we have the right to a woman's body that you can have different standards on, but not AI. It doesn't wash. Something else is going on. Support comes from Mando. Here's what I know. If it's hot out, if it's warm out, if it's anything but cold out, I'm going to sweat. 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Now, what they'll tell you is no income from tariffs and the excess revenue that will be generated by tax cuts will make up for it. The 2016 tax cuts did not pay for themselves. Google it. Okay, they didn't. And until you take in the pandemic paychecks and all the money that was dumped into the economy, that was the end of the analysis. Trickle down has never worked. The only part of it that is accurate is trickle. Because if you're just depending on people who make a lot of money to somehow make life better for you, you better be ready to get only a trickle of satisfaction. Now, the tax cuts are just a political make good for Trump with the wealthy. And it's upsetting to me, even though I will be a beneficiary of it, because I was hoping that whether it was in good faith or bad faith, the populist nature of him wanting to raise the realities of the many instead of just a few when it comes to production and what you have to pay to get access to this consumer market and how that could benefit wages and workers and realities going forward. I love that issue. I think it should be on the table right up there with fundamentalism and extreme Islamism in terms of what we should be dealing with on a daily basis. But now this tax cut just shows that that's not what he's about. And the CBO says it. This bill adds to the debt and the deficit. Now, the reason it does that is that Trump doesn't give a shit about the debt and the deficit. He paid it lip service. And now you're seeing how he really feels. This is how he really feels. Johnson, the speaker of the House, doesn't feel this way. The conservatives don't feel this way. Most of his party doesn't feel this way. They just don't know how to say it. If this was a Democrat bill, they would be going apeshit crazy. But they can't, because there's fealty to party. They're a bunch of lemmings. So they have to do it all sotto voce. Only once in a while, you'll get a guy like the Senator of Wisconsin who is saying, I'm against it. I'm against it. This is crazy. And he's right. If you care about the debt and the deficit, and there are different schools of thought on that, it can last like this forever. I don't agree with that. But here's what the CBO found, okay? Again, this is the place that does it, all right? Increase in federal deficit of about $2.5 trillion over 10 years. Why did they do it over 10 years? This is a thing that you don't get to do and I don't get to do in my household budgeting. They always project out a bunch of years to magnify gains and to minimize losses. That's why they do it. They use time. And remember, 10 years, these guys aren't going to be there for all of it. You see what I'm saying? And that's the root of the problem, is that it's not really their responsibility. They're playing with somebody else's money and they're not dealing with what's going to happen on their watch. See what I'm saying? So two and a half trillion dollars over the next 10 years, okay? Why? Because you're extending the tax cuts, which is going to cut revenue, okay? Because you're doing tax credits for seniors, which, look, you can argue either way. The elimination of tax on tips, which you can argue either way, I think it nets up people's pay and it puts less wage pressure on employers. And I think there's something to be said for that. And there are other regulatory corporate tax measures that will bring it down. The provisions will reduce revenue and that will, you know, impact the deficit because you're still borrowing. Okay? Now the CBO projects that approximately almost 11 million people could use lose health insurance coverage because of cuts to federal programs. These are Trump's people, okay? So the cuts that they're doing hurt his own people. These people literally voted for what is now going to be painful to them. And I don't think they understood that. They thought he was going to go after the special interests and the rich and the corporate class, and they were wrong. Okay? Now look, Elon Musk has to know that coming out and shitting all over this bill is going to hasten his exit from maga, right? Yet he did it anyway, as I told you he would. Remember I said this will not last between the two of them. That Musk believes too many things that Trump doesn't or doesn't even understand. And here we are. Okay? Now again, their counterpart, their counterargument is going to be that it's going to reduce the deficit because of all these alternative economic assumptions, which is a nice way of saying fictional thinking about the power of tax cuts, okay? And that is the reality of what you need to know here. Look at the bill. Why are they increasing defense spending? Why did they never go after it with Doge? Because it's a sacred cow of the corporate class and of the powerful. Musk never even got to touch it. And it's no coincidence that that's where he gets a shit ton of his money. And then all the cuts are what, on your ass out of the domestic side of what helps people, okay? And that's why a lot of watchdog groups are saying that these long term investments that were made in human capital and infrastructure are being pulled back. They're trying to gut Biden's infrastructure bill, which all these Republicans were in favor of its ugly politics. Now another thing. Do you believe there's a housing shortage in this country? No, there's not. Not in terms of supply. There's plenty of supply. We can't afford it. That's the problem. And I'm not just talking about million dollar starter homes in the 200 biggest cities. That's a real story. But that's not just what it is. It's the ability to afford it because of help with financing. Okay? And one of the big problems in this bill is that people who need government help for housing like Section 8, they're going to cut that and you're going to have tens of thousands of low income Americans on waiting lists or without support, especially in high cost cities. So the places they need it the most, they may be able to get it the least. And that is going to add to the worst kind of pressure that you can have in life. If you think about it, other than hunger, it's housing, right? Hunger and housing. Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have food in your belly? Do you have clothes on your back? Right. Those are like the three kind of, you know, basic needs. And this is undercutting one of them. All right? And the short term continuing resolutions are killing us, these crs, because they create uncertainty for agencies and programs, disrupting the planning and often freezing funding at outdated levels. But that's the way they do it. They say, oh, we're not adding to the spending, we're just adding it like this. They need to find big ways to make more money for the government to pay down the debt and they have to find big ways to cut spending on things that cost a lot. Defense, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Is there going to be pain? Yeah. Is there going to be a political price? Yeah. But if you want to get it down, that's the only way. Unless you go and overtake China in a war and take over its Treasury. All right. And then pay yourself down. Not advocating for that. Okay. I also think it's stupid that. So the big problem with our spending is that during the pandemic a lot of things got ramped up. And not just pandemic specific funding, but assistance programs for people who are displaced because of COVID Childcare assistance, Medicaid, snap, all got huge boosts of funding. Now they want to pull all that back to pre pandemic levels. Look, I get it from a budgetary perspective, but it's going to cause a ton of pain. And you need to know that because when you're going to give a tax cut to the rich and you're going to make so many other people suffer, you're going to have a problem. And that's what this bill does. Now why can't the Democrats say what I'm saying right now and then give their ideas of where to cut and how to change Social Security? I'll give you one. Okay. I'll give you a few. Okay. Social Security 1. Remove the cap on income that is sheltered from the Social Security tax. Right now it's like $174,000. So if you make $400,000, you get 200, whatever, $26,000. That doesn't get taxed for Social Security. Why don't you tax it up until a million dollars? You know what would then happen with Social Security's problems? They evaporate for a generation. Now, you could raise the Social Security age, but I'm saying, why not do this? It's less onerous to people and you still get Social Security back. And you would keep that program solvent forever with this one change. Why doesn't anybody do that? Because rich people don't like it. But why don't the Democrats make that case and stake their claim instead of the taco bullshit and just saying everything Trump does sucks. Look, there's fair criticism. What he's doing with the deportations is stupid and it's overreach. It violates the Constitution in some cases, it's violating citizens rights in some cases, and it's going to hurt communities. Not everyone who enters illegally represents the same problem. But just saying it sucks, especially when you let the border get so, you know, porous, is not going to get you more traction with people. That's why Democrats numbers are in the toilet, even though Trump's numbers aren't strong, because they're not offering better solutions. They're just saying he sucks. Give better ideas of where to cut and get the spending down. Where are the Democrats ideas? Well, we're not in power right now. That's exactly when you need to be an idea factory, when you're trying to get back in. See, that's what I'm saying. I'm not trying to piss on Democrats. I'm trying to get us better ideas. And if we're going to be stuck with these two parties, we need them to perform optimally, not just sit by and watch the other one burn. That's how we got into this shitty situation. It's not going to get us out of it. This budget bill is a disaster for Trump. His own guys are against him on it, and he is not going to get it this way. Now, here's their problem. They're not going to want to give up the tax cuts because they think it's going to be bad for their constituencies. It's very hard to find Republicans who don't want to give tax cuts. But I will tell you, I've heard more now say that if there's going to be a tax cut, it shouldn't be for the top. It should be for the middle than I've ever heard before. And I think there's a chance that Trump is going to lose on the tax cuts, just a chance. But there's a really good chance that he's going to lose on the spending and it's going to be a big deal. And if the Democrats play it the right way, which is showing that they had better solutions, there were better ways to do this, would have gotten us to a better outcome. There's a huge win in it for them. And remember, I don't even know that they'll get done with the next budget cycle before the midterms after this one. So this is huge. And Trump may be about to get his biggest loss of his presidency and it's going to come at the hands of his own people. Support comes from Shopify. Starting a business is not easy, but I'll tell you what, it is not about what you do. It's about who helps you do it. You got to learn how to grow, but most importantly, you got to learn who to identify to help you grow. That's what I learned. And it turns out that when you have a successful business, it is because of the businesses you partner with to make yours a success. And that's what where Shopify comes in. If you want to sell things in the digital economy, you need to have someone who can help you make those transactions happen. And that is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US household names like Mattel, Gymshark and to just startups and new brands that are just trying to get their foothold with the market. Turn your big business idea into Cha Ching. With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 a month trial and start cha chinging today at shopify.com Chris C. Go to shopify.com Chris C. Where shopify.com Chris C. Let's just cut through the noise, okay? The economy is up and down. It depends on the day. Banks are having problems, all right? Producers are having problems. Lenders are having problems. Inflation is eating away our savings. Gold and silver. Check the numbers. They've held value not just through this current crisis, but every crisis. But you can't buy the wrong stuff. There's a lot of shiny stuff there that winds up being more gilded than gold, okay? Shiny coins, high fees, low value. All right? Dr. Kirk Elliot is my partner for a reason. Real bullion. No games. Go to kepm.com cuomo and get straight answers. No Fee, no commitment, just you and a skilled consultant who understands precious metals answering your questions. Protect what matters before the next shock hits. So that's the problem. Problem with where Trump is headed with this budget bill. Okay, there is pain train in play here. How many stops is he going to make on the pain train? We're going to see because his tariffs have created a situation that is kind of like this circular dynamic driving down our economic prospects. Now, sure, long term, maybe they could pay off, but short term, with this extra spending, it looks like he's adding pain in the near term, which politically could be the biggest loss of this new administration and be what carries into the midterms. Because remember, this is a whole other year until they get to do this again. So here's the problem with understanding what this means to us is so he's adding to the spending, it's adding to the pressure on our debt and our deficit, it's adding to our need to borrow. So it's adding to the interest rate situation, which is adding to the inflation situation. And how do you deal with that? What does it mean? Right. So let's put to the side the blame Trump or blame this party or that. That's. This is where we are. Okay, what does it mean that Moody's now downgraded us? What does it mean that inflation may go up and growth may go down? And what this spending means? And what does it mean in terms of your ability to buy, your ability to finance, your ability to save? And how do you deal with it from an investment perspective? Which is kind of what we should talk about a lot more, right? Which is, well, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to just sit back and watch all this? I don't control any of it, but it's having control over me. That's why I partnered with Dr. Kirk Elliot. Okay, Kepm Kirk Elliot, precious Metals. When I first heard about them, I was hooked on this reality show about gold mining. And I saw how gold kept going up and I was like, is gold even a thing anymore? Like, why? You know, I'd never really followed it. I'm not an inv. I used to work in finance, but not financing of gold. And I never thought about it. It seems like a different world, an older world, or it's what investors do and banks do and countries do, like, whatever. And I realized that when I started watching this show, gold was at like 1200 bucks. And then by the time I was done binging on the show, it was at 3,000. And I didn't understand why you look up kepm and I understand now why Dr. Kirk has been so successful. It's because he's given people access to a world that gives you security in times of uncertainty. And, man, if there is a theme for the Trump administration, it's gotta be uncertainty, and it's certainly roiled the markets. And now we gotta figure out what it means and what we can do about it, if anything, on a personal level. Right. I mean, because that's what matters most at the end of the day is how do I protect me and mine in this situation. So that's where Dr. Kirk comes in to help us understand, as my partner, what does this mean? Why is this happening this way, and what can we do about it? With no further ado, the man who helps us make do, Dr. Kirk Elliot. Dr. Kirk, it's great to have you again. Thanks for being available. I wanted to pick up on something we were talking about because there's been a change in the state of play.