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You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary and welcome to the Tara Palmieri show and the Red Letter. We have a special guest with us again, Robert Wolf, who was a former advisor to President Obama on his economic team. Informal but still very helpful during the 2008 crisis. He also advises a number of politicians. Now he was former chairman and president of Senior C&CEO of UBS. Robert, thanks so much for joining the show. So much to get into today.
B
Yeah, crazy day, crazy day. You wake up to news, you go to sleep to news and everything in between. I don't know how you guys do it, but God bless you.
A
Yeah, that's sort of how it works. Gotta roll with it, you know, Kind of makes us a snooze people a little ADHD because we're just darting around from story to story to story. But we all woke up to Operation Project Freedom by way of truth social from President Trump, basically announcing that he was going to have guided missile destroyers attempt to help these barges carrying fuel and petroleum and fertilizer to move through the Strait of Hormuz for other countries like Europe and Asia that really need access to this strait. And you know, this is so altruistic and everything, but Iran announced just hours later that they'll shoot down any US Military presence in the strait or on the land. I mean, what did you think when you saw this? Robert? I thought this is just another failed attempt to try to open up the strait.
B
So I'm not gonna say it's as bad as Liberation Day, you know, from April a year ago when he announced the tariffs, which felt like it was the Game of Thrones Red Wedding for execution. But this to me is just more noise because to me the most important thing they said is that they're going to guide and not escort. And so I don't know what ships are going to want to go through the strait with mines everywhere, not escorted by the US but just go on. It's kind of like going on their own. Hey, we'll tell you where to go. And by the way, it's not like we know where all the minds are. So to me, it feels like a failed experiment, you know, and then obviously, you know, what you just mentioned with Iran said afterwards, I would, I would have a whole different plan. You know, I would probably, if I was in the president's shoes, I would try to figure out how do I get to nuclear deal 2.0 where you talk about enrichments and ballistic missiles, you know, in lieu of, you know, the sanctions. And, and I actually would probably let Iran start thinking about tolling, you know, similar to what Egypt does in the Suez Canal. I, I think that this just isn't believable.
A
That is like a complete capitulation for Trump, though, to get back to the table with Iran and allow them to
B
have a nuclear weapon, which not have a nuclear weapon. I would say nuclear 2.0. So I would do similar to what President Obama did with China and Russia. That being said, it would, you know, limit uranium build up, but I also would add missiles and ballistics. And for that, I would think about the tolling.
A
But then you're just giving. Then you're actually enriching Iran by allowing them to toll. You're basically allowing them to continue their uranium program because they will do it.
B
Not well. Well, we should be clear. If you looked at the nuclear deal 2.0, they weren't enriching uranium. That's not, they weren't doing that. They were actually being being looked at by intelligence. And now they've built up since. Since we've had no check and balance. Also, by the way, if you open the Suez Canal, if you think about what energy would do, energy would go from north of $100 a barrel down to, my guess, below 60. So if you're tolling a dollar a barrel, you're actually lowering everyone's price dramatically. Number two, I think you can. This is, to me, during the idea of we're trying to do an Iran deal 2.0. It doesn't need to be forever. I just think it's a way to start having a real negotiation because right now it feels to me there's no exit strategy in sight. The other thing is, you know, President Trump is one of the greatest marketers ever, whether you believe it or not or like him or not. You know, we wake up to him, we go to sleep to him, and to me, he could say, listen, we killed ayatollah we impacted the regime. We've deteriorated a lot of their ballistic missile capability. We've deteriorated a lot of their enrichment capacity. And so now we're going to actually look at a different deal. And if you get Russia and China on that side, like President, President Obama did On nuclear deal 1.0, there could be a deal to be made. To me, we're just at this impasse that's just not working.
A
That seems like a really big lift. And there is demand right now. I can't imagine that they would come to that agreement anytime soon. And, you know, I heard today that even if they did resume to normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz, it would take six months for the supply chain to even come back to normal.
B
You know, listen, there. There's all different. Whether it's three months, six months, we have lost 900 million barrels of supply. It's about 13 to 14 million per day. And we're going north of 60 days. I mean, we're not talking about this like the 2022 Ukraine, Russia shock. We're talking about the shock on energy supply is more like Carter in the 70s. I. I mean, this is one of the most dramatic oil shocks we've ever had. Now, the positive is, if you want to see some light at the end of the tunnel, Tara, the positive is, you know, some of the largest countries, you know, in the world, like China and South Korea and Japan, because of what happened to them during 2022 in Ukraine and Russia, they have started to stockpile energy. So they're good for 100 to 200 days. And then the best case for us in the US we're totally energy independent. We're actually supplying more energy and LNG than we ever have in the past. So. So you could argue that, yes, for places like Pakistan and other places where there's rationing and blackouts, it's horrible. But there's a deal to be done. And I think we have to include our. Our adversaries and our allies. So China, as well as the Middle east, as well as the Europe.
A
You know, I was at the French ambassador's residence for White House correspondence weekend, and I caught up with the Irish ambassador, who pointed out to me that, you know, we think we talk about some countries in Asia, we talk about Europe and how they're impacted by the Strait of Hormuz, but we really talk about Africa and how they may be actually months away from a famine because of this, because they need access to urea ammonia so that they can plant, so they can have seeds so they can actually have crops. I mean the, the down cycle, like the down cycle effects from all this are, are really cataclysmic when you actually think about that entire, you know, continent.
B
And listen, no question, I think there's 53 countries and Africa, there are some that are benefiting like this because they're oil, oil exporters such as Nigeria. But for the most part, yes, they're third world country and they're being greatly impacted. I also, I'm not making comparison of, of U. S versus Africa. So I want your viewers to know this is not Robert making some dumbass comparison. But if you look at what's going in Wisconsin and Michigan, diesel fuel is at an all time high. All time high, including when we were peaking in gas, including in the 70s, all time high. And if you don't think that impacts truckers and farmers in the rural areas, then we're kidding ourselves. Which is why in my opinion, this impasse does not work. We have gas right now at 455. People think it's going to go to north of five bucks in the summer. Like these things just don't work for this president. Especially as we get into the midterms.
A
I paid more than $5 a gallon for gas this weekend. It was pretty brutal. It's, it's pretty painful to fill up a tiny mini Cooper when you realize you're paying what would have been the price of a suv. It's kind of crazy. And I think it's a reminder that like this is a huge economic, this is a huge political liability for president Trump who by the way, According to a WaPo ABC poll, that's Washington Post ABC News poll publisher over the weekend, he has a 62% disapproval rating that is the highest he has ever had in both terms combined. And get this, 72% of poll participants disapproved of how he was handling inflation. That is a seven point increase from two months ago. Pretty brutal. Especially when President Trump was essentially elected to improve economic conditions, cost of living. I mean that was what everyone thought, that he was stronger on the economy and immigration than Kamala Harris.
B
Yeah, I would say unlike a lot of Democrats, I'm willing to sit down almost across from anyone. You know, I know that that's become a big thing. And I had lunch with Steve Bannon a few years back. The one thing he said to me is the most important poll is are we in the right or wrong direction? So this poll that you just talked about by ABC and, and WaPo and Ipsos you know, just kind of is front and center. But it doesn't surprise me because you and I have talked about the past, Tara, about the K shaped economy, you know, where we have the halves and have something like the top 1%, have 90 plus percent of the wealth in the country. But what's really rearing its ugly head is saving rates is at the lowest in three years. So if people think affordability is not front and center, they're insane. I know the President has made that comment and I think it's just crazy. It's like just gaslighting the American public because everyone is dipping into their savings like they've never done before.
A
Yeah, I mean, he actually called affordability Democratic bullshit. That. Yeah, pretty cutting.
B
I, I think, I mean, Tim Scott the other day, I think it was to Maria Bartiromo said, gas prices are going down. I don't even, I mean, I, I don't even know how we even, I mean that must be like front and center for the Onion or snl. I mean, it's just ridiculous, you know, of what people are saying. And, and I think it's shameful.
A
And you know, gas prices have actually increased 30 cents in the past month by 30 cents. And they were already ridiculously high at the top at the start of the month. So. And you know, as you mentioned to me before this show, that the debt is higher than it's been since, what was it, you had a ratio.
B
So I, I like to jab my friends who all tell me they're fiscal hawks and these fiscal conservatives still live, but this is the first time since World War II that debt is higher than GDP in the US since World War II. So yes, it made sense in World War II, it doesn't make sense today. So that just tells you between. And this is both sides. You know, I don't, I'm not here to have Trump Derangement syndrome. Both sides have been spending an insane amount of money over the last few decades and it's crept up and we're doing nothing about it. You know, they used to have this thing called pay fors. Okay, you want to increase the budget, go pay for it. They don't do that anymore.
A
Take the exit, turn right into the drive thru.
B
Nope, I'm making dinner tonight.
A
You don't have time. Josh has practice.
B
Oh, that's right.
A
I'll just get a salad and fries.
B
No, just the salad.
A
But salad cancels fries.
B
Salad only.
A
Fries.
B
Salad, fries.
A
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B
Hey, can I get the fries? Salad. Sorry.
A
Learn more@join mochi.com Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists. Results may vary. Yeah, no, and it's true. And honestly, the Democratic Party has really done little to prove that they are better at handling the economy. New YouGov economist poll shows that a generic Congressional Democrat is still only marginally more popular than a Congressional Republican with an overall favorability rating of negative 21. That is, that means that we might not see this very enthusiastic blue wave. I think more likely people just coming out to vote against President Trump rather than for a party, because I haven't really heard much. I mean, I haven't really heard a lot of ideas out of the Democratic Party. I haven't even really heard a great offensive when they could be playing that game right now when the Republicans are low.
B
I don't see Interesting you say that because last week I went on TV and I said, you know, publicly on Fox that I support Kevin Wash as our next Fed chair. And I don't think he got any Democratic votes, you know, in that committee. And my view was I, I knew Kevin when he was during the Lehman crisis where I was down there. And he was part of the, he was a part of the Fed back then and he had an active role working with banks. And he is a sharp guy and he's really smart. And I think of all the candidates that President Trump was thinking of choosing, he would be the best. And so the idea that none of the Democrats are voting for Kevin Warsh, who's experienced and smart. And by the way, his background is he's somewhat hawkish. And the other thing I would tell your viewers is you need a majority of the votes to raise or lower rates. So it's not like Kevin can say, you know, I know he was getting hit by people, oh, he's going to be a Trump puppet. He's going to be a Trump puppet. But he has one vote. And so this idea that he can magically lower lower rates just doesn't exist. And I think actually in this inflationary environment, they probably won't lower rates. And, you know, so I was against that before year end, I thought we should have lower rates. But now with the war, you know, I think we're a bit of kind of at this impass.
A
So you don't think it will be a more hawkish Fed with war at the top of it?
B
I think it would have been. But I think when I think right now in, in my opinion, long term, I think the job market is going to be hit our country more than inflation. Inflation was coming down at a nice pace. You know, listen, we don't really know how to judge what I'm, you know, what I would call, and you know, I'm not brilliant here, other people will calling it as well, but we kind of now are in this AI economy. GDP just came out recently at 2% and the entire really, you know, flex to it was capex and business spending and it was all around AI, whether it was technology or data centers or infrastructure or cooling. And so, you know, I think in this AI economy, I think it was last night Bernie Sanders, I was reading, had this symposium where he had people from China and people from the US talking about it. And if the two bookends of that speech was it's incredibly exciting and incredibly scary and it has to be governed. But if you talk, if you listen to it, it's clear that the impact of jobs, you know, long term are going to be scary as. And one thing, you know, someone who runs a business, you know, I have employees and I know other people are saying this, so this isn't new to everyone, but immediate. For every employee I have, I pay a payroll tax. But if I all of a sudden buy, you know, new machinery or new computers and new equipment, I actually can write that down off of depreciation. And so actually I get a tax credit for it. So if you're thinking about productivity gains, you know, you know, using human capital versus using, you know, what I would call capex. People are going to go to the capex side.
A
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B
I would probably say the over under is 20 seats still.
A
Okay.
B
But I think you're spot on, Tara. Right. We don't know what Alabama is going to do, although we kind of think we know what they're going to do. Louisiana, Mississippi, you know, so all the Southern states, I mean, I think I saw a thing the other day, there's like 40%, you know, African Americans in Mississippi and maybe they'll get one of the four seats, you know, and so we know that gerrymanning is going to impact the midterms. I would say the, the question is, you know, everyone's being hurt. And this idea that, you know, Republicans are sticky voters and Democratic sticky voters, I'm not so sure that's as true right now. I don't, I'm not sure, you know, look at what's happening with, you know, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Tucker Carlson or these influencers who are going the other way, can they impact the vote? So, you know, I'm just not sure whether, whether this will be, you know, kind of a wave election or not. But I would agree with you. It doesn't feel, feel that way today.
A
Yeah, it doesn't feel that way, but I certainly, and, and six months is a long time.
B
Some follow the noise.
A
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B
I think it's hard to really think that inflation's going to come down on health care and food prices and gasoline fast enough where people won't feel the pain. You know, certainly President Trump, you know, these algorithms kind of shoot out, you know what I would say, Fake news and fake information. But I think the pocketbook, you know, kind of speaks for itself. And you know, my opinion, wolves have gas over four bucks, you know, by the end of the summer, I think inflation will stay high. I'd probably say I'm a little more nervous of, you know, stagflation, you know, kind of rearing its head right now. If this war continues, the, the one saving grace is, you know, the amount of money being spent, you know, by these big companies on capex is insane. So the question is, and we'll have a, I think Friday unemployment number. The question is how much is it impacting unemployment? We just don't know yet.
A
The AI, the push for AI, yeah, it is a scary thing and I think it terrifies a lot of people, especially younger people coming into the workforce because a lot of those admin jobs, kind of assistant type jobs can be taken by AI. But I think if the train those young people how to use AI so that they can work at a higher kind of Critical thinking level. But, you know, it's a hard thing to do. Right.
B
I mean, I was reading the other day, you know, legal jobs are being lost because people are using it. I read today that, you know, in banking they're going to start using, you know, Claude. So it's starting to impact a lot of what I would call middle, middle tier jobs. And you know, just going back to politics because I think you were spot on. Although I'm a staunch Democrat, I think the Democratic Party has to have a better economic message than they have. It can't be about Trump 24 7, you know, and right now the populist movement, you know, and I would consider myself more of a centrist, but the populist movement with Bernie and AOC and you know, yeah, Zoron, they just have a better message right now. You know, Zoron, I would say, you know, he has to show he can execute his message. I would say AOC and Bernie have the benefit of being, you know, federal, so they can, you know, you know, and they can really go after Trump and his administration more on health care, the impact of AI, Whereas, you know, Zoron doesn't have the same number of tools he has to balance a budget, you know, being, you know, in the city that New York, which is really tough. I don't know where you grow the revenues and you just can't do it with taxes. It's just not going to be approved. But I do think that the economic agenda has to be, you know, much more, much more clear for the Democrats for them to ever have a chance of this wave election.
A
Yeah, that's right. I mean, there's a big split in the party with the feeling of essentially Democratic socialists and Democrats, right, and, or Democratic populists, as you might call them, and, and more centrist kind of Bill Clinton type Democrats. But the leadership of the party, there's a lot of anger right now in leadership. And anyone who seems to be endorsed by establishment, they, they have this like, stink on them. Anyone who's getting money from the DCCC or the Democratic Senatorial Committee, you know, anything from Schumer's packs, dnc, DNC is suffering. I mean, RNC has seven times more money in their war chest than the DNC right now. And the leadership, Ken Martin, he's getting grilled. I mean, people were expecting an autopsy report. It was a pretty brutal slacking. In this last election, you lose all seven swing states and there hasn't been an autopsy report. There's.
B
Well, I, I, I'm gonna You know, I don't mean to put salt in the wound, but that autopsy report was done and paid for by donors. So in my opinion, so in my opinion, they should have made it public. I heard Ken had a tough interview with Jon Favreau recently, and John really went after him, saying, you know, it's owned by the people who paid for it. You should be showing it. But I agree with you. I think, you know, you've done some recent podcasts, you know, on the Michigan race, on what's happening in Maine, and, you know, so you've been right at the cutting edge. And all of, all of this, you know, it's clear. Janet Mills, you know, opted out last week. That was a Schumer person. You know, he's leaned in, it feels like, with Haley Stevens in Michigan, in my opinion. I think the one thing we learned with Biden, let the primaries play out. You know, let's have a real primary fight. We know we're going to have one. You know, this presidential election, There'll probably be 20 people running, but I think we are, we have a flawed approach by thinking Schumer should dictate what happens in Maine.
A
Right. He's personally very unpopular and, and the voters have, have reflected that. But as a. I'm guessing that you've been a donor to the DNC before, Correct?
B
Or I've been a donor to the dsc, the dnc, although I'm, I've been a huge donor to the Democratic Party. But I, I don't think I given a cent in 2025, which is the first year, probably in 20 years I haven't given. Now I will be giving in 26, you know, to congressional races and Senate races. But I was so turned off by how we blew so much money, so much money in 2024. You know, I felt like they were not a good, you know, steward of my money. Not that it's a lot. I just think that, you know, we didn't do well in a lot of races.
A
What was it in particular that really bothered you or what kind of spends did you see?
B
Well, I, I think one of the biggest things, and I don't blame this on Kamala, but the idea that we spent, you know, a billion and a half plus dollars and we didn't really, in my opinion, have a great gauge of the younger voters. I mean, we lost a lot of our core voting base because we were just out of touch. And I think that, you know, when you spend that amount of money and you're not getting to your Core voters and we lost some Senate races. I think we could have won too.
A
Yeah.
B
Now I will tell you on the flip side, I would have given us a 10 to 15% chance to flip the Senate today. We have a 40% chance to flip the Senate. It's still not 50%. But Alaska's in play. You could argue Texas is in play. You know, Maine's in play. I'm not saying we're going to win those, but there's now it was three in play. Now there's probably eight in play is all I'm saying. So I'm using the word in play.
A
Party or is that because of the candidates on both sides? Because Republicans have fielded some pretty weak candidates and I think it's both. I think the Democrats in a lot of ways that it's the anti establishment candidates that might be giving them a chance.
B
Yeah, listen, I think Talarico, you know, was a, seems to be a good candidate. I certainly have my disagreements with Graham Platt, Platner, whether he can beat, you know, Collins, I don't know. But Sherrod Brown has a good chance. It looks like Ossoff will win Virginia, Roy Cooper will win North Carolina. You know, I think Chris Pappas could, you know, possibly win New Hampshire. My only point is, is Mary Palada and Alaska, there's just a lot more possibilities. Before we were hoping, you know, maybe to hold three seats. Now we're questioning whether we can, you know, do more than that. So, you know, I think it's part candidates and part, you know, the, you know, Trump isn't, you know, helping his party right now.
A
I do enjoy always reading the stories in Politico and various other places like will John Fetterman become a Republican? Will he switch sides? And I think he likes just dangling it out there. I mean, he obviously denied it, but just keeping that rumor going gives him a little bit more power and sort of keeps him in, in the game in a way and gives him some more power in, in, in the Congress. But yeah, I always, I find those stories to be amusing.
B
I agree. They're amusing. Fetterman votes 90% with Democrats. And some of the things, he just disagrees with the Democratic Party and that's fine. Just like Susan Collins votes 90% with Trump. So we should not make like, you know, we've really lost the center. Everyone goes to their corner on almost every tough vote.
A
Yeah, that's true. Have you heard anything about an autopsy report? Like, have you seen it? Has anyone seen it? Has, have you heard anything about this autopsy report. Have you seen it? Has anyone seen it?
B
Nope. I have met with Ken Martin. I speak to the dnc. I have. You know, I think what you're saying is we're not looking to go backwards. We're going to take a few of our lessons learned and we're going to look to move forward. We don't want to go backwards and debate it. You know, that's kind of what I've heard him say, but I have not seen it.
A
Okay. What are your other donor friends saying right now? I mean, what's, what's. Why. What's the struggle?
B
You know, I, I actually think they feel pretty good about the House, and I think they feel like the Senate's in play. And I think with the presidency, I think all of us, we're probably going to give money to five people instead of one. There's going to be 15 to 20 people running. I will have at least 10 friends running. You know, and so I, I think you're gonna want to have a real primary and kind of let it play out a little.
A
What are you thinking about California right now? It's just all thrown up in the air with the Swallow scandal, which seems to be getting seedier by the day. But what would. How are Democrats feeling?
B
I think, listen, when you have an open primary in California and you have, I think, in the top five, two Republicans right now, and for the most part you have like six or eight Democrats all between 5 and 15%, and someone told me there's like over a hundred people running. You know, I'm a little nervous, but I'm hoping that it's at least a Democrat versus Republican, then I think a Democrat will win, but there's a possibility that there's two Republicans running. And so, you know, I think it could be a real shit show to use your French earlier on. But. But I'm hoping that, you know, I'm hoping that it's, you know, stier against Hilton or, you know, two Dems. But certainly, you know, as a Dem, I'm not hoping that we. That there's a flip in California. And it doesn't. I don't think there will be.
A
Okay.
B
I think actually Trump backing Hilton was a negative for Hilton.
A
Interesting. Well, only time will tell. Robert, thank you for joining the show.
B
Thanks for having me on. Tara, love being on.
A
Yeah, of course we love having you. You're our economic guru and political insider.
B
Thank you. I don't know if I like the second one, but I'm gonna take the first one.
A
Okay. You'll Take it politically right now.
B
You kind of. I mean, I've gotta wash myself. It's like. Feels so ugly out there.
A
It's true.
B
It is. I don't know. Like I said, I don't know how you do it because the news is just coming at everyone so fast. It's just insane.
A
I know it's hard to actually, like, it's hard to actually process it, but that's the point, right? The dilute.
B
I think you said to me this morning, if I. I love the idea that you don't really want to. I actually hate the idea, but I love the idea that you don't want to really prepare, you know, topics because the news is already changing. And I. I love that you said, robert, if we prepared yesterday, today, it would have been different because of Project Freedom. And you're so right that we have to be at the moment. And I think that's what makes you special.
A
Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.
B
And I like to be prepared that way.
A
Yeah, no, and I appreciate that you're always prepared for whatever happens. So this is. It's all good. But we'll make this. We'll work through the news waves as surf. Surf these tsunamis as they come.
B
Yeah.
A
Thank you to all of you, though, as always, hit that subscribe button. If this is your first time on the page, you know, you can obviously become a paid subscriber. That's how you support. Support independent journalism. That's how you make. How you keep these great, informative shows happening. And I appreciate all of you and send in your questions in advance and we'll do another show probably next week. So you can start messaging me now about what you want to talk about, but I can't promise you that I won't have to talk about the craziest news of the day at the top. So thanks so much. Bye.
B
Thank you. Bye. Bye.
A
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Date: May 4, 2026
Host: Tara Palmeri
Guest: Robert Wolf (Former Advisor to President Obama, ex-UBS CEO)
This episode dives deep into the economic, political, and humanitarian fallout from recent global conflicts—focusing on the spiraling costs for the U.S. and the world. Tara Palmeri is joined by Robert Wolf, offering an insider's perspective on the complex impacts of wars, specifically the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and its ripple effects on energy markets, global inflation, electoral politics, and the future of the Democratic Party.
On the perils of half-measures
"It's not like we know where all the mines are. To me, it feels like a failed experiment."
— Robert Wolf (02:15)
On energy shocks and their magnitude
"We're not talking about this like the 2022 Ukraine, Russia shock. We're talking about...the 70s. One of the most dramatic oil shocks we've ever had."
— Robert Wolf (06:05)
On the political cost of inflation
"President Trump...has a 62% disapproval rating...72% disapproved of how he was handling inflation. That's a seven point increase from two months ago."
— Tara Palmeri (09:17)
On party donor rage
"I was so turned off by how we blew so much money, so much money in 2024...they were not a good, you know, steward of my money."
— Robert Wolf (28:59)
On AI and the workforce
"It's clear that the impact of jobs, you know, long term are going to be scary...people are going to go to the capex side."
— Robert Wolf (16:52)
On the mood in politics
"You know, right now the populist movement, you know, with Bernie and AOC, they just have a better message."
— Robert Wolf (24:18)
The episode features candid, at times bleak, yet sharply analytical discussion. Both Palmeri and Wolf blend insider detail with urgency, humor, and a sense of frustration with current political leadership. The episode ends with mutual respect and a call for more transparency, pragmatism, and political honesty—echoing the show’s stated mission of “going beyond platitudes” to reveal what’s really happening behind closed doors.
If you want to understand the economic aftershocks of modern war, why political parties are struggling to respond, and what it means for the next elections, this episode is essential listening.