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I don't see that, but if you want to see that, you can, but it will swing back. This country is incredibly resilient, and I have complete faith in that resilience.

Gavin Baker oppose ×2 ▼ on 🏛️ Socialism goes national in the US and ratchets taxes and spending higher E238 · 2025-08-09 ▶ 1:02:05

So they won't work. And I think that'll be a quick, that'll be like a quick end to socialism.

If things take a downturn, then the backlash is going to be a lot stronger than anything that any of us can say about the failures of Zoran Mamdani, because what it's going to be is, look, the rich got richer and we got poorer, and it's going to be a redox of 2007, 2008, but with a much, even further to the left than Obama ever was, and that I'm deeply afraid of.

Friedberg support ×3 ▼ on 🏛️ Socialism goes national in the US and ratchets taxes and spending higher E238 · 2025-08-09 ▶ 53:24

My prediction will ring fruer than any of us hope. Socialism will sweep over this nation, I fear. And I think it's a cancer.

and that's when you will see the Federal Reserve step in and lower those interest rates in order to sort of artificially juice the economy

Jason oppose ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E237 · 2025-08-01 ▶ 1:10:13

I think the Fed now is in a position where cutting rates seems like putting kerosene on the fire.

Friedberg oppose ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E237 · 2025-08-01 ▶ 1:08:50

It kind of provides a little bit of the support for the economists that are saying we should keep rates steady because if we are seeing a significant inflationary effect here, it's worth noting that there's something that we need to be thoughtful about.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E237 · 2025-08-01 ▶ 1:05:20

So why does the Fed not cut? Because at this point, not cutting is the only thing that you can do to slow the Trump administration down going into the midterms, if you wanted to politicize the job.

Friedberg oppose ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E236 · 2025-07-19 ▶ 8:57

I think what the market is saying is it's not as much about Jerome Powell, and frankly, getting rid of a prudent individual may be more challenging than it is beneficial when the real challenges facing the United States need to be more heartily addressed.

Gavin Baker oppose ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E236 · 2025-07-19 ▶ 6:46

Firing Powell, I worry that the market only went down 1%. I do think the market would go down quite a bit more if Trump did fire Powell. I think it would be a mistake. I hope he doesn't do it. And you know, there are very sound reasons for the Federal Reserve to be independent.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E233 · 2025-06-28 ▶ 1:28:30

Rates should not be where they are today. They should be 50 to 100 basis points lower, period. It's categorical.

Sacks support ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E233 · 2025-06-28 ▶ 1:25:06

I think inflation has largely been licked. And it's time to start lowering interest rates. And that will be good for the economy. There's no reason for rates to be as high as they are. It'll also be good in terms of financing our debt.

Do I think the Fed chairman who lives in Chevy Chase is a political actor? Are you serious?

Sacks support ×2 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E231 · 2025-06-13 ▶ 1:11:11

So now, if you're a pal, you've got PTSD from that whole experience, and you're going to err on the side of not letting inflation come back. I think with inflation down to 2.4%, I think it is time to cut rates, but he's fearful because, again, his incentives are to be a Volcker, not a Burns.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏦 A politicized Fed withholds the rate cuts the data justifies E231 · 2025-06-13 ▶ 1:07:29

So then you ask yourself, well, hold on a second, if the numerical justification is there, to lower rates and it has all of these other positive externalities for the United States economy, why don't I do it? The only answer is political.

Sacks support ×1 ▲ on 🏛️ A second Trump term reflates growth via deregulation and lower corporate tax E229 · 2025-05-24 ▶ 34:19

This bill passed by one vote margin. It was hanging on by a thread. And if it failed, you get basically hundreds of billions of tax increases, which we don't need right now.

the Fed did something that I thought was very clever. They basically said, we're not going to cut just to bail out the equity market. But if the market's liquidity is no longer functioning, emphasis on liquidity, then we'll step in to restore liquidity.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏦 Treasury routes around a recalcitrant Fed via community-bank deregulation E227 · 2025-05-09 ▶ 19:47

What I'm saying very directly is that the Fed is acting in a manner that is as much politically motivated as financially metric motivated, because the financial metrics, some of the most critical leading indicators, particularly around liquidity and the credit health of the American consumer, are blinking yellow. So right now, they are choosing to ignore these historically useful leading indicators. And the only reason that I can come up with to ignore it are political reasons.

Sacks support ×1 ▲ on 🏛️ A second Trump term reflates growth via deregulation and lower corporate tax E226 · 2025-05-02 ▶ 16:13

But I do think that this sets us up for a Trump boom in the future. It's just that a lot of these changes take time to play out.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏛️ A second Trump term reflates growth via deregulation and lower corporate tax E226 · 2025-05-02 ▶ 41:41

This past week, Besson said that the tax bill will allow you to fully deduct all the PPE and all of the incidental costs of building a factory... The point is, that thing would create an absolute economic bonanza if it were to get passed.

Friedberg support ×2 ▲ on 🏦 Treasury routes around a recalcitrant Fed via community-bank deregulation E222 · 2025-04-05 ▶ 54:04

And if you remember the interview that Besant gave to us a couple weeks ago, he was very clear that one of his mandates is to enable the re-leveraging of the financial system. Meaning he wants to give banks the ability to issue more debt, to introduce more capital and more liquidity into the markets by taking away some of the regulatory restrictions that have made it more difficult for the banks to issue credit to business owners and to individuals. So if they are successful in their deregulatory efforts, it will introduce more liquidity into the market

Gavin Baker support ×2 ▲ on 🏛️ A second Trump term reflates growth via deregulation and lower corporate tax E221 · 2025-03-29 ▶ 33:05

One thing everyone agrees on is deregulation is good. So every time they say the word tariff, they need to say the word deregulation two or three times.

Friedberg support ×3 ▲ on 🏛️ A second Trump term reflates growth via deregulation and lower corporate tax E221 · 2025-03-29 ▶ 36:47

Well, I think the proposal that I've heard from this administration that we heard from Howard Lutnick when we met with him was they're going to cut all taxes for people making less than $150,000 a year, so get the tax rate to zero.

Jason oppose ×2 ▲ on 🏦 Treasury routes around a recalcitrant Fed via community-bank deregulation E220 · 2025-03-22 ▶ 1:10:13

So in an extremely difficult, confusing storm, what is the best thing to do when you're driving the storm is just maybe try to keep the car going straight, not hit the brakes or not hit the gas. And that's what they're doing. They're taking a wait and see.

Chamath support ×3 ▲ on 🏦 Treasury routes around a recalcitrant Fed via community-bank deregulation E220 · 2025-03-22 ▶ 1:11:09

Again, there was a really interesting anecdote where Bessent talked in the interview about how he really wants to deregulate and loosen up bank lending standards, particularly at the community level. And I think that this is one very interesting thing that is a workaround to the Fed.