– I hope to provide you with the commonly referenced, applicable financial data to see for yourself what effect government economic policy has on jobs, incomes, debt positions, and affordability for Americans, regardless of party.

-Tarriffs are a big topic right now. I suggest this read. The goal is “reciprocal” tariffs with the countries that tariff us. There is no need to maintain the incredible trade deficit we have now. Renegotiating fair trade benefits American workers and industries. There is no obligation for America to keep funding other countries via trade imbalances, nor should we when we’re 36 Trillion in debt. I see guys like Erdmann saying tariffs are “dumb”, but it is difficult to understand his charting/logic when we feel the pain of imbalanced trade every day in the form of lower wages from manufacturing. I saw an article the other day lamenting the “pencil pushers” who make charts to justify everything while the practical pain continues to increase. I’m remaining in the camp of supporting policy requiring other markets open to us if they want ours open to them. Not saying anything bad about Erdmann, I understand his premise on the critical need for lower priced housing. I don’t see his rationale for it being better to let others sell to us here without us being able to sell to them. That creates a dependence on those nations to supply us goods. I’ll continue to study it.

-The temporary Tariff effect will play out over a couple of months until the posturing stops, in our favor. I think we all understand that tariffs are not usually intended to be permanent, they simply bring countries back to the negotiation table for fair trade agreements.

Notice 3 Trillion in development by Honda and others have already moved into the US. Notice everyone is already playing ball except China. They export 5 times more to us than we export to them. Yes 5 to 1. So let’s see what happens. Does it mean Americans pay a little more for a “made in America” product? Yes, and it will last longer, and that company now making more revenue will pay workers more, and those workers will spend the money on other things, sales of those things go up. Etc.. That’s how it’s good. ALSO, there are tax cuts coming, and those cuts will offset the effect of not being able to buy junk from China.

— The US owes 36 Trillion dollars in national debt, please hold our leaders accountable to reduce that number and be fiscally responsible. Yes, it means tough discussions on what should be cut. This high debt means interest rates have to be high to sell the treasuries to other countries.

— The BRICS nations are going to have a hard time coming off the Dollar as the U.S. actions being taken to curb spending kick in to increase stability. They’re going to try, but the consensus is odds are low.

— *** The jobs report is important. Please know when the gov puts out a report like "jobs", there is a revision done a month or so later, sometimes later, when they crunch the actual numbers. The press rarely reports the revisions, but that is the most accurate. I advise you to ignore the initial reports and ONLY look at the later revised reports for a more accurate view. They indicate part-time, full-time, or foreign-born jobs, those are categories that matter. December jobs increase was fantastic, but let’s hold applause until we see what the revision later is.

— As a side note, it’s interesting to see how many gov agencies have claimed their “independence” from Executive Branch authority even though they are executive branch offices. If the elected President can’t fire people or agencies in the executive branch, then how are those heads subject to the will of the people versus being entrenched bureaucrats without accountability? Food for thought.

— Please say NO to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in any form (ie Fedcoin).

– Passive income from RE is a shield for most of this, whereas "flipping" and wholesaling can stop at any time.

**** We love “co-living” for amazing cash flow. Ask us about how we can help you retire with just 5 single-family houses.