They Sold You the Exit Ramp Story and Pocketed the Toll: The Truth About Government, Capitalism, and Your Money

Nobody Gets Paid to Tell You the Truth

Let me explain something that should make you furious. The people you see on MSNBC and Fox News, the influencers racking up clicks on social media, the so-called analysts giving you hot takes every single day? They get paid for their opinions. That is the business model. And when you get paid for an opinion, that opinion has a way of drifting toward whatever keeps the audience happy, whatever keeps the clicks coming, whatever keeps the ad dollars flowing.

I will not do that. I have never done that. Bearing false witness is not something I am willing to do for ratings or revenue. You get the reality here, whether it is comfortable or not.

The Road to Serfdom Has No Off-Ramp

I went on the air around the year 2000. At that time we had balanced budgets, real economic growth, and a fiscal situation that was actually manageable. Hayek wrote about the road to serfdom. I have been watching us drive down that road for over two decades now.

Did I think Trump’s second term might give us an exit ramp? I admitted I hoped for that. I was wrong. And here is what that means in plain language:

• Every administration promises fiscal responsibility and almost none of them deliver it.
• The deficit does not care which party is in charge. It grows regardless.
• Inflation, debt, and currency debasement are the inevitable byproducts of governments that cannot stop spending.
• Your savings and retirement are on the receiving end of every bad fiscal decision made in Washington.

The Establishment Wants You Optimistic and Unprepared

Here is the cynical reality. A financially prepared, eyes-open public is harder to manipulate. When you understand that government policy has been on the same basic trajectory for decades, regardless of the name in the Oval Office, you stop waiting to be rescued and you start building a plan that does not depend on politicians.

That is exactly what the financial establishment and the political class do not want. They want you watching the theater, cheering for your team, and ignoring the slow erosion of your purchasing power.

Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress actually balanced the budget. That was real. It also happened nearly thirty years ago, and we have not come close since. That is the terrain.

Go With Reality, Not the Narrative

After 9/11, after the wars, after every spending blowout from both parties, the clients who navigated those storms best were the ones who planned around what government actually does rather than what it promises.

• Stop making financial decisions based on political optimism.
• Recognize that volatility is a policy problem as much as a market problem.
• Build portfolios that can weather fiscal storms, not just market corrections.
• Demand honesty from whoever is managing your money, because most of them are not giving it to you.

The truth is uncomfortable. I have been saying that since before most of today’s financial influencers knew what a balance sheet was. The record speaks for itself.