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Ken interviews Financial strategist and policy expert Steve Cotton. · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: This is the Mark Simone Show on seven to ten.
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  Speaker 1: Wi Kim from Mark Today, here's Ken Rosato. Really good
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  Speaker 1: to be with you on a Friday morning. And the
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  Speaker 1: stock market took quite a hit yesterday. It was down
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  Speaker 1: about seven hundred points. And while there are some sectors
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  Speaker 1: of the economy that appear to be doing better everyday,
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  Speaker 1: items like groceries are not really coming down like we
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  Speaker 1: thought they might at this point. I mean it's still
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  Speaker 1: fairly early on, but with the tariffs and whatnot, things
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  Speaker 1: are still somewhat expensive. Eggs are down, yes, butter's down,
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  Speaker 1: but everything else is pretty much up. So a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people are stretching their dollars to make ends meet.
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  Speaker 1: Steve Cotton is a financial strategist. He's here to talk
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  Speaker 1: about how consumer sentiment appears to be dropping for the
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  Speaker 1: month of November and what we can do to safeguard
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  Speaker 1: our dollars. Good morning you, Steve, Thanks for coming on.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Ken, Thanks for having me you.
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  Speaker 1: Bet So, what is looking up in our economy? What
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  Speaker 1: is looking down?
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  Speaker 2: Well, energy prices have come down significantly. Matter if I
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  Speaker 2: heard this morning that there are twenty eight states where
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  Speaker 2: the price of gas is already down to about two
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  Speaker 2: dollars eighty cents a gallon. Wow, that's outstanding. When you
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  Speaker 2: get energy prices down due to expanded production, which is
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  Speaker 2: what the Trump administration has been trying to do, that
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  Speaker 2: has a ripple effect all throughout every product that is
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  Speaker 2: made with petroleum products. We still have high housing costs,
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  Speaker 2: but housing is largely a regional and a local phenomena.
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  Speaker 2: It's due to shortage of supply, excess demand, persistently high
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  Speaker 2: interest rates in terms of long term mortgage rates, which
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  Speaker 2: the administration does not control. It's due to lots of factors,
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  Speaker 2: population shifts, those kinds of things. So there are some
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  Speaker 2: things the administration has had some success in addressing and
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  Speaker 2: some things that are just beyond their control.
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  Speaker 1: And Steve, I'm glad you brought up housing because here
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  Speaker 1: in New York where we are, we have something called
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  Speaker 1: rent control. And for those unfamiliar, you know there's a board,
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  Speaker 1: a rent control board, And you know, while the state
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  Speaker 1: and the city tell the landlords you must do this
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  Speaker 1: to your property. You must put in fire extinguishers, you
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  Speaker 1: must have this, you must you must maintain the plumbing.
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  Speaker 1: You might and there are all these millions of dollars
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  Speaker 1: a year of expenses that the landlords have to do.
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  Speaker 1: They're not allowed to just raise the rent to pay
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  Speaker 1: for it. So I don't know where the money's supposed
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  Speaker 1: to come from. But the rent Control Board determines how
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  Speaker 1: much or if the rent can go up or down
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  Speaker 1: every I guess it's every other year or whatever. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not living in New York City anymore, so if I
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  Speaker 1: got the exact time that this happens. But the point is,
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  Speaker 1: when you have rent control and people are locked in
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  Speaker 1: at a good rate, they tend not to move. And
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  Speaker 1: so when you have people not moving, you have no availability.
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  Speaker 1: And when there's no availability of real estate, what happens
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  Speaker 1: to the price of real estate? I leave it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's that's true, right when when availability is limited,
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  Speaker 2: prices are higher, right, and they re remain higher. The
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  Speaker 2: problem of housing in this country is one of supply.
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  Speaker 2: We have underinvested in building new housing stock for twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty years. They are communities that are trying to catch up.
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  Speaker 2: But there is nothing wrong with requiring landlords and property
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  Speaker 2: owners to maintain proper cleanliness, security, fire controls. You know
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  Speaker 2: decent decent you know water, decent plumbing, and you know
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  Speaker 2: there there are a lot of cases where we've seen
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  Speaker 2: slum lords. Oh yes, do those things. And government should
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  Speaker 2: has an obligation to help support consumers and provide minimal
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  Speaker 2: living standards. However, you've got to be careful with rent
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  Speaker 2: controls because if you if you force rents below a
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  Speaker 2: certain level where it's economic for those landlords to make
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  Speaker 2: those improvements, you end up with a housing show. And
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  Speaker 2: this is just economics. We've seen it not only in
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  Speaker 2: New York, We've seen it in other places around the
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  Speaker 2: country and around the world. So it's a balancing act. Always.
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  Speaker 2: We have to hold landlords and property owners to decent,
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  Speaker 2: minimal standards. There's nothing wrong with that. But when you
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  Speaker 2: go overboard and you mandate expenses, but you limit their
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  Speaker 2: ability to recoup those costs, then you get a shortage.
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  Speaker 1: I'm with you just so that we remind everybody. This
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  Speaker 1: is seven to ten wo R The Voice of New York,
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  Speaker 1: The Mark Simone Show at a Friday, Ken Rosotto and
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  Speaker 1: for Mark and we are speaking with financial strategist Steve Cotton.
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate you coming in, Stephen. You know, we have
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  Speaker 1: something else here in New York City that's sort of
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  Speaker 1: unique to us. We have these giant, eleven hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twelve hundred foot tall, skinny skyscrapers that they've been building
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  Speaker 1: in the last five to ten years. They're dotting the
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  Speaker 1: entire landscape of Manhattan, parts of Queens and Brooklyn as well.
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  Speaker 1: And the problem is many of those units are empty
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  Speaker 1: because people from far countries, millionaires, billionaires from other countries
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  Speaker 1: buy those units as investments. They don't even go there,
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  Speaker 1: they don't even live there. The buildings are literally empty,
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  Speaker 1: while there are thousands upon thousands of people all over
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  Speaker 1: the city who desperately could use a place to live.
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  Speaker 1: What could we possibly do to change that? The city
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  Speaker 1: has tried to artificially affect change by saying, Okay, if
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  Speaker 1: you're going to build that building, you have to do
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  Speaker 1: twenty percent of the apartments for moderate income housing or
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  Speaker 1: low income housing. But that can only help so much.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's a problem, and it's a little bit unique
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  Speaker 2: to New York. There are other communities where that kind
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  Speaker 2: of thing structurally has happened. You can't you can't fence
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  Speaker 2: out foreign investment or make it unattractive to foreign investors. However,
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  Speaker 2: we do have an obligation to our own citizens first
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  Speaker 2: and We've got to really address the housing crisis through
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  Speaker 2: expanded supply. That means incentivizing builders to build, lowering interest rates,
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  Speaker 2: owering the cost of construction. It's a combination of things,
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  Speaker 2: but we really need a more creative approach to it
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  Speaker 2: than we've seen in the past.
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  Speaker 1: Well, financial strategist Steve Conton. That is great advice and
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  Speaker 1: always good to have somebody who has the bigger view
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  Speaker 1: of the overall picture. We appreciate you coming on the
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  Speaker 1: Mark Simon Show today.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Ken, a pleasure to be with you
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  Speaker 2: as always go New York Baby.
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  Speaker 1: Amen. All right, you got it, Steve. Have a good day, sir.
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  Speaker 1: Partly cloudy today and tomorrow. High's low fifties, maybe maybe
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  Speaker 1: some showers tomorrow night, and partly cloudy Sunday, temps getting
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  Speaker 1: a little warmer into the upper fifties. We're gonna take
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  Speaker 1: your calls next eight hundred three to two one zero
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  Speaker 1: seven ten. Eight hundred three to two one zero seven ten.
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  Speaker 1: It's Ken rozottowin from Mark on your Friday seven to
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  Speaker 1: ten w o R. We're coming right back