Latest / The Breakfast Club / Money & Wealth: Midterm Elections 2026: Red States, Blue States, Broke States

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Money & Wealth: Midterm Elections 2026: Red States, Blue States, Broke States · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a
0:03
Speaker 1: production of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Hey, hey,
0:14
Speaker 1: John Hope Bryant, and this is the Money and Wealth
0:17
Speaker 1: Podcast Series Season 3 on the Black Effect Network on iHeartRadio.
0:24
Speaker 1: And I am honored to bring you a special episode
0:28
Speaker 1: on midterm election week, 2026, in the United States of America.
0:34
Speaker 1: I know this is a global podcast. Thanks for making
0:36
Speaker 1: it top 75 for entrepreneurship here and around the world.
0:41
Speaker 1: I do believe that the circumstances warrant a deep dive,
0:46
Speaker 1: a discussion, an understanding about how politics and money interact,
0:54
Speaker 1: how and where they intersect. where you should pay attention
1:01
Speaker 1: and where and what you should ignore. I don't talk
1:05
Speaker 1: about politics in a much or in a partisan matter.
1:10
Speaker 1: I have this book that's the number one bestseller on
1:15
Speaker 1: three categories on Amazon, which is capitalism for all, inclusive
1:18
Speaker 1: economics and the future-proofing of America. I'm on tour right now.
1:22
Speaker 1: Thanks for making the book number one, again, across the country.
1:26
Speaker 1: But I don't talk about politics in the book. It's
1:28
Speaker 1: 200 pages of math. To quote my friend Melody Hobson,
1:33
Speaker 1: I like math because it doesn't have an opinion. I'm
1:37
Speaker 1: going to have an opinion tonight. I'm going to lay
1:40
Speaker 1: out some things that I think you should know. The
1:43
Speaker 1: topic of this episode, to bring this country together with
1:48
Speaker 1: one understanding for a moment, thank God, red states, blue states,
1:55
Speaker 1: broke states. Unfortunately, right now, everybody seems to have one
2:02
Speaker 1: thing in common. They've got too much month at the
2:05
Speaker 1: end of their money. There is the largest reality TV
2:10
Speaker 1: show going in the history of the world in Washington, D.C.
2:14
Speaker 1: right now, and every day is a new episode. And
2:17
Speaker 1: you can obsess yourself with that, but that's not going
2:20
Speaker 1: to help you pay your bills or raise your children
2:24
Speaker 1: or live your dreams. In fact, just the opposite, they
2:27
Speaker 1: should be helping you to do those things. Well, tonight,
2:34
Speaker 1: this week, we had a referendum. We had a national
2:40
Speaker 1: public opinion poll called the midterm elections. Let me give
2:45
Speaker 1: you a fact before I give you the thesis. About 44%, 45%
2:50
Speaker 1: of the nation are independents. These are Gallup numbers, right?
2:59
Speaker 1: Gallup poll numbers. Not 14%. Just under half of America
3:05
Speaker 1: says they're politically independent, including myself. About 27% are Republicans.
3:12
Speaker 1: About 27% are Democrats. About half of the people in
3:17
Speaker 1: each party are frustrated with the political rhetoric in their
3:22
Speaker 1: own party. And both parties up until now have been
3:25
Speaker 1: really maximizing the messaging from the edges of each party.
3:31
Speaker 1: And the people in the middle really did not have
3:34
Speaker 1: a voice and did not feel they had agency. I
3:38
Speaker 1: think we are in the third reconstruction right now, which
3:41
Speaker 1: is all about ownership and agency from the streets to
3:44
Speaker 1: the suites, from the civil rights to include civil rights.
3:48
Speaker 1: And people are anxious about a range of things and
3:51
Speaker 1: they want their voice heard. And the middle showed up.
3:56
Speaker 1: in this election. So you have a core thesis for
4:02
Speaker 1: tonight and today in this episode, this week. Political power matters,
4:09
Speaker 1: but the real test of economic leadership is whether families
4:13
Speaker 1: can afford life, build financial resilience, and ultimately acquire some ownership.
4:21
Speaker 1: A lot of this socialism talk is really affordability in disguise.
4:26
Speaker 1: A lot of the discuss around socialism is really people saying,
4:30
Speaker 1: I can't afford my life. I've got too much month
4:33
Speaker 1: at the end of my money. I am a hardworking person.
4:36
Speaker 1: I'm not lazy. I work maybe one or two jobs
4:40
Speaker 1: plus a gig, a gig opportunity. And I just can't
4:45
Speaker 1: afford my life. And I see some half-wit who's worth
4:48
Speaker 1: supposedly a half a trillion dollars or a half a
4:51
Speaker 1: billion dollars and They're not very bright, it appears. They
4:55
Speaker 1: don't work very hard, but somehow they seem to have
4:57
Speaker 1: it all. This must be rigged. And so people began
5:01
Speaker 1: to say something that's not true. I hate rich people,
5:05
Speaker 1: is what they say. And my response is, no, you don't.
5:09
Speaker 1: You hate rich people until you become rich. What you
5:13
Speaker 1: hate is a game system, a system that no matter
5:16
Speaker 1: how hard you work, you can't seem to get ahead.
5:20
Speaker 1: My response at Operation Hope and my book, Capitalism for All,
5:24
Speaker 1: is let me help you ungame this system. Actually, all
5:27
Speaker 1: seven of my books, most recently being Capitalism for All,
5:31
Speaker 1: the bestseller. Let me help you ungame this system. You
5:33
Speaker 1: don't destroy it. You refine it. You make it better.
5:36
Speaker 1: But have our political leaders, I'm not a political leader,
5:40
Speaker 1: have our political leaders responded to that question? Have they
5:45
Speaker 1: acknowledged that 70% of this economy, $ 30 trillion economy, the
5:50
Speaker 1: biggest economy in the world, 70% of this economy is
5:53
Speaker 1: consumer spending. That 70% of that 70% or 70% of
5:56
Speaker 1: America are living from paycheck to paycheck. That if you're
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Speaker 1: making $ 100, 000 a year, half of those folks are living
6:01
Speaker 1: from paycheck to paycheck. If you're making $ 250, 000 a year,
6:05
Speaker 1: hold on to your boots for this one, a third
6:08
Speaker 1: of those are living from paycheck to paycheck. That's crazy,
6:23
Speaker 1: a quarter million dollars a year. So this is a
6:26
Speaker 1: real issue for everyone. And some people paid attention and
6:31
Speaker 1: other people did not. The folks who did not got
6:36
Speaker 1: whipped at the polls. I may do an op-ed on
6:40
Speaker 1: this for Time Magazine and such, but I'm going to
6:43
Speaker 1: tell you this right now. This election really boiled down
6:46
Speaker 1: to seven and seven. 7% interest rates, which is tied
6:50
Speaker 1: to sustained inflation that had to be tamed. And so
6:54
Speaker 1: unsuccessful efforts to do that, plus the Iran war just
6:57
Speaker 1: tipped it over the edge. So you can't reduce interest
7:00
Speaker 1: rates when inflation is raging. So 7% interest rates and
7:05
Speaker 1: near $ 7 diesel gas. So every time you went to
7:08
Speaker 1: go refill your pickup truck, you're reminded very vividly how
7:16
Speaker 1: this economy is not working for you and your politicians
7:19
Speaker 1: don't seem to be working for you either, then the
7:21
Speaker 1: pain doesn't seem like it's easing up anytime soon. And
7:25
Speaker 1: so folks voted with their feet, right? And this is
7:28
Speaker 1: where it all comes together. And then when you hear
7:30
Speaker 1: people say affordability is a hoax, well, folks just throw
7:34
Speaker 1: their hands up. And as I keep saying, the color's
7:36
Speaker 1: not black or white or red or blue, it's green.
7:41
Speaker 1: It's always been green. So, Let's look at where we are,
7:48
Speaker 1: the election and the affordability verdict. America voted. Democrats are
7:56
Speaker 1: celebrating a strong election night, as they have every right to.
8:03
Speaker 1: And Republicans are asking, what happened? But let me ask
8:08
Speaker 1: a different question. Did America vote for a party? or
8:13
Speaker 1: did Americans vote against a cost of living they feel
8:16
Speaker 1: they can no longer afford? Too much month at the
8:20
Speaker 1: end of their money. The answer may be both. And
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Speaker 1: tonight I wanna talk about something bigger than who won
8:29
Speaker 1: in Washington. I wanna talk about who can afford America. Now,
8:35
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say something else here. The last presidential election
8:41
Speaker 1: Republicans thought they won. They thought they had a mandate.
8:46
Speaker 1: I believe that Democrats lost, which is different than the
8:51
Speaker 1: Republicans won. But because the Republicans believe they won, and
8:55
Speaker 1: I believe there was some arrogance around that belief, they
9:00
Speaker 1: didn't pay attention to the symbols and the signals, in
9:04
Speaker 1: my opinion. And America reminded them of who was in charge.
9:11
Speaker 1: We're not a nation of kings and queens. We're a
9:16
Speaker 1: nation of public servants who serve the people. And if
9:20
Speaker 1: you forget that, the people will ring your bell. Now,
9:25
Speaker 1: Democrats will wake up and believe, we won, we won.
9:31
Speaker 1: In reality, the Republicans lost. There's a difference. I hope
9:37
Speaker 1: my Democratic friends don't get arrogant and cocky about what
9:43
Speaker 1: they believe is their mandate. Because if they forget what
9:48
Speaker 1: they would sit there to solve, the affordability crisis, amongst
9:51
Speaker 1: other things, the resulting whatever will be blamed on them next.
9:57
Speaker 1: And they own the problem because now they are in
10:01
Speaker 1: charge and were sent to Washington specifically to fix this issue.
10:08
Speaker 1: So neither party should have gotten giddy when they won.
10:13
Speaker 1: There should have been some humility in how they got there.
10:16
Speaker 1: And both parties will make a mistake if they get
10:20
Speaker 1: arrogant and self-knowing and obnoxiously overconfident about why they're there
10:27
Speaker 1: and that so-called mandate seems to go everywhere. No, it's
10:30
Speaker 1: very narrowly focused, right? Make sure that I have enough
10:38
Speaker 1: to live a dignified life. Think about the homeowner staring
10:45
Speaker 1: at a mortgage rate, again, at 7% when four or
10:50
Speaker 1: five years ago, that was 2%, 3%. It's a big difference. Now, 7%
10:57
Speaker 1: is not so bad. My parents saw 17%, your parents also.
11:04
Speaker 1: But Weber spoiled for almost two decades, a decade and
11:09
Speaker 1: a half for sure, of basically free money, 1%, 2%, 3%
11:12
Speaker 1: interest rates. So for this generation that's growing up now,
11:16
Speaker 1: this is all they know. And they're like, what in
11:18
Speaker 1: the total... mess is this with 7% interest rate, particularly
11:24
Speaker 1: if you have an adjustable rate mortgage or adjustable rate.
11:27
Speaker 1: I would never suggest you get an adjustable rate mortgage
11:30
Speaker 1: or adjustable rate anything if you're talking about six figures
11:33
Speaker 1: that you're financing, because the numbers can go up and
11:35
Speaker 1: down in a moment's notice based on where the interest
11:39
Speaker 1: rates are, and the resulting financial strains can literally financially
11:43
Speaker 1: kill you. But I'll come back to it with The 7%
11:48
Speaker 1: interest rates, they didn't have it in their budget. Now,
11:51
Speaker 1: think about the contractor who needs an F-250 truck, a
11:56
Speaker 1: Ford F-250 truck to make a living. And them having
12:00
Speaker 1: to fill that truck up is one other thing. But
12:03
Speaker 1: who's paying for the truck, financing it, giving it fuel, maintenance,
12:07
Speaker 1: and insurance? Think about the parent who walks into a
12:11
Speaker 1: grocery store and feels like the paycheck, their paycheck, is shrinking.
12:17
Speaker 1: Those people do not experience the economy as a GDP report,
12:22
Speaker 1: gross domestic product. They experience it as a monthly bill.
12:28
Speaker 1: Folks are asking increasingly, what's the payment? Not what's the
12:31
Speaker 1: interest rate, not what's the terms and conditions, what's the payment?
12:35
Speaker 1: And you never ask what the payment is when there's
12:37
Speaker 1: an interest rate attached, certainly if you're dealing with a
12:38
Speaker 1: five or six figure anything, which is a car or
12:43
Speaker 1: a home. So, Let me be clear. I'm not saying
12:48
Speaker 1: Republicans personally caused every interest rate, every gas price increase,
12:54
Speaker 1: or every grocery store bill surge. Economic causation is complicated.
13:01
Speaker 1: Political accountability is simpler. Voters often hold whoever is in
13:07
Speaker 1: charge responsible for how they feel and what's happening in
13:12
Speaker 1: their life. That's just the reality. And that's true for
13:16
Speaker 1: both parties, as I mentioned a little earlier. I happen
13:19
Speaker 1: to think that President Bill Clinton is an extraordinarily underrated
13:24
Speaker 1: genius who had low interest rates, low unemployment, high engagement,
13:32
Speaker 1: had a budget surplus versus a budget deficit, was able
13:37
Speaker 1: to talk to black people and white people simultaneously, and
13:42
Speaker 1: helped to lift the country forward and drive it into
13:45
Speaker 1: economic prosperity. I think he's highly underrated. And I think
13:50
Speaker 1: his model works very well because it's really a Republican
13:54
Speaker 1: hand and Democratic heart working together across the aisle. So
14:01
Speaker 1: here's the question. Bill Clinton, President Bill Clinton once told me,
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Speaker 1: it's hard to get somebody to agree to the truth
14:09
Speaker 1: when the lie is paying their paycheck. Now think about
14:12
Speaker 1: that for a minute. That's some truth. wisdom there. Here's
14:17
Speaker 1: a question. Red states, blue states, are broke states. The
14:23
Speaker 1: most important color in the economy is not red or blue,
14:27
Speaker 1: it's green. So if you think about slavery, it was
14:32
Speaker 1: about money, it was just bad capitalism. You think about
14:35
Speaker 1: growing something big and positive, it's only sustainable. Even if
14:38
Speaker 1: it's a church, if you have revenue, that's tied to
14:42
Speaker 1: the economy. You can't run the Catholic Church, the Vatican,
14:47
Speaker 1: without money. It's everywhere, but no one has taught it
14:50
Speaker 1: to us. No one understands how the system works, and
14:54
Speaker 1: people take a lot of this for granted. We can
14:56
Speaker 1: no longer take people for granted. Election results are an early,
15:03
Speaker 1: strong signal, not proof of a single voter motive. But
15:09
Speaker 1: this one seems to be pretty instructive. Affordability. So let
15:16
Speaker 1: me talk about the real cost of the American dream.
15:21
Speaker 1: An F-250 truck is not just a symbol of culture
15:24
Speaker 1: or politics. I happen to have one of these trucks,
15:27
Speaker 1: which I love, a Ford F-250 truck. For a farmer,
15:31
Speaker 1: a contractor, building contractor, or a tradesman, a tradesperson, a plumber,
15:38
Speaker 1: an electrician, et cetera, this truck may be a productivity tool.
15:44
Speaker 1: It may be literally the difference between them being in
15:48
Speaker 1: business or not. But the cost associated with this thing
15:53
Speaker 1: stacks up pretty quickly and pretty strong when the economic
15:58
Speaker 1: trade winds are not in your favor. You're talking about
16:02
Speaker 1: truck payments, diesel fuel, insurance payments, tires and repairs. If
16:11
Speaker 1: a family or business has to finance everything at a
16:15
Speaker 1: higher rate, even a healthy revenue can not offset the
16:23
Speaker 1: squeeze of the cheese. And if you're going to the
16:28
Speaker 1: gas station twice a week trying to fill this F-250
16:32
Speaker 1: truck up, you're probably grumbling about your politician or worse,
16:38
Speaker 1: cursing them out under your breath twice a A week,
16:42
Speaker 1: not praising them, cursing them. And you feel that directly.
16:48
Speaker 1: So that's just not sustainable. Let me get into some
16:52
Speaker 1: real numbers here. A $ 70, 000 vehicle loan, which is probably
16:58
Speaker 1: low for one of these trucks with the options on
17:01
Speaker 1: it and everything. A $ 70, 000 vehicle loan for 72 months
17:03
Speaker 1: costs about $ 1, 095 a month at 4% interest. And 4%
17:12
Speaker 1: interest is probably really, really low in this example. But
17:16
Speaker 1: you're thinking about the average family now has $ 1, 000 car note.
17:20
Speaker 1: That's crazy to me. Anyway, that's versus $ 1, 227 at 8%
17:23
Speaker 1: interest rate. So it's like $ 132 a month more. Then
17:26
Speaker 1: you got insurance and fuel. At 20,000 miles a year
17:28
Speaker 1: and 15 miles per gallon, fuel use is about 1,300 gallons.
17:44
Speaker 1: At a hypothetical $ 7 a gallon, that's basically just under
17:48
Speaker 1: 10 grand a year just in fuel. Think about that.
17:56
Speaker 1: So it's not $ 7 a gallon that's really driving people nuts.
18:04
Speaker 1: It's the chip, chip, chip away at their economic nest
18:10
Speaker 1: egg every time they go to fill up that truck
18:13
Speaker 1: because you're hitting $ 10, 000 a year before you hit a
18:17
Speaker 1: car payment. That is, well, it's not only crazy, it's definitive.
18:25
Speaker 1: It appears at the political polls because I believe that
18:28
Speaker 1: really drove these political decisions. Let's now deal with the
18:37
Speaker 1: mortgage test here. We deal with the Carnot test or
18:39
Speaker 1: the F-250 test. Let's deal with the mortgage test. Same home,
18:43
Speaker 1: very different payment. So a $ 400, 000, 30-year fixed rate mortgage
18:46
Speaker 1: costs about $ 1, 686 a month in principal and interest at 3%.
18:47
Speaker 1: We've had 3% mortgages going into the global pandemic and
18:50
Speaker 1: around that time, so 2018, 2019, 2021, okay? Now, let's
19:08
Speaker 1: compare it with $ 2, 661 at 7% interest rate. That's almost
19:17
Speaker 1: $ 1, 000 more each month. That excludes property taxes and insurance,
19:23
Speaker 1: which are additional costs. So, of course, rates depend on
19:28
Speaker 1: the borrower and the lender and timing and the market,
19:33
Speaker 1: of course. But you get my point. I mean, this
19:40
Speaker 1: feels like doubling the expense for somebody who can't afford
19:44
Speaker 1: $ 1, 000 a month. I mean, you might as well, it
19:47
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it's $ 1, 000, you might as well say $ 10, 000.
19:50
Speaker 1: They can't afford an increase that's more than $ 100 or
19:54
Speaker 1: $ 200 a month at the income levels that are supporting
19:58
Speaker 1: buying a $ 40, 000 house. So you can understand why an
20:04
Speaker 1: economy can be growing and a family can feel like
20:07
Speaker 1: it's still going backwards for them. The house did not
20:10
Speaker 1: get bigger, the payment did. So what caused it and
20:16
Speaker 1: what did not? Inflation rises the price level of almost
20:24
Speaker 1: everything it touches. Lower inflation means prices rise more slowly,
20:31
Speaker 1: not that they automatically fall. So anybody telling you that
20:35
Speaker 1: just because we say stop the war in Iran, you're
20:39
Speaker 1: going to immediately find that the gas prices come down.
20:42
Speaker 1: That's just not true. The gas prices, I hope, will
20:45
Speaker 1: come down, but it's going to be sticky. And it's
20:48
Speaker 1: going to be around, sticky and stale. It's going to
20:51
Speaker 1: be around for a while. It's easy to go up,
20:55
Speaker 1: hard to get these prices to come down. Mortgage rates
20:59
Speaker 1: respond to long-term treasury yields. And I would try to,
21:03
Speaker 1: you know, make this as simple as I can, but,
21:06
Speaker 1: you know, It's long-term treasury yields, it's expected inflation, it's
21:09
Speaker 1: credit conditions in the general marketplace, it's the Federal Reserve policy.
21:14
Speaker 1: Not one thing. And not simply the president or the
21:17
Speaker 1: current Fed funds rate that is setting the mortgage rate.
21:22
Speaker 1: It's a reflection of many factors that are causing these
21:26
Speaker 1: rates to rise. Let's deal with oil and diesel prices.
21:35
Speaker 1: Oil and diesel prices reflect global supply and demand levels.
21:40
Speaker 1: You talk about refining capacity and distribution and taxes and
21:45
Speaker 1: geopolitical events. All these things are major factors and policy matters,
21:52
Speaker 1: but it's not the only driving factor either. A war
21:57
Speaker 1: is not helpful in the Middle East where we get
22:01
Speaker 1: most of our oil from. Let's separate voter perception and
22:07
Speaker 1: political blame from verified causal analysis here. GDP, gross domestic product,
22:17
Speaker 1: is not your bank account. A booming stock market is
22:22
Speaker 1: good news for people who own stocks. I keep saying,
22:25
Speaker 1: if you bought anything in the last 16 years, any
22:30
Speaker 1: asset in the last 16 years and just sat on it,
22:33
Speaker 1: no different than I'm sitting on this chair right now,
22:35
Speaker 1: You just sat on that stock and did not do anything.
22:39
Speaker 1: You make money during the day. You build wealth in
22:40
Speaker 1: your sleep. You would be wealthy, generally speaking. Now, if
22:44
Speaker 1: you just bought these assets, real estate, stock, businesses, et cetera, treasury,
22:50
Speaker 1: and just sat on it, right? These things went up
22:53
Speaker 1: in value. So if you lived on cash flow, you
22:56
Speaker 1: might be broke right now. If you invested in assets,
23:00
Speaker 1: you might be wealthy right now. And what you did
23:02
Speaker 1: and And how you move, same income levels, by the way,
23:05
Speaker 1: because my mother, Juanita Smith, became a millionaire when she
23:09
Speaker 1: passed away based on what she invested in and held,
23:11
Speaker 1: real estate, stocks, et cetera. She made $ 15, $ 18 an hour,
23:15
Speaker 1: but she knew how to save and invest. You can,
23:17
Speaker 1: by the way, check my mother out on Juanita AI
23:20
Speaker 1: and get real tools to save your life. It's a
23:22
Speaker 1: free platform we created at Operation Hope, modeled after my
23:25
Speaker 1: mother's life, Juanita AI. And you'd have a conversation with her.
23:30
Speaker 1: You can literally put a lot of things I'm saying
23:32
Speaker 1: to you on this podcast into actual play in your life.
23:37
Speaker 1: And you can use her to help to tee up
23:39
Speaker 1: the right moves for you. And then at some point,
23:41
Speaker 1: she'll refer you to a hope financial coach. Okay, but
23:44
Speaker 1: back to this. So GDP is not your bank account.
23:50
Speaker 1: It's not a booming economy unless you own stock, right?
23:53
Speaker 1: But it is not the same thing as a financially
23:57
Speaker 1: secure household either, right? It means the nation is doing well,
24:02
Speaker 1: I guess, but not your household. It might be the
24:05
Speaker 1: opposite in your household. So that's why my argument is
24:09
Speaker 1: not simply about making more money, it's about building wealth, right?
24:16
Speaker 1: So let's make another transition here. America has seen voters
24:24
Speaker 1: punish just punishing economic pain in their checkbooks. And we've
24:31
Speaker 1: seen this before. History has given us a warning and
24:35
Speaker 1: a lesson. So here's the history of economic accountability in short. Inflation, recession,
24:42
Speaker 1: and the political consequences. 1970s, inflation and energy shocks undermine
24:49
Speaker 1: confidence in economic leadership across administrations. They kicked out President
24:53
Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter. during an energy shock. He's a good man,
24:58
Speaker 1: very decent human being, but he lost economic confidence by
25:05
Speaker 1: the majority of Americans at that time. And it was
25:08
Speaker 1: also around things going on in the Middle East, by
25:11
Speaker 1: the way. The 1980s, high inflation and economic frustration helped
25:16
Speaker 1: shape the election again, avoiding, you know, we didn't deal
25:21
Speaker 1: with our problems, right? We didn't address things head on
25:25
Speaker 1: and deal with a problem that had a beginning, a middle,
25:28
Speaker 1: and an end. 1992, recession era, anxiety. This is when
25:35
Speaker 1: I founded Operation Hope, by the way. May 5th, 1992
25:38
Speaker 1: is when I founded Operation Hope after the Rodney King riots.
25:41
Speaker 1: The phrase, it's the economy, stupid, came into popular use.
25:47
Speaker 1: And it underscored the political force of household conditions. I
25:51
Speaker 1: remember when the president of the United States George H.W. Bush,
25:55
Speaker 1: a really nice guy, actually. I really liked him as
25:57
Speaker 1: a person. I knew him and liked his son and him.
26:00
Speaker 1: But when he sort of couldn't go to the grocery
26:03
Speaker 1: store and convince people that he understood what that felt
26:06
Speaker 1: like and looked like, people just threw their hands up.
26:09
Speaker 1: It's like, OK, well, if you can't understand a grocery
26:12
Speaker 1: store bill, you certainly can't represent me and the concerns
26:15
Speaker 1: of my family. 2022, and they kicked him out of office,
26:19
Speaker 1: by the way, even though he's a really decent human being. 2022,
26:22
Speaker 1: I believe that's when Bill Clinton came in. 2022 to 2024,
26:26
Speaker 1: high post-pandemic inflation and affordability concerns put political pressure on
26:33
Speaker 1: the incumbent Democratic administration. And it's very interesting because the
26:41
Speaker 1: former current president really was shown the door because some
26:46
Speaker 1: folks think that he managed things well going into the pandemic.
26:50
Speaker 1: And there was a huge surplus, not surplus, huge stimulus
26:56
Speaker 1: of trillions of dollars. We've never had a stimulus bill,
26:59
Speaker 1: a stimulus plan with a T in front of it,
27:01
Speaker 1: trillions in the history of this country for a pandemic
27:04
Speaker 1: that happened, you know, it hadn't happened for 125 years.
27:08
Speaker 1: But the Democrats didn't get a pass for that. The
27:11
Speaker 1: Democrats didn't market it themselves well, explain themselves well. In
27:14
Speaker 1: my opinion, they did not use all that money floating
27:19
Speaker 1: through the system to communicate a direct line of sight
27:25
Speaker 1: to people's quality of life financially. And I think that
27:31
Speaker 1: folks showed them the door when they could as a
27:34
Speaker 1: result of that. So again, 2022 to 2024, and by
27:38
Speaker 1: the way, the pandemic payments were bipartisan. It was Republicans
27:42
Speaker 1: and Democrats who did that. So you had post-pandemic, high
27:49
Speaker 1: inflation and affordability concerns. But political pressure really hammered the
27:56
Speaker 1: incumbent Democratic administration. So then 2026, okay? Here we are.
28:02
Speaker 1: Here's the pattern. Politicians talk about national economic performance. Voters
28:08
Speaker 1: ask whether their lives are going to get any better.
28:12
Speaker 1: Those are related questions, but they are not identical. And
28:18
Speaker 1: Voters are now saying, answer the question as relates specifically
28:24
Speaker 1: to what's going on on my kitchen table, kitchen table economics,
28:30
Speaker 1: affordability issues. And when you start saying that this is
28:34
Speaker 1: a hoax and this is not real, you start offending
28:37
Speaker 1: your own voters. So philosophy goes out the window and
28:43
Speaker 1: people again start remembering And cannot forget the high interest rates,
28:47
Speaker 1: which is raising their monthly outgo and paying at the
28:52
Speaker 1: gas station, which is limiting their ability to literally go.
28:57
Speaker 1: Let's now back up and recount. And again, as I
29:01
Speaker 1: said earlier, just like I think Republicans got arrogant and
29:05
Speaker 1: cocky about their so-called mandate, Democrats are going to have
29:09
Speaker 1: to resist the urge to feel that they've been given
29:12
Speaker 1: a mandate. Really, they won because somebody else lost. People
29:15
Speaker 1: lost confidence in the president's and the administration's plan economically,
29:20
Speaker 1: amongst other things, maybe, but certainly economically. And we live
29:24
Speaker 1: in a capitalist democracy. Once again, read my book, Capitalism
29:27
Speaker 1: for All, if you want to understand how this system
29:29
Speaker 1: really works and how to make it work for you.
29:33
Speaker 1: And so now there's an opportunity for Democrats to step
29:37
Speaker 1: in and do something, but they need to be careful
29:39
Speaker 1: because you know, there's an increasing group of socialists in
29:43
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party. I went and talked to some socialists
29:48
Speaker 1: when I was in a city recently, I won't name
29:51
Speaker 1: the name. They were about 20% of the city council.
29:53
Speaker 1: And we had a real debate in this retreat that
29:56
Speaker 1: I went to to try to give them advice. And
29:58
Speaker 1: I said very bluntly, even if you want to distribute
30:01
Speaker 1: money like a socialist, you first have to collect it
30:04
Speaker 1: like a capitalist. All this stuff is connected. We have
30:07
Speaker 1: to understand how this system actually works. You can't just
30:10
Speaker 1: give out candy to babies and here you get a
30:13
Speaker 1: house and you get a job and you get a contract.
30:15
Speaker 1: Somebody's got to pay for this stuff and the numbers
30:17
Speaker 1: have to balance. By the way, Britain used to be
30:20
Speaker 1: the leader of the world, right? And they're now struggling
30:24
Speaker 1: to find a way to be a leader again. of
30:27
Speaker 1: their small island called the United Kingdom. And they got
30:30
Speaker 1: more payments going out than they have revenue coming in.
30:34
Speaker 1: And if your outflow exceeds your inflow, then your overhead
30:36
Speaker 1: will be your downfall. It didn't work for my daddy,
30:40
Speaker 1: who spent more than he made. It's not going to
30:41
Speaker 1: work for the UK, England either. And I hope America
30:44
Speaker 1: never has to have this conversation. But you can't just
30:47
Speaker 1: keep spending like a drunken soldier. and not paying your
30:50
Speaker 1: bill or finding a way to create revenue. You can't
30:52
Speaker 1: cut your way out of this problem, meaning just cut, cut,
30:54
Speaker 1: cut this program, that program. You're going to have to find,
30:56
Speaker 1: we're going to have to find a way. We cut
30:58
Speaker 1: the stupid stuff, sure. But Doge wasn't the answer. That's just,
31:02
Speaker 1: you know, in fact, it just upset everybody and de-dignified people.
31:05
Speaker 1: You're going to have to find a way to put
31:08
Speaker 1: everybody to work. My book, Capitalism for All, unleash untapped
31:12
Speaker 1: human potential and grow your way out of this challenge
31:17
Speaker 1: through sustained economic growth, not just economic development, but economic
31:21
Speaker 1: empowerment of the individual who are the primary engine of
31:25
Speaker 1: economic growth in the biggest economy in the world. As
31:28
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, 70% of the economy is consumer spending.
31:31
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a little history, a little longer, deeper
31:35
Speaker 1: history of ownership in America. The Homestead Act of 1862
31:41
Speaker 1: supported land acquisition for qualified settlers, Reed White, while dispossession
31:48
Speaker 1: and exclusion deny many others comparable opportunities. Translation, blacks and
31:54
Speaker 1: Native American Indians did not get a chance to own
31:56
Speaker 1: this land. This is about 10% of all land in America. Again,
32:00
Speaker 1: I detailed this in the Capitalism for All book. And
32:03
Speaker 1: what I just said was not a racial comment. I'm
32:05
Speaker 1: just telling you that that's what happened. And that's why
32:10
Speaker 1: some people have a net worth that's 10 times more
32:13
Speaker 1: than others because of this and other factors. Let me
32:16
Speaker 1: slow down and finish this example. You also had redlining
32:21
Speaker 1: by the federal government, the FDA, I mean, the federal FHA,
32:26
Speaker 1: Federal Housing Authority, who instituted redlining. And of course, banks
32:31
Speaker 1: are going to be like, well, I'm not going with it.
32:33
Speaker 1: If the federal government's not going to insure the mortgage
32:35
Speaker 1: in the redlined area, let me go to the areas
32:37
Speaker 1: that looks like it's got green lines. Let's go to
32:41
Speaker 1: the suburbs where the federal government's issuing mortgage insurance and I,
32:45
Speaker 1: the bank, You know, money's a coward. Money's not courageous.
32:48
Speaker 1: Money's a coward. I'm going to go to where it's
32:50
Speaker 1: safe and where the government's backing us. And by the way,
32:52
Speaker 1: that's where values increase. You see about the tale of
32:55
Speaker 1: two cities. You talk about living on the other side
32:57
Speaker 1: of the tracks. Why is one home worth $ 100, 000, another
33:00
Speaker 1: home worth $ 400, 000? Well, this is part of the reason
33:04
Speaker 1: is that the redlining era by the federal government, by
33:09
Speaker 1: the way, early 20th century, spiked values in one area
33:13
Speaker 1: by backing them, by backing those who live in those
33:16
Speaker 1: areas with federal mortgage insurance. Those areas happen to be Caucasian,
33:22
Speaker 1: once again, and not financing the urban inner city areas,
33:26
Speaker 1: calling them risky. Well, risky and dangerous. It would be
33:32
Speaker 1: even more risky and dangerous if you starve them for
33:35
Speaker 1: access to capital. And so a bad situation just literally
33:38
Speaker 1: got worse. Let's talk about the Freedmen's Savings Bank, which
33:42
Speaker 1: was chartered in 1865. And by the way, I'm the
33:45
Speaker 1: only American citizen ever to inspire the renaming of a
33:48
Speaker 1: federal building on the White House campus. It was a
33:51
Speaker 1: treasury annex building. It's now called the Freedmen's Bank building
33:55
Speaker 1: across from the U.S. Treasury Department next to my friend
33:58
Speaker 1: Michael Milken's Center for the Advancement of the American Dream,
34:01
Speaker 1: the Milken Center for the Advancement of the American Dream,
34:04
Speaker 1: where I just spoke on this book recently. And these
34:06
Speaker 1: two buildings, the Freedmen's Bank and MCAT, are connected to
34:09
Speaker 1: each other. It's a $ 6 I'm sorry, it's a billion-dollar investment,
34:12
Speaker 1: six buildings that Michael Milken put together. Michael Milken is
34:14
Speaker 1: also a forward for my book, Capitalism for All. Go
34:17
Speaker 1: see this. It's really inspiring. And my story is in there.
34:21
Speaker 1: Operation Hope's story is in there as a permanent exhibit,
34:24
Speaker 1: by the way. And there's some other exciting announcements tied
34:28
Speaker 1: to that coming up soon. But anyway, the Freedmen's Bank
34:31
Speaker 1: was chartered in 1865 and closed in 1874. It actually
34:32
Speaker 1: closed in 1874 on the date night. of the evening
34:40
Speaker 1: of the opening of MCAT about 100 years later, actually
34:44
Speaker 1: more than 100 years later, 150 years later almost. And
34:50
Speaker 1: so you just can't make this up. Coincidence is God's
34:52
Speaker 1: way of remaining anonymous. And I think that Operation Hope
34:56
Speaker 1: Inside is trying to continue the unfinished work of the
34:58
Speaker 1: Freedmen's Bank, but that's another topic for another day. So
35:01
Speaker 1: this example shows how access to financial institutions without adequate
35:07
Speaker 1: safeguards is can devastate trust, which is what happened when
35:11
Speaker 1: the bank was co-opted and defrauded by its overseers, who,
35:16
Speaker 1: by the way, did not look like the people it
35:18
Speaker 1: was designed to help. Another story for another day. The
35:23
Speaker 1: New Deal, which actually was designed to help poor whites
35:27
Speaker 1: and struggling immigrants. By the way, 20% of our GDP
35:30
Speaker 1: in this country, again, it's in the book Capitalism for All, 20%,
35:33
Speaker 1: just about that, 18% of change come from immigrants. immigrants
35:39
Speaker 1: that some of us keep demonizing, but that's really one
35:42
Speaker 1: of the primary economic drivers of growth in this country. 20%
35:47
Speaker 1: of this economy is immigrants, and a third of the
35:50
Speaker 1: economy are women, by the way. Blacks and Latinos are
35:54
Speaker 1: about $ 6. 5 trillion of a $ 30 trillion economy. So $ 6. 5 trillion,
36:01
Speaker 1: that's another 20% of America's GDP, give or take. It's
36:06
Speaker 1: a big number. So You can't make an economy bigger
36:10
Speaker 1: by making its occupants and participants smaller. It's just simple math,
36:15
Speaker 1: as I keep saying. So then you had the New
36:19
Speaker 1: Deal and post-war housing finance helped expand the middle class
36:24
Speaker 1: for sure, but discriminatory implementation of these policies restricted access
36:30
Speaker 1: to many black families. So I'm glad the New Deal
36:34
Speaker 1: helped the Irish and the Polish and whatever, I'm not
36:37
Speaker 1: so happy that the New Deal plus the redlining plus
36:43
Speaker 1: the Homestead Act and other things hindered and hurt black families.
36:47
Speaker 1: That's not good for America. And it certainly wasn't good
36:50
Speaker 1: for those black families. 1963 March on Washington was for
36:55
Speaker 1: jobs and freedom. Dr. King's economic agenda was not separate
37:00
Speaker 1: from the civil rights movement. It was a center of
37:03
Speaker 1: that movement. I believe the next chapter is, in the
37:05
Speaker 1: civil rights movement is economic participation. Ownership, not just the
37:11
Speaker 1: right to enter the marketplace, but a fair opportunity to
37:14
Speaker 1: own something in it. If you're not at the table,
37:18
Speaker 1: as I keep saying, you're on the menu. Reverend Cecil
37:23
Speaker 1: Chip Murray, in the aftermath of the LA riots of 1992,
37:28
Speaker 1: helped me, inspired me to finance, to create Operation Hope.
37:33
Speaker 1: And there's some special announcements coming up where I'm going
37:35
Speaker 1: to honor him, but that's me coming full circle from
37:39
Speaker 1: civil rights to civil rights. And Juanita Smith really became
37:45
Speaker 1: a living embodiment of what the ownership lesson would look
37:51
Speaker 1: like once a Reverend Murray would inspire her and give
37:53
Speaker 1: her protection. You know, the church was the only place
37:56
Speaker 1: where the Black family could meet, congregate, talk, have freedom,
38:01
Speaker 1: you know, sing, read. It was illegal for Blacks to read.
38:04
Speaker 1: Churches were the only place where It was a reprieve
38:06
Speaker 1: from all that, and churches gave people like my mother
38:09
Speaker 1: a safe place to have personal agency. So my mother,
38:13
Speaker 1: Juanita Smith, was not a Wall Street banker. She worked
38:17
Speaker 1: for about $ 15 to $ 18 an hour at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft,
38:23
Speaker 1: later Boeing Aircraft. Yet over her lifetime, she built a
38:27
Speaker 1: net worth of about $ 1 million. She had a credit
38:31
Speaker 1: score of age 54. It doesn't even go that high anymore.
38:36
Speaker 1: I want you to think about that for a moment,
38:38
Speaker 1: that she did this seemingly impossible thing of becoming a
38:42
Speaker 1: millionaire up from nothing with limited income, managing affordability, but
38:48
Speaker 1: building wealth by understanding you can build wealth in your sleep. Ownership.
38:53
Speaker 1: She understood a principle many high-income people miss. It is
38:57
Speaker 1: not what you make. It's what you keep that matters
39:01
Speaker 1: and what you do with it and what you own, okay?
39:05
Speaker 1: So her example is not proof that every family can
39:08
Speaker 1: become a millionaire on low wages. We're not naive. Costs
39:14
Speaker 1: of living, timing, health care, health, opportunity, and access to
39:18
Speaker 1: assets all matter. As Michael Milken once said, intelligence is
39:23
Speaker 1: equally distributed, but opportunity may not be. So let's level
39:29
Speaker 1: the playing field on opportunity. But it is proof that
39:33
Speaker 1: ownership and discipline can change a family's financial trajectory. Here
39:40
Speaker 1: are three numbers everyone needs to know. Income, the money
39:45
Speaker 1: coming in. Cash flow, the money left after expenses and obligations.
39:50
Speaker 1: Net worth, assets minus liabilities, right? And you create a
39:56
Speaker 1: balance sheet and a budget based on these numbers. Your
40:01
Speaker 1: paycheck can help pay for the present. Assets help support
40:07
Speaker 1: and ensure the future and create wealth. We need, in
40:12
Speaker 1: generational wealth in some cases, we need good wages and
40:15
Speaker 1: more ownership. Not one, both. So this is not an
40:21
Speaker 1: either or proposition, but it's one that our politicians and
40:24
Speaker 1: political leaders have not done a good job of articulating.
40:27
Speaker 1: I'm going to be with Representative Ro Khanna. By the
40:29
Speaker 1: time you listen to this podcast, Representative Ro Khanna and I,
40:33
Speaker 1: who's a Silicon Valley congressman who I recently met and
40:37
Speaker 1: gave him a pretty strong, not lecture, but my pretty
40:41
Speaker 1: strong opinion that the Democratic Party had to start embracing
40:46
Speaker 1: good capitalism or risk alienating vast majority of Americans because
40:52
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous to assume that you can succeed in a
40:54
Speaker 1: country that's based on capitalism and not have more people
40:59
Speaker 1: who are encouraged to be capitalists. It's just, again, even
41:03
Speaker 1: if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you
41:05
Speaker 1: have to first collect it like a capitalist. Well, he
41:07
Speaker 1: embraced that message. And by the time this comes out,
41:10
Speaker 1: you'll be able to go and watch the streaming conversation
41:14
Speaker 1: I had with him at Stanford University as he has
41:17
Speaker 1: embraced this message. and is encouraging other Democratic leaders and leaders,
41:22
Speaker 1: and I'm going to encourage Republican and independent leaders and
41:26
Speaker 1: Democratic leaders alike, because I think we all need to
41:28
Speaker 1: get this message straight and get this message right. But
41:31
Speaker 1: he's specifically talking to his Democratic brothers and sisters, his colleagues,
41:35
Speaker 1: about a responsible form of the capitalism that they can embrace.
41:40
Speaker 1: Money's not evil. It's the love of money that's evil.
41:43
Speaker 1: We need to stop saying this stupid stuff. Capitalism is
41:45
Speaker 1: not bad. It's dumb capitalism, stupid capitalism, greed-based capitalism that's bad.
41:50
Speaker 1: The Bible talks about money more than it talks about
41:53
Speaker 1: anything else, more than 2,000 mentions. Jesus' boys, his disciples,
41:59
Speaker 1: the 12 of them, the majority of them were producers
42:02
Speaker 1: and business people. They had fisheries. They had a tax office.
42:07
Speaker 1: They had an accounting operation that they ran. He wanted
42:10
Speaker 1: people who could do things, not want you doing to
42:13
Speaker 1: be able to do things. And we want our politicians
42:17
Speaker 1: to position themselves and position their policy to help us
42:21
Speaker 1: to do things or to get out of the way
42:23
Speaker 1: and get out of office. So credit is infrastructure, right?
42:30
Speaker 1: But not the destination. Credit is not wealth, but it
42:35
Speaker 1: can be a bridge to wealth. Credit literally comes from
42:38
Speaker 1: the Latin word credito, which means credibility. But Better Credit
42:43
Speaker 1: can lower the cost of borrowings and expand optionality for
42:47
Speaker 1: you and your family, subject to, of course, income and underwriting.
42:50
Speaker 1: You can go to Juanita AI, and she can walk
42:53
Speaker 1: you through a personal budget. She can help you to
42:56
Speaker 1: get prepared to talk to one of my whole financial
42:58
Speaker 1: coaches in 2,000 offices across the country, 138 congressional districts,
43:02
Speaker 1: 43 states, where we have operational offices preparing or working
43:06
Speaker 1: to prepare you to go talk to that bank. and
43:09
Speaker 1: get a loan approval to fulfill your dreams. This is
43:13
Speaker 1: why I talk about 700 credit score neighborhoods so much.
43:18
Speaker 1: Not because a number solves every problem, but because financial
43:22
Speaker 1: health is part of a community's economic infrastructure. Do you
43:25
Speaker 1: know a city I love, a city I have family in, Detroit,
43:30
Speaker 1: has an average credit score of 570. If they don't
43:34
Speaker 1: fix that, lights are off. They were the wealthiest city
43:40
Speaker 1: in the world per capita in 1950. Wealthier than Paris,
43:44
Speaker 1: wealthier than London. And they filed bankruptcy, I believe, in 2012.
43:48
Speaker 1: And you have a group of good leaders there now,
43:49
Speaker 1: including the council president, who I met. And again, I
43:52
Speaker 1: went to go speak with them recently. And he really
43:55
Speaker 1: is interested in finding the right path forward. And he
43:58
Speaker 1: is smart. And his colleagues are smart. And they're committed
44:01
Speaker 1: to the truth. And I want to help them. And
44:04
Speaker 1: I've encouraged them to create a 700 credit score community. citywide.
44:07
Speaker 1: If you range the credit scores 100 points in broader Detroit,
44:13
Speaker 1: all the lights come on in America again, because you
44:16
Speaker 1: cannot have a successful America without a successful Detroit. But
44:19
Speaker 1: we've got to find these pathways forward for all of us,
44:26
Speaker 1: not just some of us. So if we want the
44:32
Speaker 1: next election to mean more than a change in political colors,
44:36
Speaker 1: What should the economic agenda be is the question. Let's
44:40
Speaker 1: talk about the green agenda. And I may not just
44:43
Speaker 1: be talking about environmental sustainability. If you win power promising affordability,
44:50
Speaker 1: the test is not the press conference. The test is
44:53
Speaker 1: whether families can buy a home affordably, sustainably over the
45:00
Speaker 1: long term, whether they even understand what that means to
45:03
Speaker 1: buy a home. Because if you don't understand it, you're
45:04
Speaker 1: going to lose a home. where they can finance businesses
45:07
Speaker 1: and afford transportation, build a cushion against emergencies, access public services.
45:15
Speaker 1: You know, we already have socialism embedded in the capitalist system.
45:18
Speaker 1: It's called Medicare and Medi-Cal and retirement and pension funds.
45:23
Speaker 1: I mean, social security, we have public education. These are
45:27
Speaker 1: socialist elements in our capitalist system. We just need to
45:29
Speaker 1: make these things to work more efficiently and tie them
45:32
Speaker 1: to productive outcomes so that we're connecting education with aspiration.
45:37
Speaker 1: That's what our educational system should be doing. We should
45:39
Speaker 1: have financial literacy weave through the entire educational system and
45:44
Speaker 1: AI literacy too. So after you do these things, here
45:50
Speaker 1: comes the next test. Can they build assets? Can the
45:54
Speaker 1: people build assets? So talking about housing, right? More supply,
46:01
Speaker 1: practical zoning and permitting, infrastructure. Responsible financing and pathways to
46:07
Speaker 1: first-time home ownership will lower the prices of entry, lower
46:11
Speaker 1: the barriers, and stabilize the marketplace. Small business, access to capital,
46:17
Speaker 1: succession planning, acquisition financing, procurement opportunities, and financial capability. These
46:25
Speaker 1: are things that will help to strengthen and grow small
46:28
Speaker 1: businesses into medium-sized and big businesses. Every big business wants
46:33
Speaker 1: a small one. workforce, wages, productivity, trades, digital skills, AI literacy,
46:43
Speaker 1: community investment, ensure existing residents and businesses participate in neighborhood appreciation,
46:51
Speaker 1: neighborhood asset increases, instead of simply being displaced by what's
46:57
Speaker 1: going on in these communities, because people will resent when
46:59
Speaker 1: they're displaced. No one attacks themselves, make people owners, of
47:03
Speaker 1: what's going on in their community and watch how supportive
47:06
Speaker 1: they become then. Conversely, nobody washes rental cars, right? If
47:10
Speaker 1: you don't own it, you don't give a dang about it.
47:14
Speaker 1: Let's talk about inner cities and rural towns and the
47:17
Speaker 1: American South for a minute. I see overlooked economic potential
47:22
Speaker 1: in urban neighborhoods, rural communities, growing regions of the South,
47:29
Speaker 1: but rising property values are not enough if the people
47:33
Speaker 1: already living there do not share in the economic gains. Again,
47:37
Speaker 1: people resent it. There's a whole debate raging about gentrification
47:43
Speaker 1: going on in Brooklyn. I mean, that was going to
47:45
Speaker 1: happen whether black celebrities participated or not. But when a
47:49
Speaker 1: certain black celebrity got involved with it, with the gentrification
47:53
Speaker 1: that was happening there, they had been playing for well
47:55
Speaker 1: over a decade, by the way, he gets criticized for that.
47:58
Speaker 1: That was unfair. They were talking about Jay-Z. I think
48:00
Speaker 1: it was unfair target Jay-Z in that way. He came
48:03
Speaker 1: up from nothing. I'm glad somebody got part of that deal.
48:06
Speaker 1: That was going to happen there, whether Jay-Z was involved
48:08
Speaker 1: or not. And because of him, a lot of black
48:10
Speaker 1: and brown folks got opportunity. But the overwhelming discussion seems
48:15
Speaker 1: to be about, oh, did he somehow hasten the demise
48:19
Speaker 1: of Brooklyn? It's not a demise. It's economic growth. It's
48:24
Speaker 1: just the people who live there didn't participate in it
48:26
Speaker 1: because they didn't have the financial literacy and all the
48:28
Speaker 1: things that I'm mentioning. But conversely, Again, look at an
48:32
Speaker 1: area like Detroit or Chicago. It's a black area run
48:35
Speaker 1: by black people. It's not racism, and it's not somebody
48:39
Speaker 1: running you out. The money's running out. The capital, the
48:42
Speaker 1: wealthy people are leaving Chicago, too, and going to the suburbs.
48:49
Speaker 1: They're fleeing the cities because they feel unsafe, whatever it is.
48:54
Speaker 1: You've got to solve that problem, stabilize the community, get
48:56
Speaker 1: those credit scores up, The credit score is a training
48:59
Speaker 1: indicator for hope, well-being, belief, confidence, joy, faith. It's not
49:02
Speaker 1: about the credit scores itself, right? But it's a good barometer.
49:06
Speaker 1: It's a good test. It's a good measuring tool. We
49:09
Speaker 1: have a Hope Financial Wellness Index where you can go
49:11
Speaker 1: there and put your zip code in, and I'll tell
49:15
Speaker 1: you how you're living. I'll tell you the quality of
49:17
Speaker 1: your life. In fact, if you... are in a 500
49:20
Speaker 1: credit score neighborhood, you live to about 61 years of
49:23
Speaker 1: age below, you only get some security, drop dead. If
49:27
Speaker 1: you live in a 700 credit score neighborhood, literally within
49:30
Speaker 1: 15 minute drive of that community, You live to 81
49:34
Speaker 1: years of age. So for every 50-point increase in your
49:37
Speaker 1: credit score we found, you live about another five years.
49:40
Speaker 1: That's amazing. And it's trackable and it's measurable. And it's
49:45
Speaker 1: not based on race or politics or division. Again, you
49:48
Speaker 1: want your politicians to do things like this citywide, statewide, nationwide.
49:53
Speaker 1: You want child savings accounts like we have with Mayor
49:57
Speaker 1: Andre Dickens in the city of Atlanta. And by the way,
49:59
Speaker 1: our new governor-elect is in the state, Mayor Soon, Governor
50:03
Speaker 1: Keisha Lance Bottoms, when she was mayor, inspired these Hope
50:07
Speaker 1: Child Savings Accounts program and put Operation Hope in the
50:09
Speaker 1: driver's seat to work with the city council to get
50:12
Speaker 1: them done. Mayor Andre Dickens continued that, grew that in
50:16
Speaker 1: partnership with the city, I might add. Operation Hope has
50:19
Speaker 1: now got 12,000 child savings accounts for every kid in kindergarten. Now, Dr.
50:25
Speaker 1: Bernice King, Dr. King's daughter, CEO of the King Center,
50:28
Speaker 1: who's on my board, we're talking about doing something broader, deeper,
50:32
Speaker 1: stronger in honor of her dad's coming 100th birthday nationwide
50:36
Speaker 1: to open bank accounts in 100 cities across America. This
50:41
Speaker 1: is what you want your government to do. You want
50:42
Speaker 1: your government to inspire and give a tax break for internships, apprenticeships.
50:49
Speaker 1: People respond to incentives and penalties. Penalize the bad behavior
50:53
Speaker 1: and encourage the good. Make sure that we spread the
50:58
Speaker 1: ownership around. You've already heard the story of The Promise
51:02
Speaker 1: Homes Company and how I grew that and gave people
51:06
Speaker 1: financial literacy and gave people a chance to go from
51:08
Speaker 1: rent to own. So I won't go into a great
51:09
Speaker 1: deal detail there, but I was the largest minority owner
51:12
Speaker 1: of single-family rental homes in America for five years, owned
51:16
Speaker 1: almost 700 homes and sold the company for nine figures.
51:19
Speaker 1: And now I'm doing something bigger with CIM Group, which
51:22
Speaker 1: is a $ 32 billion company out of LA. And we've
51:24
Speaker 1: got Centennial Yards in downtown Atlanta, really building a downtown
51:28
Speaker 1: Atlanta with Centennial Yards, 50 acres. That's going to create
51:30
Speaker 1: jobs and opportunity and affordable housing. You see how this stuff,
51:34
Speaker 1: and that gives, you know, the city and the state
51:38
Speaker 1: is giving tax breaks. Well, in response to that, they
51:40
Speaker 1: get affordable housing, they get jobs, they get economic activity,
51:42
Speaker 1: they get economic growth. You see how these things work
51:44
Speaker 1: together for good when you are thoughtful about it. Okay,
51:50
Speaker 1: let's now talk about, I'm trying to get a lot
51:52
Speaker 1: into one episode. Is it obvious? Okay. Let's talk about AI,
51:57
Speaker 1: the tools and the new divide. Artificial intelligence can help
52:02
Speaker 1: a person to learn, to build a business, to serve
52:06
Speaker 1: customers better, to become more productive. Your job's not going
52:09
Speaker 1: to be taken by AI. Your job may be taken
52:11
Speaker 1: by somebody who can use AI, and I want that
52:13
Speaker 1: somebody to be you. The question is whether we democratize
52:18
Speaker 1: the tools of AI and the training. That is part
52:21
Speaker 1: of why we launched Hope AI, which I'm co-chairing with
52:24
Speaker 1: Van Jones, who's brilliant, and Juanita AI, the first AI
52:28
Speaker 1: platform modeled after a single woman with three children. And
52:34
Speaker 1: how do we do that? Why do we do that?
52:35
Speaker 1: Because I can. I'm the founder, chairman, CEO, and we
52:39
Speaker 1: decided to do it. It is modeled after my mother, Juanita,
52:41
Speaker 1: Juanita AI, and you can go and talk to her
52:44
Speaker 1: about anything for free. And so it's the story of
52:47
Speaker 1: my mother, the familiarity of my mother, and thus her
52:53
Speaker 1: comfort with you, the average person coming and talking to her,
52:56
Speaker 1: And it's the power of AI and specifically ChatGPT on
53:00
Speaker 1: the back end. I'm co-chair of the AI Ethics Council
53:03
Speaker 1: with Sam Arland. There's good news coming around that soon.
53:06
Speaker 1: So stay tuned around the whole global forum for that.
53:11
Speaker 1: So I want to give two groups homework tonight. I
53:15
Speaker 1: want to give Washington and every household listening five votes
53:20
Speaker 1: and five tests. Five votes every household can cast. One,
53:27
Speaker 1: vote to know your numbers. Review credit reports, monthly cash flow,
53:32
Speaker 1: debt levels, savings levels, and net worth. Know your numbers.
53:36
Speaker 1: Number two, vote for resilience. Build an initial emergency savings
53:41
Speaker 1: account or fund for yourself and prioritize reducing expensive debt.
53:47
Speaker 1: Choose a realistic first target to start. Don't try to
53:51
Speaker 1: boil the ocean or do everything all at once. But
53:53
Speaker 1: I want you to make a vote for resiliency in
53:56
Speaker 1: your family. Vote for ownership. Explore diversified retirement investments, home equity,
54:03
Speaker 1: or business ownership when financially appropriate for you. Vote for ownership.
54:09
Speaker 1: You make money during the day, you build wealth in
54:10
Speaker 1: your sleep. Number four, vote for earning power. Learn a
54:17
Speaker 1: practical skill. We're running out of plumbers and electricians. You
54:20
Speaker 1: can't AI plumbing. You can't AI plumbing. electrical work, and
54:24
Speaker 1: these jobs and occupations and businesses that will continue to thrive.
54:28
Speaker 1: They'll have some robotics tied to them, some technology, the
54:31
Speaker 1: real smart phones, but it don't really matter. If you're
54:34
Speaker 1: a good plumber, a good electrician, you can make easily
54:37
Speaker 1: six figures, okay? So I want you to learn a
54:39
Speaker 1: practical skill, improve your AI fluency, or pursue a credential
54:45
Speaker 1: that increases your opportunity. Number five, vote for community. I
54:51
Speaker 1: want you to mentor somebody, apprentice somebody, do something for somebody.
54:56
Speaker 1: Volunteer at Operation Hope is part of our Hope Corps
54:59
Speaker 1: that I want to balloon this group to 10,000 and
55:03
Speaker 1: 20,000 and 50,000 Hope Corps volunteers around this country that
55:07
Speaker 1: reach one, teach one, volunteering, mentoring, role modeling, teaching financial
55:11
Speaker 1: literacy and AI literacy in hopefully 10,000 Hope Clubs across
55:16
Speaker 1: this country by 2035. So, I want you to mentor
55:22
Speaker 1: one person, support a local enterprise in your community, or
55:27
Speaker 1: help someone access trustworthy financial education. And I want to
55:31
Speaker 1: do this community by community, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.
55:36
Speaker 1: Here's five tests for the leaders who won this election
55:40
Speaker 1: and those who remain in office. Are inflation adjusted household
55:45
Speaker 1: incomes improving? Are housing and borrowing costs becoming more manageable?
55:52
Speaker 1: Are new and existing small businesses able to access capital
55:56
Speaker 1: and customers? Are more households and the people in those
56:02
Speaker 1: households accumulating savings, retirement assets, and equity? Are gains reaching
56:09
Speaker 1: communities historically excluded from wealth creation, or is it just
56:13
Speaker 1: the wealthy getting the creation? No political party deserves A
56:18
Speaker 1: blank check, people. This is a democracy, not a dictatorship.
56:24
Speaker 1: Measure the results. Reward what works. Interrogate everything. Interrogate all
56:33
Speaker 1: the facts, to quote my friend Brad Smith of Marshall
56:36
Speaker 1: University and in West Virginia, the wealthiest man in West
56:38
Speaker 1: Virginia who's president there. Interrogate one of our partners and
56:41
Speaker 1: friends on my board. Interrogate all the facts and all
56:44
Speaker 1: the data until it surrenders, right? Just run the numbers
56:50
Speaker 1: to their logical conclusion. Reward what works, change what does not,
56:58
Speaker 1: and do not mistake a campaign slogan for an economic
57:01
Speaker 1: strategy or emotionalism for good policymaking. Whenever you make an
57:05
Speaker 1: emotional decision, I guarantee you it's going to be wrong.
57:10
Speaker 1: And here's the close and the choice I want every
57:13
Speaker 1: American to remember after election night and election week. America
57:19
Speaker 1: has spoken at the ballot box, but the work of
57:23
Speaker 1: building the American dream is not finished on election night.
57:27
Speaker 1: Democrats may celebrate. Republicans may regroup. Independents may ask what
57:33
Speaker 1: happens next. And the American family still has bills to
57:38
Speaker 1: pay in the midst of all this discussion. PhDs are good.
57:44
Speaker 1: PhDs are even better. I believe in democracy. By the way,
57:50
Speaker 1: I call that the get it done party. I believe
57:52
Speaker 1: in democracy. I believe in capitalism, good capitalism. I believe
57:57
Speaker 1: capitalism can work best when more people have a genuine
58:01
Speaker 1: chance to participate in it. It cannot run out of,
58:03
Speaker 1: capitalism can't run out of customers or producers or it's
58:06
Speaker 1: dead and it's useless. Talent is everywhere. Aspiration is everywhere.
58:13
Speaker 1: Intelligence is everywhere. But opportunity is not. So yes, demand
58:20
Speaker 1: an economy where housing is affordable. I'm trying to do
58:24
Speaker 1: something about it with my CIM BGV Impact Ventures joint
58:27
Speaker 1: venture with CIM Group. Stay tuned for what we're doing
58:29
Speaker 1: there with our affordable housing fund. We're trying to raise it.
58:33
Speaker 1: We are raising a billion dollars for that. Some exciting
58:36
Speaker 1: announcements coming out around that, one of which will be
58:38
Speaker 1: announced by the time you read this or listen to
58:41
Speaker 1: this podcast. So stay tuned there. We want affordable housing.
58:46
Speaker 1: We want that housing where people can work. We want
58:50
Speaker 1: jobs around that housing. We want affordable housing where the
58:55
Speaker 1: small businesses owners can serve the people who live in
58:58
Speaker 1: those houses and can grow and where a family can
59:01
Speaker 1: get ahead without feeling they are one emergency away from
59:04
Speaker 1: falling behind or falling through cracks and never be able
59:08
Speaker 1: to pull themselves up. up again. Hold elected officials accountable
59:13
Speaker 1: for these outcomes and not just rhetoric that allows them
59:16
Speaker 1: to pass on the problem to someone else. But do
59:21
Speaker 1: not outsource your democracy. Do not outsource your entire economic
59:27
Speaker 1: future to Washington or anyplace else. Learn the language of money.
59:33
Speaker 1: Understand your credit. Build your savings. Invest in your skills.
59:39
Speaker 1: Own something when and where you can, even if it's
59:43
Speaker 1: a fractional share of something. Own something. It changes not
59:46
Speaker 1: just a pocket, it changes your mindset. Help somebody else
59:52
Speaker 1: do the same. Everybody reach one and teach one. The
59:56
Speaker 1: Republicans have an agenda, people. The Democrats have an agenda.
1:00:02
Speaker 1: But what is your family's economic agenda? Because we do
1:00:07
Speaker 1: not simply want America to remain a wealthy nation. We
1:00:12
Speaker 1: want more Americans to have the wealth of a nation.
1:00:18
Speaker 1: Red states, blue states, broke states. The color of lasting
1:00:24
Speaker 1: economic opportunity is not red or blue. It's not black
1:00:27
Speaker 1: or white. It is green. It has always been green.
1:00:33
Speaker 1: I'm John O'Brien. This is Money and Wealth. And that
1:00:37
Speaker 1: is capitalism for all. Good night, America. And good morning,
1:00:43
Speaker 1: hopes and dreams. Let's go. This has been John O'Brien
1:00:49
Speaker 1: on the Money and Wealth podcast series. Go to Operation Hope.
1:00:51
Speaker 1: Get my seven books, most recently, Capitalism for All. Subscribe.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: Tell other people to subscribe to this podcast series, Money
1:00:58
Speaker 1: and Wealth. And I'll see you at the finish line.
1:01:00
Speaker 1: Let's go. Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a
1:01:06
Speaker 1: production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts
1:01:09
Speaker 1: from the Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app,
1:01:13
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.