America’s ‘prosperity’ is built on broken families and debt



Ever since the COVID “Great Reset,” the American economy has functioned like a silent depression for two-thirds of households and most businesses. Washington pumped out biblical levels of spending and easy money, and a cycle of debt, high prices, and stagnation has crushed consumers.

Meanwhile, a handful of well-connected corporations — propped up by cheap credit, regulatory favors, and asset bubbles — keep the stock market afloat, creating the illusion of growth. The result is an economy that looks healthy on paper but feels like collapse on Main Street.

Enough. A nation cannot live on financial tricks and asset bubbles forever. Let the recession come.

The time has come to let it crash. No more bailouts. No more “too big to fail.” If we want a free-market recovery built on broad opportunity and wage-based wealth, we must let the bubbles burst.

The silent depression

Americans live under record-high prices for food, fuel, rent, and electricity. College graduates face the worst job market in decades. Payroll data shows just 1,494 new jobs were added in August — the weakest since the 2008 crash. Layoffs are up 38.5% this year.

For graduates, the outlook is even worse. Fortune reports that 58% of recent grads still can’t land a job or internship. Forty percent of the unemployed last year never even got an interview. One in five job seekers remained unemployed for 10 months or more.

Those already employed are struggling to make ends meet. Thirty-seven percent of workers have tapped retirement accounts for hardship withdrawals or loans. Personal spending, adjusted for inflation, fell 0.15% in the first half of 2025 — the sharpest decline since the financial crisis.

Families are drowning in debt. Household debt sits at $18.39 trillion, up $600 billion in one year. Student loans total $1.64 trillion, with more than 10% delinquent. Credit card debt has hit $1.21 trillion, with average APRs over 22%. Auto loans stretch to seven years for one in five new vehicles. Nearly half of renters now spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

A stock market built on sand

You’d expect Wall Street to slump alongside Main Street. Instead, the S&P 500 posts records. Why? Because 10 mega-cap tech stocks make up 40% of its total market cap. Strip them out, and the picture darkens.

More than 450 large companies filed for bankruptcy in the first half of 2025, the most since the Great Recession. Manufacturing has lost 78,000 jobs. Construction spending has fallen in seven of the past 11 months. Small caps fare even worse: 43% of Russell 2000 firms are unprofitable.

AI hype fuels the illusion. Nvidia’s data center revenue — half of it from just three shaky firms — drives much of the market. The S&P’s price-to-book ratio now tops the dot-com bubble. This is not sustainable growth; it’s speculation on steroids.

The housing bubble must pop

Housing has become the last pillar propping up the economy. Thanks to years of near-zero rates, federal subsidies, and trillions in mortgage-backed securities, the housing market ballooned to $55 trillion — $20 trillion more than in 2020.

But affordability is gone. The frozen market now shows cracks as prices fall in half the country. This is the moment to let it reset. Instead of lowering lending standards or declaring housing “emergencies,” the Trump administration should allow prices to match real wages.

Americans can’t keep using housing as a savings account or demanding 25% annual stock returns while complaining about inequality. You can’t have both free markets and endless asset bubbles.

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Stop feeding the beast

Wall Street already salivates over another round of stimulus to keep the AI bubble inflated. Evercore ISI predicts the S&P could hit 9,000 by 2026, even while warning this could become the “biggest bubble ever.” By then, the economy would be addicted to corporate welfare, and taxpayers would foot the bill for the richest companies in history.

Enough. A nation cannot live on financial tricks and asset bubbles forever. Let the recession come. Let the bubbles burst. Only then can America rebuild a market economy rooted in work, savings, and production — not in debt and fantasy.

Won’t somebody finally stand up and shout stop?

Trump Was Right To Fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, And Here’s Why

In public service, integrity is judged in real time, not deferred until a jury renders a verdict.

Fed chair Powell signals potential rate cuts — but Trump says it’s ‘too late’



Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled on Friday that he may consider cutting interest rates in the near future.

During a speech at an annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell hinted at the possibility of changes to interest rates at the next September meeting due to a "shifting balance of risks."

'I personally believe the Fed could cut a full percent and still not have policy unleash inflationary pressures, but I don't foresee a cut that substantial in September.'

He contended that the Federal Reserve's "restrictive policy stance" has been "appropriate to help bring down inflation and to foster a sustainable balance between aggregate demand and supply."

Powell blamed "higher tariffs" for introducing "new challenges" to the U.S. economy and "tighter immigration policy" for causing an "abrupt slowdown in labor force growth." He contended that both factors have impacted demand and supply.

"Over the longer run, changes in tax, spending, and regulatory policies may also have important implications for economic growth and productivity," Powell claimed. "There is significant uncertainty about where all of these policies will eventually settle and what their lasting effects on the economy will be."

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

He argued that "risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside." Powell called it a "challenging situation" given that the Fed's "framework calls for us to balance both sides of our dual mandate," referring to the labor market and price stability.

However, he indicated that with the policy rate "100 basis points closer to neutral" compared to last year and stability in labor market measures, the Federal Reserve may "proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance."

"Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance," Powell said.

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to drop interest rates.

"He should have cut them a year ago. He's too late," Trump said Friday afternoon in response to Powell's speech.

Blaze Media contributor Carol Roth told Blaze News, "Reading between the lines, it certainly sounded like Powell was signaling a higher likelihood of a September rate cut, something that the market had already been expecting. In terms of the Fed's stated 'dual mandate,' the pendulum seems to be swinging to more concern over the labor market than inflation, although certainly not ignoring inflation, but rather wanting to avoid a stagflation scenario," Roth said.

"Powell is definitely late to a rate cut, both in terms of supporting the economy and giving the Fed room in terms of future ability to raise rates in the face of any potential spikes in inflation," Roth continued. "While 25 basis points (one quarter of a percent) is the likely size of a cut, it probably isn't enough to be meaningful in terms of consumer or business behavior — it seems more symbolic. I personally believe the Fed could cut a full percent and still not have policy unleash inflationary pressures, but I don't foresee a cut that substantial in September."

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The rate cliff is real — and Washington created it



It’s never been more unaffordable to buy and finance a home in America. And yet, government officials seem confused about the cause, chasing “solutions” that will only make things worse. They want more building, lower rates, and more subsidies. But none of that fixes the core problem.

We don’t have a shortage of homes. We have an affordability crisis driven by government intervention — one that’s inflated yet another asset bubble. Housing, like education and health care, has been hijacked by easy money, fake pricing signals, and federal subsidies designed to mask structural rot.

You can’t paper over decades of distortion with another round of Fed intervention.

The solution isn’t more easy money. It’s pulling the plug on government policies that distort markets. Enough with near-zero interest rates. Enough with the Federal Reserve buying mortgage-backed securities. Enough with Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA inflating demand that the market can’t sustain.

Cause and effect

Remember the late ’90s? Mortgage rates sat between 7% and 8%. Nobody panicked or complained much about the cost of living. People bought homes. Prices were reasonable. Inflation was low because deficits were shrinking and money wasn’t being printed into oblivion.

Then came the dot-com crash, George W. Bush’s post-9/11 spending spree, and the Clinton-era “affordable housing” schemes coming due. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s footprint expanded. The Fed, under Chairman Alan Greenspan, dropped rates to near zero — the same path Trump wants now — and we inflated the first major housing bubble of the 21st century.

From 2001 to 2006, Washington juiced the market at every turn. M2 money supply growth topped 10% and stayed above 8% into 2003. The Fed funds rate plummeted from 6.25% to 1%, where it stayed for a full year. Real rates were negative for two and a half years.

No surprise what followed: Real estate loans at commercial banks surged at a compound annual rate of 12.26%. Cheap money and inflated supply pushed prices through the roof. The result was a bubble built not on demand but distortion.

Then came the collapse.

And what did Washington do? Bailouts for big banks. Bailouts for Fannie and Freddie. Dodd-Frank. Obamacare. Trillions in new debt. The Fed held rates near zero for six more years, planting the seeds for the next wave of asset inflation — especially in housing.

Then came COVID.

The government printed $7 trillion and subsidized nearly everything. Rates dropped back near zero. The Fed bought trillions more in mortgage-backed securities. Freddie, Fannie, and the FHA expanded their subsidies even further. By 2021, we had the biggest housing bubble in American history.

Welcome to the rate cliff

Now, we’ve hit the wall. The Fed had to raise rates to fight inflation. That created a generational rate cliff. Sellers don’t want to give up their 2% and 3% mortgages. Buyers can’t afford homes at today’s prices — prices that are still artificially high thanks to 15 years of easy money and government meddling.

And yet, housing starts have held up decently. The problem isn’t inventory — it’s liquidity and affordability.

In June, existing home sales dropped to their slowest pace since 2009. But it’s not because no one’s selling. Redfin reports 500,000 more sellers than buyers — a 33.7% gap, the widest since 2005. Total inventory rose to 1.53 million units, up nearly 16% from last year. Vacancies have spiked 28% since the second quarter of 2022. New home supply has ballooned to 9.8 months.

RELATED: Government broke the housing market — only this will fix it

rudall30 via iStock/Getty Images

In a real free market, prices would drop sharply. But when government, either directly or indirectly, backs 90% of the U.S. mortgage market, that’s not how it works. Subsidized mortgages and distorted demand keep prices frozen — even as sales crater.

Sellers want prices buyers can’t afford. According to the Atlanta Fed, a household now needs $124,150 in “qualified income” to afford the median home. But the median household income is just $79,223.

Lowering interest rates again won’t fix this. It’ll just stoke inflation and feed the next bubble. And with the Treasury dumping trillions in debt onto the market, 10-year yields — and therefore 30-year mortgage rates — aren’t coming down anytime soon.

Absent a 2008-level crash, housing prices aren’t dropping meaningfully. We’re stuck.

You want lower rates? Cut spending

If you want rates to fall, slash spending and debt. That’s how you bring prices down. You can’t paper over decades of distortion with another round of Fed intervention.

Live by Fed money printing, die by Fed money printing.

'Stubborn moron': Trump calls for the Federal Reserve Board to 'assume control' from Powell — on one condition



Tensions have continued to rise between President Trump and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell since Trump's visit to the bloated construction project at the Fed's headquarters last week. Trump's criticism of Powell's leadership and refusal to lower interest rates has led to some heated exchanges between the two leaders.

On Friday morning, Trump posted two messages directly calling out the chairman of the Federal Reserve: "Jerome 'Too Late' Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!"

'I believe that the wait and see approach is overly cautious, and, in my opinion, does not properly balance the risks to the outlook and could lead to policy falling behind the curve.'

In another Truth Social post, Trump lashed out again: "Too Little, Too Late. Jerome 'Too Late' Powell is a disaster. DROP THE RATE! The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!"

A Wednesday press release recounted a vote on monetary policy. While nine members of the committee voted to "maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent," this decision was not unanimous. Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller dissented from this action, preferring to lower the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point. This, however, is still far below the rate cuts that Trump is aiming for.

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Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Friday, Board member Waller explained his dissent from the majority "wait and see" approach, calling it "overly cautious" and claiming it "does not properly balance the risks to the outlook and could lead to policy falling behind the curve."

Bowman, likewise, gave a statement on Friday explaining her dissent: "I see the risk that a delay in taking action could result in a deterioration in the labor market and a further slowing in economic growth."

Trump's aggressive tariffs have stimulated the economy and have secured many trade deals. However, Powell has reportedly said that this short-term success is not indicative of long-term stability. “We’ve learned that the process will probably be slower than expected,” Powell said. “We think we have a long way to go to really understand exactly how” the tariffs will affect inflation and the economy.

The Federal Reserve Board declined Blaze News' request for comment.

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Jerome Powell Pressed On Why Fed Isn’t Lowering Rates To Help Americans Afford Homes

'How do you justify that?'

Government broke the housing market — only this will fix it



If you’re frustrated with being unable to buy a home today, you’re not alone. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, homeownership affordability has been near an all-time low since 2023. The deadly combination of both home prices and interest rates skyrocketing broke the housing market, but simply lowering interest rates today won’t fix it.

To understand why, it’s important to know what caused this housing affordability crisis. Over the last several years, the federal government spent trillions of dollars it didn’t have in the world’s largest-ever borrowing binge. The money came from the Federal Reserve, which created those trillions of dollars out of nothing, depressing interest rates.

The real solution is not to manipulate rates lower and spawn further inflation, but to get government out of the way so interest rates can come down naturally.

The predictable result was a rapid devaluation of the dollar, manifesting as 40-year-high inflation, followed by the fastest rise in interest rates in just as long to cool off the inflation.

Rates aren’t the problem

Not only did home prices become stratospherically high relative to incomes, but financing costs became prohibitively expensive. Consequently, during the four years of the Biden administration, the monthly mortgage payment doubled on a median-priced home.

For the housing market, this was a one-two punch that cratered affordability and consigned millions of Americans to renting for the foreseeable future.

The Fed’s artificially low interest rates helped cause the problem in the first place. Home prices rose not only because the dollar lost value (taking more dollars to buy the same home), but also because lower interest rates meant potential home buyers could borrow more and bid up the price of homes.

What’s most important to someone when considering buying a home is not the home’s price but the monthly mortgage payment. While the payment is clearly dependent on the whole price, interest rates are also a major factor. When those rates fell below 3%, people were willing to spend much more on the same home because the monthly payment didn’t change much.

As the months passed, however, and the bidding wars continued, prices just kept rising. Once interest rates returned to more normal levels, everything fell apart as monthly mortgage payments exploded. It now takes over two-thirds of the median household’s take-home pay to afford a median-priced home.

Historically, when interest rates rise, home prices fall, but that didn’t happen this time. So many people locked in home loans at interest rates below 4% — or even below 3% — that they can’t sell their homes today, because doing so would mean losing that interest rate and getting a new mortgage at 7%, 8%, or 9%.

The only way to make the math work is if homeowners sell at a huge premium, giving a massive down payment on their next home, minimizing the amount borrowed at a higher rate, and therefore preventing their monthly payment from skyrocketing. The large and fast increases in interest rates pushed home prices even higher instead of lower.

Get government out of the way

The temptation today is for the Fed to simply lower the federal funds rate (its benchmark interest rate), under the assumption that such a move will push down interest rates throughout the economy, including mortgages. Sadly, instead of fixing the broken housing market, it would likely have the opposite effect.

Last autumn, in a move that could only be described as blatant election interference, the federal funds rate was reduced when there was no empirical justification for doing so. But the move buoyed stock prices. Market participants saw through the charade and realized the artificially low rates would ultimately lead to more inflation, which prompted private market interest rates to rise.

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Photo by e-crow via Getty Images

Lenders don’t like inflation because it reduces the value of the money being repaid in the future. To compensate, creditors demand a higher rate of return. That’s why the yield on Treasury debt at the end of last year jumped 100 basis points after the federal funds rate fell 100 basis points, demonstrating the Sisyphean nature of the problem.

Additionally, interest rates and home prices have recoupled. If interest rates fall one or even two percentage points, that will again prompt potential home buyers to borrow more, thereby bidding up home prices again. Unless rates drop substantially more, existing homeowners will remain trapped by the golden handcuffs of their 2% or 3% interest rates.

The real solution is not to manipulate rates lower and spawn further inflation, but to get government out of the way so those rates can come down naturally. If the government spent much less, then there would be less demand for borrowed money. Reducing demand in turn reduces the price, and the price for borrowed money is the interest rate.

Profligate government spending broke the housing market. Only fiscal restraint at the federal level will fix the problem.

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Debt spiral looms as Trump tests tariffs to tame rates



Following the market’s reaction to Donald Trump’s recent tariff hikes, many investors remain fixated on short-term stock declines. But I’m less concerned about the immediate drop in equities and more focused on the broader ripple effects — especially given the current state of U.S. fiscal policy.

The Trump administration inherited serious economic challenges from the last four years of Bidenomics, a mess made much worse by unsustainable levels of deficit spending.

A stock market downturn could cut tax revenue significantly. In that case, any interest savings might be wiped out — or worse.

U.S. debt has surpassed 120% of GDP. Deficits now resemble those of a wartime economy. The government’s interest payments exceed defense spending — a major warning sign for any nation. Meanwhile, inflation remains stubbornly high.

The new administration took office facing high interest rates — not historically high, but elevated relative to recent norms, especially given the nearly $37 trillion in national debt — and a strong U.S. dollar. That hinders Trump’s policy options.

Given that context, are tariffs a strategic move to lower interest rates, refinance the debt, and buy the administration some breathing room? If so, can that approach work — and at what cost?

Roughly $7 trillion in U.S. debt is scheduled for refinancing this year. Add a projected $2 trillion deficit, and the government faces an enormous financing challenge.

The administration may be betting that aggressive tariff policy triggers a “flight to safety,” prompting investors to move money out of equities and into long-term government bonds. Greater demand for bonds would push their prices higher and yields lower, since bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

We saw some evidence of this last week when the 10-year Treasury yield dipped below 4%, though it rebounded above 4% by Monday.

A stock market sell-off could pressure the Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates. So far, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has shown no willingness to step in — but that could change.

The strategy carries significant risk. Federal tax revenue depends heavily on both economic growth and stock market performance. If markets continue to tumble, government revenue could shrink, adding further strain to an already fragile fiscal outlook.

Even if yields on the 10-year Treasury dropped by 100 basis points (or 1%), and the government managed to refinance all $9 trillion in scheduled debt, the interest savings would total only about $90 billion.

But that scenario is unlikely. Issuing more Treasury bonds increases supply, which typically pushes yields higher — unless some outside force steps in. And if such intervention is possible, it raises a larger question: why pursue this risky strategy in the first place?

There are also other risks to consider. A stock market downturn could cut tax revenue significantly. In that case, any interest savings might be wiped out — or worse, deficits as a percentage of GDP could grow even larger.

On top of that, a declining market can trigger the “reverse wealth effect.” When portfolios shrink, consumers tend to spend less. Since consumer spending makes up about 70% of the U.S. economy, that kind of pullback can slow growth. Businesses may also become more cautious, further weakening economic activity.

Luke Gromen of Forest for the Trees recently pointed out that in 2022, a 20% drop in the stock market led to a $400 billion decline in federal tax receipts. If the same happens in 2025, the financial impact would far outweigh any gains from refinancing debt.

In a recent report, Luke Gromen noted that the last three recessions pushed the U.S. deficit higher by 6%, 8%, and 12% of GDP, respectively. In today’s terms, that would mean increases of $1.6 trillion, $2.1 trillion, and $3.2 trillion during a recession.

Yet, Congress has offered no serious plan to cut spending. Any reductions that do happen would likely shrink GDP, which makes solving the problem even more challenging. That leaves the administration with very little room to maneuver.

While the White House denies any intent to trigger a market crash, some economists believe the administration’s aggressive tariff strategy may be designed to lower interest rates by creating financial stress.

If true, it’s a high-risk approach to managing the government’s rising interest burden. The longer it takes to deliver results, the greater the danger it backfires — potentially triggering a debt spiral instead of relief.

Let’s hope for a resolution before those risks materialize.