The Real Investment Show Podcast

Don't think there's anything cronyistic (that's a word we just made-up) about the relationship between the Federal Reserve and the Wall Street financial guys? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, describes how the Fed has created a cozy little relationship for BlackRock to sit on...er, manage cash for the government at a healthy fee...virtually in perpetuity, according to the Fed's own memorandum. This. Will. Make. You. Mad. * Special thanks to the Estate of George Carlin for the excerpt from his February 1999 performance and commentary on Germs (yes, it's all connected...)

Global Warming and Stay-at-Home; Dr. Fauci's Stark Warning & The Second Wave; no vaccine/therapy until late 2021; Re-opening the Economy; George Carlin on Germs, Immunizations, and Immunity; Credit vs Stock Markets; how the Fed has intervened; no problem with Investment-grade (IG) Bonds; how Boeing solved its own problem; Sports Addicts, NASCAR, Baseball, Little League, NFL; going back to school, school taxes; Treasury making up for tax revenue shortfall; Lance's Dad/Surviving the '60's; How the Fed will buy bonds; Cronyism at The Fed: Powell, Mnuchin, Fink/Blackrock; the arrangement to never end.

There is a correlation between market performance and the economy, despite the divergent action of recent weeks during the COVID-19 Pandemic. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts parses the numbers in the latest Labor Dept. report on Unemployment, and posits chilling questions about the results as presented---and asks who's NOT being included in the tally?

Mother's Day & Social Distancing; Jobs Report & Lessening Need for Comm'l Real Estate, Workers; post-Covid Retail Sales; The Stock Market Isn't the Economy? Correlation Between Economic Growth and Stock Valuation; the Staggering Unemployment Report; Jump in NILF Numbers; How We Got here: NYT front page; Calculating Jobs w/out Population Growth; Who's not being counted; the Credibility of the WHO; Tanzanian Covid Test; "The Black Mirror" and tracking kids w apps; Data scams; cannot have Financial, privacy security and convenience.

Market Commentary as Consumers are taken out at the knees by pandemic and draconian government responses; Everyone is going to live smaller; how to appropriately invest; Mask-Match dating; The Great Reset Webinar tease; financial needs; the definition of "Under-employment;" Webinar tease; What We Were Being Told--financial advisors now changing their tune; Financial Cushions; CARES Act will be with us forever; Take-home Tips: Pen and Pad to Make a Budget; re-prioritize spending; no longer buying new; Paradox of Thrift; slower pace of living;

Which is more troubling--the fact that we matched all of 2019's Treasury debt ($1-Trillion) in April 2020, or the fact that no one has a clue how we're going to pay it all back? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA

Jobless Claims preview; Small Businesses/Dallas a la Mode Salon owner jailed; Jobs Report will be staggeringly bad; Market Breadth has been very poor; Michael Lebowitz - Spring in MD; Blue Angels & Beck's Prime - Restaurants in Recovery; Growth is different from Absolute Numbers; Record High vs Record low Employment; Jobs, Job losses, Consumer Spending & Savings Rates; inability to spend; Gov't Data skewed by top 5-10%; Drop in Tax revenues; Government Spending vs income; Explaining the Dollar Shortage; China Trade Tensions Growing; Who buys the debt the Fed is creating? Japan as microcosm - GDP static since 1990.

With Summer coming on, and woeful economic numbers to digest, the smart money says we're not out of the woods, yet, as after-effects of the coronavirus-triggered shutdown of the economy are still to be felt. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Certified Financial Planner, Danny Ratliff, CFP discuss the new risks of investing that are as old as time.

Why is it that banks have been bailed out twice in the past decade, yet have tightened their requirements for loan acceptance during the pandemic? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts examines the crony capitalism that has continued to enrich the wealthy class at the expense of the middle and poorer classes of society. This will make you mad.

Cinco de Mayo + Taco Tuesday; Blue Angels' Houston Flyover; Unemployment Expectations worst ever; Blue Angels' Flyover correction; Lone Star Flight Museum; Wages for Bottom 80%; Monetary Policy protects the wealthy; biggest losers are Millennials; The Growing Wage Gap exacerbated by Crony Capitalism; Top 10% own 80% of Market; Concentration of Wealth actually slows economic growth; Article Tease: Testing Market Lows; Study: 40% Americans will continue Social Distancing; Economy is not roaring back; Behavior is key driver of economics

Berkshire-Hathaway's Warren Buffett held his annual investment confab for 2020--on line this year, thanks to COVID-19. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, analysis some of the new moves of the Oracle of Omaha.

Pre-Cinco de Mayo; Judge Hidalgo's heavy-handedness & How we're responding; no recovery until 2021; Warren Buffett's Virtual Investment Summit; The Great Pandemic - What We'll Tell Our Grandchildren; How will Vaccine/Therapy affect Consumption/Economy? The Paradox of Thrift; The Pilgrimage to Buffet's Annual Investment Event--On line this year; What Warren Buffett is Doing Differently; the importance of time-frame & duration; Giant Asian Murder Hornets - the importance of Bees; 2020 Election, Recovery, and Fickle Voters; Recovering from 15% unemployment and Pay Cuts by November?

Market Commentary: It's a Bear Market now - no company is immune; Amazon, Apple, Clorox; brand-name vs generic buys; The Federal Grill re-opens - impact and repercussions in a post-Covid World; Social Distancing = lost business; Price inflation + wage growth stagnation, suppression of 401-k Matches; Things We'll Do Differently - Webinar Tease - How The Great Depression mirrors what's to come in The Great Reset; how markets out-perform the economy (The Market is not the Economy); Hey, Boomer! answers to YouTube queries; Bitcoin vs Gold; RIA Pro Teaser; Financial Friction in Families; growing importance of Estate planning; don't forget the words behind the legalese.

Why go to work and risk exposure to some vile disease for which there is yet no cure, when you can stay home, collect unemployment checks, and watch Netflix all day? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA, discuss the core appeals of Socialism, and expose the key to Bernie Sanders' popularity. Also, see how close they got in estimating Jobless Claims numbers this time around!

Re-opening for Business; Q1 GDP includes only two weeks' business in March; Q-2 missing 1/3 Q-business from April; Expect 30-40% drop in Q-2 GDP; Michael Lebowitz - What the Fed Said; +5% Unemployment for a while; CB intervention = 29% of GDP; Fed is not achieving goals, making recovery more difficult; Jobless numbers preview; Making Socialism Attractive: making more money on unemployment; PPP went to only 5% of intended businesses; Re-opening economy: What People will do differently; Fed can do anything it wants until real inflation shows - only cure is less money circulating

Investing in stocks because they pay great dividends is fine...until the dividends end. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts reviews the Holy Trinity of Investing, and what should be the Prime Directive for every investor.

The regularly scheduled meeting of the FOMC is this week--what could they possibly say that hasn't been said in recent, inter-meeting releases? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, provides some perspective, and what's to happen to the markets when the Fed ends up owning 80% of the market.

Stormy Weather in Texas; Tollway Fares Resume; Booking Airfares; Tommy's Stimulus Check; Dwayne's Boycott app; Education in Quarantine; the Result of Gov't Takeover of Public Education & Common Core Performance; China = 15% on Education, 2% on Housing vs US 15% on Housing, 2% on Education; Incentivizing performance at Schools, Enron, Wells Fargo; Re-Opening America @ 25% capacity; Pandemic Impact to Employment; rehiring skeleton crews; comparison to Spanish Flu; "I Bought It for the Dividend;" Faulty strategy - cannot control dividend, CAN control price to Buy/Sell; Capital Preservation;

Re-Opening Texas after Covid-19; Easiest Job & Most-difficult; Market Commentary - meager volatility; Congressional Hoopla over States & Municipalities' Needs: Should they go bankrupt? New Attitudes about debt; Fed expansion of role, lowering the bar; Students ready for Back-to-School; Central Bank Interventions & Consequences: 2% Growth, no inflation, productivity suppression; President after 2024 election will be socialist; Fed Meeting Preview: What Can They Say? Most aggressive monetary policy in history; doing the same as Japan, expecting different outcome; When Fed owns 80% of Market, market no longer exists.

Poll: Liquor Stores are Essential Businesses; Reopening America's small businesses: Re-cycling tax dollars to put people to work; debt used for non-productive purposes; Adley Stump/Coronavirus Clarifications, Pt-1; Keynes & Recession; Just because rates are low doesn't mean debt doesn't matter; Adley Stump. Pt-2; Cutting taxes at the wrong time; Debts & Assets and the issue of pay-back; Wiping out debts & assets; Adley Stump, Pt-3; Rising levels of deficits & debt; Fiscal Conservatism; Bail-outs for all vs bankruptcy for the weak

How we're adjusting to working in pandemic; markets response; Keeping emotions in-check; Danny's in Time-out; The Great Depression Mind-set Today; The Paradox of Thrift; Coronavirus impact on Houston Energy Co's; the importance of ROTH IRA's; Social Security as America's Pension - not what was intended; How to calculate primary benefits; How to make up the difference when benefits are cut; The Black Hole of Retirement: Pandemic is a foretaste;Re-thinking American Business, Globalism, & the Cost of Living; How we invest will be different;

The lure of low interest rates has resulted in an over abundance of zombie companies--particularly in the energy sector--which, without cheap money to prop them up, should have been allowed to wither and die; instead, they've created the glut of oil that is now choking markets in a tidal wave of crude. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA discuss the harsh realities of what needs to happen next.

AOC on Working 70-hrs/wk; Oil Prices & Money Flow Indicator: How We're Managing Risk; Michael Lebowitz, Covid-free & Kickin': Oil Prices are a function of futures contract, not necessarily driven by demand; Historic Levels of Supply; US looking for others to cut production while we continue to drill & produce; Zombie companies should be allowed to fail; Harvard's about-face on TPP $; JP Morgan & Big Banks, FNMA FDMC: It's another banking bailout cloaked in something else.

"In 2008, when we didn't shut down the economy, earnings fell by 89%. How can S&P now make the claim that in the second quarter of 2020, with the economy paralyzed by pandemic, earnings should only drop by 10%??" RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts insists there's still a lot to be worked through, and the risk to chasing stocks still outweighs the reward.

The Senate passes more money for small businesses, as state clamor to re-open, and a record number of new coronavirus cases are reported; there's no fiscal responsibility in Washington; Washing your food; Good Things Come from Bad Situations; Saving Money & Looking for deals; What Happens When Businesses Re-open? Who Are the Most Attractive Hires? How earnings estimates impact portfolios, and how S&P is getting it wrong. Rothschild 80-20 Rule

As credit markets continue to sop up the additional liquidity of the Fed, and companies with weak balance sheets line up to socialize their bad decisions, a review of how Capitalism was meant to be, where Winners win, Losers lose, and markets balance the scales as only markets can...and should.

TV Shows and Quarantine; Oil Prices & Trading: Running Out of Storage is bigger problem; Commodities have been foretelling of weaker economy; the Earnings Crash; What Constitutes a Rally? (If things were really better, everyone would be involved). Money flow into markets is still weak; That's Capitalism - The Coming Earnings Crash; Credit Markets are Absorbing Fed Liquidity; Winners win, Losers lose--until 2008; now public bails them out. June Oil Futures; Energy as important component of economy: Ex. N. Dakota Drilling; This is not just a virus; Markets need to be allowed to function.

The reason the US cannot get any better than 2% economic growth is because we're literally drowning in debt--and that was the case BEFORE the coronavirus pandemic. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts lays out the evidence that debt is killing economic growth.

On Re-opening the Economy--we may not yet have reached the peak; Fed programs only redistribute wealth; the story of El Arroyo; the True Worth of Teachers and Healthcare Workers; Federal Bailouts - exacerbation of Wealth Gap; How much is a Trillion Dollars? Debt & Deficits Heading into Recession; The Millionaire Next Door; 96% of Tax Revenue going to mandatory payments before pandemic; Why Large Co Bankruptcy isn't a bad thing; Corporate Cronyism; CARES Act allows for borrowing from 401-K: Don't Do It!

How we're working during social distancing; some companies will never come back; other will be permanently altered in The Great Reset; TV News remote on Richard's front lawn; Things Won't Be the Same in a post-Covid world; Avoiding Covid scams; Disaster Fraud Hotline: 866-720-5721; How Healthcare Costs May Change in a post-Covid environment; No Companies are Too Big to Fail.

Even in tough times, savvy investors can make prudent choices with money. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA on some specific areas that might be poised in which to prosper.

Dining in The Kitchen; Jobless Claims at Highest in History; Recovery will be slower than usual; Michael Lebowitz - Home School Economics & Social Security; The Best Use of Bankruptcy; Why can't airlines raise their own cash instead of taking bailout? Low interest rates encourage bad behavior; Big Banks vs Regional Banks; How to Unwind the Debt Bubble; Hedge Funds' inability to borrow now qualifies as Crisis; Socialism for the Rich - Capitalism for the Poor; IMF Debt Jubilee; Jobless Claims Predictions; What's the Fed's End-game? What Will Recovery Look Like? Where are opportunities to invest? Running out of eggs.

With the market down 35% in the 1st Quarter, how is it that big firms like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are having the best results in their history? RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts w Certified Financial Planner, Danny Ratliff, CFP, and the ugly truth about the rigged game on Wall Street.

President Trump teases opening the Economy--and barbershops; How long before a Vaccine? Best 15-days in Markets since 1933 (what happened after that??) Danny Ratliff on Why Baby Boomer's Can't Retire; Coronavirus is trigger at Peak of Market Cycle; Opportunity coming to buy-in cheaply; best opportunities will be in Energy, Gold, and Commodities; Federal Reserve is going to create Inflation

The one thing MMT'er's fail to realize about untethered debt and deficits is that someone has to pay for it--and when that someone is the Federal Government, there just isn't enough money to go around, regardless of how high taxes may go...and that's why the much-balyhooed 2% GDP growth rate is woefully insufficient.

Tavi Costa interview release tease; Market Preview: Expectations for second wave of COVID-19 Infections; Q-1 Earnings Season commentary; Working at Home survey - Changing Habits & The Paradox of Thrift; Tavi Costa audio cuts on Coronavirus, reliance on central banks, the socialization of loss; Gov't injections of capital into economy; How debt and deficits suppress economic growth; The Truth About 2% GDP Growth; Stay at Home Reality TV; What happens when Quarantine is lifted? What shape will economic recovery take - L, V, U, W? How did we ever survive our childhoods?

We've had a strong market rally on hopes the Fed can, with its unprecedented interventions, "fix" the problem. Too many, including the Fed, are missing the point.

The Sadness of Quarantine: NBA Players streaming Virtual HORSE; Market Commentary: 2008 is Best Example of What's Happening Now; The Problem w Analog Charts; Why Every Crisis in History is Different; This is now a Credit Event, not a Virus Event; What the Fed is Doing to Enable Credit Markets to Function; What Markets and the Media Are Missing; Animals Rule; Where We Are on the Coronavirus Curve; Hopes for V-Shaped Recovery are Wishful Thinking; What We Did Wrong.

It's a good Friday because markets are closed; Why the Post-Covid Economy will not come roaring back; How Bear Markets Behave; Businesses will be redefined; CARES Act is here to stay; How Coronavirus Impacts Your Financial Plan; Monitoring the Likelihood of Success; Creating a Financial Vulnerability Cushion

Everyone is hoping for a V-shaved recovery. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Portfolio Manager, Michael Lebowitz, CFA, explain why turning the economy off and on is not like flicking a light switch...or buying concessions at the ball park. As if...

It's Like 1974 All Over Again; Pandemic & Savings Paradox; Market Rally--What's Next? Michael Lebowitz - Jobless Claims numbers are hard to rationalize; JP Morgan rant vs What Good Companies are Doing; Theme Songs; MMT-Lite; The V-Shaped Recovery; JP Morgan, Wells Fargo criminal enterprises; The Risk of a Second Wave; Getting Back to Where We Were; Paradox of Thrift & Changes in Behavior

It's not a question of "if," but "when..." RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts w Certified Financial Planner, Danny Ratliff, CFP, in response to comments posted on (and subsequently pulled from) our YouTube channel.

Why Drive-by Birthday Parties are a thing; Market Commentary: When Social Distancing Ends; St.Louis Fed Forecasting 30% Unemployment; Danny & The Beard; Dealing w Risk & Recession; More Boomers Still Working; High Taxes are Virtually Guaranteed; Some jobs and Co's are never coming back; YouTube Commentary: ROTH Conversions; Coronavirus is Opportunity for Gov't to Change Taxation Landscape; Teasing Richard; Baseball's return; Good Outcomes from Social Distancing vs Economic Impacts

You would not believe the amount of email received on the twin babies named Covid and Corona; RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts reviews the latest pandemic stats, and looks at the economic outcomes from the Coronavirus.

Essential Traffic; Market Consolidation as Fed buys SBA Loans; financing 100% of US Debt: We are Japan; Virtual Birthday Parties; Tom Clancy/The Division-II; Buying food close to The End: EU approves bugs as food; Names e-mails; Coronavirus updates; possible outcome of disease for economy; What Happens After Pandemic? Tommy Roberts' Life in Germany--the New Car; Deficits/Debt Emerging from Pandemic; We will not get stronger rates of growth w higher levels of debt.

What We're Doing During Quarantine' Lance's Banking Rant; Market Preview; "Dark Waters" movie review; Article Tease: "Impact of Stock Buy-backs;" Privatizing gains, Socializing Losses is supplanting Capitalism; banks should be allowed to fail; incentivizing executives; Covid & Corona baby Names; Spring Breakers; Company Draw-downs on Revolving Credit lines; Most-affected sector = Hospitality & Entertainment = Millennials; Difficulty of managing money w +/1 1,500-pt swings daily; We have not yet bottom.

It's Not Too Late to Re-adjust to New Bear Market; The Care Act & Roth Conversions; Covid-19 Stimulus; Making Higher Charitable Contributions; How We Can Help: Financial Summit, Right Lane Classes; How Coronavirus Attacks Productivity; The Great Re-Set; Staying Healthy Through the Apocalypse; Holographic Wills; Post-covid World: A New Dawn on Financial Situation.

The COVID-19 outbreak is the catalyst warned about months ago--even though we didn't know exactly what form that catalyst would take. Even though...no one wanted to hear it. Portfolio Manager Michael Lebowitz, CFA w RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, note the expected (in)effectiveness of Fed attempts to staunch the blood letting.

Losing our options w COVID-19; Markets sustain worst quarter losses in (120-yr) History; Michael Lebowitz: Domestic Situation No One Has Seen in Our Lifetime; Worsened by too much debt; Coronavirus is catalyst; Fed's Response; Commodity Prices are Tell-Tale Signs of Weak Economy; Credit Markets are Broken, but not not-functioning; Why Carnival Cruise Lines is Dead Man Walking.

Now that all of the air has been let out of the markets, it's an interesting study to examine what financial advisors are too late telling their clientele. RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, w Certified Financial Planner, Danny Ratliff, CFP, parse the facts.