Today's episode of Triggered takes a deep dive into what's at the top of everyone's minds this holiday season, and that's affordability. President Trump's policies are working to make Americans' Thanksgiving more affordable this year, from their commutes to the dinner table.
00:06:50.000President Trump's policies are working to make Americans' Thanksgiving more affordable this year, from their commute to the dinner table.
00:06:58.000Nearly 100 million Americans are expected to drive next week to spend time with loved ones for the holiday.
00:07:05.000And thanks to President Trump's drill, baby, drill agenda, the national average price of a gallon of gas on Thanksgiving Day is projected to be at the cheapest price since the COVID pandemic in 2021.
00:07:17.000President Trump is bringing down gas prices and providing significant savings to American families at the pump.
00:07:24.000And again, we expect those prices to continue to decline.
00:07:28.000According to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual survey, cooking Thanksgiving dinner will also cost less this year than it did last year and is down about 5% overall.
00:07:39.000The average price for a staple of the meal, a 16-pound frozen turkey, is down more than 16% from last year, which will provide critical savings for families and their budgets.
00:07:51.000President Trump's entire economic agenda is aimed at putting more money back into the pockets of hardworking Americans.
00:07:59.000That's why he signed the largest middle tax class tax cuts in history into law, from no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, to no tax on Social Security.
00:08:09.000And according to a new study from Piper Sandler, which is out this week, tax filers can expect an extra $1,000 bump to their tax refund next year and what could be a record-breaking tax refund season.
00:09:20.000Republicans have repeatedly refused to take yes for an answer.
00:09:25.000It was a very reasonable multi-year extension that was offered.
00:09:29.000It was a one-year straight extension plus a multi-year process through a bipartisan commission to more permanently resolve the Affordable Care Act issue.
00:09:39.000So having that context is absolutely important, regardless of what you may think.
00:09:43.000It's important context to make me realize that I don't think you want to get a deal done.
00:09:47.000I think this is something where you'd like to see the rates go higher and allow the Republicans to hang themselves with that.
00:10:39.000You can't make this stuff up anymore, but I figured we got some time.
00:10:43.000So we're going to point it out to you, and you can make up your own minds.
00:10:47.000Because the American people realized how bad it was when Joe Biden was president and they realized that they were being lied to, for example, about the job numbers.
00:10:54.000I'm old enough to remember when they lied about 818,000 jobs in the job report numbers when we had a lot of people.
00:11:01.000The job report numbers of the last quarter of last year, they had to refine them back.
00:13:02.000This is why you guys lost the election today.
00:13:04.000I'm sure it is why we lost the election.
00:13:07.000Now, today, we'll sit down with economist Steve Moore, who's been on the show a bunch before, and he's uncovered a lot of new information about what the media isn't telling you about the economy, housing, and so much more.
00:13:23.000So, check it out, guys, because there's a lot to get into.
00:13:25.000There's a lot that's going to be realized next year.
00:13:28.000You can't simply undo four years of incompetence and inflation and China capitulation overnight.
00:13:36.000But when you hear what's actually going on and you get into the numbers, it's actually amazing.
00:13:45.000So, guys, make sure you're liking, sharing, and subscribing so you never miss one of these major episodes.
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00:14:26.000And of course, be sure to check out our sponsors, sponsors who have the guts to support this program.
00:14:38.000Now, the recent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles were just one of the hatred, one example really of the hatred and violence ICE agents are dealing with every day.
00:14:53.000They all are out there working hard to enforce our nation's laws.
00:14:58.000They've been ambushed, received death threats, and have been berated by the failing regime media.
00:15:04.000And that's, guys, on top of dealing with violence from cartels and pushback from liberals and sanctuary cities.
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00:17:07.000Well, guys, joining me now, finder of Unleash Prosperity and former Trump Economic Advisor, Steve Moore.
00:17:43.000Obviously, you know, I think some people want sort of instant gratification, right?
00:17:47.000You make a move and like, tomorrow morning, I want to wake up prosperous.
00:17:52.000Some of this stuff takes a little bit of time to sort of get in there.
00:17:55.000I mean, I feel really good about next year and, you know, some of the, you know, whether it's the tariffs, whether it's, you know, literally all of the inward investment from other countries.
00:18:06.000I mean, when you add up the numbers, I mean, if you straightline like the 8 trillion committed or whatever the hell the number is, I mean, you straightline that over 10 years, it's like a point of GDP or two a year, almost in perpetuity.
00:18:21.000You know, talk about that for a second, because I think people don't get that.
00:18:25.000And again, it doesn't just happen overnight.
00:18:27.000It takes a little while for that to get in there.
00:18:30.000But I have to say, you know, the president's off to a great start.
00:18:33.000For example, on this issue of if you look at what's happened to median family income, because there's a disconnect between reality and perception right now, you know, we just ran the numbers.
00:18:44.000The average median household income after inflation is up $1,200 in the first eight months of the Trump presidency.
00:18:51.000So there's a kind of a lie that's being told by the media that there's an affordability crisis when, in fact, people have more disposable income.
00:19:01.000Another statistic that's amazing that has not gotten out there in the media, which we've been reporting at Unleashed Prosperity, and I showed the president these numbers the other day.
00:19:10.00087% of the inflation since COVID happened under, guess what president that happened under?
00:19:21.000But okay, so my point is, yes, people should be angry about how much beef costs and how much eggs costs and how much you pay in rent and your utility bill.
00:19:30.000But that's because Biden had the highest rate of inflation of ever any president since Jimmy Carter.
00:19:37.000And we're still feeling the effects of it.
00:19:40.000And again, like I said, whether it's the upside doesn't trickle in immediately, although $1,200 is not insignificant as a start in the first nine months of a presidency.
00:19:52.000I mean, the media is not talking about that.
00:19:54.000Frankly, they're painting a very different picture.
00:19:56.000You and I both know, you know, don't follow everything that you see online because they're sort of the paid outrage that's out there delivering a different message.
00:20:05.000So when you think about where we were with inflation just a few years ago, that bleeding has stopped.
00:20:11.000It doesn't mean there's not still pain inflicted because you can't undo four years of garbage immediately, but we do have to sort of remember the full perspective.
00:20:22.000Can you lay out some of the other details so people start to get that?
00:20:25.000Because again, I see the media is painting a false narrative.
00:20:28.000You know, the online outrage machine is doing some of the same, but it doesn't seem to line up with what's really going on.
00:20:36.000Well, let me give you another example.
00:20:38.000You know, the one statistic that we've used for 40 years is kind of the best gauge about how people, you know, what people are feeling in inflation is to look at the gas price.
00:20:47.000You know, what do you pay when you fill up your tank?
00:20:49.000You know, when you pay more, that makes people angry.
00:20:52.000And when you pay less, you know, people have more disposable income for other things because people have to drive their car or their truck.
00:23:18.000Now you look at the states that have the lowest cost of living, and you're talking about states like Arkansas, Oklahoma, the Carolinas, et cetera.
00:23:26.000So that's a big deal for people that the costs are so much lower in these blue states, I mean, in the red states.
00:23:38.000Yeah, I mean, you know, I sort of touched on this a little bit, but a lot of the steps that we're taking and the administration is taking won't fully be realized or even seen overnight.
00:23:46.000The tax relief, the investment, they're trying to build something for the future instead of sort of the immediate sugar high that you got from Obamacare or whatever injection of billions of dollars right before the election cycle because of the Fed and obviously also the subsidies, which were basically used to hide the true costs going on out there.
00:24:10.000How do you see sort of the difference between real sustainable growth that they're trying to create, a regulatory environment that lets things happen naturally versus this artificially subsidized economy that you see typically under the Democrats?
00:24:27.000Well, that's a good point you're making.
00:24:29.000So we did have growth under Biden, not a lot of growth, but we did have some growth, especially in the area of employment.
00:25:22.000And that's why we're going to grow ourselves away from this nonsense.
00:25:25.000That's never going to happen from a government bureaucrat that's really not creating anything other than probably regulatory hurdles and other nonsense along the way.
00:25:46.000And those savings and costs get passed on to consumers and lower prices that you pay at the grocery store or the hardware store or where you pay for rent.
00:25:55.000So don't forget about the benefits of Trump's deregulation efforts.
00:26:00.000The tax bill, we're seeing an investment boom in this country, Don, like we haven't seen in a long, long time.
00:26:07.000And that's because we have all these incentives in the tax bill that Donald Trump signed into law, I think it was January 4th, I mean, July 4th.
00:26:16.000Those give incentives for businesses to invest in plant equipment, machinery, research and development, which is critical to growth.
00:26:27.000And you can't have higher wages if businesses aren't investing.
00:26:34.000I think we're going to see enormous growth, big increases in pay for workers, and a big increase in employment because we're the one country.
00:26:50.000We're the only country that is growing.
00:26:51.000We have these amazing technology companies that, you know, all our magnificent seven are worth more than all of the European countries combined.
00:27:00.000So it's a really, you know, United States is flexing its economic muscle right now.
00:27:05.000And that's thanks to a great president.
00:27:08.000And actually, I have to say, I love Mike Johnson.
00:27:10.000I think he's done an amazing job as Speaker of the House.
00:27:12.000I think Jon Thune has been a great majority leader for the Senate.
00:27:19.000Yeah, I mean, so, you know, one of the interesting stats I've been sort of talking about a lot is even just on the tariff side, you know, you have 400 billion plus, you know, year to date.
00:27:30.000You take that out, you know, to a year.
00:27:33.000I mean, that kind of just additional income, that's like a point of GDP.
00:27:38.000I mean, can you explain to the average viewer what just a boost of a point in GDP means for America?
00:27:46.000And that's before you get into the FDE, the foreign direct investment, which is like, again, something like $8 trillion over the next decade.
00:27:53.000You straightline that proportionally over 10 years.
00:28:16.000Well, let me give you an example of why this matters, Don.
00:28:19.000And that is the one thing that everybody is worried about, including me and you and everyone, is the size of our national debt and the size of our deficit.
00:28:27.000And we're all familiar with these very scary charts that show the debt going up and up and up and up as a share of GDP.
00:28:34.000And that's the legacy of not fixing a lot of these problems over the last 40 years, and including the problem of the aging of America.
00:28:40.000But if you look at those standard forecasts, they're estimating the U.S. economy is going to grow at 1.7% per year.
00:28:48.000And to that, I say, and Donald Trump says, no, we're America.
00:28:56.000So if you just put 3% growth in, and you were talking about 4 or 5%, but let's say even when we just get 3% growth, then we start to bend the curve down on the debt because the economy is growing faster than the debt and the problem starts to go away.
00:29:12.000If you put 4% growth in that equation, I mean, you see a huge reduction in the debt impact.
00:29:19.000So I've always said that the single most important step to bringing the debt down, in addition to putting some caps on government spending, is grow the economy as fast as we can.
00:29:29.000That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing.
00:29:32.000And I mean, if you compare that to, say, Europe, which is, you know, they're saying 1% growth, but in all fairness, it's probably zero or negative, given the insanity of their regulatory framework, the ESG, DEI type mandates that still exist, their inability or total lack of a desire to do anything as it relates to energy.
00:29:51.000Then you compare it to some of the other places that may be growing, China.
00:29:53.000I mean, where would anyone want to actually put their money?
00:29:56.000And it feels like that's why the foreign direct investment into America right now is so strong, because they still look at it as such a safe haven relative to anywhere else in the world.
00:30:05.000If we continue on this path that we're on right now, with respect to the increase in the stock market, not only are we going to very soon pass Dow 50,000, but by the end of Trump's presidency, we'll be at Dow 60,000.
00:30:18.000So these are enormous gains in the wealth of Americans.
00:30:23.000And I'm tired of people saying, oh, well, that's just the playground of rich people.
00:30:26.000No, you know, we've got 150 to 175 million Americans who are invested in the American stock market and their 401k plans and their retirement plans are going up and up and up.
00:30:36.000The average family's wealth has gone up by about $40,000 just since the beginning of the year because of this booming stock market that we're seeing, which is, by the way, Don, this is the envy of the world.
00:30:48.000I mean, all of the great companies are here in the U.S.
00:30:52.000And I'm glad, by the way, that Donald Trump is really celebrating America's technological leadership.
00:30:58.000I mean, we have dominated the internet age.
00:31:03.000And thanks to a lot of the policies that Donald Trump is putting in place, we are now set to dominate the AI age and the robotics age and the satellite age and the amazing technologies that are coming.
00:31:16.000I love that, that Trump is saying, look, we should not smash our, you know, our technology companies.
00:31:24.000We should let them continue to lead the way in the world.
00:31:28.000NVIDIA, Apple, Google, all of these companies are amazing.
00:31:32.000And the rest of the world is so jealous that we have dominated.
00:31:37.000Stephen, in your opinion, would it be fair to say that perhaps some of the Americans who could actually benefit the most from the Trump administration's policies are actually younger people, some of whom maybe haven't even reached voting age yet?
00:31:51.000You know, that's a funny thing that you should ask about that, because I just wrote a column on why are young people so glum and why are they so depressed and negative about the outlook for America?
00:32:02.000Young people tend to be worried about the future.
00:32:06.000But this generation in particular, I think that's in part because they've been indoctrinated for the last 20 years of their life about how the free market doesn't work and we need more socialism.
00:32:18.000And what a shame it was what happened to the great city of New York with the election of Mondame, who if he does what he says he's going to do, will destroy that great city.
00:32:27.000But I have to tell you that young people are inheriting the best economy in the most affluent economy in the history of the world.
00:32:39.000Well, I mean, could it be because academia has pushed them into degrees that are meaningless, that will never pay back, that will never, you know, if you go get your doctorate in gender studies, you're probably never going to be a contributing member of society in any real way, shape or form, certainly not economically, probably not intellectually either.
00:32:57.000And yet, you know, that was the way, right?
00:32:59.000People were pushed into degrees they didn't need, racking up debt they could never pay back.
00:33:09.000This is a real problem you've identified here, Don, is that if you get a degree in math or science or engineering or any of the STEM things or just know how to do anything, if you're an electrician, if you're a plumber, if you know how to do anything, there's a lot of jobs out there.
00:33:26.000But what are our kids graduating with?
00:33:28.000Political science degrees, ethnic study degrees, sociology degrees.
00:33:35.000So the university, I'm very happy, by the way, that Donald Trump has really gone after the universities because our universities are not what they once were.
00:33:44.000They are not preparing our kids for the future.
00:34:11.000Well, and then the alleged elites that have those degrees that can't seem to pay back their student loans because they got degrees in stuff that no one cares about, they want a plumber.
00:34:21.000They want carpenters who they look down upon, who they frown upon, who they certainly don't consider elite, who are actually making great livings and able to take care of themselves.
00:34:32.000Plus, they want them to carry their debt.
00:34:39.000I feel passionately about this issue because Joe Biden's response was, oh, we'll just let people forgive their debts and put the trillion dollars of new debt out of the backs of taxpayers, which was outrageous, especially for families that didn't send their kids to college, have to pay the higher taxes for families that did.
00:34:59.000But more importantly, if you've got a useless degree from a university and you can't pay your student loan, you know who should have to pay off that student loan debt?
00:35:11.000I mean, is that something that's realistic?
00:35:14.000And again, maybe it'd be the greatest thing for academia to keep them in check because maybe they wouldn't be pushing you into nonsense degrees.
00:35:20.000And, you know, again, your undergrad gender studies degree, you really need to get a master's in that and then a doctorate.
00:35:26.000And then you can go make $30,000 being a gender activist, I guess.
00:35:31.000But I don't know what else you can do with it, but they certainly should be on the hook for it if they're going to push these things and they're going to get the benefits of the tax advantage status that they have, et cetera, while functioning, frankly, as left-wing propagandists across the board.
00:35:47.000Well, the one person who I've heard talk a lot about this, Don, is Linda McMahon, who's running the education department, doing an amazing job, by the way.
00:35:58.000Why should somebody have to like, I'll think of people like my wife.
00:36:03.000You know, she graduated from UCLA back 25 years ago.
00:36:06.000She, you know, when I met her, she was like not making a whole lot of money, but she was diligently and responsibly paying each month, you know, paying off that student loan debt.
00:36:17.000And then she finally paid it off like, you know, any upstanding citizen should do.
00:36:22.000You owe the money, you pay back the loan.
00:36:24.000And now she's furious that Joe Biden was running around the country saying, oh, you don't have to pay your loan.
00:36:28.000Somebody else is going to pay it off for you.
00:36:38.000I mean, it's a great case of sort of irony, which shouldn't surprise us anymore with anything that we see.
00:36:43.000But those who actually did it, who sacrificed, the Saturday night parties or the nicer car or whatever, they're also taking the hit for this because there is no government-funded program.
00:36:56.000So the people who actually were responsible, even if they took on that debt, are also going to suffer the consequences.
00:37:02.000It's not just the plumber or the carpenter.
00:37:04.000It's those who actually altered their life to do the right thing because I guess they don't understand that they want three-year-olds to be able to decide what gender they can be, but they can't have an 18-year-old sign on the bottom line of a loan because they couldn't possibly understand the ramifications of the consequences of doing so.
00:37:21.000Are you familiar, Don, with the school called College of the Ozarks?
00:37:25.000I've heard of it, but I'm not all that familiar.
00:37:28.000Well, it's, you know, I've probably given about 100 college lectures over the years, and I gave one at a school called College of the Ozarks, which is in Missouri.
00:37:36.000And the most amazing thing about that school is, you know what the tuition is there?
00:38:15.000No, I mean, it's amazing how you can pay attention.
00:38:17.000And listen, I went to Penn, which is, you know, I don't know what the hell happened to it since I was there, but, you know, created a lot of guys at the time, great business school, all that stuff.
00:38:30.000I'm sure even me to an extent, whereas, you know, I definitely went out and had too many beers a couple of nights that I could have probably been studying and bettering myself.
00:38:38.000But if you're actually on the hook for these things and you actually have to deliver and you are vested in your outcomes, I'm sure it makes a big difference.
00:38:48.000Yeah, it's an old saying, you know, that anything easily attained is lightly regarded.
00:38:53.000And so if you have to work for it, you're going to make sure you're getting your money's worth.
00:38:57.000I've got a rundown, but I'll just end with this.
00:38:59.000I believe that the president has set the table for the great expansions that we've seen in America.
00:39:07.000I think we're going to continue to dominate.
00:39:08.000I think 2026 is going to be a monster year for the economy.
00:39:12.000With you said maybe 4% to 5% growth, boy, that would be amazing.
00:39:15.000I think it's very possible investment capital is flowing into the United States.
00:39:20.000Like Donald Trump is some kind of magnet.