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Macro Voices · Hedge Fund Manager Erik Townsend

MacroVoices #510 Jim Bianco: From FED Cuts, to inflation, to Gen Z’s Infatuation with Socialism

December 11, 2025·1 hr 8 min·5 clips
Jim Bianco warns that expanding repo markets to fund deficits could unleash higher inflation by encouraging unchecked government spending.
Episode 510 starts with the cut. Produced on December 11th, 2025, the conversation opens on the expected December move and Moran's dissent for 50 basis points. Eric Townsend brings in Jim Bianco, and the mood is not exactly triumphant. The issue is whether lower policy rates really pull down long-term borrowing costs. Bianco is bothered by the Fed saying inflation is too high while no member has rate increases in the base case. That mix can make bond investors more nervous about inflation, not less. Powell's tariff adjustment gets a lot of attention. Bianco does not accept the inflation-ex-tariffs framing because the excerpt gives no clear measure or calculation. Services make the argument harder. They are not being tariffed, yet CPI services is above three, and CPI services less energy is above three and a half. Goods inflation is rising quickly. Bianco accepts that tariff-heavy goods categories account for most of the recent inflation rise, but he pushes back on the idea that removing them leaves inflation cleanly in the low twos. His ask is simple: show the work. He wants Powell to explain the number, the same way he wants public officials to explain population claims. The market read is uncomfortable. Rate cuts meant to loosen conditions could run into sticky inflation data and push longer-term rates higher. Patrick Ceresna comes in after the interview, with the show set up to turn Bianco's macro case into an asymmetric trade rather than leave it as policy talk.

As heard by us

A rate-cut discussion that stays with inflation, policy, and what markets may be assuming.

Macro Voices uses the December rate cut to open a broader look at what the Fed can influence and where market expectations begin to do the rest.

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Why you'd press play

You want the December 11, 2025 Fed cut, the inflation debate, and Jim Bianco's take on the long-rate myth.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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