520 Money Lies and God with Katherine Stewart - Tariffs, markets, inflation

April 10, 2025·1 hr 5 min·5 clips

Phil Ferguson warns that Trump's tariffs are weakening America's global standing and pushing allies like Canada to cut the U.S. out.

The episode starts with show-number nerves. Phil worries aloud that he may have messed up 520, then settles into the plan: Stewart first, economics after. The book segment puts Stewart in familiar territory, back for a third visit to talk about a new book Phil calls great and depressing. Then the market talk takes over, and the room gets louder. Phil looks at tariffs, taxes, inflation, and a stretch of volatility he has no interest in dressing up. His irritation carries the segment. Tariff revenue, he argues, cannot plausibly pay for extended tax cuts, especially when higher interest rates make the deficit more expensive to finance. The debt argument turns partisan. Phil lays out a long pattern where, as he sees it, Democratic control tends to pull debt downward while Republican tax-cut politics pushes it up. Starve the beast gets pulled into the discussion. So do tax cuts for wealthy people, partly because they pay more taxes and partly because the system already leans their way. Trump becomes the market spark. Phil says Trump claimed 75 countries wanted to negotiate, then markets jumped when everything dropped to a base level. The bounce does not win him over. He calls the eight to twelve percent surge an upside overreaction, while still admitting nobody knows what comes next. His own investing stance stays boring on purpose: buy and hold. Short-term chaos is something to sit through, not chase. The ending moves away from markets. Phil talks about the American Atheist Conference on April 18, 19, and 20 of 2025, where he expects to see familiar faces. After so much home office time, the conference sounds less like a standard event and more like a room full of friends and clients. He runs a little long, keeps it loose, and leaves listeners with a simple note: say hello if you are there, and maybe he will see them on the road.

As heard by us

A book interview gives way to a blunt politics segment on tariffs, deficits, and market volatility.

Phil Ferguson's show 520 opens with an interview with Catherine Stewart about her new book. Ferguson praises it as well written, easy to read, and fun to read, even if the subject is pretty depressing.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a blunt read on tariffs, inflation, and a depressing but readable book?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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