Capital Record

The president of the United States has ordered Fannie and Freddie to buy $200 billion of mortgage bonds (in a week where he has said and done a lot of things, some of which he is even allowed to do). On today’s Capital Record, David unpacks what this means, what it doesn’t mean, and why it doesn’t represent any solution to the housing affordability mess in which we find ourselves.Show Notes: The Saddest Part of This Recent Economic Lunacy  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Wednesday, January 7, President Trump sent out two messages via social media: First, that he was “banning institutional ownership of residential real estate.” Later, that he was “outlawing return of capital to shareholders.” The Warren/Sanders/Mamdani wing of the Democratic Party is celebrating. The Reagan/Hayek/Laffer wing of the Republican wing is scratching its head.Today, David goes back to the utterly incoherent idea that institutions putting investment into residential real estate (all 0.4 percent of the single-family residences this represent) is behind the affordability issues. He reminds listeners what “supply-side” growth means. And he does a quick refresher on capital formation, and how capital is needed to innovate, and that how capital gets treated is somewhat relevant to that process. It’s a plea to remember first principles when it comes to economic policy, and why we have spent a lifetime rejecting this Marxian drivel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The new mayor of New York City is praising collectivism and urging optimism for what it can do. Many freedom lovers want to give a history lesson to the mayor about the 20th century’s horror of collectivist failures around the globe. But in addition to those needed history lessons, New Yorkers are welcome to their own current rent laws and the debacle they have created for those who claim to want more affordable rent options. In the first episode of Capital Record this new year, David explains how bad policies with good intentions do the same damage that bad policies with bad intentions do, and uses a real-life policy illustration to demonstrate why collectivism has always failed. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are exclusive deals of private companies for select investors exacerbating the divide between haves and have-nots? Or is there an entirely different lesson in the fact that there are substantially fewer public companies than there used to be? Is this a class struggle issue, or rather, a by-product of certain unavoidable realities combined with unintended consequences of policy decisions. Put differently -- are there some trying to have their cake and eat it, too?Show notes:Inside the Invitation-Only Stock Market for the Wealthy  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Scott Galloway is no conservative, and I am not sure he would like me nearly as much as I like him. But despite his professed atheism and center-left political leanings, a certain common grace has enabled Galloway to become a counter-voice in today’s responsibility-averse culture.  His new book, Notes on Being a Man, offer a few truisms that are desperately needed, desperately lacking, and profound for their counter-cultural tenor. In today’s Capital Record, we will look at how this message may be the lowest hanging fruit for a free and virtuous society in this current societal moment. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.