DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING "Cost of Freedom Recap" CONTAINS STRONG OPINIONS WHICH ARE NOT A REFLECTION OF THE OPINIONS OF FOX NEWS AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS INVESTMENT ADVICE WHEN MAKING PERSONAL INVESTMENT DECISIONS. IT IS FOX NEWS' POLICY THAT CONTRIBUTORS DISCLOSE POSITIONS THEY HOLD IN STOCKS THEY DISCUSS, THOUGH POSITIONS MAY CHANGE. READERS OF "Cost of Freedom Recap" MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
GOVERNMENT RAKES IN RECORD AMOUNT OF TAX REVENUE AS DEBT TOPS $17.5 TRILLION
JOHN LAYFIELD: We've got a spending problem. We address the revenue side. They say if we go to Clinton-era race. Everything would be hunky dory. We'd all get free pizza. There'd be no problem with deficits. We went back, here's what happened. We have record revenue right now - $1.1 trillion brought in the first five months of fiscal year 2014. But we've spent $1.5 trillion, just short of that $377 billion deficit. That means at the end of the year, if you extrapolate that, we're at a $900 billion deficit despite record revenue coming in. We have tripled our deficit since the year 2000 - $5.6 trillion (is) what it was in 2000. It's $17.5 - more than tripled. We are a completely runaway train. You give these guys $11 trillion. They're going to spend $15 trillion. This is not just a revenue problem, it's a spending problem with the worst Congress in the history of the globe right now in D.C.
GARY B. SMITH: Exactly, as John pointed out the size of the debt, it's the highest it's been since World War II. It's doubled since 2007. You are right. We got a debt that's 100 percent of the GDP. That's not even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is all the interest payments that are increasing. We spend 2.5 percent Of GDP, just on interest payments. If interest rates increases, that could really take off. That could be 5, 6, 10 percent. That's a waste of money. Think of when have you your master card bill and you don't pay it each month, you pay some of it and you see the interest payment itself on the bottom that you pay out. It probably galls everyone that has to do that. Because that's money that could be going elsewhere. Think of how much money that is. That's almost half a billion dollars we've spent each year, just on interest payments. Boy, that could go a long way to solving a lot of problems we have. It's just wasteful.
CHUCK ROCHA: I think still that it's the combination of both. I think the problem overall is people don't understand billions and trillions. I do politics for a living. I get people elected for a living. I think the biggest thing, if you walk down the Las Vegas strip -- where I'm at right now -- ask them what a trillion dollars is, they will wonder if that's how much they should be putting on their basketball bracket right now, because that's all they're really focused on. That's why Congress thinks they can do whatever they want, spend all the money they can, rake in all the money they can because there is no accountability. People can't relate with those kind of numbers, in polling we do every single day, debt is not on the top of transitional voters who make the difference in these elections. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, people have to be focused on this for the long term because our children will be paying for these debts.
TRACY BYRNES: That's why I think we need term limits here. Let these guys take a stand like you are seeing. No one's going to have the political spine, if they're going to have to go out and buy votes like Chuck just said. One-third of our annual revenues goes out the door to interest payments and social security. We are already like down just for obligatory payment, let alone the other stuff we have to do to run this country. Get these guys accountable. Chuck is dead on, on that one. Let people know, Let the voters know, they're wasting our money, probably like five star lunch for all we know as opposed to trying to control our debt and bring it down.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: No, it proves we need more tax hikes around more spending cuts. Let's go back to we had a surplus last. What's happened since then? They cut taxes and we have reversed, we did like a half-Clinton. We halfway reversed the tax increase only on the wealthy primarily. It's helped. We've also, since the last time we had a surplus, also increased spending through things like the Medicare drug plan, the recent Affordable Care Act and defense spending since 9-11 and homeland security. We'd have to get rid of that new spending that trickled in over the last 15 years and go back to the higher tax rates, and then we'd have a balanced budget. So, it's blatantly a combination of two - we've increased spending. We've cut tax revenue. We got to do the exact opposite and fix it. That's the only way.
SUPERMARKET SHOPPERS HIT WITH STICKER SHOCK AS GOVERNMENT DENIES INFLATION IS HERE
TRACY CYRNES: We have an inflation problem. Call it what you want. The economic equation the old guys if D.C. work don't seem to say so. They apparently don't food shop. Go buy yourself a burger for your kids, you'll see, prices are up 4 percent over the last month. That woman was right. Cereal and milk in the morning is going berserk. It is crazy how much Cheerios has become. The stuff you use on a day-to-day basis, milk, eggs, pork, veal, all up. I know it doesn't translate into the mathematical equation they use down in D.C., But we are all certainly feeling it in our wallets.
GARY B. SMITH: I'm going to argue with your premise. I'm sorry, Tracy, I don't think there is inflation. I think there is food inflation, yes. Food went up 1.4 percent overall, but the bulk of the increase was dining out, which was up 2.2 percent. I'm not saying people should dine out more or less. What I am saying is people see these prices, milk for example, cereal. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree, but what they forget is gasoline is down about 8 percent year-to-year.
JOHN LAYFIELD: Look, I said I wouldn't say anything, but I think Gary B. spilling that drink on himself in the commercial break affected his thinking somehow.
CHUCK ROCHA: Well, I found if you gamble enough, they'll give you the food out here for free. That's A. B, I have my own kind of thought on the process and that is, you know, growing up in rural east Texas like Hohn, we ate a lot of biscuits and gravy, you made it out of grease and flour, it was cheap to do. These days within I go to the fancy supermarket in Washington, DC, Everything has to the to be whole grain, organic and these bells and whistles. It gets really expensive. I think a lot of this stuff is moving up because of the drought. Also, you have a whole new plane of food that you should be eating that is very expensive.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: It's painful, because our paychecks aren't going up and orange prices are going up. There's no such thing as food inflation, it's all inflation or nothing. You can't target one part of the economy because that price is going up. That's just supply and demand and balances. We've had weather problems. People are getting richer. Some people want to eat more beef. That's not inflation. That's supply and demand. We have asset inflation, that the government has intentionally created to boost up mortgage-backed security prices. They have not done it to the orange market.
REPORT: RECENT SURVEY SUGGESTS MILLENIALS CHOOSING CAREERS OVER KIDS
GARY B. SMITH: I don't think it's selfish at all. Look, as a father of two kids, I know that being a parent is incredibly, incredibly difficult and it's very, very expensive. If you don't think as a potential parent you are up for the task, I think the responsible thing to do is not have children. Because if you do and you can't handle those burdens, you will really screw them up. So pass, good, good for you.
CHUCK ROCHA: I think that the next bubble we will see is this debt from college affordability. I think this weighs in a lot on what they're doing. Allison, who's been my long-term girlfriend, we talk about this a lot. Being a millennial, getting a master's degree, and then going to law school, doing all the things your parents tell you are the right thing to do, and then, coming out of that $150,000 of debt, makes you look at when and if I can have children because you want to provide for them and give them everything you can but you're already saddled with all this debt.
TRACY BYRNES: That Wharton certificate is not going to give you a warm squishy hug when you are 80-years-old and you need someone to change your bed pan. It is useless for you, at the end of the day, it is about the people around you. That is why we have children. We have a gift. The fact that these people are choosing not to use it, shame on them. It's not selfish. It's stupid.
JONAS MAX FERRIS: And I'd rather have a billion dollars taking care of me when I'm older. That's part of the problem. Every week, it seems, this economy is creating new millennial billionaire. Let me tell you, you can't create a company like that, sleeping on an air bed with kids and a wife. You're going to have to get a job job with a gold watch 30 years down the road, working in a cubical. This economy is rewarding taking a career risk more than ever for people that age. The job market is lousy. They have double digit unemployment at that age. There is a huge incentive with the student loans and the career path to defer traditional -- let me tell you, the government supports, gives you tax brackets to have lower children. They're flubbing their nose at that.
JOHN LAYFIELD: I'm going to hug Jonas' dog. That will solve the whole problem right there. The one thing we are missing in America, same problem as they're having in China is we are seeing a declining population. You need 2.1 births per women for a sustainable population. We are at 1.88. We are at a problem in the future. Politically, we need something to happen in Washington, D.C. to get an immigration policy, because we do have a declining birth here if America.
PREDICTIONS
GARY B. SMITH: (FB) tags a 20 percent gain in 1 year
JOHN LAYFIELD: (MSG) is a slam dunk for 20 percent profit in 1 year
JONAS MAX FERRIS: (GT) rides up 20 percent in 1 year thanks to Citi Bike
TRACY BYRNES: Retire early like E-Trade baby by investing online
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