Debt, AI, and the New Financial Reality: What Should Christians Understand?

Debt, AI, and the New Financial Reality: What Should Christians Understand?

Nov. 12, 2026

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: David McAlvany

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 11/12/26 To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Stand in the Gap Today, and it’s also our monthly conversation on economics, finance, and biblical stewardship with returning guest and trusted financial analyst, David McAlvany. He is the CEO of McAlvany Financial Group, and they have a website at mcalvaney.com. All right, and I’ll give that again. The title I’m going to use to guide our discussion today is this, debt, of which we’ve talked about much before, Debt AI and the new financial reality. And here’s the question, what should Christians understand basically about these things? Now, if you’ve listened to previous programs with David and I, you will recall that we’ve examined some of the biggest challenges facing America and frankly the global economy, including inflation in which we’ve described and gone well into depth on what that is, debt what that is, monetary policy, central bank actions, and the growing disconnect between what a government puts out as an official narrative and what’s actually happening in everyday experiences.

These programs were extremely well received because they helped you who are listening to understand not only what was happening, but why it mattered. And that’s always a key thing, why? Today, however, I want to take a somewhat broader view because over the past several days, a fresh round of economic data has been released by the federal government. You may be aware if you’re thinking of these things at all. Administration officials and many in the financial media continue to point to very favorable employment numbers, resilient consumer spending numbers, market gain numbers, and overall economic strengths, they would say. Now, at the same time, however, America’s national debt continues to skyrocket having surpassed levels once thought even imaginable, well, frankly unimaginable. Bond markets remain unsettled, interest costs continue to rise, and concerns about the sustainability, and that’s keyword, sustainability of debt finance growth persist. So then adding yet another layer of uncertainty, enormous amounts of capital is now pouring into artificial intelligence.

We’ve talked about a little bit that in the past. We’ll give an update on that now, the related infrastructure that it is building out. And then some leading economists, including David here in recent McAlvany commentaries. Many have questioned whether we are witnessing a genuine economic revolution that results in great gains and substantive wealth increase, or perhaps do we sit on the precipice of another historic financial bubble? We’re going to talk about these things and others today. So the question is, are we witnessing genuine economic strength or deeper structural weaknesses being masked just beneath the surface? And with that, David McAlvany, thanks for being back with me.

David McAlvany:

Hey, great to be back with you. Excited to engage. That’s a great place to start. And I think one of the things that we can point to as a real benefit to Americans, just not all Americans, is the growth in asset prices. And from 2019 to the present, we’ve seen household net worth rise from 113 trillion to 185 trillion to get between 65 and $70 trillion in improved net worth. So that’s real estate. A good part of that is stock market gains in that period of time. And so the wealth effect where those who have assets that have expanded in value, the ability for them to drive consumption and spend is a real factor. So where I say it’s sort of unequally distributed is that your top earners, say the top 10% of earners are those in the highest net worth category, they’re responsible for roughly 50% of spending.

So yes, we have good spending, but no, it’s not across the entire economy. And that’s why in the past, Sam and I have talked about the K-shaped economy, those at the top of that K-shaped leg, if you can imagine the letter, the top of the K-shaped doing quite well, the bottom of the K-shaped. I think we saw strong evidence in the last week looking at this blue wave. There’s a lot of folks that look at affordability as a very critical issue. And obviously there’s other factors that went into the massive blue tsunami in the midterms, but affordability is definitely one of them. When people can’t take care of their families comfortably, they vote for change. That happened in 92 under Clinton. He ran on the slogan, “It’s the economy stupid.” And I think that’s what most voters as they left the polls last week were muttering under their breath.

It’s the economy stupid. It wasn’t a political slogan. It was the pressure that they’re feeling, the inability to pay their bills and this vast difference between those who are doing quite well. Again, household net worth never been higher, $185 trillion up from 113 in 2019. So I think it’s very important where the stock market goes from here for that wealth effect to continue. And of course, if we look at GDP growth, that’s another topic very much tied to the equity markets and the AI narrative to continue to drive GDP growth, which we can get into in a minute.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. And we will, ladies and gentlemen, because that’s an important one. You’ve heard a lot about the AI boom part of it. We’ll talk about that. Let’s go into one other broader area here. And we’ve talked about this before, but it does factor into it. You’ve talked and we’ve talked about what is the bond market. Bond market, basically as you’ve described, it’s really those people, those entities that buy debt. So when we spend more than we have, the US government does, that has to sell that, somebody’s got to have to borrow from somebody at the bond market. You’ve raised and you’re watching the bond market, consumer behavior, debt levels and those kind of things. In here, are things happening in that area that tend to contradict the narrative that all is well, growth is good, kind of like what you’re talking, the K shape. Can you actually cater only to that top 10% and the bottom part not do well and actually as a nation be doing well?

David McAlvany:

Yeah. When we talk about the bond market, of course this is a critical part to how our economy works. And this has been the case since 1944, the arrangement at Bretton Woods where the global economy was centered on the US dollar. And then in the ’70s we began to see some of that challenged and we arranged for the trade of oil globally to be in US dollar terms. And that created this fascinating recycling of capital where Saudi Arabia, for instance, is getting dollars for the oil that they sell in the open market. What do they do with the dollar proceeds? And what they intended to do is recycle them back into US treasury. So we had kind of a built in funding mechanism, this dollar petro recycling. That was a built-in funding mechanism for our debt and deficits. And you’re beginning to see that shift, which of course calls into question how sustainable financing our debt will be.

If you don’t have a guaranteed buyer who will finance these deficits because we don’t have a political desire at this point to cut back spending. We’re call it two trillion, 1.993 I think was the 2026 fiscal year deficit. And we’re on track to do the same thing for 2027.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. Just hold that David, just because of time. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. David McAlvany is my guest today. We’re talking economics, finance, biblical stewardship, our theme, debt, AI, and the new financial reality. What should Christians understand? Next segment, we’ll talk about debt becoming America’s biggest economic threat. Well, if you’re just joining us today, this is a monthly focus which we do regularly. My guest today is David McAlvany. He’s the CEO of McAlvany Financial Group website mclvany.com. And we do this, we haven’t done it for quite some time now, but we’re talking finances, economics and biblical stewardship because they go together and to talk about this subject area, what frankly impacts us all, does it not? We just went through an election. One thing that I recall hearing and experiencing some degree when I was in office and we hear it often now, people vote their pocketbook.

What is that? Money, economics. And that was a large part of this. So we deal with this issue because it’s real life, but it’s also something about which the Bible speaks greatly. And we’re going to get into some of that in this segment here, one of those about, well, frankly, the matter of debt. Now, David, in the last segment, we discussed the latest government economic reports and the challenge determining whether the positive headlines accurately reflect economic reality. You described K-shaped economy, 10% on the top doing very well. The 90%, most everybody else at the bottom not experiencing what the top experience is. So there’s a difference there. Yet regardless of how one interprets employment numbers, GDP reports to which you referred or consumer spending figures, generally those things that are looked at in monthly economic reports, there’s one statistic that cannot be ignored, though it’s generally greatly ignored and that is debt.

And we were getting into that a little bit in the last segment. America’s national debt, ladies and gentlemen, now exceeds 40 and a half trillion dollars. That’s a figure that surpasses the nation’s annual economic output just a generation ago. Our national debt is growing at times up to $20 billion a day. And the interest expenses on that debt have become one of the fastest growing expenditures in our federal budget now topping $1 trillion a year. So despite these realities, government officials continue to assure Americans that the economy is strong, borrowing is manageable and growth remains sustainable. But here’s the question, is it? Can it be? Now, David, in some of your recent commentaries, I know you’ve reportedly highlighted concerns coming not just from economists, but from the bond market itself. We touched a little bit on the last segment. Bond markets being the representation of, let’s put it the lenders to the borrowers, those who buy debt.

And of course we know what the Bible says. The borrower is the slave of the lender. So we get into a lot of things. This is a big issue because our debt becomes just so incredibly high. Here’s where I want to go first. With the debt now exceeding 40 and a half trillion and growing by billions every day, here’s the point. At what point does debt itself become the economic story? And have we perhaps now already crossed that threshold where the debt burden is beginning to, will be the tail that wags the dog, put it to that perspective and shaping economic policy going forward?

David McAlvany:

Well, you’re hitting the nail on the head. I think the historians agree that you’re edging towards the end of empire when debt service exceeds defense expenditure that happened last year and the debt service continues to grow. Again, this is the interest that we pay on that 40.5 trillion. And as we have, call it 10, $12 trillion to roll over and refinance in the next 12 months, it’ll be at higher numbers than the COVID era when they got to finance things at 2% or less. So between one and one and a quarter trillion dollars is where the interest expense came in for fiscal year 2026. I think we edge higher towards 1.5 trillion this year. Again, that is unsustainable. You could say just like the Japanese have had a 200, 250% debt to JV figure for decades, that maybe it’s sustainable. Well, yes, if you can keep the interest expense low, but that’s where the bond market determines where things go from this point forward.

I think we talked about it in the last segment, we have an oversupply problem with debt and we also have a dwindling demand problem. Those two things come together and that’s what creates a bond crisis. The government needs to issue more IOUs. Saudi Arabia is not as interested as they used to be. Japan and China are not interested as they used to be. So who will be the buyer of last resort? In 1970s, it ended up being the government buying debt from themselves, monetizing debt. Of course, that became massively inflationary and didn’t solve the problem. And so I think you’re right, debt is the economic story, particularly the sustainability of the interest expense. And my guess is that the current thinking between the treasury and the Fed, while they would like to lower rates so that they can refinance at lower numbers, they’ve got to have cover to do that.

And we dealt with a credibility issue through last year and into this year at the Federal Reserve, institutional compromise, people losing faith and confidence in the Fed to manage our money system as inflation has been above target for 66 quarters in a row. I mean, we’re six years of above target inflation. And so I think Warsh has a challenge here and it’s to prove muscularity. It’s to prove intention of calming inflation. Even while he would rather have rates low, he has to take them higher in the short run. What would give him cover to lower rates would be a stock market crisis. So there’s a benefit to having stocks at a high level, except the Fed doesn’t have cover to be lowering rates. So the last CPI report this last week, strong yet again. And without a stock market crisis, I think the Fed is in a real pickle.

They have to raise rates to prove their credibility, to regain credibility, but they really need rates lower to help the treasury finance this debt at lower and lower numbers. So I think we will see that. I don’t know if that’s Q4 of this year or in the first half of next year, but a significant stock market sell off won’t surprise us. And so in terms of stewardship, I think there’s a conversation to be had there, lowering risk in your equity exposures and your retirement account exposures. But I think you’re right, that is the issue and they’re going to have to play some games to get the cost of interest at lower numbers for 2027.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. I’m going to ask you to put on your, I want to say crystal ball hat, but the things we’re talking about, you’re in this area where you measure, you can measure the numbers. We can measure the increasing debt. We can measure the number of countries like you mentioned, Japan, China, other countries, Saudi Arabia, who have been buying our debt, permitting us to spend beyond our, well, I’m going to say spend beyond our means, and they’re pulling back. Therefore, there’s coming a point, it seems, where some line crosses. Where is that? When you look at it, at what point do borrowings, countries not wanting to buy our debt, lend us any more money, interest rates getting to the point where federal government can’t pay for it. Where does that line cross before something has to happen? I mean, everybody knows, I mean, we heard all the time about things can be said out of the White House that manipulate the markets and they respond to psychological news, but it’s not real news.

So as you’re looking at it, what are the factors that are driving and going forward that will make a decision for people in Washington who refuse to make a decision relative to spending less, as an example?

David McAlvany:

Well, to see motivation on the part of elected officials, I think you’ve got to have a deep recession. And then they start thinking very differently about the decisions that they have to make. And outside of that, I think you’ll see sort of the same old, same old kick the can down the road. We’ve had a couple of things. I’m going to come back to the stock market for just a minute because this has been a very useful thing for policymakers to look at. Trump has certainly loved pointing to success in the stock market as an indication of a very strong economy. And it’s a very segmented success. You get 10 out of the S&P 500 that are doing well and 490 that are not doing well. And there’s still enough power in the S&P in the way that index is configured that it looks great, even though it actually is not great.

2019, we were getting to a point where we had a problem in the bond market. The repo markets were deteriorating quickly, September to November of 2019, and we had course correction and interest rates that gave us the everything bubble in 2020 up to 2021 because the Fed was able to accommodate. And I mean, we called it the everything bubble, meme stocks, blank check companies, crypto going crazy. And then 2022 was the disaster that followed. What’s interesting is we’ve been riding on the AI narrative ever since 2022. ChatGPT was launched in November of 2022, and that captured the imagination of investors and has been largely responsible for the growth that we’ve seen in equities from then to now. Highly concentrated in what they call the hyperscalers, the Amazon, Microsoft, Google now called Alphabet, and they’ve driven the growth. So people are imagining this grand success story when actually it’s very concentrated at levels that frankly are not sustainable.

We’re talking about projected spending between now and 2032 of over $10 trillion, roughly 3.6% of GDP to build out AI data center infrastructure. And the attached number there is that those projects will have to generate over $3 trillion in revenue.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. Hold that, David. Hold that, Dave. We’re going to break away. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. We’re going to come back and we’re going to continue on this matter of AI. Boom, economic revolution, financial bubble. It can’t be all of them at the same time. Well, as we’ve discussed so far today, interpreting economic data is challenging enough. It really is. Understanding the implications though of a national debt now exceeding 40 and a half trillion dollars adds just another layer of concern. I’m going to suggest not just another layer of concern, but perhaps the largest because it’s the debt part we just talked about. Yet there’s another development occurring simultaneously that may prove perhaps even more consequential for investors, markets, governments, and ordinary citizens alike, all of which then comes and affects what we call the economy and our pocketbook. Now, over the past year, as David McAlvany, my guest today, just was citing in the last segment, trillions of dollars have either been committed or proposed for artificial intelligence, data center construction, semiconductor manufacturing, things related to all of that expansion, electrical generation, digital infrastructure, and other related technologies.

Political leaders, technology executives from these companies that are involved, financial markets, all of them are increasingly presenting and have been, as we all know, have presenting AI as the next great engine of economic growth and prosperity. As the president has said many times, there’s a lot of money to be made, right? That’s the mentality. Now, in fact, many current market gains, as David has just shared, is being attributed to enthusiasm surrounding AI in its promise. The question though is whether those massive investments and the numbers that we are seeing in the market particularly, the kind of returns, whether or not it justifies the staggering investments, the cost. Is AI truly generating sustainable economic value or are investors once again assuming that future profits will eventually validate and prove out what is under any scenario unprecedented spending? Now, David, in a number of your recent McAlvany commentaries, which people can find that by going to your site at mcelvany.com, you’ve explored the enormous capital requirements behind AI.

You were talking in double digit trillions perhaps ultimately about whether revenues can justify valuation. You can put in a lot of money, but are you going to get it back? If you don’t get it back, how can there be a good return on investments? So here, help us understand the magnitude of what’s taking place. Over the last two years, we’ve watched capital move into all these areas, AI, data centers and all of that more than we have ever seen almost anywhere, I would suggest. And when we hear announcements measured in hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars, here’s the question. What specifically is being built? Who really is doing the spending? And why do you believe this investment cycle may be significant larger than most people realize? I mean, you can’t hardly get your hands around what is taking place. So build out and continue where you were going in the last segment.

David McAlvany:

Yeah. So I mean, we’re building data centers, these massive complexes that have computer racks that are processing data. And it’s not a question in my mind that this will be revolutionary. The question is how does it get paid for? Who loses money in the process? And most people don’t think in those terms when they think about a winning revolutionary strategy. But the railroad investors in the 1860s and 70s were the early winners, but by the 80s and 90s had lost everything, had been wiped out. We had an electrification boom between 1905 and 1925 where the early investors were rewarded handsomely and then gave it all back by the end of that cycle as we headed into the 30s. Highway expansion in the 50s and 60s. And if you look at every major industrial build out in the United States, this one, data centers, is the largest by far, averaging 3.6% of GDP between now and 2032, making even the railroad boom in the low 2% range compared to GDP, considered modest by comparison.

If you look at the GDP statistics that came out recently, second quarter GDP growth was 2.2%. Third quarter was 3.4%. Appreciate that 70% of GDP growth is coming from CapEx spending. What does that mean? CapEx spending is capacity. This is what we’re actually putting into the data centers. We’re building out stuff, capital allocation decisions are being made, and so the stuff that’s going into data centers now accounts for over two thirds of GDP growth. If this narrative comes off the rails, if it slows, if investors begin to ask, when do we get a return on investment and is it soon enough to justify the money that we’re handing over in the present moment? What is a great success story in terms of GDP growth can actually be a great hindrance to GDP growth. So I was talking about what is necessary to pay for the $10 trillion in investment capital between now and 2032 that’s going to be spent.

Over $3 trillion in revenue has to be generated every year, which as I was saying, is over 9% of GDP. That’s frankly preposterous. We’ve never seen anything like that before. There’s no historical precedent for it. The fact that most of the money being raised today is in the form of debt and you’re having to pay between 10 and 15% on that debt, your odds of success are lowered significantly even just by that factor. Now bring in the blue wave and what you have is another complicating factor, moratoriums on data center building and a resistance to water usage and competition for electricity generation, which arguably would drive up consumer costs. The blue wave is very significant towards dampening this AI narrative, which Trump probably was not wrong when he was certainly hyperbolic in saying that we’d enter a 1929 style depression. But I think he’s right.

If we slow the pace of spending on data centers, we will see a drop in GDP growth. 70% of earnings per share growth in the S&P 500 also came from this data center build out. So you’re going to see a diminishment in earnings per share for your publicly traded companies. You’ll see a diminishment in fourth quarter and first quarter GDP growth. There’s a lot at stake both in the financial markets and in the economy if this AI narrative and enthusiasm around it starts to fade. I think it has. It’s started to fade.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah. Okay. And I got this question. Just to follow up with you, David, on that, because I think people are probably listening and saying, “Oh, okay.” Well, as you’re saying, the amount that’s being spent because of its volume creates a perception of return for those, whether it’s reflected in the market or whatever, GDP growth, that kind of thing. However, and you’re saying if that’s pulled back, all right, then you may talk recession, depression type of a thing. But here’s the question for people. How can it be possible to continue that kind of expenditures? It almost seems like you can’t continue to spend that much because that’s borrowing from something. And as you’ve said, there’s no way that you can pay it back with interest rates on that. So at what point is there a confrontation coming between what you’re talking about? I mean, you’re laying out some very real financial statistics here.

David McAlvany:

Yeah. Well, I mean, this pays for itself if you get usage of AI models and the associated fees with that usage at a reasonably high level. The average consumer is not willing to pay anything more than five, $10 a month for their ChatGPT subscription or Claude subscription. Most of them prefer the free models and are not interested in paying through the nose. And to justify this $10 trillion in spending, every working American, every man, woman, and younger person working from age 15 to 20 or whatever, will have to pay close to $1,800 a year to justify this spend out.

I mean, if you asked me, Dave, are you willing to have your 50 employees spend close to two grand a year in subscriptions, every one of them, not just one for the company, but two grand a year for every employee, I’d say, nope, count me out. Well, how many other companies are in that same boat? No, we’re not going to spend that kind of money. Not a chance. So it’s almost as if they’ve launched with, if you build it, they will come as the mentality. And they haven’t really asked the sociological question, what’s going to compel people to spend the amount of money we need them to justify the investment that we’re putting out in real time? And I just don’t think the math works. I don’t think the math works. And so we’ve already begun to see a fade in enthusiasm in Asia. The AI boom has turned to a bust in China.

I mean, you’re talking about the AI shares, companies that are actively engaged in that down 40 to 60% already, Sam. And some of them, the worst performers down 80%. If you go to South Korea, which has been hugely important because you’ve got Samsung and you’ve got SK Hynix and other major fabricators, they’re off 30 to 40% already. And if you look at semiconductors here in the US, I mean, we had Micron Technologies trading at 1200, now it’s trading at just under 800. So you’ve given up a healthy percentage. And can give up a lot more. I mean, these are exposures that have lost 30 to 40% and can give up another 60 to 70% before this is all over. Which was the point I was making, when you look at these major investment, industrial or infrastructure investment spends, every one of them has been revolutionary, but you have to be very careful where you enter as an investor.

The rail investors got wiped out. JP Morgan ended up owning everything for 10 cents on the dollar. When you look at the most recent for us, the telecom and technology boom up to the bust in 99 and 2000, the early investors made a ton of money, gave most of it back. Why? Well, NASDAQ dropped 80, 85%. And so you have to be careful here.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. With that, we’ll have to leave it there. I have to be careful here, ladies and gentlemen, financial uncertainty. We’re going to conclude in the next item with financial uncertainty and anchor it in concepts of biblical stewardship. So stay with us. We’ll be right back. Well, as we go into this final segment now, we’re going to take a lot of these things that we’ve talked about, numbers and markets and all of those kind of things. For some of you listening may say, “Well, that’s not too interesting to me.” Hopefully we’ve made it interesting enough that if you started with us, you’re still with us on this. But we’re doing this in this area because this area of discussion, as I said at the beginning, impacts us all. Money, investment, borrowing, lending on what we spend, on what we choose not to spend. All of those kinds of things are all involved in biblical principles that run throughout the word of God.

It is those things that dominate the news of the day. It is when you elect somebody to Congress, you expect them to go down and what? Spend our money wisely. Don’t steal our money, our wealth through taxes as an example. All of these things are all connected and there’s biblical principle that applies to all of them. Now, in this aspect today of looking at where we are economically and comparing numbers that we hear generally monthly from the federal government and a narrative that comes from that and then compare it to what actually is happening, that’s where wisdom is required. And we’re going to try to conclude by looking at some biblical wisdom in that regard. Now we began today here with the latest government economic reports, the challenge of separating economic facts from economic narratives, those things that come from government because you can always spend numbers.

We then examined a national debt now exceeding 40 and a half trillion dollars and growing by up to $20 billion every 24 hours. We’re talking about that debt has to be financed by something and that’s called the bond markets, people, countries, individuals stepping in, buying our debt as a nation so that we can continue to spend beyond our means. Most recently we’ve considered the unprecedented amounts of capital, money, investment flowing into artificial intelligence and the possibility that millions of Americans may have a far greater exposure, meaning there is a risk associated to things and we didn’t really actually get into it, but it’s connected. Retirement funds and investment accounts that are in the market that we think are all well and good. Some of them have been linked into these expenditures. So bottom line, there’s a great deal of uncertainty. And whether the concerns prove fully justified or not, Americans today are increasingly asking questions as well they should about debt, inflation, retirement security, market valuations, government policy, future purchasing power of our money and all those things.

So believers, we have to have our eyes open and observant. We need to note these same things that the world is noting, but our response must not be the same as those in the world or define themselves by the world system. So that’s where I want to go here in a conclusion today, David, because you do a lot with biblical stewardship concepts of finance. And so after talking about these things we’re talking about today here, what principles of biblical stewardship become most important for Christian individuals and families in these days that we’re talking about? And how can believers prudently prepare for uncertainty without becoming fearful, speculative, which is a big tendency or driven by the same emotions that so often dominate financial markets, which is basically get more money and more money because that’s the definition of success.

David McAlvany:

Well, I think the first thing that comes to mind is one Chronicles 12:32 and from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do, 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command. These were men of far reaching vision. They took account for what was happening in their culture and not just to reflect as armchair critics, but to actually put an action plan in place. It was not a question of, “Oh, there’s something bad happening, therefore we act.” Whether it’s good times or bad times, the sons of Issachar were constantly taking an appraisal of what was going on in the world. And I promise you, sometimes it was fabulous and sometimes it was terrifying. It didn’t change the fact that they were assessing and coming up with an action plan. I think if someone is bored by the numbers that we’ve shared today, they need to keep in mind that this is a part of understanding the times.

This is a part of understanding the market dynamics that we have in play. And the action list in my mind becomes pretty straightforward. If you’re managing a business or a household, business should not be taking huge risks at this point. The environment is getting ready to move against you. And I say that because things run in cycles. We’ve got 4.1% unemployment today, the best payrolls we’ve had in a while, 165,000 last week. And we get the best numbers just before things revert. November 2007, we were at 4.7% unemployment. Within two years it was 9.9. 2019, we’re at 3.6% unemployment. Within a year we were at 14.8. Things get really good before they mean revert and move the other direction. I think the same is true in the stock market. We’ve had a great run over a number of years. There’s a lot of risk there.

So my view, you pay down debt, you look at a very diversified portfolio. If you’re going to be in equities, let’s say the individual investor who’s looking at the S&P 500, insist and demand that your exposure is in the equal weighted S&P, not the more traditionally cap weighted S&P. Equal weighted means you own an equal share in all 500 companies versus the more generally accepted, just own the top 10 with a smattering, very small allocation to the rest. Increase your cash in your portfolios considerably. If you’re managing household, not just a business, make sure that you’ve got adequate reserves there. And you can do that in short-term T-bills, money market funds, things like that. It’s a great time to be looking at precious metals as a way to offset your inflation risk in anything that’s short-term cash oriented. Gold and silver has been in a correction from January to the present and we’re testing very critical important levels here.

We’re either at the low already or we’re close to the range, which will be a low for this trend, 3,300 to 3,800 gold, 40 to $50 silver. And I think we see two to three times those prices over the next three years as the world comes to terms with the unsustainability of our debt in the US and the destabilization in the financial markets, which is sort of a net result of being unable to adequately manage it. So we’re talking about raising cash, having some gold and silver, diversifying an equity portfolio adequately, and continuing to just pray that you have wisdom and insight into what that diversification process looks like, who you’re working with. When in doubt, keep the optionality of cash. I think you’ve got better prices coming around the corner, whether that’s real estate, equities or what have you. I don’t think we’ll see what Trump was describing, a 1929 style depression, but I do think we will have a significant correction in equities next year.

And so be well prepared for that. Raise your cash today, not then. And I think being early is something that’s not immediately rewarding, but it gives you a lot of emotional fortitude to be making decisions when things are really in crunch time. So again, I come back to one Chronicles 12:32 from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do, 200 chiefs.

Sam Rohrer:

All right.

David McAlvany:

Be the kind of a chief. Be calm. Rehearse your steps and take the actions.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re out of time right now, but as we’ve said so many times, this becomes one of those areas. Guard where your trust is. If you trust in things, they will burn up or go away. If you trust in horses and chariots to defend you, they will let you down. Trust in the Lord, pray for wisdom and discernment, which is what David is talking about, and then trust the Lord and move ahead. Now we’re out of time. So David McAlvany, thanks again for being with me today. So very helpful. His website, McAlvany.com. So go there for more information in a number of ways. And thank you again for being with us and the Lord bless you all. And until we meet again, stand in the gap for truth.