Fed RAISES Rates and Test Scores DROP!

Drew Mariani (0:00)

The issues that matter most, right here.

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The Drew Mariani Show.

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On Relevant Radio.

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It is a rate increase, the first of a cycle, a unanimous decision to raise their benchmark rate, a quarter point to three and three quarters to four percent. Sixteen members of the committee anticipate another increase this year. Only two would hold here. Kevin Warsh, the chairman, does not submit a dot.

It's The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio.

Drew Mariani (0:33)

Yeah, some good news for Talk Radio. I want to fill you in on that. That audio you just heard there was Bloomberg. Breaking news, the Fed has raised interest rates today. That's a little bad news for a lot of people. And we're going to talk to Chris Temple about that coming up, what it means for you. Let's start with the good news here, all right? I've asked you to call your elected officials. I want to fill you in on what went down. After a long wait, the House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. That was HR. 979 by a voice vote. And the measure had 317 co-sponsors. So it was broadly bipartisan, which is great. It now moves to the Senate, where the companion legislation is about 60 bipartisan co-sponsors. So congratulations, first of all. It's good news on a number of levels. I mentioned before that 47 million Americans use AM Radio each week for news and sports and weather. And it's a really powerful voice for emergency information if the power ever goes down. It's a public safety issue in large respects. But there's something else, too. You know, this is, it's free.

You don't need a subscription. You don't need an internet connection. You don't need a data plan. You don't have to log in to anything. You turn on your radio. You can listen to Relevant. You can listen to a lot of other great programming. As I said, sports and so much other.

For those of us that are broadcasting here in the Catholic realm, I mean, there's another dimension. AM radio allows you to drive down the highway, turn on the dial, and really hear something that's both inspirational, educational, informational, and something that might just, you know, bring to you a little bit of truth, right? Maybe an opportunity to pray if you're having a bad day with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Maybe you need to add that moment. So, technology changes, the dashboard changes, and AM radio was on the chopping block, but the House is just taking a major step to keep AM radio available in cars. So now the issue moves to the Senate, I'll keep you up to speed on that. There is a new economic power struggle taking shape right now around the world. China and Russia would very much like you to pay attention to it. It's called BRICS, B-R-I-C-S, and I've talked about this in the past, but I want to put this on your radar. There was a big meeting recently.

BRIC nations, if you will, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, their leaders are talking about changing the global financial order and trading more in their own currencies, becoming less dependent on the American dollar. So what exactly is BRICS? Should we be concerned about it? We're going to talk to Chris Temple about that and so much more. If you're not familiar with Chris, he's been a regular contributor here. He's the editor and the publisher of The National Investor. You can find them at nationalinvestor.com. Chris, welcome back. Thanks for joining me.

Chris Temple (3:30)

Hey, Drew, how are you today?

Drew Mariani (3:31)

I'm well. I'm hanging in there. A lot to get into. We can talk BRICS. Great news for AM radio.

But maybe we should start with something.

Chris Temple (3:38)

Yeah, Nick put that on my radar. I had following the Fed and BRICS and every other silly thing out there and oil crisis. I hadn't paid attention to that. That is good news.

Drew Mariani (3:49)

So let's start and thank you for that.

Volvo and I think it was BMW and I think it was Tesla. They were going to strip it out.

And that move was coming, but AM radio is preserved. I want to talk about the Federal Reserve before we get to BRICS. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors, if I can get it out of my mouth today, they raised interest rates by a quarter of a percent. On top of that, they also indicate that they're going to raise rates again at their next meeting. And the Fed Chair there, Kevin Warris, is doing that in order to get inflation down to, I guess, 2%. And it's been well above ever since President Biden took office and started handing out taxpayer money left and right during COVID. But of course, we got this war going on too. And he's going against what President Trump wishes. Trump says that he wants to see rates go down. And I've got to credit him for holding his position. I don't like the increase. The 30-year mortgage rate is now at 7.17%, which is a two-year high. What's going on? How do you see this playing out? How long do you think rates are going to be up? What's coming next?