The Zach Foust Show

Zachary Foust

We break down housing, growing wealth gaps, and the economy in a simple, meaningful way. Clear, honest, and structured for real people.

  1. 16h ago

    How much have prices REALLY gone up? | ZFS 86

    Send us Fan Mail The government says cumulative inflation since 2010 is 52.72%. I think that number is a lie and I have the receipts. I spent time building out what I am calling the Real Inflation Tracker. I took real items that real 25 to 34 year olds buy every single week and I looked at what they cost in 2010 versus what they cost today. A McDonald's meal that was $5.29 in 2010 is now $16.79. That is not 52%. That is over 200%. A pack of bacon, ground beef, dish soap, car insurance, health insurance, rent on a one bedroom apartment, a college education, a new construction home. Every single one of them has gone up more than 100%. Most of them more than double the official number. I also walk through what has gone up the least since 2010. Video games, smart TVs, streaming devices, hotel rooms, cell phone plans, Bud Light. Nothing you actually need. Just the things that keep you distracted and comfortable enough not to notice what is happening to everything else. I break down Kevin Warsh's statement on price stability versus persistently high prices and why those two things are not the same sentence. I walk through the Dodge versus Ford 1919 court case that legally locked corporations into choosing shareholders over workers and why repealing it would do more for American wages than any tariff ever could. And I close with five things that would actually fix this system if anyone in Washington had the spine to do them. They are lying about the economy on purpose. I am going to keep building the data to prove it. Support the show

    1h 3m
  2. 1d ago

    Iran or Epstein? | ZFS 85

    Send us Fan Mail I want you to sit with this question for a second. Why does none of this make logical sense? We give Israel billions. We get nothing back. We go to war on their behalf. We tank our own economy. We choke off a fifth of the world's oil supply. We block 40% of global fertilizer. We threaten Iranian peace negotiators telling them you won't even make it back to your country. And then the moment a deal is close Israel bombs Lebanon again and the Strait shuts back down. Five vessels through on Sunday after 67 the day before. We are right back to square one. James Lee raised a theory I cannot stop thinking about. Trump is stuck between two choices. Support the Israeli agenda and keep doing their bidding or risk more Epstein exposure. Is that tinfoil? Maybe. But Trump was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein. He was best friends before that with Roy Cohn who was suspected of the same thing. The Rothschild family is mentioned 11,938 times in the Epstein files. Twelve CEOs have stepped down since the files dropped. Nobody named in those files has called any of it fake. And Howard Lutnick is on the list. And so is Trump. I said what I said. Bloomberg is now reporting that when our Strategic Petroleum Reserve stockpiles hit physical reality the price of oil does not go from 75 to 85. It goes from 75 to 135 in a month. Chevron and Exxon are both publicly warning the same thing. We have about 340 million barrels in reserve. We use 20 million a day. The math is not complicated. I close with something I believe in more than almost anything I talk about on this show. Whole wealth. Your net worth and your personal worth are not the same thing. Disconnect. Plant something. Put your phone down. You are the number one asset. Support the show

    1h 6m
  3. 5d ago

    Did Trump take TRUTH SERUM + Reaction to FED Meeting | ZFS 84

    Send us Fan Mail Something happened in the last 36 hours and I need to walk you through it because Trump said six things in one day that made me think somebody injected him with the truth serum from Spy Kids. He said Iran can keep ballistic missiles because other countries have them. He admitted the stock market shoots up every time peace is mentioned and crashes when it is not because the people like it. He called the bombing of Beirut unnecessary and unfair. He said Iran never won a war but never lost a negotiation in a tweet from 2020 that just resurfaced. And then he told Bibi Netanyahu to stop bombing Lebanon on his birthday while standing next to a mongoose. I am not making any of this up. I also got to watch Kevin Warsh's very first Federal Reserve meeting as chairman and I have a take that a lot of you are not going to like. He actually handled it well. No more future outlooks outside of the meeting. Rates held unanimously 12 to 0. Inflation not returning to 2% until 2028. Half of officials now expect at least one rate hike this year. And he said things clearly and directly in a way that felt genuinely different from what we have been watching for years. I did not expect to say any of that. The MOU has apparently been signed. The terms now include $100 billion in unfrozen Iranian assets instead of $24 billion and all secondary sanctions dropped including those from US allies. Israel has stated they will continue bombing Lebanon regardless. Netanyahu is furious about the deal. And based on a poll of 3300 of my listeners, 49% believe Iran won this war and only 2% believe America did. I am eating a cucumber from my garden during this episode. It is a large cucumber. That is also relevant. Support the show

    1h 23m
  4. Jun 16

    Fed Reserve BIG day + Iran Deal Friday? | ZFS 83

    Send us Fan Mail Two big things are happening in the next 48 hours and I want you to know what to listen for so you can make smart decisions with your money. Tomorrow at 2 p.m. eastern Kevin takes the podium for his very first Federal Reserve meeting as chairman. This is the man Trump appointed, whose wife's father is Ron Lauder, who attended a Boris Epstein Christmas party in 2010 where Jeffrey Epstein was a neighbor and guest. Am I supposed to just be okay with that? Because I am not sure I am. Either way he is walking into a quagmire that Jerome Powell handed off to him. Inflation is up. The job market is struggling. Lowering rates helps jobs but fuels inflation. Raising rates fights inflation but hurts jobs. There is no clean move. I am going to walk you through the three things I think we should listen for tomorrow including whether he hints at full quantitative easing coming back and what the Cantillon effect means for your assets right now. Then on Friday there is a memorandum of understanding being signed in Geneva between the US, Iran, and Pakistani mediators. JD Vance is expected to sign on behalf of America. Trump may be present. The terms include $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets being released, $300 billion in reconstruction aid, full withdrawal of US forces from around Iran, and Iran taking joint control of the Strait of Hormuz with Oman and charging a maritime services fee. Trump said in a tweet the 300 billion was fake news and accidentally said 300 million instead of 300 billion. The deal is real and the terms are not a win for America. I will walk you through exactly why. I also close with the real reason I do not think this 60 day ceasefire leads to a lasting peace. Same reason I have given for two months. Israel does not want it to end. And Bo is still alive. We have seen him three times on the trail camera. The cage is set with fried chicken. We are going to get him back. Support the show

    55 min
  5. Jun 15

    U.S. & Iran After Action Report [MONOLOGUE] | ZFS 82

    Send us Fan Mail There is a deal on the table. The Strait of Hormuz has more traffic. Markets are moving. Crypto, gold, silver, and stocks all reacting the way they should for the first time in a while. And I want to be excited about it. I genuinely do. I just came back from the gym. I am wearing a SpongeBob outfit. I want to be pumped up. But I cannot get past the terms. $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets unfrozen. $300 billion in US reconstruction aid. Full withdrawal of American forces from around Iran. Iran and Oman taking joint control of the Strait of Hormuz with a maritime services fee. And the one thing America gets to call a win is Iran reiterating a promise not to build nukes that they have already made before. I also cannot get past the pickleball analogy that explains this entire war better than anything I have seen in a newspaper. You have a pickleball partner who keeps getting his kneecap destroyed right before your big tournaments. And you just found out that the guy playing in his place is the one who has been hitting him with the lead pipe all along. Just so he can keep playing. That is the situation. I close with two things I am almost certain about regardless of how this deal plays out. A supply shock in oil is still coming because thousands of boats are stuck in the Persian Gulf and the Strait is still only moving a fraction of normal traffic. And food is going to get more expensive because 40% of the world's fertilizer supply came through that Strait and it has been choked off for over 100 days. Plant a garden. Stack your savings. Cut the subscriptions. You know what to do. Support the show

    46 min
  6. Jun 13

    11 Economic Graphs That Explain Why Your Broke | ZFS 80

    Send us Fan Mail I pulled 11 graphs together and I want to walk you through every single one of them because I think most people are feeling this economy without being able to see it clearly. These graphs show it clearly. We start with data centers surpassing office construction in value for the first time in history and why the 200 jobs they promise are mostly custodial and security. We look at the S&P 500 versus job openings and the K shaped gap that began the exact month ChatGPT launched in November 2022. We watch a Harvard economist break down how 92% of Americans agree wealth distribution is unfair and yet nothing changes. We look at a series of graphs showing something dramatically broke in the American economy right around 1971 and then again in the mid 70s covering everything from incarceration rates to income inequality to the price of tomato soup. From there we go into unemployment. The headline 4.3% number is fake and I am going to explain exactly why. Frankie got fired. He delivers a couple burritos a week. The BLS does not count him as unemployed. Meanwhile 50% of under 30 year olds with a degree are underemployed right now in 2026. The national debt graph looks like a hockey stick sharp enough to stab somebody and it does not even include the last six years. We close on four housing graphs. Who is actually buying homes in America right now. One out of three homes purchased in 2025 was by an investor. The Blackrock Scooby-Doo buying theory. Why builders are not building. Why sellers are not selling. And why a crash is still not coming despite everything. You are not lazy, crazy, or dumb. You are just living inside a system that was designed to make you feel that way. Support the show

    1h 36m
  7. Jun 12

    U.S. has a deal with Iran? | ZFS 79

    Send us Fan Mail This is the eighth time a specific set of steps toward a ceasefire has been put in front of us. The 27th time we have declared victory. The 38th time we have declared a peace agreement is right around the corner. So let me walk you through what is actually on the table, what Iran actually wants, and why I do not think this deal happens. I break down the full timeline of this week. The Apache helicopter that went down in the Strait of Hormuz. The four regions we struck in southern Iran and northern Tehran. The Iranian drone responses into Kuwait and Jordan. The planned attack on Qeshm Island that got pulled back. And the Thursday evening announcement that a deal had been reached, which Iranian media immediately contradicted. I also walk through the 14 point deal that Iran has released publicly. The $24 billion in frozen assets. The $300 billion reconstruction fund. The full withdrawal of US forces from the region. The reopening of the Strait within 30 days. And the one thing America gets to call a win, Iran reiterating its commitment under the NPT not to build nuclear weapons. Here is my honest take. That is not a win for America. And more importantly this deal cannot happen for the same reason this war started in the first place. Israel is still bombing Lebanon. 3,711 people dead since March 2nd. Trump told Bibi to stop. Bibi launched Operation Arrows of Fire instead. Iran has made peace for Lebanon a non negotiable. Israel has made peace in Lebanon impossible. That is the wall this deal keeps running into. Support the show

    13 min
  8. Jun 12

    "Big Corps have STOLEN our Country | ZFS 78

    Send us Fan Mail I sat down with Todd Achilles, the independent veteran running for US Senate in Idaho against a man who has been in Idaho politics for over 50 years, bragged that the Senate was an easy job in his first month, and has become a rubber stamp for whatever comes out of the White House. Todd served in the Idaho Legislature and built a reputation as one of the most bipartisan members in the capital. He is now running as an independent and was trailing the incumbent by 14 points 90 days before we recorded this. As of last week he was down four. Pay attention to Idaho. We went deep on everything. RealPage and algorithmic price fixing that has stolen an estimated $700 million from Idaho renters since 2000. Corporate ownership of single family homes and why banning purchases is not enough without a forced divestment period. The Dodge versus Ford case from 1917 that legally locked corporations into favoring shareholders over workers. The Powell Memo. Citizens United. Stock buybacks consuming 90% of corporate profits while employees fall onto the social safety net. Non compete agreements being used on burger flippers. Unions. Public lands. And why competition is the single most powerful economic tool we have stopped using. Todd answered every lightning round question I threw at him. Age limits on Congress. Term limits. Ending insider trading. Banning corporate PACs. Ending the carried interest loophole. Banning Citizens United. No super PAC money for himself. He said yes to nearly all of them without hesitation. This is the kind of candidate that gets replaced. Let us make sure that does not happen. Subscribe to the Zach Foust Show and join the Dollar Club to keep independent media alive. Drop a comment. Would you vote for Todd Achilles? Support the show

    1h 6m
5
out of 5
75 Ratings

About

We break down housing, growing wealth gaps, and the economy in a simple, meaningful way. Clear, honest, and structured for real people.

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