You are a free subscriber to Me and the Money Printer. To upgrade to paid and receive the daily Capital Wave Report - which features our Red-Green market signals, subscribe here. Why I Understand (and Feel For) the "Rising" Socialist KidsThe Wall Street Journal just gave a megaphone to the utterly confused...
Dear Fellow Traveler, This is not a rant. It’s a well-trained and thoughtful reaction to an article that just appeared in The Wall Street Journal. The title… “The Rise of America’s Young Socialists—From the 2008 Financial Crisis to Mamdani…” This WSJ article provides more granular detail on many of the points Josh Brown and I discussed in August, including the human reaction and the political disconnection from the ongoing “revolution” in Manhattan. The article provides insight into how many young Americans responded to the 2008 financial crisis. And I get it. Because I’ve now lived through panics and crashes in 2002, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, during my adulthood. I’ve been fortunate because I identified the bailout patterns and traded and invested around them… But I’ve never… ever blamed “capitalism” for any of the problems. Why? Because capitalism died in 2008… but was stabbed in the heart in 1993… Revisiting 2008…I was 27 in 2008, walking up State Street in Chicago the day after Lehman Brothers collapsed. I watched people pour out of banks and mortgage companies with their lives in boxes. I watched as college friends moved back in with their parents. And… spoiler alert… I did too, for a few months, before I moved to Washington and went to graduate school. That will humble the hell out of you… My generation was promised meritocracy and got financial feudalism. But I refused to rely on someone else. As a child of the 2008 crisis, I always try to have at least two or three gigs - all diversified… So, I’ll work 16-hour days until I get above the clouds… That was how I handled the 2008 crisis… by looking inward… But… I understand why Gabe Tobias, Zohran Mamdani, and Genevieve Rand - the subjects of the WSJ article) turned left. When you watch banks get bailed out while families get foreclosed, when the architects of disaster get bonuses while you can’t afford rent… It can be tempting to listen to the siren song of socialism… I’ve studied enough history… I’ve traveled enough to be wary… I own part of a business in Finland and know that the nation isn’t socialist. Scandinavia is a high-tax, free-market, pro-capitalist region, boasting some of the freest markets in the world. But somehow, the Democratic Socialists of America have convinced themselves that the leaders of the Economic Freedom Index lean socialist. These are reasons I drink… Here’s what else they’re missing… The System They’re Fighting Isn’t CapitalismThese kids are rebelling against something real… but it’s not capitalism. What crushed them in 2008 wasn’t free markets. The centrally planned Federal Reserve kept interest rates artificially low, creating the housing bubble… This happened because Andrew Cuomo demanded that government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie/Freddie) buy subprime mortgages, fueling the bubble. Meanwhile, regulators raised leverage levels for the banks, which are among the most heavily regulated businesses in the world. And then - when it all went to shit… the government bailed out their connected friends and family members, while allowing ordinary people to be bankrupted… That wasn’t capitalism failing. That was Permissionism succeeding. The government created the crisis, then saved its friends while letting regular people drown. The Socialist Solution Will Make It Worse (and Dumber)In the article, Rand asks, “Why should I care about saving democracy if it can’t provide me a home?” What? There are places where you can buy land for next to nothing… Go pick up an axe… and chop down some trees… There are YouTube videos on how to build a house… Why are you demanding someone else's labor to build you a home… But even if I dismiss that first reaction… Let’s just say that perhaps the question itself warrants an answer. The lesson of the last 30 years is that more government control WILL NOT fix housing. Government control CREATED the 2008 housing crisis… We have 25,000 regulatory bodies in America overseeing housing, and we have too many zoning laws that prevent building. We have environmental reviews that add years to projects. We have (hell, they’re going to do this even more in NYC), rent control that reduces supply… And we have this concept of NIMBYism, which local governments protect… The socialist prescription - more state control - is like treating alcohol poisoning with vodka. What Actually Happened in 2008The real story these activists missed… and I must stress…
The government didn’t fail to respond. It responded to the people who own the government. The banks wrote the bailout rules. They wrote Dodd-Frank, too? I was there… The Fed governors came from Goldman Sachs. The regulators got jobs at the banks they regulated. That’s not market failure. That’s regulatory capture. That’s permissionism… The Revolution They Want Already HappenedHere’s the funny part… We already have their socialist system. It’s just socialism for the connected…
When they demand more government power to fight corporations, they are essentially demanding more power for the system that created the problem. If you want to fix what 2008 broke… try actual capitalism… Let failed banks fail. Stop the endless money printing. Get rid of all these barriers to build housing. Stop subsidizing debt…. and allow real price discovery. But that’s harder than blaming “capitalism” for problems caused by its absence. Final Thoughts.I get it… I am not going to insult people who don’t see reality… They’ve been sold the same solution over and over, and they are passionate; they correctly identified the disease. The problem is they have the diagnosis backwards. They see corruption and call it capitalism. They see government failure and demand more government. They see monetary manipulation and blame markets. This person, Tobias, watched families destroyed by government-backed mortgages sold by government-sponsored enterprises in a government-distorted market. His conclusion? He wants more government. Rand couldn’t afford housing in a market destroyed by zoning, rent control, and monetary policy. Her solution? More control. I don’t blame them for being angry. I blame them for channeling that anger into demanding more of what caused their problems. The financial crisis wasn’t peak capitalism. It was peak government intervention dressed up as markets. The solution isn’t socialism… we already have that for the wealthy. The solution is actual capitalism, where losses aren’t socialized, where markets aren’t manipulated, and where price discovery is allowed to exist. But explaining that to someone whose life was destroyed by “capitalism” (actually crony corporatism and permissionism) is like explaining water to someone drowning in the ocean. Mamdani winning the NYC mayor's office as a socialist will be a reminder of everything that has gone wrong… He’ll get to preside over a city destroyed by rent control, killed by regulations, and bankrupted by public unions. Then he’ll blame capitalism when it fails. Same as it ever was… Stay positive, Garrett Baldwin About Me and the Money Printer Me and the Money Printer is a daily publication covering the financial markets through three critical equations. We track liquidity (money in the financial system), momentum (where money is moving in the system), and insider buying (where Smart Money at companies is moving their money). Combining these elements with a deep understanding of central banking and how the global system works has allowed us to navigate financial cycles and boost our probability of success as investors and traders. This insight is based on roughly 17 years of intensive academic work at four universities, extensive collaboration with market experts, and the joy of trial and error in research. You can take a free look at our worldview and thesis right here. Disclaimer Nothing in this email should be considered personalized financial advice. While we may answer your general customer questions, we are not licensed under securities laws to guide your investment situation. Do not consider any communication between you and Florida Republic employees as financial advice. The communication in this letter is for information and educational purposes unless otherwise strictly worded as a recommendation. Model portfolios are tracked to showcase a variety of academic, fundamental, and technical tools, and insight is provided to help readers gain knowledge and experience. Readers should not trade if they cannot handle a loss and should not trade more than they can afford to lose. There are large amounts of risk in the equity markets. Consider consulting with a professional before making decisions with your money.
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