Bob and Carlos discuss a recent Mercatus Policy Brief that documents how rising interest rates have caused the Fed to lose a trillion dollars in the value of its assets, and is now technically insolvent. Does it matter?

Prompted by an email, Bob and Carlos acknowledge that yes, things look pretty bleak right now, both financially and culturally. But there is still cause for hope. The worst thing to do right now would be to give up.

Bob and Carlos discuss the oddities in the official numbers, which show low unemployment but also low labor participation, and how the statistics don't match their personal observations.

Bob and Carlos discuss a recent article in The Hill, which explains that rising interest rates have rendered the Fed technically insolvent.

Bob asks Carlos to recount his own financial struggles as a young businessman in the late 1970s, when price inflation and interest rates skyrocketed. This painful episode ultimately led Carlos to discover Austrian economics.