The Julia La Roche Show, Released on 12/24/24

Luke Gromen, founder of FFTT, joins the Julia La Roche Show to explain why he has “high conviction” U.S. policymakers will weaken the dollar in 2025 and why the Department of Defense, not the Federal Reserve, is now driving U.S. economic policy. In this wide-ranging conversation, Gromen explains why our hollowed-out defense industrial base needs rebuilding, illustrates why this requires significant spending that can’t be constrained by bond market concerns, and warns why trying efficiency cuts (DOGE) before weakening the dollar would be “catastrophic.” He also shares his portfolio strategy favoring gold, Bitcoin and T-bills over long-term bonds, noting bondholders will be the ones to pay the price as the government prioritizes defense spending over bond market concerns.

00:01 Introduction and welcome Luke Gromen
00:47 Two key themes for 2025
03:12 DOD driving economic decisions, not Fed/Treasury
04:58 Bond market dynamics and military spending
07:25 Defense industrial base concerns
09:16 Historical parallels to WWII financing
12:07 Currency as release valve
14:01 Impact on equities, Bitcoin, gold
16:04 Foreign vs. domestic bondholders
21:06 U.S. debt situation
24:03 Healthcare and entitlement challenges
31:10 Social Security reform mathematics 35:42 Historical dollar devaluations
41:10 DOGE and order of operations
44:15 Optimism about dollar devaluation
47:04 Portfolio allocation strategy
56:09 Strategic Bitcoin reserve discussion

Luke Gromen is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and received his MBA from Case Western Reserve University. He earned the CFA designation in 2003. Luke provides strategic consulting services for corporate executives and is the founder of The Forest For The Trees, LLC, a macro/thematic research firm catering to institutions and individuals.

  bitcoin, dollar, economy, investing, luke gromen, stocks