Luke Gromen, founder of FFTT, joins Episode 222 of the Julia La Roche Show to discuss why he believes the Department of Defense, not the Federal Reserve, now drives U.S. economic policy. Gromen warns that if the incoming Trump administration attempts efficiency cuts (DOGE) before devaluing the dollar, "they will fail spectacularly" and "what happened in '08 will look like a tea party." He explains why rebuilding America's hollowed-out defense industrial base requires significant spending that can't be constrained by bond market concerns, shares his portfolio strategy favoring gold, Bitcoin, and T-bills over long-term bonds, and explores how a strategic Bitcoin reserve could help rebalance global trade.
This episode was recorded on Dec. 16.
Links:
website: https://fftt-llc.com/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lukegromen
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
