#446: Joe Brown | What Every Owner Should Know About Inflation, Debt, and the Real Economy

Most owners rely on gut instinct, advisors, or market trends to make decisions, but few stop to ask: What’s actually happening underneath the economy? 

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In this episode, I’m joined by Joe Brown—creator of Heresy Financial—for a macroeconomic breakdown that actually makes sense for business owners. We unpack inflation, interest rates, debt cycles, and monetary distortion in plain English, then connect those insights directly to the decisions owners are making around growth, liquidity, and long-term wealth. 

This isn’t about timing the market. It’s about understanding the rules of the game you're playing. Whether you’re holding cash, thinking about M&A, or planning for an exit, this episode helps you zoom out, think in first principles, and protect the future you’re building. 
 
Joe Brown is the founder of Heresy Financial, a YouTube channel and financial education platform that helps people understand how the economy really works. With millions of views and a growing audience of investors and entrepreneurs, Joe translates complex monetary policy, debt cycles, and macro trends into simple frameworks for decision-making. His contrarian, first-principles approach is trusted by those who want to protect their time, value, and wealth in a system built to extract them. 
 

Chapters:  

• (00:00) Introduction and why macroeconomics matters to business owners 

• (03:17) The big shift from monetary to fiscal policy 

• (11:40) The fiat system is built on debt dynamics 

• (21:39) Owning productive assets is the best hedge strategy 

• (35:17) Energy deregulation as fundamental economic growth lever 

• (46:20) How to think about capital allocation in this environment 

• (53:11) Navigating an era of uncertainty with clarity 

• (58:34) What this means for valuations and exit timing 

• Rate, comment, and share with the owner/operators you know! 

 

Resources: 
Heresy Financial YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/HeresyFinancial 
Ryan’s article on “How the System Steals Your Time” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRUiyZNVrmA 
Ryan Tansom Website https://ryantansom.com/