David Stockman: If It Doesn't Cut To The Bone, DOGE Won't Succeed

May DOGE prove TOO painful to implement?

To better understand the odds for success of the economic policies of the new Trump Administration, it helps to talk to someone with first-hand experience in managing the Federal budget.

Today's guest, has been a true insider in both Washington DC and Wall Street for his extremely long & accomplished career.

We're fortunate today to speak with former Congressman, economic policymaker & financier, David Stockman -- who served a the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan.

He's also the author of the new book: How To Cut $2 Trillion: A Blueprint From Ronald Reagan’s Budget Cutter To Musk, Ramaswamy And The DOGE Team.

We'll hear his advice for bringing the runaway fiscal deficit under control, and whether he thinks the Administration is indeed up to the task.

In short, he fears the necessary “muscle and bone” that DOGE will need to cut to truly tame the deficit may prove too painful for our politicians to ultimately accept.

For the hard math, click here or on the video below:

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Adam’s Notes: David Stockman (recorded 3.14.25)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• Unsustainable National Debt and Deficit Spending:
  Stockman warns that the U.S. national debt, now exceeding $35 trillion, is a fiscal catastrophe in the making, with annual interest payments surpassing $1 trillion and growing rapidly as rates rise. He lambasts policymakers for running massive deficits even during economic expansions, a practice he deems reckless and historically anomalous outside of major wars or depressions. Comparing the situation to past debt crises in nations like Argentina and Greece, he argues that the debt-to-GDP ratio—currently at its highest since World War II—threatens a sovereign debt crisis, where markets could lose faith, forcing either a devastating default or runaway inflation to erode the debt’s value.

• Federal Reserve’s Role in Market Distortion:
  Stockman accuses the Federal Reserve of distorting markets through years of ultra-low interest rates and massive quantitative easing, policies he says have pumped trillions into financial assets while doing little for the real economy. He contends that this flood of cheap money has spawned dangerous bubbles in stocks, bonds, and real estate, creating a speculative frenzy he dubs "casino capitalism" that enriches Wall Street insiders but leaves the broader system brittle. These measures, originally emergency responses to crises like 2008 and 2020, have morphed into a permanent fixture, undermining genuine economic growth and setting the stage for a brutal reckoning when the bubbles burst.

• Disconnect Between Wall Street and Main Street:
  Stockman underscores a widening gulf between Wall Street’s soaring stock indexes and Main Street’s persistent struggles, a divide he blames on the Fed’s easy-money policies that fuel financial engineering over productive investment. He notes that while corporate stock buybacks and mergers inflate share prices, ordinary Americans face stagnant wages, shrinking job opportunities, and rising living costs, widening inequality to levels not seen since the Gilded Age. This artificial prosperity, he warns, is