Episode 824: Cutting Waste in the Federal Government

Published Mar 23, 2025, 9:00 AM

Newt talks with Charles Thorngren, CEO of Legacy Precious Metals, about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, aimed at cutting wasteful spending in the federal government and saving taxpayers money. Charles discusses the challenges and potential of DOGE's $2 trillion dollar savings goal, the impact of proposed tariffs by President Trump, and the broader economic implications. Their conversation also touches on the importance of a diversified investment portfolio, particularly the role of gold and silver in providing stability during economic turmoil. Additionally, a special offer is highlighted for listeners interested in rolling over their IRA into a precious metals account, including a collectible Contract with America silver coin.

Hi, this is newt Gold has broken several record highs this year and Legacy Precious Medals of the company I personally invest with. Together, we created the official contract with America Silver Coin that commemorates our historic House victory in nineteen ninety four. Supplies are limited and this commemorative coin will sell out. Go to Legacypminvestments dot com or call them at age sixty six four eight four four oh four three d eight yours today. Tell them I sent you, and they'll send you a free contract with America Coin on all qualified IRA rollovers on this episode of News World Washington, d C. The mainstream media and federal government employees across the United States have been buzzing about the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE as it's known. Doze's goal is to cut wasteful and excess expending in the federal government and save US taxpayers money. But Elon Musk's DOGE team is in counter ring some pushback in their efforts to take on the bureaucracy. Here to discuss DOGE and President Trump's proposed tariffs, I'm really pleased to welcome back my guest, Charles Thorngren, founder and CEO of Legacy Precious Metals. Charles, Welcome and thank you for joining me again on News World, particularly the time of extraordinary change. It's always a pleasure and very informative talking with you.

Oh, thank you for having me. It's my pleasure as always and it is most certainly interesting times.

Well, you're based in Texas. What are you hearing about Elon musk doje efforts there?

It's interesting, I think when you look at what he's trying to accomplish here in Texas, we understand that waste and fraud is always in the way. So the fact that someone who has no direct attachment to it is going after the system them to create a place where there's equity fairly assigned to where it belongs, programs are fairly funded and removing the waste during a time of massive debt. It's what we want to see. It's not just here in Texas. I think it's throughout most of the United States. The concept sounds great. I don't think that most people are aware of what it's going to cost to get rid of that fraud. There is some pain that comes with those kinds of an effort, but it's worth it. In the end.

Of course, there's going to be a lot of termoil because you have people who've been used to really for the last ninety years, starting with President Roosevelt, a certain big government, Washington centered bureaucratit model, and suddenly everything's sort of up in the air. As you know, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have said that their goal is two trillion dollars in savings. Do you think that's really achievable.

I would like to say it's not. However, I will say I don't put it past the team in place. I think when we look at the team that President Trump is put in place to manage the government, and having Elon Musk specifically looking as in the industry, what's known as the axe man makes sense. He has shown a history of doing it effectively. This is not something new to him. He understands money in a way most people don't, and he understands how to run a company. And ultimately, every one of these programs should be looked at as a company, not a government subsidy. They have a specific job to do and it takes money to do that. But he's well aware of how much money it takes to run a company and where the waste lies. So his ability to find the waste is what's going to lead the possibility of a two trillion dollar reduction.

I've inclined to be very impressed with him. I've read both Burger's book on the Founding of Space and Isaacson's biography of Musk, and it's pretty astonishing the range of places that he's had an impact. Now, if they were able to do that, you know, the US national debt right now is thirty six trillion, two hundred and twenty billion dollars. Do you think that the spending cuts on that scale would begin to impact the national debt?

It's the question, isn't it. We have to look at that debt in a unique way. Some of that is future debt, but some of it's already existing debt. So cutting from the budget now will help remove future debt, it doesn't eliminate today's debt, yesterday's debt. We look in the world, and especially as we look at the bond market. Now, bond market is all about yesterday's debt. It has to be paid back tomorrow, but it's yesterday's debt. It's already on the books. So those cuts will help increase the liquidity of the government's cash sets, but it doesn't remove the debt that's already existing. That's a different battle that has to be fought. But you have to start someplace, you know.

One of the things that's kind of fascinating. Musk has floated the idea of doze dividend checks to taxpayers, which he thinks would be about five thousand apiece. Do you think this is a good idea? I mean, some friends have written men said wouldn't it be better take that money and begin to pay down the national debt? But others have said, yeah, I wouldn't mind getting In terms of building popular support, getting a doze dividend check might be effective. How do you respond.

I'm a guy who believes and kill the debt as much as you can, right. I understand the concept of the five thousand dollars check, and it truly is to get everyone on board. And I think that's the wisdom of Elon Musk, knowing there is pain points coming, right, if we give people a dividend check or the trouble that's about to come to them, it helps often them a little bit. Me personally, I say, get rid of the debt as fast as you can, because that ultimately leads to prosperity for everyone sooner, because that's the ultimate goal, an effective government that doesn't get in our way and allows us as business people and employees to grow right, reduce our taxes overall, give us more money in our pockets for the long term, not just one big check. But I do understand why that parrot is out there. It's going to make the process a little bit more palatable for some people when.

You think about it. Here you have this remarkable, totally new Doge project with Musk. At the same time you have Trump talking about tariffs. What's your reaction looking at the economy about Trump's idea that we ought to have tariffs to balance off what other countries are doing to us.

It's an interesting concept, and I think I've seen more outrage about the tariff conversation among economists than any other thing that we've talked about probably the last fifty years. There's the concept of what's right is right? You're going to impose tariffs on us, why should we not then impose tariffs on you. The reciprocal conversation makes sense from a fair play point of view. Will it happen the way that it's designed, that's the question. Right now, it seems like an amazing negotiation tool, and it seems to be working. Everyone says they're going to fight back as they capitulate two days later. So there is the art of the deal in play right there. So I won't say that it's not effective. I will say we see substantial resistance. It could cause problems, but part of the plan is the tariffs, the reduction of taxes for companies and all of these things. It's creating that balance so that you can give the American people, the American business a break, and don't we deserve one after all the struggles we've been through, especially if you're dealing internationally. So I get it. It's not as simple as a yes or no. It will work or it won't work. There is a masterful plan behind it that has to work to a team, and if it does, it will be amazing. If it doesn't, that's where the trouble comes in. But that's why the team that's built now is so important for the tariffs to actually take effect.

The first really targeted place, the tariff twenty five percent tariform's stealing raising the tariff on aluminum to twenty five percent, and both leaders of the steel in aluminum industry, you'll come out in favor of these tariffs. Why do you think there's such strong support from the steel and aluminum.

Industry specifically for those two industries that they have been devastated. They've been devastated by the terraffs placed on their steel. Overseas. You can't get American steel in Japan, and it reduced and crushed a very a major manufacturing aspect of America. American steel, US steel, that was what you wanted your country built on throughout the history of building here in the United States and overseas as well. That tariff placed by other nations on our steel has resulted in more American jobs lost than almost anything. It's caused the decimation of some cities. You take a look at some of the cities in Pennsylvania that were revolving around the steel industry and their shells of what they once were, and that's a direct result from this tariff. If you can't sell overseas, you can't stay in business. So from that industry, I get it, they're excited, and they should be. They're getting a level playing field for change in.

That sense heavenly for a long time and played for suckers where we have an open economy and all of our trade competitors would have closed economies, and then people would chant free trade. But in fact it was pretty much a rig game in which the can subsidize almost everybody else. Isn't that sort of your sense of how that's working.

Absolutely, and that's exactly what happened and carried even further into NATO. We did the same thing in NATO. You know, we subsidize the world, and it's time that that gets removed. Our open policy is an amazing policy, right to the fact that you give some nations the ability to get goods and assets that they don't have the ability to make and fairly, but when they close down those economies, it really shook up our industries. It's kind of like the rule that says your team is so good, we're going to handicap you so that this other team can feel like they're winning. And that's not what economic policy should be.

I went back and found in nineteen fifty nine statement by President Eisenhower that the plans were playing us for suckers and getting us to defend them while they did nothing. And so there's this general sense, whether it's a trade policy or defense policy, that we came out of World War Two so successful. We were over half the world's economy because everybody else has been bombed, and as a result, we got very sloppy about what we negotiated and very tolerant of people taking advantage of us.

We have been so successful as a nation that we overlooked debt, we overlooked fairness because we had the means to do so. The problem with that is you don't always have the means to do so.

Hi, this is new. You can't have a balanced portfolio if gold and silver aren't a part of it. Gold has broken several record highs this year as investors are looking for a safe haven. Legacy Precious Medals is the company I invest with, and you should give them a call and see if a gold investment is right for you. Legacy Precious Medals also created the official Contract with America silver coin that commemorates our Historic House victory in nineteen ninety four. It's one ounce of pure silver and a piece of American history. Supplies are limited, and this commemory coin will sell out. You can buy this exclusive coin by visiting Legacypminvestments dot com and you can also add the contract with America Coin to your IRA. Call Legacy today to speak with an advisor at eight six six four eight four four oh four three, or visit Legacy online at Legacypminvestments dot com. Tell them I sent you, and they'll send you a free contract with America Coin on all qualified IRA rollovers. Given all of this turmoil and all these changes, what's your read on the market and what are you thinking about you look out over the next two or three years.

Interestingly enough, and we kind of talked about a little bit in the beginning, the changes being made have to be made. The economy is broken. It needs to be fixed. The process to fix it is going to cause turmoil, and we're beginning to see that. I know we've talked in the past, and I have made the statement that I thought the FED was not going after inflation as strong as it should be. They should have become a little bit more aggressive than they have. They should have started a little sooner, and we're beginning to see that. Now we're seeing inflationary pressures creeping back into the economy. You take inflation, you take oil, you take everything else into consideration. Things are going to get tough. The economy is going to get tough, and you're going to see American business take a hit before they come free from everything. My outlooks a little gloomy for equities. I would say that we will see a quasi recession happening just because it's built into the economy already. The damage that's been done isn't easily fixed. So looking forward the next year and a half two years, we will see some hardship, but then tariffs and tax breaks and things of this nature will begin to play into the economy. That's when we begin to see the turnaround. It's just how bad the damage gets while we're waiting for that to happen. That's the big issue.

Given the last administration, in the policies that Biden Harris saw, it was it almost inevitable that we would have this kind of wrenching transition.

Absolutely, I don't say this lightly. I think it was by design. I think that we had an administration that knew towards the end that it was not going to win this election. That forty seventh president was inevitable and damage was done specifically to hurt his reputation, to hurt his legacy. Very pessimistic of me, I know, and I don't say it lightly, but I don't know how to explain the spending that's happened by the previous administration. It makes no sense focus on the things they focused on that had no bearing on ninety nine percent of Americans. It's ludicrous and it never makes sense. So I have to look at it and say, what was the design behind it?

So when you go through this kind of a dramatic change and you see all these different patterns changing, from your perspective, what is that place gold and silver as part of a diverse investment portfolio. I mean, this has got to be a period when there are no experts who understand the level of volatility which could come out of this, whether it's up or down. And in that context, what are the relative virtues of gold and silver and thinking about some kind of legacy precious metal approach making sure that your assets get through the scale of change.

You and I have been interesting question. And I'm not someone who likes to run out there and say, you know, the sky's falling, that's not what we do here at legacy. But gold and silver are going to fit the position that they've always fit. They are the safe haven asset we look at this time and that safe haven is more important than ever. And we've seen the run up of medals just since the election. Right anytime there's uncertainty, medals have value. The dollar will weaken because of the changes that need to be made. Once those changes are in the process of being made, you're again going to have that weakness in the dollar. You're going to have gold move up on that. You're going to have the equities recession and inflation. These are all positive things for the precious metals market. This is why that portion of your investment should be in precious metals to protect you from the things that have a negative effect on your wealth and your savings. So when I look at where we're at now and what's to come and gold sitting you know right here around twenty nine hundred dollars an ounce, it's going to look mighty cheap here in a short term, I think that we're going to see some substantial moves just based on the fundamentals of the economy, and then we have to figure in the psychology. When people become afraid of what they see and they don't understand what they see or don't understand where the outcome lies, they'll move into metals as well. I think looking at everything that we see happening, the metal's future is something that it's going to be very important for people's portfolio.

From that perspective, I'm just thinking about the level of volatility and the notion that it's virtually impossible to predict how this comes out. So having sort of a broad approach that has a variety of different assets sort of protects you from ending up with one thing which then collapses. And sense maybe in a period of dramatic turmoil, a broad portfolio approach is more important than ever. It just feels that way.

It's very true anytime there's uncertainty, goal is important, and I think the diversity now is really what's even more important. If you're getting near retirement age, the last thing that you want is another period like you know two thousand and eight, where it takes you a decade to recoup asset valuations because of a decline, when all you really need to do is take a portion of what you have and diversify because that's going to offset that loss. And when you're doing that, it's important to know why you're doing it right. So many times people say, oh, gold and silver, it's a safe haven, but that's all they know. It's important to know more, and that's why we say, when you talk to us, ask about what your plans are, and we ask you about what your plans are. It's important to let us know so we can show you why it makes sense. There's where the peace of mind comes during these times. The diversity is important, but also the peace of mind is important. You shouldn't have to live with worry about your ability to retire. That's why not only does it protect your portfolio, your metals, but also gives you that peace of mind, which is pretty invaluable when.

You're sitting here and you're thinking, I really don't know what to do. I don't hear you say put all your money in any one thing, whether it's gold or silver or whatever. But rather look at your total assets. Think about where you want real safety and there you have things like legacy precious metals, and then think well, where you want to take a little bit of risk, and that might be something else. But when you have a future in turmoil, as I think we're going to have, then having some broader approach gives you a greater likelihood of not getting wiped out by the change. I mean, is that a fair summary?

Eligantly put? And I would also add to that too. When you know that you have your backdrop, your safety net, you're now more able to take advantage of the risk. Right when you know that you're going to be able to retire safely, you can say this money that I don't need for the safety of it, I can now take educated risks, and that'll give you the ability to take advantage of some of the opportunities that will come up. Because whenever there's a decline, when it turns around, there's great opportunity. And if you've protected yourself, you've given yourself the best chance to take advantage of that opportunity.

Hi, this is new. You can't have a balanced portfolio if gold and silver aren't a part of it. Gold has broken several record highs this year as investors are looking for a safe haven legacy. Precious Metals is the company I invest with, and you should give them a call and see if a gold investment is right for you. Legacy Precious Metals also created the official Contract with America silver coin that commemorates our historic house victory in nineteen ninety four. It's one ounce of pure silver and a piece of American history. Supplies are limited and this comemory coin will sell out. You can buy this exclusive coin by visiting Legacypminvestments dot com and you can also add the contract with America Coin to your IRA. Call Legacy Today to speak with an advisor at eight six six four eight four four oh four three, or visit Legacy online at Legacypminvestments dot com. Tell them I sent you, and they'll send you a free contract with America Coin on all qualified IRA rollovers. Somebody wants ask a very famous investor what was the key to his success? He said, well, buy low and sell high. And they said how do you do that? He said, Well, that's the secret, isn't it.

Absolutely the secret.

Most of us aren't smart enough to get out there and play that particular game, but we can invest in a cautious, practical direct way. From your perspective, when you deal with people and talk to people, what do you see as the Legacy Precious metals role in helping them have a diverse investment portfolio.

Our role has always been to provide the diversity, but again also to provide that peace of mind. I think when you know you have that safety net in place, you can begin to look at other things, and you have someone that you can talk to. You know, you can talk to your customer service rep and say, here's what we did, here's what I'm looking at, what makes sense? What do you see going on? And we try to offer advice on the economy pretty frequently. Me and my A team talk about it a lot. We're talking about not just you know, gold and silver, but the things in the economy that are opportunities and pitfalls. That information really will help someone to be able to diversify into other things. They'll be able to say, I'm hearing on the news this is the big new thing. Doesn't make sense. Maybe it does, but find out from someone who's going to talk to you about it without a horse in the race. Right, We're looking at it from an economic standpoint, so it's about information, So you can use that and say, here's an independent source of information that will help me make my decision on maybe let's say real estate bonds, things of that nature, because we do talk about those things right in a general way. What I like to say is in a common sense, regular English kind of way. Economists, if you let them, they'll get you spun around. They know some fancy words that just don't make sense to most people. But we like to break that down and make it something digestible.

If somebody does come to Pressure Metals IRA, what are the fact that you can do at Legacy Precious Metals that helps somebody's got an IRA, but they're thinking, maybe I want to be more protected against the volatility of the market. What is that conversation like? If they approach you and say, could we roll our existing retirement count into a precious Metals IRA.

The answer is going to be a definite maybe, and I know that it does to sound very defined. There. Really, the way to make this process the best is to know that we are here to answer questions. So what you want to do is give us a call here at Legacy Precious Metals. The phone numbers eight sixty six four eight four four zero four to three. Again, that's eight sixty six four eight four four zero four to three. When you call, though, here's what you're going to expect. We're going to have a conversation, a basic person to person conversation, I like the ones you have with the financial guy who's trying to tell you buy this hot rising stock. And what we're going to do is say, what are your goals? What are your financial goals? What's your risk tolerance? Some people don't even know what their risk tolerance is, right, they've been in a foundation where they're told to buy a B or C. Well, let's find out what your risk tolerance is, how long you have till retirement. These are all very important things. And then as we're walking through your investment options, we're going to find out what kind of IRA you have is it's something that you can roll over a part of and move it into metals. Most of time you'll find yes. There are some situations where you won't. We may have to come up with another plan, But the goal is for my team to provide you with enough information so that you can make the decision that you need. Right. We're going to make it possible for you to make that informed decision. And that's the important part because now you're going to begin to understand what you're invested in so again, what you want to do is reach out to us and talk to my team. The number is eight sixty six four eight four four zero four to three.

In addition to encouraging people to call, I have to raise sort of my favorite subject since I've got to know you, and this is an idea which I think you came up with to have a contract with America silver Coin that was created exclusively by Legacy Precious Metals. Listeners can outworder the collectible coin on its own, but you also have a new special offer form. I have to say, the coin itself is beautiful. I really am so grateful that you did it. I think that it's a kind of a remarkable collector's item. But why don't you just for a second outline how you're approaching this.

Absolutely the contract with America Coin, it's a beautiful coin. It's a one out silver coins have the image of yourself. We have the speaker on the front of the coin holding the contract that memorable moment where we had a balanced budget, an amazing thing. And on the back of the coin we also feature the ten pillars of the contract because the contract was something that was an amazing thing. And not easy to do, and we know that because no one else has done it. Sent you so that beautiful silver coin. It's also a collector's item. We're not making millions of them. It's available now at Nuke Gingridge silvercoin dot com. Again, that's Nuke Gingridge silvercoin dot com. Or you can call us at eight sixty six four eighty four four zero four to three get the advice about not just the retirement accounts and medals, but you can also pick up one of these magnificent coins as well. I will tell you now that what we wanted to do, and this may come as a little bit of a shock. I don't know if you know about this or not, Newt, but as of today, we have a special offer. If you call us and decide to roll over your qualified IRA into a legacy precious metals account, we will send you one of the new Gingridge Contract with America coins for free directly to you, not held in your IRA. We're gonna ship it to your home. So, if you're a listener of the show, call us and to tell our sales representative you are listening to Newt's World, and when you do the qualified IRA rollover, we will get that out to you. So it's important mention the coin because you do want to have one of these. Okay, when you call us, also know that this account is a regular IRA account. You're going to have all the same regular tax benefits from a retirement account. You're going to do all of that savings that you've done all your life for your retirement account, all the same benefits, but you're going to have something tangible inside the metals, and you will also get that free contract with America Coin as part of your IRA rollover. So this is a one of a kind coin. It's going to go up in value. It will gain value for you, just like your other medals, but this has that specialty quality to it. Call us at eight sixty six four eight four four zero four to three again, that's eight four eight four four zero four three.

I have to say I was very touched when you first suggested this to me, and I think it came out so beautifully and it is something that makes me feel very very proud. I want to thank you for joining me, helping me and our listeners make sense of the current political and economic environment and how we can save for our retirement with a portfolio that includes precious medals like gold and silver, and I want to let our listeners know if they want more information, they can call Charles and his team at Legacy Precious Medals directly at eight sixty six four eight four four oh four three. That's eight six six four eight four four oh four three, or they can visit Legacy online at Legacypminvestments dot com. Thank you very much, Charles.

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you as well for having me.

Thank you to my Charles Thornburn. You can learn more about Legacy Precious Medals at Legacypminvestments dot com. Newtsworld is produced by Ganglish three sixty at iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guernsey Slum. Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show which created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at ginglishtree sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give us a review so others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of the Newtsworld consigner for my three freeweekly columns at Ganlistrey sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm Newt Gingrich. This is Newtsworld, and this episode of Newtsworld was brought to you by Legacy Precious Medals. Hi, you can't have a balanced portfolio if gold and silver aren't a part of it. Gold has broken several record highs this year as investors are looking for a safe haven. Legacy Precious Medals is the company I invest with, and you should give them a call and see if a gold investment is right for you. Legacy Precious Medals also created the official Contract with America silver coin that commemorates our historic House victory in nineteen ninety four. It's one ounce of pure silver and a piece of American history. Supplies are limited and this comemory coin will sell out. You can buy this exclusive coin by visiting Legacypminvestments dot com and you can also add the Contract with America coin to your IRA. Call Legacy Today to speak with an advisor at eight six six four eight four four oh four three, or visit Legacy online at Legacypminvestments dot com. Tell them I sent you and they'll send you a free Contract with America coin on all qualified Ira rollovers.

In 1 playlist(s)

  1. Newt's World

    834 clip(s)

Newt's World

Join former House Speaker, professor, historian, and futurist Newt Gingrich as he shares his lifetim 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 827 clip(s)