#222 Luke Gromen: 'Devalue The Dollar First' | Why DOGE Without Dollar Weakening Would Be 'Catastrophic

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