Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson were joined by economist Brian Wesbury to assess the current state of the U.S. economy, in response to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s recent comments about America’s greatest threat being internal—what Dimon called “the enemy within.”
Wesbury, chief economist at First Trust Portfolios, didn’t mince words. He said he agreed “a million percent” with Dimon’s concerns about fiscal mismanagement in the U.S., citing long-ignored unfunded liabilities in programs like Social Security and Medicare and the illusion of fiscal health created by short-term COVID relief funds. “Technically, the state and the city of Chicago are broke,” Wesbury noted, using Illinois as a cautionary tale of what happens when spending far outpaces revenue.
Criticizing the recently passed federal budget—which claims to cut $1.6 trillion over 10 years—Wesbury pointed out that the government is on track to spend $87 trillion in that same period. Cutting 1.8% of projected spending, he said, isn’t enough to reverse the course. In his view, the bloated size of government is the primary reason Americans struggle to afford homes and cars, not corporate greed or market manipulation. “Government takes about 51% of everything we produce,” he said. “No wonder people can’t afford to buy a house.”
The conversation also addressed Elon Musk’s efforts to reduce bureaucracy during his brief attempt to influence federal policy. While Musk is often criticized for benefiting from government subsidies, Wesbury defended his frustration, comparing it to past reformers like W.R. Grace in the Reagan era who proposed cuts that were never implemented.
Proft and Wesbury both emphasized that political dysfunction—on both sides of the aisle—is to blame. Even the small-scale attempts to curb government size are met with resistance from judges and entrenched bureaucracies. Wesbury cited Argentina’s President Javier Milei as a rare example of a leader aggressively slashing government spending and seeing tangible economic results, including growth and inflation control. In contrast, U.S. political and legal systems often block even minor efforts to scale back government programs.
On the question of whether the U.S. can grow its way out of the fiscal crisis, Wesbury was cautiously skeptical. He noted that despite decades of technological innovation and low interest rates, average GDP growth has hovered around 2% for the last 20 years. He argued that unless government shrinks significantly, sustained 3–4% growth—enough to outpace current spending—is unlikely.
Wesbury also addressed recent financial concerns, such as U.S. credit default swap spreads trading at levels similar to those of Greece and Italy. He dismissed the idea of a true default, saying the real risk is not nonpayment but inflation—paying debts back with devalued dollars.
The interview closed with a discussion of Larry Fink’s prediction that tokenization of financial assets—enabled by blockchain technology—could revolutionize markets by reducing costs and increasing transparency. Wesbury agreed this transformation is likely but warned it will take time due to the immense energy and computing power required. He also flagged potential risks, including reliance on uninterrupted electricity and vulnerabilities to cyberattacks or EMPs.
Wesbury’s overall message was clear: America’s economic future isn’t threatened by foreign powers, but by its own refusal to confront government overspending. Until that changes, prosperity will remain out of reach for too many Americans.