The Financial Guys

Mike Lomas and Ron Reinstein open with rising fuel prices, arguing that people forget past spikes and that limited U.S. refining capacity and government involvement drive costs higher, pointing to the $550,000-per-unit Marine Towers renovation and Carl Paladino's rejected $1 offer. They voice frustration with the pace of the Iran conflict, question why Republicans haven't passed voter ID ahead of the midterms, and react to Charles Barkley's comments on progressive Democrats and to local unions courting Bruce Blakeman. Mike makes the case that leaders should use simple charts to explain tariffs, taxes, and the national debt, using GM's Buffalo-built V8 engines shipped to Canada as an example. The hosts also reflect on the sacrifices behind building their businesses, why recessions can be buying opportunities, and how a diversified portfolio has helped clients keep pace with inflation.

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:43 Fuel Prices, Refining Capacity, and Government-Driven Costs
00:04:55 Frustration Over the Iran Conflict
00:07:46 Midterms, Voter ID, and Hochul's Utility Bill Message
00:11:16 Charles Barkley Clip and Shifting Union Voters
00:13:27 GM's V8 Line, Canada, and Tariffs
00:16:18 Using Charts to Explain Trade, Taxes, and the National Debt
00:22:39 Family Costs and the Grind of Building a Business
00:28:31 Recessions as Buying Opportunities
00:31:51 Inflation and the Case for a Diversified Portfolio

Ron Waskow fills in for Glenn Wiggle alongside Mike Lomas on this episode of The Financial Guys. The pair react to a viral street-interview video in which self-described liberal New Yorkers support undocumented immigrants but decline to house them, then turn to Wegmans pulling its planned Upper West Side store, which they tie to New York City's government-run grocery proposal and the earlier loss of Amazon's HQ2. Mike and Ron also discuss AOC's criticism of Cornell, which they frame as selective outrage on crime, along with the UK's quick release of suspects in an alleged plot against a U.S. base and Rochester General Hospital hiring 80 foreign doctors out of 82. That leads into a conversation about meritocracy, DEI, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. The episode closes on money: flat markets, rising interest rates and what they mean for balanced portfolios, and how technology has made rebalancing faster and cheaper.

00:00:00 Intro: Ron Waskow joins Mike Lomas
00:01:10 Street interviews: would liberals house illegal immigrants?
00:06:58 Wegmans shelves its Upper West Side store
00:11:28 Amazon HQ2, vacant industrial sites, and solar skepticism
00:13:29 AOC vs. Cornell and selective outrage on crime
00:17:38 UK releases terror plot suspects
00:19:44 Rochester General's foreign doctor hires
00:21:34 Scholarships, meritocracy, and MLK's legacy
00:26:59 Flat markets, rising rates, and balanced portfolios
00:28:48 Technology, rebalancing, and step-up cost basis

Glenn Wiggle and Mike Lomas open with President Trump taking his message straight to Americans through the White House app instead of legacy outlets like CNN, then turn to the Russia-Ukraine talks, where Glenn blames rising diesel prices on Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian refineries and questions Trump's price-gouging push against oil companies. The hosts react to a Center for Strategic Politics poll on how Democrats would feel about Trump leaving office early, and Glenn runs population-adjusted numbers comparing Canada's assisted death program to U.S. gun homicides. Mike shares an immunotherapy success story and how AI could shorten drug development, before the conversation moves to Minnesota's voter rolls, Dearborn, and the C40 Cities agenda linked to Zohran Mamdani, which Glenn says would sharply limit meat consumption and driving in member cities.

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:24 Trump sidesteps the press
00:03:32 Ukraine, refinery strikes, and diesel prices
00:07:58 Oil gouging claims and teaching basic economics
00:11:54 Poll on Democrats and Trump leaving office
00:18:02 Mark Carney and Canada's assisted death program
00:23:19 Immunotherapy and AI in drug discovery
00:27:59 Voter rolls, cashless bail, and Dearborn
00:34:38 C40 Cities, meat, and driving limits
00:44:26 Wrap-up and upcoming events

Glenn Wiggle and Mike Hoeflich open with Glenn's experiment in building a stable of Grok-powered bots to handle his nutrition, radio prep, inbox, and stock research, then turn to the growing push to regulate artificial intelligence. Glenn argues that anti-data-center campaigns are propaganda, walks through how cooling systems actually work, and reads at length from a David Sacks post accusing Anthropic and OpenAI of seeking regulatory capture rather than genuine safety. From there the hosts cover Canada's retaliatory tariffs and Mark Carney's political incentives, the crime statistics out of the Memphis task force and why they think Democrat mayors resist federal help, and Glenn's change of heart on Citizens United after watching corporate money reshape agencies like the FDA. They close on Mamdani's remarks days after the 9/11 anniversary, the lack of a Republican platform heading into the midterms, and this weekend's Buffalo Cigar Fest benefiting Wings of Hope.

00:00:24 Glenn's AI bot lineup
00:03:27 Data centers, water, and the power grid
00:08:19 Who benefits from AI regulation
00:14:43 Canada's tariffs and Carney's calculation
00:17:12 USAID, the CIA, and regime change
00:23:18 Memphis crime stats and resistant mayors
00:26:52 David Sacks: pace your own frontier
00:33:51 Rethinking Citizens United
00:38:39 Mamdani after the 9/11 anniversary
00:43:08 Midterms and the missing GOP platform

Glenn Wiggle and Mike Lomas are back in studio after handing the mic to the younger crew last week. They open with a look at how policing resources get allocated in Buffalo, then move into hiring and background check standards after a New Orleans police recruit was arrested by ICE, along with the question of why employers who hire illegal workers rarely face consequences. From there the conversation turns to New York politics, Kathy Hochul's record, and what Glenn and Mike see as Chinese influence on energy and data center policy. The second half is largely about technology and markets: the Tesla Robotaxi rollout and how its costs compare to Waymo, newly unsealed data on Uber assault reports and what that means for the company's stock, Nike's removal from the S&P 100 and the marketing decisions the hosts blame for it, and Elon Musk's Optimus robots as an answer to the labor shortage. They close with Canada's retaliatory tariffs and Mark Carney's standoff with Trump, plus a quick take on the Blakeman-Hochul race.

00:00:00 Welcome Back
00:01:46 Traffic Stops and Police Resource Priorities
00:05:27 Police Hiring Standards and Background Checks
00:07:46 Party Politics and Hochul's Record
00:09:32 Tesla Robotaxi and Driverless Cars
00:14:56 Uber's Safety Record and Unsealed Reports
00:21:11 Nike's Collapse and Brand Marketing Failures
00:25:13 Canada's Tariffs and the Trade Standoff
00:32:43 Labor Shortage and Optimus Robots
00:39:39 Blakeman vs. Hochul and Upcoming Events

Glenn Wiggle sits down for a one-on-one interview with Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin, who walks through the dueling lawsuits between his county and Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James over the 287(g) immigration program. McLaughlin explains that Rensselaer participates in the jail enforcement model, running people already arrested and remanded through a federal database rather than conducting street-level civil enforcement, and argues Hochul's own public statements undercut the state's case. The two also discuss voter ID and the SAVE Act, McLaughlin's frustration with Senate Republicans on the issue, and New York's moratorium on data centers, which he opposes while making the case that the state's aging grid and its long resistance to nuclear power left it unprepared. McLaughlin details his record in Rensselaer County, including a 9.1% tax cut for 2026, roughly a 49% reduction since 2019, 330 miles of repaved county roads, four new senior centers, and reserves that grew from $20 million to $100 million without cutting services. The conversation closes with his take on Bruce Blakeman's gubernatorial prospects, why he blocked a proposed Waymo pilot program in his county, and how autonomous vehicles compare between Waymo and Tesla.

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:14 - Dueling Lawsuits Over 287(g)
00:06:28 - Immigration, Voters, and the Media
00:11:25 - Voter ID and the SAVE Act
00:13:21 - Data Centers, the Grid, and Nuclear
00:21:02 - Cutting Taxes in Rensselaer County
00:26:09 - What He'd Do in Erie County
00:31:23 - Blakeman's Run and Election Integrity
00:36:24 - Waymo, Tesla, and Self-Driving Cars

Michael C. Shaver and Jack Haxton break down a run of local and national stories, starting with the Department of Homeland Security career expo that was relocated after Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz pressured the Buffalo convention center to cancel it over ICE's involvement. The hosts argue the move cost area residents a shot at federal jobs with pensions, then turn to a proposed Drive Forward initiative that would steer first-time car theft offenders toward job training rather than prosecution, a idea they say rewards the wrong behavior in a region that already ranks near the top of the state for vehicle thefts. From there they cover Canada's renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America and the reaction to it, Mamdani's reversal on a promised $10,000 bonus for New York City teacher's aides, and Abdul El-Sayed's proposed 7% annual wealth tax in his Michigan Senate run, which Haxton picks apart by pointing out that billionaire net worth sits in shareholdings rather than cash. The conversation closes with a look at how state tax policy shapes where businesses and pro athletes relocate, Joey Chestnut's 241-wing performance at Buffalo's Chicken Wing Fest, and upcoming Financial Guys seminars on tax and estate planning.

00:00:00 - Welcome back!
00:00:30 - DHS Career Expo Canceled in Buffalo
00:04:30 - Drive Forward and Car Theft in WNY
00:08:40 - Lake Ontario Becomes Lake America
00:12:00 - Mamdani Backs Off Teacher's Aide Bonus
00:16:54 - El-Sayed's 7% Wealth Tax Proposal
00:21:00 - Tax Policy, Relocation, and Pro Sports
00:22:56 - Joey Chestnut at Chicken Wing Fest
00:24:00 - Upcoming Seminars and the TFG App

Mike Lomas and Glenn Wiggle open with a look at market stability and the quiet that has followed cuts to organizations they argue were funding street unrest, including commentary on fraud charges tied to Black Lives Matter leadership. The conversation turns to research integrity, with Glenn walking through recent guilty pleas from a vaccine researcher and a former senior advisor to Dr. Fauci, and the hosts arguing that funding structures create incentives to shape findings in both public health and climate science. They discuss the New York Times finally acknowledging the lab leak theory, and press the case for accountability over pandemic school closures and business shutdowns. From there, the hosts critique what they describe as misplaced public sympathy for criminal defendants, citing a viral video and a Texas sentencing case. The back half centers on trade, with clips from Prime Minister Mark Carney's White House meeting prompting a debate over reciprocal tariffs, the shift from NAFTA to USMCA, and the decline of private sector unions. Mike shares a client story about a Lockport manufacturer that grew from ten employees to a hundred after General Motors moved sourcing stateside. The episode closes with Trump's remarks on South Korean defense payments, Treasury action against Iranian money laundering, concerns about federal spending and the national debt, and a lighter Rochester-area story about a children's lemonade stand run by local teachers.

00:00:00 Quiet Markets and the Money Behind the Riots
00:02:50 Research Fraud and Conflicts of Interest in Science
00:04:48 Fauci, COVID Accountability, and Guilty Pleas
00:07:53 Lab Leak Origins and the New York Times Op-Ed
00:10:33 Misplaced Sympathy, Social Media, and Soft Sentencing
00:19:44 Canada Tariffs and the Carney White House Meeting
00:23:34 From NAFTA to USMCA and the Decline of Private Unions
00:29:04 How Tariffs Grew a Lockport Manufacturer
00:33:41 South Korea Defense Payments and Iranian Money Laundering
00:42:07 A Rochester Lemonade Stand and a Misspelled Sign

Mike Lomas, Mike Hoeflich, and Glenn Wiggle open with the steady flow of clients relocating from Western New York to Florida before turning to a Virginia case in which a man found not guilty by reason of insanity left a mental health facility on an unsupervised pass and boarded a flight overseas. The hosts react to a New York pilot program extending free health care to sex workers in Buffalo and New York City, question the state's moratorium on data centers, and point to Virginia's data center corridor as evidence the projects bring investment rather than harm. They discuss a cocaine trafficking case involving Penn State fraternity members, then raise concerns about Flock camera surveillance being used for low-level offenses and misidentifications instead of missing children cases. Glenn walks through his hands-on experience building a team of AI agents to handle research, portfolio tracking, and inbox management, and the hosts consider what that means for back office work, offshore labor, and the advisor relationships they argue technology cannot replace. The conversation closes on brownfield redevelopment at former steel and power plant sites, the hosts' view of how each party's policies shape its voter base, immigration screening, and election integrity efforts including voter ID and voter roll cleanup.

00:00:00 Clients heading to Florida
00:01:50 Virginia insanity acquittal and overseas escape
00:04:25 New York's free health care pilot for sex workers
00:07:14 Data center moratorium and Virginia's example
00:08:51 Penn State fraternity cocaine ring
00:11:07 Flock cameras and surveillance overreach
00:15:14 Building an AI agent team with Grok
00:23:05 AI, back office jobs, and the advisor relationship
00:29:32 Brownfield sites, solar panels, and energy
00:32:58 Party incentives, immigration, and election integrity

Glenn Wiggle and Mike Lomas open by playing a series of clips, mixing footage of political figures and progressive activists with their own running commentary. They begin with vaccines, praising RFK Jr. and arguing that open debate on the childhood vaccine schedule has been shut down, and criticize reports that COVID vaccines were promoted to pregnant women. From there they turn to crime, citing the case of a repeat offender in Savannah and blaming what they describe as lenient liberal judges for releasing career criminals. The hosts react to interview clips of Democratic Socialist figures on taxing millionaires, defunding police, and holding up Cuba as a socialist success story, which they mock as uninformed. They also weigh in on flock cameras and surveillance, arguing money would be better spent on officers and prosecution, and connect failing New York reading scores to teachers' unions. A large stretch is devoted to Dr. Fauci and the COVID vaccine, where Wiggle claims a far higher miscarriage rate than was publicly reported and both hosts call for Fauci and other officials to be prosecuted, extending that demand to figures like Comey, Brennan, and Hillary Clinton and voicing frustration that Trump has not done more to "drain the swamp." They close on new abortion laws in Massachusetts and Washington, a defense of legal over illegal immigration prompted by a Joy Behar clip, and lighter banter about listener complaints, before promoting the Financial Guys app and a September 9 Heroes on the Harbor barbecue for veterans.

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:24 - Vaccine debate and RFK Jr.
00:04:08 - Repeat offenders and lenient judges
00:08:00 - Taxing millionaires and defunding police clips
00:12:52 - Flock cameras, surveillance, and policing priorities
00:16:46 - Cuba as socialism and failing NYC schools
00:20:34 - Fauci, COVID vaccines, and pregnancy risks
00:28:12 - Calls for prosecution and draining the swamp
00:31:05 - Abortion laws and legal vs. illegal immigration