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

In this episode of The Financial Guys, hosts Glenn Wiggle and Mike Lomas argue that policies favored by Democratic leadership have left Western New York's economy underdeveloped, pointing to struggling assets like the Walden Galleria and Niagara Falls and to trade that increasingly bypasses the region via the new Gordie Howe Bridge near Detroit. They criticize New York's handling of crime and public safety, react to New York City mayoral politics and a proposed pied-à-terre tax, and characterize progressive economic views as hostile to success. Much of the conversation centers on Governor Kathy Hochul's moratorium on data centers, which the hosts frame as self-defeating in what they describe as an energy-and-AI race between the United States and China. They discuss potential sites like the former Bethlehem Steel property and shuttered power plants in Dunkirk and Somerset, and play a clip of an entrepreneur alleging Chinese-linked funding behind opposition to Utah data-center projects. The episode closes with Mike's market commentary on volatility and rebalancing, followed by a segment in which the hosts contend that figures like Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx should face prosecution over pandemic-era decisions.

00:00:00 - Intro and catching up
00:01:50 - Western New York decline and the Galleria
00:04:43 - Trade bypassing New York, Niagara Falls
00:07:32 - NYC mayoral politics and the pied-à-terre tax
00:10:32 - Hochul's data center moratorium and the US-China AI race
00:15:16 - Where to build data centers: Bethlehem Steel, Dunkirk, Somerset
00:20:15 - Utah data centers and alleged Chinese-linked funding
00:29:17 - Market volatility and rebalancing
00:31:45 - Fauci, Birx, and calls for prosecution
00:39:44 - Closing and services

Hosts Michael Shaver and Jack Haxton open with a series of violent attacks abroad, walking through the timeline of an Islamic terrorist who carried out a machete attack at a German pride parade despite prior arrests, along with a separate stabbing of three women in Paris, and using both cases to argue for tougher sentencing, more prisons and mental institutions, and the value of Second Amendment rights and concealed carry. They then turn to New York City, where they critique Mayor Mamdani's city-owned grocery store plan on supply-and-demand grounds, run through the deficit and startup cost figures, and review his campaign promise tracker, including the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, gender-affirming care funding, ending ICE cooperation, and landlord enforcement, framing these as misplaced priorities relative to repeat-offender crime. The pair also revisit the Salamanca school district's now-halted AI teacher program, arguing AI should partner with rather than replace teachers while raising concerns about teacher pay, pensions, and Tier 6 retirement rules. They close on the Israel-Iran conflict, its effect on the markets and the upcoming midterms, and reported threats against the Trump family, before noting their own work integrating AI into their financial advising practice.

00:00:00 - Welcome back
00:00:24 - Germany pride parade machete attack and attacker's timeline
00:03:53 - Vigil controversy and political response to the attack
00:05:59 - Paris stabbing of three women
00:07:40 - Second Amendment, concealed carry, and prisons vs. community programs
00:10:15 - Mamdani's city-owned grocery stores and the economics
00:14:31 - Mamdani promise tracker and campaign priorities
00:19:11 - Salamanca AI teacher program halted, teachers and pensions
00:25:13 - Israel-Iran conflict, markets, and threats to the Trump family

Mike Lomas hosts this week with Glenn Wiggle out, welcoming advisor Jack Haxton for his first podcast appearance, with a push to feature more of producer Ann Horan going forward. Haxton opens with the cancellation of Buffalo's 11th annual World Naked Bike Ride, called off over threats of violence, and the two react to organizers' framing of public nudity as protected protest against oil dependency and inequality, with Lomas arguing such displays cross a line when children are present. The conversation turns to Salamanca schools testing an AI educational robot named Sally, prompting Lomas to reflect on how much AI has changed his own daily problem-solving, from checking whether his daughter's medication was gluten-free to tackling home projects himself. He and Haxton discuss why America needs to lead on AI and where data centers should be built, then shift to wealth-building, where Lomas shares the story of a friend whose $50-a-month contribution grew to $265,000 over three decades and makes the case for starting young, staying consistent, and rebalancing rather than chasing the market. The episode closes with the hosts criticizing Governor Kathy Hochul's remark that small upstate communities lack the sophistication to negotiate with major tech companies, which Lomas counters by praising the business acumen of local farmers, before broader jabs at Zohran Mamdani, critiques of capitalism, and figures like Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders.

00:00:00 - Intro: Jack Haxton joins, Glenn off
00:02:01 - Buffalo Naked Bike Ride canceled
00:07:37 - Robot teachers and AI in schools
00:09:09 - AI as an everyday learning tool
00:16:33 - US leadership in AI and data centers
00:17:15 - The case for investing early
00:21:51 - Rebalancing and taking profits
00:23:16 - Hochul's "unsophisticated upstate" remarks
00:26:22 - Capitalism, Mamdani, and the left
00:28:35 - Closing and sign-off

Glenn Wiggle and Mike Hoeflich open with weather banter and a preview of The Financial Guys' client appreciation event, expected to draw well over a thousand people. From there the conversation turns political: the abrupt resignation of Buffalo Public Schools superintendent Pascal Mubenga and the naming of Ebony Prophet Bullock as interim, which the hosts use to argue against DEI-driven hiring and in favor of merit, citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They walk through a Liz Peek column on affordability in Democrat-run states, debate why Florida landed among the most expensive states, and cover the push to eliminate Florida property taxes, Albany's growing budget deficit, and Buffalo's Moody's downgrade. The back half gets more combative, with critiques of how local media frame ICE shootings and police statistics, a clip of Senator Alyssa Slotkin on the SAVE Act, and an extended stretch of speculation tying various political deaths and the Trump assassination attempt to a supposed deep state. Glenn closes with his theory that Democratic policy is designed to keep voters poor and dependent.

00:00:00 - Welcome back
00:01:50 - Client appreciation event preview
00:03:25 - Buffalo schools superintendent steps down; DEI hiring debate
00:06:08 - Scott Bessent and the case for merit-based hiring
00:07:17 - Blue-state costs, the "affordability" pitch, and why Florida ranks high
00:14:13 - Florida's plan to scrap property taxes
00:18:39 - Albany's deficit and Buffalo's Moody's downgrade
00:21:00 - Bryant Park "utopia," police stats, and ICE-shooting coverage
00:27:00 - SAVE Act clip and theories on suspicious political deaths
00:34:57 - The "party of the poor" thesis