The Zach Foust Show

We break down housing, growing wealth gaps, and the economy in a simple, meaningful way. Clear, honest, and structured for real people.

The Zach Foust Show is a business podcast hosted by Zachary Foust, with 118 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Zachary Foust hosts The Zach Foust Show, a business show with 118 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #108

  My 15 Reasons to Keep Talking About Epstein | ZFS 108

  Sep 29, 20261h 30m

  Send us Fan Mail Have you heard much about Epstein lately? Not really. Plenty about the war, plenty about inflation, plenty about everything else. So today I am giving you my 15 reasons why we need to keep talking about it, and I am laying every one of them out with sourcing on the corruption map. We start with the come up that makes no sense. Teaching math and physics at the elite Dalton School with no degree. Hired at Bear Stearns with no degree, worked up to limited partner, then resigned in 1981 over a fraudulent loan and passing IPO information to a girlfriend. Five years later he is running the finances of a billionaire. Then there is the Zorro Trust claiming an $85 million Powerball ticket in Oklahoma in 2008, with a notarized power of attorney naming Epstein as trustee, and a Google AI overview that flatly says he did not win the lottery with no source attached. From there we walk through Robert Kraft's Palm Beach County case and the attorney he shared with Epstein. The national security excuse that got breezed past when the files were first delayed. The 17 year friendship people want to wave away. Robert Maxwell's work for the Rothschilds on the Macmillan takeover, his death off the Canary Islands, and the funeral in Jerusalem attended by a prime minister, a president, and multiple Mossad heads. The New Mexico probe that reopened and then went quiet. The whistleblower email about Zorro Ranch. JPMorgan's settlement with victims and Jes Staley's lifetime ban and £1.1 million fine in the UK, not here. And we close on Kevin Warsh. Federal Reserve chairman. On the board from 2006 through 2011, now running the whole thing. His wife is Jane Lauder. Her father is Ron Lauder, who helped fund Netanyahu into power and who attended a Christmas party in Saint Barts hosted by Jeffrey Epstein. Some crimes get tolerated because stopping them would destabilize the system they thrive on. So my question is simple. What else is being allowed right now because it is cheaper than stopping it? If I missed something, put it in the comments with sourcing. This works better when we build it together. Support the show

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  Episode #107

  Diesel ban, NEW Housing Bill Proposed, Bond Market's Cracking | ZFS 107

  Sep 25, 20261h 20m

  Send us Fan Mail Three things on the table today. The bond market that keeps threatening to crack, a brand new Senate housing bill that would put $50,000 in first time homebuyers pockets, and a proposed 90 day ban on American diesel exports that would ripple across the entire globe. We start with a Bloomberg clip where an analyst says 7% rates are historically normal and consumers just do not want to buy this market. Both statements are technically true and completely disconnected from reality. In June 2001 we had these same rates. The national debt was $5.8 trillion, the median home was $150,900, and 38% of median income went toward shelter. Today the debt is $40.2 trillion, the median home is $406,000, and 45% of median income goes toward shelter. Same rate, completely different world. Then the amortization math that should make you sick. On a median home today, your payment is $3,168 and only $297 of that goes toward principal. The rest goes to the bank. Over 30 years that $406,000 home costs you just under a million dollars. We break down the Homeownership Promise Act from Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. A 5 to 1 federal match up to $50,000 for first time buyers, limited to homes under the local median price. I read the actual bill, explain what it could do for builder incentives, and where I think it falls short. And we close on diesel. The White House is reportedly preparing a 90 day export ban ahead of the midterms. Russia just extended its own. Together that is 30% of global seaborne diesel exports off the table. Mr. Global breaks down exactly why that would drop US prices briefly and then break supply chains worldwide. Meanwhile Ukraine has now hit three Russian refineries in a week, which is why I do not think diesel is done going up. Support the show

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  Episode #106

  TIPS for Buying a Home in 2027 | ZFS 106

  Sep 22, 20261h 1m

  Send us Fan Mail Will home prices drop in 2027? Will mortgage rates come down? Is a crash coming? I am a full time real estate agent and I am going to give you the honest answers, including some advice you will not hear from any other realtor. We start by grading our 2026 predictions. We called max 2% price compression, mortgage rates not hitting 4%, and investors buying around 30% of homes. We are sitting at about 5.9 out of 6 on those. Then we get into where we actually are right now. 96% of mayors surveyed say their residents are very or extremely concerned about affordability. The qualifying income for a median home just hit $108,288. Housing inventory is at 1.14 million, but nearly half of that is new construction, not panic selling, which is why I still do not believe a crash is coming. I also react to a viral realtor clip telling people to buy now and refinance later, and explain exactly why marry the home and date the rate is some of the worst advice given during Covid and why people who bought between 2022 and 2025 are feeling the most pressure right now. Then I give you three tips. The best location to buy, the best mortgage program to use, and the best type of home to buy for the money. And I close with the thing no realtor will say out loud. Right now the median three bedroom rent in America is about $2,000 a month, while the interest alone on a median priced home is $2,271. Not the payment. The interest. If you can live with family or bunk with friends while you save, do it, and do not let anyone make you feel silly about it. Plus my three predictions for 2027. Energy and bonds being the story of the year, the resilient consumer finally breaking, and where rents and rates actually head next. Support the show

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  Episode #105

  This State has a HUGE problem w/ Michael Smith | ZFS 105

  Sep 19, 20261h 35m

  Send us Fan Mail Delaware has a problem and it comes down to three things. Housing, jobs, and retirement. Today I break all three down and then sit with Michael Smith, Democrat candidate for Delaware State Treasurer, to ask him what he actually plans to do about it. Here is where we are. Bloomberg just named Delaware the rising number one retirement state in the country and nobody told the people who already live here. Sussex County population is up 17% since 2020, growing five times faster than the US average. The median homebuyer in southern Delaware is now 54.5 years old. Since 2019 the median household income in Kent County went up about 19.6% while the median home price went up 96%. That math does not work for anybody trying to start a life here. On jobs, Delaware sits at 4.8% unemployment while the national number is 4.1%. Before Covid we were around 3.7%, better than the country. Now we are worse. And a huge share of the jobs Delawareans hold are not even sourced in Delaware, they are remote positions based in Philly, DC, Baltimore, or Jersey. The money comes in, but the economic value is not being built here. Then there is education. We are ninth in the nation in per pupil spending at about $22,000 per student, and 45th in educational outcomes. Top 20% in spend, bottom 10% in results. That is money flowing out with nothing coming back. Retirees are moving in because Delaware is cheap compared to Jersey and New York, our property taxes are among the lowest five in the nation, and the beaches are right there. Meanwhile the traffic has doubled since 1999, the primary care shortage is real, and nobody is building the infrastructure to keep up. Michael Smith is an economist. If he is going to be in charge of our money, I want to know what he is actually going to do with it. Stick around for the full interview. Support the show

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  Episode #104

  Gas & diesel prices just SOARED, what happens now??? | ZFS 104

  Sep 18, 20261h 21m

  Send us Fan Mail Gas is at $4.44 nationally, up nearly 50% since this war started in February. Diesel just hit a record $6.40, up 77 cents in the first two weeks of September alone. In California diesel is already at $8 a gallon. Sean, Joe and I break down exactly why this is happening and why I do not think it comes back down anytime soon. Here is what most coverage misses. Crude oil is not the story. Diesel is. Diesel is the single most universal tangible input in the American economy, it moves your groceries, your packages, your construction materials, everything. And the reason diesel and gasoline are climbing faster than crude is that refined fuel is explosive, so almost nobody is lining up to haul it through the Strait of Hormuz right now. Freight captain crews have gone up eight times in cost because of the risk. Ukraine keeps hitting Russian refineries. Exxon just shut down its Joliet plant entirely after a power outage. Refining capacity is disappearing while demand keeps going. Then there is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We peaked at 726 million barrels in 2009. We were at 415 million as recently as March. We are now around 285 million, the lowest level since 1983. Under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act there is a hard legal floor at 252.4 million barrels, below which the president cannot do routine drawdowns without declaring a national energy emergency. We are getting very close to that number. And we close on China. Their crude imports collapsed when this war began, which quietly kept global prices from spiking even harder. Now those imports are ticking back up. Whether that is pure economics or something more strategic, the result is the same. Supply comes off an already tight market. If you have not filled your heating oil tank for winter, I would do it now. Support the show

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