# Why Dave Smith links housing costs to currency debasement

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/why-dave-smith-links-housing-costs-to-currency-debasement/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Dave Smith](https://realalpha.app/people/dave-smith/) · Dave Smith is a stand-up comedian and podcast host. · Hosts Part of the Problem, a libertarian podcast, and co-hosts the comedy podcast Legion of Skanks.
- Host: [Konstantin Kisin](https://realalpha.app/people/konstantin-kisin/)
- Host: [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/)
- Show: TRIGGERnometry
- Episode: [Dave Smith vs. TRIGGERnometry 2](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/), Oct 24, 2026
- Moment: 1:28:27 to 1:36:53 of the episode (8 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/why-dave-smith-links-housing-costs-to-currency-debasement/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5307

## Quote

> “the median age of the **first time house buyer is 40**”
> — [Dave Smith](https://realalpha.app/people/dave-smith/) at [1:28:47](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5327) · TRIGGERnometry

## Takeaways

1. Smith points to first-time homebuyers reaching about age 40.
2. He links rising prices to money creation and currency debasement.
3. He argues inflation hurts people who do not yet own assets.

## About this segment

Dave Smith links the age of first-time homebuyers to currency debasement and decades of money creation. He argues inflation favors asset owners and leaves younger people with fewer ways to get ahead.

From “Dave Smith vs. TRIGGERnometry 2”, Oct 24, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:28:39](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5319) it's definitely the case here is that um like i would have said it's currency debasement we've destroyed the currency or damn near destroyed it we've made the price of everything out of control and i mean if there is one stat that i think sums up the problem in the with the united states of america it is that the um the median age of the first time house buyer is 40 the at or average either average or media i can't remember but either way it's the average person's first house they buy it 40 years old now but you know there that is and to me is purely a result of the currency destruction so anyway oh i say all of that to say that yes the democratic socialists are talking to the issue to the crisis to the real concern that's a big advantage from what the woke 1.0 had but the one thing they kind of can't answer is like well what created these

[1:29:33](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5373) conditions what causes prices to go out of control what is a price what is an economy like they don't have it's really something they don't have thoughts on any of these most basic things like they don't really have thoughts on like why why look we had a whole debate in the biden administration over forgiving student loan debt and it almost never came up why prices of college are so expensive to begin with i can tell you why it's very much the point that you made earlier which is francis and i were talking about the day and you're not supposed to talk like this and you're a bad person if you do but wokeness is fundamentally a feminine ideology yeah and feminine ways of being actually really valuable for certain things like looking after people so wokeness is about there's a bad thing happening how do we look after people which is a great attitude but you also your point is you

[1:30:22](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5422) sometimes have to go well how did we get here exactly and that's less that no that's that's or a more masculine code. It's almost always, any time you're taking on wokeism, you're almost always bringing masculinity to a feminine conversation. Yeah. Going like, guys, I understand why we're having this conversation. And by the way, listen, after being married and having little kids, you really appreciate why there is femininity.

[1:30:45](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5445) It's like, oh, why are they so emotional? Because you try dealing with a toddler. Right. Okay? And also, by the way, like when a toddler's, you know, when you have human beings, all that, they're so precious and they're so easy to die. And they're like, if you have a one and a half year old they're basically just trying to kill themselves all day long like all day long they're trying to commit suicide and you're going no no no that will kill you you can't and if a car if somebody isn't paying attention to the kid and a kid's about to wander in front of a car the reaction is not to explain to them how that is logically not a good you know you go Oh, and you freak out, because that's what you need that emotion for, to protect little ones, and as you said, to take care of vulnerable people. It's not how you make political decisions. It's just a very sloppy way to do it.

[1:31:27](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5487) I would say it's definitely got to be. This is why I'm not right or left, genuinely. People don't believe this. Both left and right call us right-wing, because the right wants us to be right-wing, and the left also wants us to be right-wing so they can attack us. But actually, I think the compassion and empathy side that the left brings to political conversations is important. It's just not you can't only make decisions from the perspective of how do we look after vulnerable people?

[1:31:54](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5514) Because if you did that, you'd never create any wealth or do anything of any kind in the first place. Agreed. Agreed. And when you lean. Right. Right. So I concern for the marginalized and the vulnerable is something that any decent society needs to have some people are there. So the left serves a purpose. I guess it's to, you know, encourage us to have that. The problem is that when you get emotional about these things, it's also easy to get sloppy.

[1:32:21](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5541) That's just that's why you don't want to be emotional in a crisis. It's the exact reason why you want to be calm and rational is because you get sloppy. You miss factors. You know, you're so focused on the fact that this schizophrenic homeless guy is a victim that you didn't think to yourself, like hey this mother this pregnant woman on the bus is also a victim there's other victims to protect here you know um and so i do no so i agree with you right there's always kind of the the i think there's something masculine about what's this going to cost where's it going to come from who's going to like that's the father advice right like this is the father you know that you your your son comes to you and goes i want to i want to go and make it big and show business i want to start a business and do this the mother's like i believe in you you're a star your father

[1:33:03](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5583) sits down and goes rent is going to be twenty one hundred dollars a month you're going to need to make at least five thousand dollars a month you know like that's just that's the way fathers are but if you're going to sit here and go like isn't it an interesting question if you just go hey we all grant we're having an unaffordability crisis okay the price of everything is crazy people can't buy homes until they're 40. well look let's look at things here okay my grandfather could buy a house when he was 21. he worked at a factory he went and got a job and he could buy a house his wife never had to work now why would it be in such a more productive economy with technological advances the way they are that we can't get to a point where 20 year olds who have a job can afford a house okay what this is an interesting question you know if you go why are the okay

[1:33:44](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5624) then you you added that in the last 25 years and i don't exaggerate this we have embarked and because your currency is tied to ours you guys have as well embarked on the biggest printing spree in human history right okay like once you have that piece of information wouldn't you then go well golly gee maybe there's a connection between the two it is the most intuitive thing ever this is the most this is the most basic law of economics it's supply and demand you can't just flood the the economy with trillions of dollars every year and think that you're not going to end up and by the way the fact that we have military dominance and uh dollar hegemony or maybe hegemony is not the right word anymore but the the there is so much of the world that still use the uh the dollars a reserve, we're able to keep it to the level that it is right now. And, you know, if we

[1:34:32](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5672) didn't have any of that and just printed the money, we'd be in Weimar, you know, wheelbarrows full of cash at this point. Anyway, we've had an experiment for 25 years in big government spending and money printing. Like, that's been the experiment, objectively. And it's gotten us here. And I just think this was very predictable. I think it's just kind of demonstrated that, like, yeah, all the free market economists were right. That was real economics. This is what happens. You can sit here promise the government will give you a whole bunch of stuff it does not work and that goes back to you know being daddy not in a sexual sense but going talking about there's a relief talking about the one thing we don't want to talk about in your country and in mine My country, the deficit has just hit $3 trillion in our country. Yours is on $40. I mean, what are we going to do? We can't, can we? Can we keep going like this?

[1:35:23](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5723) No. Oh, no, no, no. There's no. And it's so, everyone's so irresponsible, man. It almost feels like everyone in leadership, it's like the, you know, the boat's going down and the rats are just getting, you know, Nancy Close is like, dude, I'm making stock trades. Yes. I mean, if you just do the math out for like the next 20 years, if we continue on this trajectory, I think it's like $6.5 trillion a year just to pay for the interest on the debt.

[1:35:46](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5746) We will not make it to that point. Something will crack up in this system before we go there. But it's like the great Ron Paul said in a speech, but it's like the most just basic wisdom from a previous generation. If you live above your means, you're destined to live below your means. It's true on a personal level. It's true on a family level. It's true on a government level. the bottom line that no one will admit, you know, either political party or really just like in this never even really comes up much in podcasts or in news shows is that we cannot afford the government that we have. We just can't afford it. And it's not we can't afford the entitlements and we can't afford the military. We don't have the money. And so we we can't tax nearly enough to pay for it. And we can't even borrow enough to pay for it. And so we just have to print the

[1:36:33](https://realalpha.app/v/3ePqJyqdOE0/?t=5793) money and so that's what you've got now and then that comes and that that brings in a bunch of other economic factors because it forces you to live in an inflationary environment where you're