Kevin O’Leary: Why Trump Might Save Us, China Can’t Compete, and the Middle Class Is Screwed | PT 2

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Impact Theory

Education, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Technology, Society & Culture, Business, Self-improvement

4.7 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Part 2 of Tom Bilyeu’s epic conversation with Kevin O’Leary, the discussion escalates from global power struggles to the very heart of America’s economic future. As the superpowers of the US and China face off, Tom and Kevin analyze the survival of the American dream—are freedom and entrepreneurship enough to keep America competitive in an era of inequality, populism, and ballooning debt? This half of the episode pulls back the curtain on political self-correction in democracy, the risk of America’s debt cycle approaching collapse, the search for genuine economic growth, and the radical innovation that could save the day. If you want razor-sharp commentary on AI, the stability of the US dollar, and whether America can avoid a fiscal disaster, don’t miss this eye-opening dialogue. SHOWNOTES20:03 – Can Xi and Trump Find Resolution or Disaster?23:57 – The Thucydides Trap & America vs China Cold War25:28 – Why America Still Attracts Human Capital27:02 – Can Democracy Continue to Win?29:04 – Will American Youth Abandon Capitalism?31:01 – Political Populism and the Cycle of Self-Correction33:31 – What Turns Socialists into Capitalists34:16 – The Debt Cycle and the Danger of Collapse36:14 – The Dissolving Middle Class and Extreme Inequality40:28 – Can America Still Out-Innovate the World?43:20 – Unlocking Growth: Will the Bond Market Crack?45:30 – The Rise of Stablecoins and Dollar Dominance50:04 – Why the World Still Trusts the US Treasury51:46 – Kevin’s Final Argument: Finance, Innovation, and America’s Future FOLLOW KEVIN O’LEARYInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinolearytv/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinolearytvYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kevinolearytv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to ⁠https://www.vitalproteins.com⁠ and entering promo code IMPACT at check out SKIMS: Shop SKIMS Mens at ⁠https://www.skims.com/impact⁠ #skimspartner Allio Capital: Macro investing for people who want to understand the big picture. Download their app in the App Store or at Google Play, or text my name “TOM” to 511511. SleepMe: Visit ⁠https://sleep.me/impact⁠ to get your Chilipad and save 20% with code IMPACT. Try it risk-free with their 30-night sleep trial and free shipping. Jerry: Stop needlessly overpaying for car insurance - download the Jerry app or head to ⁠https://jerry.ai/impact⁠ Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at ⁠https://shopify.com/impact⁠ CashApp: Download Cash App Today: ⁠https://capl.onelink.me/vFut/v6nymgjl⁠ #CashAppPod iRestore: For a limited time only, our listeners are getting a HUGE discount on the iRestore Elite when you use code IMPACT at ⁠https://irestore.com/impact⁠ What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business:⁠⁠⁠ join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER⁠⁠⁠ SCALING a business:⁠⁠⁠ see if you qualify here.⁠⁠⁠ Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox:⁠⁠⁠ sign up here.⁠⁠⁠ ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠⁠⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠⁠⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS:⁠⁠⁠ apple.co/impacttheory⁠⁠⁠ ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/⁠⁠⁠ Tik Tok:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en⁠⁠⁠ Twitter:⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/tombilyeu⁠⁠⁠ YouTube:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Tom Billu and this is Impact Theory.
0:03.0	Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Kevin O'Leary.
0:06.0	If you haven't heard part one yet, hit pause and go check it out because what we're diving into today builds on top of that and you're going to want to know what came before.
0:14.0	All right, let's get into it.
0:16.0	Well, so the question that remains unanswered though is are these going to be inflationary because the thing
0:21.4	that's going to break people's confidence in the bond market is very simple that the u.s. continues
0:27.8	to deficit spend more money is coming into the world as more money comes into the world prices
0:34.1	are going to go up you're going to further exacerbate that dynamic that I was
0:37.7	talking about earlier, where you've got all the resentment. Because what ends up happening to nations
0:41.8	for people keeping score is they tear themselves apart from the inside. So the economy doesn't
0:46.2	necessarily collapse because there's some external pressure. It collapses because people start
0:50.8	killing each other inside the country. And so what I would need to understand to know,
0:55.4	because I agree with you, I think that the Genius Act is phenomenal. I couldn't be more excited about it.
0:59.4	I think that it really is going to make what I'm talking about less likely. However, if it becomes
1:06.4	an inflationary thing where we just, anybody that wants it will make more, make more, make more, make more,
1:11.0	make more, then you are going to run into, call it the same thing that we see in Houston. So Houston has solved the housing crisis by saying, we're just going to make as many houses as we want. Now, that's great, but people don't exactly rush into that market. And so you end up getting weakness in that market because people go, it's not a good investment. It's great if I want to live in it.
1:09.6	It's not a good investment. So if you run into that same thing where it's like, okay, the U.S. debt is a great place to park my money if I'm living in a rogue nation or whatever, but I'm not going to be using it as the risk-free rate of return. It's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger by the day. So I presume that they'll have to cap that at some point. So it's not just like anybody that wants to buy, we're going to sell. I think that would be better. Well, I think what you're saying, and I think we should make it very simple, do you believe we'll never have another balanced budget again?
2:01.9	That's what you're telling me.
2:03.0	If I believe that-
2:04.0	That is what I'm telling you, yes, great.
2:05.5	And so if I believe that, I would agree you're right.
2:08.9	I don't believe that.
	...

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