 Well, reserve officials are set to meet about raising interest rates again starting tomorrow and most expect them to increase rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point for the third time since June and signal plans for another smaller increase in December. This as inflation has proved more stubborn than the feds say expected, with markets reacting especially poorly in the last month. Joining us live now to discuss this more is CEO of Stock Swoosh, Melissa Armo. Good to see you, Melissa. Thanks for having me. So how do you think the markets will react to this latest news? I know a lot of them have been expecting it, but what do you think they'll do? Well, I think the big thing for the next two days when the Fed meets is not necessarily are they going to raise interest rates. Hello. I can hear you, Melissa. Can you hear me? Yeah, someone else was talking to me. No worries. No, no, no, no. You're fine. Go ahead. As I was saying, I think the big thing for the last this next two days is not whether or not the Fed is going to increase rates. They are going to 75 basis points, but it's going to be what they're going to say what's going to happen going forward. So a lot of people, like you just said, think that they're going to not raise rates as much going forward or into 2023. But I think the problem is that what if they don't do that? They've given no indication that they're going to stop raising rates. We still don't have inflation under control. And the Fed seems to think that continually raising rates is going to solve the problem. Personally, I think the problem is the cost of fuel, diesel fuel, gasoline. I think these things are problems. Penetrations policies, unfortunately, have put forth where gas prices have gone up. Diesel prices have gone up. And so everything we buy costs more because of that. And raising rates really isn't going to change the cost of fuel. Which is interesting because, again, they thought it was going to be transitory inflation. These are the same people that didn't predict this happening. Still won't even call it a recession. And as you mentioned, they continue to raise rates, thinking that you keep doing the same thing, that you're going to get a different result. But you mentioned diesel fuel. That's impacting a lot of states around here. How much of an impact do you think that is going to have on the economy if they don't take control of the situation here soon? Well, they're not going to take control of the situation. They haven't. They're not. The energy policies of this administration, unfortunately, have not been kind to the oil industry. So one thing I'd say to people if they're looking and if they really want to invest in something right now, they can invest in oil. Because the prices of oil stocks have just been skyrocketing. Whereas the prices for stock, the overall market, have been trending down for 2022. But you've had an increase in prices rising for a lot of oil stock. So I don't see anything changing right now as long as the administration is in place. And obviously, we're going into the midterms. But the problem is that the next presidential election is two years out. Right. So a lot can happen in the coming weeks and months ahead. Again, midterms coming up Tuesday. But let me ask you, for real Americans right now, I mean, they've seen gas prices go down a little bit. But they're still spending a lot more on everything, double sometimes, in some cases, triple. How do they weather through the storm? What advice do you have for them? Well, I think people just have to weather in the storm, whatever that means. I mean, if it means getting a second-per-time job right now, if it means not contributing as much to the 401k, so they have more take-home pay. I mean, the fact is that people can't stop spending money. These are regular things like gas, food, housing, fuel costs. I mean, everybody needs to pay for these things in order to survive and live. So while you might want to spend less on maybe entertainment or going to vacations in the next 12 months, I really think this is not going to last forever. Again, luckily, we have a presidential election coming up in two years. But it could last a while. It could last for another 12 to 24 months. So people need to be aware of that. I know they said about two years ago that they thought inflation was temporary. They were wrong about that. And so people need to plan ahead accordingly, going into 2023. And take advantage of some things. Like you said, maybe invest in oil if they can. Well, I mean, oil stocks have been rising. So they've been making new highs. The market is nowhere near the highs. And, you know, we're going to close out the year wherever we close out. But it's not going to be near the highs. Any other advice, because, you know, the pendulum always swings and there are some economists out there saying that there are some deals to be had. So for real Americans that want to look at the silver lining there, what should they be taking advantage of right now? Well, right now, nothing. But the deals to be had means keep a keep a positive optimistic attitude. Because even if your 401k has gone down, which everyone's had since the beginning of the year, there will be time to invest again. Personally, I don't think it is right now between now and the end of 2022. I would wait to see what happens with the rushing and praying conflict and wait to see what happens with the midterms and going into the beginning of 2023. But there'll be a time to invest again. And then the market will rise. The market's not going to stay in the same trend it's been for the last 10 months forever. So we'll get a lift and then people will recover from their retirement savings. And again, everyone has a different age point as far as how long they have to invest to wait to ride it up. But the one thing about the market is it can fall fast and it can rise fast. I'd say sit tight right now, but stay optimistic about the future. Melissa, before I let you go, we were talking about politics a little bit earlier. Lee Zeldin now leading Kathy Huckle there for one percentage point, according to recent polls right there, something that we haven't seen happen in New York forever and large part due to the economy. And because of these vaccine mandates, not to mention the migrants that have been shipped to your state. How hopeful are you that Lee Zeldin could win it? I'm really, I'm so hopeful. I mean, let me tell you, first of all, there'd be a big game changer if Lee Zeldin wins for governor. And again, Schumer is running against, you know, Pinion and he actually did really good. Joseph Pinion did really good last night in the debate against Schumer. So, I mean, New York could change. And I'm so glad that people are starting to realize even lifelong Democrats that I know in New York are going to be voting for Zeldin. Remember, Kathy Huckle did not run for governor and win. So, she's not an elected governor of New York. She was appointed after Pomo was put out. So, I mean, I watched the debate. It wasn't on TV, unfortunately, locally. I don't know why, but I didn't watch it live in an app. And she had really no response to anything except for Trump. It was Trump this, Trump this, Trump that, but Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. It was the worst debate I ever saw. All she wanted to do is talk about Trump. These people live in the past. Lee Zeldin has nothing to do with Trump and fixing New York state. And all they want to do is talk about Trump. And if Trump decides to run again in 2024, unfortunately, I think the country is going to be even more divided than it is right now. And then it wasn't 2020 without election. Everybody said, well, Biden is going to come in and Biden is going to bring everyone together. That's what everybody said. And that's what he said, too. But that's not the case. Things have gotten worse economically and people are even more divided. Yeah. And as you said, it's pushed Democrats in that state to now want to vote for Lee Zeldin. So, we'll continue to have the latest results on that again on Real America's Voice next Tuesday. It is going to be interesting to say the least. I'm Melissa Harmo with Stock Swoosh. As always, thank you so much for joining us here on Real America's Voice. Thanks. Coming up after the break.