It Helps Being Dumb

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "It Helps Being Dumb" – Detailed Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Episode: It Helps Being Dumb
• Release Date: April 3, 2025
• Description: The official, On-Demand podcast of The Armstrong & Getty Show! Accept no substitutes!

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Introduction to the Episode

The episode titled "It Helps Being Dumb" delves deep into the complexities of global trade, tariff policies, and the evolving political ideologies shaping the United States' economic landscape. Hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty engage in a spirited discussion, intertwining economic analysis with cultural and political commentary.

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1. The State of Global Trade and Tariffs

Discussion Points: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty begin by examining the current global trade dynamics, focusing on the implications of the globalist economy on the United States. They critique the foundational principles of incurring substantial debt to purchase foreign-manufactured goods, particularly from China.

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty [01:15]: “We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture. That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It's not a recipe for low prices, and it's not a recipe for good jobs in the United States of America.”

• Jack Armstrong [01:28]: “JD Vance is very, very smart. Smart enough to know when being full of crap will sell. There's a fair amount of what he says that's full of crap.”

Analysis: The hosts argue that the sustained trade deficits, particularly with smaller economies, are unsustainable and detrimental to long-term economic health. They challenge J.D. Vance's perspective on trade imbalances, asserting that large markets like the U.S. can manage these deficits, but caution against complacency.

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2. Trump's Tariff Policies: Reciprocal Tariffs and Their Impact

Discussion Points: A significant portion of the conversation centers around President Donald Trump's tariff strategies. Armstrong and Getty dissect the nature of these tariffs, emphasizing their reciprocal design intended to balance the trade scales.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [02:07]: “Tariffs are taxes and when you tax something, you get less of it. Tariffs are taxes. They are 100% taxes.”

• Joe Getty [39:09]: “What we're doing is a rearrangement of global trade. It's time for America to manufacture again. And I think these changes in the stock market, while their initial long term, you've got to assume and medium term and employment based, you're going to see America thrive.”

Analysis: The hosts explain that Trump's tariffs are not merely punitive but are structured to create a more level playing field for American industries. By imposing a 10% baseline tariff on imports deemed as 'bad actors' and retaliating with half the rates imposed by other nations, the policy aims to protect domestic jobs and industries. They acknowledge potential short-term economic disruptions but remain optimistic about long-term benefits.

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3. Wall Street vs. American Workers

Discussion Points: Armstrong and Getty highlight the conflicting interests between Wall Street investors and the broader American workforce. They argue that policies favoring short-term Wall Street gains often undermine long-term economic stability and worker welfare.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [02:45]: “The American economy in the short, medium and long term is often very, very different than what's great for Wall Street.”

• Unknown Speaker [02:52]: “Most of your Wall street companies are worried about this quarter.”

• Jack Armstrong [02:51]: “What is best for the American worker. The American economy in the short, medium and long term is often very, very different than what's great for Wall Street.”

Analysis: The discussion underscores the tension between immediate financial returns favored by Wall Street and the sustained economic health needed by American workers. The hosts express concern that an overemphasis on quarterly earnings and market speculation can lead to policies that sacrifice long-term prosperity for short-term gains.

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4. Progressive Ideology and the Concept of Free Will

Discussion Points: A substantial segment of the episode critiques the progressive worldview, particularly its stance on free will and personal responsibility. Armstrong and Getty argue that attributing success or failure solely to external factors undermines individual accountability.

Notable Quotes:

• Unknown Speaker [23:07]: “They believe that man is morally perfectible. And because of this they believe that there exists some people who are further along the path of moral development and have overcome self-interest.”

• Jack Armstrong [25:05]: “There's some ideas so idiotic only an intellectual could have them.”

• Unknown Speaker [30:02]: “But the whole idea of if you're successful, you didn't do that, you don't get any credit for that is just a good way to destroy society.”

Analysis: The hosts delve into the philosophical underpinnings of progressive thought, drawing on Thomas Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions" to contrast the constrained (conservative) and unconstrained (progressive) perspectives. They argue that the progressive dismissal of free will and personal choices fosters a culture of victimhood and diminishes the incentive for self-improvement and accountability.

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5. Societal Implications of Progressive Thought

Discussion Points: Armstrong and Getty explore the broader societal consequences of progressive ideologies, linking them to increased incidences of school shootings and a general erosion of personal responsibility.

Notable Quotes:

• Unknown Speaker [36:26]: “If you're raising my kids, you raised your kids, I'm sure, in a certain way because you've looked at the outcome of other families who did certain things, and you want your kids to have a better outcome.”

• Unknown Speaker [37:11]: “The whole idea of if you're successful, you didn't, you're, you don't get any credit for that is just a good way to destroy society.”

Analysis: The conversation posits that the progressive emphasis on systemic determinants of personal success leads to a breakdown in societal norms around responsibility and accountability. The hosts suggest that this shift contributes to social unrest and violent behaviors, as individuals feel disconnected from the consequences of their actions.

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6. Economic Predictions and Future Outlook

Discussion Points: Looking ahead, Armstrong and Getty speculate on the future of U.S. economic leadership and global trade structures under current policies. They express skepticism about the sustainability of unilateral tariff measures and the potential for retaliatory actions from trade partners.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [38:44]: “We've made the point a couple of times and we'll dive back into it next hour, that there hasn't been anything close to free trade going on.”

• Joe Getty [39:09]: “It's time for America to manufacture again. And I think these changes in the stock market... you're going to see America thrive.”

Analysis: The hosts project that while Trump's tariff policies may disrupt existing global trade arrangements, they could ultimately reposition the U.S. towards a more self-reliant manufacturing base. However, they caution that the full economic impact remains uncertain, hinging on international responses and the adaptability of American industries.

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7. Cultural Reflections and Anecdotes

Discussion Points: Interspersed with the economic and political analysis are lighter segments addressing cultural phenomena, such as lengthy political speeches, sports records, and humorous takes on societal behaviors.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [16:04]: “Cory Booker just delivered the longest speech in senate history at 25 hours and 5 minutes. Check out the other historically long speeches that knocked off the top of the list.”

• Unknown Speaker [17:02]: “Are you tariff eyed? Is it tariff eyeing?”

Analysis: These segments provide a breather from the intense discussions, showcasing the hosts' ability to blend humor and cultural commentary. They highlight the podcast's dynamic range, balancing serious economic debates with relatable and entertaining topics.

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Armstrong and Getty reiterate the gravity of the current economic policies and their potential long-term effects on both the American economy and global trade systems. They invite listeners to engage with their content, offering avenues for feedback and further discussion.

Final Notable Quote:

• Jack Armstrong [40:31]: “Global trade. Will it work and how much will it hurt? I don't know. I wish I did. If I did, I would tell you.”

Closing Remarks: The hosts emphasize the importance of staying informed and critically evaluating the policies shaping the nation's economic future. They commit to ongoing analysis and dialogue in future episodes, ensuring that listeners remain engaged and educated on these pivotal issues.

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Summary

"It Helps Being Dumb" is a comprehensive exploration of the intricate interplay between global trade policies, domestic economic strategies, and prevailing political ideologies. Through incisive analysis and candid dialogue, Armstrong and Getty provide listeners with a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the United States. Notable for their ability to blend serious discourse with cultural insights, the hosts deliver a thought-provoking episode that encourages critical thinking and informed engagement with contemporary economic and political developments.

Transcript

[Jeremy Scott]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Jeremy Scott]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2, starting April 9th on the iHeartRadio app app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

I think it's useful for all of us to see. Step back and ask us. Ask ourselves, what has the globalist economy gotten the United States of America? And the answer is, fundamentally, it's based on two principles. Incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us. And to make it a little bit more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture. That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It's not a recipe for low prices, and it's not a recipe for good jobs in the United States of America.

[Jack Armstrong]

J.D. vance is very, very smart. Smart enough to know when being full of crap will sell. There's a fair amount of what he says that's full of crap. Trade imbalances don't really matter with individual countries. Just doesn't matter. We're a gigantic market. We're always gonna buy more than we sell to these little countries. It's okay to have a trade imbalance.

[Unknown Speaker]

But having said that, how about the tariff imbalance, though? Somebody explained to me why it's OK Europe to tariff our stuff 40%, but if we come close to tariffing back, it's awful, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

That is.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I'm not saying it's not. I just don't understand why that is the question.

[Jack Armstrong]

Boiled down brilliantly by my partner, Mr. Armstrong.

[Unknown Speaker]

That helps. Being dumb?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it helps to get to the core of the issue as opposed to some of the more fancy arguments that you're hearing. The Wall street types will make much, much, much more money over the next two to eight years with the status quo than if we change the status quo substantially and rejigger all the tariffs and get into a quote, unquote trade war, which I don't actually think is going to happen.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, two to eight years. As we all know, most of your Wall street companies are worried about this quarter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Correct?

[Unknown Speaker]

They're not thinking about two years.

[Jack Armstrong]

What is best for the American worker. The American economy in the short, medium and long term is often very, very different than what's great for Wall Street. And I'm not anti Wall Street. I got a whole bunch of money invested. Trust me, I'm counting on someday retiring from this dead end racket Anyway, so you've got so many competing interests here, which often intersect. If you have a 401k, you don't want to see the market go to hell, catch fire and sink into the ocean. Of course not. On the other hand, a situation in which, for instance, our good pals in the European Union have been hitting us with 39% tariffs on the stuff they let in. They won't even let in lobster and beef and a couple other things at all. And now we're jacking up our horrific tariff against Europe to 20%. They're still at 39% on our goods. In what sense is that starting a trade war? It's not. It's re shaping the playing field in a way that makes Wall street and American corporations very nervous because they can't plan. So they're yelling and saying this is a terrible mistake because it will cost them. They are sincere, but they're not sincere about all of it. If I would love to see the five or so points of view on this, staunchly in favor of it, somewhat in favor of it, kind of neutral, blah, blah, blah, all fed sodium pentothal or a couple of good stiff drinks, make them honest about why they're objecting in the way they're objecting.

[Unknown Speaker]

Should I be concerned that Bernie and Elizabeth Warren and AOC are silent on this topic? Because this tends to be a lefty thing over the years of wanting to get into tariffs. Yeah, well, I mean, politically, you know, your bedfellows. My bedfellows seem to be Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. It's funny. Conservatism is evolving and it's not just toward, quote, unquote, populism. I read a great, great couple of sentences a while ago. I wish I'd had it tattooed on my arm that the reason, one of the reasons for the rise of Trump was that working America had gotten nothing but condescension and judgment, no doubt, and dependency from the Democrats and nothing but false promises from conservatives. All those steel workers and car workers and, you know, washing machine workers and blah, blah, blah, who are placed out of jobs because you can make it cheaper in South Africa or Malaysia or wherever. They got false promises. Now the Rising tide did lift all boats some, but some boats much, much, much more. So now Trump comes along and says, no, we're going to serve the American people, not the giant American corporations. How does that contrast, by the way, with the whole millionaires and billionaires? Trump is here for the billionaires, right?

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, yeah, I was going to mention the New York Times today, one of their side headlines around this, and this is a giant story, this whole tariff thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this is huge, enormous importance. You can't exaggerate how important this is.

[Unknown Speaker]

But one of their analysis pieces, Trump's tariffs are latest sign of his second term appetite for risk. He is not taking the soft, easy way to glide through four years of being president and try to stay popular at all. I mean, this is really laying it on the line. Another angle of this whole tariff thing and restructuring the global economy. I've heard this from a couple of places, which I've always been bothered by the concept of jobs. Americans won't do. That just rubs me the wrong way for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I've done a lot of really, really crappy jobs. And I never thought it was beneath me to do those jobs. I, you know, I structured my life in so such a way that I wouldn't have to keep doing those jobs.

[Jack Armstrong]

Those jobs motivated everything I have become.

[Unknown Speaker]

But the idea that we're too good for those jobs just seems like a recipe. It's just, you know, I'm a big fan of the French Revolution. It's got a bit of a Louis the 16th culture to it of, you know, we don't have to do certain things and you just keep getting poorer and poorer.

[Jack Armstrong]

And how big a fan of the French Revolution are you? I mean, if I like dissent, am I going to get the, you know, the old chopper Rooney?

[Unknown Speaker]

Whatever it takes. Okay, but then this angle that I've heard a number of times recently as I've listened to a ton of podcasts on this, there's a piece in the Financial Times today by this guy, Michael Strain. We should not be wishing for American workers to return to the days of sewing tennis shoes together in factories. So, like, if you got Nike to come to the United States or Converse came back to the United States like they had been, that that would be a horror because you'd have Americans sewing shoes in factories.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no. Americans should be in cubicles typing into computers for low wages. That is what God has ordained. Yes, that's that point of view which I find very odd.

[Unknown Speaker]

And if converse through, if through the restructuring of the world. Converse decides they need to be back in the United States. Well they're gonna have to pay workers whatever they gotta pay em to get them to show up, which is the way it is with the fast food industry and your cubicle job and everything else. I just, I don't understand the horror there.

[Jack Armstrong]

And again, getting back to the reciprocal tariff idea as you look at the chart and we'll post an easy link to [e-mail] if you want to look at what the other countries around the world are charging us in tariffs and what these new discounted reciprocal tariffs are going to be on their goods, you'll see A, that it's very reasonable and B, that's not the end point. What the end point is gonna be and it might be in like a week or two or it might be in six months or it might be in a year or two years, I don't know. This is a passing through point on the way to the post, Post World War II trade norms, in my opinion. Here's what the Wall Street Journal said. Their panties are like in a wad then bronzed, encased in amber and coated with steel. It's the most wadded panties in the history of mankind.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's the, what do you call? It's a wedgie. It's the atomic wedge. You pull a clip over their head.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Forbidden by the Geneva Convention. President Trump unveiled his new Liberation Day tariffs on Wednesday. And they are another large step toward a new old era of trade protectionism. Assuming the policy sticks, and we hope it doesn't, the effort amounts to an attempt to remake the US economy in the world training trading system. All details aren't clear as we write this, but Mr. Trump's tariffs look reciprocal in name only. First, he's hitting every nation in the world with a 10% baseline tariff to sell in the US market. For those he calls bad actors. He's adding up the tariff rates on US goods plus an arbitrary estimate of the cost of its currency manipulation and non tariff barriers. I don't think it's entirely arbitrary, but he then takes the total number and applies half that in tariffs on the country's exports to the US so if they charge us 49%, we charge them 24%. That doesn't seem that insane. Then they go into some of the details not worth sharing because we've done it. Here are the main points. New economic. Oh, let's consider some of the consequences already emerging in this new protectionist stage. And again, I question whether charging them Half of what they charge us is quote unquote protectionist new economic risks and uncertainty. The overall economic impact of Mr. Trump's tariff barrage is unknowable, not least because we don't know how countries will react. Could be widespread retaliation. There won't be. I don't think there will be. There will certainly be higher costs for American consumers and businesses. Tariffs are taxes and when you tax something, you get less of it. Tariffs are taxes. They are 100% taxes. That is correct. On imports. So we will get fewer imports until the tariff rates adjust again and then we get more exports. Theoretically, car prices will rise by thousands of dollars, including those made in America. That's correct. Mr. Trump is making deliberate decision to transfer wealth from consumers to businesses and workers protected from competition behind high tariff walls. Overall, this over time, this will mean the gradual erosion of US Competitiveness. It will harm American exports. One long term US Trade goal is to expand markets for American goods and services. Mr. Trump's unilateral tariffs blow up those arrangements and invite retaliation. In what sense are they unilateral? I honestly. And if I'm missing something significant, please drop us an email mailbagarmstrongandgetti.com I would much rather be corrected and eat crow than to be bellowing something that is wrong on the air. So feel free. [e-mail] or if you'd prefer to text 415295 kftc he makes or the Wall Street Journal makes a couple other broad points and I'll just hit those very quickly after a word from our friends at Prize Picks. Greatest way to turn your knowledgeable expert sports opinions into cache money.

[Unknown Speaker]

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[Jack Armstrong]

It's super easy. Just pick more or less on at least two player stat projections. Say nah, he'll hit more than that. He'll make more than that, you know, in three pointers, whatever, and you can win up to a thousand times your cash. Again. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use that code Armstrong. Get 50 $50 instantly after you play a $5 lineup. You don't have to win. You get it automatically. Prize picks, run your game. All right, here are the other main points. This, and some of this is. Is persuasive. Like I said before, this is complicated stuff. And there are some. Some harms. Absolutely. That this will cause that will be disruptive, at least in the short term. A bigger Washington swamp. Tariffs impose costs that businesses will want to avoid. This. Thus this will be a windfall for Beltway lobbyists as companies and countries seek exemptions from this or that border tax. Trump says there will be no tariff exemptions. But watch that promise vanish as politicians, including Mr. Trump, see exemptions as a way to leverage campaign contributions from business. Liberation Day is buy another yacht day for the swamp. And it will be the end of US economic leadership. The share of global GDP has been stable at about 25% for decades, even as industries rise and fall. That era is now ending as Mr. Trump adopts a more mercantile vision of trade and US self interest. Don't bother you. Look it up if you want. The result is likely to be every nation for itself as countries seek to carve up global markets based not on market efficiency, but for political advantage. In the worst case, the world trading system could devolve into a beggar thy neighbor policy, as in the 1930s. And they say this will also be a major opportunity for China.

[Unknown Speaker]

You know, I'm gonna use that as a measuring stick over the years. You're right. We have been about a quarter of the world's GD quite a while now. Where will we be five years from now, ten years from now? That'll be an interesting way to look at it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, we need to take a break, but there's more to be said, and we will say it. And you will take your input. Yeah, your.

[Unknown Speaker]

Your input at text line 415295K.

[Jack Armstrong]

FTC Armstrong and Getty.

[Jeremy Scott]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Jeremy Scott]

Long, silent voices from his past came.

[Gilbert King]

Forward, and he was just staring at me.

[Jeremy Scott]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Gilbert King]

Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Jeremy Scott]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Jeremy Scott]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Gilbert King]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

[Jeremy Scott]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content starting April 9th. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

Cory Booker just delivered the longest speech in senate history at 25 hours and 5 minutes. Check out the other historically long speeches that knocked off the top of the list. Senator strom Thurmond in 1957. Your dad after he found weed in your sock drawer. Your co worker telling you about a dream they had last night. Adrian Brody accepting the Oscar for Best actor. Every group of bridesmaids whose speech starts.

[Unknown Speaker]

With, for those of you who don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Know us, we're Becca's best friends from growing up. Any person over 50, when you ask them for directions. The waiter reciting the specials when you already know you're just getting the burger. And Joe Biden saying one sentence. There you go. That's pretty good. Now he holds the record.

[Unknown Speaker]

Those are really good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Boy, that Cory Booker idiotic stunt gotten zero attention. Hilarious.

[Unknown Speaker]

The bridesmaid. For those of you who don't know, we've been best friends. And here comes the long story. Oh, boy. It's not for me, it's for them. It's their day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure.

[Unknown Speaker]

So I'll just think about something else while they tell this story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, I will.

[Unknown Speaker]

So let me run through a couple of things for you in our limited time. In this segment, Kanye west confirms split from his wife Bianca after his disturbing rants, which Joe mentioned the other day. If you haven't watched him, he did an interview in a full Ku Klux.

[Jack Armstrong]

Klan outfit, but black instead of white.

[Unknown Speaker]

The pointy hood and everything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did the interview through the mask. So it was wrong like this. And the interview guy had to be thinking, dude, I get it, all right? You're outrageous. Take off the mask. This is audio. It sounds terrible.

[Unknown Speaker]

Anyway, so his wife has taken off. He says he's tracking her on it. On her. On his app. He's tracking her and she ran away. Okay, so there's that. Another New York poster had her chipped like a dog. Well, you know, you probably do. Maybe you do this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know.

[Unknown Speaker]

But, you know, like, you share your location with your Spouse, absolutely. Sons, whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. But I just thought she'd have turned it off.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. New York Post headline, another one dog breaks Guinness world record for a number of tennis balls in mouth at once. I didn't know that was a record. The question is, does the dog know he was breaking a record? This dog has looks to be like five tennis balls in his mouth.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good boy.

[Unknown Speaker]

Good boy. We've set a world record. Congratulations. And I had another one I wanted to get on. Oh, this high school baseball player who. Whose name happens to be Jack Bauer, if you're old enough to remember the TV show 24. He wears the number 24 on his jersey because his name is Jack Bauer. I'm sure his jersey parents had to tell him about this because he was born after that show was on. But he's a high school kid and he throws 102 miles an hour.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Unknown Speaker]

And. Yeah. And he's like, everybody's paying attention to him. Obviously he had a game Tuesday. His fastball averaged between 97 and 101 in the Tuesday game.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Unknown Speaker]

As a high school player, you got to be thinking, can I just. Can we just. Do they have a thing where I can just forfeit my bat? Bat. So I don't take one in the head if he happens to lose it?

[Jack Armstrong]

I would be at the far back outside corner of the batter's box, covering myself up, saying, dude, you're either going to throw three strikes or four balls first. I'm either going to head to the bench or first base. Go ahead. I'm not going to be killed today.

[Unknown Speaker]

One other sport thing, you know. So I was at my son's volleyball game last night. Real volleyball, where you have, Howard, eight people on each side, that is so much more entertaining than the two person beach volleyball. I don't care what anybody says. Regular volleyball is really exciting.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they're not sexy babes wearing thongs.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right? So that's the thing. They're not bikinis. So it'll never be an Olympic sport that anybody pays any attention to.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we need to revisit the Ezra Klein progressive view of life that we touched on yesterday. And we've got some great reaction to that via email. More tariff talk, including. I meant to throw in, speaking for myself. There's no question this is terrible for me in the short term, financially speaking.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, it's awful. So believe me, I'm not touting this because I think it'll help me. Armstrong and Getty.

[Jeremy Scott]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Jeremy Scott]

Long, silent voices from his past came.

[Gilbert King]

Forward and he was just staring at me.

[Jeremy Scott]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Gilbert King]

Gilbert King I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Jeremy Scott]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Jeremy Scott]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

[Jeremy Scott]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content starting April 9th. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

You can see now that we are.

[Jeremy Scott]

In a pre Civil War culture now, but I look at the politics of it, of where people are in this country today and the division and how they're holding fast and no one's going to falter, no one's going to break or compromise and it's bad.

[Unknown Speaker]

Hands up, Weak hands up. Don't shoot. That's Alec Baldwin saying, we're in a pre Civil War culture. So I hope, I hope he's wrong about that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'll grow my beard out. I don't. I don't know what to do, Alec.

[Unknown Speaker]

But we are quite polarized and nobody's giving and I don't know that I feel like it's improving any, but I've always been interested in the how people grow up with a lefty view of the world. You go up with a conservative view of the world and just they're so different and what causes that and all that different sort of thing. But we were talking yesterday about this interview I heard with Ezra Klein at the New York Times in which he was asked to describe the lefty point of view and to summarize it fairly succinctly, and it made me scream out loud in my bedroom, oh, you've got to effing be kidding. Because he got into the whole look, life is unfair and people have different advantages. Where you're born, how smart you're, who your parents were how, you know, blah blah, blah, the kind of school you went to do. So if you're successful, you didn't do that, you didn't build that, the famous Obama thing. And, and so the job of the government is to try to, you know, you can't get perfect outcomes, but the job of the government is try to level that out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Unknown Speaker]

I thought, okay, yeah. How so who's going to make those decisions? First of all you, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And gosh, who's going to end up really benefiting from the power to make those decisions? Golly, I can't even guess.

[Unknown Speaker]

And always my thing. Nobody ever throws in personal choices, decisions you've made throughout your life for how you ended up where you were. It's just you were born in the right town and your parents were this or that. My parents weren't rich by the way. But whatever ventures have, nobody gives you any credit or discredit for life choices.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And we talked about how, as laid out so beautifully by Thomas Sowell in his book A Conflict of Visions, you got what he calls the constrained vision of mankind, which is essentially more conservative. It relies heavily on the belief that human nature is essentially unchanging and that man is naturally inherently self interested regardless of the best intentions. And those with a constrained vision prefer the systematic processes of the rule of law. And the experience of traditional compromise is essential because there are no ideal solutions, only trade offs. On the other hand, the unconstrained or progressive as reclined point of view, it relies heavily on the belief that human nature is essentially good. Those with unconstrained visions distrust decentralized processes like the free market and are impatient with large institutions and systemic processes that constrain human action. They believe there is an ideal solution to every problem and that compromise is never acceptable. Collateral damage is merely the price of moving forward the road to perfection. And the best part, Saul often refers to them as the self anointed. Ultimately they believe that man is morally perfectible. And because of this they believe that there exists some people who are further along the path of moral development and have overcome self interest. That's what Ezra Klein would tell you. And are immune to the influence of power and therefore can act as surrogate decision makers for the rest of us. Which is. I can't decide whether to vomit or guffaw.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, yeah, that's hilarious, that notion. So yeah, I buy the view that even If I agree 100% that successful people didn't earn that. It's just, you know, circumstances I don't believe at all that the government could have a role in trying to fix that situation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Right. Now, if somebody is blind or different thing. Yeah, developmentally disabled, autistic, whatever. That's an entirely different question. So we got a couple of interesting reactions via email. Mailbagarmstrongetti.com is the email address. If you ever want to react to anything. Keep it short if you can, but Dan, who says he signs off your backyard, California. Get the hell out of my backyard, Dan. You'll be shot. All right.

[Unknown Speaker]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, he said, as mentioned earlier, if you read one of my emails in your life, this is the one I want you to be aware of. Ezra didn't say it outright, but he's addressing your point about people's life decisions when he says life is unfair. Here's the scary, crazy point he's not saying out loud because it would make him sound like a lunatic. He does not believe in free will. Trust me. My brother and his girlfriend are liberal and highly educated. And when having a friendly political debate with me, they spat out Ezra's crazy worldview almost word for word. And when I brought up your point that everyone makes decisions in life that greatly affects their outcomes, they defended their position with this. There's a crazy, almost Marxist ideology going around with progressives right now that we did not make our own decisions. It was all predetermined or destined.

[Unknown Speaker]

See, I've never heard this. This is. I'm glad this is being brought to my attention.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have heard mostly people of a progressive bent saying there is no free will. It's an illusion because we are our genetic selves and it's all okay, so.

[Unknown Speaker]

What am I supposed to do with that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, exactly. Yeah, you bottom lined it for me. So I guess my genetics were be young, impulsive and not a big fan of rules and make a series of bad decisions from which I learned and then started to make much better decisions. But that was all predetermined, I guess, anyway. Oh, they straight up said to me I just got lucky and that every so called decision I made in my life was predetermined. If you think about it for a little bit, you'll realize how sick and horrible this ideology is. Imagine they're able to convince more and more people that, quote, you don't need to feel guilty about your decisions. You don't need to try to make good decisions because it was always going to happen this way. Then maybe I would shut down my business right now because that's not actually a decision. It was always going to be happening. Always going to happen.

[Unknown Speaker]

I assume many of us have had this free will discussion or heard it or whatever, but I mean, like today I'm either gonna decide to stick to my diet or I'm gonna say screw it and eat a bunch of donuts. And you're telling me that's predetermined? I'm not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, you have no say. Keep your eyes open. As this sick philosophy spreads more and more amongst young people. I'm 36. My brother is 38. So we're not even the young generation that is susceptible to this crazy ideology. But it's spreading all right then. We got this from frequent correspondence.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, obviously that's fantastic if you're on the Ezra Klein side of things, because then that you the go ahead to have the tremendous government intervention to try to even things out. Because nobody's responsible for their success or their lack of success. So redistribution only makes sense.

[Jack Armstrong]

And while the Ezra clients of the world are exercising the stunning, unimaginable power of making everything equal by manipulating everything, they'll also carve off a certain percent for themselves. Happens every single time, says I.

[Unknown Speaker]

Who's the richest person in Venezuela? Hugo Chavez's daughter. Imagine that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, so JT in Livermore writes, Ezra's worldview about progressives is total horse spit. If he really cares about how unequal different people's lives are, he should ask himself why he doesn't give away all his money and wealth and possessions that exceed 8, $360. The median American net worth is $192,000. The median human net worth is $8,300. I say those bleeding heart liberals need to first put their own money where their mouth is. Start by example. You're in the upper half of people in the world that have more than median value. And so you should give all the rest to the UN to distribute to those who have less than you. It is the exact same horse spit virtue signaling that rich liberals are always spouting but failing to lead by example. Respect to tax rates. Nothing is keeping Bill Gates or Warren Buffett or Nancy Pelosi or Bernard Sanders from writing a big fat check to the U.S. treasury to cover their proposed we tax or a big fat check equal to the higher tax rate that they think is fair for somebody of their wealth or income. But the next time I hear about a wealthy liberal writing an extra check to the US treasury in support of their stated belief that the wealthy should pay more in taxes, it will be the first time. Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Hey, Ezra, do you fly first class? I'm guessing you do. Why don't you fly coach and give that money to that guy sitting outside the airport begging for money? I mean, you didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And finally, listening to Ezra speak, it sounded exactly like the Marxists taking equity, talking equity. And that equity is just the latest iteration of something that stuck to the wall. They don't believe any of what they say. It's just the latest method they can think to justify their side. I would say that's true, jt. It brings us back to the discussion Jack and I always have. Are the people we're talking about, the activists who know precisely what they're doing or they're at least driving the train? Or are they the nice dopey people who hear that moral argument about, no, those people aren't like, don't make bad decisions or their culture doesn't reward learning or whatever. They've just been unlucky? Well, I think to be a good person, I need to adhere to that point of view.

[Unknown Speaker]

I know smart people, really smart people smarter than me, people that believe what you just said actually believe it, proving.

[Jack Armstrong]

Once again, intelligence is not wisdom.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's hard for me to wrap my head around. And then there's the whole cultural thing of if you believe in decisions that you will, you believe, you make decisions, that they aren't preordained, the way it affects culture. You know, I'm raising my kids. You raised your kids, I'm sure, in a certain way because you've looked at the outcome of other families who did certain things, and you want your kids to have a better outcome. So, you know, and I tell my kids all the time, people that do this end up with this. People that do this end up with this. And so you get a better result from society when people are observing these decisions.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, In a hundred different ways, including much less crime, for instance.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, it's wild. Is this a new thing? I mean, I know it's not entirely new. It's been around since the beginning of philosophy, but is this a new thing among the American left to talk about? These are preordained decisions.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it's a new version of that argument. The really interesting thing that nobody ever talks about is that if you had that point of view prior to FDR's presidency, you would die of starvation.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Going back to the dawn of effing man. Sorry, folks, I'm adamant about this stuff. It's only because of the modern welfare state that you can indulge yourself and.

[Unknown Speaker]

Think this crap right. 80 years old.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, the lefties, they love to talk about, like our native peoples, the native tribes, they shared equally. They shared the game that they caught and the fish and the food and the labor. They shared. And because they were nomads, they didn't particularly accumulate material goods either, which is probably good. But anyway, what they always leave out is that if you didn't contribute equally, you were killed or left to starve. Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

The idea that you could decide, you know what, going to drink firewater and sit under this shade tree all day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Long, because that's all predetermined. I'm just less lucky than you, chief.

[Unknown Speaker]

And they'll share equally with you is hilarious.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's absolutely laughable. The crazy ass ideas that people grasp. To quote Thomas Sowell again, there's some ideas so idiotic only an intellectual could have them.

[Unknown Speaker]

I had the same belief when I was poor, by the way. I really did.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah? Yeah. I remember hearing about the progressive income tax rates in high school as a kid wearing hand me down clothes. I thought everybody pays 10%, so of course people who make more money pay more. That's what a percentage is. But no, my teacher explained to me, no, no, no, no, no, no. The, the quote unquote wealthy, the rich, whatever, they pay a much higher percentage. And sitting there in my hand me down clothes, I thought that's wrong.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, so that ain't going away. But yeah, the whole idea of if you're successful, you didn't, you're, you don't get any credit for that is just a good way to destroy society.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep.

[Unknown Speaker]

Wow, that's horrifying. You can comment that. Text line. 415295 KFTC.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jeremy Scott]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Jeremy Scott]

Long silent voices from his past came.

[Gilbert King]

Forward and he was just staring at me.

[Jeremy Scott]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Gilbert King]

Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Jeremy Scott]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer bone.

[Jeremy Scott]

Valley Season 2 Jeremy Jeremy, I want.

[Jack Armstrong]

To tell you something.

[Jeremy Scott]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content starting April 9th. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Unknown Speaker]

Are you tariff eyed? Is it tariff eyeing? We've got some tariff of a way to look at the whole thing in just a second.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's the no good, horrible, terrible day. More on that to come. Stay with us. Plus one of our favorite clips of 2024 has at long last been turned into a song, a remix of some sort.

[Unknown Speaker]

So what we needed.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's ridiculous, but kind of funny. So stay with us for that. Just a follow up to our previous discussion, then I swear I will shut up about all this and if you didn't hear it, grab the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand. We were talking about the progressive worldview and how you didn't build that and it's luck and blah blah blah. The other unholy side of that coin. During the break, we were talking about a horrific shooting in a pharmacy where a disgruntled guy killed some poor pharmacy worker who's just there to make a living job they probably didn't love.

[Unknown Speaker]

As Jack said, they might hate Big Pharma as much as you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly. That guy believed his crappy life was not his fault and that he was a victim of people and forces that control him. That is the other side of that philosophy. You want to know why there are school shooters now and there never were before, including when every kid had a rifle in his gun rack in his pickup truck at school in the country, at least it's because of that change in the culture. There might not be a more corrosive and horrifying philosophy on earth than you're not responsible for you.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, it should be considered child abuse to teach your kid that, but failure's not your fault.

[Jack Armstrong]

End of rant.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, that is troubling. Anyway, so it is the whole tariff thing today. This is worth talking about a lot, cuz it's a huge, huge deal for the whole planet and how it works out, we don't know. Nobody knows. Trump has been. He's had a theory on this his whole life and we'll see how it turns out. Anyway, here's Howard Lutnick, who's one of Trump's big financial advisors, being interviewed about it today.

[Jack Armstrong]

If the market here in the US opens at 9am and things head south. Is there a red line for you pulling back and saying, ok, hold on, we're going to rethink things?

[F]

No, I mean, come on, the markets, when Donald Trump was the president last time he put on tariffs and if you go back and look at that news, everybody said oh my gosh, oh my gosh. And the stock market, as you heard him say yesterday, up 88% during his presidency. So what you've got to realize is sure there's going to be some short term movement, but this is a reordering of global trade. It's time for America to manufacture again. And I think these, these changes in the stock market, while their initial long term, you've got to assume and medium term and employment based, you're going to see America thrive. Interest rates are going to come down, as we said, and America is going to thrive. And that's what Donald Trump is about. He's about employing Americans, building in America and having Americans be the winners.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

That's why I started the show with, in my opinion, any, any analysis of this that's going to lean on what the stock market did today. Come on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, especially because the stock market is rife with speculation. It's like the NFT craze. Nobody wanted a dumb ape yacht society or whatever it was nft. It was pure speculation and a lot of stock market is too. JD Vance I don't think we have time or do we have. Yeah, play 57 for us. Michael.

[Joe Getty]

What I'd ask folks to appreciate here is that we are not going to fix things overnight. Joe Biden left us. This is not an exaggeration, Lawrence. With the largest peacetime debt and deficit in the history of the United States of America with sky high interest rates. You don't fix that stuff overnight. We know people are struggling. We're fighting as quickly as we can to fix what was left to us. But it's not going to happen immediately. But we really do believe that if we pursue the right deregulation, we pursue those energy cost reducing policies. Yes, people are going to see it in their pocketbook. They're also going to benefit from the fact that foreign countries can't take advantage of us anymore. That means their jobs are going to be more secure.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you're just tuning in, we've made the point a couple of times and we'll dive back into it next hour, that there hasn't been anything close to free trade going on. The free traders are saying this is a trade war. Trump has started. The other countries around the world have, to either a greater or lesser extent, been tariffing the hell out of American goods for the longest time. And you know what? In the wake of World War II, when we stood astride the economy of the globe like a colossus, I get that they needed help.

[Unknown Speaker]

We needed to sell our stuff to someone.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Exactly 70 years down the line. Now it is time for a fundamental restructuring. Global trade. Will it work and how much will it hurt? I don't know. I wish I did. If I did, I would tell you.

[Unknown Speaker]

But we're not going to find out in the first couple hours.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Unknown Speaker]

There's a new book out about the end of the Biden presidency by a respected reporter. Did an interview today. We got some of the highlights on that coming up. Boy, Barack Obama did not think much of Kamala Harris. Is one of the headlines.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jeremy Scott]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Gilbert King]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Jeremy Scott]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Gilbert King]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Jeremy Scott]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2, starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.