My Food Stance Is Shoulder Width & Bent Over At The Waist

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand — “My Food Stance Is Shoulder Width & Bent Over At The Waist”

Date: January 28, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode features Armstrong & Getty’s signature blend of sharp social commentary, dry humor, and stream-of-consciousness banter, covering a range of topics from a recent attack on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, weight loss drug controversies, labor and automation, food stamp complexities, deflation in China, and the pitfalls of clickbait culture. Notable both for its serious conversations and irreverent asides, the episode explores how modern politics, economics, and society intersect (and sometimes implode).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ilhan Omar Attack & Political Violence

• Incident Recap: The hosts discuss news of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar being sprayed with a substance during a public appearance.

• Personal Reactions:

  • Jack marvels at Omar’s calm reaction and connects it to other global attacks involving acid or nerve agents ([01:34]).
  • Joe notes the dangerous normalization of violence at public political events, referencing other attacks (e.g., on Trump, Kavanaugh) ([02:27], [04:44]).

  Jack Armstrong (01:34): “She’s taking steps toward him…with her fist cocked. Not backing away—she’s going toward the guy, ready to punch him.”

• Speculation & Scepticism:

  • Jack and Joe debate conspiracy theories suggesting the attack was staged for political gain, emphasizing such accusations are harmful ([02:32], [04:01]).

  Jack Armstrong (04:12): “If people had said [Trump] staged a second assassination [attempt] just to get more sympathy, I’d have thought that was abhorrent for people to say that.”

• Wider Context:

  • Discussion about increased disruptions at town halls and press conferences, leading many congresspeople to stop holding these events due to safety risks ([05:24]).

2. Security and Simplisafe Ad-Lib

• The conversation transitions humorously from public safety to residential security, with Jack and Joe giving a personal and comical endorsement for SimpliSafe’s AI-powered home security. The segment is woven seamlessly with banter ([08:23]–[09:38]).

3. Sports & Public Meltdowns

• Coco Gauff Incident:
  • Jack brings up seeing tennis star Coco Gauff smashing her racket at the Australian Open, highlighting the emotional pressure faced by athletes ([09:49]).
  • Joe offers a tongue-in-cheek headline:

    Joe Getty (10:18): “My headline is Overheated Coco. How do you like that?”

4. Weight Loss Drugs Lawsuits & Side Effects

• Scale of Use: 12% of U.S. adults (~31 million people) are on GLP-1 weight loss drugs ([11:48]).

• Side Effects: The hosts recount high-profile adverse effects, including blindness, weeks of vomiting, and one case where a woman’s colon ruptured while driving ([12:02]).

• Plaintiffs' Lawsuits:

  • Allegations center on inadequate warning of rare but significant side effects (gastroparesis, ileus).
  • Jack is skeptical about overreaction to rare incidents, arguing our society is quick to yank products over one tragedy ([14:30]).

  Jack Armstrong (14:30): “If they’re seriously a problem, we need to know that. But…we find one crib death…and the crib gets pulled from the market.”

• Lifelong Treatment: The drugs are meant as ongoing treatments for a “disease,” not quick weight-loss fixes ([16:00]).

• Set Point Theory: The ever-present struggle with body weight’s natural set point is discussed—Joe and Jack both note how quickly their bodies revert if they let up ([16:49]).

5. Foreign Affairs: Iran, Venezuela, and China

• Middle East Tensions:
  • Concerns about Iran’s more aggressive posturing, with Trump and Rubio’s commentary referenced ([17:18]–[18:15]).
• Job Cuts at UPS and Amazon:
  • UPS announces more layoffs due to automation and the winding down of their Amazon partnership. Joe blames high Teamster contracts for hastening automation, while Jack recalls enjoying extravagant Teamsters benefits at UPS ([18:52]–[20:28]).
  • Amazon’s own failure with their “Fresh” grocery experiment and subsequent workforce reduction is also discussed ([21:03]–[22:31]).
• Automation Trend: Both hosts agree: technology would have replaced these jobs eventually; economic pressures just accelerated the shift ([22:47]–[23:07]).

6. Food Stamps, SNAP, and Defining “Candy” vs. Necessity

• What Should Assistance Buy?:

  • A new debate: Should gourmet coffee or high-end items be allowed via SNAP/EBT?
  • Jack’s take ([24:49]):

    “If somebody says ‘would you like some candy’…and they hand you a cookie, you'd say what the hell.”

  • Some states are now moving to restrict sodas and junk food, but the laws are inconsistent, producing bizarre distinctions (e.g., Gatorade restricted but not tubs of ice cream) ([26:01]).

• Personal Stance:

  • The title of the episode comes from Joe’s joking non-answer when Jack asks for his “food stance”:

    Joe Getty (25:06): “My stance is shoulder width, bent forward at the waist.”

  • Jack admits, only half-joking, that he doesn’t think food assistance should cover luxury or sugary items:

    Jack Armstrong (25:23): “I don’t think you should be buying gourmet coffee or pop or candy with your ‘here’s some help from the taxpayers because you’re starving’.”

7. China’s Deflation & Population Collapse

• Deflation Explained:

  • Jack asks for a layman’s description; Joe explains how falling prices create a negative feedback loop: people delay buying, layoffs increase, and spending contracts further ([28:47]–[29:39]).

  • Jack Armstrong (29:39): “It’s the mirror image of the inflation spiral…”

• Gordon Chang’s Analysis:

  • Gordon Chang (played clip, [30:10]):

    “China will lose probably two thirds to three quarters of its population by the end of the century…no country has ever undergone a demographic collapse like this. Not even Europe during the Black Death.”

  • Jack and Joe ponder what Xi Jinping’s legacy will be as China struggles with these tectonic long-term challenges ([31:02]–[32:57]).

8. Clickbait Culture, Sydney Sweeney & “News”

• Jack is exasperated by how clickbait (e.g., headlines about actress Sydney Sweeney) is seeping into legitimate news coverage, pleading with listeners not to reward it ([35:27]–[36:27]).

  Jack Armstrong (35:39): “If you see a headline ‘Sydney Sweeney Arrested in Hot Fit Too Hot for Blush’—don’t click on it. Please, please don’t click on it. You’re making things worse.”

  Joe Getty (36:27): “You want a Sydney Sweeney filter.”

• California Post vs. New York Post:

  • Jack applauds the rise of the California Post to cover West Coast news seriously, as he feels LA is badly underreported compared to New York ([36:29]).

9. Therapy, AI & the Future of Self-Help

• Jokes about the prevalence of people using ChatGPT as a therapist lead to a deeper question: can AI offer the kind of perspective that traditional therapy does? Both see value in AI as a research tool and perspective aggregator ([33:33]–[34:44]).

  Jack Armstrong (34:31): “If you went to the bookstore…found the top five publications on your particular thing and did some research, nobody would think that was weak…But if it’s compiled by a chatbot, it’s kind of weird.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Political Violence:

  Jack Armstrong (02:32): “To immediately jump to the ‘this is fake’ card is probably not good. Well, I know it’s not good.”

• On SNAP Restrictions:

  Jack Armstrong (24:49): “If somebody says would you like some candy and you say yes and they hand you a cookie, you’d say what the hell.”

• On Clickbait:

  Jack Armstrong (35:27): “Please don’t fall for Sydney Sweeney clickbait…Don’t use your algorithm…It ruins news.”

• On Automation & Labor:

  Joe Getty (20:28): “Wait a minute, I can replace monkey boy here with a machine. Will never complain and always shows up.”

• Joe on Food Stance:

  Joe Getty (25:06): “My stance is shoulder width, bent forward at the waist.”

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Key Timestamps

• 00:55 — Gordon Chang and the Ilhan Omar incident
• 02:32 — Trump’s comments and the danger of conspiracy speculation
• 05:24 — Congress abandoning public events due to safety
• 12:02 — Weight loss drug lawsuits and side effects
• 16:00 — Weight loss drugs as lifelong treatments
• 17:18 — Middle East military tensions and Marco Rubio
• 18:52 — UPS and Amazon mass layoffs/automation
• 23:14 — SNAP debate: is a cookie “candy”?
• 25:06 — Joe’s “food stance”
• 26:01 — State-by-state restrictions on specific foods
• 28:47 — Deflation in China explained
• 30:10 — Gordon Chang: China’s population collapse
• 35:27 — Clickbait and Sydney Sweeney
• 36:29 — Launch of the California Post

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Tone & Style

The tone throughout is fast, sardonic, and conversational with liberal use of dry (sometimes dark) humor. Joe and Jack blend pop culture, political cynicism, and economic skepticism, making even technical topics like deflation accessible and fun.

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For New Listeners

If you missed the episode:

• The conversation bounced briskly from political violence to AI therapy to food stamps and global economics, always returning to the hosts’ core themes of common sense, skepticism, and comedic commentary on cultural absurdities.
• The “food stance” of “shoulder width, bent forward at the waist” is a punchline, emblematic of the show’s playful irreverence.

Skip the Sydney Sweeney clickbait, but don’t skip this episode if you want a fast-moving, unvarnished take on the week’s headlines!

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

[Joe Getty]

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. And DHS secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment. I don't know. Oh, my God, he's spraying. I need. I need a napkin. To know nothing. No, we will continue.

[Gordon Chang]

No, no.

[Joe Getty]

We won't continue this.

[Jack Armstrong]

That might be the clip of the year. I need a napkin.

[Joe Getty]

I appreciated the one gal in the background who was kind of doing a play by play because sometimes it's tough to. That's a nat sound, natural sound, what we call, you know, when a news event happens and there's a gal in the background saying, oh my God, he sprayed her with something and it smells terrible. So it's like, oh, that must be somebody getting sprayed with something that smells terrible. Excellent. Yeah. Ilhan Omar calling for Christy Gnomes head on a platter, metaphorically speaking. And some Yoho gets up and sprays.

[Jack Armstrong]

Her with something or other, walks up to her, gets awfully close to her and sprays her with something, which is damn scary because there's a syringe. Yeah, damn scary, though. I mean, it's happened around the world where people have been sprayed with, you know, acid. That happened to old Navalny before he was murdered by Putin. But nerve agent, nerve agents, acids, there's all kinds of bad stuff that, you know, can do. I, I was surprised how calmly she took it. I mean, I mean, she, you know, she. She's grown up differently than I have. She grew up in a different culture than I did. And I don't know what her childhood was like or whatever, but I mean, she. Somebody grabs the dude immediately. A number of people grabbed the dude, but she's taking steps toward him, toward the guy with her fist cocked. Not like backing away. Where's. Where's my protection? She's going toward the guy, ready to punch him while he's being held.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, she reacted very coolly to it. Yeah, perhaps too coolly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, boy. So Trump told ABC News, what do you think about what happened with Ilhan Omar? Trump said, I don't think about her at all. I think she's a fraud. She probably had herself sprayed. Knowing her, that's what Trump told abc. I don't like that at all. Because we do live. I mean, you know, Charlie Kirk got shot. I mean, we did.

[Joe Getty]

Trump got shot almost twice.

[Jack Armstrong]

We live in a time where people are being. Kavanaugh nearly assassinated. Or assassinated or hurt or attacked or whatever. And to immediately jump to the this is fake card is probably not good. Well, I know it's not good.

[Joe Getty]

No, again, we don't. There's no Article 2 power to own the libs. You know what, you got people for that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do I think, do I think she's the sort of person that would stage this to try to get some of her momentum back after a couple of, I think, bad weeks for her and her people? Yes, I do think she's that sort of person.

[Joe Getty]

As more and more people realize she hates America, she wants Sharia law and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is a communist, she might be caught up in that whole fraud thing. She might be part of that $9 billion fraud situation.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, all of her contacts and donors and all were making millions and millions of dollars and she was the one who advoc congressional law that rolled back oversight. Wow, that's such a weird coincidence.

[Jack Armstrong]

But to be fair.

[Joe Getty]

Well, let me bottom line. So do I think she's the kind.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of person who would fake an attack like that?

[Joe Getty]

Yes, I do. Do I think she did? Nah, probably not. Oh my God, he's breaking. I need, I need a napkin to know nothing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't think smells terrible. I don't think she probably did either. But I mean, the Trump's second assassination attempted, if people had said he realized how much sympathy he got out of the first one, it's starting to wane. So they staged another one. I'd have thought that was abhorrent for people to say that.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And is Trump the sort of guy that would do crazy stuff? Yes. So, I mean, I would have found it abhorrent for some pundit to go on the air and say that.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Especially in the times of living.

[Joe Getty]

It's troubling. Now, the Overton window, which is wider open than I ever thought it would be, you have a number of town hall meetings or press conferences or what have you interrupted violently or in a frightening manner, either by activists or that half wit jackass Alex Padilla, Senator from California, who staged that ridiculous protest interruption of Kristi Noem's press conference in la. It's just that sort of thing now is becoming common and in fact, there are quite a few congresspeople who've stopped doing town hall meetings where they get to talk to the constituents.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's not.

[Joe Getty]

And answer questions.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is not good.

[Joe Getty]

It's too dangerous. And you know, each side, primarily lefties, have realized, oh, I can show up to their meeting, scream, there's four of Us five of us, we scream through the whole thing. The news will report the Republican congressman's town hall was in interrupted by protesters who are angry about his ugly fascist Republican tactics and, and policies. And so the Republicans are thinking, what's the point of this now? Can't get anything done, can people? Can't hear me. I can't hear them. So never mind. Yeah, not a good place. Used to be such a great country.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you don't think she staged it?

[Joe Getty]

I doubt it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm glad it wasn't something awful.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, she's got some impressive looking goons. Her goons are big. Some. I tell you what, the one guy who wrestled the aforementioned Yoho to the ground, that's a reference to an old silly clip of ours. But he had to be, you know, 66370 Man Mountain.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is any information come out on that guy? The sprayer?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Let's see. I've seen the mug shot. He looks a little hungover in the mug shot. I recognize those bleary eyes.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a dude.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, Big old.

[Jack Armstrong]

Describe him physically.

[Joe Getty]

A white feller.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, where?

[Joe Getty]

I've got the news report on it. Kind of a stocky white guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Every man, okay, Every man who walks up to congress people and sprays them with random liquids. I mean, so what is your goal? You're a full on crazy person if you just find some stinky liquid to spray on a congressperson.

[Joe Getty]

Well, where do you go to the stinky liquid store? I mean, I don't know. We have not spent nearly enough time trying to figure out what liquid that was.

[Jack Armstrong]

But it's gonna change his life because he's gonna be charged with all kinds of, I gotta believe, federal crimes that are really bad. Really bad. Like, well, like change your life bad.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would agree. I would agree. This is ugly and terrible and stupid. We can't have it. And she's an abhorrent human being. Absolutely, absolutely abhorrent.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hates the country.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would agree.

[Jack Armstrong]

But God, she's like. She probably weighs 98 pounds. She had her fist cocked, was gonna go punch the guy. I kind of like that.

[Joe Getty]

Police identified the suspect as Anthony J. Kazmirzuk. He's of Polish extraction, has about 37 consonants in his name. He's 55 years old, pretty youthful. Evidently spraying congresspeople keeps you young. Booked into the local jail on suspicion of assault. But there are many more charges to come.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, oh yeah. All kinds of federal charges, probably terrorism or assassination related that are going to put him behind bars. For maybe a long, long time.

[Joe Getty]

So it's unlikely Polish American Minnesotans are going to spray you with anything funky today. But there's a decent chance some junkie is going to break into your house and try to steal all your stuff you've worked so hard for and scare the hell out of your family. You don't want that. You want Simplisafe Home Security. Because SimpliSafe uses AI powered cameras outside your home in conjunction with their live monitoring agents to stop the break in before it happens.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got the cameras, I got the sensors, I got the set. Really like it. AI plays a role in this. And with Simplisafe, there are agents that can talk to the bad guys through the camera, let them know they're being watched and that police are on the way. They can blast a siren and a light and all that sort of stuff. It's really, really a cool idea. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And other systems might give you a camera and a notification, but they need you to see the alert and then deal with it.

[Jack Armstrong]

What if you're on a plane, you're.

[Joe Getty]

In a meeting, you're asleep, you're making sweet love. I don't know what you're doing.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's none of my business.

[Joe Getty]

Safely safe monitoring agents have your back even when you're bus asleep or on a plane or making sweet love. And right now, you can get 50% off any new system. This month only is great time to upgrade to security that actually stops crime before it starts. Go to simply safe.com Armstrong simply safe.com Armstrong there's no safe like simply safe.

[Jack Armstrong]

Just saw a video on the tv. Now I know the name, that of the tennis star Coco Groff because she's done something in recent tournaments. Something. But I don't remember what it was like said things or done things.

[Joe Getty]

There's controversy around her.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, she's at the Australian Open and lost her s yesterday. And there's a video of her smashing her racket. Have you seen that?

[Joe Getty]

No.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. You know like when people really, really lose it over their performance and she's just over and over again smashing on the ground.

[Joe Getty]

You got to kill it dead. You got to finish, finish the job.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why can't I? She just keeps going and going. It's quite hilarious.

[Joe Getty]

My headline is overheated cocoa. How do you like that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Yeah, that's good stuff. Exploding colon syndrome, the lawsuits, hitting those miracle weight loss drugs.

[Jack Armstrong]

God, I was so excited about getting on one of those GLPs and like, really getting the hollow cheeks, getting that Look.

[Joe Getty]

That was sexy. Glad I saw that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Don't ever do that again.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, we got that and other stories on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Jack Armstrong]

How involved are you in the President's day to day? I give him my advice and I.

[Joe Getty]

Tell him what I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sometimes he listens, sometimes he doesn't. But I am here to support him. I think it's very important to have open communication. She got a documentary out or something like that? That's Trump's wife. I'm going to be consistent through the years of saying, who gives a crap what the first lady thinks about anything. I've never cared what the spouse of a president thinks or the fact that they have a staff and agenda and everything like that. I think is just nuts. We're not royal families in the United States. That's the whole point.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, people want that. For some reason. I don't quite get it. They want celebrities. I just want perfectly nice person.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nice enough. I got no problem with that. But just like, no, no books, no tours, no. No treating them like royalty, wanting to know their thoughts. I just don't care.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. You're hateful toward women. I get it. Okay, so there are millions and millions of people on these GLP1 drugs. 31 million people. That's 12% of America adults.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, of adults. Okay, 12% of American adults are on these. I predicted when these first hit the market that if they work out, like, practically everybody's going to be on one.

[Joe Getty]

And the people who are having serious problems with serious side effects is a very, very small sliver of that cohort, certainly. But some of the. Some of the problems which are figuring into several lawsuits going on right now are rather ear catching. You got a Maryland truck driver who suffered an eye stroke that left him blind. First in one eye, then the other. Oh, good Lord, I'm sorry. This is going to freak me out. Plus, probably you good folks, too. A Louisiana woman vomited for weeks after being diagnosed with a brain dysfunction typically caused by a vitamin deficiency. An Oklahoma real estate agent heard her colon pop as it ruptured while she drove her granddaughter home from a softball game. Quote, are you here that my colon blew up. Literally blew up. She said, now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Now, these are exciting examples, but that's one word. You got 30 million people on these drugs. I mean, how many have to have bad experiences before it's a big deal?

[Joe Getty]

Well, you know, me and plaintiffs attorneys and lawsuits and what they've done to America. Just, I'll tell you, the claim is the drugs makers Failed to sufficiently warn of the risk of certain severe injuries.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But that's how we end up with every drug you take lists every possible thing that could ever happen to you in your life. Negative on the list so that they've covered their bases so they don't get sued. You take any medicine, may cause, you know, excitability or drowsiness or, you know, list 9,000 things. So these drugs didn't cover all those bases. And it's not sure that does us any good.

[Joe Getty]

They didn't warn me about the ileus. Stay tuned for details on the ilias right after this. 75% of the federal lawsuits included an allegation of gastroparesis, also known as stomach paralysis. Chronic condition where the stomach slows or stops emptying food into the small intestine. 18% of the cases led the drugs caused ileus, a condition in which the bowel muscles failed to push food and waste out of the body. Oh, and then they got smaller numbers who have other weird things.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I mean, if they. If they are seriously have a problem, we need to know that. But I don't. I don't like this thing that we do with all products and drugs of anything where you. You find, you know, the, the. The crib. One poor kid dies in the crib and it's just awful.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they have to be pulled from the market. So they run a society.

[Joe Getty]

The one guy went blind. It's. It's not clear. The doctors just couldn't figure out why else that might have happened. And so this seems like a shot in the dark. They mentioned that he, having gone blind, had to give up his commercial driver's license. Just move to California. They'll give you one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sir, I'd like to know if some of these people involved, you know, had all kinds of other health problems and an unhealthy lifestyle in addition to this, which may be the case.

[Joe Getty]

So you're blaming like the. The real estate agent lady for eating too many beans or. Or what? She colon exploded. How about a little sympathy for the poor gal? Tape of the incident right there. Yeah. Anyway, consult your doctor. Read the fine print and lose that weight. Good luck.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I still think.

[Michael]

You know what?

[Jack Armstrong]

Still think that half of all adults are going to be on these things pretty soon.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I almost forgot. I've got another piece on what happens when you go off of those drugs because a lot more data is being collected on.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you're probably gonna have to stay on them, aren't you? Just makes sense to me.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Long. Long story short, popular weight loss drugs are meant to be lifelong treatments for a disease, not lifestyle fixes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Be like, you stay on your blood pressure medicine forever or lots of other things.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, that's a little disappointing, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why is that disappointing?

[Joe Getty]

Well, because I think we'd all like to just take it for a while, deal with whatever ill effects it might cause, which are generally minor, and then get off of it, having thinned ourselves out.

[Jack Armstrong]

But if that whole set point weight thing is true, and it sure seems to be that the body tries to get back to whatever our set point is, it only makes sense that you lose the weight, you go off the drug, and your body's gonna scream to get back to the set point.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Slowly or quickly. Yeah. You know what's funny is I rarely hear that referenced these days, but I have never heard it refuted.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't think it is. Has been refuted. I think it's a fact. It certainly seems like a fact. In my life, I know pretty much exactly the weight my body wants to be. I would like to be about eight pounds lighter than that. And every once in a while I do that. But if I, you know, take my foot off the gas at all, my body gets me right back to that number all the time.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah. Coming up. Mum, Donnie. Update. Turns out he's a communist and an Islamist, so stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Marco Rubio is testifying right now before Congress about our plans in Venezuela, all the. And all that sort of stuff. I hope they ask him about Iran, too, and Cuba. Got some statements about Iran from Trump and military experts that are. That are pretty damned interesting. The s might hit the. The fan here any, any day. That'll bump Minneapolis off the front page, I think. Of course, that's what it'll be. You know, that'll be what people claim is the reason we attacked Iran.

[Joe Getty]

I want to talk about the Iran thing. If you're not helping the protesters, specifically, if you're just administering a punch in the face, a punishment, is that worth doing?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And this time around, Iran is making some noises about we. This ain't going to be like last time where we didn't really fight back. We gave you a warning so you could get everybody off the military base and we sent in a rocket and no, no harm, no foul. Ain't gonna be like that this time. We're coming at weird beard.

[Joe Getty]

Says me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I agree. I think that's what Trump's gonna say. Bring it, weird beard. Okay, we got more on the Way.

[Michael]

Say here armstrong and getty UPS announced it's slashing an additional 30,000 jobs on top of the 48,000 jobs it cut last year. The new cuts are all operational positions, including drivers, according to the company. And it's all part of a massive restructuring, winding down a partnership with Amazon and turning more toward automation. In the same announcement about the job losses, the company reported that fourth quarter profits had jumped to nearly $1.8 billion, beating Wall street expectations.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, big giant profit jump even better than anybody thought. And they're laying off tons of people. That's the sort of thing that gets an Occupy Wall street movement going.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, part of that is the incredibly lavish contracts the Teamsters get with ups. It has motivated them to move as fast as they can toward automation.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's the problem, man. I mean that's, it's, it's. I run into it pretty regularly in California. They went so far in the ridiculous minimum wage for fast food workers that every fast food place in California is, has got a screen now and they're eliminating everybody because at some point he just can't afford to have the humans and Teamsters. I was a Teamster for a while for eps and this is way back in the day. The benefits were insane. I mean just absolutely. I never had benefits like that even close in any other circumstance.

[Joe Getty]

And you're doing a job that a trained monkey probably could lifting boxes, I mean or an untrained monkey, wild monkey straight out of the jungle as, as.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like low trained unskilled grunt work as you can come up with stacking boxes and, and I had hundred percent dental, 100 medical as a part time worker.

[Joe Getty]

And if you didn't want to come in, you just call. Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

And if you ever had a complaint, man, like eight guys and ties jumped.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

As an hourly part time middle of the night worker and you know it's awesome as the employee, but at some point the company just thinks, you know, this ain't, this is too much.

[Joe Getty]

Wait a minute, I can replace monkey boy here with a machine. Will never complain and always shows up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Monkey boy done.

[Joe Getty]

Done well in a. Oh, you know, back to the gavi, the California fast food minimum wage thing. It is worth repeating this every time the topic comes up. Gavin Newsom and the utterly corrupt legislature of California put thousands of young people and old people and immigrants out of work because they raised the wage beyond what those people were worth per hour to any sane business. It's not a value judgment, it's a question of economic value.

[Jack Armstrong]

He did just so you did just call people like us monkeys. So there's some value judgment seems to be going on there.

[Joe Getty]

Well, no, no, I don't, I don't think the guy running the register at McDonald's is, you know, Simeon level employment. I was just talking about you stacking boxes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. Anyway, a monkey doesn't know the difference between a large fry and a small fry. For instance.

[Joe Getty]

Well, no, no, no. So, yeah, they just, they put all of those people out of work and made it illegal to hire them again. It's utterly insidious. Similar to the UPS story. It was funny they mentioned partnership with Amazon. Amazon just announced they're laying off around 16,000 corporate employees.

[Jack Armstrong]

Part of that I didn't know until today. I heard this on npr. I think that that whole Amazon fresh grocery store thing did not work out. So they were gonna take on the targets and Walmarts of the world. And remember when they announced that it was kind of a, ooh, this could be the next big thing, but it just did not pan out.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it was the fresh and go grocery stores. I don't remember exactly what the concept there was. It was deliveries of fresh food from warehouses, I guess. But they're doubling down on their Whole Foods brand because Amazon owns Whole Foods now. But anyway.

[Jack Armstrong]

So everything Jeff Bezos touches does not turn to gold and work out.

[Joe Getty]

No, no. He gives it a try, assesses it, looks at the data and says yay or nay going forward.

[Jack Armstrong]

Buys a bigger yacht, gets his wife some fatter lips, and moves on with his day.

[Joe Getty]

Bigger implants. Yes. So Amazon cutting 16,000, joining the 14,000, you may recall they cut in October, fulfilling their plans to cut around 30,000 jobs. 10% of the corporate workforce. A lot of it moving toward automation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Crazy. Yeah. To be fair, this is hastening what was going to happen anyway. I mean, if, if AI can come along and do the stuff that people do for UPS or Amazon, they're going to do it whether minimum wage is this high or not.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is just pushing it along faster.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would agree. I would agree. Is a cookie candy?

[Jack Armstrong]

Is cookie a candy? No.

[Joe Getty]

Is a cookie candy? No. Supermarkets have a new food stamp conundrum. There are 18 states that either have or are about to restrict what SNAP funds can buy. But everybody's having a bit of a problem figuring out what are permissible products. And it varies every single state.

[Jack Armstrong]

I, I talked about this before when I got into my, my fancy coffee machine and I was trying to buy really good coffee beans and everything like it, like the most Expensive you can buy on Amazon like $30 a pound or whatever like that EBT and SNAP benefits available. So you can buy super expensive gourmet coffee with SNAP benefits because it wouldn't be fair that rich people can drink gourmet coffee but poor people have to drink just mid range coffee like Starbucks or something. No, they need to have better than that. I mean, so, so why argue over the cookie candy thing if you're gonna.

[Joe Getty]

Let people do that? So the administration has sought to strip soda and junk food from the program by encouraging states to restrict what food stamp rec can buy. But we're running into all of these problems.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's always a workaround on this stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and you know what's a, what's a cinnamon roll? Okay, what's a mini donut? How about gum, fruit strips? Candy bars?

[Jack Armstrong]

Many people have pointed out to us over the years and there's all, then there's all sort of a, you buy something, get cash back and then you go buy it with the cash. It's just, it's just, it's not, it's never been what it ought to be. And by the way, if somebody says would you like some candy? And you say yes and they hand you a cookie, you'd say what the hell. So that's the way you answer these questions.

[Joe Getty]

That doesn't answer that. It's a thought starter. Small differences such as whether kettle corn is pre popped or pretzels are covered in yogurt can now determine whether an item can be purchased with food assistance funds or whether it rates as candy. That is no longer.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, what is your stance? I don't think food benefits for my.

[Joe Getty]

Stance is shoulder width bent forward at the waist.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe this makes me a bad person, but I don't think you should be buying gourmet coffee or pop or candy with your here's some help from the taxpayers because you're starving.

[Joe Getty]

So only the rich buy super high dollar product.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, yes, that's exactly right.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's so funny when you say it out loud. Yeah, it's, it's going to be, it's going to be difficult to on the ground though to figure out what's what. Let's see examples of which products are and aren't restricted. Coca Cola original taste is restricted in the five states. They're looking at Gatorade. Lemon lime is restricted in two of the five states. M&M's milk chocolate in two of the five states. Tub of ice cream is restricted in none of the states.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's funny. So you can't have a Gatorade some places, but you can get a tub of ice cream. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

That would be in Iowa and Indiana.

[Jack Armstrong]

I like me a good tub of ice cream as I'm sitting there in Des Moines on a cold winter day.

[Joe Getty]

But then I'm so thirsty from eating ice cream, I'm trying to wash it down with a nice Gatorade. The government tells me I can't do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I thought this was America.

[Joe Getty]

And a final economic note.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is our representation of a man and I want a cold day. Enjoying a frozen treat yet Thirsty Armstrong.

[Joe Getty]

And Gettys hypothetical theater After a quick word from our friends at Rough Greens. The economic situation in China is crazy right now. Telling you. Hey, grab that Gordon Chang clip from yesterday, would you Michael? I can't remember the number. So your dog is super important to you. You love your dog. We know you do. We love our dogs. Traditional dog food is shelf stable for years because it's lifeless. Rough Greens brings the nutrition back. Packed with live vitamins, minerals, probiotics, digestive enzyme and omega oils. Good for your pup.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and you can't emphasize enough that this isn't a dog food, it's something you put on your dog food. Ruff Greens was created by a nature pathic Dr. Dennis Black and his 40 year cancer survivor and has been helping humans and their pets for over 25 years. And you should try this product out. You can add Rough Greens to your dog's food. Ruff Greens is offering a free jump start trial bag. You can all you have to do is cover the shipping. Just use the discount code Armstrong to claim your free Jumpstart trial [e-mail] all.

[Joe Getty]

About maintaining joint muscle health, improving nutrition absorption and all sorts of good stuff. It's R u f f greens.com roughgreens.com use that promo code Armstrong. Watch the health benefits come alive with Rough greens. Woof. So I remember taking many economics classes back in my college days and this was the 80s when I was reminded fairly recently we were just in the era where a mortgage rate was like 18, 19% and inflation was rampant and it had booted Jimmy Carter out of office in the first couple of years of the Reagan administration were really tough trying to straighten it all out. And I remember being taught about inflation obviously, but then deflation. They would go ahead and explain to us what deflation was. And it was a lot like, you know, sitting through a class on what to do if you end up with too much money and too Many friends and too many hot chicks who want to be with you. I mean, I'm sitting there thinking, why am I listening to this? But as it turns out, inflation or deflation rather is a thing. And China is in some serious problems, particularly in the mid long term, economically and demographically.

[Jack Armstrong]

So what does deflation look like practically for me as a citizen if I'm living somewhere and we're in a deflation period?

[Joe Getty]

Well, for the, for example, what's happening in China? Consumers are not spending on products. Producers are making too much because they're manufacturing based economy. They just keep juicing it and juicing it. So that leaves companies all along the supply chain earning less. Many feel they have no choice but to lower prices, to unload inventory. Inventory eats into their profits. So far the consumers know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, so far, just as a consumer, it sounds awesome, but the consumers know.

[Joe Getty]

It'S going to be even cheaper next month, so they don't buy anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Meanwhile, with less money on hand, businesses are limiting wage growth, pausing hiring and shedding employees, which means workers have less to spend, continuing the vicious cycle. Good to think not only is it going to be cheaper next month, but I might lose my job, I don't have any money, I'm not buying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. So it's the mirror image of the inflation spiral where you think, God, I better load up on bacon because it's going to be even more expensive next week. And so I go out and buy bacon, which causes the price to go up.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, that's really interesting.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. The country is making extraordinary leaps in cutting edge technology, from artificial intelligence to robotics. But its relentless pursuit of growth through manufacturing has also created a lopsided economy with much of it stuck in a deflationary spiral. Craziness. And then, as Gordon Chang pointed out.

[Gordon Chang]

Yesterday, between now and the end of the century, China will lose probably 2/3 to 3/4 of its population. So it reports 1.4 billion. Now it'll probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 million. No country has ever undergone a demographic collapse like this, not even Europe during the Black Death. So really what we're talking about is something nobody has ever seen before. And I don't think China can remain a great power when its population falls apart.

[Joe Getty]

And for the first time since China joined modernity, more or less their fixed asset investment, which is investments on homes, factories, roads. It fell for the first time on record last year. How does this affect Xi Jinping and Taiwan?

[Jack Armstrong]

And he's an old man though he ain't gonna be around for but certainly.

[Joe Getty]

Well, no, but. But his plans going forward, what he. Because he sees this stuff, he's aware of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, but I guess what's his solution? Just wondering, does he care what's going on with China 75 years from now, or does he only care about what happens during his lifetime?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no. I think he's one of those guys who spends a lot of time thinking about his legacy. He wants giant statues of himself.

[Jack Armstrong]

He should give up because Gordon Chang's prediction is right. I mean, if you're. If your population shrinks that much, it's going to be a mess.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and the Chinese are incredibly racist, and so they're not going to have any meaningful immigration anytime soon.

[Jack Armstrong]

Although I was talking to a woman just last night, funny enough, at the Boy Scout meeting. She went to some super exclusive university in China when she was young that let hardly anybody in but Chinese, because they've always been so insular like that. And she said, now they let in lots of people from around the country. It's part of their. So I just wonder from all kinds of different areas if they're finally recognizing, yeah, we can't keep this up anymore. We ain't got enough people. We're gonna have to bring in people from the outside.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I mean, the regional moving of people has increased a lot in China. There's a lot freer mobility for the reasons you're talking about or, you know, show themselves in ways like you're talking about. But to bring in outsiders, non Han Chinese, Google it. That'd be an enormous step. Oh, one final thought on China, and we'll get to this at some point. I read a really, really interesting piece by a China watcher saying that shake up with the military we were talking about in China, huge shakeup, number one, gone. They think it might come for Xi Jinping. He's not in charge of the shakeup. He might be on the receiving end of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I want a law passed that says anybody that falls for Sydney Sweeney clickbait goes to prison. Does that seem out of line? Can explain that. And among other things, extreme to me on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Gettysburg. A class action settlement is now being paid out to iPhone users who claim Siri eavesdropped on their conversations. People were like, I feel so violated. And then went back to their therapy session with ChatGPT. I was like, do you really think.

[Jack Armstrong]

They like me or not? What's interesting to me about that joke is that using ChatGPT as therapy, which I have said is really, really good These chatbots has become apparently common enough that he can make that comment or feels like he can. How many people are using the chat bots for therapy? And I wonder, has there been a noticeable effect of therapists? Do they notice people quit on them or getting fewer calls or anything? At some point that's going to happen, I would think.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, 100%. Yeah. And you know, if you don't like the term therapy, call it asking it for a perspective, which I guess is what therapy is really.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can a robot have perspective?

[Joe Getty]

It can collect the thinking of people. Do that, do have perspective and read it to you, essentially.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

You know what it is? It's like the. The world's greatest self help library that immediately says, here's the book, here's the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Page, read this, or here's the leading thinking from, you know, five different experts on what you just told me.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is pretty good.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's funny how that's kind of like mocked, but if you went to the bookstore or the library and found the top five publications on your particular thing and did some research, nobody would think that was weak or weird or not as good as a therapist at all.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

But if it's compiled by a chatbot, it's kind of weird.

[Joe Getty]

And unfortunately, there's a junkie pleasuring himself in the library. So why'd you have to go there? Stay at home.

[Jack Armstrong]

I feel like that was a distraction from our conversation.

[Joe Getty]

Well, no, because. Well, yeah, it was. It definitely was. Because I. I think our public spaces have been given over to junkies and I resent it.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's true. So two things.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe get some some chat GPT counseling for that resentment.

[Jack Armstrong]

This one. A short thing. Please don't fall for Sydney Sweeney. Clickbait. If you see a headline, Sydney Sweeney arrested and HotFit too hot for blush. Don't click on it.

[Joe Getty]

Skinny girl with big boobs. Don't click on it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Please, please don't click on it. You're making things worse. You're making.

[Joe Getty]

She's attractive and large breasted.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's lots of attractive women with big breasts. If you want to look at them, Google that. But don't use your algorithm or give the news outlets a reason to put more of that on their feeds.

[Joe Getty]

I just want to Google it. They're giving it to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just want a wall. Like the, the, the, the. The whatever that is in your body between your brain, the membrane or whatever. I want something. A wall between news and clickbait to keep it from. There's. If you Want to look at her? It's from somebody who looks like her. It's all over the place. Look for it. Geez. Enjoy yourself. Knock yourself out. Spend your entire. Take the day off. Take a personal day. Stay at home and look at those pictures the whole day. But don't click on news sites who do it because it ruins news.

[Joe Getty]

You want a Sydney Sweeney filter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which leads me to the California Post. Did you even know that this is a thing? The New York Post is a great newspaper and lots of. Lots of clickbait. And now they have a California Post version, which I think is a great idea because the west coast and LA in particular is just way underserved by news compared to man. It's the number one media market in the country and doesn't have near the media presence as New York.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's crazy, really. And so now the California Post is going to try to fill that in, for instance, with the story they had. Maybe we'll get to it a little bit later. Radical mob hijacks LAPD meeting and attempts to silence California Post journalists. If this happened in New York, the same thing, it would get lots of attention. This just happened in Los Angeles yesterday. And without the California Post, it just. It wouldn't get that much attention. With protesters screaming at the reporter, are you scared yet? And getting up in her face, which is.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my Lord.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is not good.

[Joe Getty]

You got to tell us about this. You just gotta.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll get to more of that later. If you missed a segment, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.