The Legacy on the Line

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: The Legacy on the Line
Date: March 19, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts

Episode Overview

This episode centers on escalating Middle East tensions—especially with Iran—and their far-reaching implications for global politics, economics, and everyday Americans. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty analyze on-the-ground updates, U.S. and Israeli military strategy, global oil markets, and explore how current events could define political legacies. The conversation also touches on generational differences, AI’s impact on employment, domestic bank regulations, and prominent public figures’ new influence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Middle East Escalation: Iran and Israel

Segment: [00:43-13:59]

• Situation Update:

  • Tri Yangs (Fox News) reports Iran retains the capability to attack Israel/Gulf states with missiles & drones; attacks may continue for weeks ([00:43]).
  • Despite two and a half weeks of bombardment, Iran attacked Qatar’s gas field—conflict remains intense and unresolved ([01:12], Armstrong).

• Leadership Uncertainty in Iran:

  • Iranian regime leadership in disarray after targeted strikes eliminate high-ranking officials; unclear who’s giving orders ([02:29], Tri Yangs).
  • Armstrong wonders: “Who's calling the shots, though?...Who's in charge?” ([02:07], Armstrong).

• Military Response and Strategy:

  • Pete Hegseth describes U.S./Israeli overwhelming force: over 120 Iranian naval ships disabled; largest strike package yet ongoing, with over 7,000 targets hit ([04:32], Hegseth; [06:03]).
  • Ongoing U.S./Israeli escalation, possible deployment of 5,000 Marines to secure the Strait of Hormuz ([07:57], Armstrong).
  • Seizure of Kharg Island and shutting down Iranian oil exports are floated as strategies ([09:21], Getty).

Notable Quote:

“We've decided to share the ocean with Iran. We've given them the bottom half.”
— Pete Hegseth ([04:32])

Memorable Moment:

• Armstrong and Getty on the absurdity and chaos:

"So I'm like an Iranian general...I'm thinking, we're already at war with everything we've got...What would that look like exactly, Mr. Ayatollah?"
— Jack Armstrong ([03:08])

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2. Political Fallout & Legacy: Trump and Congress

Segment: [06:48-13:59]

• Congressional Involvement:

  • Pentagon may request $200 billion; potential for congressional debate or delay ([06:48], Getty).
  • Possible objective shift toward regime change—unclear if that’s the official goal.

• Trump’s Legacy:

  • Armstrong and Getty discuss uncertainty and media messaging from the Trump administration.

Notable Quote:

“Donald J. Is 100% got his legacy on the line right now...This very well could be the first sentence in his biography, obituary, however you want to look at it.”
— Joe Getty ([13:47])

• Domestic Impact:
  • Markets and gas prices are under pressure; possibility of $5-$10/gallon gas dominating national conversation ([12:18-13:04]).
  • Concerns over 401k losses and personal finances ripple out from global conflict ([13:07], Armstrong).

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3. Generational Shifts & Communication

Segment: [14:36–17:44]

• Gen Z Trends:
  • Discussion of Gen Z’s disuse of capital letters in text communication—seen as creating informal, intimate tone ([14:36], Guest Commentator; Armstrong; Getty).
  • Reflection on how every generation redefines itself through language and habits.

Notable Quote:

“I've never felt older in my life than when I've texted a Gen Z person and they only use lowercase...I felt myself develop osteoporosis from how old I was.”
— Guest Commentator ([14:36])

Insight:

• Armstrong: Youth culture is overanalyzed compared to history; adults used to simply ignore it ([15:26–16:19]).

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4. Banking Regulations & Economic Precarity

Segment: [18:36–23:50]

• US Bank Regulation Change:
  • Regulators propose more lenient capital requirements for big banks, with proponents touting economic growth and detractors warning of renewed risk of 2008-style bailouts ([20:15], Getty).

Memorable Exchange:

“America's biggest banks will be allowed to hold billions of dollars less in capital...it's either good news or bad news.”
— Joe Getty ([21:24])

• Personal Financial Anxiety:
  • Getty & Armstrong riff on personal vulnerabilities, joking about future careers as pencil salesmen to highlight economic uncertainty ([22:07–23:02]).

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5. AI and the Future of Work

Segment: [23:51–30:38]

• Job Security & AI:
  • Discussion of latest research: jobs at high risk (designers, secretaries, writers, PR, customer support), with janitors and physical jobs less exposed ([23:51], Armstrong; Getty).
  • Demographic vulnerability: Women constitute the majority of at-risk workers ([27:06], Armstrong).

Notable Quote:

“If you had your kid learn to code...that would be an awful idea. It’s like telling your kid to become a blacksmith.”
— Joe Getty ([29:54])

• Uncertainty & Adaptation:
  • Acknowledgement that predictions about AI’s impact and timeline are mostly educated guesses ([26:51], Getty; Armstrong).
  • Hosts unsure how to advise their children or listeners to prepare for the future ([29:18–30:38]).

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6. California Politics & “First Partner” Influence

Segment: [31:41–35:11]

• Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s Activism:
  • Criticism of Newsom’s wife for her “hardcore” activist stances—especially gender and education topics—and branding as “graft merchant” ([31:41], Armstrong; Getty).
  • Clips of her remarks on gender roles, same-sex couples, and conservative critiques ([32:30]).

Key Quote:

"Someone’s got to do the care work...so I’m just going to do it...We're all on a spectrum, right? It’s just how society kind of pushes us...into these limiting gender roles."
— Jennifer Siebel Newsom ([32:30])

• Role of Political Spouses:
  • Armstrong: Should political spouses be fair game if they engage in political activism? ([34:26])
  • Comparison to other high-profile spouses and debates around their public statements ([34:26–35:11]).

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7. Senate Votes, Public Hearings & Final Headlines

Segment: [36:18–37:13]

• Senate Approval:
  • John Fetterman’s “yes” vote secures Senate passage for a new DHS secretary, despite opposition from Rand Paul ([36:49]).
• Upcoming Stories:
  • Promises of additional content on worldwide threats hearings and Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony ([37:06]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Iran] still has the ability to launch missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf countries...not anywhere close to over.”
  — Tri Yangs, Fox News ([00:43])

• “It's the whole, everybody's got a plan till they get punched in the face scenario. That seems to be true about war.”
  — Joe Getty ([02:07])

• “We're sharing the ocean with them. We'll give them the bottom half.”
  — Pete Hegseth ([04:32])

• “Honestly, I would be shocked to avoid [gas prices] being the only topic in the country for a while.”
  — Jack Armstrong ([13:04])

• “I have no idea what you're going to be doing for a living...Learn to shoe horses.”
  — Joe Getty ([29:37], [29:54])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamps | |-------------------------------------------|--------------------| | Iran/Israel war escalation and analysis | 00:43 – 13:59 | | Gen Z communication/language trends | 14:36 – 17:44 | | US bank regulatory rollback | 18:36 – 23:50 | | AI and the future of work | 23:51 – 30:38 | | California First Partner activism | 31:41 – 35:11 | | Senate votes and concluding headlines | 36:18 – 37:13 |

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Tone and Style

The episode is candid, irreverent, and laden with dry humor, skepticism, and occasional wisecracks—balancing grave world events with relatable, often self-deprecating commentary.

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking the substance and energy of “The Legacy on the Line” without combing through the full broadcast.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. Here's Armstrong and getting.

[Tri Yangs (Fox News Correspondent)]

What we should note is the reality on the ground, and that is that Iran still has the ability to launch missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf countries. And I spoke with a senior Israeli military official a few days ago who indicated the incoming ballistic missile fire toward Israel is expected to last for a few more weeks. And so this is not anywhere close to over. And Iran showed yesterday by targeting the energy infrastructure in the Gulf that they are willing to escalate this conflict and target countries that have not previously targeted them.

[Joe Getty]

That's Tri Yangs of Fox saying this is not anywhere close to over. Yeah, and that's a little surprising to me. So we've, we and Israel have pounded the crap out of Iran now for two and a half weeks and they still had plenty of power left to attack that gas field in Qatar yesterday, for instance.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. And I find myself uneasy partly because as usual, I have complaints about Donald J. And the way he communicates that back and forth. We're about over, it's about done. Any minute now and then, you know, the next day or 10 minutes later, it's, well, there's a lot still to be done. This is going to take some time. So I, I idea what the plan was. Maybe this is precisely the plan. Oh yeah. It's going to be at least six weeks of extensive bombing and we expect tit for tat attacks and all. Or this is all a surprise.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not sure this is precisely the plan applies to any war in the history of war once you're a couple of weeks in, because fair point. It's the whole everybody's got a plan till they get punched in the face scenario. That seems to be true about war. Who's calling the shots, though? Who said okay, time to for us to attack the gas fields? Who made that call? Training reports on the who's in charge part of this.

[Tri Yangs (Fox News Correspondent)]

We don't know who is in charge of Iran right now. We've not yet seen any proof of life from most. Abu Khamenei, the current supreme leader of Iran, last night through State Media. He reportedly released a statement calling for the avenging of the death of Ali La Rajani, the top official who was killed just about 48 hours ago. But we are seeing a concerted effort by the Israelis and the Americans to take out what remains of the leadership structure there. Not just Larajani, but also yesterday we reported the intelligence minister of Iran and also a top Basij commander. We expect these types of strikes to continue, but the Iranians are filling the shoes of these leaders and they are still firing on a variety of different locations across the Middle East.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I'm like an Iranian general or a Republican Guard guy and I hear you need to take vengeance in the name of Lauren, Johnny. And I'm thinking we're already at war with everything we've got. We've attacked all our neighbors. We're sending drones like everyone where they can. What would that look like? Exactly, Mr. Ayatollah.

[Joe Getty]

I'm just workshopping here. Don't cut my head off. But

[Jack Armstrong]

man, when you say don't cut my head off in Iran, you mean it?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, so. But it's so interesting to know. How much communication do they have? Did word get around? Are there people in charge? Of what? I'm in charge of this militia. You're in charge of the Republican Guard. You're in charge of the, I don't know, the mullet Secret Defense Force or whatever. There's like so many different entities and. Did somebody hear yesterday we attacked the gas field. What? Whose idea was that?

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, almost certainly.

[Joe Getty]

Is that the way it's going down? Who's I? Who, who made that decision? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we're not trying to line up

[Joe Getty]

support in the region now.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're trying to alienate everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm told that the, the military and the Republican Guard has gone to a much more decentralized command structure because it has to.

[Joe Getty]

You got no choice. As to what Pete Hegseth said a

[Pete Hegseth]

couple hours ago, the last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the irgc or besiege temp jobs. All of them. And to borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King In World War II, we've decided to share the ocean with Iran. We've given them the bottom half. We've damaged or sunk over 120 of their Navy ships with battle damage assessments pending for many more.

[Jack Armstrong]

Man, that's some vintage wise assery there. That line from WW2.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know. I don't know what I think sometimes. I like the wise Astry sometimes I don't, I don't know. We're sharing the ocean with them. We'll give them the bottom half.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's hilarious. Although I was thinking as I listened to Secretary Pete who in a lot of ways I think is doing a bang up job. But if this were a movie and he was a character in it, I'd be like, you should have gotten a better actor. This guy's just, there's no subtlety to this performance. You know, all he's got is I'm a fast talking hard ass.

[Joe Getty]

So yesterday was the biggest escalation of the war since it's began. Iran attacked the world's largest oil field, which is partially in their country in Qatar. Qatar attacked or Israel first attacked the largest oil field in Iran. Then Iran attacked the world's largest oil field that they share in Qatar. And so it's on there. So Pete Hegseth said this.

[Pete Hegseth]

To date, We've struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure. That is not incremental, that is overwhelming force applied with precision. And again today will be the largest, largest strike package yet. Just like yesterday was. As I've said from day one, our capabilities continue to build, Iran's continue to degrade. We're hunting and striking death and destruction from above.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's interesting. It's going to be the biggest strike package so far in the war and it increases every day. And Iran still has the ability to, you know, work their mayhem like they did yesterday.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

So what happens now? I was reading from Mark Halpern's newsletter and he's talking to lots of people inside the Pentagon and inside the White House. What the plans are mentioned earlier. The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to request another $200 billion for the effort. And that's where Congress could get involved obviously, if they wanted to slow this down by, by not allowing that or having some date serious debate about it. We'll, we'll see if that happens or not. Among the options now being debated, according to Halperin sources, are the seizure of Kharg Island. That's a strategic nerve center for Iran's oil exports. There's also the prospect of deploying ground forces along segments of the Iranian coast to secure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. It is a scenario that would make naval historians nod grimly. Mark Halpern writes. Yeah, so we've got 2500 Marines that are going to be there like today or tomorrow and we're sending another 2500 marines. They announced today for a total of 5000. If you had announced at the beginning of the war we're going to have 5,000, or who knows how many thousand Marines on the ground securing the Strait of Hormuz, I don't know how that

[Jack Armstrong]

would have polled on that topic. And I found this very interesting. The the latest deployment is the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid response force of about 2,200 Marines to the Middle East. The US could use the unit to seize one or more of the islands off the southern coast of Iran to use it as leverage or as a base to counter Iranian attacks on commercial shipping. In short, to help secure the strait. The unit is slated to arrive in the Middle east from Japan in just over a week. It's amazing how slowly things move when you're moving this much gear. But here's the really interesting part. A Marine Expeditionary Unit is a self sustained unit that operates off ships, using them as a mobile base. It is composed of four elements. A ground combat unit of Marine infantry equipped with armored vehicles and artillery. I think we all kind of pictured that when we heard, you know, 2200, 2500 marines. Also an aviation unit of MV22 Osprey, tilt rotor aircraft, helicopters and jet fighters such as the F35B, a command team that coordinates the unit's movement. And a logistics battalion that provides essential support, supply and equipment maintenance. It specializes in conducting raids by sea and by air. So when you hear that the Marine expeditionary unit is 2200 marines, it's a hell of a lot more than that. It is a coordinated attack juggernaut.

[Joe Getty]

And now we're going to have two of those, it would seem, that are going to be there. Yeah, that is really something. The other proposal being advanced by Richard Haas, who's always on msnbc, used to run the some foreign policy think tank. This is an interesting idea. It involves constructing an international coalition to effectively shut down the strait to Iranian traffic. So rather than put in forces to try to open it up for everybody else, shut it down so the Iranians can't get their ships out of there. Because as Wall Street Journal, and we've repeated it over and over, Iran's actually exporting more oil than they did before the war. But it'd be a lot easier to stop that probably than it would be to open it up. So, okay, now you can't get any through. So what do you want to do? Yeah, that's not a bad plan.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no. Unless they are at the true caged beast point and are not caged, but a cornered beast. Point in the war. And then they're like, we don't have the people and infrastructure left to cash the checks we're getting for the oil. This is complete chaos. And then you'll see them in their death throes, and what that looks like could be ugly.

[Joe Getty]

And the other thing, thank God they

[Jack Armstrong]

don't have a nuke.

[Joe Getty]

No kidding. And the other thing being bandied about in the White House and the Pentagon, apparently, is the possibility of just expanding the scope of the US Israeli strikes, more targets, more drones, more missiles. And the strategic objective shifting significantly toward regime change, which has just kind of been all along fine if the regime changes. If you just get a, like a more reasonable Mullah in charge who stops trying to get a nuclear weapon, we'd be fine with that. Maybe we move toward, not they gotta go. Which might be where we end up if they continue to fight like this. Although, again, it gets back to the original question of who's in charge. The Mullows might not have anything to do with what's going on right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would love to know the level of chaos. I mean, it's got to be pretty high.

[Joe Getty]

I would think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then just one more thing to look forward to. Quote, unquote. One topic that hasn't got a lot of discussion yet is at some point, we. Somebody needs to seize or destroy the highly refined nuclear material that everybody believes is stored deep under a mountain in Isfahan. That would, as described by the Wall Street. I'm sorry, by the New York Times. It would by any measure be one of the boldest and riskiest military operations in modern American history. Far more complex and dangerous than the effort to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011 or sees Nicolas Maduro from his bed in early January. Nobody's certain where all the fuel is. If the canisters. Canisters holding it are pierced, the escaping gas would be both toxic and radioactive. The canisters come too close together, there is the risk of an accelerating nuclear reaction.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that's a big.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know nothing about the physics of that. I can only assume that's accurate and not good.

[Joe Getty]

I can only assume that's not good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fraught, as they say.

[Joe Getty]

And then at what point do gas prices, natural gas prices, like, really get people's attention? Like, it's the only thing people are talking about. Like, if we end up with, I'd

[Jack Armstrong]

say, $10 in Cal.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Are we talking about the rest of the country or California? Because we live with $5 gas regularly in California. That would be extraordinarily shocking for much of the country to have five dollar gas. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Particularly given the fact that the rest of the country has lower wages mostly than your higher cost to coastal states.

[Joe Getty]

But that I think, I think that's the most likely scenario that I see happening is that we, we have gas prices. That is like the only topic in the country for a while. I don't know what kind of political pressure that causes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Honestly, I would be shocked to avoid that.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shocked if we can avoid that. A final note. One of my friends texted, I shared this with Jack off the air that, hey, great to see my 401k get murdered by stuff happening 9,000 miles away. I really don't give an S about. And I assured him, oh, this little tiff will be over in the matter of days and then wealth for everyone. Yeah, I was, I was kind of kidding. It could be a while. The markets are concerned. Yeah. You know, you know, I'm sorry this analysis is so obvious and everybody's saying it, but I feel like I have to. Donald J. Is 100% got his legacy on the line right now.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I'd say this very well could be the sentence, the first sentence in his biography obituary, however you want to look at it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep.

[Joe Getty]

This whole Iran thing. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

A lot more on the way.

[Joe Getty]

Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[VRBO Announcer]

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[Guest Commentator]

I've never felt older in my life than when I've texted a Gen Z person and they only use lowercase letters. And then I bring up, like, why do you not use capital letters? And as I said it, I felt myself develop osteoporosis, like from how old I was.

[Jack Armstrong]

She was like, oh, yeah.

[Guest Commentator]

I turned it off on my phone. So nothing capitalizes because it just feels so, like, formal. And it's like what older people do. And I'm like, why does it make me old to use capital letters?

[Joe Getty]

I don't use capital letters either.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gen Z thinks capital letters are just too intense. And a linguist degrees.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know if that's it. I think it's just young people separating themselves from their parents. They got to wear a different hat than Their dad was. Dad does. And just, I don't know, I, I see, I see the conversations my son has with his friends and it's, it's almost like a foreign language. I mean, and that's not all. I mean, that's just, it's just. I don't know what they.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Why you got to do this as a young person?

[Jack Armstrong]

We should bring back that art curator. Describing the masterpiece with Gen Z slang. That was, that was really amusing. I have two completely conflicting thought thoughts. Number one, the beginning of this article talks about how Gen Z has developed many quirks that have come to define the generation from work minimalism to soft socializing, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, you know, up until like the late 60s, when some of the big national news organizations started writing about youth culture, the adult world just kind of chuckled and ignored youth culture. But now it's like such a constant topic of conversation. It's irrelevant to me. It doesn't matter. I don't need to know it. I'm a grown up, I have a job, I have payment bills, blah, blah, blah. And I think that was better constantly focusing on it.

[Joe Getty]

Of course it was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Second, conflicting thought, as this linguist explains it. The way we speak, the way it sounds, the way we use inflection and rises and falls and pitch and everything I'm doing right now changes in context constantly. From a formal presentation to meeting someone new, to being with your good friends to being with your spouse, blah, blah, blah. And the lack of capitals is the equivalent of the utterly comfortable tone of voice you use with your friends.

[Joe Getty]

That's exactly why I do it. Capitals. At this point, they just, they seem too formal to me for a lot of, For a lot of phrases that I throw at people. It just looks weird. It'd be like I'm saying, how are you doing today? Which you don't do.

[Jack Armstrong]

See, I'd rather lose a finger than send a grammatically incorrect text. But I understand what you're saying. I understand what you're saying.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, man. Yeah. Plus, what young people do for each other, doesn't they stop when they grow up? Usually so.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'll be fine. It will be fine. Yeah, it was interesting. The Jeffrey Epstein crowd used like no punctuation or capitals and bad spelling and the rest of it. It's kind of odd.

[Joe Getty]

Some of the elite of the planet.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Major banking news that just came across, which is either good news or disastrous news.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I'm not sure which.

[Joe Getty]

But that among other things on the way. I hope you can stay here if you don't get it, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[VRBO Announcer]

At vrbo, we understand that even the best of plans sometimes need a little support. So we plan for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our VRBO Care guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready before your stay, through the moments in between and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist. But we've got the peace of mind part covered.

[Joe Getty]

Got two kind of breaking news things

[Jack Armstrong]

for you coming up in a minute. Which jobs are most and least vulnerable to being replaced by AI? The latest highly scientific wild guess. Stay with us.

[Joe Getty]

No kidding. Everything with AI is a wild guess. So first this. So we've been asking other countries to help us with opening the Strait of the Hormuz and they've been giving us a stiff arm. Well, they just put out a joint statement. The uk, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Japan and Trump is sitting down with the leader of Japan today in the Oval Office. All put out a joint statement expressing readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts. There's some vague words for you. Readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuzz, welcoming nations and engaging in prep, planning and coordinating as ways to increase output. And called for Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the straight commercial shipping and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

[Jack Armstrong]

Where it goes, nobody knows. But I think Marco Rubio might end up being one of the great secretaries of state in the history of America. I've been been a big fan of his for a long time.

[Joe Getty]

You see his tiny little fingerprints all over this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that was unnecessary. But yes, I suspect he was central to this agreement.

[Joe Getty]

Yes. Okay, here's your other breaking news thing. That's either good news or horrible news. So you remember how after a bunch of big financial institutions broke the world economy having given.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I don't remember that

[Joe Getty]

cost me several $100,000 in my home and nobody went to jail even though they were giving loans to people who are crackheads with no job and no credit, partly

[Jack Armstrong]

because the government made them.

[Joe Getty]

So right after that we put all these strict rules in place for banks. I mean, you have to have so much money held back in case something goes wrong that we never need to bail you out again. Well, we've lifted that. U.S. regulators propose more lenient capital rules for big banks. Officials say simplifying the rules and the requirements intended originally to help banks survive a financial strain will get banks back to lending and boost the economy. So this is either great news and that you're going to be able to go to your big financial institutions and they're throwing around money like crazy, or we're going to have another crash someday and all the banks are going to say, well, we're going to go under and bring down. Bring a world depression on unless you bail us out. Too big to fail. Sorry again.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why don't we go ask 10 economists whether this is a good idea or not and get 10 different answers.

[Joe Getty]

America's biggest banks will be allowed to hold billions of dollars less in capital on their books under this new proposal that's expected to be voted on by the Federal Reserve later today and pass. So again, it's either good news or bad news.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

I'm leaning bad news. I mean, as individuals, it'll be easier to get loans, but it's gonna. We're gonna end up in the same situation one of these days. These big financial institutions are gonna get into trouble and they say, hey, look, either bail us out or bring down the world economy. Your choice, because we got. We got no savings here.

[Jack Armstrong]

This feeling of precariousness that I've had for a while is not getting better.

[Joe Getty]

No kidding.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I'm way too old and lazy to, like, learn a new skill.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, well, that's not. That's not on the table.

[Jack Armstrong]

Live off the land. I mean, selling pencils in a cup

[Joe Getty]

on the corners, more on the table than that. Anybody want to buy a pencil?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not loving my chances as pencil salesman either. Oh, my God. What's my profit per unit? Unless there's some sort of international crossword puzzle craze, I'm gonna go broke. Wow. Oh, boy.

[Joe Getty]

So I need to buy the pencils in bulk and then sell them individually for enough of a profit to be able to make my rent and feed my family. Let's see. I've done the math. I need to sell per day, 8.6 million pencils.

[Jack Armstrong]

You walk out your door, and everybody's got, like, a tray of pencils walking out of their doors.

[Joe Getty]

I thought I was the only one who thought of this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. I hate to even go into this out of that because that feeling of precariousness. I'm talking about, that I think we all have, right?

[Joe Getty]

How do you not?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, if you don't, you're not paying attention, or, I don't know, you've got, you know, $5 million in gold bars buried in your backyard? Because I've got to admit, I'm a stay in the market, write it up, write it down guy. It's always done well. If you miss the upturn by a day and the downturn by one day, you lose something like 25% of the gains you would have made. So I'm a ride it out guy. But I've got to admit this. This current period has got me slightly concerned. But we'll see. Buy the dip.

[Joe Getty]

Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think the dip may be around for a while, so no need to rush. Anyway, the Washington Post with an interesting infographic article here. See which jobs are most threatened by AI and who may be able to adapt. Adapt. It's one of the most urgent questions about artificial intelligence and one of the hardest to answer. We'll start with the something fairly obvious but informative. Some jobs may. May remain in demand, while others decline. Obviously, web designers and secretaries are at high risk. Janitors, not so much. According to one recent study.

[Joe Getty]

I can't do janitorial work until the

[Jack Armstrong]

janibots come along, I guess. Interestingly, this big study, I can't remember what the think tanked was, and it doesn't matter, but they write there's another dimension of the picture. Some workers will find it easier to adapt, the researchers argue, based on factors like their savings, age and transferable skills. Like, most web designers will be completely out of work, but they're young, reasonably well off, and pretty bright. And so they will have better prospect than, say, secretaries that are largely held by women and often of a more advanced age than, say, your average web designer, coder, that sort of thing.

[Joe Getty]

Executive producer Hansen just said in my ear that he saw a janitor robot at the airport the other day.

[Jack Armstrong]

The CleanBot 4000. It's an excellent, excellent unit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not surprised. In fact, that was one of the first things I thought when I saw this. I'm like, wait a minute. Just basic cleaning. I mean, the turret cleaning. The turret's fairly complex work. You got the contours, you got the seat, you got the top, you got the lizo. But a floor, though, is like, yeah, clearly robot work. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, some of your least exposed professions include firefighters and. Boy, this chart is really hard to. To read. Physical stuff or messy stuff where you try in 10 lines to explain what this person should do to accomplish their job. If it's what they call a messy job. That calls for a lot of creativity and a lot of interpreting things as you go. AI will Take a very, very long time to replace it if, if it ever happens. But the most exposed include public relations specialists, writers and authors, customer service reps, interpreters, translators, secretaries, that sort of stuff. Legal assistance, I've heard mentioned over and over again. But they concluded that again, the many people most at risk are best placed to find new jobs. So the effects are a guess at best.

[Joe Getty]

And when is the other thing?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a guess too.

[Joe Getty]

How soon does this happen? 3:00 clock this afternoon. Does this happen like in the next year or is this 10 years out?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a great, great question. One interesting aspect of, of this research, which again is about as thorough as it can get, but still concedes that, you know, we're, we're doing our best, but it's, you know, take this seriously, but not literally, was what they actually said. Women make up about 86% of the most vulnerable workers, the researcher said, suggesting the negative effects of automation will not be born equally across society. Of course it won't. I thought that was really interesting. And again, this is a visual chart, so it's hard to explain, but.

[Joe Getty]

And I, I find the premise just dumb to even throw out there, like it insults your intelligence.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, right. And why is that even? Why did you write that?

[Joe Getty]

Right, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I'm saying the young person and the leftist person's view that that's an important thing to look at with everything

[Joe Getty]

that AI doesn't affect everybody equally. Young, old, men, women, education level, socioeconomic background. It needs to affect everybody exactly equally. Or what? The universe is wrong. What the hell are you even talking about?

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you remember how hard they worked during COVID to spin various narratives like it's hitting women more harder than men and then it turned out to be the opposite. Black people are bearing the bread. The underprivileged seem to be. Yeah, come on.

[Joe Getty]

Everything is such a guess around AI, no doubt about that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I'm currently in a stance of less concern than I was a couple of months ago. Not exactly sure why. It might just be because of my day to day dealing with electronics and how often it still fails on a very, very basic level. And I think, well, if they haven't fixed this yet. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the folks touting the positives are desperate for investment, so you got to take their prognostications with a grain of salt. That's true. At the same time, if I was 30 years old with a couple of kids, oh man, I would be.

[Joe Getty]

I'm in that situation. I got a 14 year old and a 16 year old and I haven't got the slightest idea how to prepare them or what I should be telling them to prepare to go out into the world. No idea. Have a smile on your face and treat people well. Other than that, I can't tell you anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

And look into pencil sales.

[Joe Getty]

Have a good firm handshake. That's about all I got for you. I have no idea what you're going to be doing for a living or whether you should learn. You know, just a couple years ago it was like, have your kid learn to code. Now that would be an awful idea. It's like telling your kid to become a blacksmith.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ryan. Learn to shoe horses. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

In fact, that might be more valuable than coding at this point. At least you could go find some hipsters in some state where they want to have horseshoes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. I just, I think, and I don't know this. I would like to see some reasonably good polling on this. How do most people feel about this? My own feeling again. But I, you know, I don't have mouths to feed really at this point, and a family to take care of. I have a feeling most people look at it like I can't do anything about it.

[Joe Getty]

Well, that's where I am.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have no idea what's going to happen.

[Joe Getty]

It's not just. It's not like my lack of effort is the problem. Nobody has any idea what's going to happen, so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. So I'm just gonna, you know, keep my eyes and ears open and adapt as it comes, I guess.

[Joe Getty]

What's the option? There is no one cry. Cry yourself to sleep. Still long lines at a lot of your airports. TSA shortages continue to be a problem. There's no end in sight of this government. Did you even know there was a government shutdown? That's what the problem is. And we got that story we can dip into, among other things. Stick around.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Well, for those not familiar with her act, the first partner of California, the would be first lady of the United States, although she'll call herself first Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a hardcore leftist

[Joe Getty]

graft merchant who's married to Gavin.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, indeed, indeed. And she is a hardcore promoter of the gender bending Madness and transitioning kids and teaching sex changes in schools and stuff like that. She's an artist and then she makes documentary films that then the state buys and pays her for and many, many, many dollars change hands. It's unbel. So she's a force for both graft and evil. Anyway, can you imagine this woman as the first Lady? She gave a little speech the other day. We'll start with 100. Michael.

[Jennifer Siebel Newsom]

There's so much to learn from same sex couples who have learned to communicate and who also are like, well, look, you know, someone's got to do the care work in a same sex male couple. Someone's got to do that. So I'm just going to do it. And this is like. And not be afraid or ashamed because it's part of being human. We're all on a spectrum. Right. It's just how society kind of pushes us and pressures us into these limiting gender roles.

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Joe Getty]

She's one of those people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, full on.

[Joe Getty]

Well, Gavin seems so practical to me. To. That's interesting. There's more.

[Jennifer Siebel Newsom]

But again, the folks on the far right, they're missing is just this. They're living in this silo, this evangelical conservative silo that ultimately it's just pulling us back as a country to a time and a place where we don't deserve to be and we're not going to be. Because honestly, young women and fathers of daughters are awake now and they're woke and they're not going to let us go back. And so I have so much hope because of that. And obviously California has a huge responsibility

[Joe Getty]

going back to what? What is she talking about?

[Jack Armstrong]

She's pro sex change for children. That's all you need to know. But she's talking about, you know, the woman forced into the caregiver role, housekeeper.

[Joe Getty]

Where is this trying to drag us back? Where's this happening?

[Jack Armstrong]

Fathers of daughters. Wait, I am one. Are woke now. They've come around. It's all.

[Joe Getty]

We're all on a spectrum.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. That's straight out of the neo Marxist stuff. There's not having kids, period.

[Joe Getty]

That's. That's the bigger issue.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Boy, what a wack.

[Joe Getty]

It is people who live in that universe every day. It sounds. Seems Terry, very tiring.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Although you get a lot of positive reinforcement from your fellow Marxists, I guess.

[Joe Getty]

Good for you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So here's a bit of a philosophical question. We're both on record many times saying we don't give a damn about the first lady is a concept that smacks of royalty. It's silly. I don't care if a president's wife, if he has one, is completely apolitical and just keeps to herself or does whatever runs an ad agency or knits all day. I don't care. I don't need them to have a cause. I don't care what they wear. It's irrelevant. On the other hand, if that first lady, first partner person is a political activist and very, very active and also making zillions of dollars, that's a fair target to me. Well, that's obviously boy ran for president.

[Joe Getty]

If you've been following east coast media, that's been a topic with Mamdani because his wife is very out there with a lot of controversial comments, particularly around Israel. And he.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, she's sell. She's retweeted celebrations of October 7th and also retweeted denials that any Israeli women were raped on that day.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And then his pushback a couple of weeks ago when that story burst forth was that, hey, hey, she's off limits. I'm, I'm the ran one who ran for all office. I'm the mayor. She's just, you know, she's just my wife. And then this conversation was had. Well, if you're going to be out there making political statements and be on the COVID of lots of magazines doing interviews, well, then you're fair game.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, I'd say so. And the idea that if, you know, some Republican politician's wife was in the Klan lady auxiliary or something or some sort of, you know, women to return black people to Africa or something like that, the idea that nobody would comment on that, it's beyond hilarious. It's ludicrous.

[Joe Getty]

So Senator Mullen, who was up for DHS secretary and had a hearing yesterday, got into it a lot with Rand Paul. We played some of it yesterday. We're going to have some more of it in hour three. That's an interesting conversation between two Republicans that I think you'll find entertaining. Now, they just did have their vote. And because John Federman was a yes, he said we need a DHS secretary. We can't pause. And he voted yes. It does advance. And Senator Mullen looks like we'll end up being the DHS secretary.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Fetterman canceled out Rand's no vote in effect. Interesting. Speaking of hearings, the worldwide threats hearing was yesterday and Tulsi Gabbard was in the hot seat, man. She said some interesting things that contrasted a bit with her boss. We'll get to that as well. Right.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think he listens to her, but it is still interesting. So if you miss the segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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