Rick Harrison : Roman Empire, Pawn Stars & Politics | DSH #1434

Summary

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Digital Social Hour – Episode Summary

Episode: Rick Harrison: Roman Empire, Pawn Stars & Politics | DSH #1434

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars)
Date: July 5, 2025

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Overview

In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, Sean Kelly is joined by Rick Harrison, best known for History Channel’s "Pawn Stars". The episode dives deep into Rick’s passion for unusual artifacts and history, musings on politics and government, personal philosophies on happiness and wealth, and sharp takes on business, cancel culture, and world events like the Ukraine war. Rick’s signature unfiltered style leads to a mix of captivating stories, practical wisdom, and a few controversial opinions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Artifacts, Collecting, and Weird Stuff

• Ancient Bracelet: Rick brings a 1,200-year-old gold bracelet from around 800 A.D., verified by paperwork and X-ray, bought on "Pawn Stars".
  • “No one buys the thing, they buy the story with it.” (Rick, 01:58)
• Oldest Items:
  • Gold coin from Alexander the Great (432 BC), purchased for about $18,000.
  • Oldest stained glass window in the Western Hemisphere, kept in Rick’s home.
  • Manual for trying witches—a printed English step-by-step guide on convicting “witches,” reflecting how superstitions could become law. (02:40)

2. Owning Your Weirdness and Pursuit of Happiness

• Rick values authenticity, happiness over external validation, and actively avoids negativity in his personal and business life.
  • “People are way too concerned about what other people think… Your goal in life… is just to be happy. Not to impress other people.” (Rick, 03:44–04:28)
• He describes firing employees with negative energy to keep his ecosystem positive.
  • “If I meet you and I don’t like you, you’ll never see me again.” (Rick, 05:02.)
• Remarriage and estate planning: Rick recently remarried, highlighting both personal happiness and practical considerations regarding large estates and taxes.

3. The Pawn Business: Fakes, Risks, and Process

• Fake items and losses are inherent to the pawn business; honesty about mistakes is crucial.
  • “Anyone in this business that tells you they’ve never bought anything fake, they’re lying to you.” (Rick, 08:50)
• Rick has lost upwards of $40,000–$50,000 on a single fake purchase (mostly artwork), and recollects losing $12,000 to a forgery of a Shoeless Joe Jackson autograph.
• Discusses how all items are processed via law enforcement, fingerprints taken for high-ticket purchases, and how stolen items sometimes slip through despite best processes. (09:44–10:08)

4. Cancel Culture and Public Persona

• Rick describes himself as largely unaffected by cancel culture, noting he doesn’t apologize to appease mob outrage.
  • “I don’t give a shit... The biggest mistake with Hollywood actors is they do something, then put out a press release and apology video. It just makes you look like a weak idiot.” (Rick, 11:37–12:09)
• He notes experiences with fake internet rumors (such as being wrongly reported as in jail) and addresses the role of publicists and modern fame.

5. Libertarianism, Politics, & Critique of Government

• Rick openly discusses his libertarian stance, past endorsement of Trump, and deep belief in capitalism over government and socialism.
  • “If you believe in 8 out of 12 things I stand for, vote for me. If you believe in 12 out of 12, have your head examined.” (Rick, quoting Ed Koch, 12:25)
• Uses the evolution and demise of the watch industry in England vs. America as a microcosm of why less government and fewer unions foster innovation. (13:38–15:47)
• Strong disdain for government overreach; cites negative childhood healthcare experiences in Navy-run facilities as an argument against universal government healthcare. (16:13–17:16)
  • “Government healthcare… they didn’t give a damn…” (Rick, 16:46)

6. Inflation, Gold, and Cryptocurrency

• Gold as a currency and hedge against inflation: “A custom suit 120 years ago cost an ounce of gold. Today, it’ll cost you an ounce of gold.” (Rick, 22:34)
• Severe skepticism about central bank digital currencies and government surveillance.
  • “I don’t want the government to know what I spend my money on. It’s none of their fucking business.” (Rick, 23:18)
• Observes that smartphones already function as trackers, with targeted ads as proof.

7. History Lessons, Rome, and Patterns of Empire

• Roman Empire analysis: welfare and lead poisoning cited as key factors in its collapse.
  • “Once you start giving welfare, you can’t stop because you’re buying the votes.” (Rick, 26:05–27:10)
• Warns about parallels with modern welfare systems and universal basic income.
• Explains the real backstory of the Boston Tea Party, portraying John Hancock as a gangster motivated by profit, contradicting the sanitized version often taught in schools. (38:30–41:20)

8. Ukraine/Russia Conflict and U.S. Foreign Policy

• Deep geopolitical breakdown of the Ukraine crisis, tracing it back to Soviet-era arrangements, expansion of NATO, and the interests of the military-industrial complex.
  • “I believe Putin’s an evil, evil person. But I can tell you why he invaded Ukraine…” (Rick, 28:31)
  • Describes how military supply contracts drive U.S. involvement, and expresses frustration that policymakers focus on “winning” rather than ending wars.
  • “Let’s just end the fucking war and have people stop… dying. Let’s come… with an agreement because one could be made.” (Rick, 34:49)

9. Reading, Learning, and Lifelong Curiosity

• Rick reads widely—latest book was on the history of the vacuum tube; has yet to study nanotechnology or AI deeply but expresses interest (45:36–47:22).
• Reflects on history, saying he would choose to live in the Roman Empire era if he couldn’t live now.

10. Pawn After Dark – Rick’s New Podcast

• Rick announces his own show, “Pawn After Dark”, co-hosted with Chumlee, highlighting their dynamic, fun approach, and the importance of only pursuing projects that bring enjoyment (47:46).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Rick on Artifacts:
  “No one buys the thing, they buy the story with it.” (01:58)
• On Happiness:
  “I’m the happiest man in the world… My idea, the definition of rich is: If you got a bunch of money, would it change your life? No. So I guess I’m rich.” (04:28)
• On Cancel Culture:
  “...they do something and then put out an apology video. It just makes you look like a weak idiot.” (12:09)
• On Digital Currency:
  “I don’t want the government to know what I spend my money on. It’s none of their fucking business.” (23:18)
• On Ukraine/Russia War:
  “Let’s just end the fucking war and have people stop… dying. Let’s come… with an agreement because one could be made.” (34:49)
• On History:
  “John Hancock was a straight up gangster… He did [the Tea Party] 100% out of greed.” (38:30)
• On Rome:
  “I’ve just been fascinated with Rome my whole life. You look at the Pantheon… [those] sewer systems weren’t duplicated until the 20th century.” (43:12–43:39)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:15] – [Ancient bracelet, collecting stories]
• [02:40] – [Manuals on witch trials, history’s oddities]
• [03:44] – [Philosophy on happiness, authenticity]
• [08:20] – [Dealing with fake items in pawn business]
• [11:37] – [Cancel culture, Rick’s approach]
• [12:25] – [Libertarian politics, capitalism vs. government]
• [16:13] – [Health care criticism, personal experience]
• [22:34] – [Gold as protection from inflation]
• [23:18] – [Opposition to digital currencies and privacy]
• [25:24] – [Lessons from the Roman Empire]
• [28:31] – [History and context of Ukraine crisis]
• [34:49] – [Call to end wars, critique of military industrial complex]
• [38:30] – [The true story of the Boston Tea Party]
• [45:36] – [Rick’s latest reads, interest in technology]
• [47:46] – [“Pawn After Dark” podcast, fun as a guiding principle]

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Tone and Style

Rick Harrison embodies a straightforward, no-nonsense, and occasionally profane style. The conversation balances humor and storytelling with blunt critique, genuine curiosity about history and the world, and an unvarnished approach to taboo topics.

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For New Listeners

This episode is ideal for fans of history, collectibles, business insights, and straight-shooting commentary on current events and politics. Rick delivers a blend of wild stories, practical advice, and unapologetic perspectives—offering both entertainment and food for thought.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Okay, guys, Rick from Pawn Stars rolls over verse today.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. So I'm here. You're here.

[B]

You brought a. How old is that bracelet?

[A]

1200 years old. 1200 years old? Yeah, like, yeah, right around 800 A.D. geez. And it's, you know, they've X rays it and everything. So the, the gold is identical to 8th century gold coins that were made in England. They didn't have great refining capabilities back then. Actually it was worse then. The Romans were better, but everything got worse when that fell apart. But it's identical to the coins. They use the gold they were getting for coins and I got a bunch of other paperwork on it. So. Yeah, it's one of my cool things. I got a lot of weird cool things.

[B]

Yeah, that's super cool. Did you buy that on the show?

[A]

Yeah, I actually bought it on the show.

[B]

Nice. So he just came in and you were like, I want that.

[A]

Yeah, well like Dan, that's kind of cool. Yeah.

[B]

You like the ancient stuff?

[A]

I like, I just like weird stuff. Like, weird stuff that's got a story. Okay. Because no one buys the thing, they buy the story with it. Right.

[B]

What's the oldest artifact or thing you have? You think?

[A]

Oh, I got some like fossils and like dinosaur bones, but like, like things that were man made. I have like.

I have a gold coin from Alexander the great. That's like 432 BC.

[B]

That's crazy. How much was that?

[A]

That's like 18 grand, something like that.

[B]

Geez. Was that graded or raw?

[A]

I actually bought it graded. So. Yeah. So I forget what I paid for it, but it's one of my little treasures. I have the oldest stained glass window in the western hemisphere. In my house.

I have a manual for trying witches.

[B]

Trying witches?

[A]

Yeah, putting witches on trial. It tells you how to convict them and everything like that. Wow. Which is. It's really weird. It's also printed in English, which is kind of cool. So. Yeah. But, like, just literally, if someone has a. Like in this manual, a little where it tells you if, like, someone had a dream that you're a witch, that could be considered evidence. Really? Yeah.

[B]

Damn. You and I talked about dreams last time.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You have some crazy dreams.

[A]

Yeah. So, yeah, I'm just a weird guy. I really am. I mean, my whole life I've been able to do, like, lucid dreaming, so I can just, like, hang out in a dream sometimes.

[B]

So I like that you own it, because I think we're all weird. Some people just don't show it.

[A]

No. I mean, I don't know. I think it's a lot to do with the phones and the social media and everything. It seems like there's so many, especially young people, they're just not comfortable in their own skin, you know, and it's just, find your little gig at life and do it and, you know, people are way too concerned about what other people think about them.

[B]

100. I see a lot of young people pretending to be someone they're not.

[A]

Yeah. I just don't get it. Just be happy with who you are, dude. Yeah. I mean, like, you'll be happy that way. You know, I truly. I mean, it's. That should be your goal in life. It's just like. It's not to impress other people. Just be happy. Yeah. Be happy with what you are, with what you do and everything like that. And I tell people all the time, I'm the happiest man in the world. Really? Yeah. Yeah. You know, the. My idea, the definition of rich is, like, if you got a bunch of money, would it change your life? Like, no. So I guess I'm rich because I still like to ride my motorcycles, work on my car, is, you know, hang out with my kids.

[B]

Yeah, that's cool. Happiest person in the world. When did that happen? Was it just from. From childhood?

[A]

It's always been that way. I mean, I. I love being around my kids. I love. You know, they just work. It's just.

Like, any people that are miserable and all negative, I fire them right away. That Work for me. Yeah. Because I just don't want it because it's poison. It poisons everybody around them. And I just don't. I just don't hang around negative people or anything like that. I just don't want to do it because that just. Why? Yeah. Be happy. Yeah. Be happy with your energy. Yeah.

[B]

That's important. I think a lot of people surround themselves with the wrong people.

[A]

Yeah. No. So if I don't like it, I mean, like, if I meet you, I don't like you. Yeah. You'll never see me again.

[B]

You'll cut them off.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't care if they got all kinds of money or, you know, politicians or anything. I'm not gonna hang out with someone I don't like.

[B]

Respect.

[A]

So.

[B]

Turning 60 recently? Getting married again.

[A]

Yes. I love being married.

[B]

You love it, man. No cleanups.

[A]

No, I'm just, just, just. I'm just happy. That's the whole thing. It's all about being happy, you know, Found out. I mean, I met Angie a year and a half ago. She's absolutely wonderful and like, you know, let's get married, you know, I mean, it's. And one of the reasons why is.

[B]

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[A]

Go anywhere without it because, you know, it's a lot of. When you have a large estate and something ever happened to me, it's the government doesn't get it all.

[B]

Oh, so it's strategic too.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I like that you don't let your previous marriages affect your love, your love life now.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's like I said, it's all about being happy. You're getting married, right?

[B]

I'm getting married. First one. Hopefully it's the only one, but.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Father had two and he didn't want to go for three.

[A]

Yeah, no, I'm happy. It's all about.

[B]

Fake items. You've bought quite a few of those.

[A]

Oh, no, it's. It's the nature of the game. No guts, no glory. Okay. And I can't know everything about everything.

And sometimes you make mistakes. It's just plain and simple, you know? You know, something cool comes in. You don't know anybody that knows anything about it or you can't get a hold of them. You just take a shot and sometimes you. It works out, sometimes it doesn't. But then in the mean, most of the time it works out. But every once in a while, and it's happened to everybody in this business. Anyone in this business tell you they've never bought anything fake, they're lying to you.

[B]

What's the most you've dropped on a fake item?

[A]

I don't know, like 40, 50 grand, probably.

[B]

Was it a Rolex?

[A]

No, not that much. God. I think it was.

You know, I think it was some artwork. Yeah, I know. I just have things that come to mind. I spent like, 12,000 on a shoeless Joe Jackson autograph that ended up being fake. There's been plenty of things over the years, but it's just part of the business. I mean, and like anyone in this business that tells you they've never bought anything fake, they're lying to you, and they're probably not happy.

[B]

Do you usually get the money back when that happens?

[A]

No. Really? No.

[B]

You just got to eat that.

[A]

You got to eat it. Yeah. And that's. I mean, it's. It's like I said, it's the nature of my business. Okay. I've bought stuff before that ended up being stolen. I got to give it back. I lose all the money.

Damn.

[B]

Stolen stuff. Yeah, I'm sure that's more common stuff.

[A]

Well, you got to be kind of an idiot to steal me, you know? Like, on my show, I say, let's go do some paperwork. Everything I buy, I turn into the FBI and Metro Police. Really? Yeah.

Well, it's the law. I'm supposed to. But, like, you know, but detail, you know, I. Because. And they got to show id and if it's something expensive, I get their fingerprint. So you're kind of stupid if you do it.

[B]

And someone actually did that?

[A]

Oh, plenty of people have done it over the years.

Like PT Barnum said, no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of some people.

[B]

Some people really want the eyeballs. They'll do anything.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's. It just. Like I said, it's the nature all. You know, it's. It's small business. There's a ton of risk with every business, even your business.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, I mean, you could have spent rent on this place and all this equipment. You know, the place could burn down. That happened.

[B]

Previous studio, actually.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Suddenly no one likes you anymore, and you don't get any viewers, and you got to go out of business and start all over again. Who knows?

[B]

Cancel culture. You never know what's going to happen.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, the council. I think the cancel culture is sort of dying down a little bit. It's not as insane as it was.

Yeah, it just. It got to a point there where it just. It was like, oh, you looked at somebody wrong. Cancel them.

[B]

There's still some, but it's not as strong. For instance, I Googled when I was preparing for this interview, I looked you up on YouTube. It says you're serving a life sentence right now.

[A]

Oh, I know. I actually had to do. Because I started a podcast, like, six months ago. Me and Chum actually sit down and did a whole thing about I'm not in jail.

But then I have a publicist, and my publicist is kind of a good thing, because if they can't find out anything to write about you, they'll just write something about you that means you're really famous.

[B]

Yeah. How many times have. Has Cancel Culture come for you at this point?

[A]

Not really, because I don't give a shit. You know what I mean? Like, I don't, you know, I've.

I just, I think. I think the biggest mistake with all these Hollywood actors is they do something and they. Then they get on, then they put out a press release and a video and all this. Well, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It just makes you look like a weak idiot, you know? And especially if it's a joke or something like that, just tell her like, you know what? Grow up.

[B]

I'm not a fan of those apology videos. I feel like they never work out.

[A]

I think it's way, way worse when you do the apology video. I think it really, really is. It just, it just shows. I mean, they're so. They're not sincere.

[B]

Yeah. Now you, you dove into politics. You said in 2015, you started endorsing I endorse Trump.

[A]

Yeah. I'm a big libertarian. I mean, there's plenty of things that Trump does that I don't agree with. One of the greatest political quotes ever was the mayor of New York, Ed Koch, back in the day. I might not have the quote exactly right, but he basically said, if you believe in 8 out of 12 things I stand for, vote for me. You believe in 12 out of 12. Have your head examined.

[B]

I actually love that.

[A]

No, I'm not an ideologue, but I just believe less government and capitalism is what made everybody, made this the greatest country in the world. I've been. I don't know how many I've been all over the world before. Foreigners, famous, everything like that. And like, trust me, everybody wants to come here, okay? Everywhere. I have not been into a country where they wouldn't prefer to be in the United States.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

But it's. Capitalism works. I mean, like, we have, you know, I don't care what kind of studies people say, well, like this country's, we have the highest standard of living in the world, and it's because.

Capitalism works and socialism doesn't. Every country that's tried, there's like the socialism thing and more and more government, it just fails.

[B]

Less government.

[A]

And it's like this One guy running for mayor in New York, I mean, he's like soup. It doesn't work. You know what I mean? If you do rent control, no one's going to build another building. So then there's like, you know, you might have controlled rent prices, but no one's renting anything and no one's building anything. So there's going to be next to no housing.

It's, you know, like one of the examples I give all the time about it is, so right around 1850, like the De facto watch capital of the world was London, England. But right around that time, inexpensive machine tools came along. It's the industrial revolution. So little watch companies start popping up all around the United States. And by the 1890s, the best watches in the world, hands down, were American watches.

And European watch companies were literally trying to put American sounding names on their watches. That's why Congress had to pass a law saying, you know, right at the bottom of the watch, where the watch was made on the face of the watch. And that's because it took 17 different unions to make a watch in London.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So there wasn't no innovation. Like you would have to get 17 different unions to agree to make a change in a watch. So like in the 1890s, they were still trying to make watches that they were making in 1830.

And so American watches became the, you know, the best watches in the world. And then it's funny because. And then the English watch industry was just decimated. They basically stopped making watches, you know, but like, there were still Swiss watchmakers and stuff like that. But they couldn't sell pocket watches because the Americans were the best pocket watch. Everyone wanted American pocket watch, so they started making wristwatches. But no one in this country, no guy in this country would wear a wristwatch. Well, only women wear wristwatches. Guys wear a pocket watch. They're like. So in a brilliant move of capitalism, a consortium of Swiss watchmakers came to Hollywood.

[B]

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

[A]

With a briefcase full of watches and a briefcase full of cash, you got all the actors start wearing them within a couple years. Like every guy goes like, I don't wear a pocket watch. That's what old guys wear. I wear a wristwatch. And then the American watchmakers couldn't catch up and they all went out of business. Wow. Yeah. Business is Darwinism, but in the long run, everyone has a better life because of it.

[B]

That Is so fascinating. I did not know that story about watches.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's. No. So I just like, that's my thing. I want less government. The last thing in the world is I want is government health care because I'm a product of government healthcare. You know, I had epilepsy when I was a kid. My dad was in the Navy, so military doctors and, oh, they screwed me up like no tomorrow.

[B]

So are you on all sorts of meds?

[A]

Yeah, they put me on phenobarbital, which was the cheapest epilepsy medicine that was out there. But they knew if they gave it to kids, it would screw your bone growth up. But they gave it to me anyway.

[B]

Geez.

[A]

So I have the trunk of a 6 foot 4 guy, the legs of a 5 foot 5 guy. I have short little T. Rex arms. This arm's an inch and a half shorter than this arm. Wow. And this leg's an inch shorter than this leg. And that's just because, you know, like government health care and they didn't give a damn.

[B]

Holy.

[A]

It wasn't like I could go to the other doctor. They were just the doctor that I was assigned to, which changed every three months.

[B]

I wonder what the solution is, because insurance is.

[A]

So there were solutions. I mean, they had a great solution in Texas years ago, but Obamacare basically made it illegal. There was this one company, they had an amazing system. It was like, it was like 100 bucks a month, and it was like.

Like another 40 bucks a month for each dependent. I don't know the exact number, what the price was. And it was just like one of these mega clinics where they had their own MRI machines, they had their own pharmacy, they had their own X ray equipment, they had their own lab.

And then you would get yourself a catastrophic insurance plan for like a $10,000 deductible for that was really inexpensive. And you could basically go to this clinic and get everything done. And since everything was done in house, they were able to do. It was really inexpensive medical quality, inexpensive medical care. It was a great system. But Obamacare just basically made systems like that unavailable.

[B]

Yeah, I pay like a thousand a month right now for mine, and I'm still paying out of pocket all the.

[A]

Time because the entire Obamacare bill, that wasn't it. That was. Had nothing to do with medical care. It was just insurance. Insurance companies wrote that bill.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They thought it would make them a fortune, but then they screwed up and it cost them a fortune.

[B]

Would you cover? Okay.

[A]

No. I just think that if there's no. There's no perfect system. That's the problem. You will always. People, you'll always find that one person that fell between the cracks and, you know, everyone. We got to fix this. We got to. But, like, throwing more government, it just screws it up.

[B]

Doesn't work.

[A]

It doesn't. It doesn't.

[B]

Look at all the money they get for so many different programs. Homelessness.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look how well the DMV works out.

[B]

I hate going there. I'll do it online as much as possible.

[A]

Yeah. But, like, it's literally. It's the whole joke. I mean, like, somewhere in the. Somewhere in every DMV office, there's a. There's a door in the back somewhere that goes straight to hell.

[B]

Yeah, probably.

[A]

Yeah. No, no, it's when you have a situation where people cannot get fired and they don't, you know, and it's the only game in town, you're not going to have a good product.

[B]

Yeah. Less government. There's like, what, 400 government agencies?

[A]

Oh, God, it's probably way more than that. I know there's like 30 some just with the federal government law enforcement agencies.

[B]

Yeah, 30 just in law enforcement.

[A]

Yeah, like federal law enforcement. You know, there's the postal police. There's the Capitol police. There's this. There is the Supreme Court police.

And there's the BLM police. There's the National Forest Service. It just goes on and on and on. They all. All have their own police forces. And it's just because once. Once a government agency is established, it's very difficult to get rid of it. It wasn't like to like 2000 or 2003. I mean, this is a typical example of government. So when we had the Spanish American.

[B]

War.

[A]

The federal government came along. So we need some way to help pay for this. So they put a tax on your phone bill and they didn't get rid of it until like 2003.

Yeah.

[B]

So they're sneaky with it.

[A]

Well, no, just everything with government, it just stays around forever.

[B]

Yeah. What do you think of Elon, what he tried to do with Doge?

[A]

I thought it was amazing. I don't understand the whole crazy spit, you know, fight. They got in with each other. I think he is one of the. I think he's the most. One of the most brilliant men alive. I've joked around for years that he's either a time traveler or an alien, because no one gets. I mean, like, you know, he comes along, you know, I mean, I think his parents had a little money or whatever. But, you know, wasn't super rich, you know, starts PayPal, makes a fortune. Then he goes, like, well, I'm going to build rockets that land themselves, you know, And NASA says, well, that'll take 50 to 100 years to come up with that technology. He does it right away. He goes, I'm going to build an electric car company. Everyone's tried and failed. He does. Does that neuralink, the boring company. It just goes. Everything he touches turns to turns. I mean, like Grok, Twitter or X now.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Him and Trump are beefing, man. I don't like it.

[A]

I don't like it either. You know, I can understand why. You know, the big beautiful bill, I mean, there's plenty. We should have less spending. You know, like.

There'S going to be a point eventually where, you know.

We have to pay for all this debt and it's not going to be pretty. It's not going to be pretty at all.

Printing of money leads to hyperinflation. Always has.

[B]

Yeah, a lot of people got wrecked during that time.

[A]

That's why there used to be a gold standard and everything like that, where you couldn't. That's how governments worked. I mean, they paid for everything in gold. There. There was no gold left. They couldn't mine. They couldn't spend no more money.

[B]

Can you believe how expensive gold is right now?

[A]

No, I completely believe it. Yeah.

[B]

Because when you first started the shop, you were buying it for like one tenth of the price.

[A]

Well, no, yeah, I mean, back when I started the shop, gold was right around 300 bucks an ounce.

You just have to think of gold as a different currency. It's the currency that's always been around.

An analogy with a gold coin is like, you want to get a. A custom suit made, it's going to cost you an ounce of gold. 120 years ago, cost an ounce of gold.

50 years ago, it cost you an ounce of gold. Today, it'll cost you an ounce of gold. Yeah, it's a great hedge against inflation.

[B]

Yeah. I have as minimal dollars as possible. I use it to get by, but.

[A]

Yeah, Well, I mean, it's just the nature of our insane Federal Reserve System. They literally want inflation every year. Oh, we want like 2% inflation every year. Well, why do you want inflation at all?

[B]

Now they're going to switch to digital currencies.

[A]

Oh, God, I hope not.

[B]

You don't like those?

[A]

No, I don't want the government to know what I spend my money on. It's another fucking business.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Also these things that Track. I mean, we're idiots. We carry around our own tracker around with them all the time. And it knows everything about us. It listens to us.

And I know for a fact your phones listen to you because.

I was talking to someone I know about a pharmaceutical company and I was thinking about investing in some other stuff like that. And we were literally talking about laboratory environmental systems. Okay. We were discussing the price of those and things like that. And then the next day, I'm looking on my phone, I got an ad come, I got ads popping up for laboratory environmental systems. You know, that is 100 proof. The phone listens to you.

[B]

That's happened to me too, so many times. Random things I'll be talking about. Yeah, they're solving crimes now based off where your phone's at.

[A]

Oh, I know, it's.

I mean, I just don't think the government needs to know where you're at. I mean, it's just. And like. But like.

If there's a digital.

Currency.

Literally the government can say, you know what, we think he might be doing something bad. Whether it is or not. Cut his money off.

[B]

They're already doing that with certain crypto coins.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, just like literally just cut his money off. You know what, we don't, you know, like, we don't like him. Make it so he can't buy a airplane tickets. Yeah, you know what, we don't want to leave them town, don't let them buy gas. And because.

Governments just have a tendency to abuse their power and they need to be kept in check. And with the digital currency, that's just way too far.

[B]

I know you've studied a lot of history so you can see how governments fail over time. Are you seeing any similar patterns right now?

[A]

Well, you know, the whole fall of Rome, I believe there was two things that was the fault where I've created the fall of Rome. Their welfare system. There was a complete welfare system in the Roman Empire. Like in England they still call the welfare system the dole. It was the dole in Rome. They gave out free bread.

And it started off it was for the poor. And then next thing you know, everybody was getting free bread and suddenly they had to start importing all their bread and it was breaking the economy of the Roman Empire. And the other thing was, is.

Right around in the first century bc, they discovered lead acetate.

So apparently lead acetate, I mean, if you take a lead pot and you put some grape juice in it and you simmer it for a while, it turns in the sweetest, most Wonderful tasting thing in the world. But it was really expensive to make. So all the aristocracy were drinking sweetened wine with lead acetate. And you've heard of Caligula, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He drank three or four bottles of that a day. And that's why he was batshit crazy. And no one was. None of the rich people were having kids. And that's what sort of the downfall of it. But the welfare system, because once you start giving welfare, you can't stop because you're buying the votes. The emperor's bought the love of the people. Because the Roman Empire, if the people didn't love you, there was going to be revolts and things like that. But we keep on giving more out, more out, more out. And then, you know, everybody expects, but you can't take it away.

[B]

So would the modern day version of that be Universal Basic Income?

[A]

Well, yeah, Universal basic income. I mean.

You can go. I mean, I believe in a social safety debt, I really do, but to go to take your food stamp card and go to McDonald's is a step too far. You know, you shouldn't be able to buy lobster with your food food stamp card. You know, like, hey, these are the basic necessities we can get you until you can get back on your feet, you know, like they should not be used for lobster. And you know, you know, like, you know what, Give me the rib eyes. You know, that should, you know, there should be a limit on certain things.

[B]

Yeah, I'd love more transparency to see where the tax dollars go to, because I'm paying millions and it's like, is that actually helping anyone? You know?

[A]

Yeah, the government. I imagine that. I can't even imagine all the waste. I think Doge probably just scratched the surface. Yeah. You know, and then, yeah, the military industrial complex, that's another thing.

[B]

That's a whole nother rabbit hole.

[A]

Because when they talk about all this money went to Ukraine. No, like, the majority of that money went to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon and everything else like that.

[B]

Wow, I didn't know that.

[A]

Well, no, because it was all. I was all military supplies, right?

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

So where do those go? I mean, I can give you a quick little history of Ukraine and why it's so screwed up. I believe Putin's an evil, evil person. But I can tell you why he invaded Ukraine. Okay, so it all goes back to. It all goes back to 1959. Khrushchev.

You know, the.

Soviet premier.

He gave Crimea to the Ukraine for a bookkeeper, for bookkeeping. Basically, that's what it was. Crimea is not connected to old school Soviet Union, Russia. Okay. There's a, you know, but it was part of Russia for over 400 years.

But it is connected to Ukraine. So Krusht. And Ukraine was under the Soviet thumb. You know, Ukraine was basically part of the Soviet Union. So they gave Crimea to him. So when the Soviet Union broke up, they took Crimea along with them.

So that's where.

And then.

When the Soviet Union broke up, there was, there was a deal that the bordering countries to Russia would not join NATO or the European Union.

And the European reason why they didn't want them joining the European Union was like, ever since the European Union was formed in 1959, there has been plans for a European Union army.

And you have to think of this, okay, like why do they want not. Why are they so against Ukraine joining NATO? Well, what would we do if the, if the Russians put a military base right on our border with Mexico? Kind of freak us out, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you also have to think of the Russian mindset where one out of eight people died during World War II. Jeez, one out of eight. There was 200 million. Yeah. There was 2 million orphans at the end of World War II in the Soviet Union. And if you're going to invade Russia, you go through Ukraine, okay, it's four. Moscow's 400 miles from the border.

And that's where it's always been invaded through. That's where Napoleon went, you know, that's where the Germans went and everything like that. So you can understand why they didn't want that.

But we kept on breaking the rules, breaking, you know, added more countries, added more companies. Russia getting mad and Putin put his foot down. Like, if it happens in Ukraine, I'm going to invade.

So a democratically elected leader of Ukraine says, you know what, I see the writing on the wall. This was like 2013.

I'm not. You know what, we're going to have an economic alliance with Russia because that's who we do so much business with, with oil and pipelines and everything like that. And militarily, we're just going to be neutral. We're going to be in the next Switzerland. And everybody was cool with that except the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton was Secretary of state.

Spent $50 million with the National Endowment for Democracy, I think it's called. I might have that a little bit wrong. It's solely funded by the CIA. They created a coup in Ukraine. Wow. Got a new leader in there. That was all. Oh yeah, new leader says we're going to join.

NATO, we're going to join the European Union. The Russians invade, they take Crimea, they make a little peace deal.

Trump comes into office, says, it's not going to happen, they're not going to join NATO. Everything was fine. The second Biden went into office was, you guys got to join NATO and you got to join the European Union. Basically, the leaders that are American puppets said, yeah, that's what we're going to do. And Putin invaded.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay. I'm not saying that Putin's a good guy or should have invaded or anything like that, but the writing was on the wall. This would happen, but everyone let it happen. And we know who wanted it to happen. That was the military industrial complex because it's a great business model for them because you sell them a bomb, they only get to use it once, and then you gotta buy another one.

[B]

Makes you wonder how many of these wars have been orchestrated like that.

[A]

Oh, no, it's always been like that. I mean, it's like, you know, it's the old adage, follow the money.

[B]

A lot of money in wars.

[A]

Oh, there is a ton of money. And also the other thing is, if Ukraine joined NATO, I mean, because their entire military, all their equipment is old Soviet Union stuff. You join NATO, you got to be NATO compliant. You got to get rid of those AK47s, you got to buy M4s.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay. And then you have to change all your ammo. You need 10 billion rounds of ammo for those guns. You need NATO style tanks, you need NATO style artillery. They have to buy all that stuff. And that's one of the reasons why they wanted them to join NATO.

[B]

So NATO's just a business.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They're just trying to make money.

[A]

Yeah. No, because everybody's doing trade and everybody's happy there is no war. But, like, you know, people make money off wars. It's. It's a screwed up country. It's been that way forever. That's.

[B]

That's pretty concerning because there's so many people that want to join the military to honor their country, but they don't know what's actually going on behind the scenes.

[A]

So hopefully, you know, you know, hopefully they can just straighten this out. And also, just the way the borderlines were in Ukraine, the eastern Ukraine, it is mostly Russian. So, like, no, I hope they can. And that's what bothered me so long during the Biden administration is like, ukraine's gotta win Ukraine. I'd be like, no, the fucking war's gotta end. Let's Just have people stop dying. Why don't that be our goal? Instead of like picking sides, let's just stop the goddamn war.

But no one would say that. And it was every politician, no, Ukraine's gotta win this. No, this. Russians got nukes. I mean, it's not going to end badly. End. Well, let's just like, just like end the war anyway. That's my little politics thing.

[B]

I can see why people try to cancel you for that.

[A]

Yeah, no, but it's just the facts. I mean, like, like let's, you know, like, I mean, the whole Ukraine thing, it has bothered me so much. Like, let's just end the fucking war and have people stop. Yeah, let's have stop people stop fucking dying. Let's come with, let's figure out an agreement because one could be made. You know, some people have to be humbled and say, like, okay, yeah, we're gonna have to give up this. You're gonna have to.

[B]

I know ending all the wars was a big thing Trump ran on this term, but I wonder if he actually has that influence to do that.

[A]

Let's hope. I mean, like, you know.

It'S, it's the insanity of the world and you have like, take Iran or something like that, you know, they're probably gonna put a hit out on me for this. But it's the way politicians work around the world. I mean, like, say you live in Iran, okay? Your life sucks. Okay, this is the analogy I give of Iran, okay? So you're going to, you're 16 years old, you're poor, you're on the bus to your shitty job at McDonald's, you look out the window, you see another 16 year old, he's in a brand new convertible Mustang, you automatically hate him, okay, you take like people, Iran, which is an oil rich country, okay, and they see the Americans doing so well, the government's not going to come along and say, well, you know, we're not doing well because the government runs everything like shit. They're going to say it's the Americans keeping us down, they're ruining our lives, okay? So they just pounded in their head, hate America because the government does a shitty job and.

The government does so much evil stuff. You can never change the government because if they do change the government, everybody in the government's going to be executed.

[B]

So you pay a lot of attention to politics.

[A]

I read a lot. I'm kind of a nerd.

[B]

Who's your favorite president to read about?

[A]

Oh, God, that's tough. I mean, Abraham Lincoln was absolutely amazing. George Washington was one of the most amazing men to ever live. He really, really was. I mean, this guy, he was the richest man in America. Most people don't realize that.

[B]

I didn't know that.

[A]

Actually, as a percent of gdp, he was richer than Trump.

[B]

So he's like the Trump of the.

[A]

Yeah. When he passed away, when George Washington passed away, he was the richest man in the United States. Wow. The reason why, when he was young, he was a surveyor, and he bought land, and who knew how to divide it, subdivide it, and sell it off the ground?

[B]

He got real estate.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. He was the first big real estate tycoon. But so you got to think the richest man.

In the United States, in the colonies, and he was willing to risk all of that for the revolution because if it went the other way, he would have been executed. All of his land, everything he owned would be taken away from him. Wow.

He. The stories you read about him, I mean, the real stories, because. But, like, if he was in his tent eating dinner and a corporal walked in the door, he would not eat in front of him because I was rude.

Just everything about him was. Was pretty amazing. I mean, he did not cut down a cherry tree, but he was an incredibly honest man, a very moral man. He saw.

He saw the potential of a great country.

[B]

Wish they taught this in history class.

[A]

Yeah, there's so much stuff you'll never hear in history class about, like, the Boston Tea Party. Everybody thought it was a terrible act. Didn't become patriotic for, like, the 1820s.

That's because John Hancock was a straight up gangster.

[B]

Was he?

[A]

Oh, 100%.

[B]

Oh, they didn't teach that.

Yeah, they definitely didn't mention that he.

[A]

Made all of his money off smuggling tea. Okay. So, all right.

I'm sure that's not the podcast you imagine, but I love talking about my weird stories. So.

John Hancock was a smuggler. That was his main business was smuggling.

The way it worked. And with the whole British colony system, the British East India Company would go to India, they would get tea, and then the way the law was, they would actually, literally, they couldn't go straight from India to the colonies. They had to go take the ship to.

Britain. Okay. They would look at the tea, tax the tea, and then they could bring it to the United States. But the British East India Company was the only company that could sell tea to the United States, and it was very expensive. The Dutch were selling tea for, like, 50% less than the British. And every American drank, like, a gallon of tea a day. Wow. Well, they had to.

Because they knew if they drank water, they'd get sick. But if they drank tea, they wouldn't. No one sat around and says, well, you got to boil the water to make tea.

So that was so.

So he made all of his money. He was actually brought to court once for smuggling. But everyone knew you don't.

Try to convict a gangster because something bad will happen to you. So he never got convicted of it. So these three ships come into Boston harbor full of tea with a proclamation from the British government. You know what? We've taken all the taxes off it, okay? We've taken all the old taxes off. Now there's just a small stamp tax. It's coming straight from India, so it's a lot less money. And literally, this tea was, like, priced at less than what he bought his warehouses full of tea for the Dutch.

He gets Sam Adams, who was, like, kind of his muscle, and they dress up like Indians because Indians walk all around the streets and everything like that. So it's just a. A convenient disguise. And they threw all the tea overboard. He did it. He did it 100% out of greed. He didn't want his tea being worthless. And everyone was really, really upset about it. Like, even George Washington wrote about it, saying it was a terrible crime.

But the British government, the way they retaliated against us because of it, was really bad. They said all the business owners in Boston had to pay for the tea and all this other stuff, but. But John Hancock threw that tea overboard strictly out of greed. And it wasn't until, like, probably the 1820s that suddenly it was a patriotic thing.

[B]

Wow. That is crazy. The real Boston Tea story.

[A]

Yeah, that's the real Boston Tea Party story, if you could. Yeah. So there's a million stories like that in politics.

[B]

Yeah. It's all how they frame it in the history books, right?

[A]

Yeah. So that's why John Hancock's signature was so big on the Declaration of Independence, because he was the President of the Continental Congress.

And by the time this whole Continental Congress thing had got along, British had issued a warrant for his arrest.

It's never been confirmed, but the rumor was that when General Howell went to Lexington and Concord to seize the arms, he also had a warrant in his pocket for the arrest of John Hancock and Sam Adams.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So John Hancock had to join this revolution thing because it would work out for him if they won. If they didn't, it was going to be really bad for him.

[B]

He had no other choice.

[A]

Yeah. And that's why. But his signature was so big. Because he was the president of the Continental Congress. We had presidents before George Washington.

[B]

Oh, we did.

[A]

Yeah. George Washington was the first president under our current Constitution. We had the Continental Congress that had, I think, like, 12 different presidents. Then we had the Articles Confederation, and then we had the Constitution.

[B]

Wow. Yeah. They always taught us. George was the first.

[A]

Oh, yeah. We had other people. I mean, that's the first of, like, the country formed underneath the. Our Constitution. But we had guys before that.

[B]

If you could live in any time period, what would you choose?

[A]

Oh, that'd be so tough. Probably the Roman Empire. Really?

[B]

Yeah. Live long back then, though.

[A]

I know, but it was just. It was such an amazing. If I had my choice, it would really be today. But if I had to choose a different point, it would be the Roman Empire. It was such a.

I mean, the things they did. It was just absolutely amazing. The things that they were able to build. The.

I don't know. I just think I've just been fascinated with Rome my whole life.

[B]

Yeah. We can't even recreate some of those buildings today. Right.

[A]

Well, you look at the Pantheon. It was like there wasn't a domed building until, like.

The late 1800s. I mean, the Roman sewer systems weren't duplicated until the 20th century. Wow.

[B]

Why do you think they were so ahead of their time?

[A]

They had good government.

It was. Because this is really, like. This is another thing, you know, we read here at school. The Roman government was basically a religion. Okay. And up until, say, like, 100 BC, they were always afraid of getting conquered. So they always had to do well. I mean, we have to build stuff, right? We have to do this right. We have to fit out the army correctly. You know, we can't have any graf or stealing stuff because there's all these other people always trying to kill us. Yeah, we had that Carthage, you know, the Gauls. I mean, everybody like that. So they had to be really, really good in order to survive. And then.

And then right around 100, right around 180, there was no one left that could beat them. And they continued to grow and everything for, like, you know, like another 200 years. But, like, after that, it just began to fall apart. Too much bureaucracy and too much lead poisoning and.

Too much welfare. And they tried to go out too far. There was a lot of different things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Did they ever find out it was lead poisoning or. They had no idea.

[A]

Oh, no. They had no idea. They had no clue.

They did not understand the scientific method yet. Let's give 100 sheep wine with no lead in it. Let's give 100 sheep with lead in it. If they ever did that study, they would have found out. Oh, yeah, lead things bad.

[B]

Damn, that's crazy. Roman Empire. Okay, that's a good answer. You would have lived, like, 30, maybe 40, but good years.

[A]

There was a lot of people that lived a long time. I think Augustus lived into his 70s. Yeah. Oh, okay.

[B]

Would have been a sweet life.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

You're still doing a lot of reading these days.

[A]

Still doing a lot of reading, yeah.

[B]

What are you reading about right now? What topics?

[A]

I just read.

The Saga of the Vacuum Tube.

[B]

What's that about?

[A]

History of vacuum tubes.

[B]

So specific.

[A]

I. I read a lot of weird stuff like that. Yeah.

[B]

What stood out from that book for you?

[A]

I don't know. It's just very interesting. Like, you know, basically the chronology of, like, electronics and stuff like that.

[B]

Yeah, it is a good invention. In the vacuum.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I use it, you know, every couple weeks.

[A]

Yeah. No, so, but it was the vacuum tube that.

You know, gave us, like, modern electronics that, you know, gave us radio, gave us. That eventually turned into these vacuums.

[B]

Turned into these.

[A]

Huh?

[B]

How did that happen?

[A]

Well, no, I mean, the first. The first, like. Like the first computer was made with vacuum tubes, because before we had transistors and resistors and things like that, we had vacuum tubes that did all that stuff, Mind you, like a. The first computer that was made with vacuum tubes by, like, IBM in the early 50s.

It was like 8K would have been, like, the size of this desk.

[B]

Jeez.

[A]

Yeah, but it was all.

Each little vacuum tube was, like, one bit of information.

But the vacuum tubes, that. We did this for tuning radios.

That'S the first things we got, like variable circuits and things like that. So vacuum tubes eventually led to the transistors, which eventually went to microchips.

[B]

Have you read into nanotechnology yet?

[A]

Not really, no.

[B]

What about AI?

[A]

I was planning on starting to read about that because I think Grok and all. That's amazing.

[B]

I use AI every day. It blows my mind. I mean, I think it's. I think it's the future, personally.

[A]

Hold on one second. Yeah, dude.

Forgot I had a lunch with someone today. Running a little late. What?

[B]

You got to wrap this up?

[A]

Yeah, I got to wrap this up.

[B]

Yeah, we'll get it going. Well, I guess you got a podcast now, too, right?

[A]

I got a podcast, Pawn After Dark. It's.

Doing really well. I think I'm having a lot of fun doing it, and I only do things that are fun because if it made me miserable. I would want to do it. I would be really bad on it. But I do it with Chum and Chum sort of the star of the show and I'm just sort of hanging out. But, like, Chum is really, really good at it. He is really good at interviewing people.

[B]

He's got good social skills.

[A]

Yeah, it's. He can talk and talk and talk and he can make people laugh. But we're having a good time with it and, you know, still filming different things and just all kinds of stuff. It's fun. Life is great.

[B]

Nice. Stay tuned, guys. We'll link the podcast below. Anything else you want to close off with here?

[A]

No, I think that's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come down to the pawn shop.

[B]

Yeah, come down.

[A]

Buy a chubbly T shirt.

[B]

Yeah, buy a shirt. Buy some candy. Pawn after Dark, guys.

[A]

Thanks for coming on. Rick, thanks.

[B]

See you guys.