Economic Hardship, Palantir, And Drones Over New Jersey

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Economic Hardship, Palantir, And Drones Over New Jersey"

Doug Casey's Take
Host: Matthew Smith
Guest: Doug Casey
Date: August 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Doug Casey and Matthew Smith discuss recent developments in U.S. economic policy, the realities behind government financial maneuvers, the growing student debt crisis, and the collapse of traditional cultural institutions like the Boy Scouts. The duo also explores the deep intertwining of tech companies like Palantir with government surveillance, options for second citizenship, and the true roots of the U.S. immigration issue. The conversation balances Casey’s signature libertarian skepticism of government actions with personal anecdotes and social criticism, culminating in warnings about surveillance, loss of independence, and the increasing need for personal resilience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Revaluation of Gold Reserves & Monetary Policy

• Federal Reserve's Accounting Shift ([00:02]–[01:50])
  • The Fed is considering revaluing U.S. gold reserves from $42.22 to $3,300/oz to shore up financial statements without raising debt or taxes.
    • Doug Casey: “The only solution to these problems is to fix the dollar to a specific price of gold … But they don’t want to do that.” ([01:50])
  • Both agree this is an “accounting trick” rather than substantive reform.

2. Labor Statistics, Economic Signals, and Housing Market

• Manipulation of Employment Data ([02:07]–[03:35])
  • Discussion on the firing of the Department of Labor head by Trump over dubious labor statistics, and the trustworthiness of official numbers.
  • Doug: “These numbers have become very politicized … I think the US Government is on tilt and you really can’t [trust the data].” ([06:23])
• Housing Market Glut
  • Massive surplus of home sellers over buyers, largest gap ever; the panel critique unrealistic expectations fueled by “euphemisms” in language.
    • Doug: “Since when did houses become homes? … It makes it feel much more touchy feely.” ([03:06]–[03:45])

3. Student Loan Crisis & The Cost of Higher Education

• Default Rates, Unpayable Debt, and Policy Traps ([04:12]–[08:56])
  • 10% of student loans are 90+ days overdue; government’s largest asset is $1.64 trillion in student loans.
  • Doug calls student borrowers “foolish” for not understanding real-world consequences.
  • Both promote their upcoming book as a blueprint for an alternative to college:
    • Doug: “There’s no book out there that tells kids exactly what they should do instead during that four year period of time. That’s the key.” ([11:11]–[11:48])
  • AI and job automation further make college an ill-advised path except for a very select few fields. ([13:38])

4. Drone Mystery in New Jersey & Presidential Transparency

• Trump’s Cryptic Response to the Drone/UFO Event ([15:42]–[16:59])
  • Trump’s interview on the New Jersey drone incident is evasive, suggesting there are details he cannot reveal.
    • Trump: “I’d love to tell you, actually, but … it’s not a big deal.” ([16:05]–[16:13])
  • Doug: “If it’s not a big deal, why don’t you tell us? … It was a major thing, everybody was wondering, now he knows and he can’t tell you.” ([16:39])

5. Options & Realities of Second Citizenship

• Sao Tome and Principe’s $90K Program & Argentina’s New Entry ([16:59]–[21:02])
  • Doug recounts nearly advising Sao Tome’s president on citizenship by investment: “Been there, done that.”
  • Argentina offering expedited citizenship for $500,000 investment—a high-quality “Plan B” as political and economic insurance. ([19:12]–[21:02])
    • Doug: “Argentina would be number one. So it’s smart and it’s a significant fringe benefit.” ([20:19])

6. Decline of the Boy Scouts, Culture, and Kids

• Massive Decline in Membership, Gender Shifts ([22:34]–[24:59])
  • Boy Scouts drop from 4 million (1985) to 1 million; 1 in 5 are now girls, and “Boy Scouts” now just “Scouts.”
    • Doug: “Which is a bad idea, frankly.” ([23:30])
  • Absurdity of exclusion/inclusion logic, “Trans Scouts” satire, and the larger societal infantilization.
  • Nostalgia for childhood independence and real-life learning:
    • Doug: “Kids today have a tendency to be turned into hot house plants, living in their bedroom … just playing with stuff on a screen.” ([28:15])
  • Matthew describes stifling over-supervision and fear-driven culture:
    • “There are so many rules about what they can and can’t do. … Constantly surveilled by everyone.” ([27:02]–[27:45])
  • Loss of the “Stand By Me” style freedom in modern childhood.

7. Palantir, Surveillance State, & Control Grids

• Rise and Influence of Palantir ([30:41]–[33:56])
  • Palantir’s deep ties to government surveillance, modeling and targeting individuals, originally CIA/DARPA-funded.
  • Matthew: “They are kind of at the top of the pyramid … spun out of DARPA or the CIA, their first and only customer for several years.” ([31:05])
  • Used during Covid, Jan. 6, in Gaza, and more for information warfare.
• Adversary Mindset & Algorithmic Manipulation
  • Palantir, born from “Theory of the Mind”, seeks to predict and manipulate behavior, “shaping the mind of the adversary”—and all civilians may be adversaries.
    • Doug: “Now they can make it a science with hard data, and that’s what they’re doing. And you’re the enemy.” ([33:56]–[34:36])
    • “A panopticon of surveillance is coming … Maybe the switch hasn’t been flipped yet so that there are consequences.” ([35:22])

8. Stablecoins, “Great Taking” Thesis, & Financial Control

• Warnings about Financial Reset & Systemic Threats ([36:03]–[37:50])
  • Fears of a crisis triggering public demand for digital money and total asset traceability.
  • “The Great Taking” thesis: a financial catastrophe could prompt mass adoption of traceable, revocable claims on all assets.
    • Matthew: “Now they can all be taken away from you… And that, that could be the way to transition it.” ([37:26])

9. Immigration: The Real Problem—Welfare State, Not Borders

• Arrests Down, Systemic Incentives Left Unchanged ([38:16]–[41:46])
  • ICE arrests dropping; the solution isn’t more policing, but ending welfare magnets and privatizing public lands.
    • Doug: “If there was no welfare … they’re not enterprising freedom seekers. … They’re instructed how to game the system.” ([39:53])
    • “You got to get rid of all the welfare. That will solve the problem.” ([40:43])
  • Example: Exploitation of EBT cards even on cruise ships; knowledge of loopholes spreads rapidly ([41:43])
    • “That word not only spreads like wildfire … but there are organizations that are helping these people milk the system even worse.” ([42:07])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Gold & Monetary Policy:

  • “Raising it to 3,300, that’s just fine. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s kind of meaningless unless the dollar is redeemable at a fixed price of gold.” – Doug Casey ([00:59])

• On Economic & Social Language:

  • “Since when did houses become homes? … It makes it feel much more touchy feely and nice if it’s a home as opposed to a house.” – Doug Casey ([03:06])

• On Student Debt Trap:

  • “You can’t hide under the skirt of bankruptcy, the student debt. So this is a rock and a hard place.” – Doug Casey ([05:42])

• On College's Declining Value:

  • “Going to college today and get a college education, which is not just worthless, but is actually a negative.” – Doug Casey ([08:06])

• On Palantir and Surveillance:

  • “Now they can make it a science with hard data, and that’s what they’re doing. And you’re the enemy.” – Doug Casey ([33:56])
  • “Shaping the mind of the adversary. Friendly adversaries or, you know, unfriendly adversaries, but still, it’s designed around this adversary model.” – Matthew Smith ([34:43])

• On Boy Scouts’ Decline:

  • “One out of five of those scouts is a girl … which is a bad idea, frankly.” – Doug Casey ([23:30])
  • “Maybe they ought to have a separate division for overt sexual weirdos.” – Doug Casey ([24:59])

• On Kids Today:

  • “Kids today have a tendency to be turned into hot house plants, living in their bedroom or their basement, just playing with stuff on a screen.” – Doug Casey ([28:15])

• On Immigration & Welfare:

  • “You got to get rid of all the welfare. That will solve the problem.” – Doug Casey ([40:43])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Gold Revaluation & Fed Policy: [00:02]–[01:50]
• Labor Numbers & Housing Market: [02:07]–[03:45]
• Student Debt & College Critique: [04:12]–[13:38]
• NJ Drones & Trump’s Secrecy: [15:42]–[16:59]
• Second Citizenship & Argentina: [16:59]–[21:02]
• Boy Scouts Decline: [22:34]–[28:15]
• Palantir, Surveillance, & Control: [30:41]–[35:22]
• Stablecoins & Great Taking: [36:03]–[37:50]
• Immigration, Welfare & Systemic Issues: [38:16]–[42:21]

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Tone and Style

The episode is candid, sometimes biting, and loaded with dark humor, skepticism, and libertarian “tough love.” Doug Casey’s common themes of governmental overreach, the failure of modern education, and loss of personal autonomy are front and center, while Matt Smith brings current events and practical applications.

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Conclusion

This episode is a broad survey of American dysfunction through the lens of economic markers, public policy, tech surveillance, and decaying culture. Casey and Smith offer not just critical commentary but also alternative solutions rooted in personal independence, practical financial intelligence, and exit strategies such as global mobility and hard assets. The tone is equal parts warning, advice, and nostalgia for a freer past—while urging listeners to act before deeper systemic changes lock in.

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For more information:

• SmithSense.com (for Matthew’s writings)
• crisisinvesting.com (for book and conference updates)

Transcript

[A]

All right. Good morning, Doug. I don't know if you saw this, but the Federal Reserve published a note just the other day that said that talked about the concept of revaluing our gold reserves. They say one possibility, they talk about while public debts levels remain high, some governments have begun to explore financial financing additional expenditures without raising taxes while also not increasing public debt outstanding. One possibility is using proceeds from valuation gains on gold reserves, as has been floated in the US and Belgium recently. For the US this would involve revaluing the government's 261.5 million troy ounces of gold reserves at from 4,222 currently to $3,300 per troy ounce. What do you think of that?

[B]

I think anytime that they can approach reality and be realistic, it's a good idea. So the 40 some dollar price is a ridiculous fiction. So raising it to 3,300, that's just fine. It's a step in the right direction, but it's kind of meaningless unless the dollar is redeemable at a fixed price of gold. So.

[A]

Yeah, it's really like that's not.

[B]

Going to solve anything.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it's really an accounting trick. Yeah, you know, I mean, it's something that should have always been mark to market anyway, you know, but, but yeah, I mean, you know, accounting tricks, printing money, I mean, that's kind of what we do. I guess that that's the way it goes.

[B]

The only solution to these problems is to fix the dollar to a specific price of gold where it will be redeemable and that will stop them from creating more dollars. But they don't want to do that. So.

[A]

Yeah, you know, you saw it, you probably saw the other day that Trump fired the head of the Department of Labor for, you know, the reporting on the labor statistics, which of course, you know, those, the labor statistics have been ridiculous for a long time now. You know, where they revised down 800,000 jobs, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, there's a good reason but to fire the people involved with it. But, you know, I think his claim is that the economy is doing great and that, you know, that that person was, you know, probably a partisan just against him. But there's other factors out there too that demonstrate the economy is in trouble. For instance, today the number of home sellers outnumbers buyers by more than 500,000, which is the largest gap ever recorded.

[B]

Well, you could eliminate that gap by dropping the prices adequately. So people have unjustly heightened expectations of what their houses are worth. You know, and listen, here's a point that kind of grates on me. Since when did houses become homes? You don't know for a fact if they're homes, which has sociological implications.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You make houses, you know, so it makes it feel much more touchy feely and nice if it's a home as opposed to a house.

[A]

That's a really good point. I mean, you gotta, like you could buy a house, but you gotta make a home.

[B]

Yeah. So, but this is, this happens throughout the language that's used everywhere. They use euphemisms and soften these terms wherever possible to make people feel good. Anyway. Well, we'll see the degree to which these people drop their prices. But.

[A]

The other thing is that right now 10.2% of aggregate student loan debt is reported as 90 days late. And I think 90 days late or more. And you know, that's the largest asset on the US balance sheet, if you recall.

[B]

Was that a fact? In other words, as an asset of the US government, it's the government's largest single asset.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Funny that from the debt strapped plebs is the government's largest single asset. Well, I don't think they're going to get it because for the years that loan payments were put in abeyance during the great Covid hysteria, people's spending ratcheted up to reflect the fact they weren't paying on that anymore. Now it's.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

And they're in trouble.

[A]

Right. And the interest accrued that whole time. So the debt is bigger than it ever was before. And you know, some of these payments would be like, you know, maybe it's $300 a month or $800 a month or whatever. But they got used to their lifestyle so like as you said, totally adjusted to it. And now all of a sudden they got this gigantic bill and obviously a lot of them are deciding not to pay it. I mean, you know, and I think that's only going to grow as the economy gets worse.

[B]

I agree. And you can't hide under the skirt of bankruptcy, the student debt. So this is a rock and a hard place. How's it going to work?

[A]

Right? Especially as the economy starts to go down and employment starts to go down, which we see happening at least according to the latest statistics, which we know are untrustworthy to say the least. But you lose your job, you know, they can't really garnish your wages anymore. What do they do?

[B]

I don't know what they're going to do. I don't think they know what they're going to do either. And of course, what Trump is doing is he's saying that whoever this woman was that was running this bureau or the other bureau, there's another bureau that's similar to this one. I don't know. I don't care. I mean, this is. This is a giant, sloppy bureaucracy. Was she really making things look better when Biden was in office and he was running for president eight months ago, or is she changing things now? I don't know. He doesn't know either. In fact, nobody knows because these numbers are out of control. You know, it used to be that you could rely to some degree on the US Government's numbers, but at this point, I think the US Government is on tilt and you really can't. And these numbers have become very politicized, including replacing the person that runs the bureau, arguably for political reasons. I don't know. Listen, I don't know if this woman's any good or not. I just have no idea. I mean, how are you supposed to determine whether she's fudging the numbers or not? Go in there and dig out the numbers yourself. Nobody's going to do that.

[A]

No. And, you know, the numbers we do know, though, is that the total US federal student loan debt is $1.64 trillion, held by around 42 to 43 million borrowers.

[B]

Wow. Well, these people were foolish. They didn't think about the consequences of taking on all that debt, how it would reduce their standard of living, reduce their flexibility to take or not take a job, to move or not move. And of course, with the book that we have coming out now in a week or two, we're right at the edge. The preparation. That book is, among other things, all about why it's really foolish to go to college today and get a college education, which is not just worthless, but is actually a negative. And saddling yourself with all this debt is just one of the reasons why going to college is a negative.

[A]

Yeah. And not only does the book clearly explain why it's foolish, it also prescribes a very specific alternative which will leave whoever follows it far better off than. I mean, honestly, I'm jealous. I really am. Of what? Of what Max is doing. I really am. I mean, it's awesome stuff, and he's just grown tremendously from it. It's just. It's awesome.

[B]

I completely agree. If, you know, when I went to college, it was a different era, and college actually meant something. The experience was better. There are many fewer people that took it. It wasn't nearly as Expensive in real terms. But if somebody had introduced me to the concept that we present in the preparation, I would have dropped going to, going to college like a hot potato back then and done this.

[A]

Yeah, me too. I would have done the same. I would done the same even though I dropped out of college. I mean, but I definitely would have, I would done this instead.

[B]

You were smarter than I was. I mean, my, my diploma was worth absolutely nothing and did absolutely nothing that was of any value to me. Except I've got to say, for one thing, because I graduated, I was able to go to my 25th and my 30th reunions, both of which took place at the White House because Bill Clinton was a classmate. But other than that, any other benefits? No, and those aren't really very tangible benefits, quite frankly.

[A]

No, but compared to graduating from University of Illinois, which is where I would have gone, where there wouldn't have been no tangible, no intangible or tangible benefits to come from that. So.

[B]

Well, forget about some nothing, nowhere community college that nobody's even heard of.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Not that it really matters or the.

[A]

Or the scores of expensive private liberal arts colleges, you know, that are out there that basically leave you with a really high bill, but a degree in some social science.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Where you're properly indoctrinated with all of the absolutely wrong ideas. Anyway, the book is going to be out in a week or two weeks, something like that, and I think all of our listeners are going to be really pleased to read it. There have been a couple of books written in the last few years about why college is a scam. True enough. Wonderful. But there's no book out there that tells kids exactly what they should do instead during that four year period of time. That's the key, right?

[A]

Yeah. And I mean there's, you know, there's, there's good people like Mike Rowe that are out there saying, hey, become an H Vac repairman or a plumber or something like that. But not, you know, that is a very limited world review too.

[B]

And it's not an education which is really what you want. Right. But you're not going to get it by going to college.

[A]

Right. So the key with ours is you take you, we combine a set of very hands on skills which are in and of themselves economically valuable, like you would get if you were to become an H Vac repairman, although that's not in there. But skills like that that are economically valuable, but all of the same education and more than you would get in if you sat through four Years of lectures at a university.

[B]

Yeah, I hate, I hate showing things, quite frankly.

[A]

No, I don't mind selling this thing because I think this thing is, is good and noble and it's a, it's good.

[B]

Oh, yeah. It can actually change people's lives from a realistic and practical point of view. In addition to it. Listen, everybody listening this, you got to buy the damn book. It's a big deal.

[A]

I don't think it's. I don't, I have no shame shilling it all day long, honestly, as I've seen what it, it's done for Max, it turned. It went from a boy to a man sometime in the last two years. I can't pick exactly at what point it happened, but he totally changed.

[B]

And in addition to that, and there are so many benefits, I'm convinced that he's going to become a multi millionaire by the time he's certainly 30, probably by the time he's 25, armed with all the knowledge and experience he's gained by engaging in the preparation.

[A]

I think so too. I think so too. One other thing I'll just, last thing I'll say on is, I saw this guy tweet today. He said, with AI, it's a huge mistake to go to college now. Today, Today, I think he said, and that's. I think that's an extremely good point. One of the chapters of the book is, you know, how to future proof yourself. And it goes through this idea that in a very short period of time, most of the jobs that college might have prepared you for won't exist or won't have the same economic value that they do today. So people are screwed if they're in, like if you're, if you're basically a sophomore in college right now. I don't. Unless you're studying, maybe there might be three or four fields of study that, where you could be still economically better off maybe than doing the preparation, but the vast majority will fail because of it. So.

[B]

And that's entirely apart from the fact that colleges today are being treated as trade schools, and trade schools are not intended to give you an education. They're two different things. They're both valuable. But.

[A]

Anyway, yeah, okay, so that's our, that's our shilling of the book. It'll be coming out very soon. Sign up on crisisinvesting.com to be notified when it goes live. I'll. We'll have a date figured out within the next several days as to when it'll be going live, but it'll be quick so get on the list if you want to. Make sure you can grab a copy right away. Let's see. I want to share this very weird Trump video I saw today. Do you remember that whole New Jersey drone thing that happened? Do you remember that?

[B]

Yes, I do. It was a mystery.

[A]

It was a mystery. Yeah. Well, here's a response to that.

[B]

You.

[C]

About drones. You know, we had the issue in New Jersey before the election where there are all these people thought UFOs or an attack of the killer drones. And I believe you're doing something about.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

What are you doing?

[D]

I, I. Well, I know who. I can't tell you what, who it was and what it was, but I can't really tell you. I'd love to tell you, actually, but it's not a. It's not a big deal.

[C]

It's not, not, not something frightening.

[D]

No, but I, I just, you know, so obviously it's some. Something that I know about and it's not a problem at all.

[C]

It was legal.

[D]

Oh, yeah, that was legal.

[C]

I wanted to ask you.

[A]

So do you catch that little slip where they quote here? I'd love to tell you, actually, but it's not up, like you saying, like, not up to me, but he finishes the sentence differently.

[B]

Well. And then he said, it's not a big deal. But if it's not a big deal, then why don't you tell us? I thought you were supposed to be. This was supposed to be the transparent presidency where it wasn't going to hide things from the American people. It was a major thing. Everybody was wondering, now he knows and he can't tell you. Why can't he tell us?

[A]

Because it's not. Because it's not up to him. I think he let it slip and I think the implications of that are shocking, actually. So I just had to share that with you because I thought that was wild. You know, we had heard nothing about that in so long. And then I don't know if you. This might have come up in a Q and A already. We did before, but Sao Tome and Principe has launched their $90,000 citizenship by investment program. Is that one you'd sign up for?

[B]

That's interesting, because I'm not doing this anymore, but I had an introduction to the newly elected president of Sao Tome and Principe, which are islands off of the west coast of Africa. Actually, the chap that installed. I don't know if he's still the president or not. The president of Sao Tome and Principe. He was installed by an Indian billionaire with offices in New Delhi and Moscow. And I talked to him on the phone, I was introduced to him and we, we chatted and he liked my idea. But, you know, at that point I figured I'd done that so many times, been there, done that. I should have flown to Sao Tome and, and gone through the drill. But one of the things I would have talked to him about, among many other things, is a passport program such as you just indicated.

[A]

Yeah. So let me. I'm looking up who the current president is and how long he's been in place, because this wasn't that long ago that you were offered that opportunity, if I recall. Like.

[B]

No, no, that's right. And $90,000 would make it the cheapest program in the world. But on the other hand, Sao Tome passport is not going to get you visa free travel to very many countries. So it's kind of a crappy passport, quite frankly. Deservedly.

[A]

Yeah. This guy came into office three years and 10 months ago.

[B]

He would not have been my guy. I don't know what happened to my guy. But that's water under the bridge. Anyway, if you want a quality passport, Argentina's going ahead with this new program where a significant investment. I think the number is $500,000. And they cut through all the. And you become a citizen, I mean, like mucho pronto and right there is one of the best passports in the world. And it's going to be visa free travel to the U.S. i think, very shortly.

[A]

I bet it will. And I bet it's all. It's also, it's not like you're giving $500,000 to the government. Right. You're making a $500,000, $500,000 investment in, I mean, it could be real estate. I mean, I don't know exact limitations on it, but it's like it's basically for, for doing things that are good, good for the Argentine economy. You get a passport.

[B]

Yeah. And actually with Melaye in office, and I think he'll be in office not just for the next few years, but I'm confident he's going to be reelected. Argentina is going to be transformed as a country. So if I, if somebody asked me what country would you prefer to put a $500,000 investment, I would say Argentina would be number one. So it's smart and it's a significant fringe benefit and God, I hate to be shilling something again, but we have that conference in Uruguay on Argentina and what, October.

[A]

It's in mid October. October, I think. 14th is when it starts, it's three days long. And you can find out about that on crisisinvesting.com. on the top, there's plan B, Uruguay Conference, it says right at the top if you want to find out more about it, but which we will be, you know, wrapping up, you have to before the end of the month. So if you want to go, if you want to attend, you'll have to make a decision pretty quickly. So. Because the our room block ends then. Let's see, what was I going to tell you? Oh, so what the. It was the last guy actually died in after a prolonged illness, apparently at age 80 on May 20th. May of 2022.

[B]

Oh, is that right? Well, at least they didn't kill him. And that's kind of the age when most people die anyway, so that's. Well, too bad I missed that opportunity. But there'll be others, should I care to tell. Take advantage of them, which I probably won't care to do. So.

[A]

No, I don't think you will either. Not at this point.

[B]

No.

[A]

I mean, you did your part. You basically invented the idea, right, of economic citizenships.

[B]

Yes, I did.

[A]

Who cares? If you convince another country to set up a program, it's your brainchild. So I think that's legacy enough. Not that you care about legacy.

[B]

No. But I get some psychological gratification from it. That's very nice, of course. But, you know, there was something else that we were chatting about before we got on, and that was the fact that the Boy Scouts seem to be in steep, if not terminal, decline.

[A]

It feels like terminal. I mean, the numbers that you told me, I believe was 4 million in.

[B]

1985, and now it's about 1 million. I mean, a huge drop off, especially considering that the population of the US is about 50 million people more than it was in 1985. So why does anybody want to be a Boy Scout anymore? I was a Boy Scout.

[A]

Sorry, I didn't mean to keep interrupting you. And. And one out of five of those scouts is a girl.

[B]

Yeah. Which is a bad idea, frankly.

[A]

Yeah. Not. We're not counting the Girl Scouts. The girl scouts still there too, and has greater participation than the Boy Scouts does. And, you know, one out of five of the Boy Scouts is a girl. They don't even call it Boy Scouts anymore. It's just called scouts.

[B]

Well, wait a minute. If. If girls can join the Boy Scouts or Scouts, why can't boys join the Girl Scouts? That would be logical.

[A]

Presumably they can. I just don't know how many boys.

[B]

Want to join A Girl Scout troop.

[A]

Yeah. Especially since they still call it Girl Scouts. I don't know. I'll look it up. It's going to take a minute to give me a response to that, but technically zero.

[B]

Huh? Well, because if they can't, the Girl Scouts are looking at lawsuits.

[A]

There are. Well, this is. Here's the thing. There are zero cisgender boys, which means boys that are boys. But there are some trans girls and non binary individuals that are in. Doesn't. It doesn't give me a number.

[B]

Well, maybe they ought to have a separate division for overt sexual weirdos.

[A]

Yeah, Trans Scouts.

[B]

Right, the trans Scouts, exactly.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

It's completely crazy. So. Well, I, I liked being in the Boy Scouts. It's true. It was maybe still as, I have no idea, a paramilitary organization in many ways, but you could learn valuable skills and you really did and could. And it was. I don't know if that's the case anymore anymore. Anyway.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. But I tell you, you know, I was, you know, behind you, so I was like right in the 1985 area and I didn't take it nearly as far as you did. But you learn real things, real adult. I mean real. I mean real things of independence, real skills that adults would use. I mean, real stuff. You know, in a way it's. I think I described it to you in a way earlier.

[B]

The different kind of fires you can build and how to construct them and how to construct shelters in the wild and you know, but they also, they.

[A]

Started adding stuff, like electronic stuff and things like that to it too, though, you know, so there were other. Yeah, like real, like real stuff, like know how things work and how to interact with the world physically, you know, instead of just all through a screen passively or as a, as a consumer who buys stuff.

[B]

And of course, the fact that everybody, all the kids today, well, everybody for that matter, lives on their screens, means that they don't have the inclination to go out and do stuff in the real world, which the Boy Scouts always emphasized in the past.

[A]

You know, my guess is, Doug, is that, you know, having, you know, kids of that generation, I really feel like it's that they don't. It's. It's not that they don't have that inclination. It's that there are so many rules about what they can and can't do. There's so much. There's so they've. They're on such a tight leash, constantly surveilled by everyone. I think I told you I got the Police called on me because my kids were walking between my house and the park, which was like, I mean, not even a half a mile from the house in a very safe neighborhood. But they're like, why are these kids walking alone down the street? You know, they.

[B]

On leashes.

[A]

Yeah. There should be an adult supervision of some kind. I mean, this is ridiculous. And luckily the cop was like, oh yeah, no big deal. But I mean, they could have made a huge deal out of it. There are instances where they have. So I think that there. I think and I see in my own kids, like a craving to go do something. Just something they want to. They want to do something they want to, they want. I think that desire still exists, but they don't know what to do. And this is what the book Me Shilling Again attempts to solve.

[B]

Yeah, I know kids today have a tendency to be turned into hot house plants, living in their bedroom or their basement, just playing with stuff on a screen. And most of it's not very productive, but maybe it'll be good if they join the military. They can fly drones and bomb primitive people in world countries.

[A]

I just think the thing is they look at it and they go. They live in a suburban neighborhood. They look outside. Other kids aren't outside.

[B]

No.

[A]

So they think, what would I do out there? You know, where, like where do I go? Like what do. So, So I. I think it's that young people need some direction about exactly what they can and should do and the benefits they'll get from it. And if they got that, then I think that they'd be okay. So I think.

[B]

Yeah. You know, I wonder if they could even make a movie like that movie Stand By Me with. I forget, the young actress.

[A]

Yeah, the guy who died. Yeah, right. I mean, River Phoenix.

[B]

Yeah, right. So it's about some four young boys, pre teenagers that are out wandering around and having adventures that would be meaningless today to most kids. I think.

[A]

I think so too. And sad because that was my childhood for sure.

[B]

Yeah, mine too.

[A]

Yeah. And we just did all kinds of stuff that. Just wandering around, trying to find something to do, exploring and I don't know, it was. It was fun, it was good.

[B]

But the police would ask the kid if his papers are in order and take him home and berate his parents. Like what you just said.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I mean my. My sister, you know, her son was playing in the. In the local. Hanging out in the local park with friends when. During park hours, but after dark. But park was still open and cops came in and kicked them out why? It doesn't make any sense, but it happened. Yeah. So Stand By Me came out in 1986. So yeah, that was my childhood. I was 11. That's, that's what it was.

[B]

Well, that was just about the end of an era. Just about.

[A]

Yeah, I got to rewatch that movie actually. One other thing is we've been talked, we talked a lot about Paler lately. I, I, I wrote something on my personal blog about it. It was published on International man too. Just kind of the thinking behind the genesis behind Palantir and how it's kind of pervasive and you know, it had an all time high stock markets, it's really doing extremely well. And there was a big article in the Wall Street Journal today about how, you know, they've become so intertwined with Washington. And I just, I find it interesting because number one, Palantir is at the center of this control grid really because it is the thing that makes information flow and be usable, you know, by you know, all the data that's out there. So they're kind of like at the top of the pyramid in that and they seem like they came out of nowhere. But the fact is that they've been, you know, working. Well, that was spun out of DARPA first of all and you know, or the CIA, sorry. And the CIA was the first, was their first and only customer for several years and you know, they had signed new contracts under Obama and et cetera and they're signing contracts now all over the world, you know, so it's, it's a huge deal at this point. So kind of frightening really where they're.

[B]

Taking, I guess the idea is, is to get all the information they possibly can on every individual human being from the many, many ways they can acquire it. Including the billions of camera, maybe it's billions at this point, certainly hundreds of millions of cameras that are everywhere in the world monitoring things and keep track of where you are because of your cell phone. They know within a certain range. So this puts it together and they can. Well, that article you wrote, where's that article?

[A]

People should, if you go to SmithSense S E N S E.com like common sense smithsense.com you could find it there. But it basically it actually takes it from this original DARPA program called Theory of the Mind. And the concept was to get to understand the mind of your adversary and to so that you could model out in advance how they would respond to things and also shape the environment around them to alter the decisions that they would make and the Example I use is Palantir, by the way, was very involved in Covid. It was also very involved in helping identify people for January 6th. It was also identified in targeting in Gaza and confirmed and also has been used by the US military. US army is one of the biggest contractors they have in both in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. All within the last year.

[B]

Yeah. And it shouldn't come as a surprise. I mean, Napoleon said in warfare, the psychological is to the physical as three is to one. And that was. It's always been true. Sun Tzu says the same thing. But in those days, up until now, he tried to emphasize psychological warfare for lots of reasons. Destroy the enemy's morale and know who they are. But now they can make it a science with hard data, and that's what they're doing. And you're the enemy. You're the one.

[A]

Yes. In the system, you are the. Every individual is the adversary.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so it's like shaping the mind of the adversary. Friendly adversaries or, you know, unfriendly adversaries, but still, it's. It's designed around this adversary model and through social media, through the feed that you get, it can be individually targeted toward you to shape your mind, specifically.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And it makes sense that they classify everybody as an adversary because they're the elite and those plebs are potentially dangerous. They're adversaries, some more dangerous than others. But you got to know who they are, certainly.

[A]

Exactly. So it's a. It's a. It's a pretty frightening thing that I think is I. I think people really gotta see where this is going because we're getting there very fast. I mean, a panopticon of surveillance is coming. It's. A lot of. It's already here, a lot of it's in place. But maybe the switch hasn't been flipped yet so that there are consequences, but then also coming alongside of it with these stable coins through the genius act, and you combine money and this, and you have a gigantic problem. And it's coming, and you better get ready for it. So.

[B]

Yeah, and if nothing else, it'll. It'll be activated. The plebs will want it to be activated. When the markets come on glued the stock market, the real estate markets and so forth, things will get scary and people will want the government to do something. That's what the government to do something.

[A]

You know, a friend of mine, it goes by Parallel Mike. He's got a Great substack, good YouTube channel. Great YouTube channel too. Very smart guy. He he's also been, he's in, he's, he's become friends with the. You remember, remember David Rogers Webb, who came up with this concept called the Great Taking, where he explains how the legal framework exists essentially to take all the financial assets. And he proposed an idea that was very interesting the other day, which was with these stable coins coming in, you know, maybe the way you get people to beg for them is that there is some major financial disaster that, you know, where the records are lost or whatever, bankruptcies occur. And, you know, the Great Taking, it really occurs. And so you feel like you've lost everything you had. But then they say, you know, but we actually figured out a way to recover all this information, your bank balance and stuff, using this new system, you know, your stock certificates, but now they're, now they're all tokenized on the blockchain, and so now they can all be taken away from you or whatever. And that, that could be the way to transition it. And I thought that those two concepts together was a very interesting, a very insightful way to think about it.

[B]

Well, I agree. And that is another reason why you should own physical gold and silver coins, because it obviates all that. And it's a reason why you should have a second crib outside your home country. And if you say, I can't afford it, well, do something to make sure you can't afford it. How about that?

[A]

Yeah, exactly why you can. Yeah, last thing I have for you. I know you have to run off real quick, but it's interesting that the big promise of Trump is about, I'd say as much as anything was immigration. Right. I mean, that was as much as anything else. And he's done a great job stopping the borders, you know, as far as that flow of traffic. I mean, that's done a great job of that. But. But ICE arrests apparently declined in June as compared to the month prior. They went from arresting approximately 1224 people on, well, 1224 people on average per day, down to something like 990 arrests per day. So it's like, it's a bit, it's a reasonable, substantial drop off, and it's nowhere near the numbers we need in order to really solve the problem.

[B]

No, we're dealing, we're dealing with tens of millions. So a thousand a day is a drop in the bucket, but maybe the migrants are getting better at hiding. I don't know what it could be.

[A]

Yeah, and there has been sincere self deportation. I mean, there definitely has been, but still, let's say a Million self deported. The problem that has to be solved is still unbelievably large.

[B]

Well, of course I'm of the opinion that this problem would not be a problem if there was no welfare in this country to attract the wrong kind of people. I mean, they're not enterprising freedom speakers. A lot of these people really know how to game the system. I mean, they're instructed how to game the system. So you got to get rid of all the welfare. That will solve the problem. The second thing will solve the problem is that if all the real estate in the country was privately owned, so. So if you're going to go on, you can't go on somebody's property unless you're invited and who wants some shiftless migrant hanging out. So those two things would solve the problem. We wouldn't have to have a Geheim Staatspoli side running around arresting people. So it's screwed up.

[A]

But of course, they chose not to do that in the big beautiful bill. They chose not to cut off those funds to all those people, you know, and so that's. That's certainly not a good sign at all. Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I, I just don't. I just don't see how we get there without. Without cutting off the money. And you know what? Actually I saw something very interesting the other day. It's one of those. Was just some weird video on. It was a TikTok video. It was posted on Twitter showing Reddit posts from 2015 where people were discussing how to use their EBT cards on Carnival Cruise lines that you could, that you could basically use your. They accept, apparently drinks. At least, you know, you buy alcohol because alcohol is not free on the cruise ship. They accept ebt. And so this was.

[B]

Food stamps are snap, isn't it?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. So I was just saying. You're saying that they know how to game the system. This is what I'm saying. Like the people who, you know, get this large S basically are like, it gets communicated. All the little loopholes, all the little extra programs, all the other things you could do to squeeze more out of it.

[B]

That word not only spreads like wildfire because one girl tells another tells another, but there are organizations that are helping these people milk the system even worse.

[A]

Yeah, it's a disaster. But yeah. Anyway, I know we're out of time, so we're just going to wrap it up here. But thank you very much for today, Doug, and we'll be back. We've got a bunch of questions that we'll tackle on Friday.

[B]

Can't wait to see what they are. Thank you, Matt.

[A]

All right. Thank you. Take care.