SCRAMBLE: "END OF THE YEAR" message from Reuvers and Frattallone: Enjoy today

Summary

Garage Logic: Weekly Scramble – End of the Year Message from Reuvers and Frattallone: "Enjoy Today"
January 2, 2026 | Hosts: Chris Reuvers & Mike Fratelloni

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Episode Overview

This special "end of the year" edition of Weekly Scramble, a segment within Minnesota’s beloved Garage Logic podcast, finds Chris Reuvers and Mike Fratelloni reflecting on the close of 2025 and the dawn of 2026. With their signature blend of humor, storytelling, and unvarnished common sense, the hosts swap New Year's anecdotes, muse on resolutions, riff on current news, and—most memorably—dig into a powerful message about cherishing everyday moments and family. The episode is warm, funny, a bit biting, and ends with genuine emotion and perspective.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. New Year's Antics and Anecdotes

(00:34–07:34)

• Mike’s Wild New Year's Eve:
  Mike recounts a night out with his wife and kids, mixing wine, dinner, and several bars, culminating in a “midnight ball drop” quest and a humorous morning-after incident with contractors arriving at his house unexpectedly.
  • “The one day I could just lay in bed all day and no one would say one thing to me. Also, now I gotta get up. Cause the contractors are there.” (03:00 – Mike)
• Lost Jackets & Memory Lapses:
  Mike describes a confusing exchange with an acquaintance about supposed fireworks at his house—an event neither Mike nor his wife remember (or, in fact, ever happened), highlighting New Year’s confusion and the unreliability of “drunk texting.”
  • “I had a moment of where I really felt this, like, heat, like, roll over me, right? Because I thought, holy crap, the first night of the year, and I’ve blacked out fireworks. I blacked out people coming over.” (05:30 – Mike)

2. Resolutions, Self-Deprecation, and Pushups

(06:50–07:31)

• Mike pokes fun at his own physical state after seeing his naked reflection, then revives his push-up challenge (increasing reps daily throughout the year), aiming to become “unrecognizable” by next New Year.

3. Celebrity Culture: Tom Brady & Social Media

(07:32–13:55)

• Brady’s New Relationship:
  The hosts comment on Tom Brady’s rumored dating life with social media influencer Alex Earle (age 25, 8M Instagram followers).
  • “You both probably enjoy the scene. He’s good looking. I’m not.” (08:14 – Chris)
• Alex Earle's Influence:
  Mike observes Alex’s massive reach, highlighting the generational change in celebrity, and discusses the economics of content creation and the confusion it generates for older generations.
  • “She has 1.3 million views on that one video of her just wearing a pair of sweatpants and Doritos… For the rest of our entire lives, we could post forever, and not 1.3 million people would say, ‘Let’s watch Fratelloni eat a bag of Doritos.’” (11:08 – Mike)

4. Personal Looks, Athlete “Rosters,” and Pop Culture

(12:26–13:45)

• The “Derek Jeter roster” of girlfriends is mentioned, paralleled to Tom Brady’s relationships; references to famous pop culture moments and the fleeting notoriety of beauty.

5. Welfare Fraud and Government Program Critique

(14:56–26:13)

• Fraud in Minnesota Assistance Programs:
  Chris and Mike discuss recent headlines about massive fraud in pandemic-era loan programs (PPP and EIDL), referencing SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler's social media announcement about suspending 6,900 Minnesota borrowers ($400M in loans), and general systemic weaknesses.
  • “PPP loans were during COVID in 2020 and 2021. Why just now… They're not getting any of that money back.” (17:39 – Mike)
  • “How many of these welfare programs that were designed to help the misfortunate… But to sit there and turn a blind eye to all of this stuff and not realize there are people out there who are willingly going to take advantage of this because it exists, you’re kidding yourself.” (18:55 – Chris)
• State-Level Paid Leave Debate:
  The hosts discuss the new Minnesota Paid Leave Program, expressing skepticism about its applicability for small business owners and its potential for abuse.
  • “If you’re a single guy that owns a flower shop and you have one employee, do you turn to your employee and say, ‘Hey, the state’s going to give me 12 weeks of my pay’?” (22:08 – Mike)
• Fatigue with Public Policy Failures:
  Chris expresses a growing weariness with the state’s political and social climate, contemplating the idea of leaving Minnesota due to perceived institutional failures.

6. Cherishing Family and the Power of Everyday Moments

(28:07–36:50)

• Heartfelt Viral Message:
  Chris shares an emotional viral video (“I’m 80 years old and somehow I woke up in my 32 year old body just for one day…”) that prompts deep personal reflection on parenthood, fleeting family moments, and the inevitability of “last times.”
  • “That job that you think is the most important thing—one day that job’s not going to be there… What matters the most is what matters the most. And that’s what’s important.” (31:56–34:18 – Chris)
• Real-Life Emotional Memories:
  Chris recalls the last time driving his grandparents and his son together at Christmas—a moment whose importance he only realized in hindsight.
  • “If I had known it was going to be the last time… I would have just enjoyed that more in that moment.” (36:28 – Chris)

7. Optimism for the New Year

(34:18–37:01)

• Both hosts express hope for a better 2026, trading emotional thanks, affection, and reminders to “enjoy today.”
  • “Here’s the 2026. It’s going to be a better year.” (34:18 – Mike)
  • “It’s going to be the best year ever. Because you have the right attitude.” (36:59 – Mike)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You need to go ahead. I had… my New Year’s resolution was to drink more. I’m going to promise you, yours should be to drink less for the new year.” (05:26 – Mike)
• “You know yetis that run through the woods? They look kind of cool and big, but if you shaved them fully clean… they'd look like a hairless cat. That’s what I looked like.” (06:54 – Mike, self-deprecating)
• “Many companies already had programs like this in place… Companies want to do this because you want to support their team and you want to retain good employees.” (23:45 – Chris)
• “The reason why you’re tired, I believe, is it’s such blatant fraud. It wasn't some, like, double derivative mortgage rate thing where we didn't understand it. It was just people saying, ‘Oh no, we have 90 kids here.’” (26:14 – Mike)
• “That job that you’re rushing off to… one day that house is going to be empty… So live for today. What matters the most is what matters the most.” (31:56 – Chris)
• “Can I get up and give you a hug? Hold on.” (35:08 – Mike, leading to an on-air embrace)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:34 – Treating Jan 2nd as “end of the year”; holiday time confusion
• 01:21–07:30 – Mike’s New Year’s Eve adventure, hangover, and mix-ups
• 07:32 – Pushup challenge for the new year
• 08:14–11:53 – Tom Brady and Alex Earle’s influencer-era romance
• 14:59–23:29 – Minnesota assistance program fraud, welfare critiques, state paid leave program
• 28:07 – Transition into the “enjoy today” theme with viral video
• 31:56–34:18 – Chris’s emotional reflection on parenting, loss, and cherishing moments
• 36:28–36:59 – Closing thoughts on family, gratitude, and optimism for 2026

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Final Segment: The Core Message

Live for Today.
The episode crescendos emotionally as Chris and Mike, both fathers, confront the bittersweet truth that we rarely know when we’re experiencing “the last time” for life’s precious moments with loved ones. After nearly half an hour of laughter, snark, and policy griping, Chris’ sharing of a moving viral passage (see transcript) deeply affects both men. They urge listeners to prioritize family, savor small cluttered, noisy moments, and not get lost in work or frustration with “the system.”

“There’s going to be that final time… So live for today. Don’t worry about everything else. Because what matters the most is what matters the most.” (32:00 – Chris)

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Episode Tone

Wry, self-deprecating, emotionally honest, and quintessentially “Garage Logic”: pragmatic to the core, blending skepticism about institutions with sincere affection for family and community.

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Summary:
Whether you tune in for the laughs, the cultural commentary, or the heartfelt moments, this “End of the Year” Weekly Scramble is at its best channeling gratitude, perspective, and the classic Minnesota habit of facing tough realities with humor and humility. Reuvers and Fratelloni remind us: cherish today, cherish each other, and remember what actually matters as you step into a new year.

Transcript

[A]

This is the Weekly Scramble. A place where we chat about life over a cold one or two. It's time to belly up to the pod with Mike Fratelloni and your host, Chris Reavers.

[B]

That's right. It's time for the Weekly Scramble podcast. My name is Chris Reavers. With me as always, his name is Mike Fratelloni. Hello, Michael.

[A]

Happy New Year, Chris Reivers.

[B]

Same to you, my good friend. It's Friday.

[A]

It is Friday.

[B]

It's January 2nd.

[A]

It is January 2nd.

[B]

But I'm gonna kind of treat this as almost like the end of 2025. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean.

[A]

Cause this is our Give thanks show.

[B]

It's that magical time of the year where you're like, wait, what day is this today? Is it Monday?

[A]

No, it's kind of between things.

[B]

It almost feels like it's a Monday today because of the holiday yesterday. But it's a Friday. Yeah.

[A]

You got Saturday and Sunday to just keep doing the same thing.

[B]

It's pretty awesome.

[A]

I did remember last show, I said, for my New Year's resolution, I'm gonna drink more. And I pretty much destroyed all of that.

[B]

I believe you're one of the. You're probably in a handful of, I would say, like three people worldwide that have said, yeah.

[A]

That said, hey, I need to drink more. Cause I was a little light on it. But I did celebrate New Year's and I drank just enough to not wanna drink this whole next year now. So I was like, I kinda did it. Can I tell you this little story?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Okay. Cause I think it's kinda funny. So I go out super early. We go to a golf simulator. Right. My wife And I, at 4:00'. Clock.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

And they had. Because I'm frugal, she orders a glass of wine. And they said, you know, you can get a bottle of that wine for $30 instead of the glass for $14. And I said, well. And I don't really drink wine. I said, 100%. Let's get the bottle. Right. Cause we're gonna celebrate. So I had a drink there, plus a little bit of the wine. And then we went upstairs, had a little bit of dinner, and we went home. And our kids were home. My older kid from college. Right. And I said, you should drive us and let's go some places. Cause I was in the mood to party. Right?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

So we went out and I had two sober. We went to the Lexington. We went to a bunch of other bars.

[B]

Oh, you were living it up.

[A]

We really lived it up. Because I had someone who loved me driving me around, right? So at about 1:30 at night, because I stayed up till midnight, did the whole thing.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

There's video of me telling everybody, like, we should not be at home at 11:45. Let's quickly go to someplace for the ball drop. Because I was in. Kept saying it was the greatest night of my life. And we really had a lot of fun, right? So at 1:30 in the morning, I get a video of some fireworks from a guy that I know from one of the bars. Like we're acquaintances.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

And I said, huh. So next morning we're laying in bed and you don't know this, but on January 1st, all the hardware stores are closed, right? I don't really need to work. It's one of the few days, Christmas, Easter, that kind of thing, where I just don't have to work at all, right. Mentally, I still. It's. It's a day that I get myself off. So all of a sudden, early, early on the first I hear trucks pull into the driveway. And we have contractors doing some work on one of our bathrooms. Like, are you shitting me? Are they here? The day after New Year's, I don't sleep naked. I'm completely naked. So I don't remember getting naked. I think my wife might have taken advantage of me. I'm totally naked in bed. Contractors are coming to the bathroom that's six feet from my head. Like, the one day. The one day I could just lay in bed all day and no one would say one thing to me. Also, now I gotta get up. Cause the contractors are there. So totally fine, right? I'm totally fine. I'm happy to go sit on the couch. It's not like I needed to go do something, but I had to move naked from my bed, quickly find some clothing and go out to the couch, right? So I'm sitting there on the couch and about 8:30, I get another text from the person who sent me the fireworks. And he said, Gallagher's at 10:30. Which is a bar down by my house, right? And I don't go to bars with him. Like, we're not tight. So I just ignore it because I think.

[B]

Was it Gallagher's 1030? Question mark?

[A]

No, he just said, Gallagher's 1030.

[B]

Oh. As in like, hey, we're going to.

[A]

Be there at 10:30.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

And I, you know. And again, I know this guy, but we've never gone out together. Like, he's never texted me with the name Mike. Like, I have a lot of People will text someone that's name is Mike and it's accidentally me. So after a while, I said, hey, dude. He sends me another text, and I said, hey, FYI, I think you're texting the wrong guy, like, with the fireworks thing. So he calls me on the phone. He says, mike, what are you talking about? I said, what do you mean? He goes, well, last night after New Year's Eve, like, when the ball dropped, we went over to your house when.

[B]

We kissed and shot off fireworks. Oh, my God.

[A]

And I turned to my wife and I said, oh, my God, did I leave the bar? You know, collectively, did we leave the bar, go back to the house and light off fireworks? And she's like, what are you talking about? Well, this guy who lost his jacket at my house, he thought he was contacting me the whole time because he left his jacket at my house. He didn't. He didn't come over. We didn't light off fireworks. He just somehow. And he's like, please tell me you're joking. And I said, no, I'm not. You did not come over to my house. We did not light off fireworks. And he's like, please, God, please. And he's kind of begging, like, please tell me I'm not so delusional that I thought I was at your house almost all night before we went to go to get burgers at Gallagher's. Wow, dude, you need to go ahead. I had. My New Year's resolution was to drink more. I'm going to promise you, yours should.

[B]

Be to drink last for the new year. Wow.

[A]

But I had a moment of where I really felt this, like, heat, like, roll over me, right? Because I thought, holy crap, the first night of the year, and I've blacked out fireworks. I blacked out people coming over. I blacked out someone losing their jacket at the house. I blacked all that out. And Nicole looked at me, she's like, we didn't do any of that. I was like, thank God. She goes, you were full on snoring at 12:04. And I was like, oh, thank God. Naked.

[B]

You know, a lot of those situations have occurred to yours truly, you know, way back in the day. But it's funny when you almost need the reassurance to tell you, no, it's okay. None of that happened. None of that. None of that took place.

[A]

But the.

[B]

Here's what I guess. Go ahead, finish your question.

[A]

Well, one of the big problems is when I slept naked. I don't do that very often. And when the contractors came So I have a door that goes into the room that they were going into. So they were like eight feet away from me. So I had to jump out of bed naked. And I ran past the full length Mirror Reaver. If you want to start the year out on a low. I'm just kind of beat up looking completely naked. I looked at my beautiful pic laying in bed and I thought, I'm so sorry you had to see that. I'm so sorry. It looked like I was. You know yetis that run through the woods?

[B]

Right.

[A]

They look kind of cool and big, but if you shaved them fully clean, like where they had no hair, it's.

[B]

Like the hairless cats.

[A]

They'd look like a hairless cat. That's what I looked like. Oh, Christ almighty. So when my body finally recovered from my night of passion and craziness, I started working out. So now I started. Remember that push up thing that I did?

[B]

Oh, yeah, that 1. Pushup.

[A]

1-1-2 on the second, 3 on the third, and so on and so on all the way up to 365. I did it a couple years ago. Many of you may remember that. I started that. Right back.

[B]

Back up.

[A]

Because now, January 1st of 2027, I'm going to hop out of bed naked and I'm going to say, I've become unrecognizable. Look at me now. Look at me now is what I'm going to say.

[B]

Oh, my goodness gracious.

[A]

It was coming to Jesus that look.

[B]

So, speaking of New Year's resolutions, I know everyone that's listening to us probably has a couple of things. Either you write them down or you don't. You kind of tabulate those in your mind. But apparently Tom Brady has had some New Year's resolutions this year. And by the way, Tom Brady, is he almost our surrogate role model on the weekly Scramble podcast?

[A]

Yeah, for you, for sure. He's a little bit older than you. He's 48. Right. Are you younger?

[B]

Yeah. Tom's older than me by maybe less than a year.

[A]

Less than a year. So he's like your cohort. Like he's in your. You're both athletes, you're both tall, you're both blonde.

[B]

Sure. Right.

[A]

So you both probably enjoy the scene.

[B]

He's good looking. I'm not.

[A]

There's gradations of good looks.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

And so he decided to go ahead and get a new girlfriend because he hasn't been dating a lot. From what I understand, he's on kind.

[B]

Of a cold streak on a hiatus.

[A]

But now he's joined with a beautiful girl named Alex Earl. Excuse me. And if you don't know who Alex Earle is, she's a 25 year old social media ambassador. So she has over 8 million followers on Instagram. And can you think of any reason reavers, why 8 million people would follow her on Instagram? You found some? I think you're looking at it right now as your mouth is agape.

[B]

What was the question?

[A]

Yeah, she was seen in video standing next to Tom, rubbing his back as they were talking. Right. So she's rubbing his back and then he gently places her his hand on her lower back, right above her lovely lady lumps.

[B]

That's a.

[A]

But just in case you didn't catch.

[B]

That, I'm gonna be honest, you may have lost me for the rest of the show today.

[A]

Yeah, she's pretty. The best part about this whole story is my daughters told me about this.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And they were disgusted.

[B]

Why?

[A]

Because they were like, why would Alex date him? So gross. And I thought, how adorable is that? You still have youth on your side and you think that that's gross thing. But Alex, she's seen the world. And you know what Alex wants to do? She wants to hook up with a 48 year old. Much like. You know where Tom got this? You know where he learned this?

[B]

What's the question?

[A]

Bill Belichick.

[B]

Oh, for sure.

[A]

Yeah. Because Tom said, if old dirty gross Bill can date a hot chick, why can't the goat date a hot 25 year old? You are enamored with her.

[B]

I gotta get off this page.

[A]

You might have to shut. First of all, aren't there filters that block you from going to those pages?

[B]

No. I mean, they used to be, but they. Yeah, they don't. Ha ha.

[A]

Yeah. She is not. She's not salacious. No, she's not an only fan girl.

[B]

That's what's captivating about her is she's not. When you think of the Instagram model generation, at least just the quick, what 2 minute, 3 minute segment I spent. She looks authentic. That's what's so captivating about her.

[A]

I mean, she looks like a human.

[B]

Yeah. Because so many. It's funny. I have a really good friend. I'm not gonna out her. And she basically explained to me how all of these filters on social media work. And not that I was asking about anyone in particular, but she said, well, Reavers, here's how the before and after. She goes, I can change this photo of me in 10 seconds.

[A]

Sure. But this girl is legitimate.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This. Alex. Earl, you know what I think is kind of interesting? I'm looking at her TikTok right Now. She has 1.3 million views of her opening up a gift pack from Doritos, right? Where she got these Dorito. This. This. Because they have different flavors now of Doritos. Obviously, you knew that they had Cool Ranch, but now they have this other kind of system with Doritos. So they sent her this pack. So she has 1.3 million views on that one video of her just wearing a pair of sweatpants in Doritos Reivers. How many years would it take for 1.3 million people to watch us eat Doritos? We. For the rest of our entire lives. We could post forever, and not 1.3 million people would say, let's watch fratelloni eat a bag of Doritos.

[B]

This is exactly why when people ask, well, how come these kids just don't want to work these days? This is why.

[A]

Yeah, this is why.

[B]

This is exactly why. Because they know that if they just generate content and create a platform, she.

[A]

Probably made 5 million bucks or 3 million bucks on that just to eat some Doritos. I don't even get paid the Doritos Reavers.

[B]

I do love Doritos.

[A]

I know. They're so good. Doritos are so good. No wonder I look horrible naked. Because I will see Doritos and I'll say, I'd rather look horrible naked. My dad told me to not make fun of my looks anymore on the radio.

[B]

You know, it's funny because for years and years and years, many people, yours truly included, have gone through what we call the Derek Jeter roster, right? All the gals that Derek Jeter had dated over time up until he got married to Hannah Davis, who's also obviously beautiful. And the same can be said about the roster in which Tom Brady has. I mean, granted, he was married to Gisele for quite some time, and then after that, I'm just glad to see that he landed on his feet.

[A]

Yeah, he's doing all right, this Hannah Davis. Hannah Jeter is her name. I didn't know he got married. Yeah, he didn't pick badly.

[B]

You remember who she is, right?

[A]

Remind me.

[B]

She was at. @&t. She was in one of those commercials. It was a Super bowl commercial, okay? And everyone went, who.

[A]

Who is that girl?

[B]

Who in the hell is that gal?

[A]

Oh, it's kind of the same thing that happened to Pam Anderson when she was sitting in some football stadium.

[B]

It. Hockey game, was it?

[A]

And they just Pointed towards her and.

[B]

They'Re like, who is.

[A]

Who is this girl?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Like, that's the most beautiful girl.

[B]

Because she was. They featured, like, on the Molson Ice Cam or whatever it was. And her boyfriend at the time was the one that said, you should go after that. Like, you idiot.

[A]

That was a mistake. You needed to knock her down. He needed to say something sweet like, man, they really saw you. Obviously they didn't see how fat your butt looked like, just to knock her down.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So she said, I'm staying in Canada with Timmy.

[B]

Oh, my goodness. All right.

[A]

Her life would have been a little bit different or she wouldn't be dating Liam Neeson.

[B]

Let's talk about North American banking. Company banking done differently since 1998, when they made a promise to deliver a better banking experience for their customers where you know your banker and they know you. While a lot has changed since then, this commitment to being a true community bank in the Twin Cities, that has not. But you can see it for yourself. Check them out online. Today it's nabankco.com to learn more. Once again, it's banking done differently. North American banking Company member, FDIC is an equal housing lender. The weekly script. We will be right back. I was gonna try to avoid. Ooh, I just had a race girl. Sorry about that.

[A]

The moment I put my earphones on, the moment I did that, I heard that come out. That was.

[B]

You got a little. Sorry about that.

[A]

It's not your fault. That was involuntary. You didn't do that on purpose.

[B]

I really did want to avoid fraud today.

[A]

Oh, you did.

[B]

But it's unavoidable.

[A]

The video of that kid with the New York Yankees hat on. Oh, did you see that?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Do you see what the world has done to him, by the way?

[B]

What?

[A]

So his glasses that he had on.

[B]

Yeah. They're what, $3,000, 2,500 bucks.

[A]

They're called chrome crosses. Right. It's his brand name. And then I thought someone pointed something out that I thought was kind of interesting because I think a huge percentage of the Somalian community is on some form of cash welfare or SNAP program or things like that. And usually have that because you don't work. But then someone said, well, if a huge percentage, 80 some percent are on federal assistance or state assistance and they're not working, why do you need so many daycares?

[C]

Right.

[A]

But I did spend a little time on the computer to look up, and it seems like Somalis do work at roughly the exact same pace as the rest of Minnesota at large.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because I was. I didn't want to say something wrong.

[B]

Sure. I want to point out a message that I saw yesterday around 7 o' clock last night. It's from Kelly Loeffler. Do you know who Kelly Loeffler is?

[A]

I think I do.

[B]

She is the 28th administrator of the United States Small Business Administration. You ready?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

She tweeted out the following over the past week, sba again, that's the Small Business Administration in the United States of America. Over the last week, SBA has reviewed thousands of potentially fraudulent pandemic era PPP and Eidl loans approved in the state of Minnesota today. Meaning yesterday, our agency took action to suspend 6,900 Minnesota borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity. In total, these borrowers were approved for 7900 PPP and EIDL loans worth approximately $400 million.

[A]

Oh, you're kidding me.

[B]

These individuals will be banned from all SBA loan programs, including disaster loans. Going forward, we will also refer every case, where appropriate. I'm not gonna foghorn that. To federal law enforcement for prosecution and repayment. After years, the American people will finally begin to see the criminals who stole from law abiding taxpayers held accountable. And this is just the first step.

[A]

Yeah, see, I think that's a little BS. Why is that coming? PPP loans were during COVID in 2020 and 2021. Why just now are they saying, oh, by the way, there was obvious 7,000 fraudulent loans. We're going to go ahead and mark these now. They're not getting any of that money back. Reivers, your hands up.

[B]

I'm going to answer your question.

[A]

Yeah, why did they do that?

[B]

Because we finally have new administration. Could be that's 100%.

[A]

It seems impossible that I don't know what it is. Honest to God, it's so incredibly frustrating to get a small business loan. Reivers. Note to self, I've done this before. I've gotten a small business SBA loan on some new hardware store we were opening in the past. You have piles of paperwork. You have to show piles of paperwork. You have to give them all your financials, you have to give them the plan, you have to tell them how you're going to do it. You have to have money yourself to get a small business loan. It's incredibly difficult to do to get an SBA loan. They're very helpful, don't get me wrong. But it's really not super easy. And they come out finally, after three or four years now and say, oh, by the way, some of These were scams. You're too late. Sba. You're too late. You shouldn't have given them in the first place, Mike.

[B]

It doesn't matter whether it's an SBA loan, PPP loan, it doesn't matter when these welfare programs. And again, I don't care how many emails you want to send to me, you go right ahead. How many of these welfare programs that were designed to help the misfortunate. I completely get it. And there are people out there that absolutely need these programs. But to sit there and turn a blind eye to all of this stuff and not realize that there are people out there who are willingly going to take advantage of this because it exists. You're kidding yourself.

[A]

You're kidding yourselves.

[B]

You're just absolutely kidding. And by the way, you've brought these numbers up constantly. They're not shrinking. These programs are continuing to balloon.

[A]

Until yesterday, until someone said, stop, stop. We're not going to.

[B]

We can't. We won't survive doing this, let alone being. I mean, my God, look at the national debt as it stands today. You think that number's going down? No, it's never gonna go down. It's your same analogy with they don't want to cure homelessness. That'll mean the money's gonna go away.

[A]

Yeah, they can't. The NGOs can't cure homelessness because then their NGO would have no value. They'd lose their jobs.

[B]

I wanted to point out one thing.

[A]

Keep going.

[B]

Yep. I wanted to. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

I wanted to point out one thing. There was one woman. I'm gonna leave everything out of it. Who received that. They found out. Receives $900 a month for child support.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

$600 a month in food stamps.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

$300 a month cash assistance, $1,200 a month in rent subsidy, $200 a month for utility assistance, $700 a month in daycare assistance. Free medical, free public transit, free cell phone, free college tuition, who works 20 hours a week. Okay. American way. Yep. You should deserve. That's $3,900 a month.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Think about that.

[A]

Wow. That's 48,000 bucks a year. If you're going to pay normal taxes, you would have to make about $80,000 to clear that.

[B]

Yeah, that's tax free.

[A]

That's tax free. Think of that. Wow. But that's. Here's one of the things that I came away with from our last show. It not their fault. Reavers, they're taking advantage of the system. They're not even taking advantage of the system. They're just using the system the way the system was set up. Right. The fraudsters, it's not even their fault. These are not masterminds of criminality. They did not find a loophole that only one guy could ever find. And they've exploited it. They just said, oh, yep, Nope, we have 90 kids here and had no daycare. Right. They didn't do anything. Chess level. They weren't even playing frickin checkers.

[B]

Speaking of that. Yes. Your governor, Tim Walls.

[A]

Do I have to say my governor? My man, Tim.

[B]

6:51Pm Last night tweeted the following. Minnesota just launched our statewide paid leave program today. Starting today, new parents, small business owners and people recovering from illness or injury will have the security to take needed time off work without risking their paycheck.

[A]

Did he say small business owners?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How, how does a small business owner, someone who's running their business, how would they take time off? I don't get it. If you're a single guy that owns a flower shop and you have one employee, do you turn to your employee and say, hey, the state's going to give me 12 weeks of my pay to go do something. Go do leave. But not small business owners.

[B]

The balls on this guy. And again, I think he almost, he always says he's running against Trump. He almost takes a page out of the Donald Trump trolling playbook on social media going, oh, watch, this is gonna get him all. Fraud.

[A]

You think that was fraud? Wait till we do this.

[B]

Well, that's my whole point is I guarantee he's doing, oh, I'm just gonna stir them all up.

[A]

And again, a mastermind. You don't need to be a mastermind to defraud this program. No, you might just need to say I need to go have 12 weeks off. Right. It's not that. There's not that many loopholes you'd have to jump through to mastermind this. The only nice thing reverse is in mass. People can't defraud this. Right. Because you can't pretend you have 900 people doing it at your company. You'd have to have those employees. This is a one off person. And again, companies already did this for people that needed time. Compassionate companies did the right thing for their employees.

[B]

We said this, whether it was this week or the week previous. I'm looking for a video that I have got to play for you because it just reminded me of something. Many companies already had programs like this in place.

[A]

Yeah, we want to Companies want to do this because you want to support.

[B]

Their team and you want to retain good employees 100%.

[A]

You do. And if someone's going through something, you might want to even be more compassionate. Right. We've done that numerous times at Fratelloni's.

[B]

Oh, my goodness. Okay. There's a video of a woman who was talking about daycare in Minnesota, and apparently it's been scrubbed. Have you seen this video?

[A]

No.

[B]

So she's talked. She's basically reading her script.

[A]

She said, fraud is bad, and she stops.

[B]

It's been scrubbed from social media. Really?

[A]

I didn't understand what she was talking about.

[B]

Well, because she said the quiet part out loud.

[A]

Yeah, but fraud is bad. They can say fraud is bad.

[B]

Right. But it was as if she wasn't supposed to say that. Yeah.

[A]

And she dead stopped.

[B]

And she said, oh, I can't go on. She had no idea how to continue.

[A]

What I loved about it is she stops the crowd. So she's giving a speech about daycare in Minnesota. She appears to be Somali.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And she's giving a speech, and she says, fraud is bad. And then she dead stops. And you can see the look of complete panic on her face. And then someone in the crowd was like.

[B]

Yeah, you go to tell.

[A]

And then. So she waves to the crowd like she just finished her very poignant speech. And that's been. Has that been stripped from the Internet?

[B]

The account that I saw this from had reposted it, and they've even said, okay, they just pulled this from social media. So obviously, you know why we thought that this was a big deal.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Which is just, again, is anyone else tired? I am. I'm tired of this crap. You know, again, I'm a live and let live kind of a guy. I really am.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And I understand programs are needed for those that don't have the same advantages as some of us, but for crying out loud, I'm tired of this crap. I really am, Mike. I'm wore out for the first time in my life. I have lived here my entire life, okay? I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want to continue to feed this machine. I really don't.

[A]

That's why your new email is chrishiouxioux falls developmentleague.com. is that what it is? You're like, I'm moving to Sioux Falls.

[B]

But honest to God, I mean, again, it might be an empty threat because I have so much. I have so much family here. And again, this is going to continue at the federal level. At least let's hope it doesn't. But. But I'm tired of this.

[A]

Well, what. You know what?

[B]

We're out by this.

[A]

The reason why you're tired, I believe, is it's such blatant fraud. It wasn't some like double derivative mortgage rate thing where we didn't understand it. It was just people saying, oh no, we have 90 kids here. It was the most basic. If someone, if a kid picked up his cell phone and went over there, we could have figured it out in the first day. If the mayor, Joe Sucere, drove over and said, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of people getting fed at this place that says they're feeding 5,000 people a day. In fact, I don't even see that it's open. The most basic, basic stuff. If we could have done, which some people did, we could have stopped this fraud. But we didn't. We allowed people to become masterminds without being masterminds.

[B]

Do you know why I won't leave? I can't quit. We are nuts. We are nuts.

[A]

I can't quit those.

[B]

I mean, granted, I could live in Phoenix and still order online at wearenutsmn.com, but. But it's just so convenient for me to walk into Fraterloni's and get them right off the shelf.

[A]

They're so good.

[B]

And in fact, I do need to make a stop. In fact, here's what I'm gonna do. What's the closest store here? Is it Grand?

[A]

Yeah, either of the grand stores, probably.

[B]

I'm gonna go to Grand Avenue. Cause I need to get cinnamon toffee peanuts. And then I'm gonna go to Coburn's and get hokey pokey popcorn.

[A]

Oh, it's kind of spread the love.

[B]

A little bit because you know, I like to show. I like.

[A]

What about Cub?

[B]

I could go to Cub. I'm trying to think.

[A]

Isn't it at Kowalski's too?

[B]

I might take one of those routes, like kind of one of these deals on my way home today. But yeah, Fradaloni's, Kowalsk, Kowalski's Lons and Byerlys, Kub Foods. Coburn's Kwiktrip. Am I leaving anybody out?

[A]

Max Hardware.

[B]

Max Hardware. Mac's Hardware has the we are Nuts brand, but it's a wonderful family run operation and we are so thankful for their partnership here with us in 2025. Going into 2026, it's a wonderful family owned operation making small hand batch snacks right here in the great state of Minnesota. I got to be careful with that one.

[A]

You did.

[B]

Check them out online and see their entire menu, whether it's oh my, oh my goodness, the maple bourbon, toffee almonds, the cashews, everything. It's just a wonderful, wonderful organization. We're so thankful to have them here again. WeAreNuts and WeEarnutsMN.com, the weekly scramble. We will be right back. All right, I want to wrap up our show today. Not really on a personal note. Let me just make a little note here for a second. Not really on a personal note, but. But I came across this video a couple of days ago and it really hit home with me and 2025. No one, nobody is looking forward to turning the page in 2025 more than Chris Reavers. And the reason I want to play this video is if you've got kids out there, sorry you're going to cry like I did when I first watched this video. But for me it's about perspective. For me, it's about finding out what really, truly does matter. And everyone has adversity in their life. Everyone has struggles. Everybody has just crap you're dealing with. And I saw this video and it kind of put things into perspective because I'm not unlike anybody else. I've been dealing with some stuff. But I saw this video and I wanted to share it it with our audience here because I really thought people would appreciate that. So I'm sorry if this is going to make you cry, but it made me cry and I just thought it was a really important message to share with everybody.

[C]

I'm 80 years old and somehow I woke up in my 32 year old body just for one day. I wake up to little hands tugging at the blankets. Mum, wake up. They shout. I blink and I sit up slowly. My babies, they're small again. They climb into bed, giggling, wiggling. I remember rushing through mornings, but not today. I pull them close. I hug them tight. I kiss their messy hair. I hold their little hands. This time I soak in every second. I catch my reflection in the bathroom mirror. No deep lines. No gray hair. My younger face. I used to think I looked old at 41. What a silly thought. I find my husband in the kitchen making coffee. He looks strong and he looks young. I wrap my arms around him tightly. He looks surprised. Maybe we didn't hug enough back then, I think. We talk about the day and today it all feels big. I memorize the sound of his voice. We pile into the car. Kids arguing over seat belts. Someone drops A snack. There's crumbs everywhere. I used to get so frustrated, but today I soak in the noise and the chaos because I know my car will be quiet and spotless for many years to come. Dinner is loud and unorganized. No one wants to sit still. There's shouting, giggling, arguing, and so much life. I don't clean up straight away. I just sit and I watch, trying to burn it all into my memory. Before bed, I pick up the phone. I call my mum. And I hear her voice. I haven't heard this voice in so many years. I close my eyes and I let her words wash over me. I tell her I love her again and again. I never want to hang up. And this time I don't. I don't leave anything unsaid at bedtime. I don't skip pages in the story. I read every single word. And then I ask, can we read one more book? And they say, yes. I don't want this day to end. I got one more day. And this time I knew that this was joy. This was love. Those little hands. Our strong young bodies with no aches or pains. Our parents who are still alive. It all mattered so much more than we ever realized at the time.

[B]

Here's my point. That job that you're rushing off to, that you think that that's the most important thing, well, one day that job's not going to be there. One day that that position is going to be eliminated and that position will be filled by somebody else in a week. And one day, that car with crackers and cereal over the floor, it's going to be neat, it's going to be tidy, and it's going to be empty. And one day that house is going to be empty. And one day you'll be by yourself. Or maybe you won't. And I guess the point is, live today, don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about making it to the next paycheck. Don't worry about whatever you think is inconsequential. Because believe me, there's going to be the final time where you set your kid down the last time you picked them up. There's going to be that final time where they ask you to read one more book. There's going to be that final time where they don't ask you to play catch anymore. There's going to be that final time where. There's just going to be that final time. So live for today. Don't worry about everything else. Because what matters the most is what matters the most. And that's what's important. And I'm not. Mike, you've been with me for a long, long time, and I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated you, your family, and everything that's been important in my life. And I saw that. And as you know me, I can't even look at you right now. But when I saw that, it really hit home. Because nothing matters more to me than family, and nothing matters more to me than just seeing growth, seeing my two boys thrive. And I didn't think I was going to get this emotional, but apparently I am. So I guess my point is, when I saw that, I just. It's about perspective. It's about living in the moment, and it's about living for today.

[A]

Reverse. Here's the 20, 26. It's going to be a better year.

[B]

Oh, yeah, right.

[A]

It's got to be. It's got to be a better year.

[B]

No, I guess. And I'm not, you know, like, I'm not. I didn't even know, like, why I wanted to play it, but I just thought, man, it's so interesting. The part that got me. You know what the part that got me was? The crumbs in the back of the car. Because I would remember, because you know me, I'm Road Trip Guy, right? I remember. Ah, now I got a vacuum. Who gives a damn?

[A]

Yeah, who cares?

[B]

It's. It's Ritz Crackers. Actually, we're a Club Crackers family, but it's. It's Club Crackers in the back seat. Who gives a damn? It's cereal. It'll take. I'm gonna go get my oil change at Schoonover, and he's gonna vacuum it out for me anyway. What do I care? But, yeah, it's. Yeah, it's about today. It's just about today. Just live for today, right?

[A]

Can I get up and give you a hug? Hold on.

[B]

Not yet.

[A]

Yeah, it's gonna make horrible. It's gonna make horrible.

[B]

He is gonna give me a hug. And we are on camera and. Oh, here he comes. Here he comes.

[A]

Love you, man.

[B]

Love you, buddy. But, yeah, so that's. I guess when I saw that video, and it has circulated a lot on social media, and I just thought, damn, that's such a great message, because, you know the part about picking up your phone? I can once again call my mom. And I know there's a last time for that.

[A]

There's a last time for that, right?

[B]

There's a last time for a lot of those things, and you don't realize it in the moment. And one of the reasons it hit me was because we do Christmas Eve on my family. And we were driving home Christmas Eve night from my parents house. And I remember the very last time that I gave because I always used to give my grandparents a ride to and from the Christmas Eve gathering because I just wanted to do that. Both my grandma and grandpa did not like driving at night. So I just did it. And it was kind of neat because will, who's now 14, was in his car seat, right? And he was in the back seat sitting between my grandparents and they were kind of messing with him. And I just thought, damn, if I'd have known that that was going to be the last time. And sadly, I lost my grandfather a few months after that. But if I had known it was like, I would have just enjoyed that more in that moment.

[A]

Be grateful for that moment.

[B]

But now I'm grateful that I had that moment. I'm grateful that I have that lasting memory of like. And I was just like, oh, my God, it's gonna take us forever to get through the snow.

[A]

And I'm like, damn, just enjoy it, enjoy it.

[B]

Enjoy the moment, man.

[A]

I mean, we don't all have to be in a hurry.

[B]

No, that's exactly right. You know, you're gonna get there. Who gives a Damn if you're 15 minutes late?

[A]

So anyway, okay, Reavers. I love you.

[B]

I love you too, man.

[A]

Happy 2026.

[B]

Oh, it's gonna be. You know what? It is. It's gonna be the best year ever.

[A]

It's gonna be the best year.

[B]

It really is. It's gonna be the best year ever.

[A]

Because you're have the right attitude.

[B]

Yeah, right. For sure.

[A]

You are the best.

[B]

Thank you. Michael, please do us a favor. Rate and review the show and send me hate mail if you'd like, but you could do that on any podcast platform. You happen to be listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. It also helps other people find the show and we do appreciate each and every single one of you. And cheers to 2026. His name is Mike Fratelloni. My name is Chris Reivers. Thank you so very much for listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. We'll talk to you again next time. Enjoy the day. Cheers. It is time once again that we check in with our guy, Mr. Money Talk. Josh Arnold is with us once again right here in garagelogic. And now is the time for you to do the same. So do not delay. Do exactly what I did and pick up that phone and dial 952-925-5608. That number once again is 952-925-5608. When you call that number you're going to get Josh and he is there for you for that. Free, yes, I use the word free 48 minute financial consultation with absolutely zero obligation. And he will always give you the straight talk. He will never give you the sugar coated advice and he is online with us once again right here in garagelogic. And boy oh boy Josh. Yesterday a big day in college football. One of my favorite days of the year to watch sports and boy oh boy, a lot of those football betters were disappointed. But big news for FanDuel and DraftKings yesterday.

[D]

The predictions markets Chris, I'll say took a little bit of a hit on college football outcomes yesterday but FanDuel which is owned by Flutter, an English company and DraftKings must have done done pretty well because their stocks took a little jump jump today as did Pen Gaming which has an affiliation we'll say with ESPN Sports as we as we speak. The predictions market well we've talked about them previously versus online sports betting and how the predictions markets have been taking a little bit of market share from online sports betting. Predictions markets have definitely helped several company stocks including Interactive Brokers and Robinhood though Robinhood is as a stock is extremely volatile being being down today but over the course of 2025 doing exceedingly well. The predictions markets I do expect over the course of 2026 we'll continue to attract users and that on a longer term basis could hurt we'll say the online sports and online gambling businesses of both DraftKings and FanDuel we have seen even the traffic at regular casinos, both regional and others call national based in Las Vegas have been down though the winner I'll say the winning ticket for casinos is still those that are very heavy in Macau and Singapore which would include Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Stamp. MGM still has presence here in the United States and also a small presence in Macau and MGM is also involved in sports betting. The two leaders still in sports betting are FanDuel and DraftKings having better than a 70% market share between the two of them for sports betting and online online gambling, but plenty plenty of competition in that arena. So I wouldn't expect any big breakouts. I'll say in in stock prices and both I'll say all of these regulated betting I'll say betting companies whether it's DraftKings, Flutter, Pen Gaming, MGM Caesars are all significantly off of their highs and they do look like bargains but they may in fact be value traps. Be very very cautious when investing in them at least at this juncture. On the other hand, the winning trades seem to be related at least in my estimation are still going to be related around artificial intelligence. I think the build out phase may have may have peaked and the use phase for artificial intelligences only beginning. But again a lot of money is going to be spent in this area and that means debt levels could increase. And as debt levels increase, gotta watch for margins. I'm still of the opinion that favorite Apple is going to be a long term winner in this area though it does not look like it today. Particularly as analysts from Raymond James came out with a downgrade on Apple. Her view is that all the news about Apple and Apple sales are already in the stock and the stock is expensive at least on a PE basis. I more than strongly disagree with her outlook. As my price target on Apple as I have stated previously as it's $400 a share, I don't believe all the news is in the stock and I also believe that most institutions are significantly underweight Apple versus the S and P benchmark. And speaking of Apple, Apple and Amazon which are two of my personal and my clients largest positions and I have stated previously that the portfolios that I manage are very focused primarily in four areas. Internet related companies which would include artificial intelligence, leisure related businesses, China related businesses, real assets which could include real estate. We do a little bit of short term trading. The asset allocation within that is keeping up to 30% in cash both for safety and to take advantage of opportunities as they arise and also be prepared for any pullbacks in the market. So having most of the a focused and both concentrated portfolios can lead to periods of significant outperformance or periods of underperformance.

[C]

For.

[D]

Last year the my portfolio will say underperform the S and P after two years of significant outperformance. So that's one of the issues with the type of strategy that I use. But longer term it has done exceptionally well if I can give myself a pat on on the back. But again there's always volatility around around that. Going forward into 2026 expect volatility to continue. Expect you know, some downside particularly around some type of government, what I'll just call government interference or action that will impact the markets. Interference with the markets could be this, we'll say another government shutdown as the Democrat minority does not pass the continuing resolution at the end of end of the month. We've got a change in Fed leadership which could impact the market, not to mention of course, the impact of Trump's tariffs. And then at the end, towards the end of the year, could have more volatility towards the end of the year, I would say probably starting late summer and into the fall, have more volatility around the upcoming midterm election. Positive side, positive, I'll say macro, you know, macro impact on the market. The impact from the big beautiful tax bill which could put more money in the pockets of individuals and companies with lower tax rate. I do believe that a lot of companies are going to report better than expected earnings despite being cautious going forward. And should interest rates continue to tick down, well, that definitely can help consumers and we'll say any consumer led spending and that, that could be a very, you know, very good positive. But it is going to be 2026 is going to be an interesting year. Be prepared for three to four pullbacks of 5 to 10%. And having that cash available from the asset allocation that I recommend will prove very fruitful for you in the long term.

[B]

Excellent advice as always, Mr. MoneyTalk. You heard him, Gilers. Now is the time for you to pick up the phone and to make the call for that free 48 minute financial consultation with absolutely zero obligation. And you do that just like I did by dialing 952-925-56, where you always get straight talk and never ever sugarcoated advice. Josh, once again, thank you so much for the time and the chat. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have a fantastic weekend. And I know we're already into 2026, but have a fantastic new year and we'll talk to you again next week.

[D]

Look forward to it, Chris. We'll be on every day.

[B]

That's right, 2026. Look forward to it, Josh. Have a great weekend.

[D]

You too.

[B]

Investment services offered by Josh Arnold Investment Consultant, llc. A security investment advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All investments involve risk. All comments and opinions are Josh Arnold's and do not constitute investment advice. Chris Reavers is a paid endorsed.