Explaining Capitalism: What It Is & What It Isn't

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Explaining Capitalism: What It Is & What It Isn't"

Money And Wealth With John Hope Bryant
The Black Effect & iHeartPodcasts
Release Date: November 27, 2025
Host: John Hope Bryant

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Overview: The Purpose of This Episode

In this episode, John Hope Bryant tackles the often misunderstood and maligned subject of capitalism. With his direct and relatable “straight talk,” Bryant explores what capitalism truly is (and isn’t), especially as it relates to the Black community and individuals historically left out of “the memo” on building wealth in a free enterprise system. He aims to demystify capitalism, explain its mechanics, contrast good versus bad capitalism, address the mistrust surrounding it, and provide practical advice for those seeking to participate and prosper within it.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Capitalism: Stripping Away The Myths

[03:00–07:00]

• “People blame capitalism for things capitalism didn’t do and ignore what it actually can do as a result.” (John Hope Bryant, 03:10)
• Bryant clarifies that capitalism isn’t evil; it’s a system of incentives and value exchanges already governing daily life.
• Core elements of capitalism:
  • Private ownership
  • Free exchange (free markets)
  • Rules of engagement
  • Trust
• Key quote: “Capitalism equals private ownership plus free exchange plus rules plus trust.” (John Hope Bryant, 05:05)

Distinctions:

• Being broke vs. being poor:
  • Broke is economic—a temporary condition.
  • Poor is “a disabling frame of mind, a depressed condition of your spirit.”
  • “We must vow never, ever, ever to be poor again.” (JHB, 03:53)

2. Everyday Capitalism—You’re Already In the Game

[07:00–13:00]

• Going to the gas station, nail salon, paying tolls, or hiring daycare—all these are capitalism in action.
• “All that cash, that ‘bag’ you’re chasing is just a means of exchanging value. In and of itself, [money] literally means nothing.” (JHB, 05:47)
• Explained with a simple negotiation table:
  • Producer/capitalist wants to extract maximum value, giving minimum in return.
  • Consumer tries to get maximum value for minimum cost.
  • The “good negotiation” is where “everybody leaves the table slightly annoyed but cool with what went down.” (JHB, 09:18)

Memorable Example:

• Even minor things—like treating a stye in his eye while traveling—involve capitalist exchanges: paying the hotel, tipping staff, and buying medicine (10:45–13:00).

3. The Mechanics of Capitalism

[13:00–18:00]

• Ownership, investment, risk, reward, competition, and innovation.
• “Capitalism is not about money; it’s about choices.”
• “Nothing has any value except the value we ascribe to it.” (JHB, 12:00)
• Explains the subjective value in items, from combs to luxury cars.

4. Good vs. Bad Capitalism

[18:00–22:00]

• Good Capitalism: Mutual benefit—both sides leave better off.
• Bad Capitalism: One benefits only through the exploitation or loss of the other (e.g., slavery, theft, economic exploitation).
• “Slavery was one of the most horrendous examples of bad capitalism.” (JHB, 20:22)
• Economic exploitation (like the Holocaust or American slavery) is not true capitalism; it lacks free exchange and trust.

Notable quote:

• “Good capitalism is where I benefit and you benefit more. Bad capitalism is where I benefit and you pay a price for it.” (JHB, 18:36)

5. Capitalism: Not Just for the Rich and Powerful

[22:00–26:00]

• Capitalism isn’t a system exclusive to “wealthy elites”.
• Most legitimate wealth in America started at the bottom:
  • “Most legitimate wealth in this country… came from the poor.” (JHB, 24:18)
  • Stories behind Goldman Sachs, Walmart (Sam Walton), Motown, etc.
• Systemic problems arise when capitalism becomes inaccessible or “gamed” against newcomers. The challenge is fixing broken ladders, not burning the whole system.

6. Roots of Distrust: History & Broken Ladders

[27:00–44:00]

• Historical injustices fuel mistrust:

  • The Great Depression
  • Redlining—originated with government policy, not private banks
  • Segregation, wage stagnation, homeownership discrimination, and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis

• “The problem is not capitalism, people. It’s a broken economy with broken ladders. We’re trying to fix the ladder.” (JHB, 37:30)

• Key moment:

  • “President Bill Clinton once told me, ‘It’s hard to get somebody to agree to the truth when the lie is paying their paycheck.’” (JHB, 41:08)

• Racism is not inherent to capitalism: “It’s not even emotional or racial. It’s math. And math doesn’t have opinions.” (JHB, 36:14)

7. Capitalism That Works: When the System Delivers

[44:00–46:00]

• Positive examples:

  • The smartphone in your pocket
  • Uber/Lyft
  • Medical innovation
  • Small business creation
  • Homeownership
  • Generational wealth-building

• “Even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you have to first collect it like a capitalist. Capitalism is the engine, but engines need maintenance.” (JHB, 43:06)

8. The Moral and Inclusive Case for Capitalism

[46:38–52:00]

• “Capitalism works best when everybody can participate in it.” (JHB, 47:20)
• Operation HOPE’s “Silver Rights” philosophy: From fighting in the streets civilly to economic empowerment in the suites.
• “Let’s make smart sexy again. We’ve been making dumb sexy for way too long.” (JHB, 48:40)
• Broad-based participation (employee ownership, homeownership, entrepreneurship) stabilizes democracy and creates prosperity.

9. Rules of the Game: Practical Guidance

[52:00–60:00]

• Key rules Bryant lays out:
  1. Own something—don’t just consume.
  2. Build and protect your credit.
  3. Your labor is your first capital.
  4. Learn how interest works.
  5. Understand risk—don’t fear it.
  6. Wealth = patience + compounding + discipline.
  7. Don’t confuse fame with wealth (“Riches is loud. Wealth is quiet.”)
• “You make money during the day and you build wealth in your sleep—boom!” (John Hope Bryant, quoting Tony Ressler, 56:29)
• The 700 credit score is a gateway into fair, trusted participation in capitalism.

10. Predatory vs. Inclusive Capitalism

[60:00–62:00]

• Predatory capitalism: Exploitation, loopholes, short-term thinking, no rules.
• Inclusive capitalism: Rules, dignity, long-term value, broad prosperity, relationships.
• “Capitalism without inclusion becomes fragile. Inclusion makes capitalism unstoppable.” (JHB, 60:40)

The Next Chapter:

• Inclusive economics lifts national prosperity, rebuilds the middle class, expands opportunity, and repairs trust in institutions.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Money] is not evil, it’s the love of money that’s evil. This episode is about unpacking that thing called capitalism.” (05:00)
• “A good negotiation is where everybody leaves the table slightly annoyed, but they’re cool with what went down.” (09:18)
• “Bad capitalism is where I benefit and you pay a price for it. Slavery is an example of bad capitalism.” (20:22)
• “Most legitimate wealth ... came from the poor. A big company was once a small one.” (24:18)
• “The problem is not capitalism, people. It’s a broken economy with broken ladders. We’re trying to fix the ladder. … The economic plumber for underserved America. The Federal Reserve of the hood.” (37:31)
• “It’s hard to get somebody to agree to the truth when the lie is paying their paycheck.” (41:08, quoting Bill Clinton)
• “The best way to start to solve poverty is to start by not being poor yourself.” (44:17)
• “Don’t just participate in capitalism. Master it.” (61:36)
• “It’s not like we tried capitalism and free enterprise as black people at scale. We just never tried it. We tried everything else that hasn’t worked. Let’s give this a shot.” (62:08)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 03:00–07:00 | What Capitalism Is (and Isn’t) | | 09:18 | Negotiation Analogy and Table Illustration | | 13:00–18:00 | Mechanics of Capitalism; Value Is Created, Not Assigned | | 18:00–22:00 | Good vs. Bad Capitalism; Real-World Examples | | 24:00–26:00 | Wealth Origins Stories: Starting from the Bottom | | 27:00–44:00 | History of Mistrust: Redlining, Depression, Inequality | | 41:08 | "Truth vs. Lie" (President Clinton quote) | | 44:00–46:00 | When Capitalism Works: Everyday Benefits | | 46:38–52:00 | Inclusion, Silver Rights, Community Uplift | | 52:00–60:00 | Rules for Mastering the Game, Credit, Wealth Practices | | 60:00–62:00 | Predatory vs. Inclusive Capitalism; The Call to Action | | 62:08–62:36 | “Let’s Give This a Shot”—Historic Black Participation |

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Actionable Takeaways & Next Steps

• Get to know the rules: Learn the basic mechanics—ownership, credit, compounding.
• Boost your credit score: 700+ opens the doors to fair opportunities in the economy.
• Own, don’t just consume: Whether it’s stock, property, or a business, be an owner.
• Start building emergency savings: Even small amounts matter.
• Take advantage of resources: Operation HOPE will support your journey with free coaching and financial literacy—“a $1,000 coaching scholarship to start.” (61:00)
• Spread knowledge: Make financial literacy and credit score status a positive topic in your community.

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The Host’s Voice & Closing Rally

John Hope Bryant’s message is clear and direct, mixing humor and urgency with a preacher’s conviction and a coach’s playbook. His tone is optimistic, empowering, and rooted in real-world examples, encouraging listeners to reject defeatist mindsets and become masters—not victims—of the capitalist game.

“Don’t just participate in capitalism. Master it.” (61:36)

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For Further Learning

• Watch out for Bryant’s upcoming book: “Capitalism for All: Inclusive Economics and the Future Proofing of America” (First announced here, 20:55 and 61:05)
• Visit Operation HOPE for coaching, resources, and actionable steps to start your wealth journey.

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Summary prepared for listeners wanting a deep, actionable understanding of John Hope Bryant’s straight talk on capitalism, with direct quotes, practical advice, and a roadmap to mastering the game instead of being played by it.

Transcript

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That'S odoo.com welcome to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a production of the Black Effect podcast network and iHeartRadio. Yo, yo, yo. This is John Hope Bryan. And this is Money and Wealth, which is my weekly pulpit of finance. And I'm very excited to bring this week's exciting episode to you. And it is on, well, sort of an obvious topic, but a topic that I'm convinced people are confused about and no one talks about except talking at it, around it, accusing it, throwing rocks at it, sometimes hating it. It's capitalism. What is it, what it isn't, and why it matters to you. So we're going to unpack today. Capitalism. I'm really excited about this topic and making it real for my audience. For you. You and I are going to have a very real conversation. People blame capitalism for things capitalism didn't do and ignore what it actually can do as a result. So I grew up poor. Not so poor. We couldn't afford the or, as I sometimes joke, but we were poor. We were so broke we couldn't pay attention. We fought over money. Mom and dad fought over money. That's what caused their divorce. We had a lot of assets that we lost it all. But I was certainly in the hood. I might not have been of the hood, thanks to my mother who told me she loved me every day of my life, and my dad, who owned a business. So I had a sense of yes, I am and yes, I can. So I was broke, but I wasn't poor. There's a. There's a difference between being broke and being poor. Being broke is economic. Being poor is a disabling frame of mind, a depressed condition of your spirit. You must vow, we must vow never, ever, ever to be poor again. Can I get an amen on that? So I was in the hood. I wasn't of the hood, but I had these recurring interactions, these recurring head bumps, trip ups with and around the topic of money. So this episode is going to unpack the thing that I learned the hard way that people in my church told me was evil. The little church I grew up in, Deep South Central, they said money was evil. I'm sure many of you have been told that if you grew up certainly in a black household, money's not evil. It's the love of money that's evil. Money is not evil. It's the love of money that's evil. This episode is about unpacking that thing called capitalism. Let me tell you what it's not about. This episode is not about politics or theory. It's about the rules of the game you're already playing every day. Whether you like it or not, you're in this game. If you aren't mastering it, it's playing you. So let's jump into segment one of this episode, what capitalism actually is. Capitalism equals private ownership plus free exchange. Call that free enterprise plus rules of engagement plus trust. I'm gonna repeat that in one sentence. Capitalism equals private ownership plus free exchange plus rules plus trust. Some of you heard me break down topics that are misunderstood, like banking. What's banking? It's a trust business really. It's not about the money. What is money? A means of exchanging value. So we over index on getting that bag, getting that cash, getting that money, getting that dollar. All that is is a means of exchanging value in and of itself. Literally means nothing. What's credit? It comes from the Latin word credito, which means loosely defined, loosely translated, I'm sorry, credibility. What is capitalism? It comes from the Latin root word capitas, which loosely defined is knowledge in the head. I'm giving you knowledge about the capitalism that's been the modern version of knowledge in the head in an exchange in a society of value and aspiration and success. And again, capitalism equals private ownership plus free exchange plus rules plus trust. So banking is not about money, it's about trust. Credit, credit access is not about money or debt. That's about credibility. Right? And I'm about to give you the knowledge about capitalism. So not a belief system, it's not a religion, it's a system of incentives. Capitalism is just people trading value. You already practice it every day. You're going to the gas station, you're going to the nail salon, you're picking up your kids from daycare. They're not taking care of your oftentimes unruly children for free. If they are, it's your grandma or your auntie or somebody doing it for fee because they love you. For free, because they love you. Not a fee, because they have a relationship with you that's arm's length and sometimes even your family will charge you money. You're going to pay a toll on the, on the highway. You're getting your hair done. You're all these things that happen all day and all night is an exchange of value. You just don't recognize it as such. I'm gonna get deeper into that in a minute. Let me break down some core mechanics of capitalism. Ownership, investment, risk, reward, competition, innovation. Capitalism is not about money, it's about choices. Now, before I get into what capitalism is not, let me give you a really basic example of capitalism in action. So imagine a table right in front of you. There's a table right in front of you. And on one side of that table is an economic producer, a producer of some product. And on the other side of that table is a consumer, a consumer of products, and particularly in this example, a consumer of that product. Let's call one the capitalist and let's call one the consumer. The capitalist's job in this example is to extract as much value as they can from you while giving you the least amount of value in return. That's his or her job. The person on the other side of the table, the consumer, their job is to pay the least amount to the capitalist while extracting the most amount of value out of the capitalist. Don't hate the consumer, don't hate the capitalist. They're just doing their jobs. A good negotiation is where everybody leave, everyone leaves the table slightly annoyed. I'm going to repeat that, okay? Capitalism is a table. One is the capitalist is on one side, consumers on the other. The capitalist's job is to extract as much value from you money, in this example, as they can price value of their goods while giving you the least amount of value in return. The consumer's job is to extract the most value they can from while providing the lease in payment for that good or service. And when you have a good negotiation, everybody leaves the table slightly annoyed, but they're cool with what went down. So in third world countries, in developing countries, often in small villages in Africa or Latin America, certainly I can speak about Africa. You're negotiating in Asia, you know, small places, in small towns, in provinces in Asia, you're negotiating the cost of that banana or that fruit or vegetable or that trinket. You're buying your horse trading, as they would call the phrase in a modern economy, that price has already been set by researchers who've done market research and pretty much determined what the consumer is willing to pay for that thing. And we, I mean, nothing has any value except the value that we ascribe to it. So a comb has value because it gets the kink out of your hair or styles your hair. And we're willing to pay X dollars in exchange for the value of either styling our hair or getting the kink out of it. And somebody did enough research to ascertain that the decent price for that comb or that brush is somewhere between 3 bucks and 30 bucks. And depending on the styling and all that stuff, that's what we're willing to pay for it. I have a sty. I had a sty in my eye. I got it. I'm, you know, running really, really hard, really fast. It might be that I was a little tired, didn't get enough rest, and so maybe my immune system was lower than it should be. But I'm. I'm convinced I got some pebble or something or some sand in my eye or went. Something blew in my eye on my way to a trip out of the country to. In the Caribbean, and my eye blew up like a watermelon. When I got to the humidity of the Barbados, the Caribbean island I was going to for a speech and an award from giving some love Gabu organization, the Gabu Awards. And very great, very good event that I went to and thankful for the award. And I had to manage that with ice or a cold pack and hot water. And cold water against a towel to reduce the swelling, but also to open up the eyelid where the stye was so that it would heal. Now you say, well, that was free. That's nature. Well, no, I actually paid for the water because I was in the hotel, right? And you can't get hot water unless there's a heating system. And so when I paid for the hotel room, or in this case, my sponsor did, the sponsor of the event, they were paying for the certainty that I'd get hot water and cold water when I turned on the faucet at the sink. Then we went and bought a little salve for this dye. I just gave it away. I asked the guy at the hotel, could you find XYZ for this dye? And he went to the pharmacist and brought it back. And is very kind, but I tipped the gentleman who brought it back. So he did it for free, sort of. But he's being paid by the hotel. And he sort of knew he was going to get an incentive from me, which was the tip. And I certainly paid the pharmacist. So you see what I'm saying? Even this medical care is an exchange of good and service. And yes, the sty is going away. I say that because also on social media, people saw me on TV on CNBC and thought that I was having some medical situation, so no, I wasn't. Thanks for your care. I just had this thing that's thankful. Thank God it's going away. You can see it a little bit still now, but it's mostly going away. But even medical care involves capitalism and free enterprise. Now let me. And I'm going to deal with socialism and communism in a different podcast. I want to stay focused on what this is, okay? What capitalism is not. It's not exploitation. Now let's deal with good capitalism and bad capitalism. Okay? Good capital capitalism is where I benefit and you benefit more. I gave an example of a comb, a brush, buying an automobile. So you buy it by going back to value. You're buying a Toyota that has. You're willing to pay X dollars for it. You're buying a Cadillac a little bit more, A Mercedes a little bit more. A Bentley a little bit more Rolls Royce. Right? Little bit more. Same price of Bentley, whatever. But these are all automobiles. Right? But we ascribe a value to these different things. They're willing to pay more for them. As I said, nothing has any value except the value that we ascribe to it. It's handmade, it's this and that. It's got this kind of materials, this kind of styling. That's all personal preference and free will. So good capitalism is where I benefit and you benefit more. Bad capitalism is where I benefit and you pay a price for it. Slavery is an example of bad capitalism. Robbery, murder and mayhem. Well, robbery and mayhem, theft. Let's make this really very specific. Is an example of bad capitalism or examples of bad capitalism? Slavery was one of the most horrendous examples of bad capitalism. What, black slavery? When the Jews went through the Holocaust, it wasn't just that Hitler and his cronies hated the Jews. They hated them in part because they thought they were resentful of them, actually, because they were at the height of social status at that time. They were in the government. They were free enterprise. They were really good at being well in business, and I applaud them for that, actually. We shouldn't be jealous of them. We should want to emulate those qualities and become as good as they are, if we can. But Hitler decided to change the script and suggest that he was better than them and they were better than them and so on and so forth. And they isolated them, separated them, made them subhuman. Perceive people's minds. Anyway, what's the point of all this? When they took them away, they didn't just Take them away and burn everything. They took them away and they robbed them of everything. They took the, the. My wife and I sha went to Auschwitz in Poland on the 80th anniversary. I think we single handedly raised the percentage of blacks in Poland that week. Me and Van Jones and Robert Smith and a few folks. I think it was like, you know, 10 of us and I didn't see any of the black people while we're there. And I'm not even joking. Great country though. And, and we were just moved by what we saw. But anyway, the point is that they took the teeth out of the fillings out and melted them and sold it. They took the artwork and stole it. They took the houses and possessed them. They took the jewelry, I already mentioned jewelry. I think they took the furs and conscribed them to themselves or sold them or traded them. And so it was again economic exploitation based on economic jealousy. And that was bad capitalism. We all know the stories of stolen labor, 400 years or 270 years of black free labor that helped to build America. Okay, so good capitalism is what we're talking about. Bad capitalism is what we want to avoid. So good capitalism is what I'm talking about. And I have a book coming out next year by the way, little free game here called Capitalism for All. Subtitle is Inclusive Economics and the Future Proofing of America. So you're the first to hear about this. The book is not out, you can't find it anywhere yet. Can't even pre order it. But I'm giving you a heads up that it's coming and it's coming out on the 250th anniversary of America, which is next year. So let's again get back into what this is. Good capitalism is not exploitation. It's not a system for wealthy elites only. Okay? It's not the same as racism or greed. So let's go back to the racism. It's not a system for wealthy elites only. Some people say I hate capitalism. Sorry. No, I'm sorry, maybe be more specific. I hate rich people. I hear that from some of my liberal, all of them poor friends. And my response to them is no, you don't, you don't hate rich people. You hate rich people until you become rich. What you hate is a game system. What you hate is a system that no matter how hard you work and how hard you hustle, you can't seem to succeed. And so you assume that it must be a gamed system and the people at the top must be the gamers and they must be doing it unethically, illegally, they must be cheating because you're working your tail off and you can't seem to get ahead and you work in two jobs. And I get it. I do understand. And capitalism has done a horrible job of marketing itself and making itself available to the least of these God's children. And most all legitimate wealth in this country, by the way, came from the poor. Another podcast for another time, but Goldman Sachs was a guy named Goldman and a guy named Sachs. Two Jewish young gentlemen came in, really run out of Europe who are selling financial services door to door and literally could not get a job anywhere in any of the skyscrapers. In high finance, people sort of turn their nose up at the kind of finance these gentlemen wanted to do, which was alternative finance. And they really held out. They just went selling financial services door to door, hung up their own shingle and that ultimately, ultimately became what we now know to be the heralded institution called Goldman Sachs. Similar stories can be told about a dozen, two dozen, three dozen additional companies. Walmart with Sam Walton with a pickup truck in the storefront. And Motown was created by Barry Gordy. You know, you know, from nothing, it goes on. It goes on and goes on. So most legitimate wealth come from poor people. A big company was once a small one. It's just this generation that is wealth has created wealth or finance. Well, money can make more money on money than money can ever make on labor. So you have this strange situation now where money is making money on money and soon technology and money are going to come together or is coming together, which is a whole new phenomena. But the fundamentals of how you come up are the same. And we have pulled up the ladder as a society from those at the bottom who are really the generators of economic energy. If you go to my website for John Hope Bryant Enterprises, soon to be renamed briangroupventures.com but you go to my website, you'll see it says basically my, My mandate is to unleash untapped human potential at scale that I think that you are the product. I think that you are the reason this country is succeeding and every country succeeds. Wherever you are around the world, 70% of GDP, gross domestic product is consumer spending. That's you and me paying for again, getting your nails done, going to gas stations, going to restaurants, going on vacations, paying rent, mortgages, car notes. But you don't get the respect you deserve. And you, you certainly aren't getting the help. And I'm trying to give you respect and help can I get an amen.

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Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you. You are drowning in software. Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that handles everything. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business whether you are just starting out or already scaling. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for [e-mail]. that's o d o o dot com.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Flu season is here and our pharmacies have you covered with a free flu shot with most insurance plans. Plus it's cough and cold season and now through December 2nd. Stock up on all the season's essentials and get ready for relief with discounts on items like Mucinex, Cold and flu, Kickstart, Mucinex, Fast Max products, Vicks, Daquil and nyquil Combo Pack, Alka Seltzer, plus also Airborne and afrin offers end December 2nd. Restrictions apply and offers may vary by location. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[John Hope Bryant]

What did Jay Z say he did this album 444 album, which I love, which is basically a financial literacy album. He said, I'm gonna give you a million dollars worth of game for 9.99. Right? Where I'm giving you a billion dollars worth of game for 9.99. You got to invest your time. That's it. And I'm not even going to make you rhyme, right? But this is, this is everything. What did Jay Z say in, in one of his songs on 444? What's more interesting or valuable than a, than a strip club credit? Right? So I'm trying to help you understand how this system works so you don't resent it, you want to master it. So it's not. This is not a system for wealthy elites only. It's not the same as, as racism or greed. It's not. This is not the stock market. Capitalism is not the stock market, by the way. It's not government free chaos. It's. I mean, a proper capitalism needs guardrails. That's. That starts getting into entrepreneurship and other definitions. So I'm gonna stay real focused here. You have bad actors in, in capitalism, right? That's why, I mean, every regulatory infrastructure you see was created in response to a crisis created by greedy capitalists, right? The sec, securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, certainly the fdic, the Federal Deposit Insurance. These were created in response to capitalism. Who capitalism connected to greed. And entrepreneurs with no boundaries and no ethics are just too much average, too much, too much ambition and too much gas, not enough brakes who thought that things would just go up forever. Values. And they were transactional in my view, and they blew themselves up and a bunch of other people with them. And sometimes it's just bad people. Like just. I've run into my first set of bad people in business recently. I've Done a good job of staying away from them most of my career. And I'm gonna, and I'm. I'm jettisoning that in the near future. But you know, no matter how smart you are, how good you are, you're gonna run into bad actors. But again, it's not money that's evil. It's the love of money that's evil. So slavery was anti good capitalism. It was forced labor, no free exchange. See what I'm saying? So it was anti capitalist forced labor, no free exchange. Remember what I told you about the definition of what capitalism was? Right? Private ownership plus free exchange plus rules plus trust monopolies choke. Capitalism not. Is not a good example of capitalism. Corruption breaks capitalism. It doesn't represent it. I was with Ambassador and this and it's race free. I was with Ambassador Andrew Young, my hero. The Dr. King's right arm in the civil rights movement. He's got a documentary out called the Dirty Work on msnbc. If you haven't seen it, pull it up. You should watch it. It's transformational. He's always doing the dirty work. Great guy. Helped to build Atlanta to the only international city in the American south and an economy that is as big or slightly bigger than Singapore. City of Atlanta, only international city in the south and a rare city in the world. About 20, 25 years ago, I went to Africa with him and he was, he was in front of 18 African heads of state, Black who were escape, who had escaped colonization from European colonizers. White, European, whatever. I'm making the racial distinction here. So we're clear that these rules apply to everybody. And he boldly, and I think courageously, 20, 25 years ago, stood in Africa, I think it was the African Union in front of 18 African heads of states who are running their governments now and said, you can make more money honestly from a growing economy then you can steal from a dying economy. Drop the mic, you can hear a pin drop. And so it was really about now you have these countries and this control. You need to be responsible for it and about it. You need to manage it well. Because mismanagement is just as bad as being crooked. Active mismanagement, when you know better is as bad as being crooked. You're still robbing people, the public, the. The people, the public. In this example of their benefit, you're usurping it for your own self or selfishness. Why people distrust capitalism? Well, it's grounded in history. You have the Great Depression. Great. A great bad example of this. My brother from another mother, my Friend Andrew Ross Sorkin has a new book out which everybody should read or listen to, called 1929, which deals with the Great Depression. Redlining is another reason people don't trust capitalism. Again, we don't have time to get into this in detail in this podcast, but redlining did not come from banks, which is the presumption it's wrong. Redlining came from the government, FHA, Federal Housing Authority, in the early 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s. In the early 20th century, basically, the government refused to insure mortgages for home ownership in basically newly black urbanized communities as blacks left the segregated south and migrated in the urban cities. Versus empowering them, educating them, helping them, seeing them as investments, and not the least of which, what the country owed them as a debt. They saw them as, unfortunately, a threat. And this was not only physically tied to mortgages and access to credit. If you look at how we vote, and if you look at how the. Voting system is set up and how a president is selected, you'll find that that was also rooted in the Electoral College. I mean, was also rooted in a fear of what would happen if freed blacks, who were the majority of the population in many of these places, if they voted their conscience. So there was efforts to tamp down the influence of newly freed blacks by making them 2/3 of a person, by giving them less than one vote for one man or one woman. That's the Electoral College, by the way. That structure exists to this day. Research it yourself, don't trust me, and things like the fha. Now, the opposite of this, the redlining, the example I just gave you. So if you were a bank, and let's assume for the moment you're not a racist bank, right? There were racist banks in the 20th century owned by families they didn't like black people. They called them something else, by the way. And so they did. Yes, they didn't want to lend the blacks. But let's assume you were not a racist bank or banker. Let's say you were a decent person and you're responding to risk and reward, and you got this mortgage request in a black neighborhood. But the fha, the federal government has refused to provide mortgages to mortgage insurance, which would help to offset the risk of this mortgage if it goes bad. In this black and brown neighborhood, they've put a red line, a red stamp on this whole neighborhood, all these zip codes, but 20 minutes away or an hour away in a white neighborhood, they've said, yeah, we'll do mortgage insurance over there. Guess where the bankers are going to write the mortgages. It's common sense. You're going to go to where you have the least risk and the highest return. It's not a moral calling. It's a money decision. And business is not personal. I've told you, whenever you make an emotional decision, it's probably going to be a bad one. So banks went to where it was easier to get the business done, the lowest risk and the highest return. So white neighborhoods grew. One, I'm convinced to this day one of the reasons why you have wealth inequality and you have homes in black neighborhoods that are worth a fraction of homes across the tracks, as they would say in 15, 20 minutes away from white neighborhoods, is this history of mortgage insurance and prime mortgages and prime finance and prime valuations as a result of that going into white neighborhoods and the opposite of that going into black neighborhoods because they were being penalized for nothing more than just being black. And by the way, if you want to see the exact opposite of this example, or let me reaffirm this even more, I cover this in, I believe, my book Financial Literacy for All, my last book, which is still a bestseller. Thank you everybody for that. I think I cover this in detail. I'm pretty sure I do, actually. 40 acres and a mule. We've heard that story that only lasted a couple of years. It was reversed after Lincoln was assassinated by the Southern Southern segregationist president took over after him. Why do I raise that topic beyond the fact that homeownership is the number one way you build wealth in America, in land? Because the Homestead act that was created a couple years before 40 acres of the mule and 40 acres of mule, applied to about 400,000 formerly enslaved people who fought for the Union Army. The Homestead act represented 270 million acres, was 99 point, I don't know, 8% white. And it was represented 160 acres per lot versus 40 acres per lot plot. And was all the land heading west and it lasted for, oh my God, I mean, just decades. And the government even helped farmers to learn farming. They were on this free land they were given and that, you know, that's 10% of all American land. And that the rest sort of, they say, is history. And that's where you build factories on and factories turned into. But anyway, you get what I'm saying. Like this is not even. This is not even emotional. It's not even racial. It's just to quote my friend Melody Hobson, I like math because it doesn't have an opinion. So I just Gave you the math of the matter, Right. But you don't have that. Now I'm going to show you how to avoid. Well, I've been showing you through my podcast, through my books, and through my work at Operation Hope, how to sidestep things like redlining and get the credit, no pun intended, you deserve. And that's what, $4.5 billion of capital that we've deployed through Operation Hope and another half a billion we've now deployed are deploying through my private companies that Brian Group Ventures represents at prime rates. Hello, can I get an amen? This is Church of what's happening now and what have you done for me lately? So here again, here's why people distrust capitalism. The Great Depression. These are examples. Redlining, segregation, wage stagnation after the 1970s. So this is all people, white people, black people, the wealthy were doing very well. And middle class folks and working class folks seem to not even be keeping up with inflation. That bred resentment. And we're going through that, I believe, again now, or shall I say it never really abated. We're just getting worse now. And I don't think that's healthy for society or the economy. My rich friends need, my poor friends do better, if only to stay rich. That's my book, how the poor Can Save Capitalism. This is my seventh book that's coming out, by the way. So wage stagnation is an issue. The 2008 financial crisis where people lost a lot of homeownership and financial literacy was all up in that situation. Because why would you get an adjustable rate mortgage for a six figure financing amount? Literally your payment changes every month or every year. The payment can go up 4 percentage points or some crazy thing. Your payment, your payment could double. Why would you do a negative amortization mortgage? That translation means for every payment you make, you owe more tomorrow. So you're not paying down anything. That's what's called negative amortization when you never ask what the payment is when there's an interest rate attached. Can I get an amen? So a lot of folks, you had postal workers buying a mini mansion in 2008. How are we going to expect that was going to work out, but Wall street sort of played a game on us and that was bad capitalism. President Bill Clinton once told me, it's hard to get somebody to agree to the truth when the lie is paying their paycheck. Now write that quote down. It's hard to get somebody to agree to the truth when the lie is paying their paycheck. So that's bad capitalism at scale. And by the way, white women dealt with this. A woman couldn't get a bank account in 1972. Not 1872, 1972. She couldn't get a loan, a white woman, unless her husband co signed the loan in 1972. And because of blacks and our work to push civil rights and programs like affirmative action back then, white women benefited from that. When Nixon codified affirmative action and gave the benefit to white women, I'm glad they got the benefit. And women today, all women are responsible for a third of approximately a third of the U.S. economy, about $8 trillion in GDP. What will we be without them? I don't know. An also ran country, not the biggest economy in the world by a long shot, without their help. So when all boats rise, we grow. But anyway, these are the reasons why people feel they don't trust capitalism. Growing inequality. People aren't wrong to feel the system isn't working for them, because it hasn't. The problem is not capitalism, people. It's a broken economy with broken ladders. We're trying to fix the ladder. We're going to fix the ladder. And I consider myself the economic plumber for underserved America. Hello, the economic plumber for underserved America. The Federal Reserve of the hood. As we were jokingly say. We fix the ladders, not burn down the system. That's right. We're going to fix the ladders, not burn down the system. It's evolution, not revolution. It's refinement, not revolt. When you being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make like a parade. Why? Capitalism works when it works right. Here's an examples of when it works right. The smartphone in your pocket. The Uber and Lyft ride you may be in right now. Innovations in medical technology. Like what? The medicine. The bomb that fixed my sty last week and this week. Jobs created by small businesses. The gas station you're pulling into, maybe right now, that's a capitalist who owns that gas station. Wealth creation for families, home ownership and equity. These are some of the benefits of when it works. I'll say it this way. The best way to start to solve poverty is to start by not being poor yourself. And even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you have to first collect it like a capitalist. Capitalism is the engine. But engines need maintenance.

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This past weekend, like every other Sunday, you were on the court with the guys playing ball. Just a pickup game living out your hoop dreams. No triple doubles, but a mean set of threes in between buckets. One of the homies mentions he closed.

[John Hope Bryant]

On a new crib.

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[Odoo Business Software Announcer]

Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software. Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that handles everything CRM, accounting, inventory, E commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business whether you are just starting out or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for [e-mail] that's o d o o.com hey.

[Ryan Seacrest]

It'S Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Flu season is here and our pharmacies have you covered with a free flu shot with most insurance plans. Plus it's cough and cold season and now through December 2nd. Stock up on all the season's essentials and get ready for relief with discounts on items like Mucinex Cold and Flu, Kickstart, Mucinex, Fast Max products, vicks, Dayquil and Nyquil combo pack. Alka Seltzer Plus. Also Airborne and Afrin offers end December 2nd. Restrictions apply and offers may vary by location. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[John Hope Bryant]

So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages? Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to Business IBM. So we need rules of engagement. We need a level playing field. We need financial literacy soon. AI literacy. We need access to credit, preferably prime credit, which is why I keep obsessing about 700 credit scores. You go to the computer tonight with a 700 credit score on a job and you're looking for 10,000, 20,000, something less than $100,000 of access to credit at prime rates. The likelihood of you getting an approval by the computer at midnight is very high. And it's not going to ask you what color you are, what race you are, what political party you are. Again, I like math. It doesn't have an opinion. This is what happens when you understand how this system works. The moral argument, Capitalism for everyone. This is my sweet spot, people. This is what I'm about. Capitalism works best when everybody can participate in it. I've given some examples already. At Operation hope, we have a philosophy called silver rights. Not civil rights. Civil rights. From civil rights in the streets to civil rights in the suites, from walking on picket lines to owning the Corner store. The 700 credit score index that we have in our work around 700 credit score communities is a doorway into capitalism for you. Just create a 700 credit score club in your neighborhood, work, make a hope commitment at operation's website and create a financial literacy club soon. An AI club that's coming. Announcement. By the way, everybody do a, a watch party for the Hope Global forum and watch our announcement coming up on Hope AI create a club credit for, for 700 credit score communities in your fraternity or sorority or your, your, your, your knitting club or your book reading club, whatever. Piggyback on that. And let's start talking about this topic of. Hey girl, what's up brother? What's your credit score? You know what? What's up? Show me your, show me your app, I'll show you mine. Okay, How'd you get that up? Okay, how. Who'd you work with. What'd your coach say at Operation Hope? Okay, you know, and. And let's start trading knowledge. Let's make this sexy. That's time to make smart sexy again. We've been making dumb sexy for way too long. We've dumbed down and celebrated it. Broad based ownership is a stabilizer for democracy. The middle class growing, grows and stabilizes. Any major economy and the lack thereof is the same. Societies don't create it from the top down, they create it from the bottom in again. My wealthy friends, even my poor friends do better, if only to stay wealthy. So examples of this employee ownership, home ownership, employee ownership, meaning of companies. I call it stakeholder capitalism. I'll get in that in another podcast. Homeownership, entrepreneurship, index fund investing skills and education. These are where everybody wins through capitalism. You are capital, by the way. You're human capital. You're trading your. If you're employing. If you're working for somebody, you're trading your labor, your time, your expertise for a paycheck and is guaranteed as a W2. You're cashing a check. This predefined contract, again, you know, negotiated risk, rewarded in advance. I'm an entrepreneur. I don't have a predefined outcome. I could make everything or lose everything with every bet that I make and every action that I take. So I'm also human capital, just playing with a hotter set of dice. Hot, not mean illegal. Hot, meaning physically could burn you if you get it wrong. Capitalism without inclusion becomes fragile. Inclusion makes capitalism unstoppable. Watch out for my new book, Capitalism for all the rules of the game. Nobody taught you. Rule number one, own something. Don't just consume. Rule number two, build and protect your credit. Rule number three, your labor is your first capital. Rule number four, learn how interest works. Never ask what the payment is when there's an interest rate attached. Certainly if it's five or six figures of anything, car loans or homeownership or whatever. Rule number five, understand risk, don't fear it. An entrepreneur jumps out of a plane and builds a parachute on the way down, right? We're not afraid of stuff. We're trying to understand stuff. Rule number six, wealth equals patience plus compounding, plus discipline. My friend Tony Rester educated me on wealth creation years ago. He's owner of the Atlanta Hawks and chairman of Aries Management. Also, my friend Michael Araghetti, who introduced me to Tony, is CEO of Aries Management. They're both billionaires and really, really good people. Actually, most successful people I've Met are just really good people, by the way, you can't really survive at that level unless if you're a jerk. But that's another conversation. Another time. Tony told me that you make money during the day and you build wealth in your sleep. Boom. Another drop the mic. Completely true. It's compounding rule number seven. Don't confuse fame with wealth. Hello. Go and watch the podcast I did where I talked about what the average social media influencer really earns and all that stuff and who's loud and what's quiet. Riches is loud, wealth is quiet. Those two things are different, which is a contract, by the way. So a person with a 720 credit score versus a 620 credit score has a fundamentally different quality of life and choices. And half of black America has a credit score below 620. Not half of poor people, half of all of black America. Which means when we wake up in the morning, when we wake up in the morning, half of black folks are locked out of the free enterprise system. Can't get a decent car loan at 620. As I've said many times before, you can go to used car dealership and get a Mercedes with a 500, 600 credit score, but it's not going to be a Mercedes, it's going to be Mercedes payments and it's going to be a mobile bomb. It's going to blow up on you on the freeway one day was the payment is going to blow up, but it literally may blow up. They really want the car back so they can hit you with a over the head with a maintenance bill and they hope you default 15, 18 months because they've already paid off the car and they're going to resell it to somebody else. So once your credit score goes up, your frequency goes up, your knowledge goes up. It's not about the credit score, it's about trending indicators of hope, well being, belief, confidence, etc. Etc. Small business owners buying their first rental property is an example I'm giving you here of of understanding this game. First time stock market investors compounding over 20 years like you become a millionaire over 40 years if you started in in your 20s at $200 a month, compounding in your sleep. Even with stock market pulling back from time to time and resetting. So let's deal with capitalism versus predatory capitalism. We'll do this quickly because I've gotten getting long in the tooth here in this podcast. I want you to be able to do this while you're running or exercising or cooking or Whatever. Give me some feedback by the way, on these episodes. What do you think? What do you like? What else would you like me to do? You respond to me on social media when you see clips of this. I will respond to you if you see comments in in the section below the piece the post. That's me. So let's deal with capitalism versus predatory capitalism. Predatory capitalism, exploitation, loopholes, no rules, short term thinking, transactional inclusive capitalism Rules, dignity, long term value, Broad based prosperity relationships, Protective economy versus inclusive economics. Why is inclusive economics America's next chapter? It lifts GDP, gross domestic product, the income of the country 2 to 3%. When you embrace inclusive economics, it expands opportunity for the bottom third of society which protects society. It rebuilds a middle class and provides a ladder to go from working class to the middle class, from the poor class. It repairs trust in institutions because, well, the system is working for everybody starting to get it. Your invitation into the system starts with some simple things. You may think capitalism is your enemy because no one ever taught you how it works. But knowledge is power is what you don't know that you don't know that's killing you. But you think you know. You don't need to be born rich. You don't need permission anymore. You just need the rules of the game and the discipline to follow them. And that's what I'm trying to give you here. So here's your call to action. Get your credit score to 700, go to my team at Operation Hope. We'll give you a $1,000 coaching scholarship to start. Meaning that it would cost you $1,000 to do this in the free market. But I've raised the money with my team at Operation Hope. So it costs you nothing. And after that thousand dollar of investment in you, if you desire more and you want more and you've shown heart to do more, we will give you more. We'll give you as much as $5,000 of coaching and counseling at no cost to you. And if you are part of one of our partner organizations, and that's an expanding list, you'll get as much as $10,000 of coaching and counseling at no cost to you. That's basically where you're at that point where you're a detailed private banker. And if you're a small business owner, you can get as much as $25,000 through our of a program grant through the 1 Million Black Business Initiative that's going to be expanding here in the future as well to group to include other Target audiences in 2026 by the way. But our work is of course, as usual, available to everybody. But these are examples of how you can get your credit score up and the mechanism to do it. Start investing something right now for five bucks through fractional share investing. Build an emergency fund. Own a piece of the economy. By the way, when I say an emergency fund, almost 70% of Americans don't have a few hundred bucks for an unplanned event. Right? It's serious. Like you've got to have a thousand, five hundred thousand, two thousand dollars set aside. I don't mean credit cards. Credit cards are should be extra. I mean cash that you own in a savings account in case something goes wrong because it will. Build an emergency fund. Own a piece of the economy. I don't care what it is. Just start somewhere. Learn the language of money. Become bilingual. Start your path to wealth and dignity. Capitalism is not perfect, but neither is democracy. We fight for it because the alternative is worse. Don't just participate in capitalism. Master it. This is John O. Bryant. This is Money and Wealth podcast series on iHeartRadio and Black Effect Network. This has been my ministry of finance. This has been my pulpit for your uplift. This has been me unpacking the boogeyman called capitalism. The precursor to a longer conversation and a longer discussion and a deeper unpacking to come next year when my book Capitalism for All hits the shelves at a store or digital storefront near you. Hopefully libraries for free. Also, I want you to win. I want you to be the change we want to see in this world. I want you to understand that we're in the third reconstruction. You're sitting in a moment in history right now. History doesn't feel historic in it historic when you're sitting in it, it just. Just feels like another day. But that does not mean the moment is not historic. Be the change we want to see in the world. It's not like we tried capitalism and free enterprise as black people. I'm talking about now and it didn't work. We just never tried it at scale. We tried everything else that has not worked. Let's give this a shot. Reminds me of when someone asked me, why should they try God? I said, because God cannot possibly mismanage and screw up your life worse than you have. Give them a try. This is not elevated to that level of elegance, but this system has worked to lift the least of these God's children up out of poverty into prosperity. Even communist countries like China and Russia use capitalism now. Think about that. John o' Brien I'm out. Money and wealth with John o' Brien is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast Podcast network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Coca-Cola Sports Event Announcer]

What a matchup we got, y'.

[John Hope Bryant]

All.

[Coca-Cola Sports Event Announcer]

This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody showing that school pride. A game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at passion and fish fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.

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You've been working in the garage with your dad every week, Monday to Sunday, trying to get the old school up and running. Today, after all the hard work, y' all finally finished it. Even better, your dad says. All yours, son. Yep. Same car that belonged to your grandpa that your dad helped him fix is yours. To really keep the tradition going, you need to get State Farm insurance just like them, generation to generation. Remember to choose the agents that your family counted on. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Flu season is here and our pharmacies have you covered with a free flu shot with most insurance plans. Plus it's cough and cold cold season and now through December 2nd. Stock up on all the season's essentials and get ready for relief with discounts on items like Mucinex Cold and Flu, Kickstart, Mucinex, Fast Max Products, Vicks, Daquil and nyquil Combo Pack. Alka Seltzer plus also Airborne and afrin offers end December 2nd. Restrictions apply and offers may vary by location. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

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[John Hope Bryant]

12:31 see paypal.com promoter points can be redeemed for cash and more. Paying for subject to terms and approval. PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457 this is an iHeart podcast.

[Odoo Business Software Announcer]

Guaranteed human.