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- [00:02]
A
Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's name your price tool for years now. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit progressive.com, find a rate that works for you with the name your price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. Oh, snaps. What's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. How are you feeling today, my friend?
- [00:47]
B
I'm doing well, refreshed from being off yesterday. A full fourth of July weekend. Had a nice time. So good to go.
- [00:55]
A
Oh, yeah. Happy fourth. Hope. That's right. I think we haven't, we haven't spoke since our fair country turned 250 years old. Hope. I hope everybody out there had a good, a good fourth of July. Always, always a nice time. Man, it was hot. We got some hot weather over here on the east coast. Where were you, Rob? Were you here? Were you?
- [01:13]
B
I was up in Newport, Rhode island, and it was rather hot. But I got real lucky because I'm never, I'm never gonna get off my ass and go to fireworks. It's just too annoying of an ordeal. And I don't like or deal for.
- [01:27]
A
It's for children. Yes, it's for taking your children. For an adult, the firework is like, I mean, you, you watch one or two, it might be nice. But would you actually want to go somewhere and watch the whole fireworks show
- [01:40]
B
and come down a blanket deal with the parking, getting in and out, a port, a potty, the whole thing. I'm not doing any of it.
- [01:46]
A
Yeah.
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B
This might be the first time in 25 years I got lucky. The place I was staying, like, boarded onto a park. And then they do in Newport, the fireworks over the wal.
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C
Water.
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B
And I got to just walk outside of the rental unit I was in and be right there. But let me tell you, there's something really spectacular that I've not experienced in a long time, which is everyone gathering for something stupid. Like, it was, it was like, nice to see the crowds of people, like, getting in, everyone taking their seat, having a beer in hand. I'm like, this is beautiful.
- [02:16]
A
Yep. Well, there is something nice about it. And, and there is a weird, you know, I, I thought I, I guess I didn't, I was on Piers Morgan the other day and I didn't. It ended up just being one of those episodes where I, I, it wasn't that great of one in my opinion, but that happens sometimes. They're never gonna all be great, but it's just like, I don't know, I just didn't really love the topics and I don't know, but I mean, it was fine. I got a couple good rounds out. But the day before I was on, they had out or maybe a couple days before the big viral moment was Brianna, what's her name? Brianna Joy Gray, who's like a, you know, she's, she's host the Bad Faith podcast and she's, she's like an anti war leftist type. And so she was. Pierce is asking her like on this fourth of July, are you proud to be an American? And she was like, well, yeah, I mean, I'm proud of all the good stuff America's done, but I'm not proud of all the bad stuff America's done. Which, like I thought was like a reasonable enough answer. You know, it's like kind of. Yeah, I don't know, but. And then they all, of course the other W's on the panel are like, you, you'd be proud to be an American. And it's just such a funny. I, anyway, I was prepared for them to like ask me about that because 250 was one of the topics, but it never really came up. And I was on with the guy, Ben Ferguson, who was the guy who me and him had the viral back and forth where I said, you know, the US Military is the biggest terrorist organization or whatever. So I thought maybe that was going to come up. But anyway, I guess it didn't. But I thought of it as you're saying it, that it's very, you know, Frederick Bastiat wrote in his masterpiece the law back in 1850, he wrote that the fundamental problem, or maybe not the fundamental, but a major problem that socialists make is the conflation between society and the state. You know, like just acting as if we are the people, we are the one, as if there's no but obviously that's really stupid. It's not true. Like Donald Trump in Congress aren't what you're talking about when you're talking about watching people gathering for fireworks and there is something where. And maybe it's just the time. I grew up in the 80s and 90s as what for however much I
- [04:28]
C
hate
- [04:31]
A
the our government, because that's what Patriots do. I do love Americana. Like say like 80s 90s Americana. I do just love that. As stupid as like no, I wouldn't go to fireworks by myself if I didn't have kids at this point. But like there is something about like the 4th of July is like when you eat a hot dog and crack a beer and there's fireworks and all that. That is just beautiful. I don't know. I love it. So anyway.
- [05:00]
C
Okay.
- [05:00]
A
Hey, we should, before we start getting into some stuff, we should let you know that we will be out in Houston, Texas this weekend or Thursday too as well. Thursday, Friday, Saturday. This weekend we'll be out at the Punchline in Houston, Texas. So come on out and see us there. Comic Dave Smith to grab those tickets. But come see me and Rob do some stand up comedies for you. And I think we got, we got some friends that are going to be coming out, Rob. So this should be a, this should be a fun time. That sounds like a good tease, I think. Well, no, people, some people, people would know. Scott Horton I think is coming out. I think Stefan Kinsella is coming out. I think there are a couple other people I can't remember who are gonna be there. That's insulting if you're one of those people. But it's not your fault. I'm just old. I'm just old and dumb.
- [05:45]
B
LA Last year was Tom Woods's posse was out which included Steven.
- [05:49]
A
Yeah, but, but Stefan lives there, whereas Tom was like, he was like going on a cruise that was docking from Houston. So he was there. Adam. Yeah, he's great guy, great guy. He was there because he was going on the cruise with Tom and so we just happened to like catch all of them. The last time we were in Houston, I think that was at a different club. Right? Was that the.
- [06:11]
B
No, no, that was this spot.
- [06:13]
A
That was this spot. Punch on. Okay, cool. No, you're right. That's right. It was Punchline. This is our second time we, we did this one. We're going back there anyway. Very fun time. So come on out. Come back this time. Okay.
- [06:24]
B
And I've got a load of porches I added. Sunday I'm going to be Galvanson, Texas running the FBI entrapment scheme. So even if you're coming out for the Dave shows, different stuff. And then Lebanon, Tennessee, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Sandpoint and near Seattle. And you can find even more stuff going further down.
- [06:39]
A
The porch store@portstore.com is that Lebanon, Tennessee.
- [06:44]
B
We always announce these names wrong. So something along the lines of Lebanon.
- [06:48]
A
But I feel like you should. You should call it. It's the safe Lebanon one. The. Not the one that's not occupied by Jews. Although actually, you know what, let me look into that before I just be.
- [06:59]
B
So. You know what?
- [07:00]
A
Let me do some deep research before I just say that.
- [07:02]
B
Okay.
- [07:03]
A
So I wanted to talk a bit about. There was this weekend over 4th of July weekend, there was this. This video that went viral. I'm sure you saw it, Rob, I think just about anybody, if you were on social media over the weekend, you would have seen it. This video where Caroline Levitt really puts her foot in her mouth in. In an extraordinary way. And, and I will preface by saying, Rob, you know, there's something about this topic that, that almost. It's almost like when you watch the video, it feels like. It kind of feels like, I don't know, like a, like a kind of silly like culture war topic type thing. Almost like, oh, whatever, here's a young girl talking about, don't be so gray, don't be so spoiled. Go do this or whatever. But in a weird way, the fact that there's so many actual genuine layers to this clip and why it went so viral that I just found it so fascinating and I wanted to play it on the podcast before we play it.
- [08:05]
B
Just to this lady's credit, you know, she is coming at it from a place of a person who's working two jobs, which is both defending the president every day, which is not easy, and then also banging that old guy, so.
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A
Which is also not easy. Yeah, which is all. It's debatable. Which one makes you more of a prostitute? Let's just say that it's. It is a genuine. Like there's a real philosophers could. Could bang this one out for. For months. You know what to what really makes you more of a prostitute accepting money to shill for a war criminal regime or just, you know, okay, look, I don't. Again, I'm not as. As Rob is alluding to and as I'm sure a lot of people pointed out, but you know, and maybe we'll make some of these points after the clip so you guys can see what she's saying. But the reason. Part of the reason why I found this to be so interesting and I think why a lot of people did like, I think part of the reason why this went viral is also that it's like, look, it was on the weekend of the 250th anniversary of the. The country. And this is in many ways kind of the biggest problem in the country right now. You know, there's something about, like on the 250th anniversary of the country, we have this major problem where we've like, debased the currents. It's the number one issue across every single poll. It's what every Democrat's got running on. It's what every Republican's going to have to run and address. It's the issue that everything is so expensive, your dollar just can't buy you anything anymore and people can't afford to live regular lives. And then you have the press secretary, the person whose job it is to be the face of the message from the government to the people. And this is her message here. Let's play the clip and then we'll, we'll comment a little bit more on, on all this stuff here.
- [09:57]
B
She is going to come here right now.
- [10:00]
A
Some of these kids, and I call
- [10:01]
B
them kids because they're in their 20s. Yeah. And they've never had real jobs and they're complaining. Things are, yes, things are expensive when you don't have a real job. Right.
- [10:10]
A
Do you think that's getting traction, complaining? Unfortunately, I do, because this generation, my generation, I hate to say it, Gen Z and those younger than me have been raised with just silver spoons in their mouth, just getting everything handed to them. That's not the values this country was built on. It was built on meritocracy and hard work, pulling up your sleeves, pulling yourself up from your bootstraps and achieving the American dream. And we need to protect it with all we got.
- [10:35]
B
Is it laziness?
- [10:36]
A
A little bit.
- [10:37]
B
Is it because the professors said country's corrupt, it's evil, and we just need to shake them down and hand money out.
- [10:45]
A
It's laziness and it's the liberal indoctrination. You bring up a great point about our education system. However, I will say silver lining. So many parents that I talk to across the country are homeschooling, are turning to private education, are turning towards Christian schools across the country because they don't want their children being taught these communist and liberal ideas slammed down their throats.
- [11:05]
B
Why?
- [11:05]
C
President Trump.
- [11:05]
A
Trump in our, in the White House has advocated so strongly for school choice across the country. Let's just pause it for a second. You know, Rob, if you're worried about these communists and these Marxists, if you're worried about the Mamdani movement sweeping America, I could not think of a worse strategy to embark on. In fact, if they, if Mom Donnie could have made a clip right here I don't think it could have been a better one. I couldn't think of anything that would help them more than to cast the opposition, the face of the opposition. The person whose job it is, is to be the face of this message. To have a 28 year old who married a 60 year old multi millionaire telling other people to stop complaining. Like, listen, I'm really not trying to be too judgmental. I don't personally like relationships with older men and younger women have existed in many, many different cultures throughout all of human history. I'm not denigrating it. I'm not, I don't even know them. You don't know anyone's relationship if you're not in it. Like whatever I'm saying, you can marry. If you're 28 and you want to marry a 60 year old multi millionaire, you can do that. But you do kind of lose the ability to turn around to other 28 year olds and go, stop complaining that everything's so expensive. You just do kind of lose that ability. It's like a chick on Only Fans going, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, what do you mean everything's so expensive? I can afford it. It's like, yeah, that's the whole point. You have to do what you did in order to afford it. That's kind of the point. Okay, so that is just. If you want to talk about being worried about, you know, these, these the communists taking over. Well, imagine so. Okay, look Rob, they're coming out here and telling you everything's so goddamn expensive. And that's why you need socialism. And the counter to that is, nah, it ain't, it ain't. If you're a millionaire like us, stop, stop complaining. You're just lazy. That's the response. I mean, so be. Before even getting into the substance of that, like, let's take a look at whether this is right or wrong. Rob, just on the politics of it, like you're the press secretary, you thought this was a, a wise thing to have come out of your mouth. And, and again, I gotta say, like, I just can't imagine like the lack of, the lack of self awareness and self reflection to be a girl in your 20s who's married to look, the lack of self reflection for Jesse Waters to say, hey no, you guys just don't have a real job yet. When you have a real job, then things aren't so expensive. Like mother, what do you get? You make $10 million a year to blow the, the president. You get $10 million a year to go be, I mean, barely educated on any topic you speak on. Like, who are any. And, and by the way, Rob, again, like, they go, oh, when you have a real job, then, then things aren't so expensive. Making 70k a year is a real job. Making 50k a year is a real job.
- [14:23]
C
There's.
- [14:23]
A
There are lots of real jobs. Like, I'm just saying, like, would you. Is. Is being a teacher or a trucker or an electrician, is that not a real job? Like, those are all real jobs that, at least in the entry level, are going to probably start in the mid-60s, you know, maybe lower. Okay, go look at the price of everything today. Are you telling me, like, this is so. On a fundamental level, this is. I. This is on the level of Joe Biden telling you that, like, oh, no, the economy is really good. There isn't some major problem with inflation. Like, this is just a lie. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is in the cloud. If you are 21 years of age or older and you are looking for an online dispensary, we got you covered. In the cloud is a fully legal online cannabis dispensary. They have gummies, exotic flower premium pre rolls, zero sugar, THC sodas. I didn't even know that was a thing. Energy gummies, extra strength sleep gummies. Everything is federally legal hemp. THC lab tested and shipped it discreetly to your door. So if you are 21 or older, go to indecloud co. That's.co not.com into cloud co and use the promo code problem for 30% off your first subscription order. That's indecloud co promo code problem for 30% off. Delivered routinely and discreetly to your door, plus free gifts and free shipping on qualifying orders into cloud co. Promo code problem for 30% off. All right, let's get back into the show.
- [16:05]
B
Yeah, and on that note, you know, I graduated from college basically at the tail end of the great recession and there were no jobs and I went to live at home and work terrible, terrible menial jobs while pursuing standup comedy. And if at that time someone in government was telling me, hey, you're just not working hard enough, it's like, dude, I just got through college and you guys created a credit asset bubble that has created the worst economic environment that nobody is hiring, like, in what world is this just I'm not working hard enough problem? And so for any of the kids out there, I don't know specifically what the job environment looks like. Now, I'm assuming that with post Covid as so many offices turn to like remote work or things are being adapted for AI just don't know. I'm not, I'm not 24 anymore. Even though my liver likes to pretend like it is, you know, and I still.
- [16:56]
A
Your liver doesn't. No, you pretend like it is. I don't think your liver. I don't think your liver is.
- [17:01]
B
Yeah, I still partake in life as though I am a 24 or 25 year old, probably to my detriment. But I'm not. I'm not living the just graduated college lifestyle. But for the kids that have actually worked hard to get through school and are not, and if they're not seeing the job opportunities that they're looking for, and a lot of that will be because of bad government policies from the last 20 years to tell them, oh, this is America, just go work hard. It's the wrong message. The right message and you can even lie to them is hey, our tariff policy is going to bring you a manufacturing job. It won't. Or even better messages. The corruption that has existed in D.C. has gotten in the way of opportunity and that's why someone else to address that.
- [17:40]
A
But we're fixing it. We're fixing the problem. Blame someone else. That's one thing, but you know, another look, another major element here. Again, one of the huge reasons why this clip struck such a nerve in people is that. Well, look, it really does. It touches on this generational kind of divide. This, this, this, you know, like when we, if you remember, we were talked a bunch about the breakdown of the Thomas Massey poll polling. I. It was crazy to see the way that thing split over generational divides. And, and historically that has not. Like in my lifetime, that was not always the major divide in America like boomers versus everybody else. It was quite often liberal versus conservative or whatever, you know, city versus rural white ver. Whatever. It wasn't always this. And there's, there's something interesting and, and, and a big part of that is that now almost everyone in the country, and I don't even think 40 and under, I think maybe like 50 and under. Almost everyone consumes their media on the Internet and all the people like 60 and over almost all consume their media on the TV or on the new, in the newspaper, maybe mostly on the tv, on the radio. And anyway, there is something where we have this dynamic in, in America where the, the boomers are constantly looking down at kind of like they they, for a while at the Millennials and the Zoomers and whatever other generations, we don't
- [19:20]
B
even have golden spoons in our mouth. We're down to silver.
- [19:23]
A
Yeah, that's right. I don't know, have you seen those silver prices lately? I mean you, we might have to have some like fiat spoons, but there's, you know, the, the boomers kind of look at these generations and they say, oh, you're complaining about how hard it is. You have no idea how hard we had it. You have your avocado toast and your fancy latte and your, your College cafeteria has 75 different options for entrees. And you, and then, you know, the, the younger people look up at them and go, dude, you have no idea the debt you've left us and how much our money is worth nothing and how bad the job market is and how we can't afford anything. And in a way, in a way, both of them are telling true stories. There's at least enough true in both of those narratives that there's, there's more than enough for either one who wants to be dug in on their side to grab a couple data points and then comfortably feel like they have an argument because like, hey, there wasn't avocado toast and shit like that around in, you know what I mean, in, in the 70s or whatever. And there were. Well, like, look, on one hand there were tremendous difficulties that boomers went through. I think that, that a lot of younger people didn't have to go through part of it, including how tough their parents generation was on them. It's a very regular story for boomers, which, you know, like the real. I'm not saying this never happens anymore, but it's hard to overstate how normalized like say hitting your kid with an object was in the generation that, that raised the boomers. Like, go ask boomers how many of them got beaten with objects. And like a lot of them did. That is not true for most younger people outside of certain areas and certain cultures and stuff. But like for the most part that's not true. Or at least in much, much lower rates. Look, the technological advances that we have Rob over boomers are incredible. The medical technological advances are truly incredible. I mean there's literally things that like if a boomer got, they would have died. That people today can get and fully recover from and live totally normal lives. Long list of ailments like that. And then there's, there's all types of like, maybe not as life threatening things, but like, my God, Rob, if You got really bad knee problems and you got to get a knee replacement surgery. How much you would rather have that done in 20, 20, 1985 is really hard to, to overstate. And of course there are, yeah, we get, we got lattes and avocado toast and like all these things that the boomer generation didn't have. But of course, Rob, we know the other side of the story too. And I'm sorry, but this is what I think were people are running up against there is that essentially this is what the, the young generation has gotten. Okay, fair enough. A lot of that stuff really means something. And oh by the way, add into that Rob. Right. Ridiculous. Like what, what's the term I'm looking for? Like consumer luxury goods. You know, the TV that, the, the TV that you watch and the video game that you play and you have every movie that's ever existed right on your phone, laptop and tv. You know, all types of like luxury and entertainment that, that you know, our grandfathers or father's generation certainly never would have never enjoyed. But what, you know, the bottom line is we talk about quite a lot because I think this is the biggest story in America is that you know what my, what the boomer generation could do is get a job for, you know, you get a blue collar job and make maybe 30 grand a year in the seventies and you could buy a house for maybe 30 grand a year in the Seventies. My, my father in law's story is he was making 30 and bought his first house for 35 as a truck driver in the 70s. So you could, if you got a job and there were jobs to be found, you could buy a house, send your kids to college, participate in middle class lifestyle. If you, if you were doing a little bit better than he was, maybe you weren't a truck driver, maybe you were a dentist and you were making 60 or 70 grand a year. Oh, you could buy a couple houses, have a vacation house for your kids and blah, blah. In fact a lot of them, a lot of the working class guys had vacation houses. Today these kids are coming out saddled in college debt, getting jobs that at doordash and the average house is going for 700 grand in the neighborhood they live in. There is no plausible path to get, for many of these young people there is like, I mean like I'm saying I know people like this where it's like, you know, it's like the young couple in my, in my, in my wife's family, really, really nice people too. And they had like, she's Like a bookkeeper. He's in, was an accountant for a while and then now he's has some other gig. But like they both have regular jobs and they work really hard and I think they bring in like a hundred grand a year and the average house, they're going for like 700 grand around here. And it's like, dude, asking someone to buy, you know, like I'm just asking Jesse Waters. Rob is making 100 grand a year as a household income. Is that a real job? Does that not count yet? Like, is that a serious grown up job? Yeah. These are two people who wake up every single morning and go to work and raise their kid and okay, having to buy a house that takes seven years, your annual income is very, very difficult to get to. It's hard enough just living around here with a kid for 100 grand a year, yet getting to the point where you could put away enough money to go, you know, anyway, this, now if you were to say, Rob, which one is, is better? Which one is more advantageous? Well, like look, if you happen to be the person who gets like a life threatening illness, yeah, okay, you'd rather be alive today. But for most other people, for most 25, 30 year olds say if they're just starting out, getting married, starting a family, what's really more important? You know, hey, you get Netflix, but your dad got to own a house. I, I don't know. I mean, I think most people would err on the side of like, oh no, being able to support a family is actually more important than the cheap, you know, consumer goods or and not just cheap consumer goods, I shouldn't say, but like, than the luxury, the luxury goods. And then at the end of it, I would essentially say, Rob, that what we have going on here, right. And I'm curious to have your thoughts on this. But essentially what you have going on here, right, is you have what the market has done and what the government has done, you know, yeah, the market has made things better and better and improved life and we benefit from a lot of those improvements. But the government has destroyed our currency plus totally over taxed and over regulated our economy and made everything so expensive. And that's that. The major problem we have is that everything's too expensive. And what makes that expensive, debasing your currency and overregulating those sectors.
- [26:37]
B
I think that's a fair scoop. The things left to the free market, technology has developed and become cheaper and so you can enjoy those things, but exactly right. The sectors where government has just completely messed up the money and driven to inflation, given free capital to people who already have money, have driven up all the expenses for you.
- [26:57]
A
All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Super Power. I don't know about you, but I've many times gone to the doctor and kind of felt like nothing really happened. They didn't really do anything for me. I feel like I got nothing out of it. They just kind of say, you're fine. There. There. Didn't really do any thorough tests or anything. And I don't really leave feeling like, okay, I'm definitely fine. I leave feeling like that guy didn't really do anything. All right, well, all of that is done because this whole industry has been revolutionized. You got to check out Superpower. Superpower sends a licensed professional to your home, or you can visit a nearby lab. Up to you, it's one simple blood draw with over 100 biomarkers, which is way more than what you usually get. So you unlock a real understanding of your own body. And then they have their app. Okay, so the app gives you detailed information on your heart, your liver, your thyroid, hormones, metabolism, vitamins, mineral levels, even environmental toxins. So from disease prevention to treating that annoying brain fog, or simply optimizing your gym game, Superpower is the most comprehensive and advanced system out there. Now, you're not just guessing how you're doing. You have detailed information about what's going on in your body and a plan of action of what to do about it. So supplement recommendations, prescription suggestions like peptides can be directly bought through Superpower so you don't have to go anywhere else. And then here's the added bonus. If you'd like, Superpower doesn't just give you a one time snapshot. It tracks your results over a lifetime. So each test builds on the last one. You can actually see your progress year after year instead of starting over every January. It's really pretty incredible. This is the future of being healthy. You can do this all if you head over to superpower.com and use the promo code PROBLEM for $20 off your membership. That's superpower.com promo code PROBLEM for twenty dollars off your membership. All right, let's get back into the show. No, that's right. And look, I mean, again, a lot of this stuff is just kind of like basic economics that is sorely missing from the world these days. But like, it kind of is one of those. Those rules of God in a way. If you think the. The laws of logic, the Laws of economics that like if you make something more expensive to produce, it will be more expensive to consume, all things considered or all things being equal or whatever. And you know, I should say, let me just correct. Very good. Like that technically, if you want, the economic law would be if you make something more expensive to produce, it will cost more than it otherwise would.
- [29:37]
B
And there's a lot of, I would call it secret tax on the youth. And just two examples that come to mind is first and foremost, I don't really expect to receive Social Security or that if I do receive Social Security upon retirement that it's going to be all that valuable. And so, you know, we're all basically just paying in for, for these boomers who have already siphoned all of the money out of the economy by way of purchasing these assets and having them go up in value. But then also healthcare, dude, my, my healthcare is basically up there in cost with my rent. It's, I mean it's, it's about 75% of what my rent is. It's my second biggest expense. It's nearly unusable in that I have a twelve or what is it, a ten thousand dollar a year, whatever the highest deductible is and I don't need to use. Luckily I'm healthy. But that means anytime I actually am seeing the doctor, I'm paying towards the deductible. There hasn't been a single year that I've come anywhere close to that deductible. So I'm basically paying, you know, the, let's say, I don't know, it's much you're paying. I'm both paying the insurance rate and then anytime I decide I would like to get health care.
- [30:42]
A
So it's hard, it's hard to overstate how much better off you would have been with just the disaster care that was available before Obamacare than this because essentially all you got, which this is a really good point because this is, millions of people have been put into this. All you got was really expensive disaster care, essentially. So you're getting, you're basically using it as disaster care. I have to keep this insurance because if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I can't have my entire life life ruined. You know, like if you, if I break two legs in an arm, I can't have my entire life ruined because Now I owe $300,000 to these people. So I got to pay this ridiculous fee every. It's almost like getting shaken down by a loan shark or something. Like what a racket it is, and
- [31:24]
B
that's a tax on me. And that they reorchestrated health care to force healthy individuals into these plans to basically offset the cost of, of getting rid of preexisting conditions and getting everyone into Obamacare and all the rackets that, of why that didn't work and created more profits for the actual insurance companies. But the point I'm just making is we've kind of had a long run here of the boomers doing a good job of, you know, retiring with the. If you were like a dude, if you were a New York City public school teacher and you're now like in your, let's just say you're 90 or still alive and you're on that premium pension plan. These guys got all of the better stuff and they created the economy that way. They lived through the greatest wealth expansion ever, which is essentially praise Greenspan, seeing those articles, which is hilarious, of what a great job Greenspan did for the economy. Not like it just created a rational exuberance, his own term, and then also led to completely just bubbles popping. But the point is to look at young kids. Just to look at young kids and to tell them it's your fault is the wrong political message. Because by and large, they went to school, they're trying to pursue jobs, and they're not really living in a favorable environment for owning a home and raising a family.
- [32:38]
A
No, that's, that's right. And right, because it's like, look what you've handed them. And of course, the biggest one. And you're absolutely right. I mean, the Obamacare is a really, really important one to point to. But the biggest one by far has just been the debasement of the currency. I mean, like, this is the bottom line is that, like, hey, no boomers, you look again, I'm not holding any one person responsible or any one generation responsible. But if you're having this argument, it's like you guys, through your elected representatives or whatever, the whole nonsense that you bought into that were conspiracy theorists for not. But through your elected representatives, you, you know, enacted these policies, you erected this government. And I'm talking about the. Well, look, I mean, even starting in the Great Society, even starting in which, okay, maybe we want to say you don't, like, put fully the blame on boomers or something like that. But, but the fact is that the Medicare and the Social Security that you're now extracting, plus the wars that you're now supporting. And try to keep this in mind here. Right. Think about this for a second. The overwhelmingly, by far. I mean, Rob, if you look at this on a pie chart, which I know you have before, if you were to take the entitlement programs and the military budget, it. This is an enormous part of the budget, right? Like, these are the biggest at this point. It's the entitlements. The military and the interest on the debt are like, I think like 90% of the budget or something like that. If you look at it on a pie chart, it's like those things and then a sliver for everything else. Boomers are receiving Medicare, Boomers are receiving Social Security, and boomers are the only demographic that support the wars, Rob. Right? Like, you're almost like you're on the hook for kind of in some way for all of this. It's all you. And we cannot even come close to afford this. It's the federal budget, Rob. This year we're on track. The projections are that we're going to spend $7.5 trillion. The boomers have been the one that now they're the ones who support these programs. They're the ones who support the entitlement programs. They're the ones who receive the entitlement programs. They're the ones who support the war and support ever growing military budgets. Okay, You're. We do not bring in nearly enough money to cover this and have not written nearly enough money to cover this for decades. Right? So the, the boomers are not paying nearly enough in taxes for this, but they want it. And so they saddled us with $40 trillion in debt for this government that we can't afford. And then the 40 trillion wasn't nearly, nearly, nearly enough. And so we've just what, like what we're living in now. And of course, this is why, Rob, it's so goddamn infuriating when you hear J.D. vance talk about how we're Hamiltonians, not Friedmanites. Like, it's like, do these people even know that Milton Friedman endorsed every aspect of the state that Hamilton did? But to sit here at the end, Rob, what are we at here? The end of.
- [35:44]
C
Of.
- [35:45]
A
Let's go from 2008. How long has it been since 2008? This is 18 years, right? So since 2008, Rob, we have 18 years. We have had. What. What is one of the things that characterizes the last two decades? Oh, more money has been printed than at any other time in human history. If you're aware of monetary policy, like, what's gone on over the last 18 years. Okay, we had quantitative 1, 2, 3, 4, infinity. And then you had the 2020 spending which dwarfed all of that. Now if you remember, Rob, at the time of like qe, whatever it was, when they just extended, remember QE infinity, when they just like extended it at the time of there, that was already the biggest money printing binge of all time. And then 2020 dwarfed that. Like, you know, have you seen those charts, Rob? I mean it's, there's different ways to look at. But you look at like the M2 charts or whatever, if you, if you stop it at like 2019, it's like these huge spikes for QE. But if you take it to like 20, the spike from, from 20 to 2023 makes the, you don't even see big spikes in the other ones anymore because it dwarfs it by so much. You know, it's, it depends on like how you measure these things. Like whether you, you look at the Fed balance sheet and you'd say like, okay, it was like 800 and something billion in 2007 and it's $9 trillion now. Or if you look at like the M2 supply or whatever it is, you know, if you look at. God, I might be getting this wrong, but if you look at M1 or M2 or anything, I mean the numbers just jump like trillions and trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars. They increase the money supply, I remember, by one of the metrics, I think it's M2 between 2020 and 2022 by 40%. That's the, I think that's the money in circulation went up by 20%. I mean at 40%. Excuse me. And so you finish the decade, the two decades of printing the most money of all time. And then at the end of that, we decide it's Ron Paul's fault that things are so expensive. At the end of it, we decide, I bet, I guess it's those free market, like they're the reason why everything's so. But anyway, so this is what the boomers handed us. It's like you guys supported these government programs that you couldn't afford. You didn't want to foot the bill. And so you, you, you borrowed 40 trillion dol and printed trillions more and then left these young people in a position where they can't afford anything and they got to foot the bill and there's no need to do that. Like we, as I've said so many times before on the show, if you imagine, like if you are a young person at, let's say, I don't know if you, if you make 50 grand a year. And you, you just have a job and you're in your maybe late twenties or something like that, you absolutely should be able to go buy a house. You shouldn't be able to go buy a mansion, but you should be able to go buy a little house. And like, the fact that you can't, that was stolen from you. That was. We didn't need to have giant entitlement programs and we didn't need to spend $20 trillion on war since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But it, you know, there was just absolutely no need to do any of that except the boomers, you know, they supported it. So.
- [39:10]
B
And, and on that note, I think you rigged the game enough and you get more of a kind of a natural opt out, which is kind of the spirituality of capitalism, which is if it rewards hard work and it's easy to save and you're motivated, hey, if I save, my money's going to be worth. Down the line, you do more of that and you make better decisions. But if you saved money and you didn't put it in the stock market because you didn't like risk, and now just your money's worth a whole lot less and you're looking at saving towards a bigger expense like a house, and you're like, that doesn't even look possible. Yeah, of course you're making stupid decisions with your money. So you're like, I might as well enjoy it while this is here.
- [39:46]
A
Oh, absolutely. No, look, there's no question about that, right? That's a very, very important point that, like, there is. Things can become so. In, is there a term for this in economics that I should know? But like, things can become so insurmountable that it kind of kills the incentive to even do the right thing anymore, you know? Like, it's like, I don't know if you're, if, if there's a big wave coming at you on a beach, you might run, but like, if it's a tidal wave and you're right there, it might be like, dude, there's not even a point. And you know, like, at a certain point, it's like, if you're like overwhelmingly in debt debt, and you're like, and you got an extra hundred bucks, it's like, you really should put that toward your $500,000 in debt. And you're like, dude, I'm gonna spend it because I need one goddamn moment of. You know what I mean? And it's not like, whereas if you have $3,000 in debt and someone's like, put that hundred bucks toward the three that.
- [40:42]
B
Come on, man.
- [40:43]
A
Like, you could pay this thing off in a little bit. Like, that's. It's just much easier to, like, motivate people to do that.
- [40:48]
B
So.
- [40:48]
A
Yeah, I absolutely think that's true. But anyway, you know, again, the major point here, or I guess one of the major points, is just that this chick is the face of the administration. And in this moment where the administration is as weakened as it's ever been and democratic socialism is on the rise, this is the message they've got. This will not work. Like, you know, I want to play this Mamdani clip in a second because this is. I. I will say in some ways I. I underestimated this, Mom. Donnie. A little bit. He. I think he's better at this than I realized he was. And he's certainly ascendant right now in the, in the Democratic Party, obviously. Look, Rob, he wasn't born here, right? So he's not going to run for president unless that gets changed. But there, there is something where he's a force, he's ascendant, and I think there's something very dangerous about what he represents. But my God, ma', am, the way people are dealing with him, Rob, it's like essentially I'm gonna say he's a durka, durka, durka, terrorist and socialism, and that's it. And, and, oh, you're just being lazy like the. And I say this man, like, I'm pleading with anybody who's not a socialist here who wishes to resist the rise in socialism. Okay, let me just try to explain this. There is, there is no way that just calling him a communist or calling him a terrorist sympathizer or calling him an anti Semite, that will not work. I can promise you that. It won't work because it's stupid and it doesn't appeal to anybody. First off, communist doesn't mean anything to anybody. Who's. His audience is young people, and they're people who obviously aren't afraid by that. He calls himself a democratic socialist. So, like, how scary is the label? Two, he's never really in any way indicated that he's a jihadist. You just made that all up. Like, I don't know, it's just. It's like they're like, well, he's a Muslim guy, and there's a picture of him in a mosque with the Muslim guy who's like a real radical Muslim. And you're like, yeah, well, that's where you find them at mosques. So I don't know this. You have nothing here. And then, by the way, the fact that he doesn't support your genocidal campaigns is a, is a bonus in his, his. That's a win in his column. For the record, that's not helping you. What you have to do. The only way to do this right now, right in this populist moment, Rob, where the, the establishment is so corrupt and they, by the way, call themselves capitalism and he's calling himself socialism. You can't sit here and say he's a revolutionary who wants to overthrow this status quo. I'm for the status quo because fuck the status quo. Everyone's against that. That is why Trump won. That's why he's in there. That's why this Caroline Levitt chick is in the position to say what she's saying. Because no one wants to defend the status quo. Why should we? But the point is that the status quo is the biggest government in human history. The status quo is the biggest money printing scheme in history. The status quo is central planning and central banking. And that's the only way to, to win this argument, is to explain to them that we're doing socialism right now because anything else is just not going to tackle the energy that they have. You have to explain to them that we currently have a system that's rigged toward the rich and rigged toward the boomers and that that's what they, you know what I'm saying? Like, otherwise, if you're just hitting him with this, like you're a jihadist thing, I don't know, it's just got no chance of landing. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Quince. It is summertime. One of the things you need during summer is good comfortable, go anywhere clothing stuff that's good for the summer. That's why I love Quince. In fact, I just got a bunch of stuff from them. Quince is 100% European. Linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to throw on. And the summer upgrade your rotation needs. They're starting at just $34. Their teas are soft enough to live in all day, and lightweight cotton sweaters are exactly what you want when summer nights cool down. They got great stuff there. This is my type of clothing brand. They've got stuff that looks really nice, casual, yet nice to wear out. And for prices that are very reasonable, which, as you people know, quite hard to find these days. And it's not just clothing. Quinn has become a trusted favorite from everything from home travel to everyday essentials. So make your summer wardrobe easier by going to quint.compotp for free shipping on your orders and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Quint.compotp that's Q-U I N C E.compotp for free shipping and 365 day returns. All right, let's get back into the show.
- [45:49]
B
Well, let's roll a clip here.
- [45:52]
A
Let's go to Mom Donnie. Now this is. This is Mom Donnie on. On the 4th of July
- [45:59]
C
nearly a decade ago, I too felt what you feel. The joy of no longer being just a New Yorker, but an American too. You each hold a special power, the power to determine what America means. The powerful have always known their answer. America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit how small they are, how weak, how unoriginal. At every moment in our past, those who led through exclusion and isolation have tried to win power and enrich themselves by turning us against one another. Division is the oldest trick in politics and the cheapest. But time and again, including 250 years ago, those forces of division have been vanquished by the forces of progress. As Thomas Paine once wrote, this new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty. Hither have they fled. And yet today, too many of our do not believe in a.
- [47:17]
A
You know what my favorite Thomas Paine quote was, Rob? He said, government is at its best, unnecessary evil. You know, there's something, there's something funny about the. The democratic socialists now dressing up in like American language, like just something about like literally, like top, you're quoting Thomas Paine. Like Thomas Paine literally said, literally, that's his quote, that government at best is a necessary evil. Meaning, like I might be an anarchist, like at its absolute best, you could convince me that this is all, this is evil. But man, we just have to have this thing. Not that, like it should start getting in the game, the business of groceries or something like that.
- [48:07]
B
You know, this is what everyone does is they try and pretend like they're a libertarian and that they're pro freedom. This is kind of the lane in politics is everyone dresses themselves up as us to lie to you for their basically government power and control.
- [48:22]
A
I know if we're so wrong, why do you all have to pretend to be us?
- [48:27]
B
But in this instance, you know, he's using all of like these American ideas for inclusion and extending it to people that are not in the country. And I think what's, you know, potentially great about Mamdani is that to the extent that he tries to institute his socialist policies and sticks around long enough, unless he can control the media, which is what you need to pretend like all of your policies haven't created rationing or other disasters, we will all get a front row ticket to the disaster of what he actually successfully implements. And in this case, where he's trying to basically say everyone in the entire universe should have a right to be an American, how's that going to play out? Go institute that policy. You want to have all the socialism that we have in this country and all the free stuff that we have and just invite everyone for that. And you think that the general public is what that's going to work out and that b, that the general public's going to like that. So, you know, you just got to listen to his message a little bit here. He's not talking about, hey, you know, the powers against all of us Americans and they're, they're the bad guys. But us working together, we don't need to be divided. He's talking about that in reference to also illegal immigrants coming into the country, which is batshit crazy. Now he's doing it, he's doing it like in a pretty slick way where he's kind of painting a picture. Like he's talking about me and my, you know, my Mexican neighbors that live in my shitty apartment building. But that's not really what he's talking about.
- [49:52]
A
Well, let's just say to be clear here, this is, it's very, it's Obama esque what he's doing. Like it's all sloganeering and it's very empty on any actual substance. And he's not talking about a policy. And for the record, I hate that, that I just, I wish if we lived in a grown up serious world, politicians even in these moments, it's like I, I like what, did I just tune into Oprah or am I listening to the mayor? You know what I'm saying? Like I don't need to hear this thing about a story about who we are as a people. Like what are you planning on doing about this pothole and what are you planning on doing? Like, I think politicians should speak about policy. But you're right. He's. Now, look, what's. One of the things that's interesting in this is that he's. Now. This is a national speech, right? Like, this is going super viral. This is him. It's not just him. And you see that in the way they're dressing up behind in the American flag and in the American story, because they're. They're presenting this in a way that. Look, Rob, there's a different way. You got to present this message. If you want to appeal in Park Slope, maybe that's not the. If you want to appeal to Williamsburg or something like that, then if you want to appeal to, you know, Kansas City, I don't know, you just got to present it a little bit different. And so there's like, they're presenting it in this way. He's not really saying anything of substance. But yes, Rob, there's signaling in there. There's signaling that, like, the problem is always exclusion. And the problem is always that those who think that if you look different or sound different, that therefore you can't be American. And hey, look, there's a. There's a claim that he's making here, implicit in the. The speech that, hey, even though I just became an American five minutes ago, I still get to say we should change this whole thing because I'm as American as everybody else. And anybody who's trying to exclude me from that as being the bad guy. You do wonder to some degree with these democratic socialists. Well, like, where. I mean, because the whole thing is so incoherent, but you go like, well, wait a minute. If you're really saying that exclusion is wrong, where. What's the limiting principle on that? Like, can nobody be excluded? Does the whole world have a right to come here? And if we're now saying that the whole world has a right to come here, that this is not a national socialist project, a la Bernie Sanders, that this is a global socialist project. Well, why. Why then is this. Would this only apply to your. Your policy in terms of the movement of people? So in other words, why don't we just take this redistribution thing that you believe in international. And in fact, this is a real argument that the democratic socialists never really have a response to. It was one of the ones in Keith Knight's great video that he put out the other day. But, like, I don't know. Why. Why shouldn't we? Look, China is a huge economy, Rob. China has, you know, like, I think it's the biggest. The biggest economy in the world. In terms of, like, pure. And then I think maybe we're still ahead of them in terms of, like, per capita. But China's a rich country. Haiti's a poor country. Rob, you explained to me why we shouldn't be taxing China and sending their stuff to Haiti. Why shouldn't we go be confiscating a bunch of Chinese stuff and sending it over to Haiti? Why should. Like, how far are you willing to extend this experiment that this all just applies to the world? Because, Rob, again, like you're saying here, you're saying you want socialism and open borders. Just think about that combination for a second. So it. You are entitled. It is your right, as they would say, you are entitled to, like, health care and housing and education and this. And also, everyone's allowed to come. How long you think that model lasts for? The borders are open to the world. And also as soon as you get here, you get put on the dole. It's almost like they don't think these things through here. Let's keep playing
- [53:56]
C
vision of this nation as an asylum for the persecuted, but rather as one that persecutes those seeking asylum. As we mark 250 years, what do we see? We see a city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions. We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world. World one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more. We see monopolies dominate every industry.
- [54:27]
A
That is not a contradiction. You know, feel however you feel about it. Objectively speaking, it's not a contradiction. It's not a contradiction to say some people have so little and some people have so much. I don't know what that, you know, like, I don't know what he means to be saying by. Maybe he means to be saying two things that shouldn't both exist, but that's different than a contradiction. Like, just, for example, like, a contradiction would be we're. We're a nation of. Of so many billionaires, and we're a nation where no billionaires exist. That's a contradiction. You contradict the last thing you said. This is not a contradiction. I don't know. I just hate this stuff. But it's. I also do. I gotta say, by the way, this is. I should say this just because I mentioned it a second ago. And so why not be controversial and get myself in trouble? But I. I do think there's something that's like, bad form about such a new citizen now lecturing how the nation is a nation of contradict you know what I mean? Like, and then. And then, like, not even knowing what a contradiction is, there is something that really rubs me the wrong way about all of that. But, like, it is not the idea that. Look, one of the reasons why this is infuriating. I guess maybe there's two things. Number one, well, it's not a contradiction that there would be some people with a lot and other people with less. Also, it does not in any way imply that the somebody having a lot has made the person who has less that's worse off. That's a fixed pie fallacy. It's a logical fallacy. And then I guess in addition to
- [56:13]
B
that,
- [56:15]
A
it's just like, Rob, like, imagine this is one of the things where, like, where socialists because they don't understand economics, so they never think about it like this. And they'll ask questions like, why do we have poverty? Which is a really silly question when you think about it. And a much more interesting question is, why do we have wealth? Because why do we have poverty is easy. It's like, because that's what we're born into. That's the state of nature. The state of nature is poverty. Starting from scratch is when you have poverty and then you have to build wealth little by little by little. Like, literally everything had to be built. It had to be made.
- [56:50]
C
All.
- [56:51]
A
Every building you see was built. Everything you see was made machinery. And like, all this stuff has to be created. And so when you start creating, some people are going to have more. And so it essentially, as soon as you start with economic creation, you create a situation where some people have. But you haven't pulled everyone out of poverty yet, now have you, Rob? And so I can look at that and go look at the contradiction some people have and other people don't. And you're like, yeah, it's called working. It's called we're working. Now, obviously, there's a million ways. If Natalie, if you could just bring this back like a couple seconds. There's a million ways that people. Wealth is being extracted from groups and people are being screwed over. But, like, get to that. Just demonstrating that one guy's successful while somebody else is not proves nothing.
- [57:39]
B
Yeah, I hate the demonization of wealth. I'm very into the demonization of grift. If you want to get up there and explain to me that Elon Musk is actually a defense contractor and here's the grip.
- [57:51]
A
Sure.
- [57:52]
B
How he earned his wealth. Wealth, I'm all ears. But I can't stand the demonization of wealth and that like, let's just say there, you know, there was this. There was this Matt Damon movie which wasn't particularly good where there's like this secondary planet that has these health machines and people could just get into the health machines and be magically healthy. Well, let's just go with that. Let's say tomorrow someone invented the AI health machine that you can get into it, it can scan your whole body, tell you what's wrong with it and fix it on the spot. And that guy became a trillionaire. You're going to tell me that that's bad? The guy who figured out how we can all be healthier and provide something of value. And I'm taking an extreme example. Yeah. Yes.
- [58:29]
A
No, you're absolutely right. Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but it's such a good point. The idea that like, look, Keith Knight used is the example in his, in one of his points on that great video he made the other day that he said, just using the example of Jeff Bezos, by the way, someone I'm not a big fan of of he goes, jeff Bezos has gotten the books in the hands of more kids than. You know what I mean? Like almost. If a public government program had done that, you would be. They would never stop bragging about it. Walmart has, has slashed the price on food and clothing for the poorest communities in this, in this country by 40, 30, huge number. Never get any credit for it at all. So like, I'm not saying obviously we live, we live in a very rigged system. The entire system is, is rigged on behalf of the powerful. That being said, the idea that like anyone that right. That wealth creation is inherently bad is so ass backward. It's like, it's like on the level of, let's say like during, like Covid, when we were real upset that we thought they were giving the COVID Vax to a whole bunch of people who shouldn't have gotten it. And then we were to go, that's why you don't do medicine. Wait, wait, hold on, dude. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You cannot throw this entire thing out because medicine saves so many people's lives who really need it. So like you can't throw all of that out. And that's all that is throwing out the wealth. It's throwing out all business, all wealth creation, all. It's, it's utter nonsense. All right guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Shopify. Have you been sitting On a business idea, but you're not quite sure how to start. Well, look no further than Shopify. They take away all the guesswork, making it easy to get your business off the ground. Selling is included and ready from day one. They make checkout easy. From the moment your first customer is ready to pay Shopify. Checkout helps more of them finish their purchase. And when they come back, their details are already saved. One tap and they're done. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, so you can trust them to make it easy for you. And they're now introducing Sidekick, Shopify's AI assistant. If questions come up, Shopify's built in AI assistant Sidekick is ready to help you build, troubleshoot, and keep moving. With Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial@shopify.com problem. That's shopify.com problem. All right, let's get back into the show here. Let's continue playing
- [60:59]
C
Trillionaire hungers for more. We see monopolies that dominate every industry and oligarchs who buy elections.
- [61:07]
A
Okay, mass agents terrorize again, I'm sorry. We see monopolies that dominate all industries. Can I get some examples on that, bro? And isn't it funny, Rob, to ever. Isn't it so funny? I mean, again, just the ultimate contradiction that a democratic socialist talking about monopolies as they advocate for the government to do everything. Like, the government isn't only the biggest monopoly, it's the only true monopoly. And to the extent that any company is anywhere close to being a monopoly, I guarantee you they're in bed with the government. And but again, like you go, oh, we have this problem where there's monopolies everywhere and that's why we'll have the government take it over. It's so funny even thinking about Rob, Just like in theory, like, like, so you're saying a monopoly is bad. And like, why would a monopoly be bad? A monopoly would be bad because, well, they're the sole provider of a good or a service. And as the theory goes, well, if they're the sole provider of a good or a service, then they got a really. They got a lot of leverage over you. Right. If you want that good or service, they could ask for whatever they want or whatever. And like there's some truth to that in, in that, yeah, competition will lower prices. And if one person is. Has a huge percentage of the share or let, let's just say you invent. So now in a sense, you have a monopoly on it. At least for a little bit, right? Okay, maybe that's bad. Maybe I have a product you want and I'm asking for way more than you're willing to pay. Now you can't actually find me any examples in history of people really creating long lasting monopolies in history. Like literally none. You can't find any. All the robber barons of the 20th century, all the, you know, anyone you want to look at, they all lowered prices, none of them raised prices. You can't find examples of this happening. But if you're going to say that that's really bad, like, okay, I would ask for a lot of money because I'm the only one who has a certain product. What about I would put a gun to your head and force you to pay me money for a product you don't even want? How is that not worse? How is that not a worse monopoly? A monopoly on the initiation of violence. Like, this is the worst type of monopoly there is. So, you know, drive me a river about monopolies. But it's just, look, there are. Again, I do think the economy is incredibly rigged, Rob, to say. Do you remember when we were at that Gan Epstein debate? I think you were there, you read the Gene Epstein debate and there was the one woman who was talking about conditions of factory workers in America and she, she started throwing out numbers that were like, she was like, 60% of Americans work in substandard manufacturing. And Jean was like, 60% of Americans don't even work in manufacturing. And then she stood at some number and she said 20% of Amazon workers have to wear diapers because they're not allowed bathroom breaks because the working conditions are so bad. And none of that's true. Just none of it's true. It's just like totally made up. It's like the socialists really do this thing where like even sometimes when there are real problems and you could say like, hey, maybe the Amazon workers aren't paid well enough or something like this. But you could, like, like this just isn't happening in America. What are you talking about? Out the same thing. Like, the idea that every industry is a monopoly is like, Rob, we have so many consumer choices. Like, that's just not true.
- [64:36]
B
Dude, I can't believe the socialists are speaking out against a company that's normalizing a culture of shitting your pants at work.
- [64:47]
A
All right, yeah, let's play, let's play a little bit more.
- [64:49]
C
Then we'll wrap up our streets eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in Unmarked Vance. We see a nation whose immense wealth has been built by those with calloused, dirt streaked hands, those who toil on factory floors and chisel into stone. And we see a nation that has allowed so much of that wealth to be held instead in the soft hands of a precious few. Yes, we see America in a health insurance industry that exploits the sick. But that is not all we see. See, when we look for America, we see it, too in the nurse who works a double shift and then stops on her way home to check on an ailing neighbor. Yes, we see America in corporate landlords for whom negligence is a business model. We see it, too, in the father who tucks his children into bed.
- [65:35]
A
All right, let me just. Let me just pause it right here. Yeah, there's something. It almost reminds me in a way of the way feminists, like radical feminists would talk about. About men. And it's almost like they define men by all the worst men that are out there ever. But then they seem to have a blind spot for the fact that they're like, yeah, but like, I don't know, there's a whole bunch of men out there who are just, like, decent enough dudes, you know what I mean? Like, they just, like, go to work and raise their kids and, you know, are decent to their wife and, like, or whatever. They're just good to their friends and they're nice, you know, like. And there. There is this when you sit here and you say, hey, look, man, you know, like, who built this wealth? Who built this wealth? It's the people with the calloust fingertips, you know, that's who. That's who built this wealth. It's the. The nurses and it's the. And all. And it's like, yeah, look, I'm not taking anything away from that. Workers are a huge important part of an economy, and obviously it's a huge, important part of wealth creation as people working entrepreneurs play a huge role in that, too. Humongous role. And why. Why do we have to demonize that? You know, it's like as all. And maybe. Maybe I'm being unfair, putting words in his mouth, but it's pretty clearly left out of the equation here, Rob. Right? It's the workers and then that evil billionaire up there. And. And this is where they get you. This is where all socialists do this. And, dude, you can read about what was considered a cool idea block in the Soviet Union. You know, it starts with billionaires, but then you notice where it's like, we got to raise taxes on everyone who makes over $250,000 a year or something like that. You're like, hey, that's not exactly just billionaires anymore. But, like, in this whole thing, like, okay, you have this evil billionaire class, and then you have the noble guy who works his fingers to the callous. What about the guy who, like, had a good idea and started a business and. And created 10 jobs? What about the guy who started a business and had an idea and created 300 jobs? Okay, like, all those workers now have a job because that person created a company with all of these jobs to have. And who's that? Where is that? Like, this is the one that they leave out. As if this isn't like, if anything, like, the most fundamental driver of wealth creation. Like, I'm sorry, rich people, quite often millionaires and Bill. Well, I should say this. Billionaires pay off the government to try to manipulate policy in their favor so that they can extract wealth from. From the people. This is done all over the place. It's a huge problem in this. In this country right now. But the idea that there is no role, let alone a central, vitally important role for capital investment and entrepreneurship, it's just. It just demonstrates. Creates an infantile understanding of economics. Absolutely infantile. The idea that all you got to do is show up and work. That's it. It's the workers who make everything. Where. Where are they working with? What are they working? What job are they doing? Oh, yeah, all of that has to be figured out. That's important, too. It's, like, disgusting to pretend it doesn't exist. Anyway. Any thoughts, Rob? He just goes on to say a bunch more nothingness and empty slogans. We can wrap it there.
- [68:55]
C
There.
- [68:56]
B
Yeah. Well, the fact that. How old was he when he even moved to the country or became a citizen?
- [69:03]
A
I don't know, but I think it's all very recent. Like, I think he became a citizen in, like, 2018 or something like that.
- [69:08]
B
Yeah, I don't know. Feels like more of a slap of a face having someone who's not really an American lecturing about why this country is so horrible. And. So in other words, you're here and you're tapping into the. The power structure for yourself and to try and capitalize on this wealth that other people have generated. You know, I don't know. It just.
- [69:26]
C
It. It.
- [69:29]
B
Whatever. I'm trying to. I'm trying to. I'm only thinking of bold words and I'm trying to use soft words, but you.
- [69:35]
A
Well, I get your point, too, because there's also Something about how he's going, like, look, there's something about how he's sitting there and he's going, look, man, these people who worked their fingers to the bone, they earned this, ok? They earned this. Those billionaires, they didn't earn nothing. And it's like, motherfucker, you just got here. You just got to the country, the most successful country in the history of the world that was built by other people, and you just got here. And I do have to say, look, I am. I don't think it is true that America was always a radically open country. America was built by lots of different types of people who came here from all over the world. Now, that doesn't mean that we have to have open immigration forever because of that. It just doesn't follow. But that is true. Much more so than other countries that are built around a distinct lineage, a distinct language and culture and people and time. It's different than France or Ireland or something like that in America. That being said, we're still a nation, kind of. We're still a people, kind of. And if you're the new. It does seem to me a little bit like if I just showed up to Japan and they took me in and they gave me citizenship and then I go, now let's change everything like it does. There is something about that that just seems a little bit to be, let's say, bad manners. I don't know something about that. All right, that's our episode for today. Catch you tomorrow. Peace. Truckers aren't just moving goods. They're making sure bakers get their chocolate chips and hotels get their tiny soaps. But truckers can't do this if they're not on the road. That's why Progressive has over 360 heavy truck employees to help truckers stay on time and on track. Quote Truck Insurance today in as little as eight minutes@progressivecommercial.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.