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Speaker 1: Good morning from the highways of Eastern South Dakota. Well,

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Speaker 1: at least now we know all we need to know

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Speaker 1: about Jeffrey Epstein except what kind of doctor he is?

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Speaker 1: Is he like an obgyn or a brain search or what?

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Speaker 1: Did everyone have a great day?

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Speaker 2: I could insert a joke here about how he's an

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Speaker 2: obgyn doctor, but that might be inappropriate.

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Speaker 3: Let's just move on. I got what you got.

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Speaker 4: Since he was mentioned from eastern South Dakota. That reminded me.

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Speaker 4: I got an email earlier this morning, and we've been

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Speaker 4: talking about the map for quite some time.

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Speaker 3: Have you finally ordered one?

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Speaker 4: And a wonderful goober while we were still on the

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Speaker 4: other station, had sent one in afore It's correct, which

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Speaker 4: is on your desk right now. It's not exactly what

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Speaker 4: we'd hoped for for a map, so Michael was going

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Speaker 4: to order one of his own, which he finally did.

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Speaker 4: I did also get just an email today, Hello Dragon,

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Speaker 4: Please check your mailroom for a map sent to Michael

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Speaker 4: and Dragon on KOA. My regards or my records show

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Speaker 4: it was delivered. I have checked our normal landings.

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Speaker 2: Don't you think that's it?

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Speaker 4: This one? I can only assume it's probably a new one.

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Speaker 4: I'm not sure. There's no name attached to that one.

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Speaker 2: Right, there's no name attached to it. And the reason

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Speaker 2: we can't use it or are not going to use

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Speaker 2: it is because it was a world map and we're

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Speaker 2: looking for well, I've ordered a US map because we're

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Speaker 2: wanting to put pushpins based on the incredible streaming numbers

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Speaker 2: we have from all across the country, plus the three

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty stations that listen to me on the

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Speaker 2: weekend on the weekend with Michael Brown, which you can

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Speaker 2: hear from ten to one on Freedom ninety three seven

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Speaker 2: tomorrow starting at ten am. So we wanted a map

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Speaker 2: of a compilation of all of our listeners from all

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Speaker 2: over the country, and we were going to hang that

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Speaker 2: up either and here or out in the hallway somewhere.

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Speaker 2: We were going to put it up. And we really

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Speaker 2: do appreciate the goober that sent in the one map.

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Speaker 2: It just does not fit our purpose.

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Speaker 4: The only reason I mentioned the email because I'm hoping, hoping.

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Speaker 4: It's probably not the right word, but I I if

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Speaker 4: it's another map that somebody has sent might to use,

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Speaker 4: we might be able to use it, but we haven't

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Speaker 4: found it. Yet if it is another map, just because

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Speaker 4: the way the mail system will work.

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Speaker 2: Now, if you mailed us, here's how we can maybe

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Speaker 2: maybe confirm it. That as good as you know, say

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Speaker 2: a investigation into whether or not somebody falsified you know

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Speaker 2: the value of Marl logo or something, that kind of investigation.

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Speaker 2: You know, you put one numberrand new cares is did

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Speaker 2: you send us to the person that since sent the email?

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Speaker 2: Did you send us a world map or did you

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Speaker 2: send us a US map?

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Speaker 3: We need a little bit more information. Yeah, we need

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Speaker 3: a little When does it say it was delivered?

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Speaker 4: Because we did get the one did get one earlier

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Speaker 4: in the month.

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Speaker 2: Right, And I assume that just showed up out there

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Speaker 2: on the.

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Speaker 4: I saw some packing out here and I was like,

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Speaker 4: oh hey, I wonder what these are. And sure enough,

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Speaker 4: I think it had your name, onditor something, and I

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Speaker 4: was like, yeah, well let's see what.

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Speaker 2: I remember the day we opened it on air, and

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Speaker 2: we were we were so disappointed that it didn't fit

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Speaker 2: exactly what we needed. So but we appreciate the effort.

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Speaker 3: The effort is phenomenal.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate it absolutely. We're gonna swerve into COVID in

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Speaker 2: just COVID.

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Speaker 3: What why are you.

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Speaker 2: Talking about COVID? COVID is over and done with real quick.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

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Speaker 4: Plus it was earlier in the month or late last

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Speaker 4: month where I got sick. Yeah, and I just my

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Speaker 4: voice was terrible. I was hacking up. It was terrible.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I go to the doctor and he, you know, tells

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Speaker 4: me I hits a laryngitis and bronchitis. And I just

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Speaker 4: I asked, was like COVID. He damn near busts up,

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Speaker 4: laughing and goes, that's not a thing.

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Speaker 2: It's not a thing, right, And he didn't even offer

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Speaker 2: to test for COVID because even if he tested for COVID,

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Speaker 2: even if it was COVID, does anybody care? Right, No,

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Speaker 2: We're back to the same spot where if you have

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Speaker 2: a cold and you're you know, snorting and sneezing and coughing,

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Speaker 2: do it into your sleeve, you know, do it in

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Speaker 2: your ill local, do it there, don't do it out

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Speaker 2: and spray everywhere, you know, and and cry. Frank, you

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Speaker 2: don't worry about the damn mask because the mask is

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Speaker 2: not going to stop a virus. A mask will stop

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Speaker 2: back teria, but will not stop a virus. I find

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Speaker 2: it freaking unbelievable. This is twenty twenty five and it's

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Speaker 2: still a thing. And it's still a thing because I

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Speaker 2: mentioned casually sometime earlier this week about how COVID and

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Speaker 2: the shutdown really did screw up things. And we're still

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Speaker 2: recovering from that. Until they believes me, and I know

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Speaker 2: you don't believe me, I'm going to prove you wrong. Today,

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Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal is out with the story I

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Speaker 2: think this was I read it last night, but whether

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Speaker 2: stated yesterday or today, well, well it's been updated this

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Speaker 2: morning at eight fifty three am this morning, Turn time,

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Speaker 2: and the headline is the middle class is buckling under

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Speaker 2: almost five years of persistent inflation. The subhead says, workers

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Speaker 2: growing tired of an economy in which everything seems to

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Speaker 2: get more expensive? Is that your experience? Is that what

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Speaker 2: you're dealing with? Three three one zero three keyword micro, Michael.

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Speaker 2: I really do want to say this is I'm being

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Speaker 2: serious now, We're not just joking around. I really do

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Speaker 2: want to know from you whether or not you have

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Speaker 2: a feeling or you've got some you know, evidence, Like

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Speaker 2: I just went to the grocery store yesterday and I've

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Speaker 2: always bought x and X always costs you know whatever,

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Speaker 2: and you know when if you can remember back to

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Speaker 2: COVID days, tell me what it was you know, prior

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Speaker 2: to COVID and the shutdown, and what it costs you today,

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Speaker 2: you know, either post COVID or today. And by post COVID,

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Speaker 2: I mean when we open back up, so say twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, whenever. I just want

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Speaker 2: to see kind of a trend line of whatever it

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Speaker 2: is that you think is still stubbornly expensive, because I

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Speaker 2: think the Wall Street Journal is right about this. The

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Speaker 2: middle class is weary. They write, after nearly five years

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Speaker 2: of high prices, many middle class earners thought life would

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Speaker 2: be more affordable by Now there's that word again that

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Speaker 2: you just mark my words. This is going to be

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Speaker 2: a key word between now and the midterm elections, of affordability.

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Speaker 2: They say the costs for goods and services are twenty

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Speaker 2: five percent above where they were in twenty twenty Thus COVID,

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Speaker 2: even though they say the inflation rate is below its

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Speaker 2: recent twenty twenty two high. Certain essentials. Now I agree

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Speaker 2: that three two of these three things are essentials. The

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Speaker 2: first one I don't consider to be an essential. I

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Speaker 2: even tried to give some to Dragon yesterday and he

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Speaker 2: wouldn't take it. But they say certain essentials like coffee,

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Speaker 2: ground beef, and car repairs are up markedly this year.

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Speaker 2: I love the aroma of coffee, but I just don't

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Speaker 2: drink it. I've tried it every It's like beer. I

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Speaker 2: don't drink beer. I don't drink coffee. Now you give

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Speaker 2: me a really good tequila or a really good McDonald's

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Speaker 2: diet coke, and now we're talking, baby, We're talking real

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Speaker 2: stuff now. Holly Frew, who is a college communications director.

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Speaker 2: Her household income is about one hundred and thirty five

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars. She lives in Atlanta. She says life felt

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Speaker 2: more doable a year and a half ago. I need

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Speaker 2: to know where the light is at the end of

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Speaker 2: the tunnel. Pew says that they define the middle class broadly.

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Speaker 2: The middle class, according to Pew Research Center, is a

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Speaker 2: household income between sixty six thousand and two hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: and technically day sixty six thousand, six hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: six dollars, but that would be a Satanic household. So

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Speaker 2: we won't do the six six cents. We'll just do

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Speaker 2: the sixty six thousand and two hundred thousand dollars, and

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Speaker 2: of course it's also dependent upon your geographical location. The

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Speaker 2: Wall Street Journal says perpetual sticker shock is making many

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Speaker 2: within this group feel worse about their own finances in

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Speaker 2: future of the country, they're hunting for bargains and spending

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Speaker 2: more carefully. I can tell you that, while I feel

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Speaker 2: fortunate that I have, you know, a very good income,

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Speaker 2: solid investments, everything else, I still find myself, as I'm

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Speaker 2: sure you do, watching out like, oh my gosh, you

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Speaker 2: know what, you go out to eat and you look

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Speaker 2: at something and you look at the menu, and I mean,

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Speaker 2: I hate. I'm not trying to say that I am

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Speaker 2: a cheap ass, but I am a cheap ass. You're

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Speaker 2: telling me you want to charge me x for a

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Speaker 2: plate of pasta. Yeah, I don't think so. You're not

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Speaker 2: that good of a restaurant and it's not going to

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Speaker 2: be that quality of you know, of a bolonnaise or

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Speaker 2: whatever it might be. And so I you know, I'll

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Speaker 2: look at something else. Desserts you want to charge me?

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Speaker 2: Why for slice of g skake? Nanny ain't gonna happen.

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Speaker 2: I think we are all unless you're in that upper strata.

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Speaker 2: I think everybody, but even the people that I know,

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Speaker 2: they're in the upper strata. The millionaires and millionaires that

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Speaker 2: I know also watch their p's and q's. So the

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Speaker 2: frugality of the middle class customer is becoming this recurrent

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Speaker 2: theme in corporate earnings reports. For example, the Wall Street

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Speaker 2: Journal gives Wingstop weed Stop said that in their earnings

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Speaker 2: report that middle income diners have now joined lower income

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Speaker 2: diners in dining back purchases. Tarja is reporting slumping sales,

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Speaker 2: and they say in their earnings report the customers are

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Speaker 2: spending cautiously on discretionary items such as home to care,

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Speaker 2: home to court, or apparel. Walmart posted strong sales as

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Speaker 2: cannsumers from all income groups flowed to the retailer's value.

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Speaker 2: So now you're at Walmart and you're shopping with the

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Speaker 2: people who are barely scraping by. You're shopping with middle income,

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Speaker 2: middle class shoppers, and you're probably shopping along with, you know,

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Speaker 2: people from the Hoiiti Toity neighborhood that are just like

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Speaker 2: you know, I just refuse to pay those outrageous prices.

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Speaker 2: So I'm going to go, you know, I'm gonna go

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Speaker 2: rub shoulders with the likes of Michael Brown at Walmartoo

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Speaker 2: University of Michigan and their Consumer Sentiment survey say that

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Speaker 2: forty four percent of middle income respondents say their financial

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Speaker 2: situation is worse than it was a year ago, twenty

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Speaker 2: three percent so that it was better. So I know

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Speaker 2: I'm piling on here in terms of requests for text messages.

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Speaker 2: But the other thing I'd like to know is whether

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Speaker 2: or not you feel that your financial situation is worse

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Speaker 2: than or better than it was a year ago now.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not going down I'm not going to go

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Speaker 2: down the political route yet. But if you're thinking that

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Speaker 2: I'm going down the political route, you may think that,

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Speaker 2: oh well, then you're going to blame Donald Trump for

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Speaker 2: the fact that people are feeling still stretched and that

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Speaker 2: even though inflation has moderated, it's moderated back to what's

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Speaker 2: we consider to be a normal inflationary rate somewhere between

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Speaker 2: two and three percent, yet prices remain stubbornly high. So

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Speaker 2: that reason is the question, Then why are we this point?

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Speaker 2: What's going on that causes it to be like this?

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Speaker 2: I think you can make a very compelling case that

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Speaker 2: the economic disruptions caused by the COVID nineteen shutdowns, the

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Speaker 2: SARS COVID two shutdowns are still affecting price levels even

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Speaker 2: as the inflation rates moderate. And I think that's the

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Speaker 2: conundrum that we're all facing, and we can't quite figure

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Speaker 2: out an I pose it that it's because the COVID

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Speaker 2: shutdowns were so draconian. It still just it truly just

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Speaker 2: pisces me off that we sold, you know, willingly fell

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Speaker 2: for the fear factor that oh my gosh, this virus

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Speaker 2: is just gonna kill everybody. We got everybody showing up.

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Speaker 2: You know, nobody had flu that year. You know, for

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Speaker 2: those almost two years, nobody had the flu, but everybody

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Speaker 2: had the COVID. Everybody had the COVID. And then we

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Speaker 2: took sick people. Now I want you to think about this.

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Speaker 2: We took sick people. Whether you want to call it

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Speaker 2: COVID or anything else. I don't care call it flu,

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Speaker 2: call it COVID. That people had a viral infection. And

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Speaker 2: so we took people who had a viral infection and

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Speaker 2: we put them in nursing homes, like with Andrew Cuomo

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Speaker 2: in New York, or we set up all of these

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Speaker 2: massive mash hospitals like Jared Pola spin you know, hundreds

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Speaker 2: of millions of dollars to turn the Colorado Convention Center

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Speaker 2: into a mash hospital, for which nobody showed up. And

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Speaker 2: then we did the really stupid things, you know, the

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Speaker 2: people wearing masks in cars, the people that weren't allowed

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Speaker 2: to go to you know, Malibu Beach and walk on

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Speaker 2: the beach with a fresh air, whereas you couldn't go

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Speaker 2: play in the park, you know, with the fresh air

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Speaker 2: in the sunlight and getting all the vitamin D. I mean,

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Speaker 2: it was insane. Oh, you can't take the horse horse

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Speaker 2: based No, not the horse based, the ivermectin tablets. But

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Speaker 2: we were let we were we were so inundated by

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Speaker 2: the cabal with fear that many people were And I

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Speaker 2: always found this ironic. Uh, you got to stay home

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Speaker 2: unless you're an essential employee. So we're gonna shut down

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Speaker 2: the liquor stores. So everybody you know, bitched about that.

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Speaker 2: And then we said we opened the liquor stores up

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Speaker 2: because that was essential because we needed to keep everybody,

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Speaker 2: you know, kind of drunk and happy. But home depot

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Speaker 2: can stay open. But if you own the clothing store

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Speaker 2: or small retail alley you could not stay open. Have

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Speaker 2: you ever stopped to think, I mean, now that we

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Speaker 2: have the benefit of hindsight, have you ever thought just

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Speaker 2: how draconium, how anti America, and how communist that was,

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Speaker 2: the picking of winners and losers. And now we're still

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Speaker 2: paying for it. And that's my argument. The unprecedented shutdowns

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Speaker 2: that were irrational, triggered these deep and lasting economic shocks,

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Speaker 2: and then they get compounded by the historic government spending

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Speaker 2: like the inflationary the Inflation Reduction Act, and now both

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Speaker 2: of those things, the shutdowns and all of the absolute

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Speaker 2: insane government spending still continues to affect consumers and local

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Speaker 2: businesses through persistent high prices and what I'm going to

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Speaker 2: call altered economic fundamentals. We have altered some economic fundamentals

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Speaker 2: and it's going to take us a long time to

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Speaker 2: recover from that. I posted on X yesterday and by

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Speaker 2: the way, if you're not following me on X, you

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Speaker 2: should be. It's at Michael Brown, USA, and I just

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Speaker 2: as I was thinking about this story for today, the

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Speaker 2: analogy of progressives, Marxist, communist status whatever you want to

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Speaker 2: call them, decades ago, going back to the nineteen twenties

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Speaker 2: and Woodrow Wilson started a progressive movement which was a

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Speaker 2: car wreck, and the car wreck, you know, hit the ditch.

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Speaker 2: It started to flip and roll.

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Speaker 3: And roll and roll.

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Speaker 2: But we were all watching it in slow motion because

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Speaker 2: indeed was happening in slow motion, because that's how progressivism works.

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Speaker 2: It slowly starts to change things. And it rolled and

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Speaker 2: it rolled, and it rolled and accelerated. The rolling kept getting,

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Speaker 2: you know, so slowing down. It got faster and faster

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Speaker 2: as we moved through FDR and then Lyndon Baines Johnson

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Speaker 2: and Barack Obama, the rollover just became faster and faster.

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Speaker 2: And then Trump comes along and just stops it, and

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Speaker 2: then it just came to a complete halt. But the

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Speaker 2: fundamentals remained.

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Speaker 5: I go every time I go to the grocery store,

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Speaker 5: I muttered to myself. I can't afford to eat anymore.

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Speaker 5: Everything that I'm accustomed to buying, or was accustomed to

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Speaker 5: buying to eat now costs way too much for me

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Speaker 5: to afford because insurance has taken more out of my

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Speaker 5: social security, so I get less money to spend on food.

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Speaker 2: And don't go to McDonald's now. I can't vouch for this.

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Speaker 2: I like and vouch the fact that Alexis sent us

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Speaker 2: sent it to us, but I can't vouch for the

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Speaker 2: source of the meme that she sent me, which has

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Speaker 2: a picture of Charles Pain from Fox News. But I'm

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Speaker 2: not really sure whether this is Charles Pain saying this

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Speaker 2: or this is the poster claiming this. But here's an example.

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Speaker 2: If this is true. McDonald's price has increased from twenty

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Speaker 2: nineteen to twenty twenty four. Medium French fries from a

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Speaker 2: dollar seventy nine to four dollars in nineteen cents. A

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Speaker 2: McChicken sandwich from a buck twenty nine to three eighty nine,

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Speaker 2: A Big Mac from three ninety nine to seven forty nine.

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Speaker 2: I look, I got a McDonald's. Can get a diet coke.

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Speaker 2: I don't order the sandwiches. A big Mac three pieces

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Speaker 2: of bread, two little flimsy pieces of meat, and some

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Speaker 2: lettuce and sauce and whatever the magic crap is they

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Speaker 2: put on it.

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Speaker 4: Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, onions, pickles, all

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Speaker 4: in as sesame seed buns.

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Speaker 2: Said, yeah, that's it, that's it.

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Speaker 4: How pathetic it really is, because I do not eat it.

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Speaker 3: McDonald's.

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Speaker 2: That's that is pathetic.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you need counseling.

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Speaker 4: That's how catchy the song was back then, though, I mean,

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Speaker 4: when's the last time they've even done that commercial?

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Speaker 2: Oh decades, decades. But seven for that piece of crap,

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Speaker 2: that's almost eight bucks.

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Speaker 3: I'll just go to like five guys or smack.

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Speaker 2: And I think and I think guys, guys, guys buys,

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Speaker 2: five guys is relatively expensive. Yes, for hamburgers. I think

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Speaker 2: it's real. You know, you can go to you know,

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Speaker 2: a chop house and spend about the same thing you

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Speaker 2: would spend at a five guy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you get a grocery cart worth of fries.

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Speaker 2: And that's how they rationalize it, is just fill the

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Speaker 2: bag full of fries because they're They're cost per serving

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Speaker 2: is probably the same whether they fill the bag or

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Speaker 2: don't fill the bag. So what do they care? Seven

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Speaker 2: seven forty nine for okay, McNuggets. I think I lean

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Speaker 2: feed McNuggets to my dogs from four forty nine to

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Speaker 2: seven fifty eight. A cheeseburger, which used to be a dollar.

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Speaker 2: Remember they had the dollar I remember the dollar menu.

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Speaker 2: You know you get certain things for just a dollar,

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Speaker 2: like you get the four nuggets, or you get one hamburger,

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Speaker 2: just the plain simple hamburger. Well, that was a dollar

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Speaker 2: is now three dollars and fifteens for the hamburger and McDonald's.

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Speaker 2: And we're not even talking about a quarter pounder. Some

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Speaker 2: of this is over a two hundred percent increase in price.

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Speaker 2: This is not inflation. It's legalized robbery, which gives to

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Speaker 2: a One of the goobers who sent this is Guber

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Speaker 2: number eighty seven to seventeen, Mike Will. It is a

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Speaker 2: new normal. It is known we will pay it because

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Speaker 2: we need it, So why drop the price if they

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Speaker 2: can get that money from us? Well, I think some

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Speaker 2: of these retail places are beginning to realize that they

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Speaker 2: can get the money from us. When Target's earnings are down,

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Speaker 2: Walmart's is either stable or increasing, that means that they're

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Speaker 2: losing some of their market share to Walmart. And they're

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Speaker 2: doing it based on pricing. So the whole price point

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Speaker 2: at which you're willing to buy something from Target versus oh,

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Speaker 2: I can get it for eighty five cents cheaper, or

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Speaker 2: a dollar twenty five cheaper, or whatever your price point is,

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Speaker 2: you can get it cheaper at Walmart you're gonna shift

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Speaker 2: your shopping habits over the Walmart. And so now Target's

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Speaker 2: going to be put in a position because mainly, well

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Speaker 2: not mainly, but it is a publicly traded company, and

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Speaker 2: shareholders are going to be pissed off if they're going

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Speaker 2: to price themselves out of the market and start losing

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Speaker 2: market share. But I think what's happening is we're ignoring.

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Speaker 2: While we're all upset about the current prices, we are

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Speaker 2: ignoring that.

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Speaker 3: Why Why?

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Speaker 2: And I think it's because the shutdowns altered some economic fundamentals.

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Speaker 2: Let's think about the long term economic disruption. I think

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Speaker 2: we're still suffering through that. The COVID shutdowns cause massive

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Speaker 2: losses to the American economy. Estimate's placed GDP losses somewhere

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Speaker 2: between three point true two and four point eight trillion dollars,

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Speaker 2: that somewhere between fourteen and a half percent to over

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Speaker 2: twenty three percent of our gross domestic product. Just boom

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Speaker 2: disappears over a two year period, primarily because of mandatory

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Speaker 2: closures and just partial reopenings. Those interruptions then cause record unemployment.

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Speaker 2: The supply chain collapses, and a structural mismatch occurs between

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Speaker 2: the labor supply and the business demand that still to

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Speaker 2: this day is not fully recovered. And that disruption was

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Speaker 2: not just to this country. It was a global disruption,

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Speaker 2: meaning that our economy and our recovery was also challenged

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Speaker 2: by ongoing international supply chain bottlenecks and all the demand

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Speaker 2: shifts that took place. And then we had structural price

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Speaker 2: shifts and pandemic price stickiness, which gets back to that

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Speaker 2: text message. Food prices remain roughly twenty five to thirty

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Speaker 2: percent higher than pre pandemic levels, and certain categories like

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Speaker 2: food away from home that's up nearly thirty two percent

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Speaker 2: since twenty nineteen. Think of that, that's what the disruption caused.

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Speaker 2: And to your point, to the goober, this says, yeah,

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Speaker 2: and now that's the new baseline. That's the economic disruption.

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Speaker 2: And even though many people can't, what we're doing is

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Speaker 2: we're putting more people into the category, but they can't

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Speaker 2: afford that. But the people who can't afford it are

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Speaker 2: able to keep those certain companies in business, and so

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Speaker 2: they remain in business, operating on thinner margins, but at

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Speaker 2: some point it will collapse. Overall, Just generally speaking, consumer

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Speaker 2: prices have risen almost twenty four percent since December of

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, and that outpaces wage growth, and those higher

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Speaker 2: price levels have now become sticky. They stabilize rather than revert,

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Speaker 2: even though inflation rates are down. And I think that's

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Speaker 2: the key disconnect between what we're being told by all

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Speaker 2: the politicians and what you and I recognize at Tarja

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Speaker 2: or Walmart or Kingsoopers or any other place, is that,

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Speaker 2: Oh wait a minute. I understand intellectually that the rate

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Speaker 2: of inflation has come down, but the prices have not.

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Speaker 2: And I know that the price of gas is coming down,

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Speaker 2: but that's going to take quite a while for those

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Speaker 2: price savings, those cost savings to make it way through

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Speaker 2: the entire supply chain to wherever that good is, that widget,

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Speaker 2: or that cucumber or whatever that you finally ended up buying,

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Speaker 2: for that to be reflected in the price of that

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Speaker 2: final product based on all the energy costs it took

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Speaker 2: to get that product to the point where you actually

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Speaker 2: buy it. And I think there's some key reasons for

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Speaker 2: the price stickiness. One of those key reasons.

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Speaker 6: Michael Kennon, Sarasota, Florida, Big Mac four dollars and sixty

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Speaker 6: nine cents here quarter pound or with cheese four dollars

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Speaker 6: ninety nine cents. Medium price three dollars nineteen cents, six

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Speaker 6: chicken McNuggets three dollars or forty nine cents, and then

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Speaker 6: the chicken meal, sandwich, fries, and drink five bucks. Nice

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Speaker 6: to be living in Sarasota.

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Speaker 3: Yeah that is for housing costs.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well okay, right, see there's always a butt. There's

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Speaker 2: always a butt nearby. Is housing costs. I remind everybody,

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Speaker 2: if you want me to read your text message, the

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Speaker 2: text line is three three one zero three. It's not

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Speaker 2: that other number. I'm not even gonna say that other number.

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Speaker 2: And I'm sure I know it's five something, but I

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Speaker 2: don't know if I could say it. But if you

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Speaker 2: want me to read the other text, if you want

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Speaker 2: me to read your text messages, you've got to send

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Speaker 2: it to three three one zero three. That can be

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Speaker 2: that difficult on your message app to put in a

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Speaker 2: new number that you can then save that says something

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Speaker 2: like you know Michael's text line or you know for

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Speaker 2: you that hate me and you want to text dragon

433
00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 2: Dragon's text line. But you can just save the number

434
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 2: and then just you know when you are texting text

435
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 2: to me three three one zero three.

436
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 3: You gotta say Mike or Michael first.

437
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 2: Not even first, as anywhere in anywhere in the thing.

438
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 3: Has to be first.

439
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 2: Are you sure about that?

440
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Because I think I've seen.

441
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 2: Some with the out there or maybe they're finally getting

442
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 2: my messages about hey, we can we stop the whole

443
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,280
Speaker 2: keyword thing. But I haven't got any official notice of that,

444
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:20,840
Speaker 2: So still start with Mike or Michael. So here's why

445
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 2: I think we have to continued stickiness on the prices.

446
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 2: You get increased business operating costs because of labor shortages

447
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 2: and because of the wage hikes that you know, trying

448
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 2: to get workers back. Employers started offering higher wages. And

449
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 2: then we still had the supply chain fragility and all

450
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 2: the disruptions of manufacturing in agriculture and logistics. Those all

451
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 2: still exist too. Then you had the whole recalibration of

452
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 2: consumer behavior and all the pent up demand that was

453
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:53,040
Speaker 2: driving continued high demand for some goods and services. And

454
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 2: we can't leave out the role of government stimulus and

455
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 2: government fiscal policy because because the COVID response brought with

456
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:07,880
Speaker 2: it this unprecedented and I can't emphasize the word unprecedented

457
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 2: federal spendings free enough trillions of dollars aimed at direct relief,

458
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 2: just money into the pockets of people, enhanced unemployment, broad

459
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 2: economic stabilization that injected in amazing liquidity into the economy,

460
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:31,080
Speaker 2: fueling consumer demand and asset prices, and that resulting surgeon

461
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 2: demand outstripped the recovering supply, leading to a classic inflation spike.

462
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 2: And I quite frankly think that even though the inflation

463
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 2: rate has come down, we're still recovering from it, and

464
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,720
Speaker 2: the stickiness of the prices. Even though inflation rate has

465
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,200
Speaker 2: come down, the stickiness of the prices is what we're

466
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 2: still suffering from. And now we get all the deficit

467
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 2: driven stimulus, a couple with the Federal Reserve's low rate

468
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 2: and quantitative easing posture that creates this feedback loop in

469
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: price and wage expectations which is going to take years

470
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 2: to unwind. So while in the short term, yes, you

471
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 2: can claim that some prices have stabilized, some prices like

472
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 2: energy are starting to decline, but the overall just general

473
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,679
Speaker 2: bascular goods that we would buy for a CPI still

474
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 2: remains high. So the economy is still in a recovery phase,

475
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,399
Speaker 2: wage growth, consumer confidence, price stability are still adjusting to

476
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 2: this post COVID baseline that was shaped by the shutdowns

477
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,320
Speaker 2: and the stupid policy responses that we allowed to take place,

478
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 2: So price levels are likely to reset the pre COVID

479
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 2: norms are unlikely to reset to pre COVID norms because

480
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 2: of the structural nature of those disruptions, So the new

481
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 2: normal wilde will include higher baseline prices for a lot

482
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 2: of categories, even if inflation settles to historical averages. I

483
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,680
Speaker 2: think this evidence supports the contention that ongoing price pain

484
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 2: is not solely the result of recent inflation. I think

485
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 2: it's a lingering effect of the sizemy COVID shutdowns and

486
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 2: the outsized fiscal and monetary response or interventions that followed.

487
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:19,679
Speaker 2: That we don't realize that when you just insert trillions

488
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:25,159
Speaker 2: of dollars into people's pockets, that it takes a long

489
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 2: time for that to work its way out of the system.

490
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: And we now have a hangover, a hangover from COVID,

491
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 2: not from Trump, but from all of the stuff that

492
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 2: Biden did, all the stuff that the Democrats did, including

493
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: some Republicans, and the inflation reduction acts, and all of

494
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 2: the you know, all of the response of you know,

495
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 2: we're gonna throw money at everything is if somehow money

496
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 2: was gonna make the stupid virus go away. It was insane.

497
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 2: And so it is a hangover, and it's more stubborn

498
00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: than most post recession recoveries. And I think that's because

499
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 2: of the combination of everything I've just described, supply chain disruptions,

500
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 2: the stickiness all of the money that's still floating around

501
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 2: in the system, the money supply, and quite frankly, the

502
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 2: greediness or the fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. Hey, look,

503
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 2: we're charging this for the mac for you know, for

504
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 2: the big mac, and we're still getting it and people

505
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 2: still buying it. So what's the incidentive to lower the price?

506
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 2: None whatsoever,