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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, ready or not, twenty twenty four is here,

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Speaker 1: and we here at Breaking Points, are already thinking of

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Speaker 1: ways we can up our game for this critical election.

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Speaker 2: We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade

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Speaker 2: the studio ad staff give you, guys, the best independent.

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Speaker 3: Coverage that is possible.

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Speaker 2: If you like what we're all about, it just means

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Speaker 2: the absolute world to have your support. But enough with that,

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Speaker 2: let's get to the show.

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Speaker 4: A month ago, I was in Las Vegas with fellow

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Speaker 4: Breaking Points contributor James Lee. We were there attending various

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Speaker 4: political events, met some very nice people. What is not

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Speaker 4: to love about Las Vegas, the nightlife, the residents. In

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Speaker 4: just two hours, I was able to turn forty dollars

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Speaker 4: into twenty five dollars and this permanent error message portending

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Speaker 4: good fortune. But one of the first things I noticed

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Speaker 4: flying in sports facilities football, baseball, golf. To me, golf

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Speaker 4: always seemed more like an immersive board game for rich people.

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Speaker 4: But Las Vegas actually has a good amount of sports teams.

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Speaker 4: The Golden Knights, the Aviators for minor league. In twenty twenty,

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Speaker 4: the Raiders moved into Allegiant Stadium and in twenty twenty eight,

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Speaker 4: just in time for the Harris DeSantis presidential debates, or

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Speaker 4: maybe Newsom Haley or maybe Tulsey Liz Cheney is a Democrat.

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Speaker 4: That's the one I'm gonna go with. I'll be reposting

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Speaker 4: anyone in the comments who can conceive of a more

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Speaker 4: cursed presidential showdown than that? Just in time for that

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Speaker 4: in twenty twenty eight, Vegas might just be adding the

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Speaker 4: Oakland Las Vegas Athletics.

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Speaker 5: To the roster.

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Speaker 6: But here's the thing.

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Speaker 4: The move is unpopular, expensive, and has resulted in the

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Speaker 4: athletics suing, of all people, Nevada State teachers. This is

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Speaker 4: where the A's currently play, the Oakland Coliseum. It holds

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Speaker 4: fifty seven thousand people and it's been the home of

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Speaker 4: the Athletics since nineteen sixty eight. Now, it was two

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Speaker 4: thousand and two when Brad Pitt and Jonahill moneyballed the Athletics,

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Speaker 4: and so they were coming off playing some great seasons.

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Speaker 4: This is what John Fisher inherited in two thousand and

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Speaker 4: five when he bought the team for one hundred and

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Speaker 4: eighty million dollars. But things have changed in the last

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Speaker 4: few years. The team's attendance never recovered after COVID. They

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Speaker 4: finished last season with the worst record in baseball, and

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Speaker 4: now John Fisher is trying to move the team out

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Speaker 4: of Oakland.

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Speaker 7: All I can do is say I give everything I

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Speaker 7: had to try and make things work.

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Speaker 4: Oakland actually offered them quite a nice deal, which included

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Speaker 4: four hundred and ninety five million dollars in property tax

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Speaker 4: kickbacks and two hundred and seventy nine point five million

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Speaker 4: dollars from the state. Oakland also made one hundred and

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Speaker 4: eighty million dollar requests for a federal megagrant from Joe

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Speaker 4: Biden's Infrastructure bill. But note the Mega program supports large,

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Speaker 4: complex projects that are difficult to fund by other means

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Speaker 4: and likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility, or

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Speaker 4: safety benefits, which to someone like John Fisher, who is

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Speaker 4: worth two point nine billion dollars and whose parents founded

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Speaker 4: the Gap. Of course, a new stadium for his baseball

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Speaker 4: team for him would qualify as critical infrastructure. But as

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Speaker 4: a turn out, the Department of Transportation disagrees and didn't

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Speaker 4: award the grant, And so what else could you do

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Speaker 4: but pick up and move to Las Vegas, So the

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Speaker 4: new ballpark would be where the current Tropicana Hotel and

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Speaker 4: Casinos stands. Tropicana's doors are going to close in April

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Speaker 4: of this year, and they had limited time left on

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Speaker 4: this earth to begin with, so the stadium only sped

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Speaker 4: up the process. And there are a bunch of reasons

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Speaker 4: why this particular site is probably a bad plan, not

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Speaker 4: least of which is this. The team currently resides in

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Speaker 4: the Bay Area, which has eight million people in it. Yes,

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Speaker 4: they have to share the Bay Area with the San

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Speaker 4: Francisco Giants, but still in Las Vegas. On the other hand,

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Speaker 4: they would be the only major League team and Las

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Speaker 4: Vegas would have no choice but to root for the A's,

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Speaker 4: Except there are only two million people in Las Vegas,

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Speaker 4: so they are moving to a much smaller market. And

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Speaker 4: then there is the size of the stadium itself. The

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Speaker 4: new ballpark will hold about thirty thousand people, the smallest

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Speaker 4: park in baseball, and they on eight thousand of those

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Speaker 4: people being tourists. That's eight percent of all the tourists

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Speaker 4: who come through Vegas in a day, all going to

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Speaker 4: a baseball game. And what's really crazy, actually they are

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Speaker 4: currently averaging about eight thousand people to a game in

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Speaker 4: total in Oakland. To make this plan work, they would

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Speaker 4: need to match their average attendance in tourists every game

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Speaker 4: in a market a quarter the size. Now, the reason

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Speaker 4: I'm talking about it is because the public is going

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Speaker 4: to have to help pay for it. How do you

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Speaker 4: feel about three hundred and eighty million dollars of taxpayer money.

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Speaker 1: Going to build a stadium?

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Speaker 5: Well, i'll tell you about that.

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Speaker 6: I hate it. I don't agree with any of them.

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Speaker 6: Overrated sports anyway, what.

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Speaker 4: A stadium, baseball stadium?

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's good.

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Speaker 3: Don't support sports in general?

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Speaker 8: Okay, right, beneficial purpose In the long run, I think

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Speaker 8: it'll be good.

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Speaker 6: That's my opinion.

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Speaker 7: I don't agree what taxpayers getting the rip for what

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Speaker 7: rich guys are going to make. Probably shouldn't be spending

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Speaker 7: tax payer money on it.

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Speaker 4: And the public doesn't have to help pay for it,

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Speaker 4: because one, there is no evidence that stadiums bring the

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Speaker 4: kind of economic development that they always claim. And two,

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Speaker 4: he's a billionaire who could do it himself, and we

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Speaker 4: know this because he said so. Fisher said he and

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Speaker 4: his family have the equity to finance the more than

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Speaker 4: one point one billion dollars in private funds needed for

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Speaker 4: the stadium's construction. Now, let's remember something. A budget is

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Speaker 4: a list of priorities.

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Speaker 7: We have never prioritized education the way that other states do.

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Speaker 7: Our funding formula up until a few years ago was archaic.

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Speaker 7: It hadn't been updated since the nineteen fifties. We finally

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Speaker 7: did update it in the twenty nineteen twenty twenty one

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Speaker 7: legislative sessions. Unfortunately, updating the plan didn't come with any

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Speaker 7: new funding or revenue. Basically, you're just cutting a pie

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Speaker 7: in a different way than you would normally cut a pie.

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Speaker 4: Nevada is one of the worst states in the country

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Speaker 4: in terms of K through twelve education, and for Alexander

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Speaker 4: Marx this is a familiar.

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Speaker 7: In twenty sixteen, we got distracted with the Raiders Stadium,

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Speaker 7: which is now the Allegiance Stadium. That was a seven

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Speaker 7: one hundred and fifty million dollar giveaway for a stadium.

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Speaker 4: Now fast forward a couple of years. There was a

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Speaker 4: bill that proposed smaller class sizes, no hearing, universal lunches

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Speaker 4: got vetoed, a summer school bill got vetoed, a school

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Speaker 4: safety bill got vetoted, But when it came to building

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Speaker 4: a stadium, a special session was convened to vote on

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Speaker 4: SB one, which committed three hundred and eighty million dollars

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Speaker 4: to the new A stadium.

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Speaker 7: We've got the Alegiance Stadium up the street. When that

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Speaker 7: stadium was being proposed, they said public education would receive

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Speaker 7: about thirteen million dollars in revenue from that, while we're

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Speaker 7: two billion dollars behind each year. Cannabis brings in one

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Speaker 7: hundred and twenty million dollars annually, so POTT gives more

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Speaker 7: money to public schools than the Raiders.

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Speaker 4: But one fortunate thing came from this, and that was

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Speaker 4: an unlikely alliance between Nevada educators and fans in Oakland

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Speaker 4: who don't want to see their team leave.

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Speaker 7: So during the regular and special session, the phone lines

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Speaker 7: were flooded with a lot of California folks calling in.

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Speaker 7: They started reaching out to me and colleagues and other

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Speaker 7: educators in Nevada, going, how can we help? How can

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Speaker 7: we do whatever you guys are doing. So we formed

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Speaker 7: this like really unique partnership of Oakland sports fans and

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Speaker 7: Nevada educators to try to kill this stadium deal.

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Speaker 4: Unfortunately, the bill passed, and that money is available for

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Speaker 4: the stadium. But that's not quite the end, they are

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Speaker 4: looking at two different paths for fighting this that would

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Speaker 4: both hopefully default the team back to Oakland and say

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Speaker 4: four hundred million dollars or close to it for the

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Speaker 4: people of Nevada. One is a constitutional challenge to the

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Speaker 4: vote on the ACE stadium, the idea being that the

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Speaker 4: bill that made the stadium money available violates the Nevada

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Speaker 4: state Constitution in various different ways. The other is to

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Speaker 4: actually ask the people of Nevada what they want. So

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Speaker 4: Nevada Educators filed for a referendum to be put on

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Speaker 4: the ballot.

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Speaker 7: The goal was to put a statewide voter initiative to

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Speaker 7: the people, so we did that through a ballot referendum.

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Speaker 7: We filed last ball It's very expected that somebody would

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Speaker 7: file a referendum challenge. It usually happens to everybody, so

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Speaker 7: it's expected that we got sued. We honestly weren't expecting

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Speaker 7: the a's to sue.

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Speaker 4: Yes, the a's are suing to keep the referendum off

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Speaker 4: the ballot so that people don't have the option to

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Speaker 4: choose whether or not they want to pay for the stadium. Because,

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Speaker 4: as we've seen elsewhere, when you put tens of millions

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Speaker 4: of dollars on the ballot and ask people if they

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Speaker 4: want to build a stadium with it. Sometimes they say no.

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Speaker 4: This move is probably a bad deal. People of Oakland

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Speaker 4: don't want it. Educators in Las Vegas don't want it.

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Speaker 4: They want money for education. The mayor of Las Vegas

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Speaker 4: said the a's should stay in Oakland. The only person

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Speaker 4: who really seems to want it is the billionaire in

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Speaker 4: the equation. And for the Nevada legislators who approve this stuff.

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Speaker 4: You have a professional hockey team, a professional football team,

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Speaker 4: maybe soon a professional baseball team. You have f one

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Speaker 4: racers on Last Vegas city streets. You've made hundreds of

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Speaker 4: millions of dollars available for these sports venues, but ranked

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Speaker 4: toward the bottom in education. I mean, if the most

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Speaker 4: complicated thing people in your state know how to read

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Speaker 4: is the scoreboard, that's negative. But you know, my dad's

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Speaker 4: a Mets fan. He taught me to hate sports, so

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Speaker 4: I'm a little biased and that is probably where I

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Speaker 4: should leave it. My name is Spencer Snyder. If you

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Speaker 4: found this video interesting, make sure you are subscribed to

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Speaker 4: Breaking Points. You also can check out my YouTube channel

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Speaker 4: where I talk all about media and politics and things

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Speaker 4: link in the description liking and sharing always help. Thank

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Speaker 4: you to Breaking Points, Thank you so much for watching,

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Speaker 4: and I will see you in the next one.

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Speaker 3: This is not normal market forces at play.

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Speaker 6: Something else is happening here, and it's Wall Street.

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Speaker 5: This is one of the neighborhoods that investors have really targeted.

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Speaker 5: They're coming in, they're buying it at cash, and then

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Speaker 5: they're going to hold them as rentals.

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Speaker 9: In January, thirty three percent of all homes purchased in

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Speaker 9: the US were bought by investors, often Wall Street backed

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Speaker 9: companies with multi billion dollar funds, and rent them out,

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Speaker 9: in some cases to the very families who dreamed of

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Speaker 9: owning them.

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Speaker 1: Because the American dream officially dead, my name is James Lee,

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Speaker 1: and your watch beyond the headlines on Breaking Points. In

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Speaker 1: the aftermath of World War Two, the United States witnessed

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Speaker 1: an unprecedented era of prosperity and growth. The GI Bill

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Speaker 1: and other government incentives made home ownership not just a possibility,

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Speaker 1: but a cornerstone of the American dream. A home wasn't

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Speaker 1: just a physical space, it was a symbol of success, stability,

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Speaker 1: and a better future. But as the decades passed, this

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Speaker 1: dream began to drift out of reach for many, and

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Speaker 1: today the landscape of home ownership is storically different. Skyrocking prices,

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Speaker 1: increased competition from institutional investors, coupled with stagnant wages, and

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Speaker 1: increasing debt have transformed the housing market into a challenging

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Speaker 1: battlefield for the average middle class family aspired to buy

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Speaker 1: their first home.

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Speaker 3: This is why first time home buyers are so frustrated

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Speaker 3: in today's market, because what has happened in the past

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Speaker 3: five years is devastating. In twenty nineteen, the median household

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Speaker 3: income in this country was sixty eight thousand dollars. The

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Speaker 3: median home price was only two hundred and sixty. You

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Speaker 3: could put down just eight thousand dollars to get this house,

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Speaker 3: and the payment out the door was only sixteen hundred

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Speaker 3: a month including property taxes, homew insurance in PMI. In fact,

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Speaker 3: you could actually make fifty thousand dollars if you had

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Speaker 3: zero debt and qualify for this home with just eight

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Speaker 3: grand down. What a great time. This is why millennials

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Speaker 3: weren't whining and complaining in twenty nineteen. But why is

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Speaker 3: it difficult in twenty twenty four. Well, because the income

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Speaker 3: has gone up to eighty thousand for the median household income,

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Speaker 3: but now the median home price in this country is

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Speaker 3: four hundred thousand. You now need to put down eighty

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars to have a shot at qualifying for this

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Speaker 3: and have zero debt.

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Speaker 1: Joining us today to break down the future of home

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Speaker 1: ownership and the American Dream is Freddie Smith. He is

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Speaker 1: a realtor in the Greater Orlando area and also a

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Speaker 1: prominent creator on TikTok and YouTube.

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Speaker 6: Freddie, Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 8: So.

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Speaker 6: First question kind of a broad one.

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Speaker 1: Is the American Dream dead at least in terms of

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Speaker 1: home ownership?

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Speaker 6: And if so, how did it die?

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Speaker 1: And why does it feel so psychologically damaging?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think the biggest question of why we have

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Speaker 3: this debate is people's definition of what is the middle

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Speaker 3: class and what is the American Dream is kind of

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Speaker 3: different for many people, But I would see what I'm

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Speaker 3: seeing from my comment section is that, in my opinion,

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Speaker 3: the American dream the middle class is a working family

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Speaker 3: working forty hours a week and being able to comfortably

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Speaker 3: afford the average home in America. And that was true

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Speaker 3: from nineteen seventy to twenty twenty for fifty years. No

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Speaker 3: matter when you can pick nineteen seventy nine, you can

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Speaker 3: pick eighty eight, you can pick ninety seven, no matter

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Speaker 3: when you pick a date, the media and household income

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Speaker 3: could qualify for the average home. So that was the

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Speaker 3: heartbeat of the American dream of getting that house, building

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Speaker 3: a family, white picket fence, entire swing. As of twenty one,

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Speaker 3: going into twenty twenty two, the price is shot up

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Speaker 3: thirty to forty percent on houses and the interest rates

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Speaker 3: now went up to seven percent. So this has now

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Speaker 3: closed the door and moved the goalpost where in most

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Speaker 3: cases you need over one hundred thousand dollars of income

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Speaker 3: with very little debt to have a shot at the

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Speaker 3: average house. So this is shocking to a lot of

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Speaker 3: first time home buyers because this didn't happen over ten years,

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Speaker 3: fifteen years we saw it coming. This happened drastically in

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Speaker 3: just the past two to three years. So everyone's kind

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Speaker 3: of just catching their balance, going I just want to

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Speaker 3: buy a house. I've been working for fifteen years. What happened?

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Speaker 3: So to answer your question, is the American dream dead?

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't say it's dead, but it's definitely on life

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Speaker 3: support if we don't make a change.

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Speaker 1: So then I know the interest rates have gone up significantly.

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Speaker 1: But other than that, why has there been this shock

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Speaker 1: in terms of the housing prices, Because this historically has

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Speaker 1: been you know, housing always goes up historically, but not

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Speaker 1: to this type of degree this acutely.

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Speaker 3: The interest rates played a huge part because in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: when the pandemic hit, they decided, hey, let's, you know,

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Speaker 3: lessen this burden and let's lower interest rates so individuals

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Speaker 3: can refinance, lower their housing payment. That's going to be

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Speaker 3: really good for us. So they lowered the interest rates

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Speaker 3: to two and a half percent, which created a massive demand.

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Speaker 3: So there were so many people, individuals and investors all

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Speaker 3: buying properties in twenty twenty one. That much demand rose

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Speaker 3: the price by thirty forty percent of most homes. So

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Speaker 3: we went from only having a fifteen hundred dollars payment

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Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen to now thirty five hundred dollars for

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Speaker 3: the average house, So it jumped about two thousand dollars.

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Speaker 3: And that's putting so much pressure on individuals because if

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Speaker 3: you're spending three thousand on mortgage or even two thousand

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Speaker 3: on rent, that's eating into a lot of your income

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Speaker 3: that people need for groceries, for daycare, to try to

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Speaker 3: pay off their student debt. So that's what's putting pressure

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Speaker 3: on Americans is the three layered cake, housing, day care,

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Speaker 3: in college debt.

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Speaker 6: So I know you touched on some of the numbers there.

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Speaker 1: Can you help us break down a little bit of

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Speaker 1: how much money do you actually need to make to

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Speaker 1: buy the average house, also considering some factors like debt,

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Speaker 1: other expenses that people might have, say let's say in

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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, five years ago versus now in twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 1: just in this time span.

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Speaker 3: Sure, And I think this is really important for people

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Speaker 3: to know. When it comes to qualifying for a loan,

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Speaker 3: there's a difference on what you can qualify for and

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Speaker 3: what you can afford. I want to say that one

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Speaker 3: more time. What you can qualify for and what you

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Speaker 3: can afford is sometimes two different things.

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Speaker 6: And I always talk about how you don't want to be.

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Speaker 3: House por but let's talk about the qualifying aspect first.

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Speaker 3: So typically, if you're a W two employee, a lender

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Speaker 3: is going to use about forty percent of your debt

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Speaker 3: to income ratio. So that means they're going to use

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Speaker 3: forty percent of your gross income minus your debt payments,

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Speaker 3: your student loans, your car payments, and your credit card payments.

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Speaker 3: Those monthlies work against you and come off your monthly allowance.

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Speaker 3: So back in twenty nineteen, if you had very little debt,

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Speaker 3: the average house was two hundred and sixty thousand. At

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Speaker 3: three percent, you could make about sixty thousand dollars as

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Speaker 3: a family and have a shot at qualifying for the

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Speaker 3: average house.

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Speaker 6: That's amazing.

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Speaker 3: Two people working together for sixty k in America in

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Speaker 3: twenty nineteen is very doable. Fast forward to late twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty two to twenty twenty three and now here in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, you do need about one hundred thousand

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Speaker 3: dollars if you want to have a shot at getting

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Speaker 3: into that four hundred k house. The only thing you

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Speaker 3: could do to help yourself is if you put a

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Speaker 3: large down payment. If you are making eighty thousand, but

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Speaker 3: you do have one hundred thousand dollars to put down,

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Speaker 3: and you get a three hundred thousand dollars loan, you're

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Speaker 3: going to have a shot at qualifying. But in today's world,

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Speaker 3: the twenty five to forty year olds, it's very unlikely

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Speaker 3: that they're debt free or have one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars laying around to invest in a house. So

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Speaker 3: that's really what's been the biggest change in the past

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Speaker 3: five years.

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Speaker 1: I want to jump to the bill to rent communities,

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Speaker 1: specifically this single family home community popping up all over

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Speaker 1: the country.

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Speaker 6: Florida.

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Speaker 1: I know is a big market for this. There's huge

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Speaker 1: development in this type of housing. But I'm wondering if

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Speaker 1: you can explain to the viewers here the economics behind that.

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Speaker 1: It's still the same single family house, So why are

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Speaker 1: people able to ford to rent and live there but

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Speaker 1: not able to buy these homes?

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Speaker 3: Well, the rent price is actually way cheaper. So even

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Speaker 3: if you look at some of these new build communities,

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Speaker 3: the houses are four hundred and fifty thousand, so your

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Speaker 3: payment if you were going to own it is going

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Speaker 3: to be about four thousand out the door with property taxes,

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Speaker 3: homewns and insurance, HOA and everything. But they're being rented

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Speaker 3: for twenty eight hundred, so it's actually cheaper to rent

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Speaker 3: right now. But you're still spending twenty eight hundred dollars

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Speaker 3: on rent, which just years ago you could have a

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Speaker 3: mortgage for fifteen hundred, So that's kind of the position

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Speaker 3: we're in. But if these investors are buying them in cash,

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Speaker 3: they're able to cash flow at these prices individually. Like

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Speaker 3: if you were to invest as just as an everyday person,

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Speaker 3: it would be four thousand dollars, so you would have

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Speaker 3: to rent it for four thousand for it even to

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Speaker 3: make sense. But if you're paying cash, you can actually

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Speaker 3: make a cash flow by offering a little bit lower

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Speaker 3: rent there. So that's what people are doing because if

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Speaker 3: they know the average American can no longer buy a home,

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Speaker 3: what are they going to be stuck doing renting? So

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Speaker 3: all the institutional investors go, oh, we're going to have

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Speaker 3: a nation of renters. Let's get into the housing market

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Speaker 3: and buy up a bunch of communities because we know

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Speaker 3: we're going to have customers. So that's a problem that

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Speaker 3: if you want to talk on a policy level, or

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Speaker 3: if Americans can get behind, I don't think the individual

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Speaker 3: investor who wants to buy twenty homes in their life

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Speaker 3: should be criticized. I think that's part of the American dream.

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Speaker 3: But when you have institutions spending three billion dollars buying

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Speaker 3: out companies and taking over tens of thousands of rentals,

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Speaker 3: and you're drying up the supply. Continuing to raise the

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Speaker 3: price on everyday Americans is unfair and it needs to

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Speaker 3: be looked at quickly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, let's talk about that for a second. Maybe

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Speaker 1: this is veering into conspiracy, maybe it's not. But some

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Speaker 1: say that home ownership as a as a pillar of

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Speaker 1: the American dream itself was a syop so banks could

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Speaker 1: make money writing mortgages, selling mortgage backed securities, financializing housing basically,

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Speaker 1: and now today maybe banks are at the point they

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Speaker 1: figured out, oh, perhaps it's just more lucrative to buy

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Speaker 1: and own these buildings and we'll rent them out. So lately,

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Speaker 1: in the past few years, I've seen more of this

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Speaker 1: narrative that you just talked about. Renting is actually better

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Speaker 1: in many ways a nation of renters. You have more flexibility,

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Speaker 1: they say, less to do, save on some of the

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Speaker 1: other costs of home ownership that maybe people don't talk about.

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Speaker 6: What are your thoughts about this?

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Speaker 3: If if we had rent control, I would be a

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Speaker 3: lot less concerned, because if you could rent, if the

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Speaker 3: average apartment or the average home in America was a

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Speaker 3: thousand bucks and you could no longer buy a home.

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Speaker 3: It was going to take you ten years longer to

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Speaker 3: buy a home, but you could rent for one thousand dollars.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of like, Okay, it's frustrating, but that's not bad.

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Speaker 3: When you are blocking people from buying a home but

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Speaker 3: also taking forty percent of their in come for rent,

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Speaker 3: that's a double edged sword. That's when it becomes a problem.

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Speaker 3: But it is cheaper in some instances to rent. But

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Speaker 3: if you look back even historically, anyone who bought a home,

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Speaker 3: even if you bought a home in two thousand and

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Speaker 3: six before the crash of eight, if you never sold

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Speaker 3: your home, you'd be positive right now. So over the

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Speaker 3: past one hundred years, when you bought a house, your

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Speaker 3: house is going to be worth more. And some people

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Speaker 3: will debate that, and I understand from both ends, like

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Speaker 3: why would you pay off your house and tie up

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Speaker 3: five hundred thousand when you should put that money to work.

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Speaker 3: But it's also really nice if your property taxes and

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Speaker 3: homeown insurance is only six hundred a month and that's

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Speaker 3: your housing bill, like that's amazing. It frees up your

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Speaker 3: income to be able to do other things. So it

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Speaker 3: just depends on what path you want to take in life.

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Speaker 3: But I do advise people, even as a real estate agent,

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Speaker 3: I say, some of you should be renting.

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Speaker 6: You really should.

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Speaker 3: Some people should be renting to save money, but make

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Speaker 3: it count and try to put a plan together. Because

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Speaker 3: I don't think you're going to want to rent forever.

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Speaker 3: But if you have to rent the next two to

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Speaker 3: five years, that's okay, But try to make the most

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Speaker 3: of that, just so you can set yourself up for

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Speaker 3: the future.

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Speaker 1: So if we do turn into this kind of nation

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Speaker 1: of renters, is it a possibility that we could see

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Speaker 1: kind of an erosion' That's what goes into my head,

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Speaker 1: is an erosion the neighborhood, because we we know numerous

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Speaker 1: studies have shown that home ownership has some really positive

441
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:25,200
Speaker 1: effects on the community itself. Right, if we own something,

442
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 1: we're more likely to take good care of it. So

443
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,719
Speaker 1: as a whole, what do you think the impact of

444
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: that is on society?

445
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,640
Speaker 3: I think it's twofold. I mean one, with these institutional investors,

446
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 3: they're buying up entire communities, so the entire community is renters.

447
00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:42,199
Speaker 3: So that way when it comes to the quality. But

448
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,800
Speaker 3: even in my neighborhood. There's probably only ten percent of

449
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 3: people who are renting here, and it's a beautiful neighborhood

450
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 3: and people take care of it. But I think the

451
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 3: main concern for the renters' economy is that where are we?

452
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,200
Speaker 3: And I don't want to sound like dystopian or anything,

453
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,879
Speaker 3: but I lived in Los Angeles for fifteen years and

454
00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,399
Speaker 3: I saw the one bedroom apartment go from one thousand

455
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,879
Speaker 3: to thirty seven hundred over a fifteen year period. So

456
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 3: I'm like, if is this a foreshadow? Even in Canada

457
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,800
Speaker 3: the same thing's happening. Is this a foreshadow to all

458
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,919
Speaker 3: the medium cities in the country, like is Orlando it

459
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,720
Speaker 3: once was twelve hundred it's now nineteen hundred? Is it

460
00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 3: going to be thirty two hundred and ten years? What

461
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 3: happens to the individuals in ten years if they keep

462
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,720
Speaker 3: raising the rent that's my only concern. So will they

463
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 3: create rent control? Are people going to be forced to migrate?

464
00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:28,880
Speaker 3: So that's kind of the thing that I can't really

465
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,520
Speaker 3: put my finger on because I can't think. If there's

466
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 3: one hundred million renters and they keep raising the price,

467
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 3: what does that do?

468
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:36,520
Speaker 6: You know?

469
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,199
Speaker 3: It's it's okay if La and Miami's expensive because if

470
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 3: you can't hang, you got to move. But if Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Raleigh, Austin, Phoenix, Orlando,

471
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,400
Speaker 3: you know, if every city starts to become two three

472
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,640
Speaker 3: thousand for a studio, what does that do to our country?

473
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,480
Speaker 3: So that's the thing I'm just kind of waiting to

474
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 3: get more data on in the next few years to

475
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 3: kind of see where we're headed.

476
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 1: You brought up rent control a couple of times, so

477
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,439
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you where why are you in

478
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 1: terms of letting the market dictate prices versus having some

479
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 1: kind of I mean, rent control is a government intervention.

480
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 3: Well it's twofold because again, if you're a landlord and

481
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,560
Speaker 3: your property is going up in value, that means your

482
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 3: insurance is probably going up, your property taxes are going up,

483
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 3: So all of a sudden, what you thought you were

484
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:18,879
Speaker 3: going to cash flow is being eaten away, and you

485
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 3: want to be able to raise the rent because that

486
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 3: is fair market value. I understand the supply and demand aspect,

487
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 3: but there are places that do have rent control, so

488
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 3: it's not a new concept. There are states that are

489
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,480
Speaker 3: rent controlled where they can only raise it maybe three

490
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 3: percent a year. And that's I guess a little more

491
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 3: fair if you want to look at it that way.

492
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 3: But again, this wasn't a problem four years ago. So

493
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 3: with all this new discussion, there's really nothing to point

494
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,679
Speaker 3: to because we've never had such a sharp uptick of

495
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 3: rent prices with housing prices. So we're all just trying

496
00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 3: to figure out in this new world, how do we

497
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 3: manage this so that people aren't stressed out because everyone's

498
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 3: trying to buy a home. Even when I'm reading my comments,

499
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,440
Speaker 3: we're treating primary home owners like timing bitcoin, like everyone's

500
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,880
Speaker 3: on they're going at seven percent interest rate at six

501
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 3: and a half percent, No, it's six point two today,

502
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,639
Speaker 3: it's back up to eight. I'm gonna buy. It's like,

503
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 3: for fifty years, you just worked hard. It was hard.

504
00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 3: You had to work hard, save a down payment, pay

505
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,439
Speaker 3: off your debt. You know, it was a serious thing

506
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 3: to buy house, but it was possible. Now it's become

507
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 3: this like we're like betting on our primary residence, which

508
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 3: is unfortunate because most of the wealth that people hold

509
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,159
Speaker 3: is in real estate. The boomers hold most of the

510
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 3: wealth of this country, I think over fifty percent, and

511
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 3: their biggest asset is their home. So we should look

512
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 3: at that as a government and say, well, what do

513
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 3: we want for young people? How about a thirty year

514
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,479
Speaker 3: fixed rate so they can build their life and not

515
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 3: have to wait every year for their apartment to put

516
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 3: a letter on the door and say hey, you can

517
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,199
Speaker 3: renew your lease for just forty seven hundred and then

518
00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 3: you got to keep moving. It's like we need to

519
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 3: we need to help first time home buyers in our

520
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 3: young generation to alleviate the stress of the cost of living.

521
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 3: So there's got to be some sort of intervention. But

522
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 3: that also doesn't you create too much problems for the

523
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 3: for the mom and pop landlords.

524
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 6: I think that's a good point.

525
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: And before we wrap, I wanted to ask you about

526
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: the economy in general. Just over the last few years,

527
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,520
Speaker 1: I've come across many narratives everything from there's going to

528
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 1: be a certain recession to oh we're going to have

529
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: a soft landing to a vibe session. The economy is

530
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 1: doing well, it's just that people aren't feeling good about it.

531
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: I think that's maybe a potentially a Biden talking point

532
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: that they've lashed onto.

533
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 6: There's also the silent depression.

534
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: I know you've talked about this where traditional economic indicators

535
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,760
Speaker 1: are positive, but it's not capturing the daily struggle of

536
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,239
Speaker 1: the masses of people who are just trying to make

537
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: ends meet.

538
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,919
Speaker 6: You're on the ground. So what do you see.

539
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,360
Speaker 1: As the reality of economy, specifically in the past couple

540
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 1: of years, but also maybe projecting the next twelve to

541
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 1: twenty four months.

542
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:49,720
Speaker 3: This is the best way to paint the picture of

543
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,360
Speaker 3: our economy. And I wish a leader or politician would

544
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 3: actually say this. For half the country, the economy is

545
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 3: wonderful and that is good for our country. But for

546
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 3: the other half, they are struggling. So what differentiates differentiates

547
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 3: between these two? If you bought your home, this is

548
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,399
Speaker 3: how wild this is. If you bought your home before

549
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,440
Speaker 3: the year twenty twenty, you most likely have a three

550
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 3: percent interest rate and your payment is probably around fifteen

551
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,719
Speaker 3: hundred for your house. Somebody who bought after twenty twenty

552
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,680
Speaker 3: probably has a three thousand dollars payment or is spending

553
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 3: twenty five hundred on rent. If the people before twenty

554
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 3: twenty have no college debt or their children are out

555
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 3: of daycare, they also don't have those expenses. So you

556
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 3: can have two neighbors living right next to each other

557
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 3: in the same neighborhood, and one person's house is fifteen

558
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,160
Speaker 3: hundred and their payment is thirty five hundred plus twenty

559
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 3: five hundred for daycare, plus one thousand for student loans.

560
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 3: So this person saying I can't make it off a

561
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 3: one twenty, while their neighbors being like, you're over spending.

562
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 3: I make sixty five and I'm crushing it. Well, your

563
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 3: payment's fifteen hundred, you got no college debt, and your

564
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 3: kids are grown. They're spending seven thousand on those three things.

565
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,119
Speaker 3: You're only spending fifteen hundred. So that's why you're go

566
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 3: into Applebee's, you're traveling. So the economy's booming, but that's

567
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 3: where we're pinched. We basically are living in two different worlds.

568
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 3: It was the people who set theirselves up before twenty

569
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 3: twenty and the people basically after twenty twenty. Unless you're

570
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 3: a multiple six figure and er, then that's you know

571
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 3: you're doing well. But those are the two economies we're in,

572
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,679
Speaker 3: and I just haven't seen people address that correctly because

573
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 3: we are living in a dual economy of good and bad,

574
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 3: and we just have to try to figure out a

575
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 3: way to help the people who are struggling and make

576
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 3: it more aware as a talking point.

577
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: And I know we've talked this whole segment about the

578
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 1: American dream dying, but obviously housing transactions are still happening

579
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 1: every day. So if one of your clients, I know,

580
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,440
Speaker 1: I think you alluded to this earlier, you talked a

581
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: little bit about this. But if one of your clients

582
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 1: still has this aspirational goal of buying a home, what

583
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 1: kinds of advice would you give them in terms of

584
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 1: financial planning and building a strategy around being successful in

585
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 1: today's economic environment.

586
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,360
Speaker 3: The number one thing if you ever want to buy

587
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 3: a house is to become edgy on the topic. I

588
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 3: always recommend, even before talking to a real estate agent,

589
00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,400
Speaker 3: talking with a lender so you can understand your options.

590
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 3: What are your down payments, what kind of loan are

591
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 3: you going to get? What are you gonna need? Do

592
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 3: you need to pay off your vehicle? Do you need

593
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 3: to pay off debt? Do you need to make more money? Like,

594
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 3: understanding exactly what you need makes it easier for you

595
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 3: to make a plan, So you just don't want to

596
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 3: put your head in the stand and go, ah, this

597
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 3: is frustrated. It's like figure out what it is so

598
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 3: you can work towards it. Or this is not popular, don't, don't,

599
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 3: don't come at me. This is just the truth. I

600
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,600
Speaker 3: think we're going to see a massive migration into different

601
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 3: parts of our country if home ownership is important to you,

602
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 3: Because if you and your family are making eighty ninety

603
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 3: one hundred thousand dollars a year and you can work remote,

604
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 3: or you can transfer to Michigan or Ohio or some

605
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 3: other places in the south, you can get a nice, charming,

606
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 3: white picket fence home for two twenty two fifty in

607
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 3: different parts of the country. But are people going to

608
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 3: want to uproot their whole life? At least it's an option.

609
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 3: So I tell people start looking at different places around

610
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:00,920
Speaker 3: the country. On your spare time, I'm work on paying

611
00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 3: off your debt and really focus on where's my career

612
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 3: going to be in five years? Am I going to

613
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 3: continue to make money? If not, and I want a home,

614
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,239
Speaker 3: what do I have to do at this point? So

615
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 3: it's just being educated and writing down on a piece

616
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 3: of paper with your family, what are your goals and

617
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 3: what are your obstacles that you can put a plan together.

618
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: Okay, I think that's sound advice. So if viewers want

619
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: to hear more of you, Freddie, where can they find you?

620
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've Instagram or TikTok's probably my two. I try

621
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 3: to post as much educational stuff every day.

622
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 6: Seven.

623
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 3: If you spend twenty minutes on one of my pages

624
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 3: and look through I kind of give advice more nuanced

625
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 3: on all of this and see what kind of works

626
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 3: for you. But myself and there's many others who give

627
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 3: advice on lending, on buying homes, So just kind of

628
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 3: take advice from all of us and put a plan

629
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 3: together what best suits you and your family.

630
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 1: Awesome, well, Freddie, thank you for coming on the show today.

631
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: Really appreciate your time.

632
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks, James, I appreciate it.

633
00:29:58,080 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 6: That's it for me this week.

634
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 1: If you like the learn more about housing in America,

635
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: I've done an investigative deep dive on the private equity

636
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: takeover of entire neighborhoods of single family homes in America.

637
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: The video is posted on my YouTube channel fifty one

638
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: to forty nine with James Lee. Head on over check

639
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: that out, give me a follow. The link will be

640
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 1: in the description below. As always, I'd like to thank

641
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 1: you for your time and I'll see you in the

642
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: next one.

643
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,440
Speaker 8: Hi. I'm Maximilian Alvarez. I'm the editor in chief of

644
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 8: the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People,

645
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,840
Speaker 8: and this is the art of class war on Breaking Points.

646
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 8: We're recording this on March eighth, twenty twenty four, five

647
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,160
Speaker 8: months after the Hamas led attacks on October seventh that

648
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 8: killed over eleven hundred people, five months into Israel's genocidal

649
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,840
Speaker 8: assault on the open air prison that was Gaza, which

650
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 8: is killed to date at least thirty thousand people, seventy

651
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 8: five years into Israel's US backed occupation of historic Palestine.

652
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,440
Speaker 8: There was some vague hope this week that at least

653
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 8: a forty day ceasefire would be implemented ahead of the

654
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 8: beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Maybe by the

655
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,840
Speaker 8: time you see this a ceasefire will be in place.

656
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 6: But I doubt it.

657
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 8: But whether a permanent, temporary or no ceasefire is reached,

658
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 8: the damage, as we say, has already been done. What

659
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 8: was once Gaza is now largely rubble. What were once

660
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 8: so many men, women and children with lives and thoughts

661
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 8: and futures are now pieces ash, dust and bone. The

662
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 8: horrors rot upon Palestinians and Gaza will and must rightly

663
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 8: remain burned into our history as one of the greatest

664
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 8: failures of humanity. To defend life itself and whatever comes next,

665
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 8: we need to stare directly into the darkness that has

666
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 8: swallowed this land, this people, fueled by our tax dofar

667
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 8: and our country's endless political support. Doctor Therahmud is a

668
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 8: Palestinian American er physician, and he witnessed first hand the

669
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 8: carnage in the Gaza Strip during his recent medical mission

670
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 8: at Al Nasser Hospital in Conunis. He is here with

671
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 8: us now, Doctor Ahmud, thank you so much for joining

672
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 8: me today on breaking points.

673
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:24,720
Speaker 5: Thank you for having me Max. I appreciate it.

674
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 8: I appreciate you man, and I can't imagine what you

675
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 8: have been through and what you've seen. But we're gonna

676
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 8: try as best we can in the next few minutes

677
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 8: to get people to listen as closely as they possibly can.

678
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 8: Doctor Amaud, you yourself, can you describe for viewers your

679
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 8: journey first into Gaza, what it was like getting into

680
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 8: the hospital and what it was like to try to

681
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 8: provide emergency medical care in those conditions. I've interviewed healthcare

682
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 8: workers like yourselves in so many other contexts. I truly

683
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 8: can't imagine what it's like to try to do that

684
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,600
Speaker 8: kind of job, to provide that kind of care in

685
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,640
Speaker 8: this kind of environment. Can you just tell people what

686
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 8: that was like?

687
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think you bring up

688
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,120
Speaker 5: an interesting point here, Max. I know, I'm a part

689
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 5: of an NGO organization that does medical humanitarian relief called

690
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,480
Speaker 5: med Global, and you know, We've been to the Gaza

691
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 5: Strip several times. I've been to the Gaza Strip prior

692
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 5: to this occasion four times. We've been to Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Venezuela.

693
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 5: I mean, we've seen sort of humanitarian crises all around,

694
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 5: and when October seventh happened, we were we knew that

695
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,480
Speaker 5: there would be this ensuing sort of disaster that would

696
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,479
Speaker 5: take place in the Gaza Strip, just because we had

697
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 5: a feel for what the situation was like. People should

698
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 5: keep in mind that the Gaza Strip is not an

699
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 5: easy place to access. I mean, it's been under siege

700
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 5: for over seventeen years, and so anytime we would try

701
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 5: to get in in the past prior to October seventh,

702
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 5: it was always a struggle you either had to enter

703
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 5: in through the northern border with Israel or through the

704
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 5: southern border with Egypt, and neither of those borders were

705
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 5: necessarily streamlined so people could get in and get out,

706
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,399
Speaker 5: and so it already created this sort of humanitarian tenuous

707
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 5: situation in the Gaza Strip. So when this broke out,

708
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 5: we've been trying for months trying to get in. We

709
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 5: had a team of doctors who wanted to bring in supplies,

710
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 5: but the borders from both sides were totally closed down.

711
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 5: Nobody was getting in and barely anybody was getting out

712
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,880
Speaker 5: unless you could pay a fixer thousands and thousands of

713
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:31,840
Speaker 5: dollars to get you out of the Gaza Strip, and

714
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,879
Speaker 5: this fixer generally was Egyptian. So when we finally got

715
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:37,800
Speaker 5: word that there was a chance that we would be

716
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 5: able to get into the Gaza Strip, this was already January,

717
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,879
Speaker 5: months into what was taking place. We had already heard

718
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,600
Speaker 5: in November about the food insecurity that was taking place

719
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 5: on the ground. We had heard about the bombing, and

720
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 5: we had heard about how many kids had been amputees.

721
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 5: At that point, we had heard about how many people

722
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 5: had fled to Rafa, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip,

723
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 5: and so we thought that we were ready for this journey.

724
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 5: We thought we were prepared. We knew that there was

725
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 5: a humanitarian catastrophe taking place in the midst of a

726
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 5: war zone where f thirty fives are dropping bombs and

727
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,720
Speaker 5: tanks are rolling through neighborhoods and there is a ground

728
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 5: invasion city by city. But what really set the stage

729
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 5: for us is as we're approaching and we're going through

730
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 5: the Sinai Peninsula and we're approaching that off border, we

731
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,720
Speaker 5: really start seeing lines and lines of trucks right outside

732
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 5: of the border. And these are humanitarian aid trucks. I mean,

733
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 5: they've got infant formula, they've got medicines, they've got tents,

734
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,960
Speaker 5: they've got winter socks, they've got blankets, and miles and

735
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 5: miles backed up. You see them all across the side

736
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 5: of the road, on both sides of the road. And

737
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:44,960
Speaker 5: so we really started to kind of get this sense

738
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 5: of frustration and anger because you know that once we

739
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 5: cross that border, what we're going to see are people

740
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 5: who desperately need the things that are on these trucks.

741
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaker 5: And so we get through the border, and the second

742
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 5: that you cross into the Palestinian side of Rapha. You're

743
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 5: just overwhelmed with the amount of people that are sheltering

744
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 5: in this area. Again, I had been there prior to

745
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 5: October seventh. This was an area that housed two hundred

746
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 5: and fifty to three hundred thousand residents, and when we

747
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 5: first showed up in January, there were already one point

748
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,879
Speaker 5: two one point three million people. There was a sea

749
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 5: of tents and you could, you know, as it was

750
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 5: getting darker at night. The only thing that we were

751
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,799
Speaker 5: able to see is just kind of was what was

752
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 5: visualized to us by the light on the truck that

753
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 5: was taking us to the office. It was just people everywhere,

754
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 5: kids everywhere. There's no electricity. Anywhere you look. You look

755
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 5: to the right, you see a tent. You look to

756
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 5: the left, you see a bunch of kids out on

757
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,520
Speaker 5: the street, and so, you know, it was a very

758
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 5: overwhelming feeling. It was not the gaza that we had

759
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 5: seen when we had left a year earlier. I was

760
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:53,359
Speaker 5: there in March of twenty twenty two, and so it

761
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:58,280
Speaker 5: was it was quite overwhelming. The following day we were told, okay,

762
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 5: we're going to go to Nassa Hospital. It's the largest

763
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 5: remaining functioning hospital in the Gaza Strip. It's in carn Unis.

764
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,320
Speaker 5: Carn Unis is in the midst of a very heavy

765
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 5: military assault by the Israeli military. It is essentially been deconflicted.

766
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 5: It's a word that we heard a lot that I

767
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 5: found means nothing, but essentially what we're told is that

768
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 5: the hospital is okay. There is this coordination taking place

769
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:27,720
Speaker 5: between the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the Israeli military,

770
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 5: the Egyptian authorities. The hospital is fine, and so we

771
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 5: made our way to the hospital and just walking through

772
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,320
Speaker 5: the perimeter of the NASAB Medical Complex, there are about

773
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 5: four buildings that make up the NASA Medical Complex and

774
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 5: the NASA Hospital. Again, it just hits you. There are

775
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:47,000
Speaker 5: ten thousand people sheltering inside of these buildings, and around

776
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 5: these buildings there are tents everywhere. As we're trying to

777
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 5: make it through the emergency department, you have to walk

778
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,759
Speaker 5: by a destroyed ambulance, an ambulance that was hit by

779
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,759
Speaker 5: a missile, and you cannot take two steps at the

780
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 5: entrance without bumping into somebody. All of these families are

781
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 5: sheltering in the hallways, in the corridors of the hospital,

782
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 5: every single floor is occupied by people. The second I'm

783
00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,479
Speaker 5: trying to get into the emergency department, into an area

784
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 5: we call the resuscitation bay, where we get the sickest patients,

785
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 5: the patients who are who have been traumatized by some

786
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 5: sort of bomb or shelling or shrapnel. You have to

787
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:23,920
Speaker 5: make your way through families who are laying on a

788
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:27,399
Speaker 5: very thin mattress on the floor, just kind of that's

789
00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:30,400
Speaker 5: where they've been sheltering for months. And I remember the

790
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,040
Speaker 5: first day that we get there, I put my stuff

791
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:35,600
Speaker 5: into the call room because I was going to be

792
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,959
Speaker 5: sleeping at Nasat Hospital, and I walk into the resuscitation

793
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,799
Speaker 5: bay and already there was this young man twenty some

794
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 5: years old who was being treated on the floor. Because

795
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 5: this hospital normally can have three hundred, maybe three hundred

796
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:53,080
Speaker 5: and fifty patients, but it was already taking care of

797
00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 5: a thousand patients, and so we didn't have any hospital

798
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,880
Speaker 5: carts to be able to treat people, and so we

799
00:38:57,920 --> 00:38:59,800
Speaker 5: had to lay them on the floor and get to work.

800
00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,680
Speaker 5: And you know, this particular young man was hit by shrapnel.

801
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,319
Speaker 5: He had been walking next to a house that had

802
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 5: been bombed, and his whole body was sprayed with shrapnel,

803
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 5: and I had shown up, and you know, I got

804
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 5: down on my knees to start working with the doctor,

805
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:18,719
Speaker 5: the Palestinian doctor who was taking care of him, and

806
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,839
Speaker 5: it was clear that he was really, really sick. And

807
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,239
Speaker 5: eventually he lost the pose and we were doing chess

808
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,239
Speaker 5: compressions and we were working on him, doing different trauma procedures,

809
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 5: but it was all, you know, it was all futile,

810
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 5: and he ended up dying. But I remember looking up

811
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:40,560
Speaker 5: and realizing that his family was right next to us,

812
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:42,720
Speaker 5: was right next to his head, just kind of watching

813
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 5: what we were doing, and they had seen us stop

814
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 5: doing chess compressions on him, and I was just kind

815
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 5: of taken aback by the overwhelming nature of all of this.

816
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 5: There are you know, this this room, this resuscitation BA

817
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,120
Speaker 5: can normally have four patients in it, and there were

818
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 5: twenty people in there at that time, you know, seven

819
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 5: of which were on the floor. And then there were

820
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,320
Speaker 5: their families scattered in these corners, just kind of watching

821
00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 5: their loved ones being treated. And then this family saw

822
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:13,960
Speaker 5: their son die in this process, and you know, it

823
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 5: was it was really really tough to process because you know,

824
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:20,480
Speaker 5: there was nobody there that can kind of help them

825
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 5: take through this process. After we sort of communicated this

826
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 5: information and they grieved for maybe a minute, they had

827
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 5: to pick up their son in the blanket that they

828
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 5: brought him in from the house and go and find

829
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,400
Speaker 5: a place to bury him. And you know, for me,

830
00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,640
Speaker 5: that was, you know, just coming from working in Chicago

831
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 5: and watching that sort of hit me. It was something

832
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 5: that you know, I still struggle with. And that was

833
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:46,840
Speaker 5: sort of every day while we were at Nasset Hospital

834
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 5: in Canunis. Every day, every few hours, you're getting a

835
00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 5: rush of fifteen to twenty people coming through our doors.

836
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 5: Every day. You're seeing, you know, kids who have been

837
00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,440
Speaker 5: underneath the rubble who did not survive, you know, that

838
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,320
Speaker 5: sort of that sort of blunt injury that they suffered.

839
00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 5: You see people who have chronic medical diseases who are

840
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,800
Speaker 5: dying because they didn't get the care that they needed.

841
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,399
Speaker 5: They didn't get the medicine that they desperately needed, they

842
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 5: did not get enough dialysis because the dialysis facility is

843
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:22,080
Speaker 5: overwhelmed because everybody's displaced, and so it's not able to

844
00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:26,360
Speaker 5: treat people. It was it was certainly something that I think,

845
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,160
Speaker 5: you know, I don't I don't understand how people were

846
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 5: still able to operate in this setting. And when I

847
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 5: looked around that my coworkers, my Palestinian colleagues, the doctors

848
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,160
Speaker 5: and the nurses, and just hearing their stories, it was

849
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 5: this additional sort of layer of trauma that they were

850
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 5: dealing with. So not only were they displaced, not only

851
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:52,960
Speaker 5: did they maybe lose their home or they lost a

852
00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 5: loved one. Not only were they hungry hoping that there

853
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 5: would be an aid distribution in front of the hospital

854
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:01,320
Speaker 5: later in the day, or hoping that World's central kitchen

855
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,399
Speaker 5: or a narrow would deliver hot meal for the day,

856
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 5: but they were also being tasked and asked to serve

857
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 5: this community that was suffering immensely as well. And I

858
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 5: don't know how they were able to do it for

859
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,400
Speaker 5: four months at that point, And now we've reached five months,

860
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:19,239
Speaker 5: and they're doing it with a shortage of everything that

861
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,680
Speaker 5: you can imagine, a shortage of all of the supplies

862
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:25,000
Speaker 5: that is needed for a hospital to function on any

863
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,800
Speaker 5: given day. They may not have the antibiotics that they needed,

864
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 5: they may not have band aids. I remember there would

865
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:32,880
Speaker 5: be days where we would walk over to wash our

866
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,440
Speaker 5: hands after treating patients and there would be no water

867
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 5: that would come out of the faucet because the tank

868
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:40,719
Speaker 5: at the top of the hospital had emptied. Because it

869
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 5: was such a busy day, we had used all of

870
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 5: the water that was there. We could not have scalpels,

871
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 5: so we were using grazor blades to perform some of

872
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,400
Speaker 5: these procedures. We did not have pain medicines on some days,

873
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,439
Speaker 5: so we had to improvise. And they did a phenomenal job.

874
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,640
Speaker 5: They did such an incredible job because they have been

875
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:02,759
Speaker 5: in this position coutiple times and somehow the brilliance just

876
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:05,560
Speaker 5: kind of comes out in those moments. But you ask yourself, so,

877
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,520
Speaker 5: why are we asking them to go to this level?

878
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:12,040
Speaker 5: Why are we asking them to perform at this superhuman level?

879
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:13,920
Speaker 6: And you know, the one.

880
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 5: Last thing I'll mention to you just about nas At

881
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 5: Hospital is eventually the bombing came to the perimeter of

882
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 5: the hospital and the hospital was surrounded. And on one

883
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,120
Speaker 5: of those days, I was evacuated from this hospital and

884
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,600
Speaker 5: ultimately Nasaid became just like many of the other hospitals

885
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,400
Speaker 5: in the Gaza strip. It was raided, it was surrounded,

886
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:34,600
Speaker 5: it was rendered inoperable. The electricity was cut off. Many

887
00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:38,240
Speaker 5: people who were very sick died unnecessarily in the process,

888
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 5: and many of the coworkers, many of the healthcare workers,

889
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,840
Speaker 5: were abducted, and some of them were actually injured or

890
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:48,759
Speaker 5: killed as they tried to flee the hospital or as

891
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 5: they walked the hallways of the hospital by you know,

892
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 5: either a drone or a sniper or who knows what

893
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 5: it was. But just I just hope that that can

894
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 5: be put into some perspective. That was that's the largest

895
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,920
Speaker 5: remaining hospital that was one of two referral hospitals. There

896
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 5: is no other hospital like NASSET now that can accommodate

897
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 5: the sort of trauma patients and the injuries that we see.

898
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 5: There is no other facility that can have multiple operating

899
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 5: rooms running at the same time. Make no mistake, this

900
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:21,160
Speaker 5: will result in hundreds, if not thousands, of unnecessary, preventable depths.

901
00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:25,240
Speaker 5: The fact that NASA has now been rendered inoperable. And

902
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 5: I also think about my colleagues who and the people

903
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 5: who are displaced there, who have been displaced yet again,

904
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,279
Speaker 5: who have had to flee again, sort of continuing that

905
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:35,960
Speaker 5: cycle of trauma that they face.

906
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:40,120
Speaker 8: I know, to everyone watching and listening. This is extremely

907
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,920
Speaker 8: hard to hear, but I am begging you to open

908
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 8: your ears, open your eyes, don't look away, Doctor Mott.

909
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 8: I know we only have a few minutes left. I

910
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 8: have so many thoughts, but it's not about me. I

911
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 8: want to use the time we have to ask you

912
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 8: this question. People here in the West, as you know,

913
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 8: are seeing a lot of the pain and horror that

914
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,959
Speaker 8: our fellow human beings and Gaza are going through through

915
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:10,200
Speaker 8: their social media feeds. But you have seen it, experienced it,

916
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 8: heard it, smelled it, felt it up close. I'm not

917
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 8: asking you this question in like give us more gory,

918
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 8: detailed sort of way, and we will not reduce these

919
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 8: people in this humanitarian tragedy to salacious gore. But in

920
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,839
Speaker 8: the remaining time, I wanted to ask if you could

921
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:36,760
Speaker 8: impress upon viewers the scale, severity, reality, and human cost

922
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:39,880
Speaker 8: of the pain and horror that Israel has wrought on

923
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 8: Palestinian men, women and children. No one who hasn't experienced

924
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 8: it themselves can truly know this pain and horror. But

925
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 8: if you could transfer your experience to others, if you

926
00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 8: could grab people, buy the arm and have them experience

927
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,760
Speaker 8: for a moment what you experienced. What would you most

928
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 8: want them to see and understand.

929
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,040
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's important to realize that every

930
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:11,520
Speaker 5: aspect of life in Gaza has been destroyed, damaged and disrupted.

931
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:13,919
Speaker 5: And I'll try to take it through a normal day.

932
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:16,319
Speaker 5: I mean, you are not able to get up and

933
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,359
Speaker 5: have breakfast because of the severe food insecurity. And we

934
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,880
Speaker 5: saw this not just at the hospital but everywhere. Everybody's hungry,

935
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,839
Speaker 5: everybody's concerned about where their next meal will come. There

936
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:28,840
Speaker 5: are lines around the block for the partially functioning bakery

937
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,360
Speaker 5: hoping that somebody can get a loaf of bread for

938
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:36,520
Speaker 5: their family. There's no ability to rely on telecommunications. I

939
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 5: was there for eight days of a telecommunications blackout. We

940
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 5: could not communicate with each other, We could not communicate

941
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 5: with our families, we could not communicate with other doctors,

942
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:48,280
Speaker 5: we could not let people know this is what we needed.

943
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,320
Speaker 5: So many of these eight organizations are guessing what the

944
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,800
Speaker 5: people need because they're not able to get that feedback.

945
00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:56,279
Speaker 5: In reality, the kids have not been in school for

946
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 5: five months. They are waking up every day and they

947
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 5: are not being able to go to school where they

948
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 5: can learn and they can kind of start working towards

949
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 5: their future. Nobody is able to work. Not even the

950
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,759
Speaker 5: doctors in the hospital were getting paid, the nurses, the doctors,

951
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,840
Speaker 5: None of these people are getting paid regularly. The banks

952
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 5: are not open. You cannot go in there and just

953
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 5: withdraw whatever money you had in your savings and try

954
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:20,359
Speaker 5: to figure something out for your family. This is all

955
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:25,400
Speaker 5: happening under the guys, under the backdrop of bombs being dropped,

956
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 5: of houses being destroyed, neighborhoods being leveled. There are I

957
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:34,759
Speaker 5: saw a statistic yesterday that came out from UNISEF that

958
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 5: one in six children in the Gaza Strip are severely malnourished.

959
00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:41,880
Speaker 5: That means that their growth is going to be stunted.

960
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 5: They're going to have irreversible damage to their mental development,

961
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:48,719
Speaker 5: to their physical development. They are not going to be

962
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:50,920
Speaker 5: able to be to focus or to learn like they

963
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,399
Speaker 5: normally would have if they were not starving to death,

964
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:55,479
Speaker 5: if they were not thirsty the way that they are.

965
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:58,000
Speaker 6: There's no clean water, so there.

966
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:02,120
Speaker 5: Is infections running ramp through some of these displaced shelters

967
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,600
Speaker 5: and the camps that are there. Hepatitis A that's a

968
00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,520
Speaker 5: diarrhea illness that many kids are suffering from, and we

969
00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 5: don't have the capability to get them rehydrated to make

970
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,879
Speaker 5: sure that they get back on foot. It's literally going

971
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 5: to kill some kids because we just don't have what

972
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,240
Speaker 5: it takes. And there are already twenty children who have died.

973
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,560
Speaker 5: You know, there's another statistic that came out, thirty seven

974
00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:26,960
Speaker 5: mothers die every single day in the Gaza Strip. There

975
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:30,759
Speaker 5: are over twenty five thousand unaccompanied children. There are a

976
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,439
Speaker 5: thousand kids who've lost a limb, at least one limb

977
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:36,480
Speaker 5: in the Gaza Strip. Every single part of society has

978
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 5: been disrupted. There's no fuel getting in, so most people

979
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:41,319
Speaker 5: are relying on donkey carts to pull them up and

980
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:43,319
Speaker 5: down to get to where they need to go. The

981
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 5: sanitation facilities have been damaged and destroyed. An ICU doctor

982
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 5: who I work with to me, was complaining about how

983
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 5: his mother is in one of these internally displaced camps

984
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,440
Speaker 5: and that she has to walk fifteen minutes just to

985
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,200
Speaker 5: use the bathroom, and that she already is not stable,

986
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:00,080
Speaker 5: and that he can't get her a walker because none

987
00:48:59,960 --> 00:49:02,439
Speaker 5: of that stuff is entering. You know, there are over

988
00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 5: six thousand kids under the age of six who get

989
00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 5: formula feed and that they are at risk because we

990
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:11,760
Speaker 5: hope that those trucks that are waiting outside of Raffa

991
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:13,920
Speaker 5: on the Egyptian side can get in and bring in

992
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 5: that formula that they need. I mean, every aspect of

993
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 5: life has been disrupted. And now we're talking about the

994
00:49:19,520 --> 00:49:23,719
Speaker 5: potential ground invasion and Rapha there are one point seven

995
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 5: million people there. You cannot cough without coughing on somebody.

996
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,440
Speaker 5: In Lapa, you cannot do anything without bumping into somebody.

997
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:33,840
Speaker 5: And we're talking about a ground invasion. It's going to

998
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 5: be a bloodbath. But these people have suffered so much already.

999
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:39,400
Speaker 5: And the final thing that I'll say is that everybody

1000
00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,680
Speaker 5: has lost something. Nobody has been untouched. Everybody has been

1001
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,800
Speaker 5: affected by this, but they haven't even gotten the chance

1002
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:48,319
Speaker 5: to sort of process that, to grieve the loved ones

1003
00:49:48,320 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 5: that they've lost, to think about the homes that have

1004
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,240
Speaker 5: been destroyed, and we keep pushing more and more trauma

1005
00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:55,920
Speaker 5: on them. There's a war after the war. That's what

1006
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 5: everybody in Gaza says. There's a war after the war.

1007
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,160
Speaker 5: And it's because just if there is a ceasefire, and

1008
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:03,919
Speaker 5: I hope there's one tomorrow, the work doesn't stop. In fact,

1009
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:06,360
Speaker 5: The work is just beginning, and it's going to require

1010
00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:08,920
Speaker 5: all of us to do everything we can to provide

1011
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:12,359
Speaker 5: some relief for people who are immensely suffering and who

1012
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 5: have not been given a chance at life.

1013
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:18,880
Speaker 8: So that was doctor Thayer Ahmad. Doctor Ahmad is a

1014
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,719
Speaker 8: Palestinian American er physician here in the United States who

1015
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:26,400
Speaker 8: witness first hand the carnage and the Gaza strip during

1016
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:30,279
Speaker 8: his recent medical mission at Al Nasser Hospital in Conunis.

1017
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 8: I want to thank doctor Ahmad for joining us, and

1018
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,640
Speaker 8: I want to thank you all for watching this segment

1019
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:39,680
Speaker 8: with breaking points. Please do subscribe to my news outlet,

1020
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,080
Speaker 8: The Real News for more coverage like this. You can

1021
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:46,120
Speaker 8: find links in the description of this video. I'll see

1022
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:48,360
Speaker 8: you soon for the next edition of the Art of

1023
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:52,479
Speaker 8: Class War. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other,

1024
00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:59,200
Speaker 8: Fight hard however you can to stop this solidarity forever