1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,680 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,079 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:26,080 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Brading. Hello, welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: My name is Matt, my name is Nol. They called 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: me Ben. We're joined as always with our super producer 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: Paul Mission controlled deconds. Most importantly, you are you, You 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: are here, and that makes this stuff they don't want 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: you to know. Quick check in. I think this is 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: the first time any of us have spoken today, or 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: at least Matt, you and Nol. It's first time I'm 12 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: spoken with you. Paul and I go way back today. 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: How's it going, guys, It's going really well. Having all 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: kinds of interesting phone calls with people that I've never 15 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: met until today. So this is just a day of 16 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: new things. Really anything to write home about, not yet, No, 17 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: I see very cryptic Matt. I like it, and I'm 18 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: in trigue. I too, have had some unusual phone calls 19 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: with people that I have never met and may never mean. 20 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: Who knows if I'll ever even leave my house again. 21 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: But I'd like to think that there is a future 22 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: where I will be able to get on an airplane 23 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: one once again, because that's fun. It's fun to go 24 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: other places. We'll see what happens. Yeah, I'm actually doing 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 1: some I'm doing some runs later today too. You know, 26 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: if people are immuno compromised, it's a tremendously bad idea 27 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: for them to leave their house, even if they're in 28 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: an area like Georgia where the local leadership is attempting 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: to open up various businesses and institutions. So I'm gonna 30 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: go do some no contact drop offs. If you are 31 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: immuno compromised, please please, please still don't go outside, even 32 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: if everything else is open. It's just not worth it. Yeah, guy, 33 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: I know in Brooklyn um who got COVID nineteen. It 34 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: was a mild case, but he just got the go 35 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: ahead from his doctor to to leave the house. And 36 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: he put it was his birthday today actually, yeah, so 37 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: happy birthday. I'm not gonna say his name because he 38 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: may not want to people to know that he had 39 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: the thing, but happy birthday to you, my friend, Um, 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: and really glad to see you getting out. And he 41 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: had he had a mask on, was keeping it super safe. 42 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: But um, yeah, it's gotta be tough, you know, just 43 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:39,839 Speaker 1: like having that level of isolation, especially if someone lives 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: by themselves. And speaking of crises, Uh, it's safe to 45 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: say that our current financial system, like many individuals in 46 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: the world today, is in a state of crisis. This 47 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: is yet another crisis for the financial system. By the way, 48 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: I think, by the time people reached the age of 49 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:06,279 Speaker 1: let's say, I don't know, arbitrarily eighteen, they've already experienced 50 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: several huge behemoths of financial crisis. But individuals and countries 51 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: around the world right now are being told to shore 52 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: up their finances and they're being chastised for quote unquote 53 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: poor financial planning, while at the same time, billion dollar 54 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: corporations are getting bailed out left, right, over and under. 55 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: Some people would call us the way of the world. 56 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: Some would call it a series of conspiracies. Yet the 57 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: world of finance and conspiracy, they're they're inextricably intertwined. You know. 58 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: You could even say the concept of money itself is 59 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: a conspiracy. As a matter of fact, we have said 60 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: that on previous episodes. Uh, and I stick to my 61 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: guns on that one. Banks have been accused of multitudes 62 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: of financial crimes, many conspiracies and even at times assisting 63 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: with things like government overthrows or kudatas. This is not 64 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: to say that all banks are all bad right for now, 65 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: they are a necessity. Billions of billions of people rely 66 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: on banks in some way, and in turn, those banks 67 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: rely on those billions of customers. That's the official story. 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: If this were a mural or a portrait, that's the background, 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: that's where that's happening. But there's more to the episode, 70 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: of course, and to to to get you to the 71 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: point of today's episode, we have to first briefly explain 72 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: how banks work. It sounds super simple, but there are 73 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: there are a few misconceptions we need to bust, and 74 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: there's some things that will discuss that might surprise you. 75 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: But don't take our word for it. Here are the facts. Yes, 76 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: the bank itself, the institution, the thing that we all 77 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: rely on, really is one big trust fall. A bank 78 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: is really only a thing, an idea concept that works 79 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: as long as everyone believes it does what it does right. 80 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: It's a lot like currency in general. If you don't 81 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: believe that thing in your pocket perhaps or laying in 82 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 1: a drawer somewhere, that weird paper like substance that has 83 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: some images on it. If you don't believe that thing 84 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: is worth what it's worth, then it isn't a thing. Yeah, 85 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 1: it's like fairies. Like if you don't believe in tinker Bell, 86 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: then she dies, you know kind of yes, So let's 87 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: talk about what we all believe a bank is and does. Officially, 88 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: it's a quote institution that deals in money and its 89 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: substitutes and provides other financial services. So really think about 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: it this way. Banks take in deposits money and then 91 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: they loan out money and derive a profit from the 92 00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:41,799 Speaker 1: difference in in in the interest rates that are paid 93 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: and charged respectively. So when you think about that, like 94 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: how much money they can make by lending money money 95 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: out and then charging interests on that money they're lending. 96 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: But the big thing here to remember is that in 97 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: order to have money to lend out, they have to 98 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: be taking money in. But make no mistake, I mean, 99 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: the bank isn't really build for you. I mean it's 100 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: it's a it's a business. It's designed to make money, 101 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: uh for the shareholders. Um, So it's primary function really 102 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: isn't to be some sort of you know, safe haven 103 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: for your money. That's almost like an afterthought. You're really 104 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: just feeding the machine with your money, and then they're 105 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: investing it as they see fit. Essentially, that's an oversimplified 106 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: view of it. But yeah, you deposit money. When you do, 107 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,560 Speaker 1: your money goes into this massive pool along with everybody 108 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: else's money, and then your account is credited with the 109 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: amount of your deposit, so you're able to draw on 110 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: that account to pay bills and write checks, et cetera. 111 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,239 Speaker 1: Who still writes checks. I had to get a single 112 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: check the other day because I had to pay off 113 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: my car and I had to go to the bank 114 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: to get one check. That's the weirdest thing. But yeah, 115 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: that amounts then deducted from your account balance, and you can, 116 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: you know, theoretically earn interest on that balance. Uh, and 117 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: that can actually be added back to your account. This 118 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: is all kind of one oh one banking basics here. Yeah, 119 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: I called it day one stuff because that's the primary 120 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: misconception that I want to bust here. The primary function 121 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: of a bank is not you as an individual customer. 122 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: And although it may sound basic, it may sound like 123 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: day one stuff, it is a huge misconception that is 124 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: very distressingly common. The bank's primary purpose, as far as 125 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: you are concerned, is just to take money from you, 126 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: whether that's money you deposit, whether that's money that you 127 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 1: pay on a loan in principle or an interest where 128 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: banks you know, want to make more, uh more revenue. 129 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: That's what That's what you are. You know, that's what 130 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: you are, and you can. We've talked about this in 131 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: previous episodes. Uh. If you'd like to learn more about 132 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: the nuts and bolts of this the banking system, especially 133 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: here in the US, do check out our earlier explorations 134 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: of the FED the Federal Reserve for more details. That's 135 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: the gist, uh. The amount of interest that you get 136 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: when you're checking account or your savings account. In the 137 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: big picture, it's peanuts. It's better than nothing, but it's peanuts. 138 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: Bank customers matter the absolute most when we take out 139 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: loans and pay interest on those or in a panic situation, 140 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: in a worst case scenario for a bank, when every 141 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: customer of a bank wants their money back in cash 142 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: all at once, because you see that, yeah, you see, 143 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: the banks won't have it. They just won't have it. 144 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: I mean, it's essentially a I mean, like not to 145 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: be de reductionist about it, but it reminds me of 146 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: a Ponzi scheme. The whole thing is like a paying 147 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: Peter to robbing from Peter to pay Paul scenario, although 148 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: it's all under the guise of being legitimate. I mean, 149 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:46,959 Speaker 1: if you go back and say I want my money, 150 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: shouldn't be able to catch your money. But if everyone 151 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: does at the same time, then it's not gonna work out. 152 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: And yet we trust in this system because it's somehow 153 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: backed by some kind of promise by the government or 154 00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 1: the f d i C or what have you. Yeah, 155 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: and that's what's happened in Russia right now as we 156 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: record this, which is just just for peak behind the 157 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: curtain right at the very end of April. So and 158 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: this can happen again in countries around the world. Has 159 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:14,960 Speaker 1: happened in the US as well. So you might be 160 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: asking yourself rightly, Okay, guys, if this is all true, 161 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: and we assure you it is, then why am I, 162 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 1: as an individual checking account holder important at all? Right? 163 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: If I don't have a loan, if I don't have 164 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: a mortgage, why why do I matter? Well, there are 165 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: two reasons. First, as we established earlier, banks are using 166 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: your money specifically your money sometimes even if you're not 167 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,079 Speaker 1: working with the bank, which is weird but true. And second, 168 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: and this is just basic sales psychology. Once people choose 169 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: a bank, they tend to stick with that bank. So 170 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: if you're the average person with a checking account at 171 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: one bank, you are far far more likely to have 172 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: a credit card account with them a savings account we're 173 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: alone with the as well. And these accounts all have 174 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: differing terms, and depending on a ton of mitigating factors, 175 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: one person may have a much better deal than another. Right, 176 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: some people have credit cards with maybe what like nine 177 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: percent interest, and other people have credit cards like twenty 178 00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: five point nine nine percent interests. There's a lot in play, 179 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: and we should add a customer with a line of 180 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,599 Speaker 1: credit and a line of savings. From the bank's perspective, 181 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: you are far more profitable than an ordinary Jenny or 182 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: Jack who just has a checking account. Yeah, it's true. 183 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: And it's also people often are a little bit lazy 184 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: and they might not shop around for a better rate, 185 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: or you know, they might get that zero interest you know, 186 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: introductory deal and then forget to pay it off when 187 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: the rate gets jacked up to like or some ungodly amount, 188 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: And honestly, I'm not to that degree, but I'm one 189 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: of those in terms of laziness. I have had a 190 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 1: bank account, um that has changed hands like three times 191 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: throughout the course of my my financial life, and I'm 192 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 1: just kind of stuck with whatever it ended up being, um, 193 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: you know, just because it's a pain in the butt 194 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: to like close your bank account and start over and 195 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: redo all your cards and all that stuff. And I 196 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: think the banks are kind of a they're sort of 197 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,439 Speaker 1: capitalizing on that, right, people being stuck in a routine 198 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: and being a one stop shop and just being easier 199 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: to stick with what they know than to go maybe 200 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: shop for a better deal. I I yes, and you know, 201 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: I mean actually a pretty similar situation tool. And the 202 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: last time I had to go into the bank, I 203 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: noticed something, and it was that the person I was 204 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: speaking with it wasn't just a teller, it was, you know, 205 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: a banker. You know, if you if anyone has ever 206 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: experience you go in the office exactly. And what I 207 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: was attempting to do was open a new account with them, 208 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 1: because I've been an account holder for a while and 209 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: I wanted to open a new specialized checking account. And 210 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: what happened was rather than just having that conversation, opening 211 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: that account, having that one transaction, they were attempting to 212 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: get me to open a credit card with them. They 213 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 1: were attempting to get me to change over a mortgage 214 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: to them and do all these other things and insurance. Yes, 215 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: and it's something that I'm assuming is pretty common throughout 216 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: the banking world. Yeah. The uh, the concept is so 217 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: common that there is a name for it in the industry. 218 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: It's called cross selling. It started out as an internal term, 219 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: but now for reasons that will will become abundantly clear 220 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: in a few minutes. Uh, it is a term that 221 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: is in the public sphere. Success for okay, so Wells 222 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:48,280 Speaker 1: Fargo or Wacovia or you know, five Thirds Bank or whatever, 223 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: any bank that you used to, any bank that you 224 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: walk into and have a checking account with and so on. Uh. 225 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: Those are what's called retail banks. And for a long time, 226 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 1: success it reads tale banks was measured by how successful 227 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: the bankers or the even the people on the phone 228 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: were at cross selling. And that's encouraging a customer. Remember 229 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,199 Speaker 1: our Jenny or Jack with one checking account to open 230 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: up multiple other accounts to be fair, This also happens 231 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: if you have like a credit card with Bank of 232 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: America or something, They're like, hey, make us savings account 233 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: with us, right ever thought of buying a boat, et cetera. 234 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: This idea is an invention credited to a single man. 235 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: His name is Richard Covica Chick. He's a he was 236 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: a Wells Fargo CEO. He's a guy who reputedly came 237 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 1: up with the idea of cross selling during his time 238 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: as a CEO at Northwest Corporation. And we've got a 239 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: thing from an interview he had in nineteen eight, I 240 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: think with Vanity Fair maybe where uh he summarizes his 241 00:13:55,040 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: idea and it sounds normal now, but when he said it, 242 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: it was pretty innovative. Yeah, he really kind of changed 243 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: the lingo, the lingo of banking. Um, he started referring 244 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: to branch employees or the idea of tellers, called them salespeople, uh, 245 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: and consumers referred to them as customers rather than clients. 246 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: And another one that I've heard that I have no 247 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: doubt sprang from the same kind of shift was all 248 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: of the various products that the bank can sell you, 249 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: you know, like these credit cards are products, all of 250 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: these up cells or these cross cells you're talking about, 251 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: are referred to as products, which I find very strange. 252 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: You know, it's such a non tangible thing, like insurance 253 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: being a product. Well, and just from personal experience, there 254 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: are so many different kinds of products that these retail 255 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: banks offer customers that seem extremely similar. But there's like 256 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: seven different kinds of checking account, there's like six different 257 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: kinds of savings accounts and all this other stuff. And 258 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: it's also that you can offer exactly what the customer 259 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: needs or the uh yeah, the customer. I don't think 260 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: it's for convenience, No, it's definitely not. You guys. It 261 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: reminds me of when I got my car loan a 262 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: handful of years ago, and like they made me, you know, 263 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: this this offer of this interest rate and it was 264 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: like higher than I thought I should be offered because 265 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: I have really good credit. And then I was gonna 266 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: walk away, and they said, oh ho ho, wait a minute, 267 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: now we didn't know you. If we just told us 268 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: you wanted it low, that we would have I'm like, what, like, 269 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: just offer me the the rate that I am do 270 00:15:38,040 --> 00:15:40,280 Speaker 1: based on my score, Like why are you trying to 271 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: nickel and die? Me, it's the same thing. And this 272 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: was through a small community bank. But it was all like, 273 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: you know, at the hands of these kind of sleazy 274 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: car dealers. Not not to malign all card dealers, and 275 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure many of you were great, most of you even, 276 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: but this one in particular, I felt very kind of 277 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: bent over a bear a little bit. And I got 278 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: them down to where I wanted to be, but I 279 00:15:57,720 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: felt kind of itchy. The whole thing made me feel 280 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: I didn't want to do business with them anymore. Yeah, yeah, 281 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: it's gonna The anecdote I always think of is like, 282 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: imagine you walk into a fast food restaurant and you, uh, 283 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: you order I don't know, a cheeseburger, and they're like, 284 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,359 Speaker 1: all right, um, do you want poop on your cheeseburger? Why? 285 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: Why is that part of the conversation now, I don't 286 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: even want the burger cheese. Well, look, we gotta get 287 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: rid of all this poop somehow, and you know, if 288 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: you'll accept it on your burger, then you know we're 289 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: getting rid of it in that way and you're getting 290 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: what you want. We'll give you a loyalty card, how 291 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: about an Amazon gift card? So so that's I mean, 292 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: it's true. Now, you know, I had to I had 293 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: to interject a little like I think it could be 294 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: advertised as convenience, this plethora of options, I'm using the 295 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: word correctly. Yeah, but I think what it's I think 296 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: what it's really meant to do is to make things inconvenient, 297 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: to make it more difficult to find the right deal. 298 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: The options are arcane by design, you know, just like 299 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: a life insurance or just like a a lot of 300 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: medical insurance or health insurance plans function that way. That's 301 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: just that, that's just a byproduct of private industry trying 302 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: to maximize profit because a lot of people won't do 303 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: the research. Wells Fargo, it was really really good at 304 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: this They were considered for some time and not in 305 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: significant amount of time, the best cross seller in the 306 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,679 Speaker 1: retail banking game. But that was one problem, I know, 307 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 1: just one. Uh maybe yes, because imagine if you're the 308 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: best seller at something, now, imagine your numbers are on 309 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: a really nice trajectory upwards. Now, in order for you 310 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: to maintain profitability and to increase year over year, like increase, 311 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: you have to continue your track rate as the best seller. Right, 312 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,880 Speaker 1: and then overachieve, not to mention. You want to get 313 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,919 Speaker 1: that set of steak knives, you know, uh, And and 314 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: the coffee is for closers, so you you want to 315 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,439 Speaker 1: get coffee. You don't want to get cut off. You 316 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: need that stuff to sell, right. It's the unsustainable unsustainable 317 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:21,520 Speaker 1: growth model, exponential growth model of capitalism year over year, 318 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: and it applies to a lot of industries. So, I mean, 319 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: that's why I was gonna say it was. I said 320 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 1: there was one problem, but really there were millions of problems. 321 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: You see Wells Fargo and other banks. We're getting a 322 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: lot of new accounts, getting a lot of new customers, 323 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: cross selling, but these accounts, it turns out we're made 324 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 1: up out of thin air. What are we talking about. 325 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: We'll tell you after a word from our sponsor. Here's 326 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: where it gets crazy. So let's say you don't have 327 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: enough accounts, Well, why don't you make them up? As 328 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:06,360 Speaker 1: early as twenty eleven, so like nine years ago, easily, 329 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: outfits like the Wall Street Journal started noting this enormous 330 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: internal pressure that Wells Fargo was exerting on everybody from 331 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: the bank manager uh level on down. They were supposed 332 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: to measure up to these incredibly difficult sales quotas, these 333 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: cross selling quotas, These were cartoonish, lee implausible. Vanity Fair 334 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: in fact, noted that several of these goals were proven 335 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: to be literally mathematically impossible to achieve. That's nuts. Like, 336 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,640 Speaker 1: even if you pitched everything to everyone, every single customer, 337 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: got every single offer possible and they all said yes, 338 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: you still wouldn't meet the quota at some points. That's crazy. 339 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: That's crazy. It so so. Imagine that you are let's 340 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: say a bank manager or one of the main sales 341 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:10,680 Speaker 1: persons at their you know, bankers, or just salesperson at 342 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,399 Speaker 1: the bank. Imagine that you are aware that you are 343 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: expected to sell x number of new accounts or open 344 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: x number of new accounts, and you own you know, 345 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: you see like you literally physically see x minus fifty 346 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 1: people a day, right, so you know that there's no 347 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: way you're going to do that, There's no possible way. 348 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: What do you do when you know your job is 349 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: on the line. That number is directly related to how 350 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: well you do, if you can get a raise at 351 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: some point, if you can keep your job even um, well, 352 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: they started doing something that they weren't supposed to and 353 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: that's just opening new accounts that would count towards their quota, 354 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: but wouldn't actually be tied to somebody who wanted a 355 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: Wait a minute, wait, isn't that called fraud? Ding ding ding? Yes, 356 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: it is. Indeed, there there was a there's a guy 357 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 1: named Dennis Hambeck who once upon a time was an 358 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: employee at Wells Fargo. Now this guy had extensive banking experience. 359 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,640 Speaker 1: Was his career, he was. He got into banking as 360 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 1: a young cat before all these massive consolidations, right before 361 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:31,840 Speaker 1: the financial whales starts swallowing the other smaller financial fish, 362 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: and well whales are mammals. But you you get it, 363 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,120 Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. So he said this 364 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: in a quote, just to hammer home that point, um 365 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: that you made, Matt, about how intense this pressure was. 366 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,639 Speaker 1: He said, every morning we had a conference call with 367 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,480 Speaker 1: the managers. You were supposed to tell them how you 368 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: were going to make your sales goal for the day, 369 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: and if you didn't, you had to call them back 370 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: in the afternoon explained how you why you didn't make it, 371 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,199 Speaker 1: and how you were going to fix it. It was 372 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: really tense. Uh. So you can imagine that, you know, 373 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: there's a little problematic if we're being like a terrible 374 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: place to work, as almost as though it would drive 375 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:20,959 Speaker 1: you to do something untoward exactly well, it's it's like, 376 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 1: think about this, like, imagine you go to uh, let's 377 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: say your your local hardware store, and you're planning to 378 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: buy a leaf blower and a screwdriver Phillips flathead, it 379 00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,439 Speaker 1: doesn't matter for this example, but whatever, whichever one you 380 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: like most, you're supposed to get them. You pay for him, 381 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: and you're gonna get them delivered. Later, you learned that 382 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: the store did not just sell you a leaf blower 383 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: and your favorite screwdriver. They also sold you a chainsaw, 384 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: a router, two cases of blue power aid, maybe some 385 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: outdated lamp fixtures, and they threw in a lawn gnome 386 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,160 Speaker 1: and they charged you in some way for all of it. 387 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: And now imagine that delivery h took months or years, 388 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,360 Speaker 1: and you didn't find out about it until much later. 389 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: This sounds silly, right, It's like an arrested development sitcom 390 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,600 Speaker 1: esque thing, but that's pretty much what happened in this scenario. 391 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: In real life, this happened to people at Wells Fargo. Yes, Ben, 392 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: the UH, the routers, and power aid example, feels like 393 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: it's out there, but we assure you it is not 394 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: that different. So let's imagine one of those individual employees 395 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,879 Speaker 1: knowing they have to make this quota. So let's say 396 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: they're talking to you on the phone as a customer 397 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,400 Speaker 1: and they convince you to take out a large loan. 398 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: Let's say, let's say a ten thousand dollar loan. They 399 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: convince you to do that with the caveat that they're 400 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 1: going to immediately repay you five thousand dollars or like 401 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: pay off five thousand dollars of that loan. So really 402 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: you're only taking out a five thousand dollar loan, but 403 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: on paper, and according to the bank, they're going to 404 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: get credit for taking out a ten thousand dollar loan, 405 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: and it's just a way for them to sustain themselves 406 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: within the banking infrastructure. And that is most certainly an 407 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 1: unsustainable thing. Yeah, yeah, it's um I like the point 408 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,919 Speaker 1: you made about Ponzi scheme, Noll that was occurring to 409 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: me as well, because it very much is an unsustainable 410 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: growth situation. Things start to crack. In two thousand and five, 411 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: there's a customer named Bill Moore and he goes to 412 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:30,959 Speaker 1: Dennis Hamdback, who he mentioned earlier, and he's befuddled and 413 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:38,120 Speaker 1: he's kind of indignant because he says, hey, Dennis, uh, 414 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,320 Speaker 1: I see that I have a checking account and as 415 00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: savings account, and they like date back to five years ago. 416 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: I didn't ask for them, and I don't want them. 417 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,399 Speaker 1: And so Hambig, being a stand up guy, is on 418 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: the case. Yeah. I think it's interesting. I mean, it 419 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: really is some pretty serious, serious slew thing. He looks 420 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: into it and discovers it. The banker who opened those 421 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:09,239 Speaker 1: accounts um as as you typically need to have with 422 00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,199 Speaker 1: opening an account. There was a driver's license number that 423 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: was entered as more WF zero zero zero zero zero, 424 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 1: which sounds like a really walky like vanity license plate 425 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: if you ask me, uh and to boot. The date 426 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: of issuance was January one, two thousand, which was a 427 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: holiday when the Department of Licensing of Washington State would 428 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,439 Speaker 1: have been closed. And Hambag is is not letting this 429 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: go um. He kind of is getting the brush off 430 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: for management. So Handback retires. I think he was just 431 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: kind of fed up because he, you know, he he 432 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: was the one that was looking into this and he 433 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: was the one that was finding some very fishy evidence, 434 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:01,440 Speaker 1: and he he wanted to avoid being fired for not 435 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: resorting to these kinds of fraudulent activities in order to 436 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: make those unrealist expectations. And and Ben I wanted to mention, 437 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: I mean, so it's not like management specifically instructed employees 438 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: to do this to break the law, but almost more 439 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: or less implied that, you know, put up or shut up, 440 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: like you're out if you don't meet these expectations. And 441 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: there's sort of like there was a big cheating scandal 442 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: UH in UH Georgia public schools years ago, and it 443 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: was because of unrealistic expectations for standardized tests. And while 444 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:39,240 Speaker 1: you know, obviously you can't condone the cheating, you understand 445 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: why some of these teachers might have done that because 446 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: they felt pressured to meet these standards. But again, it's 447 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: like their superiors instructed them to cheat. Is that similar here, Ben, 448 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: Individuals were making these decisions on their own. Yeah, they 449 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: were heavily incentivized to make those decisions. I think I 450 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:00,439 Speaker 1: think that's a great comparison because the the the thing 451 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,639 Speaker 1: about is it would be illegal for the banks and 452 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: the executives to come out and say, look, make up 453 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: these accounts and break the law. As a matter of fact, 454 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: you know, we said Handback refused to play the game. 455 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: It's interesting. In official company literature, this kind of unethical 456 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 1: behavior is referred to literally as gaming. And so they 457 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,360 Speaker 1: can't they won't ever compromise themselves by saying, you know, 458 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,800 Speaker 1: go break numerous financial laws. They'll just say, hey, why 459 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: aren't you meeting these sales quotas? Uh, your job is 460 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,560 Speaker 1: in jeopardy. And usually that's all the incentive people need. 461 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:42,760 Speaker 1: But to your point, Ben, they almost laid out how 462 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: to do it by having it in their company literature 463 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: as a thing you should not do. And even David 464 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: a name, I think that's pretty interesting and uh and 465 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: teachable here. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like the frozen grape 466 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: concentrate from the days of prohibition that said, do not 467 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: do the following steps because it will result in fermentation 468 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: and make wine number one. You know, it's exactly it's 469 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: exactly like that. And to quote to quote Yates from 470 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: the Second Coming, the center could not hold right or 471 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,119 Speaker 1: to paraphrase of this was unsustainable and very very soon 472 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: things would fall apart. Will explore the fallout which continues 473 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:34,280 Speaker 1: today after a word from our sponsors, and we're back 474 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:40,200 Speaker 1: talking more about banking, because it's it's not as boring 475 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 1: as it might seem. You guys, there's some pretty shady 476 00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: stuff going on at Wells Fargo. Uh. Their own analysis 477 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: that they did between found that its employees had opened 478 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: more than one point five million deposit accounts and more 479 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,959 Speaker 1: than five hundred and sixty five thousand credit card accounts 480 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: that may or may not have actually been real. Uh. 481 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 1: But but then we we can't forget. And this is 482 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: always the point that when when I thought back on 483 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: this story, these weren't like made up identities. These were 484 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: like duplicate accounts of real people. What do they How 485 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: do they think this is? That they're gonna get away 486 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: with this for very long? It just seems like such 487 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: a desperate move, which clearly it was. It feels like 488 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: one of those things that you get away with until 489 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 1: you can't, and you sustain what you've got, and what 490 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: how everything is going until it all falls apart. It's 491 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: building that house of cards situation where you know, at 492 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: some point the bill comes due, but it's not going 493 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 1: to be today or tomorrow. Probably. It's like the boiler room. 494 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 1: You remember that film. Yeah, I think I just like 495 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: the Boiler Room. I don't know I'm mentioning that, but 496 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: but you're right. So some customers, obviously, we're gonna find 497 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: out about this because some of those accounts opened in 498 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 1: their names had fees, so they would get uh, they 499 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: would they would be asked to pay these fees on 500 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: accounts that, as far as they knew, did not exist. 501 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: Some customers even had collections agencies calling them due to 502 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: these unpaid fees because again, they didn't know that the 503 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: accounts existed. They weren't getting notified of the fees. Even 504 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,240 Speaker 1: the first time they would find out about one of 505 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: these fraudulent accounts is when they were getting shaken down 506 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: by a collections agency. So just imagine what that does 507 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: to your credit as well. This has lasting financial consequence 508 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: for people totally. And I mean I think that, you know, 509 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: I'm just guessing here that Wells Fargo h employees were 510 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: banking on the fact that, you know, a lot of 511 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: these fees are little nickel and dime fees here and 512 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: there that you might not even notice. You know, I 513 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: certainly don't scan through my bank ledger and try to pick, 514 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: you know, pick out every single little fee or whatever. 515 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: I mean. You know, I definitely glance at it from 516 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: time to time, but I don't go through with like 517 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: a fine tooth comb. And it's such a negligible amount. 518 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: It's not like you take a big hit to your 519 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,400 Speaker 1: bank account and all of a sudden think something's up right. 520 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: You know what I'm gonna do immediately following this episode, 521 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: go through that bank account a lot of people while 522 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: you're there, Go ahead and check uh just in general, 523 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,840 Speaker 1: fellow listeners, go ahead and check your uh cell phone bill, 524 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: see what kind of service charges have just popped up 525 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: over time. And definitely, I'll say it, I'm not get 526 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: in trouble for this, but definitely keep an eye on Comcast. 527 00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 1: They are you know, they're they're uh voted again number 528 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: one most stated company in the US. That's not my opinion, 529 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: that's a fact. Yeah. Yeah, Just whoever your ISP is, 530 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: really it doesn't matter. Just check in check all those bills, 531 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: keep an eye on them because those plans change, right, 532 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: and they're meant to change in ways that you might 533 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: not be aware of unless you are paying mindful attention. 534 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: So this gaming, as they called it, this unethical behavior, 535 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: was so ubiquitous that it even created related kind of terms, 536 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: slang terms internally. There's one called penning, and that meant 537 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:21,680 Speaker 1: assigning customers pen numbers without their knowledge. That's incredibly disturbing because, 538 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: as you know, a pen number is supposed to be 539 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: your it's it's like it's sacro sanct it's the Uh. 540 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: It's similar to a banks version of your Social Security number. 541 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: No one else is supposed to know it. But if 542 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,120 Speaker 1: someone makes up a pen number that you do not know, 543 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,719 Speaker 1: that means they can impersonate you on a Wells Fargo 544 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 1: computer and then boom, boom boom, they can enroll you 545 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: in all all sorts of quote unquote products without your knowledge. 546 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: So boom, now you've got auto insurance boom nwing out 547 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: a car. Loom boom nwing out a credit card. Uh. 548 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: And this was nuts, because the most mystifying thing about 549 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,440 Speaker 1: this still is not even how widespread it is uh 550 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: to me, it's how blatant it was. Uh. The l 551 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: A City's attorney office found that there were one nine 552 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: three thousand non employee accounts open between twenty eleven, and 553 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 1: and get this, the only email name listed for them 554 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: was Wells Fargo dot com just just at Wells Fargo 555 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:28,959 Speaker 1: dot com. Wow. Wow, it's not like not even trying, 556 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,160 Speaker 1: you know, it's like and I even even doing like 557 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: level one improv I bet we could make I bet 558 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: we could make, like right now, we could make as 559 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: many fake names as we wanted. You know, Tad Dorganson, 560 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: that's not a real name. That's still better than Wells 561 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 1: Fargo dot com. Or you get even if you just 562 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,240 Speaker 1: put like c U S t as in customer and 563 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: then put a string of like, you know, numbers and 564 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: letters or something. It's that easy. Cheez. But that's six time. 565 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: And I guess you had to make so many so quickly. Yeah, 566 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: they did, going to that point of desperation, you know. 567 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: And on September eight, Wells Fargo did settle with some authorities. 568 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 1: They paid a hundred and eighty five million dollars to 569 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: three institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of 570 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,399 Speaker 1: the Comptroller of the Currency, which is a thing, and 571 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,279 Speaker 1: the City and County of Los Angeles. They wanted to 572 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:35,279 Speaker 1: settle the charges of massive fraud. As part of this agreement, 573 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,479 Speaker 1: they were able to avoid admitting that they had done 574 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: anything wrong. Now that sounds familiar, That sounds pretty dang familiar, 575 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: do you know. To be fair, they absolutely have plausible deniability. 576 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: The only thing they were guilty of was having high standards. 577 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: There we go, there we go. Yeah, as you can 578 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: tell in a universe to the left of this, the 579 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,839 Speaker 1: four of us are are lawyers. It's true. I think 580 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: we would be good in the courtroom. So it's weird 581 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: because they all they did. They did do one other 582 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: thing aside from pay five million dollars. They fired, Uh, 583 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,719 Speaker 1: they fired around a thousand employees, maybe a little more. 584 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,800 Speaker 1: And these were mostly juniors. They were fired for gaming. 585 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: If you think about it, these were sacrificial goats just 586 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: sort of meant to be a propitiation. They were. They 587 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: were meant to appease the gods of regulation. And we 588 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: know what you're all thinking. You know what everybody is thinking. Hey, 589 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty five million dollars is um, there's 590 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: a big deal to me. But isn't that chump change 591 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: for such a huge bank. The answer is yes. It 592 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: was about three right of second quarter profits of that year, 593 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:53,760 Speaker 1: So there are four quarters. One of those quarters had 594 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,560 Speaker 1: to shave off three in order for them to be Okay, 595 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:03,799 Speaker 1: that's crazy. It's also uh way less than some executives 596 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:08,960 Speaker 1: have made over the past five years. Um, gentlemen, I 597 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: propose that we uh join our forces and start a bank. 598 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: What do you say, get out of this podcasting rat 599 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,799 Speaker 1: race and start ourselves up a bank. Surely, no, you 600 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:24,800 Speaker 1: won't do it. I won't do it. My soul shall 601 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: not allow boys. That's fair. I respect that. Um so yeah, 602 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,719 Speaker 1: but you know I kind of started a bank. Yeah yeah, yeah, 603 00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 1: the Bend Bank. The Bend Bank deals exclusively in ben bucks, 604 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 1: unencumbered by souls. Yeah, also also true. But you know, 605 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:43,759 Speaker 1: so you then you understand ben as as the head 606 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: of the Bend Bank. This is all just the cost 607 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 1: of doing business, my guy, right, yeah, yeah, I want 608 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,359 Speaker 1: to say, um, in case this plays in court later, uh, 609 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,080 Speaker 1: technically I am not on the executive board. I am 610 00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: a consultant, so nice try. For the record, that was 611 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: me lapsing into my douchebag executive voice when I said, 612 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: my guy, there, I just had to had to walk 613 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 1: that one back a little guy. Yeah, I just you know, 614 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:18,280 Speaker 1: it has to be tongued slightly in cheek. But yeah, man, seriously, 615 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 1: I mean this is it was a slap on the 616 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,800 Speaker 1: wrist is even putting it uh strongly, you know, right, yeah, 617 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,399 Speaker 1: that's a great point. I mean a thump on the ear, 618 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 1: you know, yeah, yeah, a finger wag and a strong 619 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: sentence using your full name exactly. That's that's the issue 620 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 1: with it, because this was I mean this literally is 621 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: a cost of doing business. They didn't admit wrong doing. 622 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:50,360 Speaker 1: They had plausible deniability. In short, this bank, I thought 623 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,359 Speaker 1: they got away with it until that is, employees like 624 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 1: handback started coming forward, and there's there was a list 625 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: of employees who complained internally, because like any large institution, 626 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 1: there are channels through which you're supposed to send your complaints. 627 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: The list of employees who are skized out by this 628 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: and complained, uh it stretches back over ten years. People 629 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,880 Speaker 1: knew what was up, you know. Like again, we're it 630 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: might sound like we are vilifying Wells Fargo, but we're 631 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: talking about the crimes of an institution. Really, we're not 632 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:31,880 Speaker 1: talking about any of the employees in the banking industry. 633 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,440 Speaker 1: We're not talking about any of the employees and Wells 634 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,319 Speaker 1: Fargo specifically, right, These these people are not the ones 635 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: who said make these impossible sales quotas. Yeah, so as 636 00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: of this year, UH UM Wells Fargo has agreed to 637 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:53,440 Speaker 1: three billion UM and settlements UH for criminal charges and 638 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:58,160 Speaker 1: a civil action that's stemming from its widespread mistreatment of 639 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:02,000 Speaker 1: its customers, UM and it's community bank over a fourteen 640 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:07,720 Speaker 1: year period. UH. Court papers show that prosecutors described the 641 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,760 Speaker 1: insane environment that Ben I mean, honestly, I was responding 642 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: to when you first said at the top of the show, 643 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,440 Speaker 1: you know, checking in, explain to me why you didn't 644 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:20,399 Speaker 1: make it, you know, justify your actions every single day. 645 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 1: I mean, sure, accountability is one thing, but this was 646 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 1: very much like a uh you described it been in 647 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,600 Speaker 1: your notes as a pressure cooker environment that was kind 648 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: of created, this absolutely toxic work environment, right so to 649 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:38,600 Speaker 1: very low level employees. Yeah, absolutely, this is UM. This 650 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: is I. I don't know. We've got a lot of 651 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,240 Speaker 1: people in the audience who have worked in sales jobs 652 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: or something with commission UM. I don't know if you 653 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,320 Speaker 1: guys have ever done that. I have not, but it 654 00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:55,719 Speaker 1: feels like a very demanding situation to be put in, 655 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,319 Speaker 1: even when there's you know, absolutely no unethical behavior. UH. 656 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: Most commission sales do not require unethical behavior. But like 657 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: think about the pressure the next time you're in a 658 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: brick and mortar store, think about the pressure UH and 659 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,240 Speaker 1: employees under when they ask you this series of questions 660 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 1: and a purchase, like have you ever bought something? And 661 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: you know, you're just buy one thing you need like 662 00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: maybe a cable somewhere, or you're buying some pants or 663 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:23,120 Speaker 1: you know, whatever you want to buy, and then the 664 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,239 Speaker 1: cashier starts asking you a series of questions like what's 665 00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: your phone number? You want to sign up for our 666 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: credit card, you want to sign up for a rewards card, 667 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 1: and so on. Yeah, I always say I'm good, Like 668 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 1: when they asked for my phone number or email. No, 669 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,759 Speaker 1: I don't ever want anyone to have that because there's 670 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 1: no reason for it. They act like it said, oh 671 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: so we can better serve you next time, or have 672 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: you in my database and know what you like. I 673 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,360 Speaker 1: don't know why anyone would ever give out their information 674 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,640 Speaker 1: at a at a brick and mortar store like that, 675 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:54,919 Speaker 1: because you can you can get special perks guys, right, 676 00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: and and now we're family. Once they have all my info, 677 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:00,920 Speaker 1: just give me a card and punch a hole in 678 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,960 Speaker 1: it when I buy a thing, and then give me 679 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,080 Speaker 1: a free thing when I've punched enough holes in it. 680 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,640 Speaker 1: You know, I'm old school like that, I'm finally that adell. Yeah, 681 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,160 Speaker 1: well so so imagine that you are. Again, we keep 682 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:15,360 Speaker 1: trying to put ourselves in the position of the lower 683 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,560 Speaker 1: level employees at you know, in an institution like this, 684 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:25,239 Speaker 1: when you like maybe you have experienced a maybe a 685 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 1: quarterly meeting or a meeting with your company where everybody 686 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,040 Speaker 1: gets together and they talk about the state of the 687 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:33,360 Speaker 1: company and what's going on, and everything you know is 688 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 1: going up or down or for this reason, for that 689 00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:39,160 Speaker 1: other reason, things are going great or terribly. And imagine 690 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,719 Speaker 1: you're in one of those meetings and you know that 691 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: you your your bank, uh, your local chain of the bank, 692 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,839 Speaker 1: and your manager. You guys didn't meet up to the standards, 693 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 1: but you guys did everything right and you tried as 694 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,200 Speaker 1: hard as you could, and you made some pretty good numbers. 695 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,919 Speaker 1: But they're not quite what they were looking for. They're 696 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:00,120 Speaker 1: not really even close actually, But again, you have had 697 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:03,200 Speaker 1: a great job. Then over this meeting, in this call, 698 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: or however it goes some other branch, you know, let's 699 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,480 Speaker 1: say dozens of miles away, for some reason, they exceeded 700 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,839 Speaker 1: this goal that was way out of reach, and on 701 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:19,560 Speaker 1: this call, your boss's boss's boss on this call says, man, 702 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,439 Speaker 1: you guys just just killed it. You did a great job. 703 00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: You guys are just rocking these numbers. Man, We're so 704 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,399 Speaker 1: proud of y'all. You're getting bonuses, you're getting this, you're 705 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 1: getting that. Everybody on this call needs to look up 706 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,480 Speaker 1: to the to this particular group, to this bank and 707 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:39,960 Speaker 1: do what they did. And you know, imagine feeling that. Yeah, 708 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:45,360 Speaker 1: then those those people who were meeting these increasingly difficult 709 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:50,360 Speaker 1: sales goals, uh, they were the minority uh for a while, 710 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: you know, and fairly often, and they often had to 711 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,839 Speaker 1: achieve these things through unethical or illegal means. So that's 712 00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:58,719 Speaker 1: where we are. You know, as you said, all, that's 713 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:02,919 Speaker 1: February of twin twenty, just a few months ago. What 714 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:08,319 Speaker 1: lessons were learned from this retail bank conspiracy? Again, not 715 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:12,400 Speaker 1: a theory, it's a conspiracy. Here's the thing. Part of 716 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:17,360 Speaker 1: that deal with that three billion dollar price tag includes 717 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:22,320 Speaker 1: a deferred prosecution agreement. That's ah, that's an agreement, a 718 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:27,640 Speaker 1: packt that could. The positive way to say it is 719 00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:31,720 Speaker 1: that the bank could get further criminal or civil charges 720 00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:36,399 Speaker 1: if it engages in new criminal activity. So basically, pay 721 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,840 Speaker 1: US three billion dollars no criminal charges. But you're in 722 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 1: trouble because you got caught, and you'll be in trouble 723 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,280 Speaker 1: if you get caught again. Okay, so trouble is somewhere 724 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,279 Speaker 1: in this equation. My guy, smarten up. You know, we 725 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:53,560 Speaker 1: got our eye on you. Um, yeah, it's true, It's wow. 726 00:43:54,640 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 1: I just I can't believe that they're around because I 727 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,799 Speaker 1: guess you know, they're one of those too big to 728 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:08,000 Speaker 1: fail organizations, right, So it's like, I just I don't 729 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,280 Speaker 1: know how you get away with this, and how people 730 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:12,640 Speaker 1: didn't do as you said, Ben and just pull all 731 00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:16,879 Speaker 1: their money out. Yeah you know, I mean, And and 732 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,040 Speaker 1: even though this is its ongoing, it feels even to 733 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,040 Speaker 1: me kind of like a distant memory. I just feel 734 00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:26,440 Speaker 1: like the attention span for stuff like this, uh, for 735 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:30,280 Speaker 1: consumers is often pretty short, and if it doesn't actually 736 00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,600 Speaker 1: affect me personally, then why should I do anything about it? 737 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: Why should I, you know, go to that inconvenience of 738 00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,040 Speaker 1: pulling all my money out and starting over, you know, 739 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:39,919 Speaker 1: even though it's not that big a deal to start 740 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:43,600 Speaker 1: a new bank account, but it's slightly inconvenient in them right, 741 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,560 Speaker 1: and you know there are I don't know about you guys, 742 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:50,760 Speaker 1: but I will go to extraordinary links to avoid any 743 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:54,520 Speaker 1: slight inconvenience. I like a lot of people out there, 744 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:57,440 Speaker 1: I would like to play life on easy mode. It 745 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:01,960 Speaker 1: barely ever happens, but it's it's nice thought. Uh, you're right, 746 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: there was a run on the bank, but it wasn't necessary. 747 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:09,680 Speaker 1: I mean, there was a lot of terrible pr fallout 748 00:45:09,719 --> 00:45:12,720 Speaker 1: from this, and they went into overdrive on the Bernets front. 749 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:17,239 Speaker 1: But a lot of investors reacted because remember they're they're 750 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,080 Speaker 1: kind of like customers at a bank, but more important, 751 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:24,280 Speaker 1: you know, they're the better customers. So the bank also, 752 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: Wells Fargo also set up uh five million dollar fund 753 00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:33,560 Speaker 1: to compensate the investors who took a hit. Uh what 754 00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:36,760 Speaker 1: do investors say, who took a bath? When Wells Fargo 755 00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:41,360 Speaker 1: didn't tell them that the banking business they had was 756 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:44,840 Speaker 1: not as strong as all as fake accounts made it seem. 757 00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:50,200 Speaker 1: But asterick that five million dollars is included in that 758 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: three billion dollars settlement total, so it's not like they 759 00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:57,600 Speaker 1: paid three billion dollars and then five million again. And 760 00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,840 Speaker 1: this leads us to the conclusion as it is, you know, 761 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:05,200 Speaker 1: to to your point, to your point, Noel, Obviously Wells 762 00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:08,719 Speaker 1: Fargo was still around, It survived the Great Recession. It 763 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: assures the public, for its part and investors that, uh, 764 00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:17,040 Speaker 1: this will not happen again. This was, you know, somewhere 765 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: between a grave miscommunication in the in the command chain 766 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:25,839 Speaker 1: or a few bad actors. But the bank itself, this 767 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,080 Speaker 1: is true. The bank itself never condoned this activity. Yeah, 768 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:35,080 Speaker 1: it is true. They just they forced it to happen 769 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:41,040 Speaker 1: without realizing it. Let's say, but here's the deal. It's 770 00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:44,040 Speaker 1: not as the Wells Fargo is acting alone. We've all 771 00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 1: talked about before the Waucovia dealings and the problems that 772 00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: they had before they were absorbed by or i guess 773 00:46:52,719 --> 00:46:56,799 Speaker 1: bought out and absorbed by Wells Fargo. The problems with 774 00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:02,560 Speaker 1: other major banking institutions, including very similarly, a little regional 775 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,319 Speaker 1: bank from Ohio called Fifth Third. You may have heard 776 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:08,200 Speaker 1: of this, You may have seen one of their branches. 777 00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:11,160 Speaker 1: They've got them all over the nation. There are thousands 778 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:14,600 Speaker 1: of them, and uh they have roughly a d fifty 779 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:19,080 Speaker 1: billion dollars in assets. And guess what they're accused of 780 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,880 Speaker 1: the same thing, pretty much the same thing. Yeah, I 781 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:24,280 Speaker 1: didn't know anything about that one. Actually had my mortgage 782 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: through fifth thirds back when I end the house uh 783 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,839 Speaker 1: in Athens years ago. Um, that's fascinating now that that's 784 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,680 Speaker 1: that's news to me. Yep. Uh. They've been accused of, 785 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,440 Speaker 1: as you said, Matt, the same thing right now. The 786 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:41,880 Speaker 1: litigation is ongoing. Uh, so we can come back to 787 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,239 Speaker 1: this story with an update to pay on how it 788 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: all shakes out. And at this point, fellow conspiracy realists, 789 00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:52,000 Speaker 1: we passed the torch to you because there is a 790 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:55,840 Speaker 1: dilemma here. It's a big problem and something worth thinking about, 791 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,879 Speaker 1: and it's something that maybe doesn't have a satisfactory answer yet. 792 00:48:00,239 --> 00:48:03,920 Speaker 1: Retail banks are it's an understatement to say they're a 793 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:07,360 Speaker 1: huge part of the economy. It's an understatement to say 794 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:12,399 Speaker 1: they are irretrievably embedded in our financial lives. I mean, 795 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,319 Speaker 1: we've had people right in before, uh talking about, you know, 796 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:20,040 Speaker 1: from our cash List Society episode, just how difficult it 797 00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:24,120 Speaker 1: is to live without some kind of bank account, you 798 00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:26,440 Speaker 1: know what I mean, and still be in the real 799 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:31,880 Speaker 1: world system. So is a multibillion dollar fine punishment enough? 800 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,280 Speaker 1: Are the banks, like you said, no, are they truly 801 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,920 Speaker 1: too big to fail even when they're caught red handed cheating? 802 00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:43,920 Speaker 1: And you know to that point that I think you 803 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,000 Speaker 1: had been making earlier to Matt, what what would the 804 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,640 Speaker 1: appropriate punishment be if this is not appropriate? Uh, I'll 805 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:56,520 Speaker 1: tell you yes, Ben. You remember, you guys remember an 806 00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 1: episode we made quite a while back where we interviewed 807 00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:05,000 Speaker 1: Robert Maser infiltrator, the infiltrator, the guy who helped bring 808 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:08,760 Speaker 1: down an international bank because they were caught money laundering 809 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:13,080 Speaker 1: for cartels. So I I think I think there is 810 00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:16,200 Speaker 1: a world in which banks can be brought down. I 811 00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:27,719 Speaker 1: don't think this is gonna be it right for reasons, um, 812 00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:32,840 Speaker 1: but I guess we we have ourselves experienced and uh, 813 00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:35,480 Speaker 1: you know, just through our interview and our connection with 814 00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:39,399 Speaker 1: Roberts that it is possible for a bank caught red 815 00:49:39,440 --> 00:49:42,279 Speaker 1: handed to be brought down, but it requires such a 816 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:45,000 Speaker 1: burden of proof. The way he traced the money and 817 00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:48,480 Speaker 1: followed the money and was like literally you know, running 818 00:49:48,560 --> 00:49:51,000 Speaker 1: secret ops within the bank. You know, I mean, it 819 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,480 Speaker 1: was like, it really can't. It's it takes a lot, 820 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,160 Speaker 1: a lot, a lot a lot, it would seem, and 821 00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:01,680 Speaker 1: it requires absolute proof of knowing wrongdoing, because the thing 822 00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:05,839 Speaker 1: here is again you really they could easily argue, well, yeah, 823 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:10,680 Speaker 1: I mean no law against having aggressive sales goals, you know. 824 00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:15,240 Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean these are these are great points. 825 00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:17,640 Speaker 1: And I love that you're bringing up. I love you're 826 00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:22,000 Speaker 1: bringing up that earlier case spent because I you know, 827 00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:26,000 Speaker 1: I was thinking when we're talking about doing this episode, Uh, 828 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:30,279 Speaker 1: I was thinking, what's what's going to happen? People are 829 00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,200 Speaker 1: listening to this and they hear a Wells Fargo add 830 00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:38,759 Speaker 1: in our in our show. You know, this is not 831 00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:45,879 Speaker 1: None of what we have examined today is speculation. Right. 832 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,000 Speaker 1: I think we're very clear when we're saying, well, this 833 00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:52,399 Speaker 1: is our opinion, right, you know, one or all three 834 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:54,560 Speaker 1: of us, all four of us, one of our opinions. 835 00:50:55,080 --> 00:51:00,480 Speaker 1: But these are simply the facts. This is crazy. This 836 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:03,839 Speaker 1: did happen, and really it is a matter of your 837 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:07,080 Speaker 1: own personal judgment. What do you think the punishment should 838 00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:09,319 Speaker 1: have been. Do you think this was too much? Do 839 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:11,560 Speaker 1: you think it wasn't enough? What do you think will 840 00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:14,200 Speaker 1: happen in the future. You know, we want to hear 841 00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:16,239 Speaker 1: from you. You're the most important part of this show 842 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:19,920 Speaker 1: that remains true today as it did from our first 843 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:22,880 Speaker 1: YouTube video. So let us know. You can find us 844 00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,120 Speaker 1: on Facebook, you can find us on Instagram, you can 845 00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:28,840 Speaker 1: find us on Twitter. Not just as a show or 846 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:33,359 Speaker 1: an institution, dare I say, but as individuals. That's right. 847 00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:37,279 Speaker 1: If you wish to follow my core time activities, you 848 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,239 Speaker 1: can do so on Instagram where I am at How now, 849 00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:43,600 Speaker 1: Noel Brown, I've been posting a lot of Dutch oven 850 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:47,799 Speaker 1: cooking videos, which married me interests you. I made my 851 00:51:47,920 --> 00:51:50,799 Speaker 1: very first lamb rogan Josh last night with a big 852 00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:54,560 Speaker 1: old lamb shoulder that I slow cooked on the bone 853 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:58,319 Speaker 1: in this delicious Indian gravy for about five hours, and 854 00:51:58,360 --> 00:52:01,840 Speaker 1: I show like the progression of it becoming delicious and 855 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,720 Speaker 1: falling off the bone. It was a very successful experiment. 856 00:52:04,719 --> 00:52:07,520 Speaker 1: I'm really excited about that Dutch oven. That's making me 857 00:52:07,760 --> 00:52:13,560 Speaker 1: very very hungry. Oh my goodness, time for dinner. I 858 00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:15,880 Speaker 1: think this mad. Is this the part where is this 859 00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: an episode where you talk about your Instagram or is 860 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,600 Speaker 1: this an episode where where you keep keep the audience 861 00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:27,320 Speaker 1: in the dark as dark as you're awesome recording spot again? 862 00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:30,319 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you can. You can follow me. Uh. There 863 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:33,680 Speaker 1: are some great updated pictures of my new haircut. Just 864 00:52:33,719 --> 00:52:38,160 Speaker 1: search for Richard Blaze on Instagram. You'll find me. Uh, 865 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:40,960 Speaker 1: you'll see it. Did you cut your own hair? You 866 00:52:41,000 --> 00:52:43,120 Speaker 1: cut your own hair? Matter is that you let your 867 00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:46,200 Speaker 1: your lovely wife do it, perhaps your young son. I 868 00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:48,120 Speaker 1: haven't touched my hair with shears or any other cutting 869 00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,440 Speaker 1: implement since this whole thing begins mainly just tearing it 870 00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:56,560 Speaker 1: out and and and madness. It's mine starting to fall 871 00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:58,440 Speaker 1: out in clumps. You know, I just said, I don't know. 872 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:00,960 Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna m from this with a with 873 00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:05,160 Speaker 1: a receding hairline. I actually, uh, I'm actually getting kind 874 00:53:05,200 --> 00:53:08,560 Speaker 1: of old testament now with not shaving the beard or 875 00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:10,759 Speaker 1: cutting my hair. But what I've been trying to do 876 00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,920 Speaker 1: to have some regularity during the day is to uh 877 00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:17,800 Speaker 1: is to put on clothes when I talk to you guys, 878 00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:21,640 Speaker 1: and turn on lights. Uh. So not just a voice 879 00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:24,120 Speaker 1: of glory and eyes in the dark. Uh. But if 880 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:27,320 Speaker 1: you want to check out my quarantine beard on Instagram, 881 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:29,520 Speaker 1: you're more than welcome to follow me at Ben Bullen 882 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:34,400 Speaker 1: on Instagram app been bullying hsw on Twitter where and 883 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,440 Speaker 1: I investigate any number of strange unusual things and keep 884 00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:42,520 Speaker 1: you updated on the useless skills I am honing during quarantine. 885 00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:44,319 Speaker 1: I don't know if I mentioned it to you guys 886 00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:46,760 Speaker 1: on air, but now I can name all one hundred 887 00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:49,879 Speaker 1: and eighteen elements on the periodic table and it does 888 00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:52,160 Speaker 1: not matter. Let me just assure you no one else 889 00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:54,719 Speaker 1: bother doing that. It does not affect your life in 890 00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:58,120 Speaker 1: any way whatsoever. I think it enriches your life, Ben, 891 00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:02,800 Speaker 1: And I'm I say, does to you for that? Thank you? 892 00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:06,160 Speaker 1: Thank you? If there was an element called thank you, 893 00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:09,040 Speaker 1: neon which I know there's no. You know what I did, 894 00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:12,120 Speaker 1: you guys. This is my my biggest claim to fame 895 00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,840 Speaker 1: during this time. I'm not gonna say which ones, but 896 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:17,439 Speaker 1: I definitely did a whole day of recordings and zoom 897 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:21,640 Speaker 1: calls wearing no pants. Um just doing that out there. 898 00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:26,759 Speaker 1: Wait a second, now, I'm pantsed today pantsed it was. 899 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:29,000 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say if it was this show or not. 900 00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:32,680 Speaker 1: I do other shows, but I definitely had some pretty 901 00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:36,920 Speaker 1: high level executive producer type zoom calls wearing no pants, 902 00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:39,080 Speaker 1: and no one was the wiser. And if it felt 903 00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:42,399 Speaker 1: like it gave me the upper hand, Honestly, you gotta 904 00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:44,560 Speaker 1: stay seated, you know what I mean, unless at the 905 00:54:44,680 --> 00:54:47,160 Speaker 1: very end you want to pull one of those Oh 906 00:54:48,719 --> 00:54:54,120 Speaker 1: I'm wearing pants, I can verify, but so so so 907 00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:57,600 Speaker 1: what if someone has something to tell us? What if 908 00:54:57,640 --> 00:54:59,680 Speaker 1: some what if you are listening you have something to 909 00:54:59,760 --> 00:55:03,879 Speaker 1: show air with your fellow audience members, but you hate 910 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:07,520 Speaker 1: social media? What? Then you can give us a call. 911 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:10,360 Speaker 1: Our number is one eight three three s T d 912 00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:13,560 Speaker 1: w y t K. We've been going through a ton 913 00:55:13,640 --> 00:55:17,160 Speaker 1: of messages lately. Please call us. We are waiting to 914 00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:22,000 Speaker 1: hear from you. Uh. We we may you know, we 915 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:25,400 Speaker 1: may respond with it a call in kind, or we 916 00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:28,399 Speaker 1: might just you know, listen and then talk about it here. 917 00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:31,839 Speaker 1: We've got a huge doc now running. Uh, it's great, 918 00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:34,160 Speaker 1: So please continue to write to us, give us your 919 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:37,359 Speaker 1: thoughts on this episode, any other episode, a future one, 920 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:40,080 Speaker 1: or just things you want to chat about while you're 921 00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:43,040 Speaker 1: hanging out in quarantine while we do the same. Please 922 00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:45,080 Speaker 1: do give us a call one eight three three st 923 00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:49,560 Speaker 1: d w y t K. And additionally, for long time listeners, 924 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:52,439 Speaker 1: we have a show called Strange News Daily that will 925 00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,360 Speaker 1: be moving on to this feed, so you'll be hearing 926 00:55:55,760 --> 00:56:00,239 Speaker 1: something from us, uh Monday through Friday, and all the 927 00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:04,759 Speaker 1: lights go out until Wells Fargo disappears. As for this episode, 928 00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:07,200 Speaker 1: you'll have to get in line behind nest Lee. Oh 929 00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:09,520 Speaker 1: and we're really excited about that show. It's gonna be 930 00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:12,360 Speaker 1: kind of like this one, where you're gonna get lots 931 00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:16,680 Speaker 1: and lots of researched information packed into a shorter episode, 932 00:56:16,719 --> 00:56:19,520 Speaker 1: hosted by our very own Ben Bowland. We think you're 933 00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:21,480 Speaker 1: gonna love it. So now let us know what you 934 00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:23,719 Speaker 1: think about that show as well as you're calling in 935 00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:25,719 Speaker 1: and writing to us and talk to us on Twitter. 936 00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:29,960 Speaker 1: Most importantly, it's produced by Dylan Fagan, which was a 937 00:56:30,080 --> 00:56:32,800 Speaker 1: big get for us. Uh So we're, you know, like 938 00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:35,360 Speaker 1: everybody else will working live. We're rolling with the punches. 939 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:38,480 Speaker 1: But there's one thing that will never ever change. That 940 00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:41,720 Speaker 1: is this. If you hate phones, if you hate social media, 941 00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:46,200 Speaker 1: you can always contact us about any old thing twenty 942 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:49,439 Speaker 1: four seven at our good old fashioned email address where 943 00:56:49,520 --> 00:57:01,600 Speaker 1: we are conspiracy at iHeart radio dot com. M m hmmm. 944 00:57:11,200 --> 00:57:13,280 Speaker 1: Stuff they don't want you to know is a production 945 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:16,439 Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, 946 00:57:16,600 --> 00:57:19,400 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 947 00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:20,800 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.