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Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is

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Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or

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Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt,

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Speaker 2: my name is Noela.

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Speaker 3: They called me Ben.

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Speaker 4: We're joined as always with our super producer Dylan the

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Speaker 4: Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you are you.

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Speaker 3: You are here.

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Speaker 4: That makes this the stuff they don't want you to know.

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Speaker 4: And Guys, I was thinking about this. We've talked a

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Speaker 4: little bit off air about it. What a time to

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Speaker 4: host a critical thinking conspiracy show.

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Speaker 5: Man, We're not wrong.

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Speaker 3: I mean, if we had known what we know now.

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Speaker 5: Say something something we knew a little bit. I mean,

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Speaker 5: you know that ebbs and flows, but boy is it flowing.

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Speaker 2: We always knew that at the end of times there

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Speaker 2: would be folks someway or in their basements or a

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Speaker 2: room in their apartment going the end is coming. The

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Speaker 2: end is coming, and we weren't doing that for way

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Speaker 2: too long.

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Speaker 4: Well, the world is ending for someone somewhere every day, right.

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Speaker 2: And for all of us very soon.

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Speaker 5: I'm gonnasy to change it too, Buddy.

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Speaker 2: Flags on the way here.

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Speaker 3: It's so cool. Everybody look up Gulf of Tonkin.

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Speaker 4: In tonight's episode, we are going to explore a genre

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Speaker 4: of conspiracy that we have often referenced, but we've never

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Speaker 4: fully explained. We often speak about the nature power and corruption,

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Speaker 4: but how do we explain the tendency of powerful people

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Speaker 4: to compromise institutions. That's tonight's question. You know, what exactly

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Speaker 4: is an oligarch? Do you guys remember our earlier conversation

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Speaker 4: with Jake Hanrahan, the creator of sad Oligarch?

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Speaker 5: How could I forget? I also remember learning about it

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Speaker 5: in school, like in you know, Civics class, about what

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Speaker 5: an oligarch was, and I just remember it was like

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Speaker 5: it was not a good thing the way it was presented.

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Speaker 2: Well, it was a great thing for the folks who

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Speaker 2: were smart enough and had enough capital at the fall

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Speaker 2: of the Soviet Union, it.

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Speaker 5: Was great, for sure, I guess, I just mean the

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Speaker 5: way it was taught, it was like, this is an anomaly.

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Speaker 5: You do not want this, This is not something that.

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Speaker 4: We have, sure, right right, yeah, but I don't want this.

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Speaker 4: As we'll see the definitions of we versus them and

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Speaker 4: your mileage is going to vary sociosifly at best, right,

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Speaker 4: and often the oligarch is in the West associated with

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Speaker 4: post USSR Russia, to be quite clear. But tonight we

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Speaker 4: have to ask more importantly, is the United States itself

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Speaker 4: an oligarchy?

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back.

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Speaker 4: Here are the facts, all right, how would we define oligarchy?

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Speaker 4: I think we can do it pretty easily.

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Speaker 2: Right, tycoons who reaped enormous fortunes in the collapse of

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Speaker 2: the Soviet Union in nineteen ninety one. That's how Encyclopedia

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Speaker 2: Britannica puts it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's a genre of oligarchy for sure.

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Speaker 5: And I guess I would think of it as sort

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Speaker 5: of like non government forces that are able to influence

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Speaker 5: government through sheer wealth alone.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great observation.

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Speaker 5: My forces, I mean individuals, But now that can also

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Speaker 5: include corporations, It can include powerful people within corporations, and

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Speaker 5: it can include a lot of different within the you know,

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Speaker 5: main flavor.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, at the basis, folks, an oligarchy is

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Speaker 4: a form of government in which all of the power,

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Speaker 4: or the majority of the power is vested in a small,

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Speaker 4: exclusive class for all our fellow etymology nerds. The word

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Speaker 4: goes back through the French from the Greek oligarchia, which

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Speaker 4: translates to government by the few. I think that makes sense, right,

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Speaker 4: Most most governments are in practice oligarchical.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 5: It's also an interesting thing to try and suss out

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Speaker 5: the difference between say a dictatorship or a more iron fisted,

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Speaker 5: you know, singular ruler situation and how oligarchs figure into that,

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Speaker 5: because oftentimes it's easier for oligarchs to flex that influence

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Speaker 5: if they're tid end with someone that can unilaterally affect

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Speaker 5: policy without you know, fear of pushback from lesser government

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Speaker 5: forces like Stalin's.

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Speaker 4: Stalin's Soviet Union was very much an oligarchy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always a little bit murky there. And I

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Speaker 2: don't know that there's ever been a true, you know,

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Speaker 2: single person dictator ruling a thing, because there are always

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Speaker 2: folks around those people who are in their ear who

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Speaker 2: are the uh maybe they don't wield the power, but

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Speaker 2: they're certainly getting their way or having an idea, and

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Speaker 2: then it kind of transmits through whichever person is in

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Speaker 2: charge there.

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Speaker 3: Phenomenal.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, Like a recent example would be North Korea,

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Speaker 4: an early example would be the Ottoman Empire. But I

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Speaker 4: love what you're pointing out, Matt, because there is always

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Speaker 4: a king of the hill, and we don't mean Texas.

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Speaker 3: That's right.

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Speaker 2: Benjamin Nett Yahoo in the United States, all.

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Speaker 3: Right, I'll say it on Netflix, not my favorite Ben.

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Speaker 5: The people who are just starting to call him BB

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Speaker 5: all the time. I had never really clocked that, but boy,

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Speaker 5: am I hearing it a lot now. Maybe it's just

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Speaker 5: because he's more in the news, but I am hearing

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Speaker 5: people kind of diminutively referring to him as Bebe whispering

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Speaker 5: in Trump's ear. And I thought it was being cute,

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Speaker 5: But that's second nickname, I.

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Speaker 4: Guess, anything but him having to face the legal consequences

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Speaker 4: of corruption, to be quite.

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Speaker 2: Honest, right, we're at a point now where there are

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Speaker 2: folks in charge where the moment they are no longer

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Speaker 2: in charge, they're getting in big trouble. So you gotta

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Speaker 2: grasp the reins.

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Speaker 3: Baby.

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Speaker 2: But there's a great clip of Benjamin Nett Yahoo going

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Speaker 2: before the UN and before Congress here in the United

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Speaker 2: States and making the claim I think starting in gosh,

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Speaker 2: I think it was eighty five with the first piece

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Speaker 2: of the superclip and in nineteen eighty five saying Iran

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Speaker 2: is about to have a nuclear weapon. We're weeks away

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Speaker 2: from Ron having a nuclear weapon. And then it happens

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Speaker 2: every couple of years, and you can just see him

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Speaker 2: making the same statements until finally he got his way.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and we were talking a little bit off air

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Speaker 4: about that one. We know that any nation in Western

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Speaker 4: Europe and Israel and the United States, we know that

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Speaker 4: any nation calling itself a democracy is often a theoretical democracy,

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Speaker 4: a place ruled by the public. But some people and

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Speaker 4: families still have a leg up. I was thinking about

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Speaker 4: this when recently here in the United States, someone with

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Speaker 4: a last name like Bush, Kennedy, Clinton, or Roosevelt gets

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Speaker 4: a certain unwritten boost, an unwritten buff to their character,

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Speaker 4: more so than say a Fagan of Frederick, A Brown

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Speaker 4: or whatever name I'm using now.

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Speaker 5: Well, yeah, it's also like those guys I think are

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Speaker 5: more associated to me with the idea of political dynasty,

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Speaker 5: which is another murky aspect of oligarchy, Like is that

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Speaker 5: the same thing, like does the Is their influence and

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Speaker 5: political power derived from their generational wealth or is it

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Speaker 5: just right time, right place? You know, their fathers were

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Speaker 5: in the same business that kind of situation.

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Speaker 2: What I'm seeing, guys, is is kind of that right time,

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Speaker 2: right place kind of thing in ingenuity and having an

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Speaker 2: awareness of the economic layout and what's happening, because it

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Speaker 2: does seem like the people were talking about who become

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Speaker 2: oligarchs throughout time are the ones who have a bunch

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Speaker 2: of capital already, and then they're watching what's happening with

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Speaker 2: let's say, the economy of a country that they're in,

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Speaker 2: as well as what's happening from a government perspective in

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Speaker 2: that in that country. And then when those two things

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Speaker 2: one kind of starts to get out bound balanced by

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Speaker 2: the other, they make these really smart moves and they

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Speaker 2: end up way on top. And that doesn't mean they

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Speaker 2: can see the future, right, it means they understand maybe

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Speaker 2: the way the market will change, in the way often

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Speaker 2: things like inflation are going to operate. It's creepy stuff

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Speaker 2: because it can happen anywhere.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, also a lot to be said about just like

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Speaker 5: you know, being first to market or like being in

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Speaker 5: on the ground floor of something early enough, especially when

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Speaker 5: family is concerned, and that kind of generational wealth and

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Speaker 5: the influence that goes along with it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, said guys. And it's always been so strange that, Look,

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Speaker 4: when you hear about oligarchs, now you're going to hear

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Speaker 4: them portrayed as Russians, right, due to the fall of

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Speaker 4: the uss Or. But it's so strange to realize that

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Speaker 4: for the majority of human history, most civilizations were essentially oligarchies.

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Speaker 4: You would have your tribe leaders, you have your despots,

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Speaker 4: your emperors, your monarchs, your god kings, your religious authorities,

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Speaker 4: of course, let's not forget about them. And people did

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Speaker 4: not get to vote. Mainly, they were lucky if they

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Speaker 4: were able to eat or drink clean water that didn't

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Speaker 4: give them a bunch of really nasty parasites.

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Speaker 2: Hey, and we're heading right back there, are we.

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Speaker 3: What a time?

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Speaker 5: We also just say, speaking of what a time, Matt,

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Speaker 5: I'm really glad you got out of Cotter when you did.

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Speaker 5: Just putting that out there, that was a timing situation.

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Speaker 2: I hesitate to repeat myself, but I know that I

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Speaker 2: spoke to several people there who basically said, yeah, it's coming,

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Speaker 2: but it's not going to happen now because there's this

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Speaker 2: big oil conference happening in Qatar, and there's also this

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Speaker 2: huge tech conference. So all those the people that we're

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Speaker 2: talking about today that play in those circles, they're not

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Speaker 2: going to be immediately targets on unless, let's say, especially

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Speaker 2: as somebody who's like European or American hanging out over there.

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Speaker 2: The US isn't gonna isn't gonna fire missiles like that,

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Speaker 2: and then because they know that Tehran would fire back.

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Speaker 4: And as we're recording on Friday, March sixth, the airport

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Speaker 4: in Doha remains closed. I don't know if you guys, yeah,

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Speaker 4: checked in with any of our contacts on the ground there.

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Speaker 4: But there's this crazy rush right now for people who

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Speaker 4: can afford private jets to figure out whether they bunk

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Speaker 4: or down, or whether they get a ride to Dubai

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Speaker 4: or maybe take land routes to Oman and get a

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Speaker 4: plane out of the country. I mean, this is this

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Speaker 4: is a result of oligarchical reasoning. Most wars actually are

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Speaker 4: in the modern era. I mean, scholars spend so much

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Speaker 4: time figuring out this historic tendency. Like we could admit,

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Speaker 4: we are humble enough to admit that the human being

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Speaker 4: is one of the most intelligent animals on the planet.

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Speaker 4: So it's kind of odd and counterintuitive that the inherently

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Speaker 4: inefficient social dynamic of oligarchy would be so incredibly common.

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Speaker 4: You know, if you think about it, and if you're

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Speaker 4: a smart human, then you want to preserve your civilization,

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Speaker 4: You want members of your civilization to succeed, and you

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Speaker 4: want to expand the future opportunities of your overall civilization

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Speaker 4: or species. I mean, logically from that, and I know

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Speaker 4: this is a hot take, theoretical communism would be the

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Speaker 4: best choice, right, Theoretical communism well.

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Speaker 5: And a lot of this oligarchy stuff seems, or at

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Speaker 5: least the way it's sort of filtering into this country

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Speaker 5: and our system, it seems to have resulted from things

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Speaker 5: like Citizens United, and you know, the increased ability for

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Speaker 5: very wealthy individuals and corporations to wield political power. But

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Speaker 5: there's this sense that it's good for these very wealthy

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Speaker 5: people to have power because money makes more money, and

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Speaker 5: it's this trickle down thing that I think has historically

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Speaker 5: proven to be not true, and that these folks look

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Speaker 5: out for their own and their own class, and that

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Speaker 5: there is no trickle down. It's just about consolidating all

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Speaker 5: that power and wealth in these top top top tiers

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Speaker 5: and leaving everybody else out in the cold because you

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Speaker 5: can't have you can't amass more if you don't take

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Speaker 5: it from somewhere.

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Speaker 4: A snowball effect. Yeah, the idea, Now we know it's

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Speaker 4: a hot take, but the idea of theoretical communism has

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Speaker 4: never really resulted in the practice of the things that

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Speaker 4: people like Karl Marx wrote about. The concept would be

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Speaker 4: each member of a society provides as much as they

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Speaker 4: can according to their ability, and each member also receives

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Speaker 4: all kinds of support commensurate with their needs.

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Speaker 3: This is not the case.

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Speaker 4: I mean, think about it. Let's think about it this way. Guys,

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Speaker 4: say we have ten people in a society. We're in

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Speaker 4: a tribe. There's ten of us, and every month we

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Speaker 4: generate a collective one hundred dollars. All other things being equal,

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Speaker 4: every member of that tribe would receive every month ten dollars,

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Speaker 4: your little piece of the pie. But to your point,

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Speaker 4: there noel. If of those ten people, one or two

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Speaker 4: is a warlord, then that minority of the civilization one

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Speaker 4: to two of the ten will accumulate the lion's share

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Speaker 4: of a tribe's production. So it's like eighty bucks for

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Speaker 4: me what is left maybe doled out to the rest

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Speaker 4: of you, you peasants, deal down and pray.

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Speaker 5: Well, do you think it's because this idea of communism

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Speaker 5: never working out in practice the way it should in theory.

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Speaker 2: Is it just the.

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Speaker 5: Inherent corruptibility of people or the types of people that

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Speaker 5: seek that those types of positions that it really just

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Speaker 5: requires like a well meaning individual to ascend to that

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Speaker 5: level of power, and it just doesn't typically happen.

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Speaker 2: You also have to have policies in place or rules

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Speaker 2: right in place that make sense to those benevolent goals,

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Speaker 2: and they have to kind of fit along with that stuff.

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Speaker 2: Then everybody has to agree, and then nobody can get

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Speaker 2: greedy because you get greedy. But that's the thing, You're

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Speaker 2: playing a game where nobody get greedy.

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Speaker 3: It's the corruptibility factor. I think.

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Speaker 5: I think it's just really hard to get to that

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Speaker 5: level and not want to take a little more for you.

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Speaker 3: You know, you.

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Speaker 4: Also have to have timeline right. You have to be

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Speaker 4: able to see perceivable significant results as a member of

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Speaker 4: a tribe of society, a civilization right. You have to

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Speaker 4: be if someone says, hey, give me ten dollars, then

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Speaker 4: the person giving the ten dollars will naturally ask where

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Speaker 4: does the money go? How does it benefit me? Qui bono?

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Speaker 3: Right, I don't know, it's crazy.

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Speaker 4: Because it's so normalized. We read a lot, folks, and

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Speaker 4: most history books are written in the milieu of oligarchy.

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Speaker 4: Most history books are coming from a perspective that acknowledges

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Speaker 4: and inherently supports this a logical, bizarre beat me here, Dylan, Carie.

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Speaker 3: And that's why, from fiction.

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Speaker 4: To film, from policy to profit, we have normalized a

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Speaker 4: very sad and cartoonishly stupid state of affairs. Like to

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Speaker 4: your earlier point there, every communist country on planet Earth

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Speaker 4: so far has ultimately done exactly the opposite of what

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Speaker 4: communism is supposed to do. They have generated a de

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Speaker 4: facto in practice upper class of corrupt rulers. I still

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Speaker 4: you guys, remember when we talked about Dunbar's number.

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Speaker 2: The number of people that are truly human to you?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I know it's a controversial idea, but maybe maybe

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Speaker 4: human tribes reach a diminishing return of efficiency after they

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Speaker 4: get past Dunbar's number. Maybe after like what was it,

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Speaker 4: two hundred and fifty people, maybe you should close the group?

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Speaker 2: Uh, can we talk a little bit just about specifically

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Speaker 2: how the Russian oligarchs came into power, because there's there's

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Speaker 2: two things that I think we need to be aware

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Speaker 2: of before we even have our conversation about how does

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Speaker 2: you know how could America get here? Just to set

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Speaker 2: us up from a historical perspective, because I didn't realize

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Speaker 2: there were two major factors. The first one was that

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Speaker 2: hyperinflation was occurring in the Soviet Union, like as it

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Speaker 2: was about to collapse, and then immediately after the collapse,

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Speaker 2: like the Russian ruble was just in crazy hyperinflation every

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Speaker 2: month it was losing like twenty five percent of its value.

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Speaker 2: But people who already had a bunch of money and

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Speaker 2: a bunch of capital had already transferred their rubles into

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Speaker 2: other you know, things like US dollars, let's say, or

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Speaker 2: something British perhaps, or just whatever. They're changing their money,

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Speaker 2: their currencies from rubles as they're watching it happen into

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Speaker 2: other currencies. Then they can buy things or make promises

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Speaker 2: to pay for things in rubles. Let's say, sign a contract.

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Speaker 2: There's a great example. Britannica gives of a contract that

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Speaker 2: one oligarch signed to pay the equivalent of around three

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars US for thirty five thousand cars. But he

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Speaker 2: knew that hyperinflation is in effect and as continuing to go.

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Speaker 2: So that amount of money that's he that he's contractually

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Speaker 2: obligated to pay is actually going to become by the

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Speaker 2: at the end of the term, three hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: dollars per car, So from three thousand to three hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty, and he ends up making one hundred and

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Speaker 2: sixty million dollars on that. So just the people that

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Speaker 2: have the money already understand the system and know how

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Speaker 2: to kind of wiggle around it to end up continuing

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Speaker 2: to make money. Then this is the second part that

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Speaker 2: I did not understand. You guys, when the Soviet Union

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Speaker 2: falls in nineteen ninety one, they privatize as or they

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Speaker 2: begin to privatize, and they're like heading towards full privatization

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Speaker 2: of all things like oil companies, nickel, deposit mining, con

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Speaker 2: everything you can imagine as like natural resources, right, and

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Speaker 2: even media things like that. Nineteen ninety four. Oh sorry,

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Speaker 2: go ahead, no, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 5: I just you're describing something very close to home and familiar,

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Speaker 5: as I please continue.

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Speaker 3: History has never been original.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, here's where it gets a little weird, guys, and

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Speaker 2: we're gonna connect it back up towards the end. Here

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Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety four, Russia isn't making enough money enough

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Speaker 2: gross domestic product to pay off its debts and to

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Speaker 2: continue to function as a country, so it needs a

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Speaker 2: cash input. It goes to these folks who are already

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Speaker 2: very very rich, who are who are controlling a lot

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Speaker 2: of these companies, and ends up borrowing a whole bunch

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Speaker 2: of money from them around one point eight billion.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it could go.

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Speaker 5: Wrong, right.

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Speaker 4: Think about the somewhat obscure writing of famous amateur wrestler

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Speaker 4: Abraham Lincoln about debts during the Civil War and paying

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Speaker 4: the power behind the throne. Or think about the movement

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Speaker 4: of tangible assets like gold in the lead up to

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Speaker 4: the current stage of the Middle Eastern conflict.

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Speaker 3: Right, Oh, do a lot.

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Speaker 2: But the whole point of they borrow that money from

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Speaker 2: these individuals, right, who are already so wealthy, and the

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Speaker 2: way those individuals get paid back is through these these

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Speaker 2: weird rigged auctions for control of certain things again, things

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Speaker 2: like oil companies, gas companies, a.

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Speaker 4: Small number of well connected members of business class, former government,

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Speaker 4: and we have to say it the intelligence community.

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Speaker 5: Oh sure, give those bids to the best you know

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Speaker 5: candidate though, right, there's processes for these things.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure there was a good faith process.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot.

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Speaker 4: We're on video and everybody can see how cynical and

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Speaker 4: sarcas I.

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Speaker 5: Think we three hundred and sixty degrees, you know, and

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Speaker 5: back around at the same time.

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Speaker 2: The thing I've forgotten there, guys, that was ninety six

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Speaker 2: when the at one point eight trillion was brow The

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Speaker 2: crazy thing that happened in ninety four, which is when

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Speaker 2: the government issued vouchers, which is really interesting because as

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Speaker 2: things are going down, things aren't looking great. All of

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Speaker 2: these state controlled things are beginning to privatize. The country

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Speaker 2: offers vouchers and these things. It's kind of like money,

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Speaker 2: but not really money. You could take these and you

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Speaker 2: can trade them. You can sell them. You can just

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Speaker 2: exchange them for other things. You could trade them for

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Speaker 2: an employee's share of a company, like the shares that

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Speaker 2: they own of a company. You can take these vouchers instead,

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Speaker 2: and like I said, you can trade them, so people

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Speaker 2: who already had a bunch of money could individually buy

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Speaker 2: up let's say a controlling share of a nickel conglomerate

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Speaker 2: by just going to all of these employees and saying, well,

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Speaker 2: I'll pay you more for these shares than what they're

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Speaker 2: worth right now, and now I will have a controlling

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Speaker 2: share of that giant thing that is going to be

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Speaker 2: massively important for the existence of the country. It's like

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Speaker 2: playing the long game, I guess for people who already

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Speaker 2: have the money.

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Speaker 4: The rubyl version of pennies on the dollar right, this

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Speaker 4: is what we call regulatory capture. Please check out our

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Speaker 4: earlier interview segment with friend of the show, legendary conflict

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Speaker 4: journalist Jake Hanrahan. He has a series called sad Oligarch

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Speaker 4: which examines in depth the stories the rise fall, sometimes

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Speaker 4: from a third story window, of specific Russian oligarchs. We're

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Speaker 4: not blowing rainbows here, folks. Jake is one of the

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Speaker 4: best in the game. Sad Oligarch is a phenomenal show.

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Speaker 4: And the privatization, the massive privatization of a post Soviet

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Speaker 4: economy in Russia is still one of the biggest provable conspiracies,

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Speaker 4: and it's definitely the reason that here in the West,

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Speaker 4: when you hear Oligarch, you think Russia but that's as

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Speaker 4: we're going to see. That's not quite the entirety of

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Speaker 4: the conspiracy.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we all.

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Speaker 4: Remember the United States from earlier, founded in the late

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Speaker 4: seventeen hundreds to escape the trappings of things like oligarchy

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Speaker 4: and things like monarchy. Our founding fathers far from perfect.

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Speaker 4: They had a weird thing with wigs and stockings, for instance.

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Speaker 4: Several in practice were themselves oligarchs. But they had a

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Speaker 4: noble idea, or they had a beautiful idea, which was

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Speaker 4: to eschew the old, historically unfair systems of government in

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Speaker 4: favor of a meritocracy. All people coffeat asterisk can be

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Speaker 4: considered equal, and all people likewise are guaranteed. This is

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Speaker 4: our favorite part, by the way, folks, the pursuit of happiness.

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Speaker 2: Try all you want, baby, roll you can do it.

408
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 4: Roll those dice. Some people have more dice. Some people

409
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Speaker 4: get to roll twice. But uh, the US is still

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Speaker 4: working on it.

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Speaker 5: It's like a dog chasing a ball. You wouldn't know

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Speaker 5: what to do when you got it.

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Speaker 2: Do you remember did we do a I think it's

414
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Speaker 2: just a video. I think we've ever talked about it

415
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Speaker 2: on audio. Guys about the city of London conspiracy, that

416
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,120
Speaker 2: the United States is still controlled in some way by

417
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Speaker 2: Britain and specifically through like Washington, d C. And some

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Speaker 2: weird I forget the tethers there are, like what it

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00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 2: actually is? We should we should revisit that.

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Speaker 5: It's a weird one. I don't know if I don't know,

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Speaker 5: if I if that one has too much sand well,

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Speaker 5: if I'm not mistaken, it's does the.

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Speaker 4: UK still control the United States? Wait?

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Speaker 2: Do we have an audio episode?

425
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:02,440
Speaker 5: I wonder?

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I was so fascinated by that, just thinking, Okay,

427
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,160
Speaker 2: we've learned, guys over all these years that we're not

428
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,960
Speaker 2: really told the truth about things often when it comes

429
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Speaker 2: to what happened in history, no matter you know, well,

430
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Speaker 2: because we know there's so many lensing effects there and

431
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 2: depending where you are and what powers want you to

432
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 2: think and all that other stuff. I just I still

433
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 2: wonder about the founding of the United States.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you should.

435
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Speaker 4: Also, the massive disadvantage of most canonical history is that

436
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,920
Speaker 4: it's written by the winners, right, That's why we don't

437
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 4: know as much.

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Speaker 3: As we should.

439
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 4: It's it's so true as in millennia, past evenings past,

440
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 4: and as in the present evenings.

441
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 3: You cannot escape.

442
00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:01,719
Speaker 4: You cannot argue against the sheer fact that people descended

443
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 4: from other people in the political class are going to

444
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 4: have a much higher likelihood of achieving later success in politics,

445
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 4: just like the children of famous actors are statistically going

446
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 4: to have a higher chance of finding their own success

447
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 4: in entertainment, competence, talent.

448
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:24,080
Speaker 3: It's all nice.

449
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 4: It's widespread or wide rife, as our pal Frank likes

450
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 4: to say. But those connections can be your edge. And

451
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 4: I mean, can we really blame people for taking advantage

452
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:36,400
Speaker 4: of that?

453
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 5: And then that's not to say that some of them

454
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 5: aren't good at it. You know, some children of actors aren't,

455
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 5: but they also have access to all of the best

456
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 5: schooling and not to mention all of those connections which

457
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 5: can be so key. But the way that flies in

458
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 5: the face of this notion of a meritocracy does kind

459
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 5: of call into question a lot of things.

460
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, it's not the bill of goods we were sold,

461
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 4: nor the bill of right. The bigger question on everyone's

462
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:07,440
Speaker 4: mind right now is this, with all we know about oligarchs,

463
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 4: and with all we know about the historical tendencies of

464
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 4: human civilization, is the United States becoming an oligarchy. Is

465
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 4: it already an oligarchy?

466
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 3: Here's where it gets crazy on paper. No, everything's fine

467
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 3: on paper.

468
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 4: The United States is a big deal democracy. It's to

469
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 4: our earlier point, it's a meritocratic government by and for

470
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 4: the people.

471
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 3: I know, I know.

472
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 4: The politicians again in theory, are public servants. They work

473
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 4: for millions of people who are supposed to be their bosses,

474
00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 4: and they are acquiring this very important role based on

475
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 4: their personal ability rather than their lineage or their corporate connections.

476
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 4: But in practice, not so much the case. You know,

477
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 4: all the way down, it's just super packs the turtles

478
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,200
Speaker 4: all the way down, man. I mean, we've we've said

479
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 4: it before on previous episodes. If you travel outside of

480
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 4: the United States, which can be a difficult thing, it

481
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 4: can be cartoonishly awkward to say, yes, we are a

482
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 4: democracy and then have a very nice friend of yours

483
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 4: from abroad say, well, how come so many of your

484
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 4: presidents are related to each other if they're really the

485
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 4: best people for the job.

486
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 2: You know, Hey, it's in the genes, man like, it's

487
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 2: nature and nurture, but mostly nature. Did you guys, are

488
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 2: you guys following this what's his name, James Tallerico character

489
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 2: that got a lot of buzz in National tax News. Yeah,

490
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 2: a lot of buzz. The whole Colbert thing on YouTube happened.

491
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 2: We talked about it on Strange News. His big boast

492
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 2: tall Ico was that everything is grassroots in his campaign,

493
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 2: and then as soon as he got a bunch of attention,

494
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,320
Speaker 2: there are all kinds of stories coming out of Texas Tribune,

495
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 2: coming out of other places where there's what they call

496
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 2: dark money aka super PACs aka where did it come from?

497
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,720
Speaker 2: It's just flooding into this dude's campaign and he currently

498
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 2: I think he just won the primary there against somebody,

499
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,520
Speaker 2: so now he's gonna be on the ticket. But you

500
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 2: just see how as soon as someone's on that precipice

501
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,720
Speaker 2: or like or is chosen, they just just money y.

502
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,440
Speaker 5: Like when the little microbreweries get bought up by bush mills,

503
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 5: but they don't don't change the branding so that you

504
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 5: still think you're getting a little local brew, but it's

505
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 5: actually you're just putting your money in the pocket of

506
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 5: this giant corporation that doesn't want to be you know,

507
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 5: acknowledged as part of the part of the equation.

508
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:18,360
Speaker 4: Another example would be Barnes and Nobles. The I said

509
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 4: Barnes and Nobles. It's Barnes and Noble, the local brick

510
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 4: and mortar bookstore outfit. Right, it's a bookstore chain here

511
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 4: in the US. They saved themselves from corporate extinction by

512
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 4: quietly buying up other companies or other stores that appear

513
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 4: to be independent things.

514
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 5: Channel we.

515
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 3: Both have the same call.

516
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 2: So no Cumulus Media guys, they just they had to

517
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 2: file Chapter eleven. But they're going to be fine.

518
00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:00,719
Speaker 4: Spare me, Exfinity x E, Blackwater and so on. In practice, though,

519
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:05,680
Speaker 4: we do know that the United States has a lot

520
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 4: of very smart people who have done a lot of

521
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 4: troubling studies and indicate that there's a growing there's a

522
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:21,480
Speaker 4: skyrocketing amount of wealth, inequality, corruption, nepotism. These have indeed

523
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 4: eroded democratic principles. They have created a civilization that, despite

524
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 4: all its proclamations, sure seems to function like an oligarchy

525
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 4: rather than a democracy. Oh do we want to talk

526
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 4: about nerds? I got two nerds. I know you got.

527
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:40,960
Speaker 5: Candy the rope.

528
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 3: Let's talk about both of those. Oh man, I love those,

529
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 3: I love.

530
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 5: It like the rope crunchy sweet sour. Sorry, carry on,

531
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 5: I'm distract.

532
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 2: You gotta love nerds ropes.

533
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 3: Okay.

534
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 4: So back in twenty fourteen, these two boffins, political scientists

535
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 4: named Martin Gillens and Benjamin I. Page started looking into

536
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 4: this question. They asked themselves theory and paperwork aside, is

537
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:14,480
Speaker 4: the United States a democracy or is it an oligarchy?

538
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 4: How does the system function? And they did this based

539
00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 4: off Martin Gillen's earlier book, Affluence and Influence. They analyzed

540
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:33,959
Speaker 4: almost two thousand policy outcomes over twenty years. You know,

541
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 4: by policy outcomes, we mean what does the average Johnny

542
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 4: blue jeans want and what did the US government do?

543
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 3: Right?

544
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 4: So, if a bunch of people say, hey, I want

545
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 4: free lunch for all the kids in the United States,

546
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 4: what did Congress do? How did they and the executive

547
00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 4: branch respond?

548
00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 5: Well, they say that there's no such thing as a

549
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 5: free lunch.

550
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, which is it's a real initialism in economics,

551
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:09,400
Speaker 4: you guys.

552
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 2: Well that's the real thing in real life. You get, Yeah,

553
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,240
Speaker 2: you don't get a free lunch. Somebody wants something.

554
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,399
Speaker 4: And then we also, yeah, we're idiomatically, we're a very

555
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:22,120
Speaker 4: lunch centered culture. Are we not eatcause someone else's lunch,

556
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 4: someone else's lunch.

557
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:25,239
Speaker 3: That's exactly what I'm say.

558
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 5: Bad move, Ben, I'm excited to the chart you dropped

559
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 5: in the infographic into the research doc here is is staggering.

560
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 5: But I would just jump back really quickly what I

561
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 5: was saying before. How it's so easy to explain away

562
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 5: a lot of this stuff by saying no, no, no, no,

563
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:43,240
Speaker 5: it's not that they're doing what.

564
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 3: The wealthy people want.

565
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,680
Speaker 5: It's that those are just the right things. What the

566
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 5: wealthy people want is what's right, and so of course

567
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 5: they're doing it.

568
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,280
Speaker 4: Hang on, let me break out, do this on camera.

569
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: Let me break out, Mike. Can guys see this this.

570
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 5: Isol having some tiny violin, beautiful tone?

571
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 3: Okay, keep going.

572
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,239
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, hey, guys, can we actually get in

573
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 2: the budget Dylan to get Ben a td tigh violin.

574
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,359
Speaker 2: It would be hilarious if Ben could just play that

575
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,120
Speaker 2: every once in a while, Like I have.

576
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 5: A regular sized violin.

577
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 3: I'm going on Etsy right now, phenomenal.

578
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,680
Speaker 4: We'll get to accounting, and Noel does have a regular

579
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 4: sized violin.

580
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that is true.

581
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 5: I mean interrupt Ben. I'm just I can see I

582
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 5: can see where this is going, and I just I

583
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 5: love the rhetoric justifying it.

584
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 4: It's just okay, So this, this study, especially this is

585
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:46,479
Speaker 4: of interest. So twenty fourteen was more than ten years ago,

586
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,960
Speaker 4: just to quick splash of cold water for everybody.

587
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,960
Speaker 3: The study is titled Testing.

588
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:59,040
Speaker 4: Theories of American Politics Elites, interest groups, and Average Citizens,

589
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:04,839
Speaker 4: and it reached these disturbing conclusions. It doesn't matter what

590
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 4: your demographic is, what your political again tribal identifiication is,

591
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 4: you should be.

592
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,920
Speaker 3: Very bothered by what these guys found.

593
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:22,800
Speaker 4: They looked at what we call political influence through various

594
00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,399
Speaker 4: groups in the United States, and then they checked this

595
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:35,240
Speaker 4: against the technical definitions of democracy, oligarchy, other forms of government.

596
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 4: And I think, what really stands out to all of

597
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:44,440
Speaker 4: us here something I cribbed from the study who holds

598
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:50,839
Speaker 4: the raids of democracy? This infographic? Can we summarize this

599
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 4: real quickly?

600
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 5: Well, the title of the article kind of says at all,

601
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,840
Speaker 5: because it's inn order of prominence, Testing Theories of American

602
00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 5: Politics Elites number one, interest groups number two, and average

603
00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:06,279
Speaker 5: citizens a distant distant third. We're talking. I mean, you

604
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,320
Speaker 5: look at this thing. It's that the bar is the

605
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 5: highest big old thick bar seventy eight percent controlled or

606
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:17,080
Speaker 5: influence belongs to the wealthiest of Americans the top ten percent,

607
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 5: followed by business groups forty three percent, then interest groups

608
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:28,840
Speaker 5: twenty four percent, and then ey lavender periwinkle sliver for citizens.

609
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,400
Speaker 4: And then this does add up to more than one

610
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 4: hundred percent because of the Venn diagrams largely between the

611
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 4: business groups and the wealthy top ten percent.

612
00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:42,320
Speaker 3: Time e fourteen.

613
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 5: By the way, all before stuff got real whacky.

614
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,359
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean okay, So to have political influence in

615
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:55,799
Speaker 4: this case means that the United States Congress responds to

616
00:37:55,840 --> 00:38:01,320
Speaker 4: you by passing the laws and policies you desire. Right,

617
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:06,920
Speaker 4: So Max Powers, astronaut with a secret says that like

618
00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 4: canther b should be legal in low earth orbit. If

619
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 4: he's an average voter, Max Powers maybe gets a nice

620
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:22,279
Speaker 4: form letter. If he is an oligarch, he throws a

621
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:27,560
Speaker 4: couple hundred mili over to the Senate and they say, yes,

622
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:32,799
Speaker 4: forget everything. We got to make werewolves legal in low

623
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 4: earth orbit.

624
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 5: But that's not a bribe, and they certainly there would

625
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 5: be no presumption of direct influence just because you donated

626
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,920
Speaker 5: to a political group, right, I mean that would be

627
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,759
Speaker 5: the argument. That would be the argument because this pay

628
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,760
Speaker 5: to play thing that's illegal, that's a bribe.

629
00:38:53,600 --> 00:39:01,839
Speaker 2: But well, so I know, I know, I know exactly.

630
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:05,240
Speaker 5: Figuratively, you know, I mean, you're.

631
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,359
Speaker 2: You're absolutely right. It's just it we see every day,

632
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 2: more and more every day that the rules don't apply, right.

633
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 2: It's what Ben was saying right there? What was it?

634
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 2: Some people? What is the phrase been? Everybody's equal but.

635
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 4: Animal farm, Yes, yeah, yeah, than others, which is inherently

636
00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,520
Speaker 4: a logical fallacy of what equality means exactly.

637
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,399
Speaker 2: But we see that that's just the fact, like that's

638
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 2: just what how things are, and we become almost accustomed

639
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 2: to it because it's hammered home with us every time,

640
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 2: every time we read the news, we see laws past.

641
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,280
Speaker 5: It's almost like they taught us animal farm in school,

642
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 5: not to teach us to revolt against the status quo,

643
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 5: but just to understand.

644
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 3: Exactly.

645
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,120
Speaker 4: And also, by the way, I don't I don't know

646
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 4: if we're all read up on this, but George Orwell

647
00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 4: hated a lot of people that you would think agreed

648
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 4: with him. I mean, he's like, I don't care for

649
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 4: these namby Pambies, I want to communicate to the not

650
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,840
Speaker 4: the fancy white collar types. I want to communicate to

651
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 4: the working class. I want them to read animal farm.

652
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 4: I don't care you know what the Ivory Tower is

653
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:23,000
Speaker 4: going to say about it.

654
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,240
Speaker 2: But dorblic school kids. That kind of makes sense, right.

655
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:28,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, he wants the great school kids. Yeah.

656
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,280
Speaker 4: And look these guys. In this study again from twenty

657
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 4: fourteen a while ago, they conclude that quote economic elites

658
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:44,960
Speaker 4: and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts

659
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 4: on US government policy, while mass based interest groups and

660
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 4: average citizens have little or no independent influence. And they're

661
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:01,760
Speaker 4: not being like manifesto type, you know, they're not writing

662
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 4: their opinions. They are looking at statistics, traceable numbers, traceable records,

663
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 4: and documentation over the years, things that have no opinion

664
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:14,160
Speaker 4: of their own.

665
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:16,239
Speaker 3: The good news.

666
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 4: For some of us, Dylan Matt Noll. If you are

667
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 4: in the upper ten percent of US society in twenty

668
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:33,920
Speaker 4: fourteen and now, your desires will have fifteen times the

669
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 4: impact on actual policy in comparison to the other ninety

670
00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,719
Speaker 4: percent of the three hundred and something million people who

671
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 4: live here.

672
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 2: There's something I can't square you guys. We know that

673
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:56,839
Speaker 2: maybe it's certain acumen. It's something that's taught to you

674
00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:00,479
Speaker 2: because you have enough wealth. This concept of tax of asia,

675
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 2: or being smart, being very careful with your taxes and

676
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 2: with business creation, all that stuff where you end up

677
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 2: not having to pay a lot of money from the money.

678
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:16,840
Speaker 5: Live Nation paid zero tax. Live Nation zero tax.

679
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 3: Really you did get even a convenience fee. They love

680
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:22,600
Speaker 3: those big story.

681
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 5: Live Nation, the company that you know owns all these

682
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 5: venues and is just you know, historically been very uh

683
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 5: monopolistic in terms of the entertainment Live entertainment. They paid

684
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 5: zero tax, and they would argue, we have that that's

685
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 5: doing the good, that's doing it right.

686
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:40,840
Speaker 2: They have sponsored or show, they have whatever.

687
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 5: Live Nation's fine. I'm just saying that's just an example

688
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 5: of what you're describing.

689
00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:45,359
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

690
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 4: Also, also everybody could see by Larry David come out

691
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:57,240
Speaker 4: just a little bit because I did pay taxes.

692
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,560
Speaker 3: Eye contacted the camera and the NSA guy. I did

693
00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 3: pay taxes.

694
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:08,840
Speaker 2: We pay taxes. Everybody listens to this show pays their taxes, right.

695
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, shout out to our intern Steve.

696
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 2: Once you get to that level, you understand how to

697
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:17,359
Speaker 2: manipulate the system, so you're not actually contributing to the

698
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 2: shared system that is the taxes thing where there are

699
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:26,040
Speaker 2: shared services. But if you are just having to live

700
00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 2: within this system and you are making ends meet, you

701
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 2: have to pay taxes, and you have to pay a

702
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 2: good amount a percentage of your taxes. Like what, I

703
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,520
Speaker 2: don't understand. I don't understand how we ever let it

704
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:41,120
Speaker 2: get to this point because if this thing was a

705
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,800
Speaker 2: little different in citizens, let's say we're in the forty

706
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,880
Speaker 2: three percent, even just the forty three percent versus the

707
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,319
Speaker 2: top ten percent of humans, we would have something like

708
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:55,440
Speaker 2: universal health care. But there's just there's no money in

709
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:58,400
Speaker 2: supporting the good things that would help people.

710
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,800
Speaker 5: No, And that's what the same thing. It's seen as weakness.

711
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 5: It's seen as weakness in a way, you know, this

712
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 5: idea of philanthropy or like helping people less fortunate, just

713
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 5: just so really quickly. The way that Live Nation did

714
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:15,960
Speaker 5: manage to pay zero in US federal income tax was

715
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,000
Speaker 5: through the Big Beautiful Bill that allowed them to claim

716
00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:23,680
Speaker 5: one hundred percent bonus appreciation which offset their taxable income

717
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:25,440
Speaker 5: in a year where they made twenty five point two

718
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,600
Speaker 5: billion dollars in revenue and one point thirty billion in

719
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 5: what they're referring to as operating income. The Big Beautiful

720
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:36,319
Speaker 5: Bill is a BBL for the United States, by which

721
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:40,560
Speaker 5: I mean a big beautiful loss for you know, for

722
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 5: like the long term sustainability of the society, because we're

723
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:52,440
Speaker 5: telling you folks, statistically speaking, right opinions aside statistically speaking,

724
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:57,680
Speaker 5: Uncle Sam doesn't seem to care very much about what

725
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 5: ninety percent of Americans think. And then from this study,

726
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 5: we see our authors define four possible systems that might

727
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,720
Speaker 5: exist in the United States, not in theory but in practice,

728
00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 5: and they go, is this a democracy? Is this a

729
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:24,240
Speaker 5: semi democratic system dominated by interest groups or dominated by lobbyists?

730
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,439
Speaker 4: Two separate options. And they look at the fourth one

731
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 4: is the United States and oligarchy, and that is what

732
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:37,200
Speaker 4: they found. It most closely matches what's happening to you

733
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:42,720
Speaker 4: now today, most closely matches the model of an oligarchy.

734
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:49,120
Speaker 4: And ever since twenty fourteen, virtually all credible research has

735
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:53,719
Speaker 4: indicated this pattern continues to escalate in the modern day.

736
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:58,440
Speaker 4: We're at the Gilded Age, you guys, Gilded age levels

737
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:04,239
Speaker 4: of financial desperation. And we all remember the Gilded Age, right,

738
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:05,879
Speaker 4: It was guilted.

739
00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:09,759
Speaker 5: To the twist ending you're talking about Yeah.

740
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:10,960
Speaker 2: Mar Alogo remembers they just had a party about that.

741
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:12,160
Speaker 3: Cool.

742
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:17,520
Speaker 4: Also, it was a series of dumb names in American history.

743
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:22,360
Speaker 4: Gilded Age not Golden Age, right, because it's fakeal whatever,

744
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:27,839
Speaker 4: and then Great Depression, right, another terrible name or a

745
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:28,719
Speaker 4: terrible thing.

746
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,440
Speaker 2: Ben, you said something and then I think we probably

747
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,120
Speaker 2: fixed it in the edit, so nobody ever heard it.

748
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:36,480
Speaker 2: But you said something that I think you should coin.

749
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:42,720
Speaker 2: You said democracy, like dumbocracy. I think that's chef's kiss

750
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:43,919
Speaker 2: where we're at right now.

751
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:46,279
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Thank you so much.

752
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 4: Matt still learning English.

753
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,879
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh oh, just to say too that. I mean,

754
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 5: there is this American ideal that associates wealth with intelligence,

755
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 5: and that ain't how it is.

756
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:04,200
Speaker 2: That sound sorry, just.

757
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,200
Speaker 5: Isn't if anything where we're like we are raising up,

758
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 5: lifting up the dumbest richest people look at social media

759
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:16,759
Speaker 5: influencer culture and like Jake Paul on his jet with

760
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,480
Speaker 5: like cash everywhere. Yeah, I mean, yes, you know, okay,

761
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 5: having a little savvy and maybe luck is cool, but

762
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:25,759
Speaker 5: that does not make you some sort of mastermind or

763
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 5: some sort of like big picture intelligent, you know, forward

764
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:30,880
Speaker 5: thinking person.

765
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:34,320
Speaker 4: Let's take a break, you guys for a word from

766
00:47:34,520 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 4: our sponsors, and during this break, we hope you joined

767
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 4: us to go to Nucleus Genomics and per Nol's earlier

768
00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 4: point figure out the character sheet for the IQ of

769
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:49,359
Speaker 4: the baby you want to have.

770
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,319
Speaker 5: The following advertisement is for billionaires only.

771
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Speaker 2: If you're not a billionaire, please fast forward, destroy your device,

772
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Speaker 2: unload your firearms, lay face down on the place form

773
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Speaker 2: of your choosing, and await the authorities.

774
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Speaker 4: Hey there, fellow billionaires, if you were like us, you

775
00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:08,000
Speaker 4: know it could be a slog to work day in

776
00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:13,000
Speaker 4: and day out, eroding democracy, rigging society, and ensuring your

777
00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:17,360
Speaker 4: weird hyperfixations get prioritized over the rest of the world.

778
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Speaker 4: So how do we kick back and unwind? The answer

779
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780
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781
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Speaker 6: a theoretically free but somehow exclusive app that lets you connect, conspire,

782
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Speaker 6: and challenge all your fellow despotic one percent of gamers.

783
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Speaker 7: Folks, I gotta tell you it's stressful here at the

784
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 7: top of the pyramid, and you all know I tried

785
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 7: everything to relax hunting endangered animals on safari overthrowing resource

786
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:51,479
Speaker 7: rich governments, rigging elections just wasn't scratching the itch.

787
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:54,200
Speaker 3: So thank god for only Gark.

788
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:57,240
Speaker 4: Only Gark is the world's first gave me app four

789
00:48:57,280 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 4: billionaires by trillionaires. Log in anytime of the evening, instantly

790
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 4: go to to tentacle with your favorite members of the

791
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:11,960
Speaker 4: upper crust, acquiring special buffs, hilarious avatars, real world proxies

792
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 4: and more.

793
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:17,760
Speaker 2: And the best part, gentlemen, if you get enough policy points,

794
00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:23,480
Speaker 2: the bombs you drop are real. I've always wanted to

795
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:24,720
Speaker 2: start a nuclear war.

796
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:30,520
Speaker 8: Hum Oh, to have feelings again, right because before only

797
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:33,640
Speaker 8: Gark it was such a slug because of all the

798
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:36,640
Speaker 8: red tape and all the voting and all those pesky meetings.

799
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:40,240
Speaker 7: And get this, get this, Just for signing up tonight

800
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 7: with the code igi VU four twenty, that's Igivu for twenty,

801
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:49,920
Speaker 7: you will get exclusive access to new characters, abilities, and

802
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Speaker 7: lobby boys. Plus, with real time activity tracking and a

803
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Speaker 7: careful team of exclusive wealth management operators, your decisions count,

804
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Speaker 7: and every win do you make now makes it easier

805
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:02,920
Speaker 7: to win in the future.

806
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:07,440
Speaker 3: So why delay side up today? Play the game of games.

807
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 3: One evening you may be the only.

808
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:16,000
Speaker 2: Gark again, that's Igidu Fall twenty, Igidu Fall twenty for

809
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:21,320
Speaker 2: exclusive access to proxies, illegal abilities and lobby boys only.

810
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 4: Gark is not liable for dropsy bopsy, biopsy biospies, wetwear, vaporware, guillotines,

811
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,120
Speaker 4: third story windows, the quiet desperation of the masses low

812
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 4: Key references to the Highlander franchise Majestic twelve, the Epstein Files,

813
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:38,239
Speaker 4: UFO's Flirty Bigfoot syndrome, or the gradual realization that the

814
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 4: rich will eat their own only. Gark is a subsidiary

815
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,880
Speaker 4: of Illumination Global Unlimited. Turn on the Light.

816
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:47,960
Speaker 3: Now.

817
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:53,319
Speaker 4: This study, again from over ten years ago, doesn't particularly

818
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 4: focus on the origin story of oligarchy as a concept

819
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 4: right as a tactic, but the authors do point out

820
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:08,600
Speaker 4: the snowball effective power, money and influence, which all of

821
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,680
Speaker 4: us have mentioned earlier in this episode. And we've got

822
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 4: a quote from them, Can we can we share this quote?

823
00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:17,960
Speaker 4: Who's got who's got a smart accent?

824
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,200
Speaker 5: Anybody feeling from that ad that British guy, Let's have

825
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:21,719
Speaker 5: him do it?

826
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:23,080
Speaker 3: Okay?

827
00:51:23,239 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 9: Yeah, Pennyworth, Yes, that dude comes out Whenever I have

828
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 9: to make a large transaction I don't know why, and

829
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:35,839
Speaker 9: I don't do it very often, but when I do,

830
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:37,399
Speaker 9: Lord Penniworth is there.

831
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 3: That's Magic City.

832
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:44,719
Speaker 2: That's where I do my highest value training. Okay, here,

833
00:51:44,719 --> 00:51:47,160
Speaker 2: here we go. I'll just do it like this. It

834
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:52,160
Speaker 2: is well established that organized groups regularly lobby and fraternize

835
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 2: with public officials, move through revolving doors between public and

836
00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:01,120
Speaker 2: private employment, provide self serving information to officials, raft to legislation,

837
00:52:01,200 --> 00:52:04,799
Speaker 2: and spend a great deal of money on election campaigns.

838
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:06,200
Speaker 2: James Tillery.

839
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:11,879
Speaker 5: Fragnize, you say, yeah.

840
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 4: I mean, let's be clear, folks. Your vote does matter,

841
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 4: and you should vote as often as you can, and

842
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:22,200
Speaker 4: for as long as you can.

843
00:52:22,239 --> 00:52:24,760
Speaker 5: And as many times as you can for the same Canada.

844
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:32,200
Speaker 3: That's total. If you're dead, vote right now. Oh my gosh.

845
00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:36,480
Speaker 4: Okay, but listen, folks, if you are the average Johnny

846
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:42,160
Speaker 4: blue jeans friends and neighbors, your political desires will inevitably

847
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:47,239
Speaker 4: take a backseat to the desires of wealthy individuals and

848
00:52:47,520 --> 00:52:52,560
Speaker 4: institutions because they vote with their dollar right, they vote

849
00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:56,440
Speaker 4: with their influence. They pour millions into campaign coffers and

850
00:52:56,600 --> 00:53:01,720
Speaker 4: shadowy private public contracts that the ordinary individual just simply

851
00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:04,320
Speaker 4: cannot access well.

852
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:07,840
Speaker 5: And sadly, Johnny, blue jeans. Blue jeans just weren't blue enough.

853
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:16,080
Speaker 2: I got to get those dark blue jeans. No, that's

854
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:17,200
Speaker 2: another right, ones, what are they?

855
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:20,440
Speaker 5: I'm being funny. I'm meaning jeans with a G like that.

856
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:28,120
Speaker 3: This is why we hang out blue jeans. That's a

857
00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:29,680
Speaker 3: good joke, blue.

858
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 5: Bloods, you know, like.

859
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:34,280
Speaker 3: The levels to this, folks.

860
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:39,239
Speaker 4: Uh, this is also a genuine improvable conspiracy. It is

861
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:43,560
Speaker 4: more than a bit undemocratic. It speaks directly to what

862
00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:49,600
Speaker 4: another former president, Dwight Eisenhower, warned us about all those

863
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 4: years ago.

864
00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:52,400
Speaker 3: We'll play a brief clip.

865
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:56,920
Speaker 10: In the councils of government. We must guard against the

866
00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:01,600
Speaker 10: acquisition of unwanted influence, whether it's so or unsowned by

867
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:07,160
Speaker 10: the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise

868
00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:10,240
Speaker 10: of misplaced power exists and will persist.

869
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:16,239
Speaker 4: So we all remember Dwight, right, we all remember his

870
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:17,320
Speaker 4: his earlier statement.

871
00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:22,840
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's a warning about what happens when the

872
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:26,040
Speaker 2: government has all these contracts to build all these munitions,

873
00:54:26,239 --> 00:54:28,640
Speaker 2: and the government is making a lot of money by

874
00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:32,600
Speaker 2: selling munitions to other places, right, and then what happens

875
00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:35,560
Speaker 2: when those folks are the ones who kind of need

876
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,680
Speaker 2: to make some more profits, and they're directly tied to

877
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:42,319
Speaker 2: the US administration. Whoever it is. Eisenhower isn't even talking

878
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:44,799
Speaker 2: about himself and his administration in that moment, and he's

879
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:47,960
Speaker 2: referencing it, right, but he's not. He's not saying be

880
00:54:48,080 --> 00:54:51,279
Speaker 2: warned now. He's saying, worry about it. Oh, I don't know.

881
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:55,200
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty six.

882
00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:59,439
Speaker 4: He's also he's also, by the way, folks, do check

883
00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:02,160
Speaker 4: out the full speech if you can find it. He

884
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 4: also is on the way out, So this is like

885
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:11,840
Speaker 4: Dave Thomas on his last day at Wendy's walking out

886
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:17,120
Speaker 4: of Wendy's and right as he opens the door, he says, hey, guys,

887
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:21,840
Speaker 4: I think Frosty's are bad, and then he leaves.

888
00:55:22,719 --> 00:55:23,600
Speaker 3: That's what happened.

889
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:28,480
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, He's like, you guys should really change the friars.

890
00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 2: The oil in those friars has been in there for

891
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:35,200
Speaker 2: like six years. Anyway, you should probably do that.

892
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:38,040
Speaker 3: And they say what, and he says, I'm off to Monaco.

893
00:55:39,360 --> 00:55:42,239
Speaker 4: This could sound like old beans maybe to a lot

894
00:55:42,239 --> 00:55:45,279
Speaker 4: of us in the crowd tonight. If we are to

895
00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:50,799
Speaker 4: assume an optimistic perspective and consider a solution. Then we

896
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:55,120
Speaker 4: have to note that multiple academics and indeed a lot

897
00:55:55,120 --> 00:56:01,000
Speaker 4: of politicians have one step, one immediate step to solve

898
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:11,040
Speaker 4: the oligarchy campaign finance reform.

899
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:15,320
Speaker 2: Remember, people were really trying to push for campaign finance reform.

900
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:18,479
Speaker 2: I remember hearing about that quite a lot. We wanted

901
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:19,440
Speaker 2: to fix things.

902
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:20,960
Speaker 3: That all got blasted out of the water.

903
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:22,800
Speaker 5: I'm sorry I keep harping on Citizens United, but I

904
00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:25,280
Speaker 5: mean I think that's I mean, the worst, the worst

905
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:28,080
Speaker 5: of it, and just open the floodgates, right, you're correct.

906
00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:33,799
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's also it didn't pull well with the American public. Uh,

907
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:39,239
Speaker 4: the increasingly monopolized mass media didn't go out of its

908
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:42,719
Speaker 4: way to talk about this idea or to mess with

909
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:43,240
Speaker 4: the money.

910
00:56:43,719 --> 00:56:44,200
Speaker 3: As we said.

911
00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:47,040
Speaker 2: We were saying the media conglomerates had like a stake in

912
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:50,839
Speaker 2: not wanting the American people to want campaign finance reform.

913
00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:54,520
Speaker 4: We're saying they could have done a better job getting

914
00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 4: the message out.

915
00:56:55,840 --> 00:57:01,840
Speaker 3: Oh sure, it's it's weird because campaign.

916
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:05,920
Speaker 4: Reform, the idea, like to your earlier point about superpacks, Matt,

917
00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:11,600
Speaker 4: campaign reform gets trotted out every few election cycles and

918
00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:14,200
Speaker 4: then it gets tucked away with these other pie in

919
00:57:14,239 --> 00:57:19,919
Speaker 4: the sky ideas like ranked choice voting or open primaries.

920
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:23,520
Speaker 4: I think the public, we gotta admit we're partially to

921
00:57:23,600 --> 00:57:29,600
Speaker 4: blame for this. We are notoriously individualistic in the United States,

922
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:32,160
Speaker 4: which I don't see is a bad thing because I'm

923
00:57:32,280 --> 00:57:36,960
Speaker 4: quite brainwashed. We don't really think about the big systemic

924
00:57:37,160 --> 00:57:41,520
Speaker 4: issues until they affect us on an immediate and personal level.

925
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:45,920
Speaker 4: So like Johnny Blue Jeans is watching the TV or

926
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:48,960
Speaker 4: his podcast and choice, and he says, don't lecture me

927
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:52,800
Speaker 4: about abstract sanctions and tariffs and how that's gonna matter

928
00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:55,200
Speaker 4: in ten years. Tell me while my guests went up

929
00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 4: fifty cents a gallon, And who I'm going to blame?

930
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:02,080
Speaker 4: Key guys, I'm going on Facebook composted. Oh how dare

931
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:06,960
Speaker 4: you Johnny blue Jeans with a g bak? You know,

932
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:10,600
Speaker 4: I mean, it is a snoozefest. But the entire time

933
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:14,720
Speaker 4: this dog and pony show is occurring, those same powerful

934
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 4: people and politics and business they're making money hand over

935
00:58:19,680 --> 00:58:21,240
Speaker 4: fist or tentacle.

936
00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:22,880
Speaker 3: I don't know.

937
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 4: I feel like other oligarchs in other countries are more

938
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:27,640
Speaker 4: honest about their standing.

939
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:31,080
Speaker 2: I suppose, I mean, I just I just have never

940
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:34,720
Speaker 2: I wasn't in you know, Russia in ninety six when

941
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:37,280
Speaker 2: that stuff went down, Like, hey, guys, it's all of us,

942
00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:37,959
Speaker 2: look at us.

943
00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:46,160
Speaker 8: Where the guys the oligarks.

944
00:58:42,840 --> 00:58:46,000
Speaker 3: Hey, we're the ogs? Get it?

945
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:48,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, if you know, let's say there

946
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:51,560
Speaker 2: was some kind of big inauguration or something that happened

947
00:58:51,600 --> 00:58:54,760
Speaker 2: for Putin. Let's say many around that time, and let's

948
00:58:54,760 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 2: say to your two thousand or something, and then all

949
00:58:56,760 --> 00:58:59,600
Speaker 2: the oligarchs were just you know, sitting there in the

950
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:03,880
Speaker 2: audience with Putin's spouse or something. You know, maybe are.

951
00:59:03,760 --> 00:59:09,280
Speaker 11: You you're you're talking about the Zuck and doctor Evil

952
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:14,440
Speaker 11: the techno or are.

953
00:59:14,400 --> 00:59:18,480
Speaker 4: We talking about are we talking about the dprk uh

954
00:59:18,920 --> 00:59:22,720
Speaker 4: their habit of giving each other medals, which is honestly

955
00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:27,080
Speaker 4: kind of wholesome, or are we talking about literally every

956
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:34,760
Speaker 4: government in most of history the boy at least, you know,

957
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,880
Speaker 4: European countries are still going to be a mix of

958
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:43,280
Speaker 4: democracies and monarchies. And the quiet part set out loud

959
00:59:43,880 --> 00:59:49,800
Speaker 4: is that despite moving toward democratic society or democratic practices,

960
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:55,640
Speaker 4: there is still phenomenal intergenerational wealth inequality because of their

961
00:59:55,720 --> 01:00:01,640
Speaker 4: previous governments, the imperialism, the shadow of colonialism. The easiest

962
01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:05,720
Speaker 4: way to get rich is to be born rich, right,

963
01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:09,880
Speaker 4: and Middle Eastern monarchies, to their credit, are pretty upfront

964
01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:12,920
Speaker 4: about this. They say, Hey, we're the royal family. We

965
01:00:13,040 --> 01:00:18,200
Speaker 4: influence policy, we influence industry. Get on board or get

966
01:00:18,200 --> 01:00:18,760
Speaker 4: off the train.

967
01:00:19,080 --> 01:00:22,760
Speaker 5: Got to at least respect the chance, the comparative transparency.

968
01:00:24,400 --> 01:00:27,560
Speaker 2: I want to be the wrong word, please m M.

969
01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:30,520
Speaker 2: I want to make one point of just what we

970
01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:33,680
Speaker 2: were talking about there with Johnny Blue Jeans and being

971
01:00:33,800 --> 01:00:36,240
Speaker 2: more upset about gas prices because it makes sense, right,

972
01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:39,880
Speaker 2: because the gas prices are going to immediately affect Johnny

973
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:40,480
Speaker 2: Blue Jeans.

974
01:00:41,680 --> 01:00:44,040
Speaker 3: By the way, guys, just putting that out there. Thank you,

975
01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:46,040
Speaker 3: good one.

976
01:00:46,120 --> 01:00:51,360
Speaker 2: Your your ancestors are proud of you, sir. I promise you, the.

977
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:52,680
Speaker 3: Future is proud of you.

978
01:00:53,080 --> 01:00:58,400
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, the just this point we talked about, I

979
01:00:58,440 --> 01:01:02,360
Speaker 2: can't remember which episode we talked about, but the amount

980
01:01:02,440 --> 01:01:06,200
Speaker 2: of fires that are being set and within all of

981
01:01:06,200 --> 01:01:09,320
Speaker 2: our minds, if we're paying attention to the news right now,

982
01:01:09,360 --> 01:01:12,040
Speaker 2: no matter where you live in the world, the amount

983
01:01:12,080 --> 01:01:15,000
Speaker 2: of things that become the most important, the most dire

984
01:01:15,120 --> 01:01:18,320
Speaker 2: thing that just continually pop up. And oh there's another one.

985
01:01:18,360 --> 01:01:20,440
Speaker 2: Holy crap, there's another one. Oh my god, there's another one.

986
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:24,680
Speaker 2: And each instance it feels as though that new one

987
01:01:24,840 --> 01:01:26,840
Speaker 2: is the most important thing, and all of our attention

988
01:01:26,920 --> 01:01:30,760
Speaker 2: will go to it momentarily until the point where we

989
01:01:30,800 --> 01:01:34,560
Speaker 2: are absolutely exhausted with trying to figure out what the

990
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:37,600
Speaker 2: heck is going on and how we could even begin

991
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:40,440
Speaker 2: to fix some of these problems. You just kind of

992
01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:43,840
Speaker 2: it's not collapse, but you you need to find a

993
01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:44,959
Speaker 2: place that feels safe.

994
01:01:45,160 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 5: And is it is fatigue mental fatigue? Yes, yeah, guys.

995
01:01:50,360 --> 01:01:53,560
Speaker 4: That's really interesting because it makes me think, I know

996
01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:57,000
Speaker 4: we're going long here, but this is worthwhile. It makes

997
01:01:57,040 --> 01:02:00,800
Speaker 4: me think again of the concept of Dunbar's numbers. What

998
01:02:00,840 --> 01:02:05,200
Speaker 4: if there is a hardwired Dunbar's number not just for

999
01:02:05,400 --> 01:02:09,320
Speaker 4: the number of people a brain can acknowledge as people,

1000
01:02:09,400 --> 01:02:12,920
Speaker 4: but what if there's a Dunbar's number for the number

1001
01:02:12,920 --> 01:02:16,920
Speaker 4: of distinct thoughts one can hold in one's mind.

1002
01:02:17,240 --> 01:02:20,520
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, absolutely, and especially the number of massive problems

1003
01:02:20,600 --> 01:02:22,600
Speaker 2: that need to be fixed and in which order you

1004
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:23,600
Speaker 2: need to fix them.

1005
01:02:23,840 --> 01:02:24,040
Speaker 3: Right.

1006
01:02:24,520 --> 01:02:28,040
Speaker 2: We know this just through like puzzle games, any kind

1007
01:02:28,080 --> 01:02:29,240
Speaker 2: of games that we've ever played.

1008
01:02:29,680 --> 01:02:32,880
Speaker 3: Everybody to check out, everybody check out only Garks.

1009
01:02:33,440 --> 01:02:35,480
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean here that's great.

1010
01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:37,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, we heard great stuff about it.

1011
01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:40,320
Speaker 2: Well, the point is there's an order of operations where

1012
01:02:40,360 --> 01:02:42,920
Speaker 2: wherein you have to fix things, right, You're if you're

1013
01:02:42,960 --> 01:02:46,360
Speaker 2: imagining fixing a tractor or something that breaks down, you

1014
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:49,760
Speaker 2: have to fix things. You can't just fix one piece

1015
01:02:49,880 --> 01:02:51,680
Speaker 2: and now the tractor is going to work again. If

1016
01:02:51,680 --> 01:02:54,439
Speaker 2: the engine is broken, if the track is broken, if

1017
01:02:54,560 --> 01:02:56,280
Speaker 2: there's all these other things, you got to fix things

1018
01:02:56,320 --> 01:02:59,760
Speaker 2: in an order. And I'm imagining it's kind of the

1019
01:02:59,760 --> 01:03:04,120
Speaker 2: same way here. The further we can push, we the

1020
01:03:04,200 --> 01:03:07,600
Speaker 2: further whoever these people are that have an interest in

1021
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:12,040
Speaker 2: keeping campaign finance reform out, the further thing can push

1022
01:03:12,240 --> 01:03:16,440
Speaker 2: the problems away from campaign finance reform, the safer they

1023
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:18,600
Speaker 2: are in their positions of power.

1024
01:03:18,840 --> 01:03:21,480
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, fully agreed.

1025
01:03:21,680 --> 01:03:29,960
Speaker 4: Also, the concept of pragmatism and practicality arrives immediately. We're

1026
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:33,040
Speaker 4: not saying Johnny Blue Jeans with a G is by

1027
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:38,479
Speaker 4: any means a knucklehead for worrying about gas prices. We're

1028
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:42,800
Speaker 4: saying that, like most people alive, the guy is to

1029
01:03:42,880 --> 01:03:48,720
Speaker 4: your point, Matt, thinking through immediate problems and immediate solutions. Recently,

1030
01:03:48,840 --> 01:03:54,200
Speaker 4: rewatched pulp fiction by Quentin Tarantino. There's a cameo by

1031
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:58,080
Speaker 4: a guy named mister Wolfe who is a cleaner, played

1032
01:03:58,080 --> 01:04:02,680
Speaker 4: by Harvey Kaitel, and that guy is helping them clean

1033
01:04:02,760 --> 01:04:05,080
Speaker 4: up a murder, right, And.

1034
01:04:05,520 --> 01:04:06,040
Speaker 3: In his.

1035
01:04:07,480 --> 01:04:13,520
Speaker 4: Phenomenal cameo, he doesn't lecture the dudes about climate change

1036
01:04:13,800 --> 01:04:17,560
Speaker 4: and the problems of fossile fuels. He figures out how

1037
01:04:17,640 --> 01:04:20,880
Speaker 4: to clean the car and how to get brain matter

1038
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:22,040
Speaker 4: and blood out of.

1039
01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:22,760
Speaker 3: The back seat.

1040
01:04:22,840 --> 01:04:26,480
Speaker 4: So maybe that's what most people are doing right. I'm

1041
01:04:26,520 --> 01:04:30,080
Speaker 4: not gonna worry about solving my problems fifty years from now.

1042
01:04:30,160 --> 01:04:33,480
Speaker 4: Those are too big for me. I'm gonna worry about

1043
01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:37,960
Speaker 4: solving my problems today. And the oligarchs love that. The

1044
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:42,480
Speaker 4: oligarchs will, to your point, steer that conversation, especially because

1045
01:04:42,960 --> 01:04:47,280
Speaker 4: our American oligarchs are a little bit different off Mike.

1046
01:04:47,400 --> 01:04:49,600
Speaker 4: I think it was you know who said it's kind

1047
01:04:49,600 --> 01:04:54,640
Speaker 4: of oligarchy three point oh. You know, these guys are

1048
01:04:55,520 --> 01:05:00,440
Speaker 4: technic arcs. Technically like Ella Musk or Peter Teel. They've

1049
01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:05,520
Speaker 4: hacked the push and pool of legislation versus innovation, and

1050
01:05:05,680 --> 01:05:12,240
Speaker 4: they are making sweetheart policies. They're removing regulations. They're eroding

1051
01:05:12,320 --> 01:05:15,600
Speaker 4: democracy and each time they do it, they go a

1052
01:05:15,600 --> 01:05:16,600
Speaker 4: little more powerful.

1053
01:05:17,200 --> 01:05:26,720
Speaker 5: They're acting as extra governmental entities. They just are pallunteer doge.

1054
01:05:26,840 --> 01:05:32,960
Speaker 5: They are occupying the same space that typically a an

1055
01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:38,920
Speaker 5: agency would occupy that if not staffed by elected officials,

1056
01:05:39,120 --> 01:05:42,920
Speaker 5: at the very least staff by appointed officials who are

1057
01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:49,000
Speaker 5: appointed by elected officials. There's some sense of representation. That's

1058
01:05:49,040 --> 01:05:51,240
Speaker 5: just not what's happening here, and it's they're not even

1059
01:05:51,240 --> 01:05:52,000
Speaker 5: trying to hide it.

1060
01:05:53,000 --> 01:05:56,160
Speaker 2: Very little can happen if you don't have the ability

1061
01:05:56,200 --> 01:05:59,240
Speaker 2: to process transactions, or you don't have a place where

1062
01:05:59,240 --> 01:06:03,920
Speaker 2: you can store all of your data rights. Very little

1063
01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:07,640
Speaker 2: can happen without their company's specific help.

1064
01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:09,000
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1065
01:06:09,200 --> 01:06:12,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, if you want to own the house,

1066
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:15,360
Speaker 4: the first thing you do is by the door to

1067
01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:18,959
Speaker 4: the house, right yeah, yeah, yeah, you keep the gate.

1068
01:06:19,360 --> 01:06:21,160
Speaker 3: And that's that's what's occurring.

1069
01:06:21,320 --> 01:06:24,400
Speaker 4: That's why people are losing their minds about the k

1070
01:06:24,680 --> 01:06:31,240
Speaker 4: shaped economy of wealth inequality. OXFAM recently noted I want

1071
01:06:31,280 --> 01:06:35,520
Speaker 4: to see January, maybe February this year, twenty twenty six,

1072
01:06:36,600 --> 01:06:40,680
Speaker 4: that now we have gone beyond the Gilded Age. Wealth

1073
01:06:40,720 --> 01:06:45,360
Speaker 4: inequality in the United States is now worse than it

1074
01:06:45,560 --> 01:06:49,840
Speaker 4: was in the years leading up to the Great Depression.

1075
01:06:49,920 --> 01:06:51,160
Speaker 3: Again a terrible name.

1076
01:06:51,760 --> 01:06:58,280
Speaker 4: Just one hundred billionaire families put two point six billion

1077
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:03,960
Speaker 4: US dollars into federal elections in twenty twenty four. That

1078
01:07:04,040 --> 01:07:09,120
Speaker 4: means one out of every six dollars spent by every candidate,

1079
01:07:09,720 --> 01:07:15,320
Speaker 4: every party, every community, every super pack. Aside from all

1080
01:07:15,360 --> 01:07:19,520
Speaker 4: the tribalism stuff, the billionaires are running the game.

1081
01:07:20,520 --> 01:07:21,880
Speaker 3: This is an oligarchy.

1082
01:07:22,360 --> 01:07:23,760
Speaker 2: It's really depressing, man.

1083
01:07:24,040 --> 01:07:24,560
Speaker 3: I mean.

1084
01:07:25,920 --> 01:07:31,880
Speaker 4: To that first time meme, right, we see again that

1085
01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:35,240
Speaker 4: a lot of members of the upper class are arguing

1086
01:07:35,680 --> 01:07:41,920
Speaker 4: that oligarchy is inherently better for everyone than something that

1087
01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:45,520
Speaker 4: acknowledges the public, like democracy or communism.

1088
01:07:45,600 --> 01:07:46,360
Speaker 3: And then one of the.

1089
01:07:46,280 --> 01:07:49,080
Speaker 4: Ideas that we're dancing around here as we wrap up

1090
01:07:50,040 --> 01:07:54,320
Speaker 4: is something we all recognize, social Darwinism. Do you guys

1091
01:07:54,360 --> 01:07:55,360
Speaker 4: remember this concept?

1092
01:07:55,480 --> 01:07:57,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I was sort of hitting at it

1093
01:07:57,760 --> 01:07:59,720
Speaker 5: in a slightly different wording. At the top is the

1094
01:07:59,720 --> 01:08:04,040
Speaker 5: site of It's an economic version of the survival of

1095
01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:07,440
Speaker 5: the fittest, and this notion that that in some way

1096
01:08:08,080 --> 01:08:11,320
Speaker 5: creates a system that is the best version of things.

1097
01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:12,760
Speaker 3: Nailed it, my friend.

1098
01:08:13,040 --> 01:08:17,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, The idea that we are due to lineage or

1099
01:08:17,479 --> 01:08:21,960
Speaker 4: due to the financial success of our forebears, we are

1100
01:08:22,000 --> 01:08:26,160
Speaker 4: somehow better than people, and our opinions should count for more.

1101
01:08:26,320 --> 01:08:28,840
Speaker 3: Our priorities should count for more.

1102
01:08:29,120 --> 01:08:32,559
Speaker 4: Everybody is equal, but some are more equal than others.

1103
01:08:32,760 --> 01:08:37,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course we have to be fair, guys.

1104
01:08:37,840 --> 01:08:41,200
Speaker 4: There are some advantages to that sort of despotism.

1105
01:08:41,479 --> 01:08:41,720
Speaker 3: You know.

1106
01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,120
Speaker 4: One of the big issues that we have in the

1107
01:08:45,280 --> 01:08:49,559
Speaker 4: United States is that our elected officials serve for a

1108
01:08:49,760 --> 01:08:58,320
Speaker 4: limited number of years. Centralized dictatorship, authoritarian economies and structures

1109
01:08:59,280 --> 01:09:01,599
Speaker 4: do have the I hate to say this, but they

1110
01:09:01,680 --> 01:09:06,360
Speaker 4: do have the ability to enact large scale plans that

1111
01:09:06,439 --> 01:09:11,360
Speaker 4: can take decades to reach fruition because their guys aren't

1112
01:09:11,400 --> 01:09:16,519
Speaker 4: always panicking about whether or not they'll get re elected.

1113
01:09:16,640 --> 01:09:18,519
Speaker 5: We talked about this too in terms of some of

1114
01:09:18,560 --> 01:09:23,479
Speaker 5: our experiences in Qatar talking to business folks. How there's

1115
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:26,560
Speaker 5: a sense that doing business with those type of regimes

1116
01:09:26,680 --> 01:09:29,479
Speaker 5: is beneficial because you can set your watch by it.

1117
01:09:29,640 --> 01:09:31,960
Speaker 5: You don't have to worry about the next change that's coming,

1118
01:09:33,040 --> 01:09:35,440
Speaker 5: so you can you can be a little more predictive

1119
01:09:35,520 --> 01:09:37,799
Speaker 5: with what these deals are going to look like long term.

1120
01:09:38,000 --> 01:09:38,800
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right.

1121
01:09:38,800 --> 01:09:44,040
Speaker 4: Now, remember those conversations, and to be clear, everyone, thank

1122
01:09:44,080 --> 01:09:47,479
Speaker 4: you for tuning in, but this is not what the

1123
01:09:47,600 --> 01:09:50,600
Speaker 4: United States signed up for. You know, this was not

1124
01:09:50,760 --> 01:09:53,960
Speaker 4: the original pitch of the founding fathers. The idea is

1125
01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:57,320
Speaker 4: that you should be able to succeed based on your

1126
01:09:57,479 --> 01:10:01,360
Speaker 4: individual merit. You should have a say in the government

1127
01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:06,679
Speaker 4: because you employ the government, you pay them through taxes.

1128
01:10:06,760 --> 01:10:10,880
Speaker 4: But this is demonstrably not the case. It's I don't know,

1129
01:10:11,080 --> 01:10:15,560
Speaker 4: it's worrisome because if things continue on the current conspiratorial

1130
01:10:15,640 --> 01:10:19,559
Speaker 4: path and you're watching this now, your children are going

1131
01:10:19,600 --> 01:10:21,880
Speaker 4: to have even less of a say than you do

1132
01:10:23,080 --> 01:10:23,559
Speaker 4: in the future.

1133
01:10:23,920 --> 01:10:27,920
Speaker 2: It feels like it's we're right on the edge of

1134
01:10:27,960 --> 01:10:32,040
Speaker 2: it happening here. Collapse, I mean, just like with the

1135
01:10:32,560 --> 01:10:35,639
Speaker 2: Soviet Union, and in that collapse, a handful of people

1136
01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:40,000
Speaker 2: that have enough, you know, capital, step in and buy

1137
01:10:40,080 --> 01:10:42,559
Speaker 2: the shares of the things, if a stock market still

1138
01:10:42,600 --> 01:10:45,519
Speaker 2: exists after the collapse and all of that good stuff.

1139
01:10:47,040 --> 01:10:49,640
Speaker 2: I was reading what is It's a It was a

1140
01:10:49,640 --> 01:10:51,320
Speaker 2: weird website and I don't know much about it, so

1141
01:10:51,400 --> 01:10:53,280
Speaker 2: you have to fact check this website. But I was

1142
01:10:53,320 --> 01:10:59,080
Speaker 2: getting some worry some information off of It's called Ellisberg

1143
01:10:59,280 --> 01:11:03,720
Speaker 2: ideas somebody named David Roche Again. No, I can't back

1144
01:11:03,800 --> 01:11:06,840
Speaker 2: up what this person says or whether it's correct or not,

1145
01:11:07,479 --> 01:11:10,040
Speaker 2: but it resonated with me because I was reading about

1146
01:11:10,120 --> 01:11:13,760
Speaker 2: AI investment and the fragility, the current fragility of the

1147
01:11:13,880 --> 01:11:18,719
Speaker 2: US economy just based on the way AI investment is happening.

1148
01:11:19,479 --> 01:11:20,960
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna read a quick thing on this because

1149
01:11:20,960 --> 01:11:23,840
Speaker 2: it feels like something big is about to happen, and

1150
01:11:23,880 --> 01:11:29,240
Speaker 2: it's there are folks out there, countries China know that

1151
01:11:29,320 --> 01:11:31,240
Speaker 2: this is coming and it's going to happen, and it's

1152
01:11:31,280 --> 01:11:34,720
Speaker 2: being purposefully done. I think that's a little conspiratorial, but

1153
01:11:34,920 --> 01:11:37,640
Speaker 2: that's the way I'm feeling right now. I'm going to

1154
01:11:37,720 --> 01:11:40,720
Speaker 2: read from this. AI investment accounted for forty percent of

1155
01:11:40,840 --> 01:11:43,960
Speaker 2: all fixed asset investment in the US last year. That's

1156
01:11:44,040 --> 01:11:47,720
Speaker 2: things like construction, you actually have something at the end

1157
01:11:47,720 --> 01:11:51,719
Speaker 2: of the investment. Yet it contributed only zero point five

1158
01:11:51,800 --> 01:12:01,360
Speaker 2: percent of GDP growth. So investment forty percent, actual GDP

1159
01:12:01,520 --> 01:12:04,439
Speaker 2: growth zero point five percent, and that's going to fall

1160
01:12:05,160 --> 01:12:08,000
Speaker 2: even more so. So that was twenty twenty five coming up.

1161
01:12:08,000 --> 01:12:12,400
Speaker 2: It's twenty twenty six falling to zero point two percent. Basically,

1162
01:12:14,800 --> 01:12:17,400
Speaker 2: that has to do with AI can't do anything right

1163
01:12:17,439 --> 01:12:20,479
Speaker 2: now to make enough money, and even a percent, a

1164
01:12:20,560 --> 01:12:24,400
Speaker 2: tiny percentage of the money that's being put into it,

1165
01:12:24,400 --> 01:12:26,400
Speaker 2: it can't do it. It can't do it right now.

1166
01:12:26,640 --> 01:12:29,639
Speaker 4: And now where yeah shout out to everybody's water bill

1167
01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:30,639
Speaker 4: by the way.

1168
01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:35,120
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but that's where a massive chunk of US

1169
01:12:35,160 --> 01:12:40,599
Speaker 2: investment is going and it's not making any money. And

1170
01:12:40,680 --> 01:12:44,200
Speaker 2: you add into that this whole our discussion about munitions

1171
01:12:44,479 --> 01:12:48,320
Speaker 2: and the long game that Iran has to get the

1172
01:12:48,439 --> 01:12:52,320
Speaker 2: US and Israel to spend as much of their existing

1173
01:12:52,360 --> 01:12:57,519
Speaker 2: ammunition and then Iran having a lot more ammunition and

1174
01:12:57,560 --> 01:13:04,440
Speaker 2: a war of attrition. It's just it's becoming a very

1175
01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:07,680
Speaker 2: Nobody can see the future. But if I get I

1176
01:13:07,720 --> 01:13:09,240
Speaker 2: have this feeling in my chest. I don't know if

1177
01:13:09,240 --> 01:13:12,160
Speaker 2: you guys share that, that just something is about to happen,

1178
01:13:12,680 --> 01:13:16,400
Speaker 2: especially with DHS being not funded currently, with all those

1179
01:13:16,520 --> 01:13:19,799
Speaker 2: FBI people who watch foreign agents within the United States

1180
01:13:20,120 --> 01:13:21,520
Speaker 2: warnings about cyber.

1181
01:13:21,240 --> 01:13:22,759
Speaker 3: Attacks c I twelve.

1182
01:13:22,840 --> 01:13:30,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the potential for a major attack not the

1183
01:13:30,520 --> 01:13:34,960
Speaker 2: same as but maybe similar to the September eleventh attacks,

1184
01:13:35,200 --> 01:13:37,680
Speaker 2: and who knows where it would come from or how

1185
01:13:37,720 --> 01:13:40,080
Speaker 2: it would happen, or even who would sponsor the people

1186
01:13:40,680 --> 01:13:41,599
Speaker 2: that carry it out.

1187
01:13:41,920 --> 01:13:45,599
Speaker 4: And still you tell me over and over again, my friend,

1188
01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:50,200
Speaker 4: you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction. I've

1189
01:13:50,360 --> 01:13:54,400
Speaker 4: got to stop listening to that song because I completely

1190
01:13:54,439 --> 01:13:55,759
Speaker 4: agree with what you're saying.

1191
01:13:56,720 --> 01:13:58,599
Speaker 3: This is an meganith.

1192
01:14:01,040 --> 01:14:05,759
Speaker 4: It's in a way, in a way, are we headed

1193
01:14:05,800 --> 01:14:09,799
Speaker 4: toward a mega death. That's where we leave it for now, because, yes, folks,

1194
01:14:10,400 --> 01:14:14,160
Speaker 4: the United States is a work in progress. It is

1195
01:14:14,360 --> 01:14:18,320
Speaker 4: an experiment, and it's an experiment worth conducting. It is

1196
01:14:18,479 --> 01:14:24,519
Speaker 4: a democracy, yet it is also functionally an oligarchy. We

1197
01:14:24,560 --> 01:14:29,120
Speaker 4: are profoundly sad to say. History has proven time and

1198
01:14:29,160 --> 01:14:32,920
Speaker 4: time and time again that this type of social structure,

1199
01:14:33,320 --> 01:14:39,320
Speaker 4: this type of conspiracy, often has bloody consequences in the

1200
01:14:39,479 --> 01:14:45,120
Speaker 4: long term. Right, the exit plan sometimes ends up being guillotines, revolutions,

1201
01:14:45,439 --> 01:14:50,160
Speaker 4: third story windows. But the system can be changed, the

1202
01:14:50,240 --> 01:14:54,639
Speaker 4: conspiracy can be halted. We can build a better place,

1203
01:14:55,080 --> 01:15:00,800
Speaker 4: one closer to what those crazy founding fathers brainstormed from

1204
01:15:00,880 --> 01:15:03,720
Speaker 4: the jump, you know, and that, more than anything, is

1205
01:15:03,760 --> 01:15:07,320
Speaker 4: the stuff the oligarchs don't want you to know. Thank

1206
01:15:07,360 --> 01:15:10,080
Speaker 4: you so much for tuning in. Be safe, out there.

1207
01:15:10,360 --> 01:15:14,040
Speaker 4: We can't wait to hear your thoughts, especially if you

1208
01:15:14,280 --> 01:15:15,840
Speaker 4: are a billionaire.

1209
01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:18,800
Speaker 3: Is that the one that gets us in trouble? What

1210
01:15:18,840 --> 01:15:19,240
Speaker 3: do you think?

1211
01:15:21,640 --> 01:15:21,840
Speaker 4: You know?

1212
01:15:22,120 --> 01:15:26,599
Speaker 5: We accept all commerce. Sure, billionaires hit us up. You

1213
01:15:26,600 --> 01:15:28,720
Speaker 5: can do that by reaching out to us on your

1214
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:31,680
Speaker 5: social media platform of choice, where we are either conspiracy

1215
01:15:31,720 --> 01:15:34,680
Speaker 5: stuff or conspiracy stuff show.

1216
01:15:33,920 --> 01:15:37,360
Speaker 2: Before I tell you our number. Guys. I keep thinking

1217
01:15:37,360 --> 01:15:39,640
Speaker 2: about this thing, and I used to think was completely

1218
01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:43,400
Speaker 2: laughably naive, almost wo wo that you would hear on

1219
01:15:43,439 --> 01:15:44,920
Speaker 2: the internet. I think we all saw it at some

1220
01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:48,760
Speaker 2: point around twenty twelve. I think this concept of an

1221
01:15:48,760 --> 01:15:52,479
Speaker 2: evolution of consciousness, like we need a we need a

1222
01:15:52,520 --> 01:15:55,880
Speaker 2: consciousness shift, or the terminology that's used.

1223
01:15:55,720 --> 01:15:59,320
Speaker 5: For great enlightenment, perhaps this baby.

1224
01:16:00,120 --> 01:16:02,479
Speaker 2: I used to kind of laugh. I'd be like, yeah, okay, whatever,

1225
01:16:03,400 --> 01:16:05,320
Speaker 2: you know, we we exist in this world. This is

1226
01:16:05,360 --> 01:16:07,840
Speaker 2: how it works, is how it functions. It feels more

1227
01:16:07,880 --> 01:16:10,080
Speaker 2: and more that we got the only way out of

1228
01:16:10,120 --> 01:16:17,519
Speaker 2: this thing is to fully reject sounds, insane money and

1229
01:16:17,880 --> 01:16:22,200
Speaker 2: thing does inconveniences and profits and stocks and all those

1230
01:16:22,240 --> 01:16:24,360
Speaker 2: things and just get rid of them.

1231
01:16:24,840 --> 01:16:29,639
Speaker 4: It's interesting, Yeah, we still have. Years ago, I had

1232
01:16:30,160 --> 01:16:33,360
Speaker 4: put out a challenge that we couldn't afford, but we

1233
01:16:33,400 --> 01:16:38,479
Speaker 4: got away with it so far. Please votes, do your

1234
01:16:38,520 --> 01:16:42,080
Speaker 4: best to tell us how the concept of money and

1235
01:16:42,200 --> 01:16:47,160
Speaker 4: economy differs in any way from the concept of religion.

1236
01:16:48,400 --> 01:16:49,839
Speaker 4: We'd love to hear your thoughts.

1237
01:16:50,200 --> 01:16:55,280
Speaker 2: This is your God. Just watch they live again the

1238
01:16:55,439 --> 01:16:59,879
Speaker 2: ones use call us one eight three three std wy.

1239
01:17:01,160 --> 01:17:02,920
Speaker 2: Just give yourself a cool nickname and let us know

1240
01:17:02,960 --> 01:17:04,800
Speaker 2: if we can use your name and message on the air.

1241
01:17:04,840 --> 01:17:06,800
Speaker 2: If you want to send us an email, we've got those.

1242
01:17:07,240 --> 01:17:11,919
Speaker 4: We are the Entities, available twenty four hours and evening,

1243
01:17:12,160 --> 01:17:16,680
Speaker 4: seven nights a week. Be well aware, yet unafraid. Sometimes

1244
01:17:16,760 --> 01:17:21,559
Speaker 4: the void rights back. Send us a random fact. We

1245
01:17:21,680 --> 01:17:26,000
Speaker 4: will send you one in return. Wait pro quo we

1246
01:17:26,160 --> 01:17:30,559
Speaker 4: bono who benefits all of us? Find us out here

1247
01:17:30,600 --> 01:17:52,160
Speaker 4: in the dark conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com.

1248
01:17:52,320 --> 01:17:54,400
Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't want you to Know is a production

1249
01:17:54,520 --> 01:17:59,040
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1250
01:17:59,120 --> 01:18:01,960
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.