1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Uh, it's behind the bastards the podcasts where I talk 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,039 Speaker 1: about my sleeping habits and Miles talks about his baby. 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: How you doing, Miles, I. 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 2: Just started recording. But yeah, I'm great. I'm great. So yeah, 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 2: I'm good man, I'm good. Thanks for having me. It's 6 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 2: been too long. It's been too long. I was wondering, 7 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 2: been too long because I would be selfish. Baby. Yeah, 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 2: I know. Well, now that that guy's out of my 9 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 2: way and out of the you know, got that obstacle 10 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 2: out of uh or my career obstacle out of the way, 11 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 2: I'm back. Baby. 12 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: He hit six months and you're just like locked in 13 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: now it's like done. 14 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you're old. No find a life exactly. Yeah. 15 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,480 Speaker 2: Just you know, like sit in this cardboard box, Yeah, 16 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 2: some of my old Ninja Turtle toys and like an 17 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 2: air pod playing or whatever you know, call it home 18 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 2: pod playing and you're good. Yeah, Miles. How do you 19 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 2: feel about airplanes? 20 00:00:57,920 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: However? 21 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 2: I mean, I like, as a kid, I like going 22 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 2: on airplanes. But you know, you all, you never know 23 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 2: when you're on those things, you never know. That's my 24 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 2: feeling on them. 25 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: Like sometimes you get tricked and realize you're on a 26 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,319 Speaker 1: plane only belatedly you're like, Wow, what an odd, very 27 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,919 Speaker 1: long house with strange windows, And I'm. 28 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 2: Always just thinking they're gonna crash. 29 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: Oh really, Yeah, I don't think that happens always planes anymore. 30 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, not not as much. But I think I've seen 31 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 2: too many like eighties movies that had like plane crashes 32 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 2: in them, that like all get on and then like 33 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 2: when I look at the other passengers on, like like 34 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 2: music starts playing in my head and I'm like, these 35 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 2: are the people that lost their lives on this flight. Yeah, 36 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 2: you know, I think the thing that. 37 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: I that I find unsettling is less like because planes 38 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: are pretty statistically safe except for every now and then 39 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: like that maybe that Malaysian pilot or those guys in France. 40 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: You get like a pilot who just decides to end 41 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: it all and take every one with them, And I 42 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: find that slightly unsettling. You gotta trust them, you gotta 43 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: trust them, you gotta trust them. And pilots are the 44 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 1: kind of people who become pilots. You know, if you've 45 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: ever known a pilot, oh boy, that's not a trustworthy 46 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: breed right there. 47 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 2: This is an anti pipe. 48 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: No. 49 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 2: I feel nothing for pilots one way or the other. 50 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 2: So I feel nothing the. 51 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 3: One person I don't know if it's a pilot, Yes, 52 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 3: that does I was like, I was like, yeah, okay, 53 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 3: maybe maybe it is a. 54 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 2: Thing that I think about it. Yeah, I know somebody 55 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 2: who has a pilot's license. Uh, and they're kind of 56 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 2: like a more like a pirate than a pilot. Okay, yeah, 57 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: I get the vibe. 58 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, miles flying outside of the occasional, 59 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: largely irrational fear of death has become both safe and 60 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: also deeply unpleasant. Like it sucks, Like I think for 61 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: most people, if you have to get on a plane 62 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: to go somewhere, the getting the plane part is pretty 63 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: thoroughly an unpleasant process, right, Oh yeah, and it sucks, 64 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: like comprehensively, Like it's not just that, like being on 65 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: a plane sucks because you're crammed in with all these 66 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 1: people and like, yeah, it's just this physically. 67 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 2: Also, I fucking hate though. Now how basically they want 68 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 2: to make seats as uncomfortable as fucking possible. So you're like, well, 69 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 2: we have economy plus economy plus plus yeah, economy plus 70 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 2: cubed business first Diamond, And you're like what the fuck 71 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 2: can I just have like like just slightly more room 72 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 2: because I'm over six feet tall, Like, just please. 73 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 3: They also have the thing now where like they have 74 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 3: the Okay, you can pay less, but you don't. 75 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 4: Get to pick your seat. Yeah that that that used 76 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 4: to like used to suggest. 77 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 2: To be the way the planes worked. Yeah, everything to 78 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 2: fucking add on. Now. 79 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: It's good that we're talking about this because today we're 80 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: talking about the guy who made it that way, right, 81 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: We're talking about the dude who made all that be 82 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: a factor in flying, who like turned it from a 83 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: process where you just bought a ticket to go to 84 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: a place and you were treated like a human being 85 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: to this this bizarre, weird capitalist nightmare where you've got 86 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 1: like eleven different options and all of them suck way 87 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: more than being on a fucking train. That's who we're 88 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: talking about. His name is Frank Lorenzo, and he made 89 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: planes suck. Yeah's it was a fun little monster today 90 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: getting some capitalism bad guy here. 91 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 2: So I like this, Okay, so good. I don't have 92 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 2: to deal with too much. I can just deal with 93 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 2: my own frustrations that are based off of being on 94 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 2: a plane rather than something deeply horrifically fucked up like 95 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 2: every other time. 96 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's it's fucked up in that he's 97 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: like your normal sort, he's like your uber capitalist kind 98 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: of asshole. But it's also this thing where like the 99 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,559 Speaker 1: whole airline industry, like all of the pilots and ground 100 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: crews and stewardesses and stuff who have been working in 101 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: it for a while like blame this guy for reathing 102 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: that sucks with air travel, and some of the things 103 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: they blame him for are like things that they kind 104 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: of did, Like it's not you know, it's not all 105 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: on him, right, right, but uh yeah, it's it's an 106 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: interesting story and it's it's it's pretty bastardy. So that's 107 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: what we're gonna talk about this week. We're gonna about 108 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: Frank fucking Lorenzo. 109 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 2: Hm uh huh. So. 110 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:26,280 Speaker 1: Francisco Anthony Lorenzo was born on May twenty ninth, nineteen forty, 111 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: in New York City the Wendy Apple but he was 112 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: the third of three sons, and his parents were named 113 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: Oligario and Anna Lorenzo. Everything's fine with his name except 114 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: for the Anthony as a middle name. I don't trust 115 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: people with an Anthony, right, name. Anthony's a first name, 116 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: could be a last name. It's never it shouldn't be 117 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: a middle name. 118 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 2: Wait, why do you still feel so fucking strongly about 119 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 2: what a middle name? I don't think it's right as 120 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 2: a middle name. 121 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 4: Why are you being so conspiratorial today? 122 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 2: What do you mean? I don't know, it's an interesting 123 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 2: I'm just we're gaining perspective and Robert's mind, like, because 124 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 2: I think I feel like seventy percent of like Catholic 125 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 2: men's middle name is Anthony. Yeah. 126 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: Well, I don't trust the papists, you know. 127 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 2: Like, yeah, that makes sense. They're loyalty for Kyles. Yeah exactly. Yeah, 128 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 2: what is a good middle name? Like tittlely bop? Anyway, 129 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 2: so forgot all the middle names. 130 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: So his dan ran a beauty salon and his mom 131 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,680 Speaker 1: worked at the beauty salon, and they were like pretty comfortable, 132 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: Like they're not rich, but they're pretty solidly middle class. 133 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: They're doing well enough that his dad is able to 134 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: play the stock market as a hobby. He's again he's 135 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: not like, you know, fucking printing paper, but he's got 136 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: a portfolio that's worth like one hundred and twenty grand 137 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: by the time he dies. Which you know, you're talking 138 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 1: like the seventies, the eighties. That's not bad, that's not 139 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: like he's doing pretty good. 140 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 2: Yeah. 141 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: So one of the things that Oligario teaches his son 142 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,040 Speaker 1: about is the concept of risk. And when we say 143 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: risk in this context, we mean gambling, right, Like when 144 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: money people talk about risk, they're talking about like whether 145 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: or not you have a good shot of like, you know, 146 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: winning when you throw your your your dice at that 147 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: roulette wheel or whatever. Frank was pretty good at this 148 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: from the beginning. He showed an aptitude for numbers, and 149 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: he was really fascinated specifically with how he could fuck 150 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: around with numbers in order to make money. When he 151 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: was in junior high school, he ran the school betting 152 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: pool on the World Series, which was illegal at the time. 153 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 2: But what are you a cop? Come on? So wow, 154 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 2: So he was running just taking bets on the fucking 155 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 2: world Yeah, takes bets on the World Series. Whimsical times. Yeah, 156 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 2: good stuff. 157 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: The single most enduring memory Frank had of his childhood 158 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: was of the family apartment, which sat right under the 159 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: approach for LaGuardia Airport. As a little kid, he'd spend 160 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: hours watching the different planes from various airlines land. Now 161 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: this is a period in which flying is pretty new, right, 162 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: Like if you're watching planes fly overhead, and like the 163 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: fifties and sixties, we've been doing that, you know, about 164 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: as long as today Paul Rudd has been alive, right, Like, 165 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: that's what you gotta think if you're watching like planes 166 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: in the sixties, like planes as a concept or about 167 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: as old as Paul Rudd is to us. 168 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 2: Wait, and what do we when we say Paul Rudd, 169 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 2: what are we dating that from his birth or his 170 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 2: entrance into our sort of pop culture consciousness? 171 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, I would I would say from his birth. But like, 172 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: either way, I don't remember a time without Paul Rudd, 173 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: do you. 174 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 2: I mean, for me, I think Clueless is the the 175 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 2: punctuation point that is, like, that is the point where 176 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 2: he that's the big bang, I would say. 177 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: For yeah, that's the big bang for Paul Rudd, or 178 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: at least for me. Yeah, yeah, the Permian explosion. 179 00:08:55,880 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 2: Exactly. He's still redational waves of that movie from when 180 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 2: Paul Rud came on the scene. 181 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, so he's watching the planes fly overhead. He doesn't 182 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,319 Speaker 1: know yet about the movie Clueless because it's the sixties 183 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: but one day he presumably will watch it. So by 184 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: the time Frank is making memories, Man had only been 185 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: taking commercial international trips for about twenty five years. There 186 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: was still a magic to air travel then, and it 187 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: was only slightly dimmed by all of the people who'd 188 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,439 Speaker 1: gotten incinerated from the sky during World War Two. Airlines 189 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: in those days were run by the same kinds of 190 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: guys who'd helped invent air travel as like a thing. 191 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: So these dudes like airlines CEOs today are just like 192 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: any kind of ceo, right But back in the day, 193 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: airline CEOs were all former pilots who'd like been test pilots, 194 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: they'd like flown in wars, and they were often crazy people, 195 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: right like, that was just the kind of person who 196 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: could get these jobs. A representative example of the pack 197 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: was Robert Foreman six, the CEO of Continental Airlines, which 198 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: was the most prestigious air line in the country during 199 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: Frank's childhood. Six became the CEO of that company in 200 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six and held the job until nineteen eighty, 201 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: by which point he was like senile in the company 202 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: was failing because he didn't know how to do anything anymore. 203 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: He had dropped out of high school at seventeen and 204 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: gotten fired from his sales job for taking flying lessons 205 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: on company time. He'd received his flying license at twenty 206 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: two and become an air racer. And he got like 207 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: rich during World War Two because he used all of 208 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: his airlines planes to take US troops to Europe for 209 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,559 Speaker 1: the Army Air Corps. Like that was just a thing 210 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 1: the big airlines did as they were like I guess 211 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,199 Speaker 1: we're having a war, Everybody like take your Yeah. It's 212 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: like it's like if we were like diverting seven thirty 213 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: sevens to Ukraine so we could like kick explosives out 214 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:51,359 Speaker 1: of the back match. 215 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 2: I mean why not yet? Yeah with Jet Blue. Yeah, 216 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 2: that's when you see Spirit Airlines flying overhead. Yeah. 217 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:02,320 Speaker 1: After the war, he got rich, particularly because like he 218 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: was the dude who started inviting celebrities to take like 219 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,079 Speaker 1: you know trips on his planes to you know, vacation 220 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: destinations or to Europe. Like the idea of the jet 221 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: set is created in part by like Robert six, Like 222 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: that's the dude that he is. He makes flying sexy. 223 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: He also beat the absolute hell out of his wife 224 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: and kids. But like that kind of goes without saying, right, 225 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: the different time rich maniac and this part period of time. 226 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, probably, holy shit, not great, you're saying that whole 227 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 2: like I know, like there are these places in la 228 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 2: where it's like the inside of an old airplane where 229 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 2: people can pretend it's like the glamorous air travel time. 230 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 2: That's all because of this. 231 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: Yes, Bobby six is the dude who like creates that 232 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: cultural touchstone or helps him and then became a decrepit 233 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: monkey skeleton in his ladder years. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, 234 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: for some reason, a lot of guys have trouble giving 235 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: up power and influence miles wild stuff. Thankfully our generation 236 00:11:58,120 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: will never know anything about that. 237 00:11:59,679 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 3: No. 238 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: So then there was Edward Vernon Rickenbacker. Who, Man, that 239 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 1: is a pilot name. That's a hell of a pilot name. 240 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 2: He could be Veron. How about Vernon is a middle name. 241 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 2: I'm fine with Vernon. 242 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: Vernon's a fine middle name, you know, a little old timy, 243 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: but yeah it works for me though. Yeah, no, tittally Bob. Sorry, 244 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: So obviously Edward Vernon Rickenbacker. That's a World War One 245 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: fighter pilot, and he was, in fact a World War 246 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: One fighter pilot. He wins the Medal of Honor. He's 247 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: actually the most decorated US flying ace of the war. 248 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,839 Speaker 1: And as a side hobby is a race car driver, 249 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: because like, why wouldn't you be the coolest dude you 250 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: could possibly be? 251 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 2: It was of the sky. 252 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, every now and then, if he saw one by 253 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,439 Speaker 1: the edge of the track, he'd just like run him over, 254 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: you know, get a German blonde hair, let's showio like 255 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: most grand pilots. Yeah, gotta get the fuck out of 256 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: that state. And his pin shot for Devil Daredevil read 257 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:00,800 Speaker 1: mainly it came from the fact that he was like 258 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: the least lucky person on the planet. As a toddler, 259 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: he was hit by a street car and knocked twelve 260 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: feet down into an open sewer. His brother twice had 261 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: to save him after he was hit by passing coal 262 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,680 Speaker 1: cars as a little kid. One time his school caught 263 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,680 Speaker 1: on fire and he nearly died trying to save his 264 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: coat from the building. So, yeah, like this d sounds 265 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,320 Speaker 1: like a really normal When was he born in like I. 266 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 2: Don't know, you know, late eighteen hundred something like that. 267 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 2: Yeah that sounds like, yeah, that sounds like a very 268 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 2: normal childhood. I think back then it's like, yeah, everyone 269 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 2: was fucking ran over into an open funting sewer as 270 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 2: a baby. 271 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's just like constantly it like getting maimed and beaten, 272 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 1: and it's like, I guess the sky could be worse, right, Like, yeah, 273 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: German bullets aren't more dangerous than the street in nineteen thirteen, 274 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: so that the it. 275 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 2: Is just such a different time because like, you know, 276 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 2: you look at those old pictures of like what jungle 277 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,280 Speaker 2: gyms used to look like for kids, like in the 278 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:03,560 Speaker 2: fucking twenties, and it was just a big gun on 279 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 2: the ground. Yeah, exactly. It was like a knife pit 280 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 2: with like a bunch of poles that were like twenty 281 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,719 Speaker 2: five feet high, with like you know, handles and shit 282 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 2: on it. So kids could just sit on top and 283 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 2: break their fucking necks. 284 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, if they If they die, they die. So 285 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: after the war, he founded a motor company, and this 286 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: motor company went very quickly bankrupt, but he was famous 287 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: because he'd been such a good fighter pilot, so he 288 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: was still able to create another company. This one was 289 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: an airline called Florida Airways, which collapsed because would you 290 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: fly on Florida Airways, Like absolutely not, No, It. 291 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 2: Sounds like you're gonna get robbed. Like they're like, you idiot, 292 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 2: you really thought this was a fucking airline. Yeah, this 293 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 2: your fucking money. 294 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: Now you're gonna get robbed and you're gonna have to 295 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: sit next to the guy until it lands in Sarasota, right, Like. 296 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, there's no flight, Robert, there's no flight Florida 297 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 2: air that's a euphemism. It's a code word for a 298 00:14:57,720 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 2: fucking like armed robbery breaking. 299 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: Come on, Oh, yeah, he's flying Florida Airways now yeah. 300 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 2: Oh, looks like you got two first class tickets of 301 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,119 Speaker 2: Florida Airways. 302 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: So Florida Airways also collapses. 303 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 4: Like that's not real. That has to be a fake name. 304 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: No, No, that's that's the real that's the real name. 305 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: And it becomes the foundation of a lot of modern 306 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: air travel because he takes Florida Airways while it's failing, 307 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: and again largely because he's just got so much famous 308 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: guy clout, he's able to merge it with Eastern air 309 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: Transport to create Eastern Airlines, which becomes one of the 310 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: titans of the first Big age of air travel. He 311 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,160 Speaker 1: also was a cartoonist. Weirdly enough, basically if you wanted 312 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: to do it as a job when you were nine. 313 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 2: This guy lived it. 314 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: He was in every way a cooler dude than the 315 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: subject of our episode, Frank Lorenzo. 316 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 2: I just used to be a flagpole center too. 317 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: So by the time our boy Frank was in his 318 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: late teens, his family was doing well enough that his 319 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: father sent him to a super fan and see rich 320 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: kids school, Forest Hills High in Queen's. In his description 321 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: of Forest Hills, Lorenzo emphasized emphasizes what a fish out 322 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: of water he was. He's this blue collar Spanish kid 323 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: and a school filled with white collar Jewish kids. But 324 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: like his dad's like playing the market as a hobby 325 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: and as a business owner. So he's like, it's not 326 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: that blue collar. Like he over emphasizes it. There's a 327 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: little bit of like, I don't know, Jewish panic type 328 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: deal where he's like, well, compared to all of these 329 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: these Jewish kids, I was real commoner, you know stuff. 330 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,960 Speaker 1: It's like, come on, man, chill at, chill out, Frank. 331 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 2: So the fuck up. 332 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: It does sound like it was an insufferable school, because again, 333 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: everybody there is pretty rich. One of his classmates was 334 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: John Winnekure, who went on to edit Paris's International Herald Tribune. 335 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: Simon and garf Uncle were one year below him. I 336 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: wish there was something more interesting about that, but like 337 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: that's that's the only fact I found about it. The 338 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: one real warning sign Frank exhibited at this point is 339 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: that he volunteered to work as a hall monitor, which is, oh, yeah, cop, no, 340 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:08,199 Speaker 1: absolutely not. 341 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 2: That's uh yeah, I found it acceptable. I found out 342 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 2: my partner her majesty was like a hall monitor. Like, 343 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,160 Speaker 2: when I found that out, it I thought I had 344 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 2: like an existential crisis almost where I was like, what 345 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 2: the Like, you're a cop and you wanted to do that. 346 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 2: It's like yeah, and you got the you got to 347 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,880 Speaker 2: wear the sash and shit, I'm like, this is fucked up. 348 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's uh, that's bleak, you know I I uh, 349 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: I feel like hall monitors. 350 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. 351 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: It's it's like the DEA for not wanting to be 352 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: in math class. Yeah right, it's it's yeah, it's r 353 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,719 Speaker 1: O t C for you know, baby whatever, baby cops. 354 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: I mean, you don't actually get to do anything in 355 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 1: r O t C except what looked like a piece 356 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,360 Speaker 1: of ship and that stupid uniform to get to wear. 357 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,160 Speaker 2: It though, and fucking salute the flag. Honor the flag, man. 358 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: I'll have a lot of fucking saluting the flag. Jesus Christ. 359 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 2: So did the ROTC kids you have? I had ROTC 360 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 2: kids like uh in my school that were basically like 361 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:12,400 Speaker 2: have like doing stolen valor, like wearing metals and shit, 362 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 2: like on a weird jacket. As they put the flag out, 363 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 2: I was like, is. 364 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,680 Speaker 1: This, Oh man, they got in our ROTC We got swords. 365 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: We got swords for a while, and then one of 366 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: the kids drew his to like attack some other kids, 367 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: and then they were like, I guess we can't have 368 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: them all wearing swords anymore. 369 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 2: Were they super sharp? No? I mean they were. 370 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 1: They were like swords, but they were like parades ceremony. 371 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: They had not been sharpened, but like, yeah it was 372 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: still a sword. 373 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that was obviously how that was going to go. 374 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 2: Of course, yeah that was going to go. 375 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: And it made me just think that everyone at school 376 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: should have to wear a full saber at all times. 377 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: But that's that's a separate belief. 378 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,879 Speaker 2: So honestly, I joined ROTC for the sword. Like if 379 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 2: I heard it's like a lot of people did a 380 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 2: lot of people did. I'm doing it for the sword. 381 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 2: Do it for the sword, y'all? Do it for the sword. 382 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,120 Speaker 1: So at this point his life goal, Frank's life goal 383 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: was to study engineering when he went off to college. 384 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: He graduated in the late fifties and was accepted to 385 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: Columbia University, and this right up from Texas Monthly describes 386 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 1: his time in college pretty well. The making of Frank 387 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: Lorenzo seems to have begun at Columbia University, where he 388 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: graduated in nineteen sixty one and later endowed a scholarship 389 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: in his father's name. He was well known there amid 390 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,360 Speaker 1: the two thousand students. He joined the top fraternity, Sigma Kai, 391 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,480 Speaker 1: and served in student government as secretary treasurer of the 392 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: Undergraduate Dormitory Council. 393 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 4: That was worst fraternity at my college. 394 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 2: They liked Sigma Kai. 395 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 4: They got like removed for doing that shit. 396 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he's just waite, Sophie. He's a piece of 397 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: shit in this school, all right. 398 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 4: Cook cool. 399 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: Former classmates use words like glib and slick to describe him. 400 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: He tended to skate close to the edge, recalls classmate 401 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,160 Speaker 1: David C. Furman, Lorenzo's college nickname around his flat Frankie 402 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: smooth Talk. The monikers seemed particularly well suited and lighted. 403 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 4: Ship up right now. 404 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 2: No, he was Frankie. He was Frankie Smooth Talk. 405 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: So and and so the thing that he fucking does 406 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: in college that's so funny is like he's in this 407 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: campus political organization that's that's linked to all of the 408 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: Christian fraternities like Sigma Kai, to try to make sure 409 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,679 Speaker 1: that the Christian fraternities get a bunch of student officers, 410 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: and they're specifically they're opposed. It's not like a left 411 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,120 Speaker 1: versus right thing. The Christian fraternities are fighting the Jewish fraternities. 412 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: So first off, you could guess there's some problematic shit 413 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:42,400 Speaker 1: being said in the background. And so yeah, he's he's 414 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: like basically he's there Roger Stone. And the night before 415 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: the final day of balloting for seats on the student 416 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: governing board, Lorenzo meets with a bunch of other like 417 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: these Christian frat guys in a dorm room to discuss quote, 418 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: the possibility of voting twice. So he and all of 419 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: these other guys like make a list of students who 420 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 1: probably wouldn't vote and then go vote illegally in their 421 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: names to rig the election. So he's like he's he's 422 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: the Roger Stone, or at least the e Howard Hunt 423 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: to like shady kind of bigoted college politics. 424 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 2: Wow, what an entry way. 425 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:19,399 Speaker 3: M h. 426 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, yeah, we had to dilute the Jewish vote, 427 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 2: but yeah, some voter fraud. What Yeah, exactly, I got 428 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,640 Speaker 2: this shareholder meeting covered what I feel like I'm going 429 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 2: to get. 430 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,480 Speaker 1: I feel like I can guarantee you they didn't say 431 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,199 Speaker 1: we're going to beat the Jewish frats. They used a 432 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: different word. 433 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I was doing the version. 434 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: Yeah no, these guys are definitely a slur heavy frat. 435 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 2: Oh yeah. 436 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: One of the things I find really funny is that 437 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: Lorenzo's like, he's like their Roger Stone, but he's terrible 438 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: at committing crimes. So he is the only member of 439 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: this conspiracy who gets caught voting twice, the student paper reported. 440 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,959 Speaker 1: At first, he denied everything and claimed that he had 441 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: tried it as a stunt to test the election commission 442 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,959 Speaker 1: to see if anyone can actually get away with voting twice. 443 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: So he actually does the whole like I was just 444 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: testing to make sure that your guys had good security. 445 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 2: Oh good, good, good to know, good to know. Yeah, 446 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 2: that's like this shit that the fucking guy's on to 447 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,239 Speaker 2: catch a predator. Say, yeah, when they get caught, Like 448 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 2: I was here to warn the kid about what can 449 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,120 Speaker 2: happen when you talk to people on the internet. Yeah, 450 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 2: that's why I came. Uh huh, yeah, he does that. 451 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 2: You know, guys, you know who else engages an anti 452 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 2: sent note, We shouldn't say that, So how do we 453 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 2: Let's just pull the ads right now. Oh, all right, 454 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 2: and we are back. We're back, and we're talking about 455 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 2: our buddy, Frank Lorenzo, the Roger Stone of anti Semitic 456 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 2: college election shit. So the newspaper continues that story. After 457 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,400 Speaker 2: he pretended to be testing the election system, Lorenzo soon 458 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,120 Speaker 2: cracked under the pressure of the board's questioning and admitted 459 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 2: to voting twice. He and five others were banned from 460 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 2: ever voting again in a Columbia election. So he has 461 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 2: permanently he has a school politics felon. He's permanently lost his. 462 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:35,439 Speaker 1: Right to vote at Columbia University. It's funny, now, this 463 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,960 Speaker 1: was before culture war politics had become as monetizable as 464 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: they are today. Like, I think there's if this kid 465 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,479 Speaker 1: is going to school in the present, he never becomes 466 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: a business guy. He like joins Turning Point USA straight 467 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: out of college and like tries to milk this for forever. Yeah, 468 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: he has a podcast on Daily Wire. Oh yes, absolutely so. 469 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: Yeah Lorenzo. Because the campus Pressed doesn't have much to 470 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: focus on, Lorenzo kind of becomes their Nixon for a while. 471 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: When classes start back up in the fall, the paper 472 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 1: starts a campaign to make him resign from his position 473 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: on the dorm room Council based due to his quote 474 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: lack of any semblance of self respect and honor. Now 475 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: every someone, especially because it's like you're on the dorm 476 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: room council. Now. I've never went to Columbia, but I 477 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: did briefly live in a dorm in college before I 478 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,640 Speaker 1: dropped out. And the only thing I know about our 479 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: dorm room officers is that I bought liquor from them 480 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 1: when I was eighteen. 481 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 2: Well yeah, exactly, yeah, they were selling you. They were 482 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 2: selling you like diluted drugs basically. But I love that, 483 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 2: even for the bar to be basically subterranean, that they 484 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 2: would still say, Yeah, you're just lack of what do 485 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,439 Speaker 2: you say, so what was it self? Re lack of 486 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 2: any semblance of self respect and honor. It's so funny. 487 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 2: So Lorenzo eventually decides to resign, and he writes a 488 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 2: public letter announcing that he's giving up his job. But 489 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 2: he doesn't give a specific reason for why he quit. 490 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 2: He just says, the political events of the past semester 491 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 2: make by resignation mandatory. So you can see just kind 492 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 2: of instinctively like this dude, this dude has what it 493 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:17,679 Speaker 2: is going to have what it takes to succeed in 494 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 2: business or politics. 495 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,639 Speaker 1: Totally from the available information. It kind of seems like 496 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: the rest of his time in school goes by without 497 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: anything a podcast about shitty people can make content out of. 498 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: At least over the time he was there, Frank's interest 499 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: veered from engineering and towards economics, a clear sign that 500 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,880 Speaker 1: he was going to be a shitty person. He also 501 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: started reading biographies of various famous business tycoons, like Andrew Carnegie, 502 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: who once sent an army of Pinkerton detectives to launch 503 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,120 Speaker 1: a seaborne invasion of a mill occupied by striking workers, 504 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: which sparked a massive gun battle, like a twelve hour 505 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: gun battle that ended with strikers hucking dynamite into the 506 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 1: Pinkerton boats and rolling a flaming train car at the 507 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: barges in the river to break the beachhead. Now we 508 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: can assume that when he read about this, Frank made 509 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: a note of how violence with nothing but money behind 510 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,439 Speaker 1: it didn't work for Carnegie. It was only once he 511 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,640 Speaker 1: got the government on his side that he was able 512 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: to crush the strike. And this is a thing that 513 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: Frank's going to make a note of, right that, like, 514 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: you can't just have guys with guns going to break 515 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: up strikers, because there's always going to be more strikers 516 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: than you have guys with guns. You got to get 517 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,679 Speaker 1: the Feds on your back because they always have the 518 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: most guns. 519 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,679 Speaker 2: Yeah, and the best toys, and the best toys for sure. Yeah. 520 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 1: Now, while he was a frat boy, Frank was not 521 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,199 Speaker 1: wealthy enough for his parents to pay his tuition. He 522 00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: had to work odd jobs throughout school, selling ties at 523 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 1: Macy's and at one point driving a Coola truck, which 524 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: required him to join the Teamsters union. If he ever 525 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,919 Speaker 1: commented on the pay and benefits he received, due to 526 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: his union membership. We have no record of it, but 527 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: he does have to spend some time as a union man, 528 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 1: which will be relevant in a little bit. Once he 529 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: graduated from Columbia, Frank applied to Harvard Business School, where 530 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,479 Speaker 1: he wanted to get an MBA. He was a member 531 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,159 Speaker 1: of it, the generation of young business executives who had 532 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: become what we're called corporate raiders in the seventies and eighties. Right, 533 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: This is We've talked about this in our Jack Welsh episodes. 534 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: It's kind of period. This transitionary period from like the 535 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: sixties to the seventies is sort of the birth of 536 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,440 Speaker 1: the ideas that we now just see as like how 537 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: capitalism works. 538 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 2: That like private equity. 539 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,959 Speaker 1: Yeah, private equity company's only responsibilities to a shareholders like 540 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: you know, strip mind resources for short term profits, lay 541 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: people off, to dig the stock price up so you 542 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: guys can get money. 543 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 2: You know, people died because the business became so poorly 544 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 2: one because we're extracting all the money out of him. 545 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 2: Yeah whatever was fine, fine. 546 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, that is kind of the era at least that 547 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:42,880 Speaker 1: he's going to Harvard in is like the guys who 548 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 1: are going to preside over that transition in capitalism are 549 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: all kind of in school at the same time. 550 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, the guys who are voting twice in college elections 551 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,919 Speaker 2: set up an intricate system of shell companies to be 552 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 2: able to dodge any kind of legal liability when people die. 553 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly what else you don't want to not dodge 554 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: legal liability when people die? Miles think you want to 555 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: be like that genius CEO of Ocean Gate, you know, 556 00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:11,120 Speaker 1: Stockton Rush dodge all liability by imploding. Yeah. 557 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, doesn't this Stockton. I feel like whenever I hear 558 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 2: that name, it sounds like a fucking arena football team. 559 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, the Stockton Rushes. Yeah, the Stockton Rushers. I don't 560 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: know if there's a Fort Stockton. So yeah, you guys, 561 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,160 Speaker 1: you could like pivot off this. You know, it takes 562 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: take advantage of the SEO opportunity. 563 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 2: Makes some weird joke football. 564 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:39,080 Speaker 1: So where Lorenzo really shined is at social organizations at Harvard. 565 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: He's not he doesn't love the classes, you know, he 566 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 1: does well, but like he kind of comes out of 567 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: Harvard being like, well that was more or less for 568 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: the name, right, like to be able to say, like 569 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: I graduated from Harvard, but he does do well running 570 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: the Harvard Cafeteria news stand, which is the only store 571 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: on the business school campus. He apparently makes bank doing this, 572 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,960 Speaker 1: so yeah, might as well start with grifting other Harvard kids. 573 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,239 Speaker 1: His first job after at graduation was at TWA, an 574 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: airline that at the time was headed by Floyd Hall. 575 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: Like the other airline CEOs we talked about, Hall was 576 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: a two fisted Army pilot who had fought in World 577 00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: War Two and then worked for the airline as a 578 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 1: pilot before becoming CEO. Floyd got hired away to Eastern 579 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: Airlines right as Lorenzo started working at TWA, which signified 580 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: like a new era of management, Like Floyd kind of 581 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: leaves TWA and gets replaced by a dude who's not 582 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 1: a pilot, not a war hero. And it's kind of 583 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 1: part of this transition where Americans are starting to see 584 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: airlines not as like these kind of symbols of progress 585 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: and American greatness, but as like, you know, assets to 586 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,720 Speaker 1: be mined for profit. Right it's the business is becoming 587 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 1: more of a normal business. It's losing its kind of prestige. 588 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna quote from Texas Monthly again as a 589 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:00,320 Speaker 1: manager of financial analysis. Lorenzo distinguished himself as a man 590 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 1: who could push past details to the heart of the matter, 591 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: but he was too ambitious to patiently work his way 592 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: up the corporate ladder. A year later, at twenty six, 593 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: he resigned to go into business with a soft spoken 594 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: a Harvard classmate from New England, Bob Carney, who worked 595 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: for two New York investment houses. The two formed Lorenzo 596 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: carnean Company. Although the company at the time was a secretary. 597 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: We thought we could make some money in airlines, Carnee recalls. 598 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: We had an entrepreneurial burge. Each partner put up one 599 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Lorenzo Carney was essentially a consulting firm in 600 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: search of investment opportunities. So they don't really have a 601 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: plan for what their business is going to do. They 602 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,479 Speaker 1: just like start a business and like, if we can 603 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: just get an airline to pay us for something, we'll 604 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,719 Speaker 1: figure it out. So they try a few things they 605 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: struggle to get a start, like leasing out planes and shit, 606 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:47,480 Speaker 1: but they're not able to actually like make a profit. 607 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: So they spin off from this business that doesn't work 608 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: to yet another business, Jet Capital Corporation, and somehow it's 609 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: kind of unclear to me exactly how this works, but 610 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: like they start a company and I just sort of 611 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: like start going around to investors with money in nineteen 612 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:07,480 Speaker 1: sixty nine and going like and then a cool name, 613 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: Jet Capital Corporation, Can we have some money? 614 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, yeah. I didn't want to get in on this. Yeah, yeah, 615 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 2: I wonder was this like the Internet kind of where 616 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 2: enough people kind of knew but probably just weren't savvy enough. 617 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 2: Like they're pretty confident, and they're called Jet Capital Corporation. 618 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of one of those things, right, And 619 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: so they get one point four million dollars and they 620 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: don't have really much of a business plan, but they 621 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: don't need one. And as soon as they get this 622 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: pile of money, Frank, you know, there's some other stuff 623 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: they are doing, some consulting, but Frank pretty immediately is like, 624 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: that's all small potatoes. What I want to do is 625 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: I want to like take this money and use it 626 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: as a basis to get more money so we can 627 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:49,479 Speaker 1: just purchase an airline. Now, basically, as he's kind of 628 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: like talking this up, he's going around, he's going to parties. 629 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 1: He's able to like make friends with some guys from 630 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: Chase Manhattan Bank, and these dudes are eventually like, hey, guys, 631 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: you know, we have this this boutique airline in Texas 632 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: that's doing really shitty, Like if we can help you, 633 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: guys put some money together, you can buy this airline 634 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: and try to rescue it and make a bunch of money. 635 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: And it's here that I should probably pause to explain 636 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: how fucking airlines work in this period of time. 637 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,480 Speaker 2: Because it's weird flying again. 638 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: Like you know, nineteen eighteen is kind of when it 639 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,280 Speaker 1: first becomes a business in the United States, because that's 640 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: the year the Post Office starts doing air mail routes, 641 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: and air mail is like the first big business that 642 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: like planes are involved in in the country. US Army 643 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: pilots are all of like the people actually flying the routes, 644 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: and they established this national system of runways and airfields 645 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: that kind of this is what eventually turns into the 646 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: airports that are all over the country. It all starts 647 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,080 Speaker 1: as like Post Office air mail, like landing strips and shit. 648 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: This is all supported by something called the nineteen twenty 649 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: five Contract Airmail app. This gives the Post Office the 650 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: right to award roots to private carriers, which kind of 651 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: creates the private industry for flying and shit. So the 652 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 1: years that follow this are this kind of messy slurry 653 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: of these new airlines flighting for routes and the government 654 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: struggling to make sure there's places for them to land. 655 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: It's really messy. But all four of the major airlines 656 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: that dominate the sky today, which are like United, American, 657 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: trans World, and Eastern, originate from this period, right, Like, 658 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: these are the guys that all of our modern airlines 659 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 1: are basically the big ones at least are basically directly 660 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: or kind of indirectly descended from right, come off history, Yeah, exactly. 661 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 1: So passenger service, you're not like flying people, right, because 662 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 1: planes are terrifying death traps, like they can barely take 663 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: letters places. But this starts to change by the late 664 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,239 Speaker 1: thirties under the watchful eye of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who 665 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: is like, you know, a modern dude, but also pretty 666 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: bullish on regulation. So under Roosevelt, in nineteen thirty eight, 667 00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: Congress passes the Civil Aeronautics Act, which gives regulatory authority 668 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: over air travel to something called the Civil Aviation Authority. 669 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,280 Speaker 1: And so the Civil Aviation Authority quickly gets a better 670 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: acronym called CAB because they change their name to the 671 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 1: Civil Aeronautics Board, and these are this is like the 672 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: precursor to the FAA. Right, CAB is like what we 673 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 1: have before the FAA. But while today the FAA basically 674 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 1: just it seems like their job is mostly to make 675 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: sure people continue to not die from passenger flights, CAB 676 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: has another role, which is to make sure that there's 677 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:38,480 Speaker 1: not competition in the air travel business. Right Like, that's 678 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of this it's very alien to modern 679 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,360 Speaker 1: Americans because the government's like, all right, we're gonna have planes. 680 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: This is going to be a business, but we don't 681 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,680 Speaker 1: want them competing. Right If planes compete, if like airlines 682 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:52,760 Speaker 1: are competing, then like a bunch of ugly shit's gonna happen. 683 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 1: They'll be like fighting for the bottom in order to 684 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,399 Speaker 1: be like the cheapest carrier, And like we don't want 685 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: it to work that way, right, Like, that doesn't seem 686 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: like a good way for planes to work. 687 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,719 Speaker 2: What the kind of parallel reality is this? 688 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really strange. It's just like such a different 689 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 1: attitude towards all and part of it's because like the 690 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: business is so new, right, there's like a bunch of 691 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: government subsidies, like if you're doing certain roots or like 692 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: you will get money per flight from the government too, 693 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: to kind of help. Because there's this understanding that like, 694 00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: well just kind of naturally, like a lot of shit's 695 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,719 Speaker 1: not going to make sense financially, like flying to a 696 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: bunch of different states and shit, there's just not going 697 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: to be enough business for it to make sense. So 698 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: we want to we want to establish like we want 699 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: to establish a network of flights and airlines, and the 700 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:39,640 Speaker 1: only way to do that is if the government kind 701 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: of helps these companies out. But if we're going to 702 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: help them out, they shouldn't just be you know, making 703 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: as much money as possible, right, Like we need to 704 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: put in some limitations so so that like it's it 705 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,680 Speaker 1: doesn't get as messy as other things have gotten. I 706 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: think they're kind of looking at how all the nasty 707 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: shit that happens with like trains during like the late 708 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, and going, well, we want to avoid some 709 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 1: of that, so cut too, Yeah, cut to today, so 710 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: things are good for a while, you get your Second 711 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: World War, you know, which means that suddenly there's a 712 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: lot of money going into growing the airline fleet, a 713 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: lot of it gets pressed into military service, and then 714 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,560 Speaker 1: when the war ends, there's all these pilots, these guys 715 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:19,880 Speaker 1: who just like got trained up for free by the government, 716 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: and then suddenly like nobody's paying them to incinerate cities 717 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,000 Speaker 1: in Asia or Europe, and then they're like, well, I 718 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000 Speaker 1: guess we should find something else to do. 719 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 2: All right, Oh can I still get drunk while I 720 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 2: do it? Yeah? Yeah, absolutely, No one said you can't 721 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 2: be drunk, you just flying suits? 722 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:37,799 Speaker 3: Now? 723 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:42,160 Speaker 2: Oh okay, for sure, man, poor mea martini. Let's go. 724 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,359 Speaker 1: So, because cab was fundamentally pretty anti competitive, it works 725 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: out this system with all of the major airlines. So 726 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,880 Speaker 1: there's kind of two like types of airlines. There's little 727 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: ones where you're just kind of flying within a state, 728 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: and the little airlines they're kind of they're a lot 729 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: less regulated, right, the pilots aren't considered to be the 730 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: same quality of pilots. But it means that like little 731 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: airlines can do shit like offer discounted tickets and whatnot, 732 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,200 Speaker 1: all this shit that's going to become like standard, whereas 733 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: big airlines aren't allowed to do this, right, if you're 734 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:20,319 Speaker 1: flying interstate in international route routes, you like, can't you 735 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,319 Speaker 1: just have to kind of like offer one kind of 736 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:26,600 Speaker 1: ticket for a flight, which makes everything simple, Like when 737 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 1: you're booking a plane, you're just like, well, yeah, I 738 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: just want like a ticket, you know, to fucking Sarasota 739 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: or whatever. But it also means the system is horribly 740 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 1: inefficient because since the big airlines are just kind of 741 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,960 Speaker 1: offering one ticket price, you know, for each flight, this 742 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:42,759 Speaker 1: makes it simple, but it means that like if a 743 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 1: flight lifts off for like if like you know, it's 744 00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: all it's about to be fly day and there's only 745 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: thirty percent of the seats on the planet been filled, 746 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,439 Speaker 1: they can't stop start offering like cheap seats to try 747 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,400 Speaker 1: to fill it up. So it's horribly inefficient. And this 748 00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,840 Speaker 1: is a big part of why you get every so 749 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,240 Speaker 1: off and these like people posting pictures of old planes 750 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,879 Speaker 1: being like wow, flying used to be so nice. Why 751 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,840 Speaker 1: can't it be that way again? Well, like, part of 752 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: why flying was so nice is that barely anyone was 753 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 1: ever on planes, right, like, like, yeah, it was a 754 00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: lot nicer when nobody was on them, because people suck. 755 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,719 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just like about, yeah, we have fourteen seats. Yeah, 756 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 2: and it looks like a living room. 757 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,920 Speaker 1: Yeah there are there are five rich dudes on board. 758 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:33,400 Speaker 1: Everybody is completely hammered, like the the like, instead of 759 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,320 Speaker 1: getting a single ginger ale, you get like a handle 760 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: of gin and a Cuban cigar. 761 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,759 Speaker 2: You know, it was it was nice, right, It's like, 762 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 2: do you have seat belts? They're like, what are you 763 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:47,439 Speaker 2: a priest? This is laudanum. Take all the laudanum you want. 764 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, what the fuck is this? Our pilot made some 765 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:54,880 Speaker 1: bathtub heroine. Everybody chill out. It's gonna be choppy. 766 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 3: No. 767 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:58,560 Speaker 1: So a big part of like why flying is nice 768 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: is that, like most people aren't able to do it. 769 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,839 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty five, which is when Frank gets hired 770 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: by TSA, only about twenty percent a little less of 771 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,319 Speaker 1: the US population had ever been on an aircraft, right, 772 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: And so in sixty five, less than twenty percent of 773 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 1: the country's ever even been on a plane. By the 774 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 1: year two thousand, half of the US population flies at 775 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: least once a year. So wow, And basically everyone who 776 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,399 Speaker 1: gets to adulthood is on a plane at least once right, 777 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,319 Speaker 1: very rarely. Yeah, it's just like life now. So the 778 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 1: other thing that's happening, right is the seventies dawn is 779 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,920 Speaker 1: this generation of nbas who are Lorenzo's peers, are all 780 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,440 Speaker 1: starting to reach high positions in their field. So a 781 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,680 Speaker 1: lot of these guys are again the first of what 782 00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,799 Speaker 1: we now call corporate raiders. The best touchdown of this 783 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,840 Speaker 1: if you watch the movie Hook, that's who Robin Wilson's 784 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 1: character is supposed to be, right Like, he's this or not. 785 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:55,959 Speaker 1: Robin will Jesus Christ, Robin Williams, Robin Williams, I didn't 786 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 1: sleep last night. Robin Williams is supposed to be a 787 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: corporate raider, right like, he's a yeah, he's like this 788 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: guy whose job is to buy up companies and then 789 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 1: like strip them for assets. You know, he's a pirate, 790 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:10,520 Speaker 1: right Like, that's the point of the Yeah. So to 791 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,239 Speaker 1: give you an idea of the kind of men that 792 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,000 Speaker 1: Lorenzo called colleagues and what they're doing to the rest 793 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,439 Speaker 1: of American capitalism in this period of time, I want 794 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:20,320 Speaker 1: to read a quote from a summary of the book 795 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: Corporate Raiders and their Minions by John where Close. Quote 796 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 1: the raiders who Close describes are colorful, to say the least. 797 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,160 Speaker 1: Among them, there's Robert Campo, who sought to maintain his 798 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 1: youth with injections of fetal lambraine cells, and who's blitz 799 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 1: creak across the department store sector of the North American 800 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: American economy ended with the bankruptcy of Federated department stores 801 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety. Carl Icon, who supposedly said if you 802 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: want love, buy a dog and gutted twa, and Robert Maxwell, 803 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 1: who overpaid for McMillan, contributing to the collapse of his 804 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,720 Speaker 1: media empire and leading to his suicide by sea. Thanks 805 00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:01,319 Speaker 1: to these characters, companies can't coast anymore. Close likens the 806 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,080 Speaker 1: Raiders effect to the West Indian slavery bolts in the 807 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,720 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, saying the new M and A transformed public 808 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: corporations the establishment's repositories of power and wealth into very public, 809 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,680 Speaker 1: very visible, very vulnerable sugar plantations, open to all with 810 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:19,520 Speaker 1: the will, the intelligence, and sometimes the personality disorders needed 811 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,799 Speaker 1: to gain entry. The corporate raiders, explains Close. They're also 812 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,960 Speaker 1: the ancestors of today's shareholder activists. They don't buy underperforming 813 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 1: companies they buy into them and force their managers to 814 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: up their game. So they're all crazy assholes, right, Like 815 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 1: that's who gets these jobs? 816 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:41,080 Speaker 2: Feeding sambrain cell in jails. Yes, is like some fucking 817 00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,440 Speaker 2: Peter deal shit, Like what the fuck is this? 818 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:46,840 Speaker 1: When you read about these guys, it does make it 819 00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: clear that, like, oh, a huge part of like the 820 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,759 Speaker 1: massive PR blitz to make the tech industry feel like 821 00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,560 Speaker 1: something special was just to briefly convince people that these 822 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,840 Speaker 1: guys weren't the same as it ever was, right that 823 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,560 Speaker 1: like all of these secheads were just like no, there's 824 00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:07,880 Speaker 1: who could code? Yeah, exactly, some of them can't even code, 825 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:10,840 Speaker 1: you know, they're just injecting fetal lambrin And I wish 826 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,239 Speaker 1: more of them would would do the suicide by sea thing. 827 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 2: Also, what's what does that mean? Is that like a 828 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,560 Speaker 2: is that a specific way. 829 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,719 Speaker 1: Or yeah, going out on your yacht to jump off 830 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:24,240 Speaker 1: or something. 831 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's let's let's look up Robert Maxwell. Let's do 832 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 2: the research. I should I wonder yeah, or it's like 833 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:30,520 Speaker 2: or is it like a thing where you wear like 834 00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:32,840 Speaker 2: a meat suit and then you jump into like shark 835 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 2: infested waters and like just let the sea do itself. 836 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: Oh, man, this guy looks like ship. Look at this dude. 837 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:44,319 Speaker 1: Holy fuck, Sophie Google Robert Maxwell? What a monster? Oh 838 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:47,640 Speaker 1: this is Gillan Maxwell's dad. Yes, I have heard of this. Yeah, 839 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:51,000 Speaker 1: he dies mysteriously at sea and there's probably something to 840 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: do with the aside. 841 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is killing Maxwell's dad. Look at this fucking weirdo. 842 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,600 Speaker 2: Oh my god. Hell yes, those eyebrows. 843 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:02,160 Speaker 1: We'll do an episode on this guy at some point. 844 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:04,839 Speaker 1: He's dressed like Tucker Carlson, but he looks like if 845 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,799 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson melted in the sun. 846 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 2: Or him, and like John Taffer from bar Rescue became 847 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:12,960 Speaker 2: one guy. 848 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: He does have the look of like a fucking Paul Verhoven, 849 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:19,439 Speaker 1: like secondary bad guy. 850 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 2: It's so funny. 851 00:43:21,680 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: Anyway, let's all think about Gilan Maxwell. I guess I 852 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,080 Speaker 1: don't know whatever. Here's ads. 853 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:36,720 Speaker 4: What a wow looking person. 854 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 2: First of all, yeah, it does look like shit. He 855 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,200 Speaker 2: looks karma. It looks like. 856 00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:45,839 Speaker 4: When a potato starts to get moldy and sprouts. That's 857 00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:46,480 Speaker 4: what it looks like. 858 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:48,080 Speaker 2: Yeah. 859 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: Ah, we're back and we're talking about Robert Maxwell. What 860 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:57,040 Speaker 1: a what a what a weird asshole? So these corporate raiders, 861 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:02,360 Speaker 1: these guys who like are are Lorenzo's peers. Sometimes what 862 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,360 Speaker 1: they're doing is they're finding lazy, underperforming companies that have 863 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 1: like a lot of useless positions and have wasted it 864 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:11,040 Speaker 1: basically coasted during the years when the American economy was 865 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,640 Speaker 1: like a freebie, right, the rest of the world was 866 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,319 Speaker 1: destroyed by war, and we just like you could do 867 00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:19,399 Speaker 1: anything as a business guy and make money. But that's 868 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 1: starting to end by the seventies, right, So some of 869 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:24,799 Speaker 1: these guys are just like finding companies that were not 870 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 1: set up well and ending inefficiencies. But a lot of 871 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:31,280 Speaker 1: them are just like gutting good businesses for short term gains. 872 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:33,840 Speaker 1: A good modern example of this would be what happened 873 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,880 Speaker 1: to the company that makes instant pots. They merged with 874 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:39,680 Speaker 1: the maker of pyres in twenty nineteen, right before a 875 00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:43,120 Speaker 1: giant sales spurt due to the pandemic, but since that 876 00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,439 Speaker 1: growth wasn't sustainable, like, especially since instant pots, you don't 877 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,719 Speaker 1: have to like buy instant pots, yea every author, Yeah, right, 878 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: So if corporations functioned in anything that resembled like a rational, 879 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,799 Speaker 1: healthy manner, this would be fine, right, You'd be like, well, 880 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:58,560 Speaker 1: we had that nice year or two where we made 881 00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:00,279 Speaker 1: a bunch of extra money and now we can you 882 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,799 Speaker 1: are a nice, steady business. But because capitalism has been 883 00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 1: you know, particularly because of like the kind of these 884 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,759 Speaker 1: corporate raidar dudes are the guys who run everything. Now, 885 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: what they do as soon as there's this big like 886 00:45:13,200 --> 00:45:15,800 Speaker 1: windfall is they take on a four hundred and fifty 887 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:19,160 Speaker 1: million dollar loan and they kind of justify this by saying, oh, 888 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,239 Speaker 1: we got to build new production facilities, we got to 889 00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:24,560 Speaker 1: pay for R and D on a new product. But 890 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:26,719 Speaker 1: that's not what they do. And I'm going to quote 891 00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:31,600 Speaker 1: from Crane's Chicago Business newsletter next. That debt refinanced two 892 00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:34,279 Speaker 1: hundred and ninety four million in existing debt, including one 893 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,319 Speaker 1: hundred million tied to the twenty nineteen acquisition, and helped 894 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:39,920 Speaker 1: support a two hundred and forty five million dollar dive 895 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:44,000 Speaker 1: it into shareholders. Essentially, none of the debts supported investment 896 00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,719 Speaker 1: in the business. So basically, the good luck of the 897 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,799 Speaker 1: pandemic year let them con their way into getting half 898 00:45:49,840 --> 00:45:51,759 Speaker 1: a billion dollars of debt they were never going to 899 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: be able to pay off, most of which they gave themselves. 900 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's like all that shit. Like even 901 00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 2: we were just talking on on aley'zeitg. So this guy 902 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:04,520 Speaker 2: who talks about like private equity and how Yeah, another 903 00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:06,520 Speaker 2: way they do it is like when they buy these businesses, 904 00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,080 Speaker 2: they'll force these companies they take over to sell all 905 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:12,880 Speaker 2: of their property to the private equity firm and then 906 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:15,560 Speaker 2: begin leasing it back to them so they can immediately 907 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:16,600 Speaker 2: start seeing a profit. 908 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: And you're like, that's not really business, You're just running 909 00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,239 Speaker 1: a con yeah, which is. 910 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:25,080 Speaker 2: You're just yeah, you're sucking it dry from the inside. Yeah. 911 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:28,560 Speaker 1: So back to Frank, he and his business partner have 912 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,160 Speaker 1: managed to get together the money to buy a Houston 913 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,319 Speaker 1: based carrier called Texas International Airlines. A lot of that 914 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:38,480 Speaker 1: money comes from Chase Manhattan. Texas International air is a small, 915 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:42,040 Speaker 1: tottering local kind of local. It was basically in terms 916 00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:45,279 Speaker 1: of its size, it was a local Texas airline, but 917 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,920 Speaker 1: because it does one flight to Mexico, it's an international, 918 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:52,320 Speaker 1: which means it's regulated by CAB, which like fucks it over. Actually, 919 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,760 Speaker 1: because they can't do a lot of the shit smaller 920 00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: airlines they're able to do to kind of like make 921 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:02,000 Speaker 1: a profit. It was nicknamed Teeter Airlines, which is because like, 922 00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:05,120 Speaker 1: it's such a like the flights are so shitty, Like 923 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,680 Speaker 1: they have trash planes, they have the worst pilots. It's 924 00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:11,920 Speaker 1: just not great. In the last five years, the company 925 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: had lost twenty million dollars over expanding its fleet and 926 00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,239 Speaker 1: taking on debt. It was a long shot that Lorenzo 927 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,160 Speaker 1: would be able to write the ship once he bought 928 00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:22,880 Speaker 1: the company, but Chase Manhattan had faith in him, and 929 00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:26,600 Speaker 1: he was medically incapable of doubting himself. So there's a 930 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:29,880 Speaker 1: shareholders meeting in August of nineteen seventy two where Lorenzo 931 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:34,279 Speaker 1: gets elected president and CEO of Texas International air This 932 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:39,919 Speaker 1: makes him the youngest airline president in history. That'szy. He's 933 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,880 Speaker 1: thirty two, so that is pretty young to be running 934 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:46,120 Speaker 1: an airline. A couple other cool things happened that year 935 00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:49,440 Speaker 1: for him. He gets his pilot's license. He marries this 936 00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:52,160 Speaker 1: lady who had been like a legal assistant and was 937 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,360 Speaker 1: the daughter of a wealthy Florida real estate mogul. Also 938 00:47:56,880 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 1: around the same time, his brother, who had been a 939 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,200 Speaker 1: stock broker, dies of heart failure. His brother's like forty three, 940 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:08,359 Speaker 1: which convinces Frank to become a marathon runner. Tragic if 941 00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:12,279 Speaker 1: only he had just continued to be very unhealthy and 942 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:16,480 Speaker 1: do cocaine. We need, like, you know how they have 943 00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:20,319 Speaker 1: like campaigns and some vulnerable areas to like have people like, 944 00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:22,080 Speaker 1: oh there's a lot of heart disease in this in 945 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:25,000 Speaker 1: this neighborhood or whatever. We should like do these ads 946 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,440 Speaker 1: trying to keep people away from fast food. We need 947 00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:31,640 Speaker 1: to have the opposite for like Harvard grads, We're like, you. 948 00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:34,440 Speaker 2: Ever tried cocaine? You ever just done like a shitload 949 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:34,880 Speaker 2: of cocine. 950 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,960 Speaker 1: Mix that stuff with downers too, Like, just grind your 951 00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:39,600 Speaker 1: valum up with your blow. 952 00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:42,800 Speaker 2: You're good man. The best thing to do is probably 953 00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,399 Speaker 2: smoke like three grams of meth and then just take 954 00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:48,879 Speaker 2: a bunch of benzos man to go to sleep. Yeah, 955 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,960 Speaker 2: benze a, you're gonna feel like Superman, dude. That's how 956 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 2: fucking That's how like Leah Coca used to do it. Dude, Like, 957 00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:56,560 Speaker 2: if you're trying to get like next level with it, 958 00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:58,640 Speaker 2: that's how you got to do it, dude. Yeah, split 959 00:48:58,680 --> 00:48:59,920 Speaker 2: your heart in two directions. 960 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,759 Speaker 1: We need to pay a new generation of influenzas to 961 00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:11,080 Speaker 1: spit pitch speedballs at business guys. So under the rule 962 00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:14,960 Speaker 1: of the Civil Air Board. Truly local airlines are again 963 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:17,920 Speaker 1: subject to like fewer of these anti competitive regulations, and 964 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:20,840 Speaker 1: so they can do stuff like offer discount last minute fairs. 965 00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:24,400 Speaker 1: Because TI is in this awkward position, they can't really 966 00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 1: do that, and they're up against their big competitors are Southwest, 967 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:29,920 Speaker 1: which is a small local airline, and so it's got 968 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:33,880 Speaker 1: more room to maneuver and bran if so, Lorenzo succeeds 969 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,719 Speaker 1: in kind of sliding in between these these two competitors 970 00:49:37,719 --> 00:49:41,000 Speaker 1: and he's able to like pull together some profitability. He's 971 00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,239 Speaker 1: actually pretty good at this aspect of the business. He 972 00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:46,120 Speaker 1: drops markets that weren't profitable, in flights that had a 973 00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:49,439 Speaker 1: poor return. He fires a bunch of employees in order 974 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,839 Speaker 1: to cut payroll into something manageable. And in nineteen seventy three, 975 00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:58,240 Speaker 1: the year after he takes over TI, Texas International posts 976 00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,560 Speaker 1: its first profit in like five or six years. He'd 977 00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:04,040 Speaker 1: made a lot of big promises to his employees that like, 978 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,440 Speaker 1: once the company was back in the black, he'd ensure 979 00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:08,600 Speaker 1: that they got rewards for all the hard work they 980 00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,680 Speaker 1: did to get TIA back into good health. But as 981 00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:14,279 Speaker 1: soon as they start making a profit, he's like, oh, no, 982 00:50:14,360 --> 00:50:16,320 Speaker 1: I didn't mean that you guys are getting any more money. 983 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:20,840 Speaker 2: Absolutely, I say that. No, that was a lie. See 984 00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:24,360 Speaker 2: you want to get fired for fucking lying? Yeah, okay, 985 00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:26,520 Speaker 2: then shut up. I never said I would never say 986 00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:27,359 Speaker 2: some shit like that. 987 00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:32,400 Speaker 1: So obviously people are not happy. So the ground workers Union, 988 00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:34,400 Speaker 1: which is like, you know, the guys, it's pretty it 989 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:37,120 Speaker 1: should be obvious what the groundworkers Union is for planes. 990 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:40,400 Speaker 1: They're the guys on the ground doing shit. They start 991 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:44,000 Speaker 1: agitating and in December of seventy four they decide to 992 00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:47,600 Speaker 1: go on strike. So airline workers are at this point 993 00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:50,920 Speaker 1: the most some of the most powerful unionized people in 994 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,440 Speaker 1: the country. And when the airline workers would go on strike, 995 00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:56,920 Speaker 1: the only kind of way, you know. Again, so when 996 00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,520 Speaker 1: you've got a strike, right, a company that's going to 997 00:50:59,560 --> 00:51:02,080 Speaker 1: engage in strike breaking is probably going to bring in scabs. 998 00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:05,640 Speaker 1: And scabs, it's understood always do like a shittier version 999 00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:09,080 Speaker 1: of the job that regular employees do. And you know, 1000 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:11,600 Speaker 1: when it comes to people like that's a problem with 1001 00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:12,240 Speaker 1: air travel. 1002 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:12,520 Speaker 2: Right. 1003 00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:14,480 Speaker 1: So if you've got like a coal mine and you 1004 00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:16,560 Speaker 1: bring in scabs, the scabs are going to make you 1005 00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:18,839 Speaker 1: less money. Maybe they're a little more likely to die. 1006 00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:21,439 Speaker 1: But like, if you get a bunch of scabs killed 1007 00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:23,600 Speaker 1: in a coal mine, the coal miners aren't going to 1008 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:25,520 Speaker 1: have that big an issue with it because they hate 1009 00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:27,719 Speaker 1: the scabs, and no one else is really going to 1010 00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,000 Speaker 1: care because it's just shit happening in the coal mine. 1011 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:32,640 Speaker 1: Whereas if you bring a bunch of scabs in to 1012 00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:35,640 Speaker 1: the air industry and a plane crashes. 1013 00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:37,840 Speaker 2: A lot of people might get angry at you. 1014 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:41,560 Speaker 1: You know, So you you have as a company in 1015 00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:44,120 Speaker 1: this period, you have like less options for kind of 1016 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:47,920 Speaker 1: fucking over your unionized employees because it's it's air travel. 1017 00:51:48,000 --> 00:51:52,600 Speaker 2: You know. You also have to Yeah, what's that pool 1018 00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:54,520 Speaker 2: of people. I can only imagine when you're like, all 1019 00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:58,120 Speaker 2: right now the bottom of the barrel for airline. 1020 00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:01,279 Speaker 1: Workers, illegal plane fuelers, and ship Yeah, they're probably not 1021 00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:01,839 Speaker 1: great at the. 1022 00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:05,479 Speaker 2: Yeah I could do that, Yeah very Yeah I filled 1023 00:52:05,600 --> 00:52:10,520 Speaker 2: up my car. Yeah, I basically do the thing that's 1024 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:13,760 Speaker 2: the precursor to stealing catalytic converters in your modern times. 1025 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:19,320 Speaker 1: Yeah. So they also airlines also, if they're fighting a strike, 1026 00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:24,120 Speaker 1: have to contend with the fact that, you know, because 1027 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,799 Speaker 1: running an airline is more expensive than most things. If 1028 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:31,799 Speaker 1: you're keeping planes grounded, and you're like canceling flights. It's 1029 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:34,440 Speaker 1: like slightly less expensive to do that than it is, 1030 00:52:34,600 --> 00:52:36,680 Speaker 1: just like set fire to piles of money, you know, 1031 00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:39,280 Speaker 1: like you are, you are burning so much cash whenever 1032 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:42,560 Speaker 1: you're you're knocked down by a strike. So for years, 1033 00:52:42,719 --> 00:52:45,719 Speaker 1: the way airlines would handle strike threats is to just 1034 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:49,080 Speaker 1: pretty much, very quickly concede to the union right to 1035 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:50,719 Speaker 1: give them at least some of what they wanted and 1036 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:51,680 Speaker 1: get folks. 1037 00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:53,319 Speaker 2: Back to work. It was nearly always worth it. 1038 00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:57,840 Speaker 1: But Frank Lorenzo hates unions, and he's like, I don't know, 1039 00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:00,560 Speaker 1: why the fuck are we going to concede to these fuckers? 1040 00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:02,200 Speaker 2: Fuck them? 1041 00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:05,319 Speaker 1: So depending on who you ask, he's either kind of 1042 00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:07,960 Speaker 1: just too proud, right, like he'll burn his airline to 1043 00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:10,719 Speaker 1: the ground rather than lose face to a bunch of strikers, 1044 00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:14,279 Speaker 1: or he's like a calculated risk taker and he's like, 1045 00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:16,640 Speaker 1: you know, doing the math and figuring out, ah, well, 1046 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:18,360 Speaker 1: you know we can hold out this much longer, and 1047 00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:20,560 Speaker 1: you know these workers can only hold out this long, 1048 00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,719 Speaker 1: and this is like a I'm not really sure which 1049 00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:26,680 Speaker 1: version of Frank Lorenzo is more accurate. Probably a little 1050 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:29,680 Speaker 1: bit of a and a little bit of b right. So, 1051 00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,200 Speaker 1: for four and a half months after the groundworkers union 1052 00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:36,279 Speaker 1: votes to strike, no TI plane flies they like, they 1053 00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:41,120 Speaker 1: shut down traffic entirely. He furloughs the entire workforce pretty much. 1054 00:53:41,239 --> 00:53:44,480 Speaker 1: Executive salaries are cut to the bone, and eventually, through 1055 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:47,319 Speaker 1: this grinding battle of attrition, he manages to pull out 1056 00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,960 Speaker 1: a victory. And the only reason Frank is able to 1057 00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:53,320 Speaker 1: survive is that when the other airlines see him actually 1058 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,520 Speaker 1: going to war with like one of his big unions, 1059 00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:00,600 Speaker 1: they put together eleven million dollars and strike aid. Like 1060 00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:03,640 Speaker 1: other airlines are giving him money to be like here 1061 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:06,799 Speaker 1: you go, buddy, like keep up the good fight, right yeah, yeah, yeah, 1062 00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:07,480 Speaker 1: welcome over. 1063 00:54:07,760 --> 00:54:08,240 Speaker 2: Yeah. 1064 00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:11,120 Speaker 1: Unions do the same thing, right, Like, it's just this 1065 00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:13,880 Speaker 1: is like an owner's union, right, it's good. 1066 00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:17,000 Speaker 2: Fucking grim man, Yeah it is. We love what you're doing, man, 1067 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:23,240 Speaker 2: just vaporizing fucking will to fuck disguis. We've got you. Yeah, 1068 00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:24,400 Speaker 2: it's it's pretty cool. 1069 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:27,920 Speaker 1: Like. Um. So, the union comes to the table and 1070 00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,040 Speaker 1: it ends the strike with very minor concessions from TI 1071 00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:34,520 Speaker 1: and Lorenzo is now a hero of the capitalist class. 1072 00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:36,560 Speaker 1: He is not only this kind of like daring corporate 1073 00:54:36,600 --> 00:54:40,120 Speaker 1: raider type guy who brought his company to profitability by cutting. 1074 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:40,560 Speaker 2: It to the bone. 1075 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:43,759 Speaker 1: But when his selfish workers put his success at risk, 1076 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:45,759 Speaker 1: he had like gone to war with them and won. 1077 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:49,080 Speaker 1: In an interview he gave not long after the settlement, 1078 00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:52,200 Speaker 1: he told a reporter, the groundworkers union has demonstrated little 1079 00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:54,400 Speaker 1: concern for the well being of any of us, for 1080 00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:56,440 Speaker 1: that of any of our cities, and of course for 1081 00:54:56,480 --> 00:55:01,120 Speaker 1: the company, which must somehow pay the bill. By nineteen 1082 00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:04,480 Speaker 1: seventy six, TI was making more than three million dollars 1083 00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:07,560 Speaker 1: in net profits. It was now healthier than ever, but 1084 00:55:07,719 --> 00:55:10,880 Speaker 1: still too small for Lorenzo's liking. He knew that he 1085 00:55:10,920 --> 00:55:13,279 Speaker 1: was going to need to introduce a major innovation to 1086 00:55:13,280 --> 00:55:16,120 Speaker 1: make his companies stand out from the pack. Here's how 1087 00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:20,200 Speaker 1: Texas Monthly describes what happened next. If TI was to survive, 1088 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:23,120 Speaker 1: Lorenzo had to find a way to beat Southwest's low fares. 1089 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:27,279 Speaker 1: Prohibited from discounting regular fares, TI had experimented with reductions 1090 00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:31,400 Speaker 1: on largely unregulated stand by tickets. The airline had, for instance, 1091 00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:34,160 Speaker 1: promoted a new route from Houston's Hobby Field to Dallas 1092 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:37,239 Speaker 1: Fort Worth Airfield, by offering stand by fares keyed to 1093 00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:39,680 Speaker 1: the day of the month, one dollar for travel on 1094 00:55:39,760 --> 00:55:42,560 Speaker 1: August first, six dollars for travel on August sixth, and 1095 00:55:42,640 --> 00:55:44,879 Speaker 1: so on. Searching for a steady way to fill those 1096 00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:47,520 Speaker 1: empty seats, the company came up with peanut fares, in 1097 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:50,080 Speaker 1: which the passengers could lock into cheap fares on certain 1098 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:55,000 Speaker 1: flights with light passenger loads. This is the birth of 1099 00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:57,880 Speaker 1: the modern system we have of like, oh, you got 1100 00:55:57,920 --> 00:56:01,040 Speaker 1: the super saver seats, and you've got like the extra economy, 1101 00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:02,600 Speaker 1: and you've got like the economy plus. 1102 00:56:02,640 --> 00:56:04,880 Speaker 4: Let you know, yea, this is where that all begins. 1103 00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:08,080 Speaker 4: This is so triggering to like airport misery. 1104 00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:12,560 Speaker 1: Yeah really yeah, this is like the start of a 1105 00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,399 Speaker 1: lot of that, and it is. It's a mixed bag, right, 1106 00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:20,359 Speaker 1: Like this is a good idea. It works really well financially, 1107 00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:24,440 Speaker 1: it's also more efficient, but it's against cab regulations, and 1108 00:56:24,480 --> 00:56:27,279 Speaker 1: so Lorenzo has to lobby the agency to make his 1109 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:31,760 Speaker 1: peanut faars legal and he succeeds. In January nineteen seventy seven, 1110 00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:35,000 Speaker 1: TI gets granted a one year trial to like attempt 1111 00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:37,920 Speaker 1: to do these new kinds of fairs, and it works 1112 00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:40,799 Speaker 1: really well, Like TI passenger loads on a lot of 1113 00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:43,600 Speaker 1: flights go from like thirty or forty percent to ninety 1114 00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:44,560 Speaker 1: percent or more. 1115 00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:46,200 Speaker 2: Booh yeah. 1116 00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:48,239 Speaker 1: And it's it's one of those things where like Branef 1117 00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:51,759 Speaker 1: starts complaining because this starts eating into their business. And 1118 00:56:52,360 --> 00:56:55,239 Speaker 1: TI they're like TIS advertising, you know that all of 1119 00:56:55,239 --> 00:56:58,840 Speaker 1: their seats are discounted and they aren't. And the agency 1120 00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,319 Speaker 1: like there's some minor rules against Lorenzo, but it doesn't 1121 00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:05,320 Speaker 1: actually stop him from like basically doing this shit. And 1122 00:57:05,640 --> 00:57:08,440 Speaker 1: the idea as soon as like he introduces these new 1123 00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:11,600 Speaker 1: kinds of like discounted fares and gets away with it, 1124 00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:14,680 Speaker 1: it starts spreading like wildfire throughout the rest of the industry. 1125 00:57:15,200 --> 00:57:19,320 Speaker 1: And I'll say this, what Frank does here is more 1126 00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:21,680 Speaker 1: of a mixed bag than we tend to get with 1127 00:57:21,760 --> 00:57:25,240 Speaker 1: our like corporate bastards. There's a decent argument that Frank's 1128 00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:28,360 Speaker 1: innovation here it leads to a huge drop in pricing 1129 00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:31,040 Speaker 1: for consumers across the market, and that this is a 1130 00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:33,640 Speaker 1: big part of what opens air travel up to groups 1131 00:57:33,680 --> 00:57:35,440 Speaker 1: of people who would never have been able to afford 1132 00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:40,280 Speaker 1: to fly recreationally. Like frequent flyers hate this because frequent 1133 00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:42,360 Speaker 1: flyer the only people who can afford to be frequent 1134 00:57:42,360 --> 00:57:45,520 Speaker 1: flyers in this period are either independently wealthy or their 1135 00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:49,080 Speaker 1: corporate flyers whose companies are paying for the expensive seats, 1136 00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:51,400 Speaker 1: and they love that the planes are empty and nice, 1137 00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:52,240 Speaker 1: but like. 1138 00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:54,840 Speaker 2: Now the barbarian hordes are fucking there. 1139 00:57:55,200 --> 00:57:59,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, the poor have taken to the skies. You 1140 00:57:59,680 --> 00:58:01,760 Speaker 1: get all so argue that, like, well, this is a 1141 00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:04,760 Speaker 1: lot less wasteful and shitty for the environment than flying 1142 00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:07,760 Speaker 1: in planes that are seventy percent in empty. Obviously, the 1143 00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,920 Speaker 1: fact that this causes air travel to explode has a 1144 00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:14,520 Speaker 1: net horrible increase on like, you know, carbon emissions and shit. 1145 00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:16,960 Speaker 1: I don't think you could really morally put that on 1146 00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:18,520 Speaker 1: Frank because he's not He doesn't. 1147 00:58:18,600 --> 00:58:20,560 Speaker 2: I don't think he knows much about it. He's not 1148 00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,480 Speaker 2: like any Exxon exec. He doesn't. Yeah, he's any technology, 1149 00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:26,560 Speaker 2: it becomes inevitable, like it's your equity, right, Like, yeah, 1150 00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:28,720 Speaker 2: it was always going to get cheaper and eventually would 1151 00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:31,400 Speaker 2: get to a place where other people could fly. Yeah. 1152 00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:34,280 Speaker 1: So at the same time he's doing this, a national 1153 00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:38,560 Speaker 1: movement has kind of coalesced around the idea of deregulating airlines. 1154 00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:41,439 Speaker 1: As I mentioned, earlier this the business of big time 1155 00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:45,360 Speaker 1: air travel was deliberately not a competitive industry in the US, 1156 00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:48,280 Speaker 1: and the same way at least that most businesses were competitive. 1157 00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:51,400 Speaker 1: The sheer expense and the fact that these companies received 1158 00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:55,560 Speaker 1: government subsidies, you know, had allowed kind of air travel 1159 00:58:55,560 --> 00:58:57,480 Speaker 1: to get off the ground. But now that we're in 1160 00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:00,720 Speaker 1: kind of the seventies and stuff the late seventies in particular, 1161 00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:04,040 Speaker 1: a lot of these old airlines are kind of hemorrhaging money, 1162 00:59:04,120 --> 00:59:07,160 Speaker 1: and this makes a pretty good case that deregulation is necessary. 1163 00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:10,600 Speaker 1: The cause was opposed actually by the business a lot 1164 00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:13,320 Speaker 1: of the guys that Frank considered peers, and it was 1165 00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:16,800 Speaker 1: also generally opposed from owners of airlines because they're like, well, 1166 00:59:17,240 --> 00:59:19,720 Speaker 1: you know, there's shit that's fucked up about the business, 1167 00:59:19,800 --> 00:59:21,640 Speaker 1: but we understand it the way it is, and if 1168 00:59:21,640 --> 00:59:24,080 Speaker 1: you like deregulate, then we're going to have a bunch 1169 00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:27,560 Speaker 1: of competition, and a lot of our airlines are going 1170 00:59:27,600 --> 00:59:29,919 Speaker 1: to die if we won't be getting subsidies, and shit, 1171 00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:31,640 Speaker 1: we're not going to be able to make this stuff work. 1172 00:59:32,120 --> 00:59:35,040 Speaker 1: But this kind of alliance of free market right wing 1173 00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:40,360 Speaker 1: economists and liberal democrats get together and agree on deregulating 1174 00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:43,560 Speaker 1: the air, and like democrats like it because cheap flights 1175 00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:45,720 Speaker 1: will be good for the economy, and like it'll open 1176 00:59:45,800 --> 00:59:48,280 Speaker 1: up air travel to working people, and the free market 1177 00:59:48,280 --> 00:59:50,680 Speaker 1: guys like it because that's what they fucking do. And 1178 00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:52,760 Speaker 1: I'm going to quote from a contemporary article in the 1179 00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:55,640 Speaker 1: New York Times here writing about deregulation of the air. 1180 00:59:56,520 --> 00:59:59,440 Speaker 1: Equally compelling was the sense of inanity associated with so 1181 00:59:59,480 --> 01:00:02,800 Speaker 1: many empty seats. In nineteen seventy three, airplanes were flying 1182 01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:05,160 Speaker 1: from New York to Los Angeles with thirty seven percent 1183 01:00:05,200 --> 01:00:08,160 Speaker 1: of their seats filled, says Stephen Bryer, then a lawyer 1184 01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:11,480 Speaker 1: on Kennedy's staff and now a federal judge. This assured 1185 01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:13,440 Speaker 1: the business flyer of an empty seat on which to 1186 01:00:13,520 --> 01:00:15,880 Speaker 1: place his briefcase. But look at how high the fare 1187 01:00:15,920 --> 01:00:17,960 Speaker 1: had to be in order to make this possible. What 1188 01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:20,320 Speaker 1: was really going on was that the briefcase was paying 1189 01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:24,840 Speaker 1: full fare. The expense accounts said, many of them Republican businessmen, 1190 01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:29,240 Speaker 1: who might otherwise have found government economic controls anathema. Loved 1191 01:00:29,240 --> 01:00:32,880 Speaker 1: federal airline regulation. Service was attentive, delays were rare, planes 1192 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:35,720 Speaker 1: and airports were uncrowded. So what affairs were high the 1193 01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:38,800 Speaker 1: company picked up the tab. An unusual coalition of free 1194 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,640 Speaker 1: market economists and liberal Democrats fought to loosen the reins 1195 01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:44,640 Speaker 1: on airlines. As Brier puts it, the outcome was going 1196 01:00:44,640 --> 01:00:47,160 Speaker 1: to favor the typical middle class individual. It would be 1197 01:00:47,280 --> 01:00:50,280 Speaker 1: very different from the subsequent deregulation of the telephone service, 1198 01:00:50,320 --> 01:00:53,000 Speaker 1: he says, in which the outcome favored business customers at 1199 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:57,240 Speaker 1: the expense of the residential customer. Despite practically unanimous opposition 1200 01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:00,680 Speaker 1: from airline executives, deregulation was signed into law by President 1201 01:01:00,800 --> 01:01:02,760 Speaker 1: Jimmy Carter in nineteen seventy eight. 1202 01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:03,520 Speaker 2: MM. 1203 01:01:04,280 --> 01:01:07,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, now, this is not going to entirely work the 1204 01:01:07,920 --> 01:01:11,600 Speaker 1: way they want it to, right, there's as we all know, 1205 01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:14,960 Speaker 1: as we're all living through. But it does make air 1206 01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:21,040 Speaker 1: travel a lot cheaper initially. Now we'll talk later about 1207 01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:23,680 Speaker 1: kind of where things go from there, but it does 1208 01:01:23,840 --> 01:01:25,800 Speaker 1: to some extent work the way they want it to. 1209 01:01:26,840 --> 01:01:30,360 Speaker 1: So Frank Lorenzo was initially frightened by deregulation because he 1210 01:01:30,640 --> 01:01:32,240 Speaker 1: doesn't know how this is going to work, But once 1211 01:01:32,240 --> 01:01:34,800 Speaker 1: it becomes clear that this is happening, he starts looking 1212 01:01:34,840 --> 01:01:37,120 Speaker 1: for ways to make it work for him. A lot 1213 01:01:37,120 --> 01:01:38,800 Speaker 1: of guys are doing that at the time, and one 1214 01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:41,080 Speaker 1: of them is a dude called Donald Burr. He's the 1215 01:01:41,120 --> 01:01:44,720 Speaker 1: founder of People's Express, which is like one of the 1216 01:01:44,720 --> 01:01:47,160 Speaker 1: first big budget airlines. You might think of it as 1217 01:01:47,160 --> 01:01:50,920 Speaker 1: like Spirit or Frontier, and kind of the big thing 1218 01:01:50,960 --> 01:01:53,520 Speaker 1: for People's Express is that it's a no frills airline. 1219 01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:56,640 Speaker 1: There's no luxury at all, and every seat on the 1220 01:01:56,640 --> 01:01:59,520 Speaker 1: plane has the same low cost point, right, And his 1221 01:01:59,560 --> 01:02:02,640 Speaker 1: plan is to it's this weird hybrid of shit because 1222 01:02:02,800 --> 01:02:05,200 Speaker 1: he's Burr is like, we're going to keep costs low 1223 01:02:05,440 --> 01:02:08,480 Speaker 1: by cutting out luxuries and also not using union labor. 1224 01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:11,840 Speaker 1: But also in order to kind of compensate for that, 1225 01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:14,320 Speaker 1: Burr is like, all of our employees will get stock 1226 01:02:14,400 --> 01:02:17,120 Speaker 1: in the company. That's why it's People's Express, like where 1227 01:02:17,120 --> 01:02:20,200 Speaker 1: all everyone like owns a part of the company. It's 1228 01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:22,840 Speaker 1: it's an interesting vision. You don't really have stuff like 1229 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:24,440 Speaker 1: this that much anymore, is it. 1230 01:02:24,440 --> 01:02:27,880 Speaker 2: Like, so it was legitimately like worker owned airline to 1231 01:02:28,040 --> 01:02:31,920 Speaker 2: an extent, like they had like forty eight percent of 1232 01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:32,240 Speaker 2: the tame. 1233 01:02:32,320 --> 01:02:35,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not going to actually be in control and 1234 01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:37,040 Speaker 1: this doesn't work out in the long run. Although this 1235 01:02:37,040 --> 01:02:39,120 Speaker 1: does I think become frontier, like that is kind of 1236 01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:42,640 Speaker 1: where it anyway, whatever, that's the idea that Burr has. 1237 01:02:43,240 --> 01:02:48,280 Speaker 1: Now Lorenzo sees this, this plan by Burr as fundamentally flawed. First, 1238 01:02:48,440 --> 01:02:51,000 Speaker 1: fuck giving workers stock. But more to the point, he 1239 01:02:51,080 --> 01:02:52,760 Speaker 1: knows that rich people are always going to want to 1240 01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:56,600 Speaker 1: pay more for a nice flying experience. And Lorenzo's like, 1241 01:02:56,920 --> 01:02:59,120 Speaker 1: you know what, it might actually be worth even more 1242 01:02:59,360 --> 01:03:01,520 Speaker 1: to rich people to pay for an ice flight if 1243 01:03:01,520 --> 01:03:04,400 Speaker 1: they get to watch columns of poor people file passed 1244 01:03:04,400 --> 01:03:07,280 Speaker 1: and cram themselves into like a cattle pin, right, Like, 1245 01:03:07,400 --> 01:03:08,960 Speaker 1: we might actually be able to make more money on 1246 01:03:09,080 --> 01:03:11,240 Speaker 1: rich people if they get to see poor people. 1247 01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:13,520 Speaker 2: Having a worse style. Of course, Yeah, we've reinforced the 1248 01:03:13,520 --> 01:03:14,360 Speaker 2: class structure. 1249 01:03:14,480 --> 01:03:17,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to make these folks thrilled. Here's the 1250 01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:20,680 Speaker 1: New York Times. The wave of the future, Lorenzo insisted, 1251 01:03:20,760 --> 01:03:23,120 Speaker 1: was a flexible pricing system with a wide variety of 1252 01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:27,040 Speaker 1: fairs and services tailored to different tastes and pocketbooks. Such 1253 01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:30,040 Speaker 1: a system, enforced today, with some passengers paying five hundred 1254 01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:32,480 Speaker 1: dollars seated next to others paying one hundred and fifty, 1255 01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:35,160 Speaker 1: makes it possible to extract a premium from the business 1256 01:03:35,160 --> 01:03:39,160 Speaker 1: flyer while simultaneously offering bargains that entice the discretionary traveler. 1257 01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:43,120 Speaker 1: In Lorenzo's terms, it creates travel. In nineteen eighty, Burr 1258 01:03:43,160 --> 01:03:46,280 Speaker 1: left Texas International to start People Express, taking with him 1259 01:03:46,360 --> 01:03:50,240 Speaker 1: Gerald L. Gittner, the marketing vice president, and several other executives. 1260 01:03:50,400 --> 01:03:53,440 Speaker 1: That same year, Lorenzo established Texas Air as a holding 1261 01:03:53,440 --> 01:03:57,080 Speaker 1: company for Texas International, a symbol of his expansive intentions 1262 01:03:57,200 --> 01:03:59,680 Speaker 1: and expand he did. His first move was the creation 1263 01:03:59,680 --> 01:04:02,920 Speaker 1: of a low fair carrier, New York Air. Lorenzo initially 1264 01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:05,480 Speaker 1: set about wooing business flyers in the Boston, New York 1265 01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:09,200 Speaker 1: Washington shuttle market, monopolized by Eastern airlines. New York Air 1266 01:04:09,320 --> 01:04:11,600 Speaker 1: usually charged less than Eastern, but offered more in the 1267 01:04:11,640 --> 01:04:14,920 Speaker 1: way of reserve seats, snacks, and beverages, an enthusiastic service. 1268 01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:17,720 Speaker 1: The non union employees earned less than their counterparts at 1269 01:04:17,720 --> 01:04:22,320 Speaker 1: other airlines. So like, you know, he's he's he's doing 1270 01:04:22,320 --> 01:04:25,040 Speaker 1: this mix of cutting shit to the bone and making 1271 01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:27,880 Speaker 1: sure there's special options for people who are willing to 1272 01:04:27,920 --> 01:04:30,600 Speaker 1: like pay banks, so that rich people can like you know, 1273 01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:33,600 Speaker 1: have a reason to be on flights too. And this 1274 01:04:33,600 --> 01:04:36,200 Speaker 1: this winds up being a lot smarter than like this 1275 01:04:36,280 --> 01:04:39,400 Speaker 1: kind of like weirdly sort of communist plan that Burris 1276 01:04:39,400 --> 01:04:43,360 Speaker 1: pushing where everyone has the same seat, and it's just 1277 01:04:43,480 --> 01:04:47,840 Speaker 1: it's more financially successful. So you know, as this is 1278 01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:50,240 Speaker 1: all going on, the seventies are drawing to a close, 1279 01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:53,440 Speaker 1: the Reagan eighties are starting up. Everything's coming up. Frank 1280 01:04:53,480 --> 01:04:56,560 Speaker 1: Lorenzo unions are taking hits left and right. He's making 1281 01:04:56,600 --> 01:04:59,440 Speaker 1: more money than ever. Cocaine is flowing like wine, and 1282 01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:02,840 Speaker 1: it was time for another bold move. He was going 1283 01:05:02,880 --> 01:05:06,640 Speaker 1: to take over the grand dam of the sky. Continental 1284 01:05:06,760 --> 01:05:12,440 Speaker 1: Airlines like and Continental is back in the day. So 1285 01:05:12,520 --> 01:05:16,040 Speaker 1: today United Airlines uses their like logo and livery right. 1286 01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:19,720 Speaker 1: Continental back in the day is like when you see 1287 01:05:19,840 --> 01:05:23,000 Speaker 1: like pictures of really nice flights, it's often Continental. They 1288 01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:26,480 Speaker 1: are the fucking Gucci airline. Like this is the nice shit, right, 1289 01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:28,760 Speaker 1: this is Robert Six's airline. 1290 01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:30,680 Speaker 2: Yeah it is. 1291 01:05:30,760 --> 01:05:33,760 Speaker 1: It is like the fanciest airline out there, but it's 1292 01:05:33,800 --> 01:05:37,800 Speaker 1: hemorrhaging money. And fucking Frank Lorenzo is like, I'm gonna 1293 01:05:37,800 --> 01:05:41,240 Speaker 1: buy this motherfucker and I'm gonna gut it, and we 1294 01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:43,840 Speaker 1: are going to talk about that and how he kind 1295 01:05:43,920 --> 01:05:48,680 Speaker 1: of kills a lot of aspects of the way unions 1296 01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:52,480 Speaker 1: had worked and the labor, like labor had successfully like 1297 01:05:52,520 --> 01:05:55,480 Speaker 1: fought for shit, Like he goes to war with these people, 1298 01:05:55,560 --> 01:05:57,960 Speaker 1: and it's a pretty nuts experience. But that's all in 1299 01:05:58,080 --> 01:06:01,320 Speaker 1: part two for right now. What I want to talk about, Miles, 1300 01:06:01,560 --> 01:06:03,439 Speaker 1: is your fucking pluggables. How are they doing? 1301 01:06:04,000 --> 01:06:05,920 Speaker 2: Oh, they're good. You can plug them in, you can 1302 01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:11,320 Speaker 2: unplug them. Check out the Daily Zeitgeist or four or 1303 01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:15,440 Speaker 2: Miles and Jack on Mad boostis that's trash TV, basketball 1304 01:06:15,480 --> 01:06:18,040 Speaker 2: and daily news, whichever one you want. Hell yeah, So 1305 01:06:18,120 --> 01:06:18,720 Speaker 2: there you go. 1306 01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:23,720 Speaker 1: And you can also get this podcast without ads at 1307 01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:29,200 Speaker 1: cooler Zone Media if you mail Sophie, I don't know money, 1308 01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:31,320 Speaker 1: probably this is. 1309 01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:34,160 Speaker 4: And we we at cool Zone Media have a new 1310 01:06:34,160 --> 01:06:35,160 Speaker 4: show with Jake Canrahan. 1311 01:06:35,240 --> 01:06:39,480 Speaker 3: It's called sad Oligarc. It's fantastic on all the apps, 1312 01:06:39,760 --> 01:06:41,720 Speaker 3: including cooler Zone Media. 1313 01:06:42,280 --> 01:06:44,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, where you'll get it without without ads. So you 1314 01:06:44,840 --> 01:06:48,040 Speaker 1: want to have to hear about the Reagan coin, uh, 1315 01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:50,480 Speaker 1: which which fits in well with today's topic. 1316 01:06:50,320 --> 01:06:56,840 Speaker 4: It really does. That's another fucking episode. Behind the Bastards 1317 01:06:56,920 --> 01:06:59,480 Speaker 4: is a production of cool Zone Media. For more from 1318 01:06:59,520 --> 01:07:04,080 Speaker 4: cool Zone, visit our website coolzonemedia dot com, or check 1319 01:07:04,160 --> 01:07:07,080 Speaker 4: us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 1320 01:07:07,160 --> 01:07:08,360 Speaker 4: you get your podcasts.