WEBVTT - The Karol Markowicz Show: Navigating the Economy & Improving Lives with Javier David 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.360 Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:14.600 If you've been listening to this show for a while, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.680 you know that I love to ask guests to provide 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.599 a life improving tip. I really enjoyed compiling these. I 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.480 think that the tip I hear about most often that 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.360 people have implemented in their own lives is from my 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:32.599 very first episode. My guest was my fantastic friend Buck Sexton, 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.440 and he said to read before bed. Now, obviously that's 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.840 not rocket science, right you read before bed, you feel better. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.199 You don't stare at your phone. We all know that 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.080 staring at our devices right before trying to get RESTful 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.600 sleep is a recipe for tossing and turning all night. 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.400 But sometimes we just need to hear people give us 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:57.279 that obvious advice. Buck's advice is something that I've implemented myself. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:02.160 I try to read fiction specific before bed, and I mean, look, 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.480 I'm not perfect. Do I find myself scrolling on Instagram 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.760 reels before bed some nights of the week, of course 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.720 I do. But the nights that I don't, the nights 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.560 that I follow the advice to unplug before bed, are 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.120 my best nights of sleep. And it's helpful. So the 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:24.880 advice doesn't have to be astonishing or startling or really unique. 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.240 It can just be something that you need to hear. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.120 I asked my listeners and followers on Twitter to submit 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.479 their own tips for living a better life. I'm trying 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.080 to keep them kind of small and easy, like the 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.760 reading before bed one, and not big pieces of advice 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.080 that we all need but would be harder to implement. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.520 These are my three favorites from this week, but keep 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:50.040 them coming. Email Carolmarkowitz Show at gmail dot com, or 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:54.120 tweet me at Carol on x New Twitter, whatever you 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.680 want to call it. I'll read some responses on the 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.760 show and future episodes, so tune in. The number one 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.080 thing that came up again and again is to get 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.840 off your phone. I've talked about this one here. I 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.720 understand it's a challenge, but we all know how much 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.160 better off we would be if we used our phones less. 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.000 I've talked about how I take breaks for vacation, but 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.040 I'm going to make a serious attempt to just be 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.200 on my phone less. I get that it's really tough, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:25.520 and even right now, I'm thinking about all the things 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.919 that I need to get done on the Internet, which 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.720 would require me using my laptop or my phone. But 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.520 it's necessary to cut back, and I know it, and 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.200 I'm going to stop using it for like entertainment when 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.200 I wait on a line or I'm doing something that 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:41.960 I don't want to be doing. Number two is similar 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:46.160 but a little different. Somebody wrote, remember that social media 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.639 is not real life. Go out and see the world, 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.399 talk to people, live life in person. I talk about 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.639 this a lot on here. I think it gets very 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:57.200 easy to live your life online, especially if you work 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:01.320 from home. Challenge yourself to have one conversation in real 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.200 life this week. And I don't just mean with your 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.960 spouse or with your kids. I'll say a conversation has 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.440 to be three sentences long, so it can't just be 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.200 nice weather we're having with your neighbor and that's it. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.760 Connect with people in real life. Number three is compliment 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.839 one person a day. Be the kind of person who 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:23.040 says nice things to others. It'll make you feel better 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:26.640 about yourself too, I promise. Coming up next and interview 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.440 with Javier David join us after the break. 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.800 Welcome back to the Carol Marcowitch Show on iHeartRadio. My 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.560 guest today is Javier David Javier is managing editor for 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.720 Business and Markets at Axios. He oversees the Markets, Macro 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.920 and Closer newsletters and is an unrepentant Brooklyn Night, which 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.360 is how we met when I was one two. Hi Javier, 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.480 so great to have you on. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:54.040 Hey, good morning. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.680 So I know very little about finance or financial markets, 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.360 but you're now actually the third financial journalists I've had on, 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.800 which just means I'm friends with a lot of financial journalists. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.560 The other two were John Carney and Mitch Rochelle from 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.720 Breitbart and Box Business. But it's interesting finance and I 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.560 love to learn. So where do you see the economy going? 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:18.480 You know, in a sort of playing terms for people 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.200 who don't know a lot about what's going on. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.159 Yeah. John Carney incidentally is one of my former colleagues 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.520 who work together at NBC. A great guy, super smart, 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.400 huge amount of respect for them. Hi John, if you're listening, 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.800 But yeah, sure he's listening. He is. I see him 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.120 all the time on Twitter, but not in person. But 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.080 all that said, yeah, the economy in twenty twenty four 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.760 kind of puzzled, you know, against all odds. And I 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.800 know this is a sort of controversial thing to say. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.120 It shouldn't be, but you know, the economy, the US 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.119 economy is really in a lot of respects outperformed every 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.880 other major and we're in an election year, and you know, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.120 it's sort of, uh, the economy becomes something of a 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.320 ror shark test where if you're you know, whether you're 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.120 a Democrat or Republican, and all kind of is skewed 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:17.200 based on kind of a or view through a partisan lens. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.040 And that's unfortunate because you know, you have a jobs 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:25.400 market that is really really strong after a very long 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:30.120 period where workers wages were stagnant. People are earning more, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.320 they're earning more or getting more from their employers. That's 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.280 a good thing. You know, unemployment below four percent, that 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.640 has been there's a lot of noise surrounding the state 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.960 of the jobs market because we've had a tremendous amount 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.800 of layoffs announcements since since at the start of the year. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.839 I mean a lot of that has been concentrated in 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:51.560 sectors that kind of over hire during the pandemic, and 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.520 that would be technology and also in the field that 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.560 we're in, which is media. And if you remember I 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.080 think twenty one twenty one twenty twenty two, it seemed 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.080 like everybody was getting a new job somewhere right. It 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.840 was kind of the Yolo economy, and everyone was like, Hey, 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.880 I'm gonna go you know, personal news on Twitter like that. 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:15.640 You know, it was a really heady time to be 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.760 a journalist and you after, you know, you come into 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.400 this profession and you don't really believe that you're gonna 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.000 make a lot of money. And people started getting good money. 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.080 But now we're kind of overcorrecting for that what was 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:33.760 in that sort of an over hiring. But all things considered, 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.240 the inflation, I think that's what everyone is kind of 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.080 like on the phone. That's what everyone's talking about. And 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.599 why views about the economy are so to you because 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.560 we are in fact paying much more for everything, and 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.159 more than we've paid in a very long time, and 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:55.159 the data suggests that we are. In fact. Inflation is slowing. Now. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.839 Slowing is a different animal altogether than falling prices, and 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.360 you have a lower rate of inflation, but prices are 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.800 still rising, so we kind of call it disinflation, which 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.040 means that, yeah, inflation is still there. It's still president, 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.480 it's still at the risk, and it's one of the 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.560 reasons why the Federal Reserve won't kind of commit to 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.880 cutting rates anytime this year because there is a real 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.560 risk that it could pick up again. And those of 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.400 us old enough to remember guys like you know, Vulgar 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.960 and green Span, These guys were Federal Reserve chairmen who 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.280 were committed inflation fighters that they weren't about this stuff 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.240 all the time, that if you allowed inflation to get 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.160 out of control, it absolutely would and it would kind 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.880 of devour everything. So we're coming out of this era, 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:44.840 or this particular juncture where prices were really, really high, 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.440 but now they're starting to normalize. So again, normalizing is 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.760 different than falling, which isn't a good thing either, because 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.440 you don't want deflation. It's is almost that as inflation, 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.280 but you want to stable prices. And managed to kind 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.840 of stick the landing and hyped rates. It's broad inflation 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.320 sort of under control nominally, and the growth is still there. 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.600 And more importantly, anyone that needs a job can find 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.040 a job, and that the data shows that it's a 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.360 lot tougher than it was a year ago. But certainly 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.280 people can feel confident in the fact that like this 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.520 is a place, you know, the economy. Economy is in 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.360 a place where people can find jobs, you can earn money, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.760 and it's you know, it's not a disaster. The economy 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:28.920 is certainly not fallen off cliff. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:34.079 Where would we first see that inflation go down? Because 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.400 I have not seen. I just I'm constantly amazed up 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.160 prices like I, you know, I've been blessed do I, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.160 you know, really haven't had a financial downturn in the 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.840 last few years that a lot of people did during 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.560 the pandemic. And I am like horrified at a lot 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.040 of the prices, and I just think that it makes 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.440 me afraid for the future because I just don't see 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.080 them going down. But you're saying that they may, So 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.439 where would we feel that or see that first? 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.760 So we're seeing it, we're starting to see I think 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.640 people get the most triggered by grocery prices. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.480 And grocery prices I am triggered. 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.480 And they're still very high. The data says that they're 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:15.480 still rising, but at a much more normal rate. Where 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.480 people are actually starting to see the sticker shop, honestly 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:20.640 is when they go out to You remember, at one 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.240 point last year, over the last year or so, it 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.800 was cheaper to eat out than it was to stay 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.920 at home. Any prices were so absurd. Now we're at 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.280 in this particular juncture where the grocery prices are starting 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.000 to level off. But again, leveling off isn't a different 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:43.040 animal than falling still high, but like moderating. A lot 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.080 of the fast food joints are have hiked prices and 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.720 they're starting to see some pushback from that because people 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.680 are not eating there as much. And as a matter 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:58.080 of fact, we had a couple of fast food operators 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.920 report earnings just as ye and some of them, you know, 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.800 were we then expected because it's starting to get the 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:10.280 data suggest the numbers suggested people are not necessarily inclined 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.360 to just keep paying or coming out of pocket. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.720 Like my brother was telling me yesterday that McDonald's is 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:16.800 like in collapse. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.839 And that's concerning McDonald's. McDonald's an interesting story because they 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.840 really thrived during the pandemic, and you know, their whole 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.520 sort of stick is the dollar menu, the cheap eats 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.640 that they've got really great value for their for their 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.080 you know, for what they offer. And if you're an 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.400 app user, like it's even better because you kind of 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.960 accumulate loyalty points, you get special deals and whatever. So 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:44.840 I'm a big fan of McDonald's and I love their 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.760 app and I absolutely love their coffee. But in terms 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:53.880 of crisis, everyone is starting to realize that this isn't 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.000 just a one way bet. You can't just sort of 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.600 pass on costs, pass on costs, and the real reason 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.800 that we have to sort of be fair. The real 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.040 reason why we're seeing such sort of price inflation is 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.679 because it costs a lot of these companies a lot 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.080 more to do business, and so their inputs like f loower, eggs, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.640 all of the things that are used to make a meal. Yeah, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.920 prices of skyprocketed. So at some point there's a willingness 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.120 for the company to eat some of those costs. But 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:24.880 at some point it's like, it's costing me a lot 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:26.240 to put all of this together, and I'm going to 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:27.480 start passing it out to consumer. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.679 Right, will millennials ever be able to buy a house 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.320 or are they just going to be eating avocado toasts 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.720 in their in their rentals for the rest of their lives? 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:42.720 Yes, you know this is there's a strain of thought 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.080 that says, you know, you shouldn't deprive and I've seen 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.760 this a lot more recently, and I'm up to minds 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:52.440 like don't deprive yourself of things that make you feel good. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.040 That's been my philosophy. Are my husband doesn't love that, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:58.560 but yeah, that's that's how I live. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.840 Well, here's the thing, like, I think we all sort 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.560 of grew up with this idea that you know, especially 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.480 for those of us a certain generation, like you had 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.960 to save every day, wasn't you know, you can treat 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.560 yourself and like maybe that's every week or once a 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.920 week or once every two weeks or whatever, but there 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.240 was a limit and that you kind of had to 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.280 impose the differenscipline. You had to live within a budget. Nowadays, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.840 I think, primarily because of the proliferation of social media 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:27.720 and things like that, there's a lot of i don't know, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:29.880 for lack of a better, certain period pressure. People feel 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:34.600 obligated fomo or you know that. They call it lifestyle cre. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.080 People and hey, the US government does it, so whatever. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:40.960 Well, yeah, that's a whole lot of conversation. 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.640 But hey, buy all the Starbucks treats. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.640 Yeah, and so the idea people are making more money 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.800 in the data suggests they are. Wages were going up. 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.200 So that entails people looking and saying, hey, I'm making 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:54.960 a little bit more money, why don't I You know, 0:12:55.000 --> 0:13:00.800 I couldn't afford that, you know, fifty dollars caviar lunch before, 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.079 but now I can. I can afford to go to 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.920 Vail for vacation, I can afford to do all of 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.680 these other things. And that's when it starts to catch 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.720 up with you. So there's got to be, you know, 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.080 a balance, like if you buy in Buying a house 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.720 is a real responsibility. It's a very expensive proposition, and 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.120 I think people aren't don't really fully prepare themselves for 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:25.360 just how much home ownership involves a lot of money, 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.680 a lot of responsibility, a lot of time. It involves 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:30.440 like putting down and down payment. And if you've got 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:31.839 to put down and down payment, I mean you don't 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.480 have a rich relative or rich parents or whatever, You're 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.120 going to have to figure out how to come up 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.880 with that money by yourself. Mortgage rates being what they are, 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.719 they've come off seven eight percent levels which we saw 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.440 just several months ago, but it's still not cheap and 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.120 housing is still very very scarce. Affordable housing is still 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:52.040 very very scarce. So you have to look at all 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.000 of these things and say like, yeah, I can have 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.560 my Starbucks, I can have my avocado toast, but I 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.760 actually do at some point want to own a house 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.080 and it's not going to be so I've got to 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.800 make the sorts of decisions. Now. You know, when you 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.400 spend all of these money, all this money regularly, it 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.240 starts to add up, right. 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:16.360 Not necessarily on avocado toast. If you're you know, spending 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:20.720 the money you should be using on a down payment, it's. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.800 The new vision pro thing. Like, and if you've got 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.320 a lot of money on credit cards and you're carrying balances, 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.440 you're paying interest on it. You're paying a substantial amount 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.240 of interests. You're paying at least to twenty percent interest. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.920 There's more or less the average APR, and that's a 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.400 record high. So all of these things add up, and 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.480 so they seem in the moment it's like, Okay, it's 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.360 just five dollars, twenty dollars whatever, a lot of money. 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.320 But if you continually do it, and you're working toward 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:50.640 a financial goal that involves ownership of a home or 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.840 car or whatever it might be, these are things that 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.800 you just have to really weigh in consideration to like 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.360 where you are now and what you've got available and 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:01.560 where you actually want to go. 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:03.680 Yeah, I feel like I'm going to send this video 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.280 to the US government and say, like, hey, Javier says 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.400 that maybe you shouldn't outspend what. 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.440 You're earning, just you know, all the way. 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:16.800 Yeah, that's that's one of my favorite topics. We're get 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:16.960 on that. 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.640 We're going to take a quick break and be right 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:27.880 back on the Carol Markowitz Show. So switching away from 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.320 the financial world. A question that I ask all of 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.400 my guests is what would you say is our largest 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:38.160 societal or cultural problem? And do you think it's solvable? 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:46.640 Wow, We've got a lot of projects. I think I 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.600 think a lot of it. I think people blame social 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.080 media for a lot of things, and I think we 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:55.080 do have, you know, a number of challenges and our 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.760 law our biggest is were really disconnected. And I think 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:03.680 that people attributed to you what's what's the best way 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.880 to phrase this? People think it's individualism, But I don't 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.960 believe it's individualism. All the people wanting to do what 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.040 they want to do and they're just looking out for themselves, 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:13.840 and I don't think that that's really the problem. I 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:18.000 just think that people are very not are thoughtless, that's 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.280 the best way to put it. Like they're doing things 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.200 or they're behaving in a way that just they're not 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.840 really considering not only themselves, but kind of like the 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.280 domino effect of what they do, like in the future, 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.480 and how that impacts you know, future decision, future availability, future, 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.440 you know, the resources. And in a lot of way, 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.960 you know, we this what we see on social media 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.880 playing out on Twitter or Instagram on any given day 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.120 is really a function of the fact that we are 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:49.640 very disconnected from ourselves, and I think people are trying 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:54.080 their best to fill a void and they're just getting 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.200 it all wrong. And a lot of it is you know, 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.320 expressed in you know, consumerism and the crazy news that 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:04.080 we see on Twitter and social media, and it's all 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:09.160 a symptom of just something that's really really deeply ingrained 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.600 and that people really are struggling to try and reconcile 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:16.280 themselves with or compensate for. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:20.120 And do you think it's solvable? Is this something that 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:21.919 we can fix? 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:27.080 You know, I want to call myself an optimist, but 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.840 you know, I see things just jumping the rails every day, 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:36.800 like you you you, I'm more of a realist than 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.479 I am optimistic. And it's one of those things, as 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.520 cliches in might sound. I think it's going to get 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.520 worse before it gets better. And I think that people 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.360 we have to hit rock bottom, and apparently I don't 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.880 think we're there yet, and everything I think we are 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:54.240 sort of at a rock bottom. Things get a little worse, 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.720 and so all of that said, like I just I 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.760 feel like we need to stop placing so much in 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:04.920 order for things to get better. We need to stop 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:10.560 placing so much faith or emphasis in politics or the 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.520 political system. People are looking for some sort of like 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.160 you know, superman or super woman or people that were 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:22.000 to redeem themselves or redeem how you feel about their circumstances, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:23.639 and that's the wrong way to look at it. Like, 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.359 and when we're electing government officials, we're not electing our best, 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:34.879 and we're certainly no, we're not electing our best, and 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.560 we're kind of like imbuing them with this power some 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.639 sort of thing. We kind of want them to govern 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:42.680 a certain way or govern over in US and like 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:47.119 we you know, we used to govern ourselves. These people 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.680 work for us. When you elect them. They're supposed to 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.199 be making decisions on our behalf, and they're supposed to 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.480 be like accountable to us, and a lot of ways 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.439 it's not working out that way. And I think that 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.720 that's part of an expression of the whole disconnect and 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.680 the fact that people are yearning for something but are 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.480 like putting it in all of putting the emphasis on 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:08.000 all the wrong things and all the wrong people. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.520 I normally end with this question, but this seems like 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.480 a natural segue. Here is what's your best tip for 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.360 my listeners on how they can improve their lives? 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.320 Get off the computer once in a while, Just close 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.679 the phone, close the laptop, go out, go to a movie. 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.080 I go to the movies every week. Really, you're a 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:30.959 Brooklyn night and you know, you know where the night 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.879 Hawk is the night week. Every week they have great 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.920 retro movies, like I'm going to see Shafts next week. 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:41.879 I saw Mommy Darius there a few weeks ago, a 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.879 few months ago. I really enjoy the movies, and I 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.400 really enjoy going to the movies. It's strangers itself by myself. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.600 I just kind of like sitting in the movie theater 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.520 and it's dark and you got your popform food. If 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.840 you go to place like the Nighthawk, they serve cocktails, 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.360 they starve for full menu. It's really cool and it's 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.560 like and I'm in walking distance, so often most of 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:01.560 the time I end up walking there, riding my bike, 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:05.320 getting fresh air and sort of unplugging from the matrix. 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:10.520 That well convinced ourselves we need to participate and partake 0:20:10.560 --> 0:20:13.919 in every day and give hot takes and on the 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.959 Instagram or whatever, and give it all the rest, like 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:21.280 you know, give yourself, give your like, your mind a break. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:24.399 What would you be doing if you were not a 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:26.679 financial journalist? What would the plan b for? 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.399 Javier believe or I really wanted to be a lawyer 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:36.720 at one point I forget that. The cliffs stillest version 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:38.359 of my life is like right it from high school, 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.040 went straight to the military. I was a paralegal in 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.000 the Army. I got exposed to law that way, and 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:46.560 I was like, Wow, this is great. I want to 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.560 do this. And I graduated Like once I got a 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:52.240 military I went right to college. I blasted my way 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.480 through college, double major in economics and politics and I 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.159 minored in English LID. And my whole idea was I 0:20:58.200 --> 0:20:59.600 was going to you know, leverage that to go to 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.719 walls cool, But then as like, wow, it's a three 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.800 year commitment and it's so expensive, and so I got 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:11.040 a master's degree instead. I kind of stumbled into financial journalism. 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.320 But I was actually, you know, once upon a time 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.880 during myself for preparing myself for a career in law. 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.360 Wow, I really would not have guessed that. I feel 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.160 like you might have missed your calling with voiceover work. 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.119 You have this great voice and it's so soothing. I 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.639 could like listen to, you know, tell me about financial markets. 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.520 And so it's not Shakespeare, but. 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.000 I believe in you. I think you could totally do Shakespeare. 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.480 I used to love Shakespeare. I was a big Shakespeare fan. 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:44.760 I could see that, yeah, and I could see you, 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:48.360 you know, on a stage like its just something to consider, 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.480 you know, right, do you feel like you've made it? 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:58.879 No, I feel like made king. It is a misnomer. 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:01.119 It's almost like miss leading in a lot of ways. 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.800 It's like, you know, you never stop learning and you 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.879 should never stop growing. And I think that once you 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:12.800