WEBVTT - Buck Brief - Inez Stepman 0:00:11.697 --> 0:00:14.977 You're listening to The Buck Sexton Show podcast, make sure 0:00:14.977 --> 0:00:17.977 you subscribe to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app or 0:00:18.017 --> 0:00:19.737 wherever you get your podcasts. 0:00:20.137 --> 0:00:22.457 Hey, everybody, welcome to the Buck Brief. On this episode, 0:00:22.537 --> 0:00:25.177 Inez Stepman is with us. She is a senior policy 0:00:25.217 --> 0:00:28.297 analyst at the Independent Women's Forum, does some great writing 0:00:28.657 --> 0:00:30.137 and it's been a friend of mine in this business 0:00:30.177 --> 0:00:32.657 for like a decade. Now, isn't that what we're getting old? 0:00:32.697 --> 0:00:34.297 He is? You know, they realize That's what I was 0:00:34.377 --> 0:00:34.817 gonna say. 0:00:34.817 --> 0:00:36.417 That's a reminder of how old we are. 0:00:36.257 --> 0:00:38.057 May be able to measure our friendship and how many 0:00:38.097 --> 0:00:42.017 decades we have been hanging out. So let's start with 0:00:42.017 --> 0:00:43.737 with this I wanted to get into and just to 0:00:43.737 --> 0:00:45.737 give folks a sense of where we're gonna go. Uh 0:00:46.257 --> 0:00:50.377 some DC school numbers about how many people are you know, 0:00:50.457 --> 0:00:53.137 absent truant, but really are they even going to school 0:00:53.137 --> 0:00:56.457 at all? That's really interesting to me. Mark Cuban thinking 0:00:56.937 --> 0:00:59.457 that he should just keep on. It's like a kid 0:00:59.497 --> 0:01:02.017 burning his hand on the stove. But Mark Cuban with 0:01:02.137 --> 0:01:05.057 DEI is like burn it again, burn it again. Like 0:01:05.097 --> 0:01:07.217 he just seems to love doing this online, like he 0:01:07.297 --> 0:01:09.897 loves the pain. But we'll we'll get into that. But 0:01:10.537 --> 0:01:12.417 I just think this is fascinating. You are a New Yorker. 0:01:13.617 --> 0:01:14.137 You live there. 0:01:14.137 --> 0:01:15.817 Now, it's funny I used to be in New Yorker. 0:01:15.897 --> 0:01:17.697 I mean, I think that's very generous of you, given 0:01:17.737 --> 0:01:21.057 I know that you're you're an original New Yorkers. I 0:01:21.057 --> 0:01:23.417 don't know, after three years, can I call myself a New. 0:01:23.737 --> 0:01:24.977 Yorkers who were born and raised there. 0:01:25.017 --> 0:01:26.577 It's a little bit like the way that Japanese feel 0:01:26.617 --> 0:01:29.377 about citizenship, Like we're very slow to call somebody else 0:01:29.417 --> 0:01:31.417 a New Yorker, Like we don't really give it out. 0:01:31.977 --> 0:01:35.657 But no, you because you love the city and you 0:01:35.697 --> 0:01:38.337 are staying, and you are conservative, but you are staying, 0:01:38.497 --> 0:01:41.617 and so is Jared, your husband. He You guys are 0:01:41.617 --> 0:01:42.977 in it right, You're in it to win it. 0:01:43.017 --> 0:01:43.337 Okay. 0:01:44.137 --> 0:01:50.017 You live across from a migrant encampment in New York City. 0:01:50.897 --> 0:01:52.977 Tell me all about this because I actually haven't been 0:01:52.977 --> 0:01:54.977 there to see this phase of the city. I was 0:01:54.977 --> 0:01:57.777 there through the COVID madness. Now live in Florida. What 0:01:57.897 --> 0:01:59.577 are we seeing with the migrant situation? 0:02:00.697 --> 0:02:04.137 Yeah, I mean it's bad, and it's visibly so and 0:02:04.257 --> 0:02:07.697 getting worse, which I mean we can talk about. I 0:02:07.737 --> 0:02:12.617 think the single most uh and successful political gambit probably 0:02:12.737 --> 0:02:16.417 the last thirty years has been dysantis an abbot sending 0:02:16.457 --> 0:02:20.177 bus loads of migrants to Blue Havens because it has 0:02:20.257 --> 0:02:23.297 truly made it a national problem. And of course there's 0:02:23.377 --> 0:02:26.697 the obvious hypocrisy in a bunch of New Yorkers waking 0:02:26.777 --> 0:02:29.497 up to the fact that this is actually a problem, 0:02:29.697 --> 0:02:32.137 you know, after they've been calling Hidalgo, Texas who's dealing 0:02:32.177 --> 0:02:34.657 which is dealing with a much worse problem over decades, 0:02:35.937 --> 0:02:38.617 and they've been basically called racists for their trouble for 0:02:38.737 --> 0:02:41.657 complaining about it, right, But nevertheless, I think it's been 0:02:41.737 --> 0:02:44.257 really effective. I do see a lot of people complaining 0:02:44.297 --> 0:02:46.057 about it. I see people, you know, it's one of 0:02:46.057 --> 0:02:49.217 those things you just can't ignore. It's also impossible to 0:02:49.257 --> 0:02:52.617 ignore the makeup of who's coming here. These are young 0:02:52.657 --> 0:02:55.857 men from eighteen to their mid twenties, and they're just 0:02:55.897 --> 0:03:01.897 hanging out in packs. It's definitely like I get very 0:03:01.897 --> 0:03:05.297 interesting notifications. I have a app that tracks like neighborhood 0:03:05.297 --> 0:03:08.257 crime and get I get really interesting notifications like three 0:03:08.377 --> 0:03:14.097 hundred men in a brawl. Oh, that doesn't happen without. 0:03:13.857 --> 0:03:16.417 I mean, unless it's unless it's happening at Thermopoli a 0:03:16.457 --> 0:03:18.177 long time ago. That's concerning. 0:03:18.297 --> 0:03:22.217 Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's it's a different dynamic than 0:03:22.257 --> 0:03:25.697 the domestic problems with crime, which are also an issue. 0:03:26.137 --> 0:03:28.617 But now there's a lot of uh, there's a lot 0:03:28.617 --> 0:03:31.377 of chatter around. Some of these guys are forming gangs, 0:03:31.417 --> 0:03:33.737 and they're just forming like kind of snatching gangs, so 0:03:34.337 --> 0:03:37.337 walking around the street, grab a bag, grab a phone. 0:03:37.417 --> 0:03:41.057 They're speeding away on on mopeds. But it's organized. It's 0:03:41.057 --> 0:03:43.497 not a sort of random, it's it's organized, and they're 0:03:43.657 --> 0:03:47.097 repeated offenders over and over again, and and a lot 0:03:47.137 --> 0:03:50.497 of people are now it's it's self perpetuating because the 0:03:50.537 --> 0:03:53.497 sanctuary city policies and the generous benefits in New York 0:03:54.177 --> 0:03:57.697 are an attraction. So now Abbott and DeSantis don't have 0:03:57.737 --> 0:04:00.337 to do bus loads. They can. The people are saying 0:04:00.337 --> 0:04:02.377 at the border, you now the it's about hotel Manhattan. 0:04:02.537 --> 0:04:06.057 So that's that's uh, that's that's what's going on, and 0:04:06.737 --> 0:04:08.817 it is really putting us straight on the city. It's 0:04:08.857 --> 0:04:13.537 it's anyway, it really it's a different experience actually living 0:04:13.617 --> 0:04:15.737 next door to it. I lived in San Diego for 0:04:15.817 --> 0:04:17.737 quite some time, and that's the closest I've come to 0:04:17.817 --> 0:04:19.737 seeing this. But it was much less out of control 0:04:19.977 --> 0:04:21.737 when I was living in San Diego. Even though there 0:04:21.737 --> 0:04:26.017 were a lot of illegal crossings, the number and again 0:04:26.057 --> 0:04:30.737 the demographic profile of people coming here is like the 0:04:30.737 --> 0:04:32.417 only thing I have to compare it to is, as 0:04:32.417 --> 0:04:34.817 I was telling you off air, as East Jerusalem. It 0:04:34.897 --> 0:04:39.697 feels very very foreign. You feel nervous as a woman 0:04:39.737 --> 0:04:43.817 alone walking by. It's just packs of young men hanging 0:04:43.857 --> 0:04:48.297 out all day doing drugs, drinking, like getting into fights. 0:04:49.217 --> 0:04:51.457 And what is the city plan for this? You know, 0:04:52.057 --> 0:04:56.617 it seems like this is combustible. It's clearly a quality 0:04:56.617 --> 0:04:59.737 of life issue. It's a safety issue, it's a law issue. 0:04:59.777 --> 0:05:01.697 I mean, I can good on the whole list. What 0:05:01.777 --> 0:05:06.857 is Eric Adam saying about this or anyway. 0:05:04.657 --> 0:05:08.137 He's been kind of vocal about it. I've been kind 0:05:08.137 --> 0:05:10.977 of surprised. I mean, obviously my standards are very very low, 0:05:11.897 --> 0:05:14.657 given that he is a Democrat, but he's been kind 0:05:14.657 --> 0:05:18.657 of a burn the Biden administration side. I mean, unfortunately, 0:05:18.657 --> 0:05:21.457 the democratic resolution for all this right, the thing that 0:05:21.457 --> 0:05:23.217 everyone will agree to at the end of the day 0:05:23.257 --> 0:05:25.177 within that party is we just need to throw more 0:05:25.217 --> 0:05:27.857 money at this right. So Eric Adams is complaining about 0:05:27.897 --> 0:05:32.097 the strain on resources, which again is something that border 0:05:32.177 --> 0:05:36.497 states have been dealing with for decades, but is a 0:05:36.577 --> 0:05:39.257 very real problem. I mean, we had the headline go 0:05:39.417 --> 0:05:42.337 viral from the New York Post just I think a 0:05:42.337 --> 0:05:46.017 few weeks ago where they once again shut down schools 0:05:46.657 --> 0:05:49.817 went to virtual schooling in a school in New York, 0:05:49.897 --> 0:05:53.457 this time not because of a virus and not because 0:05:53.737 --> 0:05:56.097 of teacher strikes which has happened in which have happened 0:05:56.097 --> 0:06:00.257 in other states, but because they needed the space to 0:06:00.297 --> 0:06:03.497 put migrants in. So they send everybody's kits to virtual learning. 0:06:04.217 --> 0:06:07.017 Those kinds of really direct trade offs are I think 0:06:07.097 --> 0:06:09.417 what is shifting. That's why I say it's very successful 0:06:10.337 --> 0:06:13.297 gambit in a way. I do think that changes people's 0:06:13.297 --> 0:06:16.457 minds and people forget that there was a seventeen point 0:06:16.497 --> 0:06:20.657 swing in New York I think largely over the crime issue, 0:06:20.697 --> 0:06:23.577 and now I would add migration into that general crime 0:06:23.617 --> 0:06:25.897 and quality of life. People are not happy with it. 0:06:25.937 --> 0:06:29.097 They actually are changing how they vote. Obviously, it's a 0:06:29.097 --> 0:06:31.137 super blue state and so it didn't go over the top. 0:06:31.177 --> 0:06:35.857 For the governor. But seventeen points is a big swing 0:06:36.177 --> 0:06:38.897 of people basically switching their votes from Ray. 0:06:38.937 --> 0:06:42.337 It's encouraging, but I just I any person who tells 0:06:42.377 --> 0:06:44.257 me they think given what New York City when I 0:06:44.297 --> 0:06:46.377 was living there, right, so I was experiencing it too. 0:06:47.217 --> 0:06:49.577 I have disdain for people who voted for Kathy Hockel. 0:06:49.657 --> 0:06:52.657 I mean true, truly, I think their judgment is impaired 0:06:52.697 --> 0:06:54.497 and they're not very bright, Like I don't really even 0:06:54.617 --> 0:06:57.377 care what their issues are. If you see what was 0:06:57.417 --> 0:06:59.857 going on in New York. I know she's the governor. 0:06:59.857 --> 0:07:02.017 It's not New York City per se, but New York 0:07:02.057 --> 0:07:05.137 City is the political center of gravity for the entire state. 0:07:05.257 --> 0:07:07.777 It's obviously a huge part of the overall budget. There 0:07:07.817 --> 0:07:10.257 are enormous implications for New York City based upon what 0:07:10.297 --> 0:07:13.057 goes on in Albany and from the governor's office. And 0:07:13.137 --> 0:07:15.537 to put that, and you know, she was so involved 0:07:15.537 --> 0:07:18.617 with the COVID situation in the worst possible ways to 0:07:18.657 --> 0:07:22.577 put that, imbecile Kathy hocal in power for a full term. 0:07:22.697 --> 0:07:24.577 To me, it's just inexcusable. It's just malpractice. 0:07:24.617 --> 0:07:26.937 Yeah, I mean, I mean, she's the worst for sure, 0:07:28.897 --> 0:07:32.057 she's the worst. 0:07:32.417 --> 0:07:34.937 No, I mean I think I did you feel safe 0:07:34.977 --> 0:07:36.097 on the subway? Can I ask you that? 0:07:36.097 --> 0:07:38.617 Because you know they did that whole National Guard thing recently. 0:07:38.617 --> 0:07:39.857 As a whole I was going to bring. 0:07:39.857 --> 0:07:42.137 Up is that, you know, the left basically because they 0:07:42.217 --> 0:07:44.937 refuse to put career criminals in prison and want to 0:07:44.937 --> 0:07:46.337 put the rest of us in prison, like we can 0:07:46.377 --> 0:07:49.337 all live in prison, so they can try to accommodate 0:07:49.417 --> 0:07:54.377 for the consequences of not putting people in prison. Yeah. No, 0:07:54.417 --> 0:07:56.417 I mean I definitely feel more and safe than I 0:07:56.457 --> 0:07:58.937 did a few years ago, and for sure more than 0:07:59.217 --> 0:08:03.777 pre pandemic like twenty nineteen. On the subway, I mean 0:08:03.817 --> 0:08:07.577 it still is okay, it just depends, right, you have 0:08:07.617 --> 0:08:10.057 to be a lot more alert. I definitely switched cars. 0:08:11.297 --> 0:08:14.817 That is the biggest problem is the enclosed space of 0:08:14.857 --> 0:08:17.737 the subway, and that actually is less of a crime 0:08:17.777 --> 0:08:20.617 problem and more of a problem of the people being 0:08:20.697 --> 0:08:25.137 unwilling to uh put away people who are insane, like 0:08:25.217 --> 0:08:26.337 drug addicted and insane. 0:08:26.377 --> 0:08:30.897 Yeah, the gang very commitment, right, it's not about a 0:08:30.897 --> 0:08:33.817 gang banger with you know, an uzy on the subway. 0:08:33.857 --> 0:08:35.457 I know they're doing this whole gun it's about a 0:08:35.537 --> 0:08:37.897 lunatic who's going to throw an old lady in front 0:08:37.937 --> 0:08:40.417 of a train for no reason, who's been arrested fifty times. Right, 0:08:40.457 --> 0:08:43.377 That's what the dynamic that I can just read about. 0:08:43.577 --> 0:08:45.297 But I remember it happening when I was there. I 0:08:45.337 --> 0:08:46.897 saw stuff on the New York City Subway. I was 0:08:46.897 --> 0:08:48.977 born and raised there, and I was there in the nineties, 0:08:49.177 --> 0:08:50.737 and I remember it as a kid when it was 0:08:50.777 --> 0:08:53.537 actually at its most dangerous by the numbers. But I've 0:08:53.537 --> 0:08:55.377 seen stuff on the New York City Subway in the 0:08:55.457 --> 0:08:57.577 in most recent years that I had never seen before. 0:08:57.617 --> 0:08:59.457 I mean, gross stuff that I won't talk about on 0:08:59.817 --> 0:09:01.977 this show right now. But I saw guys doing things 0:09:01.977 --> 0:09:03.897 that I was like, things are not going well. All right, 0:09:04.137 --> 0:09:08.857 let's talk speaking of cities, DC and the school situation there. 0:09:08.897 --> 0:09:11.897 We'll get to that a second. But if you look around, 0:09:11.897 --> 0:09:15.857 the world is obviously a volatile place, and markets can 0:09:15.937 --> 0:09:18.457 change very quickly, and currencies can be in a whole 0:09:18.497 --> 0:09:22.897 lot of hurt depending on what the government's doing with 0:09:22.937 --> 0:09:25.897 inflation and what national spending looks like. 0:09:26.217 --> 0:09:26.977 So what can you do. 0:09:27.217 --> 0:09:29.897 I think it's time, if you haven't already, to look 0:09:29.897 --> 0:09:32.697 at gold. If you look at gold over the last 0:09:32.737 --> 0:09:35.457 six months, it's up some thirteen percent. The price and 0:09:35.537 --> 0:09:38.537 value of gold is connected to world events, and gold 0:09:38.697 --> 0:09:40.097 grows in value over time. 0:09:40.177 --> 0:09:40.897 Just look at history. 0:09:41.137 --> 0:09:42.777 It's one of the many reasons I own gold is 0:09:42.777 --> 0:09:45.177 part of my financial plant. It holds value and it 0:09:45.257 --> 0:09:48.217 steadily increases, and it's something you should consider as part 0:09:48.257 --> 0:09:51.617 of a diversified portfolio. I rely on the Oxford Gold 0:09:51.617 --> 0:09:54.257 Group for my gold and precious metal purchases. I've got 0:09:54.257 --> 0:09:57.937 silver two from the Oxford Gold Group. Nobody can predict 0:09:57.937 --> 0:10:00.777 the future, but that means you should prepare for it. 0:10:01.097 --> 0:10:03.537 The Oxford Gold Group are real pros. They make owning 0:10:03.537 --> 0:10:07.057 gold and silver simple and easy to understand. Call right now, 0:10:07.377 --> 0:10:09.297 you may be able to qualify for a ten thousand 0:10:09.337 --> 0:10:12.057 dollars in free per medals A three three nine nine 0:10:12.177 --> 0:10:15.737 five gold eight three three nine nine five gold A 0:10:15.937 --> 0:10:18.777 three three nine nine to five gold. All right, and 0:10:18.937 --> 0:10:23.537 as you're an education policy expert and follow this stuff 0:10:23.537 --> 0:10:27.577 all very closely. This this was, uh, this was pretty 0:10:27.577 --> 0:10:31.057 stunning stuff that the DC schools. This has gotten some 0:10:31.097 --> 0:10:35.377 attention recently. DC public school system have a sixty percent 0:10:35.737 --> 0:10:39.497 chronic absenteeism problem. What is going on here. 0:10:42.297 --> 0:10:45.297 Well, first of all, we lost track of hundreds of 0:10:45.337 --> 0:10:48.617 thousands of students. And by lost track, I mean we 0:10:48.737 --> 0:10:50.817 have no idea what happened to them. They were in 0:10:50.857 --> 0:10:52.977 school before the pandemic. They ought to have been in 0:10:52.977 --> 0:10:55.497 school after the pandemic, and we have no idea what 0:10:55.577 --> 0:11:00.137 happened to them. That it was bad before this truncy 0:11:00.177 --> 0:11:04.297 problem in DC. I mean, DC is a city with 0:11:04.417 --> 0:11:07.737 a lot of problems that precede the education system, and 0:11:07.737 --> 0:11:11.377 then the education system despite being these single most well 0:11:11.417 --> 0:11:14.337 funded system in the United States. A lot of the 0:11:14.417 --> 0:11:17.897 estimates now per pupil are over thirty five thousand dollars 0:11:17.897 --> 0:11:21.337 per student. So please do not let anyone ever tell 0:11:21.377 --> 0:11:24.377 you that the Washington DC schools are underfunded. I mean 0:11:24.657 --> 0:11:27.657 they are paying higher tuition than many private schools. We 0:11:27.697 --> 0:11:32.737 are all paying for that actually because it's federal. So 0:11:32.777 --> 0:11:35.017 I mean, this is a school system that was turning 0:11:35.497 --> 0:11:39.577 out bottom of the barrel results for decades, got a 0:11:39.577 --> 0:11:43.097 little bit of an improvement because of a relatively free 0:11:43.177 --> 0:11:47.057 charter law in the district, but nevertheless, I mean, this 0:11:47.097 --> 0:11:49.617 is a system that has had problems for a long 0:11:49.697 --> 0:11:54.857 long time, and the pandemic just estimated it because a 0:11:54.897 --> 0:11:58.417 lot of kids stop going to school functionally. It turns 0:11:58.417 --> 0:12:03.657 out that a laptop is not a acceptable substitute. And 0:12:03.697 --> 0:12:05.377 if you put kids on laptops for two and a 0:12:05.417 --> 0:12:08.497 half years, a lot of them don't come back to school. 0:12:08.777 --> 0:12:11.257 And we're finally seeing, I mean, it is enraging to 0:12:11.257 --> 0:12:14.057 see like the New York Times and elsewhere finally start 0:12:14.097 --> 0:12:18.857 to acknowledge the absolute devastation to so many millions of 0:12:18.937 --> 0:12:23.137 children's educations that happened. I mean, this was there is 0:12:23.257 --> 0:12:26.297 no excuse. There was no excuse even in like May 0:12:26.697 --> 0:12:29.377 June of twenty twenty for shutting the schools. And that's 0:12:29.737 --> 0:12:32.777 even if you were on the more cautious side of 0:12:33.337 --> 0:12:36.297 the spectrum when it comes to like the virus itself, 0:12:36.337 --> 0:12:39.337 it became clear pretty early on that children are not 0:12:39.377 --> 0:12:43.017 getting seriously affected by this. And then just as a 0:12:43.057 --> 0:12:48.737 matter of prioritizing, you know, societal functions, right, if you 0:12:48.777 --> 0:12:51.577 have casinos open and schools closed, that that's a matter 0:12:51.617 --> 0:12:56.257 of priorities. And unfortunately the fact that schools stayed closed 0:12:56.297 --> 0:12:58.257 for so long had so much more to do with 0:12:58.337 --> 0:13:02.697 teachers union's political power than it did with any analysis 0:13:02.817 --> 0:13:05.537 of any kind of risk analysis with the terms of 0:13:05.537 --> 0:13:09.497 the virus, any kind of you know, seriousness with in 0:13:09.577 --> 0:13:13.097 terms of prioritizing what activities for society are actually important. 0:13:13.457 --> 0:13:15.577 And we were told that, oh, it'll be fine, like 0:13:15.617 --> 0:13:17.577 it'll be fine, that we just shoved all these kids 0:13:18.057 --> 0:13:22.417 into like unmonitored virtual learning for years at a time, 0:13:22.497 --> 0:13:27.617 and now, finally, when it almost doesn't matter, we're getting 0:13:27.657 --> 0:13:29.537 those kinds of admissions from the New York Times, which 0:13:29.537 --> 0:13:31.177 always likes to print all the news that's fit to 0:13:31.177 --> 0:13:32.017 print three years ago. 0:13:32.297 --> 0:13:35.017 Yeah, absolutely, where does just forever? 0:13:35.057 --> 0:13:38.457 I always think this is such an interesting point about 0:13:38.457 --> 0:13:40.457 how much money is being spent, because I know the 0:13:41.457 --> 0:13:45.057 reflexive response you're supposed to have to any problem the 0:13:45.057 --> 0:13:46.977 school system is well, they need more money. And if 0:13:47.017 --> 0:13:49.497 you listen to Randy Winegarden, who I think is an 0:13:49.737 --> 0:13:51.577 I think is an evil person. I mean, I actually 0:13:51.657 --> 0:13:54.097 think that what she does is really destructive and dishonest, 0:13:54.417 --> 0:13:56.617 and that she hides behind the needs of children in 0:13:56.737 --> 0:13:57.217 order to. 0:13:57.257 --> 0:14:02.017 Help lazy socialist adults is pretty grotesque. That's just my view. 0:14:02.777 --> 0:14:05.057 What she did during COVID is unforgivable. She's almost as 0:14:05.097 --> 0:14:08.857 bad as Fauci. Where does all the money go right. 0:14:08.897 --> 0:14:11.217 They always say we need more money. Thirty five thousand 0:14:11.257 --> 0:14:15.177 dollars a person in DC, a pupil in DC. Where 0:14:15.177 --> 0:14:15.777 does the money go. 0:14:17.497 --> 0:14:20.697 It's a really good question, and the answer is largely 0:14:20.777 --> 0:14:23.697 to things that have nothing to do with the classroom. 0:14:23.977 --> 0:14:27.057 In some states, the it's so bad that, for example, 0:14:27.137 --> 0:14:32.657 in Illinois, for every additional dollar that's spent on education, 0:14:33.097 --> 0:14:36.937 generally only eleven cents is making it to anything having 0:14:37.017 --> 0:14:39.177 to do with the classroom. That's the salary of the teacher, 0:14:39.257 --> 0:14:42.337 paying for the building supplies, blah blah blah. So, like 0:14:42.817 --> 0:14:46.017 you know, almost ninety percent of the money is going 0:14:46.057 --> 0:14:48.777 outside of that system. So what's it being spent on. Well, 0:14:48.817 --> 0:14:52.937 it's being spent on a massive administrative hiring spree. We 0:14:53.057 --> 0:14:55.777 now have the smallest proportion of teaching staff to non 0:14:55.777 --> 0:14:58.057 teaching staff that we've had since the nineteen fifties. That's 0:14:58.097 --> 0:15:01.017 the number that's been going down over time, or rather 0:15:01.097 --> 0:15:04.857 going up. That we have more administrators every year visa 0:15:04.937 --> 0:15:08.897 the teaching positions, and this makes it really hard to 0:15:08.937 --> 0:15:11.057 talk about how much money we actually spend in the 0:15:11.137 --> 0:15:13.577 United States on education. We are a top two or 0:15:13.617 --> 0:15:16.377 three country per pupil, depending how you count all these funds. 0:15:18.017 --> 0:15:22.137 Our problem is not money. We are very very generous. 0:15:22.657 --> 0:15:26.057 The American people have been generous for decades, pulling out 0:15:26.097 --> 0:15:28.017 more and more money and in taxes going to the 0:15:28.137 --> 0:15:30.697 education system in America. The problem is the structure of 0:15:30.737 --> 0:15:32.737 the education system and what that money is spent on. 0:15:33.057 --> 0:15:35.097 But it's really really difficult to convince people of that 0:15:35.137 --> 0:15:38.177 because on the ground they see shortages, right because this 0:15:38.337 --> 0:15:41.857 money is so misspent. They'll go to their first grader's 0:15:41.857 --> 0:15:44.137 classroom and there isn't enough money for supplies, and the 0:15:44.137 --> 0:15:46.297 teacher is paying out of her own salary for you 0:15:46.337 --> 0:15:49.617 know whatever, like for equipment for the classroom, and they 0:15:49.657 --> 0:15:51.817 see that and they're like, well, obviously we're not spending 0:15:51.897 --> 0:15:54.697 enough money. But that's not the problem. The problem is 0:15:55.577 --> 0:15:58.577 that people like Randy Winegarden are setting the priorities of 0:15:58.617 --> 0:16:00.577 where the district spends money and what they spend money on. 0:16:00.737 --> 0:16:05.097 Are adding more administrative staff, like massive pensions for all 0:16:05.097 --> 0:16:09.057 those administrative staff, and then all kinds of like tech 0:16:09.457 --> 0:16:12.497 buy in. I mean, there's a lot of just incredible 0:16:12.497 --> 0:16:14.577 waste in the system. And that's before you get to 0:16:14.897 --> 0:16:17.897 what they're actually teaching and whether or not it's worthwhile. 0:16:17.937 --> 0:16:19.697 And whether they're teaching kids how to read, or whether 0:16:19.697 --> 0:16:22.257 they're teaching them to be little anti racist, you know, 0:16:22.297 --> 0:16:27.337 cultural revolutionaries. But all of that is not a matter 0:16:27.377 --> 0:16:30.417 of not being enough money. And in fact, you know, 0:16:30.417 --> 0:16:33.017 I think it's long past time that we take that 0:16:33.097 --> 0:16:34.737 money and give it to parents. I mean, I know 0:16:34.737 --> 0:16:36.977 you're a big proponent of school choice. I am as well. 0:16:37.977 --> 0:16:40.657 It's only a matter of fairness. Imagine what parents could 0:16:40.657 --> 0:16:43.177 do with thirty five thousand dollars per child per year 0:16:43.337 --> 0:16:46.217 in terms of their children's education. I guarantee you they'll 0:16:46.217 --> 0:16:47.737 do a better job than Randy Winegarten. 0:16:48.217 --> 0:16:51.537 Yeah, it seems very straightforward, but obviously the Democrat Party 0:16:51.537 --> 0:16:55.497 and the teachers' unions are a symbiotic organism. We'll come 0:16:55.537 --> 0:16:59.297 back and talk about Mark Cuban and Dei here in 0:16:59.417 --> 0:17:01.377 just a second. But you know, on this podcast, we 0:17:01.497 --> 0:17:04.137 try to cut through the noise and the nonsense, the 0:17:04.217 --> 0:17:08.217 ulterior motives out there. And that's also what my colleague 0:17:08.257 --> 0:17:11.377 Mark Chaykin does for the stock market. Mark worked on 0:17:11.377 --> 0:17:14.217 the stock market for fifty years. Across those decades, he 0:17:14.297 --> 0:17:16.897 invented three new indices for the NASDAK and has predicted 0:17:16.937 --> 0:17:19.177 some of the biggest market shifts of the past decade, 0:17:19.417 --> 0:17:22.537 including the recent mania and AI stocks. Mark says the 0:17:22.577 --> 0:17:24.377 majority of Americans are about to miss out on a 0:17:24.417 --> 0:17:27.537 critical turning point in this AI frenzy. He's calling this 0:17:27.657 --> 0:17:30.537 a new dawn for US stocks, and Mark predicts dozens 0:17:30.537 --> 0:17:33.177 of specific companies will be impacted in just the next 0:17:33.257 --> 0:17:35.257 ninety days. That's why Mark has agreed to share one 0:17:35.297 --> 0:17:37.457 of his favorite AI stocks to buy now with you. 0:17:37.857 --> 0:17:40.017 He put everything you need to know in a new presentation, 0:17:40.377 --> 0:17:44.617 Go to twenty twenty four aistock dot com. That's twenty 0:17:44.737 --> 0:17:50.417 twenty four aistock dot com twenty twenty four aistock dot 0:17:50.457 --> 0:17:53.617 com paid for by Shakin Analytics. So Mark Cuban is 0:17:53.617 --> 0:17:56.377 a rich guy who owns the Dallas Mavericks. He's worth 0:17:56.417 --> 0:17:59.857 billions of dollars. He's on shark Tank. He made a 0:17:59.897 --> 0:18:03.097 lot of money really selling a company that was effectively well, 0:18:03.137 --> 0:18:05.017 not worthless after he sold it, but worth a whole 0:18:05.057 --> 0:18:06.217 hell of a lot less than what he sold it 0:18:06.257 --> 0:18:11.657 for was at Broadcast dot Com. Right, But he's weighing 0:18:11.657 --> 0:18:14.777 into the DEI debate a lot and not looking very 0:18:14.777 --> 0:18:17.377 smart when he does it. What is Mark Cuban doing. 0:18:20.057 --> 0:18:23.137 Yeah. I mean, he doesn't seem to be able to 0:18:23.177 --> 0:18:25.937 get out from under certain premises of what he thinks 0:18:26.337 --> 0:18:31.737 DEI means, these kind of nice sounding platitudes about wanting 0:18:31.737 --> 0:18:34.577 to treat people equally, in valuing diversity and so on, 0:18:35.057 --> 0:18:38.097 and he just keeps looping back into those platitudes when 0:18:38.097 --> 0:18:40.737 people like Chris Ruffo show him that, in fact, that's 0:18:40.777 --> 0:18:42.737 not what it means, and shows a bunch of you know, 0:18:42.777 --> 0:18:47.497 examples and documents by actually, this is about declaring any 0:18:47.537 --> 0:18:52.897 disparities inherently illegitimate and trying to equalize outcomes between different 0:18:52.977 --> 0:18:56.097 different racial groups, between the sexes, because when you say 0:18:56.097 --> 0:18:58.457 it like that, it sounds insane, right, especially, I mean, 0:18:58.497 --> 0:19:01.537 I think sex is one of the easiest grounds on 0:19:01.577 --> 0:19:04.017 which you say. I mean, it is a sort of 0:19:04.177 --> 0:19:07.337 it's an insane premise for anybody who's actually lived in 0:19:07.377 --> 0:19:10.377 the world and met women and met men who assume 0:19:10.697 --> 0:19:13.897 that outcomes between them in all ways would be fifty 0:19:13.937 --> 0:19:17.577 to fifty. That is the kind of premise that if 0:19:17.577 --> 0:19:20.657 you go in you can only achieve through tyranny. It's 0:19:20.697 --> 0:19:23.217 just not going to happen any other way, because men 0:19:23.257 --> 0:19:27.777 and women have radically different interests, they live radically different lives, 0:19:27.777 --> 0:19:30.377 they have different responsibilities. All of these things I guess 0:19:30.457 --> 0:19:34.537 are are now crime think. But it's an obvious sort 0:19:34.537 --> 0:19:36.377 of You don't you don't even to know much about 0:19:36.417 --> 0:19:38.817 the DEI apparatus, You don't need to know all the 0:19:38.817 --> 0:19:41.657 theory to say this is an absurd goal. It's an 0:19:41.657 --> 0:19:44.057 absurd goal to say that men and women's outcomes should 0:19:44.057 --> 0:19:44.937 be identical. Right. 0:19:46.057 --> 0:19:48.617 I'm fond of pointing out for everyone he knows that 0:19:49.217 --> 0:19:51.537 if you really believe in disparate impact, someone has to 0:19:51.617 --> 0:19:53.977 explain what do we do about the fact that ninety 0:19:54.017 --> 0:19:58.417 percent of homicide inmates are men. I'm pretty sure it's 0:19:58.417 --> 0:19:59.777 because the member one it's killing. 0:19:59.577 --> 0:20:03.937 People impact, right, which I've actually had people online try 0:20:04.017 --> 0:20:07.297 to explain to me that actually women are just as 0:20:07.377 --> 0:20:10.737 violent as men. Wow, it's funny from like the red 0:20:10.737 --> 0:20:13.297 pill side of the internet. They're like, actually, there's this 0:20:13.417 --> 0:20:17.577 mass underreporting of abuse, like physical abuse by women. I mean, 0:20:17.617 --> 0:20:19.657 it might be underreported because men are ashamed, but like, 0:20:19.737 --> 0:20:22.937 the reason that there's a disparity is because one is 0:20:22.977 --> 0:20:25.737 stronger and more violent than the other. One is unable to, 0:20:25.937 --> 0:20:28.337 like women effectuate violence and sneak your ways. 0:20:28.337 --> 0:20:32.297 Anyways, I've never been on a date with a women 0:20:32.377 --> 0:20:33.777 with a woman who could beat me up in my 0:20:33.897 --> 0:20:34.337