WEBVTT - Economic Survival with Carol Roth 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.360 So how bad is the economy, how much of it 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.680 is government driven? How much of it is Biden driven. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.280 You've got people like Elon Musk who are reportedly cutting 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:16.000 ten percent of salaried workforce, and in a message to 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.920 executives that I have a super bad feeling about the economy, 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.799 got people like JP Morgan's Jamie Diamond who said that 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.720 there's a hurricane coming and people should brace themselves. So 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.320 what is coming? And how do you at home prepare? 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.880 We're going to get into all of these questions and 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.440 get answers from my friend Carol Roth. She's awesome. She's 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.280 a good friend, such a smart woman as well. She's 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.400 the author of New York Times best selling book The 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.320 Entrepreneur Equation. She also just most recently wrote The War 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.320 on Small Business, just really smartly looking at what happened 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.560 during COVID, how small businesses were just crushed. The average 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.200 American was crushed in favor of the big right, like 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.720 the walmarts, the targets, they all got to stay open, right. 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.040 Every one who's you know, tied to the you know, 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.280 the government, tied to you know, powerful politicians, whatever, they 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.880 gotta stay afloat recovering investment bank. Or's got a whole 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.400 lot going on, including currently as it an outsourced c CEO. 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.280 She's also just got a great sense of humor as well, 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.399 which I feel like it is needed in this day 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.360 and age. Right, everything so depressing, so we have to 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.600 laugh a little bit, we have to enjoy life. My 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.720 favorite thing from her website and her bio, it says 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.600 she advocates for small businesses, small government, and big hair. 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:32.920 So she's got a sense of humor. So we're going 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.120 to get into all these things with Carol Roth. You know, 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.959 hopefully she clears some things up for us, so stay tuned. 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.720 So I hate most people at home. I mean, we're 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.120 all paying more, right, we're all saying that the economy 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.400 is a total mess. So how bad is it? You know, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.840 what do we need to know? So I brought my 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.840 friend Carol Roth to the show. If you guys don't 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.040 follow her on Twitter, you should. Not only is she brilliant, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.040 but she also has a sense of humor, which is 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.000 needed in this day and age. So Carol, thanks so 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:11.920 much for coming on the show. Thanks for having me, 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.640 And I'm going to bitterly cling to anything that's even 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.959 somewhat humorous. So I know this the overall the macro 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.080 environment isn't funny, but we're going to do our best 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.320 to keep our wits about as Lisa well. And if 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.040 you don't follow Carol for financial advice, which you should 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:29.720 on Twitter, you should also follow her for where would 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:34.120 you wear this? The post so Carol Carol hash tag 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.880 on what occasion? On what occasion? Rather Yeah, So basically 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.480 Carol posts these pictures of people distressing insane, but it's 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:43.720 mostly like runway, and I think people actually think it 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.919 looks good, but it's just very, very funny, and then 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.320 the comments are funny. I try to chime in every 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.720 once in a while if I appreciate you. The funniest 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.080 thing is that the one that I started it with 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.120 actually was something that wasn't from a runway, was something 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.360 that I had just kind of seen and I didn't 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.280 mean to make it a thing. I was just like, 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.400 what occasion would you wear this? But I've conditioned people 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.520 to respond and to engage everything, and I got so 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.480 many funny responses that like, I had to do it again. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.040 And then when I got funny response, I was like, Okay, 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.639 this is now officially a thing, and now the thing. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.120 But but you know, to the point, people do need 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.840 some humor because you know, we're looking at the economy. 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.400 Everyone's paying more for essentially everything. I mean, order uber eats, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.480 there's like search charges, taxed attached, you know, attached to everything. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.000 Everything is just more expensive. But how bad is the 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.800 economy truly right now? So it's always interesting when we 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.880 talk about the economy because the economy is based and 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:50.160 measured on sort of these aggregate things. It's based on 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:55.280 government spending in part which we don't necessarily want that 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.440 to be high and adding to our GDP. It's based 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:04.440 on net exports, which obviously, given the current strength of 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.360 the dollar globally and just some of the things, um 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.880 that have happened around the world. Um, you know, sometimes 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.680 it's hard to gauge. And then it's based on business 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.600 investment and the consumer. And so you know, we like 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:25.120 it when businesses are investing and hiring and letting people participates, 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.559 and we like it when the consumer is feeling great 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.839 about things and it's spending to the extent that their 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.280 expenditures aren't putting them in a bad financial position. And 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.440 that's a part that I'm the most focused on and 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.960 frankly the most furious. You know, we've we've gone from 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.920 funny to furious in like two seconds. But but this 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:49.479 really is the part that I'm furious about because we've 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.880 had all of these very bad policy decisions, monetary policy 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:58.440 from the federal Reserve, fiscal policy from Congress and this 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.279 administration and frankly the previous this administration, um and other 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.920 government policies, and they have created the situation, like you said, 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.159 that we that we are all feeling. But now they're 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.200 looking to the consumer, the strength of the consumer to 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.360 spend and to bail us out. And what that means 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:23.520 is as individuals people are going in, they are saving less, 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:28.520 they are incurring more debts, and they're putting themselves in 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:33.200 a bad financial position in order to quote unquote to 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:38.920 quote endquote save the economy. So to the extent that 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:43.040 the economy is doing well, it's somewhat on the back 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.880 of people making sacrifices of their financial position. And so, 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.560 you know, there is this sort of push pull that's 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.960 going on that I don't think enough people are talking 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.799 about well. And there's also this shaming of people to 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.320 your point, and we've got the media basically telling us 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.760 that breadline are good, that scarcity is good, that like living, 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.880 having a normal life is bad now, you know, So 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.039 it's it's quite a time to be alive, it is. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.920 It's it's really a slap in the face because the 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:17.160 media have been these sort of cheerleaders and useful idiots 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:22.960 to point out everything that is completely untrue, and then 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.800 once it's proved true, to tell you why it's not 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.120 a bad thing. And we saw that whip inflation, that 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.480 that entire litany of you know, it's not going to happen. 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.120 It'll run a little bit hot, it'll be transitory. And 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.159 then it was, oh, it's the consumer's fault. No, actually, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.360 it's good for you. It's only bad for rich people. 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.080 It's greedy corporation's fault. Now it's Putin's fault. And like 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.440 you said, breadlines are a great way to meet your neighbor. 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.440 You know, it's like we're one step away from that 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.000 um but there, you know, just wear a mask, you know. Yeah, 0:06:55.080 --> 0:07:00.080 I mean the people are not stupid. They're going to 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:04.279 wherever it is, the growthery store, the gas station, trying 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:06.640 to book a trip, you know, whatever it is that 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:10.280 they're doing in their lives. And they're seeing these you know, 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:14.400 percentage increases, which by the way, are far higher than 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.440 the reported percentage increases. Things like the CPI, which is 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.840 the official measure of inflation, which has been changed a 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.840 couple of times since the nineties to depress it because 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.800 it's tied to adjustments and cost of living adjustments and 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.040 things like Social Security. If they told you the actual 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.360 amount um, you know, that that things were really increased, 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.520 they'd have to pay out a lot more in terms 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.240 of a number of these different programs. So people know 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.360 that that they're getting screwed over um. But at the 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.960 same time, the powers that be want to tell you 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:53.040 what a fantastic economy it is, all of this you know, amazing, 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.120 amazing stuff that they've done, And the part that's the 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:01.720 most frustrating is sort of the out of context um comparisons, 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.600 things like, oh, you know, well in the fourth quarter, 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.960 was this you know huge as g d P. Well, yeah, 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.520 like you shut the economy up and then they opened 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.800 it back up on a comparison level like you would 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.160 expect it to be higher. It's nowhere near as high 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.160 as it should have been. You know, by the way, 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.800 in the first quarter this year, we had negative GDP, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.160 So like, you know, stop cherry picking this information and 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.680 putting it out of context, because we're not stupid, even 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.240 though you seem to think that we are. Well and 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.680 to that point, so how do we you know, obviously 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:34.480 I trust you, which is you know why you're or 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.280 you're on the show, and we try to get to 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.240 the truth on this show. That's the whole point of it, 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.319 Like who can we trust and who are the experts? 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.160 Because well we you know, I made a mask or 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.920 joke about masks. You know, masks don't work. But COVID 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.000 was eye opening because we realized that the experts, the 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.400 quote unquote experts are actually idiots. They lack any common 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.000 sense whatsoever, and they lie to us. So you know, 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.240 you look at the same logic applied to the economic experts. 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:01.920 Who do we trust? How do we get to the 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:06.640 truth in this environment? Trust nobody, Lisa, trust no, don't 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.960 even trust me. You know that you can't trust people. 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.160 You have to look at information. You have to look 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:18.000 at principles and so look at a wide variety of information, 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.880 do your own research and then come to your own conclusions, 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.319 and you know, keep track of people's track records as well. Uh, 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.559 the economy is very difficult to predict because there are 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.439 things that happen along the way that change the course 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.360 in the trajectory. But generally, look, you know, when you're 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:42.280 listening to people and say, you are they repeating talking points? 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.360 Is this something that makes sense in the context of 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:49.840 all the other information that I'm seeing? Does this sit 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:51.920 right in my gut? I mean, there there are a 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:53.920 bunch of things out there where I'm hearing a stuff 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:55.600 and I'm just in my gut, I'm like, you know, 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:00.000 that just doesn't sit right with me. You trust, trust yourself, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:04.000 trust your guts over you know, any one specific person. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.080 I think that this is the time we have to do, unfortunately, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.520 a lot of research UM independently and look at a 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.719 bunch of different sources, and no, you're never going to 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.439 have the right answer, but at least you'll have enough 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:23.120 context and information to make us somewhat educated and informed 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.600 set of choices. And I think it's also why you 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.720 need to as you approach UM, you know, your own 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:35.520 personal finance and economic well being, why you have to 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.959 remain optimistic but also be realistic and you know, set 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.280 up that preparation because even if the worst case scenario 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.120 doesn't come true. No one's ever say, well, you know, 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:51.400 I'm really bumms that I you know, over prepared or whatnot. 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.880 That that's never something that that any boy, scout, girl scout, 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.520 or anybody else would ever say to you. You've touched 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.360 on it. But how much what we're face seeing is 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.200 government driven? And well, obviously we saw the experts thinking 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.800 we could essentially shut down the economy and then just 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.240 reopen it, or even looking at the baby formula shortage. 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:12.880 So I was reading about the WIG program, which kind 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.560 of helped create this crisis, even dating back to think 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.640 it was like the eighties or whatever. But basically because 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.520 of this government program, we've sort of allowed some of 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.719 these manufacturers to have a monopoly in the market. I 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.280 think there's really basically four main manufacturers a baby formula 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.320 in the United States. And so you know, even with that, right, So, 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.319 how much of our issues or our self inflicted or 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:38.439 our government driven, I mean almost all of them? Um, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:43.400 the government all it does is create barriers to opportunities 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.080 and wealth creation. I mean I can't really think of 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.199 anything that they've done where it's like, oh yeah, no, 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:56.560 that's really helped foster growth and widespread individual wealth opportunities. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.840 UM So, I think they bear a lot of the blame, 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.000 and it's you know, it's a reality that we have 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.200 to be aware of. Um. As you know, my previous book, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.440 The War on Small Business, UM I talked about, you know, 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.280 sort of that great consolidation and the fact that the 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.280 government works very closely with the big businesses to put 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.960 up these barriers and to put up these regulations that 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.800 do end up in scenarios like if something goes wrong 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.760 with one of those companies, we have a systemic failure 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:29.319 and a baby food shortage. You know that that is insanity, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:34.040 and that is because you know, there isn't the widespread competition, 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.439 whether it's you know, internal to the US or externally. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.520 Um you know, to to avoid that from happening. And 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.480 you know, in the greater economic front, you know, all 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:49.560 of the inflation was entirely driven by policy. You know, 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.520 people say, well, the Federal Reserve isn't really the government, 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.200 but really they get their mandate from Congress and they 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.840 give their profits back to the treasury. That sounds pretty 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.600 government e to me. So you know, you can keep 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.960 pretending that they're this independent agency, UM. But you know 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:10.320 they're printing of trillions of dollars, the administrations UM printing 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.000 of trillions of dollars, and especially the American Rescue Plan, 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.280 which came after the economy was opened back up and 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.000 the vaccines were rolling out, we were already seeing percolating inflation. 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.360 The decisions that they've made UM in terms of canceling 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.800 oil and gas leases, the cozying up to the E 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.439 s G lobby and having them direct capital away from 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.480 energy resource. I mean, all of these things are tied together, 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:43.160 and all of these are central planning bad decisions, you know, 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:47.160 outside the scope of the free market, and in every 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:52.920 SCEAREO throughout history during all of time, those decisions don't 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.720 do as well as your free market, open decisions being 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:00.560 made by millions of people over and over again on 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.720 a daily basis. Quick commercial break more of the economy 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:11.679 with Carol Roth. Can we ever have a free market too? 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.120 When you're a point, you know, essentially everything is manipulated. 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:17.120 So there's a spectrum, right, This is the way that 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:20.640 I view it. So, so the free market, freedom, choice 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.800 opportunity of many people that has a lot of transparency happening, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.080 versus that central planning, which is a handful of people 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.960 making decisions on behalf of everyone, which is very opaque. 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.160 And I just see it as sort of like a 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.080 pendulum or a movement along the spectrum. You either move 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:46.640 closer to that free market scenario, or you move further 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.480 away from it. And we had a time when we 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:53.000 were much closer to that, and we have been, you know, 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.200 kind of marching steadily in the other directions. Will we 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:01.320 ever have at scale a hundred percent everything free market, 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.840 It's highly highly unlikely and not you know, not at scale. 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.800 Maybe in like little little areas or nuggets or unclaves, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.840 but not at scale. But we can move you much 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:17.680 further in that direction. But given the behemoth that the 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:22.800 government has become at every level, in particularly the federal government, um, 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.440 you know, it's going to take some serious fortitude, you know, 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.239 whether it's getting a whole bunch of people into Congress, 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.000 you know, willing to do the things to tear it apart, 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.720 to tear it down to its foundational studs, whether it's 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.000 some sort of convention of the States or whatnot. But 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:44.480 it's going to take a really concerted effort, um and 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.600 it's going to take the fortitude of people to give 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.200 up that little crom and morsel that you're getting and 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.520 understand that you will do much better in the grand 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:57.480 scheme of things by giving that up. I mean, that 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.720 was the whole thing with you know, these COVID relief 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.080 dollars that so many of us tried to warrant about. Okay, 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.480 you got your twelve hundred dollar check, but next year 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.160 it's going to cost you an extra six thousand dollars 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.720 to get that twelve check. Don't do it. And people said, no, 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.560 I want my twelve hundred dollar check. I want my 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.960 free money from the government. It wasn't free, it was 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.760 really expensive. Um. So the more people who can learn 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.040 those lessons and eventually go okay, yeah, I'm willing to 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:29.880 make that, you know, kind of short term benefit trade 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.040 off for the long term wealth creation and freedom opportunities 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.800 for ourselves. You know, if we can get more people 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.800 on board with that, we will be in a much 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.280 better position. So basically, it's going to take some people 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:46.200 with some big cahunas. That's another way to say it. Yes, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:47.960 wait to wait to get right to the points on 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:50.280 that one. Sorry I had asked you earlier. You know 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.640 how much of this is government driven, but how much 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:57.240 of it is Biden driven? Um? So I like to 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.480 be fair about this. I mean, the reality is that 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:05.879 I hate the Yeah, yes, I mean there's not lots 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:07.960 Like I'm not even sure that he's in charger he 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.359 knows what's going on. You know, this was set in 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:15.800 motion before he came on board. The stupid decisions that 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.760 the fifteen days to slow the spread was, you know, 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.640 an architecture of the Trump administration, and then it went 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:25.399 down to the States, and the States took it and 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.600 abused it and made it a whole big thing. The 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:33.280 Federal Reserve started intervening in the market in March of two, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.199 you know, on an emergency basis, support them by June 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:41.840 of the NASDAC June five, in an intra day, all 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.840 time high, all time high. We don't need emergency port 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.639 or support when you have one of the industries hitting 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.480 an all time high. They could have just stopped it then. 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:56.280 But again, you know, the former administration like the booming 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.560 stock market, so certainly you know they weren't going to go, hey, guys, 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:02.000 maybe you should pull back. So all of this was 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:07.120 set in motion, and it would have been bad However, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:14.360 when Biden got in it put in place, he exacerbated 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.480 all of those things. So you know, as I said that, 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.440 you know, the cancelation of the oil and gas leasas 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.320 the changing of the energy Polly policy and embracing um, 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:27.680 you know, this kind of e s g uh fringe 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.919 group that's now become quite mainstream in terms of the 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.439 direction of of what they're doing for capital allocation, the 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:39.280 American Rescue Plan, you know, throwing one point nine trillion 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:44.520 dollars onto this kindling fire. They took something that wasn't 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.679 going to be great and just fully exacerbated it. He 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:53.119 you know, he reappointed Powell, he brought back Janet Yellen, 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.600 who has Secretary of the Treasury who's been wrong about everything. 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.600 So um, you know, he what he should be doing, frankly, 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:03.440 is spending more time going yeah, I know it's tough, 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.840 but you know I inherited all of these things instead 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:08.440 of trying to sell how wonderful it is, because he 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:10.760 doesn't want to have to admit to you know, his 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:16.199 peace um of contribution, which was substantial. But there is 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.240 there's a two part issue. Part of this is systemic 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.439 and it doesn't matter, you know, who isn't in in 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.600 the White House or who's in Congress unless something shifts, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.359 and then part of it, you know, lay squarely at 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.000 the feet of this particular administration, who, by the way, 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:38.080 have not done one positive thing since they start. There's 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.040 there's not one thing that I can look at and go, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.600 you know, that was a decision that makes people lives better, 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.680 not one thing since he started. See, I don't think 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:52.399 they want to make people's lives better, Like I believe 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.680 this is with intention. It's by design to push people 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.199 to the policies that they want. I mean, they're essentially 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.640 giving people, the American people middle finger when it comes 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.040 to gas prices because they want everything to shift towards 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:07.480 their green climate agenda, right, So like they want people 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.080 to suffer. I mean, he made those choices regarding fossil fuels, 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.760 like nuking the Keystone pipeline with intention, and then they 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.120 laugh at us, like his energy secretary being like, oh, 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.120 we'll just get an electric card. You wouldn't be strong, 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:19.920 you know what I mean. So it's like they don't care, 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.040 like they want us to hurt. And like I was 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:26.359 even reading about, you know, with the war on fossil fuels. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.639 I mean obviously having an impact on gas prices and 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:32.879 energy and all that, but even like chemical fertilizers increasing 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.240 the cost of food because chemical fertilizers are made largely 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:40.040 from natural gas, and so like the suffering is by design. 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.160 Have I opinion, Yeah, that's a huge point, because it's 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.080 not just the cost of those fertilizers, it's the fact 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:49.719 that we don't have enough of them at any cost. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.920 And it's not just here in the US, but it's 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.840 a global issue. And some of the decisions that they 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.280 have made are going to lead if a few things 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.040 don't fall into place here over the next couple of weeks, 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:08.720 going to lead to mass starvation of potentially hundreds of 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.960 millions of people around the globe, and that is going 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.080 to lead to social unrest, which potentially could lead to 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.360 large scale war, like much larger than just Russia Ukraine. 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:24.520 And again, these are all decisions that could be even 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:27.199 if he went in in one direction, like he could stop, 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.399 he could right now change things, and it wouldn't solve 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.560 all of the issues, but at least it would kind 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.760 of move things in the right direction. And they fundamentally, 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.159 like you said, don't care and you can't tell me 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.840 any differently, because if I was looking at all the 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.600 things that you potentially could do, and many people have 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.959 brought them up, they are unwilling to do any of 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:55.920 those and completely screwt the issues with stupid pr stunts, 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.719 you know, laying the blame somewhere else, um, you know, 0:21:59.880 --> 0:22:03.600 or are just like trying to go local squirrel over 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.600 here and deflect. But these are real issues. See. I 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:10.160 feel like I need to give like affirmations throughout these 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:14.119 episodes because it's like everything so like you know, like 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:17.080 like from the Help, like you are kind, you are pretty, 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:20.240 you're important or whatever. It is, Like it's gonna be okay, guys, 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:24.200 we're gonna get through this together, you know. Well here, 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.720 so let's let's talk about the optimistic stuff, because the 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:28.560 optimistic stuff, you know, at the end of the day, 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:33.159 you know, what makes America great is not the government. 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:37.400 It's the people. And you know, the foundational principles and 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.320 you know the companies and industry and you know all 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.760 of those kinds of things. And even though we have 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:46.040 things that are moving in a bad direction, we still 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:48.160 have a lot of that. Right. We have a lot 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:51.080 of fantastic people. We have a lot of people willing 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:53.199 to stand up for freedoms. We have a lot of 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:57.560 great company companies, We have a lot of great innovation. Um. So, 0:22:58.200 --> 0:22:59.960 as I said, like, you know, this isn't the most 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:02.560 like completely uplifting thing, but we are the skinniest kid 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.720 at fat Camp. Like there is no other place around 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:08.400 the world where you're like, oh well, we really better 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:12.359 watch out because that country, you know, they're really focused 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.080 on individual rights and capitalism, and they're going to come 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:18.760 and they're going to eat our lunch because you know, 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:21.200 they're doing the things that we did a couple of 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:25.239 hundred years ago. Um. You know, there there's there is 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:28.200 There is no one else, Tina, There is no alternative. 0:23:28.359 --> 0:23:30.800