1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. Hello, 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,119 Speaker 1: name is Noel, and Ben your you and if you 6 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: are one of the people who happens to live in 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: the United States, and you're an average household then you 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 1: have around one hundred thirty thousand, nine hundred and twenty 9 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: two dollars in debt, and of that, fifteen thousand, seven 10 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: hundred sixty two dollars can be attributed to credit cards. 11 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: Holy mackerel, We're starting off on a positive note today, 12 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: my friends. You know what I think. Again, this is 13 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: the second time I've been slightly below average the same, 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: you know, but it's it doesn't feel great. Oh wait, no, 15 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: I am way above average. You got to count the house. 16 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: Uh if you count mortgage, that's interesting. Okay, well then 17 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: I'm well above average then, But it doesn't The mortgage 18 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: kind of count as as an investment. I mean that 19 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: it depreciates over time, so it's not quite the same 20 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: as being in debt. But I guess it's looked at 21 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: that way as by creditors. Yeah, it feels that way 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 1: now now that I'm thinking about it. And uh, you know, 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: the reason that there's so much debt has been uh 24 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,559 Speaker 1: talked about at length for a long time by so 25 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: many people. We often, we being the majority of the 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: public across the globe, we often don't have the best 27 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: or most sophisticated understanding of what this is. And that's 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: why we as a species become embroiled in these strange 29 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: situations sometimes when all of a sudden, like consider the 30 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: Great Depression, Right, people are starving in the cities, right, 31 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: But in the rural Midwest and the farming country, farmers 32 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: are throwing milk away and just gutting pigs and saving 33 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: what they can because the price on those animals and 34 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: that you know that that beverage, I guess has tanked. 35 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 1: Some feels weird about calling milk a beverage, but basically 36 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: what I'm saying like, that's and and then the reason 37 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: people would come to find that folks were starving in 38 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: one place when people were trashing resources in another was 39 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: due to something called the economy, right and right, and 40 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: then people would say, people would uh, the pundits would 41 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: be on the radio. The populist, the nationalists, the whomever 42 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: is would be on the radio arguing why they alone understood, uh, 43 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: the one true economy or what that thing should be. 44 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: And now we're in a world where I guess I 45 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: want to start off with a question. So did you 46 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: guys have economics classes in high school or in middle school? 47 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: I did, but I felt like I feel like it 48 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 1: was rolled into something else, or it was like we 49 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: got half an economics class and then like the other 50 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: half was was Civics or something like that. You know, 51 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: but my memory of those days is a little hazy. 52 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,239 Speaker 1: That's maybe that's made up. I got home ec Yeah, 53 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: I took not the same thing. No, I mean it 54 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 1: was personal finance. It was personal finance. It was all 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: It was all that kind of stuff like how to 56 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: how to manage your your stuff, But it didn't teach 57 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: you how the FED worked, No, and I how to 58 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: how to write a check effectively? Right? What are the 59 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: things that I always think about? Is you know you're right, Matt. 60 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: For many people, at least in this country, the closest 61 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: thing people were offered to a personal finance class in 62 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: a public school is going to be home economics. However, 63 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: the individual person would probably be in a much better 64 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: position today if personal finance classes were mandatory. And I 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: know people don't like big brother federal mandates, but that's 66 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: an individual education, that is that is necessary to survive, 67 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: a lot of people don't get that, and that's why 68 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: we end up in a country where the total debt 69 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: oh by US consumers. I can break it down, all right, Uh, 70 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: let's see now it's time for a breakdown. Right. Oh gosh, 71 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: youa So what's the pressing one? Do we have a 72 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: backbeat for this? Oh? Yeah, okay, So credit cards seven 73 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: hundred thirty three billion dollars pales in comparison, of course, 74 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: to auto loans one point oh eight trillion dollars. And 75 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: then we have student loans one point to three trillion dollars, 76 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: and finally mortgages eight point to five trillion dollars. So 77 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: all of these numbers, these massive numbers, this is debt 78 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: um It's money that I guess needs to be paid. 79 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: What is debt? Exactly? It's called American dream dollars. Oh, 80 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: as in imaginary dollars, which is this episode today we 81 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: are talking about that, and that I'm I'm laughing, because no, 82 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: what you just said ties into so many other episodes 83 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: we could do. It hit us in our the course 84 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,479 Speaker 1: of our research before we went on the air this week. 85 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: That currency itself is just a fascinating weird thing. It's 86 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: an agreement. We make it totally is It's like it 87 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: could be shells, you know, good shells, or or or 88 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: a handful of sand. When you were a kid, did 89 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: you ever play the game where you just all agreed 90 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: that the floor was lava. It's like that, but with prizes, 91 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: and you can move the floor for a bunch of people. 92 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: I know that's that's a very biased thing, but well, yeah, 93 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: what is what is debt? That that's the question we 94 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: start with today, even though it's not our ultimate question. 95 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: So the good, the bad, the ugly of debt, Well, 96 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: it does do some oh nice copyright. Oh was that 97 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: Ineo Morricone? Oh man, he's the master my favorite soundtrack. 98 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go listen to that for the rest of 99 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: the weekend. But the good part about debt, and there 100 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: are good parts, is that it sort of makes the 101 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: world go round. What are some of the good things 102 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: that this debt system does? So in the most bay 103 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: sick of terms debt is it's it's an I O U. 104 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: I mean it's without going into the entire history of 105 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: currency and money. As we know, at one time they 106 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: used peppercorns. Peppercorns or currency that's got a function. It 107 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: makes your food nice and spicy. But you know, I 108 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: mean many forms of currency were redeemable I O U S. 109 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: I mean that is essentially what currency boils down to, 110 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,119 Speaker 1: is the redemable IOU for a good or service, either 111 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: physically they contain some sort of valuable material a metal, gem, 112 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: what have you, pooka shell, whatever, um or they were 113 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: redeemable for the same amount of a different material. Okay, yeah, 114 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: So like an example for folks in the U. S 115 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: And I know our numbers are pretty US centric at 116 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: this point, but we can get bigger. Uh. In the US, 117 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,239 Speaker 1: there were these things called silver certificates, which UH fans 118 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: of certain JFK assassination theories will be familiar with. And 119 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: until nineteen before these silver certificates legally could be redeemed 120 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: for the amount of silver that was mentioned on the currency, 121 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: and then they stopped. Yep. But the reason, the reason 122 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: why money, why currency is so important to the functioning 123 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: of society is that all the goods and services that 124 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: are available for trading in some way or another, they 125 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: get boiled down to this common denominator where you have 126 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: X amount of this and I want to give you this. 127 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: I have X amount of this. I want to give 128 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: you this. We can trade with this one thing, rather 129 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: than having to break down exactly how much a goat 130 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: is worth in terms of wheat or something like that, 131 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: or you know, a car in terms of the shelves 132 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: or T shirts or something strange. Yeah, yeah, know why 133 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: I'm hung up on puka shelves. I think I think, 134 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:52,719 Speaker 1: you know, maybe you could bring it back. I think 135 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: it's because I went to that widespread Panic concert last 136 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: night and I saw a lot of those. Yuh, I 137 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: got a text from you. The three am was just 138 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: an animated gift of a puka shell dancing furiously, dancing furiously. 139 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: But what about liquidity? That's interesting and very very very 140 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: important component of all this. Yeah, that's what you you know, 141 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: That's that's what we're talking about. Two degrees, that that 142 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: advantage of this this stand in So I I love 143 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: what you said earlier, know what you know, the idea 144 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:26,439 Speaker 1: that money is essentially debt. Its currency we carry around 145 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: is a debt. It's an iou that was That was 146 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: the way you said it. And the reason it works 147 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: currently is one because everybody agrees that it should and 148 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: two or virtually everybody agrees. Most people agree, and to 149 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: the liquidity it offers is so vastly superior to the 150 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: bartering system for the following thing. Okay, so let's say 151 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,959 Speaker 1: Matt has Uh Matt is selling what kind of car 152 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: are you selling, Matt uh coon Tosh. Matt is finally 153 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:05,840 Speaker 1: selling his creintage not a real car. Yeah, clearly I'm 154 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 1: not a car, but that is still it is creintage. 155 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: And know you decide you're going to be a car guy, 156 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: and because money doesn't exist, you're going to break into 157 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: your puka shell savings. But the problem is that you 158 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: don't live in the same town, so you have to 159 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: move this thing, and then you have to also let's 160 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: say it's a lot of puka how many puka shells 161 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: do you think you would That's a lot. I'm gonna 162 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: say so too many for knowl to comfortably carry, right, 163 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 1: you can't. You'd lose so much. You'd lose so much 164 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: shell just getting the shells there. So I guess what 165 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,079 Speaker 1: I have to do is find some sort of financial 166 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: institution that will take my puka shells from me, put 167 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: them in some sort of puka shell storage facility, and 168 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: then give me the equivalent in let's call them Internet 169 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: moneys that can then be wired or transferred or moved 170 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: around electronically. Bitcomk sure, bitcomck. That's great, oh man, killing 171 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: it today, buddy, And then I can send that over 172 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,200 Speaker 1: the interwebs to the place where I want to pay 173 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: to me Matt in my banking institution, which only stores 174 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: contash is right, that's that's courrect. And then they're there there, 175 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 1: and you have a very rudimentary, absurdist representation of the 176 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: way business is done these days. Right, And one of 177 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: the most important parts there is that null in this 178 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: situation will then have a representative representative token essentially of 179 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:48,359 Speaker 1: a value or an asset that he possesses. So in theory, 180 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: this promotes stability in trade, and in theory, when nations 181 00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: are involved in mutually beneficial trade agreements, there's more stability 182 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: in the world. Allegedly, yes, mutually beneficial. Yes, I'm just 183 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: gonna repeat words from that earlier sentence theoretically, So these 184 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: money systems and these debts ultimately, because that's what they are, 185 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: they can they can be great for society and help 186 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: them function and work better together. The problem is they 187 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: can also wreak massive, disastrous, sometimes even fatal things upon 188 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:37,080 Speaker 1: society and individual people. Yeah, you've you may have, at 189 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: some point in your life met someone who referred to 190 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: folks who have a nine to five job as wage slaves. 191 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: That's pretty biased, But the heart of that argument harkens 192 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: back to the idea of indentured servitude. So indenture servitude 193 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: would be some deal um. The first one that springs 194 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: to mind is people who wanted to travel to a 195 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: different country, right, but could not afford the trip the 196 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 1: cost of let's say, hopping a boat across the Atlanta 197 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: But if you agree to essentially work only for room 198 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 1: and board for seven years, then they will consider your 199 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: debt paid if they're not playing a crooked game, you know, right, 200 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: And many of those games were crooked. So the argument 201 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: there would be that wage slaves, as the term goes, 202 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 1: our new form of indentured servitude. Uh, we're addicted to 203 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,079 Speaker 1: an ivy of money, whether that's hourly salary or commission, 204 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,960 Speaker 1: and we're addicted to that because we're less of a 205 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: value generator as an individual if we're that person, and 206 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: more of a node for debt and assets to interact. 207 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,479 Speaker 1: So you that's why people can make a hundred thousand 208 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: dollars a year or who knows, who knows how high 209 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: this goes a million dollars a year and still be 210 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 1: just buy due to due to crippling debt. And then 211 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: of course that ties into you know, a similar argument 212 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: forced labor, and we can save debt or prison for 213 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: another show, because is that still a thing. It's making 214 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: come back in some places. Yeah? Wait, I thought it 215 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: had been here for years, but it's making a comeback 216 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: with interest here in the US. Men, is it true? Well, yeah, 217 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily the same equivalent, right a debt or 218 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: prison where IO debts I can't pay them. Now I 219 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: have to go live in this cell. Actually, there's that 220 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: just a hit a story I typed in on Google 221 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: and one of the instant results was debt or prisons 222 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: are back? Top hit from fourteen? Is Supreme Court ruling 223 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: not enough to prevent debtor's prison? Yeah? So you can 224 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: if you have massive amounts of debt, you can go 225 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: to prison for it in certain instances. I thought that. 226 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: I think a lot of the stories too that popped 227 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: up recently, as in the last few years, occurred because 228 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: there were usurious court fees, legal fees, and when people 229 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: could not could not pay those fees, they would be 230 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: incarcerated until such time as those fees were paid, which 231 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: is surreal. How do you make money to when you're 232 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: hanging out in a prison all day long, every day. 233 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: And then of course that brings us to bankruptcy, which, 234 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: unfortunately the golden parachute, golden parachute which unfortunately too many 235 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: people are familiar with, and it works differently for the 236 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: wealthy than it does for the poor, completely differently. Anytime 237 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: you hear about a regular Joe Schmo declaring bankruptcy, they 238 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: have to work and scrap and save and hustle for 239 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: years to get that off their record, to get back 240 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: to a place where anyone will give them alone again. 241 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: And as we know, for certain folks that are in 242 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: the public eye right now, it's happened multiple time times 243 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: and it doesn't seem to be any long lasting ramifications 244 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: for for doing this thing. It's almost more of like 245 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: a business strategy. It depends Yeah, it depends on how 246 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: it is structured. And unfortunately, many people whore impoverished and 247 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: fall into bankruptcy do not have the means or the 248 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: connections to have someone help them set up these I'm 249 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: gesturing in the air right now because so much of 250 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: this stuff is an idea. It's huge, it's huge, it is. 251 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: And then there's another one medical bills. This is also 252 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: we're at this point, ladies and gentlemen, We're just giving 253 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: you the lay of the land of debt in the US. So, 254 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: regardless of the political stance, regardless of what television channel 255 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: is most often trying to convince you to believe something, 256 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: the fact remains that for the vast majority of the 257 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: city of citizens, the United States has the most inefficient 258 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: and ex spensive health care system in the developed world. 259 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: This is not just a country where people die because 260 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: a disease or a condition is incurable. This is a 261 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: country where people die because they cannot afford a treatment. 262 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: And for some people that is a great tragedy. For 263 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: other people, that is uh a result of the individual's 264 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: decisions and is how it is, how it goes. But 265 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: the reason we bring this up for the purposes of 266 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: this show is because medical bills in this country are 267 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,720 Speaker 1: a leading cause of bankruptcy. They're leading cause of people 268 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:48,479 Speaker 1: uh going into crippling debt. And we have current debt issues, 269 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,119 Speaker 1: a lot of which are medically related. Yeah, when you 270 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: look at the country overall and debts that are kind 271 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: of hanging out waiting for the national government to pay. 272 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: The first one is social security, and we looked at 273 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 1: the summary of the annual report by the Social Security 274 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: and Medicare Board of Trustees, which sounds like a fun 275 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:16,920 Speaker 1: place to work. They note that over the eighty year 276 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: history of the Social social Security program, it's collected roughly 277 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: nineteen trillion dollars and paid out sixteen point one trillion dollars, 278 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: leaving its asset reserves currently at two point eight trillion 279 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,639 Speaker 1: at the end by the end off. Now here's here's 280 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: the problem. The ratio of reserves to one year's projected cost. 281 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: It peaked in two thousand eight, and then it's been 282 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: declining up until two thousand fifteen, and it's it's expected 283 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: to decline even further until they're completely depleted in twenty 284 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: four which means this money that's supposed to go to 285 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: help families with retirement, people who have disabilities, um, you know, 286 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: all kinds of issues, people that need this money to 287 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: survive that we all pay into. When you're a wage 288 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: worker in the US, it's just gonna be gone. And 289 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: that's something that's just kind of looming there in the 290 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: horizon that we have to think about. And the same 291 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 1: goes for Medicare, which is, uh, you know, dwindling quickly. 292 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: All these all these huge the huge amount of money 293 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: that are owed essentially on paper to people who once 294 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: they reach a certain age, needs to be paid out right. Yeah, 295 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 1: And the one of the issues with this is that 296 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: at various times the money for both of those programs 297 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: has been either controversially redistributed or maybe misunderestimated is a 298 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: good word. Misunderestimated I like that. But yeah, there it's 299 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: two serious issues that we're going to have to face 300 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: at some point. And in that group we just mentioned, 301 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: they're saying that legislation needs to be enacted sooner or 302 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: later to minimize the impact on beneficiaries human beings who 303 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:16,120 Speaker 1: are going to need that money. So what's uh, what 304 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: what's the international state of debt here? Well, according to 305 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: National Debt clocks dot org. Worldwide national debt stands at 306 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: sixty trillion, nine one billion, three hundred and thirty two 307 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: million and counting. That seems like a lot of money. 308 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: It seems like mad money, made up money, imaginary money. 309 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: If it's the number that's too big to be real, 310 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,440 Speaker 1: I mean that that sounds alarmist. But whenever I see 311 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,719 Speaker 1: this stuff on paper, I'm just like, this is No 312 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: one's ever expecting to get paid back all of this money. 313 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: It's the debt itself is its own function, serves its 314 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,160 Speaker 1: own function, as we've talked about, its own Financial Instruction Act, 315 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: you know, And that if it's fascinating to me, and 316 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: I think for some people that idea maybe makes them 317 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: more willing to go into debt because it's sort of like, well, 318 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: if if we're running a deficit as a country, why 319 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: can't I run a little bit of a deficit? Can't? 320 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: You should have the stuff, you know, it's something I 321 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: want to live the dream. And it's easy to get credit. 322 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: You don't have to have that much equity to get credit. 323 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,120 Speaker 1: You just have to have a decent paying job and 324 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,479 Speaker 1: not an absurdly low credit score. It's not hard. Well, 325 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: in this case, we're talking about countries themselves. I know 326 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: I'm saying perspective wise. I think when you see these 327 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: kinds of numbers and you hear about how much you 328 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: know the United States is in debt, etcetera, it almost 329 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: makes you say, well, well, hell, you know what, why 330 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: not me who cares? Right? It doesn't seem like anyone 331 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 1: is getting paid back, so why not just roll the 332 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: dice and emphasize is this perspective? Further, let's break it 333 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: down by the top owing countries in the world. Now 334 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: it's time for another breakdown. Russia hundred forty seven point 335 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: six billion, Australia point four billion, Canada eight hundred and 336 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: fourteen point seven billion, United Kingdom two point three trillion, 337 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: China five point four trillion, Japan eight point nine trillion. 338 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:45,439 Speaker 1: United States all together now three trillion nine. Why did 339 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: I do a fake air horn? I guess you could 340 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: just put one in talking about that was the best 341 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,280 Speaker 1: air horn I've ever heard of my life. Ben, I 342 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,399 Speaker 1: know I'm prone to hypperbotly, but I really do believe that. 343 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:01,320 Speaker 1: So that's a significant proportion of the overall global debt 344 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: that the US holds right there, which you know worries 345 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: me a little bit. So how does that break down 346 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: for person met going perspective? Okay, so there are three 347 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty three million humans roughly in the United 348 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: States right now citizens, and you know nineteen point three trillion. 349 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,119 Speaker 1: That amounts to just under sixty thousand dollars of national 350 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,440 Speaker 1: debt per u S citizen, and it represents one hundred 351 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: and seven percent of the country's gross domestic product year 352 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,719 Speaker 1: over year. So if somehow we could stop paying, stop 353 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: all payments on everything in this country for a year, 354 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,120 Speaker 1: you know, we'd be able to pay off our national debt, 355 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: which is kind of cool. Now, let's also emphasize that 356 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 1: this is not the This is not the same kind 357 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 1: of debt that you might encounter if you have a 358 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: student loan or Absolutely, this is not the same kind 359 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: debt you would encounter if you purchased, um, a moped. Sure, absolutely, 360 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: And and all the numbers that we've discussed here in 361 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,200 Speaker 1: in our breakdown, and the one about the the sixty 362 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:19,360 Speaker 1: dollars per person, these are very basic, base level numbers. 363 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: And if you get deeper down in the accounting, it 364 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: gets it gets really tricky. And I was trying to 365 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:29,959 Speaker 1: familiarize myself and understand it. But you guys, it's difficult, right. Uh. 366 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: None of us are classically trained economist, and we would 367 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 1: love to hear from any economist in the audience, would 368 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:43,160 Speaker 1: love to hear your opinion on the state of debt. 369 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: Fun fact, though I am a classically trained violinist, it 370 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: is true. That is awesome. You're a man many talents. 371 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: I have a little story for for us relating to 372 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,680 Speaker 1: the U S National debt. Would you like to hear 373 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: it and come at me with it? All right? Okay? 374 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,679 Speaker 1: I was there was There was hesitation there, all right. 375 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,560 Speaker 1: So the story comes from a guy named Jason see Linkman. 376 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: Jason Selingman, you see, was an economist, and he's quite 377 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,679 Speaker 1: good at his job, so good in fact, that he 378 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: worked Pennsylvania Avenue, or he worked his boss lived there, 379 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 1: he worked for the president. That's how good he was. 380 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: And he was tortured at this time because he was 381 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: thinking for sixteen hours a day on this project he 382 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 1: was working on for his boss, a report that he 383 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:42,960 Speaker 1: was going to write for his boss. And in that 384 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: report he ran into a realization that might stun a 385 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: lot of people, and he wrote with with his team 386 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,679 Speaker 1: a report called Life After Debt, which they submitted to 387 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:05,640 Speaker 1: then President Bill Clinton and which journalists got a hold 388 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: of years later through a Freedom of Information Act requests. 389 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: And Life After Debt is a report that you can 390 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: read it for free online. It is a report that 391 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: outlined what would happen if the US paid down its 392 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: debt to zero. And they wrote this in December of 393 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,360 Speaker 1: two thousand, because that's the year the U. S. Treasury 394 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 1: began actively buying back public debt, creating um, you know, 395 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: digging its way out of the financial hole was in. 396 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: But they realized, Jason realized eventually that while there is 397 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: such a thing as too much debt for countries, there's 398 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: also such a thing as too little debt. So countries 399 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,640 Speaker 1: don't want to necessary rely have a surplus. In many 400 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: cases it's unreasonable outside of you know, a few a 401 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: few countries like the like Nordic countries, un some oil 402 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: oil wealth countries. So what we see is that the 403 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,240 Speaker 1: international level understanding of debt and the individual levels to 404 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,120 Speaker 1: understand debt is different. Not all debt is created equally. 405 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: Businesses will go into debt and have specialized, custom fit 406 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 1: or bespoke plans for balancing that debt. However, someone who 407 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: was built into a series of high, high interest credit 408 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: cards or student loans will often not have that sort 409 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: of recourse. Here in this country, there are federal programs 410 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: that are so opposed to provide assistance for people who 411 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,479 Speaker 1: have the misfortune of not being a business or a 412 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,920 Speaker 1: country when they go into debt. However, much more money 413 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: is spent by the folks who make money off of 414 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: credit cards and student loans to make sure that system continues. 415 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: And as of now, debt what we've explained so far, Yes, 416 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 1: there is an inequality of debt. Not all debt is 417 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: created equal, not all people are in debt. But debt 418 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: is a problem for a lot of individuals, especially here 419 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:37,840 Speaker 1: in the West. But the truth of the matter is 420 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:43,360 Speaker 1: debt makes the world go round. So we were asking 421 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: ourselves a few weeks back, what would happen if we 422 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: woke up one day and all of the debt disappeared. 423 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: We'll find out right after a quick message from our sponsor. 424 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 1: Here's where it gets crazy. All right, everyone, it's story time. 425 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: Let's imagine a scenario where this actually happened, where where 426 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: through some act of massive buffoonery, sorcery. It's not something 427 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: insane happened, and Mr Noel Brown wakes up in a 428 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: world free from debt. Ah, I can hear how relax 429 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: he is exactly look at this world free from debt. Yeah. Well, 430 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: the great news is if he had any student loans, 431 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: medical bills, credit cards, mortgage to automatically, he'd be in 432 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: the clear for all those debts. It's gone. What a 433 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: time to be alive, guys. So so what what we do? 434 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: Of course he would take some he would want to 435 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: get to take some cash, get on that first dream 436 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: trip with his you know, his honey, his squeeze, his 437 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: girl every and uh, naturally they would go to Borneo. 438 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: That would go to Borneo, and go to Borneo. But wait, 439 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: there would be some problems here. Oh, to get the 440 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: tickets to Borneo, Noel Brown has to buy them, and 441 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: the debit card he tries to use to buy the 442 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: ticket doesn't work because the bank that runs that debit 443 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,960 Speaker 1: card is in a tail spin because debt no longer exists. 444 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: And the dirty open secret about banks, I don't know 445 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: if it's necessarily call it dirty, it's just how they work. 446 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: Is that the money in Noel Brown's account was used 447 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 1: to be a loan to someone else. Yeah, Rain Capital 448 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 1: used it to invest in a small company in Atlanta 449 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,840 Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, And that's when that's when 450 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: Noel Brown has to explain to this woman that he 451 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 1: loves he was going to take it on a magical 452 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: romantic get away to Borneo. Why they can't go to Borneo? 453 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: And he gives her his following speech. Well, you see, 454 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: as it turns out, most of the money in the 455 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 1: world is really just someone else's debt. Yeah. The money 456 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 1: in your bank account, my bank account, our joint bank 457 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: account because we're in love, is mostly on loan to 458 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: other people. Why. Yeah, the bank they took our money 459 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: and they used it to give someone else a car loan, 460 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: to give someone else a home loan, to give someone 461 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: else a loan to buy a suite new computer. Oh 462 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: but wait, there's more. There's an upside here for the banks. Yeah, 463 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: they get to use some sneaky accounting, very tricksy accounting, 464 00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: and by doing that they don't have to hold every 465 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: one's money all of the time. It's a it's sort 466 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: of a game of you know, back and forth. It's 467 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: being moved around all over the place. They just hold 468 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 1: some of the money, and by some we're talking a 469 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: tiny fraction. So at the height of the financial crisis 470 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, many banks were actually leveraged at 471 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: a ratio of thirty to one. Then, can you clarify that? Yes, 472 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: So in this scenario, I've I've showed up at Noel's 473 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: house and he's explaining to the love of his life 474 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 1: they can't go to boardio. Well know, we're at the airport. 475 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 1: Oh you're at the airport. Oh okay, alright, cool, Now 476 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: I feel underdressed because I'm obviously in my jammie's. But 477 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: I only go to the airport in my jammie's. I 478 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: think that's the only time I've ever said the word jammies. Alright, 479 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: rule of three. So to clarify, Noel Brown, in his 480 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: moving tragic speed, will be telling this this uh love 481 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: of his life and whomever else is going to go 482 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: with them, that his bank account and all bank accounts 483 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:15,080 Speaker 1: are essentially emptied unless the bank magically replenishes the account, 484 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: which would throw things into chaos. But you know, it 485 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 1: is a series of key strokes on a computer screen. 486 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: At least we have the fdi C that ensures up 487 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: to a certain amount, right, right, But a bank no 488 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: longer has a reason to exist as its sole purpose 489 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 1: for from this perspective, is to move debt around every 490 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 1: stock exchange. While Noel Brown is delivering this speech in 491 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: Hartsfield Airport, I imagine you're in Hartsfield, of course. Okay, Uh, 492 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: every stock exchange closes, Noel's investment portfolio is wiped out. 493 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: The puka shells he still has, but any puka shell futures, 494 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: any uh puka shell short short stocks, And I'm just 495 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: making upwards. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna need that countosh back. Sorry, 496 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: I hope you don't mind, because an investment is just 497 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: funding someone else's debt with the promise or the hope 498 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: of getting more back in return, but no one will 499 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: pay you back. And also, uh, Noel and his sweeties 500 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 1: retirement funds, they have one along with everybody else's. Also 501 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 1: poof vanish. There's a guy named Thomas Dalton who I 502 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: think described this really well. What would happen if lenders 503 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 1: wrote off all debts he sets is that there would 504 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,719 Speaker 1: be a massive transfer of wealth from net lenders to 505 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: net borrowers. The net lenders of the world are things 506 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: like governments right uh, and young adults are We are 507 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:51,360 Speaker 1: often net borrowers, and those close to retirement are often 508 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,359 Speaker 1: net lenders because pension funds invest by lending at least 509 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: some of the money out. So what would happen if 510 00:34:57,560 --> 00:34:59,920 Speaker 1: debt was erased would be a massive transfer of well 511 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: from the old to the young and to governments. And 512 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: Dalton also says we can make a mistake by thinking 513 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: of this as a transfer of wealth from the rich 514 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,479 Speaker 1: to the poor, but it wouldn't work that way because 515 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: the very poor don't usually have much debt. No one 516 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:17,719 Speaker 1: is willing to lend to them. It's only those with 517 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,239 Speaker 1: large incomes or assets or potential incomes that build up 518 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,799 Speaker 1: significant debt. So depending on what governments do now that 519 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: they're free from paying interest on their debts, they were 520 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:29,440 Speaker 1: never going to actually pay back the debts, so it's 521 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:33,320 Speaker 1: just the interest. The poor might benefit from extra government spending, however, 522 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:35,840 Speaker 1: it might be the rich that benefit from tax cuts. 523 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: Pensioners and those who are getting to retirement age would 524 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:45,000 Speaker 1: have some serious difficulties. The super wealthy, says Dalton, may 525 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 1: lose some money, but they usually invest in equity rather 526 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 1: than debt. So since the companies they own often have 527 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,440 Speaker 1: a lot of debt, the share prices would probably increase enormously, 528 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: assuming of course, that the stock market would still be around, 529 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: which is debatable. And then he said, in addition, institutional 530 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,320 Speaker 1: lenders would all be bankrupt, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, 531 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: the world economy would probably collapse, and to be honest, 532 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:14,960 Speaker 1: everyone would suffer erasing all debt. This that that's his quotation. 533 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,920 Speaker 1: In our opinion, a racing all debt is the nuclear 534 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 1: weapon of economic warfare, which sounds kind of heady until 535 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 1: we realize that economic warfare already exist today. It's occurred 536 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: in the past. We've talked about it a little bit 537 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,840 Speaker 1: before with a guy named John Perkins who wrote a 538 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,080 Speaker 1: book called Confessions of an Economic hit Man, and what 539 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,880 Speaker 1: she says he worked for an engineering company in Boston, 540 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,000 Speaker 1: and his job was to convince leaders of underdeveloped countries 541 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:47,120 Speaker 1: to accept development loans for construction and engineering projects, and 542 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 1: having a condition of those loans be that the projects 543 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: went to US companies, and these loans would later give 544 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:58,200 Speaker 1: the US government influence and access to natural resources. And 545 00:36:58,239 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 1: we have a quote from the book that we're going 546 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,719 Speaker 1: to read here. Economic hitmen are highly paid professionals who 547 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. 548 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: They funnel money from the World Bank, the US Agency 549 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:14,279 Speaker 1: for International Development, and other foreign aid organizations into the 550 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,719 Speaker 1: coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few 551 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: wealthy families who control the planets and natural resources. Their 552 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:27,960 Speaker 1: tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, 553 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 1: and murder. They play a game that is old as empire, 554 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: but one that has taken on a new and terrifying 555 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:37,919 Speaker 1: dimension during this time of globalization. And this is something 556 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 1: we've explored before. Uh often referred to as resource extraction. 557 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,399 Speaker 1: So that's one example of how economic warfare could work, 558 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 1: and that would pale in comparison to the economic warfare 559 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,719 Speaker 1: of erasing all debt, regardless of the intention behind it. 560 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 1: Erasing on that would be strange. But how how could 561 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: this We're talking about the ideas, right, and we've talked 562 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,920 Speaker 1: about the numbers of debt, But let's talk about how 563 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:14,800 Speaker 1: this could work. How could someone a race debt well 564 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: to do this? We look at some examples from pop culture, 565 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 1: because that's really the only place where this has been 566 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,120 Speaker 1: fully explored. Yeah, and there's some fun ones, and I 567 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 1: mean it's it's like one of the ones that comes 568 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:30,319 Speaker 1: to mind, UM that we haven't explicitly discussed together is 569 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,239 Speaker 1: the movie Escape from l A, where at the end 570 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: they we are going to get into some spoiler territory here. 571 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:39,920 Speaker 1: You also, if we're mentioning a movie or something and 572 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: you don't want to know what happens, you should probably 573 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: skip ahead maybe seven minutes or so, or you know, 574 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 1: go back ten years and watch Escape from you know, 575 00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:52,279 Speaker 1: it's it's on it's on the Netflix. I think you 576 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: can get it. But at the end of Escape from 577 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,439 Speaker 1: l A, there's a device that essentially shuts down all electricity. 578 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: It's down even batteries. They make a point in it 579 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,560 Speaker 1: to say like, oh, this will even like render all 580 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,840 Speaker 1: batteries useless. And yeah, so this is sort of like 581 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:10,839 Speaker 1: a super extreme version where it's like an all encompassing 582 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: attack that would not only get rid of all dead 583 00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:15,359 Speaker 1: as we know it, but pretty much reduced you know, 584 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 1: humanity too, back to the dark Age as we need 585 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: to you know, start over. But a really good one 586 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: that does specifically deal with UM actually targeting financial Corporations. 587 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,880 Speaker 1: Is Fight Club nine, David Fincher film based on the 588 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,719 Speaker 1: novel by Chuck palinak Um. There are some pretty significant 589 00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: differences between the novel and the and the film, but 590 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: they do a pretty good job of having a very 591 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:43,040 Speaker 1: similar let's say, mission statements. So in Fight Club, um, 592 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:49,200 Speaker 1: they're the group of these kind of project yeah, project mayhem, 593 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: that's right, sort of a bunch of like depressed, overly 594 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 1: macho males, middle aged. Yeah. They want to fight back 595 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,640 Speaker 1: because they feel like they've been marginalized as by society. 596 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 1: They are angry. Um. Honestly, their motivations are not particularly 597 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,480 Speaker 1: um positive. They're not really trying to help anybody. They 598 00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: just kind of want to watch the world burn a 599 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:13,719 Speaker 1: little bit um in my opinion. That's that's what I 600 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:16,040 Speaker 1: take from it. But in order to do this, they 601 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 1: stage an attack what could reasonably be considered a terrorist 602 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:25,680 Speaker 1: attack on the corporate headquarters of several large credit card companies. 603 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 1: I think there seven buildings that are destroyed during the 604 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,600 Speaker 1: en scene, which to me is such an iconic scene, 605 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,200 Speaker 1: and it's the first place I ever heard the Pixies 606 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: uh song where is My Like who is this band? 607 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: And then I you know, I was down a rabbit hole. 608 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:44,359 Speaker 1: From then on here we are so Um. Even at 609 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,000 Speaker 1: the time, I always thought this was sort of a 610 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,399 Speaker 1: little bit of a rudimentary example of wiping out the debt, 611 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: because it's like, surely these things are backed up elsewhere, 612 00:40:55,719 --> 00:40:57,560 Speaker 1: you know, not just in the building, And by blowing 613 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: up a building alone, you're not white being out the debt. 614 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:04,920 Speaker 1: It would require some sort of deep infiltration of an 615 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:09,359 Speaker 1: entire file system and structure and network, getting much more 616 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 1: into hacker territory before we get there, though, little bit 617 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:17,200 Speaker 1: of an interesting fact toy that Matt turned me onto. Um, 618 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,560 Speaker 1: did you guys know that in the novel Fight Club 619 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:25,640 Speaker 1: it takes place in Wilmington's, Delaware. Do you guys remember 620 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: twelve o nine North Orange Street, the Corporation Trust Center, 621 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: the official address of over two companies, Willington, Delaware. Um, 622 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:38,880 Speaker 1: there's a couple of little inklings in the film that 623 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:40,759 Speaker 1: it takes place there as well. But I thought that 624 00:41:40,840 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: was a pretty clever non And this address keeps popping 625 00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:45,279 Speaker 1: up for us. We're gonna have to do. I think 626 00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: we're gonna have to do like a whole episode this address. 627 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:53,839 Speaker 1: Let's take it. Let's let's go there physically, listeners, let 628 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: us know if you was to go there, maybe we 629 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,719 Speaker 1: can meet up to hang out. So, like I said, 630 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:00,839 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't feel like this sample holds up. 631 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,480 Speaker 1: This is more of sort of an anarchist kind of 632 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,759 Speaker 1: like I said, watch the World burn kind of thing. 633 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,920 Speaker 1: But um, we have we have a really good example 634 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 1: in our our wonderful sponsors. As it turns out, Mr 635 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:18,440 Speaker 1: robot Um the series involving a sort of anonymous esque 636 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,040 Speaker 1: society of hackers called f Society who orchestrates a very 637 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,440 Speaker 1: high level cyber attack against E Corp, which to me 638 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:29,840 Speaker 1: is I think a very clever stand in for Enron 639 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: maybe or like any other giant corporation or financial financial 640 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:38,279 Speaker 1: levels or something. Sure. Um, and to me, this is 641 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:40,480 Speaker 1: this is how you would you would do this. If 642 00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,400 Speaker 1: you were going to attempt to do some kind of 643 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 1: to orchestrate some kind of complete erasure of the debt record, 644 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: it would have to be through infiltrating these systems, not 645 00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:54,799 Speaker 1: just blowing up a building or one computer or one 646 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,120 Speaker 1: set of servers. Yeah, and they and they do. Uh, 647 00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: I guess it's a two pronged attack in there may 648 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,719 Speaker 1: even be more than that that we just don't understand, 649 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,400 Speaker 1: uh as viewers and you know, in the world of 650 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,359 Speaker 1: Mr Robot. But they do it by using this thing 651 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,920 Speaker 1: called Interpreter, which is a meta saploite backdoor. And the 652 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,480 Speaker 1: main character, Elliott, goes into the main servers of e Corp, 653 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 1: installs a really simple program like an e x C 654 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:27,360 Speaker 1: file on their server, which then gives them and and 655 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:30,920 Speaker 1: easy to access back door to the servers so they 656 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:34,239 Speaker 1: can go in. It's crazy. It uses memory, so it's 657 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:37,400 Speaker 1: not actually writing anything to disk, it's just using the 658 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: RAM on the on the machine to create this backdoor. 659 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,320 Speaker 1: I don't pretend to understand the hacking tools, but according 660 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,840 Speaker 1: to numerous people online who are actually in the info 661 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,440 Speaker 1: sex space and all this, they're saying that, yes, this 662 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,680 Speaker 1: is this is real. You could do this and you 663 00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: could delete information if you had this kind of backdoor. 664 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 1: And like I've said about the show, I mean it 665 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,440 Speaker 1: definitely gets a lot of this stuff right. Even like 666 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,520 Speaker 1: the when you see the dude doing his hacking, it 667 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:07,520 Speaker 1: looks like command line things instead of some sort of 668 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 1: bizarrow like three D rendering of the Internet as it 669 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,319 Speaker 1: would be if you were floating around and hackers or something. Yeah, 670 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:18,439 Speaker 1: I was thinking of that nineties film Hackers as well. 671 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: Uh so what would be hit in these things? Insurance companies, Banks. 672 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:29,800 Speaker 1: Insurance companies are bigger depositories of this kind of value 673 00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: than you might think. There would also, of course, be 674 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: government institutions. This would be stuff like this would have 675 00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:43,240 Speaker 1: to involve treasuries as well as mints. This, this would 676 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:50,960 Speaker 1: involve a simultaneous attack on thousands of things. Would be 677 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,560 Speaker 1: very difficult to do. It also makes me wonder as 678 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 1: a little off, But it also makes me wonder if 679 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:02,920 Speaker 1: someone had that power, why stop at debt? Why not 680 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:10,880 Speaker 1: also erase repositories of personal information so like medical info? Uh, 681 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:17,200 Speaker 1: you know the metadata that the National Snooping Administration collects 682 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:23,239 Speaker 1: from you the Facebook servers. Yeah, and we talked a 683 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:27,719 Speaker 1: little bit about the attack strategies. I think when you 684 00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:32,440 Speaker 1: mentioned the escape from l a scenario of effectively cutting 685 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:37,960 Speaker 1: off electronics stuff. Right, what does this What does this 686 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:42,600 Speaker 1: cloud money mean if we cannot access the cloud? Yeah, 687 00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:46,640 Speaker 1: if you would have to kill electricity indefinitely in order 688 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,920 Speaker 1: to make that work, because there are you know, all 689 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:52,320 Speaker 1: of these huge institutions like Iron Mountain that holds sensitive 690 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:55,880 Speaker 1: data like this they've got him like crazy generators and 691 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,319 Speaker 1: backup power and all this other. Not to mention, they 692 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:02,480 Speaker 1: keep backups on like physical tapes and you know, like 693 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 1: stuff that would stand the test of time and a vault, 694 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,600 Speaker 1: you know, and they're constantly updating these things and backing 695 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,440 Speaker 1: up all their all their data. So yeah, absolutely, in 696 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:16,560 Speaker 1: the old days of my family, it was very different. Uh, 697 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:21,279 Speaker 1: there were things that would happen when somebody wanted to 698 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:26,879 Speaker 1: get and we wanted information to disappear. And mean, think 699 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,920 Speaker 1: about it. We live in a time where just less 700 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:36,560 Speaker 1: than what a hundred years ago, even up to the 701 00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:45,279 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies eighties, if a right definitely sixties or so, 702 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:48,319 Speaker 1: if a bank or a courthouse burned, then there would 703 00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:53,560 Speaker 1: be no evidence of debt or arrests or records. There 704 00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:56,200 Speaker 1: were people in my family were not true when they 705 00:46:56,239 --> 00:47:02,439 Speaker 1: were born because yeah, because someone burned a courthouse or two. Yeah, 706 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:04,879 Speaker 1: and uh this I mean, but we no longer live 707 00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:08,920 Speaker 1: in that world because there are multiple copies of these records, 708 00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:12,719 Speaker 1: which leads us to why it probably wouldn't work if 709 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:16,000 Speaker 1: we're talking about global debt records. Yeah, so in the 710 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,480 Speaker 1: world of Mr Robot, it does work. Um, and that's 711 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,920 Speaker 1: because Ecorp. Evil Corp. Owns roughly se of the consumer 712 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:27,680 Speaker 1: credit industry, which is a bit hard to fathom. In 713 00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:31,000 Speaker 1: our world, it means they would just own as subsidiaries 714 00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:35,680 Speaker 1: let's say Capital One and most of the Visa other 715 00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:38,879 Speaker 1: companies that use Visa or MasterCard or any of those. 716 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,040 Speaker 1: I feel like, in theory we have laws in place 717 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,680 Speaker 1: to prevent things like that from happening. Well, you know, 718 00:47:44,480 --> 00:47:47,840 Speaker 1: hopefully it doesn't happen in the future for us, you know, 719 00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:50,960 Speaker 1: But but in our world it's and this is not debatable. 720 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:55,759 Speaker 1: These various industries, from credit cards, mortgages, student loans, health insurance, 721 00:47:56,080 --> 00:47:59,080 Speaker 1: all of these are controlled by hundreds and hundreds of 722 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,359 Speaker 1: separate compe eating companies. Like you said earlier, Ben, and 723 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:04,560 Speaker 1: you would have to I mean, you would have to 724 00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:08,279 Speaker 1: strike at a huge number of locations in order to 725 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,680 Speaker 1: make this happen. Um. In fact, almost all the computers. Um. 726 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: And Okay, so let's say you were able to take 727 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:18,719 Speaker 1: out a single huge international credit card company. Look, I'm 728 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:20,920 Speaker 1: just using Capital One. Sorry, capital I'm just using it 729 00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:24,480 Speaker 1: because I have your credit card. Um, it would be 730 00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 1: this tiny, itsy bitsy little dent in the all encompassing 731 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:32,680 Speaker 1: global debt machine that exists all around us, right, and 732 00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:38,120 Speaker 1: there's so many eyes watching this as well. There are multiple, 733 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:43,319 Speaker 1: multiple international, state level and even local institutions that are 734 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,280 Speaker 1: tasked with doing this. But then there's another thing, which 735 00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:52,840 Speaker 1: is uh. Many countries maintain a reserve of actual resources 736 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:56,120 Speaker 1: rather than just currencies. So the US has you've probably heard, 737 00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:02,799 Speaker 1: a strategic reserve of petrol. Uh, the US has strategic 738 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:07,560 Speaker 1: reserves of valuable metals, right, And other countries do the 739 00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:10,919 Speaker 1: same thing. And then we have other reserves of other 740 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:13,920 Speaker 1: people's currencies. So if you hit one country, then the 741 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:17,720 Speaker 1: currency that didn't get hit, that money will just become 742 00:49:17,719 --> 00:49:22,400 Speaker 1: more valuable. So think of these reserves as massive savings accounts. 743 00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:26,000 Speaker 1: They fluctuate as spending is needed. Uh. In some countries, 744 00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:31,640 Speaker 1: those reserves are uh dwindling, these currency reserves. Right. So 745 00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:34,800 Speaker 1: here's just a few examples. And some countries these reserves 746 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,359 Speaker 1: are dwindling. You're getting low. According to the World Bank, 747 00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:40,840 Speaker 1: the US had five hundred and seventy four billion in 748 00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:46,279 Speaker 1: total reserves in the reserves fell below a hundred and 749 00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:50,200 Speaker 1: seven billion UM. But in other countries these reserves are 750 00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:54,560 Speaker 1: actually skyrocketing. In two thousand, China held a hundred and 751 00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:57,400 Speaker 1: seventy two billion, and that's in US dollars correct, And 752 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:03,000 Speaker 1: in China's reserves jumped to a whopping three point three 753 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:11,120 Speaker 1: four trillion, yes, trillion. And there are numerous reasons behind this. Uh. 754 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:13,960 Speaker 1: Some have to do with the importance of one currency 755 00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,520 Speaker 1: versus another or treasury bonds. Another has to do with 756 00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:22,719 Speaker 1: trade versus currency or trade balance, and overall strategies of 757 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:25,399 Speaker 1: where you're where you're going with your country. And it's 758 00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:27,440 Speaker 1: it's a fascinating thing that I think, Ben, maybe we 759 00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:30,520 Speaker 1: should look at in the future. Okay, yeah, I agreed. Uh. 760 00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:35,160 Speaker 1: And especially if this interest you, ladies and gentlemen, we 761 00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:38,280 Speaker 1: we can cover it. There's the other, the other factor 762 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,319 Speaker 1: here that disaster recovery data backups. Something happens. Let's say 763 00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:46,480 Speaker 1: there is an attempt, well, the Mr Robots scenario, as 764 00:50:46,520 --> 00:50:48,360 Speaker 1: they said, for makes a little more sense than to 765 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:52,400 Speaker 1: demolish the building's plan and fight club, because they're targeting 766 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:58,879 Speaker 1: servers as well as backup data stores. And these things 767 00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:01,440 Speaker 1: have started to become common place in the nineties seventies 768 00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:05,960 Speaker 1: when people began to realize how um Matt you described 769 00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:09,239 Speaker 1: it best. When we said, insanely dependent we are we 770 00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:12,600 Speaker 1: as a species become on computers and the data contained 771 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:17,360 Speaker 1: within those. So the strategies are redundancy plus off site 772 00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:22,080 Speaker 1: and cloud storage. The records of what is what and 773 00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:28,600 Speaker 1: when exists in multiple places, uh, which is also strange 774 00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:34,080 Speaker 1: because that kind of thing that not omnipresence but I 775 00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:39,319 Speaker 1: guess by location, is one of the miracles sometimes attributed 776 00:51:39,640 --> 00:51:42,279 Speaker 1: to saints. So going back to our earlier thing about 777 00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:47,880 Speaker 1: modern mythology, in a way, through robotics were through electronics 778 00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:53,120 Speaker 1: and computing, we are once again building the miracles of old, 779 00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:57,640 Speaker 1: but in a very strange way. So when we're looking 780 00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,840 Speaker 1: at this, the question is what is the stuff they 781 00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:04,000 Speaker 1: don't want you to know? More immediately? Who are they? Well, 782 00:52:04,040 --> 00:52:08,160 Speaker 1: at this point we can say we we feel we 783 00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:13,439 Speaker 1: feel pretty secure, saying that. One of the problems with 784 00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:21,680 Speaker 1: learning objectively about everything from individual finance to the financial 785 00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:26,839 Speaker 1: food fight that is international relations, uh and food fight 786 00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:29,640 Speaker 1: being you know, an allusion to the resources. Uh. The 787 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,399 Speaker 1: what what we're seeing is that it's tough to learn 788 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:37,400 Speaker 1: this because the people who can teach you have agendas. 789 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:42,879 Speaker 1: So you learned this first, Huh, Well, the people who 790 00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,600 Speaker 1: can teach you will have agendas and that you know, 791 00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:50,320 Speaker 1: naturally I can tie into almost anything that we learn. 792 00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:53,960 Speaker 1: You know, somebody who is an Egyptologist is going to 793 00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:57,960 Speaker 1: have a very different opinion about the importance of Egypt 794 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:02,120 Speaker 1: and civilization. Right. Sure, but in this case the stakes 795 00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:06,600 Speaker 1: are high and their currency, right. And I mean, of 796 00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:11,160 Speaker 1: course we're not denigrating Egypt, which is enormously influential. But 797 00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:15,400 Speaker 1: but but yeah, maybe archaeology is a bad comparison. I 798 00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:18,000 Speaker 1: think that's that's a great point though. If you ask 799 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:24,200 Speaker 1: uh uh an economist from the US versus an economist 800 00:53:24,600 --> 00:53:29,000 Speaker 1: from China and economists from Russia or Iran, you're going 801 00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:33,400 Speaker 1: to receive different answers. And they're not necessarily the wrong 802 00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:39,160 Speaker 1: answers from that economist, they're the they're the answers that 803 00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:44,239 Speaker 1: most benefit that perspective. Right. And this means that in 804 00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:49,200 Speaker 1: our conversations Noel, Matt and I may have different perspectives, 805 00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,000 Speaker 1: It doesn't This is a case where if we disagree, 806 00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:53,759 Speaker 1: it doesn't mean one of us is wrong. Well, let's 807 00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:55,680 Speaker 1: get down to it. I mean, at the end of 808 00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,640 Speaker 1: the day, economics isn't an exact science. There are different 809 00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:03,640 Speaker 1: school of thought that are deep rooted in older schools 810 00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: of thought, you know, and uh, like you said, just 811 00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:10,480 Speaker 1: because one person has a particular perspective doesn't necessarily mean 812 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:14,360 Speaker 1: they're wrong, and the true answer might be somewhere in 813 00:54:14,400 --> 00:54:17,799 Speaker 1: between combining different perspectives. There's a pophy. There's a lot 814 00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:21,359 Speaker 1: of philosophy. Always use ideogy exactly, but it's it's very 815 00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,000 Speaker 1: it's not I don't want to say that it's imprecise. 816 00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:27,839 Speaker 1: I think that's that's short selling it just a little bit, 817 00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:31,120 Speaker 1: because I mean, obviously there is a lot of detailed, 818 00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:35,560 Speaker 1: high level thinking that goes into this, but it's much 819 00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:40,080 Speaker 1: more like a theory, you know, than it is a formula. 820 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:44,000 Speaker 1: We also did not we also haven't looked at what 821 00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:48,160 Speaker 1: would happen if a concentrated segment or type of debt 822 00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:53,520 Speaker 1: were a race. If just for instance, just more how 823 00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:56,600 Speaker 1: specific do we want to go. Gent's just mortgages on 824 00:54:57,320 --> 00:55:02,600 Speaker 1: ranch style homes are just wiped out, Like what would that? 825 00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:04,440 Speaker 1: That would still have a ripple, less of an effect, 826 00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:07,360 Speaker 1: but it would still happen. I thought it would have 827 00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:12,160 Speaker 1: a ripple. If you know, all loans for any kind 828 00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:15,120 Speaker 1: of watercraft, you know, like a sailboat or a jet 829 00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:19,759 Speaker 1: ski it would have many ripples. I think I was 830 00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:24,759 Speaker 1: worth it. Or so, we we've talked a little bit 831 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,520 Speaker 1: about the consequences, the the they the stuff they don't 832 00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:31,480 Speaker 1: want you to know. For this episode, the stuff will 833 00:55:31,520 --> 00:55:36,920 Speaker 1: be the state of economy, debt in the world, affecting 834 00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:40,960 Speaker 1: individual debt, an individual debt affecting the action of states, 835 00:55:41,520 --> 00:55:46,799 Speaker 1: the and the existence of currency. Yeah, you know, is 836 00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,480 Speaker 1: it just? Is it truly just? And I owe you? 837 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:53,879 Speaker 1: Is it simply a system of coupons that future historians 838 00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:58,799 Speaker 1: will find, uh will put on the par of lost religions? Right? 839 00:55:59,360 --> 00:56:02,200 Speaker 1: I mean that's an extreme point of view, and that's 840 00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:06,200 Speaker 1: an extreme way to phrase that question. But what do 841 00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:09,240 Speaker 1: you think, ladies and gentlemen. We we spent some time 842 00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:13,239 Speaker 1: on this one, so we're going to head out of here, 843 00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:17,320 Speaker 1: but we would like to hear from you any stories 844 00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:19,799 Speaker 1: you have that you think more people should know about debt, 845 00:56:19,840 --> 00:56:24,319 Speaker 1: whether individual or international. What you think, if anything could 846 00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:27,279 Speaker 1: be changed to fix this or is this perfect the 847 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:32,480 Speaker 1: way it is? Most importantly, do you think the world's 848 00:56:32,520 --> 00:56:37,400 Speaker 1: debt should be a race despite the frankly certain and 849 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:43,719 Speaker 1: inevitable consequences, Because I'll say my personal perspective here even 850 00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:46,160 Speaker 1: if there were some kind of financial kill switch, a 851 00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:50,560 Speaker 1: reset button that would take debt to zero, Eventually debt 852 00:56:50,600 --> 00:56:56,120 Speaker 1: would a system of debt would evolve. Puka Shells. You 853 00:56:56,320 --> 00:57:00,440 Speaker 1: are on the ground floor, my man. So you can 854 00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:03,920 Speaker 1: let us know your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter. You 855 00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:07,080 Speaker 1: can also follow us on Instagram where conspiracy stuff on 856 00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:11,400 Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter where conspiracy stuff show on Instagram. And 857 00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:13,719 Speaker 1: if you have feedback for this, we'd love to hear 858 00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:16,400 Speaker 1: from you. Even more importantly, if you have a suggestion 859 00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:19,000 Speaker 1: for an upcoming episode, we'd love to hear that because 860 00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:22,720 Speaker 1: our best shows come from your suggestion. Before we drop 861 00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:25,680 Speaker 1: that little tidbit on you, um, I just want to 862 00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:27,720 Speaker 1: say one more time. If you guys listen to the 863 00:57:27,760 --> 00:57:31,720 Speaker 1: show on iTunes, if you listen to the show on Spotify, Stitcher, 864 00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:34,280 Speaker 1: any place you listen to it, if there's a spot 865 00:57:34,280 --> 00:57:36,640 Speaker 1: where you can drop a little review, uh and you 866 00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:39,560 Speaker 1: have something positive to say, please do so. We really 867 00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:42,640 Speaker 1: appreciate it. Kind of helps people discover the show, and 868 00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:45,480 Speaker 1: as been likes to say, it makes us less likely 869 00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:48,680 Speaker 1: to get get canned. So if you want to say 870 00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:50,840 Speaker 1: something super personal and you don't want to do any 871 00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:53,240 Speaker 1: of the other things, that we've just mentioned. You can 872 00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:56,960 Speaker 1: send us an email. We are conspiracy at how stuff 873 00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:17,440 Speaker 1: works dot com.