Full Transcript for Wallstreet Window Ochelli Monthly Joint 11-12-2026

uh, 73 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:20.560 you know, things change over time, Mike, but, uh, Hey, look, we, we, 74 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.269 we should probably get into current events and not bore 75 00:04:23.310 --> 00:04:26.569 everybody to death with sports. Cause we're not a sports 76 00:04:26.629 --> 00:04:30.529 podcast or sports channel. So, you know, we went off 77 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:32.550 script for a moment and off roaded, right? 78 00:04:33.269 --> 00:04:36.230 Well, I don't know how many people are going to 79 00:04:36.269 --> 00:04:39.870 watch either from my end because I've been making changes too. 80 00:04:41.290 --> 00:04:43.470 With my YouTube channel, I'm not just talking about the 81 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:48.110 stock market anymore. I decided to talk about other topics 82 00:04:48.209 --> 00:04:52.620 and I'm doing a couple videos and interviews with people 83 00:04:52.660 --> 00:04:55.600 about the Kennedy assassination, for example. I just decided to 84 00:04:56.120 --> 00:04:58.379 talk about whatever I want with whoever I want to 85 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:01.610 and forget about the algorithm and forget about you're trying 86 00:05:01.649 --> 00:05:05.069 to be this stock market guru that's having to put 87 00:05:05.129 --> 00:05:07.939 out picks and predictions all the time. I'll tell people 88 00:05:07.949 --> 00:05:10.079 what I think about that. But I'm going to talk 89 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:13.300 about whatever I want to. And there's so much else 90 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:15.139 going on in the world, you know? Right. 91 00:05:15.379 --> 00:05:17.100 And to tell you the truth, look, I boiled it 92 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:19.360 all down when it comes to the financial markets because 93 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:21.620 people write to me and tell me that I need 94 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.000 to ask Mike Swanson about this or that because you 95 00:05:24.120 --> 00:05:27.959 are the financial brain, the financial brain trust of like 96 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:33.199 my show's history, right? If there's a financial question, any kind, 97 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.980 they want Mike Swanson to answer it. Just like with 98 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:39.639 history or UFOs and stuff like that, at this point, 99 00:05:39.660 --> 00:05:42.490 they want Larry to answer that question. Larry Hancock, a 100 00:05:42.529 --> 00:05:46.060 mutual friend of ours. But, you know, so they ask 101 00:05:46.100 --> 00:05:48.300 me those things all the time. I got to tell 102 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:50.579 them that, you know, if you talk to Mike right now, 103 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:54.279 you're not going to get much of that. And quite frankly, 104 00:05:54.339 --> 00:05:57.160 he's probably going to tell you just about as follows. 105 00:05:57.220 --> 00:05:59.000 But of course, I'm not as smart as Mike when 106 00:05:59.019 --> 00:06:02.620 it comes to these things. But bottom line is you're 107 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:06.050 looking at

an inflationary curve. That is clearly a problem 108 00:06:06.089 --> 00:06:09.649 for everybody. Everybody is aware of their spending power being 109 00:06:09.689 --> 00:06:12.629 reduced and all that. And what would be the wisest 110 00:06:12.670 --> 00:06:16.379 thing to suggest? God help us all. Gold and silver 111 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:19.720 in your physical possession is not a bad idea. If 112 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.879 you want to protect any sort of nest egg you have, 113 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.029 any sort of money you have, and you're going to 114 00:06:25.069 --> 00:06:27.410 hang on to it for a bit. If you're capable, 115 00:06:27.430 --> 00:06:29.689 hang on to some money. And even if you're somebody 116 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:31.509 who's in the stock market and you think you've got 117 00:06:31.550 --> 00:06:34.430 a plan or you've got the algorithm or you've got 118 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:37.790 Robin Hood or you've got a Mike Swanson in your universe. 119 00:06:38.269 --> 00:06:41.050 Here's the thing. I think that nobody is going to 120 00:06:41.089 --> 00:06:45.329 discourage you from diversifying into some precious metals. I think 121 00:06:45.350 --> 00:06:47.649 that's about as much time as we need to invest 122 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.139 in the current situation. Gold and silver, not a bad 123 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.259 idea to make it at least part of your portfolio. 124 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:56.560 Not trying to be a gold bug or a silver 125 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.980 bug here, Mike, but it's definitely not a bad idea. 126 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:02.399 And of course, we encourage that all along. And anytime 127 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:05.319 you and I talked, because it just seemed to be 128 00:07:05.350 --> 00:07:07.649 the wisest thing to do, even though I'm a guy 129 00:07:07.670 --> 00:07:10.490 who never has any money. If I had some, believe me, 130 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:12.350 I'd be putting into the gold and silver to try 131 00:07:12.370 --> 00:07:15.000 and protect it right now. So I don't lose value. 132 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:18.189 And I think that's intelligent. And again, about the end 133 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:20.350 of the story, but disagree with me, Mike, go ahead. 134 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:24.610 Well, I agree with all that. I just add for 135 00:07:24.850 --> 00:07:27.670 people ask you, well, I'll get on your show sometime 136 00:07:27.709 --> 00:07:30.310 and we'll talk about it with, you know, there, but, 137 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:33.629 but the market right now is getting more volatile and 138 00:07:33.670 --> 00:07:37.149 it's so highly inflated and these things go in cycles. 139 00:07:37.250 --> 00:07:40.009 And it looks to me like we're at the end 140 00:07:40.050 --> 00:07:42.449 of the, this bull market. And when you're at the 141 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:45.100 end of a bull market, the market gets a lot 142 00:07:45.139 --> 00:07:50.430 more volatile and becomes very difficult to trade on trying 143 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.439 to bet against it or go long. It's just, it's 144 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:55.350 just an easy way to lose money. So I'm personally 145 00:07:55.670 --> 00:08:00.490 stepping back and not doing as much trading and so forth. 146 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:04.050 Well, that's the other wise thing to do, right? Because 147 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:07.310 if you enjoy sailing, you don't want to go out, 148 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:09.269 you know, during the roughest seas, right? 149 00:08:09.350 --> 00:08:10.110 Yeah, that's right. 150 00:08:10.569 --> 00:08:13.329 You know, it's just that simple. I mean, it's just logic, right? 151 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:17.269 But in addition, I would say that the volatility is 152 00:08:17.569 --> 00:08:19.800 something that's just, you know, going on based on the 153 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:24.759 general conditions of everything, you know, so. It's not about 154 00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:27.139 a political party. It's not about I mean, there's just 155 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:28.860 a lot of things going on here that are going 156 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.559 to cause volatility. People in our age group, I think overall, 157 00:08:32.620 --> 00:08:35.850 the question they're always afraid to ask, though, is, you know, 158 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:38.289 is the big crash coming again? Are we going to 159 00:08:38.330 --> 00:08:43.830 see another, you know, 2007, 2008 situation? That's the big worry, 160 00:08:43.889 --> 00:08:46.509 because that is still in the memory of, you know, 161 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:51.950 most adults who are above the age of, let's say, 40. 162 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:54.549 You know, we definitely have that in our memories because 163 00:08:54.610 --> 00:08:56.740 no matter who we were, where we were, if we 164 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:59.889 were in the civilized world, that whole thing cost us. 165 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:04.480 One way or another, it either painfully created situations, even 166 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:08.190 if you were a renter, it painfully created situations and 167 00:09:08.309 --> 00:09:13.350 rapidly shifting circumstances. Again, volatility because of the housing market 168 00:09:13.809 --> 00:09:16.240 and the collapse there. And then, of course, all that 169 00:09:16.389 --> 00:09:21.399 nonsense that went on with the derivatives and repackaged debt. 170 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:24.419 turning around and ending up in 80 different directions and 171 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:27.740 the debates about whose fault was it, the irresponsible house 172 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:31.960 buyers or the terrible banking practices, or how about all 173 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.860 of the above, you know, causing a calamity there that 174 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.470 quite frankly comes and goes in cycles as well. So, 175 00:09:39.610 --> 00:09:41.470 you know, are we going to see that? That's what 176 00:09:41.509 --> 00:09:44.809

they're looking for is another drastic crash. And frankly, if 177 00:09:44.850 --> 00:09:46.970 they had just listened to you already over the years, 178 00:09:47.730 --> 00:09:51.100 They know that the drastic crash has almost been factored 179 00:09:51.259 --> 00:09:54.559 out because of the technology and the way that we 180 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:57.990 don't have things that roll into big giant snowballs that 181 00:09:58.129 --> 00:10:03.080 occur overnight. any longer. Now conditions are a little more 182 00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:07.480 subtle to the observer because of the technology and the 183 00:10:07.519 --> 00:10:12.919 way things have shifted. regarding strategies, instantaneous trading, you know, 184 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.820 the AI systems now becoming involved in everything else. So 185 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:20.259 you have a completely different situation, whether it's futures or 186 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:24.590 commodities or housing or any of it is now all 187 00:10:25.029 --> 00:10:29.690 being handled in a completely different landscape from 2007 and 8, 188 00:10:29.690 --> 00:10:34.870 you know, 20 almost years ago. The circumstances are entirely different, right? 189 00:10:36.019 --> 00:10:38.860 Well, in the markets, there's been the rise of something 190 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.809 called passive investing that's had a huge influence. This is 191 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:45.990 where people are just throwing money into exchange-traded funds and 192 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:50.990 other funds that buy the stocks. And regardless of the price, 193 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:54.750 they have to buy the S & P 500, for example. 194 00:10:54.769 --> 00:10:56.659 So they have to buy the same 500 stocks and 195 00:10:56.700 --> 00:11:03.399 everyone's buying them, so to speak. But there's volatility. Volatility 196 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:08.139 has certainly happened recently. this year in war with the 197 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:13.399 Iran situation and politics with the midterms that we just had. 198 00:11:15.299 --> 00:11:18.659 I was talking to someone on the phone before we 199 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:23.440 started this and they told me they moved to North 200 00:11:23.460 --> 00:11:27.580 Carolina and they started to go to, they've only been 201 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.220 there for a couple months and they're Republicans. They decided 202 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.690 to start to go to the county Republican meetings And 203 00:11:35.730 --> 00:11:38.909 they said that after the midterms, the people at the 204 00:11:38.929 --> 00:11:43.850 meetings were all despondent over the results. The friend of 205 00:11:43.870 --> 00:11:50.070 mine said that he thought people voted for the Democrats 206 00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:54.909 because they thought, in his mind, that the Trump and 207 00:11:55.629 --> 00:12:01.669 the Republicans have betrayed them in terms... And I said, well, 208 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:04.850 I feel that way too. I didn't explain why, but 209 00:12:05.370 --> 00:12:11.450 And he said, well, they didn't fix the debt. The 210 00:12:11.490 --> 00:12:15.549 debt's gotten worse. They weren't able to cut spending. They 211 00:12:15.570 --> 00:12:21.070 didn't solve the immigration. And I don't remember what the 212 00:12:21.090 --> 00:12:23.990 other things he listed were. He supports the war, so 213 00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:26.669 that wasn't on his list, but that's at the top 214 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:33.059 of my list. However, I'm doubtful that many people actually 215 00:12:34.230 --> 00:12:36.850 uh voted on that on the war itself i think 216 00:12:36.870 --> 00:12:37.850 it's more the effects. 217 00:12:37.590 --> 00:12:41.169 Of the war it's a contributing factor right um we 218 00:12:41.190 --> 00:12:43.490 don't have war being at the front of. 219 00:12:43.529 --> 00:12:46.389 I didn't vote i should say that i didn't even vote. 220 00:12:46.110 --> 00:12:48.929 So not this time no but uh but but it's 221 00:12:48.990 --> 00:12:52.490 not at the forefront of the majority of people that 222 00:12:52.610 --> 00:12:54.720 i encounter and of course i'm in a red state 223 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.080 despite the recent results where everybody's going, oh my God, 224 00:12:59.139 --> 00:13:01.539 Georgia has flipped blue. I'm sure you can tell from 225 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:05.039 my accent, I'm living in Georgia, right? Yeah, okay. Anyways, 226 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:09.450 I'm from Jersey. That's the joke. But the point is 227 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:14.549 that it's not the major factor as far as what 228 00:13:14.610 --> 00:13:18.330 this shift just represented recently. And here's the thing, a 229 00:13:18.389 --> 00:13:22.230 midterm that doesn't represent a shift against the controlling party 230 00:13:22.929 --> 00:13:26.309 is almost unheard of anyway. So to me, it seems 231 00:13:26.370 --> 00:13:30.610 like it's very typical. You always have a backlash because 232 00:13:30.669 --> 00:13:35.549 guess what? Surprise, surprise. The politicians you select to put 233 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:38.840 in these offices don't follow through on all of their 234 00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:43.820 promises and alleged promises and ideas that they put forth 235 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:47.139 that were supposed to get them elected in the first place. Oh, 236 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:50.139 what a shock. You know, and here I am detaching 237 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.860 myself from the fact that I can't stand Donald Trump. 238 00:13:54.279 --> 00:14:00.409 You know, always got derangement syndrome and maybe. But but 239 00:14:00.429 --> 00:14:04.250 that's not the point. Still, there's a backlash here because, 240 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:07.649 you know, people wanted things fixed. They wanted the economy fixed. 241 00:14:08.169 --> 00:14:11.759 Didn't happen. They said, oh, immigration. There are people that 242 00:14:11.779 --> 00:14:15.629 believe the immigration

circumstance is, you know, way better. And 243 00:14:15.669 --> 00:14:19.269 in fact, the first messages I got after the midterms 244 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:23.759 from people that were very angry that there wasn't a 245 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:28.679 red wave. OK, those people were saying, you know, here 246 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:31.049 we go again. We're going to have open borders. There's 247 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:34.129 going to be all that, you know, gender diversity and 248 00:14:34.210 --> 00:14:37.250 DEI is going to come back roaring. And I'm thinking 249 00:14:37.269 --> 00:14:40.450 to myself, how fast do you think our government actually works, 250 00:14:40.590 --> 00:14:43.730 even with computers? You know, they're not going to have 251 00:14:43.789 --> 00:14:46.809 time to institute all the things that these people are 252 00:14:46.830 --> 00:14:49.340 thinking of that are disasters. They won't even have time 253 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:54.059 to wreck the country before the next election in 28. OK, so, 254 00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:56.259 you know, calm down about the Democrats are going to 255 00:14:56.299 --> 00:15:00.659 turn into a socialist, you know, nightmare. They're not going 256 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:02.879 to have time to do it. It is weird, though, 257 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:05.970 that even the people who basically are saying out loud 258 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.789 that they're communists are getting elected because the backlash was 259 00:15:09.809 --> 00:15:15.710 there good enough in sufficient numbers to create a backlash 260 00:15:15.750 --> 00:15:19.450 against the establishment, which is all that happened here. If 261 00:15:19.470 --> 00:15:23.450 there was another alternative offered that seemed viable, they would 262 00:15:23.470 --> 00:15:25.629 have put that in. It didn't have to be socialism. 263 00:15:25.700 --> 00:15:30.870 Nobody's in love with that. regardless of what some people think. Socialism, communism, 264 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:34.960 oh my God, the Muslims are coming too. Everybody needs 265 00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:37.899 to relax. This is a natural sort of part of 266 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:40.340 the curve, Mike. I mean, what do you think? 267 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.799 Well, I told my buddy and a couple of people 268 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:50.139 here that if you look at these red states like 269 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:55.940 Texas and the ones out Midwest that the Democrats won, 270 00:15:56.929 --> 00:15:59.740 They didn't even win by a percent. So these are 271 00:15:59.750 --> 00:16:03.220 all seats that in time, they're just going to lose. 272 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.159 Senate seats take longer to lose than House seats. But 273 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:09.059 in time, these aren't seats the Democrats are going to 274 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:10.200 hold on to very long. 275 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.419 No, like I said, you got that two-year duration where 276 00:16:13.470 --> 00:16:17.909 now you have a Republican minority in the Senate and 277 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:21.110 the House, which we haven't had for a while. We've 278 00:16:21.149 --> 00:16:24.110 had a Republican majority now for a little bit. And 279 00:16:24.129 --> 00:16:27.480 you see the monumental changes that occurred there? Not really. 280 00:16:27.500 --> 00:16:30.700 But you're going to have Democrats controlling the House, Democrats 281 00:16:30.740 --> 00:16:34.250 controlling the Senate, and quite frankly, Democrats controlling the majority. 282 00:16:34.710 --> 00:16:36.929 And this is something I don't see being covered very well, 283 00:16:37.389 --> 00:16:41.169 the majority of state governors. Of course, we have the 284 00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:45.809 historical election, which I was actually surprised at, that Keisha 285 00:16:45.850 --> 00:16:50.570 Lance Bottoms won in Georgia, right? That was something I 286 00:16:50.610 --> 00:16:52.850 did not see coming, to be honest with you, because 287 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:56.610 this state top to bottom, regardless of the last Senate 288 00:16:56.649 --> 00:17:01.440 debacle where we ended up with two Democratic senators, the 289 00:17:01.460 --> 00:17:04.940 whole state is controlled top to bottom by Republicans. So, 290 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:07.720 you know, outside of the little blue swatches we have, 291 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:11.380 the rest of it's red. And those little blue swatches 292 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:14.940 are Atlanta. Savannah, and quite frankly, a little tract where 293 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:18.859 I live in Macon County and Bibb County in Georgia. 294 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:21.269 That's it. The rest of the state is red. 295 00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:26.750 Are y'all getting a data center in your area? 296 00:17:26.809 --> 00:17:28.230 Well, yeah, of course we are. 297 00:17:28.650 --> 00:17:30.319 I thought I saw a headline that said that. 298 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:31.359 Yeah. 299 00:17:31.619 --> 00:17:32.819 Okay. Okay. 300 00:17:33.289 --> 00:17:36.009 No, we have a data center. We have a police 301 00:17:36.069 --> 00:17:38.890 training center coming in, you know, in the Atlanta area. 302 00:17:38.930 --> 00:17:42.470 That's coming no matter what they say. There are massive 303 00:17:42.529 --> 00:17:46.140 complexes that are coming in, you know, because we can't 304 00:17:46.180 --> 00:17:49.740 build any more prisons here. We're kind of, you know, 305 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:52.119 well stocked on the prison population. So we got to 306 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:56.960 build other stuff. We've already got our Amazon centers in place. So, 307 00:17:57.099 --> 00:17:59.180 you know, no problem there. Bezos is taken care of 308 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:02.019 in Georgia. What else is left? Of course, we need 309 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:06.750 a data center. I'm saying this sarcastically because I don't 310 00:18:06.829 --> 00:18:11.390 like any of this. I understand the

technology needs to 311 00:18:11.450 --> 00:18:13.890 move forward, but there are a lot of abusive things 312 00:18:13.990 --> 00:18:16.750 along the way when it comes to, I don't know, 313 00:18:16.789 --> 00:18:19.970 the residents of these areas when these things come in. Big, 314 00:18:20.029 --> 00:18:22.130 long discussion we could have on that. But let's get 315 00:18:22.170 --> 00:18:25.509 back to the general malaise, if you will, of the 316 00:18:25.690 --> 00:18:29.769 current political situation, which is funny because as volatile as 317 00:18:29.829 --> 00:18:33.680 it was, Quite frankly, even though it's this big, shocking, oh, 318 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:36.359 we have a blue wave and this and that, this 319 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:40.960 is a temporary reaction. And that's all it is. By 320 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:43.910 the time 28 comes back around, I guarantee you there's 321 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.809 going to be a greater call for Trump to run again. 322 00:18:47.430 --> 00:18:48.769 You know what I mean? It's going to be that 323 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:52.470 far shifted the other way, because when things don't improve rapidly, 324 00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:55.910 they're going to blame, guess who? The people they just elected. 325 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:59.519 you know, and only given them two years to change things. 326 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:02.049 When meanwhile, they're going to spend their first two years 327 00:19:02.109 --> 00:19:05.049 just catching up and also building their war chests for 328 00:19:05.069 --> 00:19:07.430 the next election, because that's what they do in the 329 00:19:07.470 --> 00:19:10.890 first two years of anything. That's why nobody gets anything 330 00:19:10.910 --> 00:19:13.259 done the first two years they go in as a representative. 331 00:19:13.710 --> 00:19:16.339 Nobody gets anything done the first two years as a senator, 332 00:19:16.359 --> 00:19:18.440 because you have to first put your feet in the 333 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.880 ground over there in D.C., And that's the way the 334 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:25.380 system is. Meanwhile, governors are just busy trying to handle 335 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:29.400 the next disaster that comes up during that same two years. 336 00:19:29.460 --> 00:19:33.509 And like I said, unless there is a real significant 337 00:19:34.450 --> 00:19:39.009 improvement of the general conditions here financially, the job market, 338 00:19:39.470 --> 00:19:41.589 the fact that, you know, we're getting beat out by 339 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:45.170 AI now for jobs and everything else, and people are 340 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:49.210 being pretty quiet about that, unless that starts to improve 341 00:19:49.329 --> 00:19:53.940 and people's financial circumstances, you know, remain as they are, 342 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.680 then they're going to blame whoever is in office next 343 00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:59.349 time around. And they're going to say, well, we went 344 00:19:59.369 --> 00:20:02.089 blue last time. Let's go red the next time. And 345 00:20:02.130 --> 00:20:05.829 it's funny because this is the way New Jersey always functions. 346 00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:08.380 The rest of the country seemed to go in these 347 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:12.700 trends that went slowly, you know? But New Jersey used 348 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:15.190 to swing back and forth like one of those, you know, 349 00:20:16.289 --> 00:20:19.170 I forget what they call them there. It's not a metronome. No, no, no. 350 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:20.349 You know the thing that used to be on the 351 00:20:20.390 --> 00:20:22.730 desks with the little balls that would bang back and forth? 352 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:24.930 That's the way I felt about it in New Jersey. 353 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:28.170 There was a core of, you know, values, and then 354 00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:30.130 the left and the right would bang back and forth 355 00:20:30.190 --> 00:20:34.029 on that middle core almost perpetually. And that's why we 356 00:20:34.089 --> 00:20:38.640 add Republican to Democrat to Republican control back and forth constantly. 357 00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:42.359 It's truly a purple state. But everywhere else it goes 358 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:45.799 in trends. And usually it's not about who they're voting for. 359 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:49.420 It's who they're voting against. Again, no, correct me, Mike. 360 00:20:49.500 --> 00:20:51.109 I mean, please, this is the way I'm seeing it, 361 00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:54.529 but I'm seeing other people react as though it's something different, 362 00:20:54.789 --> 00:20:56.549 but I don't think that's the way it's going to 363 00:20:56.589 --> 00:20:57.769 turn out in the long run. 364 00:20:58.250 --> 00:21:02.109 Well, where I live, I look at the, I know 365 00:21:02.130 --> 00:21:04.589 a lot of people in the Republican Party and, you know, 366 00:21:04.990 --> 00:21:08.750 and my Facebook friends or whatever is a lot of 367 00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:12.089 local people. And a lot of them are very despondent 368 00:21:13.170 --> 00:21:18.299 and angry, frankly, at the election results and the voters. 369 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:22.720 You know, people, one of the things that's all happened here, 370 00:21:23.099 --> 00:21:27.019 and I live in Virginia, is that the Republican messaging, 371 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:30.380 at least what the people are talking about on social media, 372 00:21:31.019 --> 00:21:34.970 towards the end, it shifted to trying to, they knew 373 00:21:35.470 --> 00:21:41.950 they were losing support. And the messaging kind of shifted 374 00:21:41.990 --> 00:21:45.579 all of a sudden to not vote for Trump for 375 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:52.039 these different policies, but vote to stop abortion and for 376 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:56.400 religious reasons. And they actually started to try to almost 377 00:21:56.460 --> 00:21:59.750 shame people into voting. And then after

the election, I 378 00:21:59.789 --> 00:22:02.390 saw a couple of I mean, these are people upset 379 00:22:02.410 --> 00:22:06.769 by the election results. So this is their initial reaction. Angry, 380 00:22:07.190 --> 00:22:11.170 are we becoming godless, the country? Who are these people 381 00:22:11.210 --> 00:22:15.109 to turn on God, you know, and so forth. However, 382 00:22:15.130 --> 00:22:20.490 I would suggest that I saw a poll that said 383 00:22:20.589 --> 00:22:28.710 that when Trump won, most men under 40 voted for Trump. 384 00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:33.380 In this midterm, they switched and voted for the Democrats. 385 00:22:34.210 --> 00:22:38.829 So I would say those people aren't voting on some 386 00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:44.569 fixed ideological reason based on religion or abortion or something. 387 00:22:44.670 --> 00:22:46.170 It's more like what you're talking about. 388 00:22:46.230 --> 00:22:49.730 The anti-vote, the I'm against something, not what I'm for, 389 00:22:49.769 --> 00:22:53.359 but what I'm against. Yeah, that's true. See, that's the 390 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:56.079 weird part. That's this weird kind of position you and 391 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.630 I are in because we're both Gen Xers. And, you know, 392 00:22:59.809 --> 00:23:04.410 as Gen Xers, we get despondent with something. We usually disconnect. 393 00:23:04.450 --> 00:23:08.180 We just go, you know what? Never mind. That's sort 394 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:11.259 of like a Gen X kind of attitude with it, right? 395 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:14.099 Is that not if we're not winning, we give up. 396 00:23:14.619 --> 00:23:16.900 But if we find that the game is so rigged 397 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.619 or it's so pointless, we will walk away. And I 398 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:23.000 think that's what you're seeing in people like, say, 45 399 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.619 to 65. A lot of them probably walked away. We 400 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:30.269 should see much lower voter turnout numbers when they're all 401 00:23:30.329 --> 00:23:35.329 tallied from the last few elections. And younger people, quite frankly, 402 00:23:35.490 --> 00:23:39.029 are just, no matter what you do, no matter what generation, 403 00:23:39.069 --> 00:23:42.119 no matter how unique, you know, the new Y generation, 404 00:23:42.180 --> 00:23:45.660 the new millennium is or whatever, the fact is you're 405 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:50.529 more fickle. You're more... you know, reward based in your thinking. 406 00:23:50.630 --> 00:23:52.410 It's like, if I'm not getting what I want, then 407 00:23:52.450 --> 00:23:55.250 I need to go somewhere else real quick. That's your 408 00:23:55.289 --> 00:23:57.890 spenders that are going to go there. And even in business, 409 00:23:57.930 --> 00:24:01.230 you know, this, if that's the crowd you're attracting, if 410 00:24:01.269 --> 00:24:04.200 you don't keep them busy, they'll go find themselves busy 411 00:24:04.259 --> 00:24:06.980 somewhere else. And that's the way it's gone with voting 412 00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:11.619 where people feel like they're empowered to based on their anti-vote. 413 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.769 So they hated being broke a lot more than they 414 00:24:15.809 --> 00:24:20.109 hated whatever the Democrats were doing in diversity and DEI. 415 00:24:20.670 --> 00:24:23.859 So they switched sides and said, yeah, but look, I 416 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:26.500 don't want all that DEI stuff or whatever, but you 417 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:28.720 know what I hate even more? I can't afford to 418 00:24:28.759 --> 00:24:31.980 go get my Starbucks coffee every day. You know, I 419 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.779 don't have a job now or now I can't live 420 00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:36.460 in the apartment I used to live in because the 421 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:40.019 rent's jacked up. They're more upset with that than they 422 00:24:40.059 --> 00:24:43.579 were with any of these ideological issues. And then, you 423 00:24:43.619 --> 00:24:46.579 know what? Give them another three, four years. And guess what? 424 00:24:46.900 --> 00:24:50.440 Depending on the circumstance, they might be upset with the war. 425 00:24:51.369 --> 00:24:55.789 But that's such an abstract concept at this point. And again, 426 00:24:55.849 --> 00:25:00.299 attached to religiosity. Because the majority of Christians I encounter 427 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:03.910 that are quite devoted to their religion in one way 428 00:25:03.970 --> 00:25:06.089 or another, that actually go to church and all that, 429 00:25:06.690 --> 00:25:10.910 a lot of them in this Christian nation, they're pro-war 430 00:25:11.549 --> 00:25:15.299 on this. A lot of them. I don't know if 431 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:17.339 it's the majority. Maybe it's, again, because I'm in the 432 00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:20.079 Bible Belt. I mean, you're in Virginia. I'm in Georgia. 433 00:25:20.099 --> 00:25:24.349 But Sorry, it's the same kind of religiosity that bleeds 434 00:25:24.410 --> 00:25:27.720 into the voting and bleeds into their sentiment and bleeds 435 00:25:27.779 --> 00:25:31.279 into what products they're willing to buy and what TV 436 00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:34.259 shows they're willing to watch. And everything that has to 437 00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:36.799 do with selling them something, whether it's a politician or 438 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:40.829 a soap, is all influenced by that. And most of 439 00:25:40.869 --> 00:25:45.549 them are quite happy because Iran's an enemy, Israel's an ally, 440 00:25:45.849 --> 00:25:48.910 and it's just that simple. And we're doing the right thing. 441 00:25:49.809 --> 00:25:52.130 And plus, we don't have a huge amount of bodies 442 00:25:52.170 --> 00:25:55.210 coming back, which always creates a backlash with wars when 443 00:25:55.630 --> 00:25:59.109 there's actually casualties that are piling up big. We're not 444 00:25:59.150 --> 00:26:01.849 seeing that because war is not

conducted the same way 445 00:26:01.869 --> 00:26:04.349 it used to be. We have drones and we have 446 00:26:04.430 --> 00:26:07.279 aircraft and we have lots of ways to mitigate the 447 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:11.099 problem of losing troops, right? So the war is not 448 00:26:11.140 --> 00:26:14.329 going to be the front line issue. What is most important? 449 00:26:14.369 --> 00:26:16.230 The things they can lay their hands on, the things 450 00:26:16.269 --> 00:26:19.529 they can lay their eyes on. And what's happening? They're 451 00:26:19.569 --> 00:26:23.740 losing ground with their buying power. They're losing ground as 452 00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:27.420 far as the inflation is still outpacing. You know this, 453 00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:32.640 I'm sure, is still outpacing, you know, inflation. people's wages, 454 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:36.059 wages in quotes, whatever it is they're able to earn, 455 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.809 whether they're a gig worker or anything else, we're getting 456 00:26:38.869 --> 00:26:40.609 way outpaced by the cost of living. 457 00:26:41.329 --> 00:26:45.069 All of us. I could tell from closely looking at 458 00:26:45.109 --> 00:26:50.470 the markets and financial news and financial data that I 459 00:26:50.509 --> 00:26:53.779 was saying this, that in the summer when the war started, 460 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:58.440 I was saying it was going to cause inflation. Obviously, 461 00:26:58.599 --> 00:27:01.849 oil went up. but the oil was first and that 462 00:27:01.890 --> 00:27:05.470 would eventually cause food prices to go up and have 463 00:27:05.490 --> 00:27:09.859 all these other inflationary impacts as the months went on. 464 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:16.180 And it looks like in September that started to accelerate 465 00:27:17.180 --> 00:27:20.740 and accelerate a little bit more in October and the 466 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:27.140 government yesterday just released a consumer inflation numbers for the 467 00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:30.640 month of October. And they had the highest reading in 468 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:40.009 12 months. So I think Trump's poll numbers and the 469 00:27:40.089 --> 00:27:47.230 odds of the Republicans winning the midterms started to decline 470 00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:52.720 at the end of August, just as this inflation seemed 471 00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:54.660 to be picking up from what I could tell. Or 472 00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:56.299 it looked like it was about to pick up, I 473 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.480 should say. I should say in September, I thought it's 474 00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:06.309 going to pick up, you know. And I don't know, though, 475 00:28:07.029 --> 00:28:12.289 you know, something happened in early September, the first two weeks, 476 00:28:12.930 --> 00:28:18.119 that caused the poll numbers to drop. And some of 477 00:28:18.140 --> 00:28:20.920 the Republicans I know that are leaders of the local 478 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:25.670 Republican Party, they started to fear losing. And I saw 479 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:28.809 one of them, he's like the vice chairman of the 480 00:28:28.930 --> 00:28:33.500 local party, say something almost despondent about it, you know, 481 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.579 on Facebook, which I was shocked that they'd even say 482 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:39.259 something like that. So what I want to ask you, 483 00:28:39.299 --> 00:28:41.660 I'm asking people I talk to, because I don't really 484 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:44.960 know the answer, or if there is one, what would 485 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:48.200 have happened in the early September to make someone like 486 00:28:48.240 --> 00:28:51.269 that despondent? Well. 487 00:28:51.950 --> 00:28:54.670 You know what? I think it's a cumulative effect, but 488 00:28:54.750 --> 00:28:59.970 also somebody taking note that the enthusiasm, I don't know 489 00:29:00.009 --> 00:29:01.750 how to put this any other way, but the general 490 00:29:01.809 --> 00:29:05.529 enthusiasm leading up to these midterms. If you remember when 491 00:29:05.549 --> 00:29:07.910 we were talking about this maybe a year ago, just 492 00:29:07.990 --> 00:29:10.690 in general, not necessarily you and me in particular, but 493 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.019 anybody who was discussing this about a year ago, oh, 494 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:16.660 those midterms are super important, super important. 495 00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:16.759 Yeah. 496 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:20.920 And despite maybe being locally pounded by some, you know, 497 00:29:21.220 --> 00:29:24.940 ads and things like that, campaign ads, uh, and you definitely, 498 00:29:24.980 --> 00:29:26.789 you know, in Georgia, you got something in your mail 499 00:29:26.849 --> 00:29:29.990 every single day, a big flyer on how their opponent 500 00:29:30.009 --> 00:29:32.190 was going to ruin the country, the state of Georgia, 501 00:29:32.609 --> 00:29:35.289 and didn't care about the people one way or another. 502 00:29:35.329 --> 00:29:37.309 And that was just a back and forth. Didn't matter 503 00:29:37.329 --> 00:29:41.940 who it was, insert name here. Um, it didn't light 504 00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:46.980 a fire under the voters they were not engaging in 505 00:29:47.049 --> 00:29:49.470 this the way that they have in the past few 506 00:29:49.529 --> 00:29:52.710 cycles in the past I would say almost a decade 507 00:29:53.190 --> 00:29:58.700 where there was an intensity that really swirled around the 508 00:29:58.759 --> 00:30:03.509 engagement of people. You had heightened registrations, you had greater 509 00:30:03.569 --> 00:30:09.150 political debates, you had more media devoted to the arguments, 510 00:30:09.230 --> 00:30:11.809 if you will. I mean, there were people in Minnesota 511 00:30:11.890 --> 00:30:15.650 watching the New York mayor's race, you know, a couple 512 00:30:15.670 --> 00:30:20.420 of years ago, closely, right? You know, Curtis Sliwa, wow, 513 00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:24.079

they were talking about him in Oshkosh already. None of 514 00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:26.440 that happened this time. I bet you that there's a 515 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.539 whole lot of people locally to you that have no 516 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:32.119 idea who ran in Georgia, no idea what was up for, 517 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:34.000 you know what I'm saying? But a couple of years ago, 518 00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:38.410 they knew about Warnock and they knew about, you know, 519 00:30:38.450 --> 00:30:40.450 the other guy. Like, in other words, it was just, 520 00:30:41.650 --> 00:30:45.769 it was not more popular, but it was, again, the 521 00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:47.769 engagement was much more intense. 522 00:30:47.849 --> 00:30:49.809 I got to say, I was less engaged. I don't, 523 00:30:51.230 --> 00:30:53.349 I don't know who the, like you just said, I 524 00:30:53.369 --> 00:30:55.750 don't know who the individual names are that won all 525 00:30:55.789 --> 00:30:59.069 these different races. I wasn't paying as close attention as 526 00:30:59.150 --> 00:31:01.930 I would have in the past myself. I just assumed, oh, 527 00:31:01.970 --> 00:31:03.009 the Republicans are going to lose. 528 00:31:03.809 --> 00:31:06.599 See, but you or I could make that excuse though, 529 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:09.500 because we were involved in media where we were discussing 530 00:31:09.539 --> 00:31:11.519 that a lot. It was a factor in the media 531 00:31:11.539 --> 00:31:14.559 that where we were focusing. But here's the thing, even 532 00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:18.359 just without me doing that job, I was more focused 533 00:31:18.420 --> 00:31:21.829 on it personally. Everybody I knew was more. So this 534 00:31:21.930 --> 00:31:24.099 is what I'm saying. We didn't have that big run 535 00:31:24.259 --> 00:31:26.299 up and we were going to have to go for 536 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:28.880 the next 48 hours commercial free in order to cover 537 00:31:29.009 --> 00:31:33.509 every single vote as it's reported. Nobody cared. There is 538 00:31:33.769 --> 00:31:36.630 an apathy here, and I do lay it right at 539 00:31:36.670 --> 00:31:38.970 the doorstep of the people in yours and my age group, 540 00:31:39.309 --> 00:31:43.930 because we are the apathy generation. We'll do it, not always, 541 00:31:44.150 --> 00:31:46.589 but I note all the time, we have not shown 542 00:31:46.710 --> 00:31:50.279 up even in leadership roles. It's like it's skipped a generation, 543 00:31:50.859 --> 00:31:53.740 because we will turn around and just collectively, I'm not 544 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.539 speaking for you or even for myself, but I still 545 00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:00.299 got to use the we here. collectively, Generation X doesn't 546 00:32:00.339 --> 00:32:03.079 show up in leadership roles, doesn't show up at the 547 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.869 top of the ticket, okay? We just don't because we 548 00:32:06.950 --> 00:32:12.650 become disinterested once frustrated through the system, not because it's 549 00:32:12.670 --> 00:32:15.769 a losing battle, but because there's no battle to be had. 550 00:32:16.250 --> 00:32:19.589 We'll walk away. This is what our generation has done, 551 00:32:19.849 --> 00:32:22.579 and it was what we were always criticized for, is 552 00:32:22.619 --> 00:32:26.380 that we obviously are so apathetic, we don't care about anything, right? 553 00:32:26.519 --> 00:32:29.869 But it's not that, it's just You know, you get 554 00:32:29.910 --> 00:32:31.710 to us after a while and you show us that 555 00:32:31.769 --> 00:32:33.809 we're going to run around in circles and just get 556 00:32:33.849 --> 00:32:37.569 exhausted and go nowhere. We might decide to stop running. 557 00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:40.839 So we do. And that's why you saw like a 558 00:32:40.890 --> 00:32:45.099 generational skip literally to the next generation after us, the 559 00:32:45.319 --> 00:32:47.200 Y generation or whatever you want to call them. I 560 00:32:47.220 --> 00:32:50.099 think of them as the homeland generation. But, you know, 561 00:32:50.119 --> 00:32:52.799 because we started using that terminology in this country, but 562 00:32:52.900 --> 00:32:56.279 that's an American thing. Point is the generation after us 563 00:32:56.500 --> 00:32:59.839 is more engaged in the process than we are. We 564 00:32:59.880 --> 00:33:02.960 are just the less engaged. And I think if you 565 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:04.559 take a look at those numbers that we do an 566 00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:07.519 analysis and I haven't even done it, I can't even 567 00:33:07.579 --> 00:33:09.839 state that I've done the numbers yet, but I can 568 00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:13.069 almost promise that I would bet that it's our age 569 00:33:13.109 --> 00:33:16.109 group that didn't show up, that didn't really care, that 570 00:33:16.150 --> 00:33:18.589 did not get as engaged, that didn't know everything that 571 00:33:18.630 --> 00:33:21.930 we knew even five years ago, six years ago, two 572 00:33:21.970 --> 00:33:25.700 years ago, even. I think we backed off here because 573 00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:28.400 it was like, well, this is what is. And a 574 00:33:28.619 --> 00:33:30.839 lot of other people have become more concerned with, again, 575 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:33.599 what's on their plate, what's in front of them and 576 00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:38.130 what's within their reach than what it is. Somebody living 577 00:33:38.170 --> 00:33:42.109 in another state is talking about regarding their mass transit system. 578 00:33:42.170 --> 00:33:45.049 Why do I even care? I'm trying to feed my family. 579 00:33:45.529 --> 00:33:48.009 I'm trying to find an apartment to live in and 580 00:33:48.089 --> 00:33:50.849 find a way to, you know, afford dog food that 581 00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:54.990 doesn't cost me more than, you know, anyway, let's not 582 00:33:55.029 --> 00:33:57.990 go crazy. But the point is, these are the concerns

583 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:00.019 that are going to tie you down. How am I 584 00:34:00.059 --> 00:34:01.839 going to earn enough money to live? How am I 585 00:34:01.859 --> 00:34:04.319 going to live somewhere I can afford? How am I 586 00:34:04.380 --> 00:34:06.299 going to, I don't know, keep food in the mouths 587 00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:10.139 of the people I care about? This becomes a much 588 00:34:10.199 --> 00:34:13.989 greater priority to us. than the abstract. And maybe all 589 00:34:14.030 --> 00:34:16.269 those issues that got whipped up and all those other 590 00:34:16.309 --> 00:34:18.530 things that we didn't necessarily see with our own eyes, 591 00:34:18.989 --> 00:34:22.030 but we were exposed to on social media, even that 592 00:34:22.070 --> 00:34:25.420 becomes less important. So I don't know, is this a correction, 593 00:34:25.559 --> 00:34:27.679 if you will, in the political market, Mike? What do 594 00:34:27.699 --> 00:34:28.059 you think? 595 00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:33.460 Well, there's something to be said about the age, ages 596 00:34:33.500 --> 00:34:36.900 you're talking about, because I was talking to someone the 597 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:41.280 other day, and they said, The Virginia governor is a Democrat. 598 00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:45.719 She won a couple of years ago, but they said 599 00:34:46.739 --> 00:34:54.050 she was 40 some years old. And I thought, oh, 600 00:34:54.130 --> 00:34:56.190 I thought, I just assumed in my mind that they 601 00:34:56.210 --> 00:34:58.510 were older than that because I assumed that they would 602 00:34:58.530 --> 00:35:01.030 be older than me because it's how it's always been. 603 00:35:01.409 --> 00:35:03.849 But here's someone that's the governor younger than me in 604 00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:07.389 the state for the first time in my lifetime. in 605 00:35:07.409 --> 00:35:10.210 the state of Virginia, you know? So that's kind of 606 00:35:10.230 --> 00:35:12.539 what you're talking about. There's people younger than me in 607 00:35:12.579 --> 00:35:15.079 politics and older than me in politics, but not really 608 00:35:15.639 --> 00:35:15.980 in our age. 609 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:19.429 Not really our age, no. See, and that's and that's 610 00:35:19.489 --> 00:35:21.489 the fun part of this is that you have Trump, 611 00:35:21.530 --> 00:35:24.829 who is, you know, our parents age or older at 612 00:35:24.849 --> 00:35:25.530 this point. 613 00:35:26.030 --> 00:35:26.309 Right. 614 00:35:26.530 --> 00:35:28.570 And then you have people that are literally taking over 615 00:35:28.590 --> 00:35:32.519 the governorships and other important positions that are in their 40s. 616 00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:35.980 But look around for guys like us. There's an oddball 617 00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:38.739 here and they are true, but. our age group and 618 00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:40.369 you and I are both in our fifties. I'm not 619 00:35:40.389 --> 00:35:43.190 speaking out of school here. You

know, born in this, 620 00:35:43.289 --> 00:35:45.610 if you were born in the seventies, you're not really 621 00:35:45.829 --> 00:35:49.849 in a position of power unless you've, you know, sculpted 622 00:35:49.869 --> 00:35:51.809 it out for yourself and carved it out in the 623 00:35:51.829 --> 00:35:52.630 world for yourself. 624 00:35:52.710 --> 00:35:56.630 And the guy I was talking to before I, you know, 625 00:35:56.650 --> 00:35:58.809 on the phone, before I spoke to you, you know, 626 00:35:59.050 --> 00:36:05.130 he's hates the Democrats. He wants the Republicans back, but he, he, 627 00:36:05.409 --> 00:36:09.280 I mean, I'm just saying what he's saying. he was saying, 628 00:36:09.300 --> 00:36:13.019 I mean, he doesn't want Vance to run. He wants 629 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:16.039 Vance to not run for, he doesn't want Vance to 630 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:18.559 run for president. He wants him to go back to 631 00:36:18.980 --> 00:36:21.800 Ohio and run for the Senate because he wants Rubio 632 00:36:21.820 --> 00:36:27.179 to run. And he thinks Rubio's great, evidently. But both 633 00:36:27.219 --> 00:36:29.119 of them are under 45 years old. 634 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:32.340 You know what they might become is Ted Cruz fans 635 00:36:32.380 --> 00:36:34.320 real quick. Watch. But go ahead. 636 00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:38.289 It could happen too. But, But anyway, I'm just saying 637 00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:42.079 both those. But the vice president's 43, you know, so 638 00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:45.840 that's kind of more of what you're talking about. Yeah. 639 00:36:45.880 --> 00:36:49.300 But who the hell wants him in charge? I mean, seriously. 640 00:36:49.519 --> 00:36:52.530 But I don't I don't I don't this guy. I 641 00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:54.469 don't want him in charge. This fellow don't want him 642 00:36:54.510 --> 00:36:56.030 in charge. I don't know. I don't know anyone who 643 00:36:56.070 --> 00:36:56.789 wants him in charge. 644 00:36:57.110 --> 00:37:00.250 And there you go. This guy could literally be the 645 00:37:00.309 --> 00:37:04.210 grandchild of the guy who's the president. Right. Because Trump's what? 646 00:37:04.289 --> 00:37:06.150 He's banging on 80 now, isn't he? 647 00:37:06.230 --> 00:37:06.570 Yeah. 648 00:37:06.969 --> 00:37:09.610 So 80 and 40 what? 42? 649 00:37:09.610 --> 00:37:12.239 43 or something. 43? Okay. 650 00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:15.219 So 37. That's almost grandparent distance in between them. There 651 00:37:15.260 --> 00:37:20.059 you go. What's missing? The guy in between who could be, yeah, exactly. 652 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:20.380 Us. 653 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:24.179 Generation X missing. See what I mean? And Ted Cruz 654 00:37:24.420 --> 00:37:30.019 still totally disheveled, upset beyond belief that he's like, I'm 655 00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:34.300 like the only Republican left in Texas. That's a temporary situation. 656 00:37:34.780 --> 00:37:38.119 Nobody wanted to deal with Governor Hot Wheels anymore. And 657 00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:40.250 the news media tried to pump that up like that 658 00:37:40.289 --> 00:37:43.449 was a big deal. Oh, my God. Texas shifted blue 659 00:37:43.590 --> 00:37:48.309 and fizzle. Nobody cares. You know what I'm saying? It's 660 00:37:48.329 --> 00:37:51.030 just the it is a backlash to the fact that 661 00:37:51.050 --> 00:37:54.739 these people failed. They failed to deliver on their promises. 662 00:37:54.780 --> 00:37:58.219 They failed to deliver on their ethical, you know, alleged 663 00:37:58.340 --> 00:38:02.829 ethical positions. They failed to deliver on repairing the damage 664 00:38:03.269 --> 00:38:06.429 and the horrible damage done by Joe Biden and his ilk. 665 00:38:07.289 --> 00:38:10.769 And hey, look, you failed to stop the communists from 666 00:38:10.809 --> 00:38:13.670 getting elected in a bunch of places and also the 667 00:38:13.710 --> 00:38:17.619 socialists and the democratic socialists. And here they come. Oh, 668 00:38:17.659 --> 00:38:22.380 be afraid. They're not going to hold those offices long either. OK, 669 00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:25.219 it is a temporary thing. Like I told Larry, I 670 00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:28.019 don't know if you heard the discussion Larry and I 671 00:38:28.059 --> 00:38:31.989 had briefly about the midterms. But I said to him, 672 00:38:32.010 --> 00:38:35.289 I feel like really we're entering our Jimmy Carter moment 673 00:38:36.150 --> 00:38:37.880 once again. I'm not saying we're going to get a 674 00:38:37.889 --> 00:38:41.340 guy like Jimmy Carter in the presidency. But that's literally 675 00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:44.119 the type of transition we're looking at here, where if 676 00:38:44.139 --> 00:38:48.079 you think about it objectively, OK, you had a, you know, 677 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:52.099 a staunchly conservative kind of Democrat, really, with Lyndon Johnson, 678 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.429 despite what he's been credited with. The guy was a 679 00:38:55.469 --> 00:38:59.809 conservative Democrat, OK, by most standards, very, you know, war hawkish, 680 00:38:59.969 --> 00:39:03.590 all that good stuff. fine. We go from him to Nixon. 681 00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:06.050 What do you want me to say about Nixon other 682 00:39:06.070 --> 00:39:11.380 than Republican? Ford comes in undeserved, but he holds the 683 00:39:11.440 --> 00:39:15.059 office briefly. We get Carter for four years. Then what 684 00:39:15.079 --> 00:39:19.739 do we get? 12 years between Reagan and Bush. Then 685 00:39:19.739 --> 00:39:23.590 we can't even get a liberal Democrat in the White House. 686 00:39:23.590 --> 00:39:26.570 That back and forth shift, we got it, but our 687 00:39:26.570 --> 00:39:30.219 so-called liberal Democrat is Bill Clinton. And if you look 688 00:39:30.260 --> 00:39:36.280 at his record, not really a super liberal Democrat. So honestly, 689 00:39:36.300 --> 00:39:40.380 the Jimmy Carter moment is coming again, where there's going

690 00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:43.360 to be a push against the major conservative in the 691 00:39:43.429 --> 00:39:47.530 federal kind of system for a moment, for a few years. 692 00:39:48.389 --> 00:39:51.789 Because Joe Biden, look, I give that one an asterisk 693 00:39:51.809 --> 00:39:55.489 because I don't think he knew where he was. So 694 00:39:55.969 --> 00:39:57.809 I don't think he counts. But we might get a 695 00:39:58.570 --> 00:40:04.940 temporary reprieve from the extreme. Because what happens is we 696 00:40:04.980 --> 00:40:08.559 get the very conservative values come in. When the conservative 697 00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:12.099 cost of the conservative values hit the nation, they push 698 00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:15.449 back a bit. But as soon as things get better, 699 00:40:15.829 --> 00:40:19.280 they go back for the conservative values again. In general, 700 00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:22.099 we're more of a conservative nation than most people want 701 00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:25.659 to give us credit for. And that's the way I 702 00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:28.380 see it, being somebody who feels like I'm in the 703 00:40:28.440 --> 00:40:31.860 middle of two different places. I'm homeless politically when it 704 00:40:31.900 --> 00:40:34.820 comes to a party. I'm like a libertarian, but not 705 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:38.380 the brand of libertarian that exists currently. I'm sort of 706 00:40:38.420 --> 00:40:42.440 like a bizarre kind of offshoot of libertarian. I don't 707 00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:43.519 agree with either party. 708 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:48.780 It could be. We'll see. With the Democrats getting control 709 00:40:48.900 --> 00:40:51.539 of the House and the Senate, they're not, and Trump 710 00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:53.559 being the president, they're not going to be able to 711 00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:58.829 pass any legislation that creates any major changes because he'll 712 00:40:58.869 --> 00:41:02.550 just veto it. But what they can do is investigations. 713 00:41:03.650 --> 00:41:06.739 And if- But, see, but again- Will they, will they, 714 00:41:06.980 --> 00:41:08.849 we'll ask you to- Will they even be able to 715 00:41:08.889 --> 00:41:12.460 investigate anything compared to the church committee and the committees 716 00:41:12.500 --> 00:41:12.719 of 1970? No. 717 00:41:12.739 --> 00:41:17.699 They're going to have two years. They're going to have 718 00:41:17.719 --> 00:41:20.320 two clear years where they've got this guy resisting them 719 00:41:20.340 --> 00:41:23.659 with a veto. And they're going to make, again, when 720 00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:26.679 they had control of the Senate and the House before 721 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:30.860 and attempted these investigations and impeachments and everything else, they 722 00:41:30.889 --> 00:41:33.110 did such a piss poor job. It was almost like 723 00:41:33.170 --> 00:41:36.090 watching anybody throw a fight. You know who you should 724 00:41:36.269 --> 00:41:38.699 really go over this with? I got to be honest 725 00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:42.369 with you, Jacob Hornberger comes to mind because I think 726 00:41:42.449 --> 00:41:46.909 his take on this would be spectacular because I know 727 00:41:46.949 --> 00:41:49.690 he'd agree with me some and disagree with me some also. 728 00:41:50.139 --> 00:41:52.099 But I think he would be a great person to 729 00:41:52.139 --> 00:41:55.559 go over this with. You should have him on soon because, man, 730 00:41:55.780 --> 00:41:59.489 he's exactly the guy. That you need to have that 731 00:41:59.650 --> 00:42:02.989 calm analysis where there's no dog in this fight. You know, 732 00:42:03.570 --> 00:42:06.030 I don't have one, but people always believe I do. 733 00:42:06.489 --> 00:42:07.369 Right, right. 734 00:42:07.730 --> 00:42:09.300 Which is funny because it's like, oh, you're one of 735 00:42:09.340 --> 00:42:12.159 those socialists or you're one of those extreme. Because, you know, 736 00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:15.420 here's my problem. I believe in gun rights and I 737 00:42:15.460 --> 00:42:19.920 don't care what religion you practice. So it confuses people. Okay. 738 00:42:19.960 --> 00:42:20.219 Okay. 739 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:23.579 Um, and also I feel like the rights of the 740 00:42:23.619 --> 00:42:26.739 individual are the supreme law of the land. That's the 741 00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:29.619 way it should be. And every bit of your freedom 742 00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:32.519 should end at the tip of my nose. That's that, 743 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:34.719 you know what I mean? You can swing your fists 744 00:42:34.820 --> 00:42:37.360 all day and break your own property and have at 745 00:42:37.420 --> 00:42:40.059 it as far as I'm concerned. But once you reach 746 00:42:40.099 --> 00:42:43.320 my area, that's where it stops. Okay. I'm one of 747 00:42:43.340 --> 00:42:48.489 those guys, the do no harm kind of a philosophical libertarian, uh, 748 00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:51.079 I don't know where they are anymore, but Jacob's kind 749 00:42:51.099 --> 00:42:53.860 of close to that as well. So I would love 750 00:42:53.900 --> 00:42:55.900 to hear his take on the midterms, actually. 751 00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:59.739 Yeah, I'll have to see if I can get a 752 00:42:59.800 --> 00:43:02.539 conversation with him about that. That'd be great. But I 753 00:43:02.579 --> 00:43:04.699 just think about that. I think your 70s comparison is 754 00:43:04.739 --> 00:43:10.480 real interesting. You had Richard Schweiker in the 1970s. It 755 00:43:10.519 --> 00:43:14.840 helped spark a bunch of investigations. And now we got Luna. 756 00:43:15.340 --> 00:43:19.699 So we got Luna as it says Schweiker. Now we'll 757 00:43:19.739 --> 00:43:21.599 see who the Democrats' Frank Church is. 758 00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:26.039 But here's the problem, right? Again, is that that was 759 00:43:26.099 --> 00:43:31.239 based not on just Schweiker or just Church. All that 760 00:43:31.300 -->

00:43:35.909 stuff was built up because of the absolute revolt over Vietnam. 761 00:43:36.369 --> 00:43:39.269 That's the truth of it. Okay, so you have that, 762 00:43:39.369 --> 00:43:42.250 the distrust, the fact that we were being misled there, 763 00:43:42.989 --> 00:43:45.239 all comes out. And there were people that were real 764 00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:51.010 honest-to-goodness whistleblowers who came out. Luna is an oversight person. 765 00:43:51.369 --> 00:43:55.130 It's an oversight committee. It's not going to accomplish, you know, 766 00:43:55.150 --> 00:43:57.150 some people go, they should investigate. They should do this. 767 00:43:58.090 --> 00:43:59.940 That's not part of their job description. 768 00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:01.079 Okay. 769 00:44:01.119 --> 00:44:03.400 That's not part of their function. Those things had to 770 00:44:03.420 --> 00:44:06.780 be created. And those things were created due to public, 771 00:44:07.219 --> 00:44:11.739 public and political pressures that were unique to that time 772 00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:16.900 because of a mass revolt that Against, again, the Vietnam circumstance. 773 00:44:17.340 --> 00:44:20.199 And also we started having financial pressures. 774 00:44:20.280 --> 00:44:20.599 Whoops. 775 00:44:21.179 --> 00:44:23.369 You know, we don't have the endless war where body 776 00:44:23.409 --> 00:44:26.010 bags are coming back right now. So you're not going 777 00:44:26.030 --> 00:44:29.179 to have the American public's distaste for war like it 778 00:44:29.219 --> 00:44:33.570 was then. You also don't have the super obvious overthrowing 779 00:44:33.610 --> 00:44:37.170 of governments all over the place. Everything is a bit 780 00:44:37.230 --> 00:44:42.030 different now. And there's a much different media scape for 781 00:44:42.070 --> 00:44:45.070 people to learn anything about. And God help us all 782 00:44:45.110 --> 00:44:47.590 with the way every administration for the past, I don't know, 783 00:44:47.590 --> 00:44:51.960 40 years has handled whistleblowers. So, you know, is another 784 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:54.099 guy going to come out and dump the Pentagon Papers 785 00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:58.139 on anybody? I don't think so. And even if they do, 786 00:44:58.219 --> 00:45:01.719 they'll claim it's, you know, it's actually a fabrication. It's fake. 787 00:45:02.699 --> 00:45:06.039 And we'll have to deal with fake news all over 788 00:45:06.079 --> 00:45:08.719 the place. So I don't see how we can even 789 00:45:09.380 --> 00:45:13.550 get to that. But it doesn't mean that overall we 790 00:45:13.590 --> 00:45:17.949 won't have the trajectory of the country go the same way, 791 00:45:18.789 --> 00:45:23.809 where there will be a pushback. There will be an adjustment. Again, 792 00:45:23.869 --> 00:45:26.699 I think about it like a market correction. You know, 793 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:29.730 it can only climb so high, so long, so fast. 794 00:45:30.530 --> 00:45:32.690 Then it's

got to correct itself and come back down 795 00:45:32.730 --> 00:45:35.329 to earth and get real for a minute. And then, 796 00:45:35.349 --> 00:45:37.690 of course, we can begin building the next bubble right away. 797 00:45:38.389 --> 00:45:40.769 That's the way the markets run, no matter what a 798 00:45:40.809 --> 00:45:43.860 guy like you ever says or doesn't say. And if 799 00:45:43.880 --> 00:45:45.559 you take a look at it, it goes in very 800 00:45:45.619 --> 00:45:48.340 interesting cycles. I mean, I did a little thing where 801 00:45:48.360 --> 00:45:51.760 I was trying to show a parallel between like 1907 802 00:45:51.760 --> 00:45:55.190 and 2007 and how there's like a hundred year cycle 803 00:45:55.710 --> 00:45:59.449 ever since the American monetary system has been, you know, 804 00:45:59.590 --> 00:46:03.050 sort of shaped the way it is. We've had cycles 805 00:46:03.090 --> 00:46:05.400 like this where it's kind of predictable at the end 806 00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:08.059 of the day, there's going to be a big increase 807 00:46:08.119 --> 00:46:12.250 in over-evaluation. There's going to be a massive correction and, 808 00:46:13.230 --> 00:46:17.590 And then gradual climbs and gradual declines. And they seem 809 00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:19.639 to go almost, you know, like I say, in the 810 00:46:19.679 --> 00:46:23.239 hundred year cycle. So maybe we should be looking back 811 00:46:23.340 --> 00:46:26.920 at 1929. Oh, wait a minute. That'll be coming up 812 00:46:26.980 --> 00:46:29.039 in a couple of years. That might not be good. 813 00:46:31.409 --> 00:46:34.750 I make jokes. Anyway, Mike, all I can say is 814 00:46:34.809 --> 00:46:37.170 this is a cycle. We're looking at a little bit 815 00:46:37.210 --> 00:46:40.090 of a pushback. It's not a major victory or a 816 00:46:40.110 --> 00:46:43.349 major defeat for anybody, I think. I think it would 817 00:46:43.389 --> 00:46:46.489 be nice if the ideologies would come back down to 818 00:46:46.630 --> 00:46:50.280 earth and meet with the people they're supposed to be representing. 819 00:46:51.079 --> 00:46:53.920 I don't mean directly face-to-face. I mean, try and get 820 00:46:53.980 --> 00:46:57.380 to what actually concerns the we the people part of 821 00:46:57.400 --> 00:47:00.599 the equation. If somebody actually does that, I don't know 822 00:47:00.619 --> 00:47:02.780 what would happen. What do you think? 823 00:47:03.679 --> 00:47:07.940 No, I hope someone does it, but I don't see 824 00:47:07.980 --> 00:47:13.699 that person out there. Right. It ain't Ted Cruz. Right. 825 00:47:14.340 --> 00:47:16.590 In the land of illusions, you know, and in the 826 00:47:16.659 --> 00:47:20.269 land of many people who think that they're great athletes 827 00:47:20.329 --> 00:47:24.289 or whatever, how many of them actually exist? You know, 828 00:47:24.309 --> 00:47:28.690 we would all love to be Shohei Ohtani one way 829 00:47:28.750 --> 00:47:33.840 or another, but not everybody can pitch and also hit 830 00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:37.269 the ball like that. You know, there was a guy 831 00:47:37.289 --> 00:47:39.469 named Babe Ruth. Hey, you know, they were about 100 832 00:47:39.469 --> 00:47:42.010 years apart, too. I don't know. Maybe everything goes in 833 00:47:42.010 --> 00:47:44.429 100 year cycles. What do you think? 834 00:47:44.449 --> 00:47:47.769 You know, there's something to be said for cycles and 835 00:47:47.849 --> 00:47:50.550 cycles are part of life and investing. There's there's no 836 00:47:51.250 --> 00:47:54.809 and everything. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt about that. Right. 837 00:47:56.030 --> 00:48:02.639 And you can't stop them. I think is also part 838 00:48:02.679 --> 00:48:02.860 of that. 839 00:48:03.980 --> 00:48:06.739 Right. So look, I apologize for my, you know, constantly 840 00:48:06.800 --> 00:48:11.039 swerving train of thought, but it's just really, I've barely 841 00:48:11.079 --> 00:48:13.199 had even a chance to speak to somebody who's being 842 00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:16.789 sensible about this. And I'm always glad to speak with you, Mike, 843 00:48:16.849 --> 00:48:20.829 because regardless of what your personal views are, you don't 844 00:48:20.889 --> 00:48:24.530 get off on tangents and have emotional reactions about a 845 00:48:24.550 --> 00:48:27.139 lot of stuff, at least not publicly. I mean, God 846 00:48:27.159 --> 00:48:29.239 knows this guy behind closed doors could be, you know, 847 00:48:29.300 --> 00:48:31.119 he's got a separate house. He punches holes in the 848 00:48:31.139 --> 00:48:33.679 wall for, I don't know, but I would be surprised. 849 00:48:35.019 --> 00:48:38.119 You know, but you're like a very level-headed guy always 850 00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:41.050 and exactly the kind of guy that needs to be 851 00:48:41.090 --> 00:48:43.969 around to kind of explore these things. Because at the 852 00:48:44.010 --> 00:48:45.769 end of the day, a whole lot of what we've 853 00:48:45.809 --> 00:48:49.650 seen driven recently when it comes to trends in media, 854 00:48:49.849 --> 00:48:54.059 in the financial markets, in finance in general, in politics, 855 00:48:54.500 --> 00:49:02.900 it's all this vitriolic emotional reactionism. It's reactionary. Everything's reactionary, reactionary, reactionary. 856 00:49:03.889 --> 00:49:08.199 And you know what? After a while, you get tired. OK, 857 00:49:08.360 --> 00:49:14.099 nobody can constantly be in a fluid, dynamic, reactionary state 858 00:49:14.840 --> 00:49:15.710 at all times. 859 00:49:15.909 --> 00:49:16.300 Okay? 860 00:49:16.760 --> 00:49:20.119 It's impossible. That's why the guys, they couldn't sleep for 861 00:49:20.139 --> 00:49:22.820 a few days out in the field, depending on what 862 00:49:22.860 --> 00:49:26.039 war you're talking about. But after a certain amount of time, 863 00:49:26.219 --> 00:49:29.889 everybody's got to calm down and sleep, okay? You can't 864 00:49:29.949 --> 00:49:33.030

stay awake forever. You can't stay alert forever. And you 865 00:49:33.050 --> 00:49:38.880 can't stay angry forever either. None of these things are sustainable, okay? Okay. 866 00:49:39.099 --> 00:49:41.159 And you're going to live a lot longer than you 867 00:49:41.179 --> 00:49:43.809 can maintain your anger loops. You're going to live a 868 00:49:43.849 --> 00:49:46.989 lot longer than you can maintain your high anxiety. You're 869 00:49:47.010 --> 00:49:49.110 going to live a lot longer than you can contain, 870 00:49:49.550 --> 00:49:53.210 you know, then you can retain your satisfaction with your victories, 871 00:49:53.750 --> 00:49:55.380 no matter who you are. I don't mean you, Mike. 872 00:49:55.659 --> 00:49:59.400 I mean, just anybody in general, you're going to outlive 873 00:49:59.639 --> 00:50:04.300 whatever intense emotion you think is the most important at 874 00:50:04.340 --> 00:50:07.969 the moment. And unfortunately, the way that the algorithms have 875 00:50:08.010 --> 00:50:11.969 delivered things, the way socialization has shifted, the change because 876 00:50:12.010 --> 00:50:16.030 of COVID, everything in recent years, if it's taught you 877 00:50:16.130 --> 00:50:21.969 nothing else, it's that every single reactionary curve has an 878 00:50:22.130 --> 00:50:26.909 equal and other reaction to it. And eventually things will 879 00:50:26.929 --> 00:50:31.860 correct because nothing is sustainable when it's intense and it's 880 00:50:31.889 --> 00:50:35.429 based on emotion only. We have to get back to 881 00:50:35.469 --> 00:50:38.920 being logical, practical and pragmatic about a lot of things. 882 00:50:39.639 --> 00:50:41.960 And if we don't, we'll just continue to have these, 883 00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:44.820 you know, worthless arguments. And but like I said, the 884 00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:50.650 intensity wasn't present with this recent midterm selection. And I 885 00:50:50.670 --> 00:50:52.190 got to be honest with you, I kind of feel 886 00:50:52.230 --> 00:50:57.210 like that's a little hopeful that people weren't just going 887 00:50:57.530 --> 00:51:01.010 on their hate based, you know, actions. I have to 888 00:51:01.050 --> 00:51:03.599 vote against Trump because he's just, I have to vote 889 00:51:03.639 --> 00:51:06.059 against the communists. I got to get rid of this one. 890 00:51:07.019 --> 00:51:08.800 I got to turn it around so they can't do 891 00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:10.980 this anymore. I got to take away this from that. 892 00:51:11.019 --> 00:51:13.050 I got to get all these immigrants out of here. 893 00:51:13.829 --> 00:51:17.969 All of these intense things, eventually you got to calm 894 00:51:17.989 --> 00:51:21.110 down because either you're going to accomplish them or not. 895 00:51:21.650 --> 00:51:24.610 And eventually, like I say, the emotion burns out. I 896 00:51:24.659 --> 00:51:27.340 feel like there was a burnout here And I kind 897 00:51:27.380 --> 00:51:30.159 of feel good about that because that shows some, you know, 898 00:51:30.380 --> 00:51:33.039 we don't have to maintain a constant state of high 899 00:51:33.119 --> 00:51:37.699 anxiety in order to continue to conduct ourselves to debate things. 900 00:51:38.199 --> 00:51:40.940 And who knows, maybe even accomplish something once in a while. 901 00:51:42.179 --> 00:51:44.199 So I kind of feel good about that. What do 902 00:51:44.239 --> 00:51:47.639 you think about my overall sort of idea here that 903 00:51:47.800 --> 00:51:51.599 it just seemed like, yeah, there was an enthusiasm gap 904 00:51:51.699 --> 00:51:53.900 this time as opposed to the last, I don't know, 905 00:51:53.900 --> 00:51:56.940 12 years. political discourse. 906 00:51:57.159 --> 00:51:59.460 I think it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, 907 00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:07.570 people overseas in other countries were, I'll give you an example. Greece, 908 00:52:07.610 --> 00:52:11.250 for example, had a lot of economic hardship over the 909 00:52:11.289 --> 00:52:17.489 past 20 years. And I was told that what happened 910 00:52:17.530 --> 00:52:23.760 there is that as, as, as each party, no one 911 00:52:24.079 --> 00:52:28.619 maintained control. Well, first of all, they have a parliamentary system. 912 00:52:30.059 --> 00:52:34.519 But one of the things that happened was that the 913 00:52:34.559 --> 00:52:38.300 parties kept, people keep voting one party in and out, 914 00:52:38.820 --> 00:52:44.449 but each election cycle, fewer people voted and interest diminished. Now, 915 00:52:44.829 --> 00:52:50.630 I don't know if that's actually occurred yet, but I 916 00:52:50.670 --> 00:52:54.400 think what you're describing, what seems to be going on 917 00:52:54.460 --> 00:52:59.329 is some sort of exhaustion with all this. And as 918 00:52:59.369 --> 00:53:03.769 far as making people real anxious, to me, that started 919 00:53:03.809 --> 00:53:09.190 after 9-11 as a deliberate tactic. And before that, I 920 00:53:09.210 --> 00:53:13.420 don't think there was as much anxiety with people following 921 00:53:13.480 --> 00:53:17.300 politics or the news in general. But after 9-11, it 922 00:53:17.340 --> 00:53:24.809 was deliberately ramped up. and I guess maintained. Maybe it 923 00:53:24.849 --> 00:53:27.130 went away for a short amount of time. 924 00:53:27.590 --> 00:53:31.239 That was the birth of the fear porn industry, which 925 00:53:31.260 --> 00:53:35.579 has given life all these different offshoots, whether it's the 926 00:53:35.619 --> 00:53:39.039 political or it comes to medical stuff or any of 927 00:53:39.079 --> 00:53:41.780 this business. It has all come from that. 928 00:53:41.860 --> 00:53:43.320 You're right. Exactly. 929 00:53:44.800 --> 00:53:47.320 I call it fear porn. Sorry, but that's what it was. 930 00:53:48.039 --> 00:53:54.489 where the fear-based reaction taught all the people that market anything, 931 00:53:54.510 --> 00:53:58.889 whether it be politics or beer, it

doesn't matter, right? 932 00:53:59.309 --> 00:54:03.389 Or it's entertainment. It's all about pushing out the fear, 933 00:54:03.849 --> 00:54:07.429 the rarity, and the intensity, and of course, pushing price 934 00:54:07.590 --> 00:54:10.789 points to the limit no matter what. Hey, listen, if 935 00:54:10.829 --> 00:54:12.969 that doesn't work, let's shrink down what we give them. 936 00:54:13.500 --> 00:54:16.599 you know, shrinkflation and inflation. We don't have to choose. 937 00:54:16.659 --> 00:54:19.179 Let's do both. And let's make them afraid that even 938 00:54:19.219 --> 00:54:22.199 though we shrank the, you know, box of cupcakes and 939 00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:25.360 we also charge them more, let's also keep them afraid 940 00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:27.039 that there might not be any more cupcakes. 941 00:54:28.460 --> 00:54:28.920 Why not? 942 00:54:29.280 --> 00:54:33.090 It's the trifecta of marketing. And they did this with 943 00:54:33.130 --> 00:54:36.989 politics and everything. Yeah, I think 9-11 taught that lesson 944 00:54:37.050 --> 00:54:40.400 to the Western world. And, you know, welcome to it. 945 00:54:40.409 --> 00:54:42.329 Here we are in what they used to call America, right? 946 00:54:42.849 --> 00:54:45.510 And I think for everybody, and I've said this on 947 00:54:45.530 --> 00:54:47.829 your show many times, you just have to pull away 948 00:54:47.909 --> 00:54:52.610 from the internet and the media and totally unplug at 949 00:54:53.170 --> 00:54:56.110 times for days or a week or whatever it is 950 00:54:57.199 --> 00:54:59.739 to keep your sanity. Right. 951 00:54:59.780 --> 00:55:03.039 The great sanity of the television, which you and I 952 00:55:03.159 --> 00:55:06.440 found kind of insane after a while, was that you 953 00:55:06.500 --> 00:55:09.280 couldn't carry it with you. You could walk away from it. 954 00:55:10.460 --> 00:55:13.579 But now you have the Internet in your pocket. You 955 00:55:13.619 --> 00:55:17.110 have a television in your pocket. You have one every 956 00:55:17.170 --> 00:55:19.389 single place you go. And oh, by the way, even 957 00:55:19.409 --> 00:55:22.000 if you think you've gotten away from the Wi-Fi, even 958 00:55:22.039 --> 00:55:25.440 at your campsites, you got it anyway. And if that's 959 00:55:25.480 --> 00:55:27.659 no good, mobile data is still back to your pocket. 960 00:55:28.179 --> 00:55:30.900 So they took the TV that was causing anxiety that 961 00:55:30.920 --> 00:55:33.719 you could walk away from and not fall into an 962 00:55:34.159 --> 00:55:36.449 alpha wave state and all that. They took that and 963 00:55:36.489 --> 00:55:39.170 put it in your pocket. So you make it portable. 964 00:55:39.369 --> 00:55:43.710 All of a sudden, it's addictive and everything else. Oh, 965 00:55:43.750 --> 00:55:47.789 by the way, they did build successful addiction machines just 966 00:55:47.829 --> 00:55:50.650 to keep people engaged with that thing in your pocket too. 967

00:55:51.340 --> 00:55:53.429 But that's a story for another day. Oh, wait, you 968 00:55:53.489 --> 00:55:55.110 and I have talked about that on the show, Mike. 969 00:55:56.389 --> 00:55:58.710 We sure have. 970 00:55:59.170 --> 00:56:09.789 Well, we're getting to the top. Okay, we're going, we're live. Oh, sorry. Uncut, baby. 971 00:56:10.949 --> 00:56:13.250 I was about to say, we probably should wrap up. 972 00:56:13.269 --> 00:56:14.710 We're getting to the top of the hour. 973 00:56:14.730 --> 00:56:14.849 Yep. 974 00:56:17.710 --> 00:56:19.789 If people want to hear the audio version of this, 975 00:56:19.909 --> 00:56:24.530 go to your website at Chelly.com. I'm going to be 976 00:56:24.750 --> 00:56:27.210 on your show at some point, and that won't be 977 00:56:27.269 --> 00:56:30.880 on YouTube. Hopefully, we'll do something like this in the 978 00:56:30.920 --> 00:56:35.119 future where it's a joint deal. We'll see how this works. 979 00:56:35.199 --> 00:56:38.320 It should work pretty good. I'm hoping to do more 980 00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:42.159 stuff on YouTube. In my mind, I'm reaching an audience 981 00:56:42.219 --> 00:56:45.869 on YouTube, and you're reaching an audience in the podcast world, 982 00:56:45.889 --> 00:56:46.530 the audio world. 983 00:56:47.190 --> 00:56:50.550 Right. Plus, I'll be doing some more stuff video wise. 984 00:56:50.610 --> 00:56:53.650 I'll be on Rumble soon. I have my channel arranged. 985 00:56:53.730 --> 00:56:56.449 I just haven't gone live with it. But, you know, 986 00:56:56.489 --> 00:56:59.860 the Ocelli effect and all that will be on Rumble 987 00:56:59.889 --> 00:57:03.320 as well. We're banned on YouTube, actually, but we'll be 988 00:57:03.380 --> 00:57:08.840 on Rumble and other platforms as we go. But I'm 989 00:57:08.880 --> 00:57:10.719 always happy to talk to you, Mike. You know, and 990 00:57:11.099 --> 00:57:12.780 I was thrilled even to get you on my show 991 00:57:12.840 --> 00:57:14.860 the first time because you were the author of the book, 992 00:57:14.900 --> 00:57:18.860 The War State. which I thought was an extremely important 993 00:57:19.400 --> 00:57:23.780 and easily digestible book that was accessible to people who 994 00:57:23.800 --> 00:57:27.190 were trying to just understand the world around them and 995 00:57:27.230 --> 00:57:31.670 what happened regarding, you know, our circumstance in recent history. 996 00:57:32.650 --> 00:57:34.449 So and I didn't even hardly know you the first 997 00:57:34.489 --> 00:57:36.300 time that you were on, but I was just grateful 998 00:57:36.320 --> 00:57:38.320 to have you on and just a fan of your work. 999 00:57:38.739 --> 00:57:42.070 And I remain that way. So I thank you for this. 1000 00:57:42.289 --> 00:57:44.550 And yeah, we'll put this out as just an audio 1001 00:57:44.590 --> 00:57:49.210 podcast on the Ocelli feed, the Ocelli.com radio network. And 1002 00:57:49.469 --> 00:57:51.630 who knows, maybe I'll even figure out a way to 1003 00:57:51.650 --> 00:57:53.849 steal the video and put it up on another platform. 1004 00:57:53.869 --> 00:57:56.389 I won't be stealing, but yeah. 1005 00:57:56.409 --> 00:57:58.530 I'll send you the video file too and put on 1006 00:57:58.590 --> 00:58:02.139 Rumble and whatnot. That'd be great. Well, thanks for taking 1007 00:58:02.159 --> 00:58:06.239 the time to do this and we'll catch pace soon. 1008 00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:07.400 You got it.