Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
On a lighter note, Michael, I know you and Dragon
cannot wait for the new Netflix series with Love Meghan,
where Meghan Markle shows us how she makes sued interesting
the title since the last five years, she's shown us
how little she values her family and home and did
(00:23):
she come to the US to escape the paparazzi and
just be a private person?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hm, there are two comments I want to make, but
I just want to know who the hell Megan is.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, and I have to do a reverse order because
I am such a cool insider, like you know, I'm
you know, I'm just one of those people that just
you know is cool. They have, you know, if you're
a Hollywood star or a cool person like me, you
get your own private viewing of things like.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
That the DVD.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So I've already seen. I've already seen the series. I've
watched it twice already. I'm sure absolutely rivoting, just riveting
and everything I thought about Megan Marco. This is why
she's so wrong. If she would just wait and watch
the series, she would realize how wonderful it is. And
then I want to go back to Uh, can you
(01:21):
play just a second or two of the of the
rules of engagement from that guy just to just a
couple of seconds. It alright, you goobers, download that app.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hell, if you ain't downloaded it yet, you probably ain't
gonna that now.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You know, we've been on vacation for a little while,
and so I haven't heard any rules of engagement for
a while. By the way, we do need new ones.
So if you get you know now that we don't
like those. In fact, if you'll just listen to me,
you'll understand why we we need some new rules of engagement.
But when I heard that this morning, you know what
I thought, Dragon, I thought to myself, that's the kind
of guy whoever he is, wherever he is, I don't know,
(02:00):
whatever he does, I don't know, but even know the
kind of guy you'd like to get, maybe like go
have breakfast or lunch with. But then once you sit
down and you're actually having breakfast lunch, you realize, oh
my god, how quickly can I get out of here?
I made a mistake. That's pretty much what I think
of all of our goobers. I'd love to have lunch
or you know, breakfast or dinner or whatever with all
(02:21):
of you. And then I think the minute I would
sit down with any of you, I would think, Oh
my god, what the hell? What what was I thinking
when I agreed to do that? Oh? Good grief. There
was an editorial that popped up in the Washington Post
yesterday that I want to walk through simply because it
pisses me off, and so I want to irritate you.
(02:42):
Why why should I be the only one that's irritated.
But before we get to the we're doing everything kind of,
we're kind of jumping around today, So you're gonna have
to really pay attention today. Before I get to the
Washington Post editorial, which I'm not gonna tell you what
it's about, let's go to the other coast. Let's go
to the left coast, and let's go to the Fox
(03:05):
thirty one affiliate where they tell us about Seattle has
a new minimum wage. Now, you know this story is
about the minimum wage, but oh it's so, it's about
so much more than that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
You ready, here means a new contentious policy in Seattle.
Starting tomorrow, minimum wage for the Emerald City is jumping up.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Yeah, that jump maybe good news for workers. The businesses
are now a value. What it means for them.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm sorry I know you you can't see this, but
I know you can hear it. And this is totally
off the topic, off the subject, But I'm sitting here
watching this video play of these two Yahoo anchors, and
since when did we have to have two anchors on
every program? And it has to be a male and
(03:56):
has to be a female. And in this case, you
got a dumbass looking white guy and you got a
woman of color a WC. I'm not I'm not quite
sure whether she's black or brown, or she's not Middle
Eastern I don't but anyway, she's not white. How about
(04:16):
that white white? Why? Why? Why?
Speaker 6 (04:22):
What?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
What? What's the purpose? And all they're doing is reading
off the tallet prompter. You can't just have one guy,
so now that you have to have on the talent prompter,
you have to have Okay, Billy Bob, you read this
and then it says and now jump to you know Susie,
and Susie's going to read that. You go watch the
local news bing being bean being bean Bean? But why
(04:46):
why not for the weather? Why not for the sports?
Why not have two anchors for everything? One person can't read?
And remember, all they're doing is just reading.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
This policy and Seattle starting tomorrow. No, no, no, loum wait
for the Emerald City is jumping up.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah that jump maybe good news for workers, but businesses
are now a value what it means for them. But
a sponsor Ke's aj Jannevo reports at least one local
business says it's just the latest hardship.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
So you're going to be closing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Down for good.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
Is never an easy decision to shut down a staple
in the community.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
But the owner of Bebob Waffle Shop.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Talk, I know you can't see this either. This is
such a hipster.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I'll get the video up on Michael says, go here
dot com.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Okay, have you found it yet? Oh yeah, this reporter
is such a hipster. I mean he's got the big
bushy eyebrows, he's got, you know, the big poofy air.
He's got his you know, uh, white turtleneck sweater on
over a black, you know, sport coat, and he's he's
he's got a little bit of a shadow, you know,
just enough.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I don't know how like I understand how you do
your beard, Dragon, because you've let it go for you know,
like decades, and so it is what it is. You
know if I tried to develop that kind of five
o'clock shadow, mister sexy cool thing, I can never do it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It take you five years to do so anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well you're right. When did it take me five years
to do it? Well? Maybe not so much because I
do take testosterone injections, so you know, I got that
going for me. But and then it's just it's just scratchy.
It's just itchy. But anyway, that's this is the hipster. Now,
who's standing outside the I'll let you tell you Marie's standing.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
But the estimated costs of doing business due to this
minimum wage increase, closing her doors.
Speaker 7 (06:29):
Was the only choice. We need to fold up the
tables and just like to sweep before it's the end
of an era in West Seattle.
Speaker 8 (06:37):
Oh no, this was my dream to own my own cafe,
to run it how I want to, and to really like.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
Be in service to people.
Speaker 9 (06:46):
More than a decade ago, Karina luken Bach opened up
her business.
Speaker 7 (06:50):
She served breakfast to the West Seattle community for years.
It was like a waffle bar of thas. Now her
dream comes to an end. I've cried every day the
tough decision to close. It's due to several.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
Reasons, including less foot traffic and rising costs of goods.
Pakarina tells me the final straw is the city's increasing
minimum wage.
Speaker 8 (07:09):
Just for me, the increase would cost me thirty two
thousand more dollars a year.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Now, think about that service industry. She has a small cafe,
it's the Beboc Cafe. It's a waffle shop, and she
is let me just describe her for you for a moment.
She's kind of got disheveled blonde hair, big frame glasses,
(07:37):
a little bit of a buck teeth. She's wearing some
sort of red undershirt with railroad overalls over the red shirt,
and then a pink hoodie. If you were to see
her on the street. I know this is being judgmental,
but you know you do it too, so don't at me.
She looks like a liberal. In fact, in a minute,
(07:58):
i'll prove to you that she he's a liberal. But
what I find fascinating is here's a liberal female who
is run into reality economic reality. Now I actually feel
sorry for it. Don't get me wrong, I don't care
whether she's liberal. I don't care what her waffle shop
(08:19):
is geared toward. Doesn't make any difference to me. But
I feel sorry for because a bunch of yahoos on
the Seattle City Council have decided to increase the minimum
wage above twenty dollars an hour. I still think it
ought to be fifty two dollars and eighty cents an
hour in Denver, just in honor of the Mile High City.
So if it's going to be twenty dollars, I know
(08:42):
you think I'm joking, but I'm not. Why not make
it twenty five dollars an hour? Why not thirty five
dollars an hour? Whatever you whatever. Let's just say a
family of four needs to live on. Let's just say that's,
you know, forty thousand dollars or sixty thousand dollars. Just
tick a number, pick a number out of your butt,
divided by you know, two thousand and eighty number of
(09:05):
hours and a forty hour week, fifty two weeks out
of the year two thousand and eighty, and just make
that them a them age. That's just what you have
to pay everybody. But here's a woman who's been living
her dream. She has a little waffle shop, the Bebop
Waffle Shop in Seattle. She's clearly a liberal, and she's
running into the economic reality that this alone. Now do
(09:26):
you think the people on the city Council in Seattle
give a rat's ass about whether or not it's going
to cost her an extra thirty two thousand dollars a
year or she going to get that money. Well, she's
either going to have to raise the prices to her
customers because she can't. She can't go to her vendors.
She can't go to the waffle batter produce, a waffle
(09:51):
batter manufacturer and say, hey, lower your prices. No, because
they're not going to do that. They have their embedded costs.
She can't go to the to the delivery guy and hey,
cut down in your delivery charges. She can't go to
the Seattle Public Utilities and say, hey, my electricity to
run the shop is too much. Lower your rate. She
can't do any of that. So she's stuck. She either
(10:14):
has to absorb that out of her measly profit that
she makes. And I can't imagine she's making more than
two or three percent margins on unselling waffles. I mean,
how much margin can there be on selling waffles. But
go back to the point, do you think the Seattle
City Council or anybody else in e FN government gives
a rat's ask about what is going to cost these people?
Speaker 9 (10:36):
No, she says, she's all four workers getting paid the most.
Unfortunately for her, she just can't afford to keep up
with the change, especially after the election.
Speaker 8 (10:46):
I think the hardest thing that has really been for
me to close has been.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
For me is to close. Now. Did you catch that?
The hardest thing for me after the election?
Speaker 9 (11:02):
She says, she's all four workers getting paid the most.
Unfortunately for her, she just can't afford to keep up
with the.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
Change, especially after the election.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
What did did Donald Trump raise the minimum wage? Did?
I mean, he's not even an office yet, did what
did did? Did Washington State and Seattle suddenly go solid red?
Are they all conservatives now in the Seattle City Council?
Well no, because this was obviously done before. Because it's
(11:34):
only taking effect today or actually technically yesterday. So what's
she bitching about?
Speaker 8 (11:43):
The hardest thing that has really been for me to
close is taking a safe space away from people.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Oh, I think the hardest thing for me that has
really been is taking away a safe space for people.
And at the very moment, that that appears on the video.
There is a hand drawn LGBTQ TIA plus sign. This
(12:15):
is a a LGBTQ I A plus queer waffle shop. Now,
as I said, I don't care. I really don't care.
If if you want to go to a queer waffle shop,
power to you. If you want to go to a
bisexual or an asexual or a confused sexual, I don't care.
(12:40):
In fact, if they're good waffles, Dragon and I might
go because all we care about her good waffles. I
like food exactly. We like food. We don't care who
makes them. We don't care who's sitting next to us,
as long as it's damn good food. Why is she blaming?
Speaker 7 (12:58):
What do he means?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Since the election? Since the election? What? Sweetheart? Here is
a grand example of a liberal being hit squarely in
the face. She is being slapped back and forth, silly,
She's being bitch slapped back and forth like crazy about
Oh my prices are going up, my cost of doing
(13:24):
business is going up, So let's blame the election?
Speaker 7 (13:28):
Is like what it meant to people.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
To come in and feel safe, had to feel welcomed.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
I just I didn't know for people who live in
the area. Her shop is more than a business. It
was a part of the community.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Happy that in a way that a friend may have
less stress in her life.
Speaker 9 (13:50):
While a decade of waffles is already wrapped for one
last night, it's alive again as Karina rings in the
new year and it's new changes with her West Seattle
family and friends.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
But we're going out celebrating because I'm really really proud
of what I did for.
Speaker 7 (14:06):
Business, is that provided tips of their employees.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
The minimum wage change is a twenty percent increase from
what they were paying before. Seattle's minimum wage now is
four dollars more than the rest of the state, the
forty in Seattle.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Maj Janevial Fox thirteen News. Yeah, that that's a right word.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's up ready to go.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Okay, well, you soon as it propagates through the system.
But you know, considering our our network, that will happen,
you know, instantaneously time tomorrow. Yeah, sometime next week probably
you'll be able to see it. Now, what does that
have to do with the Washington Post opinion piece. So
here's a liberal in Seattle where the liberal, you know,
(14:46):
the communist Marxist Seattle City Council has decided to increase
the minimum wage, and it's now north of twenty dollars.
I don't know exactly how much it is, but it's
north of twenty dollars, and this woman is having close
her business now. I do find it deliciously ironic that
(15:06):
this liberal is faced with, you know, the laws of economics,
and it's sad. Don't get me wrong. I truly believe
it's sad for her that this dream that she's had.
And by the way, she's been in business for ten
years for small business, that's success for small business. That
means she has crossed you like the seven year itch
period in a marriage. She has made it. She's made it.
(15:28):
She's made it beyond most small businesses and has succeeded,
and now government is driving her out of business. Now
she could increase her prices, which means that some of
the customers might not be able to afford a waffle
the next morning, and so now or the next you know,
(15:49):
you can you can eat a waffle anytime. Do you
know that you can have a waffle anytime? So she
could she could increase her prices and try to maintain
her margin and stay in business. But she knows she
can't do it, so she's shutting down. Well, yesterday, at
two sixteen pm Eastern time, the editorial board of the
(16:10):
Washington Post decided to post this headline. It came across
my transom and I thought, seriously, here's the headline. Congress, Yes,
even the members you dislike should get a pay raise.
Here's the subhead Lawmakers haven't gotten a bump since two
(16:34):
thousand and nine. Some have retired because they don't earn enough. Man,
just that right there, I guess for the next three hours,
just talking about that. You retire because you don't earn enough. Okay,
well that's your choice. Am I supposed to cry Argentina
because you don't make enough money so you're retired to
(16:54):
go do something else? No, I don't give a rats ask.
In fact, I wish more of you would retire. And
you haven't gotten a bump since two thousand and nine. Hey, dragon,
when's the last time you got a raise?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The last time I got fired?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I think, Well, no, I take I can't complain. I
have some built in races in my contract.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, because when they brought me back, they gave me
more money.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh okay, well, so maybe today at ten oh two,
you can get fired. Given't come back on money. You
make a little more money here, that's right. Can you believe?
Of course, this is the Washington Post that thinks that
Congress ought to get a pay raise. So let's walk
through this thing, because this is absolutely hilarious. This is
(17:40):
the Washington Post editorial board trying to commit. Now, remember
the vast majority of the readership of the Washington Post
is inside the beltwait northern Virginia, Maryland, or the environs
of Washington, d C. As a new Congress has sworn
in Friddy that would be today, This might seem like
(18:01):
a bad time to talk about raising federal lawmakers pay.
A government funding package failed last month, throwing Washington into
a frantic effort to keep the government open, in part
because it included a small pay increase for members of Congress. Well,
how does the Washington Post rationalize this? Oh, stay tuned,
(18:23):
just have some fun with this. Michael's concerned the new
laws with chickens. Does that mean that the farmers are
now going to have to put little chicken footprints on
the floor so the chickens will know where to stand,
(18:48):
maintain one point five square feet a distance between you
and the chicken next to you go, we live in
the stupidest of times. Oh my god, are we stupid?
So that we're talking about the Washington Post arguing that
Congress needs a pay raise. I would say that normally
(19:12):
this is an easy topic to discuss because nobody wants
Congress to get a pay raise. Do you really believe
that an organization that is as held in as much
contempt by Americans as the US Congress that they ought
to be given a pay raise, that is as dysfunctional,
(19:32):
Although on the one hand, I kind of think that
their dysfunctionality is good for the country because it keeps
some stupid things from being done. But on the other hand,
that same dysfunctionality keeps things that new do need to
be done from getting done. And so that's what gives
rise to the administrative state running everything in this freaking country.
(19:53):
Let's go back to the editorial they write, and you
know this may take until Monday or Tuesday to finish
because every paragraph has something idiotic in it. The next
paragraph says this Elon Musk the world's richest man. Do
(20:16):
we need to be told that? And how is that
relevant to congressgating a pay raise. Are they implying that
this is class warfare?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Clearly he must pay Congress all.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
You know, I hadn't even thought of that. Dragon. He
writes the checks out.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
To Congress, to all of them, every single one of them.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yes, every you know, every two weeks this his secretary
comes in with five hundred and thirty five checks and
he sits there and he signs every single one of them,
and he looks at every one of them too. So
they write The Washington Post editor's right. Elon Musk, the
world's richest man, posted falsely that the provision meant members
(21:05):
would get a forty percent pay increase. Now that is
true that he falsely posted that because it wasn't a
forty percent pay increase. They write more than ten times
the reality. His post has thirty four million views. I
think that's post envy. I think the Washington Post is
(21:25):
just envious that they only in their wet dreams would
they ever get thirty four million views of a post
written by the Washington Post on X Then they do.
Then they write this same paragraph following Musk's lead. President
elect Donald Trump wrote, Now, why do you think they
(21:50):
wrote following his lead? Because they want their readers to
think that Musk is in charge and that Trump is
so stupid that Trump has to respond. Only when Musk
writes something, then Trump feels like he needs to write
(22:10):
something too, because we all know that Elon Musk is
the real president. You see why this is going to
take so long to get through because every single word
in this editorial was scrutinized. I think there's like six
I think there's six members of the editorial board. I'll
look that up in a minute and let you know
for sure. So they all have to agree on what
(22:33):
this editorial says. So every single word gets scrutinized, and
so you have to read it thinking about what are
they trying to say with every single word following his lead,
they write President elect Donald Trump wrote that quote, this
is not a good time for Congress to be asking
(22:55):
for pay increases. Close quote frontline members the chorus. Now,
what do you think that means? That they're all a
bunch of lemmings that they can't think for themselves. They
all join the hall aa chorus. Representative Mary Maria Gluskin
(23:15):
camp Perez, a Democrat from Washington, said a pay boost
quote any way you slice it, close quote would be bananas. Now,
why do you think they chose her? She's a Democrat
congressman from Washington, Washington State, So they have to show, Look,
(23:39):
we're being bipartisan here. We think that both sides are wrong.
We think that everybody's wrong and only we the Washington Post,
are right. And then there's a single sentence paragraph that says, quote,
actually it would be smart close quote. Oh so giving
congress pay raise would be smart. Well, let's delve into
(24:00):
why they think so. They write, members of the House
in the Senate haven't received any bump to their one
hundred and seventy four thousand dollars annual salary since two
thousand and nine, and that's bad for the country. I
find that fascinating. So there's not been a pay increase
(24:23):
since two thousand and nine, and that's bad for the country.
I haven't seen a lack of people seeking reelection. I
haven't seen a lack of people seeking to defeat an incumbent.
I haven't seen a lack of interest in running for
Congress at all. In fact, I see a lot of
people running for Congress, and I see almost you know,
(24:45):
the incumbency rate is like ninety eight point nine percent.
So they all keep going back for the same pay,
so I don't have. It's bad for the country. The
paragraph continues the twenty seventh. It stipulates that lawmakers may
not raise their own pay, just that of future congresses.
(25:07):
Friday's meaning today, today's new Congress should do so for
the next Oh, so let's rationalize it. It's not for
the current members, it's for the members of the next Congress. Now,
wait a minute. If you have an incumbency rate of
well over ninety eight percent, that means they're in essence,
(25:29):
voting for themselves a bay Rays. But they don't want
you to think about that. The arguments they write against
boosting congress's pay seem overwhelming, Well they are. Gallup's latest
polling shows, just what do you think the percentage is
of Americans that approve of the job that the legislative
(25:52):
branch is doing. What do you think that number is? Dragon?
Speaker 6 (25:55):
You?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I think you guess.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I can't take you guess, because they got the article
right in front of me.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Oh, okay, seventeen percent, seventeen percent. If if if if
the situation with Michael Brown starring Dragon Redbeard, if the
approval rating of our listeners was seventeen percent. Do you
think that? I well, I don't know. I heart's this
(26:19):
stupid sometimes, So if we have a seventeen percent approval rating,
I heart might actually walk in here and say, hey,
you guys are doing pretty damn good. How about a
pay raise? And we'd say no, no, no, we don't know,
only until we get to twenty percent. Only if we
get to twenty percent.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
If they had if they had a president's rating like
thirty percent, thirty three percent, Yeah, so they're doing worse.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
They're worse than doing than the old demended fart. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you got that right. That's pretty you are awake this morning.
I'm shocked. Then they say this, after citing a seventeen
percent approval rating, members, all he make far more than
the median national income. I don't know. It was sometime
(27:07):
before we get out a out of here for the
holidays that I talked about what the median income was
of the average American and how Congress was so far
above what that was, and we went I think we
spent an entire hour on it. Then they quote Jared Golden,
(27:30):
a Democrat congressman from Maine, quote, if members can't get
by on our already generous salaries and benefits, they should
find another line of work. And their response the Washington
Post Editorial Board's response to that statement, which I believe
is true, they say, actually that's the danger. Now, let's
(27:55):
pause from one and think about this. Is anybody forced
to run for Congress. No, you apply for the job
and you go through a intensive interview process. You've got
to have fire in the belly to want the job.
(28:18):
You've got to raise bukou of money. You've got to
do an organization. You've got to travel, you've got to fundraise,
You've got to go shake hands, you got to kiss babies,
you got to kiss ass, you got to kiss everything.
You got to want the job. And you go into
the job without a clue that it pays because it's
(28:40):
top secret, special compartmentalized information that's only available to those
of us that have a clearance. One hundred and seventy
four thousand dollars. Now, when when someone asked, well, Michael,
how much money do you make? Well, one, it's none
of your business because I'm not in the public sector.
But two, if I stop and think about how much
(29:04):
money I make, I need to include all of the
benefits that I get. Now, they might be a little
measly at iHeart, but nonetheless I do get some benefits.
Congress gets a boatload of benefits. So why is it
a danger when Congressman Golden of Maine says, if members
(29:29):
can't get by on our already generous salaries and benefits,
they should find another line of work. And the Washington
Post editorial board says, actually, that's the danger. They say
this in that paragraph, writing the nation's laws is not
an average job. I'm thinking that might actually be the
(29:52):
problem right there. It should be an average job, because
when right, look and this is an indictment of my
previous prof well, I guess it's still my profession that
I don't practice it. The fact that you have lawyers
writing the laws means that they're going to be convoluted,
(30:15):
they're going to be specialized, they're going to be highly technical,
and they're going to be designed so that if your
particular const constituency wants kind of a a not so
blatant loophole, you'll know how to write it. Oh, I
can write legislation that would make your head spind So
(30:38):
when they say that writing the nation's laws is not
an average job. Maybe that is the problem. They say
next that serving in Congress is a privilege, but one
that should be attractive not only to politics fanatics, the
independently wealthy, go for broke ideologues, or those open to
(30:59):
supper their official salaries by leveraging their positions for personal gain.
I thought that running for Congress was open to anyone,
that anyone who has the first and foremost fire in
the belly, the willingness to go put together an organization,
(31:20):
the doing the really hard work of campaigning, and even
well prior to campaigning, doing the hard work of raising
money so you can go campaign. Look anybody that runs
for Congress, even if I think you're an idiot, I
admire the fact that you have the gumption to go
run for Congress. Anybody can run for Congress. But getting
(31:42):
elected is a hard ass job, and not everyone can
get elected because not everyone has the skills that it
takes to go run a campaign, which is how you
get the job. And then once you get the job,
you're pretty much done for life. That's break time, horn
(32:05):
a fair face, morning ding dong. Hey, it kind of
makes sense that Congress needs a raise since they haven't
had one since two thousand and nine. I mean, come on, investing.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
Money by insider trading is getting harder and harder, and.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
They have to look out for themselves. Have your day.
Someone on the text line, and maybe it was you,
Gouber number ninety six, twenty four, Mike, I'd be in
favor of pay raise if they got rid of insider trading.
I bet they vote that down so fast that make
(32:41):
your head spin. Absolutely. And then somebody said or asked, uh,
fifty three ninety one, Michael, I wonder what percentage of
American people earn over six figures. Well, I happen to
have some figures for you. About eighteen percent, less than
(33:01):
twenty percent. About eighteen percent of full time workers in
the US earn at least six figures median household income.
In twenty twenty three, the median household income was around
a whopping forty four thousand, two hundred twenty five dollars
(33:23):
top fifty percent of households. In twenty twenty three, the
median income for the top fifty percent of households was
eighty thousand, six hundred and ten dollars, earning a million
dollars or more a year. Now we're talking salaries. Now
we're talking earnings. Only about three tenths of a percent
(33:47):
of Americans earn a million dollars or more per year.
So members of Congress are elitis. If you're just going
to value wait this on salary alone, they're already elitis.
(34:08):
But remember the Washington Post is making the argument that
they really need this. And here's the paragraph that really
if you think, while we've done so far sets me off,
we haven't gotten to the meat of it yet. The
editorial board rights the majority of members, especially those with
(34:30):
postgraduate degrees in medicine or law, could make vastly more
in the private sector than they do now. Many highly
qualified people, particularly talented young Americans, for go public service
for the same reason. Moreover, every day people don't need
to maintain two residences, as most members do, including in DC,
(34:52):
one of the most expensive places in the country in
which to live. Perhaps you could do like some members
and you could just live in your office, you know,
sacrifice public service, you know, part time legislatures, part time lawmakers,
(35:17):
as the founders intended. And let me ask you a
simple question. DC is indeed one of the most expensive
places in the country to live. I did that for
almost six years. It's horribly expensive I lived in When
I first went to d C. I lived on Capitol
(35:39):
Hill Southeast in a basement apartment that was so bad
that when tamer would come to visit, she refused to
stay there. So if Tamra came to visit, say over
a three or four day weekend, I'd have to go
get a room at the Marriott or the Hyatt or
the Four Seasons in order for her to, you know,
(36:00):
to come and see me. But I was willing to
make that sacrifice because I wanted to go serve my country,
and so I did that. I'm nothing special, Well I
really am in my own mind. But no, I'm really not.
I'm really not. And young people, young Americans, maybe they
(36:23):
see how dysfunctional it is. Why would they want to
be a part of it. Maybe they see the cable
news coverage twenty four to seven of people just spewing
out talking points and just my numbing robots just doing
the same bull crap over and over and over. Why
would you want to do that when you could actually
go do something worthwhile. And they've made it so that
(36:46):
they the leadership and for that matter, the special interests
in DC have made it so difficult to accomplish anything
that you know it. People come to me more often
than you would believe, and they asked me about, Hey,
you know, I want to run for Congress. I don't
(37:07):
want to dissuade them from doing so, but I want
to give them a reality check. Are you willing to
spend the time, the energy, the effort that it takes
to run a viable campaign and still have only a
fifty to fifty chance of winning? Are you willing to lose?
And if you're not willing to do that, then then
(37:28):
you're pursuing the wrong dream, like me trying to pursue
the dream being a first baseman. It's you know, you
really can't grow up to be anything in this country.
We need to quit telling kids that now I'm not
done with Oh, they're just getting started
On a lighter note, Michael, I know you and Dragon
cannot wait for the new Netflix series with Love Meghan,
where Meghan Markle shows us how she makes sued interesting
the title since the last five years, she's shown us
how little she values her family and home and did
(00:23):
she come to the US to escape the paparazzi and
just be a private person?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hm, there are two comments I want to make, but
I just want to know who the hell Megan is.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Well, and I have to do a reverse order because
I am such a cool insider, like you know, I'm
you know, I'm just one of those people that just
you know is cool. They have, you know, if you're
a Hollywood star or a cool person like me, you
get your own private viewing of things like.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
That the DVD.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
So I've already seen. I've already seen the series. I've
watched it twice already. I'm sure absolutely rivoting, just riveting
and everything I thought about Megan Marco. This is why
she's so wrong. If she would just wait and watch
the series, she would realize how wonderful it is. And
then I want to go back to Uh, can you
(01:21):
play just a second or two of the of the
rules of engagement from that guy just to just a
couple of seconds. It alright, you goobers, download that app.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hell, if you ain't downloaded it yet, you probably ain't
gonna that now.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You know, we've been on vacation for a little while,
and so I haven't heard any rules of engagement for
a while. By the way, we do need new ones.
So if you get you know now that we don't
like those. In fact, if you'll just listen to me,
you'll understand why we we need some new rules of engagement.
But when I heard that this morning, you know what
I thought, Dragon, I thought to myself, that's the kind
of guy whoever he is, wherever he is, I don't know,
(02:00):
whatever he does, I don't know, but even know the
kind of guy you'd like to get, maybe like go
have breakfast or lunch with. But then once you sit
down and you're actually having breakfast lunch, you realize, oh
my god, how quickly can I get out of here?
I made a mistake. That's pretty much what I think
of all of our goobers. I'd love to have lunch
or you know, breakfast or dinner or whatever with all
(02:21):
of you. And then I think the minute I would
sit down with any of you, I would think, Oh
my god, what the hell? What what was I thinking
when I agreed to do that? Oh? Good grief. There
was an editorial that popped up in the Washington Post
yesterday that I want to walk through simply because it
pisses me off, and so I want to irritate you.
(02:42):
Why why should I be the only one that's irritated.
But before we get to the we're doing everything kind of,
we're kind of jumping around today, So you're gonna have
to really pay attention today. Before I get to the
Washington Post editorial, which I'm not gonna tell you what
it's about, let's go to the other coast. Let's go
to the left coast, and let's go to the Fox
(03:05):
thirty one affiliate where they tell us about Seattle has
a new minimum wage. Now, you know this story is
about the minimum wage, but oh it's so, it's about
so much more than that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
You ready, here means a new contentious policy in Seattle.
Starting tomorrow, minimum wage for the Emerald City is jumping up.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Yeah, that jump maybe good news for workers. The businesses
are now a value. What it means for them.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I'm sorry I know you you can't see this, but
I know you can hear it. And this is totally
off the topic, off the subject, But I'm sitting here
watching this video play of these two Yahoo anchors, and
since when did we have to have two anchors on
every program? And it has to be a male and
(03:56):
has to be a female. And in this case, you
got a dumbass looking white guy and you got a
woman of color a WC. I'm not I'm not quite
sure whether she's black or brown, or she's not Middle
Eastern I don't but anyway, she's not white. How about
(04:16):
that white white? Why? Why? Why?
Speaker 6 (04:22):
What?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
What? What's the purpose? And all they're doing is reading
off the tallet prompter. You can't just have one guy,
so now that you have to have on the talent prompter,
you have to have Okay, Billy Bob, you read this
and then it says and now jump to you know Susie,
and Susie's going to read that. You go watch the
local news bing being bean being bean Bean? But why
(04:46):
why not for the weather? Why not for the sports?
Why not have two anchors for everything? One person can't read?
And remember, all they're doing is just reading.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
This policy and Seattle starting tomorrow. No, no, no, loum wait
for the Emerald City is jumping up.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
Yeah that jump maybe good news for workers, but businesses
are now a value what it means for them. But
a sponsor Ke's aj Jannevo reports at least one local
business says it's just the latest hardship.
Speaker 7 (05:14):
So you're going to be closing.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Down for good.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
Is never an easy decision to shut down a staple
in the community.
Speaker 7 (05:20):
But the owner of Bebob Waffle Shop.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Talk, I know you can't see this either. This is
such a hipster.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
I'll get the video up on Michael says, go here
dot com.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Okay, have you found it yet? Oh yeah, this reporter
is such a hipster. I mean he's got the big
bushy eyebrows, he's got, you know, the big poofy air.
He's got his you know, uh, white turtleneck sweater on
over a black, you know, sport coat, and he's he's
he's got a little bit of a shadow, you know,
just enough.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
You know.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I don't know how like I understand how you do
your beard, Dragon, because you've let it go for you know,
like decades, and so it is what it is. You
know if I tried to develop that kind of five
o'clock shadow, mister sexy cool thing, I can never do it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
It take you five years to do so anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well you're right. When did it take me five years
to do it? Well? Maybe not so much because I
do take testosterone injections, so you know, I got that
going for me. But and then it's just it's just scratchy.
It's just itchy. But anyway, that's this is the hipster. Now,
who's standing outside the I'll let you tell you Marie's standing.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
But the estimated costs of doing business due to this
minimum wage increase, closing her doors.
Speaker 7 (06:29):
Was the only choice. We need to fold up the
tables and just like to sweep before it's the end
of an era in West Seattle.
Speaker 8 (06:37):
Oh no, this was my dream to own my own cafe,
to run it how I want to, and to really like.
Speaker 7 (06:44):
Be in service to people.
Speaker 9 (06:46):
More than a decade ago, Karina luken Bach opened up
her business.
Speaker 7 (06:50):
She served breakfast to the West Seattle community for years.
It was like a waffle bar of thas. Now her
dream comes to an end. I've cried every day the
tough decision to close. It's due to several.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
Reasons, including less foot traffic and rising costs of goods.
Pakarina tells me the final straw is the city's increasing
minimum wage.
Speaker 8 (07:09):
Just for me, the increase would cost me thirty two
thousand more dollars a year.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Now, think about that service industry. She has a small cafe,
it's the Beboc Cafe. It's a waffle shop, and she
is let me just describe her for you for a moment.
She's kind of got disheveled blonde hair, big frame glasses,
(07:37):
a little bit of a buck teeth. She's wearing some
sort of red undershirt with railroad overalls over the red shirt,
and then a pink hoodie. If you were to see
her on the street. I know this is being judgmental,
but you know you do it too, so don't at me.
She looks like a liberal. In fact, in a minute,
(07:58):
i'll prove to you that she he's a liberal. But
what I find fascinating is here's a liberal female who
is run into reality economic reality. Now I actually feel
sorry for it. Don't get me wrong, I don't care
whether she's liberal. I don't care what her waffle shop
(08:19):
is geared toward. Doesn't make any difference to me. But
I feel sorry for because a bunch of yahoos on
the Seattle City Council have decided to increase the minimum
wage above twenty dollars an hour. I still think it
ought to be fifty two dollars and eighty cents an
hour in Denver, just in honor of the Mile High City.
So if it's going to be twenty dollars, I know
(08:42):
you think I'm joking, but I'm not. Why not make
it twenty five dollars an hour? Why not thirty five
dollars an hour? Whatever you whatever. Let's just say a
family of four needs to live on. Let's just say that's,
you know, forty thousand dollars or sixty thousand dollars. Just
tick a number, pick a number out of your butt,
divided by you know, two thousand and eighty number of
(09:05):
hours and a forty hour week, fifty two weeks out
of the year two thousand and eighty, and just make
that them a them age. That's just what you have
to pay everybody. But here's a woman who's been living
her dream. She has a little waffle shop, the Bebop
Waffle Shop in Seattle. She's clearly a liberal, and she's
running into the economic reality that this alone. Now do
(09:26):
you think the people on the city Council in Seattle
give a rat's ass about whether or not it's going
to cost her an extra thirty two thousand dollars a
year or she going to get that money. Well, she's
either going to have to raise the prices to her
customers because she can't. She can't go to her vendors.
She can't go to the waffle batter produce, a waffle
(09:51):
batter manufacturer and say, hey, lower your prices. No, because
they're not going to do that. They have their embedded costs.
She can't go to the to the delivery guy and hey,
cut down in your delivery charges. She can't go to
the Seattle Public Utilities and say, hey, my electricity to
run the shop is too much. Lower your rate. She
can't do any of that. So she's stuck. She either
(10:14):
has to absorb that out of her measly profit that
she makes. And I can't imagine she's making more than
two or three percent margins on unselling waffles. I mean,
how much margin can there be on selling waffles. But
go back to the point, do you think the Seattle
City Council or anybody else in e FN government gives
a rat's ask about what is going to cost these people?
Speaker 9 (10:36):
No, she says, she's all four workers getting paid the most.
Unfortunately for her, she just can't afford to keep up
with the change, especially after the election.
Speaker 8 (10:46):
I think the hardest thing that has really been for
me to close has been.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
For me is to close. Now. Did you catch that?
The hardest thing for me after the election?
Speaker 9 (11:02):
She says, she's all four workers getting paid the most.
Unfortunately for her, she just can't afford to keep up
with the.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
Change, especially after the election.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
What did did Donald Trump raise the minimum wage? Did?
I mean, he's not even an office yet, did what
did did? Did Washington State and Seattle suddenly go solid red?
Are they all conservatives now in the Seattle City Council?
Well no, because this was obviously done before. Because it's
(11:34):
only taking effect today or actually technically yesterday. So what's
she bitching about?
Speaker 8 (11:43):
The hardest thing that has really been for me to
close is taking a safe space away from people.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Oh, I think the hardest thing for me that has
really been is taking away a safe space for people.
And at the very moment, that that appears on the video.
There is a hand drawn LGBTQ TIA plus sign. This
(12:15):
is a a LGBTQ I A plus queer waffle shop. Now,
as I said, I don't care. I really don't care.
If if you want to go to a queer waffle shop,
power to you. If you want to go to a
bisexual or an asexual or a confused sexual, I don't care.
(12:40):
In fact, if they're good waffles, Dragon and I might
go because all we care about her good waffles. I
like food exactly. We like food. We don't care who
makes them. We don't care who's sitting next to us,
as long as it's damn good food. Why is she blaming?
Speaker 7 (12:58):
What do he means?
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Since the election? Since the election? What? Sweetheart? Here is
a grand example of a liberal being hit squarely in
the face. She is being slapped back and forth, silly,
She's being bitch slapped back and forth like crazy about
Oh my prices are going up, my cost of doing
(13:24):
business is going up, So let's blame the election?
Speaker 7 (13:28):
Is like what it meant to people.
Speaker 8 (13:31):
To come in and feel safe, had to feel welcomed.
Speaker 7 (13:35):
I just I didn't know for people who live in
the area. Her shop is more than a business. It
was a part of the community.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Happy that in a way that a friend may have
less stress in her life.
Speaker 9 (13:50):
While a decade of waffles is already wrapped for one
last night, it's alive again as Karina rings in the
new year and it's new changes with her West Seattle
family and friends.
Speaker 8 (14:01):
But we're going out celebrating because I'm really really proud
of what I did for.
Speaker 7 (14:06):
Business, is that provided tips of their employees.
Speaker 6 (14:08):
The minimum wage change is a twenty percent increase from
what they were paying before. Seattle's minimum wage now is
four dollars more than the rest of the state, the
forty in Seattle.
Speaker 7 (14:19):
Maj Janevial Fox thirteen News. Yeah, that that's a right word.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's up ready to go.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Okay, well, you soon as it propagates through the system.
But you know, considering our our network, that will happen,
you know, instantaneously time tomorrow. Yeah, sometime next week probably
you'll be able to see it. Now, what does that
have to do with the Washington Post opinion piece. So
here's a liberal in Seattle where the liberal, you know,
(14:46):
the communist Marxist Seattle City Council has decided to increase
the minimum wage, and it's now north of twenty dollars.
I don't know exactly how much it is, but it's
north of twenty dollars, and this woman is having close
her business now. I do find it deliciously ironic that
(15:06):
this liberal is faced with, you know, the laws of economics,
and it's sad. Don't get me wrong. I truly believe
it's sad for her that this dream that she's had.
And by the way, she's been in business for ten
years for small business, that's success for small business. That
means she has crossed you like the seven year itch
period in a marriage. She has made it. She's made it.
(15:28):
She's made it beyond most small businesses and has succeeded,
and now government is driving her out of business. Now
she could increase her prices, which means that some of
the customers might not be able to afford a waffle
the next morning, and so now or the next you know,
(15:49):
you can you can eat a waffle anytime. Do you
know that you can have a waffle anytime? So she
could she could increase her prices and try to maintain
her margin and stay in business. But she knows she
can't do it, so she's shutting down. Well, yesterday, at
two sixteen pm Eastern time, the editorial board of the
(16:10):
Washington Post decided to post this headline. It came across
my transom and I thought, seriously, here's the headline. Congress, Yes,
even the members you dislike should get a pay raise.
Here's the subhead Lawmakers haven't gotten a bump since two
(16:34):
thousand and nine. Some have retired because they don't earn enough. Man,
just that right there, I guess for the next three hours,
just talking about that. You retire because you don't earn enough. Okay,
well that's your choice. Am I supposed to cry Argentina
because you don't make enough money so you're retired to
(16:54):
go do something else? No, I don't give a rats ask.
In fact, I wish more of you would retire. And
you haven't gotten a bump since two thousand and nine. Hey, dragon,
when's the last time you got a raise?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
The last time I got fired?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I think, Well, no, I take I can't complain. I
have some built in races in my contract.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, because when they brought me back, they gave me
more money.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh okay, well, so maybe today at ten oh two,
you can get fired. Given't come back on money. You
make a little more money here, that's right. Can you believe?
Of course, this is the Washington Post that thinks that
Congress ought to get a pay raise. So let's walk
through this thing, because this is absolutely hilarious. This is
(17:40):
the Washington Post editorial board trying to commit. Now, remember
the vast majority of the readership of the Washington Post
is inside the beltwait northern Virginia, Maryland, or the environs
of Washington, d C. As a new Congress has sworn
in Friddy that would be today, This might seem like
(18:01):
a bad time to talk about raising federal lawmakers pay.
A government funding package failed last month, throwing Washington into
a frantic effort to keep the government open, in part
because it included a small pay increase for members of Congress. Well,
how does the Washington Post rationalize this? Oh, stay tuned,
(18:23):
just have some fun with this. Michael's concerned the new
laws with chickens. Does that mean that the farmers are
now going to have to put little chicken footprints on
the floor so the chickens will know where to stand,
(18:48):
maintain one point five square feet a distance between you
and the chicken next to you go, we live in
the stupidest of times. Oh my god, are we stupid?
So that we're talking about the Washington Post arguing that
Congress needs a pay raise. I would say that normally
(19:12):
this is an easy topic to discuss because nobody wants
Congress to get a pay raise. Do you really believe
that an organization that is as held in as much
contempt by Americans as the US Congress that they ought
to be given a pay raise, that is as dysfunctional,
(19:32):
Although on the one hand, I kind of think that
their dysfunctionality is good for the country because it keeps
some stupid things from being done. But on the other hand,
that same dysfunctionality keeps things that new do need to
be done from getting done. And so that's what gives
rise to the administrative state running everything in this freaking country.
(19:53):
Let's go back to the editorial they write, and you
know this may take until Monday or Tuesday to finish
because every paragraph has something idiotic in it. The next
paragraph says this Elon Musk the world's richest man. Do
(20:16):
we need to be told that? And how is that
relevant to congressgating a pay raise. Are they implying that
this is class warfare?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Clearly he must pay Congress all.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
You know, I hadn't even thought of that. Dragon. He
writes the checks out.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
To Congress, to all of them, every single one of them.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yes, every you know, every two weeks this his secretary
comes in with five hundred and thirty five checks and
he sits there and he signs every single one of them,
and he looks at every one of them too. So
they write The Washington Post editor's right. Elon Musk, the
world's richest man, posted falsely that the provision meant members
(21:05):
would get a forty percent pay increase. Now that is
true that he falsely posted that because it wasn't a
forty percent pay increase. They write more than ten times
the reality. His post has thirty four million views. I
think that's post envy. I think the Washington Post is
(21:25):
just envious that they only in their wet dreams would
they ever get thirty four million views of a post
written by the Washington Post on X Then they do.
Then they write this same paragraph following Musk's lead. President
elect Donald Trump wrote, Now, why do you think they
(21:50):
wrote following his lead? Because they want their readers to
think that Musk is in charge and that Trump is
so stupid that Trump has to respond. Only when Musk
writes something, then Trump feels like he needs to write
(22:10):
something too, because we all know that Elon Musk is
the real president. You see why this is going to
take so long to get through because every single word
in this editorial was scrutinized. I think there's like six
I think there's six members of the editorial board. I'll
look that up in a minute and let you know
for sure. So they all have to agree on what
(22:33):
this editorial says. So every single word gets scrutinized, and
so you have to read it thinking about what are
they trying to say with every single word following his lead,
they write President elect Donald Trump wrote that quote, this
is not a good time for Congress to be asking
(22:55):
for pay increases. Close quote frontline members the chorus. Now,
what do you think that means? That they're all a
bunch of lemmings that they can't think for themselves. They
all join the hall aa chorus. Representative Mary Maria Gluskin
(23:15):
camp Perez, a Democrat from Washington, said a pay boost
quote any way you slice it, close quote would be bananas. Now,
why do you think they chose her? She's a Democrat
congressman from Washington, Washington State, So they have to show, Look,
(23:39):
we're being bipartisan here. We think that both sides are wrong.
We think that everybody's wrong and only we the Washington Post,
are right. And then there's a single sentence paragraph that says, quote,
actually it would be smart close quote. Oh so giving
congress pay raise would be smart. Well, let's delve into
(24:00):
why they think so. They write, members of the House
in the Senate haven't received any bump to their one
hundred and seventy four thousand dollars annual salary since two
thousand and nine, and that's bad for the country. I
find that fascinating. So there's not been a pay increase
(24:23):
since two thousand and nine, and that's bad for the country.
I haven't seen a lack of people seeking reelection. I
haven't seen a lack of people seeking to defeat an incumbent.
I haven't seen a lack of interest in running for
Congress at all. In fact, I see a lot of
people running for Congress, and I see almost you know,
(24:45):
the incumbency rate is like ninety eight point nine percent.
So they all keep going back for the same pay,
so I don't have. It's bad for the country. The
paragraph continues the twenty seventh. It stipulates that lawmakers may
not raise their own pay, just that of future congresses.
(25:07):
Friday's meaning today, today's new Congress should do so for
the next Oh, so let's rationalize it. It's not for
the current members, it's for the members of the next Congress. Now,
wait a minute. If you have an incumbency rate of
well over ninety eight percent, that means they're in essence,
(25:29):
voting for themselves a bay Rays. But they don't want
you to think about that. The arguments they write against
boosting congress's pay seem overwhelming, Well they are. Gallup's latest
polling shows, just what do you think the percentage is
of Americans that approve of the job that the legislative
(25:52):
branch is doing. What do you think that number is? Dragon?
Speaker 6 (25:55):
You?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I think you guess.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I can't take you guess, because they got the article
right in front of me.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Oh, okay, seventeen percent, seventeen percent. If if if if
the situation with Michael Brown starring Dragon Redbeard, if the
approval rating of our listeners was seventeen percent. Do you
think that? I well, I don't know. I heart's this
(26:19):
stupid sometimes, So if we have a seventeen percent approval rating,
I heart might actually walk in here and say, hey,
you guys are doing pretty damn good. How about a
pay raise? And we'd say no, no, no, we don't know,
only until we get to twenty percent. Only if we
get to twenty percent.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
If they had if they had a president's rating like
thirty percent, thirty three percent, Yeah, so they're doing worse.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
They're worse than doing than the old demended fart. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you got that right. That's pretty you are awake this morning.
I'm shocked. Then they say this, after citing a seventeen
percent approval rating, members, all he make far more than
the median national income. I don't know. It was sometime
(27:07):
before we get out a out of here for the
holidays that I talked about what the median income was
of the average American and how Congress was so far
above what that was, and we went I think we
spent an entire hour on it. Then they quote Jared Golden,
(27:30):
a Democrat congressman from Maine, quote, if members can't get
by on our already generous salaries and benefits, they should
find another line of work. And their response the Washington
Post Editorial Board's response to that statement, which I believe
is true, they say, actually that's the danger. Now, let's
(27:55):
pause from one and think about this. Is anybody forced
to run for Congress. No, you apply for the job
and you go through a intensive interview process. You've got
to have fire in the belly to want the job.
(28:18):
You've got to raise bukou of money. You've got to
do an organization. You've got to travel, you've got to fundraise,
You've got to go shake hands, you got to kiss babies,
you got to kiss ass, you got to kiss everything.
You got to want the job. And you go into
the job without a clue that it pays because it's
(28:40):
top secret, special compartmentalized information that's only available to those
of us that have a clearance. One hundred and seventy
four thousand dollars. Now, when when someone asked, well, Michael,
how much money do you make? Well, one, it's none
of your business because I'm not in the public sector.
But two, if I stop and think about how much
(29:04):
money I make, I need to include all of the
benefits that I get. Now, they might be a little
measly at iHeart, but nonetheless I do get some benefits.
Congress gets a boatload of benefits. So why is it
a danger when Congressman Golden of Maine says, if members
(29:29):
can't get by on our already generous salaries and benefits,
they should find another line of work. And the Washington
Post editorial board says, actually, that's the danger. They say
this in that paragraph, writing the nation's laws is not
an average job. I'm thinking that might actually be the
(29:52):
problem right there. It should be an average job, because
when right, look and this is an indictment of my
previous prof well, I guess it's still my profession that
I don't practice it. The fact that you have lawyers
writing the laws means that they're going to be convoluted,
(30:15):
they're going to be specialized, they're going to be highly technical,
and they're going to be designed so that if your
particular const constituency wants kind of a a not so
blatant loophole, you'll know how to write it. Oh, I
can write legislation that would make your head spind So
(30:38):
when they say that writing the nation's laws is not
an average job. Maybe that is the problem. They say
next that serving in Congress is a privilege, but one
that should be attractive not only to politics fanatics, the
independently wealthy, go for broke ideologues, or those open to
(30:59):
supper their official salaries by leveraging their positions for personal gain.
I thought that running for Congress was open to anyone,
that anyone who has the first and foremost fire in
the belly, the willingness to go put together an organization,
(31:20):
the doing the really hard work of campaigning, and even
well prior to campaigning, doing the hard work of raising
money so you can go campaign. Look anybody that runs
for Congress, even if I think you're an idiot, I
admire the fact that you have the gumption to go
run for Congress. Anybody can run for Congress. But getting
(31:42):
elected is a hard ass job, and not everyone can
get elected because not everyone has the skills that it
takes to go run a campaign, which is how you
get the job. And then once you get the job,
you're pretty much done for life. That's break time, horn
(32:05):
a fair face, morning ding dong. Hey, it kind of
makes sense that Congress needs a raise since they haven't
had one since two thousand and nine. I mean, come on, investing.
Speaker 9 (32:16):
Money by insider trading is getting harder and harder, and.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
They have to look out for themselves. Have your day.
Someone on the text line, and maybe it was you,
Gouber number ninety six, twenty four, Mike, I'd be in
favor of pay raise if they got rid of insider trading.
I bet they vote that down so fast that make
(32:41):
your head spin. Absolutely. And then somebody said or asked, uh,
fifty three ninety one, Michael, I wonder what percentage of
American people earn over six figures. Well, I happen to
have some figures for you. About eighteen percent, less than
(33:01):
twenty percent. About eighteen percent of full time workers in
the US earn at least six figures median household income.
In twenty twenty three, the median household income was around
a whopping forty four thousand, two hundred twenty five dollars
(33:23):
top fifty percent of households. In twenty twenty three, the
median income for the top fifty percent of households was
eighty thousand, six hundred and ten dollars, earning a million
dollars or more a year. Now we're talking salaries. Now
we're talking earnings. Only about three tenths of a percent
(33:47):
of Americans earn a million dollars or more per year.
So members of Congress are elitis. If you're just going
to value wait this on salary alone, they're already elitis.
(34:08):
But remember the Washington Post is making the argument that
they really need this. And here's the paragraph that really
if you think, while we've done so far sets me off,
we haven't gotten to the meat of it yet. The
editorial board rights the majority of members, especially those with
(34:30):
postgraduate degrees in medicine or law, could make vastly more
in the private sector than they do now. Many highly
qualified people, particularly talented young Americans, for go public service
for the same reason. Moreover, every day people don't need
to maintain two residences, as most members do, including in DC,
(34:52):
one of the most expensive places in the country in
which to live. Perhaps you could do like some members
and you could just live in your office, you know,
sacrifice public service, you know, part time legislatures, part time lawmakers,
(35:17):
as the founders intended. And let me ask you a
simple question. DC is indeed one of the most expensive
places in the country to live. I did that for
almost six years. It's horribly expensive I lived in When
I first went to d C. I lived on Capitol
(35:39):
Hill Southeast in a basement apartment that was so bad
that when tamer would come to visit, she refused to
stay there. So if Tamra came to visit, say over
a three or four day weekend, I'd have to go
get a room at the Marriott or the Hyatt or
the Four Seasons in order for her to, you know,
(36:00):
to come and see me. But I was willing to
make that sacrifice because I wanted to go serve my country,
and so I did that. I'm nothing special, Well I
really am in my own mind. But no, I'm really not.
I'm really not. And young people, young Americans, maybe they
(36:23):
see how dysfunctional it is. Why would they want to
be a part of it. Maybe they see the cable
news coverage twenty four to seven of people just spewing
out talking points and just my numbing robots just doing
the same bull crap over and over and over. Why
would you want to do that when you could actually
go do something worthwhile. And they've made it so that
(36:46):
they the leadership and for that matter, the special interests
in DC have made it so difficult to accomplish anything
that you know it. People come to me more often
than you would believe, and they asked me about, Hey,
you know, I want to run for Congress. I don't
(37:07):
want to dissuade them from doing so, but I want
to give them a reality check. Are you willing to
spend the time, the energy, the effort that it takes
to run a viable campaign and still have only a
fifty to fifty chance of winning? Are you willing to lose?
And if you're not willing to do that, then then
(37:28):
you're pursuing the wrong dream, like me trying to pursue
the dream being a first baseman. It's you know, you
really can't grow up to be anything in this country.
We need to quit telling kids that now I'm not
done with Oh, they're just getting started
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