December 30, 2024 • 36 mins
Featured during Hour 3 of the Monday, December 30, 2024 edition of The Armstrong & Getty Replay...
- DEI in the US Military Hurts Readiness
- Here's How Money Actually Works, Oasis Reunion
- Jack's Shirt/Argentina Challenges Combo
- More Shirt Firs
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Armstrong and Gatty, and he Armstrong and Getty Strong and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Came across a fantastic think piece by a fellow by
the name of Tom Klingenstein about de EI in the
United States Military.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And I've heard various folks, including.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Some of serv talk about how it's hurt readiness, and
I believed it, but I've never heard it fleshed out
this well. And I wish we had hours and hours,
because I'd love to read the whole thing and discuss
it with you. But his point that is quite eloquently made,
and we'll post it at Armstrong and Giddy under hot Links,
is that.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He writes, the military is often perceived by well meaning
Americans as the last holdout in the progressive march through
the institutions. In reality, however, it was among the first
American institutions to formally embrace the radical logic of group quotas.
And he talks about the difference between civilian society and
mill military society in its values, in its training, in
(01:28):
its social norms, and why they're so important, and how
DEI is utterly incompatible with the cultural norms that have
underpinned every military in the history of time, discipline, sacrificing
oneself to the unit, everyone being the same, your only identity,
(01:49):
as I'm a member of this unit. It's very, very
well written, and it's made me all the more dedicated
to stamping out this radical ideology wherever it happens. I
was encouraged to see a guest editorial in New York
and The New York Times pointed out by fabulous frequent correspondent,
Paolo DEI is not working on college campuses.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
We need a new approach.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's by a couple of academics from Stanford Law and
Stanford University, and they write it in a way that
is they are lefties approaching lefties. So it's fairly gentle
about how the DEI.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Programs that exist on campuses.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Are not quite what they purport to be and don't
really achieve what they've said they should achieve, pointing out
the rampant anti Semitism on all of these enlightened campuses.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And again it's it's very well written and I'd love
to go into more detail on it, and anti Asian bias,
which we'll get to in a second.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, And we could certainly get into the
report that just came out from Columbia University about how
miserable a failure Dei has been in rooting out anti
Semitism there, and he gets into the I'm sorry, these
two academics get into the rigidity of these programs and
how and again, this is not a revelation to us
at all. They don't seem to actually be about diversity,
(03:19):
equity and inclusion, whatever those things mean. They seem to
be rigidly enforcing a particular point of view, and they
seem to just want to see the power at the universities. Well,
welcome to enlightenment, my friend. But what was interesting was,
and this is what Paolo, the service Polo provided, which
I appreciate very much, he says, more interesting than the
(03:41):
article are the generally pretty solidly left New York Times
reader's comments.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
If you view the reader's picks.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Meaning the comments on the story that got the most
thumbs up and that sort of thing, you'll see that
they are all critical of Dei, and they run from
as a white males perfectly fine, can be even helpful
to ask me to examine my values and beliefs for
racism and sexism. But it's not fine to assign me
the category of a pressor based solely on my race
or gender.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Blah blah blah. How about this one?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
As a black immigrant from Africa, the idea that groups
are inherently oppressed based on skin color is shocking to me.
All races and genders have issues because we're all human beings.
I've received far more discrimination in Africa on the basis
of my tribe than I have from any white person.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And he goes down that line for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
As a staunch liberal and white minority, ally, the only
thing that's ever made me consider voting a Republican is
having to write diversity statements for a university job. It's
a blatant tool of discrimination and everyone knows it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Wow. A couple one more quick one.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
As a professor at a university, I agree for students
to succeed in the university.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They must feel that they belong.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
For a minority student from a public school and a
class full of white kids, it's tough to feel like
you belongs. Uh this guy does he finally get to
the point. Oh, It's that socializing with peers, involvement in
student groups, for participating with a broad array of people
(05:10):
is what breaks down those barriers. Not being set into
camps and set against each other. That's the opposite of
what works. So, as I've said many times, this is
not the beginning of the end of this neo Marxist garbage.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's the end of the beginning.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
People are starting to realize, Wow, this isn't about diversity
or equity, which is communism or inclusion at all. They
just want to take control of things by cowing us
into silence, by calling us racists.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
On the racial breakdown at colleges. Maybe you saw this headline.
I saw the initial headline over the weekend after Supreme
Court ruling against affirmative action. Black acceptance to MIT drops
ten percentage points, and they presented it only that way.
I think it was The New York Times had it,
and obviously it's supposed to be a horror that happened.
(06:00):
Rich Lowry actually wrote in The New York Post yesterday
digging into it a little more. A spike in Asian
Americans who were admitted to MIT, who you can only
assume were not getting in even though they deserved it
before because of affirmative actions. So the whole numbers on that.
So MIT is the first top level college to release
(06:21):
their numbers on this. We're gonna be hearing more about
these in the fall, I assume from Harvard, Yale, whoever else.
But MIT released its first post affirmative action admissions number
for the incoming class since the Supreme Court ruled the
affirmative action in these universities is wrong, and the percentage
of Asian American students increased from forty to forty seven
percent the first year are the first opportunity to have,
(06:46):
you know, merit based admissions. Black students dropped from fifteen
to five, Hispanic students from sixteen to eleven. White stayed
roughly the same, and as rich lowry rites. Either the
MIT admissions office has been somehow infiltrated by racists who
want to exclude as many Black and Hispanic students as
possible while boosting Asian Americans for some reason, or they
(07:09):
were working to keep out meritorious Asian American applicants all
these years, people that deserved to be in the school
and weren't allowed in because they weren't the right race.
What could be more racist than that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well, and to take a step back to I think
the greater and more important issue is now that we
haven't papered over the difference is in achievement by shoving
kids in who probably can't make it at MIT, because
there's a huge incidence of that the kids who are
elevated beyond their level of achievement and stuck into these colleges,
they fail at unbelievable levels.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You're not going to read that in the mainstream media,
but it's true.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Instead of papering over the question of okay, why is
a disproportionately small percentage of black students able to qualify
for MIT start before.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They're even in school. Let's talk about kindergarten.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Let's look at first grade through eighth grade. Let's talk
about middle school and high school and the rest of it.
Let's address causes as opposed to these affirmative action at
the end programs that enable a people who are profiting
from this, the teachers' unions and don't want to solve
the problems, and b society that's uncomfortable talking about it.
(08:25):
Why do black kids underachieve? If you don't paper over
the process at the end. You're forced to reckon with
the problem at the beginning. And that's why I like
these problems as somebody who's not trying to take over
universities through my DEI critical thinking or I'm not critical thinking,
critical theory, neo Marxism.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I actually care about little black kids. So a Doke
researcher is expecting similar results in other Ivy League schools.
This fall a big increase for Asian American students, white
students staying about flat, and then a substantial drop in
Black and Hispanic admissions. Rich Lowry points out here it's
the same experience California had when the state passed the
(09:08):
anti Affirmative Action proposition in two thousand and nine, I
mean two nine. Back in ninety six, Asian Americans went
from thirty seven percent of freshmen at UC Berkeley to
forty three percent. White students dropped ten points. So you
can't claim it's white supremacy or white power structure or
(09:29):
something like that. The number of white kids getting into
Berkeley dropped from thirty percent to twenty percent. And this
is my favorite part of it. There isn't some giant
factory somewhere that's manufacturing generic Asian Americans either, who all
have the same backgrounds and attitudes. The category of Asian
American includes people from countries that hate each other and
(09:50):
always have people from countries that have little to do
with one on one another. For instance, China, India, the
Philippines whatever, They got nothing to do with each other.
In some cases hate each other and always have hated
each other. They've killed each other by the hundreds of
thousands in brutal ways. It's not like some monolithic group
like you claim white people are, who are trying to
(10:10):
take over something.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Well, and you've got to drop your preconceptions too about
elite universities and such. I tell you what, here at
Joe's second tier university, you're gonna learn a hell of
a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You're gonna drink some beer and get laid. It's gonna
be great at the superachiever universities will be for superachievers.
And that's fine.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And I remind you of the fact that generally speaking,
A students work for B students at companies owned by
C students.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
As the old saying goes, Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that,
because Rich Lowry did end with as for students who
would have been admitted under the old racialized system. It's
not like they'll have no future. If they end up
at a good state school somewhere, you'll be absolutely perfectly fine.
If that good enter off, probably yeah, very good chance
you will be better off. But the idea that your
(10:57):
life is ruined or something like that's insane. It took
us a long time to get here. These affirmative action
programs exist in large measure to prevent us from considering
the uncomfortable and difficult questions of black underachievement. I believe
(11:17):
that to my bone. That's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
The Armstrong and Getty Show or John or Joe.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Podcasts and our hot links The Armstrong and Getty Show.
Oh here's how money actually works.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Seven dollars beautiful, Are you about to say something? Okay,
so we're gonna do the one on one class first
and then two to one class. If this first part
is too obvious for some of you, Congratulations on understanding
the basics of economics, which is a fairly rare thing
(12:00):
in today's world, which is highly discouraging. But first of all,
they're talking about who's this writer. I like to give
credit because this is really well written. Matthew Henessy in
the Wall Street Journal is talking about the fellows in Oasis,
the British rock band which is getting back together.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Wonder Wall. He gets back, he gets.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Into some of the backstory, the Gallagher brothers who can't
stand each other and can't get along, but they're the
indispensable members of the band Oasis. Last month, the Boys
Buried the Hatchet announced series twenty twenty five concerts.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Delirious.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Fans were young and relatively poor during the band's heyday
are now older and relatively rich. They have the willingness
and ability to pay to see Oasis and concert. Economically speaking,
that's called demand, but demand is only one side of
the economic story.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Morning Glory for the moment.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
At least, the Oasis reunion is limited to a handful
of shows, and the Wembley Stadium is large.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It's not infinitely so.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And there's no guarantee the brothers will remain on speaking
terms beyond next summer. Fans understand that this may be
their last chance to see the battling Gallagher lads together
on stage.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Supply is limited now.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Introductory economics tell us that when supply is tight and
demand is high, prices rise to an equilibrium, which is
exactly what happened. Then he talks about dynamic pricing and
how the tickets are significantly more expensive than they seem
to be when initially announced. Some accuse the greedy brothers
of ripping off their loyal fans. Many more aimed their
(13:22):
Furia ticket Master, the American ticket Sales BMTH, owned by
Live Nation Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The fur revealed terrible. Probably not going to argue me
out of my anger aticket ticket Master in general, but
go on.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
The fees, the fees that creep up onto your bill
at the end. That's a different topic and an interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You're electronic sending me of the ticket cost forty dollars what?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, anyway, putting that aside, because this is just a
question of the price of the tickets. The Furer revealed
a terrible ignorance, even among the highly educated, of what prices.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Are and how they work.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I would argue to the journalists that know these are
people posing is being outraged, they're not actually outraged. Like
the very Prime Minister of Britain, kir Starmer, told the
House Commons that he found it depressing to hear of
the oasis price hikes. He promised a commission to investigate
what he called extortionate price resellers whatever. Culture Secretary Lisa
(14:19):
Nandy told the Bebe that quote, vastly inflated prices would
exclude ordinary fans.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
They have a culture secretary, Yeah, why do you need
that secretary of culture? And there should be some sort
of government intervention in that some things are more expensive
than others.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
What, yeah, bollocks in economic terms, a concert ticket And
this is the really important part. This is the econ
one to one stuff that if you don't understand it,
you don't get anything about economic A concert ticket is
no different from a book, a bottle of wine, or
a house. It has no inherent value, only the price
a buyer is willing to pay, and a seller.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Is to accept.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The market clearing price of anything is where demand to
meet supply. The correct and fair price is whatever the
market will bear. No buyer has a right to a
low price, just as no seller has.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
A right to a high price.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Then they point out the obvious oasis could be nice
guys and sellar tickets for five bucks, but.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Scalpers would snatch them all up and resell them for
much much more.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
What good would it do for Oasis, for the ordinary
fan or anybody to allow third party resellers to capture
all that value.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Well that's what Yeah, that's what people don't understand about sports,
guitar players, whatever, actors and actresses. Somebody's going to get
that money because there's a demand for it. So if
it's not George Clooney or Shoheyo Tani or the Gallagher brothers,
then the company that puts on the show or the game,
(15:53):
or the network or whatever, they get the money. But
somebody is getting the money. It's just the way it works, right.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
A couple more quick tidbits of music industry guru explained
that the acts hide behind Ticketmaster.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
They want them to take the flack for all this stuff.
Oh that's pretty good. That's probably true.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's not good for your image, but Ticketmaster takes
all the flack. And he also writes, here's the dirty
little secret. Ticketmaster does nothing that the band does not
agree to. So anyway, I thought that was a good
little instructional on if there's demand and little supply, the
prices are going to go up, and it should and
you know what's.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Gonna happen The gallery.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Good boys are going to put down their fists and
open up their calendars and say, you know, I'm a
going to play half a dozen more shows, are you?
And supply will increase in the prices will I was
drunk in the backseat of an suv that could go.
I have one thousand, five hundred stories that start that way,
but in this particular one enter my seat.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I was drunk in the back of the suv on
the way to an Oasis concert Charlotte, North Carolina in
nineteen ninety five when we heard on the radio that
they had canceled the concert because the two brothers had
gotten a fistfight backstage. So I still have not seen them.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Wow, Wow, Yeah, that legend not overblown. No, that reminds
me when they were like in their sixties, the Davis brothers.
It looks like Davies but has pronounced Davis of the Kinks.
Actually we're continuing to come to blows and scream at
each other backstage in their sixties trying to tour.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Wow, get some counseling for us or something. Let it go.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Armstrong, the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Today is a major day in my life. To tell
I think many people have been through this. I I'm
wearing a shirt that fits for the first time in
quite some time. I caved and gave in, just to help,
went ahead and got a bigger size.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh boy, because the size I had been wearing for
two years had stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Fitting, and I was pretending that I was going to
get back into that shirt.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
There's no point in buying new shirts. This shirt fit before. Fine,
it'll fit again. I just need to get a little discipline.
But the discipline was not coming, and I was tired
of being squeezed to death, and so I just bought
a bigger shirt. And it is so comfortable. So I
just gave up or acknowledged reality. It depends on how
(18:41):
you want to look at it.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
A temporary measure, an emergency measure, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is it a temporary measure? Is it? Or is it?
Or is it on the road to even bigger shirts.
That's what we'll have to wait. That's what we'll have
to wait and see. So how bad was the previous size?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I mean, could you were the buttons like that between
the buttons gap? Bang's so bad you can see flesh? Yes,
oh boy, yes, definitely not good.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I or an undershirt son, no flesh will be seen.
But yes, yes, that was happening.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
And and and I know for a fact that that
was not the case when I when I when I
bought the shirt. So something changed and that something is
well the number on the scale.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And uh, I just I just I just so it's
a big day. It's a big day. I just admitted.
You know what, you're a different size than you were
for the past two years. You just are. There's more
of you to love. Okay, yeah, well, and again, the.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Days of discipline are coming any minute now or not.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Okay, I hope they are. But they're trying to be positive.
I'm trying to provide a little leadership here.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I don't feel like Jim Harbaugh going to the Los
Angeles Chargers. What a terrible idea. We need to change
the culture here. You're not buying into my system, right.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
But I I thought the discipline was coming all of
those days of wearing my shirt with the things split
open in the middle, thinking, you know, this is embarrassing,
but that's part of what's going to motivate you to
not eat you know, crap today.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But it wasn't working. In the reason the buttons were
gonna pop off and put somebody's eye out. Oh boy,
nobody wants that.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So anyway, it's just somewhat relaxing to have just giving up.
We still accept you, thank you, thank you. Wow. There
you go. Michael, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
That's a kind of a Michael's art director of DEI,
and he's making sure.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Jack feels inclusioned.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Lizzo is my hero and fat acceptable is my cause.
So there you are, enjoy your infarction. It's fairly common,
isn't it. I've never had this, but it's fairly common.
It isn't to have a group of clothes that you
want to be in or were once in here, and
then another group of clothes that you were currently wearing.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Oh I got half a closet full.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah yeah, of like mostly two different weights are all
the shades in between.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That's difficult to say. I will just.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I describe it as this realistic and unrealistic. Do you
have some clothes that like you'll never wear but you
still hang on to And then there's there's like the
lawless border region, the gray area. It might be it
might conceivably be on me someday, but it's unluckly do
I have clothes.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What that I've you said unrealistic.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So I just wondered to like, if you have some clothes,
you think, yeah, that could happen, but it's not.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. In particular, T shirts. I got a
lot of T shirts, A lot of great T shirts,
cool T shirts, a concert, fun places I've been, that
sort of thing, and a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
If I were to put them on now, well, they
look like an undergarment stretched across me.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I was just thinking, luckily, so far, I still wear
the same size socks. When I need to go up
in the sock size it when I have to really
take a look at myself, my feet, if really gained weight.
Ah boy, as I heard a woman say not too
long ago, and I thought it was hilarious. Said I
got this morning and put on my pens and thought, well,
(22:14):
looks like we outgrew these. We're getting bigger, aren't we.
Oh that happens.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Speaking of economics, moving along, Argentina's new president, this Mela
Fella Javier Milai, who were big fans of man, is
he up against it? So interesting? He is trying to
get a junkie to go straight and Argentina is not
(22:43):
addicted to heroin and fentanyl and opioids or whatever. They're
addicted to socialism. And it's so interesting. I've been reading
about what he's trying to accomplish and how painful it's
going to be to get there.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And all of the four horses who are fighting him
tooth and nail.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And when you have a socialist system, for more than
like a cup of coffee, everybody depends on government large
s for their you know, for their living, for their comfort,
for their luxuries, whether legitimately through the system or and.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
This is inevitable. It happens every time socialism rampant corruption.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And so the forces aligned against this guy trying to
solve Argentina's problems are probably insurmountable.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
But the similarity to the drug to a drug.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Addiction is so I mean, it's such a great metaphor
because it obviously has to happen. I mean, they're in
a disastrous state. But everybody is so dependent now on socialism,
nobody can see any way out of the.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Situation, which is, you know why those of us.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Who are you know, practically fanatical opponents of socialism and
communism are so adamant about the way we make step
after step after step toward that in the US, because
we recognize, yeah, going from five you know, oxy cotone
or what's the strong one, oxy counting, I can't remember.
(24:17):
It's all about those synthetics now that are gonna make
fentanyl look like the good old days, according to some
medical experts.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, if you can imagine that.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
But yeah, if you go from Goblin five oxy count
in a day to seven, you know, Okay, that's just
two pills. But man, you're making it harder and harder
and harder.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
To ever get straight. Yeah. Once you're getting something for free,
even if it kind of didn't make sense to get
it for free in the first place, how you ever
going to take it away from someone? Oh, I know free.
I'm using my finger quotes and italics in bold. There's
no such thing as free. I hate that word. It
ought to be banned from the English language. Yeah, and
there are.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Hundreds of examples in our system, our welfare programs that
on Tuesday, I've imagined it that you need it or
want it, or anybody would do it for you.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
On Wednesday, they grant it.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
By Thursday, you're militantly against it ever going away because
you're you're saying that would cause me pain and financial difficulty.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And the rest. And it's sincere that's true. It will
do that.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And you know my final thought on this screed because
I can't help myself. The people who pass these programs
are one hundred percent cognizant of these facts. They're not
accidentally getting you hooked on them. You're dependent on them.
Final note, And I thought this was so interesting. Everybody's
heard the stock markets are the various indices are setting records.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right, you're S and P your Dow Jones. I know,
I just looked at my four oh one K the
other day.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
What.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah, I've resisted the temptation because I'm afraid it's going
to go kurb Bluey, particularly after reading this. Sorry, and
this is not just doom saying. I found this so interesting.
There are eleven sectors that the is this The SNP
looks at eleven different sectors from where's the list industrials, financials,
(26:20):
consumer staples, real estate, healthcare, utilities, materials, and tech. Ten
of those eleven indices are flattered down. Only tech is up.
Only tech yipes has dragged the S and P up.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's a good perspective, right, there. Yeah, I was shocked,
shocked by that.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Let me get to the ten other sectors are trading
an average of fifteen percent below their all time highs,
and none has set a new record in January. The
equal weight to S and P five hundred, which gives
the same status smallest and largest companies in the index,
is down point three percent this year.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
The market's rally two years ago is much wider.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Seven other sectors, industrials, financials, consumer stables joined tech to
trade at new highs in the two weeks that was
January twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And that fits with what I'm feeling, or what Americans
seem to be feeling. I mean, when I keep hearing
about these records in the stock mart, I keep thinking, Man,
it doesn't feel like that, all right. Well, that's because
it's just the tech sector. It's it's kind of like
our old story of if Bill Gates, Bill Gates walks
into a bar, the average networth in the bar is
now forty billion dollars. Well, that doesn't that doesn't tell
(27:31):
you anything, right, right?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Final note they give it For example, if SEC is
set not SEX six, if six of the biggest tech
stocks were to pull back to their two hundred day
moving averages, which is the measure they have for.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
To see longer term price trends.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
It eliminates the updown, updown, updown, and you see the
greater trend. So anyway, if the six biggest tech stocks
were to pull back to their two hundred day moving average,
it would knock about five percent off the S and
P five hundred. A five percent drop would be a
cataclysmic issue.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Sure, oh yeah, I'd get your attention.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Yeah, which is not to say, well, it's a little precarious.
I mean, text in good shape. People need technology, chips
and the rest of it. But it does give you
a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
By the way, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday,
I think most Americans know that prices are not likely
to fall. About the whole inflation thing, I don't know.
Do you watch the news much. That's not what they
tell them on the news, or that's not the way.
Our Vice president doesn't seem to get that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Yep, our talking heads don't know that inflation is down.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Finally, prices are easing.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Inflation is down, you chuckleheads, you inchits yous.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Thee Armstrong and Getty sharp.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I have not packed off of my crackpot theory that
because of the pandemic, then the post pandemic high people
around the bounce back spending, revenge spending, there were a bunch.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Of terms for it.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I just think the feeling of and maybe there's a
technical term for this in the world of psychology, but
I think the vacation money feeling has persisted among American
consumers in a way that it never has before. The
way you spend money on vacation and buy stuff and
eat out and order the top shelf licker or whatever
(29:40):
your example is, you spend money on vacation differently. We
all make jokes about it. I just think that's like
stayed in our bloodstream.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Could be that, or some sort of life's too short thing,
which is a dumb way to look at finances. Is
that last several decades of your life is going to
really be really unpleasant if you don't have any money.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
But yeah, you only live once, and you shouldn't be
aiating dog food signed the eighty five year old you.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Based on my experience, Well, I guess dog food's cheaper
than regular food, but it ain't cheap. What's a dog
food I buy not the stuff worth eat. Right, speaking
of eating, got this text. This is from something I
talked about earlier in the program. Jack listening to the
first hour, and my heart dropped when you said that
you gave in. I thought you were going to say
that you had a drink. Thank God, that's not the case.
(30:35):
Glad to hear that you just ended up buying a
shirt that fit. Yes, because a major one way to
put it, major moments in my life today where I'm
wearing a shirt that fits for the first time in
a while, as I had become about ten pounds lighter
than I had been for a while, and I got
all new dress shirts to wear with my suits, and
(30:55):
that worked for about a year and a half or so.
But I have a reclaimed those lost LB's and those
shirts were no longer fitting, and not only were they uncomfortable,
but I had this spread on my shirt where like
the buttons are gonna pop off, or where that's not
a good look and I should be no visible belly.
(31:16):
I went with that for a while, thinking, well, I'm
not gonna get new shirts, I'm just gonna lose the
weight again or these shirts fed again. But I finally
decided the other day. It's been long enough. Clearly, clearly,
you're not going to do that. How about you buy
some shirts that fit. So I bought a larger sized
shirt and that's what I'm wearing today, and it looks
much better, it's much more comfortable, and I just gave up.
So I've given up. What a beautiful example of spin,
(31:40):
something that is completely accurate. But it is clearly spin.
I bought a shirt that fits. It's true.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
The other side of that coin is I've gained so
much weight. I was forced into buying new clothing, and.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I don't believe me.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I'm not coming from a place of judgment. I'm just
pointing out the rhetorical you know art there.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And I have a whole bunch of not inexpensive dress
shirts that I really shouldn't wear unless I want to
be mocked as I walk away. Well, what size are
you in right now? Treshirt wise? This is your new size?
This is a large. I was wearing mediums, which a
medium is my size if I'm one eighty five, because
I'm I'm just that well, and size inflation, a medium
(32:23):
wouldn't have fit me in nineteen ninety. But everything's gotten
so much bigger. A large is like an extra large now.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Right, I just did and the media is like the
number the sixteen or fifteen and a half.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I don't know that the next size. I don't know that.
I don't know if my neck has changed much, but
the uh, the circumference of my move area is certainly different.
Oh boy, all right? Anyway, was I gonna say baa
no idea? I was actually looking at jeans or shirts
or something the other day online and they said, we
(32:56):
don't do size inflation. This is our actual sizes. And
they gave the inches and I was like, okay, I'm
gonna have to recalibrate here. So if I want something
that fits in your shirts, I'm gonna have to get
an extra large as opposed to like a medium or large.
That's interesting that they're fighting that battle. I know.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, it's nearly hilarious when you go and ladies you
deal with this times five, but you go, I don't know,
I'm gonna buy some golf shorts or whatever, and you
know that brand.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Oh I like that pair of that pair is good.
That pair is good.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
And the thirty four is looser than this thirty six,
and the thirty five is way tighter than this thirty
it's and it's just you just have to try it
because there's so much size inflation.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
True, Katie Joe Getty just named the exact reason as
to why I hate shopping.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Because the sizes are all over the place.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Every brand with I mean, pants, shirts, all of it.
I have so many different sizes in my closet it
doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, but they all fit me.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Then they all range from a small to an extra
large because nobody can make up their mind on this side.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, that's why I tend to stick with a brand
once I get the size, just because I don't want
to do that anymore. But I wonder, I'm kind of
interested myself. Will I ever be back in those shirts again?
I don't know. I was pretending that I would be
there for a while, but I may have just decided.
You know, it ain't gonna happen, and I don't care
enough to make it happen. It is not enough of
(34:21):
a priority. So whatever, not right now? Give it time?
You think, sure, Yeah, I think realistically, if you're going
to be a betting man, no, I think for most people.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Well, right, But that's that's not the way I run
my life. I mean, if there's a one in five chance,
I mean, like according to Las Vegas, but it's important
to me, I'll.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Make it happen. Well, I don't think it's important to me.
So you're telling me to let a change right now? Right,
I think you'll be back. You have it, you have it.
I think it's on your plate right now. Pun not intended.
I think it's gonna be a health scare though, like
what I had to do. I'm not. I'm not health
scare heavy. I'm just not as skinny as I want
it or not. No, I'm not. I know I'm not.
(35:08):
So that's well.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
I remember the other day you were trying to pay
a toll at the Bay Bridge and you couldn't get
your head out the window.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I I you know you most guys, when they are women,
when they get divorced, they go all crazy skinny. I
decide to go the other way. You know what, I'm
gonna dare you to date me? That's what I did see.
See huh you want some of this? There's plenty more
of me to love, That's what I keep saying. My
buddy Dave the Cyclist just to text it.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
If you ever buy Italian cycling clothes, you will feel
morbidly obese. I wear three X sizes in Italian stuff
compared to large in US.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Why the three X is a little tight? Wow, now
that's reality. That would be good for all of us,
just for like one day, all the stores in America
go back to the sizes as they were in like
nineteen ninety five. Go shopping today, everybody, and see if
you feel the same way about yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Armstrong and getty
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yahm
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Armstrong and Gatty, and he Armstrong and Getty Strong and.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Came across a fantastic think piece by a fellow by
the name of Tom Klingenstein about de EI in the
United States Military.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And I've heard various folks, including.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Some of serv talk about how it's hurt readiness, and
I believed it, but I've never heard it fleshed out
this well. And I wish we had hours and hours,
because I'd love to read the whole thing and discuss
it with you. But his point that is quite eloquently made,
and we'll post it at Armstrong and Giddy under hot Links,
is that.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
He writes, the military is often perceived by well meaning
Americans as the last holdout in the progressive march through
the institutions. In reality, however, it was among the first
American institutions to formally embrace the radical logic of group quotas.
And he talks about the difference between civilian society and
mill military society in its values, in its training, in
(01:28):
its social norms, and why they're so important, and how
DEI is utterly incompatible with the cultural norms that have
underpinned every military in the history of time, discipline, sacrificing
oneself to the unit, everyone being the same, your only identity,
(01:49):
as I'm a member of this unit. It's very, very
well written, and it's made me all the more dedicated
to stamping out this radical ideology wherever it happens. I
was encouraged to see a guest editorial in New York
and The New York Times pointed out by fabulous frequent correspondent,
Paolo DEI is not working on college campuses.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
We need a new approach.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's by a couple of academics from Stanford Law and
Stanford University, and they write it in a way that
is they are lefties approaching lefties. So it's fairly gentle
about how the DEI.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Programs that exist on campuses.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Are not quite what they purport to be and don't
really achieve what they've said they should achieve, pointing out
the rampant anti Semitism on all of these enlightened campuses.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And again it's it's very well written and I'd love
to go into more detail on it, and anti Asian bias,
which we'll get to in a second.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, And we could certainly get into the
report that just came out from Columbia University about how
miserable a failure Dei has been in rooting out anti
Semitism there, and he gets into the I'm sorry, these
two academics get into the rigidity of these programs and
how and again, this is not a revelation to us
at all. They don't seem to actually be about diversity,
(03:19):
equity and inclusion, whatever those things mean. They seem to
be rigidly enforcing a particular point of view, and they
seem to just want to see the power at the universities. Well,
welcome to enlightenment, my friend. But what was interesting was,
and this is what Paolo, the service Polo provided, which
I appreciate very much, he says, more interesting than the
(03:41):
article are the generally pretty solidly left New York Times
reader's comments.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
If you view the reader's picks.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Meaning the comments on the story that got the most
thumbs up and that sort of thing, you'll see that
they are all critical of Dei, and they run from
as a white males perfectly fine, can be even helpful
to ask me to examine my values and beliefs for
racism and sexism. But it's not fine to assign me
the category of a pressor based solely on my race
or gender.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Blah blah blah. How about this one?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
As a black immigrant from Africa, the idea that groups
are inherently oppressed based on skin color is shocking to me.
All races and genders have issues because we're all human beings.
I've received far more discrimination in Africa on the basis
of my tribe than I have from any white person.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And he goes down that line for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
As a staunch liberal and white minority, ally, the only
thing that's ever made me consider voting a Republican is
having to write diversity statements for a university job. It's
a blatant tool of discrimination and everyone knows it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Wow. A couple one more quick one.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
As a professor at a university, I agree for students
to succeed in the university.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
They must feel that they belong.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
For a minority student from a public school and a
class full of white kids, it's tough to feel like
you belongs. Uh this guy does he finally get to
the point. Oh, It's that socializing with peers, involvement in
student groups, for participating with a broad array of people
(05:10):
is what breaks down those barriers. Not being set into
camps and set against each other. That's the opposite of
what works. So, as I've said many times, this is
not the beginning of the end of this neo Marxist garbage.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
It's the end of the beginning.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
People are starting to realize, Wow, this isn't about diversity
or equity, which is communism or inclusion at all. They
just want to take control of things by cowing us
into silence, by calling us racists.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
On the racial breakdown at colleges. Maybe you saw this headline.
I saw the initial headline over the weekend after Supreme
Court ruling against affirmative action. Black acceptance to MIT drops
ten percentage points, and they presented it only that way.
I think it was The New York Times had it,
and obviously it's supposed to be a horror that happened.
(06:00):
Rich Lowry actually wrote in The New York Post yesterday
digging into it a little more. A spike in Asian
Americans who were admitted to MIT, who you can only
assume were not getting in even though they deserved it
before because of affirmative actions. So the whole numbers on that.
So MIT is the first top level college to release
(06:21):
their numbers on this. We're gonna be hearing more about
these in the fall, I assume from Harvard, Yale, whoever else.
But MIT released its first post affirmative action admissions number
for the incoming class since the Supreme Court ruled the
affirmative action in these universities is wrong, and the percentage
of Asian American students increased from forty to forty seven
percent the first year are the first opportunity to have,
(06:46):
you know, merit based admissions. Black students dropped from fifteen
to five, Hispanic students from sixteen to eleven. White stayed
roughly the same, and as rich lowry rites. Either the
MIT admissions office has been somehow infiltrated by racists who
want to exclude as many Black and Hispanic students as
possible while boosting Asian Americans for some reason, or they
(07:09):
were working to keep out meritorious Asian American applicants all
these years, people that deserved to be in the school
and weren't allowed in because they weren't the right race.
What could be more racist than that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Well, and to take a step back to I think
the greater and more important issue is now that we
haven't papered over the difference is in achievement by shoving
kids in who probably can't make it at MIT, because
there's a huge incidence of that the kids who are
elevated beyond their level of achievement and stuck into these colleges,
they fail at unbelievable levels.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
You're not going to read that in the mainstream media,
but it's true.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Instead of papering over the question of okay, why is
a disproportionately small percentage of black students able to qualify
for MIT start before.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
They're even in school. Let's talk about kindergarten.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Let's look at first grade through eighth grade. Let's talk
about middle school and high school and the rest of it.
Let's address causes as opposed to these affirmative action at
the end programs that enable a people who are profiting
from this, the teachers' unions and don't want to solve
the problems, and b society that's uncomfortable talking about it.
(08:25):
Why do black kids underachieve? If you don't paper over
the process at the end. You're forced to reckon with
the problem at the beginning. And that's why I like
these problems as somebody who's not trying to take over
universities through my DEI critical thinking or I'm not critical thinking,
critical theory, neo Marxism.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I actually care about little black kids. So a Doke
researcher is expecting similar results in other Ivy League schools.
This fall a big increase for Asian American students, white
students staying about flat, and then a substantial drop in
Black and Hispanic admissions. Rich Lowry points out here it's
the same experience California had when the state passed the
(09:08):
anti Affirmative Action proposition in two thousand and nine, I
mean two nine. Back in ninety six, Asian Americans went
from thirty seven percent of freshmen at UC Berkeley to
forty three percent. White students dropped ten points. So you
can't claim it's white supremacy or white power structure or
(09:29):
something like that. The number of white kids getting into
Berkeley dropped from thirty percent to twenty percent. And this
is my favorite part of it. There isn't some giant
factory somewhere that's manufacturing generic Asian Americans either, who all
have the same backgrounds and attitudes. The category of Asian
American includes people from countries that hate each other and
(09:50):
always have people from countries that have little to do
with one on one another. For instance, China, India, the
Philippines whatever, They got nothing to do with each other.
In some cases hate each other and always have hated
each other. They've killed each other by the hundreds of
thousands in brutal ways. It's not like some monolithic group
like you claim white people are, who are trying to
(10:10):
take over something.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Well, and you've got to drop your preconceptions too about
elite universities and such. I tell you what, here at
Joe's second tier university, you're gonna learn a hell of
a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
You're gonna drink some beer and get laid. It's gonna
be great at the superachiever universities will be for superachievers.
And that's fine.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And I remind you of the fact that generally speaking,
A students work for B students at companies owned by
C students.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
As the old saying goes, Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that,
because Rich Lowry did end with as for students who
would have been admitted under the old racialized system. It's
not like they'll have no future. If they end up
at a good state school somewhere, you'll be absolutely perfectly fine.
If that good enter off, probably yeah, very good chance
you will be better off. But the idea that your
(10:57):
life is ruined or something like that's insane. It took
us a long time to get here. These affirmative action
programs exist in large measure to prevent us from considering
the uncomfortable and difficult questions of black underachievement. I believe
(11:17):
that to my bone. That's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
The Armstrong and Getty Show or John or Joe.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Podcasts and our hot links The Armstrong and Getty Show.
Oh here's how money actually works.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Seven dollars beautiful, Are you about to say something? Okay,
so we're gonna do the one on one class first
and then two to one class. If this first part
is too obvious for some of you, Congratulations on understanding
the basics of economics, which is a fairly rare thing
(12:00):
in today's world, which is highly discouraging. But first of all,
they're talking about who's this writer. I like to give
credit because this is really well written. Matthew Henessy in
the Wall Street Journal is talking about the fellows in Oasis,
the British rock band which is getting back together.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Wonder Wall. He gets back, he gets.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Into some of the backstory, the Gallagher brothers who can't
stand each other and can't get along, but they're the
indispensable members of the band Oasis. Last month, the Boys
Buried the Hatchet announced series twenty twenty five concerts.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Delirious.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Fans were young and relatively poor during the band's heyday
are now older and relatively rich. They have the willingness
and ability to pay to see Oasis and concert. Economically speaking,
that's called demand, but demand is only one side of
the economic story.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Morning Glory for the moment.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
At least, the Oasis reunion is limited to a handful
of shows, and the Wembley Stadium is large.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It's not infinitely so.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And there's no guarantee the brothers will remain on speaking
terms beyond next summer. Fans understand that this may be
their last chance to see the battling Gallagher lads together
on stage.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Supply is limited now.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Introductory economics tell us that when supply is tight and
demand is high, prices rise to an equilibrium, which is
exactly what happened. Then he talks about dynamic pricing and
how the tickets are significantly more expensive than they seem
to be when initially announced. Some accuse the greedy brothers
of ripping off their loyal fans. Many more aimed their
(13:22):
Furia ticket Master, the American ticket Sales BMTH, owned by
Live Nation Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The fur revealed terrible. Probably not going to argue me
out of my anger aticket ticket Master in general, but
go on.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
The fees, the fees that creep up onto your bill
at the end. That's a different topic and an interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You're electronic sending me of the ticket cost forty dollars what?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, anyway, putting that aside, because this is just a
question of the price of the tickets. The Furer revealed
a terrible ignorance, even among the highly educated, of what prices.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Are and how they work.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I would argue to the journalists that know these are
people posing is being outraged, they're not actually outraged. Like
the very Prime Minister of Britain, kir Starmer, told the
House Commons that he found it depressing to hear of
the oasis price hikes. He promised a commission to investigate
what he called extortionate price resellers whatever. Culture Secretary Lisa
(14:19):
Nandy told the Bebe that quote, vastly inflated prices would
exclude ordinary fans.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
They have a culture secretary, Yeah, why do you need
that secretary of culture? And there should be some sort
of government intervention in that some things are more expensive
than others.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
What, yeah, bollocks in economic terms, a concert ticket And
this is the really important part. This is the econ
one to one stuff that if you don't understand it,
you don't get anything about economic A concert ticket is
no different from a book, a bottle of wine, or
a house. It has no inherent value, only the price
a buyer is willing to pay, and a seller.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Is to accept.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The market clearing price of anything is where demand to
meet supply. The correct and fair price is whatever the
market will bear. No buyer has a right to a
low price, just as no seller has.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
A right to a high price.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Then they point out the obvious oasis could be nice
guys and sellar tickets for five bucks, but.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Scalpers would snatch them all up and resell them for
much much more.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
What good would it do for Oasis, for the ordinary
fan or anybody to allow third party resellers to capture
all that value.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Well that's what Yeah, that's what people don't understand about sports,
guitar players, whatever, actors and actresses. Somebody's going to get
that money because there's a demand for it. So if
it's not George Clooney or Shoheyo Tani or the Gallagher brothers,
then the company that puts on the show or the game,
(15:53):
or the network or whatever, they get the money. But
somebody is getting the money. It's just the way it works, right.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
A couple more quick tidbits of music industry guru explained
that the acts hide behind Ticketmaster.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
They want them to take the flack for all this stuff.
Oh that's pretty good. That's probably true.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's not good for your image, but Ticketmaster takes
all the flack. And he also writes, here's the dirty
little secret. Ticketmaster does nothing that the band does not
agree to. So anyway, I thought that was a good
little instructional on if there's demand and little supply, the
prices are going to go up, and it should and
you know what's.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Gonna happen The gallery.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Good boys are going to put down their fists and
open up their calendars and say, you know, I'm a
going to play half a dozen more shows, are you?
And supply will increase in the prices will I was
drunk in the backseat of an suv that could go.
I have one thousand, five hundred stories that start that way,
but in this particular one enter my seat.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
I was drunk in the back of the suv on
the way to an Oasis concert Charlotte, North Carolina in
nineteen ninety five when we heard on the radio that
they had canceled the concert because the two brothers had
gotten a fistfight backstage. So I still have not seen them.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Wow, Wow, Yeah, that legend not overblown. No, that reminds
me when they were like in their sixties, the Davis brothers.
It looks like Davies but has pronounced Davis of the Kinks.
Actually we're continuing to come to blows and scream at
each other backstage in their sixties trying to tour.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Wow, get some counseling for us or something. Let it go.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Armstrong, the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Today is a major day in my life. To tell
I think many people have been through this. I I'm
wearing a shirt that fits for the first time in
quite some time. I caved and gave in, just to help,
went ahead and got a bigger size.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh boy, because the size I had been wearing for
two years had stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Fitting, and I was pretending that I was going to
get back into that shirt.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
There's no point in buying new shirts. This shirt fit before. Fine,
it'll fit again. I just need to get a little discipline.
But the discipline was not coming, and I was tired
of being squeezed to death, and so I just bought
a bigger shirt. And it is so comfortable. So I
just gave up or acknowledged reality. It depends on how
(18:41):
you want to look at it.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
A temporary measure, an emergency measure, if you will.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is it a temporary measure? Is it? Or is it?
Or is it on the road to even bigger shirts.
That's what we'll have to wait. That's what we'll have
to wait and see. So how bad was the previous size?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I mean, could you were the buttons like that between
the buttons gap? Bang's so bad you can see flesh? Yes,
oh boy, yes, definitely not good.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I or an undershirt son, no flesh will be seen.
But yes, yes, that was happening.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
And and and I know for a fact that that
was not the case when I when I when I
bought the shirt. So something changed and that something is
well the number on the scale.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
And uh, I just I just I just so it's
a big day. It's a big day. I just admitted.
You know what, you're a different size than you were
for the past two years. You just are. There's more
of you to love. Okay, yeah, well, and again, the.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Days of discipline are coming any minute now or not.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Okay, I hope they are. But they're trying to be positive.
I'm trying to provide a little leadership here.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I don't feel like Jim Harbaugh going to the Los
Angeles Chargers. What a terrible idea. We need to change
the culture here. You're not buying into my system, right.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
But I I thought the discipline was coming all of
those days of wearing my shirt with the things split
open in the middle, thinking, you know, this is embarrassing,
but that's part of what's going to motivate you to
not eat you know, crap today.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
But it wasn't working. In the reason the buttons were
gonna pop off and put somebody's eye out. Oh boy,
nobody wants that.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So anyway, it's just somewhat relaxing to have just giving up.
We still accept you, thank you, thank you. Wow. There
you go. Michael, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
That's a kind of a Michael's art director of DEI,
and he's making sure.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Jack feels inclusioned.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Lizzo is my hero and fat acceptable is my cause.
So there you are, enjoy your infarction. It's fairly common,
isn't it. I've never had this, but it's fairly common.
It isn't to have a group of clothes that you
want to be in or were once in here, and
then another group of clothes that you were currently wearing.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Oh I got half a closet full.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah yeah, of like mostly two different weights are all
the shades in between.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That's difficult to say. I will just.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I describe it as this realistic and unrealistic. Do you
have some clothes that like you'll never wear but you
still hang on to And then there's there's like the
lawless border region, the gray area. It might be it
might conceivably be on me someday, but it's unluckly do
I have clothes.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What that I've you said unrealistic.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
So I just wondered to like, if you have some clothes,
you think, yeah, that could happen, but it's not.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. In particular, T shirts. I got a
lot of T shirts, A lot of great T shirts,
cool T shirts, a concert, fun places I've been, that
sort of thing, and a lot of them.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
If I were to put them on now, well, they
look like an undergarment stretched across me.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I was just thinking, luckily, so far, I still wear
the same size socks. When I need to go up
in the sock size it when I have to really
take a look at myself, my feet, if really gained weight.
Ah boy, as I heard a woman say not too
long ago, and I thought it was hilarious. Said I
got this morning and put on my pens and thought, well,
(22:14):
looks like we outgrew these. We're getting bigger, aren't we.
Oh that happens.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Speaking of economics, moving along, Argentina's new president, this Mela
Fella Javier Milai, who were big fans of man, is
he up against it? So interesting? He is trying to
get a junkie to go straight and Argentina is not
(22:43):
addicted to heroin and fentanyl and opioids or whatever. They're
addicted to socialism. And it's so interesting. I've been reading
about what he's trying to accomplish and how painful it's
going to be to get there.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And all of the four horses who are fighting him
tooth and nail.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And when you have a socialist system, for more than
like a cup of coffee, everybody depends on government large
s for their you know, for their living, for their comfort,
for their luxuries, whether legitimately through the system or and.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
This is inevitable. It happens every time socialism rampant corruption.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And so the forces aligned against this guy trying to
solve Argentina's problems are probably insurmountable.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
But the similarity to the drug to a drug.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Addiction is so I mean, it's such a great metaphor
because it obviously has to happen. I mean, they're in
a disastrous state. But everybody is so dependent now on socialism,
nobody can see any way out of the.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Situation, which is, you know why those of us.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Who are you know, practically fanatical opponents of socialism and
communism are so adamant about the way we make step
after step after step toward that in the US, because
we recognize, yeah, going from five you know, oxy cotone
or what's the strong one, oxy counting, I can't remember.
(24:17):
It's all about those synthetics now that are gonna make
fentanyl look like the good old days, according to some
medical experts.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, if you can imagine that.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
But yeah, if you go from Goblin five oxy count
in a day to seven, you know, Okay, that's just
two pills. But man, you're making it harder and harder
and harder.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
To ever get straight. Yeah. Once you're getting something for free,
even if it kind of didn't make sense to get
it for free in the first place, how you ever
going to take it away from someone? Oh, I know free.
I'm using my finger quotes and italics in bold. There's
no such thing as free. I hate that word. It
ought to be banned from the English language. Yeah, and
there are.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Hundreds of examples in our system, our welfare programs that
on Tuesday, I've imagined it that you need it or
want it, or anybody would do it for you.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
On Wednesday, they grant it.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
By Thursday, you're militantly against it ever going away because
you're you're saying that would cause me pain and financial difficulty.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
And the rest. And it's sincere that's true. It will
do that.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And you know my final thought on this screed because
I can't help myself. The people who pass these programs
are one hundred percent cognizant of these facts. They're not
accidentally getting you hooked on them. You're dependent on them.
Final note, And I thought this was so interesting. Everybody's
heard the stock markets are the various indices are setting records.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right, you're S and P your Dow Jones. I know,
I just looked at my four oh one K the
other day.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
What.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yeah, I've resisted the temptation because I'm afraid it's going
to go kurb Bluey, particularly after reading this. Sorry, and
this is not just doom saying. I found this so interesting.
There are eleven sectors that the is this The SNP
looks at eleven different sectors from where's the list industrials, financials,
(26:20):
consumer staples, real estate, healthcare, utilities, materials, and tech. Ten
of those eleven indices are flattered down. Only tech is up.
Only tech yipes has dragged the S and P up.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
That's a good perspective, right, there. Yeah, I was shocked,
shocked by that.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Let me get to the ten other sectors are trading
an average of fifteen percent below their all time highs,
and none has set a new record in January. The
equal weight to S and P five hundred, which gives
the same status smallest and largest companies in the index,
is down point three percent this year.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
The market's rally two years ago is much wider.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Seven other sectors, industrials, financials, consumer stables joined tech to
trade at new highs in the two weeks that was
January twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
And that fits with what I'm feeling, or what Americans
seem to be feeling. I mean, when I keep hearing
about these records in the stock mart, I keep thinking, Man,
it doesn't feel like that, all right. Well, that's because
it's just the tech sector. It's it's kind of like
our old story of if Bill Gates, Bill Gates walks
into a bar, the average networth in the bar is
now forty billion dollars. Well, that doesn't that doesn't tell
(27:31):
you anything, right, right?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Final note they give it For example, if SEC is
set not SEX six, if six of the biggest tech
stocks were to pull back to their two hundred day
moving averages, which is the measure they have for.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
To see longer term price trends.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
It eliminates the updown, updown, updown, and you see the
greater trend. So anyway, if the six biggest tech stocks
were to pull back to their two hundred day moving average,
it would knock about five percent off the S and
P five hundred. A five percent drop would be a
cataclysmic issue.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Sure, oh yeah, I'd get your attention.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Yeah, which is not to say, well, it's a little precarious.
I mean, text in good shape. People need technology, chips
and the rest of it. But it does give you
a different perspective.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
By the way, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday,
I think most Americans know that prices are not likely
to fall. About the whole inflation thing, I don't know.
Do you watch the news much. That's not what they
tell them on the news, or that's not the way.
Our Vice president doesn't seem to get that.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Yep, our talking heads don't know that inflation is down.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Finally, prices are easing.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Inflation is down, you chuckleheads, you inchits yous.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Thee Armstrong and Getty sharp.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
I have not packed off of my crackpot theory that
because of the pandemic, then the post pandemic high people
around the bounce back spending, revenge spending, there were a bunch.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Of terms for it.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
I just think the feeling of and maybe there's a
technical term for this in the world of psychology, but
I think the vacation money feeling has persisted among American
consumers in a way that it never has before. The
way you spend money on vacation and buy stuff and
eat out and order the top shelf licker or whatever
(29:40):
your example is, you spend money on vacation differently. We
all make jokes about it. I just think that's like
stayed in our bloodstream.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Could be that, or some sort of life's too short thing,
which is a dumb way to look at finances. Is
that last several decades of your life is going to
really be really unpleasant if you don't have any money.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
But yeah, you only live once, and you shouldn't be
aiating dog food signed the eighty five year old you.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Based on my experience, Well, I guess dog food's cheaper
than regular food, but it ain't cheap. What's a dog
food I buy not the stuff worth eat. Right, speaking
of eating, got this text. This is from something I
talked about earlier in the program. Jack listening to the
first hour, and my heart dropped when you said that
you gave in. I thought you were going to say
that you had a drink. Thank God, that's not the case.
(30:35):
Glad to hear that you just ended up buying a
shirt that fit. Yes, because a major one way to
put it, major moments in my life today where I'm
wearing a shirt that fits for the first time in
a while, as I had become about ten pounds lighter
than I had been for a while, and I got
all new dress shirts to wear with my suits, and
(30:55):
that worked for about a year and a half or so.
But I have a reclaimed those lost LB's and those
shirts were no longer fitting, and not only were they uncomfortable,
but I had this spread on my shirt where like
the buttons are gonna pop off, or where that's not
a good look and I should be no visible belly.
(31:16):
I went with that for a while, thinking, well, I'm
not gonna get new shirts, I'm just gonna lose the
weight again or these shirts fed again. But I finally
decided the other day. It's been long enough. Clearly, clearly,
you're not going to do that. How about you buy
some shirts that fit. So I bought a larger sized
shirt and that's what I'm wearing today, and it looks
much better, it's much more comfortable, and I just gave up.
So I've given up. What a beautiful example of spin,
(31:40):
something that is completely accurate. But it is clearly spin.
I bought a shirt that fits. It's true.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
The other side of that coin is I've gained so
much weight. I was forced into buying new clothing, and.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I don't believe me.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I'm not coming from a place of judgment. I'm just
pointing out the rhetorical you know art there.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And I have a whole bunch of not inexpensive dress
shirts that I really shouldn't wear unless I want to
be mocked as I walk away. Well, what size are
you in right now? Treshirt wise? This is your new size?
This is a large. I was wearing mediums, which a
medium is my size if I'm one eighty five, because
I'm I'm just that well, and size inflation, a medium
(32:23):
wouldn't have fit me in nineteen ninety. But everything's gotten
so much bigger. A large is like an extra large now.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Right, I just did and the media is like the
number the sixteen or fifteen and a half.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
I don't know that the next size. I don't know that.
I don't know if my neck has changed much, but
the uh, the circumference of my move area is certainly different.
Oh boy, all right? Anyway, was I gonna say baa
no idea? I was actually looking at jeans or shirts
or something the other day online and they said, we
(32:56):
don't do size inflation. This is our actual sizes. And
they gave the inches and I was like, okay, I'm
gonna have to recalibrate here. So if I want something
that fits in your shirts, I'm gonna have to get
an extra large as opposed to like a medium or large.
That's interesting that they're fighting that battle. I know.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, it's nearly hilarious when you go and ladies you
deal with this times five, but you go, I don't know,
I'm gonna buy some golf shorts or whatever, and you
know that brand.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Oh I like that pair of that pair is good.
That pair is good.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
And the thirty four is looser than this thirty six,
and the thirty five is way tighter than this thirty
it's and it's just you just have to try it
because there's so much size inflation.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
True, Katie Joe Getty just named the exact reason as
to why I hate shopping.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Because the sizes are all over the place.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
Every brand with I mean, pants, shirts, all of it.
I have so many different sizes in my closet it
doesn't even make sense.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, but they all fit me.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Then they all range from a small to an extra
large because nobody can make up their mind on this side.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Yeah, that's why I tend to stick with a brand
once I get the size, just because I don't want
to do that anymore. But I wonder, I'm kind of
interested myself. Will I ever be back in those shirts again?
I don't know. I was pretending that I would be
there for a while, but I may have just decided.
You know, it ain't gonna happen, and I don't care
enough to make it happen. It is not enough of
(34:21):
a priority. So whatever, not right now? Give it time?
You think, sure, Yeah, I think realistically, if you're going
to be a betting man, no, I think for most people.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Well, right, But that's that's not the way I run
my life. I mean, if there's a one in five chance,
I mean, like according to Las Vegas, but it's important
to me, I'll.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Make it happen. Well, I don't think it's important to me.
So you're telling me to let a change right now? Right,
I think you'll be back. You have it, you have it.
I think it's on your plate right now. Pun not intended.
I think it's gonna be a health scare though, like
what I had to do. I'm not. I'm not health
scare heavy. I'm just not as skinny as I want
it or not. No, I'm not. I know I'm not.
(35:08):
So that's well.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
I remember the other day you were trying to pay
a toll at the Bay Bridge and you couldn't get
your head out the window.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
I I you know you most guys, when they are women,
when they get divorced, they go all crazy skinny. I
decide to go the other way. You know what, I'm
gonna dare you to date me? That's what I did see.
See huh you want some of this? There's plenty more
of me to love, That's what I keep saying. My
buddy Dave the Cyclist just to text it.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
If you ever buy Italian cycling clothes, you will feel
morbidly obese. I wear three X sizes in Italian stuff
compared to large in US.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Why the three X is a little tight? Wow, now
that's reality. That would be good for all of us,
just for like one day, all the stores in America
go back to the sizes as they were in like
nineteen ninety five. Go shopping today, everybody, and see if
you feel the same way about yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Armstrong and getty
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yahm
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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