May 5, 2025 • 36 mins
Hour 3 of A&G features...
- Warren Buffet's exit...
- The freezing of eggs...
- Microplastics are causing all sorts of issues.
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Armstrong, and Jettie and no he Armstrong and yetdy. So
this order will make it socially acceptable for a man
in his seventies to date a twenty four year olds.
(00:30):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We're calling it the Belichick Law.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We're gonna make girlfriends young again. Okay, old men can
nowdate far younger women. We like that. It's hot, but
in reverse, it's quite disgusting.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Right, very dateline. You know that's funny. That's from Saturday
Night Live. The whole Belichick thing. He cannot be digging
that it's getting more attention than his book. His book
has kind of been obscured by the whole Oh wait,
you're dating one of the former cheerleaders you met on
a to a game.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
His whole persona is grumpy and proud, so being the
object of ridicule is probably not great.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It doesn't sit real comfortably.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Or he's in love and having the time of his
life and he doesn't care, which might be his attitude, right,
which kind of fits in a little bit with uh this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold on, I'll stand by everybody coughing fit. We have
a coughing fit.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, we do a couple of days away from a
full month of being sick like this, which is crazy.
Hold on, I think I can do it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know, we got to be like a music radio
show that runs like groovy music in the background to
make it feel like there's forward momentum.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's why they did that. Yeah, it's hard to imagine
listening to this radio program.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, you know, I could jump in every time you
have to cough, but I don't necessarily have anything to
say because you're mid sentence.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Right, and I've got something planned. So our adult life,
Warren Buffett has been one of the richest people in
the world. He's an investor, and he's from my part
of the country, the Oracle of Omaha. I'm from Kansas,
and so I just always liked his lives in a
little house in a small town, very basic, sort of
Midwest guy vibe. I've always liked his kind of conservative view,
(02:17):
like personally conservative view of of you know, long term
planning and not conspicuous consumption and all.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That sort of vibe. He also.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Has said some just freaking horrible things that have been
just completely out of line that have disrupted our political conversation.
His his bs my secretary pays lower taxes than I
do and doesn't write that's not right is one of
the most misleading and stupid conversations we've had in America.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So you've got that also. But anyway, he finally stepped
down over the weekend age ninety three. I think he
is at the end of the year, isn't he?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
He announced HISSI he announced it over the weekend, and
he's handing it off to some guy from Iowa that
I constantly heard. The guy still lives in Des Moines,
Like it's just so shocking that this guy, who's also
really rich would stay there. As I was talking about
last week, I personally know people who would rather kill
themselves than live in New York. But everybody who lives
(03:13):
in New York thinks the only reason we don't live
in New York is because we haven't figured out how
to get there.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's just I find that so frustrating.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Do we spend all day longing to live in Manhattan,
just dreaming of.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It every day?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We all the rest of us think in La is
the same way and a bunch of different places, but
that people are in the country every day get up
and think, I guess I'll go to work, even though
I don't live in New York or LA.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I guess there's still some reason to get up.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
All right, fine, right, anyway, So warn Buff's warn Buffet's
speech on the way out the door. I thought it
was pretty interesting and will spark conversations. I'm sure he said,
why doesn't that old rich guy just retire already? He
must not have a purpose in life outside of money,
like a lot of people. I used to think that way,
but it's wrong. Fundamentally, there are two things humans do.
(03:58):
We produce and we consume.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Most of us, throughout our lives produce and consume, roughly
in parody with each other. We make money, and over time,
even if invest some of it and don't spend it
immediately after earning it, we expend it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
All the work we do.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
The economic value we create is offset by the house
in which we live, the food we eat, the medical
costs of keeping us alive, the vacations we take, and
all the myriad other things we consume each day and
over the course of the years, some of us consume
more than we produce. This requires some type of external subsidy,
be it a trust fund, charital support, or government benefits,
like the way he puts government benefits last, Like, that's
(04:33):
not the first thing.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's Oh no, it happens in rare cases. The government
supports people.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yes, yes, Back to his text, a small number of
us produce more than we consume, and an even smaller
number produce vastly more than they could ever hope of consuming.
These people have many different roles and titles. If you
respect these people and appreciate their contributions to our society, which,
by the way, I hope you do, because these are
the people that make it possible for you to eat food.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You didn't have to grow yourself, live an house.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You didn't have to build yourself and utilize countless technological innovations.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You didn't have to invent yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, when are they gonna pay their first share? That's
what I want to know.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You probably call them builders, creators or inventors, founders, entrepreneurs,
business leaders, titans of industry, pillars of community.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That's if you respect them, he said.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
If you don't like them, you probably have other terms plutocrats, bourgeoisie, coulos, parasites, vultures,
hoarders of wealth.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Is this nineteen nineteen Russia or time.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's kind of interesting that he's got this point of
view that I agree with, while at the same time
perpetuating that fraud tax statement that he put.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Out there, isn't it? Yeah, that is odd. I mean,
he'd has to know better. He's a financial genius.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Anyway, back to what he said, going back to the
old rich person at the start of this, that guy,
whether you respect him or not, attained his position in
society by virtue. Having been a net producer. He's produced
more than he's consumed. His outputs total more than the
sum of his inputs. Put simply, he's planted and harvested
more than he's eaten.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
People who produce.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Like that over the course of their lives don't do
so because they want to one day start consuming more.
Men and women who spend each day as net producers
don't just switch it off one day and become a
net consumer. Vacations, rounds of golf, restaurant outings, and movies
showing simply aren't satisfying to someone whose mind not to
mention whose heart, whose animating spirit is wired for producing.
(06:24):
It simply doesn't work that way. You might not understand it.
You might not understand these people, and that's fine. For
much of my life I didn't either. But don't question
what drives them just because it's not what drives you.
Because these are the men and women who built our society,
explored new worlds, and vented the wondrous technologies we use
every day, and created the works of art and literature
we get to enjoy. And they're the ones who will
(06:45):
keep building, keep creating, and keep making it possible for
future generations to enjoy these things even greater.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
He is simultaneously right and overstating his case. In my opinion,
I completely get his point, and it's eloquently put, and
I appreciate it. At the same time, I've known plenty
I know right now, plenty of people who one hundred
percent answered to that description and then said, you know what,
(07:14):
that's enough producing, and now I am going to play
golf and go out to dinner and go to shows.
Oh and you know, support charities, and you know I will.
I will repurpose my life. I suppose you could argue
they're still producing in a way, but I think it's
a fairly extreme case or rare case that takes it
damn near to the foot of the grave. Like Warren
(07:36):
Buffett will I'm not criticizing, I'm just saying, you're out there.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's sort of his point though, that it is a
small number who are so animated by that that's all
they want to do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, clear to the end, right right.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It sounded like to me he was being a bit
more broad that if you have that spirit, you never
lose it, and you work until you have one foot
in the grave.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And I'm just I'm not sure that's true. But I
don't know. I'm closer to him than i'm not.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I just can't imagine enjoying at all, traveling, eating, I
don't golf, but whatever, I just can't even imagine enjoying
that at all. That sounds awful to me. Well, this
is why you're a titan of industry. Yeah, so what
that's the interesting thing? What if you are are are
not built to do those sorts of things, but you
(08:24):
don't produce much. I produce, you know, I half produced
four hours of frivolous talk every day.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Headaches, headaches, occasion. Yeah, I don't know where that leaves you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Interesting question, you know, well to each in their own
you know, degree whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I liked him standing up for that crowd, you know,
and stop calling us plutocrats and all that other stuff. Well, right,
because we just want to produce as opposed to take. Yeah,
I think he could have been harder on the people
that only want to take. There's a big crowd out
of there that is the exact opposite, hundred percent every
It's a continuum obviously, from the produce to the day
(09:06):
you die to the never produce a thing. But there's
a lot of people perfectly happy with not producing a thing.
I think it makes you miserable, probably a drug eYIC,
can you die early? But there's a lot of people
willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, the actual aerial tables would suggest that you're right.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
On the other hand, many folks, even you, have asked
how much money do you need? Why do you keep working?
Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep
you know, whatever that person does to acquire more and
more wealth.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, as he said, he.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
A reasonable question, he asked, that's the answer. Yeah, as
he said, he asked that question his whole life. As
I get closer to the end, you know, I'm sick.
I might be dead by the end of the week.
As I get closer to the end, I understand where
he's coming from more than I did even two years ago,
I think, and I don't know why, but it's interesting
that he didn't get it a much of his I mean,
he's really old. It's not like he's, you know, just
(09:59):
turned sixty five retiring. He's pushing one hundred. Yeah, yeah,
thought provoking. Yeah, i'd say so. Elon's probably gonna be
one of those people. Elon's never gonna say, well, that's
enough of that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
No, No, I agree completely. My no is a yes,
but yes, I mean no vice versa. I've lost crack. Yeah, okay, interesting, Warren.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I wish you could have taken back that stupid, stupid
thing about your secretary paying lower taxes than you, because
it's stupid, and you know it's stupid.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, there are situations where you can borrow against enormous
but unrealized gains and that quote unquote income is tax free.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yes, I'm familiar with that part of the tax code.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
But yeah, it's just again, it's it's a myth one
the top one percent pay whatever. It is, forty seven
percent of the income tax in America.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Uh, much more to come, including the tragic birth rate situation.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Among human Oh we've got some breaking news. I wanted
to mention. Oh, okay. Trump is just.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Announced he'll give one thousand dollars to any illegal who
voluntarily leaves the country. What you heard me? He is
in full not a complicated says running a.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Game show you know mode right now? I bet it works.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I don't know if he's I don't know where that
money would come from, and I don't know what the
mechanism would be for doing it or any of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I am so mystified this. Where does this one ranking?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Let's reopen Alcatraz as a maximum security prison?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Is that above or below it in the what are
we doing here? Scale?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'll bet it would work. I bet a bunch of people.
I'll bet you could get a couple million people to voluntarily.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Leave if they're going to get a thousand bucks.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Thinking short term and or thinking I'm going to have
to leave at some point anyway, so I might as
well get a thousand dollars and you can't get back in.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, the whole hot Christinome with her her ads that
are running now all the time. That let's say, if
you report yourself and leave, you can come back at
some point legally. But if we find you and you
haven't self reported, you're booted out for the rest of
your life.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
If people are hearing that and thinking, wow, I wonder.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
If they're serious, and you'll give me a grand just
to disappear, you know, my uncle rehire me back in
Guadalajara or whatever. I don't I don't know, but a grand,
I mean that's if you're making well, for instance, fifty
two grand a year.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's that's a week's wages.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You're gonna leave the land of milk and honey for
a week's wages?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What if you think you're gonna get booted out at
some point anyway.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I'm stuck in Alcatraz probably right, it'll be our new
illegal immigrant camp.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
All right, this is just too whacked? All right, fine,
you didn't like it too whack? Can you just passing
along the news of the day. More on the way's
day here.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And as revolutionary as the pill was in.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
The sixties, freezing eggs so now you can have motherhood
whenever you want it, not during your fun years. When
you're running around and don't want to have kids, you
can put it off to one you're much much older.
According to sixty minutes last night, we'll discuss that probably
an hour four man.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's an interesting story.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, I was thinking about this if if forget that
were human beings, if we were deer, this is your
headline for deer. One would be leader. One buck would
be leader of the deer herd is criticized. The other
would be leader for having antlers too big. Also, young
(13:39):
bucks are now having fun scratching themselves against trees. In
nons of news, the herd is dying out. I mean,
shouldn't that be the leads story? Our herd is dying out.
We're just importing deer from other forests to distract us
from that fact. So stay tuned for that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Some of them have Ms. Thirteen tattooed on their hoops.
That was photoshopped.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So uh, it is so funny if you are a
savvy consumer of the news to watch the gyrations. A
lot of the lefty media, which is virtually everybody with
the obvious exceptions, The gymnastics they go through if they
come across something that makes them uncomfortable, and they'd prefer
(14:27):
not to report it, whether it's the raging anti semitism
on college campuses or what have you. This is a
perfect example. Did you hear about the giant blackouts in
Europe last week? France and Portugal in particularly in particular,
in particularly.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Massive swaths of Europe had.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Like day long blackouts, no electric power, no flights, no trains,
no medical care, people milling around looking at each other.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What are we supposed to do now? And there's a
big mystery as to what was causing it.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And this was covered extensively on your mainstream media. Cyber attack,
Chinese something or other, the damn Ruskies, who knows. But
then as soon as it became clear what actually had happened,
we've moved on to other things.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Nothing to see. Oh, I have a guess, I didn't
follow this story. Go ahead, guess away. I'll bet it's
a good one.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Green energy didn't fill the role it's supposed to, one
hundred percent over reliance on utterly unreliable green energy.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I came across a piece that was very, very
good by Emmett Penny in the Free Press that described
as I'll just touch on a little bit because we
don't have much time. But simply put the power grid
as like a giant game of tug of war. On
one side, there's demand, on the other, there's supply. Keeping
the lights on involves making sure the rope between supply
and demand remains taut. This tautness is called inertia in
(16:00):
the energy grid business. Healthy inertia means healthy grid frequency,
which in Europe means fifty hertz. None of this means
anything to any of us, and we'll forget it as
soon as we've heard it. But in the version of
events initially attributed to this other thing, something along one
of the power the lines disrupted the even flow of
power between generators on the grid, which messed with a
(16:23):
frequency which likely tripped off more wind and solar, which
slackened the rope, which probably caused the blackouts.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
They are way way.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Overliant on unpredictable, unsustainable sources of energy. The sources that
made up eighty percent of the mix just before the
blackout can't supply the requisite inertia the grid needs. So
when these atmospheric ostellations they call them took place. The
Spanish grid was already in a precarious scot spot because
(16:54):
it's the dearth of dispatchable power made it much more
vulnerable to the sort of disturbances you're going to have.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
In the real world.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It makes it rigid, inflexible, and undependable.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
In the modern world. I've been in that whole life. Well,
what are you gonna do? Yeah? Yeah, So that's why
that story went away. Yep.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Interesting to see your folks keep moving. How many pencils
do you need to live? In America?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
That question in others on the way Armstrong and Getty
get some eggs.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Go, Let's get some eggs.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
More and more American women are freezing their eggs to
preserve their fertility.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Those of the eggs.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Could egg freezing offer what previous generations only dreamed of?
The chance to put the biological clock on ice.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
There definitely is that TikTok clock, and I'm not ready
quite yet.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I think that egg freezing is as revolutionary as the
pill was in nineteen sixties and seventies.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
It's as revolutionary as the pell.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Joe's favorite thing that sixty minutes does and does better
than anybody else. Restate what they just said, because your
audience is eighty five years old and you're afraid they
missed it. But the story about freezing eggs and freeing
you up to have kids whenever you want as a woman,
I don't think previous generations necessarily were dreaming of this
(18:14):
and the way you just stated. But let's hear a
couple more and then we'll discuss.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Here we go.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
We spoke to a group of women about their decision
to freeze their eggs.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Why is it a good idea?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I one hundred percent know that I really would love
to have children.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeas been Higbee is twenty nine, works in consultings and
has a serious boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I'll be able to enjoy these times with my partner
a bit more instead of rushing to have kids because
there definitely is that TikTok clock that started and I'm
not ready quite yet.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
It's an insurance.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I know that you know I'm going to be an
older mother.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
This whole thing hurts my heart. One more and then
we'll get into it the next one. They're mine, Oh,
you don't have any ethnikes?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
The next one was going to get into it about
enjoying life instead of rushing into having kids, rushing into
having kids before you're forty five.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What she was talking about. The one we skipped is
no difference in the health of babies.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Oh okay, okay, gotcha. Yeah, uh yeah, I don't I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I'm always uncomfortable with this judging other people's lifestyles. Oh no,
I love that. It's like I do that all day long.
Uh No, it's a couple of things. Number one, you know,
people make these decisions for all sorts of complicated reasons,
and it's very very personal. And second, my wife and
I full disclosure, had our children by today's standards young.
(19:43):
I was twenty seven when I became a dad for
the first time, which people say, wow, you know. Not
very long ago, they'd just said wow, why'd you wait
so long? Now it's wow, you're just a kid. And
Judy was just a little older than me. But and
I don't want to be guy who argues my life
choices over yours reflexively. On the other hand, and I
(20:07):
could list several examples where, especially in the twentieth century,
which was the era of almost the cult of scientific development,
in that we didn't only marvel at it and benefit
from it. We became convinced that if science could do it,
science should do it right. I think that was kind
(20:29):
of the dawn of people really thinking that, and the
infamous unforgivable so moronic. It makes me want to assault.
Somebody thought in the twentieth century that we have designed
this factory manufactured formula that is far superior to a
mother's milk. You're feeding your baby your milk, your mother's milk.
(20:53):
You're a bad parent in a monster feed it these
chemicals from our plant instead, which is monstrous in its
ignorance and belligerence. But generations of kids and moms got
that message.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
My only quibble with the sixty minutes piece was they
didn't present really any of the possible other side in
the way that I think it could have been to
at great length. For instance, and I have no leg
to stand on in this conversation. I didn't have kids
till I was forty five years old, because I'm a guy,
and I can choose to do whatever I want, so I'll.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Well, I appreciate your full disclosure. But at the same time,
I have made a number of life choices that I
am not going to defend at all.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
In fact, I would like to tell you why they're.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Stupid ideas, you know what I mean, or or I
was in that position. If I had it all to
do over again, I'd do it differently. That doesn't make
you a hypocriter.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I wish I had kids younger for all kinds of
different reasons. It will eliminate the whole grandparent relationship thing
to a great extent when everybody starts having kids, everybody
starts having kids at a much later age, because it
just does.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Your grandparents are in a.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Much different phase of their life if they're around at all,
and all that sort of stuff. I mean, it's I mean,
there's lots of downsides, or even if you don't call
them downsides, changes, and not all changes are positive, as
you say all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, yeah, I would just.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Say, there are a number of biological and that's a
very broad category, number of biological reasons why you are
better off having children when you are younger.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Some of those have been.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Made less significance significant by medical science, which is wonderful.
I mean, for instance, one of the reasons you want
to have your kids ladies when you were young and
very strong and resilient. Is because frequently it went kind
of sideways, and maternal mortality was a serious problem for
human beings and any animal, I suppose, but particularly human
(22:58):
beings because we're born with these enormous brains and very
large heads, which can make the birthing process. I don't
need to tell this to folk. Ladies have given birth.
It can make it very difficult. As I've said more
than once, my first kid, Kate, would have probably died
in childbirth, taking Judy with her. But no, it was
the twentieth century, so thank god everybody survived. So and
(23:21):
so some of the reasons you want to have your
kids this is because of the getty head. Oh yeah,
I mean our heads among you know, normal folks who
have enormous heads we refer to as penheads. We have
college we have we have heads rather like college mascots. Anyway,
I have to wear my order my cowboy hats from
(23:42):
mascot stores Giant well. But anyway, but some of the
realities of giving birth to children, raising children cannot be
changed by you know, science, And there are more and
more studies that show that older eggs, older you know,
sperm whatever, are not quite as effective or more prone
to various problems, which is why they're freezing the eggs,
(24:05):
I guess, But so.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I do feel a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I know this is your thing, which we'll talk about next,
is we're on the Titanic talking about how great the
new ships are going to be in ten years as
we get heads straight toward the iceberg, and we are
doing that. In terms of the whole having babies thing,
we'll talk we'll explain what that means right after this.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
From simply safe.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
If you don't leave your house every day looking at
the simply safe sign in your yard like I do,
then I don't know what kind of peace of mind
you have, Like I drive away knowing my house is
protected while I'm at work today with the cameras and
the sensors and everything else and the active guard protection.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
And it's about a dollar a day, so you can
afford it.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, if you're picturing the old traditional security systems with
their extremely limited technology and their very high price, forget it.
Simply safe is so different simply safe to active gord.
Active guard outdoor protection can help prevent breakings before they happen.
A powered cameras backed by live professional monitoring agents monitor
(25:03):
your property and detect suspicious activity. If somebody's acting suspiciously
outside your home, agents see them, can talk to them
in real time, call the cops, activate spotlights before your
windows get smashed.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And again, this starts at around a dollar a day.
The no long term contract is because they believe in
the product.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
YEP, visit simply safe dot com slash armstrong to claim
fifty percent off a new system with a professional monitoring
plan get your first month free. That's simplysafe dot com
slash armstrong. There's no safe like simply safe.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So last week we had the New York Times story
about designer babies and being able to choose taller or
blue eyes or various things, and the horrors that could
go with that, boys or girls.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Now you got the whole freezing eggs.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
The good news if you're worried about that, I guess
is people ain't gonna have babies period or aren't currently,
and there's no reason to think that's gonna turn around
anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, we talked about this more than once. You've probably
heard about it from other folks as well. But our
birth rates in the developed world are they rang from Oh,
my Lord to Great God, we're already dead. In the
United States, we're at one point six six. The conventional
wisdom being each mother needs to have two point one
children on average. I was just reading a genetic study
(26:15):
that said it's really closer to two point seven children
to avoid families dying out on a genetic ongoing basis.
But that gets a little complicated statistically, But anyway, it's
more than two children on average per mom just to
keep the population exactly the same. And we're at one
(26:37):
point six six or so in America, and Japan is
at one point three, and South Korea the poster child
for not having kids is whereas at point eighty seven.
Whoa greatoo. Canada's one point four to seven. It's less
than America. You're fifty first state only because it'll be
(26:58):
empty soon. So yeah, the birth rates are crazy. I
just and I say this every time.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I do not believe it's because, you know, like the
clips we just played from sixty minutes, I've just got
so many things I want to do now. Well, wasn't
that long ago the things people wanted to do was
have a kid?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, they were, they weren't.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I guess I'll have the kid, I'm gonna have to
put off travel and all these other things I want
to do or social pressure.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, my mom keeps bugging me, so we probably ought
to go ahead and get pregnant.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
The thing you wanted to do more than anything in
the world was have a kid, and it wasn't just
because TikTok wasn't around. So you know, whatever he's driving
that I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, uh.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
And again I want to tread with light foot on
this stuff because people can make their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I'm going to cast dispersions.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
If you can preserve your eggs and they're still in
great shape and some of the problems with older eggs
and older sperm or not resent, I suppose that's fine.
I just I will tell you as a young parent,
it's worked out fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's been great.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
We're we're pretty poor. I mean we were, you know. Famously,
I would occasionally go out for a beer with friends,
and as I've said through the years, I had the
budget for one ninety nine cent draft one. That was it,
and if nobody wanted to buy me a beer, I
went home afterward.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And it was fine.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I actually remember those days yeah, you know, I didn't
dig it at the time, but it's fine. And again,
you make the choices that work for you. Don't send
your indignant email saying, well, it's fine and good for
you to say, but this is my reality. That's fine
that I'm not talking about you. But I have God
willing a good long few decades that my grown kids
(28:48):
are my friends and I get to see them live
their life and someday I hope to have grandkids.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You know, we have our own family circumstances, but with.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Our individual kids, but there are wonderful, wonderful advantages to it.
I had tons of energy. I was working, you know,
obscene hours early in our career, and I was coaching
my kids teams and wrestling with him and running around
and playing catching the art.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But it was great in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
But you know, to each their own, so just and
the only reason I bring that up is not to
say it's better and you're a dope if you don't.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Because there's a right way, wrong way. I appreciate your rigidity.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's it's just to say, if you all, if you've
been listening to those messages that oh you got to
wait until you can afford, you know, designer baby clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
And that's the dumbest. It's not true. That is the
absolute dumbest reason.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I had a neighbor who used to say, just throw
it out there because this was his addy, because he
had kids older before I had ever had kids. He'd
always say, I wouldn't trade your fifties for my twenties.
That was his big saying. And he had such a
good time in his twenties. He glad he didn't ruin
it by having kids. So I don't know if he
still feels that way. It's possibly he feels different now
that he's older, and.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
I hope he's happy whatever I think.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Just to throw in my two cents on that having
kids older, I don't think I enjoyed all the free
time I had when I was younger, the way you
would if you raised your kids already. I just thought
that was life. No, I was on vacation the entire
time and didn't know it. Yeah, that's funny. I was
retired basically and didn't even know it. So it was
(30:26):
a lot of wasted time.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It would have been funny if you'd said, you know,
as a guy with full time job. Yeah, I'm semi retired.
And then I screw around all that.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I see people at the airport traveling without kids, and
I don't care what your business trip is or whatever
you're on vacation if you're not traveling with kids.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah. Yeah, So I wanted to get to this. It's
a somewhat different topic, but it is. Uh, why don't
I just go ahead and mention it. Then we'll take
a break.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
You know, my joke about we've got all these health
problems as Homo sapiens and and my joke is one
scientist said, well, they're eating completely different things than they've
ever eaten before as a species. The other scientist said, nah,
that's not it. I mean, what the hell silly.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
And knee jerk would that be? Oh, here's another one.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Scientists have made an alarming discovery inside human ovaries. Ladies,
you know what she got a bunch of in your ovaries? Microplastics?
Oh yeah, new study shows what scientists have feared for
a long time, the effect of microplastics on human fertility.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Stay wit us, Okay, and then you're gonna go on
about seed oil. I know how you are, so stay right,
no one not. I don't care about oil.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
There's Lark.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Wow, Logo had a little point afterwards.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That was Caitlin Clark yesterday.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
So she returned to a University of Iowa court for
its exhibition game aim to play where she became famous
and took a shot from just inside the half court
line and nailed it and everybody went in berzerco to
her inner defense for taking that shot. They were up
fifty five at the time, so wow, the game was
fairly solidly put away.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Dominant performance.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, yeah, she was showboating hot dog and I don't appreciately.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So I don't know what to do with this information.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Recent study shows evidence what scientists have feared for long time,
the effects of microplastics on human fertility. And Jack and
I have a personal interest, not just a professional and
broad human interest in what seems to be a real
increase in the number of kids with various developmental problems
(32:46):
from autism to mental health issues to whatever. I mean,
it's just undeniable. I was doing a little mental just
kind of sensus of the people close to me, whether
personal life or actual family and the rest of it,
and the number of kids with autism or similar issues.
Is notable, I sure is just say that for the
(33:08):
first time, scientists have discovered microplastics in the follicular fluid
of human ovaries. According to a new peer reviewed study,
this fluid plays a crucial role in nourishing and developing
a woman's eggs, and researchers have alarmingly found plastic particles
in fourteen out of eighteen samples collected from patients undergoing
fertility treatment. It's not a huge study, obviously, but it's
(33:31):
peer reviewed and the research makes marks a major step
forward and understanding how deep plastic pollution runs, not just
in the environment but in our bodies. And then they
go into some of the function of this fluid in
the way ovaries do what they do. But the presence
of microplastics in this fluid raises the possibility that these
tiny particles are interfering with essential reproductive processes.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, and these people have been looking at virtually every
fluid human beings produce and secrete. They have found microplastics
in us and animals.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, I know, do.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Work if you can get it. I want to analyze
all your secretions. Any liquid that comes out of you.
I don't care where on the body. I'm going to
take a good look, hard look at it. I've made
a career of it.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
It's more interesting than you'd think you But animal studies
have suggested that the plastics may disrupt O variant function
and reduce the ability to conceive. This does not speak
to child developmental stuff. So that connection I made in
my mind is there's no suggestion to that in this study.
(34:44):
But something is going on in reproduction and or you know,
there's absolutely microplastics and breast milk over again, where are
we get in most of the microplastics?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That is it? Because when you of us drink out
of plastic water bottles, Oh no, because plastic is everywhere.
I know it is.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
It's everywhere all the time, and it gets thrown away
and broken up and dissolves.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
But I don't know if there's that much more plastic
in my life than there was forty years ago, other
than the water bottles.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yes, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, there's plastic in everything in
a way that you know forty years ago. Well, certainly
like fifty years ago. You remember the famous line from
the graduate one word Benjamin plastics, The omnipresence of I
wish I had some stats in front of me, But yeah,
(35:39):
plastic has gone from a rarity to everywhere all the
time in everything. Go by by one hundred bucks worth
of groceries and take a look at how much plastic
packaging there is. For instance, that was absolutely not the
case the generation two generations ago. And it breaks down,
whether by sunlight, by water, by being crushed up or whatever.
(36:00):
It's not like I mean, the water bottles might play
a role, but it's like microscopic, little tiny bits of
it that you breathe in.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You never have anything.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Wouldn't it be something if it turns out that's one
of the worst things mankind ever did was invent plastic.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Wouldn't shock me.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Wouldn't shock me either, Well, that'd be a revolution to
try to get rid of plastic in the world.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yeah, and we're not some sort of environmental nut job
show here. We're just trying to understand what is.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
If you miss a segment or now, or we do
lots of them, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Armstrong and Getty
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Armstrong, and Jettie and no he Armstrong and yetdy. So
this order will make it socially acceptable for a man
in his seventies to date a twenty four year olds.
(00:30):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We're calling it the Belichick Law.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We're gonna make girlfriends young again. Okay, old men can
nowdate far younger women. We like that. It's hot, but
in reverse, it's quite disgusting.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Right, very dateline. You know that's funny. That's from Saturday
Night Live. The whole Belichick thing. He cannot be digging
that it's getting more attention than his book. His book
has kind of been obscured by the whole Oh wait,
you're dating one of the former cheerleaders you met on
a to a game.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
His whole persona is grumpy and proud, so being the
object of ridicule is probably not great.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
It doesn't sit real comfortably.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Or he's in love and having the time of his
life and he doesn't care, which might be his attitude, right,
which kind of fits in a little bit with uh this.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold on, I'll stand by everybody coughing fit. We have
a coughing fit.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, we do a couple of days away from a
full month of being sick like this, which is crazy.
Hold on, I think I can do it.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know, we got to be like a music radio
show that runs like groovy music in the background to
make it feel like there's forward momentum.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's why they did that. Yeah, it's hard to imagine
listening to this radio program.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, you know, I could jump in every time you
have to cough, but I don't necessarily have anything to
say because you're mid sentence.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Right, and I've got something planned. So our adult life,
Warren Buffett has been one of the richest people in
the world. He's an investor, and he's from my part
of the country, the Oracle of Omaha. I'm from Kansas,
and so I just always liked his lives in a
little house in a small town, very basic, sort of
Midwest guy vibe. I've always liked his kind of conservative view,
(02:17):
like personally conservative view of of you know, long term
planning and not conspicuous consumption and all.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That sort of vibe. He also.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Has said some just freaking horrible things that have been
just completely out of line that have disrupted our political conversation.
His his bs my secretary pays lower taxes than I
do and doesn't write that's not right is one of
the most misleading and stupid conversations we've had in America.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So you've got that also. But anyway, he finally stepped
down over the weekend age ninety three. I think he
is at the end of the year, isn't he?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
He announced HISSI he announced it over the weekend, and
he's handing it off to some guy from Iowa that
I constantly heard. The guy still lives in Des Moines,
Like it's just so shocking that this guy, who's also
really rich would stay there. As I was talking about
last week, I personally know people who would rather kill
themselves than live in New York. But everybody who lives
(03:13):
in New York thinks the only reason we don't live
in New York is because we haven't figured out how
to get there.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's just I find that so frustrating.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Do we spend all day longing to live in Manhattan,
just dreaming of.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It every day?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We all the rest of us think in La is
the same way and a bunch of different places, but
that people are in the country every day get up
and think, I guess I'll go to work, even though
I don't live in New York or LA.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I guess there's still some reason to get up.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
All right, fine, right, anyway, So warn Buff's warn Buffet's
speech on the way out the door. I thought it
was pretty interesting and will spark conversations. I'm sure he said,
why doesn't that old rich guy just retire already? He
must not have a purpose in life outside of money,
like a lot of people. I used to think that way,
but it's wrong. Fundamentally, there are two things humans do.
(03:58):
We produce and we consume.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Most of us, throughout our lives produce and consume, roughly
in parody with each other. We make money, and over time,
even if invest some of it and don't spend it
immediately after earning it, we expend it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
All the work we do.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
The economic value we create is offset by the house
in which we live, the food we eat, the medical
costs of keeping us alive, the vacations we take, and
all the myriad other things we consume each day and
over the course of the years, some of us consume
more than we produce. This requires some type of external subsidy,
be it a trust fund, charital support, or government benefits,
like the way he puts government benefits last, Like, that's
(04:33):
not the first thing.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's Oh no, it happens in rare cases. The government
supports people.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yes, yes, Back to his text, a small number of
us produce more than we consume, and an even smaller
number produce vastly more than they could ever hope of consuming.
These people have many different roles and titles. If you
respect these people and appreciate their contributions to our society, which,
by the way, I hope you do, because these are
the people that make it possible for you to eat food.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You didn't have to grow yourself, live an house.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You didn't have to build yourself and utilize countless technological innovations.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
You didn't have to invent yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, when are they gonna pay their first share? That's
what I want to know.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You probably call them builders, creators or inventors, founders, entrepreneurs,
business leaders, titans of industry, pillars of community.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
That's if you respect them, he said.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
If you don't like them, you probably have other terms plutocrats, bourgeoisie, coulos, parasites, vultures,
hoarders of wealth.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Is this nineteen nineteen Russia or time.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's kind of interesting that he's got this point of
view that I agree with, while at the same time
perpetuating that fraud tax statement that he put.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Out there, isn't it? Yeah, that is odd. I mean,
he'd has to know better. He's a financial genius.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Anyway, back to what he said, going back to the
old rich person at the start of this, that guy,
whether you respect him or not, attained his position in
society by virtue. Having been a net producer. He's produced
more than he's consumed. His outputs total more than the
sum of his inputs. Put simply, he's planted and harvested
more than he's eaten.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
People who produce.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Like that over the course of their lives don't do
so because they want to one day start consuming more.
Men and women who spend each day as net producers
don't just switch it off one day and become a
net consumer. Vacations, rounds of golf, restaurant outings, and movies
showing simply aren't satisfying to someone whose mind not to
mention whose heart, whose animating spirit is wired for producing.
(06:24):
It simply doesn't work that way. You might not understand it.
You might not understand these people, and that's fine. For
much of my life I didn't either. But don't question
what drives them just because it's not what drives you.
Because these are the men and women who built our society,
explored new worlds, and vented the wondrous technologies we use
every day, and created the works of art and literature
we get to enjoy. And they're the ones who will
(06:45):
keep building, keep creating, and keep making it possible for
future generations to enjoy these things even greater.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
He is simultaneously right and overstating his case. In my opinion,
I completely get his point, and it's eloquently put, and
I appreciate it. At the same time, I've known plenty
I know right now, plenty of people who one hundred
percent answered to that description and then said, you know what,
(07:14):
that's enough producing, and now I am going to play
golf and go out to dinner and go to shows.
Oh and you know, support charities, and you know I will.
I will repurpose my life. I suppose you could argue
they're still producing in a way, but I think it's
a fairly extreme case or rare case that takes it
damn near to the foot of the grave. Like Warren
(07:36):
Buffett will I'm not criticizing, I'm just saying, you're out there.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
That's sort of his point though, that it is a
small number who are so animated by that that's all
they want to do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, clear to the end, right right.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It sounded like to me he was being a bit
more broad that if you have that spirit, you never
lose it, and you work until you have one foot
in the grave.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And I'm just I'm not sure that's true. But I
don't know. I'm closer to him than i'm not.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
I just can't imagine enjoying at all, traveling, eating, I
don't golf, but whatever, I just can't even imagine enjoying
that at all. That sounds awful to me. Well, this
is why you're a titan of industry. Yeah, so what
that's the interesting thing? What if you are are are
not built to do those sorts of things, but you
(08:24):
don't produce much. I produce, you know, I half produced
four hours of frivolous talk every day.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Headaches, headaches, occasion. Yeah, I don't know where that leaves you.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Interesting question, you know, well to each in their own
you know, degree whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I liked him standing up for that crowd, you know,
and stop calling us plutocrats and all that other stuff. Well, right,
because we just want to produce as opposed to take. Yeah,
I think he could have been harder on the people
that only want to take. There's a big crowd out
of there that is the exact opposite, hundred percent every
It's a continuum obviously, from the produce to the day
(09:06):
you die to the never produce a thing. But there's
a lot of people perfectly happy with not producing a thing.
I think it makes you miserable, probably a drug eYIC,
can you die early? But there's a lot of people
willing to do that.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Well.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, the actual aerial tables would suggest that you're right.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
On the other hand, many folks, even you, have asked
how much money do you need? Why do you keep working?
Why do you keep doing this? Why do you keep
you know, whatever that person does to acquire more and
more wealth.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, as he said, he.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
A reasonable question, he asked, that's the answer. Yeah, as
he said, he asked that question his whole life. As
I get closer to the end, you know, I'm sick.
I might be dead by the end of the week.
As I get closer to the end, I understand where
he's coming from more than I did even two years ago,
I think, and I don't know why, but it's interesting
that he didn't get it a much of his I mean,
he's really old. It's not like he's, you know, just
(09:59):
turned sixty five retiring. He's pushing one hundred. Yeah, yeah,
thought provoking. Yeah, i'd say so. Elon's probably gonna be
one of those people. Elon's never gonna say, well, that's
enough of that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
No, No, I agree completely. My no is a yes,
but yes, I mean no vice versa. I've lost crack. Yeah, okay, interesting, Warren.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I wish you could have taken back that stupid, stupid
thing about your secretary paying lower taxes than you, because
it's stupid, and you know it's stupid.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, there are situations where you can borrow against enormous
but unrealized gains and that quote unquote income is tax free.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yes, I'm familiar with that part of the tax code.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
But yeah, it's just again, it's it's a myth one
the top one percent pay whatever. It is, forty seven
percent of the income tax in America.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Uh, much more to come, including the tragic birth rate situation.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Among human Oh we've got some breaking news. I wanted
to mention. Oh, okay. Trump is just.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Announced he'll give one thousand dollars to any illegal who
voluntarily leaves the country. What you heard me? He is
in full not a complicated says running a.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Game show you know mode right now? I bet it works.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I don't know if he's I don't know where that
money would come from, and I don't know what the
mechanism would be for doing it or any of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I am so mystified this. Where does this one ranking?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Let's reopen Alcatraz as a maximum security prison?
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Is that above or below it in the what are
we doing here? Scale?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I'll bet it would work. I bet a bunch of people.
I'll bet you could get a couple million people to voluntarily.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Leave if they're going to get a thousand bucks.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Thinking short term and or thinking I'm going to have
to leave at some point anyway, so I might as
well get a thousand dollars and you can't get back in.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, the whole hot Christinome with her her ads that
are running now all the time. That let's say, if
you report yourself and leave, you can come back at
some point legally. But if we find you and you
haven't self reported, you're booted out for the rest of
your life.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
If people are hearing that and thinking, wow, I wonder.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
If they're serious, and you'll give me a grand just
to disappear, you know, my uncle rehire me back in
Guadalajara or whatever. I don't I don't know, but a grand,
I mean that's if you're making well, for instance, fifty
two grand a year.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's that's a week's wages.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You're gonna leave the land of milk and honey for
a week's wages?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
What if you think you're gonna get booted out at
some point anyway.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I'm stuck in Alcatraz probably right, it'll be our new
illegal immigrant camp.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
All right, this is just too whacked? All right, fine,
you didn't like it too whack? Can you just passing
along the news of the day. More on the way's
day here.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
And as revolutionary as the pill was in.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
The sixties, freezing eggs so now you can have motherhood
whenever you want it, not during your fun years. When
you're running around and don't want to have kids, you
can put it off to one you're much much older.
According to sixty minutes last night, we'll discuss that probably
an hour four man.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's an interesting story.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, I was thinking about this if if forget that
were human beings, if we were deer, this is your
headline for deer. One would be leader. One buck would
be leader of the deer herd is criticized. The other
would be leader for having antlers too big. Also, young
(13:39):
bucks are now having fun scratching themselves against trees. In
nons of news, the herd is dying out. I mean,
shouldn't that be the leads story? Our herd is dying out.
We're just importing deer from other forests to distract us
from that fact. So stay tuned for that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Some of them have Ms. Thirteen tattooed on their hoops.
That was photoshopped.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
So uh, it is so funny if you are a
savvy consumer of the news to watch the gyrations. A
lot of the lefty media, which is virtually everybody with
the obvious exceptions, The gymnastics they go through if they
come across something that makes them uncomfortable, and they'd prefer
(14:27):
not to report it, whether it's the raging anti semitism
on college campuses or what have you. This is a
perfect example. Did you hear about the giant blackouts in
Europe last week? France and Portugal in particularly in particular,
in particularly.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Massive swaths of Europe had.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Like day long blackouts, no electric power, no flights, no trains,
no medical care, people milling around looking at each other.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What are we supposed to do now? And there's a
big mystery as to what was causing it.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And this was covered extensively on your mainstream media. Cyber attack,
Chinese something or other, the damn Ruskies, who knows. But
then as soon as it became clear what actually had happened,
we've moved on to other things.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Nothing to see. Oh, I have a guess, I didn't
follow this story. Go ahead, guess away. I'll bet it's
a good one.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Green energy didn't fill the role it's supposed to, one
hundred percent over reliance on utterly unreliable green energy.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And I came across a piece that was very, very
good by Emmett Penny in the Free Press that described
as I'll just touch on a little bit because we
don't have much time. But simply put the power grid
as like a giant game of tug of war. On
one side, there's demand, on the other, there's supply. Keeping
the lights on involves making sure the rope between supply
and demand remains taut. This tautness is called inertia in
(16:00):
the energy grid business. Healthy inertia means healthy grid frequency,
which in Europe means fifty hertz. None of this means
anything to any of us, and we'll forget it as
soon as we've heard it. But in the version of
events initially attributed to this other thing, something along one
of the power the lines disrupted the even flow of
power between generators on the grid, which messed with a
(16:23):
frequency which likely tripped off more wind and solar, which
slackened the rope, which probably caused the blackouts.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
They are way way.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Overliant on unpredictable, unsustainable sources of energy. The sources that
made up eighty percent of the mix just before the
blackout can't supply the requisite inertia the grid needs. So
when these atmospheric ostellations they call them took place. The
Spanish grid was already in a precarious scot spot because
(16:54):
it's the dearth of dispatchable power made it much more
vulnerable to the sort of disturbances you're going to have.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
In the real world.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
It makes it rigid, inflexible, and undependable.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
In the modern world. I've been in that whole life. Well,
what are you gonna do? Yeah? Yeah, So that's why
that story went away. Yep.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Interesting to see your folks keep moving. How many pencils
do you need to live? In America?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
That question in others on the way Armstrong and Getty
get some eggs.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Go, Let's get some eggs.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
More and more American women are freezing their eggs to
preserve their fertility.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Those of the eggs.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Could egg freezing offer what previous generations only dreamed of?
The chance to put the biological clock on ice.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
There definitely is that TikTok clock, and I'm not ready
quite yet.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I think that egg freezing is as revolutionary as the
pill was in nineteen sixties and seventies.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
It's as revolutionary as the pell.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Joe's favorite thing that sixty minutes does and does better
than anybody else. Restate what they just said, because your
audience is eighty five years old and you're afraid they
missed it. But the story about freezing eggs and freeing
you up to have kids whenever you want as a woman,
I don't think previous generations necessarily were dreaming of this
(18:14):
and the way you just stated. But let's hear a
couple more and then we'll discuss.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Here we go.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
We spoke to a group of women about their decision
to freeze their eggs.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Why is it a good idea?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
I one hundred percent know that I really would love
to have children.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeas been Higbee is twenty nine, works in consultings and
has a serious boyfriend.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I'll be able to enjoy these times with my partner
a bit more instead of rushing to have kids because
there definitely is that TikTok clock that started and I'm
not ready quite yet.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
It's an insurance.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I know that you know I'm going to be an
older mother.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
This whole thing hurts my heart. One more and then
we'll get into it the next one. They're mine, Oh,
you don't have any ethnikes?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
The next one was going to get into it about
enjoying life instead of rushing into having kids, rushing into
having kids before you're forty five.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What she was talking about. The one we skipped is
no difference in the health of babies.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Oh okay, okay, gotcha. Yeah, uh yeah, I don't I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I'm always uncomfortable with this judging other people's lifestyles. Oh no,
I love that. It's like I do that all day long.
Uh No, it's a couple of things. Number one, you know,
people make these decisions for all sorts of complicated reasons,
and it's very very personal. And second, my wife and
I full disclosure, had our children by today's standards young.
(19:43):
I was twenty seven when I became a dad for
the first time, which people say, wow, you know. Not
very long ago, they'd just said wow, why'd you wait
so long? Now it's wow, you're just a kid. And
Judy was just a little older than me. But and
I don't want to be guy who argues my life
choices over yours reflexively. On the other hand, and I
(20:07):
could list several examples where, especially in the twentieth century,
which was the era of almost the cult of scientific development,
in that we didn't only marvel at it and benefit
from it. We became convinced that if science could do it,
science should do it right. I think that was kind
(20:29):
of the dawn of people really thinking that, and the
infamous unforgivable so moronic. It makes me want to assault.
Somebody thought in the twentieth century that we have designed
this factory manufactured formula that is far superior to a
mother's milk. You're feeding your baby your milk, your mother's milk.
(20:53):
You're a bad parent in a monster feed it these
chemicals from our plant instead, which is monstrous in its
ignorance and belligerence. But generations of kids and moms got
that message.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
My only quibble with the sixty minutes piece was they
didn't present really any of the possible other side in
the way that I think it could have been to
at great length. For instance, and I have no leg
to stand on in this conversation. I didn't have kids
till I was forty five years old, because I'm a guy,
and I can choose to do whatever I want, so I'll.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Well, I appreciate your full disclosure. But at the same time,
I have made a number of life choices that I
am not going to defend at all.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
In fact, I would like to tell you why they're.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Stupid ideas, you know what I mean, or or I
was in that position. If I had it all to
do over again, I'd do it differently. That doesn't make
you a hypocriter.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
I wish I had kids younger for all kinds of
different reasons. It will eliminate the whole grandparent relationship thing
to a great extent when everybody starts having kids, everybody
starts having kids at a much later age, because it
just does.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Your grandparents are in a.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Much different phase of their life if they're around at all,
and all that sort of stuff. I mean, it's I mean,
there's lots of downsides, or even if you don't call
them downsides, changes, and not all changes are positive, as
you say all the time.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, yeah, I would just.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Say, there are a number of biological and that's a
very broad category, number of biological reasons why you are
better off having children when you are younger.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Some of those have been.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Made less significance significant by medical science, which is wonderful.
I mean, for instance, one of the reasons you want
to have your kids ladies when you were young and
very strong and resilient. Is because frequently it went kind
of sideways, and maternal mortality was a serious problem for
human beings and any animal, I suppose, but particularly human
(22:58):
beings because we're born with these enormous brains and very
large heads, which can make the birthing process. I don't
need to tell this to folk. Ladies have given birth.
It can make it very difficult. As I've said more
than once, my first kid, Kate, would have probably died
in childbirth, taking Judy with her. But no, it was
the twentieth century, so thank god everybody survived. So and
(23:21):
so some of the reasons you want to have your
kids this is because of the getty head. Oh yeah,
I mean our heads among you know, normal folks who
have enormous heads we refer to as penheads. We have
college we have we have heads rather like college mascots. Anyway,
I have to wear my order my cowboy hats from
(23:42):
mascot stores Giant well. But anyway, but some of the
realities of giving birth to children, raising children cannot be
changed by you know, science, And there are more and
more studies that show that older eggs, older you know,
sperm whatever, are not quite as effective or more prone
to various problems, which is why they're freezing the eggs,
(24:05):
I guess, But so.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I do feel a little bit.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
I know this is your thing, which we'll talk about next,
is we're on the Titanic talking about how great the
new ships are going to be in ten years as
we get heads straight toward the iceberg, and we are
doing that. In terms of the whole having babies thing,
we'll talk we'll explain what that means right after this.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
From simply safe.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
If you don't leave your house every day looking at
the simply safe sign in your yard like I do,
then I don't know what kind of peace of mind
you have, Like I drive away knowing my house is
protected while I'm at work today with the cameras and
the sensors and everything else and the active guard protection.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
And it's about a dollar a day, so you can
afford it.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Yeah, if you're picturing the old traditional security systems with
their extremely limited technology and their very high price, forget it.
Simply safe is so different simply safe to active gord.
Active guard outdoor protection can help prevent breakings before they happen.
A powered cameras backed by live professional monitoring agents monitor
(25:03):
your property and detect suspicious activity. If somebody's acting suspiciously
outside your home, agents see them, can talk to them
in real time, call the cops, activate spotlights before your
windows get smashed.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And again, this starts at around a dollar a day.
The no long term contract is because they believe in
the product.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
YEP, visit simply safe dot com slash armstrong to claim
fifty percent off a new system with a professional monitoring
plan get your first month free. That's simplysafe dot com
slash armstrong. There's no safe like simply safe.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So last week we had the New York Times story
about designer babies and being able to choose taller or
blue eyes or various things, and the horrors that could
go with that, boys or girls.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Now you got the whole freezing eggs.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
The good news if you're worried about that, I guess
is people ain't gonna have babies period or aren't currently,
and there's no reason to think that's gonna turn around
anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, we talked about this more than once. You've probably
heard about it from other folks as well. But our
birth rates in the developed world are they rang from Oh,
my Lord to Great God, we're already dead. In the
United States, we're at one point six six. The conventional
wisdom being each mother needs to have two point one
children on average. I was just reading a genetic study
(26:15):
that said it's really closer to two point seven children
to avoid families dying out on a genetic ongoing basis.
But that gets a little complicated statistically, But anyway, it's
more than two children on average per mom just to
keep the population exactly the same. And we're at one
(26:37):
point six six or so in America, and Japan is
at one point three, and South Korea the poster child
for not having kids is whereas at point eighty seven.
Whoa greatoo. Canada's one point four to seven. It's less
than America. You're fifty first state only because it'll be
(26:58):
empty soon. So yeah, the birth rates are crazy. I
just and I say this every time.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I do not believe it's because, you know, like the
clips we just played from sixty minutes, I've just got
so many things I want to do now. Well, wasn't
that long ago the things people wanted to do was
have a kid?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah, they were, they weren't.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
I guess I'll have the kid, I'm gonna have to
put off travel and all these other things I want
to do or social pressure.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, my mom keeps bugging me, so we probably ought
to go ahead and get pregnant.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
The thing you wanted to do more than anything in
the world was have a kid, and it wasn't just
because TikTok wasn't around. So you know, whatever he's driving
that I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, yeah, uh.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
And again I want to tread with light foot on
this stuff because people can make their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
And I'm going to cast dispersions.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
If you can preserve your eggs and they're still in
great shape and some of the problems with older eggs
and older sperm or not resent, I suppose that's fine.
I just I will tell you as a young parent,
it's worked out fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's been great.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
We're we're pretty poor. I mean we were, you know. Famously,
I would occasionally go out for a beer with friends,
and as I've said through the years, I had the
budget for one ninety nine cent draft one. That was it,
and if nobody wanted to buy me a beer, I
went home afterward.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
And it was fine.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I actually remember those days yeah, you know, I didn't
dig it at the time, but it's fine. And again,
you make the choices that work for you. Don't send
your indignant email saying, well, it's fine and good for
you to say, but this is my reality. That's fine
that I'm not talking about you. But I have God
willing a good long few decades that my grown kids
(28:48):
are my friends and I get to see them live
their life and someday I hope to have grandkids.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You know, we have our own family circumstances, but with.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Our individual kids, but there are wonderful, wonderful advantages to it.
I had tons of energy. I was working, you know,
obscene hours early in our career, and I was coaching
my kids teams and wrestling with him and running around
and playing catching the art.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
But it was great in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
But you know, to each their own, so just and
the only reason I bring that up is not to
say it's better and you're a dope if you don't.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Because there's a right way, wrong way. I appreciate your rigidity.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
It's it's just to say, if you all, if you've
been listening to those messages that oh you got to
wait until you can afford, you know, designer baby clothes.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
And that's the dumbest. It's not true. That is the
absolute dumbest reason.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
I had a neighbor who used to say, just throw
it out there because this was his addy, because he
had kids older before I had ever had kids. He'd
always say, I wouldn't trade your fifties for my twenties.
That was his big saying. And he had such a
good time in his twenties. He glad he didn't ruin
it by having kids. So I don't know if he
still feels that way. It's possibly he feels different now
that he's older, and.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
I hope he's happy whatever I think.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Just to throw in my two cents on that having
kids older, I don't think I enjoyed all the free
time I had when I was younger, the way you
would if you raised your kids already. I just thought
that was life. No, I was on vacation the entire
time and didn't know it. Yeah, that's funny. I was
retired basically and didn't even know it. So it was
(30:26):
a lot of wasted time.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It would have been funny if you'd said, you know,
as a guy with full time job. Yeah, I'm semi retired.
And then I screw around all that.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I see people at the airport traveling without kids, and
I don't care what your business trip is or whatever
you're on vacation if you're not traveling with kids.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah. Yeah, So I wanted to get to this. It's
a somewhat different topic, but it is. Uh, why don't
I just go ahead and mention it. Then we'll take
a break.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
You know, my joke about we've got all these health
problems as Homo sapiens and and my joke is one
scientist said, well, they're eating completely different things than they've
ever eaten before as a species. The other scientist said, nah,
that's not it. I mean, what the hell silly.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
And knee jerk would that be? Oh, here's another one.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Scientists have made an alarming discovery inside human ovaries. Ladies,
you know what she got a bunch of in your ovaries? Microplastics?
Oh yeah, new study shows what scientists have feared for
a long time, the effect of microplastics on human fertility.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Stay wit us, Okay, and then you're gonna go on
about seed oil. I know how you are, so stay right,
no one not. I don't care about oil.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
There's Lark.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Wow, Logo had a little point afterwards.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That was Caitlin Clark yesterday.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
So she returned to a University of Iowa court for
its exhibition game aim to play where she became famous
and took a shot from just inside the half court
line and nailed it and everybody went in berzerco to
her inner defense for taking that shot. They were up
fifty five at the time, so wow, the game was
fairly solidly put away.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Dominant performance.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, yeah, she was showboating hot dog and I don't appreciately.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So I don't know what to do with this information.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Recent study shows evidence what scientists have feared for long time,
the effects of microplastics on human fertility. And Jack and
I have a personal interest, not just a professional and
broad human interest in what seems to be a real
increase in the number of kids with various developmental problems
(32:46):
from autism to mental health issues to whatever. I mean,
it's just undeniable. I was doing a little mental just
kind of sensus of the people close to me, whether
personal life or actual family and the rest of it,
and the number of kids with autism or similar issues.
Is notable, I sure is just say that for the
(33:08):
first time, scientists have discovered microplastics in the follicular fluid
of human ovaries. According to a new peer reviewed study,
this fluid plays a crucial role in nourishing and developing
a woman's eggs, and researchers have alarmingly found plastic particles
in fourteen out of eighteen samples collected from patients undergoing
fertility treatment. It's not a huge study, obviously, but it's
(33:31):
peer reviewed and the research makes marks a major step
forward and understanding how deep plastic pollution runs, not just
in the environment but in our bodies. And then they
go into some of the function of this fluid in
the way ovaries do what they do. But the presence
of microplastics in this fluid raises the possibility that these
tiny particles are interfering with essential reproductive processes.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Well, and these people have been looking at virtually every
fluid human beings produce and secrete. They have found microplastics
in us and animals.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, I know, do.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Work if you can get it. I want to analyze
all your secretions. Any liquid that comes out of you.
I don't care where on the body. I'm going to
take a good look, hard look at it. I've made
a career of it.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
It's more interesting than you'd think you But animal studies
have suggested that the plastics may disrupt O variant function
and reduce the ability to conceive. This does not speak
to child developmental stuff. So that connection I made in
my mind is there's no suggestion to that in this study.
(34:44):
But something is going on in reproduction and or you know,
there's absolutely microplastics and breast milk over again, where are
we get in most of the microplastics?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
That is it? Because when you of us drink out
of plastic water bottles, Oh no, because plastic is everywhere.
I know it is.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
It's everywhere all the time, and it gets thrown away
and broken up and dissolves.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
But I don't know if there's that much more plastic
in my life than there was forty years ago, other
than the water bottles.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Yes, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, there's plastic in everything in
a way that you know forty years ago. Well, certainly
like fifty years ago. You remember the famous line from
the graduate one word Benjamin plastics, The omnipresence of I
wish I had some stats in front of me, But yeah,
(35:39):
plastic has gone from a rarity to everywhere all the
time in everything. Go by by one hundred bucks worth
of groceries and take a look at how much plastic
packaging there is. For instance, that was absolutely not the
case the generation two generations ago. And it breaks down,
whether by sunlight, by water, by being crushed up or whatever.
(36:00):
It's not like I mean, the water bottles might play
a role, but it's like microscopic, little tiny bits of
it that you breathe in.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You never have anything.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Wouldn't it be something if it turns out that's one
of the worst things mankind ever did was invent plastic.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Wouldn't shock me.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
Wouldn't shock me either, Well, that'd be a revolution to
try to get rid of plastic in the world.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yeah, and we're not some sort of environmental nut job
show here. We're just trying to understand what is.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
If you miss a segment or now, or we do
lots of them, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Armstrong and Getty
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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