July 5, 2026 • 53 mins
Join us in this best of edition for expert discussions and analysis on news, politics, the midterm elections, the future of Social Security, investing and financial strategies, what a career in music offers and how the Bible reveals that fun and happiness come from God.
(00:00) Lanny Davis, political veteran and Special Counsel to President Clinton, discusses the current Washington DC political climate and explains what steps Democrats need to take leading up to the midterm elections.
(11:50) Marc Goldwein presents the details of the latest report from the Social Security Administration on the financial solvency of the program, what would happen if no actions are taken and what steps need to be taken to strengthen it.
(23:05) CNBC Contributor Jimmy Lebenthal shares ideas and strategies about investing and how to create a plan which best fits goals.
(34:53) Singer/songwriter Karen Hardy talks about her music career, the challenges it presented and what her future goals are.
(46:41) Chris DeBello reveals how the Bible teaches that fun and happiness are blessings from God
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to this festive edition of Issues and
Ideas with Christopher.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Can you think of any other time in modern-day
politics than there's beendivision like we're seeing
today?
What's been the results?
Well, you know, very little.
Legislation passed, programsthat millions rely on for their
health and well-being, not justendangered, even cut, serve two
to one, replacing serving themany, and uh, basic overall
hostility that's expanding thedivision even more.
(00:27):
Doesn't sound like there's muchhope, does it?
Well, I believe there is.
If you learn from the ideas andinsights my guest offers through
his experience, he also sharesin his recent book, Finding the
Third Way, lessons in thepolitics of Stay It With Me,
civility from my journey throughhistory, well of being a partner
and co-founder of the law firmDavid Goldberg and Galper,
(00:48):
partner in the public relationsfirm Trident DMG, served as
special counsel to PresidentBill Clinton, and to this day is
a devoted Willie Mays fan, LennyDavis.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_05 (00:59):
Say hey, Willie.
Uh and now I'm a Knicks uhalways been a Knicks fan, but
thank you for that intro.
I do want to just jump into onevery provocative and interesting
comment you made.
Has there ever been a time inU.S.
history?
And I don't think there hasbeen, except for one time period
where 300,000 Americans killedeach other called the Civil War,
(01:22):
and that was when we were usingfirearms.
But short of using firearms, theTrump era and Democrats carry
some responsibility too, is theworst in American history.
So I do agree with you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
But when you look at the just the sheer numbers of
things in the House and theSenate, the numbers being so
evenly divided, what's that doesthat tell what does that tell of
the of the American citizenshipthat we don't know which one's
the better offer right now, oris this an opportunity, as many
believe in the midterms comingup in November, for the
(01:55):
Democrats to really see the doorbeing wide open for them to make
a difference and move forward?
SPEAKER_05 (02:03):
Well, first of all, the difference nowadays is
personal demonization ofsomebody you disagree with.
Uh back in the days uh where itwas Ronald Reagan, very partisan
conservative Republicans versusvery liberal Democrats, and a
lot of really uh vitriolic uhwords being exchanged.
(02:25):
At the end of a long day, uh itwas absolutely a fact that uh
President Reagan would get intothe presidential limousine, very
quietly go out uh South Lawnexit, go up to the hill, uh go
into a side entrance wherenobody um uh would be
surrounding him, although ofcourse people were aware that
(02:48):
the president was visiting.
And where would he go?
He'd go into Tip O'Neill'soffice, the speaker of the house
who during the day was beatingup on him, uh verbally but not
physically, and what would theydo?
They would tip a scotch orwhiskey, they would laugh, they
would disagree, and they wouldfigure it out.
(03:10):
That's a big deal difference.
And I know in the Clinton WhiteHouse, with all the polarization
between Newt Gingrich and BillClinton and Democrats and
Republicans during the daytime.
Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrichand I would throw in Joe
Scarborough because now he's a TV personality, but back then he
was a backbencher hardcoreconservative.
(03:33):
They would sit down and what didthey do?
They balanced the budget.
And when balance the budget,that's an expression that you
say, what come on, nobodybalances any budgets anymore.
And when Bill Clinton leftoffice on his last day after two
terms, he left a three billiondollar surplus.
(03:54):
And he didn't do that himself.
He did it with Gingrich andScarborough and the Republicans
compromising.
So that's a big deal ofdifference than today and back
then.
SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Well, another big difference is, and I said this
in the intro for for a reason,serving one versus serving the
many.
And you know, it's great whenyou see Marjorie Taylor Green,
John Cornyn, Tom Tillis, uh, thelist is growing, speaking out
against Donald Trump, but theproblem is they're all on their
way out.
Unless, you know, for those whoaren't getting primaried out or
(04:29):
saying, you know, I've hadenough, I'm out of here, those
are the ones we need to hearthat from.
SPEAKER_05 (04:34):
Well, that's the reason they're uh free, is they
don't worry about losing theiroffice because they're out
anyway.
It'd be great to see a couple ofmembers of the Republican caucus
say, you know what, this jobdoesn't pay me enough to really
undermine our Constitutionbecause the Congress is supposed
(04:55):
to be the check and balance tothe executive, and we've got the
spending power.
That's what the framers wrote.
We want there to be a stalematebetween executive power and the
Congress.
We don't want a dictatorship ofthe Congress.
They were more worried if youread the history of the writing
of the Constitution.
Believe it or not, uh JamesMadison wrote they were more
(05:16):
worried about a parliamentarydemocracy because of their
memories of somebody namedCromwell who took over the
British Parliament and almostimposed a a dictatorship with
the Parliament.
So they were worried about toomuch power in the Congress.
But the whole point is checksand balances don't trust anyone.
And we're going to needRepublicans who are not fearful
(05:40):
about losing their jobs, notjust the ones on their way out.
But I I have to say, Democratsare no different.
Democrats have not stood up todemocratic presidents.
Everyone feels a need to beloyal to the president of their
party.
So I'm trying to be even-handedhere that I'm not just blaming
it on a party or a group ofRepublicans.
(06:01):
It's part of our system.
This loyalty issue, overcomingpatriotism and commitment to the
Constitution.
I think both parties now arewaking up to the need for there
to be checks and balancesbecause Donald Trump's made it
very clear he thinks executivepower is supreme and that that
there isn't a check and balance.
There is a whole group ofconservative Republicans who
(06:26):
have invested in projects aboutexecutive power.
They actually call it theunitary executive, which is
contradicted by James Madisonand the Constitution.
There should be no unitaryanything.
The whole system was set up notto trust any part of the three
branches of government.
So we've got a challenge,certainly.
(06:47):
And it's both parties.
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
I keep saying Democrats have a lot of
responsibility for this mess, aswell as Republicans.com.
You're listening to issues andideas.
So let's take that approachlooking at both parties, because
for the Democrats, everyone'ssaying a door wide open, I just
(07:09):
said it earlier, too.
But it's not an automatic.
And for Republicans, what is itthey need to do to avoid falling
back to the days of almostirrelevancy, back to the days
I'm showing my political agehere, Bob Livingston and Trent
Lott leadership times.
SPEAKER_05 (07:27):
Two great people, by the way.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
Oh yeah, no slam on them, but they were they were
very complacent.
SPEAKER_05 (07:34):
Mr.
Livingston and Mr.
Gingrich uh over the years I'veactually become friends with,
which is shows it's possible.
So I I think there's about twoor three answers.
Uh I'd speak to the Democratsfirst, because I'm a Democrat.
I think we have failed miserablyin giving the American people an
alternative to Donald Trump.
(07:55):
And the proof for me is I have alot of liberal Democratic
friends, uh some of themconservative Democratic friends,
who voted for Trump.
And the reason they always giveme is they dislike Trump's
character, they think he lies,they think he ignores the rule
of law, all that stuff.
Then why did you vote for him?
(08:16):
Because you're worse, meaningyou Democrats.
You don't have anything to tellme positive, you only know how
to trash Trump.
So for me, my big goal the nextfew months, I'm writing some
columns on the subject, is theway James Carvel said, if the
economy's stupid, well, I'msaying to Democrats, it's
policies stupid.
(08:38):
We have to change policies,policies that have offended the
middle class and working classof the country that we used to
have, that were FranklinRoosevelt, Harry Truman, John
Kennedy Democrats.
We've lost a lot of them.
So I'm focusing on what are wesaying, what do we stand for
(08:59):
that's offensive, and how can wehave a positive message to the
American people?
SPEAKER_01 (09:05):
When you take into account too, as of most recent
polling, there's a huge block ofvoters that are just drifting
right now, specifically theblack and Hispanic voters.
Trump did gain a lot of supportfrom those two demographics, but
for a variety of reasons,they're turning away from the
Republicans, but have yet, ingreat part, turned to the
(09:28):
Democrats.
Is that going to be the thedeciding factor what happens
with the midterms?
SPEAKER_05 (09:34):
Well, you're absolutely right.
They're turning away from, butthey're not turning to the
Democratic Party, because whenyou turn away from something,
you have to have something thatyou're listening to that you
like.
You don't turn away and thenhear silence.
You think to yourself, I havenowhere to go if all you're
(09:55):
doing is silence.
So for me, I'll just give you aprelude to what I'm about to
start writing for Real ClearPolitics, which is a series of
columns about what are we for?
And it comes down to, withoutimitating him exactly, it comes
down to thinking like BillClinton.
When he left office on his lastday after two terms, can you
(10:18):
imagine if Donald Trump couldsay something like this, which
of course he can, on BillClinton's last day after two
terms, he had a 66% Gallup jobapproval rating?
That is unprecedented inAmerican history.
(10:39):
How did he get, with all of theissues and controversies, and
when I was at the White Housethey called them scandals, which
I was responsible for handlingwith the White House press
corps?
How did Bill Clinton achievetwo-thirds of the American
people gave him a positive jobapproval rating?
Right now, Donald Trump is downto thirty percent job approval,
(11:03):
the lowest in American history.
How did Clinton do it?
It's the policies stupid.
SPEAKER_01 (11:10):
Again, the book is Finding the Third Way.
He talks about th throughpersonal experience.
This isn't theory or studies orresearch, it's through personal
experience and observations ofhow there lies before us answers
and opportunities for astronger, better population, as
opposed to politicians.
(11:30):
You can also learn more aboutLanny's life and world at
LannyJDavis.com.
Lanny, it's always an educationspeaking with you.
Look forward to your upcomingcolumns.
I know they will additionally beeducational.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_05 (11:48):
I'm a great fan.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
As the date of the fund insolvency moved even more
soon than had already beenanticipated.
So what's this mean for peoplereceiving Social Security
benefits?
Is there anything we've done toextend rather than shorten the
solvency of the program?
Eric for all this is the seniorvice president and senior policy
director with the committee fora responsible federal budget.
(12:23):
Mark Goldwarren, how are youtoday, Mark?
SPEAKER_07 (12:25):
Uh I'm good.
Thanks so much for having me on.
SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
Well, great to have you here to help people better
understand because they hear thehead or they see the headlines
and the fear strikes so theymissed out on important details
and to see the report on SocialSecurity by the Committee of for
a Responsible Federal Budget andanswers and solutions as well.
CRFB.org is their website, andwe have that link at our
homepage as well.
(12:48):
So I said the news was not good,Mark.
How bad was the news in thislatest report?
SPEAKER_07 (12:52):
Um it's pretty bad.
Look, people should be a littlescared.
Here's what the report says.
Um Social Security is projectedto run out of its reserves in
six years in 2032, and thenMedicare is projected to run out
of its reserves six months laterin 2033.
Now that doesn't mean eitherprogram goes away.
(13:13):
But what the law says is thatwhen it has no reserves, that
the benefits get cut to matchthe revenue.
And for Social Security, that isa twenty-two percent benefit
cut, abrupt, immediate, andprobably across the board.
SPEAKER_01 (13:25):
Now what's uh as I said, the the insolvency date
continues to to get closer andcloser, as you said now down to
six years.
It had been longer not too longago, ironically.
What's the what's been thedriving catalyst for this this
dark day getting closer?
SPEAKER_07 (13:44):
So the insolvency date moved up a bit.
They moved up two or threemonths because um there's less
revenue coming coming in fromtaxation to benefits from the
one big beautiful bill.
But the real reason that we'velost time is because uh we've
spent a year ignoring thisissue, right?
So last year we had seven years,and then we waited a year.
So big surprise now we have sixyears.
(14:05):
Uh the problem is we've beendoing this since the eighties.
We've known this problem wascoming.
We've been talking about fixingit since the nineties, and yet
here we are in the year 2026,and we're no closer, and if
anything, further, from fixingit than we were back then.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
When the the whole the whole program was created by
initiatives from then PresidentFranklin Delano or Roosevelt,
didn't FDR even say that whatwe're doing is not a forever
situation at some point in thefuture.
New ideas and new and new pathshave to be taken, and it's just
been completely totally ignored.
SPEAKER_07 (14:39):
Well, in fairness, I think that what he envisioned
was the program was going to getbigger, and that is exactly what
happened.
It expanded to includesurvivors' benefits and spousal
benefits and disabilitybenefits, and to be larger and
to be automatically indexed.
So we have, in fact, followedthrough on his vision to expand
the program.
The problem is we haven'tfollowed through on his vision
to file fully finance it.
FDR always believed SocialSecurity should be paid for
(15:02):
internally.
People should pay their own way.
And right now, the revenue isway short of the benefits.
And so either we need more taxescoming in, less benefits going
out, or some combination.
And frankly, it's hard for me tosee any solution other than some
combination.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
And that's for forty-three percent of seniors,
all or most of their personalincome.
So again, like uh like Morrissaid, there is a fear that's
growing as far as the as theinsolvency time gets closer and
closer.
In the past, has this happenedand how has it been been
(15:46):
addressed in the past to extendthe solvency?
SPEAKER_07 (15:49):
Yeah, so we've had two times in the past that we've
approached insolvency in 1977and 1983.
And both times in differentways, policymakers came together
um and they enacted a set offixes.
We raised the retirement age, weincreased the amount of income
subject to the CAP, we changedthe payroll tax, we brought more
people onto the program, weadjusted the formula.
Like, the solutions are outthere.
(16:10):
And and I do also want to pointout, you're right, there are so
many people that really rely onSocial Security, and a 22%
benefit cut would bedevastating.
It would cut benefits by$500 amonth, even in just today's
dollars.
But there's a whole other set ofpeople that are that don't even
really rely on their socialsecurity at all.
The social security benefits arenow a hundred thousand dollars
(16:31):
for the very richest couples.
And so there's opportunities, Ithink, to slow the benefit
growth for seniors that havetens of millions of dollars in
assets um in order to preserveit for those that really are
relying on the program.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
Yeah, I mean it sounds like an obvious
observation.
If someone is sitting on savingsor if life really worked out for
them and they have assets of ofseven, eight, nine figures, why
do they need social security?
SPEAKER_07 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean I think that's a fair question.
Um now uh we've proposedsomething that doesn't actually
take away their social security.
All it says is your socialsecurity benefits can't go over
for a couple a hundred thousanddollars a year.
So even if you have tens ofmillions, we're still saying you
can collect a hundred thousand,just maybe not a hundred and ten
thousand.
I think it's a pretty modestproposal.
Um and it wouldn't fix socialsecurity on its own, but it
(17:20):
would help make some somesignificant leeway.
SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
And you mentioned too that the idea, the plan was
that you pay in and take outwhat you pay in like you would
with a bank account or achecking account, but just
because of the way the theprogram has grown and the
finances have all but all butcollapsed, that's that idea is
long past, and I don't thinkwe'd ever get back to that that
ratio, would we?
SPEAKER_07 (17:42):
Yeah, I mean the problem is people are actually
have been getting out more thanthey put in on average.
It was never supposed to be likea savings account that you get
what you put back in.
But there was this idea that youpaying in sort of bought you the
ticket to be able to getbenefits.
The problem is those benefitshave been larger than the
payments.
And um the sort of the scheme isfalling apart because there's
(18:04):
there's such a large gap.
And so either people are gonnahave to pay more, they're gonna
have to get less, or there's onescary option, which is the
federal government may say it'stoo hard to change social
security, we're just gonnaborrow.
We're just gonna borrow another$800 trillion over the next 75
years.
That would put the country intoa debt crisis.
SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
There there's various programs under the
umbrella of Social Security, butthey're separate funds.
Is there a way to, would it beprudent to combine the funds and
would that prolong the solvency?
SPEAKER_07 (18:37):
Right.
So the retirement fund runs outin 2032.
There's a separate disabilityfund, that fund is healthy, and
we could take some money fromthe disability fund, put it to
the retirement fund, that wouldbuy us about a year and a half.
So that could get us to 2034.
Um that might make sense aswe're sort of buying time to
phase in changes, but it's not apermanent solution.
(18:58):
It's a kick the can thatliterally gets you, you know,
from one presidentialadministration to the next.
It doesn't get you much furtherthan that.
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
When when you say to raise taxes to create revenue
for the program, what kind oftax increase would w would be
ballpark be talking about?
SPEAKER_07 (19:15):
So if we were to do this entirely from the payroll
tax rate, we'd ultimately haveto increase that rate by 50%.
So right now, the payroll taxrate for Social Security is
12.4%, you pay half, youremployer pays half.
We'd have to gradually increaseit to about 19%, 18 or 19%.
So this is a massive increase.
Now, we could do less of that ifwe solve some of the problem by
(19:38):
raising that cap, that$185,000cap on income subject to the
wage cap.
But that's not going to solvethe whole problem either.
That over the long run solvesmaybe a quarter of the problem.
And we could also look at thingslike subjecting some kinds of
fringe benefits to the tax.
So we don't have to do it allwith the rate increase, but to
solve this all on the tax side,over time, we're talking about a
(19:59):
very large tax increase.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
You you present, and again, over at your website, uh
CRFB.org, you present detailedpaths to repair what's already
broken.
Problem is, well, we have themidterms looming, and if the
party who is in charge remainsin charge, we see program cuts
as their idea as far as you knowwhat what's left to be cut other
(20:25):
than then again money to thebeneficiaries.
SPEAKER_07 (20:31):
Well, look, uh Social Security benefits um not
only are large for those richbeneficiaries, but they actually
continue to grow pretty rapidlyover time.
Over the next seventy-fiveyears, average real benefits,
meaning adjusted for inflation,are projected to triple.
And so there is room to savemoney by just slowing the
growth.
But we have six years untilinsolvency and we're not gonna
(20:54):
make huge changes to currentbeneficiaries, which means there
really is no option other thanhaving tax revenue.
You can't save money from newbeneficiaries fast enough.
Um and frankly, I don't thinkyou can raise taxes high enough,
which is why I say we're gonnaneed some kind of combination of
more taxes and less benefits.
But it doesn't have to be lessbenefits than today.
It just has to be less benefitsthan projected in the future.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
I know this is outside your realm, but uh one
of the other contributing factsto the solvency of Social
Security is the fact thatundocumented undocumented
immigrants they can't at leastlegally receive benefits from
Social Security, but whenthey're working on the books,
they pay into Social Security.
So theoretically, if as so manypeople want to do, you remove
(21:39):
that demographic from thecontributing population, that
would just magnify the problem.
SPEAKER_07 (21:45):
That that's right.
I mean, one of the funny things,maybe not funny, um, but there's
some people that think you canfix social security by cutting
fraud.
It turns out fraud of collectingbenefits is actually very low.
The biggest source of fraud inSocial Security is people that
are illegally paying.
into the program.
Right?
And so it's um illegal,undocumented, whatever you want
to call it, um, immigrants thatare actually helping the program
(22:08):
by paying in and not gettingbenefits back.
And so the recent um r you knowstrengthening of immigration
rules and administrationactually has worsened Social
Security's trust fund.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Well as I said we have the midterm elections
coming up and hopefully for youlistening this will be a key
part of what you're asking andlistening from the candidates
when they start talking aboutthings that matter to you.
We have the Social Securityreport over at our downloads
page.
If you uh don't do it on a fullstomach, trust me, but check
that out because a lot of graphsand a lot of information and to
(22:40):
find some path to solutions,that's what the Committee for
Responsible Federal Budget isproviding at CRFB.org.
He is their senior vicepresident and senior policy
director Mark Goldwine.
Thanks so much for being heretoday and helping us better
understand the urgency offinding a solution to a very
serious problem.
Thanks again.
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
If you're listening via your favorite podcast
platform, be sure to follow andsubscribe.
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Question You ever ride the subway?
Not any on the city experiencecan certainly vary some systems
perform better than others.
There's more route and scheduleinformation available with some
more than others.
While they can all get you towhere you need to go, the times
can vary.
Sounds a lot like investing inbusiness relationships, doesn't
it?
My next guest thought so hebelieved it so much he's written
(23:26):
a book based on this idea.
His story is one of growing upin New York City, learning
underground on the subway, thenlater above ground on Wall
Street and in boardrooms, shareshis story and investing insight
in his book How to Ride theSubway, getting around on Wall
Street and in life, along withbeing Chief Strategy Officer and
partner with Sarate Partners.
(23:47):
He's a frequent CNBC contributorand a true subway tologist Jimmy
Labenthor.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_06 (23:54):
Oh I'm great, Chris, and I really have to thank you
for kindly introducing the bookthat way.
I may have to record that anduse that myself.
That was so well done.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
Well you know I I actually read the book.
I'm one of those odd people soit's like and to learn more
about not just Jimmy's book buthis entire financial world,
Jimmy Labenthal.com, SerityPartners, C-E-R-I-T-Y,
SaratyPartners.com.
We have those links over at ourwebpage.
I have seen investing comparedto a lot of things from cheese
(24:26):
to animals to several pointsbeyond that.
What was your aha moment whenyou connected subways and
everything you need for strategydown there with Wall Street and
the strategies you need upthere?
SPEAKER_06 (24:40):
Great question, Chris.
And you know the reason to writethe book is that I frequently
appear on TV as an investor andsomebody who gives commentary on
the markets.
What I find is that when I speakI have about 15 seconds to get
my ideas out before the anchorcuts me off or my fellow
contributors start chiming in.
So I wanted to write a book so Icould give a little more long
(25:03):
format to how I invest.
But just giving a book or justwriting a book about investing
would have been a little bitboring.
And the simple truth is Iabsolutely love the subways and
I use the subway in New YorkCity to get to the studio which
is the New York Stock Exchangefor the uh airing of the CNBC
show that I'm on and it was justwhile I was on the subway I said
(25:25):
why don't I use my passion, mylove for the subways which goes
back to age six in the 1970s.
Why don't I use that as ametaphor for investing to spice
things up a little bit insteadof just talking about dividend
stocks or how the markets movejust put some metaphors from the
subway in it.
And I I I hope it works.
I'm happy I did it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:46):
Well I think you should be too because it'll
teach the the novices give a Ithink a more focused direction
to those who are wandering andfor those who are like to think
of themselves as experiencedinvestors it just reinforces a
lot of basic ideas and evenreminds us.
Like for example you start offabout knowing where you're going
(26:07):
because if you don't know whereyou're going to go how do you
know what you're going to needin order to get there?
What are you going to invest inif you don't know where you want
to go?
SPEAKER_06 (26:15):
Well that's exactly right.
And again the metaphor of theNew York City subway system at
least in Manhattan is that it'svery oriented along north-south
axes.
So most of the subway lines comedown either the west side or the
east side or midtown.
There's very few cross Manhattanuh subway lines.
There is the shuttle but notmuch more than that.
(26:37):
And so if you're trying to getuh from the Upper West side to
the upper east side, hey guesswhat?
The subway is not your spot.
And in a similar way if you'retrying to make money then and
maybe you don't want to takerisks.
Well you know what the equitymarket is not your speed you
should be in the bond market.
It's and I use that's a greatexample Chris of the metaphor
that I use you know othermetaphors that frame the
(27:00):
chapters in the book includethings like patience.
The subway will arrive it willget you where you need to go.
So will the stock market.
Uh perseverance probably myfavorite though is serendipity
of just being aware that theworld does move in in random
collisions that tend to work outfor your benefit.
And so sometimes you can be onthe subway and you can see a a
(27:22):
crazy sight and I use in thebook the example of an
underground rail yard in UpperManhattan that I came across one
day.
And it's just a way of exploringand finding new things, finding
better things which the stockmarket always gives you an
opportunity to find reallyexciting good new ways to make
money.
SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
And there are running things you have going
throughout your book as well asfar as you think you figured it
out, you think this is going towork everything's going to be
perfect.
SPEAKER_06 (27:50):
You know this is the thing it's not always going to
be that way is it listen that'sa that's a great uh that forms a
chapter.
I think the the name of thechapter is Bad Things Happen.
And I use as the uh enteringanecdote to that chapter when
Superstorm Sandy hit New YorkCity I think it was 2013 uh it
(28:11):
it was just a perfect strike onthe harbor of New York City and
it caused a storm surge wherebasically lower Manhattan was
about ten feet underwater.
Well you know water flows to thelowest spot and the lowest spot
are the subway systems and thetunnels that go underneath the
East River.
So the subway system wasinundated it was flooded it was
basically out of service for acouple of days and in some cases
(28:34):
there was maintenance that wenton for years to repair the
damage.
Look sometimes in the stockmarket bad things happen.
We can look at the last 18months or so and see that we've
had a very dramatic decline whenthe war with Iran started we had
a dramatic decline when thetariffs were announced on
Liberation Day in 2025.
(28:54):
But but the subway system isstill here and the stock market
is still a great place to makemoney as we can see right now
Chris as you and I are talkingwe're at all time highs in the
stock market.
It's just a matter of of bearingdown having the grit to get
through the bad times which willinevitably happen.
Can't be avoided.
SPEAKER_01 (29:14):
Jimmy Labenthal in his book How to Ride the Subway,
getting along on Wall Street andin life Jimmy Labenthal dot com.
He's a partner chief strategyofficer with Sarity Partners
SarratyPartners.com both linksof course at our home page and
you're listening to issues andideas.
Question on for the purpose ofthe novice or the newbie you can
hear of a stock see your companymaybe you're you or someone else
(29:36):
on CNBC talking about it.
You punch in the the tickersymbol in Google and stock
rating you will get inundatedwith information and it could be
confused.
You could have 25 analystssaying strong buy buy get this
now before it's too late andthere'll be one analyst saying
sell it now.
(29:57):
How does the novice try todecipher things like that?
SPEAKER_06 (30:01):
I think there's there's really two ways of doing
this.
You can hire a professional likemyself to pick the stocks for
you or you can do what I dowhich is what I recommend in the
book which is to really divedeep and become an expert in the
stock that you're looking at.
Specifically what I mean by thisis getting into the financial
(30:21):
statements looking at thefootnotes to those financial
statements figuring out what youcan find out that the rest of
the world doesn't know.
And again with this analogy thatgoes throughout the book um I
draw it back to the subwaysystem.
Many people ride the subwayunderneath the East River every
day.
There's probably a hundredthousand or more and those
(30:42):
tunnels are fabulousconstructions of engineering.
In fact the first tunnel subwaytunnel under the East River was
longer than the Holland tunnelunder the Hudson River when it
opened in the early 20thcentury.
When the Holland Tunnel openedfor vehicular traffic uh the
President of the United Statescalled and inaugurated it was
(31:02):
big fanfare all the newspaperstalked about it.
Nobody talked about the subwaytunnel that was created years
earlier and that was longer andstill to this day as I said
transports over a hundredthousand people through it.
That what I'm describing there,yeah it may be a little bit
geeky but that's the sort ofexpertise that's the sort of
(31:23):
level of knowledge that if youwant to be a stock picker you
really should do.
You should get into thosefinancial statements and not
just for the company you'relooking at but its competitors
maybe even its suppliers orcustomers um so that's that's
that's my advice to the noviceis get your hands dirty really
become an expert in it.
SPEAKER_01 (31:43):
And you certainly there's enough material by which
you can everyone can do that andit's a learning experience to be
sure but it's for your benefitto indeed learn valid
information.
Want to wrap up with this ideayou mentioned here you certainly
make yourself a show yourself tobe a proponent of it throughout
your book long holding long termI I said the one time to a
(32:04):
friend of mine are you a longterm holder who said yeah I
might hold a stock for up to twoweeks sometimes I mean you you
just especially if it's adividend stock why would you be
anything else but a long-termholder?
SPEAKER_06 (32:16):
Well I you know two each their own I love the
subways some people think thesubways are dirty and smelly and
they don't want to go in themthat's fine.
Those people can be traders butthe beauty about long-term
investing is if you just stickwith the stock market and in
particular stick with highquality stocks the names you
(32:37):
know the best companies in eachindustry you can feel very
comfortable that they will getyou through thick and thin.
Now there's going to be timeslike we're in right now where
the stock market's been rallyingfor four years and everything
seems easy.
But being in those qualitystocks even through the downturn
is the way that you can actuallymake money coming on the other
side of a downturn when thosecompanies thrive as their
(33:00):
competitors sometimes have beenhobbled by the tough business
conditions of say a recession.
So for me the biggest thing barnone is to stay in the market
for as long as you can and Imean years and years, decades.
I think Chris quite often aboutuh what is the biggest value
that I add to my clients and itis frankly holding their hands
(33:22):
when the stock market looks alittle tricky like we were just
talking about last yearLiberation Day or this year with
the war in Iran and justreminding them that we've made
money over the decades and we'relikely to do so in the decades
to come.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
Yeah without doubt a quality stock is a quality stock
even in the down period andthose down periods last a lot
shorter when it is indeed thatquality stock this is a great
book for investors of all levelsas well as if you if you want
some guidance for life ingeneral because what Jimmy
writes about can certainly beexpanded into whatever your
specific career is, whateveryour business relationships are.
(33:57):
You'll find it very quickly tounderstand as well how to ride
the subway, getting around onWall Street and in life.
Learn more about Jimmy Labenthalat Jimmy Labenthal.com he's also
Chief Strategy Officer partnerwith Sara T Partners Sara T C E
R I T Y Partners dot com boththose links at our homepage.
Jimmy thank you for an educationand a fun ride through the
(34:18):
subways no pun intended and thehistory because you make it
understandable and everyone canappreciate the ideas that you're
communicating and benefit fromthem.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_06 (34:29):
Chris I really thank you you've been such a gracious
host and thank you for giving methe opportunity to dive a little
deeper into this book with you.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (34:37):
Every day on the Issues and ideas Facebook page
Chris DeBello shares commentaryand analysis about the latest
breaking news join theconversation by following Issues
and ideas on Facebook.
SPEAKER_04 (34:48):
You'll find the link to the Issues and Ideas Facebook
page on our website homepagebeing performed by the next
(35:21):
guest as well she should becausealone being the stone singer she
wrote it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:25):
She devoted herself to her music as a goal for her
life starting at the age ofeight but as everyone who makes
that decision quickly finds outthat devotion will be tested by
a whole lot of challenges.
Road just became a lot moreclear for her thanks to her
winning the recent Amplify YourAmbitions music competition,
which I believe she is a greatliving example of the name of
(35:47):
that competition originally fromEast Brunswick, New Jersey.
She's gone from playing forchange in New York City subway
to an online music downloadcareer with the downloads in the
hundreds of thousands saw onefor even over a million.
What's next for her?
Well let's find out by sayinghello to Karen Hardy.
How are you today, Karen?
SPEAKER_02 (36:05):
Hey how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (36:06):
That was such a good intro thank you well you got
good stuff and you can check outKaren's music Instagram,
Spotify, Apple Music.
We've got links on our homepageas well because you know for
those individual pages the linksare obscenely long so trying to
tell you them it's just easierto show you where they are let's
(36:27):
I mean we played a little p uhpiece of something to lose but
talk about your your music whatwhat's your sound?
What are you going for?
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
I would say my sound is like pop R and B or like pop
soul.
That's kind of always what I'vesaid.
It's definitely like I am a popgirl for sure but I like you
said I mean you use the wordsoulful um like when you were
listening to my music.
So I definitely like soulfulsome R B influence a lot of like
(36:58):
throwback 90s influence um yeahthat's so the short answer is
like pop RB.
SPEAKER_01 (37:06):
I'm glad you say influence because so many times
I hear interviews or I seereviews so you know someone says
they sound like somebody youknow I'm I'm going to go old
school here but and because it'slimiting because if someone said
well that person he sounds likeFrank Sinatra okay I'm gonna go
download his stuff I'll go seehim oh yeah sounds just like
Sinatra but then they'll go backand listen to Sinatra.
(37:29):
So trying to be presented assounding like someone that's
that's just gonna limit yourlongevity and I was reading some
background about you as youquickly learned it's very tough
to become to go from being oneof many to being one.
SPEAKER_02 (37:43):
How do you think you've done that yeah I think
you have to like find multiplethings that set you apart um and
I mean it's kind of been a likethe journey of my music career
like figuring out what exactlyit is that sets me apart.
Um and I think I'm leaning moreinto obviously like I do think
(38:05):
my voice is like that is Karen.
Um but on top of that like mystory is very unique um and I'm
like just starting to lean intothat.
Also like everyone everyone'spersonality is so unique so I'm
trying less to be like what I'mexpected to be like and more
(38:28):
just like authentically myself.
So that's kind of my how I'mfiguring out exactly what sets
Karen Hardy apart.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:38):
And and the way you do things too I mean you're
telling heart stories about fromyour life and experience have
you ever do you ever hear backfrom people saying I was going
to listen to to a song that Ithought was about you but oh my
God it's about me.
SPEAKER_02 (38:55):
Uh yeah that's a good way of putting that yeah I
get a lot of DMs I mean I'vetalked a lot about like
depression online and mentalhealth and stuff like that and I
get a lot of people reaching outum even when I post about like I
have this one song about beingcheated on and I got a lot of
girls reaching out being likethis is exactly what happened to
(39:18):
me.
SPEAKER_01 (39:19):
Yeah those are the best best messages to get from
Karen Hardy who is steppingforward through winning the
Amplify Your Ambitionscompetition you can check out
her great music in well prettymuch every place you should be
checking out great musicSpotify, Apple you can follow
her on Instagram you'relistening to issues and ideas
(39:40):
you mentioned about and I re Ireferenced it in the
introduction too about you havea path but then you always find
out there's going to be a lot ofchallenges along the way and you
you had a couple of rough spotsthere.
Why did you not give up?
What got you back on track?
SPEAKER_02 (39:58):
Um I just think it's like a moth to a flame.
I think a lot of musicians havethat feeling where it's like
they they just cannot stop.
But this is like for me this hasbeen my dream literally since I
was like seven years old.
Like there was nothing else thatI ever wanted for my life.
I just wanted to be a singer andevery time I would take a step
(40:24):
back from music I wouldn't eventake a big step back but like
detach myself a little bitsomething would pull me back in
and um I can say like now I'm ata very like I'm just at a great
spot with music where it's likeI really think that I'm doing it
fully for the love of music andnot I mean of course I want to
(40:46):
have this like big career but atthe end of the day like it's
it's my love of music that'sdriving me and and not really
for anything else.
So I yeah I think it's just likehow much I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (40:57):
I wish I didn't sometimes but it's it's the
difference of doing art for theart before the benefits as
opposed to doing art for thebenefits first.
SPEAKER_02 (41:09):
Yeah I think we all get lost somewhere along the way
like I think most musicians loveit when they're you know a kid
they really authentically loveit but then of course like ego
stuff gets in the way but umyeah you just have to figure out
how to like push past the egoand like get back to why you
really started doing it in thefirst place.
(41:31):
You've been doing the the yourmusic career for quite some time
before the Amplify YourAmbitions music contest came
along how much of what youlearned on the way to that point
in your life helped you succeedthe way you did in the
competition I've been thinkingabout that a lot actually
because I don't think if I hadhad this opportunity like five
(41:55):
ten years ago I don't think Iwould have been able to show up
the way I did like obviously Iwould have like worked really
hard to get it but I I thinklike I went into the contest I
really wanted it I really wantedto win the$200,000 obviously
that SoFi was offering but itdidn't feel like the end of the
(42:18):
world if I didn't get it.
Like I was like okay I'm gonnastill be I'm still gonna pursue
music like I'm still gonna finda way to make this work this
obviously would make things alot easier and um a lot more
possible but I think yeah justlike knowing that it wasn't
gonna be the end of my career ifI didn't get it that was a big
(42:41):
part.
Then also just like myconfidence on stage and like
everything from that mysongwriting has gotten better to
my performing on stage to mysinging like it's just yeah it
all kind of lined up together.
SPEAKER_01 (42:54):
You know it's like with self-publishing books,
doing your own thing for musicit it ain't cheap as they say
and um I have no doubt$200,000is going to move you forward
quite a few more squares fasterthan you were probably planning
on.
SPEAKER_02 (43:09):
Yeah I mean don't get me wrong this is$200,000 is
life changing.
Yeah.
But I think you just have tolike tell yourself like okay I'm
gonna figure out either way butnow it's like a huge huge weight
off my shoulders and on top ofthat it's just like I can dream
bigger now.
I can like see the full visionand actually make it happen.
SPEAKER_01 (43:33):
Do you plan on staying I guess your own your
own your own boss or are youlooking for uh to get signed?
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
What are you what are your plans as far as that's
concerned um not looking to getsigned yet but I definitely want
people in my team.
So I think the next step is likefor sure management of some sort
um just someone to bounce ideasoff of and help me push it
forward.
I'm good at the music part butlike The marketing stuff, that's
(44:01):
not my expertise.
So that's another thing.
Like this money is gonna allowme to like bring more people on
who are actually good at theirarea, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (44:09):
Well, you're you're definitely worthy of being found
by more people than you alreadyhave, which is a spectacular
number as a DIY project, I guesswe can call it.
And you know, certainly talkabout your family because you
have two older brothers with uhwith disabilities.
How much did that help in theway that your communication
(44:29):
skills came about for yourmusic?
SPEAKER_02 (44:34):
Yeah, I'm like obsessed with my family and
especially my brothers, likewe're all just really close.
Um and we were growing up likein these environments, like our
our community was um kind oflike my brother's friends and
stuff like that.
And I I realized really quicklythat music was a universal
(44:58):
language, kind of like even forsomeone who maybe can't get
their words out as easily, it'slike a um just everyone
gravitates towards music andfinds some type of relief in it.
And then I realized that it justlike that um I I that I just
that just became something thatwas more and more aware, like I
(45:19):
became more and more aware of asI got older.
And so now I I work within theum like autism community with
adults that are super musicallyinclined and it's just kind of
solidified, like this is musicis a language, it it is fully
it's like the one thing that Ithink we all feel comforted by,
(45:43):
which I is just this incrediblething.
So yeah, that's my long-windedanswer for that.
SPEAKER_01 (45:49):
And very, very telling answer too, and I think
very, very instructive foranyone for you listening.
If if you want great music,definitely listen to Karen's
stuff.
And again, we had the links forher music at Spotify and Apple
over at our homepage.
And find out more about herstory too over at her Instagram
page, and if you just do aGoogle search at Karen Hardy,
because Karen's very open aboutwhat she did, the paths she
(46:11):
took, what she overcame, bothwith herself and her chosen
field.
And I think you get some veryvaluable lessons for whatever it
is that you have a passion foror you have a goal for in your
life as well.
Follow Karen over on Instagram,and again, check out her music
because it'll be a good thingthat you did, and you want to
share it as well.
Karen, pleasure meeting you,pleasure learning more about
(46:33):
your music and you, and thanksso much for being here today.
All the best.
SPEAKER_02 (46:38):
You too.
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_08 (46:44):
The following program is brought to you in
living color on NBC.
(47:17):
And I should have today I wasnamed Playmate of the Month by
the Los Angeles PoliceDepartment.
And another thing, uh, anothernice thing happened to me today.
NBC hung a star on my dressingroom door.
Mickey Rooney.
SPEAKER_01 (47:38):
Today is Dean Martin's birthday.
Over on our Facebook page, whichyou can find the link to on our
website homepage, we'll becelebrating Dean's birthday by
sharing some memories of Dean.
Dean Martin is also responsiblefor my all-time favorite quote.
Said this during a 1983interview in London.
You gotta have fun.
If you're not having fun, youmight as well lay down, let him
(48:00):
throw dirt on you.
God wants us to have fun.
In fact, fun, joy, laughter areblessings from God.
I believe God himself liked tohave some fun.
If you don't believe me, thenexplain to me the giraffe,
kangaroo, and armadillo forstarters.
Jesus himself wanted people tohave fun and enjoy life.
Let's go to John chapter two,verses one through ten.
(48:23):
On the third day there was awedding in Cana of Galilee, and
the mother of Jesus was there.
Now both Jesus and his discipleswere invited to the wedding, and
when they ran out of wine themother of Jesus said to him,
They have no wine.
Jesus said to her, Woman, whatdoes your concern have to do
with me?
My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants,Whatever he says to you, do it.
(48:47):
Now there were set there sixwater pots of stone according to
the manner of purification ofthe Jews, containing twenty or
thirty gallons apiece.
Jesus said to them, Fill thewater pots with water and they
filled them up to the brim, andhe said to them, Draw some out
now and take it to the master ofthe feast.
And they took it.
When the master of the feast hadtasted the water that was made
(49:09):
wine, and did not know where itcame from, but the servants who
had drawn the water knew, themaster of the feast called the
bridegroom, and he said to him,Every man at the beginning sets
out the good wine, and when theguests have well drunk, then the
inferior you have kept the goodwine until now.
What the master of the banquetmeant was that you start off
(49:30):
with a little of the good stuff,then you bring out the cheap
wine once people have had toomuch to drink to really care
what they're drinking anymore.
Jesus cut out the cheap stuffand came up with first class
award winning wine.
Jesus in the Beatitudes which weread in the sixth chapter of
Luke encourages us to workthrough the bad times because we
are to be happy.
(49:54):
Blessed are you who weep now foryou shall laugh.
Being happy is one of the majorlessons we gain from the book of
Proverbs.
There's this in Proverbs chapter17, verse 22.
A merry heart does good likemedicine, but a broken spirit
dries the bones.
As well as these words inProverbs chapter fifteen, verse
thirteen, a merry heart makes acheerful countenance, but by
(50:17):
sorrow of the heart the spiritis broken.
Solomon, who is considered thewisest ever king of Israel,
called on his people to be happyand have fun, realizing that the
experience is a great gift fromGod.
Solomon declares this truth inEcclesiastes chapter eight,
verse fifteen.
So I commended enjoyment becausea man has nothing better under
(50:39):
the sun than to eat, drink, andbe merry, for this will remain
with him in his labor all thedays of his life which God gives
him under the sun.
Since happiness and fun are goodfor us, James and James chapter
one, verse seventeen, confirmswho is the true source.
Reading here, every good giftand every perfect gift is from
(50:59):
above and comes down from theFather of lights, with whom
there is no variation or shadowof turning.
Who confirms that all thesegifts are indeed from God in
heaven?
The thief does not come exceptto steal and to kill and to
destroy.
I have come that they may havelife and that they may have it
(51:20):
more abundantly.
God wants us to be happy everyday.
These instructions are given tous in Psalm chapter one
eighteen, verse twenty-four.
This is the day the Lord hasmade, we will rejoice and be
glad in it.
The fun God wants us to have, bythe way, isn't limited to
adults.
Happiness for children equallyimportant to him.
(51:41):
This wish is expressed inZechariah chapter eight verse
five.
The streets of the city shall befull of boys and girls playing
in its streets.
Now it's important to establishthat the fun God wants us to
have in each one of our days,that's not permission to be
reckless.
Nor are we to hurt others,stealing, that's still a sin,
property damage, mocking others,lying to others, as we maybe try
(52:05):
to mask that sin as being allwe're just joking around.
Paul in first Corinthianschapter ten verse thirty-one
gives this instruction to us.
Therefore, whether you eat ordrink or whatever you do, do all
to the glory of God.
We also receive this guidance inColossians chapter three, verse
seventeen, and whatever you doin word or deed, do all in the
(52:25):
name of the Lord Jesus, givingthanks to God the Father through
him.
Fun and happiness comes to usfrom God and can only be
experienced in the totallyrighteous way He wants when we
turn to God.
Let's go to First Thessalonianschapter five, verses sixteen
through eighteen.
Rejoice always, pray withoutceasing, in everything give
(52:46):
thanks, for this is the will ofGod in Christ Jesus for you.
And as we devote ourselves tothat, we do it with the
knowledge that the fun andhappiness that comes from God is
an eternal blessing placedbefore us by Jesus in Revelation
chapter twenty-one, verse four.
And God will wipe away everytear from their eyes.
(53:06):
There shall be no more death,nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, forthe former things have passed
away.
SPEAKER_00 (53:20):
Chris will be back next week with more great
conversations and information.
Visit our website at issues andideasradio.com.
Welcome to this festive edition of Issues and
Ideas with Christopher.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Can you think of any other time in modern-day
politics than there's beendivision like we're seeing
today?
What's been the results?
Well, you know, very little.
Legislation passed, programsthat millions rely on for their
health and well-being, not justendangered, even cut, serve two
to one, replacing serving themany, and uh, basic overall
hostility that's expanding thedivision even more.
(00:27):
Doesn't sound like there's muchhope, does it?
Well, I believe there is.
If you learn from the ideas andinsights my guest offers through
his experience, he also sharesin his recent book, Finding the
Third Way, lessons in thepolitics of Stay It With Me,
civility from my journey throughhistory, well of being a partner
and co-founder of the law firmDavid Goldberg and Galper,
(00:48):
partner in the public relationsfirm Trident DMG, served as
special counsel to PresidentBill Clinton, and to this day is
a devoted Willie Mays fan, LennyDavis.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_05 (00:59):
Say hey, Willie.
Uh and now I'm a Knicks uhalways been a Knicks fan, but
thank you for that intro.
I do want to just jump into onevery provocative and interesting
comment you made.
Has there ever been a time inU.S.
history?
And I don't think there hasbeen, except for one time period
where 300,000 Americans killedeach other called the Civil War,
(01:22):
and that was when we were usingfirearms.
But short of using firearms, theTrump era and Democrats carry
some responsibility too, is theworst in American history.
So I do agree with you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
But when you look at the just the sheer numbers of
things in the House and theSenate, the numbers being so
evenly divided, what's that doesthat tell what does that tell of
the of the American citizenshipthat we don't know which one's
the better offer right now, oris this an opportunity, as many
believe in the midterms comingup in November, for the
(01:55):
Democrats to really see the doorbeing wide open for them to make
a difference and move forward?
SPEAKER_05 (02:03):
Well, first of all, the difference nowadays is
personal demonization ofsomebody you disagree with.
Uh back in the days uh where itwas Ronald Reagan, very partisan
conservative Republicans versusvery liberal Democrats, and a
lot of really uh vitriolic uhwords being exchanged.
(02:25):
At the end of a long day, uh itwas absolutely a fact that uh
President Reagan would get intothe presidential limousine, very
quietly go out uh South Lawnexit, go up to the hill, uh go
into a side entrance wherenobody um uh would be
surrounding him, although ofcourse people were aware that
(02:48):
the president was visiting.
And where would he go?
He'd go into Tip O'Neill'soffice, the speaker of the house
who during the day was beatingup on him, uh verbally but not
physically, and what would theydo?
They would tip a scotch orwhiskey, they would laugh, they
would disagree, and they wouldfigure it out.
(03:10):
That's a big deal difference.
And I know in the Clinton WhiteHouse, with all the polarization
between Newt Gingrich and BillClinton and Democrats and
Republicans during the daytime.
Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrichand I would throw in Joe
Scarborough because now he's a TV personality, but back then he
was a backbencher hardcoreconservative.
(03:33):
They would sit down and what didthey do?
They balanced the budget.
And when balance the budget,that's an expression that you
say, what come on, nobodybalances any budgets anymore.
And when Bill Clinton leftoffice on his last day after two
terms, he left a three billiondollar surplus.
(03:54):
And he didn't do that himself.
He did it with Gingrich andScarborough and the Republicans
compromising.
So that's a big deal ofdifference than today and back
then.
SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
Well, another big difference is, and I said this
in the intro for for a reason,serving one versus serving the
many.
And you know, it's great whenyou see Marjorie Taylor Green,
John Cornyn, Tom Tillis, uh, thelist is growing, speaking out
against Donald Trump, but theproblem is they're all on their
way out.
Unless, you know, for those whoaren't getting primaried out or
(04:29):
saying, you know, I've hadenough, I'm out of here, those
are the ones we need to hearthat from.
SPEAKER_05 (04:34):
Well, that's the reason they're uh free, is they
don't worry about losing theiroffice because they're out
anyway.
It'd be great to see a couple ofmembers of the Republican caucus
say, you know what, this jobdoesn't pay me enough to really
undermine our Constitutionbecause the Congress is supposed
(04:55):
to be the check and balance tothe executive, and we've got the
spending power.
That's what the framers wrote.
We want there to be a stalematebetween executive power and the
Congress.
We don't want a dictatorship ofthe Congress.
They were more worried if youread the history of the writing
of the Constitution.
Believe it or not, uh JamesMadison wrote they were more
(05:16):
worried about a parliamentarydemocracy because of their
memories of somebody namedCromwell who took over the
British Parliament and almostimposed a a dictatorship with
the Parliament.
So they were worried about toomuch power in the Congress.
But the whole point is checksand balances don't trust anyone.
And we're going to needRepublicans who are not fearful
(05:40):
about losing their jobs, notjust the ones on their way out.
But I I have to say, Democratsare no different.
Democrats have not stood up todemocratic presidents.
Everyone feels a need to beloyal to the president of their
party.
So I'm trying to be even-handedhere that I'm not just blaming
it on a party or a group ofRepublicans.
(06:01):
It's part of our system.
This loyalty issue, overcomingpatriotism and commitment to the
Constitution.
I think both parties now arewaking up to the need for there
to be checks and balancesbecause Donald Trump's made it
very clear he thinks executivepower is supreme and that that
there isn't a check and balance.
There is a whole group ofconservative Republicans who
(06:26):
have invested in projects aboutexecutive power.
They actually call it theunitary executive, which is
contradicted by James Madisonand the Constitution.
There should be no unitaryanything.
The whole system was set up notto trust any part of the three
branches of government.
So we've got a challenge,certainly.
(06:47):
And it's both parties.
SPEAKER_01 (06:49):
I keep saying Democrats have a lot of
responsibility for this mess, aswell as Republicans.com.
You're listening to issues andideas.
So let's take that approachlooking at both parties, because
for the Democrats, everyone'ssaying a door wide open, I just
(07:09):
said it earlier, too.
But it's not an automatic.
And for Republicans, what is itthey need to do to avoid falling
back to the days of almostirrelevancy, back to the days
I'm showing my political agehere, Bob Livingston and Trent
Lott leadership times.
SPEAKER_05 (07:27):
Two great people, by the way.
SPEAKER_01 (07:29):
Oh yeah, no slam on them, but they were they were
very complacent.
SPEAKER_05 (07:34):
Mr.
Livingston and Mr.
Gingrich uh over the years I'veactually become friends with,
which is shows it's possible.
So I I think there's about twoor three answers.
Uh I'd speak to the Democratsfirst, because I'm a Democrat.
I think we have failed miserablyin giving the American people an
alternative to Donald Trump.
(07:55):
And the proof for me is I have alot of liberal Democratic
friends, uh some of themconservative Democratic friends,
who voted for Trump.
And the reason they always giveme is they dislike Trump's
character, they think he lies,they think he ignores the rule
of law, all that stuff.
Then why did you vote for him?
(08:16):
Because you're worse, meaningyou Democrats.
You don't have anything to tellme positive, you only know how
to trash Trump.
So for me, my big goal the nextfew months, I'm writing some
columns on the subject, is theway James Carvel said, if the
economy's stupid, well, I'msaying to Democrats, it's
policies stupid.
(08:38):
We have to change policies,policies that have offended the
middle class and working classof the country that we used to
have, that were FranklinRoosevelt, Harry Truman, John
Kennedy Democrats.
We've lost a lot of them.
So I'm focusing on what are wesaying, what do we stand for
(08:59):
that's offensive, and how can wehave a positive message to the
American people?
SPEAKER_01 (09:05):
When you take into account too, as of most recent
polling, there's a huge block ofvoters that are just drifting
right now, specifically theblack and Hispanic voters.
Trump did gain a lot of supportfrom those two demographics, but
for a variety of reasons,they're turning away from the
Republicans, but have yet, ingreat part, turned to the
(09:28):
Democrats.
Is that going to be the thedeciding factor what happens
with the midterms?
SPEAKER_05 (09:34):
Well, you're absolutely right.
They're turning away from, butthey're not turning to the
Democratic Party, because whenyou turn away from something,
you have to have something thatyou're listening to that you
like.
You don't turn away and thenhear silence.
You think to yourself, I havenowhere to go if all you're
(09:55):
doing is silence.
So for me, I'll just give you aprelude to what I'm about to
start writing for Real ClearPolitics, which is a series of
columns about what are we for?
And it comes down to, withoutimitating him exactly, it comes
down to thinking like BillClinton.
When he left office on his lastday after two terms, can you
(10:18):
imagine if Donald Trump couldsay something like this, which
of course he can, on BillClinton's last day after two
terms, he had a 66% Gallup jobapproval rating?
That is unprecedented inAmerican history.
(10:39):
How did he get, with all of theissues and controversies, and
when I was at the White Housethey called them scandals, which
I was responsible for handlingwith the White House press
corps?
How did Bill Clinton achievetwo-thirds of the American
people gave him a positive jobapproval rating?
Right now, Donald Trump is downto thirty percent job approval,
(11:03):
the lowest in American history.
How did Clinton do it?
It's the policies stupid.
SPEAKER_01 (11:10):
Again, the book is Finding the Third Way.
He talks about th throughpersonal experience.
This isn't theory or studies orresearch, it's through personal
experience and observations ofhow there lies before us answers
and opportunities for astronger, better population, as
opposed to politicians.
(11:30):
You can also learn more aboutLanny's life and world at
LannyJDavis.com.
Lanny, it's always an educationspeaking with you.
Look forward to your upcomingcolumns.
I know they will additionally beeducational.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_05 (11:48):
I'm a great fan.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
As the date of the fund insolvency moved even more
soon than had already beenanticipated.
So what's this mean for peoplereceiving Social Security
benefits?
Is there anything we've done toextend rather than shorten the
solvency of the program?
Eric for all this is the seniorvice president and senior policy
director with the committee fora responsible federal budget.
(12:23):
Mark Goldwarren, how are youtoday, Mark?
SPEAKER_07 (12:25):
Uh I'm good.
Thanks so much for having me on.
SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
Well, great to have you here to help people better
understand because they hear thehead or they see the headlines
and the fear strikes so theymissed out on important details
and to see the report on SocialSecurity by the Committee of for
a Responsible Federal Budget andanswers and solutions as well.
CRFB.org is their website, andwe have that link at our
homepage as well.
(12:48):
So I said the news was not good,Mark.
How bad was the news in thislatest report?
SPEAKER_07 (12:52):
Um it's pretty bad.
Look, people should be a littlescared.
Here's what the report says.
Um Social Security is projectedto run out of its reserves in
six years in 2032, and thenMedicare is projected to run out
of its reserves six months laterin 2033.
Now that doesn't mean eitherprogram goes away.
(13:13):
But what the law says is thatwhen it has no reserves, that
the benefits get cut to matchthe revenue.
And for Social Security, that isa twenty-two percent benefit
cut, abrupt, immediate, andprobably across the board.
SPEAKER_01 (13:25):
Now what's uh as I said, the the insolvency date
continues to to get closer andcloser, as you said now down to
six years.
It had been longer not too longago, ironically.
What's the what's been thedriving catalyst for this this
dark day getting closer?
SPEAKER_07 (13:44):
So the insolvency date moved up a bit.
They moved up two or threemonths because um there's less
revenue coming coming in fromtaxation to benefits from the
one big beautiful bill.
But the real reason that we'velost time is because uh we've
spent a year ignoring thisissue, right?
So last year we had seven years,and then we waited a year.
So big surprise now we have sixyears.
(14:05):
Uh the problem is we've beendoing this since the eighties.
We've known this problem wascoming.
We've been talking about fixingit since the nineties, and yet
here we are in the year 2026,and we're no closer, and if
anything, further, from fixingit than we were back then.
SPEAKER_01 (14:20):
When the the whole the whole program was created by
initiatives from then PresidentFranklin Delano or Roosevelt,
didn't FDR even say that whatwe're doing is not a forever
situation at some point in thefuture.
New ideas and new and new pathshave to be taken, and it's just
been completely totally ignored.
SPEAKER_07 (14:39):
Well, in fairness, I think that what he envisioned
was the program was going to getbigger, and that is exactly what
happened.
It expanded to includesurvivors' benefits and spousal
benefits and disabilitybenefits, and to be larger and
to be automatically indexed.
So we have, in fact, followedthrough on his vision to expand
the program.
The problem is we haven'tfollowed through on his vision
to file fully finance it.
FDR always believed SocialSecurity should be paid for
(15:02):
internally.
People should pay their own way.
And right now, the revenue isway short of the benefits.
And so either we need more taxescoming in, less benefits going
out, or some combination.
And frankly, it's hard for me tosee any solution other than some
combination.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
And that's for forty-three percent of seniors,
all or most of their personalincome.
So again, like uh like Morrissaid, there is a fear that's
growing as far as the as theinsolvency time gets closer and
closer.
In the past, has this happenedand how has it been been
(15:46):
addressed in the past to extendthe solvency?
SPEAKER_07 (15:49):
Yeah, so we've had two times in the past that we've
approached insolvency in 1977and 1983.
And both times in differentways, policymakers came together
um and they enacted a set offixes.
We raised the retirement age, weincreased the amount of income
subject to the CAP, we changedthe payroll tax, we brought more
people onto the program, weadjusted the formula.
Like, the solutions are outthere.
(16:10):
And and I do also want to pointout, you're right, there are so
many people that really rely onSocial Security, and a 22%
benefit cut would bedevastating.
It would cut benefits by$500 amonth, even in just today's
dollars.
But there's a whole other set ofpeople that are that don't even
really rely on their socialsecurity at all.
The social security benefits arenow a hundred thousand dollars
(16:31):
for the very richest couples.
And so there's opportunities, Ithink, to slow the benefit
growth for seniors that havetens of millions of dollars in
assets um in order to preserveit for those that really are
relying on the program.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
Yeah, I mean it sounds like an obvious
observation.
If someone is sitting on savingsor if life really worked out for
them and they have assets of ofseven, eight, nine figures, why
do they need social security?
SPEAKER_07 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean I think that's a fair question.
Um now uh we've proposedsomething that doesn't actually
take away their social security.
All it says is your socialsecurity benefits can't go over
for a couple a hundred thousanddollars a year.
So even if you have tens ofmillions, we're still saying you
can collect a hundred thousand,just maybe not a hundred and ten
thousand.
I think it's a pretty modestproposal.
Um and it wouldn't fix socialsecurity on its own, but it
(17:20):
would help make some somesignificant leeway.
SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
And you mentioned too that the idea, the plan was
that you pay in and take outwhat you pay in like you would
with a bank account or achecking account, but just
because of the way the theprogram has grown and the
finances have all but all butcollapsed, that's that idea is
long past, and I don't thinkwe'd ever get back to that that
ratio, would we?
SPEAKER_07 (17:42):
Yeah, I mean the problem is people are actually
have been getting out more thanthey put in on average.
It was never supposed to be likea savings account that you get
what you put back in.
But there was this idea that youpaying in sort of bought you the
ticket to be able to getbenefits.
The problem is those benefitshave been larger than the
payments.
And um the sort of the scheme isfalling apart because there's
(18:04):
there's such a large gap.
And so either people are gonnahave to pay more, they're gonna
have to get less, or there's onescary option, which is the
federal government may say it'stoo hard to change social
security, we're just gonnaborrow.
We're just gonna borrow another$800 trillion over the next 75
years.
That would put the country intoa debt crisis.
SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
There there's various programs under the
umbrella of Social Security, butthey're separate funds.
Is there a way to, would it beprudent to combine the funds and
would that prolong the solvency?
SPEAKER_07 (18:37):
Right.
So the retirement fund runs outin 2032.
There's a separate disabilityfund, that fund is healthy, and
we could take some money fromthe disability fund, put it to
the retirement fund, that wouldbuy us about a year and a half.
So that could get us to 2034.
Um that might make sense aswe're sort of buying time to
phase in changes, but it's not apermanent solution.
(18:58):
It's a kick the can thatliterally gets you, you know,
from one presidentialadministration to the next.
It doesn't get you much furtherthan that.
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
When when you say to raise taxes to create revenue
for the program, what kind oftax increase would w would be
ballpark be talking about?
SPEAKER_07 (19:15):
So if we were to do this entirely from the payroll
tax rate, we'd ultimately haveto increase that rate by 50%.
So right now, the payroll taxrate for Social Security is
12.4%, you pay half, youremployer pays half.
We'd have to gradually increaseit to about 19%, 18 or 19%.
So this is a massive increase.
Now, we could do less of that ifwe solve some of the problem by
(19:38):
raising that cap, that$185,000cap on income subject to the
wage cap.
But that's not going to solvethe whole problem either.
That over the long run solvesmaybe a quarter of the problem.
And we could also look at thingslike subjecting some kinds of
fringe benefits to the tax.
So we don't have to do it allwith the rate increase, but to
solve this all on the tax side,over time, we're talking about a
(19:59):
very large tax increase.
SPEAKER_01 (20:02):
You you present, and again, over at your website, uh
CRFB.org, you present detailedpaths to repair what's already
broken.
Problem is, well, we have themidterms looming, and if the
party who is in charge remainsin charge, we see program cuts
as their idea as far as you knowwhat what's left to be cut other
(20:25):
than then again money to thebeneficiaries.
SPEAKER_07 (20:31):
Well, look, uh Social Security benefits um not
only are large for those richbeneficiaries, but they actually
continue to grow pretty rapidlyover time.
Over the next seventy-fiveyears, average real benefits,
meaning adjusted for inflation,are projected to triple.
And so there is room to savemoney by just slowing the
growth.
But we have six years untilinsolvency and we're not gonna
(20:54):
make huge changes to currentbeneficiaries, which means there
really is no option other thanhaving tax revenue.
You can't save money from newbeneficiaries fast enough.
Um and frankly, I don't thinkyou can raise taxes high enough,
which is why I say we're gonnaneed some kind of combination of
more taxes and less benefits.
But it doesn't have to be lessbenefits than today.
It just has to be less benefitsthan projected in the future.
SPEAKER_01 (21:18):
I know this is outside your realm, but uh one
of the other contributing factsto the solvency of Social
Security is the fact thatundocumented undocumented
immigrants they can't at leastlegally receive benefits from
Social Security, but whenthey're working on the books,
they pay into Social Security.
So theoretically, if as so manypeople want to do, you remove
(21:39):
that demographic from thecontributing population, that
would just magnify the problem.
SPEAKER_07 (21:45):
That that's right.
I mean, one of the funny things,maybe not funny, um, but there's
some people that think you canfix social security by cutting
fraud.
It turns out fraud of collectingbenefits is actually very low.
The biggest source of fraud inSocial Security is people that
are illegally paying.
into the program.
Right?
And so it's um illegal,undocumented, whatever you want
to call it, um, immigrants thatare actually helping the program
(22:08):
by paying in and not gettingbenefits back.
And so the recent um r you knowstrengthening of immigration
rules and administrationactually has worsened Social
Security's trust fund.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Well as I said we have the midterm elections
coming up and hopefully for youlistening this will be a key
part of what you're asking andlistening from the candidates
when they start talking aboutthings that matter to you.
We have the Social Securityreport over at our downloads
page.
If you uh don't do it on a fullstomach, trust me, but check
that out because a lot of graphsand a lot of information and to
(22:40):
find some path to solutions,that's what the Committee for
Responsible Federal Budget isproviding at CRFB.org.
He is their senior vicepresident and senior policy
director Mark Goldwine.
Thanks so much for being heretoday and helping us better
understand the urgency offinding a solution to a very
serious problem.
Thanks again.
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
If you're listening via your favorite podcast
platform, be sure to follow andsubscribe.
SPEAKER_01 (23:05):
Question You ever ride the subway?
Not any on the city experiencecan certainly vary some systems
perform better than others.
There's more route and scheduleinformation available with some
more than others.
While they can all get you towhere you need to go, the times
can vary.
Sounds a lot like investing inbusiness relationships, doesn't
it?
My next guest thought so hebelieved it so much he's written
(23:26):
a book based on this idea.
His story is one of growing upin New York City, learning
underground on the subway, thenlater above ground on Wall
Street and in boardrooms, shareshis story and investing insight
in his book How to Ride theSubway, getting around on Wall
Street and in life, along withbeing Chief Strategy Officer and
partner with Sarate Partners.
(23:47):
He's a frequent CNBC contributorand a true subway tologist Jimmy
Labenthor.
How are you today, sir?
SPEAKER_06 (23:54):
Oh I'm great, Chris, and I really have to thank you
for kindly introducing the bookthat way.
I may have to record that anduse that myself.
That was so well done.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
Well you know I I actually read the book.
I'm one of those odd people soit's like and to learn more
about not just Jimmy's book buthis entire financial world,
Jimmy Labenthal.com, SerityPartners, C-E-R-I-T-Y,
SaratyPartners.com.
We have those links over at ourwebpage.
I have seen investing comparedto a lot of things from cheese
(24:26):
to animals to several pointsbeyond that.
What was your aha moment whenyou connected subways and
everything you need for strategydown there with Wall Street and
the strategies you need upthere?
SPEAKER_06 (24:40):
Great question, Chris.
And you know the reason to writethe book is that I frequently
appear on TV as an investor andsomebody who gives commentary on
the markets.
What I find is that when I speakI have about 15 seconds to get
my ideas out before the anchorcuts me off or my fellow
contributors start chiming in.
So I wanted to write a book so Icould give a little more long
(25:03):
format to how I invest.
But just giving a book or justwriting a book about investing
would have been a little bitboring.
And the simple truth is Iabsolutely love the subways and
I use the subway in New YorkCity to get to the studio which
is the New York Stock Exchangefor the uh airing of the CNBC
show that I'm on and it was justwhile I was on the subway I said
(25:25):
why don't I use my passion, mylove for the subways which goes
back to age six in the 1970s.
Why don't I use that as ametaphor for investing to spice
things up a little bit insteadof just talking about dividend
stocks or how the markets movejust put some metaphors from the
subway in it.
And I I I hope it works.
I'm happy I did it.
SPEAKER_01 (25:46):
Well I think you should be too because it'll
teach the the novices give a Ithink a more focused direction
to those who are wandering andfor those who are like to think
of themselves as experiencedinvestors it just reinforces a
lot of basic ideas and evenreminds us.
Like for example you start offabout knowing where you're going
(26:07):
because if you don't know whereyou're going to go how do you
know what you're going to needin order to get there?
What are you going to invest inif you don't know where you want
to go?
SPEAKER_06 (26:15):
Well that's exactly right.
And again the metaphor of theNew York City subway system at
least in Manhattan is that it'svery oriented along north-south
axes.
So most of the subway lines comedown either the west side or the
east side or midtown.
There's very few cross Manhattanuh subway lines.
There is the shuttle but notmuch more than that.
(26:37):
And so if you're trying to getuh from the Upper West side to
the upper east side, hey guesswhat?
The subway is not your spot.
And in a similar way if you'retrying to make money then and
maybe you don't want to takerisks.
Well you know what the equitymarket is not your speed you
should be in the bond market.
It's and I use that's a greatexample Chris of the metaphor
that I use you know othermetaphors that frame the
(27:00):
chapters in the book includethings like patience.
The subway will arrive it willget you where you need to go.
So will the stock market.
Uh perseverance probably myfavorite though is serendipity
of just being aware that theworld does move in in random
collisions that tend to work outfor your benefit.
And so sometimes you can be onthe subway and you can see a a
(27:22):
crazy sight and I use in thebook the example of an
underground rail yard in UpperManhattan that I came across one
day.
And it's just a way of exploringand finding new things, finding
better things which the stockmarket always gives you an
opportunity to find reallyexciting good new ways to make
money.
SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
And there are running things you have going
throughout your book as well asfar as you think you figured it
out, you think this is going towork everything's going to be
perfect.
SPEAKER_06 (27:50):
You know this is the thing it's not always going to
be that way is it listen that'sa that's a great uh that forms a
chapter.
I think the the name of thechapter is Bad Things Happen.
And I use as the uh enteringanecdote to that chapter when
Superstorm Sandy hit New YorkCity I think it was 2013 uh it
(28:11):
it was just a perfect strike onthe harbor of New York City and
it caused a storm surge wherebasically lower Manhattan was
about ten feet underwater.
Well you know water flows to thelowest spot and the lowest spot
are the subway systems and thetunnels that go underneath the
East River.
So the subway system wasinundated it was flooded it was
basically out of service for acouple of days and in some cases
(28:34):
there was maintenance that wenton for years to repair the
damage.
Look sometimes in the stockmarket bad things happen.
We can look at the last 18months or so and see that we've
had a very dramatic decline whenthe war with Iran started we had
a dramatic decline when thetariffs were announced on
Liberation Day in 2025.
(28:54):
But but the subway system isstill here and the stock market
is still a great place to makemoney as we can see right now
Chris as you and I are talkingwe're at all time highs in the
stock market.
It's just a matter of of bearingdown having the grit to get
through the bad times which willinevitably happen.
Can't be avoided.
SPEAKER_01 (29:14):
Jimmy Labenthal in his book How to Ride the Subway,
getting along on Wall Street andin life Jimmy Labenthal dot com.
He's a partner chief strategyofficer with Sarity Partners
SarratyPartners.com both linksof course at our home page and
you're listening to issues andideas.
Question on for the purpose ofthe novice or the newbie you can
hear of a stock see your companymaybe you're you or someone else
(29:36):
on CNBC talking about it.
You punch in the the tickersymbol in Google and stock
rating you will get inundatedwith information and it could be
confused.
You could have 25 analystssaying strong buy buy get this
now before it's too late andthere'll be one analyst saying
sell it now.
(29:57):
How does the novice try todecipher things like that?
SPEAKER_06 (30:01):
I think there's there's really two ways of doing
this.
You can hire a professional likemyself to pick the stocks for
you or you can do what I dowhich is what I recommend in the
book which is to really divedeep and become an expert in the
stock that you're looking at.
Specifically what I mean by thisis getting into the financial
(30:21):
statements looking at thefootnotes to those financial
statements figuring out what youcan find out that the rest of
the world doesn't know.
And again with this analogy thatgoes throughout the book um I
draw it back to the subwaysystem.
Many people ride the subwayunderneath the East River every
day.
There's probably a hundredthousand or more and those
(30:42):
tunnels are fabulousconstructions of engineering.
In fact the first tunnel subwaytunnel under the East River was
longer than the Holland tunnelunder the Hudson River when it
opened in the early 20thcentury.
When the Holland Tunnel openedfor vehicular traffic uh the
President of the United Statescalled and inaugurated it was
(31:02):
big fanfare all the newspaperstalked about it.
Nobody talked about the subwaytunnel that was created years
earlier and that was longer andstill to this day as I said
transports over a hundredthousand people through it.
That what I'm describing there,yeah it may be a little bit
geeky but that's the sort ofexpertise that's the sort of
(31:23):
level of knowledge that if youwant to be a stock picker you
really should do.
You should get into thosefinancial statements and not
just for the company you'relooking at but its competitors
maybe even its suppliers orcustomers um so that's that's
that's my advice to the noviceis get your hands dirty really
become an expert in it.
SPEAKER_01 (31:43):
And you certainly there's enough material by which
you can everyone can do that andit's a learning experience to be
sure but it's for your benefitto indeed learn valid
information.
Want to wrap up with this ideayou mentioned here you certainly
make yourself a show yourself tobe a proponent of it throughout
your book long holding long termI I said the one time to a
(32:04):
friend of mine are you a longterm holder who said yeah I
might hold a stock for up to twoweeks sometimes I mean you you
just especially if it's adividend stock why would you be
anything else but a long-termholder?
SPEAKER_06 (32:16):
Well I you know two each their own I love the
subways some people think thesubways are dirty and smelly and
they don't want to go in themthat's fine.
Those people can be traders butthe beauty about long-term
investing is if you just stickwith the stock market and in
particular stick with highquality stocks the names you
(32:37):
know the best companies in eachindustry you can feel very
comfortable that they will getyou through thick and thin.
Now there's going to be timeslike we're in right now where
the stock market's been rallyingfor four years and everything
seems easy.
But being in those qualitystocks even through the downturn
is the way that you can actuallymake money coming on the other
side of a downturn when thosecompanies thrive as their
(33:00):
competitors sometimes have beenhobbled by the tough business
conditions of say a recession.
So for me the biggest thing barnone is to stay in the market
for as long as you can and Imean years and years, decades.
I think Chris quite often aboutuh what is the biggest value
that I add to my clients and itis frankly holding their hands
(33:22):
when the stock market looks alittle tricky like we were just
talking about last yearLiberation Day or this year with
the war in Iran and justreminding them that we've made
money over the decades and we'relikely to do so in the decades
to come.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
Yeah without doubt a quality stock is a quality stock
even in the down period andthose down periods last a lot
shorter when it is indeed thatquality stock this is a great
book for investors of all levelsas well as if you if you want
some guidance for life ingeneral because what Jimmy
writes about can certainly beexpanded into whatever your
specific career is, whateveryour business relationships are.
(33:57):
You'll find it very quickly tounderstand as well how to ride
the subway, getting around onWall Street and in life.
Learn more about Jimmy Labenthalat Jimmy Labenthal.com he's also
Chief Strategy Officer partnerwith Sara T Partners Sara T C E
R I T Y Partners dot com boththose links at our homepage.
Jimmy thank you for an educationand a fun ride through the
(34:18):
subways no pun intended and thehistory because you make it
understandable and everyone canappreciate the ideas that you're
communicating and benefit fromthem.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_06 (34:29):
Chris I really thank you you've been such a gracious
host and thank you for giving methe opportunity to dive a little
deeper into this book with you.
I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (34:37):
Every day on the Issues and ideas Facebook page
Chris DeBello shares commentaryand analysis about the latest
breaking news join theconversation by following Issues
and ideas on Facebook.
SPEAKER_04 (34:48):
You'll find the link to the Issues and Ideas Facebook
page on our website homepagebeing performed by the next
(35:21):
guest as well she should becausealone being the stone singer she
wrote it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:25):
She devoted herself to her music as a goal for her
life starting at the age ofeight but as everyone who makes
that decision quickly finds outthat devotion will be tested by
a whole lot of challenges.
Road just became a lot moreclear for her thanks to her
winning the recent Amplify YourAmbitions music competition,
which I believe she is a greatliving example of the name of
(35:47):
that competition originally fromEast Brunswick, New Jersey.
She's gone from playing forchange in New York City subway
to an online music downloadcareer with the downloads in the
hundreds of thousands saw onefor even over a million.
What's next for her?
Well let's find out by sayinghello to Karen Hardy.
How are you today, Karen?
SPEAKER_02 (36:05):
Hey how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (36:06):
That was such a good intro thank you well you got
good stuff and you can check outKaren's music Instagram,
Spotify, Apple Music.
We've got links on our homepageas well because you know for
those individual pages the linksare obscenely long so trying to
tell you them it's just easierto show you where they are let's
(36:27):
I mean we played a little p uhpiece of something to lose but
talk about your your music whatwhat's your sound?
What are you going for?
SPEAKER_02 (36:36):
I would say my sound is like pop R and B or like pop
soul.
That's kind of always what I'vesaid.
It's definitely like I am a popgirl for sure but I like you
said I mean you use the wordsoulful um like when you were
listening to my music.
So I definitely like soulfulsome R B influence a lot of like
(36:58):
throwback 90s influence um yeahthat's so the short answer is
like pop RB.
SPEAKER_01 (37:06):
I'm glad you say influence because so many times
I hear interviews or I seereviews so you know someone says
they sound like somebody youknow I'm I'm going to go old
school here but and because it'slimiting because if someone said
well that person he sounds likeFrank Sinatra okay I'm gonna go
download his stuff I'll go seehim oh yeah sounds just like
Sinatra but then they'll go backand listen to Sinatra.
(37:29):
So trying to be presented assounding like someone that's
that's just gonna limit yourlongevity and I was reading some
background about you as youquickly learned it's very tough
to become to go from being oneof many to being one.
SPEAKER_02 (37:43):
How do you think you've done that yeah I think
you have to like find multiplethings that set you apart um and
I mean it's kind of been a likethe journey of my music career
like figuring out what exactlyit is that sets me apart.
Um and I think I'm leaning moreinto obviously like I do think
(38:05):
my voice is like that is Karen.
Um but on top of that like mystory is very unique um and I'm
like just starting to lean intothat.
Also like everyone everyone'spersonality is so unique so I'm
trying less to be like what I'mexpected to be like and more
(38:28):
just like authentically myself.
So that's kind of my how I'mfiguring out exactly what sets
Karen Hardy apart.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:38):
And and the way you do things too I mean you're
telling heart stories about fromyour life and experience have
you ever do you ever hear backfrom people saying I was going
to listen to to a song that Ithought was about you but oh my
God it's about me.
SPEAKER_02 (38:55):
Uh yeah that's a good way of putting that yeah I
get a lot of DMs I mean I'vetalked a lot about like
depression online and mentalhealth and stuff like that and I
get a lot of people reaching outum even when I post about like I
have this one song about beingcheated on and I got a lot of
girls reaching out being likethis is exactly what happened to
(39:18):
me.
SPEAKER_01 (39:19):
Yeah those are the best best messages to get from
Karen Hardy who is steppingforward through winning the
Amplify Your Ambitionscompetition you can check out
her great music in well prettymuch every place you should be
checking out great musicSpotify, Apple you can follow
her on Instagram you'relistening to issues and ideas
(39:40):
you mentioned about and I re Ireferenced it in the
introduction too about you havea path but then you always find
out there's going to be a lot ofchallenges along the way and you
you had a couple of rough spotsthere.
Why did you not give up?
What got you back on track?
SPEAKER_02 (39:58):
Um I just think it's like a moth to a flame.
I think a lot of musicians havethat feeling where it's like
they they just cannot stop.
But this is like for me this hasbeen my dream literally since I
was like seven years old.
Like there was nothing else thatI ever wanted for my life.
I just wanted to be a singer andevery time I would take a step
(40:24):
back from music I wouldn't eventake a big step back but like
detach myself a little bitsomething would pull me back in
and um I can say like now I'm ata very like I'm just at a great
spot with music where it's likeI really think that I'm doing it
fully for the love of music andnot I mean of course I want to
(40:46):
have this like big career but atthe end of the day like it's
it's my love of music that'sdriving me and and not really
for anything else.
So I yeah I think it's just likehow much I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (40:57):
I wish I didn't sometimes but it's it's the
difference of doing art for theart before the benefits as
opposed to doing art for thebenefits first.
SPEAKER_02 (41:09):
Yeah I think we all get lost somewhere along the way
like I think most musicians loveit when they're you know a kid
they really authentically loveit but then of course like ego
stuff gets in the way but umyeah you just have to figure out
how to like push past the egoand like get back to why you
really started doing it in thefirst place.
(41:31):
You've been doing the the yourmusic career for quite some time
before the Amplify YourAmbitions music contest came
along how much of what youlearned on the way to that point
in your life helped you succeedthe way you did in the
competition I've been thinkingabout that a lot actually
because I don't think if I hadhad this opportunity like five
(41:55):
ten years ago I don't think Iwould have been able to show up
the way I did like obviously Iwould have like worked really
hard to get it but I I thinklike I went into the contest I
really wanted it I really wantedto win the$200,000 obviously
that SoFi was offering but itdidn't feel like the end of the
(42:18):
world if I didn't get it.
Like I was like okay I'm gonnastill be I'm still gonna pursue
music like I'm still gonna finda way to make this work this
obviously would make things alot easier and um a lot more
possible but I think yeah justlike knowing that it wasn't
gonna be the end of my career ifI didn't get it that was a big
(42:41):
part.
Then also just like myconfidence on stage and like
everything from that mysongwriting has gotten better to
my performing on stage to mysinging like it's just yeah it
all kind of lined up together.
SPEAKER_01 (42:54):
You know it's like with self-publishing books,
doing your own thing for musicit it ain't cheap as they say
and um I have no doubt$200,000is going to move you forward
quite a few more squares fasterthan you were probably planning
on.
SPEAKER_02 (43:09):
Yeah I mean don't get me wrong this is$200,000 is
life changing.
Yeah.
But I think you just have tolike tell yourself like okay I'm
gonna figure out either way butnow it's like a huge huge weight
off my shoulders and on top ofthat it's just like I can dream
bigger now.
I can like see the full visionand actually make it happen.
SPEAKER_01 (43:33):
Do you plan on staying I guess your own your
own your own boss or are youlooking for uh to get signed?
SPEAKER_02 (43:40):
What are you what are your plans as far as that's
concerned um not looking to getsigned yet but I definitely want
people in my team.
So I think the next step is likefor sure management of some sort
um just someone to bounce ideasoff of and help me push it
forward.
I'm good at the music part butlike The marketing stuff, that's
(44:01):
not my expertise.
So that's another thing.
Like this money is gonna allowme to like bring more people on
who are actually good at theirarea, you know?
SPEAKER_01 (44:09):
Well, you're you're definitely worthy of being found
by more people than you alreadyhave, which is a spectacular
number as a DIY project, I guesswe can call it.
And you know, certainly talkabout your family because you
have two older brothers with uhwith disabilities.
How much did that help in theway that your communication
(44:29):
skills came about for yourmusic?
SPEAKER_02 (44:34):
Yeah, I'm like obsessed with my family and
especially my brothers, likewe're all just really close.
Um and we were growing up likein these environments, like our
our community was um kind oflike my brother's friends and
stuff like that.
And I I realized really quicklythat music was a universal
(44:58):
language, kind of like even forsomeone who maybe can't get
their words out as easily, it'slike a um just everyone
gravitates towards music andfinds some type of relief in it.
And then I realized that it justlike that um I I that I just
that just became something thatwas more and more aware, like I
(45:19):
became more and more aware of asI got older.
And so now I I work within theum like autism community with
adults that are super musicallyinclined and it's just kind of
solidified, like this is musicis a language, it it is fully
it's like the one thing that Ithink we all feel comforted by,
(45:43):
which I is just this incrediblething.
So yeah, that's my long-windedanswer for that.
SPEAKER_01 (45:49):
And very, very telling answer too, and I think
very, very instructive foranyone for you listening.
If if you want great music,definitely listen to Karen's
stuff.
And again, we had the links forher music at Spotify and Apple
over at our homepage.
And find out more about herstory too over at her Instagram
page, and if you just do aGoogle search at Karen Hardy,
because Karen's very open aboutwhat she did, the paths she
(46:11):
took, what she overcame, bothwith herself and her chosen
field.
And I think you get some veryvaluable lessons for whatever it
is that you have a passion foror you have a goal for in your
life as well.
Follow Karen over on Instagram,and again, check out her music
because it'll be a good thingthat you did, and you want to
share it as well.
Karen, pleasure meeting you,pleasure learning more about
(46:33):
your music and you, and thanksso much for being here today.
All the best.
SPEAKER_02 (46:38):
You too.
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_08 (46:44):
The following program is brought to you in
living color on NBC.
(47:17):
And I should have today I wasnamed Playmate of the Month by
the Los Angeles PoliceDepartment.
And another thing, uh, anothernice thing happened to me today.
NBC hung a star on my dressingroom door.
Mickey Rooney.
SPEAKER_01 (47:38):
Today is Dean Martin's birthday.
Over on our Facebook page, whichyou can find the link to on our
website homepage, we'll becelebrating Dean's birthday by
sharing some memories of Dean.
Dean Martin is also responsiblefor my all-time favorite quote.
Said this during a 1983interview in London.
You gotta have fun.
If you're not having fun, youmight as well lay down, let him
(48:00):
throw dirt on you.
God wants us to have fun.
In fact, fun, joy, laughter areblessings from God.
I believe God himself liked tohave some fun.
If you don't believe me, thenexplain to me the giraffe,
kangaroo, and armadillo forstarters.
Jesus himself wanted people tohave fun and enjoy life.
Let's go to John chapter two,verses one through ten.
(48:23):
On the third day there was awedding in Cana of Galilee, and
the mother of Jesus was there.
Now both Jesus and his discipleswere invited to the wedding, and
when they ran out of wine themother of Jesus said to him,
They have no wine.
Jesus said to her, Woman, whatdoes your concern have to do
with me?
My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants,Whatever he says to you, do it.
(48:47):
Now there were set there sixwater pots of stone according to
the manner of purification ofthe Jews, containing twenty or
thirty gallons apiece.
Jesus said to them, Fill thewater pots with water and they
filled them up to the brim, andhe said to them, Draw some out
now and take it to the master ofthe feast.
And they took it.
When the master of the feast hadtasted the water that was made
(49:09):
wine, and did not know where itcame from, but the servants who
had drawn the water knew, themaster of the feast called the
bridegroom, and he said to him,Every man at the beginning sets
out the good wine, and when theguests have well drunk, then the
inferior you have kept the goodwine until now.
What the master of the banquetmeant was that you start off
(49:30):
with a little of the good stuff,then you bring out the cheap
wine once people have had toomuch to drink to really care
what they're drinking anymore.
Jesus cut out the cheap stuffand came up with first class
award winning wine.
Jesus in the Beatitudes which weread in the sixth chapter of
Luke encourages us to workthrough the bad times because we
are to be happy.
(49:54):
Blessed are you who weep now foryou shall laugh.
Being happy is one of the majorlessons we gain from the book of
Proverbs.
There's this in Proverbs chapter17, verse 22.
A merry heart does good likemedicine, but a broken spirit
dries the bones.
As well as these words inProverbs chapter fifteen, verse
thirteen, a merry heart makes acheerful countenance, but by
(50:17):
sorrow of the heart the spiritis broken.
Solomon, who is considered thewisest ever king of Israel,
called on his people to be happyand have fun, realizing that the
experience is a great gift fromGod.
Solomon declares this truth inEcclesiastes chapter eight,
verse fifteen.
So I commended enjoyment becausea man has nothing better under
(50:39):
the sun than to eat, drink, andbe merry, for this will remain
with him in his labor all thedays of his life which God gives
him under the sun.
Since happiness and fun are goodfor us, James and James chapter
one, verse seventeen, confirmswho is the true source.
Reading here, every good giftand every perfect gift is from
(50:59):
above and comes down from theFather of lights, with whom
there is no variation or shadowof turning.
Who confirms that all thesegifts are indeed from God in
heaven?
The thief does not come exceptto steal and to kill and to
destroy.
I have come that they may havelife and that they may have it
(51:20):
more abundantly.
God wants us to be happy everyday.
These instructions are given tous in Psalm chapter one
eighteen, verse twenty-four.
This is the day the Lord hasmade, we will rejoice and be
glad in it.
The fun God wants us to have, bythe way, isn't limited to
adults.
Happiness for children equallyimportant to him.
(51:41):
This wish is expressed inZechariah chapter eight verse
five.
The streets of the city shall befull of boys and girls playing
in its streets.
Now it's important to establishthat the fun God wants us to
have in each one of our days,that's not permission to be
reckless.
Nor are we to hurt others,stealing, that's still a sin,
property damage, mocking others,lying to others, as we maybe try
(52:05):
to mask that sin as being allwe're just joking around.
Paul in first Corinthianschapter ten verse thirty-one
gives this instruction to us.
Therefore, whether you eat ordrink or whatever you do, do all
to the glory of God.
We also receive this guidance inColossians chapter three, verse
seventeen, and whatever you doin word or deed, do all in the
(52:25):
name of the Lord Jesus, givingthanks to God the Father through
him.
Fun and happiness comes to usfrom God and can only be
experienced in the totallyrighteous way He wants when we
turn to God.
Let's go to First Thessalonianschapter five, verses sixteen
through eighteen.
Rejoice always, pray withoutceasing, in everything give
(52:46):
thanks, for this is the will ofGod in Christ Jesus for you.
And as we devote ourselves tothat, we do it with the
knowledge that the fun andhappiness that comes from God is
an eternal blessing placedbefore us by Jesus in Revelation
chapter twenty-one, verse four.
And God will wipe away everytear from their eyes.
(53:06):
There shall be no more death,nor sorrow, nor crying.
There shall be no more pain, forthe former things have passed
away.
SPEAKER_00 (53:20):
Chris will be back next week with more great
conversations and information.
Visit our website at issues andideasradio.com.
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