July 12, 2024 • 25 mins
On this second HEP-isode of the all-new second season, we ask the question: What if the future of heavy equipment didn't just mean bigger and better, but smarter too? We break down the innovations and hurdles shaping the heavy equipment industry, starting with the Komatsu 930e mining rig, talk through the contentious issue of marijuana legalization and its ramifications across the heavy equipment space, and shine a light on John Deere's recent layoffs in the face of a multibillion dollar stock buyback. All this and the biggest Big Boy of them all, on HPE-isode 29.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another thrilling episode.
Episode two no, yes.
Episode two of the HeavyEquipment Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is iconic.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is bad.
It's the worst one we've everdone.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No, it's going to be good, this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
This is going to be good.
Speaking of things that aregood, weren't you driving around
in that new giant, giantkamatsu 930e mining rig this
week?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
well, you know, really I'm doing the whole road
show, uh, this week from theback bunk of a brand new mac but
working on that and then, uh,trying to get that baby back to
cleveland, get her set up, gether out on the road.
But this kamatsu 930e I saw avideo of this thing.
We had a comment on this.
The bet it's it's electricdrive, like most of the big
mining equipment is.
But in the back there's a videogoing viral right now of them
(00:49):
walking behind the thing andopening up the rear hatch.
There's a radio playing inthere and they're in there
working on some stuff.
I mean it's kind of neat thatyou could theoretically have a
maintenance office in the backof a 930e.
Yeah, it's got like a coolerlock on it.
You know the stainless locks.
You know like from jurassicpark where they lock the
velociraptor in there.
(01:10):
But listen, it's truly built bykamatsu because it's not meant
for no big boy.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You're not going to have big al back there trying to
rewire some four-odd gaugecopper, you're gonna, but you
can get a couple of dudes thatare like five, four back there
and they've got the repeateddrills.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
They're happy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Exactly they got plenty of room I want to set up
like a diorama in there.
So somebody opens up thatlittle maintenance hatch and
there's like four taxidermy dogsplaying poker around a table.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That'd be badass actually.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Pretty sick.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Imagine opening up that door and they're all in
there just smoking cigars andit's just a stream cloud comes
out of there.
Open up that door and they'reall in there just smoking cigars
and it's just a stream cloudcomes out of there.
And then you know, the one putsits paw, it's got a straight
done.
The bulldog tips the table overand walks over to his new mac
nice.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
There's a gray hand in there.
He's the bus driver.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
He was he was the bus driver they all got laid off
they all got laid off.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
They're done it's bad out there, man, there's,
there's a lot of layoffs in theindustry right now and it's
really weird right now.
But it's weird because, likethere's such a demand, I mean,
if you go and try to buy a new,it doesn't matter what it is,
doesn't matter if it's like afarm tractor or if you're trying
to buy a, a medium duty or evena class eight.
Everything is six months, 12months, a year and a half.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah the demands there.
People, people need these parts.
I mean, for a good example, weordered a set of hubs for a dump
truck to switch them over fromspoke or Dayton style spoke
wheels and put actual hub pilotwheels on it.
We ordered the parts a whileago.
They had them in stock.
It took them a couple of daysto pull them, then realized that
(02:42):
we needed more parts.
We got parts of it in.
Now we're still waiting formore bearings and more bolts.
But it's like this.
It's never ending anymore.
It's horrible.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So.
But what is the point?
Because I have a hard timereconciling the fact that
vehicles are in demand, partsare in demand.
You know we're constantlytalking about how there's a
labor shortage, you can't findgood people, but yet it seems
like every time you turn on thenews the last two weeks you've
got John Deere doing layoffs,you've got Caterpillar talking
(03:12):
about layoffs.
I mean, everybody's doinglayoffs.
How are you still in business,like the people that you had a
year ago weren't able to meetdemand and now you have less
people.
It's horrible.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And I truly believe that it's a forced
sustainability of backlog.
Yeah, Because if you don't havethe people and you slow the
industry down, then you don'thave to worry about running out
of it in the interim of aslowdown.
But we need people to work.
You know, we had a bigdiscussion about AI in the
construction industry the otherday.
It's incredible.
(03:44):
There's a million people withinthe construction industry that
were I think it was a millionpeople that were polled.
They all believe that AI isgoing to replace them in one
fashion or another, but yet wecan't get enough people in the
industry anyways.
So AI is not going to replaceanybody, right?
If anything, it will help withwhat we got going on, because
(04:06):
people hear about layoffs andthey think, well, AI or robotics
are going to, you know, aretaking these jobs.
That's why there's layoffs.
No, actually we're slowing down, but I think it's kind of a
forced slowdown because thedemand's there.
Everybody I talk to the demandis there.
We need vehicles, we need cars,we need parts.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I don't know why, why we're doing that, but it's
frustrating and everybody youtalk to is frustrated about the
whole scenario.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, but I mean it's not a mystery why we're doing
that right, like traditionally,historically, whenever you have
a group of layoffs and I'm nottalking about the last five, 10
years, I mean, if you go back tothe eighties in general motors,
whenever there was a round oflayoffs, especially right before
the end of a quarter, you wouldbe able to show a forecast with
(04:50):
reduced debt and higherprojected income and it would
goose the stock offering.
And, just like we talked aboutthe last episode, there are huge
organizations, huge companiesthat are doing these stock
buybacks to bring wealth intothe hands of the shareholders.
And that seems to be what'shappening here, because you've
(05:11):
got companies that can't buildenough product, they can't
deliver enough product tosatisfy demand, but they're
still doing these layoffs toboost up their stock price,
depending on what conspiracytheory you believe this week.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
That's the problem with conspiracy theories, but
some of that has to hold someweight.
There's a lot of manipulationgoing on with the stock market
right now.
I don't care what anybody says.
We've got trading that's beinghalted.
We've got AI trading that'scoming into effect,
program-based trading that'sgoing on, people tracking
trading of you know governmentofficials.
(05:47):
Now there's so much going onthat we can't we can't overlook
it, but we also can't go downthat rabbit hole that
everything's fake.
You know, it's the matrix we'reall put on this planet to
generate heat no, no, no, look,I'm not saying that's far
extreme, but you know what I'mgetting yeah, it's it's too
extreme, but like I'm not sayingthat's far extreme.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But you know what I'm getting.
Yeah, it's it's too extreme,but like I'm not saying that we
should get into this and starttalking about conspiracy
theories like they're real.
But like, on the other hand,you know people who say I don't
believe in any conspiracy theory.
You don't believe in anyconspiracy theory.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, everybody's got a conspiracy theory that they
believe.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Everybody's got a conspiracy theory dude, every
(06:46):
single one of them.
High school and college.
in the 90s they used to talkabout a conspiracy by the rope
manufacturers to make marijuanaillegal so people couldn't grow
hemp because hemp ropes werelike the best thing in the world
and hemp oil was better for youknow, for cooking and for
lubricating and things like that, and the oil industry wanted to
keep hemp down and that that'ssomething that, like I think,
sank in maybe not to me, but itsank in on a subliminal level,
(07:09):
because you're starting to seeall these different states, all
these different organizingbodies kind of come around on
this marijuana use and hemp useand now it looks like it's been
reclassified as a what is it nowLike a schedule two or
something?
So I guess it's like legal, butyou can still be impaired if
you're driving on marijuana.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Uh, basically alcohol .
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, it's like alcohol.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But that's a huge change for the industry, right,
cause if you have an operator ora driver, you know and and
there's some kind of accident,they always do a.
You know, they always do ablood test.
Right, but like alcohol, yeah,if I had a couple of drinks a
night or two ago, that's goingto be out of my system.
But if I had some edibles at aconcert on Saturday and I'm in
(07:52):
an accident on Wednesday, that'sstill going to come up in my
system.
That's going to be a problem.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Listen, it's a big problem and as these drugs get
reclassified, part of the issuewith that is if you're an
operator, a union teamster andall that, you forego the ability
to use any of that.
Right, you literally sign awaythe option of using that because
they are a drug-free employmentagency, basically drug-free
(08:17):
union, where it is a majorproblem and will become a major
problem on heavy equipment,construction sites, heavy
construction, industrialconstruction, whatever
construction you're gettingdeliveries on and the guy pulls
in with a box, trailer or aflatbed and he's got something
for you to just make a simpledelivery.
If he is impaired and he has aproblem, he has created a
(08:41):
problem for your drug-freeworkplace on that site and you
can't control that.
Yeah, that's tough.
So if we guarantee a drug-freeworkplace, we can only guarantee
it as as our subs and our ownemployees and all that stuff,
the same as any other contractor.
But all these other guys thatare running around and really
you know the bad part is if youwalk through I just I was just
(09:03):
on the turnpike and if you walkthrough a rest area, you can
smell it coming out of thetrucks.
Oh yeah, I walked past onetoday.
You could smell it.
I have no idea how you would beable to drive like that.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, and he's barreling down the road at 90
miles an hour with 80,000-poundpayload.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Exactly so what good is that you know?
Thousand pound payload Exactlyso what good is that you know?
It's no different than way pastyears ago.
Guys used to go and get a 30pack and sit there.
They were stuck there overnightor stuck there for two days
letting their log book reset,and they would drink a bunch of
beer and get all up and thinkthey were okay and leave and get
in an accident and they werestill impaired.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah.
Now you got marijuana, so it's afine line, and until we come
out with a breathalyzer type wayto test quickly saturation
levels within people, it's goingto be a little tricky yeah, but
like, if you look at you know,like the nursing industry,
things like that, we both gotpeople in our lives and our
(10:03):
families that are in nursing,that are in the medical field.
There's a zero tolerance there.
Do you think that it'srealistic, in a field with such
a labor shortage, do you thinkthat it's realistic to say that
you're going to have a zeropolicy?
Dr Justin Marchegiani it's notNow.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
What we're working on is and we're no different than
anybody else when does thatapply Again, the level of which
you have in your system, howlong it was?
You're trying to figure outthat sweet spot of saying look,
we know, people are going to goout over the weekend and do
things.
They need to be right when theycome to work.
When it comes to the unions,though, they really don't care.
(10:41):
They're saying it's zero, youcan send them in for a drug test
, you get tested, you're done,you're going to go into a
probationary period, you'regoing to do testing, you're
going to do counseling and thenyou're going to go back out once
you pass.
All that.
I don't know, maybe that'lltranscend in the future.
We have to figure it out as anindustry.
There really needs to be moreround table discussion stuff
(11:02):
going on with this, becausethere's a lot of little caveat
points to talk about with it and, if anything else, just to stir
up thought process and seewhere you want to get yourself
to get a thought starter thinggoing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And with that here's the original preview for Cheech
and Chong's up in smoke.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
In the thirties, laurel and Hardy were the kings
of comedy.
Then Abbott and Costello tookthe 40s and split their sides
with laughter.
The 50s went hysterical andbroke up to the wild antics of
Martin and Lewis.
In the great tradition of theselaugh masters of the past come
(11:43):
two guys who are hystericallyfunny.
They're Cheech and Chong, thecomedy team that gave birth to
rock comedy and in the processturned on a whole generation.
Now it's time for the Cheechand Chong movie Up in Smoke.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Is that a joint man?
Go up in smoke, is that a jointman?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Go up in smoke.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That'd be a good trailer to put in right there it
would be Now I mean talkingabout up in smoke, though I mean
.
So what?
We got John Deere doing layoffs.
They're moving jobs to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, that's what you know Pile of smoke and dust,
they're gone.
Yeah, and it's funny becauseJohn Deere is one of these
companies that is not doingbadly, like there is a little
bit of a of a downtick from whatthey were doing a year ago and
two years ago, but their profitmargins are still, their profits
are actually higher than theywere.
So this is yeah, because theirper unit profit, per part profit
(12:41):
, is higher.
Yeah, remember man, a lot ofthis inflation stuff is like oh
no, we have record inflation,but we also have record profits.
Turn away, don't look at those.
Don't look at my new yacht.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's not talk about the bottom line.
Let's talk about the inflation.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
That's it.
Let's not talk about the JohnDeere CEO's $ four million
dollar barn dominium mansion.
That's not even his primaryresidence we'll uh no talk about
these layoffs let's just stopbehind the rusty palace.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
He just, he just stops there, he just stops
that's his rest stop.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
He switches out to the uh, from the my bach to the
f-150 harley davidson edition.
That's more acceptable on thejob sites.
But listen, it's funny becausewe were just talking about this.
We're talking about AI takingover and replacing jobs.
Liebherr, which is one of theleaders in autonomous electric
mining equipment.
They're expanding their minesin Virginia and throughout the
(13:35):
Northeast.
They're adding 175 jobs to takecare of the autonomous
equipment.
To basically just keep it clean, make sure everything's happy
and copacetic, make sure therobots aren't about to flip out
and take over the world.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Lieber has always been a frontrunner in things
like that.
But this mining expansion thatthey're doing listen, 175 jobs.
People are like that ain'tnothing, it is a lot.
It makes an impact in themining system.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
When everybody else is shutting down, jobs it.
That ain't nothing, it is a lot.
It makes an impact wheneverybody else is shutting down
jobs.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's a big deal Exactly.
I'm wondering what the stats are.
I'm trying to look them up forthe John Deere exodus, but it
goes back to what I've alwayspreached, since the very early
episodes, which people mayperuse back to and check out on
your own time the more we can doto create jobs in the United
States, the more sustainable, orobviously our economy is.
(14:27):
We need to figure out a way towork with all this and I think
that that and again not to getall political, but I think that
that's some of the undertow thatyou hear whether, no matter
which side of the fence you'reon or which side of the wall
that you're promoting or whichside of anything you're
promoting, you ultimately wantthe same goal.
(14:49):
You want to control inflation.
You want to know that there'sjobs out there which keep the
economy moving.
You want to know that whateverjob you have that keeps your
place going is going to be there.
Yeah Well, that only happenswhen companies decide they want
to be here and they want to dowork here right now with the
contractors.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right and it goes back to like what we were
talking about before, that thegoals of the people who are
running the corporation, thegoals of the shareholders who
own the corporations, are notthe same as the goals of like
you and me and other hardworkingAmericans, and like the goal of
the capital class is not thesame as the goal of the working
(15:31):
class.
So I've got those stats fromJohn Deere and I don't have them
from any American paper.
I got this from the Guardian,which is a UK paper.
So John Deere reported a $10billion profit in fiscal year
2023.
This is after $7.3 billion instock buybacks, by the way.
(15:52):
So they took $7.3 billion thatthey could have put into a
pension fund, that they couldhave put into a UAW contract,
that they could have put intoAmerican jobs and American
workers, but instead they did astock buyback to boost the stock
price.
Then earlier this year, 2024,they cut 650 jobs at their
(16:12):
plants in Iowa 500 jobs inWaterloo and 150 at the Anarchy
plant, 250 indefinite layoffsfrom Illinois and 34 workers
were laid off in Illinois in May.
Now a couple of important statsthere, and I don't want to pick
on John Deere because I thinkyou could pick any corporation
that made these things publicand you'd see something very
(16:34):
similar is that there's all themoney in the world for stock
buybacks and for C-levelexecutives and for company
bonuses, and for C-levelexecutives and for company
bonuses, but when it comes timeto shave money and cut the
budget, there's no conversationabout the multi-million dollar
compensation packages for theC-suite.
It's let's get rid of these 34blue collar workers in Illinois
and that's going to cover outand round out my bonus.
(16:56):
So I'm upset by this because,I'll be honest, I thought better
of John Deere.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And that's what I'm saying.
That hit it down the head whenyou say that you thought better
of john deere.
We thought better of generalmotors.
We thought we were through.
You know when people arecalling government motors.
Now you got john deere sayinglook, we're going to do a 7.3
billion dollar stock buyback.
We're going to take our 10billion dollars of profit which
was caused by inflation.
(17:23):
Yes, let's not lie about this,because they do a twice a year
and they were doing quarterly.
I've heard it's twice a yearcurrently, price increase.
So you're going to do priceincreases every six months and
let's just say it was 12 months.
And let's say that we did anannual price increase, which has
happened as long as I've beenbuying equipment and been around
(17:45):
equipment, parts and equipmentpricing's gone up every year.
It happens you took all thatmoney to buy your stock back,
which does what it controls theprice Same thing we talked about
with General Motors.
So what's your end game?
What are you trying to do?
Why is everybody buying theirstock back?
Why is Caterpillar doing it?
Why is John Deere doing it?
(18:06):
Why are these companies sayingyou know what?
We're going to swallow upprofits earned.
We're not going to build a newplant.
Let's talk about that too.
Imagine what the news breakdownwould be if Caterpillar John
Deere, komatsu, hitachi Deereany of those people I said dear
twice because they're doublyimportant in this conversation
(18:26):
at the moment I think you justleft that alone instead of hung
a lantern on it.
Nobody would have noticed no, Iknow, but I needed to say it,
but anyway, we got.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Dear kamatsu, dear hitachi, leave here, I'll do it
again I'll do it again.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So let me tell you, imagine the news article and the
strength of which it would becarried.
This would be like the days ofwhen paul revere rode with a
message in his pocket talkingabout when the british were
coming, and then we're trying tofigure out if we're going to
get wiped out by sea or by land.
Yeah, this would.
This would carry the sameweight.
(19:00):
If Caterpillar, john Deere,hitachi, komatsu, liebherr, any
of those said we are going toput a four billion dollar plant
on this planet and we're goingto do it in North America, that
would be on every news articlewe would be talking about.
We would do that for a billion.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
They spent seven point three billion dollars
buying their own stock back andthen laying people off and
shipping their jobs to Mexico,and then laying people off.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Take $4 billion, build a plant, put another 300
people to work, 400 people towork to run some machinery
processing centers that you knowyou need because you can't turn
the parts out fast enough as itis, and every time you want to
buy something you know you gettold it's on back order.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
That is, and every time you want to buy something
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You get told it's on back order.
It's a.
That's exactly.
I'm tired of waiting on gasketsand o-rings too, so why don't
you partner up with parkerhannifin and uh hankle
corporation and figure out howyou're going to get us gaskets
when we need them out in thefield?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
they could send them out on uh bike messengers, like
the guys you just got stuckbehind in traffic today well,
that was horrible.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's horrible.
I, I don horrible.
I respect bike riders because Iride a bike and real quick, I'm
going to talk about that.
I ride as much as I possiblycan when you are in a class
eight vehicle and you arecutting down a road and all of a
sudden, all these bikes are ona road of which there is a bike
path in a bike lane.
I'm sorry, move over, not whileyou got to share the road.
(20:22):
Now what happens if you get theTour de France wannabes up
there and somebody slips on apile of dog crap and you fall
underneath the front of thisMack?
Now you got real problems.
I got problems.
Get in your bike lane, stay offthe road.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Now you got to do paperwork to get all that gunk
out of from underneath yourwheel.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
well, Let me tell you spokes and tires are not good.
They're not good.
Those are road crawls and thoseare expensive.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Listen, if you think getting run over by a Mack
Anthem is bad, have you seenthis Union Pacific bad boy, the
4014?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oh, the big boy, the big boy, the Pacific big boy,
that thing, I've always wantedto see that in person come
storming through the West.
They take it out every so oftenand do these historic runs with
it.
It costs them a fortune.
It's a huge campaign for them.
I think it's important.
I think it's important to getthat thing out, chug some steam
through it, show that we knowhow to do stuff.
(21:19):
And the attractive power ofthat locomotive is still
incredible.
It took him a long time to topthe attractive power of that
machine.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean you can't say enoughcool things about this If you're
out in Wyoming June 30th, soit's going to kick off this
weekend.
It's going to go from Laramiethrough Whamsutter Green River
into wells, nevada, carlin andbattle mountain.
It's going to go through, uh,colfax, california, lovelock,
nevada, carlin, nevada.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
They're doing I want to get on a plane today and go
see it, I do, I do too.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
They want.
They're doing the whole westernexpansion, like that whole
golden spike thing, and they'redoing that whole tour.
It's going to run a full month,from june 30th to july 26th.
It's going to close off inMedicine Bow, wyoming, and it is
a 1.2 million pound locomotive.
And we're not talking about thetrain.
It's not the train that weighshundreds and hundreds of tons,
(22:16):
it's the engine, it is thelocomotive.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
That's what adds to its tractive power, exactly
right, the weight and theconnection of the steel wheel
against the steel track.
You need mass weight to do that.
But that 4884 configuration wasiconic because you got the
front running.
But then you have twoindividual sets of tractive
powering drive wheels with abogey wheel behind it.
(22:40):
So if anybody hasn't seen it,you've got to Google this,
you've got to look at it.
And then the coal tender alonein the back is phenomenal.
The amount of wheels and stuffon those trucks is incredible.
Again, if you haven't, seen it.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You've got to check it out.
You've got to check it out.
And for those of you who arewondering what kind of numbers
we're talking about when Mike istalking about tractive power
135 000 pound feet of torque.
That is not horsepower, becausewe don't move anything.
Horsepower, we move no, but itdoes have 7 000 horsepower out
(23:16):
of two engines.
So it is a 14 000 horsepowermachine making 135 000 pound
feet of torque.
I mean, you know, let's face it, if you put one of these motors
in the back of a little vwbuggy, it's gonna get down the
road.
You know, here's where weinterject.
That guy laughing is there.
So you know, the big boy, thebig boy restaurant, yeah, are
(23:40):
there ads for that?
Like old school big boy tvcommercials oh, for the
restaurant.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I don't know if I've ever seen that we need to run an
ad for the gandhi dancersthere's a, there is a bob's big
boy 1984 commercial.
Oh, it's perfect speaking ofbig right before terminator.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, speaking of big boys, we've got this.
Uh, we'll close out with theBob's big boy commercial from
1984.
We'll run that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Way back in the thirties, bob's invented the
double deck hamburger.
We called it the big boy.
Some folks call it a meal initself.
A few years later, we addedeven more and called it the Big
Boy Combo, with french fries anda crispy green salad.
Today you can enjoy this famouscombo at a special price of
only a dollar ninety-nine.
(24:31):
And isn't that good news?
And Bob's Big Boy?
We love good food, just likeyou do.
Welcome back to another thrilling episode.
Episode two no, yes.
Episode two of the HeavyEquipment Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is iconic.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is bad.
It's the worst one we've everdone.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No, it's going to be good, this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
This is going to be good.
Speaking of things that aregood, weren't you driving around
in that new giant, giantkamatsu 930e mining rig this
week?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
well, you know, really I'm doing the whole road
show, uh, this week from theback bunk of a brand new mac but
working on that and then, uh,trying to get that baby back to
cleveland, get her set up, gether out on the road.
But this kamatsu 930e I saw avideo of this thing.
We had a comment on this.
The bet it's it's electricdrive, like most of the big
mining equipment is.
But in the back there's a videogoing viral right now of them
(00:49):
walking behind the thing andopening up the rear hatch.
There's a radio playing inthere and they're in there
working on some stuff.
I mean it's kind of neat thatyou could theoretically have a
maintenance office in the backof a 930e.
Yeah, it's got like a coolerlock on it.
You know the stainless locks.
You know like from jurassicpark where they lock the
velociraptor in there.
(01:10):
But listen, it's truly built bykamatsu because it's not meant
for no big boy.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You're not going to have big al back there trying to
rewire some four-odd gaugecopper, you're gonna, but you
can get a couple of dudes thatare like five, four back there
and they've got the repeateddrills.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
They're happy.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Exactly they got plenty of room I want to set up
like a diorama in there.
So somebody opens up thatlittle maintenance hatch and
there's like four taxidermy dogsplaying poker around a table.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
That'd be badass actually.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Pretty sick.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Imagine opening up that door and they're all in
there just smoking cigars andit's just a stream cloud comes
out of there.
Open up that door and they'reall in there just smoking cigars
and it's just a stream cloudcomes out of there.
And then you know, the one putsits paw, it's got a straight
done.
The bulldog tips the table overand walks over to his new mac
nice.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
There's a gray hand in there.
He's the bus driver.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
He was he was the bus driver they all got laid off
they all got laid off.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
They're done it's bad out there, man, there's,
there's a lot of layoffs in theindustry right now and it's
really weird right now.
But it's weird because, likethere's such a demand, I mean,
if you go and try to buy a new,it doesn't matter what it is,
doesn't matter if it's like afarm tractor or if you're trying
to buy a, a medium duty or evena class eight.
Everything is six months, 12months, a year and a half.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah the demands there.
People, people need these parts.
I mean, for a good example, weordered a set of hubs for a dump
truck to switch them over fromspoke or Dayton style spoke
wheels and put actual hub pilotwheels on it.
We ordered the parts a whileago.
They had them in stock.
It took them a couple of daysto pull them, then realized that
(02:42):
we needed more parts.
We got parts of it in.
Now we're still waiting formore bearings and more bolts.
But it's like this.
It's never ending anymore.
It's horrible.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So.
But what is the point?
Because I have a hard timereconciling the fact that
vehicles are in demand, partsare in demand.
You know we're constantlytalking about how there's a
labor shortage, you can't findgood people, but yet it seems
like every time you turn on thenews the last two weeks you've
got John Deere doing layoffs,you've got Caterpillar talking
(03:12):
about layoffs.
I mean, everybody's doinglayoffs.
How are you still in business,like the people that you had a
year ago weren't able to meetdemand and now you have less
people.
It's horrible.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And I truly believe that it's a forced
sustainability of backlog.
Yeah, Because if you don't havethe people and you slow the
industry down, then you don'thave to worry about running out
of it in the interim of aslowdown.
But we need people to work.
You know, we had a bigdiscussion about AI in the
construction industry the otherday.
It's incredible.
(03:44):
There's a million people withinthe construction industry that
were I think it was a millionpeople that were polled.
They all believe that AI isgoing to replace them in one
fashion or another, but yet wecan't get enough people in the
industry anyways.
So AI is not going to replaceanybody, right?
If anything, it will help withwhat we got going on, because
(04:06):
people hear about layoffs andthey think, well, AI or robotics
are going to, you know, aretaking these jobs.
That's why there's layoffs.
No, actually we're slowing down, but I think it's kind of a
forced slowdown because thedemand's there.
Everybody I talk to the demandis there.
We need vehicles, we need cars,we need parts.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I don't know why, why we're doing that, but it's
frustrating and everybody youtalk to is frustrated about the
whole scenario.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, but I mean it's not a mystery why we're doing
that right, like traditionally,historically, whenever you have
a group of layoffs and I'm nottalking about the last five, 10
years, I mean, if you go back tothe eighties in general motors,
whenever there was a round oflayoffs, especially right before
the end of a quarter, you wouldbe able to show a forecast with
(04:50):
reduced debt and higherprojected income and it would
goose the stock offering.
And, just like we talked aboutthe last episode, there are huge
organizations, huge companiesthat are doing these stock
buybacks to bring wealth intothe hands of the shareholders.
And that seems to be what'shappening here, because you've
(05:11):
got companies that can't buildenough product, they can't
deliver enough product tosatisfy demand, but they're
still doing these layoffs toboost up their stock price,
depending on what conspiracytheory you believe this week.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
That's the problem with conspiracy theories, but
some of that has to hold someweight.
There's a lot of manipulationgoing on with the stock market
right now.
I don't care what anybody says.
We've got trading that's beinghalted.
We've got AI trading that'scoming into effect,
program-based trading that'sgoing on, people tracking
trading of you know governmentofficials.
(05:47):
Now there's so much going onthat we can't we can't overlook
it, but we also can't go downthat rabbit hole that
everything's fake.
You know, it's the matrix we'reall put on this planet to
generate heat no, no, no, look,I'm not saying that's far
extreme, but you know what I'mgetting yeah, it's it's too
extreme, but like I'm not sayingthat's far extreme.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But you know what I'm getting.
Yeah, it's it's too extreme,but like I'm not saying that we
should get into this and starttalking about conspiracy
theories like they're real.
But like, on the other hand,you know people who say I don't
believe in any conspiracy theory.
You don't believe in anyconspiracy theory.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No, everybody's got a conspiracy theory that they
believe.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Everybody's got a conspiracy theory dude, every
(06:46):
single one of them.
High school and college.
in the 90s they used to talkabout a conspiracy by the rope
manufacturers to make marijuanaillegal so people couldn't grow
hemp because hemp ropes werelike the best thing in the world
and hemp oil was better for youknow, for cooking and for
lubricating and things like that, and the oil industry wanted to
keep hemp down and that that'ssomething that, like I think,
sank in maybe not to me, but itsank in on a subliminal level,
(07:09):
because you're starting to seeall these different states, all
these different organizingbodies kind of come around on
this marijuana use and hemp useand now it looks like it's been
reclassified as a what is it nowLike a schedule two or
something?
So I guess it's like legal, butyou can still be impaired if
you're driving on marijuana.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Uh, basically alcohol .
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, it's like alcohol.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But that's a huge change for the industry, right,
cause if you have an operator ora driver, you know and and
there's some kind of accident,they always do a.
You know, they always do ablood test.
Right, but like alcohol, yeah,if I had a couple of drinks a
night or two ago, that's goingto be out of my system.
But if I had some edibles at aconcert on Saturday and I'm in
(07:52):
an accident on Wednesday, that'sstill going to come up in my
system.
That's going to be a problem.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Listen, it's a big problem and as these drugs get
reclassified, part of the issuewith that is if you're an
operator, a union teamster andall that, you forego the ability
to use any of that.
Right, you literally sign awaythe option of using that because
they are a drug-free employmentagency, basically drug-free
(08:17):
union, where it is a majorproblem and will become a major
problem on heavy equipment,construction sites, heavy
construction, industrialconstruction, whatever
construction you're gettingdeliveries on and the guy pulls
in with a box, trailer or aflatbed and he's got something
for you to just make a simpledelivery.
If he is impaired and he has aproblem, he has created a
(08:41):
problem for your drug-freeworkplace on that site and you
can't control that.
Yeah, that's tough.
So if we guarantee a drug-freeworkplace, we can only guarantee
it as as our subs and our ownemployees and all that stuff,
the same as any other contractor.
But all these other guys thatare running around and really
you know the bad part is if youwalk through I just I was just
(09:03):
on the turnpike and if you walkthrough a rest area, you can
smell it coming out of thetrucks.
Oh yeah, I walked past onetoday.
You could smell it.
I have no idea how you would beable to drive like that.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, and he's barreling down the road at 90
miles an hour with 80,000-poundpayload.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Exactly so what good is that you know?
Thousand pound payload Exactlyso what good is that you know?
It's no different than way pastyears ago.
Guys used to go and get a 30pack and sit there.
They were stuck there overnightor stuck there for two days
letting their log book reset,and they would drink a bunch of
beer and get all up and thinkthey were okay and leave and get
in an accident and they werestill impaired.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah.
Now you got marijuana, so it's afine line, and until we come
out with a breathalyzer type wayto test quickly saturation
levels within people, it's goingto be a little tricky yeah, but
like, if you look at you know,like the nursing industry,
things like that, we both gotpeople in our lives and our
(10:03):
families that are in nursing,that are in the medical field.
There's a zero tolerance there.
Do you think that it'srealistic, in a field with such
a labor shortage, do you thinkthat it's realistic to say that
you're going to have a zeropolicy?
Dr Justin Marchegiani it's notNow.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
What we're working on is and we're no different than
anybody else when does thatapply Again, the level of which
you have in your system, howlong it was?
You're trying to figure outthat sweet spot of saying look,
we know, people are going to goout over the weekend and do
things.
They need to be right when theycome to work.
When it comes to the unions,though, they really don't care.
(10:41):
They're saying it's zero, youcan send them in for a drug test
, you get tested, you're done,you're going to go into a
probationary period, you'regoing to do testing, you're
going to do counseling and thenyou're going to go back out once
you pass.
All that.
I don't know, maybe that'lltranscend in the future.
We have to figure it out as anindustry.
There really needs to be moreround table discussion stuff
(11:02):
going on with this, becausethere's a lot of little caveat
points to talk about with it and, if anything else, just to stir
up thought process and seewhere you want to get yourself
to get a thought starter thinggoing.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And with that here's the original preview for Cheech
and Chong's up in smoke.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
In the thirties, laurel and Hardy were the kings
of comedy.
Then Abbott and Costello tookthe 40s and split their sides
with laughter.
The 50s went hysterical andbroke up to the wild antics of
Martin and Lewis.
In the great tradition of theselaugh masters of the past come
(11:43):
two guys who are hystericallyfunny.
They're Cheech and Chong, thecomedy team that gave birth to
rock comedy and in the processturned on a whole generation.
Now it's time for the Cheechand Chong movie Up in Smoke.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Is that a joint man?
Go up in smoke, is that a jointman?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Go up in smoke.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That'd be a good trailer to put in right there it
would be Now I mean talkingabout up in smoke, though I mean
.
So what?
We got John Deere doing layoffs.
They're moving jobs to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, that's what you know Pile of smoke and dust,
they're gone.
Yeah, and it's funny becauseJohn Deere is one of these
companies that is not doingbadly, like there is a little
bit of a of a downtick from whatthey were doing a year ago and
two years ago, but their profitmargins are still, their profits
are actually higher than theywere.
So this is yeah, because theirper unit profit, per part profit
(12:41):
, is higher.
Yeah, remember man, a lot ofthis inflation stuff is like oh
no, we have record inflation,but we also have record profits.
Turn away, don't look at those.
Don't look at my new yacht.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Let's not talk about the bottom line.
Let's talk about the inflation.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
That's it.
Let's not talk about the JohnDeere CEO's $ four million
dollar barn dominium mansion.
That's not even his primaryresidence we'll uh no talk about
these layoffs let's just stopbehind the rusty palace.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
He just, he just stops there, he just stops
that's his rest stop.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
He switches out to the uh, from the my bach to the
f-150 harley davidson edition.
That's more acceptable on thejob sites.
But listen, it's funny becausewe were just talking about this.
We're talking about AI takingover and replacing jobs.
Liebherr, which is one of theleaders in autonomous electric
mining equipment.
They're expanding their minesin Virginia and throughout the
(13:35):
Northeast.
They're adding 175 jobs to takecare of the autonomous
equipment.
To basically just keep it clean, make sure everything's happy
and copacetic, make sure therobots aren't about to flip out
and take over the world.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Lieber has always been a frontrunner in things
like that.
But this mining expansion thatthey're doing listen, 175 jobs.
People are like that ain'tnothing, it is a lot.
It makes an impact in themining system.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
When everybody else is shutting down, jobs it.
That ain't nothing, it is a lot.
It makes an impact wheneverybody else is shutting down
jobs.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's a big deal Exactly.
I'm wondering what the stats are.
I'm trying to look them up forthe John Deere exodus, but it
goes back to what I've alwayspreached, since the very early
episodes, which people mayperuse back to and check out on
your own time the more we can doto create jobs in the United
States, the more sustainable, orobviously our economy is.
(14:27):
We need to figure out a way towork with all this and I think
that that and again not to getall political, but I think that
that's some of the undertow thatyou hear whether, no matter
which side of the fence you'reon or which side of the wall
that you're promoting or whichside of anything you're
promoting, you ultimately wantthe same goal.
(14:49):
You want to control inflation.
You want to know that there'sjobs out there which keep the
economy moving.
You want to know that whateverjob you have that keeps your
place going is going to be there.
Yeah Well, that only happenswhen companies decide they want
to be here and they want to dowork here right now with the
contractors.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right and it goes back to like what we were
talking about before, that thegoals of the people who are
running the corporation, thegoals of the shareholders who
own the corporations, are notthe same as the goals of like
you and me and other hardworkingAmericans, and like the goal of
the capital class is not thesame as the goal of the working
(15:31):
class.
So I've got those stats fromJohn Deere and I don't have them
from any American paper.
I got this from the Guardian,which is a UK paper.
So John Deere reported a $10billion profit in fiscal year
2023.
This is after $7.3 billion instock buybacks, by the way.
(15:52):
So they took $7.3 billion thatthey could have put into a
pension fund, that they couldhave put into a UAW contract,
that they could have put intoAmerican jobs and American
workers, but instead they did astock buyback to boost the stock
price.
Then earlier this year, 2024,they cut 650 jobs at their
(16:12):
plants in Iowa 500 jobs inWaterloo and 150 at the Anarchy
plant, 250 indefinite layoffsfrom Illinois and 34 workers
were laid off in Illinois in May.
Now a couple of important statsthere, and I don't want to pick
on John Deere because I thinkyou could pick any corporation
that made these things publicand you'd see something very
(16:34):
similar is that there's all themoney in the world for stock
buybacks and for C-levelexecutives and for company
bonuses, and for C-levelexecutives and for company
bonuses, but when it comes timeto shave money and cut the
budget, there's no conversationabout the multi-million dollar
compensation packages for theC-suite.
It's let's get rid of these 34blue collar workers in Illinois
and that's going to cover outand round out my bonus.
(16:56):
So I'm upset by this because,I'll be honest, I thought better
of John Deere.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And that's what I'm saying.
That hit it down the head whenyou say that you thought better
of john deere.
We thought better of generalmotors.
We thought we were through.
You know when people arecalling government motors.
Now you got john deere sayinglook, we're going to do a 7.3
billion dollar stock buyback.
We're going to take our 10billion dollars of profit which
was caused by inflation.
(17:23):
Yes, let's not lie about this,because they do a twice a year
and they were doing quarterly.
I've heard it's twice a yearcurrently, price increase.
So you're going to do priceincreases every six months and
let's just say it was 12 months.
And let's say that we did anannual price increase, which has
happened as long as I've beenbuying equipment and been around
(17:45):
equipment, parts and equipmentpricing's gone up every year.
It happens you took all thatmoney to buy your stock back,
which does what it controls theprice Same thing we talked about
with General Motors.
So what's your end game?
What are you trying to do?
Why is everybody buying theirstock back?
Why is Caterpillar doing it?
Why is John Deere doing it?
(18:06):
Why are these companies sayingyou know what?
We're going to swallow upprofits earned.
We're not going to build a newplant.
Let's talk about that too.
Imagine what the news breakdownwould be if Caterpillar John
Deere, komatsu, hitachi Deereany of those people I said dear
twice because they're doublyimportant in this conversation
(18:26):
at the moment I think you justleft that alone instead of hung
a lantern on it.
Nobody would have noticed no, Iknow, but I needed to say it,
but anyway, we got.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Dear kamatsu, dear hitachi, leave here, I'll do it
again I'll do it again.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So let me tell you, imagine the news article and the
strength of which it would becarried.
This would be like the days ofwhen paul revere rode with a
message in his pocket talkingabout when the british were
coming, and then we're trying tofigure out if we're going to
get wiped out by sea or by land.
Yeah, this would.
This would carry the sameweight.
(19:00):
If Caterpillar, john Deere,hitachi, komatsu, liebherr, any
of those said we are going toput a four billion dollar plant
on this planet and we're goingto do it in North America, that
would be on every news articlewe would be talking about.
We would do that for a billion.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
They spent seven point three billion dollars
buying their own stock back andthen laying people off and
shipping their jobs to Mexico,and then laying people off.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Take $4 billion, build a plant, put another 300
people to work, 400 people towork to run some machinery
processing centers that you knowyou need because you can't turn
the parts out fast enough as itis, and every time you want to
buy something you know you gettold it's on back order.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
That is, and every time you want to buy something
you know.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You get told it's on back order.
It's a.
That's exactly.
I'm tired of waiting on gasketsand o-rings too, so why don't
you partner up with parkerhannifin and uh hankle
corporation and figure out howyou're going to get us gaskets
when we need them out in thefield?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
they could send them out on uh bike messengers, like
the guys you just got stuckbehind in traffic today well,
that was horrible.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's horrible.
I, I don horrible.
I respect bike riders because Iride a bike and real quick, I'm
going to talk about that.
I ride as much as I possiblycan when you are in a class
eight vehicle and you arecutting down a road and all of a
sudden, all these bikes are ona road of which there is a bike
path in a bike lane.
I'm sorry, move over, not whileyou got to share the road.
(20:22):
Now what happens if you get theTour de France wannabes up
there and somebody slips on apile of dog crap and you fall
underneath the front of thisMack?
Now you got real problems.
I got problems.
Get in your bike lane, stay offthe road.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Now you got to do paperwork to get all that gunk
out of from underneath yourwheel.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
well, Let me tell you spokes and tires are not good.
They're not good.
Those are road crawls and thoseare expensive.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Listen, if you think getting run over by a Mack
Anthem is bad, have you seenthis Union Pacific bad boy, the
4014?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Oh, the big boy, the big boy, the Pacific big boy,
that thing, I've always wantedto see that in person come
storming through the West.
They take it out every so oftenand do these historic runs with
it.
It costs them a fortune.
It's a huge campaign for them.
I think it's important.
I think it's important to getthat thing out, chug some steam
through it, show that we knowhow to do stuff.
(21:19):
And the attractive power ofthat locomotive is still
incredible.
It took him a long time to topthe attractive power of that
machine.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean you can't say enoughcool things about this If you're
out in Wyoming June 30th, soit's going to kick off this
weekend.
It's going to go from Laramiethrough Whamsutter Green River
into wells, nevada, carlin andbattle mountain.
It's going to go through, uh,colfax, california, lovelock,
nevada, carlin, nevada.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
They're doing I want to get on a plane today and go
see it, I do, I do too.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
They want.
They're doing the whole westernexpansion, like that whole
golden spike thing, and they'redoing that whole tour.
It's going to run a full month,from june 30th to july 26th.
It's going to close off inMedicine Bow, wyoming, and it is
a 1.2 million pound locomotive.
And we're not talking about thetrain.
It's not the train that weighshundreds and hundreds of tons,
(22:16):
it's the engine, it is thelocomotive.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
That's what adds to its tractive power, exactly
right, the weight and theconnection of the steel wheel
against the steel track.
You need mass weight to do that.
But that 4884 configuration wasiconic because you got the
front running.
But then you have twoindividual sets of tractive
powering drive wheels with abogey wheel behind it.
(22:40):
So if anybody hasn't seen it,you've got to Google this,
you've got to look at it.
And then the coal tender alonein the back is phenomenal.
The amount of wheels and stuffon those trucks is incredible.
Again, if you haven't, seen it.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You've got to check it out.
You've got to check it out.
And for those of you who arewondering what kind of numbers
we're talking about when Mike istalking about tractive power
135 000 pound feet of torque.
That is not horsepower, becausewe don't move anything.
Horsepower, we move no, but itdoes have 7 000 horsepower out
(23:16):
of two engines.
So it is a 14 000 horsepowermachine making 135 000 pound
feet of torque.
I mean, you know, let's face it, if you put one of these motors
in the back of a little vwbuggy, it's gonna get down the
road.
You know, here's where weinterject.
That guy laughing is there.
So you know, the big boy, thebig boy restaurant, yeah, are
(23:40):
there ads for that?
Like old school big boy tvcommercials oh, for the
restaurant.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I don't know if I've ever seen that we need to run an
ad for the gandhi dancersthere's a, there is a bob's big
boy 1984 commercial.
Oh, it's perfect speaking ofbig right before terminator.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, speaking of big boys, we've got this.
Uh, we'll close out with theBob's big boy commercial from
1984.
We'll run that.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Way back in the thirties, bob's invented the
double deck hamburger.
We called it the big boy.
Some folks call it a meal initself.
A few years later, we addedeven more and called it the Big
Boy Combo, with french fries anda crispy green salad.
Today you can enjoy this famouscombo at a special price of
only a dollar ninety-nine.
(24:31):
And isn't that good news?
And Bob's Big Boy?
We love good food, just likeyou do.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!