March 30, 2024 • 44 mins
Susanne Posel, host of This Week Again, joins us to discuss Amazon class-action lawsuits, marking up prices in the housing crisis, and why don't rich people have empathy?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Well, here we are again atthe end of the week, and wow,
it's it's good to be here.It's good to have made it to
the end of the week. Andas always, here with us is the
host of this week again, SuzannePosele. Suzanne, how you doing this
week? I am doing very well. How about you? I'm doing pretty
(00:34):
well in spite of the fact thatinflation is going right back up again.
You know, I went to look. I know it varies from place to
place, so that maybe the numbersaren't relatable. You know, frankly,
I think gas anywhere in the UnitedStates is unrelatable. But at the you
know how they say March comes inlike a lion and goes out like a
(00:58):
lamb. That was sort of gasprices for me, because I filled up
towards the beginning of the month.And I must say, I'm a Costco
member. I try to get thegas prices as low as I possibly can.
And at the beginning of the monthI paid three oh nine a gallon,
and the last time I filled upthere, like in the last few
days, it was three seventy fivea gallon, And gosh, you know,
(01:23):
I'm sure they have all sorts ofexplanations as they usually do about oh
my goodness, like this refinery isoffline that you know, and there's been
supply issues and YadA YadA. Itjust seems like they always seem to raise
the rates of gasoline prices right whenthey know we're actually going to start driving
when the weather gets nice. Funny, it's just kind of a funny coincidence
(01:45):
I've noticed over the years. It'skind of funny. Yeah, and apparently
one state up because I'm a youknow, one state up from you that's
worth another dollar fifty to two fifty, depending on where you go. So
yeah, I was happy when itcame down to, you know, under
five dollars. But now I know, right, I remember back in like
(02:08):
the nineties when gas became a dollarfifty and I was, you know,
in the southeast part of the countrythat I don't like to talk about because
it's an embarrassment and why can't wejust you know, it's a peninsula.
It's almost out of the state thecountry anyway, you know, just get
rid of it, you know,you know that, But bugs Bunny cartoon,
(02:30):
I forget what, But it's nowbecome like famous, you know,
in memes online where he's like sawingoff the whole state of Florida and just
like pushing it into the Gulf ofMexico. I think that's so wonderful.
Having lived there for a year,I absolutely endorse that in every possible way.
So I remember my mother screaming,we're never driving again when the price
(02:52):
went to a dollar fifty. Yeah, we're we're not driving anymore. Now
I'm happy, Like I said,if it gets under five dollars, isn't
that crazy? And you know whatdrives me nuts is that under Biden.
I know that right now we're inan election year, and you know he
did sign a huge climate change partof the infrastructure package that that would push
(03:17):
us forward. Absolutely, thank youwhatever. But under his administration, we
have drilled more than the predecessor.Yes, yeah, and so, And
I know that it goes to theglobal supply and not the individual supply.
Like I don't know why we can'tjust siphon, there's there's a line coming
(03:37):
from Alaska right through my state.Why can't we just stick a little like
I don't know, a straw orsomething in there, just siphon somehow lower
the price. Because I don't wantto have to pay for it to go
all the way down and and thenbe hauled all the way back up.
And I think that's what the extradollar fifty between you and I is about.
Yeah, exactly, the shipping itall over the place. And you
know, it's it's kind of weirdbecause I know that, Like it's it's
(04:01):
so weird the way they determine prices. I've I've never understood it. It
doesn't make any sense to me.Like down in the Bay Area where where
my my parents live, it's it'sa dollar more expensive, uh you know,
and and I know my dad shopsfor the cheapest gas. He'll drive
miles out of this way in orderto to to get it. And uh
(04:27):
so it's you you would think youwould think that, you know, Okay,
there's a refinery in Richmond, California, you know, right by the
San Francisco Bay and it's easy toget there, and you know right there,
Okay, so like that it wouldbe cheaper there. No, No,
it's a dollar cheaper where I am. And like up up near you,
I assume they're refineries, you know, in in in the in western
Washington state. Yeah, what elsecould be out there? I mean nothing's
(04:51):
going on in Yakama Noy cares.But these these there's oil and there's shipping
and so stuff like that. Youthink, okay, it's right there,
but no, no, no,they charge what the market can bear.
And they know that they're people whohave you know, you know, money
in the Seattle area, and theyknow that there are people who have money
in the in the San Francisco area, and they charge what they absolutely know
(05:15):
they can get away with. Andthen like when they know not as many
people are going to drive, theyease back a bit, but not as
much as they used to, andthey just keep pushing it and pushing it
as far as they possibly can,and we'll just we'll just have to see
how far they think they can getaway with it, and it will it
will be you know, an interestingthing to watch, and I mean interesting
in the old Chinese curse sense tosee how it turns out and what social
(05:42):
repercussions of it, because I thinkthat really is the crux of politics and
in conflict in America. You know, we can we can pretend, as
the right wing says, that thatpolitics is is downstream of culture, but
really uh takes us downstream of economics, and if you can't pay for gas
(06:05):
in a country which has like noinfrastructure that would allow you to do anything
else, you're going to end upin big trouble. And you know,
we ship all of our food inbig trucks that operate on gasoline, and
so bad is going up and eggsand cheese and all the other things that
(06:27):
people eat, and so we're experiencingall of that at the same time,
and eventually stuff is going to happen, and I just wonder when that's going
to be because it just keeps gettingworse and worse. You know, my
husband and I were talking about thiskind of thing the other day, like
(06:47):
what is going to be the breakingpoint? Yeah, and he is wondering.
He thinks it would be a reallygreat idea because we're funding all of
this, that on April sixteenth,as many people as possible go and fill
(07:09):
out their tax information with their employeragain and hit exempt. Yeah. Yeah,
and for the next tax season,everybody's exempt because we're not going to
fund this. We don't agree withwhat you're doing, we don't agree with
how you're voting, we don't agreewith where you're putting the money, and
we see that you are not interestedin helping us solve the problems. You're
(07:31):
not interested in helping the housing crisis, you're not interested in helping the economic
crisis. You're not interested in helpingwith prices, you're not interested in helping
any of the actual issues. Andwe are being priced out of at some
point, civility. We can't affordto buy a home, We are not
(07:54):
going to be able to afford torent a home. We can't afford the
utilities and everything that we put inthe home. We can't afford to eat
out, we can't afford to buygroceries, and now you know, with
prices going up just because it's aholiday, like at some point, So
my husband and I were talking aboutthis, and he's like, what if
on April sixteenth, everyone who filestheir taxes fills out that form again and
(08:20):
just hits exempt and for the nexttax year, we're all exempt and we're
not paying our taxes because we don'tsupport what you're doing with the money.
Yeah, I mean that kind ofis the process. I mean, it's
a little bit more elaborate because theyhave legions of you know, tax attorneys
and accountants and so forth. Wedo and essentially just ten exempt they do
(08:45):
it. Why not us, Well, it would mean that people would have
to, you know, think thisall the way through. Don't just hey,
it's a great idea, think itall the way through. You might
be putting yourself in jeopardy to dothis. The idea is if a third
of the country does it, ormore, I say two thirds. We
(09:05):
would need two thirds of the workingclass people to do it. But if
they were all willing to do itall at once, Yeah, they don't.
With with all the defunding that theRepublicans have been doing to the irs
and they just got an influx ofmoney, they physically don't have the personnel
to go after two thirds of thecountry. And it would be a huge
(09:31):
message to them that look, youonly listen when your pocketbook is in jeopardy.
So, okay, we don't likethe course of this country. We
don't like the way you're taking thingsand how you're handling things, and your
inactions are are costing us literally puttingus homeless and hungry. So we're not
going to fund this government anymore.Now. I'm not advocating this, This
(09:54):
was an idea, but I dokind of like it. But again,
it's unreasonable because so how can youget two thirds of the country to agree
on anything that you know? Thatis a really fascinating idea. And I
have spent some time thinking about howin a nation like this, the United
States of America, that is sobig and whose population is so diffuse,
(10:18):
that doesn't have a you know,a Paris or London or a tah Here
Square to shut down in terms offilling the streets. Although I know people
try that too, and god Godbless them, that doesn't seem to have
been effective. And I've heard peoplefrom time to time talk about the idea
(10:39):
of a general strike, and ofcourse, you know, twelve thirteen years
ago there was Occupy Wall Street andnone of that has come to fruition so
far. I like this idea.This is something that everybody essentially is connected
to in one way or another.And at a time where when we're sending
(11:01):
you know, hundreds of billions ofdollars of weapons to Israel for for people
to be slaughtered, and and inthis country there's hundreds of billions of dollars
that's that are being extracted from fromthe people. Uh, you know,
(11:22):
like in this the slow motion processof of of starving them to death and
and making them homeless so that afew billionaires can put a few extra feet
on their mega yachts. That seemslike to me an entirely appropriate response,
and that is that is that issomething that I would want to explore.
(11:43):
I wonder if other people have havethought thought along similar lines. I'm sure
they've thought about that on similar lines, and and perhaps are are organizing towards
something like that. That that seemslike a really compelling and appropriate res sponsor
to me. Yeah, for example, and everybody listening can probably understand this
(12:15):
or at least empathize with it.We have forty four percent of single family
homes being purchased by private equity firmsas of last year. Black Rock Yeah,
okay, not just them, privateequity firms in general. Blacklok has
taken the lion's share, but thereare other firms too. We have to
not just go after one guy.We got to go after the entire thing.
(12:35):
It's a hydra and at the sametime, infrastructure money going toward new
housing. In some areas like Arizona, they are building an entire neighborhood of
single family home rentals that will neverbe able to be purchased. So again
(12:56):
here we go. Yes, waterleft down there. My god, I
know they're drying out the Colorado River. But here we go again. We
have a good thing that is beingused for nefarious purposes because the people in
power are interested in lining their pocketbooks, and in order to get these contracts,
(13:16):
a lot of people are willing topart with some money that the people
who are willing to take that thinkis a cash day for them. And
what the ramblifications are is there willbe neighborhoods, complete neighborhoods of single family
homes that will never be able tobe purchased. And without taps on rent,
(13:37):
without a federal or on state levels, that is a recipe for homelessness
that we can't. We have todo something that will catch their attention.
And unfortunately, these people only listento money because when they go into office,
(13:58):
they're always broke bitches. And ayear or two into office, you
know, all of a sudden,they have a couple million dollars in the
bank and they're still you know,driving a minivan and talking about how there's
a single mother just trying to bea congresswoman. I'm talking about you,
Katie Porter. I love your whiteboard, but how did you get all that
(14:18):
money when you make one hundred andseventy four thousand a year. So listen,
it is everyone and it is aproblem. But the kicking it down
the can that our boomer parents didin the eighties is now hitting us.
And the future of that is wehave nowhere to live, we can't afford
(14:39):
to eat, and we're still expectedto show up to work on time.
Yeah no, and we can't.It has to come to a point where
there's going to be a conflict anda confrontation. And I am I'm pruly
praying because because you know, it'sit's not all like the French Ship or
(15:01):
the Russian Revolution, like there havebeen a lot of different revolutions in the
course of human history that have playedout a lot more more peacefully. But
it comes to the point where whatdo you do. You have to take
a stand somewhere because otherwise you're justgoing to be pushed off into oblivion,
(15:22):
like you will not be able tolive and enough, and there is gathering
a critical mass of people in thiscountry who are facing that, not just
metaphorically, not just like pondering itand but literally facing you know, homelessness,
starvation, and eventually the bullshit putout there by certainly the Republican Party
(15:52):
and also the Democratic Party are It'sjust not going to work anymore. The
system cannot continue like this, andwe're reaching a point where something has to
be done. So you know,I take your your your your thoughts about
this seriously. It really is isgoing to happen at a certain point.
And I would rather see you know, a peaceful tax protest as as opposed
(16:18):
to you know, many other moremore disruptive alternatives than I Team six stand
down. Yes, you know,fourth Meal Team six, whatever it is,
just go home and and play militiain your backyard. We don't need
you, but in a civil way, in a in a very do you
(16:41):
know, I mean fourth Meal Teamsix. I love that. I love
that. That is a wonderful turnativephrase. Thank you. Every time I
think about January sixth, I thinkabout the plethora of memes likening them climbing
the walls to Donkey Kong, andthen you know the the the short little
(17:03):
cartoons they made where they actually DonkeyKong was putting the barrels down and they
were getting knocked down. Yeah,it's just so perfect. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, but I mean, Imean, you know, at root
and it's I mean those it's itis difficult because yeah, I mean there
(17:26):
is is an ocean of of ofracists and and horrible people, uh in
that. But but ultimately I believethat they are are responding to like similar
things that that that we are therethere there is disruption in their lives now.
(17:48):
They may be focusing in entirely thewrong wrong direction as to what is
causing it. I forget who itwas. I don't think it was Marx,
but I think it was someone whowrote in his wake that said that
anti anti Semitism is the socialism foridiots, And I think that is a
(18:11):
lot of the way that defines forme a lot of the MAGA right,
Like they look for to blame theireconomic problems on people who look different than
they do, or people who havedifferent religion than they do. Yeah,
we're actually we're facing a Christian nationalisttakeover in our country and this election season
(18:38):
is either going to help them.And please go listen to my last show
with Project twenty twenty five because Ihad to revisit that and I really went
in depth, and they seriously wantto take us back to the early nineteen
hundreds where like little kids were beingkilled because they were climbing into machinery and
you know, radium girls, norights, and the patriarchy what they're starting
(19:03):
with because they're really, really pissedoff. There's a whole society of dudes
who think like white dudes need tobe in charge, and they're really pissed
off at women. And so that'swhy they're starting with the attack on women's
rights and the attack on abortion andthe attack on IVF and because they want
women out of the workforce and backin the home, barefoot and pregnant.
(19:26):
And so, yes, this electionseason, we are facing an opportunity to
continue our democratic republic. However,once we solidify that, you know,
once we make the decision do wewant a Christian theocratic nation or do we
(19:47):
want the United States of America.Once we answer that question, hopefully it's
the latter, then we need tostart the process of weeding out the problems.
We need to remind them that theyare public servants, that they work
for us, and we need todo something nonviolent but extremely effective a message
(20:11):
Yeah, we are not going totolerate this. We can't live, we
can't exist. Yeah, you know, I go fromred a couple of years
ago. One hundred dollars was alot of money and I'm feeding four people.
Yeah, now I'm looking at twohundred, two hundred and fifty a
week. Yeah. My rent hasgone up, all of my bills have
(20:33):
gone up, My streaming services havegone up. We don't go to the
movies because we can't afford and bythe way, the shit movies that they're
putting out, I'm not even goingto pay those prices. But it's very
interesting that you mentioned that. It'slike like the whole Yeah, I mean
the streaming platforms. The prices forthat are are going up too. I
(20:53):
have actually found, and maybe thisis just because I'm in a little rural
backwater here, that some of themovie theaters, you know, they'll have
and I almost don't want to mentionit because I feel like my local movie
theater is going to be flooded.But there is a movie theater that has
like five dollars Tuesdays, so Iwill go there as opposed to, like,
(21:17):
you know, pay twenty bucks tosee it at home on a streaming
service in some cases the movie theatersbecause they have like been like sort of
pushed to the edge by the cabalaof streaming and increasing prices. There are
actually offering in a desperate effort toget people to come back into movie theaters,
like lower prices than would be thecase if if you had streaming.
(21:41):
So it's yeah, I mean,like exactly, how are you? How
do you? How do you blotout like to whatever extent you can and
just enough to stay sane, likethe the iniquities of each passing week,
with being under more and more pressureand paying more and more, earning relatively
less and less. How do youdeal with that? Okay, see you
(22:03):
see a movie and you like youcheck out for a couple of hours and
you you engage in some escapism andthat's and that's fantastic. But even there,
they're they're screwing you over. They'rethey're raising the prices and at this
and at the same time, like, oh god, they're they're shoving more
ads in there. Before you know, I'm a subscriber. God helped me,
(22:25):
you know. I I've had youknow, conversations with with my family
about whether we should continue this andand so far, I have not been
the victor in those conversations about continuinga subscription to Amazon Prime. And you
you look at these, you lookat these, the video service there,
(22:47):
now you're paying for it, andyou're getting the ads too at the same
time. It's it's just it's justabsolutely like unbelievable to me, Just more
and more pressure in every conceivable way, even through those means that you try
to use to escape from the vicissitudesof this late capitalist system. And if
(23:10):
I could, there is a classaction lawsuit that any Prime member Prime Video
members should join. My husband isone of them. It is out of
California, but across the country youcan join. So if you have been
a Prime member for a long time, my husband's been one for like you
know, forever, and they madeyou sign up for the two ninety nine
(23:36):
up charge to avoid ads, whichhe did. Your Prime membership always came
with ad free service, so youshouldn't have had to pay that. And
there's a class action lawsuit going on. I suggest you attach yourself to it.
I am absolutely not only will you, hopefully, if you know good
(24:00):
prevails in this, you will notonly not have to pay that and have
your services that you originally pay forand currently pay for brought back hole.
But you may see a residual notjust what you've paid, but maybe the
duration of that you have been paying. You know, lawsuits may take time.
If you end up paying over thecourse of a year, you might
(24:22):
see the money come back to you. So either way, it's sending a
clear message to Amazon dudes, fuckingstop. Calm down. Okay, you
already have the market on goods andservices and retail and all that shit.
You don't need to do this.How much money do you need? And
this how many I don't understand howmuch money do you How many Dick shuttles
(24:47):
does he need to build? Youneed to play a crazy lex luthor?
What the fuck he is? Andyou know, I posted an article it
(25:07):
was just like it was hilarious becauseit was like he and his his current
girlfriend, like they had this foundationand they gave a bunch of money to
like Ava Longoria. Yeah, right, like that's giving money because she was
like she was doing real good.So they so it's basically billionaires, like
(25:29):
giving a bunch of money to tomillionaires and right it was. It was
it was hilarious to maybe for abunch of of reasons. One of them
was that like like this, oneof the other the other guy that that
that won the award was like Admiralsomething, Admiral McRaven. Admiral mckisso raven.
(25:51):
And it just they were wearing heand Jeff Bezos in the picture publicizing
this, that were wearing the exactsame suit. I swear to god,
like the color of the tie mighthave been a little off, Like could
no one at that point, likein this professional like photo shoot, could
have said, guys, could weyou know, I know you have access
(26:15):
to gobs and gobs of money.We could easily get a different tailored suit
in here for one of you.Could we not like switch that up?
That would be so easy to do. And and somebody somebody commented that that
I don't know what the the exactwording was, but but their comments about
(26:37):
what Jeff Bezos's uh girlfriend, Ithink her name is Lauren Sanchez was wearing
was not exactly complimentary. And itdid kind of look like, you know,
a little sort of like old fashionedye like steam punky sort of like
you know, I don't know itwas. It was. It was very
strange, like Elon Musk hanging outwith crimes? Is that a little it
(27:03):
looked a little bit like that.I don't know if that's the deal,
but SA that's what he's looking uptoo. I yeah, this just makes
me think, is this like tradingplaces for rich people? I knows money
to Eva Longoria? Is that?Is that their version of it? I
guess. So that's like a it'san entirely like new higher stratum. Like
(27:26):
I guess she had done some wonderfulthings and so like you've got to I'm
sure she has, but she canstill to do more wonderful things. There's
literally somebody out there, I knowit that is broke and has a great
idea and just can't find any funding. And the world would probably be a
better place. Yeah, but theywe will never know about it. We
(27:47):
will never hear about it. BecauseJeff Bezos giving money to Eva Longoria.
Yeah, he's got he's got tolike like find the famous people because because
really, ultimately it's not about givingaway money. It's about finding an ormous
tax ride off and giving it topeople who he's going to benefit anyway,
because he gets to hang out withAva Longoria and and she knows people.
(28:08):
And okay, let me, letme, I got to catch it.
This is from like two weeks ago. And yes, Jeff Bezos gives fifty
million dollars each to Ava Longoria andAdmiral Bill mccraven, So one hundred million.
He's an annual prize to individuals fromJeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez,
(28:33):
to individuals who make significant contributions tosociety. Now, I'm sure those
guys have have done some good things, but out of all the people in
the country, are they are areAdmiral Bill mccraven, who's like a isn't
he I think he's on CNN asa as a contributor or something like that,
and and Ava Longoria? Are theyreally contributing the most or even like
(28:57):
anywhere that like the the top likefive percent to like making a positive contribution
to the United States? I don'twhat has thinks we've been done since Desperate
Housewives. I don't even know.I mean, okay, she was in
she did Dora the Lost City,you know, and Brooklyn ninety nine.
(29:22):
Okay, but is that really likea contribution to society that is of the
highest order that we need to elevate. So really here to that. I
don't know. I agree with thecommunity, but I'm just saying, here's
here's what they're saying, and wecan we can process this in real time.
Longoria, who starred in ABC's dramaDesperate Housewives as trophy wife Gabrielle Solis,
(29:45):
has focused on education and entrepreneurship andLatino communities. The Ava Longoria Foundation
aims to connect Latinos and Latinas inlower income areas with peers peer mantoris,
and Longoria has a startup for uhLatino owned small businesses. Now, I'm
sure that's that's a laudable goal.That's great, Like, that's awesome.
(30:07):
What what what? What have theactual results of that been? I don't
know. Are there less famous peopleand you know, less uh you know,
attractive like famous people that have havedone even more than even more productive.
I kind of think so that's youknow, that's that's my thought.
(30:27):
I haven't done a whole lot ofresearch, but I got to think there's
somebody out there who doesn't just happento be a famous actress. I think
they chose like it because hey,it would be fun to hang out with
Ava Longoria. So yeah, yeah, so I I just just thought it
(30:47):
was it was such a weird,silly thing. Bezos and mccraven were wearing
the same suit, and and somebodyon my Facebook feed said that you and
I don't want to put this onLauren Sangis. I don't know anything about
her, but I think they saidshe looked like a sex bot or something
like that. Again, that's justa random comment. But again for me,
(31:11):
really the weird thing was exactly thesame suits these guys are wearing,
with craven and Bezos billionaire like richestor competing for richest guy in the world,
and he is like he's he can'tfind a different suit. I just
I don't understand it, you knowwhat. I like to think that this
was actually like a duel, andthe backstory is that, you know,
(31:33):
they were trying to show off,like who wore the best suit in the
most expensive suit, and they endedup showing up with the same suit from
the same tailor or whatever, andthen they both refused. Now it's about
who wore it better, so theyhad to take a picture with both of
them wearing it, and like youknow, it goes on. I got
to say, in terms of JeffBezos, there's really only so much that
(31:56):
expensive plastic surgery can do. Imean, at a certain point, you
know, nature holes and uh andbillionaires. You know, I think I
think the mc craven got the looks, at least relatively speaking. I don't
think. I don't think. I'mnot sure I would call either of these
like guys, you know, superhandsome men. But that's okay because they
(32:17):
get they get to exploit the massesso that you know what. This reminds
me of Dwayne the Rock. Johnsonhas a shampoo and conditioner line. He
has a shampoo and yes he does, Okay, yes he does, and
his and his one of his lines, one of his catchphrases to sell this
is that if he had hair,his hair would like this shampoo. And
(32:40):
I'm just gonna say, you know, sorry, this is ridiculous. This
is stupid, obviously, bald,Why aren't you selling that shaver that you
know? Yeah, whatever, goand sell that. You know, there
are plenty of things that you couldyou could hawk. I mean, you
know, you're you're out there,you're you're you're super buff. You know,
(33:02):
you're a big movie star. Imean, they are all sorts of
things that you can sell. Butlike shampoo like that, what the what
the fuck? That doesn't really makeany sense at all. I don't know,
I don't get it. It's it'sbut if we're stupid enough to buy
it, then he's gonna sell it. And that's the point. Yeah,
you know, we we think,gosh, people stop. Just because someone
(33:25):
has talent does not make them agood person. It just means they're a
talented person. You probably know aplethora of talented people that will never achieve
fame. They sing well, theirartistry is amazing. Their their musical instrument
capabilities there to play instruments there,their way to articulate themselves without reading a
(33:47):
script is much better than mine.They are amazing people. But because they
didn't make it in Hollywood or wherever, we'll never hear about them. These
are just Dwayne is just a schmuckwho who made money making uh making beating
people up cool? You know,not that that wasn't always already cool when
(34:07):
he got there, right, buthe profited off of that. And yes
he has I haven't. I havelaughed at his at his movies. He
is very funny. I think heis very very funny. His serious stuff
I can't really take seriously, buthe is good. His comedic chops wonderful.
And the fact that he has distancedhimself from Oprah and gotten out of
(34:27):
that debacle, more power to you, man. But quit fleecing your fans.
Yeah, please, And you're you'reabsolutely right to say that, Like,
they are all sorts of unrecognized talentedpeople, and there are all sorts
of people that are that you know, are just doing enormous amounts of good
that will never be recognized by thesuper wealthy. And it comes back to
(34:51):
me for to the idea of atwhat point, because we were talking about
this earlier, at what point doyou have enough? And what drives you,
like when you have hundreds of billionsof dollars to keep wanting more?
I mean at that point. Imean some people seem to be saying,
maybe it's just the mentality that getsyou there to begin with, is so
(35:15):
insane that you can't get rid ofit Because Beesus' ex wife, she's giving
away she's doing the right thing,she's giving away money as fast as she
possibly can, and she's still likehas has billions and billions of dollars.
Why wouldn't you try to do that? Why would if you would have achieved
(35:35):
a point, why wouldn't you say, Okay, now it's time for me
to give back. But no,the drive is to like, I got
to do more and make more andmake more and fuck up things for everybody
else. Why would you do that? Why can't you see? I guess
they're just so insulated that they can't. I guess that's got to be the
answer. It's about power at thatpoint when you don't have to worry about
(35:58):
buying anything, when all of yourbasic needs are taken care of, and
your life is strictly about want.Yeah, it is about power. You
can afford anything now. But ifpeople don't like you, and people don't
want you at the table, andyou can't schmooz and you can't just walk
in and say hi and people turnaround and say, oh my god,
this person showed up, then youhave not achieved. You still have that
(36:21):
level to get to. And ifyou're not going to become the president or
prime minister of a country, thenyou have to become the biggest corporation that
can buy the countries, can buythe prime ministers. Yeah, and I
guess the fact that you know,at least an Elon Musk's case, he's
on any number of recreational drugs.That probably doesn't help your perspective either.
(36:44):
Yeah, don't do an interview withDon Lemon after you've done like a twelve
hour bender you know, Graef,Yeah, the show that never got broadcast
or Don Lemon. You know,well, he should have known what he
was signing on for, you know. Oh yeah, No, Don Lemon
is an idiot, and he gotsent there. He got exiled there for
(37:07):
a reason. I do not forgetthat reason. Yeah, however, that
interview he ended up getting it.It's on YouTube. You can watch it
right in its entirety. It's hilarious. I don't know what Elon thought he
was he was buying with Don don'tjust went after him and asked a very
hard question opening up, and thenhe basically put him in time out and
(37:30):
then threatened his job and then firedhim. Wow, well, you know,
you look why. I don't know. It's so it's so funny to
me because so many people, andGod knows, I've done it from time
to time myself go after and think, oh yeah, if I get close
to this very rich and powerful person. That's going to mean I'm somehow going
(37:52):
to get rich and powerful too.And that is so not the case because
they so do not care about you. You know, it's easy, yes,
think about think about Eric's dad.Okay, all the people around him.
What do they get jumpsuits in jailtime? He doesn't. That's right.
They you know, they predict Theygo in there thinking I can do
(38:14):
whatever I want now, and I'mright next to Teflon Dawn and I'll be
adjacent Teflon. No, No,you're going to jail, buddy. That
power, that power is so nottransferable and you and yet people people structure
their whole lives around Oh well yes, and that's why we got to cut
taxes because I'm I'm going to makeit and I'm going to be there and
(38:35):
it's going to apply to me.And and you just step back for a
moment and think about, No,you're not going to do that. You're
like you, you are the mostspecial of like out of out of all
these like like billions of people onthe No, no, that's not going
to be true. The best whatwe can do is make things as equitable
(38:59):
as possible for everyone. So thatwe can get by and that we can
live and there's not masses of peoplethat that are suffering in ways that they
don't have to. That's that's whatwe can do. But no, pal,
you're you're not going to suddenly becomea millionaire or a billionaire because you're
(39:20):
you're you're paling up to someone.They don't care about you. They're in
a bubble, they're in a differentlevel, they're in a different world.
And what we've got to do isis is reduce that difference. We gotta
we we got to like bring themdown and bring everybody else up. And
you know, it's never going tobe completely even that's that's not the point.
The point is to make it sothat it's equitable and people can live.
(39:45):
And right now there are too manypeople who can't live and who are
literally being destroyed by this system,and we've we've got to raise them up
and we've got to make sure thatthey don't get pushed off the edge.
Ultimately, I think that's what we'reboth like in our own kind of weird
ways, trying to do here.We're trying to raise people up, We're
(40:09):
trying to keep them from being pushedoff the edge and give them an outlet
so that they can sort of thinkand process all of that. I think
that's what we're trying to do.Yeah, I like to do it with
humor because it's easier. You knowthat medicine goes down with a spoonful of
sugar. But we still this isreal stuff and it's not just stuff to
(40:30):
laugh out and go aha, thisis what happened. Now. Actually,
we at this juncture. We havea house where all of the seats are
up for grabs. We have alot of seats in the Senate, we
have a lot of seats in yourstate legislator and your gubernatorial elections all the
way down to your mayor's Really people, we have an opportunity to elevate people
(40:53):
that speak to what we want tosee, not necessarily what I do,
but what devote your conscience and lookfor someone who can actually do what they
say they're going to do, notjust say it. You know, it's
not a popularity contest. We gotto start thinking about who is the most
(41:15):
effective and functional in this position.It's a job interview, it's not a
rally, it's not a it's nota good time, it's not a fair.
It's not an event that you goto and get drunk and oh my
god, I can't believe I didthat. It's an election we're deciding in
the next four years in the courseof our country. But state by state,
county by county. Please, wehave an opportunity here. Yeah,
(41:38):
take it. Yeah, and itdid. Take Take the next few months
and check references. It is ajob interview, absolutely, And if you
can go to the events and askquestions, don't be afraid to call their
offices and ask questions. The onesthat care, or at least the ones
(41:58):
that want to look like they're we'llrespond to you and use that as an
open because once they're elected, it'snot like we forget. You know,
when you go to work, yourboss doesn't forget that you're there. They
hired you two years ago. Theydon't forget that you're there. They check
up on you. We need tocheck up on them. That's a damn
poet. How's it going, Hey, I noticed that you did that.
(42:19):
That's not what I hired you for. Yeah, what's going on? Yeah?
And and that and that's what weare. They are our employees.
I mean, it's it's uh,you know, it's it's tried annoy,
but it's absolutely true. We wehire them, they they they take our
money. They're supposed to do ajob on our behalf, and we need
to make sure that they're doing itbecause at the moment it's it's not working
(42:42):
particularly well. But what does workparticularly well is each Sunday, and this
one will be will be Easter Sundayfor those of you who observe, they
still have a show coming out yethis week again, we'll be coming out
Hell high Water, Yes, andyou will as you as you hunt for
(43:02):
Easter eggs, as the Easter Bunnyscampers off into the distance, you can
be listening to This Week Again,which is a wonderful and humorous encapsulation of
the week from a progressive perspective,hosted by Suzanne Pozls. Suzanne, thank
you again so much for being withus on Faceball America. Thank you very
(43:27):
much makes Friday my favorite day.Thank you so much for being with us
today. I want to thank AceElson and Rooseabel Hine who produced this program.
Please go to two squared Media Productionsto find out more and share this
program via link on your social media. It helps grow our audience until next
(43:49):
time, Enjoy the day ah
Well, here we are again atthe end of the week, and wow,
it's it's good to be here.It's good to have made it to
the end of the week. Andas always, here with us is the
host of this week again, SuzannePosele. Suzanne, how you doing this
week? I am doing very well. How about you? I'm doing pretty
(00:34):
well in spite of the fact thatinflation is going right back up again.
You know, I went to look. I know it varies from place to
place, so that maybe the numbersaren't relatable. You know, frankly,
I think gas anywhere in the UnitedStates is unrelatable. But at the you
know how they say March comes inlike a lion and goes out like a
(00:58):
lamb. That was sort of gasprices for me, because I filled up
towards the beginning of the month.And I must say, I'm a Costco
member. I try to get thegas prices as low as I possibly can.
And at the beginning of the monthI paid three oh nine a gallon,
and the last time I filled upthere, like in the last few
days, it was three seventy fivea gallon, And gosh, you know,
(01:23):
I'm sure they have all sorts ofexplanations as they usually do about oh
my goodness, like this refinery isoffline that you know, and there's been
supply issues and YadA YadA. Itjust seems like they always seem to raise
the rates of gasoline prices right whenthey know we're actually going to start driving
when the weather gets nice. Funny, it's just kind of a funny coincidence
(01:45):
I've noticed over the years. It'skind of funny. Yeah, and apparently
one state up because I'm a youknow, one state up from you that's
worth another dollar fifty to two fifty, depending on where you go. So
yeah, I was happy when itcame down to, you know, under
five dollars. But now I know, right, I remember back in like
(02:08):
the nineties when gas became a dollarfifty and I was, you know,
in the southeast part of the countrythat I don't like to talk about because
it's an embarrassment and why can't wejust you know, it's a peninsula.
It's almost out of the state thecountry anyway, you know, just get
rid of it, you know,you know that, But bugs Bunny cartoon,
(02:30):
I forget what, But it's nowbecome like famous, you know,
in memes online where he's like sawingoff the whole state of Florida and just
like pushing it into the Gulf ofMexico. I think that's so wonderful.
Having lived there for a year,I absolutely endorse that in every possible way.
So I remember my mother screaming,we're never driving again when the price
(02:52):
went to a dollar fifty. Yeah, we're we're not driving anymore. Now
I'm happy, Like I said,if it gets under five dollars, isn't
that crazy? And you know whatdrives me nuts is that under Biden.
I know that right now we're inan election year, and you know he
did sign a huge climate change partof the infrastructure package that that would push
(03:17):
us forward. Absolutely, thank youwhatever. But under his administration, we
have drilled more than the predecessor.Yes, yeah, and so, And
I know that it goes to theglobal supply and not the individual supply.
Like I don't know why we can'tjust siphon, there's there's a line coming
(03:37):
from Alaska right through my state.Why can't we just stick a little like
I don't know, a straw orsomething in there, just siphon somehow lower
the price. Because I don't wantto have to pay for it to go
all the way down and and thenbe hauled all the way back up.
And I think that's what the extradollar fifty between you and I is about.
Yeah, exactly, the shipping itall over the place. And you
know, it's it's kind of weirdbecause I know that, Like it's it's
(04:01):
so weird the way they determine prices. I've I've never understood it. It
doesn't make any sense to me.Like down in the Bay Area where where
my my parents live, it's it'sa dollar more expensive, uh you know,
and and I know my dad shopsfor the cheapest gas. He'll drive
miles out of this way in orderto to to get it. And uh
(04:27):
so it's you you would think youwould think that, you know, Okay,
there's a refinery in Richmond, California, you know, right by the
San Francisco Bay and it's easy toget there, and you know right there,
Okay, so like that it wouldbe cheaper there. No, No,
it's a dollar cheaper where I am. And like up up near you,
I assume they're refineries, you know, in in in the in western
Washington state. Yeah, what elsecould be out there? I mean nothing's
(04:51):
going on in Yakama Noy cares.But these these there's oil and there's shipping
and so stuff like that. Youthink, okay, it's right there,
but no, no, no,they charge what the market can bear.
And they know that they're people whohave you know, you know, money
in the Seattle area, and theyknow that there are people who have money
in the in the San Francisco area, and they charge what they absolutely know
(05:15):
they can get away with. Andthen like when they know not as many
people are going to drive, theyease back a bit, but not as
much as they used to, andthey just keep pushing it and pushing it
as far as they possibly can,and we'll just we'll just have to see
how far they think they can getaway with it, and it will it
will be you know, an interestingthing to watch, and I mean interesting
in the old Chinese curse sense tosee how it turns out and what social
(05:42):
repercussions of it, because I thinkthat really is the crux of politics and
in conflict in America. You know, we can we can pretend, as
the right wing says, that thatpolitics is is downstream of culture, but
really uh takes us downstream of economics, and if you can't pay for gas
(06:05):
in a country which has like noinfrastructure that would allow you to do anything
else, you're going to end upin big trouble. And you know,
we ship all of our food inbig trucks that operate on gasoline, and
so bad is going up and eggsand cheese and all the other things that
(06:27):
people eat, and so we're experiencingall of that at the same time,
and eventually stuff is going to happen, and I just wonder when that's going
to be because it just keeps gettingworse and worse. You know, my
husband and I were talking about thiskind of thing the other day, like
(06:47):
what is going to be the breakingpoint? Yeah, and he is wondering.
He thinks it would be a reallygreat idea because we're funding all of
this, that on April sixteenth,as many people as possible go and fill
(07:09):
out their tax information with their employeragain and hit exempt. Yeah. Yeah,
and for the next tax season,everybody's exempt because we're not going to
fund this. We don't agree withwhat you're doing, we don't agree with
how you're voting, we don't agreewith where you're putting the money, and
we see that you are not interestedin helping us solve the problems. You're
(07:31):
not interested in helping the housing crisis, you're not interested in helping the economic
crisis. You're not interested in helpingwith prices, you're not interested in helping
any of the actual issues. Andwe are being priced out of at some
point, civility. We can't affordto buy a home, We are not
(07:54):
going to be able to afford torent a home. We can't afford the
utilities and everything that we put inthe home. We can't afford to eat
out, we can't afford to buygroceries, and now you know, with
prices going up just because it's aholiday, like at some point, So
my husband and I were talking aboutthis, and he's like, what if
on April sixteenth, everyone who filestheir taxes fills out that form again and
(08:20):
just hits exempt and for the nexttax year, we're all exempt and we're
not paying our taxes because we don'tsupport what you're doing with the money.
Yeah, I mean that kind ofis the process. I mean, it's
a little bit more elaborate because theyhave legions of you know, tax attorneys
and accountants and so forth. Wedo and essentially just ten exempt they do
(08:45):
it. Why not us, Well, it would mean that people would have
to, you know, think thisall the way through. Don't just hey,
it's a great idea, think itall the way through. You might
be putting yourself in jeopardy to dothis. The idea is if a third
of the country does it, ormore, I say two thirds. We
(09:05):
would need two thirds of the workingclass people to do it. But if
they were all willing to do itall at once, Yeah, they don't.
With with all the defunding that theRepublicans have been doing to the irs
and they just got an influx ofmoney, they physically don't have the personnel
to go after two thirds of thecountry. And it would be a huge
(09:31):
message to them that look, youonly listen when your pocketbook is in jeopardy.
So, okay, we don't likethe course of this country. We
don't like the way you're taking thingsand how you're handling things, and your
inactions are are costing us literally puttingus homeless and hungry. So we're not
going to fund this government anymore.Now. I'm not advocating this, This
(09:54):
was an idea, but I dokind of like it. But again,
it's unreasonable because so how can youget two thirds of the country to agree
on anything that you know? Thatis a really fascinating idea. And I
have spent some time thinking about howin a nation like this, the United
States of America, that is sobig and whose population is so diffuse,
(10:18):
that doesn't have a you know,a Paris or London or a tah Here
Square to shut down in terms offilling the streets. Although I know people
try that too, and god Godbless them, that doesn't seem to have
been effective. And I've heard peoplefrom time to time talk about the idea
(10:39):
of a general strike, and ofcourse, you know, twelve thirteen years
ago there was Occupy Wall Street andnone of that has come to fruition so
far. I like this idea.This is something that everybody essentially is connected
to in one way or another.And at a time where when we're sending
(11:01):
you know, hundreds of billions ofdollars of weapons to Israel for for people
to be slaughtered, and and inthis country there's hundreds of billions of dollars
that's that are being extracted from fromthe people. Uh, you know,
(11:22):
like in this the slow motion processof of of starving them to death and
and making them homeless so that afew billionaires can put a few extra feet
on their mega yachts. That seemslike to me an entirely appropriate response,
and that is that is that issomething that I would want to explore.
(11:43):
I wonder if other people have havethought thought along similar lines. I'm sure
they've thought about that on similar lines, and and perhaps are are organizing towards
something like that. That that seemslike a really compelling and appropriate res sponsor
to me. Yeah, for example, and everybody listening can probably understand this
(12:15):
or at least empathize with it.We have forty four percent of single family
homes being purchased by private equity firmsas of last year. Black Rock Yeah,
okay, not just them, privateequity firms in general. Blacklok has
taken the lion's share, but thereare other firms too. We have to
not just go after one guy.We got to go after the entire thing.
(12:35):
It's a hydra and at the sametime, infrastructure money going toward new
housing. In some areas like Arizona, they are building an entire neighborhood of
single family home rentals that will neverbe able to be purchased. So again
(12:56):
here we go. Yes, waterleft down there. My god, I
know they're drying out the Colorado River. But here we go again. We
have a good thing that is beingused for nefarious purposes because the people in
power are interested in lining their pocketbooks, and in order to get these contracts,
(13:16):
a lot of people are willing topart with some money that the people
who are willing to take that thinkis a cash day for them. And
what the ramblifications are is there willbe neighborhoods, complete neighborhoods of single family
homes that will never be able tobe purchased. And without taps on rent,
(13:37):
without a federal or on state levels, that is a recipe for homelessness
that we can't. We have todo something that will catch their attention.
And unfortunately, these people only listento money because when they go into office,
(13:58):
they're always broke bitches. And ayear or two into office, you
know, all of a sudden,they have a couple million dollars in the
bank and they're still you know,driving a minivan and talking about how there's
a single mother just trying to bea congresswoman. I'm talking about you,
Katie Porter. I love your whiteboard, but how did you get all that
(14:18):
money when you make one hundred andseventy four thousand a year. So listen,
it is everyone and it is aproblem. But the kicking it down
the can that our boomer parents didin the eighties is now hitting us.
And the future of that is wehave nowhere to live, we can't afford
(14:39):
to eat, and we're still expectedto show up to work on time.
Yeah no, and we can't.It has to come to a point where
there's going to be a conflict anda confrontation. And I am I'm pruly
praying because because you know, it'sit's not all like the French Ship or
(15:01):
the Russian Revolution, like there havebeen a lot of different revolutions in the
course of human history that have playedout a lot more more peacefully. But
it comes to the point where whatdo you do. You have to take
a stand somewhere because otherwise you're justgoing to be pushed off into oblivion,
(15:22):
like you will not be able tolive and enough, and there is gathering
a critical mass of people in thiscountry who are facing that, not just
metaphorically, not just like pondering itand but literally facing you know, homelessness,
starvation, and eventually the bullshit putout there by certainly the Republican Party
(15:52):
and also the Democratic Party are It'sjust not going to work anymore. The
system cannot continue like this, andwe're reaching a point where something has to
be done. So you know,I take your your your your thoughts about
this seriously. It really is isgoing to happen at a certain point.
And I would rather see you know, a peaceful tax protest as as opposed
(16:18):
to you know, many other moremore disruptive alternatives than I Team six stand
down. Yes, you know,fourth Meal Team six, whatever it is,
just go home and and play militiain your backyard. We don't need
you, but in a civil way, in a in a very do you
(16:41):
know, I mean fourth Meal Teamsix. I love that. I love
that. That is a wonderful turnativephrase. Thank you. Every time I
think about January sixth, I thinkabout the plethora of memes likening them climbing
the walls to Donkey Kong, andthen you know the the the short little
(17:03):
cartoons they made where they actually DonkeyKong was putting the barrels down and they
were getting knocked down. Yeah,it's just so perfect. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, but I mean, Imean, you know, at root
and it's I mean those it's itis difficult because yeah, I mean there
(17:26):
is is an ocean of of ofracists and and horrible people, uh in
that. But but ultimately I believethat they are are responding to like similar
things that that that we are therethere there is disruption in their lives now.
(17:48):
They may be focusing in entirely thewrong wrong direction as to what is
causing it. I forget who itwas. I don't think it was Marx,
but I think it was someone whowrote in his wake that said that
anti anti Semitism is the socialism foridiots, And I think that is a
(18:11):
lot of the way that defines forme a lot of the MAGA right,
Like they look for to blame theireconomic problems on people who look different than
they do, or people who havedifferent religion than they do. Yeah,
we're actually we're facing a Christian nationalisttakeover in our country and this election season
(18:38):
is either going to help them.And please go listen to my last show
with Project twenty twenty five because Ihad to revisit that and I really went
in depth, and they seriously wantto take us back to the early nineteen
hundreds where like little kids were beingkilled because they were climbing into machinery and
you know, radium girls, norights, and the patriarchy what they're starting
(19:03):
with because they're really, really pissedoff. There's a whole society of dudes
who think like white dudes need tobe in charge, and they're really pissed
off at women. And so that'swhy they're starting with the attack on women's
rights and the attack on abortion andthe attack on IVF and because they want
women out of the workforce and backin the home, barefoot and pregnant.
(19:26):
And so, yes, this electionseason, we are facing an opportunity to
continue our democratic republic. However,once we solidify that, you know,
once we make the decision do wewant a Christian theocratic nation or do we
(19:47):
want the United States of America.Once we answer that question, hopefully it's
the latter, then we need tostart the process of weeding out the problems.
We need to remind them that theyare public servants, that they work
for us, and we need todo something nonviolent but extremely effective a message
(20:11):
Yeah, we are not going totolerate this. We can't live, we
can't exist. Yeah, you know, I go fromred a couple of years
ago. One hundred dollars was alot of money and I'm feeding four people.
Yeah, now I'm looking at twohundred, two hundred and fifty a
week. Yeah. My rent hasgone up, all of my bills have
(20:33):
gone up, My streaming services havegone up. We don't go to the
movies because we can't afford and bythe way, the shit movies that they're
putting out, I'm not even goingto pay those prices. But it's very
interesting that you mentioned that. It'slike like the whole Yeah, I mean
the streaming platforms. The prices forthat are are going up too. I
(20:53):
have actually found, and maybe thisis just because I'm in a little rural
backwater here, that some of themovie theaters, you know, they'll have
and I almost don't want to mentionit because I feel like my local movie
theater is going to be flooded.But there is a movie theater that has
like five dollars Tuesdays, so Iwill go there as opposed to, like,
(21:17):
you know, pay twenty bucks tosee it at home on a streaming
service in some cases the movie theatersbecause they have like been like sort of
pushed to the edge by the cabalaof streaming and increasing prices. There are
actually offering in a desperate effort toget people to come back into movie theaters,
like lower prices than would be thecase if if you had streaming.
(21:41):
So it's yeah, I mean,like exactly, how are you? How
do you? How do you blotout like to whatever extent you can and
just enough to stay sane, likethe the iniquities of each passing week,
with being under more and more pressureand paying more and more, earning relatively
less and less. How do youdeal with that? Okay, see you
(22:03):
see a movie and you like youcheck out for a couple of hours and
you you engage in some escapism andthat's and that's fantastic. But even there,
they're they're screwing you over. They'rethey're raising the prices and at this
and at the same time, like, oh god, they're they're shoving more
ads in there. Before you know, I'm a subscriber. God helped me,
(22:25):
you know. I I've had youknow, conversations with with my family
about whether we should continue this andand so far, I have not been
the victor in those conversations about continuinga subscription to Amazon Prime. And you
you look at these, you lookat these, the video service there,
(22:47):
now you're paying for it, andyou're getting the ads too at the same
time. It's it's just it's justabsolutely like unbelievable to me, Just more
and more pressure in every conceivable way, even through those means that you try
to use to escape from the vicissitudesof this late capitalist system. And if
(23:10):
I could, there is a classaction lawsuit that any Prime member Prime Video
members should join. My husband isone of them. It is out of
California, but across the country youcan join. So if you have been
a Prime member for a long time, my husband's been one for like you
know, forever, and they madeyou sign up for the two ninety nine
(23:36):
up charge to avoid ads, whichhe did. Your Prime membership always came
with ad free service, so youshouldn't have had to pay that. And
there's a class action lawsuit going on. I suggest you attach yourself to it.
I am absolutely not only will you, hopefully, if you know good
(24:00):
prevails in this, you will notonly not have to pay that and have
your services that you originally pay forand currently pay for brought back hole.
But you may see a residual notjust what you've paid, but maybe the
duration of that you have been paying. You know, lawsuits may take time.
If you end up paying over thecourse of a year, you might
(24:22):
see the money come back to you. So either way, it's sending a
clear message to Amazon dudes, fuckingstop. Calm down. Okay, you
already have the market on goods andservices and retail and all that shit.
You don't need to do this.How much money do you need? And
this how many I don't understand howmuch money do you How many Dick shuttles
(24:47):
does he need to build? Youneed to play a crazy lex luthor?
What the fuck he is? Andyou know, I posted an article it
(25:07):
was just like it was hilarious becauseit was like he and his his current
girlfriend, like they had this foundationand they gave a bunch of money to
like Ava Longoria. Yeah, right, like that's giving money because she was
like she was doing real good.So they so it's basically billionaires, like
(25:29):
giving a bunch of money to tomillionaires and right it was. It was
it was hilarious to maybe for abunch of of reasons. One of them
was that like like this, oneof the other the other guy that that
that won the award was like Admiralsomething, Admiral McRaven. Admiral mckisso raven.
(25:51):
And it just they were wearing heand Jeff Bezos in the picture publicizing
this, that were wearing the exactsame suit. I swear to god,
like the color of the tie mighthave been a little off, Like could
no one at that point, likein this professional like photo shoot, could
have said, guys, could weyou know, I know you have access
(26:15):
to gobs and gobs of money.We could easily get a different tailored suit
in here for one of you.Could we not like switch that up?
That would be so easy to do. And and somebody somebody commented that that
I don't know what the the exactwording was, but but their comments about
(26:37):
what Jeff Bezos's uh girlfriend, Ithink her name is Lauren Sanchez was wearing
was not exactly complimentary. And itdid kind of look like, you know,
a little sort of like old fashionedye like steam punky sort of like
you know, I don't know itwas. It was. It was very
strange, like Elon Musk hanging outwith crimes? Is that a little it
(27:03):
looked a little bit like that.I don't know if that's the deal,
but SA that's what he's looking uptoo. I yeah, this just makes
me think, is this like tradingplaces for rich people? I knows money
to Eva Longoria? Is that?Is that their version of it? I
guess. So that's like a it'san entirely like new higher stratum. Like
(27:26):
I guess she had done some wonderfulthings and so like you've got to I'm
sure she has, but she canstill to do more wonderful things. There's
literally somebody out there, I knowit that is broke and has a great
idea and just can't find any funding. And the world would probably be a
better place. Yeah, but theywe will never know about it. We
(27:47):
will never hear about it. BecauseJeff Bezos giving money to Eva Longoria.
Yeah, he's got he's got tolike like find the famous people because because
really, ultimately it's not about givingaway money. It's about finding an ormous
tax ride off and giving it topeople who he's going to benefit anyway,
because he gets to hang out withAva Longoria and and she knows people.
(28:08):
And okay, let me, letme, I got to catch it.
This is from like two weeks ago. And yes, Jeff Bezos gives fifty
million dollars each to Ava Longoria andAdmiral Bill mccraven, So one hundred million.
He's an annual prize to individuals fromJeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez,
(28:33):
to individuals who make significant contributions tosociety. Now, I'm sure those
guys have have done some good things, but out of all the people in
the country, are they are areAdmiral Bill mccraven, who's like a isn't
he I think he's on CNN asa as a contributor or something like that,
and and Ava Longoria? Are theyreally contributing the most or even like
(28:57):
anywhere that like the the top likefive percent to like making a positive contribution
to the United States? I don'twhat has thinks we've been done since Desperate
Housewives. I don't even know.I mean, okay, she was in
she did Dora the Lost City,you know, and Brooklyn ninety nine.
(29:22):
Okay, but is that really likea contribution to society that is of the
highest order that we need to elevate. So really here to that. I
don't know. I agree with thecommunity, but I'm just saying, here's
here's what they're saying, and wecan we can process this in real time.
Longoria, who starred in ABC's dramaDesperate Housewives as trophy wife Gabrielle Solis,
(29:45):
has focused on education and entrepreneurship andLatino communities. The Ava Longoria Foundation
aims to connect Latinos and Latinas inlower income areas with peers peer mantoris,
and Longoria has a startup for uhLatino owned small businesses. Now, I'm
sure that's that's a laudable goal.That's great, Like, that's awesome.
(30:07):
What what what? What have theactual results of that been? I don't
know. Are there less famous peopleand you know, less uh you know,
attractive like famous people that have havedone even more than even more productive.
I kind of think so that's youknow, that's that's my thought.
(30:27):
I haven't done a whole lot ofresearch, but I got to think there's
somebody out there who doesn't just happento be a famous actress. I think
they chose like it because hey,it would be fun to hang out with
Ava Longoria. So yeah, yeah, so I I just just thought it
(30:47):
was it was such a weird,silly thing. Bezos and mccraven were wearing
the same suit, and and somebodyon my Facebook feed said that you and
I don't want to put this onLauren Sangis. I don't know anything about
her, but I think they saidshe looked like a sex bot or something
like that. Again, that's justa random comment. But again for me,
(31:11):
really the weird thing was exactly thesame suits these guys are wearing,
with craven and Bezos billionaire like richestor competing for richest guy in the world,
and he is like he's he can'tfind a different suit. I just
I don't understand it, you knowwhat. I like to think that this
was actually like a duel, andthe backstory is that, you know,
(31:33):
they were trying to show off,like who wore the best suit in the
most expensive suit, and they endedup showing up with the same suit from
the same tailor or whatever, andthen they both refused. Now it's about
who wore it better, so theyhad to take a picture with both of
them wearing it, and like youknow, it goes on. I got
to say, in terms of JeffBezos, there's really only so much that
(31:56):
expensive plastic surgery can do. Imean, at a certain point, you
know, nature holes and uh andbillionaires. You know, I think I
think the mc craven got the looks, at least relatively speaking. I don't
think. I don't think. I'mnot sure I would call either of these
like guys, you know, superhandsome men. But that's okay because they
(32:17):
get they get to exploit the massesso that you know what. This reminds
me of Dwayne the Rock. Johnsonhas a shampoo and conditioner line. He
has a shampoo and yes he does, Okay, yes he does, and
his and his one of his lines, one of his catchphrases to sell this
is that if he had hair,his hair would like this shampoo. And
(32:40):
I'm just gonna say, you know, sorry, this is ridiculous. This
is stupid, obviously, bald,Why aren't you selling that shaver that you
know? Yeah, whatever, goand sell that. You know, there
are plenty of things that you couldyou could hawk. I mean, you
know, you're you're out there,you're you're you're super buff. You know,
(33:02):
you're a big movie star. Imean, they are all sorts of
things that you can sell. Butlike shampoo like that, what the what
the fuck? That doesn't really makeany sense at all. I don't know,
I don't get it. It's it'sbut if we're stupid enough to buy
it, then he's gonna sell it. And that's the point. Yeah,
you know, we we think,gosh, people stop. Just because someone
(33:25):
has talent does not make them agood person. It just means they're a
talented person. You probably know aplethora of talented people that will never achieve
fame. They sing well, theirartistry is amazing. Their their musical instrument
capabilities there to play instruments there,their way to articulate themselves without reading a
(33:47):
script is much better than mine.They are amazing people. But because they
didn't make it in Hollywood or wherever, we'll never hear about them. These
are just Dwayne is just a schmuckwho who made money making uh making beating
people up cool? You know,not that that wasn't always already cool when
(34:07):
he got there, right, buthe profited off of that. And yes
he has I haven't. I havelaughed at his at his movies. He
is very funny. I think heis very very funny. His serious stuff
I can't really take seriously, buthe is good. His comedic chops wonderful.
And the fact that he has distancedhimself from Oprah and gotten out of
(34:27):
that debacle, more power to you, man. But quit fleecing your fans.
Yeah, please, And you're you'reabsolutely right to say that, Like,
they are all sorts of unrecognized talentedpeople, and there are all sorts
of people that are that you know, are just doing enormous amounts of good
that will never be recognized by thesuper wealthy. And it comes back to
(34:51):
me for to the idea of atwhat point, because we were talking about
this earlier, at what point doyou have enough? And what drives you,
like when you have hundreds of billionsof dollars to keep wanting more?
I mean at that point. Imean some people seem to be saying,
maybe it's just the mentality that getsyou there to begin with, is so
(35:15):
insane that you can't get rid ofit Because Beesus' ex wife, she's giving
away she's doing the right thing,she's giving away money as fast as she
possibly can, and she's still likehas has billions and billions of dollars.
Why wouldn't you try to do that? Why would if you would have achieved
(35:35):
a point, why wouldn't you say, Okay, now it's time for me
to give back. But no,the drive is to like, I got
to do more and make more andmake more and fuck up things for everybody
else. Why would you do that? Why can't you see? I guess
they're just so insulated that they can't. I guess that's got to be the
answer. It's about power at thatpoint when you don't have to worry about
(35:58):
buying anything, when all of yourbasic needs are taken care of, and
your life is strictly about want.Yeah, it is about power. You
can afford anything now. But ifpeople don't like you, and people don't
want you at the table, andyou can't schmooz and you can't just walk
in and say hi and people turnaround and say, oh my god,
this person showed up, then youhave not achieved. You still have that
(36:21):
level to get to. And ifyou're not going to become the president or
prime minister of a country, thenyou have to become the biggest corporation that
can buy the countries, can buythe prime ministers. Yeah, and I
guess the fact that you know,at least an Elon Musk's case, he's
on any number of recreational drugs.That probably doesn't help your perspective either.
(36:44):
Yeah, don't do an interview withDon Lemon after you've done like a twelve
hour bender you know, Graef,Yeah, the show that never got broadcast
or Don Lemon. You know,well, he should have known what he
was signing on for, you know. Oh yeah, No, Don Lemon
is an idiot, and he gotsent there. He got exiled there for
(37:07):
a reason. I do not forgetthat reason. Yeah, however, that
interview he ended up getting it.It's on YouTube. You can watch it
right in its entirety. It's hilarious. I don't know what Elon thought he
was he was buying with Don don'tjust went after him and asked a very
hard question opening up, and thenhe basically put him in time out and
(37:30):
then threatened his job and then firedhim. Wow, well, you know,
you look why. I don't know. It's so it's so funny to
me because so many people, andGod knows, I've done it from time
to time myself go after and think, oh yeah, if I get close
to this very rich and powerful person. That's going to mean I'm somehow going
(37:52):
to get rich and powerful too.And that is so not the case because
they so do not care about you. You know, it's easy, yes,
think about think about Eric's dad.Okay, all the people around him.
What do they get jumpsuits in jailtime? He doesn't. That's right.
They you know, they predict Theygo in there thinking I can do
(38:14):
whatever I want now, and I'mright next to Teflon Dawn and I'll be
adjacent Teflon. No, No,you're going to jail, buddy. That
power, that power is so nottransferable and you and yet people people structure
their whole lives around Oh well yes, and that's why we got to cut
taxes because I'm I'm going to makeit and I'm going to be there and
(38:35):
it's going to apply to me.And and you just step back for a
moment and think about, No,you're not going to do that. You're
like you, you are the mostspecial of like out of out of all
these like like billions of people onthe No, no, that's not going
to be true. The best whatwe can do is make things as equitable
(38:59):
as possible for everyone. So thatwe can get by and that we can
live and there's not masses of peoplethat that are suffering in ways that they
don't have to. That's that's whatwe can do. But no, pal,
you're you're not going to suddenly becomea millionaire or a billionaire because you're
(39:20):
you're you're paling up to someone.They don't care about you. They're in
a bubble, they're in a differentlevel, they're in a different world.
And what we've got to do isis is reduce that difference. We gotta
we we got to like bring themdown and bring everybody else up. And
you know, it's never going tobe completely even that's that's not the point.
The point is to make it sothat it's equitable and people can live.
(39:45):
And right now there are too manypeople who can't live and who are
literally being destroyed by this system,and we've we've got to raise them up
and we've got to make sure thatthey don't get pushed off the edge.
Ultimately, I think that's what we'reboth like in our own kind of weird
ways, trying to do here.We're trying to raise people up, We're
(40:09):
trying to keep them from being pushedoff the edge and give them an outlet
so that they can sort of thinkand process all of that. I think
that's what we're trying to do.Yeah, I like to do it with
humor because it's easier. You knowthat medicine goes down with a spoonful of
sugar. But we still this isreal stuff and it's not just stuff to
(40:30):
laugh out and go aha, thisis what happened. Now. Actually,
we at this juncture. We havea house where all of the seats are
up for grabs. We have alot of seats in the Senate, we
have a lot of seats in yourstate legislator and your gubernatorial elections all the
way down to your mayor's Really people, we have an opportunity to elevate people
(40:53):
that speak to what we want tosee, not necessarily what I do,
but what devote your conscience and lookfor someone who can actually do what they
say they're going to do, notjust say it. You know, it's
not a popularity contest. We gotto start thinking about who is the most
(41:15):
effective and functional in this position.It's a job interview, it's not a
rally, it's not a it's nota good time, it's not a fair.
It's not an event that you goto and get drunk and oh my
god, I can't believe I didthat. It's an election we're deciding in
the next four years in the courseof our country. But state by state,
county by county. Please, wehave an opportunity here. Yeah,
(41:38):
take it. Yeah, and itdid. Take Take the next few months
and check references. It is ajob interview, absolutely, And if you
can go to the events and askquestions, don't be afraid to call their
offices and ask questions. The onesthat care, or at least the ones
(41:58):
that want to look like they're we'llrespond to you and use that as an
open because once they're elected, it'snot like we forget. You know,
when you go to work, yourboss doesn't forget that you're there. They
hired you two years ago. Theydon't forget that you're there. They check
up on you. We need tocheck up on them. That's a damn
poet. How's it going, Hey, I noticed that you did that.
(42:19):
That's not what I hired you for. Yeah, what's going on? Yeah?
And and that and that's what weare. They are our employees.
I mean, it's it's uh,you know, it's it's tried annoy,
but it's absolutely true. We wehire them, they they they take our
money. They're supposed to do ajob on our behalf, and we need
to make sure that they're doing itbecause at the moment it's it's not working
(42:42):
particularly well. But what does workparticularly well is each Sunday, and this
one will be will be Easter Sundayfor those of you who observe, they
still have a show coming out yethis week again, we'll be coming out
Hell high Water, Yes, andyou will as you as you hunt for
(43:02):
Easter eggs, as the Easter Bunnyscampers off into the distance, you can
be listening to This Week Again,which is a wonderful and humorous encapsulation of
the week from a progressive perspective,hosted by Suzanne Pozls. Suzanne, thank
you again so much for being withus on Faceball America. Thank you very
(43:27):
much makes Friday my favorite day.Thank you so much for being with us
today. I want to thank AceElson and Rooseabel Hine who produced this program.
Please go to two squared Media Productionsto find out more and share this
program via link on your social media. It helps grow our audience until next
(43:49):
time, Enjoy the day ah
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