June 8, 2026 • 36 mins
Hour Two of A&G features...
- President Trump's latest appearance on Meet the Press...
- College athletes and the pronoun game...
- The Hedonic Treadmill, explained...
- Some fantastic headlines (that may not be real).
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe, Katty Armstrong and Jackie
and Pee Armstrong and Yetty. Was it an old man
(00:22):
losing his temper? Or was it three dimensional chess? We'll
get to Trump storming out of meet the Press in
just a little bit. All chess is three dimensional, dammit.
A couple of things for you. We got to get
to his pea hustle going to become a US Senator
John Fetterman deciding to call him pea hustle all the
time is pretty hilarious. That's a platinum up in Maine.
(00:43):
Oh that's what he called himself on kick. I guess
when he was trying to meet chicks or dudes or
whatever he was doing, pea hustle, probably Nazi chicks. So
in Senator Fetterman, who's a Democrat running against pea Hustle
becoming a nominee. Every interview he calls him p Hustle. Well,
(01:04):
the problem with p hustle is and then but anyway,
we'll play some of that a little bit later. Yuh.
Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift have announced they're getting married
at Madison Square Garden. Boy, I didn't think that was
what I assumed we'd find out they got married over
the weekend in some obscure Italian village and they would
do a private. No, it's gonna go completely the other
(01:27):
direction Madison Square Garden. At least, that's what the rumor is.
So well, that's that's some good marital advice. Turn your
wedding into a spectacle. And I don't mean just an
average spectacle. I mean like a global spectacle. And then
one more thing I can't wait to talk about. Have
you seen that? At least in Los Angeles, Applebee's and
I Hops have joined forces in a store that has
(01:48):
both Applebee's and I Hop one location. Wow, huh? How
good is that? I'm just gonna park a camper in
the parking lot. I got everything I needed there, get
it exactly, Get stack pancakes and an Union ring tower
in one spot. Come on, plase bracfast launch and dinner snacks.
That's all there. Fabulous. So Donald Trump, for some reason
(02:09):
sat down with an interview of Kristen Welker with Pressed.
The meat as I prefer to call it, some some
call it meat. The press about just everything that's going on.
The most transparent president in history. Wall you get two week,
which I appreciate. We also need to make it clear
because you probably hear it in the clips. They're like
an intent outside in a pouring rainstorm. Yeah, before he
(02:32):
and this was this was recorded on Friday, which to
me shows you what a national crisis it is. It
didn't air for like three days, made it finally airs,
and then it's the talk of the town, right because
he because he storms out but everywhere a real national alert.
Do you think would have held onto it for three
days anyway? Yeah, I know, I know, but it is
(02:54):
some of the things that he said was interesting. Then
it ends in combative fashion, which I've got to admit
a kind of enjoyed. Let's just let's start to hit
the top work our way, Welker and Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I don't know what's going to happen with the representation
in front. I love the idea because people like you,
the fake, dirty press, the crooked press, people start stupid Biben,
He's not smart enough to know what's going on. But
people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful, resolute test in
the Oval office. What they did to the lives of people.
(03:27):
They destroyed people, They sent people to jail who did
nothing wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Just be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying.
But there's a lot about Todd.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Listen to me, let's talk. This is tremendous. Evidence is
nothing but evidence.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The election was ing. It was a dirty election.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay. So that was on the topic of that. Some
people called a slush fund. That's not what Trump calls it.
Obviously weaponization fund. But that one point seven billion, seventeen
seventy six fund going to January sixth rioters who attacked cops,
they they She asked him specifically about that, and he said, well,
(04:06):
they were. They were screwed by dirty cops. That's what
happened there, and they deserve to be paid. And she
said there's no evidence of that. That's what he was
mad about and called her what a dirty lion something
or other. Yes, we got the effect right, right, and
you know, the context matters, But it sounded to me
like she was denying that there was lawfair or selective prosecution,
(04:28):
when of course there was, even the New York Times
has admitted that. But moving along, Trump wanted to talk
about the the fraud slow moving election in California is happening.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Again right now in California, right now in California, right now,
it's looking look at what's happened in California.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
That it's in California.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's now they're not there. They're dropping fast because it's
a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days
and they aren't even close to how you know why
they're doing that, because they're cheating.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
On the election. What do you have evidence? I have
to do is look, well, I have to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And I listen to people, and let's see what happens.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Sir, that's not evidence.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You think it's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
That's how they the votes.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Do you think it's appropriate that they have an election?
And five days later they're nowhere close to.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Saying local officials acknowledge they are slow. They're urging.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Oh they're crooked.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
They're urging the votes to be counted quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Oh my god. That noise, just the noise of those
two is just making me unhappy. Yeah, I know. It's
raising my unhappiness level in my body hearing that. Look,
I don't care if you love Trump, he is a
terrible spokesman for himself. Look, at it. Just look at it.
I hear people talking, no, you got to bring the
goods better than that, because California is you know, the
(05:52):
slow vote counting is not proof of corruption, but it
sure is a nice dear blind where a corruption could
take place behind it. You'd never know, sure, But he
is making the argument that it's proof that something crazy
is going on, same as he did in twenty twenty.
If you have somebody in the lead on election night
and then the lead disappears over time, which is just
(06:14):
trading us all like idiots. I mean that we don't understand. Yeah,
the in person vote they get immediately, and then that
person's in the lead, and then they start opening up
the mailed invalids and those often for a different party,
and then you know, the numbers change. That's not proof
of anything more exciting highlights from the interview. After a
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dog food better. Wolf. I hate Kristin Welker. I think,
(07:39):
of of the Sunday morning shows, that's the one I
least like tuning into at all, And if I leave
one out, it's always that one, cause I just I
just don't think she even gives it a chance of
a decent conversation with anybody. She's wildly biased. She's the
worst of all of them there. I wish Trump was
better deflecting, you know, questions about the January sixthond or
(08:04):
whatever it is, and turning it back toward you know,
we're at war right now, Chris, and let's talk about
oram getting a nuclear weapon or whatever as opposed to
engaging in the twenty twenty election was stolen. Oh my god. Yeah,
all right, next clip. When things turn even unclear, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
How they are crooked, just like your crooked. Your press
is cooked, and meet the present's crooked.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
To be fair, I'm not crooked.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
But well, you play right into the hands. You're either
crooked or you're stupid. You play right into the hands
with this step.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
These elections are rigged. Your network knows that they're rigged.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's got to be on the list of clips of
the year, because that's quite a thing for a president
to say. You're crooked. You're either crooked, you're stupid. Clip
of the year. You say, we should probably hear it
again before we judge that handsome if you would.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That's how they bear crooked, just like your crooked, your
press is cooked, and meet the press crooked.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
To be fair, I'm not crooked.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But when you play right into the hands, you're either
crooked or you're stupid, right clip you.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Know, Oh that's a hostile I'm gonna a little uncomfortable.
And that was the prelude to the end.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Let's I want to talk about Tom.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You have more evidence, there's more evidence than ever presented.
Let's talk to your elections in this country. We're like
a third world country if your elections are crooked, and
your crooked, and meet the precious crooked, and so is
ABC and CBS and CNN, your one sided crooked network.
So let's call it quits because I've had enough.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Thank you, darling, have a good time for president.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Let's please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. I've
got I know.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
On and off in the ring, and I've given you
enough time you would to straighten.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Out your press because you know what.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Mister, country can never be great travel with it.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Listen, we traveled all the way to Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I thought that was a weird response from her. We've
traveled all the way to Wisconsin. So you got on
a private flight or first class or whatever you did,
and you took an hour and a half flight from DC.
And because of that, it's not like the Amazon Jungle Baby,
it's Wisconsin. It's not Condistra and everything trail Wow Wow
(10:33):
traveled all the way to Wisconsin. Wisconsin nights on their
knees in gratitude. Thank you for gracing us with your
New York presence, Please symbolo Wisconsins well and people who
are watched these things. Who cares where the interview is
or even knows ever, Yeah, some rain was falling though,
(10:53):
that would be good for the farms. Yeah, Trump said,
I sat here with you in the rain for an hour.
I like that, Like they're out in the rain and
they're both just sopping. Lord. That January sixth conversation made
me really uncomfortable. I watched the whole bang thing. Trump
(11:15):
is unwilling to budge at all that there were any
bad actors there who did bad things at all. That's bad.
It's all the FBI let them in there. It was
a setup. Uh, And it's yeah, that's not good. The
fact that she's let that go move on, change the topic.
(11:37):
Something can't he can't. That's a no win except for
a very small percentage of Americans. That's a no win topic.
Yeah yeah. Graham Platner update coming up, plus a major
many gender bending madness update. Fascinating little tidbit from the
world of sports emerging from a lawsuit against a certain
(11:59):
university that had a dude on the volleyball court whooping
up on the girls. So there's an update on P Hustle.
That vote is tomorrow right in Maine. So that's pretty exciting, correct, Yeah, cool,
all on the way, stay here, Armstrong, Hey, geddy.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Damning new report featured accounts from Platner's ex girlfriend's detailing
allegations of rape fantasies, heavy drinking, and violent behavior. Platner's
allies worry that these revelations will do irreparable damage to
the reputation of Nazis.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
We'll talk more about P Hustle later. He's in the
runoff tomorrow in Maine to see if he gets the
shot at being the Democrats choice to run for the
US Senate. US Senate is a big job. That's just horrific.
More on him to come. A couple of stories from
the world to college sports, whatever that is at this point,
(12:59):
which I'll I bring on in a second. First of all,
do you remember when San Jose State University was dominating
their league in women's basketball because they had a dude
on their team. Some people bizarrely refer to the man
as a transgender woman, which is odd when he's not
a woman at all. He's a man. Anyway. There's a
(13:21):
Title nine lawsuit filed by a bunch of players against
the California State University System San Jose State, that sort
of thing. And part of the evidence that's been uncovered
is that the coach, who's just identified as Coach one
in the files, but it's got to be Trent Kurston,
who is the head coach, has a bunch of quotes
(13:45):
about how the dude is a good enough player to
make us better, several comments about we need to recruit him,
lure them away from where he's playing to play for
San Jose State. But he used the term him, no,
the player. It appears there was a little pronoun game
being played direct quotes. I don't see any actual pronouns
(14:13):
in his quotes. But here's the interesting part. Everybody, the
coach and the university were fully aware that dude was
a dude, and we're like, yeah, let's recruit a dude,
because we'll win a lot of games. You know why,
because he'll be playing against girls and men are bigger
and stronger, and I bet we'll win a bunch of games.
(14:35):
Just thing ridiculous, Great Scott. Anyway, more on that another time.
Perhaps this story caught my ear partly because I've I know,
I have a kid who's in grad school. I know
a lot of my peers have kids in college. Some
of them are athletes, and we talk about this stuff
(14:56):
a fair amount, the whole name, image and likeness and yell.
Compensation packages which range from you know, McDonald's money if
you're on the lacrosse team maybe to just gigantic paychecks
for your football and basketball stars. Some of it because
you're a really good player, some of it because you're hot. Yeah,
oh absolutely, But the real money, the big money, is
(15:18):
going to the football stars. Now college athletes in your
top tier sports are now professional athletes. And this story
in the Fall Street Journal, it should be, says Jack, betraying,
just murdering the spirit of amateur athletics. Is that what
you're doing here? The coach makes twelve million dollars a year,
(15:38):
the university gets one hundred and fifty million for their
TV contract or whatever, and the player's supposed to do
it for nothing when they're the draw. Yeah, well they're
getting a college scholarship. Jack. I think the whole thing
should go I'm a fool dance. I think the whole
thing should go away. Why we've tied big time young
people's sports to education makes no sense to me at
this point. So here's a guy who didn't have the
(16:01):
money to go to his high school prom, but and
he's a freshman offensive lineman at the University of Colorado
now where he's incoming last month flush from a six
figure nil compensation package. Xavier Payne is the name returned
to Florida to attend the Jones High prom with his
old classmates. He arrived in one hundred and eighty thousand
(16:24):
dollars Mercedes bring, a twenty five hundred dollars custom suit,
eleven hundred dollars shoes, and a vintage Cardie watch he
said was worth about forty thousand dollars. A lot of
people said they didn't recognize me, he said. Welcome to
the nil era. Young superstars are making prom into a
cultural phenomenon all of their own part. Victory lap part
(16:46):
personal branding opportunity, and they mentioned that elite football programs
now expect recruits to graduate from high school in December.
You gotta graduate early so you can be on campus
in January to learn playbooks in train with teammates for
the following fall. Yeah, makes sense. Freshman athletes across all
(17:10):
sports this year, this year, next year will rake in
seven hundred and eighty million dollars. Wow in compensation. Let's
see ye from all these years. So essentially, yeah exploited. Sure,
the University of Oregon wide receiver Decorian Moore, you got
(17:31):
to eighty thousand dollars. There he is at prom with
a sweetheart. They're looking very very sharp. God, how many
great college athlete athletes through the years missed out on
this bonanza? Oh yeah, I know they got to be
looking back thinking, oh my god. Well, look, sometimes you know,
if you go on and you make a lot of
money in the NBA or whatever, the NFL, then you
(17:52):
know you end up all right. But some people are
just college stars. And then like Tim Tebow, how much
money would he have made as a Heisman Trophy winner
as the dominant player in college football for a couple
of years flamed out in the NFL, but he would
have made crazy money in college. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, high
six figures in nil money. Yeah yeah. What is college
(18:13):
sports anymore? You got dudes playing against girls, they're pros.
What does even to mean? Scott Pelly embarrassed himself over
the weekend. We've got some of that for you, among.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Other things Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
A lot of celebrities are expected to be at the
Garden on Monday, including the biggest celebrity of all, a
guy who draws bigger crowds than Martin, Luther, King, and
Elvis without even playing the guitar combined. President Trump said
he is planning to jurn New York, the first time
Trump has appeared at a court in New York since
(18:47):
being convicted of thirty four felonies.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Wow, there's a lot of things to pick apart there.
But the booze will be true. Jimmy Kimmel intioning Donald
Trump will be it Game three of the NBA Finals
tonight Madison Square Garden, and I assume it'll be announced
and there'll be a rain of booze. I assume. I
don't know. I could be wrong.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
I spoth boze. Chance hecals, cat calls, who knows, I'm
more interested in the game. Knicks are up to nothing,
winning the first two in San Antonio, so and Wemby
had a chance to be like Cement to the beginning
of his legend and threw the ball away at the
very end of the game. So anyway, Uh, only Fox
(19:37):
is reporting the Middle East the way they're reporting it.
Everybody else is kind of going with, you know, like
it's still tip for tat and ceasefire holds and stuff.
Fox Tree Ink's particular has announced with the back and
forth shooting over the weekend, the ceasefire is over.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
The war is on. This is a major escalation. Trump
can't stop it, et cetera. There So, uh, it's interesting
that the other channels are still treating it like we
have treated that the last couple of weeks. Yeah, right right, Yeah,
the ceasefire is holding in spite of the occasional tippy Yeah.
I got this email from Tim. Then we'll move on
(20:15):
to other fair No, really, this time, we're very very
close to a deal. Yeah, yeah, I see your point, Tim,
More on that later. So interesting piece in the New
York Times Today opinion piece, A guest essay from a
couple of economists labor economists. Why liberals what liberals get
(20:36):
wrong about the middle class. It's basically that both parties
are out there Trump to a certain extent, Burnie to
a certain extent, going out there that the middle class
has been screwed and you know, we're the party that's
going to help you out, and everything like that, and
who was it that did this a couple of weeks ago,
got a lot of noise around. Look, the reason the
(20:58):
middle class is scotten smaller is because so many people
in the middle class have moved into the upper middle class,
or the upper class is really the thing. Everybody's gotten
richer at every level. Thinking about the middle class in
this way obscures progress because it mixes inequality with people's
living standards, and those are two very different things. These
(21:18):
economists right of all places of the New York Times.
In a recent report, we measured class using constant inflation
adjusted thresholds. The core middle class shrank, but so did
the classes below the middle the poorer, the near poor,
and the lower middle class. Some statistics for you. In
nineteen seventy nine, thirty six percent of families were in
(21:40):
the middle class that would have been me and Joe
and lots of people. At first, it looks ominous to
say that now it's just thirty one percent in the
middle class. But it's only worrisome if you overlook the
fact that in the same period, the upper middle class
grew from ten percent to thirty one percent. Upper middle
(22:02):
class tripled since nineteen seventy nine, which would explain why
none of us flew on a plane or anything like
that back in the day, and now lots of people do.
For instance, Yeah, people in pajamas and not wearing shoes
for instance that hell, or eating out or lots of
(22:22):
other different things that people didn't used to do it
and now they do. Yeah. How about going from once
a month to twice a day eat eating out right?
Oh yeah, no kidding, taking sack lunch to work because
eating out, going out to eat for lunch would have
been insane back in the day, too expensive. Yeah. Meanwhile,
the number of Americans falling short of the middle class,
(22:43):
which used to be more than half, is now thirty
five percent of all families. Wow, the traditional middle class
shrank because so many families became better off over time,
not because more people fell short. Inequality rose, but you know,
for statistical reasons, and not in a way that you
(23:03):
know it sounds like if you're Bernie Sanders and you
have to inequality is at a record high. The higher
up the income ladder of family reached, the more disproportionate
the improvement, Rather than the rich getting richer and the
poor getting poor. Rich and poor alike grew richer, albeit
at different rates. And a lot of that would have
to do is as you get richer, you're more likely
to be in the stock market and and so your
(23:23):
overall wealth grows. Yeah, there's no arguing that the upper
upper upper class has gotten astonishing gains in the last
decade especially, but that really doesn't affect you per se
unless you have that bizarre belief that you know, all
incomes should be spread, you know, evenly across society, which
there's a name for it. Yeah. I never look at
(23:46):
like my my holdings, that's a good term. I never
look at my poor oh and k hardly ever or
anything like that. And I did on Friday for some reason,
I had to fill out some sort of form. Anyway,
what the stock market has done over the last six
months is incredible, just incredible, do you got any money
in the stock market? Back to the essayists, our conclusion
(24:07):
may seem at odds with popular views of the economy
and the politics around issues such as affordability. Consumer sentiment
in April hit a seventy four year low. Wow. Wow.
What three quarter of a century low for consumer sentiment.
Keep in mind that this downturn and sentiment has been
(24:29):
a recent development, reflected elevated prices as wake of the
pandemic and then gas all that sort of stuff. Moreover,
about fifty percent of Americans rated national economic conditions as
poor in the most recent Gallup survey. I'll skip that
while we might expect dissatisfaction to have declined as income
(24:51):
and wealth rose, this is the part that I really
really like, and we mentioned it earlier in the show.
This is the part that you should think about all
day and every day for the rest of your I'm
going to try to While we might expect dissatisfaction who
have declined as income and wealth rose. Galloped polling also
tells us that feelings about personal finances do not change
(25:12):
when the national mood toward the economy changes. People seem
to reset their expectations as they become wealthier. So you
get wealthier, and you and then you move the goal
posts stuck on what psychologists call a hedonic treadmill, with
the same root as hedonism. We always want more than
(25:32):
we have, however much we have. That is that that.
I got to talk to my kids about this. I
gotta talk to myself about it. I should put a
sticky note on my mirror for when I shaved once
a week to look at that. That's just human nature.
And don't fall for it. Don't move the goal posts. Wow,
(25:54):
the hedonic treadmill, or perhaps you prefer the pleasure peloton
or the elational the point is the same. You're not
getting anywhere. Well, that's excellent for your cardiovascular function. Uh.
Those desires are now running into supply constraints. People who
have grown wealthier want to send their kids to the
best schools. But the number of best schools in quotes,
(26:16):
and it should be in quotes because it's all this
a whole bunch of horse ass.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
The number of best schools hasn't increased, although tuitions certainly has. Similarly, Similarly,
there may be the more demand for bigger, nicer homes,
but the housing supply of bigger, nicer homes. Hasn't kept
up with people being richer. That's kind of funny. Let
there be no doubt these economics right in the New
York Times, the rising tide has lifted all boats notably,
(26:45):
even if unequally, and it is not left everyday Americans
stranded on the economic shore, as so many of our
politicians are telling us. Yeah, yeah, huh uh. Like I
said earlier, the way to do it. I think this
is a handy. Everybody should do this. If you if
you told you know, it depends on your age. I'm
(27:06):
an old man. I'm in the winter of my life.
I have a spent force with one foot in the grade.
But yeah, like late winter. It's not like that first snowfall.
More like when's it going to be spring? And there
ain't no spring coming, old boy, unless you're a Buddhist.
You know, pick an age twenty years before and if
(27:26):
you if you told that young man or woman, younger
man or woman, uh, what you would what you have now?
Would they think cool? Or would they be disappointed? If
they would think cool, oh good, where do I sign up?
Then don't be unhappy with what you got. You're following,
You're falling for the hedonic treadmill, right right, right, Uh,
(27:50):
I agree one hundred percent. I was thinking about, all right,
what explains this exactly? How do we get here as
a society? But before I want to you know, okay, yeah,
and then I'm gonna I it's sort of a little
bit contradict the whole narrative here, just because very few
things are one thing. There's often, you know, a little
carrot in the stew. Joe's gonna go all Bernie Sanders
on us. I am million ass and billion as h
(28:14):
How did we get to this point where everybody has
a bigger house, more cars, more travel, butter clothes, eats
out all the time, blah blah blah. We're convinced for
miserable number one. It's what you said the and I've
been you know, in around advertising, the advertising industry since
I was a teenager. It was my part time job
(28:36):
in college working for an ad agency. And the entire
purpose of advertising obviously is to get you to purchase
goods and services or select one good and service or
service over another. But it's it can be summarized as
creating need, creating want, creating desire, and our advertising world
has gotten so much more sophisticated than it was in
(28:58):
nineteen seventy two. I mean, it's just brilliantly skillful. The
visuals are amazing, computer technology, the writing, the research, the
demographic knowledge of your audience, what blah blah blah, it's
just amazing. So we've got those rising expectations that I
think is a big part of why people now have
(29:20):
much much higher expectations for what middle class life is.
It used to be and not terribly long ago, much
much simpler and more modest to be in the middle
class in America. So much more about outdoor barbecues with
your neighbors and little league games where there weren't little
kids were in full uniforms, and team pictures and travel
ball and the rest of it is much much simpler
(29:42):
time anyway, So you got that it was funny Jack.
As you were launching into this, I got an alert
on my phone that National Review has a new article
out the four sources of voters Economic Rage, and I thought, wow,
that's amazing timing. And they go into the amazing numbers
about the negativity of folks feelings about the economy that
(30:04):
you were describing to us. Ah, gains in the job
market the fight against inflation are real, not illusory. Blah
blah blah. Democrats gleefully seizing on increased gas prices to
explain the feelings of economic malaise. While gas prices are paidful.
These parallel economic realities are a more persistent phenomenon than
any individual price shock, and these reasons are more structural
(30:27):
than immediate. At least four of the largest stressors on
the aspiring middle class family are not tied to weekly
or monthly economic indicators. Instead, they are found in the
cost of basic middle class staples, housing, healthcare, education, and childcare.
(30:48):
And for many these costs are unavoidable and have been
rising at rates well above inflation and wage growth for decades.
So that's again, I don't want to contradict the bigger
point because it's but housing, healthcare, education, and childcare have
skyrocketed in cost in recent decades, and they're putting a
(31:11):
squeeze on the middle class. You know, one of the
couple of paragraphs I left out that article, I should
have mentioned that they bring up the term American dream
a number of times and just refute the idea that
the American dream is dead. I mean, if you see
the American dream as moving up from where you know
your your parents were lots and lots and lots, and
(31:34):
people have well, every every segment of what class you're
in has moved up. Yeah, over the last decades. Yeah,
you know. I think the term American dream is thrown
around loosely and everybody uses it for their own purposes.
But I'd simplify it even further. Whether your parents were
rich or poor, whatever, if you're smart in your work hard,
(31:54):
you can have a pretty damn good life regardless of
who your people are. See to me, the American Land
of opportunity, to me, it's just belittling foreigners. So and
I feel like that's always a lot that's certainly fun.
I don't know if it's the American dream. Let's start
with the Canadians. Come on, I kid, I love Canadians,
do you I do. Actually, I've been watching I have
(32:17):
not minised. Well, I almost lied. I was gonna say
I have not missed a minute of the Stanley Cup
Finals in hockey, but I missed one of the overtime
periods because I knew it went to double lot And yeah, anyway,
my beloved Carolina hurricane down two to one, So they
(32:37):
hated Las Vegas Knights. Yes, Golden Knights, not just any knights,
very trumpy Golden Knights. Speaking of that, we do need
to check in on where things are with the Warren
Iran because it's the Houthis have decided to shut off
on other shipping lane, or at least that's what they
announced about an hour ago. One of Iran's proxies jumping
on well, lots on the ways stay here. Spencer Pratt
(33:06):
is not going to make the final two in Los Angeles,
and I know Trump is trying to make noises than
some people are that it's about stolen elections. I think
it's worse than that. That would be good news. That'd
be good news if it was stolen. The bad news
is no blue cities and states sometimes are willing to
(33:28):
just wreck there where they live rather than try something different.
To me, that's the bad news. Yeah, I would agree anyway.
So we got a great note from Steve. I won't
go into it, but he lives in another state, who
says what bothers him is people flee the results of
those votes and go to other states and insist on
those same policies in those news states, which is weird.
(33:50):
I don't be unable to connect policy with outcome. I
don't get that at all. Babylon B with the headline
Democrats push for death certificates to be accepted as voter ID.
I thought that was pretty funny. That is pretty funny.
Different Babylon BE headline. I found funny. This came up
last week with Joe. Actually, man, I'm sure if he's
becoming more virtuous with age or just too tired to sin,
(34:13):
that would be like when your computer wasn't working and
you didn't lose your temper and you you thought, maybe
you know, you've reached some sort of level of calm
or boodle like acceptance as opposed to just low tea. Yeah,
who cares, Well, that's you told. You used that on
me the first time something happened. I don't remember what
it was, and I didn't get mad about it, and
(34:35):
I was very happy about And he said, you know
why that is? You just have lower testostero than you said,
Oh crap, Yeah, I got neither. I was hoping for
personal growth and it's just lower testosterone and started to
disappoint you. I got neither. Fight nor flight in me.
I'd just rather sit here. That's disappointing. Yeah. Sorry, there's
(34:56):
got to be some personal growth in there, doesn't there?
Or maybe there's not. Maybe it's just yeah, absolutely sure,
they're both factors. We'll just say that, Okay. I had
one more Babylon boing to get to. I kind of
like this one. Dave Ramsey to host new cooking show
where he yells at contestants as they try to cook
meals on a budget. Me a show we're actually worth watching?
(35:18):
Is that for real? No Babylon b show? Oh? Sorry?
And uh? And one more Babylon bee Chinese restaurant owner
retiring to spend less time with family. I get it, boy.
And they're always so mad at each other. God, I'd
forgotten remember that one restaurant I used to go to.
(35:38):
I used to talk about all the time. His husband
and wife would just scream at each other in Chinese
and just but they clearly just hated each other. Wow. Wow,
that'd be so funny. There's hardly anybody there in the
restaurant at all. Might come in there and you know,
there's three of us or whatever, and he just screaming
and screaming and then shake her head and lead you
(36:01):
to the table. Do you figure it continued at home?
Or maybe when they get home they shut the door.
It's like, hey, baby, I don't know what do you
want to do tonight? Oh I got something for you.
Big daddys festering resentment. First customers of the evening. They're
screaming at each other. We should be so pissed off already.
(36:22):
I should have gotten ying Ma or somebody I know
who speaks fluent Chinese to come with me. Just ye,
you gotta tell me what they're saying. I really really
want to know. Scott Pelly, former host of sixty Minutes,
embarrassed himself in a New York Times interview over the weekend,
and he doesn't even know it. We got that and
other stuff coming an hour Turn Armstrong and Geddy
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe, Katty Armstrong and Jackie
and Pee Armstrong and Yetty. Was it an old man
(00:22):
losing his temper? Or was it three dimensional chess? We'll
get to Trump storming out of meet the Press in
just a little bit. All chess is three dimensional, dammit.
A couple of things for you. We got to get
to his pea hustle going to become a US Senator
John Fetterman deciding to call him pea hustle all the
time is pretty hilarious. That's a platinum up in Maine.
(00:43):
Oh that's what he called himself on kick. I guess
when he was trying to meet chicks or dudes or
whatever he was doing, pea hustle, probably Nazi chicks. So
in Senator Fetterman, who's a Democrat running against pea Hustle
becoming a nominee. Every interview he calls him p Hustle. Well,
(01:04):
the problem with p hustle is and then but anyway,
we'll play some of that a little bit later. Yuh.
Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift have announced they're getting married
at Madison Square Garden. Boy, I didn't think that was
what I assumed we'd find out they got married over
the weekend in some obscure Italian village and they would
do a private. No, it's gonna go completely the other
(01:27):
direction Madison Square Garden. At least, that's what the rumor is.
So well, that's that's some good marital advice. Turn your
wedding into a spectacle. And I don't mean just an
average spectacle. I mean like a global spectacle. And then
one more thing I can't wait to talk about. Have
you seen that? At least in Los Angeles, Applebee's and
I Hops have joined forces in a store that has
(01:48):
both Applebee's and I Hop one location. Wow, huh? How
good is that? I'm just gonna park a camper in
the parking lot. I got everything I needed there, get
it exactly, Get stack pancakes and an Union ring tower
in one spot. Come on, plase bracfast launch and dinner snacks.
That's all there. Fabulous. So Donald Trump, for some reason
(02:09):
sat down with an interview of Kristen Welker with Pressed.
The meat as I prefer to call it, some some
call it meat. The press about just everything that's going on.
The most transparent president in history. Wall you get two week,
which I appreciate. We also need to make it clear
because you probably hear it in the clips. They're like
an intent outside in a pouring rainstorm. Yeah, before he
(02:32):
and this was this was recorded on Friday, which to
me shows you what a national crisis it is. It
didn't air for like three days, made it finally airs,
and then it's the talk of the town, right because
he because he storms out but everywhere a real national alert.
Do you think would have held onto it for three
days anyway? Yeah, I know, I know, but it is
(02:54):
some of the things that he said was interesting. Then
it ends in combative fashion, which I've got to admit
a kind of enjoyed. Let's just let's start to hit
the top work our way, Welker and Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I don't know what's going to happen with the representation
in front. I love the idea because people like you,
the fake, dirty press, the crooked press, people start stupid Biben,
He's not smart enough to know what's going on. But
people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful, resolute test in
the Oval office. What they did to the lives of people.
(03:27):
They destroyed people, They sent people to jail who did
nothing wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Just be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying.
But there's a lot about Todd.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Listen to me, let's talk. This is tremendous. Evidence is
nothing but evidence.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The election was ing. It was a dirty election.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Okay. So that was on the topic of that. Some
people called a slush fund. That's not what Trump calls it.
Obviously weaponization fund. But that one point seven billion, seventeen
seventy six fund going to January sixth rioters who attacked cops,
they they She asked him specifically about that, and he said, well,
(04:06):
they were. They were screwed by dirty cops. That's what
happened there, and they deserve to be paid. And she
said there's no evidence of that. That's what he was
mad about and called her what a dirty lion something
or other. Yes, we got the effect right, right, and
you know, the context matters, But it sounded to me
like she was denying that there was lawfair or selective prosecution,
(04:28):
when of course there was, even the New York Times
has admitted that. But moving along, Trump wanted to talk
about the the fraud slow moving election in California is happening.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Again right now in California, right now in California, right now,
it's looking look at what's happened in California.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
That it's in California.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's now they're not there. They're dropping fast because it's
a rigged election. Let me tell you, it's four days
and they aren't even close to how you know why
they're doing that, because they're cheating.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
On the election. What do you have evidence? I have
to do is look, well, I have to do it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And I listen to people, and let's see what happens.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Sir, that's not evidence.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You think it's appropriate.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
That's how they the votes.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Do you think it's appropriate that they have an election?
And five days later they're nowhere close to.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Saying local officials acknowledge they are slow. They're urging.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Oh they're crooked.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
They're urging the votes to be counted quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Oh my god. That noise, just the noise of those
two is just making me unhappy. Yeah, I know. It's
raising my unhappiness level in my body hearing that. Look,
I don't care if you love Trump, he is a
terrible spokesman for himself. Look, at it. Just look at it.
I hear people talking, no, you got to bring the
goods better than that, because California is you know, the
(05:52):
slow vote counting is not proof of corruption, but it
sure is a nice dear blind where a corruption could
take place behind it. You'd never know, sure, But he
is making the argument that it's proof that something crazy
is going on, same as he did in twenty twenty.
If you have somebody in the lead on election night
and then the lead disappears over time, which is just
(06:14):
trading us all like idiots. I mean that we don't understand. Yeah,
the in person vote they get immediately, and then that
person's in the lead, and then they start opening up
the mailed invalids and those often for a different party,
and then you know, the numbers change. That's not proof
of anything more exciting highlights from the interview. After a
word from our friends that rough Greens, time flies by, man,
(06:37):
trust me, holy cow, it does. And that puppy years
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(07:19):
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dog food better. Wolf. I hate Kristin Welker. I think,
(07:39):
of of the Sunday morning shows, that's the one I
least like tuning into at all, And if I leave
one out, it's always that one, cause I just I
just don't think she even gives it a chance of
a decent conversation with anybody. She's wildly biased. She's the
worst of all of them there. I wish Trump was
better deflecting, you know, questions about the January sixthond or
(08:04):
whatever it is, and turning it back toward you know,
we're at war right now, Chris, and let's talk about
oram getting a nuclear weapon or whatever as opposed to
engaging in the twenty twenty election was stolen. Oh my god. Yeah,
all right, next clip. When things turn even unclear, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
How they are crooked, just like your crooked. Your press
is cooked, and meet the present's crooked.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
To be fair, I'm not crooked.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
But well, you play right into the hands. You're either
crooked or you're stupid. You play right into the hands
with this step.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
These elections are rigged. Your network knows that they're rigged.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's got to be on the list of clips of
the year, because that's quite a thing for a president
to say. You're crooked. You're either crooked, you're stupid. Clip
of the year. You say, we should probably hear it
again before we judge that handsome if you would.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
That's how they bear crooked, just like your crooked, your
press is cooked, and meet the press crooked.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
To be fair, I'm not crooked.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But when you play right into the hands, you're either
crooked or you're stupid, right clip you.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Know, Oh that's a hostile I'm gonna a little uncomfortable.
And that was the prelude to the end.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Let's I want to talk about Tom.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You have more evidence, there's more evidence than ever presented.
Let's talk to your elections in this country. We're like
a third world country if your elections are crooked, and
your crooked, and meet the precious crooked, and so is
ABC and CBS and CNN, your one sided crooked network.
So let's call it quits because I've had enough.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Thank you, darling, have a good time for president.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Let's please, I traveled all the way to Wisconsin. I've
got I know.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
On and off in the ring, and I've given you
enough time you would to straighten.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Out your press because you know what.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Mister, country can never be great travel with it.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Listen, we traveled all the way to Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I thought that was a weird response from her. We've
traveled all the way to Wisconsin. So you got on
a private flight or first class or whatever you did,
and you took an hour and a half flight from DC.
And because of that, it's not like the Amazon Jungle Baby,
it's Wisconsin. It's not Condistra and everything trail Wow Wow
(10:33):
traveled all the way to Wisconsin. Wisconsin nights on their
knees in gratitude. Thank you for gracing us with your
New York presence, Please symbolo Wisconsins well and people who
are watched these things. Who cares where the interview is
or even knows ever, Yeah, some rain was falling though,
(10:53):
that would be good for the farms. Yeah, Trump said,
I sat here with you in the rain for an hour.
I like that, Like they're out in the rain and
they're both just sopping. Lord. That January sixth conversation made
me really uncomfortable. I watched the whole bang thing. Trump
(11:15):
is unwilling to budge at all that there were any
bad actors there who did bad things at all. That's bad.
It's all the FBI let them in there. It was
a setup. Uh, And it's yeah, that's not good. The
fact that she's let that go move on, change the topic.
(11:37):
Something can't he can't. That's a no win except for
a very small percentage of Americans. That's a no win topic.
Yeah yeah. Graham Platner update coming up, plus a major
many gender bending madness update. Fascinating little tidbit from the
world of sports emerging from a lawsuit against a certain
(11:59):
university that had a dude on the volleyball court whooping
up on the girls. So there's an update on P Hustle.
That vote is tomorrow right in Maine. So that's pretty exciting, correct, Yeah, cool,
all on the way, stay here, Armstrong, Hey, geddy.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Damning new report featured accounts from Platner's ex girlfriend's detailing
allegations of rape fantasies, heavy drinking, and violent behavior. Platner's
allies worry that these revelations will do irreparable damage to
the reputation of Nazis.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
We'll talk more about P Hustle later. He's in the
runoff tomorrow in Maine to see if he gets the
shot at being the Democrats choice to run for the
US Senate. US Senate is a big job. That's just horrific.
More on him to come. A couple of stories from
the world to college sports, whatever that is at this point,
(12:59):
which I'll I bring on in a second. First of all,
do you remember when San Jose State University was dominating
their league in women's basketball because they had a dude
on their team. Some people bizarrely refer to the man
as a transgender woman, which is odd when he's not
a woman at all. He's a man. Anyway. There's a
(13:21):
Title nine lawsuit filed by a bunch of players against
the California State University System San Jose State, that sort
of thing. And part of the evidence that's been uncovered
is that the coach, who's just identified as Coach one
in the files, but it's got to be Trent Kurston,
who is the head coach, has a bunch of quotes
(13:45):
about how the dude is a good enough player to
make us better, several comments about we need to recruit him,
lure them away from where he's playing to play for
San Jose State. But he used the term him, no,
the player. It appears there was a little pronoun game
being played direct quotes. I don't see any actual pronouns
(14:13):
in his quotes. But here's the interesting part. Everybody, the
coach and the university were fully aware that dude was
a dude, and we're like, yeah, let's recruit a dude,
because we'll win a lot of games. You know why,
because he'll be playing against girls and men are bigger
and stronger, and I bet we'll win a bunch of games.
(14:35):
Just thing ridiculous, Great Scott. Anyway, more on that another time.
Perhaps this story caught my ear partly because I've I know,
I have a kid who's in grad school. I know
a lot of my peers have kids in college. Some
of them are athletes, and we talk about this stuff
(14:56):
a fair amount, the whole name, image and likeness and yell.
Compensation packages which range from you know, McDonald's money if
you're on the lacrosse team maybe to just gigantic paychecks
for your football and basketball stars. Some of it because
you're a really good player, some of it because you're hot. Yeah,
oh absolutely, But the real money, the big money, is
(15:18):
going to the football stars. Now college athletes in your
top tier sports are now professional athletes. And this story
in the Fall Street Journal, it should be, says Jack, betraying,
just murdering the spirit of amateur athletics. Is that what
you're doing here? The coach makes twelve million dollars a year,
(15:38):
the university gets one hundred and fifty million for their
TV contract or whatever, and the player's supposed to do
it for nothing when they're the draw. Yeah, well they're
getting a college scholarship. Jack. I think the whole thing
should go I'm a fool dance. I think the whole
thing should go away. Why we've tied big time young
people's sports to education makes no sense to me at
this point. So here's a guy who didn't have the
(16:01):
money to go to his high school prom, but and
he's a freshman offensive lineman at the University of Colorado
now where he's incoming last month flush from a six
figure nil compensation package. Xavier Payne is the name returned
to Florida to attend the Jones High prom with his
old classmates. He arrived in one hundred and eighty thousand
(16:24):
dollars Mercedes bring, a twenty five hundred dollars custom suit,
eleven hundred dollars shoes, and a vintage Cardie watch he
said was worth about forty thousand dollars. A lot of
people said they didn't recognize me, he said. Welcome to
the nil era. Young superstars are making prom into a
cultural phenomenon all of their own part. Victory lap part
(16:46):
personal branding opportunity, and they mentioned that elite football programs
now expect recruits to graduate from high school in December.
You gotta graduate early so you can be on campus
in January to learn playbooks in train with teammates for
the following fall. Yeah, makes sense. Freshman athletes across all
(17:10):
sports this year, this year, next year will rake in
seven hundred and eighty million dollars. Wow in compensation. Let's
see ye from all these years. So essentially, yeah exploited. Sure,
the University of Oregon wide receiver Decorian Moore, you got
(17:31):
to eighty thousand dollars. There he is at prom with
a sweetheart. They're looking very very sharp. God, how many
great college athlete athletes through the years missed out on
this bonanza? Oh yeah, I know they got to be
looking back thinking, oh my god. Well, look, sometimes you know,
if you go on and you make a lot of
money in the NBA or whatever, the NFL, then you
(17:52):
know you end up all right. But some people are
just college stars. And then like Tim Tebow, how much
money would he have made as a Heisman Trophy winner
as the dominant player in college football for a couple
of years flamed out in the NFL, but he would
have made crazy money in college. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, high
six figures in nil money. Yeah yeah. What is college
(18:13):
sports anymore? You got dudes playing against girls, they're pros.
What does even to mean? Scott Pelly embarrassed himself over
the weekend. We've got some of that for you, among.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Other things Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
A lot of celebrities are expected to be at the
Garden on Monday, including the biggest celebrity of all, a
guy who draws bigger crowds than Martin, Luther, King, and
Elvis without even playing the guitar combined. President Trump said
he is planning to jurn New York, the first time
Trump has appeared at a court in New York since
(18:47):
being convicted of thirty four felonies.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Wow, there's a lot of things to pick apart there.
But the booze will be true. Jimmy Kimmel intioning Donald
Trump will be it Game three of the NBA Finals
tonight Madison Square Garden, and I assume it'll be announced
and there'll be a rain of booze. I assume. I
don't know. I could be wrong.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
I spoth boze. Chance hecals, cat calls, who knows, I'm
more interested in the game. Knicks are up to nothing,
winning the first two in San Antonio, so and Wemby
had a chance to be like Cement to the beginning
of his legend and threw the ball away at the
very end of the game. So anyway, Uh, only Fox
(19:37):
is reporting the Middle East the way they're reporting it.
Everybody else is kind of going with, you know, like
it's still tip for tat and ceasefire holds and stuff.
Fox Tree Ink's particular has announced with the back and
forth shooting over the weekend, the ceasefire is over.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
The war is on. This is a major escalation. Trump
can't stop it, et cetera. There So, uh, it's interesting
that the other channels are still treating it like we
have treated that the last couple of weeks. Yeah, right right, Yeah,
the ceasefire is holding in spite of the occasional tippy Yeah.
I got this email from Tim. Then we'll move on
(20:15):
to other fair No, really, this time, we're very very
close to a deal. Yeah, yeah, I see your point, Tim,
More on that later. So interesting piece in the New
York Times Today opinion piece, A guest essay from a
couple of economists labor economists. Why liberals what liberals get
(20:36):
wrong about the middle class. It's basically that both parties
are out there Trump to a certain extent, Burnie to
a certain extent, going out there that the middle class
has been screwed and you know, we're the party that's
going to help you out, and everything like that, and
who was it that did this a couple of weeks ago,
got a lot of noise around. Look, the reason the
(20:58):
middle class is scotten smaller is because so many people
in the middle class have moved into the upper middle class,
or the upper class is really the thing. Everybody's gotten
richer at every level. Thinking about the middle class in
this way obscures progress because it mixes inequality with people's
living standards, and those are two very different things. These
(21:18):
economists right of all places of the New York Times.
In a recent report, we measured class using constant inflation
adjusted thresholds. The core middle class shrank, but so did
the classes below the middle the poorer, the near poor,
and the lower middle class. Some statistics for you. In
nineteen seventy nine, thirty six percent of families were in
(21:40):
the middle class that would have been me and Joe
and lots of people. At first, it looks ominous to
say that now it's just thirty one percent in the
middle class. But it's only worrisome if you overlook the
fact that in the same period, the upper middle class
grew from ten percent to thirty one percent. Upper middle
(22:02):
class tripled since nineteen seventy nine, which would explain why
none of us flew on a plane or anything like
that back in the day, and now lots of people do.
For instance, Yeah, people in pajamas and not wearing shoes
for instance that hell, or eating out or lots of
(22:22):
other different things that people didn't used to do it
and now they do. Yeah. How about going from once
a month to twice a day eat eating out right?
Oh yeah, no kidding, taking sack lunch to work because
eating out, going out to eat for lunch would have
been insane back in the day, too expensive. Yeah. Meanwhile,
the number of Americans falling short of the middle class,
(22:43):
which used to be more than half, is now thirty
five percent of all families. Wow, the traditional middle class
shrank because so many families became better off over time,
not because more people fell short. Inequality rose, but you know,
for statistical reasons, and not in a way that you
(23:03):
know it sounds like if you're Bernie Sanders and you
have to inequality is at a record high. The higher
up the income ladder of family reached, the more disproportionate
the improvement, Rather than the rich getting richer and the
poor getting poor. Rich and poor alike grew richer, albeit
at different rates. And a lot of that would have
to do is as you get richer, you're more likely
to be in the stock market and and so your
(23:23):
overall wealth grows. Yeah, there's no arguing that the upper
upper upper class has gotten astonishing gains in the last
decade especially, but that really doesn't affect you per se
unless you have that bizarre belief that you know, all
incomes should be spread, you know, evenly across society, which
there's a name for it. Yeah. I never look at
(23:46):
like my my holdings, that's a good term. I never
look at my poor oh and k hardly ever or
anything like that. And I did on Friday for some reason,
I had to fill out some sort of form. Anyway,
what the stock market has done over the last six
months is incredible, just incredible, do you got any money
in the stock market? Back to the essayists, our conclusion
(24:07):
may seem at odds with popular views of the economy
and the politics around issues such as affordability. Consumer sentiment
in April hit a seventy four year low. Wow. Wow.
What three quarter of a century low for consumer sentiment.
Keep in mind that this downturn and sentiment has been
(24:29):
a recent development, reflected elevated prices as wake of the
pandemic and then gas all that sort of stuff. Moreover,
about fifty percent of Americans rated national economic conditions as
poor in the most recent Gallup survey. I'll skip that
while we might expect dissatisfaction to have declined as income
(24:51):
and wealth rose, this is the part that I really
really like, and we mentioned it earlier in the show.
This is the part that you should think about all
day and every day for the rest of your I'm
going to try to While we might expect dissatisfaction who
have declined as income and wealth rose. Galloped polling also
tells us that feelings about personal finances do not change
(25:12):
when the national mood toward the economy changes. People seem
to reset their expectations as they become wealthier. So you
get wealthier, and you and then you move the goal
posts stuck on what psychologists call a hedonic treadmill, with
the same root as hedonism. We always want more than
(25:32):
we have, however much we have. That is that that.
I got to talk to my kids about this. I
gotta talk to myself about it. I should put a
sticky note on my mirror for when I shaved once
a week to look at that. That's just human nature.
And don't fall for it. Don't move the goal posts. Wow,
(25:54):
the hedonic treadmill, or perhaps you prefer the pleasure peloton
or the elational the point is the same. You're not
getting anywhere. Well, that's excellent for your cardiovascular function. Uh.
Those desires are now running into supply constraints. People who
have grown wealthier want to send their kids to the
best schools. But the number of best schools in quotes,
(26:16):
and it should be in quotes because it's all this
a whole bunch of horse ass.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
The number of best schools hasn't increased, although tuitions certainly has. Similarly, Similarly,
there may be the more demand for bigger, nicer homes,
but the housing supply of bigger, nicer homes. Hasn't kept
up with people being richer. That's kind of funny. Let
there be no doubt these economics right in the New
York Times, the rising tide has lifted all boats notably,
(26:45):
even if unequally, and it is not left everyday Americans
stranded on the economic shore, as so many of our
politicians are telling us. Yeah, yeah, huh uh. Like I
said earlier, the way to do it. I think this
is a handy. Everybody should do this. If you if
you told you know, it depends on your age. I'm
(27:06):
an old man. I'm in the winter of my life.
I have a spent force with one foot in the grade.
But yeah, like late winter. It's not like that first snowfall.
More like when's it going to be spring? And there
ain't no spring coming, old boy, unless you're a Buddhist.
You know, pick an age twenty years before and if
(27:26):
you if you told that young man or woman, younger
man or woman, uh, what you would what you have now?
Would they think cool? Or would they be disappointed? If
they would think cool, oh good, where do I sign up?
Then don't be unhappy with what you got. You're following,
You're falling for the hedonic treadmill, right right, right, Uh,
(27:50):
I agree one hundred percent. I was thinking about, all right,
what explains this exactly? How do we get here as
a society? But before I want to you know, okay, yeah,
and then I'm gonna I it's sort of a little
bit contradict the whole narrative here, just because very few
things are one thing. There's often, you know, a little
carrot in the stew. Joe's gonna go all Bernie Sanders
on us. I am million ass and billion as h
(28:14):
How did we get to this point where everybody has
a bigger house, more cars, more travel, butter clothes, eats
out all the time, blah blah blah. We're convinced for
miserable number one. It's what you said the and I've
been you know, in around advertising, the advertising industry since
I was a teenager. It was my part time job
(28:36):
in college working for an ad agency. And the entire
purpose of advertising obviously is to get you to purchase
goods and services or select one good and service or
service over another. But it's it can be summarized as
creating need, creating want, creating desire, and our advertising world
has gotten so much more sophisticated than it was in
(28:58):
nineteen seventy two. I mean, it's just brilliantly skillful. The
visuals are amazing, computer technology, the writing, the research, the
demographic knowledge of your audience, what blah blah blah, it's
just amazing. So we've got those rising expectations that I
think is a big part of why people now have
(29:20):
much much higher expectations for what middle class life is.
It used to be and not terribly long ago, much
much simpler and more modest to be in the middle
class in America. So much more about outdoor barbecues with
your neighbors and little league games where there weren't little
kids were in full uniforms, and team pictures and travel
ball and the rest of it is much much simpler
(29:42):
time anyway, So you got that it was funny Jack.
As you were launching into this, I got an alert
on my phone that National Review has a new article
out the four sources of voters Economic Rage, and I thought, wow,
that's amazing timing. And they go into the amazing numbers
about the negativity of folks feelings about the economy that
(30:04):
you were describing to us. Ah, gains in the job
market the fight against inflation are real, not illusory. Blah
blah blah. Democrats gleefully seizing on increased gas prices to
explain the feelings of economic malaise. While gas prices are paidful.
These parallel economic realities are a more persistent phenomenon than
any individual price shock, and these reasons are more structural
(30:27):
than immediate. At least four of the largest stressors on
the aspiring middle class family are not tied to weekly
or monthly economic indicators. Instead, they are found in the
cost of basic middle class staples, housing, healthcare, education, and childcare.
(30:48):
And for many these costs are unavoidable and have been
rising at rates well above inflation and wage growth for decades.
So that's again, I don't want to contradict the bigger
point because it's but housing, healthcare, education, and childcare have
skyrocketed in cost in recent decades, and they're putting a
(31:11):
squeeze on the middle class. You know, one of the
couple of paragraphs I left out that article, I should
have mentioned that they bring up the term American dream
a number of times and just refute the idea that
the American dream is dead. I mean, if you see
the American dream as moving up from where you know
your your parents were lots and lots and lots, and
(31:34):
people have well, every every segment of what class you're
in has moved up. Yeah, over the last decades. Yeah,
you know. I think the term American dream is thrown
around loosely and everybody uses it for their own purposes.
But I'd simplify it even further. Whether your parents were
rich or poor, whatever, if you're smart in your work hard,
(31:54):
you can have a pretty damn good life regardless of
who your people are. See to me, the American Land
of opportunity, to me, it's just belittling foreigners. So and
I feel like that's always a lot that's certainly fun.
I don't know if it's the American dream. Let's start
with the Canadians. Come on, I kid, I love Canadians,
do you I do. Actually, I've been watching I have
(32:17):
not minised. Well, I almost lied. I was gonna say
I have not missed a minute of the Stanley Cup
Finals in hockey, but I missed one of the overtime
periods because I knew it went to double lot And yeah, anyway,
my beloved Carolina hurricane down two to one, So they
(32:37):
hated Las Vegas Knights. Yes, Golden Knights, not just any knights,
very trumpy Golden Knights. Speaking of that, we do need
to check in on where things are with the Warren
Iran because it's the Houthis have decided to shut off
on other shipping lane, or at least that's what they
announced about an hour ago. One of Iran's proxies jumping
on well, lots on the ways stay here. Spencer Pratt
(33:06):
is not going to make the final two in Los Angeles,
and I know Trump is trying to make noises than
some people are that it's about stolen elections. I think
it's worse than that. That would be good news. That'd
be good news if it was stolen. The bad news
is no blue cities and states sometimes are willing to
(33:28):
just wreck there where they live rather than try something different.
To me, that's the bad news. Yeah, I would agree anyway.
So we got a great note from Steve. I won't
go into it, but he lives in another state, who
says what bothers him is people flee the results of
those votes and go to other states and insist on
those same policies in those news states, which is weird.
(33:50):
I don't be unable to connect policy with outcome. I
don't get that at all. Babylon B with the headline
Democrats push for death certificates to be accepted as voter ID.
I thought that was pretty funny. That is pretty funny.
Different Babylon BE headline. I found funny. This came up
last week with Joe. Actually, man, I'm sure if he's
becoming more virtuous with age or just too tired to sin,
(34:13):
that would be like when your computer wasn't working and
you didn't lose your temper and you you thought, maybe
you know, you've reached some sort of level of calm
or boodle like acceptance as opposed to just low tea. Yeah,
who cares, Well, that's you told. You used that on
me the first time something happened. I don't remember what
it was, and I didn't get mad about it, and
(34:35):
I was very happy about And he said, you know
why that is? You just have lower testostero than you said,
Oh crap, Yeah, I got neither. I was hoping for
personal growth and it's just lower testosterone and started to
disappoint you. I got neither. Fight nor flight in me.
I'd just rather sit here. That's disappointing. Yeah. Sorry, there's
(34:56):
got to be some personal growth in there, doesn't there?
Or maybe there's not. Maybe it's just yeah, absolutely sure,
they're both factors. We'll just say that, Okay. I had
one more Babylon boing to get to. I kind of
like this one. Dave Ramsey to host new cooking show
where he yells at contestants as they try to cook
meals on a budget. Me a show we're actually worth watching?
(35:18):
Is that for real? No Babylon b show? Oh? Sorry?
And uh? And one more Babylon bee Chinese restaurant owner
retiring to spend less time with family. I get it, boy.
And they're always so mad at each other. God, I'd
forgotten remember that one restaurant I used to go to.
(35:38):
I used to talk about all the time. His husband
and wife would just scream at each other in Chinese
and just but they clearly just hated each other. Wow. Wow,
that'd be so funny. There's hardly anybody there in the
restaurant at all. Might come in there and you know,
there's three of us or whatever, and he just screaming
and screaming and then shake her head and lead you
(36:01):
to the table. Do you figure it continued at home?
Or maybe when they get home they shut the door.
It's like, hey, baby, I don't know what do you
want to do tonight? Oh I got something for you.
Big daddys festering resentment. First customers of the evening. They're
screaming at each other. We should be so pissed off already.
(36:22):
I should have gotten ying Ma or somebody I know
who speaks fluent Chinese to come with me. Just ye,
you gotta tell me what they're saying. I really really
want to know. Scott Pelly, former host of sixty Minutes,
embarrassed himself in a New York Times interview over the weekend,
and he doesn't even know it. We got that and
other stuff coming an hour Turn Armstrong and Geddy
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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