January 6, 2026 • 35 mins
Hour 3 of A&G features...
- Stephen Miller & the topic of Greenland
- New CBS has a rough start & Tucker... what?
- 50 year old Twinkie & some Bingo, Bango, Bongo
- Joe's tattoo & the dude in the woman's bathroom at Planet Fitness
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Ketty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Arm Strong and Getty and now he Armstrong and Edy.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
After the extraordinary events in Venezuela and yet more incendiary
remarks about Greenland, the Danish Prime Minister has appeared on
national television saying she had already quote made it very
clear where the Kingdom of Denmark stands, and that Greenland
has repeatedly said that it doesn't want to be part
of the United States. She also warned of the consequences
(00:46):
of US military action to seize Greenland.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
How is this actually a conversation? What we're about to
get into it a little bit more so? I was
looking up at CBS News just now, and our friend
of the show, Ian Bremer is on there to talk
about his risks of the year. Ah, right, we're chatting
with him soon. Yeah, we're going to record a podcast
with him tomorrow going through the risks of the year.
But I was following I Bremer over the weekend on
(01:10):
his Twitter feed and he said, this whole Greenland thing
is not a joke. Trump is serious. You're better pay attention. Blah.
Blah blah, and I thought, wow, really And that was
over the weekend. And then so Stephen Miller. What is
Stephen Miller officially? Is he just an advisor? Is he?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, he's I think he's got a title. I can't
remember what it is, Chief Advisor.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Or something like that. Anyway, he was on with Jake
Tapper on CNN yesterday and they got into the Greenland conversation.
Here's how it went.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Can you rule out that the US is as ever
going to try to take Greenland by force?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Well, let me go back a step. The President has
been clear for months now, so I know you're treating
this as breaking news. The President has been clear for
a month now that the United States should be the
nation that had Greenland is part of our overall security apparatus.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
But your wife posted that like hours after the Venezuela operation.
But that's why it's newly relevant.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
No, and I'll talk with you about it for an hour.
I think it's really important conversation up. I just wanted
to reset Jake by making clear that it has been
the formal position of the US government since the beginning
of this administration. Frankly, going back into the previous Trump
administration that Greenland should be part of the United Types.
The President has been very clear about that. That is
(02:30):
the formal position of the US government.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, so you start by not saying no to the
question of are you actually going to take Greenland?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
He continues, Right, but can you say that military action
against Greenland is off the table?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
It's gonna be in a military action against Greenland. The
Greenland has a population of thirty thousand people, Jake, the
real question is about what right does Denmark is certain
control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim?
What is their basis that having Greenland as a colony
of Denmark the United.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
States is the power of NATO.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to
protect and defend NATO and NATO interests. Obviously, Greenland should
be part of the United States. And that's a conversation
that we're going to have as a country. That's a
process we're going to have as a as a new
community of nation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
For the record, I agree with much of the substance
of what he's saying. But what bothers me sometimes is
that Trump and comp tend to treat allies the same
as adversaries with the same negotiating style the whole We're
not going to take military action off the table. You're
(03:45):
talking about a NATO ally. You say, no, of course,
we're not going to use military action against our ally.
It's just it's it reminds me of some bad cops
who I've seen and a lot of us have dealt with.
These good cops are great, They're fantas tastic in their heroes.
Bad cops have the opportunity to not be a hard ass,
(04:06):
but there's still a hard ass because they like it right,
Like a TSA agent I was going to talk about
from my trip feel free and they escalate tension unnecessarily
because I'm all about effectiveness, not I don't give a
damn about trading on somebody's toes.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's about effectiveness. Yeah, So what's the part that you
do agree with in theory though, that it should be
part of the United States? And why does the Danish
get to have control of it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's untenable that the United States has to say to Denmark,
can we please use Greenland to defend the Western world
against the Russians and the Chinese.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's your lands.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So even though it's incredibly strategically important. Can we please
maybe put a couple more planes there? That's just it's untenable,
it's stupid. The problem is you can is My sainted
grandmother used to say, on my mom's side, you can
draw them or flies with sugar than vinegar or honey
than vinegar.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, then let's get a little more vinegar from Stephen Miller.
With just thirty more seconds of this conversation, maybe we
can clean our microwaves with it. Yes, So you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Take it off the table that the US would use
military force to seize Greenland.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
You can, Jake, I just said, you're trying very hard
to which, which again is your job.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I respect.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
It is great to get exactly the headline right that
catch you headlines answer that says that says Miller refuses
to rule out the United States should have Greenland as
part of the United States. There's no need to even
think or talk about this in the context that you're
asking of a military operation. Nobody's going to fight the
(05:44):
United States militarily over the future of Greenland's one last question.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Ste So you know I suggested earlier that Stephen Miller
could slipped comfortably into an SS uniform, and I.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Should not have said that.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I retract that it was an effort at humor, It
was ill considered, ill conceived that I apologize sorry you
were saying something.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Because that was a perfectly reasonable answer. And he was
absolutely right about Jake Tapper that phony. But they're both right. Uh,
why won't Stephen Miller just say no, like you were saying?
Trump never takes stuff off the table.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, yeah, but that gets back to my treating allies
and adversaries different.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Do you think there's anything wrong with taking it off
the table? No need military action against an ally. Hey,
by the way, private to Jake Tapper, Hey, Jake, did
you hear Joe Biden was senile? Oh well, we got
to talk about that later because I was hanging around
some people of the left. The Trump has got dementia
thing is the story of the left right now. Just
(06:41):
it's so obvious every day he's got dementia. Oh, you've
got to be kidding. But anyway, I don't want to
get sidetracked on that while we're talking about Greenland. So, uh,
how about that though there at the end with Steven
Miller basically saying NATO is not gonna fight us over Greenland.
So basically, we could use the military to take Greenland
with the idea that because we're the big dog in NATO,
(07:04):
and that would just be too disruptive to the world. No, France,
in Germany and Great Britain aren't going to break with
us and go to war with US over Greenland. President
Joe Getty would approach this differently. I would be talking
to the Danes and the leaders of Greenland, which again
(07:24):
is like I menam sized town in Iowa, and you'd
say to the leader of Greenland, did you see what
happened with Maduro? Do you want to help? No?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No, no, my spokesman is out of line.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
We'll have to have a word off the air.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
What I would say, I would.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Make it clear that look, we NATO, which honestly means
the United States need full, free access to Greenland in
whatever way is necessary to protect ourselves in the Western world.
It's of incredible strategic importance. But we have no desire
to trample on your dignity or or act the bully.
(08:02):
But understand me, this is not negotiable. We need to
get to a result that includes that how can we
help you get there and do it behind the scenes.
And if you don't get cooperation, then maybe you adjust
your sales a little bit. But what the interesting part
of what Miller said, And this might be a negotiating stance,
(08:23):
but again, this is trading your.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Allies like adversaries.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
He said, Greenland needs to be part of the United States,
a protector at a territory. He did not say we
need free, unfettered access to Greenland as a bulwark of defense.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It needs to be part of the US. So they
should be GWAM.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah, essentially, yes, a very large, icy GWAM.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And you said, if that doesn't work, we'll have to
adjust our sales, and adjust our sales means apache helicopters.
And you're in a blindfold and feet cuffs and your
riding back to Brooklyn, and like Medora himself, you're thinking,
damn it, I should have taken that deal. I can
(09:12):
see why if I if I live in Greenland and
we are, well, are they what is their relationship with
the Danes? I'm sorry, who's the Greenland? Yeah? Oh, they're
essentially a protector of Denmark. Well, okay, so you're not
You're not fully independent now, so wouldn't you rather be
(09:32):
part of the United States in terms of getting to
live your cool Greenland lifestyle forever versus part of a
tiny little country that can't protect you against China or Russia,
which brings us back to honey and vinegar. They are
essentially in the same way that you, I, or anybody.
If somebody tried to bully me into playing golf this afternoon,
(09:56):
I would say f you, even if my inclination was
to play golf, or I was at least open to
the idea of it. I don't take well to bullying, right,
I just don't don't be that bad cop unless you
absolutely need to. But anyway, I do agree again on
the substance Screenland's of incredibly important strategic well importance. That's
(10:16):
some good writing there. There's also the whole Overton window
thing that Trump seems to get better than people realize.
Just you just you move the conversation over here, and
then you can come up short of that and it
seems like a relief. But without having gone so far
in the first place, it might have seemed belligerent.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, I just I don't like that as a negotiating style.
Again with friends, But I've made that clear.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Isn't Canada next to Greenland, It's not far from US.
I was just thinking we could take both states.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Wow, Michaelangelo making trumpets like a moderate. Yeah, now you're
a you're a colonial settler, colonialist like I heard about
in college.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Michael, you're a monster. Some of those other like Central
America countries or South American countries that Trump was mentioning.
He said the other day Columbia is a mess. They're
a disaster. I can see this sort of thing happening.
Or Cuba, certain c Cuba has been on our radar forever,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, And I'm not I don't think I'm contradicting myself.
It's just a matter of how you get there. But
during the post WW two era, when we stood astride
the globe like the Loane Colossus, because we were the
Loan Closses.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
In foreign policy, in trade, in society developed all these
attitudes about this is the way the world is. And
that was a very unique, very special, weird time in
human history. And now we're much closer to the mean
in terms of you know, international relations. We need not
(11:58):
have communists strongholds ninety miles off Florida or right across
the Gulf of America in Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's insane.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
We've got a giant land mass that China rush has
got to sail straight by if they want to hurt us.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think we need to own that has.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Been the reality of the entire history of mankind, except
for that blip of we're so powerful, nobody will challenge us.
The un kind of does stuff and so we don't
have to be a hard ass anymore. Hey, wake up
from your dream world, America. The reality's back.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Big changes at CBS News since Barry Weiss took over.
I'm pretty excited about this if you don't know about it,
among other things, on the waste to hear.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
All right to other news, as you just heard from
Jill to other news.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Now to Governor Walls.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
No, we're gonna do Mark Kelly first day, first day,
big problems. Here are we going to Kelly? Here are
we going to go into jonah kaplan? Hell boy, we're
doing Mark Kelly possibly demoted from his retired rank of captain.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
In the navy. Wow, that's disappointing. I'm sure they'll get
that fixed. But that was night one of the new
CBS Evening News, and more importantly than that that they've
got a new anchor and all that sort of stuff
is they've been running promos for the last week. This
is all with Barry Weiss taking over that they're going
to change their whole strategy around CBS News and the
(13:27):
new anchor or CBS News tweeted out yesterday and this
has been in their promos on too many stories. The
press has missed the story because we've taken into account
the perspective of the advocates and not the average American,
or we put too much weight in the analysis of
academics or elites and not enough on you. That changes
now the new CBS Evening News. And then unfortunately they
(13:48):
had those those hiccups on the beginning show.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
But was Tony Dakoppel, who was the guy who did
such a great job pushing back against the now completely
discredited con and Ibra mex Candy And remember for pushing
back on Candy, da Koppel was called a racist.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Was he suspended and everything?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It was absolutely ridiculous, But that will all that stumble. Well,
first of all, was he undermined by liberally good question?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Good question, Secondly, all that'll be forgotten. That's quite possible. Actually,
I'm more optimistic about news than i've been in quite
some time. Between Barry Weise and CBS and Washington Post
and what's his name, the billionaire jeff Besos born in
nineteen sixty four with jeff Bezos, Jeffrey Jeffrey Beze and
(14:39):
he's letting a whole bunch of people walk when they
are angry at his new take on the news and
everything like that. I'm happy to see that there's a
crowd out there that thinks not only is it important
and right, but that the there's a market for people
who want the truth. Freaking NPRT. They're endless promos for
people who still want the truth. Oh my god, that
(15:01):
rubs me the wrong way. Oh they're shameless.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Oh, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down, so there.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Will be no more broadcasting. Whoops.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Now it'll just not be a taxpayer supported liberal outlet
out there.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Fine, good, any who's got you know that old school
traditional media, heritage media they call it, like Washington Post,
CBS battling against all the other things that are out there,
you know, Twitter feeds and snap chats and all the
different sorts of things, and Tucker Carlson, who's very, very huge,
We're gonna play a clip here. It doesn't matter who
(15:36):
the guest was, because it could be a fake historian,
or a fake religious leader, or a fake whatever that
Tucker Carlson's having the conversation about. But here's his take
on why we snatched Maduro.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
We can safely discount democracy as a reason for affecting
regime change in Venezuela. We're not gonna go kill Nicholas
Maduro because we don't like the way he's try eating
his people. It's possible we're mad that he doesn't allow
gay marriage. That is a distinct possibility, but no one
will say that out loud, what not defending the regime,
just saying one of the most conservative countries in North
(16:15):
or South or Central America. Only El Salvador really comes close,
which is much smaller, of course. And by the way,
the US backed opposition leader who would take Maduro's place
if he were taken out, is of course pretty eager
to get gay marriage in Venezuela. So those of you
who thought this whole project was globalhomo not crazy, Actually,
(16:38):
why are.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We in stole this woman. It makes no sense.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
Well, because she'll bring gay marriage to Venezuela. And that's
that's important. I mean, that's what we stand for. You've
got to be kidding me.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I'm as skeptical, hostile towards gender bending madness as anybody.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
And that's fruit loops. Wow. One of the more interesting
stories is what happened to Tucker Carlson. Is he a fraud?
Did he go crazy?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's not that they're a warm, welcoming port for China
and Russia.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It's the gay thing. Huh. It's because we're trying to
get gay married going the way part wrong and Getty.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
One of my students just happened to ask me, well,
how long would a twinkie last? And I said, well,
let's do an experiment. So I gave the student a
couple of dollars, asked the student to go down to
maryln Hinckley's and pick up a package of Twinkies. I
basically unripped the package, ate one of the twinkies, and
then put the other package up on the chalkboard. I
basically say, the twinkie has become much like me. It's older,
(17:40):
it's grayer, and it's more flaky, you know, but it's
become more brittle, so you can no longer take it.
And you know, you wouldn't want to whack it on
a table because you probably shatter the twinkie.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's the guy that did the famous twinkie experiment is
now fifty years old. No normal food product would do that,
No natural of any kind food product would do that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
No, hey, honey, yeah, any interest in the shadder in
the twinkie sus like a euphemism, doesn't I.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Mean fifty years and a half a century, and apple
would decay to nothing, you know, or lots of things,
but there the twinkie stands. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I was gonna craft myself a sandwich and realized, oh man,
we haven't brought bought bread since, like before the vacation
and all. And I go into the pantry loafs looking
pretty good, and I'm thinking.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
That ain't natural. Yeah, I know, that's one of them,
thinking when I buy the healthier breads. Yeah, like two
days yeah, yeah. So, speaking of consumer issues, a handful
of stories. First of all, just briefly, and this deserves,
you know, pages and pages of the in depth coverage.
I suppose, but the attempt to rebuild the sights of
(18:50):
the terrible fires in the LA area is not going
well at all. Anybody in LA knows that, between the
logistics of it, the tape, the sheer numbers of people involved,
it's been incredibly slow and frustrating and angering. The Wall
Street Journal, oddly enough, with an article entitled a year
(19:14):
after Fires, LA's rocky recovery is shaped by wealth, insurance,
and red tape. And they keep coming back to the
idea that people with lots and lots of money seem
to be getting started rebuilding sooner because they don't have
to wait for insurance.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And that's not really fair. And I'm thinking, what the
hell o kidding? When in human history has it not
been kind of advantageous to have a hell of a
lot of money. But they've got so much cash they
can get started and then wait for the insurance money.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And that's inequitable. But that bothers you. So it'd be
better if they also couldn't build, then nobody could build.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
That's equity. That is a brilliant example of equity. Wall
Street Journal. Be better than that, be smarter than that.
What has become of you Anyway, moving along, here's an
article for you. Car payments now average more than I
want everybody to think of the number car payments now
(20:14):
averaged more than seven hundred and fifty dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
On average, more than seven fifty.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Wow, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one hundred month
car loan.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, I was about to say so. Not only is
that number extraordinarily high, I know the length of these
loans have gone up a lot, so I remember it wasn't.
I'm old, but I remember back in the day were
four years was a long loan. When they introduced four years,
it's like, oh, yeah, forty months, are you crazy? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The average price of a new car broke the fifty
thousand dollars barrier this fall is past fall. That's up
from less than thirty eight thousand in early twenty twenty
before the pandemic hit. It went from thirty seven and
change to fifty thousand dollars in years.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I tried to start a conversation with a young person
the other day on the whole white The payments thing
is bad, and you'll you'll make different decisions if you
don't do payments. We're talking about cell phones. Particularly, they
looked at me like I was speaking Chinese. It just
made no sense for whatever reason. Yeah, but it's it's
only like five dollars more a month to get the
newer phone. Yeah, that's but okay, never mind.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So many folks needed new vehicles after putting off buying
during COVID supply chain chaos. Others, feeling flush, opted for
luxury vehicles at much higher price points. Well right, but
if you were my point, if you'd go, if you'd
pay cash or even with a much shorter loan, you'd
make a different buying decision.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
You would buy a cheaper phone, car, whatever, which would
be good for all of us. Yeah, buy a used car.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So anyway, the struggle to keep monthly payments to a
place where consumers will go for them is so tough
that the typical forty eight to sixty month car loan
turn is given given away to seventy two months terms.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And seventy ten months seven hundred and fifty dollars. I
think that's insane. I know, we got a lot of
car commercials coming up that say, shy, iron well, I'm buying.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Our sponsors are good, honest folks with will get your
real deal, but just think about your pocket book.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, and see my previous conversation. My lecture about that
falls on deaf ears. People only think about the payment
and if it's only another forty dollars to get them
more expensive car spread out over one hundred months, you
think forty dollars is nothing, well, right, that's it's really tempting.
But this is so interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And those of us who you know, are of a
certain number of years and maybe aren't like you buying
cars on credit or whatever anymore. For instance, a fit
I don't, I didn't know this. You got a fifty
thousand dollars car loan. Say you're buying a sixty thousand
dollars car, which is just a little better than average
(22:55):
five percent over five years. So that's a sixty month
loan at five percent, that works out to roughly nine
hundred and fifty dollars a month. That's a hell of
a car payment anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And the way cars depreciate, you do a seventy two
month or one hundred month loan, what the hell is
your car worth compared.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
When you're making those last payments? And wow, and we
don't do a Dave Ramsey thing around here. We talk
about a lot of different things, as I'm sure you've noticed,
and I don't particularly like lecturing people because you're all
adults and can figure it out for yourself. On the
other hand, I will just tell you this and leave
it alone. Living very financially conservatively has been incredibly good
(23:43):
for me and mine period.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
One more thing, and this is this is not as
lexury but as good advice. My brother and I were
talking about this with you. I tried not to be lectury.
I wasn't luxury I was, though I absolutely was, and
I'm trying not to be now, my brother. We're having
this conversation with a younger crowd on like four to
one kor or opening a you know, any sort of
fund or something like that. Time is a bigger deal
(24:09):
than anything, bigger than what the market does, and there's
nothing bigger than time. You start as like an eighteen
year old, twenty year old or whatever, You've got advantages
that can't be matched no matter what happens to a
forty year old. Time is the big deal.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
So starter, who are a superstar investor because you started early,
no matter what. So in a closely related story, this
is from MSN or somebody. Six figure earners are living
the illusion of affluence while working side hustles, skipping meals
and pretending Venmo's not working.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean pretending Venmo's not working. What is that one?
That's uh?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Oh man, Well, you owe somebody fifty bucks for you
the big dinner or something because you agree to but
you realize, oh my god, I don't have it. Oh
my Venmo's not working.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's weird. I'll get it to you. To your friends, wow, yeah,
or not? Could be friends? Long you pull that more
than once? Let's see.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Finding is of a survey from the Harris Poll reveals
surprising sense of economic anxiety, with sixty four percent of
six figure earners saying their income isn't a milestone for
success but merely the bare minimum for staying afloat.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Well, I hope the times where you live. Does this
article get into the fact that what we were talking
about last year, what one hundred thousand dollars a year
is now versus the year two thousand, I mean, inflation
has changed that if you still think of one hundred
thousand dollars a year the same way as you did
at the beginning of this century, you're completely off base, well.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Right, yeah, or even the beginning of this decade, for
the love of Milton Friedman, and I am so tempted
to launch into my screed about how insidious inflation is
and how it's an intentional strategy by politicians to spread
out more bribery money to get themselves re elected and
hold on to their power. They know what they're devaluing
(26:00):
your salary, they know they're devaluing your savings and your investments,
but they do it anyway because they know you don't
get it. You don't understand how incredibly brutal a disservice
they're doing to you. Inflation is intentional and it is
insidious anyway. Oh, to your point, I think I mentioned this?
(26:24):
Did I mention this on the air?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I don't think I did.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
My daughter's partner husband man, he is not her husband. Yeah,
who knows what they are, boyfriend whatever. He was asking
about the trajectory of my career and our careers together,
and I mentioned that you do eat, they pay you
(26:50):
for that. That when we got into talk radio because
we knew that's where our future was. We got our
pay cut in half and we start at forty thousand
dollars a year. Now, at the time, I was about
to have my third kid, and trust me, we were
pretty poor. But I got to thinking, well, made a second.
(27:11):
That sounds very, very dramatic. Adjusted for inflation, What would
that salary, that paltry just starvation wage be right now?
Anybody want to guess what's forty three This was in
nineteen ninety eight, Michael, what's the equivalent salary in twenty
twenty five?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You want to guess.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
I'm going to guess fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
No, it would be more money. Okay, the more money
inflation works. We're talking for them versus like you style
as I did at forty thousand dollars in nineteen ninety eight,
How much would I have.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
To make now go the other way. I'm saying ninety thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
It's actually seventy nine thousand, so double yeah me. Look,
I hear somebody makes seventy nine grand say they're out
of school for a year, and yeah I got seven.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think, wow, good for you.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Well, no, that was my Okay, honey, we can't ever
go out to eat. H you know, we're gonna drive
our old cars into the ground. Blah blah, blah wage
back then, seventy nine gram. That's what inflation done. I
think it's incredibly helpful to have that knowledge. Everybody should
have that in their heads. It's doubled since the late
nineties or half, depending on how you look at it,
(28:21):
including your savings that are humilitantly angle.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Oh yeah, yeah, you got your whatever your net worth is. Well,
that's rough. I don't even like to think about that.
I know, I know it's brutal, and yet it is.
Speaker 10 (28:37):
It is the the theft, it is the rape, it
is the just incredible brutal crime against people that they
don't even understand is being done to them.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And it makes me nuts. I want to go on
some sort of nationwide speaking to world speak for free.
I'll pay my own airfare just if I can con
get people to understand what's happening with this.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think it would do the country and them a
hell of it and ass a hell of a lot
of good. Yeah. Man, I read a couple of different
articles then we got to take a break. But a
couple of different articles about this weird economy that nobody
can figure out, where we had a huge quarter and
the stock market sets records. Yet some of the worst
numbers ever in terms of people's attitudes or being delinquent
(29:22):
on car payments and student loans. And by the way,
student loans hit it the first year. That's going to
be a giant story for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
All right, let me let me put it to you
like this, then I'll shop the Inflation Reduction Act. I mean,
we could stop there crime against the English language, the
New Green Deal, the New Green that whole giant bill
that that splashing of cash probably cost you ten percent
(29:53):
of your life savings because of what it did to inflation.
They stole ten of your life savings when they passed
that bill. People need to understand that, but they don't.
Well you do, now, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
It's our job to come in and to make everybody
less happy. Is that what we're trying to do?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Angry, put on the bandana, pick up the axe handle,
let's get started.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Oh you don't listen to I'm strong, You get it.
It's great. I get in the car in a good mood,
and then by the time I get to work I
want to jump off a bridge.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I'm either angry or sad. Sometimes Amy somedays sad. I
know we suck, I.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Apologize, Armstrong and Getty. Oh the most depressing radio show.
Oh no, there you go, moreoever more always they here.
This is absolutely hilarious. So during the commercial break, I
was kind.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Of idly thinking, as I've had before, if I was
ever going to get a tattoo.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
This is what you do during commercial breaks. You think
about what who you would get.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
This is what I was doing during this commercial break. Yes,
and I was thinking, if I ever get a tattoo,
it would be a First Amendment type tattoo because it's
practically a religion with me, which reminds me I just
ordered a great portrait of Orwell cost.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Me a few bucks COO for my man cave.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Anyway, so I asked Google Gemini designed me a First
Amendment tattoo, not too big and at the bottom is
a really nice flowing American flag and seventeen ninety one
under it, which when it was all ratified and all
and I'm going to read you verbatim what Google Gemini,
(31:45):
these are the greatest technical minds on earth. The tattoo
that Google Gemini came up with, and this is it's well,
it's especially the First Amendment Congress shall make no law
law established and religion, or prohibiting comma free exercise thereof,
(32:06):
or a bridding the speech or friddom of the press
of the right space to peacefully to passemble and to
petition the redress the Governess scent.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
AI is going to take all of our jobs soon. Oh,
I just said it tall you guys. I've got to
tweet that. I got really damned interesting, because nobody really
seems to have the answer for this. Why does AI
do that? Sometimes? I mean, how can it be so
incredibly brilliant, so fast, with so many things and then
(32:44):
do something that good? Got a second grader could google
what is the First Amendment and rewrite it for you?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Right, Yeah, we'll we'll post that at armstrong egetdy dot
com and and I'll tweet it out in a couple
of minutes. That's amazing, I know, it is amazing. It's
hell larious. There are no less than half a dozen
typos in there.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
How does that happen? Yeah?
Speaker 11 (33:05):
I do.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I don't know because nobody knows it can be found
anywhere the First Amendment, the wording of it anyway, kind
of a mini gender bending update.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Do we have the gal Yeah? Not that gal.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That's a boy for one thing. Clip number seventeen. This
young California woman in Conquered California.
Speaker 11 (33:25):
You're really comfortable, Like, come on, you're females locker room.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Come okay.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That is a young woman and her boyfriend confronting a
man who stepped out of the shower in the Planet
Fitness woman's locker room, bareass naked, fully intact male, tall,
big guy all right, puts a towel around himself, then
goes into the stall in the bathroom and pleasures himself.
(33:59):
You clearly visible because there's overhead lighting.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
I'm looking at the video right now. How do you
like it? Mistakable? Pardon me?
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Unless he's in a cucumber. I know precisely what he's doing,
and of course there are a Planet Fitness that his will.
They didn't know what to do about it, she reported,
And then they're like, we don't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So she goes back in her boyfriend with her boyfriend says,
get the f out of year. Yeah. I heard her
say that. I thought that was a pretty ballsy, if
you'll pardon the expression move. But she had her boyfriend
with her. Okay, that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, yeah, And then did you hear the dude you know,
working your man at the health spa or whatever. The
twenty six year old man who shattered four windows at
jd Vance's home and vandalized a car, Twenty six year
old William de four, the son of wealthy Democratic donors,
has been going by the name Denise or something lately.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Another one of them, just Crazy. It's new branded Crazy.
If you miss a segment, get our podcast Armstrong and
Getty on demand. We do four hours every day Armstrong
and Getty
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Ketty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Arm Strong and Getty and now he Armstrong and Edy.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
After the extraordinary events in Venezuela and yet more incendiary
remarks about Greenland, the Danish Prime Minister has appeared on
national television saying she had already quote made it very
clear where the Kingdom of Denmark stands, and that Greenland
has repeatedly said that it doesn't want to be part
of the United States. She also warned of the consequences
(00:46):
of US military action to seize Greenland.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
How is this actually a conversation? What we're about to
get into it a little bit more so? I was
looking up at CBS News just now, and our friend
of the show, Ian Bremer is on there to talk
about his risks of the year. Ah, right, we're chatting
with him soon. Yeah, we're going to record a podcast
with him tomorrow going through the risks of the year.
But I was following I Bremer over the weekend on
(01:10):
his Twitter feed and he said, this whole Greenland thing
is not a joke. Trump is serious. You're better pay attention. Blah.
Blah blah, and I thought, wow, really And that was
over the weekend. And then so Stephen Miller. What is
Stephen Miller officially? Is he just an advisor? Is he?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, he's I think he's got a title. I can't
remember what it is, Chief Advisor.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Or something like that. Anyway, he was on with Jake
Tapper on CNN yesterday and they got into the Greenland conversation.
Here's how it went.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Can you rule out that the US is as ever
going to try to take Greenland by force?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Well, let me go back a step. The President has
been clear for months now, so I know you're treating
this as breaking news. The President has been clear for
a month now that the United States should be the
nation that had Greenland is part of our overall security apparatus.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
But your wife posted that like hours after the Venezuela operation.
But that's why it's newly relevant.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
No, and I'll talk with you about it for an hour.
I think it's really important conversation up. I just wanted
to reset Jake by making clear that it has been
the formal position of the US government since the beginning
of this administration. Frankly, going back into the previous Trump
administration that Greenland should be part of the United Types.
The President has been very clear about that. That is
(02:30):
the formal position of the US government.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, so you start by not saying no to the
question of are you actually going to take Greenland?
Speaker 4 (02:40):
He continues, Right, but can you say that military action
against Greenland is off the table?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
It's gonna be in a military action against Greenland. The
Greenland has a population of thirty thousand people, Jake, the
real question is about what right does Denmark is certain
control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim?
What is their basis that having Greenland as a colony
of Denmark the United.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
States is the power of NATO.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to
protect and defend NATO and NATO interests. Obviously, Greenland should
be part of the United States. And that's a conversation
that we're going to have as a country. That's a
process we're going to have as a as a new
community of nation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
For the record, I agree with much of the substance
of what he's saying. But what bothers me sometimes is
that Trump and comp tend to treat allies the same
as adversaries with the same negotiating style the whole We're
not going to take military action off the table. You're
(03:45):
talking about a NATO ally. You say, no, of course,
we're not going to use military action against our ally.
It's just it's it reminds me of some bad cops
who I've seen and a lot of us have dealt with.
These good cops are great, They're fantas tastic in their heroes.
Bad cops have the opportunity to not be a hard ass,
(04:06):
but there's still a hard ass because they like it right,
Like a TSA agent I was going to talk about
from my trip feel free and they escalate tension unnecessarily
because I'm all about effectiveness, not I don't give a
damn about trading on somebody's toes.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's about effectiveness. Yeah, So what's the part that you
do agree with in theory though, that it should be
part of the United States? And why does the Danish
get to have control of it.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
It's untenable that the United States has to say to Denmark,
can we please use Greenland to defend the Western world
against the Russians and the Chinese.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's your lands.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
So even though it's incredibly strategically important. Can we please
maybe put a couple more planes there? That's just it's untenable,
it's stupid. The problem is you can is My sainted
grandmother used to say, on my mom's side, you can
draw them or flies with sugar than vinegar or honey
than vinegar.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, then let's get a little more vinegar from Stephen Miller.
With just thirty more seconds of this conversation, maybe we
can clean our microwaves with it. Yes, So you can't.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Take it off the table that the US would use
military force to seize Greenland.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
You can, Jake, I just said, you're trying very hard
to which, which again is your job.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I respect.
Speaker 5 (05:22):
It is great to get exactly the headline right that
catch you headlines answer that says that says Miller refuses
to rule out the United States should have Greenland as
part of the United States. There's no need to even
think or talk about this in the context that you're
asking of a military operation. Nobody's going to fight the
(05:44):
United States militarily over the future of Greenland's one last question.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Ste So you know I suggested earlier that Stephen Miller
could slipped comfortably into an SS uniform, and I.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Should not have said that.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I retract that it was an effort at humor, It
was ill considered, ill conceived that I apologize sorry you
were saying something.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Because that was a perfectly reasonable answer. And he was
absolutely right about Jake Tapper that phony. But they're both right. Uh,
why won't Stephen Miller just say no, like you were saying?
Trump never takes stuff off the table.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Well, yeah, but that gets back to my treating allies
and adversaries different.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Do you think there's anything wrong with taking it off
the table? No need military action against an ally. Hey,
by the way, private to Jake Tapper, Hey, Jake, did
you hear Joe Biden was senile? Oh well, we got
to talk about that later because I was hanging around
some people of the left. The Trump has got dementia
thing is the story of the left right now. Just
(06:41):
it's so obvious every day he's got dementia. Oh, you've
got to be kidding. But anyway, I don't want to
get sidetracked on that while we're talking about Greenland. So, uh,
how about that though there at the end with Steven
Miller basically saying NATO is not gonna fight us over Greenland.
So basically, we could use the military to take Greenland
with the idea that because we're the big dog in NATO,
(07:04):
and that would just be too disruptive to the world. No, France,
in Germany and Great Britain aren't going to break with
us and go to war with US over Greenland. President
Joe Getty would approach this differently. I would be talking
to the Danes and the leaders of Greenland, which again
(07:24):
is like I menam sized town in Iowa, and you'd
say to the leader of Greenland, did you see what
happened with Maduro? Do you want to help? No?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No, no, my spokesman is out of line.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
We'll have to have a word off the air.
Speaker 6 (07:37):
No.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
What I would say, I would.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Make it clear that look, we NATO, which honestly means
the United States need full, free access to Greenland in
whatever way is necessary to protect ourselves in the Western world.
It's of incredible strategic importance. But we have no desire
to trample on your dignity or or act the bully.
(08:02):
But understand me, this is not negotiable. We need to
get to a result that includes that how can we
help you get there and do it behind the scenes.
And if you don't get cooperation, then maybe you adjust
your sales a little bit. But what the interesting part
of what Miller said, And this might be a negotiating stance,
(08:23):
but again, this is trading your.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Allies like adversaries.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
He said, Greenland needs to be part of the United States,
a protector at a territory. He did not say we
need free, unfettered access to Greenland as a bulwark of defense.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It needs to be part of the US. So they
should be GWAM.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah, essentially, yes, a very large, icy GWAM.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And you said, if that doesn't work, we'll have to
adjust our sales, and adjust our sales means apache helicopters.
And you're in a blindfold and feet cuffs and your
riding back to Brooklyn, and like Medora himself, you're thinking,
damn it, I should have taken that deal. I can
(09:12):
see why if I if I live in Greenland and
we are, well, are they what is their relationship with
the Danes? I'm sorry, who's the Greenland? Yeah? Oh, they're
essentially a protector of Denmark. Well, okay, so you're not
You're not fully independent now, so wouldn't you rather be
(09:32):
part of the United States in terms of getting to
live your cool Greenland lifestyle forever versus part of a
tiny little country that can't protect you against China or Russia,
which brings us back to honey and vinegar. They are
essentially in the same way that you, I, or anybody.
If somebody tried to bully me into playing golf this afternoon,
(09:56):
I would say f you, even if my inclination was
to play golf, or I was at least open to
the idea of it. I don't take well to bullying, right,
I just don't don't be that bad cop unless you
absolutely need to. But anyway, I do agree again on
the substance Screenland's of incredibly important strategic well importance. That's
(10:16):
some good writing there. There's also the whole Overton window
thing that Trump seems to get better than people realize.
Just you just you move the conversation over here, and
then you can come up short of that and it
seems like a relief. But without having gone so far
in the first place, it might have seemed belligerent.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah, I just I don't like that as a negotiating style.
Again with friends, But I've made that clear.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Isn't Canada next to Greenland, It's not far from US.
I was just thinking we could take both states.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Wow, Michaelangelo making trumpets like a moderate. Yeah, now you're
a you're a colonial settler, colonialist like I heard about
in college.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Michael, you're a monster. Some of those other like Central
America countries or South American countries that Trump was mentioning.
He said the other day Columbia is a mess. They're
a disaster. I can see this sort of thing happening.
Or Cuba, certain c Cuba has been on our radar forever,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, And I'm not I don't think I'm contradicting myself.
It's just a matter of how you get there. But
during the post WW two era, when we stood astride
the globe like the Loane Colossus, because we were the
Loan Closses.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
In foreign policy, in trade, in society developed all these
attitudes about this is the way the world is. And
that was a very unique, very special, weird time in
human history. And now we're much closer to the mean
in terms of you know, international relations. We need not
(11:58):
have communists strongholds ninety miles off Florida or right across
the Gulf of America in Venezuela.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's insane.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
We've got a giant land mass that China rush has
got to sail straight by if they want to hurt us.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I think we need to own that has.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Been the reality of the entire history of mankind, except
for that blip of we're so powerful, nobody will challenge us.
The un kind of does stuff and so we don't
have to be a hard ass anymore. Hey, wake up
from your dream world, America. The reality's back.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Big changes at CBS News since Barry Weiss took over.
I'm pretty excited about this if you don't know about it,
among other things, on the waste to hear.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
All right to other news, as you just heard from
Jill to other news.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Now to Governor Walls.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
No, we're gonna do Mark Kelly first day, first day,
big problems. Here are we going to Kelly? Here are
we going to go into jonah kaplan? Hell boy, we're
doing Mark Kelly possibly demoted from his retired rank of captain.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
In the navy. Wow, that's disappointing. I'm sure they'll get
that fixed. But that was night one of the new
CBS Evening News, and more importantly than that that they've
got a new anchor and all that sort of stuff
is they've been running promos for the last week. This
is all with Barry Weiss taking over that they're going
to change their whole strategy around CBS News and the
(13:27):
new anchor or CBS News tweeted out yesterday and this
has been in their promos on too many stories. The
press has missed the story because we've taken into account
the perspective of the advocates and not the average American,
or we put too much weight in the analysis of
academics or elites and not enough on you. That changes
now the new CBS Evening News. And then unfortunately they
(13:48):
had those those hiccups on the beginning show.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
But was Tony Dakoppel, who was the guy who did
such a great job pushing back against the now completely
discredited con and Ibra mex Candy And remember for pushing
back on Candy, da Koppel was called a racist.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Was he suspended and everything?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It was absolutely ridiculous, But that will all that stumble. Well,
first of all, was he undermined by liberally good question?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Good question, Secondly, all that'll be forgotten. That's quite possible. Actually,
I'm more optimistic about news than i've been in quite
some time. Between Barry Weise and CBS and Washington Post
and what's his name, the billionaire jeff Besos born in
nineteen sixty four with jeff Bezos, Jeffrey Jeffrey Beze and
(14:39):
he's letting a whole bunch of people walk when they
are angry at his new take on the news and
everything like that. I'm happy to see that there's a
crowd out there that thinks not only is it important
and right, but that the there's a market for people
who want the truth. Freaking NPRT. They're endless promos for
people who still want the truth. Oh my god, that
(15:01):
rubs me the wrong way. Oh they're shameless.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Oh, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is shutting down, so there.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Will be no more broadcasting. Whoops.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Now it'll just not be a taxpayer supported liberal outlet
out there.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Fine, good, any who's got you know that old school
traditional media, heritage media they call it, like Washington Post,
CBS battling against all the other things that are out there,
you know, Twitter feeds and snap chats and all the
different sorts of things, and Tucker Carlson, who's very, very huge,
We're gonna play a clip here. It doesn't matter who
(15:36):
the guest was, because it could be a fake historian,
or a fake religious leader, or a fake whatever that
Tucker Carlson's having the conversation about. But here's his take
on why we snatched Maduro.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
We can safely discount democracy as a reason for affecting
regime change in Venezuela. We're not gonna go kill Nicholas
Maduro because we don't like the way he's try eating
his people. It's possible we're mad that he doesn't allow
gay marriage. That is a distinct possibility, but no one
will say that out loud, what not defending the regime,
just saying one of the most conservative countries in North
(16:15):
or South or Central America. Only El Salvador really comes close,
which is much smaller, of course. And by the way,
the US backed opposition leader who would take Maduro's place
if he were taken out, is of course pretty eager
to get gay marriage in Venezuela. So those of you
who thought this whole project was globalhomo not crazy, Actually,
(16:38):
why are.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We in stole this woman. It makes no sense.
Speaker 8 (16:40):
Well, because she'll bring gay marriage to Venezuela. And that's
that's important. I mean, that's what we stand for. You've
got to be kidding me.
Speaker 7 (16:50):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I'm as skeptical, hostile towards gender bending madness as anybody.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
And that's fruit loops. Wow. One of the more interesting
stories is what happened to Tucker Carlson. Is he a fraud?
Did he go crazy?
Speaker 1 (17:07):
It's not that they're a warm, welcoming port for China
and Russia.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It's the gay thing. Huh. It's because we're trying to
get gay married going the way part wrong and Getty.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
One of my students just happened to ask me, well,
how long would a twinkie last? And I said, well,
let's do an experiment. So I gave the student a
couple of dollars, asked the student to go down to
maryln Hinckley's and pick up a package of Twinkies. I
basically unripped the package, ate one of the twinkies, and
then put the other package up on the chalkboard. I
basically say, the twinkie has become much like me. It's older,
(17:40):
it's grayer, and it's more flaky, you know, but it's
become more brittle, so you can no longer take it.
And you know, you wouldn't want to whack it on
a table because you probably shatter the twinkie.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
That's the guy that did the famous twinkie experiment is
now fifty years old. No normal food product would do that,
No natural of any kind food product would do that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
No, hey, honey, yeah, any interest in the shadder in
the twinkie sus like a euphemism, doesn't I.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Mean fifty years and a half a century, and apple
would decay to nothing, you know, or lots of things,
but there the twinkie stands. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I was gonna craft myself a sandwich and realized, oh man,
we haven't brought bought bread since, like before the vacation
and all. And I go into the pantry loafs looking
pretty good, and I'm thinking.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
That ain't natural. Yeah, I know, that's one of them,
thinking when I buy the healthier breads. Yeah, like two
days yeah, yeah. So, speaking of consumer issues, a handful
of stories. First of all, just briefly, and this deserves,
you know, pages and pages of the in depth coverage.
I suppose, but the attempt to rebuild the sights of
(18:50):
the terrible fires in the LA area is not going
well at all. Anybody in LA knows that, between the
logistics of it, the tape, the sheer numbers of people involved,
it's been incredibly slow and frustrating and angering. The Wall
Street Journal, oddly enough, with an article entitled a year
(19:14):
after Fires, LA's rocky recovery is shaped by wealth, insurance,
and red tape. And they keep coming back to the
idea that people with lots and lots of money seem
to be getting started rebuilding sooner because they don't have
to wait for insurance.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And that's not really fair. And I'm thinking, what the
hell o kidding? When in human history has it not
been kind of advantageous to have a hell of a
lot of money. But they've got so much cash they
can get started and then wait for the insurance money.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And that's inequitable. But that bothers you. So it'd be
better if they also couldn't build, then nobody could build.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
That's equity. That is a brilliant example of equity. Wall
Street Journal. Be better than that, be smarter than that.
What has become of you Anyway, moving along, here's an
article for you. Car payments now average more than I
want everybody to think of the number car payments now
(20:14):
averaged more than seven hundred and fifty dollars a month.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
On average, more than seven fifty.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Wow, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the one hundred month
car loan.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, I was about to say so. Not only is
that number extraordinarily high, I know the length of these
loans have gone up a lot, so I remember it wasn't.
I'm old, but I remember back in the day were
four years was a long loan. When they introduced four years,
it's like, oh, yeah, forty months, are you crazy? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
The average price of a new car broke the fifty
thousand dollars barrier this fall is past fall. That's up
from less than thirty eight thousand in early twenty twenty
before the pandemic hit. It went from thirty seven and
change to fifty thousand dollars in years.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I tried to start a conversation with a young person
the other day on the whole white The payments thing
is bad, and you'll you'll make different decisions if you
don't do payments. We're talking about cell phones. Particularly, they
looked at me like I was speaking Chinese. It just
made no sense for whatever reason. Yeah, but it's it's
only like five dollars more a month to get the
newer phone. Yeah, that's but okay, never mind.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So many folks needed new vehicles after putting off buying
during COVID supply chain chaos. Others, feeling flush, opted for
luxury vehicles at much higher price points. Well right, but
if you were my point, if you'd go, if you'd
pay cash or even with a much shorter loan, you'd
make a different buying decision.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
You would buy a cheaper phone, car, whatever, which would
be good for all of us. Yeah, buy a used car.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So anyway, the struggle to keep monthly payments to a
place where consumers will go for them is so tough
that the typical forty eight to sixty month car loan
turn is given given away to seventy two months terms.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And seventy ten months seven hundred and fifty dollars. I
think that's insane. I know, we got a lot of
car commercials coming up that say, shy, iron well, I'm buying.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Our sponsors are good, honest folks with will get your
real deal, but just think about your pocket book.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well, and see my previous conversation. My lecture about that
falls on deaf ears. People only think about the payment
and if it's only another forty dollars to get them
more expensive car spread out over one hundred months, you
think forty dollars is nothing, well, right, that's it's really tempting.
But this is so interesting.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And those of us who you know, are of a
certain number of years and maybe aren't like you buying
cars on credit or whatever anymore. For instance, a fit
I don't, I didn't know this. You got a fifty
thousand dollars car loan. Say you're buying a sixty thousand
dollars car, which is just a little better than average
(22:55):
five percent over five years. So that's a sixty month
loan at five percent, that works out to roughly nine
hundred and fifty dollars a month. That's a hell of
a car payment anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And the way cars depreciate, you do a seventy two
month or one hundred month loan, what the hell is
your car worth compared.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
When you're making those last payments? And wow, and we
don't do a Dave Ramsey thing around here. We talk
about a lot of different things, as I'm sure you've noticed,
and I don't particularly like lecturing people because you're all
adults and can figure it out for yourself. On the
other hand, I will just tell you this and leave
it alone. Living very financially conservatively has been incredibly good
(23:43):
for me and mine period.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
One more thing, and this is this is not as
lexury but as good advice. My brother and I were
talking about this with you. I tried not to be lectury.
I wasn't luxury I was, though I absolutely was, and
I'm trying not to be now, my brother. We're having
this conversation with a younger crowd on like four to
one kor or opening a you know, any sort of
fund or something like that. Time is a bigger deal
(24:09):
than anything, bigger than what the market does, and there's
nothing bigger than time. You start as like an eighteen
year old, twenty year old or whatever, You've got advantages
that can't be matched no matter what happens to a
forty year old. Time is the big deal.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
So starter, who are a superstar investor because you started early,
no matter what. So in a closely related story, this
is from MSN or somebody. Six figure earners are living
the illusion of affluence while working side hustles, skipping meals
and pretending Venmo's not working.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean pretending Venmo's not working. What is that one?
That's uh?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Oh man, Well, you owe somebody fifty bucks for you
the big dinner or something because you agree to but
you realize, oh my god, I don't have it. Oh
my Venmo's not working.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's weird. I'll get it to you. To your friends, wow, yeah,
or not? Could be friends? Long you pull that more
than once? Let's see.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Finding is of a survey from the Harris Poll reveals
surprising sense of economic anxiety, with sixty four percent of
six figure earners saying their income isn't a milestone for
success but merely the bare minimum for staying afloat.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Well, I hope the times where you live. Does this
article get into the fact that what we were talking
about last year, what one hundred thousand dollars a year
is now versus the year two thousand, I mean, inflation
has changed that if you still think of one hundred
thousand dollars a year the same way as you did
at the beginning of this century, you're completely off base, well.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Right, yeah, or even the beginning of this decade, for
the love of Milton Friedman, and I am so tempted
to launch into my screed about how insidious inflation is
and how it's an intentional strategy by politicians to spread
out more bribery money to get themselves re elected and
hold on to their power. They know what they're devaluing
(26:00):
your salary, they know they're devaluing your savings and your investments,
but they do it anyway because they know you don't
get it. You don't understand how incredibly brutal a disservice
they're doing to you. Inflation is intentional and it is
insidious anyway. Oh, to your point, I think I mentioned this?
(26:24):
Did I mention this on the air?
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I don't think I did.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
My daughter's partner husband man, he is not her husband. Yeah,
who knows what they are, boyfriend whatever. He was asking
about the trajectory of my career and our careers together,
and I mentioned that you do eat, they pay you
(26:50):
for that. That when we got into talk radio because
we knew that's where our future was. We got our
pay cut in half and we start at forty thousand
dollars a year. Now, at the time, I was about
to have my third kid, and trust me, we were
pretty poor. But I got to thinking, well, made a second.
(27:11):
That sounds very, very dramatic. Adjusted for inflation, What would
that salary, that paltry just starvation wage be right now?
Anybody want to guess what's forty three This was in
nineteen ninety eight, Michael, what's the equivalent salary in twenty
twenty five?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You want to guess.
Speaker 7 (27:30):
I'm going to guess fifteen thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
No, it would be more money. Okay, the more money
inflation works. We're talking for them versus like you style
as I did at forty thousand dollars in nineteen ninety eight,
How much would I have.
Speaker 7 (27:45):
To make now go the other way. I'm saying ninety thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
It's actually seventy nine thousand, so double yeah me. Look,
I hear somebody makes seventy nine grand say they're out
of school for a year, and yeah I got seven.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think, wow, good for you.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Well, no, that was my Okay, honey, we can't ever
go out to eat. H you know, we're gonna drive
our old cars into the ground. Blah blah, blah wage
back then, seventy nine gram. That's what inflation done. I
think it's incredibly helpful to have that knowledge. Everybody should
have that in their heads. It's doubled since the late
nineties or half, depending on how you look at it,
(28:21):
including your savings that are humilitantly angle.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Oh yeah, yeah, you got your whatever your net worth is. Well,
that's rough. I don't even like to think about that.
I know, I know it's brutal, and yet it is.
Speaker 10 (28:37):
It is the the theft, it is the rape, it
is the just incredible brutal crime against people that they
don't even understand is being done to them.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
And it makes me nuts. I want to go on
some sort of nationwide speaking to world speak for free.
I'll pay my own airfare just if I can con
get people to understand what's happening with this.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think it would do the country and them a
hell of it and ass a hell of a lot
of good. Yeah. Man, I read a couple of different
articles then we got to take a break. But a
couple of different articles about this weird economy that nobody
can figure out, where we had a huge quarter and
the stock market sets records. Yet some of the worst
numbers ever in terms of people's attitudes or being delinquent
(29:22):
on car payments and student loans. And by the way,
student loans hit it the first year. That's going to
be a giant story for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
All right, let me let me put it to you
like this, then I'll shop the Inflation Reduction Act. I mean,
we could stop there crime against the English language, the
New Green Deal, the New Green that whole giant bill
that that splashing of cash probably cost you ten percent
(29:53):
of your life savings because of what it did to inflation.
They stole ten of your life savings when they passed
that bill. People need to understand that, but they don't.
Well you do, now, thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
It's our job to come in and to make everybody
less happy. Is that what we're trying to do?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Angry, put on the bandana, pick up the axe handle,
let's get started.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Oh you don't listen to I'm strong, You get it.
It's great. I get in the car in a good mood,
and then by the time I get to work I
want to jump off a bridge.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
I'm either angry or sad. Sometimes Amy somedays sad. I
know we suck, I.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Apologize, Armstrong and Getty. Oh the most depressing radio show.
Oh no, there you go, moreoever more always they here.
This is absolutely hilarious. So during the commercial break, I
was kind.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Of idly thinking, as I've had before, if I was
ever going to get a tattoo.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
This is what you do during commercial breaks. You think
about what who you would get.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
This is what I was doing during this commercial break. Yes,
and I was thinking, if I ever get a tattoo,
it would be a First Amendment type tattoo because it's
practically a religion with me, which reminds me I just
ordered a great portrait of Orwell cost.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Me a few bucks COO for my man cave.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Anyway, so I asked Google Gemini designed me a First
Amendment tattoo, not too big and at the bottom is
a really nice flowing American flag and seventeen ninety one
under it, which when it was all ratified and all
and I'm going to read you verbatim what Google Gemini,
(31:45):
these are the greatest technical minds on earth. The tattoo
that Google Gemini came up with, and this is it's well,
it's especially the First Amendment Congress shall make no law
law established and religion, or prohibiting comma free exercise thereof,
(32:06):
or a bridding the speech or friddom of the press
of the right space to peacefully to passemble and to
petition the redress the Governess scent.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
AI is going to take all of our jobs soon. Oh,
I just said it tall you guys. I've got to
tweet that. I got really damned interesting, because nobody really
seems to have the answer for this. Why does AI
do that? Sometimes? I mean, how can it be so
incredibly brilliant, so fast, with so many things and then
(32:44):
do something that good? Got a second grader could google
what is the First Amendment and rewrite it for you?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Right, Yeah, we'll we'll post that at armstrong egetdy dot
com and and I'll tweet it out in a couple
of minutes. That's amazing, I know, it is amazing. It's
hell larious. There are no less than half a dozen
typos in there.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
How does that happen? Yeah?
Speaker 11 (33:05):
I do.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I don't know because nobody knows it can be found
anywhere the First Amendment, the wording of it anyway, kind
of a mini gender bending update.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Do we have the gal Yeah? Not that gal.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That's a boy for one thing. Clip number seventeen. This
young California woman in Conquered California.
Speaker 11 (33:25):
You're really comfortable, Like, come on, you're females locker room.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Come okay.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That is a young woman and her boyfriend confronting a
man who stepped out of the shower in the Planet
Fitness woman's locker room, bareass naked, fully intact male, tall,
big guy all right, puts a towel around himself, then
goes into the stall in the bathroom and pleasures himself.
(33:59):
You clearly visible because there's overhead lighting.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
I'm looking at the video right now. How do you
like it? Mistakable? Pardon me?
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Unless he's in a cucumber. I know precisely what he's doing,
and of course there are a Planet Fitness that his will.
They didn't know what to do about it, she reported,
And then they're like, we don't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
So she goes back in her boyfriend with her boyfriend says,
get the f out of year. Yeah. I heard her
say that. I thought that was a pretty ballsy, if
you'll pardon the expression move. But she had her boyfriend
with her. Okay, that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, yeah, And then did you hear the dude you know,
working your man at the health spa or whatever. The
twenty six year old man who shattered four windows at
jd Vance's home and vandalized a car, Twenty six year
old William de four, the son of wealthy Democratic donors,
has been going by the name Denise or something lately.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Another one of them, just Crazy. It's new branded Crazy.
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