May 13, 2025 • 35 mins
Hour 1 of A&G features...
- Trump in Saudi Arabia & the Qatar gifted plane
- Katie Green's Headlines!
- Working age men who don't work & budget talks
- Mailbag!
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 (00:10):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Jack Armstrong and Joe Kaddy Armstrong and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Jettating and Arms range.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Live from studio see signor a diddly lit room deep
in them the bowels of.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
The Armstrong and Getty Communications Compound. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Word that Mike came up in the Diddy trial. I
probably will what now vowels there's some ball or some
awful lives. There's some awful words being thrown around in
the Diddy trial. I wouldn't be surprised that that word
doesn't come up at.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Some golly gee, hope not.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, we were under the tutelage of our general manager.
Arabs bearing gifts.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I remember when I was a kid, I heard the
saying you wear Greeks bearing gifts or somebody bearing gifts.
It was kind of your old timey.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, if somebody comes at you say, I'd just
like to give you a little gift, little token of
my affection. There's a string attached. There's something going on.
All the Arab governments are coming at Trump with gifts,
and I'm wary.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So how about the New York Times. I was just
reading it as I was coming up in the elevator.
They did a good job of laying out the whole
Joe Biden had promised MBS in Saudi Arabia would be
a pariah on the world stage after the bone sawing
of Kushogi. Then gas got real high and we decided
we need your help. So Biden went over there to
(01:52):
meet him and beg for help. Fist bumped him. Now
we're fully on back with Trump getting the red carpet
tree Minton right and the handshakes and hugs all around
and everything like that. So so much for the pariah
state that didn't last long.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, that was just an incredibly undisciplined thing to say,
which is you know Biden's deal. Look, nobody's in favor
of bone sawing journalists who are dissidents of Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, I'm not many people are in favor of it.
But in geopolitics, a guy is not a basis for
severing an important relationship, even if it's an unsavory friend
of me weird relationship. Anyway, Biden was a Seena idiot
(02:43):
back to you. So, so Trump's there and getting the
full on I'm a king, You're a king. Treatment And
I was just listening to the Fox Report on how
Saudi Arabia has got a project twenty thirty that they're
spending unimaginable amounts of money on it, especially for a
country that size. They want to be the most technologically
(03:03):
advanced place on Earth by twenty thirty, particularly around Ai
and green that all the world. That will be the
capital of the world if you're going to as a
country or a business for you know, investments, or where
all we're all where everybody who's anybody hangs out and
that's where the deals are made. That's what they want
(03:23):
to Yeah, well, and.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
They might pull that off. Well.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, meanwhile, out in the you know, one hundred miles
outside of town, you got a bunch of camel humper
and fundamentalist Muslims who want to saw off NBS's head.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But right sure, yeah, and are belly kept under wraps
by the regime through bribery and threats. Yeah, boy, the
whole we want to be the world's biggest on AI. Thing.
That seems promising to me, But the isn't the bloom
off the green grows.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I think they're I think they've missed. I think they
missed the reality of that one.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Perhaps, Yeah, I mean the Euros are still making all
sorts of noises and driving tight at right.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That's what that is. That's to get the whole euro crowd.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But friends, the populist right is on the rise fast
in Europe. And one of the things they're just I
think a little behind the US in that the populace
is going to say, we're paying enormous amounts and having
terrible damage done to our standard of living to realize
these fanciful green energy goals.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
It wouldn't make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Anyway, So, uh, can we change?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Please? That's common trust me.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm all for living in reality. Uh, you got to
what other choice do you have? But man, I'm looking
at the video of NBS and Trump walking through that palace,
and I mean, it's just so, you know, you wouldn't
believe that the world in twenty twenty five could still
be that way, that people, because of their family that
they were born into, live that life of luxury, because
(04:53):
they own the country, because of you know, it's just
you wouldn't think that could still exist on planet Earth.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But it does because they were the fist camel herders
back in the day.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, one hundred and fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
First to sign a big contract with the the Aramco,
the big oil company FDR. I don't know, you know
more about the history so out of Arabia in ninety.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I think FDR in the original house Asad is when
it started with this particular family. But it is something
that continues to be a thing. And you know, we're
as powerful as we are, we still got to deal
with them. They got a lot of oil, they got
a lot of money, and that's just the way that
the world works.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
H Meanwhile, is Putin and earned Zolensky are they're gonna
show up on Thursday to that meeting.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I think that's an exciting story.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Haven't heard anything lately of you, Well, Zelenski's still saying
he's gonna show. There hasn't been a word out of
Russia about it was his idea, Hey, Putin, it was
your idea, dude. You're the one who said you wanted
a meeting. He said okay, and then you haven't said
a word. What's going on there? The old tricker room,
you'ld switch a room, the old bait and switch.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh it's one of those. Certainly. Yeah, I still am
highly skeptical that it will happen. I think Putin may
have written a check for more what do they have
over rubles than his his mouth can cash or something
something like that.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
And then so it's the old switcher roo. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And how much time should we be spending on the
qataris give Trump a plane story that for much of
the mainstream media is a very big gift.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know. It's not a good idea, it's a
bad idea, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Said yesterday, who turns down a gift? Who turns down
a free plane?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Who would do that? That's what Trump said yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, so you know what, I've got a great example
of that, A fabulous example of that. Would you like
to hear it? Yes, you would. He's taking a drink
of water. I'll answer for you. In certain highly dysfunctional families,
sometimes gifts come from a controlling parent, and you know
(07:03):
there'll be strings attached and hell to pay and guilt
designed and the rest of it. You turn down a
gift when you know this is going to ensnare me
and do something unsavory and that's the quitar is evil folks.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well, is there a chance Trump thinks you think you're
gonna ensnare me into something? I'm gonna take your plane?
You ain't getting nothing from me? Sure, yeah, yep, that's possible.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I was listening to the.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Just from a technological standpoint, the how would you take
that plane apart to make sure there's not you know,
any sort of like listening device or tracking device or
you know, stores data somehow you how would you do that?
You'd have to take it completely apart, wouldn't you? Like
every joy goodness goodness knows.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I am not up on the state of the art
of listening device, sweeping and surveillance equipment, you know, a detection.
But could there be anything more complex and difficult search
than a zillion dollar wildly tricked out seven forty seven
I mean, great, Scott, It's got miles and miles, hundreds
(08:12):
of miles probably of wiring, right for instance.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, every tiny little piece of metal could be something.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
All right, Yeah, and to be tricked out to be
Air Force one. It has astounding capabilities of you know,
evasion and self defense and communications and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, you can't just take the plane from the Qataris
and then say, oh cool, there's a USB plug in
here right next to my chair.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I'll plug my phone in and charge it. Mean he
could work like that. Yeah, I would love to hear
from somebody. I wonder if we could seek out a guest.
What is the state of the art in A hiding
and B detecting the sort of surveillance devices that we're
talking about here. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I don't know either.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We should start the show officially before we get in trouble.
I'm Jack Armstrong, He's Joe getting on. This is Tuesday,
May the thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
We need a plane, the A and G force one cool,
probably Ford, a little Cessna. Don't need as much gold
then these work missing one wing. The Saudis like their goal.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They gold.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They got the same sort of decoration thing going as
Trump does. It looks like a Trump property, that big
Saudi building they're in right now. I'm looking at it.
So what is it about certain mindsets that really like
lots of gold and chandeliers.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I don't know what that is exactly. It's not my tastes.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Particularly, they're twenty twenty five Armstrong in getting we approve
of this program. You're more a chandelier fashioned out of
a wagon wheel type con exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Handler's yeah, all right, let's beg in the show now. Officially,
according to the FCC Rules of Regulations, here we go
at mark.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Their economic plans are really focused on how do we
keep the Chinese Communist Party in power? How do we
keep people employed, how do we keep people happy so
that their regene can stay in place? That they're economic goals.
They're just different than ours in the West, and we
have to figure out a way how to fit us.
We're peg into a round circle, if that's possible.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So true came across a great piece by one of
America's favorite business thinkers about how rotten China is to
deal with. Our theme seems to be frenemies this morning today,
because China is the weirdest sort of frenemy that I've
ever observed on the world scene. Honestly, to be this
(10:27):
entangled and this at odds weird.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I think I'm going to be dead soon, so I
feel like I should say everything I've ever wanted to say,
oh good about any topic. I mean, I think I'm
gonna be dead soon. Of the whooping cough. I didn't
mean oh good.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I meant that seems like an appropriate thing to do,
given your you know, hell love it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You said, oh good, Yeah I did.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I meant to be supported, said I'm going to die,
and you said, oh good. I mean, go back to
the tape if you want to, perhaps you have something
you'd like to say about that, for instance. I meant
to be encouraging that. Oh you're going to say all
the things you want to say. Oh good, that was
my Oh good, there you go, Yes, express you to get.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
It off your ches. That's the way I took it.
That's the way. Were good. Thank god. And we got
Katie's just don't croak. We got Katie's.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Headlines next on the way and our text line is
four one five two nine five k FTC. I noticed
the pencil store near my house and taking down there
going out of business sign.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So they're very excited about things. The turn. Everything is taken.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
America's doll and pencil imports and continued now been reinvigorated.
Thank god. Hey, there's all sorts of stuff going on.
Let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story
with Katie Green, Katie Well with USA today to begin.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Inflation eased to a four year low in April as
Trump's tariffs took effect.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Wow, okay, four year low on inflation like that?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, and I don't see any reason it shouldn't continue
to stay low, honestly, go with the tariff roll back
so far.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
From ABC, of course, you guys talked about Trump lens
in Saudi Arabia for big Middle East trip.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
He's not going to Israel though.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, there are signs of a little several signs of
a little discomfort between the US and Israel, some space
between us. But the Israelis said the other day, Hey,
we're not lockstep. Sometimes when you tango, you step on
each other's toes.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I didn't know the tango was so big in Israel,
but that's what the guy said. I thought they did
the more of the haven the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
But whatever.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
From Fox News, Colorado Capital, female staffers fear retaliation after
filing bathroom complaint against transgender AID.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Oh really gotta do it in their bathroom.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They don't like it. Boiling that down if you're not
hip on the modern lingo from the Washington Post.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
From Elephants to inline skates, a history of foreign gifts
given to presidents.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Yeah, it's in the first time. Who got an elephant? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Wow, who gave who an elephant? When I need the
details on that, I'll look into that story, Katie.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That's up the.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Elephant wearing the inlinees case. Now you've got something exactly
a roller blading elephants.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Somebody gave Harding a roller skating.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Elephant from Axios.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
There is no there.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It is skating on buy.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
From Axios exclusive. As new book says Biden Aids discussed
wheelchair use if he were re elected.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Wow, apparently that's in Tapper's book. Really Yeah, yeah, well
that's not surprised given his decreasingly you know, ambulance or
he show.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
From the New York Post, rfkge Junior takes a dip
in DC Creek, known.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
For high levels of fecal bacteria.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, that seemed like marka Pope again.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
It seemed like a hit piece on RFKA Junior when
I read it yesterday.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Right from the Wall Street Journal, United Airlines adds caviar
service and Jammys in race for super premium travelers.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There you go, they're gonna give you pgs.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Yeah, this is for their Polaris studio suites that they
have and can just wear something comfy.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Where am I changing in this scenario? I guess do
they have like little suites?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Wow? Interesting.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Caveon from study fines this ping pong playing robot can
return balls with precision at thirty one miles per hour.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
That seems like a lot a ping pong robot.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, what have time to be alive? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, that'd be kind of fun though, if you know
you had nobody to play with him. You want to
keep your game in shape until.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
It keeps kicking your ass because it can hit the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
At your thirty one miles per hour.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You surely you would have settings.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You put that us, You put that on top of
a roller skating elephant, and your life is complete.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Oh yeah, there's no reason to get up in the morning.
You've seen it all.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
There, he's doing another lap around the studios.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
From Newsweek, study warns that psychopaths are more attractive.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
There you go.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Said something about someone who is a narcissist makes them
look more trustworthy.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Oh wow, yeah, that's troubling. I'd like to know more
about that. Perhaps you could bring that to us later.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
That's odd and finally from the Babylon be Trump accepts
generous gift of him curial class start Destroyer from Emperor Palpatine.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think they're trying to make a point there. Star
Wars person, is that a Star Wars reference? That's the
the the evil evil list of the evil. That's the
head evil guy. You don't want to be ensnared in
his web of deceit.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
And it was Reagan that got the roller skating elephant,
I'm sorry, just the elephant.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Elephant? And who gave it to him?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Do we know this presented to him by a President
Jawar Regene of Sri Lanka.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Okay, yeah, you say that. I kind of remember it. Yeah,
it lived, it slept in the Lincoln bedroom there for.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Several hours, questioning the accuracy of that report.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Was it some sort of a gift of the people's
because one of those they go straight to a zoo,
one of those.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Kind of yeah, yeah, like the pander Bears.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
So that girl that PDD Combs had by the hair
and was dragging down the hallway, and the video everybody's
seenes she is going to testify, it looks like and
she's got some pretty disgusting things.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
She's going to testify too.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I don't even know if I want to say him
on the air, but if she does testify, that's going
to be the trial. I don't know if there's any
bouncing back from that, among other things we have to
tell you about today.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I hope you can stick around. If you miss the
SEC we get.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
The podcast Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
I think Trump is setting up a two front strategy.
You've got the oil leverage in the Middle East, the
economic leverage on China, so expect Trump to look down
to his Middle East partners with the tech and the
arms and those trade deals to freeze China out of
the region.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So Trump is on the road in the Middle East
to cutting all sorts of deals and managing all sorts
of interesting relationships.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I would like.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
To take a few minutes to kick the Kataris at
some point during the show today, as they have unholy
influence in the US, particularly in our college campuses, and
I would like to talk about that. But and a
completely different topic. First of all, this preamble disclaimer, it's
(18:10):
more disclaimer. We usually don't talk much about the big
budget bills as they're taking shape. No budget conciliate reconciliation,
grand compromise stuff. For a couple of reasons. Number one
a strategic reason. When you go into any depth of
(18:32):
these things, people's eyes glaze over. They quickly become bored,
and our strategy is to have listeners, and so it
doesn't seem like a great idea to drown you in that.
The second is a more practical concern. They change so much.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, I've always talking about what actually gets past is interesting,
but all of the hypotheticals leading up to it are
mostly wasted air. Well, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
If you're some budget wonk policy wonk inside the Beltway
and this is what you do for a living, that's fine.
It's like I will talk about April baseball games with
you just because I really like baseball, but they don't
really matter that much to who's going to win the
World Series anyway. Having said that, there are some really
interesting trends going on right now, and they're not super great.
I'm going to hit you with a handful of headlines
(19:21):
then get to a piece. Ron Johnson, one of the
real fiscal conservatives in America, wrote headline number one, Alicia Finley,
the great editorialist welfare as we know it is back,
and it's bipartisan. It's the Clinton years in reverse. Democrats
and some Republicans refuse to reform Medicaid. Combination of swing
(19:42):
state folks and Republicans sensitive to how easy it is
to demagogue people losing their health insurance, even if it's
a healthy, working age male who's getting unholy subsidies from
the federal government.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
More on that another time. There's another heavy meet the
press on Sunday. They had the governor of New Mexico
on in New Mexico, for whatever reason, has the highest
percentage of people on Medicaid apparently, and so they had
the governor on there and lots of sad stories about
people that would lose this or that if the Republican
plan went through.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
So that's the sort of demagoguing you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Oh yeah, And if you pull that sort of stuff,
it's so easy to get people convinced that, oh, oh,
I heard the Republicans are cutting taxes on the rich
and canceling poor people's insurance. I mean, it's just so
easy to sell that to low information.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It's funny. I've never reacted that way to those stories,
even when I was poor. No, I don't neither.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I don't know why, but I've just always been get
a job with healthcare like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Then there's this from the Wall Street Journal editorial Board,
the case for fixing food Stamps. Its work requirement is evaded,
and states don't share its costs, and it's wildly out
of control. More than forty one million Americans are on
food Stamps. Forty one million. The program long ago seems
to be temporary help for those who fall on hard times.
(21:05):
Enrollment doesn't shrink in strong economies, and the roles include
millions of adults who can work. The program is contributing
to one of America's most pressing social ailments, Prime age
men attenuated from work. That's not a word, I use
that much kept away from working or induced to not work.
(21:26):
And it's a tendant to disciplines and contributions to society.
You know, we have a huge challenge with working age
men who don't work.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, well, I just has been growing our entire lives.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I suppose people who are willing to gain the system
will realize, well, there's money out there to grab in
a variety of ways. If I'm willing to make this
claim or that claim. So yesterday we did the big
sixty minute story from Sunday night that there was a
trillion dollars of theft of COVID relief money, a trillion dollars,
and the number one text reply we got, uz, why
(22:01):
didn't I figure out a way to get some of
that at some point?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That's what you think. I thought the same thing I thought, Geez.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I should have claimed I was a business in Florida
and just sending the paperwork and see if I could
have grabbed one hundred thousand dollars or something. Right, Yeah,
no kidding, I'm not a thief, but I mean if
a trillion dollars a taxpayer money is going out the door,
you know, it reminds me of the situation that you
have in like former Soviet socialist republics Russia, obviously in
(22:29):
Ukraine and will name them, or like in Afghanistan, places
in the Middle East where Americans say, look, there's so
much corruption, and the locals say, we don't.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Call it corruption.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
We have a different word for it, like in the
Middle East or Afghanistan is bakshish. It's the fee you
pay to get things done, and they don't see it
as corruption. At all.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
They just see that as a way of life.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
And if you were living in the Soviet Union, you know,
you might have had derogatory words for the way you
get ahead by bribing Communist party officials are getting to know,
or your uncle is the guy, or whatever. But that's
just the way you run your life. And I worry
we're getting closer to that in this country where people
think all my neighbors are scamming the system and they
(23:12):
have a better life than me. I'm getting in on it, right, Yeah,
that's that would be a bad tipping point. I don't
know if we're already at it, but anyway, I could
howl about the food stamps program and how it's feeding healthy,
working age people, but I'll move along.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
If you're an a shame, That's what I've been talking
about forever. You should be ashamed of yourself if you're
grabbing food stamps and you're an able bodied man, ashamed
of yourself.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Shamed ring a bell baby, show it out.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
This editorial have medicaid courage Republicans. The politics of reform
isn't nearly as dangerous as some of them think. And
again they point out that the Feds currently pick up
ninety percent of the bill for able bodied adults eligible
under the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare's expansion, but the federal
share is a tiny fraction of that for like a pregnant,
(24:04):
poverty stricken lady. So Obamacare distorted what medicaid is wildly.
And then the states play these games, and I wish,
you know, there's part of me that would like to
describe them to you, because you get an idea of
how crooked our system is. But like the states, they
put all these people on Medicaid, and then they charge
these taxes to hospitals and healthcare providers that then beefs
(24:29):
up how much money the state is spending. But then
they get that back from the Fed, and then they
give it back to the hospitals who know what's going
on and wink and nod because it's all induced to
get more federal money going. It's it's just a you
want to talk about corruption, good lord, And the Wall
Street journal is trying to convince the Republicans, guys, you
(24:52):
gotta do something about this, but the Republicans are afraid anyway.
That brings us to the main point, which is a
piece by Ron Johnson, the ugly truth.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
About the big beautiful bill.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Year after year, I'm sorry, years after COVID, the overspending
continues even with the Republican Congress. The one big beautiful
bill the Congress is working on is certainly big, but
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Too often,
the reality these budget debates gets obscured in details, politically
charged issues in demagogurey. Let me attempt to clarify the
current discussion by focusing on the most important facts in numbers.
(25:25):
In fiscal twenty nineteen, federal outlays total four point four
to five trillion, or almost twenty one percent of gross
domestic product. This year, according to the CBO's report, total
outlays will.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Be seven point oh three trillion.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Why that's more than two and a half trillion dollars
more than twenty nineteen, a growth of almost fifty percent,
and gone from almost twenty one percent of gross domestic
product to over twenty three percent of it. That's a
fifty eight percent increase over six years.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Well, the country doubled in size, so good lord.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
The CBO projects federal outlays will total There are so
many numbers here, here's where we get into the glazing eyes.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
But this is important.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The CBO projects federal outlays will total eighty nine trillion
dollars across fiscal twenty six to thirty five. Much of
the blame goes to pandemic spending, but lockdowns are long over.
There's nothing now to justify this abnormal level of government spending. Pathetically,
Congress is having a hard time agreeing on a reduction
of even one and a half trillion dollars from that
(26:28):
ten year amount. That's a one point six to eight
percent cut, a little more than a rounding error. My
guess is that much of that minuscule decrease will be
backloaded to the end of the ten years for which
Congress is now budgeting, increasing the probability that those savings
will never be realized. There are a handful of Ron
(26:49):
Johnson's and Chip Roy's and guys like that who are
being pushed to the edges of the Republican Party. And
I think they ought to be our heroes. I think
they ought to be the guiding lights the north stars,
and I just am starting to lose hope.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Well, how would you not, I mean, from twenty nineteen
to this year, We've gone from four point four or
five trillion to seven point h three trillion with roughly
the same population of people. So I mean, explain why
(27:35):
that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Well, right, And once the program has started, it just
doesn't go away because they're cutting look ato one armed
dimish farmers, the a that they depend on to feed
their children. I mean, it's just it's so nakedly obvious
a scam that DC wants more power, which means more money.
(27:59):
They will come up with any rationale for it. They
will call a giant green energy new Deal, the Inflation
Reduction Act, and guff faw as it echoes down the
halls of Congress, just the laughter. And then because it
appeared once upon a time, those those spending levels must continue.
(28:20):
Otherwise you're you're yanking chicken soap out of the mouth
of blind little girls in America votes for it. So
I know, I give up a monarchy now.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
You know what Trump is over there in the Middle
East is learning how monarchies work, because that's.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Our only hope.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And neither party even pretends anymore to care really, and
and the public demands that one dollar ninety cents worth
of government for the price of a dollar and is
willing to borrow against it. Yeah, it's it's a it's frustrating, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Very very Has anybody still got their tea party hats
and T shirts and placards and stuff? Can we fire
that up again? And then the media will say it's
about race again. That'll be tougher to call. Well, it's
Hakeem Jeffries is the minority leader of the House and
these crazy white people.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Are against him, so clearly it's racism.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
If you're an NBA fan, everything changed last night. Jason Tatum,
one of the best players in the league from the
defending champs, went down. He may never play again, certainly
probably not going to play next year, let alone this year.
So everything's up in the air in the NBA right now.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
That's the Dallas Mavericks, who made what may be the
worst trade in the history of sports, got bailed out
by an incredibly unlikely pulling of the ping pong ball,
and they get the number one pick in the draft
and get that gifted bmth from.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Duke Yeah yeah, what's his face? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
God, I can't imagine what it's like to be twenty
seven years old in the peak of your career. I
meany you're young, godly rich, but then to have an
injury that might all be over, that'd be hard to
wrap around your head.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It's a wide open season, now, wide open playoffs. Now
we got mail bag on the way. Hope you can
stay here. One of the Shark Tank guys takes his
puts both fists. I'm sorry, I'm trying to read and
talk at the same time.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
One of the Shark Tank guys beats the hell out
of China for the trade policies and says they're the
tariffs against them ought to be four hundred percent plus.
Cutter is trying to win the hearts and minds of
your children by turning them into Islamists. So more on
that to come next hour. I hope you can stay around. First,
your freedom loving quote of the day. I absolutely love
this from legendary sci fi author Robert Heinlein, who I
(30:35):
read avidly as a youth. I am free because I
know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
I am free no matter what rules surround me. If
I find them tolerable, I tolerate them. If I find
them too obnoxious, I break them. I'm free because I
know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
(30:56):
Like that, just have to be willing to take the repercussions.
As we've discussed many times, the brave little would be
Chay Guavera's at our nation's universities who like to chant
and commit nets of civil disobedience and vandalize and block
Jewish students from going to class. Then when you arrest them,
they squeal like hurt little children, say you're hurting my wrists. Mommy, mommy.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Mailbag perups note mail bag at Armstrong and getty dot com.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
I want to get this one in from Poolo.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Guys, you're talking about is there some sort of unified
explanation for all that troubles us these days? We're talking about,
you know, whether it's anxiety and depression and weird sexual
stuff and incumbents being thrown out of office and the established
political parties losing power and just there seems to be
(31:52):
a global angst and dissatisfaction anyway, Powell says.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Polo says, I.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Honestly don't know what it is, but I always enjoy
theorizing i e.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Making stuff up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So I think we're changing our environment much faster, and
we're able to change ourselves right now. I don't think
any species has ever done that. If humans expect to
live satisfying lives into the future, we'll need to radically
modify what it is that gives meaning and satisfaction to
our lives. For example, much, if not all, of the
work we do now will eventually become unnecessary. That should
(32:22):
be a good thing, not a bad thing. The reason
we get satisfaction from doing work is that it's been
necessary for us to thrive. Feeling rewarded for doing that
work is an important survival mechanism. In the future, of
very different things will be important to us. It's up
to us to learn to derive the same or even
greater satisfaction from these new things. If we can't do that,
maybe the human race just doesn't cut out for the
long haul, and then we have, of course, Katie, the
(32:44):
planet of the beavers. Here's the problem, though, You can't
will yourself to have different fundamental primal urges. I mean,
we're the beast that we are because of millions of
years of experience and evolution. I don't think you can
(33:04):
just will yourself as an average working guy or girl
all of a sudden not need a life of purpose
and just write like groovy poetry and lay around and
feel good about that and amuse yourself.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
I feel like that's making an excuse for giving up.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, but it's well, yeah, but if there's no point
in working, there's no need to or what have you.
I don't. Yeah, Paolo, I wish you were right. I
wish you could will yourself to do that. Let's see,
you got this from Brad. Your coverage of the teriff
issues have been mostly terrible. You continue to not discuss
the impact of these tariffs on small business. The explains
(33:45):
how no small business can handle that kind of price
shock on stuff they've already ordered. In addition, lead times
are weeks and months.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
These changes can't be fixed because Trump played golf is
chesion ping. These changes are devastating two thousands of business, says.
You always say you stand up for the little man,
but only the large corporations had any reasonable way to
mitigate these drives to consudden changes. Shame, shame, shame. He
hits us with a triple shame. I wrote back to him, We've.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Talked about that specific aspect of this many times. But
thanks for your hysterical shaming. Nonetheless, best wishous. Yeah, we've
talked about that a bunch.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
I was just gonna say, you've covered the hell out
of that.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
We've covered how tariffs become a cesspool of swampy lobbying, yea,
And how favorites get picked and winners and losers are
chosen by government and how that's that's awful in a
what ought to be a free ish market.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah. But you know what, Brad, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Maybe A, if you're gonna come at us with that
sort of you know, tears running down your cheeks shaming, A,
you got to listen to every minute of the show,
and B you've got to.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Like take detailed notes.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I can't remember what we talked about last hour, you know.
It's so yeah, Wow, ease up, brother, that was a beating. Yeah,
he triple shamed us. Let's see. Kelly writes the plane
is a trojan horse. Obviously it's something like that. Beware
a Katari's bearing gifts more to come. Stay with us
if you can't subscribe to the podcast Armstrong and Getty
(35:15):
on demand armstrong and Getty
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Jack Armstrong and Joe Kaddy Armstrong and.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Jettating and Arms range.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Live from studio see signor a diddly lit room deep
in them the bowels of.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
The Armstrong and Getty Communications Compound. Wow.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Word that Mike came up in the Diddy trial. I
probably will what now vowels there's some ball or some
awful lives. There's some awful words being thrown around in
the Diddy trial. I wouldn't be surprised that that word
doesn't come up at.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Some golly gee, hope not.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hey, we were under the tutelage of our general manager.
Arabs bearing gifts.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I remember when I was a kid, I heard the
saying you wear Greeks bearing gifts or somebody bearing gifts.
It was kind of your old timey.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know, if somebody comes at you say, I'd just
like to give you a little gift, little token of
my affection. There's a string attached. There's something going on.
All the Arab governments are coming at Trump with gifts,
and I'm wary.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So how about the New York Times. I was just
reading it as I was coming up in the elevator.
They did a good job of laying out the whole
Joe Biden had promised MBS in Saudi Arabia would be
a pariah on the world stage after the bone sawing
of Kushogi. Then gas got real high and we decided
we need your help. So Biden went over there to
(01:52):
meet him and beg for help. Fist bumped him. Now
we're fully on back with Trump getting the red carpet
tree Minton right and the handshakes and hugs all around
and everything like that. So so much for the pariah
state that didn't last long.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, that was just an incredibly undisciplined thing to say,
which is you know Biden's deal. Look, nobody's in favor
of bone sawing journalists who are dissidents of Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Well, I'm not many people are in favor of it.
But in geopolitics, a guy is not a basis for
severing an important relationship, even if it's an unsavory friend
of me weird relationship. Anyway, Biden was a Seena idiot
(02:43):
back to you. So, so Trump's there and getting the
full on I'm a king, You're a king. Treatment And
I was just listening to the Fox Report on how
Saudi Arabia has got a project twenty thirty that they're
spending unimaginable amounts of money on it, especially for a
country that size. They want to be the most technologically
(03:03):
advanced place on Earth by twenty thirty, particularly around Ai
and green that all the world. That will be the
capital of the world if you're going to as a
country or a business for you know, investments, or where
all we're all where everybody who's anybody hangs out and
that's where the deals are made. That's what they want
(03:23):
to Yeah, well, and.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
They might pull that off. Well.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, meanwhile, out in the you know, one hundred miles
outside of town, you got a bunch of camel humper
and fundamentalist Muslims who want to saw off NBS's head.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
But right sure, yeah, and are belly kept under wraps
by the regime through bribery and threats. Yeah, boy, the
whole we want to be the world's biggest on AI. Thing.
That seems promising to me, But the isn't the bloom
off the green grows.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
I think they're I think they've missed. I think they
missed the reality of that one.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Perhaps, Yeah, I mean the Euros are still making all
sorts of noises and driving tight at right.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That's what that is. That's to get the whole euro crowd.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
But friends, the populist right is on the rise fast
in Europe. And one of the things they're just I
think a little behind the US in that the populace
is going to say, we're paying enormous amounts and having
terrible damage done to our standard of living to realize
these fanciful green energy goals.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
It wouldn't make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Anyway, So, uh, can we change?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Please? That's common trust me.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm all for living in reality. Uh, you got to
what other choice do you have? But man, I'm looking
at the video of NBS and Trump walking through that palace,
and I mean, it's just so, you know, you wouldn't
believe that the world in twenty twenty five could still
be that way, that people, because of their family that
they were born into, live that life of luxury, because
(04:53):
they own the country, because of you know, it's just
you wouldn't think that could still exist on planet Earth.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
But it does because they were the fist camel herders
back in the day.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, one hundred and fifty years ago.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
First to sign a big contract with the the Aramco,
the big oil company FDR. I don't know, you know
more about the history so out of Arabia in ninety.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
I think FDR in the original house Asad is when
it started with this particular family. But it is something
that continues to be a thing. And you know, we're
as powerful as we are, we still got to deal
with them. They got a lot of oil, they got
a lot of money, and that's just the way that
the world works.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
H Meanwhile, is Putin and earned Zolensky are they're gonna
show up on Thursday to that meeting.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I think that's an exciting story.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Haven't heard anything lately of you, Well, Zelenski's still saying
he's gonna show. There hasn't been a word out of
Russia about it was his idea, Hey, Putin, it was
your idea, dude. You're the one who said you wanted
a meeting. He said okay, and then you haven't said
a word. What's going on there? The old tricker room,
you'ld switch a room, the old bait and switch.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh it's one of those. Certainly. Yeah, I still am
highly skeptical that it will happen. I think Putin may
have written a check for more what do they have
over rubles than his his mouth can cash or something
something like that.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
And then so it's the old switcher roo. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And how much time should we be spending on the
qataris give Trump a plane story that for much of
the mainstream media is a very big gift.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know. It's not a good idea, it's a
bad idea, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Said yesterday, who turns down a gift? Who turns down
a free plane?
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Who would do that? That's what Trump said yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, so you know what, I've got a great example
of that, A fabulous example of that. Would you like
to hear it? Yes, you would. He's taking a drink
of water. I'll answer for you. In certain highly dysfunctional families,
sometimes gifts come from a controlling parent, and you know
(07:03):
there'll be strings attached and hell to pay and guilt
designed and the rest of it. You turn down a
gift when you know this is going to ensnare me
and do something unsavory and that's the quitar is evil folks.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well, is there a chance Trump thinks you think you're
gonna ensnare me into something? I'm gonna take your plane?
You ain't getting nothing from me? Sure, yeah, yep, that's possible.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I was listening to the.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Just from a technological standpoint, the how would you take
that plane apart to make sure there's not you know,
any sort of like listening device or tracking device or
you know, stores data somehow you how would you do that?
You'd have to take it completely apart, wouldn't you? Like
every joy goodness goodness knows.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I am not up on the state of the art
of listening device, sweeping and surveillance equipment, you know, a detection.
But could there be anything more complex and difficult search
than a zillion dollar wildly tricked out seven forty seven
I mean, great, Scott, It's got miles and miles, hundreds
(08:12):
of miles probably of wiring, right for instance.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, every tiny little piece of metal could be something.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
All right, Yeah, and to be tricked out to be
Air Force one. It has astounding capabilities of you know,
evasion and self defense and communications and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah, you can't just take the plane from the Qataris
and then say, oh cool, there's a USB plug in
here right next to my chair.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I'll plug my phone in and charge it. Mean he
could work like that. Yeah, I would love to hear
from somebody. I wonder if we could seek out a guest.
What is the state of the art in A hiding
and B detecting the sort of surveillance devices that we're
talking about here. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
I don't know either.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We should start the show officially before we get in trouble.
I'm Jack Armstrong, He's Joe getting on. This is Tuesday,
May the thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
We need a plane, the A and G force one cool,
probably Ford, a little Cessna. Don't need as much gold
then these work missing one wing. The Saudis like their goal.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They gold.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
They got the same sort of decoration thing going as
Trump does. It looks like a Trump property, that big
Saudi building they're in right now. I'm looking at it.
So what is it about certain mindsets that really like
lots of gold and chandeliers.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I don't know what that is exactly. It's not my tastes.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Particularly, they're twenty twenty five Armstrong in getting we approve
of this program. You're more a chandelier fashioned out of
a wagon wheel type con exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Handler's yeah, all right, let's beg in the show now. Officially,
according to the FCC Rules of Regulations, here we go
at mark.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Their economic plans are really focused on how do we
keep the Chinese Communist Party in power? How do we
keep people employed, how do we keep people happy so
that their regene can stay in place? That they're economic goals.
They're just different than ours in the West, and we
have to figure out a way how to fit us.
We're peg into a round circle, if that's possible.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
So true came across a great piece by one of
America's favorite business thinkers about how rotten China is to
deal with. Our theme seems to be frenemies this morning today,
because China is the weirdest sort of frenemy that I've
ever observed on the world scene. Honestly, to be this
(10:27):
entangled and this at odds weird.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I think I'm going to be dead soon, so I
feel like I should say everything I've ever wanted to say,
oh good about any topic. I mean, I think I'm
gonna be dead soon. Of the whooping cough. I didn't
mean oh good.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I meant that seems like an appropriate thing to do,
given your you know, hell love it.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
You said, oh good, Yeah I did.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I meant to be supported, said I'm going to die,
and you said, oh good. I mean, go back to
the tape if you want to, perhaps you have something
you'd like to say about that, for instance. I meant
to be encouraging that. Oh you're going to say all
the things you want to say. Oh good, that was
my Oh good, there you go, Yes, express you to get.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
It off your ches. That's the way I took it.
That's the way. Were good. Thank god. And we got
Katie's just don't croak. We got Katie's.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Headlines next on the way and our text line is
four one five two nine five k FTC. I noticed
the pencil store near my house and taking down there
going out of business sign.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So they're very excited about things. The turn. Everything is taken.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
America's doll and pencil imports and continued now been reinvigorated.
Thank god. Hey, there's all sorts of stuff going on.
Let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story
with Katie Green, Katie Well with USA today to begin.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Inflation eased to a four year low in April as
Trump's tariffs took effect.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Wow, okay, four year low on inflation like that?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah, and I don't see any reason it shouldn't continue
to stay low, honestly, go with the tariff roll back
so far.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
From ABC, of course, you guys talked about Trump lens
in Saudi Arabia for big Middle East trip.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
He's not going to Israel though.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, there are signs of a little several signs of
a little discomfort between the US and Israel, some space
between us. But the Israelis said the other day, Hey,
we're not lockstep. Sometimes when you tango, you step on
each other's toes.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
That's fine.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I didn't know the tango was so big in Israel,
but that's what the guy said. I thought they did
the more of the haven the thing.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
But whatever.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
From Fox News, Colorado Capital, female staffers fear retaliation after
filing bathroom complaint against transgender AID.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Oh really gotta do it in their bathroom.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They don't like it. Boiling that down if you're not
hip on the modern lingo from the Washington Post.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
From Elephants to inline skates, a history of foreign gifts
given to presidents.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Yeah, it's in the first time. Who got an elephant? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Wow, who gave who an elephant? When I need the
details on that, I'll look into that story, Katie.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
That's up the.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Elephant wearing the inlinees case. Now you've got something exactly
a roller blading elephants.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Somebody gave Harding a roller skating.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Elephant from Axios.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
There is no there.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It is skating on buy.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
From Axios exclusive. As new book says Biden Aids discussed
wheelchair use if he were re elected.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Wow, apparently that's in Tapper's book. Really Yeah, yeah, well
that's not surprised given his decreasingly you know, ambulance or
he show.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
From the New York Post, rfkge Junior takes a dip
in DC Creek, known.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
For high levels of fecal bacteria.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, that seemed like marka Pope again.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
It seemed like a hit piece on RFKA Junior when
I read it yesterday.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Right from the Wall Street Journal, United Airlines adds caviar
service and Jammys in race for super premium travelers.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
There you go, they're gonna give you pgs.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Yeah, this is for their Polaris studio suites that they
have and can just wear something comfy.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Where am I changing in this scenario? I guess do
they have like little suites?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Wow? Interesting.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Caveon from study fines this ping pong playing robot can
return balls with precision at thirty one miles per hour.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
That seems like a lot a ping pong robot.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, what have time to be alive? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, that'd be kind of fun though, if you know
you had nobody to play with him. You want to
keep your game in shape until.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
It keeps kicking your ass because it can hit the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
At your thirty one miles per hour.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
You surely you would have settings.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You put that us, You put that on top of
a roller skating elephant, and your life is complete.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Oh yeah, there's no reason to get up in the morning.
You've seen it all.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
There, he's doing another lap around the studios.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
From Newsweek, study warns that psychopaths are more attractive.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
There you go.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Said something about someone who is a narcissist makes them
look more trustworthy.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Oh wow, yeah, that's troubling. I'd like to know more
about that. Perhaps you could bring that to us later.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
That's odd and finally from the Babylon be Trump accepts
generous gift of him curial class start Destroyer from Emperor Palpatine.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
I think they're trying to make a point there. Star
Wars person, is that a Star Wars reference? That's the
the the evil evil list of the evil. That's the
head evil guy. You don't want to be ensnared in
his web of deceit.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
And it was Reagan that got the roller skating elephant,
I'm sorry, just the elephant.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Elephant? And who gave it to him?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Do we know this presented to him by a President
Jawar Regene of Sri Lanka.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Okay, yeah, you say that. I kind of remember it. Yeah,
it lived, it slept in the Lincoln bedroom there for.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Several hours, questioning the accuracy of that report.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Was it some sort of a gift of the people's
because one of those they go straight to a zoo,
one of those.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Kind of yeah, yeah, like the pander Bears.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
So that girl that PDD Combs had by the hair
and was dragging down the hallway, and the video everybody's
seenes she is going to testify, it looks like and
she's got some pretty disgusting things.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
She's going to testify too.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
I don't even know if I want to say him
on the air, but if she does testify, that's going
to be the trial. I don't know if there's any
bouncing back from that, among other things we have to
tell you about today.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I hope you can stick around. If you miss the
SEC we get.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
The podcast Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
I think Trump is setting up a two front strategy.
You've got the oil leverage in the Middle East, the
economic leverage on China, so expect Trump to look down
to his Middle East partners with the tech and the
arms and those trade deals to freeze China out of
the region.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So Trump is on the road in the Middle East
to cutting all sorts of deals and managing all sorts
of interesting relationships.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I would like.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
To take a few minutes to kick the Kataris at
some point during the show today, as they have unholy
influence in the US, particularly in our college campuses, and
I would like to talk about that. But and a
completely different topic. First of all, this preamble disclaimer, it's
(18:10):
more disclaimer. We usually don't talk much about the big
budget bills as they're taking shape. No budget conciliate reconciliation,
grand compromise stuff. For a couple of reasons. Number one
a strategic reason. When you go into any depth of
(18:32):
these things, people's eyes glaze over. They quickly become bored,
and our strategy is to have listeners, and so it
doesn't seem like a great idea to drown you in that.
The second is a more practical concern. They change so much.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, I've always talking about what actually gets past is interesting,
but all of the hypotheticals leading up to it are
mostly wasted air. Well, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
If you're some budget wonk policy wonk inside the Beltway
and this is what you do for a living, that's fine.
It's like I will talk about April baseball games with
you just because I really like baseball, but they don't
really matter that much to who's going to win the
World Series anyway. Having said that, there are some really
interesting trends going on right now, and they're not super great.
I'm going to hit you with a handful of headlines
(19:21):
then get to a piece. Ron Johnson, one of the
real fiscal conservatives in America, wrote headline number one, Alicia Finley,
the great editorialist welfare as we know it is back,
and it's bipartisan. It's the Clinton years in reverse. Democrats
and some Republicans refuse to reform Medicaid. Combination of swing
(19:42):
state folks and Republicans sensitive to how easy it is
to demagogue people losing their health insurance, even if it's
a healthy, working age male who's getting unholy subsidies from
the federal government.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
More on that another time. There's another heavy meet the
press on Sunday. They had the governor of New Mexico
on in New Mexico, for whatever reason, has the highest
percentage of people on Medicaid apparently, and so they had
the governor on there and lots of sad stories about
people that would lose this or that if the Republican
plan went through.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
So that's the sort of demagoguing you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Oh yeah, And if you pull that sort of stuff,
it's so easy to get people convinced that, oh, oh,
I heard the Republicans are cutting taxes on the rich
and canceling poor people's insurance. I mean, it's just so
easy to sell that to low information.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It's funny. I've never reacted that way to those stories,
even when I was poor. No, I don't neither.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
I don't know why, but I've just always been get
a job with healthcare like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Then there's this from the Wall Street Journal editorial Board,
the case for fixing food Stamps. Its work requirement is evaded,
and states don't share its costs, and it's wildly out
of control. More than forty one million Americans are on
food Stamps. Forty one million. The program long ago seems
to be temporary help for those who fall on hard times.
(21:05):
Enrollment doesn't shrink in strong economies, and the roles include
millions of adults who can work. The program is contributing
to one of America's most pressing social ailments, Prime age
men attenuated from work. That's not a word, I use
that much kept away from working or induced to not work.
(21:26):
And it's a tendant to disciplines and contributions to society.
You know, we have a huge challenge with working age
men who don't work.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, well, I just has been growing our entire lives.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
I suppose people who are willing to gain the system
will realize, well, there's money out there to grab in
a variety of ways. If I'm willing to make this
claim or that claim. So yesterday we did the big
sixty minute story from Sunday night that there was a
trillion dollars of theft of COVID relief money, a trillion dollars,
and the number one text reply we got, uz, why
(22:01):
didn't I figure out a way to get some of
that at some point?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That's what you think. I thought the same thing I thought, Geez.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I should have claimed I was a business in Florida
and just sending the paperwork and see if I could
have grabbed one hundred thousand dollars or something. Right, Yeah,
no kidding, I'm not a thief, but I mean if
a trillion dollars a taxpayer money is going out the door,
you know, it reminds me of the situation that you
have in like former Soviet socialist republics Russia, obviously in
(22:29):
Ukraine and will name them, or like in Afghanistan, places
in the Middle East where Americans say, look, there's so
much corruption, and the locals say, we don't.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Call it corruption.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
We have a different word for it, like in the
Middle East or Afghanistan is bakshish. It's the fee you
pay to get things done, and they don't see it
as corruption. At all.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
They just see that as a way of life.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
And if you were living in the Soviet Union, you know,
you might have had derogatory words for the way you
get ahead by bribing Communist party officials are getting to know,
or your uncle is the guy, or whatever. But that's
just the way you run your life. And I worry
we're getting closer to that in this country where people
think all my neighbors are scamming the system and they
(23:12):
have a better life than me. I'm getting in on it, right, Yeah,
that's that would be a bad tipping point. I don't
know if we're already at it, but anyway, I could
howl about the food stamps program and how it's feeding healthy,
working age people, but I'll move along.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
If you're an a shame, That's what I've been talking
about forever. You should be ashamed of yourself if you're
grabbing food stamps and you're an able bodied man, ashamed
of yourself.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Shamed ring a bell baby, show it out.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
This editorial have medicaid courage Republicans. The politics of reform
isn't nearly as dangerous as some of them think. And
again they point out that the Feds currently pick up
ninety percent of the bill for able bodied adults eligible
under the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare's expansion, but the federal
share is a tiny fraction of that for like a pregnant,
(24:04):
poverty stricken lady. So Obamacare distorted what medicaid is wildly.
And then the states play these games, and I wish,
you know, there's part of me that would like to
describe them to you, because you get an idea of
how crooked our system is. But like the states, they
put all these people on Medicaid, and then they charge
these taxes to hospitals and healthcare providers that then beefs
(24:29):
up how much money the state is spending. But then
they get that back from the Fed, and then they
give it back to the hospitals who know what's going
on and wink and nod because it's all induced to
get more federal money going. It's it's just a you
want to talk about corruption, good lord, And the Wall
Street journal is trying to convince the Republicans, guys, you
(24:52):
gotta do something about this, but the Republicans are afraid anyway.
That brings us to the main point, which is a
piece by Ron Johnson, the ugly truth.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
About the big beautiful bill.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Year after year, I'm sorry, years after COVID, the overspending
continues even with the Republican Congress. The one big beautiful
bill the Congress is working on is certainly big, but
beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Too often,
the reality these budget debates gets obscured in details, politically
charged issues in demagogurey. Let me attempt to clarify the
current discussion by focusing on the most important facts in numbers.
(25:25):
In fiscal twenty nineteen, federal outlays total four point four
to five trillion, or almost twenty one percent of gross
domestic product. This year, according to the CBO's report, total
outlays will.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Be seven point oh three trillion.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Why that's more than two and a half trillion dollars
more than twenty nineteen, a growth of almost fifty percent,
and gone from almost twenty one percent of gross domestic
product to over twenty three percent of it. That's a
fifty eight percent increase over six years.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Well, the country doubled in size, so good lord.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
The CBO projects federal outlays will total There are so
many numbers here, here's where we get into the glazing eyes.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
But this is important.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The CBO projects federal outlays will total eighty nine trillion
dollars across fiscal twenty six to thirty five. Much of
the blame goes to pandemic spending, but lockdowns are long over.
There's nothing now to justify this abnormal level of government spending. Pathetically,
Congress is having a hard time agreeing on a reduction
of even one and a half trillion dollars from that
(26:28):
ten year amount. That's a one point six to eight
percent cut, a little more than a rounding error. My
guess is that much of that minuscule decrease will be
backloaded to the end of the ten years for which
Congress is now budgeting, increasing the probability that those savings
will never be realized. There are a handful of Ron
(26:49):
Johnson's and Chip Roy's and guys like that who are
being pushed to the edges of the Republican Party. And
I think they ought to be our heroes. I think
they ought to be the guiding lights the north stars,
and I just am starting to lose hope.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Well, how would you not, I mean, from twenty nineteen
to this year, We've gone from four point four or
five trillion to seven point h three trillion with roughly
the same population of people. So I mean, explain why
(27:35):
that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Well, right, And once the program has started, it just
doesn't go away because they're cutting look ato one armed
dimish farmers, the a that they depend on to feed
their children. I mean, it's just it's so nakedly obvious
a scam that DC wants more power, which means more money.
(27:59):
They will come up with any rationale for it. They
will call a giant green energy new Deal, the Inflation
Reduction Act, and guff faw as it echoes down the
halls of Congress, just the laughter. And then because it
appeared once upon a time, those those spending levels must continue.
(28:20):
Otherwise you're you're yanking chicken soap out of the mouth
of blind little girls in America votes for it. So
I know, I give up a monarchy now.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
You know what Trump is over there in the Middle
East is learning how monarchies work, because that's.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Our only hope.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And neither party even pretends anymore to care really, and
and the public demands that one dollar ninety cents worth
of government for the price of a dollar and is
willing to borrow against it. Yeah, it's it's a it's frustrating, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Very very Has anybody still got their tea party hats
and T shirts and placards and stuff? Can we fire
that up again? And then the media will say it's
about race again. That'll be tougher to call. Well, it's
Hakeem Jeffries is the minority leader of the House and
these crazy white people.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Are against him, so clearly it's racism.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
If you're an NBA fan, everything changed last night. Jason Tatum,
one of the best players in the league from the
defending champs, went down. He may never play again, certainly
probably not going to play next year, let alone this year.
So everything's up in the air in the NBA right now.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
That's the Dallas Mavericks, who made what may be the
worst trade in the history of sports, got bailed out
by an incredibly unlikely pulling of the ping pong ball,
and they get the number one pick in the draft
and get that gifted bmth from.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Duke Yeah yeah, what's his face? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
God, I can't imagine what it's like to be twenty
seven years old in the peak of your career. I
meany you're young, godly rich, but then to have an
injury that might all be over, that'd be hard to
wrap around your head.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
It's a wide open season, now, wide open playoffs. Now
we got mail bag on the way. Hope you can
stay here. One of the Shark Tank guys takes his
puts both fists. I'm sorry, I'm trying to read and
talk at the same time.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
One of the Shark Tank guys beats the hell out
of China for the trade policies and says they're the
tariffs against them ought to be four hundred percent plus.
Cutter is trying to win the hearts and minds of
your children by turning them into Islamists. So more on
that to come next hour. I hope you can stay around. First,
your freedom loving quote of the day. I absolutely love
this from legendary sci fi author Robert Heinlein, who I
(30:35):
read avidly as a youth. I am free because I
know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
I am free no matter what rules surround me. If
I find them tolerable, I tolerate them. If I find
them too obnoxious, I break them. I'm free because I
know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
(30:56):
Like that, just have to be willing to take the repercussions.
As we've discussed many times, the brave little would be
Chay Guavera's at our nation's universities who like to chant
and commit nets of civil disobedience and vandalize and block
Jewish students from going to class. Then when you arrest them,
they squeal like hurt little children, say you're hurting my wrists. Mommy, mommy.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Mailbag perups note mail bag at Armstrong and getty dot com.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
I want to get this one in from Poolo.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Guys, you're talking about is there some sort of unified
explanation for all that troubles us these days? We're talking about,
you know, whether it's anxiety and depression and weird sexual
stuff and incumbents being thrown out of office and the established
political parties losing power and just there seems to be
(31:52):
a global angst and dissatisfaction anyway, Powell says.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Polo says, I.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Honestly don't know what it is, but I always enjoy
theorizing i e.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Making stuff up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
So I think we're changing our environment much faster, and
we're able to change ourselves right now. I don't think
any species has ever done that. If humans expect to
live satisfying lives into the future, we'll need to radically
modify what it is that gives meaning and satisfaction to
our lives. For example, much, if not all, of the
work we do now will eventually become unnecessary. That should
(32:22):
be a good thing, not a bad thing. The reason
we get satisfaction from doing work is that it's been
necessary for us to thrive. Feeling rewarded for doing that
work is an important survival mechanism. In the future, of
very different things will be important to us. It's up
to us to learn to derive the same or even
greater satisfaction from these new things. If we can't do that,
maybe the human race just doesn't cut out for the
long haul, and then we have, of course, Katie, the
(32:44):
planet of the beavers. Here's the problem, though, You can't
will yourself to have different fundamental primal urges. I mean,
we're the beast that we are because of millions of
years of experience and evolution. I don't think you can
(33:04):
just will yourself as an average working guy or girl
all of a sudden not need a life of purpose
and just write like groovy poetry and lay around and
feel good about that and amuse yourself.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
I feel like that's making an excuse for giving up.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, but it's well, yeah, but if there's no point
in working, there's no need to or what have you.
I don't. Yeah, Paolo, I wish you were right. I
wish you could will yourself to do that. Let's see,
you got this from Brad. Your coverage of the teriff
issues have been mostly terrible. You continue to not discuss
the impact of these tariffs on small business. The explains
(33:45):
how no small business can handle that kind of price
shock on stuff they've already ordered. In addition, lead times
are weeks and months.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
These changes can't be fixed because Trump played golf is
chesion ping. These changes are devastating two thousands of business, says.
You always say you stand up for the little man,
but only the large corporations had any reasonable way to
mitigate these drives to consudden changes. Shame, shame, shame. He
hits us with a triple shame. I wrote back to him, We've.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Talked about that specific aspect of this many times. But
thanks for your hysterical shaming. Nonetheless, best wishous. Yeah, we've
talked about that a bunch.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
I was just gonna say, you've covered the hell out
of that.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
We've covered how tariffs become a cesspool of swampy lobbying, yea,
And how favorites get picked and winners and losers are
chosen by government and how that's that's awful in a
what ought to be a free ish market.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah. But you know what, Brad, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Maybe A, if you're gonna come at us with that
sort of you know, tears running down your cheeks shaming, A,
you got to listen to every minute of the show,
and B you've got to.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Like take detailed notes.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I can't remember what we talked about last hour, you know.
It's so yeah, Wow, ease up, brother, that was a beating. Yeah,
he triple shamed us. Let's see. Kelly writes the plane
is a trojan horse. Obviously it's something like that. Beware
a Katari's bearing gifts more to come. Stay with us
if you can't subscribe to the podcast Armstrong and Getty
(35:15):
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