Episode 316

full
Published on:

6th Jan 2026

Everyone Thinks 2026 Stocks Only Go Up — That’s the Problem

Wall Street has apparently reached a group chat consensus: 2026 only goes up. Every major strategist, from big banks to boutique shops, is lined up predicting another year of gains... because after a 90% rally off the 2022 lows, skepticism has officially been benched. Even lifelong bulls are starting to feel uneasy about the total absence of dissent, which historically isn’t exactly when you want everyone pounding the table at once. When pessimism disappears, risk doesn’t... it just gets 'mispriced.'

➡️ Meanwhile, the macro backdrop looks oddly “perfect” on paper and deeply questionable underneath. GDP prints strong, inflation magically cools, housing costs flatline… except a government shutdown quietly forced the data to assume reality took a month off. Add in tariff distortions, election-year volatility, AI bubble anxiety, and a looming funding deadline in Washington, and suddenly the bullish narrative starts to wobble.

💥 Have you left your "honest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️" review?

📩 NEWSLETTER: https://tr.ee/O6FWkv

👕 THS MERCH: http://www.thspod.com

🔗 Resources:

Every Wall Street Analyst Now Predicts a Stock Rally in 2026 (Bloomberg)

The Stock Market Could Soar in 2026 as the Economy Booms Despite President Trump's Tariffs, According to Wall Street (The Motley Fool)

Why This Stock Market Expert Says He’s ‘Cautious’ Heading Into 2026 (Investopedia)

Clock ticking on government funding deadline as House battles other issues (The Hill)

Inflation falls to 2.7% as slower housing and food increases offset a surge in electricity (NBC News)

‘This is a wacky number’: economists cry foul as new government data assumes zero housing inflation in surprising November drop (Fortune)

⚠️ Disclaimer: Please note that the content shared on this show is solely for entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal or investment advice or attributed to any company. The views and opinions expressed are personal and not reflective of any entity. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and listeners are urged to seek professional advice before making any legal or financial decisions. By listening to The Higher Standard podcast you agree to these terms, and the show, its hosts and employees are not liable for any consequences arising from your use of the content.

Transcript
Speaker A:

Not bend against Gemini, bro.

Speaker A:

Gemini coming in for the win.

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Speaker B:

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Speaker A:

Really?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

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I think Claude might be the W, bro.

Speaker A:

I'm sticking with Gemini.

Speaker B:

Really?

Speaker A:

It's my race.

Speaker A:

That's my racing horse.

Speaker B:

Why is.

Speaker B:

Okay, I'm not here to judge your racing or something else, but I feel.

Speaker A:

Like you're judging my racing horse.

Speaker B:

I've been using.

Speaker B:

I've been using clot Claude.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I really like.

Speaker B:

Because he sounds German.

Speaker A:

That's why you like him.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker B:

Using Claude instead of ChatGPT.

Speaker B:

And I'm getting better results.

Speaker B:

Much better results.

Speaker B:

Like, notably better chat.

Speaker B:

GPT does things like mess with you sometimes on purpose.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

It wants to see if you're paying attention.

Speaker B:

I think it's had enough.

Speaker A:

Let's go.

Speaker A:

Let's get into it.

Speaker A:

Welcome back to the number one financial literacy podcast in the world.

Speaker A:

This is the higher standard coming off a two week break.

Speaker A:

Baby sitting in front of me is my partner in crime in the World Series championship.

Speaker A:

LA Dodgers cap, fitted cap.

Speaker B:

That's right.

Speaker A:

Higher Standard merch you can find on thspod.com.

Speaker A:

also known as the Jeff Goldblum of podcasting.

Speaker A:

I can keep this going.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I can.

Speaker A:

Te Christopher Nahibi.

Speaker B:

He is I and I am him.

Speaker B:

The one and only Saeed Omar in the og.

Speaker B:

Of course.

Speaker B:

Quarter zip.

Speaker A:

Gotta keep a quarter zip.

Speaker B:

Champion jacket.

Speaker A:

I gotta keep a quarter zip and sit behind the desk in the production suite.

Speaker A:

It's the S to L to I to M. Slim.

Speaker B:

Oh, wow.

Speaker B:

I didn't know you're going.

Speaker A:

See what I did there?

Speaker B:

I can't spell.

Speaker B:

Obviously.

Speaker A:

Fighting for G. And Rajeel.

Speaker A:

What's up, my guy?

Speaker A:

Hello, everyone, and happy New Year.

Speaker A:

Thanks.

Speaker A:

Thank you, man.

Speaker A:

And listen.

Speaker B:

No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker B:

Weight check.

Speaker A:

Oh, I think we hit a milestone.

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker A:

So my goal for the end of the year was to hit 199 and I did.

Speaker A:

Went down to 196.

Speaker A:

Sounds like you need a better goal, my friend.

Speaker A:

180 goal.

Speaker B:

180.

Speaker B:

Is that the goal?

Speaker A:

That's my goal.

Speaker A:

Wow.

Speaker A:

All right, my man.

Speaker B:

Fading away in front of us.

Speaker B:

Sponsored by Friday.

Speaker A:

Yeah, let's get it right.

Speaker A:

This is the higher standard where we teach you how to get rich.

Speaker A:

Not by investing in daycare centers.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's probably not a good strategy.

Speaker B:

I mean, you also may want kids at your daycare centers.

Speaker A:

We will teach you how to get rich without having to do that.

Speaker B:

It can't be a daycare center unless anybody's there to Care for.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

How is that possible?

Speaker B:

It's just.

Speaker A:

Who are you caring for?

Speaker A:

It's a day center.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's a day center.

Speaker B:

It's a day center.

Speaker A:

Today's episode, we're going to get into government funding bills.

Speaker A:

We're going to get into why.

Speaker A:

One expert thinks:

Speaker A:

But first we're going to get into why it's going to be great.

Speaker B:

Didn't even sound enthusiastic.

Speaker B:

We're going to.

Speaker A:

Hey, the market's going to soar, fellas.

Speaker B:

It's going to be a very conflicted, emotional roller coaster tonight.

Speaker B:

Okay, I know that, I know we curated the show that the message is going to be very mixed.

Speaker B:

g out rosy and optimistic for:

Speaker B:

No, no, wait till the end, kid, you.

Speaker B:

But the, the long story short is that we don't really know and that there's going to be lots of stories coming out over the next days and weeks.

Speaker B:

First, the year is always like this where people are going to say it's going to be an amazing year or it's going to be a super negative year.

Speaker B:

And there's going to be pundits on both sides of the proverbial aisle, if you will.

Speaker B:

From a data perspective.

Speaker B:

We're not here to judge everybody or anybody.

Speaker B:

Just some people.

Speaker A:

Just, just, just the ones that provide the housing data to the CPI report.

Speaker B:

Yeah, they're going to get judged a little bit.

Speaker B:

Just those.

Speaker B:

What the actual.

Speaker A:

What happened?

Speaker B:

Come on, dude.

Speaker B:

Like, no one who saw the report today was like my mom who lives in Oklahoma, who's 70 something years old.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Who does not pay attention to data, called me and goes, honey, is this right?

Speaker B:

No, mom, no, no, it's not.

Speaker A:

Definitely not.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But I wanted to give a good kind of broad spectrum because we like to listen to everybody and we like to give everybody a fair shot.

Speaker B:

And we're doing that tonight and talking about different opinions and really give everybody some thinking points as to what they should be thinking about in the year to come, what to look at from, from the data perspective, but also who to listen to and kind of see where their thoughts started at the beginning of the year.

Speaker B:

going to be real problems in:

Speaker B:

Now, if they're A problem for you or me.

Speaker B:

They might not be a problem for a company or vice versa, but there'll be a problem for someone.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker A:

It might not be now.

Speaker A:

Might be down the road.

Speaker B:

And I will apologize in advance.

Speaker B:

There is a lot of heavy reading tonight because.

Speaker B:

Reading other people's opinions.

Speaker B:

Because we can't make fun of people who don't read their opinions.

Speaker B:

Right, Right.

Speaker A:

If we're lucky, we'll comment on the author's names.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Rajille, you ready?

Speaker A:

I'm ready.

Speaker A:

Let's do this.

Speaker B:

A little more enthusiasm.

Speaker A:

When I'm ready, I'm ready.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I am ready.

Speaker A:

But you're not logged in.

Speaker B:

Oh, you don't, don't worry about that.

Speaker B:

You can, don't worry about that.

Speaker B:

You can actually find most of these.

Speaker B:

So that's actually a good point.

Speaker B:

So most of these recite the source article, but a lot of them are syndicated on Yahoo.

Speaker B:

Finance.

Speaker B:

dicts a Stock market rally in:

Speaker B:

You can just type that into Google or Yahoo.

Speaker B:

Finance and it'll pull up the Yahoo.

Speaker B:

Finance version of it because it's syndicated.

Speaker B:

I like to do that because I want to cite the source.

Speaker B:

But you can find it available online.

Speaker A:

And not behind a paywall.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

At the big banks and the boutique investment shops, an optimistic consensus has taken hold.

Speaker B:

Aw.

Speaker B:

US stock market will rally in:

Speaker B:

That right off the top, I mean, 14 years, artificial intra deflation.

Speaker B:

We had this huge prosperous upswing and we still seem to be swinging up, at least as far as the stock market's concerned.

Speaker B:

The housing market, questionable.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But we're still on the upward swing, at least for company.

Speaker B:

Earnings go.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

I can't remember the exact figure, so I won't, I won't guess it, but I know there was more times than not, the stock market does in fact perform better after a year of, after back to back years of seeing 20 growth.

Speaker A:

So it's like, I think it's above, above 50%.

Speaker B:

I think that's a data point we cited later on in the show.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen that before.

Speaker A:

So that, that part doesn't surprise me to say.

Speaker A:

The start of:

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Okay, well, let's keep going.

Speaker B:

There's a lot of rosy optimism in here.

Speaker B:

There's sunshine, rainbows coming all out of this guy's body holes.

Speaker A:

I Like it.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

There's plenty of angst.

Speaker B:

% since October:

Speaker B:

LOW.

Speaker B:

The artificial intelligence boom could turn to bust the economy, and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions could defy expectations.

Speaker B:

And President Donald Trump's second year could bring even more unanticipated shocks than his first.

Speaker B:

So, yeah, these are all things that could happen.

Speaker B:

Keep in mind, this guy's coming in with a rosy, optimistic perspective.

Speaker B:

And he said, look, you could have some weird things happen at the fomc.

Speaker B:

Jerome Powell could step out.

Speaker B:

As a matter of fact, I don't know if you guys caught it today, but there was a quote by Trump in.

Speaker B:

I don't know who he's talking to, but he basically said something to the effect of, I think that Jerome should resign even after his term as chair is up because he's supposed to stay on as a voting member of the fomc.

Speaker B:

After his chair run is.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Big misconception for a lot of people.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

You don't get rid of them.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But Trump's pushing hard, you know, because.

Speaker A:

That'Ll open up two seats.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Which would then swing the votes even more towards where I would say Myron is right now calling for all the cuts.

Speaker A:

All the cuts.

Speaker B:

Not.

Speaker B:

Not one, not two.

Speaker A:

All multiple.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So.

Speaker B:

And then, of course, the AI boom is interesting.

Speaker B:

And I want to say here that I spent a lot of time thinking after the last show came out through 14, by the time we record this.

Speaker B:

Oh, thank you, Brigil.

Speaker B:

You want to read that for me?

Speaker B:

Saying.

Speaker A:

Yeah, got you.

Speaker A:

Trump added that Powell quote should resign and that he'd love to fire him.

Speaker A:

I mean, he has to.

Speaker B:

I mean, he's not mincing words.

Speaker A:

The President came close to seeking Powell's ulcer in July, but backed away after a negative reaction in financial markets.

Speaker A:

Maybe I still might, Trump told reporters at his Mar a Lago resort in Florida.

Speaker A:

I might.

Speaker A:

I might do it.

Speaker B:

I gotta be honest.

Speaker A:

I want you to know that it's.

Speaker B:

On the table if my boss, and I'm going to use the word boss here loosely, but if.

Speaker B:

If my superior in the company infrastructure were saying something like that about me, I would be a little uncomfortable.

Speaker A:

So I feel like he has to go extra hard on the paint against him because he appointed him.

Speaker A:

This is partially your fault, dude.

Speaker A:

So he's got to go extra hard to be like, he's not doing the job that I wanted him to do.

Speaker B:

I made a terrible mistake.

Speaker A:

Because you know for a fact.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

If Joey B.

Speaker A:

Appointed this guy, he'd be all over that.

Speaker B:

He'd be fired.

Speaker A:

Already done.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You heard anything about Joe lately?

Speaker B:

Jojo?

Speaker B:

Dead silence.

Speaker B:

Oh, is he already there?

Speaker A:

Christopher?

Speaker B:

Christopher, Anybody?

Speaker A:

Chosen one.

Speaker B:

Chosen one.

Speaker B:

You got it.

Speaker B:

All right, so let's get back to the story here.

Speaker B:

But after three years when the equity markets rip roaring run made a mockery of any bearish calls sell side strategists are marching in lockstep optimism.

Speaker B:

Everybody's happy.

Speaker B:

Happy gummies and lollies, kids.

Speaker B:

With the average year end S&P 500 forecast implying another 9% gain next year, not a single one of the 21 prognosticators surveyed by the Bloomberg News is predicting a decline in the market.

Speaker A:

Not a single one.

Speaker B:

Not one shout out for saying the word prognosticator in a sentence without getting that wrong.

Speaker A:

Got that?

Speaker A:

I mean, fuzzy knuckle rub.

Speaker B:

I gotta be honest, that one scared me a little bit.

Speaker A:

You practiced it?

Speaker B:

Yeah, like three times.

Speaker B:

Prognosticator, huh?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That's a big word.

Speaker B:

It is a big word.

Speaker B:

SAT vocabulary, kids.

Speaker B:

The pessimists have just been wrong for so long that people are kind of tired of that shtick.

Speaker B:

Said veteran market strategist and longtime bull Ed Yardini.

Speaker B:

And I like Ed Yardini.

Speaker A:

You do?

Speaker B:

I do.

Speaker B:

He's a.

Speaker B:

He's a G. He expects the S and P to finish next year at 7,700, up 11% from Friday's close.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Yet even he finds a lack of dissent a little concerning continuing on.

Speaker B:

Yardini says that's where my counter instincts come out.

Speaker B:

Things have been going my way for so long that it's kind of worrying that everyone else seems to have become optimistic.

Speaker B:

He said pessimism is on the out right now.

Speaker B:

Can you imagine?

Speaker B:

Let me just paraphrase what he just said.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You know, sir, I've been right for so long.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

Everybody else is now jumping on my train of being right that I'm a little worried they're wrong because I'm always right.

Speaker A:

Because I'm always.

Speaker A:

And those guys are always wrong.

Speaker A:

So it's a Kramer, right?

Speaker A:

No, it's like you.

Speaker A:

It's like you leading the way in Mario Kart and you're just riding away.

Speaker A:

You're in first place and you're like, wait a minute.

Speaker A:

You know, you know something.

Speaker A:

A blue shell's coming.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's coming to get me.

Speaker B:

Somebody back there is gonna get something.

Speaker A:

Someone's gonna get me?

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's usually my son, for the record.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker A:

It's always.

Speaker A:

It's always the guys in last place, bro.

Speaker A:

They get the best items.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Why, why are you coming to me?

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker B:

You're not getting up here.

Speaker A:

We can't be.

Speaker A:

Yeah, they got to block some of these, man.

Speaker B:

Anyways, we get a moment of silence for Noriel Roubini.

Speaker B:

He's out.

Speaker B:

Yeah, he was.

Speaker B:

He was a big economist we used.

Speaker A:

To cover ever since the whole crypto stuff came out.

Speaker B:

Yeah, you went.

Speaker B:

As soon as you go crypto, you never go back.

Speaker A:

I actually get listeners that hit me up sometime.

Speaker A:

You guys haven't covered Noriel in a long time.

Speaker A:

There's a reason for that.

Speaker B:

Yeah, he had his own shoes.

Speaker B:

The Dr. Doom shoes from Adidas.

Speaker B:

Dude.

Speaker A:

He was ready to get sponsored by Adidas.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And us, we're going to send him a contract.

Speaker A:

Honestly, I was want to have him on the show anytime he wanted.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And then I was going to ask.

Speaker A:

You as a general contractor to build a hot tub in the studio for him.

Speaker B:

Because we know, we come if you build it.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

We put women in it.

Speaker B:

Of course.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I mean, that's where we have to draw the line.

Speaker B:

This is a PG13 show, Saeed.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

All right, so another article from the Motley Fool.

Speaker B:

in:

Speaker B:

Y.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

Two back to back rosy optimistic articles in a row.

Speaker B:

You're thinking, what are the higher standard boys insane?

Speaker B:

Are they high?

Speaker A:

Dude, we're just trying to tickle your fancy.

Speaker A:

That's what we're trying to do.

Speaker B:

All up in your fancy.

Speaker A:

2026, everyone.

Speaker A:

Happy new Year.

Speaker B:

You know what?

Speaker B:

We just want to jump on the Yardini train.

Speaker A:

That's.

Speaker A:

That's a great name.

Speaker B:

He's always right, honestly.

Speaker A:

Yardini never wrong.

Speaker B:

Ed is the man.

Speaker B:

He's always a bull, by the way.

Speaker B:

It could be like the market could be flashing red.

Speaker B:

Like it could be like reigning just failure from all these companies.

Speaker B:

And Eddie be like, buy More.

Speaker B:

It's going to go up.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Because he knows this.

Speaker A:

Just like, just like you're never going to be wrong if you keep saying that.

Speaker A:

It's doomsday.

Speaker A:

Eventually doomsday is coming, right?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Same thing with this.

Speaker A:

Like, okay, you know, the Fed's going to going to take care of this at some point.

Speaker A:

Even when doomsday happens, the Fed will make sure that, okay, we will rise again.

Speaker B:

The old Peter Schiff.

Speaker B:

A broken clock is right twice a day, say so.

Speaker B:

That's my broken clock.

Speaker B:

Which keeps ticking just at a slower time.

Speaker B:

It's true.

Speaker A:

Mine too.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

Investors got great news about the US Economy.

Speaker B:

Despite headwinds from President Donald Trump's tariffs, such as the highest unemployment rate in over four years, gross domestic product GDP increased at an annualized 4.3% in the third quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Speaker B:

I gotta be honest, I was like, who?

Speaker B:

Why are all these bureaus.

Speaker A:

Yeah, right.

Speaker B:

Like, what are y' all doing?

Speaker A:

I swear.

Speaker B:

Economic analysis.

Speaker B:

What analysis have you done right?

Speaker B:

Never heard that.

Speaker A:

This is the bls.

Speaker B:

Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Speaker B:

And if there's a Bureau of Labor Statistics, why is there one of economic analysis?

Speaker A:

I feel like we should be trusting the bls.

Speaker B:

There's a lot of B's and a lot of S's.

Speaker A:

I don't understand.

Speaker A:

I'm not.

Speaker A:

I'm not.

Speaker A:

I'm not really understanding a lot of federal funding.

Speaker B:

And everyone's like, where's your federal dollars go?

Speaker A:

I'm calling, calling Shenanigans.

Speaker A:

I'm calling typo here.

Speaker B:

No, that's.

Speaker A:

That's no on them.

Speaker A:

Typographical error.

Speaker B:

Look up Bureau of Economic Analysis and see if Noria Robini is employed there.

Speaker A:

Call Shenanigans.

Speaker B:

We like crypto.

Speaker B:

Oh, man.

Speaker B:

While he's doing that.

Speaker B:

Analysts had expected GDP to increase at an annualized site.

Speaker B:

Just got excited.

Speaker B:

Calm down.

Speaker B:

At an annualized 3.3%.

Speaker B:

But economic growth easily surpassed that figure due to strong consumer spending and business investments.

Speaker B:

To add context, GDP growth averaged 2.7% annually over the past decade.

Speaker B:

So the latest print was quite strong.

Speaker B:

This website looks very Government.

Speaker B:

Bureau of economic analysis.

Speaker B:

The U.S. department of Commerce.

Speaker A:

I mean, can we be the Bureau of Wealth Building?

Speaker A:

Can we just do that?

Speaker B:

Bureau of the Higher Standard.

Speaker A:

Yeah, just.

Speaker A:

We build wealth at this bureau.

Speaker B:

God, can you imagine if we get like a government contract came over just to provide data.

Speaker B:

All of our data would just contradict everybody else.

Speaker B:

Data.

Speaker A:

Game over.

Speaker B:

We're here to provide perspective, America.

Speaker A:

No, just.

Speaker A:

Just jump on a call every Friday, company wide meeting.

Speaker A:

What data do you want?

Speaker A:

What do you want?

Speaker A:

What do you want to see?

Speaker B:

I'm sorry.

Speaker B:

To Omar.

Speaker B:

Chief Prognostic.

Speaker A:

What can I provide you?

Speaker B:

The Chief Prognosticator.

Speaker A:

What can I provide you to make sure I keep getting this government contract every year?

Speaker B:

You can provide Chief Prognosticator training.

Speaker B:

Cpt.

Speaker A:

That's it.

Speaker B:

Compton in the house.

Speaker A:

Cpt, baby.

Speaker B:

That's two shows in A row with confident jokes, by the way.

Speaker B:

Shout out, Shout out.

Speaker B:

Look at you.

Speaker B:

You're ready.

Speaker B:

I'm ready.

Speaker B:

I stay armed.

Speaker B:

See?

Speaker A:

Never lacking.

Speaker B:

Never lacking.

Speaker B:

Do people.

Speaker B:

Do gangsters still use the word lacking?

Speaker A:

They have to.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You're not a gangster.

Speaker B:

You wouldn't know.

Speaker B:

You want to Google that?

Speaker A:

In a previous life.

Speaker B:

Gangsters still say lacking in a previous life.

Speaker B:

That's not going to come up.

Speaker B:

Don't ask Chat GPT.

Speaker B:

If you're going to ask one of the AI models, chat GPT is the one you want to ask about that.

Speaker A:

Though.

Speaker B:

It'S from the streets.

Speaker A:

The streets were using chat.

Speaker B:

Importantly, while President Trump took a victory lap after the data was released, many economists said GDP growth was artificially high due to trade distortions created by tariffs.

Speaker B:

For instance, many companies rushed to import inventory ahead of the tariffs earlier in the year.

Speaker B:

And we know Apple did that for an example.

Speaker B:

So imports, which are subtracted from GDP were abnormally low in the third quarter.

Speaker B:

Nevertheless, the economy is growing at a robust pace.

Speaker B:

In turn, The S&P 500 has advanced 18 year to date.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And I just told people not to invest in that.

Speaker B:

Strange.

Speaker B:

reet is very optimistic about:

Speaker B:

So I think it's worthwhile to pause here.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

And allow me to pontificate.

Speaker A:

Okay, pontificate.

Speaker B:

I'll elaborate, per se.

Speaker B:

ked about on a previous show,:

Speaker B:

And we told people the QQQ might be a better way to place to put their money and cryptocurrency, which hurt, really, really hurt side's feelings.

Speaker B:

We actually had a very long emotional conversation and it was raining and the wet paper towel hands came out.

Speaker B:

It was very sad.

Speaker B:

You okay?

Speaker A:

I'm fine.

Speaker A:

I'm.

Speaker B:

You want to talk about on the air?

Speaker A:

No, no, no.

Speaker A:

But we'll save it for the end of the show.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

I know you're emotional.

Speaker A:

It's actually kind of sad.

Speaker B:

It is sad.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

We were playing Cry Me River.

Speaker B:

He was Brittany.

Speaker A:

No, I won't.

Speaker A:

I won't give out any names, but I know somebody that was recently scammed by some crypto.

Speaker B:

Oh, no.

Speaker B:

Really?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I've heard about a good old crypto.

Speaker A:

Scam story about it in the show.

Speaker B:

Really?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Is it a crypto that we know or is it one of like a really random Coins have a stupid name?

Speaker A:

No, it's not one that we know.

Speaker B:

So it's like that coin.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Hey, buy dumb coins, stupid.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it's bad.

Speaker B:

Is it really?

Speaker A:

It's not even crypto.

Speaker A:

It's.

Speaker A:

I'll explain to it.

Speaker B:

There's always that initial question mark around.

Speaker B:

Why would you do this in the beginning?

Speaker B:

I understand all the things that happen afterward.

Speaker A:

All right, here.

Speaker B:

I'll just tell you.

Speaker A:

I'll just tell you.

Speaker B:

I'll keep it short.

Speaker B:

Thanks.

Speaker A:

This is.

Speaker A:

Spencer's killing somebody I know, very close to me.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Was told.

Speaker A:

Who's not very tech savvy.

Speaker A:

I should say.

Speaker A:

Was like, hey, I'm telling you, goals been going up.

Speaker A:

Goals are going to continue to go up.

Speaker A:

You should invest in gold.

Speaker A:

Send me your money.

Speaker A:

I'll invest it for you, and we'll do it.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

They said to you to send them your money.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Why would you send them the money by gold?

Speaker A:

Supposedly a trusted source.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Yeah, but why would you need to buy gold through them?

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker A:

Because they're not tech savvy.

Speaker A:

They don't want to open up a brokerage account.

Speaker A:

They don't want to go through the.

Speaker A:

The hassle of, you know, investing.

Speaker B:

So I'm gonna get this person to.

Speaker A:

Do it for me.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

That.

Speaker A:

Already out the gate.

Speaker A:

I'll create a. I'll create an account for you on Zap, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

On what app?

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's.

Speaker A:

That's the key.

Speaker A:

Ding, ding, ding.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker B:

There's so many red flags are all over the place.

Speaker A:

It was Genesis label.

Speaker A:

Genesis.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker A:

The Genesis crypto app.

Speaker A:

No, no, I'm aware, but it wasn't spelled.

Speaker A:

It wasn't even spelled correctly.

Speaker A:

Oh, but they didn't.

Speaker A:

They didn't know any better.

Speaker A:

So they start off.

Speaker A:

They dabble a little bit.

Speaker A:

They dabble a little bit.

Speaker A:

They go, here's.

Speaker A:

Here's 200 bucks.

Speaker B:

And they're making trades on this faux app.

Speaker A:

Yeah, Right.

Speaker A:

And they're sending them screenshots of.

Speaker A:

Look, your money's growing.

Speaker A:

200.

Speaker A:

Wow.

Speaker A:

My money grew.

Speaker B:

Wait, there's.

Speaker B:

Who's sending them screenshots?

Speaker A:

The person that told him to invest.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

So he.

Speaker A:

He.

Speaker A:

The person who's managing the account.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Somebody else.

Speaker B:

So you gave the money to somebody else who opened an account with this fake app for them.

Speaker A:

For them.

Speaker A:

Yeah, for them.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

This is all wrong.

Speaker B:

How do you meet this third party?

Speaker A:

How can I double?

Speaker A:

They were.

Speaker B:

You can't do without giving away the guys.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

And so they do it.

Speaker A:

They send them screenshots showing them that, look, it's growing.

Speaker A:

Here's and here's.

Speaker A:

Here's an extra, like,:

Speaker B:

All right?

Speaker A:

And $:

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Like, all they got.

Speaker B:

It's everything to me.

Speaker A:

All right?

Speaker A:

And now after that, I think they were showing them screenshots that it's gone up, like, X percentage.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And now they're in dire need of this cash.

Speaker A:

So, yeah, it's like, okay, I need to cash out because I actually need the cash now.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Oh, well, the only way you're going to be able to do that is if you transfer it over to crypto right in the app, and then you have to cash it out that way.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And you go to find out it's.

Speaker A:

First of all, it's not even a real app.

Speaker A:

And that person no longer answering text messages.

Speaker A:

And it was just all.

Speaker A:

It was all fake.

Speaker A:

The whole elaborate.

Speaker B:

Yeah, but did he actually know.

Speaker B:

Meet this person that he.

Speaker A:

Yeah, he knew.

Speaker A:

They.

Speaker A:

They.

Speaker A:

He knew this person.

Speaker B:

And this person took the money then.

Speaker A:

Took the money, just went with it.

Speaker A:

And so they create these fake apps.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That are very similar to real ones.

Speaker B:

This person is worried about this other person finding them.

Speaker A:

Well, so this person came to me was like, what can I do?

Speaker A:

I'm like, well, here's the problem.

Speaker A:

If you were to buy things on the street that are not illegal, Right.

Speaker A:

You can't go to the cops and be like, hey, this person didn't give me real stuff.

Speaker A:

Really?

Speaker A:

Legal stuff.

Speaker A:

Who are you gonna go to?

Speaker A:

Who are you gonna go complain to?

Speaker B:

It wasn't buying illegal.

Speaker A:

No, no.

Speaker A:

But, but, no, but I'm saying you've invested into this app that's not real.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

For all he knows, this person's name could be fake.

Speaker B:

Oh, I thought he knew the person well enough.

Speaker B:

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

That's.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Scammed.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah, fully scammed.

Speaker A:

It's really sad.

Speaker B:

Heartbreaking.

Speaker A:

And, like, I.

Speaker A:

As I'm going through and trying to set up, like, a wallet for them, I figured this out.

Speaker A:

Like, oh, no, this is.

Speaker A:

You're.

Speaker A:

You're not going to be able to do this.

Speaker B:

When was this?

Speaker A:

This was last week.

Speaker B:

Damn.

Speaker B:

Week of Christmas, too.

Speaker A:

I know.

Speaker A:

Rough.

Speaker A:

But we were talking about Rosie.

Speaker A:

Optimism.

Speaker A:

Let's not.

Speaker A:

Yeah, we took.

Speaker A:

We took a left turn.

Speaker B:

Let's call it a rap Reill.

Speaker B:

It's a game over for the show tonight.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I mean, you ready to go home?

Speaker A:

Jesus.

Speaker A:

I know, but.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's.

Speaker A:

I mean, it happens, man.

Speaker A:

So I'm gonna keep my.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna keep my wet paper hands.

Speaker B:

Okay, you do that and I'm gonna get back on.

Speaker B:

On track here because that was depressing.

Speaker B:

We should probably make a.

Speaker B:

A new rule.

Speaker B:

We.

Speaker B:

We.

Speaker B:

We'll just write this down.

Speaker B:

No sad stories mid show.

Speaker A:

I. Bro, I said, I kept saying, let me do this.

Speaker A:

At the end of the show, you kept pressing.

Speaker B:

You made it sound interesting, not like emotional.

Speaker A:

Bro, I said, somebody got scammed.

Speaker A:

What do you mean it's not interesting?

Speaker B:

Some scams are fun.

Speaker A:

No, they're never fun.

Speaker B:

That was heartbreaking.

Speaker B:

If I lost:

Speaker A:

right now because you got the:

Speaker B:

Yes, that's the point.

Speaker B:

Make sure to clarify next time before you start a story.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

So we started the last couple of weeks talking about how technology in the rise and if you believe in technology moving at a faster cadence, that you have to possibly double down and invest in and around that space because that's the space that's going to grow outsize relative to the rest of the markets for the foreseeable future.

Speaker B:

That's where we kind of left things off, right?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Which is why the Mag 7 and the 10 top stocks and the S&P 500 are really growing at the K's they're going.

Speaker B:

Which is greater than the 18% the S& P returned this year.

Speaker B:

So then I started thinking to myself, wait a minute.

Speaker B:

Light bulb moment.

Speaker B:

We also have some markers coming back that signal recessionary trends, but we're not looking at them the right way.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Perhaps using that same logic of where technology is going in the cadence of just everything in general.

Speaker B:

And despite my current angst with ChatGPT getting more stupid over the last couple weeks, and I'll explain that at the end of the show because it is a depressing story because I know the right placement of stories.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Tail end of the show.

Speaker A:

C block.

Speaker B:

C block.

Speaker B:

CPT Block.

Speaker B:

We can't.

Speaker B:

We can't use jail.

Speaker B:

Jail block terminology.

Speaker B:

We can't do that.

Speaker A:

We're gonna get caught up.

Speaker B:

Someone's gonna be one of them when.

Speaker A:

One of us goes to jail.

Speaker B:

We've never been in the shoe.

Speaker B:

Say, you know what you talk about.

Speaker A:

Week, week when it's you.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I don't.

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker A:

No, it's not me.

Speaker A:

Hey, go be me.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I'm.

Speaker B:

I have too hairless of a body to make.

Speaker B:

Make that situation.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

There's lots of questions.

Speaker B:

I've had colorectal surgery.

Speaker B:

Oh, my God.

Speaker B:

There's no part of it that works out well for me.

Speaker A:

That'd be bad.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it'd be very bad.

Speaker A:

Can't even elaborate.

Speaker B:

Can't participate on this.

Speaker A:

Hypothetical scenarios like I want to chief.

Speaker B:

Prognosticator is not working right now.

Speaker B:

So I look at all these things and I think to myself, okay, unemployment went from 4.2%, 4.3%, 4.4%.

Speaker B:

Was it 4.6 now?

Speaker B:

4.4?

Speaker B:

4.4, yeah.

Speaker B:

And I said to myself, okay, well this would normal normally signal recessionary trends.

Speaker B:

But what if, what if, and I know it's a big question mark and everyone's going to say, well, there's no data to support that.

Speaker B:

Chris.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

What if this is the trend because we are getting more efficient businesses?

Speaker B:

What if we are naturally.

Speaker B:

Again, hear me out.

Speaker B:

I know that there's no data to support this, but what if we follow that thread of where technology is going and businesses are going to get pushed and pushed and pushed to be more efficient.

Speaker B:

And the most efficient thing for every business in the country is largely going to be replacing humans with technology.

Speaker B:

It'll have some capital expenditures in the very beginning to roll out the infrastructure.

Speaker B:

They're going to spend a couple years building the data set and the data warehouse and the models.

Speaker B:

But a lot of that's going to get easier and easier and faster and faster as time goes by because of the efficiency of technology.

Speaker B:

And then what are these companies going to do?

Speaker B:

Let's look at the finance sector, sector we often talk about.

Speaker B:

Let's use this as a microcosm for the rest of the world and the rest of the businesses.

Speaker B:

Okay?

Speaker B:

If you can take a data call center, I don't care what you call for calling for loans, loan servicing, you're calling for deposits.

Speaker B:

And I can have AI answer everyone's call instantly.

Speaker B:

And it's not gonna be that dumb AI where you call, you're like, I want to talk to a person.

Speaker B:

And you just, you know it's not that one.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

But it's gonna be like real valuable AI where you can just ask questions and get some feedback.

Speaker B:

Then you start losing humans in the employment space.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker A:

Naturally.

Speaker B:

And there was a period of time where not too long ago we decided that we would be intelligent and say, no, we're take all that manual labor work, we're going to ship that all out to China and third world countries, India, Mexico, because we're the smarter country.

Speaker A:

Or the cost of labor is just cheaper.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So we did all that.

Speaker B:

So now the real labor jobs where people like at a call center a data center would go to.

Speaker B:

Aren't there.

Speaker B:

So it is a safe assumption to say that as AI continues to grow and get better, you are going to see higher unemployment.

Speaker B:

And that isn't going to be recessionary trending because at the same time you're going to have business efficiency and profits growing.

Speaker B:

Mm.

Speaker B:

Particularly around those 10 stocks that build these things.

Speaker B:

And everybody's buying Nvidia's chipset, for example.

Speaker B:

But yeah, that's, that's where we're going.

Speaker B:

And if we go that path and we win this AI war with other countries, because everybody's competing now for the best AI solution and that means less Americans are going to be working in some of these fields.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So are we seeing the early aughts of that long.

Speaker B:

Not too long ago you used to say, okay, I want an efficient call center.

Speaker B:

From a cost perspective, where would I go?

Speaker B:

And you would go to the Philippines.

Speaker B:

You'd call, get some of the Philippines.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker A:

For a long time it was India and then it slowly switched over to the Philippines.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And if you go to the Philippines, which I've been, you'll understand why it's a very.

Speaker B:

English is almost like a native language to them.

Speaker B:

They're very, very proper people and the cost of living is so incredibly low that you can pay them effectively, like a terrible wage here, there.

Speaker A:

And, and look, and it like economic behavior that consumers have shown already is as long as it's cheaper, that's all I care about.

Speaker A:

Look at Amazon.

Speaker A:

Amazon users, right?

Speaker B:

They don't care.

Speaker B:

Don't shame me for my love.

Speaker B:

Me too.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker A:

Me too.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

If I can get a faster prime shipping, I might get it same day.

Speaker A:

Sign me up.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

But that takes that, that takes away from the mom and pop shop.

Speaker B:

It does.

Speaker B:

I have been making a conscious effort and I want to put this, put myself on blast here.

Speaker B:

I've been making a conscious effort to use Amazon less, which I will say is a bit of a physical inconvenience because it requires me to be more proactive whenever I think about shopping and buying stuff.

Speaker B:

Like, I ran out of energy drinks this morning.

Speaker B:

Normally I just have last night.

Speaker B:

I'd have Amazon deliver some the next day.

Speaker B:

I'm also trying not to use like Postmates and Uber and all that stuff.

Speaker B:

As much I, I, I want to be.

Speaker B:

It's, it's insane how easy it is to remain Uber.

Speaker A:

Getting taken through the ringer right now.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

This insurance policy coverage that they are like, I guess reducing for not only the drivers but the, the users themselves.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Every attorney I know in the PI space has been posting about it.

Speaker B:

And Farshad, who was on the show, who I love very much.

Speaker B:

Very handsome, by the way.

Speaker B:

Super handsome.

Speaker A:

Good looking guy.

Speaker B:

You're very good looking guy, honestly, especially.

Speaker A:

Because the salt and pepper beard.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I think the beard is probably second to mine, but it's a very close second.

Speaker A:

And I'll be honest, this is better than yours.

Speaker A:

That's objectively speaking.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Mine also sheds a little bit.

Speaker B:

A little dandruff going on the beard, but that's okay.

Speaker B:

Doesn't hurt my feelings.

Speaker B:

If I had to lose to somebody, that's fine.

Speaker B:

It's him.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's right.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's to him.

Speaker B:

And he also gives great hugs.

Speaker A:

He does give.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

But there is one catch to his hugs, which I hope he hears this.

Speaker B:

When you hug him, you will smell like him the rest of the day.

Speaker A:

That's a compliment though.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

He wear, he wears the proper amount of cologne.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

What were you saying?

Speaker A:

All the PI attorneys are posting about.

Speaker B:

They're all posting about it.

Speaker B:

So he's been posting about it.

Speaker B:

I talked to him about it the other day and it was, it was kind of shocking.

Speaker B:

Every PI attorney that I know that, that deals with them from a legal perspective is suggesting not to, to use them and to boycott them.

Speaker A:

Something about the coverage for the drivers and the people.

Speaker A:

The actual users of the app used to have million dollar payouts in case of.

Speaker A:

For injury, Right?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And now they cut it down to 30 grand.

Speaker B:

Well, there's a logical nexus here that I think is important to walk down too.

Speaker B:

At some point, you know, you're going to have a robo taxi like service, replace the individuals there.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah, that's going to happen.

Speaker B:

And Elon Musk, you heard about his model, right?

Speaker B:

Where his robo taxi concept.

Speaker A:

No, I haven't heard about.

Speaker A:

I mean, I've heard him wanting to launch one, but not his model.

Speaker B:

So he wants.

Speaker B:

So the reason why Tesla was originally supposed to be so revolutionary was because the cars were just one part of the process, but it was just a hardware piece and they were really a data company.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

And he was using the cars that we were paying for to scan the roads and give him the most possible, like in depth data that anyone could have.

Speaker B:

And to this day, I think Tesla probably has the best road data out there.

Speaker A:

And they're, they're years ahead of everybody.

Speaker B:

Else because they've got all these cameras and all these cars and every single one of these Cars is rolling around, taking cameras and now they have camp cars lidar on them.

Speaker B:

Like Rivian just rolled one out.

Speaker B:

So they're going to get more and more detailed thing with this.

Speaker B:

How do you rob somebody now?

Speaker B:

Everybody's car's got like 12 cameras on it.

Speaker A:

It sounds like a great solution.

Speaker A:

It sounds like we have a good solution.

Speaker A:

Let's not jinx it, Chris.

Speaker B:

Yeah, we did a cloaking device.

Speaker B:

Like it's like, it's crazy when I hear about somebody get somebody's house getting robbed.

Speaker B:

Like how everybody got a ring doorbell, dog.

Speaker B:

You got mobile phones on you?

Speaker A:

No, I feel like, I feel like the, the, the cameras, like the rings of cameras for your house alarms.

Speaker A:

I think it's a great hustle.

Speaker B:

Okay, hold on a second.

Speaker A:

This is.

Speaker A:

That's a great hustle.

Speaker A:

Hey, hey, why don't you get this?

Speaker A:

So people won't rob you.

Speaker A:

But really all it does is show you who's robbing you while you're getting robbed.

Speaker A:

People valid people are still going to rob you.

Speaker A:

Now you just get to see how you got robbed.

Speaker B:

Don't take that, don't take that.

Speaker B:

Not that.

Speaker A:

Not like that.

Speaker B:

Take that.

Speaker A:

Take that, take that, take that.

Speaker B:

Which explains the little bottle of baby oil I found in the neighborhood last week.

Speaker A:

Take that.

Speaker B:

I looked down in the gutter and I was like, huh, I should go home now, right?

Speaker B:

Can't be out here late at night.

Speaker B:

There's nothing coyotes.

Speaker B:

You got to worry about street saying safe.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You don't know what'd you find out there in Irvine.

Speaker A:

But Robo you're talking about.

Speaker B:

No, no.

Speaker B:

I'm trying to think of the best way to articulate so effectively everybody had an opportunity to opt in on their cars under this model that he wanted to put out where everybody's vehicle would have effectively the same functionality as the robo taxis were.

Speaker B:

So you could opt in.

Speaker B:

So you go to work in the morning, you get there at 9 o' clock.

Speaker B:

Like you know the old school model before, before COVID hit and you would park your car.

Speaker B:

Well, you could turn your car on to go into the taxi service and tell and schedule it to come back to you whenever you got off work.

Speaker B:

And then your car would be out making money for you.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

And then returns to you in full self driving to where it was at before.

Speaker A:

Amazing.

Speaker B:

Now great model.

Speaker B:

There's a lot of idiosyncratic logistics in there.

Speaker A:

Worked out.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

But if that's what he's ultimately aiming to do, think about that.

Speaker B:

You would no longer buy a car because it's amazing for you.

Speaker B:

You would buy a car because it's gonna pay for itself.

Speaker B:

Yeah, sign me up, bro.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I mean, then you would charge more for the car.

Speaker B:

Hey, hey.

Speaker B:

Now we just covered this.

Speaker A:

I'm just saying.

Speaker A:

Was the average price of a new car, like 48 grand?

Speaker A:

That's going up.

Speaker A:

Price going up.

Speaker B:

I'm not gonna name any names.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Oh, somebody got a new car.

Speaker B:

I'm not gonna name my brother's name, but he.

Speaker B:

He's buying a car, he's getting through a car dealer at like a hundred and twelve thousand dollars.

Speaker B:

And I'm like, bro, you're not even 30.

Speaker A:

Well, hold on.

Speaker A:

I mean, we talk about.

Speaker A:

On the show is.

Speaker A:

And all the YouTube creators are.

Speaker A:

This is their title.

Speaker A:

Biggest wealth killer.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

Buying a car.

Speaker A:

It's overpriced.

Speaker B:

The higher standard.

Speaker A:

No, the wealth killer.

Speaker B:

Killing everybody's wealth.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

Look, and I bought it like I bought a 750IL back in the day.

Speaker A:

It was a nice car.

Speaker B:

It was a nice car.

Speaker B:

I had a 7, 745 li.

Speaker B:

No, 745.

Speaker B:

I.

Speaker B:

The short wheel base.

Speaker B:

I. I did all that, and I regret it.

Speaker B:

They were.

Speaker B:

They were fun experiences.

Speaker B:

Sure.

Speaker B:

Did I need them?

Speaker A:

Nope.

Speaker B:

And I got to the point where I got back, I think, you know this.

Speaker B:

I went to Hawaii.

Speaker B:

No, I was.

Speaker B:

Before I went to Hawaii, a gentleman who was in his 70s at the time came out.

Speaker B:

He was like, chris, I got a new car.

Speaker B:

You should come see it.

Speaker B:

I was like, all right, cool.

Speaker B:

Went down there is exact same car as me, color, everything.

Speaker B:

And that same week, one of the girls we worked with was like, chris, why do you drive an old man car?

Speaker B:

And I'm like, damn it.

Speaker B:

She's not wrong.

Speaker A:

Got me.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And I went to Hawaii like the following week, and I rented a Jeep.

Speaker B:

And I was like, I. I live like, next to Laguna beach.

Speaker B:

Like we.

Speaker A:

I should.

Speaker A:

I should be owning this.

Speaker B:

I should own this.

Speaker B:

And I bought the Jeep thanks to you and your.

Speaker B:

Your love for Jeeps.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And then I got a Jeep.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And then now neither one of us have a Jeep anymore.

Speaker A:

I know.

Speaker B:

Rip.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So sad.

Speaker A:

But I'll say.

Speaker A:

I'll say this now, years later, every time I pass by somebody driving a Jeep, it's always a girl driving it.

Speaker A:

Now I don't see many guys driving Jeeps anymore.

Speaker A:

I'll be honest.

Speaker B:

This is.

Speaker B:

Sides nod to the decreasing testosterone levels in modern men.

Speaker B:

He would like to suggest there's a correlation to Jeep driving.

Speaker A:

There's a Small correlation.

Speaker A:

And I feel like the dudes are driving the Broncos.

Speaker A:

That's what I feel like they are.

Speaker B:

Matt had a Bronco.

Speaker A:

See?

Speaker A:

Yeah, Got it.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Broncos are nice.

Speaker B:

They're bigger, they're beefier.

Speaker B:

Mm.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

They're not as nimble.

Speaker A:

It's a good his and her car, right?

Speaker A:

Bronco girl.

Speaker A:

Nice.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I like the Jeep's better.

Speaker B:

I'm a Jeep guy always.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So $36,000.

Speaker B:

And the point of this whole story was I had way more fun driving that $36,000 car.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker B:

Than I did driving any other cars.

Speaker B:

And it's.

Speaker B:

I stopped caring what people thought.

Speaker B:

I mean, I overbuilt it for sure, but I stopped caring.

Speaker A:

You have fun with it.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

Getting back on track here briefly, before we get into the negative side of the stories.

Speaker B:

And there are negative ones, trust me, I think that might be the trend for the years to come, is that we're going to see what we think.

Speaker B:

And I think this is probably some of the rhetoric that we're seeing in between these opinions is that people are taking what otherwise would be recessionary details and they're dooming with it because they are bad things.

Speaker B:

Like the unemployment is increasing.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

But is that where we go?

Speaker B:

And does that mean that companies aren't going to make as much?

Speaker B:

No, they're probably going to make more.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

And if companies aren't making as much, they're probably going to lay off more people.

Speaker B:

So I don't know that that nexus between unemployment and employment with the current technology stack that we have in society are still tying those two together.

Speaker B:

And I know the Fed's primary job is to look out for jobs.

Speaker A:

Stable jobs has been the reason why for the recent rate cuts in stable pricing.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I don't know that pricing and jobs are intertwined anymore.

Speaker B:

We used to say they almost had like an inverse relationship, and it's a subtle balance to balance them all.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

If you're Jerome Powell and you're looking at the jobs, you're going like, what the hell, man?

Speaker A:

Well, especially if.

Speaker A:

If we're going to experience what we had predicted that we might see, right.

Speaker A:

Is stagflation, when these things are now working in opposite directions.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Where unemployment's.

Speaker A:

Unemployment's going up, but inflation is also going up.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Then you have a real problem.

Speaker A:

But at we're going to continue to see growth for a number of different reasons.

Speaker A:

Although we may not be officially in quantitative easing territory.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And they can call it reserve management all they want, put that liquidity in the market, boys.

Speaker A:

That liquidity is coming in the market.

Speaker A:

And that's all the market hears.

Speaker B:

Wait.

Speaker A:

40 billion a month.

Speaker A:

Stop.

Speaker B:

Write me a check.

Speaker A:

That's it?

Speaker A:

What you're saying is we're gonna pump liquidity into.

Speaker A:

Into the economy?

Speaker B:

Hey, Regio, do me a favor real quick while he's doing this.

Speaker B:

Somebody won like over a billion dollars recently in lotto.

Speaker A:

Oh, Arkansas.

Speaker A:

Pissed.

Speaker A:

I paid.

Speaker A:

I did my poor people tax.

Speaker B:

I bought one ticket.

Speaker B:

See, I won't do it.

Speaker B:

I did it.

Speaker A:

Two dollars, bro.

Speaker B:

I did it.

Speaker B:

Wife told me.

Speaker B:

I was like, no, look up how much he paid in taxes.

Speaker A:

It is insane.

Speaker A:

There's a girl, I think 3 million pay.

Speaker A:

It was only 492 or something, right?

Speaker A:

Yeah, it was like four hundreds.

Speaker B:

So this person went over a billion dollars and took home like in the 400 millions?

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

High 400.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I know that's a lot of money.

Speaker B:

Okay, I'm not.

Speaker B:

I'm not saying that.

Speaker B:

That wouldn't be life changing for anyone.

Speaker A:

I feel like I. I wouldn't be smiling in that photo.

Speaker A:

I would be pretty upset still.

Speaker B:

But are we talking like a 75 tax rate here?

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker A:

Obviously the payout up front is you get.

Speaker A:

You get like a lot.

Speaker A:

You get half and then you get taxed on the half.

Speaker B:

Why?

Speaker B:

What's with.

Speaker B:

I mean, what.

Speaker B:

I know.

Speaker B:

You know what I mean?

Speaker A:

Like, I don't make sense.

Speaker B:

You need to hustle a lottery winner.

Speaker B:

Just pay the man what he won.

Speaker A:

I know.

Speaker B:

Or the girl or whoever that was.

Speaker B:

I mean, just saying, like, you know what.

Speaker B:

What the hell happened?

Speaker A:

Well, that's how it is, right?

Speaker A:

Okay, you get it all over.

Speaker A:

I forget, I forget.

Speaker A:

I don't even know how it works over 30 years.

Speaker B:

Yeah, right.

Speaker A:

Paid out over time, which you know you ain't gonna be long.

Speaker A:

Live long enough to see all that.

Speaker A:

Here you go.

Speaker A:

Lottery winnings in Arkansas.

Speaker A:

Subject to both federal and state income taxes, bro.

Speaker A:

Should have, should have bought.

Speaker A:

Should have been living in Texas, bro.

Speaker A:

Damn.

Speaker A:

No state income tax.

Speaker A:

How you playing the lotto in.

Speaker A:

In Arkansas?

Speaker B:

Just salty.

Speaker B:

I know you are.

Speaker A:

Federal taxes.

Speaker A:

The IRS requires a mandatory 24 federal tax withholding on prizes over $5,000.

Speaker A:

Hey, if you make under 5, we don't care.

Speaker B:

Keep it.

Speaker A:

For large jackpots, the winners final tax liability can be as high as the top marginal rate of 37% when they file their full tax return.

Speaker A:

Example, for a recent $1.8 billion jackpot for the Powerball winner who won 1.817 billion with a B jackpot on Christmas Eve.

Speaker A:

Annals on Christmas Eve dog dang.

Speaker A:

And chose the lump sum cash out of roughly 835 million.

Speaker A:

So win 1.817.

Speaker A:

The cash out option is 835 million.

Speaker A:

So then you got to pay the taxes, bro.

Speaker A:

Federal tax.

Speaker A:

Final federal tax bill estimated to be $309 million.

Speaker A:

Government just coming up on 309 million.

Speaker A:

Thanks.

Speaker B:

Appreciate y'.

Speaker B:

All.

Speaker B:

It's just, it's just disappointing.

Speaker A:

Appreciate, appreciate you guys believing in the pipe dream and shame on you for playing it right.

Speaker A:

Rosie optimism I the start of:

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Trump's out here, you know, advocating for Powell to not only like step down, but fully resign, not become a voting member, hopefully to get two seats.

Speaker A:

You know, you're going to get more, more than one Ray cut next year.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

You got the Fed saying we've agreed to pump $40 billion a month right now.

Speaker A:

And I get it, that really impacts the short term Treasuries.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

The ten year which everyone's looking at for mortgage rates and help with the housing market.

Speaker A:

You're really at the mercy of the bond market there.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

And I don't see a lot of movement there.

Speaker A:

I don't see and I got data on that too from all the big players on where they see it going.

Speaker A:

But long story short, they still see it at a 6% range.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

6 to 7% range.

Speaker B:

That's probably right.

Speaker B:

He did six, seven things you see that Rejill had to.

Speaker A:

But the Rosie optimism, that's where it's coming from.

Speaker A:

You're going to get money pumped in, liquidity pumped into the system with more rate cuts to come.

Speaker A:

That's all the market hears.

Speaker A:

They don't care about what you label it, reserve management, this whatever.

Speaker A:

Everything's going to continue to go up at least through Q1, Q2.

Speaker B:

I was checking the cameras.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I just talking to you.

Speaker B:

Yes.

Speaker B:

Get that clip inside.

Speaker B:

Well, you're not wrong and unfortunately there are some naysayers out there in the market who feel very similar to you as it relates to, you know, things are saying naysayers.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

A little caution I would say out of the two of us, I'm probably the rosy optimistic one and you're probably.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

This from Investopedia.

Speaker B:

ys he's cautious heading into:

Speaker B:

Same day, same week, but amazing beard.

Speaker B:

Sosnik Steve Sosnik, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, expects the S&P 500 to finish near year next year, around 6,500, far lower than the 7,700 other people were predicting to start the show, more than 3% below the benchmark index's close on Wednesday.

Speaker B:

So he's actually saying it's going to go down slightly next year.

Speaker B:

Sosnik is one of the most bearish forecasts on Wall Street.

Speaker B:

In an interview with CNBC Wednesday, however, he said he's not outright pessimistic.

Speaker B:

It's just more of a cautious number, he said.

Speaker B:

this week predicted that the:

Speaker B:

Wall street analysts generally expect stock returns to moderate after three years of big gains driven by soaring AI st.

Speaker B:

Concerns about an AI bubble have weighed on the market's leaders in recent months in a potential precursor to next year's trading.

Speaker B:

History advises caution, According to Sosnik, who said midterm election years tend to be tough for stocks, uncertainty about what party will control Congress often puts investors in a wait and see made leading mode leading up to November.

Speaker B:

Since:

Speaker B:

However, I would say that you've got the Republican Party controlling the executive branch, the House and the Senate.

Speaker B:

So I don't know that you're going to see that much volatility as far as the voting members go and their views.

Speaker A:

But this is the problem.

Speaker A:

This is the problem for them.

Speaker B:

Is it?

Speaker A:

This is the problem.

Speaker A:

What's happening in January?

Speaker B:

Oh, the higher standards.

Speaker B:

Get a new sponsor, Fridays Fridays.

Speaker B:

Brought to you by Fridays.

Speaker B:

Join Fridays.com everybody.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And we're not even charging for that one.

Speaker B:

No, that's a free one.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's because.

Speaker A:

That's because we believe in it.

Speaker B:

Once we sign that contract, you better be damn well using that.

Speaker B:

That code.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

100.

Speaker A:

No, what's happening in January is they're going to have to do another government funding bill.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's right.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

January 30th.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Government shutdown.

Speaker B:

Oh my God.

Speaker B:

We talk about government shutdowns every week of the show.

Speaker B:

That's because they don't solve the problem, everybody.

Speaker A:

They don't.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

They just push it out.

Speaker A:

They're extending it.

Speaker A:

And I think this has to do with the Obamacare subsid.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

That was the last time.

Speaker B:

The last holdout was for the Obamacare.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And this is gonna be the same thing.

Speaker A:

They never resolved it.

Speaker B:

They kicked that first form can down the road.

Speaker A:

She's a great can, mind you.

Speaker A:

Shout out to Andy.

Speaker B:

And this is how you subtly plug people, kids.

Speaker A:

There you go.

Speaker B:

I've been in this.

Speaker A:

The Neo of podcasting.

Speaker A:

Chosen one.

Speaker B:

Except he dies, doesn't he?

Speaker A:

Does he?

Speaker A:

I didn't watch the third one.

Speaker B:

I don't know.

Speaker B:

Oh, I don't watch the show.

Speaker B:

Does he ever really die?

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

That's a good question.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

It's esoteric.

Speaker B:

But still important side is going to drink his drink.

Speaker B:

You were saying?

Speaker B:

No, we got a government shutdown and we're covering that later on in the show.

Speaker B:

Notes.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that was.

Speaker A:

That was supposed to be a segue for you.

Speaker B:

Was it really?

Speaker B:

Yeah, I wasn't there yet.

Speaker A:

Yeah, you were.

Speaker B:

Okay, fine.

Speaker B:

The Hill clock ticking on government funding deadline as House battles over other issues.

Speaker B:

Okay, that was a good handoff.

Speaker B:

I didn't take it.

Speaker B:

I fumbled the bag.

Speaker B:

You did.

Speaker A:

It's okay.

Speaker B:

Like to point out that I don't often cite the Hill, but in this.

Speaker A:

Case I like some of their work.

Speaker B:

Yeah, you know, it's, it's.

Speaker B:

I think it's got tough else.

Speaker A:

I think.

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker B:

Anybody?

Speaker B:

Come on the Hill.

Speaker A:

That was.

Speaker B:

Yeah, dad.

Speaker B:

Joke.

Speaker A:

Come on, keep up.

Speaker A:

I got it out here.

Speaker A:

Let you slide.

Speaker B:

Quarter zips.

Speaker A:

I think the, the, the top two people over at Breaking Points are from the Hill, I think.

Speaker B:

Oh, really?

Speaker A:

I think I could be wrong.

Speaker A:

Just don't quote me on Breaking Points again.

Speaker A:

Breaking Points is that independent media source.

Speaker A:

They do great.

Speaker A:

They do amazing work.

Speaker B:

If you're gonna cheat on me, don't do it to my face.

Speaker B:

Saeed.

Speaker A:

Oh, they're amazing.

Speaker B:

We are an independent media source.

Speaker B:

They're good.

Speaker B:

Streaming live shows every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11am to 1pm Pacific Standard.

Speaker A:

Time starting this month.

Speaker B:

The higher Standard Live.

Speaker B:

We're coming into your doors.

Speaker A:

At least one of us are.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

The other one still employed, unfortunately.

Speaker B:

We'll fix that problem for you eventually.

Speaker B:

Just kidding.

Speaker B:

The two week holiday recess, a contentious health care debate and discharge petition showdowns are squeezing the House's legislative calendar, raising doubts about whether the lawmakers can finalize government funding before the January 30 deadline.

Speaker B:

Let me tell you, spoiler alert.

Speaker B:

It's going to be a bumpy ride, kids.

Speaker A:

It's going to be bumpy.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I'm predicting shutdown.

Speaker B:

I'M predicting shutdown as well.

Speaker B:

35 days.

Speaker A:

I don't know if it's going to go.

Speaker A:

It's going to go the distance again.

Speaker B:

We can start Deadpool again.

Speaker A:

Should we?

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, we might have to.

Speaker A:

I hope it doesn't, obviously, because I think a lot of people experience a lot of problems, a lot of government employees during that time.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I appreciate you having a very heartfelt statement about this.

Speaker A:

Empathy.

Speaker A:

I have more empathy than you.

Speaker A:

I am a better human than you.

Speaker B:

It doesn't mean I can't gamble on it.

Speaker B:

I don't want to have a shutdown either.

Speaker B:

But polymarket's got bets out there.

Speaker A:

Do they have bets out there?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Oh, look that up, please.

Speaker B:

Pull this shut down.

Speaker B:

But for sure they do.

Speaker A:

They have to.

Speaker B:

And it's got to be like at least 70.

Speaker A:

It's more than a coin flip, right?

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's more than a coin flip.

Speaker B:

Yeah, for sure it is.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And Rejeel, don't go to the naughty section on polymarkets again.

Speaker B:

Last time I saw the catch history.

Speaker B:

Naughty, naughty.

Speaker A:

This guy, wild boy.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

He was trying to find Pokemon Go.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

By the way, I've been playing a lot more again since you said.

Speaker A:

Oh, you are.

Speaker A:

You had me as a friend.

Speaker B:

I will add you as a friend.

Speaker B:

We'll do that after the show.

Speaker A:

You're back on again?

Speaker B:

Yeah, bro, it's a problem.

Speaker B:

My son's into it.

Speaker B:

I already had an account.

Speaker B:

I got up all the gangster OG Pokemon.

Speaker B:

So I'm out here.

Speaker A:

So gotta catch them all.

Speaker A:

My.

Speaker A:

My brother, My brother in law.

Speaker A:

Everyone, everyone knows Odin introduced Adam to Pokemon Go back in the day and into the whole universe of Pokemon.

Speaker A:

And I was like, I was never into it.

Speaker A:

So for me, it was a real drag.

Speaker A:

I'm like, man, can we just do the sports thing?

Speaker B:

What do you mean?

Speaker A:

I don't know.

Speaker A:

I'm not interested.

Speaker B:

You gotta encourage your kids.

Speaker B:

What they love.

Speaker A:

If he loves it, you love it.

Speaker A:

No, no, Jill.

Speaker B:

See, this is why we're better parents.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker A:

You got you.

Speaker A:

First of all, you guys are both better parents to me.

Speaker A:

I'm not saying that I am better than you.

Speaker B:

You.

Speaker A:

But I'm saying this was pushed and forced onto him.

Speaker A:

And I was like, you're.

Speaker B:

You're.

Speaker B:

You're talking about a room, right?

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah, a room.

Speaker B:

Didn't push that on him.

Speaker A:

Oh, he did.

Speaker A:

He said, bro, no kid's gonna turn away Pikachu.

Speaker A:

He's the cutest thing ever.

Speaker B:

He's gonna force it on him.

Speaker B:

Look at this cute little thing.

Speaker B:

Okay, cool.

Speaker B:

I want to catch them all.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker A:

So then he wanted to catch them all.

Speaker A:

Then he got into Pokemon Go, and he's.

Speaker A:

Now he's no longer into it.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

Because you have, like, this whole, like, basketball sweat camp I'm watching.

Speaker A:

Yeah, the whole sweat camp.

Speaker A:

So I'm watching basketball now.

Speaker A:

He's a fully integrated into basketball.

Speaker A:

All things basketball.

Speaker A:

And now Odin's back with Air Bender.

Speaker A:

I'm like, bro, it's a great series.

Speaker B:

It's a good series.

Speaker A:

It's a great series.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker A:

I know it is.

Speaker A:

What.

Speaker A:

What's the UFC fighter's name?

Speaker A:

Israel Adesanya.

Speaker A:

You're the same Last Style Bender.

Speaker A:

Is that the same.

Speaker A:

Is that the same thing?

Speaker A:

Last Style Bender as Air Bender?

Speaker A:

Is that same thing.

Speaker B:

God damn it.

Speaker A:

Last Style Bender.

Speaker A:

No, no, the Style Bender.

Speaker A:

No, no, that ain't it.

Speaker A:

It's two.

Speaker A:

Those are two different things.

Speaker A:

Air, there's fire, there's.

Speaker A:

Bro, what's going on?

Speaker A:

This is too much.

Speaker B:

Do you think I forgot about you not watching Loki?

Speaker B:

You're the last person to comment on pop culture.

Speaker B:

Okay?

Speaker B:

You can take your boat shoes and get out.

Speaker A:

All right, hold on, hold on.

Speaker A:

I don't understand.

Speaker A:

What makes it so good, man.

Speaker B:

What?

Speaker B:

Loki?

Speaker A:

No, no, not Loki.

Speaker B:

Loki.

Speaker A:

I understand.

Speaker A:

Loki's amazing.

Speaker A:

He's probably one of my favorite villains of all time.

Speaker B:

We do the stranger things.

Speaker B:

Later on today.

Speaker B:

We're Jill you up to date.

Speaker A:

No stranger scenes now.

Speaker A:

I got a binge watch, bro.

Speaker A:

I got a binge watch.

Speaker A:

I got.

Speaker A:

I know.

Speaker A:

I'm like two seasons behind.

Speaker B:

This is.

Speaker B:

This is.

Speaker B:

This is.

Speaker B:

We shouldn't be recording a show tonight.

Speaker B:

We should just watch.

Speaker A:

I know, but I don't know.

Speaker A:

I don't understand.

Speaker A:

I don't understand the whole Pokemon and Airbender.

Speaker A:

I don't get it all.

Speaker A:

It ain't me anything.

Speaker B:

You got to embrace pop culture.

Speaker A:

That ain't pop culture.

Speaker B:

Pop culture.

Speaker A:

That's not pop culture.

Speaker B:

Catch them all.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker B:

I believe it.

Speaker B:

Poly Markets.

Speaker B:

Will there be another U.S. government shut down by January 31st?

Speaker A:

Survey says 25 chance.

Speaker B:

It's less than a coin flip, but that's okay.

Speaker A:

I'm telling you.

Speaker A:

That's going up, though.

Speaker B:

I bet you that does get more and more accurate the closer you get.

Speaker B:

25 cents for yes, 76 cents for no.

Speaker B:

This is the real Polymarket.

Speaker B:

It's not like the site's personal friend.

Speaker B:

It would be Poly Markets.

Speaker A:

Sad.

Speaker B:

Too soon.

Speaker A:

Yeah, too soon.

Speaker B:

Is that person listening to the show?

Speaker A:

No.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Good.

Speaker B:

I'm not sorry.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I don't think they know how to access the show.

Speaker B:

They're going to the wrong.

Speaker B:

Higher standards.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

More on that to come.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

So far, lawmakers have passed only three of the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the government.

Speaker B:

Only three.

Speaker B:

That's 25%.

Speaker B:

Also in line with the probabilities.

Speaker B:

Interesting.

Speaker B:

They must pass the remaining nine bills or enact a temporary stopgap measure to keep the rest of the government running past the end of January.

Speaker B:

If not another government shutdown is on the table.

Speaker B:

But the House has been bogged down by competing priorities.

Speaker B:

Nancy Pelosi's trading being one of them.

Speaker B:

Gotta catch em all.

Speaker B:

Republicans are facing mounting pressures as the Affordable Care Act ACA subsidiaries are set to expire at the end of the month.

Speaker B:

Four GOP lawmakers broke ranks to join Democrats in advance in advancing a discharge petition to bring a three year subsidy extension bill to the floor in January over the objection of leadership.

Speaker B:

Keep in mind this from the Hill, so it sounds very political, but this is a financial literacy show.

Speaker B:

Lawmakers expect that the Senate to will amend the bill if it is passed in the House, passes the House.

Speaker B:

I really gotta stop drinking caffeine so late at night.

Speaker B:

And any bill that passes the Senate will change with changes has to be sent back to the House for another vote.

Speaker B:

A process that will likely also be lengthy and contentious.

Speaker B:

And basically they're saying, strap in kids.

Speaker B:

It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Speaker A:

It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Speaker A:

And this is just something else that they're gonna.

Speaker A:

Because it has to.

Speaker A:

In order for them to, to change it.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

They're gonna have to get a vote of 60, 40.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

So even though they control the majority, they're still gonna have to get votes on from the other side to get there.

Speaker B:

It's problematic.

Speaker A:

It's gonna be a problem.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I don't see this.

Speaker B:

I would say the odds of there being another government shut down and them not getting this done, in my personal opinion, are high.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I agree.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Because this was, this is the point of contention last time.

Speaker B:

It's why everybody held out.

Speaker B:

Nobody wants in the government shut down.

Speaker B:

But I don't, I don't know that you're gonna get.

Speaker B:

I don't know how you get people who are unwilling to compromise on either side of the aisle to compromise to get something like this done.

Speaker A:

Well, the real struggle for a lot of people is going to be that a lot of people are expecting more rate cuts.

Speaker A:

To come, but you had a CPI report that came out that was a little disingenuous.

Speaker B:

Oh, God, the handoffs are so good tonight.

Speaker A:

You just feeling this.

Speaker A:

It's just flowing.

Speaker A:

It's just flowing.

Speaker B:

You get like that, like the little, like, tingly, like bumps on your arms and like your hair starts to raise up.

Speaker B:

You're like goosebumps.

Speaker A:

You ever been in such a flow state of basketball where you can just throw a no look pass.

Speaker B:

Never.

Speaker A:

You just know me all the time.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You probably live there.

Speaker A:

I live in the no look pass lane.

Speaker B:

You're basically 11.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker B:

Stranger Things reference.

Speaker B:

There you go.

Speaker A:

I got it.

Speaker A:

See, I'm plugged in.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Also a reference he doesn't even know he's doing anymore.

Speaker B:

Kids, it's called flow.

Speaker A:

It's just flowing.

Speaker B:

Inflation in November fell to 2.7%.

Speaker B:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, not the other department, we just Economic analysis.

Speaker B:

We didn't hear about them before, said Thursday a positive sign for consumers.

Speaker B:

On its face.

Speaker B:

Keywords on its face.

Speaker B:

However, November's data was collected later than normal.

Speaker B:

The release figures may include significant holiday discounting, which could have put downward pressure on the overall figure.

Speaker B:

There's a quote here.

Speaker B:

It's possible that this does reflect a genuine drop off in inflationary pressures, said Paul Ashworth, Capital economist, chief North America economist.

Speaker B:

Really weird name.

Speaker B:

But such a sudden stop, particularly in the more persistent services component like rent or shelter, is very unusual, at least outside of a recession, he said.

Speaker B:

That's curious.

Speaker B:

Outside of a recession.

Speaker B:

Interesting.

Speaker B:

Well, wait, there's more.

Speaker B:

Morgan Stanley's economists concurred, saying it's difficult to draw strong conclusions from the report.

Speaker B:

They warned that given the way the BLS processed the report, without October data, inflation could see re acceleration in December.

Speaker A:

I'm telling you right now, book it.

Speaker A:

It's happening.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker A:

No, it has to happen.

Speaker B:

So firm.

Speaker A:

The Fed has said that they like to look at core inflation and see.

Speaker B:

When I said earlier that he was the negative one and I was the positive one.

Speaker A:

Booking a prediction.

Speaker B:

You're booking the prediction of negative.

Speaker B:

Negative prediction.

Speaker B:

You're booking it.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I'm booking.

Speaker B:

I'm buying it.

Speaker B:

Let me confirm your staunch position on negative results.

Speaker A:

So.

Speaker A:

So we could talk about it.

Speaker A:

The last inflation report that they're referring to, the 2.7% that came in, the expectations were 3.1%.

Speaker A:

They're never that far off with the expectations, at least not unless it's negative.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

This was a positive print and everyone was shocked by it.

Speaker A:

But then when they dug Deeper.

Speaker A:

And they found out because they didn't have the housing shelter data which comprises of more than 40% of the core CPI inflation figure.

Speaker B:

That's a problem.

Speaker A:

It accounts for 40.

Speaker A:

What did they do?

Speaker A:

Because they didn't have shelter inflation?

Speaker B:

They made it up.

Speaker A:

No, zero.

Speaker B:

I know, they put zero.

Speaker A:

Literally nothing.

Speaker A:

Because we don't have the data.

Speaker A:

And then that's a positive print.

Speaker A:

And the headline figure says that in all the markets got a little crazy that day.

Speaker A:

They all said.

Speaker A:

But once they all figured out why, then you're like, now we don't know what's, what's the next meeting going to?

Speaker B:

Imagine your teacher, you know, I don't have the key for this exam.

Speaker B:

I'm gonna give everybody a zero and then we'll all have an average score lower.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's fine.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And listen, we all know we've talked about on the show at nauseam, right.

Speaker A:

That whatever CPI says inflation is, it's, it's more than that.

Speaker A:

It's probably double that.

Speaker A:

Yeah, right.

Speaker A:

Because they're not measuring actual cost of things.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Going up or down.

Speaker A:

They're measuring lifestyle.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Because they, they assume you're going to make an adjustment to, oh, I bought eggs.

Speaker A:

Eggs are now way too expensive.

Speaker A:

I'm going to make a substitute for something else that's cheap, cheaper.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

So the real, real cost of inflation is probably closer to 6, 7, 8%.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Can't help myself, bro.

Speaker A:

Plugged into the community.

Speaker A:

I mean it.

Speaker B:

Why is the booby gesture though?

Speaker A:

That's not, that's not.

Speaker A:

It's not a movie.

Speaker A:

That's not a movie.

Speaker B:

What gesture is that?

Speaker A:

It's six or seven.

Speaker A:

It's one or the other.

Speaker B:

That's not at all.

Speaker A:

It's always been historically, this, this motion.

Speaker A:

Historically for the YouTube and Spotify listeners.

Speaker A:

You back me on this.

Speaker A:

This has always been one or the other.

Speaker A:

Not a booby.

Speaker B:

No.

Speaker B:

When you do one or the other, when you do it repeatedly, that's the booby motion.

Speaker B:

Everybody knows it's iconic booby motion.

Speaker B:

I would have Google, I would have him research.

Speaker B:

That is my computer.

Speaker A:

Yeah, don't do that.

Speaker B:

I can't have booby motion in the search history.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

So speaking of bad consumer price index reports, Thursday's release, known as the CPI index, was the first batch of inflation data to be published since the historically long government shutdown ended in mid November.

Speaker B:

Oh, I think we have a problem.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Well, if we had one shutdown and it released bad data and another shutdown that we're going to Release bad data and we're going to have more FOMC meetings where the chair leaves.

Speaker B:

This could be a Molotov cocktail of problems for bad data reporting.

Speaker B:

But I digress.

Speaker B:

I just think that perhaps there's some issues here we should think about.

Speaker B:

Some of the most significant easing in prices happened in the categories of food and what BLS calls shelter, which includes both rent and mortgages.

Speaker B:

In September, prices in the food category were rising at a 3.1% annual rate.

Speaker B:

In Tuesday's release that show, that slowed to 2.6%.

Speaker B:

Housing was increasing at an annual rate of 3.6% in September.

Speaker B:

In November, that slowed to 3.0%.

Speaker B:

So everyone's basically calling shenanigans.

Speaker B:

And of course, Saeed put this article in, but I took credit for it.

Speaker B:

Put it in the show notes from Fortune.

Speaker B:

Would you do me honor, Saeed?

Speaker A:

Oh, I did.

Speaker A:

Oh, thank you.

Speaker A:

Rajille, can you pull it up for me, please?

Speaker B:

No, no, I got you here.

Speaker A:

Oh, thank you.

Speaker B:

Your quote's already in there.

Speaker B:

I already give you the quote.

Speaker B:

It's written down for you.

Speaker A:

This.

Speaker A:

This from you put it in here for me?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

See, look at you.

Speaker B:

I'm out here working.

Speaker B:

You don't even know where it's at, do you?

Speaker A:

No, I don't know where.

Speaker B:

So go up.

Speaker B:

There you go.

Speaker B:

These are the show notes.

Speaker B:

This is the first time.

Speaker B:

I understand.

Speaker A:

Right here.

Speaker B:

Very easy.

Speaker B:

This is for Fortune on top there.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Here we go.

Speaker A:

This from Fortune.

Speaker A:

This is a wacky number.

Speaker A:

Economists cry foul as new government data assumes zero housing inflation and surprising November drops.

Speaker A:

So, exactly what I alluded to earlier, the government's long delayed November inflation report appeared at first glance to deliver welcome news.

Speaker A:

Consumer prices rose only 2.7% from a year earlier, while core inflation cooled to 2.6%, the lowest reading in years.

Speaker A:

But for many economists, the numbers immediately raise red flags, especially on housing, the single largest component of inflation.

Speaker A:

This is a wacky number.

Speaker A:

Diane Swank, chief economist at kpmg, told.

Speaker B:

You how hard it is to say people's names that are weird.

Speaker A:

I know.

Speaker A:

Because you wanted.

Speaker A:

Because you want to do it respectfully.

Speaker A:

Because if it was just.

Speaker A:

If it was just us.

Speaker A:

I mean, I may maybe would have said it differently, but.

Speaker A:

Okay, I want to be respectful.

Speaker B:

Swank.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Swank.

Speaker A:

No, not Hillary.

Speaker B:

Swank.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Swonk.

Speaker A:

Spell it.

Speaker A:

S W O N K. Swank.

Speaker B:

So it's past tense.

Speaker B:

Swank.

Speaker A:

Shelter costs basically flatlined October by carrying forward September, when housing is that large a component that really matters.

Speaker A:

And it's true.

Speaker A:

You gotta, if anything, if you're not gonna include something that accounts for 40% of the report, bruh, just delay the.

Speaker A:

The reporting of the whole report at that point.

Speaker B:

I mean, you're taking a D off the table right there, right?

Speaker B:

It's a D or better.

Speaker B:

Do you know what I'm saying?

Speaker A:

40% of this.

Speaker A:

We're just gonna.

Speaker A:

We don't have the data.

Speaker A:

Let's just go on with it.

Speaker B:

Yeah, we're walking into this with the D. We can get an F, but that's the highest we're gonna get.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

Imagine.

Speaker A:

Imagine taking like your bar exam and you just leave out, I don't know.

Speaker A:

40% of this exam is this one.

Speaker B:

Imagine I take it like 40 times.

Speaker A:

Is this 40% of the exam is this one question.

Speaker A:

I'm just gonna.

Speaker A:

I don't have the answer to this one.

Speaker A:

I'm just gonna leave this one aside.

Speaker A:

Just grade me on this portion over here.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's not how this works.

Speaker B:

Right, Kim Kardashian.

Speaker B:

And then you use ChatGPT.

Speaker A:

No, she did it.

Speaker B:

Oh, Jill, come on now.

Speaker A:

Stop it.

Speaker A:

She's chat.

Speaker B:

She blamed her frequent use of chat GPT for not passing the bar.

Speaker A:

That's a bad look for ChatGPT.

Speaker B:

Well, I'm gonna go out.

Speaker B:

We can have this conversation.

Speaker A:

Obviously, she shouldn't be using ChatGPT.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker B:

Okay, obviously, I don't know how studying.

Speaker A:

For the bar, but, like, why?

Speaker A:

Dude, that's like, what are you doing?

Speaker A:

You're hurting a future brand deal for yourself.

Speaker B:

According to People.

Speaker B:

Reliable source, Kim Kardashian blames failing her law exam on studying with CHAT GPT.

Speaker B:

I'll get mad and I'll yell at it.

Speaker A:

Kim Kardashian says she used chat GPT to study for a law exam and blames the generative AI engine for failing.

Speaker A:

Kardashian, 45, spoke about her AI usage for vanity Fair's lie detector test interview series.

Speaker A:

During the interview, Kardashians all affairs co star Tiana Taylor asked her if she uses chat GBT for life advice or dating advice, or if she viewed the chat bot as a friend.

Speaker A:

After answering no to the first three questions, Kardashian revealed that she has used chat GBT for legal advice.

Speaker B:

So I have used chat GPT a lot.

Speaker B:

I continue to use it a lot.

Speaker B:

I will say I have recently pivoted to a heavier usage in Claude AI Anthropics baby over there.

Speaker B:

I prefer that now based on the work that I'm doing coding stuff like that from time to time.

Speaker B:

But I have seen a palpable decline in the cognitive abilities of ChatGPT.

Speaker B:

Jill saw one this earlier tonight.

Speaker B:

I asked it for a thumbnail image that corresponds for episode 315 and it said it gave me like five things that are amazing about cameras.

Speaker A:

I mean, what the hell, right?

Speaker B:

And Rajeel was like, wait, what?

Speaker A:

Yeah, and this is exactly what, what would worry me and why I don't feel like ChatGPT could ever fully replace something like Google.

Speaker A:

Right, because look, and I had prepared this segment in case we were actually going to get into this.

Speaker A:

I didn't know.

Speaker A:

Generative AI again, yeah, generative AI.

Speaker A:

No, because there's a constant conversation of can ChatGPT ultimately replace Google?

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And first of all, the innovation that comes out of Google in and of itself, I don't think ChatGPT could ever take away.

Speaker A:

Right, but search is bigger than an AI chatbot.

Speaker A:

If they start getting stuff wrong and you get bad press like this, bro, I mean, it's going to take a long time for people to get comfortable enough to trust it again.

Speaker B:

I have seen instances where people have queried with Chat GPT on legal matters and Chat GPT cited cases that did.

Speaker A:

Not exist and actually cite it as.

Speaker B:

A cited full case site and everything did not exist.

Speaker B:

I have literally used it before to go, hey, I can't find this case.

Speaker B:

What is it?

Speaker B:

And Chat GPT will look and not tell you that it doesn't exist.

Speaker A:

Wait, oh, not tell you?

Speaker B:

Yeah, it'll just say I can't find it or, or having trouble located.

Speaker B:

Here's some other ones that, that fit the.

Speaker B:

Yeah, what?

Speaker B:

Yeah, see?

Speaker A:

Yeah, problem.

Speaker B:

It.

Speaker B:

You have to go down this rabbit hole and this is tmi, but I'll share it.

Speaker B:

Anyway, I've been building the server for the overlays and the scripting that we're doing in this new show, which has an index file, it has a Python server, it has a styles CSS and It has some JavaScript and everything else built into it.

Speaker B:

And I had to go back and forth to these, you know, three or four different coding, you know, kind of vehicles to get the end result that I needed to.

Speaker B:

And all this stuff from a software perspective has to work with the hardware that we have in place.

Speaker B:

And it's a stream deck and atem, a rodecaster and then obviously the, the computer systems and the cameras, everything else.

Speaker B:

And in doing that, there are clear times where Chat GPT has led me down long rabbit holes, hours long, based on stuff that was simple as saying, like so, for example, today I was trying to adjust in the ATEM software the color profiles of the live stream so that they matched our color corrected versions that we put out on the podcast.

Speaker B:

Because I want the look of the show to feel the same branding for the same.

Speaker B:

Right, right.

Speaker B:

And it said, yeah, just adjust this, this, and this, and the Atem blah, blah, blah.

Speaker B:

That only works with road.

Speaker B:

It only works with blackmagic cameras.

Speaker B:

So I went down this rabbit hole of using on the ATEM to try to get them to adjust the cameras, because we use Sony cameras.

Speaker B:

Because everything we do in here is Netflix, you know, quality.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Shout out to Netflix.

Speaker B:

Shout out to Netflix.

Speaker A:

Hope y' all listening.

Speaker B:

Yeah, we get.

Speaker B:

You know, you guys are on Spotify podcast video 1.

Speaker B:

You know what I'm saying?

Speaker B:

Yeah, you can check it out him.

Speaker B:

We'll even be PG13 for you.

Speaker A:

Charlemagne just got the bag.

Speaker B:

$200 million.

Speaker A:

Oh, my gosh.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

How much?

Speaker A:

After taxes took his breath.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

$5.

Speaker B:

Can I, can I, can I just be honest?

Speaker A:

Okay, Be honest.

Speaker B:

I don't get it.

Speaker A:

You don't get Charlemagne?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

What is it?

Speaker B:

The dry humor?

Speaker B:

Is that what it is?

Speaker A:

No, no, hold on.

Speaker A:

You don't get Charlie.

Speaker A:

What.

Speaker A:

What don't you get about him?

Speaker B:

Smart guy.

Speaker A:

Brilliant.

Speaker A:

Yeah, Just brilliant marketer.

Speaker B:

I find the people that he does the podcast with.

Speaker A:

He's a person.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah, yeah, that.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

No, but he's a morning talk show radio.

Speaker A:

That's where he started, right?

Speaker A:

Personality.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

So he's.

Speaker B:

But starts a lot of fights too.

Speaker A:

Yeah, he knows how to go viral, man.

Speaker A:

Grand opening, grand closing.

Speaker A:

That's him.

Speaker B:

Do you think that his fight with Birdman.

Speaker B:

Birdman's one.

Speaker A:

Put some respect on my name.

Speaker B:

Put some respect on my name.

Speaker B:

And what's the other one that he got?

Speaker B:

The rock.

Speaker B:

Dame Dash.

Speaker B:

Oh, that one.

Speaker A:

That was that recent one.

Speaker A:

That was great.

Speaker B:

Do you think he.

Speaker B:

That wasn't scripted.

Speaker A:

No, none of that scripted.

Speaker A:

And he welcomes it all, you know, and.

Speaker A:

But this is long in the making, man.

Speaker A:

I think he's from South Carolina, where he started, like in a small radio shop there.

Speaker A:

And he just is plugged into the community and it's really.

Speaker A:

I think it's an east coast thing, you know, the beef.

Speaker A:

No, no, just him and how he resonates with people more so on the East Coast.

Speaker A:

I mean, I mean, it's.

Speaker A:

I mean, it's.

Speaker A:

They're from New York, so there's that.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker B:

I'm just saying, like, he does.

Speaker B:

Like, is he on with Schultz?

Speaker A:

He does my brilliant idiots with Schultz.

Speaker B:

Okay, so, yeah, I look at that show and I go, okay, Schultz carries that then.

Speaker A:

Dude, that show has been going on for a lot longer than Schultz being big.

Speaker A:

Believe that.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that show, that show's been going on.

Speaker A:

He carried that show for a long time.

Speaker A:

Now it's all Schultz.

Speaker A:

Yeah, he's the name, he's the draw.

Speaker B:

But how many podcasts is he on?

Speaker A:

Schultz, that's his.

Speaker A:

His is just flagrant and brilliant idiots.

Speaker A:

Those are the only two.

Speaker B:

There's a two big podcast.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

And he's got.

Speaker A:

And he's got a lot to do with that.

Speaker A:

And he's.

Speaker A:

And he's a brilliant marketer too.

Speaker B:

How many days a week is that dude recording podcasts?

Speaker B:

He's clearly doing laughs around us.

Speaker A:

Oh, and traveling, doing his shows.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

I do stuff like that.

Speaker B:

How can I complain about the work that I got to do?

Speaker A:

Yeah, no, but, but Charlemagne is very authentic.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

But he's.

Speaker A:

He's also extremely savvy with controlling the narrative.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

Is that you think a good quality?

Speaker B:

What?

Speaker A:

Controlling the narratives?

Speaker A:

Probably the best.

Speaker A:

One of the best qualities you could have.

Speaker B:

I mean, I don't know, man.

Speaker A:

You don't.

Speaker B:

If you were in high school and someone controlled the narrative about you, you'd be very upset.

Speaker A:

No, but I'm saying to be able to control the narrative is an amazing quality.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

I mean, for a long time, that's how Kanye got big.

Speaker A:

That is the only reason, I mean, aside from his God gifted talent of making music.

Speaker A:

But he knew how to stay relevant for better or for worse.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker B:

Worse, it seems.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

He always took the, the unpopular thing and found a way, like, I'm gonna go for the unpopular thing and make it popular until it got to the point where it got well.

Speaker A:

And that's a little.

Speaker A:

That's really, really unpopular and you shouldn't be doing that.

Speaker B:

There's Tupac too, who arguably had a very different personality.

Speaker B:

You know, there's rumors that he was very flamboyantly gay.

Speaker A:

Oh, that.

Speaker A:

That was.

Speaker A:

Yeah, he was auditioning for a role.

Speaker A:

Right, right.

Speaker A:

I've seen that.

Speaker B:

And then that.

Speaker B:

That was his young true self and everything.

Speaker B:

We saw him playing a part, you know, controlling the narrative.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I mean, I don't care when.

Speaker B:

I still love his music.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker A:

When you see, like, I don't know what to make.

Speaker B:

Michael Jackson didn't have a soft voice.

Speaker B:

He told all of this.

Speaker A:

I don't know what to make about that because you I see it.

Speaker A:

I feel like more times than not, when there's a celebrity that's really big and give any given industry, and then they now, especially now, they can go back and find footage of you doing something completely different.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Like, I look at, like, Lady Gaga, right?

Speaker A:

There used to be this show, like on MTV back in the day, called Boiling Points, where they push people to the edge and they, they.

Speaker A:

It's like they're.

Speaker A:

They're.

Speaker A:

It's like.

Speaker A:

It's like.

Speaker A:

What's it called?

Speaker A:

What's that show with Ashton Kutcher?

Speaker A:

Punk.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

But punked for, like, random people.

Speaker A:

At least that's how they portrayed it to me.

Speaker A:

And she was one of the random people.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And you're like, this doesn't really makes sense.

Speaker A:

Come on, what are the odds?

Speaker A:

What are the odds?

Speaker A:

Before she was famous, this is pre, like her becoming Lady Gaga.

Speaker B:

So maybe she just was always looking for fame.

Speaker A:

Yeah, always.

Speaker A:

But that's what I'm saying.

Speaker A:

I feel like more times than not, you can go back.

Speaker A:

You're going to be able to go back and find old footage of people.

Speaker A:

I don't know.

Speaker A:

For me, it's like the.

Speaker A:

The quit.

Speaker A:

I don't know what to make of it.

Speaker A:

I'm not making any claims, but for me, I find it very odd that.

Speaker B:

People persevere in fields until they find something that makes them successful.

Speaker B:

Is that what it is?

Speaker A:

No, but it's clearly.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

So if that's the case, it, like, you persevered in a field.

Speaker A:

So what were you acting?

Speaker A:

You're.

Speaker A:

You're acting in that role.

Speaker B:

I think she was a creative.

Speaker B:

I think a lot of those people fall into that kind of ethos, if you will.

Speaker B:

They're in that environment.

Speaker B:

Like, look at me.

Speaker B:

I'm.

Speaker B:

What am I, like, a wannabe media personality now?

Speaker B:

What the hell?

Speaker B:

People are like, you're.

Speaker B:

You're a banker and a lawyer.

Speaker B:

Like, why are you doing a podcast?

Speaker B:

Because I want to, bro.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

No, but.

Speaker A:

No, but one way you.

Speaker A:

You're trying to find fame, and the other is you're portraying yourself, not looking to try fame, a fine fame, but you just, like, stumbled into it.

Speaker A:

Something completely that's not adjacent.

Speaker B:

Doesn't everybody want fame until they get too much of it?

Speaker B:

Like, you want.

Speaker B:

You want a taste of fame.

Speaker B:

You don't want to live it.

Speaker B:

And I mean, like, you want to be able to go somewhere and sign something and be, like, walking away.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

You want to be dead mouse where, like, you could have a.

Speaker A:

You could be famous.

Speaker A:

For when I.

Speaker A:

When I wear this, When I take it off.

Speaker A:

You never know who I am.

Speaker B:

Yeah, brilliant.

Speaker B:

Except somebody else puts on the dead mouse hat and walks around.

Speaker B:

Little problem.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Or your acon.

Speaker B:

And send your brother to concerts for you.

Speaker A:

Is that what he does?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

You didn't hear this?

Speaker B:

His brother looks a lot like him.

Speaker B:

So he got in trouble at one point because he used to send his brother two concerts as him, and they would do, like, two concerts on the same day.

Speaker A:

He's not the same.

Speaker A:

I mean, he's not the only person that does this.

Speaker A:

There's no.

Speaker A:

I mean, there's got to be so many people.

Speaker A:

I feel like, you know, have you ever been to, like, a club in Vegas?

Speaker A:

Like back in the day when you used to go and go out?

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker A:

You have?

Speaker A:

No.

Speaker A:

That's a lie, Christopher.

Speaker B:

Never been.

Speaker A:

You've taken me.

Speaker B:

Where is this Vegas place?

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

And then they always promote this celebrity coming on stage later tonight.

Speaker A:

And they come out and you're like, everyone in this place has had too many drinks to be able to tell if this is actually the person or not.

Speaker A:

I don't feel like it is.

Speaker B:

They just license their usage, likeness.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

And all the lights behind them, the smoke, and you're like, is that really?

Speaker A:

I can't tell.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I feel like you didn't hit that line the way you normally do.

Speaker B:

That doesn't look like Shaq.

Speaker B:

It looks like a dude standing on a crate.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Like, I've been.

Speaker A:

I've been to one.

Speaker A:

The one that stood out to me is I saw Ludicrous perform.

Speaker A:

I'm like, that's not Ludicrous.

Speaker B:

You're lip syncing.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

I'm not buying it.

Speaker B:

Throw them both.

Speaker B:

Sounds very consistent.

Speaker A:

Yeah, man.

Speaker B:

Throw them bows.

Speaker B:

I feel.

Speaker A:

I feel like you don't remember that life.

Speaker A:

That was.

Speaker A:

That was many moons ago for you.

Speaker B:

I am not that guy.

Speaker A:

You're not.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Not that guy anymore.

Speaker A:

You lived it.

Speaker B:

You moved on.

Speaker B:

I lived a good amount of that.

Speaker A:

And we're talking about before the show.

Speaker A:

I mean, so this show's coming out in the new year, but for us, New Year's will be this coming Wednesday.

Speaker A:

And we were all talking.

Speaker A:

I think all three of us agreed that it ain't for us.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Or going out, at least.

Speaker A:

I actually, personally.

Speaker A:

New Year's is actually my favorite holiday.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

I love spending with the family right at home.

Speaker A:

And we do.

Speaker A:

Like, last year, we created our own Mario.

Speaker A:

Like, Mario party inside our house where we're doing a bunch of mini Games.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And then this year, they want to reenact or recreate our own version of Dude Perfects Overtime.

Speaker A:

I don't know if you've ever seen that show that they make.

Speaker A:

I have not, but they want me to record it.

Speaker A:

And, like, they set up a table where they discuss it.

Speaker A:

If you.

Speaker A:

If you know the structure, format of the show, it's pretty cool.

Speaker A:

And each person has their own, like, little segment.

Speaker A:

But I like doing stuff like that.

Speaker A:

Not driving on the road.

Speaker B:

I. I'll be watching Stranger Things after we do a nice little three, two.

Speaker B:

One thing for my son while he goes to bed on east coast time.

Speaker A:

East coast time.

Speaker B:

And then we'll do Stranger Things to wrap the night up.

Speaker B:

And I will fall asleep next to my lovely bride.

Speaker B:

Rejeel, you.

Speaker A:

No plans right now?

Speaker A:

Just staying home.

Speaker A:

No plans.

Speaker B:

Very specific.

Speaker A:

Good to watch Stranger Things.

Speaker A:

No, I've never seen an episode before.

Speaker A:

Oh, why do I feel like he was.

Speaker A:

He's like.

Speaker A:

He's.

Speaker A:

I felt like when I first met you that you were plugged into, like, all the TV shows and movies.

Speaker A:

Is that not the case?

Speaker B:

He's trying to racially confuse you with a rune, and I will not stand.

Speaker A:

That's not.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker A:

That's not.

Speaker A:

That's not it.

Speaker A:

That's not it.

Speaker A:

That's not it.

Speaker A:

No, no, no, no.

Speaker A:

You're into TV shows, though.

Speaker A:

TV shows are your thing.

Speaker A:

You like TV shows.

Speaker B:

That's not actually at all.

Speaker A:

See?

Speaker A:

Yes, it is.

Speaker B:

He's just playing.

Speaker B:

Placating you, dude.

Speaker B:

He's just playing.

Speaker B:

What was the last TV show you watched for Jill?

Speaker A:

Grey's Anatomy.

Speaker B:

That's not a guy.

Speaker A:

Hey, my guy.

Speaker A:

That's why I knew I liked you.

Speaker B:

McDreamy in:

Speaker B:

That's when he watched it.

Speaker A:

That's not true.

Speaker A:

No, no.

Speaker A:

The current seasons.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I'm.

Speaker A:

I'm up to date.

Speaker A:

Up 20 seasons.

Speaker A:

In how many seasons?

Speaker A:

23, I think.

Speaker A:

I think 23.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

No, my wife.

Speaker A:

See, what happens is.

Speaker A:

True story.

Speaker A:

True story.

Speaker A:

Starts watching the show, and then, like, no, I'm up.

Speaker A:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Next.

Speaker A:

You know, I'm hooked.

Speaker A:

Oh, bro.

Speaker A:

The show.

Speaker A:

I'm not gonna lie to you.

Speaker A:

I was five.

Speaker A:

I was my.

Speaker A:

My wife, and we watched the first five seasons, okay?

Speaker A:

And then I predicted the season finale on the.

Speaker A:

For the fifth season, and she's like, I'm never watching the show with you again.

Speaker A:

And that's why.

Speaker A:

That's when we stopped.

Speaker A:

When I forget his name.

Speaker A:

But the guy who got into an accident was in a full body cast, and signed the hand 007.

Speaker A:

I was like, oh, that's.

Speaker A:

That's the guy who.

Speaker A:

I predicted that.

Speaker A:

I predicted that ending.

Speaker A:

Hopefully, if you haven't seen it.

Speaker A:

Sorry, I just ruined it for you.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

He was one of my favorite characters.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

It was everyone's favorite character.

Speaker A:

There's a lot of, like, controversy.

Speaker A:

This guy is so lost.

Speaker A:

But hold on.

Speaker A:

True story.

Speaker A:

Not that it.

Speaker A:

Not that anyone cares.

Speaker B:

Nobody.

Speaker A:

Nobody cares.

Speaker A:

Nobody cares.

Speaker A:

But were you ever into wrestling?

Speaker A:

Like, WWF?

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker A:

WWE.

Speaker A:

WWF.

Speaker A:

Stone Cold the Rock.

Speaker A:

Never.

Speaker A:

Never seen you into Austin 316 all the way, Right?

Speaker A:

So we.

Speaker A:

I was getting a rundown on, like, updates on what's going on now, current state of events with wwe, because I'm completely out of touch, right?

Speaker A:

But from, like, a younger cousin and how I was in the bag.

Speaker A:

She's like, why.

Speaker A:

You know this is fake, right?

Speaker A:

Why are you watching this like you watch Grey's Anatomy?

Speaker B:

It's.

Speaker A:

The entire thing is fake.

Speaker A:

Why?

Speaker A:

It's.

Speaker A:

It's the same thing.

Speaker A:

Nobody really got hurt.

Speaker A:

Nobody really got sick.

Speaker A:

WWE is the same thing.

Speaker A:

Except these guys are athletes.

Speaker A:

They do get hurt.

Speaker A:

These guys actually get hurt.

Speaker A:

I mean, you look at Mankind getting slammed on a thousand attacks.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Jumping off a cage.

Speaker A:

Steel cage.

Speaker A:

You gotta.

Speaker B:

I gotta get the search.

Speaker A:

Hold on.

Speaker B:

Your.

Speaker A:

Your lack of appreciation for this is palpable.

Speaker B:

Look, there's a whole category in my brain that I can access because I'm not tapping into this.

Speaker B:

Useless.

Speaker A:

This is not useless.

Speaker A:

This is entertainment, man.

Speaker B:

I'm all for entertainment from this decade.

Speaker A:

From.

Speaker B:

Hold on.

Speaker B:

Like, you guys are stuck in:

Speaker A:

Come on, bro.

Speaker B:

You gotta be.

Speaker A:

You gotta be plugged in.

Speaker B:

Huh?

Speaker A:

You gotta be plugged.

Speaker A:

Logan Paul's in and out.

Speaker B:

First of all, I am plugged in.

Speaker B:

I'm building us a show.

Speaker B:

Okay, hold on.

Speaker A:

I also am not plugged into WWE anymore.

Speaker A:

That's why I want the update.

Speaker A:

But I'm like, I hope.

Speaker A:

I hope it makes a comeback, man.

Speaker A:

Because it was something special when we were kids.

Speaker B:

I have no desire to watch that.

Speaker A:

You had no desire?

Speaker A:

What if.

Speaker A:

What if Carter was into it?

Speaker B:

I'd watch every single damn one.

Speaker A:

Yeah, see, Exactly.

Speaker A:

I. I look at it now.

Speaker A:

It's like, man, like, the stuff we grew up on was so edgy.

Speaker A:

Like, the move, the movies, the shows.

Speaker A:

Look at Ren and Stimpy.

Speaker A:

Ren and Stimp.

Speaker A:

Ren and Stimpy's a good one.

Speaker A:

The Simpsons, dude.

Speaker A:

Now, like, my kids aren't watching any of this stuff.

Speaker A:

Yeah, none of it.

Speaker B:

And yet they're exposed to more nasty stuff.

Speaker A:

Way more nasty stuff.

Speaker B:

Weird, right?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Married to children.

Speaker B:

Can't make that today.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

One of the kids in Adam's class, right before they went on break, you know, six sevens going crazy.

Speaker A:

They're all.

Speaker A:

They're all saying that.

Speaker A:

And then one kid was a little too hip to 6, 9, started saying 6, 9 in class.

Speaker A:

Nobody knows what's up.

Speaker A:

The teachers tells them, hey, we're cutting this out completely.

Speaker A:

No, because of that.

Speaker A:

No more six, seven.

Speaker A:

No one's even gonna reference six, nine.

Speaker A:

Right.

Speaker A:

And Adam comes on and goes, dad, what's six, nine?

Speaker A:

Oh, it's a rapper.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I'll say that.

Speaker A:

It's Takashi.

Speaker B:

You love truffle butter.

Speaker A:

That.

Speaker A:

And that's where we end the show.

Speaker B:

What are you talking about?

Speaker A:

That's the cue.

Speaker B:

He likes French restaurants.

Speaker A:

Another guy that was really, really Good.

Speaker B:

Hold on.

Speaker A:

Tekashi 6ix9ine.

Speaker A:

Another guy that was really good at controlling the narrative.

Speaker B:

For a while.

Speaker B:

For a while.

Speaker A:

For a while.

Speaker B:

That's not gonna be my reference point.

Speaker B:

You keep your opinions to yourself.

Speaker B:

Dude.

Speaker B:

How.

Speaker A:

He didn't even make good.

Speaker A:

He didn't even make good music.

Speaker B:

I'm a little pump guy.

Speaker B:

That's over now.

Speaker A:

That's worse.

Speaker A:

Gucci gang.

Speaker A:

Gucci gang.

Speaker B:

See, he knows.

Speaker A:

That was a great song.

Speaker B:

It was, right?

Speaker A:

Don't.

Speaker A:

Don't say it was.

Speaker B:

It was.

Speaker B:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

He's sober now.

Speaker A:

You following him?

Speaker B:

Of course I do.

Speaker A:

What's he up to now?

Speaker B:

I don't know.

Speaker A:

What's he doing?

Speaker B:

I have no idea.

Speaker A:

Living on.

Speaker A:

Living off dividends.

Speaker A:

The way these guys spin, bro, there's no way.

Speaker B:

It's got to be drug money.

Speaker B:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

I'm in the wrong business.

Speaker B:

I need another hair transplant and some colored hair.

Speaker A:

Oh, boy.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

No, you can't go color.

Speaker A:

If you go colored hair, then it's game over for me.

Speaker B:

I already got a mullet.

Speaker A:

But you're not gonna color.

Speaker A:

You would never color your hair, would you?

Speaker B:

Why'd you stroke your beard when you.

Speaker A:

Said, because I have gray hair, too?

Speaker B:

No, no, not like that.

Speaker B:

I was like, pink.

Speaker A:

Oh, oh, okay.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Pink or blue?

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

I feel like that's gonna give me attention on podcasts from now on.

Speaker A:

Oh, gender reveal.

Speaker B:

Clearly, my opinion ain't doing it.

Speaker A:

Last couple shows have been doing really good, though.

Speaker B:

Last one got, like, four views.

Speaker A:

No, no, that one.

Speaker A:

That one was because the Christmas episode, people are with their families.

Speaker B:

But streaming platforms got, like, a lot.

Speaker A:

Yeah, did a lot, but.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

Anyways.

Speaker B:

All right, well, let's call it a rat before we make any more offensive commentary, okay?

Speaker A:

You guys got anything else?

Speaker A:

Happy New Year's.

Speaker A:

Be safe.

Speaker B:

Happy New Year, everybody.

Speaker A:

Happy New Year.

Speaker A:

Thanks for being on this ride with us.

Speaker B:

Last unkey mai of the year.

Speaker A:

Oh, yeah, but it's the New Year, so.

Speaker A:

It's the first of the new year.

Speaker B:

Yeah, but it's last for us.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Okay, bye.

Speaker B:

God, I can't believe you did that.

Speaker A:

Good night, everybody.

Show artwork for The Higher Standard

About the Podcast

The Higher Standard
This isn’t a different standard, it’s the higher standard.
Welcome to the Higher Standard Podcast, where we give you ultra-premium, unfiltered truth when it comes to building your wealth and curating the lifestyle of your dreams. Your hosts; Chris Naghibi and Saied Omar here to help you distill the immense amount of information and disinformation out there on the interwebs and give you the opportunity to choose a higher standard for yourself. Sit back, relax your mind and get ready for a different kind of podcast where we elevate your baseline with crispy high-resolution audio. This isn't a different standard. It's the higher standard.

About your host

Profile picture for Christopher Naghibi

Christopher Naghibi

Christopher M. Naghibi is the host and founder of The Higher Standard podcast — a rapidly growing media platform delivering unfiltered financial literacy, real-world entrepreneurship lessons and economic commentary for the modern era.

After nearly two decades in banking, including his most recent role as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of First Foundation Bank (NYSE: FFWM), Christopher stepped away from corporate life to build a brand rooted in truth, transparency, and modern money insights. While at First Foundation, he had executive oversight of credit, product development, depository services, retail banking, loan servicing, and commercial operations. His leadership helped scale the bank’s presence in multiple national markets from $0 to over $13 billion.

Christopher is a licensed attorney, real estate broker, and general building contractor (Class B), and he brings a rare blend of legal, operational and real estate expertise to everything he does. His early career spanned diverse lending platforms, including multifamily, commercial, private banking, and middle market lending — holding key roles at Impac Commercial Capital Corporation, U.S. Financial Services & Residential Realty, and First Fidelity Funding.

In addition to his media work, Christopher is the CEO of Black Crown Inc. and Black Crown Law APC, which oversee his private holdings and legal affairs.

He holds a Juris Doctorate from Trinity Law School, an MBA from American Heritage University, and two bachelor degrees. He is also a graduate of the Yale School of Management’s Global Executive Leadership Program.

A published author and sought-after speaker (unless it’s his son’s birthday), Christopher continues to advocate for financial empowerment. He’s worked pro bono with families in need, helped craft affordable housing programs through Habitat for Humanity, and was a founding board member of She Built This City — helping spark interest in construction and trades for women of all ages.