“They’re Stealing From Us!” Adam Carolla Exposes Who’s REALLY Destroying The Middle Class

31 May 2026 · 1 h 36 min · 36 chapters

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In short

Adam Carolla argues the middle class is being “destroyed” by politicians and bureaucratic “safety” regulations that raise costs, expand government control, and enable wealth extraction. He claims the result is self-segregation: “safe spaces” for government/NGO/politician-aligned groups and “octagons” for producers who value freedom, lower taxes, and property ownership. He also discusses wealth taxes, AI-driven disruption, and traffic-policy examples as evidence of control under a safety banner.

Guest backgrounds

Adam Carolla is the host/guest (no other guest named in the transcript). He’s a comedian and media personality known for pragmatic, anti-bureaucracy commentary. The transcript references Dr. Drew and mentions Zoran Mamdani, Karen Bass, Nithya Raman, and other politicians as discussion subjects.

Key claims

California housing/income ratios are unsustainable; elites and tech/ultra-wealthy can absorb costs while others leave. “Safety” regulations (e.g., smoke detector/deck railing appraisal rules; California shipping restrictions on products) create delays and higher building costs. Politicians can’t outwit “10-times smarter” private-sector actors; wealth taxes lead to avoidance (e.g., price-threshold games).

Notable examples

California home affordability comparisons (1970 vs now); LAPD traffic-stop restrictions for minor violations; LA/NY speed-limit and camera-driven revenue speculation; red-arrow left-turn debate; “emotional support dog” policy expansion at airports; Carolla’s “theft-proofed” truck (painted stereo brown; fuel cutoff switch).

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Introduction to Freedom and Control

0:00 to 1:09

Discussion on the desire for freedom versus control by others under the guise of safety.

“The people that pay taxes, go to work every day, create, build, have employees, we want freedom.”

Safe Spaces vs. Octagon People

1:09 to 2:10

Adam Carolla introduces the concepts of 'safe spaces' and 'octagon people' in society.

“Adam Carolla, thank you so much for coming on the Ice Coffee Hour.”

The Migration to Freedom

2:10 to 3:18

Discussion on the migration of people seeking freedom and better opportunities in states like Texas.

“And then there's the other group that likes mixed martial arts and doesn't want to drive an electric car and likes owning a gun and doesn't want to be taxed and doesn't like big government.”

Housing Affordability Crisis

3:18 to 4:40

Adam shares statistics about housing prices and income disparities in California.

“And then at some point, the safe spaces are going to start falling apart and they're going to have to go to the octagons and go, we need your protection or we need your money.”

Generational Wealth Disparity

4:40 to 5:52

Discussion on the differences in homeownership and wealth between generations.

“I have and always had to have people that work for me, young people, sometimes people starting families or new families and stuff like that.”

The Rise of the Tech Elite

5:52 to 7:03

Exploration of who is thriving in California's economy and the impact of wealth.

“It reminded me, my grandparents, my grandpa was in the army and then he sold appliances and he bought his house in 1952 in Culver City for$35 ,000.”

California's Regulatory Challenges

7:03 to 8:00

Adam discusses the bureaucratic and regulatory issues affecting California's growth.

“I mean, it's really sort of tech guys and sort of ultra billionaire types.”

Safety and Overregulation in California

8:00 to 10:00

Discussion on the implications of safety-driven policies and their impact on growth.

“Like, you know, if someone had said, you think, how about you move to Nashville and people be like, what, ride a horse?”

Consequences of Safety Policies

10:00 to 14:00

Examining the downstream effects of safety policies on society and personal freedoms.

“And so safety is kind of the slow cancer killer of society in a city.”

California's Overregulation Issues

14:00 to 15:17

Explore the challenges posed by excessive regulations in California and their impact on citizens.

“When COVID comes around, shut the schools, where I'm at, stay inside.”
Show all 36 chapters

Traffic Safety and Control Measures

16:26 to 17:43

Discuss the implications of traffic regulations and proposed changes in New York City.

“and it's completely risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee.”

Personal Traffic Violations Stories

17:43 to 19:13

A humorous recount of personal experiences with traffic laws and societal norms around driving.

“because they say it's discriminatory against people who can't afford those fixes.”

Judgment and Common Sense in Driving

19:13 to 21:29

Examine the rationale behind driving decisions and the balance of safety and legality.

“And it's weird because I'm going down the main road and you have these cross streets and one has a yield on left.”

Safety Measures in Traffic Control

21:29 to 22:57

Analyze the reasoning behind traffic control measures like red arrows and yield signs.

“I would say there's a percentage of arrows out there that are there for a reason because maybe there's not good visibility.”

Assessing Risk in Everyday Situations

22:57 to 28:00

Delve into the philosophy of assessing risks and making pragmatic decisions in life.

“and you sit there and I'll put it, I'll put it to you this way.”

Theft-Proofing a Pickup Truck

28:00 to 33:32

Learn how to think like a thief to protect your belongings effectively.

“And I go, first off, there's not that many people here.”

Critique of Politicians and Taxation

35:18 to 42:04

Explore the ineffectiveness of current political leaders and their policies.

“You mentioned looking at people's motivation to be able to apply corrective behavioral things or whatever you want to call it.”

Wealth Taxes and Housing Market Manipulation

42:04 to 43:54

Discussion on how wealthy individuals evade taxes and housing market dynamics.

“I mean, those who qualify for the wealth tax are going to be smart enough to figure out ways around it.”

The Role of Character and Religion in Society

43:54 to 45:54

Exploration of how character and religion influence wealth inequality and personal responsibility.

“So what it, what it is, is kids are all born into a situation where we lack character and, and, and, and that needs to be instilled.”

Work Ethic and Parenting Values

45:54 to 48:14

Insights on instilling work ethic in children through parenting practices and social norms.

“And then the politicians really got involved and the politicians, all politicians do is kind of lick their finger and just sort of put it in the air.”

Cultural Shift: From Aspiration to Resentment

48:14 to 50:30

Discussion on the cultural shift from aspiration to resentment towards success.

“And in the past, the father would say, there goes Mr.”

Ordinary Misery and Self-Actualization

50:30 to 53:12

Examination of how experiencing discomfort can lead to personal growth and discipline.

“then determines the way that the people behave.”

Diet, Exercise, and Life Management

53:12 to 54:16

Discussion on the importance of diet and exercise for overall life quality, beyond weight loss.

“It's about physically getting on your feet and like trucking through the desert, like and breaking a sweat.”

Skepticism Towards Medical Establishment

54:16 to 55:44

Discussion on distrust in the medical establishment due to past misinformation.

“What do you think is the biggest risk in today's economy?”

Investing in Tangible Assets

55:44 to 56:00

Insights into personal investment strategies focused on tangible assets rather than stocks.

“How are you investing your money in 2026?”

Investing in Cars vs. Stocks

56:00 to 1:01:50

Explore the potential value of investing in cars and tangible assets versus traditional stocks.

“And I make, I don't even know if they're called investments, but I have cars that are worth a substantial amount of money, but I also race them and use them.”

The Importance of Property Ownership

1:04:16 to 1:14:49

Discuss the significance of owning property for personal investment and community involvement.

“The link is also down below in the description.”

Changing Consumer Credit Practices

1:14:50 to 1:16:27

Explores the evolution from layaway to modern credit options and their implications.

“A lot was Quarna, the buy now pay later or affirm.”

Incentivizing Responsibility

1:16:28 to 1:18:38

Examines how motivation and incentives can encourage productive behavior in society.

“No, what you would have to do is you could get the wagon today and then pay it off for credit for 50 bucks.”

Dignity and Trust in Transactions

1:18:39 to 1:23:38

Discusses the decline of dignity in personal and business dealings and its consequences.

“I go, okay, I got three kids on the spectrum.”

Politics and Governance in Los Angeles

1:23:39 to 1:24:03

Analyzes the political landscape of Los Angeles and the voter mentality affecting governance.

“and talk to their buddy who says, hey, wait a second.”

The Democratic Machine in Los Angeles

1:24:03 to 1:26:50

Discussing the persistent Democratic voting patterns in Los Angeles and the impact of the political machine.

“So there's a part of your head that goes, they just always do.”

Government Response to Public Outcry

1:26:51 to 1:29:18

Observing how public outcry leads to temporary fixes in city cleanliness and governance.

“It's like part of the entire gestalt of the Democratic machine in California.”

Future Predictions and Class Divide

1:29:19 to 1:32:08

Making predictions about the future class divide and a potential return to traditional values.

“If you were to make some predictions of the future, because you have a tendency to be right with your predictions, what do you think is going to happen?”

Technology's Impact on Labor

1:32:09 to 1:34:06

Discussing the potential effects of AI and technology on jobs and the workforce.

“And then there's going to be ones who go off further.”

Villains in Society

1:34:07 to 1:34:48

Identifying the societal figures causing harm through negative rhetoric and division.

“who are the top villains that are hurting humanity the most right now?”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00The people that pay taxes, go to work every day, create, build, have employees, we want freedom. We want to be left alone. But the people who want what we have, they want control, but they do it under the umbrella of safety. It starts foundationally with public safety. Where we're heading as a nation is safe spaces and octagons. So the new rules are aimed at making roads and communities safer. Who's responsible? All politicians do is kind of lick their finger and just sort of put it in the air. When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. They keep coming up with ways to extract more money from people that are 10 times smarter than they are.

0:44And the people that are 10 times smarter than they are figure out a way to not give it to them or they just move. What do you think is going to happen? If you don't own property, you're not really completely invested in America. You're just kind of floating around. It's impossible that you ever own a home. I don't know how that's sustainable.

1:09Graham Stephan:Adam Carolla, thank you so much for coming on the Ice Coffee Hour. My pleasure. So I want to get your take on this. Ray Dalio just warned that the U.S. is entering years of turbulence driven by large deficits, widening wealth gaps, political divisions, and AI disruption. You're known for being the practical guy. What does this mean for the average person? I think what I told Dr. Drew many years ago, and not many, but I don't know, 10 years ago, and Dr. Drew has always sort of come to me and said, like, what's next? Where are we heading? What's going on? Because I've always predicted things with him.

1:44I said, where we're heading as a nation is safe spaces and octagons. And he said, what does that mean? And I said, there's a group of people that are interested in safety and they're interested in the government and they're interested in all the social programs and the safety nets and, you know, 10 months off paid vacations for childbirth and all this kind of nonsense. And they're going to live in the safe spaces. And then there's the other group that likes mixed martial arts and doesn't want to drive an electric car and likes owning a gun and doesn't want to be taxed and doesn't like big government.

2:22And those are going to be the octagon people. And so we're going to just segregate or it's going to naturally happen, which it's already sort of happening now. People who live in California go, I don't like any of this crap. I'm moving to Texas. And they just go to Texas and then they get to Texas and they go, I like it here because I like driving my truck and I wanted to build something. You know, the permitting process was easy and so on and so forth. So they like the freedom. The people that are producers like freedom, like the people that pay taxes, go to work every day, create, build, have employees.

3:00We want freedom. We want to be left alone. But the people who want what we have don't want freedom. They want the government to get involved and give us, give them what we're earning, essentially. So we're going to just self-segregate into safe spaces and octagons. And then at some point, the safe spaces are going to start falling apart and they're going to have to go to the octagons and go, we need your protection or we need your money. It's basically like Holcomb. Holcomb's going to drive everyone out of New York and then they're going to go to Miami and then she's going to go, hey, come back and help support all our generous systems that you don't benefit from.

3:43Yeah. And those people are never coming back.

3:45Graham Stephan:Now, you mentioned California. Has that become unlivable for the average person? It's unlivable for the average person in that I was looking at a stat the other day just online. It just popped up and it said in 1970, the average home, it didn't say in California, it just said in the United States, the average home was$23 ,000 and the average income was about $10 ,000. So it was like, you know, a little less than half of what the home would cost. California, you know, where I'm at or in Los Angeles area, average home is like one eight and the average income is probably$63 ,000, you know? So what used to be half is now, you know, 20th or 25th or something like, I don't know how that's sustainable.

4:39You know, I have and always had to have people that work for me, young people, sometimes people starting families or new families and stuff like that. And it's like, I know what I pay you. And I know what houses cost around here. It's impossible that you ever own a home. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. my grandparents bought a house in the fifties for 10 ,000 and they bought another house in the San Fernando, like a nicer part of what is now a nicer part back then. It was, you know, who cared, but they bought one house for 10, one house for 12. My dad bought a house in the early seventies, crappy house but it was like thirteen thousand dollars and he bought a house for thirteen thousand dollars when he made twenty two thousand dollars a month a year you know what i mean like he he was making more he was like you know school teacher kind of thing he wasn't making big bucks but now people make 65 and the house is two two like if it's anywhere you'd want to live that was safe or what have you.

5:53No, it's crazy.

5:54Graham Stephan:It reminded me, my grandparents, my grandpa was in the army and then he sold appliances and he bought his house in 1952 in Culver City for$35 ,000. It's probably worth$1350 to$14 ,000. Oh, yeah. And that was the nicest house back then. It was a trapped house. I mean, he picked from like one of five floor plans in this little area in Culver City and he got one of those houses and that's it. And at the time, I think it was 1 ,100 square feet and they enclosed a patio space as part of the living area. That was it. One house. Yeah, so we're going to have a lot of unhappy campers and then a lot of people that are flourishing and the politicians are just kind of stoking it on.

6:43Who are the people that are flourishing in California? I'm curious because a few years ago, they had a net migration loss. Their population grew, but more people left the state than the amount of people that were new residents of the state. I imagine that they're still going to continue growing because of birth rates, but this trend is going to continue. And who are the people that are winning by living in California? I mean, it's really sort of tech guys and sort of ultra billionaire types. I mean, why are they my estimation at my estimate? Well, you know, there, there, I mean, there's a kind of a level of wealth where things don't really matter that much.

7:25Like when people go gas is seven 85 a gallon. Well, you know, if you make$70 million a year, what's the difference between$4 and$7, you know, a lot of, you know, so look, when they talk about a lot of that stuff, a lot of those guys just don't care. Like I think in the past they were willing to kind of suck it up. Now with the wealth tax and other things like they're floating, these guys are starting to get nervous and starting to realize they can move. And also, you know, it wasn't when I was growing up in California, the idea of moving somewhere else was kind of absurd. Like people move to California.

8:08Like, you know, if someone had said, you think, how about you move to Nashville and people be like, what, ride a horse? What am I going to do in Nashville? I don't even know what's, I don't know where Nashville is really. I've seen something on TV. Like when you're from California, you didn't even know like Montana, Nashville, these kind of places, even Arizona. It's like, why go live in the desert? That's not going to work. So you get this kind of mentality of people just come to you, you know, and, and it was true. Most of the people I knew once I got out of high school and, you know, once I started in doing comedy, every single person, my comedy troupe was from Pittsburgh and that guy was from Beaver Falls and that guy's from Wisconsin and that guy's from Chicago.

8:53go like there was nobody in an improv troupe that was from LA. It, it, it literally, I can, I, I, you know how I know it because whenever football season would come around, we could, no one ever liked the same team. Like we literally go, let's go watch the Rams. And they'd be like, Rams, I don't like the Rams. I'm a Patriots fan from Boston. You know, everybody had their team and you know, LA doesn't have a sports, doesn't have a Rams sports bar. They have two Steelers sports bars because that's because everyone just came here from somewhere else. So now I think the elite and I mean, whoever the only people flourishing in California are probably like NGOs and politicians and stuff that just keep stealing money.

9:44And then the ultra tech kind of rich who don't care, I guess. So who's responsible for destroying California? It's the regulatory system and it's bureaucrats and it's gyno-fascism, which is just tons of women worried about safety. Like everything is just safety. And so safety is kind of the slow cancer killer of society in a city. So people, the thing about safety, and this is the thing about all their ideas, they sort of sneak them in the door under the veneer of something positive, like safety. Like, okay, so every single one of these groups, whether it's Somalians in Minnesota or whether it's hospice care in Los Angeles, first off, all their names are like first step forward.

10:45You know what I mean? Angels, angels. And, you know, everything is all this euphemistic bullshit, right? About children first, youth first, first, and then they're just ripping off everyone's money, right? So California became a very safety oriented place. We want the hardest on COVID. We're the safest place. And now what happens is, is we have a lot of women in politics and their priority is safety. And the thing about safety is it's stifling to growth because every regulation that they add on is in the guise of safety. Like I just, I'll give you an example. I have owned houses and done property in the area for, I don't know, 30 years probably.

11:42um and i've done dozens of houses and warehouses and back and forth and and all that and i have a new house that i was working on and it needs to be appraised so i said all right send the appraiser over and i've done this a million times they just walk around and make notes and they give you an appraisal well i got the guy coming out it comes back because i you know i can't appraise it and i said, uh, why not? He said, well, it needs to have the smoke detectors up and, uh, the deck's built, but it doesn't have a railing on it. So it needs the railing. I said, well, just appraise it without the smoke detectors.

12:19Like once you back off 80 bucks for the smoke detectors, now the house has to have the smoke detectors in place. And then we need the railing on the, And I go, just appraise the house like you would appraise the house if it didn't have a deck or it was incomplete. And they had to keep coming back.

12:42Graham Stephan:Could you ever, did he want money? Because I posted a similar story and everyone, everybody was just like, give the guy$100. That's what he's getting at. He just wants$100. This is all, I didn't even talk to him. He just went back to the office and said, no, no appraisal. The whole point is, I used to do this all the time. It was five pages and we're done. Now it's a whole bunch of rules. It's a whole bunch of rules. And you go, all right, well, safety. All right. But this guy's now come back and forth five times in my house. I still don't have my appraisal and the bank isn't getting to refinance.

13:16And it's all just regulation. And when I bought, I was saying the other day, I bought my first house. The paperwork was like seven pages. I bought this house a year ago. It was 157 pages.

13:33Graham Stephan:Well, every time there's a lawsuit now, you have to add in a different section. This had three different sections on was I discriminated against racially on the loan. It wasn't just once. It was like 17 separate pages about discrimination. They just wrote it differently each time. It would just come up again. And I'd be like, no. And so anyway, what happened? So women are safety oriented. safety oriented people don't really think about downstream consequences of their safety. When COVID comes around, shut the schools, where I'm at, stay inside. Don't go to work. We need to work. You don't need to work.

14:12Stay home. We are totally safety driven in California to an insane amount. If you go online, it'll go ships to 49 states, except for California. and you go, what's the difference? Like I've said, I tried to buy glass railing and it was like the laminated stuff is cheaper than the non-laminated or whatever, whatever it was, a tempered or something. And I go, all right, well give me the laminated stuff. And I go, yeah, we don't ship to California. And it's why you ship everywhere, every state. And it's fine. They had, they got a rule in California. They don't let us use the laminated stuff. And it's like, all right, so then you got to use the safety glass, which is more.

14:53And then the building costs that much more. They're overregulated. It's mostly chick think and they're fucking up the city and the state. And that's basically what's going on. Between the podcast and all of the different businesses we run, I was seeing a lot of very sensitive personal information of me being leaked online to websites I have never even heard of. It's honestly scary how much data these companies have on you without you even knowing it until it's too late. That is why we are so excited to

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16:22Again, that is code iced at incogni.com slash iced, and it's completely risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Did you see that video of Zoran Mamdani saying he wants to decrease the speed limit to 20 miles an hour in New York? No, I did not. Okay, I mean, this... Is that real? It looked real. I mean, you can't really tell with AI these days. It is a goal of our administration to lower the speed limit across the city to 20 miles an hour. That, however, is something that can only be done with a local law change to the city administrative code. And we do support the city council taking those efforts.

16:58How new or old is this? I just saw this last night. Oh, OK. It was on Twitter and I was scrolling and I saw a video of Zora Mamdani saying, yeah, like we're going to try to decrease the speed. What's the point of that? Safety. Make it more safe. But then I read through the comments and a lot of people were speculating that they have these like traffic light cameras and apparently they can detect if you're going above the speed limit so they can collect more tax revenue from people speeding. They want control, but they do it under the umbrella of safety. So no one goes, listen, I'm a maniacal dictator and all I want is control.

17:35They go, oh, I'm looking out for you and safety. But the safety costs you and it gives them more control.

17:43Graham Stephan:I got to show you this. Speaking of safety, Los Angeles City Council passed a motion unanimously restricting LAPD traffic stops from minor violations, including expired registration, non-functioning taillights, cracked windshields, broken mirrors, illegal tint, loud exhaust, missing plates. because they say it's discriminatory against people who can't afford those fixes. And so the people who can't afford it get the most violations driving their car. And so this is real. This just passed. Well, they're really saying it affects black and brown people at a higher rate because they decriminalize jaywalking because it affects black and brown people.

18:31But whatever it affects black and brown people, they just go, eh. Granted, jaywalking, I don't even know why that's a law. And here's another thing. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this and just cut me off if I'm not. But apparently on the drive over here, Graham came to a red arrow to turn left. Allegedly. Yeah, allegedly. And you said, just run it. I run every single one, have been for 25 years, never gotten a ticket. Yes. I told Jack that's going to change my life. Where's my camera? Is it that one? Yeah. Run them. Run them all, baby. you'll never get a ticket. Now, let me say this. I do not necessarily endorse this.

19:06However, I started doing it coincidentally about three months ago in order to get to our new studio. There is a left red arrow. I run it every single time. It seems to me. And it's weird because I'm going down the main road and you have these cross streets and one has a yield on left. One has a red arrow on left. One has a yield. And it's like, it's just random. If they want to let you yield or if they just randomly will have a red air. There's no method to match.

19:33Graham Stephan:I'm going to tell you the problem with this of what you just said. The problem is that we're common sense guys. We could see a car coming and say, that's not safe to do. I'm not going to make this left. We could all agree, we're going to do it safely. But the problem is when you tell a few hundred thousand people now, it's okay to run the light. It's not running. It's treating it as a yield as opposed to... probably not good enough to be able to do that safely. That's an insane point. I agree. Do you disagree that the average person trusts the average person? What percentage of intersections have a red arrow?

20:17I don't know.

20:18Graham Stephan:I'm just saying I don't trust the average driver on the road is probably not that good. Hold on. You're making two arguments. Your argument is insane because that person safely turned left in intersections that had no arrow all day before they got to the one with the red arrow. So they're able to discern when it's safe to turn left because that's what we all do. Because you're acting as if the intersection with the arrow is the norm. It's not the norm. It's probably way less than 50%. Now, some areas are newer and they have more, or whatever. You grew up, I grew up, I never saw a red arrow until I was 40.

21:00So, and neither did our parents. They turned left when it was safe to turn left. They used their eyes. Green light, right? And then you just inch out. Also, if you don't inch out when you're in the left-hand turn lane and you have a green circular light, I hate you. I'm so sorry. No, I agree. I totally agree. Please pull out because you're ruining it for the people behind you. We need to deconstruct this. Everyone is capable of turning left when it's safe because that's what you do all day, every day. And that's all we ever did. All these arrows are like 10 minutes old.

21:31Graham Stephan:I would say there's a percentage of arrows out there that are there for a reason because maybe there's not good visibility. Now that's another point. Or maybe there's like a - That is another point. Because it exists, it must be for a reason. I would say some of them. Big government guys. Some of them, I would agree with that. Okay. So let's get granular here. You are correct. Some of those arrows are there because there's a hill and you can't see the person coming over the hill and people come at a high rate and all that. And that, once again, is what you're going to have to figure out when you're driving.

22:05Look, when you're driving on the freeway, every time you change lanes, you're making a decision. You're looking to see if there are cars around. You're putting your blinker on. You look, you're checking your mirrors. Like every second you're behind the wheel, you're making a decision that could involve you making contact with another car or brick wall. So that's part of driving. That's fine. And there are some arrows that are there for safety, legitimate safety reasons. Like there was a bunch of accidents at this intersection because the car, there's a blind hill. I get it. But they started spreading out to all intersections.

22:43And the intersection that we're talking about is a straight line for as far it starts, the earth starts to curve and eventually the horizon dips down and you cannot see, you can't see anymore. But this line is a straight multi-mile line. and you sit there and I'll put it, I'll put it to you this way. Do a little experiment. That's what I told you. If you don't want to, if you're a little freaked out about going against the red arrow, take your sun visor and put it down. Take the sun visor, put it down. It'll block the arrow out. And then you'll just see a green light and zero cars. And then you just turn.

23:22It's part of it is a psyche problem. Now I now expended, I expanded my repertoire to driving through red red lights. I drive through red lights now. So I haven't quite got there yet. I've done it only a couple of times when it's like ridiculous. Like for example, if you're south in Vegas, you're by South Point and it's just like open road, like you said, for miles, there will be a light when there should just be a stop or a yield. No, I'll tell you something. And I'll go through there. Civilized societies and you have this, I'm trying to think if it's in like Henderson or something, But you drive around and you will find civilized cities that just blink.

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24:04So the arrow is either green or it just blinks yellow, which means turn when it's safe. But it never turns red. Like Pasadena, California does that. It should never turn red. If you think about it, what it should do is go green or it should just go blink yellow. So, hey, if it's safe, if it's four in the morning on Sunday night, why are you sitting there at a red? There's nobody out. Like it should just blink. And there are certain societies that are evolved enough to do that. But I want you guys to understand it's a human, it's a foible, sort of a human foible thing. So listen to me. I now drive through red lights, mainly in Malibu because it's everything's a kind of T and I just go down PCH and I just, there's nobody around you check your rear view there's no cops go ahead what other things do you do like this that like maybe break the law a little bit but are convenient uh well i'll tell you what i do and i'll i'll try to expand this a little yes okay so let me try to expand this i tell people go through that red arrow and they go not gonna do it and i go why not i don't want to get a ticket i go there's no cops anywhere they don't they don't camp out there and have ticket riding parties because nobody does it.

25:21There's nobody. Look in your rear view. You didn't look in your rear view. I did. Oh, you did. I did. Look in your rear view. If there's no cop behind you, then turn. Who cares? All right. But hold on. So people go, no, I'm not going to do it. I go, okay, you drive to Vegas. Yeah. Do you just go 65 the entire time? No, probably like 80, 85. All right. You're speeding. Yeah. Well, you're going to get a ticket. Eh, it's not. You'll go from LA to 80, you'll go to LA to Vegas. You'll be speeding the whole way. There's planes in the air. There's cops all over the place. There's radar guns. And you'll do that, which is breaking the law the entire time.

25:59And you don't really think about getting a ticket. Although you have gotten tickets, everyone's gotten pulled over, but you won't go through the arrow. Well, you'll never get a ticket. That's human nature. And that's the problem. And you have to overcome that. and like for me i race race cars i have a six-way when you get a race car you have a six-way harness it's not like a shoulder whatever you got straps head stuff fire suits like you got everything in a race car i absolutely do it i would never i mean they wouldn't let you do it but i would never get in a race car without like flame proof everything but your general idea is that just because a rule exist doesn't mean it's a good rule and you should think on your own and break a rule if it's a dumb one and don't just assume that something is fine because everyone's doing it because everyone speeds no one does the left turn but they're both probably and also of less threat to that intersection existed for 30 years before somebody put an arrow everyone who lived here 30 years ago

27:01Graham Stephan:just drove so to that it wasn't as busy every every i know it's not as busy we sat there there's no cars coming, right? You could see no cars. So I said, turn. So how do you apply this philosophy to other areas of your life? Well, for me, it's a kind of an ultimate pragmatism. And for instance, I was like, I was doing shows in Phoenix and I was staying at a very nice resort with a very nice spa, expensive, like a bunch of well-heeled skinny white people staying there with me. And I went down to the workout room. I went down to the locker room and the lockers. I'm really bad with any tech, whatever.

27:47And, and I also got realized I have some sort of disability. Cause the thing they'll say, like, put your contents in the locker, then hit pound, then make a four digit number then hit pound and then when you come back hit pound and do the four digit i've tried it twice in my life it's always like i gotta go get that i gotta go get the janitor i lock my shit in the lock i can't get my locker open right okay so i look around i go this is a five-star resort a bunch of rich people here getting super expensive massages and i just put all my crap in the locker and i just shut the door and i never lock it i put cell phones wallets, shoes, everything, everything.

28:26I just shut it. And I go, first off, there's not that many people here. Secondly, if somebody opens this locker and just sees shorts and a cell phone and stuff, they're just going to shut the door and walk to the next locker. That's who these people are. Now I'm not doing this everywhere, but look at your environment, assess it, and then go, well, how about you take a little extra time to lock your locker or learn how to lock your locker And I go, it's not worth it. It's such a low percentage that anyone here would ever touch any of this stuff. And so I never locked my locker and I've never had a problem.

29:06I agree with that. It's kind of like people locking or not locking their front doors in like a more affluent neighborhood as opposed to a more poor neighborhood. The same way that I feel because I'm a member at two gyms. I go to Planet Fitness and I go to Lifetime Fitness. At Lifetime, I don't feel compelled to lock my stuff up in a locker. I played at fitness. I do. Yeah. Yeah. You have to assess that. And you also, you also have to know how people and what motivates people like, um, story I've told a few times, but it's, it's sort of goes way back in the human motivation department. I was about 25, maybe 26.

29:47And I, I was moving into my girlfriend's apartment in Hollywood and Hollywood was pretty dicey at the time. It is now it's dicey again, but it was dicey then. And, um, and we didn't have garage parking. We only had street parking and I knew I was going have to park my truck on the street. And the only thing I had to my name was really that truck. It was a, it was a Nissan standard bed, whatever little mini pickup truck from the eighties, but it was still all I had. And I needed it for work as a carpenter. And I didn't have it. I didn't have enough money for insurance. So it was uninsured and everyone used to break into everyone's car and steal their stereos.

30:37And there was a lot of stealing of mini trucks in LA back then. So I knew this truck wasn't going to make it two weeks in front of this place in Hollywood without getting the stereo stolen or the truck stolen. So I thought, well, what can I do about this? Because I don't have covered parking and I don't have insurance. I am going to have to park on the street. So the first thing I did is I was like, who wants a car stereo? I was like, well, junkies want car stereos. Like people don't steal car stereos to listen to car stereos. They steal them to fence them immediately and get drugs. And like, you take like a$300 car stereo and just get 40 bucks.

31:22This car had a digital Sony car stereo, which was pretty cool back in the day. And I knew it was gone immediately so I was like I'll tell you what I'm gonna do with this car stereo I'm gonna paint it brown so I put a piece of tape over the little digital readout and just I just painted brown and then everyone goes why did you paint your car stereo brown I go you can't sell a brown car stereo no one's gonna steal it so I desecrated my car stereo essentially I wasn't selling it I only listened to it and painting it didn't stop me from listening to it but it would stop you from fencing it. Right.

32:01So then the second thing I did was I was like, uh, I'm just going to do a fuel cutoff switch in this car. And I just figured out the fuel pump was in the back. I just clipped a wire and ran it under the seat, just put a toggle switch under it. And I just, I just shut the fuel pump off when I got back into the house. And the thing that was also funny is the thing had, um, carburetors, which had float bowls in them, which meant it would run without the fuel pump for like three blocks. So, cause it had a little fuel sitting in the float bowl and it would run off of that. So I started finding out where it would start cutting off and I'd be two stop signs away from my apartment.

32:40I'd reach down and flick the pump off and kind of ride it in on the float bowl. So it would be empty. So the car was stolen, uh, two times. And each time I was just like, which direction was I facing? I was facing this way. And I just started walking and I found it like a hundred feet down. And, uh, next time it got stolen again, I said, what direction was it facing? I found it. And, and the stereo was left in it each time it was stolen. So they never stole the stereo and they tried to steal the car. So for literally for like under$10, I theft proofed my truck. But you have to understand what people are, what motivates them.

33:27Like, what are they doing? And if you can get into that mindset, you can solve a lot of problems. But you have to think about motivation. I genuinely love running a business. I think it's one of the most rewarding and exciting things that you can do in life. But unfortunately, of course, there comes a lot of unrelated tasks and just things you got to do when you run a business that take a bunch of time and effort.

33:48Graham Stephan:As we've grown the ice coffee hour, we have poured hours into things like billing and writing contracts. And believe it or not, those are not my favorite things to do. And that's why we are so excited to partner with Claude. Claude is the AI for minds that don't stop at just good enough. It's the collaborator that actually understands your entire workflow and thinks with you. Whether you're debugging code at midnight or strategizing your next business move, Claude extends your thinking to tackle the problems that actually matter. In all seriousness, Claude is so much more than just another AI.

34:17Graham Stephan:It's literally another member of your team. So we personally use Claude to generate every single invoice we send out. In fact, when we send out Anthropic, the invoice for this ad read, we're going to use Claude. This used to take a ton of time just inputting all of the little details for every single invoice we sent out. Gavin really did not like doing this. But now with Claude, all Gavin has to do is type go and boom. An entire month's worth of invoices are automatically generated. And it doesn't stop there. Once Claude creates an invoice, it automatically drafts an email to send out. And you can connect Claude with tools that you already use.

34:50Graham Stephan:We're talking GitHub, HubSpot, Notion, Google Workplace, and more. In all seriousness, it has never been easier to save time on your business. Ready to have an AI that can tackle real work? Try Claude Cowork at Claude.ai slash iced coffee. That's Claude.ai slash iced coffee. and make sure to check out Claude Pro, which includes access to all the features mentioned in today's episode. Again, that's claude.ai slash iced coffee. Thanks again to Claude for sponsoring the podcast. And now let's get back to the episode. You mentioned looking at people's motivation to be able to apply corrective behavioral things or whatever you want to call it.

35:28I'm curious, what do you think someone like Zoran Mamdani's motivation is when they make a video like this, knowing that things like a mansion tax in California have been economically not productive, and yet they still talk like this. Today, we're taxing. I'm thrilled to announce who secured a pied-a-terre tax, the first in New York's history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than$5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for$238 million. This pied-a-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don't actually live.

36:01But even so, they're able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world. And most of the time, these units are sitting empty, since, again, they don't actually live here. This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers. Now, it's coming to an end. This tax will raise at least$500 million directly for the city. It'll help fund things like free childcare, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods. As mayor, I believe everyone has a role to play in contributing to our city. And some, a little bit more than others. Happy Tax Day, New York.

36:27Happy Tax Day. Yeah. Well, it's never going to work, because it can't work. I mean, there's a couple of things that I don't think politicians understand, but I've been saying it for a long time. You are trying to get one over on people that are much shrewder than you and smarter than you because they work in the private sector. So there's like a big issue where you go, this guy's a politician. This girl's a politician. They're kind of career politicians. And then they're going to try to outwit billionaires who started, hung their own shingle, worked their way up and crushed it in the private sector.

37:13Those guys are all 10 times smarter than Karen Bass or Mamdami or any of these idiots who have no experience. They couldn't run a taco stand without ruining it in 20 minutes. Right. So they keep coming up with ways to extract more money from people that are 10 times smarter than they are. And the people that are 10 times smarter than they are figure out a way to not give it to them or they just move to Florida, which is what he's going to going to do. but it never works because there's a kind of, you're playing chess with people that are chess grandmasters and you're kind of dim and they think they're going to beat them every time, but they can't beat them because the other person's so much more evolved, you know, and they're dimwits, like they're dopes, like, like Villa Ragosa in LA was the mayor for eight years.

38:10People run LA, one of the biggest cities in the world, one of the most important cities in the We elect mayors, and when they term out and they leave, we never hear from them again. They don't start super successful businesses. They can't. They're dopes. Who do you think has the highest IQ between Zoran Mamdami, Nithya Raman, and Karen Bass? It's kind of weird, you know, because Nithya Raman went to Harvard and MIT, which is insane. but she has a huge logic problem in that she was the one that was blaming Toyota for making their catalytic converter so easy to steal I don't know if you guys ever seen it's the greatest it's the greatest player so I guess what it would be is first if we have to make make a distinction so you go my IQ might be fair to Midland I would guess I I don't look at myself I don't think myself as a high IQ person.

39:09But if you're insanely pragmatic, you can have strokes of genius, like painting your car stereo that those people would never have. So, so, so there's people that have IQ points that are 20 points higher than mine, but they wouldn't figure out how to save their mini pickup truck in the middle of Hollywood. Right. So she may have a high IQ, which may have gotten her to MIT and Harvard, but then she blames Toyota for catalytic converter theft. So it means she's kind of a baseline dope. So IQ is kind of bragging points, I guess. I mean, it's sort of like we're stranded on a desert Island and there's a guy who goes, I got a perfect score on my SATs.

39:53And I'm like, I'd rather have that guy dropped out of the ninth grade, build us a shelter because he can actually do something. You're just talking about your SAT scores. So Nithya Raman is kind of dangerously dopey. And I don't, I don't know about her IQ, but she's wildly impractical. Mandami sort of, he's got a kind of Far East Newsome, like he's kind of a slick dude who can string words together and kind of put together stuff that sounds good that'll it'll never work none of it works but he's got a lot of sort of like newsome in him he's kind of a swarthy newsome like good looking knows how to talk has a lot of confidence and certitude ruins cities and states but but sounds good and the ladies love him you know um karen bass is dumb she's just kind of you know she doesn't really make sense when she talks.

40:54I mean, that's why Spencer Pratt was able to mop the floor with him. It's not that Spencer Pratt's a master debater. It's that these women are dumb and they have horrible, horrible policies. So what is your thoughts on a wealth tax? I don't like any taxes, although there's obviously a baseline of tax that people need to pay because we all are protected by our military and use our streets with their super expensive red turn arrows that we need to pay for. So first off, by the time they get to the wealth tax, that dollar's been taxed five times before it even gets to the part where they're going to tax it again for the wealth tax.

41:37You know, like it gets taxed on the way in. It gets taxed when you make it and then it goes somewhere and then they tax it again. it is absolutely none of their money and none of their business is the way is the way I, I feel. And they're going to ruin their cities. And the guys who are wealthy enough to be the recipient, or I should, I guess the recipient is the right word. I mean, those who qualify for the wealth tax are going to be smart enough to figure out ways around it. And that's the way they always do it. Like, like, like in LA, they started doing a, if your house is$5 million, you're going to have to pay 4 % on the sale.

42:22Well, everyone starts selling their house for$4 ,999 ,000 because that's what business, what else would a business person do? I'll sell it to you for$5 million and$1 so I can pay 4 % into a bunch of incompetent idiots are going to waste my money. So they intentionally create that. And now it's just getting to the point I think where people are like when it comes to Manhattan people are going to leave but also you can live anywhere now it didn't used to be that way you know like there is I would say to everybody you know they go where are you going to move I go if you have P.F. Chang's a Topgolf and a Spearmint Rhino I can I can move there and then people go you like golfing Chinese food and strip clubs.

43:13I'm like, eh, not really, but that just means they're on the map. You know what I mean? Like they got a civilization there. I might swing by, get some Chinese food and a hooker, but I'm saying, I'm saying that means they're there. Everybody, listen, I play every city in this country. I go everywhere. And the first thing you say, cause you think you're going to Oklahoma city, like, oh man, we're going out to the sticks. I hope they have running water and stuff. You go to all these cities, you look around, you go, not too shabby. Pretty nice. Clean. Nice. I could live here. Like, you can live anywhere now.

43:48I don't think it was that way 25 years ago. So what's your strongest argument for why wealth inequality is becoming a problem? Wealth inequality is becoming a problem because of human nature and character and a lack of religion, a lack of character, lack of golden rules, a lack of sort of biblical standards and 10 commandments and things of that nature. So what it, what it is, is kids are all born into a situation where we lack character and, and, and, and that needs to be instilled. So, you know, you go, when you're a kid, you go, well, look at Johnny over there. He's got all his M &Ms. I want some of Johnny's M &Ms.

44:41And then someone goes, Johnny mowed Mr. Johnson's lawn over there and he got paid$2 and he bought those M &Ms. Those are his M &Ms because he mowed the lawn, you know, and you go, okay. And kids are like, I want those M &Ms. And they go, well, then go mow the lawn. I don't want to mow the lawn. I want the M &Ms. And then you basically teach that. You say, sorry, he worked hard. those are his, but you can mow a lawn and get some M &Ms too. All right. And that's the way we rolled. And we instilled values like parents parented. A lot of it is religion. We had a religion. We had, you know, discipline and golden rules and, and all that kind of stuff, all the good stuff we used to preach, you know, all the good character kind of issues.

45:30And then at some point we decided that it was being mean to the person that didn't want to do any work. And then we started electing people that went, Hey, Johnny, I'm going to tell you to give him half your M &Ms. Otherwise I'm going to lock you up. And he's like, well, why is that fair? And then this guy went, yeah, I'm going to vote for this guy. Cause I'm going to vote for the guy who gives me M &Ms and I don't have to mow lawns. And then the politicians really got involved and the politicians, all politicians do is kind of lick their finger and just sort of put it in the air. You know what I mean?

46:05Like you go, Barack Obama, he's against gay marriage. Okay. He's for gay marriage. What changed from age 47 and a half to 53? You know what I mean? Like you think about Joe Biden, Joe Biden was against and for a whole bunch of stuff in his sixties, in his seventies, and now he's 80 and he's changed his mind. You think you're going to flip flop on anything from age 65 to 81? No, they're just doing whatever they want. You know, Kamala Harris, she, she, she was against fracking. Now she's for fracking. She doesn't even know what fracking is. She doesn't care. Politicians figured out there's a lot more dumb people who don't want to mow lawns than there are motivated guys who will mow lawns.

46:50And it just, they stoke the fire of these people. And they basically, you know, they tell them like these guys have everything, you know, it's like, as if he has all the M &Ms and he took your M &Ms, There's an infinite number of M &Ms. Go get some M &Ms. Has it always been that way, though? Have we always had more people that are too lazy to put in the work and yet they want the reward? Or has it been getting closer to that side of the spectrum? Everybody wants it. Everybody wants it. But we created guardrails and scaffolding in our society and we wouldn't let it happen. When I was a student in junior high and high school, I literally had like fantasies about the records room burning down because my grades were so subpar that I was kind of like hoping there'd be a fire in the school or something and that any records would be erased of my scholastic, you know, disability.

47:53and I remember like having those fantasies, you know, and I wrote in a book and I've written a few books and I, I don't know if this was in 50 years will all be chicks or, or president me or something like that, but this is more than a decade ago. And I wrote in it, I said, look, in the old days in this country, a father and son might be walking in their neighborhood and a big long Mercedes would drive by. And in the past, the father would say, there goes Mr. Johnson. And, uh, that's a beautiful car. And Hey, son, you work hard, you study, you eat your Wheaties and you, you get out there and make, Hey, well, the sun shines in one day you're going to have that car.

48:40And now the guy in the big Mercedes pulls by the father and the son and the father says to the son, let's go find a rock so we can throw it at that car. And that's basically where we're at. Somehow the message of you work hard and you can get that car too has been lost to let's go throw a rock at that car. But when you say somehow, how would you say that's happened? It's a lack of religion. Religion kind of keeps people you know, in line and they have values, you know what I mean? It's a lack of values. It's a lack of discipline and it's a lot of politicians enabling lazy people and meaning, mean it's this, okay.

49:28Everybody wants to go. It's by the way, it all goes back to whatever a nine-year-old thinks, you know? So, you know, there's a running race and a nine-year-old Tim came in last and he asked to feel shame and somebody should say to him, you've got to practice harder. You've got to stop eating so much junk food. You've got to work harder. At the same point, somebody steps in and goes, you know, those other guys only beat you because they're mean. And doesn't your ankle hurt? And he goes, yeah, my ankle does kind of hurt. They go, just sit down. I'll get you a trophy too. And they go, thank you. And then we vote for that guy.

50:02And politicians have figured that out. That's interesting. So you said that we've put these guardrails in to curb how most humans by nature want the reward without putting in the work. And so we created capitalism or whatever boundaries we wanted in order to curb all of those parts about humans that make them nonproductive. So you would argue then that culture is downstream from politics. It actually starts with the policy. And then that is what then determines the way that the people behave. Well, yeah, I always use this example, which is dogs at the airport. So I traveled extensively all through, you know, the 90, late nineties.

50:44And I've, I've been traveling my pretty much the last 30 years, pretty much nonstop. And for the first 10 years I traveled, 15 years I traveled, I never saw a dog at the airport. There were like two dogs you saw at the airport. There was the police dog. And then there was the seeing eye dog, like a dog with a handle on it. And then at some point, somebody said, there's such a thing as an emotional support dog. And if you get a note from your doctor, you can then travel with your dog. And then I started seeing little Pomeranians on 18 foot bedazzled leashes out in front of the nutty broad who was walking behind it.

51:23Now, what happened? She wants to travel with their dog, but we didn't let people travel with their dog because it had to be a seeing eye dog and not that many Americans are blind who travel. But then we opened it up and we said, it's on the honor system. Like, look, if you really need a dog to fly, by the way, if you need a dog to fly emotionally, you're not, and you need therapy. You don't need your dog. But they said, and all of a sudden a whole bunch of people, not criminals. None of these people are criminals. People pay their taxes. They love their country. They love their kids, but they want to fly free with their dog.

52:03And now the airport's filled with dogs and that's who we are. So if you want to open it up, people will come in. Do you think people need therapy? Like do, do guys need therapy or do you think they need to read some Dostoevsky, like, you know, old classic tales of like struggle and like grinding through things like watching David Goggins. What is it the young people need in order to become a self-actualized, hardworking, disciplined guy? No, I don't think they need therapy and they sure don't need pharmaceuticals and SSRIs and things like that. Like they do not need any of that. They need ordinary misery.

52:43They need tough things to do that don't feel that good where they would much rather be playing a video game and ordering Grubhub. But sorry, you got to get out and chop some wood and it's hot outside. Like you got to go. It's like a little ordinary misery. And a lot of it is just like you need to take hikes. You need to sweat like you need to move. Like a lot of it is a physical thing. You know, it is not about sitting in air conditioning and talking it out. It's about physically getting on your feet and like trucking through the desert, like and breaking a sweat. You know, you need that, like that, that's going to solve a lot of what's going on with everybody in their heads.

53:30Um, and then there's going to be a lot of like self-discipline. Like we have to start bringing back like, Hey man, I know you want that donut, but there you eat that apple. And you get that donut after the hike or whatever, whatever it is we need to do. It's all real basic stuff. You know, like I, I always tell people, you know, diet and exercise. And I'm not, I'm not talking about losing weight. I'm just talking about life. You know what I mean? Like everyone's on Ozempic. Everyone's looking for some life hack. Everyone's doing some bullshit. Just diet. First off, what do you need Ozempic for?

54:07Don't eat junk exercise. You don't need it. What is it for? It's to get me to not want to do this thing. How about you control your own self? How about you have some agency over your own behavior? How about that?

54:23Graham Stephan:What do you think is the biggest risk in today's economy? The biggest risk in today's economy? I don't know. I haven't really thought about that. What about the Hentavirus? No. It's a hanta? Is it hanta? He literally asked me earlier. I keep calling it the hentai virus. I know. Drew does that too. Listen, I now will not believe anything that comes out of the medical establishment or the scene. Yeah, what's funny, yeah, the World Health Organization. Yeah, they all lied through COVID, so I'm kind of done with that. Yeah, this is interesting. In January 14th, 2020, the World Health Organization tweeted, investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus.

55:10Graham Stephan:Right. All right. So here's the same thing now about the hand of that. So here's the moral story, whether this exists or not. If you're going to be the WHO and you're going to lie all through COVID or you're going to be Rochelle Walensky or you're going to be Fauci or you're going to be Sanjay Gupta on CNN and you're going to lie all through COVID, then I'm not going to listen to you when the next thing comes around the bed. And that's not on me. that's on you. You shouldn't have lied all through COVID. How are you investing your money in 2026? I don't have any experience in that world. And I don't have any history in that world.

55:52I have things that I sort of like and know about. And I have like property and cars. And I make, I don't even know if they're called investments, but I have cars that are worth a substantial amount of money, but I also race them and use them. So I like sort of being tangible with them. Like, I guess if I was to think about it, you go, well, if you bought this stock or that stock 10 years ago, you'd be up this much. And then I go, well, I didn't buy that stock in that stock, but I bought a warehouse and I bought a couple of old race cars and those are up the same amount, except for I've been racing and wrenching on them in the warehouse.

56:36So I'm really not good at that. I just sort of know what I like. And I also know that I have enough experience to go that warehouse or that house or that car will be worth quite a bit more in the future. And people kind of go, that's like an old race car. Like, how does that work? And I'll give you a quick example. nick mason who's the drummer for pink floyd still is original drummer for pink floyd is nick mason nick mason has a pretty substantial car collection nick mason bought a 63 could be 62 to Ferrari GTO in 1976 for$60 ,000, which was a lot for a car in 1976. That car is$85 million today, and he still owns it.

57:38So there is a way to make money off of things like cars or Pokemon cars.

57:44Graham Stephan:Was that luck or skill? You know, when I look at his collection, I go, this guy's picking the right cars. You know, there's a version of this where people just buy a brand new Rolls Royce and put rims on it. They paid$3.50 for it. It's going to be worth$1.75 in nine years and you're going to lose on it. But there are cars. I could tell you what cars to buy that would have upside. Oh, we got to know about this. I have my own cars that I think are going to be worth a lot. I think the SLS AMG. Yeah. One of my favorites. I think the Z8s are underappreciated. And I think stock. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the stock Honda S2000s.

58:28The Japanese stuff's going up a lot. The Z8s were like, you know, 150 new, but they put a premium on them. The dealer premium, they were selling for like 225 or something like that. they've always kind of trickled up but not really and maybe they're about 240 or 250 now and they're they're cool car v8 you know bmw but they're not you know they're not that they're just kind of if you if you bought one for 250 today it'd be worth three in six years you know and that's like It's okay, but I bought a Lamborghini Miura for 300K and it's worth$2.500 now. I sold it to buy another race car, but I mean, there are cars you can buy that'll go.

59:15What do you think of the Ford GT? The original one, the 2005. Those cars are good. They're about$1.65 new and they went up and they kind of trickled up and then they shot up and they got to like$5.50, maybe$600. maybe 700 if it was a Gulf Heritage. And then they just kind of stopped and kind of settled into like the 5, 475 to 550 range. And they just kind of stayed there. They're kind of like the BMW. If you bought one for 500 and hung on to it, you're not going to lose, but it's not a hot stock.

59:58Graham Stephan:So what would you buy? What do you think right now is a good car if someone says money's no object, I just want to make money on a car? Well, it's kind of like, do you have$4 million to spend on a car or do you have$125K? So Ferrari 550s from the late 90s, early 2000s, stick shift, those are nicely kind of trickling up. Also sort of from the same era, Ferrari 355s have been a pretty steady climber. I'll give you a hot ticket. It has never popped and it's a ton of car, but they just won't move past like 550, but I swear they're gonna, which is a Jag 220, which is their supercar from the later 90s.

1:00:46Those, I think, are going to start to move. So do you own no stock? I don't know if I own stock. Who would know? When I got into this business, I immediately got a money manager because I was like, I don't know anything about this world and I don't want to be responsible for it and I'm going to end up being arrested by the IRS if I put myself like in charge of this. And I don't want to deal with any of it. And so I got a money manager, pays all the bills, pays all the taxes, does all the stuff. And all I do is just work. That's how, when did you get the money manager? Literally like day one in showbiz.

1:01:31So he has to have invested stock. Yeah, yeah. Do you have any idea where you're at financially? No, I only know, well, yeah. I mean, I know what my warehouses are worth. But you don't know what your net worth is. Um, I would say... This episode is in partnership with Airbnb. Graham and I are always traveling for the podcast. We were just in Nashville filming a few episodes there. And let me tell you, the food was incredible. I had the absolute best appetizers I've ever had. There was this dough ball and these steak skin potatoes. It was incredible. But let me ask you this. Do you ever think about your place back home when you travel?

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1:02:41I kid you not, a couple years ago, before I had all of the rooms in my house filled up with roommates, I actually listed a room on Airbnb, and the entire process was genuinely so easy. The extra cash was amazing, and I was genuinely just so surprised at the simplicity of the entire process. If you're trying to make some extra cash on the side, I couldn't recommend Airbnb more. If you're ready to host but need a little bit of help, find a co-host at airbnb.com slash host. A quick thanks to Ethos for sponsoring this episode. Most of us work to take care of the people we love, and when you're the one that they depend on, that's a responsibility you don't take lightly.

1:03:13For example, I have two mortgages, and payments like that add up really quickly, and it's a big burden if something were to, you know, happen to me. I don't want to place that burden on my family.

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1:03:52Graham Stephan:In this case, having your own policy means that you're protected no matter what. Ethos has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot with over 4 ,000 reviews, and you'll get the lowest rate through their network of trusted carriers, and getting started takes about 10 minutes. So take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote today at ethos.com slash iced coffee. Again, that is ethos.com slash iced coffee. The link is also down below in the description. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. But you don't know what your net worth is. Um, I would say my net worth is tied up in my properties and in my cars.

1:04:33I always, whenever I made money, I just got another warehouse or got another car and I never put it in the, in the stock market. He, you know, got retirement accounts and stuff like that, But no, if I want to figure out my net worth, we would have to go to my warehouse and go, what is this warehouse worth? And then go to another warehouse and go, what is that worth? And then go to a house and go, what is this worth? And then go walk every car and go, what's that car worth? But that's assuming they have smoke detectors. Yeah, and I can get them a phrase. But are these income producing assets? I have a warehouse that I'm currently renting out.

1:05:17So I do get income from that warehouse. The other stuff just kind of goes up. Like, I don't know what, you know, you go in what's income producing. You go, well, I bought a Miura Lamborghini for three 25 and I sold it for a million bucks. You know, I bought a Lamborghini, 400, two plus two sixties, 67 probably. I bought on eBay for like 117 ,000. I called the guy. I went, what's it going to take to get the auction shut? He's like, give me 117 ,000 bucks. I said, I'll do it. I bought that car. I sold that car like six years later for like 785 or something like that. Now that's a happy story. Sometimes you don't make money.

1:06:04And whenever you get these windfalls from selling these assets, you immediately parlay that into a new car, warehouse, or real estate or whatever. Yeah, I mean, generally the money goes into something else like that. So what's the best investment you've ever made? You know, I bought my first house for like$3.50, put a lot, fixer-upper, but a lot of sweat equity, had to do a lot of work on it. I think it sold for like$2.2 or something like that. That's probably good. um i mean percentage wise something like the lamborghini 400 one up like 100 you know i mean i walked away i didn't walk away with millions of dollars but from a percentage wise and a time wise that was probably pretty good um some of the warehouse i bought a warehouse for like one nine and i put a lot of sweat equity in it but just like this you know paint and scrubbing stuff and you know i used to build so it was that not not a ton of dough and i got sold for like seven million bucks or something like that so it's okay with just sticking with kind of the warehousey and the you know uh properties and and cars the cars um it's hard to tell the value of a lot of them because there's no comps.

1:07:33You know, we can figure out a comp on a Ford GT, you know, fine. I mean, I don't even own one. I shouldn't say I don't like it, but it's not my car. I mean, I don't dabble with it. I've never bought one. I've never traded one. I've never done anything. But I just told you what those cars are worth. Yes, and you're pretty accurate. Because that's what those cars are worth. But you can't tell what an old Paul Newman race car is worth because they don't trade.

1:08:00Graham Stephan:But when you buy those cars, is it ever with the intention of saying, I'm going to make money with this? Or is it, I like this car. I don't care what it's worth. This is cool. I buy them because I like them and I buy them to race them. And I buy them for pretty pure. The motivation is good. I like it. I want to be a custodian of this car. I want to get in this car. I want to drive this car. I want to race it. That's all good. but there have been cars like I own Paul Newman won four national championships I own three of those cars and there's a guy who always owned the fourth car who was kind of nuts and a little bit of a douche and he used to come at me all the time and go I'll sell you this car for three million dollars and I'd just go that's not a three million dollar car it's not worth that much you know and he'd go do it now or I'm sending it to Dubai or whatever and I'd go I I I can't tell you exactly what it's worth, but it's not worth that much money, so I'm not going to buy it.

1:09:03And then I'd tell him, take it to Pebble Beach, put it up on auction, I'll bid on it. And we'll find out what it's worth. And he's like, he never did it because he's an idiot. But the point is, no, I'm not going to just sort of blindly go, I'll give you way too much money for a car. But would you say most of your net worth then is in cars? Yeah, I would say that's a safe statement. Wow. That's incredible. Most of the people we bring on this podcast, they're all like buying stocks and I don't know. Or running business, like very fast flow. It's very rare that like they're just, they've completely negated that area of life because we're more actually of a finance podcast where we discuss stuff like that.

1:09:43So that's, that's really interesting to note that like you've actually done quite well for yourself, but you've invested in a completely alternative way to most people we have on the show. Yeah. Cause I don't really look at it as investment. I just go, I worked, I swung a hammer, I was on a job site. I wanted to make money so I could get myself some race cars and go racing. And I got into show business and I made some money and I bought race cars and I went racing.

1:10:09Graham Stephan:How important do you think it is for the average person out there to invest in property? I think it's real important. I think it's real important. And for generational wealth as well. But also, if you don't own property, you're not really completely invested in America. You're just kind of floating around, you know, and that's where the Mondamis of the world takes seats because they're talking to those people. They're not talking to owners. They're talking to renters. And they're talking about controlling the rent and lowering the rent. And, you know, you have to have some skin in the game. And when you own property, you have skin in the game.

1:10:44Graham Stephan:Yeah, there is something about owning a house where all of a sudden you care about what your neighbor is doing, too. Right. Like if they don't upkeep the landscape or they have some trash in the front yard, it looks bad on you. Yeah. And also like what percentage of violent crime is committed by property owners? That's a good question. Close to zero. Yeah. But is that the property itself or is that the fact that the people who are making money don't need to resort to crime and petty theft? A lot of people commit crime like they don't have anything to lose. Like you've been arrested 17 times in four years.

1:11:23Like, yeah, who cares? You know what I mean? But when you own something or you're invested in something, you're like, I can't. I'm going to get sued.

1:11:32Graham Stephan:How much of that, though, is circumstantial versus a personal choice? Like if you're growing up in an area and all you've seen your entire life is people just stealing. and that's your only reality of life is like oh that's normal like people run in the the red left arrows normal at a certain point yeah there's a lot of environmental stuff there needs to be interventions obviously i i would argue that all of those people do understand the difference between right and wrong though they have stuff they don't want stolen you know what i mean like they get it. You know, we go like, oh, that guy's claiming insanity.

1:12:14Well, he did try to get to Mexico after he murdered the guy. I'd say he knew what he was doing because he's trying to get, we caught him trying to get into Mexico. Like, yeah, but he's insane. Well, not so insane that he didn't know what he did because he's trying to get to Mexico. You know, these people all have stuff they keep, all have stuff they want, all while stealing other people's stuff. So they get it. I mean, most of it is just not having a dad in the house and no politician wants to talk about that. But that's, that's really the big problem. There needs to be like a disciplinarian in the house.

1:12:48I grew up amongst, you know, these kinds of people, not, not street thugs, but like kind of poor downtrodden people. And most all the people I grew up with, including their parents, they all did it to themselves. Like I was saying to somebody when I was driving here today to work yet another weekend, I said, I know when I ever knew worked a weekend, my dad never worked a weekend. My mom never worked a weekend. None of my friends, parents, whoever worked on a Saturday back then. And it's like, the answer is nobody. Well, they weren't that motivated then. You know, I mean, they weren't getting their side hustle on.

1:13:28They weren't trying to better their position and they knew, they knew that studying harder and getting good grades and going to college, if they knew that was a way out, they just didn't want to do it. None, no, no one I grew up with, they just, they wanted to go to the reservoir and drink beer and cut class. And they knew what it took. They just weren't, they weren't going to do it. And they weren't going to put in the time and they weren't going to put in the work. It's not like they didn't have the information. And it's the same way, you know, when you say these people, you know, these poor people, they're fat.

1:14:02They don't have the information. They have the information. They know the difference between an apple and a McDonald's hamburger. They do. But they don't have the discipline to eat the apple and not have the McDonald's burger because they want it. And delayed gratification is a big problem. They can't push off the gratification. They need it right now. And we made it real easy for them to get it right now. And it has weakened them. And they're not going to flourish. And somebody has to start telling these people the truth. And instead of making excuses about lack of information or, you know, food deserts or school to prison pipelines or whatever bullshit they're cooking up this week.

1:14:47Did you know more than 50 % of the people that bought tickets to Coachella did it on credit? Did it on credit? Not like credit card. A lot was Quarna, the buy now pay later or affirm. It's interesting because we back in the day had layaway. You guys are too young to remember layaway. But layaway was an interesting, you guys don't know what a layaway is.

1:15:09Graham Stephan:I've heard the term. It's so funny. Yeah, I've heard the term. You've heard the term, right? Layaway would be, you would go to like Sears and you would see a bicycle or a wagon or something you liked. and what we're going to do is we're going to make payments every week or every two or any period, whatever. And you're going to mow lawns and you're going to babysit. And when you get$8, we'll give it to Sears and we'll be that much closer to paying for that wagon. And then when we pay for that wagon, you're going to get a new wagon, but you don't get the wagon until we pay the wagon. And you were then motivated to go out and mow lawns every weekend because you wanted your wagon and that instilled a great work ethic in people now we get the wagon day one we're done with the wagon but we still have payments to make on it that is really interesting i wonder if a company like that could succeed in today's environment if they kind of put it behind the veneer of being like psychologically more healthy than like you know what i mean There's no way.

1:16:15There's no way.

1:16:16Graham Stephan:There's no way that would work. When you have a firm, you have two options. Well, the whole Ramsey thing is like upon being psychologically healthy. It's like you pay on debit, you know? Who would want that? It's kind of like bucketing your money and then paying with cash. I think anyone would take it. I think they would go under. No, what you would have to do is you could get the wagon today and then pay it off for credit for 50 bucks. But for 40 bucks, I'll do it on layaway. Yeah, that's interesting. You'd have to give them some incentive to go, all right, I'm going to save 10 bucks and do it on layaway.

1:16:48Yeah.

1:16:49Graham Stephan:What other policies like that have you seen that have changed over the last few decades? I mean, there was a general civility. There was a general trust in people to kind of be responsible and kind of do the right things. You know, like it was like when I was a kid, if you went to the beach, there wasn't a sign with 15 things on it that you couldn't do on the beach. You just kind of, you were, you were trusted to go there. If you wanted to drink a beer, you could drink a beer, but clean up the bottle with you. If you want to start a little campfire and roast some marshmallows, you could, but put it out when you leave.

1:17:28Like you were just kind of trusted to do. Now it's a long list of no Frisbee and no football and no dogs and no cigarettes and no whatever. So we're like trying to police everybody now. But back in the day, people just kind of police themselves. What are we supposed to do with the people that are overweight, that want to buy now, pay later, door dash their meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they just don't care about, or maybe they don't have the motivation to be productive in society, the people that are quietly destroying it and bringing us back? What do we do with those people? Well, you have to incentivize them to do the right thing.

1:18:09You can't just say, here's some, you're on snap, you get free food, you don't have to work. Everything's got to be carrot and stick and motivation and incentivizing. And people do the right thing pretty fast when they get motivated. But if we don't motivate them and we basically just say, look, um, is your kid on the spectrum? And they go, I don't, I don't know. I think he's fine. What if I said, I'll give you 1 ,600 bucks a month for every kid you have who's on the spectrum? I go, okay, I got three kids on the spectrum. We can't incentivize people to do that. That's what we're running into now.

1:18:52You're going to have to take care of your own shit. And by the way, there's no way you're going to, first off, you're poor and you're fat. So you're figuring out a way to get a lot of calories while simultaneously being poor. you know what i tell people i tell everyone you want to run a little experiment it's always called my ten thousand dollar rule where i say to people like i i had a guy who was sharing my warehouse many years ago like an old flunky friend and he had his old piece of crap ford bronco gone up in value uh but it was a husk of a car it was just a roller and it was sitting in my warehouse and i had to like climb around it to get everywhere and i've been there for five years or something and i just said, Don, what's it going to take to get this Bronco out of this warehouse and like into the parking lot?

1:19:40You know, I got to move some stuff and do some stuff. I said, all right, I'll tell you what, you tell me when is this going to be out of here? I'm not going to set the date. You set the date. He goes, two weeks. You give me two weeks. I'll have this thing out of here. I said, I'm not going to bug you. I'm not going to bother you. I'm not going to keep coming up going, Hey, what's going on with the Bronco? You got two weeks. You got two weeks. You got it? Got it. Okay, here we go. Two weeks came and went. Bronco hadn't been touched. I said to him, what? I thought we had a deal. What went on? Well, you know, it's pretty busy and I had a bunch of stuff come up, so I didn't move it.

1:20:14I go, what if I said to you when we're having our initial conversation, if that warehouse, if that Bronco isn't out of the warehouse, if it's out, I'll give you$10 ,000. He goes, I wouldn't have moved it. I said, okay, well, we now figured out it could have been moved if you'd got$10 ,000, which by the way, just means you could have moved it. It'll work both ways. You owe me$10 ,000 if this Bronco is still here in two weeks, it's moved. You get$10 ,000 if it's moved, it's moved. So don't tell me people can't do stuff. They can do whatever they want, but he wasn't incentivized to move the Bronco one way or the other.

1:20:50In the past, dignity would have incentivized him. He gave me his word, he would move it. But that's out the window now, so he doesn't care. What do you mean dignity is out the window now? Every third billboard is for some lawyer. Want to know if you're discriminated against at the workplace or whatever. Everyone's just cashing in. Dignity prevented that in the past. You had a word, you had a bond, you had a handshake, you were an adult, you were a male. You didn't do, you didn't engage in that kind of stuff. I, the warehouse that my studio's in, um, when I bought it, there was a tenant in there and he had a nine months left on the lease or something.

1:21:36And I was anxious to get in there and start making it into a wood shop or car shop, you know? And so I said to the guy who was the tenant, I go, you got nine months left on your lease. He goes, yeah. I go, I'm ready to move in whenever you're ready to move out. So if you want to cut out early, you can cut out early. And he said, I'm actually looking for a place and, uh, I would like to get out of the lease early. I said, well, whenever you're ready, I'm ready to cut you loose. Came to me, I don't know, three weeks later, he said, I found a place. I said, that's good. You're free to leave. He said, I'm going to need you to sign some paperwork to get me out of the lease.

1:22:18I said, we don't need paperwork. I said, you could leave. You can leave. I'm not going to circle back and see you for past rent or anything. Go ahead and leave. He said, I'm not leaving without the paperwork because, you know, I said, look, I looked in the eye, shook your hand. I said, you can leave. You can leave. I'm not leaving until we sign the agreement. I said, well, I'm not signing an agreement. So you can either leave or you can stay for another nine months and pay me rent, but I'm not signing anything. And he left. And that was that. And that's how we kind of used to roll, but we don't anymore because dignity prevents all that stuff.

1:22:59I told you this, that's my word. But the issue is that we don't have that level of dignity anymore.

1:23:05Graham Stephan:And yet you almost have to protect yourself. Like there are so many deals in real estate, so many that I would love to say hey you know if we put this in writing it's gonna maybe create some why don't we just shake on it and this is what it is but you have to trust the other person with your life they could easily turn around and just get you right back that's where we're at now we didn't used to be there but now we're there this was totally unnecessary in the past and now we're there you know my word is my bond you know what i mean i look a man in the eye and shake his hand and That's that. But see, the issue, too, is that they could mean it in the moment and then they turn around and talk to their buddy who says, hey, wait a second.

1:23:42Graham Stephan:You know, he actually did this. Yeah, but that's where the dignity part comes in. Like, you know, you go, well, I don't feel that way anymore, but I did tell him that. I got to stand by my word, you know. Well, in terms of policies like this, what's something that you feel like he could improve on? And what do you think his chances are of winning in Los Angeles? You know, it's insane about, you know, Los Angeles because they always vote Democrat, no matter how bad it gets and no matter how far we keep going into the abyss. They always vote Democrat. So there's a part of your head that goes, they just always do.

1:24:17Like, no matter how much you think this is going to help or be better, this Rick Caruso is better than Karen Bass. They still vote for Karen Bass. They just, they don't care. They're kind of dumb. and it's a kind of gad, sad, suicidal empathy kind of thing they got going on over there. Spencer's, yeah, all we need is someone who's half pragmatic and semi-normal, not a socialist. And, you know, the other two are kind of socialists who just have some sort of pie in the sky thoughts, insane thoughts about everything. So all we need is somebody normal to just be mayor. It wouldn't take, you could take a farmer from the thirties and just make him the mayor of Los Angeles and it would work out fine.

1:25:00It would be completely fine. I literally guys never even been inside, uh, downtown Los Angeles, pull up a guy from Iowa off a farm and from 1933, and he'd come in and run Los Angeles a lot better. Cause he just go, whatever's pragmatic. You know, he'd go, how much you paying for the homeless people? Uh, you know, 110 ,000 a year. What's your average income? coming at 63. You're wait, you're paying more for a homeless guy than the average income of people are working. And he that's all it would take. Yeah. That's just a pragmatist. What do you think his chances are of winning? He seems to have all the momentum and he's running against two dangerous dopes.

1:25:39But there is a Democratic machine in Los Angeles and in California. And that machine always wins. And it's kind of weird. Like you go, is it all mail in or is it voter fraud or like What's going on that they just always win, even though everyone seems to think the other person's going to be better for the state or the city? So there's a part of me that goes, I love the guy. He's got all the momentum. Everyone seems to be pumped up about him. On the other hand, the machine always wins, you know? And so I have to kind of balance those two thoughts. I think it's going to be different. Now, what's interesting is I'm looking at the polls.

1:26:19Graham Stephan:And when I see Nitya Raman at the top leading, I just tend to think that is manipulation. That is someone on her side that's placed in a big bet, moving the odds. She gets way more than, let's just say, if that bet were a$50 ,000 bet to move the needle. She gets way more than that with free exposure. Everyone says she's leading. Everyone's, oh, let me look into her. Well, you're but you're what you're talking about is part of the machine that I'm talking about. It's not all just fake votes. It's like part of the entire gestalt of the Democratic machine in California. I think he has a really good shot of winning and I think he's going to upset a lot of people who think he doesn't have a chance.

1:27:07I believe you just as a person, it's like, you know, it's 2007 and your team's playing the Patriots and it's the fourth quarter and you're up by 11 points and you go, I think we got this one. No, you don't. You know, you don't, you think you do, but you don't do it because what happens every time, you know what I mean? And there's a little bit of that with the machine in California. So I hope and I pray you're right. And I thought that way about Caruso. And I thought that way about Larry Elder and Gavin Newsom. And the machine kicked in and they just got blown out. Who is the machine? I think at this point, it's teachers unions, labor unions, all the unions, all the NGOs.

1:28:01and all, I mean, you think about the teachers unions get the governor elected, then COVID comes around, then the governor shuts the schools down, and then the teachers don't want to go back and do their job. So they tell the governor no opening schools. Meanwhile, the parents want the schools open and the governor may want the school open, but the union that controls them is calling the shots. And that's kind of the machine, if you think about it. Should be legal.

1:28:37Graham Stephan:That's interesting. Now, I have noticed because I was back in Venice a few months ago, I was surprised to see that some areas were beginning to clean up. I was surprised. It's the nicest I've seen it in six years. when it gets to critical mass, at some point there's enough outcry and outrage where like somebody does something sometimes temporarily, they clean up a park. They just go, all right, we're going to clean up MacArthur park. And then they do it in one day, by the way, it's like, yeah, the funny part is when they do it, you go, well, why didn't you just do that five years ago? Like it only took you a day to come in there and clean the whole park out.

1:29:15And you just did it. And it, and it worked. So why not just do that? They, they do little dribs and drabs of sort of show they're doing something like look what happens also whenever the olympics goes to a specific town yes then they clean up the entire town beforehand and then every resident is wondering hey why was this not done beforehand but this is like a common theme like it's happened several times so we need the olympics every year yes yeah or the or the you know president of china needs to swing by san francisco and they'll clean it up you know they they will clean it up if a dignitary is coming in yeah or world cup or whatever.

1:29:49If you were to make some predictions of the future, because you have a tendency to be right with your predictions, what do you think is going to happen? Just crazy, ludicrous, maybe moonshot ideas that you think have a higher likelihood than most would think of coming true. I think we're going to create a sort of super class of sort of dudes who are doing like lots of hacks and cold plunges and lots of supplements and anti-aging stuff and all the routines that go along with that. And like people like really living their life, like space tourism and stuff like that. And then there's just be another class, which is just like Calcutta, poor streets, you know, teeth falling out.

1:30:37Like this chasm between the haves and the have nots is going to like get grow, you know, by the day. And then I think we'll have some sort of return to nature where like people will start to understand that kind of grandpa was right. That all the sub, all, all the Ozempic and video games and Grubhub and streamers, it was all the sort of the digital world was just sort of a dream that was being sold that turned out to be a nightmare and that it's the analog world that we need to get back to, you know, and there's like more people are going to grow their own vegetables. You know, it was like people used to grow vegetables and they had victory gardens.

1:31:24And then at some point, supermarkets populated every corner and they went, you'd be a fool to grow your own tomatoes. And everyone went and bought everything. And then they got kind of miserable because they were like indoors and they're buying tomatoes that had pesticides on or something. And then there was some sort of return to you, the mom and the four-year-old girl in the garden, you know, together in the soil, getting their hands dirty. I, you know, the dad's building a tree house with the sun, you know, versus ordering it from Ikea and having the tech put, you know, the guy from nerd wallet or wherever the task, task rabbit come Put it up for you.

1:32:03You know, I think there's going to be the dad going, no, I'm going to do it with my son. I think there's going to be a return, hopefully, to values in kind of old school, you know, like, son, let me show you how to handle these tools and let's build a treehouse together. And then there's going to be ones who go off further. There's more tattoos, fatter and dumber. But you're generally optimistic. I am in that if you would like to just work hard, it's a pretty good time to be alive. Like you can get a lot done, but there's always going to be a group that just does not have enough agency or self-discipline for that.

1:32:50What about AI? People speculate that robots, humanoid AI robots are going to get so cheap, everyone will have access to one. Then you'll have people that are the, you know, very poor can have access to the nicest meals, daily massages that they will put up whatever TaskRabbit was going to put up. Like humans will not have to do jobs like TaskRabbit because labor will become so inexpensive. expensive um you know there's always been technology and it's always you know there's always a decry of oh we're going to put these saddle makers out of work if we start driving cars around and there's always that and then there's always progression now in this case it's kind of about speed you know to go from a horse to a car may have taken 35 years you know this is going to happen in three and a half years you know so the speed is the sort of the wild card in this.

1:33:45In general, if you are adaptive and kind of willing to work hard, I think there's going to be a place for you in our society. And I don't think self-driving trucks are going to mean that we're going to have millions of people that are living in squalor because they used to drive a diesel. That's very positive. And finally, to end on a negative note, who are the top villains that are hurting humanity the most right now? The ones that are hurting, the grievance politicians that are telling young Black people, you know, we live in a systemically racist society and essentially they're not wanted here.

1:34:25The grievance politicians that are basically trying to convince women, Blacks, Hispanics, that they're not wanted here and they're never going to be able to really achieve anything because the playing field is tilted and it's not in their direction. Those people are causing the most damage in this country. I'd agree. Thank you.

1:34:49Graham Stephan:Really appreciate you coming on the podcast. We'll link all of your information down below in the description. And for the members, thank you so much for supporting the channel. You get early access to the entire episode before we post it. No ads, no sponsorships. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you. Thanks for having me, guys. Till next time.

1:35:10Thank you.

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