0:01

From the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio

0:03

at the George Washington Broadcast Center,

0:06

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty Armstrong

0:09

and Getty Show, are

0:13

you ready for March Madness? Is it?

0:16

Is it?

0:16

No?

0:16

Not at all?

0:17

Huh.

0:17

Well, my

0:19

hope is that we get all the madness out in

0:21

March, so we don't have any left for November.

0:23

But there were two college

0:26

basketball playing games today. There are sixteen

0:28

games tomorrow, another sixteen the day

0:30

after that, and then eight games and another

0:33

eight games and then four games, four

0:35

games, two games, two games, two games,

0:37

one game, and then we go back to working at

0:39

work, which is we'll get we get

0:42

no work.

0:42

Done when the games are on. So does anybody

0:44

know around here? Michael?

0:45

Do you know?

0:46

Do I know?

0:46

Because more than work in the same radio

0:49

station for twenty five years

0:51

or something like that. Yeah, for the first ten years

0:53

or whatever, there were brackets everywhere

0:56

in a number of different March

0:58

Madness pools you could get in, and.

1:02

There were employees everywhere. And

1:05

now there's just nothing, I mean nothing.

1:07

So did is it only

1:09

less popular here or is it are

1:11

there less people doing that at the workplace? Or did people

1:14

start cracking down on illegal gambling or.

1:16

No, no, no, not that, surely, I

1:20

just more people working remotely.

1:23

Maybe that's it.

1:23

There are certain media industries

1:26

that have seen serious cutbacks

1:28

in personnel.

1:30

Well, I hope you work somewhere where

1:32

there's still a buzz on the first day of March Madness, because

1:34

I always found that really really fun. I mean there was people

1:38

from the hardcore sports fans who had every

1:40

TV on around or were watching on their phone,

1:42

to the people that pay no attention but went ahead and

1:44

filled out a bracket anyway.

1:46

They were usually the people that won. It

1:48

was always a lot of fun. Saw this

1:50

headline today getting ready for the show. Yes,

1:53

your NC DOUAA bracket winnings

1:55

are taxable.

1:56

Oh wow.

1:57

You.

1:57

On the other hand, I want to invite parties.

2:00

Boy, you're a fun person. What

2:03

I'd suggest ain't gonna happen.

2:05

The only thing you win there is taxable. I'm gonna

2:07

be that guy from now on. You

2:10

know that's fully taxable as income. Wow,

2:15

yeah, that ain't happen. In speaking

2:19

of taxes, I uh,

2:22

I thought this was interesting, enlightening,

2:25

and frustrating. The

2:27

Journal of Wall Street with an

2:29

article that caught my eye because this is one of my many

2:32

jihads. We all want simpler

2:34

taxes. Here's why that's so complicated.

2:37

The US income tax is mind

2:40

boggling in its complexity, but the hurdles

2:42

to simplifying it are as are

2:44

surprisingly high.

2:47

And I'll get to my interpretation

2:49

of all this, but I'll hit you with part of it.

2:52

Howlds about the US tax codes complexity

2:54

peak at this time of year when Americans struggled

2:56

with laws so gnarly that some filers

2:59

have to tackle six ages of questions

3:01

to see if a person they support is their dependent.

3:03

Well, let me let me do my spiel that

3:05

I do every year. How could it possibly

3:07

even be constitutional that

3:10

the government, at the point of you

3:12

know, not a gun, but a jail sentence,

3:14

makes you pay taxes, but then makes

3:16

it so complicated.

3:18

That you have to hire a lawyer to

3:20

fill it out for you. That just is

3:22

not cool.

3:24

First of all, those have pointed out many times if you don't

3:26

show up for that jail sentence, they will point a gun

3:28

at you, So it is absolutely at the point of

3:30

the gun.

3:31

That's a good point.

3:34

And the other point we've made through the years is that

3:37

if you were to suggest

3:39

this tax system, you would

3:41

be laughed out of the country

3:44

the bellow of laughter from

3:46

Americans. Were you to suggest this

3:48

byzantine, idiotic,

3:51

incomprehensible, tangled

3:54

headphone cord of a tax

3:57

code, people would think it was hilarious.

4:00

Yet we have it, and anytime

4:02

somebody suggests doing away with it and changing

4:04

it, people say, oh, we better not if that could

4:06

lead to problems.

4:07

I just don't get well, that's a political game.

4:10

As you know, the wealthy and connected get

4:12

all these complicated lines of tax code

4:14

written to benefit them, corporations

4:16

or individuals or states or whatever,

4:19

you know, a particular group, and

4:22

then they pretend if anybody ever

4:24

tries to reform it and just make it, you

4:26

know, let's just just make it a flat number across

4:28

the border, consumption tax or whatever, something

4:31

simple. The old the

4:33

tax code should fit on a three by five note

4:35

card, which it should. But

4:37

anytime you present that, they all act like, oh, you're

4:39

just trying to help the rich. I'm the one that got

4:41

this law passed so that the tax helps

4:43

me. You're just trying to help the rich, and

4:45

that works, screaming at the average numb

4:49

nut that any change to the

4:51

tax code would be to benefit the wealthy.

4:54

Right, that is one of the dodges. What they do

4:57

is they fled the playing field with that one

4:59

and the whole all.

5:00

If we do that, they could just raise it over

5:03

and over again.

5:05

What yeah, Like if

5:07

you talk about a value added tax or whatever like

5:09

they have in Europe, the argument

5:11

is just that, oh, that would the government would be so

5:13

easy for them to raise it higher and

5:15

higher and higher. So we can't do that or

5:18

better off with again this unspeakably

5:20

complex mess. But I thought this

5:22

was It's frustrating

5:24

but interesting this Gallora

5:28

Saunders rights, the trouble

5:30

is hard.

5:30

Problems seldom have easy answers.

5:32

Well, there isn't an easy answer,

5:34

honestly in my opinion, but it'll never happen.

5:39

Why it's hard is the tax

5:41

code reflects the intricacies of modern

5:43

financial and social life, and it's also a mishmash

5:46

of competing policy interests that shift

5:48

over time and often interact in unexpected

5:51

ways. Another impediment to simplification

5:53

is human nature. What one filer

5:55

or industry sees you want to

5:58

jump in right there, Well.

5:59

First of all, that statement that you just read

6:02

was, well, that's the way it is now, but.

6:03

It doesn't have to have to be that way.

6:05

Yes, well right, that's and I was going

6:08

to get there this this gal and it's a it's a beautifully

6:10

written article and full of all sorts of interesting

6:12

information. But our conclusion seems to be it's

6:16

got to stay complicated because it's complicated.

6:18

And let's just say, I want to hear this stuff about the human

6:20

nature. I know I'm gonna hate this.

6:22

What one filer or industry sees

6:24

as a well deserved tax incentive advancing

6:26

the public good, such as the mortgage

6:28

interest deduction or tax credit for electric

6:31

cars, often seems stupid or wasteful

6:33

taxi break to others. The rock bottom

6:35

reality is that no matter how much taxpayers

6:38

decry tax complexity, few object

6:40

to it when they benefit. Well,

6:42

call me Saint Francis

6:44

of tax CCI, because I'm

6:47

going to be purer of motive.

6:49

Here flat tax.

6:52

Now, I'll figure out how

6:54

much more or less I owe. This

6:57

can't endure. It's complex.

7:00

It's complex, is not an answer. What

7:03

the true answer is, as Jack got to, is

7:06

it's complex because those

7:08

who actually have power, and

7:10

here's a hint. It with big government,

7:13

the little guy doesn't have power.

7:16

And how a lie that ridiculous.

7:18

Got to believe by so many people the

7:20

big government party is going to look out for me.

7:22

The little guy. It's hilarious anyway.

7:25

It's complicated because those who have real power

7:27

choose to have it be complicated because they write

7:29

themselves all sorts of favors.

7:34

Also, I guess I get some credit for being

7:36

a saint too. I'm

7:39

in favor of the Trump

7:42

tax cut thing that did away with blue

7:44

states being able to stick

7:46

it to the rest of the country, even though that

7:48

hurt me a lot. It hurts

7:51

me a lot that that tax culture

7:53

change, that you can't deduct your super hate

7:56

high state taxes the way you used to be able

7:58

to. But it's not fair to make the rest of the

8:00

country pay for high tax

8:02

blue states. That's crazy, right,

8:04

There's no justifying it. If it

8:06

came back, I wouldn't cry for

8:09

the record.

8:10

Once in a while, you run into a left to you says,

8:12

oh, you're just in favor of lower tax or whatever

8:15

because you're rich or blah blah blah blah, And

8:18

I remember so vividly there.

8:21

I was a high school freshman, Gladys

8:26

dewey eyed, optimistic Gladys

8:28

but hopes and dreams.

8:30

Gladys was vaping, so our hands weren't

8:32

available to play the You know she's a vapor

8:34

now.

8:35

M.

8:37

So annoying. You're not supposed to do that at

8:39

work, dear.

8:40

I don't want to be this kind of person, Gladys, but I think

8:42

it's gonna have to be no vaping at work.

8:45

Yeah, yeah, Collin hr.

8:47

Anyway, where was I?

8:48

Ah?

8:48

There, I was in my high.

8:49

School class and our history

8:52

teacher whatever they call it, was

8:54

explaining the progressive tax code, which

8:56

i HERETO four had been unaware

8:59

of. And I remember

9:01

being shocked by it because

9:05

I said no, because I

9:07

didn't quite get it at first. And I asked

9:09

him, I said, now, wait a minute, if

9:11

everybody pays ten percent, if

9:14

I make twice as much, I'm paying

9:17

twice as much.

9:18

Is that what you mean?

9:19

And he said no, oh no, no, no,

9:22

the more you make, the higher percentage you paid.

9:24

And I was seriously, as a working class

9:26

kid who was wearing hand me down clothes,

9:29

I was outraged by that. I

9:31

thought, that's just not fair, that's idiotic,

9:34

because if it's a flat percentage, it

9:36

takes care of itself. Right,

9:38

that's the perfect and most elegant solution.

9:41

You make more, you pay more.

9:43

Yeah, by the exact percentage

9:45

you make more. What could be

9:47

more just than that. It's a line

9:50

graft that's perfectly straighted. And

9:54

so anyway, I don't know, I don't know why

9:57

I've always felt like that, but I always have anyway.

10:02

So, oh

10:05

and and the way they I remember

10:07

who was it there was actually

10:09

a bit of momentum for a flat

10:11

tax or a simplified tax.

10:14

Who was the talk show guy based

10:16

out of Atlanta. I

10:20

can't remember anyway, Charlie

10:22

advocating pardon me, no, not Clark

10:25

Howard. It doesn't really

10:27

matter, but it got a little bit

10:29

of a momentum for a little while. And

10:31

and everybody screamed, your

10:34

mortgage interest deduction will.

10:36

Go right right, and.

10:38

And and the response to all of us who were advocating

10:40

this was, oh, you'll pay less total,

10:43

Yes, you will have more money at the end,

10:45

but I can't lose my mortgage

10:47

interest deduction.

10:49

And it's like, all right, you know what. Scaring

10:51

voters is so easy?

10:53

Yeah, or people are just not paying

10:56

attention, or or too many people are stupid

10:58

or whatever. Because when you come up with any sort of

11:00

tax, like consumption

11:02

tax, which which could work, and then somebody

11:05

hits you with you.

11:05

Want a car to cost two hundred thousand dollars.

11:08

Yeah, but I wouldn't be paying anything

11:10

all year long for other stuff.

11:13

I'd only buy a car every five doesn't

11:15

matter, I would you would end up

11:17

paying less.

11:18

Well, I can't afford a two hundred thousand

11:20

dollars car.

11:21

Ha.

11:23

Now this I thought was a pretty good point.

11:25

Oh, then we need to take a break. There are other

11:27

obstacles to tax simplification. Take a flat

11:29

tax, which seems the simplest solutions by creating

11:32

one rate for all. Guess indeed, but this gets

11:34

it only part of the problem. Income would still

11:36

need to be defined, and tax definitions

11:38

typically add far more complexity

11:40

than tax rates. The mind numbing

11:42

language is hard to simplify because it must

11:45

precisely describe human and economic activities

11:47

in terms that don't leave room for loopholes.

11:50

That's why you can take up to six pages of questions

11:52

to figure out who counts as a dependent and

11:54

that way. Tax language often reflects

11:56

the complex nature of family life as it tries

11:59

to prevent double dip on benefits for one dependent.

12:02

And I'm always shocked with the gazillion pages

12:05

of tax code, what's our sentence?

12:08

Friend, Stephen Moskowitz tell us like eighty thousand

12:10

pages now, and it grows by thousands of pages

12:12

a year. Anyway, I'm always surprised

12:14

how many of them I can use, how few of them

12:16

I can use, like hardly any.

12:19

And finally, eighty percent of

12:21

individual income taxes were

12:24

paid by about ten percent of filers.

12:29

And so you have masses of people

12:31

saying this is

12:34

great for me. I don't really pay

12:36

anything.

12:37

And then people still get away with when will the

12:39

rich pay their fair share? Yeah,

12:42

and I always my question is always what would a fair share

12:44

be? What number would be? One hundred percent?

12:47

No nobody ever asks that question.

12:49

No they don't.

12:50

Hey, demagogging that when

12:52

will the rich pay their fair share? Is the three inch

12:55

pot of politics. It's

12:57

unmissible. I'd

12:59

like to know what you think about this. Our text line

13:01

four one five two nine five KFTC.

13:12

Let's go through a couple of texts. We got on a variety

13:15

of topics. We don't do this often enough, hearing from

13:17

you, the people.

13:19

Our text line is four one five two

13:21

nine five KFTC. Somehow we got on the

13:23

topic of brushing or something like that. I don't know even

13:25

how I'm brushing your teeth. We

13:28

got this text I brush once a day. I use mouthwashes.

13:30

Needed flossing as a scam. It's

13:33

flossing as a scam.

13:35

Yeah, so I've been pushed down our throats

13:38

by big floss.

13:40

Uh to the fact that I only brush once a day,

13:42

which I have gotten my come up once for Yeah,

13:44

I brush once a day, always have. But maybe I'll start

13:47

h Jack, You're gonna be doomed eating only soup if

13:49

you don't take better care of your teeth. And remember, heart

13:51

disease starts in the mouth. That's a

13:53

good that's a good saying if it's true, and

13:55

I don't know if it is. There is

13:58

truth to it.

13:59

Yeah, I know if you have like heart

14:01

valve replacements or

14:03

heart valve problems, you have to take powerful

14:06

antibiotics before you have dental work done.

14:08

A couple of quick tax things.

14:11

We got the annual. You know you

14:13

don't actually have to pay your taxes because

14:15

of something or other in the constitution. That

14:17

comes every year. That conversation happens,

14:20

and we always say, go ahead and try it, give it a

14:22

whirl. You're you seem very confident. Go

14:24

ahead and give it a shot. See how it works.

14:26

Do it five years in a row.

14:28

Good less.

14:28

Say hey to Wesley Snipes while you're

14:31

there, whomever, famous

14:34

actor who didn't pay his taxes. If you don't know

14:36

who, that is excellent subtext. Thank

14:38

you, we got another tax

14:40

thing? What was the one we got?

14:41

Anyway? I wanted to get to this one.

14:43

So we played this girl

14:46

yesterday and got

14:48

quite a minute commentary. Listen the way she talks here.

14:52

How many genders are there? It's

14:54

a spectrum, so like a lie that

14:58

makes my escape girl O. I

15:01

don't even know how she makes that noise?

15:02

Is there a name for that kind of talking? Is that vocal

15:04

fryar valley girl or a combo of the two

15:07

or I don't.

15:08

Know, yes, like you know Asian

15:11

fusion cooking. It's a couple of different

15:13

things going on there.

15:14

So like Aliyah, wow,

15:19

Eliah.

15:22

It sounds like she's speaking

15:24

while gargling peanut butter. It's difficult

15:26

again, how do you make that noise with your throat?

15:28

Well, I have somebody in my orbit who

15:31

talks that way, a college aged

15:33

girl, and it looks hard

15:36

to do. It looks like it requires physical

15:38

effort, Like really, I would it

15:40

looks just watching it, it looks like

15:42

something you want to do to be in a certain

15:45

social circle, like wearing high heels.

15:47

It'd be like something you want to do for a while

15:49

and then you think, how my feet hurt, I'm gonna take them off.

15:51

It seems I could be like that, I'm not.

15:53

Talking on for a while, and then Okay,

15:55

I gotta go back to my normal ways as it hurt my throat.

15:59

Something you got this something

16:02

incredibly off putting about that? Yeah, oh god,

16:04

I would say.

16:05

I mean even when you did it, I got that same

16:07

skin crawling feeling.

16:08

But I'm a high school teacher. As a high

16:10

school teacher, guess how many girls talk like that?

16:13

You're right, a lot,

16:18

she.

16:18

Throws in the up, talking like

16:20

asking a question thing as well,

16:23

Jeff and San Jose.

16:25

So this is a Bay area high school teacher.

16:27

So I guess if it's gonna be anywhere

16:29

in the country where lots of high school girls are

16:31

talking that way, it'd be the Bay Area

16:32

of California.

16:34

San Fernando Valley. Yeah,

16:37

she is one

16:40

more time, So I

16:42

think we may be in the presence of greatness year.

16:45

This this young girl has managed

16:47

to incorporate virtually every

16:49

annoying verbal tick known

16:52

to the American mind.

16:54

Plus the substance of what she said, because

16:56

she was asked how many genders there are and she said

16:58

a lot, Ali.

17:01

Throwing us alike as well, got a

17:04

soike in there.

17:04

You're right, Yeah,

17:07

there's a lot of what I wonder what she looked like.

17:09

Anybody see the video of that.

17:11

This is the yo yo ma of annoying

17:13

speech. God dang it,

17:15

sorry about that. I know we annoyed a lot of

17:17

people with that clip.

17:21

Armstrong and Getty.

17:24

And thank your representatives, stand for your dedications

17:27

to people in the fourth District, and for the passport

17:29

anyway, get in.

17:32

Well, we couldn't be here today because

17:34

the.

17:34

Oaks of Washington make no bom

17:36

manage. Everybody has a right to organize, man to

17:39

have their labor rights protected. I

17:41

just going to expand their their engineering

17:43

over ten thousands

17:45

additional students, ten thousand

17:48

engineering students.

17:49

True, that's

17:52

our mumbling, fumbling, bumbling president

17:55

there. He's very old, but man mostly

17:57

going around the country handing out stuff and

17:59

including the head line today in case you didn't hear it, another.

18:02

Six billion dollars.

18:04

Of your taxpayer money to wipe out

18:06

the loans of college kids. Another six billion

18:09

today, bringing the total to I think one hundred

18:11

and forty four billion.

18:13

Yeah, as we said earlier, here's the only term

18:16

I'm going to use. They transferred

18:18

six billion dollars worth of loans.

18:20

To the taxpayers. Wow.

18:24

At any rate you may have heard, he's

18:26

running once again with Ms

18:28

Kamala Harris of California, who

18:31

is a half wit. Michael, I should have asked

18:33

you to get up Kamala's greatest

18:35

hits for us, if you could, you dig

18:37

some of those up, which I bring

18:39

up partly because I came across this piece by Christian

18:42

Snyder, which is one of my favorite things about kamaloa

18:44

I've ever come into. He explains

18:46

the importance of the vice president on

18:48

a ticket, often a balancing

18:51

act. Old Man Biden

18:53

himself was a balance against Barack Obama's

18:56

youth and inexperience.

18:57

All Right, I don't think that plays much of a

18:59

role.

19:00

Never believed that it might this time, because

19:02

you got a real, well not a good chance,

19:06

almost to guarantee that whoever's

19:08

vice president is going to end up president.

19:10

I will I must disagree

19:12

with you. I think Dick Cheney was a

19:14

huge asset to George W. Bush, and I think

19:17

at the old steady hand experienced

19:19

Joe Biden allayed people's fears

19:21

about Barack Obama.

19:22

Gifted as he is.

19:23

Definitely don't believe the Obama one. I might give

19:26

the the Cheney one, but the Obama

19:28

man. He could have put anybody with him, and he would

19:30

have rolled Mike Pence a human

19:32

sleeping pill. Calm fears that Trump would

19:34

be too out of control.

19:35

That good anyway, true. Yeah, it's election

19:38

of our lifetime.

19:39

This is clearly the most election of

19:41

her lifetime. And in twenty

19:43

twenty, in order to soften some of his own

19:46

past racial misstaps culmination riding

19:48

after the death of George Floyd, Biden

19:51

picked Kamala Harris, who had been roundly rejected

19:53

by your own party during its primary process.

19:56

But in twenty twenty four.

19:57

Harris is not just a piece of the puzzle, she is

20:00

the puzzle, and

20:03

he says, Biden is facing off against

20:05

two stubborn adversaries, Donald Trump and Father

20:07

Time. While Trump is beatable, father Time

20:09

is famously undefeated in NCAA

20:12

tournament parlance. The grim Reaper is a number

20:14

one sent and Biden's remaining cogin

20:16

for the next four years is a long

20:18

shot, and everyone knows it.

20:21

That's right, Marjorie.

20:23

And then he gets into the poll the

20:26

polls that show a huge majority

20:28

of Americans thinks he's too old, including

20:31

seventy three percent of people over sixty

20:33

five, who know

20:35

better than most of us. When somebody's just

20:37

you know, got the senior moments going, and when

20:39

they're they're shot. And

20:42

then in any sane

20:45

political environment, Biden would have a release valve

20:47

that of a capable vice president who could take over

20:49

in the event that something happened to him while in

20:51

office. But this is not a sane environment,

20:53

and Biden is riding along with Harris, whose

20:55

current approval rating of thirty seven percent

20:58

is roughly that of salespeople who square

21:00

lotion on you.

21:00

As you try to walk through the mall. Me

21:06

got I hate you.

21:06

Yeah, the new mall, the modern mall, that's

21:08

like a Mexican bazaar.

21:09

I hate it.

21:10

Stop shouting at me, Stop trying

21:12

to export things on me, Leave me alone.

21:15

And then he makes the point that Democrats

21:18

are constantly saying that democracy

21:21

is on the ballot in twenty twenty four.

21:23

This is a fight to save our country,

21:26

our very system of government, because Trump is the

21:28

new Hitler, et cetera, et cetera.

21:29

But Christian makes a point.

21:30

If that's true, they should be willing to take drastic

21:33

steps to keep the American system of governments

21:35

alive, given that America sent its

21:37

young men and women to die in wars to keep

21:39

democracy in place in foreign lands. Hurting

21:42

the feelings of an inconsequential vice

21:44

president who's in over her head shouldn't

21:46

be that tough of an ask, which

21:49

is absolutely true.

21:51

It is time for us to

21:54

do what we have been doing in that time as

21:56

every day.

21:56

I know that we're not the first to say, it's not the

21:59

first time we've said it, but the fact

22:01

that one of the two major parties

22:03

is going to go to bat with a guy

22:05

that three quarters of America thinks

22:08

is too old to be president right now, and

22:10

not only that, with the

22:12

person behind him nobody

22:15

likes, that's just it. It's

22:18

well, it's literally unbelievable,

22:21

Like I can't believe it's going to happen, as

22:23

in I don't think it's going to happen.

22:25

How did you allow this to happen

22:27

Democratic Party, how anyway,

22:30

he says, the one strategy

22:32

that might work is give her responsibilities, let

22:35

her hit a few home runs.

22:36

But that's not going to happen.

22:39

Plus

22:40

that's unlikely. Given Harris's challenges

22:43

in portraying herself as a functional resident

22:45

of planet Earth, she typically offers

22:47

audiences a cornucopia of melopropisms,

22:50

flubbed lines, and gaseous tangents

22:52

that offer a value per word of near zero

22:55

to wit and I think we have

22:58

this audio, but take Hares speech

23:00

at the US Asyon Summit

23:03

in twenty twenty two. We will

23:05

work together, Do we have that one, Michael,

23:08

And continue to work together to

23:10

address these issues, to tackle

23:13

these issues, and to work together as

23:15

we continue to work operating

23:17

from new norms, rules and agreements.

23:19

Oh, you have that.

23:21

We must together work together

23:24

to see where we are, where

23:26

we are headed, where we are going

23:28

in our vision for where we should be. But

23:31

also see it as a moment, yes, to

23:34

together address the challenges

23:37

and to work on the

23:39

opportunities.

23:41

That's my favorite part of her speaking style

23:43

is that when she goes along and yes.

23:48

That was actually a different speech

23:51

with some of the same just incredible

23:54

bull crap.

23:54

It was good enough, Michael, it was good enough. But it's

23:57

always the same thing. It's always I

23:59

know, I've got to say something. I was called

24:01

up here, so I'm just going to ramble

24:04

for a little bit. I didn't read the book, so

24:06

I'm trying to do the book report. It's always

24:08

the same. But I like this part.

24:10

And to work together as we continue

24:12

to work operating from the new norms,

24:15

rules and agreements, that we will convene

24:17

to work together.

24:18

Yes, she wasn't quite done.

24:20

We will work together, she

24:22

said, in closing with a flourish

24:24

reminiscent of a glitching AI text

24:26

program. In

24:30

a perfect scenario, Democrats would handle

24:32

the presidential position by adopting the Pittsburgh

24:34

Steelers strategy for handling quarterbacks.

24:36

Bring in an old veteran who's won in the past in

24:38

this analogy, Russell Wilson, but have a young,

24:41

promising backup in the wings, justin

24:43

fields, who can take over if the old guy falters.

24:45

The trouble is Kamala Harris is not justin fields.

24:48

She's a quarterback who throws with the wrong

24:50

hand and wears her helmet on

24:52

her foot. Her

24:56

ineptitude scares the sorts of voters

24:58

who like Nicki Haley and despice Trump but also

25:00

realize that if Harris gets in the game, another

25:02

catastrophic season is upon

25:05

us. That's

25:08

pretty funny. Yeah, yeah it is,

25:10

and there's more to it. It's really good writing.

25:12

Again, that's Christian Schneider, who writes

25:14

for the National Review, whose work I did not know,

25:17

Uh, but that's good.

25:19

Well, as I've already said, I feel

25:21

like the whole vice president thing is generally way

25:23

overblown every single time, and

25:26

people don't vote for who's at the second

25:28

in line for the ticket. But all three

25:30

candidates there's vice presidential news

25:32

now, and there are three Because RFK

25:34

Junior's polling at fifteen percent,

25:37

he should be lumped into any conversation. Really,

25:40

I mean, Ross biffinitely is a spoiler

25:42

obviously, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think he's gonna end

25:44

up president, but he's going to have an effect on the election

25:47

if he does anywhere near this. But anyway,

25:49

the other two candidates not named Biden

25:52

what their vice presidential choice will be?

25:53

Tell you about right after this.

25:55

Yeah, quick word from our friends at Oxford Gold

25:57

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26:11

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26:12

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26:14

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26:19

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26:21

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26:57

Gold r FK Junior,

27:00

who is polling at fifteen percent in

27:02

the real clear politics average versus

27:04

Biden, and Trump is making

27:07

his announcement who is running mate will be

27:09

on March twenty sixth. Than he's making the announcement

27:12

in Oakland, California, So he has

27:14

already told us when he's gonna make so it is today

27:16

is the twenty first one, five days he'll make

27:18

that announcement. But more importantly, he's

27:21

going to lay out a new strategy for securing

27:23

presidential ballots in all fifty states and

27:25

really trying to draw attention to the how

27:28

hard it is, or

27:30

how hard the Republicans and Democrats have made

27:32

it for anybody else to ever get on the ballot.

27:34

And I think that's a great topic and

27:36

should get a more attention. If

27:39

you're unhappy, like a lot of

27:41

America is, with another rematch of

27:43

Trump Biden, it's because the two parties

27:45

have a stranglehold on anybody running.

27:48

And I don't know, maybe the

27:50

smart guy like Tim Sanderfer would explain to

27:52

me why that's better than having some closer

27:55

to a free for all. But it shouldn't be

27:57

so damn difficult for anybody to be able to get

27:59

on the ballot right now, it's

28:01

looking pretty tough for Kennedy

28:03

to get on to get ballot

28:06

access in all fifty states, and they're

28:08

fighting for.

28:08

It right now.

28:10

And his super goodness knows he has

28:12

the time, the money, and the intelligence

28:14

to get it done. If it can be gotten done, so

28:17

right, I would love more attention focused

28:19

on that.

28:19

Political operatives in both parties remain skeptical

28:22

that Kennedy can meet the deadlines for putting his

28:24

name on the ballot. It takes

28:26

a whole bunch of legal coordination

28:28

and expertise and people who

28:30

know the ropes, and it's just they've

28:33

made it really hard for anybody to do. So that's that

28:35

candidate and we'll find out in five days who

28:37

his running mate is. Did

28:39

you hear this news yesterday that was burbling

28:41

up? Who knows if it's true or not, but

28:45

six different sources told NBC

28:47

News that Trump is eyeing

28:50

Marco Rubio as a potential VP

28:52

pick. The question to me

28:55

would be, well,

28:58

maybe why Marco, But if he chose me, Marco,

29:00

is Marco gonna run with Trump? And

29:03

ignore all of Trump's a whole bunch

29:05

of things he says and does over the next eight months

29:07

and fully back him. I mean he's been pretty

29:10

trumpy over the last couple of years. As

29:12

a guy who is way I mean, he was

29:14

as in Trump's face as anybody back in

29:16

twenty twenty sixteen, which

29:19

Trump respects, right, Because

29:21

then Marco came along, came around

29:23

rather and supported Trump in a lot of significant

29:26

ways.

29:26

I find that a really, really

29:28

thought provoking choice.

29:30

Do you think Marco would bite

29:32

his tongue and support

29:34

Trump on everything?

29:37

I think they would have a serious meeting

29:39

about that very question. Oh no, sure,

29:42

Rubyo is an old hand at the Senate. He knows

29:44

what a vice president is and what it's

29:46

not. But he would probably

29:49

insist on a certain portfolio

29:51

and I'll bet Trump would give it to him.

29:53

Marco is good too, I mean he is, he

29:55

is good anytime, big

29:57

fan. But

30:00

is he gonna be able to go on all the big talk

30:02

shows? And because how

30:05

do you feel about January sixth? I mean, he's gonna

30:07

have to answer all those everything Trump's

30:09

ever said or done, He's gonna have to

30:11

uh explain away.

30:14

I just don't know.

30:15

I have a feeling they will

30:17

come to an agreement on that that he can live

30:19

with but you know, Trump famously

30:21

moves the ball then down the road

30:24

again, really really intriguing.

30:26

It'd be a really normalizing choice,

30:28

though, as opposed to you

30:31

know, when people talk about who's the Arizona

30:34

woman Kerry Lake, When people talk

30:36

about Kerry Lake or that sort of thing, that

30:39

makes the ticket more of what

30:41

you know, people who are a little

30:44

uncomfortable with Trump are already worried

30:46

about Marco. Would be a real normalizing

30:50

factor.

30:52

Is this the same guys just lecture in us that the

30:55

Veep doesn't matter? Is this a schizophrenia

30:57

thing?

30:58

You think maybe maybe I've got a borderline personnelity?

31:03

No comment, any thoughts

31:05

on any of that. Text line four one five

31:08

kftc.

31:16

To another record day in the stock market, following

31:18

the Federal Reserves decision to leave interest

31:20

rates unchanged for now and signaling

31:23

it expects to cut rates three times

31:25

this year, the dowgating more than four hundred

31:27

points, hitting a new record high of thirty nine five

31:29

hundred, twelve P s and P five hundred hitting

31:32

a new record as well, closing it fifty two

31:34

twenty four.

31:35

I feel like to

31:37

be charitable to the divide administration. I

31:39

feel like the record

31:42

stock market story

31:44

is not getting as much attention

31:47

as it normally does, is it

31:49

because everybody's feeling so negative

31:51

about things?

31:55

Well, the stock market's not the.

31:56

Economy and it's not everybody's life, and we always say

31:58

that, but generally, I feel like, generally

32:01

during an administration record stock market

32:04

days.

32:04

Get a lot of attention. Yeah.

32:07

I think that's true, and it's an interesting

32:09

point. I think the reason it doesn't matter

32:12

is and I just happen to have read something in the Wall Street

32:14

Journalists articles entitled the

32:16

American Dream accelerates away

32:19

from those in the slow lane, their

32:21

point being the inflation of the last couple

32:23

of years has been brutal,

32:25

and the most brutal to people

32:28

who spend all of their money on

32:30

food, energy, and housing, because that's

32:32

where we've really gotten hammered.

32:34

Nothing else matters. Well, I'm not in

32:36

that category. I'm not paycheck

32:39

to paycheck. But even though the stock

32:41

market is doing well and that's good for four to

32:43

one K and all that sort of stuff, that will matter to

32:45

me a lot when I'm retired. Right now, interest

32:48

prices are too high to buy a house, and

32:50

when I go to a restaurant's really really expensive

32:52

so just.

32:54

The day to day reality is. I don't know.

32:56

I think it's interesting that we are having record

32:59

stock market. It's on a regular basis, and people

33:02

feel very, very negative about the economy.

33:05

Here's keeping in mind that when the

33:07

inflation was really high nine percent or whatever

33:10

was the year or two ago, if

33:12

you had nine percent returns in the stock market, which

33:14

is pretty solid here, you just broke eve

33:17

right.

33:17

That hurts. That hurts.

33:20

Good point, like, I'm here

33:22

all the week. I'm going home now.

33:25

Uh.

33:26

New York Post headline is my favorite headline of the

33:28

day. John Hinckley Junior, who once tried

33:30

to kill Ronald Reagan, claims he's a victim

33:32

of cancel culture after concert

33:35

canceled.

33:36

See, you know, he's a musician.

33:38

Now he kind of does a folk

33:40

guy with a guitar singing songs, which is

33:42

at every party you ever go to.

33:44

But he's doing that, and somehow his concert

33:46

got that.

33:47

Some people said, I don't think it's cool that you have

33:49

a guy who tried to kill the president playing

33:51

at the bar tonight and.

33:54

Then so they canceled him. But he's a victim of cancel culture.

33:57

Okay, that's rich.

33:59

That's a weird.

34:00

Story, isn't it. The fact that that

34:02

exists is a real pic. What's

34:05

that that he's out for one thing? He

34:08

nearly killed the president of the United States and he's out. Okay,

34:10

I understand the argument he was crazy. He's not crazy anymore.

34:12

Not his fault. He's mentally well. I don't know, but

34:15

I'm surprised you ever get out when you do that. And

34:17

then he's going around bars and playing

34:20

his music. All

34:23

right, here's a song called O Jody

34:25

about when I was obsessed with Jody

34:28

Foster. Yeah, that's that's

34:30

troubling in a way. It speaks

34:32

to how enlightened this country is.

34:35

Yeah, certainly, certainly. Yeah,

34:38

so far, so good. He hasn't tried to kill anybody. His mental

34:40

illness has been dealt with, at least somewhat

34:42

anyway, that's that's a complicated subject

34:45

in fraud.

34:46

Ninety nine point nine percent of the

34:48

time throughout history, you try to take out

34:50

the leader of any country, you would have been dead

34:52

that day.

34:53

Oh yeah, yeah, clearly.

34:56

And here he's out walking around with his guitar, singing

34:58

folk songs.

35:01

That reminds me of something Grim I saw, Grim,

35:03

Grim, Grim. No, I won't even bring it up.

35:05

There are too many guys. There are lots of memes

35:07

like this on YouTube mocking this sort of thing.

35:10

There are too many guys who can kind of play guitar

35:12

and kind of sing, who do it in

35:14

front of people. Just too many

35:17

of us. Because I'm one, but there's

35:19

too many of us. That's funny. Yeah, bumper

35:21

song we just played at the bottom of the hour. It's one

35:23

of my favorite songs, so I remember it. Crackers.

35:27

What's the name of that tune? I can't remember.

35:29

But anyway, what the world needs now is

35:31

another folks singer like I need a hole in

35:33

my head.

35:34

Yeah, there you go.

35:38

Something pretty big is gonna

35:40

happen on Monday or slightly before.

35:42

Is Trump going to get a building seized

35:45

or what's gonna happen.

35:47

He's got to come up with that half

35:50

a billion dollar fine

35:53

or whatever it is, whatever they're calling it. By

35:56

Monday or something really

35:58

politically explosive.

36:00

Is going to happen. So we'll be following

36:02

that story closely.

36:03

And I think it would be a good thing if the explosion

36:05

happened, because this case is just utterly unjust.

36:08

Hey.

36:08

Also, a follow up on the whole American

36:11

young people are miserable. Poll

36:14

results that came out the other day, Well, American

36:16

older people are actually quite cheery.

36:19

Some really good follow up on that our old

36:21

people are happy, but our young people are miserable.

36:23

That's a weird way for a country to be

36:28

Armstrong and getty.