0:00

Hello, everybody.

0:01

Hello everybody and welcome to the show the big show the most important and

0:03

critically acclaimed podcast

0:06

that is recorded in our car. I

0:06

don't know why it was just

0:09

tripping breath or the word car.

0:13

It's a perfectly good car

0:13

that's not requiring a lot of

0:17

drama to move down the road. No,

0:19

no, it's not we got the

0:19

we got the car we're on the

0:22

highway is much as it is

0:22

considered a highway. The big

0:27

Hemi engine is sitting here

0:27

perin so everything's good.

0:31

We've got a guy in a brand

0:31

spanking new Mustang, which are

0:35

really sharp looking cars, but

0:35

it ain't a GT. So I mean, come

0:40

on, you're gonna buy a Mustang

0:40

get gt with the big six or the

0:44

big motor in it. Don't get a

0:44

little six older. All show no

0:48

go. Anyway, pressing right

0:48

along. You know, I saw in this

0:55

somewhat works into the topic

0:55

for today's podcast I saw back

0:59

there recently, a big three

0:59

legged dog, it was hopping

1:04

around on three legs, and was by

1:04

the side of the road, it was

1:07

watching our card as it was

1:07

driving past and you can see

1:10

that wistful look in its face

1:10

that it really wanted to chase

1:15

our car. And if you think about

1:15

that for a minute, a three

1:17

legged dog wishing it could

1:17

chase our car. You know, some

1:22

people just don't really learn

1:22

lesson was not exactly the

1:29

topic. Oh, they don't

1:30

learn the right lesson, little

1:31

word. The topic of

1:31

today's podcast is about dogs,

1:38

but not really. It's about dog

1:38

tails, and society. Because

1:43

right now we live in a society.

1:43

And this is a this is more of a

1:47

general podcast than a prepping

1:47

podcast. We live in a society in

1:52

which by and large, most of the

1:52

people in our society are

1:57

letting the tail wag the dog

2:01

tail wag the dog. What's

2:01

that mean? Salty.

2:05

Okay, the tail wagging

2:05

the dog is an old expression.

2:09

And what it basically means is

2:09

to lose track of what is truly

2:15

important, and focus on small

2:15

symptomatic stuff, or stuff that

2:22

makes no difference whatever is

2:22

a concentration of there's

2:28

several different ways that you can describe it. But one of the ways is, it's a concentration on

2:30

the

2:34

symptoms rather than the

2:34

root causes.

2:36

Thank you. Sorry, I had

2:36

to stop and was actually driving

2:41

attention to

2:41

his driving.

2:42

He was paying attention by driving, there's a little pause or like, Okay, what is

2:44

that weird shout, okay,

2:47

if you're focusing on the

2:47

small outcomes of a situation,

2:53

rather than stepping back and

2:53

looking at the big picture,

2:55

you're gonna try and put a bunch

2:55

of band aids on all the little

2:58

small problems you see. And

2:58

you're going to be too

3:01

distracted by that, to have a

3:01

feel for what's really going on

3:06

and be addressing the right

3:06

things. And it's not going to

3:08

work, because you can put a

3:08

bandaid on all the symptoms if

3:11

you want. But if you don't

3:11

address the root, cause the

3:13

symptoms just keep coming back

3:13

and new ones keep popping up

3:16

beside it.

3:16

Let me give you a for

3:16

example, an example. Ignite, you

3:21

bought an old car. And since

3:21

there's a Mustang following us,

3:25

I'm going to use an old car I

3:25

had at one time it didn't

3:28

actually have a leaky head

3:28

gasket. So the example I'm going

3:33

to use is let's say you got out

3:33

you bought a 1977 Ford Mustang

3:39

two with a 2.3 liter four

3:39

cylinder engine in it, which

3:45

almost by default means you have

3:45

a car that leaks oil out every

3:50

scene because that's what they

3:50

did. But your particular

3:55

atrocious engine has got a leaky

3:55

head gasket. Okay, you got this

3:59

leaking head gasket. What that

3:59

means is the cylinder head

4:03

there's once there's a cylinder

4:03

head so four cylinders is only

4:05

one has a cover on it. And

4:05

between that cover and the

4:12

engine block, there is a gasket

4:12

and that gaskets split

4:15

supposedly, except on everything

4:15

on everything that is the Ford

4:20

2.3 liter made in the 70s that

4:20

keeps the oil from leaking out

4:26

all over your motor. It's a

4:26

gasket, it's the seal, right?

4:30

These things are notorious for

4:30

leaking. So what do you do? The

4:34

problem is you have a bad head

4:34

gasket. Now you can take the

4:41

head cover off and you can

4:41

replace it with a high quality

4:48

aftermarket gasket which won't

4:48

work anymore or that would be

4:54

the dog wagging the tail because

4:54

you are fixing that particular

4:58

problem.

4:59

If you Just keep cranking

4:59

more oil into it. The tails

5:03

wagging the dog.

5:04

Exactly. So the tail

5:04

wagging the dog you put more oil

5:08

in, but even more what you what

5:08

you do is you Okay, since this

5:12

thing is chucking oil out a

5:12

court every thousand miles, why

5:18

not just find the cheapest oil I

5:18

can put in this so I can reduce

5:23

the overall cost? This car has

5:23

of operating Yeah, it's gonna

5:27

leave a

5:31

trail of black smoke

5:32

trail black smoke behind

5:32

you. Yeah, you'll get everywhere

5:35

you park, you're gonna have a

5:35

puddle of oil underneath it. But

5:37

you know, who cares, right? oils

5:37

good. Oil keeps the the economy

5:42

moving. We've heard that right.

5:42

That's what they mean.

5:45

Right? Sure. That's not

5:45

what they mean. No, right. But

5:49

here's the thing is to keep in

5:49

mind why somebody might do that.

5:52

And frankly, at one time early

5:52

in our relationship, that's what

5:56

we did.

5:56

Well, first of all,

5:56

sometimes the tail wags the dog,

5:59

because you'd have no other

5:59

choice. Yeah, we could not

6:02

afford to get the engine fixed.

6:02

What was we could afford to get

6:06

the fixed, I got the engine fixed,

6:08

yes, but there was a

6:08

period there when it just we

6:10

just did not have the money. So

6:10

but you could afford to chunk a

6:13

new quart of oil at every

6:13

thousand miles.

6:15

And that's called Getting

6:15

by half to

6:18

Yeah, but it's very easy

6:18

to get in that mode, when you

6:21

don't mean to, because your task

6:21

loaded. Other things are going

6:25

on, you're trying to deal with a

6:25

lot of the rest of your life,

6:28

the oil light comes on in the

6:28

car fine, you stop and give it a

6:31

quart of oil and go on. And then

6:31

you get distracted.

6:34

And the next time the oil light comes on, you

6:36

give it another quart of oil.

6:38

And while you're doing

6:38

that, you pick up a couple extra

6:41

courts, because you're at the

6:41

Dollar General Store, or the

6:44

cheap store. And you know, if

6:44

you have to stop at a gas

6:47

station, they're gonna charge

6:47

you 910 bucks for a quarter oil,

6:50

whereas you can get a $3 $2

6:50

quarter oil at the dollar store.

6:54

So you're just gonna pick that

6:54

up there because it's cheaper.

6:57

And you're gonna start stocking

6:57

the oil in your car, instead of

7:00

fixing the problem,

7:02

you're letting yourself

7:02

be run by events focusing on the

7:06

immediate fire to put out

7:06

because it takes intentional

7:10

time and effort to stop back and

7:10

think of the bigger picture. One

7:13

example I've been looking at

7:13

this from a prepper point of

7:16

view, is watching the forums

7:16

lately. Of course, I'm on some

7:19

prepping forums, that's no big

7:19

shock, right? There's a whole

7:22

lot of people focusing on, okay,

7:22

they're reporting to each other,

7:26

what things are getting scarce

7:26

on the shelves in their area. So

7:30

people can go out and buy that

7:30

thing before it disappears. And

7:34

for one thing, most of the stuff

7:34

that's getting scarce, these

7:37

guys, things are not

7:37

necessities, okay? The things

7:40

we're used to having the things

7:40

that are handy, but they're not

7:43

necessities. And they're

7:43

certainly things you don't need

7:45

to stock up whole bunches of in

7:45

case they disappear down the

7:49

road. But what they're not doing

7:49

is stopping and taking a look

7:52

at, hey, what we're seeing here

7:52

is a bunch of small, scattered,

7:57

but frequent supply disruptions.

7:57

And if our economy is throwing a

8:02

whole bunch of small, frequent,

8:02

dispersed supply disruptions,

8:07

what underlying problem is it

8:07

having that I can do something

8:12

about? I'm not trying to go into

8:12

the politics here. It's not

8:16

about the politics, it's about

8:16

what you personally can affect.

8:20

So I'm seeing all those supply

8:20

disruptions. And I'm thinking

8:23

about, okay, if our economy gets

8:23

really bad, how are we set for

8:30

long term going forward? And

8:30

what can we do about it? For

8:34

example, if you carry debt,

8:34

reducing the amount of debt

8:38

you're carrying, makes life in

8:38

enormously easier during

8:42

financial disruptions. If you're

8:42

looking for something to do for

8:45

a living, choosing things to do

8:45

for a living, that are likely to

8:50

have long term value to other

8:50

human beings, even in difficult

8:54

economic times is a better

8:54

choice than doing something

8:59

involving luxuries that people

8:59

are going to drop. So you think

9:02

about what is the dog attached

9:02

to this tail? And what can I do

9:06

to make friends with this dog,

9:06

rather than just worrying about

9:09

what the tail is knocking off

9:09

the table right at the moment?

9:12

Sounds? sounds exactly

9:12

what I was trying to say. And

9:16

then there's ways that you can,

9:16

if you're smart, and if you're

9:20

thinking, there's ways that you

9:20

can game the system to get

9:24

ahead, because you see what,

9:24

like, for example, you're

9:27

talking about shopping, I don't

9:27

care what they're short of now,

9:30

what are the long of what is

9:30

cheap, which

9:33

is a good buy, that is cheap.

9:35

That is a long term

9:35

storage item that I have the

9:37

space to store that I can

9:37

afford, that I could pay for

9:41

without going into any debt,

9:41

what is cheap

9:44

that I might need, for

9:44

example, if we lost jobs or

9:48

something like that,

9:49

or is so disruptive, or

9:49

is something that we absolutely

9:52

use anyway, like for example, if

9:52

buckets of long term storage Oh,

10:00

meal. We're cheap. Yeah, okay,

10:00

we got a basement, we'll put

10:03

them in the basement by a couple

10:03

buckets. We're good because

10:06

we're gonna she, she told me,

10:06

she likes her girl, it will use

10:10

it.

10:10

I'm going to eat that if there's emergencies, I'm going to eat that if there's no

10:12

emergencies, it's just a thing I

10:15

eat a lot during the cold months of the year.

10:17

By the way, I'm not saying the Archie, I have no idea whether cheaper I've

10:19

looked, because we bought it.

10:22

Yeah, we have plenty.

10:22

When it was cheaper, we stocked

10:25

up. If something is cheap, and

10:25

you don't need it, it is not

10:28

cheap to you.

10:30

As my old friend Paul

10:30

told me when I was a young kid,

10:35

a bargain ain't a bargain unless

10:35

you need it. But I think that's

10:39

something legit to remember, a

10:39

bargain ain't a bargain Unless,

10:42

you know, I like that Highland

10:42

High School. We're driving past

10:45

Highland High School in

10:45

northeast Missouri. And they

10:49

installed a jumbotron at their

10:49

football field. When they redid

10:53

their football field. They went

10:53

to turf and all that stuff. But

10:56

one of the interesting things

10:56

they did they installed their

10:59

jumbotron so that it actually

10:59

also works as a large billboard

11:04

for the school for the highway.

11:04

So they can put all their school

11:08

messages on the jumbotron. And

11:08

people driving past can read it.

11:12

They just had a happy holidays.

11:12

thing, but they also put like,

11:17

when they have honor students

11:17

and stuff like that, see, that's

11:19

thinking ahead.

11:21

For teacher training on

11:21

blah, blah, blah, exactly. So

11:25

everybody

11:26

can see it. As long as

11:26

you're heading towards doing not

11:28

away from you. If you're heading

11:28

away from healing. Well,

11:32

that's what you get for

11:32

leaving time to be clueless.

11:35

Totally beside the point.

11:35

But you we always have one

11:38

digression. There we go. So that

11:38

was that one of the thing?

11:44

Excuse me, I don't have the

11:44

COVID. At the moment, I just get

11:47

a little look clumped right

11:47

talk. One other thing on, you

11:52

know, I'm a car guy, everybody's

11:52

got their thing. I'm a gun guy.

11:55

I'm a car guy.

11:57

He's a camera guy.

11:57

He's got a camera guy.

11:57

But I'm a car guy. And I could

12:01

give you a perfect example of if

12:01

somebody were paying attention,

12:07

understanding what is going on,

12:07

and looking to find a solution,

12:15

long term solution to a problem.

12:15

There's all kinds of examples

12:20

out there. And I'm going to give you one that's that's correlated. Everybody who knows

12:21

anything about United States

12:26

built automobiles over the last

12:26

25 years, specifically 90s to

12:32

2010, in that range of cars,

12:32

knows that the Cadillac

12:38

Northstar engine had a

12:38

fundamental and hideous defect

12:45

in it, the bolts that hold the

12:45

head on are not or the the head

12:54

mounting system is not robust

12:54

enough for an engine of that

12:58

size and power. So over time,

12:58

usually at 90,000 miles,

13:02

sometimes it can happen sooner

13:02

the break, and this is an

13:05

expensive repair. Okay, this is

13:05

this is not a cheap repair,

13:08

because they break and the head

13:08

gasket starts to leak. This is

13:13

not a valve cover gasket. By the

13:13

way, like I was talking about

13:17

before. This is a head gasket.

13:17

This is a there's a whole

13:21

different level, especially on

13:21

one of these cars, which means

13:24

you have to build an engine,

13:24

there's a fix for it. And the

13:28

fix is properly done by skilled

13:28

mechanics. But they basically

13:34

they remove all the old head

13:34

bolts and the old systems, I

13:37

drill them out they put in new

13:37

ones that are robust enough.

13:41

Basically, it's a 2500 to $3,000

13:41

fix. Now why in the world would

13:49

anybody fix a 1999 Cadillac

13:49

sedan DeVille was a $3,000 fix.

13:58

Let me tell you why. Because

13:58

once you do that, you have an

14:04

engine that will get you another

14:04

250,000 miles because that's the

14:08

only thing wrong with that motor

14:08

and they die so early in their

14:16

lifestyle that you can get real

14:16

bargains the cars are basically

14:22

there. They're maybe 20 years

14:22

old, but they're just hardly

14:25

driven at all because they start

14:25

overheating and people can drive

14:29

them around town but they'll

14:29

overheat because of this this

14:31

this problem. And you can buy

14:31

these cars for nothing in mint

14:35

condition can buy for 1000 bucks

14:35

in mid condition. As far as when

14:39

you get them fixed. You know oh

14:39

by it's fixed the head gaskets

14:43

fixed You got this. My car is

14:43

worth what I paid for it. But

14:48

what you have is a luxury well

14:48

built automobile that will last

14:54

you 10 to 15 years. For four

14:54

grand insurance is dirt cheap.

14:58

parts are dirt cheap. Are you

14:58

partially things all over the

15:01

place?

15:02

That's a broken one.

15:03

Okay, why would I go

15:03

through all this trouble? Listen

15:06

to what I just said, that is

15:06

eight to 10 months of car

15:10

payments on what most people are

15:10

paying with a car, and you're

15:12

not, you have a car that you can

15:12

drive another couple hundred

15:15

thousand miles, thinking with

15:15

your head, as opposed to letting

15:21

the know, oh, I'm having trouble

15:21

my car, I better go buy a new

15:24

car,

15:24

not letting yourself be

15:24

run by an immediate sense of

15:28

urgency and panic reaction to

15:28

the current situation,

15:32

preferably thinking ahead of

15:32

time, before you have you know,

15:36

the car leaves you somewhere

15:36

overheated, preferably thinking

15:39

ahead of time and getting the

15:39

problem addressed before you

15:43

have the major error. But even

15:43

if you do you don't let yourself

15:46

be stampeded by the immediate

15:46

surge of events. But take a

15:49

moment to stop and think about

15:49

it. Where did this come from?

15:53

What can be done about it that's

15:53

within my reach, bothering to

15:56

take the longer term view

15:56

instead of letting yourself be

15:59

stampeded. And to do that you

15:59

absolutely need to not spend all

16:03

your time on media sources, any

16:03

media sources, letting people

16:08

tell you how dramatic and awful

16:08

things are at the moment.

16:13

because let me tell you, every

16:13

media source out there, that's

16:17

reporting news, and knows the

16:17

blood makes the front page. They

16:22

all like to emphasize things

16:22

that make you afraid and make

16:25

you worried. And

16:27

and it's important to

16:27

understand why because that

16:30

gives you clicking that gets you

16:30

viewing and that makes them

16:33

money. And that's all they care

16:34

about. They're doing it to get you to pay attention to them and get you to pay

16:36

attention to them, they have to

16:39

make things sound as dramatic as

16:39

possible. So they emphasize the

16:42

worst of the tail wags, they put

16:42

the tail wags in the worst light

16:47

they possibly can, which tends

16:47

to encourage people to pay

16:52

attention to the Wags, it's more

16:52

important to pay attention to

16:55

the dog that's doing the

16:55

wagging. But you won't do that

16:58

if you just sit around listening

16:58

to the people talk about the

17:00

tail wags. So don't spend less

17:00

time doing that. Or

17:04

if you're gonna do it, if

17:04

you're bound and determined to

17:06

do it, do it in a way where you

17:06

are doing the wagging by you

17:12

look at this thing. You're watching this thing and you say, okay, where does this leave me

17:13

the opportunities to excel? What

17:18

How does this if everybody's

17:18

being convinced of this? How do

17:22

I move against the grain and

17:22

have an opportunity to profit?

17:27

either personally or

17:27

financially? From the situation?

17:31

How do I go across the grain?

17:31

Because going across the grain

17:35

is prepping, you know, prepping

17:35

is all about doing across the

17:40

grain stuff? Because that's just

17:40

what it is. Okay, go ahead.

17:46

No, let's I base that was

17:46

basically what I wanted to say

17:49

that you need to be asking the

17:49

questions that are important,

17:54

rather than just listening to

17:54

the answers that somebody else

17:58

to the question somebody else

17:58

wants to talk about, right? And

18:02

think about what's driving

18:02

things and what you can do about

18:05

them and where it might be

18:05

heading. Don't just spend all

18:08

your time trying to grab the

18:08

vases, that the dog's tail is

18:12

knocking off the table

18:13

exactly where you're the

18:13

key to the whole how, okay, you

18:18

say Don't let the dog or the

18:18

tail wag the dog, how do I do

18:21

that? Will you be proactive? You

18:21

be? You don't live in an echo

18:26

chamber, you'll look around, and

18:26

you'll be proactive. And you

18:29

decide where the opportunities

18:29

are for you to excel and succeed

18:37

and thrive.

18:38

Because that's what it's

18:38

all about. A lot of times,

18:40

that's an asking the questions

18:40

that other people aren't

18:43

bothering to ask at the moment,

18:43

because they're focused on the

18:46

tail.

18:47

And oftentimes, it's

18:47

nothing more than Yeah, okay,

18:51

there's all kinds of noise out

18:51

there. But none of that really

18:55

affects where the rubber hits

18:55

the road. So let's just

18:59

concentrate on where the rubber

18:59

hits the road. Let's concentrate

19:02

on what's going on in my life

19:02

around me what I see what I what

19:06

I have going on in my little

19:06

world. Let's concentrate on

19:09

that. And then we'll let them

19:09

guys just talk be the talking

19:13

heads.

19:13

I think it's time to let them go feed the dog.

19:15

All right. Talk to you later.

19:16

Bye bye.