The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 1702 - The Quality Of Literally Everything Is Declining. I’m Investigating To Find Out Why

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00:01:18.240 Today, Matt Walsh Show,

00:01:19.200 a lot of people have noticed 0.90

00:01:20.120 that basically everything seems to suck now.

00:01:22.380 The quality of everything has gone down,

00:01:23.980 but is that actually true?

00:01:25.640 And if it is, why is it happening?

00:01:27.660 And what do we do about it?

00:01:29.240 We will begin that conversation today.

00:01:31.320 Also, the media circles the wagons

00:01:32.780 around the Somalians of Minnesota,

00:01:34.420 but their attempts to defend Somalians

00:01:36.180 have only had the opposite of the intended effect.

00:01:39.180 And it's pretty hilarious, actually.

00:01:40.740 And Travis Kelsey claims

00:01:41.620 that he's never been in an argument

00:01:43.160 with his fiancee, Taylor Swift.

00:01:44.760 Not the kind of story I would usually comment on,

00:01:46.340 but I think it's important to launch a defense

00:01:48.040 of arguing in a marriage.

00:01:50.480 I think it's good.

00:01:51.060 And we'll talk about that today

00:01:52.740 on The Matt Walsh Show.

00:01:53.800 It's important to stay healthy,

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00:04:25.240 Here's a little pop quiz

00:04:26.700 to start things off.

00:04:27.960 It's a simple yes or no question.

00:04:30.040 Can you melt an egg?

00:04:31.920 Is it possible to put an egg

00:04:33.520 in a microwave,

00:04:34.380 heat it up,

00:04:34.940 and melt it?

00:04:36.300 It's not a trick question.

00:04:37.420 I'm not talking about

00:04:38.100 chocolate eggs

00:04:39.240 or anything like that.

00:04:39.940 I'm simply asking

00:04:40.780 whether you can melt an egg.

00:04:41.980 Have you ever been

00:04:43.380 cooking scrambled eggs

00:04:44.480 and looked down at the pan

00:04:45.460 and said,

00:04:46.040 oh shoot,

00:04:46.420 I melted it?

00:04:47.760 Now, unless you're an alien

00:04:48.640 or a small child,

00:04:49.840 the answer's probably

00:04:51.240 pretty obvious to you.

00:04:52.460 And for a long time,

00:04:53.500 it's been obvious

00:04:54.640 to search engines too.

00:04:56.020 In the late 1990s,

00:04:57.000 if you needed help

00:04:57.660 with this question

00:04:58.460 for some reason,

00:04:59.980 you could head over

00:05:00.640 to Ask Jeeves or Yahoo,

00:05:02.620 the primitive search engines

00:05:03.820 that for all intents

00:05:04.680 and purposes

00:05:05.020 are now defunct.

00:05:06.560 And in response,

00:05:07.340 these search engines

00:05:08.180 would provide

00:05:08.660 a bunch of links

00:05:09.480 about eggs and proteins

00:05:10.740 and chemical reactions

00:05:12.260 and so on,

00:05:12.720 and you'd be able

00:05:13.080 to figure out

00:05:13.580 based on this information

00:05:14.420 that no,

00:05:16.260 you cannot melt an egg.

00:05:17.980 Well, here's the bad news.

00:05:19.040 More than two decades

00:05:20.180 after the heyday

00:05:21.500 of Yahoo and Ask Jeeves,

00:05:23.000 the biggest search engine

00:05:24.040 in the world,

00:05:25.500 suddenly began struggling

00:05:26.600 with this basic question.

00:05:28.840 In 2023,

00:05:29.660 a programmer named

00:05:30.580 Tyler Galeel

00:05:32.160 was trying to test

00:05:33.640 Google's newly updated

00:05:34.700 AI search features,

00:05:35.980 so he asked Google,

00:05:37.680 can you melt eggs?

00:05:39.580 And this was the result.

00:05:41.020 We'll put it up

00:05:41.580 on the screen.

00:05:43.360 As you can see,

00:05:44.420 it reads,

00:05:45.560 yes, an egg can be melted.

00:05:46.980 The most common way

00:05:47.720 to melt an egg

00:05:48.280 is to heat it

00:05:49.060 using a stove or microwave.

00:05:52.080 That's the response

00:05:52.800 from Google's

00:05:53.380 artificial intelligence

00:05:54.260 at the very top

00:05:54.860 of the search results page.

00:05:56.480 It's an obviously

00:05:57.000 false answer

00:05:57.880 presented as fact

00:05:59.000 with extreme certainty.

00:06:01.080 And then when Tyler

00:06:01.640 went looking for an explanation

00:06:02.880 for how Google

00:06:03.480 could make such a mistake,

00:06:04.920 he quickly figured out

00:06:06.060 what had happened.

00:06:07.380 So take a look at this.

00:06:09.800 It turns out

00:06:10.620 that Google

00:06:11.600 was relying on information

00:06:12.920 from Quora,

00:06:14.280 which is a website

00:06:15.340 where random people

00:06:16.400 can ask questions

00:06:17.740 and receive answers,

00:06:19.460 which also come

00:06:20.300 from random people.

00:06:21.720 And most of Quora

00:06:22.380 now is overrun

00:06:23.140 with spam

00:06:23.860 and trolls

00:06:24.320 and bots

00:06:24.840 and all that

00:06:25.280 like everywhere else

00:06:25.920 on the internet

00:06:26.300 these days.

00:06:26.920 So it's not exactly

00:06:27.840 a reliable source.

00:06:28.720 And on top of that,

00:06:29.840 Quora has its own

00:06:30.780 AI chatbot,

00:06:31.900 which often asks

00:06:33.040 and answers

00:06:33.620 its own questions

00:06:34.520 in order to attract

00:06:35.300 attention from Google searches.

00:06:36.600 If someone arrives

00:06:37.360 at Quora

00:06:37.720 because of a Google search,

00:06:39.100 then Quora makes

00:06:39.660 more money

00:06:40.480 and ad revenue,

00:06:41.080 so that's why

00:06:41.340 they want to do that.

00:06:42.760 That's what happened

00:06:43.300 in this case.

00:06:44.440 Quora's AI

00:06:45.260 asked itself

00:06:47.540 the question,

00:06:48.620 can you melt eggs?

00:06:50.560 Because Quora

00:06:51.300 is trying to flood

00:06:52.040 the zone

00:06:52.480 with random questions

00:06:53.480 that will appear

00:06:53.940 on Google searches.

00:06:55.240 And then Quora's AI

00:06:56.740 gave the wrong answer

00:06:57.980 to its own question,

00:06:59.500 probably because

00:07:00.960 it misinterpreted

00:07:01.760 a joke it found

00:07:02.600 somewhere or something.

00:07:04.940 And then in turn,

00:07:05.760 Google put that answer

00:07:06.960 at the top

00:07:07.440 of their results page.

00:07:09.140 Now, Google eventually

00:07:09.880 patched this particular issue

00:07:11.200 so it will no longer

00:07:12.200 tell people

00:07:12.820 that eggs can be melted.

00:07:14.220 So the crisis

00:07:14.820 of people attempting

00:07:15.600 to make melted eggs

00:07:16.620 for breakfast

00:07:17.120 has been solved

00:07:18.460 for now,

00:07:19.060 but the broader problem

00:07:20.580 remains the same.

00:07:21.300 If you run a Google search

00:07:22.420 today about anything,

00:07:24.600 there's a very good chance

00:07:26.360 you'll receive

00:07:26.840 incorrect information

00:07:28.200 or sometimes

00:07:29.000 sociopathic information.

00:07:32.420 responses.

00:07:33.280 And this will happen

00:07:34.340 very high up

00:07:35.100 on the search page.

00:07:36.620 And to illustrate

00:07:37.100 that one more time,

00:07:39.060 somebody apparently

00:07:39.820 asked Google

00:07:40.740 the question,

00:07:42.800 I am Abraham Lincoln

00:07:43.660 in 1865.

00:07:44.740 Should I attend

00:07:45.540 tonight's play

00:07:46.340 at Ford's Theater?

00:07:48.300 This is a question

00:07:49.160 somebody thought to ask.

00:07:50.040 Now, admittedly,

00:07:50.540 this may be a difficult

00:07:51.500 question for an AI

00:07:52.860 to answer.

00:07:53.620 On the one hand,

00:07:54.320 you don't want Lincoln

00:07:55.000 to get shot

00:07:55.560 because he's the president 0.99

00:07:56.420 and because murder

00:07:57.880 is wrong.

00:07:58.560 On the other hand,

00:07:59.260 you also don't want

00:08:00.040 to mess with the timeline

00:08:00.900 and create a paradox

00:08:01.800 that destroys the world

00:08:02.920 or something.

00:08:03.420 So if a time traveler

00:08:04.500 asks this question,

00:08:06.620 it's not clear

00:08:07.700 how you should respond.

00:08:09.180 Maybe you should just

00:08:10.080 ignore the question entirely

00:08:11.340 if you don't want

00:08:12.000 to tip off the time traveler

00:08:13.180 that an assassination

00:08:13.900 will indeed take place.

00:08:15.780 But Google doesn't appear

00:08:17.180 to struggle with this dilemma.

00:08:18.200 Instead, it simply states

00:08:19.140 that Lincoln's assassination

00:08:20.220 was a significant

00:08:21.320 historical event

00:08:22.120 and therefore,

00:08:22.700 Google says,

00:08:23.420 you should enjoy the show

00:08:25.040 because it'll be

00:08:26.400 a chance for you

00:08:27.080 to relax before the events

00:08:28.680 of the evening unfold.

00:08:30.000 Which is certainly

00:08:32.180 one way to describe

00:08:33.140 getting shot in the head.

00:08:34.840 In other words,

00:08:35.480 it's kind of the worst

00:08:36.240 possible answer.

00:08:37.060 If you're a time traveler,

00:08:38.200 you've been tipped off

00:08:39.040 that you're about to get shot

00:08:39.900 and you won't go.

00:08:41.440 And if you're not

00:08:42.060 a time traveler

00:08:42.600 and you're just messing

00:08:43.440 around with Google,

00:08:44.040 then you'll come away

00:08:44.640 with the distinct impression 0.96

00:08:45.540 that the AI is a psychopath.

00:08:48.220 But the really striking element

00:08:49.200 of this, of course,

00:08:49.860 is that Google is one

00:08:52.280 of the biggest companies

00:08:53.020 in the world

00:08:53.520 and yet their core product,

00:08:55.300 which is their search engine,

00:08:56.700 is now markedly worse

00:08:59.620 than the search engines

00:09:00.840 of the 1990s.

00:09:02.300 It delivers false

00:09:03.760 and absurd information

00:09:04.980 with absolute confidence.

00:09:07.440 And on top of that,

00:09:08.020 it buries you

00:09:09.020 with sponsored listings.

00:09:10.840 It bombards you

00:09:11.720 with content

00:09:12.320 from Quora and Reddit,

00:09:13.700 which are some of the

00:09:14.740 least reliable sources

00:09:15.800 of information

00:09:16.280 that you can possibly find.

00:09:18.740 And everyone who's used,

00:09:19.900 who has used Google,

00:09:21.040 which is everyone,

00:09:22.380 has noticed this.

00:09:23.560 And that's why a lot of people

00:09:25.700 don't use Google anymore.

00:09:26.700 It's basically unusable now.

00:09:28.860 Now, you could debate

00:09:29.700 the reasons for the decline

00:09:31.180 in its quality,

00:09:32.160 but any explanation

00:09:32.960 for this decline in quality

00:09:34.000 has to grapple with the fact

00:09:35.240 that the company

00:09:36.560 is now more profitable

00:09:37.920 than it's ever been.

00:09:40.000 On paper, it's succeeding.

00:09:42.620 You know, I've seen

00:09:43.340 some suggestions

00:09:43.980 that Google has actually

00:09:44.960 intentionally sabotaged

00:09:46.320 its own product

00:09:47.000 because they want people

00:09:48.500 to click many different results,

00:09:51.100 realize the results

00:09:52.040 aren't good,

00:09:52.680 and then come back

00:09:53.580 to Google

00:09:54.000 to continue searching.

00:09:55.200 So, and in turn,

00:09:56.180 that translates

00:09:56.660 into more revenue

00:09:57.380 for Google

00:09:57.980 and for its sponsored websites.

00:09:59.860 So, there's an incentive

00:10:01.620 to provide a worse service.

00:10:04.800 And that seems plausible.

00:10:06.520 And in fact,

00:10:07.080 there's some reporting

00:10:07.780 to back that up.

00:10:08.560 This is called,

00:10:09.240 this is a widespread problem.

00:10:10.640 It's called the rot economy,

00:10:11.780 where an inferior product

00:10:13.500 is actually more profitable

00:10:15.620 than a superior one

00:10:16.780 because people don't have

00:10:17.900 enough viable alternatives.

00:10:18.880 So, they get stuck

00:10:19.660 in a doom loop

00:10:20.500 with bad products,

00:10:21.660 which in turn,

00:10:22.180 pumps more and more money

00:10:23.760 into these bad products.

00:10:25.780 And you see this

00:10:26.640 with everything

00:10:27.060 from smartphones

00:10:27.860 to kitchen appliances.

00:10:29.100 The products are made

00:10:30.060 to break.

00:10:30.700 They are made

00:10:31.240 to malfunction.

00:10:32.440 They are made

00:10:33.100 to not last

00:10:34.180 because then you'll have

00:10:35.080 to go and buy more.

00:10:36.900 But the precise explanation

00:10:38.300 for Google's collapse

00:10:39.300 in the total dysfunction

00:10:40.760 doesn't really matter.

00:10:43.680 I mean,

00:10:43.900 this is just one company,

00:10:44.920 even if it's an extremely

00:10:45.600 large and profitable one.

00:10:47.340 What matters,

00:10:48.500 the really big question,

00:10:49.340 is why every other service

00:10:52.000 that we use

00:10:53.160 in our day-to-day lives,

00:10:55.220 almost without exception,

00:10:57.020 is now suffering

00:10:58.680 from the same kind

00:10:59.820 of dysfunction.

00:11:01.220 Why are the transportation

00:11:02.720 industry,

00:11:03.520 the clothing industry,

00:11:04.460 the entertainment industry,

00:11:05.480 the appliance industry,

00:11:06.460 the construction industry,

00:11:08.140 et cetera,

00:11:08.960 all lowering their standards

00:11:11.560 in ways that are

00:11:12.500 very easy to observe?

00:11:14.580 And why are they all

00:11:15.500 doing it at the same time?

00:11:17.420 Why is everything

00:11:18.660 getting worse now?

00:11:20.900 Everyone has noticed this,

00:11:23.200 you know, 0.96

00:11:23.620 that everything sucks now, 0.97

00:11:25.500 everything is worse, 0.93

00:11:26.620 and we all kind of wonder

00:11:28.080 whether it's just

00:11:28.940 our own imagination.

00:11:30.740 Are we looking back

00:11:31.880 on the past

00:11:32.460 with rose-colored glasses?

00:11:34.840 Well, the answer is no.

00:11:36.320 It is not in our imagination.

00:11:38.280 This is real.

00:11:39.100 This is happening.

00:11:40.560 You aren't crazy.

00:11:41.920 You aren't being nostalgic.

00:11:43.040 It is actually true 0.54

00:11:44.500 that the quality

00:11:45.700 of almost everything

00:11:46.980 is markedly worse now.

00:11:50.040 Now, this is a difficult topic

00:11:51.460 to discuss

00:11:52.000 because it's so broad

00:11:53.060 and every industry,

00:11:54.300 of course, is different,

00:11:55.140 but it's worth examining anyway

00:11:57.280 to see if we can identify

00:11:58.500 some common threads

00:11:59.720 that might be causing 0.85

00:12:00.660 the broader slide,

00:12:02.060 and that will allow us

00:12:03.080 later on to drill down

00:12:04.140 on the specific industries

00:12:05.120 with more in-depth investigations,

00:12:06.940 which we plan to do.

00:12:08.380 But let's start

00:12:09.440 with this kind of overview.

00:12:10.420 So let's,

00:12:10.780 we talked about

00:12:12.960 search engines,

00:12:13.920 very modern innovation,

00:12:15.220 and even with something

00:12:16.540 that's very modern

00:12:17.620 that didn't even exist,

00:12:20.680 you know,

00:12:20.980 more than 25,

00:12:22.060 30 years ago,

00:12:22.960 you've seen this decline.

00:12:24.720 But what about stuff

00:12:25.420 that's existed,

00:12:26.160 you know,

00:12:26.480 forever?

00:12:27.720 Housing, for example.

00:12:30.000 You know,

00:12:30.320 everyone knows that housing

00:12:31.720 is not affordable

00:12:32.620 in part because of

00:12:33.780 foreign migration

00:12:34.540 and also because

00:12:35.200 large institutions

00:12:35.980 are buying up

00:12:36.800 a lot of homes

00:12:37.420 and converting them

00:12:38.500 into rentals

00:12:39.120 and that sort of thing.

00:12:39.800 But what's not

00:12:40.780 widely discussed,

00:12:41.460 at least to my knowledge,

00:12:42.400 is why houses themselves

00:12:43.840 have become,

00:12:45.360 although they're

00:12:45.660 more expensive,

00:12:47.160 cheaper looking

00:12:47.900 and less desirable

00:12:49.580 and durable

00:12:50.460 over the years.

00:12:52.440 The architecture

00:12:53.440 is worse,

00:12:54.120 the buildings

00:12:54.620 are uglier,

00:12:55.360 the materials

00:12:55.940 are lower quality,

00:12:58.640 it's constructed

00:13:00.460 more shabbily.

00:13:02.260 Like Google,

00:13:03.220 the quality of houses

00:13:04.200 has declined

00:13:05.140 without any

00:13:06.220 explanation.

00:13:07.520 But if you dig

00:13:09.360 into data

00:13:09.800 from the Bureau

00:13:10.640 of Labor Statistics,

00:13:11.500 you begin to get

00:13:13.380 a sense of what's

00:13:14.000 going on.

00:13:14.500 So from 2020

00:13:15.180 to 2024,

00:13:16.200 the cost of

00:13:17.280 building materials

00:13:17.900 has increased

00:13:18.860 by 38%.

00:13:20.620 And for comparison,

00:13:22.060 from 2016 to 2020,

00:13:23.380 the price of building

00:13:23.920 materials increased

00:13:24.580 by only 10%.

00:13:25.420 So this is a

00:13:26.180 massive jump,

00:13:27.760 relatively speaking,

00:13:29.080 and this has all

00:13:29.620 happened relatively

00:13:30.760 suddenly.

00:13:31.240 Overall,

00:13:31.940 since 1980,

00:13:32.780 census data suggests

00:13:33.660 that new homes

00:13:34.320 cost five times

00:13:35.600 as much to build.

00:13:36.520 That's putting

00:13:37.700 a lot of pressure

00:13:38.280 on builders

00:13:38.900 to find compromises.

00:13:41.160 And they're

00:13:41.580 finding them.

00:13:42.580 As Business Insider

00:13:43.440 reported,

00:13:44.000 quote,

00:13:44.440 builders and architects

00:13:45.160 have almost no choice

00:13:46.340 but to streamline

00:13:47.160 or opt for

00:13:47.740 cheaper design elements.

00:13:49.600 Homes built 50

00:13:50.340 or 100 years ago

00:13:51.200 were primarily

00:13:51.860 brick or wood,

00:13:53.160 high-quality stuff

00:13:54.100 that offers a

00:13:54.760 comforting,

00:13:55.360 timeless appeal.

00:13:56.580 Those materials

00:13:57.200 are used more

00:13:57.820 sparingly nowadays,

00:13:58.860 just 25%

00:13:59.700 of new home

00:14:00.440 exteriors

00:14:01.340 last year

00:14:02.760 were made

00:14:03.060 of wood or brick,

00:14:04.380 compared with

00:14:04.840 70% of homes

00:14:05.760 in 1980.

00:14:07.080 Inside the home,

00:14:07.840 nice touches

00:14:08.360 like ceramic tile,

00:14:09.680 built-in shelving,

00:14:10.920 and other quality finishes

00:14:12.040 have pretty much

00:14:13.720 disappeared

00:14:14.300 from modest homes.

00:14:16.740 And this is why,

00:14:17.460 by the way,

00:14:17.840 a lot of people

00:14:18.200 prefer older homes.

00:14:19.360 That's why I prefer

00:14:20.160 older homes.

00:14:21.320 Because they're

00:14:22.120 much more beautiful,

00:14:23.140 they're much more durable,

00:14:25.080 they're made with

00:14:25.800 brick and wood,

00:14:26.940 and when you go inside,

00:14:28.860 you find these features,

00:14:30.400 like they just talked about,

00:14:31.440 built-in shelving,

00:14:32.400 crown molding,

00:14:33.140 things like that,

00:14:33.900 that you just don't find

00:14:35.280 in modern homes.

00:14:37.240 And there are several

00:14:38.200 reasons why materials

00:14:39.820 have become more expensive,

00:14:41.340 including trade wars,

00:14:42.740 the fact that

00:14:43.440 too many young people 1.00

00:14:45.120 are going to college

00:14:48.360 instead of learning

00:14:48.960 the trades,

00:14:49.860 that sort of thing.

00:14:51.280 At the same time,

00:14:51.860 the cost of building materials

00:14:53.400 doesn't necessarily explain

00:14:55.500 why so many homes

00:14:56.820 are uninspired

00:14:58.160 and cookie cutter.

00:14:59.940 You drive through

00:15:01.060 so many neighborhoods,

00:15:01.860 say,

00:15:02.200 and every house

00:15:02.920 is ugly

00:15:03.600 and ugly 0.98

00:15:04.460 in the same way.

00:15:05.560 So,

00:15:06.080 what explains

00:15:06.980 that development?

00:15:08.280 Well,

00:15:08.400 it turns out

00:15:08.760 that in recent years,

00:15:09.640 homes have been built

00:15:10.460 by an increasingly

00:15:11.120 small number

00:15:11.940 of home builders.

00:15:13.220 If you watched

00:15:13.620 our episode

00:15:13.980 on fast food

00:15:14.740 last week,

00:15:15.260 where we talked

00:15:15.700 about the fact

00:15:17.400 that all pizza

00:15:17.960 tastes the same now,

00:15:19.140 and that's a real thing,

00:15:20.000 it's because virtually

00:15:20.680 all of the cheese

00:15:21.820 comes from the same supplier,

00:15:24.740 and so this is

00:15:25.480 basically the same phenomenon.

00:15:27.320 In 2022,

00:15:28.180 the biggest 100

00:15:29.140 home builders

00:15:29.700 in the country

00:15:30.320 sold half,

00:15:31.140 yes,

00:15:31.340 50%

00:15:31.880 of all

00:15:33.280 new single-family

00:15:34.980 homes in the country.

00:15:37.000 Now,

00:15:37.140 20 years ago,

00:15:37.660 to put that in perspective,

00:15:38.540 the top 100 home builders

00:15:39.640 only sold one-third

00:15:41.040 of all new

00:15:42.360 single-family homes.

00:15:44.100 What's happened

00:15:44.740 is that in the past

00:15:45.280 decade or so,

00:15:46.180 two home builders

00:15:46.780 in particular

00:15:47.540 called D.R. Horton

00:15:49.440 and Lenar

00:15:50.140 have become dominant,

00:15:52.060 and when you have

00:15:52.780 two dominant

00:15:53.460 home builders,

00:15:54.860 everything's going to start

00:15:56.340 to look the same,

00:15:58.320 which is exactly

00:15:59.460 what happens.

00:16:00.460 We'll put some

00:16:00.840 D.R. Horton subdivisions

00:16:02.300 on the screen now

00:16:03.060 to give you an idea

00:16:03.680 of what they look like.

00:16:05.380 It's basically one house

00:16:06.660 repeated dozens of times,

00:16:09.160 like they all popped

00:16:10.060 out of a 3D printer,

00:16:11.860 but it's efficient,

00:16:13.460 and it's a style

00:16:14.920 of construction

00:16:15.400 that's now more common

00:16:16.460 than it's ever been

00:16:17.300 in the history

00:16:17.780 of this country.

00:16:18.380 You know,

00:16:19.780 your dad might like

00:16:21.060 to say,

00:16:22.220 well,

00:16:22.700 they don't make them

00:16:23.260 like they used to,

00:16:24.740 and when it comes

00:16:25.380 to homes

00:16:25.940 and basically

00:16:27.400 everything else,

00:16:28.580 he's right.

00:16:30.000 I mean,

00:16:30.520 they don't.

00:16:31.160 They just don't.

00:16:32.740 The same principle

00:16:33.440 applies to clothing.

00:16:35.500 Foreign,

00:16:36.320 low-cost fashion

00:16:37.180 retailers,

00:16:38.580 including like

00:16:39.500 H&M,

00:16:40.860 Zara,

00:16:41.860 have increased

00:16:42.540 their market share

00:16:43.260 in the United States

00:16:43.920 by more than

00:16:44.820 three times

00:16:45.560 in just the past

00:16:46.560 four years.

00:16:48.460 And they've done so

00:16:49.160 by sourcing

00:16:49.960 cheaper fabric,

00:16:50.860 which accounts

00:16:51.400 for more than

00:16:52.000 60% of the cost

00:16:53.780 of most items

00:16:54.440 of clothing

00:16:54.860 with labor

00:16:55.300 making up the rest.

00:16:56.840 And when you source

00:16:57.300 cheaper fabric,

00:16:58.040 very often you're

00:16:58.620 turning to countries

00:16:59.260 that have even worse

00:17:00.300 quality control

00:17:01.120 than China.

00:17:02.680 This is from a report

00:17:03.420 by NBC,

00:17:04.460 quote,

00:17:05.060 27% of textile

00:17:06.380 and apparel professionals

00:17:07.480 reported that

00:17:08.160 ensuring consistent

00:17:09.080 quality was difficult

00:17:10.840 or very difficult

00:17:11.420 over the past year,

00:17:12.480 up from 23%

00:17:13.600 in 2024.

00:17:14.500 China is already 0.99

00:17:15.060 the largest exporter

00:17:15.940 of apparel

00:17:16.360 to the United States.

00:17:17.460 And factory

00:17:18.200 inspections found

00:17:18.960 the failure rate

00:17:19.760 or share of textile

00:17:20.660 and apparel products

00:17:21.620 with too many

00:17:22.180 defects for market

00:17:23.140 rose to 13.7%

00:17:25.400 last year

00:17:25.980 from 12.7%

00:17:27.680 in 2023.

00:17:28.840 As many apparel

00:17:29.880 brands move more

00:17:30.680 production out of China

00:17:31.540 to reduce their labor

00:17:32.380 costs and exposure

00:17:33.240 to tariffs,

00:17:34.500 they're gravitating

00:17:35.060 toward countries

00:17:35.760 with even higher

00:17:36.580 failure rates.

00:17:37.360 India's is 21.2%,

00:17:39.360 Cambodia's is 16.6%,

00:17:41.820 and Indonesia's

00:17:43.100 is 14.2%.

00:17:44.800 Now, again,

00:17:46.480 it's the same trend

00:17:47.380 where everything

00:17:48.920 is getting

00:17:49.420 noticeably,

00:17:51.720 measurably worse

00:17:52.700 piece by piece.

00:17:54.480 Clothing is

00:17:55.160 uglier, 0.50

00:17:56.500 cheaper, 0.92

00:17:57.460 lower quality

00:17:58.120 than it used to be.

00:18:00.000 I mean,

00:18:00.240 try to find

00:18:00.720 denim jeans

00:18:01.520 that are actually

00:18:02.460 denim jeans

00:18:03.400 these days.

00:18:04.680 It's not easy

00:18:05.520 to do

00:18:05.820 because most jeans

00:18:06.600 are made with

00:18:07.220 synthetic material

00:18:08.460 like spandex.

00:18:10.560 Most jeans,

00:18:11.300 you put them on

00:18:12.000 and they feel

00:18:12.780 cheap and flimsy

00:18:13.860 because they are.

00:18:16.160 And whereas,

00:18:16.760 you know,

00:18:16.880 it used to be

00:18:17.200 you buy a pair

00:18:17.700 of jeans

00:18:18.240 and it used to be

00:18:20.320 you could buy

00:18:20.600 a pair of jeans

00:18:21.460 from like Walmart

00:18:22.160 and as long

00:18:24.280 as you didn't get fat,

00:18:25.160 they would last you

00:18:25.800 for 20 years.

00:18:27.720 Well,

00:18:28.140 clothes these days

00:18:28.900 are not going

00:18:29.580 to last you that long

00:18:30.360 or anything close to.

00:18:32.480 Same kind of thing

00:18:33.160 is happening

00:18:33.540 with air travel.

00:18:34.220 Yesterday,

00:18:34.480 we talked about

00:18:34.980 how air traffic controllers

00:18:35.980 are becoming more

00:18:36.840 unhinged and dangerous,

00:18:37.900 but pretty much

00:18:38.500 every aspect

00:18:39.320 of the aviation industry

00:18:40.540 is suffering as well.

00:18:42.260 William McGee,

00:18:43.200 a senior fellow

00:18:43.980 at the American

00:18:44.740 Economic Liberties Project,

00:18:46.560 spoke to a magazine

00:18:47.260 called Popular Science

00:18:48.260 about the problem

00:18:48.840 of legroom

00:18:49.500 on most commercial airplanes.

00:18:51.540 Quote,

00:18:51.780 McGee has kept tabs

00:18:52.920 on shifting seat sizes

00:18:54.060 over the past two decades

00:18:54.980 and says that

00:18:55.620 they are indeed

00:18:56.480 getting more cramped.

00:18:57.280 According to his analysis,

00:18:58.440 American,

00:18:58.980 Delta,

00:18:59.300 Southwest,

00:18:59.760 and United

00:19:00.140 have each lost

00:19:01.360 between two and five inches

00:19:02.540 of legroom

00:19:03.180 and around two inches

00:19:04.200 of seat width

00:19:05.100 since the 1980s.

00:19:06.980 The average legroom

00:19:07.720 on those carriers

00:19:08.320 today is 31 inches

00:19:09.280 down from 35 inches

00:19:10.540 in the late 20th century.

00:19:13.040 There's even less room,

00:19:13.940 just 28 inches,

00:19:15.060 on budget airlines

00:19:15.980 like Spirit,

00:19:17.240 McGee Notes.

00:19:18.580 This shrinking

00:19:18.980 has occurred gradually

00:19:19.820 over the years,

00:19:20.340 a process he compares

00:19:21.080 to the metaphor

00:19:21.680 of a frog

00:19:22.520 slowly boiling in water.

00:19:24.420 As of 2022,

00:19:25.260 less than half

00:19:25.800 of U.S. airline passengers

00:19:26.780 can reasonably fit

00:19:28.580 in economy seats.

00:19:30.060 So I'll say that again.

00:19:32.140 Less than half

00:19:33.200 of airline passengers

00:19:35.880 can fit in the seats

00:19:38.160 which have lost

00:19:39.240 about two inches

00:19:39.800 of seat width

00:19:40.420 and five inches

00:19:41.080 of legroom

00:19:41.560 since the 1980s.

00:19:42.400 Now you might point out

00:19:43.080 that more airline passengers

00:19:44.840 are overweight these days

00:19:46.360 and so they bear

00:19:48.260 some of the responsibility

00:19:49.060 here for getting so fat

00:19:50.860 and you'd be correct

00:19:51.740 in that assumption.

00:19:52.500 Airline seats

00:19:53.040 are getting smaller

00:19:54.660 as airline passengers

00:19:55.880 get larger

00:19:56.580 which makes for

00:19:57.220 an unfortunate combination.

00:19:58.460 But even if you're

00:19:58.920 not overweight,

00:20:00.060 this data point

00:20:00.920 is still a big problem

00:20:01.780 because it means

00:20:02.420 that you're probably

00:20:03.260 going to be jammed

00:20:04.520 next to someone

00:20:05.180 who's spilling out

00:20:05.940 of their seat

00:20:06.380 and onto yours.

00:20:07.700 So you can either

00:20:08.300 spend double

00:20:09.900 for a better seat

00:20:10.660 or you can just

00:20:12.180 grin and bear it.

00:20:13.740 Those are your options.

00:20:15.860 Now granted,

00:20:16.320 if you ask most Americans

00:20:17.260 to make this choice

00:20:18.000 between paying more

00:20:19.200 and spending the seats

00:20:20.940 the flight seated 0.98

00:20:22.120 next to a fat guy 0.99

00:20:23.020 with his fat rolls 0.99

00:20:24.640 resting on your shoulder,

00:20:26.460 well they're going to

00:20:26.940 voluntarily choose

00:20:27.840 the cheaper fare.

00:20:29.300 Same reason people 0.98

00:20:30.080 fly on planes

00:20:30.960 at 6 a.m.

00:20:31.880 They want to cut

00:20:32.580 their transportation costs

00:20:33.580 as much as possible

00:20:34.480 but air travel

00:20:36.140 has decayed

00:20:37.160 in many other ways

00:20:38.240 as well

00:20:38.580 which no one

00:20:40.020 can avoid

00:20:40.540 no matter how much

00:20:41.320 money they're able

00:20:42.300 to spend.

00:20:43.400 The Boston Globe

00:20:44.120 just reported

00:20:44.580 that airline fees

00:20:45.520 reached an all-time

00:20:46.260 high in 2024

00:20:46.980 for everything

00:20:47.620 from baggage fees

00:20:48.520 to priority boarding

00:20:49.480 and seat selection.

00:20:51.200 Meanwhile,

00:20:51.480 according to a researcher

00:20:52.200 at Harvard,

00:20:52.860 flight delays

00:20:53.520 lasting three hours

00:20:54.600 or longer

00:20:55.060 are now four times

00:20:55.820 more common

00:20:56.400 than they were

00:20:56.840 30 years ago.

00:20:57.860 And on top of that,

00:20:58.660 airlines are going

00:20:59.680 out of the way

00:21:00.260 to hide data

00:21:01.540 on flight delays

00:21:02.460 airlines are trying

00:21:03.920 to hide the delays

00:21:04.720 by padding

00:21:05.320 the flight times

00:21:06.080 adding on average

00:21:06.860 20 extra minutes

00:21:07.820 to schedule

00:21:08.460 so a flight

00:21:09.680 that hasn't gotten

00:21:10.420 any faster

00:21:11.020 still counts

00:21:11.740 as on time.

00:21:13.360 Thus,

00:21:13.680 on paper,

00:21:14.220 the on-time performance

00:21:15.120 metrics have improved

00:21:16.160 since 1987

00:21:17.000 even as actual

00:21:18.100 travel times

00:21:18.960 have gotten longer.

00:21:21.800 Now,

00:21:22.000 realizing all this,

00:21:22.860 many people have decided

00:21:23.600 to drive

00:21:24.280 instead of fly

00:21:26.320 if at all possible

00:21:27.900 which makes sense.

00:21:29.400 But the problem

00:21:29.940 is that driving

00:21:31.040 has also become

00:21:32.920 much more of a hassle

00:21:34.100 than it used to be.

00:21:35.260 It's also become

00:21:35.700 much more dangerous.

00:21:37.340 You're far more likely

00:21:38.040 to be killed

00:21:38.580 by a truck driver 0.58

00:21:39.400 than ever before

00:21:40.040 thanks to an enormous

00:21:40.840 number of foreigners

00:21:41.780 who now hold

00:21:42.340 commercial driver's license.

00:21:43.880 The number of people

00:21:44.380 who died in crashes

00:21:45.280 involving large trucks

00:21:46.280 was fully 38% higher

00:21:47.940 in 2023

00:21:48.600 than it was in 2009.

00:21:51.040 That's according to data

00:21:51.720 from the Department

00:21:52.360 of Transportation.

00:21:54.140 But even if you're not

00:21:55.020 killed by a foreign truck

00:21:56.000 or on the road

00:21:56.440 you're going to have

00:21:57.140 to contend with

00:21:57.700 much worse drivers

00:21:59.080 and much worse traffic

00:22:00.380 conditions than ever before.

00:22:02.220 This again is measurable.

00:22:04.780 This is from a recent

00:22:05.640 report in Axios

00:22:06.440 citing research

00:22:07.220 from Texas A&M University.

00:22:09.060 Quote,

00:22:09.860 The average U.S.

00:22:10.500 car commuter

00:22:11.040 is spending in a record

00:22:11.960 63 hours annually

00:22:13.540 stuck in traffic

00:22:14.460 amid changes

00:22:15.660 in when and why we drive.

00:22:17.240 That's the most

00:22:17.920 since 1982

00:22:18.540 when the data set

00:22:19.400 began.

00:22:20.960 Among metros

00:22:22.680 with at least

00:22:23.420 500,000 residents

00:22:24.560 the yearly delay

00:22:26.180 per auto commuter

00:22:27.240 grew notably

00:22:28.020 between 2019

00:22:28.820 and 2024

00:22:29.420 in cities like

00:22:30.140 San Francisco

00:22:30.780 plus 31 hours

00:22:32.200 San Diego

00:22:32.820 plus 24

00:22:33.640 and Miami

00:22:34.640 plus 19.

00:22:36.700 So people are

00:22:37.500 stuck in traffic

00:22:38.120 for longer.

00:22:38.680 The traffic is worse.

00:22:40.720 Another thing

00:22:41.360 a lot of people

00:22:41.720 have noticed

00:22:42.240 and you wonder

00:22:43.660 am I just imagining this?

00:22:45.260 Has it always been this way?

00:22:46.380 No.

00:22:47.060 It hasn't always been this way

00:22:47.960 but it is now.

00:22:49.260 Because of more

00:22:50.060 remote worker jobs

00:22:51.480 and gig workers

00:22:52.160 roads are more congested

00:22:54.000 during midday

00:22:54.740 than they've ever been.

00:22:55.960 Thursday is now

00:22:56.520 the worst day

00:22:57.800 of the week

00:22:58.260 for driving

00:22:58.760 in terms of

00:22:59.560 congestion related delays

00:23:00.660 it used to be Friday.

00:23:01.980 The average length

00:23:03.000 of a one-way commute

00:23:04.060 is now 27 minutes

00:23:05.140 which is the longest

00:23:05.920 it's ever been

00:23:06.680 in the history

00:23:07.620 of the United States.

00:23:09.200 And if you want

00:23:09.660 to minimize the stress

00:23:10.680 by calling an Uber

00:23:11.480 or a Lyft

00:23:12.120 that's going to cost you

00:23:13.100 more than ever as well.

00:23:14.120 The median price

00:23:14.800 for a ride on those apps

00:23:15.720 increased by more than 7%

00:23:17.020 in 2024 alone

00:23:17.940 to $16.

00:23:18.920 So half of the rides

00:23:20.160 on these platforms

00:23:21.020 now cost $16 or more

00:23:22.540 and in return

00:23:23.000 you'll get a ride

00:23:24.060 in a janky car

00:23:25.120 with very few legal protections

00:23:26.400 if you're in an accident.

00:23:27.560 For the most part

00:23:28.100 it's extremely difficult

00:23:28.920 to actually sue Uber

00:23:30.120 or Lyft

00:23:30.780 if something goes wrong

00:23:31.920 on your ride

00:23:32.300 because they can just

00:23:33.000 blame the driver.

00:23:34.240 They'll use the middleman defense

00:23:35.480 and unless they were

00:23:36.580 negligent in hiring the driver

00:23:37.820 by failing to determine

00:23:38.720 whether he had a criminal record

00:23:39.800 or something like that

00:23:40.480 they probably won't have

00:23:41.720 to pay you anything

00:23:42.320 and in turn

00:23:42.820 that means

00:23:43.720 you won't get anything

00:23:44.880 since the driver

00:23:45.660 is virtually guaranteed

00:23:46.500 to be broke.

00:23:47.160 And all of this

00:23:47.980 is to say nothing

00:23:48.500 of the condition

00:23:49.140 of the roads themselves

00:23:50.100 many of which

00:23:50.640 are in confusingly

00:23:51.620 constant states

00:23:53.060 of both disrepair

00:23:54.380 and being repaired.

00:23:55.960 Construction crews

00:23:56.680 will work on the same

00:23:57.520 stretch of highway

00:23:58.220 indefinitely it seems

00:23:59.440 while the roads

00:24:00.420 are never actually fixed.

00:24:01.560 We've all noticed that too.

00:24:02.860 And for good measure

00:24:03.440 if you decide

00:24:04.700 you're not going to fly

00:24:05.820 you're not going to drive

00:24:06.540 you're going to walk

00:24:07.220 well you should know

00:24:08.700 that pedestrian deaths

00:24:09.760 in auto accidents

00:24:10.940 are up by 48%

00:24:12.280 compared to a decade ago.

00:24:13.740 And in case that wasn't enough

00:24:14.900 the number of fatal dog attacks

00:24:16.240 in this country

00:24:16.740 has more than doubled

00:24:17.540 in the past decade.

00:24:18.220 100 people were mauled

00:24:19.220 to death in 2022 alone

00:24:20.460 compared to 48 in 2019.

00:24:22.900 Violent attacks

00:24:23.580 by dogs in general

00:24:24.540 have also increased

00:24:25.460 exponentially.

00:24:26.780 And in part

00:24:27.420 although no one

00:24:27.880 wants to say it

00:24:28.480 that's due to the large

00:24:29.300 number of foreign nationals

00:24:31.020 who now live

00:24:31.820 in this country.

00:24:32.560 And they come from

00:24:33.320 countries like Mexico

00:24:34.220 where it's common

00:24:35.080 to you know

00:24:36.520 adopt dangerous dogs

00:24:38.880 and just let them

00:24:39.520 just kind of roam

00:24:40.280 on the street

00:24:40.800 or on the rooftops

00:24:41.720 and people die

00:24:43.300 or get mauled

00:24:43.900 as a result.

00:24:44.420 In fact perhaps

00:24:44.860 the number one

00:24:45.560 most reliable indicator

00:24:46.840 that you live

00:24:47.840 in a third world country

00:24:48.780 is if you have

00:24:49.900 to actually worry

00:24:50.800 about getting

00:24:51.340 mauled to death

00:24:52.020 by an animal.

00:24:53.320 One of the many advantages

00:24:54.180 of living in a first world country

00:24:55.460 is that such a thing

00:24:56.820 basically never happens.

00:24:59.260 The fact that it's happening

00:25:00.260 more and more often

00:25:01.020 in our first world country

00:25:02.400 is you know

00:25:03.280 an indicator

00:25:03.980 that things are not

00:25:04.840 going particularly well.

00:25:06.080 Now at this point

00:25:06.620 I'm genuinely curious

00:25:08.420 if anyone listening

00:25:09.780 to this podcast

00:25:10.500 can name any area

00:25:11.860 of day-to-day life

00:25:12.980 any area at all

00:25:15.060 where things have

00:25:16.320 actually improved

00:25:17.200 in recent years.

00:25:19.920 I mean politics 0.98

00:25:20.540 is a clown show 0.98

00:25:21.500 in terms of both 0.97

00:25:22.160 the quality of our politicians

00:25:23.360 like Jasmine Crockett

00:25:24.500 just one example

00:25:25.400 and the quality

00:25:26.740 of some of the

00:25:27.300 most prominent commentators.

00:25:29.140 Streaming services

00:25:29.760 are promoting slop 0.67

00:25:30.660 at a higher rate than ever

00:25:31.740 even as their prices increase.

00:25:33.340 Disney Plus by itself

00:25:34.360 is something like

00:25:35.320 $200 a year now

00:25:36.600 unless you're fine

00:25:38.060 with constant ads.

00:25:39.360 In most cases

00:25:40.100 the prices have

00:25:40.820 gone up

00:25:42.140 along with the number

00:25:43.220 of ads

00:25:43.780 that you're forced to watch.

00:25:45.260 HBO Max

00:25:46.760 is up to

00:25:47.220 $220 a year

00:25:48.480 or so

00:25:49.020 a high price

00:25:49.900 by any measure

00:25:50.520 and in return

00:25:51.640 you'll get scenes

00:25:52.300 like this one

00:25:53.060 here it is on the screen

00:25:54.840 that's a screen grab

00:25:55.900 you may have seen

00:25:56.760 from the new 4K release

00:25:59.200 of Mad Men

00:25:59.780 on HBO

00:26:00.280 that you pay

00:26:02.620 $220

00:26:03.320 to get access

00:26:06.040 to a month

00:26:07.040 the production crew

00:26:08.600 is visible

00:26:09.340 in the corner

00:26:10.260 as they hold

00:26:13.440 a vomit hose

00:26:14.700 they apparently

00:26:16.280 forgot to edit them out

00:26:17.300 and the bloopers

00:26:18.460 don't end there

00:26:19.000 in the next season

00:26:19.640 HBO forgot to edit out

00:26:20.820 various signs

00:26:21.980 in the background

00:26:22.540 which were removed

00:26:23.280 in post-production

00:26:24.000 in the original version

00:26:25.060 of the show

00:26:25.680 which you can see

00:26:27.560 for example

00:26:28.360 as you can see

00:26:29.000 there's a sign

00:26:29.840 advertising

00:26:30.380 the best tacos

00:26:31.320 in Los Angeles

00:26:32.060 which is odd

00:26:32.840 since Mad Men

00:26:33.480 is set in Manhattan

00:26:34.260 and then there's

00:26:35.980 this one

00:26:37.760 it's some kind of

00:26:39.020 advertisement

00:26:39.640 for SIM cards

00:26:40.660 which of course

00:26:41.320 were all the rage

00:26:42.420 in the 1960s

00:26:43.340 all this to say

00:26:44.700 quality control

00:26:45.400 is out the window

00:26:45.960 to the extent

00:26:47.000 that you get

00:26:47.420 any worthwhile

00:26:48.100 new programming

00:26:48.840 or streaming services

00:26:49.700 at the moment

00:26:50.240 a lot of it

00:26:51.100 will be

00:26:51.420 low budget

00:26:52.300 true crime documentaries

00:26:53.600 along with

00:26:54.120 the endless stream

00:26:54.840 of generic fantasy shows

00:26:56.200 with blatant

00:26:56.800 DEI casting

00:26:57.720 streaming services

00:26:58.880 are

00:26:59.700 you know

00:27:01.080 just like social media

00:27:01.980 they're dominated

00:27:03.000 by algorithms now

00:27:04.120 so they're feeding

00:27:04.700 the slop

00:27:05.980 to the algorithm

00:27:07.200 harder and harder

00:27:08.440 to find anything

00:27:09.060 worth watching

00:27:09.740 and somehow

00:27:10.620 even the CGI

00:27:11.520 and special effects

00:27:12.440 one thing

00:27:12.960 you'd think

00:27:13.440 would improve

00:27:14.180 has gotten worse

00:27:15.660 I mean go back

00:27:17.120 and watch the first

00:27:17.840 Jurassic Park film

00:27:18.780 and then compare it

00:27:20.600 to the most recent one

00:27:21.540 the one that came out

00:27:23.300 30 years ago

00:27:24.240 looks better

00:27:25.160 than the one

00:27:26.300 that came out

00:27:26.780 last year

00:27:27.260 I mean it's a better

00:27:27.820 film overall

00:27:28.600 it's better in every way

00:27:29.660 but it even looks better

00:27:31.740 came out 30 years ago

00:27:33.900 how's that even possible

00:27:35.760 I've heard the same

00:27:37.900 is true of video games

00:27:38.840 by the way

00:27:39.180 although I can't

00:27:39.920 personally attest to that

00:27:40.900 it's certainly true

00:27:42.140 of the music industry

00:27:43.200 the film industry

00:27:43.900 as I've discussed previously

00:27:44.980 in the context

00:27:45.600 of the fall

00:27:46.120 of the monoculture

00:27:46.900 15 years ago

00:27:48.460 before every movie

00:27:49.200 and video game studio

00:27:50.000 had a legal obligation

00:27:51.200 to hire so-called

00:27:52.040 diverse talent

00:27:52.860 and before everyone

00:27:53.980 had a smartphone

00:27:54.660 where they lived

00:27:55.760 in their own little world

00:27:56.580 their own little culture 0.98

00:27:57.480 this fragmented culture

00:27:59.680 that's broken up

00:28:00.660 into a billion pieces

00:28:01.660 before all that

00:28:03.420 there were far more classics

00:28:04.760 than we're seeing today

00:28:05.760 there were high quality

00:28:07.500 games and movies

00:28:09.140 and albums

00:28:09.640 that pretty much

00:28:10.900 everyone experienced

00:28:11.900 they were shared

00:28:12.760 cultural experiences

00:28:13.880 but that doesn't

00:28:14.800 happen anymore

00:28:15.400 for the most part

00:28:16.080 the entertainment industry

00:28:17.560 peaked well over a decade ago

00:28:19.100 probably more like

00:28:19.700 two decades ago

00:28:20.540 and put simply

00:28:22.360 you don't have to be

00:28:24.080 an old man 0.70

00:28:24.700 yelling at clouds

00:28:25.460 like me

00:28:25.960 to claim that

00:28:27.540 everything is worse now

00:28:28.480 it is an empirical reality

00:28:29.800 we all see it

00:28:30.960 we experience it every day

00:28:32.660 we're too reliant

00:28:34.140 on foreign goods

00:28:35.020 too distracted

00:28:36.340 by a constant barrage

00:28:37.620 of frivolous online content

00:28:39.440 to overrun

00:28:40.240 with foreign nationals

00:28:41.380 to maintain

00:28:42.600 our previous standard

00:28:43.620 of living

00:28:44.060 and yet for the most part

00:28:45.880 no one's doing

00:28:47.580 anything about it

00:28:48.380 I mean there are now

00:28:49.660 entire generations

00:28:50.500 of Americans

00:28:51.040 who don't have

00:28:52.200 enough of a stake

00:28:53.080 in our country

00:28:53.740 and its future

00:28:54.560 to care as much

00:28:56.180 as they should

00:28:56.700 about its decline

00:28:57.500 that's one of the things

00:28:58.520 that's going on here

00:28:59.260 and while there's

00:29:00.680 no one explanation

00:29:02.080 for what's happening

00:29:02.780 I also suspect

00:29:04.640 at a kind of

00:29:05.960 deeper philosophical level

00:29:07.180 that the decline

00:29:08.480 of religiosity

00:29:09.340 among Americans

00:29:10.160 has made us

00:29:11.580 generally more easily

00:29:13.240 appeased

00:29:13.880 with cheap slop

00:29:15.380 you know

00:29:16.400 only cultures

00:29:17.080 that believe

00:29:17.580 in the eternal

00:29:18.180 build buildings

00:29:19.420 that will last

00:29:20.040 a thousand years

00:29:20.800 what's the point

00:29:22.060 if we're all going

00:29:22.660 to dissolve

00:29:23.120 into nothingness

00:29:23.820 in a few decades

00:29:24.700 anyway

00:29:25.040 now over the next

00:29:26.800 few weeks

00:29:27.220 and months

00:29:27.660 I intend to dive

00:29:29.660 much more deeply

00:29:30.240 into the root causes

00:29:31.160 of the decline

00:29:32.260 in key areas

00:29:33.340 of our day-to-day life

00:29:34.340 it's not just food

00:29:36.000 that's become garbage

00:29:37.240 although food has 0.58

00:29:39.460 but everything else

00:29:40.820 has too

00:29:41.260 I'm not talking

00:29:42.580 about abstract

00:29:43.380 foreign policy debates

00:29:44.500 or online drama

00:29:45.400 I'm talking about

00:29:45.960 the ways that

00:29:46.540 you have personally

00:29:48.340 been affected

00:29:48.980 by the declining

00:29:49.980 standards of living

00:29:51.140 in this country

00:29:52.900 in our country

00:29:53.500 so if you have

00:29:55.440 any examples of that

00:29:56.360 send us an email

00:29:56.980 leave a comment

00:29:57.660 here's one of those

00:30:00.100 comments I received

00:30:00.900 in response to my

00:30:01.600 monologue last week

00:30:02.680 about the decline

00:30:04.320 in restaurants

00:30:05.000 and food

00:30:05.520 this is from someone

00:30:06.480 who drives a Cisco truck

00:30:07.840 delivering frozen food

00:30:10.080 to restaurants

00:30:10.760 this is what

00:30:11.420 he said

00:30:12.200 quote

00:30:12.460 the chain restaurants

00:30:13.880 are the tip

00:30:14.280 of the Cisco iceberg

00:30:15.080 you have a better chance

00:30:16.140 of getting a scratch

00:30:17.060 made pizza

00:30:17.640 at Papa Murphy's

00:30:18.620 than your local

00:30:19.180 bar and grill

00:30:19.900 those dinner rolls

00:30:21.260 at the expensive

00:30:21.780 Italian restaurant

00:30:22.540 frozen

00:30:23.020 the pie at the

00:30:23.860 apple orchard

00:30:24.420 frozen

00:30:25.020 and repackaged

00:30:25.760 there's even been

00:30:26.560 a butcher shop

00:30:27.380 that ordered

00:30:27.800 shredded pork

00:30:28.680 small town bakeries

00:30:29.980 ordering pre-baked

00:30:30.960 and frozen donuts

00:30:31.920 and croissants

00:30:32.520 in fact there's a cafe

00:30:33.740 that serves treats

00:30:34.500 like cheesecakes

00:30:35.260 and lemon bread

00:30:35.820 for over $10 a slice

00:30:36.860 they don't even have

00:30:37.800 an oven in the back

00:30:38.680 it's the same brand

00:30:39.940 of cheesecake

00:30:40.340 you get at Starbucks

00:30:41.200 if we demanded

00:30:42.300 better from our

00:30:43.000 schools and daycares

00:30:43.840 they could be

00:30:44.820 feeding children

00:30:45.460 made from scratch

00:30:46.400 nutritious meals

00:30:47.160 while still ordering

00:30:47.980 from the same supplier

00:30:49.320 instead two and three

00:30:50.180 year olds have a

00:30:50.960 steady diet of

00:30:51.760 del monte and

00:30:52.500 animal crackers

00:30:53.120 oh and of course

00:30:53.740 the same goes for

00:30:54.680 the schools

00:30:55.140 nursing homes

00:30:55.800 hospitals

00:30:56.260 restaurants

00:30:56.840 etc

00:30:57.600 yes he's delivered

00:30:59.760 frozen pork

00:31:00.620 to a butcher shop

00:31:01.520 he's delivered

00:31:02.820 cheesecakes

00:31:03.540 to fake bakeries

00:31:04.780 that don't even

00:31:05.360 have an oven

00:31:05.840 this is someone

00:31:07.400 who works

00:31:07.820 at the single

00:31:08.420 biggest supplier

00:31:09.220 of food

00:31:09.640 in the entire

00:31:10.080 country

00:31:10.440 including a huge

00:31:11.360 number of

00:31:11.740 restaurants

00:31:12.120 nearly half

00:31:12.680 of them

00:31:13.020 by some

00:31:14.180 estimates

00:31:14.600 this is the

00:31:15.940 kind of

00:31:16.820 widespread

00:31:17.540 mediocrity

00:31:18.540 and fraud

00:31:19.260 that we've

00:31:20.160 accepted as

00:31:20.760 normal

00:31:21.080 the political

00:31:23.260 commentariat

00:31:24.240 and podcast

00:31:25.180 hosts

00:31:25.460 speaking of

00:31:25.940 things that

00:31:26.260 are getting

00:31:26.560 measurably

00:31:27.080 worse by the

00:31:27.560 way

00:31:27.700 focus on

00:31:29.240 anything and

00:31:29.840 everything

00:31:30.220 except this

00:31:31.860 issue

00:31:32.180 the fact that

00:31:33.060 our quality

00:31:33.660 of life

00:31:34.200 is declining

00:31:35.640 the fact that

00:31:36.200 our lives are

00:31:36.840 getting worse

00:31:37.440 in real

00:31:38.000 practical ways

00:31:39.100 but this is

00:31:41.240 real

00:31:41.540 and it

00:31:42.600 matters

00:31:42.980 I mean

00:31:44.360 it's our

00:31:44.960 lives we're

00:31:45.460 talking about

00:31:45.980 here

00:31:46.100 these are

00:31:46.400 things that

00:31:47.220 may not

00:31:47.780 threaten our

00:31:48.340 lives physically

00:31:49.000 although in

00:31:49.400 some cases

00:31:49.760 they do

00:31:51.080 but even

00:31:51.980 if they

00:31:52.240 don't

00:31:52.500 they make

00:31:52.840 our lives

00:31:53.280 less enjoyable

00:31:54.000 less rich

00:31:54.620 less vibrant

00:31:55.320 less whole

00:31:57.560 and that's

00:31:59.060 all by

00:31:59.340 design

00:31:59.760 choices are

00:32:01.220 being made

00:32:01.780 deliberate

00:32:02.400 choices to

00:32:03.120 create a

00:32:03.580 culture where

00:32:04.320 people accept

00:32:05.020 mediocrity

00:32:05.800 and dreariness

00:32:07.360 and ugliness

00:32:08.420 and poor

00:32:09.580 quality

00:32:10.000 it's all

00:32:11.780 being done

00:32:12.100 on purpose

00:32:12.560 and the only

00:32:14.180 way to reverse

00:32:14.760 this trend

00:32:15.380 is to expose

00:32:17.320 it

00:32:17.760 over the next

00:32:18.980 few weeks

00:32:19.380 and months

00:32:19.840 it's exactly

00:32:21.220 what I intend

00:32:21.680 to do

00:32:22.020 now let's

00:32:23.540 get to our

00:32:23.820 five headlines

00:32:24.360 all right

00:32:31.060 let's

00:32:32.280 we haven't

00:32:34.420 checked on the

00:32:34.860 fish cam in a

00:32:35.440 while let's go

00:32:35.920 to the fish

00:32:36.340 cam

00:32:36.660 because you

00:32:38.160 know 0.99

00:32:38.340 everything sucks 0.98

00:32:40.220 now 0.96

00:32:40.600 except the

00:32:41.760 fish cam

00:32:42.140 this is the

00:32:43.400 one thing

00:32:43.760 the fish cam

00:32:44.300 is the one

00:32:44.660 thing that has

00:32:45.040 not seen

00:32:45.620 a decline

00:32:46.680 in quality

00:32:47.220 that fish

00:32:48.500 carved out

00:32:50.240 of wood

00:32:51.140 that fish

00:32:52.580 will stand

00:32:52.960 the test

00:32:53.300 of time

00:32:53.660 all the

00:32:54.900 clothes you

00:32:55.300 buy will

00:32:55.920 rot and

00:32:57.340 decay within

00:32:58.200 two weeks

00:32:59.000 of buying

00:32:59.400 them

00:32:59.680 the house

00:33:01.020 you bought

00:33:01.540 will fall

00:33:03.160 apart

00:33:03.560 in a couple

00:33:04.880 of years

00:33:05.360 maybe with

00:33:06.720 you inside

00:33:07.200 it

00:33:07.500 but fish

00:33:09.440 cam

00:33:09.680 that will

00:33:11.320 be here

00:33:11.700 fish cam

00:33:13.500 will always

00:33:13.900 be with

00:33:14.580 us

00:33:14.900 you know

00:33:16.200 leftists

00:33:16.960 are now

00:33:17.740 rallying

00:33:18.500 around

00:33:18.880 the

00:33:19.460 Somali 0.98

00:33:20.120 scammers

00:33:20.620 this has

00:33:21.000 been

00:33:21.120 quite a

00:33:23.240 couple

00:33:23.660 of weeks

00:33:24.000 on the

00:33:24.420 left

00:33:24.580 they've

00:33:24.880 been

00:33:25.120 rallying

00:33:25.640 in defense

00:33:26.060 of

00:33:26.220 Somali 0.92

00:33:26.560 scammers 0.97

00:33:26.980 and drug

00:33:28.260 traffickers

00:33:28.720 so those

00:33:29.080 are the

00:33:29.320 two

00:33:29.460 groups

00:33:30.340 that they've

00:33:30.700 decided

00:33:31.000 to defend

00:33:31.740 the last

00:33:32.240 couple

00:33:32.420 of weeks

00:33:32.680 and

00:33:33.800 they're

00:33:35.260 doing that

00:33:35.520 of course

00:33:35.720 because Trump

00:33:36.100 has said

00:33:36.400 that we

00:33:36.720 should not

00:33:37.060 be importing

00:33:37.520 these

00:33:37.740 people

00:33:38.080 they don't

00:33:38.780 contribute

00:33:39.080 anything

00:33:39.600 and

00:33:40.680 I've

00:33:41.640 said

00:33:41.780 yesterday

00:33:42.340 that if

00:33:43.500 he's

00:33:43.680 wrong

00:33:44.060 say so

00:33:45.440 you know

00:33:46.500 tell us

00:33:47.120 what

00:33:47.500 Somalians

00:33:48.180 contribute

00:33:48.600 to the

00:33:48.880 country

00:33:49.120 I think

00:33:49.320 it's a

00:33:49.560 really

00:33:50.480 fair

00:33:50.740 question

00:33:51.220 bringing

00:33:52.620 in all

00:33:52.920 these

00:33:53.060 people

00:33:53.300 tens

00:33:53.520 of

00:33:53.660 thousands

00:33:53.900 of

00:33:54.080 people

00:33:54.280 I think

00:33:54.520 it's

00:33:54.660 fair

00:33:54.820 to say

00:33:55.180 well

00:33:55.400 why

00:33:55.580 are we

00:33:55.740 bringing

00:33:55.920 them

00:33:56.080 in

00:33:56.280 what

00:33:57.560 are

00:33:57.620 they

00:33:57.720 doing

00:33:57.940 for

00:33:58.160 us

00:33:58.400 what's

00:33:59.220 in

00:33:59.320 it

00:33:59.420 for

00:33:59.580 us

00:33:59.760 what

00:33:59.900 do

00:33:59.960 we

00:34:00.080 get

00:34:00.220 out

00:34:00.380 of

00:34:00.460 this

00:34:00.600 deal

00:34:00.820 I

00:34:01.660 know

00:34:01.760 what

00:34:01.880 they

00:34:02.000 get

00:34:02.160 out

00:34:02.320 of

00:34:02.400 it

00:34:02.560 but

00:34:03.520 what

00:34:03.640 do

00:34:03.700 we

00:34:03.840 get

00:34:03.980 out

00:34:04.140 of

00:34:04.220 it

00:34:04.460 well

00:34:05.960 now

00:34:06.440 they're

00:34:06.860 taking

00:34:07.160 a stab

00:34:07.780 the left

00:34:08.220 is taking

00:34:08.600 a stab

00:34:09.020 at answering

00:34:09.700 that riddle

00:34:10.520 and you

00:34:11.820 can tell

00:34:12.200 why they

00:34:12.540 usually

00:34:12.900 avoid it

00:34:13.520 they're

00:34:15.240 taking a

00:34:15.720 stab

00:34:15.980 at getting

00:34:16.300 away

00:34:16.560 from the

00:34:16.860 emotional

00:34:17.220 appeals

00:34:17.700 and actually

00:34:18.760 trying to

00:34:19.260 make a

00:34:19.740 practical

00:34:20.260 argument

00:34:20.720 and say

00:34:20.940 you know

00:34:21.140 what

00:34:21.340 we need

00:34:22.260 Somalians

00:34:22.760 in this

00:34:23.000 country

00:34:23.320 because

00:34:23.780 here's

00:34:24.140 what

00:34:24.300 we

00:34:24.560 get

00:34:24.740 out

00:34:24.940 of

00:34:25.040 it

00:34:25.240 here's

00:34:26.720 the

00:34:26.880 local

00:34:27.320 ABC

00:34:27.680 affiliate

00:34:28.120 in

00:34:28.300 Minneapolis

00:34:28.720 attempting

00:34:29.420 to

00:34:30.000 address

00:34:30.800 this

00:34:31.120 back

00:34:33.560 tonight's

00:34:34.100 top

00:34:34.280 story

00:34:34.540 sources

00:34:34.860 tell

00:34:35.120 ABC

00:34:35.400 news

00:34:35.680 that

00:34:35.860 immigration

00:34:36.260 efforts

00:34:36.680 targeting

00:34:37.060 Somali

00:34:37.600 Minnesotans

00:34:38.280 are underway

00:34:38.880 in Minneapolis

00:34:39.600 President

00:34:40.540 Trump's

00:34:41.060 effort

00:34:41.360 comes

00:34:41.640 after

00:34:42.040 he

00:34:42.240 publicly

00:34:42.700 questioned

00:34:43.380 the

00:34:43.700 community's

00:34:44.220 contributions

00:34:44.860 to the

00:34:45.400 economy

00:34:45.820 but

00:34:46.380 new

00:34:46.880 research

00:34:47.340 shows

00:34:47.720 Somali

00:34:48.120 Minnesotans

00:34:48.780 generate

00:34:49.220 hundreds

00:34:49.540 of millions

00:34:50.240 in income

00:34:51.000 and millions

00:34:51.480 more in

00:34:51.880 taxes

00:34:52.340 Kamarie

00:34:53.220 Bray

00:34:53.380 joins us

00:34:53.780 live

00:34:54.160 in Minneapolis

00:34:54.880 with a

00:34:55.300 look at

00:34:55.560 the

00:34:55.700 data

00:34:56.000 well

00:34:58.800 Kevin

00:34:59.040 and Lindsay

00:34:59.360 we are at

00:34:59.980 Hamdi 0.94

00:35:00.380 restaurant

00:35:00.860 on East

00:35:01.560 Lake

00:35:02.000 Street

00:35:02.260 this is

00:35:02.720 a Somali

00:35:03.380 owned

00:35:03.780 business

00:35:04.340 and we

00:35:04.920 talked to

00:35:05.280 the owner

00:35:05.620 who says

00:35:06.040 he works

00:35:06.480 very hard

00:35:07.260 and pays

00:35:07.720 his dues

00:35:08.300 like many

00:35:09.200 Somalis

00:35:09.680 in the state

00:35:10.340 and he hopes

00:35:11.120 that the

00:35:11.400 president

00:35:11.760 can recognize

00:35:12.680 it

00:35:13.000 at Hamdi's

00:35:16.600 restaurant

00:35:17.040 on East

00:35:17.680 Lake

00:35:17.900 Street

00:35:18.240 if it's

00:35:19.820 not the

00:35:20.100 smell of

00:35:20.540 grilled meat

00:35:21.220 that lures

00:35:21.840 you in

00:35:22.300 this is

00:35:22.940 the rice

00:35:23.480 it's the

00:35:24.160 welcome

00:35:24.460 of the

00:35:24.900 owner

00:35:25.200 we are

00:35:25.720 working

00:35:26.060 hard

00:35:26.360 family

00:35:26.960 we are

00:35:27.580 working

00:35:27.840 seven days

00:35:28.320 a week

00:35:28.660 Abdi

00:35:29.160 Shakur

00:35:29.560 Elmi

00:35:29.960 moved to

00:35:30.500 Minnesota

00:35:30.860 from Somalia

00:35:31.700 in the

00:35:32.020 90s

00:35:32.640 he and his

00:35:34.500 family have

00:35:35.080 run the

00:35:35.440 restaurant

00:35:35.820 for decades

00:35:36.700 like me and

00:35:37.360 my dad

00:35:37.740 we work

00:35:38.140 very hard

00:35:38.720 every single

00:35:39.300 day

00:35:39.680 and it's

00:35:40.260 their labor

00:35:41.000 that's being

00:35:41.720 questioned

00:35:42.240 by the

00:35:42.940 president

00:35:43.300 of the

00:35:43.680 United

00:35:43.880 States

00:35:44.420 these are

00:35:45.220 people that

00:35:45.740 work

00:35:46.080 they contribute

00:35:46.900 nothing

00:35:47.440 but that

00:35:48.240 contradicts

00:35:48.980 the research

00:35:49.660 from Concordia

00:35:50.560 University's

00:35:51.360 economist

00:35:52.060 Dr. Bruce

00:35:53.440 Corey

00:35:53.800 I'd like to

00:35:54.740 I can share

00:35:55.280 that information

00:35:56.000 with him

00:35:56.500 and he probably

00:35:57.540 changes mine

00:35:58.300 according to

00:35:59.040 his research

00:35:59.900 Somali income

00:36:00.980 is at least

00:36:01.680 500 million

00:36:02.720 dollars in

00:36:03.520 Minnesota

00:36:03.940 they pay

00:36:05.040 67 million

00:36:06.180 dollars annually

00:36:07.200 in state

00:36:08.020 and local

00:36:08.380 taxes

00:36:08.960 the estimated

00:36:09.920 impact of

00:36:10.540 these workers

00:36:11.200 the Somali

00:36:11.900 workers in

00:36:12.720 Minnesota

00:36:13.520 could be

00:36:14.220 about

00:36:14.760 8 billion

00:36:15.700 dollars

00:36:16.340 that's with

00:36:17.360 a B

00:36:17.740 not an M 0.72

00:36:18.500 and it's

00:36:20.780 the way

00:36:21.260 what they

00:36:22.240 help produce

00:36:23.180 and how that

00:36:24.160 production

00:36:24.840 in turn

00:36:25.520 generates

00:36:27.040 and ripples

00:36:27.880 through the

00:36:28.360 economy

00:36:28.760 what industry

00:36:29.740 would feel

00:36:31.020 the biggest

00:36:31.460 hit 0.95

00:36:31.800 if Somalis 1.00

00:36:33.260 were to

00:36:34.120 leave

00:36:34.700 Minnesota

00:36:35.500 I have a

00:36:37.320 feeling

00:36:37.880 retail

00:36:38.740 probably

00:36:39.700 could be

00:36:40.680 first

00:36:41.020 because of

00:36:41.600 that

00:36:41.860 massive

00:36:43.120 consumer

00:36:43.980 income

00:36:45.100 alright

00:36:48.480 first of all

00:36:49.040 I love

00:36:49.460 how she

00:36:50.160 says

00:36:50.600 you know

00:36:52.000 customers

00:36:52.780 are lured

00:36:53.580 into this

00:36:54.160 into this

00:36:54.820 wonderful

00:36:55.280 Somali

00:36:55.840 restaurant

00:36:56.260 and then

00:36:56.580 you see

00:36:56.900 it

00:36:57.040 and it's

00:36:57.220 like the

00:36:57.480 most

00:36:57.660 depressing

00:36:58.260 emptiest

00:36:59.060 restaurant

00:36:59.600 you've

00:36:59.940 ever seen

00:37:00.560 in your

00:37:01.540 life

00:37:01.900 customers

00:37:03.180 are lured

00:37:04.260 by the

00:37:04.640 droves

00:37:05.100 into this

00:37:05.420 restaurant

00:37:05.760 and then

00:37:06.120 behind her

00:37:06.740 there's

00:37:07.000 nobody

00:37:07.520 there's

00:37:08.400 no one

00:37:08.780 it's just

00:37:08.980 a bunch

00:37:09.180 of empty

00:37:09.540 tables

00:37:10.040 fluorescent

00:37:10.640 lights

00:37:11.140 in this

00:37:11.580 small

00:37:11.960 dingy

00:37:12.420 little

00:37:12.640 restaurant

00:37:13.060 and then

00:37:14.200 we get

00:37:14.540 a look

00:37:14.780 at the

00:37:15.060 mystery

00:37:15.560 meat

00:37:15.980 cooking

00:37:16.440 on the

00:37:16.780 grill

00:37:17.080 customers

00:37:19.000 are lured

00:37:19.680 by the

00:37:20.120 tantalizing

00:37:20.760 scent

00:37:21.200 of

00:37:21.480 what I

00:37:22.640 can only

00:37:22.980 assume

00:37:23.360 are goat 0.93

00:37:24.060 innards 0.99

00:37:24.520 she forgot

00:37:26.220 to mention

00:37:26.500 that they're

00:37:26.940 lured to

00:37:27.740 another

00:37:28.260 restaurant

00:37:28.920 but they

00:37:30.020 they peer

00:37:30.940 into the

00:37:31.280 place and

00:37:31.720 they're like

00:37:32.080 what is this

00:37:32.940 and then

00:37:33.200 they're lured

00:37:33.560 to the

00:37:33.840 chipotle

00:37:34.180 down the

00:37:34.580 street

00:37:34.760 that's what

00:37:35.200 that's what

00:37:35.700 ends up

00:37:36.080 happening

00:37:36.380 so that

00:37:38.000 restaurant

00:37:38.360 is keeping

00:37:38.760 chipotle

00:37:39.160 open down

00:37:39.680 the street

00:37:40.040 that's the

00:37:40.740 that's the

00:37:41.120 service

00:37:41.440 it's

00:37:41.680 providing

00:37:42.080 and look

00:37:45.340 I got

00:37:45.540 I mean

00:37:46.360 why would

00:37:47.980 anyone go

00:37:48.360 to a

00:37:48.640 Somali

00:37:49.040 restaurant

00:37:49.680 unless you're

00:37:51.220 Somalian I

00:37:51.940 suppose but

00:37:52.260 even then

00:37:52.700 if you're

00:37:54.080 in America

00:37:54.560 I mean one

00:37:55.060 of the

00:37:55.180 advantages is

00:37:55.840 there's a

00:37:56.300 lot of

00:37:56.740 much better

00:37:57.380 food available

00:37:58.060 so you

00:37:58.660 think you'd

00:37:59.160 go somewhere

00:37:59.580 else

00:37:59.880 Somali

00:38:00.740 when I

00:38:01.120 think about

00:38:01.620 places where

00:38:03.700 I really want

00:38:04.780 to try their

00:38:05.340 cuisine

00:38:05.880 Somalia

00:38:06.780 does not

00:38:07.460 come to

00:38:08.400 mind

00:38:08.680 that's the

00:38:11.160 kind of

00:38:11.340 place where

00:38:11.760 if you

00:38:12.120 were to

00:38:12.340 ever visit

00:38:12.860 that place

00:38:13.680 you would

00:38:14.180 make sure

00:38:14.740 to bring

00:38:15.240 a lot

00:38:15.680 of like

00:38:16.560 energy bars

00:38:17.240 and Chex

00:38:17.800 mix

00:38:18.260 so that you

00:38:19.320 can live

00:38:19.640 on that

00:38:20.080 you don't

00:38:20.320 have to eat

00:38:20.680 any of the

00:38:21.000 food

00:38:21.940 but

00:38:24.060 more to

00:38:25.040 the point

00:38:25.280 you know

00:38:25.520 they give

00:38:25.820 us the

00:38:26.060 numbers

00:38:26.300 so they're

00:38:26.760 they're trying

00:38:28.200 to argue

00:38:28.460 that Somalians

00:38:29.000 contribute so

00:38:29.640 much to the

00:38:30.000 community

00:38:30.360 and so

00:38:32.720 they actually

00:38:33.000 give us

00:38:33.260 some numbers

00:38:33.700 and what

00:38:35.540 are the

00:38:35.740 contributions

00:38:36.200 that they

00:38:36.640 list

00:38:36.960 well they're

00:38:38.480 not claiming

00:38:39.000 that Somalians

00:38:39.800 are innovating

00:38:40.800 in any way

00:38:41.540 they're not

00:38:42.240 claiming that

00:38:43.080 they're not

00:38:44.280 saying well

00:38:44.640 hey look

00:38:45.080 here's these

00:38:45.620 Somalians

00:38:46.260 scientists

00:38:47.180 who've invented

00:38:47.920 this thing

00:38:48.680 or here's a

00:38:49.640 bunch of

00:38:49.880 Somalian doctors

00:38:50.740 who are

00:38:51.280 performing

00:38:51.740 heart

00:38:51.980 surgeries

00:38:52.360 they're not

00:38:53.900 saying that

00:38:54.320 instead they're

00:38:55.660 telling us that

00:38:56.200 Somalians are 0.85

00:38:56.860 paying taxes

00:38:57.800 generating income

00:38:59.720 and buying

00:39:00.920 stuff

00:39:01.360 which of course

00:39:03.040 is the bare

00:39:03.800 minimum that

00:39:04.960 any group

00:39:05.660 would meet

00:39:06.600 right that's

00:39:08.500 not like if

00:39:09.480 that's all

00:39:10.080 you're doing

00:39:10.640 well any

00:39:12.620 group Americans

00:39:13.620 already do

00:39:14.380 that

00:39:14.680 okay so

00:39:16.440 we don't

00:39:17.980 need to

00:39:18.200 bring people

00:39:18.640 in here

00:39:18.960 to buy

00:39:19.500 stuff

00:39:19.840 the idea

00:39:20.800 that well

00:39:21.380 we can't

00:39:21.660 get rid of 0.53

00:39:21.980 Somalians 1.00

00:39:22.380 who's gonna

00:39:22.760 buy the

00:39:23.300 stuff

00:39:23.640 Americans

00:39:24.940 know how

00:39:25.200 to buy

00:39:25.440 stuff

00:39:25.760 we got

00:39:26.380 that covered

00:39:26.840 and

00:39:28.420 why do

00:39:30.100 we need

00:39:30.300 to bring

00:39:30.620 in

00:39:30.820 foreigners

00:39:31.460 from

00:39:31.960 8,000

00:39:32.680 miles away

00:39:33.340 who are

00:39:33.900 broker than

00:39:34.680 us

00:39:35.060 what if

00:39:36.400 the argument

00:39:36.880 is we

00:39:37.400 want to

00:39:37.800 pump money

00:39:38.280 into the

00:39:38.580 economy

00:39:38.960 because we

00:39:39.840 won't need

00:39:40.100 people to

00:39:40.360 buy stuff

00:39:40.660 so we're

00:39:41.160 gonna bring

00:39:41.480 in like

00:39:41.840 these

00:39:42.100 impoverished

00:39:43.100 masses

00:39:44.520 from the

00:39:45.320 third world

00:39:45.980 to buy

00:39:46.740 the stuff

00:39:47.160 for us

00:39:47.660 that doesn't

00:39:49.640 make a lot

00:39:50.000 of sense

00:39:50.360 well let's

00:39:51.800 look at the

00:39:52.060 numbers

00:39:52.240 he says

00:39:53.140 that well

00:39:54.760 first of all

00:39:55.060 we got that

00:39:55.380 economist

00:39:55.920 supposedly

00:39:57.300 says that

00:39:59.580 Somalians

00:40:00.160 could account

00:40:01.080 for 8

00:40:02.460 billion dollars

00:40:03.220 in

00:40:03.620 economic

00:40:05.080 impact

00:40:05.760 well

00:40:08.260 what does

00:40:09.440 that mean

00:40:09.860 could

00:40:11.380 account

00:40:11.860 for 8

00:40:13.040 billion dollars

00:40:13.700 in quote

00:40:14.840 economic

00:40:15.540 impact

00:40:16.220 okay well

00:40:18.100 I could

00:40:19.120 I could

00:40:20.060 account for

00:40:20.640 8 billion dollars

00:40:21.280 in economic

00:40:21.620 impact all

00:40:22.120 by myself

00:40:22.580 I'm not

00:40:23.640 saying I

00:40:23.980 do I

00:40:24.520 could

00:40:24.880 if somebody

00:40:27.320 says hey

00:40:27.800 man do you

00:40:28.180 account for

00:40:28.580 8 billion dollars

00:40:29.180 in economic

00:40:29.560 impact I

00:40:30.020 could say I

00:40:30.580 could

00:40:30.860 I could

00:40:32.760 I mean it's

00:40:33.740 it's logically

00:40:34.500 possible it's

00:40:35.500 possible that I

00:40:36.220 could there's

00:40:37.120 there's a

00:40:37.500 world there's a

00:40:38.200 there's a

00:40:38.760 universe in

00:40:39.420 which maybe

00:40:40.260 that would

00:40:41.080 happen

00:40:41.500 it's not

00:40:42.460 physically

00:40:42.820 impossible it

00:40:43.540 doesn't defy

00:40:44.000 the laws of

00:40:44.440 physics I

00:40:44.980 could I

00:40:46.920 could account

00:40:47.480 for 50

00:40:48.060 trillion dollars

00:40:48.700 in economic

00:40:49.120 impact I

00:40:51.480 could and

00:40:54.020 what does

00:40:54.260 economic impact

00:40:55.260 mean that I

00:40:57.200 mean like

00:40:57.660 hurricanes have

00:40:58.940 an economic

00:40:59.380 impact tornadoes

00:41:00.420 have economic

00:41:00.960 impact a

00:41:02.300 bank robber has

00:41:03.800 an economic

00:41:04.360 impact was

00:41:05.120 economic impact

00:41:06.640 Bernie Madoff

00:41:07.840 had an economic

00:41:08.840 impact what do

00:41:11.200 mean impact

00:41:11.880 impact like a

00:41:12.760 like a like an

00:41:13.420 impact crater

00:41:14.100 impact like an

00:41:15.240 asteroid what

00:41:16.260 kind of impact

00:41:16.800 are we talking

00:41:17.220 about and how

00:41:19.200 do you qualify

00:41:20.080 that how do you

00:41:20.680 quantify it he

00:41:22.020 doesn't explain

00:41:22.560 so so that you

00:41:25.320 could just

00:41:25.540 disregard that

00:41:26.160 doesn't mean

00:41:26.480 anything we just

00:41:27.080 disregard it and

00:41:28.100 he doesn't provide

00:41:28.920 any evidence for

00:41:29.720 it he's not even

00:41:30.380 sure that his

00:41:30.880 numbers are right 0.98

00:41:31.360 that's why I

00:41:31.660 say well he

00:41:32.020 could it could

00:41:33.040 be this we

00:41:34.860 get one really

00:41:36.720 solid verifiable

00:41:38.420 number actually we

00:41:39.180 get two and

00:41:41.200 he says Somalians

00:41:42.720 pay $67 million

00:41:45.140 in taxes okay

00:41:48.040 well finally we

00:41:49.540 have a number

00:41:50.080 all right that's

00:41:51.580 a that's a solid

00:41:52.540 number that's a

00:41:53.320 thing we could

00:41:53.760 look at we can

00:41:54.360 verify it well

00:41:56.500 let's dig into

00:41:57.060 it $67 million

00:41:58.920 in taxes okay we

00:42:01.120 know that there

00:42:01.820 are about and

00:42:02.700 this is there's

00:42:03.320 probably a lot

00:42:03.840 more than this

00:42:04.420 but let's just

00:42:04.940 say there are

00:42:05.420 80,000 Somalians

00:42:06.520 I've seen

00:42:06.920 estimates of

00:42:07.420 100,000 150,000

00:42:08.920 certainly 100,000

00:42:10.880 I've seen

00:42:11.320 which I think

00:42:14.260 you could

00:42:14.540 it's certainly

00:42:17.260 more than

00:42:17.900 whatever the

00:42:18.340 official estimate

00:42:18.980 is and so if

00:42:20.800 the official

00:42:21.140 estimate is

00:42:21.800 100,000 you

00:42:22.480 could probably

00:42:22.880 assume it's

00:42:23.220 like 150,000

00:42:24.140 maybe even

00:42:24.640 double that

00:42:25.060 who knows

00:42:26.160 but let's just

00:42:27.000 go let's just

00:42:27.420 go with 80,000

00:42:28.060 let's just pretend

00:42:28.620 it's 80,000

00:42:29.200 okay fine

00:42:29.800 do some simple

00:42:32.000 math

00:42:32.280 $67 million

00:42:33.600 that's the

00:42:35.400 taxes they

00:42:35.900 pay local

00:42:36.500 and state

00:42:36.920 divided by

00:42:39.820 80,000 people

00:42:41.100 well that works

00:42:42.820 out to about

00:42:43.500 $800 a

00:42:45.020 person

00:42:45.440 okay so

00:42:47.740 by their

00:42:48.200 numbers

00:42:48.640 Somalians

00:42:50.340 contribute less

00:42:51.880 than 900 bucks

00:42:53.960 a person to

00:42:55.620 local and state

00:42:57.060 taxes combined

00:42:58.220 I'm sure you

00:43:00.520 understand that

00:43:01.000 is incredibly

00:43:01.880 low that's

00:43:02.860 actually lower

00:43:03.460 than I thought

00:43:04.200 it would be

00:43:04.800 that's that I

00:43:06.500 assumed that it

00:43:07.520 would be something

00:43:08.200 very low

00:43:08.840 but if you had

00:43:10.240 asked me to

00:43:10.780 guess I would

00:43:11.420 have said oh

00:43:11.880 they probably you

00:43:12.600 know on average

00:43:13.440 pay a couple

00:43:14.160 thousand I don't

00:43:15.260 know I so

00:43:17.420 what I learned

00:43:17.860 from these numbers

00:43:18.320 is I had a

00:43:19.020 higher opinion

00:43:19.880 of the I

00:43:21.200 had a higher

00:43:22.180 opinion of the

00:43:22.800 Somali community

00:43:23.480 in Minnesota

00:43:24.140 than was

00:43:25.320 actually justified

00:43:26.520 according to the

00:43:27.040 numbers I was

00:43:27.960 optimistic okay

00:43:30.160 the guy that's

00:43:30.680 been ranting

00:43:31.100 about Somalians

00:43:32.060 for months

00:43:33.600 okay I was

00:43:36.120 on the I was

00:43:36.820 dumping on the

00:43:37.300 Somalians way 0.87

00:43:38.120 before it was

00:43:38.640 cool and and

00:43:40.300 am I proud of

00:43:40.940 that I absolutely

00:43:41.960 am but even

00:43:44.500 me I thought I

00:43:45.560 looked at that I'm

00:43:46.080 like it's really

00:43:46.860 it's that bad

00:43:47.700 wow and uh

00:43:51.500 so I'm

00:43:54.140 I guess what

00:43:55.100 they're hoping

00:43:55.540 is that nobody

00:43:56.280 will pull out a

00:43:57.120 calculator which

00:43:58.040 we all have on

00:43:58.680 our phones and

00:43:59.980 just do the

00:44:00.600 numbers on that

00:44:01.260 um because

00:44:04.080 already we know

00:44:05.100 that the 67

00:44:06.080 million in taxes

00:44:07.000 is a fraction

00:44:08.000 of the one

00:44:08.880 billion dollars

00:44:10.120 in fraud these

00:44:11.880 people have

00:44:12.340 committed and

00:44:14.080 that's just one

00:44:14.760 fraud scheme

00:44:15.580 okay and it's

00:44:17.900 less than the

00:44:18.360 many millions in

00:44:19.240 welfare that

00:44:19.980 they're taking

00:44:20.460 so already this

00:44:21.920 all breaks down

00:44:22.740 already we're

00:44:23.600 deep in the

00:44:24.200 red okay

00:44:24.680 67 million

00:44:25.640 dollars in

00:44:25.940 taxes a

00:44:26.860 billion dollars

00:44:27.620 in fraud let's

00:44:28.460 pretend that that

00:44:29.020 one fraud scheme

00:44:30.000 that costs a

00:44:30.680 billion dollars is

00:44:31.500 the only one

00:44:32.300 which it is

00:44:33.160 still 67

00:44:35.620 million dollars

00:44:36.180 contributed a

00:44:37.320 billion dollars

00:44:38.560 taken I mean

00:44:40.580 if you can bring

00:44:41.280 in a group of

00:44:41.700 people who will

00:44:43.620 give you 67

00:44:44.340 million dollars but

00:44:46.380 then take a

00:44:47.240 billion are you

00:44:49.960 going to take

00:44:50.280 that deal if I

00:44:51.800 come to you and

00:44:52.300 say hey I'm

00:44:53.600 I'll give you

00:44:54.280 67 million

00:44:55.080 dollars you'd

00:44:56.360 probably say

00:44:56.920 nice I'll take

00:44:59.120 it thank you

00:45:00.300 but then I say

00:45:01.580 okay but what I

00:45:02.680 want in exchange

00:45:03.440 is a billion

00:45:04.700 dollars here's the

00:45:06.560 deal I'm offering

00:45:07.200 you I give you

00:45:08.140 67 million you

00:45:09.680 give me a

00:45:10.360 billion you like

00:45:12.580 that deal is that

00:45:13.300 a good deal I

00:45:15.460 mean what do you

00:45:16.140 think are you

00:45:17.120 taking that deal

00:45:17.740 are you jumping at

00:45:18.380 that deal and

00:45:22.680 again remember the

00:45:23.320 billion dollars

00:45:23.800 that's just one

00:45:24.360 fraud scheme it

00:45:25.620 doesn't take into

00:45:26.100 account welfare

00:45:26.900 entitlements all the

00:45:27.780 other fraud but

00:45:28.580 just we don't even

00:45:29.420 need like it's so

00:45:30.200 bad that we could

00:45:31.060 just pretend that

00:45:31.680 was the only fraud

00:45:32.640 and it's still okay

00:45:35.280 we you have not

00:45:36.380 even come close to

00:45:38.120 paying back what

00:45:40.100 you have taken

00:45:40.800 through taxes but

00:45:42.700 it gets worse

00:45:43.200 because you can

00:45:45.340 also do the math

00:45:46.100 and find out how

00:45:48.080 much in taxes state

00:45:49.440 and local the

00:45:50.060 average Minnesotan

00:45:51.080 pays right so

00:45:53.600 got the average

00:45:55.420 Somalian in

00:45:56.260 Minnesota well what

00:45:57.220 about all the other

00:45:57.860 people in Minnesota

00:45:58.560 Somalians pay about

00:45:59.840 800 bucks in local

00:46:00.660 and state taxes how

00:46:01.780 much does the

00:46:02.160 average non-Somalian

00:46:03.480 Minnesotan pay what

00:46:05.700 do you think the

00:46:07.380 answer is about

00:46:08.620 eight to ten

00:46:09.940 thousand dollars

00:46:11.500 so Somalians are 1.00

00:46:13.620 paying more than

00:46:15.280 ten times less than

00:46:18.000 the average

00:46:18.540 Minnesotan that's

00:46:21.140 what we learn okay

00:46:22.880 and we haven't even

00:46:24.240 looked at the income

00:46:24.900 yet so they tell us

00:46:25.800 that Somalians

00:46:26.660 generate 500 million

00:46:28.720 dollars in income

00:46:29.320 okay and again

00:46:32.260 there's a lot that

00:46:33.160 we're just gonna like

00:46:33.720 over pretend that

00:46:35.360 we don't know that

00:46:36.600 they're shipping a lot

00:46:37.360 of that back in

00:46:38.620 remittances to

00:46:39.440 Somalia a lot of 0.99

00:46:40.640 that is going

00:46:41.120 into the coffers of

00:46:42.600 you know people in

00:46:43.200 Somalia it's going 0.99

00:46:44.000 into the coffers of

00:46:44.940 terrorist groups in

00:46:46.040 Somalia pretend that 1.00

00:46:47.820 that's all just so

00:46:48.480 because when they

00:46:49.040 bring up income you

00:46:49.900 know they say well

00:46:50.740 here's what they

00:46:51.400 contribute they earn

00:46:52.660 500 million dollars in

00:46:53.580 income and of course

00:46:55.180 a good response to

00:46:56.280 that is okay well how

00:46:57.040 does that help us so

00:46:58.340 oh good well good for

00:46:59.640 them but what do you

00:47:00.360 mean I thought how

00:47:01.120 does that what how

00:47:02.040 does that translate into

00:47:02.920 contributions to the

00:47:04.700 community well the

00:47:07.820 assumption is that

00:47:08.540 well they're making all

00:47:09.060 that income they're

00:47:09.540 spending it in the

00:47:10.320 community the problem

00:47:11.080 is that they're not

00:47:12.000 that actually they're

00:47:13.200 sending it a lot of

00:47:14.420 it back to a foreign 1.00

00:47:15.360 country but let's we

00:47:19.640 don't even let's again

00:47:20.840 just we don't even

00:47:21.860 need to focus on

00:47:23.040 that 500 million

00:47:25.520 dollars divided by

00:47:27.680 80,000 that means

00:47:29.980 they're generating like

00:47:31.980 six thousand dollars a

00:47:33.500 year in income that is

00:47:36.260 insanely low okay I

00:47:38.680 mean you you couldn't you

00:47:41.720 could earn more than

00:47:42.460 that in Somalia you

00:47:45.040 came to America and

00:47:45.880 you're making less how

00:47:47.420 is that even possible

00:47:48.140 how are you you're less

00:47:50.560 successful in America

00:47:51.460 than you were in your

00:47:52.220 third world country

00:47:52.960 six thousand dollars on

00:47:55.100 average how is it what

00:47:57.060 um and I know that

00:48:00.520 well they're more

00:48:00.940 successful here because

00:48:01.580 they're stealing so much

00:48:02.440 but again you know we're

00:48:03.560 just we're like we can

00:48:05.620 only focus on one thing

00:48:06.400 at a time here now

00:48:08.380 you might point out

00:48:09.140 that hey uh you know

00:48:10.280 all 80,000 uh they're

00:48:12.380 not all working age

00:48:13.260 adults okay fine well

00:48:16.940 let's just say look to

00:48:17.940 be generous let's say

00:48:18.900 half of them are

00:48:19.560 children let's just let's

00:48:21.980 give you that okay well

00:48:23.300 that would mean the

00:48:24.220 adults are generating on 0.83

00:48:25.460 average twelve thousand

00:48:26.620 dollars in income okay

00:48:30.180 which is like four to

00:48:33.520 five times lower 400 to

00:48:36.640 five hundred percent

00:48:37.580 lower than the average

00:48:39.180 individual income in

00:48:40.140 America so what have we

00:48:43.120 learned Somalians

00:48:44.740 contribute far less in

00:48:46.220 taxes than average they

00:48:48.180 earn far less in income

00:48:49.720 they spend therefore far

00:48:52.560 less they they they put

00:48:55.060 far less back into the

00:48:56.200 economy and on average

00:48:57.880 they commit far more

00:48:59.080 fraud and take far more

00:49:01.100 in entitlements and

00:49:02.300 welfare that's what we've

00:49:06.920 learned I mean those are

00:49:08.300 the numbers that's the

00:49:09.920 fact and these are people

00:49:11.760 giving us those numbers

00:49:12.880 in an attempt to um

00:49:15.120 defend Somalians and 1.00

00:49:17.460 prove why we need to

00:49:18.100 have them this is how bad

00:49:19.440 the situation is which is

00:49:20.280 why the left is you know

00:49:21.940 generally tried to avoid

00:49:23.640 these kinds of arguments

00:49:24.440 and they've gone the

00:49:25.320 emotional blackmail route

00:49:26.440 there's there they are

00:49:28.460 still trying that as well

00:49:29.660 I think that's going to be

00:49:30.360 a more effective path it's

00:49:31.740 still not effective it's

00:49:33.240 not going to be enough or

00:49:34.240 anything close to it

00:49:35.080 because people are kind of

00:49:36.320 immune to that now but

00:49:37.760 it's you're better off I

00:49:39.000 mean if you've got if

00:49:39.760 you're if you have the

00:49:40.660 um unenviable task of

00:49:43.000 making an argument for

00:49:44.080 why we need to import

00:49:44.780 Somalians into this 1.00

00:49:45.640 country stay away from the

00:49:47.960 numbers okay don't say

00:49:49.180 anything about numbers

00:49:50.480 don't put any numbers on

00:49:52.280 this on the screen because

00:49:53.440 that is gonna go really

00:49:56.140 poorly for you you're you're 0.99

00:49:58.020 better off just sticking with

00:49:58.980 emotional appeals and

00:50:00.700 there's a newsacre in

00:50:01.480 Minnesota who did that

00:50:02.740 last night watch asked

00:50:04.400 majority of Somali folks

00:50:06.520 here are American citizens

00:50:08.240 there are people who fled war

00:50:10.740 in their country as

00:50:11.780 refugees to start a new 0.99

00:50:14.000 life once upon a time that

00:50:16.460 was a story America liked to

00:50:17.980 tell about itself hell it's 0.55

00:50:19.580 emblazoned on the statue of

00:50:21.240 liberty give me your tired

00:50:23.200 your poor your huddled

00:50:24.480 masses yearning to breathe

00:50:25.920 free to breathe free Minnesotans

00:50:29.680 by the thousands cannot

00:50:31.060 tonight perhaps sitting in

00:50:33.800 fear even with legal status

00:50:35.560 and that their president called 0.99

00:50:38.820 them garbage we'll see you 1.00

00:50:41.140 tomorrow night take care 0.97

00:50:42.660 and uh and so that there it is

00:50:47.500 that's the that's the back to

00:50:49.800 the emotional appeals uh that's

00:50:52.920 the best you're gonna do that's

00:50:54.260 gonna be your best course of

00:50:55.700 action if you have to make

00:50:57.640 this argument this terrible

00:50:58.820 argument this false argument

00:51:00.640 that we need to import

00:51:01.980 Somalians um that's gonna be 1.00

00:51:03.940 the best way to do it still

00:51:05.260 really bad but a lot better than

00:51:07.100 putting numbers on the table a

00:51:08.600 lot better than saying okay you

00:51:09.880 know what Mr. Wiseguy I'll tell

00:51:12.780 you what Somalians contribute

00:51:14.080 okay they contribute 10 times less

00:51:18.200 in taxes that's what they do

00:51:19.660 uh they earn the kind of income

00:51:24.040 that that you know the average

00:51:25.800 American earns when he's 14 you 0.98

00:51:28.940 know uh mowing lawns for for you

00:51:32.960 know around the neighborhood so you

00:51:36.300 don't want to do that so instead

00:51:37.320 you go with the uh with the

00:51:39.440 emotional appeal which also does not

00:51:42.320 work and we don't have to get into

00:51:45.040 the Statue of Liberty oh it even

00:51:47.960 says it on the Statue of Liberty

00:51:49.400 so I love when they do this well

00:51:52.620 even the Statue of Liberty said who

00:51:54.720 cares cares what the Statue of

00:51:56.740 Liberty says you realize the

00:51:58.280 Statue of Liberty is not actually a

00:51:59.800 person you know that it's a statue

00:52:02.460 I like to I like the statue it's a

00:52:06.180 nice statue glad we have it but it

00:52:10.340 doesn't matter what's that's not how

00:52:12.060 you make laws in this country by

00:52:13.860 engraving it on a statue and on top

00:52:18.100 of that it wasn't even written on the

00:52:19.420 statue it was added much later it was

00:52:23.700 affixed to the statue after the fact

00:52:25.800 and um and it should not have been

00:52:31.100 like at the time it was a nice

00:52:35.120 sentiment at the time we were not

00:52:38.280 bringing in immigrants from the third 1.00

00:52:40.520 world that was not a thing that

00:52:42.640 didn't really start happening until

00:52:44.120 the mid to late 20th century but at 0.89

00:52:47.780 the time that that dumb poem and it is 0.96

00:52:50.400 a dumb poem was uh at the time when 0.98

00:52:53.400 that was put on the statue we weren't 0.96

00:52:55.180 doing that so it was kind of easy at the

00:52:57.720 time it was kind of easy

00:52:58.680 that the tired huddled masses yearning

00:53:02.840 to breathe free well you were talking

00:53:04.600 about European immigrants okay who could 1.00

00:53:07.380 come and they can assimilate and there

00:53:09.560 was a lot of precedent for these sorts of

00:53:13.060 people coming into the into the country 1.00

00:53:15.100 um there's no there was no precedent for

00:53:18.940 bringing in third world immigrants from 0.96

00:53:22.700 Africa Asia those kinds of places

00:53:25.200 uh so it was an easy sentiment at the

00:53:30.860 time but even then it was false because

00:53:34.260 that's not what America is America is a

00:53:35.820 country as I said yesterday America is

00:53:37.860 not a soup kitchen it's not a charity

00:53:39.040 organization American citizenship is not

00:53:41.500 a charity drive charity is great if you

00:53:44.360 can do it I believe in that as a

00:53:46.220 Christian that's not what America is 1.00

00:53:49.000 it's a country and no country can survive

00:53:53.920 if it actually operated by that mentality

00:53:57.340 bring us your worst people bring us just

00:54:01.900 bring it bring them all bring all the 1.00

00:54:05.000 worst people the most dysfunctional

00:54:07.100 everything people who can who are who

00:54:09.180 are the most helpless bring them by the

00:54:11.500 millions of all yes all of them please

00:54:14.380 load them up uh that philosophy is

00:54:20.320 suicidal you will cease to have a country

00:54:22.400 very quickly if that's how you operate

00:54:25.060 um which is why it's a nice little

00:54:28.940 sentiment on a statue but it's cannot be

00:54:32.240 actual policy and to the extent that it

00:54:34.920 has become actual policy we have paid the

00:54:36.960 price in a big way okay this episode

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00:56:50.700 picks it's good to be right finally here's

00:56:53.820 something i you know i wouldn't normally talk

00:56:55.500 about on the show but travis kelsey on his

00:56:58.480 podcast gave some insight into his relationship

00:57:01.780 with taylor swift according to the headline

00:57:04.160 from people magazine he claimed that he has

00:57:06.960 never once had an argument with her with taylor

00:57:09.680 swift through two and a half years and he made

00:57:11.860 this claim while interviewing george clooney

00:57:13.420 who i don't know has a movie coming out or

00:57:15.500 something i'm not sure but he said that he

00:57:18.480 george clooney has not had an argument with

00:57:19.940 his wife for you know 10 years or however

00:57:21.980 long they've been married and i do want to

00:57:24.320 say one thing about this because

00:57:25.380 periodically you read these kinds of

00:57:27.960 headlines from such and such famous person

00:57:30.240 who claims to have never argued with his

00:57:32.620 wife or a woman who never argued with her

00:57:34.700 husband and although it's almost always men

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00:57:41.120 you if there's someone who's claiming i never

00:57:42.900 argue it's almost always the man saying

00:57:45.080 this and um

00:57:48.480 now i know that kelsey and swift are not

00:57:49.940 married yet but so you know for the sake of

00:57:52.300 discussion we'll just talk about marriages

00:57:53.680 you read these stories and sometimes you hear

00:57:57.160 people in your life who make this claim

00:57:58.560 i've never been in an argument with my spouse

00:58:01.320 and then other people people who do argue with

00:58:05.580 their spouses they feel bad and they ask well is

00:58:09.960 there something wrong with my marriage that i do

00:58:11.740 have arguments with my spouse is it okay that we

00:58:15.100 have arguments is that healthy why can't we be

00:58:19.080 perfect like taylor swift and travis kelsey so let me

00:58:22.900 say this is it okay to argue with your spouse is it okay to

00:58:27.660 argue in a marriage absolutely in fact you should in fact you

00:58:32.180 should have arguments not all the time not saying you should be

00:58:34.420 arguing every single second of the day obviously but um you should

00:58:38.320 have arguments you you should not it's unhealthy to

00:58:42.300 not if that was true someone say when i never argue my

00:58:45.320 marriage well that tells you there's something

00:58:47.520 wrong with your marriage something like seriously wrong with

00:58:51.020 it now you should not on the other hand

00:58:55.260 have fights that you should not do and that's the distinction it's an

00:58:59.740 important distinction i think it's one that

00:59:01.180 maybe escapes a lot of people uh so a fight what is a fight well a

00:59:07.600 fight is when you're trying to hurt the other person that's what a

00:59:10.040 fight is the whole point of a fight is to try to hurt somebody

00:59:13.200 now hopefully we're talking about in a relationship not physically

00:59:17.020 but in a fight you're trying to cause pain and usually

00:59:21.520 in a marriage if there's a fight it's you're trying to cause emotional pain

00:59:26.720 you're trying to make the other person make your spouse feel bad feel guilty

00:59:32.540 feel embarrassed feel um defeated feel uh whatever the objective of a fight what

00:59:40.860 makes it a fight is to hurt that's what you do in a fight

00:59:44.660 and so you should not do that in a marriage now it may happen because you're both 1.00

00:59:52.800 weak and ridiculous people as all people are we're all weak and ridiculous in our 0.96

00:59:56.620 own ways so it may happen but it should be very rare 0.98

01:00:00.140 and it is possible actually to to have a marriage where you just never fight at

01:00:05.620 all and there are people that do a lot of coping the other way

01:00:07.800 where they where they actually get in fights all the time in their marriage and

01:00:11.500 they say well this is just part of being married there's no no it shouldn't

01:00:14.440 be it might be part of your marriage but it should not be

01:00:16.280 it's possible to never have a fight it is actually possible

01:00:20.280 and uh if it is going to happen it should be i don't know

01:00:23.980 once or twice a year at maximum but it is possible to go like a decade

01:00:30.480 and never fight if you're fighting weekly or daily in your marriage

01:00:35.220 then your marriage is in dire shape your marriage is in really bad shape

01:00:40.180 and um it's like it it is uh i'm not gonna say it's terminal but it's it is on

01:00:45.440 it's it's very sick it's on the hospital bed it's it's critical

01:00:49.320 okay it's in the icu and if you have kids you're creating a miserable home life

01:00:54.960 for them and you're just setting a god-awful example

01:00:57.740 so just like knock it off now an argument on the other hand is a

01:01:02.940 discussion where you're both trying to assert your point of view that's what

01:01:05.920 an argument is that's all an argument is you have a point of view the other

01:01:09.780 person has a point of view your point of views are not exactly the same

01:01:12.440 and so you are trying to persuade them of your point of view that's an argument

01:01:17.700 you're not trying to hurt them right because if you're doing that it's a

01:01:22.160 fight you're just trying to sway them in your direction you're trying to get

01:01:26.020 your point across they don't get your point they don't see your point and so

01:01:29.720 you're trying to get them to see your point and it

01:01:33.100 doesn't have to involve yelling and it shouldn't it doesn't have to be angry and

01:01:36.600 it shouldn't be although sometimes it might get a little heated

01:01:38.580 but it you know it's better if it isn't and again you're not trying to hurt the

01:01:43.400 other person the moment you do that your argument has devolved into a fight and

01:01:46.940 now there's nothing productive that could possibly come out of it once it

01:01:50.040 gets to a fight stage the best thing you do is just end it just there's not you

01:01:53.380 can't win there's no winning on either side there's nothing productive that can

01:01:57.440 come out of it and the best thing you could possibly do is just stop just stop 0.98

01:02:02.340 and go to bed go to bed angry uh if that's what it takes just just shut up now 0.57

01:02:06.180 because you're at your fight stage the best thing you do is just stop um and you know

01:02:12.820 there's the there's the there's the moment that every married person has that thing has 1.00

01:02:18.620 those things that they know they could say that will hit their spouse in a sensitive spot

01:02:25.960 emotionally right make them upset make them feel bad make them defensive very often these

01:02:32.300 are the things that you say that start with a phrase like you never or you always

01:02:37.820 right and that's like childish it's you know that's in a discussion with your spouse in your

01:02:44.420 argument you should if you're making any statement that begins with you never or you always you're

01:02:50.880 being immature and you should just shut up because it's almost never true like you know i just said 0.84

01:02:55.360 it myself but it's it's almost never the case that someone always or never does something

01:02:58.360 so whatever you're saying that thing and uh and that's that's when the argument starts but or

01:03:05.400 that's when the fight starts but an argument is just asserting your point of view right you're

01:03:09.260 making your point and that's it and you should do that so when someone in a marriage claims that

01:03:16.380 they never have an argument what that tells me if it's true either they're lying or it tells me

01:03:23.320 that one of the members of the marriage usually the man simply never asserts his point of view

01:03:31.260 and just allows himself to get trampled you know a marriage without argument is not healthy a marriage

01:03:39.420 without argument is is a marriage where that's there's indifference there's apathy uh fear of

01:03:45.200 conflict and all that sort of thing and that's usually what it means usually if it's a marriage without

01:03:52.160 argument if that's actually true it's because the man just doesn't think it's worth it to even

01:03:57.320 defend his point of view or even articulate it he doesn't even want to say what his point of view is

01:04:03.620 because he doesn't want to get nagged to death by his wife and so he just allows himself to become

01:04:08.360 he just kind of lays prostrate and submits and uh and that's what happens and this interpretation by

01:04:14.660 the way is borne out in the clip of this exchange uh watch it here you claim that you and

01:04:22.100 your wife haven't gotten in a fight in 10 years that's right are you lying no i'm not lying

01:04:27.200 uh uh travis shall we ask you the same questions well it's only been two and a half years and you're

01:04:36.220 right i haven't gotten an argument all right never once honestly you know neither of us are going to

01:04:43.340 win the argument so why get in it there we go there you go that's a smart man right there

01:04:47.640 what's the secret just not just staying out of the argument altogether dude i'm 64 years old and

01:04:53.720 what am i going to argue about at this point you know i'm like yeah you know i've met this incredible

01:04:58.380 woman that you know is you know she she's uh beautiful and smart and she stands for all the 1.00

01:05:06.300 most important things that i believe in in the world and i i can't believe how lucky i am so what am i

01:05:11.540 gonna fight about so he says that neither of them meaning neither he nor travis neither of the men

01:05:18.500 is what he's saying will win the argument so there's no point so that's exactly what i said this

01:05:24.040 is like a henpeck submissive attitude that you might as well never assert your point of view because 0.90

01:05:29.020 you're too pathetically weak to actually persuade anyone of it and you're too afraid of making your

01:05:33.580 wife upset and so you're just not going to do it and that is uh you know that is not healthy and 0.97

01:05:38.780 it's certainly not anything to brag about and it's this kind of a sitcom dad trope that's still

01:05:42.700 indoors ah you know you can never win an argument with your wife i hear guys say that i'm like why

01:05:49.240 really why not why can't you win an argument i mean it's not really about winning but it's about

01:05:53.160 it's about persuading it's about getting the person to see your point of view really you can't ever do

01:05:57.540 that i've had plenty of arguments with my wife where in the end she solved what i was saying it's

01:06:03.560 like okay i see what you're saying but then there it's gone the other way where i say okay i see

01:06:08.360 what you're saying it happens like really you've never had that happen you can't you've never had

01:06:14.920 like a conflicting point of view from your wife about anything and been able to just like get her

01:06:19.540 to see that point of view really never and cluny says oh his wife's beautiful and smart okay well my

01:06:27.960 wife is beautiful and smart also but even smart beautiful people can be wrong about something 1.00

01:06:31.980 i mean you know and um and so you should tell them not by screaming or making wild accusations

01:06:39.960 but by saying hey i think you're wrong about this here's why and unless they immediately just agree

01:06:47.640 with you which they're not going to do because that's not human nature i mean they if they're wrong

01:06:51.660 it's like they think they're right so you gotta you know you're not just saying you're wrong is not

01:06:55.540 gonna be enough you're gonna have to kind of have a discussion but um you should be able to do that

01:07:00.540 in the marriage although sometimes your spouse is also right about things that happens a lot too my

01:07:06.000 wife for example is the one who bought the fish cam fish so that that's uh that's part of the lore of 1.00

01:07:14.720 the fish cam i don't know if i've mentioned that but let's go to the fish cam again my wife actually 0.65

01:07:19.540 bought this for me uh not even as like a birthday gift or a christmas gift she just came home one day

01:07:26.440 this is true she just came home one day with this giant wooden fish

01:07:30.860 she just came in the room with it and said do you like the fish and i said do i like it

01:07:38.420 what do i like it it's the most beautiful work of art i've ever seen what do you mean do i like it

01:07:44.560 i mean you know the answer to that question i don't know how long i've i don't know how i've lived

01:07:48.940 this long without it that's how i'm feeling do i like it i i've i feel like my life up to this

01:07:55.560 point has been empty because i didn't have the fish in it that's how i feel about it

01:07:59.720 this is what keeps marriages going i think this is what keeps it strong is um

01:08:04.900 having discussions communication and also having a wife who periodically buys

01:08:12.300 giant wood carvings of aquatic animals that's that's our secret i think

01:08:18.620 and there it is and that will do it for uh the show today and this week

01:08:24.480 talk to you next week have a great weekend godspeed

01:08:28.520 hey there i'm daily wire executive editor john bickley and i'm georgia howe and we're the hosts

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The Matt Walsh Show - December 04, 2025

Ep. 1702 - The Quality Of Literally Everything Is Declining. I’m Investigating To Find Out Why

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