WEBVTT 00:02.030 --> 00:05.350 All right, we're back with Doug and Michael Yon. 00:05.970 --> 00:07.750 And again, the format we're using here 00:07.750 --> 00:11.170 is three consequential news events or observations 00:11.170 --> 00:12.850 these guys had within the last week 00:12.850 --> 00:14.930 and a prediction for you. 00:15.130 --> 00:16.390 So Doug, why don't we start with you first? 00:17.070 --> 00:19.570 What's something you observed this week of interest? 00:21.790 --> 00:25.050 Well, as far as things that are happening, 00:25.070 --> 00:27.130 it really is a target rich environment. 00:27.770 --> 00:33.410 And I almost feel driven to talk about this ridiculous selection 00:33.410 --> 00:37.790 coming up on Guy Fawkes Day, November 5th. 00:37.790 --> 00:40.370 Maybe that's for next week when we're closer to it. 00:40.950 --> 00:42.470 So lots of things to talk about. 00:42.730 --> 00:49.230 But before the disasters in Appalachia and Florida 00:49.890 --> 00:54.630 fade from memory and the news cycle drives on, 00:54.830 --> 00:58.090 I thought I'd just draw people's attention to FEMA 00:58.790 --> 01:05.890 because I've had no personal interaction with FEMA, 01:06.150 --> 01:06.890 fortunately. 01:08.310 --> 01:13.150 The only time I've seen them was during the aftermath 01:13.150 --> 01:16.590 of Hurricane Katrina when I was in New Orleans 01:16.590 --> 01:23.850 and rented a car and drove around the affected area. 01:24.350 --> 01:27.630 And one of the most interesting things that I saw there 01:27.970 --> 01:32.750 were about a dozen FEMA guys all wearing their jackets 01:32.750 --> 01:34.690 with FEMA written across the back. 01:35.050 --> 01:38.910 And they were standing around in a circle talking 01:38.910 --> 01:40.230 or being lectured to. 01:41.370 --> 01:43.290 And I watched them for about five minutes. 01:43.810 --> 01:47.030 And I asked myself, what the hell are these people doing here? 01:47.770 --> 01:49.950 I mean, Katrina was a huge disaster. 01:50.710 --> 01:53.250 And here's a dozen FEMA types. 01:54.010 --> 01:56.070 And they're just talking. 01:57.250 --> 01:58.830 So anyway, with this latest thing, 01:59.010 --> 02:00.730 I thought, well, who the hell is FEMA? 02:00.930 --> 02:01.710 What do they do? 02:02.490 --> 02:04.150 They were founded in 1979. 02:04.570 --> 02:06.070 But what do they do? 02:06.710 --> 02:10.790 They're the Federal Emergency Management Administration. 02:11.130 --> 02:12.270 That's what it stands for. 02:12.970 --> 02:19.010 And I went on their website and tried to find out 02:19.010 --> 02:20.090 stuff about them. 02:21.030 --> 02:24.710 And I don't, I'm not very competent. 02:25.350 --> 02:28.790 I must admit, playing with my computer and finding things. 02:28.890 --> 02:31.910 But I spent time and went from one thing to another. 02:32.350 --> 02:34.930 And I think there's a dearth of information. 02:35.610 --> 02:37.450 What I was able to determine is this, 02:37.950 --> 02:39.630 is that they don't actually help, 02:39.630 --> 02:41.990 they're not intended to help people 02:41.990 --> 02:43.230 when there's an emergency. 02:44.370 --> 02:48.410 They're intended to give money to people 02:48.410 --> 02:51.550 that are affected by the emergency after the fact. 02:52.310 --> 02:56.130 Now, I tried to find out how many employees that they have. 02:56.170 --> 02:57.490 And there aren't any current numbers. 02:57.910 --> 03:01.570 As best as I can determine, this agency 03:02.040 --> 03:04.730 has about 6,000 or 8,000 employees. 03:05.430 --> 03:07.150 And they don't do anything, 03:07.750 --> 03:10.290 but distribute a few meals. 03:11.450 --> 03:15.490 They distributed some tarpolines in this last disaster. 03:15.970 --> 03:20.090 But mainly they assist people in giving them money. 03:20.710 --> 03:22.670 Sometimes billions of dollars. 03:23.010 --> 03:26.070 I'm uncertain where it goes because individuals, 03:26.450 --> 03:30.950 they give dribs and drabs of $500 for this 03:30.950 --> 03:32.670 or $750 for that. 03:33.090 --> 03:36.090 And oddly, if you have a funeral, 03:36.510 --> 03:38.830 this is one of the big things that they mentioned on 03:39.810 --> 03:42.970 their website is that 03:44.790 --> 03:47.090 if you've had a COVID death, 03:47.590 --> 03:52.750 they give you like $500 to bury the body. 03:53.190 --> 03:54.770 Well, that's rather odd. 03:56.130 --> 03:57.710 Federal emergency management 03:57.710 --> 04:01.250 and giving funeral money to COVID deaths, 04:01.850 --> 04:03.490 it's very strange. 04:03.490 --> 04:06.010 And it's an insurance agency 04:06.010 --> 04:09.370 where apparently this is something 04:09.370 --> 04:11.270 that they've worked out with developers. 04:12.650 --> 04:15.470 A lot of houses are flooded. 04:15.970 --> 04:17.690 Now, why are these houses flooded? 04:18.570 --> 04:22.590 Don't people realize that if they live in a hurricane zone 04:22.590 --> 04:23.870 or a flood area, 04:24.350 --> 04:27.210 that maybe they should not build a house there, 04:27.710 --> 04:29.270 but FEMA has insurance. 04:29.430 --> 04:31.310 And that's where most of its money goes 04:31.890 --> 04:36.350 towards bailing out people that have been flooded 04:36.350 --> 04:38.090 because they live in flood zones. 04:38.810 --> 04:41.690 So it's a FEMA that seems to me to be a giant scam 04:42.250 --> 04:46.090 that just pays for six or 8,000 FEMA people 04:46.090 --> 04:50.310 to drive around and look like they're doing something. 04:50.810 --> 04:52.530 And in this Appalachia thing, 04:53.770 --> 04:55.550 to pretend they're doing something 04:55.550 --> 04:57.350 since there's nothing they can do, 04:58.010 --> 05:00.090 I mean, they don't have hammers and nails 05:00.090 --> 05:02.710 and shovels and that kind of thing. 05:02.850 --> 05:03.870 They don't build stuff. 05:05.830 --> 05:08.810 So they basically stop things from happening 05:08.810 --> 05:10.110 to show their presence. 05:10.550 --> 05:12.490 They're a totally counterproductive agency. 05:12.850 --> 05:15.030 And I don't want to go on too far, 05:15.250 --> 05:18.230 but I might as well cover this talking about FEMA. 05:18.610 --> 05:20.770 And I'd certainly like to hear from anybody 05:20.770 --> 05:24.430 that's got more boots on the ground experience with them. 05:24.550 --> 05:26.170 But on their website, 05:26.510 --> 05:28.810 one of the most disturbing things about it, 05:29.020 --> 05:32.930 they have four main raison d'etre. 05:33.350 --> 05:37.710 And the two of them are listed as equity, 05:38.030 --> 05:45.430 which means giving money to blacks and homosexuals 05:45.430 --> 05:49.410 and women and other protected classes. 05:49.930 --> 05:51.390 I thought that was pretty unusual 05:51.740 --> 05:54.910 for one of their four reasons for existing. 05:55.430 --> 06:01.990 And one of the other ones was climate response. 06:02.830 --> 06:04.410 It's like they've assigned themselves 06:05.170 --> 06:08.370 the duty of protecting the climate. 06:09.550 --> 06:10.430 This is strange 06:10.430 --> 06:13.730 for the Federal Emergency Management Administration. 06:14.250 --> 06:17.070 The other two things related to helping people 06:17.070 --> 06:18.430 in floods and stuff like that. 06:18.790 --> 06:21.470 But two of the four things were equity 06:21.470 --> 06:22.710 and climate response. 06:23.690 --> 06:26.630 Anyway, I think that's about all I got to say about it. 06:26.910 --> 06:27.710 It's a scam. 06:28.250 --> 06:29.350 It ought to be abolished. 06:29.430 --> 06:31.510 It's one of the agencies should be pulled up 06:31.510 --> 06:33.870 by the roots that was established in 1979. 06:34.730 --> 06:37.570 So I guess that was one of Jimmy Carter's 06:37.570 --> 06:40.330 parting gifts to the country. 06:41.030 --> 06:45.150 And it costs, once again, the numbers are sketchy 06:45.150 --> 06:46.610 and they vary from year to year. 06:47.850 --> 06:50.610 On average, about $6 billion per year, 06:50.990 --> 06:53.510 which goes into God knows whose pockets. 06:54.230 --> 06:55.610 It's all very sketchy. 06:55.790 --> 06:58.850 And yet they have an annual report 06:58.850 --> 07:01.590 but digging through that thing, which I tried to do, 07:01.710 --> 07:03.990 I said, it's just too much brain damage. 07:04.470 --> 07:06.890 And I think I've indicated 07:06.890 --> 07:09.050 it's a gigantic waste of money. 07:09.050 --> 07:10.770 It should be abolished, post-haste. 07:11.290 --> 07:13.990 Anyway, I'm sure you got something to add. 07:14.290 --> 07:18.850 According to chat GTP, the fiscal year 2024 budget 07:18.850 --> 07:21.130 was $32.2 billion. 07:22.530 --> 07:27.350 Oh, well, that's quite possible with, 07:27.850 --> 07:28.990 where did all that money go? 07:29.130 --> 07:31.590 They haven't built any houses. 07:32.110 --> 07:34.470 They haven't, what have they done with all that money? 07:36.590 --> 07:37.110 Just... 07:37.630 --> 07:40.670 You know, it's funny that you start talking about FEMA 07:40.670 --> 07:41.950 because I was just looking them up. 07:42.170 --> 07:43.430 We're on the same wavelength on that. 07:43.810 --> 07:45.870 My battle buddy, Anne Vanderstiel, 07:46.030 --> 07:48.030 we'd gone out into the Darien Gap 07:48.030 --> 07:50.530 and across the US border and all kinds of things together. 07:50.970 --> 07:54.050 She's my partner in Operation Burning Edge. 07:54.550 --> 07:55.730 So she's been in North Carolina 07:55.730 --> 07:57.290 since almost the beginning, right? 07:57.850 --> 08:01.650 And about maybe five days ago or five days ago, 08:01.910 --> 08:04.490 she was at this new FEMA camp that they're building. 08:04.790 --> 08:06.230 And it looks just like a fob, 08:06.250 --> 08:07.650 which is a Ford operating base. 08:08.010 --> 08:11.110 And this video that she made went viral, right? 08:11.570 --> 08:14.030 And so the guards were armed and they started talking. 08:14.270 --> 08:15.610 And so she's got it on video. 08:15.770 --> 08:17.490 They're actually talking and they call it 08:17.490 --> 08:18.310 Supervisor Out. 08:18.750 --> 08:22.610 And these tornado shelters keep going by, right? 08:23.130 --> 08:24.570 And did you see that, Matt? 08:25.370 --> 08:25.750 So the... 08:25.750 --> 08:25.910 Yeah, I did. 08:26.630 --> 08:27.090 Yeah. 08:27.390 --> 08:29.170 And so that was Anne, Anne Vanderstiel. 08:29.630 --> 08:32.750 And she's been out into the Darien Gap 08:32.750 --> 08:34.970 and all the way out in those jungles and stuff. 08:35.350 --> 08:38.090 So she's constantly doing things like this, 08:38.210 --> 08:41.690 but and so I looked up FEMA as well. 08:41.830 --> 08:45.050 And it looks like they were formed on April Fools in 1979, 08:45.930 --> 08:46.450 coincidentally. 08:47.710 --> 08:49.430 And maybe, maybe not. 08:49.690 --> 08:50.590 Jimmy Carter, of course, 08:50.730 --> 08:52.970 the guy who gave away our Panama Canal 08:53.330 --> 08:56.170 and somehow structured that information more 08:56.170 --> 08:58.430 as if we're returning their canal, 08:58.670 --> 08:59.410 returning whose canal? 08:59.610 --> 09:01.290 It was our canal, it was never... 09:01.290 --> 09:03.490 We are the ones who helped make Panama. 09:03.750 --> 09:05.970 Panama didn't exist until we made it 09:05.970 --> 09:08.070 and we cleaved it off from Columbia 09:08.070 --> 09:09.330 so we could make the canal. 09:09.450 --> 09:11.830 But somehow then that became... 09:11.830 --> 09:12.810 Anyway, whatever. 09:13.150 --> 09:14.610 That's the same president, right? 09:14.610 --> 09:17.390 So I just asked Anne just before we came on, 09:17.530 --> 09:20.390 like 20 minutes ago, what's going on? 09:21.410 --> 09:22.610 What should I say? 09:22.670 --> 09:24.270 And she's talking about FEMA, right? 09:24.470 --> 09:25.810 This is a message just came in. 09:26.210 --> 09:28.110 I asked her what's going on in North Carolina. 09:28.170 --> 09:30.670 She said, we need money raised to get campers 09:30.670 --> 09:34.210 for people who have lost all their homes and cars, et cetera. 09:34.570 --> 09:36.790 Clearly there is a long-term federal plan 09:36.790 --> 09:38.710 coordinated with state and local authorities 09:38.710 --> 09:41.730 to drag permitting processes 09:41.730 --> 09:45.710 for those who lost homes in mineral rich areas. 09:46.430 --> 09:50.130 People will not be able to pay mortgages on property 09:50.480 --> 09:53.030 that do not have houses for up to four years 09:53.030 --> 09:55.470 while they wait for the process to be completed. 09:56.030 --> 09:58.370 This will result in the loss of land and ownership 09:58.370 --> 10:01.850 by big corporations that have mineral interest in the area 10:02.140 --> 10:04.570 that people need to be able to stay on their land 10:04.570 --> 10:09.010 so that it will not be eminently domained. 10:09.010 --> 10:11.270 Anyway, that's Anne Vanderstiel on the ground there. 10:11.710 --> 10:12.090 Yeah. 10:12.730 --> 10:13.230 Pretty amazing. 10:13.250 --> 10:16.230 Well, they say there's a big lithium deposit there. 10:19.190 --> 10:24.990 Lithium will take a lot of 5% from their peak. 10:25.390 --> 10:28.030 So there's kind of a glut of lithium, 10:28.470 --> 10:30.110 but who knows what they're up to? 10:30.390 --> 10:32.530 You know, remember when Jesse Ventura was governor 10:32.530 --> 10:35.830 of Minnesota and he did an investigation 10:35.830 --> 10:38.230 or maybe it was after he was governor 10:38.750 --> 10:41.870 and there are these FEMA camps around the US 10:42.350 --> 10:44.930 and I haven't heard anything about them since then, 10:45.150 --> 10:46.190 but they're kind of like, 10:46.510 --> 10:48.110 while you said forward operating bases, 10:48.370 --> 10:49.850 kind of look like federal prisons. 10:50.350 --> 10:51.510 And what the hell are they doing there? 10:51.710 --> 10:53.010 Just empty camps. 10:53.530 --> 10:54.170 Have you heard about this? 10:54.690 --> 10:55.150 Oh yeah. 10:55.550 --> 10:56.590 I mean, I could go on and on. 10:56.910 --> 10:58.430 I mean, Anne and I and our team, 10:58.710 --> 11:00.990 we, I mean, I know people that build those things 11:00.990 --> 11:03.450 like personally know them, spend a lot of time with them. 11:03.630 --> 11:05.830 And same thing in Ireland, by the way. 11:06.730 --> 11:07.950 Ireland's thick with those things. 11:07.950 --> 11:09.630 I had somebody map them out in Ireland. 11:09.890 --> 11:11.670 I've got all kinds of drone footage and whatnot. 11:12.370 --> 11:14.510 Yeah. And Ireland's got them there. 11:14.590 --> 11:15.430 They're all over the place. 11:16.310 --> 11:20.550 They're in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, of course, 11:20.930 --> 11:22.210 big, big camps. 11:23.750 --> 11:25.010 Yeah. Well, 11:25.190 --> 11:27.310 So who builds where all that money comes from? 11:28.130 --> 11:29.630 It's kind of ominous. 11:30.690 --> 11:32.490 And that's a huge amount of money 11:32.490 --> 11:34.510 that they did her to weigh last year. 11:34.510 --> 11:38.070 I mean, even in today's world, 11:38.270 --> 11:40.210 35 billion is a lot of money. 11:40.690 --> 11:42.290 That agency should be abolished. 11:42.510 --> 11:45.150 And like most, it should be pulled up by the roots. 11:45.350 --> 11:48.530 And Agent Orange should be scattered where it grew. 11:49.290 --> 11:52.610 You know, some of those crazy conservatives years ago 11:52.610 --> 11:55.970 were saying that eventually they would take Walmart's 11:55.970 --> 11:57.390 and put people in them, right? 11:58.810 --> 12:00.630 And they are doing it. 12:01.030 --> 12:03.670 I have physically been to one in Brownsville, Texas 12:04.200 --> 12:05.970 that's operated by Southwest Key. 12:06.330 --> 12:06.910 No kidding. 12:07.390 --> 12:10.170 For sure, 100%, they keep children in there. 12:10.250 --> 12:12.690 They keep boys in there that are coming across the border. 12:13.190 --> 12:13.690 100%. 12:13.690 --> 12:16.290 And so we got it all in the news 12:16.290 --> 12:18.150 and other people have gotten it in the news. 12:18.590 --> 12:20.730 Yeah, operated by Southwest Key. 12:21.530 --> 12:25.470 So it's not just new camps that they build. 12:25.810 --> 12:28.310 They literally take over those Walmart's. 12:28.450 --> 12:29.670 It's right there in the middle of, 12:30.370 --> 12:31.190 you can go see it. 12:31.290 --> 12:32.270 It's a Supercenter Walmart. 12:32.270 --> 12:32.830 Oh, wait a minute. 12:32.950 --> 12:34.970 What do they do with the stuff that was in the Walmart? 12:35.390 --> 12:38.510 Maybe it's a Kmart, which are empty buildings. 12:40.570 --> 12:43.050 No, that one is a former Walmart. 12:43.410 --> 12:44.210 But I mean, it's right there. 12:44.390 --> 12:46.190 You can look up, just look it up online 12:46.190 --> 12:47.730 and you'll see many articles. 12:48.010 --> 12:49.690 You'll see Ann and me and others 12:50.130 --> 12:51.670 that have been there reporting on it. 12:51.890 --> 12:53.270 And many people now, 12:53.370 --> 12:56.210 it's been a documentary by Ryan Matta recently 12:56.650 --> 12:58.270 who just messaged me last night. 12:58.510 --> 13:00.930 Ryan Matta's got at least two. 13:01.470 --> 13:03.010 I haven't seen the second one yet. 13:03.110 --> 13:03.890 I saw the first one, 13:03.990 --> 13:06.670 but he's been tracking these missing children. 13:06.990 --> 13:08.870 There are a lot of missing children. 13:09.230 --> 13:10.790 Like I don't know how many. 13:10.990 --> 13:13.390 I mean, one estimate is over 400,000. 13:13.510 --> 13:14.090 I don't know. 13:14.250 --> 13:16.730 We see them coming across the border every single day 13:16.730 --> 13:17.630 when I'm down there. 13:17.670 --> 13:19.070 Keep in mind, I've spent months 13:19.070 --> 13:20.730 across that Southern border. 13:21.230 --> 13:22.490 Just all, I mean, all the way across 13:22.490 --> 13:24.890 from SpaceX to San Diego. 13:25.210 --> 13:26.970 SpaceX is at the Rio Grande, 13:27.090 --> 13:29.570 the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas, right? 13:30.430 --> 13:33.450 So people cross right there all the way across, 13:33.650 --> 13:34.690 all the way to San Diego. 13:35.290 --> 13:37.430 We've seen, I mean, I have personally seen 13:37.430 --> 13:39.390 thousands and thousands of children 13:39.390 --> 13:42.210 and the Border Patrol helps load them on the buses. 13:42.770 --> 13:44.030 I mean, these aren't children that are, 13:44.230 --> 13:46.370 I mean, some of them are at night time 13:46.370 --> 13:48.430 coming over the wall and that sort of thing, 13:48.450 --> 13:50.030 but a lot of them are just walking right in 13:50.030 --> 13:51.250 and the Border Patrol help them get on. 13:51.350 --> 13:53.570 I got endless videos that I shot myself. 13:54.070 --> 13:55.350 Where are these children going to? 13:55.870 --> 13:56.830 A lot of them are alone. 13:57.770 --> 13:59.510 Very strange, isn't it? 13:59.510 --> 14:01.970 A lot of strange things going on in the country today 14:01.970 --> 14:04.590 and FEMA is certainly doing its share 14:04.590 --> 14:08.350 to muddy the waters, a great expense of the water. 14:09.250 --> 14:10.950 Mike, what's your first observation 14:10.950 --> 14:11.970 would you like to share? 14:14.610 --> 14:16.110 Well, when I was with Doug, 14:16.810 --> 14:18.950 Misako and I spent a couple of weeks with Doug, 14:19.150 --> 14:20.730 which was, we call it you, Doug, now. 14:20.850 --> 14:22.470 University of Doug, it's like a joke 14:22.470 --> 14:24.250 between Misako, Genaha and me. 14:26.070 --> 14:27.850 That time was so valuable. 14:28.090 --> 14:28.610 We learned a lot. 14:28.790 --> 14:30.490 We watched the Jones Plantation, 14:30.550 --> 14:32.490 but we also met with some interesting people 14:32.490 --> 14:33.830 while we were entirely in together. 14:34.470 --> 14:36.410 And one of the things that I've seen 14:36.410 --> 14:39.310 with those people and others that I keep meeting 14:39.870 --> 14:42.930 is a lot of the people that are the most experienced 14:42.930 --> 14:45.590 traveling around the world, working around the world, 14:45.890 --> 14:48.830 working in places like Hong Kong and China 14:49.210 --> 14:51.690 and just all over the place, Vietnam. 14:52.350 --> 14:53.650 They've been all over the world, 14:53.930 --> 14:56.610 and yet now they're confused about where to go, 14:56.850 --> 14:59.510 which is something that Doug has talked about numerous times. 14:59.750 --> 15:03.490 So at one point, Doug said he made his choices between, 15:03.710 --> 15:06.050 and Doug, you've been to like 150 countries, right? 15:06.530 --> 15:08.430 And so you were having that difficulty, 15:08.710 --> 15:11.910 should it be the antipodes, as you say, Thailand or, 15:12.730 --> 15:14.090 Venezuela, or I'm not Venezuela, 15:14.430 --> 15:17.650 but Argentina or Uruguay, right? 15:18.010 --> 15:19.850 And I see these other people that are very, 15:20.610 --> 15:22.730 they've got basically infinite choices. 15:23.110 --> 15:26.050 They've got, there's money is zero problem for them. 15:26.290 --> 15:28.990 And yet they're not exactly sure where to go. 15:29.410 --> 15:30.810 And they've been all over the world. 15:31.170 --> 15:33.050 I find that fascinating, actually. 15:34.070 --> 15:35.130 Are you finding that? 15:35.230 --> 15:37.170 I know you found it with the people that we met with. 15:38.810 --> 15:42.030 Yeah, well, you go back to what Joe Lewis said, 15:42.130 --> 15:43.470 you can run, but you can't hide. 15:44.050 --> 15:46.870 And the world has become a very small place 15:47.340 --> 15:49.350 in just about every way possible. 15:49.910 --> 15:54.790 So if the United States collapses and it's on its way, 15:55.370 --> 15:58.890 there really is no substantial free country 15:58.890 --> 16:03.450 that will be left, really a bad situation. 16:04.860 --> 16:05.430 That's true. 16:05.670 --> 16:06.410 It's quite clear. 16:08.210 --> 16:08.430 Yeah. 16:08.810 --> 16:08.990 Okay. 16:09.590 --> 16:12.350 So it's not just your average American 16:12.350 --> 16:15.850 that has uncertainty about what to do to prepare. 16:15.850 --> 16:17.830 It's even, it's people at all levels 16:17.830 --> 16:20.070 of the socioeconomic ladder experience 16:20.070 --> 16:21.470 and knowledge ladder as well. 16:22.830 --> 16:24.490 The more sophisticated people, 16:24.610 --> 16:26.210 let's say the ones who have been around more 16:26.210 --> 16:29.630 like Doug and you and these other people that we're meeting, 16:30.370 --> 16:32.290 they're the ones who have the most problems 16:32.290 --> 16:33.030 figuring it out. 16:33.150 --> 16:35.250 The people that know less about the world 16:35.250 --> 16:37.690 are the ones who have a definite answer. 16:37.690 --> 16:38.830 Like I'm going to go to Panama, 16:38.830 --> 16:40.730 which I'll tell you right off the bat is a mistake. 16:40.950 --> 16:42.710 That's a do not do it, right? 16:43.050 --> 16:44.310 Unless you're just going on vacation. 16:44.310 --> 16:46.550 Do not move to Panama. 16:48.490 --> 16:50.930 I mean, or even Costa Rica, 16:51.030 --> 16:52.850 I wouldn't take any of the Central American countries. 16:53.530 --> 16:55.270 Although I've been to all of them, 16:55.850 --> 16:57.650 all the way from Canada to Columbia, 16:57.990 --> 17:00.290 I wouldn't, I mean, and I like Central America. 17:00.670 --> 17:02.430 There's some people that are moving to El Salvador. 17:02.750 --> 17:05.410 I would actually recommend El Salvador for a vacation, 17:05.890 --> 17:07.950 but I'm not sure about the long-term stability 17:07.950 --> 17:08.990 of anywhere there. 17:09.090 --> 17:10.310 I was in El Salvador this year. 17:11.470 --> 17:13.190 I actually liked El Salvador. 17:13.190 --> 17:16.290 Can you imagine just even 10 or 15 years ago 17:16.290 --> 17:18.430 recommending somebody take their family on vacation 17:18.430 --> 17:19.130 in El Salvador? 17:19.570 --> 17:20.230 They think you're completely... 17:20.230 --> 17:21.830 Out of the question, out of the question. 17:22.350 --> 17:22.370 Yeah. 17:22.470 --> 17:24.310 Now I would say take your kids and I'm, 17:24.810 --> 17:27.130 you know, I'm not going to recommend 17:27.130 --> 17:28.310 you do something dangerous. 17:28.770 --> 17:29.930 Take your kids to El Salvador. 17:30.130 --> 17:30.470 It's safe. 17:31.410 --> 17:34.510 The world's, you know, we've seen it change a lot. 17:34.650 --> 17:35.970 It continues to do so. 17:36.470 --> 17:40.230 Well, they've got 65,000 gang members 17:40.230 --> 17:41.610 that are newly imprisoned, 17:42.410 --> 17:44.150 and lots more have run north 17:44.570 --> 17:46.410 to greener pickings in the U.S. 17:46.650 --> 17:48.210 But what's going to happen 17:48.210 --> 17:50.090 with all those criminals that are locked up 17:50.510 --> 17:51.810 and they haven't been tried? 17:52.310 --> 17:54.210 So how long are they going to stay locked up 17:54.210 --> 17:55.550 and what's going to happen? 17:57.470 --> 17:58.070 I don't know. 17:58.710 --> 17:59.170 I don't know. 17:59.190 --> 17:59.630 I don't either. 18:00.330 --> 18:02.670 Seems like things are good now, 18:02.850 --> 18:05.150 but that's an unstable situation 18:05.150 --> 18:06.470 when you've got that many young men 18:06.470 --> 18:08.490 locked up without trial. 18:10.370 --> 18:11.050 Yeah. 18:11.550 --> 18:14.110 All right, Doug, what's your second one for this week? 18:14.690 --> 18:16.770 Well, what have I got here? 18:17.690 --> 18:19.870 When Michael and I were in Phuket, 18:21.650 --> 18:25.010 when we were talking to our lawyer friend there, 18:25.830 --> 18:30.690 he pointed out that there are 94 pot stores. 18:31.290 --> 18:31.550 100. 18:32.190 --> 18:34.370 Licensed pot stores in Phuket. 18:35.510 --> 18:37.190 And not a real big deal. 18:37.190 --> 18:39.330 That seems like a lot of pot stores. 18:39.930 --> 18:41.810 9,400 in the whole country. 18:42.250 --> 18:43.770 9,400 in the country. 18:44.730 --> 18:45.730 And am I correct? 18:45.890 --> 18:47.450 It was 94 in, 18:48.930 --> 18:51.270 or do I have that number in Phuket alone? 18:52.010 --> 18:53.190 Oh, I don't know, 18:53.270 --> 18:56.090 but I could at least 94 in Phuket. 18:56.430 --> 18:57.530 I mean, there was a lot. 18:58.170 --> 18:58.870 No, they were everywhere. 18:59.710 --> 19:00.450 Yeah, they were everywhere. 19:00.450 --> 19:02.030 So we were remarking on the fact, 19:02.270 --> 19:06.950 now I'm all for the legalization of drugs 19:06.950 --> 19:09.550 it's a matter of personal responsibility. 19:12.210 --> 19:15.210 I've tried lots of drugs 19:15.590 --> 19:16.570 because I've always said, 19:16.730 --> 19:19.550 I'll try anything once, twice if I like it. 19:19.950 --> 19:21.710 But the fact is I don't like drugs. 19:22.110 --> 19:23.250 They cloud the mind. 19:23.690 --> 19:26.530 And I don't like operating with the clouded mind. 19:27.070 --> 19:30.330 So in order to know what I'm talking about, 19:30.730 --> 19:32.750 I've tried a number of drugs, 19:33.250 --> 19:35.810 but I disapprove of them, 19:35.810 --> 19:37.450 but I think they should be legal. 19:38.070 --> 19:39.570 And the reason we have a drug problem 19:41.670 --> 19:45.270 is it's a psychological problem 19:45.270 --> 19:46.510 that we have in the U.S. 19:47.150 --> 19:49.110 It's part of the ongoing collapse 19:49.110 --> 19:50.590 of the civilization actually 19:50.590 --> 19:53.250 where people are running away from their problems 19:53.250 --> 19:54.570 and trying to hide from them 19:54.570 --> 19:57.570 by dodging reality via drugs. 19:58.050 --> 19:59.370 Anyway, that's a different story. 19:59.890 --> 20:03.190 But what I wanted to point out was 20:04.970 --> 20:09.210 all these drug, all these pot stores in Thailand, 20:10.530 --> 20:12.770 on the one hand is libertarian, 20:12.910 --> 20:14.450 I say, hey, let people do what they want. 20:14.690 --> 20:15.890 But on the other hand, 20:16.210 --> 20:19.590 if everybody is fucked up with clouded minds 20:20.010 --> 20:21.830 because they're puffing pot all day 20:22.230 --> 20:23.430 or doing other drugs, 20:24.070 --> 20:25.790 this is a very bad thing 20:26.190 --> 20:27.890 from an economic point of view, 20:28.030 --> 20:31.450 a social point of view, all kinds of points of view. 20:32.110 --> 20:35.650 And so I wanted to find out how many pot stores 20:36.390 --> 20:39.310 just are there in the U.S., just in legal states. 20:40.310 --> 20:42.430 And it turns out that at this moment, 20:42.670 --> 20:48.470 there are 12,500 operating pot stores in the U.S. 20:48.810 --> 20:51.470 Well, that's a lot. 20:52.170 --> 20:54.850 I mean, was pot a problem in the 60s? 20:54.890 --> 20:57.570 Yeah, I mean, sure, you'd get some weed I guess 20:57.570 --> 20:58.810 and smoke it with your buddies 20:58.810 --> 21:00.390 and it was like getting drunk. 21:00.910 --> 21:06.030 But it's entirely too easy to get stoned 21:06.610 --> 21:07.930 and whacked out now. 21:08.510 --> 21:11.990 So for what it's worth, that's the pot situation. 21:12.390 --> 21:13.630 And it's not good. 21:13.750 --> 21:15.070 And I speak of somebody that thinks 21:15.070 --> 21:16.750 that everything should be free and easy. 21:18.770 --> 21:22.410 Yeah, I was gonna bring up the weed thing as well 21:22.410 --> 21:26.510 because everywhere I go around Thailand now, 21:26.590 --> 21:27.910 see more and more of these things, 21:28.070 --> 21:29.630 I'm sensitized to them though. 21:29.630 --> 21:31.870 Like last night, I was going to a meeting 21:31.870 --> 21:33.790 and outside the taxi door was, 21:33.970 --> 21:36.530 it literally said weed delivery in English. 21:36.930 --> 21:38.890 So I looked it up quickly online 21:38.890 --> 21:40.890 and there's weed delivery places all over, 21:41.030 --> 21:42.790 look online, if you web search, 21:42.930 --> 21:45.630 you'll see there's weed delivery services 21:45.630 --> 21:46.810 all around Bangkok. 21:47.110 --> 21:50.430 You can order a pizza in dope, you know? 21:51.310 --> 21:53.870 And you know, I was like you and so far, Doug, 21:54.110 --> 21:55.910 and so far as I've always thought 21:55.910 --> 21:57.270 people should be able to do what they want. 21:57.450 --> 21:58.910 It's a matter of personal responsibility. 21:58.910 --> 22:01.370 So like you won't see a history of me 22:01.870 --> 22:04.090 opposing this through the years, it just didn't happen. 22:04.530 --> 22:06.250 It's only as time has gone on 22:06.250 --> 22:08.990 and I've realized how weaponized it is 22:08.990 --> 22:12.850 and more studying brainwashing and that sort of thing 22:12.850 --> 22:14.650 and watching what, for instance, 22:14.850 --> 22:18.030 the Chinese are doing coming through the Darien Gap 22:18.030 --> 22:21.210 and running dope farms all over Maine now. 22:21.370 --> 22:25.910 They've got their own bank that just got busted 22:25.910 --> 22:26.950 according to the news. 22:26.950 --> 22:28.890 Matt and I were talking about it last week. 22:29.970 --> 22:30.690 There's all kinds. 22:30.950 --> 22:34.010 I mean, if I were going to attack your country 22:34.540 --> 22:37.910 and you let me put dope stores all over the place 22:37.910 --> 22:40.490 and grow the dope, oh, of course. 22:41.030 --> 22:44.750 And the Chinese talk about doing things like this 22:44.750 --> 22:46.350 in their book Unrestricted Warfare. 22:46.690 --> 22:47.410 I read the book. 22:47.750 --> 22:48.930 It's a very interesting book, 22:49.230 --> 22:52.610 Unrestricted Warfare written by two Chinese colonels. 22:53.210 --> 22:54.890 And you know, in the book Rape of the Mind, 22:54.890 --> 22:59.650 it's a 1956 book on brainwashing by Juist Merlot. 22:59.890 --> 23:02.590 I read that book very closely, actually. 23:02.730 --> 23:04.870 I studied that book as a more accurate way to put it. 23:05.490 --> 23:06.750 He talks about Juist Merlot, 23:06.850 --> 23:08.470 the Dutch psychologist talks about 23:08.470 --> 23:13.990 how China was running a drug war in the 1960s. 23:14.050 --> 23:16.530 50s or 60s, there was, I'm sorry, 23:16.630 --> 23:17.610 it would have been the 50s 23:17.610 --> 23:19.510 because the book came out in 1956. 23:20.230 --> 23:22.150 But he talked about how in North Thailand, 23:22.150 --> 23:24.170 and the Chinese were running a, 23:24.550 --> 23:28.110 because there was a drug war going in the 60s and 70s up there. 23:28.270 --> 23:29.290 It's quite intense, actually. 23:30.170 --> 23:32.990 And, but how the Chinese were running this drug war 23:32.990 --> 23:37.190 to weaken the ties and also to make money. 23:37.590 --> 23:40.230 And actually I wrote a series of dispatches 23:40.230 --> 23:44.230 from Afghanistan in 2006 called The Perfect Evil. 23:44.750 --> 23:48.710 And I described how the Taliban were using the, 23:49.330 --> 23:50.070 you know, by the way, 23:50.070 --> 23:54.890 how the Taliban got so much poppy going was the, 23:55.070 --> 23:56.410 when the Soviets came in, 23:57.330 --> 24:00.270 the Afghans have these underground aqueduct systems 24:00.270 --> 24:02.850 called Keres, K-A-R-E-Z. 24:03.470 --> 24:05.590 And I would see these Keres all over the place. 24:05.850 --> 24:07.510 They're, it's a very interesting, 24:07.730 --> 24:10.790 very difficult to build a Keres. 24:10.950 --> 24:13.130 Some of the Keres can take generations, 24:13.430 --> 24:14.630 a hundred years to build. 24:14.990 --> 24:17.330 And you'll see that Keres is like an underground, 24:17.690 --> 24:18.870 it's an art and a science, 24:18.870 --> 24:21.710 they can go 10, 20, 30 miles, right? 24:22.130 --> 24:24.630 So it's a water, it's an underground water system 24:25.150 --> 24:27.850 that has to be just the right angle and everything else. 24:28.050 --> 24:30.870 And you'll have all these villages along the Keres 24:30.870 --> 24:32.350 down the way from the mountain. 24:32.410 --> 24:34.310 So they'll dig the Keres on the, 24:34.570 --> 24:35.870 where the water collects underneath. 24:36.230 --> 24:41.250 And so the Mujahideen at the time of the Soviet war, 24:41.710 --> 24:45.410 they were using those to hide weapons in 24:45.410 --> 24:48.130 and to go from place to place to attack the Russians 24:48.130 --> 24:50.790 and go back down like the gopher and caddyshack, right? 24:51.150 --> 24:53.970 So the Russians were blowing those things up, right? 24:54.410 --> 24:56.810 And so they, these Keres systems, 24:57.050 --> 24:59.110 and that's how they made their farms work, right? 24:59.470 --> 25:01.750 So there's huge amounts of farms that depended 25:01.750 --> 25:05.450 like pomegranate farms and every, 25:05.810 --> 25:08.150 especially like grapes and that sort of thing. 25:08.510 --> 25:11.430 And so that's, I found actually a translated Russian 25:11.430 --> 25:13.150 manual on how to blow those up. 25:13.330 --> 25:16.270 Anyway, I wrote about those extensively in Afghanistan, 25:16.650 --> 25:18.930 took a lot of photos of the Kereses. 25:19.030 --> 25:21.570 But once the Russians started destroying that stuff, 25:21.870 --> 25:24.710 because they were destroying the enemy's ability 25:24.710 --> 25:26.870 to hide weapons and move undetected, 25:27.610 --> 25:30.950 then the Mujahideen started growing opium 25:30.950 --> 25:35.990 because opium is much more robust against the weather. 25:36.230 --> 25:37.090 It's a cash crop. 25:37.310 --> 25:39.530 You don't have to, you plant it now 25:39.530 --> 25:42.470 and you harvest it later that year 25:42.470 --> 25:44.110 and you make money immediately, right? 25:44.110 --> 25:46.390 Whereas the grapes and the pomegranates, 25:46.430 --> 25:48.370 it takes years for the trees or the vines, right? 25:49.210 --> 25:54.790 And so, and the poppies require a lot less water as well, 25:54.870 --> 25:55.010 right? 25:55.150 --> 25:58.650 So the Keres, so they started growing a lot of poppy, right? 25:59.530 --> 26:01.570 And when I talked with many of the farmers 26:01.570 --> 26:02.530 that were growing poppy, 26:02.670 --> 26:04.350 I was out in their poppy fields all the time. 26:04.430 --> 26:05.850 There was some, it was like Wizard of Oz, 26:06.190 --> 26:07.450 like straight up Wizard of Oz, 26:07.710 --> 26:09.330 huge fields of poppy, right? 26:09.810 --> 26:10.970 And actually on Wizard of Oz, 26:11.110 --> 26:12.790 those were Papaver, some Nifram. 26:12.790 --> 26:14.150 You see, they fall asleep in the, 26:15.250 --> 26:17.210 Papaver means poppy, 26:17.450 --> 26:20.250 some Nifram means sleeping poppy, sleeping poppy, 26:20.330 --> 26:22.570 like Soma from the book, what's that? 26:23.050 --> 26:24.470 1984 or what? 26:24.610 --> 26:25.190 Oh, brave world. 26:25.990 --> 26:28.070 Brave world, so some Nifram, 26:28.230 --> 26:30.910 Papaver, some Nifram is poppy, sleeping poppies, right? 26:31.370 --> 26:32.690 And you see, they fall asleep in the poppy. 26:32.850 --> 26:35.730 Well, anyway, so they started growing 26:35.730 --> 26:38.790 these poppy and they harvest, 26:39.050 --> 26:40.210 but when I talked with the farmers, 26:40.390 --> 26:41.530 I was out with them all the time 26:41.530 --> 26:44.130 and they would say, no, we would, 26:44.230 --> 26:46.570 all of them would say, I don't like to grow this 26:46.570 --> 26:49.870 because this is much more work and I make less money. 26:50.450 --> 26:52.010 You know, I want to grow grapes. 26:52.230 --> 26:54.670 I want to grow pomegranates. 26:54.710 --> 26:57.650 They make more money and it's easier, right? 26:57.990 --> 27:00.030 But they grow that because their caress systems 27:00.030 --> 27:01.390 and whatnot have been destroyed 27:01.390 --> 27:04.210 or their vineyards have been chopped down 27:04.210 --> 27:05.650 because they, you know, they can hide things. 27:05.990 --> 27:07.430 Anyway, the bottom line is, 27:07.650 --> 27:10.090 is that was how they started funding the war. 27:10.090 --> 27:12.450 And of course, upstream, you know, downrange, 27:13.350 --> 27:18.210 most of the heroin and whatnot that was in UK at the time 27:18.210 --> 27:20.110 was actually coming through Pakistan, 27:20.370 --> 27:21.370 up through Russia and all that 27:21.370 --> 27:24.670 and getting over to United Kingdom in places like that. 27:24.950 --> 27:25.450 It's interesting. 27:25.770 --> 27:28.390 So in other words, drug addicts in the United Kingdom 27:28.390 --> 27:31.070 were funding the war that was blowing up the soldiers, 27:31.290 --> 27:32.870 the British soldiers I was with, right? 27:33.430 --> 27:35.130 It's quite interesting how this, 27:35.230 --> 27:38.030 the drug wars are quite real going in both directions. 27:38.030 --> 27:39.950 There's no way out of this to my knowledge. 27:40.150 --> 27:44.410 And there's no pretty way to have your freedom 27:44.930 --> 27:47.110 and then let the enemy use that freedom 27:47.110 --> 27:50.350 to basically put a hellfire missile through your house, right? 27:50.870 --> 27:52.830 But you know, because I think everybody watching this 27:52.830 --> 27:56.890 will have had at least one alcoholic or one drug addict 27:56.890 --> 27:59.310 or one gambling, you know, 27:59.310 --> 28:00.410 somebody addicted to gambling 28:00.410 --> 28:03.070 within somewhere in their family or friend structure. 28:03.510 --> 28:06.310 And if you have one alcoholic or drug addict 28:06.310 --> 28:09.110 or serious gambler under your roof, 28:09.430 --> 28:11.610 it's like your house guy hit with a hellfire missile. 28:11.990 --> 28:13.470 I mean, the windows are blown out. 28:13.870 --> 28:16.350 Kids don't go to university because of that sort of thing. 28:17.010 --> 28:18.530 And anyway, what I'm getting to is 28:18.530 --> 28:21.810 I'm all about freedom obviously at the same time 28:21.810 --> 28:24.050 I know how our enemies are using that against us. 28:24.630 --> 28:27.630 Yeah, in particular, I'm sorry to go ahead. 28:28.470 --> 28:31.190 I was just gonna say that I heard you 28:31.190 --> 28:34.670 on a podcast with Matt Bracken this morning 28:34.670 --> 28:37.890 and he mentioned a fact, something that I was aware of 28:37.890 --> 28:39.150 but I had forgotten about. 28:39.630 --> 28:43.290 And that is that a lot of us look at George Soros 28:43.290 --> 28:47.530 as the bad guy, you know, we see him funding the migration stuff. 28:47.750 --> 28:49.970 We see him funding local DAs 28:49.970 --> 28:52.130 that are Black Lives Matter supporters. 28:52.470 --> 28:53.850 Well, before all that, 28:54.070 --> 28:57.090 he funded drug decriminalization 28:57.090 --> 28:59.770 and marijuana legalization programs 28:59.770 --> 29:01.850 widely in the U.S. and around the world. 29:02.410 --> 29:04.650 He put the best number I could find 29:04.650 --> 29:06.550 as something like a quarter of a billion dollars 29:06.550 --> 29:08.630 into financing those efforts. 29:09.310 --> 29:12.510 So that in and of itself is suspicious to me. 29:12.790 --> 29:14.410 And he was using drug warfare. 29:14.610 --> 29:15.870 He was using drug warfare. 29:16.070 --> 29:17.090 I mean, straight up hardcore. 29:17.610 --> 29:19.930 And, you know, people have talked about that for years 29:19.930 --> 29:21.910 how Soros was doing that, right? 29:22.090 --> 29:25.410 And also Matt, as you know, Bracken brought it up today 29:25.410 --> 29:27.830 but, you know, they saw like this is, 29:28.290 --> 29:29.750 I mean, again, we want to be free. 29:29.750 --> 29:32.370 We want people to have their own responsibility and whatnot. 29:32.690 --> 29:35.090 But it's also, I mean, it's a straight up weapon. 29:35.330 --> 29:37.610 You know, there's no there's no way around it 29:37.610 --> 29:38.870 that's used as a weapon. 29:39.770 --> 29:41.650 Well, and there's no easy solution 29:41.650 --> 29:44.830 because people will say, well, drugs are bad. 29:45.770 --> 29:47.190 Let's illegalize drugs. 29:47.470 --> 29:49.950 But that is totally counterproductive 29:50.510 --> 29:52.350 because it creates a black market 29:52.350 --> 29:55.510 where it artificially raises the price of drugs 29:56.150 --> 29:57.650 and it makes it profitable 29:58.150 --> 30:00.390 where it might not be in a free market. 30:01.190 --> 30:03.430 So you get these syndicates that are created 30:03.430 --> 30:06.970 just as the mafia was created by illegalizing alcohol 30:07.550 --> 30:09.170 in the 1920s. 30:09.390 --> 30:12.110 All these syndicates in cartels 30:12.750 --> 30:15.150 have been created by illegalizing drugs 30:15.150 --> 30:18.410 because it creates an arbitrage opportunity, 30:18.570 --> 30:19.630 which they take advantage of. 30:19.810 --> 30:22.390 So I don't see any way out of this. 30:22.650 --> 30:25.350 It's part of a collapse in civilization. 30:25.350 --> 30:29.590 You can't illegalize it for moral reasons 30:29.590 --> 30:30.690 and practical reasons. 30:31.050 --> 30:33.170 But at the same time, you don't want the drugs there. 30:33.450 --> 30:35.670 So you've got to change the way people think 30:36.230 --> 30:37.550 and act and perceive. 30:37.930 --> 30:39.450 And that's got to stick. 30:39.790 --> 30:42.710 You got to make a stigma, you know, stigmify it, you know, 30:42.750 --> 30:45.310 like if you do drugs, you know, you're a bad guy. 30:45.490 --> 30:46.010 You know what I mean? 30:46.090 --> 30:48.450 I know people say, well, no, I'm not a bad guy, 30:48.510 --> 30:52.270 but you're going to you got to attack them 30:52.270 --> 30:53.630 with information war, right? 30:54.690 --> 30:56.370 Because otherwise, you know. 30:57.530 --> 31:00.250 And the worse the worse the economy gets, 31:00.630 --> 31:03.070 the more people will try to hide from reality 31:03.070 --> 31:06.190 by clouding their mind and going into a dream world. 31:07.230 --> 31:10.070 So, you know, and by the way, when I was studying 31:11.010 --> 31:15.270 the the poppy issue in Afghanistan and other countries, 31:15.390 --> 31:16.790 I was here in Thailand studying it. 31:16.870 --> 31:19.270 Actually, I was out looking at the royal projects 31:19.270 --> 31:22.310 and in one of the reasons that they sell so many flowers 31:22.310 --> 31:25.710 on the streets in Thailand is because, you know, 31:25.750 --> 31:28.010 in the royal projects that the king Rama the ninth, 31:28.370 --> 31:30.470 who was an incredible king of Thailand, 31:30.810 --> 31:36.370 he did a lot of work to replace the the poppy with coffee. 31:36.550 --> 31:38.950 They didn't used to grow coffee with the hill tribes, 31:39.230 --> 31:40.370 but he got them. 31:40.650 --> 31:42.370 I actually was given a private tour 31:42.370 --> 31:44.370 of a lot of these things years ago because I was 31:44.370 --> 31:47.490 I was trying to figure out what went 31:48.370 --> 31:49.930 wrong in Afghanistan. 31:49.930 --> 31:52.330 And like they like all the farmers I talked with 31:52.330 --> 31:53.890 don't want to do poppy, 31:53.950 --> 31:56.610 but it takes a long time to get their great 31:57.290 --> 31:58.610 vineyards going again, right? 31:59.130 --> 32:00.210 So I came over. 32:00.510 --> 32:03.670 I went to meet with with General 32:04.430 --> 32:05.830 what's his name that we talked about 32:05.830 --> 32:07.130 when we were in Phuket together 32:07.730 --> 32:09.270 that used to run the drug war. 32:09.450 --> 32:09.850 What's his name? 32:10.510 --> 32:12.130 We mean Barry McCaffrey. 32:12.470 --> 32:12.750 Yeah. Yeah. 32:12.830 --> 32:15.090 I had lunch with Barry McCaffrey a couple of times, right? 32:15.510 --> 32:17.010 And I because he used to be the drugs are. 32:17.130 --> 32:18.270 So I wanted to talk with him. 32:18.270 --> 32:21.250 And he first time he actually asked to meet with with me. 32:21.370 --> 32:24.590 And so we were talking and I asked him about Thailand 32:24.590 --> 32:27.990 and he goes, oh, you know, the reason that Thailand was able to nip it 32:27.990 --> 32:30.910 was because King Rama the Knight had so much 32:32.530 --> 32:33.650 moral clout here. 32:33.810 --> 32:37.510 He just came up and said it's untied to grow poppy, right? 32:37.850 --> 32:39.850 So that made a lot of people stop right there. 32:40.030 --> 32:41.910 But a lot of other people continued. 32:42.290 --> 32:44.410 So he started with the Royal Projects up there, 32:44.510 --> 32:45.850 which he did all over Thailand. 32:46.030 --> 32:47.230 But so he started growing. 32:47.230 --> 32:50.050 He got all these scientists out there, got the water going, 32:50.170 --> 32:53.650 started building the roads and and and figuring out which, 32:53.910 --> 32:55.530 you know, what they could grow up there. 32:55.950 --> 32:58.370 And and then so it was a silver led thing. 32:58.510 --> 32:59.950 It's like, we'll help you make money. 33:00.110 --> 33:03.330 If you grow this, that and the other will help you get it to market. 33:03.470 --> 33:05.170 We will guarantee we'll buy it from you. 33:05.790 --> 33:07.870 And if you don't do that, we'll send the army, right? 33:08.090 --> 33:08.810 And so it was. 33:09.010 --> 33:11.410 And so that's why there's not much poppy out there. 33:11.630 --> 33:13.370 I mean, I've been out with the Hill Tribe people. 33:13.670 --> 33:16.390 Some of them still grow up, but it's not it's not like it used to be. 33:17.230 --> 33:18.310 Now it's methamphetamines. 33:20.410 --> 33:23.210 All right, Doug, what's your what's your third reservation for the week? 33:24.650 --> 33:26.490 Well, what do I have here? 33:27.510 --> 33:28.010 It's. 33:29.670 --> 33:33.790 Once again, this may not be current news for this week, 33:33.910 --> 33:37.190 but it's once again, the news cycle is driving on. 33:37.350 --> 33:40.870 And I wanted to mention it before it's lost in the collective memory. 33:41.580 --> 33:48.730 Wasn't so long ago, but these three female presidents of universities, 33:49.190 --> 33:52.850 Harvard, MIT, and what was the other one? 33:53.690 --> 33:55.590 Anyway, all totally work. 33:57.550 --> 34:01.790 Socialist leading type people, and then, of course, 34:03.420 --> 34:07.190 they resigned, Claudine Gay at Harvard and so forth, 34:07.190 --> 34:11.050 a diversity hire of the highest level. 34:12.270 --> 34:14.330 Well, OK, what am I leading up to here? 34:15.130 --> 34:15.750 It's that. 34:16.690 --> 34:21.590 In that environment, promoted by these horrible college presidents 34:21.590 --> 34:24.090 of these highly prestigious universities, 34:26.690 --> 34:30.990 then we have the Palestine, Gaza, Israel thing 34:32.370 --> 34:36.170 where they all want to hang the Jews and riots 34:36.170 --> 34:37.230 and all this type of thing. 34:37.810 --> 34:42.070 So I asked myself, these universities that are the slightest 34:42.750 --> 34:47.170 or horrible people and horrible riots by their students, 34:47.970 --> 34:49.490 how rich are they? 34:50.130 --> 34:53.390 And of course, Harvard, which is the richest of them all, 34:53.610 --> 35:00.270 has been has been described as a hedge fund with an attached university. 35:01.110 --> 35:04.950 It has an endowment of about fifty billion dollars. 35:05.750 --> 35:06.690 That's quite a bit. 35:08.890 --> 35:12.730 And you ask yourself, what are they doing with that money 35:12.730 --> 35:16.470 because it costs an arm and a leg to go to school at Harvard? 35:16.710 --> 35:19.050 And it's the same at Yale, Princeton, 35:20.830 --> 35:24.650 Stanford, they're all in the thirty five billion dollar range. 35:25.230 --> 35:29.670 And you might ask yourself, how come these universities 35:30.510 --> 35:32.790 became so incredibly wealthy? 35:32.790 --> 35:38.670 And of course, all that money probably has had some effect 35:38.670 --> 35:44.090 on the corruption there they can afford to make mistakes 35:45.070 --> 35:46.790 when they have that much money. 35:48.350 --> 35:51.290 Well, it occurred to me that. 35:52.150 --> 35:56.590 A lot of people of good will leave their 35:56.590 --> 35:59.450 estates for the betterment of humanity. 35:59.450 --> 36:02.650 And they think, well, education is the betterment 36:02.650 --> 36:07.650 of humanity and outfits like Harvard and Stanford are the best. 36:07.910 --> 36:09.130 I'll leave all my money there. 36:09.490 --> 36:14.690 And this is incredibly stupid, considering that these universities 36:15.060 --> 36:20.090 have been totally taken over as these scandals with Claudine Gay 36:20.090 --> 36:24.830 and and her pals illustrated by the left. 36:25.290 --> 36:29.530 People that hate capitalism, hate money, hate America. 36:30.230 --> 36:34.210 But, you know, Anne Rand used to apotheosize businessmen. 36:34.550 --> 36:36.390 She thought businessmen were the greatest. 36:36.870 --> 36:40.350 Well, OK, they are the greatest in a way, because they're responsible 36:40.350 --> 36:44.210 for producing real things, and that's wonderful. 36:44.890 --> 36:48.050 All the good things we have are kind of produced by businessmen. 36:48.570 --> 36:53.370 But the fact is that individual businessmen are not to be idealized 36:53.370 --> 36:57.250 the way Rand did, because they have no philosophical bases. 36:57.830 --> 37:02.050 They're good at earning money, but they're not good at giving it away 37:02.050 --> 37:08.270 because they they're in effect buying the left 37:08.810 --> 37:11.630 ropes that will be used to hang them in the future. 37:12.010 --> 37:16.610 And that's why I think the one of the good things going on now 37:16.610 --> 37:20.410 is that enrollment at these top universities is dropping 37:20.410 --> 37:22.950 because people say it's a waste of time and money. 37:24.690 --> 37:28.470 And they're not going to universities, which, of course, 37:29.070 --> 37:34.250 your son Maxim is illustrating excellently and is in his weekly blogs. 37:35.110 --> 37:40.870 Anyway, a bit of a ramble here, but I think that one of the things we're going to say, 37:40.910 --> 37:44.290 and this is kind of a semi-prediction, is these universities 37:44.290 --> 37:48.910 are either going to have to change radically back to what they were 100 years ago 37:50.210 --> 37:53.370 or they're going to dry up and blow away. 37:54.350 --> 37:58.090 They're and they're not going to be getting the money coming in and endowments 37:58.990 --> 38:02.150 from from dead businessmen as much. 38:03.750 --> 38:08.750 So this whole thing with the universities being woke and communist leaning, 38:09.410 --> 38:10.490 it's just got to change. 38:10.690 --> 38:12.090 Reality will reassert itself. 38:12.310 --> 38:15.850 It's anyway, just something I thought I'd point out. 38:16.450 --> 38:18.030 It looks like a stat here. 38:18.150 --> 38:23.610 It says in twenty twenty three universities received a total of fifty eight 38:23.610 --> 38:26.310 billion dollars in philanthropic support. 38:28.390 --> 38:29.770 That's absolutely crazy. 38:30.250 --> 38:34.350 We teach more people more responsible things and they don't do that. 38:34.490 --> 38:35.550 They don't send us a billion. 38:38.310 --> 38:39.350 I mean, it's shocking. 38:39.490 --> 38:42.150 That's a huge number. That's a huge number. Yeah. 38:43.030 --> 38:45.330 All right, Michael, what's your what's your third thing? 38:49.510 --> 38:54.370 Well, I think you're going to talk about Ukraine nine years a day or something like that. 38:54.450 --> 38:56.830 Yeah, today is about the nine hundred and seventy 38:56.830 --> 39:00.870 a day of the short Ukraine war that should be should have been over nine 39:00.870 --> 39:03.790 hundred and sixty days ago, according to the Warhawks. 39:04.130 --> 39:07.750 You know, something that, you know, I mentioned over and over and over again. 39:07.870 --> 39:10.810 If you if you predict three things about every new war, 39:10.950 --> 39:12.730 you're almost always going to be right. 39:13.250 --> 39:14.330 This war is going to grow. 39:14.330 --> 39:16.370 I do this all the time and people think I'm a genius. 39:16.690 --> 39:20.210 It's going to grow and it's going to grow unpredictably 39:20.210 --> 39:22.130 and it's going to go longer than you thought. 39:22.850 --> 39:25.490 And then, you know, a year passes like, wow, you were right again. 39:25.770 --> 39:28.430 I'm like, yeah, it's like dropping an apple. 39:28.590 --> 39:30.550 I think this apple is going to hit the floor, right? 39:30.630 --> 39:31.970 It's like it's that predict. 39:32.670 --> 39:35.370 I mean, this is like cheating, you know, you know, 39:36.310 --> 39:39.110 all the angles of this triangle will add up to 180. 39:39.110 --> 39:44.090 And so and and and so we're in day 39:44.090 --> 39:46.670 number nine seventy approximately in the Ukraine war. 39:46.730 --> 39:49.830 And there's no end in sight, which many of us predicted. 39:50.050 --> 39:51.730 I don't know when it's going to end. I don't know. 39:51.850 --> 39:57.470 I have no idea because wars are unpredictable and wars like fires. 39:57.690 --> 40:00.370 They just you can start it, but you can't turn it off. 40:00.630 --> 40:04.290 And so likewise with Israel, you know, 40:04.290 --> 40:08.310 after the clear false flag attack on Hamas 40:08.310 --> 40:11.950 or using Hamas as useful idiots was actually a green flag attack 40:11.950 --> 40:14.670 on October 7th of two thousand twenty three. 40:16.010 --> 40:18.230 Israel still has not defeated Hamas. 40:18.790 --> 40:21.410 Little Hamas and Gaza, the easiest enemy 40:21.410 --> 40:24.070 while they've widened that other front out with Lebanon. 40:24.490 --> 40:26.410 My alerts were going off all day today. 40:26.590 --> 40:27.510 Israel is under attack. 40:27.810 --> 40:30.870 And I get to have this app where, you know, it, you know, 40:30.930 --> 40:34.270 they're they're getting drone attacks and rocket attacks all day. 40:34.290 --> 40:35.230 And to Israel, right? 40:35.610 --> 40:38.890 So now they got two fronts going and they haven't beat Hamas, 40:39.570 --> 40:43.470 much less has Bala and they obviously want to pick the fight with Israel. 40:43.950 --> 40:45.150 I mean, sorry, with Iran. 40:46.030 --> 40:49.850 And so my prediction is that war will grow 40:49.850 --> 40:51.750 because, you know, I know I'm going to be right. 40:52.370 --> 40:55.270 And and it's just history is going to be right. 40:55.350 --> 40:57.030 It's not me. I'm just channeling history. 40:58.270 --> 41:03.010 And and Israel will be actually increasingly at this point 41:03.010 --> 41:07.670 lucky to survive because they're hanging by this thread called the United States. 41:08.050 --> 41:11.790 And the United States is clearly going into some very, very rough times. 41:12.090 --> 41:16.050 And if we lose focus on Israel, it's goodbye Israel. 41:16.510 --> 41:17.810 I mean, it's that serious. 41:18.110 --> 41:21.390 They've started a war that, you know, 41:22.010 --> 41:24.790 I know people are going crazy when I just said they started the war, 41:24.870 --> 41:27.850 but they are clearly pushing and widening the war. 41:28.090 --> 41:31.930 They could end up ultimately being the end of Israel. 41:31.930 --> 41:34.070 Will that happen? I do not know. 41:34.430 --> 41:36.390 Do I want it to happen? No. 41:37.010 --> 41:39.710 But that doesn't if just because if you're an oncologist, 41:39.930 --> 41:41.730 you don't you don't, you know, 41:41.770 --> 41:43.970 diagnose somebody is not having cancer 41:43.970 --> 41:46.270 just because you don't want them to have cancer, right? 41:46.730 --> 41:49.710 And and I'm just saying as a war correspondent, 41:49.970 --> 41:55.190 I could easily see where Israel could end up dying by their own hand. 41:58.630 --> 41:59.890 Makes sense to me. 41:59.890 --> 42:03.230 I mean, you know, you've got 42:04.130 --> 42:07.390 what's the population of Israel, about 10 million, 42:07.790 --> 42:10.970 of which about three quarters, seven and a half million are Jews. 42:11.510 --> 42:15.630 And there are about 1.5 billion and growing rapidly 42:16.810 --> 42:18.270 Muslims in the world. 42:18.770 --> 42:23.390 And in the Holy Koran, it says many times that 42:24.610 --> 42:26.350 it's the obligation of a 42:27.350 --> 42:31.690 of a of a good Muslim to kill the Jew. 42:33.850 --> 42:35.670 So it can't end well. 42:35.990 --> 42:36.650 It can't end well. 42:36.850 --> 42:38.090 I totally agree with you, Michael. 42:38.950 --> 42:43.550 Yeah, keeping in mind that I think about 12 percent of Israel is Orthodox 42:43.550 --> 42:44.890 and they won't join the army. 42:45.030 --> 42:47.290 They're not going into the IDF unless they're dragged in. 42:47.550 --> 42:49.190 And I think that has come up. 42:50.070 --> 42:52.390 And and a lot of the Israelis 42:52.390 --> 42:55.030 are a lot of the Jews. 42:55.310 --> 42:58.730 And I mean, I'm on a private chat with just me and some Orthodox Jews. 42:58.890 --> 43:00.510 I'm the only non-Jew on there. 43:01.070 --> 43:02.350 They hate Israel. 43:02.610 --> 43:04.970 I mean, they hate Israel more than Hamas does. 43:05.310 --> 43:06.570 I mean, it's really epic. 43:07.230 --> 43:10.470 You know, I didn't realize how deep that hatred goes 43:11.130 --> 43:13.310 between many Jews and the Zionists. 43:13.490 --> 43:14.350 It's quite intense. 43:15.530 --> 43:17.970 Yeah, there's quite a split in the Jewish community 43:17.970 --> 43:20.610 because I'm not on the same group that you are, 43:20.610 --> 43:25.450 but I'm on another group, which are about 30 guys 43:25.450 --> 43:27.350 and they're almost all Jews. 43:27.670 --> 43:31.730 I'm one of two or three Goyim on the, on the chat. 43:31.970 --> 43:35.590 And these people are intensely pro-Israel, 43:35.850 --> 43:37.710 but they're all rich American Jews. 43:38.010 --> 43:41.110 So there's a split within the Jewish community 43:41.110 --> 43:43.110 about the state of Israel, obviously. 43:43.790 --> 43:45.190 Yeah, it makes those together 43:45.190 --> 43:47.650 and they're going to go hyperbolic, right? 43:47.650 --> 43:48.670 Yeah. 43:49.450 --> 43:50.090 That's right. 43:52.070 --> 43:55.470 So insoluble problem and certainly there's no solution 43:55.470 --> 43:56.430 the US can offer. 43:56.730 --> 44:00.730 It's like, it's like joining the feud between the Hatfields 44:00.730 --> 44:01.370 and the McCoys. 44:01.850 --> 44:02.710 It's pointless. 44:03.410 --> 44:05.010 It's just a software conflict. 44:05.370 --> 44:06.790 You know, it's like, you know, 44:06.790 --> 44:09.330 this belief system doesn't mesh with that one. 44:09.610 --> 44:12.790 And they have a conflict and they turn into a tornado 44:12.790 --> 44:13.650 when they get together. 44:14.090 --> 44:14.650 Yeah. 44:14.850 --> 44:16.510 Well, you got to let them sort it out. 44:16.510 --> 44:19.490 We don't have a dog in that fight or we shouldn't anyway. 44:19.870 --> 44:20.630 I agree. 44:21.930 --> 44:23.790 All right, Doug, your prediction for today. 44:24.970 --> 44:29.110 Well, I'm going to make an extremely dangerous prediction. 44:29.870 --> 44:33.530 I think I'm going to be correct, but interest rates 44:33.530 --> 44:39.190 and to introduce my prediction and say why it's dangerous. 44:39.790 --> 44:42.370 I'd like to tell my favorite financial joke. 44:43.130 --> 44:44.850 And here it is. 44:45.890 --> 44:47.970 Einstein dies and goes to heaven. 44:48.690 --> 44:49.990 St. Peter greets him. 44:50.210 --> 44:51.610 Happy to see you, Mr. Einstein. 44:53.690 --> 44:56.330 We're getting your digs in order, 44:57.130 --> 45:04.390 but we have a temporary housing shortage here in heaven 45:04.390 --> 45:08.870 for obvious reasons because we're a centrally managed 45:08.870 --> 45:10.710 economy for obvious reasons. 45:11.490 --> 45:16.450 So Einstein goes to his new digs, temporary digs 45:16.450 --> 45:17.850 with three other guys. 45:18.550 --> 45:20.510 First guy, they're all happy to see him there. 45:21.310 --> 45:23.910 The first guy comes up to him and says, Mr. Einstein, 45:25.210 --> 45:26.890 I'm really pleased to meet you. 45:27.130 --> 45:31.970 I've got an IQ of 130 and I want to get to know you better. 45:32.470 --> 45:34.950 So Einstein says, very good. 45:35.450 --> 45:39.790 After lunch, let's bounce around a few concepts of astrophysics. 45:39.790 --> 45:40.970 I've been thinking about. 45:41.610 --> 45:44.650 Second guy comes up to him and says, Mr. Einstein, 45:44.930 --> 45:46.510 I'm not as smart as that first guy. 45:47.030 --> 45:50.150 I've got an IQ of 100, but I still want to get to know you. 45:50.710 --> 45:52.790 So Einstein says, well, let me put my grip away 45:52.790 --> 45:54.290 and let's play a game of chess. 45:55.050 --> 45:57.190 Third guy comes up to him and says, Mr. Einstein, 45:57.530 --> 45:59.370 I'm not as smart as those other two guys. 45:59.830 --> 46:03.950 I've only got an IQ of 70, but I still want to get to know you. 46:04.370 --> 46:08.510 So Einstein asks him, so where do you think interest rates are going? 46:10.630 --> 46:12.010 I think that's a good joke. 46:12.630 --> 46:17.370 Anyway, with that as a preface, I've got a prediction. 46:18.090 --> 46:19.470 Long-term interest rates, 46:19.610 --> 46:22.710 which the Fed can't really control are going up. 46:23.290 --> 46:25.730 And I say that for a couple of reasons. 46:26.150 --> 46:30.770 One, the last time we really had high interest rates in this 46:30.770 --> 46:32.290 country were in the early 80s, 46:32.490 --> 46:35.930 when the US government was paying over 15%, 46:35.930 --> 46:38.590 almost 20% at one point for money. 46:39.110 --> 46:40.570 Those were high interest rates. 46:42.390 --> 46:46.010 They've gone down, they went down then for the next 40 years 46:46.010 --> 46:50.030 to almost zero in 2022, almost zero. 46:50.670 --> 46:53.890 And then the Fed started raising interest rates, 46:54.090 --> 46:57.650 at least the money that it made available to banks, 46:57.850 --> 46:58.690 commercial banks. 46:59.770 --> 47:01.910 And they went to say, well, 47:01.910 --> 47:05.410 what did they pick out at almost 6%, something like that? 47:06.430 --> 47:09.410 Then they've driven them down and now they're going up again. 47:09.650 --> 47:10.750 Here's the point I want to make. 47:11.430 --> 47:17.890 With the trillions of dollars that the government is spending 47:17.890 --> 47:20.110 above what its income is in taxes, 47:20.730 --> 47:23.970 it has to print money to finance the difference. 47:24.870 --> 47:28.170 And that's to the tune of about $2 trillion per year 47:28.170 --> 47:29.630 being sold to the Fed. 47:29.630 --> 47:31.530 The Fed buys US government paper, 47:31.910 --> 47:33.890 it goes into the commercial banking system 47:34.730 --> 47:41.110 where it's lent out with a fractional reserve multiplier 47:41.630 --> 47:44.050 where a dollar goes into a commercial bank, 47:44.210 --> 47:46.610 theoretically can lend, let's say $10. 47:47.430 --> 47:52.470 So that's why raising interest rates can damp inflation 47:52.470 --> 47:54.230 because when interest rates go up, 47:54.350 --> 47:55.970 people don't want to borrow as much, 47:56.130 --> 47:57.230 the banks don't lend as much. 47:57.530 --> 47:58.790 I don't want to get into all of that. 47:58.790 --> 48:01.890 I'll just say this, that at this point, 48:02.150 --> 48:04.950 inflation is going to start going much higher 48:04.950 --> 48:07.310 because of all this money that's being printed up. 48:11.510 --> 48:15.170 And as interest rates go higher, 48:15.790 --> 48:17.790 a lot of people are going to get hurt 48:17.790 --> 48:21.230 because the country is very, very indebted. 48:21.790 --> 48:25.550 In all ways, consumer debt, student debt, 48:27.270 --> 48:29.850 automobile debt, mortgage debt, 48:30.610 --> 48:33.590 interest rates go up, you're asking for trouble. 48:34.270 --> 48:36.630 And the Fed doesn't want to see that happen. 48:37.010 --> 48:39.830 So it'll lower interest rates at the low end, 48:40.510 --> 48:43.690 but at the top, long-term, 10 years and beyond, 48:44.110 --> 48:45.830 they really can't control that 48:45.830 --> 48:47.430 and that's where the big money is. 48:48.950 --> 48:51.810 So interest rates from here are going higher. 48:52.070 --> 48:54.430 I haven't given a very good explanation 48:54.430 --> 48:57.330 because it's hard to sum up interest rates 48:57.330 --> 48:59.650 where volumes have been written about them 48:59.650 --> 49:02.970 in a two-minute presentation, 49:03.390 --> 49:07.130 but that's my prediction of what it's worth. 49:08.330 --> 49:09.570 It's a fundamental you're saying. 49:09.970 --> 49:11.430 The Fed doesn't really control, 49:12.170 --> 49:14.270 sorry, Doug, the Fed doesn't really control 49:14.270 --> 49:16.250 interest rates on the long end, 49:16.430 --> 49:18.210 like the 10-year plus, is that what you're saying? 49:18.730 --> 49:19.430 That's right. 49:19.590 --> 49:21.010 They can control the short end 49:22.350 --> 49:23.850 through the banking system 49:23.850 --> 49:25.450 by giving the banks more money, 49:25.830 --> 49:30.350 but on the long end, that's controlled by inflation. 49:30.950 --> 49:33.110 And the problem is, is that a lot of banks, 49:34.390 --> 49:35.850 when interest rates were low, 49:37.950 --> 49:41.290 loaded up on government bonds, risk-free asset, 49:42.290 --> 49:45.290 but interest rates go up, bond prices go down, 49:46.190 --> 49:47.670 and bond prices go down. 49:47.670 --> 49:50.310 Those are major assets of the banks. 49:51.230 --> 49:54.030 And so we've got a number of banks in this country 49:54.030 --> 49:57.170 that are on the ragged edge of bankruptcy at this point. 49:57.870 --> 49:58.710 Interest rates go higher. 49:59.370 --> 50:00.870 It's going to go get worse. 50:01.930 --> 50:03.610 And there's nothing that Fed can do 50:03.610 --> 50:04.970 about long-term interest rates. 50:05.750 --> 50:06.910 Let me ask you this. 50:07.590 --> 50:07.770 Sorry. 50:08.730 --> 50:10.490 I was going to say some evidence of that 50:10.490 --> 50:13.650 is the fact that unrealized losses 50:13.650 --> 50:16.910 for banks in the US is something like three times now 50:16.910 --> 50:18.810 what it was during the financial crisis 50:19.650 --> 50:23.910 and the fact that there's risk-free stuff 50:24.610 --> 50:25.770 that they invested in the bond. 50:25.970 --> 50:27.670 So that shows what you're saying. 50:27.790 --> 50:31.470 And also, since the Fed cut rates half a point recently, 50:32.150 --> 50:34.070 the 10-year is up half a point. 50:34.510 --> 50:36.490 So it's gone exactly the wrong direction 50:36.490 --> 50:39.690 that people who think the Fed controls the world would think. 50:41.190 --> 50:42.950 Exactly the opposite direction 50:42.950 --> 50:45.550 of what the Fed was trying to achieve, exactly. 50:46.590 --> 50:49.210 And I can't speak to what's going to happen 50:49.210 --> 50:50.850 next week or next month, 50:51.130 --> 50:54.530 but if we have this conversation next year, 50:54.770 --> 50:57.550 I'm pretty confident interest rates are going to be higher 50:57.550 --> 51:00.170 and it's going to be very unpleasant for a lot of people. 51:02.430 --> 51:03.650 Let me ask you this. 51:04.350 --> 51:07.350 What do you think will be the first major bank, 51:07.710 --> 51:10.430 let's say the next major bank to close its doors 51:10.430 --> 51:12.770 or something bad happened to it? 51:13.810 --> 51:16.970 The bank they talk about most in that regard 51:16.970 --> 51:18.110 is Bank of America. 51:19.730 --> 51:22.150 My bank, it's got problems. 51:22.350 --> 51:24.170 I can feel it. 51:24.330 --> 51:29.370 I don't know what bank you should use to keep your money. 51:29.570 --> 51:32.490 It would take analyzing the balance sheets 51:33.470 --> 51:37.070 of these banks to see where they've put their assets 51:37.070 --> 51:38.370 and what form they are. 51:39.070 --> 51:40.790 So I haven't done that. 51:40.790 --> 51:43.290 And I suppose I should, 51:45.110 --> 51:47.830 but that's the type of thing of professional accountant 51:47.830 --> 51:50.090 that's interested in that type of thing should do. 51:50.510 --> 51:52.150 I've got other fish to fry. 51:53.930 --> 51:54.430 Yeah. 51:54.650 --> 51:57.210 Porter Stansbury has done a lot of work on Bank of America. 51:57.530 --> 51:59.670 He definitely has pointed that out 51:59.670 --> 52:03.330 is like you pointed out GM in the past. 52:03.870 --> 52:05.590 He thinks that's the first one to fall. 52:06.130 --> 52:08.850 So he's going to get a call on those things. 52:08.850 --> 52:12.190 Well, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway 52:12.190 --> 52:16.350 has been selling gigantic amounts of Bank of America 52:16.350 --> 52:17.310 at this point. 52:19.190 --> 52:20.130 The sign. 52:21.190 --> 52:21.710 That's a sign. 52:21.930 --> 52:22.010 Okay. 52:22.190 --> 52:24.090 So just so I got this straight, Michael, 52:24.590 --> 52:28.870 your prediction was that the Israeli war will expand 52:28.870 --> 52:33.770 and that Israel's odds of surviving 52:33.770 --> 52:36.210 kind of decrease the longer this goes on. 52:36.770 --> 52:37.270 Yeah. 52:37.370 --> 52:39.810 The longer it goes on, definitely the odds decrease. 52:40.610 --> 52:43.190 They may survive, but you know how wars are there. 52:43.270 --> 52:43.730 Incredibly. 52:43.970 --> 52:46.890 It's a complex system of complex systems. 52:47.590 --> 52:49.890 You know, nobody really knows which way it'll go, 52:49.990 --> 52:53.090 but you can feel the energy is not in their favor. 52:53.210 --> 52:54.370 The longer it drags out. 52:55.530 --> 52:56.470 Well, yeah. 52:56.610 --> 52:57.670 And in addition to that, 52:57.790 --> 53:01.230 it's basically a citizen soldier army. 53:01.750 --> 53:03.850 And those guys that are in the army 53:03.850 --> 53:07.770 aren't working at their regular jobs and investors 53:07.770 --> 53:12.150 are a little bit loath to put money into businesses 53:12.150 --> 53:14.110 in a country that could be in trouble. 53:14.670 --> 53:18.430 So this war is going to become unaffordable for Israel 53:18.430 --> 53:18.870 in addition. 53:20.410 --> 53:22.530 That's an incredibly important point. 53:23.810 --> 53:24.650 All right. 53:25.450 --> 53:26.010 Okay. 53:26.090 --> 53:27.370 So I think we got it for this week, guys. 53:27.970 --> 53:31.670 We will be back next week with more consequential 53:31.670 --> 53:33.830 observations and predictions from you. 53:34.010 --> 53:35.370 So thank you both for joining us again. 53:35.530 --> 53:35.990 This is awesome. 53:36.170 --> 53:36.790 I appreciate it. 53:38.090 --> 53:39.050 Thank you from Bangkok. 53:40.090 --> 53:42.490 And thank you from Columbus, Sri Lanka, 53:42.750 --> 53:43.910 where I've been for the last week. 53:44.330 --> 53:46.270 That's another story for the future. 53:47.290 --> 53:48.050 We'll have to get that. 53:48.290 --> 53:48.430 Okay. 53:48.510 --> 53:48.710 Awesome. 53:48.790 --> 53:49.170 Thanks guys. 53:49.330 --> 53:49.750 Appreciate it.