Micro Money Session

Feeling the weight of a dollar that doesn't stretch as far as it once did? You're not alone. In this session i unravel the complexities of financial hardship, a reality too many of us face against the backdrop of national and international economic decisions. We discuss the enormous expenses of American foreign policy and its wars, examining the true cost we pay beyond the trillions of dollars spent. Including the effects of these policies on our currency's value and how the 2008 recession plundered the middle class's savings—a narrative that speaks volumes about the erosion of generational wealth.

Transcript

The Illusion of Democracy

Speaker 1 0:00

Peace, peace to all my good people out there. Welcome to another session with Shea. So I'm trying a little something different, listening to the people who've been reaching out to me, shout out to you all, and they say they love the show. All of you who dig the show, I appreciate you, but there are some that say you know, there's some things you could do better. So I listened and one of the things that was mentioned was that I handle political conversations or political sessions as they were and do a whole session about that and do another session about you know, x, y, z. The reason behind it was because you know the political thing or whatever can go so deep that it goes forever in a day and by the time people you know understand what's going on with what I said in the previous topic. You know. Now their mindset is on a whole different thing and I understand that everybody's. A lot of times when I speak I might speak too fast or I might just shoot out a whole bunch of words that make sense to me but not sure that they make sense to everybody else. So for that I apologize. I wanted to make sure that what I was saying was concise and since it's not. I'm going to try to do better, which is fine too. I appreciate the feedback. I really do, because all this is is an opportunity for me to get better, and I want to get better, to do better, to be better, right, so. So, with all that being said, this particular episode, or this particular session, is going to be a short one, but it's going to be a concise one. But it's going to be a concise one Speaks particularly to a reason why we're all feeling broke right now.

Speaker 1 2:09

And I know broke is subjective. I don't know everybody's pockets, nor do I want to, but we're all sort of kind of feeling the pinch of the prices of things. And you know, depending on who you ask, it's inflation. Other people say it's, you know, everything costs too much due to inflation. Or people say I don't make enough money for what it is to live now. So that's why we're broke. So being broke is subjective At this point.

Speaker 1 2:44

If you a trillionaire, you ain't broke. If you a billionaire, you ain't broke. If you a millionaire, you technically ain't broke either, but you feeling it a little bit. Anything under a millionaire right now, you're broke. In the grand scheme of things, there are trillionaires out there right now, 100,000aires is broke and everybody under that we really, really broke. So I wanted to give a little bit of context to maybe why the feeling of brokenness is actually a thing.

Speaker 1 3:20

So, so, 4.5 million people have died due to our foreign policy decisions. You know, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, lebanon, syria, libya. We, as Americans, have spent 15 trillion fucking dollars to kill those people. And what did we get for that? What did we get? For killing millions of people as Americans not me and you, but as Americans what did we get? Actually, what we got was a super well, I wouldn't even call it super long term, it was kind of short term slash, long term hustle. They had to play it just in the right way in order for all the cards to lay that they need to lay Ooh, bars, anyway.

Speaker 1 4:17

So what they did was imagine the dollar, right, the United States currency dollar, the federal note, as it were. If you know, you know, in 2001, your dollar was worth a dollar. However, in 2024, that same dollar is only worth 57 cents. 57 cents. Imagine that. Imagine that we are half as wealthy as we were in 2001 and, to be honest, the dollar ain't shit. If you know me. You know it's all about bitcoin. The dollar ain't shit. But what they did was they not only made the dollar shit, they basically destroyed it.

Speaker 1 5:14

At this point, remember in 2008 with the great recession. They say that 25 percent that's the estimate, but for real for real, it was probably 40 to 50 percent of American savings were wiped out when the 2008 recession happened. Most of the people's you know 401ks, tsps, savings, all of that stuff gone, like it was never there, and that was just from the middle class. Of course the rich people didn't, it didn't hurt them, but from the middle class, where that shit actually mattered, was literally wiped out. They literally stole that generation of wealth from my parents. And now not only did they steal it, they're taking the way or the opportunity for us, my generation and my kids' generation, to be honest, the ability to earn that wealth. So they took it away, they took it from our parents and they taken the opportunity for us to get back to that level again with all of this inflation and all of the, the, the drainage of, of our fundage and our capital and our assets.

Speaker 1 6:43

All of these things are being drained away and without the opportunity or the ability to get it back. They are literally playing with us in our faces. They are literally making the dollar worth less and making everything else more expensive. And at the same time, we spent 15 trillion fucking dollars in those world wars and we can't even get pothole fix in some cities. We can't even get bridges and water structures and not water structures, but the piping and shit in cities Flint, michigan. We can't fix basic infrastructure systems here and but we send 15 trillion dollars for wars. Who got that money? The Department of Defense got that money to send to all of these places. And why do they send it to all of these places? To continue to sell that American dream.

Speaker 1 7:55

Because I know I've said this before, but just in case You're new to the session, I'm going to I'll say it again the number one commodity in the United States of America is not apple pie or whatever you think it is, it's to sell democracy and to sell weapons. That is it. The United States of America is known for being in other people's business and poking their nose where it doesn't belong. But we we as a country, we as the United States of America sell the illusion of democracy so we can assert ourselves into other people's shit and make it sound like we are holier than thou or have more authority over other people's affairs, like who the fuck are we to tell a whole other country how to live their life in their country? We, just us.

Speaker 1 8:56

But the fact that we as a country have sold that whole democracy thing so heavy, everybody else feels like that's the way to be, even though they've probably carried on their affairs in a certain kind of way. But as soon as we that american fist, that american dream, come over here and sell democracy and say, hey, those people fucking with you, they shouldn't be fucking with you, that's not democratic. And since they fucking with you, let us sell you these guns or these ammo or this, these planes or these ships or these bombs or these whatever. Let's sell this to you so you can feel safe too. And if you buy it from us, guess what? We could put a base here too, and then you can have all the protection that you need, just in case shit pops off. Because we feel like you're the winner, even though they could clearly be the loser on whatever given side.

Speaker 1 9:48

But the United States doesn't really care about that, do they, do we? I mean, I know I don't make any decisions like that. I'm not that important in the whole grand scheme of things when it comes to like decisions that get made on that level, but don't we, as the American people, have a voice in things? Aren't we the ones that dictate what can and can't happen, what should and shouldn't happen? Of course we don't. Of course our politicians that we think work for us really work for themselves, and they work for depending on who you ask. They work for other entities and agencies that nobody wants to talk about, even though they already know that they exist. But so what can we do about it? I don't know what can we do. We can be mad, or we can what? I don't really know either, because I think that whatever we got popping right now as a government, as a democratic society, it's not the way. It's been going so wrong for so long that I feel like the only way for it to be a better thing is to start from fresh.

Speaker 1 11:14

Now, that's not me condoning anything other than for entertainment purposes, but what would that even look like? What would that even feel like? What would that sound like? How much would that even look like? What would that even feel like? What would that sound like how much would that cost? But it's good to dream right? It's good to have those forward thinking thoughts because just in case, just in case those decisions have to be made, at least you thought about it once or twice and maybe you have something to contribute to the conversation if such a conversation were to happen. But you know we dream a lot over here on Sessions with Shea, and again, all for entertainment purposes.

Speaker 1 12:05

But that's my little political minute or political session rant. I don't know, I might have to start giving these little, these shorter sessions a different name. We'll think on it. But I appreciate each one of you being here for whatever it is, whether it's a session or it's a rant or whatever it has to be. I appreciate each and every one of y'all for sticking with me through it and I hope whatever I said made a little sense and, if it did, happy for it. But anyhow, I do appreciate each and every one of you listening and I'll catch you on the next session, peace.