How much have prices REALLY gone up? | ZFS 86

The government says cumulative inflation since 2010 is 52.72%. I think that number is a lie and I have the receipts.

I spent time building out what I am calling the Real Inflation Tracker. I took real items that real 25 to 34 year olds buy every single week and I looked at what they cost in 2010 versus what they cost today. A McDonald's meal that was $5.29 in 2010 is now $16.79. That is not 52%. That is over 200%. A pack of bacon, ground beef, dish soap, car insurance, health insurance, rent on a one bedroom apartment, a college education, a new construction home. Every single one of them has gone up more than 100%. Most of them more than double the official number.

I also walk through what has gone up the least since 2010. Video games, smart TVs, streaming devices, hotel rooms, cell phone plans, Bud Light. Nothing you actually need. Just the things that keep you distracted and comfortable enough not to notice what is happening to everything else.

I break down Kevin Warsh's statement on price stability versus persistently high prices and why those two things are not the same sentence. I walk through the Dodge versus Ford 1919 court case that legally locked corporations into choosing shareholders over workers and why repealing it would do more for American wages than any tariff ever could. And I close with five things that would actually fix this system if anyone in Washington had the spine to do them.

They are lying about the economy on purpose. I am going to keep building the data to prove it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, whatever it is for you. Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit about the economy. Hard cut. Hard cut. I forgot. I don't own the producer. We gotta let it ride out. What a bop.

unknown 0:18

Epsilon.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Amen and hallelujah. We pray that the Epstein list makes its way into the public light, but today uh we are gonna be talking about the economy. What is the economy, by the way? If you were to define the economy, how would you define the economy? I'll tell you how our government normally defines the economy. I'll give you my definition for the economy, but again in the comments, if you're watching this live as we do this live Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, thanks for joining us. Um, how would you define the economy? The government typically, when asked around the strength of the economy, uh how the economy is doing, the outlook of it, um, a lot of times it's defined as the GDP, it's a gross domestic product. It's a mixture of five different items, has to do with imports, exports. Uh, you can look up the formula, we're not going through that today. Uh the GDP, which essentially like you can view that as just like our value as a country that we've created for either ourselves or internationally. Um, the stock market, stock market usually focused in or around the SP 500. The stock market, the Dow Jones, as we famously heard Pam Bondi in response to a why haven't we received Epstein transparency? Was the Dow Jones is over 50,000? What are we talking about? So the economy is referenced a lot, and the stock market is often utilized as the proxy there. And then we also get this word inflation. Inflation is utilized as an economic uh jeer uh many times utilized by this administration on the past. Uh, maybe rightfully so. Inflation was terrible during the post-COVID 2021 to 2024 regime, and is the bane of most of our existence. But do you know what cumulative inflation is since 2010? Do you know what cumulative inflation is since 2010? What is cumulative inflation? Okay. The third and and and and probably at this moment most talked about variation of how our government describes the economy is inflation. Inflation, the stock market, and the GDP. Now, cumulative inflation is important. It's how much prices have increased over a large basket of goods and services that are tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. How much have those prices increased? How much if we just gathered them all together, weighted them upright, how much of price has gone up? Just think about it for a second. Since 2010, that is 16 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

16 years ago. That's sick. That's sick. 16 years ago is 2002. Maybe even 1998. That's it's not 2010. But it is.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

According to the Federal Reserve reporting off of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cumulative inflation, the amount that prices have increased, let's imagine a $1 item, right? That one dollar item in 2010 has now gone up 52.72%. 52.72%. Meaning that one dollar item is now a dollar fifty-two and point seven two. It's a dollar fifty-two. Let's say $1.53. Let's round up. That dollar item is now a dollar fifty-three. You could tell that to Arizona Green Tea. Maybe the uh the lone fighter, maybe Costco, some of the lone fighters, the hot dog, go hot dog in a soda. I read that number a couple months ago, and albeit at that point it was like 51-ish percent, now 52.72% since 2010. It's so underwhelming. But this is the government data. This this is what our government will tell you. Prices have increased since 2010. How do you feel about that? And based off how you more than likely feel about that number, which is, I feel like it should be higher. That's what most people would say. That's what most sane people would say. That's what most sane people would say when they hear inflation has been 52% since 2010. That dollar item's now a dollar fifty-two. That $300 item is $450. That $100 item is what $153. I think people think it's higher. And you've come to the right place because I might have some proof. I might have some proof for you. And I'm building this out. This is gonna be a summer-long project. I want you to follow it with me. It is the real inflation tracker. Now, the real inflation tracker, I'm gonna get into the semantics of how it works, uh, but I want to uh give my definition of the economy. I want to give Kevin Warsh's definition of his job in uh as the new Federal Reserve Chairman, what he thinks is his job and what he is doing and how he's portraying it, because I think it's important how they portray it. The PR, the marketing, guys, it's all theater, it's all psy-op in its own way. Which sounds really black, Billy, when you say it like that, but in its own way, everything is psyop. I'm a psyop. I'm a psyop in my own. I would be lying to you right now if I said, I would be lying to you right now if I said that in a year I hope that 10,000 people listen to each episode. I would be lying, and right now I think we're like 5,000, 4,000. I would be lying to you if I said that. Now, that's a psychological operation in my brain that I'm going to use to I'm gonna take better notes. I'm gonna utilize more video clips, I'm gonna shoot more often. I I I want to grow this. So I honestly try to create content that's gonna make you want to listen. And I do so in a way that I think is a bit more maybe morally based because I want you to know the truth of what's going on. I want you to be able to dissect real time what's happening in this economy, understand how we built this economy to where it is today, and give you some actionable takes that can make you a little better off in your life. I think that message is worth stating and worth hearing. So I want it to grow.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

I'm a psy-op.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

So put it however you want. Maybe Thomas Massey's a PSYOP. I think everything in its own way is a PSY-op. Which is why I don't dig into the the choosing of a political figure too heavy. It's why I don't get into uh taking in one source exclusively at all. It's why I choose to work pretty independently, even solo most times trying to find this information because it's part of me is like I just want to find it for myself. And I feel I may have found some proof that showcases that 52.72% that is given by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics is not correct. And to give you another uh number, real quick, to just soak on, I want you to really soak this in, guys. Let this sink into your brain. You ready?

SPEAKER_02 7:48

You ready?

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Income for a 25 to 34 year old, which is where I'm basing almost all of my numbers on exclusively moving forward. So if you're 25 to 34 years old listening, this is for you. If you know somebody, this is for them. If you have a parent who doesn't understand what's going on, this is for them. A grandparent, this is for them. All right, 24 to 34 years old. In 2026, the median 24, or I'm sorry, 25 to 34 year old is making $59,228. That is the median. Okay, that's better than average. Average is gonna be very skewed, probably skewed higher, because you have your outliers sit at the top. Median is a better way of finding true middle. Does that mean everybody's gonna fall into that category? No, there's people below that, there's people above that. That is the median. I'm gonna be taking in uh today uh that number and comparing it to 2010 to see can someone actually live better, making the same amount of money, the median income in America in 2026 that they did in 2010. Can they live the same lifestyle? Can you do the same things? Can you afford the same stuff? Can you can you pursue the American dream in 2026 the same way you could in 2010? I got the numbers, I'm gonna read through them. Okay, so we're gonna be at a very numbers-focused podcast today, but I need to start with my definition of the economy. My definition of the of the economy, my definition of the economy is from the big cucumber corporation, you got me, Colby. My definition is how can we measure the normal everyday person's ability to financially survive slash thrive in current conditions? The middle class, the working class, can they afford housing? Shelter? Do they have somewhere to go at the end of the day? Okay, can they afford health care? Are they gonna go bankrupt if they break their knee? Okay, can they get a car to go to and from? Can they get a phone to communicate? Can they keep the lights on? Can they put food in their fridge? Can they power the fridge? Simple, simple, simple, simple things. Can a normal everyday person in the working class do these things comfortably so that they can work without as much stress and anxiety about their home life and bring value to the economy? Guys, all of the value in that stock market I brought up earlier, one of the main things that our government will say, Well, the economy's doing well. Look at the stock market. You know who brings the value to the stock market? The working class. The working class. The working class brings the value to the stock market, to the economy. And so when I'm looking at the baseline spine foundation of how good or bad is our economy, I'm looking at the financial scenario that is being painted for the middle class. And if we want to look forward, if we want to know what it's gonna be in the future, let's look at the youth. Let's look at 24 to 34 or 25 to 34. I'm gonna get that right by the end of this podcast because I gotta say it a lot more times. So if I look at 2026's 25 to 34 year olds, the median income that is being made is $59,228. The median income of somebody in 2010 was making $34,500. So right then and there, if I were to just give those numbers, these government numbers, okay, if I were to just state those, the inflation number since 2010 and the income increase since 2010. If I just took those numbers and we ended this podcast, you would have no excuses. Because cumulative inflation since 2010, 52.7%. Income increase, 70%. Anywhere between 70 and 74% depends on which source you grab. So you've beaten inflation as long as you've kept up with the workforce. What's your excuse? What's your excuse? Why do you have a phone if you're poor? What what why do you why why do you have all these subscriptions? Why do you have Netflix if you're poor? You need to stop getting that coffee. You need to stop getting that coffee, that coffee that you love. That is what's making you broke. The the the the the the avocado toast and Starbucks and getting a sandwich from a sandwich store? You can't afford a house because you're getting a sandwich? You can't afford a house because you're buying lunch? You're you you need to work harder. You need to work harder. That's that's what these numbers say. You need to work harder. So what's the truth? Let's play a quiz.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Quick quiz. Ready? What is the inflation of a meal from McDonald's since 2010? What is the inflation of a McDonald's meal?

SPEAKER_03 13:02

I'll give you the exact meal, by the way. I'm gonna give you the exact meal. This is the drive-thru Phillips special on a budget. Ready? And I know it because I did it. Ready? I need you write this down if you'd like, if you really want to soak in and try to win this game, okay? If somebody in the live chat guesses the price exactly, I'll have something for you. Ready?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Here's the meal. Two McChickens. One McDouble. One side salad. A large sweet tea.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

How much did that cost in 2010?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

How much did that cost? How much did that meal? Two McChick.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Soak it in, guys. This is the special. This is the budget special. This is I need to fill up. I don't have a lot of money. I forgot to pack lunch. But heck, this is gonna cost almost about the cost of packing lunch anyway.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Two McChickens, a McDouble, a side salad, and a large sweet tea. How much does it cost? I'm gonna tell you that in a second.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

So when we talk about price increases, keep the guesses coming in. I'm gonna tell you in a second. This is perfect. Give your take your time. Take your time. When I look at these price increases, I look toward the Federal Reserve. Why? The Federal Reserve's second mandate is price stability. They need to keep prices stable for you and I. When Kevin Warsh came out in his first uh Federal Reserve chairman uh position meeting, he came out and said that price stability is the main goal of his tenure, and that persistently high prices have plagued the people of America. Yeah. He says though, but the recent past need no or need not be prologue. Let me actually play the video. I'm gonna play the video.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Inflation has been running well ahead of the Fed's long-stated inflation goal of 2%. That's been going on for more than five years. Persistently high prices are a burden for the American people. But the recent past need not be prologue. I am pleased to report that members of the FOMC are unambiguous and unanimous. This committee will deliver price stability.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Price stability versus persistently high prices. What's the difference there? It sounds like the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

It's not. Okay, the Federal Reserve is a giant psy-op.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

The Federal Reserve is a giant psy-off. Guys, you know what price stability means? He said price stability and persistently high prices in the same sentence, but they don't mean the same thing. When you say persistently high prices, what that means is that prices are too high. Right?

SPEAKER_04 16:01

Right? Am I crazy for saying that? Am I nuts? Am I nuts? I might be nuts. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

I'm just trying to grow some cucumbers in my garden. I don't know. I might be nuts. Persistently high prices. Agreed, Mr. Warsh. Agreed. Who, by the way, I liked the majority of his opening statements, but this sentence alone is a psyop. Our job is price stability, and we see that persistently high prices have plagued Americans. But the recent past need not be prologued. Fancy words, guy. Fancy vernacular, spectacular vernacular, if I mind. But here's the deal. Those are two different things price stability and persistently high prices. The Federal Reserve cannot deflate the economy. The Federal Reserve's job in price stability means prices stay what?

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Stable. They don't move. They stay still. They don't go up as much.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

The 2% inflation goal. They don't want prices to go up as much. But in the same sentence, you say persistently high prices is the problem. Well, if we keep the persistently high prices stable, what is that going to do if we don't increase wages? We gotta increase wages. That solves the problems. We don't have to go through a crash or a correction if people got paid what they need. If people made what they needed, we wouldn't have these problems. The reason the boomers didn't care that the CIA was using using heart attack guns. Look up the church committee, and then we're torturing people and going after all these different countries that seemingly just wanted to do their own thing. We're like, no, you need a central bank. Like they made enough money to live their life peacefully and normally. They could afford health care, housing, a normal life. So they didn't care. Why do you think people care so much today? They can't afford not to. Many of them. And those of us that do have the ability to afford not to are just choosing not to be blind to it. Shout out all my capitalists in the chat. You make enough money to get by. Don't stand on your morals stating I'm better than somebody else because I've made more money. Your position in life was certainly probably better, and you definitely put the work in to meet it. But the foundation in which you launched upon may not be the foundation someone else is getting to launch from. They may not have the gas in the tank to launch. They may not have the family support, the financial support, the friends to crash on the bed of. They may not have that. Their parents could have died when they were 12. You have no clue. You have no clue. Let's put that to the side. You've made it to the finish line. Fantastic. Can I argue now's the time to turn around and help more people finish? Price stability and persistently high prices are not the same thing. If they keep prices stable, that means persist persistently high prices stay around.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Does that make sense? Does that make sense? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

I hope that makes sense. Persistently high prices and price stability are not the same thing. Let's walk through some of the persistently high prices, shall we? Okay. So I just said McDonald's meal. Two McChickens, one McDouble, a side salad, a large sweet tea. The total cost of that meal. Two, one, one, um, boom. Did I get a did anyone say $5.29 in the chat? $5.29. $5.29. What's up, Dave? $5.29 was the cost in 2010 to get two McDouble, or I'm sorry, two McChickens, one McDouble, a side salad, and a large sweet tea. Anyone want to take a guess at what it is today?

SPEAKER_02 19:58

The price of that same exact meal today is over sixteen dollars. It's sixteen dollars and seventy-nine cents. That is an over two hundred percent increase. It's close to two hundred and twenty. A two hundred percent increase on on the value drive-thru meal. The quick fill up. Healthy? No.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

No, not even close. Not healthy. Not healthy. But she In fact, McDonald's, Walmart, and movie theaters. What do they have in common? McDonald's?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Movie theaters? What did I say was the middle one? McDonald's? I just said it.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Now it's gone. Walmart! It's back. McDonald's, Walmart!

SPEAKER_03 21:06

And movie theaters, you know what they have in common? They all did really well during the great financial crisis. Comparatively to the rest of the economy.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

They all did really well. They all did really well. Why?

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Well, the movie theater one is actually a really interesting kind of psychological thing. Not only were tickets cheaper, of course, the food's never been cheap. We we don't even need to look at movie theater food. I just spent $9 on a small IC at our local movie theater. Come on, Milford Movie Theater, do better.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

$9 for a small IC. Cheap tickets. They didn't have a job.

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Dad divorced. Mom needs something to do with the kids. She can't afford her bills. Her house is on the market, hasn't sold in two years. She's gonna go take the kids to a movie and disconnect from reality for a little bit. Okay, movie theaters did really well. McDonald's and Walmart also comparatively did well because they were cheap. All these lower to mid-income businesses actually kind of did okay as people were cutting back. Okay, McDonald's is seeing the opposite right now. Walmart is seeing the opposite right now. You can look up articles. Look up Walmart higher income customers. McDonald's higher income customers. Chipotle, higher income customers. It's happening all across the board where the higher echelon of clientele is supporting what normally was supporting the lower to middle class, the working class, the ones that bring the majority of all the value to this economy.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

So what else went up? Oh, I'm gonna tell you.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

And by the way, the documentation, not the full website, because this is all gonna be on a website. I'm gonna get this all on a website. Our Trump tracker tracking all of Trump's economic promises he made pre-campaign. I have them in a document attached to all the proof and data showcasing where and where he isn't coming through on those promises. Around housing, around the economy. We have a housing crash tracker predicting the likelihood of a future crash and where we are at. We have an affordability index through the years. When was it actually most affordable to live in America? And we also have our corruption map: five spheres of corruption from Israel, Epstein, the government, big tech, and finance. And now we're creating the real inflation tracker. All of these are going to be hosted on one website, and it is going to be our YouTube members who get access to that first. And you're also going to get at the end of this month access to all of this documentation, all of the data, all of the tables, all of the spreadsheets. Not the physical website yet, because it's not ready. All of our dollar club members. And by the way, shout out to six people that are now in the big dollar club, as well as we passed 150 total members here on YouTube. Love that. And for all my listeners on Spotify Apple, don't feel unincluded. Love you too. So what else has gone up in price? Let's read through it. Actually, let's start with least. Let's start with least. I think least is coolest. What's gone up the least since 2010? I want you to throw a couple guesses in your head real quick. What do you think has not gone up in price since 2010? This is a fun game. Think about it. Think about it.

SPEAKER_04 24:16

In a psyopy world where bread and circus is reign free, entertainment cheaply is the only way to ensure the cattle never notice what's going on. You ensure they're sickly, and what they can't afford doesn't assist them in growing in parallel with one another to further themselves from division to step up in the up first down battle. We can't allow that.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

What would you allow to not go up in price? Let's read. New video game releases.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

Some of the least amount of inflation. All these are under 40% inflation, by the way. A smart TV, a Roku streaming device, a checked bag fee, the national average cost of hosting a wedding, a cell phone plan, a six-pack of Bud Light, Renter's insurance, whole milk, one terabyte of external memory, the average and uh national cost of holding a funeral, Nike Air Max 90s, and a hotel room.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Whiskey also on here. Wine, also on here, many other tobacco products, and nicotine products, and a lot of other excursionary things.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Nothing seems too necessary, right? Did anything in here seem necessary to you? Maybe whole milk? You're kinda icky if you're drinking whole milk, come on. Maybe for coffee. Maybe for coffee, but the cost of coffee's gone up significantly, as I'm about to say, so that doesn't help you. You drinking whole milk plain, you monster?

SPEAKER_02 26:10

You beast, you okay? So that had the least amount of inflation. Least amount of inflation. What had the most inflation though?

SPEAKER_03 26:23

What had the most inflation since 2010? And then here at the end, I'm gonna tell you I actually did the numbers again for a 25 to 34 year old living in 2010 versus 2026. I'm gonna tell you what their income was, what their expenses were, the difference between the two in the two years, and is it more or less possible to be a 25 to 34 year old living out the American dream in America now than 16 years ago? I got all the costs weighted. I have it right here. Right here. By the way, yes, the cost of building a computer is significantly higher. I need to go back to the first computer build I did between the motherboard, the fans, the cooling system, the memory, the RAM, the SSDs, HDDs, like everything. I look at I'm like, yo, these prices are nuts. What had the most inflation though? Let's read through it. I have a lot on this. Now, all the items I'm about to read for you, just to be very clear. Again, the inflation index, the CPI index, the cumulative inflation, according to the Federal Reserve, via data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, claims an inflation over a large basket of items. I believe the basket's about 30,000 deep, weighted properly around the necessities of Americans, is 52.72%. Remember that number. Since 2010 have gone up more than 100% at minimum.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

And I'm gonna read from least to highest. Ready? Deodorant. A baby stroller.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

A 2x4x8 framing stud. Adult denim jeans. Rent on a one-bedroom apartment. Rent on a two-bedroom apartment. Rent on a three-bedroom apartment. Residential internet services. A pack of bacon. Health insurance. The median home price of a resale home. The median sale price of a new construction home. Four new car tires.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

A gas-powered push lawn mower. A toilet. Ceiling fans. Netflix. Which by the way has gotten so much more expensive. Holy cow. A Taco Bell crunchy taco. Dawn dish soap, twenty-four ounces. White sugar.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Five pound bag.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

OBS sheeting, seven by sixteen inches. Plywood, four by eight sheet. Coffee.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

A pound of ground beef. Car insurance.

SPEAKER_02 29:26

How do we feel about that?

SPEAKER_03 29:28

By the way, how do we feel about all of those items being more than a hundred percent higher? Doubled the reported rate. And some tripled, by the way. I think dish soap and above is 150%. My coffee drinkers can probably speak to this. The cost of coffee. My my guys focus on their macros. Ground turkey, ground chicken, ground beef. We've seen the price increase. You drive a car. The median car payment has gone from $175 off the lot to $475 off the lot.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Just a used car. I'm not talking about a brand new car. Used car.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

So maybe you're getting something that's $320 if you're really, really, really get low. Burn, burner. You remember that one? Drop it, drop it, low girl.

SPEAKER_04 30:34

Can we talk about how music's all just decided? It's all about drugs or or fucking or or drinking or partying or you know uh how much I want to hook up because I broke up or like just constantly.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

I'm not trying to be boomer here, but man, what why why why is Sabrina Carpenter and and the the the the one the one chick, the pink pony club, like it's just constant. I can't and listen, I'm a huge rap head, have been a hip hop head since I was a young kid. I cannot listen to that anymore. And I think like, yo, they're just they're all just committing crimes. Or going to clubs I don't know the name of. It's like this isn't life, bro. Everything you're talking about is so empty. And then I'll look at like Christian music or different like uh like uh spiritual stuff, and it all sucks. It all sucks. I just listen to music with sounds, and then I was just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then some other guy will say, When you're listening to deep bass sounds, it's actually activating a uh lower energy field for you, and you don't want to do that. I'm like, shit, am I allowed to listen to anything except brown noise? 420 megahertz sounds, sound waves? All right. Um, hey, by the way, quick update on the Iran thing that has a lot to do with the economy. Inflation has gone up to over 4%, PPI inflation above six. I will let you know the straight-of-for moves is partially open. I know they've they've been reports, it's definitely open, reports is definitely closed. As of Monday morning, the 23rd, it is partially open. I personally watched on the Maritime Tracker, on the edited version here. I'll just go ahead and put this over top. Uh, we've watched about 20 ships go through in the past 24 hours. That is higher than the five of Sunday. So there's momentum upward toward the 135, the 150, at which it used to be. Uh crude oil by barrel is about $73, now about 10 or so, $12 or so dollars back to pre-war levels. Uh, all while yesterday, uh, Israel did shoot fire and kill uh two Lebanese individuals, and they are calling it a breach of the ceasefire. As well as on Sunday, Trump tweeted that he would destroy their nation and not let their mediators get back to Iran, uh, threatening them. And they said that was a direct um direct breakage of their deal, their MOU. So we don't really have updates on that, but you know, Wednesday and Friday, we will give them when they're ready. Let me read through real quick just to finalize this, and then I want to go through a couple suggestions on how we could fix things. Can I do that? Can I finish with how we could fix things? Can I finish with how we could fix things?

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Because I want to walk away with a little bit of hope.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Just a little bit of hope that uh we can move forward as a society, and I think it's possible. I do think it's possible. Alright, but first, let's bring the stark reality to the front. By the way, if you're listening to this and you're over the age of 45 and you think everybody that's young is stupid and lazy, I just said that on my protein shake. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

This part's for you.

SPEAKER_03 33:44

I took all of the necessary items for a young individual to get by. I am only counting single individuals, and that's the majority of individuals at this point under the age of 30. If you were to look back into the data, you would find that individuals under the age of 30 were married and owned a home at a rate of 51% as of just a few years ago. Here in 2026, the number is 12%. 12% of under 30-year-olds are married and own a home. So I'm going to assume that a single man or woman that is renting a property is who we should be focusing today, as we focus on 25 to 34 year olds. So the average 25 to 34-year-old is making $59,228 single living in an apartment renting. So we have housing cost since 2010, that's up 102%. We have grocery cost since 2010, that's up 85%. We have car plus gas and insurance since 2010. That's up 107%. Healthcare cost since 2010 up 77%. Utilities, water, electric, since 2010, up 134%. And insurance for his car and renters insurance up a measly 80% since 2010, with clothing also peaking at above 89% in inflation since 2010. So in 2010, the average 35 to 30, or since 2010, the median 25 to 34 year old was making $34,500, which is about 74% less than what they were making in 2026. So obviously someone in 2026 is doing better, right? Let's look at the numbers. So in 2020, so in 2010, the income that someone was receiving per month when they were between the ages of 25 and 34, they were taking home after taxes and social security $2,289 in monthly income. But the basket of goods that they had to cover to sustain their single livelihood in their rental property was $2,121. Again, housing, grocery, car gas, healthcare, utilities, two forms of insurance and clothing. Just some basics. Then when we take the taxes out of the income, they're left with $2,289 and the expenses are $2,121, leaving them a surplus of $168. So they had $168 extra every single month, assuming they'll help and they had to cover all their bare minimum needs. What does that number look like in 2026? In 2026, someone making $59,228, which is the median income today of a 25 to 34 year old. They are making every single month after taxes $3,978. That is a 74% increase from 2010. The 2010 income, $2,289. But the expenses of paying for the same exact items that I just listed housing, grocery, car and gas, healthcare, utilities, insurance two ways, and clothing is now $4,618. That is up 118% since 2010, meaning now you are not in a surplus. You are now down $640 every single month. You're down money. You are losing money every month as a single man or woman trying to live by the basics. I didn't even include if you had a credit card debt. I didn't even include if you have to have a child with childcare, babysitting, I didn't assume that you had any type of child you had to get food for, clothing for, care for. I didn't include deodorant. Okay. I didn't include a slew of items that could also be categorized very fairly as necessities, and you're down $640 a month, but you're being told by our government, our Federal Reserve that because the stock market's performing well, that you should be happy? That because inflation is gonna be stabilized, that you should be happy, it's being stabilized at prices you can't sustain. And just 16 years ago, just 16 very short years ago, it was doable. Dual minimum wage and a household, doable, median single income earner, doable. You didn't have to have a side hustle, you didn't have to have a gig, you didn't have to go out and do extra items, extra things, take on extra jobs. And if you did, you were gonna be well off. You were gonna be comfortable. Now you'd have a thousand dollar surplus, a two thousand dollar surplus, and you could save, invest, travel, do whatever you wanted to do. Now that's not the case, and you're being told it's not that not the case, it's otherwise. You're being told otherwise, and that's not fair. They're lying. The numbers are showing it verbatim. They're lying. They don't want you to know they're lying. They want you to think you're lazy, you're crazy, you're dumb, you're a Democrat, you're a Magtard, you're what whatever they want to throw the war. I don't care what concoction of political uh dunkage that you can throw at me. Like, I I'll get called a super MAGA Trump supporter on one post, I'll get called a Democrat liberal on the other. Like, are you really tracking Biden? Oh my god, you really just hate Trump. Man, this guy is a Trump apologist. Hell he loves Iran.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

I'm looking at numbers.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

I'm just looking at numbers. I'm just looking at numbers. I'm just looking at numbers. God forbid the the the the the girl that you're living with, you're engaged to, you love her, but you weren't planning to have a kid and now you got a kid, and now you're paying $13.50 a month in childcare because both of y'all got jobs. Who else gonna take care of the kid? Well, the parents could take care of it. Her mom died when she was 12. His parents were in Alabama, now they're in Delaware. Um like again, the constant resortment to, well they could, well they could, well they could. Brother, they didn't have to do that back then. That wasn't what they and and if there was another income added to this 2010 figure and they had a kid, they would have enough of a surplus to more than take care of it. Because the prices weren't exorbitant and they made enough money. That's why the problem with all of this is not finding some way to make the housing market crash. It's not some magical way to get Walmart to cut the prices by 40%. There's not some way to do that without a seismic collapse of not just our economy. I'm talking a seismic collapse so large that it affects and ripples majorly throughout the entire world for years. Okay, 2008 should have been longer, harder, and have many more banks and businesses fail, but they bailed them out. Okay? They bailed them out. What makes you think if we were to start seeing that seismic collapse come up in front of us again, and I've said this 87 times, and I'm about to say for the 88th, which means I'm saying it more than once a show on average, I guess. They're gonna print money. They're gonna print money, which means they save the big businesses, they save the big banks, and they inflate the economy, which means assets go up, which means you need to hold an asset if you're gonna survive the economy, and all the costs continue to go up while wages are not, because corporations aren't encouraged to, which brings us to our fixes. Guys, are we all up to date? Are we caught up? You're not crazy. You're not crazy. Let me read this again: a McDonald's meal has gone up over 215%. A value drive-thru menu meal has gone up 215% since 2010. A 25 to 34 year old in 2010, the median income, $34,500. His expenses for the basic necessities was $2,121. His income after taxes and Social Security would be $2,289, meaning he had a $168 surplus. You take those same exact numbers, you apply to 2026, same medians and same basket of goods, and you get an income of $3,978 a month with expenses at $4,618, leaving not a surplus but a deficit of $640. That's just math. Why does it well why does everything have to fall into a political ideology? Why does every word out of anyone's mouth have to fall into they're red, they're blue, they're red, they're blue, they're green, they're purple. Can we just look at numbers? Can we just state there's a problem in the numbers? In the spine of our economy, the thing that makes our economy run. The definition I would give this economy is how well can an individual in the working class survive, if not thrive, in the current economic conditions. And when I just do the math on the current economic conditions, I don't see surviving, nevertheless, thriving.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

I don't see, I don't see it. I didn't even include a student debt into that. I didn't include if they had to get dog food. I didn't include if God forbid they want to take a go on a date.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

Go to the movies, spend 40 bucks now. Like I'm not even including that. Not including the vacation. Man, people be working at Sears back in the day and taking their family on two weeks' vacations every year, one week at minimum, every year. Let's go to South Carolina, let's go to Myrtle Beach. Let's get a beach house. Dad, you're the shift manager at Sears. How are you doing this? Mom's an assistant substitute teacher. Yeah, well, prices are what they are. And now you're being told you're lazy, crazy, you're dumb because prices are not what they were. All right. What are some fixes? What uh now I I say this as somebody um who has prepared like actual documentation on how we could fix the economy. And maybe we should do a whole episode on that. Put a one in the chat if we should just do a whole episode on that. I have like actual like legislative text uh in legalese on how we could simply fix a couple facets of the economy theoretically. All right. And I presented uh these ideas to now six different. Congressmen, which I will not name, uh, but six different congressmen. I'd say four took it seriously. Uh, I haven't heard action or anything else from the majority of them. Uh, so I'm not saying that I'm gonna make any major change or that they're gonna do anything with it, but how could we actually fix it? Okay, I do have that documentation. We can go over that another day, but I'm just gonna give you three real quick. Okay, wages, housing, and healthcare. Wages, housing, and healthcare. I've said before, I think everybody in America would settle down quite a bit if they knew that they could afford shelter, if they could be medically taken care of without going bankrupt, and they could simply live a normal life at their disposal.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

I don't want the government involved. Let me live my life.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

I don't want to have to worry about the government stuff. Let me live my life. I could see people were affording homes and could get a car if one broke down, could afford four new tires if they needed to, they were working their 40 hours like they're supposed to, and they can get by and have a normal life and they can at least survive mathematically. If they put in a little extra work, maybe they thrive. If I saw that environment, I wouldn't be talking about this.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

That's not the environment we're in. So let me start backwards.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

Healthcare. Um, let's look something up together real quick. I want to look something up that I have not actually confirmed on my notes real quick.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

There we go. Let's see, I'm trying to get the actual number.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

See, I'm getting different numbers now and that's where I might not even say it. I might not even say it because I don't want to. Yeah, I might not say it because I'm getting so many different numbers.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

Does anyone know a year's cost of Medicare for All? Does anyone know a year's cost of Medicare for All? I've seen differing numbers from uh 18 or uh 8 trillion to like 20 trillion. Like, what's the number? I don't know the number. Okay. But here's the thing. I abide by the Bernie Sanders theology.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

I have abided by the Bernie Sanders theology from nearly all of his takes.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

One of his largest takes that I have held on to is this idea that if we actually provided Medicare for all, that it would stimulate the economy so drastically that it would lead to benefits that supersede its cost. And I'm not gonna give the specific number because I'm getting multiple numbers. I should have I that's the one note I missed before this. I'm so sorry. So sorry.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

It's very expensive.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Okay?

SPEAKER_02 47:10

The cost would dwarf our our military industrial spend. It's very expensive. But did you know 60% plus of our labor force doesn't work?

SPEAKER_03 47:26

We have a 60 plus percent labor force un non-participation in the labor, I think is the actual term, non-participation in the labor force. Plus 60%. Six out of ten people. Now some of those people retired. Some of those people uh already made their their their career worth and they're kind of you know just doing it early. Alright. The his theology is not Judaism. I've seen him speak out against Israel a ton. I've seen him speak out against Israel a ton. Don't tell me that about Bernie. Maybe I'm misspeaking, but I haven't heard him say anything crazy like that. I'll keep an eye out. I always say I like somebody and then they'll say, they say this. I'm like, shit.

SPEAKER_02 48:07

I'm always open to finding out I'm wrong, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Um but between him and others, I've seen many different uh theories that if we were to be able to support, like, let's say out of those six to ten that aren't working, how many aren't working because they're medically unable? How many, how many people uh are not as healthy as they should be and aren't working as hard, not bringing as much productivity? How many people uh can't afford the right medicines that they need to be medically, uh to be mentally 100% there, to have the energy that they need? How how many people need to see a nutritionist or have blood work done that could actually uh double, triple, quadruple their their output? And I know a person's life isn't labor output, but theoretically speaking, if you had more people that were actually able to go into the workforce because they were medically taken care of, if you have more people that stayed healthier longer because they were medically taken care of, and you had people that were able to get treated quickly as needed, uh, and they would be back to work healthier and readier than ever. And at the very least, they had the thought process in their brain gone of if I were to break my leg or my kid needs to go in, well, I'm not gonna be able to afford it.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

I'm not gonna be able to afford it.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

I think that's I think there's room for the debate, and at the very least, we need to find out a way to make healthcare affordable. And if I were in charge, the first thing I would do is put together a committee of really smart people to come up with a way that we could do this or at least project out what would be the economic benefits, not just the economic cost, because we can print money. We printed 4 trillion before.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Just to save banks. We can't print more to save you? All I'm saying is it's about priorities. We just gave 300 billion to Iran. It's about priorities. Number two, housing. Number two, housing.

SPEAKER_03 50:00

If people could afford a shelter, I think they would care a lot less about the crap going on in the government. I think they would. Should they? No. But if you want less attention on you, bro, find a way for people to be able to survive. Couple ways I think we could do this. Number one, we need to build more homes. That's the that's the beginning of the debate. Supply and demand. We need to build more homes. Well, Zach, that's gonna lower prices in certain areas. I don't care. I don't care about boomer wealth being upheld. I do not care about builders being able to make large profit margins. I do not care. I do not care about the NIMBY's that don't want it in their backyard either. We need more homes. We need to build more vertically. We need to build more townhomes. We need to build more row homes. We need to build more affordable condos. We need to eliminate the majority of the cost that goes into HOAs when they don't actually influence anything. We need to lower home insurance costs. We need to improve our economy to the point where bond rates drop and mortgage rates come down. We need to create a federal first-time home buyer program that can be funded by fees that we charge investors buying rental properties. We can wean off investors all while supporting the first-time buyer. We need to eliminate corporations from ever being able to buy another single-family home and any property that hits the market, just like Canada. We need to wait 45 days before an offer could even be received by someone who doesn't plan to live in it. And at the very least, that could be implemented, if not a full ban. We also need to have a divestment period for the next 10 years of anybody who owns more than 100 units that are single family. If you want to have an apartment complex, whatever. All right. Single families, you know, more than 100, 5 to 10 year divestment period. We slowly drip back onto the market, we slowly start seeing price decreases and homes hitting there in those smaller square foot ranges. Because by the way, investors they don't buy big homes to rent out, they buy the small ones. So all those affordable homes you're not seeing, guess who has them? Okay, I think there's solutions. I think there's solutions. Okay, housing is a huge one. We need more homes, we need an ability to finance them, and we need to wean off the main competition that is driving prices up, and that is speculators. A third of all homes purchased in 2025 are purchased by investors. So we need to get the speculators out. And the last one, wages. Guys, if we do not get wages up, nothing gets solved. I'm telling you right now, if we do not get wages up on average by household for the normal working day uh person, the bottom 90%, we are going to have problems. I don't care what else you do. I don't care what else you do, because inflation will not stop. And Zach, that's a really doomer outlook, brother. The economy is supposed to inflate. Our debt-based, free market, macro corporate favoring, neoliberal economy based off the fractional reserve credit creation system requires inflation. Okay? You may hate that. Move to another country. I love that, by the way. I'm not downplaying moving to another country or saying, you're a traitor. Move to another country, go to Italy. Sounds cool. Like Greece. That sounds awesome. Right? If you don't like it, you can move. Is certain countries more expensive than move to? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You may not have the opportunity. You may not have the opportunity. Okay? Not like you can't move. Like, move. All right. There's also opportunity to move to cheaper areas in America. Okay? Cheaper areas in America. Especially if you're digital. You work digitally? Brother, move somewhere more affordable. Especially if you're single, move somewhere more affordable. And it could be your mom's basement. It could be your mom's basement, by the way. All for the mom's basement. All for the uncle's third bedroom. All for the friend's couch. Why? Because it is much cheaper than renting. And you can stack up your pennies in the meantime.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Wages. How do we get wages up? Can I tell you a few ways I think we get wages up? Um, I'm just gonna give one, and it's gonna be the easiest, simplest, most effective way of doing it immediately. You cannot purchase your own stocks. Like, check it out.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

Do you know why the stock market is bubbled? Do you know why everyone thinks that there's going to be a crash? Do you know why everybody believes from the Warren Buffett indicator that just vibes that the stock market is overvalued? It is because more than 70%. It's 70%. Some say it's even higher. It's it's closer to 90% when you include investor payouts and dividends. 70%, we'll stick with that number. 70% of money, profit that comes from these corporations gets spent on their own stock. Seven out of ten dollars that clear the barrier, that pass the expenses, we've paid our wages, we paid for the marketing, we paid for the uh the catering at last night's dinner, we paid for everything, we have profit now. What are we gonna do with it? Let's just buy our own stock.

SPEAKER_04 55:03

We can do that?

SPEAKER_03 55:04

Yeah, we can do that. We can't allow them to do that anymore. Secondarily, there needs to be some form of, and I know you're gonna say, Zach, I knew it. You were funded by China the whole time. Damn it, Zach, we knew you were funded by the Chinese. I think there needs to be some kind of limit set on the amount of profits that can get utilized toward anything other than increasing the status of its workers, increasing the productivity of its labor force, paying more, benefits, better hours, holiday, improving technology that allows them to be more efficient, better training, expansion of labor, like more of them, hiring, uh, creating a security fund to prevent again against potential layoffs in the future due to poor finances. Like, there has to be something. There has to be something. Oh, by the way, how about we go back to the 1910s? I believe it was 1916. I might be being dyslexic, maybe it was 1919. The Dodge v. Ford case, where a court ruled in front in in favor of the Dodge brothers that shareholders are more important than employees. That's a real court case. Dodge v. Ford. The Dodge brothers formerly worked for Ford, received some stock from Ford when they worked there. Then when the Dodge brothers did their own thing, eventually would sue Henry Ford because Henry Ford started increasing the income for its workers, started increasing the income and lowered the work week in terms of hours. So people were going to work for Ford. Now, was Ford doing this because he just loved people? No. He was doing it to prevent labor unions from popping up. He was doing this as a negotiating tactic, and he wasn't really the greatest of people. He was pretty much one of the same economic juggernauts of the time that were belittling the people. But regardless, the court ruled in favor of the Dodge brothers to say that shareholders had more value than the labor force. We need to repeal that. We need to repeal it, we need to repeal it stat. Okay? We need to repeal it and we need to repeal it stat. And if you really wanted to bring jobs back to America, you wouldn't do it via tariffs. You'd do it by walking back things like NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. You'd you would do it by walking back some of the legislation that allowed for these companies to send jobs overseas. Cut it off by the neck. Cut it off by the neck. Maybe include a little bit of tariff, but cut it off by the neck. I believe there needs to be some form of accountability for the corporations to keep our country moving, the banks to keep the spine of the spinal fluid of liquidity running through our entire system, some accountability around making sure the money comes down to us, but frankly, there's none of that. So for any of these three things to happen, we need new legislation around how laws are created. We need to get people in Congress to favor people over profits. We need to get people in Congress that are subject to listening to us, their constituents, the people that voted for them rather than companies. We need to get rid of corporate lobbying immediately. We need to eliminate foreign lobbying immediately. We need to have term limits set up for those that are put in place and age limits that are set up for those that are put in place. And we need to ensure that those people are all elected fairly. So super PACs can have no involvement in any of the elections. And if those five things were to happen and people were to make their way in without being donated to, contributions were not available, lobbying was not available. They only had a certain amount of time in office. And by the way, they're not going to get paid any more than the median price of the people they represent, which is probably less than what they make right now. Go figure. They're not only going to work for nine months, we're going to push that up to 11. Haha, 9-11. And then we're then going to ensure that they're actually meeting on issues that matter because we're not going to allow omnibus bills. We can't have the omnibus bill, all these thousands of things stacked into one bill. We cannot have that. Okay. And I would develop an app, by the way. I would develop an app that links to your phone in your district. And when there's something that this person has to vote on that is in your district, you should be able to go into your app to see what they're going to be voting on and give your thought process on how they should vote. And at the very least, then we'd have data showing you're not doing what your representatives want. There's solutions to certain things to add transparency, to ensure people are in office for the purpose of people over profit, and we're not doing them.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

We're just not doing them. If we did some, maybe even less, like more, I there's things that could be done, and we're not doing them.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

So instead, the tech bros said, we have a way of solving this, and it's AI governance. That's what it's going to resort to. CBDCs and AI governments and a security state. That's the solution they want. That other one that I just mentioned, that's the solution I want. All right, I don't like that. By the way, I saw a video going around about data centers with Theo Vaughn, and people were wrecking them. They were like, well, Theo Vaughn, like Mark Andreessen of all people, retweeted him like, hey, Theo, I got something to tell you about your podcast. And he was referencing the fact that his very podcast was streaming out and through a data center. The fact that you're listening to this podcast right now, by the way, means that the data flowed through one, if not multiple, data centers. Data centers have been around for decades. But that is a very, very dull take. Because what Theo was actually referencing is very sound. He was referencing AI data centers that have AI GPUs. And these AI-based GPUs require much more water to keep them cooled because they get really hot. And so it's utilizing a lot of water. And that system also creates a lot of noise, creating the vibrating noise that people are hearing in or around their eras. And by the way, these because they're AI-based, they create less jobs than typical data centers. So they have less jobs, more noise, and more water being taken out of nature. They're not the same thing. And anybody who tries to hit you with that debate, make sure you hit them with some facts.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:15

Make sure you hit them with some facts. And that's all the facts I have for you today.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

I believe they're lying about the economy. I believe they're doing it purposefully so to ensure that you feel gaslit around your actual financial situation while the rich and the elite get richer and richer. The Zionist billionaires are the ones conducting their theology across the entire world via their money, their wealth, their power, and their mammon for more of it. And the tech bros are somewhere mixed in trying to institute some type of surveillance, CBDC, digital current or digital currency and digital security state, because that will be the quote unquote only way to fix it. We know the problems. We can fix it. We can use real numbers. I'm gonna get this all on a website, and maybe we can present this to more people that can actually create solutions with it. That's what I hope. I hope we create a large enough platform here on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple that one day we can create lasting economic change that ripples throughout the next generations. My daughters, your sons, your kids, and your future life can be better, and we can do it as a community, and we can do it with real data. I love you so freaking much. I hope you're planting a garden. I hope you're taking care of your body, and I hope you're taking care of your spirit. Let me pray you out. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ. Not the American church version of you, but the one that I read about in the four gospels. Thank you for speaking out for the people that are being belittled. Thank you for challenging authority. Thank you for being an example of how we should face the religious leaders of the time that are utilizing their religious powers and their political powers to orchestrate their ideology onto the people. Thank you for teaching us how to fight that. Thank you for teaching us to spread love, not hate, to give to others and not hoard. Thank you for telling us these earthly treasures are meaningless and that the sins of our life are only holding us back as men and women from being the best versions of ourselves. I hope we chase discipline. I pray that we seek peace, and I pray that everybody within the sound of my voice can feel better for being a part of it. One team, one dream. In your name. Amen. Love you guys. Stick around for next episode on Wednesday with Sean in the booth.