PLATE & PONDER: Empty-Nesting with Jen & Chris Fenton
Join a powerhouse married couple—empty nesters turning their kitchen table into a hub for unfiltered conversations on life's big questions. She's a dedicated inner-city charter school director, elected official, and former school board president; he's a seasoned media executive, professor, and author. Together, with decades of experience in parenting, politics, public service, and purpose, they sip wine, share a meal, and dive deep into current events, cultural shifts, geopolitical headlines, and the hilarious highs and lows of empty-nest life.
Expect candid debates, heartfelt stories, intriguing interviews, belly laughs, and no-holds-barred insights that challenge your views and spark your curiosity. Perfect for fans of thoughtful political podcasts, relationship dynamics, and real-talk commentary.
Unscripted. Unfiltered. Unapologetically real. Grab a seat—new episodes weekly. Download & Follow now to join the conversation!
PLATE & PONDER: Empty-Nesting with Jen & Chris Fenton
Tanking Oscars Ratings, Celebs on Ozempic, Fenton's A.D.D., & the Unpaid TSA
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
PLATE & PONDER EPISODE DROPS — CHAOS MODE ACTIVATED!
Chris Fenton’s MASSIVE A.D.D. is running the show (apologies to Jen who has to keep the show on track... sort of!) as he bounces from topic to topic like a pinball on Red Bull!
He roasts the annoyances of getting OLD (yes, he now owns his own blood pressure machine — full grandpa era unlocked ), drags Hollywood for its jaw-dropping lack of self-awareness (everyone please get out of THE BUBBLE - for the sake of our Industry!), tears into the TERRIBLE Oscar ratings (and we wonder why? Where are the big stars? Clooney, Damon, Affleck, Pitt, Cruise, etc etc), goes deep on the Iran War & climate change madness, calls out celebrities who are WAY too skinny (actually this bugs Jen more than Chris), and asks the million-dollar question: WHY THE HELL AREN’T WE PAYING TSA WORKERS MORE?!
Zero filter. Zero chill. Pure rant energy. AND JEN REIGNS IT IN. Somehow... She really does work magic at times!
If you love unhinged real talk with zero Hollywood BS, this one’s for you.
Listen now — And let us know what topic hit you hardest? Drop it in a DM to @thedragonfeeder or @feeding.the.dragon!
And follow, download, enjoy, engage, and review!!!!
#PlateAndPonder #ChrisFenton #OscarsFail #HollywoodExposed #TSAWorkers #ADDRealTalk #GettingOldSucks
We play it and we ponder. We ponder and we played. Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, it's different music today.
SPEAKER_00It's vibe in corporate like generic. Like when you're walking into the global retreat at the Fairmont Hotel Koalane or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Either that or like the hiring video that you watch.
SPEAKER_00Oh yes. Welcome. We do not accept any sort of behavior that might be seen as undisciplined or harassment of any course. We are Plate and Ponder. Uh empty nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We do have Jen here. Yay!
SPEAKER_01I'm back again at my own show.
SPEAKER_00Uh, you are? Yeah. With corporate fun music in the background. True. Human resources music.
SPEAKER_01Can we go right into a conversation about the Oscars?
SPEAKER_00We can.
SPEAKER_01We spent a lot of time on Sunday talking about the Oscars.
SPEAKER_00I will say, though, in the background, there's a little bit of a hum. Does anybody know what that hum is? It is. Oh, the air conditioning. The air conditioning. Why? Because it's mid-March, of course. Mid-March, 95 degrees at the beach. What is it in Woodland Hills today? I believe 103?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I did talk to Dylan on my way home from work because he helped me with my uh basketball bracket. And I said, but I mean, I don't mean to brag right now, but it's 91 degrees. And I said, What's it, uh, what's it like in Montreal? He's like, seven.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Okay, sorry, buddy. I don't mean to be, you know, I don't need to be mean and rub it in your face, but I am sweating balls here and you're not sweating balls.
SPEAKER_00We don't need to get into this because we are PG-rated, but you're definitely not sweating balls. Um I will say that I this weird thing happened to me today where I was watching a little bit of the news in the morning getting ready while we had workers at the house fixing a leak, which by the way, why are we fixing a leak? Because I don't it it literally today it feels like it might not rain for the next century.
SPEAKER_01Take it out of the universe. Anyway, please just take this out of the universe.
SPEAKER_00It's pretty unbelievable how hot it is in March. I I think we're breaking all kinds of records, not by like one degree, but like ten. Um, but I was wondering, um, and it's it's sort of brutal like what's happening with this Iran conflict, but they keep bombing now. Um Iran is bombing different installations of natural gas and fossil fuel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, is that why gas prices are through the roof and so are airplane fares?
SPEAKER_00Well, that might be because we live in California, number one. But um we do have very high uh just before this conflict, we had six dollar gas. So it's like we're at It was not that high. It was like five, well, it was like five nineteen or five twenty nine.
SPEAKER_01Five nineteen is not six dollars.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well that's an exaggeration. I do remember back in the day when you're like, oh, let's go, we're gonna buy a house, and you're like, oh, okay, what's the you know, what's the limit? And I'm just gonna throw a limit on there. It's like, oh, the the limit is is a million dollars. Oh, okay, and then I see you bring a uh like an advertisement and it says, you know, this beautiful house, and I look at it and the price is $1.99 million dollars, and I'm like, it had a one in it, yeah. Like that's not, but anyway, the five $519, yes, I get it. It's not $5.99, but it's getting close now. It's now it's well over six bucks, I think, everywhere. It might even be higher than that. But what what crossed my mind today was just this insanity of like uh fossil fuel use and and greenhouse effect and climate change and all this stuff that Bill Gates was like pushing. And and by the way, I I I agree. Like, there's foster all climate change is real, it's partially natural, it's partially uh man-made for sure.
SPEAKER_01We've talked about this a little bit.
SPEAKER_00We don't want uh our earth to be essentially uh a garage filled with uh a running car, like that is not healthy for anyone. It doesn't take uh any sort of science for that.
SPEAKER_01I'm smiling because do you remember a story? Do you remember when my mom accidentally left the car running in the garage? And we're like, what is that noise? What is that noise? Because it sounded like the humming.
SPEAKER_00Well, I was just like, There's something going on in your garage. Like, is that your washing machine somewhere else? Like, what's going on? And she's like, Oh, I don't know, it's not a big deal, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like, something's happening out there. So I go and and she had the door closed of the garage, and her her car was in there just running. She forgot to turn it off. And I was like, Oh, that definitely killed a couple roaches in the uh garage and probably would have eventually gotten to all of us. Um, but anyway.
SPEAKER_01Hopefully, you saved the day. You are the hero.
SPEAKER_00We saved the day, but no, back to um the story that uh I've spent five minutes trying to get to, and um sorry, I'm just not as focused as I should be.
SPEAKER_01Oh yes, I know why.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01So we're gonna share with you in a little bit. My husband might be turning old.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. Well, yeah, I should do I need the blood pressure right now. Um, no, we were uh so I was watching the news and and I'm seeing these oil rigs on fire. I'm seeing um gas, you know, gasoline, uh natural gas ships and whatever on fire. There's Iran is bombing installations uh for energy. Energy um installations in Iran are getting bombed. And there's a massive amount of fuel and fuel um capacity there that is on fire. And I'm just thinking to myself, wow, where are all those like climate change people right now? Like, shouldn't we be saying, hey, can't we like like Greta Thur Thunberg should be like on a sailboat in in the Persian Gulf going, um, peace. Like, what's we want to do?
SPEAKER_01Probably not the safest for the moment, but I understand what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00Probably not. Anyway, I I just I hope we can get this thing resolved for a variety of reasons, but another one is Mother Earth. I mean, Mother Earth is not happy when she's on fire in one part of the world. So um, anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_01So Okay, now I'm gonna digress based on your digression. I am sorry to the listeners who are having trouble following Chris today. He has discovered that he has high blood pressure, so he has become the old man with the blood pressure machine, and I'm looking at it, and he's literally taking his blood pressure like seven times a day, and he's cutting things out. He's also cutting so look, anybody that knows Chris knows that you are absolutely brilliant. Your mind, you are your mind though, works too quickly, and because of that, you have a problem focusing and you have ADD. You do. So you take something to help with your ADD, but in light of the recent blood pressure finding, you are now cutting out everything in hopes that you can pinpoint the cause, except you're not taking your ADD medicine and it's driving me crazy.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's sort of crazy that we're gonna talk about my my my specifics in health to 50 nations around the world.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm sorry, is that a break of HIPAA?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know what would be interesting is if we got picked up in Oman, Bur Bahrain, Iran, a lot of those Gulf um nations, because that would be sort of cool because they could chime in on some of the stuff that's going through my brain.
SPEAKER_01But we're talking about blood pressure. I know, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00So so anyway, I haven't taken uh yeah, I haven't taken my focal in. Um and here's the thing is that when you when you understand what that stuff is, it's a bit of a um uh what do they call it? Stimulant, right? It's a stimulant.
SPEAKER_01Well, no, for you it's not. Because you have ADD, that medicine helps you focus. If I were to take that medicine, it would be like I took speed. That's that's what it does. So for somebody who needs it, it definitely allows you to concentrate.
SPEAKER_00Well, I do know I was walking um back from a surf, a sunset surf tonight, because it is, I mean, it is absolutely gorgeous. It literally looks like we live in Hawaii right now, and the sunset is just glowing off of my beautiful wife. Um, and I was walking by some kids, like kid, like probably seniors in high school, and they're talking about midterms, and they're talking about whether they can borrow some, you know, each other's Adderall, because you know, hey, yours is 75 milligrams and mine is like 100 milligrams, like, you know, I'll trade you two for one or whatever it is. And I'm like, oh my god, those milligram numbers are like insane. It's almost like when you talk to somebody, you know, here in in California, pot is legal and you can Oh, like a gummy, like, oh, I take 20 milligrams, and you're like, uh, I take five. I have, I mean, I have friends that literally chew um like gummy, uh, like gummy gum that's like a hundred milligrams.
SPEAKER_01How would that not put you out?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I think I would oh I I believe I would OD. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Can you OD on pot?
SPEAKER_00Well, I would definitely like I I don't know. I have no idea what would happen. Like, but that is it's insane. So anyway, bottom line is um I I had my um my prescription this year uh upped a little bit, you know, and it's still very low dose, but like it was upped a little bit. And it's literally the only thing that I have changed year over year, other than becoming two nickels with 55. Okay, so I get it. Like age could do it, but I have never had anything close to high blood pressure. All my other stuff is perfect, and of course, it's not like crazy high blood pressure, but it's it was enough for my my doctor to say, hey, maybe get a blood blood pressure machine at the house. And I'm thinking to myself, like, what is a blood pressure machine? Because I'm just used to what you see in the doctor's office and is attached to this big stand and everything. I was like, great, am I gonna be one of these old people with like stuff in my nose and like bringing tanks around and stuff? And she's like, no, no, no, they're like little things you can buy them on Amazon or whatever. So I have it, I have at my desk, and I'm literally like, you know, eight times today. Um, I was like, oh, I feel calm. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it now and see if it's any better, you know? And then and then, of course, haven't had any salt and uh didn't have a glass of wine last night. In fact, I'm I I apologize to listeners, but I am not plate and pondering uh effectively right now. I have a glass of water. So like I'm I'm just trying to figure out why suddenly this has happened. And it it might actually be because um I I feel a lot of um extra anxiety and stress to make sure that we're entertaining people all around the world now that we're in 50 countries. It was much easier when it was just a couple friends and marriage.
SPEAKER_01Right, when it was yeah, like the eight.
SPEAKER_00And I probably I have failed because I just talked about my health for the first whatever, 10, 11 minutes here. So I apologize to everybody. Let's let's move on to something more fun so I don't get anxious.
SPEAKER_01Okay, uh Oscars. Oscars were Sunday.
SPEAKER_00Do we do that or we do that?
SPEAKER_01No. Eight the show was boring. Okay, and the ratings were down, right?
SPEAKER_00Ratings were down again. Um, in fact, they were down two million from last year, which was not very good either. And it's just I mean, uh on top of it, I I I think I was in the bathroom this morning and we were getting ready, and I go, um, his like was Brad Pitt even there? No, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I didn't see Brad Pitt, even at the variety.
SPEAKER_00Damon, Ben Affleck, like any of these people?
SPEAKER_01No, and and even at the sorry, not variety, the Vanity Fair party, I haven't seen photos of their arrival, and that hasn't been pushed out by the press. I mean, you saw What about George Clooney? I didn't see him.
SPEAKER_00So, like, no movie stars go to these things anymore.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's not fair because Michael B. Jordan, who won the Oscar, is a movie star, and he was there. Robert Pattinson, who played. Wait, Robert Pattinson was it? Yeah, he was there. You know who was there? My heated rivalry boys.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_01They looked great once again. I told you Connor's story was gonna be in Saint Laurent, and uh Hudson, Hudson Williams is gonna be in Valanciaga. I called it. You know who was another one that I thought looked really great? Uh, and you've been watching that love story, the Carolyn Bassett and uh John F. Kennedy Jr. love story, that miniseries, right? You've been watching that with you. And so the girl who plays Carolyn Bassett, her name is Sarah Pigeon. Yeah. She wore Calvin Klein, which is sort of funny because remember that Carolyn Bassett used to work at Calvin Klein. So it's a little bit of a play on that, I think.
SPEAKER_00An old buddy Anthony Bradford, who worked for us um uh a long time ago, he he had a role in that that show. I just saw you post it on Facebook. Shout out. Um well. I mean Jessica Alba was there as a movie star. She looks beautiful. We're trying, I I'm in Hollywood and I am trying. Oh, there's Richard on his balcony over there watching the sunset. Um the I we're I'm trying to uh figure out like movies that I'm involved with, content that I'm involved with that engage red and blue across the country and hopefully across the world too. What Hollywood is doing, I mean, you just told me, okay, the John F. Kennedy movie, like that or series, that's a coastal thing.
SPEAKER_01That's not a no, I think everybody knows I think people are watching it. I disagree.
SPEAKER_00Heated rivalry.
SPEAKER_01Heated rivalry is a coastal thing, and it's not in a lot of the countries that we have listeners. Like my sister hasn't been able to see it. It's not in the UK yet.
SPEAKER_00So why aren't we having our biggest movie stars with our biggest, like, you know, branded franchise stuff that goes around the world at these things?
SPEAKER_01Like, well, I don't I don't know Brad Pitt's schedule.
SPEAKER_00No, I know.
SPEAKER_01It is a little strange that F1 was nominated and he wasn't there, but maybe he had something going on. I also don't keep up with the stuff.
SPEAKER_00Sean Penn was with uh Zelensky. He was hanging out with the stuff.
SPEAKER_01Sean Penn decided not to attend, and uh Kieran Colkin made some funny joke accepting the award, like I guess he isn't here or didn't want to come. I mean, it was definitely a snub.
SPEAKER_00It's you know, it's I I was listening to my old friend Jerry O'Connell on Bill Maher.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that guy's getting a lot of heat right now.
SPEAKER_00He is, but I'm proud of him, like essentially telling it like it is and and and getting into some sensitive stuff, like which is hard for an actor to do or a personality because you you know that on the other side of that you're gonna get crushed by social media or whatever it is, because there's always haters, you know. Um but one of the things they were talking about is how Hollywood's just shooting themselves in the foot so much. And we even talked, like, I'm an Emmy voter, right? And whenever I can vote for the Emmys, I'm I Landman, I love Landman, right? And we got into Yellowstone and there what's the other one? Um uh Tulsa King. Tulsa King and yeah, these these tail Taylor Sheridan um series. They're like some of them are programmers, but like some are really fantastic to watch with great casts and all that stuff. They never get nominated ever. Why? Because it's like uh they see it as too red state, you know, like it's not about and and it is sort of crazy because Bill Maher is like, you know what, they tackle a lot of different subjects in in Landman. In fact, there's you know, there was a like a gay roommate to, you know, the most powerful woman in the oil business is you know, the CEO in the oil business is a female. Like, there's all kinds of different stuff that's covered. It's it's crazy that, you know, I don't know. I I don't know what I'm raving about, other than the fact that I want Hollywood to succeed. Like, I believe in it. I've been my in it my whole career, but like why do we not get out of our bubble and and focus on the audience, not just on ourselves? It's crazy.
SPEAKER_01I I don't know. I don't think any of the movies, with the exception of maybe uh F1, um I don't know, none of them were really, really marketable. I'm also now I will tell you, as somebody who reads us weekly and people, I'm one of those, you know, I I go down the rabbit hole. I am really, really fed up of Hollywood looking so skinny. Honestly, I'm a thin girl. I'm not saying I'm not, but everybody is so freaking thin. I mean, even Ben Stiller, we saw some video of him uh doing a promo at a market and he was unrecognizable. So in women are they isozembic.
SPEAKER_00It is well, we don't know some form of it. I mean, we all know for sure with Ben Stiller. But it is, it's weird because uh there there were a lot of people that I feel like didn't have any sort of weight issues, and now suddenly they have this like weird-looking, really skinny thing.
SPEAKER_01Okay, when Heidi Clume looks fat on the runway, that's an issue. Yeah, well, yeah, honestly, her outfit was not look the outfit, it was a poorly fitted dress.
SPEAKER_00And by the way, it's one of the only outfits I remember, but like it was not fit well, and that's fine.
SPEAKER_01But like when she looks like a larger woman compared to the other celebrities on the red carpet, that's a problem. Like we're saying a supermodel is large, like that's I just I think there's something wrong with our society. I think it's a bad thing for young girls, right? I'm an adult, my daughter is 19, she has sort of found her way, but I still think she's impressionable. I I just I have an issue with it. Everybody looked so thin.
SPEAKER_00You know what the the part that really sticks out to me when I see like sometimes I'll see uh a woman who's thin and you'll be like, Oh my god, she's so thin. And and and then I'll look at her again and I'll be like, Oh, you're right, she is. The thing that stands out the most to me with overly thin people, particularly women, although you see it sometimes with men too that are way overboard on this stuff, is the arms. The arms literally look like it's just bone and skin. There's no muscle or fat or anything. Like it looks like it's so frail.
SPEAKER_01I know. I mean, women, uh especially in their late 40s, early 50s and 60s, we're supposed to be building strength, right? Because when you go through menopause, you you lose muscle mass. So the I guess a shift in the story and the messaging is know that a frail, bone thin peg arm is not what you should be aspiring to. Except when you look on the red carpet and that's what everybody has. I mean, some of these actresses who are in their mid-50s and sixties look at phenomenal, like you're like, God, they're aging pretty well, and then you're like, ooh, a little too skinny. We gotta we gotta add some five pounds.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's funny. You know, shout out to Madonna, my um uh my doctor, because and that's not mom Donnie, uh the clarification. But you know, she she essentially said, Look, I I said to her, I cannot get I like having I'm carrying like an extra like eight or nine pounds that happened like four years ago, and I got rid of it through like all kinds of crazy trying, and then it just came back, and I can't, no matter what I do, I work out seven days a week, and she's like, Yeah, your pulse is 55, like you're you're in great shape. But she's like, You're in great shape, and and I go, I know, but I got I I have I I can't get rid of it, and it's not in the uh like the place where I want it. And she's like, Welcome to 55, and I go, Yeah, but I do know some guys that are jacked that are 55, and she's like, Well, are they using stuff? I said, Well, I did try with my son creatine, and boy, that was a mistake. Do you remember when I tried the creatine? Oh my god, it was like I by the way. When I think about back in high school when I was trying to gain weight, why didn't I know about creatine? Because that that put 15 pounds on me faster than lightning, but it went like straight to my gut. It was the worst. So I I that did not work. But I will say um that uh yes, there's guys that are jacked. She says they're doing all kinds of different blah blah blah blah blah. And she's like, there's a lot of health effects with that. I said, I don't want any of that. I don't, I don't care about that. Like, but um, she said, and don't you dare ask me for Ozempic or something like that. I will never subscribe that I'll prescribe that to anybody that's even remotely um like you, you know.
SPEAKER_01Like look, Ozempic and and the drugs in that nature, I think are prescribed and are used well. I mean, there's certain things that it's for, right? It's not used for losing five or ten pennies. No, if you are if you are obese, it is absolutely a lifesaver.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's a hundred percent saving. But what I guess my point is we, I mean, I'm sure we have plenty of friends and people that that are using it right, but then you watch the way the Hollywood type is doing it, or even a lot of people in LA where they're trying to like lose five or ten pounds, and I'm just going, that does not look healthy, and what are they doing? And then once they lose the five or ten pounds, then they keep going, and and that's where it's that slippery slope. So, anyway, um, I don't know why we're spending this much time on health, but I I've got another topic. Yeah, let's do that because I don't want to talk about how I'm an old man anymore.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm gonna go back to Iran, kind of sort of in a roundabout way. So here's my question for you we are in this war, okay, and we are spending a lot of money and we are bombing a lot of things over there, and we cannot seem to get our airports under control. Is bunkers right now. Our daughter is flying home for spring break, and I don't know. I was looking for that sound effect. I don't know if you should use that with like planes.
SPEAKER_00I feel like that was meant for the war.
SPEAKER_01Oh, gotcha.
SPEAKER_00That's a great effect though, right? But hopefully we never have to use it again. Let's let's get this war over with.
SPEAKER_01Um but why aren't we spending money on TSA and some of the people that are protecting us here in the United States?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I want to, I literally want to yell at uh anything that that I can yell at when it comes to this TSA thing because it I forget the inconvenience part, right? Because we talked about that and the chaos at New Orleans or whatever it was. That that does not bother me. What bothers me is we've literally um took a broom to a a hornet's nest in the Middle East where already there's a lot of people that do not like Americans or America, okay? Now we've, you know, and I'm not I'm not making a a call on whether this was the right war, the wrong war, any of that. Forget that. But regardless, even if it was right, we have definitely radicalized a lot of new people and and we definitely took the radicals that might be here in the US to another level on this thing. And the fact that we're not we we don't have 10 times as many TSA agents working right now, making sure these planes are completely safe to fly is crazy. Like we uh 10% of the TSA workforce today did not show up for work.
SPEAKER_01That scares me. And you know why it scares me even more? Because we just watched Tehran.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And the first couple episodes, if you haven't watched it, it is really good. But talk about getting your blood pressure up. That is very stressful.
SPEAKER_00And on the first episode I wonder if that's why I have high blood pressure. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01But on the first episode, the uh a plane um, you know, mysteriously diverts to Tehran. It loses an engine. You know, it quite mysteriously loses an engine, and uh there are two Israelis on the plane, which obviously presents a problem where they're landing, um, and then some things go down from there. But uh that's a situation where you're like, huh, who's checking that TSA? Who's checking that bag? Who's checking that overhead? Like that makes me nervous.
SPEAKER_00100%. And then I really, really hope people don't take it out on TSA people. When I said 10% of the TSA workforce did not show up for work today, which is what what was said on the news, that doesn't mean my problem is with those people that didn't show up. Now, granted, they are Would you show up for work if you weren't getting paid? Yes. I mean, they're saying they have to show up, they'll get back, pay, all that kind of stuff, and it's for the good of the country and all that. And I get it. The people that are showing up are true patriots and true and and people we should really thank over and over again that they're serving our country without getting paid. Okay. But the people that are sh not showing up because they're not getting paid, I'm sorry, but I can't blame them either. You know, like granted, there's one level of patriotism that the people showing up have, but the people not showing up, I'm not gonna get that angry at. It's the people that aren't paying them, or the people that have decided to hold up congressional votes or to not vote for paying them. Those are the people we should be upset at because these people do not make a lot of money and they have a very important role for all of us.
SPEAKER_01I I I want to look up how much TSA agents make. I'm curious.
SPEAKER_00I hope they make an like I hope they make say entry level, I hope they're in that 65 to 70, and I hope the managers and the overseers maybe make over you know close to 200 with overtime or something like that. I they I don't know what the education is that they need, but it's an important role.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I'm gonna tell you national averages, and I imagine depending on the airport, right? Like the Podunk Airport in um Al Alaska probably doesn't get paid the same rate, or the person there doesn't get paid the same rate as like an LAX or JFK. So let's just say national averages. Um the starting salary range is 38,000 to 49,000.
SPEAKER_00Okay, do you need a is it a high school degree or is it uh I hang on, let me just keep reading.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Uh the average experienced salary, and I don't know if experienced is six months or six years, that's fifty-five thousand to seventy-five thousand and top tier, that's like your lead supervisor at TSA, they can make anywhere from 80,000 to you know 105,000.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, uh, I'd sort of like them to make more. And honestly, if everybody had another $5 surcharge onto their tickets so that they could get paid more, I would be more than fine with that idea or whatever it costs. Like that is a very important job. I actually thought the best way to get TSA agents to do a great job is a hopefully pay them well, but B, when they show up to work, they show up to work with an overnight bag every day. And randomly they pick certain TSA agents to have to board a plane and fly somewhere, and then they fly back after that. It's skin in the game. It's skin in the game. Like they they will make sure they're overdoing it and and everything is safe if they know that maybe they have to get on one of these planes that they're checking for. You know, or somebody.
SPEAKER_01I think that's an interesting concept.
SPEAKER_00But pay them. I I mean, even if we're not paying them that much, which which is what you're saying, we need to pay them, especially given those salaries. How long can you survive if you're not making money every week?
SPEAKER_01Like these poor prices I mean with eggs and milk and inflation and rent. It's it's ridiculous. I don't well didn't we have a conversation that the average American doesn't have what did we say with the I feel like we had a conversation about the average American and how much they had in their savings.
SPEAKER_00It is uh I feel like it's less than a thousand dollars or something like that. There's actually um we're breaking records for people tapping into 401ks prematurely, which means they're not getting to the retirement age and they're getting penalized with taxes and all that kind of stuff. And uh we have um all kinds of different consumer default numbers that are going up quite a bit. I mean, people are having a hard time affording things, and then when energy prices go up, that sifts through the whole, that seeps through the whole economy um and really exacerbates what's already an unaffordable situation. And then the government can't really do much about that. Like you can't if you give everybody stimulant checks or whatever, something to help them get through it.
SPEAKER_01But we saw that it didn't help because people just spent it.
SPEAKER_00Right, and it creates inflation. So, like you give somebody a dollar, you give everybody a dollar, everything costs you know a dollar more for the most basic kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01Um my assistant just told me that savings tends to peak just before retirement. And there are savings measures by age group, and obviously this figure represents just cash, right? It's not like your 401k or home equity. So if you're under 35, the median savings is uh about $5,000. If you are between the ages of 45 and 54, that savings average is about ten thousand five hundred dollars. If you are 75 and older, that savings is about eleven thousand five hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't understand what that does that mean. Like if you're over seventy-five, you only have eleven thousand dollars in your account.
SPEAKER_01Maybe you've got a 401k. Maybe you've got so they're not counting now, no, they're just they're just counting cash in the bank, but still that cash in the bank, if there's an emergency, I mean, I can't, I feel like I'm that old woman. Like, make sure you have access to cash.
SPEAKER_00Well, well, I tell you that all the time. You should have a few more.
SPEAKER_01And also, I should have more than a fourth of a tank of gas.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, or more than a negative below the empty thing where you go, oh no, I got another 20 miles. How do you know that? How did you test that? Did you actually get it to the end and you calculated it and you called triple A and they picked you up? Like, how did you even figure that out? That's my question. So uh, but anyway, we if we go to um just everyday occurrences, and obviously we're in California, so things cost a little more um ridiculously, but if you if you only have a thousand dollars in your savings account, that typically means like filling your car with gas is is over a hundred dollars for a lot of cars now.
SPEAKER_01Well, if it's an SUV, sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then if you have a car problem, that car problem is used for several thousand. Yeah, it's definitely gonna cost you a thousand. I mean, uh you have a flat tire and you need to change all four tires, you're going over a thousand dollars now. It's not the days of the um four four new tires for two hundred dollars, that doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I I know because I have to, you know, all right do that manly stuff every once in a while.
SPEAKER_01For me or for you?
SPEAKER_00For me. Okay, and you because your car, uh yeah, the kit the kids are the best because the warning lights go on for who knows how long, and then I have to move it and I look and I get out of the car and I'm going, hey Dylan, there's seven warning lights on in your car. Yeah, but you know what? It they don't look that important. I'm like, no, it looks like you have zero oil in your car. Like, what well let's uh now I'll take it to Jivy Lube or whatever it is. Yeah, uh, I don't know. There's just a lot of you know what? I can tell I didn't have my my focal in today because we did focus on a couple a couple of but very surfacely, honestly.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I feel like we bounced around. Let's talk about it forth.
SPEAKER_00It was Oscars. I we have a problem in this bubble mentality where it's all about what we want and not what the rest of America and the world want. And everybody's too thin, everybody is too thin. Um, we definitely have an Iran conflict that we continue to pray for our men and women serving over there and people talking about it. That's they're definitely not talking about the Ukrainian war, which by the way, what happened to that? When was the last time you saw a pro-Ukraine flag anywhere? Like remember, everybody had to have Ukraine things on their their their uh LinkedIn and on their Twitters and and on their own.
SPEAKER_01When was the last time we talked about Venezuela, though?
SPEAKER_00Uh last night, because Venezuela won the world championship in baseball. They beat the U.S. 30 to 2. I'm actually talking about that actually that might have been one of the more ironic things of 2026. I mean, think about that. Is anybody talking about the irony of that? Literally, they beat the US first of all, the USA has a gazillion people in it, and everybody who plays baseball and has club baseball and a gazillion other dollars thrown at it. And Venezuela, that unfortunately, for a variety of different reasons, most people don't even have a pot to piss in there. They beat us. They beat everybody. They won the world championship. It's insane. Wow, it's pretty crazy. It's very ironic in so many ways. It'd be like if next year right now, like if Iran wins the World Cup, that would be even crazier.
SPEAKER_01Um, are they gonna play or are we gonna move the game to Mexico?
SPEAKER_00Well, I guess they might be moving those games to Mexico if they can. I I don't know what the outcome of that is, but I could see why they really don't want to come to the U.S.
SPEAKER_01I get it, but I wouldn't want to go there. I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00No, well, yeah, I mean, even pre-war, it looked like it wasn't uh oh, although they do have a cool looking space needle, it almost looks like uh Seattle or Toronto. Yeah. I don't know if I'd go up in that though. Like it seems like that would be a pretty hot area for terrorist activity.
SPEAKER_01But are people I I I ask again, are people talking about what's happening? We don't have kids at the dinner table anymore, so I can't have that conversation like Hayley in social studies, were you talking about the Iran war? And what do you know about it? And you know, what are your thoughts on it? And asking age-appropriate questions because our k our kids are grown. And when they call, that's not, you know, if I have seven minutes with them, that's not what I'm gonna focus on. But are people talking about it?
SPEAKER_00I I think people are I know people are talking about Iran, they're definitely talking about it. Yes, I'm on social media and people are talking about it, but in general, there is an undercurrent of of small talk that occurs whether you're in a meeting or at a lunch, or even on a Zoom at that opening while everybody's waiting for everybody to get on. There's people talking about it. So, um, and then on top of it, you know, there's always a breaking news of you know that startled me.
SPEAKER_01I got a little bit of a jump.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, of of of that's a good one. That's that's loud. That's the kind of thunder that scares Flynn. But anyway, it is uh it's something that we really hope gets resolved soon.
SPEAKER_01Um we keep saying that. The last three podcasts, we have said that. And three podcasts later, I still have concerns about what our our game plan is. Well, I think maybe And we are diverting resources when they should be spent here.
SPEAKER_00100%. Well, yeah, I mean, at least for the most basic thing like TSA. I mean, come on, let's go.
SPEAKER_01So who's running this joint?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. You know, it by the way, is it Jared Kushner?
SPEAKER_01Is it Trump? Like, who is it?
SPEAKER_00People might not like Trump, I get it, but let me tell you, Congress is not doing anything either. The checks and balances of everything seems to be completely discombobulated. So I feel like maybe that's a serious topic we hit next time because I just can't tell if people are gonna like this episode. We just sort of played and pondered and bantered.
SPEAKER_01You know what? It feels a little bit like our very first episode when we were all over the place.
SPEAKER_00Wait, the which one?
SPEAKER_01The very first episode when we were all over the place.
SPEAKER_00You know that first episode has like triple the um the amount of engagement that any of our other ones have. Like people really like it, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, so maybe people like this one.
SPEAKER_00Um, I think so. Well, I would say until next time, we're gonna go to our haliakala retreat, uh corporate retreat with our HR music and just plate and ponder a little more. So that you're listening to Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. Um, until next time, we miss you. Bye. Bye bye.
