Finally, Student Athletes Can Get Paid.....In Middle School?
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Do you want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Doug Collins Podcast.
While the rest and all of us here, we just sort of mire through August.
I always like August because the middle of the month is my birthday, so I've always enjoyed August.
But the weather in August, especially in Georgia, is one filled with humidity, heat, We're good to go.
Kickoffs to college football, week zero.
Everything's going on.
The Pac-12's dissolved.
Everything else is going on.
And then on top of that, you have a political week in which you have Joe Biden getting in another fight with Peter Doocy about dumb questions about him being involved with his son in the business.
It's interesting now that I've watched this, and we're going to get to Friday's Finest here in a second, but I need to touch on this because I've noticed that the media, the mainstream media, has went into full-blown protect Joe Biden mode when it comes to this issue of the money.
And now they've come up with this thing, that it looks bad, but it's really not bad.
It's legal.
Everything was done above board.
So you're telling me that you can funnel what they've appropriated almost at $20 million plus from foreign governments, To a man who was admittedly a drug addict at the time that is running through LLCs that involve family members of the Bidens.
We have now own record testimony that says that he actually was called during some of these meetings.
And these were not just the recorded meetings because even Devin Archer said that he didn't know about some of the other meetings.
And now Biden is still continuing to say that he knew nothing about the business.
And right in time, the mainstream media says these are all allegations and that Comer can't connect the dots.
I mean, folks, this is the same liberal media that took a dossier, still dossier, that had never been verified, never been proven, was frankly, in my opinion, and many others' opinion, signed off on warrants, an attestation by Comey and others who said that it was verified, and they never verified it.
Nobody's been held accountable for that, and yet they ran with it simply because it was Donald Trump and salacious things that were supposedly said about Russia.
You know, folks, again, I'm at the point now, don't care what side of the fence you're on, but play it honest.
And this is why the journalism right now is absolutely dead.
And as you're going to hear next week from our good friend Michelle Tafoya, we had a great talk about this.
Next week's going to be a great week.
You won't want to miss it.
Michelle will be on next week with us discussing some of this.
But when you lose the journalistic integrity and you're now gone into full mode, everything is an accusation.
But yet I was in Congress and doing the impeachment, first impeachment and others, the sham impeachment, and it was never assumed that Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong.
It was always assumed he did something wrong because of the Schiff machine and the Goldman when he was a staffer machine, all feeding leaks to the mainstream media about this.
Folks, this is the problem right now.
You want to know why Donald Trump's winning this election?
Because people are seeing a lot of what's going on right now as simply an attack on a man that they don't like.
Now, it could be right or wrong, and there are people making up their minds about this all along, and the trials will come, and all that will happen.
But at this point in time, DOJ is not playing fair.
DOJ is not keeping this above board.
And now you've got the media playing favorites again, as always.
This is why people are saying, and rightfully so, that they're targeting Donald Trump in these ways, especially with some of these lawsuits that are going on.
And people are responding to it because there's an unhealthy place in our country right now that our institutions in which we need to have respect for have lost that respect mainly on their own doing.
And as Tom Baker, you know, is said, and Tom was with us this week on the Wednesday show, you know, talking about the rise and fall of the FBI, and we see it in what they've done.
So, again, folks, we're going to talk more about this in some of the weeks to come.
But I just wanted to lay this out here.
The quote fix is in, it appears, from the mainstream media perspective.
They're not buying anything.
And again, didn't want to even report about it.
This past week, the whistleblower testimony and other things never even made the mainstream Sunday shows.
ABC, CBS, NBC didn't even make the shows.
Okay, and you don't believe that there's not an issue going on here?
If you don't believe that this is just mainstream reporting and that everything's above board, I can't help you.
I'll do my best here every week to help you with issues and talk about it, but if you're not even at least open to the idea that there's at least a little bit of bias on this, I don't know what to do for you.
But that's enough because now we've got to get into some other real issues, and that is it's time for Friday's Finest.
James and I will discuss the latest of things around the world, the odd, the new, the football, the sports, and everything else.
Right after the break, we'll be back.
James and I here on Friday's Finest.
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All right, folks, we're back.
It's James and I. And we're here to discuss all the things that are applicable to life and some that are not applicable to life, but they're just fun to talk about.
So, James, our, again, native of New Jersey, now transplanted into the wonderful state of Texas.
I think one of these days you're going to come on here, James, and you're going to tell me that you've left your beloved Vikings for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys.
Not on your best day.
They are the worst fan group.
In sports.
Because they're beyond delusional.
And they have won a lot.
And every year they go into it and talk about how much better their players are than you.
I don't think that everyone on my team is a superstar, but the Dallas Cowboys do.
Their fanbase does.
They're insane.
And they have the world's most annoying owner.
So, well, Yeah, most annoying.
Well, I was watching something.
I was listening to something the other day.
James, I mean, it's just amazing.
I can't imagine living there and seeing this.
But I was listening to a topic the other day.
They said, can Dak Prescott get better this year?
And it was on ESPN or something.
I can't remember exactly what it was.
But they said, oh, well, he was great last year.
It's just not a matter of him getting better.
It's just like, huh?
Yeah.
He threw one of the most picks in the NFL last year.
He couldn't hold on the ball.
How do you say that the new offensive coordinator is allowing him to get better or not get better, and you're just saying, well, he's fine?
I mean, that's like ignoring the problem here.
I don't think Dak Prescott's a bad quarterback by any stretch.
Mainly because a bad quarterback is Baker Mayfield.
A bad quarterback is, you know, backups in the NFL. But he did throw, what, he threw 10 plus picks last year?
I don't know the number.
15!
He didn't look good.
He's coming off the thumb injury.
All that.
Whatever.
They have had a high-powered offense with him.
So I get why people love him.
Yeah.
I mean, look, I like that.
I'm not saying I don't like him.
I mean, he's a likable guy.
I mean, he's had a lot of tough breaks.
But it's ridiculous the way they talk about him in Dallas.
I mean, it's always an excuse, though, James.
I'm coming off an injury.
I had this.
I didn't do this.
The Dallas Cowboys get as many excuses as they want.
That's the problem.
No other fan base gets excuses.
Every year, and it's great because every year, Stephen A joins the show with a cowboy hat on and revels in their defeat.
And so do a lot of people, obviously.
But the fan base for Dallas Cowboys is huge, and every year we go into it, for whatever reason, they are the easiest topic to talk about.
Because of Jerry Jones and because there's always some sort of hype around them.
Speaking of hype, and we can talk about this just for a moment.
How annoying is it?
Yeah, see, nobody cares about the Raiders.
The only thing they care about the Raiders right now is whether Devontae Adams is going to score touchdowns.
Yeah, well, you know, let me give you at least a moment to wave the flag now, okay?
But I heard one of your favorite players is now...
You had such a fun experience watching him on TV. I'm so disgusted with Hard Knocks and Aaron Rodgers right now.
Obviously, I have some friends that are Vikings fans that I've either met at games or have been lucky enough to just barge into at work and that's how we became friends was that they were Vikings fans.
And I get a text from one of my friends yesterday...
And I'm going to see if I can read it real quick here because it's so fascinating how quickly we turn.
Let's see.
Aaron Rodgers is so effing likable, it's the worst.
And you think about, like, that's someone who's a diehard Vikings fan because...
We've spent, and I don't know any other world where this makes sense, maybe in politics, maybe, but I've spent 10 years hating someone for only one reason, and it's because he beats my football team that I root for.
But I've spent 10 years hating this man.
I don't know anything about him.
I know he's a little off.
I know he loves ayahuasca, and I know he's the best quarterback I've ever seen next to Patrick Mahomes.
But I hate him.
With a burning passion, I root against him in almost every facet of his life.
Because I'm a psychopath.
And now he's on another team, and there's no reason to hate him anymore.
He's done nothing to me now.
But I don't want to root for him, because he's annoying, and he's great, and he's wonderful, and he's probably really cool, and it's frustrating.
But look, I saw a stat the other day, and I'm not trying to be a Rogers hater, because actually, after his podcast with Rogan last year, and I think you and I talked about this a little bit, I actually gained respect for Aaron.
I never really followed him, didn't care.
I mean, I watched him, I heard all the people talk about him, but after the Rogan podcast, especially all the stuff that was attributed to him or said about him on the vaccine issue and everything else, and then hearing his explanation...
You know, I provided a different outlet.
And, you know, whatever he wants to do, fine.
You know, that's him.
But, you know, I did see a stat that was pretty interesting.
For all the talk, and look, and I know we're going to get into this.
What about Dan Marino?
What about all these?
Okay, I get the whatabouts.
But, you know, there was a funny post that was put out on social media that said that Tom Brady has had more retirements than Aaron Rodgers has Super Bowl rings.
That is true and unfortunate.
But, and I hear you.
But think about it.
And they've had great teams.
But they have not had great defenses.
And I'll tell you this.
I don't like rooting for Aaron Rodgers.
I really do dislike that human being.
I will come around to him eventually, I swear.
But yesterday, look, I think this Jets thing is going to come crashing down or do you think it's going to be great?
Because I think it's going to be really fun for a little while in New York.
Yeah, no, I think there's...
They're in a tough division, straight up.
Yeah, I think this could be one of those things...
Oh, yeah.
But if you can't handle in a scrimmage yesterday, this is the first real scrimmage, and this was coming from, I think, yesterday.
If you can't handle the Carolina Panthers rush and cannot complete a two-minute drill in preseason, it really makes you wonder I get that they've got some offensive weapons now.
I'm still amazed, unless Dalvin Cook is just wanting to hold off, get more time to rest and not do anything, and then make a lot of money, why he's not signed with New York.
They've got a lot of great players.
I think he's waiting for someone to get hurt.
He's waiting for somebody to get hurt, exactly.
But at a certain point in time here, I mean, they had a decent defense last year.
I'm not saying they didn't.
But again, there's just something about this.
It's almost like the Dallas Cowboys here.
You hear it.
You hear it.
They're going to be great.
They're going to be great.
And then something happens along the way.
I mean, I would say this right now.
Would I like to see the Jets do well?
Yeah.
I mean, I got nothing against the Jets.
I mean, it's the New York team.
They've tried for years.
But, you know...
I'm at the point now where I could see this going, you know, really either way.
I could see this being an 8-9 year or whatever, or it could be a 16-1 year.
But they've got a lot to overcome, and I am impressed, though, the fact that For Green Bay fans, you don't have to like this, but he took the pay cut.
He signed for two years.
He extended for another year, so it's not like, hey, what am I doing at the end of this year?
He's back.
He's saying, I'm coming back for next year.
So we'll see.
I think it's going to be an interesting role as we go here into this.
But let's transition to the story that we've talked about here.
And by the way, if you want to – and as a plug for next week, Michelle Tafoya next Wednesday, we get into this – talking about these hard knocks stuff that's on – isn't that on HBO or whatever?
Yeah.
Okay.
I wasn't sure where it was at.
So anyway, you get hard knocks, but also you have the – and we've talked about it a little bit before, the quarterbacks.
Which is on Netflix.
And the – you know, how – and we get into that in depth, I think, I thought that was really a good conversation with Michelle about that and how the real life of these folks go.
But switching gears, NIL, Plants for a Portal, the supplies of everything else in the Pac-12 and all is here.
But I want to bring up something that I heard on an interview, and this has a congressional tie-in, because there's a lot of things I don't think Congress needs to get involved in, and I'm going to be really frank with you.
I'm not sure they need to get involved with this one either.
Very much of a, you know, let's do what the Constitution actually says.
And I'm not sure dabbling in college sports is what Congress ought to be doing.
Although it was, I think, Joe Manchin and Tommy Tuberville have came out with a bill to deal with nationalized NIL. And I know that the SEC Commissioner Sankey and others have said that they want a congressional solution to this problem.
And I get some of the grounds for it, don't get me wrong, but I still think it's just very frustrating as you look at this.
But this is not just a...
College issue.
In the state of Georgia, Georgia has the quote, Georgia High School Association, which is the governing body, if you would, of high school sports here in Georgia.
And it's taken a lot of flack over the years.
In some things, I'm not a fan of the association.
I think it's run, you know, it definitely favors certain areas and all.
But they're now getting ready to take up a topic, James, of middle school sports.
Basically, middle school NIL in transfers.
And here's what...
Now, listen to what...
Before we get into this, I want you to listen to what this athletic director over in Oconee County, which is just south of Athens near the University of Georgia.
This was his proposal.
The proposal to mandate a two-year sit-out period, ninth and tenth grades, for any middle school athlete who...
Attends a skill camp, combine, or official visits set by schools to host student athletes and transfers to a school, feeder, or high school where any of the coaches working the event are employed.
attends a skills camp, combine, or official visit set by schools to host where a camp or event was held.
Any coach or schools hosting one of these camps, combines, or official visits set by schools to host student-athletes must report the following to the GHSA.
A complete list of all staff working the event.
These include those on-field involved with any aspect of the event, but not limited to registration and facility, rental, and care, and a complete list of participants.
Are we, I mean, you don't even have this in...
The college ranks where these kids are adults and stuff.
Now you're talking about parents and middle schoolers and you're telling them if they go to a camp at, say, a school districts over or whatever, they go to a camp and they say, hey, this is a pretty cool school.
Mom and dad, let's transfer.
They're saying they're making them sit out both 9th and 10th grade year.
Yeah, you're punishing students because of your own greed as a I guess, as a district or whatever, you're like, we need that football player.
Right?
That's what they're saying.
We're like, no, you're not going to just leave here without, we're getting something out of it, and that's, you're not going to play for two years.
That makes no sense.
There's an actual problem here.
The problem is that they know that the NIL, they know that you can't stop someone from making money now.
They know that little Timmy, who's got a thousand rushing yards when he was in eighth grade or whatever, wants to go play for a different high school than the high school he's near.
And if he can transfer, he's going to get $100,000 or whatever absurd money they're going to give a child.
And that district says, I don't think so.
I mean, you can leave.
Go ahead.
And you can take that $100,000.
Mom and Dad, I'm sure you'd love it.
But you're not going to play for two years and you're not going to get to do what you love.
Because, yes, when you're that age, money's not a thought.
You just want to go play football because you love football.
You love the sport.
You love playing.
You love doing things.
Think about, for example, someone like LeBron James' kid who wants to transfer.
He just transferred schools to Notre Dame High School in LA. And they would make him wait two years just because he wants to transfer?
Well, then he's going to college by then.
I don't understand it.
Well, I mean, some of these kids may not even make it out of puberty well.
You know what I'm saying?
And their bodies may grow too fast.
Their bodies may grow slower.
To me, the problem here, though, is yes, it is parents.
Because parents, in Georgia, if you literally, and here, I don't understand how they're going to do this.
I really don't.
I mean, I understand what they're trying to say.
But in Georgia, if you physically move, okay, like the dad gets transferred.
And I'm going to use a prime example.
Buford High School, which is just south of where I live, has been a phenomenal football powerhouse for years, no matter what size they were.
It has been known forever that Students transfer in there.
They transfer into the city schools there.
And they play football.
And they play volleyball, basketball.
They've got a great academic and sports program.
But it's become just sort of known and was laughing about for years at the University of Buford.
And their new quarterback, who is coming in, is the number one ranked quarterback in the country who is committed to Georgia for next season.
And his family moved from Arizona to Buford.
Right, because they know he's going to have a chance to start there.
Well, he's going to be closer to Athens.
He's already been there.
He's already signed with the University of Georgia.
I mean, it's a lot to it, but they physically move there.
My question is this, is if the family actually moves, like say they're in eighth grade and then they say, you know, I'm down here in, you know, southwest Georgia where, you know, population 4,000 in the county as a whole.
Well, if they move, they can't do anything because he's in the district now.
I'm going to move, and he went to a couple camps and saw what he could actually get, and we're going to move.
I just don't think this will ever fly.
There are a lot of holes to this.
It's a rough draft.
Listen, we were losing our minds over college kids getting money, and I think they deserve every penny.
I don't care about education and all that because it's never been about education and it never will be.
Alright, you can't pretend it's about education.
I think it'd be great if it was, and I think we should have, oh, there should be more programs for students that we know damn well aren't going to the NFL or NBA or Major League Baseball, but...
Whatever the case is, those students, it's never been about the schooling, and it's only been about how many games can we win and how much money can we make.
And that's so the students should get paid.
However, if you're talking about high school, I don't know what money they're making.
Maybe I'm wrong, because I'm from New Jersey.
We don't care about...
We have Don Bosco, obviously.
I don't know if anyone's ever heard of Don Bosco Prep, but we've had a bunch of NFL stars come out of there.
My friend went there.
He was a kicker in the NFL. But...
When you're talking about giving kids that are 16, 15 money, you're talking about parents taking money and you're talking about adults at high schools taking money.
It should not be about money.
It should literally be about development for those kids, 100%.
But if they're going to get paid, just get out of the way.
Maybe it should be a thing where if they're that age, the money just can't come from the school.
It can only come from outside sources like Nike or whatever.
That could be a rule, and I don't see that as being crazy.
Yeah, the problem is here is they're saying, you know, that they have a coercive influence or undue influence on the situation.
You know, look, I just think there's so much problem with this.
And, you know, look, we'll see what happens.
We'll find out.
I think they're supposed to take it up in the next little bit.
I just don't trust parents.
Yeah, I just don't get how they...
I mean, there's so much...
I think this could actually lead what I would hope for a transformation of the GHSA. You know, they're going to take it up in October at this meeting.
There are just so many problems with this that, you know, from fairness issues, from other issues that, you know, we'll see.
But it goes to show...
And the reason I'm going to bring this back into, you know, frankly, a...
Governmental standpoint.
Now, this is a quasi-governmental agency kind of thing.
I mean, because the state has chartered it.
I mean, there's some issues here with GSSA. But when you get into the NCAA and others, I mean, what?
And again, show me the constitutional basis here.
For the Senate or the House wasting one iota of time on NIL and transfer portals when the NCAA is so frickin' incompetent.
They couldn't do this themselves.
They knew this was coming before they ever got to the Supreme Court.
They just sat around on their hands.
They piddled around, didn't do a darn thing about it.
You let the conferences have their issues and wanted to transfer.
And then you start turning down kids in the transfer portal, you know, just as I think as an FSU student who wanted to be near as close to his ailing mother and they turned his transfer portal down.
Are you kidding me?
The NCAA is incompetent and needs to be abolished period.
Number one, but that's a private issue.
I don't want senators and representatives wasting this country's time on a bill to fix a private enterprise.
And when you got a, when you can't get the budget passed, when you can't get a farm bill passed, when you can't get FAA registration, you know, reauthorization passed, when you can't work on Pfizer reform, which is actually working on spying on American citizens, then folks just get to something you can do and get off of this stuff. then folks just get to something you can do and
I'm frustrated beyond belief when I'm commentating and working in politics all the time and you can't get common sense bills passed, but they're willing to put out a press release saying, oh, we're going to try and fix NIL and transfer portal.
You can't fix your own stuff.
Yeah, you got nothing to do with this, man.
Like, get out of here.
Listen, though, I don't know.
See, the problem is, and you said it, is like this is a private issue, but unfortunately, because of how incompetent The NCAA seems to be at times.
Seems?
Yeah, okay, is.
I think the people surrounding it think, all right, maybe we need someone higher up to fix this, and they go straight to the government, which sounds insane when you say it out loud.
Hey, these kids want to get paid, and we're having a difficult time making it work for us, so let's make the government take care of it.
That's literally what they're saying.
Yeah, it is amazing to me that one of the most powerful conferences in the College realm.
I even hate to use NCAA realm.
But the college realm, the SEC and Big Ten.
And SEC took actual coaches and Sankey, the commissioner, to D.C. to lobby for this.
They're like, hey, we're having a hard time making money off these students.
We're no longer making the money we used to make off these students because we've got to pay them.
So can you fix it for us?
Well, a great discussion.
Look, we ain't going to dig into it today, but you've got...
I mean, there's going to be money splits coming up.
There's going to be issues on how much do you give to student athletes.
And again, being football, being the only one that frankly has some gymnasts and there's some basketball players, don't get me wrong, there's a few, but for the vast majority, it's football.
And, you know, if they give, you know, this talk about, well, they're going to split the football players 50%, you know, kind of revenue kind of stuff to give to football players to play football.
And somebody made the comment on one of the sports shows.
They said, well, and they said somebody will say, well, I'm sure that they'll give like 5% of that to the other sports.
No, they're not.
Why would they?
Yeah, they have no interest in that.
They're lying here.
Yeah, and this is something we've talked about before.
Almost no athletic event on campus makes money except college football in most of these big institutions, period.
And in some of the big institutions, they don't make money.
And so they break even at best.
And give to the other sports.
And, you know, it's just out of the generosity of heart that the athletic programs and ADs who are worth the salt will give, you know, new basketball gyms or new softball fields or new tennis courts and these kind of things.
Because, frankly, all of that's being funded on the backs of the college athlete in football.
Period.
Once the athletic directors and their people are paid, they'll take care of the...
They'll take care of the girls' volleyball court.
It's a...
We can sit here and talk about what a scam it is, but listen...
This is something that we're going to be dealing with for the next 10 years before we get it right.
And even then, we probably won't get it right.
We'll get it better.
And I think this is the problem that we get into so much with some of this stuff.
And that is just the craziness of...
We're not focusing on stuff.
And we've got real problems in this country, folks.
I mean, you've got states like...
California, which actually was so gung-ho about being woke that they didn't want to pass a sex trafficking bill for pedophiles.
I mean, until it had to be pointed out that, hey, this isn't the best look in the world of what you just did.
I mean, you've got issues of the budget.
You've got issues of an election.
You've got issues of all these kind of stuff out there.
And for Congress to even get, and I've sort of held my fire on this, but I'm not today.
I mean, to get, even drop a bill about it.
And don't hand me, well, it's about interstate commerce and you're dealing with public institutions.
Oh, horse manure.
You haven't said a word.
About the way the NCAA does crap.
And look, I come from a school, and I come from a conference, which I frankly believe is the best conference, you know, especially for major sports, okay?
Probably not for everything, but for football, baseball, and basketball, SEC is in the top two in almost every one of them, okay?
And especially football.
And don't hand me this idea that the Pac-12, or the WAC, or the Big 12, Big 10, whatever it used to be, and now you got the Big 10. You know, if you just want to see who wins titles, look at the last 15 years.
That's all I'll say.
And look, we're glad to have it, okay?
And Georgia and others have benefited from it.
I remember when Georgia was, you know, we've been down before, okay?
Well, right now we're up, just like Alabama, just like some of us.
But this idea that, you know...
You get involved with playoffs.
You get involved in this other stuff.
It's just frustrating to me when we're in a country right now where people are losing daily the respect for institutions that I beloved, that the House of Representatives, the United States Senate, the Office of the Presidency, these are things that I think are the very essence of who we are in a constitutional republic are being tore down every day.
And this is the kind of BS that we're dealing with.
I'm with you, Doug.
I'm 100% with you.
I mean, let's just focus on more important things than college football in reality.
Don't get it.
Don't get it.
It's not reality when you're just like...
I agree.
I agree at the end of the day.
Switch back to also real world.
I think this is a hilarious article that is out there today in the last week or so, James.
And you and I both have the ability that we do work remotely.
I have to travel a lot, but I do work remotely a lot, especially doing podcasts and everything else.
But the Zoom employees have been told they have to come back into office to do Zoom meetings.
That's so funny.
That is...
It really...
What's funnier is seeing it in a title.
Zoom employees have to come back to work for Zoom meetings.
When the pandemic struck and we all had to be in our homes...
A lot of employees realize they don't need to come into work.
And a lot of employers were like, you know what, maybe we don't need everybody to come to work.
As long as they're doing good from home, that's fine.
But Zoom has no excuse for people to come in.
Sure, there's probably a few developers, but everyone else...
I don't know.
It is absurd and it's so funny.
And Zoom, God bless them, destroyed Skype in a matter of couple of weeks and they became the top dog.
But yeah, it is very funny right now that people have to go into Zoom headquarters to Zoom.
Well, one of the things, and this is not one of our sort of fun topics, but this is a real topic that We're in a transition, and I've said this before on the podcast.
I've said it on Maria Bartiromo's morning show, and we talked about this a couple of times.
And the question is, are we asking the right questions about the economy right now, James?
And I think this is something, and you work in the industry, and we've watched radio, we've watched, you know, We talk about this.
You and I do a great deal.
I'm not sure we're asking the right questions because on top of the Zoom employees and also Joe Biden, which I thought was very hilarious, Joe Biden's trying to get federal employees back into the non-telework phase in D.C. A lot of it because D.C.'s restaurants and everything else were dying.
Because they don't have the federal employees there anymore.
But also WeWorks, which is the big building conglomerate that uses the shared space model all over the world.
Just as little as a couple of years ago, it was valued over $45 billion.
And now they sent out a warning to the investors on Wall Street saying, we're probably going under.
And this is in three weeks, three years, four years, if you want to look at it that way.
I mean, you've got...
There's office space, you know, type A or A-list office space in large cities that are sitting completely empty.
And we've changed this, and now you're sort of seeing this go back to where people aren't comfortable with it anymore.
But James, from your perspective, I mean, I'm coming at it from an X perspective, and I get that, and I look at it like you go into work.
And this has been difficult for me.
I told Lisa the other day.
I said, you know, it is interesting.
I love what I do and I love to travel and I love to see people.
But I said there is an office dynamic that I miss in some ways.
And to see this, see the WeWorks, this confidence.
Are we asking the right questions anymore about this economy?
Well, in terms of your, like, coming from my perspective of do we need to go into work?
I am 50-50 on this because I do agree there is a sort of camaraderie that you might miss being in an office.
But I haven't been to work in two years.
I haven't been in an office in two years and I love being from home and I love that I get to do everything basically from home.
In terms of, are we asking the right questions about the economy?
Can you give me an example?
Are you saying that the people aren't taking work seriously enough or they don't want to go back to work because they figured out a new system?
Well, I think more of the issue is this.
I mean, we've got a stock market that is still rising while you've had terrible inflation.
You've got costs rising.
In fact, just as we're going over this yesterday, from this, the CPI, the inflation report went up 3.2%, which is a little bit lower than what they thought was going to happen.
But again, it's getting closer to the number.
But core inflation and food and gas prices are still up.
And the...
It's at 4.7, but could react up.
And as I was talking to some economists and some money market folks the other day, they're concerned because all of us, I mean, you pump gas, I know in the last little bit, I pump gas, I had to get diesel yesterday.
It's up 30 to 40 cents over what it was just two months ago.
And this is a delayed action.
But yet you still have stocks up.
You still have other things up.
And it just seems like that, you know, everybody keeps saying, well, the market's going to crash.
The market's going to crash.
Well, the market's not crashing.
And so my question is, why is it not crashing?
And is it because there is a new, you know, e-commerce economy?
Is there a new...
I mean, because if you look out there...
You know, James, these buildings that are sitting empty, like where you don't go into work anymore, you know, where you got others, these buildings are sitting empty.
The landlords are still, if they've not paid off that building, they're still making payments.
They're still paying taxes.
They're still making maintenance costs.
And if they've got nobody in those buildings, there's some future problems ahead with valuations on property and land and other things.
But yet we still see, like in the Atlanta area, building permits for housing are at high levels.
And we have interest rates that are over 5%, 6% for 30-year fixed loans.
Again, it's just interesting to me in debt right now.
This is another issue.
Debt is now over a trillion dollars credit card debt for the first time ever.
I don't...
This could be wildly inappropriate, and we can delete it if it is.
But there's the...
The things I've seen people pay for on the internet, I know that we have money as a people.
I guess, how do I put this without There's a website called OnlyFans where people do horrible things or great things for them.
Where you can just pay to watch people be themselves or do whatever.
And people are dishing out cash to these people and they're making millions of dollars a year.
We have money.
People have money.
I think the idea that people don't have to go to work and they're saving money on all those things is helpful.
Listen, the money I've saved, I mean, I still needed a raise because, you know, money's always tight no matter what.
But my point is, like, I think that people are finding that they can live in a van.
People are finding that they can room with a bunch of people.
People aren't leaving home early enough anymore.
I mean, you know how long it took me to get out of my house, Doug?
I mean, I'm just saying, like, I think, yes.
Yeah, sure, we're in debt and people's credit cards are blown up and people are using their credit cards, right?
So money's being moved.
Yeah, but it's almost like the federal government though, James.
At a certain point in time, okay, unless you just become absolutely comfortable and are secure enough To just keep paying the minimum and a little bit on these credit cards, eventually it's going to catch up to you.
Eventually it will catch up to you.
It catches up to all of us.
But I think a lot of people, and this is just from a personal perspective, how many people have student loan debts?
Almost everybody who went to college in the last 30 years.
It's an insane number.
There are probably people who didn't go to college.
Who have credit card debt.
And that debt is probably less than the student loan debt.
So they see it the same way people see student loan debt.
We're like, yeah, I'll just pay it back eventually.
Whatever time it takes.
I mean, it's not crazy.
Some people have $40,000, $50,000 in student loan debt, and somebody has $8,000, $9,000 in credit card debt.
What's the difference?
Well, I mean...
That's what I'm saying.
I'm just saying that could be the mindset of people.
So yeah, it may catch up to them eventually, but student loan debt will catch up to everybody eventually too.
And also, how long have we been waiting for the housing market to crash?
I mean, people were like, oh, can't wait for the housing market to crash after COVID so I can buy a house.
I don't see the housing market crashing up for people to buy a house.
I think you bring up a great, I mean, you do bring up a good point that for whatever reason, people, you know, I mean, look, we had a story on today.
We may not get to now, but post Malone, the singer, you know, just bought a card from a game for $2 million.
Okay.
You know, there is excess money out there and some are spending it, but again, Are we whistling by the graveyard?
And again, maybe this is my early ex-mindset, you know?
I mean, and I'm not willing to...
I mean, I'll be 57 next week, okay?
I am influenced a lot by my grandparents and my parents who came out of a generation in which...
Look, and I share this with love.
I mean, my grandfather...
Who went through the Depression, went through everything else, always to the day he died, carried several hundred dollars in his pocket because he didn't ever want to get to a place where if he didn't have to do something or get something, he would have money because he knew what it was like to not have it.
And I think, you know, look, my kids and I've tried to teach them and, you know, not having debt is a good thing.
But yeah, there is becoming a level of sophistication or level of new interest, however you want to put it, that says debt is okay.
And Lisa and I deal with it, you know, in our own life, and we find ways, but it is interesting, you know, it's almost like, and I'm actually with you more than I think we believe we're on here, because I'm believing that some of this has just become, that we're in just this artificial space, so to speak, where this is the new equilibrium.
And that the people running the stock market are not really in it like they used to to find companies that are on solid fiscal financial basis.
If you look at that, then most of the top 100 performing companies have profit-earning ratios that are way out of whack.
You see all kinds of things like that.
But it's like, well, it'll sustain it and we can go up and down as we need to, depending on what the conditions are.
We make money.
As long as we keep the average Joe in a 401k making 3 or 5%, they're going to be happy.
And the rest of it doesn't matter.
100%.
100%.
Listen, they've told...
If you're talking about the average Joe, so I'll use me as an example.
I've always been told if you have a 401k at the end of your working life, you may have a little nest egg for yourself and you'll be happy.
Okay?
Now, yeah, of course, I want to make more money while I'm working and I would love to invest with a little extra side cash.
We all would, right?
I mean, that's just the way life works.
You want to make more money.
That's unreasonable to think you wouldn't.
But if you're telling me that I have that little nest egg at the end, I can go through being an average person.
And I'll know, hey, I got that little scratch at the end of my work career.
And that might be enough for some.
And that's fine.
But I think...
I don't want to get into this part of it because I don't understand it enough, so I'm not going to pretend I do.
But I do know that my parents were able to buy a house for $185,000 with a terrible salary together in 1999. Okay?
That world doesn't exist anymore.
It just doesn't.
And my generation's obviously had a hard time buying houses.
And a lot of people are using their combined income and using pretty much every penny they have to get a house.
And yes, owning things is important.
I always try to own my cars because I think that's more important at the end of the day.
But yeah, I'm with you.
I just think, yeah, our generation, it's just so vastly different from yours and the previous and even the one right before us that buying a house is tougher and being in debt is less frowned upon.
Yeah, I think it's just out there.
And look, I think this is a lot, you know, we have a lot of fun here on Friday's Finest, but I think this is a real issue, too.
I wanted this always to be a conversation, and I think, you know, this is just a real issue, and you look at it, and you look at the consumer, and this is why, you know, we've talked about Bidenomics, and, you know, why people are...
It's interesting enough that you see these numbers out there, but yet you talk to people and they're concerned about the economy.
They don't think the economy is good, but yet some of these indicators say, well, the economy is fine.
And I think, you know, and then we, again, I think so many people look to sports and everything else to get away from, you know, that, I think it's why people react so violently to politicization in sports.
Because you don't go to sports to worry about, you know, some political statement.
And I mean this.
Should they have their opinions?
Yes.
Have their opinions all day long.
But again, most people do not.
And I think you've seen the backlash from that as we go.
But this is a conversation I like having.
Maybe we'll get some guests on to talk about the future of the economy as we look at this and the In a generation, look, and I get it now that younger generations right now are experience-orientated more than they are thing-orientated.
And my generation, I'll be honest, my generation is thing-orientated, not experience-orientated.
I just talked to a good friend of mine yesterday, and they were talking about what they're doing with their grandkids.
And he made the comment, he said, we're now taking our grandkids for their birthday To a place like a museum, a park, or a short trip, and then we, you know, take them out to dinner or lunch or whatever.
And that is the experience more than the gift.
And, you know, and I thought that was pretty cool.
I'm with you that.
Well, I think that's just, that also might be a little more personal, but...
Anyway, yeah.
So, I mean, listen, I would love...
No, I'm sorry.
I was going to say, I would love to have someone on that's not me who knows what the hell they're talking about.
But I think it's really important that in today's...
With everything going on today, with however you feel about Biden and Trump and what the economics were under each of their time in office, but...
I think someone who's 30, 32 years old, like me, that actually knows what they're talking about would be an interesting conversation because they can tell you through experience.
I mean, I know someone who I worked with who they had failed business after failed business.
They lived with their parents until they're 32 and they're one of the most successful people I've ever met.
So, it's sort of an odd, you know, there's just some stories where, you know, you're starting off later in life.
And maybe that's just the way it is now.
Yep.
Did you want to hop on?
I don't disagree.
I don't disagree.
Did we want to do one more or did we want to call it a day?
Because I really like that this Kevin Brown story is so interesting to me.
All right, let's do it.
Let's do a quick one and we'll be out.
Alright, so Kevin Brown for the Orioles is an announcer.
And during a ballgame in July 23rd, I believe, he's announcing for the Orioles, he was discussing their record against the Tampa Bay Rays and how they haven't won in their stadium in so long.
And they're now, you know, it's great that they're winning here today because look at the turnaround for the Baltimore Orioles.
They were a terrible team for the last year.
I mean, for so long.
So apparently, they had a graphic and everything to describe this.
And so their GM or somebody in the higher-ups at the Orioles heard him talking about how bad the Orioles used to be.
That's all he said, because that's his job.
That's part of his job.
And he was suspended for talking about the Orioles not being, not talking about the Orioles now and discussing them in their past.
How insane is that?
Because he was butthurt that they're talking about the Orioles not being...
I'm sorry.
I just think it's insane that he got suspended.
No, it's stupid.
I mean, look, it goes back to a conversation we were having the other day on the podcast, and that was, is it, you know, truth?
You know, we want to rewrite history in the way we want to believe it, and we don't want to acknowledge where, you know, the aspects of where we've been.
I mean, look, Orioles have been getting rear-handed to them down there.
I mean, they wasn't playing...
They're like eight years now.
They've stung.
Yeah.
So, I mean, why not celebrate the fact that we haven't done well now, but we're going to do well now.
That's exactly what he was saying.
And the thing is, the part that bothers me is that there was a graphic.
Which means beforehand, this was discussed with multiple people.
And some guy in the Orioles front...
And then, of course, the night...
So he suspended the other day.
And the Orioles fans started chanting, free Kevin Brown.
So instead of rooting for their team about the wins, and instead of talking about how great the team is, now it's turned around to their fans who are angry at their general manager and saying, free Kevin Brown.
Only the Orioles could blunder such a great season with this nonsense.
And I just think it's crazy that someone doing their job got in trouble, and we see that a lot.
But in this particular case, because when I saw it first, I was like, oh my god, did he say the N-word on TV? Yeah, I thought...
What could have possibly...
That was my first thought.
I was like, he either said a slur, or he did something you just can't forgive.
And then they're like, ah, he talked about the Orioles when they were back.
Yeah, I watched that clip.
It's a crazy year old, Doug.
Yeah, I watched the clip and couldn't figure it out.
Yeah, I had to read the article that had the clip connected to it for them to explain to me what I had just watched.
That's the way it goes.
I mean, look, we're living in a weird time right now, and that's why we have Friday's Finest, where we can have end-up discussions on the craziness of the world, we can have end-up discussions on real issues of the world, but James and I will always bring it to you just fresh and very conversational every week here on Friday's Finest.
Glad you were joining with us today, because here's the one place where the truth will always be continued to be told, even if it doesn't You know, fit real well into your narrative of life.
We're going to talk about the truth, and we're going to try and find good answers.
That's the way it happens here on Friday's Finest.