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You Can't Resist All The Bad Stuff - Shame On You America
57 Plays1 year ago
Lance unloads on American excess and the "Pieces" debrief.
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Transcript
Introduction: 'Shame On You America'
00:00:01
Speaker
Introducing Shame On You America, a special diatribe by Lance.
Economic Realities and Moral Dilemmas
00:00:53
Speaker
diatribe number one you can't resist all the bad stuff
00:00:59
Speaker
People in America are selling stuff. Almost none of them are malicious. But most are good at justifying their actions, and most are seduced by growth and the desire to have more. Come into my classroom. Let's examine the business of your friendly neighborhood ice cream shop. Ice cream is a mellow, reputable business, I suppose, and everyone likes it. So let's take a deep dive into a fictional ice cream shop called Big Ass Scoop. he said big as What if we were to challenge the ice cream shop owner call her Big Carol to choose between one of two economic realities? Reality number one, market harmony. In this reality, Big Carol sells four big-ass cones of ice cream per month to 300 dedicated customers.
00:01:47
Speaker
She earns respectable net profits of 100K per year. Her 300 neighborhood patrons come out to the shop once a week for a joyful, tasty, big-ass scoop of ice cream and maybe some sprinkles on top. Big Carol makes a good living serving a sustainable customer base and the neighborhood is happy and vibrant.
Capitalism and Health Concerns
00:02:10
Speaker
It's a win-win for everyone involved.
00:02:14
Speaker
Reality number two, unbridled capitalism at play. In this reality, the shop owner, Big Carol, deploys some marketing techniques she learned at UPenn and inspires those 300 dedicated customers to come on out and eat ice cream three times per week. That's 12 times per month. that's too much Her net profit soared at $250K annually as a result. Big Carol is making way better money now and her husband and kids love the extra cash. Now they ski Park City instead of that shithole Powder Mountain. oh heil now But something doesn't feel right to Big Carol. She has a deep sense of guilt because her dedicated customers are potentially eating too much ice cream.
Critique of Capitalistic Growth Obsession
00:03:00
Speaker
And she's really worried about their physical health and the state of their finances.
00:03:06
Speaker
Yeah right motherfucker. Big Carol don't give a fuck. Big C didn't give a second thought to her customers health and finances. Big Carol would choose reality number two every single time if she could. Big Carol is a capitalist and she's doing what we're all trying to do. She's making her situation better. And by the standards of our society she's winning. In reality number two, Big Carol is an entrepreneur.
00:03:35
Speaker
She's gonna take Big Ass Scoop's business model to other neighborhoods soon. Big Carol kicks ass, and we fucking love people like Big Carol in this country, even if her business is fucking people's health. Now before you start shitting on the validity of this example with some argument about how the marginal utility of ice cream consumption is exaggerated,
00:03:58
Speaker
or how competitive forces would limit Big Carol's profit making capacity. And before you say something like, Lance would you rather live in the slums of India and sleeping on a dirt floor? Or in a country where chubby people eat a little too much ice cream? yeah lance To you I say, shut the fuck up! shut the fuck up As if having a desire to make our country better means I can't acknowledge the truly tragic places in this world? How about you just stop and think about the broader market psychology of unbridled capitalism? Big Carol is going to receive nothing but praise from her community.
00:04:36
Speaker
You're amazing, Big Carol. You're killing it. Her husband may even go down on her now. He liked that pussy. Yay. He liked that pussy. Sure, Big Carol's customers are all pre-diabetic, but who fucking cares? They're making choices based on their values, and if they're making bad choices, well, that's on them. Plus, Carol's gonna increase jobs.
00:04:57
Speaker
Isn't it great? Isn't it great? Carol has no cognitive dissonance to overcome. No compartmentalization is needed in her guilt-free brain. Carol is a motherfucking job creator. yeah She is the most noble thing you can possibly be in America. he yeah But let's put the made-up realities of big-ass scoop aside. Would most of you agree that businesses in our country are pursuing more? More sales? More market share? More profit? More of something? ye Of course. And isn't this a wonderful thing? Because look at how many amazing advancements have come as a result of the capitalistic growth machine. Without financial incentives, there's no innovation. And if there's no innovation, Lance, there is no improvement in lifestyle. We'd be stuck in the prehistoric ages. Okay. But, and it's a big fucking but, not unlike the buts of Carol's customers in reality number two. Negative externalities matter way more than our dumb shit American economy acknowledges.
00:06:07
Speaker
When people overeat ice cream, our healthcare system bears the brunt of the cost from Carol turning her customers into pigs. And by extension, we all pay for it. That's capitalism, Lance. Producers maximize profit and consumers maximize utility. It's not my problem if consumers are going hog wild. my problem Yes, but isn't it funny that capitalism, the free market badass that everyone worships, that everyone says will solve society's problems, can't protect you or your friends or your family from negative externalities? Isn't it funny that good old capitalism results in so many people leading unhealthy and economically insecure lives? laugh
00:06:55
Speaker
Our society is piling up negative externalities. Cue the joke. Like a teenage boy's jizz tissues under the bed. He did not. But Lance. You're a left-wing Marxist
Resisting Unhealthy Societal Norms
00:07:09
Speaker
weirdo. What's the alternative? You see, I think that's the wrong question. How about this? What will stop modern-day capitalism from pushing us all to the brink of mental and physical collapse?
00:07:26
Speaker
i said fo So let's stop. Come to my office. Let's have a one-on-one. I want you to think about all the bad shit you have to resist on a daily basis. I'm talking about stuff you might be able to justify in moderation, but everyone knows is bad for you. I'm talking about the stuff our weak lizard brains are susceptible to consuming in unhealthy quantities.
00:07:54
Speaker
Number one, shit food. It's at every turn in American society. Drive one square mile in your neighborhood and just laugh at the insanity. Physically point at and name out loud every place that sells shit food. Circle K, Panda Express, Burger King, Taco Bell, Walgreens, Conoco, 7-Eleven, McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Golden Corral, Wingstop, and the fucking dollar store. Should all of these places survive in a healthy society? he no Hmm. Number two, your fucking vices. Vape, weed shops, liquor stores, casinos. None of these are good for you in high quantities. And do any of these vice venues look concerned when you come back every single day? Your average liquor store will sell vodka to the most wigged out homeless dude if he can pay. No big deal if drunk homeless dude walks into oncoming traffic. He made the choice to drink. Fuck the mentally ill.
00:08:55
Speaker
Number three, our online social comparison addictions, AKA social media. These companies are happy, literally jumping for joy that you're addicted to their products. Mental health on the rise for teenage girls? Who gives a fuck? Loneliness epidemic?
00:09:14
Speaker
Not their fault you're falling into rabbit holes. Misinformation and vitriol everywhere. It's just free speech. And sadly, many of our society's top tier university graduates now spend all of their brainpower developing solutions to keep you hooked. yeah But you already know this. And you're still down for Mark Zuckerberg jizzing in your face. More jizz! More jizz! Thank you Mark. Didn't need to do that.
00:09:45
Speaker
Number four, your real world social comparison addictions.
Materialism and Conformity Pressures
00:09:50
Speaker
Part 4A, all the horrible beauty products and interventions that make you look and feel fake as fuck. The Botox pushers, eyebrow threading joints, tanning places, and endless teeth whitening products that make you look like a black light is on your face. Because yes, your teeth can look too white. How about the bald man creams, dick pills, the supplements that make you look jacked, and also make you shit your pants. All of this stuff is making a country of narcissistic fuckfaces. Part 4B. Cars. Can your dumbass resist making the car you drive a status symbol? If you're attracted to someone because of the car they drive, then you're pathetic. You're pathetically shallow. How about getting wet down there because a guy takes care of his body, or reads books, or has financial stability? Do you really want a guy with a brand new F-150 in red and a sexy black mesh grill? why is this about women The guy that spews more than his fair share of nitrogen dioxide and the faces of little kids at the playground? Oh, so you agree?
00:11:01
Speaker
Oh, you want your boyfriend to get a Tesla now? leave her alone Is that because he'll be an American hero for going electric? leave the for I see. So you get real wet down there watching the movie Blood Diamond. fuck whoop Because that's what mining for car battery material is like. okay good But who cares if life is brutal and exploitative for Black Africans?
00:11:25
Speaker
Part 4c Giant Single Family Homes How fucking big does your home need to be before you start to feel like a pig? Does an absurd 6,000 square foot house on a two acre lot sound too big?
Environmental Impact of Consumption
00:11:40
Speaker
No?
00:11:41
Speaker
Really? You never stop and look around your ridiculously oversized house and property and say, this is stupid, and I'm a rapist. i learned it from you Why not? You rape Mother Earth daily by living in that big ass house? i learnt it from watching you ga And for those of you saying, whew, I escaped Lance's wrath. I only live in a 4,000 square foot house. Well, you're a dumb ass too. You spent 800K on a lame gray box with a basement full of ridiculous things that remind me of the 1980s TV show, Silver Spoons. Ricky, Ricky Schroeder.
00:12:22
Speaker
I'm impressed with your retro Pac-Man video game machine and your full size pool table that had to be specially assembled because your basement door isn't big enough. Excess is not attractive, it's ugly.
00:12:38
Speaker
In conclusion, the negative externalities of all of our choices are haunting us. Capitalism has taught us to prefer unchecked growth and unchecked accumulation. We're all big carols. So you've got some choices to make. And you better have above average discipline and self-control to navigate the society. If you don't, you're doomed. Because the forces of profit and growth are too strong for pussies like you.
00:13:06
Speaker
You can't resist all the bad stuff by yourself. You need Lance's diet drives to teach you how to survive, so come on back here for shame on you America and pay the price for your terrible choices.
American Excess and Introspection
00:13:20
Speaker
And until next time, please, please stop doubling down on shit you know makes your life worse.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know if you're happy or not. i You are embarking on a new project, bro. Did we have a did we have a show already? Didn't you already say that, man? I think we recorded in 24 and twenty four and weve we released in 25, I think. Oh, you're right, dude. You're right. Dude, I go Happy New Year all the way through February. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
00:14:31
Speaker
I accept that, happy new year to you. Yeah, yeah, doing ah doing a little shtick here and having a good time with it, making me laugh and making me smarter. So people have just heard it and fuck. I'm happy, dude, because I know you wrestle a little bit with what your what your creative angle is and what we're doing. And I'm kind of happy to have a little bit of LA back.
00:15:00
Speaker
Cause you can't spell Lance without LA bro. like god No, sir. LA. Did you break the, did you break the audience down on that? I can, but I would just say that ah you were almost a character in our high school and uh, but that is who you are. We talked about a little bit over the year, right?
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah, I had a cartooner's side to me. And I'm not sure. um Maybe it's just deep insecurity. Can't be yourself. But I don't know that that this show is that. It's definitely a character. But it's it has a lot of me in it in terms of the things that annoy me about a society. But I definitely want to piss people off and and make them laugh. It's kind of funny. Yeah. like I think that character, that cartoonish character, there was a lot of real aspects of you and your personality and your your life in it. And I think maybe you're starting to pull out that because without if you 100% get rid of LA, it's not really who you are. But you're also not a fucking psychopath that needs that much attention. So somewhere in between is like the yeah is the happy mix. And that's what you're trying to find. And now now no, no boss can tell you that you're fine. No HR department can fuck with you now. So now you can get to it.
00:16:15
Speaker
Exactly. It is so true, dude. I am completely unshackled from the corporate chains. like I for almost a year of us talking and doing this is like, oh, I can't say that. I'm not going to say that. Oh, that's mean. But a joke's a joke and obviously most of what I do is Firmly in the range of satire and you know a lot of what you do is is dry humor. It's obvious It's humor, but like yeah
Creative Freedom vs Corporate Constraints
00:16:40
Speaker
now I don't care I'm not trying to like offend people and I know a lot of jokes aren't funny, but I Don't care which is a great place to be pretty freeing. It's the best dude and you probably find your true voice in that I We'll see. yeah I'm hoping because i my true voice might be like, yeah, um yeah I get up in that. that might be me That might be the real me. I'm not sure. but yeah so Thanks, dude. i I think we might have talked about a little bit on the last episode, but I kind of stepped out of the whole stand-up comedy scene for a long time.
00:17:16
Speaker
Because when i when I'm talking in the process, you're going through it. To me, it's like it's like you're almost making an act because an act is like ah a caricature of yourself. Because no one goes around and questions everything that much and then makes a punchline of it, unless you're doing it. So you're like you you write some shit, it comes out super um like, oh, this is this comes out in ah a weird format. It's either like too scripted or too much of a joke. And then you push real hard to make it like conversational.
00:17:43
Speaker
And then yeah, so you so you it's presentable. And then it comes back to like, then you push it back the other way. Cause you're like, wait, no, I'm doing an act. I want people to know when to laugh. I want people to know when I'm making a hard hit point. Once you do that, like you can, everything's cool. But, uh, you know, I stepped away from standup comedy, not just like personally about performing, but even like watching, I didn't watch it or talk about it or think about it for like maybe eight years. And so I'm watching it now. It's like, I was in one of the, like a time capsule.
00:18:11
Speaker
And i we mentioned her the other day, but of a girl that I knew in St. Louis, Nikki Glaser, I say it like no one's heard of her. yeah But I fuckin', she fuckin' hosted the she hosted like the Academy Awards or something? No, Golden gloing Globes. Yeah, she hosted that off the momentum from the Tom Brady roast, because she was the best. I mean, she was quite literally the best in that.
00:18:35
Speaker
But I'm just like, it's so weird, dude. I mean, she wass always she had a lot of heat on her for forever. but um Then our HBO special it was actually all on in English here. I watched it the other night. There's 15 minutes about gang rape porn. No, I know. She's crazy. And there's just a bunch of middle-aged ladies just laughing and... Yeah, yeah. I know. It's crazy. It's like crazy. So why even worry about... I mean, she makes a good joke. like She makes a correlation how life is just a big gang bang where you're plugging holes and never and you're always behind and and you might even... You're always behind.
00:19:09
Speaker
Well, you're always behind catching up. I'm sure she has tons of innuendo in there. There's always more cock. Yeah, there's always more. But you just think about that and go, all right, that's extreme in so many different levels that if that's mainstream now, then what are you worried about, LA? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm not worried about it. And my shtick is more of mimicking an author who's reading their own book.
00:19:35
Speaker
and it's trying to teach people something, but it's got some some left field shit. And we'll see how it goes. ba Anyways, congrats, dude. It's great. It's like you came out again or something, but it's a different, you know what I mean? As as what, Matt? What did I come out as?
00:19:54
Speaker
Huh? Say it. You had, but you had to literally, you had to identify with another, with a party or personality is what I mean. You had to tell yourself that is me. I am LA and I don't fucking care, which might be the same process that someone has to come out. Oh yeah. I did i had to go back like, you know, what's, what's a core of you that's been missing.
00:20:19
Speaker
The goofball insane behavior that I used to have just hadn't come out in the last decade. I mean, in the corporate environment, there's a lot of constraints and I needed to, I needed to get to that, man. I needed to get back to that. And the commercials helped me originally here and and those were masked, right? Clearly you didn't know if you or I made them until they knew so you me. kidding But, you know, I do care about society. I do have a lot of,
00:20:47
Speaker
um financial viewpoints. I do have a lot to say about it. It's just, i couldn't I couldn't be one of those guys that says it with a straight face. It's just not who I am. Same money. Yeah, I'm not that dude. i'm I'm a shit talker and I like the idea of being a kind of condescending prick. And I don't know, this character may turn into a gay guy. I'm not sure, no, I'm kidding. ah Yeah. Because that would be that would attract the woke audience. No.
00:21:18
Speaker
it's ah it It's fun, and ah these are things I wanna say anyway, but there would be no way for me to say them. All right. so Okay, now I wanna start with, if I make my own coffee every day for two months, as opposed to going to Starbucks, what would that net me?
00:21:36
Speaker
kidding 30,000 by the time you're 65.
Balancing Business Growth with Sustainability
00:21:40
Speaker
No, I don't fucking know. I'm just kidding, bro. That's how they get you though. Do you know how much? That's the tagline. Do you know how much yeah you you would have in your 401k if you just made your own coffee every day of the year? Yeah, no, I don't care about that. I'm interested in American excess and lifestyle around money. So we'll see how it goes, dude. But you're starting a new business, bro. Yeah. Well, to that point, dude, to your monologue, or I don't know what we're going to call them, but I have the word monologue in my head. Diatribes. I call them diatris diatribes. Diatribes.
00:22:15
Speaker
I am starting a new business and I'm excited about it. It's the exciting phase because we're just creating something out of nothing. Well, somebody laid the groundwork. There's a supplier that's helping us, but we're creating something out of nothing. I'm doing it the way I want to do it with friends I want to do it with. um but the we haven't fought We don't even have our EIC or whatever it is, our tax ID, right? Yeah. We don't have shit.
00:22:40
Speaker
and input a bank account. And we're already talking about growth. Like how do we open the second location? How do we, how do we, how do we grow our product line online? How, where are we going next? We're starting St. Louis. We go to Kansas City. We go to Denver. Yeah. And, uh, if you've run the numbers and the first location goes well, life would be just fine. Right. Just absolutely fine. And, uh, but nope.
00:23:05
Speaker
You can't start like that, dude, for whatever reason. i'm i'm ah I'm a victim of it, too. I am. You know who that sounds like, Matt? Big C. Big Carol. Uh-huh. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. But you know you're looking at the message I was talking about. is Is there are negative externalities or consequences to certain things we consume? What you're doing, man, is above board. I mean, I see.
00:23:31
Speaker
I applaud you you. You're taking wood that's right. These are trees that have fallen or they're dead and you're reclaiming it. There are some of that. Some of them are just trees, but it's I would say the way to sum it up is like by doing it legally, you're you're preventing a need to do it illegally. like There's a lot of rules on where they get these trees. They could be fallen trees.
00:23:54
Speaker
there could be trees and ah in a congested area where if you don't remove a ah few of them, the actual undergrowth like is not gonna not gonna do as well as if you remove it. So these trees might be near the end of their life. Sometimes they're just they're just people on private properties that need to get rid of them. because they're so I mean, some of these trees get huge. and So like another way the guy explained it to me, because he's probably had to justify in his head, because on the surface you're like, ah, cutting down trees, that's great, dude.
00:24:23
Speaker
But first of all, it's not clear-cutting. Second of all, these things probably, I mean, these are these are beasts. this is I'm actually looking at a inventory listing to my right. They're going to they last for generations and generations. So you're preventing somebody from buying 15 fucking pressed particle board things from China that are all fuck filled with chemicals and all this share crap. sure There's a lot of ways to justify it if you want. Yeah, you're you're justifying it. But there is a motivator ah to access this resource that's not just, I want to rape the jungle and sell you can't all the resources of the jungle. So I think it's a good place in the world where the protected forest is actually growing. So the goal is to get up to like 60%.
00:25:03
Speaker
they had a They had their day in the sun, though, when they a lot of the jungle's gone because of farms, coffee. I mean, the coffee like a coffee plantation still looks like jungle because there's still like greenery and banana plants. they Usually, like there's for the shady part of it, they need like avocado and banana plants. Basically, it's filled with food, coffee, banana, avocado. But it's not the virgin jungle that that was here when your boy, Christopher co Colon, got here and raped and murdered everyone.
00:25:33
Speaker
Well, expats gotta eat, bro, especially the American ones. You know how that is. But so, you guys, you're gonna grow um unchecked and make as much money as you possibly can. It probably won't be sustainable. One of the slabs you'll put in the ground, I'm from my grave, bro. yeah Yeah, you'll fall in the same trap as every other capitalist pig.
00:25:55
Speaker
Or do you have a different idea? Like, what's enough for you? Because that's the question of this episode. Essentially, it's like, you know, what's enough? Not only that, but like, of the things that aren't good for us, how do we figure out what enough is? We probably can't. I have like I don't know. Like, I know I could live off of a very little amount of money. I'm doing it right now. And everything's fine. I have some illusions of, biden you know, actually, my kids are in Peru this week with their mom. And it's awesome. And I would like to keep giving them those experiences that might be considered ridiculous by some people. Did you go to Peru when you're 11? Probably not not. So they've been to Italy, France, Peru,
00:26:36
Speaker
Pretty cool. And I'd like to keep giving them those experiences. So to do that,
Personal Desires vs Societal Norms
00:26:40
Speaker
I need a little bit of money. But I don't i don't need the the other luxuries. But just like a normal salary that you might make if you did well at ah and a corporation would be just fine, I think. Like 600 grand? Yeah. not Not asking for much. I'd like to do it by the day. I heard i heard a friend's dad one time tell me,
00:27:02
Speaker
have a thick accent, I won't say it is, but he he like he was kind of religious and he he prayed and decided that I think it was like $3,000 a day was was enough. He didn't want to be greedy. Jesus. Dude, that that reminds me, excuse me, my wife's dad who's now gone, he owned a horticulture business and there was this Well, he owned a horticultural business, and he used to service this area called Castle Pines, which is a high-end area that you're familiar with in Colorado. And he'd yeah he'd always come back and be like, these idiots don't even know that I charge $25 per tree. And then all he was doing was watering them. Like he'd just stick ah ah long like just just a long-nosed watering hose into into the ground and water these. And he's like, that's 25 bucks.
00:27:53
Speaker
And he always come, we'd have drinks, he'd always bring it up, $25. That's funny. But yeah, what is enough? I don't know. And then and then how do you how do you fucking contain yourself when you know things are going going overboard? Like if you were gonna get into the weed business, it'd be like, yeah, you'd have to be justifying a lot more, I think. But that's my own personal belief system. well I think for even this, like it might not be money, but I, well, there is money on the other one. That's why I'm doing it. But there's going to be a tipping point where it's not, it's not the cool. It's just as bad as any other fucking schlep your ass to the office job because you overextended yourself and you're constantly managing a lot of stuff. And so that's, that's my, my number. It's like, if it goes well, we'll be like one location and and the internet business goes well, we'll be doing really well. And then we'll,
00:28:45
Speaker
will want to grow more. And there's going to be a point where it's like this, there's more headaches than there is like value of the money coming back. Maybe. Yeah, you'll be compelled to grow. And that's the dirty beast of capitalism. You will be compelled to seek more if it goes well. I've had so many conversations about it already. Between the guy down here, my my people in St. Louis, it's like,
00:29:07
Speaker
just talking about what markets we need to yeah do next. And you know why? Because somebody else might go there. Right, and it's so... It's not even a reason. like It's that's fascinating. And the company I used to work at, one of the larger healthcare companies in the country, they were not for profit. You could probably figure out who they were. And they talked about growth incessantly.
00:29:29
Speaker
and this is a organization that's a nonpro yeah And this is an organization that was committed to sort of taking care her well they said committed to taking care of their members in the best way possible. and the underlying message It wasn't underlying. It wasn't secretive. It was like, if we don't grow, we will die.
00:29:47
Speaker
and I think that motto is in a not-for-profit arena. It's in all philanthropy. It's in every aspect of American society. And I think that's where I'm ranting.
Capitalism's Influence on Society
00:30:00
Speaker
like it's like If you don't have more, if you're not seeking more, what is it you're doing, man?
00:30:05
Speaker
Dude, that's such a thing that we grow up with. If you're not growing, you're dying. you know If you're not going in this direction, you're going in the wrong direction. like on At restaurants, I want the better ski resort. I make a joke in the episode about Park City versus ah Powder Mountain in Utah. It's like, it's always. It didn't land. But I probably, because I know it didn't land, I probably put something there. Ah, see, if they want to go to Park City. I'm kidding. I probably put some jive behind it.
00:30:36
Speaker
I'm kidding. Dude, even like weight, you know, your weight, you're actually not the nobody, nobody is trying to maintain a healthy weight. It's like if you're not going down, you're not Like it's not working. Movement, there's some about movement that we, as humans, we crave. Well, those would be more healthy. Yeah, they'd be a little more healthy, but like, yeah, that's gotten overboard because you can see the, it's sort of like a health addiction complex is, is brooding in our country that's driven by brilliant capitalists who know how to sell our weaknesses. And they're just fucking amazing at it. So I don't, the system, our system that's organized around growth
00:31:14
Speaker
like How do we escape death? I'm kidding. The funny thing is the I hear it so much, dude. like The way to do it individually is what you did. And I think Marlon Brando said, I need to make enough money so I can say fuck money. So one way to get off the Ferris wheel is is to be a slave to it so much that you you can get out of it, so to so to speak. like You can you make enough money where now you don't have to like bend to it.
00:31:42
Speaker
that's That's the capitalist way to take care of it, right? And that's what everybody's goal is. Oh, I'm trying to get, I just want to get like have some passive income over here. I got these rentals because, and then I can retire and there I live off that. Everyone's trying to get that passive flow, whether it's a four one day or K or a pension. And it's like, all right, I'm just going to play the game until the point where I got enough to take care of myself. That's how people try to do it individually. The other way is like, it like what you do. Not everybody can do that.
00:32:12
Speaker
make money what what you like doing, right? And then it's like, I don't care. And the other thing is maybe a Tico culture that I found the coast drinking culture when I came down here, which was like, there's, there's definitely a bit of, well, there's two things here. The one is do it, do the, do the minimum. So you can always do the minimum to get by. And that is frustrating. Like,
00:32:34
Speaker
I was talking to this other gringo where I work out and we were joking around for, it was we were like howling, laughing. But almost any old Costa Rican house that you go into, the fucking light switches are a mess. Like, it's so funny, dude. Like, you'll you'll be in a room and you'll flip the switch and you're like, light doesn't turn on. And then you'll really you'll see out of the corner of your eye like, oh, lights turn on in a different room.
00:32:55
Speaker
And it's like the electrician was like, as long as this motherfucker turns on a light, it's fine. Not the one in the room. I know it's like my my dad, nope, the most gringo American ever. I just, you know, he'll be like, hey, Matt, how's the light turn on the bathroom? And I'll be like, yeah, where are you in the bathroom? Like, oh, yeah, you you got to go around the corner.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, you got to turn over there. But
Reflection on Wealth Pursuit and Consumer Behavior
00:33:20
Speaker
there's that, ah, fuck it. Just do the minimum and don't get caught up in the race. Even make the minimum. There's people like Because really, what does it say about our American society that so many people want to check out of it? Either you've got a huge growing faction of people that are struggling to navigate the society. They're definitely not winning in the game of finance.
00:33:43
Speaker
And then you've got this middle group of people like us that truly want to just check out, want to hit it big, you know, get your what, five, 10 million probably is what people would say and get out. And then of course you've got the people that have no guilt hoarding as much as possible.
00:33:59
Speaker
You forgot the group of five doesn't do for you what it used to. Yeah. So what does it say though about a society structured in such a way that we, so many people are either suffering or want to check out. It's just not good things. Right. What's also dude, it's so clear and maybe Carol, there is some positive takeaway from Carol's first, first operation, like, but the people that don't want to retire or like people that are doing like things that have been around forever, you know, like people that are,
00:34:28
Speaker
like a farmer a lot of times you'll find a guy. Oh, Jim still likes to whatever. Yeah, like not the new industrial farms, but the real hand like that. Or even like a pizza maker who's not who is not fucking Papa John, right but he's like has this cool little joint.
00:34:43
Speaker
that those people don't want to retire. They're not trying to get out of the rat. They're just like, this is what I like doing. Those are becoming so rare. It's just so much harder to compete against your Amazon or your Papa John's or all of these corporations that that the growth is number one. And it sounds like a sob story of like Marxist left-wing nonsense, and yet none of us like that. None of us go to Aspen, Colorado into the downtown area and be like, oh, you know, I wish they ripped out the Hotel Jerome and put a Costco in. Nobody wants that. We're trying to get away from it too. Nobody wants that. And yet we continue, because I don't know where you get the power, but we continue as consumers. Excuse me, I don't know where you
00:35:31
Speaker
get changed to happen. But as consumers, the only thing I can think of is we have a choice. And inevitably we go to our own mindset of I need more to consume and therefore I don't have enough money. So now I have to get things cheaper from Amazon or Costco. and We just continue to like feed this system. Whereas we'd all want to support a local business that ah is great for our little community.
00:35:59
Speaker
We all think it's cool that we found it, too. We all think it's cool. And most of us don't, though. We end up doing what everyone else is doing is being obsessed about saving money. Some of us have to, for sure, save the money. But many of us just, I don't know, we just don't get it. So it's depressing to me. And it's something that's always been in the back of my head. And I've always ranted about it. So I like to get it out now in this funny way.
00:36:24
Speaker
So that's that's done. Moving on. No, but the what's funny, too, dude, just to to pound on that a little bit, you talk about just the growth model and how it's it's obviously bleeding out over the border. It has been for a long time. But like, so
Globalization of American Culture
00:36:40
Speaker
yeah, within a mile in my house. and And so if you if they don't get if you don't get growth in the US, like some some maybe some fast food places are a little tired up there. So like they got to go Gotta go somewhere else, right? So within a mile of my house here in Costa Rica, there is, buts start let's see, starts with the Hooters. Can't argue with that. Great food, great environment, right? Hooters, Walmart, Quiznos, Office Depot, Starbucks, McDonald's.
00:37:13
Speaker
Subway, Radio Shack, we'll come back to that one. Well, I'll just say it now, we're so fucking obsessed with growth, even if something's dead and doesn't work, they're like, gotta try it somewhere else. Radio Shack's been dead since like 1987, right? Yeah, theyre they're horrible. Little parts that nobody- They're not giving up, dude. It's like, you see you see these these bankruptcy like companies like Sears,
00:37:36
Speaker
they People are still invested, like giving them money, like keep on life support because there's like, got well, it's not growing again. Kmart, you know? Let me just say something about Rage Shack. The only way that works in Costa Rica is because there's too much friction in ordering little parts. There's too much expense in ordering little parts from Amazon.
00:37:55
Speaker
Right, RadioShack got killed because I can look up on Amazon, any electronic part I need, and have it here same day. Amazon must have killed a lot of businesses. Yeah, of course. It is cool, dude. It's close to my house, and they did it right. You're exactly right. But if you want to find a weird adapter for something that's like...
00:38:12
Speaker
You would just order on Amazon, right? Oh, yeah. Here, if I got on Amazon, the cost would double because of shipping. So I go down there and check it out. Yeah, exactly. That's the only way. And still pay double. And good for that. Yep. And so then what, Subway, Denny's. And Denny's in Costa Rica. Yeah. And the Grand Slam's like fucking 19 bucks.
00:38:34
Speaker
It's packed all the time, too. but the what with the point like The sad thing, oh, Burger King. said there was ah There was a Sbarro that didn't work. tied up It didn't work, I was like, I can't believe it. It's across the street from Papa John's, who's fucking papa world domination. But check this out. corner didn Yeah, I'm saying growth, man. That's how that happens. ah Totally. And what bo would happen? like What would you say would happen if every country in the world replicated the US?
00:39:03
Speaker
That's what's happening. But what if they get there? ah do you i he's The saddest, most boring world ever. that but it's also like it's It's also, and I hate to be the environmentalist, like there's it's not possible.
00:39:18
Speaker
It is not possible from an environmental sustainability perspective. So here we are hoarding, consuming, hoarding, consuming, producing, growing, and making our money. And I got money in stocks and I'm just like, oh, ah no hypocrisy there, blah, blah, blah. But like, if every other country were to get to our level,
00:39:38
Speaker
the planet would melt. I just mean, as far as consuming and trash creation and all the stuff that comes with this, yeah. all All the means of production, pollution, resource, degradation, everything you need to have a society like the US. I haven't heard any economist say that that's a possibility ah for the world. is You mean survival in that environment? Well, just that it's just that the the planet could survive.
00:40:07
Speaker
Oh yeah. If those are the terms for which we all live, that we all have a giant single family home or whatever, that that's just not... And and the hardcore capitalists will go, look, that's not gonna happen in the world, man. Okay, you're gonna fucking tell me that Ghana is gonna fucking have an economy. And it's like, it's never gonna happen, bro. ah That's fine, but just philosophically. But the director of global growth at Starbucks is like, Ghana's an emerging market. We're gonna put 200 in there. No doubt, Ghana produces his own coffee. We're gonna throw Starbucks in. Yeah. yeah and
00:40:46
Speaker
Well, that's what that's where we're going. So we'll see if it's sustainable. I mean, but for me, it's more like, so boring. I mean, the US s has kind of lost its regional state by state kind of uniqueness, and now the world is. And so that's like, that's kind of sad. But I you know, when I felt like when I was in Europe and southern Europe, like in Italy, and it, it I don't know if they've if they're denying some of this shit or how they're doing it, but like you don't see nearly as much of this shit. It might just be like a geographical thing where here we actually are pretty close to the US, but like you don't see all this shit happening over there. I mean, you see like pockets with McDonald's everywhere in the world. No, they they resist it. yeah Yeah. But you even have like you even like some cities over there resisting even the the infrastructure that we want to implement everywhere. like
00:41:35
Speaker
More cars. Everything's car, yeah. Yeah. So you have like ah city centers that are only walkable, stuff like that. And it's fascinating that we will sit on the other side of that as as American society and go, oh, well, they're not growing. europe The European economy is a mess. And there is a cost, I think, to resisting unbridled growth. It's like, why did all our ancestors come to the US s or come to the New World because they were starving and broken?
00:42:04
Speaker
You go over there now and you're like, are you guys crazy? How did you leave this place? You know, they learned that there, but there was a cost to that. They didn't become the preeminent economic powerhouse of the world. And yet by all statistical measures, their quality of life is pretty damn good. So like, so, so less growth, but just a more, um, peaceful, sustainable way of life, not, not everywhere, not trying to be a libtard.
00:42:30
Speaker
yeah but Yeah, the world's different too. Like ah Europe was on the constant warfare for like 1000 years too and shit like that, right? yeah Right. All right. So where are we headed? I don't know, man. i just Geographically, you think of how well the US is like protected from a lot of shit and how you've got everything. like Besides a real true lush rainforest, even in the Northwest, there you have it. But you've got beaches, you have mountains. It's completely self-sustainable. It could have been taken a different direction, like a better direction.
00:43:02
Speaker
Right? Then these like cookie cutter neighborhoods that are that are the same and fucking Nashville as they are in Denver as they are in New York now that they're it's just like, Oh, look, <unk> you look at a picture of a neighborhood and you go, Where's that?
00:43:15
Speaker
like you don't know because it's the same fucking there's like I lee even when I was a kid in the 80s because we moved a lot you could go somewhere and you would notice a different style of house like there was like uniqueness in that right you don't see that at all it's like KB homes it's just fucking plowing across the nation putting in suburbs and right it's A lot of people would add and say that's super admirable because even what I'm talking about now is like scalability. Like they found a way to do these things on like massive scale and it's impressive, right? Yeah. But deep down, do you admire the super rich people? So people that maybe are in that 10 million plus category in a house that any reasonable person would say, okay, wow.
00:44:01
Speaker
is Is that not fair, but is that really how big things should be? Like, how did you admire those people? I don't think I'm the right person to ask. I don't admire, like, I don't even know. I don't know what that word means, Lance. I don't have a problem. Like, for Michael Jordan's in Costa Rica right now, people are freaking out about it. I'm like, who fucking cares? I could care less. Even like he came in his own private shit. It's like, yeah, I don't care. But these people that are 10 million and up and they got a nice house, I don't.
00:44:32
Speaker
I don't have a problem with them. Like maybe you do, but I don't, there's nothing to admire. It's just like a path they've chosen. That's how I feel about it. like Well, you're a little more neutral. I'm more of like, eh, is that what we're after? So if you're my model of success and we're all chasing that, I just think society starts to get a little ugly. Yeah, like that. I mean, that's kind of, but.
00:44:56
Speaker
When I was 13, that was the path, dude. I was was down with that, right? That's the guy. The guy who's got the big house, nice car, like owns a... I used to think owning a McDonald's is the greatest thing in the world when I was like 11. But isn't that a weakness of our culture, is what I'm saying? It feels... It's starting to surface as a very big... and And this isn't new, but it's a weakness of the culture.
00:45:20
Speaker
I think, but it's also the way that thing grows, right? because that could see even that Even that guy. We assume he started in a $200,000 house and worked his way up to that mansion. And then that just stimulated more growth, more economy, right? Every time there's a new house built. And then he got a half million dollar house. And then he had and then his it's like, that's just the way it's set up, right? I know. And that's that's how like that's what you have an issue with. But i don't I guess to my my point is like, is that guy, you're gonna sit there and blame that guy?
00:45:52
Speaker
Like he's in the system, right? like It's a good point. Like again, my diatribe was more about the system itself of capitalism won't stop even when what we're selling is harming the person we're selling it to.
00:46:09
Speaker
It just can't stop it's it's so easy to justify if i'm selling cupcakes like what people love cupcakes and if that were to go hog wild and everybody was like big carol consuming too much not good for society we just don't seem to have a guardrail for that and.
00:46:26
Speaker
That's a good that's a good example the cupcake cupcakes popped when I still in the US cupcakes were popping and it got out of control. and they all went yeah with yeah yeah Yeah, but even with land use and how big is ah how big should a house be?
00:46:41
Speaker
Or the lot of time. Or the lot. um To me, there's i don't know there's ah there's a lack of reasonable thinking around that. And it's sort of it's sort of like, well, you're paternalistic. Who gets to draw that line? And all of that. It's just more of the culture.
00:46:57
Speaker
doesn't have any sensibility around it. As big as you can possibly get, I've said it before, some of these homes that two people live in, people in your country of Costa Rica could not even fathom, although I'm sure you have some massive expat retreats there, but it's so it's strange to me. too it's so strange to me so so so some point this the system doesn't well the system doesn't seem to have any sort of self-correction for what turns out to be negative uh life altering unsustainable behaviors we're talking about water like
00:47:35
Speaker
There you go. How do you like even Colorado is probably way past its limit on what water wise what it could support. Right. And there's no there's no like stop in sight of how big it's going to grow. I bet you. What do you what's Colorado five six million now.
00:47:51
Speaker
Total, yeah, it's around six, I think. When I moved there at 90, it was like three. Yeah. And it's probably going to 10, right? Yeah. No, and the water piece is a good point. And we have somehow, across our, across the US, said that waters. By the way, it's funny that I said when I moved there. Waters based for free. Pointing fingers at other people, yeah. Yeah. But i'm I'm a transplant as well, right? Yeah. No, but that you're you're right. Like there's no, there's no,
00:48:19
Speaker
Like Las Vegas, fuck. I think and think I'm not sure. I have the advantage of but the Lance's diatribe. I've listened to a few of them because he's an organized guy. I think one of them you talk about gambling, but you also talk about there's no There's no reason why anyone should live in Las Vegas. Or maybe a few people. Just pick Phoenix. Phoenix is even more absurd. Water desolate, so to speak. And I've heard that, you know, because they do have deep ah groundwater basins that are just being drained. And in some cases, I think- Yeah, the aquifers are fucked. Same with Florida too, which is lush.
00:48:58
Speaker
So yeah, private equity has come in to suck water dry out of Phoenix and there are just all these all these unreasonable uses of it. And I think it'll be- It's like a commodity. or so Like people are gonna start training as a tradable commodity that's kind of skyrocket in value as the- Supply like well i think in the case that i was referencing there is a private equity firm that's owned by i wanna say saudi arabia that was using water to grow a crop i forget the crop to feed,
00:49:29
Speaker
ah feed their animals or something. yeah Whatever the case, it doesn't matter. it's it just There's ah a culture of access, there's a culture of use it, use it now, use as much as possible, use it or lose it. It'll be interesting and exciting and and maybe this is the rapture that my father talks about what will happen when resources truly run out.
00:49:54
Speaker
And ah your rich will be protected. Your more educated will see it coming. And again, the poor will get boned by the biggest cock you could possibly find. So it'll be a positive is what you're saying. um So yeah,
00:50:15
Speaker
and but the the sad thing is, dude, is like in a way, if you start to bitch about it, as you do, It's almost like you're rooting for it. Like, and i told you I told you so since, you know? There is a component. It's a little bit of like, well, thanks. Because if what if 50 years from now, if we make it to 98 years old and everything's fine, do we go, ah, shit. Or, you know, are people that are more more kind of on that side of like, we're really fucking ourselves. They just go, ah, nothing happened. Or is it, you think it's impossible if we if we're on this path that we're on?
00:50:52
Speaker
But this seems smaller picture for you actually. I'll let you answer that, but you answer that first and I want to mention how I how i see it. Well, no, I think that you could with a new mantra of what we're about in in this country or any country, if you were to flip growth with not an absolute take on it, but sustainability or zero footprint or something like that, you would find people adjust and innovation adjust to move more towards that. ah You'd find communities be developed in a different way. You'd find new technologies.
00:51:28
Speaker
related to that. That's happening now, don't you think? It's happening. I mean, on the other side of it, like I see people. Yeah, it definitely is happening in countries like Norway and Sweden, and they're doing way better at that. But like, there's just so much resistance to that, because we still have the culture about let me do whatever the fuck I want.
00:51:44
Speaker
It remains to be seen if there'll be enough pain to move us towards that type of thinking. I'd like to see it. I'd like to see it for people in all the harmful things we do. I'd like to see sports betting companies go out of business. I'm trying, dude. I'm trying to put them out of business. i just what i meant like To what you said, we're too stuck in like the freedoms. It's interesting how the original like our our founding fathers, the whole idea of freedom and liberty,
00:52:10
Speaker
is so much more important than any other thing. You can't take away my Escalade. It's an infringement of liberty and freedom and that and that is like woven into everyone's head and they use it for with the weirdest fucking ways in the US now. oh They do. you know and so like it happened You saw it how it how was pushed to the extremes in COVID. where and i don't I don't know. I'm not here to say how I felt about how to get vaccine and all that. but like Let's just say that COVID was deadlier than it actually was. it I mean, a lot of people died and it was a matter of life or death for the planet. yeah A lot of people in the US would rather die free than save the planet because they had the whatever had their liberty taken for 72 hours or something like that. Yeah, and you'd hear people like, fuck yeah, that's principled.
00:52:59
Speaker
And a yeah just I just disagree with that approach. And that's like, that's what you're up against, like yeah big Carol. But my second question is like, so those are big scale, big like big picture items. I think for you, it's like, that they what bothers you is it's like on a smaller scale too, where it's just like, that's it. It's like this very shallow, right? How we're valuing life and people are it's like, oh God of Mercedes, that guy is this. And you're just like, that's fucking, I don't know if you think, like to me, it's like, that's kind of boring.
00:53:29
Speaker
Guy likes his car, like I mentioned in another episode, I think it's great, but it's also like, ah, who cares? Like, great, you got a nice car. gives and that And I feel it when the conversations that I have with people, and I get that we have religion and there are places to go find spiritual awakenings, but those things are clouded in capitalism now too, and you'll see these prosperous preaching. Yeah. God wants you to prosper. He wants you to be rich. He wants you to have what you want. He wants you to succeed. All that stuff. yeah's It's perfect. It's everywhere. And I don't know where it ends. so and And the environment piece to me is becoming and just an analogy. I always go back to something simple. Like if you
00:54:14
Speaker
If the earth was our toilet and we just kept pooping in it and peeing in it and never flushing it. This sounds like our our first POS bumper sticker. Shit, it's is it that simple? If earth was our toilet. It's that simple. um You clean the bowl occasionally. These motherfuckers crazy.