Breaking Down China & US' Meeting, CA's Balanced Budget, AI Data Center Ban & The Odyssey Casting

Key Takeaway

Success in the emerging world order requires three critical moves: balance the budget, return manufacturing to the US (even if roboticized), and win at AI through energy and data centers. These aren't optional—they're survival requirements for avoiding superpower decline. The key insight: stop viewing political opponents as existential threats and start evaluating every policy by asking 'does this move us closer to where we want to be?' Issue-by-issue thinking beats tribal warfare every time.

Episode Overview

Tom Bilyeu and Drew analyze the historic US-China summit where Trump brought 20 major CEOs to meet with Xi Jinping. They explore the geopolitical implications of Thucydides' Trap, discuss whether the US can avoid becoming a declining superpower, and examine what both nations must do to find an economically viable path forward while managing tensions over Taiwan, AI supremacy, and rare earth minerals.

Full Transcript

Transcript of Breaking Down China & US' Meeting, CA's Balanced Budget, AI Data Center Ban & The Odyssey Casting from Impact Theory. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Tom Bilyeu Show live. It feels weird saying good morning because for us it is much later in the day. We are coming to you live from London everybody. So I I you guys are doing well. We have come straight from the airport to you guys. So, it has been a long night, but we are ready to rock and roll, and it is a big day given that Trump and like almost 20 of the biggest CEOs on planet Earth descended on China for the historic US-China summit.

US-China summit. US-China summit. Xi said directly, like he was reading my mind, that he wants to avoid Thucydides' trap. I cannot believe that that actually came out. Incredible. I can't wait to talk about that. And while a communist dictator is trying to avoid political traps, Kamala Harris wants to dive right into one. Bernie and AOC have introduced a bill that would stop all construction on data centers for AI across the US. Gavin Newsom has claimed that he has balanced the budget, but he hasn't. Spoiler alert.

And Christopher Nolan has managed to anger a very large section of the internet with his casting and stylistic choices for the Odyssey. Drew, welcome to London, man. Hello, governor. Hello, mate. Hello, mate. How we doing? The other people in the studio are going to be pissed off. Sorry, guys. They're going to hate everything about us. Everybody watching, if you're from the UK, we apologize now. Uh, have you been to London before? Yes, this is time number two. Oh, that's right. That's right. You've been here with Lynn, done the whole thing.

Our boys behind the scenes, G, Eric, first of all, thank you guys for coming with us. It's their first time in London. Nice. So, I was excited to share Indy, I don't know if you know about that, but they're this is their five-year anniversary at IT. So, shout out to G and Eric, who's been holding IT down since the mindset days. Literally since mindset days. It's wild. wild. wild. shout out to them. Them boys. Uh, okay, I was like going crazy on the chat on Monday.

I wanted to say so much because Trump You were getting in fights, or Trump brought everybody to China. He brought like, okay, I'm not a Bernie guy, but he's not beating the oligarch like allegations because it's like Jensen, Cook, I'm like, are they are they about to make a mega corp? What is happening right now? They've already made a mega corp, yes. It's nuts. It is crazy. I think this one was very smart, though. Yeah. You want to If you want to get a deal done, you've really got to bring the people that can make a decision there on the spot.

And then also, Trump understands that showing respect to Xi and acknowledging and acknowledging and acknowledging China as a peer is a very big deal. And this is going to be so much debate about whether I saw people saying that Trump humiliated himself and that this is all orchestrated by the Chinese to make him look bad. That is not my read on the situation at all. So, I was really excited to see what we're doing there. Everybody's heard me talk endlessly about Thucydides' Trap, and this is going to be the biggest thing that we all have to think about is what's going to happen from that perspective.

And so, to hear Xi call that out was incredible. So, for me, my takeaway is very clear. The US-China Summit was very encouraging for anybody that wants to see the US and China find an economically viable path to a new world order. Whether we want there to be a change in the world order or not, there is It is happening in real time. By the way, read the book The Fourth Turning Is Here. It's the latest edition of the book The Fourth Turning. It is very insightful about what we're about to go through.

Nobody can see with a crystal ball exactly what this is going to look like, but I've got to say that the way that at least Trump and Xi are verbalizing their understanding of each other, it shows that this is going to be a far more economic path forward. This is one of those breaking moments in history where it can go one way or the other, where we really do end up on the wrong side of the Thucydides' Trap, or we can avoid it and become the fifth.

So, 12 out of 16 of the last times that a declining superpower has hit a rising power, They've ended up in open warfare. Uh So, I think we should all be praying that we end up being the fifth to avoid it and not the 13th to fall into that trap. Uh and so, it's clear from where I'm sitting that Trump arrived in China with dollar diplomacy on his mind, which is exactly if you care about the middle class, that is precisely what you want him to be thinking about.

That's why he took the 20 biggest CEOs with him. We're talking about Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, the CEOs from Boeing, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, obviously a bunch more. And Trump said that he did this because he wants Xi to see he brought all this economic horsepower with him as a sign of wanting to get deals done, showing respect to China, and that he's sincere in wanting to find a mutually beneficial path forward. Now, look, there's going to be a lot of talk. They're going to be saying all the right things, including my fantasy of Xi acknowledging that he doesn't want to end up being rivals with the US, that he wants to find a better way forward.

Um but also just to actually carve out something that is um economic in nature. So, whether we get all the things that they talk about or not, that's that's that will remain to be seen. I'm obviously not expecting um um um even say half of what they said they were going to do to come to fruition. But man, just the fact that these guys are really saying and I think it goes something like this. They're not going to say this part out loud, but we're both in a slightly economically weak position right now.

Uh and the only one that can really help us is the other person. And so, China, if we can find a non-hollowing out of the middle class path forward with them, uh so them buying more oil, them buying LNG, which were things that they've signaled that they want to do, them not being a problem with Iran, which they've signaled they're not going to do. All of that stuff would be hugely beneficial for us. Um so, if we can go down a path there where we are finding different ways where we can each be good for each other, I think that something really positive could come out of this.

Now, the one thing that obviously Xi put on the table aggressively was his stance on Taiwan, and he's making it very clear. Hey, rainbow sunshine, all of that, but if you [ __ ] with Taiwan, I'm coming for your neck. your neck. your neck. It wasn't quite that aggressive, but it was pretty close. And he basically I heard people talking about the way that it sounded in Mandarin was far more aggressive than the way that it was being translated, and that Xi really was putting on the table, "Don't [ __ ] this up." He didn't go that far, but very aggressive apparently if you understand Mandarin, which I do not, but it is believable to me that he would be taking a very hard stance on that.

So, I think that's going to end up being the big question of the relationship between the two. I think that Xi is going to signal that he's willing to do business. He's going to signal that he'll stay neutral on Iran, but in the background is Taiwan. And so, I for one am going to be very curious as to how Trump is going to play that. Is that the card that he's going to be willing to give on if he thinks that he's getting enough other things?

And so, that was the part that was suspiciously missing. Trump wasn't commenting on Taiwan even when asked directly, and I didn't see any credible reporting on the take on the rare earth, so I'll be very curious to see what the reality is there. Because needless to say, that's going to be one of the most important things that we need to get out of them. But it was interesting to see how far into the background Iran really slid. slid. slid. Xi was very positive about that saying, "We absolutely cannot let them have a nuclear weapon." So, the fact that we agree on that, big deal.

They absolutely cannot keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. They absolutely cannot charge a fee to send ships through. That he supposedly, this one I didn't see anything direct from Xi on this, but reportedly, that he was also saying that he wasn't going to be sending them any military aid. So, all of that would be incredibly beneficial. And he said, this one I did see quoted quite often, quite often, quite often, that he said something along the lines of whatever the US needs to resolve the issue the situation in Iran will be willing to do.

So, obviously, that's not quite true. They're going to be a ton of caveats that they would put around that, but that kind of language is really, really beneficial. So, my thing is watching the US cover this is so [ __ ] obnoxious. obnoxious. obnoxious. If if I can just beseech everybody in this audience, I know many people are are here hate watching. Hi. Good to see you nonetheless. But, the one thing that I want to put forward is we really have to, as a nation, we have to find a way to march forward with the other side, not viewing them as our enemy, but instead recognizing that a populist moment is designed to make us feel like we have to see each other as existential threats, that we have to pick a team.

If if we can really set that aside and just talk about like where are you trying to end up, and then the thing that's being negotiated or discussed in that moment, is it more or less likely to walk you there? And I think a lot of times people the thing that they're aiming at becomes a confession unto itself. We'll talk more about that when we get to the Kamala Harris thing, but it's like her actual objective is to stop Republicans. Like, that's her goal. Just stop Republicans.

It almost doesn't matter what we're talking about. I just know that we want to stop Republicans. And I hear plenty of Republicans, they just want to stop the Democrats. And so, that's not a strategy. You want to take everything issue by issue. And so, watching people cover what I thought was an extraordinarily extraordinarily extraordinarily positive meeting in China. May not play out well, could all fall apart at the one-yard line, it could all have been spin, it could all be BS, I get that. But at least what was presented to the world was incredibly positive.

And if we can't see people at least embrace that, uh we're not going to get anywhere positive. And so that would be the thing that I hope uh that everybody here in this community at least can get on board with that idea that there is a place you want to end up. May not be the place that I want to end up, but you can articulate it. This is where I want to get, and then we can talk through the cause and effect of whether XYZ policy is actually going to get there.

At least then we're arguing cause and effect, and we're not just arguing um you're on the other team and so [ __ ] you. That would be my hope. So anyway, I come off of the US-China meeting feeling very optimistic that we're in dollar diplomacy, that's a much better place to be. This is not two people holding hands, this is two um um um I mean this is a little uncharitable, but maybe a little too accurate. This is two bullies that are coming together, and they both realize the other person can hurt them, and they both realize the other person can help them.

But at least they're taking the path of, "Okay, how do we find the um path where you help me?" Now, there are dangers on both sides. sides. sides. Um Um Um the one that I worry the most about is that Trump will give on things that just continue to hurt the middle class. Um that would be my big concern. But if we can get manufacturing going back in the US, if we can make ourselves the place that people turn to for energy, that would be insanely valuable.

Uh and so getting China on board with that would be awesome. What were your thoughts, Drew? When you look at this, I often see you not as my foil, but as somebody who will, if I'm blinded to something that you'll um hit me with an angle that I hadn't considered. When you were watching this, did it seem like, "Yeah, like good direction." Or like, [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] "No, this is inherently problematic." I I had to split it to be honest with you cuz I look at it from a lens of just America versus China.

Just one country, your country versus our country. Going in it from there, him bringing all the CEOs, them having a fanfare, it was at least pleasant and a productive conversation. We are in the middle of a terrorist war, proxy wars, all these things. So, I was expecting to be a little bit more adversarial. I didn't think he was going to be as friendly as they were. So, it was nice that they were shaking hands, high-fiving, all those things. So, at least from that standpoint, I'm like, okay, this sounds good and directionally, at least we could get them to the table cuz 3 weeks ago, it was I just raised your tariff to 113% now because of tit-for-tat.

tit-for-tat. tit-for-tat. So, I was at least happy that they got productive. productive. productive. However, now like zooming into the politics, there's a lot of named commitments. There's a lot of things that they said they were going to do, things talks they put on the table, whether it was help with the Strait of Hormuz, whether it was the increased investment, whether it was the crackdown on fentanyl. So, I like what is being said, but I'm also knowing that these are two politicians talking to each other and how much of that is for us to report on versus what's actually going to be done in their respective parliaments and senates and things like that.

So, I'm a bit on the fence, wait to see what happens, but here's a list of everything that they did cover. First, US companies get expanded access to Chinese markets. Wait, really fast, who's reporting on this? So, I've been a little hesitant on this stuff. So, these are all reportedlys. Um, is this an account that we know? This is a US Yeah, yeah, no. This is my They uh broke down all the other pretty much out They They put all the other tweets together. Yeah. Got it, got it.

Are these from official tweets? Um, this is just stuff that's been reported on Twitter. So, of course this is not We don't have any published dates, but these are just agreements that they talked about while the meeting was happening. Reportedly. Reportedly. Um, so the companies getting expanded access to Chinese markets, Chinese increased investments to the United States, China's cracking harder on fentanyl, China to buy more American agricultural products. I know soybeans was a big thing. Um straight of Hormuz must stay open and both sides are committed on it being not being charged or militarized.

Um Um Um that part was interesting to me because everybody looks at Iran as baby China. So, if China says it has to be open and it has to be charged no uh tolls being charged, charged, charged, effectively that would make the war be over from my standpoint. Am I missing something on that as a people It's definitely not the war being over because Iran is its own country and if they still view this as an existential threat, they're going to have fight back to the wall.

If China has abandoned them, it's going to limit some of their options, but I'd be very China will not have abandoned them. So, uh will they be either full stop we're not going to give you actual military aid or at least slow to do it? Probably. Will they start putting diplomatic pressure on them to open the straight back up? Probably. But, ultimately if the US and China path starts getting wobbly, then they'll happily throw their weight back behind Iran and say uh as a point of leverage like hey, if we're not getting Trump out of you what we want like then all those things that I said about that you can just forget.

And I do remind myself these guys are one argument away from being like no, [ __ ] it. So, um that is I think an important thing for us to remember. The egos are gigantic and um I I really encourage people if you are politically inclined, if this moment feels important to you, read about Xi Jinping. He is ruthless. Like this guy is a Mao type figure. He's not a Deng Xiaoping. So, if people know the history, Mao kills tens of millions. I mean 45 million plus, some people clock it up to 100 million.

So, imagine being a leader of a country and killing at minimum, the most conservative estimate is 45 million. Crazy. So, imagine killing 45 million of your own people. Like, what kind of person are you? Mhm. And all the while, by the way, he's exporting grain as his own people are starving to death cuz he wants people to believe that the socialist policies are working. And And And he starves, God knows how many more of them to death to be able to see, "Look, we've got so much grain that we're exporting it." Now, it wasn't like he didn't know what he was doing.

He knew what he was doing. And so, when people go that that are like close to it, oh, no, no, no. Xi is like Mao. He's not like Deng Xiaoping, who when Mao died, comes in and goes, "Doesn't matter whether it's a black cat or a white cat as long as it catches mice." Meaning, uh as long as communism makes life better, if it's actually secretly free market capitalism, like, hey, it's all good. And so, And so, And so, if if if Xi were more of a Deng Xiaoping character, who was still brutal.

He's the guy that shot everybody in Tiananmen Square. Don't get me wrong. But, uh I'd be in a much like more relaxed position. But, this is a guy that's purging his military. This is a guy that's was just There was just a coup a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, well, not a coup, but if if he thought you were even looking sideways at the word coup, he was coming after you. Got you. So, um I do remind myself of that. And then, I for sure, uh Trump has authoritarian tendencies in the extreme.

He's an egomaniac, narcissist for sure. So, it's like, you put these guys together, you got to be a little bit careful. But, they are both, I think, acknowledging that from an economic standpoint, if they partner up, they're more likely to get what they want back home. And one thing I think people forget about the US economy is we buy [ __ ] Yeah. That is our economy. We buy [ __ ] So, if you're the world's producer, which is China, Mhm. nobody's denying that that's what they are, you need the economy that's the we buy [ __ ] economy.

So, they need us. us. us. We would We would We would we we need them. Like if you just look at rare earth, like that alone, the way that they could really cause problems for all of our modern technology. And so, I think they're both being they're at least making an attempt to be reasonable about reasonable about that. Yeah. And now, going back to the Thucydides trap of it all, it was interesting that he brought it up. Different different reporting is is talking about how people are saying that was a slight hint at China saying that you guys are small time or we're going to take your spot.

Some people are saying that that was fighting words, you know, whatever like that. But, with him being this ruthless figure and knowing that Thucydides trap is on this table, do you think that there's at least a section of his government that's like, okay, how could we take the US down and take them over? over? over? He's talked very openly to uh an internal audience about that. There's a book by Kevin Rudd called On Xi Jinping, which talks about this. Xi has said openly, we need to start being dismissive of the West.

Obviously, meaning the US. So, if you think of Xi as like a warm teddy bear, you know, he's like Winnie the Pooh and he's just trying to get this all done that that is very wrong. This is a ruthless dictator that will do whatever he needs to do to um keep his country moving in the direction he believes they should go. So, with that said, um I think that he really is trying to get something positive going, but he is yeah, he's yeah, he's yeah, he's he's tough.

So, this is not going to be easy street. easy street. easy street. Um I'm expecting there to be uh lies, manipulation. Um I think he is trying to win. So, the AI race is going to be China is trying to be the leader, we're trying to be the leader. We're going to come head-to-head on that. So, um neither of us is giving up the desire to be number one. This is where you get into spheres of influence. So, I think the the concession that has been made from where I'm sitting is that the US is not trying to say, "We're the global superpower anymore." Like, we've let go of that.

And I think rightfully so because otherwise you have to try to hammer them down militarily. So, you're saying, "All right, China, you take your part of the world, we'll take our part of the world." And they're going to keep like like like China's going to test us on Taiwan. We're going to continue booting them out of the Panama Canal, out of South America in general. Like, there's going to keep being all of that. And so, it's going to be a very delicate dance. Copy. So, going to the Thucydides trap around that.

Everybody has been talking about this tweet that President Trump has sent out saying that when he referred to United States as a declining nation, he was talking about Biden. He wasn't really talking about me. So, I'm just going to read the second paragraph of it to kind of hold Of the very long The lady doth protest too much. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, I'm not reading the uh full essay that he uh sent out. not looking at your screen, uh this is very long. The second I saw this, I was like, "Okay, so this this one either people are giving him [ __ ] about it, and he doesn't want it to torpedo his deal, or he's had to come up with some sort of rationalization of like why he doesn't need to be mad about this." Which by the way is smart because to derail this, Xi I mean, I'm mind reading, but I feel very comfortable mind reading.

Uh Xi looks down on the US. Like, gets it, we're up here, yada yada, but it's like, "We're China. We've got, you know, whatever, 5,000 years of history. You guys have 250." Yeah. It's like, "You guys are nothing." So, yeah, I think that they see themselves as the middle kingdom. Xi has talked very openly for a long time about we're playing this really long game to take the number one spot. And um the US is The US is a declining superpower. So, I I am the most pro-America, but if we can't be honest about where we are, we're never going to get back out of this path.

So, um if he doesn't have as a default in the back of his mind that will slip out from time to time that we are rising, you guys are declining, um I'd be shocked. So, of course that's going to come out. We can get into if you want to push down this path, but we can get into like, well, it is China actually declining? There are plenty of people that'll make the argument, Peter uh Zion being one of them. No, no, no, they're the demographic game's already played out.

He's bluster, it's all fake, China's dying. Uh that read to me seems stupid. So, um anyway, I think he does believe it, and uh if we don't believe that we're bigger and better than China, or at least capable of getting back to that top spot, it's like two MMA fighters. Don't even go in the cage if you think you've already lost. So, I think we're thinking the same thing. So, I'm not weird about that. Nice, nice, nice. For those who haven't seen the tweet, um President Xi was not referring to the incredible rise that the United States has displayed to the world during the 16 spectacular months of the Trump administration, which includes And that that's This is quote for quote.

I'm not adding anything for my verbally. Which includes all-time high stocks market and 401ks, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran to be continued, strongest military on Earth by far, economic powerhouse again, with a record $18 trillion being invested into the United States by others, best US job market in history with more people working in the United States right now than ever before, ending country-destroying DEI, and so many other things that would have been impossible to readily list. In fact, President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time.

So, to your point, Trump is talking and stuff and saying that Xi wasn't I'm not the two-CD DJ. Biden was. I'm the one that's turning that that tide around, but we shall see. There was an interesting um conversation about China that a lot of people were saying, "We're so worried about falling behind on China when it comes to AI and chips." chips." chips." But, we are behind China in some other industries. You know, they have high-speed rails zipping all across the country. country. country. The employ- The employ- The employ- I'm I'm going to say that this these this might be a spun number, so I'm I'm acknowledging that.

But, the house house ownership number is way higher than it is in America. I think like 80 to 90% of That's almost certainly true because their whole market for like two decades was a buy a house, it'll appreciate in value. value. value. Yeah. Um that market has run into real trouble. And so, that's where a lot of the like, "Well, hold on a second. They can put up some pretty good stats, but first of all, they lie constantly. And then second, their housing market is in real trouble." Again, they might be upside down in their houses, but they're owning houses, so I know that that's a bit of investment.

But, I'm saying all these things to say is that we're we're so focused on the America versus China AI, America versus China fuel and energy. But, there are other industries where there's automotive, where there's home and ownership, stuff like that. That they are getting us on. So, what do you think is the next step for America to make sure that they don't become that declining heavyweight? How do we increase on our side and and and keep up with what we can do? There's really three things we have to do.

We have to balance the budget. We have to return manufacturing back to the US. Even like I want that to also be a thing that generates jobs, but even if it were all roboticized, you've still got to bring this back. Otherwise, you're back in that position where you're going up against somebody that controls your future in a really distressing way. And then we've got to win at AI. And so, that means energy and data centers. Nice. And then, last thing with the China meeting, I I know you seen those memes of like Elon just being like autistic at the table.

the table. the table. Making all the weird faces and stuff. taking pictures and stuff like that. funny. I was literally thinking on the plane ride over here, he is one of those never meet your heroes. I was like, I don't I don't want to meet him. I know that I'm going to walk away being like, okay, yeah. It's better he's better off with here than what I actually get. But um with that being said, the future of technology, the future of business, and with Taiwan kind of hanging in the corner, what do you think is going to happen whether with these deals that now that American businessmen have expansion into their market, and then how that's going to change when China eventually does take Taiwan?

Well, it's so the reality is that's a knife fight. Mhm. And so China is notorious for stealing IP. Mhm. They are very shrewd in that Elon goes over there and basically shows them how to build an electric car, and then they show him what you can do when the government decides to subsidize an industry, and then they blow past. I mean, as far as I can tell, they're just outproducing, uh they're coming up with better features. Now, I don't know if they have the same self-driving capabilities, so maybe we're outplaying them there.

Not close enough to that one to know. Mhm. But seeing all of the propaganda that they're running on BYD to basically like like like make us jealous, make us want it. Like it's really, really smart. And so from that perspective, that perspective, that perspective, opening it up is incredibly important because it will be a tremendous amount of revenue for us. Like even I think as a game developer, I'm like, bro, I want my game in China. Holy Jesus, like the market is so big. So it's like whatever we can do here, what's it there?

I mean, okay, you're a localizing it, so let's say the market's two or three times the size, cut it in half because you're localized, you're just going to be a little bit off for them. But it's so big, man. You're basically doubling your market. This is why you've got um who's that pro wrestler that speaks Mandarin? Mandarin? Mandarin? Oh god, now come on. He's so famous. Oh Oh, Jesus. Chat knows 1,000% Chat knows exactly who I'm talking about. So, you So, you So, you You John Cena, thank you.

So, they they understand that the market is massive. And I get that we're in a weird moment where people have got to clown on you if you are doing anything to nod to China, but the reality is if you're trying to run a business, if you're trying to build a franchise, like of course you want to go where the people are and they're like China's just massive. So, from that perspective, it'd be great to have the markets open. It will help with our GDP. And also, I like the idea of selling them things.

So, in the position now where we're just buying everything, that's a much weaker position than if we're making things and being able to sell them into China. And I also want to go head-to-head. Right now, I think Americans have gotten super soft. Dude, again, I'll just promote the book The Fourth Turning Is Here where it talks about what happens to the generations and it's so knowable and you get the The book refers to millennials as normcore. as normcore. as normcore. Normcore? Normcore? Normcore? Yeah, I I need to like go deeper to make sure that I'm interpreting that the way that it's meant, but that they're not striving for like greatness.

They're not So, they reference Gen X, which is me, as wanting to compete, sorting each other into winners and losers, being They call us the nomad generation. So, we were basically under-raised, if you will, latchkey kids. It is pretty wild when I talk to a millennial about how they were raised and I think about how I was raised, like it's crazy. it's crazy. it's crazy. Uh so, Uh so, Uh so, seeing that handoff and seeing that there's like not a desire to compete, not wanting to like, "Yo, I want to stand on my own, too.

Either I make it or I don't." So, I want to see us compete with China. I want to see that gun put to our head. We either win or we lose. And I don't want the government at every turn just trying to take care of everybody. I want the government to be like, all right, [ __ ] I opened the door. door. door. Go do it. Go make better [ __ ] Um so, that speaks to my soul. So, I'm perfectly happy to compete with them. But we do have to do something to even the playing field because they don't let um um um like you can't sue them in their courts.

Uh so, there's all kinds of stuff where they will take your technology and run with it. So, there are things that we do need the government to help with to make sure that the playing field is even. But then after that, I just want to go for it. But I mean, is it building [snorts] a sandcastle on like quicksand because once they take Taiwan, that's going to fundamentally reshuffle the cards. And I'm saying it as a I'm saying And I'm saying it as a already done thing because I just feel like we have no military standing to even back them after our charade in Iran.

So, now I'm like, does it like who are we to then block try to block that? So, I feel like if they do take that, that is going to again make it complicated for a lot of our tech industry, which is the number one business sector in the US right now. It's going to at least change how we set up our spreadsheets at the very minimum. Our profit margins going to be adjusted at the very minimum. Not alone if Trump throws it as a economic sanction or who knows what happens.

So, just like gas prices are now being impacted, what if chips become the next thing that get sanctioned or something like that? So, Yeah, I mean, look, we have to be scrambling to minimize the effect of China taking Taiwan, which we are taking steps. Whether they'll be fast enough when you've got Bernie and AOC trying to stop data centers, that's when I certainly start having a seizure. But um for sure, that would be a bad thing. You don't want them to control chips and rare earth.

Woo, that would be rough. Um so, yeah, there's going to be contention there. So, some of this is going to be what kind of positive relationship can we build with China? Um and then like let's say that you've got a year to two years before they go into Taiwan. Taiwan. Taiwan. Uh Uh Uh and then let's say that by then you have a positive relationship and that buys you another year to two before something goes weird, what can you get done in four years to mitigate the impact of them taking that?

Um that's certainly one of the options on the table. The other is, despite what happened in Iran, that you throw a military roadblock to try to delay. Um it that's really going to come down to the calculus of how much are we getting out of Taiwan at that point that we can't afford to lose? And then what does it do to our allies if we say, "Hey, we're going to back you up." and then we don't. Uh and so that'll ultimately be the calculus there. But man, my this is just got I do not have anything to back this up, but my instinct is that um Trump is going to be pretty lenient on Taiwan in exchange for other things.

Like I could see him just flat saying, flat saying, flat saying, um um um we got to that that's for that's China's sphere of influence. They've got to deal with that. And he starts like his campaign of just dropping like little hints here and there. there. there. Um we'll see. I don't I don't have strong conviction that that's how I'll play it. I'd have to like do a lot more research, but that's my instinct now. Once you gave me the timeline, that's what I thought. Because if you can buy yourself [snorts] three years, I'm out of office.

That's the next guy's problem. Like Yeah, that's also part of it. I think he does think a lot about legacy though, and so I think he does care pretty deeply about what happens after he's gone. If a Republican takes his spot, if a Republican doesn't take his spot, then he's got all the, you know, excuses in the world about, "Well, I tried to set you guys up, but you then flushed everything down the toilet." Um but I think he really does want to see his legacy cemented by following it up with another Republican candidate that is, in his mind, of his like yoke.

So whether that is um [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] J.D. Vance, whether that's Rubio, but someone along those lines that's come up under him um that he's spent a lot of time with that will want to carry some of these things forward. So, that at least would be interesting. That if he's got a mindset of I I can't just get myself out of office, which is what I see Gavin Newsom doing for instance, but like I've really got to think long term about this. I think it'll make him be more strategic.

All right. Now, let's jump over to Kamala Harris, who had listed a bunch of ideas that the Democrats need to take as initiative going into the next election season. Um it's interesting her I don't want to call it a rebrand. Like she's still around. She's obviously trying to posture to run again. I don't think that's the best candidate that the Democrats can put out there, but No. I'm so shocked, Drew. Let's see what uh she has to say. Say, look, this is a moment where there are no bad ideas of no bad idea brainstorm is what I'd like to call it.

And in that no bad ideas brainstorm, we talk about what we need to do and think about doing around the Electoral College. College. College. We talk about the idea of Supreme Court reform, which includes expanding the Supreme Court. We invite a conversation about multi-member districts. We talk about what look that that if we win the Senate, which we should and we will, then the Senate Judiciary Committee Committee Committee should have rules that they put in place. So, when these people come before as nominees to the Supreme Court and lie, lie, lie, that they are held to account and consequence.

Not just that somebody goes on cable news and says they lied, but that there are rules in place to actually penalize people for lying to a Senate Judiciary Committee. That we agree that it is right to have ethics rules for Supreme Court justices. And let's put those in place. Let's talk about statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C. These are the things I think that we've got to do. We've got to neutralize these red states from cheating. decisions. decisions. decisions. Including blue states expanding their maps. And all Here we go.

Got to neutralize those red states. True. That That's where uh this gives me out. If she were a podcaster, I'd be like, "This is one of the worst podcasters in the world." The fact that she actually ran for president is so wild to me. There's just something about the way that she talks that sounds terrible. I've heard plenty of people say like in person she's actually very smart, but god damn her affectations are horrible. Horrible. horrible. Horrible. horrible. Horrible. Okay. Before Before we go right into like partisan land, I want to just like Let's Let's play a game of ought, not is for right now.

So, if we were just to look at the ought of it, Supreme Court justices should be held accountable, for example. There should be Senate Judiciary committees that have rules that say if you lie in front of the Senate um If if if in during a Senate hearing, you should be reprimanded in some way. On paper, those ideas seem like they're good and they are beneficial for America. Not beneficial for the left, beneficial for the right, just for America. America. America. Did I miss anything just with that before we get into It gets manipulated in some in some in some how you do it.

So, if you create a policy that is truly blind, like if it has to be um a bipartisan committee, you know, that's making these decisions, then yeah, there's probably a way to do it where um you are able to hold people to account. I I admittedly am surprised that the Department of Justice never pursues people that are caught lying under oath. You're under oath when you go before Congress. So, presumably you already could go after them. So, the fact that they don't I don't know if that's just being delicate from a political standpoint.

You don't want to weaponize against you. I'm I'm not sure why they're um willy-nilly about that. Uh but but but when you say there should be um an ethics committee, you I'm almost certain you already don't need that. Uh lying under oath is already a problem. Um Um Um a Supreme Court Justice saying during like when you're putting them through testimony, if you say "How are you going to rule on Roe v. Wade?" And they say, "Oh, I'm going to rule this way." And then you put them in office and they rule the other way.

How would you ever know that they didn't just change their mind? You wouldn't. So, you would just you would say, "But you said that." And then they're going to say, "Yes, I understand that, but as I they plead their case, I actually listened, which is what you should want a Supreme Court Justice to do. It changed my mind, and now this is my new stance. All I could do at the time of the hearing was tell you what I believed at the time of the hearing." And there's no way to peer inside their soul and know if if that's actually the truth or if it was all just political maneuvering to get into the office.

And so, that's where I'm like, I get it like at a high level it sounds great to say there should be ethics. Um these people should be held accountable for being ethical, and I agree. But when you get to the specifics of, "Okay, wait. What are you actually trying to address? Who's going to determine what is and isn't ethical? Like we already have a constitution. So, theoretically between that and the law, it's like all of this stuff is already covered. So, um the thing that they're trying to get to in my opinion is they want to be the arbiter of these things.

Like they want a thing in their back pocket where they can say, "Ah, we think you violated this ethics clause and therefore you're out." And you'll see this in business contracts where it's like um they'll put I forget what like decency clauses like where they're trying to get to like you can't There's a scandal or something we can get you out of. out of. out of. Exactly. We we can get rid of you. But then it becomes a well, what officially counts as that? Cuz you're never going to be able to enumerate all that stuff.

And so you do put yourself in a weakened position where it's like, oh, there going to be things that can be used against me um that I don't think should have qualified for that, but you know, I ended up losing that. So I I have a specific example. Let's start there. So like again, I'm getting I'm trying to stay above party like partisan politics before we get to that level. So there was the Clarence Thomas case. A couple years ago, he was wined and dined by a certain uh I don't know if it was a pharmaceutical company.

It was some private industry. They took him on a a fishing trip, put him up somewhere in like Wisconsin or something like that. It was a high expensive trip paid for because he had a big case coming that they were had a direct interest in. interest in. interest in. He said he didn't disclose that, didn't say anything about it, ended up ruling in their favor. When they when he was when it was then brought up, he like lied about it, and since then that was just kind of the it.

He got caught for his lie. his lie. his lie. We had a week in the press about it, and then that was it. He didn't get stepped down from the bench. Nothing happened with his cases. He didn't have to go into timeout or anything. But presumably, and I don't know the rules well enough, but presumably there's already rules for that kind of thing. And so I would have to look at was there a committee that looked at that and determined uh this isn't that big of a deal.

Um but I cannot fathom that there either is a rule and therefore it is a problem, or there's not a rule and while we may not like it, it's not a problem. And so I see stuff like this all the time where it doesn't like it's enough to get the ire of people, but it's not enough to actually pursue. So I don't know that case well enough to be able to comment anywhere other than at the 30,000 foot level, but you know my thing on this is always put a policy in place not knowing who it's going to apply to.

And if everybody agrees, cool. That's how we're going to adjudicate this stuff moving forward. Great. As long as it's a policy, I'm all for it. Um Um Um I just think that when you when people start looking for uh more rules or to pack the court or whatever, they are trying to weaponize something against the other side. And that's where I'm like, I that that is so dangerous. We shouldn't want a one-party state. We shouldn't want a one-party country. country. country. Um so, from that perspective, I think that what I what I interpret this to be is somebody who means it when she says we've got to neutralize the other side.

But, yeah, if there is a thoughtful policy that we can put in place, I'm all for it. I feel like this is just like gerrymandering. We're getting into the tit-for-tat territory where you did one thing, we need to try to figure out how we can make sure we do it on the other side. And then now the other side does something and they and we're just kind of swinging this pendulum back and forth. So, I think gerrymandering is a perfect example cuz it's like California did it, then Texas did it, then Virginia and it's like you could kind of see it happening in real time now.

Um whereas packing the Supreme Court, the only reason you want more justices is to get a more moderate or progressive Supreme Court cuz right now it's traditionally conservative. traditionally conservative. traditionally conservative. your people. your people. your people. Yeah. But, even though they they broke on it, so that's not there. Adding DC and Puerto Rico as a 51st and 52nd state cuz they're territories technically right now. That would be favored for Democrats and would have So, there's these things that we're doing to gain more power, but it doesn't necessarily one add any law or justice and two, it doesn't actually help the American people.

I just think it's just power grab games that we're at the right now. 1,000%. I mean, the bad news is that politics at its most foundational is a power grab. power grab. power grab. Um but, because we're in a populist moment, moment, moment, everybody's emotional. They're legitimately scared. They have reason to be scared economically. Uh The pie actually is getting smaller and so you do get to a point where you're like I need somebody that's going to fight for me and you're not even articulating it like that in your head.

That's just the feeling. And so you pick a team, you go on your team, you find people who think like you and you really do start viewing the other side as an existential threat and so now it's I actually think you're going to destroy the country. Um Um Um I feel very strongly about my position as do the other people on my team and so now I also want to support them. So even if I think who maybe they're a little wrong on this one, I'm just going to like go all in and be like yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah because you want your team to get stuff for you and if you have to like group think to get it done, great.

You'll group think. But the the real problem is and the reason this stuff becomes so predictable and there's basically no way to pull people out of it is they're in an emotional state. They're not reasoning um using logic which means you're not going to be able to logic them out of it. So this is people that are stuck in an emotional loop. Somebody's giving them the emotional fodder that they need to keep feeling the way that they feel and you create this flywheel that makes everybody believe that the right path forward like legitimately from their if you asked them like is this an ought thing?

This is how the world ought to be? They would say yes. Like this is just how the world ought to be and they will be aghast that you think differently. Like legitimately surprised that you could view the world differently than they do. And so that's what happens when people are reasoning emotionally. emotionally. emotionally. I think now that with this media ecosystem too, it kind of compounds cuz it's like you reason emotionally, then you find somebody that says that thing and that thing has a million retweets.

So now it's me, my emotions and my community that supports my emotions and it's just this negative feedback loop. So even if I can present you evidence that might change what your emotion is bringing up, you still have your community, your ecosystem, it then becomes people's identity sometimes, and it's so hard to just break out and say, "Wait, wait, wait. I'm in my feelings right now. I'm not looking at this logically or like at the Also, they've done studies. You can present people with proof, and they just won't accept it.

Wow. Wow. Wow. So, it it Yeah. Yeah, welcome to the human condition. So, brought this up on the show before, but I've become increasingly anecdotally. I haven't haven't haven't gone deep into the study, but there was a study that showed that the human brain may in fact be optimized for um being right and not identifying the right answer. And that's wild. That would be very, very sad, but it would certainly match my experience in life. So, So, So, that was tough. All right, let's jump to some super chats.

Our man, Marushia Dark. Marushia. He sent me Super chat. like on Discord, he was like, "My new work schedule, I can't watch live, so I try to get you guys early and stuff like So, I appreciate everybody. appreciate everybody. appreciate everybody. Like, I love the Discord community. But wait, he's here right now? Yeah, but he sends them like, I don't know what he sends them before we start going live like we like we like we I don't know. I'm sad about that one. Yeah. Um so, we appreciate everybody and and all your support and stuff like that.

We know you watch it when you can, so thanks for the support always. Um but his super chat says, "Truth yields cause and effect where utility moves you towards your goals. Ideally, you want both, but how do you choose between the two if you can only have one or if they're in conflict? Is it just down to values and context?" Wait, the only two things that he talked about is truth and utility. So, what two things are in conflict? Truth yields Truth is an absolute defense.

You always want the truth. No matter what it says, no matter what it means, no matter how it impacts your goals, if you don't know the truth, then you won't be able to actually achieve your goals cuz goals are always cause and effect. Um, cause and effect is truth. So, I'm not sure what Truth truth versus utility, I think. Truth yields Truth yields Truth yields Truth is always the highest utility thing, period, full stop, end of story. Like, this is where if you start thinking about physics, the whole thing with physics is the reason that this is such an interesting conversation, once you understand the physics, which are there, they're just there.

So, no matter what you think about them, they're there. But, once you understand them, then you can use them like Um, once you get a key to a door, you can open that door. And so, once you learn the physics, it's like having a key, you can unlock the door. So, imagine, I mean, the being able to split the atom gave us the entire atomic age. Atom bombs, not so great, but atomic energy, satellites, GPS, things like that that wouldn't be possible without it, all of that came on the back of an insight into the way that the physical world works.

And so, that, like if you think of the truth, utility, like they are one and the same. It's the only time where something might be untrue but high utility is psychological. So, let's say that your, um, too dumb to achieve your grandest goals, okay? okay? okay? Now, that may be true, but if you act in accordance with that, then you'll never achieve the goals that you are capable of because it's so defeating. So, in that case, I would say you're not optimizing for truth there, you're optimizing for the utility of the thing that's going to move you toward your goal.

But, the reality is that, uh, it is only because the truth causes you to act in an emotional way that that one becomes a problem. It's not like the truth itself is bad. The truth, like if you could really embrace it without an emotional problem and say, "Oh, I shouldn't bother pursuing that one because I'm never going to achieve it, but I'm going to pursue all out the thing that I can achieve." And so, that one is really about acknowledging the truth of how emotions work and what they cause people to do.

So, but that's the only time where I say that there's a difference between truth and utility. and utility. and utility. Cool. All right, we have three from Piano with Michael. Total 999, but you broke them up in three different ways. I appreciate the super chat. super chat. super chat. Hi Tom, I love your deep analysis on things. Can't listen now because of heading off to work. Curious. And Kristoff just wrote a scathing report on IDF and rape. I delivered to him in a big brown truck.

IDF, the IDF. But why do you put an E in there? Is that like a typo? I'm assuming. Okay, got it. On the IDF. So, basically the IDF rapes. Got it. I delivered to him in a big brown truck. Should I be worried? I love pager package attack. package attack. package attack. Probably not. Yeah, I mean, look, I imagine most of us are not on anybody's radar. So, unless you have a much bigger voice than I realize, like I certainly wouldn't be worried about saying [ __ ] about the IDF.

So, and yeah, I I wouldn't worry about it. Second one, can I request this 33 go directly to Drew? As I appreciate his contribution to your discussions and counterpoints for a comprehensive analysis on social issues. Yes, not everybody lives in your bubble. My bubble, Tom's bubble. We all have our own bubbles. Sometimes you need to look outside of those. And last one, and lastly, if somehow a package mysteriously pager calls as I delivered Kristoff, I am not Suez idol. I love your enthusiasm in wanting to help children kids.

I hope to send you a pitch deck soon. Thank you, Piano with Michael. Stay safe out there, Piano with Michael. I don't know if you're like getting into some weird [ __ ] like Also, in your house, do you have a board with a whole lot of yarn going from one thing to another? Be careful, Piano. Uh, writes in, friend of the show, "The card I would play in response to their Taiwan card would be essentially, hey, that's fine, but the Western Hemisphere is ours. You better not catch you there without permission." Yeah, that's basically going to be the negotiation.

I just don't know if we can let go of Taiwan like that yet. We'll see. We'll take Panama and Venezuela or already took the Venezuela, but yeah, Panama Canal is ours. You take Taiwan. Yeah, also they've got the gold corridor and all that stuff. So, there's plenty of things that they're doing. Also, they're doing a lot with shipping ports. Yeah, they've been so clever, man. Like really, really smart. Because for a long time they couldn't match us militarily. So, they were like, well, what can we do?

do? do? Very shrewd. Very shrewd. The last 40 years of China has been incredible. Nice. Nice. Nice. And it's a choir hall. Very much like the evolution of the show over the year. Guam should be a state if Puerto Rico becomes one. It is a forward It is a forward base for the US in the Pacific, my home. my home. my home. Shout out to Guam. Let's go. How do you feel about territories? Guam, Puerto Rico, DC. That technically is representation without its taxation without representation and we would have been throwing tea into the There was something else though.

So, I I haven't looked closely at this, but I don't have the negative knee-jerk reaction. Like if we want to start doing a 51st, a 52nd, a 53rd state, sure. But, um, if we have people that want to be citizens of this country and we're not forcing them to be citizens of this country, um, and they want to have a vote and they vote in a way that I don't vote. Like I'm prepared to deal with those consequences. Um, Um, Um, but I haven't looked closely enough at it.

Does America get anything out of doing that? Is does it actually make their life better or is this just people that want blue no matter who? I don't know. Um, but yeah, I don't have a, like, like, like, if the only reason people are saying no to it is because they don't want to be outvoted, I would say that's a pretty bad reason not to do it. I would be looking at it from an economic standpoint. I'd be looking at it from the standpoint of what do they want?

Like I certainly don't want to drag people kicking and screaming into the United States. If they prefer being a protectorate, great. Um so be I don't have a philosophical stance. Got you. Got you. All right, let's jump over to this new data center bill. Um there's been a lot of talk about data centers. I want to jump over to Utah and Missouri after this. But first let's just talk at a about a high level cuz Sanders and AOC introduced a bill to pause all AI data center constructions.

300 plus local bills filed. Half of planned 2026 data centers facing delays or cancellation. Each one brings billions to local economies. The people who say they want American jobs are trying to block it. Um that was the case. I think it's interesting though. Before you jump into it, people promise data centers bring a lot of jobs. But to me it's seven people in a room. And like the ecosystem goes out. So we have to stop acting like this is a warehouse in the 1920s and there's going to be assembly lines and stuff like that.

Like data centers aren't the hubs of small town America. town America. town America. Sort of. Sort of. Sort of. Okay. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. Uh the you have to look at it twofold. One the the construction on these will be across you as thousands [clears throat] and thousands and thousands of jobs given how many of these are springing up. Of course. Um probably tens of thousands of jobs. The companies that use them becomes the bigger question. And how many hundreds of thousands, millions for sure.

So um that I think the right level of analysis for that one is do we need to win AI? Yes or no? If we don't need to win AI, okay, then no worries. If we do need to win AI and I will do my best to convince people that we do, then it's like well that goal makes the demand. And one of the goals that that or one of the demands that that goal makes is you've got to spin up these data centers. Yeah. And so now it's like instead of being the morons that are like, let's not do this, let's ask, how do we do this well?

Now, part of well is going to be fast. Like, you you are in a competition, and I get that people don't want to think like that, but the reality is you are in a competition. And AI may be the winner-take-all scenario, um the biggest winner-take-all scenario of all time, where if there really is AGI and there really is fast takeoff, meaning the first one to AGI that can get it to self- improve, it will it will do 20,000 years of improvement every night. I mean, it really I don't mean that hyperbolically, I mean that quite literally.

So, now it's like to win by a day is to win by 20,000 years. And so, you really have to be careful. Now, that may not come to fruition, and maybe um large language models are not capable of that, and maybe we never get to AGI, but it's like, uh that's really not the gamble that you want to take, especially how fast it has moved, because people will will will look back on this moment, and the people who are scared of AI are going to say something like the following.

Uh you said it would happen in 3 years, it didn't happen in 3 years. And then, lo and behold, let's say it happens in 10. And then, that person is going to be laughing and saying, "Ah, you said it would happen in three and it happened in 10." And I'm going to be looking around going, going, going, "Bro, the whole world's different. Like, what are we talking about? Like, this this is so fundamentally different." Um and if it happened in 10 and we lost, then it's like I'm not even thinking about the fact that the timeline was wrong.

I'm just thinking about how do we do well in the new world? And I think what we're dealing with now is especially like, you've got young people and old people are terrified. And you've got people that just don't like technology are terrified. So, there's a lot of scared people. And I think the one that's really surprising people is how much young people don't like AI. like AI. like AI. And that shouldn't be surprising because it it has taken like imagine being being being 18 again. 18 again.

18 again. And you're like to to think five years out is a huge portion of your life. Yeah. And And And now all of a sudden you can't think that far. far. far. It's literally just like a a fog or haze like You're like ah ah. So to you it's like oh my god there is nothing but question marks ahead of me. What am I supposed to do with my life? I'm supposed to pick a major that's going to take me four years to get. On the other side of that I don't even know what the world's going to look like.

I no longer see the path to relevance. I no longer see what's worth working towards. And so yeah, those people are going to wish they lived in a world that didn't have AI. I totally get it. Um so I think people need to be way more thoughtful about that anxiety and start helping people understand okay how do you deal with rapid technological change? Mhm. How do you deal with competition? Like what path should you guys be walking on? And if we can't paint them a compelling path forward then that's a us as the adults in the room problem.

We should not just automatically assume that they get it, that they're going to embrace it, that they want it, whatever. Um we've got to make the case for it. Now it doesn't mean that you slow down but it does mean that you put time and energy into it or you at least stop acting like you're surprised. Yeah. Like this is this is like a real thing. And um one of the things we should probably talk about is so I don't know if you've been paying attention to this but uh Kevin O'Leary big data center does a thing starts getting all this pushback.

He's convinced that this is China trying to stop him because he's like who would want to stop this? Mhm. I'm like bro a lot of people would want to stop this because they don't see AI as giving them something, they see AI as taking something from them. And lo and behold, it's two women that have two young women that have been putting up the roadblocks. And I was like, yeah, AI is disproportionately affecting jobs that women tend to be more attracted to, and AI is the most terrifying to young people and old people.

So, it's like they're they're getting the double whammy of being young and women. So, it's like for them, this is just a non-starter. Not interested at all. And remember, remember, remember, women are way more drawn to people than they are to things. So, for me, I look at AI and it's like, oh [ __ ] this is like robots and stuff. Yeah, like count me in. This is dope. Uh but it it's like a double triple quintuple whammy for women who are like, mm not not having it.

Somebody said the beef in in the chat said the beef isn't about data centers themselves, it's about the strain on water and the prices. prices. prices. That's [ __ ] Ooh. That that is such [ __ ] Yes. Like imagine imagine imagine Yeah, I mean, electric prices are going up. up. up. Yeah, yeah, but imagine it drove them down. down. down. Do you really think people be like, oh, this is so dope. This is making my energy cost go down. They don't give a [ __ ] about that. Look at green energy, dude.

It makes everything more expensive, and these [ __ ] are still banging the drum because it's the ought. Like it ought to be this way. People are translating an emotion into, well, I'm willing to sacrifice. This is one that I'm willing to superglue my hand to the pavement for or whatever. So, the uh thousand percent. That is a a post hoc rationalization for a feeling that they have where they are trying to explain why this thing secretly sucks. Because if that were the case, you would be going, oh, China is doing the thing.

China is bringing on cheap solar energy faster than anyone ever in all of human history. It is insane the rate at which they're bringing on solar. I don't hear these guys banging the drum of, hey, let's just make sure that we get the solar rates to this level and then bring on the data centers. No, they're not saying that because that's not what they're thinking about. You got me there. I I will I will say I think it was Maryland Maryland residents built a data center.

They seen spikes in their electric bills 40 50%. To me if that is happening I understand the beef. I understand why it's wrong and I understand why these local municipalities are striking it down. Yep. I think it was Sachs when he did one of his summits he even said I should be the one responsible for paying it so that everybody everybody who's who's supposed to be saying the thing is saying the thing but I think Maryland is that that could just be maybe it was the first one it was an early example maybe that's what happened.

Here's the thing they have every right to be upset about that and if they were saying this is stupid you guys have to fix this before you build I'd be like yeah word. Yeah. And at that point you just go dear data center owner you're responsible for this. And this. And this. And I I don't see any problem with that whatsoever. That just isn't the conversation. conversation. conversation. It's funny that you said this is like a green thing green thing green thing cuz Jason from the All-in podcast tweeted this graph out that showed the amount of water consumption with almonds versus data centers.

Yeah. And he's saying everybody's talking about data centers but like honestly [ __ ] almonds. Almonds are Almonds are Almonds are Everybody was talking about how almonds is like almond milk is the worst thing it uses so much water and yet we almonds are still everywhere data centers use a fraction of that and people are more upset so Here was my reaction to this. [ __ ] not doing desalinization. Like we know how to desalinate water. It's relatively inexpensive. We are just pissing so much money away as a government that we don't do infrastructure things.

That that's like what blew my mind with the Strait of Hormuz piece when they were saying like oh yeah all the Gulf regions they just take salt water they turn into fresh water. I'm like wait. We've been talking about the Colorado River for the last 20 years but we could have just done that this whole time so Yes and people are like oh but it's really expensive. No. No. We just don't want to put the effort into doing it. So, yeah. This is unfortunately, we we're going to turn it around.

America, let's go. We got this. But, we are definitely doing late-stage empire vibes where instead of looking for the solution to the problem, we just want to bang on about the problem and say it's the other side's fault. Instead of going, "Oh, you know what we need to do? We need to solve it in this really cool innovative way to make us even stronger." We've got to get that energy back. Uh okay. We started we went on a tangent. We started about the bill. Um back to Bernie and AOC.

Break down what's going on with that. This one's fun. Nearly 3,000 AI data centers are planned or just actively under construction across the United States right now. And a new bill from Bernie Sanders and AOC would stop every single one of them. It's called the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. The bill freezes construction and upgrades on every new AI data center in the country. The freeze doesn't lift until Congress passes a sweeping package of new AI laws. Uh federal pre-approval of AI models before release.

Uh-huh. Union-only construction crews. I definitely want to diatribe about that. Community veto power over local builds. Okay, yeah, though I'm sure they'll all get through. And a ban on US chip exports to almost every country on Earth. What? In other words, the freeze is permanent because Congress can barely pass a budget. Big Tech is pouring 750 billion dollars into American data centers this year alone in an attempt to ensure that the US is a global leader in the single most important technology important technology important technology probably of all time, AI.

The OpenAI Oracle Stargate site in Abilene, Texas alone is a $165 billion project. Uh the Loudoun County, Virginia is now covering nearly its entire operating budget just from data center taxes. taxes. taxes. There's so much prosperity to be had from these things. Construction wages are soaring. The skilled trades have not seen a boom like this in a generation, and this bill would kill that momentum and hand the lead to China, who is already dramatically out-pacing the US in terms of energy production. Like they they are just it's insane.

You've got to look at the graphs. They're wild. Now, as Americans, we have got to wake up and realize that whoever wins the AI race owns the next I mean, 25 years is easy. Will you give me 50? It could be as much I mean, honestly, it could just be forever for the reasons that we were talking about earlier if there's a fast take-off. Whoever loses the AI race risks becoming basically an also-ran vassal state. AI dominance is dominance. It's just dominance, full stop. China's building data centers at national scale, state-subsidized.

They've got cheap power, zero permitting friction. They're not pausing, okay? They're not waiting for this kind of asinine framework. They are accelerating. I'm not saying there should be no framework, but what they're putting forward in this bill is ridiculous. It's basically just trying to stop AI. So, if we put this kind of US moratorium in place, we're just handing the crown to China, and I think that that is extremely high risk. I'm not trying to be blasé about the risks of AI. They really are real.

I've talked about this before. The unfortunate fact is that any technology that promises an end advantage will be developed at breakneck pace. It just that is what happens. And so now you have to decide do you want to be the one in control of that breakneck pace or do you want it to be coming from somebody else? And right now there's this super bizarre energy in the US where it's like well I don't mind losing to China and all the things that that would entail. Um I just think this is a bad idea and so I just want to throw sugar in the gas tank rather than actually trying to find a useful path forward that doesn't put us in distant second.

It's interesting. The chat is not messing with you right now. man. This is one of those where it's like it's both unpopular and I'm right. So I don't know what to do. Is this like a vegetable situation? Like in the in 10 years from now we're going to look at him and say you know what? It was good that we take this. It doesn't taste good. It looks terrible. It's a green thing with hair on it. I know it's weird but trust me this has vitamins and like cuz like cuz like cuz This is This is This is um your Israel God they're going to hate this example.

Your Israel and you're in the middle of a very dangerous land and so you better build the golden dome. It's that. It's that. It's that. Like one there are all of these positive aspects to it. So AI like like like it is very very possible maybe even plausible that AI ushers in an age of abundance. abundance. abundance. So now nobody wants for anything. There's there's never been a technology that could make anything even remotely close to that promise ever before in all of human history. So you've got that like on the positive side it could just there is nobody that goes hungry goes hungry goes hungry unless it's by choice.

Um there is nobody that doesn't get the medical care that they need unless it's by choice. by choice. by choice. Um there's nobody that doesn't have the material things that they want unless it's by choice. Like it's just a true age of abundance. Remember you only need two things to have that age of abundance. abundance. abundance. You need energy costs to go to effectively zero, and you need labor costs through robotics to go to effectively zero, both of which happen if you're able to achieve AGI.

So, So, So, you've got that. Then, you've got the flip side, which is right now, the US and the West in a larger way can impose their will on the rest of the world, and we've been doing that for so long that we forgot that if we encounter somebody stronger than us, they can force us to do what they want us to do. Mhm. And all of human history is about somebody else imposing their will on everyone else. else. else. And so, And so, And so, if I'm right about this technology and that it could be the most powerful weapon ever built, uh you better you better you better be the one to develop it first.

Um and so, I I can articulate the other side. I understand what they're worried about. I understand the sense of existential dread that they have about why do I matter anymore in that world? Why would I ever want that? The, you know, opening of Dune, I'm sure speaks to their soul, which is that um never make an artificial intelligence in the likeness of the human mind, right? So, I get why people have a longing to go backwards. go backwards. go backwards. But, that isn't how technology works.

Technology is a promise of a better tomorrow. tomorrow. tomorrow. And because of that, we will not stop. So, it's like that's the part where I'm like, all you're saying is we're going to stop. Not that AI is going to stop. AI is going to be developed. If I thought, oh, well, if we stop, then it stops, stops, stops, I mean, honestly, I then can predict my own future in some ways. And I'm torn because I do like the idea of age of abundance and all that, but I also like the idea of like I want to tell my stories and I want to make my games and I want to still matter in 20 years.

And the reality is that with AI, I don't know. I don't know that in know. I don't know that in 3 years the way that I think of game development is going to matter at all. So, if I knew it was going to stop, part of me would be like, "Okay." But, it won't stop. Okay, we got to throw some of these things out cuz y'all are coming at me like it's like on the chat. Okay, first and foremost, let's move the environmental piece to the side, right?

Fresh water, there is a solution. It's not physically impossible to get more fresh water. We can desalination plants. Uh if your electric bill goes up, that's wrong. The The company that is responsible for the data center should all stand their own energy costs. Those two things should be happening. If they're not happening, that's a legislation problem. We can understand that. That's a different conversation. conversation. conversation. can just ask the chat, "Are you guys all cool if this just goes into outer space?" space?" space?" And if they're like, "Oh, yeah." then cool.

I have no more complaints. I love AI. Okay, great. Then this I was wrong and this really is just about great poll. Let's pull that right now. Would you are you okay with data centers if they are in outer space? I'm ready that right now. Let's go. Cuz I think there's been a lot of uh there was just a lot of different conversations about what is the problem with it and nobody can really put their thumb on it on the side. I can put my thumb on it.

I know exactly what's really going on and what's really going on is I can no longer understand my future. That is very scary and that is happening at a time where I'm already feeling like the pie is shrinking because it is. And all of the anxiety created by the economy is putting people They They actually are in a dangerous situation. They can feel that they're in a dangerous situation. And then we layer on top of that that we're now transitioning to AI in the middle of this moment.

Like it is the wildest thing ever. Mhm. That anxiety, they are looking for an explanation for. And their explanation is water, it's power cause. But the reality is those are absolutely minor in comparison to the anxiety of I don't understand my future anymore. I don't understand my value. I don't know what I'm going to be doing. Um but if they all say, "Oh, no, that's awesome." then well, I've got good news for them because uh uh uh Elon, if nobody else, is going to build data centers in orbit.

83% yes, they will be okay feels in space. space. space. Fantastic. Fantastic. Fantastic. That's wonderful. Then I've got good news for them. It's coming. And it's probably coming pretty fast because Elon understands he's that we're going to hit a power wall. And he's not going to be able to um for he can get all the chips that he wants, but if he can't get the power, then we're screwed. And so, yeah, they probably don't have to think about it too much. too much. too much. And then the second point that I think is occurring a lot.

Um who is this benefiting? And I know we talked about the construction jobs. construction jobs. construction jobs. Construction project for a year, 6 months, temporary jobs, yeah. but that's not really who it's benefiting. I mean that's all temporary. I'm not asking people to make a bunch of concessions so that somebody has a job. Um this is the age of abundance. So, um I imagine many of the people that are the base assumptions though cuz I think what people are thinking is like if I lived in Festus, Missouri, this is the next one we're going to bring up.

Your data center's now outside of my window. It happened yesterday. Age of abundance isn't now. I'm still to your point, I'm still suffering economic strain. And now I have this thing radiating next to me. What what does it mean like day one, day two, day three? Let's not skip to the age of abundance in in year 10. And just to kind of see what this I'm trying to really put my thumb on where this pushback is cuz I'm genuinely surprised. I didn't think it was going to be this bad cuz we talk about AI all the time.

So, I thought the audience would get it. It was the Dude, this is ratcheting up. As AI gets more real, people are like, "Nah. [ __ ] all this noise." So, who who is it benefiting in the interim? interim? interim? And let's keep the age of abundance stuff on a separate beat just for right now to answer this question. So, who would you say the data center is for? Like, who is it benefit Like, what what is the answer to that? Cuz that's what I'm seeing a lot of this in the chat coming up.

Well, so it's going to be a whole bunch people on a whole bunch of different levels. So, first of all, I imagine every single one of them maybe not every single one, but the vast majority of people use AI on a daily basis. basis. basis. Um the people who don't expressly use it on purpose are using it in a million ways, whether it's their bank protecting them from fraud or uh if they're on social media, the algorithms. It's all AI. People don't understand how integrated AI already is.

Um it is the US government keeping us safe. And so, um when you think about like Iran right now, nonstop around the clock is trying to hack this country to bring our um power grid down to literally like every bad thing. Attack the banking system, destroy credit. Ah. Um if they could do it, they would do it immediately. Your strongest bulwark right now today is already AI. Um it is a necessary piece of infrastructure that you have to build to be competitive in the future. And so, if Americans want to um avoid being a desperately impoverished nation, and I mean that literally, then they've got to be a part of the modern economy.

And the part of the modern economy is every day becoming more and more AI. Any country that opts out of AI will get eaten alive by the countries that opt in. So, if I'm a smaller country, I've been um unable to compete, and I see the US and China back out on AI, then I immediately go all in. So, um it again, any technology and they need only look back in history. Any technology that promises it an advantage will get developed. Remember when they first tested um nuclear bombs, they couldn't be certain that they wouldn't light the entire atmosphere on fire and kill every living thing on planet Earth and they still did it.

I'm not asking people to like that. I'm just saying that is true. And so, even if America stops cold, that does not stop. AI will be developed. It will be developed. So, the only question is, do you want in on it or not? And so, um and then there is of course the consumer being able to use it in their daily lives, um entrepreneurs being able to use it to break free. Like if anybody out there is ever thinking, I hate my job, um AI is your best friend.

And the way that it empowers an individual to do so much more than they would otherwise be able to do is completely extraordinary. Now, that was you forcing me to take the age of abundance off the table and it's still a pretty long list. Even if it were just defensive, you have to do it because it will be asymmetric warfare. Uh because the nations that develop AI will use it to hack you, crack you, break you. Like you you will get [ __ ] six ways to Sunday if you cannot use AI to defend yourself.

This is why Claude Mythos, they had to hold back, they had to go back channel to all the major software makers and say, "We just found a thousand exploits in your software that are critical. You've got to fix them all." How did they do that? AI just got so good at finding them. So, um I think people also aren't being realistic about how far AI has already come. Like th- this is like uh people saying, "Don't do Jurassic Park, the the theme park." And I'm like, "Bro, Jurassic Park the theme park already has a million visitors a day.

Like what are you talking about? Like there's you may not want that movie ended though. You saw how Right. But what I'm saying is it already exists. So now it's like Well, unfortunately, it's if you don't have a dinosaur, you can't protect yourself from the other dinosaurs who they are actively sending to your door every day. And so you've got to have a way to defend yourself against it. So the dinosaur's already out of the bag, bro. Like this it's done. It's a wrap. It's already happened.

There's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. So I don't know where people think they are on the timeline, but it's like this is already played out. Okay, that's all the non-age of abundance. The age of abundance is where people should have their sights set because I know a lot of these people are um rightly upset to see somebody go bankrupt because of health care. They're rightly upset when they or somebody else gets diagnosed with cancer and they're going to die. Um so AI the part people keep losing sight of is the I.

The I stands for intelligence. If we can spin up like top-tier intelligence, even if it never gets smarter than humans. If we can just spin up top-tier intelligence, um um um like millions of them. Then you make the world a much better place for each individual person getting things that are better, getting things that are cheaper, um solving problems that seemed impossible to solve. It's It's all going to be intelligence. And this is just humans take 18 years, and 25 if you really want them to do something special, and then unfortunately, because the uh genetic algorithm that God gave us outputs a lot of really dumb people.

So it's like you got to feed a lot of boneheads to get to the really smart ones. AI's not like that. Ooh. Um okay. I'm I'm Let me get back on track. track. track. And here's the thing, I don't expect that. I still think everyone that was mad is still mad. I don't because here here is the reality. We are all standing on the precipice of a radical change. And this is like the Industrial Revolution playing out over 5 years instead of 100. And that was already disruptive enough to just be mind-boggling.

And so I I mean, first of all, I have empathy for myself. I'm going through this and because I get how it's hard even for me that it's going to be very very hard for um people that don't have my financial means. So, or that are younger than me. Like, some of this is like, "Okay, well, I guess I'm just going to ride off and be grandpa and and that's that." Um so, I at least I guess have that. It's Trust me, that is of no comfort to me whatsoever.

But, you know, I've had this the youth. Um and so, this isn't going to be emotionally satisfying. But, my whole pitch to people is get out of your emotions. Your emotions emotions emotions um just because you feel them does not mean that they will help you. Yeah. And the more we talk about emotions, the more I'm trying to think like, "Where is this pushback coming from?" And I get I'm hearing the comebacks. I'm hearing This is what I drew. This is because but the underlying sentiment is like, there's a fear of the future, the fear of the unknown.

And that's kind of what you just keep circling around on is is because I can't see what the other 5 years of this AI data center looks like. Does that mean it takes every job in this community? Does that mean it You know, we don't know. Um but it's it's only going to get worse. Um we already talked about Utah. In Festus, Missouri, a town of 14,000 people, the city council quietly approved 6 billion AI data a $6 billion AI data center to be built on 360 I hear quietly, I know somebody used AI to write this.

Residents say they were never properly heard. Meetings were held in private. Documents were released too late. A week after the approval of the town held a regular election, voter turnout jumped 129%. 129%. 129%. Yeah. Every single council member who voted yes lost in a landslide. Oh, [ __ ] Oh, [ __ ] Oh, [ __ ] She's a 70-year-old first-time candidate beat a 8-year-old incumbent by 40 percentage points. percentage points. percentage points. Yeah. Simply because they just just on AI. And then we already talked about um the what's happening in Utah right now with um um Kevin O'Leary and the pushback that it's getting from there.

It's crazy. This This was similar to Amazon warehouses a couple years ago where every small my my small um hometown in Jersey had a Amazon warehouse pop up. Everybody hated it. We tried to vote against it. It got put up anyway. And it was just this ugly big building and everybody was mad. Five years later, everybody forgot about it and everybody expects their delivery to come tomorrow. So, it's one of those things where things where things where the frustration of the eyesore is that going to be outweighed the benefit of the technological advancement that we get on the other side?

And maybe we just need to figure that out. Of course. And by the way, if people were really just worried about how they look, make them look like medieval castles. Uh have a vote on what they're going to look like. Like here's the data center and then here are seven designs to pick from that But I mean, if people are really saying this is just an eyesore, you could turn it into something that people would come from all over the world to see. So, but again, it's just that isn't the actual issue.

It's part of it. Like they don't like it. I get it. it. it. is a good pushback. Shout out to Science Spark. Spark. Spark. Tom isn't driven by fear that China develops AI first. How is that getting out of your emotions? So, the people there's a fear of people saying they don't want to get AI developed because they don't know what the implication will be domestically. And then there are people that I will put in the technical I'll put you in this category that you're fear that China or other countries will develop AI faster and circumvent US in certain industries and That's not what I'm afraid of.

Oh, okay. So, um Um, for me, I look at AI as a um, I look at the positive side of AI. When you hear me talk about like, "Listen guys, China's going to do it. You have to do it." I'm just trying to help them understand this is going to get developed. So, that's me trying to close a very different door versus me saying, "Oh my god, that's the thing that keeps me up at night." To be honest, I don't even think about that cuz I know we're going to develop it because we have to because China's going to.

So, like that part is like whatever. It's nuclear weapons. So, this is the from AI as a weapon standpoint, that's this moment. We've already lived through it. We know exactly what this looks like. Germany's doing it. We have to do it. We have to beat them to it so we can move forward type of thing. This is the Manhattan Project but for AI. So, um, I am completely at ease with the fact that this is going to happen. For me, I just keep thinking about, "Okay, like this is honestly, if people want to know the sort of naked emotional way that I think about this, which I guess my wife always finds comforting, maybe people want to hear my emotional side." Uh, the emotional side for me is, "Ooh, man, I've just spent the last like four years of my life building a video game, pouring myself into it.

It's one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life." And the thing I kept telling myself about spending all the money and um, the time and energy was, "Oh, this is like the my final Pokémon form. I don't have to develop another skill set. This is going to like work for me forever." I can't tell you how many times I said that and then AI came along and I was like, "Oh Jesus." Like, "Games are going to be prompted. They're not going to be built like I'm building it now.

I've just built another [ __ ] skill set that I'm not going to use in five years. Like this is wild." And so, that is like, "Okay, will I even be able to get the game out in time? Will this all have been a waste of money and a waste of time?" That's a bummer. Um, I spent so much time getting wealthy so I could build my studio. Does any of it matter anymore? So, all of that is distressing. Now, I don't get swept away by it but it's distressing.

And so, then the way that I deal with that emotion is to cuz I know it doesn't matter what you look at, it matters what you see. So then I go, "Okay, I want to see something different. So what does the world look like on the other side of this where now I can leverage AI to what? Can I live inside of Like can I create a story world that is so tangible that you could like live inside of it?" And could I get excited about something like that?

And yes, then I get excited. Uh the idea of doubling human life expectancy. I'm like, "Holy [ __ ] AI might really be able to do that." Um I am not a person that has to have more than the next person. So an age of abundance where I just get my [ __ ] and yeah, other people they're fighting over like they've got to have more and better and all that. Like I probably would have gotten sucked into that in my 20s. Not now. So I'm just like, "Yeah, cool.

Like that would be dope. I can like literally just build the things I want to build and there's no economic anything stopping me. It is literally just my imagination. Yes, please." please." please." So that's me doing the jujitsu move of going, "The thing I'm scared about is in my life where I've invested time, energy, resources to get good at a thing that I thought was going to be the next movement of my life and it may not be." [snorts] [snorts] [snorts] If so, fact of the that uh somebody tweeted out that GTA 6 is going to be like the last video game.

Very possible. Because everybody Nobody's going to be spending $6 on a video game with AI now after a while. It's like nobody's going to spend 6 years to develop like that. That time and effort is going to be declining. So that's why people are kind of crowning GTA 6 that way. If the leaks are accurate that it's actually coming out this year, so. You Well, they said it's coming out in November. So we'll see if they push it again, but that is certainly They've been standing on that for like seven or eight months now.

All right, let's go to everybody's favorite politician, Gavin Newsom. Newsom. Newsom. Um Is he everybody's favorite? Is he He wants to be. He swears California is the best place ever. And what do you mean? We're number one in everything. Yeah. Got it all on lock. I will say though Tom, it was about two or three weeks ago you were like I'm tired of all these politicians talking. Nobody's talking about balancing the budget. budget. budget. Yeah, fair. Yeah, fair. Yeah, fair. It's almost I feel like they heard you because Ma and Dad balanced the budget next week and then Gavin Newsom released a tweet that he balanced California's budget the week after that.

And I'm like, okay, I feel like they're listening to the show. So, they've been listening to you Tom. Hey, Gavin balanced it, Ma and Dad balanced it and we were outside playing football with the kids. So, they're taking victory laps right now. But, let's talk about uh of California's uh budget and how there's no deficit this year or next year and how it's structurally sound. Yeah, oh, is it true? Structurally sound. Structurally sound. Structurally sound. All right, Newsom's balanced budget uh expires the minute he leaves office by the way.

Gavin Newsom says California's budget is balanced. However, the state's own legislative analyst's office warns revenues could be tens of billions of dollars lower within two years. He's basically had a budget surplus that he can not he shouldn't count on. We're already talking bubble territory. This is like a one-time windfall that he has no reason to believe is going to keep going. He has a structural deficit, meaning without this like blip in time, uh he knows that it's already going to go back. And so, when he gets out of office, uh which is like what?

what? what? Uh is he this year is this his last year? So, he's out soon. So, he's only buying people up through July of 2028. And by the way, just because he's projected to have it doesn't mean that it's actually going to last that long. So, the window uh is basically the entire trick. So, Newsom's own budget pro- projects, remember this is his own budget, projects a $10.3 billion deficit in fiscal year '28 and '29 and another $9.6 billion deficit in '29 and '30. So, he knows very well that both of those are going to be a different governor's problem.

So, the revenue that's making all of this math work is a booming stock market in the AI sector, which people on his own team are trying to kill. So, if you don't understand that part of it, I'm sure that this looks a lot better. Now, credit where credit is due, he's got the windfall and he's spending it in a way that's going to balance the budget. So, that's better than the alternative. Would I rather see him balance the budget without the windfall and then start paying down the debt or really socking some money away?

Yes, of course I would. But, I'll take my wins where we can get them. So, we've got the extra tax revenue. That is precisely the time where if you want to spend more money, spend more money when you've got the dollars coming in. But, I think that people ought to structurally balance the budget so that they know this is our baseline. We spend against the baseline. We might do things temporarily when we have some extra cash, but for the most part, we don't do that unless our deficit is at zero and I know that they're nowhere near it.

So, this is one of those where I don't just want to be always angry at something that he's doing or Momodou Ndiaye's doing. I do want to be intellectually honest. So, this is great. Money coming in. We've got a balanced budget through July. Now, we need to do the hard work to make sure that we solve the structural problem. Um Um Um they run the fiscal calendar from June to July. So, the July 2028 fall off is for the next person. Um so, that's like the next year.

So, technically next two years he does have it it [snorts] he does have it uh balanced. I do think Just keep in mind, it was entrepreneurs that balanced the budget for him. Let's be honest about that. So, But, hey, it don't matter it don't matter where the money coming from. Yeah, I think Listen, listen. In fairness, the state is structured in a way where they were able to take advantage of that boom and it happened and that's that really is wonderful. And that is the time where if the voters want to spend the money and the money's coming in, great.

I I think it's it directionally is important to like highlight this because I think two things can be true. One, the government, if this is accurate and everything is sound and there isn't any funny money, can still take in revenue taxes without a tax hike. This doesn't include the billion tax hike cuz Newsom's not for it. Um it also doesn't cut off all the social services that they have even to undocumented workers. So, whether you're That's a wild even you're on board or not, he was able to structure that in without a budget deficit.

And I think that's the part that's really interesting to me is because I think I'm the king of let's reallocate this budget. We spend too much money on this. interesting, do you mean I drew love when capitalists make so much money that we can afford to pay for other things? Yes. You and me both. Yes. real, like and I don't even mean that cheeky. It's like we've talked about this many times. You can you can literally have anything you want. You just have to make sure that the engine underneath it is kicking off enough capital that you're able to deal with it.

And if we could get politicians to be more honest about that, then like, "Hey, cool. We've got this initiative. We really want to pay for undocumented immigrants. We really believe it's the morally right thing to do." do." do." I know there's a whole argument about there is just a power grab. I get it. I get it. But I'm just saying if if that's what people want to do and they make that presentation and they say, "But we know that the way that you do this is with an engine of prosperity that is the free markets.

And so, we're going to be doing some deregulation over here so that we can really turn that engine up." Great. And I just did a deep dive. I don't think you've heard it yet. I haven't. I'm waiting for it. did the the deep dive. Really fascinating. I had never looked super deeply at the Nordic countries. So, I'd always said always said always said when I did do my sort of cursory look at everybody's always talking about the Nordic countries. Let me look at how do they really pull this off?

Because if they've really answered something, I want to learn from it. And so, uh go do the research and I'm like, "Oh, they just do a super broad base of tax." Which by the way is true. So, if in the US, the bottom 50% of people pay 3.3% of the tax. Basically nothing. The bottom 50% essentially pay no tax. no tax. no tax. And that's not true in the Nordic countries. You make a dollar 50, you're going to pay tax on it. And so, those guys just go ham.

Everybody's going to pay. Then I did the deep dive and realized, "Oh, it's way more sophisticated than that." So, these guys went broke in the '90s. Like proper implosion, holy [ __ ] what the [ __ ] do we do? They were charging the author of Pippi Longstocking one year had a 102% bill. And so, she was like "The more people read my book the more in financial trouble I get." And so, she was like, "I was actually scared." So, it's very interesting to like see what happens. So, she ends up writing this like fairy tale about it, publishes it in like the It was a tabloid, but like to to really make a splash back in the day when that mattered.

And um the next election, partly because of that, not solely because of that, but it's so captured the like anti-tax sentiment that people were having that that government got booted out of office. And what you end up realizing is the bureaucracy begins to feed itself. And the bureaucracy just wants to get bigger. And the bureaucracy gets to the point where they actually think your money is their money. And that any success is somehow theft or you've done something unjust or whatever. And so, when you hear like the way that the bureaucrats responded to to when when she pointed out how much she was being charged, it really was just like icky.

And so they end up getting booted. Now, it it's a fascinating story. They get booted out of office, but the incoming right-leaning party basically makes no structural changes. And so for the next 15 years, nothing really changes. And then in '90 to '93, they just collapse. And it gets to the point where they legitimately cannot pay for anything anymore. And anymore. And anymore. And when people like Mamdani say we want to do the Nordic model, I didn't realize, but the Nordic countries have literally come to America and said, I quote it in the deep dive, uh the the Prime Minister of Denmark says, says, says, he was in the US.

He was like, I would like to address American legislators. You guys keep saying that we're socialist countries. You're using us as an example of how socialism works. We're not [ __ ] socialist. He's like, we are a free market economy. And um And um And um then the former Prime Minister of Sweden basically said the same thing and was like, oh, I'm really glad that Bernie Sanders got to go to uh Russia in the '80s before their entire empire collapsed under the weight of stupid policies. And the Finance Minister of Sweden was like, uh all the beliefs that we had about socialism when we were young, they're not real.

They don't work. We had to go to a free market. And I was like, why does nobody talk about this? Everybody holds them up as like they're the example of cradle-to-grave socialism. And they are screaming as loud as they can, we're not [ __ ] socialist. We ran the experiment. It didn't work. And so they do have a much better safety net than we have. And so then it's like, they spend roughly 24% of GDP goes to social safety net. The US spends 22%. We're basically spending Nordic levels on our uh social safety net, but everyone is terrified.

Everyone feels like we have nothing to show for it. So, it's like we've become a socialist ish country, but we don't admit it. We argue and fight and all that. All of this stuff that we do is like deeply inefficient. And so, then it's like, okay, well, what's going wrong? Which was literally the question I was asking in the deep dive. And then you start getting into immigration and all this stuff. And here's the bad news. So, Sweden Oh my god, amazing, right? Look what they're doing, incredible broad tax base, very broad.

Uh but better than their 102% Uh they actually have a lower corporate tax rate than we have, but which is fascinating and I don't think people are expecting that one. Uh Uh Uh but their people are much happier and feel more secure. Why? And it's now what we're realizing is Sweden is getting back into trouble because of all the immigrants that they've let into the country. Because when you create a system that takes care of people, it works as long as there are enough billionaires, you know, millionaire, innovators, entrepreneurs innovators, entrepreneurs innovators, entrepreneurs Correct.

And when everyone shares your value system and they go, I don't want to take too much. And so, I'm going to use it And so, I'm going to use it cuz I need it right now, but I want to get back off of it as quickly as I can. And people are like, I'm happy in this system because I see, you know, everybody's doing great, nobody's abusing the system. Then you start bringing in immigrants. Everybody goes to race. It's not [ __ ] race. It is they don't share your values.

Or you're just doing it blindly, and so the proportion gets off and you're not bringing in enough people that are adding to the system. And so, Sweden's been very open about this and they said, we let in too many people, we've broken our own system, and uh we're not going to be able to keep moving forward like we are now. They're paying They're offering people $30,000 to leave. to leave. to leave. That tells you how expensive they are. If they're willing to just cut a check for 30 grand to send you out of the country.

So, the They ran the math Kristi Noem did what, 1,500 or something like that when she was at the height Yeah, I think I think at one point it was like two grand, but yes, in that neighborhood. And um they ran the math and the Because everyone's like, well, immigrants are good for the economy. It's not quite true. So, high-skilled immigrants are very good. Low-skilled end up over their lifetime taking more out of the system than they put in. And so, Sweden ran the numbers. It's something It was like $30,000 a year, which is why they were willing to um cut them that the check.

So, it's It seems like it's a pendulum, though, cuz I was having this conversation with somebody on the flight over here about like UK health is is I was like, yeah, like you know, they have the UK system, and she was like, well, my daughter goes to school here, it's not that great, and now that even in UK they're getting private health. And they're going in private insurance. So, I don't think it's necessarily we need to get out of this capitalist socialist, cuz I think that's the same trap as red and blue and left and right.

And I think if we just need need need safety nets for people that are willing to be on it, who or safety net for those that need to be on it. Uh off-ramps for those who are no longer required who are no longer allowed to be on it. Like we need to transition people off of these safety nets. Yep. Yep. Yep. And then we just need to allow the free market to kind of fill in the rest of those gaps. So, I think if everybody The catch is Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Um and maybe the the devil's just in the details, and your off-ramps like become the key, but the problem is when you create a system that incentivizes takers, they're going to come and parasitize your system. And so you absolutely cannot have both open borders and a welfare state. You literally can't do it. From a math perspective, you can't do it. And so we unfortunately had open borders, very very open borders, and a very easy to prestitize welfare state. And so now we're in a rough spot.

And so we are going to have to find some way to all I won't say completely eliminate the fraud cuz I don't think it's possible, but you've got to like get rid of the vast vast vast majority of the fraud. You almost certainly are going to have to to to um um um deport a very substantive amount of people. Then you can get back to the point where it's like, "Okay, if what we really want is um health care for all, then great." Because now we've got it in a position where the numbers make sense.

But unfortunately, as you scale, the number of um highly productive people doesn't scale equally with the people that will draw on the system. And so as you get bigger, it it really does I mean, I use the example of barnacles on turtle, but it really does become that. No matter how strong and powerful the turtle is, uh there's just so many more barnacles that you can't tax your way out of it. And so that's where it's like the free market will not be able to get you out of this problem because the two do not scale equally.

Yeah. I I think there is there is that balance of you can't have open borders and a welfare state. And I think that is a great way to summarize it. It's not about race, it's not about empathy, it's not about it's you want to have open borders, cool. Everybody can come here, but then everybody has to work. Or it's we have to take care of those that fall behind the line, but then we can't take care of those that fall behind the line cuz now we're taking care of literally the globe in that way.

Yeah. And by the way, if you want to like Okay, if you want to go back to like 1600s America and say anybody can come, all good, welcome one and all, and all, and all, um um um some people are going to be starving in the streets the streets the streets and literally, and the government can't step in. The government's not going to be able to help them. So, now you've got to do church local things happening that are going to go take care of people.

But we have developed a mentality of it needs to happen at the level of the government. It's just not possible. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh all right, let's jump to something else. This this is crazy to me. Um You like anything but immigration? Yeah, Chris Nolan is getting killed right now for this Odyssey casting and people are acting like Chris Nolan like isn't Chris Nolan. Like I feel like there's certain people in movies that you just don't talk about yet. Wait till the movie comes out, let it be bad, and then bash it, but like Chris Nolan to in my mind, he's like seven for seven.

Like I haven't seen a bad Chris Nolan movie yet. I was a little weirded out by um what's the one that Tenet? That almost plays backwards. I had to watch it four times, but by the fourth time it was genius. I just did I'll give you that for it. I'll give you that, but I just couldn't I was like, okay, you lost me on this one. But I agree, he's he is an unbelievable filmmaker. I'm going to give him a ton of latitude. I'm going to watch it and see.

Um it Um it Um it the one sort of pre-smoking gun that makes me nervous is the the the adaptation, if I can believe what people have said cuz I haven't read the adaptation or done any real research on it. But the um thing that people are saying about the person that did the adaptation is she was specifically trying to modernize it. She was specific she specifically referred to, I think Odysseus, Odysseus, Odysseus, um as a problematic character. And so it's like, uh-oh, like if you think the main character, the person who's supposed to be going on this grand adventure is problematic, that's somebody who's trying to view this through a very modern lens.

Uh and so because the casting lines up with this whole idea of the modern audience, uh and anybody that pays attention to film criticism will know what I mean by the modern audience. Um the fact that she really does seem to be like championing the modern audience, the message, and the casting matches like the rules that the Academy has put in place, like you've got to have this much representation. It's like, uh-oh, like if he were uh and people are picking up on in the trailer like they speak with American accents, they're using colloquial phrases that people are saying it pulls you out of the um fantasy.

Now, I think that's something very real, and this is one of the reasons that I thought um uh yes, Schindler's List, but um Saving Private Ryan was so brilliant is Spielberg knew that all of us are so used to seeing World War II in black and white because that's just what the footage was. Um that if he didn't desaturate it, it would feel weird. And so, he completely desaturated the footage, so it almost feels like that black and white footage, and so our brains go, "Yes, this is real." Even though it's the most unreal thing ever.

Um and so, I do worry that while Nolan has reasons for what he did, that he's not being honest about the expectation People don't have the expectation that they'll speak ancient Greek, but they certainly I'm not be full Mel Gibson, but they do have the expectation that um when you're representing something old, that you'll use proper English accents because a English-speaking audience has been trained for 60 years that that's how people talk when you're trying to represent another culture. You never use the American accent. You never use colloquial phrases.

It's always proper like the Queen's English. And so, I do think that there's we've just been trained that that's how you interface with a story like that if you want it to feel, you know, mythological. So, I think he might have a tough road to hoe with that one. But, to your point, it's Nolan. Yeah, I I think it's this is one of the negative externalities of social media and film is trailers are now dissected, picked apart, Easter eggs, spoilers before the movie even comes out.

And we're putting too much emphasis on what we think the story should be versus what the story the director wants to tell. And everybody wants to make it Troy, and I'm the biggest Troy fan. I've read Troy's one of the inspirations of like my first script. I wrote like a 300-page like Greek gods. It was terrible. It's a terrible script. It it but it was I had no idea that you were that into I I love I like I love Troy. Greek mythology as a whole or Troy?

mythology as a whole, but Troy was my doorway through that. So, I think people heard Chris Nolan, Homer, he's going to make a Troy part two. And it's like Let him tell the story, Yeah. and then he'll he'll find his lane. And I just hate when we project our expectations on a director based off of 35 seconds of footage. Like, we don't know exactly and he's it's going to be a 3-hour movie. Like, we have no idea what that 35 seconds even is. Where is this a third flash?

Like, we have no context, but we have all the breakdowns and essays. And that's the part that's like a bit frustrating in this whole thing. It's interesting. I'm super conflicted on that. that. that. Yeah. I love the way social media lets you spend you spend you spend six months, a year soaking in a movie before it comes out, talking about it, looking at every frame of the trailer, dissecting it. And when it's done in a spirit of excitement, Yeah. it's so cool. However, when it's like, and I see this in the games industry all the time, they will decide that a game is bad for some reason before it comes out, and then it's just dead.

dead. dead. Yeah. And Yeah. And Yeah. And I get it. Their Their Their game developers have done themselves a lot of dirt. I totally understand. But sentiment goes a long way. A long way. And if sentiment turns on a game, that game is in real trouble. That's what I'm saying. War that got it that did it for me. Um when Thanos first snapped and everybody like fizzled away. Mhm. Somebody pulled like the contract announcement from like 3 years beforehand and was like, "Well, they're in They have a five movie deal.

So, they're definitely coming back for the sequel." And it was like I just left the theater and that's the first thing I see. And so like the pain of like this person is dead is now like, "Oh, it's gone. He's going to come back." Right. Right. Right. just it it took that out of me and that's what really was like Come on, guy. Like let it be a fantasy a little bit. I don't But that's what I That was my rocking on the chair old guy moment.

And I was like, "Okay, I got to give this up. I just I I really am torn because I There's a video game called Crimson Desert. Mhm. I must have watched 50 videos about Crimson Desert on the build up to the release. And that made it feel like a moment in a way that it wouldn't have if I just bought it and played it and was like, "Oh, that was fun." It was like I had all of that context, all of people's fears and anxieties and hopes and dreams.

dreams. dreams. So, it's uh it's a double-edged sword. There's no doubt. Uh okay. So, we got some Let's do some memes. There was a couple funny things that happened on the Friday funnies. A couple funny things. like British edition or I I did not. I did not. And this one is actually pretty tame. I got yelled at for a couple of my jokes from the last one. So, Did you really? I'm going to I reworked it a little bit. Um I thought this this this So, now you have one.

I thought this was funny though. We we talked him in, everybody. We we made him pull back. That's sad. Um this person tweeted, "I will be flying to Los Angeles to illegally vote for Spencer Pratt. What are they going to do? ID me?" me?" me?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that was good. I thought that That is hilarious. one. one. one. Um we were just talking about this, Troy, but Brad Pitt is uh Elliot Page. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is where I'm like, okay, to the Nolan thing, if Nolan can make me feel like cool like cool like cool But you could look at the arms.

somebody that slight. that slight. that slight. Yeah, they're trolling with this. I mean they're they are definitely trolling with this. There are so many memes now about Elliot Page as I think I see her 300. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was one Oh god, what was it? It was something Oh man, I'm not going to remember and it won't make it funny, but it was like something the the vegan There was John Wick. John Wick? Yeah, I mean there was so many, so many. Uh so yeah, that one If he can make me a believer though, like if he can actually make me feel something like, yo, this person is cool even though they're tiny, uh I will be very impressed.

It's certainly possible, but um like I remember there was a certain sequence in um um um Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman. And I just thought, yo, she looks bad ass. ass. ass. Uh so it certainly is possible. We'll see what he does. Um next one, Trump has now fallen asleep on camera more than Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Um Yeah, this is where if you were clowning on Biden for falling asleep and you don't have equal clown time for this one Trump nodded. He he'd be out.

Bro, I this guy like how he's 78? Uh yeah. Listen. What do you think is he sleep and somebody say, we could have done this without the great help of President Trump and then he's like, hm It's so wild. I would be It's so wild. I would be like off camera. I was literally thinking about this the other day. I was like, would I just become a meth addict? I'd be like, guys, I'm going to have to look out. Oh my bad. I so feel it.

I have I've been that tired, man. But it's like he's [ __ ] old. when he hears the crinkle of a food wrapper. Not that I'm up. I'm up. I'm up. Where where where is it at? Where is it at? That is amazing. Yep. Oh, [ __ ] We're We're falling apart over here. over here. over here. Cut the camera. Cut the feet. Cut the feet. feet. feet. Uh and last but not least, tips to save on gas. Check your tires, reduce your speed, avoid lots of starts and stops, get rid of extra weight, and don't go to war just because Israel tells you to.

you to. you to. So, have a good weekend everybody. Some tips to save on gas at the pump this weekend. weekend. weekend. That was good. All right. And then, let's round this out with some super chats. Let's do it. All right. First one we have is from Chaos Ballad. Hot take, the day the day the age of abundance arrives in is the day that socialism becomes viable. viable. viable. Yeah, that sounds about right. But to your point of the 24% like the Nordic model, America's a lot more socialist than we want to admit.

A lot more, dude. There's corporate socialism, there's old people socialism, there's poor people socialism. There like there's so many categories we can actually cut it. I just think we need to eliminate the red tape and let every poor person have a direct access to it, every sick person have direct access to it, and it will solve all these problems, but problems, but problems, but right now, if you don't do the right paperwork, you won't get the socialism, and that's the part that's frustrating. Well, also, you can if you know the paperwork, you can just fraud the socialism all day long.

That part. That is wild. is wild. is wild. And John Cragness, Tom, in response to your feelings on AI, yes, you just developed a skill you won't need. This will become normal. It is why the populace needs a broad education and skills. Broad knowledge is what allowed ancestors survival. ancestors survival. ancestors survival. Mhm. I I don't buy that. I don't think that our ancestors had anywhere near the kind of broad knowledge that we have. Uh even once you introduce the internet, it was just game over.

You could acquire skills so fast. When you think about YouTube and things like that, I think this is more like once you're going down a path and something knocks you off that, so many people are just like, I'm I'm not going to, I'm not willing to. Uh also, I think a lot of people just don't have the aptitude for change. I hate that that's true, but it's like people are good at a category of thing, they spent their life training on that. This is why, if you guys remember when people were saying learn to code, that became like a slur.

And that was one of those I really got caught off guard because my response was, oh, they should learn to code. But like really, hey, like you can do it, this is great. Uh and then people were just like that's not how people work. And it's one of those it's how people ought to work, but it really isn't how people work. And so, there really is you hit a certain point in your career where you just fall into despair. Um so, yeah, I think our ancestors were just way likely to die, and I don't think we think about that nearly enough.

You you had a lifespan 30 was dead. Like 30 was actually the average life expectancy. People were getting married at 12. Uh and so, it was just so [ __ ] different. And so, if you didn't do well one winter, you just [ __ ] died. This goes back to the conversation we had before we started rolling about like you said you cited a study about when people move they're more successful or something like that. Yeah. So, I want to put that on the table with the changes of the traditional routes not working.

So, maybe give the people a background about the study and how with the age of AI you might have to rethink like your path to life. It might not look as You definitely have to rethink your path to life. Uh so, the study I'm ballparking here, I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was the people that move away from their family are more likely to be successful. Um partly because you don't have the obligation of the family expecting you to be a certain way. So, now you can just go to find yourself as you want to.

You can pursue something without other people's expectations, without time commitments. And then also, it's not as easy for them to help you and do things for you, so you have to really go your own and figure it out yourself. And I thought that was very interesting. Certainly from an anecdotal standpoint, that's true in my family. Um and I've seen that with a lot of people. It's the person that either because they have the gumption to move far away or by moving far away, like I was saying, they don't have the obligation and the time commitments and the expectations that they would otherwise have.

Um but very interesting. And so, yes, AI is going to ask a very similar question, which is as one avenue is shut to you, what do you do? Do you find another one or do you throw your hands up because you're expecting to be taken care of? And the people that throw their hands up and will be expecting the government to take care of them, this is going to be a lot rockier of a road than people who are like, how can I use this tool to get ahead?

So, it'll be two very different approaches. approaches. approaches. All right, that's all I got. All right, we're at time. We're going to be coming to you live this whole week from London, right? Let's go. All right, everybody, same bat time, same bat channel. We will see you there. Until this is Friday, right? Until Monday, my friends. Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday. Peace.