Episode 575 Scott Adams: Invisible Problems With Trump, Immigration Reform, Cyber Attacks on Iran

Date: 2019-06-23 | Duration: 51:06

Topics

President Trump’s “problems” are invisible…why is that? Human incentives and Democrats Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren looking like the likely top two Is a subtle change happening with Bill Maher? AMA questions from viewers

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> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript

[0:17]

mom hello Beth and Chris and everybody else coming in here Andrew and Thomas good to see you all all the regulars Jess nice guy Polly hey man good to see you and Erica and Bobo it's time for your favorite part of the day the part that gets it all going on the part of the guest your your body chemistry all psyched up the thing that makes everything better for the rest of the day I call it coffee with Scott Adams featuring the simultaneous up and all you need to enjoy it is a cup or a mug of glass a tankard a Steiner a chalice a thermos or a flask a vessel of any kind put your favorite liquid in there I like coffee and join me now for the unparallel pleasure that I call the simultaneous end oh

[1:18]

simultaneous end oh shivers I tell you it's that good all right I'd like to start by talking about all of the problems with the Trump administration and with President Trump in particular now in the old days when you talked about a president who had problems you would often see a photograph of that problem for example if you had a president that started a war with Iraq let's say you might see pictures of burning buildings and cars and dead people now that's a problem problem is something you can take a picture of
but this president seems to have a lot of problems they have one quality in particular have you noticed all of president Trump's flaws his problems his mistakes the horrible things he's done have one quality in common they're all

[2:21]

have one quality in common they're all indivisible let me give you an example number one there's Russian collusion which no matter how hard we look for it we can't seem to find it oh we know it's there but it's sort of invisible and by saying when I say we know it's there I mean his critics and then there's of course the obstruction of justice which is obstructing but maybe he didn't some stuff that probably didn't happen because we can't see it so take a picture of some obstruction what's it look like it's there's nothing on the photograph how about all of his inner thoughts that we know are racist and misogynist and awful well I can't get a picture of visit or thoughts I'd like to have a photograph of that but for some reason I can't get hard

[3:23]

for some reason I can't get hard evidence that his inner thoughts are bad because when we ask him what he's thinking he keeps saying good things that we like it's only that we can imagine is it or thoughts that there's a problem there and you've got the the various many many financial crimes that he's committed as far as we know I mean we don't have any evidence there's nothing we can look at there's no document no photograph no witness but I'm sure if only we had his taxes yes yes that's it if only we had his taxes it would all come apart but for now it's all kind of invisible we can't see it
then there are things there the next category of Trump flaws is all the stuff that he hasn't done yet but you know he's gonna do right he

[4:24]

but you know he's gonna do right he hasn't done these things but we know he's that kind of guy who might do things so you got things in the future and you can't really get a photograph of the future so that's unfortunate because all those bad things would you like to know about them in the future then they're looking at my list wait oh yes then there's the category of things that we imagined he said that he didn't say because we can't we can't get a video or an audio of those things so we don't have the physical evidence but we're sure we heard it for example we're sure we heard him call neo-nazis fine people but when we go to the video or the transcript it says the opposite if you read the whole transcript if you read only part of it it does look like that but if read the whole transcript it

[5:25]

that but if read the whole transcript it isn't there so you have this other category of things that we're sure he said but we can't find the video of it can't find the transcript but here's my favorite one so all of those things I think you would agree that all those things you can't hold in your hand you can't take a photograph of it can't find a document but man there must be a lot of stuff it's just all invisible but here's my new favorite thing he's changing the environmental restrictions on I guess a variety of different ways and that will create invisible pollutants that will kill people that we can't identify by name now let me say first of all it might be entirely true and if it is maybe we should you know maybe we should do something different but is it a coincidence that all of the problems that this president is being accused of they all have the same

[6:27]

accused of they all have the same quality that they're invisible sure there might be more people dying in a statistical sense but why is it that you can never get it you can't get a name for the person who died who wouldn't have died otherwise it's a statistical thing I can't get a picture of it I can't I can't you show me the driver's license of somebody who died because of it you can't now I'm now saying that co2 and the pollutants that may be increased to be because of various relaxation of rules I can't say that it's good to relax those rules how the heck would I know but I thirst thing I just think it's interesting that all of the president's flaws are invisible including the ones that science supports even science says trust us we can see this stuff because we're scientists yeah we got models and we got statistics and we got microscopes and we've got we've got machines and and ways to measure

[7:29]

got machines and and ways to measure things we got chemistry you can't see it sure you can't see it but trust us there are other people who can totally see the problem but again I don't mean to make light of any if if there are problems with the environment I would say if it turned out there were real problems with the environment and real people who know how to measure this stuff say that you know there's there's more bad than good in it well I'll listen to that argument but at the moment it's hard to trust anybody so the the press this next thing is just as funny so the President as you know famously was planning an attack on Iran in retaliation for the drone being taken out and then he changed his mind before the attack was executed and then people said well you know it's good thing you did that because we didn't want to do something disproportionate and now there are

[8:29]

disproportionate and now there are reports that the president authorized cyberattacks against the Iranian spy group that was associated with the taking down the drone now what's funny about that have you seen a picture of our cyberattack nope you can't get a picture of a cyberattack have you seen scene interviews with the Iranians who were saying darn they attacked our stuff our computers aren't working no I haven't seen that have you seen the documents that demonstrate there was a cyber attack no so was there a cyber attack was there really a cyber attack maybe but we've got we've reached I'm not saying there wasn't I'm just saying then now instead of all these invisible problems that the president has there's

[9:31]

problems that the president has there's this new category of invisible solutions and one of these invisible solutions that apparently we may have done something like a cyber attack against a group that may or may not actually exist and that cyber attack may or may not have actually changed something or done something or made an impact maybe but I haven't haven't seen a photograph of any of this I haven't seen a witness I'm not so sure that there's a cyber attack now my god so there could be no better indication there were in or approaching or in some kind of golden age then I think historians will look back at with more clarity because they won't have all the personalities to worry about you know time will go by but if we're arguing about invisible flaws where the president who may be attacking another country in an invisible way that shows no no no no no evidence that we can

[10:33]

no no no no no evidence that we can actually observe there later indirectly we're in a pretty good place all our problems and even our solutions are invisible lately
here's a I want to run an idea past you I want you to hold in your mind a picture of Eric's wall well I get make a mental picture of Eric's wall well okay got it now next to the mental picture of Eric's wahwah just hold it in your mind Eric's wall well there is now make another mental picture side by side of Amy Klobuchar is it my imagination or does Eric swallow well look like Amy Klobuchar with a different haircut I'm just gonna put that out there doesn't mean anything all right there so Pelosi

[11:37]

mean anything all right there so Pelosi speaker Pelosi tweeted that she wants to get going on comprehensive immigration reform because the president has delayed apparently by two weeks the rounding up of people who fall into some special category of being in the country illegally I think it's people who skipped court appearances and stuff and so she's saying yeah let's get going with comprehensive immigration reform to which I say I'm glad we got two weeks to get that done how long should it take one week one week right because we know all the parts it's not it's not like there's a big mystery of what do people want to do what are the potential solutions we sort of know what all that looks like we either we just want to do it or not do it and it seems to me that
I'm speculating now because I think it's too early to say but what it looks like

[12:38]

too early to say but what it looks like is that if you go back in time not too far President Trump was saying hey I want to round up people and deport them you know in various times and various different plans and various statements and it was generally thought that that was way over the line in other words most of the country said don't do that don't do that dude don't do that that that would be too cruel to people who had been you know illegal immigrants but had become good citizens and live good lives otherwise that that was too far and it did seem like that but is it my imagination or has all of the ugliness with the whatever you want to call them the detention centers all of the ugliness with the you know the the caravans the number of people coming over is it my imagination or has all of that ugliness which sort of made the

[13:38]

that ugliness which sort of made the president look right because he was trying to decrease incentives to come here but outside of his control the laws of this nation actually created great incentives to come here and as those incentives were causing more and more people to come here it seemed as if the president was being proven right it also seems that even though Democrats like to use the detention centers at the border as a club to beat the president I also think that everyone who uses that as a club against the president also understands that the reason these people are coming in the first place is that our laws are broken which is what the president has been saying the whole time so it feels to be like the president's latest threat to start rounding people up which I think was a more limited roundup to limited to those people who had who had gone through some processing

[14:39]

had who had gone through some processing and promised to come back but then you know skipped out on their record dates I guess I think that's the this situation or something similar to it it seems to me that the public has sort of felt a shift on this it seems to me that the public now understands that there isn't any way - just keep going the way we're going in other words it's obvious now that the current set of laws it's obvious is just gonna bring in so many people that whatever we build in terms of humane processing centers detention centers no matter what we throw at it it would just attract more people until its overwhelmed together so for example if you could snap your fingers and double the resources double the funding at the border how long would that last because people would find out look those bad detention centers or they didn't have you know didn't have a blanket for

[15:40]

you know didn't have a blanket for everybody the kids who are not taken care of and you know then there was no air conditioning they fixed all that now they got these great tents with air conditioning kids get free blankets and food it's better than the way we were living before I can't wait to get what to one of those detention centers so the one thing that Democrats consistently get wrong and it's weird because I don't see anybody calling them out for this specifically what Democrats consistently get wrong is incentive it seems like every single policy bad idea the Democrats have have the same problem it's not even a different problem everyone ignores the humans act like human beings the Democrats to their credit to their credit Democrats and people on the Left appear to exhibit more empathy at least exhibit I don't know if they feel more empathy you know

[16:40]

know if they feel more empathy you know I have no reason to believe their inner thoughts are different from anybody else's but at least outwardly they express more empathy for the people who who are in the worst situations I respect that I want to live in a world where people have great empathy for people who are in trouble that's that's the world you want to live in but the problem is that's a goal having having a good outcome for everybody is a goal but goals are not very effective compared to systems I talk about this all the time the best thing you can do sometimes is have the best system and then the outcome is whatever the outcome is but it's the best system you could come up with the the alternative doesn't work whereas you have a you have a goal and you say the goal is everybody is treated humanely but the moment you start that goal and even if you get success toward that goal the system is broken so the

[17:40]

that goal the system is broken so the goal breaks the system as soon as you say the goal is to treat everybody who comes into the country illegally treat them really well you get more of them until you run into money or the system is overwhelmed Republicans consistently get the system right you know capitalism is better than socialism at least you know in in the extreme sense not in the specific individual cases of health care etc necessarily so look for that Democrats continuously have good goals but Republicans have systems that recognize people operate on incentives and I haven't seen correct me if I'm wrong have you seen any Republicans say what I just said as directly as I just said it has anybody ever told that message that

[18:42]

has anybody ever told that message that way because whenever I say this I feel as though I don't get any pushback I don't get any pushback somebody says yesterday and Crenshaw said this Reagan did oh you know I'm not aware of that but Reagan might have if he did that was pretty smart somebody says Republicans say it all the time you know I don't think they say it as succinctly as I said it and it matters how you say it and how effectively you say it so if you were to say it and it's very effective to say that your opposition let's say you're Republican and your opposition is Democrats it's very effective to praise them for doing something that at least on the conceptual level is praiseworthy and then at the same time say but this this is an effective it's it's good that you think that way but it's not a good system it's very

[19:42]

it's not a good system it's very effective so I think a Republican who said you know Democrats have excellent goals their goals are so good that I share them I would like to see great outcomes for everybody I'd like to see poverty eliminated I'd like to see the best health care at the lowest cost I like every goal that Democrats have what they don't have is a system to get there we have systems we don't know we can get all the way to where these goals are but we know that the system is going to get the closest and if you don't account for human incentives you don't have a good system now if I ran for president and I said to what I just said I don't think I would lose I mean I think I could run for president today and say what I just said and people would just say oh crap that's that makes sense because people don't want to give people don't want to give up their goals and they don't want to be told they're wrong for having them because they know damn

[20:42]

for having them because they know damn well they're right they know that this empathy this feeling for their you know their other human beings is is biologically right morally right ethically right they know they're right they just don't know how to get there and I think it's important to acknowledge their rightness because it's very right it's as right as you can get you know wanting to be good to other people this is the ultimate right nothing is more right than that so arguing against it in even indirectly without mentioning as specifically you know even indirectly arguing against that is weak all right
I don't think there's much going on today am alright I think that I'm gonna have to take some questions because otherwise we would be done too early somebody says you're boring well lucky Philippe but lucky for you you got

[21:43]

Philippe but lucky for you you got blocked and you don't have to listen to it anymore yay did you see the video I think I just tweeted it of Joe Biden confused about what stays in and then get all confused about some numbers I mean he seemed he seemed lost and old and like he doesn't have it any chance so I think I'm gonna take some questions in a minute if anybody wants to come in to ask me a question but let me review the Democrat challengers number one Joe Biden leading in the polls I say does not have a chance of getting the nomination so my prediction is Joe Biden no chance of getting nominated because it seems to me that even his own team can tell that he

[22:43]

that even his own team can tell that he doesn't have the goods and I think that the more they see him the more that will be obvious there's not a chance he's gonna make it next Bernie I don't think Bernie has a support in the entire entire group I think Bernie will not be the nominee in part because even Democrats are saying he's too old that brings us to Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Warren is reasonably solid in terms of all the boring stuff she's a pretty good lawyer she's a pretty good academic she's a pretty good senator but she's not charismatic she does seem to be getting better though I would say that the last few Clips I've seen of her she seems to have found a way to get out of let's let's say her angry bookish mode I mean before I would say she seems a bookish you know academic bookish and

[23:46]

a bookish you know academic bookish and sort of angry yeah well it's not really a good look she's sort of shifting her image to be a little bit more let's say substantive and you know I would say someone who's done her homework someone who was the adult in the room kind of thing and she's adding some she's adding a little energy to her presentation she better she better get her energy up but I just don't know if she has enough stuff she just doesn't have she just doesn't have the charisma I mean she's got seriously bad charisma so who's the sleeping horse you know when we saw that clip of a Buddha jej being totally schooled by the black lives matter crowd I think that ended any chance he had because if he were to become like the

[24:47]

because if he were to become like the nominee all Trump would have to do is run that run that one little loop of that one video where he's acting weak in front of just regular citizens and you won't be able to imagine him as a president so I don't think he has a chance so that brings us to Kamala Kamala Harris is she's playing rope-a-dope it seems like correct me if I'm wrong it seems like the Kamala Harris the thing is that she's she's trying to run sort of a strong force doesn't it look like that she's trying to be the person who's left after Biden flames out Bernie doesn't look feasible and Elizabeth Warren doesn't look like she could win so I think it's gonna be Warren and Kamala Harris in the end and I think those two are going to be battling it out for the final position

[25:48]

battling it out for the final position and then the Democrats are going to ask themselves take a step take a step who has a better chance of winning so if you said to yourself okay there are only two Democrats in contention one one is Connell Harrison one is Elizabeth Warren which of those two which of the two seems like more electable well let's go down Lee let's go down the list both are women good both are young enough so that they they're not Bernie or Biden good that's a tie both of them are senators good still a tie both of them are lawyers still a tie both of them are smart still a tie both of them have policies probably

[26:52]

both of them have policies probably Elizabeth Warren has more completed policies but what are what is the public going to care about well they're not going to care that much about the completeness of somebody's policies because they know anything that gets run through Congress turns into a different thing anyway so I don't think that Elizabeth Warren's complete and an admirable I would say command of the topics I don't think that's gonna count too much for voters so I'm gonna say that's a that's more of a nothing there won't be enough of a difference between Warren and Harris for somebody to say I'll take the one who has more complete policies because you figure khamel Harris is a serious person she's smart she says it has advisors she'll have complete policies to at one point you know somebody says Liz Elizabeth Warren is 70 but still young enough give him given our times and she looks good for

[27:54]

given our times and she looks good for if Elizabeth Warren is 70 she's she's in really good shape wouldn't you say I mean health-wise she looks younger than 74 sure I'll talk about and rehanging second let me just quickly say that I'm still trying to connect with Andrew Yang's staff to get him booked on the show and maybe after that we'll have a better idea but at the moment I think that Andrew yang is a little bit too idea focused his ideas are really interesting that's why I want to talk to him it's why you're gonna enjoy it what I do yeah but I don't know if he has the gravitas I don't know that Andrew yang has yet demonstrated the I don't know the the energy the power of the charisma the the seriousness that we just imagined when we see a president he seems he seems young and interesting smart you know he's got all kinds of

[28:55]

smart you know he's got all kinds of great qualities but maybe they're 2024 qualities if you know what I mean you know it may not be 20/20 qualities time isn't quite right tell see I don't know if she'll make a run but right now she's not making much of a dent in the polls so anyway getting back to Harris versus Warren which I think it'll come down to when he a closer to the primary vote votes it looks to me like they're going to be essentially a tie except for one thing can somebody tell me what is the tiebreaker between Harris and Warren what will be the tiebreaker I will take a sip while I look at the comments and you tell me what would be the tiebreaker
all right I'm looking on wait if there's a little delay in your comments yes race

[30:02]

a little delay in your comments yes race that is correct Camila has the person of color thing going for her whereas Warren has the I tried to be a Native American and it didn't work out thing going for so the tiebreaker is authenticity the tiebreaker is authenticity right I would say that Warren has everything except that because the the Native American thing is the smallest problem in the world I mean I personally and I think I've said this before but if anybody hasn't heard it I had exactly the same situation as Elizabeth Warren the kids in my family you know we three kids were told many times that we were descended from a Native American I knew her name her name was Elizabeth that was her server you know anglicized name I know what tribe she was with and I knew

[31:04]

tribe she was with and I knew approximately when when this person was in our family tree and I grew up being told I was Native American I had a 23andme test turns out I am zero Native Americans zero so and then I found out that there are a lot of people who have had exactly the same situation so apparently when I grew up and when Elizabeth Warren was growing up I guess it was really popular I guess it was really popular to say that your family had some Native American blood I mean when I said it I was bragging well any time I ever said it I never thought I was you know admitting some bad thing in my past I always chose an advantage so I'd be bragging yeah I guess I got some American Indians how about you oh you don't have any oh I'm so sorry I don't know what happened to you you

[32:04]

I don't know what happened to you you know there were a lot of great Native Americans here and your family didn't really nothing now once you slept with a Native American well you really ought to try it because they're top-shelf I don't know if that's true but I imagine it might be so back to Elizabeth Warren so I would say that Elizabeth Warren's you know error if you want to call it that about thinking she was Native American and claiming that as you know part of her heritage etc and then finding out it wasn't such a big deal it's slightly embarrassing totally unimportant totally not disqualifying from public life totally should be the most trivial thing we think of except she's running she would be running against this guy his name is Donald Trump under that condition only that little problem that tiny little problem

[33:04]

little problem that tiny little problem of that Native American thing is probably disqualifying because what Trump will do with her is he will make her look like a race a fraud and I don't know if there's anything that looks worse than that on the I mean I'm sure there are worse things but it's pretty bad Carla Harris what's the worst thing that people say about her I won't even wait for the answer the worst thing that people say about Cobble Harris is that she once had an affair with Willie Brown it was a I guess married at the time or something I really don't even care here's how much I care about that knot and keep in mind she would be running against Trump if you're running against Trump the fact that you made some you know questionable decisions with your love life is not gonna look like a big problem if you know what I mean so remember your contrast if she were running against pence

[34:06]

running against pence well maybe pence could make something out of that or maybe pen supporters could make something out of it because he's the most you know loyal guy you know he plays by the book he's very Bible ready and you know maybe then but if you're running against Trump nobody's gonna be able to take you out because of your love life it's just yeah somebody saying heels up Harris that is completely useless criticism it when you say stuff like that like oh she's heels up or if she only got her got where she is cuz Willie Brown just know when you're saying it it's just for you right because there's nobody laughing about it it's not really that funny it's not interesting doesn't mean anything it won't hurt her in the long run it doesn't have any value so if you want to say heels up Harris and you want to make fun of you know her love life from years ago go

[35:06]

know her love life from years ago go ahead but it's just for you it's just for you it doesn't make any impact on the world and should so here's my bottom line I think Bernie and and Biden will will disappear from the top two I think the Harris & Warren will become you know they're the ones that matter because Budaj edge sort of eliminated himself with that little video clip recently I think Andrew yang is interesting but doesn't quite have the gravitas yet check back you know if he maybe does something works on some cause maybe makes a difference some kind of social program or something then 2024 is gonna look really interesting for Andrew yang and I would take a look at him I would give him a serious look honestly just for being different and not being I think he's more you know he would pay more attention to the science and he would be a little more interesting than a regular president Beto has no chance

[36:16]

here's why bado has no chance every time a male Democrat supported Beto he would be called a bento male a beta male and even though it's just a joke and it's undone play on words it's kind of gonna hit home a little bit too much yeah I saw Bill Maher so so here's my bottom line I'll talk about Bill Maher bottom line is that it's gonna be worn and Harris who will emerge and between the two Warren will probably have a distinct advantage until she doesn't all right because once the Biden and Bernie votes start getting allocated away from them they have to go somewhere and those votes probably are going to go between Warren and Harris eventually and Harris has the slight advantage on you have it having you know two groups in the bag you know women and people of color

[37:19]

you know women and people of color alright let's talk about I was watching Bill Maher from real time and I feel as if there's a subtle change happening it's too early to say and I'm not a mind reader so I don't want to try to read his mind but I saw Bill Maher trying to school Democrats on the fact that calling these detention centers concentration camps was go too far and that and that and that it's just it's gonna be a problem so in other words even even Bill Maher is saying this whole Hitler comparison Holocaust concentration camp thing you're just shooting yourselves in the foot it's not hurting Trump it's not rational you know we don't have nobody has a better idea about what to do there so in a way you

[38:20]

about what to do there so in a way you saw a Bill Maher not directly certainly not directly but feeling himself pulled toward the trumpian way of thinking grudgingly and by that I mean the image the problem that the border is a real problem that nobody has a good real solution to and and I think he sees that right he must see that the Democrats all they have is calling a Hitler stuff but they're not offering anything better and that that's not a solution for success so watching Bill Maher talk about that and then looking at the things he has left to criticize Trump they start looking just personal you know I think they do have some personal history that wasn't good so what's left seems like jokes and exaggerations and hyperbole but it doesn't look that on policy there's that much of a difference

[39:22]

policy there's that much of a difference anymore still a difference but it's the difference went from it looked like Trump is a monster is going to destroy the world to something more narrow do not be surprised if Bill Maher actually ends up I'm not going to predict this so this is not a prediction but I'll say don't be surprised there's a nonzero chance the Bill Maher could support Trump in the election against whoever he's running against depends who he's running against of course but I can see it happening I would give it a a solid I'm gonna give it a 20% chance I'll give it a 20% chance the bill Mahr will say damn it I still believe everything I've said about this president I still believe all of this is suboptimal I still believe it has all these problems you know I'm not not ignoring them all I still want to do more with climate change I still have

[40:23]

more with climate change I still have all these problems but he's still better than the alternative I could there's a 20% chance he's gonna say that and other people as well I think all right let's take a call just because I said I would let's go to the colors and I get a favor people who have
some kind of a profile picture the blank ones hello caller hello do you have a question for me yeah I wanted to talk to you about the socialism versus capitalism thing and okay I think there's there's a reframing of that that will make it a lot more persuasive cuz I remember you saying that the socialism vers capitalism thing it's not persuasive the way that argument is not persuading anyone and I agree with you

[41:24]

you have to I think you have to reframe it as monopolies versus decentralization and when he cuz cuz the left they're against monopolies but they don't see a government monopoly as bad and that's exactly what socialism is it's like a government in charge of monopoly so like if it's like yeah yeah I see your point that's pretty good because well people have been saying before is centralization versus decentralization and that has no persuasive power to conceptual but when you said you're why you added to this was monopoly versus some decentralized kind of thing and when you say monopoly I get that instantly I like Oh monopoly that's always bad and in this case you know it's a government monopoly that's pretty good I'm not sure it's enough but I like I like where you're going with that the thinking is is solid

[42:25]

going with that the thinking is is solid on that I would here let me take another run at it I think you should diversify human beings and let me say more about that capitalism diversifies the the natural evil of human beings because you could have a lot of evil people but as long as there are some good ones making some good companies and stuff that are honest the good stuff will rise so capitalism works pretty well that way but if you don't diversify your evil you could end up with a centralized situation in which a few evil people are in charge so in everything you should diversify if you're investing you should diversify because you can't tell which companies are going to be good I often say if you have the option usually try to diversify your bosses having one boss is the worst thing in the world having lots of customers who are effectively your boss let's say you work for yourself maybe this is an analogy what

[43:29]

yourself maybe this is an analogy what would you rather do have one boss who could turn out to be the worst boss you ever had that's what socialism looks like you know centralizing or lots of lots of customers and any one of those customers can have a bad day and be mad at you but doesn't really that much just it's just one customer so I like where you're going there I don't think my ideas is quite there but I think you moved it along so thank you for that you're welcome Thanks all right that was interesting let's go to Colleen can you hear me Colleen can you hear me I do you have a question um when you first brought up the whole shadow banning thing and about your followers I have to admit I was a little skeptical because I had never experienced that and I thought well people may just think that they were you know but when I experienced the other day a true shadow banning where you post a comment and on your

[44:32]

where you post a comment and on your page it's posted Twitter then it hides it and so in the upcoming election moving forward actual arguments on issues are now being hidden from the public where so when people see tweet not available it's a blocked person but now I I know that's not the case how can we draw more attention to this and get I mean 2020 could be toast if yeah if were manipulated this bad it was just so shocking to me when I saw well I think I think there are a few things that at least we have some hope Oh what number one is the Trump administration seems to be aware of the problem so that that's a big deal right they I believe that there are enough of them in the administration including Trump who understand the social media has at least the ability whether they executed it out they have the ability to determine the election and and thwart the will of the people

[45:32]

and and thwart the will of the people and make the system less credible so but what do they do about it I would say that the minimum they should do about it between now and Election Day is it it seems like the most accessible thing would would be to have some kind of an algorithm court so some kind of a judge or judges who are the only ones who can see the algorithms but they they have enough technical wherewithal or they're working with people who do that they can look at the algorithm and say okay at least I the judge understands it I I get that I can't tell the public because it's the public notice the algorithm they can game the system so that's the problem but if the judge is the only one who knows that's compatible with our normal justice system you know judges and the legal system and your lawyer can know things that the public doesn't know that's we're used to that so that would probably solve the public's trust issue and it's something I think you could do

[46:33]

and it's something I think you could do relatively quickly you know if you decided tomorrow to form algorithm Court it'd probably take you six months to figure out how to do it right and get somebody in place and guess somebody who's at least starting to look at the algorithms and that would give you you know a good year before the election but if you don't do that here's the problem even if I don't I don't know how likely this is but even if all the social media companies said look we're not going to put our finger on the scale hey everybody you know don't do anything that would change this election we we don't want to take that risk too someday somebody's gonna know we did it that'll be terrible for us that's bad for the country don't do it even then people are gonna think they did it and that is terrible for the credibility of the system part of what makes America work not part of the biggest thing that makes America work is credibility because we don't trust other humans and we don't

[47:35]

don't trust other humans and we don't trust companies and we don't trust any politician necessarily but we trust that we live in a system that catches most of the bad behavior not all of it but we do a pretty good job of reining in the bad behavior and if you have a system where the voters can't tell if their vote made a difference or if they were influenced you know by social media that's no longer a stable system and I think we're at the the beginning of the point where the public will say it doesn't even matter if I vote because it's not up to me it's up to five people who determine the algorithms so I think it's some kind of a special judge special court would be the the quickest way to get somebody who we we have a little credibility in in place to at least get some visibility on this stuff I think that would be important all right thank you thank you
I'm optimistic that something could happen there by the way all right let's

[48:35]

happen there by the way all right let's talk to you mark you there you have a question for me mark Vermont I see them requiring any working person to get a w-2 or 1099 miscellaneous is there a contractor or something yet when government gives out money they don't give people a 1099 s gov and my view is that you know I have to file a 1099 miscellaneous on somebody if I give them $600 a year you know people are getting six hundred dollars a month and so if people saw and were reported with their 1099 - gov they would be able to determine what the median income is from the government which is something that's invisible right now because every every county every city every state every federal government program gives money to people and doesn't report it and as soon as that medium-level was reported

[49:37]

soon as that medium-level was reported if we had that as a as a basic tax deduction for every person of every age because they're giving it to families - right then we every time government decided to give more money away they would raise the amount of money in the pie that they could no longer tax but be like self-regulating hmm okay that's too complicated for me but looking at the comments it looks like people are loving this idea so I'm gonna say that's a sounds like a good idea to people but there's a little more complicated that I want to talk about today but thank you actually have a example of shadow being I explained it in a book which you cannot search for on Hamazon by the title but it is still there let's say Robin you might object whoa what what's the title of the book we Republicans okay all right thanks for that you're

[50:39]

okay all right thanks for that you're not a real senator are you know that I ran against I again I ran against that John Cornyn is a riding candidate but you know he had ten million dollars to fight me off and all I did was buy a new hat Spurs all right all right thank you mark all right I think that's enough for now
now I'm going to sign off now and you are going to have a terrific day and I'll talk to you tomorrow