Episode 958 Scott Adams: Grab Your Beverage and Buckle Up

Date: 2020-05-06 | Duration: 46:34

Topics

My new book LOSERTHINK, available now on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/rqmjc2a Content: The coronavirus pandemic viewed through a Dilbert filter Victor David Hanson: “credentialed class” keeps getting it wrong My Twitter debate with a doctor, on testing feasibility Models function is to manipulate perception Paying to have airline middle seats empty

If you would like my channel to have a wider audience and higher production quality, please donate via my startup (Whenhub.com) at this link: https://interface.my/ScottAdamsSays

> [!note] Rough Transcript
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## Transcript

[0:16]

bumbum hey everybody come on in it's time for a coffee with Scott Adams the most amazing and immense time of the day it's such a special time you should have its own day and all you need to enjoy it to its maximum potential is not very much really doesn't take a lot all you need is a cover of Margar glass a tanker chelators time they can't injector flasks FS a little Bevin ke fill it with your favorite liquid I like coffee and join me now for the unparalleled pleasure the dopamine hit of the day the thing that makes everything better including the damn pandemic it's called the simultaneous separate it happens now go you can feel those test kits being built even as we simp well let's talk about all the all the news I'm I'm very amused

[1:19]

all the all the news I'm I'm very amused in a Dilbert like way have you noticed that this whole coronavirus crisis can easily be understood through a Dilbert filter you know the Dilbert filter is basically that everybody involved in any kind of a big organization is lying and incompetent it kind of explains everything we've seen right because all the experts are wrong almost everything's been wrong and it's been this a gigantic cluster that looks more like a Dilbert cartoon than like a existential threat I suppose it's both but here's the funny part in a Dilbert filter so the president apparently was flirting with the idea of disbanding the the coronavirus task force now what did all of his critics say about that you

[2:21]

all of his critics say about that you fool it's too soon to disband the coronavirus task force now was he ever going to disband the task force or was it maybe more of a case where those functions would be handled better by the states of course they would still be on the case they would still be the expert so you still do interviews but maybe they don't have to meet together and give and give some kind of a daily update because we're probably at that stage of the crisis or that's not so important anymore we have lots of sources to get the same information and frankly the task force was giving this bad information to half the time anyway so were no information where they were not really telling us the numbers in context so was it a mistake for the president to say yeah maybe at the end of the day we'll just wide this down I don't think so
so this is the most ordinary thing in the world to create something for a specific

[3:24]

world to create something for a specific need as you're getting close to the point where maybe some other function is more important you you know you off you put those functions into other places maybe the states but he got all this criticism so what he does he solves it with a Dilbert solution which is just funny because it was a Dilbert criticism that people would act as though they thought disbanding this group somehow made the I know the function go away which of course I'm sure was never then the point of it so so now the Trump had apparently he announced just moments ago that he's gonna get he's gonna keep the task force indefinitely except he's gonna shift his focus to safely reopening the country in other words he's just putting different words on it so that's harder to complain about because what exactly does it mean to

[4:26]

because what exactly does it mean to shift the focus the task force I mean our dr. Burks and dr. pouchy can to say something about opening the economy I mean what do you what exactly would they do differently under the context of indefinitely keeping the coronavirus task force open versus just having dr. Feld she's still working it looks a lot the same doesn't it like what would he not answer a question if the task force had been disbanded was foul she just gonna go home what was that ever the plant did did somebody think we could ask him questions anymore if the task force got disbanded that the fact that Trump has found to a Dilbert solution or whoever advised of a Dilbert solution to a Dilbert problem which is you just did you just changed the name of it if the funny thing is of a probably work like

[5:26]

funny thing is of a probably work like that's what's so funny about it the the complaint in the first place was just people not understanding how organizations work and you know it's normal to distribute functions when it's that time and instead of like giving some kind of rational explanation like I did well you know it's time to move those functions into the places they can be performed past yeah something like that which wouldn't work nobody would buy the truth it just comes up with basically just reap reap refocusing I don't know it's funny to me
so Victor David Ansen who was have a great line I just like the way you put this it's now something you haven't thought of yourself but I like the way he put it he calls the experts the credentialed class and I thought has a really good way to put it the credentialed class and he says that the

[6:29]

credentialed class and he says that the credentialed class has been wrong on masks antibody testing and quote almost everything when it comes down to predicting how the virus would it affect the country now I've been saying things like this and people are pushing back am I wrong to say that the experts have been more wrong than right I mean they got the broad brush of it right there's a virus it's novel it's dangerous a lot of people dying I mean if they they got the big stuff right but almost everything in the detail from masks from you know human to human transmission - you know what's the R on this how fast is it spreading do antibodies work or not do we have enough tests can we get enough tests I mean just just right across the board just wrong on just about everything now I

[7:30]

wrong on just about everything now I just have a hilarious private conversation with someone who's let's say someone associated more with an anti-trump side and his explanation for you know sort of explaining away why the experts were wrong on so many things is that that's how science works and that you know you're always moving toward the truth and I'm thinking I don't think that's what's happened here yeah it's one thing to say science does a lot of testing and they're refining their knowledge over time and you're never quite done you know moving toward better knowledge okay everybody gets that yeah everybody gets that but that's not what's happening when they told you that it wasn't transmissible from person to person that's not what happened when they indicated there was enough testing facilities you know to test our way out there isn't that's not what happened when they said

[8:31]

that's not what happened when they said masks are more bad than good none of this has to do with the the normal progression of science you know testing and learning and correcting itself none of that was happening but this was just gigantic lying and and confidence that's all it was it wasn't science except for the general sense I I ended up in a you know I think you'll be amused by this I don't think it would be a surprise to you to find out that sometimes I can be arrogant or cocky I'm not sure there's a difference what's the difference between cocky and arrogance sir are those the same I guess cocky would be not so much thinking other people are wrong by arrogant would be you think you're more right than

[9:31]

be you think you're more right than other people so I guess I'd be a little different so I prefer to call myself cocky you might call it arrogant I will not I will not debate the difference because I like to think I have at least enough self-awareness to know I can be cocky but but but it's also basically the fact that I've been right you know I'm not cocky without purpose not without evidence for example I don't believe I can play in the NBA right I don't because if I if I just had some weird belief about my powers I would have crazy thoughts about what I could do oh yeah I could play in the NBA no problem but I only make a very limited claim very limited claim this is very limited that I have a special experience

[10:35]

limited that I have a special experience that I didn't put together intentionally just the the life path I talk gives me special insight on detecting corporate especially you know organizational specifically now I base this claim on being one of the foremost authors of making fun of and big corporations may be the most foremost author who has wrote the most on the topic a from big organizations who's done more of that than me in the whole world maybe you know that doesn't make me an expert of course it just means I've spent the most time in that domain thinking about it talking about it hearing about it it said it so I'm pretty good at detecting and if you add on top of that training and persuasion and just being around and you know having a breadth of experience it's the only thing I claim the only thing I

[11:37]

the only thing I claim the only thing I claim to be an unnatural ability meaning something that you can't all do just as well is detect and you've seen me do it in public over and over again President Trump can't possibly win the election the there's a Cuban embassy problem there's a secret sonic weapon Isis has claimed responsibility for the Vegas shooting masks don't work so I mean you've been watching me you've watched me called a thousand times probably right nine hundred times I'm exaggerating of course but it's what I do calling on stuff so here's the funny story enough of this setup as

[12:38]

funny story enough of this setup as people do I got myself into a conversation on Twitter with somebody on the topic of the corona virus unbeknownst to me and here's the funny part he's a doctor all right so here's the setup I got myself into a conversation about who knows more about this coronavirus situation with a doctor but I didn't know he was a doctor I just knew he was a guy on Twitter and I was disagreeing with with him so how do you think that went well it turns out that this doctor has two beliefs that I you should maybe look into what are those beliefs is that it's possible that we can test our way out of this then we'll just we'll just ramped up our testing really quick have enough testing stuff test the test test test contact tracing and once we get that all cranked

[13:39]

tracing and once we get that all cranked up we can go back to work nothing like that's happening there is nothing like that even slightly happening in the world the number of tests we would need to test ourselves to safety to really be able to test all the stuff we want to test we're not even close nor is there any expert who will tell you that we could be close in the coming months we're not in the same universe of being able to do that everybody who tells you that that's the strategy they're lying it's if you've been by the way in all cases where I'm calling you just have to show me the you know the other case to show me the evidence for the other side I probably would change my mind because wouldn't I love to think that we could test our way out of this if there's anything I want to be true I mean I really really want this to be true and I also believed it was true

[14:40]

true and I also believed it was true only maybe I don't know a week ago if you had asked me I would have said yeah this is the United States of America if if anybody knows how to make a test we can make a lot of them and we can make them fast were the United States and that I learned that there are all kinds of different tests and companies and hundreds of them and nobody's in control and if you were to add up the ones that we know can be made it doesn't come close yes bill Gates you made the same point so in order to prove me wrong to prove that we can ramp up to the number of tests we need to let's say have something done and say a month or so you know to ramp up during May let's say if there's anybody who believes that's a please send me the the link I'll tweet it out if it looks even a little bit credible that I'll take that story

[15:40]

credible that I'll take that story forward but good luck with that you're not going to find these two numbers that at least are compatible with each other find me the number of tests that need to be made per day in order to be able to test our way out what is that number those we go research that then figure out if you can find and I don't think you'll be able to find this the total number of tests of the right kind that's the other track because they're different tests the tests that you have to wait three days for a result as Bill Gates points out what the hell good are they because those three days you've spread that you've spread it around while you're waiting for the result etc so you have to figure out it has to be the right kind of test you know sort of the the five-minute test to really get any any kind of a foe hold so how many of those five minute or so or less tests are we going to crank up in the month of May go research that how many would we

[16:43]

May go research that how many would we need is let me do this visually for you this is my current understanding I want you to fix it if I'm wrong I want to be wrong I mean I really really want to be wrong so please prove me wrong so my understanding is the number of tests we would need per day is this big for those of you listening I'm holding my hands at far apart my current understanding I hope it's wrong is that the number we will actually reasonably be able to produce and say the next month or two the the period we're talking about in order to be ready to go back to work in more of a safe way if the universe we need is my home my hands being held far apart the amount we can make is something like the size of my fist not close not close
all right and if any funnies tell you otherwise please tell me because I've

[17:46]

otherwise please tell me because I've been waiting for the crisis task force which is useless largely in terms of information because I don't think they don't I don't think anybody knows here's what I think let me put the Dilber filter on this I believe there are hundred or more companies involved in testing and creating tests I believe that the government has talked to probably every one of them and I think the government has said can you tell us what you can do and maybe the government heard big numbers and you know I don't know if they sum them all up but maybe they heard lots of claims do you know what corporations claim in situations like this where the person they're talking to is going to write you a check if you have any story at all and the story of plausibility and your customer is going to write you a gigantic freaking check in an environment in which making money is hard but you can get a big frickin check from the government and all you have to do is lie

[18:46]

government and all you have to do is lie all you have to do is say umm yeah I think I think maybe in three weeks we could make a million tests if you would just write us a check now what happens in three weeks do you think that company says here's your million tests just like I promised or or do you think this would be more like I need to curse can I have permission to curse in the morning but is that okay are your kids still asleep probably kids are sleeping in right I feel like just some situations they need a little cursing and maybe I can hold that back I'll try to just curse the evening could that be a better idea so the point is that I'm almost certain that if it's like every other situation in the corporate world but wait back me up I'm getting a lot of approval for

[19:48]

up I'm getting a lot of approval for cursing all right let me give it to you with full curse mode hide the kids hide the kids you've been warned it goes like this if it's true that the government talk to all these companies they're gonna make us all these test kits and and all the company said yeah we'll get you these million test kits you know in a few weeks we can do this is that possible maybe could be or or could it be that every one of these companies that the government talked to to get information could it be that they're acting like every other time they talk to anybody in the whole world and it goes like this hey vender can you get me this in three weeks yes I can all you have to do is approve it so that it's there's no turning back you've got to get a little bit pregnant and then I'll definitely get this to you in three weeks what here's your check all right we're

[20:49]

here's your check all right we're starting we're going to build it we're gonna have this that's well did I say three weeks we'll have this in four weeks you said three weeks yeah I know but we just found out we've got this problem with the factory it's not our fault but you know four weeks tops all right four weeks and what's the vendor say thank you I just needed that little flexibility because in four or five weeks what and you say four or five weeks what the you're talking about I just gave you a check for three weeks you said you'd give this to me in three weeks what's the vendor say yeah you know I really meant that but I was surprised to find out after we got your money that there's this problem but we're totally working on it five weeks go by what happens where's my goddamn product you goddamn liar what does your vendor say to you almost there almost there all we need is for you to write another check because we're gonna need an upgrade that we didn't know you

[21:50]

need an upgrade that we didn't know you need when we first analyzed this because you didn't quite give us the right data so it turns out we'll need an extra server so we can get this to you in five weeks tops we just need this extra check okay you you lied to me you lied to be you lied to me but I'm stuck now I have to give you that goddamn check because I can't go back and say let's start over I'm five weeks into this and I can't change it and I'm not gonna tell my boss that I up all right so you need to fix this yes yes four or five weeks we're going to have this fixed and once we get that check I think I can get this to you in two months two months what the you talking about you said three weeks now those of you who have worked for a big company back me up in in the comments did I not just describe every experience you've ever had with every

[22:53]

you've ever had with every vendor for anything that's complicated you know if you're just buying a simple product sure but if you're like doing an installation here you're replacing the whole system tell me how that goes every time that's how it goes not sometimes it works out well every time it goes the way I just described now multiply that by a hundred lying corporations who talked to Ward dumbass gullible government who for some reason may have believed their and now they think that we can make test kits like magic because we're gonna be them out of our asses in three weeks when nothing like that has ever happened in the history of this country or the civilization in general so if you'd like you can believe that this is the first

[23:53]

you can believe that this is the first time in the history of the world corporations have accurately told the buyer what they could deliver before they got their money it could be the first time it's ever happened in civilization or maybe you put the Dilber filter on this and say we're not going to test our way out of this and the way you know that the way you know it is that the government didn't even have the balls to put together the estimate for us to say this is how many we need and we're a little embarrassed that we believe it mm this is how much they say they're gonna make I don't even know if I want to put that on paper because I don't think it's true so if you can't even get to the point where the government will lie to you and say we asked them it looks like it's we got plenty I'm

[24:54]

it looks like it's we got plenty I'm gonna have this in three weeks if they're not even willing to lie to you about it it's not happening same with the vaccines the vaccine story is just complete the other thing that this doctor that I found myself talking to on Twitter he made the mistake of questioning my credentials and it's always the same problem you know the medical people will question my credentials and then I have to correct them I say oh I'm sorry did it seem as though I was offering a medical opinion no no I'm no expert on medical stuff I'm not gonna offer a medical opinion but if you want to know what is you want to come to me I will spot your faster than just about anybody in my cocky yeah yeah I'm cocky about that cuz I'm good at it I'm not cocky I think is a bad at that would just be

[25:55]

think is a bad at that would just be crazy but I'm good at that so yeah come to be when you want to find out what is so the other thing that this doctor believed is that we could eradicate the virus what how could you be paying attention to this whole coronavirus thing and think that we can eradicate it nobody thinks that is there any expert that thinks we can eradicate the virus so I'm talking to a guy who thinks I'm stupid because I don't have enough medical information and and he's the smart one and he thinks we're going to test our way out of it because the corporation said we could okay and that the virus could be eradicated okay says nobody but and then he pointed out I have a credential problem oh what's the world coming to all right speaking of credentials I only mentioned

[26:58]

speaking of credentials I only mentioned this because the credentials of the person saying it so this is a professor of practice at Harvard and he teaches economics all right and he's a senior fellow so you put all that together he's a smart guy all right now what does he say when he looks at the coronavirus prediction models what is someone who's a Harvard econ professor and the senior fellow clearly very qualified and based on his comments you could tell he's deeply qualified what does he say about the about the prediction models well he uses big words but here's one of the things he says he says a lot but here's a lot of the things he says the cubic fit which isn't the method that I guess they're using is based on an approach to epidemiology that has long been absent from any serious epidemic epidemiological discussions it made

[28:01]

epidemiological discussions it made terrible predictions back in March and April the functional form was chosen to get the result they wanted so there's an expert on models who's telling you exactly what I told you but the smarter which is that models are sort of about manipulating perceptions you know they can do a little bit in terms of bounding things but it but if they if they try to use them to convince you there's something specific gonna happen like we're going to follow this curve they're not on such solid scientific ground says this Harvard expert and I believe them all right
oh by the way by the way so most of you know I've started moving some content I'm not going to be moving these periscopes you'll still be able to see these but in addition if you wanted to

[29:01]

these but in addition if you wanted to see them on the locals platform locals with an S com I'm putting some special content on there so that people who subscribed there will get extra stuff and just letting you know if you subscribe there you could see my micro tutorial on personal finance so somebody who doesn't know anything about personal finance and it's just a few minutes to get you started so what I'll be doing is putting lots of little micro lessons just a few minutes on topics for people who just just need to get a some traction on a topic and then they can you know google it and research it but I'll get you going in ten minutes on a bunch of topics so personal finance is the second one the the one that was already up there is how to write humor so those are two I'm gonna try to do what a week we'll see how that goes so you can see this forming and it's already started

[30:02]

this forming and it's already started so here's a tweet that I said that's based on the fact that once you rise that the whole testing story is a fraud that that's never going to get us where we need to be and that there's no other plan there there's nothing else in terms of a plan or a technology or a solution or anything that would get us back to work more safely than just sort of going back to work and trying to you know do it as cautiously as possible and given that that's the case that we don't have an option where people don't die so they're not having an option part is the key here so remember there is no option there's nobody smart who can say oh yeah why don't we do this this doesn't exist there's nobody smart offering an option if you don't know that you're missing the most important part of the story because you think they are because you're thinking yeah there's an option we get better testing no that's

[31:03]

option we get better testing no that's not a thing that's a fraud you're not going to get better testing in at least within the next several months so I wrote this tweet which is just a realistic assessment of the fact that we don't have options okay so no options here's what I said I once demanded people give me their acceptable death count to go back to work in order to be deemed credible in the conversation that makes sense right if people are gonna die either way a serious person is gonna say well I choose this path because it'll be fewer deaths than the other path but you have to say their deaths otherwise you're not part of the conversation and then I said I updated that and I said today I see no option but to accept the death toll whatever and that comes from opening because it is what it is so the death toll is just going to be what it is if we had an option to make it something

[32:04]

we had an option to make it something different that we should talk about that but nobody's offered an option the only option we've talked we've heard about are these fake ones like let's think how about if magic happens and then we all have enough tests hey that's what I did let's use magic to make enough tests appear really quickly then we'll test everybody and we'll go back to work that's way better than your plan Scott I'm just going back to work well it is better than my plan if magic was real but it isn't so we're not going to use magic to create tests that don't exist and can't exist before the economy is destroyed so my take on this is that there's some point at which the economy has gone too far meaning that you can't claw your way back to something good that would be catastrophic we don't know where that point is I suspect that we can go another three weeks in California as long as other states that are in better

[33:05]

long as other states that are in better shape or whatever are beginning to open up sooner I think California could wait you know I don't think we'll go I don't think it becomes a permanent problem in three weeks but I wouldn't say that about six weeks meaning that I don't think anybody smart enough to know where that you know that crossover point is where you kill more people by killing the economy nobody knows where that is but we do know conceptually that there's some point where it happens at some point that's just too far and I think that you can sort of feel that more than you can analyze it and what I feel and again since we don't have data to be more important or more reliable than anybody's feeling at this point is that the risk of taking this too far and having not enough left of the economy to bring it back is so big that's such a big risk that you'd be

[34:07]

that's such a big risk that you'd be better off going a little bit early and we don't have an option we have to go back to work it's only a question of now or wait a few weeks but nothing's really going to change in a few weeks if there was something happening that would change our situation in a few weeks such as having lots more tests release enough or a vaccine or therapeutics or something I'd say wait you know if we could if there was something to wait for I'd say wait which is also why I say it was it was exactly the right decision to close things down for a while so if the if the entire closed down had been one month I would have said I would have said unambiguously that was the right decision because we needed to find out what's what and one month we can survive it doesn't crush the economy one month and I was saying that is like one month we're gonna bounce back from this you know six weeks no problem we're gonna

[35:09]

know six weeks no problem we're gonna bounce back from six weeks and we'll be back by the end of the year and then it turned into well it's now six weeks it's a lot longer now there's nobody who can tell you what's too long but six weeks definitely would have been short enough that we would have been spec I I say that with very high confidence three months I don't know I don't know maybe maybe not but I don't have confidence the three months is is we're still gonna get back from that so let's say 200 parents our lines are looking at options for not occupying the center seating so there's I guess a Frontier Airlines said that you're you you could actually pay extra to keep the seat next to you open so if you want to pay extra there's nobody in the middle

[36:10]

pay extra there's nobody in the middle seat now I don't know how that works because if I pay extra the person on the other side you know the the other side of the middle seat do they get a they get it for free I mean is that fair and then apparently other airlines are just without extra charge or getting rid of these Center seats and I guess they're all requiring that you wear masks now and I'm thinking to myself if the only thing that came out of this is that people could pay extra to have a seat with nobody in the middle seat that would be huge do you know one of the advantages of being by size physically is that if I'm flying in coach and there's nobody in the seat next to me it's not a lot different than the first class because I'm not so big that the bigger seat makes that much of a difference to me I mean I can fit in a regular seat just fine so if you give me the option of flying coach would nobody in the seat

[37:12]

flying coach would nobody in the seat next to me and I have to say pay 20% extra there are a lot of situations where I'm gonna fly coach where otherwise I might use my my dilbert money to the fly first-class and you know would be sort of a waste because it might be a two hour flight or something but for a two hour flight I'm not gonna I'm not gonna fly first-class even if I can afford it if I can have nobody in the middle seat yeah you know I'm not I'm not so rich that I throw money away for no reason I'd like to be that rich but I don't know if I can ever feel that that I could waste things all right so that's where we're at if you take the fact that people might be able willing to pay a little extra for the middle seat to be empty put it on top of that the fact that the fact that the fuel cost should be coming down a lot for airlines that's going to be one of their biggest costs if not the biggest is fuel the biggest

[38:13]

if not the biggest is fuel the biggest cost for airlines or is it something else it's up there and then I add on top of that that probably by year-end the resorts are going to be offering amazing deals because they won't be booked up unless they do so I would expect that you know I hear something I totally agree with Trump on the 2021 I think 2021 is going to be off the hook because the people who lost work were the people who were not the big buyers to begin with they were the people who didn't have much money they were working the kind of job you know where they would lose it but they weren't driving driving consumption because they were the people who didn't have money the people who still kept their job was something like 70% of the country right still got their same paycheck and probably they're the people who are making more than the people who lost their jobs so all those

[39:15]

people who lost their jobs so all those people who were getting extra just spent months indoors not spending much money I guarantee you that there are a lot of people very quietly who had a really good few months their personal expenses dropped to practically you know maybe I don't know 30 percent of what they could have been there that's two let's say 60 percent of what they could have been they probably saved money they're probably at least half of this country who saved money because they still got paid and they didn't have anything to spend it on so what happens to all those people who save money the people who have the money when they're free to go spend it again look at all the cars that they didn't buy all the trips they didn't take the clothes they didn't get the I mean Twenty twenty one is going to be off the hook just if we just go back to work you know if nothing special has to happen there is so much you know untapped

[40:18]

there is so much you know untapped buying potential that's gonna be crazy now of course people's 401ks and their stocks are lower but as of today stocks are heaven well looks like it's mixed it was better this morning a lot of stocks are having a good day bitcoins up bitcoins having a good time but it seems to me that when we get to the point where the economy is reopening people see that bulge of consumer demand this coming stock market into 401ks are going to be you know back within you know back within let's say spitting territory of where they were and people are gonna feel fine so that's the good news all right somebody's saying that they saved a ton yeah you know I'm this coronavirus thing will be a big hit to me because I think that my main source

[41:19]

me because I think that my main source of income will probably shrink that Oh 75 to 90% this year because I think the small but the small newspapers will just go out of business but if my income stayed the same I would have also spent much less I'm not doing anything so I would have cabana had but I won't be going back to a career that I used to have a commercial real estate yeah so somebody's saying commercial real estate might be iffy but here's the thing the people who have commercial real estate probably have long-term you know mostly deals so I all thing Real Estate's gonna crash right away I think that's got a little bit of padding because people are still gonna have to pay the rent even if a lot of more people are staying home for another year a year or two isn't stock your main source of income

[42:20]

isn't stock your main source of income no no it is not and nor is it even close
anecdotally it didn't just hit poor people in my sphere no it did not just hit poor people but of course they got hit the hardest killed my wife speaking business yeah yeah anything with travel or crowds somebody says take the speaking engagements what speaking engagements that what speaking engagements do you think that I get speaking engagements now now I'm on too controversial at this point so I'm no longer a a good speaker for a general let's say a corporation event or an industry event because as soon as they book me because this has happened you know I'm not guessing this has happened they'll book me and then they'll tell their members hey we've got this Dilbert guy and then somebody in the membership will say ah you know that he said good

[43:23]

will say ah you know that he said good things about Trump right and then the organizer says I didn't know that and then they called me and say you know we lost our budget we can't hire you anymore so I mean I've been through this so no I can't do speaking that's not on the table nor can I make a Dilbert movie same reason too too much you know Hollywood be hatred so most lines of my normal business have been closed down for me for different reasons but I will be fine don't worry about it somebody says you make tons on books that's not true actually so the books that I write are actually a trivial part of my income I think even the bestsellers they're actually kind of trivial most people don't realize that the the books that make money are the ones that just are just runaway bestsellers but they make pretty much

[44:23]

bestsellers but they make pretty much all of the money once you get to well you were on the bestseller list for a few weeks you know but at the bottom and then fell off after a few weeks if you're that kind of author that's not a lot of money and my early Dilbert books were in that other category where it's just crazy money but that was like 20 years ago the current publishing even though I write bestsellers they don't yeah they don't sit at the top of the bestseller list for five years those make money but maybe 1% or something of books that get published or big money makers I'm probably in the top 5% I'm just guessing here just off the top of my head I would say that my books sell in the top 5% of books fairly dependably but that's not a lot of money in terms of you know the big picture cartoon on TV makes no money

[45:25]

big picture cartoon on TV makes no money even though it still runs on TV because Hollywood makes a deal where after a while they keep all the money so that's where that set anyway just in case you were wondering not that it matters to you
you but I do have options so I'm not complaining if any of this sounds like a complaint let me clarify I have been a much better situation than 99% of the world I do not lose sight of that so I'm not going to about something that happened to me when I'm watching the world meltdown like that's not where I'm at but it is also just true that many of us will be affected or a different ways it's just the fact all right I'm poem what's my big overhead oh well it's a longer story living is expensive but my my property tax is probably more than my

[46:26]

my property tax is probably more than my property tax in my house now I'm not going to say this sounds like a dick I'll talk to you tonight