Critical Thinking

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[00:01:41] Hello, Rye.

[00:01:42] Welcome back to the Survival and Basic Badass Podcast, Kevin and Chuck.

[00:01:47] Today, well, we're going to talk about critical thinking.

[00:01:52] I don't know.

[00:01:53] More and more, you know, when I think, it's like, how do you know what's right and wrong?

[00:01:58] How do you know when you're being lied to or duped and whatever?

[00:02:02] And I know we're all so busy in life that we're doing a hundred things that, you know,

[00:02:08] you don't really have time to fact check or do everything like we need to.

[00:02:14] And we end up being forced to, you know, put a million ideas in our head and then decide,

[00:02:22] yeah, true, not true, you know, fake news, whatever.

[00:02:25] And we have all this blasted at us all the time.

[00:02:29] And there's got to be a way to kind of sort through it.

[00:02:33] And I think that's really what it comes down to.

[00:02:36] Um, one of the big things I always come up with is, uh, you know, Ayn Rand who, who wrote,

[00:02:43] uh, Atlas Shrugged always says contradictions don't exist.

[00:02:47] Um, so I, I guess what I take away from that is like, you kind of know the core or your

[00:02:56] feeling of the core of somebody and you kind of decide, all right, you know, this person usually

[00:03:02] tells me the truth, you know, like when, when I used to really,

[00:03:06] enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh and I'd hear him talk or whatever.

[00:03:12] And, you know, I would know that he usually does some kind of research.

[00:03:17] However, I know the perspective in the agenda that he's coming with.

[00:03:21] And I kind of can take that into account and weigh it out.

[00:03:24] Now I found him to be truthful and, and literal and, and, you know, in line with things that I

[00:03:30] had believed, but this is how we all kind of perceive this stuff.

[00:03:36] And I was wondering if there's like a core model of how you can evaluate things.

[00:03:42] And I kind of wanted to talk about that.

[00:03:44] So I did a lot of research on like critical thinking and how you analyze, you know, problems

[00:03:50] and even, you know, listen to some podcasts on the scientific method and, you know, that

[00:03:56] kind of thing and, and how we get there and how we understand reality.

[00:04:01] Um, what's your take on this, Kevin?

[00:04:05] Kevin.

[00:04:05] Well, I mean, I think you bring up a good point that like, uh, you know, we're all getting

[00:04:08] ready to go vote, you know, and, uh, you know, what's right.

[00:04:13] Right.

[00:04:14] I mean, we don't, we don't, we all have things going on, you know, we all have jobs.

[00:04:20] We all, you know, taking kids to practice here and there and racing around, trying to

[00:04:23] keep up with the yard work, trying to keep up with everything else that you got going

[00:04:26] on in your life.

[00:04:28] You don't always have time to do deep research on any subject that isn't, you know, part of

[00:04:33] your daily life.

[00:04:34] Right.

[00:04:35] A hundred percent.

[00:04:36] And that's like, if you go down my wife's newsfeed and you go down my kid's newsfeed

[00:04:42] and you go down my newsfeed of what we see in, in social media and all the different things,

[00:04:48] we all see something very different.

[00:04:50] Right.

[00:04:51] We have, you know, a different world.

[00:04:53] You know, you were talking about, you know, people worried about what kind of ads they get

[00:04:58] on their phone and it's the same thing.

[00:05:00] It's, you know, whether it's your, your ads are filled with pretty women showing you, you

[00:05:06] know, bare breasts or something versus somebody who sees nothing but kitten collars or whatever,

[00:05:12] you know, that might, you might shape your own reality.

[00:05:19] Yeah.

[00:05:19] And I think that's a, that's a big thing with, um, you know, you hear it a lot now, but echo

[00:05:24] chambers is, is the thing that you hear, you know, your feed on, on Facebook is similar

[00:05:29] to your feed on, you know, five other social media platforms.

[00:05:33] And you watch the TV channels that, you know, reinforce those ideas.

[00:05:38] Yeah.

[00:05:38] And you end up like believing some total bullshit that, you know, you know, you're blowing smoke

[00:05:45] up your own ass.

[00:05:46] I always find that, uh, that my, my, uh, social media, I know that things are going down a bad

[00:05:54] road when it's nonstop King of the Hill that they're recommending on, uh, on YouTube, you

[00:06:00] know?

[00:06:00] Cause I, I like, like, I, I, I follow, uh, this guy like Eric Weinstein and, and there's

[00:06:06] some like really sharp guys out there, you know, that, that put out a lot of great knowledge

[00:06:11] and, and I'll have all these like impressive.

[00:06:14] Think, uh, gurus kind of, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:06:18] There's a girl I follow who does business.

[00:06:20] Uh, Cody Sanchez is, is I find pretty entertaining.

[00:06:24] Um, but there's a lot of people who are really sharp and, and I can notice when YouTube's like,

[00:06:31] Oh, well we got some family.

[00:06:33] So that's how I know I'm watching the wrong things when, you know, those things come up

[00:06:37] on the feed all the time.

[00:06:39] So anyway, one of the things, you know, that comes to mind is like, one of the cool things

[00:06:44] about America is, is we have the, we're with the separate States.

[00:06:49] And the idea originally with the discussions was that this can kind of do what they want.

[00:06:56] They have a broad framework of what we want our country to be and a mutual defense.

[00:07:04] And, you know, we had the bill of rights, right.

[00:07:06] Which has a set guideline of what our country's going to be in a framework.

[00:07:12] However, the States could then do whatever they wanted to do within that confine of bigger

[00:07:18] picture.

[00:07:20] And that was one of the cool things was that it was going to be unique where we could all,

[00:07:26] you know, find our own way and kind of experiment and try different things.

[00:07:31] Yeah.

[00:07:32] I think that's a, yeah.

[00:07:33] I mean, anybody that studies American history knows that that's like a big part of the founding

[00:07:39] of the country is this idea of federalism versus anti-federalism.

[00:07:43] You know, there's the articles of confederation, which had a federal government that was not

[00:07:48] powerful enough.

[00:07:50] And, you know, then we went to the, the current constitution that we have.

[00:07:56] And, you know, that constitution is, is, you know, it's a living document, you know, you

[00:08:02] can change it and adjust it.

[00:08:04] And different people from different times are going to have different ideas on, you know,

[00:08:09] what should and should not be something that the federal government does.

[00:08:14] Right.

[00:08:14] I mean, there are a lot of people that were super into banning all alcohol and there is

[00:08:18] an amendment to the constitution because of that.

[00:08:21] And then there was another amendment to not ban alcohol.

[00:08:24] So, I mean, you know, things change, people change, times change, but the truth is that

[00:08:32] we all have more freedom in a country that has, puts more of the rights in the hands of the

[00:08:40] states than in the federal government.

[00:08:41] Exactly.

[00:08:42] And that's the thing it, it, you know, we've obviously gotten away from that.

[00:08:46] And I think that's one of the things that concerns me is I feel like the schools,

[00:08:53] I feel like there's been a big effort and you can argue this left, right throughout time,

[00:08:59] that the schools are almost, I would say rewriting history, but we could at least,

[00:09:07] I think, agree that there were showing selective history, right?

[00:09:14] Showing the things we want to showcase that happened doesn't mean that they're necessarily

[00:09:19] telling lies, but they're focusing on things that create a certain agenda or a point.

[00:09:26] And, and I mean, that's whenever, you know, we shape a discussion, right?

[00:09:29] When we're talking about the podcast, you know, I, I have, I'm going to gather a bunch of

[00:09:35] information that's going to support my theory.

[00:09:37] Right.

[00:09:38] Right.

[00:09:38] And, and that's, that's where you guys get the good balance with me and Kevin is we both

[00:09:43] come from a different mindset.

[00:09:45] You know, we're not exactly the same now we're kind of in sync.

[00:09:49] If you're too far apart, I think, you know,

[00:09:52] You can't even have a conversation.

[00:09:54] A cohesive show, but just the same, we're not the same.

[00:09:59] And we definitely come with our own agenda and, and our own goals and whatever.

[00:10:04] And that way you do get like a, you know, back and forth, but also a different perspective.

[00:10:09] And I think that's the beauty of, you know, as we go through school, I know in America, we have

[00:10:15] the different classes, you know, one, you probably have a different teacher for each subject,

[00:10:20] but you also have a different teacher each year.

[00:10:23] And at least you might get a different shot.

[00:10:25] Now it sucks that, you know, I know we only do like biology one year.

[00:10:30] So if you don't have the right biology teacher or the right chemistry teacher,

[00:10:34] you maybe miss a lot, right?

[00:10:37] But for the most part, it gives you different perspectives.

[00:10:42] And that's why it's so important that you're learning things at home,

[00:10:45] that you're learning, you know, with kids, that things are getting shaped up in a certain way.

[00:10:50] And also it's why as adults, it's important we seek out other information.

[00:10:56] You know, if something interests you, if a topic you feel is important,

[00:11:01] something you're passionate about, do a little research, you know, do a little digging.

[00:11:06] It's funny, we get all these bills and, and things are shaped in a certain way.

[00:11:11] Like we'll get the Patriot Act.

[00:11:12] That's the one I always like to go to because it always seemed like it's like the most unpatriotic

[00:11:17] thing because it's, Hey, we're going to take away all these rights that you had.

[00:11:22] And we're going to give the government extra, extra, I guess.

[00:11:27] Basically.

[00:11:28] Yeah.

[00:11:28] I feel like the Patriot Act was, yeah.

[00:11:30] I feel like the Patriot Act was basically the, the end of the right of privacy.

[00:11:35] You know, that was basically what, what it did.

[00:11:37] If you had any illusions, you had privacy before that.

[00:11:42] They kind of went away with the Patriot Act, but it's also like, you'll be like honest

[00:11:46] Abe's law firm, right?

[00:11:48] You know, the honest law firm or the affordable care act, you know, cause I know your healthcare

[00:11:54] got more affordable after we passed that.

[00:11:56] Right.

[00:11:57] Kevin.

[00:11:57] Right.

[00:11:58] Yeah, exactly.

[00:11:59] Right.

[00:11:59] But those, we put these names on what we want people to think of, but it doesn't mean that's

[00:12:06] the reality.

[00:12:07] And that's why that's where that whole critical thinking kind of comes into it and, and learning

[00:12:13] how to analyze things and, and looking at the facts.

[00:12:17] And, you know, a lot of that so much is based on our life experiences, right?

[00:12:24] You know, when we, when we touch the stove, we get burned, right?

[00:12:29] You know, as simple as that, oh, you know, I shouldn't probably touch the stove anymore.

[00:12:34] Or if I do make sure it's been off for a little while or, you know, Hey, I can wear

[00:12:40] an oven mitt.

[00:12:41] And when I grabbed the pot the next time, it's not so bad, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:12:45] Right.

[00:12:45] We learn how to deal with and control things.

[00:12:49] Like just cause something can be tough.

[00:12:53] Doesn't mean we have to completely avoid it, but we need to learn how to read signs and how

[00:12:58] to recognize what's going on.

[00:12:59] Like you might go up to a dog when you're young and the dog turns, growls at you, maybe

[00:13:04] bites you in the leg.

[00:13:05] And you're like, Ooh, all dogs are bad.

[00:13:08] That's what I learned.

[00:13:09] I should not go up to dogs.

[00:13:11] Once bitten twice shy, right?

[00:13:13] Right.

[00:13:13] Exactly.

[00:13:14] But it doesn't have to be that way.

[00:13:16] Like it turns out you can say, all right, let me look at what other people they're doing.

[00:13:21] Everyone.

[00:13:21] I see, they don't all get bit by dogs.

[00:13:24] Only some people get bit by dogs.

[00:13:26] Right.

[00:13:26] How are they approaching it?

[00:13:28] What, what can I notice?

[00:13:29] Well, this dog over here, he doesn't bite me, but what do I see in his personality when

[00:13:35] I go up to it versus the other, you know, that kind of thing.

[00:13:38] Right.

[00:13:39] But we learn to recognize what's going on and we evaluate.

[00:13:43] That's why I always laugh at, you know, I hate to say it, you know, cause I didn't want

[00:13:49] to get into really controversial topics because it's more about the approach that I'm worried

[00:13:54] about, but you think about global warming right now is the climate changing?

[00:13:59] Yes, of course.

[00:14:00] But I think what scared so many people off with the science was they were like, it's science

[00:14:07] cause we all agree.

[00:14:09] I'm like, that's not really how science works.

[00:14:13] Like we can look at a graph and see that temperatures are hotter this year and say, you know what?

[00:14:19] It's science that from two years ago, it's, it's hotter now than it was before.

[00:14:25] Cause we did a study.

[00:14:26] That's true.

[00:14:28] But do we know why?

[00:14:30] And there are ways to figure out the why, right?

[00:14:33] I'm not saying that's impossible.

[00:14:35] I'm just saying there needs to be research and study.

[00:14:39] And it can't just be, we all agree.

[00:14:42] Like we talked about it and we decided people are the problem.

[00:14:45] Well, maybe they are.

[00:14:46] And I'm sure people have an effect on things, but do we know how much of the problem?

[00:14:54] And then you want to convince me, well, if I tax the shit out of you, then the problem

[00:15:00] will go away.

[00:15:01] Again, I'm not seeing a correlation to my money going in your pocket to pay for your boat and

[00:15:09] your plane really helping climate change.

[00:15:13] You know, but that's what you need to decide, right?

[00:15:16] You need to weigh all the decision-making.

[00:15:19] Now I agree 100%, you know, as we set up in the beginning of this show is we can't just

[00:15:30] research everything, right?

[00:15:32] I don't have the time or the energy or even care enough to research global warming to the

[00:15:41] extent that I could really prove it on my own, right?

[00:15:44] I can't do that.

[00:15:47] But what I can do is I can say, well, who are the people presenting evidence that kind of

[00:15:54] makes sense?

[00:15:55] And then are there other people who are, you know, affirming this or taking away from it?

[00:16:00] And when they take away from it, what are they saying?

[00:16:03] And why does it make sense?

[00:16:05] And, you know, you just got to be open-minded to things.

[00:16:09] One of the big things with news, right?

[00:16:12] We see these, oh, you know, this person wants to ban abortion for the whole world and kill

[00:16:18] babies and or kill moms, I guess.

[00:16:22] And then the other one wants to kill babies and the other one wants to, well, okay.

[00:16:26] But did I see the person say that?

[00:16:29] No, it doesn't mean that, that they didn't say it because I didn't see it, but maybe I

[00:16:35] should look.

[00:16:36] And does that track with everything else the person's saying?

[00:16:39] Yeah.

[00:16:39] I just actually saw two commercials back to back.

[00:16:43] And one was an advertisement for one of our local congressmen and a new person is running

[00:16:50] against him.

[00:16:51] Okay.

[00:16:51] And the whole ad is about how he supports abortion.

[00:16:56] He's like the biggest piece of shit.

[00:16:58] He wants a federal ban on abortion.

[00:17:00] Then there's an ad immediately after that by this candidate.

[00:17:04] And he's saying, I've always supported like the health of the mother and like, you know,

[00:17:08] completely contradict one another.

[00:17:10] Obviously somebody's lying.

[00:17:12] Right.

[00:17:12] You know what I mean?

[00:17:13] And that's, and we have to do the research on your own.

[00:17:17] Now, something as important as voting for somebody for president probably should put some effort

[00:17:23] into it.

[00:17:24] Now, how much does the president have the effect on your life?

[00:17:28] I don't know.

[00:17:29] And how much, not very much.

[00:17:31] How much control do we have over who's going to actually win?

[00:17:35] Probably not that much.

[00:17:36] I got to tell you, Kevin in New York, it probably doesn't matter who Kevin votes for.

[00:17:42] New York is going to have the same outcome for president, no matter how Kevin votes.

[00:17:47] I'll tell you one thing though.

[00:17:48] My county district attorney, I changed my mind at the last minute and voted for the

[00:17:57] candidate I wasn't going to vote for.

[00:17:58] And he won by three votes.

[00:18:01] So if I had voted for him, he would have only won by one vote.

[00:18:05] Like it doesn't take that much to swing things, you know?

[00:18:08] A couple of people not getting out and going out.

[00:18:10] That makes a difference, right?

[00:18:12] No, exactly.

[00:18:14] So, I mean, that's something to consider.

[00:18:17] There's, but that's it.

[00:18:19] You need to weigh the facts and you need to talk to people and you need to research on

[00:18:23] your own a little bit.

[00:18:24] But I think the thing is, something, issues that are important to you is where you need

[00:18:30] to devote your energy, right?

[00:18:32] And not get caught up in nonsense.

[00:18:34] And also, I think we need to look for red flags of, hey, that contradicts everything I knew

[00:18:40] about it.

[00:18:42] You know, like one of the things, my wife will watch a bunch of interviews on like,

[00:18:47] she'll see clips of Donald Trump and she'll be like, gee, look, he's completely lost it.

[00:18:53] He's incoherent.

[00:18:54] You know, when I see him talk there and I'll see an interview with him and he'll be sharp

[00:18:59] and really together.

[00:19:01] And you're like, how are we both getting such a different perspective?

[00:19:05] Right.

[00:19:06] And because you can kind of pick and choose things.

[00:19:09] I will say it was pretty funny.

[00:19:11] They had that Fox News interview with Kamala Harris.

[00:19:15] And she, he was like, yeah, you know, you're saying that, you know, you recognize that Trump's

[00:19:21] really losing it and he's out of touch and he's incoherent.

[00:19:25] And he goes, so when did you notice that about Biden?

[00:19:28] And she's just like, I, I, I, and I'm like, yeah, that was, that was funny.

[00:19:34] Sorry.

[00:19:34] And that was my one little political dig in the whole episode.

[00:19:37] I couldn't help it.

[00:19:38] I saw it.

[00:19:39] I was like, oh, that, that would hurt.

[00:19:41] But again, it's not, it's not that, that isn't, you know, somebody with a gotcha moment

[00:19:49] shouldn't be why you vote for somebody.

[00:19:51] Right.

[00:19:52] Right.

[00:19:52] Well, I mean, when's the last time we elected an ugly president?

[00:19:57] Oh, well.

[00:19:59] Abraham Lincoln.

[00:20:01] Like that's basically when they, you know, once that, once they started taking pictures of

[00:20:08] people, it was kind of all over for ugly guys.

[00:20:10] You know what I mean?

[00:20:11] And you're bald.

[00:20:12] Good luck with that, bro.

[00:20:13] Was it Eisenhower?

[00:20:14] The last ball president, or at least the one that was presenting is bald.

[00:20:18] I don't know what's going on with Donald Trump's hair though.

[00:20:22] Yeah, no, exactly.

[00:20:24] But yeah, no, that's a hundred percent.

[00:20:27] I mean, definitely personality.

[00:20:28] Like I gotta say, I mean, one of my favorite presidents is Reagan.

[00:20:35] And if I listen, right.

[00:20:37] I actually had a collection of like speeches from Reagan, every one of the speeches I agree

[00:20:45] with like a hundred percent.

[00:20:47] But when you look at the reality and the meat within the nut, there was a lot of things that

[00:20:52] Reagan did that I'm like, Oh, I couldn't really get behind that.

[00:20:55] You know, and that's, that's okay.

[00:20:58] No, he was like, right.

[00:21:00] But that's my point.

[00:21:01] I mean, it's like somebody being pretty, you know, Reagan was very disarming and very, you

[00:21:07] know, Hey, I'm a good guy.

[00:21:08] And honestly, Bill Clinton, right.

[00:21:11] He was pretty good at that.

[00:21:13] Good looking guy, right.

[00:21:14] Good looking guy.

[00:21:15] Absolute charmer, you know, talk to full head of hair, right?

[00:21:20] Anybody you talk to Bill Clinton is, is a charmer now, you know, obviously there was some scandalous

[00:21:26] shadiness with women.

[00:21:28] And honestly, we even wonder about Epstein Island with that guy.

[00:21:32] You know, there's a lot of, uh, things that you really might find repulsive.

[00:21:38] But because he's a nice cordial friendly guy, I mean, even like, I think Obama was kind

[00:21:45] of that, but he wasn't Bill Clinton.

[00:21:47] I mean, I don't care how you try and paint it.

[00:21:50] Obama was not as charismatic as Bill Clinton was.

[00:21:54] Bill Clinton had a way to deliver.

[00:21:56] Right.

[00:21:57] Now, let me ask you something.

[00:21:58] How important is, is the charisma to the actual job?

[00:22:03] You know what I mean?

[00:22:04] Like, what if you're really funny and you're really good at jokes?

[00:22:07] Like, is that, do you want a serious guy for president?

[00:22:10] Maybe, you know what I mean?

[00:22:12] Somebody that's boring and not, not funny.

[00:22:14] Right.

[00:22:15] They were, they were trying to throw around a couple of campaigns back, uh, like Tom Hanks

[00:22:19] for president or something.

[00:22:21] And they were like, Oh, or, you know, I, I, somebody even like throughout like the rock,

[00:22:26] you know, I guess he kind of lost it after the whole Hawaii, uh, Oprah scandal thing.

[00:22:32] But yeah, but yeah, that was that, the whole thing was a little bit weird.

[00:22:35] Wasn't it?

[00:22:36] It was, it was a little bit weird.

[00:22:38] Yes.

[00:22:38] Like Willie.

[00:22:39] Um, that's, I always, I always like people be like, what president did this?

[00:22:44] And I'll be like, slick Willie.

[00:22:45] And everyone's like, who are you talking about?

[00:22:47] And I'm like, really?

[00:22:49] You don't know.

[00:22:51] Maybe that was, that was too much listening to Rush Limbaugh.

[00:22:54] Is that what it was?

[00:22:54] Yeah.

[00:22:55] Let's talk about a couple of things that are like pertinent issues that are going on right

[00:23:01] now.

[00:23:02] So Kamala Harris was talking about price gouging, right?

[00:23:06] A national, a national ban or one of those things.

[00:23:10] She did.

[00:23:11] She didn't like that.

[00:23:12] Yeah.

[00:23:13] So what is price gouging?

[00:23:15] I mean, there's not a real definition for that phrase.

[00:23:18] It's not like a specific thing.

[00:23:19] A lot of people say it's, um, raising prices to maximize profit during an emergency.

[00:23:26] So it would be like, you know, are we in an emergency?

[00:23:30] Right.

[00:23:32] So 37 states have laws about price gouging that are very specific.

[00:23:36] And some of them are like raising more than, uh, you know, and it's specifics for gas and

[00:23:43] food and water.

[00:23:44] Right.

[00:23:44] Are you raising prices more than 10% when your cost hasn't increased over the course

[00:23:49] of one day?

[00:23:51] All right.

[00:23:51] I think that's.

[00:23:53] Yeah.

[00:23:54] That's like a, I mean, different states have different rules, but it's a right around that.

[00:23:58] But let me, but let me set that up.

[00:24:00] Right.

[00:24:00] Cause you're a hundred percent.

[00:24:02] Right.

[00:24:02] Like I get it.

[00:24:03] Like that makes sense to me.

[00:24:04] Like you shouldn't take advantage, but here's where it gets tricky.

[00:24:09] Right.

[00:24:10] So I was in Western North Carolina in the horrible hurricane.

[00:24:15] Right.

[00:24:15] And, and I mean, I was absolutely like not ground zero, but really close.

[00:24:21] I mean, absolutely no power, power lines all across the street roads washed out.

[00:24:27] I was driving over these roads.

[00:24:29] It was bad.

[00:24:30] Right.

[00:24:31] Now I had to drive.

[00:24:33] I've, I would say about 70 miles to get to the first gas station that had electricity

[00:24:39] and add gas.

[00:24:40] Okay.

[00:24:41] And when I got there, I had to wait two and a half hours in line to get gas.

[00:24:48] And I was scared to death that they were going to run out before I got to the pump.

[00:24:52] Right.

[00:24:52] Like, I'm like, Oh, this is going to be bad, you know?

[00:24:56] And it worked out and everything's fine, whatever.

[00:24:58] But gas was like two 74 a gallon where it was two and a half miles or, you know, two

[00:25:07] and a half hour wait.

[00:25:09] Right.

[00:25:09] Right.

[00:25:09] It was two 74 a gallon.

[00:25:12] And now the restrictions were you had to pay cash and mind you, everybody was there.

[00:25:19] So people had cash.

[00:25:20] Um, and why I think a lot of people didn't know you had to pay cash till you waited that

[00:25:25] whole time in line.

[00:25:26] And then you're like, Oh shit.

[00:25:28] But, uh, and you were limited to $50 worth of gas.

[00:25:32] Okay.

[00:25:33] Um, but if they had charged more, say they charged $5 a gallon, would people have only bought what

[00:25:42] they really need?

[00:25:43] Right.

[00:25:44] Instead of where you're going to the next gas station.

[00:25:49] Would that have encouraged?

[00:25:50] Like I bought $50 worth.

[00:25:54] Cause one, I didn't know what the future was going to hold, but if I was being totally honest,

[00:26:00] I probably could have got away with maybe $37 and been comfortable and to get to the

[00:26:06] next thing.

[00:26:07] Right.

[00:26:07] And did I take away more gas from other people who needed it?

[00:26:11] And if it was $5 a gallon, I still would have bought what I bought.

[00:26:15] I mean, it, it wouldn't have mattered, but just the same people would have been more cautious.

[00:26:20] Right.

[00:26:20] And they would be like, eh, I don't know.

[00:26:23] Yeah.

[00:26:24] Well, I think the same thing about, you know, remember that the great toilet paper shortage

[00:26:28] of 2020, that price had gone up, you would have been like, Oh, if they, if the supermarkets

[00:26:35] had the right to just break open all those things and, and sell them separately as $5

[00:26:41] a roll.

[00:26:42] Yep.

[00:26:42] Everybody would have enough toilet paper.

[00:26:44] You know what I mean?

[00:26:44] Like you would have corrected that problem.

[00:26:47] Now, what was your take?

[00:26:48] Where were you going to go with this?

[00:26:50] Is that basically, I mean, that's kind of the analogy I wanted to make, but.

[00:26:54] Yeah.

[00:26:54] Well, what I would say is, is overall, I think that like, well, here, let me, let me read

[00:27:00] this.

[00:27:00] This is from a Christopher Neely.

[00:27:02] He's a, he's an economist with the federal reserve.

[00:27:05] This is what he says.

[00:27:06] Most economists believe broad price controls to be costly and if, and ineffective in most

[00:27:12] situations because high price function to allocate scarce goods and services to buyers

[00:27:21] who are most willing and able to pay for them.

[00:27:23] And they signal that a good is valued and that producers can profit by increasing quality

[00:27:29] supply.

[00:27:30] So basically what he's saying is like playing with, with prices is only going to cause more

[00:27:40] damage than natural price fluctuation is going to do.

[00:27:44] You're going to cause more damage than good.

[00:27:46] I think that's true.

[00:27:48] But despite whether I think that's true or not, it's not, I don't feel like it's a good

[00:27:55] idea to have a federal regulation on this.

[00:27:58] That would be something that a state should have their specific regulations.

[00:28:02] And now mind you, if you break the law and, you know, do price gouging, it's not like you

[00:28:07] go to prison.

[00:28:08] You know what I mean?

[00:28:08] You get a fine.

[00:28:09] It's not like, you know, it's not like you're, you're in jail for 20 years.

[00:28:14] Right.

[00:28:14] You got anything going to happen to me.

[00:28:17] But I mean, it's when you have start doing like federal manipulation on like small areas,

[00:28:25] you start causing big problems for the bigger areas.

[00:28:29] And you don't recognize what's going on there.

[00:28:32] Actually, I was just talking to a buddy of mine has a farm near us.

[00:28:37] And as you guys probably know, you've been listening in the show for a while.

[00:28:40] You know that we, I kind of have a little farm here.

[00:28:44] And again, I'm not like a farmer, right?

[00:28:46] I make my money being an electrician, but we have big gardens and we sell things at farmers

[00:28:52] markets and we're involved in, in the local community and, and business kind of stuff like

[00:28:58] that.

[00:28:58] And one of my buddies is like, Oh, you know, we're selling our turkeys for seven 95 a pound

[00:29:04] this year.

[00:29:05] And that like, when you hear that, you're like, Oh God, that's expensive.

[00:29:09] I could be buying $160 turkey or something for Thanksgiving.

[00:29:14] But I got to say, I rose, I raised four turkeys and it cost me about $200 a piece.

[00:29:21] Now, mind you, I didn't butcher them as quick as I should have, cause I was too busy.

[00:29:26] And so I was throwing feed at something that I didn't need.

[00:29:29] That was already full size.

[00:29:31] But if I was completely efficient now, mind you, they were, they were big.

[00:29:36] Like I have like 25 to 28 pound turkeys.

[00:29:39] I mean, there, there's some big boys, right?

[00:29:41] Or big girls and boys, whatever they're big, but just the same.

[00:29:47] I think even if I was totally frugal and whatever to grow kind of natural turkeys legit, it probably

[00:29:55] would have cost me $120 a piece to grow these turkeys.

[00:30:01] Right.

[00:30:02] And from nothing.

[00:30:03] Now, obviously if I put them in zero space and had them next to each other and, you know,

[00:30:09] did whatever big pharma, whatever big ag, big ag is going to do, then I could probably have

[00:30:18] done, you know, more efficient.

[00:30:19] Right.

[00:30:19] I mean, I know we're going to go to the store.

[00:30:21] We probably won't see 19 cent of pound turkeys, but we'll see maybe 59 cents a pound turkeys.

[00:30:29] Right.

[00:30:29] Right.

[00:30:30] And that may happen and I'm not taking away from that.

[00:30:34] But my point is it costs to do stuff and to be like, yeah, it's the grocery stores being

[00:30:40] evil.

[00:30:41] No, it was the people printing money and spending it.

[00:30:45] Like we don't have any care when we're giving it to all these countries and things when we

[00:30:50] don't have it and we're just rolling money off the printing press or digitally creating

[00:30:55] money.

[00:30:56] Mm-hmm.

[00:30:56] That's where a lot of your inflation is coming from.

[00:30:59] I got to tell you, talking to the farmers and everybody around, nobody is like, oh, we're

[00:31:05] making money hand over fist.

[00:31:07] Right.

[00:31:08] It's not like that.

[00:31:09] Like, remember we used to get mad at the oil companies, right?

[00:31:12] Remember gas went way up and they're like, oh, everybody's making record profits over

[00:31:17] at mobile and Exxon and blah, blah, blah.

[00:31:19] More money than they've ever made before.

[00:31:23] Well, it's funny because they were actually making more money than ever before.

[00:31:28] And that was all true.

[00:31:29] But what it was is they charge basically in your mind, the simplest way to look at it is

[00:31:35] they make 10 cents a gallon or sorry, 10% a gallon off the product they sell.

[00:31:43] So if gas is selling for a dollar a gallon, they're making 10 cents a gallon.

[00:31:47] If gas is selling for $5 a gallon, they're making 50 cents a gallon.

[00:31:53] Right.

[00:31:53] You see?

[00:31:54] So they're not-

[00:31:54] The more expensive the oil is, the more money they make.

[00:31:57] It's not-

[00:31:58] It doesn't have like, you know, it's not like-

[00:32:00] It's like they were gouging and are like, oh, it's $5.

[00:32:04] They're charging the same amount.

[00:32:06] Right.

[00:32:07] Their fee is the same.

[00:32:09] Right.

[00:32:09] Their fee is the same.

[00:32:10] Right.

[00:32:10] So right now, national average price is $3.17 a gallon.

[00:32:14] Okay.

[00:32:15] I saw it yesterday at a gas station locally that was just under, it was just under $3, which

[00:32:21] is surprising for New York.

[00:32:22] New York is usually one of the higher prices.

[00:32:26] I'm bad at the point where I need to.

[00:32:28] Yeah, I was looking at oil prices around the world.

[00:32:30] So France is paying $5.54 per gallon.

[00:32:36] That would be American dollars to gallon.

[00:32:38] They, you know, use euros and liters, but that would be the equivalent.

[00:32:42] Germany's paying $3.58 a gallon.

[00:32:45] China's paying $3.40 a gallon.

[00:32:48] Okay.

[00:32:49] Right now, the United States is currently pumping more oil than has ever been pumped by any

[00:32:58] country in the history of the world.

[00:33:00] Wow.

[00:33:01] That's impressive.

[00:33:02] Surprising.

[00:33:03] I didn't realize that.

[00:33:04] It is surprising.

[00:33:04] I wouldn't have realized that.

[00:33:06] Like, there's never been a time or a place where a country has produced more barrels of oil

[00:33:14] per month.

[00:33:16] So, I don't know.

[00:33:18] Going pretty good so far on that front.

[00:33:20] You know what I mean?

[00:33:21] I fully support, you know, it's, it's, I think a lot of it has to do with hydrofracking.

[00:33:28] And, you know, I mean, that, that definitely jumped up the, the, the amount we were able

[00:33:33] to produce, but yeah, interesting.

[00:33:36] So what do you think about the Department of Education?

[00:33:42] That's another big topic that is going on in the world right now.

[00:33:46] Right.

[00:33:47] Um, oh, there, there's scare me.

[00:33:50] Well, that's the same thing.

[00:33:51] I think that in my level, I mean, I don't know what you, you got going on there that

[00:33:56] you're really looking for, but I know with me, the Department of Education, we shouldn't

[00:34:03] have, we should have different people trying and doing what they want.

[00:34:06] One of the big things, you know, I, I touched on this, I think earlier, maybe I didn't,

[00:34:10] I don't know, but about how we have the 13 different states that are allowed to kind

[00:34:14] of do their own thing.

[00:34:16] And I think we, obviously there's 50 states now and 52, I think we discovered in one of

[00:34:23] the previous, uh, election cycles, there were 52 states, but, um, anyway, you know, I think

[00:34:31] they had already made 52 stops in their campaign tour, I think was the, the one that I'm

[00:34:37] representing.

[00:34:37] Yeah.

[00:34:38] Yeah.

[00:34:38] But anyway, the, uh, but the thing is, right.

[00:34:42] Each state should be able to decide, you know, Hey, this is what we want to teach our

[00:34:46] kids.

[00:34:46] And we should kind of see who's putting out the cream of the crop.

[00:34:50] Now I do know that New York spent a ton more money on education than the South does.

[00:35:00] Then a lot of States down here, um, a ton, like five times more per child.

[00:35:05] It's ridiculous.

[00:35:07] Now they're starting, you know, starting salary for a teacher in New York state.

[00:35:11] You just got out of college.

[00:35:12] This is your first job.

[00:35:14] $84,000 a year.

[00:35:16] All right.

[00:35:16] Now one of the poorer towns next to me, and it's the only place I know where I know a

[00:35:20] new teacher who just started, but they're making 22,000 a year.

[00:35:25] Okay.

[00:35:25] Yeah.

[00:35:25] So that's a significant difference right there.

[00:35:30] But something to keep in mind.

[00:35:32] I know I don't even know how that's like hitting minimum wage or whatever.

[00:35:36] I don't even understand how it all works, but you know, whatever that that's what I

[00:35:40] know from a teacher that I know, you know, and they're like, Oh, this is what I get.

[00:35:45] Now mind you, it is like a poor community.

[00:35:48] And, and that's what that is.

[00:35:50] But all these things.

[00:35:52] So one, how do you have the same standards when you have different money to work with?

[00:35:57] Right.

[00:35:57] How can you get the same results?

[00:35:59] You can't really guarantee that.

[00:36:01] And then it's funny because I know one of the rules is the better that the schools do,

[00:36:07] the better, the more funding they get.

[00:36:10] And so you're not getting any money because you can't.

[00:36:13] You're not getting helped out.

[00:36:15] Yeah.

[00:36:15] So let's, let's run through it real quick.

[00:36:16] I've got a list here.

[00:36:18] Best States K through 12 education.

[00:36:22] All right.

[00:36:22] Worst five, worst, best five and worst five.

[00:36:24] So best five are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York.

[00:36:29] So it's basically new England.

[00:36:31] The worst States are Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

[00:36:38] That's the South, I guess.

[00:36:41] I mean, you know, Georgia isn't on there.

[00:36:43] Florida is not on there.

[00:36:44] You know?

[00:36:45] Yeah.

[00:36:46] I know in Virginia beach, my kids got a pretty great education when I spoke there in the

[00:36:52] military, but you know, Hey, you do you.

[00:36:55] It's funny.

[00:36:56] They had some kind of a, uh, uh, disadvantaged children and it turned, you know, could go to

[00:37:02] like a pre-K where they got a head start on things.

[00:37:05] And my kids were disadvantaged because their parents were in the military.

[00:37:10] That was their disadvantage.

[00:37:12] I'm like, Oh man.

[00:37:14] Um, but yeah, that that's the world we live in.

[00:37:16] One of the things too.

[00:37:18] I mean, I, I don't want this podcast to go on forever.

[00:37:20] I don't want to take up all your guys morning.

[00:37:22] I know everybody's got things to do, but I always feel like we need to worry when there's

[00:37:27] like clever campaign slogans, you know, like hope and change or even make America great

[00:37:34] again.

[00:37:34] Right.

[00:37:35] Like, I mean, both sides of the aisle, everybody does it.

[00:37:38] What are these slogans mean?

[00:37:39] Like when you dig down to, I don't even know.

[00:37:42] Does Kamala Harris have a slogan?

[00:37:45] Yeah.

[00:37:45] What is hers?

[00:37:47] I think it's rich.

[00:37:49] When we fight, we win.

[00:37:50] That's all.

[00:37:51] When we fight, we win.

[00:37:52] All right.

[00:37:54] It's not real catchy, is it?

[00:37:56] No, no.

[00:37:57] And it's awkward if you lose.

[00:37:59] Now I do feel like there is, I think that that Trump might, I think he has a chance of

[00:38:06] winning based on the stuff I'm seeing.

[00:38:08] However, now work with me before you get excited.

[00:38:10] I don't think it's a lock in any way.

[00:38:13] I'm just saying he has a chance, but I also feel like on the flip side of that, if he

[00:38:19] wins, they are absolutely going to take him to court on it and try and overturn it.

[00:38:23] And that's my point.

[00:38:25] You think it's going to not happen the other way around too?

[00:38:29] I think that he won't have any chance of making any headway if it goes the other way.

[00:38:35] Whereas I think that the Democrats have a chance.

[00:38:40] What do you mean?

[00:38:42] So I guess what I'm saying with that is I think that if Trump wins and they say, oh,

[00:38:50] you know, we're going to say that you had committed treason, so you're not eligible for

[00:38:56] it.

[00:38:56] And I think they're going to take that to the courts and then basically say, look, you

[00:39:02] know, even though you weren't convicted or even charged with treason, we know that you

[00:39:06] committed treason.

[00:39:08] So you're not eligible.

[00:39:09] And since the only a person who won electoral votes can be voted for, see, then it goes to

[00:39:19] the Congress and the Congress votes to pick the president, but they can only pick somebody

[00:39:23] who won electoral votes.

[00:39:27] And so therefore would then only be able to vote for Kamala and she'd be a lock.

[00:39:33] Now, there is a loophole.

[00:39:35] I saw a scholar on Glenn Beck talking about it and he was talking about the legal loopholes

[00:39:41] of that.

[00:39:41] And he said, one, he thinks that's really a possibility of what people would do.

[00:39:47] So two, I think that if, or no, this is what the guy said.

[00:39:54] If a state like California has like 50 congressmen and a state like Oklahoma has two, they both

[00:40:02] get an equal vote kind of thing.

[00:40:04] See what I'm saying?

[00:40:04] So it turns out there's more conservative states.

[00:40:08] It's just the ones with bigger population are usually more democratic and like that.

[00:40:14] So you would actually have more Republican states, but they would only be allowed to vote

[00:40:19] for Kamala.

[00:40:20] So that's where you kind of get into trouble.

[00:40:23] However, according to this guy that was on Glenn Beck was like, look, technically they

[00:40:29] could walk out and not vote.

[00:40:31] And then the vice president would become president.

[00:40:35] And since Trump would have won, that would be Vance.

[00:40:38] But you and I both know you can always count on Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot

[00:40:45] and not do anything like, oh, well, that would be awkward.

[00:40:49] It's never been done before.

[00:40:51] So we can't do it or, you know, they, and then you'd get, you know what I mean?

[00:40:56] I feel the same way about the Democrats though.

[00:40:58] I mean, we have a bunch of like, I don't know.

[00:41:01] I feel like my choice is voting for, for people between two people that talk like losers.

[00:41:07] You know what I mean?

[00:41:08] Like I, I hear like people running for president, like complaining that they're not like being

[00:41:14] treated fairly like bro.

[00:41:17] Yeah.

[00:41:17] That's, that's just childish behavior.

[00:41:21] You're, you know, you're running for president.

[00:41:23] Don't act like, like a kid about it.

[00:41:26] Right.

[00:41:26] You know, but I mean, whatever.

[00:41:28] I mean, we're all going to get stuck with what we get stuck with and, and, you know,

[00:41:33] the facts are what the facts are going to be.

[00:41:35] And we'll see what happens on election day.

[00:41:37] I'm, I'm, you know, I'm interested.

[00:41:40] I feel like the news is going to be interesting.

[00:41:41] I feel like interesting stuff's going to happen.

[00:41:43] You know what I mean?

[00:41:44] The fires haven't started burning yet, but it's not going to be long.

[00:41:48] Right.

[00:41:49] People get excited about like the super bowl and things like that.

[00:41:52] Dude, always like presidential election.

[00:41:55] And I'm like, yeah, let's get into this.

[00:41:56] Yeah.

[00:41:56] That's, that's my world series.

[00:41:58] I know it is.

[00:41:59] I'm like, all right, get the chicken wings.

[00:42:01] We're going to sit here all night.

[00:42:03] It's going to be great.

[00:42:04] We're going to, you know, get some beer and everything's going to work out.

[00:42:09] Yeah.

[00:42:10] Shot every time a state goes blue and I drink a beer every time state goes, goes red.

[00:42:15] So by about two or three in the morning, I'm, I'm ready to go.

[00:42:23] It's, I don't know.

[00:42:24] I never understood the colors.

[00:42:26] I always think that red should be associated with communism.

[00:42:30] And I'm like, well, I think we're back.

[00:42:34] I can never wrap my head around it.

[00:42:36] I'm like, now maybe they don't see it quite that way, but that's how it is in my mind,

[00:42:41] in my mind's eye.

[00:42:42] I'm always like, I don't get it.

[00:42:44] Why are Republicans red?

[00:42:46] The commies are the other way.

[00:42:49] It doesn't make any sense, but mac and cheese and tuna salad.

[00:42:54] It's a crazy world.

[00:42:56] I would say, send all your hate mail to me.

[00:43:00] Okay.

[00:43:01] I like that.

[00:43:02] At preppingbadass at gmail.com.

[00:43:06] You got anything else you want to touch on before we wrap up?

[00:43:09] You know, you guys have show ideas, things you want to talk about, hear about, learn about,

[00:43:14] emails at preppingbadass at gmail.com.

[00:43:17] And that would be cool.

[00:43:20] I will say today's episode, we can say we have a sponsor, 1791 EDC.

[00:43:28] I will put their info in the show notes.

[00:43:32] And they sent me this freaking awesome, like EDC, like I would say holster.

[00:43:38] I use it for like the Leatherman, the flashlight.

[00:43:42] It put like the key ring on at work.

[00:43:44] I'm like an electrician at work.

[00:43:46] So I climb around in machines and whatever.

[00:43:48] And having that stuff there, I got to say, they were like, Hey, we could send you this awesome

[00:43:53] thing.

[00:43:54] And it was pretty great, like sturdy, thick leather, you know?

[00:43:58] And I'm like, all right, I can get behind that.

[00:44:00] It's funny.

[00:44:00] The stuff I have always like stretches out and I'm dropping flashlights down into, you

[00:44:05] know, machines with the ones they give me.

[00:44:07] So anyway, there's stuff you might want to check it out because it really quality.

[00:44:13] And I love the way that it's delivered.

[00:44:15] So you might want to check them out.

[00:44:17] I'll put it in the show notes if you want to see what it's like.

[00:44:20] Also posted it in the Facebook group, that kind of thing.

[00:44:24] Anyway, super important.

[00:44:26] If you like, and subscribe, that would be awesome.

[00:44:29] You know, we don't want you guys to miss a show.

[00:44:31] I know if you made it this far, you know, you're enjoying it.

[00:44:34] So we appreciate it.

[00:44:36] Also, you know, if you leave comments and things, reviews on wherever you download the

[00:44:41] podcast, that'd be awesome.

[00:44:43] It always helps, you know, grow the, uh, grow the brand, right?

[00:44:48] Otherwise I would say stay safe and we will talk to you guys next week.

[00:44:58] It's Chuck with the survival and basic badass podcast.

[00:45:56] And I just came from my local Academy sports and outdoor store.

[00:46:00] Rifle season is finally here.

[00:46:02] An Academy sports and outdoor store has everything to gear up for the field for less.

[00:46:08] Don't miss our Savage event where you can score up to a hundred bucks off.

[00:46:13] Select Savage rifles for a limited time.

[00:46:16] Plus shop a wide selection of rifles, ammo, deer stands, game cameras, optics, and camo hunting

[00:46:23] apparel from the brands you trust.

[00:46:26] Swing by your local Academy store today or shop academy.com where we have thousands of

[00:46:32] firearms with free ship to store.

[00:46:35] Need a hunting license, pick it up in store while you're shopping.

[00:46:39] Well, we'll see you soon at Academy sports and outdoors.

[00:46:44] Hey everyone.

[00:46:45] This is captain Steve Roger from into the blue TV.

[00:46:48] And as soon as I feel a little break from this heat, I know that hunting season is upon us.

[00:46:53] Actually, the first time I ever went hunting, a buddy took me.

[00:46:56] Wasn't my father or my grandfather.

[00:46:58] In fact, I took my father on his very first hunt.

[00:47:03] Well, Academy sports and outdoor stores has everything to gear up for the field for less.

[00:47:08] Plus you can shop a wide selection of ammo, shotguns, deer, corn, rifle, feeder, game cameras, camo, and more from the brands you trust.

[00:47:19] Text hunt 24 to 223-69 to take $20 off a $100 purchase when you shop hunting supplies at academy.com.

[00:47:30] Need a hunting license?

[00:47:31] Pick it up in store while you're shopping.