If you're a young person and you can't afford to live here, then maybe you should not live here. I mean, that is a real thing, and I know that we've now grown up in a society that says that you deserve to live where you grew up, but the reality is that the history of America is almost literally the opposite of that. The history of America is you go to a place where there is opportunity, [00:00:18] and if the opportunities are limited here and they're not changing, then you really should try to think about other places where you have better opportunities. Ben Shapiro had an interesting take on the affordability crisis during his [00:00:33] appearance on the Trigonometry podcast. And basically he says that, look, if New York City residents can't afford New York City, you should just leave. Move. It is what it is. You shouldn't feel entitled to living in the city [00:00:50] or the neighborhood that you grew up in. Sorry. Now, I grew up in a working class, mostly Latino community. Reseda, California specifically, 95% Latino. Absolutely loved my childhood there, but it wasn't at all the type of neighborhood [00:01:11] or community that has the types of bells and whistles you would think of, when you're living in a nice, affluent place. And, while my parents were able to buy a home there in 1988 for $75,000, if I'm [00:01:27] not mistaken, it might have been 150,000. It doesn't matter. It's now over worth over $1 million, meaning that the very neighborhood I grew up in that I actually wanted to, like, move up from. I didn't think it was good enough for me because, hey, you should live better [00:01:47] than your parents did. You should succeed. I can't afford a house in Reseda, California today. That's how absurd our housing market is. But according to Ben Shapiro, who has no problem funneling as much of our taxpayer [00:02:02] dollars to Israel as Israel wants. We shouldn't be concerned about Americans being unable to afford living in the very communities they grew up in. Okay, great. So. This whole conversation really centered on Zoran Mamdani, the [00:02:21] mayor elect of New York City, of course. And he repeatedly stated that there is plenty of opportunity for young Americans to improve their own economic conditions, but maybe they're just too entitled to see it right now. Here's more of his argument. Let's watch and then I'll respond. [00:02:39] We have trained an entire generation of people to believe that if their lives are not what they want them to be, it's the fault of systems as opposed to decisions that are in their own control. And politicians absolutely have a stake in selling that. A lot of people in our industry have a stake in selling. That makes people feel good about themselves and bad about the world. [00:02:56] And the reality is, if you want a better life, you should feel better about the world and worse about yourself. Until you actually go do the right thing. What's the one thing we're not talking about that we really should be? I think we actually talked about it. I think that the the generalized lack of political voices speaking to the vast [00:03:15] opportunity available to young people in America and in the West, and their capacity to actually get ahead if they make good decisions, that that lack is being direly felt, and it's having its ramifications across all of politics, foreign and international. Okay, so how does he square that circle [00:03:34] as it pertains to artificial intelligence and the main purpose of artificial intelligence and automation, which is to get rid of human workers and replace them with technology. Those are opportunities that are being [00:03:52] stripped away from the American workforce. And so what happens then? And we're not just talking about, oh, these are antiquated, you know, factory work jobs that, you know, you can easily replace with robots. [00:04:08] Who cares? You know, we've got the driverless cars now. Driverless vehicles. Let's just get rid of human truck drivers and use autonomous vehicles to deliver goods and services. [00:04:25] Okay. What happens to all those people, though? Because those people aren't lazy. Those people aren't entitled. Those people didn't expect to dedicate themselves to a job, only to have the rug pulled out from under them, [00:04:41] and then get told by a guy who works for a media company that lives off donor money to just suck it up and find a cheaper place to live when it comes to the jobs that remain. You know, the jobs you have to show up to up, to work to do. [00:04:58] Those tend to be located in cities that are expensive to live in. But hey, you're not entitled to our government helping you out. [00:05:16] Israel is entitled to our money and us going into debt on behalf of their atrocities and whatever war and genocide they want to engage in in the Middle East. Of course, there's no limit to that. And look, to be fair to Ben Shapiro, he has been on the record saying that Israel needs to wean itself off the teat of the American taxpayer. [00:05:34] Thank you, Ben, for saying that. But in the meantime, as they remain dependent on America, no problem shelling out our resources to that foreign country. But for Americans struggling because they can't afford a place to live, even though they're working 40 hours a week, you can just buzz off, [00:05:51] find a different place to live. It's infuriating because there is this foundation to his argument that's fundamentally flawed, and the foundation to his argument is that we're just all a bunch [00:06:10] of entitled bums who don't want to work and think we should have mansions handed to us anywhere we want to live. But if I can't afford Reseda, California, okay, a working class neighborhood [00:06:27] that's now riddled with homes that aren't occupied with young families who are seeking to own the homes, they're occupied by renters because private equity firms bought up homes in that community. [00:06:42] Any word on that? Any comments on that Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro is a perfectly nice guy in real life. I mean, I just was on a CNN panel with him. It's civil. He's not rude. He's not terrible in terms of his demeanor, but he's terrible [00:07:01] in terms of his arguments. Because what is the end goal here? Right. Just telling people you can't afford the home in the community you grew up in. You can't afford a home in the community your job is located in. [00:07:17] Just move elsewhere. It's so out of touch and just completely ignores the fundamental issues within our economic system that have led to this problem in the first place. Now, look, we absolutely need to build more housing. [00:07:33] Ben agrees with me on that. But would Ben agree with me in banning private equity firms from buying single family homes and residential real estate, only to turn them into rentals in the middle of a housing crisis, by the way? I don't know, I don't know if he would agree with me on that, [00:07:49] because he tends to side with the corporate interests that have gotten us in this mess in the first place. And again, as jobs are wiped away from our economy thanks to these technological advancements like AI. What's his solution? [00:08:06] What happens after that? Got a bunch of coders in San Francisco who lost their jobs because of AI. These are coders, so learning to code isn't even a solution anymore. But you know what? Since we're talking about technology, why don't we go to the next clip [00:08:22] where Ben Shapiro seems to have a far more rosy perception of these technological advancements than I do? Take a look. When you talk about your grandparents, yes, our grandparents would be amazed by the smartphone and all of the other things you talk about. [00:08:41] But our grandparents also could raise a family of four on a single income, have a house, have a car, and have a middle class life. So so I think there are a few things that are that are slightly a misnomer about that. So I think that number one, your grandparents, depending on when they grew up in, say, the 30s. Actually couldn't I mean, your grandparents were dirt poor if they grew [00:08:58] up in the Great Depression in the 1930s. That was a very, very bad decade. And then if they lived from 1941 to 45, in this country, then your grandfather was likely to be being shot at in either Europe or the Pacific. So when people talk about this, what they're really talking about is a fairly short period of American history. Second of all, the the housing affordability crisis, the average house in [00:09:16] the United States is significantly nicer, significantly larger with central air. If you looked at the house that your grandparents were living in in 1952, you would say, this place is shoebox. This place is bad. And if you look at the job that your grandparents were working in 1953 at the Ford factory, you sitting in your comfortable office, [00:09:33] your air conditioned office, complaining about your sciatica from your uncomfortable office chair, and then you're like, oh, man, I'm really longing for those days. Riveting. Riveting. That is not an easy job. Who cares how much nicer the houses are today? [00:09:48] No one can afford them. What are we doing? Like? I don't even know how to respond to that. Does he think that blue collar jobs today are easy? [00:10:11] So the host of the trigonometry podcast did push back in that last clip that we watched, which I appreciate. But what Shapiro doesn't understand is that at the moment, he is fighting an uphill battle against the reality of the material conditions [00:10:27] Americans are dealing with. And when that happens, Americans get angry. And it is very easy to direct their anger at various scapegoats. [00:10:42] So that's something that he should consider, as he is very defensive of the very country that we keep shipping our resources to. Here's what they're dealing with right now. [00:10:58] By the way, let's let's talk a little bit about the human experience here in the United States of America. With the economic situation we've been dealt, a situation in which our Federal Reserve printed so much money that it has caused quite a bit of inflation. And as inflation continues to riddle the US economy, [00:11:19] we're also losing a lot of jobs because of these wonderful technological advancements that Ben Shapiro loves so much. So we are barreling toward a stagflation economic environment. And, well, people are feeling it. So why don't we go to CNBC? [00:11:37] Hardly a lefty outlet, but even they had the ability to document for the American public what the reality is for the vast majority of Americans in this economic environment. Millennials net worth quadrupled from $3.9 trillion to nearly $16 trillion [00:11:58] between 2019 and 2024, but more than half report living paycheck to paycheck. Actually projecting that about 1 in 4 young adults today will never have kids. In the early 1980s. As many as 40% of the new homes built were considered entry level by 2023. [00:12:15] Just 9% fit the criteria. The premium paid to buy a home has increased sharply relative to renting over the past decade. The increases in home prices have also outpaced increases in wages. As a result, home sales are down across many markets, and the median age of the [00:12:33] typical first time home buyer has climbed to 38. That's up from age 29. In 1981, the average price of homes has increased rapidly to nationwide. Home prices have climbed over 52% between January 2020 and October 2024. [00:12:51] Home prices going up 114% is insane. Is insane and makes it clear that there is something awry going wrong in our economic landscape. [00:13:06] Rather than maybe focus on that, I guess this is why I'm so offended by what Ben Shapiro is saying. It's that he seems to direct his ire at ordinary people as if it's their fault. You know, that's the part that really gets to me. [00:13:23] As if Americans are just, again, lazy bums who feel entitled to just being given things. But that's that's not what we're talking about here. Most Americans are hard working people. They find purpose in going out there, contributing to society, working. [00:13:44] But if you're working a full time job, if you're working more than full time, you're working 16 hour days, Ace, you're hustling with this intention of moving forward in life, moving forward, economically, getting up that economic ladder. And it's just impossible to do it because the cost of just the fundamentals [00:14:05] housing, food, having children, getting married, when that kind of stuff becomes too expensive for you to afford and you're working your ass off. Yeah, that leads to a certain level of rage. And I think it's been tearing this country apart, not just recently, but [00:14:22] it's been going on for a few decades now. And by the way, that last video mostly had to do with housing prices. But there is more. Right. So let's take a look at how household budgets and consumer debt have changed since the decade I was born in the 1980s. [00:14:39] This is a mock monthly household budget for an American family in 1985. If we compare that to a hypothetical budget in 2022, we can see that most expenses scaled with inflation, with a few exceptions. Rent. Out of pocket. Health care costs and child care are notably more expensive in 2022. [00:14:56] Even when accounting for inflation and costs associated with retirement increased by more than 60%. But these numbers are not accounting for a big X factor consumer debt, such as credit cards and student loans. Total outstanding consumer credit was nearly $600 billion in December 1985. [00:15:14] By 2022, it was nearly $4.9 trillion. The majority of Americans work hourly jobs, and so for them, the amount of money that they earn fluctuates week by week. I get 30 hours this week versus 45 hours next week. [00:15:29] And so as a result, income is really up and down over the course of a month. And that flies in the face of all of the budgeting advice we usually give people. Even corporate CEOs are willing to admit what Ben Shapiro seems to be completely blind to. [00:15:46] McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said the two tiered economy was a major factor in the fast food giant's decision to revive its extra value meal, extra value meal combos last month, traffic for lower income consumers [00:16:04] is down double digits, he told CNBC back in September. Coca-Cola's chief operating officer said the company continued to see Divergency in spending between the income groups last quarter. The pressure on middle and low income consumers is still there. [00:16:22] It sure is. It sure is. So these corporations have done a very good job providing return on investment to their shareholders. It's their fiduciary responsibility, of course, but they're nothing [00:16:37] without the US consumer. And they're starting to learn the hard way that if Americans don't have disposable income, they're not buying any of the products these companies are producing. So they've essentially been digging their own grave for quite a while now. [00:16:55] And I do like reading these comments, these quotes from corporate executives who are panicking about consumer sentiment, because I think it's about time they experience a little bit of the pain that has resulted from the business decisions they've made. [00:17:13] But the only way this economy works is if there's a strong middle class and people are able to make enough money to spend, and that's just becoming a thing of the past. So I don't know what the future holds for these companies. I mean, are we just going to have the Federal Reserve keep printing money? [00:17:30] I don't know, I don't know. What I do know is that Ben Shapiro hasn't thought this through much either. And it doesn't really seem like Ben Shapiro cares that much, because all you have to do in the mind of Ben Shapiro is just defame the American public. [00:17:48] The average American worker, as someone who's just being entitled and tell them to buzz off, move somewhere else. Okay. All right. We got to take a break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about how Donald Trump is absolutely furious that he was advised to promote a 50 year home mortgage [00:18:07] as a solution to the housing crisis, because he's a moron who can't think for himself, apparently. We've got that and more coming up. We'll be right back. [00:19:29] Let me show our Twitch community some love, starting with just trying to survive. Who subscribed with Prime for 62 months? That's a long, long time. Solana on my subversively nice bring on the salt. I think there's been plenty of salt on the show today. I hope you feel good about it. And happy anniversary, Octo Squid says. [00:19:49] Of course, Trump likes this guy, meaning al-shara. Trump was giddy after nine over 11 that his building was the tallest. After the towers fell, he literally, said that I think it was a Fox News interview, if I'm not mistaken. It's so gross. [00:20:05] Galfar, 71, says US interference in the Middle East has been going on ever since 1947, when Great Britain left and told the United States tag you're it. Much to our detriment. M losing two says housing is even a joke in Montana. [00:20:22] Even rural areas. Believe it or not, I totally believe it. I totally believe it. And by the way, for whatever rural areas that remain that might be somewhat affordable when it comes to housing, most people are not able to just work remotely. [00:20:43] Right? Most people need to be located, at least, I don't know, an hour an hour's distance from their office or their job. Like, I want nothing more than to live in a rural part of the country. I'm just being. I'm being honest. [00:20:58] I want to get the f out of LA. I do, I'm exhausted. It's too freaking crowded. It's too expensive. I want to be in nature like I dream about that. And one day that is what I'm going to do. But now I have to be here, and then New York and then Fort [00:21:15] Lauderdale, Florida, and then LA again, because that's where the jobs are at. Most Americans are dealing with the same situation. So like this idea of like just pack your bags and leave to a more affordable part of the country is ridiculous. [00:21:30] But, you know, here's what'll make you feel better. The homes today much nicer than the homes that they were building in the Great Depression. You should feel good about that. You can't afford it, but you should feel good about it. [00:21:46] Let's go to a death cow. Who says in our super chats it's Veterans Day. Why aren't we supporting the individuals that are manipulated by the politicians? Why is it Israel today? Why can't it be veterans? [00:22:01] Because Israel is more important, obviously. At least that's the messaging from our government. All right, one more comment. Jonathan says TYT should be the anti Shapiro channel. Both Shapiro and Fuentes are toxic, but Shapiro's polished act hides his role in pushing, 2025. [00:22:49] All right. I'm going to read Jonathan Johnny's comment first, and then I'm going to tell you about something super exciting that has to do with Medicare. So Jonathan writes in and says TYT should be the anti Shapiro channel. Both Shapiro and Fuentes are toxic, but Shapiro's polished act hides his role [00:23:05] in pushing Palestine's destruction. I don't think it hides his role much at all, actually. I think people have actually caught on to it. He's the more dangerous voice. Yeah, I mean, that's a fair point [00:23:20] about how his style kind of conceals some of the more odious things he promotes. But yeah, I just the lack of concern about Americans and what they've been going through, this isn't new, [00:23:36] what they've been going through and how the economy just continues to be worse for most people. I think that I don't even know if I want to call it a blind spot. He knows what he's saying. I just vehemently disagree with him. And for those who might be watching, I don't know how many of you exist, [00:23:53] but if you're watching this and you absolutely hated Zoran Mamdani and are upset about his, you know, mayoral victory in New York City, remember he focused on affordability and he actually got support from individuals living in New York City who actually cast [00:24:09] their ballots for Donald Trump in 2024. Affordability is a huge problem. So much so that Mamdani became, not only the winner, but he won by a lot. [00:24:24] So few politicians, so few media pundits actually speak to these issues and do so in an empathetic and accurate way. That's just the fact of the matter. And, Ben Shapiro falls in that camp. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true. [00:24:39] But it does keep you updated on our live shows.