Josh Johnson on Taxes, $3,000 Cash & Barbecue Chaos

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:03][cheering] I I don't know about y'all, but I I I just paid my taxes and they got me.

[00:00:13][laughter] Oh, they got me good. Oh, they got me real good. I I was wondering if they would get me. And then they were like, "No, we didn't forget about you. We think you're special. We would never forget." And I know they charge me extra.

[00:00:26]They got to be charged me extra cuz they know I won't survive jail. So they're like, "He going to pay it. Just write a number. He'll make it happen."

[00:00:34][laughter] It's been It's been great traveling this week. I've I've been able to go to Milwaukee, Madison, now Minneapolis, and everything. When I when I was in uh Madison, there there was something sort of curious that was happening. You know, I I like being in Minneapolis because y'all smile an appropriate amount.

[00:00:57][laughter] You smile when something good is happening. You know what I mean? When I was in Madison, there were so many errant smiles. There were people just looking forward like, "Huh?" [laughter] I've never been in a s I told them this, too. I told them this to their face. I was like, "Y'all all walk like you walk into the light." Like this is crazy.

[00:01:21][laughter] I try to be a jolly person, but this is insane.

[00:01:27][laughter] No, man. What? [laughter] It was wild.

[00:01:38]And when I when I was there, I I like when people are happy. I hope to make people happy, but when people got a little bit too much of it going on, I do have to get to the bottom of it, [laughter] you know, and so I did do a couple things. It's something I like to do in any city when I see too many people smiling when I get there. Um, I immediately go to that city's Yelp [laughter] cuz I'm like, there are problems here somewhere. We just have to find where they are. You know what I mean? Not everything is a fivestar experience.

[00:02:11]It's not everybody going to give a five star. And it didn't take long.

[00:02:18][laughter] I found a one star. I won't name the establishment, but the review simply said, "Their old fashions taste like barbecue sauce. [laughter] Let's be clear about something. You have to have such a fundamental understanding [laughter] of how old-fashions and barbecue sauce taste [laughter] to take a sip of alcohol and go, "Nah, that's sweet baby rays." I know sweet baby rays when I taste it. You're not slick just cuz you thinned it up a little bit.

[00:03:10]>> [laughter] >> Oh, listen. It's tough, too, because when you when you're when you're dealing with some of this happiness in different places, you wonder, did y'all get taxed?

[00:03:24][laughter] Do you? I mean, they must have skipped over y'all if y'all so if y'all so happy all the time.

[00:03:33]And how I think sometimes taxes feel extra difficult because when you pay them, you feel like you're paying them for everything that happens next, not to pay for the life you were living up until that point. Does that make sense?

[00:03:47]>> Like when it's like when you pay rent, you're paying rent to keep living there.

[00:03:53]But when it comes to taxes, you're mostly paying for everything that already happened that you already enjoyed or didn't enjoy, depending on the city.

[00:04:03]>> [laughter] >> And I think that if you if you got something back with your taxes, let's say you pay your taxes, they give you that tax return and everything, you can read all the numbers why they say you owe what you owe or why you got back what you got back. And then they list next to that what they paid for with it.

[00:04:22]That might make people feel a little better, you know, because we don't know where our tax dollars go exactly. So then something happens and you feel like you're paying for that and you're like, "This isn't what I paid for." And somebody should tell you, "Oh, no. This isn't on you. That's not that that wasn't your money." [laughter] You know what I mean? Like paying taxes as part of a of a country feels like when the bill comes and you got to split it, but you only got wings.

[00:04:53][laughter] [laughter] Look. Hey, I got six wings. [laughter] All right. There are six sets of bones in my baskets. [laughter] I didn't take any errant bites or anything. And some of y'all are alcoholics. I am not prepared to split this bill with you. You have your barbecue sauce oldfashions. You having your [laughter] I'm not down for this.

[00:05:28]Oh.

[00:05:28]>> [clears throat] >> cuz everybody's having some money troubles right about now. I mean, for all from all different ways. People are getting squeezed in lots of different directions. You know, like we already know tariffs are almost old news now, but the fallout isn't. The fallout is fresh. The Dow The Dow has only dropped by a thousand points 11 times in history. And four of them were in like the last two months.

[00:06:01]Like this is [laughter] this is very bad. If this were a roller coaster, this would be the part of the ride where your neck breaks. Like this is [laughter] engineers don't build this way. This is not safe.

[00:06:20]And you know, you see you see it through the tariffs. You know, I've talked about it before, but those people on the the money channels, they're still a bit nervous, [laughter] still freaking out, you know? They still come on every day. One of my favorite things about watching them now is they talk to us like we're the news.

[00:06:46]They're there doing the news, but they looking right in the camera like, "I don't >> [laughter] [laughter] >> What y'all think?

[00:07:03][laughter] Oh, it's bad. [clears throat] You know, like just this just this week, you know, you you had people losing money in all sorts of ways. I mean, Christie, no.

[00:07:22]>> [laughter] >> Oh, Christine Gnome was at a restaurant and got a bag stolen, right? And I don't know. I [clears throat and laughter] It is wild. Okay, cuz then you have to [laughter] Okay, I'm trying to figure out how to put this. Okay, so then when you report your bag as stolen, right? And you got to list the contents of your bag. You know, her bag, her bag had her driver's license in it, had her passport in it.

[00:07:55]She had $3,000 in cash in her bag.

[00:07:59]$3,000.

[00:08:01][laughter] $3,000 in American dollars. $3,000 in cash.

[00:08:13][laughter] What you doing, Christie? That's >> [laughter] >> $3,000 [laughter] North American South of Canada dollars.

[00:08:30][laughter] She had $3,000.

[00:08:37]That would make sense if this was like the '9s, [laughter] you know? It's the '9s. You got it like that. You got 3,000 on you, you know.

[00:08:49]Okay. You might see a food truck. Want to treat the town.

[00:08:54][laughter] $3,000 in cash in 2025. $3,000 in the year of our Lord Apple Pay. [laughter] >> [applause] >> If I had been the cop, if I had been the cop that she reported to that the miss and she told me listen in the back. Oh, my my uh DHS badge, my my passport, my driver's license. So much stuff was in there. I had a couple of Jolly Ranchers and oh yeah, $3,000 in cash. I'd be like, "Oh, uh [laughter] >> [laughter] >> Do you rap or something? Like, why do you [laughter] have that much cash on you?

[00:09:54]No, she had $3,000 in cash. But the kicker for me was she had a bunch of blank checks. [laughter] I don't even have to. Yeah. [laughter] You still write checks [laughter] in at 2025.

[00:10:19][laughter] You just got that black check on you just in case something pop off at $3,000 in cash isn't enough. [applause] This is the most prepared to be mugged individual I've ever seen in my entire life. That is insane.

[00:10:38]You already got $3,000 in cash.

[00:10:44]Imagine. Imagine you pull up on Christy.

[00:10:46]No. You're like, "Give me everything."

[00:10:47]And then she like, "Huh? Here. You about to walk away."

[00:10:52]And then for whatever reason, you don't know why. You just feel led for one moment. You look over your shoulder back at her and she got a pen. [laughter] >> [laughter] >> You say I give you everything, you know, [laughter] [laughter] a bunch of blank checks.

[00:11:29]I don't even know if the thief would know what to do.

[00:11:32]>> [laughter] >> Like there used to be whole departments dedicated to check fraud and now it's like two dudes.

[00:11:46][laughter] People are not writing checks like that anymore. I bet you they dump the contents out. They're like, "Oh, we score. We got $3,000 in cash. We got her DHS badge. I'm sure she going to want that back. We got her passport, her driver's license. Oh, we got everything.

[00:12:10][laughter] Why she got a bunch of little papers with her name on it?

[00:12:20]Some people so conceited.

[00:12:23][laughter] No, cuz I I had an incident happen to me when uh when I was in in college where I I left for the break and when I got back, the RA, resident assistant, comes up to me as as soon as I get back on campus and she's like, "Hey, um I'm going to walk with you to your room."

[00:12:51]Now, you could get in trouble at the school I was saying was a dry campus.

[00:12:54]you get in trouble for like having alcohol in your room or like if they if they found anything. Sometimes if there was even a whisper of something in your room, they'd at least want to check it out. And so I didn't know if maybe somebody had said something. I lived in my own room. I had my own like dorm room by myself. And so I was like, I know nothing should be in there that I don't know about unless maybe I left it unlocked. Somebody put something in there. I don't I don't know. So I'm kind of freaking out on the walk to get to my room. And then I go ahead. I opened the door and before I opened the door she's like okay don't don't freak out and I was like that's not how you start.

[00:13:33][laughter] It's [clears throat] the least helpful way. She's like don't freak out. Um while people were gone on campus there were a series of breakins and your room was one of the ones that was broken into. right now is this isn't like me being like poor me, but everything I had is everything I had, right? So I like the stuff that I left there, I have one of everything.

[00:14:02]And same for the stuff at home. And so I'm opening the door thinking like, oh my gosh, like I don't have money to replace things that might be missing or broken, you know?

[00:14:14]>> [clears throat] >> So, I open the door and my room is trashed. It's like it's like fully ransacked and everything. And then she's like, "You just make a a a list, okay?

[00:14:25]make a list of everything that's missing and we'll figure out if like the um like department of public safety on campus and the school at large can like help you recover some of it or you know maybe who knows maybe the school can like um come up with the funds to help you get the stuff that was that was missing. And so I look around and I'm moving clothes out of the way and all the stuff I open my closet. They were in my closet too and everything. And it it takes a little while, but quietly I realized to myself that they didn't take anything. This is this [laughter] [laughter] >> [laughter] >> Do you know how embarrassing it is to get your place broken into? And a thief, a thief is like, "I'm good." Uh, [laughter] [laughter] what do you do?

[00:15:47]What do you do? You know, I'm I'm in my head quietly walking around. You know, RA is still standing in the doorway and everything. I'm getting defensive in my head. I'm like, "All right, I got a couple of good DVDs. All right, they not Fight Club fans."

[00:15:59][laughter] No, I got a PS1. I know the PS3 is out, but I had a one. [laughter] They could pawn that. you know they they don't even have imagination.

[00:16:14][laughter] So finally the AR is like so um anything and I was like yeah they took my Gucci watch. Um [applause] I had I had two Chanel bracelets. You got to put the bracelets up. Please write the bracelets down. Okay.

[00:16:42]And I had about $3,000 in cash.

[00:16:48][applause] No, [laughter] it it's difficult when people are feeling like they're they're squeezed so much financially. Like you there are things that you have to pay. The the thing I guess that gets me sometimes when it comes to paying tax, I feel like some some of the reluctance around it is that it feels like you you work all year and then you get taxed for this money that's going to be spent on a bunch of things that you didn't agree to it. Less like you worked all year and it's to pay for the things that we already enjoyed.

[00:17:23]Does that make sense? Like the framing of it I think is why people have such a problem. You know, like if if you just if you just sent back the tax return and then listed the stuff, [laughter] you know what I mean? We might be like, "Oh, I didn't know that I kept the bridge open." That's good.

[00:17:46]That's pretty good. I use that bridge every day. I'm glad it's not in shambles. That's [laughter] Oh, that's fantastic news.

[00:17:56]You You have to [snorts] pay your taxes. Not just because the government is telling you to. It's not the government being some big bad mean or something. It's you you live here and you use the road so maybe chip in so that it doesn't fall all the way apart, you know? And like [applause] that that's not to say really really quick. That's not to say that I just, you know, pay my taxes blindly and love it and never question where it's going because it is your money as well. So, you deserve to have some say in where it goes. That's why we elect people to Congress. You know, it's why we pick the officials that we pick even on a local level because we're like, you work for me. You are my employee and here are the things that I want to see. These are things I don't want to see.

[00:18:52]It feels like in in this moment we're in a real predicament of um I guess the best way I can describe it is I I used to work at uh at a store and when I worked there they promoted um this one guy that was like you know one of us, one of the cashiers. They promoted him and they really shouldn't have done it. It it it uh they clearly weren't paying attention. Like I I was barely a good employee and he was worse than me by far. And and they promoted them. I was like that's that blows my mind. And I'm wasn't jealous. It wasn't like I wanted a promotion. I felt like my duties to my level of commitment were right on par.

[00:19:38]Like I was like, "Let me stack the grapes. let me stock the shelves. Don't ask me to do more and I promise not to do less. Okay.

[00:19:48]No.

[00:19:49]>> But he, you know, he was actively bad and they and they they promoted him and a good example was he he wanted to go to business school and one of the assistant managers said, "Oh, I used to, you know, go to business school like I graduated from business school. I tell you what, I will give you all my old business school books. I don't know how much of it will transfer, how much it will actually help you, but it can get you started before you actually start school. You might be able to learn some of the basic concepts.

[00:20:21]It'll help you, right? And that was a very nice thing to do. He didn't need to do that. I respected that very, very much. He saw somebody with a dream. He wanted to help them along, you know, and so he gave him these books. And I'm not even kidding. The next day, this dude comes to work and accidentally knocks over about a pallet's worth of wine because he was walking while reading the book.

[00:20:48]The book, I'm not even kidding, was called How to Understand Business.

[00:20:55]And this is who you promoted.

[00:20:58]You know, we we're in the business of of selling groceries. We buy groceries from places. We hold them until people want to buy them from us and then we sell them to them. We're in the business of buying and selling groceries. He will stand in direct conflict with our ability to buy and sell groceries and you've promoted him.

[00:21:20]Y'all, we're in a a similar predicament now. [laughter] Yeah.

[00:21:31]as a as a country, we're in a similar situation because [laughter] Pete Heg said got in trouble again for the same thing from before.

[00:21:52]Basically, if you're not familiar, uh, a bunch of people, bunch of people who are supposed to were using the app Signal to, you know, talk about war plans and, you know, quick gist, they accidentally invited a journalist. And then the the uh, you know, the mission kicks off, they do the attack, the attack is successful, and everyone finds out, and they're like, "That was dumb. Don't do that again." And everybody was like, "We can't promise that." Like, that's not >> [laughter] >> Okay.

[00:22:26]Well, fast forward to rewind. We [laughter] are in the same situation again because unbeknownst to I guess anybody at the time, Pete Hex had not only been using Signal to discuss war plays, he had a whole other channel where he was just talking to his wife, his brother, and his personal attorney. And [laughter] you couldn't This is what this is what genuinely bothers me. Like like this is what actually upsets me about the whole thing. Some people are upset. They're like, I can't believe they were discussing such sensitive information that should have been, you know, they can say it's not top secret. They can say it's not classified, but it's at least something that we should hold tight until the mission happens. And he's just discussing it plainly on this app that could be hacked. And it's like those things discussing it with people who shouldn't know isn't actually my problem. Maybe this is is is a you know my own hot take, but I feel like that sort of thing happens all the time. I think anyone who's like married to someone in government, anyone who's married to someone high up in any business knows some things that they're not supposed to know. That just that's that's like human actually. You don't think Michelle OBAMA [laughter] You don't think Michelle Obama was kept up at night knowing stuff she wasn't supposed TO KNOW?

[00:23:56]>> [laughter] >> JEREMY, YOU THINK YOU THINK Michelle Obama was in the White House like, Barack, what's wrong?

[00:24:05][laughter] And then Barack was like, "Uh, [laughter] it's classified."

[00:24:16]No, I don't think that happened. [laughter] You know, I'm sure I'm sure Michelle was in the White House minding her own business, you know, eating a veggie plate.

[00:24:32]Barack halfway kicks open the door. I've had it up to HERE WITH THEM. [laughter] OKAY? They want to kill everybody.

[00:24:41]THEY WANT TO BLOW THE WORLD OFF.

[00:24:43][laughter] Now you sitting there, you Michelle, you like, "OH, I don't even want my carrots anymore."

[00:24:52][laughter] [laughter] Oh, no. The thing that bothers me is that he couldn't just do he he couldn't just be Pete just couldn't be professional, you know, and wait for an hour till he got home to tell her in person. LIKE JUST JUST DO IT THE way people normally do it. Walk in the door, be like, "You won't believe." Like that's [laughter] that's the way you do it. But when I pay my taxes, I get I I do get upset when I see it blatantly being misused, you know, like like when like when Pete when Pete Hex said is supposedly building a $40,000 studio in the Pentagon to do his makeup before he goes on TV.

[00:25:51]>> I'm like that even if even a dollar of that is mine, I'm very upset. Like [laughter] I'm not saying I'm a whole 40, but like that's a that's so insane.

[00:26:04]Secretary of in the makeup room.

[00:26:10]Should he be at war? like [laughter] um every once in a while uh you come into contact with somebody that you know you know from you you you you know in a personal way and eventually maybe this has happened to some of you um you turn on local news and you see them and you're like, I knew it was going to be something, [snorts and laughter] you know what I mean? Maybe it's the 8:00, the 10:00 news, but they did something. You see that mug shot and everything? Uh, when I was in Chicago, I I worked with this dude when Okay, at our job in the break room, we had a light sensor for the light switch. So you could just press it, lights come on, or you know, if nobody was in there or if you didn't move for long enough, lights go off, right? And one day I'm walking into the break room, take my break, lights are off. I walk in, lights come on, and he is he's sitting there already in the break room eating barbecue. [laughter] And let me go out on a limb right now and say that if you eat barbecue in the dark, [laughter] you are a murderer. Okay?

[00:27:47]You're already guilty in my mind. If you are that comfortable with bones in the dark, [laughter] there's no telling what else you're capable of. If you are that comfortable slipping and sliding on your teeth and tongue, a barbecue is messy enough in the light.

[00:28:07][laughter] You should have seen his face when the lights came on.

[00:28:15][laughter] It was insanity. And then I walk in and he not even in my if it were me and that happened cuz I I can even I try to put myself in his shoes. I try to be empathetic. I'm like, "Okay, let's say you eating barbecue in the break room on your break, right?

[00:28:38]Kind of a heavy meal for a 15-minute break, but [laughter] but to each their own." You know what I mean? You going to be sleepy when you come back, but I want everybody to enjoy their life. [laughter] So, let's say you're eating barbecue in the break room and you are somehow doing it so still.

[00:29:06][laughter] I'm not saying he should be hitting the rib like corn on the cob.

[00:29:16]You know what I mean? I'm not like like I'm not [laughter] I'm not saying he should be digging into it with his face like like [laughter] [laughter] in case you're wondering that is at least in my mind the sound you make when you eat barbecue in the dark. Like that.

[00:29:42]If you eat barbecue in the dark, you don't eat it like the rest of us. The rest of us chew like civilized people, but if you in the dark eating barbecue, you are whing out. You're doing whole other sounds and effects that the rest of us don't do. You know, YOU [laughter] I'm not saying that you need to be doing a bunch of extra movements when you eat your barbecue. I'm just saying if you're doing it so still, you know, munch, munch, munch, [laughter] munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch, munch. Yum. Munch, munch, munch, munch. If you're doing it so subtle that a light sensor, that technology was like, "Ain't nobody in the room."

[00:30:33]And then they [laughter] decide to shut the lights off on you and you still [laughter] did not feel led to change the conditions [laughter] of your meal.

[00:30:54]If you were eating barbecue in the break room and then the lights go off and you're like, "That's even better. That [laughter] >> [applause] >> That tells me you're not right in the head. [laughter] Something is going on with your mind or your spirit. Something is evil in you, munching away.

[00:31:22]And then you think to yourself, "Oh, what if someone walks in?

[00:31:27]What if someone walks in and feels like this is awkward, this is weird. I would hate for them to judge me and my entire personality based off of one instance.

[00:31:39]You know, maybe I should get up and paw my way [laughter] if the lights don't come on to the light switch and press it. So the lights come on and the room is once again filled with God's holy light. [laughter] I even tried to extend that olive branch. You be like, you know what? He probably didn't want to get barbecue sauce on the switch. You know what I mean? Maybe that's what it was. Maybe he thought if he was flinging his hands, he get barbecue sauce on the walls. That would look even scarier because now I walk in, the walls red. You got a bone in your hand. You munching away.

[00:32:22][laughter] Really tried to put myself in that headsp space. Try to be fair to him. And after I got through thinking all those thoughts, I was like, "No, the whole thing was weird. No, I was right.

[00:32:39]It's insane.

[00:32:43]I I [laughter] Okay, side note, I left that job, right? And [laughter] one day I was catching up with a different coworker. I was telling them what happened, right? I was like I was like, "Hey, I was super weird." Like I get in there and you know, he he he been in the dark, so he wasn't phased. It wasn't like something just happened and I walked in right after or whatever and they were like, "Oh, you know what?

[00:33:15]I didn't want to tell anybody."

[00:33:19][laughter] But the same thing happened to me.

[00:33:23]Which means on a different day, [laughter] this man was eating barbecue so gentle [laughter] that he lost the light again.

[00:33:39]>> [laughter] >> And this dude, this dude. Okay, so look.

[00:33:42]So, so my coworker told me they were like, "No." Okay, so when I walked in, [laughter] when I walked in, that light I think was genuinely broken because I walked in and it was still dark. Like it didn't just come on cuz I swung the door open, right? Uh so we at least know now he didn't turn the lights off on himself.

[00:34:01]Cuz I did worry about that. I did worry that that man took his break, went to the break room with his barbecue, knew what he was about to do, [laughter] knew how uncchristian he was about to behave, set the barbecue down on the table and was like, "Nobody needs to know."

[00:34:22][laughter] But yeah, so apparently there was a problem with the light in the break room and they were like, "Yeah, but when I walked in, [laughter] he was eating the barbecue." And I'm pretty sure he was choking, which would make you feel bad for him for a second until you really put yourself in that situation because if you walk in to a dark room, you assume nobody's in there. And the sound of someone choking on barbecue [laughter] in a dark room does sound like a demon. It does sound.

[00:35:03]If you walk in and [laughter] No, do it real quick. Close your eyes.

[00:35:09]Close your eyes real quick. I want everybody to close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your [laughter] piece of brisket getting caught the back of your throat. And now you sound like bells above.

[00:35:26][laughter] No, no, no, no. And so then when the light [laughter] when the light from the door spilled in, they saw him and they couldn't really make him out [laughter] cuz they were kind of blocking the the light themselves just standing in the doorway. And they said that they just saw him like eating in the corner, which Why are you facing the wall? [laughter] I forgot to mention that. That happened to me, too. He was facing the wall.

[00:36:01]It's already dark. You don't need to worry [laughter] about being seen. But he's facing the wall going [laughter] >> [laughter] >> I was like, "What did you do? What did you do when that happened?" And they were like, [laughter] "I thought it was a demon."

[00:36:35][laughter] I yelled out loud, "I rebuke you.

[00:36:42]>> [laughter] >> And then I close the door. [laughter] Oh.

[00:36:54]Ah, man. [laughter] So then, you know, I'm I'm chilling in my in my apartment in Chicago and watching the news.

[00:37:14]>> [laughter] >> And I see a mug shot with a familiar face [laughter] who had been arrested for trying to rob a barbecue restaurant.

[00:37:38]>> [laughter] >> It's it it's it's especially tough right now because I I think people are getting squeezed from more angles than we thought was possible, right? It's like, you know, wages aren't increasing. Jobs are hard to come by because of layoffs.

[00:37:57]Some of the layoffs are like the seasonal layoffs when, you know, companies restructure and everything, things that we're actually used to. But then some of them are people losing their jobs in government. Some people are losing their jobs in the in the private sector in in in place of potential like AI advancements and stuff all all while you have the tariffs going on. And I I I truly believe that [clears throat] some of it some of it is preventable.

[00:38:25]Obviously, there's going to be es and flows with every economy. There's going to be es and flows with every country throughout its history of of how rich it is or or what how markets fluctuate.

[00:38:36]Some of these are unforced errors and some of these are things that just happen, but it's all happening at one time, you know. And I think very basically, I I wish everyone could agree on it, but we're not there yet, that just by being human, just just just by virtue of being alive, you deserve access to basic necessities, the most basic of things, right?

[00:39:05]And especially especially if you're working if you are working full-time and you're still struggling to get the basic we're talking about food, water as shelter. We're talking about talking about the most basic things. And and I think sometimes when you when you bring up the people who are having a rough time, they're having a rougher go of it than is just, right? life isn't fair, but you build the scale so that things can level out so they can be just. And when you talk about people who are having a rough time, who need extra help to try to get level and they're literally they're working. They're doing their best. I think people conflate that with people who want luxuries or they want something for free. These people are already working. We are the hardest working country in the world. We clock more hours than anybody else and we every year have less and less to show for it. We have less to show in healthcare. we have less of show in education and possibility of upward mobility. Every year we work harder and every year we have less we take less vacation days than pretty much anyone in the world. And for all of our hard work, we are not seeing the the fruits of our labor. And and there are people who will tell you, "Oh, but if you just work a little bit harder, if you just do it this way, oh, I'm smart. I figured it out. You will, too." It's people who are not addressing the fact that everyone does not get a fair shake, you know, like You you only need to look at me as as an example. You don't think I want to be in the NBA?

[00:40:37][laughter] I did everything that I was supposed to do. I ate my greens.

[00:40:46]All right. I shot the ball. I did I I did the running. I did everything.

[00:40:52]But trust me, if I show up to an open tryyout [laughter] and shoot my shot for whatever team will have me, they will be calling security. [laughter] All right?

[00:41:10]And finances work in a similar way. I'm not coming down on anybody who came up well, went to a good school, and then through that good school, you made a connection which got you your job, which affords you your lifestyle. I'm not saying you don't work hard. I'm saying everyone doesn't have that same opportunity, you know. And I think that at at the very basis, right, at the very basis of of food, water, and and shelter, people get it in their head that even even shelter means, oh, a lavish house or something. Lavish. I'm not talking about lavish things. I'm talking about enough to get by. Everyone is fighting to get by. When you talk to people who don't have about what they want, they just want to be level.

[00:41:51]>> You know, they're not asking for expensive, lavish things like outdoor furniture.

[00:41:57][laughter] Patio furniture is ridiculously expensive.

[00:42:05]It doesn't make sense.

[00:42:08]It doesn't make sense. So, it's literally outside. [laughter] You don't even want it in your home.

[00:42:16]It's almost trash.

[00:42:19][laughter] I don't care how comfortable it is. You literally let it get rained on.

[00:42:26]>> You know, you buy it from a store >> and then you bring it inside for a second just to take it out to the backyard and leave it there and it's too expensive. It's crazy. In fact, when the outdoor furniture is inside, that's when you know it's bad. When I was living with some friends in college, their lawn chairs were the chairs. And I was like, we in a bad situation.

[00:42:55]We're not doing well.

[00:42:58][laughter] M. You got the patio furniture for the TV. We about to die tomorrow.

[00:43:08]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, you know, it's bad. [laughter] It's bad. And it and it should it shouldn't be this bad. You know, you work, you pay your tax, those things should come back to benefit you. And it and it's still that there's a narrative that's going on that's got all of us really going after and arguing with each other as if there's limited resources, as if there's limited money, as if there's limited opportunity. And we know there's not. We know we know that there's actually plenty to go around. Even with the hundreds of millions of us that are in this country, there's plenty to go around because we know how much billionaires have because they cuz they [applause and cheering] they make it known how much they have, you know, like you see how you see how much land they own and you're like, that is a a lot of people could live there. That's [laughter] that's crazy. Or you know that [clears throat] that CEO that said he wanted to own all the water. It's like That's something you keep to yourself.

[00:44:22]What a sociopathic thing to say.

[00:44:25]>> Oh, I want all the water. You can't even drink it. What do you What's wrong with you? [laughter] That's what kills me. It's like It's like people think that it's it's solely government. People think that it's their job. They They think it's not. I promise it's not. And what really burdens me, what what keeps me up at night is that these people are siphoning all this money. They siphon it from the government. They get they get benefits from the government. They get tax cuts from the government. They siphon all this money. They siphon your wealth from you. They siphon it in wages by the fact that they don't increase.

[00:45:00]They siphon it off of like shrinkflation when they act like they they cry poor and then they charge you more for less.

[00:45:06]They siphon all this money all to what end? To to to to have a few people have all that money? all of that money, more money than anyone will ever need in their lifetime. And you know it because they don't spend it. They siphon all of this money out. They are literally parasitic. And then they dress like me.

[00:45:26][applause] THAT'S SO CRAZY. YOU HAVE ALL THE money in THE WORLD AND YOU LOOK LIKE ME.

[00:45:37][laughter] THAT'S WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

[00:45:45]THAT'S SO CRAZY. [laughter] OH, NO. It doesn't it doesn't have to be this way. And and I know sometimes you can feel powerless especially when the big thing is happening when the big thing is just is just going you know but it does it with with with a movement towards any action that is based in in the people's wishes. It has to come to fruition in in in any instance. And you you see it all over the world. You you see people rise up in whatever form it takes to make their voices heard. And it's still very much possible. I know that there's a narrative out there that you're like a cog, that there's nothing you can do and that you might as well just scrunch up as many pennies as you can to get by and that'll be the best you can ask out of life. You know, it's it's to the point now where even people who cross over that million dollar threshold, they enter that tax bracket, they still feel that way. You could make $500,000. You could have $300,000 saved up and you might sell you might sell something within your company, make another $200,000. You might cross that million dollar threshold if even by just a little bit and still be like, I'm barely getting by. And people roll their eyes at that. They they scoff at that. But the way that things are set up, unless you are uber rich, is very easy to drop right out of that tax bracket, right out none of that is certain. you know, small business owners, small business owners, some of them could be considered millionaires, but they'll tell you they're like my actual business and the people that I care for, the employees that I that I employ that depend on me for their benefits, for their livelihood, it's like we are monthtomonth, right? So this structure doesn't end at just taking care of yourself and is why everybody to to the best of our ability. We have to be looking at the whole the the the way that they play it is the way that benefits them every single time. Someone who's already a billionaire would love for you to just try to be like me. You can do it if you work hard enough.

[00:47:57]That's the narrative out there. They don't talk about how many government benefits they get, how many tax cuts they get, that they were born rich. They don't >> they don't let any of that into the story because it would kind of ruin the whole thing.

[00:48:09]>> You know what I mean? So, you know, it's it's literally it's it it it's up it's up to you because we're already there. We're already in a place where I don't see how things are just going to get better by themselves.

[00:48:23]People are putting burritos on layaway.

[00:48:28]That's insane.

[00:48:30]>> That's so crazy. There are apps now that they come to you and they're like, "Hey, we'll let you finance your lunch, dog."

[00:48:36]>> You know, pay $3 now. We got you. And they do. They have you.

[00:48:42]>> And they don't let go.

[00:48:45]>> And before you know it, it's been a month. And that burrito that was $12 when you didn't have it is 65 now when you're done paying for it.

[00:48:53]>> And it wasn't worth it. and it siphon more more from you. The things that weren't already taken.

[00:49:00]They can take your wealth. They're taking it now.

[00:49:04]They cannot take your worth. If you know your worth, if you remember your worth and you fight for it every day and you fight for it with who you vote for, you go to your town halls and you speak to them and you let them know, "We hired you. You work for us. We pay our taxes.

[00:49:17]Go tell them that this is done." It does it doesn't have to be this way. We can demand more. And the thing that we're demanding is not some sort of handout.

[00:49:28]We're demanding our work back to us in proportion for how hard we've worked. These people believe they genuinely believe that they built this company up by themselves is as if there's some some idea truly as a self-made man. It's like even if you built a company and you and you ship the things to the people and they love your product and they want more of it and you think you're such a genius, there are people driving that truck. There are people packing up those packages and then there's the road that you didn't build.

[00:50:03][laughter] [applause] You know, [applause] in what world should it be like this? That's crazy. And then the narrative gets put back on us that we deserve these pennies that we deserve such a small share of the thing that we helped build. Look around. Really look around when you walk around your city.

[00:50:27]Really look around when you travel, where wherever you go in America, no matter who you are, we built this. We built this together. We built it. And [applause] I'm not saying that. I'm not even saying that these like titans of industry don't hold a part in it. I'm not discounting someone having an idea and through ingenuity bring it to fruition to the point where they employ people to the point where people depend on them. But there are responsibilities that come with that sort of thing. You know, I wanted to start a like a candy company and I was like, nah, I'm actually going to be a terrible boss.

[00:51:05]I'd be a terrible boss, you know. I'd be I'd be in there in the candy factory eating all the chocolate, making myself sick, and then when people come to the factory to look at our chocolate, they'd be like, "The boss is in the bathroom throwing up again because he's a child that can't stop himself."

[00:51:23]And that's why I didn't start a business cuz I was like, you know, there are other people that are better at it. It's tough. You know, you shouldn't be a you shouldn't you shouldn't be put in a position where you got to put barbecue that you eat in the dark on layaway. Like that's that's