From: Mike Morgan

Subject: Superstar AI Album

Went to my Apple Store, which is about 40 minutes from my house to register for the Apple Vision Pro giveaway and they knew nothing about it. I googled it and got this answer:

There are no confirmed reports or announcements from Apple indicating they will be giving away 20 Apple Vision Pro headsets at each location. I know you have inside information so I’ll keep following to see when you confirm this announcement.

Forever Grateful

Barry Ritholtz is Chairman and CIO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, which has over $5 billion under its umbrella. Ritholtz also hosts the Bloomberg podcast “Masters in Business,” as well as appearing on Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox Business on a regular basis. Barry has a new book, “How Not to Invest: The Ideas, Numbers and Behavior That Destroy Wealth—and How to Avoid Them.” We discuss investing and so much more!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barry-ritholtz/id1316200737?i=1000702035214

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/6dc0a650-0820-483f-a307-c2722f6d0891/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-barry-ritholtz

Let me be a Republican here…

WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY?

I’m a law-abiding citizen, I pay my bills and my taxes, why should I support exactly who by paying more for my goods?

Yes, that’s the Republican ethos. Screw the takers. I earn my salary, I should pay few taxes and the government should be shrunk.

Not that I’m not pissed at the Democrats here… If I hear one more dyed-in-the-wool left wing baby boomer tell me that we need to bring manufacturing back to America… Yeah, and are you willing to pay $1000 for a flat screen?

We’re addicted to cheap goods made in developing countries oftentimes where workers are underpaid. Sure, there are sweat shops, sure there are abuses, but the bottom line is people want these jobs, to advance their economic status. Whereas…

Good luck finding an Anglo cleaner in Los Angeles. Or a citizen to pick grapes. Because Americans don’t want to do those jobs. They don’t want to do back-breaking work for almost no money.

Of course the minimum wage should be raised, of course people should be able to afford food and shelter if they’re working forty hours a week.

But adding tariffs to all these products…

Mexico didn’t pay for the wall and the suppliers are not paying the tariffs… WE ARE! WHY?

I don’t want to get into all this trade balance crap. Which Trump has overstated anyway, but do you know how many of your everyday products were made overseas? And if you try to make them in America, the cost is prohibitive. So…

I won’t buy an American car. Period. Forget personal experience just check out the ratings in the annual auto issue of “Consumer Reports.” Toyota wins the race, with its sister brand Lexus right along side. This is not the sixties, when you purchased a new car every two years. Cars are nearly prohibitively expensive these days. I’ve never purchased a used car, but the next one I buy probably will be. I don’t want to pay the outrageous price and immediately be hit with that depreciation. I’ll leave that for the truly wealthy and the poor who lease because that’s the only way they can afford a new car, even though they’re getting screwed financially, like with their credit cards.

My ski boots are made in Italy. Actually, Lange is an American company that was sold to the Europeans. Thank god I bought them at the beginning of the season, otherwise I’d have to pay three digits more for…nothing more. So Trump can bring back manufacturing to America that isn’t going to come back?

Yes, I’ll pay extra for a foreign car, because I’ll save money in the long run. I’ll pay the premium, because I want the best. Does Trump really think I’ll settle for less?

And protectionist countries always fall behind economically. Their industries stagnate and frequently they meet their demise. Or else the government forces citizens to buy substandard products.

We live in a world economy, period. We’re not going back, because it makes no sense. Some products are best built outside the home country.

And the retaliation?

Mark Zuckerberg kissed Trump’s butt and now he’s definitely going to get f*cked by the Europeans.

How to win friends and influence people.

I won’t even mention the lack of tariffs on the Russians. I don’t even recognize my country. It’s like something out of a history book. We’re just going to take Greenland? Sovereign nations and borders don’t mean anything? What, does Trump think he’s Napoleon?

And history tells us that the residents of these taken over countries may not get over it for CENTURIES! Why upset the world order?

Do I think Trump knows what he’s doing?

Absolutely not. The truth is the less fortunate spend their entire paychecks staying alive, they’ve got no extra money. And now they’re going to have to pay MORE? Not every product can be made in America. And not every foreign company is going to move here to make stuff. Not to mention stuff made overseas is oftentimes so much better.

Now I read the tariff news today, with the third term baked into Trump’s pronouncement, and you know what my first instinct was? I GIVE UP!

Really it’s the law firms. Everybody’s entitled to a defense. And now you’re afraid of Trump and giving the government free services (and I’m stunned how large these numbers are, evidencing that these law firms are making TONS of money).

And the educational institutions.

Everybody’s being practical, saying they want to save their enterprise.

Where did this ethos come from? That’s not how I was brought up. I was brought up that you do what is RIGHT! That you sacrifice everything for what is right.

But now our entire nation is afraid of speaking up. Did you read about that Mexican act that can no longer tour America? This is the kind of stuff that we read about in foreign countries and shook our heads, now it’s HERE!

And if you read the above and blow back with some MAGA B.S…

The joke is on you. Because you’re going to pay the tariffs just like I am. The benefit, if there even is one, is never going to float down to you. But for you to question your belief…

This is not sports. Rooting for the Red Sox or the Yankees. Arguing in bars. This is real life, these tariffs are going to affect you and me and to what benefit?

No one is standing up.

As for Cory Booker… A lot of good that did. You’ve got to hit these people where it hurts, like the 13% decline for Tesla. Everything comes down to money, and we’re the ones who have it. Consumer spending is the lion’s share of the economy. Despite these tech doofuses, these billionaires thinking they earned their wealth. Oh yeah? If we didn’t buy your products you’d be NOWHERE!

But the public is too dumb and too uninformed to wake up and smell the coffee.

It ain’t morning in America, it’s closing in on midnight. You’re going to wake up one day and realize how much this country has already lost, with all this insane downsizing, and you’ll be paying more for all your products and it will be too late to do anything about it. And if you speak up, no one will rally to your defense, like the law firms sitting on the sidelines and refusing to defend Perkins Coie.

But you’ll compete with other influencers for the last buck, listening to mindless drivel and getting drunk, happy that you’re still alive.

Life is more than that.

WHO?

I saw the headline online, something about an influencer running for Congress. That’s all I needed to know, I didn’t have to peruse the article.

And then someone sent me the video.

What do they say about stardom? You know it when you see it?

Kat Abughazaleh is a star. Just watch. You’ll get it.

First and foremost she’s running against an 80 year old incumbent. Just by posting on YouTube she shows up the ancient Democrats still in control.

But it’s the way she speaks, directly to the camera, the way she delineates the issues, the way she radiates INTELLIGENCE! And PASSION!

I don’t care which side of the political fence you’re on, you’ll get it. She’s going straight for the jugular, with no B.S. And she’s not talking down to the audience, rather she does a good job of conveying she’s on their side.

Now compare this to music videos…

First and foremost, most of the acts are nitwits. They didn’t go to college, many have been trying to make it before puberty. And they’ll do ANYTHING to make it.

Save me the backlash about education. But in truth most learning in college does not take place in the classroom. It’s hanging with new people, working out ideas, developing your identity.

But somehow education has been seen to be elite.

In any event, is it a crime to be intelligent?

So in most music videos the acts are either begging or talking to you from a fantasy land. It’s not really about their music, it’s about their career…please listen to me, MAKE ME RICH!

And when they’re not making videos, the acts are complaining that the game is rigged against them. Do they expect us to have sympathy for them? After all, there’s neither a dearth of performers nor stars, it’s not like we’re all sitting at home upset that there’s just not enough new music. In other words, these bitching acts who desire attention…their pleas are falling on deaf ears.

What we all want at home is something that benefits US! Something that we can resonate with. Something that not only gets our attention, but we want to tell others about.

And very little rings this bell.

Then again, it’s not the 1960s, never mind the 1970s, when music was exploding and defining the culture. Today it’s like the 1950s. There’s a business, there’s product, but the entire world is not focused on new acts and their output.

But the entire world seems to be paying attention to influencers. What are they selling, how are they projecting, what is it that draws viewers to them?

Of course, of course, there’s much more dreck than quality. The hit to sh*t ratio in the influencer game is even worse than it is in the music world. But those at the top, they’ve got that je ne sais quoi, you can’t take your eyes off them, not only are you drawn to them, you’re drawn BACK TO THEM!

But in music we have songs written by committee, produced and mixed by the usual suspects, turned into flashy turds. Whereas the influencer world is all singular. That’s part of Kat’s pitch, it’s her, no consultants, no focus groups… This is what the internet makes possible, the ability to go directly from creator to fan, but too many in the music world are still looking for a leg up…won’t somebody sign me, won’t somebody give me money?

Oh, now I’ve pissed you off. You’re not like this, why do I keep raining on your parade?

First and foremost these are generalizations. Do you think I’m going to listen to all of the hundred thousand tracks uploaded to streaming services each day?

Maybe you’re the exception.

Then again, everybody thinks they’re the exception.

Now subsequent to watching Kat’s video I read this story in the “Washington Post”: 

“Kat Abughazaleh, from YouTube to Congress? – At 26, she’s challenging a House incumbent who’s held the seat since before she was born. Is this the beginning of the Democrats’ ‘tea party’ moment?”

Free link: https://wapo.st/42dwyvw

Now the devil is in the details. First and foremost, Kat’s a carpetbagger, she’s not a native of this district (not that that hurt Lauren Boebert!) Also, she’s of Palestinian heritage and she’s not a supporter of Israel’s activities in Gaza and the West Bank, and this is a heavily Jewish district.

But this is not about Kat Abughazaleh, this is about a younger generation doing it a different way, employing the new tools to convey an honest message. Not waiting in line for anointment, but taking the reins. They’re mad as hell and can’t take it anymore.

Meanwhile, all the boomers and consultants will tell you young people don’t vote and they don’t have any money to donate and therefore they should be ignored.

What can I tell these ancient stuck in the mud know-it-alls?

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Change can happen in an instant. It’s about channeling discontent.

Isn’t that what Trump did?

Now we’ve got Kat Abughazaleh.

But she’s not the only one.

(And it’s interesting that it’s a woman, not a man. Too many men believe they’ve gotten a raw deal in society and want to throw a spanner in the works. This is the essence of “Adolescence.” In a world of online dating, what are the odds you’re going to be picked if you’re not good-looking? Almost zilch. That’s what the 80/20 rule is all about. It’s the women who are leading today, because they’re more educated and unafraid, having a built-in support group online. Men put each other down, trying to climb a greased pole. Women stick together, soothe and support each other. Sure, there are mean girls, but if you dig a little deeper…)