Fastball can’t get paid.

I got a call from their manager Ron Stone today. The band was due their 20k on 1/1, Pledge said to wait a while, they’d dribble it out over time. And then when Ron pushed for the money, Pledge went silent, it’s been three weeks now without a return phone call.

So obviously they don’t have the money.

But Fastball has already spent most of it! Making product to fulfill their obligation to their fans who pledged. It’s not Pledge’s money, other than the small percentage the service takes as a fee. They hold the money as a fiduciary. But obviously they’ve spent it.

But Fastball is a small player in their ecosystem, what about the big acts? And do you mean to tell me you don’t have $20,000?

This is just like those festivals that spend the ticket money and then go bust. Assuming the ticketing company coughs it up to begin with.

Then again, these entrepreneurs are not bankers, they’ve got an idea and…

If you don’t have the money, you shouldn’t be taking new clients. And if you don’t have the money…where is the big windfall for Pledge Music gonna come from? They’ve got a fixed percentage, are they suddenly gonna get a zillion more acts so they can pay Fastball its measly 20k?

Or are they waiting for a buyout…

Well who is interested in this low margin business to begin with? And if the present executives can’t make it work, why should someone with a deeper pocket be able to?

Or maybe Pledge just has incompetent executives. Well, aren’t there investors who realize this?

It’s one thing to run out of cash, it’s quite another to use other people’s cash to keep the lights on. It’d be like a bank blowing all your cash and not telling you until it was gone to boot! Then again, the government protects six figures of investment in banks. Beyond that…they figure you’re sophisticated. Come on, are musicians financially sophisticated? If so, they’d be doing something else. Pledge is not only taking advantage of the players, but stealing their hard-earned cash.

And you know Fastball’s fans are gonna blame the band, not Pledge. And how is this going to hurt the band’s image? And their future financial prospects?

Beware.

All The Pain Money Can Buy – 20th Anniv.

Who?

It’s about the money. What did they say in “All The President’s Men”? Follow the money. And if you do, you will find the answers.

Hell, it’s obvious in entertainment, where studios make Marvel pictures and labels release cartoons too. People go where the bucks go. But where are they going?

If you read Fox News, or the “Wall Street Journal,” you’re unaware of the Klarman Letter, it does not appear. But the financial world is shaking as a result of its publication. Seth Klarman is not at Davos, but he’s bigger than Bono and the rest of the celebs who are attending.

You see Seth Klarman is the new Warren Buffett, and Buffett gives Klarman props. And Klarman just released a letter telling the world to be afraid, very afraid. Because of social unrest, the isolation of America, the debt and the denigration of facts.

That’s right, we’re watching the movie right now, but how is it gonna end?

Now the Republicans have been crying about debt for over a decade, but the tax giveback to corporations and the rich have exploded it. How long until there are consequences, until the dollar is no longer the world’s currency.

You see Trump has created a vacuum, it’s jump ball on Earth today. Who is the leading nation. As Britain and America look inward, believing the rest of the world is their enemy, a space has opened up for new leaders. Or as Bob Geldof put it, without the U.K., France and Germany can’t get along.

Geldof has studied it. But most people, most prognosticators, most talking heads have not. They’re myopic, only interested in their own paychecks. That’s right, in reading about the Paramount plunge, it was noted that the execs refused to spend money acquiring the aforementioned Marvel because it would affect their bonuses. That’s how corporations are run. Everybody’s a caretaker. Steve Jobs refused to distribute the billions in the coffer. Tim Cook gives them back to raise the stock which subsequently tanks. Overpaying for nothing. And these are the same dollars that could have been used to buy Netflix, instead of banking on the non-edgy fare in its yet to be released streaming service. That’s right, take out boobs and HBO would have never flown. Boobs start everything, and when a market matures it’s like musical chairs, and those established get a seat. Why does Apple think it can end up with a seat when long term player Amazon is struggling? And why should Netflix fail when it’s Disney that’s spending so much for programming, more than the famous streaming service. Can you say “HomePod”?

But conventional wisdom goes one way, until it goes another. AOC appears and suddenly everybody’s talking about a 70% tax rate, when previously it was all about taxes being lowered. Forget what happens, that’s how easy the dialogue is hijacked.

And now the conversation has been steered by Seth Klarman.

But don’t expect most people to notice. First and foremost, the “New York Times” is leading with the story, and the right has denounced the New York paper to the point Republicans refuse to read it. That’s another thing Klarman warned us about. Everybody in their own silo as a result of websites steering them to like-minded conversations. We were enthralled with the internet titans until we weren’t. Now they control what we see and hear and not only are they opaque, they refuse to acknowledge fault.

So this is the world we live in.

And before you delete this as left wing drivel, know that Klarman was a Republican before Trump. As many rich are. They want to make and keep their money without restraint. Meanwhile, those without money vote Republican because of social issues and a remembrance of what once was. Trump’s election was a protest vote.

Which speaks to the social unrest Klarman is talking about.

And everybody agrees that a recession is coming. It’s just a matter of what it looks like and how bad it is.

And it affects you. That’s right, where and what your job is, if you have one at all. You have a responsibility to be informed. But so many shirk this. But they know when they’ve been screwed. Globalization is inevitable, but those who took advantage forgot about those disadvantaged. But that’s the world we live in today, it’s everybody for themselves.

But we live in a society and we all have to get along.

Read the article below, even if it is in the “Times.”

It’ll get you thinking, and wondering, where are we going?

That’s what the money is worried about.

“Chilling Davos: A Bleak Warning on Global Division and Debt”

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday January 22nd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: LefsetzLive

What a ridiculous game professional football is. Never mind if you’re outside of the U.S., you probably think I’m talking about soccer. But no, I’m talking about the NFL! The venerated sport wherein players get maimed and networks cash in on advertising.

Actually, I was just thinking about the first Super Bowl today. It was played in Los Angeles, in good weather. Playing football outdoors in January is like skiing in July. Shouldn’t happen. Unless you’re in another hemisphere. But money dictates it happens. Ain’t that America, where cash always triumphs.

Now I haven’t watched a single minute of football this year. I’m over it. The injuries, the yahooism, the rah-rahism of the Boston fans… And I don’t want to burn that much time. Isn’t that the story of the twenty first century, how we have no time? So I’m gonna waste three and a half hours watching a football game, which probably won’t even be good?

I didn’t bother with the NFC championship. I know, I know, the LOS ANGELES Rams won. But if you think they’ve got a presence in Los Angeles, you’ve never heard of USC and UCLA. We didn’t care that we didn’t have a professional football team. The owners kept one from us. Oligarchs and their trophies are no longer appealing. Like that woman who excoriated Springsteen for frolicking on David Geffen’s yacht. To be a man of the people, you must be able to say no. But it’s nearly impossible, the cash is tantalizing.

But when I picked up my phone and saw the score was tied, I turned on the flat screen, to see the Rams win in overtime. Big deal.

But I did want to watch the AFC championship, to see Mahomes, who I’ve been reading about all year.

But after Brady scored right away and the Chiefs ran the ball I turned the game off. You see I’m deeply into this book “George Washington Black,” the story of a former slave in Barbados. He is freed, but Kaepernick is not. As for the African-Americans playing the Super Bowl, the musical acts, they too cannot say no. Especially in a world where the press covers every move of SNL like it counts. Everybody’s afraid of obscurity.

But I monitored the game on my phone, every chapter I checked. And when the Chiefs scored, and it got close, I turned on the set.

To watch a game decided by penalties.

This is why I hate the NFL. If you’re aware of all the rules, you’re probably a referee.

Now in the NBA, the sport of the youth, when they get to the playoffs, they let the athletes play, they allow penalties to go uncalled, because they don’t want the games to be decided by such.

But in the NFL???

It looked like the Chiefs had won when it was discovered a player was offsides, on the line, barely.

But even worse is pass interference, one call can change the entire game. I mean if the defenseman punches you in the mouth, trips you, sure, call it. But when it’s gray…in the playoffs?

And I’m not saying Brady and Belichik did not deserve to win.

I’m just saying it wasn’t completely clean, because the rules got in the way.

As for the ridiculous overtime…

In the NBA there’s a defined five minutes. But not in the NFL! To make the game more competitive, they changed the rule, they keep changing the rules. They made it so both teams got the ball, unless there was a touchdown. But the Chiefs’ entire game is based on offense, and Mahomes never got to touch the ball in overtime!

Now I’m not saying the game should not have rules, but in the rest of society we keep denigrating them, eliminating them, we don’t want to be caught by a technicality.

Actually, the entire NFL season was goosed by a rule change, effectively you cannot touch the quarterback, and if you do, another one of those dreaded penalties. Which resulted in more passing, i.e. more action, which made people tune in.

But Mahomes and the Chiefs never got any action, at least not in OT.

Meanwhile, B&B&B are gloating. That’s right, Brady, Belichik and Boston. The same team that is always caught up in controversy, for breaking the rules.

But that’s America baby, you do everything you can to win. Let’s see if you get caught out.

Meanwhile, oldsters are playing fantasy football with a passion, while the kids play Fortnite. Why not? The millennials, and Gen-Z, for all the excoriation are into participating, they’re not passive like their elders. Who wants to watch a sport with endless time outs and commercials with so little action?

Which is why they watch videogaming live and online.

But the oldsters pooh-pooh it.

But what I love about the NFL is the ignorance. The league believes it’s inviolate, that it will live forever, when nothing does, not even rock and roll. They keep building stadiums and overpaying their doofus commissioner thinking no disruption will happen.

But it will, like with everything else.

You see a few cracks, and then the edifice folds overnight.

As for sportsmanlike conduct, the reason we insist our youngsters play sports, what kind of lesson are we learning watching B&B?

But one thing’s for sure, today’s games had tension. That’s why we watch. To get that uptight feeling and not have it be us. We’re overwhelmed, now we’re placing the anxiety on others, who can come through in the clutch, unlike us. We’re outsourcing our anxiety, and then we bitch when things don’t go our way.

And honestly, I’d be singing a different tune if the Chiefs had won, even though I hate them. Because they would have stuck it to the man, they would have given us hope.

But no, the Patriots would not allow that.

I’m not saying we can’t revere the work of those we hate, but without competitors, the Patriots are dead in the water, the entire NFL is dead in the water. This is not Van Morrison, doing it alone, it’s a whole monolith built on bro culture, where the players are men but still act like they’re in high school, and women are either arm candy or vessels.

Think about it.

As for those women who love the sport…

You probably voted for Trump.