Latest / Literally, the Worst Podcast / 8: Capitalism and the Pettiest of Peeves

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8: Capitalism and the Pettiest of Peeves · Literally, the Worst Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: Hello.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was gonna do songs.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: Noises.
0:08
SPEAKER_02: We should just find some intro music.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: That would solve this problem.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: We might just create others, but it would at least solve this one.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: I'll see what I can find that uh is royalty-free.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: I like this.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: I can poke around too.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm Lauren.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: I'm Anna.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Literally the Worst, the podcast where we talk about all things that are literally the worst.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: So this week, what is your petty thing, Lauren?
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Oh well, I was first of all talking about this segment with somebody last week, and they were like, you should call them petty peeves.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: That it could be the petty peeve segment.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh love it.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh my petty peeve.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Um when so I just got a haircut today, and when even though like wear the cape, she's like constantly using the blow dryer with the trim trimmings all over, or they're like, oh, I hate when they get in your mouth.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, like I feel like a cat trying to hock up a hairball, like I can feel it at the back of my throat.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: And I cleaned off my glasses, I wore them for like 20 minutes, and I pulled them back off, and then there were more of the like bangs trimmed, and I'm just like, ah.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, like all I do is that like she just cuts my hair.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: She doesn't then like wash it and dry it, it's just a cut.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: But even then, like she's still like ruffling, like she's in my hair enough that it should be that, and it's just everywhere.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: I hate that feeling.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: I my least favorite part of that is getting it, getting those little teeny tiny, oh, it's just a trim, and you get like they're less than an eighth inch long, yeah, just stuck all over your face.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: And then it itches, and I'm just like, I can't, I can't do it.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: It's awful.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: It's like, how do I feel allergic to my own hair?
2:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh huh.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really annoying.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: It's like sort of like wearing a wool sweater, but worse somehow.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, on your face.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: A wool sweater on your face.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it makes my face itch thinking about it.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: What's your pity peeve?
2:38
SPEAKER_03: Oh man.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: I I have a beef this week with many things.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: Many things.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Just this week and just one beef?
2:55
SPEAKER_02: One beef and just this week.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: Otherwise, everything is great.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: Uh no.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: Let's see.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: What is my beef this week?
3:04
SPEAKER_02: I this is gonna be a hot take of a petty peeve, a pee pee.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Bring it.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: But what is I'm like, there are some dog breeds that should not exist.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: And one of those is the American bully.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: And for lots of reasons.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: One, all the congenital joint issues.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: Two, dog is shaped like a meatloaf.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Three, it's purely bread- it is bred to have human aggression.
3:43
SPEAKER_02: And they have not bred that out of that breed.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: And so if you have one, it is because you want a protection dog, which is like okay.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you need a protection dog.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: However, I feel like there is a limit to the grace I can extend some dog breeds.
4:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, do you really need a dog that you know is gonna be terrible?
4:12
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
4:13
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
4:16
SPEAKER_02: I hear Cosmos little clicky clickies.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: You can't came running in from the other room.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: He'd had a s I heard something make noise.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: And then he came trotting in.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Good grief.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'm here.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: It's happening.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: Not an aggressive dog.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: That is the polar opposite of what you're talking about.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: He has barked one time in his life, so he's like, Yep, that's an accomplishment.
4:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: I've had I've had reactive dogs before, but I don't think I've ever had an aggressive dog before.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's different.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: What brings this up for you this week?
4:58
SPEAKER_02: I might be dog setting one.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just like, you are you are something, sir.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
5:07
SPEAKER_02: I can't trust you on a leash, so I don't know that you can be trusted anywhere.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: Can't trust you on a leash with a prong collar.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: So I'm just like Oh no.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was like, uh Okay.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's not great.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: Not good.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: No, that's not great at all.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: No.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, crud.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: Talking about things that shouldn't exist.
5:38
SPEAKER_02: Ha! Look at that transition.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Didn't shh.
5:43
SPEAKER_02: So good.
5:43
SPEAKER_02: That was a good transition.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh well done.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: If I do say so myself, which I do.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: Um let's talk about our journeys with capitalism.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: Yay.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I put my fingers towards my throat.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: Probably because it makes me wonder.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: Because you're self-strangling.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Self-strangling.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Capitalism.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh, capitalism.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Bless me.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: I had an existential crisis at the end of 2025.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: Going through a capitalism deconstruction where I was just like, oh, this is how capitalism came to be.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh shoot.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: This is actually the definition of capitalism.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: So I'm curious how you currently define capitalism.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: And then I can share how I currently define capitalism.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you had asked me a month ago, it would have been a lot fuzzier.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Um but I finally went back and started working my way through that scene on radio, their whole season of podcast.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's good, it's disgusting, it's all kinds of feelings about it.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: We're back to my noise reactions because it just is very illuminating on many fronts.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I understand capitalism to be it's an economic system, but it's also a like political system, uh, where in theory the private, like the business, businesses or individuals have a right to like do, start, grow whatever business they want without really like loads of government caps and everything.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's political because laws can impact the businesses.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: Um it's political for a whole other number of reasons because it impacts the citizens that live under it.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Um and then like, but one of the things I would have said for sure a month ago is just like it's an economic system that's all about growth.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: And kind of like growth no matter the cost.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Growth at all costs.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: So that's probably like yeah, probably political and economic system growth at all costs.
8:31
SPEAKER_03: That's how I'd say it.
8:35
SPEAKER_03: I like that.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: I think the way I would say it is that it is a economic system where the primary driver of wealth accumulation is the ownership of capital using more capital.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: So in a capitalistic society, the way that capital is acquired is from more capital, and so to have to make money, you have to have money, and that is the cycle that keeps grow things growing.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: And um you see that now where even in the United States, what is it, like 10% of the people own 90% of the wealth?
9:22
SPEAKER_02: And so it's you can you can have other systems where that is also true, like oligarchy, or things like dictatorship, where wealth is just owned because the government says it now owns it, or a representative of the government now says that they own it.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: Um but in a capitalistic society, capital is the primary means of wealth accumulation.
9:53
unknown: Yeah.
9:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh like that.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm like, oh yeah, that's right.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: Using wealth, using capital to make more capital, capitalism.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Which is a good thing.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: Which is different.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: No, go ahead.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: No, I was just gonna say, which is different from like the surf and lords, when in like Middle Ages time, wealth was just amassed and hoarded.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: They didn't use that wealth to then make more wealth, they contributed it to like maybe the church or to shocker wars, uh, but they weren't using the wealth itself to make more wealth.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: Right.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Right.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: And so you literally have rooms where just like piles of gold were stash, or you know, Scrooge McDuck swimming through his wealth pile.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: Every millennial ever remembers that scene.
10:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh, don't try it, you will break your neck and die.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: But it does look fun in theory to swim through a room full of coins with a you dove in.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: Don't do it.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: You'll die.
11:05
SPEAKER_02: Um it is bad.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: People have tried it, they died.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: Don't dive into a pile full.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Yes, there's instances of people filling bathtubs full of money and trying to like dive into it, and they win.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
11:26
unknown: No.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:28
SPEAKER_02: A basic understanding of physics might have helped them, but I mean, even third grade science talks about matter.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, it exists in three forms.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'm just like, you're you're jumping into a bowl of solid matter.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Anyhow.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: It didn't go well.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: Didn't didn't end well for them.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: I hope they were up for a Darwin award that year.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: I I don't can you win if you're dead?
12:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I thought that was the point.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: I thought it only went to the people that passed.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: I need to double check that though.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll put that on the fact checklist.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: The first one.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Our first fact Star Win awards.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: Our first actual fact check.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: Somebody was fact-checking me this weekend then.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: And he was like, something you guys said this last time was so wrong.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay.
12:35
SPEAKER_02: That's fair.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: It was like, I'm sure we say wrong stuff all the time.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: It is a hot takes podcast.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: But our hot takes.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Loosely educated.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: We've always said we this is just loosely educated opinions.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: And have maybe read one book.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: So you're getting hot.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, you get what you get when you listen to us.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh so yeah, okay.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: Capital making more capital equals capitalism.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: That could be that you own an asset that makes you money, but you are the owner, like you are the controlling factor of in that capital resource.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: So as you've listened to this podcast series on capitalism, how has your deconstruction gone?
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's been super awesome.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: I so I remember from like being younger.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I got this from my family or from my school, but the idea was like capitalism was good because the government was not gonna take away your money or tell you you weren't allowed to run a business.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, so like that was why capitalism was good.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: And socialism uh was bad because the government would take away all of your money so that you could barely survive and give it to people that were lazy and didn't work.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: And examining that now, I'm like, oh no.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the when we oh my gosh, there's so many things.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: So there's like there's the fact that you know, the what'd you say, 10% own 90% of the wealth?
14:27
SPEAKER_02: I think we should fact check that, or you can fact check that.
14:31
SPEAKER_02: It's dear listener.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: It's somewhere around there.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: I did just hear the number.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: It's like you are in the this was from that podcast, so this would have been from 2024 numbers.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: You are in the top 1% of wealthiest people in the US if you make at least or if your net worth is at least 14 million or higher.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's like we're not talking about most people.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: Like the average everyday do you own 14 million dollars?
15:05
SPEAKER_01: I sadly do not.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't either.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I thought I'd ask.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd just check.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: It's worth clarifying.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm multiple am I multiple orders of magnitude off?
15:21
SPEAKER_01: At least one order of magnitude.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: It was like half an inch one.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it really depends.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can't, it's the end of the day.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do math in my head.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Um so first of all, it was just like level setting.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: It made me, they were talking about Occupy Wall Street, which I remember thinking at the time, like, I mean, I great doofus me.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: I was in grad school, I was living below the poverty line, and I was like, I don't understand what they're talking about, the 99% and the 1%.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: I didn't put much effort into understanding it, like when Occupy Wall Street was going on, but it's like, oh Lauren, like you're the people they're like uh advocating for.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: Like me and all of my little cis-het white woman-ness still making pennies, like, yeah, I didn't have health insurance.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, thankfully, Obamacare had uh, which I'm only saying Obamacare because there was a guy in the waiting room at TMS yesterday.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: He had to be in his late 70s or early 80s.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: He was on his phone blasting some sort of news story from his phone, as oftentimes folks around that age do.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even like tell what they were talking about, but he was like, dang, Obamacare ruined everything.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, okay, are you expecting me to respond?
16:48
SPEAKER_01: And he like looked up at me and then looked down at his phone, he's like, Obamacare's the worst.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, Alright, man.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so that's why Obamacare and Not Affordable Care Act is in my head.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: But this man is also in the office at a psychiatric facility.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: In the waiting area that I'm like, you're you're either someone's like one of these professors' father or uh somebody receiving treatment.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: And either way, it's not great.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, I'm like, you you're probably benefiting from this at this point in time, given your age.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: But all right.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um, that point was like I only had health insurance.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: I was only able to be on my health insurance or my parents' health insurance part way through grad school because of Affordable Care Act, allowing you to like keep your dependence on until they were 26.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, uh that was a long journey from where I started Occupy Wall Street.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: But basically, it's just like the the sheer volume of wealth in this country is like hitting me in new ways.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: And then when it's like 25 I have to pull up that other fact because it's like 2500 people own the top, maybe it is that top 10%.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, oh, that puts it in perspective.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, 2,500 people is not 10% of the US, but anyway.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: Um that that would be the top 1%, roughly.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: The 1%, yeah.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: So it's just it's mind-boggling to me.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: It's just that few people owning so much.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: And then the fact that to get that money, they didn't really like they didn't work to get it.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying they never worked in their careers and they never applied themselves, but to get that amount of money, you are not like you can't trade your labor hours directly for that amount of money.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: That's like the market is doing that work for them.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: Like they don't they didn't really earn that compounded interest.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Like Yeah.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:13
SPEAKER_02: Because the way that you acquire that much wealth, you it has to be compounding.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's not because your salary was enough.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: And most of the time when you're talking about capitalism, that is what you're talking about, is that it is a compounded growth over a some length of time that is acquiring that much wealth.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: You're not acquiring that much wealth otherwise.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: It's just not possible.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: So there's like those pieces, and I've always like the last 20 years, especially, have been much more aware of climate change and like where we're headed with that.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, yeah, like we're not gonna be able to grow coffee by the year 2035 where we normally do.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Like it's gonna have to move north, and then the winters are gonna be too bad, and then it's gonna just like it's going to be soon.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: And it comes at the same time as it's like, okay, climate crisis is really bad.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: And then our system as a whole, I'm reading that book, uh, I eat the stars, where she's talking about like the financial system, the agricultural system, um, you know, economics, politically, everything, the way climate, like everything, the way that we function together as humans, like population growth, even all of that is this very complex, convoluted system, and it sits on top of a little engine that is the fossil fuel industry, and uh that can't keep up much longer.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: And so it's just like this whole thing is ready to topple.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: And we could get into limits on growth and all of that that I've just started digesting more of.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, basically, capitalism is not great.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's not this solution for everybody.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it helps the few, not the many long term.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: It's extractive and exploitative.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I don't know that there's any way to adjust it.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: It feels like we need something else in place.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know how we make that sort of transition.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, democratic socialism seems like a better route, but I it there'd be so much that it would have to change to make that work.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that we have the appetite for that here in the US.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: So or globally for that matter.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't think it's just a US problem.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: I think we're the worst offenders, but we're certainly not.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: We're not the only capitalists in the world.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: No.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: So I'm just like, well, it's all crap.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: It's going to crap.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know what to do about it.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: But just having lots of lots of, aha, oh, that thing that I thought was true.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Here's why it's not true.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: So it's very much in the still breaking down and starting to ask the well what do we do instead?
22:36
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: And like how do I how do I run a business?
22:40
SPEAKER_01: How do I exist?
22:41
SPEAKER_01: How do I show up?
22:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: How do I take money from other people as a person who needs money to live, even though this now feels very gross.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: It's like, yep, yes.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: The other thing too, just to define it real quick, democratic socialism basically says that anything needed, any service needed to live or thrive in a country is publicly owned.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: And so instead of having privatized electricity or privatized internet or privatized fill in the blank, you name it water, that would be publicly owned.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: And instead of the ability for an individual to mass accumulate those services and then have a monopoly.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: Which in some of the areas of the United States still happens, believe it or not.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: So most of the time somebody privately owns a util almost every time, especially with the internet, some company corporation privately owns a utility that you rely upon for your life.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: So it's been about a year since my like oh crap, what do I do now that I know this?
24:12
SPEAKER_02: And I I think a couple of things have shifted for me.
24:18
SPEAKER_02: One um I spend so much less money with big corporations than I used to and shop as much as I can locally that is really hard to do.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if people have elsewhere have tried it in Nashville.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty tough.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: I think to shop to truly like get everything that I would need locally if I moved my groceries locally it would pretty much double my grocery bill and so I haven't done that.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: But everything else I try to get locally if I can and if I can't um you know I'll shop where I I need to but I don't shop with Target or Amazon right now.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: We had an episode on the boycott we'll link that but um as little as I can I shop with with Amazon.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: I think the other thing that's been interesting an interesting shift just from a mindset standpoint has been really thinking through like what is enough and uh trying to see if I have her book on my shelf I have it somewhere I just don't know where it is.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: Becky Mollenkamp I believe that's her name wrote a book on having a business running a business running your own business called Liberate Your Business.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: I highly recommend it.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that she talks about in one of the early chapters is how much is enough and that having six figures of income doesn't solve your anxiety problem.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: Like having more having more money being able to afford pretty much anything you could ever want at the drop of a hat doesn't really solve a problem and as somebody in the last couple of years who had fairly significant income was not the top one percent but probably was in the top two just in terms of income from a household standpoint.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: Like it doesn't solve anything really like you hit a certain threshold where it's like I can own pretty much anything I want at any point in time and it doesn't necessarily make your life any better.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make it worse but it doesn't really solve the problems that you think it's going to solve where it's like if I just had enough money I would never worry about anything again.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: And it's like that is not true.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: You just worry about different things.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: So it doesn't solve your anxiety and so I really started to do some work on like what is enough what does enough look like um how how do I also start aligning not just where I'm spending my money but what I am spending my money on has also become more important.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: And so really starting to think through like do I want to contribute to the accumulation of stuff in the world and existing and just like does the world need more stuff no it does not we could do a whole episode on the piles of clothes in various deserts around the world um that will never never go away they're just huge um like seen from space huge yes just fabric that will never be used again t-shirts people didn't want I remember when my husband got had a medical procedure done that men get done and uh they gave him a t-shirt that was like vasectomy champion or something on it and I was like when he was like I'm never gonna wear this ever period and I was like maybe you could like wear it inside out yeah and I was like this is a terrible idea no one needs this shirt no one needs this shirt no one wants this shirt no one needs this shirt oh my gosh but it was just like very obvious I don't think it had a sperm on it but it was like implied somehow I was just like what is this we should get t-shirts every time we have to go for mammograms and it just has pictures of boobs pancakes yeah with like a blueberry smacked smashed mammogram champion you did it again way to go you oh get your boobies smashed like a pancake sorry if you have children listening to this you probably don't but uh also go get your mammogram yep doing that on Friday I had one in 2020 so hopefully don't need another one for yeah hopefully you're good for I think I'm good until I'm 45.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh okay I think I don't know I need to look it up so anyway so yeah I think part of what I've had to really think about too is like with wealth accumulation frequently comes adjusting your lifestyle and then also like trying to decide is that a how often is that a conscious decision or did it just happen because it's what naturally happens when you have more wealth and so um I think that's one of the things too that that really led me to think about is like what is enough and both in terms of like making money but then also what is enough just in general in terms of like what you have.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah I mean we don't live in a culture that really talks about enough beyond survival which is not necessarily what you're talking about here because I do because there's there have been those studies that show like yes more money markedly improves your quality of life when you're not making decisions about getting a tank of gas or feeding your family.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Um or being like I've got eight dollars and seventy two cents for the grocery store tonight.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Like what's that going to look like there's certainly quality of life and happiness and contentedness changes up to a certain point and then beyond that certain point whatever it is now um yeah there's not much there's not much difference because like you said it's like yeah that didn't solve like it may have solved my day-to-day like how am I going to survive anxiety but my my my existential anxiety still exists and there's always more that you could go for.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean that's what she talks about in those opening chapters of that book because it used to be six figures was this and not to downplay anybody that still like six figures would still make a big difference for you because I know that still makes a difference to people.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: And it she's also saying like and it used to be that six figures was out of reach for most people like most people would shoot for that six figure thing but you're probably never going to get there.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: But now it's much more the norm for people to eventually get there at some point in their career.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: And to your point it's not solving the problems like it's not life changing.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: And so the new threshold becomes seven figures.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: And so now it's like well if if I had this seven figure job, career, whatever, then that would alleviate no, because it's just gonna be just going to be you with a lot of your same issues.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's scary.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: It's or the stuff that you bought to solve your same issues that you haven't solved other ways.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Yep yep like I saw a video by uh some influencer it got stitched and she's saying she's like I make five hundred to seven hundred thousand a month and I am miserable like is this all there is and it's just like yeah like that's the reality for some people is you are just rolling in cash like you don't know what to do with it and you're still not happy and I'm just like I hope I hope that was more than just a video for you like I hope it's something that you wrestle that individual I'm like I hope that's something you actually wrestle with because like hell yeah good for you for making that much and like what sort of good can you do with that?
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Like how can you help others?
33:49
SPEAKER_01: And even that though isn't gonna fix what's going on internally.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: So it's like deal with your stuff so that then you can yeah I guess have more comfort with that level of income.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Yes and then make a bigger difference.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah has it so as you've de deconstructed slash panic listened to this podcast has what has it started to make you think about differently and or changed your beyond just like capitalism and the definition of capitalism because I think that's kind of the easy takeaway from the podcast is like okay this is what capitalism is but what would you say it's changed for you if anything yeah uh I feel like progress wise in this process we're in different places so maybe I haven't changed as much but I think one of the main things I've noticed that's driven some change is that it's pissed me off.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh like corporations have really pissed me off.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: I've gotten angry about like how uh what like why we hate unions so much in the US and I'm like unions are literally there to protect employees and like all these companies that say they care about their employee but it's like no clearly you don't care about your employee otherwise you would make different decisions with your money and we wouldn't be looking at what right like the mass layoffs that we have like that's been an ongoing that's been that was probably one of the earlier things was just like oh the layoffs just don't stop.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: It's just constant it just it's either all industries at once because we're in a recession or it's just moving through different industries.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: Anyway none of that is actually the answer to your question.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: I've gotten pissed off I've definitely stopped buying from the bigger so like Amazon very very very limited purchases I haven't I think I've said I'd both been before been into Target once in the last 18 months.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: Walmart again I think I've bought from them once so I'm trying to figure out like which corporations are more which corporations can I find out more about the harm that they're doing to the environment to their employees and then how can I funnel money away from them um which yeah local as much as possible but even then I'm like that's that's tough to do.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: Fashion wise I this one's been tough because in a bigger body it's like it's harder to find clothes that are like cute and not just a heinous or yet another floral print with like the high waist seam that's just under your bust.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Like come on I like I get that's a great flexible cut of a dress and I have plenty of those and I'm just like I have enough I don't want any more and so Amazon fashion is very tempting because it's trendy it's affordable easy returns because that's the other thing is like you never know quite what's gonna fit but like I just don't want to do it.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: Like I want to contribute to like the fast fashion world as little as possible.
37:19
SPEAKER_01: So I've moved like I don't do Timo for fashion I don't do Amazon for fashion it's like yeah I do other like like I shop at Torrid, which is fast fashion it's slightly less damaging than some of the other um options or I'll do uh consignment or thrift stores where I can it's like how can I recycle that uh stuff that people have already said like let's save this from a landfill I'm like yeah I can I can work with some of that oh what else I also I mean we briefly touched on it but it's I feel much more cognizant of how do I want to go into my business as a death doula especially when death work has always been about community and it's not been about it's kind of been like how do we bring the it's not been oh what's oh words sentences I would say some of the thinking sound it could just be ears grinding um the the death work that I am trying to do has not yet been commoditized like the funeral industry has been commoditized and we get private equity the crap out of it Lauren that's our new plan for how we become billionaires how I'm gonna be a billionaire it's gonna be awesome and see we just have to be icky people and it's fine it's fine yeah it's I just don't know how icky I can be I'm like oh your mom that's gonna be$300,000 for her funeral support package please cool you you've owned this funeral home it's been in your family for 200 years oh I'll buy it for pennies on the dollar there you go yeah so yeah death work the the space that I'm moving into just it hasn't been commoditized commercialized in the way other industries have and that is something that I feel much more cognizant of and it's like okay how do I because I do need to make money to exist and in this current system I don't want to give my time energy labor to corporations as much as possible anymore and so it's like okay then how do I shape like my offerings?
40:05
SPEAKER_01: What does my pricing look like what do I do with business profits as far as like investing in me investing in my like nearby community um diabolical lies don't they do um are they the ones that did grants like the tiny little not grants um they did mutual aid they also they donate 33% of their profit every quarter yeah so check them out also if you would like us to also get there you can consider buying us a coffee and that will pay for half of our monthly Riverside editing software budget there we go link is in the show notes just dropping that in the notes hey but yeah so that's one of the things that as I put this together I'm holding and it's like how can I how can I make this accessible no matter your socioeconomic status no matter the extent to which you are marginalized or forgotten by the system like I think how can you rob and the rich and provide free services to the poor I could totally do like a pay it forward option for if I can figure out how to work whoops with luxury clients and be like you can buy a package for you and then you can with this same amount cover this package for five families here in Middle Tennessee yay uh hey I'm gonna capitalize on your lack of lack of frontal lobe activity while you're grieving or anticipatory grief.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah it could be a follow-up that's what you gotta do yeah yeah that's fine it's fine oh you're in some kind of traumatic situation cool here let me push this package on you right now this is why we could start a cult oh just say a exactly start a cult billionaires I mean either way I'm open to both yeah we could totally do it yeah you had mentioned that this is impacting how you think about your business what is that what has that looked like what do you anticipate it looking like or do you know yet once I have profits which that's a key thing for both of us I was like step one profit step two figure something else out um so yeah once I have profits I will be donating 10% of them to causes that uh I care about I'll also be donating them to organizations that help I mean most spiritual directors have a sliding scale or um have a way to kind of make spiritual direction more accessible to people and um that is pretty typical and traditional in the spiritual direction space and I will do my best to try to make it even more accessible to people who need it as a service by donating um so yeah 10% of my profits once I have profits it's the key will be going there.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah yeah step one podcast step two step three profit profit yeah turns out if you just put a podcast out into the world you don't just magically overnight become millionaires that is why Lauren and I started this and it hasn't happened yet guys so
44:00
SPEAKER_01: So it's been so disappointed.
44:07
SPEAKER_01: You can also so that it's not every time.
44:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:11
SPEAKER_03: Buy us a coffee.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: Believe in you.
44:17
SPEAKER_01: And then once we've tapped out our current listenership, uh, that does mean we'll have to grow the podcast.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: So maybe if you don't want to have to buy us a coffee, instead you could rate the podcast, you know, subscribe, like, buy a comment.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Subscribe, tell a friend about us.
44:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: That's I told my hairstylist about it today.
44:40
SPEAKER_01: Hey.
44:40
SPEAKER_01: So we might have one more listener.
44:43
SPEAKER_02: Look at those downloads going up, up and to the right, just like in capitalism.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: Moving on up from 16 to 17 downloads.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: Woo!
44:53
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh lord.
44:58
SPEAKER_03: What is your good thing this week?
45:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh, good thing.
45:04
SPEAKER_03: Do you have good things?
45:06
SPEAKER_03: Uh-oh.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: Have good things happened to you?
45:10
SPEAKER_03: Probably it's an early week.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: You just need one.
45:15
SPEAKER_02: Just just one.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's see.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: I can go first and then come back.
45:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I've got it.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: I th uh I'm not having headaches anymore from the TMS.
45:28
SPEAKER_01: So that's good.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: Hey, that's great.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: Love that.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: So that's a good thing.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: And we're almost to full strength.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: We are three three clicks away.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: So tomorrow.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: Almost to 11, guys.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: I know.
45:43
SPEAKER_02: We're so close.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that was.
45:46
SPEAKER_01: But literally today was only session 11 out of 36.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: Have you noticed that the SADs are less sad?
45:57
SPEAKER_01: No.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh a possibility for like I think the stats say like 40% of people that go through it will feel worse in weeks two and three.
46:09
SPEAKER_01: So I have seen a couple.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: My restlessness has gone up.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't normally deal with a lot of restlessness, but like restless legs have been terrible the last five days or so.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: And like the anxiety at nighttime uh had been generally managed, and now it is not responding to my usual methods.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: So John's other stuff there.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Taking three benadryl and just a similar equivalent of hydroxine, yes.
46:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
46:49
SPEAKER_02: It's bad.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, it's bad.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm like sticking my face in water, holding like frozen vegetables on my neck and chest, like trying to simmer my nervous system down.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: And then the the hopeless thoughts have come back the last couple days.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh no.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: I was like, this is where I was January of 2024, and that was a dark time.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: That was when you took my phone and was like, we're doing the depression scale test right now.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
47:20
SPEAKER_02: The PHQ9.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: PHQ9.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: If you need the PHQ 9, Google has it.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: You can just go through it for free.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: Just Google PHQ9 and it pops up.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
47:33
SPEAKER_02: It's it's also with the crisis helpline.
47:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: So both things are very useful.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: So I am trusting the process and working to get my butt to Vanderbilt every day so that I can continue doing this.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully on the other side it'll be better.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: Remind me to tell you about the pro tip I heard about for generators that might help.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: Because I was like, I heard it and I thought of you, and I was like, just life in general.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: Sleep.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Life in general.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, okay.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:09
SPEAKER_02: I was like, ah, that makes sense for generators.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: I was like, that does not make sense for me, but I was like, that's a what is it?
48:17
SPEAKER_01: Is it something podcast shareable?
48:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll see if I can I'll see if I can find a podcast that mentions it.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: The podcast that I heard it on was an I mean, is it too weird to say on this podcast?
48:31
SPEAKER_02: Oh, no, I don't think so.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: It's basically as a generator, you have to make sure that you have expended all of your physical energy every day.
48:42
SPEAKER_01: That does make sense.
48:43
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't, you won't sleep.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, uh.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
48:51
SPEAKER_01: So that definitely that does track.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh, that probably also helps with anxiety.
48:58
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, yep.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: It's there.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: Much agreed.
49:03
SPEAKER_01: Much agreed.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for passing that on.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to like it, but it is there.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens with a lot of the stuff you pass on.
49:14
SPEAKER_01: It's like, here you go.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: This will probably help, but you'll hate it until it works.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: And then you might still hate it.
49:20
SPEAKER_02: You'll probably still hate it.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: But it's fine.
49:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
49:25
SPEAKER_01: What about you?
49:25
SPEAKER_01: What's your good thing?
49:29
SPEAKER_03: Oh, what's my good thing this week?
49:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh we had a great weekend where it wasn't as hot as summer outside, and now it's back to hot, so.
49:45
SPEAKER_02: But I saw in the forecast that it could be fall three days from now.
49:53
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god!
49:53
SPEAKER_02: And then fall might stick after that.
49:56
SPEAKER_02: Because I was like I hope it does.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: It is mid-October, people.
50:00
SPEAKER_02: We're heading into late October.
50:03
SPEAKER_02: What what are we gonna do if it's still 95 degrees?
50:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:07
SPEAKER_02: Two weeks from now.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, my phone says it's 89 right now.
50:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no.
50:13
SPEAKER_02: It's hot.
50:14
SPEAKER_02: Ridiculous.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: It's not great.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: Don't go outside.
50:16
SPEAKER_02: It's bad out there.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: So the good is that it might be cooler later this week.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: It could, yeah.
50:23
SPEAKER_02: The leaves in Tennessee haven't really started to change yet.
50:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
50:27
SPEAKER_02: They probably have in the mountains, but like they look more just like they're dying.
50:32
SPEAKER_01: Where they're changing.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: They're just like disping up.
50:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:38
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
50:38
SPEAKER_02: It's not good.
50:39
SPEAKER_02: Agreed.
50:39
SPEAKER_02: We've been watering our tree since mid-July because it's so sad outside.
50:44
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's it's it seems to appreciate it.
50:49
unknown: Yeah.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: It's hanging in there.
50:50
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
50:51
SPEAKER_02: It's like water.
50:53
SPEAKER_02: I love water.
50:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, just please don't die.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: No kidding.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: So oh my gosh.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
51:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, where can people find you on the internet, Lauren?
51:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
51:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm at Lauren M.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Height, H-I-G-H-T.com.
51:11
SPEAKER_01: You can find out about my death work there.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: End of life planning education at jazz.
51:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have I'm gonna have an in-person event in Nashville in the new year, probably like late January.
51:23
SPEAKER_01: So I'll keep you guys posted as that comes together.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:27
SPEAKER_02: Yay! What about you?
51:30
SPEAKER_02: You can find me at anash.com, S-C-H-M-U-N-K.com.
51:39
SPEAKER_02: And I have a free evening poetry retreat coming up on October 22nd.
51:51
SPEAKER_02: So if you would like to join for that, you can find the details on my website.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: Sign up for my newsletter, you'll get the details.
52:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh you can also sign up for a free self-guided poetry retreat if you would like to for great recorded poems love the poems.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: Um it's loosely based off of Lectio Divina, if you would like to check that out.
52:18
SPEAKER_01: I love that so much.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, highly recommend the evening retreats.
52:22
SPEAKER_01: They've been a great little reset in the middle of the chaos.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: Come, they're free.
52:27
SPEAKER_01: Come hang up.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: Free stuff.
52:31
SPEAKER_02: I hear beast.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: Yes, she's panting.
52:34
SPEAKER_02: She's like, it's time.
52:38
SPEAKER_02: I guess it is time.
52:38
SPEAKER_02: It's time.
52:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's getting pretty close.
52:41
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
52:41
SPEAKER_02: So alrighty.
52:43
SPEAKER_01: We did it.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: We did it, thing.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: We did it.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned.
52:47
SPEAKER_02: We might have music next time.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
52:51
SPEAKER_02: What would happen if we had music next time?
52:53
SPEAKER_02: I yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna do either.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: So probably panic.
53:02
SPEAKER_00: The next episode is just the music.
53:05
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
53:05
SPEAKER_02: That's all you got.
53:07
unknown: Okay.
53:07
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's it.
53:09
SPEAKER_02: This is the end of the podcast now.
53:11
SPEAKER_02: All right.
53:12
SPEAKER_02: Bye.
53:13
SPEAKER_02: Bye.