Latest / International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better / Road to Nowhere: Russia Builds High-Speed Rail While America Stalls in Politics

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Road to Nowhere: Russia Builds High-Speed Rail While America Stalls in Politics · International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better

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  Only good music we're damn radio damn, right,
• 0:05
  I Am Samuel trap.
• 0:08
  This is damn radio as you just heard
• 0:10
  and this show is called International flavor very
• 0:15
  glad to have you damn glad to have
• 0:17
  you I might even say if you ever
• 0:19
  want to go back and listen to my
• 0:20
  older shows I was just on the Ike
• 0:22
  Skelton show a little bit.
• 0:23
  It was a lot of fun I was
• 0:24
  very glad to be here just came in
• 0:26
  a little bit too early I suppose trying
• 0:28
  to get a couple things done and he
• 0:30
  he Chatted with me a little bit.
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  It was very nice and I appreciate that
• 0:34
  and I like I can I like you
• 0:36
  show and it was a good dialogue that
• 0:39
  we had and You know, I got plenty
• 0:44
  to talk about my damn self and there's
• 0:46
  there's there's plenty to go along But I
• 0:48
  really like listening to Ike and if you
• 0:51
  get a chance on Wednesdays Wednesdays are long
• 0:54
  play Wednesday where we have a lot of
• 0:56
  folks that Have shows we have five different
• 1:00
  radio shows on a great talk here on
• 1:04
  damn radio dot-com forward slash live and
• 1:09
  the Lake Ozark real estate of the art
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  studio and I've got quite a bit of
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  content lined up for tonight to discuss with
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  you and I wanted to start about a
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  week ago.
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  I gave a bit of a story on
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  Infrastructure and all of the successes of infrastructure
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  in Southeast Asia the North sail South rail
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  projects India run in a port in Iran
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  New rail lines being put into place by
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  China all over the world high-speed rail
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  everywhere The biggest port in Peru funded by
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  Costco from China lots of stuff like that
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  So there's you know after World War two,
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  there was a lot of growth in America.
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  Why?
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  because we were building infrastructure like a bunch
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  of madmen and there was money put into
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  it and Nowadays, we can't get anything done
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  because of Political gridlock, you know, I got
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  to make sure my brother or my nephew
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  is Company gets a chunk of the money
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  set for this Biden has to make sure
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  that Burisma funds his son's horrible lifestyle, you
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  know, whatever that happens to be we can't
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  do infrastructure anymore very well in the United
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  States and It was kind of brought home
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  to me today And I'm and I'm gonna
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  revisit it in a smaller sort of way
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  for the first little bit of the show
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  here Because I think it's important if you
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  listen to the Ike show and me and
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  my little thing on there I told a
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  little story about me riding on a train
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  from Moscow to Minsk and it was a
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  nice train, you know, they had Like like
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  you would get on an on an airplane
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  service that you know, they provide food.
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  They come to your table They bring you
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  tea.
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  They bring you coffee, you know stuff like
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  that you can get a glass of wine
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  if you want it, you know, same thing
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  you could probably get on an airplane and
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  I Told the story about how how I
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  Got sat by a drunk Russian and it
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  was a pretty fun You know, it's a
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  fun little story and it was you know
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  I didn't create an international insert into nothing
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  and that was really good.
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  But but They have that sort of thing
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  a six-hour train ride.
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  I'm not saying we don't in America, but
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  I've ridden on trains in America and It's
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  not good, let's let's let's say that it's
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  just not good We have someone in the
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  studio, but I'm not gonna let him talk
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  just yet And I know he wants to
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  and I'm gonna let him but I want
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  to share with you first.
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  I'm gonna share with you this entire Project
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  that Putin just signs off on now whether
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  you think it's because and like I do
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  That it's political gridlock in one hand has
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  got to wash the other or you can't
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  get anything done If you remember me talking
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  in my in my diatribe about it in
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  my two-hour Breakdown on a Sunday night
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  a week or two ago Put this in
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  the What was it called where you had
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  to have the I'm gonna turn him up
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  because he probably remembers Where you had the
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  the oil coming from Canada down to Mexico
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  what was it called pipeline Keystone pipeline is
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  what it was called and So the Keystone
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  pipeline was all going very well the day
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  Biden took office he canceled it Billions lost
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  hundreds of millions at least and for a
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  project that just got cut off.
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  Why because it's politically crap Other countries wouldn't
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  do that in my opinion But here the
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  political knife in the back is is is
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  that and so, you know, you wonder if
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  we can ever get anything off the ground
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  Infrastructure wise again Meanwhile, we have infrastructure going
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  up all around the world with countries that
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  are working together Even though they disagree with
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  each other India and China working together Economically,
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  and they've had the same border war for
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  going on 40 years I want to say
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  might be might be a little shorter than
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  that But they've had the same border war
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  going on that in 2021 They were they
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  killed each people on each other's borders, but
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  they're still working together And so I was
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  very interested when I saw this Putin signing
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  off on Europe's largest ever High-speed rail
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  project and it's a short article.
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  So I'm gonna share it with you Michal
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  Miss Houston has announced plans for a massive
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  high-speed rail network in Russia set to
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  be the largest in Europe With more than
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  4,500 kilometers 2,800 miles and they
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  use domestic built trains Domestic they're building their
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  own trains.
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  They're not buying them from the West anymore.
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  They don't have to And at a government
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  meeting, oh these trains will be able to
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  go 400 kilometers an hour 250 miles an
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  hour at a government meeting Tuesday Prime Minister
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  said the new line will cut travel time
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  between Moscow st Petersburg from four hours to
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  just over to the network will connect Moscow
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  to Minsk the ride I was just on
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  that took me Six hours, maybe seven.
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  It's a nice ride.
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  I mean through some beautiful country It'll connect
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  Adler with the Black Sea.
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  You're cuttering Borg with the Ural Mountains Riazan
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  and other cities travel between cities will not
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  only be safe and comfortable but also Not
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  too time-consuming in the modern world Time
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  is increasingly valuable because that we are mastering
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  technology For faster travel and are working on
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  a development scheme for high-speed rail infrastructure
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  and the rest of it I'm not going
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  to read and so I got to thinking
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  about that and I was interested in the
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  thing that they're going to become the I
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  Think it's a second largest in Europe that
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  that they will be there.
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  Actually, they're gonna pass up Spain and So
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  I I started doing a little bit a
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  bit of looking okay into this high-speed
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  rail, which in the u.s We don't
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  have very much of Very very little.
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  Okay the highest The largest high-speed rail
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  project in Europe will be this 4,500
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  kilometer Russian network and it will be bigger
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  than Spain's 3,900 kilometer System which is
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  pretty involved They're gonna use entirely Russian built
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  trains Getting rid of the dependence on the
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  Siemens Sapsan units Which currently max out at
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  250 kilometers an hour and their target speed
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  is 400 kilometers an hour making them faster
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  than France's TGV which is 320 kilometers an
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  hour.
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  This highlights Moscow's technological independence amid sanctions by
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  the way, and Just like they have an
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  aircraft just like to have an energy projects
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  just like they have in weapons.
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  Okay Strategic Moscow st.
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  Petersburg that connection is huge because those are
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  the two most Probably the most consequential cities
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  inside of Russia and you can get back
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  and forth within two hours That's almost less
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  time than it takes you to get on
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  to go to the airport Get on a
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  plane fly to play and get it, you
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  know, it's it's it's gonna be quite similar
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  to that They'll go to Minsk Adler, you
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  know those place already talked about Putin has
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  already signed off giving it a green light
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  And you know, the difference is these are
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  government projects.
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  I don't want to say that I'm pro
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  -government and anti Capitalism or private companies but
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  we spend all our time deciding which private
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  companies gonna win and get the contract and
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  Be able to do it between states plus
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  as I pointed out before 80% of
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  the funding for infrastructure at least if not
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  more Gets delegated to a particular state.
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  So when you get money for infrastructure in
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  Texas You might not necessarily get it in
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  Colorado or in New Mexico And then how
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  do you get those three to work together
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  to build some sort of infrastructure that is
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  useful for the entire America?
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  this is not the America of the times
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  when we put together the Highway systems the
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  interstate system, which was all, you know federal
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  now, they're maintained locally with federal money and
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  You know, we heck with that project can't
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  get off the ground this interstate 27 from
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  Texas, Colorado That that thing's a mess as
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  we talked about before So the first stage
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  of this one that Putin is going on
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  is Moscow st.
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  Petersburg.
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  Okay, it's a global context Russia's gonna leap
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  ahead of Europe and they're still trail China,
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  but guess how many Guess how many?
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  kilometers China has worldwide now 64,000 they
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  are So far ahead of the rest of
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  us.
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  It's not even funny and they have in
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  operation already, by the way, and They hold
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  the record of trains Like to Shanghai maglev
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  train goes 460 kilometers an hour.
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  That's about 280.
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  I think Don't quote me on that.
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  I can't add but Russia's project is going
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  to be geopolitically significant Europe talks Green Deal
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  and this regulation Russia's building stuff India's building
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  stuff.
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  China's building stuff.
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  And so this is Falls right in line
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  with the eastward pivot now I've brought this
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  up and I brought somebody into the studio
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  knows a little bit about rail projects when
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  when we connected and Your microphone is now
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  on and I think and when we connect
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  to say something check check there is and
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  this is my esteemed brother and colleague Matthew
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  von Trapp and Matthew von Trapp used to
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  work on rail in some very large projects.
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  He was What should we call it a
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  near miss on the California rail?
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  Why don't you tell us your your tale
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  about and see if you can you heard
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  my commentary on what I was saying?
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  why don't you give us a little perspective
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  on your point of view because I Wanted
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  you here because I know you know more
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  than I do.
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  I had to read what I got.
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  What do you got?
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  well, I think generally, you know when you
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  start off about You know where the state
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  of infrastructure in the United States We have
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  to look at First of all, is it
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  fit for purpose?
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  Like we have a low something like 2
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  .5 percent of our GDP that we spend
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  on Infrastructure and the question is is it
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  sufficient?
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  Doesn't match what we really need right, and
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  when you look at Where we rank in
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  the world, it's really not even about the
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  rankings although we don't we don't shine very
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  far and those rankings either and You have
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  a lot of investments that were made under
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  Biden But that those dollar investments don't translate
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  out into Like if we would normally build
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  a massive bridge and rail project that was
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  crossing one of the rivers And it was
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  a billion dollars or something during the Biden
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  years That would have been two or three
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  billion dollars because of all of the the
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  money that went to friends and family all
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  of the Inflation those other things that really
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  diluted project cash.
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  So when you're talking about 69 billion in
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  construction funds the You know house Appropriations money
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  is a lot higher than that and then
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  you you actually get some it was like
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  a hundred and eighteen billion If I remember
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  correctly, I have to look it up you
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  mean for the rail project.
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  Well, the rail project received four billion of
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  that right and four billion of a hundred
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  and eighteen four billion of so of that
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  hundred and eighteen there was a bun you
• 13:48
  know a bunch of stuff for studies and
• 13:50
  some of These other things in there and
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  what you can read into that was that
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  hey, my friend has a little you know
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  Engineering company and I want a little study
• 13:59
  company little study and we need to study
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  from then you end up with like an
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  18 page document that looks like it was
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  written by a high schooler for the money,
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  but anyway Long and short of it is
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  that California high-speed rail got four billion
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  And everybody's really excited.
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  They get four billion dollars.
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  They're supposed to go do something So they
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  contacted me I was it was a Search
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  agency out of the UK that found my
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  resume.
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  I'm living in Chicago The guy calls and
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  he's like, hey, you know, I got this
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  project and he's telling me about the project
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  and He goes The one problem is you
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  may not want to go It's it's like
• 14:48
  where a lot of Americans don't want to
• 14:50
  go and I'm thinking I've already lived in
• 14:52
  the Middle East Like where are we talking?
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  Because the only place I've refused is Mexico.
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  I Was hired for an airport in Mexico,
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  and I didn't go I shouldn't say I
• 15:03
  was hired.
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  I was offered a position there.
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  Yeah So I'm like, where can this be
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  and he goes it's California La I'm not
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  going and I said, you know what?
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  I like California.
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  I hate the politics.
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  Yeah, but I like California so But just
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  as a little background, I I've done about
• 15:27
  a hundred and five billion worth of construction
• 15:30
  projects in that.
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  I'm on the site That's the value of
• 15:34
  the project.
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  I'm doing usually some kind of technical work
• 15:38
  That has to do with the quality of
• 15:40
  the site and you know The data and
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  all of those things that need to be
• 15:44
  transferred and you know for an operator when
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  you think about it You've got design and
• 15:48
  then you build and then you operate and
• 15:51
  the guys who operate Need to know that
• 15:54
  the people who designed it and built it
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  They didn't have all that information and they
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  also need to be able to Assure, especially
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  in a rail project.
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  You've got rail airports and hospitals that are
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  similar that require certification so When they're getting
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  certified Like for example in a hospital like
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  you can't have cloth couches sitting around that
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  collect bacteria and Dust dust like that mold
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  and all that For an airport like you
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  you've got security issues.
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  You've got safety issues, etc and for rail
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  you've got a combination of different things, but
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  the main thing about the rail is the
• 16:36
  safety case and What that is is that
• 16:40
  is to show that you can operate the
• 16:43
  railway safely All the engineers and operators and
• 16:47
  everybody gets together and they say Hey a
• 16:51
  train traveling at X speed Will when it
• 16:55
  passes this, you know, let's say it's a
• 16:58
  it's a railroad crossing of some kind It
• 17:00
  will be able to do so safely because
• 17:03
  the engineers have put the crossing gates down
• 17:06
  When it's approaching it'll be so many seconds
• 17:09
  before the train gets there at such-and
• 17:12
  -such speed and it'll lock out Or if
• 17:14
  you're on a Metro, it'll lock out the
• 17:16
  people so there's no way they can access
• 17:18
  the tracks That kind of stuff You have
• 17:23
  to demonstrate that the rail is safe.
• 17:26
  And that's the safety case.
• 17:27
  There's a lot of things that go into
• 17:29
  the safety case and just as an example
• 17:33
  if you are in a tunnel and Let's
• 17:39
  say you're underground you have to be able
• 17:42
  to safely get out of The rail car
• 17:46
  if it's on fire within a specific time
• 17:49
  period you have to be able to evacuate
• 17:52
  the tunnel via a nearby exit and You're
• 17:56
  talking about quantity of people and speed and
• 18:01
  all of the safety measures to be able
• 18:03
  to you know get out to fresh air
• 18:04
  and There's certain things that buy you time
• 18:08
  right like air evacuation systems and fire suppression
• 18:13
  systems and you know, etc, etc lighted pathways
• 18:17
  and all of that stuff Well California and
• 18:23
  I'm by the way, I'm gonna do a
• 18:24
  deep dive and then I'll kind of come
• 18:25
  back to the higher level here but California
• 18:28
  high-speed rail I get this call I
• 18:33
  Jump on a set of interviews They get
• 18:36
  me give me the lowdown.
• 18:37
  I jump on a set of interviews And
• 18:40
  the people they have on the job are
• 18:42
  these Experienced like senior engineers right that they
• 18:51
  were on a bridge project in Michigan and
• 18:55
  you know, they've done a billion dollars worth
• 18:57
  of work and I'm coming in there.
• 19:00
  And by the way, not to make not
• 19:02
  to belittle them but no one that I
• 19:05
  interviewed with and I want to tell you
• 19:09
  I interviewed with over ten people These are
• 19:12
  high-level people not a one of them
• 19:15
  had any rail experience and By this point
• 19:19
  I'd done rail projects in several countries.
• 19:22
  Mm-hmm, and I'm coming in here and
• 19:24
  I'm like What is going on?
• 19:28
  So I'm explaining to them These are the
• 19:32
  construction guys So I'm getting nervous the big
• 19:35
  money guys.
• 19:36
  These are the big money guys.
• 19:37
  Yeah So I'm explaining to them that this
• 19:41
  is three times faster than a roller coaster
• 19:44
  and The first thing that needs to be
• 19:48
  built The design of everything has to be
• 19:52
  the safety systems not the track not the
• 19:56
  grades Because when you think about it if
• 20:00
  you have some construction company that comes in
• 20:02
  and builds a Roller coaster and then they
• 20:05
  come to a safety company and they're like,
• 20:07
  okay, can you certify this for us?
• 20:10
  The safety company is gonna go Well the
• 20:15
  way you built that curve like people are
• 20:17
  gonna fly out of the the roller coaster
• 20:21
  Right because of the way the cars are
• 20:23
  designed So you have to start with safety
• 20:26
  you have to be able to say Here's
• 20:28
  the speeds Here's the grade of the curves
• 20:31
  like two three percent Here's the You know,
• 20:37
  the g-force is required in this at
• 20:39
  this angle Here's the you know, the grading
• 20:42
  all of that stuff.
• 20:44
  You have to look at right and So
• 20:49
  When I was discussing this with them and
• 20:52
  explaining to them that and I asked them
• 20:55
  well who's who's doing the safety case and
• 20:59
  They most of them didn't know what the
• 21:01
  safety case was Right, it's like building a
• 21:05
  hospital and not knowing that you have to
• 21:07
  actually be certified to open a hospital, right?
• 21:11
  Yeah You know or an airport like oh
• 21:16
  I didn't know the FAA had a hand
• 21:18
  in this You know what?
• 21:20
  I mean?
• 21:21
  Yeah Thinking to myself like what is the
• 21:25
  focus?
• 21:26
  So I began to ask them over time
• 21:27
  like what are we focused on here?
• 21:31
  and You know, they're like wow, we've you
• 21:34
  know done these grades etc, etc And we've
• 21:37
  you know, we're almost done with this viaduct
• 21:39
  and you know these kind of things And
• 21:43
  for the most part they're running through flat
• 21:45
  terrain, so they're gonna be okay, but we
• 21:48
  don't know that We don't know that they
• 21:52
  don't have a hazard log With a series
• 21:55
  of lists of things that they are going
• 21:57
  through from a safety perspective Instead these are
• 22:01
  a bunch of construction guys.
• 22:02
  Yeah, this looks good.
• 22:03
  It's nice and flat right and Not a
• 22:08
  single line of track Right and while you
• 22:12
  were when you were Getting ready.
• 22:15
  I pulled up some of the some of
• 22:17
  the history because I was trying to remember
• 22:20
  How far back it went I did the
• 22:22
  research before I ever went and joined So
• 22:24
  what's funny is I got hired by the
• 22:26
  high-speed rail First time I got hired
• 22:31
  three times In a year and a half
• 22:33
  for high-speed rail for the high-speed
• 22:35
  rail in California.
• 22:36
  The first time Was to be their Their
• 22:45
  improvement guy internal processes So I jump in
• 22:49
  there and I interview with these people and
• 22:52
  one of the primary objectives They had this
• 22:56
  listed as a primary objective and I don't
• 22:59
  think it's a bad thing But I think
• 23:02
  it just shows some of the misdirection that
• 23:04
  was going on So one of their primary
• 23:07
  objectives was to Hire locals.
• 23:13
  Hey applaud, right?
• 23:14
  Yeah, you know the challenge was is That
• 23:19
  they had a whole outreach group That would
• 23:24
  register businesses and I mean spending millions training
• 23:29
  these people Rather than just going and picking
• 23:33
  people like hey, you've got the skills come
• 23:34
  in here and do this they're like training
• 23:38
  people who've never done this sort of thing
• 23:39
  before and a lot of small businesses and
• 23:42
  a lot of friends of you know, Dei
• 23:45
  and all this stuff, right?
• 23:47
  So you end up with this entire goat
• 23:49
  rope of a You know Organization that's going
• 23:53
  through this and I went through and show
• 23:55
  them.
• 23:55
  Hey, here's how you do stuff You know,
• 23:56
  here's the stations need to be prepared for
• 23:58
  retail food and beverage of what we call
• 24:00
  our F&B There's a there's a big
• 24:02
  deal of how this is supposed to be
• 24:04
  Set forth and there were some problems with
• 24:06
  the stations and things that they were putting
• 24:08
  together That was the first time When it
• 24:14
  came to and I signed my signed my
• 24:16
  offer letter everything after we went through some
• 24:18
  negotiations About three weeks in waiting for stuff
• 24:23
  to happen, you know get things going I
• 24:27
  hadn't hadn't actually started yet.
• 24:29
  There was a whole paperwork trail that now
• 24:30
  had to go up to the CEO to
• 24:32
  be signed So I'm thinking to myself.
• 24:37
  Well, there's a whole lot of bureaucracy here
• 24:40
  In the meantime this drags on for a
• 24:43
  month.
• 24:44
  Mm-hmm, and they come back.
• 24:47
  They're like, hey We're gonna find another position
• 24:52
  for you And This is the Jim Gobb
• 24:57
  Jim Bob get your spot Jim Bob.
• 24:59
  Yeah, they had a friend They had a
• 25:02
  friend who came in after they had already
• 25:04
  offered me the position Who had been there
• 25:07
  before but was working at a different?
• 25:09
  Company and didn't like the fact that he
• 25:11
  actually had to work at the high-speed
• 25:13
  rail.
• 25:13
  He could actually just sit around and do
• 25:14
  nothing and He had no track record of
• 25:20
  Doing he'd already been in that position had
• 25:23
  no delivered track record Of actually saving money
• 25:27
  or doing anything, right?
• 25:29
  And the whole position was to save money
• 25:31
  and time for the operations of the rail
• 25:34
  So but he had no experience had delivered
• 25:37
  no value But he was a friend of
• 25:40
  them.
• 25:40
  So they were like, hey, we're gonna get
• 25:41
  him back in here So I'm like, okay
• 25:44
  round two Round two what was round two
• 25:49
  round two was some So, so by the
• 25:53
  way, the reason I'm interviewing with like 10
• 25:55
  or 12 people or whatever it was is
• 25:57
  it I Had to go through three rounds
• 26:00
  of interviews every job Right and they were
• 26:05
  with people all these experienced people So and
• 26:12
  again, I'm the only one with experience so
• 26:14
  it's getting odd um So, I can't remember
• 26:19
  what the second position was it was It
• 26:25
  was something it was still up by Sacramento
• 26:28
  anyway, the second position was Something in operations
• 26:33
  or something.
• 26:33
  I can't remember and That one fell through
• 26:37
  no explanation Right.
• 26:43
  So they're like hey, you know or no,
• 26:46
  I think they said it was like they
• 26:48
  couldn't free up a position or something there
• 26:52
  was a Position was approved but not funded
• 26:55
  or some weird thing like that So then
• 26:59
  but I'm like you hired me for it.
• 27:01
  I signed the papers We got that far
• 27:06
  For the job offer like they offered me
• 27:08
  the job The third one was and again
• 27:11
  each of these are like six months apart.
• 27:13
  So this is like wasting some serious time,
• 27:15
  right?
• 27:17
  So the third one was to be a
• 27:20
  senior advisor to all of the construction executives
• 27:26
  they had different area leads And so they're
• 27:30
  like, hey this guy's got, you know, he
• 27:32
  can come in and be a senior advisor
• 27:35
  and I was actually happy with that because
• 27:37
  I thought I'm gonna have an impact on
• 27:39
  the guys that are running these areas and
• 27:43
  And Again I signed the paperwork like the
• 27:49
  job offer was done So I'm waiting around
• 27:52
  for a week right thinking third time's a
• 27:57
  charm and But I came to realize that
• 28:05
  The system in California knows no has no
• 28:09
  boundaries of how absurd things can go really
• 28:12
  and so I find out that the guy
• 28:18
  who Was putting my paperwork forward he was
• 28:25
  preparing for the new CEO to come in
• 28:27
  and this is I want to say August
• 28:31
  of 23 Something like that.
• 28:36
  Maybe it was Maybe it was 24 even
• 28:39
  I can't remember the new CEO was coming
• 28:41
  in Angus 23, but yeah, I don't remember.
• 28:46
  Yeah, it's like anyway, so So he's like
• 28:51
  hey, we got this new CEO and he
• 28:53
  He's just coming in replacing the old one,
• 28:56
  you know trying to get fresh start on
• 28:59
  things and He He wanted to freeze on
• 29:06
  hiring He has his own senior advisors and
• 29:11
  at that point I Was like this is
• 29:15
  never gonna happen It's not gonna happen So
• 29:19
  I started looking at other infrastructure projects and
• 29:21
  I got familiar with some of the stuff
• 29:23
  out east and some different stuff The only
• 29:25
  people that had experience on those real projects.
• 29:28
  They were all foreigners we had a bunch
• 29:30
  of British people that were there and And
• 29:35
  You know things of that nature where they
• 29:38
  were just there weren't any Americans because we
• 29:40
  don't have We don't have the people like
• 29:44
  when I got back from the Qatar Right,
• 29:47
  and I was looking for a job Quote
• 29:50
  -unquote There's nothing here.
• 29:52
  My first job was in Canada on a
• 29:55
  1 billion dollar light rail program in Ottawa
• 29:58
  And Again, the Canadians didn't have any experience.
• 30:02
  So they were looking for guys So when
• 30:06
  I when I go back to like having
• 30:08
  a program fit for purpose The big issue
• 30:11
  is even when we have a program.
• 30:13
  We don't have any of the experience bringing
• 30:16
  in people from the UK and Now India,
• 30:20
  right?
• 30:21
  Yeah, so but check out this timeline.
• 30:24
  This may be something that might Interest your
• 30:28
  your listeners because I had to look it
• 30:31
  up again because it was so absurd when
• 30:33
  I heard it before Key timeline of the
• 30:37
  California high-speed rail 1975 To 1983 we're
• 30:44
  now 50 years into this right Governor Jerry
• 30:49
  Brown signs a study again a study that
• 30:53
  you do a study 1982 the California legislature
• 30:58
  offered Authorized 2 billion for a bullet train
• 31:02
  and they told everybody it's gonna be a
• 31:04
  bullet train.
• 31:04
  It's only 2 billion, right?
• 31:07
  and that was You know again signed into
• 31:10
  law in October of 1982 81 so that
• 31:16
  money's still sitting there.
• 31:17
  Oh, there's no bullet train.
• 31:19
  Oh, no No, and by the way as
• 31:22
  of today right now, there's still no track
• 31:25
  on the ground, right?
• 31:28
  I heard said not long ago that they
• 31:31
  canceled it or something There's a government so
• 31:33
  under Trump.
• 31:34
  The first thing he did is new transportation
• 31:35
  secretary went out there had a big meeting
• 31:40
  In this in in one of the stations
• 31:42
  their their version of Union Station And he
• 31:46
  says He's got these protesters.
• 31:49
  They don't even know why they're protesting And
• 31:52
  he goes We've given you 16 billion Is
• 31:58
  it 16 but maybe it was like 20
• 32:00
  billion in 16 years And he goes you've
• 32:03
  had your chance.
• 32:04
  You don't even have a track laid anywhere
• 32:08
  And they kept shrinking the project.
• 32:10
  So it was supposed to go.
• 32:11
  It was supposed to go from like Los
• 32:14
  Angeles Like San Diego Originally up and then
• 32:20
  then they shortened it to Los Angeles all
• 32:22
  the way up to Sacramento, right?
• 32:24
  And then they wanted it to zip over
• 32:25
  first in just like some of the farming
• 32:27
  areas But now it's only the Bakersfield in
• 32:30
  it.
• 32:31
  Yeah, so now it's basically a train to
• 32:32
  nowhere So it's it's a high-speed like
• 32:35
  a very segment.
• 32:36
  Yeah segment, right 30 miles or so Yeah,
• 32:39
  and it's like I'm gonna get on here
• 32:40
  and I'm gonna go to the lot.
• 32:41
  Yeah, I'm cool the ball.
• 32:44
  I'll be right back I'm gonna go from
• 32:46
  Jeff City all the way over to Osage
• 32:49
  Beach.
• 32:49
  That's a high-speed rail.
• 32:51
  That's right.
• 32:52
  So anyway Long and short of it is
• 32:56
  how much money they said When I was
• 33:01
  there They said hey This thing is gonna
• 33:05
  be a total of a hundred and twenty
• 33:07
  billion dollars That they still needed more fun
• 33:13
  the funding for a hundred and twenty billion,
• 33:15
  right?
• 33:16
  And I said That's impossible Right, like where's
• 33:23
  that money going?
• 33:25
  like if you look at the cost and
• 33:27
  I can't remember what we you know, you
• 33:30
  can break it down, but I was like
• 33:32
  And and I've been a lot of railways
• 33:34
  and it's like I was on the 57
• 33:36
  billion dollar railway in Qatar And that was
• 33:40
  a big one that one set the world
• 33:42
  record 22 tunnel boring machines that all had
• 33:45
  to be built and shipped right Included light
• 33:50
  rail the Metro, right?
• 33:52
  It had 70 No 36 stations to start
• 33:57
  72 total or some crazy number like that
• 34:00
  But it was nine Metro lines like a
• 34:03
  red line blue line green like that kind
• 34:05
  of right and And that was 57 billion
• 34:10
  Right for all of that all of it
• 34:14
  But these guys are saying that after Something
• 34:19
  like 40 billion dollars that they'd already spent
• 34:22
  now.
• 34:23
  They needed another hundred and twenty hundred and
• 34:26
  thirty like this is Impossible.
• 34:29
  Well, you got to cover everybody's nephew and
• 34:32
  it's and and they still haven't gotten anything
• 34:35
  done so as of September 17th They're going
• 34:43
  from Merced to Bakersfield How far is that
• 34:47
  miles?
• 34:49
  119 mile.
• 34:50
  Oh, they've extended it.
• 34:51
  It was 119 miles.
• 34:53
  They were going like that's I was saying
• 34:54
  There's only 119 miles before now.
• 34:56
  It's a hundred and seventy one Yeah, and
• 35:00
  then It doesn't even get you to Monterey
• 35:04
  does it No, and then They said the
• 35:09
  cost are now estimated they've lowered the cost
• 35:12
  and they say it's now 88 to 128
• 35:14
  So they left the upper limit.
• 35:16
  Although still get the 128, you know They
• 35:20
  said it's whether doing this or saying it's
• 35:23
  preserved Thousands of acres of land.
• 35:25
  How does it you preserved it?
• 35:27
  There's not a track on it.
• 35:29
  How does a railway preserve land?
• 35:31
  I just want to know that It says
• 35:36
  it's contributed to 21.8 billion in economic
• 35:40
  output Yeah economic output to people who aren't
• 35:43
  qualified to to get money for something that
• 35:46
  isn't Finished or isn't even remotely started.
• 35:49
  Yeah now when you look at these Public
• 35:52
  -private partnerships that you referred to earlier like
• 35:55
  Brightline in Florida, right?
• 35:58
  That offers hope because these guys came in
• 36:01
  and they said but it was only Florida
• 36:02
  wasn't it?
• 36:03
  There's only Florida, but they've got they've got
• 36:05
  the track now that they're they're gonna be
• 36:07
  laying out from LA to Las Vegas So
• 36:11
  they're gonna connect.
• 36:12
  Yeah, but Las Vegas, it's only a hundred
• 36:13
  miles inside Well inside of Nevada.
• 36:17
  Here's what they're doing because that will actually
• 36:20
  do something That'll actually get used right and
• 36:24
  when you're on a high-speed train like
• 36:25
  that Yeah, so they'll come in and they'll
• 36:27
  say hey look we'll spend five minutes bunch
• 36:29
  of people that invested in the first one
• 36:31
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:32
  We'll have people invest in this.
• 36:34
  It's private.
• 36:35
  We're doing a service for the public.
• 36:36
  So the government kicks in some cash, too
• 36:39
  and then they They come in they use
• 36:44
  existing right-of-ways, so I don't have
• 36:46
  to reinvent the wheel They just gotta upgrade
• 36:49
  the systems.
• 36:50
  They got upgraded and they well when I
• 36:52
  say existing right-of-ways, they're they're using
• 36:54
  they're doing something innovative They're using the highway
• 36:55
  system.
• 36:56
  So they're just sticking this thing right down
• 36:58
  the center of it, right?
• 37:00
  And so it's like in but like like
• 37:03
  in the median strip in the median or
• 37:05
  off to the side or right They've got
• 37:07
  different areas.
• 37:08
  They'll be at you know, Wow, so So
• 37:12
  it's a totally different, you know And then
• 37:15
  we made a lot of comments when and
• 37:17
  so they made some of these announcements while
• 37:19
  I was going through that process I was
• 37:22
  like if I was California, I would just
• 37:24
  subcontract it to the bright line Hey, look,
• 37:27
  it's it's five billion from LA to Las
• 37:32
  Vegas So give them another five billion have
• 37:35
  them go up to Sacramento, right Give them
• 37:40
  another five billion have them go up, right?
• 37:42
  Whatever it is that the length all that,
• 37:45
  you know, there you go.
• 37:46
  It's already cleared they said here on the
• 37:48
  right because their big thing is we've Environmentally
• 37:51
  cleared all this track laying and this is
• 37:54
  what's taking the biggest amount of time I
• 37:56
  have to make sure the little shrews have
• 37:58
  a home to go to and they don't
• 37:59
  want them to go under the track or
• 38:01
  whatever so they've got 494 miles of area
• 38:06
  cleared For it environmentally cleared saying you've got
• 38:11
  an environmental certificate it it you know, we
• 38:13
  took it all through the courts and it's
• 38:15
  fine So and they've got 50 miles That
• 38:21
  are under active work right now Wow, and
• 38:25
  here we are in 2025 and 50 years
• 38:30
  and Yeah, 50 years and 50 miles of
• 38:33
  track.
• 38:33
  So I mean, there's no track It's just
• 38:36
  track work 50 miles of cleared space to
• 38:39
  put some track.
• 38:40
  I mean, yeah, she's come on You can't
• 38:41
  be totally negative here.
• 38:43
  Yeah, so they're making progress.
• 38:46
  This is this is forward motion So the
• 38:49
  good news is is that it made the
• 38:51
  business case for Brightline a lot stronger Now
• 38:54
  I'm one of those people like you said
• 38:57
  we politicize it too much.
• 38:58
  I'm one of those people That think we
• 39:01
  absolutely need the rail system the rail network
• 39:05
  in America that it'll bring Different commerce, you
• 39:09
  know other countries are doing them not just
• 39:11
  for passengers.
• 39:12
  They're doing them for high-speed Cargo and
• 39:16
  and and shipping trains there there, you know,
• 39:19
  they're they're they're building the project between Russia
• 39:22
  and India, that's a vacuum train system Underground.
• 39:27
  Oh, that's the Hyperloop, it's unbelievable what they
• 39:31
  are doing and we don't even talk about
• 39:33
  this stuff in Our country's good.
• 39:37
  Oh us and Mexico.
• 39:39
  Let's make something To work to Canada, let's
• 39:42
  do that that take us 200 years and
• 39:44
  not 50 to get something done These guys
• 39:47
  are doing it in eight, you know, and
• 39:49
  they and they have actual Stuff going out.
• 39:53
  That's what I've been railing about on this
• 39:55
  done this program for a bit China goes
• 39:59
  into Africa and builds between four countries a
• 40:05
  high-speed rail system China Oh, yeah.
• 40:08
  Well, they they they their speed to market
• 40:10
  is incredible.
• 40:11
  Like I watch their system go from nothing
• 40:14
  to thousands of miles of line in just
• 40:18
  a matter of There's a there there are
• 40:20
  15 times bigger than anybody else.
• 40:23
  They have 64 67,000 kilometers of line
• 40:29
  48 of it in China And that's over
• 40:33
  the last 15 years that didn't even exist
• 40:36
  before 2010 and I so I lived in
• 40:39
  Norway for a couple of years and I
• 40:42
  fell in love with the rail network there
• 40:46
  Because you could go anywhere.
• 40:48
  It was comfortable.
• 40:49
  That's Russia.
• 40:50
  It was nice comfortable.
• 40:51
  I mean modern Kazakhstan Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan of
• 40:56
  great train system.
• 40:57
  Oh, yeah, and they're great they're fantastic and
• 41:00
  the thing is is if you go if
• 41:02
  you want to go from somewhere now the
• 41:05
  US the high-speed rail Association for the
• 41:07
  US right and It has a system map
• 41:15
  Right, and they've developed this system map and
• 41:18
  the one they keep touting as the one
• 41:19
  that's most likely is And by the way,
• 41:24
  well, I read what you told me to
• 41:26
  read.
• 41:26
  What do you think?
• 41:28
  Well, I went and I checked out this
• 41:30
  national vision from the high-speed rail Association
• 41:33
  that one Well, I didn't see the that
• 41:36
  map.
• 41:37
  I I only I did the reading Oh,
• 41:39
  so this one that that map is what
• 41:41
  they came up with Wow So in the
• 41:44
  in the reading part, it says the high
• 41:46
  -speed rail proposing 17,000 miles which is
• 41:53
  27,000 kilometers which would make us number
• 41:55
  two in the world because right now Russia
• 41:57
  if they do this project Which they will
• 41:59
  they're gonna be number two in the world
• 42:01
  China so far ahead China still got four
• 42:04
  times this number of 17,000 right and
• 42:07
  or three times it looks like and Four
• 42:11
  phase national high-speed rail the big goal
• 42:14
  vision to connect regions and serve major city
• 42:17
  pairs Chicago, New York New York DC, you
• 42:22
  know stuff like that and The current reality
• 42:25
  is Operational HSR high-speed rail is very
• 42:29
  minimal Amtrak a seal in the Northeast Corridor
• 42:33
  a corridor has short sections where trains can
• 42:36
  get up to 160 miles an hour.
• 42:39
  Yeah, but those a cell of trains right
• 42:41
  now Uh-huh.
• 42:42
  It says can get up to but they
• 42:44
  don't they're limited to 55 miles per hour
• 42:48
  by other trains That are on those tracks
• 42:53
  So Here you are.
• 42:55
  There is no.
• 42:55
  So you're driving you're driving your Corvette or
• 42:57
  your Lamborghini in traffic Is what that comes
• 43:02
  down to yeah, it does So but the
• 43:05
  interesting thing about this, so they've got the
• 43:07
  if you look at how they've done the
• 43:09
  high-speed rail plans The one that I
• 43:15
  liked was Chicago to st.
• 43:18
  Louis.
• 43:18
  I love both.
• 43:19
  Yeah.
• 43:19
  Yeah, I saw that too.
• 43:20
  That's right, but they also be linked They
• 43:24
  were that was phase one worse was some
• 43:27
  of these some of the ones that are
• 43:28
  in green Phase one phase two was st.
• 43:33
  Louis to Kansas City and then you can
• 43:35
  go Kansas City all the way down to
• 43:36
  Dallas Yep, and you can do Kansas City
• 43:38
  to Denver Denver to Salt Lake Salt Lake
• 43:40
  on right?
• 43:41
  So they have a great plan and these
• 43:43
  ones in gray and if you guys want
• 43:46
  it out there that the listeners want to
• 43:48
  go To its US H SR comments us
• 43:53
  high-speed rail calm, so it's US H
• 43:57
  SR calm and they talked about that Brightline
• 44:00
  project as reading about that in the Vegas
• 44:03
  to Southern, California That's a good route because
• 44:05
  you know that highway in between I've driven
• 44:09
  that highway 10 15 times and it's a
• 44:12
  good drive.
• 44:12
  Yeah, but it's forever You know and and
• 44:15
  there's a lot of traffic out there because
• 44:17
  people take the weekends and they had to
• 44:19
  Vegas You know and and it's high-speed
• 44:22
  rail would be imagine doing that at 220
• 44:25
  miles an hour No, I I mean, I
• 44:27
  don't like to fly it.
• 44:28
  I mean flying it.
• 44:29
  That's kind of crap too because those two
• 44:31
  airports are Well, I don't like that.
• 44:34
  You have to look at this as an
• 44:35
  overall package So Elon Musk is building the
• 44:38
  starships.
• 44:39
  Mm-hmm, right?
• 44:40
  Yeah, he plans on putting a thousand starship
• 44:43
  bases around the world So you'll be able
• 44:48
  to go from New York to Sydney in
• 44:50
  about an hour right you'll be able to
• 44:54
  go New York to Sacramento about a half
• 44:58
  an hour and That's launch time and you
• 45:01
  know, just travel time in there.
• 45:03
  That's everything.
• 45:04
  That's everything So you want to go to
• 45:06
  Sacramento people?
• 45:08
  I'm not sure.
• 45:09
  I think they can fit several hundred in
• 45:11
  those Right.
• 45:12
  So like the size of an airplane.
• 45:14
  Yeah, you're just sitting vertically, right?
• 45:16
  Yeah, it would probably have to have you
• 45:18
  know, you sit horizontally and then they strap
• 45:20
  you I've heard about that.
• 45:22
  That's a challenge for me.
• 45:23
  I'm not sure I'd be the one to
• 45:26
  Test drive.
• 45:27
  Oh, yeah, I'd wait a couple years in
• 45:29
  for like version four.
• 45:30
  That's right, but But the interesting thing about
• 45:34
  all of this is that I see it
• 45:35
  as part of an overall so so think
• 45:38
  about this We want flying cars And we
• 45:41
  want self-driving cars.
• 45:42
  Yeah, we want you know, the tunnel boring
• 45:45
  machines to do stuff.
• 45:46
  We want These rockets right and the high
• 45:50
  -speed rails part of that Right.
• 45:54
  Now the narrative that people are putting out
• 45:56
  right now is oh, we're gonna have AI
• 45:58
  It's gonna take everybody's jobs and we won't
• 45:59
  need any of this stuff because nobody will
• 46:00
  need to work Yeah.
• 46:03
  Oh, so we don't need any infrastructure in
• 46:04
  the future.
• 46:05
  Why don't we just start deactivating some other
• 46:07
  like roads and stuff now?
• 46:10
  All right.
• 46:10
  Well, right and if you don't need it,
• 46:12
  I mean if you're not working, wouldn't you
• 46:13
  have more time to use the Travel portion
• 46:17
  to go see something or are you just
• 46:19
  gonna sit in your house and play video
• 46:21
  games?
• 46:21
  And what was that you were saying the
• 46:23
  other day watch cat videos videos.
• 46:25
  I'm gonna sit there and watch cat videos
• 46:28
  Yeah, I mean at the end of the
• 46:29
  day I like a good cat video but
• 46:32
  yeah, we're either going to Do something about
• 46:35
  our future?
• 46:37
  Or not now, but that's been my argument
• 46:40
  my entire program that two-hour deep dive.
• 46:42
  I did into what the East is doing
• 46:45
  compared to what we are doing is that
• 46:48
  the infrastructure projects are The critical mass thing
• 46:55
  that that we need to get to because
• 46:59
  That's what the future sits upon.
• 47:01
  Yeah in America after the war building up
• 47:07
  infrastructure the highway systems in the roads They
• 47:10
  had problems in the 70 because the ICC
• 47:12
  and trucking and all that other crap that
• 47:14
  created its own separate problems with interstate commerce
• 47:18
  and stuff like that, but Now we're talking
• 47:21
  Global, you know nationalism, but global we have
• 47:25
  to do a couple of things one.
• 47:27
  I always talk about it Jesus learn how
• 47:29
  to get along with others in the world.
• 47:31
  Mm-hmm, and we don't Get along with
• 47:34
  our side.
• 47:35
  I know it's nonsense and in everything is
• 47:37
  a fight everywhere around the world That's not
• 47:40
  one people gearing up for Thanksgiving again saying
• 47:43
  you can't go and Matt You can't come
• 47:46
  to the house for Thanksgiving now, there's now
• 47:48
  there's people on the right calling for that.
• 47:50
  I know That's the last thing we need
• 47:52
  is for the right to go.
• 47:54
  Oh, yeah, we're gonna do exactly what the
• 47:56
  left did.
• 47:56
  Yeah Well, we're doing it already.
• 47:59
  Let's go arrest everybody that pissed us off
• 48:02
  from the prior administration Don't get me started
• 48:05
  on that.
• 48:06
  I don't agree with it.
• 48:07
  Well as far as but that's not the
• 48:08
  topic infrastructure goes Thing they shut down whatever
• 48:13
  the prior Administration was doing.
• 48:15
  Yeah, and not what I was in favor
• 48:17
  of is.
• 48:18
  Yeah, I think California Deserved to have the
• 48:21
  four billion taken away hands down.
• 48:23
  They deserve to have it taken away right
• 48:28
  but that four billion Should have been invested
• 48:31
  in the Chicago to st.
• 48:34
  Louis line Give it to somebody a bright
• 48:36
  line or whatever Here's a contract somebody can
• 48:39
  do it, too I think that would have
• 48:42
  been more of if you by the way,
• 48:44
  if you're trying to be political only That
• 48:47
  would have been a slap in the face
• 48:49
  of the people in California Like hey, we
• 48:51
  took that four billion and in the space
• 48:53
  of Donald Trump's For six months, right?
• 48:57
  Here's what we got.
• 48:58
  We've already got ten miles now Really I
• 49:02
  think the challenge is is that we don't
• 49:04
  want that in a blues in a blue
• 49:06
  state like, Illinois So why not put it
• 49:09
  in Indiana and run it right next by
• 49:11
  st.
• 49:12
  Louis, Kansas City Oh that would work right
• 49:14
  or you can you can select from a
• 49:16
  number of different places, you know, like Texas
• 49:19
  right, Texas Yeah, but but Matt, isn't it?
• 49:22
  My argument a couple of weeks ago and
• 49:24
  you didn't hear the show But but you
• 49:26
  know, my argument is that what the problem
• 49:30
  is is that we have no is this
• 49:34
  the show you did about the infrastructure and
• 49:36
  well, I Might be combined out or I
• 49:40
  heard that show but but but they had
• 49:42
  a they had a The problem is is
• 49:46
  what we we do not have We don't
• 49:49
  even have a port Authority That is a
• 49:53
  port authority for the entire country the entire
• 49:57
  country Sure that it's trying to organize that
• 49:59
  that is trying to organize transportation in between
• 50:02
  the other my argument was if we have
• 50:05
  Donald Trump on shark tank and we have
• 50:10
  Elon Musk come in who's this Global performer
• 50:13
  and go listen.
• 50:15
  Here's my shark tank idea Donald Trump I'm
• 50:19
  gonna tell you here's the ports.
• 50:21
  We need a major port in San Francisco,
• 50:24
  Seattle, LA Houston, you know all these ports
• 50:29
  that already are but they need massive upgrades
• 50:32
  number one We need deeper water number two
• 50:35
  We need higher volume number three and we
• 50:38
  need high-speed rail to connect between them
• 50:41
  all for both cargo containers and People, you
• 50:46
  know, we need to be able to do
• 50:48
  this and then the air, you know air
• 50:51
  is Okay, air is great.
• 50:54
  We I don't have any problem with air,
• 50:56
  but you know, it's getting crowded up there
• 50:58
  and and if you listen to Gabby Gabby's
• 51:01
  always Carrying on about how untrained and how
• 51:04
  how dangerous it's getting up there and I
• 51:08
  assume that's you know that he knows far
• 51:10
  more than I do but we can't come
• 51:12
  together to Create some sort of infrastructure thing.
• 51:16
  Meanwhile, China has 67,000 kilometers of high
• 51:21
  -speed rail and their people are going places,
• 51:23
  you know They they this is another point
• 51:26
  that I wanted to tell you about that
• 51:28
  I saw this a couple of days ago
• 51:30
  and it also got me thinking about This
• 51:32
  same line because a couple of days ago.
• 51:34
  I was just flipping through YouTube and there's
• 51:38
  this video that I Came upon that says
• 51:42
  the countries with the most engineers and If
• 51:46
  it's by year, right?
• 51:48
  And so you can stop at any time
• 51:49
  you want and if you start with this
• 51:51
  the countries with the most engineers in the
• 51:53
  world We're starting in 1990 okay, and in
• 51:57
  the in in that span the u.s.
• 51:59
  Had 225,000 engineers Japan the closest behind
• 52:05
  them had a hundred twenty seven Thousand Russia
• 52:08
  had a hundred and twenty thousand then you
• 52:11
  have a couple other players Germany South Korea
• 52:13
  UK France all the standard ones Ukraine Because
• 52:17
  they were still under Russia at that time
• 52:19
  Ukraine had 75,000.
• 52:21
  Okay, and way down at the bottom Yeah,
• 52:24
  you know China's number nine Iran is number
• 52:27
  ten and then you get into Pakistan Italy
• 52:29
  India's number thirteen.
• 52:31
  Well as this video goes along You know
• 52:35
  here we are in 2000 Let's get to
• 52:40
  2000 and the USA still has 231 no
• 52:44
  movement.
• 52:45
  No change.
• 52:46
  No education differences.
• 52:47
  No nothing.
• 52:48
  We still have 231,000 engineers in the
• 52:51
  u.s. Meanwhile, other people are catching up.
• 52:55
  China is now number two at 145 Where'd
• 52:58
  Russia go?
• 53:00
  Russia dropped some Ukraine's got 97 and then
• 53:03
  and then you keep on going.
• 53:04
  Well as As you oh, no, I'm sorry
• 53:07
  Russia, I'm sorry in that ten-year period
• 53:09
  Russia went to number one Russia doubled their
• 53:13
  Engineers in the same ten-year period in
• 53:16
  the 90s and they were going through crap
• 53:19
  like you wouldn't believe Yeah, it was it
• 53:21
  was a horror story for them u.s.
• 53:23
  Still 231,000 engineers Russia now the most
• 53:27
  in the world 278,000 in China coming
• 53:30
  up Japan slipping India is now number five
• 53:33
  and Iran is number six so I'm only
• 53:35
  doing the ten-year thing, right and if
• 53:37
  you go up to 2010 Which is the
• 53:43
  next section?
• 53:44
  Russia now is 420,000 engineers guess how
• 53:48
  many the u.s. Has Same amount I
• 53:51
  had before they went up another ten.
• 53:53
  They stood now They're at 240 right and
• 53:55
  Iran is number three China's number for India.
• 53:58
  This is a complete swap in Engineering right
• 54:02
  and so your comment about people being hired
• 54:05
  that have no experience Well, they're all brother
• 54:07
  -in-laws to somebody who's who's you know
• 54:10
  in a in a position somewhere So yeah,
• 54:12
  you got to hire them from somewhere else
• 54:13
  because they don't exist in the u.s
• 54:15
  And and remember a population is climbing in
• 54:18
  America So this represents ours is to add
• 54:20
  but China and and and Iran are now
• 54:23
  having serious education Improvements all the way across
• 54:27
  I mean our population is increasing So these
• 54:30
  numbers act actually represent a decrease a decrease
• 54:33
  for us by percentage wise.
• 54:35
  Yes, and then if you go from 2010
• 54:37
  to 2020 let's go to five years ago
• 54:43
  Here we are in 20.
• 54:45
  It's still 2019.
• 54:46
  Let's get to 2020 Russia is still number
• 54:50
  one with 461,000 they have More that
• 54:55
  you know almost doubled the u.s. Has
• 54:57
  gone up another ten, but you know, that's
• 55:00
  still a lesser percentage of what we've got
• 55:03
  We're now for because it goes Russia China
• 55:06
  India US and then I ran Okay, because
• 55:10
  Iranians, you know this having worked in the
• 55:12
  Middle East Iranians There's a butt-ton of
• 55:15
  engineering going on there and these people are
• 55:18
  highly educated the UK nothing You know all
• 55:21
  these other ones, you know, nothing.
• 55:23
  Let's go to what it is today very
• 55:24
  end Here we go.
• 55:26
  Oh crap.
• 55:27
  I went too far we'll go to where
• 55:30
  we are now China in the last five
• 55:32
  years has Son of a nutcracker has far
• 55:36
  surpassed.
• 55:37
  They are at five hundred and seventy nine
• 55:41
  thousand engineers, okay Russia still at four hundred
• 55:46
  and thirty-five India's number three the u
• 55:49
  .s. Has gone up about forty thousand You
• 55:52
  know, but and they're number four and I
• 55:55
  ran still number five But where do we
• 55:57
  get the people to do this because you
• 56:00
  gotta have the demand you got to have
• 56:02
  the demand Yeah, do we not have it?
• 56:04
  Well, here's where I have hope right when
• 56:06
  you were talking Am I too depressed over
• 56:08
  this is that no I?
• 56:10
  Here's so when I came back from Qatar
• 56:13
  in 2017 there were no there were no
• 56:16
  jobs for me, right?
• 56:17
  So I had to go to Canada to
• 56:19
  begin with but let's talk about some of
• 56:21
  the good stuff that Trump has done because
• 56:23
  I have Hope but I need to see
• 56:26
  some some stuff Like digging in the dirt
• 56:30
  now, I want to do a caveat here
• 56:32
  because Trump has listed about 13 trillion in
• 56:40
  projects Some of these company really has this
• 56:43
  is like yeah now I've got a list
• 56:45
  of company by company and Who's doing the
• 56:49
  infrastructure etc, right?
• 56:50
  Yeah.
• 56:51
  Now I got it.
• 56:53
  I got a caveat this because some of
• 56:55
  these Are pipe dreams?
• 56:57
  Well Yes, and I'm gonna give one example
• 57:00
  Kraft Heinz.
• 57:01
  Yeah, right I just was recently working for
• 57:04
  Kraft Heinz.
• 57:05
  Mm-hmm, and they were building a big
• 57:07
  facility out West Where I supposed to be
• 57:11
  an automated kind of like an Amazon facility
• 57:13
  for things Amazon facility for mayonnaise what we
• 57:17
  have for mayonnaise and ketchup and stuff where
• 57:19
  I just automatic You know little robots running
• 57:22
  around doing stuff creating mayonnaise.
• 57:23
  That was cool You know they had a
• 57:25
  big sign on it and then one day
• 57:26
  I drive by there and by the way
• 57:28
  It's like an hour and a half from
• 57:30
  downtown.
• 57:31
  So you have to be like have a
• 57:33
  reason to go out there So I go
• 57:39
  Sorry to laugh at these guys, but the
• 57:42
  signs down Right signs gone.
• 57:45
  No more the graphines and there was no
• 57:47
  like all the construction equipment was gone It
• 57:49
  was just like this partially finished shell so
• 57:53
  I come back and I ask One of
• 58:00
  our leaders Hey, what happened?
• 58:03
  She gets kind of this sheepish kind of
• 58:05
  grin.
• 58:05
  I don't know.
• 58:06
  I'll check it out Right and I said
• 58:09
  I said look we're running out of money,
• 58:11
  aren't we because I was working, you know
• 58:14
  for Kraft Heinz and Oh, no, no, I'm
• 58:18
  like The building if the construction building got
• 58:23
  you got no money and the answer I
• 58:25
  got was kind of like the Grinch Well,
• 58:27
  there's a light out on this tree and
• 58:30
  I'm gonna take it back to my shop
• 58:31
  and what she said was so funny she
• 58:34
  said Well the floor cracked she had no
• 58:39
  idea that I had like extensive construction experience
• 58:42
  in that I've been around these jobs the
• 58:44
  floor crack.
• 58:45
  There was a crack in the floor All
• 58:48
  floors crack a crack, you know across this
• 58:51
  place so anyway The caveat here is that
• 58:55
  craft and by the way, the reason I
• 58:58
  know for a fact that Kraft Heinz won't
• 59:01
  be doing those Manufacturing facility upgrades is because
• 59:05
  craft and Heinz are splitting Heinz will be
• 59:09
  its own company again and craft will be
• 59:11
  its own company again So we know that
• 59:14
  Kraft Heinz isn't doing those projects Anyway, I
• 59:18
  I digress because there are major investments the
• 59:23
  UAE They're gonna do some various technology aerospace,
• 59:28
  etc And you have to remember these total
• 59:31
  investments are over different durations so 1.4
• 59:38
  trillion is what they they're gonna do over
• 59:41
  10 years.
• 59:42
  Yeah, right Qatar is doing 1.2 trillion
• 59:47
  Japan 1 trillion Apple 600 billion Saudi 600
• 59:53
  billion Are Any of them infrastructure related so
• 59:58
  are these just private here's my new multiple
• 1:00:01
  are multiple our AI Infrastructure, which is a
• 1:00:04
  big one.
• 1:00:05
  Yeah, right US Energy, so if I were
• 1:00:09
  to break this down by actual infrastructure and
• 1:00:13
  I'm gonna change something here What you get
• 1:00:19
  when you filter it is that You've got
• 1:00:24
  about Mmm, I'd say 40 to 60 percent
• 1:00:31
  of the projects that are listed in there
• 1:00:33
  that are like actual Infrastructure the rest are
• 1:00:36
  like I'm gonna do my factory upgrades and
• 1:00:38
  and in the one case it was about
• 1:00:41
  developing You know electric vehicles a little bit
• 1:00:45
  further or something So it's kind of stuff
• 1:00:47
  that if you get the impression there were
• 1:00:49
  a bunch of people that like hey I
• 1:00:51
  want to look good, you know, so I'm
• 1:00:53
  gonna I've already got this roadmap of where
• 1:00:55
  I want to go So I I want
• 1:00:58
  to you know, I'm excited about the fact
• 1:01:01
  that Trump is focused on investments what I
• 1:01:04
  want to make sure we do is break
• 1:01:06
  it down and The total here Across these
• 1:01:14
  25 25 500 is really looking at right
• 1:01:18
  at about a trillion of that Investment Maybe
• 1:01:25
  more depending on whether you count the AI
• 1:01:28
  data centers as part of the infrastructure now
• 1:01:31
  It's part of the digital infrastructure.
• 1:01:33
  Now one good example of something that's happening.
• 1:01:36
  You got Three Mile Island that Microsoft purchased
• 1:01:40
  the operating rights to Three Mile Island right,
• 1:01:44
  so here's a company that says I need
• 1:01:46
  all the nuclear output of Three Mile Island
• 1:01:50
  for my AI data centers forever, so I'm
• 1:01:54
  gonna go ahead and pay to stand up
• 1:01:56
  this nuclear power plant and Get things going.
• 1:02:00
  So I do have hope for us to
• 1:02:03
  your point When we're talking about rail and
• 1:02:08
  these other things None of this is going
• 1:02:11
  to that Right not there's there's none here
• 1:02:15
  now there are grid expansions transmission lines nuclear
• 1:02:20
  reactors Again more AI They keep they've reiterated
• 1:02:27
  a couple of different times grid infrastructure Construction
• 1:02:33
  of There is a shipyard Right, which is
• 1:02:38
  where's up in Philly, right?
• 1:02:40
  It's the Hanwha shipyard, right But that's part
• 1:02:45
  of the naval Upgrades like we need to
• 1:02:48
  do stuff for the Navy Because we don't
• 1:02:50
  have like right now the Navy the Navy
• 1:02:52
  can't build enough ships.
• 1:02:54
  Yeah, I know like we can't we can't
• 1:02:56
  turn out a ship So the bigger issue
• 1:03:00
  here is that are these what we really
• 1:03:02
  need and it goes back to what I
• 1:03:04
  first said when I came on the show
• 1:03:07
  is What do we need for the future
• 1:03:09
  is?
• 1:03:11
  Our infrastructure fit for purpose and now with
• 1:03:14
  this piece It's like are we planning the
• 1:03:17
  right things and putting the money where it
• 1:03:19
  needs to go because the problem is is
• 1:03:24
  that our Competitors They are they are they
• 1:03:30
  are and ours is kind of it an
• 1:03:33
  incoherent Fractionalized or I would say fractured to
• 1:03:37
  write.
• 1:03:38
  So we've got this u.s. High-speed
• 1:03:39
  rail Association.
• 1:03:40
  That's like look at my map Yeah, I
• 1:03:43
  got a map.
• 1:03:43
  Yeah, I got a map.
• 1:03:44
  Somebody give me some money and That's been
• 1:03:47
  going on for a while High-speed rail
• 1:03:49
  50 years, Texas What it was that one
• 1:03:52
  Houston to Dallas has had one plan since
• 1:03:55
  the 90s when I was in law school
• 1:03:57
  in In Texas while the other talking about
• 1:04:01
  it and it was really 20 years before
• 1:04:03
  that and they haven't laid a track well,
• 1:04:06
  think about this the other reason why this
• 1:04:08
  is important is remember how we So things
• 1:04:12
  didn't used to be this way in Illinois
• 1:04:15
  where I'm from We used to have 60
• 1:04:19
  different rail lines that were public transportation and
• 1:04:25
  Then something happened The oil companies bought him
• 1:04:29
  up and shut him down Now this may
• 1:04:33
  sound like a liberal thing all these big
• 1:04:35
  corporations and big oil Yeah, but they did
• 1:04:38
  it but actually to drive they want you
• 1:04:40
  to drive and I'm really happy that we
• 1:04:42
  got the 57 Chevys and All that stuff
• 1:04:43
  out there and America started driving and we
• 1:04:45
  ended up with these little Stuckies on the
• 1:04:48
  side of the road, right?
• 1:04:49
  Man.
• 1:04:49
  I wish they were still around But I
• 1:04:57
  think one of the interesting things about all
• 1:04:59
  that is that We've got a I think
• 1:05:03
  look at what the future is going to
• 1:05:05
  require and Really ask ourselves that question and
• 1:05:11
  we're gonna have to get back all get
• 1:05:13
  beyond all the partisanship And start asking the
• 1:05:17
  relevant questions.
• 1:05:18
  Really if if the if if I was
• 1:05:20
  a globalist I'd keep the Americans just arguing
• 1:05:24
  with each other While life went on like
• 1:05:28
  think under under the Obama administration We saw
• 1:05:32
  our economy slowed to like one point to
• 1:05:35
  one point one growth Meanwhile places like Denmark
• 1:05:40
  were accelerating to 5% growth China 8
• 1:05:44
  % so if Russia was almost 5 last
• 1:05:47
  year.
• 1:05:48
  Yeah, if you're walking along at 4 miles
• 1:05:52
  an hour brisk pace And it feels good
• 1:05:55
  does feels good and I'm scooting along munching
• 1:05:58
  on some Twinkies checking out the weather sitting
• 1:06:00
  at a park bench and Then getting up
• 1:06:03
  and walking.
• 1:06:03
  I'm right and I'm doing like one mile
• 1:06:05
  an hour It doesn't take long even if
• 1:06:08
  I start out a hundred miles ahead of
• 1:06:10
  you It doesn't it doesn't take long for
• 1:06:13
  you to like zip past me.
• 1:06:15
  Mm-hmm Right.
• 1:06:17
  So one maybe one final comment on this
• 1:06:20
  because it also has to do with the
• 1:06:22
  military We have to remember that the interstate
• 1:06:24
  highway program was built In essence as a
• 1:06:29
  defense project because we have to be able
• 1:06:32
  to ship stuff Here and there and everywhere
• 1:06:35
  and have our cities connected So that we
• 1:06:39
  can get stuff from point A to point
• 1:06:41
  B if and when there's a defense situation
• 1:06:44
  We were concerned back in those days that
• 1:06:47
  I need to get something from one coast
• 1:06:49
  to the other troops and stuff because we
• 1:06:51
  were like Actually thinking we could be invaded
• 1:06:54
  and Americans today.
• 1:06:56
  That's not even on their mind, but it
• 1:06:58
  should be right, right?
• 1:07:00
  It's not on the radar.
• 1:07:01
  So having said that You know, I think
• 1:07:06
  there's a lot of room for improvement.
• 1:07:09
  I agree with you.
• 1:07:09
  I see Trump moving in the right direction
• 1:07:12
  I want to see more focus and I
• 1:07:15
  want to see some more planning and Eventually
• 1:07:20
  like really soon we need to get beyond
• 1:07:22
  the partisan side of this And JJ are
• 1:07:26
  always I didn't mean to rat him out
• 1:07:28
  somebody.
• 1:07:29
  I know He says that I'm far too
• 1:07:32
  pessimistic and And you know what in general
• 1:07:36
  on the other side?
• 1:07:36
  I'm completely Well, so's JR and and and
• 1:07:40
  I know you are too and I don't
• 1:07:41
  mean anything bad about about it at all
• 1:07:43
  I hope you're right and I'm wrong, you
• 1:07:45
  know, I'm all fine with that I think
• 1:07:47
  so But when you hear stories like I
• 1:07:50
  I have told and I know are true
• 1:07:52
  and I know you know They're true that
• 1:07:53
  the Keystone pipeline is a project that was
• 1:07:56
  worked on for 10 to 15 years several
• 1:07:59
  billion dollars put in and they're still putting
• 1:08:02
  in money and The Biden administration came in
• 1:08:06
  and just to knife Donald Trump in the
• 1:08:09
  back Shut it down Revoked all permits on
• 1:08:14
  day one by executive order and got rid
• 1:08:17
  of it political BS All of it and
• 1:08:21
  much power and president and now what how
• 1:08:23
  are we gonna tell you do just what
• 1:08:25
  Trump comes into office?
• 1:08:26
  It's not turned back on but do we
• 1:08:29
  just turn it back on and just go?
• 1:08:31
  Okay There's some stuff I got you better
• 1:08:33
  get done with it because there could be
• 1:08:36
  a Democrat next time and if they do
• 1:08:38
  even if it's Done, you could use the
• 1:08:40
  ability to use it.
• 1:08:42
  We might shut it down I spent all
• 1:08:44
  their time trying to make sure it could
• 1:08:46
  never be revived Exactly, and when you look
• 1:08:49
  at look at the damage that the Biden
• 1:08:51
  administration done it we have you but it's
• 1:08:53
  not only them Yeah, all sides do it
• 1:08:56
  at varying level, yeah, but it's it's it
• 1:08:57
  is slightly different in I know I know
• 1:08:59
  I didn't mean they're worse Well, no, the
• 1:09:02
  reason why they're worse is this the Biden
• 1:09:05
  administration was run by Hillary Clinton and Mama,
• 1:09:09
  I know and when you look at those
• 1:09:12
  these guys are not affiliated with a Democrat
• 1:09:14
  Party Like I don't think the Democrat Party
• 1:09:17
  exists anymore Right because everybody in office now
• 1:09:20
  is an ex-democrat.
• 1:09:22
  I know right What happened I believe is
• 1:09:26
  that Obama I think he's a destroyer I
• 1:09:30
  think he wants the u.s. Dead I
• 1:09:32
  think he's in league with the Chinese, but
• 1:09:34
  why what for a couple of different reasons?
• 1:09:38
  He wants globalist power Yeah, but how's he
• 1:09:42
  gonna get globalist power with Chinese?
• 1:09:44
  well, that's the topic of definitely a topic
• 1:09:47
  of a of a Another deep dive another
• 1:09:50
  deep dive, but the Clintons and the Obamas
• 1:09:56
  They're the ones who accelerated there's a book
• 1:09:58
  you got to read called modernizing China's military
• 1:10:02
  which about 20 25 years old and the
• 1:10:06
  Chinese like when they saw what the u
• 1:10:09
  .s. Was doing in the Gulf War how
• 1:10:11
  our missiles were like turning corners on city
• 1:10:14
  streets and Zipping down to target like very
• 1:10:18
  specific targets like the second floor of a
• 1:10:20
  building on the corner Where somebody's office was
• 1:10:23
  they freaked out?
• 1:10:26
  They couldn't even launch a rocket successfully at
• 1:10:31
  all until Bill Clinton gave him the tech
• 1:10:36
  and The hard drive went missing from Los
• 1:10:40
  Alamos and it had all of the schematics
• 1:10:44
  of our aircraft carriers and it wound up
• 1:10:48
  in Chinese hands so when we think about
• 1:10:51
  the need for infrastructure I Mean obviously in
• 1:10:55
  this context we're talking about it in the
• 1:10:58
  terms of roads and railways and these kinds
• 1:11:01
  of things But we can't even build a
• 1:11:03
  ship for crying out loud.
• 1:11:05
  No We we have a generation of drug
• 1:11:09
  -addicted kids that have no hope that Wants
• 1:11:13
  socialism that have no idea that their freedom
• 1:11:16
  hangs in the balance their women if they're
• 1:11:18
  men And I don't know don't even know
• 1:11:20
  what and by the way They don't even
• 1:11:23
  know the definition, right?
• 1:11:25
  So it's much worse because that's why I'm
• 1:11:28
  saying what what is the future like and
• 1:11:31
  That's why Yes, I'm I'm very positive focused
• 1:11:36
  I think we're gonna have a bright future
• 1:11:38
  I think the Argument isn't going to be
• 1:11:41
  won by left or right.
• 1:11:43
  I think it's gonna be won by success
• 1:11:45
  It may have to we may have some
• 1:11:47
  struggles to go through to get there, but
• 1:11:50
  I say use that that's exactly what what?
• 1:11:54
  This person says he says it might be
• 1:11:57
  it might get worse before it gets better
• 1:11:58
  gonna get worse before it gets better Well,
• 1:12:00
  I'm sure it's actually it's like some things
• 1:12:03
  are already getting better And some things like
• 1:12:06
  Charlie Kirk getting shot right are getting worse
• 1:12:10
  But I think it's going to win over.
• 1:12:13
  I think the When I say it's going
• 1:12:16
  to win over I mean Success will win
• 1:12:19
  over a lot of the the failures states
• 1:12:22
  are taking control of their education education is
• 1:12:25
  going to improve Those kinds of things we
• 1:12:28
  already have another generation behind what I would
• 1:12:31
  call the lost generation again Right, which is
• 1:12:38
  which is you know, the age of the
• 1:12:40
  people that were born in the 90s most
• 1:12:42
  of them are what I call ODF out
• 1:12:45
  there flapping just No, they're just flapping in
• 1:12:50
  the breeze drifting around like one of those
• 1:12:52
  little What are those little white like blossom
• 1:12:54
  type things from the dandelion that are floating
• 1:12:56
  around yeah They don't have skills.
• 1:12:59
  I call a lot of them like zero
• 1:13:01
  man zero skills Zero intellect zero things things
• 1:13:06
  to offer But they've got like this grand
• 1:13:09
  idea of a utopia that's handed to them
• 1:13:11
  via socialism Where's my Obama but those people
• 1:13:14
  are not my new home the people behind
• 1:13:16
  them They have no illusions The the generation
• 1:13:21
  is coming behind them.
• 1:13:22
  They know that it has to be created
• 1:13:24
  So I'm hopeful there and I'll leave you
• 1:13:26
  with that.
• 1:13:27
  I think that that there's there's a there's
• 1:13:30
  a bright future ahead But I think it
• 1:13:32
  has to be created.
• 1:13:33
  I think has to be on purpose and
• 1:13:34
  I think we're gonna have to like Rally
• 1:13:37
  these troops and I think we should be
• 1:13:38
  focusing on the younger people Getting them to
• 1:13:41
  believe in a bright future and that's something
• 1:13:43
  all of us can do we can be
• 1:13:44
  sitting there with our grandkids Or our nieces
• 1:13:46
  and nephews or whatever and go.
• 1:13:49
  Hey, let's talk about why the future is
• 1:13:50
  bright Let's look at what skills you need
• 1:13:52
  to be there.
• 1:13:53
  Let's get them hyped up for that sort
• 1:13:54
  of thing Well, I shall make an effort
• 1:13:59
  Well, because I believe the politics is still
• 1:14:02
  for a good long time Gonna be the
• 1:14:05
  evil story that it is right now.
• 1:14:07
  Yeah, I I don't I don't see that
• 1:14:11
  Necessarily changing and maybe that skews my other
• 1:14:13
  world views I think you've got a good
• 1:14:16
  point, but I've also seen that pendulum just
• 1:14:20
  When it goes this far to the right
• 1:14:23
  at this time, trust me, it's gonna go
• 1:14:26
  Back to the left and maybe further maybe
• 1:14:29
  it's on the up arc and not the
• 1:14:31
  down You know what?
• 1:14:33
  I mean, or maybe it's stronger.
• 1:14:35
  We're still in the strong part and it's
• 1:14:37
  not the metronome, you know that Might slow
• 1:14:41
  down over time.
• 1:14:42
  It's I think as long as the Trump
• 1:14:44
  administration doesn't do anything Foolish foolish.
• 1:14:49
  I think hard to believe I think one
• 1:14:51
  of the things that sticks out to me
• 1:14:53
  is that By being positive and talking about
• 1:14:56
  the future.
• 1:14:57
  We may be able to bypass the politics
• 1:14:59
  is what I'm saying We may be able
• 1:15:01
  to get people to move beyond their politics
• 1:15:03
  and that's what I'm trying to get get
• 1:15:05
  people to do anyway So, all righty.
• 1:15:08
  Well, thank you for having me on the
• 1:15:09
  show.
• 1:15:10
  Hey, man, I thank you I didn't mean
• 1:15:11
  take so much of your time.
• 1:15:12
  No, it's been a pleasure and I like
• 1:15:14
  to talk a lot So, well, that's a
• 1:15:16
  good thing because you did well, thanks for
• 1:15:18
  having and so did I and I'm very
• 1:15:20
  glad to have you Thank you very much.
• 1:15:21
  Yep okay, friends and neighbors and there he
• 1:15:25
  goes and We're gonna I got a few
• 1:15:30
  things I'm gonna go not nowhere near what
• 1:15:32
  I was gonna discuss before Because I still
• 1:15:36
  still have only 15 minutes or so To
• 1:15:41
  go on the show, which is just fine
• 1:15:43
  But I had one in particular that I
• 1:15:45
  really wanted to get to that.
• 1:15:46
  I thought was rather comical There's been all
• 1:15:51
  kinds of ruckus and hubbub What's the hubbub
• 1:15:54
  bub?
• 1:15:55
  the hubbub is that India sent 65 soldiers
• 1:16:03
  where Where did they go?
• 1:16:06
  they went to the Zapad 2025 I was
• 1:16:11
  telling you a little bit about Zapad 2025
• 1:16:14
  over the last few days where Belarus and
• 1:16:17
  Russia are having joint Exercises on the NATO
• 1:16:20
  border now, they do this every so often.
• 1:16:23
  I want to say every four years or
• 1:16:24
  whatever I've talked about it a few times
• 1:16:26
  and Then there's counter counter Events on the
• 1:16:32
  other side of the border in Poland NATO
• 1:16:34
  countries, you know US military has NATO bases
• 1:16:40
  inside of Poland and they kind of have
• 1:16:44
  corresponding War games if you want to call
• 1:16:49
  them that well the the Horror story of
• 1:16:52
  it all was that India joined Russia sent
• 1:16:55
  a small detachment of people Talking about joint
• 1:16:59
  defense and learning from each other and you
• 1:17:02
  know They're border countries and have to do
• 1:17:03
  it and people on the West going nuts
• 1:17:06
  over it.
• 1:17:07
  Oh my god India's join in Russia and
• 1:17:11
  This is a terrible thing.
• 1:17:13
  I can't believe it.
• 1:17:15
  You know, why would they do this?
• 1:17:17
  Right and it just Let me get to
• 1:17:21
  the proper script on this after my After
• 1:17:30
  my rail stuff, let's get to it India
• 1:17:35
  sent 65 personnel including a detachment from the
• 1:17:43
  Kuma own regiment to the Russia Belarus up
• 1:17:46
  at 2025 drills Russia Belarus hosting about 100
• 1:17:51
  ,000 troops in total right so 65 of
• 1:17:55
  them are from India the Western media reaction
• 1:17:58
  You know the Australian there was a newspaper
• 1:18:00
  over there a couple of times It got
• 1:18:02
  picked up in the u.s. To very
• 1:18:04
  critical editorials and briefs that say this is
• 1:18:07
  very bad optics for the quad The quad
• 1:18:10
  is Japan u.s India and Australia and
• 1:18:16
  the EU India ties It's a red line,
• 1:18:20
  you know, they shouldn't be they can't go
• 1:18:22
  into Russia.
• 1:18:22
  There's a red line appeared in London Press,
• 1:18:25
  right?
• 1:18:26
  Russian says Participation is normal and it's multinational
• 1:18:31
  multilateral training and Get this US and NATO
• 1:18:39
  officers were present to as observers inside of
• 1:18:44
  Belarus and almost a hundred of them so
• 1:18:47
  NATO and the US sent officers over there,
• 1:18:50
  too, so why London New York and Sydney
• 1:18:55
  why are we all complaining about the Indians
• 1:19:00
  Because nobody wants to admit to the rest
• 1:19:03
  of the world and I'm gonna do it
• 1:19:04
  here on my show that oh, by the
• 1:19:07
  way We send people to these things, too
• 1:19:10
  We know these are peaceful events and they're
• 1:19:12
  just doing war training and they're allowing us
• 1:19:15
  to observe what they're doing Nonsense the exercises
• 1:19:20
  character is conventional and nuclear signaling New systems
• 1:19:26
  were showcased nuclear capable aviation I did want
• 1:19:30
  to get to What this nuclear thing is
• 1:19:33
  for Russia because it's a big deal but
• 1:19:36
  I don't think I'm going to I may
• 1:19:37
  save some of this for tomorrow night and
• 1:19:40
  get through the the India thing and maybe
• 1:19:43
  a couple of other quick short stories and
• 1:19:49
  Talk about that but India is Pissed once
• 1:19:53
  again, they're going, you know, of course The
• 1:19:58
  West will say do as I say not
• 1:20:01
  as I do and will lecture India Excuse
• 1:20:05
  me.
• 1:20:05
  It will lecture India on what they need
• 1:20:08
  to do and That's nonsense and India is
• 1:20:11
  tired of it.
• 1:20:12
  So India says listen, we have our own
• 1:20:15
  strategic autonomy Participation Strengthens our long-standing defensive
• 1:20:22
  ties with Russia and The scale is merely
• 1:20:26
  symbolic not a combat commitment and it's a
• 1:20:30
  quiet message You know something to Washington and
• 1:20:33
  Brussels that you know tariffs and sanctions and
• 1:20:37
  pressure aren't going to dictate who we partner
• 1:20:41
  with that was actually said in the Australian
• 1:20:44
  article and There was an X post and
• 1:20:50
  I I don't have it available to pull
• 1:20:52
  up but there was an X post that
• 1:20:56
  some Some Indian and I forget who was
• 1:20:59
  an important Indian Leader of some sort that
• 1:21:04
  I mean governmental actor, too But it wasn't
• 1:21:07
  like Jaishankar or Modi or anybody like that
• 1:21:10
  it was somebody else who was connected to
• 1:21:12
  it and it was a woman and she
• 1:21:14
  but I can't remember who and she said
• 1:21:17
  You know, once again do as I say
• 1:21:19
  not as I do you don't even mention
• 1:21:22
  the fact that US troops and NATO troops
• 1:21:25
  are also there you just Conveniently ignore that
• 1:21:29
  reality and you know, they don't like it.
• 1:21:32
  They don't they they just don't like it
• 1:21:35
  You know Matthew when he was in here
• 1:21:36
  a few minutes ago talking about Getting rid
• 1:21:41
  of this continual All you have are two
• 1:21:47
  parties and you gotta pick one or the
• 1:21:51
  other and worldwide all you have is Multilateral
• 1:21:58
  multi-groups that that believe in Multipolarity and
• 1:22:05
  Globalism which is US dominance, but the US
• 1:22:10
  We can't we can't come together to get
• 1:22:14
  anything done it's It's shameful in my humble
• 1:22:19
  opinion.
• 1:22:20
  It is shameful that we cannot get past
• 1:22:23
  it We demonize people who were killed We
• 1:22:28
  on both sides.
• 1:22:29
  It's you can't say anything nice about someone
• 1:22:34
  if They have an opposing view to you
• 1:22:37
  Diplomacy is long dead, you know and the
• 1:22:41
  ability to get along with each other Unless
• 1:22:44
  you have the identical get along views It's
• 1:22:49
  gone.
• 1:22:50
  I Have no problem getting along with most
• 1:22:52
  people and I don't give a crap what
• 1:22:54
  they believe I don't care, you know, I
• 1:22:56
  don't care if you believe that the moon's
• 1:22:58
  made of green cheese You know, that's you're
• 1:23:00
  right.
• 1:23:01
  You want to do that?
• 1:23:02
  Go ahead But don't try to tell me
• 1:23:05
  that I must believe the moon is made
• 1:23:06
  of green cheese, it's not gonna happen I
• 1:23:09
  Disbelieve that it's actually yellow cheese Swiss cheese.
• 1:23:13
  That's why there are holes in it.
• 1:23:15
  Sometimes I Don't understand that people don't get
• 1:23:18
  that.
• 1:23:18
  So it's it's These hating people because they
• 1:23:25
  lean a certain direction is I'm so tired
• 1:23:28
  of it I can't stand it, you know
• 1:23:30
  watching And I wasn't How do I want
• 1:23:35
  to put this?
• 1:23:35
  I wasn't obsessed by watching Charlie Kirk.
• 1:23:38
  I know who he was I saw some
• 1:23:40
  of his stuff, but I didn't I didn't
• 1:23:42
  continually follow the man, you know I'm not
• 1:23:45
  I don't but but I saw some of
• 1:23:47
  his if if you didn't know who Charlie
• 1:23:49
  Kirk was that's probably a pretty Rare thing
• 1:23:54
  and maybe that's that's a good thing.
• 1:23:56
  You don't you don't need to know who
• 1:23:58
  these people are maybe okay but Even if
• 1:24:03
  you do, you don't have to hate him
• 1:24:05
  What why do we hating people because of
• 1:24:07
  different opinions why and maybe it's a college
• 1:24:10
  thing?
• 1:24:11
  you're supposed to go to college and argue
• 1:24:13
  about each other and you know, I You're
• 1:24:17
  supposed to argue about Republican versus Democrat and
• 1:24:22
  keep it that way and it's never gonna
• 1:24:23
  go away.
• 1:24:24
  I have no idea but it's I I'm
• 1:24:29
  so over it already.
• 1:24:31
  And and how do we continue to get
• 1:24:33
  over it?
• 1:24:34
  I don't know but India is going look
• 1:24:37
  We're gonna do what we think is best
• 1:24:39
  for us and we don't understand why it's
• 1:24:41
  a problem for you That's a very fair
• 1:24:44
  comment You know Russia welcomes India's presence is
• 1:24:50
  proof that the drills are Multinational guess who
• 1:24:54
  else showed up Bangladesh Iran, you know Western
• 1:24:58
  red line Oh, it's a red line, you
• 1:25:00
  know from Australia, you know, you you can't
• 1:25:02
  do that You're gonna tell India what they
• 1:25:05
  can and can't do right Australia a broader
• 1:25:08
  deterrence offered zappad Which means West pairs the
• 1:25:13
  strategic messaging?
• 1:25:15
  You know, they're a Reshnik and and this
• 1:25:18
  is the other one Border of this Nick
• 1:25:20
  and I forget what that means.
• 1:25:22
  I'll have to look it up, but I
• 1:25:23
  had a kid me Kid me segment.
• 1:25:26
  I'll go into it tomorrow on Buddha Vesnik
• 1:25:28
  and how big a deal this is This
• 1:25:31
  is a big deal and it is part
• 1:25:33
  of the show, but I won't get to
• 1:25:35
  it till tomorrow now I'm way ahead for
• 1:25:36
  tomorrow.
• 1:25:37
  How about that the EU and NATO or
• 1:25:40
  you know, what geez that's a problem for
• 1:25:42
  the quad What about the optics?
• 1:25:44
  India's gone and they're gonna they're gonna be
• 1:25:48
  in the country on the side of Russia.
• 1:25:49
  They're gonna be in Belarus Nonsense, it's disturbing
• 1:25:54
  said the UK editorial and said it are
• 1:25:58
  undermines India's Democratic Bloc credibility Yes undermining their
• 1:26:05
  credibility and the EU's dilemma is that Brussels
• 1:26:09
  wants trade with India?
• 1:26:11
  But bristles at their Moscow ties and oil
• 1:26:14
  purchases and they say the timing is downright
• 1:26:17
  awkward Here you are.
• 1:26:19
  You're supposed to be getting you know Bone
• 1:26:21
  crushing sanctions from Lindsey Graham at 500%
• 1:26:24
  100% from Trump and here you are
• 1:26:28
  poking the poke in the Uncle Sam By
• 1:26:34
  showing up at a Russian Military exercise.
• 1:26:37
  Thanks a lot India.
• 1:26:39
  Good call.
• 1:26:40
  Actually, I don't really give a crap I
• 1:26:41
  think I think just like Jaishankar just like
• 1:26:45
  India says, you know what?
• 1:26:47
  we'll worry about our own defensive posture and
• 1:26:50
  who we choose to be allies and by
• 1:26:52
  the way who we trade with and What
• 1:26:54
  do you care?
• 1:26:56
  That's the statement and I'm you know, and
• 1:26:58
  we're not going to care what you think
• 1:27:00
  anymore.
• 1:27:01
  That's the most important, right?
• 1:27:03
  So the security readout say the people are
• 1:27:07
  monitoring to prevent threats air defense posture on
• 1:27:10
  the eastern flank NATO is Reinforced some analysis
• 1:27:14
  blogs say this is routine NATO risk management
• 1:27:18
  And I think it is routine So you
• 1:27:21
  got people massing on the border they used
• 1:27:23
  to do it all the time and when
• 1:27:24
  I was in the military And we would
• 1:27:27
  do something called reforger a huge group of
• 1:27:30
  soldiers annually or semi and It could have
• 1:27:33
  been by annually I don't remember but they
• 1:27:36
  would send him over to Germany to get
• 1:27:38
  all prepared And of course, the Russians would
• 1:27:41
  build up on the other or the Soviet
• 1:27:43
  Union would build up on the other side
• 1:27:45
  of the border That's how it goes and
• 1:27:48
  it's nothing out of the ordinary.
• 1:27:50
  Okay?
• 1:27:51
  regardless, so at von der Leyen and Kayak
• 1:27:54
  Alice and what's-his-name from Poland want
• 1:27:58
  you to think it's nonsense.
• 1:27:59
  These are just standard Drills and standard appearances
• 1:28:04
  the EU EK that I let up EU
• 1:28:07
  UK editorials Aside this is really not a
• 1:28:12
  big deal and NATO security framing say, you
• 1:28:15
  know, it's just a medium to high risk
• 1:28:17
  You know, you know, it's about those drones
• 1:28:20
  and what they're doing.
• 1:28:22
  I Don't think so Russian strategic messaging says
• 1:28:25
  now We're just testing our nuclear adjacent systems
• 1:28:28
  that we're trying to distribute all over Belarus,
• 1:28:32
  what's the big deal and India says we're
• 1:28:36
  autonomous quit telling us what to do, you
• 1:28:40
  know, that's a You know pretty big deal.
• 1:28:43
  It's India's presence is normal great power balancing.
• 1:28:48
  It's a NATO's already de facto in the
• 1:28:52
  fight with With Ukraine anyway, what's the big
• 1:28:56
  deal and There's plenty to go on Internal
• 1:29:00
  Ukraine trajectory.
• 1:29:02
  This is this is what air aristovitch was
• 1:29:04
  saying That that you know, this is a
• 1:29:08
  bigger deal than it used to be anyway,
• 1:29:10
  I'm gonna wrap it up right there for
• 1:29:12
  tonight because I Don't have enough time to
• 1:29:17
  go any further Although I have quite a
• 1:29:19
  few more topics and we'll just push them
• 1:29:21
  on to tomorrow night And come back to
• 1:29:23
  them.
• 1:29:24
  My name is Samuel trap.
• 1:29:26
  This is Damn radio and this is international
• 1:29:30
  flavor on damn radio You can listen to
• 1:29:33
  damn radio the great shows we have on
• 1:29:35
  the very last of the Wednesday Long play
• 1:29:38
  and a very good day for us, and
• 1:29:41
  I'm very glad you joined us You can
• 1:29:44
  follow me on my international flavor Dot-com
• 1:29:49
  website and I hope that you do every
• 1:29:51
  night here from Sunday through Thursday 9 p
• 1:29:54
  .m to 1030 have a good