Latest / Black Box Theory Podcast / BBT #23 | Your Savings Are Losing — 24-Hour Markets, Debt, and GTA 6

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BBT #23 | Your Savings Are Losing — 24-Hour Markets, Debt, and GTA 6 · Black Box Theory Podcast

• Thomas: Low hello low. Malcolm: What's going on, man? How you how we feeling? Thomas: I'm feeling good, bro. Feeling like episode twenty three. How you feeling? Malcolm: Complain brother, blessed. Another week. You know. You know, we're here. Grateful to be alive. Grateful to be able to have a platform to talk on, man. So I'm I'm excited, bro. I'm feeling good, man. Ready to take on another week. Looking forward to this upcoming Labor Day weekend. got my got my hierarchs race coming up, man. So I'm I'm trying to get my mind right, bro. Trying to get locked in, bro. Thomas: Hyrux. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let the the people know what was high rocks, how how you been prepping for that? Preparation is key. Malcolm: Yeah, man. So I said I know I'm I'm sure people that listen to this, like, you know, Ron R. A. probably know what HyRox is. But like this is my first time doing any type of race or event, like like athletic event or anything like that competition. but put something like HyRox like a you can think of it as like a CrossFit hybrid athlete event for everyday gym goers. but it's not like a it's not as like I wouldn't put it in the same bucket as being like as challenging as like a a half marathon or like a Iron Man, it's nothing like that. But it is definitely for like a for someone who doesn't really like like like it's something to like like train for just to get your mind right because it's like a it's a eight, I believe I won't say it's an eight kilometer run. So it's about it's about like right under like five miles total. But it's separated by like eight stations at, you know, between every one kilometer interval. So if as an example, like you'll start the race, you'll run a kilometer, you'll do a station, right? And so the stations, they aren't super like crazy, but the whole point of the race is to like have like to to be s like have enough endurance to get through each station without getting fatigued and and and messing your time up. So there's like, you know, you're like I say you're running kilometer, you do something like a like a like a skier, which is like the exercise. You're like you're pulling down the the the ski ropes, like, you know, with a high resistance and you're doing that. You do that, boom. It's like and it's also separated. So it's like there's singles races and there's also doubles races. I'm doing a doubles race, me and my line brother Jaden, we're we're going out like I say to DC, competing with with a lot of other you know, folks that we know and It's a bunch of other stations like a sled push, a sled pull, you know, broad jumps, burpees, wall balls. So it's like these these stations that don't seem super, super hard, but it's like you gotta think about when we were running all these miles and you're trying to go like at at at competition day speed. it is easy to get fatigued and to tie yourself out. So for me, it's been like this. I've really been training for like, I'd say like training seriously, probably for like two and a half, three months. but it's just been it's been a lot of cardio, bro. It's been a lot of cardio, a lot of running. And low key, like like the progress I've seen with like my body and just my endurance and just like how I feel, like, you know, regarding like being fit and and and feeling like, you know, like energetic, bro. Like, I think I'm gonna probably have to like train, change my tra training regimen, bro. Cause like before all I was on, bro, I would just go to the gym, just lift weights. I might hit an incline walk here and there, bro. But I think I might have to just start training like a hybrid athlete, bro. Like, like I used to hate running. I really didn't like it because like I mean it hurts. Like, I I don't like to run I don't like to run for no reason, Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: like but like To be like since I started training for high rocks, bro, like I was banging out nine minutes, eight thirty miles, like for one, two miles. I I couldn't even finish a 5K without like stopping my my time for like five minutes trying to catch my breath. But now, because I've been running so consistently, bro, I think this summer alone, I have like over 200 miles like, you know, done on my striver. So it's like now I did a 5k yesterday. All my five K's now, like at like at my worst 5Ks, but like 730 minutes. Like now I'm doing like 715, seven minutes. right under seven minutes, you know, twenty two, twenty one minute five Ks and like I've just built on that all summer. So, you know, I'm gonna definitely try to try to keep it keep it going after after high rock scores 'cause I wanna just, you know, train up and and then get like fat after. so probably gonna try to get into some some hybrid athlete training and then probably pick up another another another hobby, you know, just to keep my time 'cause like going to the gym doing the same thing can get boring quick. So I'm trying to just, you know, keep keep myself excited. But yeah, man, that's a little bit about Thomas: that's fair. Malcolm: Hy Rocks and and you know what we got going on. So it's coming up next Thursday, Labor Day, right right, right ahead of Labor Day weekend. So yeah. Hopefully you guys will hopefully you know we we we we do something, we make some noise. Thomas: Yeah, that's tough. That's tough. Everybody, you know, support. cash card check is accepted. to support the efforts. much appreciated. but no, I Malcolm: Yeah, man. Yeah. Yeah. Thomas: think you highlighted a great point, man. You highlighted a point. Hybrid training. We always gotta be, you know, just be a chimera for a lack of better words. for some people. Malcolm: Gotta be an athlete, bro. Like Thomas: You know, you gotta be an athlete. Like all the training, like that's why a lot of people they wonder why, you know, they just hit the gym, they're not really seeing changes or they still feel bad. It's like, bro, lifting weights is not like it's great, but you got to do it with exactly. Malcolm: Mm. That that's one that's one piece of the puzzle, bro. Yeah, facts. Facts. It's one piece of the puzzle. And it's like if you're not, cause for the longest, bro, I was doing lifting all the weights in the world, but it's like, one, aside from right, it's your diet, bruh. If you don't change that diet, if you don't stop, like, bruh, I had to cut out like so many things. I said I don't think I was eating bad, but like I have a lot of like a couple things that are like, like I said, I have a sweet sooth. Like, you know, I'll eat fast food, like but since I've cut out like a lot of the fried foods, the sweets, and really just kinda like been monitoring like like what I'm eating when and how often, it it's become it's become a lot easier to kinda like manage, you know, not like eating eating anything. 'Cause I'm like you can train all you want, but if if you don't, you know, also train in the in the kitchen, it's it's none of your results are gonna show. So yeah, it's been it's been it's been it's been a pretty rewarding couple months so far. So We we almost there, but we're not finished yet. Thomas: Sleep too. Yeah, you got you gotta sleep too. All y all y'all are not David Goggins. Y'all y'all not running off four hours Malcolm: yeah f yeah, facts, facts, facts, yeah. You gotta get your eight hours, bro. Thomas: of sleep and then hitting a thirty mile alert. Nah. Malcolm: I I ain't gonna lie, I was low key on that for a little minute, man. I thought I was like, I was trying to be like the man, bro, trying to like, you know, I was going to sleep at 12, 1, trying to get back up at 5, bro, get hit the gym, do a whole work day. I was like, nah, I gotta get my sleep. I yeah, yeah, like do not, do not like that. Is not an exaggeration, bro. Like I used to think like sleep was overrated, not overrated. That sounds so ignorant, but like I used to I I guess I undervalued just how important it is, bruh. Cause like having a fresh like recharge, like fresh eight hours, bro, it changes the trajectory of your day. Like just like like chemically, like like from your brain signals to literally how you feel, like mood. It it it it go yeah. So definitely I've been trying to get to bed at an earlier time, a lot more consistently when I can. The only thing that kind of ever keeps you from going to bed at the same time every day is is work. Like it's it's just trying trying to finish stuff. But yeah, nah. Yeah, that's that's a great point, bro. We you you gotta get to sleep. I ain't gonna lie. Thomas: Yeah man, it's it's it's a lot that goes into it. And all for all our young listeners out there who are like, you know, high school, whatever, trust me, you might be able to do it now. Remember, you know, high school back in the day, you go to sleep at like one, two, three a.m. pop up again to five, keep Malcolm: Tell Thomas: it pushing. It it don't last long, it's not good for you. For all my people who say, I function better off three hours, no, you don't. Everybody's exact sleep time that you need is a little different. Everyone doesn't function best with eight or seven. You know, it's a little different for everybody, but Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: you know That feeling when you wake up and you have really good sleep and you feel a little a little sluggish sometimes, I think it's just Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: I'm not a doctor, but sometimes just, you know, different stress responses. that's why sometimes you might be able to pop up with four hours of sleep 'cause you never really went to sleep. Your body's stressed. So you just get up. But Malcolm: Yeah. Yeah. No facts like it's yeah. Go gotta go to bed, people, please. Thomas: Facts. You know, you know what else need to go to bed? Chasing stocks, man. Chasing stocks need to go to bed. obviously not eight literally, right? still invest in stocks, but I think a lot of people you might have heard about these things called ETFs. We've talked about them for a while. ETFs stand for what what are they called? Malcolm: Saying straight a fonts. Thomas: Exchange trade. Okay, yeah, I I should have known that off the top of my head. But you know, there's there's an ETF boom going on. So you might have heard it from other other creators. there's I forgot the number, but there's like a thousand ETFs that are going to be created in 2026 alone or 3,000. There's a lot of them. and essentially what that is, is a managed fund that invests in stocks for you. So let's say if you have an ETF that holds Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, whatever, like it tracks those and plays a part in it. But what I want to talk about specifically is a company called Roundhill ETFs. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: A lot of people might have heard of them. with a memory etf called dram that's dra i will say it's a little bit expensive they specs ratio about s 0.65% when you buy it but yeah essentially they they hold different different things and and if you go to roundhill's website they have a bunch of theme etfs but for dram like or dram their holdings and they get you exposure to things like samung micron skynix seagate sand disk western digital And you can chase Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: different areas. I know Malcolm, I know y you probably have have a good amount to share about this. Or like Brown Hill, the German. Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, no, yeah, for sure. So like yeah, no, yeah. So so yeah, Round Hill's definitely like I think taking taking the and and to your point, you also did make a good point earlier. Like I don't think people realize like ETS like like Thomas said are exchange traded funds. and these are just essentially just baskets of stocks that are all just rolled up into one ticker so that you don't have to worry about finding, you know, the right company, the right like it's just it's a lot easier for especially for not even just for beginner investors, but for people who don't want to like constantly have to check check and actively manage and and essentially be a hedge fund manager for the own portfolio. Me personally, I used to like to do that when I was like 18, 19, bro, because I just wanted to be like the I wanted to be the next, you know, like find the next company, get these two thousand percent returns that you see from all these, you know, crazy creators. But it's like, you realize, bro, like the the key to like wealth building, right? It's not, it's it's not the you're it's not going to be the there are some people that do make it like that, but that's a very small percentage of act people. A lot of people fail trying to make these bets and do these options calls on like these companies and And you a lot of us only see the very extreme. But for most people, the average person, and even not even just the average person, you ask Warren Buffett about his strategy. Just get you an ETF, get you get you something that you know that you're gonna get your a guarantee annual return on and leave it alone. Don't touch it. That that has been the the big the biggest change I've made in my investing strategy. and that's just been like that comes with a lot of discipline because a lot of people aren't able to like resist that urge. To constantly like check their portfolio and to constantly like make an adjustment to their portfolio and what they're invested in. But unfortunately, like it's not unfortunate, but it's just like something I just have it's a it's a tough lesson to accept, like especially for someone who like wants to actively manage everything. All the wealth comes from just leaving stuff alone, bro. It's from getting into these ETFs, these big baskets, the VOOs of the world, the QQQMs of the world, the SCHD, the SCHGs, the the VXIs, right? The the the the vanguards, the the swabs, the like these are the the baskets and the companies and the and the ETF the ETFs that like you you you you know if you put your money in there if you look back in it in a year it's gonna be 10%, 11%, 12% higher than what you put in, right? And we have to accept that like it's okay to get 10% returns. It's okay to get a 12% return in a year. Like unfortunately like the way that the stock market has acted since the AI boom, since since Chat CBC came out, since the video went on the run that this did, it's it's kind of unfortunately it's it's given people this perception that it's normal see the returns that we're getting. It's no like people think that companies like Sandisk and Micron and Western Digital and Seagate and all these companies that are having this insane boom because of the memory cycle and the price shortage. People think this is normal. Like people think that like sand like companies like Sandisc are just supposed to like just fall out of the sky, bro. Like people don't understand how I I I don't even remember what like Sandisc bro, like like Sandisc stock. Once again, call this out in January by the way for for anybody that that was listening. But Sand is, bro. The past six months, it is up 139%. Year to date, it is up 479%. One year, it is up 3,331%. Past five years, it is up four thousand two hundred and fifty four percent. If anybody, if anybody thinks that this is normal, and and we we don't like just to just to qu let's use a company like Apple. Apple over the past year is up over the past five years. Apple, and we we most people think about like the best tech companies or the best companies know Apple is usually the first one to come up. Apple for the past five years is up 108%. Apple, this is the company that everyone everyone has a piece of Apple in their house one way or another. Apple is up 108%. Sandis is up 4,200%. That is not normal. That is a that is very much like The the result of an insane boom that no one had a crystal eight ball to see coming. Now, now, like, and to our point, Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: nobody has a crystal ball. Nobody knows when the next there are some people who are just geniuses and know like can predict these type of things. But the safest bet Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: is to get in these ECS, bro. Because you don't have to worry about trying to go through because imagine how many companies somebody else was trying to find the next sandist had to go through before they found Sandis, bro. Imagine how much money you would like. It's also like, You said to accept the safe bet, bro. And so, like, not to get too far off track, but Roundhill, once again, they are a they're they're they're they're they're SEC registered investment advisor and they're focused on innovative ETFs, right? So they have a suite of very unique and differentiated exposures across you know thematic equity options and trading vehicles. So they they have a they have a lot of different ETFs, right? And so they have it separated out, they have income ETFs. which are diversified diversified income and yield focused. They have thematic ETFs, which is what Thomas was talking about. So, like the DRAMs, the lights, the chats, which we'll get into. They have the weekly pay ETFs, which are single stock exposure plus weekly distributions. They have tax efficient ETFs. They also have leverage ETFs, which are another it's leveraged ETFs are they use derivatives to like essentially get like a two or three times multiplier on the same underlying asset that you're that you're investing in the ETF. I personally don't get into leverage ETS that much 'cause of like the time decay and the volatility that comes with them. but once again, right, so but companies like Ron, let me see if I can actually share my screen here really quick to to give you guys some more context. Can I can I share my screen or Thomas: Yeah, you should you should be able to. Malcolm: Okay. my bad. My bad's in a different tab. My fault. Technical difficulties, folks. I yeah. I know I work at Microsoft, but Thomas: Mike, Mike, we need help. Malcolm: yeah, no, we need like a we need like a guy. We need like a guy that does this, honestly. Okay. Alright, sorry, pulling it up now. Thomas: Yeah. Zero dollar income position open. No no pay. Expect no pay. Malcolm: All right, here we go. So right now I'm on Roundhill's website, Roundhill Investments.com slash ETF. and so this is just a list of all the ETFs, right? And they're they're filtered you can filter them by the categories I was telling you about earlier. but like I said, right, so they have all these different we can go to the thematic ones first to give guys an example of what it means, what a thematic ETFs means. It essentially means that you're you are getting exposure into a very, very specific and concentrated area. So DRAM is a memory ETF. And DRAM stands for direct random access memory. And anybody that's been following the stock market this year, you know, memory stocks have been on an absolute tear since last year and and and have been it's just been, you know, amplified by several factor like you know, several several factors of ten this year. they have a magnificent seven ETF, they have chat, which is a generative AI and technology ETF. and some of the top holdings, right? You can see the Nvidia's, the SK Heinex, the Alphabets, the AMDs, the Z AIs, like all the companies that are the backbone. Of AI development, data center build out, like right. So it's like it's very, it's very like you can use some, you can be intuitive here and understand like what some of these concentrations can be. DRAM, once again, obviously top exposures are memory companies. So you have your microns, your Samsung, SK Heinex, Sandisc, right, etc. etc. And so you can go down these these listen, they even have a they have an they have an Olympic ETF, right? And it's like Thomas: The G O P one. Malcolm: don't don't like healthcare has been killing this year, right? They Novo Nordis, they Eli Lilly, Pfizer. Viking, like they have all these companies who are like very, very, you know, they have they even have they have a sports betting ETF. They have a a a a Mars or space and technology ETF, right? So it's like, don't feel like, you know, there are there are like the the classic, the VUs, the SPMOs, like the ones I was talking about earlier, but there are also for people who still want to you know, take that safe bet. Not necessarily now, granted, all ETFs are not safe. Let me clarify that. All ETFs are Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: not safe. Like let less let's let's let's dispel that quickly. Like, Thomas: There's a lot of slop out there. This and also this Malcolm: There are a lot of there are yeah, go ahead. Thomas: is not this is not a roundhill funded video by the or not video, but portion by the way. Malcolm: No, it's not before people before people start thinking we sponsored or something. Thomas: Yeah, no, this is not spot. This is just one that a lot of people heard about DRAM going up and their new ETF, not well, I think it newer, lights, L Y T E with photonics, Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: which directly is related to transfer com or was it com communications by light. So it transfers data by light. which you can see on the screen, Malcolm is sharing. But it's like all ETFs are not great. So you want to find one that that people believe in that are backed. Because if you can invest in the ETF that has great holdings, if people are not buying it, even if those holdings go up, the ETF itself will not do great. So you have to find stable, supported ones. And Roundhill just happens to be, you know, not the new kid on the block, but they're putting out some pretty fire ETFs. Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: So that that's kind of why we're we're talking about this one in particular, but there are plenty out there, like the QQQs, the Voos, the spies, like there, there's plenty of great ETFs. Do your own research. we forgot the disclaimer. Disclaimer. Do your own research. We are not financial advisors. We are not professionals. We are learning out loud. Malcolm: Exactly. Thomas: I will be completely honest. I could not break down every single thing on this page right now. If we're gonna talk about all the differences between thematic, income weekly play, core leverage. Like I I have an idea. But I could not confidently give someone advice on how to do this, nor am I certified or either of us certified for this. So we're just learning out loud. Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: Good. All right. Yeah, Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: so it's you were saying? Malcolm: Yeah, no, like like less like and with the ETS, like I said, I'll also show on this page to also be like to have some transparency, right? So like yes, these thematic ETFs, they have a lot of very unique exposure. but let's also be clear, like a lot of these also have not even been around for a year. Like if you look at the inception date on a lot of these, a lot of them were made twenty twenty five, twenty twenty three, twenty five, twenty four, twenty five, twenty four, twenty three. Like a lot of these don't really have much tr like history for us to like compare it to like a SP five hundred that's been around for for decades, for for for you know over a hundred years or like whatnot. So it's like, let's also be clear, like, you know, these also a lot of these don't even have like a a full year to date return yet, right? Like like DRAM, which has been frying this year, doesn't even have like it was made in April. It was incepted the inception was was April 2026, right? So there are a lot of companies here where it's like they don't even have enough historical data for us to really like make a lot of this is kind of a bet. It's a bit of a gamble, right? But at the end of the day, it's like if you believe in the companies that are in it, then you know, That that's kinda like so like Thomas was talking about earlier, like like light, right? Like so there are a couple like ETFs in here that have really kind of like done really well this year. Chat, you know, they have done you know, they're up thirty-nine percent this year. The the the United Health, like the week some of the weekly pay ETFs, like AMD, ARM, United Health, Amazon, Apple, Google, like all the companies have been fr you know, doing really well this year, they're also up. Now, there are also a lot of companies that are doing really, really bad, right? You have like, you know. the space and technology ETF. I'm sure a lot of people were bullish on that because SpaceX was like the next big thing, but SpaceX is probably the top holding and they're down, right? So it's like we do have to use a bit of like, you know, you you do have to have like the you have to have enough context and understand like enough about like what's going on like in the market and and what like at the end of the day, like a lot of the stock market, it's not about just fundamentals. It's about narrative. Like it's about like like what's driving the charts. What are people buying? What are people selling? Like that's that's kind of like what a lot of the stock market is now. So when you're able to follow those narratives and and and get ahead of it and and make really, really kind of like grounded informed decisions, that is when, you know, the payout of ETFs, you know, from a company like Round here who make who has all these very these very unique and differentiated kind of like exposures and and offerings, that's when it really kind of like, you know, pays forward as an investor. So just kind of wanted to put that on everyone's radar that there are more you know, asset managers out there besides, you Vanguard and and and Charles Schwab and whatnot, like there are people in companies that that have like more unique, more nuanced offerings. You just have to like I said, you know, just just do the research and and and see what's out there. But like I said, this is one that a lot of people are super familiar with now, but want to make sure that our audience was was, you know, was in the know as well. Thomas: Yeah. And also you want to make sure you're thinking long term. whether Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: it's a stock at ETF, for all my people out there investing, we neither of us are day traders. neither of us do like Malcolm: Absolutely not. Thomas: short calls and puts. Like I getting rich quick never works for anyone, whether you're sports betting, whether you're whether you're gambling, whether it's investments, getting rich quick does not work. You can hit five times, that six times you might lose it all. So Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: you gotta think long term. So Don't worry so much about the day to day or the week to week or even the month to month. Honestly, if if you believe and and you have data to support that belief and you know where things are going, like that's a great time. Like, for example, right, Visa was down for a little bit earlier this year. Malcolm: Mm. Thomas: And Visa, you have to know Visa's gonna go back up. It's the largest marketplace transaction, most used transaction in the world, platform, and also you know, passports and things. So They kind of have not a monopoly, but they have some areas that they really have locked down. So you see that some things are a sale. Some stuff might be down 30, 40%. And when when it when it has those pullbacks, if you know it's it's gonna come back or long term, you believe five years it this is gonna continue to be relevant, man. Those dips, like the bigger, the longer, the further out you make the chart, those those dips that may look crazy for a week or a day or a month. Malcolm: Those are buying opportunities, man. That's when you load up, right? And so it's like Thomas: Yeah, and they disappear, bro. Like Malcolm: they do. And so it's like you have to like I think a lot of people just like a lot of it is like the panic. Like you have to really I've talked about this before, but you really have like when it comes to investing, bro, especially long term investors, you can't get got up caught up in the day to day. You know, there are time there are going to be times where it's bad weeks where your everything just looks red and there's gonna be weeks where everything looks green, right? But it's like that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm considered concerned about when you zoom out on this chart. What does my my one month return look like? What does my three month return look like? What's my year to date return? My one year, my three year, my five year, right? Those are the those are the views I'm more concerned about, not what's happening today, right? If you're you know, if you're doing day trading or swing trading, yes, that would be more of a concern to you. But for someone that's not planning on on withdrawing any of their investments anytime soon, it's like, all right, like, you know, like like like what's the what's the long term player? If you like something at $200, you have to like it at a hundred. If you really believe Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: in the company, if you really believe in the the leadership and the people that are making it and and the direction of the company and then the strategy and like, you know, if Wall Street, you know, is is backing it or not, like if you like something at at fifty, you gotta like it at twenty, right? So it's like that's kinda like the mindset you have to have. You can't get caught up in like like trying to find the perfect price or the perfect entry. Like, bro, if you buy it, bro, like invest. Like that's it's investing, bro. It's like it's it's and at the end of the day, like time of the market always beats market timing. Trying to trying to you're gonna end up losing more money trying to find the perfect entry point than than just putting your capital in in into a into a you know into a into a a security or into an you know an asset that's that's really gonna make it run. So like I said everyone's not meant to be a a a quant trader. Everyone's not meant to be a hedge fund manager. Just just do what's what's proven. No need to reinvent the wheel. and and kinda kinda keep it going from there, man. Thomas: Yeah, and a good analogy for this is if there's somebody you want to talk to, you see Malcolm: Okay. Thomas: somebody you you want to talk to or something you want to do, you gotta go for it. You can't just try to wait around, whether it's good or bad. Like let's say, let's say you transfer to a school, right? You you go to Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: a school to play sports, that's cool. They just had a bad year, they just lost every game in the season. Are you not gonna go there? Let's say it's it's Alabama, right? You you're a top football player, you go to Alabama, it's a gamble. Or you could go to the thing that's at the top and it might fall off. You can go to the thing Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: that's at the bottom, might blow up. Either way, you gotta have that belief. And there's never the right timing. But some people do think that you have to time. And some people, like Malcolm was sent, were sent was saying, yeah, that you can't you can't be too crazy about it. You got to try to find balance. So just like for someone you want to talk to, you talk to that person, but you don't push it too far. You don't Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: just keep trying to push push the issue. But we have some people who will now do that. Because as of was it this past week? When exactly Okay. Recently, I don't know the exact date, NASDAQ has opened up twenty four hour trading. Correct? I mean fact check me if I'm wrong. Malcolm: Yes, yes. This is they haven't op let me let's they haven't opened it yet, but to be Thomas: Okay, it's not Malcolm: more it it is coming out this year though, right? So it's it's let me go ahead and pull up the article to kind of give some more details on this. and so for people who may not be aware, the NASDAQ is the second largest stock exchange in the world, by market cap. It's based in New York City. It was founded in 1971 as the world's first fully electronic stock market. So this was the first platform where people were allowed to buy and sell company trade shares through a computer network instead of a physical trading floor. so the NASDAQ stock market is like there also are a couple like ways that people throw the word NASDAQ out. So the NASDAQ stock market is the actual marketplace where people buy and sell more than 3,000 companies, publicly traded stocks, right? The Nasdaq Composite is a major market index that tracks the overall performance of stocks on the exchange. And then the Nasdaq 100 is an index that follows the largest, the 100 of the largest non-financial companies on the exchange. that's just an important kind of like thing that to note. But NASDAQ, they have confirmed this came out last week. They confirmed a 23 hour trading from they confirmed 23 hour trading from December with a new overnight session. So this means the Nasdaq. They will begin trading US stocks for nearly 23 hours a day from Sunday, December 6th onwards. still subject to SEC approval, which means that if this goes through, Nasdaq's trading day will stretch from Sunday evening to Friday evening with barely a pause. Barely paused. So they already run extended sessions called the pre-market session from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and then aftermarket sessions at to 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Right. So the core trading hours for anyone is it's nine thirty to four PM. but now it's it's it's it's it's become like a market that unfortunately never sleeps. traditional exchanges, they've kind of been like mouncing under pressure to broaden access and increase the available hours so that people not just in the US but in different time zones and different countries are able to invest, right? So you have your European investors, you have people in London that are investing, you have people in Asia that are like it's all it's all over the world, right? So Yeah, it's also NASDAQ's also not moving alone. the NYSC has also won SEC approval for a twenty-two hour trade day from 130 AM to eleven thirty PM. and SIBO, the largest exchange for options contracts in the US, has also outlined similar ambitions. so yeah, now we're looking at a system and a framework where the market is open for nearly twenty three hours a day in a five day trading week. And they ultimately want to exchange twenty four seven trading. So Thomas: So good. Malcolm: Yeah. There there are a Thomas: A lot of people are gonna be doing some things they shouldn't be doing. Staying up all night, Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thomas: anxiety. Malcolm: Yeah, this this is this is gonna be like I mean, I do I mean it was it was gonna happen. It was only a matter of time, bro, cause like people are people like wanna trade. It's the same it's a people have the same like hunger and desire to like trade at all time. Like it's the same kind of like desire, I think, as as it is in sports betting, bro. Like people just want to like try to make a quick butt like they and so it's like what this opens, I mean I think it it it's good for like accessibility and giving people more like opportunity to like make trades, but it's also gonna be like people that already were like losing a ton of money without any restriction. I think this is just makes it really, really easy for people who don't have like who don't know when to stop for them to lose a lot of money. So it this can be very good and very bad at the same time. like I said, Thomas: Yeah. Who do you even call though? Like if you have an addiction, is there like a trading or you just call the gambling hotline? Malcolm: I mean, I would assume it falls into the gambling addiction hotline kind of bucket, but yeah, man. I'll be watching from a distance. I personally don't plan on being up at four thirty AM trading, watching charts, mapping stuff out, making support and resistance. So like I said, I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. I'm a little ECFs and chill. But yeah, man, it's it's it's it's Thomas: Yeah, so ETF and sure. Malcolm: it's scary right now, I can't lie. It's scary right now. Thomas: Yeah. Peep I mean, man, there's people who've had access to the stuff, I believe. or you can trade, you know, other markets. And I mean, you just gotta do what makes sense, to be honest. a lot of people just don't really do what makes sense. They're kind of just stuck in the moment. It's like you can't let your eyes get too big. One of the biggest rules about trading and investing, period, is don't be emotional about it. We said this before, you just have to go based off the data. Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: Whether it's 24 hours or eight hours, whatever the case, you need to just do what you're gonna do, keep it pushing. That's why ETF and chill is a great idea for a lot of people who like if you're not that type of person, this is not your job. If you just want to put some stuff away, ETF and chill, you don't Malcolm: yeah. Thomas: need a financial advisor to do it. This is not saying to not get one. You should if that's what you want to do. But I'm just it's just like that's a more safe play if you want to do Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: your own research and not stress over it. you don't want to check the stuff every day that braces your anxiety. And if you're doing trades like support resistance and you're doing looking at minute charts or one second charts, you're one second chart. Malcolm: Like I mean actually there's some people out there that make really good money off of this stuff. I'm like, bruh, it's just it's it's it's it's not for me, man, unfortunately. It's not for me. So yeah, man. It's Thomas: It's it's out the mud. I probably said it wrong. But Malcolm: Yeah, nah, genuinely it is. I nah, nah. But like, yeah, nah. It's it's yeah, it's it's gonna be scary for sure. so people that do trade or like super into that. I mean, like I said, the professionals they know what they're doing, I'm sure. I'm sure they're excited about this. But folks that like like don't don't lose your money trying to tryna stay up all night just because this is like a realm, bro. Like still just be smart. But yeah, we'll see. Like I said, I unfortunately this is gonna be the new norm, bro. people want to access anything I think like it's like the same thing like like between this the poly market and and call seats of the world like block train prediction markets and then sports betting like like it's like the big three bro day trading sports betting prediction markets are literally like Gen Z's it's it's gonna keep Gen Z from ever like having any type of financial Thomas: It's like vaping. It's like I well vaping is still a Malcolm: Yeah, almost yeah, it it it's insane. It it it's it's like yeah. Thomas: thing, but it's like that's like the addiction, you know what I mean? It's Malcolm: You don't know, it it really is an addiction, bro. And it's like that's I'm sure there are studies out there that kind of like have numbers that are core that correlate with like how many people in this generation like are severely addicted to sports betting. Like how much how much money I think sports betting itself like has become like its like its own like part of the economy, bro. Like the amount of money that people spend, bro, like it's it to a point now where people are more excited about like sports season starting for betting, not for the actual sports. Like it's it's like people are like like I got boys that bet like have genuine like ten legs on preseason games. I'm like, bro, y'all boys are fried. Like and I'm I'm like, bro. Thomas: Yeah. Three season f ten legs. Malcolm: Telling you, bro. That twenty dollar on f that twenty dollars on fan duel add up, bro. It's like the thing about it, bro. It strict our a lot of people's brains, bro, where it's like they okay losing twenty dollars four days out of the week, but then one day they get one leg and it hits for for for a hundred, like we I'm back, I'm back. But it's like that logic, though looking for those big wins after all these minor setbacks, you're gonna eventually lose everything. Like you're gonna eventually lose everything, bro. So it's like Just get out while you can. Like Thomas: Tax is gonna come too. Malcolm: I said, we we had our little stint in college. We was doing our little prize picks, a little like sophomore junior year or whatever, bruh. I'm like, bro, I didn't even have no Thomas: Thanks. Malcolm: money. Just even after I started after after them little $15 added up, bruh. So I'm bro, I could have been the Chipotle bowl. So yeah, once I'm just started stacking up, bro, I like, yeah, no, Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: I I I got out I got out quite some time ago, man. But yeah, it's it's no, Thomas: Yeah, say I'm a OG in the game. Malcolm: yeah. I I I already saw what it was doing to people. I like, I get out. Thomas: mean America as a whole need to get out get out of that stuff 'cause I mean look, our national debt is forty trillion, so we w none of us have any money to spend on sports bet. That's Malcolm: Yeah, by the way, we are adding like we have we are the US national debt has topped a record forty trillion dollars. Thomas: Okay. Malcolm: our debt burden is riding faster than estimates just a few years ago. it's exacerbated by persistent deficits and soaring interest payment. The national debt continues to rise, adding nearly seven billion dollars each day. forty trillion is one billion, forty thousand times over. so if the United States were to pay one billion of debt each day. It would take nearly 110 years to pay it off. At a million dollars per day, it will take nearly 110,000 per year. So a list of comparisons to put into perspective how large national debt has become. There are roughly 343 million people in the United States. That's roughly 117,000 per American. it is double the size of the national debt in 2016. In twenty August 2016, the national debt was just below 20 trillion. In the past decade, it has doubled to forty trillion. and a lot of this is because of unsustainable borrowing on the scale. it's had huge repercussions throughout the economy and has strained efforts to address affordability and risking a dangerous debt spiral if lawmakers do not act. So the US government owes forty point zero three trillion dollars. Wow. We are fried. That's worth more Thomas: We're so Malcolm: than the world's five hundred richest people combined. That's That's more than the total value of all gold ever mined. That's more than seven Nvidia's. More than 300 international space stations. It's larger. The debt our debt is larger than the actual US economy. It's it's larger than the US economy. It's larger than the next five, the next five biggest economies combined. It is double the total US household debt. And it is approaching the total value of US retirement savings. The total value of retirement assets in the United States. Was 47.6 trillion in the first quarter of this year. So we're about to reach a point where our debt has eclipsed any type of retirement savings that anyone has. What are we going to do when Social Security runs out? That's my question. Because they have no problem taking it out of my paycheck every single, every every every couple of weeks. I'm like, what happens when that runs out? Like, are we just fried when it's time for us? Thomas: I think yeah, that's why you kinda you can't rely on the government to save you when it comes that. That's what people need to retire or save their own retirement, right? You can't the government dependence, the the debt and look, I have this pulled up right here, some some AI website. This is respect to whoever made this. This is this is vibe coded for sure. couldn't tell you what model, but this is the yeah. so in seventeen ninety it was seventy five million dollars, right? We actually have people who could pay off the US debt themselves with flick of a a finger, if that was it. And then w this is the only time we were ever at debt three was eighteen thirty-five. Like the said Andrew Jackson pays off the debt Malcolm: eighteen thirty five. Wow. Thomas: almost two hundred years ago. Right. Honestly, I don't even know. I think he didn't pay it off. I thought he just said like there is no more debt. Or how did that happen? Like didn't he just say like we're not paying anybody back? Malcolm: I don't know, that was low key aura though. Thomas: Like I almost wanna see Andrew Jackson. Malcolm: He Thomas: US debt. So it says he paid it off, but okay, he cut spending, sold public land, and abolished the national bank. Good gracious. Malcolm: Sounds pretty extreme. Thomas: Yeah. I mean he took the debt to zero, but then wars and yeah, w how do we go from eighteen sixty, sixty five million into that to two point seven billion in eighteen sixty six? Mind you, I I don't know if this website is factual, but just kind of gives you an idea. Like I'm not gonna go through each year of the jumps. Like do you see the jump from nineteen thirty to nineteen forty six? Malcolm: It's just yeah, World World War Two was put in belt. But it's the thing that we're in the trillion Thomas: Bro. All of these Malcolm: the trillions now, bro. Thomas: If you look at every time the debt jumps, it it it's war. Like war is what causes the debt. People act like war is so good. And I mean, it's good for people who profit off of it, right? Obviously, people don't act like war is good, but like a lot of people who say there's benefits, they cause wars because it makes them rich. But our debt is going up, but you can see who is profiting. I mean, it goes from from 1980 to 1990, 908 billion. Malcolm: We were five point seven trillion in Clinton in two thousand. That's crazy. Thomas: I'm telling you, I I don't know what was going on like between yeah, and it's all war, like Cold War, crises, the finan and you can see from there the debt just starts getting outrageous. It it starts getting outrageous. Malcolm: Yeah, nah, they was tr they they they they just started trolling, I'm not gonna lie, bro. Gee. Thomas: Like the if forty point letter live. Malcolm: Yeah. Yeah, we yeah, we are fried, brother. I ain't gonna lie, man. Thomas: So yeah, that, you know, that that's just the state we're in. You can only imagine what it's gonna be like in the future. that's why I say anyone who has like a fire number, that's fire is a what, financial independence, retire early. Malcolm: Tyrley, yes sir. Thomas: it's a it's a framework. You also check it out to like calculate how much you think you will need saved up and invested by a certain time based on when you want to retire. man, whatever that number is, you might as well double it, triple it. Because two million by the time like we're 60, 2 million probably won't be anything unless you go live in another country. Even then, we don't even know if the US dollar's gonna stretch. I mean, that I think that's what we're all w pushing for. We all want a future we can live. Like, I don't think anyone wants the US dollar to fail. I Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: don't think anyone wants the country to fail. I think people just wanna go about it differently. Best. Malcolm: Why you gotta invest, folks. The dollar's only gonna keep losing value, unfortunately. Like, if you're not investing, if you just have money sitting in a savings account, bro, you're doing yourself a disservice. It's good to have cash on the reserves. But if you are not like you are literally like inflation is putting leather to you, bro. Like you have to find an investment, an asset that can that can fight inflation on your behalf, bro. Like, you will not do that if it just sits in a if you it is in a savings account, at least at the bare minimum, let it be a high yield savings account or something that's getting sent out. APY or something recurring interest on it, bro. But like my Please invest own. something bro like just just just please bruh like please do not do yourself like please don't just think that that having stuff in a savings account is is saving for the future. It's good to have that bread, but what good is having a hundred thousand dollars saved if it's only fifty thousand in a couple years? If it's only worth if you can only buy worth $50,000 in in a couple yeah who's making all these are you are you making these? Thomas: No, no, no, bro. I just found this website. I promise you. This is the same website. I literally just went yeah Malcolm: so somebody's just going crazy on Claude, bro. Well, that's crazy is actually tracking Thomas: Yeah, this claw. I just want to sh Malcolm: it. Thomas: I whoever made this website, you're actually like, this is good use of AI. If the assuming all this is accurate, like this is this is good use of AI. So props to you. I try to scroll down and see like if I can see the creator. Like, sorry, this this is a lot of information. Like they have crazy stats on here. What in the world? Malcolm: So Thomas: Like, bro. But what I wanted to show Malcolm: Yeah, so it's only like. Thomas: was yeah, Doge only saved two point or two hundred fourteen billion. Yeah, good job. Malcolm: Aren't they destroyed now? Thomas: Yeah. Yeah, Doge doesn't exist. So like let's Malcolm: Yeah. But yeah, yeah, yeah. Please please please sell these please show people this. Thomas: Like $1 million, right? This is why I say double it because from 1990 to 2024. Well, no, let's go to 2026. nice, yeah. So $1 million in 1990 was a million dollars. Inflation, that that's equivalent to 2.5 million. So for all the people who think, I need a a million, I'll be good. Multiply that by essentially 2.5x, right? So and let's go back. In nineteen seventy, if you had a million dollars, that's eight point six million now. Like Malcolm: Ms. Friday bro. Yeah, I I don't know anybody like a million dollars is not enough to retire now, unfortunately. Like Thomas: They actually have in retirement inflation calculator. Let's up Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, it's is Thomas: if if I have a million dollars in savings today and I want to retire in say forty years, inflation, whatever, three percent, I will need Malcolm: Yeah, you'll need three million, Thomas: Three million. Malcolm: that three point two to match today's buying power. So that million that you have today, if you want to retire in forty years, you will need three point two million to match what you have today. If you do not and if you are not investing, you are literally losing. You are literally you are literally losing money. Even if you think that you have money, you are losing money just letting it sit in a savings account, bro. Please invest, bro. Thomas: Please invest and the US is forty percent of the world's global debt. Just about. China's a close second with eighteen point seven trillion in debt. Guys, let's Malcolm: That's a whole lot better though. A hundred nineteen thousand per person versus thirteen thousand per person. Yeah, we suck. Thomas: Yeah. Malcolm: We s we suck, man. Thomas: If this is not a wake up call, I don't know what is. For everyone who wants to check this website out for all my I'm sorry for all my my audio listeners right here. We're going the website is usdetclock.com. Yeah, so it's US dash debt-clock dot com. Check it out. I don't know who the creator is. Shout out to the creator, but this is what we're looking at here. And there's actually people signed up to the newsletter and different things. I mean, they have APIs, tools. shout out, shout out to them. Malcolm: Yeah, man. It's a debt debt. So money, money, like make sure y'all, yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all like keeping. You know, y'all aware of the news, man. Please just invest, man. Just obviously it's good to have savings. Savings aren't enough. You gotta you gotta you gotta be putting it out. So you gotta be putting it onto something. You gotta be attached to something, man. So yeah, man. We w they they want to move on to to another topic. Like I know we talk about it every now and then, man, but this is actually big, bro. Cause like anybody that follows like the gaming industry, you understand how pivotal the DTA six release is going to be. And there has been a ton, a ton of drama over these last couple of days, man. and it's at a really, really, I think, interesting inflection point like in the gaming industry. because we're at a point now where a lot of companies, Sony, I think, is kind of like at the the ring leader of this, but we're at we're at a point now where you don't where companies are are really trying to like emphasize the fact that as a gamer or as just a casual player, you don't really own anything. These digital assets are not yours. They aren't assets. They're just like licenses that you own temporarily. And there's all these different contractual obligations and stipulations that apply where it's like, hey, if you don't turn your PS PlayStation on for this amount of time, you don't really own this. If you don't have a PlayStation network, like it's like all these things where it's like, you didn't have any of this when you owned the physical disc. When you own the physical disc, when you own the actual physical asset, there was never a prop. There was never a question about it. So now we're at a point now where it's like, okay. They are eliminating every option that we have for any type of like anything that's advantageous to us. Because you have to understand, like, PlayStation's already announced that they plan to stop manufacturing consoles that take disc. What that means is that now granted, we went over this in a previous episode where majority of their revenue is digital consoles. So from a from a gross margin, from a from a if I'm the CFO, I'm like, hey, this makes perfect sense. Now to the gaming community, that hurts because it's like there are a lot of people that still do collect discs. And care about the games. But if we're talking about from a margin, from what makes business sense, it makes sense for why they're doing it. However, the caveat is now that they have they have essentially complete control over everything gaming, they control, they set the price for everything that's on the PlayStation Store. They set the price for what's considered ownership or not. They can make whatever subscription, you know, to play online or not. They can set that at whatever price they want because you can't do anything about it because there is no alternative. Right? If Xbox says the same thing, we're all fried. If everything is digital, we're all fried. We have no escape route. There is no there is no one to save us, right? So with GTA, it's it's it's particularly interesting because right now, there's a leaguer, a guy named Cyberleak, who is bro, he has been like he is essentially threatened to release the entire GTA six game before it comes out. Until like, you know, specific demands are met. And so it it's it's this entire like if you go up and look, just just look up GTA Leaks, GTA Six Leaks or or Cyber Leak anywhere online that's Cyber L-E-E-K. it's it's it's kinda it's kinda insane, bro. Like there's like a I wish I had like a timeline. let me see if I can pull this up, right? So let's see, let's see. See if I can find him. But yeah, it's essentially it's it's gotten to a point now, bro. yeah, okay, here we go, right? So about the guy, Cyber League. He spent $29,000 to set up his websites in CryptoCoin. He's made fifty thousand dollars from transaction fees on his coin. he has yo, he has like what we've seen so far, he's he's released like several like extended clips of videos, images of the game of the build game. he has access to planes, cars, motorcycles. He's he's done missions on the game. He has access to a piece together version of the entire menu map, the NPC interaction menu. He's essentially bank playing a build version of the entire game that we have not seen yet. and so what he's doing now, he's set it up where it's like he has to manually like he has to manually cancel the release of the game every single day. So what this means is that he's essentially is implemented the fail safe If he ever gets arrested or if he ever gets like like swatted and he's not there to cancel it, the game is going to release to everyone in the world to download before it actually comes out. So now he kind of has Rockstar by the balls because you have to understand, Rockstar is also doing this thing now. They've milked out this game for 13 years, bro. And now just everything is behind the paywall now, bro. They're not understand when GTA 6 comes out, this isn't even online, bro. This is just the story mode. This is just story mode that's coming out. We don't have online yet. Just to see extended gameplay of GCA 6, you need a Netflix subscription now. It's exclusive, it's premiering exclusively on Netflix. These, it's now it's gotten to a point where it's like it's become this this battle between gamers and the industry where it's like, okay, if if if buying isn't owning, then pirating isn't stealing. And those like those like ideologies are literally classing to the point now where it's like, this actually may significantly release like. like like change like hot like like everything bro like G G six might be cooked bro like I'm not gonna lie it's it's it it's like to some people they'd be like bro yell Thomas: Mm. Malcolm: a nerds talking about a game bro GCA six is probably like the most like important game like ever. Like I'm not even jazzing like like in terms of like how many people are waiting on this, how long it's been in development for and what type of like like like like like bro like the bro This is probably like the most important game, game release, at least, like in history. In history, bro. Bro, I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I'm not even jazzing, bro. Like, GCA6 is literally the most Thomas: Like your grandparents have heard of Grand Theft Auto. Like people. Malcolm: important game ever, bro. And it's like, it's one dude that has them by the balls right now. And this game is supposed to come out Thomas: Yeah, he got the Malcolm: in Nov. Mind you, people there's still say it's still reports I'm saying that it's not finished yet. Like, like the devs are working until it's finished. Bro, this game is bro, there's some it's November, bro. It comes out in in Thomas: The game will never be finished. That's the that's another issue with not having physical releases. The game, like the baseline game experience, will never be done. Malcolm: Bro, we're still getting DLCs for GTA five. They've been squeezing us for money for GTA five for a decade. I'm like, bro, come on. I I Thomas: Yeah. Six thirteen years later. Yeah. Thirteen years. Malcolm: haven't even pre ordered the game yet, bro. Cause like I'm I'm I'm I'm just waiting, bro. I'm waiting. I'm like, it's no point in me pre ordering just to look at on my screen for five months in advance. Like, I think you can download it like a week early, and that's probably when I'll buy it. But if it does release on time, bro, I just need a day. I just need a day to immerse myself in the dark room. just might take off, bro. I I done need a day to immerse myself in that game. Like I have to get like I have to I have to take it back to like the COVID days, bruh. Just Thomas: I think I saw a military unit was doing like I think it was a army unit was like offering or for people to re enlist. They said they would give you days of like four days off or something just to play GTA six. Malcolm: Yeah, I'm not gonna like bro, it is literally that it's that serious. Like it's that serious. It's so serious, bro. Like I'm I'm genuinely gonna like and I haven't even played my video game, bro, and like mind you, the only reason I even bought a PS PS five when I did was because I thought the G six was coming out. That's the only reason I ever bought it. So it's like now we're like we're here. We're here. Thomas: Man, we're in some interesting times. We are in some interesting times, folks. gaming, it's in a weird place. GTA 6 could either represent, based on what's happening, could either represent a success in the new way that companies are handling it, or the fall of the gaming industry. If GTA 6 fails. The gaming industry as a whole will see ripple effects. I mean, that doesn't mean that it's the only game and all the big I don't I don't know what they call them. What like a not A twenty four, I don't what they call these big games. but like that doesn't mean that that's it there's there's so many layers to gaming and independent gaming that gaming will never go away or never fail completely. However, if a game this big is cooked, that's gonna and GTA like Rockstar needs this. They need to you know, evangelize another generation of gamers because they did it in twenty thirteen, they did it before that. They had the Red Dead, you know, games. They they have games that like people just love. And a lot of people only play those games. So it's like, if they drop the ball here, I don't and I don't even what what is what you say? Maybe I missed it. What does this guy want for this person that's leaking the stuff? The demands. Malcolm: I I don't even remember his demands are bro. It's price it's Thomas: Let's hold the game hostage. Malcolm: Okay, yeah. He yeah, okay, yeah. He has they have three commandments. They want they have no di they have okay, so they want a public apology from Rockstar, with an apot with a a public statement and an apology for a commitment to change anti consumer practices, a continued disruption. They threaten to keep leaking assets until these terms are met, though the group has simultaneously solicited massive crypto payments for ad. So they have three commandments. They said No digital pre orders. They argue that digital goods never run out of stock and that publishers should stop taking upfront payments before independent reviews launch. So basically getting all this pre-order money before the game actually comes out and we actually see anything about the game. Because if you think about GTA, they had all this they had all this pre-order stuff out before we even saw all like I'll think a lick of the game. Like they had they're taking they're getting millions of dollars. Like they probably their entire development budget they've probably made back twenty times over just from pre-order sales. And then they have no base game DLC splitting. So they oppose selling add-on content that is already included in the in the core game files hidden behind a paywall, of which I agree. Everything does not need to be a DLC. Like, and I'm not gonna lie, I low-key blame Fortnite for this, bro. The the creation of the battle pass, fried gaming. Everything is some type of pass now. Everything has some type of reward that you have to pay to pay to win, pay to unlock. And then also mandatory offline modes. It requires they they're requiring companies. Requiring Rockstar to ensure the games always have a playable offline state. So I think those are thir very valid, you know, things. But it's also crazy because they've gotten legal backlash. So take two interactive, Rockstar's parent company, which is actually a public traded stock, they obtained federal subpoenas targeting Discord and Microsoft to unmask the source behind the Cyber League candles. So they're really subpoenaing like Discord chats and like going through this, like this is like a real federal case now, bro. So like Thomas: Cook, man. It's Malcolm: Nasty. All this over GCA, by the way. Thomas: doing doing this. I I don't know whoever's the lead of of product management on the on that side, but I I think the people have made it clear what they want. This is a key problem that a lot of people in the industry battle with. Appealing to the customer and appealing to the business. It is a it's a tough game because you got the customer, you got the business, and then you got whatever leadership wants. And you're somewhere in the middle trying to figure it all out. But and when you're in something like this, customer customer is always the most important. But Malcolm: I'm like, bro, you you you you gotta bro, you have to listen to to to I'm like, come on, man, y'all are greedy, bro. Y'all are gonna make more money than any company ever off of this game. And it's like you've had 13 years to hear what we want. You've had 13 years, bro, and y'all still being like greedy. Like, I'm like, bro. Having a a trailer exclusively on Netflix, come on. Like, we can't you can't put the you can't put the trailer to see the gameplay on YouTube. So now it's like you're making people have to go buy a subscription just to see an extended look at your game. What are we doing? Why is everything behind the paywall now? Like it's Thomas: Crazy stuff, man. Malcolm: yeah, it's unfortunate. It's not it's not very fair and and corporate greed knows no end. But I mean, I feel like if folks don't make a stand take a stand like this, then no change is ever gonna happen. So I hope this doesn't like affect the release date of the game or anything with the game itself. But I do hope that Rockstar, like, you know, takes this as a serious, like, you know, warning and like Like they do like make some adjustments that that would that would make some of the customers and and their fan base happier. but you know, I don't expect any company to to to to actually hear folks out. So yeah, man. That's that's that's where we at today, man. So a lot going on, bruh. Thomas: Yeah. I mean before we wrap up, man, I wanna touch on a more a serious topic. I mean well, yeah, it's all serious, but you know, the another serious topic. to a lot of people, you might not understand this. to people who do understand, I mean I think you get it. something that there's surprisingly a lot of controversy around, which I yeah, you know, form your own opinions. But I just want to say a few names that might ring some bells for some people. Tasia Fortune, Fortune, Kyle Basinga, Juliana Umba Nazita. If I'm I'm sorry I apologize if I'm mis mispronouncing the name. My my apologies, folks. is there something funny? Is there something funny, Malcolm? You have a problem? Or do do we do we Malcolm: I just I I thought you practiced the names before this, bro. Thomas: I I d I did. I was I looked at the I'm sorry, I'm I was raised in America. So I have the US education system. Malcolm: Nah actually actually re actually rest in peace to the people. no, this isn't funny, but like it's it's the it's it's the front of it. Thomas: Is it okay? I'm I'm I'm gonna go through the rest of it on this specific list that I'm reading off of. And my American Malcolm: All right. Thomas: education system is failing me against so many people. So my apologies. I should I should have done better. I can't even blame the American education system. This is ignorance on my on my fault. So my apologies, but I'm trying to bring awareness to you know people. Tonia Nicole Miller, Justice Kai James, Gerard J. Jackson. And the list goes on and on and on. And I'll include Nolan Wells on this list too. Even though what the Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: list I was specifically speaking on was people who were found hung. Right? Black people found hung in the United States of America in twenty twenty six. Or you know, modern day, which hangings never ended. And Nolan Wells, who there's controversy there too. I don't Malcolm: mi mis mis mysteriously. Yeah. Nah, bro. Thomas: You know, and it's just like I think another black person was found hung in Raleigh, North Carolina this past week. Another. It's the second in in less than a month. And I don't understand why there's controversy here. I don't understand why people are not doing anything. Even if you're not black, this should be concerning to you. Do you want to live in a place where people are hanging from from trees, hanging from buildings? Like And no, I promise you this not this is not suicide. All these people it's not suicide. There's not a mass hang yourself on a tree suicide movement. Okay. This is it, it's not it's not the 2011 planking challenge where people just see how far can they go. These are murders that are taking place and being covered up. And there's so many more names that we just don't know about and stories that just don't make it out the small town. There's this is a real problem. So I just I just wanted to you know, rest in peace to all these individuals, praise to the family. God will handle all of those involved who are actively covering up or actively doing these things. you you got you're just sick. This this is sick. You are hanging human beings and putting them on public display and then it's being called suicide. So just wanted to bring up that that topic as well because this is as as a person that lives on planet Earth, th this is a problem. Malcolm: Yeah. And unf it's unfortunate because a lot of people gonna act like this isn't a thing. And it's a lot of people that will swear up and down that like racism or like, you know, acts of violence towards a specific community just don't exist. Like and there are people that that just think that this stuff just does not exist. It's just not real. And they live in a very, very, very narrow bubble of of what actually is real life. And so it is hard to hear, but it is also just as important for like people to know that this still happens. And it's like Everything noise. Thomas: No, no, I no I don't I don't have put Malcolm: I thought she was about to Okay, I thought she was about to click the soundboard. Actually like like bro, like like people think that this isn't like that this is stopped happening when slavery was abolished. This didn't stop. This never stopped. And it's like anyone that thinks that that racism or like these like heinous acts of of of just deliberate like violence aren't a thing in America anymore, you are very like ignorant. and and and and and ill informed. and it's like these things the problem is that like these the th people don't think it happens because it doesn't get the same national coverage. It doesn't hit the same national news lines or or headlines as a lot of other, you know, pressing topics. But I think that this is just important as any of those. And until people like, you know, I hope people that do continue to spread the word and and push them out to to feeds and places where people get their information from more now. So which is probably social media. I'm sure most people get their new more more of their news now from Instagram and Twitter than they do from actually turning on APC, CNN, Fox, whatever. so I hope that these stories and these names are continued to like be shared and that they aren't forgotten. 'cause when you forget about these names, that's when people begin to think that like it never happened in the first place. So I hope, you know, each of those people on that list and and everyone that wasn't a name is just, you know, able to rest in peace. and the families are able to get justice for the people that did do it. But Yeah, bro, like anyone that thinks that this isn't like a still the thing, you lost. And you know, I hope I hope people those people like, you know, that were that were ended in a way that that no human should have to. that their family's able to like just find some type of peace or and and and and and and get just they deserve. But yeah, I hope I hope folks just realize like this isn't this didn't stop when when when on on Juneteenth this is this never stop. So yeah. Thomas: It never ended. They they've been killing us on camera for forever. And as long as cameras been around, they've been killing us on them. They've been killing us in this country been and people think this stuff is crazy. Like it's like it we've been cannibalized, turned into any Malcolm: Sophas. Thomas: sofa shoes, anything you can think of, bro. It's happened. And anyone who argues against that. I have to be concerned that you you are a part of the problem. Because why why are you arguing against that? Why are you asking for facts? Like being black in America, being like especially being brought here, it's like we're forced to be here. A lot of us the only place that we we know, only culture we know. And you can't even exist here freely. And then people Malcolm: Yeah. Thomas: bring up one example of of another case. I don't think a black person's ever hung a white person. Not I I'm not saying it hasn't had I haven't heard of any stories about it. I might be wrong. I could be wrong. But it's like the stuff just doesn't. I don't I I think black people in America, all things considered, all that we've been through, even even Native Americans in America, the the indigenous people of this land, all that all of us have been through at the hands of in invaders, and then what that continues to spread from that is we we're way way more nice and in forgiving than than people give give us credit for. For everything that's gone on, for us to still want peace and want to get along, which most of us want, I would say we almost all want, is a is a big feat. So it's just at some point, man, like You just you you get tired of seeing people get killed, man. There's still people who say Derek Chauvin didn't kill George Floyd. My apologies on dragging Malcolm: Yeah. Yeah, Florida, yeah. Thomas: that. But it was like he sat on his neck on camera for what 14 minutes? Come on. Like that you this people, people are cra people come up with any excuse. Any excuse. So it's just I just wanted to shout those people, not shout them out, but bring awareness to those people. the amazing lives that they that they had what this the what they brought to the world I don't know any of people but a Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Thomas: light any life lost is is a dimmer light on the world so if you if you claim to believe in a higher power you claim to be a good person what somebody looks like shouldn't matter if someone what's the term someone slaps you in the face you turn the other cheek like you shouldn't have hate in your heart defend yourself be you know have have some backbone but you should not carry hate in your heart That's just, you know. Yeah man. Just wanted Malcolm: No. Thomas: to say that man. I think I think it's been a good episode. informative episode. A lot of nuggets in here. And man, all our listeners around the world donate, donate to your Malcolm: Yeah, man. We we we appreciate y'all tuning in today, man. We'll we'll catch y'all on the next episode. We yeah, episode twenty-three, see out for twenty-four. Appreciate everybody that supports us, listen to us. Just recently cross crossed five thousand streams. like I said, it's like I say we we gonna we're gonna keep like pushing, trying to hit new milestones. And yeah, we we hope folks, like I said, is getting something out of this, man. That's the whole point of this. and yeah. Anything else y'all wanna see, any people y'all want on here, let us know. We'll make it happen. yeah, until next time, man. Thomas: Be good, man. Peace.