Latest / The Stan R. Mitchell Show / The 6-20-24 edition of The View from the Front podcast.

Transcript

The 6-20-24 edition of The View from the Front podcast. · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

0:00
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0:09
SPEAKER_02: What is going on, guys?
0:11
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this week's edition of The View from the Front.
0:14
SPEAKER_02: Each week,
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SPEAKER_02: I do my best to cover political news and foreign policy in a sophisticated,
0:21
SPEAKER_02: balanced,
0:21
SPEAKER_02: and in-depth manner.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: And as you guys know, my overarching goal is to unify our country.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: And I do all of this, of course, as a moderate and in a respectful manner.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: This week, we've got a
0:38
SPEAKER_02: We'll put some motivation and encouragement at the end.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: I do have to start with one short announcement.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: This next week,
0:45
SPEAKER_02: so not this current episode,
0:47
SPEAKER_02: but next week's episode,
0:49
SPEAKER_02: which would have typically come out on June 27th,
0:52
SPEAKER_02: there will not be an edition.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: because the fam and myself are going up to Rhode Island and going to take a week off,
1:02
SPEAKER_02: see some of her family,
1:04
SPEAKER_02: or her extended family,
1:06
SPEAKER_02: I should say.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: But there will be no episode next week, and I am hoping that when I come back,
1:13
SPEAKER_02: that this distance,
1:15
SPEAKER_02: that this gap of not having an episode to listen to will be so heartbreaking and
1:23
SPEAKER_02: soul-rendering for you guys that I've just come back to dozens of emails of people
1:29
SPEAKER_02: just sad who say they were just barely able to hang on and can't wait to hear the
1:36
SPEAKER_02: next episode.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: Obviously,
1:38
SPEAKER_02: my lame attempt at humor,
1:40
SPEAKER_02: but I do hope that some folks out there do miss not having something to listen to
1:45
SPEAKER_02: next week,
1:46
SPEAKER_02: but I will be taking the week off,
1:48
SPEAKER_02: spending some time with the family,
1:50
SPEAKER_02: going to even catch a Boston Red Sox game,
1:52
SPEAKER_02: which I'm looking forward to,
1:53
SPEAKER_02: and I'll catch you guys the week that follows.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: We're going to begin the episode with some political news from the U.S.,
2:04
SPEAKER_02: and I feel pretty comfortable actually thinking that of these three stories,
2:09
SPEAKER_02: there's a chance you may have only seen one of them,
2:13
SPEAKER_02: maybe two at best,
2:14
SPEAKER_02: but I think there's even a chance,
2:15
SPEAKER_02: maybe a 30% chance,
2:17
SPEAKER_02: that you didn't see any of these three stories,
2:19
SPEAKER_02: which is partly why I'm excited to bring them to you.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: And the first one is there was a very small underreported story that has been in a couple of newspapers.
2:32
SPEAKER_02: But the first time I caught news of it was actually on MSNBC.
2:36
SPEAKER_02: And then I spent some time on Google searching it out.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: There's really not much information.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: of this overarching story that I'm going to share out there.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: There are tons of small elements,
2:50
SPEAKER_02: but basically this is a much larger story that has not made the news as one would expect,
2:56
SPEAKER_02: especially given how big this story actually is.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: So the story is this, as MSNBC titled it, it's How Joe Biden Broke OPEC.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: Now, I will grant you that is a very strong headline.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: Very strong.
3:16
SPEAKER_02: It was a segment put out by Chris Hayes,
3:18
SPEAKER_02: who does the 8 o'clock edition,
3:22
SPEAKER_02: or 8 o'clock time slot,
3:23
SPEAKER_02: I guess is the right term.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: But I think when you hear this story...
3:28
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a pretty big story.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: So I just want to get right into that one.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: That'll be the first one I want to cover.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: And then there's a couple other stories, like I said, that I think you probably haven't heard.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: But let's get into how Joe Biden broke OPEC,
3:43
SPEAKER_02: because I think you would agree with me that if this is true,
3:46
SPEAKER_02: then this is a huge story.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: And so let's find out if it's true or not.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Let's begin the story by establishing just a little bit of background,
3:57
SPEAKER_02: because I'm betting if you're anything like me,
3:59
SPEAKER_02: you probably need a little bit of a refresher.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: So what is OPEC?
4:04
SPEAKER_02: OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: That's what it's named.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: It's obviously a cartel.
4:13
SPEAKER_02: It's just a group of countries that want to control oil prices and
4:17
SPEAKER_02: so that one or two of them aren't popping out millions of barrels,
4:22
SPEAKER_02: while the others have slowed down production in the hopes of trying to raise prices.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of a, let's all set our prices together, and we can make more money.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: Not to state the obvious, but it's really kind of crappy behavior to do this.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: In fact,
4:39
SPEAKER_02: if you were in the United States,
4:42
SPEAKER_02: and you were a company that got in with several other companies and decided to
4:46
SPEAKER_02: raise your prices together,
4:48
SPEAKER_02: it's actually illegal.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: It's called collusion.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: there have been dozens of companies that have been caught doing this since 2000 in
4:55
SPEAKER_02: fact the united states government has fined companies more than 96 billion dollars
5:02
SPEAKER_02: for price gouging for getting together and saying hey let's all raise our prices
5:06
SPEAKER_02: and no one will know and of course the us government gets wind of it or gets a hint
5:11
SPEAKER_02: they investigate and they are fined because it is illegal
5:16
SPEAKER_02: Having said that,
5:17
SPEAKER_02: with multiple countries that are outside the United States,
5:19
SPEAKER_02: it's not illegal to do this,
5:21
SPEAKER_02: and so that is what OPEC has been doing since it was founded,
5:25
SPEAKER_02: going all the way back to the 60s.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: initially was started in the Middle East with six countries and these six countries
5:33
SPEAKER_02: decided to control oil prices together so that they could essentially control the
5:39
SPEAKER_02: price and make more money.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: So OPEC was originally founded in 1960 inside Iraq.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: Its first five members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: it's clearly grown since then it's now up to 12 countries it accounts for an
6:02
SPEAKER_02: estimated 30 percent of global oil production and at this point they currently have
6:10
SPEAKER_02: almost 80 percent of the world's proven oil reserves are located within opec
6:17
SPEAKER_02: nations so opec is incredibly powerful organization
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Just how powerful, you ask?
6:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, a quick reminder of history.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: Back in 1973,
6:31
SPEAKER_02: during the Arab-Israeli War,
6:36
SPEAKER_02: OPEC decided to embargo the sale of oil to the United States,
6:40
SPEAKER_02: and they brought this country to a grinding halt.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Less than,
6:46
SPEAKER_02: not quite 10 years later,
6:48
SPEAKER_02: 1979,
6:50
SPEAKER_02: during the Iranian Revolution,
6:52
SPEAKER_02: because of the instability from that event,
6:55
SPEAKER_02: oil prices tripled.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: Again, I said that correctly, tripled.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine if oil prices tripled today?
7:04
SPEAKER_02: They did in 1979.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: Again,
7:07
SPEAKER_02: they tripled in 1979,
7:09
SPEAKER_02: and that helped lead to former President Jimmy Carter losing his re-election bid to
7:15
SPEAKER_02: the White House.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: So let's jump from the 80s, fast forward about 40 years, to 2020.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: Joe Biden gets elected.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: We're trying to come out of the pandemic.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: Things have been rough as far as an economy,
7:33
SPEAKER_02: as far as people not being able to travel much,
7:36
SPEAKER_02: and at the same time,
7:37
SPEAKER_02: so the oil production...
7:40
SPEAKER_02: There was just this unbelievable demand that starts to just be unleashed as the pandemic is released.
7:48
SPEAKER_02: And then on top of that, Russia invades Ukraine.
7:52
SPEAKER_02: And so there are sanctions against Russia on the oil production.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: And there's just a lot of instability.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: And suddenly, oil prices are just skyrocketing.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: And I know you guys recall me covering in the podcast the trip when Joe Biden goes to Saudi Arabia.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: He's been very critical of the leadership in Saudi Arabia for their human rights violations,
8:17
SPEAKER_02: but he has to go down and sort of kiss the ring,
8:21
SPEAKER_02: so to speak.
8:22
SPEAKER_02: There was that fist bump that I talked about earlier.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: It was almost embarrassing,
8:28
SPEAKER_02: and it was a little frustrating to see American prestige have to go to that length.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: But I shared some analysts who said, hey, you know, foreign policy, it's not pretty sometimes.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you have to overlook human rights events.
8:42
SPEAKER_02: We need the oil.
8:43
SPEAKER_02: He had to go do it.
8:45
SPEAKER_02: But if you remember, MBS, the head of Saudi Arabia,
8:50
SPEAKER_02: blew him off afterward and did not increase production.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: After Joe Biden went down there, kind of looked weak, you could argue, he did not.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: And so the story kind of ended there, or so we kind of all thought.
9:05
SPEAKER_02: But what we didn't realize is I guess Joe Biden was beyond infuriated that this had happened.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: And so he hatched a plan with some of his folks to
9:15
SPEAKER_02: to do what we're going to talk about.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: He and his advisors decided to begin releasing massive amounts of oil from the
9:26
SPEAKER_02: Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: And so they started just pumping out oil.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: And at the time, it was a little controversial.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: And even myself, I thought, this is...
9:39
SPEAKER_02: playing politics.
9:40
SPEAKER_02: He's just doing this to boost his popularity.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: This should only be for emergencies.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: Why is he doing this?
9:46
SPEAKER_02: This is not what a strong leader would do.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: You don't just do what the people want.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: That's why I was always critical of President Trump back in the time.
9:55
SPEAKER_02: He would just switch to whatever.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: Just whatever was popular.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: And that's not what leadership is.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: Leadership is being a leader.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: It's doing unpopular things.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: And so I was frustrated that these
10:08
SPEAKER_02: millions of barrels of oil were being released.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: But what I didn't know at the time is that maybe in his mind,
10:18
SPEAKER_02: and maybe with the plan that they had hatched,
10:21
SPEAKER_02: this wasn't about popularity.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: This was, we're going to play a game of chicken with OPEC, and we're going to destroy their power.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: What am I talking about?
10:32
SPEAKER_02: So in 2022...
10:35
SPEAKER_02: Again, 2022, two years ago, Biden authorizes the release of 180 million barrels of oil.
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SPEAKER_02: So Saudi Arabia has basically flipped him off.
10:47
SPEAKER_02: They're not going to increase production.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: They love, you know, the prices being $100 a barrel.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: They love that gas prices are $5, $6, $7, $8.
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SPEAKER_02: They're loving it.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: They've just humiliated Joe Biden.
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SPEAKER_02: And so they're like, hey, this guy's weak.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: Joe Biden comes back.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: He releases 180 million barrels.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: Again, 180 million barrels that he sells for an average of $95 a barrel.
11:17
SPEAKER_02: That is a ton of money that comes into the U.S.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Treasury because they've sold all of this oil.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: Well,
11:25
SPEAKER_02: it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that when you sell that much oil,
11:30
SPEAKER_02: when you dump that much supply into a market,
11:35
SPEAKER_02: prices are going to completely tumble.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: And that's what they did.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: So that immediately started helping fix the price.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: And then...
11:45
SPEAKER_02: When prices were much lower, from $95 to $100 a barrel down to $67, he began to refill the reserve.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: So he sells at $95, he buys at $67.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: And in so doing, so far, he's posted a profit of $582 million, as well as cracked OPEC.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: Because these countries realize that we have this massive strategic reserve that
12:17
SPEAKER_02: really does limit their power.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: Because it's like, hey, if you guys want to yank prices up, that's fine.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: We're just going to dump a bunch of oil on the market.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: And so we're kind of flipping the game of chicken on them.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: And on top of that, oil production in the United States is higher than it's ever been.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: Historic levels.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: So we produce a ton of oil ourselves, so we don't have to play their games like we used to.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: In fact,
12:45
SPEAKER_02: this made the news last year,
12:46
SPEAKER_02: but a lot of people forget it because it hasn't been this way for so long.
12:50
SPEAKER_02: But the United States is the largest producer of oil in the world.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: Again, we are the largest producer.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: We are producing 12.9 million barrels per day thanks to fracking and horizontal drilling techniques.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: 12.9, so almost 13 million barrels per day in the U.S.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: The next highest country is Saudi Arabia, you say, right?
13:19
SPEAKER_02: No, actually it's not.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: It's Russia at 10 million barrels, 10.1.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: The Saudis follow.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: Saudi Arabia is at 9.7 million barrels per day.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: So again, the United States is at 13 million barrels.
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SPEAKER_02: Russia is at 10.
13:35
SPEAKER_02: Saudi Arabia is at 9.7 or almost 10 barrels.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: You would think Iraq would maybe come next or Iran, but actually the next one is Canada at 4.6 million.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: And then it goes down to Iraq at 4.3.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: China's at 4.2.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: Iran is at 3.6.
13:51
SPEAKER_02: Then on down to Brazil and some other smaller countries.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: But...
14:02
SPEAKER_02: People forget the U.S.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: is now the largest producer.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: That is something that is not,
14:09
SPEAKER_02: even though it made the news some last year,
14:12
SPEAKER_02: it's not something that even many Democrats appreciate or approve of.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: In fact,
14:17
SPEAKER_02: President Biden has caught a lot of heat from some of the folks who are on the far
14:22
SPEAKER_02: left because there is so much drilling being done in the United States.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: Now,
14:28
SPEAKER_02: let's get one more bit because this is just such a big,
14:34
SPEAKER_02: just,
14:35
SPEAKER_02: it's a big topic that's hard to wrap your arms around.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: But I love trying to educate you guys.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: I feel so much smarter having listened to all this.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to share a short clip from the actual show that Chris Hayes did when he talked about this.
14:50
SPEAKER_02: Because he interviews a guy who provides some great historical perspective and some
14:56
SPEAKER_02: additional details that I haven't mentioned yet.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: And he talks a bit about Hurricane Katrina when they released some oil during that time.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: This guy's an expert, so he talks about oil prices and their kind of historical trends.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: He talks about oil markets.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: And one thing he brings up is that with what President Biden has done is that there
15:17
SPEAKER_02: are times where oil prices...
15:21
SPEAKER_02: And these oil companies,
15:22
SPEAKER_02: when prices plummet,
15:24
SPEAKER_02: like during the pandemic or other,
15:26
SPEAKER_02: like during recessions,
15:29
SPEAKER_02: 2004,
15:29
SPEAKER_02: 2008,
15:29
SPEAKER_02: during various times when oil prices completely plummet,
15:34
SPEAKER_02: these oil companies stop production.
15:36
SPEAKER_02: They lay people off.
15:38
SPEAKER_02: They stop their drilling.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: You know,
15:40
SPEAKER_02: they literally start turning off the pumps,
15:43
SPEAKER_02: so to speak,
15:44
SPEAKER_02: which,
15:44
SPEAKER_02: of course,
15:44
SPEAKER_02: brings prices back up.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: But this guy goes into how with what President Biden is doing,
15:50
SPEAKER_02: when prices plummet,
15:52
SPEAKER_02: the United States can now buy to replenish its strategic reserves.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: And by doing so, it helps stabilize the market, which keeps these companies pumping out oil.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: It keeps people employed.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: It basically keeps the world economy far more stable.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: No more highs,
16:10
SPEAKER_02: no more super lows,
16:12
SPEAKER_02: a just more predictable market,
16:16
SPEAKER_02: which is usually pretty good for everyone from the consumer to the companies involved.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: So let me share this clip with you.
16:23
SPEAKER_02: I think you'll find it as enlightening as I did.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: Here to explain it all is Dan Dicker.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: He's one of the foremost experts on oil and energy markets, founder of the Energy Word newsletter.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And back in October 2022,
16:33
SPEAKER_01: he really called this whole thing in a piece titled Joe Biden is the greatest oil
16:37
SPEAKER_01: trader ever.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: This has gotten very little coverage.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: I think it's a wild story.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Great.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Take us back to the origins of this.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: Right.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: So two years ago, what we had was the most bullish oil market I had seen in 40 years.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: bullish meaning prices prices are gonna and they're gonna go higher because what
16:53
SPEAKER_00: you had is you had you're coming out of a pandemic you've got this demand this
16:57
SPEAKER_00: pent-up demand people want to go traveling they want to get back into they want to
17:00
SPEAKER_00: fly they want to drive that means oil prices are going to go up okay now you have
17:04
SPEAKER_00: oil companies who during the pandemic got decimated by the pandemic they can't
17:08
SPEAKER_00: cover the oil that's being demanded at the time and to add on top of that
17:12
SPEAKER_00: You've got a new war, the Ukrainians and the Russians.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: And now what the Europeans want to do and Joe Biden wants to do is they want to
17:22
SPEAKER_00: freeze Russian supplies out using sanctions.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: They want to make sure that the Russians can't use their oil machine to finance the wars.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Because their oil machine is the biggest export they have.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: It's how they finance it.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: All of this combined makes for the most bullish market that I ever saw.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
17:38
SPEAKER_01: and people were going around putting stickers on gas stations saying,
17:44
SPEAKER_00: but Joe Biden's saying,
17:45
SPEAKER_00: I did this.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: I did this, right.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: And we had $5.50 gasoline here.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: We had $7.50, $8 gasoline in California.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Joe Biden goes to Saudi Arabia and does what other presidents do, and he begs the Saudis for oil.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: after being very harsh on mbs who of course remember the fist bump yes after being
18:01
SPEAKER_01: very harsh on mbs rightly after he had ordered the execution of an american
18:06
SPEAKER_01: newspaper columnist various other human rights violations goes back does what
18:10
SPEAKER_00: american presidents do hey buddy we need the oil we need the oil and mbs tells him
18:14
SPEAKER_00: to you know go stuff yourself because he's not he's he's not getting the trans
18:19
SPEAKER_00: transactional kind of deal that he got from from trump who forgot about the
18:23
SPEAKER_00: khashoggi murder of course he's not going to give him a hard
18:25
SPEAKER_00: Part time sold him F-35 fighters.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: There was this whole transactional deal.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: And at this point, he's, you know, MBS is saying, you're going to give me something.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: And Biden says, no, I have nothing but, you know, the United States to give you.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: And MBS says, forget it.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: So he goes back home and he hatches this enormously.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: interesting aggressive plan to use this strategic petroleum reserve which is our
18:50
SPEAKER_00: national emergency reserve system to try and hedge down oil prices okay i want to
18:56
SPEAKER_01: be clear we're sitting on a bunch of barrels they actually exist in some cave
19:00
SPEAKER_00: somewhere they do about 580 some odd million barrels of it's
19:05
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is if we're ever in an emergency in which we don't have any access to oil,
19:10
SPEAKER_01: this is the strategic reserve.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: We used it, for example, in Hurricane Katrina.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: That was a major time when this stuff was released.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: But in Katrina, they released maybe 25, 26 million barrels of oil.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: In this case, over the course of a year, they released 180 million barrels.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: No one had ever done anything like this.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Very aggressive and preposterous.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Basically, because as he's increasing the supply, he's like, oh, you're going to keep supply.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: You want to keep prices high.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
19:35
SPEAKER_01: We're going to put a bunch of oil in the market and drive the price down.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Right.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: And we're going to sell it into the market.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: We're going to sell it into the market.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And more than that,
19:43
SPEAKER_00: we're going to look all the other traders in the eye and we're going to say to them,
19:47
SPEAKER_00: if you want to buy oil,
19:48
SPEAKER_00: the guy standing on the other end of this trade is the U.S.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Treasury, the government of the United States.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: And that scared the bejesus out of every trader and trader's
19:56
SPEAKER_00: started to drop their own positions in oil.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: They were helping drive the price of oil down while the government was selling it
20:04
SPEAKER_00: because nobody wants to be long oil when the U.S.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: government is telling the world, telling all the traders, we want to see prices lowered.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do what we need to do to make those prices go lower.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Right, so they're coming to the market and they're saying two things.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: We want this price to go down.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: And we're sitting on these barrels and we're going to sell until it does go down.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Until it goes down.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: Now watch.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: It's exactly what he did.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And so the amount of money he made for the U.S.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Treasury, this is the fun part of it, is that he sold basically around $100 a barrel.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: And he's been buying it back around $70 a barrel.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: That's $30 that he's made on about 200 million barrels.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: That's somewhere between $5 billion, $6 billion he's made for the U.S.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Treasury.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I said that Joe Biden is the greatest oil trader ever.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Just show this at April 2nd.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: They were about to do some purchases to replenish the reserve.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: He canceled it.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: So that's where he was.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: This is him buying now, not selling, right?
21:01
SPEAKER_01: You want to sell high, buy low.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: At this point.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Canceled April 2nd.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: Went down.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Went into the market May 7th.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: At when it had dropped five dollars.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Right.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: And at this point, he has such a there's such a fear from traders of what the U.S.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: will do next that he merely has to threaten one way or the other to make oil markets move.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: this is a really important thing this wasn't done before this is a innovation in
21:28
SPEAKER_01: using the spr to basically put a guardrail on global oil prices and to wildly
21:34
SPEAKER_00: diminish the cartels by the way i think that biden understands that as as well as
21:39
SPEAKER_00: being a seller of last resort at the top of a market he's going to be a buyer of
21:45
SPEAKER_00: last resort at the bottom of a market and also protect those oil companies to make
21:49
SPEAKER_00: sure that they remain profitable as well
21:51
SPEAKER_00: The point is that you've got to put guardrails on both sides of this market,
21:55
SPEAKER_00: and by doing so,
21:57
SPEAKER_00: you create a lane,
21:58
SPEAKER_00: for example,
21:59
SPEAKER_00: for renewables.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: For the green transition.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: In fact,
22:03
SPEAKER_00: if you look at the stock market today and you look at those green market stocks,
22:06
SPEAKER_00: they've been doing nothing but shooting up,
22:08
SPEAKER_00: basically because Biden has created a stable oil market for the first time in our
22:13
SPEAKER_00: history at some of the most...
22:15
SPEAKER_00: than some of the most crazy moments in the oil market.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: When you would see nothing like stability, we have seen nothing but stability.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: It's a tremendous success.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
22:25
SPEAKER_01: it's really an undercover story,
22:27
SPEAKER_01: and I think it does connect to the green transition because that price volatility
22:30
SPEAKER_01: is the number one political threat to the green transition because as soon as
22:34
SPEAKER_01: things hit $5 a gallon,
22:36
SPEAKER_01: everyone's like,
22:36
SPEAKER_01: oh,
22:37
SPEAKER_01: I don't want this green stuff,
22:38
SPEAKER_01: right?
22:38
SPEAKER_01: So that stability is key.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Dan Dicker, thank you very much.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: There you go.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: I hope you guys learned as much as I did from that.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: Really,
22:47
SPEAKER_02: it is a big story,
22:50
SPEAKER_02: especially when you consider how energy affects the country,
22:53
SPEAKER_02: when you consider how gas prices really are an important pain point for people.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: To finally realize that we have,
23:03
SPEAKER_02: that President Biden and the advisors around him have found a way to better handle OPEC.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: It's a big story.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: It's underreported.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: If none of your friends have heard it,
23:13
SPEAKER_02: and I bet they haven't,
23:14
SPEAKER_02: make sure you tell them about this segment.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: I think they will get something from it as well.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: I also put a couple of charts in the source notes.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: If you go to the episode notes on wherever you're listening, click the link to the Substack page.
23:27
SPEAKER_02: You'll see a link to the actual full episode if you want to hear the Chris Hayes
23:33
SPEAKER_02: interview and some more background on it.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: And there's also a chart that I added and some other images that I think you will
23:41
SPEAKER_02: find that are a good summary of how much was sold,
23:44
SPEAKER_02: what the price was,
23:45
SPEAKER_02: some of the math.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: Good stuff there.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: So the second story that I wanted to cover involves the Baltimore port.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: As you guys may recall,
23:56
SPEAKER_02: just a few months ago,
23:58
SPEAKER_02: there was that horrific ship incident that a large container ship ran into the bridge,
24:05
SPEAKER_02: collapsed the bridge,
24:06
SPEAKER_02: blocks off one of the most important ports on the East Coast.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: It was a fiasco.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: Some,
24:14
SPEAKER_02: in fact,
24:15
SPEAKER_02: especially those in conservative media,
24:17
SPEAKER_02: thought it was a terrorist attack,
24:20
SPEAKER_02: and it could be the first of many,
24:22
SPEAKER_02: and that it would basically help shut down the country.
24:28
SPEAKER_02: Of course, it wasn't a terrorist attack.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: But at the time, it was just a gigantic event that was expected to cause a lot of impact, a lot of pain.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: Lots of imports come in there.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: millions and millions of tons and at the time they have no idea how long it would
24:52
SPEAKER_02: take to remove the partially collapsed bridge above this gigantic container ship
25:00
SPEAKER_02: they had no idea how to even get the ship moved because the ship had lost power so
25:04
SPEAKER_02: there was lots of things to figure out not to mention quite a few lives were lost
25:09
SPEAKER_02: during the incident so we had no idea how long it would take
25:14
SPEAKER_02: But it's not really made the news a whole lot.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: But it has been, again, when this happened, they had no idea.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: There was no timeline for how long it would take.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: But I am beyond impressed and very proud of this country that we have with lots of partnerships,
25:35
SPEAKER_02: federal,
25:36
SPEAKER_02: state,
25:36
SPEAKER_02: private,
25:37
SPEAKER_02: a lot of people trying to work together.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: They have removed 50,000 tons of wreckage.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: There were 2,000 salvage workers that were working together.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: And all of these folks working together in 11 weeks have opened up this incredibly
25:56
SPEAKER_02: large channel that,
25:59
SPEAKER_02: again,
25:59
SPEAKER_02: when it happened,
26:00
SPEAKER_02: the first few days,
26:01
SPEAKER_02: first week or so,
26:02
SPEAKER_02: no one had any idea they didn't even have a timeline because nothing quite this
26:06
SPEAKER_02: large had ever even happened no catastrophe quite this large in such a central
26:13
SPEAKER_02: location at such you know depth had happened
26:17
SPEAKER_02: How are they going to cut through the girders of this incredibly large bridge?
26:23
SPEAKER_02: How are they going to do all this?
26:24
SPEAKER_02: And there were lots of Monday morning quarterbacks saying the federal government's
26:28
SPEAKER_02: doing wrong,
26:29
SPEAKER_02: the state.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh, they should do this, they should do that.
26:32
SPEAKER_02: Well,
26:32
SPEAKER_02: they dug an alternate channel initially to allow some of the smaller traffic
26:37
SPEAKER_02: through smaller ships there.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: And then they set about removing parts of the bridge and dredging.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: As again, tons of wreckage, digging out part of the channel.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: It's now back to its original depth.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: Traffic is flowing normally.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: And they did it all in 11 weeks.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sharing this because we hear every single day...
27:01
SPEAKER_02: People put down this country.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: They say we can't do this.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: They say we can't do that.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: They imply or flat out say we are no longer the greatest country in the world.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: And so we need to celebrate when as a country we come together and do monumental work.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: Herculean sized projects like this.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: It's just really an achievement that I think deserves more attention than it got.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: Now the bridge itself is its own gargantuan type project and that's expected to
27:33
SPEAKER_02: take up to four years so we'll keep an eye on that and see if by chance they can
27:38
SPEAKER_02: beat those projections as well.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: Now,
27:41
SPEAKER_02: the final story that I wanted to share that I'm hoping you guys have not seen comes
27:46
SPEAKER_02: out of the G7 meeting that recently happened.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: If you need a refresher of who the G7 is,
27:54
SPEAKER_02: the G7 is the world's seven largest economies,
27:58
SPEAKER_02: and those countries are Canada,
28:01
SPEAKER_02: France,
28:02
SPEAKER_02: Germany,
28:04
SPEAKER_02: Italy,
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Japan,
28:06
SPEAKER_02: the UK,
28:07
SPEAKER_02: and the U.S.,
28:09
SPEAKER_02: So those are the seven countries,
28:10
SPEAKER_02: again,
28:11
SPEAKER_02: Canada,
28:11
SPEAKER_02: France,
28:12
SPEAKER_02: Germany,
28:12
SPEAKER_02: Italy,
28:13
SPEAKER_02: Japan,
28:14
SPEAKER_02: the United Kingdom,
28:15
SPEAKER_02: and the United States.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: So the G7 recently held a meeting,
28:19
SPEAKER_02: and they have agreed to loan Ukraine up to $50 billion to help resist and fight Russia,
28:27
SPEAKER_02: as well as rebuild after the lengthy war that's happening there.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: And this money will be repaid from the interest that's accumulating on frozen Russian assets.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: So what are these assets?
28:41
SPEAKER_02: Well,
28:42
SPEAKER_02: when Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2022,
28:44
SPEAKER_02: Western governments across the world froze almost $300 billion in Russian assets.
28:52
SPEAKER_02: that includes money that was in western banks securities gold bonds in some cases
29:00
SPEAKER_02: there were assets all of this stuff was seized and these items have been held since
29:06
SPEAKER_02: the war began part of it because of some of the sanctions
29:10
SPEAKER_02: And so money from the interest on this $300 billion is generating interest of $3 billion per year.
29:18
SPEAKER_02: So $300 billion that are in Western hands, they're generating about $3 billion per year.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: And so this interest could be used to repay this $50 billion loan.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of details to work out on this,
29:34
SPEAKER_02: but the general principle of it has been discussed and agreed to.
29:40
SPEAKER_02: And so they will probably start transferring to Ukraine soon.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: about every year or two,
29:48
SPEAKER_02: some of those funds,
29:50
SPEAKER_02: and they will repay this very large loan from the interest of the seized Russian assets.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: This is obviously just more good news for Ukraine as it tries to build up its
30:02
SPEAKER_02: defenses and starts to look toward rebuilding after the war.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, just a quick reminder.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: If you enjoy the show,
30:18
SPEAKER_02: you've been listening to it for a while,
30:20
SPEAKER_02: and you'd like to support what I'm doing,
30:22
SPEAKER_02: there's a few ways you can do so.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: You can sign up on my Substack page, support the show at $5 per month.
30:28
SPEAKER_02: You can also do it through Patreon.
30:30
SPEAKER_02: I've got a link to that in the episode notes.
30:33
SPEAKER_02: And then finally, you can even just send a tip through Venmo.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: I've got a link to that as well.
30:38
SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate all of your all's support.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: Let's get into some more Ukraine news.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: First story is an update on one from a couple of weeks ago.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: As you recall,
30:55
SPEAKER_02: Ukraine was frustrated that the United States wasn't able to train more F-16 pilots
31:02
SPEAKER_02: since it appears that Ukraine will be getting more F-16s than it has pilots.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: And Ukraine was saying,
31:10
SPEAKER_02: hey,
31:10
SPEAKER_02: we've got the pilots,
31:11
SPEAKER_02: we need basically special accommodations to fast-track additional training.
31:19
SPEAKER_02: And the United States was saying,
31:20
SPEAKER_02: hey,
31:20
SPEAKER_02: we've got these deals with these other countries,
31:23
SPEAKER_02: there's only so many training slots available,
31:28
SPEAKER_02: there's only so many of these training facilities.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: aircraft that can be used, and then so many of these.
31:34
SPEAKER_02: There's just a lot of logistical stuff that's not easy to quickly change,
31:40
SPEAKER_02: and I did want to update that story.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: Since reporting that,
31:43
SPEAKER_02: Romania has stepped forward to say that they will fund the training of some
31:48
SPEAKER_02: additional Ukrainian F-16 pilots,
31:51
SPEAKER_02: quite a few actually,
31:52
SPEAKER_02: including covering everything from
31:54
SPEAKER_02: the accommodation, food, transportation, fuel, special equipment, other related services.
31:59
SPEAKER_02: So that was pretty big news for Ukraine,
32:01
SPEAKER_02: that some of the pilots they were worried about not having in time are going to get
32:06
SPEAKER_02: training from Romania to help push this pretty heavy load of switching from flying
32:13
SPEAKER_02: Soviet-era fighters to NATO-compliant F-16s.
32:18
SPEAKER_02: It's a big change.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot to try to get their arms around.
32:23
SPEAKER_02: So Romania is going to help as well.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: Definitely some good news for Ukraine there.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: The other story involving Ukraine that I wanted to make sure I got into this week's
32:33
SPEAKER_02: episode involves the success that Ukraine has been having of late.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: striking air defense systems down on the Crimean Peninsula now the Crimean
32:46
SPEAKER_02: Peninsula almost looks like an island off the southern part of Ukraine and there's
32:51
SPEAKER_02: a great image I have in the substack notes that you can see where that is as far as
32:57
SPEAKER_02: in relation to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov so it's a good thing to see if you
33:03
SPEAKER_02: want to if you're not sure exactly where it is but
33:07
SPEAKER_02: As kind of an update on the article that I had shared a week ago,
33:12
SPEAKER_02: I had talked about the S-300s and S-400 air defense systems that the Russians use
33:19
SPEAKER_02: and how the Ukrainians have been striking them.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: And this has been happening for a few weeks, but it isn't often that you get it on video to prove it.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: But in the Substack Notes,
33:30
SPEAKER_02: I have a link to an article that in the past few weeks,
33:34
SPEAKER_02: the Ukrainians have now verified hits on 15 different air defense systems.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: And there's a map that shows the various cities you can see.
33:45
SPEAKER_02: All around the coast of this,
33:46
SPEAKER_02: what looks like an island,
33:47
SPEAKER_02: it's the Crimean Peninsula,
33:49
SPEAKER_02: the various towns and cities in which S-300,
33:52
SPEAKER_02: S-350,
33:53
SPEAKER_02: S-400 air defense systems have been hit.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: To date,
33:57
SPEAKER_02: it's,
33:57
SPEAKER_02: again,
33:58
SPEAKER_02: 15 radar stations,
33:59
SPEAKER_02: 10 command posts,
34:02
SPEAKER_02: so they've really weakened the Russian air defense systems.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: And there's now increasing talk that when Ukraine gets these F-16s,
34:11
SPEAKER_02: they will be used in a ground support role.
34:14
SPEAKER_02: Because Ukraine's been doing such a good job using Western technology,
34:19
SPEAKER_02: long-range missiles,
34:20
SPEAKER_02: to knock out these air defenses,
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Ukraine,
34:23
SPEAKER_02: it's hoped,
34:24
SPEAKER_02: will be able to fly their own planes in more of a supporting role,
34:29
SPEAKER_02: attacking Russian troops to help limit Ukrainian casualties.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: And now to our final news story for this week,
34:38
SPEAKER_02: which of course we'll get to some motivation and encouragement in just a second.
34:42
SPEAKER_02: But I wanted to end on a bit of a positive note,
34:44
SPEAKER_02: and so I saved this story from a week or so ago because I just thought,
34:49
SPEAKER_02: let's end on something good.
34:52
SPEAKER_02: As you guys recall, Russia blew up a gigantic dam inside Ukraine last year.
35:02
SPEAKER_02: And it caused all kinds of issues.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: This massive reservoir of water...
35:08
SPEAKER_02: An area the size of London and New York City combined lost 90% of its water.
35:14
SPEAKER_02: There were incredible water shortages for 700,000 residents.
35:19
SPEAKER_02: There was lots of environmental damage from pollutants poisoning the soil because
35:24
SPEAKER_02: so many small towns,
35:26
SPEAKER_02: roads,
35:27
SPEAKER_02: houses,
35:27
SPEAKER_02: etc.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: were just flooded.
35:30
SPEAKER_02: And so all this oil, gas, all kinds of pollutants were spread by this...
35:38
SPEAKER_02: Just, you know, an unbelievable amount of flooding.
35:43
SPEAKER_02: And so the dam was built in 1956.
35:45
SPEAKER_02: It had a ton of water in it.
35:47
SPEAKER_02: Millions of gallons spread almost uncontrollably after the dam was exploded.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: There is a small bright spot.
35:58
SPEAKER_02: Small bright spot.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: And that is, the area is starting to turn green.
36:05
SPEAKER_02: Now, when it blew up, everyone was worried.
36:07
SPEAKER_02: They were using a term called desertification.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: I can't even say the word.
36:12
SPEAKER_02: Again, the word is desertification.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: Desertification.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: You guys can figure out how to say it.
36:18
SPEAKER_02: I'm just a guy from the South trying to do a podcast.
36:21
SPEAKER_02: But what everyone feared would happen turned out not to be the case.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: And that is because the timing of the attack was perfect.
36:32
SPEAKER_02: Had the attack been a bit later than what the worst case scenario projections would have occurred...
36:42
SPEAKER_02: But the good news is that the attack happened at a time when the pollinization of willows,
36:49
SPEAKER_02: poplar trees,
36:50
SPEAKER_02: and other trees in the area had seeds.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: And so when the flooding happened, the seeds spread across these stagnant waters.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: of the reservoir in these small little ponds,
37:02
SPEAKER_02: millions and millions of small little ponds,
37:05
SPEAKER_02: some the size of a bedroom,
37:07
SPEAKER_02: some the size of a football,
37:09
SPEAKER_02: but there were these little,
37:10
SPEAKER_02: once the flooding stopped,
37:12
SPEAKER_02: basically everything was muddy,
37:14
SPEAKER_02: and there were small little ponds of water everywhere.
37:19
SPEAKER_02: thousands and thousands and thousands tens of thousands of them until they dried
37:23
SPEAKER_02: out but in those small pockets of water were seeds that were stuck in the mud and
37:30
SPEAKER_02: thankfully because it happened when it did they began to germinate and grow rapidly
37:36
SPEAKER_02: Now,
37:36
SPEAKER_02: some scientists said that if it had been blown up in March or later in August,
37:42
SPEAKER_02: it would have been completely different and much worse.
37:45
SPEAKER_02: But because it happened when it did,
37:47
SPEAKER_02: the only good news about this entire situation is that in just one year,
37:52
SPEAKER_02: some of these saplings are already five meters high.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: Some of the places have up to like 20 plants per square meter.
38:01
SPEAKER_02: There are scientists who are studying this.
38:04
SPEAKER_02: Scientists are now saying that wild deer and boar could roam the forest in just
38:09
SPEAKER_02: five years as long as the conditions remain the same.
38:13
SPEAKER_02: The only bright spot that happened is that
38:18
SPEAKER_02: This terrible tragedy is leading to a very large reservoir of wildlife that would
38:26
SPEAKER_02: have never happened otherwise.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: Now, the downside is there was very large-scale environmental damage.
38:33
SPEAKER_02: There was a fishing industry that was destroyed.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: There were tons of homes that obviously were flooded and or destroyed.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: So, a lot of bad happened, of course.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: It was war.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: But there is some good.
38:50
SPEAKER_02: And so I wanted to at least end on a brighter note.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: And the brighter note is the timing of the explosion on that dam was perfect to allow it to quickly...
39:03
SPEAKER_02: turn green and bring in lots of wildlife versus turning into a dry,
39:12
SPEAKER_02: desolate desert that would have led to these nasty sand dust storms and all kinds
39:19
SPEAKER_02: of other environmental problems.
39:21
SPEAKER_02: Thankfully,
39:23
SPEAKER_02: Ukraine doesn't have to deal with that.
39:25
SPEAKER_02: Instead,
39:25
SPEAKER_02: they're going to have a lush area that will be an asset,
39:30
SPEAKER_02: and maybe at some point they'll have to rebuild the dam once the war is over.
39:34
SPEAKER_02: But you've got to at least look for the good stuff, the good stories when you can.
39:39
SPEAKER_02: And so I saw this story,
39:40
SPEAKER_02: and it just made my heart feel a little better than it was when this terrible
39:46
SPEAKER_02: catastrophe happened.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: Let's get to the best part of the show.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: This is the motivation and encouragement section,
39:53
SPEAKER_02: and I share these each week because we all know that life is hard,
39:58
SPEAKER_02: and frankly,
39:59
SPEAKER_02: pep talks help.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first one.
40:04
SPEAKER_02: You are what you do, not what you say you'll do.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: It's a quote from Carl Jung.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: Again, you are what you do, not what you say you'll do.
40:17
SPEAKER_02: The next one is another good one.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: The quote is, you're meant to be something great.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: Don't settle for anything less.
40:29
SPEAKER_02: Again, you're meant to do something great.
40:32
SPEAKER_02: Don't settle for anything less.
40:37
SPEAKER_02: The next one is, small wins are still wins.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: Celebrate them all.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: Again, small wins are still wins.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Celebrate them all.
40:54
SPEAKER_02: This next one is a quote from a Chinese strategist, Lao Tzu.
41:00
SPEAKER_02: The quote is,
41:04
SPEAKER_02: Now,
41:05
SPEAKER_02: he's obviously referring to swordsmen back in the day,
41:08
SPEAKER_02: or maybe generals or military commanders,
41:11
SPEAKER_02: but it applies in our regular business life as well.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: If you're trying to get that promotion or reach a high level of achievement,
41:20
SPEAKER_02: you have to control your emotions and as the quote says the best fighter is never
41:29
SPEAKER_02: angry right here is another good quote from winston churchill which is not the
41:36
SPEAKER_02: worst person to quote for sure the quote is success is not final failure is not
41:44
SPEAKER_02: fatal it is the courage to continue that counts
41:49
SPEAKER_02: That one's one you gotta hear a couple of times.
41:51
SPEAKER_02: Success is not final.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: Failure is not fatal.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: It is the courage to continue that counts.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, never give up, right?
42:04
SPEAKER_02: Let's go to a quote from Plato.
42:06
SPEAKER_02: The quote is, The first and best victory is to conquer self.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: Again, the first and best victory is to conquer self.
42:19
SPEAKER_02: This next one's kind of a life quote.
42:21
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty good.
42:22
SPEAKER_02: Never stop being a good person because of bad people.
42:27
SPEAKER_02: We all get that way, right?
42:28
SPEAKER_02: Someone kind of metaphorically punches you or is rude or does something mean to you,
42:35
SPEAKER_02: and it just ruins your day and makes you want to retaliate or just stop being a
42:40
SPEAKER_02: good person.
42:40
SPEAKER_02: But again, it's a great quote.
42:42
SPEAKER_02: Never stop being a good person because of bad people.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: This next one's a quote you got to chew on a little bit.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: The quote is, you don't become what you want, you become what you believe.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: Again, you don't become what you want, you become what you believe.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: It's a great one, isn't it?
43:05
SPEAKER_02: All right, this next one, we'll do one more, I think.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: Your actions today will determine where you will be tomorrow.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: Again, your actions today will determine where you will be tomorrow.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: So start that project,
43:24
SPEAKER_02: start that weight loss journey,
43:25
SPEAKER_02: start lifting,
43:26
SPEAKER_02: start doing whatever it is that you keep putting off because your actions today
43:32
SPEAKER_02: will determine where you will be tomorrow.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: Alright, let's move to a few from the Bible.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: As you guys know,
43:40
SPEAKER_02: this book has become such a source of wisdom and strength and even calm for me
43:45
SPEAKER_02: during the past year.
43:46
SPEAKER_02: So,
43:47
SPEAKER_02: I hope to share a few and maybe it will encourage you to get into the Bible
43:51
SPEAKER_02: yourself because I really do think it will help you.
43:54
SPEAKER_02: Now,
43:54
SPEAKER_02: the first few this week are just some great quotes that I came across this week
44:00
SPEAKER_02: that I wanted to share.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: here's the first one you are the only bible some unbelievers will ever read and if
44:10
SPEAKER_02: you're a person of faith that is like that is almost chilling honestly but you are
44:16
SPEAKER_02: the only bible some unbelievers will ever read here's the next one uh
44:26
SPEAKER_02: Kind of just something to think about.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: Both faith and fear demand you to believe in something you cannot see.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: You get to choose.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: Again, both faith and fear demand you to believe in something you cannot see.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: You get to choose.
44:50
SPEAKER_02: Here's another, just something to chew on for a moment.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: God isn't asking you to figure it out.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: He's asking you to trust that He already has.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: Again, God isn't asking you to figure it out.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: He's asking you to trust that He already has.
45:08
SPEAKER_02: And now I'm just going to read a few quick verses.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: The first one's from 1 John 3, verses 16-19.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: We know we're of the truth when we don't only talk about loving God, but we live it out.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: Again, we know we're of the truth when we don't only talk about loving God, but we live it out.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: Next one's from Hebrews 13, verse 8.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: It's probably one of the more famous verses in the Bible.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: And then let's do one from Philippians chapter 2 verse 3.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
45:59
SPEAKER_02: Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
46:05
SPEAKER_02: Again, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
46:14
SPEAKER_02: Again, that was Philippians chapter 2 verse 3.
46:19
SPEAKER_02: I think with that, we will wrap up that section.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us this week.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: I hope as you go through this week that you act a little nicer on social media and in the world as well.
46:31
SPEAKER_02: Smile at folks in the grocery store,
46:33
SPEAKER_02: do small acts of kindness,
46:35
SPEAKER_02: and remember that most Americans are good,
46:37
SPEAKER_02: and they will help you in an emergency,
46:40
SPEAKER_02: even if you don't agree politically.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: As you go through this week, I want you to aim to be more motivated and more disciplined.
46:48
SPEAKER_02: Try to improve yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually.
46:52
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to set impossible goals on these matters.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: Just be a little more motivated and disciplined than you were the week prior.
47:00
SPEAKER_02: As I said earlier, I really hope that you spend some time in your Bible this week.
47:06
SPEAKER_02: If you have no idea where to read on your own, just start with Psalms or Proverbs.
47:11
SPEAKER_02: Read some of those and then start with the New Testament by reading the book of John.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: Moving to a final note on the political front,
47:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm confident after this episode you're going to hear some bad news this week.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: Where you're going to hear something ugly and it's going to remind you of how divided we are.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: This is as certain as the law of gravity.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: But I'm begging you, please do not give up on this country.
47:36
SPEAKER_02: I know it's pretty ugly right now.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: And I know we're living in dark times,
47:40
SPEAKER_02: but we've made it through nearly 250 years together,
47:43
SPEAKER_02: and we're far stronger together than we'll ever be apart.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Don't ever believe anyone who tells you differently about that.
47:50
SPEAKER_02: Let me wrap up the show by talking about my books and a couple of other newsletters that I do.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: First, a bit about myself and my books.
47:58
SPEAKER_02: I am a military vet.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: I spent four years in the Marine Corps, all of that time in the infantry.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: And yes, that does matter.
48:05
SPEAKER_02: After my enlistment, I went to college at the University of Tennessee.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: I became a journalist.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: I spent more than 10 years in the news business.
48:12
SPEAKER_02: Besides all of that, I've also written 12 books.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: Those books include a series about a Marine Corps sniper,
48:18
SPEAKER_02: several novels about a police detective and a private investigator,
48:22
SPEAKER_02: and a few books about war,
48:23
SPEAKER_02: such as World War II and Afghanistan.
48:26
SPEAKER_02: Basically,
48:26
SPEAKER_02: these are all fast-moving books with lots of action and plot twists,
48:31
SPEAKER_02: because those are the kind of books I've always enjoyed reading.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: You can find all of those books in the link in the episode notes,
48:38
SPEAKER_02: or you can look on Amazon by just searching my name,
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Stan R.
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Mitchell.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: Buying a book,
48:44
SPEAKER_02: telling a friend about a book,
48:45
SPEAKER_02: or buying one as a gift for someone,
48:47
SPEAKER_02: friend or loved one,
48:49
SPEAKER_02: is a great way to help support the show.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Now, I always like to end each show by reminding people that you can comment anytime.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: I try to monitor those.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: You can also reach out privately by email to me at AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: And that's in the episode notes, by the way.
49:05
SPEAKER_02: But again, it's AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
49:09
SPEAKER_02: Hey, here's one other thing.
49:11
SPEAKER_02: This podcast is about defense news, but I also do a political blog.
49:15
SPEAKER_02: So if you love my moderate, optimistic views, you might enjoy that.
49:20
SPEAKER_02: It's called Thoughts from a Southern Gentleman.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: You can find a link to the episode notes to that, or you can just search that on Google.
49:27
SPEAKER_02: Hey, thanks for hanging with me this week.
49:30
SPEAKER_02: It's truly an honor to talk with each of you and to know that there's a few of you
49:33
SPEAKER_02: out there who are listening and who care about our country and our military and all
49:38
SPEAKER_02: the issues that we face.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: I know there are a lot of scary issues out there,
49:42
SPEAKER_02: but we're going to get through them together,
49:45
SPEAKER_02: the same way America's gotten through everything before this.
49:48
SPEAKER_02: If you can at all this week,
49:50
SPEAKER_02: reach out to a friend or anyone who you know is struggling,
49:53
SPEAKER_02: whether they are young or old.
49:55
SPEAKER_02: Life is truly hard.
49:56
SPEAKER_02: We know this.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: But the true strength of this country is its people,
50:00
SPEAKER_02: and that includes you folks listening to me right now.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: So be a leader, be a doer, be a servant to someone.
50:07
SPEAKER_02: With all of that being said, I'll catch you all next week.
50:10
SPEAKER_02: You have been listening to The View from the Front.
50:14
Thank you.