Transcript
This isn't your average business podcast, and he's not your average host. This is the James Altucher Show on the choose yourself network. Today on the James Altucher Show. You figured out early on what it is you wanted to show up for. And I think that's both a blessing and a curse. Right? True. You've been doing this for God knows how many years, decades, 20 plus years. I know. Can you believe that? Let me ask you this though. You mentioned a lot of things you like about the job. Do you think there's anything inside of you which is addicted to having a relevant voice? There's many voices out there and the voices change. Yours has stayed consistent through the years and the decades. Do you ever get addicted to, like, I wanna still be I need to be still one of those top voices in the space? It is just really important. I do like that people like what I do. And at one point, my wife just said, do you like what you do? How about you? Forget the verification. That's terrific. But do you like it? And will you always like it? Will you always wanna work this far? As long as I enjoy it, I'm gonna keep doing it. And she said, well, what happens if you stop enjoying it? And I come back and say, then I will pivot. So I have Jim Cramer on the show. Jim, we've known each other 16 years now. It's all been good, James. I was telling my wife, Lisa. I said, I get to see you, and you always bring great joy because you're a a tremendous spokesperson for the work that I've done. And I hope that I that you feel the same. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, it's funny. I, I wonder how you'd react to this. So I had this, podcast with doctor Oz the other day. And a lot of people have, you know, say both good and bad things about him, and we all have experienced that. But my philosophy, I learned from you, which is that, look, if you have to go on TV and 250 days a year, you know, give positive advice to people directly so they don't have to go to, you know, fund managers or brokers or everybody try sign a trying to sell them some some product. They could just directly be in charge of their financial health or in in in Dura Duraaz's case, medical health. If you say stuff 250 days a year, some days, you're just gonna be wrong. But the basic idea is you're trying to tell people, do it yourself. And this is they're watching you in action while you do it yourself. Well, look, I had we didn't know this, but I had dinner with doctor Oz on Saturday night. You're kidding. No. Not this Did you guys just talk about me the whole time? Yes. It was really we were obsessed with you. We talked about what you just said, which is the notion of taking control of your life, being really smart about it, And I find him to be a foul of of fabulous information. Yeah. And I met him because he's a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and he was a a long standing one. He's going to some games with me. And so we were sitting at, the same table with, for Jeff Lohrey, the owner's, friends and family party. And I was wrapped as usual because he's got so many things at his fingertips. He was discussing with me, the, cogency of the of the JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, coalition to try to get health care costs on in line and mentioned to me that, for instance, your co pay. You may pay $10 for co pay on for some pills, but maybe they only char maybe they only got charged 93¢, and they're making a huge amount of money in co pay. I just use that as an example of how he wants you to take control of your life. And I I just find him to be delightful and smart and exciting and just filled with life. And and and, I agree. I actually I and I really like both yours and his and many people's philosophy of let's take out the the the middle man structure ecosystem that has basically, you know, raised fees a 1000%. I know. Given bad advice constantly, but, like, I have brainwashed us into thinking this is the correct advice because it's part of the system. And yet people are gonna still criticize you or doctor Oz or other people and say, oh, one day out of 250, he said this, and then the stock went down. Know. And look. The overriding thesis of of doctor Oz's empowerment I think yours as well with stocks and financial information. Absolutely. I make mistakes. I mean, I was going over today. I was telling people to buy Cimarex ahead of well, not ahead of the quarter, but it's an oil company, and they guide it down. And you just in in a snapshot, I'm an idiot. I said buy Cimarex. Now I'm over and I use that as an example because there is this what have you done for me lately thing. It it's only what have you done for me lately. Because the people who are happy, they don't call you and say we're happy. But the people who are mad, they're all over Twitter Oh, absolutely. Everything. They're writing new letters. And and you have to take it. You have to be, like, a rhino. You have to be really thick skin. How long do you think it took you to build that thick skin? Oh, I would say probably almost 30 years. I had to be It's hard. Right? It's not as easy as it No. People say, oh, I don't care what they think. Oh, you do. Care. And, yeah, I'll tell you what your Achilles' heel is. It's your kids. See, my kids would be upset about something was said about me. And so even though I might have, like, a coat of armor, it's just stripped away when your kids are upset. But what I ended up doing is say, okay. I'm gonna get up every day. I'm gonna put my clothes on, and I'm gonna go to work. And even though it might hurt, I'll still work as opposed to say it doesn't hurt. Right. I'll just say, listen. It hurts, but I'm just gonna keep going, because that's what I know to do. And if you take solace in that, and solace in the idea that you're going to show up, a la Woody Allen, it's your best defense. So so so let me ask you that about showing up. Like, you figured out early on what it is you wanted to show up for. Yes. And I think that's, both a blessing and a curse. Right? Because you've been doing this for god knows how many years, decades, to 20 20 plus years with thestreet.com alone. And then I know. Can you believe that? 22 years this year with the street, and still isn't really as known as I'd like. But you were always instrumental in in supporting, the institution and me with the idea that we were trying to do something different, trying to make sense of stock prices for individuals, trying to make it so that they were stronger whether they were client or stronger whether they do it yourself because knowledge is indeed power, but knowledge is also disliked. There was something that happened, recently in with the CBO and these options on the VIX. And so a whistleblower came forward and hired a lawyer and said, look. They saw manipulation. And immediately, CBO the CBO, c b o e, puts out a note saying the person doesn't is ill informed and doesn't know what he's talking about. And I was saying to myself, please, let's hear the guy out first. Yeah. Maybe the guy has a story to tell, because a lot of people lost a lot of money, and I wanna know why. I don't wanna know you know, I wanna I but the public's interest is what my interest is. And I've always felt that because I don't play for dinner, an NFL term, meaning that I am not the marginal player who has to compromise themselves in order to be able to get on the field. I I look. I I have staying power. And I have staying power, fortunately, because I didn't start with money, but I did okay. And and I can try to tell the truth for people, and that the truth, knowledge, these all matter. Now the truth is is kinda become a fungible issue with the way the politics is these days, But I know that what I'm real I know what I'm trying to do. What I'm trying to do is say, this is what pros do. And I'm trying to do that for a fraction of the cost of, what the pros would charge you. Right. So so, you know, there's there's kinda two ends to that. So one is so many people are saying, well, how could I figure out what what my truth is, what the truth is that I wanna express? Because you've obviously by having that core truth early on, you've had an amazing career. And then at the end of it, not at the end of the career, but just where we are now, why continue to do it? Now you can say, oh, because I love it, and I'm obsessed with it. There's many things to do in life. Like, are you happy after all these years? Okay. So my wife and I because I just turned 63. Congratulations. I just turned 50. Oh my god. Okay. Then these are these are milestones where you have to where whether you like it or not, you assess. And, my wife's theme Lisa's theme this weekend was, I was with a friend who is at a law firm. And in a law firm, they retire you. So in other words, it's not your choice. And the 60 seven is the retired age. And my friend was saying, how great, how liberating, because you don't have to decide. They decide for you. So then you can go teach, then you can go travel. My father-in-law retired in his fifties, and he travels, and he he sees the world, and he is very involved with Hispanic outreach, and he spends a lot of time in charity and helping a a hospital system by being on the board. He worked at JPMorgan before. He's got great expertise. And I'm, like, trying to figure out, well, wait a second. My dad was 92 when he died. He was selling boxes and bags to retailers. He was selling doggy bags to restaurants, and he died in November, and he had a huge month in October. He had a huge month, and that's me. And it's very antithetical to my wife because she's saying, listen. We have this great house now overseas, and we could spend all the time we want doing whatever we want, seeing things, reading things, you know, not caring. I'd take a whole month off. And and I see I keep coming back and say, well, my dad had a big month, and he was really happy when he died. You know, one wants to die, obvious. Well, I mean, some people there's people who have different ethoses. But the in general, he was happy because he worked, and I have that same skein of thought. Now my friend who's at the at the firm, the law firm, he was saying that I have a depression mentality. I think that's correct. And that is not far from home. Right. Right. Not knowing you that much in the past few years, but just all the time you're thinking. You're you you have anxiety about what's going on around the world and in your life. And, Absolutely. And I I I when he said that, I said, undeniably so. And we it's funny because we were playing a game of hearts, which is one of my absolute I love playing. Great games. Shooting the moon. Oh my god. My wife shot the moon. And we stopped. We've been playing for 3 hours. She shot the moon. And my friend was, like, just he was so he didn't see it coming. He was so angry. He throws, yeah, close the cars down. So your wife, the most calm person who just wants to relax and travel, takes a lot of calculation to shoot the moon. And she's just saying, look. Yeah. What matters is happiness. And I I the Dalai Lama says that too. Like, what matters is happiness? And I said, well, don't do that because that is the determinant. I'm gonna keep working like my dad because my work makes me happy. And she was saying, no. You're obsessed. What you would be happy with is whatever you choose to do. And if it were to go to Tuscany for a month and go to Mexico for a month, you'd be happy. And I came back and said, look. I I I just one of those rare people. I got fortunate fortunate in that I like my jobs. I like my employer, and they're I like the creativity of it. And as long as I can do it, I wanna keep doing it. But she said, well, you have a good support staff. And, if the support staff decided that they had had enough, what would happen? I said, well, we'd have to reassess. That's what we when, cross that bridge when it when it happens. So so, you know, it's an interesting thing though because, maybe you would be happy. You have so much energy and knowledge. Maybe you would be happy doing other things like teaching or writing more. You know, your first book, Confessions. Yeah. Confessions. Still one of the classic investment books of all time. You're a great writer. You could be doing more writing instead of just the daily commentary on the news. Have you ever considered, like, kind of making a shift? Well, that's 1 on 1 teaching. Basically, you're you're teaching a small group. I feel like I got this classroom. In the classrooms, the people watch Mad Money, and Mad Money is the prize for me. We write, that's about 9,000 words a day, which if you think about it with anyone who's doing in college, you realize that that might be what you do for a semester. It is frenetic, but we I I don't have it this week because I'm because I'm preempted by curling, which is a great sport. In the Olympics. But what what I think for the Olympics. But what I think I see stories. I mean, I just see stories, and I want to tell them. And I just assume tell them to the cameras, the classroom, because the people I work with are so amazing and they're so exciting. They're young people. They're filled with energy. They energize me. I finished the show between 6 and 6:15 because we tape it. It's called Live the Tape and runs at 6, and I'm always thrilled. I mean, then I do a big do a big download of how we could have done it better, and then it's a challenge. But I just do love it. Now But then you do I personally do networking dinners. Like, you'll I know. You don't stop with the show. No. And I keep going out to dinners with CEOs and trying to learn all the time, but I like to I like to learn. I've not I have not been adept at like you, but, like, I should have been learning cryptocurrency. I should always be learning new things. I remember in 1989, someone came up to me and said, you should be trading coffee futures. So I did a crash course in coffee futures and did terrible. And I said, no. I got something I really like. I like stocks. And I at that point, I was also trading more bonds. Bonds had a lot of volatility. But I I love stocks, and this is the best way to love them, what I do now. Let me ask you this, though. You mentioned a lot of things you like about the job, but do you think there's anything inside of you which is addicted to having a relevant voice? So you there's many voices out there, and the voice has changed. Yours has stayed consistent through the years and the decades. Do you ever get addicted to, like, I wanna still be I need to be still one of those top voices in the space. I still need the fans. Okay. This is really important because, on a one on one. So I went to the I went to the Eagles, Patriots game, the Super Bowl. And when you do that, you're with your wife. And at one point, my wife just said, you're really into the adulation. Because people were coming up to you. And I said, well, I'm into the kindness. She goes, no. You're into the adulation. You get a kick out of it. And I said, well, I do like that people like what I do. And she goes, but, you know, do you like what you do? How about you? Forget the verification. That's terrific. But do you like it, and will you always like it? Will you always wanna work this hard? And I came back with what she thought was a very shortsighted thought, which I said, I like it now. She goes, no. No. No. Really thoughtful people will think, okay, that adulation is not working for working, but I really it's not gonna last forever. Nothing lasts forever. What's plan b? What else do you wanna do? And, she felt that my avoidance of the topic, was I don't wanna say shallow because that's too pejorative, but someone would have heard the conversation and said, my wife's deep. I'm shallow. And I'm really cognizant of that because she is. She's much more thoughtful about the future than I am, because I'm saying, hey. It's a good ride. And I look at it a little more like sports, which is, hey. Listen. As long as I can not be Willie Mays, but throw it from the center from center field, as long as I enjoy it, I'm gonna keep doing it. And she said, well, what happens if you stop enjoying it? And I come back and say, then I will pivot. But, but part of doing the show is if people come up to you, it's great. And these people only I only have a show because these people come up to me. Now periodically, someone will be rude. I'm just someone was rude the other night. What'd they say? Well, they throw a camera at someone or they throw a camera at my wife or what's the worst one is if they throw a camera at my daughters. Say, listen. Take it. Take a picture of me and your father. Take a picture of me and your husband. And it's, like, not please and not whatever, and it's awkward, and it's not right. But and, like, someone came up to me at a bar a couple nights ago and said, I'm I was busy. I was having a c**ktail. I was having a lago vous, and it was really just a nice moment. And the guy says, so what do you think of the tenure? And I said, well, I actually like to say good evening, and how are you? And he said, yeah, but the tenure. And I I just stopped. It says, the tenure's fun. And I have another sip of my drink, and I realized he's probably a nice guy. And he was just making a joke. So I turned to him. I said, you know, I'm much more into Amazon. You know, I'm not really telling you guys. He goes, yes. Yes. I like Amazon very much. I work at a big investment firm in Baltimore, and I just saw you, and I really wanted to talk to you. And I'm sorry if I was rude. And I was like, no. No. You weren't rude. I just wasn't ready for you, and I'm sorry. And, and then I felt great. We had a great 20 minute conversation while I was waiting for my guest, all about, FANG, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google, and about the greatness of American ingenuity and whether one the notion of overweighting 1 versus not, you know, portfolio speak, and I liked it. So, Jim, I know you liked it. I did. But I'm gonna take your your wife's point of view for a second. I don't I don't, you know, I I don't mean to. No. But remember, I'm telling you she's got the high ground. Right. Maybe. But let's just also look at it in a different way. One is, she's saying you like that adulation, you know, the the people coming up to you. Right. Sure. You had a great intellectual conversation with him, but you didn't know him. You didn't know it would be an intellectual conversation. You didn't know you felt good because he came up to you for advice. I'm just saying. No. That's support the narrative. Right? And and but what your wife is also asking you, are you choosing this in the long term over me? You know, she's asking you, is the adulation you're getting better than going to Mexico or Tuscany with me? And that's a little bit of what she's asking you. Yes. It is. And my kids are not asking me. My kids are telling me. Dad, when you're with me, you're with me. When I'm with my daughter in Oregon, my daughter wants me to speak loudly because my voice is recognizable and to wear a hat, you know, if I wear a hat and sunglasses, even better. We try to go to places where it's inconceivable and anyone would know me because there's not a lot of cable out in Oregon. Because she said, that is cherish time. We I cherish it. Let's not share it with others who frankly have nothing to do with us and really are not special, versus you and me because we don't get to see each other much because we're in Oregon. And that's that's Checkmate. I mean, a willing Checkmate. I I how great it is that that at 26 she still wants to be with me. I can't believe your daughter is 26. I know. I know. I know. They were little when we first started working together, but my daughter's right, and my wife is right. And I when I say right, it it means that I am to some degree wrong. I come back and say, it's just easy to be nice to be mean. You know, I'm gonna be nice to someone if they come up to me and even with the fellow that I talked about with the tenure. But then we go back to, again, what my, Elvis says, which is, dad, get serious about your life and stop thinking, does that person like me? Stop wanting to be liked. It's a worthless pursuit. She works at a she works in the mental health field working with troubled youths, as a at a residential facility. And she said the people I work with are struggling, obviously, and, but my life's meaningful. And, you know, I want you to have a meaningful life. I I'm trying to help people, and you're trying to help people financially, but I want you to be more. I I I think there's more to life than doing a show. And I said, well, look. I love you. I love your sister. I love my wife. I love all my cousins. I love my sister. And she said, well, yeah, but, like, you have to say it. You have to say it. I mean, it should just be you don't have to say it when it's when you're protesting too much. And yeah. Look. I I I don't know. I'm a there are many levels, James, that I'm problematic. Okay? And you're hitting on problematic, but it's but it doesn't bother me to talk about it. But, but I know I'm problematic on this. And so then we come back to the depression here and my father. Okay? And maybe the adulation or or the scorn, because I've had that too, it comes with the territory. But it's the territory of being of having the psychological fulfillment of working. Right. And now I love vacation. I absolutely love vacation. But at the end of my vacation, I almost always wanna go back to work. I feel recharged, and I'm ready. There are some vacations that are too quick, and it's not like that. But for the most part, it's, okay. That was fabulous, and now let's hit it. And that's me. That does it's never like, oh my god. I gotta go back. It it it it's when I say never, I mean, it's rare times. And the rare times tend to be vacations that are huge sightseeing on the road at get up at 7. So it's still a high energy, high impact vacation. You don't lie on the beach. Exactly. And, you know, we're going to Tuscany next week, and we're gonna go to we're gonna have 2 museum days, but the other days are gonna be just to read around the fire because, my wife says I need recharging. And she said when you're finished, you'll be ready. And so I look at the vacations and, as interludes between work. I'm not there yet to look at the vacations as being why you work. Right. And and I get that. Look. The it's one thing for everybody to say you like the adulation and all that stuff, but look. You've been doing this for 30 years. So there's it's in your your brain is wired for it. You're looking at each person in the street, and they're looking at you. And you know they recognize you. So and it's it feels good. Your brain is wired to think that way. Right. And You can't just rewire. No. I can't. But how would you let's say you decided, okay, a move towards happiness would be not necessarily rewiring, but a move towards rewiring. How would you start that process? Okay. I would probably have to give up mad money. Well, that that's an extreme. What would be a smaller step than that? A smaller step, I think, would just say, okay, guys. I get 6 weeks off. Alright? So this is a week I'm taking off, and it's just tough that you need me this week. That's what I'm gonna do. Instead, I take far less time off. I would also, I think, to a certain extent at The Street, say, guys, look, I'm not gonna write the 3 to 4 pieces a day in the 15 videos. I'm gonna do stuff, but, it has to be a different pace. And I don't wanna do the administrative because the administrative really upsets me. And I think that that would be the way. The administrative is worrisome. I feel like you've been saying that for 10 years. Well, I think that you'd be right. And that's the flaw in my life right now. And so so, again, even a smaller step then because you you you've been saying this, so that's so it's too big a step for you to do. Well, I I haven't been able to do it. I I look. I always am hopeful that we have such a big organization so good that they wouldn't be as dependent on me, and it's a bit they. But but I love to write. See, that's one of the things I've always loved to write. I remember when my late mom, she was dying of cancer, and I was at Goldman Sachs. And I came home on that. I said, I had the biggest month, blah blah blah blah blah. I made this as this. And she said to me it was probably 2 months before she died. She goes, you used to be a writer. You used to be creative. She was in this period of tremendous clarity where she was quite affirmative about her stances in life. And she goes, you know, it's shameful. It's shameful that you wanted to be creative, and now you're not. Promise me one day you'll be creative. Well, I gave up the money management business, and I write every day, and I love it. I mean, I wrote a piece this morning. I got up really I got up at at 3:30, and I wrote this piece about protecting the public and why the SEC has to step up because the ICE, the Cboe, all these exchanges, they're not gonna, like, say, hey. We're gonna protect the public. They're profit making institutions. And the Cboe, if the peep there are people who want double and triple ETFs to lever up and borrow money. The Cboe is not gonna say, you know what? That's not in the public's interest. It's the government. So it was kind of a a a forceful piece about how the SEC has to rethink what they've done with these pieces of paper because they're hurting people. And I finished it at 6:15, and I filed it. And I said to I went up to my to Lisa who was sleeping, and I said, I just did a piece I really like. And she said, yeah. I said, no. It's really important about protecting the public issues. Fab. And and I said, you don't understand. And she goes, no. I don't, and I'm trying to sleep. And I said, okay. Okay. Okay. But it made me happy. And she goes, I'm so good. You're happy. And then I went to work. But it was a piece that I really liked, and it was 600 it was 670 words, and I thought I read did it a bunch of times. And I said, oh, this is good. This is good. And I was really excited about it. And as long as I'm still excited about this, it's a good sign. It wasn't drudgery. I thought I really made it a point. Now there'll be very few people who read it, but I feel good about writing. So so let's go hardcore into that first one. Sure. So so much money has gone into ETFs and institutional money. Retail investors are not out there like they were in the nineties or even the o o's. So it's so easy for financial institutions to create these products like the XIV and then derivatives on them that are totally illiquid. But playing those derivatives will completely manipulate the entire market. Is there a way so so the market is manipulating that sense. There's a few players and a few financial instruments with not as much liquidity as you would like that can manipulate how the entire universe thinks about the market. And so is there a way to actually regulate that or slow down? They always try, you know, let's stop you know, let's regulate you know, collateralized mortgage derivatives. Let's let's start regulating other financial innovations. But always there's the next thing. Well, I always hope that the Fed, which controls margin, would say, you need a 100% margin to do this. That would be great. Or it should be off board, meaning there shouldn't be something that's so accessible in public that you can make a deal with Morgan on the VIX or Goldman. But the SEC abdicated its job when it said that these are pieces of paper that are basically sophisticated, and that's fine. I mean, to me, these are pieces of paper that should be stickered like tobacco. I mean, this can really hurt people. It settles every day. People think it's a great way to hedge. It's not a great way to hedge. Obviously, when things go wrong, volatility turns out not to be an asset. Turns out it's not an asset. Right. I mean, till this happened, there was a volatility. It's like gold and real estate. Right. There's no actual settlement. No. It's nothing. And so, I I think and you used the term manipulation, and so I use that. And then these are the people who create these instruments. So Kramer doesn't know what he's talking about. And, yeah, that is the one I really hate because, like, Kramer actually does know what he's talking about, not to be 3rd speaking 3rd person. But you and I both incorrect you correctly, I think, entirely summarized the entire debacle that is the VIX. And I listened to you, and I said, James agrees with me, and James also has the same interest at heart, which is the public. I mean, we're not trying to we don't want to gain fees on these. We are not vested in the profit motive like the institutions some institutions are. We're thinking about, did anyone know that these were gonna blow you up? Now if you go back to the original SEC rulings on the double and triple, they said, well, look. The market's really deep, and they can't be manipulated because the market's really deep. Well, the markets are nowhere near as deep as when they first did the original research. And they said that the public would be very smart about it. There's no indication that the public's smart about it. Side in the market. These ETFs are in the market. Right. So, I mean, I think that what we've what you and I, it's readily apparent to us, but not to the interested parties and not to the government, that somebody's getting hurt. And what I wanna do my ethos has always been the same, which is that stocks are the greatest, wealth creator of all time. Although Bitcoin is obviously in the last, you could say, in the last 24 months Yeah. Certainly beat it. I'm not denying that. But stocks over the long term have been great. And you fall back on Jeremy Siegel now, and he does thorough work. And, but I've seen junctures where people get blown out. And, so, therefore, they're earning, say, 1% or 2% on their cash, and they're living much longer than they used to. So they're using parallels that say we should be in cash at the age of 64. And that's not no. It's you the longevity tables, the actuarial tables say that you're going to need a bigger retirement money. And if you didn't invest in the stock market over the long term, I I fear you'll run out. And when you run out in an age when health care costs so much, you can be, you can really be hurt. And I don't want that. And I think that, as you mentioned, doctor Oz, doctor Oz talking about empower empowerment. He's a guy who is always talking about longevity, how people can, you know, lead their lives longer and be taking charge of their lives. But if you don't have any money, he once told me the leading cause of bankruptcy is health care. The leading cause, not bad investing, whatever. So you gotta make sure you have enough money. You gotta just make sure you have enough health care. And you gotta be sure that you don't get out of the market and substitute into something that's 1% so you can't pay for the health care and go bankrupt. What do you think is the you know? And I know this is this question has many answers. But let's say you live in middle America. What's the number to retire? Or or to not retire, but at least not worry about your future years and the future longevity of of people? If you're in away from the coast, I could see that you might have, the wherewithal, on a $1,000,000 for 10 years. 10 years. But now people are living 30 or 40 years more. I have no no idea. I worry about the wherewithal. I mean, because, you know, you do have Social Security, but it's it's not that much. And And how many people have a $1,000,000? It's health care. Yeah. It's health care. If there were no issues with health care, and obviously there's Medicare. You can, you know, get by and stuff. But my father at the VA had Medicare, but he kept working. But a $1,000,000 for, you know, $100,000 a year is a lot of money. But if you put away money in your twenties, thirties, forties, fifties Which nobody does. We're at a 1% savings rate. Nobody does. So what happens, people have to keep working. And, you know, as we go back to the issue of work, not everybody has satisfying work, and but they have to work longer than they thought. That's the big change. Let me ask you this because and this is gonna be a naive question, but if health care costs are the problem, what if we simply and this is just abstract thinking. What if we simply did away with the FDA, which would drive down the costs of all the major drugs that help the obscure diseases the elderly get? Let's stop to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Every podcast I do is so personal and special to me. The podcast is all about how people can be better performers, even peak performers, at whatever it is they're passionate about. So help people discover this podcast. Help me. Help the listeners. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher or wherever it is you get your podcasts. You can also check out the show notes at jamesaltitude.com/podcast. And, also, if you wanna get my blog updates and other updates that I do, sign up for the newsletter at James Altucher dot com. Once again, thanks so much for joining me on the journey of this podcast. Let me ask you this because and this is gonna be a naive question. But if health care costs are the problem, what if we simply and this is just abstract thinking. What if we simply did away with the FDA, which would drive down the cost of all the major drugs that help the obscure diseases the elderly get. Okay. Well, you know what? That's what they do in China. And, they accept they have acceptable loss rate of people who die, and that's not our culture. Right. But they get more health care to people. So they, I have a friend, my wife's cousin, who came up with a device that you can put a drop of blood on a Petri dish, whatever, and detect a lot of different cancers. And he thinks it's really great, and they're looking at it at Mount Sinai and looking at it with Sloan Kettering. And he goes to Shanghai, and they immediately adopt it, at the hospitals. Now why do they adopt the hospitals? It's really interesting. The hospitals have 500,000 people each patients a year. 500,000 people. So they're willing to say, you know what? We just gotta use it. And he said, well, you know, it's not approved yet by the FDA. They wanna have 2, 3 years of study. And the Chinese said, well, we can't afford that. We have people dying all the time of cancer. We gotta put it to work. And if it's got some false positives, so be it. But, you know, we gotta do this to save people's lives, and their imperative is different from ours. But I kind of agree with their imperative to some degree because it does cost 3 to $4,000,000,000 to bring a drug to market. And many people will die during those 3 to 4 years anyway from those diseases. Yes. And you so you end up with these people these drug tests where you have to get people who are about to die to use the to test the drug. So even the studies are hard to put together because people keep dying. And it costs $2,000,000,000 to get through a drug through the FDA. $1,000,000,000. And I just think to pay that back with high cost. So then you get into the $400,000 a year, $500,000 a year, ex you know, for the orphan drugs, which are obviously, is this drain on the system. But then again, if it was your kid, see if it was your kid. It's really I've gone to China with my kids. That's not a bad idea. China, I think, is doing many things right to be able to help the most people. And, the Chinese government is is obviously a 1000000 people die in a year of respiratory illnesses, so they're, like, panicked on that. They don't want revolution. Yeah. But, I do think that when my cousin went my my wife's cousin went over there, he was shocked. But then when they said, listen, there's 500,000 people. We got We need a cancer test now. We don't have the time to do 3 years worth of studying and have all these people dying. And he said, well, that is actually right. That's right. And my test is good enough to detect breast cancer. And it's kinda monumental in the way that the 2 societies to live, think about the issue. So so, you know, every couple years you've been doing a book, it's always a great book on educating the population. Plus, there's your initial book, which is the classic. What's what's next? Project 1? Do this book for millennials about investing. There, you came across that issue of, like, how do you manage your time? I'm working harder than ever. My wife does not want me to do the book because How do you manage your time? You do both books. Earlier. Right. Earlier. And I I have been cutting into a lot of time. We went out last night for Valentine's Day, and we got back at 9 o'clock. And I said, I have to read the Cisco conference call, and I have to read the Applied Materials conference call. I have to study international flavors and fragrance. She said, stop. Stop. You're going to bed. Okay. And I said, no. She's okay. Well, you're gonna read it in bed. You're gonna fall asleep. I said, no. I am gonna sit here, and I will come upstairs after I read the AMAC call. And she said, how many AMAC calls have you been on? And I said, well, what does that have to do with anything? I I got one that I eat. And David Faber may turn to me and say, well, what did you think about Applied Materials? She goes, oh, so that's what you do? You do it for David Faber? I said, no. See, she was giving out herself there too. Right. Right. Right. She put myself and her. You were you were choosing David Faber over her. Exactly. And that's how she she came down at the end. She goes, the show is not the thing. I mean, you know, you may be insecure and feel like you need to talk about Cisco. I interviewed the Boeing CEO. She goes, but, yeah, we just had a really nice dinner. Now let's go up. Maybe we'll watch something together. And and I said, I didn't snap at her. I said, I really can't do that. So I came up an hour later. She was asleep. And she goes, I woke her up, and I said, well, you know, I really had a nice time at dinner. She goes, oh, I'm really glad you did. I had a good time too. Because I didn't wanna go to bed on the, a Sure. You know, an attitude of confrontation because I don't like to do that. And and because my wife's great. And, we ended up and she goes, did you get all the things you feel good about tomorrow? Are you do you feel confident? And I said, yes, I feel confident. She was, okay, that's very good. And I'm sorry if I, you know, just was saying don't do your homework. I said, look, I'm sorry that I did my homework, but I know that I'll be happier tomorrow. And she goes, well, it's kind of a shame. It's kind of a shame that at 63, you come home from a really nice dinner, and you immediately sit at the kitchen table, and you start reading the conference called Boeing. And I said, but I'm fascinated by the CEO of Boeing and Dennis Muilenburg, and he deserves everything. He deserves the respect that I have to show by doing the homework. So so so so I'll give you a technique, that I read written by a young man named Jim Cramer about, 10 years ago or so. You wrote I think in your your 3rd book, you're describing how to do a lightning round. And you basically said if someone asks a question about a company that you don't know a 100% about, you'll know enough about other companies in the space, plus you'll have an opinion on the space that you'll be able to direct it down into that other company, into this space. You can always do that. None of their listeners will know. David Faber won't know, and you'll be still giving good advice. But I'll know. You'll know. I'll know. You'll know. And where's the CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, or or, Chuck Robbins, who's my friend? I'm gonna come to not about friends but about money, but he's a that's why I said being the show. But Chuck's a huge Falcon fan. So when the Eagles beat the Falcons and meet Joe Pulad, he went to UNC. UNC looks hot, so we talk about sports. But, Chuck had a really good quarter, And Kelly Kramer is the CFO, and she's got k k, not c. And they're fabulous. And Chuck said, listen. I wanna come on the show. Well, that was just total turmoil for me because I had everything all my time was gonna be spent doing the homework on Boeing. Mhmm. So then I have to pivot and do Boeing and then Cisco. And then it turns out that Cisco is really hard because they have this 9,000 switch. It's called the CAT 9,000. And I'm, like, frantically, like, emailing people. Tell me how the CAT 9,000 works. And I'm googling the CAT 9,000. It's a campus switch. What does that mean to Kimball? It's a wide ranging enterprise switch. Well, yeah, but I wanna know how I ask a question. And and then the red light goes on, and I'm not ready. I'm not ready about the campus switch. So then I decided to talk about deferred revenue and software and the need to be able to get away from a white box and have a sophisticated company like Cisco come in. And I at the end, I did the interview. When I turned to David, I said, no. Nope. Didn't do a good job. And he goes, why did you say that? I said, well, I wasn't ready. I don't know. It sounds like you're afraid of ready. Nelly, well, you raised a good point, which is the people know. And, Chuck knew. I think Chuck I think he did thought I did a good job. The fact now Lisa would say, does it really even matter that he thinks you did a good job? Do you think you did a good job? And I will come back and say, I could've done a better job, but I couldn't have done a better job on Boeing. I asked I got everything, including the Elon Musk question I wanted, which I said is Musk the greatest promoter, and you're the greatest operator. I got a great story that he told about how the rocket has gotta be 36 stories high to reach Mars, and I I really liked the interview. When I finished the interview, I turned to David and said, we nailed it. And he goes, yeah. We nailed it. I saw it as 1 for 2. Well, Jim, it's always a pleasure. Stuff to I got some other stuff to ask you. Okay. Well well, let me ask you a question. What did he say? Was was Elon Musk the greatest promoter? He said that we're the greatest operator. He didn't really he said that some people are very good at telling the story. Well, because a lot of the the Elon Musk companies, there's sort of a welfare system in place. Like, either the government is subsidizing it or he's subsidizing. Like, he brings solar city into the Tesla umbrella because maybe that's gonna lose its welfare from the government. So I don't know. It's an interesting thing. Like, the power of Charisma is worth 1,000,000,000 of dollars. Yes. And it's interesting because he had the rocket go off, and then the next day, he reported. And the first question on the call was about the rocket because the rocket was mesmerizing. And I we all watched it. Everybody watched it. And it was kind of like, oh, yeah. You know, I also had the earnings. Alright. We're losing a lot of money. But how about The Rocket? And it was a diversion. And then I decided it was a diversion, that the timing was such that he wanted it to be diversion. And I think that that's maybe that's too harsh. It could be because I always think if a company is doing too many positive press releases right before earnings, that's a that's a warning sign. I totally agree with you. So I totally agree with you. Why are they telling us the good news now? Why not wait till earnings? No. Absolutely. And I think that was really right, and I do believe he's a high partisan. I had a terrible experience with him. I was at a dinner, and he was talking about how all the power for the country is gonna come from a group of solar panels in the northwest corner of Utah. And I said, that may be very well and good, but it's not gonna happen now because of friction. And, we have a electric system that is really kind of we're stuck with it. I hope that there's a transition to that. It's a nice dream. I said it's a nice dream. And he goes he looked at me, and he said, how do I know that you're not just a hologram? I mean, honestly, I think there's a 50% chance that you're just a hologram. And I was speechless, and I I said, boy, I was just putting up an argument. I mean, I did because, no. I think you're a hologram. And that was it. Everyone around the table is looking at me. It's like, I didn't know what to say. He's a dirty fighter. That's funny. Well, you know, I thought when you said power, where's where's the power coming from? I thought you meant human power in the sense that, you know, is the power in the hands of Washington DC, or is the power in the hands of Silicon Valley where He games it. I don't like that. He games it. You correct me. Who who doesn't? Who doesn't game it? You know, Andy Grove, when he started Intel, he certainly didn't game us, like, anti I I I'm just picking names, like, because he wrote this great book, this book called Only the Paranoid Survive, where he literally just talks about human ingenuity and the need to harness it. It's a great book. Only the Paranoid Survive because what he says is the human beings can and should be put under the microscope to deliver, and they need to deliver based on their own resources. He had come from Hungary, you know, family victims, holocaust survivors, and he just kind of just made it. It wasn't Ayn Rand. Okay? It was not Ayn Rand. It was that, people want to competence. I would because you could look at Ayn Rand and say, okay. Yeah. She's this arch capitalist. Don't care. But anyway, But the other way to look at Ayn Rand is to say, oh, this is a book about competent people. Like, this is how to be this is a how to guide on how to be competent, and many people wanna be uncom incompetent and let the competent people take care of them. That was kind of another way of looking at her thing. And that's what sort of what he's saying. Kind of exactly what I'm saying. And he's one of my idols. You know, he passed away. But, yeah, I mean, extremely competent, and you wanna measure yourself against that. Perfectly realistic. But if you look at, like, power distributed in the US among people, like, it seems like the technology companies, they have so much information about each person. They really know everything about us. And I'm not even talking about privacy because that was gone a long time ago. And then you look at, like, the ineffectiveness of DC, and you wonder the confidence has has followed Andy Grove, and it's all in Silicon Valley, and they're able to kind of take resources from DC a la Tesla with their with being subsidized and and other things and other companies. You wonder where does human power kind of low where is that located now? I it's a great question. You know, I you know, it's And who controls the SEC, for instance? Is it really Washington DC that doesn't know anything about it? Or The regulators are often captured by the exchanges. You know, we were playing with Alexa this weekend, asking various questions. And at one point, I asked her we always ask her to play music. I mean, that's fun, right? But, you know, we were asking like, Alexa, who's the better team? Alexa, who's this? And sometimes she punts, sometimes she doesn't. And then what we all sat around and said, Alexa, we only we think she's activated only when we say Alexa. Maybe she's activated all the time, and she has all this information. And then we all agreed, well, so what? That's just the way it is now. They figured it out. They have all the information. There's nothing we can do about it. They're really convenient and fun. And it's probably Alexa's probably listening when you think she's turned off. And I say she for no reason, but I think she is, but we sacrifice, the, the lack of privacy for the, the ease. Yeah. It's with this now when I was out at, visiting, Google Alphabet, I saw a robot, that, was it was had a robot. It had a hand, that was artificial process prosthetic device that they were making for the army for people who had lost their limbs. And, I said, well, how's it working? She said, well, it's great. It knows how to pick up a cup of coffee and even knows how to let it cool so that the, the person isn't burned. I said, how did you program that? And the woman who was by Guide said, we actually don't know how I figured it. I said, well, isn't that Skynet? That's Skynet. That's Skynet, Terminator. And she said, no. We we just didn't know how he did it. And so there are many of us are worried about bigger issues. They're worried about solving these particular problems, and, you know, god love them. There's but I don't know what where society is gonna go ultimately with these people. I do know that we should be worrying about jobs and what's gonna happen with people who like checkers when we all use our Apple phone to get through or Amazon, whatever, to go to a store, and we don't need to check out. What do we do with the 3,000,000 people that are checkers? You don't think like, look. What did we do with all the people who made horse whipping? You know, I think that it's a little different now. 1, there's a I think there's too many people to be able to do that. But, also, the government has to be involved. And I think when we think about the government, we think about incompetence. And that's a shame, but, I I just fear that that there'll be people who are left behind because the educational system is not the public educational system is not great in our country. Right. And I wish it were better. And if it were better, then I wouldn't be as concerned. If you let me, I can give you one piece of advice you should do based on this discussion. I think you should write a column, not for the street.com or CNBC or any financial publication. Find, like, Sports Illustrated and write a column for Sports Illustrated. You could tell that they'll let you do it. Right? If you call them up ESPN would ESPN would they ask me to do some stuff. Jenna and just keep it just to sports. Just do 500 words a week just do 500 words a week or every 2 weeks, and just see what it feels like to put up play a new role for the first time in 30 years. I wanna do that. And I'm friends with you with Adam Schefter. He's a good friend of mine who's a reporter for ESPN, and I'm gonna ask him, is there an outlet for me? Yeah. See if there's an outlet. He's totally gonna say yes, and you're gonna enjoy that more than anything right now. I just You've mentioned sports half this podcast. Eagles were so I know. The Eagles was me. And I have insights that I think are important about what fandom is, that is might do a lot of fantasy football. It's not that. Matthew Burry is great about that. Love Matthew Burry. He's been on the podcast. He has? Yeah. Yeah. He's a good friend of mine. Isn't he great? He's amazing. He's a real guy. Recognized everywhere. Like, people say thank you. I picked your did your pics. Oh, oh, he's great. His daughter's going to Tulane like my daughter, and I just find him really sweet. He was gonna be the second person I was gonna call to say, can I write something? Because he's a big supporter of what I do, and I'm a huge supporter of what he does. Yeah. Yeah. He did. Your suggestion, James. Thank you. Well, Jim, thanks so much again for coming on the podcast. I hope Did I do okay? You did great. And come on again. My wife would say, did you have to ask that? Did you? Were you happy with it? And I say, yeah. But I want my friend to be happy with it too. It's okay. Well, I'm gonna tell you also, just spend a tiny bit more time with your wife. Now I don't mean to be your therapist. You don't need a therapist. No. We're we're going away to Tuscany and with no friends, and we're doing that because of my request. I said, I don't spend enough time with you. And she said, then that's what we're gonna do. And I only see that because I've lost a marriage for that reason. So Well, I've had, you know, problematic too. Although, I have a fabulous relationship with Karen Kramer. I'm thrilled about that. But That's great. But, that took a long time too. Yeah. Alright. Well, thanks thanks, Chip. Next time on The James Altiger Show. Tourists function by capturing our imagination, turning our imagination against us, and causing us to overreact. This is the way terrorism functions. In a way, a terrorist is like a fly that tries to destroy a China shop. The fly is so small and weak, it cannot move in even a single teacup. So how does a fly destroy a China shop? The fly finds a bull, gets into the ear of the bull, and starts buzzing. The bull becomes so enraged that it loses its temper and destroys a China ship. This is what happened in the Middle East over the last 15 years. Al Qaeda could never have destroyed Iraq by itself. It got into the ear of the United States, and the United States went wild and destroyed the Middle Eastern China shop for Al Qaeda. This is how terrorism functions. And if you want to fight terrorism, you should start with your own imagination. Hey. I am so glad you listened to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it as well. Please take a moment to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It will only take you a second, but it will help other people discover the podcast. And my goal is to share this great content with as many people as possible. To see the show notes, just head on over to jamesaltitcher.com/podcast. While you are there, you can join my free insider's list to get notified when I post a new podcast. Every day, I also share my best and most controversial ideas. You won't get this stuff anywhere else. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next time.
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