Episode 290: Episode 290: Taking Stock of the Moment(s)

ModState.com

Our master of all things audio, Edmund Matuk III (Crazy Eddie), and features editor Jack DeViney meet again. This fine, gorgeous day in Upstate New York finds our two hosts revisiting a number of topics. Trending or not, we've learned a lot about our fellow Americans simply by driving, DeViney asserts. Hint: many of our fellow citizens don't just look self-absorbed and contrarian on social media....and naturally the discussion returns to the (increased) tariffs implemented by the 47th POTUS. Tariffs have long been in place in America (and most other recognizable world powers), but the President took things to levels not seen in a little more than a century.
Another sticking point for DeViney is the either disregard for or ignorance of history when it comes to the so-called Gilded Age: "while yes, otherworldly increases in wealth occurred amidst this vast transformation [that occurred in the same timeframe as the creation of the Federal Reserve System and the implementation of the Federal Income Tax], but folks seem to have forgotten one of the other main hallmarks [of the Gilded Age] right along with obscene new wealth, which was abject poverty."
Indeed, the streets of gold immigrants had heard of? They found out the hard way they didn't exist. And Hell, they might be there in places today, but they ain't for everybody.
That includes our hosts. "Stay outta Malibu, Lebowski!"