Cork Grows on Trees

00:01 Rain, sleet... no not even snow can stop us from doing our weekly show. Even if it's at 830 in the morning on a Saturday! Hey everybody it's No Agenda coming to you from the United Kingdom my name is Adam Curry I'm John C. Dvorak here in Lisbon Portugal where uh.. It's eight thirty in the morning Yeah and its like we're on really old guide time John So I just speak for yourself John calls me calls me yesterday says hey, let's say let's do the show tomorrow at 8 o'clock 8 a.m.. I said no No, so I appreciate the 830 then that makes it a big difference in my life You can go back to bed afterwards and I can't I can't get back to sleep after I'm awake It never works well then you can thank me for getting you up early yeah Hey John how's Portugal doing?

00:50 That's about 70 degrees, Sonny. It's beautiful today we're going to go out doing some photography So I'm over here at one of the trade shows The government import export agency Trade agency Now what is that? Isn't that arms dealers import-export? No this is all tech and in fact yesterday If I was in the arms business I'd probably be better off But so yesterday they... I kind of split off from the group and went with one of the other trade representatives and we went up to the wine country. Hold on a second, where... so you're staying in Lisbon right now? Yeah And where is the wine country according to you? Well the wine countries all over the place when you start looking at it That's my point

01:38 Well, it's not quite as bad as France where you can't walk down the street without running into a winery. But still the place we went was out an hour and half out of town. Anyplace you want to go in Portugal is always about an hour and half. I've been there many times particularly in the 80s But one of the things I did yesterday, which was...I thought and I kind of wanted to do this for years. I went to a cork factory. Hmm! Which seems to be no longer a growth market. Aha see? Thank you very much for walking into that one. No dude it's early okay

02:20 No, I mean seriously the cork people are literally pissed off about the anti-cork propaganda that's been going around. Including the commentary that they're chopping down cork trees and their corks are all bad and blah blah blah because this is all turns out to be done by the plastics enclosures public relations. Of course, that's how it goes right? You just spew some bullshit into the ether and take away someone's market! Out it comes so the fact of the matter is in reality the cork plantations are growing as we speak at four percent a year here in Portugal

02:57 And it's also illegal, even if you bought a house with a cork tree in it. They've got all these trees registered You can't touch that tree even if you're never going to take the cork bark off I never realized that and this may sound weird but I've never realized that cork comes from a tree called the Cork Tree In fact I don't think I have ever seen a cork tree ever Well, that's another thing. I'm slightly embarrassed about not knowing this but if you see these things actually in Portugal from what i can tell wherever you go is all you see every almost every other tree as a cork tree it's an oak

03:34 Huh. It's a specific kind of oak, it's an oak cork oak but do you have to treat the wood when you cut it down or is just like real corks? No never cut the wood down What does cork...cork grows on the cork tree? This..it's a special kinda bark that this tree develops. It takes about 40 years before gets thick enough that it becomes...you can make corks out of it Wow Which is long term investment so most these trees are quite old and they go for about 100 years And I got, believe me, I got the lecture. But anyways... A couple days ago we were taking a trip down south and then I kept looking around and saw some of these trees that had this because they strip off every seven years they take the bark off during one part of the year like shearing sheep. It's very careful process to take the bark off and it regrows in another 7 years you get another batch

04:25 But I'm looking around and saying, well that's interesting that they're taking the bark off these oak trees. Because you know being from the Bay Area where Oakland is... You get used to it and I have an oak tree in my backyard. And I know what oak looks like. It has a distinctive look as it grows because its just a good looking tree. And all I am seeing are these oak trees! And then I see a bunch of oak trees with the bark stripped off of them. I'm thinking, wonder what that's all about? Never had it two and two obviously! So then they pointed out that yeah no it is an Oak dummy... ...and so uh the whole country is covered with these things and they showed us a map at the cork place It was like unbelievable how many of these trees are here

05:04 In fact, we were at the cork factory and one of only you know this is only one of hundreds of these places they had 14 thousand tons of bark stacked up in the back in the back and this bark is light so you can imagine what that looked like. And anyway I got... So it is truly a business that has seasonally sees it's growing by four percent and address to this nonsense do they were talking about here's what the litany was denied by brought this up there wasn't always is this part of the import-export uh... tour that that we forced to go to this uh... because you took this junk at this press junket where you forced to go to the uh... to the court form no matter does my my decision okay good

05:56 We're forcing you to the cork farm. Come on, get to work! There's always... You gotta pay the piper somewhere What did they force you to do on this trip? What was the thing that they forced...? They forced us to go down to their big dock seams down in uh... Ooh look at the pretty ships coming in Well it was like a new project It's a deepwater port south of Lisbon an hour and half An hour and half south of Lisbon Of course In Oporto by any chance? No Oportos Florida's north of Lisbon, actually it's about three hours. That's a long way but no it was south of Lisbon and yeah we had to do that so that was kind of wasn't that interesting I mean I've seen dogs before. We live in the Bay Area. In fact these dogs were like kinda Mickey Mouse compared to what we have you know where they got 100 humans just like ridiculous difference

06:51 So that was one of the issues. It was kind of like boring, but the cork thing wasn't it? Was quite interesting. That's interesting. Did you pick up any souvenirs they have some? Oh yeah no I got a chunk really exclusive super cork big piece that guys chopped it off for me right from the batches that they were sorting cool and also got a piece of extruded cork that's about...I told them should be making these gag corks you know that are extremely long I saw this on Benny Hill once where he pulls out the cork and it's about a mile long. It just keeps coming out of the bottle, man. So anyway guys, I took a lot of little movies with small digital cameras so i'm going to post them but also gonna post this thing where this woman says a crock of crap about what they've been saying about corking and here is what the litany is that the corks have all gone bad... The corks are bad!

07:42 because they've over harvested them and so they can't get any good cork anymore which is crazy. And then the, they're loaded with TCA which is that cork taste which they were actually testing to extremes with now and that they're chopping the trees down at that which apparently is one of really irks the cork industry. Because you gotta take care your cork tree? It's illegal! Yeah But it's also illegal So you can do that That's not the way the whole thing works Well illegal in Portugal maybe Yeah, well Portugal is still the big cork producer of the world. And I mean the whole country's just cork trees and so

08:18 So anyway, they were a little annoyed by the propaganda. And I was actually kind of taken aback by these... But once hearing her lament, I realized there we go again here's our public relations machines spewing whatever it is to the public. That's why I asked if it was on forced outing or not? Okay that sounds pretty legit. Which is part of a public relation scheme But no, it wasn't. It was my decision and I'm the one who insisted on it and they...the cork person...cork person she's went on about you know we don't we haven't done much in the way of PR. We have not communicated. Hey John that's perfect! No Agenda brought to you by The Portuguese Cork Industry proudly bringing you cork

09:08 I'm gonna work on it. I don't see why they wouldn't yeah, we talked about wine We talk they got they got tons of dough. We need some absolutely We'll push their cork agenda She says the And then she makes the complaint about these plastic enclosures besides the plastic corks which generally don't work by the way But there's a plastic screw top She says you know, you got your metals just a polluting and thing and you got that plastic which is non-renewable inside Yeah on and on so that plastic stuff can make you sterile too. I hear Seriously? Yeah if you put it over you we know what? but

09:51 So anyway, the country's quite pretty. I'm kind of surprised by the amount of English literacy that's here. And it's only really been in the past 20 years! When I was in Portugal in the early 80s... Dude third world country? Yeah Yeah, things have changed since... Actually I think it was 86 but I was told this that once they joined the EU That's when it happened. That's when they started to come out of third world ship Right and they just shot right into the... Did you drive by the football stadium? The beautiful new... It's great because they don't have a team which is what I think is the funniest thing They have a national team They don't actually have a team that plays anywhere

10:39 Oh, yeah. That's true. They're on the road. They built that stadium because they were hosting I think either the European or the World Cup and they don't really have a team that can really compete...they got some good players but not uh not a national team that does any good. I think they'll argue with you about that No! No, no. I think they won't argue with me about that Well, i don't know. I don't follow the game because I'm an American And it is right well It's a girls' game in United States so what can I say? But you know, I think the girls who play soccer as you would call it in the States. I don't know man...I think they're hot looking Yeah well that's fine So that means that game is a good game It could be on television more often

11:21 It's like field hockey, women's field hockey. Why don't we just have naked volleyball? No no no see that is the typical American way, no finesse and it has to be beach volleyball Here in Europe you know what is hot, we got our women football and then we've got the women's field hockey I see you can get into it Tennis maybe Oh you'll like this Martina Navratilova Is on the current episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here. And she's great along with, you'll love this, George Takei? Oh. Oh hey now! George Takei... I'm hooked on the show once again what a great cast You watch too much television No i do not

12:12 So I'm watching the television over here of course, so i get to watch your own news which im gonna have to get a feed of or something because it's quite interesting even though they're just a little repetitious. So you know...I got the biggest kick out of couple things that I've been seeing which haven't really been played much in the states but apparently they had..you probably saw this and I don't know if you noticed it or not but Merkel came into Italy to visit Berlusconi who was sick I guess and he was going to surprise everybody by standing on the sidelines as they walked in Yeah So they're showing this film, there's Merkel the German Prime Minister Chancellor Merkel yes. She comes rolling in and with a couple of her assistants and one of her aids looks over to the right as they're walking towards the door and there's Berlusconi standing by

12:57 in the kind of the side like watching them go in right and he spots him so he's just oh you know he starts going over to you know the Shake his hand or whatever Merkel sees him, and she literally shoves the guy her assistant whoever it is down damn near shoves him to the ground to get to Berlusconi first. I have to see you, Silvio! And she just like pushes this guy and he never gets over even come over he stands at attention like you know whoops i guess i made a mistake protocol wise or something like that She just looked like such a jerk. Well, because they're all falling over each other now you know they've had their little meeting and I told you they gave the US 100 days to comply with whatever Europe is doing and they're all going to solve the financial crisis Angela Silvio and Nicolas What a joke And throw in Gordon Brown and woo we know how to do it We know how to solve it! We are financial experts now

13:55 Well, we'll probably be out of the whole thing two or three months before they even get into it deep enough to make a difference. I was so ready to gloat yesterday you know up until the last hour the market was so close to my 72 86 mark it was only like 300 points away And then they... and then what happened? Oh well, and then Barack Obama announces his pick for Treasury Secretary. And the thing skyrocketed! Because he's picking a reptile!! Yeah. I mean this guy- what's his name again?

14:31 Yeah, I'd have to look it up. It's one of their own Well not just one of their own this guy is the full deal man He worked for Carter, he was in the Council on Foreign Relations, he was president of New York Federal Reserve and it just goes on and on with this guy! He's connected to everybody There's no change Well, there was hope for change. Oh my goodness! I'm looking it up now because Timothy Geithner that's his name? Yeah, Geithner right so he's connected the group of 30 who is amazing have you ever heard of the group with thirty these guys this is a scary little club and these are just drinking clubs yeah I don't know man this is just definitely more of the same

15:25 Print and spend. Well, this is a... you know what is Barack gonna do? Well, it essentially has to keep everybody happy. Which is the group that you hate... Timothy Geithner also worked for Kissinger Associates for three years. Couldn't get any worse! It really can't! Well Barack Obama of course will be doing fantastic speeches because that's what he does. Without any content. Rahm Emanuel, I saw one of his rare appearances on C-SPAN he appeared before the press

16:05 And the question was asked specifically, you know. So how are you guys going to pay for all this stimulus and everything giving away? He's just like...and he is another one of these guys. Look! That's how it starts whenever someone says look it's like alright you know your being programmed. Look I'm gonna...look listen look lick lick listen I am gonna tell ya' how it is He doesn't actually answer the question of course. Of course not. No, look we can there are many things that are being spent on twice and so we'll eliminate half of those Look I know looking um I don't mind the um but the look thing is getting really irritating and i'm seeing it more you hear it a lot on CNBC

16:52 And it's just an it's another one of the memory we're talking about. I think I believe I think Meetings that go on forever with people saying that now, it's just look look and it's so offensive Look you fuck look over here because look at me cuz I know what I'm talking about look everyone does it That's really wanted besides look is also guess what? You know what yeah, no No, I don't know why but I'm not gonna get away. Yeah, what do you know what listen We're a sad, sad species. That's pretty pathetic Our language has diminished down to having to get people's attention with everything that comes out of our face So there was a couple other things I wrote down some notes during the week as i was watching this stuff But you enjoy the European news? I'm sure your having fun getting some real news for change It's all different we don't get the same news at all

17:50 So when I'm over here, I'm always like kind of glued to the news. I don't get to watch a lot of the other stuff on television because I'm always...I get the biggest kick out of these you know their perspective on everything yeah and although i did watch a lot of them I was watching the coverage on Bloomberg when that market turned around yesterday and shot up like a rocket. Did any church bells just chime in the background there John? it wasn't my church bells, you sure? yeah I know what it is there's something this setup this rig I brought with me the microphone isn't grounded right or something and its picking up a radio station hold on a second let me turn off the noise gate lemme hear ya I'm listening to the station hold on lemme move around you hang on

18:50 Oh, good song. That's if I hold the mic straight up in the air and it looks like the Statue of Liberty that what it sounds like. That was good man! It was a good station could you just go back an lift your left leg a little bit? Cause I almost had to... In stereo. I don't think I can change channels thats the problem I got to figure out what to do. Although, what I think I'm going to do is... What I brought with me was an M-Audio adapter and then a Heil PR... The Hile is a... you're not going through USB with the Hile, are you? No no I'm taking the Hile as a PR40. I am going through an M-Audio. A fast track and then the fast track hooks to the computer. Those M-Audios that's the thing that's not shielded. I've never been happy with M-Audio interfaces Yeah unless somebody out there can get me a better idea for an interface. I mean i know there's a couple things that might work but this thing has got at least it has a few controls on so I can at least

19:51 But what I like to do is get rid of the, I mean I like the Heil mic a lot because it's a dynamic mic so you don't need a preamp. And it sounds good... I use it myself! It's a beautiful mic. It's a great mic but its'a big clunker. Well do you take in the wooden box? No, I just wrap it up and some bubble wrap. Some newspaper. I take it in the box. I always put the box in my suitcase I'm going to get a Countryman or something like that. That's just really doesn't... You know, I got a lot of comments about that. That's the mini microphone we were talking about on last week show. I wouldn't mind trying out a couple of those new technology for microphones as well it sounds very exciting actually The Countryman is astonishing! It was the first time i saw one and said are you kidding me? Because I think its MEMS not normal microphone

20:46 I mean, and so when you hook it up or first talk into it sounds like this mic. You can't because there's no diaphragm so you can't believe that you're getting this kind of bass, beautiful bassy sound from this little bitty minuscule little dot and um... It is astonishing price. I think they cost about 400 bucks Anyway, yeah you'd love them your voice in the country man would be like perfect. Oh yeah baby How you doing no agenda brought to you by the Portuguese cork industries and countryman I'm just practicing Yeah, well we need a when we have if you need to do more than practice to eat the sell these guys

21:31 So anyway, so then I went to one of the big wineries which I'll document in a article. Ah yes very nice And they served us lunch and we come out the outside you know this is arranged too so you go out there and look at it they have the huge place They have Portuguese flag EU flag The flag of the state or the winery USA flag It turned out they put that USA flight because I was the guest. Yeah, because you were there sure. I thought it was just going to be there all the time and I thought it was baffled Do you speak any Portuguese? No, its almost impossible if you speak a little Spanish Even that throws you off You cannot think you can speak any Portugues by speaking some Spanish No, its impossible and then they pronounce everything totally different

22:18 But you can read it rather easily. It's like a really easy language to pick up if you want to just read stuff If you can find someone there who is over 40, John and I'm sure your hanging out with lots of them Portuguese who have been in Portugal all their life ask them... What are doing man? Is that the cheese whistle? Go on Ask him if they remember Adam Curry Oh Seriously Okay From from Europa television. Ah, okay. Because in 83 or so I was on like every day for an hour in the afternoon all of a sudden on the terrestrial RTP-2 Oh yeah they probably remember you Well I don't know they got to be over at least 35 or 40 Ada O'Courille would be my name What? Ada O'Courille

23:15 Hadda o Corriel. Adam Curry So, um Yeah, yeah I'll go out and start soliciting You want some dirty words? You want some nasty stuff to say in Portuguese? I'm leaving tomorrow so it's not gonna be like I'm gonna use it I haven't seen a lot of hookers around here anyway You know they're uh They're making a new law in the United Kingdom which has been all the news for the past couple days Of course Although they're not going for a complete outright ban on prostitution, they are making it a serious offense and it could get you jail time. Will certainly get you as they say named and shamed which means though put your picture in the newspaper It's getting crazy If you... if you talk to a prostitute? No! If you have sex with a prostitute who is either A. Sex slave

24:16 uh... b that's usually a if the gorilla first i just said yeah by the end of this questionnaire um... yet it is said that trip is like it's crazy and understand how they're going to do with this is the big conversation exactly what you just said so case over nine months except for prostitutes who are enslaved or have a pimp but how do we know an ignorance by the way will not be accepted as an excuse I think you have to make him sign a contract. Yeah, but this is nuts! You grab it and run into the prostitute and figure out what's going on... Pull up... You have to have a stock contract in your pocket. Yeah! And you say look lady, I'm all for this right now read this over sign it and we'll talk

25:07 You're going to get this in the United States as well, I'm sure. No actually in certain segments... This already happened in certain areas. There's various local laws for example in California if you although these laws are like communist laws they're enforced on an as-needed basis In other words, if they want to screw ya They'll force you on one of them. Yeah, if they want to nail you like Spitzer then all the sudden it's really important stuff yeah I gotcha So in California they have a... If there is a prostitute on the corner and you drive your car up and solicit her she gets in and she happens be a cop then they can impound your car And keep it! Of course why not? Because it was used for illegal act

25:55 My car! I always tell people to use renters. Or no, if you got some old clunker you gotta get rid of and nobody will take it. That's right because it'll cost you 500 bucks just to get rid of it Yeah, yeah have them confiscate it But I really don't understand Have they ever done any research on prostitution? Yes, there is tremendous sex or there are tremendous slavery issues in general certainly in the United Kingdom And we're not talking about sex slaves It's just slaves over here These racist British...I'm just gonna say it Um...

26:32 But have they ever looked at a society like the Netherlands as an example where legal prostitution actually works? You know, this is here in the United Kingdom highest divorce rate. Highest teen pregnancy rates... No this has been studied to death. In fact Nevada which it's where it is legal They you know they have the lowest sex crime rate in the country They have a you know The divorce rate would not be high because people go there for quick divorces but besides that it has nothing to do with the locals And, no it's already been studied to death and it is a known fact that where you have legal prostitution you don't have a lot of other sex crimes basically. The rapes are way down or almost negligible as a matter of fact. Yeah! But yeah thats beside the point because this is sin. Oh its religious thing huh?

27:23 That's the thinking, yeah. I mean they... what's weird to me here is a classic example of the kind of strange skewed thinking so this last election in San Francisco they put it on the ballot to legalize prostitution within the city limits Yeah. And I guess with it, you know, I think this would have been overturned by the state anyway because of state law but that's beside the point they couldn't even pass it. It was lost 60 to 40 or something like this so here we have probably the most liberal city in the entire State of California outside of Berkeley which was never tried to pass something like this. And the funny thing is that... They vote no. So prostitution illegal in California and then you look at one of the big industries in Southern California, do you know that your root word for actress in Latin is the same as prostitute?

28:13 I think i did know that and that's why, one of the reasons actors and actresses were always considered low class. Yeah absolutely! Well actually not low class high-class extremely well paid hookers yeah And so uh... yeah thats what i think it was a lot of well to do families you had they didn't like their children Move to the left a little bit John im picking up too much Too much of Lisbon, the Lisbon morning zoo. There we go Well anyway it just irks me and the thing that I that just pisses me off is you know everyone's pontificating about oh It's because there are so many women enslaved in this sex trade well ghost Go bust those sex trade rings and then come back And i'll buy ya a hooker yeah, it's like please

29:05 I'm so against this movement. It really pisses me off, having grown up with prostitutes. Yeah well the Netherlands is a good example of how the system can work fine nobody cares But, uh... No in fact it's seen as healthy. It's seen as a part of a healthy lifestyle to a degree obviously Yeah well it's better than a bunch people with pent up sexual frustration roaming around You know that crack Beating people up and killing people and going crazy Yeah, well it's just not gonna happen. And I think that San Francisco vote is a good example of how deeply ingrained this kind of attitude is. We have the most liberal city you can imagine and they can't even muster enough votes to... But meanwhile its'a joke! It's not like there's no sex trade going on. Right. Thank God for the internet

30:00 Well of course now the latest thing is they're cracking down on Craigslist which was the conduit for a lot of erotic services ads. Yeah, erotic services and you could go over there and look at these erotic services and it was just a bunch of hookers Well, but it's not just a bunch of hookers. It's like... A bunch of hookers? Yeah, it's a bunch of hookers and they're visiting and then you know they don't solicit money John. They don't solicit money. I know these roses. You're reliably informed. I've seen it. 300 roses. I think it would be hilarious for some bonehead to show up with 300 roses. Exactly! Hey baby... Here's my roses so you know, ya know? We know entirely too much about this industry. Well, it's all over the place and you can't get around

30:58 So, what else is going on? Well of course although it's been kind of beat to death I really particularly after knowing a couple of venture capitalists who went to China To raise money from the sovereign wealth funds and flew commercial and not in their private jet Because they're smart. It was pretty funny to see the big three automakers fly their private jets down to Washington to beg for money Oh, that is funny. You didn't follow this? I didn't know about it. That must have been a story they played up in Europe. This is the big story absolutely

31:36 uh... yet and uh... it's that this is just funny as you know it's a but what's kind of happening is the same thing work we're all angry everyone's angry and instead of venting our anger at the real evil people i e hang paulson neil kashkari look one moment at the entire senate who passed the stupid bailout bill everyone's now saying oh this bailout bill was was wrong it's all going wrong is not working we should have known better And so they're looking for a scapegoat and as we discussed a couple weeks ago in the United Kingdom, they went for the government employee Jonathan Ross who is a television talk show host. and making a lot of money, so they get all pissed off at him. And now it's like let's get some pissed off at someone else instead of the actual bankers! They're the ones we need to be pissed off but no one is angry or that we don't know who to yell out I guess... So just grabbing anybody and of course can you imagine the jokes that are flowing around? You know, each of these planes cost at least $8000 per hour just operate

32:39 Yeah, so everyone's... You have to wonder what kind of boneheads. I mean these guys obviously do not think like people with a public relations clue Exactly Can't go flying around in a private jet begging for money And by the way this is not just.. and we'll give them this It's not like the US auto industry is the only auto industry that's in trouble Opel is about to get a huge bailout from the German government And a very sad note, John. The very last Yugo rolled off the line earlier this week. Yeah, Yugo is dead no more Yugo. The last Yugo limped off the line... I owned a Yugo station wagon at one point! ...and actually as it came off the tires blew out. It collapsed and the axle broke. They went to test it and pulled the door that came out of the last Yugo. I owned a Yugo. One of my first cars. It was alright man. It pretty much did as advertised

33:36 Yeah, it rolled. That's exactly it. This is no loss there so anyway the The opal thing is kind of controversial because that the Germans are worried sick that they're gonna give him a billion bucks But because their own by General Motors and General Motors is gonna take it yeah Take the money say fuck you of course Give an opinion do even opinion on this cuz I mean I've been pretty clear in in Daily Source Code, you know about what I think should happen here. What's your opinion on the concept of a bailout for the US auto industry or at least the unionized auto industry in the U.S., as it says? It is not Toyota and Honda who are in line for bail out who are pretty much American made cars that made in America

34:27 My thinking is that if this is in the form of a loan, that it's secured I don't have a problem with it. And I think most of this bailout isn't actually a loan It's not like a giveaway Like the bankers are getting I mean, they're getting essentially Paulson when he did part of his deal. Yeah he took some preferred stock from some of the banks that they gave money to but in fact no matter is his buddies that were on investment community were doing the same buy-in and get a much better deal. So you've essentially screwed the American public by by giving us a lousy deal. And obviously for whatever reason, so it was kind of a giveaway with the auto companies you can't really give them any money you can just... But your reason for that would be the United States government lender of last resort this industry is too big to fail? That's basically your position

35:25 Well, yeah. I mean it's one of these... this is another example of letting things get too big. In fact they're talking about this on the Bloomberg and CNBC just recently about Citibank which is down to three bucks a share which is hilarious. And talking about is it too big to fail? It's too big to fail! How does you think where is...? This is the reason we had antitrust laws so you don't have these monstrosities that are too big to fail. So, you end up with like instead of having a lot of little companies that do the same work I mean there used to be laws in the United States where you couldn't have a bank in more than one state You couldn't have a national bank. The Bank of America could have its offices in California but it couldn't have Bank of America ATM machines and offices in North Carolina which is where they're headquartered now or all over the country like Citibank does

36:15 But, oh no let's change that. So once you cut the thing loose and let everybody just join up you start to get these huge monstrosities that get too big to fail and then they can abuse the situation because hey what are they going to do? We're too big to fail! And this is a problem with the auto industry why don't we let these guys buy each other out and form these giant corporations that are too big to fail. This is the problem, then this is what antitrust was all about? This is why everyone talks about why small businesses are better than big monsters but yet they let this go on because it's like there's money in for somebody but obviously its Congress I blame Congress for the whole thing Well of course we... Obviously our congress has been underperforming for quite some time

37:00 But I really got to take an opposite stance on this. I presume that you're saying too big to fail, in the case of the government sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac there was a guarantee that was implied and now it had become explicit and its really just government banks and the city bank. Im not quite sure why thats too big to fail? But the audio industry, the only reason being given that it's too big to fail is because it could potentially put millions of people out of work. Well, the real fear is that its going to take all... The real problem is of course with people in the pensions

37:38 and have long-term benefits. So explain this to me for a second, okay? Is it then not the case if... I mean I see the sob stories you know and I feel horrible obviously people say now my pensions gonna get ruined i live on my General Motors pension well how does that work these guys are then clearly spending people's pension money Apparently. Well, so shouldn't that be looked at? Before anything else? Maybe some people should go to jail! Do you think of that as a possibility? Yes yes of course I'm not against that...I think these executives should have been thrown in the slammer years ago. At some point these guys are really pushing their luck and here let's go back to this Martha Stewart did time for what?! Yeah well Mark Cuban is about to do the same thing

38:30 He'll probably get out of it. I don't think so no, I've been reading you know She never did time for doing anything wrong she did time for like not telling the truth to some government You know yes that's called obstructed obstruction of justice right and they just made an example out of her But I mean these guys are like screwing with everybody And they're not gonna do any time and they should probably all be in jail Well, if you read the Mark Cuban story which is also about us it's almost like a Martha Stewart case also involves phone taps etc. From what I'm understanding this could be a vindictive move by the Justice Department or someone particularly against Mark Cuban's involvement in 9-11 loose change the movie and that that's why they're nailing him to the wall on something

39:19 You really come off the left field. You like that one, huh? I think it's the only reason people listen to this show. No wait a minute! There is something else from the transcripts that someone dug up and i'd have to look for it. Well if you can find the smoking gun in there or evidence of a smoking gun what they would perceive as one...I would be interested in blogging at least But yeah, who knows? I mean Cuban is kind of an obnoxious character. You know, I like the guy and think he's funny and good for sports that's for sure.

40:00 Is he sold absolute shit to Yahoo. The guy's alright and I like his HD net, and I like his basketball team... But you mean the YouTuber? Because he got away with one He got away with a big one. Broadcast.com was bullshit Yeah, I know it only got three billion dollars Three billion dollars! Nothing That's the only thing that really pisses me off It's like, oh come on Yeah, who are we kidding? And he's got yeah. He's got big fuck you money as we say yeah, he does and but he's you know at least he's At least he's done something with it that is not detrimental to the public trust. I think he has done lots of good things and i love reading his stuff, you know? He's a blogger and interesting character but yeah there may have been something to do because when you have that kind of money you have to be have some responsibility to the shadow government as you put it oh yeah and uh... you can't

41:02 finances stuff that they don't want you to deal with here it is okay well from lou rockwell dot com if i go there's your answer problem yeah the rents has the other one he has a new york times key excerpts of email correspondence and it is its uh... it's all about the uh... the loose change movie Have we talked about that? What is Loose Change again, is that a Truth or Thing thing? Yeah. That's the one Charlie Sheen did the narration for. I must have seen it but can't remember it. Loose Change is probably one of the foundations of the truth or video movement if you will

41:54 It's one of those that you know everyone that woke a lot of people up there and I just Skyped you the Lurock link. Although, I don't know about your connection right now You may want to be surfing around Not too bad sounds better than I thought it was gonna sound yeah actually Since I'm in at a hotel shared connection Yeah, I do it on you know this no man. I got it. You don't you don't have to look at it right now I just opened up like QuickTime or something. You must be on Vista. Here's the Lou Rockwell thing, and it says Free Mark Cuban. It's funny man! I'll check this out later...it's funny Self-made billionaire yeah? Yeah, self made. A lottery winner why don't they just call him one? Just call him what is is. He did good bless him for that

42:52 Let's see man, what else we got going on? It's weird that you're not in the States. Yeah yeah well it's nice over here. It's particularly nice I mean this weather here is unbelievable so you...I didn't know Europe was having such fantastic weather right now Well they're not How ya doing? You're only the third world portion of Europe is having fantastic weather We have real shit here! We've got blustery winds snow flurries we had uh... It was like 73 when I left California No, it's not. It's not been great. I was supposed to fly to Holland to go see Patricia's one of her live shows and she would even she said please don't fly Oh, you say like help be really nervous until your land and blah blah blah You shouldn't find this kind of weather what white why? Well that's right yeah exactly why thank you you're right you know you get the seat here when she comes home too you noticed well barely

43:50 She's, you know she is like now we got... We're like a working family. Well you know it did only last for awhile and then your back to normal. I'm afraid John... More gold bars! Hey baby put this in your suitcase Now im ummm.... Im afraid that my wife has actually embarked on a later-in life stage career that is just at the beginning of its meteoric rise I mean, she's got like eight producers a day calling her. Oh we want you to do this show can you please? You know We've got this weekly show and this is going to be great This is written for you. This is perfect and it's just one offer after the other It's unbelievable Just take the highest money offer in the likelihood of another hit. You know it's pretty rare on television I am so looking forward to meeting my wife because She thinks just like you

44:43 Take the money and run. It's just like, I ain't doing shit unless it's for a lot of money! Like that's right baby let me show you the picture of that jet i'm looking at Let me show that to you one more time man I got offered the Fortis Bank Jet The other day Oh really? Yeah five million dollars It's a twelve million dollar aircraft they're selling it for five million You know the maintenance is a little rough on those things Well, I mean if you can't afford the maintenance then you shouldn't have the plane at all. But i'm just saying that a twelve million dollar aircraft being offered to the bank's clients for five million... That is a bad sign of the bank! Even though they're owned by the Dutch government at this point or the dutch and belgian governments or whoever owns them It's a fire sale they call that. Hell yeah oh yeah What kind of jet it? Is what model?

45:39 I think it was a CJ, I think it was a Cessna. I should look up the offer again...I know that its uh..its a good jet trust me as jets go its a good jet Its just funny If you had a Jet you'd never be home No thats not true man! I got my plane here and haven't flown the thing in almost two months I hope it still starts There's nothing worse for an aircraft than sitting around not flying. That is actually not really good Same thing with a Ferrari by the way You know, I've had just about every stupid car known to man and... I recently discovered that i'm done! I am done with automobiles. I am quite perfectly happy to be driven around by anyone

46:30 I've had them all. My favorite was the Rolls Royce which i drove into New York every day for like seven years yeah, it's a little flamboyant not at all Yeah, yes I have been to New York as much as anyone and its like...I don't think I've seen a Rolls but two or three times ever Well the cool thing was this is back when we had the squeegee guys in the tunnel remember those? Oh yeah those guys And uh..which ummm For people to know, the guys who would come up to your car with an oily rag full of goo and offer to wash your windows. Well not even offer they'd like throw the oily goo rag onto your window And if you were in the know then you already had your windshield wipers going which was a universal signal for don't touch the car motherfucker It used to be like $1

47:19 and Giuliani got rid of all the squeegee guys by the way. I think he put them in Oklahoma, but he got rid of them regardless and so i drive through the Lincoln Tunnel with the rolls and uh... you know I'd put my wipers on and then squeegee guy would go oh man! I wasn't gonna touch the car come on give me a dollar for the thought which I usually would wind up doing like thank you dollar for not touching my car. It's like the guys who you know in the that was the era when it was really annoying to go on the subway because there were usually one or two competitive beggars, sometimes with a saxophone are just coming around with a long story they walk into the car and then they'd say ladies and gentlemen I'm not a beggar yeah i'm a student! I am NOT a begger...I AM AN ACTOR! I'm here on a scholarship

48:08 And then they go into their spiel and everyone would put their heads down and go, oh my god. That's why the iPod was such an important invention so you didn't have to listen to that Yeah well You don't see it too much anymore although it has happened occasionally but its pretty rare because once they crack down It takes a while for it to redevelop I think over time it will reappear New York is this very cyclical city and just deteriorates drastically overnight and has to be straightened out by some tough guy Which Giuliani was it was actually the guy that did the head chief of police Who's responsible for all that stuff? He got went down to LA and has been unable to do crap down there really because it's a total mess. Oh, who was that? What's his name Braxton Brack's Brad Braddock Bradford I wouldn't know well he's these are the guy who came up with these It's his theory That the squeegee guys were the you know he says he

49:09 He says most of the crime has a lot to do with perception. And once you lower the perception, then people change their attitudes and they don't walk around like victims and then the whole...and the crime rate actually falls so he went after what he calls obvious petty crimes that they were always ignoring because I didn't think it was that important to bust the squeegee guys So he felt just the opposite. Those are the guys you want to get rid of because it makes the place look like its crime-ridden I have to say, I was there when that took place and even though again i'm afraid he took all these people and dumped them somewhere put them in a mass grave and killed them all But it turned out he had the actual numbers on. He says there weren't that many squeegee guys, except they were out all the time and he said once you started arresting them and throwing them in jail making it inconvenient for him to do this then went elsewhere Well maybe there is a shallow grave somewhere whatever the case was he cleaned up the place Then they went further and they cleaned up Times Square Got rid of the prostitution That's all around that Times Square area Pushed kind of the outskirts And got rid of I think generally speaking

50:10 It's nothing like, I mean back in that era you could go anywhere in New York and there was hookers or there were hookers everywhere. Ah good times! Good times... So let me ask you John so lets say we're living on a we're living somewhere let me just say Africa and we are sitting around saying hey man ya know? Lets pull off a heist and make some money There is too many rich fuckers in this world Let's hijack an oil tanker Can you explain this rationale to me why Somali pirates have

50:47 have hijacked an oil tanker and what they actually think to get away with? They've been hijacking these things for about two or three years now. This wasn't just the one, that was the big one! That was the monster... I know they've jacked up oil, they've jacked the towers out there you know a hundred miles off the coast. Is it really such a big trade even to go hijack this monstrous thing? Do they actually think they're going to get away with anything They've already gotten away with a number of hijacks. Yeah, but this is the biggest... This has got you know what? They got carried away with this one they took out the... How many millions of barrels like two million barrels of oil are on this thing? It's one I think it's 1 third of daily Saudi production in that boat

50:10 It's nothing like, I mean back in that era you could go anywhere in New York and there was hookers or there were hookers everywhere. Ah good times! Good times... So let me ask you John so lets say we're living on a we're living somewhere let me just say Africa and we are sitting around saying hey man ya know? Lets pull off a heist and make some money There is too many rich fuckers in this world Let's hijack an oil tanker Can you explain this rationale to me why Somali pirates have

50:47 have hijacked an oil tanker and what they actually think to get away with? They've been hijacking these things for about two or three years now. This wasn't just the one, that was the big one! That was the monster... I know they've jacked up oil, they've jacked the towers out there you know a hundred miles off the coast. Is it really such a big trade even to go hijack this monstrous thing? Do they actually think they're going to get away with anything They've already gotten away with a number of hijacks. Yeah, but this is the biggest... This has got you know what? They got carried away with this one they took out the... How many millions of barrels like two million barrels of oil are on this thing? It's one I think it's 1 third of daily Saudi production in that boat

51:39 I don't know. I mean, I think they're gonna get paid off and they're gonna release the boat and that's gonna be that but now of course you know Blackwater is getting involved Yeah, I know they've got their own ship with an attack helicopter Right, in fact Blackwater is going to develop their own private Navy Which I'm thinking to myself, why doesn't the Saudis just do the same? These guys, the Blackwater guys are amazingly entrepreneurial. To commercialize mercenarism to this extreme is just...I mean I only saw this guy who runs Blackwater, he testified before Congress once

52:15 and he looks like a Silicon Valley guy. Is that Prince? I can't remember, but anyway I was watching him testify because he rarely shows his face probably for good reason and it just was this guy is genius. Well see them on Charlie Rose all look that up for you cuz it's really good show the guys here does look at it like a Silicon Valley entrepreneur yeah but it but its disgusting to me Yeah, well I mean it should be. We shouldn't have this kind of thing but the fact of the matter is that I would've never imagined in a million years that somebody could commercialize this kind of business to such an extreme That its like becoming its own government It could probably take over a place Well its called the military industrial complex John Its been going for awhile

53:02 It's what I said, but it has not been this entrepreneurialized in such an extreme where it is just out in the open. And I think that they could be hired to take over a government and say let us do a contract deal you know get a bunch of billionaires together Well that's interesting. So wait a minute, so what you're saying is they of course will always go for the highest bidder so in a very typical American lazy entrepreneurial way instead of going to the arms we have the right to bear too fuck it! We'll just hire Blackwater for our coup Exactly They have a navy pretty soon so you figure out your target country look around and you know South America or some island

53:43 You're targeting... How about the United States? Let's go to Washington. We'll hire Blackwater to do it for us I think that would be a tough one because they are in cahoots so that is not going happen but let just say there is some country in Africa or has a lot of natural resources or something in South America We take Blackwater and we just take over the place. And then we immediately do a treaty with United States, you know in some sort of quid pro quo and then just take and steal all their resources. You should be able to do a cost-benefit analysis that will pay for the country and Blackwater will get paid off they'll make it...and they get a piece of it. You have to do it as a stock deal so

54:22 So they get stock options on the country's resources. And so Blackwater becomes a partner and also the military, boom! It's all done just like any other investment. The only thing you have to talk about is the warrants. It's just the warrants. That's all that we care about at the end of the deal. But isn't that exactly what Georgia did? They're killing and murdering us like in any Silicon Valley deal. Yeah well this is Georgia South Yersinia. That's exactly what happened. They got Blackwater guys into do it Yeah, that could be. So yeah well they probably do so it's all a scam. Talking about scams Putin is going to run you know they've changed all their laws are gonna keep themselves in these guys are never gonna go out now the term is six years in Russia for the president instead of four. Putin's gonna be in forever let's face it he's the next thing to Stalin Well I don't know if... That's probably... Well Russia had to do something because

53:43 You're targeting... How about the United States? Let's go to Washington. We'll hire Blackwater to do it for us I think that would be a tough one because they are in cahoots so that is not going happen but let just say there is some country in Africa or has a lot of natural resources or something in South America We take Blackwater and we just take over the place. And then we immediately do a treaty with United States, you know in some sort of quid pro quo and then just take and steal all their resources. You should be able to do a cost-benefit analysis that will pay for the country and Blackwater will get paid off they'll make it...and they get a piece of it. You have to do it as a stock deal so

54:22 So they get stock options on the country's resources. And so Blackwater becomes a partner and also the military, boom! It's all done just like any other investment. The only thing you have to talk about is the warrants. It's just the warrants. That's all that we care about at the end of the deal. But isn't that exactly what Georgia did? They're killing and murdering us like in any Silicon Valley deal. Yeah well this is Georgia South Yersinia. That's exactly what happened. They got Blackwater guys into do it Yeah, that could be. So yeah well they probably do so it's all a scam. Talking about scams Putin is going to run you know they've changed all their laws are gonna keep themselves in these guys are never gonna go out now the term is six years in Russia for the president instead of four. Putin's gonna be in forever let's face it he's the next thing to Stalin Well I don't know if... That's probably... Well Russia had to do something because

55:24 all of their oligarchs are going belly up. So I guess the oil companies that they initially stole, they're now stealing back? Is that kind of the way it works?" I don't know. Yeah, i think so yeah no you mean the government's taking them back? Because these guys are abusing their privilege and then they say you know guys are making too much money let's put the CEO in jail by the way maybe we should be thinking about that That's what I'm saying! They're onto something here let's put these CEOs in jail! Take the company! I do want to promote um... the end of Fed rally which takes place today in 39 different cities in the United States End the Fed.US That's the root of all the problems, John.

56:19 Bernanke? Yeah, Bernanke. You say Bernanke... Anyway so they call him the head of the central bank Well that's what he is! I know, i realize that but it's like we wouldn't do you guys think we don't use that nomenclature No, of course not We need to put a reserve committee and its got nothing to do with us yeah just see if we have used the word federal because then it sounds governmental and thats part of this scam yeah central bank. Which was set up in 1913? Yeah, well... I'm not so i'm getting a sling box and a sling catcher you had to be in Portugal to figure that out? I'm sorry what no no I just came after

57:08 we did this last show because we're talking about setting up sling boxes that either end so I could watch your TV. Yep and but you what's really wants is, I haven't hooked these up yet so i don't know how difficult this gonna be a probably blog it or... It's incredibly easy to setup. Well I'm talking about the Sling Catcher if you have familiar with the Sling Catcher? No yeah I don't have the sling catcher But I am going to let you receive it and put it back on your television, right? Right. So I could take your signal and then put it on my TV as always watching your set on my TV not on the computer. And I guess it has other uses like a second Apple TV or something like that. Not sure what all the things we can do are but cost is much as a sling box

57:53 Probably does a few things. Well, I'll go out and buy one this afternoon. I'm doing a little bit of shopping Anyway, I have the slim box but I want to get a separate slingbox or we already we've already gone through all of this But I'm also ordering multiple lines and getting my cable modem I'm getting it DSL line because you know You have to be careful these days cuz you would get penalized as an uploader By those freaking ISPs Oh your uploading too much so will just break your connection. Mm-hmm. You're probably doing something illegally Yes, which reminds me of the Tennessee story. Which we might as well mention. Okay I don't know about that. The state of Tennessee decided to put 9.8 million dollars plus a recurring 1.5 million dollars into the university system

58:41 uh... all only at the monitor near for a year about file sharing so that in other words dick instead of giving the money to the for education yet to learn something they basically had to be has to be our idea which should if they're going to monitored let the r i a put in ten million dollars as opposed to the idiots at the state of Tennessee. The state should be ashamed of itself and they should get that governor who's apparently behind the whole thing out of office I mean what kind of an idiot is going to spend taxpayer money for something like this? To monitor, to do police work in the benefit of file sharing you know? Give me a break! John hold on one second You just started to sound like RoboCop for a moment there

59:26 Yeah, I know you're breaking up too. As we get into the hour here... That's not even worth what you're saying hold on i'm gonna call you back all right? All right You there Don't tell me I lost ya No, I'm here Okay good yeah We're back we're back all right yeah well we got to wrap anyway because uh gotta take off any and I think the connection is gonna fall apart but Anyway just the Tennessee store it's on the blog Dvorak dot org slash blog check it out alright so oh man You only want to do an hour with me. It's just because you're gonna go take pictures with some guys like... There is actually a whole group of photographers who are going to shoot Lisbon

1:00:08 That's funny. So you travel around like a bunch of guys with fanny packs and taking pictures of shit? Like Japanese tourists? Exactly, with expensive cameras. Except for you! You'll have your little cyber shot thingy there. I brought the big camera Really?! I didn't know you had a big unit. I have an Olympus 520. Very nice. What's really nice is an 11-22mm lens I have, which is astonishing product. Yeah whatever... Not really into cameras. I got some good cameras somewhere. So somebody told me that our outro theme was depressing

1:00:53 Really? I said, oh I get so depressed hearing it. Maybe they're just depressed because the show is over! That must be it... It's not depressing, it has a nice little subtle thing and and I know that people are just sitting there listening to all the way to the very last tone thinking, ah wow, well that was good show, can't wait until next one. Yeah okay well I think thats about it I feel strangely unsatisfied. Well, we could have got another half hour but we'll hit the whole thing next week All right well i'll be here you're gonna be back in San Francisco I hope because I need you to have your American news hat on oh yeah absolutely all right well um so you're flying back through Frankfurt again

1:01:39 They changed my flight, so I don't know. But if i go through London and try to stop off Yeah please do when is that tomorrow or Monday? Tomorrow Okay well let me know because the airport is literally Heathrow and Gatwick both are like 30 minutes away So good If you have a layover whatever okay Call me I won't pick up and enjoy your time at Heathrow Airport all right John listen have a great day have a safe flight back and I look forward to talking longer next time okay alright so that wraps it up coming to you from the United Kingdom the affluent suburb of Surrey at Guilford I'm Adam Curry and I'm John C Devorak in Lisbon Portugal we'll talk again next week right here on no agenda enjoy The Depressive Theme

1:02:37 you