The Jason Stapleton Program

Margaret Thatcher once said that "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
People who advocate for "progressive" policies think that they're being generous and compassionate. They think they're taking on The Man while uplifting the poor and weak.
Yet whenever they become The Man, suddenly they don't want to play by their own rules.
The most recent example is Cenk Uygur, creator of The Young Turks. His employees want to unionize at last. It was just a matter of time. Now, ol' Cenk is suddenly concerned about profits!
The irony is delicious.
Here's the thing. It's true that unions aren't good for businesses. But they're also not good for employees. The only thing unions are good for is unions.
Union advocates feel betrayed by corporations, which isn't totally unreasonable. Corporations are in the business of providing services and making money. They aren't responsible for taking care of you, because only you are responsible for taking care of you.
Collective bargaining is an outdated tool. If you think your employer isn't giving you everything you deserve, you don't need to use a union or the state to force them into it.
Your best job security is in maximizing your own human capital.
Make yourself so damned valuable that one of two things will happen. Either your employer will have no choice but to give you whatever you ask for just to keep you around. Or someone else will come along and offer you what you want.
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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

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This morning, the stock market opened nearly a thousand points below Friday's close. It's the largest dip in over a year, and ate up all the gains for 2020.
It shouldn't be a surprise. When a viral illness essentially shuts down the second largest market in the world, the market suffers.
The fun has only just begun.
Our economy teeters on the edge of a knife. All it needs is a little push. Since the coronavirus is more like a huge shove, perhaps it's the catalyst that will bring it all crashing down. We'll see. The next couple of days will tell us a lot.
So what does it mean for you? Is it all doom and gloom?
Well, every crash has been successively worse than the one before. So if this is the big one, it'll be really bad.
At the same time, if you understand what's happening, you can see what's coming. And you can prepare.
On today's show, we'll break down the workings behind these moves in the market. Then we'll discuss what the future may hold. Whether you're an expert investor or a total novice, you need to hear this conversation.
After you've listened, please share the show with friends, family, or anyone else who needs to hear this message.
While everyone else is handwringing about the apocalypse, we're going to be setting ourselves up to thrive through the recession. And we want you to join us.
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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

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Over the past few weeks, we've talked a lot about the future of the liberty movement. Today, we're approaching the subject from a slightly different angle.
But first, let's talk about the most recent Democratic debate. It's increasingly looking like a two-horse race.
Bernie Sanders has been pacing the field for a while now, and it's pretty clear at this point. He's the people's choice.
However, money talks. And Mike Bloomberg has a TON of money.
The DNC clearly want to avoid a Bernie Sanders presidency. Will they even hand over their party to a rich white billionaire? Anything to defeat the Republicans' rich white billionaire!
But it makes no difference. The DNC is going to nominate someone to lose to Trump, and your life is going to go on just the same.
For the bulk of the show today, we're going to discuss why it's so hard to escape America's so-called "anti poverty" programs.
American poverty rates plummeted throughout the 1960s, but they've remained between 11 and 15% ever since. That's nearly a half-century of unchanged poverty rates. Why?
It's not a lack of money. Since 1973, anti-poverty programs have exploded from 3% to 20% of public spending.
Here's the thing: it's no mystery what causes poverty. Poverty is the natural state of man.
So the real question we need to ask is, what causes wealth? And how can you get a piece of it? How can everyone get a piece of it?
It's not that Americans lack opportunity. Everyone has access to the internet, and nearly everyone has a cell phone. That means effectively everyone has the tools to conquer their own poverty.
Yet they remain locked in dependence. It's no accident.
Today, we'll dissect a conspiracy. It's a concerted effort by those with wealth, power, and influence to not only keep Americans poor, but to profit from their poverty.
You need to understand how the system keeps people down, so you can understand how to save yourself. Once you know how to save yourself, you can teach others how to save themselves.
And maybe this liberty movement will start moving.
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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

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Hospital and healthcare workers across the US say that their industry exploits them and leaves them often unable to afford healthcare, despite working in the sector.

As is typically the case, they've accepted the lie that their best course of action is striking. That is, unless hospitals meet their demands. They're asking for $15/hour minimum wages, better facilities, and a bunch of other stuff.

Here's the problem: you can't get rich by demanding that people give you more money.

They might win a campaign for higher wages. But they will lose in the long run. Because their minds aren't right, and they don't understand how a market works.

If you want more from someone, you have to offer more. If your services are worth less than $15/hour, that's what you'll get paid. And it's up to you to change that. As long as you're in the business of demanding "more," whomever already has "more" controls you. That makes you easy to replace.

Bernie Sanders wants you to "fight for a living wage!" because while you're fighting for wages, you aren't a threat. You're dependent.

It's easy to be broke and unhappy. What they don't want you to know is, it's just as easy to be rich and successful.

But first you have to stop thinking like a wage slave and start thinking like a CEO.

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

 

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Last week's episode caused quite a ruckus.

(If you haven't listened to it yet, go do it now. It's called The Future of the Liberty Movement. Then come back to this one.)

After listening to the feedback from some of you guys, we realized we need to go a little deeper.

Libertarians want to change the world. They have all sorts of ideas that would improve people's lives. And they feel like if they could just come up with the right arguments, they could convert anyone.

But the problem is, that's not how persuasion works. Any marketer will tell you that showing is always better than telling.

This is why we call our show Wealth Power & Influence. If you want to influence people, especially at scale, then you need some degree of power. And power is a natural product of wealth.

Every single political conversation is some variant of "people with wealth and power used both to influence other people." So money doesn't care how you feel about it. If you want to impact the world, you'll need some of it. And you'll probably need a lot of it.

But wealth is more than just money. And after reading your comments, we realized that this is where we lost a lot of you.

So let's define wealth.

Wealth is measured in three things:


Time

Mobility

Quality of life


 

Money is simply a proxy for all three.

If you spend $5,000/mo and you only have $5,000 in your savings account, you can buy yourself a month before you lose your freedom to your source of income.

As long as your income is bound to a specific location, you're a slave to it.

If your lifestyle outstrips your income, you aren't free to live as you please. You must subordinate your desires to your current circumstances.

So no matter what the government looks like, if you don't have wealth, you don't have freedom.

But what does this have to do with influencing people?

Well for that, you're just gonna have to listen to today's episode...

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

 

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Something doesn't add up. Just how bad is the coronavirus??
The media is doing their usual thing, where they dial up the hysteria as much as possible. If you listen to them, we're staring down the barrel of an unprecedented catastrophe. They're throwing around "PANDEMIC!" like it's going out of style.
But the official numbers paint a far less calamitous picture. In a nation of literal billions, just over 1000 people have died. The symptoms seem akin to the flu, and nearly all the casualties are either elderly or already in poor health.
China already has tons of air pollution. And they're packed in like sardines. So it makes sense that a virus that presents as a respiratory illness would be uniquely deadly there.
But that doesn't mean it's a major threat to the rest of the world.
In fact, so far, the virus has had little impact outside of China.
However, China is responding to the virus like it's much worse than the flu. They've locked down tens--maybe even hundreds--of millions of people. They've built extra hospitals almost overnight.
Entire supply chains are down. United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta have all suspended all air travel to China through the end of April.
That doesn't seem like a reasonable response compared to the official numbers that have been released so far.
So why is the media dialing up the hysteria while uncritically passing along the (relatively mild) official numbers? If it's as bad as they say it is, where's the evidence?
Someone is lying. And probably multiple someones. That means someone is trying to get you to do something you wouldn't otherwise want to do.
So keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground, but be careful believing anything you read.
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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo. Check him out at nickwhitenoise.com.
 
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At the height of the Ron Paul era, the liberty movement was a force to be reckoned with. On a level playing field, he probably would've been the Republican nominee.

But the liberty movement peaked in 2012.

When Donald Trump burst onto the scene in 2015, he reappropriated all of the good doctor's momentum. And Rand Paul's miserable performance sealed the deal.

So now what?

If you consider yourself a liberty-minded person, it's time to wake up. Read the room.

The liberty movement is stalling out because the message is unappealing and the messengers bring nothing of value to the table. Nobody cares about utopian legal philosophies. What problems can you solve? What services can you provide?

If you say "the state is evil and the market is good," yet you provide nothing of value in the market, your words are worthless. They carry no weight. People want the state because it solves problems for them. If you want them to listen to you, you have to solve problems for them.

Last September, Gene Epstein's Soho Forum hosted a debate between Nicholas Sarwark, the chairman of the Libertarian Party, and the beloved Dave Smith, host of Part of the Problem. The resolution was, "The Libertarian Party should never again put up national candidates whose views are similar to those of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld."

Ideologically, we here at WP&I have far more in common with Dave than with Sarwark. However, Sarwark made the most profound point of the night when he told Dave, "My job isn't to convert people to libertarianism. That's YOUR job."

Politicians don't create converts. They attract them. This is why Andrew Breitbart said, "Politics is downstream of culture." If you want a freer society, it starts with you. You won't change the world by picking the most libertarian candidate for president. You'll change the world by changing the culture. And that happens through three channels: business, education, and entertainment.

In a recent conversation on the Tom Woods Show, Tom and Dave discussed the future of the liberty movement. So this is our answer to that question.

The future of the liberty movement is the message of this show:

Your freedom is directly tied to the amount of wealth, power, and influence you have. If you want more freedom, you need more of all three. In fact, if you aren't maximizing your own freedom, you're letting down yourself, your family, and everyone who stands to benefit from your ideas, products, and/or services.

So take responsibility for your own life and maximize your own human capital. Start solving people's problems. Use the freedom you currently have to buy more. When you start living your values, other people will notice. And then your words will actually carry some weight.

In a nutshell, wealth accumulation is the practical application of liberty. So let's make libertarianism capitalist again.

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo

 

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The BBC's "science" unit announced they'll be producing a new TV show following the life of Greta Thunberg.

Were you wondering when the BBC will announce their TV show about the life of Boyan Slat and the ocean plastic clean-up system he invented at 16?

Well, I have three words for you: how dare you?!

Good for Greta. She's proof that saying all the right things and pandering to all the right people leads to a life of rich rewards.

Meanwhile, an all-time high of 90% of Americans say they're satisfied with their personal lives. This via a recent Gallup poll. That number beats the previous high of 88%, recorded in 2003.

However, a recent poll by WalletHub concluded that 1 in 3 consumers fear they'll max out their credit card on any purchase over $100.

If people are so satisfied, why do they borrow from the future just to survive today?

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo

 

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The thing about people with power is they'll do anything to keep it.

We like to tell ourselves happy stories about the ideals of democracy and the virtues of the law.

However, the only laws that matter are the ones that are enforced; a law that can't be enforced is no law at all.

So we can deduce that the only laws that are enforced are the ones that benefit those in power. Because the law is enforced by those in power, and they won't act against their own interests.

Therefore, we discover that the only laws that matter are the laws that benefit those in power.

This means that the happy stories we tell ourselves are idealistic fiction. You know, the stories about government of, by, and for the people. Institutions that selflessly work for the good of all mankind.

Today, we present stories about a couple of these fairy tale systems.

In both cases, one group of people is profiting immensely from naive belief in the nobility of their institution. It's no coincidence that the people who are profiting are those with established power.

Thousands of Iowans showed up to vote in the Democrat Party caucus assuming (wrongly) that they were participating in a democratic process. Once again, they've discovered that the DNC won't hesitate to orchestrate the electoral process to screw Bernie Sanders.

Pete "Mayor Cheat" Buttigieg is the fortunate beneficiary of Bernie's bad luck.

Meanwhile, Florida sheriffs have been weaponizing occupational licensing to entrap would-be handymen. If it wasn't for the brave men and women of the badge, who would protect us from the grave existential threat of unlicensed handymen?! Heaven help us!

Above all, the institutions of modern society exist to serve the interests of whomever is in power. They'll tell us lots of stories about how they work for us. But they don't. They work for themselves.

Fairness and justice always take a backseat to the pursuit of self-interest. Life isn't fair. No one is  coming to save you.

In conclusion, here's the good news. You can't win the game until you know the rules. Now you know the rules. So go win.

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Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo

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In 2016, a Donald Trump-led populist uprising blindsided the GOP. And they lost control of their party because of it.

The DNC has no interest in letting Bernie Sanders do the same thing. In fact, they'd rather nominate a weaker candidate and lose the election than risk losing control of their party.

So it doesn't matter how popular Bernie gets. They'll do whatever they need to do to undermine him.

Democrat voters are getting yet another hard lesson on the reality of "democracy": political parties only care about the will of the voters when it aligns with the plans of the donor class.

Meanwhile, as Americans focus on the chaos in Iowa, China is ramping up their fight against the coronavirus. The CCP has placed the entire city of Wuhan under quarantine. They built an entire hospital in a week, but local healthcare infrastructure is still overwhelmed.

This isn't the type of response you get when you're dealing with the flu. China knows more than they're letting on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Intro music by Nick White, producer of The Statist Quo.

 

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors:


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