The McFuture is back!! I'm extremely excited to bring you a new 6-part series called The Capitalist Solution to Universal Healthcare. In this episode I explain the real reason nothing's being fixed: we're asking the wrong question.

Remember to subscribe - you won't want to miss next week's episode: The 14 Economic Crimes of American Healthcare

This week is a treat. I welcome comedian Jim Jefferies as my guest. Yes, the same Jim Jefferies who told Piers Morgan to "F*** off!" on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday.  This episode is a about a dark, ugly, beautiful revelation I had, inspired by a brilliant bit on Jim's Netflix special, Freedumb.

As a bonus, at the end of the episode, I talk to Jim about why a guy with an Aussie accent tussles over American politics. The answer will surprise you.

Anyway enjoy, share, and if you like it please give the show 5 Stars on iTunes!

You can read a version of this episode on Forbes ("Why The Illuminati Let Us Live") and "THANK YOU FOR MY FREEDUMB", on LinkedIn Pulse.

Show Notes

Tickets for Jim Jefferies live dates here

The story of Cordell Hull on NPR and why global trade = global peace

Why the world is more peaceful than ever

The Revolution Will Not Be Centralized

This week is a treat. I welcome comedian Jim Jefferies as my guest. Yes, the same Jim Jefferies who told Piers Morgan to "F*** off!" on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday.  This episode is a about a dark, ugly, beautiful revelation I had, inspired by a brilliant bit on Jim's Netflix special, Freedumb.

As a bonus, at the end of the episode, I talk to Jim about why a guy with an Aussie accent tussles over American politics. The answer will surprise you.

Anyway enjoy, share, and if you like it please give the show 5 Stars on iTunes!

You can read a version of this episode on Forbes ("Why The Illuminati Let Us Live") and "THANK YOU FOR MY FREEDUMB", on LinkedIn Pulse.

Show Notes

* Tickets for Jim Jefferies live dates here

* The story of Cordell Hull on NPR and why global trade = global peace

* Why the world is more peaceful than ever

* The Revolution Will Not Be Centralized

Trust me, after hearing this, every liberal, conservative and independent will WILL FALL MADLY, PASSIONATELY IN LOVE with President Donald J. Trump. Be warned: no one is ready for a love so great...again.

If you enjoyed this, subscribe at ideafaktory, share with friends, and rate the show 5-stars on iTunes.

Show Notes:

Here's the post I mentioned in this episode: Why I Endorse Donald J. Trump for President

And the Bill Maher monologue I referenced:

Ever wonder why suddenly there's all kinds of "fake news" and everyone, including our President, can lie without consequence? Steve Faktor explains the five evolutionary reasons why bullshit is winning. Enjoy the latest episode of The McFuture podcast (or read it below)! Remember to share it & rate it  5-stars on iTunes! 

In 1963, 10 percent of Yale students got A’s. In 2012, 62 percent did. Why? Is it because $260,000 buys more genius? Or, some other reason?

It’s not just education inflating our egos. EVERYTHING is! We wouldn't know the truth if it tried to smother us in our sleep. There are real evolutionary reasons why we’re suddenly drowning in “fake news” and a sea of lies.

Consider our '100% genuine' lives...

My Levi’s still say they’re a ‘36’ — like they’re starring in High School Time Machine.

Or, that $3,000 Chanel bag that screams STATUS!! It screams even louder from your tiny studio apartment with a bathtub in the kitchen.

Everyone knows Little Timmy can’t sing, play basketball, or draw. But there’s his wall of trophies and Fridge of Sorrows - stick figure mommy riding a flaming...beaver??

Maybe he’s high. America is the Courtney Love of countries. We know where esteem, courage, and escape really come from: Pfizer.

And without antidepressants, how else would Katie stage her daily on Facebook? "All bodies are beautiful!" "Nothing's sexier than confidence!" "True beauty's got booty!" Great. Let's test that at the bar.

There's so much more.

Ads disguised as lives on Instagram and Bravo.

Bodies doctored by...doctors and Photoshop.

Days at the office spent "curating" "authentic" "influencers" - pretending anyone, ever, wanted to "engage with brands."

Employee self-assessments that make PowerPoints sound like heart transplants. And bosses and HR-types who pretend to care about your 'career development' while transparently protecting company interests.

Then, there's "fake news" and crackpot conspiracies...

Is falling for “fake news” really that different from cherry-picking real news to reinforce our fake realities? Or, our constant state of fake #outrage. Or, the mindless Buzzfeed advertorials and Refinery29 quizzes we share like e-Bola? Then, buy their shiny little cures.

I haven't read a science book in 20 years. But my Facebook page says I f*cking love science! I don't even click on the links. Like, like, like!! Science is so easy! I love it! No, I f*cking love it!!

You'd think our f*cking love of science would smother pseudo-science in its sleep. Not so much.

Vaccines cause autism!

GMO kills!

Coffee cures cancer!

Pot cures everything!!

The earth is flat!

It's no wonder why. Scientific studies have become like Bible passages - you can find one to support whatever you think the facts should be. Thanks, corporate funding! And laughable academic research system.

What’s Really Happening?

We're witnessing America's transition from facts to feelings.

Perception and reality haven't been this far apart since Dear Leader Kim Jong Un defeated the wizards at Dumbledore.

The further we drift from reality — into this sea of feelings — the more defiant we become in our truth. After all, our identity depends on it. So every product, every tweet, every opinion, must reaffirm that identity; to give us meaning. It has to be true.

If only there were some other historical example of people clinging to - and fighting over - unprovable dogmas... Possibly, a lesson we could learn.... Can't think of one... Nope, not one.

When opinions and whole identities - are based on feelings, not facts – on the supernatural, not the observable – there's no foundation for debate or compromise. Everyone occupies a fantasy world of their choosing.

The Thinker is on life support. Long live The Feeler! The Believer! The Belieber!

[Don't forget to check out all the other great episodes of The McFuture Podcast with Steve Faktor]

5 Reasons Why This is Happening

Ever wonder why suddenly there's all kinds of "fake news" and everyone, including our President, can lie without consequence? Steve Faktor explains the five evolutionary reasons why bullshit is winning. Enjoy the latest episode of The McFuture podcast (or read it below)! Remember to share it & rate it  5-stars on iTunes! 

In 1963, 10 percent of Yale students got A’s. In 2012, 62 percent did. Why? Is it because $260,000 buys more genius? Or, some other reason?

It’s not just education inflating our egos. EVERYTHING is! We wouldn't know the truth if it tried to smother us in our sleep. There are real evolutionary reasons why we’re suddenly drowning in “fake news” and a sea of lies.

Consider our '100% genuine' lives...

My Levi’s still say they’re a ‘36’ — like they’re starring in High School Time Machine.

Or, that $3,000 Chanel bag that screams STATUS!! It screams even louder from your tiny studio apartment with a bathtub in the kitchen.

Everyone knows Little Timmy can’t sing, play basketball, or draw. But there’s his wall of trophies and Fridge of Sorrows - stick figure mommy riding a flaming...beaver??

Maybe he’s high. America is the Courtney Love of countries. We know where esteem, courage, and escape really come from: Pfizer.

And without antidepressants, how else would Katie stage her daily self-empowerment festival on Facebook? "All bodies are beautiful!" "Nothing's sexier than confidence!" "True beauty's got booty!" Great. Let's test that at the bar.

There's so much more.

Ads disguised as lives on Instagram and Bravo.

Bodies doctored by...doctors and Photoshop.

Days at the office spent "curating" "authentic" "influencers" - pretending anyone, ever, wanted to "engage with brands."

Employee self-assessments that make PowerPoints sound like heart transplants. And bosses and HR-types who pretend to care about your 'career development' while transparently protecting company interests.

Then, there's "fake news" and crackpot conspiracies...

Is falling for “fake news” really that different from cherry-picking real news to reinforce our fake realities? Or, our constant state of fake #outrage. Or, the mindless Buzzfeed advertorials and Refinery29 quizzes we share like e-Bola? Then, buy their shiny little cures.

I haven't read a science book in 20 years. But my Facebook page says

Trust me, after hearing this, every liberal, conservative and independent will WILL FALL MADLY, PASSIONATELY IN LOVE with President Donald J. Trump. Be warned: no one is ready for a love so great...again.

If you enjoyed this, subscribe at ideafaktory, share with friends, and rate the show 5-stars on iTunes.

Show Notes:

Here's the post I mentioned in this episode: Why I Endorse Donald J. Trump for President

And the Bill Maher monologue I referenced:

This is the big one. On this episode of The McFuture podcast, we dig deep into why everything we heard about income inequality is wrong. Here are the real root causes. Enjoy.  (Though slightly less thrilling, you can also read it below...)

In case you weren't among the millions who slept outside Amazon's warehouse to get my first book, I anticipated the 99% movement and made a lavish case for why businesses should fix a hollowed-out middle class. Here's a caveman summary: money go, customers go. It's that simple. Still, not one ‘thank you babka’ from Bernie Sanders... Today, I’d like to finish what I started. I’d like to prove why income inequality is absolutely the wrong way of framing the problem.

By now you've seen plenty of articles, signs, and books about inequality. I can only hope they were recycled properly. A few, like Thomas Piketty’s Capital, are good at explaining the problem, but 696 pages without a single laugh?? Some things are more unforgivable than inequality. Plus, his solution was anticlimactic: global wealth tax. Great. I’ll add that to my to-do list, right after taming Mars and wooing Giselle.

In more practical terms, “inequality” can be explained and solved with a single word: I-v-a-n-k-a. No... The word is: expectations.

It turns out that our expectations are at the core of three solvable problems standing between us and the mythical American Dream we've heard so much about.

OK, let's get into it.

IS THERE A PROBLEM?

Believe it or not, the answer isn't obvious.

A study by USA Today shows that to achieve the American Dream, a family of four needs to earn over $130,000 a year. Problem is average family income is only $53,000 a year. In all fairness, your kids are probably slacking. Two words to get their asses in gear: Serena Williams. Now, chop, chop! Smash some balls and bring home those Tubmans!

Many young Americans have given up on being rich. It’s no wonder why. Most adults have no retirement savings, 46% can't come up with $400 in a pinch, and the middle class is poorer today than in 1989, the year N’Sync watched New Kids on the Block and decided, ‘This is amazing! Someday, that’ll be me!’

It’s not all bad news. N’Sync has since disbanded. That might be why Americans are still happy despite their inequality. Many would rather make $50,000 today than $100,000 in the 80’s - because of all the cheap, amazing technology we can use for...porn...? And our middle class is still way richer than almost anyone else’s. In your face, Paraguay!

What’s not clear is if “equality” was ever real or sustainable in the first place. Maybe what we saw during the industrial era was a fluke. All those people, without college degrees, supporting families on one income. HA! What next, KFC chickens re-assembling themselves, like Voltron??

The history of mankind is anything but kind. It's a big, grimy, backbreaking serfdom. Maybe we’re just Ubering our way back to the norm.

Problem is we’ve had a taste of the good life. Like a lion raised in captivity, biting into live flesh for the first time (likely, his trainer’s). Once you get a taste for blood, it awakens your primal instincts. You don’t just quietly slink back to that crappy bag of Purina Lion Kibble. Now, you gotta eat the assistant.

We expect more. But can we have it?

WHY IT'S ALL ABOUT EXPECTATIONS

The real issue with “inequality” is we’re comparing wages to all the wrong things - to the past, to CEO pay, to other countries. In fact, the OECD found inequality does not correlate to happiness.

In reality, the only thing income must do is meet - or exceed – our expectations. These expectations are the spawn of culture and technology.

1. MASS-INNOVATIONS

When this country IPO-ed in 1776, our list of expectations read like a homeless shelter with two stars on Yelp: food, no rain in the living room, and an occasional moose pelt. Sure, we eventually got inventions like the printing press, steam engine, and locomotives. But those weren’t going into your house,

This is the big one. On this episode of The McFuture podcast, we dig deep into why everything we heard about income inequality is wrong. Here are the real root causes. Enjoy.  (Though slightly less thrilling, you can also read it below...)

In case you weren't among the millions who slept outside Amazon's warehouse to get my first book, I anticipated the 99% movement and made a lavish case for why businesses should fix a hollowed-out middle class. Here's a caveman summary: money go, customers go. It's that simple. Still, not one ‘thank you babka’ from Bernie Sanders... Today, I’d like to finish what I started. I’d like to prove why income inequality is absolutely the wrong way of framing the problem.

By now you've seen plenty of articles, signs, and books about inequality. I can only hope they were recycled properly. A few, like Thomas Piketty’s Capital, are good at explaining the problem, but 696 pages without a single laugh?? Some things are more unforgivable than inequality. Plus, his solution was anticlimactic: global wealth tax. Great. I’ll add that to my to-do list, right after taming Mars and wooing Giselle.

In more practical terms, “inequality” can be explained and solved with a single word: I-v-a-n-k-a. No... The word is: expectations.

It turns out that our expectations are at the core of three solvable problems standing between us and the mythical American Dream we've heard so much about.

OK, let's get into it.

IS THERE A PROBLEM?

Believe it or not, the answer isn't obvious.

A study by USA Today shows that to achieve the American Dream, a family of four needs to earn over $130,000 a year. Problem is average family income is only $53,000 a year. In all fairness, your kids are probably slacking. Two words to get their asses in gear: Serena Williams. Now, chop, chop! Smash some balls and bring home those Tubmans!

Many young Americans have given up on being rich. It’s no wonder why. Most adults have no retirement savings, 46% can't come up with $400 in a pinch, and the middle class is poorer today than in 1989, the year N’Sync watched New Kids on the Block and decided, ‘This is amazing! Someday, that’ll be me!’

It’s not all bad news. N’Sync has since disbanded. That might be why Americans are still happy despite their inequality. Many wo...

If you heard the original episode of The McFuture podcast with special guest Larry King, then this will be a treat. Log in to listen to Larry tell his own story. A mini-autobiography his life and career, fresh from our conversation. If you enjoy it, share it! And tell some friends!

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