Shownotes
We covered a wide range of topics that are sure to leave you thinking. Here are the key takeaways:
Government Spending & Currency Devaluation: With the world seeming out of control, it's important to confront the Democrats as forcefully as they confront the Republicans regarding budget issues. The government's inability to control spending could lead to a "death spiral" affecting public services. Printing more currency may devalue the dollar significantly.
The warning period is over: Ticketing begins for Ohio's new texting while driving law - After six months of issuing warnings, police can now begin handing out tickets for those caught texting while driving in Ohio.
Part of the overhaul of K-12 education will happen despite a court order - Citing concerns about Ohio’s ability to keep funding public schools, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that part of the planned overhaul of K-12 education would happen despite a judicial order.
“I cannot let this situation fester,” DeWine said. “I cannot let this chaos happen.”
Gov. Mike DeWine holds press conference over state Department of Education overhaul.
And Norm's Nuggets!
Recorded at the 511 Studios, in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus, OH.
Thanks to Harper CPA Plus for sponsoring this episode.
Stephen Palmer is the Managing Partner for the law firm, Palmer Legal Defense. He has specialized almost exclusively in criminal defense for over 26 years. Steve is also a partner in Criminal Defense Consultants, a firm focused wholly on helping criminal defense attorneys design winning strategies for their clients.
Norm Murdock is an automobile racing driver and owner of a high-performance and restoration car parts company. He earned undergraduate degrees in literature and journalism and graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1985. He worked in the IT industry for two years before launching a career in government relations in Columbus, Ohio. Norm has assisted clients in the Transportation, Education, Healthcare, and Public Infrastructure sectors.
Brett Johnson is an award-winning podcast consultant and small business owner for nearly 10 years, leaving a long career in radio. He is passionate about helping small businesses tell their story through podcasts, and he believes podcasting is a great opportunity for different voices to speak and be heard.
info@commonsenseohioshow.com
Copyright 2024 Common Sense Ohio
Transcripts
It's Common Sense Ohio. We're missing one today, though, but that's okay because Norm and I will take the reins. Steve out doing his job, making money. It is, the 6th October. I am noticing so much less light in the morning now. I hate this. I love the light in the morning. Wakes you up.
Brett Johnson [:You hear the birds singing. Leave the windows open. It's like, yeah. Fall's coming. Fall's Coming.
Norm Murdock [:Is this the, is this a year we lose daylight savings? Like
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I don't think that ever passed. I don't think that ever I thought it did, but I don't know. I mean, I've
Norm Murdock [:gotta thought it did too.
Brett Johnson [:I've gotta take a look at that because I thought this was the last time we're gonna change time, but I don't know whether that really
Norm Murdock [:comes to that. We are changing.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I think so. I think so. I think so.
Norm Murdock [:But, but, anyway don't come here for news, people.
Brett Johnson [:I know. News that's That stuff is not that hard to figure out exactly. We do wanna give a big shout to our sponsor, Harper and Company. Harper's Certified public accountant said they are at harpercpaplus.com. Tell you what. If, you're an entrepreneur and you really wanna tap into your greatness, these are the people to talk to. It's not just doing the numbers. It's actually sitting down and talking about your business and how you can figure out growth and where you are, and it's not just an annual meeting.
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Brett Johnson [: in: Brett Johnson [:And the premise behind that is these guys are in foxholes. They're in training. They're they're in situations that they've got a lot of downtime, and they have nothing to do with them. They wanna Reading read. It's called When Books Went to War. If you wanna wanna pick that up, it's just another ass. World War 2 is so layered. So many layers to it because, you know, we talked about this last week a little bit.
Brett Johnson [:We can you know, we'll we'll get off the stick here in a second. But, you know, when was the last time, and we both know the answer to this, that the whole world was affected by one thing. It touched everybody's lives, COVID. So, you know, it that was just Extraordinary situation. I don't know if you can relate the 2 necessarily, but it is on that level of everyone in the world was touched by World War
Norm Murdock [:2. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:You know? And World War 2, of course, but, 2 seemed to be kind of escalated. Yeah. Just, you know, to a to another level of what in the hell is
Norm Murdock [:going going on with our world. The practical uses of books in World War 2 are well documented. So after you read the little book, It would be useful as toilet paper. Sure. And there's many biographies and autobiographies where Books also saved somebody's life. A family Bible, you know, a small A travel Bible. Often, I mean, it's happened it happened. I've I've probably read a couple dozen books Where some soldier is documented as receiving a bullet into his, traveling bible in his pocket Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And, takes it home, shows the family, you know, here's a slug that but for that, book being in my top left pocket,
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:I wouldn't be here. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. Books and, of course, the literature that came out of World War 2 is, you know, Ernie Pyle's books. Mhmm. Some of which were written during the war.
Norm Murdock [:You know, there's some epic, Epic literature. Yeah. Yeah. So Just
Brett Johnson [:a just another aspect of the rule. Just a little bit.
Norm Murdock [:I don't know if we have epic literature from COVID. We we Well we weren't really called upon to sacrifice. Seemed seemed like, peep between the PPP and everything else, It was just 1 huge bailout that our, our children yet to be born are gonna end up paying for. I mean, we're at 34,000,000,000,000 in a couple of months of, national debt and, Making a little transition. Yeah. Go for it. Yes. Perfect transition.
Norm Murdock [:Go for it. So, yeah. Yep. The speaker fight in DC is, you know, Ohio, touched because Just today or perhaps over overnight, former president Trump has fully endorsed, without reservation, Jim Jordan, to become this new speaker.
Brett Johnson [:I was wondering if that was gonna
Norm Murdock [:happen. It did happen. Yeah. There was talk about Trump himself Being recruited to be speaker, which frankly would have been incredibly
Brett Johnson [:entertaining. Talked about that in a previous episode about that it does not have to be an elected official No. To sit in that position. That would be so interesting of a scenario.
Norm Murdock [:They could call you Brett Or they could call me or they could call Dan over
Brett Johnson [:there. Be an interesting situation.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. They could call anybody. Yeah. And, if They receive a majority of votes. They're the speaker. We have had, presidents in the past be be speaker of the house. The one example that I can think of was William Howard Taft, I believe, was speaker. He was president, and he was also on the US Supreme Court.
Norm Murdock [:So he did all 3.
Brett Johnson [:He did it last year.
Norm Murdock [:If I'm recalling.
Brett Johnson [:I think you're right.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. So, it's not unprecedented for it to happen. Trump would be I mean, that would have been an an incredible so he's got all these trials. Right? He's running for reelection. Yeah. And being speaker of the house, I that might have been just a bridge too far. If possible. A little World War 2
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Right.
Norm Murdock [:Illusion. Exactly. Exactly. So I I wanna talk about this, and and you may not agree, and that's Good. Let's, you know, let's have it out. So the general reaction to what has been referred to as the hateful eight Or whatever. As if these 8 people who 8 Republicans who revolted and Called for Kevin McCarthy's, to vacate his speakership. The general consensus is that that we We've been plunged into chaos, that it was immature, irresponsible, that, you know, Washington DC grinding to a halt is some big horror thing.
Norm Murdock [:And, as you know from my blog, I see it completely different. I I mean, I was listening to Hugh Hewitt. I've listened to Glenn Beck. I've I've listened to all the traditional, You know, what you would think of as libertarian, conservative, you know, Rock rib Neanderthal Republicans. I've I've listened to a bunch of them, and they're all basically saying the same corporate thing, that this is horrible for the Republican Party, and I really don't think so. So so here's my take. I I believe that what is called upon right now with the country falling apart in real time, with 8,000,000 undocumented illegals coming across that that the border patrol knows of, and the border patrol says roughly it's The actual number's twice that. So if you believe that, if you believe we're somewhere between 15 to 16 illegals, Half of which are known, half of which are gotaways.
Norm Murdock [:That is the 10th largest state in the United States. 15,000,000 people Would be the 10th largest state. Right. So that's an outrageous number of people in just 3 years to come into the country. That's one problem. We've got $34,000,000,000,000 worth of debt. During this the little speaker vote that they had, The office of management and budgets said during that one day, our debt went up $250,000,000,000 In in that 24 hour period. I mean, we are this could and and then, of course, we can't tell who a man is and who a woman is, and, I mean, just all the other ridiculous, non focused just as a culture, we're not focused on practical things.
Norm Murdock [:And it seems to me that if you have a spendthrift in the family, Brett, what's the responsible thing to do? You get them a Guardian, and you take the checkbook away.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Right?
Norm Murdock [:Right. Because they can't control their spending. And if they don't control their spending, it's not just A theoretical thing. If the government runs out of money, it it you know, it and now, of course, the interest rates are higher and higher Because the government is having a harder and harder time finding somebody to buy the bonds. I mean, What rich Arabs or what Chinese businessman or government wants to buy US bonds at this point unless you pay Some kind of higher than market interest rate on it. So we're in this death spiral as a country, And the result of that will be all public services at some point. Right? When the government Cannot borrow anymore. And if it just goes into a a Weimar Republic printing spree and just prints, You know, double or triple the currency we have, well, then your dollar is gonna be worth 30¢ and then 10¢.
Norm Murdock [:And then pretty soon, like the Germans before World War 2, it'll be useful as wallpaper or toilet paper. Like, it won't have any value, And we don't wanna get there. So some adult, some there needs to be we need to come to terms as a country With our budget and with international threats, whether it's China, you know, wanting to take over Taiwan, whether it's The war in Ukraine, which we're in it. You know? We're sending tanks. Yes. We are. You know? And he's he's talking you know, president's talking about sending jets, And NATO countries have has sent jets and helicopters in their tanks. I mean, once again, you have German Leopard tanks, Right? Operating on Ukrainian soil.
Norm Murdock [:Well, that hasn't happened in 75 years. So so, I mean, the world's out of control, And so, okay, the theory is that Matt Gaetz and these upstart Republicans All acted out out of personal animus to Kevin McCarthy. They don't like Kevin McCarthy. That's the theory, and so the theory is that they The, you know, the line is the corporate line is that they threw they threw some kind of revolt out of just, You know, they they threw a fit. They threw a tantrum. Well, that's not what they did at all. And I'd and and I'm not saying I like Matt Gaetz or the other 7. It just has nothing to do with their personalities or whether I like them, but what we need to have is we need to confront The other side, as as tough as they confront our side you know, the The other side of our budget mess, the Democrat Party, those folks Hammer and ham they're relentless about we have to fund this program and that program and the other program, And it's and they are relentless about it.
Norm Murdock [:And then the Republicans always do a continuing resolution, and they always just go along Because the newspaper editors or the talking head class or the, corporate welfare recipient recipients like Lockheed Martin and Tesla and all the other ones that that that get paid off by by taxpayer money, They all want the government to just continue to applaud on, and they don't seem to think that there's any end to the largesse. And we we're at a point where, I think, as regrettable as it would be, A government shutdown until the other side caves in, and what does that mean? What did Kevin McCarthy violate In terms of his promises to these to the Freedom Caucus, which Jim Jordan, by the way, was one of the founding members. So he didn't vote against Kevin McCarthy, but look. He may be the speaker, and he he is part of that group of 8 Philosophically, even though he didn't vote with them. So what did they want? What did Kevin McCarthy not do that caused this? Well, what he didn't do is he didn't break down the budget, which the house you know, the budget process starts in the house. Doesn't start in the White House or the Senate. Starts in the house. Kevin McCarthy is the speaker of the house.
Norm Murdock [:What they wanted was the 12 sub budgets of the federal budget to each be individually debated and voted on. Mhmm. So we have a department of justice We're which is there is no doubt now, okay, because because of Elon Musk's, you know, the the the Twitter files. There is no doubt that the Department of Justice has tried to suppress Americans' free speech. That's on the record. I mean, there's been meetings. There's transcripts. There's witnesses.
Norm Murdock [: he the there's something like: Norm Murdock [:There is a lot of waste, a lot of corruption, a lot of unnecessary things In all of these departments, and so what did the Freedom Caucus want? They wanted those budgets to be each individually, lit not litigated, but debated and and fleshed out and give an opportunity For up down votes on each of those budgets and to have amendments in each of those budgets and to grind it out like hamburger, Well, that is Kevin McCarthy did what Nancy Pelosi did. He he lumped it all together in a continuing resolution and kicked the can down the road, Whatever it is, Brett. 45 days. Yeah. Yep. Right. Thanksgiving. And now they're talking.
Norm Murdock [:I just heard Jim Jordan. God bless Jim Jordan. But I heard him on the radio today, and he's talking about a continuing resolution. And that is not what we need. You know, as much as I like Jim Jordan and as you know, We need the entire process to come to a screeching halt, and I won't get my Social Security check, and other people won't get their, You know, support checks or whatever. I'm willing to take the hit. You know? I'm sure Lockheed Martin's not willing to take the hit, but, you know, At at the at the grassroots level, something's gotta give. We we have to get back to, you know, We have to get back to a balanced budget.
Norm Murdock [:We have to get out of some of these hot wars and some of these places Where we don't have a a clear national interest, does that mean tragedy will ensue for places like Ukraine? Well, it already has, and we're we're deeply involved now. And and hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of Ukrainians are already dead. So I I don't know if we're helping or hurting by our participation, but, you know, that's my perspective. I don't see this as chaos. I see this as the sooner we address this, the sooner the system comes to a halt and the calliope crashes to the ground And, you know, all the keys fly and all the springs fly, hither and thither, then we can put this monster back together again.
Brett Johnson [:I you know, and I would have to agree. I don't disagree with anything you're saying. I think it comes down to if we have to take a there's never a good time to to address this. I mean, these these 8 could these 8 could be talking about it in May. It would have fallen on deaf ears. That's true. The only time you get attention to something this drastic is at this point in juncture.
Norm Murdock [:When it's when it's a crisis.
Brett Johnson [:When it's a crisis.
Norm Murdock [:Right. And And that's when you have your
Brett Johnson [:leverage. Yes.
Norm Murdock [:Exactly. That's when the that's when you stare the other side down across the table and say, Hey. Listen. If you wanna maintain the benefits that welfare recipients are getting now, we we're willing to to Staying that.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:But but you can't have an increase. It's like the UAW workers. Hey. The x big three car companies, to make an analogy, Right. They're teetering. They've already been bankrupt. Right? Right. So Chrysler was bankrupt.
Norm Murdock [:GM was bankrupt. Ford sold everything to avoid bankruptcy. They used to own Volvo, Mazda, a bunch of brands. So the big three, which are not The big three anymore. It's Volkswagen and Toyota people and Honda and Nissan. I mean, the big three are not the big three, And they are and and they're being forced to convert to electric vehicles. Right? Mhmm. The UAW wants 30 to 40% raise in the face of their employers basically on the on the verge of going out of business, and We're looking at the same kind of irrationality, this is my opinion, with the federal government.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I agree. That To do the hard stuff, you gotta do the hard
Norm Murdock [:work.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And and, again, I I a lot of it is the spin. It's a lot of it's the packaging of whether it's the 8 doing it or whoever, but just saying if this is not done now, this is what it will look like down the road. I think we're The American public is smart enough to understand watering it down for us. Yes. It's a very complicated situation. Like you said, there are 12 pieces to this of looking at, okay, tear this apart. And it's gonna take some time, but maybe it doesn't have to take a lot of time.
Brett Johnson [:Get the right people in the right room and just say, you're not gonna get this, but you can have this. You can have this, but you can have this. Let's figure it out. Right. And it all to me, it yeah. You know, what what it comes down to is that they don't wanna lose their base. They don't wanna lose their vote. They won't don't wanna get voted out.
Brett Johnson [:It's like, sometimes you gotta do the hard stuff. This isn't being elected is not a lifetime thing.
Norm Murdock [:Shouldn't shouldn't be.
Brett Johnson [:Shouldn't
Norm Murdock [:be. Look at Joe Biden. It it
Brett Johnson [:wasn't him. Right. Do do the right thing now. And and, hopefully, What Jim Jordan is saying that he would look at a continuance is, okay, we we have to, but we're going to do this. Let's hope. Let's hope. I you know, we can't read his mind. We don't know.
Brett Johnson [:But
Norm Murdock [:He can't be happy with the
Brett Johnson [:way the
Norm Murdock [:budget I mean, he's a he's a budget hawk. Yeah. And, you know, the thing is the talking heads keep talking about these continuing resolutions as, you know, well, it's a practical thing. You know? And, you know, if this was if this was your household budget, the practical thing would be, Hey. You know what? We're not buying a new car for about 10 years. Yeah. And and we're and we're gonna you know, like, The number one thing that we need to pay every month is our mortgage Mhmm. And food.
Norm Murdock [:Like like, you're right down to the essentials of what your household needs. And I think we're at that point with our government. We are we are at the point where we need We don't need studies on, what's that thing Alex Jones always cited? Gay frogs. Right? Yeah. Whatever. Whatever. Yeah. Right.
Norm Murdock [:I mean, we don't need any more Fruthrew, ridiculous spending. I I heard somebody was at AOC Wanted to spend $1,000,000 to build a basketball court, and then Jesse Watterschaouf, he they found a contractor that would do it for 75,000. But, I mean, I'm not picking on AOC. There every member of Congress has this pork that's in the budget. Right. That's crazy money. You know? And that's just A micro exam. I you know, Biden, this week, waived his magic wand and wants to give away $9,000,000,000 In student loan forgiveness.
Norm Murdock [:Mhmm. Right? Just this week. Now, you know, in one day, the federal deficit went up. OMB said 250,000,000,000. So so so people look at Biden's 9,000,000,000 in way you know, Eliminating some of the student loans, and they go, oh, well, that's nothing. That's basically, like, a half an hour out of the day, 9,000,000,000.
Brett Johnson [:But it adds up.
Norm Murdock [:Dude, it adds up. And this is this is the thing. Everybody seems to have a permission slip Right. To put Crap into this omnibus.
Brett Johnson [:It's just it's just a little.
Norm Murdock [:It's just a little. And then Troy Balderson or Jim Jordan or whoever the congressman is can come back home
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:And say, Oh, hey. I got you an Intel Chips Act, right, or whatever it
Brett Johnson [:is. Well and you're also
Norm Murdock [:Oh, by the way, Jordan voted against the
Brett Johnson [:Chips Act. Yeah. Which hasn't even been hasn't even been dispersed yet. Yeah. Right. Hasn't even I just saw that this week. It's like, oh my gosh. Intel's, you know, breaking ground, got the cement laid.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:They don't have they don't have a dime from that yet. Though, of course, It'll come their way, but they all they all applied for it. But going back to that, you know, the the money being the the college loan thing is a is a perfect example of just this. I've read 2 exam where was it? The WAPO or something like that. Two examples of, like, oh my gosh. These 2 these 2 college people. With the with with you know, they they've inherited all that. You know, they have all this debt, which they made their choice to do, to to stay signed on the bottom line at 18 years old, which is another sin in itself.
Brett Johnson [:You know? But, yeah, they're talking about, well, we have to give this up. We have to give the I have to give up thinking about traveling around the world. I have to think about not going out and watching movies.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:Like, no. Real life's coming into play, ain't it?
Norm Murdock [:Right. That
Brett Johnson [:that that was the example. Yep. Those are the examples of, oh, if I can't get my loan washed off
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:I can't travel the world Right. Has nothing else to do with thing you know?
Norm Murdock [:If you and I decided they're ceramics major or whatever major they chose. God bless them. Yeah. If they wanna major in ceramics, I don't have a problem with that, but, dude, it's your
Brett Johnson [:decision.
Norm Murdock [:Right. You decided to major in ceramics, and then you graduated. And you're like, wow. I can't get a job making Navajo, jugs. Well, no. A, you're not Navajo, and, b, There's not a lot of demand for modern Navajo jugs. Right. Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:And so, like, why did you choose that as a major?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And we're teaching them, like, hey. Just take the loan off. That's on the It's on them.
Norm Murdock [:That's on them.
Brett Johnson [:And with this, we're teaching them that, okay. Yeah. We're gonna wipe off the loan. Don't worry about it. Right. The PPP stuff. I mean, we all walked into that. And every time I sign on the dotted line for a PPP loan, I was expecting I was gonna have to pay that back.
Brett Johnson [:Absolutely. I I Right? I That was a overnight losing some sleep over. Can can I pay this back? And and both times, I said, I can do this.
Norm Murdock [:Right. I I'll I'll
Brett Johnson [:I'll budget it out.
Norm Murdock [:I'm not asking a number, but I'm sure because of that, you you chose a very modest amount. Yes. Exactly.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Whereas It it was there. Why not? Knowing, I'll pay it back. I'm sure it'll be maybe interest free or maybe a low interest. That was what was talked about at the time. Of course. Okay. I can do that because I what I was gonna do was spend that money on someone, something for my business.
Brett Johnson [:Right. I was going to. It it was earmarked to continue my business moving
Norm Murdock [:forward. That was a thesis.
Brett Johnson [:Right?
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. And then other people looking at that program, They decided because business was so bad that they couldn't take on more debt. They couldn't see at the end of the tunnel, Like like when your restaurant is closed, right, and you don't even know if you can reopen it and you're the restaurant owner and you're looking at this PPP application, You might be thinking, oh, hell. I'm I'm I'm in debt now $15,000. I can't sign this loan agreement that says I'm probably gonna have to pay it back. Within 3 to 5 years, I
Brett Johnson [:think that's what the terms were, something like that.
Norm Murdock [:I mean even know if I'm gonna reopen it. Yeah. Exactly. People who declined to take PPP, and it turns out they're all the suckers, not you know, almost by design because They didn't bring that extra money into their household that then, with a wave of the federal wand, was forgiven. And, of course, we all know the abuses that took place. We were talking about, a couple of the rock stars and comedians That because they had to cancel some concerts and, of course, they've got, you know, roadies that they normally would have paid and other kinds of expenses, They just said, well, you know, my tour is 2 or $3,000,000 or $10,000,000, a year in costs, And I'm not selling tickets, so I'm gonna apply for 10,000,000 in PPP relief. And some of these people got it. Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:It's not like it went then. It it didn't go to the roadies. It didn't go to anything. It was just forgiven. And, I mean, it's I think some people have said that the PPP program was the single largest, Unaudited, flat out welfare program. Like like like, people on welfare have to fill out more forms. They have to justify that they really need You know, this whole thing was so out of control.
Brett Johnson [:When they wiped away mine, I had a twinge of guilt. Well, of course. It felt like
Norm Murdock [:Of course.
Brett Johnson [:And and it it put a whole new perspective on, okay, I get where
Norm Murdock [:Well, you have a value, sis. Yeah. I mean, that's a diff that's a difference.
Brett Johnson [:It was a relief, of course. Although, I mean, it wasn't a a big amount of money, but it wasn't gonna be some stuff I was going to get back. But it just felt really weird. All my life, taking car loan, mortgage. Right. Every time somebody loans you something, it it's it's you know you're going to pay it back. It just felt Weird.
Norm Murdock [:Well, I think also what that's done is so many middle class people like us Mhmm. You know, friends of ours, You know, some of us, other people that, you know, maybe make more, maybe make less, whatever. We know so many people that got this handout from the federal government that it makes it kinda conditions you to think then the government's gonna take care of you. Yeah. Right? Yes. And so you have you have destitute people that think They're entitled to air conditioning and cell phones and cable TV and all of the things that everybody else when I say everybody else, It's really now we're down to, like, 50% of the people take care of the other 50%, and, you know, that's one thing about this Budget. Somebody was calculating, forget who it was, an economist, that it used to be for every person on retirement, We had something around 4 workers sustaining that Social Security, you know, the outlay, and now we're down to 2 and a half workers, And and the boomers are you're not even all the way through Right. Social Security.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. The I just the like, yeah. I think it's another Few years, it starts to
Norm Murdock [:And then they're gonna live.
Brett Johnson [:It's done. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:They're gonna live for 25 years.
Brett Johnson [:I saw another piece about, you know, the food stamp situation in regards to that would have you know, with the shutdown, it would have stopped that. The the number was eye boggling that it was over half of American kids 2 to 7 years old are receiving some type of food stamp
Norm Murdock [:allowance. I mean, that's just crazy.
Brett Johnson [:Whether that and I I I wanted to dig deeper into that kinda going, okay. Is there that need, which it probably is. I get it. But it's like Well Or are we talking about Some waste
Norm Murdock [:here. Or or or is it? Or
Brett Johnson [:is it? Half of American kids, 2 to 7 years old, need assistance? Do do you That that's a mind
Norm Murdock [:boggling thing. So you you remember when Clinton was president and he drastically with Newt Gingrich Together to to to work on the I mean, that was the last time we had a a balanced budget Right. Was was during Clinton and Newt Gingrich's time. And the one of the big ways they did that is they set a calendar date limit on how long you could be on welfare Fair. Mhmm. For whatever reason. Right? And nobody died. Nobody starved.
Norm Murdock [:What happened was people got off the sofa. Like, I think it was 6 months. Like, you you couldn't be on public support if you were able-bodied.
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Norm Murdock [:Okay. Of course,
Brett Johnson [:there are plenty of
Norm Murdock [:limitations. We're not talking about owners. Now people in wheelchairs can do a lot of different jobs, but we're not even talking about that. We're talking about people who are actually able to walk and talk and move their arms. 6 months, I think it was, And you're off welfare.
Brett Johnson [:And you borrow for unemployment. And So
Norm Murdock [:the the cost to the US government took a nosedive Right. Because people got off the sofa. Now if you just continue to pay people to stay on the sofa like we did with the PPP because COVID was gonna kill everybody, you know, that was That was the popular myth. Okay. Turns out it wasn't nearly as dangerous as the health experts at first predicted. Dangerous to elderly people, people who had, you know, preexisting issues. Compromised. Compromised.
Norm Murdock [:And it turned out, you know, that a lot of the things they said in hindsight was inaccurate or Whatever. You know, other other people would use stronger terms. But yeah. So What I think is it's created this mindset that the federal government can take care of everything. If there's a hurricane, the very next day, Somebody's there with a clipboard to build you a new house courtesy of the federal government. Like, there's this mentality now that whatever, hardships you encounter or tragedies, true tragedy. I mean, losing your home in a hurricane is a true tragedy and not discounting that, But since when does that become, you know, like, the r burden? I mean, we're in Ohio. Right? Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:I'm in Ohio for a lot of reasons, The cost of living. Now if I'm gonna live in Miami, the cost of living's way higher. But for a reason I'm choosing to live in hurricane alley.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm. Yeah. Can you imagine if we if we were to take the pledge limits again on the welfare, that sort of thing? And let's say we kept that same budget for welfare, but you You stopped it. You stopped it in 6 month, and you you spent that money on helping them find a job or Like job training. Helping tech
Norm Murdock [:schools.
Brett Johnson [:Job training. Job training that they've gotta go through.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:They've and I'm and maybe that exists now.
Norm Murdock [:I don't know.
Brett Johnson [:Vocational school. Vocational school.
Norm Murdock [:Whatever it
Brett Johnson [:might be
Norm Murdock [:that Right.
Brett Johnson [:While you're on this, you're gonna sit down, and we're going to help you
Norm Murdock [:Retrain or whatever you need.
Brett Johnson [:Right? We're gonna help you fish Right. Versus giving you the fish. Right. And maybe that exists in some way. I don't know. I don't know. Anyone in one for I've never been in it. I don't know.
Brett Johnson [:But at the same time, I would assume not if we have unlimited. It continues to go on and on. You can reapply. You can reapply.
Norm Murdock [:Remember, the good senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Right? Democrat, and he At first, supported, the Lyndon Johnson Great Society. He was a staffer for Lyndon Johnson. Like, he helped write all that. As a senator, he ended up writing books and giving speeches about how the welfare state was the worst possible thing we did Because as a country, we incentivized families to break up because we under the pay schedule, If a family was together and and and nuclear family, father, mother in the house, right, The government supported that family to a lesser financial amount than if it was a single mother. So what so what happened to the inner city, both Appalachian and African American families? They're being incentivized to split, and and and in the section 8 housing projects, The Department of Health and Human Services actually hired contractors to knock on doors To verify that a single mother was in fact not cohabitating with the father. They checked. They checked on whether or not the family was really broken, and you got rewarded financially More money if it was broken than if it was together.
Brett Johnson [:How do we not see this happening when we put plans together like I mean, Brian It so A moron could figure this out. He could look at it, pay for it going Thank you. Wait a minute. If you stay together, you get x amount of dollars. If you split up, You get this. I I understand that that single mom or
Norm Murdock [:dad Right.
Brett Johnson [:Needs a little bit more. But in the long run, are they gonna Stay unmarried? Sure. Because there's no incentive to be married.
Norm Murdock [:So let's so this is where conservativism has compassion. You know, people will refer to the inner city welfare recipients, mainly, you know, women with kids, And they call them welfare queens. Why call them welfare victims? Because but for this Just enough to survive check that they get every month. It's just it's enough to eke out kind of a really crappy existence for them. Right. But it's regular. They can count on it. It's coming every month.
Norm Murdock [:Right? And so there's security in that knowing every month, If I don't get a job Yeah. If I if I don't marry, if I just keep on what I'm doing, I I'm on this Ridiculously paltry trickle of money that comes in regularly so I can just sustain my poverty status, You know, not not really break out of it. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:And and you know they can't that's a
Norm Murdock [:cruelty. It is. And then plantation right there.
Brett Johnson [:It is. And I would assume they don't wanna be in that
Norm Murdock [:situation. They And some of some
Brett Johnson [:But they but they don't know how to get out of it.
Norm Murdock [:It's generational now. Right. Right? They did that. Great society. Lyndon Johnson, that's a sixties. Right. We're we're now we're now 60, 70 years
Brett Johnson [:into it. Yeah. You would think that they just Talk about eliminating the human potential of that that person just they they're in it for the long haul, but and their mental health, their physical health as well.
Norm Murdock [:Right. You'd be Their children are getting shot. I mean, there's violence And and Fentanyl out there, and it's just, you know, it's just, like but the so I think, Long way around the barn. Right. I think the hateful 8, whatever they wanna call them, right, the Gates 8 and all this stuff, all the, You know, the the pejoratives that are being heaped on these people, whether they're detestable people personally or not, I think they feel that enough of the country is like them. Just sick of this. Like like, this The whole thing means needs to be retuned. The entire government needs a reshuffle, And we need to get back to sanity, and people really need to take care of themselves, and that will require 2 things, To some degree, pulling the rug out from underneath them so that they're motivated, that they still will wanna eat and still will wanna have housing, and and sometimes, You know, tough love.
Norm Murdock [:Right? You've gotta say, you know, the welfare state is getting trimmed back. But then on the other hand, We have all these job openings. Right? We have Venezuelans, for god's sakes, coming up from a different continent. From South America, they're coming all the way through the Darien Gap, running you're paying the cartels Four or 5 or $10,000 ahead to get into the country, and so, obviously, they're coming for the jobs that our own citizens who are on relief are not taking. Right. And it so the whole thing's upside down.
Brett Johnson [:It is. Yeah. And and the 8 will either look like they're the smartest people in the room, or they're gonna be scapegoats. Yeah. Hopefully, they have a plan. They just I I'd looked beyond that too. I didn't yes. The the media spun it as
Norm Murdock [:Because they don't have a plan.
Brett Johnson [:Getz didn't like McCarthy, so this was his his opportune. Okay. But guess what?
Norm Murdock [:That is a piece of Guess what? I don't I almost don't Care fine.
Brett Johnson [:They don't like each other. Maybe. Okay. Whatever. Well, they had enough votes to get him out. Yeah. McCarthy is gone.
Norm Murdock [:All the Democrats Voted to throw Kevin McCarthy out too.
Brett Johnson [:So there's something what what's with that? Well, he had
Norm Murdock [:a deal. This was funny. Remember when Kevin McCarthy was, up for speaker back in January? I mean, it seems like 20 years ago. Does. Right? Yeah. And He had to go through 14 rounds of ballots before he got approved. He said, in his farewell speech just a day ago, He said that Nancy Pelosi said you know, put her arm around him kinda, you know, and figuratively, and said, gee, Kevin, you know, why do you look so sad? What's the problem? He says, well, I got a problem with this Freedom Caucus. They want this amendment to our rules that just 1 member can put out a vote for vac to vacate the speaker because they don't trust me.
Norm Murdock [:Okay? And she said, Go ahead and because the Republicans only have a 5 vote majority in the house, Nancy Pelosi told Kevin, and he said this in his speech, She said, go ahead and give it to them. Give them that give them that thing where they can call for your head with just 1 vote and have Just 1 person can make a motion, and then there's gotta be this vote on whether to keep you or throw you out. He said, I've got your back. I've got your back. I'll come up with the 5 or 10 Democrat votes to vote for you. Hey, Brett. That did not happen, didn't it? And what did Kevin what did Kevin's replacement speaker do the next day? He threw Nancy Pelosi out of her hideaway office in Congress Yeah. Because she she didn't follow through on her commitment to Kevin Right.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. So hey. Hey, dude. You know, it's it's it's it's a big mess. It's chaos. Fine. I want the chaos if it's going to result. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Right? Let the chaos as you said, let the crisis Yeah. Be the occasion To start fixing some of
Brett Johnson [:this. Right. Right. Well and, you know
Norm Murdock [:Somebody somebody is going to have to care, said Daniel Horowitz in his column yesterday, So so to speak we need to find a leader who cares more about the health of the country Then he cares or she cares about being liked by the media and being and being pointed at, Oh, you shut down the government. That person's gonna have to care less about their reputation and more about the country.
Brett Johnson [:And I wonder if That's what it's gonna take. It gets in the in the other 7 or the, you know, the 8, that sort of thing. We're surprised by the Right leaning media outcry about it. I wonder if they were a little surprised about
Norm Murdock [:that. I wonder too.
Brett Johnson [:You know? Because it is it it is unusual. And, you know, and speaking of chaos, I don't know if you got to see the, half hour fluff news conference bringing it back to Ohio with DeWine and Houston.
Norm Murdock [:I did not.
Brett Johnson [:Go ahead. Talking about When, the other last the 11th hour of the change of department of education was converting into the new department of education and,
Norm Murdock [:With all those mega changes.
Brett Johnson [:Right. With all the mega changes. And, of course, a local Franklin County, Ohio judge put a Halt to that, at least, to, you know, a 3 pronged halt of of I I don't have the details in front of me. I'm gonna speak in, off my off my brainpower about, you know, what they can't do. You know? But the beginning of that news it was a half hour news conference, And I caught it a day late. I I missed the the the what day it was actually flipping over. And First thing out of DeWine's mouth is that it's chaos. It's chaos.
Brett Johnson [:It's gonna be chaos, and I have to step in. It's chaos. It's chaos. I have to step in because no one's gonna get paid. Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah. You find out that people are gonna get paid because it it's it's law that it has to transition into this. He said, now we're gonna follow the 3 things that The judge says that we can't do, but this is what we're gonna do.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. It was an an injunction
Brett Johnson [:An injunction.
Norm Murdock [:Thank you. Like a a couple
Brett Johnson [:weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Right. By, I think 7 board members and somebody else that's like, hey. We don't want this to happen. It's like, okay.
Brett Johnson [:Again, things don't happen until you do it the 11th hour. It's you know?
Norm Murdock [:Turns out Columbus has a swamp too. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Apparently. And and, you know, just watching this conference press conference. It was it was almost a joke in the long run because, it it looked as though both Houston and DeWine needed to get on air to point out the 7, and those 7 are a pain in our
Norm Murdock [:ass.
Brett Johnson [:Wow. And but we're still gonna do what we're gonna do, though. The judge says we can't do these 3 things, but we have to. But He started it off with chaos. Yep. It's it's gonna be if I don't come in, we have to do this for the kids. Right. The the the the the school boards aren't gonna know what to do because of of of of of of the oh, he had to bring in the school voucher
Norm Murdock [:thing.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Right? Well, they won't know what to do with the
Norm Murdock [:school voucher thing because there's someone there. And there of course, there's a lawsuit over that too. There's a separate lawsuit over the
Brett Johnson [:As it is. Voucher program. The whole press conference ends, you could find out. It's like, well, the money's there. We're gonna spend it. We 1 question came up. It's like, okay. You were gonna hire these people to be on on the board, and, what's gonna happen now? He says, Well, we were yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. We were close to hiring. I'm thinking, you didn't hire them yet? Yeah. You didn't hire them yet, and it's gonna start tomorrow.
Norm Murdock [:Right. And this was part of the Yeah. You budget. This was part of the Ohio budget bill.
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Norm Murdock [:Exactly. And and what what Brett's talking about, if you don't
Brett Johnson [:mind, just get it.
Norm Murdock [:Well, just
Brett Johnson [:just just more eloquent with him and
Norm Murdock [:just get it. Just to summarize, so what The change there's 2 mega changes in Ohio Education, and they both they both came out of the budget process. And one was, that the Ohio Board of Education, which was partially appointed by the governor and partially elected by the The the people of Ohio, that it would have almost all its powers taken away. It will still exist, But, basically, it will exist just to create school districts
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:And to monitor, if you will, border disputes Between school district and and and things like that. The real power is going to shift to a brand new department of education under the governor, and that there will be a director instead of the superintendent of education running everything via the Board of education. Now it'll be a secretary, director, whatever it is, czar, whatever word you wanna call it, But that person will be answering to the governor
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:Under this new structure, and so that is The injunction that they put into place until that gets, you know, resolved in court by the Ohio Supreme Court ultimately. Right. And then the other big thing that happened, that Brett mentioned, is this you know, basically, the money is in your kid's backpack, And they can you will be given as if you're a parent, of a high school or elementary student. You'll be given x amount of dollars, and that will be able to be applied in a voucher, right, not in cash. But that you will be able to spend that With a private school, a parochial school, a public school, wherever you want your kid to go, you will have that portability that you'll have choice. It's school choice, and a lot of people think that that will make public education even better because, You know, the the City of Columbus Schools, which is one of the lowest ranked school districts in the state, and it's the largest as well, We'll we'll have to step up or they're gonna lose population. And when they lose population, those teacher slots get reduced. Right.
Norm Murdock [:Because you don't need the same number of teachers or administrators or bus drivers or cooks or any or janitors or anything else If you have half your students walk to charter schools, private schools, parochial, wherever they Jewish, whatever, you know, kind of school they want, and they spend the voucher elsewhere, or they go to Upper Arlington or they go to New Albany Schools Because they have that option too.
Brett Johnson [:Sure. Exactly. Yeah. I I'm I'm you know? And I I think I've voiced this before. I'm not totally in love with this with it. I I I don't see how it's gonna play out to benefit all. But I also know that it could have some benefits in regards to looking at the different school systems to make them run more efficiently because I I From what a comment that I've heard, I'm not gonna mention the school district, but it's local, I mean, here in Columbus area, that, you know, administration is larger than the the teaching
Norm Murdock [:staff. I believe it.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And so it can't be just that one that I've heard about.
Norm Murdock [:And that's true at a
Brett Johnson [:lot of colleges. It's usually the school systems that have Yeah. More than 1 high school. Let's put it that way. And so you look at it that way. So you're looking you you know, you can think about that, and I'm not gonna point it out because I don't know
Norm Murdock [:specifics, but
Brett Johnson [:I believe them. But that makes sense.
Norm Murdock [:I think that's true of Yale. Probably, I'll
Brett Johnson [:work with that.
Norm Murdock [:Article that Yale has more administrators than it has professors.
Brett Johnson [:Professors. Which is crazy. It's crazy. Yeah. It's Crazy.
Norm Murdock [:What are they doing?
Brett Johnson [:Exactly. Well and then you also hear of the I don't know if it's a, you know, a a you know, a a an urban myth or whatever you wanna call it that, you know, the teachers that screw up end up getting kicked up to administration.
Norm Murdock [:Because they can't they can't firing them is so laborious. It's so costly.
Brett Johnson [:So if they get into some kind of Right. Sex scandal. And I'm not talking with student. I'm just not effort. Right. Whatever it might be. Could be teacher with teacher kind of thing or just they did something stupid.
Norm Murdock [:You know,
Brett Johnson [:they call can't fire, so they gotta kick them up to administration.
Norm Murdock [:The other thing is, Brett, I've heard this this term called a rubber room, where what they do is they don't fire the teacher. They give the teacher some kind of rote assignment, Like, like, put all the paperwork in the file cabinet in alphabetical order. And, basically, they're not teaching, so they're not, And they're not being fired. So there's still a debit on the budget of the school district. So Yeah. What what a lot of us hope is, I don't want bad public schools. No. I am not an enemy of public schools, okay, at all.
Norm Murdock [:I'm not an enemy, But what I am a friend of is competition, and I think competition imagine, people, if if the only Grocery store was, say, Kroger. Right? And I have nothing against Kroger. I worked for Kroger when I was in college. And Kroger's executives would love to have a monopoly. Right? Oh my god. No no Giant, Eagle, no Meyer.
Brett Johnson [:You know, Aldi.
Norm Murdock [:No. Aldi. Oh my god. Like, if Kroger could just so that is what public schools have had. They've had a monopoly, right, because The entire state budget for education has gone to them. Now for the first time, Money out of the state budget is gonna go to other schools, and the public school system is going to have to compete, and I think Some of those administrators and teachers at public schools are brilliant people. Mhmm. They are incredibly talented people.
Norm Murdock [:They're not all bad. We we can't broad brush them as
Brett Johnson [:all tariff. Probably a very low percentage that are That's right. Very low percentage.
Norm Murdock [:And so I think what they're gonna do, they're gonna get teacher meetings together because they wanna keep their jobs. They're motivated personally, But they're also professionally most of these teachers really give a damn about the students, and they're going to say, okay. We keep failing These students, because of these idiotic tests or these inadequate preparation Regimes. Or it could be mom and pop not supporting. Not supporting them.
Brett Johnson [:We need to take a look at what what's going on in our culture here. Lot, Lots of
Norm Murdock [:layers. Lots of layers. I mean, after all, they're feeding these kids in some schools 3 meals a day Right. Because they can't get a good breakfast. Typical school lunch, that always was served, and then some of these kids aren't getting dinner.
Brett Johnson [:Right. So what You think they have a place to go do homework?
Norm Murdock [:No. Public school is feeding them some of these kids 3 squares and babysitting them after latchkey program. So I get it. I get it. Yeah. But they need to step up. They need to regain the confidence of the of the public student Population of of the parents that are still sending their kids there, and I think they'll do it. I think when they look at that they're going to go stink unless they improve.
Norm Murdock [:Those are smart people. They're gonna figure it out. Yeah. They will become as good as the private sector schools, in my opinion, And there's well, take up our Arlington public schools. It's a showcase. Take, take Walnut Hills Public schools in Cincinnati. And I'm sure up in, like, Mentor, Ohio, I bet that I bet I don't know this at all, but I'll bet In that ritzy neighborhood, those are probably damn good public schools.
Brett Johnson [:So. Right. Probably so. Right.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. And some of those parents, They want their kids to go to Upper Arlington or or Walnut Hills or Mentor. Right? Mhmm. Because those are fantastic schools. Yeah. So they won't go to private or parochial schools in many cases.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Quickly, I wanted this is kind of a PSA. The warning period is over. Ticketing for Ohio's new texting Law.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. The cell
Brett Johnson [:phone thing. It's in play. So, yeah, if you got pulled over for a warning, yeah, first violation's up to $150, $150 fine and 2 points on your license.
Norm Murdock [:So now they're they're they're not compelled to give you a warning. It's They're you're just gonna get a citation.
Brett Johnson [:Get hit. 2nd violation, within two Here's up to $250 fine and 3 points on your license. 3rd within 2 years. 500 fine, 4 points, and a 90 day suspension. So Don't text and drive. Now what you can do now the law does have several exceptions to it. You can. Drivers reporting an emergency can legally hold their phone.
Brett Johnson [:Drivers can legally still hold their phone to their ear. Drivers can hold their phone to side slide, push, and accept or decline a call. Drivers can hold their phones if they are parked or at a red light. And I think So you still can do things. Just don't be And I think,
Norm Murdock [:Navigate. Right?
Brett Johnson [:Is that is that Navigate. Probably so. Yeah. Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:You know you know what? So if you don't
Brett Johnson [:have if you don't have a phone holder on your phone in your car, Get a phone holder that's on the dash And then connect it up to the the entertainment thing. Just make sure you get that phone out of your hand. Bottom line, safe.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. I mean, you know, without the 1 or 2 exceptions. So you could still slide it over
Brett Johnson [:Yes.
Norm Murdock [:You know, To to to and then put but then you put it in a cradle. Yeah. The the funny thing about all this, right, is that there's a thing where people are tinting their windows now. So I don't even know how the cop
Brett Johnson [:that's that's true.
Norm Murdock [:I don't even know how the cop point. You know, and and and and the policeman he pulls up next to you, he or she, They're gonna look over. Are they gonna know, you know or, oh, is he dialing for an emergency? Or is I know. I know.
Brett Johnson [:Well, if you're not to us, you're gonna get pulled over in the in the questioning and the and the anal probe goes on. Do you really wanna go through the anal probe And then and have to, you know, have to really deal with that where That officer could be doing something much more Important. It is important. You need to get off your phone. And and, I mean, I'm guilt we're all guilty of it at certain points. We we we catch ourselves going, Damn it. I'm get off this.
Norm Murdock [:Hey, Brad. I'll just throw this out there. This is one of those that unless the police officer Has some other reason to sort of I think Steve mentioned this will be used to hassle people that they already want The hassle. That yeah. Like like, it's gonna be it's gonna be
Brett Johnson [:the He sees the future much better on that stuff.
Norm Murdock [:Well, it's gonna be the occasion to pull somebody over. Like, Oh, I think this guy's a drug dealer. Right? I'm profiling him. I think this guy's a drug dealer or he's a pimp or he's something else, and I see him on his phone. Hot damn. Now I can pull him over Yeah. Because I can't catch him on the other stuff. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And maybe he's got evidence in the car. Yeah. Because once you pull somebody over, then you can do the full, oh, well, let's see what else is. I smell a little pot in here.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Well, especially with the, yeah, yeah, the combination of a
Norm Murdock [:lot of things. The other thing about about about driving. Right? All these modern cars now Have this gibosstic display that controls your air conditioning, your in car entertainment. Yeah. All these other functions of your car are now on a finger touch screen for many of these cars so that if you want the air conditioning on, you gotta find the snow Flake icon. Right? Now now you talk about distracted driving. Yes. Right? So so in a way, the cell phones like the least of it.
Brett Johnson [:I I'm Now you
Norm Murdock [:got people leaning over to the middle of the car to look at their dashboard to to to turn on the wipers.
Brett Johnson [:Flip you know, go through how to be multiple screens you have to get through to get to the iPad.
Norm Murdock [:And meanwhile, they're gonna sail up the end of a
Brett Johnson [:I agree.
Norm Murdock [:I agree. Of a tractor trailer.
Brett Johnson [:I think that entertainment Center right there is even more distracting. Yeah. It can be at least because you're into it, gonna go, I hit the wrong thing the wrong thing. Because I even hooked mine up Thinking, okay. No. This is gonna turn into law eventually. I've gotta get my my phone at least Bluetoothed so it mirrors. The the entertainment center mirrors my phone because that's where all the action's happening is only not to check text, but it's that, okay, all my entertainment stuff, my podcast Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Or SiriusXM or something like that is on there or that I want what's through my phone versus what I'm getting off of a satellite Right. And that sort of thing. So, you know, I'm set to go, but it's still you're right. It's a
Norm Murdock [:Huge tax. Cars used to have tactile knobs and switches, and you could be going down the road. And after a few months of owning the car, You would know without looking, you would know where the radio dial is Oh. And and where the blower knob is to turn up the air conditioner.
Brett Johnson [:When you had Five push buttons for the preset radio. Yeah. You knew number 5 was the what station literally pushing this
Norm Murdock [:button in. Wouldn't even have to look. I know. You could just Oh, yeah. Tactile. You could feel it. And then
Brett Johnson [:If that was a badge of honor, you you could.
Norm Murdock [:Well, and and a lot and then before airbags, people Might not remember before airbags, there used to be a lot of these controls right on the steering wheel. Uh-huh. Well, now with the airbag blowing up in your face, You can't have the radio controls in
Brett Johnson [:your studio. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. The whole thing's a mess. I know.
Brett Johnson [:I because I saw a meme recently going if you wanna Stop. If you wanna stop people from texting you using your smartphone, make every car a manual drive. Keep them busy. Keep them busy. It's like that that's a good point.
Norm Murdock [:I think I heard where we're down to, like, 5% of new car sales, Maybe 7% are, stick shift.
Brett Johnson [:Stick shift. Yeah. Everything. If you put everything stick Yeah. You have no hands to mess with the phone. And now That that's
Norm Murdock [:That that And now and now a lot of cars, I mean, they're, like, 10 speed automatic transmit. I mean, it's Yeah. It's off. And some are continuously variable transmission, Which means it's it's like, it's like your kids' jitney at home where you just have a pulley and a belt drive system, And the pulley gets wider and skinnier based on the speed that you're going. So it has, like, innumerable ratios Instead of, like, a 3 speed or a 10 speed. So we're we're entering into, crazy town.
Brett Johnson [:Well, let me hit let me hit Harbor one more time for a sponsor. I wanna do Norm's Nuggets before we get out of here.
Norm Murdock [:I I just have a couple
Brett Johnson [:That's cool. Let let me hey. Harper, thanks again, Harper and Company CPAs, for sponsoring the show. Harpercpaplus.com. Go over there if you Use them. They they they will help your business grow. Bottom line, at least, they're gonna give you a different look at how you look at your business and, get you where you wanna go. Harpercpaplus.com.
Norm Murdock [:Go for it. I think, so I'm gonna preview Future discussions without getting into it because you're gigantic. Right. We are 1 month away from Ohioans, going to the polls for those that haven't already voted with absentee ballots, but We the Ohioans are gonna vote on abortion on demand, and they're gonna vote on recreational marijuana. I I read a study That said 1 out of every 7 Americans now, roughly around 57,000,000, which is 1 seventh, Roughly of the population regularly smokes marijuana. 1 out of 7. Oh, yeah. So, Okay, folks.
Norm Murdock [:We we we you know, these are 2 giant things are about to happen. We're only a month out. I am certain that this show is going to get into the ins and outs of both of those issues that are gonna be on the Ohio ballot. So fasten your seat belts and stay tuned.
Brett Johnson [:And do some research on your own too.
Norm Murdock [:Oh, absolutely.
Brett Johnson [:Look at look. There's a lot of really good stuff out
Norm Murdock [:there to
Brett Johnson [:to do the What what which direction you should go with this? Absolutely. Do some
Norm Murdock [:research. Do some research. Yeah. And also, you know, Check your value system. Yes. Whatever your value system is, you need to consult, you know, what you think is right and what you think is wrong, And we'll we'll say no more Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Because Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Because it's just a giant topic. Mhmm. The other thing that I think is curious, and this, I mean, this this is hot right now, so, you know, people will be seeking their own sources of news on this. But it is incredible that this administration, which came in and talking about president Biden, came in and stated Flat out, they weren't gonna build another foot of southern wall. Right? Has I mean, it's minuscule, but they are they have they have budgeted and are commencing construction On 20 miles of additional border wall. I can't do anything about it. It's the money's spent. I have I have to.
Brett Johnson [:Just forget it.
Norm Murdock [:I'm that's done. Which is the most incredibly it's such bullshit. Like, You know, come on, president Biden. I mean, you know, you've been in office for 3 years.
Brett Johnson [:He didn't want you to cut it off.
Norm Murdock [: e need more like, you know, a: Brett Johnson [:miles. But yeah. But, Yeah. I I just I I thought his comment was
Norm Murdock [:It's off the hook.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have to spend I have to spend a little bit of money on.
Norm Murdock [:Where's my dog? Where's Commander?
Brett Johnson [:Right. Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:But it's Oh, he's off biting somebody. Yeah. It
Brett Johnson [:is it is what it is, I guess. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Exactly. Back at Delaware. Or Yeah. Because he's not at the White House anymore.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Exactly. Yeah. Well, that's gonna do it for this week. If you, wanna get in contact with us, you know, go go to common sense ohio show .com. All of our contact information is there. If you wanna be around the roundtable, have a discussion with us in regards to your point of view on something, we'd love to talk to you. You could just contest contact us through there.
Brett Johnson [:We have a seat at the table, almost every time until we bring in some guests, which, So we're lining them up right now. But commonsense ohio show.com for more information, and we, until our next episode, we will talk to you then.
