Mark and Kevin have been busy, because of kids, but finally get back to recording another episode. This one starts with a rant about gift cars, and why they are "the worst". Things quickly spiral, as it often does with these two. The episode covers: Gift cards Corporate takeover of everything The loss of expertise in retail Tucker Carlson in Russia…

The Israel-Hamas conflict has begun, and countless lives lost. Mark and Kevin discuss it a bit, before segueing into the inability of politicians to compromise, and the consequences for everyone else. Taylor Swift has movie, and Mark doesn't get it. Kevin can't help, as he doesn't get it either. There's a bit about societal norms, why suspenders ar…

Mark and Kevin discuss the latest drama in Wisconsin, Lauren Boebert's latest incident, rich businessmen who hate their employees and want them to stop feeling empowered, Boss Tweed, some logical fallacies, Donald trump (of course), and a few other items. Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates often speak out on hot topics. Only one faces impeachment t…

The news cycle never ceases to amaze Mark and Kevin. In this episode it's the billionaire who wants to live forever, otters attacking surfers, rich people's dogs, Threads, and Zuckerber vs Musk, in the battle of two evil billionaires, and Taylor Swift. This billionaire wants to live forever Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Deionized water Zuckerberg Vs.…

A submarine imploded, Biden was blamed for a slow response, and obviously Trump, would have found it faster...probably by himself. The Supreme Court went crazy recently. Some people tie their self-worth to their favorite professional sports team, which Mark and Kevin find odd. The political organization, Moms for Liberty quoted Hitler in a recent n…

Kevin spent the day of the podcast fixing things, whether broken or not, so that's how the episode starts. Mark has an encounter with a climate change denier who almost utters the words "global warming", but then catches himself in the nick of time. Unfortunately science has become a team sport, with political allegiance taking priority. New cars a…

By Hardtail Media

Major League Baseball is changing the rules. Mainly, because it kind of sucks. Pesäpallo, the national sport of Finland is kind of like baseball, but different, and cricket is confusing. Golf is even more boring than baseball. English food is pretty awful, but at least you can get any other kind of food while you're there. Some "sports" are really …

SpaceX employees feels more calm with Musk focused on Twitter. Elon is like the man behind the curtain, desperately pulling levers. Attention seekers: Musk, MTG, George Santos, Andrew Tate, and others. Elon Musk is focused on Twitter, and his SpaceX employees feel a weight lifted off their shoulders with no Musk breathing down their necks. He and s…

Mark and Kevin were obviously hungry and immediately began the show with a discussion of taco trucks, and food trucks in general. Kevin recalls the time when GOP strategist promised food trucks on every corner. Sadly, that never happened. Somehow the conversation morphs into a conspiracy theory about "Big Hamburger" convincing us to not like salads…

This is the billionaire take-down episode. Elon Musk is always in the news, as is his intention. It's hard not to talk about him and his purchase of Twitter. New things come out everyday, and Mark and Kevin talk about those things once again. There's also Sam Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, who thinks philanthropy …

Mark and Kevin can't stop talking about Elon Musk. Now he's bought Twitter and now works 120 hours per week. Things don't seem to be going great at Twitter. Kyrie Irving gets in trouble and seems to double down. Billionaires can make their own reality, at least in the eyes of their supporters. Full self driving cars aren't happening anytime soon. T…

Mark and Kevin discuss former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, dumb movies, Alex Jones and his billion dollar penalty, the origin of sin (according to the bible), Catholic night school (or is it Catholic Knight School?), and silly religious movies. There's also some Nickelback, Sharknado, SNL, and more.…

With Hurricane Ian in the news, the episode starts with natural disasters. As is typical, the rest of the show is a stream of consciousness discussion of bad movie pitches, fancy restaurants, Red Lobster and seafood, lab grown meat, Maya Rudolph, Cracker Barrel, The Great Outdoors, 80s camp movies, Airplane II, Henry Winkler, Van Morrison and all t…

Kevin's furnace broke and getting it fixed was a minor miracle. Getting it replaced would have been a major miracle. Also, he's old now, and messed up his back. Mark brings up Covid deaths and comorbidities, followed by gunshot wounds, and abrupt endings to things, such as life. Things get dark for a bit. They also discuss Carrie Fisher and Star Wa…

The episode somehow starts off with the Fast & Furious series, moves on to really baggy pants, former skateboarder Heath Kirchart, amazingly evil Orca whales, Elon Musk (of course), the Queen and the Royal Family, Ronald Reagan, and September 11th. Mark and Kevin start with a rant about the Fast & Furious and really baggy pants, but move on the the…

Mark and Kevin discuss absolutism in just about everything, from gun rights, to sunburns at the Jersey Shore (Whitefish Beach), extreme sports, and the predictable outcome (death). There's also some reminiscing about how the past was better in extreme sports, and how the genre has "jumped the shark". There's also the required discussion of Elon Mus…

Rich people are moving to Montana and ruining things. Montana is flooding, while the rest of the country has historic heat. Meanwhile, Larry Ellison has bought a Hawaiian Island, and ruins it for all the locals. The rich try to turn every nice place into a gated community for themselves. Don't settle for mediocre cuisine. We can now get good Indian…

Mark and Kevin react to the characters in the news today. The attention seekers known as Elon Musk, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Tucker Carlson receive the bulk of their ire. Elon wants (maybe) to buy Twitter, Marjorie Taylor Greene is sued, and Tucker Carlson believes men are wimpy and should tan their balls.…

This episode was originally supposed to be episode 13, but we had some serious technical issues recording the previous two, so this one is now number 11. Is this the end of season 1, the beginning of season two, or just another episode? We don't really know. In this episode we talk about Rorschach tests, Atlas Shrugged, Afghanistan, woolly aphids, …

Despite news about the Covid-19 omicron variant, the U.S. economy is doing well, based on the latest statistics. Nevertheless, Covid impacts the stock market, making for very turbulent times. This week, we discuss how investors should manage their portfolio – no matter their size. We also discuss how many Americans are invested in the stock market,…

This week, we discuss the Federal Reserve’s plan to reduce inflation and the number of U.S. Treasury bonds the Fed buys, too. We discuss how the stock market reacted to this situation and why the Fed is charged with controlling inflation. The Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, is also worried about employment.…

This week, we interviewed a Connecticut-based financial advisor, Wilder Carnes. We learn how his clients are reacting to the stock market's volatility and how he’s advising his clients. We also talk about what’s causing the major stock indexes – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ – to react the way they do. Is it based on …

Investors learn how to manage their portfolio in a time when the stock market and major indexes go haywire. Is it the company that’s doing poorly and that’s what’s bringing its stock price down? Or is it suffering the drubbings of the market? Investing For Us also shares original reporting on grocery store prices in this episode as well as providin…

Investors learn about President Biden’s choice to keep Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve chairman and what actions the Biden Administration is considering in an attempt to reverse inflation. Investors also learn more about the Biden Administration’s release of the 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve and what’s causing the ri…

Investors learn what’s next after the inflation we’re experiencing in the United States. Also discussed is the divide between major investors and the management at WalMart and Target, two large retailers. And why General Electric, Johnson & Johnson and Toshiba recently announced they were spinning off divisions and breaking themselves up. Finally, …

Investors learn about what’s increasing two major indexes that measure inflation, the Producer Price Index and the Consumer Price Index. They also learn about a new company that’s competing in the electric vehicle space and why it might behoove them to look at small cap companies listed in the Russell 2000 Index. Some of today’s large companies, li…

Investors learn the role of the Federal Reserve on the American economy and why its chairman, Jerome Powell, will likely be kept in the position by President Biden. There’s also a discussion about why the Dow Jones Industrial Average has increased more than 3.5 times in the last 22 years and why people need to stay invested. Finally, the show ends …

Investors learn how much Tesla CEO Elon Musk is worth, how many products use oil, the state of unemployment in the United States, why “Earnings Season” is so important to investors as well as to publicly traded companies. Investors also learn what stocks to buy to hedge against inflation and what sector investing means.…

By Rich Masterson

By Rich Masterson

Investing for Us – Episode 3 Summary: Includes an explanation of the October curse on the stock prices and why investors shouldn’t sell in a panic when stock prices drop. Also includes an explanation about the current state of the economy, including the impact of the U.S. Federal Government’s debt and crude oil prices on stocks. Finally, a discussi…

Investing for Us – Episode 2 Summary: Includes an explanation of the 10-year Treasury Bond and its impact on inflation and stock prices, particularly growth stocks like Apple and those in high tech. Also includes an explanation on how crude oil prices impact stock prices and the importance of looking at the greater society when making stock purchas…

Just before recording the podcast, the Smithereens, Only a Memory, played on the radio, and Mark and Kevin began discussing music of the era. The discussion carried right into, and begins, the latest episode of Are We Recording? A journey into 80s and 90s rock wouldn't be complete without mentioning college rock, and the college radio stations that…

The discussion of episode nine is broad and meandering. Mark and Kevin talk about: Awful people who face no repercussions Old presidents Election fraud myth origins People who receive accolades after death/posthumous accolades Resistance to change A tiger in Houston, and dumb criminals Vaccine microchip tracking Freewill, or the lack thereof Econom…

Mark and Kevin talk about the Ever Given, the ship stuck in the Suez Canal, and how fragile our global trade system is. We also give our unrequested opinions on terrible (in our opinion) product design, long term living in hotels, the movie Nomadland, dangerous houses, and Unhappy hipsters, among other things. The Suez logjam shows how fragile our …

Mark and Kevin discuss working too much, burn out, and dying people wishing they had worked more. They also discuss the boom in NFTs, what the heck they are, and what you actually get if you buy one. Next, they briefly rant about ugly websites, talk about unfriendly modern design, and bad ways to die. There's a discussion about some crazy moms that…

Mark and Kevin start off talking Groundhog Day, and Bill Murray. We end up discussing a variety of actors and movies, before moving on to old ski jumping movies, the extremeness of sports today, which leads to surfing, and how low-riders are painted. 1939 Ski Jumping competition Oslo Ski Jump (1946) Watch Kai Lenny’s Concussion-Inducing Wipeout at …

There was this time when a bunch of angry white men invaded the capital, while dressed in costumes. This episode covers that crazy event, and meanders a bit around the insane politics of the times. Somehow, we forgot about this episode. Apparently we were so distracted by the events of that day, and the insanity that followed, distracted us from ac…

On the podcast we start out by discussing time travel, and whether we'd rather travel back in time, or forward in time. We somehow migrate to discussing lost Bitcoin, the role of luck in life, a Michael Lewis speech at Princeton, the myth of American meritocracy, commitment to incendiary political figures, the sunk cost fallacy, political tribalism…

Mark and Kevin had a way too long intro covering Geo-fencing, storage units, records and CDs, and being dropped off at the mall by mom. Eventually, they get to the show, and cover: mobile homes, the ideal vs. the reality, at least in America. cremated pets turned into pendants in the shape of hamburgers society's resistance to change World Happines…

Mark and Kevin start off by revisiting a couple of topics from the first episode, including Formula One racing, and ice hockey rink sizes. The Formula One discussion leads to the crazy Can-Am car racing series from the 70s and 80s, and Formula One steering wheels. They talk about Rudy Giuliani's hair malfunction, and a comparison of Trumpism and pr…

We had an idea for a new podcast. Actually, it was two ideas. Mark had one idea, and I had another. We thought we were on the same page, but we weren't. We initially thought we'd call the show the Rabbit Hole, and in this episode we definitely go down it. The discussion starts with Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, and proceeds to cover the insane…