In this podcast, I’m going to provide some commentary on a number of things happening in our culture that I thought are worth commenting on, but didn’t want to dedicate an entire episode to. Up for discussion, the curse of the lottery, a preacher that was robbed of $1 million in jewelry he was wearing, whether or not the United States is in a recession, and the infamous Elon Musk and a unique theory I have regarding him.
The $1 Billion Lottery Curse
My parents knew someone that won the lottery that had been reduced to begging all within several years. According to the so-called “Curse of the Lottery,” over 70% of people that win the lottery end up broke and filing for bankruptcy within 7 years. Why does this happen? It’s because people who didn’t earn $1 billion dollars the old fashioned way don’t know how to manage it, nor understand it’s value.
Rich Preacher Robbed Of $1 Million In Jewelry
It was recently reported that a preacher in Brooklyn, by the name of Lamor Whitehead was robbed of $1 million in jewelry that he was wearing. To top it off, the robbery took place during a live stream. Many people have criticized this preacher for basically being the Mr. T. of ministers, and wearing a lot of gold while he preached. In defense of his extravagance, Whitehead stated, “It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase. If I work hard for it, I can purchase what I want to purchase.” And even though as a capitalist who generally agrees what he says in true, as a Christian who believes in modesty, I believe this to be wrong. Unfortunately, most of us don’t understand the virtue of modesty (except in relation to how women dress), and as a result, don’t understand why it’s wrong for a preacher (or anyone else) to live such an extravagant lifestyle.
Is The United States In A Recession?
Is the United States in a recession or not? According to Investopedia, commonly, a recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country. The United States has seen such. But some economists aren’t willing to call this current economic cycle such just yet, because it’s technically a little more complicated than that. In addition to two consecutive quarters of economic decline, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) says other factors must also be taken into consideration, including unemployment rates, payrolls, industrial production, retail sales, amongst many other points. As a result of all these other data points not seeing a sharp downturn yet, the NBER is not willing to officially declare the United States to be in a recession. I’m not sure about you, but while this may “technically” be true, a lot of this definition feels like a “new math” sorta thing to me. With sky high inflation happening right now, and two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction, this entire economic environment certainly feels like a recession to me. I think the government just needs to go full on Michael Scott with this and say, “I declare Bankruptcy!!!”
How Does Elon Musk Do It All?
A few months ago, in the middle of running Tesla, Space X, the Boring Company, having alleged affairs with several women, and having 9 kids, Elon Musk thought he didn’t have enough going on in his life. So, he decided to engage in a hostile takeover of Twitter. But recently, he decided to back out of the deal, and now he and Twitter are suing each other over this. I’m not a big Elon Musk fan. Don’t get me wrong, I respect him. He’s an extremely intelligent visionary that’s doing amazing things with technology. I don’t care much for his behavior as a person. But with that said, I’ve started wondering lately… is Elon Musk really just one person? I really think he must have numerous clones. Just think of all that he does. How does the CEO of 3 companies, who has 9 children, and is apparently quite the ladies man, have all this time to try to takeover a company like Twitter and possibly run it? The math just doesn’t add up. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard enough time working 40-50 hours a week, doing some church activities, maintaining relationships with family and friends, and taking some time to workout and engage in hobbies. How does Elon Musk manage to do all that he does in life? I think there can only be one logical answer. Elon Musk obviously has clones.
