Episode 133: Universal Basic Income, Grounding, Student Loan Forgiveness, and Gary Vee’s Training Update

0:00:12.0 Mike Vacanti: Hello, Jordan.

0:00:12.5 Jordan Syatt: What’s up, Michael? We’re back.

0:00:14.2 Mike Vacanti: Bro. We’re always back. Every Tuesday. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you hear your podcast, we’re back. At Beta-Alanine for the first time this morning. For the first time in a long time. I’m still feeling its effects two and a half hours later. I have a question for you.

0:00:27.8 Jordan Syatt: Okay.

0:00:28.7 Mike Vacanti: What do you think of grounding or earthing?

0:00:31.6 Jordan Syatt: Dude, you know I’m a huge fan. Huge fan. Bare feet in the grass. One of the best feelings ever. You’ve been on a kick though. You’ve been texting me all caps in the morning. Bro, grounding is it. [laughter]

0:00:45.2 Mike Vacanti: Did I?

0:00:46.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. [laughter]

0:00:46.7 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. It’s right. It’s right. Man, shoes were the worst invention. Prior rubber sold shoes supposedly from the one YouTube video I watched on the subject came around in the 1960s. But… And I…

0:01:06.4 Jordan Syatt: Trust me, I watched the YouTube video.

[laughter]

0:01:11.1 Mike Vacanti: And I realized, I mean, I’ve gone through periods where I felt really, really good in life. We’re going pure anecdotal n=1, like, no science. We can get into the science, but first I wanna talk about personal experience. And I’ve had a hard time drawing the line between why I felt so good and what I was doing differently during those periods of my life. And they were times when I spent lots of time outside barefoot. And whether that’s sand, in the ocean, feet on grass playing, like kicking a ball around, throwing a ball, whatever it is, but being outside with my bare feet on the ground, not constricted by a shoe, not with this layer in between us and the earth. And it’s just massively overrated. And now in this era of knowledge work where we’re inside, we’re under fluorescent lights, we’re hunched over with bad posture. We’re staring at glowing rectangles all the time. I’m not gonna go complete woo woo and like blame all of our…

0:02:13.4 Jordan Syatt: Do it. Do it.

0:02:14.6 Mike Vacanti: Well, no, ’cause I don’t think it’s right. I think it’s one of many things that we’re doing wrong as humans, but getting outside more often and getting those bare feet splayed in the ground, those toes splayed, that is the game. And I don’t know if the whole, like the earth has a negative charge and we have a positive charge, and therefore when there’s like an electrical component to your feet being on the ground. I’m just not smart enough to know if that’s actually correct or not. And I know there’s debate on that subject, but what I know is when I am indoors or even outside and with shoes, I feel different than when I’m getting my feet on the grass.

0:02:53.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, dude. Agreed. Have you ever used a toe spreader?

0:02:57.5 Mike Vacanti: I haven’t.

0:02:58.4 Jordan Syatt: Dude, have you seen my toe spreader?

0:03:00.6 Mike Vacanti: I think we had this conversation 18 months ago on the pod.

0:03:03.4 Jordan Syatt: Oh really? I’m a huge fan of the toe spreader. It feels amazing. So yeah. Big fan of that one. I know you, I… Remember Kev Dineen had that thing at Structure, Structure Personal Fitness, best gym in New York. Remember…

0:03:18.2 Mike Vacanti: Shout Out.

0:03:19.4 Jordan Syatt: He had that little mat that I could stand on with like all the little bumps on it. That was like one of the greatest things I had for my feet too. It just made me feel so good. All like the little pressure points and everything. Big fan of that.

0:03:32.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, getting that like massage, that SMR on the feet that are normally cooped up in shoes.

0:03:39.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, but getting outside in the grass. I’m a big fan. Obviously, I think shoes were necessary to prevent illnesses and cuts and infections. Especially…

0:03:48.8 Mike Vacanti: You’re so good at playing defense against the people we don’t even like online that like, I don’t even wanna play defense against them. If anyone had a negative comeback to that, that was like neckbeard-y and reddit-y and like…

0:04:05.2 Jordan Syatt: Shoes are a net positive on society.

0:04:08.6 Mike Vacanti: Actually, yeah. Yeah. It’s like, nah. Nope.

0:04:10.4 Jordan Syatt: We don’t even like you.

0:04:14.6 Mike Vacanti: But you are intuitively so good at, and it probably comes with like, making content and being on the internet, but just being able to defend your position against all angles. But I don’t even wanna think about that.

0:04:29.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Just shoes are bad. Black and white.

[laughter]

0:04:36.6 Jordan Syatt: There’s no way if, ands or buts about it.

0:04:38.4 Mike Vacanti: Did shoes prevent disease? I don’t know. I like it’s what…

0:04:40.7 Jordan Syatt: Oh, absolutely.

0:04:41.9 Mike Vacanti: That was the purpose of shoes. Are you just free balling here?

0:04:44.9 Jordan Syatt: No, no, no. I wouldn’t, I’m not gonna say that’s the purpose, but that’s definitely one of the reasons why, there’s no question that like you have a cut, bacteria in the ground, maybe at a time when people were pooping on the ground, peeing on the ground. Like that’s…

0:04:57.5 Mike Vacanti: The ’60s. Oh, you’re talking not rubber sold shoes, but like the…

0:05:01.1 Jordan Syatt: In general.

0:05:02.3 Mike Vacanti: The origin of shoes.

0:05:03.2 Jordan Syatt: There were different types of shoes long before that, but yeah, it’s super, yeah, from a hygiene perspective.

0:05:07.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah but those shoes were made out of the earth.

0:05:09.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Often they were made out of wood.

0:05:11.9 Mike Vacanti: Great.

0:05:12.4 Jordan Syatt: And they were awful on your feet. Like people got the worst blisters ever, like reading the historical accounts of those of were just wild.

0:05:21.0 Mike Vacanti: So maybe they saved some lives, but they also, if that’s true, then they also impaired our immune function by reducing our exposure to certain pathogens and things that out in nature would help build our immune systems to be stronger.

0:05:36.5 Jordan Syatt: Dude, a hundred percent, ruin. So they ruined our lives.

0:05:39.7 Mike Vacanti: I don’t even.

0:05:44.4 Mike Vacanti: The big takeaway is get outside, get some sun on your skin. And get those feet on the earth and you don’t need to go over the top with it or you can, I saw some guy who, what he’s got is he’s like knocking stakes, like metal stakes into the ground outside his window. And then he’s like wiring, like, I don’t know, wire the takes the earth’s charge. And then he’s like sticking it into like a mat that is in his bed and then he sleeps on it. And so he’s grounding all night.

0:06:15.6 Mike Vacanti: I don’t know if that…

0:06:17.3 Jordan Syatt: That’s ridiculous.

0:06:18.4 Mike Vacanti: I might be into it, but I’m not. I just like the zest for life that that guy has. But…

0:06:25.1 Jordan Syatt: Why doesn’t he just sleep outside? He should just sleep outside or put his feet outside.

0:06:30.0 Mike Vacanti: Why don’t you sleep outside?

0:06:31.5 Jordan Syatt: Because I’m not that into it.

0:06:33.7 Mike Vacanti: You’re, You’re into it.

0:06:35.3 Jordan Syatt: Oh, I remember, you’re into it, buddy.

0:06:37.5 Mike Vacanti: We were in Florida a couple years ago on a work trip to write the book and instead we spent like four hours grounding. And you were…

0:06:45.0 Jordan Syatt: Running around the bases on that little public baseball field. That was super fun.

0:06:51.1 Jordan Syatt: Dude I, when I came back from Israel, when I started coaching Gary, in Israel I would walk around barefoot all the time. And I remember I made an Instagram story of me walking around New York City, barefoot and people were like, what are you doing? Like, that is disgusting. I remember like…

[chuckle]

0:07:11.2 Mike Vacanti: New York City.

0:07:11.9 Jordan Syatt: Getting back in my apartment, just like black feet. Like just tar colored. [chuckle] It was, yeah, not the best place. And I was like, avoiding broken glass everywhere. Yeah.

0:07:24.0 Mike Vacanti: But New York City for all of its incredible offerings, it really is like a one of a kind city. It is the opposite of being in nature.

0:07:32.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. It’s the exact opposite.

0:07:34.0 Mike Vacanti: Like it’s the exact opposite. I remember that Laird Hamilton quote that is, maybe the most bro-science… He’s the famous surfer. Maybe the most bro-science thing I’ve ever heard. But it resonated deeply. And I mean, I believe it to my core, I think it was on Rogan. He’s like, humans were not meant to be in these giant buildings walking around with these skyscrapers. Like our epigenetics, our DNA basically thinks that these giant structures could crash down on us at any time. And so our cortisol’s constantly spiking. Like probably a little bit of an extreme argument, but there’s so much good that comes from spending a lot of time in nature. And unfortunately, the way that we have our lives structured, we don’t.

0:08:22.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:08:23.3 Mike Vacanti: And I mean…

0:08:23.7 Jordan Syatt: Many of us. We definitely were not designed to live in high-rise buildings. That is for sure.

0:08:28.4 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Small apartment complexes with our, our shoes and our feet never touching Mother Earth.

0:08:35.3 Jordan Syatt: I saw a video the other day of this guy, I don’t know what year it was. I think it was a historical account, and it was showing what New York City construction workers did before there was like any safety considerations. And this guy was just climbing very quickly at an un, like, must have been thousands of feet in the air just climbing and jumping and moving and just with a tool belt around him. And that was it. No safety, no carabiner, no like net under, just like jumping and moving and shimmying and climbing. And I’m like, holy shit. [laughter] Like, that’s what he does every day. And that’s, it’s why that city is built is because of people like that. It’s just wild. It’s incredible.

0:09:32.4 Mike Vacanti: Wildly impressive.

0:09:34.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:09:36.2 Mike Vacanti: And terrifying.

0:09:36.5 Jordan Syatt: I was watching and my legs felt like jelly, like I had a legitimate physical response where like, watching him do it, my legs jellied up and I was like, I’m so soft. Like, I just… I couldn’t, I… You couldn’t… I can’t even think of the words to say how I would literally never do that under any circumstance.

0:10:00.0 Mike Vacanti: Do you have, a fear of heights?

0:10:01.6 Jordan Syatt: I definitely don’t not have a fear of heights. Like I’m not like… I’ll go on… Like I skydived or I sky-dove. I did that and like I’ll do that stuff. I would prefer not to be in a situation in which I’m like, I could fall off and die. But I mean, I think I probably have a lower fear of heights than most people. For example, I remember on my honeymoon, we were in Santorini and we were like doing this hike up this little mountain and like I was just like strolling right on the edge and my wife lost it. She was like, “What the fuck are you doing?” She was like, and I don’t know, I was fine with it, but I definitely, it’s not so much the fear of heights, it’s more just the realistic fear of that guy has literally no safety whatsoever. Like if I was attached to something, I’d probably be more okay doing it. But yeah. That’s just nuts.

0:10:51.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Terrifying. What do you wanna talk about? Feel good to be back rolling again?

0:10:56.6 Jordan Syatt: Duh. Bro. It’s the best.

0:10:57.8 Mike Vacanti: How do your ribs feel?

0:11:00.2 Jordan Syatt: They’re still not healed fully. They’re probably around 80%. But they’re good enough to where I can really be drilling now unhindered, I would say.

0:11:12.5 Mike Vacanti: Good.

0:11:13.2 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Which is really good. So it feels really good to be back. Conditioning feels good. Man, and jiu-jitsu is one of those things where the conditioning is so different than anything else. So coming back, like, I actually, I’m very happy with how my conditioning feels. Just I did an insane amount of zone two work and I still, like, I do zone two, probably like 19 out of 20 days. I’m doing zone two. And I just feel great. My conditioning stays so high that like, even getting, like there were, when I didn’t do zone two, my condition would be awful when I took that amount of time off. But just keeping up with that, it’s crazy how well your conditioning maintains.

0:11:52.8 Mike Vacanti: That’s awesome. I’m glad you feel so good coming back. Great for your health too, obviously.

0:11:57.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. What do you wanna talk about?

0:12:02.8 Mike Vacanti: Starting my new split on Monday? So actually…

0:12:06.1 Jordan Syatt: New split?

0:12:06.6 Mike Vacanti: When this, when this podcast is released, I’ll be on day two of my new split. Yep. So Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, I’m dropping some lower body volume and going Monday, pull day, but it starts with deadlifts and I might throw some hamstringing curls on that day. We’ll see. Tuesday, upper push. Wednesday, rest. Thursday, legs. Friday, full upper.

0:12:33.7 Jordan Syatt: Nice.

0:12:34.6 Mike Vacanti: Just trying to get an extra caffeinated workout day in.

0:12:40.1 Jordan Syatt: So you’ve been doing three day week workouts for a while now?

0:12:42.5 Mike Vacanti: I’ve been doing three x full body and it’s been solid, but they’re exhausting. And so these will be slightly shorter workouts so I shouldn’t have to break them into two sessions. And I just find it easier to work and like feel better on days when I work out, probably because of the increase in caffeine on those days. But nonetheless, and I enjoy training and ABR as we say, Always Be Recomping and so I’ll be continuing with that mentality and yeah, I’m excited.

0:13:13.6 Jordan Syatt: Probably the mix of caffeine and endorphins, right, you just feel so much better after you lift.

0:13:18.3 Mike Vacanti: Correct.

0:13:19.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:13:20.0 Mike Vacanti: That’s exactly right. Yeah. So there’s that. I go to Chicago tomorrow for four days coaching Gary at the National Sports Card Convention.

0:13:29.4 Jordan Syatt: Oh, nice. How’s coaching Gary been lately. How’s he been doing?

0:13:32.5 Mike Vacanti: He’s been good. He’s been good. His summer is… His summers are always tough because he’s got that market, that giant marketing event in France…

0:13:44.6 Jordan Syatt: Cannes.

0:13:44.9 Mike Vacanti: I guess like a… Yeah, like film festival…

0:13:46.8 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:13:46.8 Mike Vacanti: But there’s also like it’s very business stuff. So he’s working for seven, eight, nine straight days for that. And then he spends a lot of time with the family in the summer. And so when you’re out of your normal routine and just have like seven, 10, 12 days of more downtime, it’s easier to pick. And he’s done a really good job of not overdoing it and kind of maintaining the same range and continued to get good workouts in despite traveling. And so yeah, things have been going really good.

0:14:20.3 Jordan Syatt: His rows have been pretty insanely strong. His rows and his bench press.

0:14:24.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. His… Yeah. So it probably peaked right before France, actually, with some restrictions around full gyms. So then you’re kind of modifying. And strength usually takes a hit if your access to heavy weights is… If you’re lifting super heavy and then you don’t… 52.5s is the most you have access to for a period of time. But yeah, dude, chest ported dumbbell row, 75s for like eight to ten with good technique. Insane.

0:14:56.5 Jordan Syatt: That’s nuts. Yeah.

0:14:57.1 Mike Vacanti: His back’s insane. Yeah. And yeah, he’s doing really well.

0:15:03.9 Jordan Syatt: I remember that Cannes trip that he takes every year to France. The first year that I was with him, he was like, “Hey, you’re going to come to Cannes”. And I remember you were surprised ’cause you’re like, “Really, he’s never taken me to Cannes”. And I was like, “Yeah, he’s taking me to Cannes. He wants me to be there”. But I was looking at the schedule and we were trying to work it with Ty, his assistant, being like, okay, how are we going to do this? Gary was like, I don’t want to fly you to France and then not actually get workouts and it’s all day business meetings. When can we fit them in? Maybe during lunch, da da da. And we had this whole plan. And we get to the airport, literally like about to go to Cannes and Gary’s just like, “You know what, I think it’d be better if you don’t come on this trip”. He’s like, I don’t think I’m going to be able to have time. And I was like really like, ticket was booked, everything was like ready to go. And he’s like, yeah, I think it’s probably best like see if you can get a refund for your ticket. And I was like, okay. And I just went straight. I refunded the ticket. And from the airport I ordered a ticket to Israel and flew to Israel ’cause that was like a whole week where I was like, you know what, screw it. I’ll just go see my family. So like, without even leaving the airport, I stayed there, flew right over. That was a fun trip.

0:16:16.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, you’re like, I have a week off. I’m going to take advantage of this.

0:16:18.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:16:20.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, his schedule over there is nuts because they get up and get after it. It’s like a work day during the day, but then there’s dinners and events and stuff at night.

0:16:28.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:16:28.9 Mike Vacanti: So he’s like six hours of sleep if he’s lucky, I feel like, on that trip. And there’s no room for squeezing lifts in. Tyler’s… Ty’s going to be in Chicago.

0:16:40.9 Jordan Syatt: Oh, is he?

0:16:41.5 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, so…

0:16:42.4 Jordan Syatt: Nice.

0:16:42.4 Mike Vacanti: And he likes to jump in on the workouts and then they get competitive and so we’ll be able to get a few good ones in there, even if it’s like late nights and yeah…

0:16:50.3 Jordan Syatt: The bench press competitions between them are always good.

0:16:53.7 Mike Vacanti: Iconic. Iconic. Tyler’s been getting after. He’s…

0:16:57.8 Jordan Syatt: Has he?

0:16:58.3 Mike Vacanti: Yeah yeah, he’s been trying to gain weight for some time now and has slowly… He’s been consistent lifting and…

0:17:05.5 Jordan Syatt: Oh, good.

0:17:06.5 Mike Vacanti: And added some a decent amount of scale weight. He’s super lean still, but probably added 10 pounds of muscle, I’d say at least.

0:17:14.4 Jordan Syatt: Oh, wow. That’s awesome.

0:17:15.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, we can take this anywhere.

0:17:25.0 Jordan Syatt: What do you think of UBI?

0:17:27.1 Mike Vacanti: Universal Basic Income?

0:17:28.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. What are your thoughts on UBI?

0:17:32.1 Mike Vacanti: Well, generally I think I’m against things that disincentivize people from working. I think working is a good thing for an individual’s mind, body and soul. At the same time and this is like a common argument in favor of UBI is that AI is going to displace so many jobs that we’ll need to have some like safety blanket at the bottom of society for people who are really struggling and need that thousand a month, 2000, I don’t know what exactly the amount of money would be, but if you project all of the like okay, we’re gonna have self driving cars. So every Uber job, every trucker job is gone. And I have no idea if this is gonna happen, but if we get to a place where there’s mass technological improvements, I actually think that just opens up new and different jobs for people.

0:18:41.0 Mike Vacanti: So I think my answer is I’m highly uneducated, but slightly against UBI. But I also think that in general, as you have more inequality and more polarity, and I’m not talking about like the last couple of decades or like, current times, but if you look at all of human history, you can’t have too many people suffering and then have outrageously wealthy individuals because that destabilizes a civilization. And you could argue, and I believe that it’s morally wrong. There should be some level of redistribution. So I don’t know the best way to do that, but right now I’m slightly against it, but open to the idea of UBI in the future.

0:19:31.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:19:33.1 Mike Vacanti: Give me your raw thoughts.

0:19:36.0 Jordan Syatt: So I’m a fan of UBI. It’s one of those things where I’m torn on both sides. I don’t like the idea of… Practically, I’ll start with ideally. Ideally, I like the idea of being able to give everyone a basic set income. Like especially not everyone, but if you make under a certain amount, everyone gets… Everyone who makes under X amount, whatever it is, gets UBI.

0:20:05.6 Mike Vacanti: Any number that you would throw out?

0:20:07.7 Jordan Syatt: It’s so different now that I think, like I would say anyone who makes under a 100,000 a year or any joint household under 200,000 a year, I would say should get UBI. Anyone under that I think should.

0:20:28.5 Mike Vacanti: And they get that amount?

0:20:30.1 Jordan Syatt: No, no, no. I think they would get like a monthly… Like amount of between a $1,000 to $2,000.

0:20:36.5 Mike Vacanti: I see. Okay.

0:20:37.8 Jordan Syatt: Right. Like the annual income for an individual, if it’s a 100,000, that or less then they get a 1000 to 2000 a month. And if it’s a joint household with kids, they get, then they… Up to 200,000. I think they get, they get UBI as well.

0:20:53.9 Mike Vacanti: Okay, cool. And what if someone is unemployed? They’re still just getting a 1000 to 2000. They’re not getting more?

0:21:00.7 Jordan Syatt: I think for someone who’s unemployed…

0:21:02.3 Mike Vacanti: Or like unemployment plus UBI.

0:21:05.1 Jordan Syatt: I think. Yeah. Yes, correct.

0:21:06.8 Mike Vacanti: Okay.

0:21:07.2 Jordan Syatt: Unemployment plus UBI. I think in an ideal world, I like it because in an ideal world, people are using that money for good. They’re using that money, like whether they’re putting it into savings, they’re using that money in order to… I don’t know, to take opportunities to help them get a job, to help with some medical bills. Like they’re using that money for good in an ideal world. That’s like why I support it. Practically, I know a lot of people would use that money for stupid shit and like…

0:21:39.2 Mike Vacanti: Give me a percentage.

0:21:41.9 Jordan Syatt: Essentially.

0:21:42.0 Mike Vacanti: What percentage of people?

0:21:42.7 Jordan Syatt: That would be completely making it up. So I’ll give you one, but I’m literally just making this up. I would imagine that 50 to 65% of people would use it for stupid shit.

0:21:57.8 Mike Vacanti: We’re dialed. 50 to 70 is what I was. Yeah.

0:22:02.5 Jordan Syatt: I think a huge percentage of people would use it for stupid shit.

0:22:05.7 Mike Vacanti: And when you say stupid shit, you mean like Fendi bags and like heroin? We’re not talking like…

0:22:10.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, going to like buying Gucci bags when they can’t afford it. When they shouldn’t be. Buying… Like being able to pay for a nicer car on their monthly payment. Buying like jewellery…

0:22:23.3 Mike Vacanti: Popping bottles.

0:22:24.2 Jordan Syatt: Whatever it is. Like it’s supposed to be groceries, rent, school, medical bills, things like that. Important stuff. Helping fund your entrepreneur, like your business that like maybe you wouldn’t have had that money before, like being able to pay someone like whatever it is, paying for childcare. These are all things that would be amazing. And I think that even though I believe a majority of people would use it for stupid stuff, I still think that it’s… It would help the smaller percentage of people enough that it makes it worth it just through that. Even though a lot of people would use it for stupid, I think that the people who would use it for their benefit, that makes it worth it on the whole, even thinking back to my experience growing up, like watching my mom and seeing how difficult money was, I know for a fact it would’ve relaxed her a lot more to know that there was an extra thousand for groceries or for clothes or for the mortgage, whatever it was. And like my mom’s the kind of person I know, like she wouldn’t have used it for stupid shit. Like she had two boys, she was trying to help like raise and all this stuff. Like she would and so seeing that I know like there, it would have been worth it even for the people who aren’t using it for stupid stuff.

0:23:46.0 Mike Vacanti: That’s… I like that argument. I think that makes sense. I really quickly wanna run some numbers on this. So we’ll say, we’ll call it 1500 or first. What percentage of people make more than a 100k? Wow. Was that right? 18% of Americans make over a 100,000. That seems like a lot.

0:24:12.7 Jordan Syatt: Less than you thought?

0:24:13.7 Mike Vacanti: That’s more than I thought. I actually just straight up don’t believe that one in five Americans makes more than a 100K. That’s… To find out how many people make over a 100k per year. We’ve gathered, according to our extensive research, 18% of individual Americans make over a hundred. I just don’t believe that we’re gonna say 10%. So…

0:24:33.8 Jordan Syatt: You don’t believe that? I feel like it’s different than it used to be. A 100k isn’t like as much as it was when I was a kid, you know?

0:24:41.2 Mike Vacanti: Well, that’s correct. But it’s still one in five people.

0:24:45.3 Jordan Syatt: Maybe not. We’ll call it. We’ll say one in 10.

0:24:46.6 Mike Vacanti: We’ll say one in 10, 330 million Americans. So that means 330 times 0.9 times 1,500 times 12 months. Well, this probably isn’t applied to children, is it?

0:25:04.7 Jordan Syatt: No.

0:25:05.5 Mike Vacanti: No. So if it’s adults only, we’ll call it… I don’t know, we’ll call it 290 million Americans. 18. That’s probably wrong too. We’ll call it 280 million Americans times 0.9 times 1500 a month times 12 months is 4.5 million million. So that would be $4.5 trillion a year if my math is right in UBI payments. So where would we get that 4.5 trillion and now on the how to become personal trainer podcasts? Because we just decided we’re talking about balancing federal government’s budget here because…

0:25:51.1 Mike Vacanti: Because there’s real merit to just letting your interests and genuine curiosity dictate your path through life. It makes life an adventure, and that’s what we’re on when you honestly speak the truth of what you think and you let go of the outcome.

0:26:05.3 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:26:05.6 Mike Vacanti: All right. Go ahead, Jordan. I like this.

0:26:08.1 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. I mean obviously like taxpayers, right? And that’s one of those things where I would be more than happy to contribute. Like that for me is one of those things where…

0:26:18.8 Jordan Syatt: I don’t like paying taxes, but if I could see where that money is going and, and know that it’s going there to help people here and like to help my neighbor, my like, whatever it is that, that to me is like, that’s worth it.

0:26:36.1 Mike Vacanti: So you wanna increase taxes on the rich?

0:26:38.2 Jordan Syatt: No, I don’t mean increasing, but there’s a lot of our tax money that’s going to things that I, I don’t agree with in general. So reducing…

0:26:44.7 Mike Vacanti: But yeah. That’s what it, but that’s what I was asking is where does that money come from?

0:26:48.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:26:48.5 Mike Vacanti: I thought you said increase taxes.

0:26:51.4 Jordan Syatt: So from taxes, not increasing. I definitely don’t wanna pay more. But like…

0:26:55.0 Mike Vacanti: I know it comes from taxes, but it’s either we, it’s either we increase government revenue or we reduce government expenditures.

0:27:02.2 Jordan Syatt: Right. So there are many things the government spends money on that I don’t wanna spend money on. Right?

0:27:06.2 Mike Vacanti: Got it. So… All right. All right good. So now I don’t have to call you out on virtue signaling because you don’t wanna increase taxes from where they are.

0:27:10.7 Jordan Syatt: I don’t wanna increase taxes. No. Not at all.

0:27:13.0 Mike Vacanti: You wanna… Okay. Cool. What do you wanna reduce?

0:27:13.8 Jordan Syatt: I just want…

0:27:15.0 Mike Vacanti: To pay what you’re paying now.

0:27:16.9 Jordan Syatt: What I wanna reduce. I would rather pay way less than what I’m paying now.

[laughter]

0:27:21.4 Mike Vacanti: But what you’re saying is, to finance these UBI payments, you would reduce government spending in which areas?

0:27:31.0 Jordan Syatt: Oh, man, that’s a great question. And that’s something that I’m not, I’m not educated on to the point of knowing, all right, this much money is going here, this much money is going there. And also there’s the aspect of, they say that they’re giving this much money here. They say they’re giving this much money here, but then they’re also coming out saying like, oh, there were huge errors in regard to how much money they were actually sending. And like, this has been coming out a lot. Like there have been huge errors in their reporting, and I feel like we don’t actually know where the vast majority of this money goes.

0:28:05.6 Mike Vacanti: So you want it to come out of the… You theory is that there’s a lot of kickbacks and, and money going unaccounted for dollars, maybe bribery, government officials, who knows? And you wanna round that up and give it to the people and set a little Robin Hood.

0:28:21.9 Jordan Syatt: That’s exactly right.

0:28:23.0 Mike Vacanti: Steal from the elites and give it to the people who need it. I think we can all get behind that red, blue, green, yellow.

0:28:28.0 Jordan Syatt: But that’s… It’s not even stealing from the elites, it’s they’re stealing from us. We wanna steal the money back.

0:28:33.3 Mike Vacanti: Correct.

0:28:33.4 Jordan Syatt: And use it for the good of the world. You know.

0:28:35.5 Mike Vacanti: Steal from the rich, give to the poor is a Robin Hood slogan that I was using.

0:28:38.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah, correct.

0:28:38.8 Mike Vacanti: I know we’re not.

0:28:41.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:28:41.6 Jordan Syatt: Not like taking from rich people who’ve earned it. Like I’m talking about the people who are in control…

0:28:46.1 Mike Vacanti: The corrupt bureaucrats who are…

0:28:48.3 Jordan Syatt: Who are like manipulating our money for their own benefit.

0:28:51.1 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah.

0:28:52.9 Mike Vacanti: This is exhilarating. Let us, let us know what you think of this discussion.

0:28:57.4 Mike Vacanti: Well, I don’t think that, I think the UBI that I support wouldn’t be, it would be way less, meaning way fewer people would get it.

[laughter]

0:29:09.5 Jordan Syatt: Okay. [laughter]

0:29:10.9 Mike Vacanti: I mean a household in Arkansas who’s making 185K a year between the two of them, like, I don’t think they need an extra 24K a year. I think they’re doing great. And that brings up another component is like, are there cost of living adjustments depending…

0:29:24.8 Jordan Syatt: State or federal?

0:29:25.9 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:29:26.2 Mike Vacanti: We’ll, yeah. Yeah. Fun.

[laughter]

0:29:28.9 Jordan Syatt: You wanna discuss more politics?

0:29:35.4 Mike Vacanti: I don’t really like the word politics. I don’t really, yeah. I’ll let, I’ll let you ask whatever you want…

0:29:41.1 Jordan Syatt: And I’ll ask like the word, diet. I don’t know what…

0:29:43.8 Mike Vacanti: UBI is a cool discussion because… UBI is a cool discussion because unlike something like gun control or abortion or something that’s like been beat to whatever, a pulp.

[laughter]

0:29:55.9 Mike Vacanti: It… Right? These are common topics that have been debated for decades and, and like…

0:30:00.0 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:30:00.2 Mike Vacanti: People like dig their heels in on their positions. Like UBI is a more, it’s a newer idea. There’s more novelty, there’s less, I don’t know, there’s less partisanship, whatever you call it. There’s less division around it. And I feel like there’s more free thought around it.

0:30:15.4 Jordan Syatt: I would rather have UBI and then people use that UBI to help pay off their student loans than just randomly pay off everybody’s student loans for them. You know what I mean? Like, Hey, how about we give you this check so you can start learning how to use this money wisely and then also pay off your student loans and whatever else you have. Like, I would rather that than just, Hey, let’s just forgive everything as though like it’s, and use other people’s money to pay for your entire education. Like that is not, that’s not a good idea.

0:30:46.0 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Student loans is another interesting one. I very clearly see both sides. I don’t…

[laughter]

0:31:00.1 Mike Vacanti: If you take out any kind of loan, it should be your responsibility to repay the loan. Yeah.

0:31:07.2 Jordan Syatt: Yep.

0:31:07.9 Mike Vacanti: At the same time, it is wild that we have 18 year olds who aren’t allowed to drink and who are, you know, scrolling their life away on TikTok, deciding that they want to spend 60K a year to go get a theater degree in dance and fine arts or what, insert major that isn’t stem or like something that’s gonna take them directly on a track, but like a more generalized liberal arts kind of, and we have that young individual making that decision with social pressure and pressure from their parents. And then you can’t declare, you can’t get rid of it and bankruptcy. Like you can’t other kinds of debt. I understand that argument too. And so I understand why there’s a lot of debate around that subject. Here’s what I, here’s what I’d say to an, if I was giving an individual advice, if you wanna go to college, I mean, unless you’re, unless you’re going to an IV, in which case your, so much of the benefit is gonna come from the network that you create being at that school rather than what you actually learn. Like, don’t go to an expensive out-of-state school just because it looks cool and sounds cool.

0:32:30.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Correct.

0:32:32.4 Mike Vacanti: And you know, I… Cost of college has gone up even since our years. You know, I was in school from ’06 to 2010, but we had reciprocity for Wisconsin. So my tuition was very inexpensive. And so my advice would be if you wanna go to college and you don’t have money…

0:32:57.1 Mike Vacanti: Then at least pick a school that is in state or cheap essentially. Don’t go pay 40, 50 a year because it’s gonna be really hard to pay that back. Most people just aren’t disciplined with their ability to work hard and save money, and then they’re shaking their fist at the system because they’re 250 in debt, but they’re not making any student loan payments because they’re out 27 years old, eating out in the city every single night and not saving money and running a break-even lifestyle and interest is piling up on those student loan payments. Or maybe they’re making the minimum possible payment and they’re complaining that they’re gonna be in debt until they’re 60 or maybe have that debt on their deathbed. I see both sides of it. And it’s not a great situation. And my advice to an individual, ’cause I think that’s the only way you can talk to give advice is be conservative with how big a loan you take out from the onset. But again, we’re talking to 17-year-olds who are making these decisions. So it’s very hard. It’s very hard.

0:34:02.4 Jordan Syatt: I wonder if there are any 17-year-olds listening to this podcast.

0:34:05.9 Mike Vacanti: Shoot us an email, info@fitnessbusinessmentorship.com. “Hey, I’m 17. Just wanted to say, what’s up?” [laughter]

0:34:11.8 Jordan Syatt: Or maybe there’s a 54-year-old who’s thinking about going back to school.

0:34:15.2 Mike Vacanti: Yeah.

0:34:16.9 Jordan Syatt: Should he take loans out? Maybe not.

0:34:18.7 Mike Vacanti: Well definitely not. [laughter] Unless you have a very specific reason and end goal. I’m 48. I decided that I really want to be a lawyer, and so I’m gonna take the LSAT and apply to some law schools and go to law school. ‘Cause that’s what I want to do. I’ve decided, great. Because then it’s not a money to… Well, it is, but you know where you’re gonna end up. You have a better idea of the potential career outcomes. If you’re just lost and 48 and don’t know what you want to do. And so you decide, I never went to college, and so I’m just gonna go get a liberal arts degree out of state for $35,000 a year, tuition. Probably not a great idea.

0:35:13.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Especially if you’re trying to have money.

0:35:17.6 Mike Vacanti: Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Correct, correct. And there… Yeah. I’m not well versed in the alternative, online or local or community college or other ways to get some credits out of the way to maximize savings, but yeah.

0:35:36.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah.

0:35:37.8 Mike Vacanti: What else is interesting to you lately in culture, media?

0:35:42.8 Jordan Syatt: Anthony Hopkins is starring a new movie.

0:35:45.3 Mike Vacanti: Cool.

0:35:46.3 Jordan Syatt: It’s called One Life. And Anthony Hopkins is playing a man, this is a true story. A man named Nicholas Winton, who is a British humanitarian. And what Winton did is between 1938 and 1939, went and saved, I believe it’s 699 Jewish children.

0:36:23.9 Mike Vacanti: Wow.

0:36:26.2 Jordan Syatt: Before World War 2. And he took these children and he helped move them from occupied Czechoslovakia to other places. And he was able to save them. And, there’s a famous TV show. It was, I believe in 1988, they got Winton into this TV show studio. You remember, they used to film in front of live studio audiences. So there’s a TV show and Nicholas Winton was there with his wife. And the room is packed. They’re like packed with people, they’re all watching the show. And the woman on the show is like, she’s the host of the show, and she’s talking, she’s like, we have a really special guest here, Nicholas Winton, who saved 699 Jew Jewish children from being killed in World War 2.

0:37:13.6 Jordan Syatt: And he, Nicholas, kept a list of all the kids that he saved, their names and everything. He kept a list of them. And she read off one of the names on the list. She was like, “Oh, this person’s name is so-and-so is one of the women on the list, one of the girls.” And keep in mind, this is like years later, this is 1988. And he saved them in like 1939 or so. So they were all like older adults now. And she goes, she’s actually here right now. Could she stand up? And so she stood up and they had a whole a hug and a reunion and they were both crying. And then the woman goes, I believe there are other people here who were children on this list. Any other children on this list could you stand up?

0:37:57.4 Jordan Syatt: And the whole room stands up.

0:38:00.3 Mike Vacanti: Wow.

0:38:01.0 Jordan Syatt: And they filled the entire audience.

0:38:04.6 Mike Vacanti: Wow.

0:38:05.5 Jordan Syatt: With people that this guy saved who are now adults, that they would’ve all been killed. And, so now they’re making a movie about him and his story, and Anthony Hopkins is playing that guy, which I’m very, very excited about. But this guy is one of those unsung heroes of people who everyone likes to think that they would do what this guy did in terms of against all odds, risk their own life, risk their own family’s life in order to save others in a… And he’s truly one of a kind. So I’m very excited about this one.

0:38:38.3 Mike Vacanti: Really cool. Stay in the lookout for that one. One Life it’s called?

0:38:41.6 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. One Life. Anthony Hopkins. Could you imagine being in that whole room and not knowing, and then they all like, that’s just wild.

0:38:49.4 Mike Vacanti: That’s really cool.

0:38:51.4 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. If you want to google that clip, you can watch at Google Nicholas Winton and it’ll probably come up.

0:39:00.0 Mike Vacanti: Nice. Did you ever watch Count of Monte Cristo?

0:39:03.7 Jordan Syatt: No, I didn’t. I forgot that you recommended that one.

0:39:06.8 Mike Vacanti: This is like an all time movie that I forgot was on my top five list for many years. And then remembered and watched it back recently and it holds up in an insane way. So if anyone’s looking for…

0:39:19.8 Jordan Syatt: Should we talk about in the next pod, Count of Monte Cristo?

0:39:22.2 Mike Vacanti: Sure. Yeah. If you wanna listen.

0:39:23.2 Jordan Syatt: All right. I’ll watch it… I’ll watch it. Yeah. [laughter]

0:39:26.9 Mike Vacanti: You’ll watch it? It’s just a way better. Yeah. It’s an amazing movie.

0:39:33.1 Jordan Syatt: Way better era of movies.

0:39:35.3 Mike Vacanti: Well, yeah, that too, but also just better than the alternative. At least for me. I know different people have to use social media differently. I’m on day 11. I haven’t even told you this. I’m on day 11.

[laughter]

0:39:49.7 Jordan Syatt: On day 11 of what?

0:39:52.1 Mike Vacanti: I’m on day 11.

0:39:52.4 Jordan Syatt: Of what?

0:39:54.0 Mike Vacanti: You have to guess.

0:39:57.8 Jordan Syatt: Of definitely not making content.

0:40:01.3 Mike Vacanti: Good one, Jordan. Good one. [laughter]

0:40:06.5 Jordan Syatt: Well, you were talking about social media. People use social media for different things, and then you’re like, I’m on day 11 and I, it sounded like you’re about to say like, I’m on day 11 of posting content and then not looking at comments or something.

0:40:21.1 Mike Vacanti: I’m on day 11.

0:40:24.7 Jordan Syatt: No social media at all.

0:40:27.4 Mike Vacanti: Of no scrolling.

0:40:28.5 Jordan Syatt: So how do you do that?

0:40:29.8 Mike Vacanti: I don’t scroll.

0:40:30.6 Jordan Syatt: You just open it and then close it.

0:40:33.7 Mike Vacanti: Well, so I’ll use the search function. I mean, I basically haven’t been on… I basically haven’t opened Instagram except to check the posts that you put up and watch it and like it.

0:40:44.4 Jordan Syatt: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it.

0:40:46.4 Mike Vacanti: I haven’t watched vertical short form video in 11 days.

0:40:51.0 Jordan Syatt: Dude, that’s awesome.

0:40:52.1 Mike Vacanti: YouTube shorts, TikTok, reels, Facebook, whatever. Vertical video.

0:41:00.6 Jordan Syatt: No scrolling.

0:41:01.2 Mike Vacanti: Zero.

0:41:01.8 Jordan Syatt: How do you feel?

0:41:03.1 Mike Vacanti: No scrolling on Twitter either. What I’ll do is…

0:41:05.4 Jordan Syatt: Wow.

0:41:05.6 Mike Vacanti: I have a few people who I have as saved searches, and I’ll just go look at theirs. But like, no scrolling through feeds for you. Anything. Much more present. Much. It’s funny, I had a flight on like the first day of doing this, and I was so like ADD basically on this flight. There was no TV on the flight. There was no movie to watch. And so I’m like looking all over the plane. I’m move, I’m shifting around, getting all squirrely in my seat, going to the bathroom, walking around in the aisle. Like I was not in a good head space. And [laughter] 11 days. I’m like, I’m actually reading a book. I feel much more…

0:41:46.0 Jordan Syatt: Nice.

0:41:46.1 Mike Vacanti: Like present and able to focus. I’m able to articulate thoughts a little bit more clearly. I feel I don’t, I don’t know how to put my finger on it exactly, but I just feel better. And so…

0:41:58.6 Jordan Syatt: Between this and the grounding, I mean, you got some confounding factor if you don’t know which one is doing which.

0:42:05.3 Mike Vacanti: I Know. So I just have to keep doing both forever.

0:42:06.9 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah.

0:42:07.8 Mike Vacanti: It could be additive. It’s very likely additive.

0:42:10.4 Jordan Syatt: You gotta get that set up where you can ground while you sleep. [laughter]

0:42:18.2 Mike Vacanti: I just like going outside. [laughter]

0:42:21.0 Jordan Syatt: If this whole episode was a comedy show, that would be the perfect way to end it. It is come all the way back to the grounding with your feet. That would be, that was perfect. [laughter],

0:42:30.2 Mike Vacanti: We can wrap up here. Everybody watch Count of Monte Cristo. If you’re 17, let us know. We hope you enjoy this episode. We upload every single week. Please subscribe to YouTube. We’re like the tortoise and the hare with the amount of effort that goes into this podcast. We’re highly consistent, but we’re also just like chugging along. We’re not doing anything crazy. [laughter] So, you know, subscribe.

0:42:55.1 Jordan Syatt: Are we the tortoise or the hare?

0:42:57.3 Mike Vacanti: What do you think?

0:42:58.5 Jordan Syatt: We’re the tortoise.

0:43:00.0 Mike Vacanti: We’re like the, we’re definitely the tortoise. [laughter] But to be honest, I kind of, oh, you know what? Something coming for the mentorship too. I’m feeling a little salesy today. Something coming very interesting opportunity for anyone who’s looking to grow their online fitness business or starting online fitness business. Doesn’t know where to start, has struggled in the past, is looking for something a little bit more affordable. We got something interesting for you on the horizon, that we’ve been working on for a while, so that’s exciting. But we’re definitely the tortoise because I like small, I like tight-knit. I like, yeah. You know what I’m saying?

0:43:44.5 Jordan Syatt: Yeah. Yeah.

0:43:44.6 Mike Vacanti: I’m not trying to be the hare. I don’t even like that word. H-A-R-E, makes me sick. [laughter]

0:43:53.8 Jordan Syatt: Loser [laughter]

0:43:56.7 Mike Vacanti: So, yes. Thank you very much for listening. We appreciate you. We’ll be back next week. Have a great week. Watch Count of Monte Cristo. See you soon.

0:44:02.8 Jordan Syatt: See you.