$145M in Apprenticeship Funding Got Zeroed Out — Now What?
The Department of Labor had $145 million earmarked for apprenticeships in shipbuilding, semiconductors, and healthcare. Then it got zeroed out. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley close the Work In Progress opener by pulling apart the distance between what Washington announces and what actually lands. Workforce training budgets are shrinking. Skilled trades can't find workers. Immigration enforcement cut the pipeline further. Meanwhile, every country doing this well — Denmark, Germany, Singapore, Japan — shares costs across government, employers, and individuals. America's version? Figure it out yourself. The old contract is dead. AI is the accelerant. No one's writing the replacement.
Timestamps:
- (00:19) $145M for apprenticeships — zeroed out before a single worker got trained – headlines land but funding doesn't
- (00:19) Workforce training authority dropped from $3.9B to $3B – the budget is shrinking while the need is exploding
- (00:19) Pell Grants for eight-week programs start July 2026 – sounds great until you ask who's paying for it
- (15:02) AI didn't break the contract — it expired on its own – school, degree, job, house stopped delivering years ago
- (15:02) Denmark shares the risk three ways — America dumps it on the worker – that's the one structural difference no one wants to adopt
Transcript
Denmark, Germany, Singapore, Japan—they all share costs between
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:individual, employer, and GOVERNMENT.
3
:America dumps it on the
worker and calls it freedom.
4
:Dave lays bare the one
structural difference...
5
:and it reframes everything the
hosts have argued for the last hour.
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:Jerremy: I'm just pouncing around man.
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:Dave: Yeah, cool.
8
:Jerremy: policy of landscape, talking
about like apprenticeship expansion,
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:trying to figure out what the heck
the Department of Labor's doing, if
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:they're gonna be doing anything at all.
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:Dave: Yeah, this was, this
was like current stuff.
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:What's going on?
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:So here's the thing.
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:department of Labor, they have
$145 million pay for performance
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:incentive payments program.
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:Wow.
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:Say that five times fast.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: And that's all for apprenticeships.
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:like in ship building, semiconductor
it, healthcare sounds great, right?
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:But, political shenanigans is like,
we're going to, like scoop this up into
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:the, the build back better and the make
America skilled again and all this stuff.
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:They zeroed it out.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: it's like, thanks.
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:So nobody really knows, like
the total Workforce training
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:authority has dropped from 3.9
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:billion to 3 billion, yada, yada, yada.
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:But if anything that we've seen
politically in this, in this
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:administration is that they love the
headlines, but when it gets down to
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:actual implementation of things, the, they
lack a skillset of effective governing.
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:So they'll say great things and people
will get excited about them, but then.
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:When the rubber meets the road, it's
like, okay, what does this mean?
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:Like, I remember, Trump talking
about like, Harvard's going to do
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:a trade school and you can get your
plumbing, certification from Harvard.
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:And I'm like, I don't think anybody
who does plumbing would give a
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:shit, but so like, this sounds
good, but I don't think it's real.
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:like until we're, until.
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:Results matter.
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:And until I see that, that, every
trades person who wants to be a trades
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:person can get their, their trades
training, and we're pumping 'em out
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:and there aren't any, constraints
for people who wanna build things.
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:I'm like, that's working.
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:But right now we know it's not working.
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:Right.
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:Like, there are plenty of, of, people
that you and I know that are like, Hey,
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:I, I can't get skilled trades people.
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:Now part of that is
also immigration, right?
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:they got a lot clipped out from
underneath them with, with all of
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:the, the immigration enforcement.
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:But the other part of this is like,
well, what's the reality of this?
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:If we're trading, if we're training up
new tradespeople, are we gonna fund it?
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:I don't think we are.
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:I.
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:Jerremy: And not only that, but
like also kind of in a way, like
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:how the heck are we funding it?
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:I'm still over here.
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:I mean, again, excited to talk about
it later, but how are we giving
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:money to people when we have none?
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:We have, we have so many negative monies.
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:Like here's more.
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:Dave: Right.
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:Jerremy: one, the one big beautiful
bill right, was signed in, I
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:think July 4th of last year.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Jerremy: it included Pell Grants,
like Workforce, Pell Grants, and
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:Dave: Sounds good.
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:Jerremy: year, right?
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:July of 2026.
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:Dave: Yeah,
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:Jerremy: They can get, I mean, tons of
programs can get as short as eight weeks
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:could qualify for federal Pell funding.
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:Dave: which sounds great, right?
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:Like these, these certifications,
these like, like it goes to a lot
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:of, of like, hands-on training,
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:Jerremy: what
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:Dave: phlebotomist, like anything you
need, list certification programs.
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:It's like you can get a Pell Grant.
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:That sounds great.
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:That's just free money.
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:Jerremy: Who, from who?
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:does sound like that's the
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:Dave: Well, okay.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Anyway, I'm, I'm still,
who's giving you the money?
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:Dave: It's always priorities.
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:Like we're spending a billion dollars
a day, shooting off, fireworks
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:in the Middle East, rather than,
anything in the United States.
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:But that's, that's neither here nor there.
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:Jerremy: please tell me that you've
seen this Twitter post where it's
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:like the government telling me to.
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:Drink with Plat, drink with paper
straws so that I don't hurt the economy.
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:Also, the government there
was that huge cloud from
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:Dave: Oh, right.
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:This horrible, nightmare that Oh yeah.
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:Jerremy: yeah, yeah, yeah.
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:It is a nightmare.
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:Dave: Oh
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:Jerremy: cloud
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:Dave: God.
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:Jerremy: oil just straight up
into the stratosphere and they're
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:like, drink from paper straws.
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:Dave: So that's the thing,
my, my, I'm gonna let my inner
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:hate come out a little bit.
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:the, the, the.
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:Jerremy: a little bit.
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:Dave: Baby boomers, they're just demons.
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:they have extracted so much, have given
so little and will, will upend the en
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:the entire world and never do anything
to say, how are we gonna pay for this?
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:But as soon, as soon as you're like,
well, maybe we shouldn't have 70% of the
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:children born in the United States on
Medicaid, like, doesn't make any sense.
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:as soon as we say that, they're like,
well, how are we gonna pay for that?
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:How are we gonna pay for, how insurance,
like, well, how are we paying for
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:these fucking missiles is my question.
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:And it's like, look.
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:It.
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:These guys should be last in line,
a trillion dollars into our, and
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:they're gonna put put forth $50
billion more in special spending.
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:I'm like, no, no, no.
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:Use the money you got.
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:like it's bonkers.
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:Nobody says, how are
we going to send them?
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:Send 'em.
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:Go, go, go.
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:And I'm like, these
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:Jerremy: They're excited.
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:Dave: boomers are killing me.
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:They're killing all of us.
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:Jerremy: It's
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:Wild dude.
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:What a day.
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:Dave: hmm.
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:Jerremy: It is.
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:It is intense.
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:It is intense.
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:It's happening.
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:there's a lot to talk about and I, I
think what's gonna be fun about this
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:segment and this section is really,
again, diving into all the things,
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:having some cool AI chats, having
some cool department of labor chats,
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:department of education discussions.
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:Who, what, when, where, how
most, most specifically when,
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:what we can all do about it.
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:I mean, there are some really
cool tides and some shifts coming.
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:And again, I, it almost, it's almost
unfortunate that I'm gonna keep
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:falling back into, these companies are
gonna make so much money, it's almost
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:illegal for us not to invest in them.
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:Dave: Yeah,
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:Jerremy: know, like, like Netflix, a
lot of people are like, oh, Netflix
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:is gonna get beat up 'cause of ai,
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:Dave: yeah,
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:Jerremy: bro.
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:Bro, Netflix is number one.
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:Expenditure is paying actors.
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:You remove all of the actors, most of
the actors, 95% of the actors, and you
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:just create cartoons or anime or, or
ai, lookalikes or whatever that look
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:like Matt Damon, but aren't Matt Damon.
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:They don't have to pay Matt Damon.
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:$20 million, make a movie,
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:Dave: yeah.
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:Jerremy: poof.
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:revenue, lower costs, more profits.
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:Dave: I think what's going
to be a drag on that.
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:I mean, here's the cool thing is that,
you will have individual individualized
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:entertainment directly to you, right?
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:Like, it'll be something that you, you
can't wait to see, and you're gonna have
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:an unlimited amount of whatever that is,
which sounds a little dystopian coming
167
:out of my mouth as I'm thinking about it.
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:But on, on the other hand, like there's
not going to be any actors or anything.
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:You're just gonna get custom, whatever.
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:But what we're gonna miss is being
able to share that with anybody.
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:And that's been going on for a
long time because there's just
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:so much entertainment out there.
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:I can't really say to you, Hey,
did you see the pit on HBO?
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:because, like people have Netflix
and HBO and Apple and, and, and
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:Hulu and all the rest of 'em.
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:So there's, there's unlimited
choices out there, right?
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:And there's too much information,
too much, stuff out there.
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:And that will just even get even more.
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:With like, the AI because it'll, it'll
just be able to churn and burn out.
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:it's gonna be AI slop there for
a while, but, like there's gonna
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:be compelling, entertainment
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:Jerremy: entertainment is gonna come out.
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:Dave: kids are gonna love it for sure.
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:Jerremy: its own AI shows.
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:And that's, that's the other thing that,
I mean, at some point, we can have a
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:fun chat about later maybe as well.
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:But like, I got my mind blown by a
guy talked about how AI's gonna have
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:conversations with ai and AI is gonna
be paying ai and they're not even,
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:AI's not gonna need us eventually.
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:Right?
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:Like you're gonna have AI doing
things with AI that they're, they're
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:gonna figure out their own things.
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:Dave: Which is why I think
we're all doomed, I think.
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:Jerremy: not gonna need inputs.
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:it's like, why do I need a
human to tell me what to do?
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:And there's another AI over here
that I can just communicate with
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:and just figure this out myself.
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:Dave: Ugh.
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:Jerremy: Wild.
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:Dave: One thing about the, the
solutions that happen, right?
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:Because there's, there's international,
countries that are dealing with this, and
202
:they're doing this a lot better because
in every working model, whether it's
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:Denmark or Germany, or Singapore and
Japan, because they all, they all have,
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:they don't have, new people being born.
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:They've got ai, they've got, the
same constraints that you and I have.
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:They all have one feature
that the US system doesn't.
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:The costs and the risks to the workforce
are shared between the individual,
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:the employer, and the government.
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:And right now we don't have
that sharing of responsibility.
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:Government, as far as I can
tell, is checked out, or it's
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:all in corporate ai, hellscape.
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:there's no incentive for businesses
to pay any attention to this.
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:They don't get any tax breaks,
they don't get any incentives.
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:They don't get any, like there's
no money in it for them to,
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:to come up with solutions.
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:And so we're left into this American
individualism to figure it out, and
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:it's impossible everywhere else.
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:There's a marriage between government,
corporate and, and individuals saying,
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:look, the workforce is changing.
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:Let's do this together.
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:And in the United States, it
seems combative and mostly
222
:the individuals lose out.
223
:That's, I think, clutch in this
discussion we're having for:
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:workforce development is the one
thing that we're missing is a.
225
:Whole of society view of this, government
could be standing up and saying, Hey,
226
:corporations, individuals, academics,
we're going to go and do this.
227
:This is an existential thing to
make sure that 5, 10, 15, 20 years
228
:from now, we have jobs, our children
have jobs and their children have,
229
:meaningful work to do in the world.
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:Let's go figure it out and
let's figure it out now.
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:And I think that that is
critical that we're missing.
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:Jerremy: Hmm.
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:Yeah, I just say that's a great plan.
234
:I think that's, we, we have to study
other countries and for the first time
235
:in my life I'll be popping over to Japan
next week looking forward to having some
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:just cool conversations to the best of my
ability with some of the locals and just
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:kinda get some ideas and some thoughts and
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:Dave: Oh my God,
239
:I did my international residency in Tokyo.
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:So,
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:Jerremy: amazing.
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:Dave: I can't wait to get back to Japan.
243
:I Are you going to Tokyo or where are you?
244
:Where are you in Japan?
245
:Jerremy: only, I mean, I'm really
only gonna be there for five,
246
:five to six days, 'cause I'm
247
:there for spring break, but
I'll definitely be in Tokyo,
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:Dave: I've,
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:Jerremy: to three-ish days and then
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:Dave: a couple of things
you gotta do for sure.
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:I'll send you that.
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:but Tokyo is incredible.
253
:I mean, it is just unbelievable.
254
:so I'm super stoked that
you're going over there.
255
:I mean, you'll be, you'll come back
and be like, what are we doing?
256
:Jerremy: Yeah,
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:Dave: You?
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:Jerremy: We're doing
something wrong, guys.
259
:Yeah, well, I'm, I'm
looking forward to it.
260
:'cause I have heard that I, I've
heard that from a few places.
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:I got a few friends and clients that
spend a lot of time in Singapore,
262
:and then they're too, they're
like, we're just so behind, we're
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:Dave: Yeah,
264
:Jerremy: on like 455 different things,
265
:Dave: it's.
266
:Jerremy: it comes to
cleanliness and just the basics.
267
:Like if, if you drive around
most, most roads in Las Vegas,
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:Dave: yeah.
269
:Jerremy: You would assume for sure
that this is a wasteland that no
270
:one's ever picked up from, no one's
ever cleaned that someone maliciously
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:just takes a bunch of trash and just
throws it out in the road every day
272
:and no one does anything a about it.
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:Like that is Vegas and almost all
the surrounding areas of Vegas.
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:Dave: Oh,
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:Jerremy: Trash heaps everywhere.
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:Dave: Bonkers.
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:Jerremy: The desert.
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:Who cares?
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:It's just not clean.
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:And now this is a big, big, big city.
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:Yeah.
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:I,
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:Dave: In Japan, in Tokyo,
they don't have trash cans.
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:Out, out, out, out there.
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:Jerremy: is
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:Dave: You walk around, there are no
trash cans, and you wanna know why.
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:They don't think you should be
throwing stuff away out on the street.
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:In fact, the streets are clean.
289
:If you have something to throw
away, you take it with you and
290
:you throw it away yourself.
291
:It's your responsibility.
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:You don't throw it on the ground.
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:You'd think in the United States, if
you didn't have a trash can somewhere,
294
:it would turn into Litter Central.
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:If you were in Japan,
there are no trash cans.
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:You take care of your own stuff.
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:And I'm like, there's a certain
social responsibility that goes with
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:like, take your garbage with you.
299
:It's like we're not even
putting up garbage cans.
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:And I'm like, that's brilliant.
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:Jerremy: It is, it's social.
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:that's, that's the key
word right there, man.
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:Social responsibility.
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:I mean, in the United States it's
gonna come from the top down a big way.
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:And I just don't think it
has probably really at all.
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:but yeah, those are definitely
countries that I, and we and many
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:people are keeping an eye on.
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:Denmark, Germany, Singapore, Japan,
they're doing a lot of things
309
:efficiently, a lot of things.
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:Correct.
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:They are definitely aware of the AI
systems and the changes in the workforce.
312
:The transitions are gonna happen
to both the individual, the
313
:employer, or the government.
314
:And I love that your, your take on
that, all three that have this like,
315
:symbiotic relationship to a point.
316
:'cause they need to, 'cause
they're aware of what's happening.
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:Dave: Yeah.
318
:Jerremy: so that's where we are, man.
319
:it's, it's gonna be very, very
fascinating and really winding all of
320
:this into, not only a cohesive statement,
but just almost a belief system.
321
:We, we started with in this country,
in the United States of America.
322
:You have some, some level of
some level of opportunity,
323
:some level of contract, right?
324
:Dave: Yeah.
325
:Jerremy: school, get a degree, get
a good job, and then the job pays
326
:for your family and your life.
327
:And that contract has been so
embedded in this country that
328
:most people, they never even knew.
329
:They signed it.
330
:They just followed it.
331
:Dave: Mm-hmm.
332
:Jerremy: And I would like at some
point to propose, instead of the
333
:American dream to be buying a house,
the American dream should be buying
334
:a thousand shares of the s and p 500.
335
:Dave: Hmm.
336
:Jerremy: Like that's going to deliver
a better, not only return, obviously
337
:we have to live somewhere, get that.
338
:But from a financial model, most people
are in debt for 25 years before they ever
339
:even see good returns on their real estate
or their home, because they have first
340
:time home buyers and they have all these.
341
:Closing costs and additional fees
and real estate fees and realtor fees
342
:and everything that gets added in.
343
:And then the interest rate.
344
:And so they're paying for double the value
of the house over the course of 30 years.
345
:Right?
346
:And so, unless the house doubles,
is can certainly happen, but almost
347
:if you think about it, shouldn't.
348
:And there's gonna mean to be
some big, big shifts there.
349
:somewhere between that, that
dream of get good grades, get good
350
:job, get good house, have money,
351
:Dave: Yeah.
352
:Jerremy: somewhere between that.
353
:The GI Bill where we are, the conditions
that made everything work where people
354
:are, are getting awesome benefits,
awesome value, lifetime pensions, great
355
:social security that's non non-funded.
356
:There is gonna be a labor scarcity
in this country at some point.
357
:And the industrial expansion,
the low tuition, the pension,
358
:it all came to an end.
359
:All of it's gone and no one got the memo.
360
:So what we've been doing today
is going through some of the fine
361
:print, if you will, on that contract.
362
:And that contract expired.
363
:Dave: Totally.
364
:Jerremy: It's a debt architecture, right?
365
:The we, we were bo, were born into
a gig economy that created in:
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:Dave: Yeah.
367
:Jerremy: You have tons of entrepreneurs
that were forced to become
368
:entrepreneurial, those entrepreneurs are
now probably have shifted to some type
369
:of white collar job because they have
so much skills, talents, and resources,
370
:and those white collar jobs are gonna
be most likely taken over by ai.
371
:The trades pipeline that got abandoned
because the two generations of families
372
:watched manufacturing get offshore and
told their kids not to follow them.
373
:The 401k was literally an accident.
374
:All of it was connected, and it's all
playing out in front of our faces,
375
:Dave: And I, I don't
think AI is the crisis.
376
:It's really the accelerant, right?
377
:Everything that we've covered
today was already in motion.
378
:AI just puts it on faster timeline,
and it's, and it's aimed at people
379
:who thought that they were safe.
380
:Jerremy: Yeah, which is the laptop class,
381
:Dave: Yeah.
382
:Jerremy: is me and you, by the way.
383
:Dave: Yeah.
384
:Huh?
385
:Jerremy: It is us.
386
:A
387
:Dave: Yeah.
388
:Jerremy: are like, oh, AI's gonna
come for the, for the burger flippers.
389
:You
390
:Dave: Mm.
391
:Jerremy: forever, right?
392
:You're flipping burgers.
393
:Your job's gonna be taken
394
:Dave: Nope.
395
:Jerremy: dog.
396
:Like if you do anything on the
computer, there's a really good
397
:chance your job's gonna be taken.
398
:I mean, there was a software storm that
came outta nowhere that just wrecked so
399
:many software companies not that long
400
:Dave: Mm-hmm.
401
:Jerremy: these are all things that we
gotta talk about in the coming episodes.
402
:'cause we're gonna be
bringing people who are living
403
:Dave: Mm-hmm.
404
:Jerremy: Workers, employers, people
who made the pivot, people who got
405
:left behind who didn't make the pivot.
406
:gonna pressure tests.
407
:that we told you about today, including
our own biases, we're gonna try to get
408
:something real, not a political answer,
but something that you could actually
409
:tell someone that you care about who's
trying to figure out what to do next.
410
:Because America is entering 2030
without a replacement deal, and me and
411
:Dave believe that we need to write one
for every one of our listeners, for
412
:all the people that care, for all the
subscribers to this incredible podcast.
413
:We are here and we are really excited
about diving into how we can create these
414
:awesome changes that on real solutions.
415
:Dave: That's the series.
416
:Jerremy: Thank you so much for listening.
417
:Ladies and gentlemen.
418
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419
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421
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431
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