If you still think the economy is fake, K-shaped, or only benefiting the rich, you aren't paying attention to what's around you — the planes are full, the restaurants and bars are full of young people, and the strongest evidence is the reality of consumer behavior over social media narratives.
Michael pushes back on the doom narratives by citing concrete observations: July 23rd was the busiest day for commercial air travel ever, and walking around Chicago he saw bars and restaurants full of young people. He argues social media is a 'warped fourth dimension' that makes people distrust their own eyes. ✦ AI generated
Ben Carlson · The Compound · 2026-08-05 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 63:00
July 23rd was the busiest day for commercial air travel ever... I know everyone wants to say like everything in the economy is fake and it's all K-shaped and it's only rich people, but it's not. The planes are full. The restaurants when I was walking around Chicago... all the restaurants and bars were full of young people. And I keep being told how miserable young people are because of social media and they can't buy a home. That's not what I saw... If you still think like the economy is just all fake, then you're not paying attention to what's going on around you. You're too into social media. It's so nuts how social media is like a warped fourth dimension... People don't believe their eyes anymore. They just believe what they see on social media.
verbatim transcript · starts at 63:00
62:56[ __ ] >> What are you talking about? You have a super computer in your pocket. You're complaining about it. >> I'm not complaining about it. I love my phone. What does it do better than the 16? >> Oh, the battery doesn't die. I don't know. I have no idea. And I'm sure there's a thread on Twitter somewhere that tells you all the >> I was about to scream like like Mad Dog
63:16Russo like fix Siri just freaking >> what I have. >> Make it better for God's sake. >> Are we gonna get Claude on here someday that's going to just use Claw to do it and not Siri? >> Um all right. Uh people are still traveling. July 26, I'm sorry, July 23rd was the busiest day for commercial air travel ever. I know everyone wants to That's crazy. I know everyone wants to
63:43say like everything in the economy is fake and it's all K-shaped and it's only rich people, but >> it's not. >> The planes are full. The restaurants when I was walking around Chicago talking about that all the restaurants and bars were full of young people. And I keep being told how how miserable young people are because of social media and they can't buy a home. That's not
63:58what I saw. I saw a bunch of young people who probably have entry- level jobs smiling and drinking and laughing at the bars and the planes are full and the theme parks are full and the bars and restaurants are full. If you still think like the economy is just all fake, then you're not paying attention to what's going on around you. You're too into social media. >> It's so It's so nuts how social media is
64:21like a warped fourth dimension. >> Yes. People don't believe their their eyes anymore. They just believe what they see on social media. It's really Okay. I I obviously I was about the wrongest I've ever been about movies and you were right. I I I still can't believe the Michael Jackson movie was so big though. That I I don't know. The child stuff didn't keep people away. >> It's biggest pop star in the history of
64:47the world. >> Yeah, but I mean didn't end very great. Okay, so here's the thing. I had my faith in movies restored through obsession and the Odyssey. So I went and saw the Odyssey. I'll save that for recommendations. But I think my faith in humanity has been taken away now that Spider-Man is the biggest movie ever. Because what are we doing here? The 11th Spider-Man movie is going to be the