Joe Rogan is speaking his mind when it comes to America's economic reality. In podcast conversations with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico and author and entrepreneur Billy Carson, the comedian and host of “The Joe Rogan Experience” said the federal minimum wage is insulting and warned that most Americans are dangerously close to financial collapse.
Low Wages, High Risk
“The minimum wage in this country is ridiculous,” Rogan said during his June conversation with Sanders. “How do you live off $7?” He referenced a viral video of someone buying a $25 sandwich and added, “Imagine you have to work three and a half hours just to pay for a sandwich. That’s insane. How do you eat dinner, how do you eat lunch, how do you eat breakfast?”
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Sanders agreed, calling the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 “shameful.” He’s pushing to raise it to $17 an hour. Rogan responded, “It's going to be real difficult to live off of 17 bucks an hour, but at least you could get a sandwich in under two hours of work.”
They also touched on how technological progress hasn't improved everyday life for many workers. Sanders said that, despite massive increases in productivity, real wages are actually lower today than they were 52 years ago.
Rogan agreed, saying it’s nearly impossible these days for a single income to cover a family’s basic needs. “That's a giant issue,” he said.
Both also warned about artificial intelligence and automation. “There are signs advertising from AI companies saying ‘Don’t hire humans,'” Sanders said, with Rogan adding, “That's demonic.”
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Living Paycheck To Paycheck
But for Rogan, the bigger issue isn't just wages. It's how close so many Americans are to financial ruin. “Most people in this country right now are working check to check,” he said in the July episode with Talarico. “They're living paycheck to paycheck. They’re essentially getting by, and any catastrophe, medical or otherwise, will eliminate all savings instantaneously and they’re doomed.”
AI And UBI: Not A Simple Fix
Rogan often talks about a universal basic income as a possible response to AI and automation replacing jobs. In last year’s episode with Carson, Rogan imagined a future where “you’ve got $200,000 a year because everything’s automated and everything’s done by the government.”
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Still, he made it clear that money alone isn't the answer. “You’re going to have to find something. You’re going to have to find a purpose,” he said. Otherwise, he warned, we could see “unprecedented levels of addiction” due to a lack of structure. “There's going to be a lot of chaos and it's going to be very very uncomfortable for a lot of people.”
Taken together, Rogan's conversations with Sanders, Talarico and Carson paint a bleak picture of where the country may be headed: wages that haven't kept up, a population one bad day away from disaster, and a tech-driven future that could cause more harm than good if people lose their sense of purpose.
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