The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Spanberger Fires VA Tech Board Of Visitors Rector; Weldon Cooper: 4.8% VA Unemployment By COB 2026

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Spanberger Fires VA Tech Board Of Visitors Rector Weldon Cooper: 4.8% VA Unemployment By COB 2026 Charlottesville City Hall Has 1 Building Inspector 1 CVille Building Inspector Is Governing Incompetence Chief Kochis Selects SROs For City High/Middle Schools Dewberry Skeleton Hit With Warning In Atlanta Duncan Use Rental Inspections To Force Rent Control? Subscribe To JerryRatcliffe.com For $8 Per Month Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the I Love Civo Show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on a Thursday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville. A pleasure to connect with you guys through the water cooler of content and conversation. We are smack dab in the heartbeat of this region we call Charlestville and Central Virginia the home to 300,000 people roughly. That is extremely fluid and dynamic. The University of Virginia obvious influences and impacts on this region we call Central Virginia. but there's a number of other factors that really make this a melting pot of eclectic conversation. We're going to talk about that eclectic conversation and content on the program today. I encourage you, the viewer, and listener to hammer the like button, to subscribe to our show.

If you watch on YouTube, check out the I Love Seville Network on YouTube. In fact, that's probably the most consistent platform to watch upon. It's a video streaming platform. It's the most consistent of all the video streaming. YouTube. Search the I Love Seville Network, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and watch the show on our YouTube channel, the I Love Seville Network. If you're watching on Facebook, Twitter, or one of the 27 other social media and podcasting platforms, this show is airing upon, please hammer the like button, the subscribe button, and pass along the content to friends. We work hard for you.

That's the only thing we ask in return. There's a tremendous amount of content that's local to you that we'll cover today, including the recently minted Virginia governor, Abigail Spamberger, the first female governor in Commonwealth history, making moves again. I mean, she is making waves left and right, collective bargaining, marijuana, UVA Board of Visitors, Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors, a veto there, a veto here. Now she's canned the record, at the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. Virginia Tech fans, Hokie fans,

parents of Hokie students, Hokie alum, do you realize that right now your rector just got fired from your board of visitors? Your school president is on the outs, and your athletic director is on his way out as well. arguably your three most important positions at Virginia Tech, school president,

athletic director, and rector, and you're going to have completely new ones in the very near future, and it's already started with the BOV rector. That conversation we'll have on the show today. I want to talk on the program, some numbers from Weldon Cooper about unemployment. Weldon Cooper is projecting unemployment in the Commonwealth at 4.8% ladies and gentlemen, by close of business 2026. That 4.8% unemployment number, the estimate from the Weldon Cooper Center, is the highest value that Virginia has had in the last decade except for

the piticle of the pandemic. Economists are taking it even further. College graduates are finding their most challenging labor market in a generation's time. You have students saddled with the highest collegiate and university and graduating debt in student history now, entering a labor market that is cooler than the other side of the pillow. And in this circumstance, Stuart Scott's adage is not a good thing. It is a frozen labor market, especially for new hires as companies and businesses are extremely cautious with hiring. artificial intelligence, inflation, gas, uncertainty, geopolitical tension,

two wars the country is associated with, all factors into a fragile economy, a bifurcated economy. You're highly invested, significantly invested in stocks and equities. You're wealthier than you've ever been. You're not tied to stocks and equities. You are in a shaky, fragile, fragile, foundation of your of your household i want to talk about that on the program today i want to talk the charltsville subreddit thread that we've mentioned in in months past it's time that this

gets way more attention evidently city hall here in charlotteville has one building inspector one building inspector one building inspector one building inspector for a city that is trying to completely, that has revamped a zoning code. One building inspector for a city that is trying to champion housing affordability. One building inspector for a city that's about to drop $20 million in totality on a homeless shelter on holiday drive. One building inspector, which is one building inspector for a city that's talking out of both sides of its mouth. How are you going to drive housing affordability? How are you going to drive value proposition with zoning and flexibility,

and how are you going to create value or affordability for folks that want to live in Charlottesville when you have one building inspector? I want to talk about that on the program today. I want to talk school resource officers, ladies and gentlemen, now chosen. We have names. We have biographies. We have resumes for the school resource officers that have been picked by Chief Kautius. for Charlottesville High School and Charlottesville Middle School.

I want to talk on today's show the warning that government in Atlanta has slapped on Johnny Dewberry, the Emperor of Empty Lott's as he's been monikered by Bloomberg magazine. We've monikered him the extorting Emperor of Empty Lots. He's a developer that grew up in Waynesboro, played quarterback for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and has a history of leaving development projects at skeleton-type levels. I mean, basically, how would you characterize what's on the downtown mall? Damn near close to blight. Yeah, skeleton's good.

I mean, if they hadn't put up those giant, essentially, billboard posters, it would, yeah, it would look like a skeleton. I mean, it's a mess, and it's time for Charlottesville City Hall to do the same. We understand he's paying his taxes, but we'll let you know what Atlanta has done, ladies and gentlemen, on the program today. I'll encourage the viewers and listeners to read Jerry Rackliff, jerry rackliff.com. He's got a story coming out this afternoon, more follow-up coverage on the new head coach, head coach Cassice, the lieutenant for Lars Tiffany.

Now the obvious apparent, the hired apparent, the new head coach. Carla Williams and have a press conference yesterday. And in this press conference, Carla Williams refused to acknowledge or address the questions that are swirling around this program. Specifically with why Lars Tiffany was either fired or not fired, whether he had a contract in section extension in place or not. What drove the firing? the rumors have it as coaches or players or parents that drove the firing of Lars Tiffany,

what created the divorce? What led to divorce? Carla Williams would not address it. There's other rumors that are circulating right now that Coach Gasease has taken this job and that the pay scale associated with this job is damn near close to equivalent of what he was earning as an associate head coach. I'm curious of that. public record, legacy media, traditional media should be looking into that as well. I'm hearing it's damn near close to the same compensation. A lot of topics, and Jerry Rackleff is covering them closely at Jerry Rackleaf.com. I'd love to give some attention to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company, 62 years in business, anything tied to your family

swimming pool or your neighborhood swimming pool, whether it's water testing, pool robots to clean the pool, swimming pool covers, swimming pool shade, or even swimming pool construction, above ground pools or in-ground pools, go to Charlottesville Swimmingpool Company.com and contact John Vermillion and Andrew Vermillion. And these are the same men behind Charlestville Sanitary Supply on East High Street that have been in operation for 62 years. Meal of Vacuums, an authorized dealer of meal of vacuums. They have a mechanic on site. Should they need any work on them? Bono Wood Floor products, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply is who you contact. I'm going to go to the studio camera as we welcome Judah Wickhauer to the show.

Jack of All Trades, Jack of All Wits, Judah Wickhauer, Hank Martin, welcome to the broadcast. Vanessa Parkhill, welcome to the broadcast. Hammer the like button, please. Share the show, please. I have a couple of hedge funds watching the program right now, C-suite from hedge funds locally. Bob Yarborough, Lauren and Ivy, Vanessa Parkhill in Earleysville, Jeremy Rowe, Don Gathers, watching the program as we speak, Jason Noble, Nakaya Walker, John Shave, Curtis Shaver, Carol Thorpe on the program as we speak. Judah, the headline that you find my friend most intriguing and why on a beautiful Thursday afternoon in downtown Charlottesville.

This, the 28th of May, May is almost over. Yeah. We are almost in June in 2026. Time literally is flying. Judah Wickcarra. It is a beautiful day. Glad we've got some sun again. I'm intrigued by the fact that Abigail Spanberger has fired someone.

She hasn't really given a reason. And some of the pushback is based on the fact that it's almost as though she is put in sky down. What is Spamberger doing? I couldn't tell you. Viewers and listeners, what are your thoughts on Abigail Spamberger, the governor of Virginia? Her approval rating is absolutely right now in the toilet. Even Virginia Democrats have turned on Abigail Spamberger. Here's the story which broke minutes before our show went on air.

I'm going to reference Cardinal News, which is a fantastic news site that I reference often. The Virginia Tech Board of

Visitors' Rector, I'm going to call him John Rokovic, has been fired minutes ago by Governor Abigail Spamberger. In a letter notifying him of his firing, Spamberger

accused the rector of conduct that violated the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors Code of Ethics, the Code of Conduct for State Appointees and Goverting Statues. This is reported by Cardinal News. There's also reporting on WDBJ7 that prints out the letter that she wrote, saying that, like you said, conduct has violated the code.

Conduct has violated the Code of Conduct for Commonwealth Appointees, but she doesn't explain what he had done. And then says, I find this is sufficient cause for your removal from the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. And there's a response from delegate Terry Kilgore saying that John Rockovich has done more for Virginia Tech than anyone else in recent history. He led a massive generational commitment to Virginia Tech athletics to position VT for the future. He lives and breathes orange and maroon. and now Governor Spanberger is alleging ethics violations and abruptly removing him from the Board of Visitors.

And goes on to say that it's essentially libelous what she's doing because she hasn't given any, she hasn't given any details for why she thinks his conduct is unbecoming. Carla Williams in the statement to fire Lars Tiffany used 37 work. And that lack of transparency from the Virginia athletic director Carla Williams on why Lars Tiffany is not returning as head coach of the lacrosse program at the University of Virginia created a shitstorm surrounded by parental involvement, a coup led by parents, a coup led by players, a coup led by his coaching staff. Every rumor mill, every rumor possible entered the mill and swirled. and it created a shitstorm for lack of better phrase, the lack of transparency. Same thing with Spamberger. Here you have a rector on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors that to say he's a longtime member is an understatement.

He first served on the board from 1997 to 2005. He was the rector of the board from 2022 to 2024. He served again on the board from 2010 to 2014 and was, appointed by former governor Glenn Yonkin to another term in 2023. This man has spent 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 on the board. He spent 2010, 2011, 2012, 2012, 2013, 2014, on the board. He's been on the board 2023, 2024, 2025, and half of 2013.

26. This guy has spent 15 years of his life. Ladies and gentlemen, on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. And if you're a hokey fan, if you're a hokey alum, if you're a hokey parent, if you're a hokey student,

you have a president in Tim Sands that is stepping down. He's been at the helm of Virginia Tech for the last 12 years. You have a rector at Virginia Tech that just got canned and you have an athletic director in Whit Babcock who is being pushed out the door. Those are the three most important positions at what is perceived to be the second most

influential or flagship school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. What is going on in Blacksburg? I don't know. Some people are saying, I've seen people say that Spanberger should just fire everyone in any board position who is appointed by Yonkin. I mean, is that what she's doing? Who is controlling Spamberger? The allusions to CIA operative are gaining momentum. The allusions to spook are gaining momentum.

You're five and a half months on the job. In the five and a half months, have you seen any elected official? I'm going to ask you a straightforward question. Educate me, viewers, and listeners. In the first five and a half months on the job, have you seen any elected official lose favor so quickly across both sides of the aisle? You expected the loss of favor from Republicans. I mean, the Republicans were boneheads to think that a winter Merle Sears was going to

beat an Abigail Spamberger. But did you ever expect this loss of favor from Democrats? And not just center aisle Democrats, I'm talking staunch Democrats. I think, in my opinion, we're seeing the wrong candidates everywhere. We've got a new commoner. This is a first-time commenter. Am I saying your name correctly? Mike, is it Kolsinski?

Mike, where are you watching the program? Are you a first-time commoner? I believe you are. He says there's no state budget as of yet. How much of this is she going to blame on Republicans? Look at what she's doing with state government. laws. I got this from Jeremy Wilson, who's watching in Eastern Tennessee. Spamberger is the Commonwealth idiot. Philip Dow, the mayor of Scottsville. She's setting up Virginia for socialism.

I got this on another page that Abigail Spamberger is setting up the Commonwealth for some kind of socialistic state. And yes, you are right to ask, who is in control or who is in the ear of Abigail Spamberger? You got escalated tax. Tax is coming down the pipe. Does the veto of the marijuana bill jive with the socialism accusation? I'm just curious. How does that fit in if anybody has insight? State-controlled weed retail. But this is not state-controlled. Vitoing that bill essentially leaves it where it is.

which means that people that are finding loopholes in ways around it are going to continue to do so. The veto of that marijuana... We all know at least two places selling weed on the downtown mall. The veto of the marijuana bill veto takes retail weed away from the free market. And it compartmentalized marijuana sales to a few parties under the purview and influence of the commonwealth. Okay. We want, as free market folks, the David Trekkerichies of the world at Skuma, or the hidden Leafs of the World on the downtown mall where it's $10 to enter the hidden leaf on the

downtown mall next to Hamilton's, and you walk into a farmer's market of weed. Literally. I wouldn't call it a farmer's market. That is a farmer's market of marijuana over there. What would you call it? Carter Shaver, what do you call that? I mean, Farmers Market makes it sound like there are, you know, 20 booths set up with different people offering different... That's exactly what it is. Have you ever been there? Maybe they have a farmer's market day, but it's not normally like that.

Friday nights? Have you been there at Friday night? No, I have. Okay. All right. So you haven't seen it. But that's just Friday night. And that's what a farmer's market is. Yeah, I'm saying it's also open other days of the week. Yeah, but Friday night is their night. You go to Friday night at Hidden Leaf next to Hamilton's on the downtown mall.

You pay $10 to enter and climb the stairs. And you have vendors that are 20 or 30 vendors on fold-out tables, peddling, flour, oil, gummies, butter. I mean, it's a cornucopia of cannabis. like you should go Friday night at 10 o'clock Friday night excuse me

$10 right after work you should go and check it out I mean 10 bucks is a steep price to go check it out but 10 bucks is not a cheap price when what you're buying is substantially lower than what you can buy elsewhere and what you're buying if you're strategic about it is the top flower possible

if you know what you're doing it's definition of affordability especially the the assortment of product line they have there. Viewers and listeners, am I reading that? Is my analysis on that correct? Put your comments to the feed. I'll relay it live on air.

I frankly don't know how they get around it legally. Or maybe it's a don't ask, don't tell. Or maybe it's just a private, maybe it's because the $10 makes it kind of like a private club, like a club entry fee. Maybe that's how they do it. Yeah. I think that's, I think the

entry fee essentially puts it into at least gray enough legal area. Almost like a private club is what it's done. It makes it like a private club. It's like how in the past you get around with serving booze, like 20 years ago or 15 years ago, when Club 216 on Friday and Saturday nights, it was a gay club, except on Friday and Saturday nights,

it was the place to go when bars closed down in Charlottesville, whether you were gay or straight and you just wanted to keep partying. So if you were at Mono, or if you were at blue light or if you were at Zocolo and they called last call at 130 or 140 in the morning and there's many a night where I barely remember the last call at 130 or 140 in the morning you paid your tab and then you would head to club 216 whether on market street this location over here by where tin whistle used to be or whether it was on water street and you paid a five or ten dollar entry fee to get in and there were three or four hundred

people there, gay or straight, parting until like six or seven in the morning, just drinking and dancing and having fun. It was where you went. It was the after-hour spot. And how they got away with serving booze late night was the entry fee. I would imagine that's how you do it at Inaneleaf. But I'm not an attorney and I didn't stay at a holiday at an express last night. I'm not either. It's amazing that that's all it takes to get past some of the Virginia laws. I mean, another thing that's being done, another thing that's being done is you go into some of these retail stores and you make a purchase and what you're purchasing is not THC cannabis. And then after you make the purchase of whatever you're buying, you are then given for free the THC cannabis. You didn't buy it.

You were given it to you for free. Yeah, you probably pay double for the non-THC cannabis and they give you as a, a gift, the good stuff. Yeah. That's kind of like how I've heard people going to like, like DC, driving in DC, calling a dispensary, buying a backpack. And the backpack comes with, you know, whatever, whatever treats you want. You pay for the backpack so that nobody gets in trouble for buying, you know, drugs.

Handsome Hank Martin watching the program. Let's get his photo on screen. Jason Hampshire watching the show. love running into Jason Hampshire over at the Borset. Great guy. Logan Wells Claylow watching the program. Juan Sarmiento watching the program. Hank Martin says Virginia has a new reality TV host, and Abigail Spamberger is running out of people to fire.

Empress Abigail acts the rector of Virginia Tech, adding another high-profile scalp to her collection. First UVA, then George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute, and now Virginia Tech. at this rate, she is not governing. She's auditioning for her own post-political career, her own version of The Apprentice. Handsome Hank Martin.

I've never seen, help me, viewers and listeners, okay? I don't profess to be a political historian. Five months on the job. Has anyone seen a politician lose favor this quickly, more so than Abigail Spanberger? Deep throat watching the program. Here's another case of crapping on a big donor, just like Abigail Spamberger did with Paul Manning,

the second largest donor in UVA history. The first largest donor in the University of Virginia history is Jeffrey Woodruff. Period, bar none, not close. The second largest donor in UVA history is Paul Manning. I say this all the time. If you created a Mount Rushmore of the University of Virginia, you'd have Thomas Jefferson on there, one. you'd have Jeffrey Woodruff on there too

Data Science School number of other donations Squash, MacArthur, Borset, you name it. Three is probably Paul Manning. Four is left to be determined. But the clear cut, one, two, and three are Jefferson, Woodruff, and Manning. And Spamberger, K.N. Manning.

Zactam, Board of Visitors as well. Yeah. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll relay them live on air here on the water cooler of content and conversation. I do want to commend Conan Owen if he's watching the program. He's a man of his word. I have a bottle of McAllen 12 in my possession here. He did lose a proposition bet to me about where gas prices would be on the 25th of May.

The over under was set at $2.80. I took the over. I think it was set at $2.79. which was the price of gasoline before, on the day before the ward I ran started, 279 at Bel Air Market on Ivy Road. I said it would be over 279.

He said it would be under 279. We bet this bottle right here, McCallin, 12. He paid his bet. He is an honorable man. I will be drinking this and enjoying it with an Alec Bradley family blend cigar while overlooking

our backyard and with my feet and legs in our family swimming pool, a pool taken care by Charlottesville Sanitary Supply and Charlottesville Swimming Pool Company. So thank you, man of your word, Conan Owen. Vanessa Parkhill, her photo on screen. Have you ever seen the movie

Dallas Buyers Club? Not cannabis, but HIV treatments that were not available in the States. You paid dues and got the Mets. True story. Eventually it got shut down. Civo police are not motivated to shake down the weed club. And I don't think the police should shake down the weed club, frankly. They don't have the resources are better allocated elsewhere.

And if there was any shakedown happening at the weed club, it would just pop up somewhere else. And I would rather, frankly, cannabis should be legalized. You guys know my stance on marijuana on this program. The history of marijuana and law enforcement. associated with marijuana is overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly profiling and unfair and unlawful to black and brown people. And overwhelmingly racist. Racist is a better word.

Thank you. And overwhelmingly offers apathy or second chances or patience with white people. The history speaks for itself. Yeah. Okay? It should be regulated and, in the fact that you're not selling fentanyl lace weed. But as long as you're not meeting standards,

like you're not lacing the weed with stuff, pesticides, poison, other kind of crap, then it should be like beer. Yeah. I find alcohol much, much more destructive. Not even close. Yeah. Not even close.

Not even comparable. Not even comparable. next headline what do you got is it weldin cooper i think so did this not this number jumped out to me and this actually piggybacks with something that conan owen sent me yesterday first i'll get to the weldin cooper statistic and then i'll get to what conan owen sent me he is a darting graduate he is the owner of surspeedy central virginia first the number from weldon cooper the welding cooper the weldon cooper center for public service says unemployment is expected to climb significantly in 2026 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It's one of its economists at the Walden Cooper Center.

I'm going to butcher this person's name. I would just love names like Joe Smith. This person's name is, how do you think I say J-O-A-O? Jo-O-O-O-J-O-A-O? Yeah, Joel. Okay, how do you think I say the last name? F-E-R-R-E-I-R-A. That was the last, that was the first thing.

Fiera? Okay, Joao. Fierra. Is there a, is there a, is there a, no, no. No? There's not. Maybe they just didn't know how to put it there. It might be Zhu,

Zhu. Okay. Mr. Fiera, an economist for the Weldon, with the Weldon Cooper Center, expects unemployment to be just under 5%. I can't believe that's surprising. By the end of 2026, at 4.8%, the highest levels of unemployment in the Commonwealth,

in the last decade save peak pandemic. You're not surprised? Why? I mean, there have been lots of layoffs due to AI adoption, largely by idiot CEOs that don't understand what AI is. And the fact that it's not AI. There's also, I mean, there's also the economic headwinds, how much how much can businesses afford to you know to to pay not just pay people but I mean how many people can they afford to to hire and just I think it might even be higher than that if you think

about the fact that a lot of people have given up and are no longer in the job market so I was absolutely going to make that point and so yeah if when somebody stops looking There's job market apathy that's going on where people are either giving up and not applying, which do not get counted to this metric, or the underemployed apathy where men and women take jobs that are below their skill set, what their resume indicates or their personal standards, because they're so fed up or apathetic or aggravated with the process. Or because they couldn't find anything else. And so they may be working a job that's, I don't want to say below.

them, but less than they would normally be getting paid in their job market, or they could just be getting less hours. They could be working a place that's, you know, that is keeping everybody under, you know, there's that threshold where if you go over it, you've got to pay them overtime or whatever it is. And so oftentimes businesses like that will, will trim the fat, so to speak, by making sure everyone is working less hours than would allow them to take certain liberties, certain, you know, whether it's insurance. You cut their hours, you keep them below a certain threshold so they don't get the pomp in circumstance of a full-time salary employee.

Yeah. The perks, the benefits, the retirement, the matching for whatever it is. Okay. Now, Conan Owen sent me an email yesterday on just that. This from the McIntyre School of Commerce, which is soliciting opportunities for recent graduates. They're soliciting opportunities, the McIntyre School of Commerce, for students who recently graduated and are currently unemployed. They are sending what they are calling resume books, which is basically a list of unemployed McIntyre School of Commerce graduates. Conan sends me this email, and he says, I'm absolutely staggered by how many recent students.

MacIntyre graduates do not have jobs. I'm going to look at the resume book for example for a MacIntyre School of Commerce graduate who has a Bachelor's of Science in Commerce. It's called a BSC, Bachelors of Science and Commerce. I'm clicking the link which is a digital PDF. It's now opening on my MacBook laptop and as it's loading and I'm looking at this this book I see one, two, three, four, five, six, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, thirty-one in that major track alone that are currently unemployed. And then,

write down thirty-one, Judah. Then I'm going to go to the second resume book, which is a master's of science and commerce. This is a master's degree and I'll call it an MSC. So 31 with the bachelor's degree, right, Judah? Yeah. Now I'm going to go to the Masters in Commerce. The Masters in Commerce, unemployed currently, has 10. Then I'm going to go to the Masters in Global Commerce. The Masters in Global Commerce has loading, has nine, has eight, excuse me, Masters in Global Commerce.

I'm literally looking at these people's resumes. This is the Crem de la Crem. Now I'm going to the Masters in Accounting. So did you write down those three numbers? Yeah. Now the Masters at Global Accounting. They have five. What's the total number there?

The total is 54. Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at more than 50 McIntyre School of Commerce graduates, bachelor's and masters that have no job right now. And as I'm looking at these links, I'm going to slide down and look at these resumes. You're talking about men and women that are not only have internships, not only have previous work experience, not only have every, I mean, this one resume that I'm looking at right now, they're graduating with a 3.5 GPA. Here's another one that is graduating with a 3.53 GPA. Do not underestimate the 4.8%

unemployment rate that Weldon Cooper is projecting for close of business 2026. I thought Judah's analysis was absolutely on point. That number is way higher. Yeah, the actual number. And when is the last time a labor market, especially for college graduates, has been this week? Do you go to 2008 and 2009? An economic recession? The last time we, is it been, are we talking nearly 20 years here, folks? Katie Pearl watching the program. Katie Pearl smarge out, talented realtor.

She says, at the end of the day, you guys are. exactly right. People have to find something to pay their bills, regardless of what they might be really worth. Hague Martin says, I'm understandably curious. Did the Weldon Cooper Center cross-reference their data into those who are holding two or more jobs? Would that not also potentially skew the numbers? That's a great point. Yeah, I mean, I think those... The point he's making is... I think those fall into the into the same bucket as the people that are under utilized? Here's the point he's making. If you have to work two jobs, a 30-hour-a-week job and a 20-hour-a-week job,

to make the equivalent of what a 40-hour-a-week person was making to pay their bills three or four years ago, should you be seen as, do you count in that unemployment rate? The answer is no, you do not. Right. No, you do not. Yeah. And that, but that goes toward, that's, you know, there are an abundance of people who have essentially settled. They're like, look, I can't do this anymore.

I can't send out, you know, 20 resumes a day. I can't, you know, I can't waste my time with fake, you know, with fake ads. Too many companies are making themselves look like they're hiring people. but they essentially just toss every resume that comes across the desk into the trash. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. A lot of people are just fed up and say, look, I'm not going to do it. I've got a crappy job. I'm going to stick with it for now.

This from Deep Throat. Remember Spamberger was for a time a postal inspector. She focused on narcotics cases. Probably not 420 friendly. More broadly, I'd say she is part of the authoritarian. left and not the liberationist left. Abigail Spamberger. And then he shares a graph, and this graph he tracks,

the Fed tracks unemployment specifically for recent college graduates. Note how the blue line, recent graduates, has risen above the black line and has increased more than any other lines. I mean, what is happening? Do you have that graph? You want me to get it? As long as it doesn't impact the feed. If you don't think it'll impact the feed, I would love if you got that graph.

Yes, please. And it's in the DMs. A recent college graduate, if they are not well-versed in AI, if they are not well-versed in people skills and human connection, a recent college graduate, if they still think the job market is a job, market of Zoom and remote work, they are going to go a period of time of being unemployed. And I cannot emphasize enough to viewers and listeners.

I hear this, I get this all the time with what I do professionally. And I get it from both sides of the aisle. I get it from the clients that are the business owners or the C-suite. Looks like YouTube dropped, Judah. Really? At this point, no big deal. But from my clients that are paying our bills that are at $2.95 an hour rate, they hear, they mention to us often the folks that want to work,

want to work for our firms through computer screens and at their houses. One of the first questions they're asking us is, is this a hybrid or remote job? and then I hear from the college graduates or the soon-to-be college graduates that know I'm connected locally with businesses. I got a text message about this yesterday. Do you know of any jobs that I can work?

And then often the next question they ask is I'm looking for remote work. This intersection of remote work and unemployment is one to follow. You are not going to build the in-person relationships of struggling the trials and tribulations, of sitting next to your boss or reporting to your boss in person. Do you understand the relationships that are built with your boss

at lunch or at a post-work happy hour? That's where you become not a statistic on paper, but an actual human with a name and with a personality and with an identity. The post-work happy hour used to be the way you got promoted professionally, especially for young professionals in the labor market just starting out. There was often an issue with that, though. I mean, you can't deny that that favors somebody who's better at speaking, someone who's better at socializing.

But that's the job. That's not always the job. That is the job. Well, maybe if it's a job that requires socialization, but sometimes you need someone who's a good tech guy. Okay, so you're basically saying this. I'm saying that C-suite guys are oftentimes the glad handers who are good at smiling and saying the right thing. That does not give them any particular skill at running a business. I'm going to push back on that.

And respectfully, I'll push back on it. I get what you're saying. I sincerely appreciate what you're saying that, yes, it's going to offer favoritism or a head start or an advantage to someone who's able to have a beer schmooze and just talk. The art of just being able to have a conversation is being lost in America. There's so many people that I, like my job is that. my job is putting deals together and putting out fires solving problems for people that can afford to work with us. That's basically what I do. We have a rate. We don't want to work with everyone. We want to work with the folks that afford our rate and need my skill set. That's the job. And there are so many times with what I do with talking with people on so many different walks of life professionally that are so awkward in person and our little,

literally like agitated, uncomfortable squirming, not looking me in the eye, like, like, itching, crawling, jumping out of their skin. But they're completely fine when talking on Zoom. Or they're completely fine while on the phone or texting. But if it gets to just being in person, how many times have you seen this viewers and listeners? You mean I have to have a conversation with this person face to face? You know, you don't want to know a prediction, Judah? Here's a prediction, a professional prediction for the viewers and listeners.

As this world becomes more artificial intelligence dependent, and as our world becomes more digitally dependent, and as our world becomes more tethered to technology, the men and women that can communicate in an analog or opposite fashion, the men and women that can do conversation or go out to, a client dinner or a client lunch or a client happy hour are the ones that are going to get ahead. Everyone in 2026 and 2027 and 28 and beyond are going to be expected to have technology, expertise, digital, dexterity, artificial intelligence, nuance.

But what's not being prioritized is human connection and what we, did yesterday year to get things done. Talk. Work as a team. Work together in person to get something done. Have a client dinner where you discuss a problem and you close a deal. Go to a client lunch. Those can be very different things that you just mentioned. How are they different things? That's all the same thing based on human connection. Okay. What do you disagree on? I mean, the people that are going to lunches and dinners are rarely working in teams and making things better. That's absolutely not true. I was two days ago in a in-person meeting over drinks where the gentleman who I cannot name where we're helping to put a deal together with him, also brought with him an attorney, an assistant, in a project.

manager and then some other person that did not talk. This person picked up the tab for everybody. And we're sitting there over two drinks talking and he brought a good portion of his team with him. It's the opposite of the norm is going to be what is going to get people ahead. Just a prediction. And the predictions have proven to be right. Next topic, what do you got?

Don't worry about the YouTube now. It's too late to start it back up. I know. Next topic. What do you got? The irony of saying at the beginning of the show that the YouTube was the best platform to watch upon as the YouTube drops in the middle of today's show.

Charlottesville City Hall has only one building inspector. Southwestern Virginia's Travis Hackworth is watching the program. He's the Duke of Danville. Have we not backed ourselves into a corner, Travis Hackworth says, in higher education by pushing and pushing four-year and higher degree paths without emphasizing trades, something that offers a safety net even during downturns economically.

Are we truly surprised we're in this position economically? He's exactly right. The problem with recent college graduates, Travis Hackworth says, is most started college before AI was really popular, and now they're getting essentially junk degrees that prepare them for a job market that has dramatically changed in some cases no longer exists. This does not count those who are getting junk degrees to begin with.

Damn, that was good. That's the comment of the day. from the Duke of Danville, Travis Hackworth, well said, well played, from Travis Hackworth. Remember when the job of being a computer coder or a software engineer was like, this is the job, the profession you should be?

This is what you should be. Be the app developer. Be the guy that knows the language of building code. They're still important, and I think the gap is going to become a problem. in the future. Now the computer, now that profession is the profession on the chopping block. For now. Facebook, meta, these major, these big time tech firms, this is who they're laying off. I know. And they're basically saying the artificial intelligence can do what these people do in minutes that otherwise would take them weeks.

Which they're, I mean, you and I differ so much on this. I'm going balls deep into the AI and the technology. Because the owner, the CEO does not know the question to ask of the tool to get the tool to produce the correct outcome. What you need is someone who understands the code. You can't just have a computer spit out a bunch of code because eventually it's going to run into problems. If you don't have, if you fired everyone that actually understands the underlying code, you're going to have serious problems when you need someone to debug what the LLM, not the AI, the LLM has spit out and given you.

It may work for a while, but eventually, as anyone who has ever used a computer knows, you're going to run into problems, and you can't just keep having a non-thinking LLM continue to fix your problem. I had a conversation last week with a guy that has maybe $400, $500 or $500 million of real estate ownership. Okay.

Knocking on the door, if not already surpassed past the door of billionaire status. And this individual got a contract from an attorney, long-term attorney, heavy-hitting attorney, part of heavy hitting law firm took that contract ran it through uh clawed that contract that took weeks to put together that ran through clog claude found 13 red flags in five minutes that were missed by the heavy hitting law firm sent it back to the law firm with the 13 red flags hey what's this about maya culpa from the attorney in the law firm on making the mistake client says, I want a reduction on the bill, and I want this prioritized right now. If this happens, again, I'm finding another law firm.

It's getting to the point where people like me with technology like Gemini or Claude or GROC, not GROC, but Gemini, Gemini is amazing. ChatGBTGPT is amazing. Are legitimately going to be able to work with an artificial intelligence suite and get deals done. and push deals through. Yeah. Or it's like, I want this contract put together. And then you take the contract, you run it through a couple more prompts with the, the intelligence that generated the contract.

You get their final version, and then you run it through Claude or Chad GBT or another one. Yeah. And then you have three AIs vetting the work that you need done, and it's given to you within 15 minutes. And then you move forward with the deal. that would have taken me a month. They're great tools. That would have taken me a month to get done. I did a deal like that a couple of weeks ago.

Literally a couple of weeks ago without a penny spent on legal. Yeah. Not a penny spent on legal. We're talking a 36 month lease 5% escalator that was a bit tricky and nuanced with some of the other contingencies and ass. But see, you're making my point for me because you're you're making my point for me because Do you understand that stuff? So when an LLM, like Gemini or ChatGPT outputs something, you can look through it and find out and see if there are problems.

That doesn't work for everyone. And if you're scrapping the entire portion of your business that does understand what is being output from an LLM, then you're going to have problems. Because you don't have anyone that can look at it. But that's the point I'm making. That's the point I'm making. I had this conversation with John Blair at a squash tournament, a squash match. His son played great in it.

John's watching right now. The people like me or the people that are like the recent graduates of the UVA of the University of Virginia, this guy, JP2, who was the co-captain, two-year captain, the squash team, this guy is freaking off-the-chart smart. Off-the-charts smart. Going to go work for some investment banking firm in Manhattan. He has got the gift of human connection, likability, can talk to talk, can walk the walk,

knows all the jargon, can conversate with every different type of person in the world. Team player, varsity athlete, co-captain, one of the best that he's at his year in Squash in America. And literally, that guy can lead into, if a guy like that leans into AI and also becomes an AI virtuoso, So that person is going to be unstoppable. If people like me, and I'm often like this comment that's coming in the feed, I try not to be the smartest person in the room in every room that I'm in. If I'm getting a profit in law statement in a balance seat and tax returns and trying to assess the value of something,

I was in a room recently with my mentor, with deep throat, and with a heavy hitter to assess the value. of a very expensive asset. I was far from the smartest person in that room. And I go into a meeting like that, I say, explain this to me as if I was a seventh grader. Explain this asset to me as if I was a seventh grader, please. Like if you go into these scenarios and you say, I want this communicated to me as if I was in middle school,

you take what's communicated to you and then you become AI proficient, you're going to be unstoppable, unstoppable. And to your point, you have to understand the prompts to get to that point, and then you have to be able to push back on what the LLMs give you to vet the LLMs. And you're right, I can do that. And one of the best ways to do it is to pump it into three different ones. Yeah. A lot of people aren't doing that.

Well, even then, again, you still have to know what you're getting out. I mean, you can take a look at the three of them. One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard, one of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was from an extremely heavy hitter. And this extremely heavy hitter said this to me. Jerry, make sure your CPA, your financial advisor, and your general counsel do not know each other, conversate with each other or have any interaction with each other.

Compartmentalize your CPA from your financial advisor and your general counsel and make them constantly fight for your business. In some ways, almost pit them against each other. We're the best pieces of advice I ever got. So 1.35. We've got a 2 o'clock here.

John Blair's comment, I think you hit the nail on the head, Jerry, about something that is going to be talked about in years to come. I think the absolute dividing line in American society is this. Did you own your home with a sub 4% interest rate and have significant money in the NASDAQ in 2021? If you did and held, I think that's a very big differentiator in American society. Not enough attention is being paid to how much the COVID real estate price boom and the interest rate increases in 2022 change everything for people who did not own their home and did not have significant money in the NASDAQ. This from an anonymous source, this is not deep throat.

I am always the dumbest person in the room, this person says. And if I'm not, then I am concerned about the room I am in. Glad-handing and ask-kissing, which is what Judah is talking about, does not get you anywhere. However, showing up does. Those like me have these roles because the board knows we will show up and we will also have the uncomfortable conversation with either the ditch digger or the capital provider. Show up. Speak less. Be honest. And be the dumb one in the room. room. It's great advice. Great advice right there. The people that show up to the company happy hour, especially if you're a new graduate, especially if you're an early hire, show up,

go up to your boss and say your name, say their name, compliment them on something, remember something that they have done and make sure they know your name and have just a short conversation and do that seven or eight times a quarter and watch the value that that will have for you professionally on promotion even if your output in production is a bit lower than the person that's working that's working completely remote you will escalate professionally on the tonal pool of verticality and professionalism, because you have connection with your boss, life is not fair.

Life prioritizes the men and women that can play the game. And playing the game is taking your profile, your job, your brand, your personal brand, away from being a statistic on paper and humanizing it and localizing it and personalizing it. And one of the easiest ways

can do that is by showing up and having a conversation in real human form. That's the I Love Seville Show on a Thursday. My name is Jerry Miller for Judah Wickhauer. Thank you for watching.