Days after giving venture capitalist Marc Andreessen an unchallenged platform to promote Flock, an AI surveillance company that uses cameras, drones and license plate readers to monitor citizens in real time, Joe Rogan returned to familiar anti-establishment themes during episode 2504 of The Joe Rogan Experience with singer-songwriter Skylar Grey.
This time, Rogan criticized corporate greed in terms he notably did not direct at the billionaire sitting across from him just days earlier.
The conversation turned political and economic while discussing Michael Moore‘s documentary Roger and Me and the collapse of the American automotive industry. Reflecting on automakers moving factories to Mexico, Rogan called it “a horrific depiction” of unchecked greed.
“It’s a horrific depiction of what can happen when greedy people decide that they’ll completely sabotage an entire city so they can make, you know, X amount more dollars and move all the factories to places where you can pay people a dollar a day or whatever the f*ck they’re paying them,” Rogan said.
He then expanded on the working conditions tied to those decisions, arguing that corporations exploited vulnerable labor forces abroad while continuing to market their products as American-made.
“You know, that’s the dirty thing about what they did with Detroit,” Rogan said. “Like, they decided that they’ll take advantage of these people that are ultra poor, that are willing to work. And it’s not just that they get paid a dollar a day or whatever they get paid. There’s no health care. There’s no benefits. There’s no retirement. There’s no dental. There’s no nothing. You just get that money and then figure it out on your own. And then, you know, you buy a Ford car and you think it’s made in America.”
Later in the discussion, the topic shifted to global income inequality and statistics suggesting that earning roughly $60,000 to $70,000 annually places someone among the top one percent of earners worldwide. Rogan responded bluntly.
“That’s capitalism,” he said.
Rogan then suggested that America’s economic prosperity may depend on the exploitation of poorer nations.
“I bet there’s probably some truth to in order for the United States to have such a high income, these other countries have to get f**ked over,” he said.
The conversation also touched on government spending and the role of corporations and NGOs in handling taxpayer money. Rogan questioned where that money ultimately ends up and whether the system is sustainable.
“The amount of money that goes through, you know, various corporations and NGOs, and the amount of loans that all this different s**t, where our tax dollars go, and you look at that, and you’re like, that seems so short-sighted,” Rogan said.
