Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Rey Flemings: NY State rejected 2,000 ordered ventilators for unknown reasons
“Only to find out that the state of New York ultimately did not want the ventilators. I had no idea why and still, you know, kind of don't know why. I would note as a footnote that, you know, a year and a half or so ago it came out that the you know, the state …”
Opinion
Rey Flemings: Eliminating multi-generational wealth inheritance would solve massive societal problems
“It would solve a massive amount of the problems.”
Assertion Contradicted
Rey Flemings: NY State wired firm $45.9M for ventilators, prompting FBI call
“We got a wire from the state of New York for 45.9 million dollars and a phone call from the FBI.”
Opinion
Rey Flemings: Modern society would label Adam Smith a socialist or communist
“The capitalism that Adam Smith articulated in Wealth of Nations is not the capitalism that we practice today. Nowhere near it. In fact by today's definition, Adam Smith would be labeled a socialist or a communist if you actually read Adam Smith's quotes in the…”
Assertion Contradicted
Rey Flemings: Ventilator prices spiked from $6K to $400K in ten days
“So the week before we took that project on, I think the average price of those devices was less than 6000 dollars. By the end of the 10 days or so that we worked on this project, the price reached nearly 400,000 dollars for a ventilator.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rey Flemings: Myria secured European presidential security for private American client
“We had a client who was vacationing in Europe and he wanted armed private security in a nation that did not allow for armed private security. The only people who could carry a gun in that country were on duty military and on duty, essentially federal police. T…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: The U.S. presidency is outdated for managing modern complex systems
“The problem in America is with the presidency itself. You know, the idea of the presidency was developed so long ago. Hey, let's elect our king. Well, when the constitution was ratified, A human being had never traveled faster than a horse could carry them. Th…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Extreme wealth concentration creates unpredictable systemic powder kegs
“Wealth is getting concentrated into so few hands that it becomes dangerous. And you never know where it starts. You never know the moment of ignition.”
Disclosure
Rey Flemings: Even ultra-wealthy clients want to change systemic societal inequalities
“You know, I would tell you that even my wealthiest clients don't like it.
Right?
So they played by the rules of the game.
They succeeded, and they want to change it”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Hip-hop lyrics shifted from communal focus to individualistic wealth obsession
“The music, even in early hip hop, was we-centric.
It was looking out at the world, like,
And at some point that changed, and all of the lyrics became me, how much I've got, how much money, look at me, da da da da, me.
And, you know, that me-centric thinking is…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Billionaires consistently begin their life narratives claiming they came from nothing
“Talk to any billionaire, the first words out of anyone's mouth will be like, I didn't come from anything. Whether or not that's true, right? They'll be like, ah, I came from nothing, right? That's at the beginning. Of every story on the self-made thing.”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Extreme wealth milestones never feel sufficient due to constant comparison
“And so you wind up in a scenario where you have made it. You have a wealth event. You've got a hundred million dollars, but that's not enough because someone has five hundred million dollars. You become a billionaire. That's not enough because somebody's got t…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Society's fixation on accumulating wealth spreads through social contagion
“And so I think because society has kind of placed this ideal, go get rich is the number one thing, and there is social contagion essentially, right? This idea has spread that we're chasing that thing.”
Assertion Supported
Rey Flemings: FDIC holds just $130 billion to insure all U.S. deposits
“The FDIC has about a hundred and thirty billion dollars.
Shane Parrish: And if everybody withdrew their money.
Rey Flemings: This is not even everybody.
Rey Flemings: They've got a hundred and thirty billion of insurance money.
Rey Flemings: How much money do …”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Wealth decreases trustworthy relationships and access to honest feedback
“The more money you have, the fewer people you can trust, the more money you have, the harder it is for a person to look you in the eye and tell you the truth, just tell you things that you don't want to hear. And so that circle to your point just keeps shrinki…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Frivolous litigation drives the ultra-wealthy into guarded, insular isolation
“They become targets for frivolous litigation and a lot of bad behavior. You know, things which If they were poor, you know would never be an issue, but even the minorest of infractions are like, you know, everything's super, super litigious. And so people, thi…”
Opinion
Rey Flemings: 'Self-made' is the most coveted designation on Forbes billionaire lists
“And if you look at Forbes, so Forbes publishes the billionaire list, and 26, 2700 names on it, that's actually not the most important designation. The most important designation is self-made. So within the Forbes billionaire list, there's heirs, there's all th…”
Insight
Rey Flemings: Concierge requests range from web purchases to impossible interventions
“The easiest way to think about what we do is this five-step Spectrum, where to the left, things are simple, and to the right, they're difficult to impossible. So, one, two, three, four, five. On the left, anything that you can purchase on a web browser. You wa…”
