The Paul Truesdell Podcast

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Friday, April 18th, 2025 at 6:30 pm - Reservations Available
Fixed Cost Real Estate - The No Commission Listing Agent Process
Casual Cocktail Conversation at the Stonewater Club
In-Person – Reservations Required – Text or Call 352-612-1000
“or” use the Contact Form: https://truesdellwealth.com/events/rsvp
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Meet the founder of Fixed Cost Investing™ and Fixed Cost Real Estate Agent Compensation. Paul Truesdell pioneered procedural estate document preparation, investing, and real estate agent compensation. Why pay more because you have more, or receive less because you have less? Combining Old School with NEw School
for a ONE School approach that works.

Friday, May 16th, 2025 at 6:30 pm - Reservations Available
Essential Florida Estate Documents
Casual Cocktail Conversation at the Stonewater Club
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The Living Trust, Irrevocable, Charitable, Pet, and Special Needs Trusts, Basic and Pour-Over Will, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Power, The Truesdell Living Will, The DNR, Probate, Trust Administration, Asset Protection, Medicaid Avoidance, Pre-Need Guardian, and more. Over 50,000 have attended since 1986.

Tunnel to Towers Benefit Concert
The Truesdell Companies was the primary sponsor of the Eirinn Abu benefit concert for Tunnel to Towers, which was held on February 28th at the Circle Square arena in Ocala, Florida.
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Podcast Personality

Paul Grant Truesdell | Founder & CEO
J.D., AIF, CLU, ChFC, RFC
The Truesdell Companies
The Truesdell Professional Building
200 NW 52nd Avenue
Ocala, Florida 34482
212-433-2525 - Switchboard
[email protected] - General Email
Websites
truesdellwealth.com
Truesdell.net
PaulTruesdell.com
youtube.com/@truesdellwealth

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Rough Notes

“Houston, the Media Has a Problem”

Let me tell you something that should have stopped everyone in their tracks recently. We had what I would call an *Apollo 13-level space emergency*, and nobody seemed to notice—or care. No front-page headlines. No ticker-tape countdowns on cable news. No late-night specials with dramatic music and a slow pan over concerned astronaut family members.

Nope. We had astronauts stuck—*stuck*—in space, and it got about as much coverage as a new seasonal flavor of Pop-Tarts.

I mean, what in the galaxy is going on?

Now, for those of you under 50—and let’s be honest, that’s a lot of folks—you probably think “Apollo 13” is just a Tom Hanks movie. A cool flick, maybe something you saw on TNT back in the day, right after a rerun of “Shark Tank.” But Apollo 13 was real. *Real men, real danger, real time*. It was a near-catastrophic NASA mission in 1970 that became a race against death after an oxygen tank exploded two days into the journey. That crew was circling the moon with a broken ship, running out of power, water, and air.

And yet, the entire world stopped to watch. It was national drama, international suspense, and for once in human history, the media covered something truly heroic.

Fast forward to 2025. We’ve got astronauts stuck up on the International Space Station because Boeing’s Starliner capsule—let me say that again, *Boeing’s* space capsule—has some “issues.” Translation: mechanical failures, software problems, possible leaks, and oh yeah, they can’t safely fly it home right now.

So what do we get from the media? Crickets. Dead silence. Not a single real-time countdown. No in-depth exposé. No sweaty-palmed interviews with spouses waiting on the ground like it’s a Nicholas Sparks movie.

Why?

Well, the rescue ship that’s keeping our brave astronauts safe and supplied is—brace yourself—owned by Elon Musk. Yes, *that* Elon Musk. The man who used to be the left’s darling, the Tony Stark of climate change, who built Teslas and solar panels and reusable rockets. He was the poster boy of progressivism until he started saying things like, “Maybe the government isn’t always honest,” and “We should have free speech, even if it offends you.”

Now suddenly, he’s public enemy number one. The same media that used to fawn over him like teenage fans at a boy band concert now treat him like he’s the villain from a Batman movie. Musk didn't change that much. But the media sure did.

And here’s the twisted part: we had astronauts in a real-life Apollo 13 situation—dependent on Musk’s private company to stay safe—and the media basically pretended it didn’t happen. Not because it wasn’t newsworthy. No, no. Because it *was* newsworthy—but it didn’t fit the narrative. The script was already written, and this little space drama didn’t have a role in it.

Let’s go ahead and call that what it is: intellectual malpractice.

You remember when the Challenger blew up in 1986? I do. Every kid in America watched it live in school. Teachers cried. Parents cried. The nation stood still. That tragedy marked people. It defined a generation’s relationship with space and science. And it never left the news cycle for *weeks.*

Today? We've got a whole generation who can't name a single astronaut and wouldn't know the difference between Skylab and a space-themed Airbnb.

Let me drop a quick knowledge bomb while we're at it: the International Space Station, or ISS, is technically our *second* space station. The first was called Skylab. We launched it in 1973. That’s right—*1973!* You think TikTok is groundbreaking? We were already living in orbit before the Bee Gees hit their peak.

But here’s the thing: people today treat space like it’s background noise. It’s wallpaper. Maybe they’ll scroll past a blurry rocket launch on Instagram, double tap if the lighting’s good, and move on. Meanwhile, there are men and women risking their lives in zero gravity, wearing diapers, eating rehydrated lasagna, and trying not to burn up on reentry. That’s not just science fiction. That’s real science fact.

And let me pause here and say something you’re not supposed to say in polite society anymore: *We are really, really good at space.*

The United States is still the most dominant space power on the planet. Yes, China’s making moves. India’s putting probes on the moon. Russia is… well, mostly recycling Cold War leftovers at this point. But who does everyone still call when they need to hitch a ride to orbit?

That’s right. Us.

Actually, let me clarify: they don’t call *us*. They call *Elon*. Because whether you like him or not, the man has delivered. SpaceX is the only reason we’re not bumming rides off the Russians anymore. We have *privatized* space travel in a way that’s more efficient, more scalable, and—this part’s key—*more successful* than what most government contractors can manage.

But we don’t talk about that. Because Elon committed the ultimate modern sin: he thought independently. He questioned authority. And for that, he’s been sent to media Siberia.

Now, instead of covering real heroism, instead of teaching our kids what resilience and innovation look like in the stars, we’re talking about celebrity divorces and TikTok drama. We’ve gone from “Failure is not an option” to “Failure is trending.”

It’s not jus...