WEBVTT - 8-7-26: EXCLUSIVE: 1-on-1 With Treasury Sec Bessent 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.960 Hi, Oh, let's go. 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:32.199 Oh, Let's go oh, Let's go. 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.960 Shaw Ston's Talk one to seven point nine FMWBT. Bret 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.080 Jensen here with you on this extremely special edition of 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.920 Breaking with Brett Jensen as we go up until seven 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.520 o'clock tonight. Seven oh four, five oh one oh seventy 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.519 nine is the telephone number as well as the WBT 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.920 text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC and guys. Follow 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.720 me on ACCEP Brett Underscore Jensen for all the latest 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:55.520 and breaking news in and around the Charlotte area. And 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:57.840 I had some big time breaking news today, so make 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:59.920 sure you go check it out there on Twitter involving 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.000 other federal lawsuit against Comers County Schools. All right, you 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.200 would also see if you follow me on X that 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:06.600 what the show is. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:07.120 Going to be. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.800 And the big, big interview that I've been promoting or 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:14.800 teasing all week actually happened. Everything went perfect and it 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:19.440 could not have been better. Like everything was exactly the 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:21.400 way I had hoped that it would be, and actually 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.039 even wound up being better because I got way more 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.640 time than I had anticipated. But the interview is with 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:31.720 what I consider the third most important person in Washington, 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:36.039 d c. President Trump won, Marco Rubio number two, and 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.800 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant number three. You see him on 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.120 a lot of the Sunday talk shows, you see him 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.200 on a lot of news outlets because he's a very 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:44.880 important man. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:46.200 And I will tell you this. 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.040 He's in Ashville, and that's where I'm coming to you 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.080 from the Growth Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. Because 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.480 in three weeks the G twenty Financial Summit, where the 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.400 top twenty economic country from all over the world will 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.680 gather and descend upon Asheville, North Carolina for a four 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.720 day economic summit and it will be done at the 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.840 end of the month. And he was a Scott Bessant 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:15.000 was in Asheville today and I was able to secure 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.080 an interview with him and we met for about twenty 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.400 five minutes or so today and it was great. 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.200 And so you're gonna hear my interview. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.240 That exclusive interview with the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett again, 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.800 who I think is the third most important person in 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.799 all of Washington, DC. So here's how my interview went 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.680 earlier today with the Secretary Scott Bessant. 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:37.360 Thank you for taking the time to do this. I 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:38.600 know you're extremely busy man. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.040 Just a month out from the G twenty summit finance 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:42.360 summit here in Asheville. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.079 Why Asheville of all places. 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.120 Look, I have historical roots to the area. I grew 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.239 up as a child coming to Saluta in Flat Rock. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:55.400 I actually have a house in Jackson County. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.640 But when I the first of all, I want. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.079 To showcase Asheville to the world is good. I love 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:06.120 the Blue Ridge Mountains and last year the Canadians had 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.919 the G seventh Summit and the Canadian Rockies, so I thought, well, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.840 we'll see the Rockies raise at the Blue Ridge. And 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.639 also I want to show Ashville the resilience. And you 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.680 know Ashville and the whole area, it's it's the comeback 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:28.760 city that everybody after the tragedy September twenty four, people 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.639 are resilient. The US government Trump administration, we put over 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.000 five billion dollars into western North Carolina for the recovery. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.600 And we want to showcase the beauty of the area. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:42.080 But the resilience of the people. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.560 What kind of economic boosts do you do you think 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:46.320 this will have here? 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.800 Because you just mentioned you will be one month away 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.400 from the two year anniversary when you have the summit here. 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.560 Yeah, exactly. So I think there will be two parts 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.560 of this is one will be. 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:04.560 The actual under lying benefits, millions of dollars created. We're 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.160 going to have about one hundred and seventy people here 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:13.480 traveling from all over the world. The G twenty group, 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:18.080 which is a group of countries to get together at 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:22.240 the leader level, so the President, Secretary of State, and 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.400 Secretary of the Treasure of Finance minister level three times 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.200 a year. But there are other meetings for working groups, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:34.960 and it really convenes. It is a forum to discuss ideas, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.880 to put forth new ideas, to try to interdict any 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.680 problems before they happen. So there will be the direct 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.760 effect of all those people, whether they're flying. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.640 Into Charlotte from all over the world. 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.680 And then driving up or coming into Ashville Airport, which 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:51.840 I landed up last night. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:52.800 I hadn't seen it. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:59.200 The new improvements look great, they look great, but then 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.280 there's going to be the effect people all around the world. 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.000 I think we have more than three hundred journalists coming, 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.159 so you know, we're here at the historic Grove Park 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.960 inn and a lot of times if there are historic agreements, 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.880 it takes the name of the agreement. You know, we 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:21.520 talk about the Louis Accord, the Plaza Accord, when we 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:28.360 think about certain summits, whether they were at Jekyl Island 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.600 that was famous for when the FED was formed. So 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:35.440 like these things can take on a life of their own. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.200 But I think as the hundreds of millions of people 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.640 are seeing Asheville around the world, you know, we know 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:46.240 it locally nationally, and I think it's going to take 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.039 on a bigger international dimension. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:52.880 Speaking of obviously we're here talking about economics and everything else. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.320 One of the things that just randomly had last week 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:57.120 a conversation with. 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:58.640 The North Kinta State Legislature. 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.600 And one of the things that he likes to do 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.800 is talk to high school students about what proposed what 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.520 would you like to see, what bills, what would you 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.440 like to see as high school students, And they wrote 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.320 this in depth thing in the form of a bill 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:18.320 about finance literacy and this we literally had this conversation 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.760 last week. So what is your thoughts about the whole 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.719 finance literacy thing going back to high schools and before 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.159 you get into college in the real world. 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.160 Well, I think it's fantastic. 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.880 My family and I have supported financial literacy efforts for 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.760 more than two decades and it's one of our big 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:40.040 philanthropic pursuits. We have a program down at the College 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.480 at Charleston, my hometown in South Carolina, for first generation 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.720 students coming in who've never been to college before, on 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:54.240 how to manage their finances, because we've seen that these kids, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.480 with the very little financial training they yout on campus, 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.560 their credit card company gives them a credit card, they 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.800 run up the debt, and then their college career is over. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:11.920 But more importantly that back in my day, everyone when 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.680 you hear the word home economics, they thought, well, it's 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:15.600 just cooking class. 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.000 It wasn't cooking class. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.320 It was how to manage your household finance and economics. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.000 And I can tell you things are a lot more 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:28.280 complicated today. This buy now, pay later, digital assets, all 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:33.440 the choices, and we are really pushing financial literacy through 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.520 the Treasury. We just finished financial literacy a month in May. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.400 As I go around the country, we are pushing a 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.120 main street agenda for small and community banks, and we 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.680 are pushing them to do more and more in the schools. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.160 And I think we owe it to our children. I 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.440 think the two biggest areas of neglect in education have 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.360 been civics. No one really understands how our government works anymore, 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:05.480 and I think that's why we're getting this rankor My 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.400 family and I supported one of the first professorships in 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:16.400 Chapel Hill at the School of Civic Life, which is 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:21.120 evidently very popular now. So civics on one side, and 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:26.040 then we got to do financial literacy in the working 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.640 Family's tax cut, the one big beautiful bill. We have 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.960 Trump Accounts, and I tell all your listeners go Trump 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.599 accounts dot com. If you have a child eighteen or 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.560 under child is born during President Trump's term, Treasury is 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:44.160 going to see those accounts with one thousand dollars. Families 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.520 can contribute up to five thousand dollars a year. Employers 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.880 can contribute. I'm not sure what the state of North 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.800 Carolina is doing, but many states are going to contribute. 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.440 We've got some great philanthropists, Michael and Susan Dell donating 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.960 six point twenty five billion dollars into the Trump accounts 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.920 for children who are not in the twenty fifth percent 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:08.040 or in the bottom seventy five percent of income by 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:08.720 zip code. 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.240 So everybody should open these up. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.960 But what we've done at Treasury is we have fifteen 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.840 learning modules to educate both the children and the parents, 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:22.840 because thirty eight percent of families in America have no 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:27.200 exposures or equity markets, either through direct accounts or through 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.200 four oh one case. So I think these Trump accounts 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.760 are going to be the ultimate real time learning experience. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.280 It's not going to be I was a little kid 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:38.600 in a rural town in South Carolina. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:40.000 What did I know about stocks? 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:43.440 Something bad had happened in nineteen twenty nine, and now 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.400 every family is going to have one of these Trump accounts. 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.240 Welcome back to Breaking with Breg Jensen as I continue 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.560 my exclusive one on one sit down an interview with 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.840 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant. He was in Ashville today at 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:02.480 the Grove Park in That's where I'm coming to you from, 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.040 and we had a very long conversation about all kinds 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:07.920 of things. You heard him talk about Ashville just a 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.800 minute ago. Now let's start talking about the economy. So 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.280 with that being said, here's more of my interview with 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:14.120 Scott Bessett. 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:15.960 You sort of beat me to the poach a little 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.200 bit because I was going to ask you about the 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.040 triple accounts. How successful or how prevalent have people been 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.280 in setting up these accounts? Can you guys track that? 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:23.959 Oh? Sure? 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:28.319 So we've got about seven million have been opened out 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.640 of seventy so we got a running start here. One 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.040 point seven million of those have gotten the thousand dollars 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.240 seed investment, and there's lots. 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.440 Of money that's going to be around. 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.240 We've seen other philanthropists Harold Ham, the great oil and 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.720 energy man, who's adopted the state of Oklahoma. Ray Dalyo 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:53.440 has adopted Connecticut along the same profile for putting money 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:58.120 in four children. We've got one of the founders of SpaceX. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.400 She's donated about three hundred million dollars of SpaceX stock. 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.199 And I think we're going to see a lot more 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.920 of these founders donating. So everyone should get the account 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.400 open and again you're going to be able to see 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.040 it on your phone. I think the thirty eight percent 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:19.320 of families who have no exposure to the equity market, 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.600 it's going to be a game changer. Our goal is 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.280 to give everybody a piece of the action, and President 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.920 Trump wants to have an ownership economy. 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.080 I want to switch gears a little bit in terms 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.079 of finances and people giving money. That leads to my 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.360 questions about fraud that we've seen a lot of, whether 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.480 it's Minnesota, Los Angeles, and probably elsewhere. 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:42.480 To be honest with you, So. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:45.480 How big of. 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.120 A concern has the fraud been. 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.280 I know you've talked to banks about trying to hey, 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.760 if you see anything going on or financial institutions, alert us, 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.679 let us know what's going on, specifically obviously with also 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.640 illegal aliens. So what can you tell us about the 0:11:58.679 --> 0:11:59.960 situation involving fraud. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.760 Well, it's an all hands on deck, all parts of 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:09.640 governments being led by Vice President Vance and I am 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.880 honored to be part of his task force. And there 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.120 is a meaningful amount of money to be saved for 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.599 the American people here. It could be four hundred and 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:24.679 six hundred billion with a B dollars. Put that in perspective, 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:30.200 that is more than one or two percent of GDP 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:31.640 that we could be saving. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.600 That's how we could do that and pay down the debt. 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:41.120 But like this abuse is just insidious because in the 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.720 US we are a high trust society. We want to 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.599 help the most vulnerable. And I was out in Minneapolis 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:54.319 during the hottest moments of this fraud network and when 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.360 it was going on, and did a round. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:57.360 Table and. 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.640 Some of the centers for autistic children are not getting 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.319 funded because these creeps have stolen the. 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:07.360 Money and they don't care. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.920 They don't care, and whether it's leaving the country, whether 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:15.840 they're driving around in BMW's, And the most important thing 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.960 that we are doing is we are trying to cut 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.600 it off at the source. So Treasury we've finally been 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.960 able to hook into what's called the do not pay system. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.480 When people are dead, we know people have committed fraud 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.520 because the key to stopping the fraud is keeping it 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.520 from going out the door once it gets out, whether 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.520 it's the Somali fraud, the hospice fraud in Los Angeles, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.080 these other things. There's a lot of medicaid and insurance 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:45.120 fraud down in Florida. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.120 Some of the money is going back to Cuba, if 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:47.840 you could believe it. 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.480 Once it's out the door, it's difficult to recover. So 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.480 we are cutting it off at the source. At Treasury 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.480 dot gov. We have a whistleblower's website and we can 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.080 pay if you see something just like a bombing in 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.160 the airport or in public transit, if you see something, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:11.400 say something, you see a suspicious package, you see suspicious behavior, 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:17.400 and we can reward the great Americans who come forward. 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.280 All right, some very interesting things there from the US 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.000 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, and he was in Asheville today 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.760 at the Grove Park Inn. They're in advance of the 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.480 major G's twenty Summit that's going to be taking place 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.680 there in about three weeks or so. And the G 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.200 twenty Summit is where you have the top twenty economic 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.840 developed countries all over the world and they get together 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:40.880 for an annual summit. 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:42.880 Well this year in about three weeks. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.520 It's in Asheville, North Carolina, and it will be taking 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.880 place over the course of four days, almost exactly one 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.080 month to the day prior to the two year anniversary 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.400 of Hurricane Helen. All Right, everyone, welcome back to this 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.880 very special edition of Breaking with Brad Jensen on the 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.360 Friday Night, coming to you from Asheville, North Carolina, the 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.040 Grove Park Inn, to be specific. And earlier today I 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.040 had a one on one sit down interview, a very 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.360 lengthy one on one sit down interview with US Treasury 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:17.080 Secretary Scott Bessant. And again this is someone that I 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.400 considered to be the third most powerful person in Washington, 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.600 d C. Or at least the third most important person 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.240 in Washington d C. Donald Trump number one, Marco Rubio, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.440 Secretary of State number two, and Scott Bessant number three. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:31.600 And the fact that I was able to get this 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.280 very long interview with him is amazing. 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:34.960 And he was in. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.000 Town for a preview, just looking around getting things ready 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.280 for the G twenty summit that takes place in about 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.400 three weeks. And if you're not familiar with what the 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.280 G twenty is, it's where the twenty most developed economic 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.880 countries in the world all get together for an annual summit. 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.120 This year it's in Asheville, North Carolina, because he used 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.920 to visit western North Carolina a lot as a child 0:15:57.000 --> 0:15:59.720 in the Saluta area, in the Cashers area, and by 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:01.800 the way, way, he wanted to help, you know, with 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:05.520 the economic recovery, and they expect a lot of money 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.400 to be pumped into the economy over the end of August, 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.520 over the four days that this summit takes place. But again, 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.080 we're now going to continue my exclusive one on one 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:19.480 sit down interview with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett. We're 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:23.520 over a year since the Trump tax cuts went in 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.240 to affect what tangible return evidence have you seen that 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.520 this has been economically good for America. 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.280 I think I can see or I know I can 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.920 see it on two sides. So one of the best 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.200 parts of my job is getting out and actually seeing 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:40.680 the businesses and seeing. 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:42.080 The people it's helped. 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.000 Whether I was a couple of months ago, I was 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:49.000 in seem Valley, California, home with a Reagan Library, I 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:54.040 did a small business roundtable. I just came yesterday. I 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.440 was out in Arizona for two days. I was at 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:01.120 a Freedo lay plant in Casa Grande, and in my mind, 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:05.600 that plant is like the perfect example of how the 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:11.280 cuts are tax cuts for working people and tax deductions 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:15.600 for corporate America or working that it's a barbell. On 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:19.480 one side, we gave incentives for corporations to invest more, 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:27.520 and whether it's factories, equipment, farm structures, and they're all expanding. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.239 So we are seeing a manufacturing renaissance. We're seeing a 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.960 CAPEX boom like we haven't seen in fifteen years. So 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.280 that's on one side, so corporations expanding creating more jobs. 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:41.840 On the individual side. 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.479 I also, as Treasury Secretary oversee the irs. So forty 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.600 four percent of Americans had one of the presents for 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.080 signature tax cuts, no tax and tips, no tax. In overtime, 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.680 it reduced taxes on Social Security, eighty five percent of 0:17:57.720 --> 0:17:58.720 our seniors. 0:17:58.280 --> 0:17:59.480 Pay zero tax, and the. 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:05.359 And deductibility of auto loan interest if you buy an 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.920 American made cars. So that's forty four percent of Americans 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:13.159 got to keep more money. Here in Western North Carolina. 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.280 Western North Carolinians did much better in terms of keeping 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.360 their own money than the national average. The tax refunds 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.959 are big, but what we weren't able to pick up 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.920 were the people who paid taxes last year who actually 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.120 got a refund this year. So I suspect the numbers 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:34.359 were actually much higher. And I will remind you every 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.520 single Democrat voted against. 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:37.320 Both sides of the barbell. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.560 They voted against the full expensing to help our manufacturers, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:46.400 and they voted against the tax cuts for working Americans. 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:51.119 They voted against raising the child tax credit. They voted 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:55.159 against the family leave option, which we Treasury just this 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.760 week gave guidance on for employers to be able to 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.960 provide a benefit for work to be able to take 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.120 off take care of a loved loved one or for 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:05.560 a new child. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.960 In terms of the economy, it seems to me, and 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.600 this is just an extreme novice, that people when looking 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.280 at the economy, tend to focus only in on gas prices. 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.320 But when you look at the economy as a whole, 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:20.239 where do you see it right now? 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:21.080 Because like I. 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.400 Said, I think people tend to look at the gas prices, 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:25.840 but I also know that Lettters is about four dollars 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:27.680 ahead cheaper than it was a few years ago. 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.320 So what can you tell me about the economy? 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.640 Yeah, I think you've got to look at all aspects. 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.080 But I can tell you, as we look at the economy, 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.000 the one thing we are not going to do is 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.160 what the Biden administration did and tell Americans that they 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.280 don't know what they're feeling, that they know their lived experience. 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:50.720 And I'm sixty three years old. This was the Biden administration. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:55.800 Was the worst inflation since my childhood in the seventies, 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.760 and Americans deserved to be upset, They deserve to be 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.280 agitated about the price level. Twenty one point five percent inflation, 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:15.159 probably for working families. In terms of groceries, insurance, the 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:20.320 energy cost probably in the thirties, so they were torched, 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:26.679 and we have tried to slow inflation. The Iran conflict 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.879 has caused a temporary upward trend and energy prices, but 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.359 that's going to come back down. We peaked in May 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.600 and energy prices I think, I look today, we're at 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:45.879 about four dollars a gallon nationally lower if you exclude 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:47.800 the People's Republic of California. 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:52.479 I looked at looked like when I was coming in 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:53.280 from the airport. 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:57.080 Looks like it's three fifty three sixty five here in 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.640 western North Carolina. And we want to get that back down. 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.639 We are near the end of this conflict. Prices will 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.320 come back down. We are constantly talking to the oil 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.680 companies to make sure that the prices on gasoline come 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:16.119 down just as fast as they raise them. And there 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:22.280 are two ways out of the hit that American families took. 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.360 There is getting the inflation under control, and I think 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.879 what's important here is core inflation away from the volatile 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:33.119 energy series. Is it about two and a half percent, 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.879 not at the FEDS two percent target, but much better 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.000 than the eight point whatever we hit during the Biden years, 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:43.200 we will get that back down. 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.320 But the other way is through wage growth. 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:52.280 And we have seen in the past year about five 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.800 point four five point five percent wage growth for the 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.520 bottom twenty five percent of workers, which is exactly what 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:00.879 happened President. 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:01.679 Trump's first term. 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.160 We saw a median worker wage increase of four point 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:11.120 seven and the increase for the bottom twenty five percent 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:13.800 is three times higher than the top twenty five percent. 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.560 So we are closing that gap, and that is above 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.359 the level of inflation. And I'll tell you that I 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.600 feel like an emergency room doctor on the economy that 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:26.280 the first thing you got to do when the patient 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.560 comes in and they have a severe trauma is you've 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:32.320 got to stop the bleeding, and you've got to stabilize 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.840 the patient. So we stabilize the patient, and now they 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:42.320 are on the road to recovery. We're seeing real wage gains. 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:47.240 Inflation will come down, and I think that we are 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:52.640 coming out of this and the Americans, while I think 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.360 we will go from a period where things are uncomfortable 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.320 to they will be able to see change for the better, 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:04.239 and then in a few quarters then I think we 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:06.320