WEBVTT - This Custom of Customs 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.920 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.080 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and then most of all, 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:24.080 there's Jerry over there, Jerome Jay stir. Yeah, and this 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.720 is stuff you should know. That's right, Jerry's all dirty 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.120 from shoveling coal from the steam Technology episode. She is. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.000 And if you don't mind, I would like to point 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.600 out something very exciting. No, I do mine. Let's keep 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:41.400 going right now. This is the very first episode out 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.800 of eight hundred and seventy plus episodes where Josh is 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.680 wearing short pants. Why would you say that, I do mind? 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.639 I do mind. I take it back, because I've seen 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.520 you wear shorts like twice in my life. Well, hold on, Hunt, 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.800 get a load of this. Well, aside from every morning 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:01.720 when we tumble out of our bunk beds, of course 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:06.920 you're wearing your off tuxedo pants. Those are boxers. But yeah, 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:08.760 you never wear shorts as a rule, so I was 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.280 astounded that you wore them into the office. Well I 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.000 like astounding you. I like to just, you know, mix 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.640 things up. Once every eight years. I look forward to 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:23.399 what's going to happen in year Sixteo does some quick 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.120 math Chuck, Hey, I used to play darts. Oh you 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.679 know there's a dartboard here but no backboard. Yeah, it's 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.119 it's it's just like freewheeling. Who cares about the drywall 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.360 kind of situation very much. Sixteen is a big number 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:42.639 in darts, so you get used to adding and subtracting it, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:47.360 is it? Yeah, what's the bulls eye worth a million? Well, 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.160 I mean it depends. There's historically two games that you'll 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:54.360 play in darts, either cricket or OH one three one 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.840 or five on one. I've never heard that second one. Well, 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.160 that's really the main game. Like if you watch professional 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.320 darts when they show it once a you're on ESPN, 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.520 which is great fun by the way. Uh, they're playing 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:06.920 OH one, which is where you start with three D 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.480 one or five one and you work your way down 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.400 to zero. Oh so you're getting rid of points. Yeah. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.960 So you're throwing just for as high numbers as you 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:20.639 can the triple ring and um, like a ton of 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:22.760 eight is the most you can hit. That's three triple 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:28.919 twenties and they throw which is amazing. So, well, what's 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.760 the what's the bulls eye worth? Then the bulls I 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.720 and O one is worth uh fifty on the red 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:39.160 and on the green. And then you have to boy, 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:40.760 we should do a show on this. Well yeah, I 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:42.440 guess we are right now. And then you have to 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.160 go out on an like let's say you have thirty 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:46.920 two left. You have to go out on a double. 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.000 See if they'd a double sixteen to go out? Man, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.519 this sounds tough, and everybody does this drunk. Yeah, that's 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.639 really impressive. Right, I didn't know you played darts. Yeah, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:02:59.639 I played in Athens in the League and then Atlanta 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:04.880 and Eague. And you know Justin Is he's like chairman 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.200 or something of the dark League of at least he 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.120 makes everybody call him that, right, call me chairman. We 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.160 should do on the darts man. I used to love playing. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:17.079 Don't do it much anymore. Okay, let's do it. So shorts, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:23.360 darts and past Yeah, and on Wednesdays we wear pink. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.800 Today's Tuesday, though, so I'm wearing shorts. I'm wondering how 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:29.760 many things I got wrong just in that little five minute. 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.800 The same thing. Anytime we explain something, we get something wrong. 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.839 Have you noticed and our job is to explain things, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:42.560 which is sad. I know, so, Chuckers. You know how 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:48.000 when you go through the airport and you come back 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.280 into the country from out of the country. When we 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.360 were in the UK, did you notice it took longer 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.480 than usual to get through the airport to your stuff 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:01.440 and out. Yes, although Emily and I get pretty lucky. Um, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.120 it was a pretty speedy experience. That's great, but it 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.880 can vary wildly. Yeah. And the thing that can vary 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.120 wildly is called customs passing through customs and actually it 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:16.920 used to be um, customs and immigration, which depending on 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.960 the port you're flying into, whether it be a seaport 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:28.320 and airport, spaceport, interdimensional port, heliport, heliport yeah, um, scuba port, sure, 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:33.360 submarine port yep, thin airport. I guess that's the same 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:37.960 as an airport. Huh Um. Those might have been two 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:41.960 different agencies, customs and immigration, not so in in two 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.960 thousand three. As a two thousand three in the United States, 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.719 they were mixed together and put under Department of Homeland Security, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.840 and now they're called Customs and Border Protection and there 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.920 are there one agency now, yes, But the point is 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.880 when you come through there if you encountered back in 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.680 the day the Customs Agency, they would have said, hey, 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.279 you're a person. We don't care about you. We don't 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.080 care where you've been, we don't care where you're going, 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.600 we don't care where you were born. But we want 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:12.960 to know what's on you. Would you buy while you 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.760 were out of the country. Did you buy something? Tell 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.919 us and they might grab your shirt and shake you 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.080 a little bit. If they're tough guys. Uh, and you 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.920 start crying, for sure, they'd see to it. And then uh, 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.440 if you say, well, I got this thousand dollar watched, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.839 they say, you know, the United States government some money, buddy. 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.560 That's right. It is a It is a way to 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:39.280 regulate importing and exporting. Yeah, and when trade right, trade exactly. 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.000 And trade is obviously a very old concept, right. Any 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.080 any time one group had a surplus that another group wanted. 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.920 I got lots of potatoes, Well I got lots of wheat. Right, 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.840 let's trade, let's trade right. Well, at some point people said, wait, wait, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.400 this is going way too smoothly. We need to interject 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:00.400 a federal entity to um extract some sort of tribute 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.719 from this trade. That's what a duty is. That's what 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.159 a tariff is. It's a government coming in and saying, uh, 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.960 we want a piece of that action. And depending on 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:11.760 how you look at it, it can go one way. 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.080 Like you can say, well, the federal government is is 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:19.880 actually promoting domestic business, which is true in a way, right, Yeah, 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.440 it's good. I mean it's a good way to discourage 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.680 doing business overseas is by imposing heavier and heavier tariffs. Use, 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:34.479 if somebody's manufacturing potatoes overseas cheaper than they're manufactured here, um, 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.159 the American people are going to say, well, we want 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:43.120 these Irish potatoes, they're way cheaper, um, sure, And the U. S. 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.760 Government will say, well, we want you guys buying domestic 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.000 potatoes because it helps our economy. Have you ever been 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.480 to Idaho? Right, everybody loves Idaho. Why don't you want 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.200 to help out the Idahoans. And so they'll they'll place 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.960 a tariff for a duty or just basically an extra 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:02.400 tax on potatoes that are sourced from outside of the 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.000 country coming in so that they cost about the same, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.000 so that any red blooded American will say, well, it's 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.440 about the same to buy Idaho potato as it is 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.480 to buy Irish potato. I'm gonna buy the Idaho potato 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.520 and the federal government goes yeah, yeah, they say, look 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.520 at it, it's stamped with a pesticide that has made 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.360 new Let's say they stamped with the pestiscids, thinking how 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.760 that would work. Uh, should we talk a little bit 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.800 about the history of this, Yeah, because this is actually 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.640 this this technique of the US federal government. Certainly not 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.600 just the US that does this, but there's customs agencies. 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.920 It's just about any developed country around the world, and 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:43.440 I would say developing as well. Um, this this this 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.600 custom of customs, thank you. It's about as old as 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:51.040 the United States itself. Yeah. And like everything in the 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:55.120 United States, it starts with Alexander Hamilton's. It's true that 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:59.119 guy is so hot right now. Uh. I just bought 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.520 some Alexander Amilton futures the other day, so I'm sitting 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:09.119 pretty you just broke my brain. Uh So what happened was, um, 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:14.160 Hamilton's said, here's the deal, dudes, we don't have taxation 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.840 yet because we were fleeing that kind of junk. But 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.600 we're in trouble because we need some sort of revenue 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.360 going to support our growing government, but not only that 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.960 in our growing nations infrastructure, plus we have a lot 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.200 of debts from the Revolutionary War, loads of debts. Apparently, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.840 the early Congress used to DeCamp from one city to 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.560 another because they were being chased by war veterans who 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:40.760 are owned money. They had nowhere to go. They had 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.199 no Washington, d c. Yet. No, but I mean they 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.440 were it was Congress and they were on the run 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.280 from revolutionary war vets who wanted their money. So while 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.839 Hamilton's did not himself start the US custom Service, the way, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.760 where did you find this? The National US Customs Museum Foundation. Yes, 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.360 from the horse's mouth. They they counted him as the 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.280 intellectual father of customs, which I think is a great 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.080 way to put it, because he said, look, we can't 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.440 have a federal government unless the federal government can support itself. 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:13.640 And the only way the federal government can support itself 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.800 is if it imposes um levies on things that it 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.360 really has nothing to do with. Yeah, So President George Washington, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:26.800 the number one guy, said you're onto something here, like 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.720 the cut of your jib, Hamilton's, but it's a little 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.360 weird with domestic taxation right now, Like, yeah, we can't 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.480 do that Yeah, people aren't keen on that just yet. Uh, Like, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.120 we'll screw people far worse in the future, don't you worry. Yeah, 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.319 just wait, but right now people aren't hip to the idea. Yeah, 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:47.040 we tried to text corn and the whiskey rebellion happened. So, um, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.200 why don't we do this, Why don't we impost tariffs 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.240 on imports and raise money that way, and let's create 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.080 the first Congress. Let's get together and create the U 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.240 s Custom Service four months after we ratify the Constitution 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.240 pretty quick, really quick, and it quickly grew to be 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.040 for many, many, many years. In fact, for most of 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.920 the history of the United States, the single largest government 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.800 agency in terms of size and revenue. Yeah. For the 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.439 first hundred and twenty two years of its existence, it 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:19.880 was the number one revenue generator. And then the I 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.400 r S came along and they said, they said, you 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:26.480 can collect revenue. Just watch this. Yeah, and they did. 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:31.840 In two thousand fifteen, Um, the Customs Agency collected I 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.840 think thirty five billion dollars. Yeah, the I r S 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:43.680 collected three point three trillion dollars. Oh my god, stomach 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.839 turns of the Yeah. Wow, that really threw me. I 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:52.320 didn't make you a libertarian in all right, So I 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.280 mentioned Washington, d C. When earlier like, we don't even 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.400 have a right right. Money from teriffs built Washington, d C. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:05.719 Money from tariffs built the Transatlantic Transcontinental Railroad built all 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.840 those lighthouses that we talked about, the Louisiana purchase, the 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:14.160 purchase of Alaska Ka Seward's folly one point five million 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:19.439 square miles of land purchased using tariffs via the Customs Office. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.400 Right if it hadn't have been for the Customs Agency, um, 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:24.960 the United States would have only been able to expand 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:29.800 its territory through broken treaties, the which we were find doing. Sure, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.120 but apparently they wanted to legitimize it somewhat yea. So 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.360 um we said, well, we'll just pay for some of it, yea. 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.840 Napoleon pennies on the dollar give us that area, okay. Uh, 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.040 Like we said, they were the first and only federal 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.640 law enforcement agency, and for a long time they handled 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.040 kind of everything, um like they were they were doing 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.640 way many more things than they should be doing. Uh. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:01.000 So out of the custom Service was born things like immigration, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.760 like you said, Coast Guard, border patrol, the v a 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.880 public Health Service and the d e A all were 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.439 Formerly all that stuff was under the purview of the 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.760 Custom Service and the Census Bureau and the Standards and 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.880 Measures Agency, all those cats. Because apparently it used to 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.600 be a Congress would say, oh, we need this, we 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.640 need to start doing this, just have Customs do it, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.560 and Customs would do it for decades and then finally 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.800 be like, dude, you got to just we have to 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.840 have this off as its own agency. Eventually they got smart. Yeah, 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.480 and now that's that's what makes UM. What happened in 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.920 two thousand three so curious. Uh, Customs itself got folded 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.160 in with other agencies and then put under the banner 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:47.040 of another larger agency, the exact opposite of what has 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.160 historically been the case. Yeah, I didn't think of it 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.720 that way. Uh. So the Customs Agency and services a 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.920 long tradition in its early years of UM what was 0:12:55.960 --> 0:13:01.120 called the spoils system. Uh. And that's basically crony is 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.400 m political loyalties and and hooking your buddies up and 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.320 your donors up, but like fat cat jobs, not in 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:12.080 any kind of underhanded or shadier back back room deal way, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.679 like overtly yes, like you raised a lot of political 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.800 funds for my campaign. So here's a cherry position in 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.600 the federal government's bureaucracy via the Custom Service. And there 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.520 have been some famous men over the years, Yes, some 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.640 of our best writers actually, yeah, weirdly, Um, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.560 he was a disc well I'm not too distant. He 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.760 was an ancestor of the Pilgrims, a descendant a descendant, right, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.560 they were his ancestors backwards. Uh. And he's the great 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.760 grandson of the judge who uh sat at the Salem 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.520 witch trials. So he got a fat position with the 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:58.120 Boston Custom House as the wayer engager, Yeah, which apparently 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:02.040 was pretty important because you'd be like, let me, let 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.440 me gauge that steal to see how much money you 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.560 will you know. Yeah, And it allowed him to make 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.960 money enough because they were sitting on the side. Don't 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.200 you think it's a more less expensive gauge than what 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.160 you just got? And he would say, laid on me 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.640 string being and he say I'm gonna knock off at 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.400 noon today and go write some more stuff. Yeah. Like 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.440 the museum website makes this case like not just for Hawthorne, 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.640 but later on from Melville too, that both of them 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.720 were able to pursue their writing careers because of the 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:38.120 stability that the um working at Customs gave them. They 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.800 credit the Customs Agency for bringing Herman Melville out of 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:47.560 an alcoholic depression following his failed attempt at a career 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.720 in writing. Yeah, and I didn't even I mean, this 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.640 is a side note, but I didn't even realize that 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:56.600 Melville was not popular until after his death. Moby Dick 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.320 didn't blow up till what like twenty four years later 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.640 something like that. Yeah, everybody's like this book, thinks I 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:07.560 still haven't read it, have you? No, have you ever 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.400 read Bartleby the Scrivener though I made it through that. No, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.160 it's one of his good, better short stories. It's just weird. Now. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:15.840 I don't think I read an email bill. That's a 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.400 good one. I've got. I've got Billy Budd and I've 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.520 read maybe a third of it. It's just so tough 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.360 to read that guy's writing. I think probably even back 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.320 then it was tough. But you know, to be a 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.760 century in a quarter or century and a half removed 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:37.040 from that type of you know, thought and that type 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.440 of language in writing, it's it's even harder it stense. Yeah. 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.000 For a while there, I was kind of of the 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.760 mind of like, can I die without having read Moby Dick? 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.160 And I kind of struggle with that, and then I 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.120 could be like just about everybody was totally I'm fine. Yeah, 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.680 so you're not gonna do it? Huh No, I'd rather see, 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.840 you know, a movie I haven't seen. It's only takes 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.040 a couple hours of you can see the waning years 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.400 that I have in front of me. Thirty movies The 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.240 Castle Blankets. Still never seen that, and I need to. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.520 I should not die without seeing Yeah, and you should 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:19.120 see Train Spotting? Why not the two classics? Right? Uh? 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.240 I guess we need to talk about Prohibition a little 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.480 bit too, with customs and their history, because um, we 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.080 had a great episode on Prohibition. Sure, what do they 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.640 call it? The noble Experiment? Yeah? I never called it 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:34.880 that the dumb experiment. But this article points out that 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.600 never in the history of customs has been more dangerous 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:42.560 to work for Customs than during Prohibition, like straight up 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.600 gangster stuff who were much more well funded than Customs was, 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.080 and we're they would whack you, oh yeah forgetting in 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:53.040 their way. Yep. It was also like a high time 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.960 for bribery too. Customs agents were bribed like mad. Oh, 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.360 I'm sure. And actually there was like, uh, there was 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.600 a I don't know if it was a general accounting 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.439 office or somebody did an investigation of UM customs and 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:12.160 said they were We haven't found any like systematic bribery 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:18.080 going on or systemic bribery, but just the very presence 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.440 of drugs in the United States, like in the massive 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:26.160 quantities that's in indicates that somebody's getting bribed somewhere. It's 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.480 just impossible not to. Uh. We should do a show 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.560 on rum runners too, because just this little piece tickled 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:38.840 my fancy. UM. They would they had much better boats 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.120 and much faster boats than Customs did, so they would 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.680 bring this mother ship they called it, parked a few 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.560 miles offshore where it was legal to be there international 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.359 loaded with rum, and then the speedboats would um or 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.239 you know for the time speed boats, uh would just 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.600 make runs out to this boat as fast as they could, 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.879 and the customs people like, we need speedy boats to 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.080 do right. Well, that's where speedboats came from. His prohibition. Yeah, yeah, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.240 and we I think we already talked about the NASCAR 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.080 thing with the fast cars came from prohibition. So a 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.080 lot of speed came out of prohibition, and not the 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.480 druggy kind that came out of the Nazis in World 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:22.080 War Two. I really that's the rumor. I don't know. Well, uh, 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.240 let's take a break and then we'll come back and 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:50.880 talk a bit more about what customs means today. Chuck. Yes, 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:58.240 so we're back. We're talking customs, um. And when when 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:03.080 you talk customs like you're talking again about a the 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:10.760 line of defense between unfettered trade across borders and um, 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:15.080 not just with not just among uh major companies like 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:20.320 importers and exporters and um, you know, manufacturers and consumers 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:22.840 and all that, but also in an individual level, which 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.520 is why it takes so long to come into the 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.480 States or another country, um, because you have to go 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:33.520 through customs, right. Their their their aim is to regulate trade, 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:36.840 no matter how large or how small. Yeah. And I 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.879 kind of was surprised that they generated the kind of 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:44.160 revenue they did because I was only thinking about schmos 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.680 like US, but big businesses, and I mean it was 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:50.200 a dummy. I wasn't even thinking that they play Obviously 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.240 the biggest part in revenue because they pay those big 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.000 tiraffs on millions and billions of dollars worth of goods 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.240 that they import. And um, it's stuff to regular that 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:05.119 kind of stuff. You can't inspect every shipping container, although 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.520 very random there is. There is something called the Safe 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:11.920 Ports Act that was passing two thousand and six, and 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:18.159 it's it called for one of containers that enter US 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.840 ports of any type to be scanned either with X 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.960 rays or like cat scans or something like that, but 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:31.440 to be noninvasively scanned. And um, it was supposed to 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.600 be add up to a percent by two thousand twelve. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.600 Didn't happen. They gave it to your extension, didn't happen, 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:42.960 given another two year extension. Yeah, still hasn't happened. And um, 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.359 but they're ramping up though. Here's the thing. There's a 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.280 big debate like a lot like the National Retail Federation 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.360 I think is the big mouthpiece for manufacturers in this. 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.879 In this um argument, they're saying, dude, this is you 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.679 can't do it, Like if you do this, it will 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.600 cease trade, it will wreck trade in the United States. 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:03.720 And other people are saying like, well, you guys need 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:05.840 to figure that out because we've got to have our 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:08.080 ports safe. We need to know everything that's coming in. 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.480 Why would it wreck trade? But because it will just hold, 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.720 the delays will will Like um, I remember like when 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.680 this first got proposed and they were trying to implement it. 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.560 I think it was like an MPR piece about the 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:24.880 port at Long Beach and there was just like all 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.119 this fruit just sitting there rotting offshore because there was 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.560 a line to get to get the stuff inspected. And 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.560 so they're staying still they're pushing for this percent mandate 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:39.919 and and other like the the people involved in the 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.639 importing and exporting and manufacturing and stuff for saying like 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:44.640 you can't do it, you just can't do it. Yeah, 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:46.760 there's gotta be other ways. And some of the other 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:49.959 ways they're talking about here like um uh having like 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:54.359 e seals where like a container is verified to have 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.800 you know, X amount of weight or whatever, and then 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:01.879 it's sealed digitally and then um, when it enters support, 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:04.040 it goes through like an r F I D scanner 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:08.160 and the e CeAl is verified intact somehow and then 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:10.480 you know or you have a pretty great idea that 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.480 the the container has not been messed with since its 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.000 point of origin is an awesome idea, it is, but 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:18.399 at the same time you have to rely on the 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.840 people at the point of origin and not to be like, yeah, sure, 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.639 there's the same amount of cocaine that we put in 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:25.840 there at the at the port where we send it from. 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:29.120 So yeah, it weighs the same, but it's still cocaine 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.520 that you don't want in the in the country, you 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.280 know what I mean, depending on who you are. Well, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:39.960 then maybe the country of export their regulations need to 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:46.560 be st and and well. And there's an international proposal 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:51.639 called the Safety of Life at See I think where 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:57.240 it's mandating a of all containers worldwide need to be 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:02.480 weighed and verified before setting sale. Interesting, So I guess 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:04.960 if you put those together you could have a pretty 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:09.919 pretty legitimate international trade network. We should do one on 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:13.800 shipping containers sometimes because apparently that changed the world. Well, 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:15.439 this sounds like it could be a big part of 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.720 our platform for our run for the presidency in So 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:22.159 are we in favor of the percent mandate or do 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:26.280 we think it's insane? Well, I'll say we figured that out, okay, 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:28.119 But either way, that's going to be a big like 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:30.960 your r F I D thing. Okay, it's not mine, 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:34.639 per se. I've just said what somebody else came up. 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:38.280 As far as I'm concerned, it's yours things. Uh So 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.920 all right, we were talking about business of course just then, 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:45.280 but before you teased with the single individual, which is 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:47.800 what most of us, unless you're an import or exporter, 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:53.720 have had more uh experience with. So what happens is 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:56.919 you come into the United States or any country but 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:00.560 for US citizens. So we'll come back home, okay from abroad, 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:03.719 which we just did after our wonderful trip to Ireland 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:08.200 in the United Kingdom, and they count on you, um, 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.880 just as the as though they can't inspect every shipping container, 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:16.840 they can't investigate each of our individual shipping containers, which 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.600 is our body in our suitcases. So they count on 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:25.359 you too, honestly declare, say, I declare that I bought 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:28.240 I'm not gonna pay a lot for this monthly that 0:24:28.359 --> 0:24:31.800