1 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: On this episode of News World. Senator Mike Braun was 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 1: elected to the US Senate representing the state of Indiana 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. He's from Jasper, and before coming to 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: the Senate, he was founder and CEO of Meyer Distributing, 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: a company he built in his hometown of Jasper, Indiana 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: that now employs hundreds of Americans across the country. He's 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: joining me today to discuss the Braun Budget, a plan 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: to diffuse America's inflation bomb and unleashed prosperity, which is 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: his proposal in the US Senate to reduce our national 10 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: debt of thirty point fifty eight trillion dollars. Remarkably, every 11 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: American citizens share of the national debt is a whopping 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: ninety two thousand dollars. Last year, the US government spent 13 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: a total of five hundred and sixty two billion dollars 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: on debt service, basically interest payments on our debt. That's 15 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: over half of what we spend on national events. This 16 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: is a topic I care about deeply because when I 17 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: was a speaker, we passed four consecutive balanced budgets. I 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: know it can be done, and I know that center 19 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: Brun is a key player and helping us get there. 20 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: So let me first of all thank you for your 21 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: leadership and for joining me on News World. Well, my 22 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: pleasure to do it. This has been a passion of 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: mine because that stretch of thirty seven years when I 24 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,559 Speaker 1: took a little business where literally had turned the lights 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: on each morning off each evening, had to account for 26 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: everything for it to work out. You get real good 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: at a few fundamentals. In the business world. You'd be 28 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: always keeping your overhead low, the exact opposite of what 29 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: we do in government. It would be sticking your neck 30 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: out and taking a few risks on new ways of 31 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: doing things. We hardly ever do that here other than 32 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: sticking our neck out to grow and create more government. 33 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: And then it was about understanding the basics of finance 34 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: that you've got to make a profit, and then you 35 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: need to reinvest most of those profits and in the 36 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 1: long run things fall in place in your direction. Everything 37 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: I just said is pretty well the opposite from where 38 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: you at least had it for four years. Ever since 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: the Gulf Wars, which we put on the credit card. 40 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: The other side of the aisle said hey, if they're 41 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: doing that, we're going to double and triple down, which 42 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: is what happened in the Obama administration, and after that, 43 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: I think it's been an equal opportunity kind of effort 44 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: on both sides of the aisle in that unholy alliance 45 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 1: of since everybody's spending, let's even start borrowing it now 46 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: to get our latest and greatest ideas out there, and 47 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: we roll over to them to get everything we want 48 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: on defense, which I think is the most important thing 49 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: we should do as a federal government. But I don't 50 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: hold it sacral sank either. I think it needs to 51 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: be budgeted, You need to do audits. We've gotten away 52 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: from all of that and our thirty trillion in debt, 53 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: and our fearless leader says, hey, we're going to have 54 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: a trillion a half dollar deficits for the next fifteen years. 55 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: We're not going to even try to attempt anything. It 56 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: puts future generations forty five trillion in debt, and that's 57 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: probably understating it due to what they assumed about inflation 58 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: and interest rates. Shameful. It makes perfect sense that you 59 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: come at this from the standpoint of a businessman, and 60 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: I didn't realize that before you did. Meyer Body company, 61 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: you actually co founded Crystal Farms, which later became one 62 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: of the largest turkey operations in the Midwest. What was 63 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: that experience like, Well, that was the second business venture 64 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: I got into anxious to do something on my own, 65 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: and it was interesting because back then it was kind 66 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: of a rough and humble market producing turkey's, mostly done 67 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: on open range. This interested me because they were doing 68 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: it in a semiconfinement way, so we learned about it 69 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: was a part of it, and like many businesses, they 70 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: never shoot out of the gate and all of a 71 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,559 Speaker 1: sudden you're watching your bank account balance. It was tough 72 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: for five years. We hung in there, but I did 73 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: take a risk to get in the business in the 74 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: first place. I managed things frugally throughout the five years. 75 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: My partner, who actually ran the operations, we did what 76 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: we needed to do to get into a point where 77 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: we were successful. In that fifth or six year, the 78 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: market really turned. We were low cost operators, paid off 79 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: about two thirds of the debt. I sold my interest 80 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: a few years ago to his kids and grandkids, but 81 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: we built it from three buildings to fifteen. And it 82 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: was another example if you follow a few principles, even 83 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: in something like that which is not easy. Not an 84 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: easy business. We were successful at it. So you went 85 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: from producing turkeys to the Mayer Body Company. What attracted 86 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: you to Meyer? That was my paycheck, That was my 87 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: living that I had to make. The turkey business was 88 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: a sideline investment. Later, along with the turkey investment, I 89 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: started investing in timber ground and farm ground and did 90 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: that incrementally and use those same principles again. Learned it, 91 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: learned about those businesses and that turned into a business 92 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: that I now have in a family LLC that I 93 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: started back in the mid to late eighties. And then 94 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: Meyer Body Company was my first entrepreneurial attempt. It was 95 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: a struggling business that think of this. In May of 96 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: eighty one, I went there. I left probably the best 97 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: job in my county at our local kitchen cabinet company. 98 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: It was twenty six million in sales and it's now 99 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,039 Speaker 1: three point two billion, and was hired to maybe have 100 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: an opportunity to run it someday. We wouldn't be here 101 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: today nude if that had occurred. But I left there, 102 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: went to this struggling little company right before the farm 103 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: crisis hits. I'm there and the wheels fell off in 104 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: terms of the business interest rates went from ten to 105 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: eighteen percent. I was just talking to Art Laugher earlier 106 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: today and we were reminiscing about those days and what 107 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 1: it took to ring inflation out of the economy. Well, 108 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: we made it through. I started dabbling with something new 109 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 1: in that business, actually became a used truck and equipment dealer. 110 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: Started those two new businesses. This took seventeen years, still 111 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,239 Speaker 1: fifteen employees, but I had a tiger by the tail 112 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: from that one location. In seventeen years and fifteen employees, 113 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: we have seventy locations in forty states, and it's grown 114 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: year after year, average about twenty percent a year. We've 115 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: never borrowed any money, and opportunity comes our way every 116 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,479 Speaker 1: day because we lived by those simple principles I told 117 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: you about earlier. Do you have sort of the Braun 118 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: principles in written form where people had learned them, not 119 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: in written farm Because the last time we talked about healthcare, 120 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: I remember you said, Mike, you ought to write a book. 121 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: And I will do that someday, because I'll say things 122 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: like only save money to spend it, only borrow it 123 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: to invest it. And I said it rather quickly to 124 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: a tree farm seminar about fifteen years ago, and they said, 125 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: mister Brawn, slow that down. I want to really listen 126 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: to what you said. I said, this is the thing 127 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: you ought to remember most. Save your money to spend it. 128 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: That's consumption. Only borrow it. If you're going to invest it, 129 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: you get a return on it. And that probably resonated 130 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: along with get a credit line when you don't need it. 131 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: When you need it, you won't get it. That's a 132 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: great line. And then what I told you earlier, I 133 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: reinvested every penny in that entire thirty seven year stretch. 134 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: I kept my overhead low, like I remember in that 135 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: old facility that I was in for seventeen years, and 136 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: knew when you run into nine to eleven, which was 137 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: our first scrape with something happening, that was an outlier 138 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: eight o nine. Again in COVID, we had our greatest 139 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: growth because we had a healthy balance sheet. Our competitors 140 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: stumbled and that's when we were able to shoot ahead 141 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: based on those simple principles. Well, we're going to talk 142 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: through your budget plan today, but I want to give 143 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: you an open invitation to come back when you put 144 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: together the principles that you wish the next administration would 145 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: apply to just literally take right out of your practical 146 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,240 Speaker 1: business experience, forget all this public administration school of government bologny, 147 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: and say what if we actually ran the federal government 148 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: as a business. Here's how you would think about it, 149 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: here's what you'd do, so that every single department the 150 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,439 Speaker 1: next president could say, I want you applying these principles 151 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: to how we're going to turn this thing around. I 152 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: think you'd be a major contribution to what America needs 153 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: to do. We'll definitely do that, because, as we talked 154 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: about in healthcare, I did that fifteen years ago, made 155 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: it consumer employee driven, poured transparency into the system, and 156 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: put skin in the game, and we've not had a 157 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: premium increase in fifteen years. So those are the things 158 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 1: you can do, and that could be a model for 159 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: what we could do to fix healthcare and incorporate those 160 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: principles into government paid for healthcare as well. I came 161 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: out of a college teacher background, and I was trying 162 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: to understand these kinds of principles. I studied with Peter 163 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: Drucker and with Edwards Deming, and taking those principles and 164 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:52,840 Speaker 1: applying them to government is how we were able to 165 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: balance the federal budget for four straight years. You've done 166 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: it for real, It's in your life. You know what 167 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: you're talking about. And I think you could become one 168 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: of the great intellectual leaders in moving us back to 169 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: a healthy country again. So I'm really fascinated. So when 170 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: you left the private sector, ran for office and won 171 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: the cene seed, what kind of lessons did you bring 172 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: with you that you've already been applying. So that was 173 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: probably the hardest undertaking, because when you come from no 174 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 1: political legacy other than ten years on a school board. 175 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: In three years of state legislator, I learned a lot 176 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: about name id and about what it would take to 177 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: win a statewide race. A lot of those entrepreneurial kind 178 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: of approaches applied in running my campaign. I paid attention 179 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: that Trump, whatever you think of him, represented half the 180 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: country upset with business as usual in DC. You guys 181 00:10:47,559 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: were ahead of your time in the mid nineties when 182 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: you were tying into that. I said, there should be 183 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: a market for someone that maybe doesn't come from the 184 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:01,239 Speaker 1: farm system of politics. That was the initial underlying strategy. 185 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: Ended up running against a couple individuals that had been 186 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: around politics for a long time as US reps, and 187 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: it worked, came right up through the middle talking about 188 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: practical issues, talked about what I did in healthcare that 189 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: was so unbelievable to most people in the political sphere. 190 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: They thought I was making it up about being able 191 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,560 Speaker 1: to solve problems like that, But it did resonate. And 192 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: then you get here, which is the biggest business in 193 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: the world before COVID, about four and a half trillion 194 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 1: a year that we spend in pre COVID only bringing 195 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: in three point five trillion. That is not a good 196 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: long term business plan for future generations. And then what 197 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:45,760 Speaker 1: do we do. We run into the biggest healthcare crisis. 198 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: We did overreact in terms of shutting the private sector 199 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: down nearly completely, then bragging about how we brought it 200 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: back with all that government stimulus, most of which was 201 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: not needed and has sown the seeds of where we 202 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,559 Speaker 1: are today. But all of that has parallels to that 203 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: running a business. In state government, they have guardrails of 204 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:14,000 Speaker 1: balanced budgets by statute or amendment. They run their operations 205 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: more like a business. This place, you know, is driven 206 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: by ideology and doctrine, not so much by the practicality 207 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: of how you pay for things, how do you do 208 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: it sustainably. That's the part that probably at this stage 209 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: of the game, could be hard to infiltrate into a 210 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 1: culture that doesn't respect the private sector. The founders never 211 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:43,080 Speaker 1: imagined that we would grow into a behemoth of a 212 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 1: government that is lacked and lost so much accountability to 213 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: the people that vote art and put it in place. 214 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,360 Speaker 1: And I hope that the time I spend here and 215 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: with some of these ideas that will start to resonate 216 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: before we remediate by running it into the ditch abruptly 217 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: and severely. I think you're one of the people who 218 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: is going to lead us in turning the corner. Of 219 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: listening to you is a little bit like listening to 220 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: Rick Scott, who of course ran a big corporation before 221 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: he became governor and then ran a big state government 222 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: before he became a senator, and he has the same 223 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,439 Speaker 1: notion of you. Talked to most of these senators and 224 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: most of these House members. They have no idea. This 225 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: is why I think your principles could be revolutionary. People 226 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: have to have some kind of yardstick that they can 227 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: cling to that helps them understand what they should be 228 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:57,199 Speaker 1: focused on. Otherwise it's all talk. It's an important point 229 00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: because I realized when I got here been involved in 230 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: farming from all angles. Only two of us on the 231 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: Agriculture Committee, myself and tester from Montana, really know much 232 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: about farming, and most of the senators on these committees 233 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: are getting briefed by staffers that do the research that 234 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: have had no practical experience in terms of what they're 235 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: weighing in on in these committee hearings. Not to mention 236 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: sticking your neck out, taking risk and balancing budgets and 237 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: doing all the things you've got to do successfully along 238 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: with your entrepreneurial instinct and nose. So that is a 239 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: big difference. Guys like me, Rick Scott, maybe a few others, 240 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:40,320 Speaker 1: are the only ones that would have a clue on 241 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,480 Speaker 1: how to tackle something that has gotten this far out 242 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: of hand and have the political will to do it 243 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: and put the things into place that would create a 244 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: framework for that prosperity that I think we can return to. 245 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: It just have to be under a completely different type 246 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: of federal government, similar to what you glimpsed for about 247 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: four years. It's interesting because when I became a member 248 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: of Congress. I realized that you have all of these 249 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: really smart young people who have almost no real world experience, 250 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: but they know they're really important because they're at federal 251 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: office buildings and they ought and drink with each other 252 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: and tell each other how important they are. I told 253 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: my team from my time I was a freshman that 254 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: your job is not to write a paper about a 255 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,240 Speaker 1: topic you don't understand. Your job is to find the 256 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: best person in the country who actually knows what they're 257 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: talking about and network us together and qualitatively. The difference 258 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,000 Speaker 1: in the level of information was so unbelievable, and we 259 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: need to get back to that. We have too many nice, 260 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: interesting staff people a very limited experience, and not enough 261 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: connection with people who would get up every morning and 262 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: make something happen. So I'm curious. You make a key 263 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: point which I totally agree with, that we don't have 264 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: an income problem, we have a spending problem. In terms 265 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: of Washington. What pulled you into focusing on the federal 266 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: budget and on balancing the budget because I think it's 267 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: maybe the most important domestic challenge we have. It is 268 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: in geopolitically newt I view China as our key geopolitical 269 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: competitor over the near, mid and long term, and I 270 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: do believe as a country, they're probably thinking strategically in 271 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: doing it as investors, and probably a country that are 272 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: inherently savers, similar to what we were coming out of 273 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: World War two. Think about it, had the highest percentage 274 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: of debt of GDP ever, paid it off and built 275 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: the interstate highway system, the most capital intensive thing we've 276 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: ever done. And really we didn't start putting things on 277 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: a credit card until, like I mentioned earlier, the two 278 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: Gulf Wars. I can extrapolate that and see how it's 279 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:54,479 Speaker 1: going to end up. And I always use the analogy 280 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: of something that's a snapshot of where we're at now. 281 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: It looks a little little iffy. But if you get 282 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: this and extrapolated into what Biden just did, a forty 283 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: five trillion dollar debt, all of a sudden, our interest 284 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: rate goes up. We're now the second most indebted country 285 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: as a percentage of our GDP, next to Japan, of 286 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:22,119 Speaker 1: the major economies, and the others like Germany and so forth, 287 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: have half of that kind of debt. Now, as long 288 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:28,400 Speaker 1: as you are a reserve currency, you can get by 289 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: with a lot of stuff but none of that, again, 290 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:35,439 Speaker 1: that's a snapshot, stays permanent over time, and we'll have 291 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:40,159 Speaker 1: difficulty borrowing money at a rate that's going to be affordable. 292 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: With the budget that Biden has out there, we're gonna 293 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,479 Speaker 1: have as much spent on interest as we do on 294 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: either defense or discretionary domestic spending. So that's frightening. I'm 295 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,360 Speaker 1: a numbers guy along with you, knowing how to make 296 00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: things work. I view this as being like an enthusiast 297 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: business where you love what you're doing so much you 298 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: don't pay attention to the books, you get bad advice, 299 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,440 Speaker 1: and for as well as you might have done at 300 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: whatever you started, if you don't keep it on the 301 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:16,240 Speaker 1: rails financially, you go out of business. Here, it's different 302 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,120 Speaker 1: because you've got the printing press, you are the government. 303 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: You'll still pay the price in a similar way in 304 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: the long run, Medicare trust fund busts in four years, 305 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 1: we've known it for a long time. Actual earily, we've 306 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: known self security that goes completely bust, and that trust 307 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: fund in ten years. That's when the wheels start falling off. 308 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: So let's just if I can go back for a second. 309 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: This came up today when I was testifying at the 310 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,959 Speaker 1: House Budget Committee. If we're already spending five hundred and 311 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: sixty two billion dollars on interest payments annually, if the 312 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: Federal Reserve raises interest rates, is almost certainly going to 313 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: have to what's that then going to do to our 314 00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 1: debt payment on the federal debt? Very simple, thirty trillion 315 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:04,679 Speaker 1: in debt, you raise interest rates one, that's three hundred billion. 316 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: So we're historically two to three points under interest rates, 317 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:17,120 Speaker 1: even in times of low inflation. We are ready after 318 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,359 Speaker 1: that ten year mark, are going to start seeing interest 319 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: rates at least a point higher probably than what they 320 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: are now, just due to the amount of debt it's 321 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: out there in government, in the economy in general. Everybody 322 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: competes for that credit. So we can't assume interest rates 323 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: are going to go down or save us. And even 324 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 1: if they stay at historically low levels like we have now, 325 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: it's going to start crowding out all the stuff we 326 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 1: do in the budget. And for every trillion dollars worth 327 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: of debt that you take on, you've got one hundred 328 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: billion dollars of new interest And that's assuming a one 329 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,920 Speaker 1: percent interest rate. If it's two percent just double that. 330 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 1: That's how powerful the numbers are in terms of working 331 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: against us. It becomes geometric in terms of challenge, and 332 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: it compounds itself into the future every year until you 333 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: start putting a lid on it and turning it around. 334 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: That is at least what this budget has done. It's 335 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: taken the gimmick that has occurred since you've been around 336 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: and taking discretionary spending, making it mandatory so you don't 337 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: have to do the hard budgeting the appropriating, and I'm 338 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: moving back three hundred and seventy five billion, and appropriators 339 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: and budgets figure out how we're going to diminish that 340 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:45,679 Speaker 1: into zero over ten years, and that puts US in 341 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: primary balance to where our deficit is only comprised of interest. 342 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,400 Speaker 1: That's about as easy as you could make it for legislators, appropriators, 343 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 1: committee chairs, and ranking members. I noticed that in two thousand, 344 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: our national debt was five six seventy billion. It's now 345 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: grown to like twenty nine trillion thirty point five. Yeah, unbelievable. 346 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,800 Speaker 1: What's ironic is in two thousand we were on a 347 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: track to actually pay off the federal debt. Alan Greenspan, 348 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,919 Speaker 1: then the chairman of the Federal Reserve testified publicly that 349 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: they were trying to figure out intellectually how are they 350 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,880 Speaker 1: going to manage the money supply if there's no debt. Yeah, 351 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: there was that brief window that it looked like it 352 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: could actually be done. You have called Biden's massive spending 353 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: spree an inflation bomb that is going to go off. 354 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 1: I agree with you, but could you explain that for 355 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: our folks? Well, and it's already debtonate because look back 356 00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:06,719 Speaker 1: where we were. We were still structurally in deficit mode 357 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: during the Trump economy. But what we did do with 358 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:14,199 Speaker 1: the tax cut in Jobs Act is we incentivide the 359 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 1: supply side art and I talked about that earlier today. 360 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: That had no inflation, You had demand and supply pretty 361 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: well lined up. You were eliminating a few regulations before 362 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: you'd add another one. It just was setting the stage 363 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: even raising wages in the toughest spots, zero inflation other 364 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: than a nominal amount. Now, when you try to address 365 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: a problem that I don't think needed to be remedied 366 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: the way we did. We should have never shut the 367 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: economy down, but when we did, we spent four trillion 368 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: news in one year. In March of twenty twenty. That 369 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,639 Speaker 1: then set the stage for some type of stimulus, was 370 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: some type of security blanket, and if we had let 371 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: it there, I don't think we'd have inflation at near 372 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:06,360 Speaker 1: the level. But the political enterprisers took over hefter Biden's election. 373 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: Remember Bernie Sanders wanted ten to twenty trillion, split between 374 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: their holy grails of Medicare for All and the Green 375 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: New Deal that got paired down to two trillion, the 376 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: Rescue Bill ninety percent that was spent on other wish 377 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,000 Speaker 1: list items not COVID, and then the one point two 378 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 1: trillion dollars Infrastructure Bill, which had tangible asset value to 379 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: some of it, but we borrowed all of that. The 380 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: Fed accommodated it, so it was a monetary accommodation to 381 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: fiscal stimulus that were lucky. We've got inflation not any 382 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: higher than what it is. And when I look back 383 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 1: when Volker had to team it in the early eighties, 384 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: it took five years to get interest rates back down 385 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: from ten eleven percent to two or three percent. That's 386 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: going to be closer to what happens here, and we 387 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: won't be able to take them near as high as 388 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: they did then due to all the inherent embedded debt 389 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: in government especially. It's interesting because the Biden people, and 390 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: I noticed us today in the House Budget hearing when 391 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: the Democrats would talk, you know, Biden and his team 392 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: would like us to believe that all of this inflation 393 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: is Putin's fault. In fact, I think the other day 394 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: Biden said that it's Putin's price hike is hitting American's heart. 395 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,120 Speaker 1: I mean, isn't it, in fact that it is American 396 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:33,880 Speaker 1: domestic spending combined with an anti energy, anti productivity, anti 397 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: work bias. This is really a homegrown inflationary crisis. It is, 398 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: and it has to do with the roots of how 399 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: we doubled down in twenty twenty one. We should have 400 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: never shut the productive economy down to the extent that 401 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: we did, to where that required four trillion dollars worth 402 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: of stimulus. And I was very careful there. Treat the 403 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: disease with respect, don't kill the economy and the process. 404 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: And now all that's been proven. I even got Fauci 405 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 1: actually to say we won't use lockdowns anymore in the future. Hallelujah. 406 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: But the inflation was not caused by Putin. Putin took 407 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,359 Speaker 1: the queue that we were shutting our energy industry and 408 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: ascendency down. And if we'd kept on that trajectory, we 409 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: would have gotten through this whole thing to where he 410 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,679 Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have gone to war. Number one, he couldn't 411 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,880 Speaker 1: used it as a tool of leverage, and number two, 412 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,200 Speaker 1: it'd be a moot point. We wouldn't be groveling over 413 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: in the Mid East asking others to produce more oil. 414 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,400 Speaker 1: So they tripped over one another in the Democratic debates. 415 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: Any CEO of an oil and gas business, do you 416 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: think they were bullish after seeing what they said they 417 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: were going to do to the fossil fuel industry. It 418 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: takes two years in Kale before something's flowing from it. 419 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: You shut the Keystone Xel pipeline down and news is 420 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: out there there are spare refineries. There's one, I think 421 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:05,680 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, one in Houston. Nobody wants to buy them. 422 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: When the current mantra from one side of the aisle 423 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:11,439 Speaker 1: is we want to get rid of your industry in 424 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: five to ten years. Cheapest, cleanest fuel will win in 425 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,920 Speaker 1: the long run. Another principle of business, your sharp mid 426 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:24,000 Speaker 1: and long term goals aren't always necessarily going to be 427 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: the same lever as you pull to get to where 428 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: you want to be. Eventually, you should have never taken 429 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: away your energy independence, regardless of what you wanted to 430 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: do based on climate in the long run. As I 431 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: understand it, under the Congressional Budget Act, Congress is supposed 432 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: to pass both a resolution and twelve spending bills every year, 433 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: and the last time this was done was when I 434 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: was a speaker. So if the Senate Budget Committee fails 435 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: to report a budget resolution by April fifteenth, any Senator 436 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: can introduce their own budget and receive a vote on 437 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 1: the Senate floor. Is that a strategy you would consider? Well, 438 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: I'm not only considered it, I'm doing it tonight. So 439 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: that's the reason I was able to do it. And 440 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: it's due that dereliction that it creates, that opportunity. Rand 441 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: Paul did it routinely before I got here. He did 442 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: one three to four weeks ago, and since he's been 443 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,640 Speaker 1: the only siren out there blaring on it, I said 444 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 1: I'm going to do it too, because somewhat of a 445 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: new kid on the block. I come from that entrepreneurial background, 446 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: had a finance and economics education, mostly in the school 447 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: of Hard knocks, even though I did go to school 448 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: for that too, I thought it might have a different 449 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: ring to it. And yes, I'll do it every year 450 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: to highlight where we're headed, which is the wrong direction 451 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,120 Speaker 1: for future generations if we don't do our job here 452 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,959 Speaker 1: and we haven't new done it in ten years, and 453 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: we really haven't done it all the way back to 454 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,280 Speaker 1: the mid nineties when you guys did it four years 455 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: in a row. So you're introducing what you call a 456 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: plan to diffuse America's inflation bone. Could you walk us 457 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,920 Speaker 1: through what you think are the biggest things people should 458 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:10,879 Speaker 1: know about this plan. So every year, when you run deficits, 459 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: that's called fiscal stimulus, and the only time that should 460 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,959 Speaker 1: be done is from Kenzie and economics, is to do 461 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:25,400 Speaker 1: it counter cyclically. But I use that word political enterprisers 462 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: and the other side of the aisle they are that 463 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: I call this place. They're cathedral and growth business and 464 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: they do it unapologetically. We sadly and become complicit in it. 465 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: So when you run those trillion dollar deficits and you 466 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: don't have pay fors for it, that is a stimulus 467 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: the productive economy and some of the things from the 468 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: tax Cutting Jobs Act that we put in place in 469 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: December of seventeen, that can counter some of that, because 470 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: if you're spending more borrowing it, a tax cut would 471 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: be a way that produces on the supply side to 472 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,600 Speaker 1: at least mop up some of that extra demand. And 473 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: sometimes that even gets confusing because both would be considered 474 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: an a Kinesian point of view of being stimulus. But 475 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: at least it had its balance. And then the world economy, 476 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: which is a more global one now put a lid 477 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 1: on cost push inflation for a long time, we single 478 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 1: handedly in terms of how we address COVID here kind 479 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: of unleased that evil out of the economic Pandora's box. 480 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: And that's why this budget is designed to show how 481 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: we taper that in overtime to reduce the pain. Even 482 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: though it's been based upon bad behavior year after year 483 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: ever since the early two thousands, so this is sort 484 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,480 Speaker 1: of a weeness off the bad behavior approach. It is 485 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: that recognizes the system couldn't take the shock of going 486 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 1: cold Turkey. Now in any busin would have the rigor 487 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: of the marketplace, and you wouldn't get by with a 488 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: ten year rebuild plan. Your competitors would have already taken 489 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: you out by your bad chronic behavior. Here this is different, 490 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: and it was to get Republicans to vote for it. 491 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: I hope there's not any that won't. And it isolates 492 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: the whole issue to interest after ten years, and it 493 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: is going to expose glaringly how entitlements the two programs medicare, 494 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: so Security, Medicaid, and some of the other mandatory spending 495 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: that we now put in the category of an entitlement 496 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: almost we're gonna have to look at them if we 497 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 1: ever want to cover our interest expense and really get 498 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: the country back to where it should be, where you 499 00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 1: had it back in the mid nineties. Well, you introduced us. 500 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: Do you think there's any Democrat who might have the 501 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,479 Speaker 1: courage to vote for this? No, I don't think so. 502 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: I think because if they would, it would be hypocritical 503 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: in terms of what their behavior has been about for 504 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: a long long time. And to be honest, I think 505 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 1: it'll make a few Republicans squirm. And that's that unholy 506 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: alliance I talk about. I think that was my term 507 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: that I introduced in one of our luncheons about three 508 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: years ago, and it was like silence what I mentioned 509 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: it but I think it resonated. I think it's important 510 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 1: to recognize because when we developed the balance budget, and 511 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: of course we were standing on Ronald Reagan's shoulders and 512 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: we had a lot of momentum, we found that for 513 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: an amazing percent of the country, it's a moral issue 514 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: that the country believes that they have to balance their 515 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: family budget, they have to balance their business budget, and 516 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: that the federal government, the politicians, ought to have to 517 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 1: balance their budget. And actually we got a fair number 518 00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: of Democrats to vote with those partly because we listened 519 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: to them about what they could and couldn't do. We 520 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: worked with Clinton, and I mean all of the reforms 521 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,720 Speaker 1: of the mid nineties were sort of a Clinton gingrich 522 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,920 Speaker 1: by partisanship because we had to pass something he would sign, 523 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: and he couldn't sign anything unless we passed it. So 524 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: we had a negotiating position that was actually pretty creative 525 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: and pretty healthy. We spent I think thirty five days 526 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,200 Speaker 1: together working on the first balanced budget. But it seems 527 00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: to me that as you raise this issue and as 528 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: you explain in a common sense way both the downside 529 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: of not fixing it and the practical steps that would 530 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: fix it, I think you're going to gain ground every 531 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: single month. This is just a start newt. I'm going 532 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: to for as long as I'm in the Senate keep 533 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: harping on it because it is clearly for future generations, 534 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,840 Speaker 1: especially visa e. China, who I said earlier, I think 535 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: they've got more inherent investing and saving in how they 536 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: approach things. We better be careful because you cannot keep 537 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: doing this year after year and expect it to be 538 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: a happy ending. Yeah. I hope we can come back 539 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: and visit again on this because I think it's the 540 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: key fulcram for forcing people to rethink government. I mean, 541 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: if you could always write one more blank check, then 542 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: you don't have to think. But if you suddenly have 543 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: real fixed limits and a real requirement to measure what 544 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: you're spending, boy, everything changes overnight. Then you're thrown back 545 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: into that paradigm of being a feisty entrepreneur that's got 546 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: to not only be good at what you're selling, but 547 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 1: you got to make ends meet in doing it, or 548 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: you become a casually and you're going to get closer 549 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: to way. Most of our local and state government's already 550 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: roll and the only outlier right now are the folks 551 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: with the printing press in the basement and no political 552 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: will in their job. Exactly right. Well, I want to 553 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: thank you for joining me. I think you're on the 554 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: way to something very big and very very important. We 555 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,920 Speaker 1: will have a link to the Braun budget, a plan 556 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 1: to defuse America's inflation Bowman on Leash Prosperity one our 557 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 1: showpage at Newtsworld dot com so everyone can review it. 558 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: And I'm just delighted, and I want to encourage you 559 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: to keep going and to plan to come back and 560 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: talk with us again in the future. You can count 561 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: on it. Thank you to my guest Centaer and Mike Braun. 562 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: You can get a link to his proposed budget plan 563 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 1: on our showpage at newtsworld dot com. News World is 564 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: produced by Gingwish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer 565 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: is Garnsey Slope, our producer is Rebecca Halle, and our 566 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was 567 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 1: created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at 568 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: Gingwich three sixty. If you've been enjoining Newtsworld, I hope 569 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,839 Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple podcast and both rate us with 570 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can 571 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of News 572 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: World can sign up for my three free weekly columns 573 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,720 Speaker 1: at Gingwich three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm newt Gingwich. 574 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:01,280 Speaker 1: This is neutral.