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Speaker 1: Good evening, America, Happy Thanksgiving, and welcome to the Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: edition of Justin There's no Noise, but hope you're recovering

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Speaker 1: nicely from your Turkey coma and getting ready for some

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Speaker 1: football tonight. But before we do that, we're going to

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Speaker 1: give you a little dose of news. I'm John Solomon,

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Speaker 1: of course, reporting to as always from the nation's capital,

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Speaker 1: and thanks for spending a bit of your Thanksgiving holiday

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Speaker 1: with us. All Right, Tonight, we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: what we're thankful for and what we aspire to achieve

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Speaker 1: in the next year, and that is a smaller, leaner,

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Speaker 1: more efficient government that's more responsive to the people and

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Speaker 1: less costly to it.

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Speaker 2: I know We've been talking about this for.

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Speaker 1: As long as I've been alive, but the next year

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Speaker 1: is probably one of the last great chances to make

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Speaker 1: a significant debt, whether it's on snap benefits or Medicaid fraud,

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Speaker 1: or Medicare fraud or all the things. This is a

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Speaker 1: one year window to potentially reform government or learn to

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Speaker 1: live with a bloated government until it tips us over

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Speaker 1: into irreparable debt. So we're gona talk a little bit

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Speaker 1: about that tonight. But before I do, and we got

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Speaker 1: some great guests. By the way, the former Comptroller General

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Speaker 1: of the United States, David Walker, is going to join us

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Speaker 1: in a second. I want to bring in my amazing

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Speaker 1: co host, Amanda Head for a little Thanksgiving moments.

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Speaker 2: I'm thankful for a lot this Thanksgiving.

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Speaker 1: I know you are too, one you being in Washington

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Speaker 1: with us and being our White House correspondent.

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Speaker 2: That has been such a blessing.

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Speaker 1: A more secure border, fewer bad guys on the street

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Speaker 1: in blue cities, and some signs that this economy could

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Speaker 1: come burring to life from twenty six.

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Speaker 3: How about you that last one, especially because as we are,

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Speaker 3: you know, Black Friday is tomorrow. I feel like so

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Speaker 3: many companies out there are preempting the actual day of

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Speaker 3: Black Friday, and they are putting out you know, Black

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Speaker 3: Friday and Cyber.

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Speaker 4: Monday, all these types of deals.

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Speaker 3: But I think that this goes perfectly with the theme

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Speaker 3: of today's show because the American people, you know, they

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Speaker 3: want to participate in the economy.

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Speaker 4: They want to be generous to their friends and family.

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Speaker 3: They want to spend money on food because that contributes

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Speaker 3: to the Thanksgiving table where you have this beautiful event

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Speaker 3: of not only giving thanks for our country, but sharing

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Speaker 3: stories and memories throughout the year.

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Speaker 4: With people that we love.

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Speaker 3: And I know the American people would much rather spend

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Speaker 3: that money on those types of things instead of paying

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Speaker 3: more for a large government.

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Speaker 4: So I'm excited to have this conversation today.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, there's that story published over at just the

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Speaker 3: News last week about the economy and things they're taking up,

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Speaker 3: and I think that the American people have something good

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Speaker 3: coming in.

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Speaker 4: Twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's nothing that will unlease the economy more

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Speaker 1: than just getting the size of government and it's burden

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Speaker 1: on our wallets down. I think it's such a simple recipe,

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Speaker 1: but in thirty five years, drunk and spending is hasn't

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Speaker 1: stopped in there and this window of the next year

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Speaker 1: is going to be the window where so much changes.

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Speaker 1: And the President's been talking a lot more, particularly since

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Speaker 1: the election, about making America more affordable again. It starts

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Speaker 1: by making the government more affordable because from that, debt

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Speaker 1: comes down, interest rates come down. It's such a simple recipe,

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Speaker 1: and there the debt and.

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Speaker 3: The interest rates come down. That fuels consumer confidence. And

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Speaker 3: then you have companies like Walmart that announced last month

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Speaker 3: that they're you know, They're Thanksgiving meal package is down

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Speaker 3: twenty five percent, Target announcing that three thousand of their

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Speaker 3: food and beverages and essential items are decreasing in price

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Speaker 3: to their lowest prices ever. So you know it it.

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Speaker 4: To me it's always kind of a chicken and egg scenario.

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Speaker 3: Yes, there are those governmental markers that in a tangible

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Speaker 3: way bring down prices for the American people and cool

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Speaker 3: inflation and fuel jobs and things like that, but there's

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Speaker 3: also this this confident zeit that happens when you have

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Speaker 3: someone in the Oval office like Donald Trump, who we

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Speaker 3: know does want to drink the size of government and

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Speaker 3: does want to make life more affordable and does want

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Speaker 3: people to have to pay fewer taxes and less taxes

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Speaker 3: on the government.

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Speaker 1: All right, before we get to some serious news, what's

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Speaker 1: your favorite dish today?

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Speaker 3: I am a big fan of ham at Thanksgiving. I

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Speaker 3: don't love turkey. I find it to be dry and

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Speaker 3: not entirely flavorful, so I would say ham.

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Speaker 4: I love meat and I love protein.

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Speaker 3: I'm trying to lay off the sweets this year because

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Speaker 3: of the whole Maha thing. I know, I know, I know,

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Speaker 3: but I did get a recipe that I intend to

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Speaker 3: make of some some pumpkin cookies that are very high

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Speaker 3: in fiber. So if you're one of those people that

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Speaker 3: reacts to fiber, maybe should avoid them. But they're not

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Speaker 3: a ton of sugar in them, and I think that

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Speaker 3: they're tasty.

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Speaker 1: So I'm going to cure your turkey problem because I'm

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Speaker 1: going to fry you a turkey. My wife and I

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Speaker 1: are going to give you our secret recipe. Okay, you'll

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Speaker 1: find how moist turkey can actually be when you fry it.

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Speaker 3: Wait, but aren't you turkey friars are big though, don't you.

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Speaker 2: Have to have like a big We'll just get a

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Speaker 2: big turkey. Let's go big.

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Speaker 4: No, no, no, I don't own the fryar.

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Speaker 2: I got one.

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Speaker 1: Okay, We're going to have you show you what a

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Speaker 1: Solomon fried turkey days, by the way, and give it

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Speaker 1: all the fried stuff on the outside so it's healthy.

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Speaker 2: So you can do Maha turkey, but it's so much

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Speaker 2: more moist.

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Speaker 1: We do one in the oven, we do one in

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Speaker 1: the friar, and it is one of my favorite things.

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Speaker 3: Listen, there are allowances that I make outside of the

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Speaker 3: Maha initiative, and fried things is one of those things.

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Speaker 4: So you're in luck. I'll eat all right.

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Speaker 1: We're in for it, all right, from fried turkeys to

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Speaker 1: perhaps making government just a little bit more efficient for

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Speaker 1: all of us. We're very lucky to be joined at

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Speaker 1: the top of the show today by the former US

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Speaker 1: Comptroller General David Walker. He has spent his whole life

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Speaker 1: trying to help Americans understand where are ways fraud and

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Speaker 1: abuses and how we can fix it. And he's got

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Speaker 1: a plan for President Trump in this Congress to get

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Speaker 1: something big.

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Speaker 2: Done before the next election. Joining us right.

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Speaker 1: Now, David Walker, David Happy, Thanks Gavin, Thank you for

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Speaker 1: spending some of it with us.

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Speaker 5: My pleasure, and I'm thank well that the government's back

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Speaker 5: open again.

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Speaker 6: It should never shut down. It's a downline stupid for

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Speaker 6: that to happen.

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Speaker 1: It is, isn't it, And it keeps happening, and we

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Speaker 1: don't fix the stupidity.

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Speaker 2: All right. There is a lot.

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Speaker 1: That we've learned, whether it was the COVID fraud, snap fraud,

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Speaker 1: medicaid fraud. We had a story last week that there's

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Speaker 1: hundreds of billions of dollars over the last ten years

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Speaker 1: that have gone to people who are dead, but they're

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Speaker 1: still being sent snap benefits or Medicaid benefits. You've been

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Speaker 1: flagging this for years. How do we wrestle the talk

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Speaker 1: into action?

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Speaker 5: Well, first, the government has grown too big, promise too much,

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Speaker 5: subsidize too many, lost control of the budget. You know,

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Speaker 5: is flying blind and mountains of debt without an instrument panel,

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Speaker 5: No wonder, we got a problem. Okay, Look, what we

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Speaker 5: need to recognize is that those did not do what

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Speaker 5: needs to be done, and what they did, they didn't

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Speaker 5: go about it the right way. There's three things that

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Speaker 5: have to be focused on like a laser. The goo's

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Speaker 5: High Risk List, the Improper Payments Report that comes out

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Speaker 5: on an annual basis, and the Duplication, Overlap and Redundancy

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Speaker 5: report that comes out. Those are the things that need

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Speaker 5: to be focused on like a laser. We need a

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Speaker 5: government transformation initiative that we'll deal with that. But we

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Speaker 5: also need a constitutional amendment that will limit how much

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Speaker 5: debt as percentage the economy we can take on.

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Speaker 6: That's the only thing that.

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Speaker 5: Will force Congress to make tough choices on a recurring basis.

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Speaker 5: And then we need to figure out how we're going

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Speaker 5: to get that done through a Statutory Fiscal Commission.

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Speaker 6: I'm working on all of.

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Speaker 5: Those issues and more, and this next year is of

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Speaker 5: critical importance. So it's full court press, pedal of the metal.

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Speaker 3: David, I want to go back to what you said

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Speaker 3: about the work of Dose. You know, Elon Musk is

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Speaker 3: no longer involved, but he was heading it up at

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Speaker 3: the beginning, and he's a smart guy.

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Speaker 4: Why do you think he didn't know or maybe wasn't.

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Speaker 3: Told about those three areas to target in what he

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Speaker 3: was essentially trying to do.

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Speaker 4: How did he not know that or maybe it was intentional?

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Speaker 4: I don't know.

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Speaker 5: Well, first, he's a very bright guy, and he's got

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Speaker 5: a very successful track record. But I think one of

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Speaker 5: the biggest differences is he didn't understand government. Okay, for example,

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Speaker 5: only Congress can cut spending. You can cancel all the

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Speaker 5: contracts you want, you can cancel grants, but unless the

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Speaker 5: Congress re sends the funding through a request by the President,

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Speaker 5: then you still have to spend the money.

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Speaker 6: You just spend it on something else.

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Speaker 5: I think he also didn't understand how outdated a lot

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Speaker 5: of the government's information systems are a lot of the

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Speaker 5: major systems in government used coball programming.

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Speaker 6: He probably didn't even know what coball programming.

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Speaker 5: Was because most people got rid of that as far

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Speaker 5: as mainframe systems.

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Speaker 6: Many many years ago. So I think he was well intended.

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Speaker 5: But I will also tell you the reason I think

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Speaker 5: they pivoted to hiring freezes, in layoffs luntary and involuntary

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Speaker 5: is that's the only way that you can guarantee to

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Speaker 5: reduce spending immediately. However, it can have adverse consequences because

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Speaker 5: it depends upon the people that you're not hiring and

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Speaker 5: the people that you're getting rid of.

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Speaker 6: You know, how do they relate to mission? What are

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Speaker 6: their skills, what's their knowledge, what's their performance? If you

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Speaker 6: don't go at about it the right way, you can

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Speaker 6: actually be kind of productive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt about it. All right.

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Speaker 1: I'm want to go to your three ideas because I've

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Speaker 1: been covering GAO reports since i was a young pupp

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Speaker 1: and I'm not one anymore, but I've always seen the

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Speaker 1: same problems every year being identified. If you get the

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Speaker 1: improper payments, you do the three things that you've identified

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Speaker 1: the high risk programs, what are the legitimate annual savings

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Speaker 1: that just tackling those three things could add to or

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Speaker 1: deduct from the budget.

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Speaker 5: I don't give you a specific number, but I would

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Speaker 5: tell you it would be huge. It would be much, much,

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Speaker 5: much greater than whatever Dose could have been ever done.

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Speaker 2: And the civilians or hundred civilians, possible.

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Speaker 6: Hundreds of billions.

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Speaker 5: Okay, And in fact, you know, DOGE actually saved a

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Speaker 5: small fraction of what they claimed. Because just as I

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Speaker 5: said before, when you say that you cancel the contract

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Speaker 5: or cancel the grant, that doesn't save money.

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Speaker 6: Congress has to recend the funding.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 4: Was there anything those did that could stick?

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Speaker 6: Tell me? Well, yeah, I think for one thing, Dose.

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Speaker 5: Employed technology and artificial intelligence to try to engage in

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Speaker 5: a number of kind of continuous auditing type of activities.

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Speaker 6: I think that's something that clearly we need to learn from.

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Speaker 5: I think it's something that the accountability organizations like the

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Speaker 5: Inspectors General and the GAO need to embrace and need

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Speaker 5: to be able to incorporate in part of what they're

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Speaker 5: doing on a go forward basis.

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Speaker 6: So, yes, there was some positive aspects, no question.

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Speaker 1: So I want to get down to a simple one

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Speaker 1: because it seems so obvious to fix, and yet it

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Speaker 1: continues to persist. Agriculture Secretary of Brook Rowlins that tens

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Speaker 1: of billions of dollars of SNAP benefits went.

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Speaker 2: To dead people.

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Speaker 1: There have been multiple great GEO audits that show the

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Speaker 1: number of dead people who continue to get Medicaid benefits.

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Speaker 1: If we are there some simple things like the second

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Speaker 1: someone dies, social Security tells all the federal agencies to

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Speaker 1: check your books for this person and get them off

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Speaker 1: the books. Is there something that simple that could fix something?

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Speaker 1: Just giving dead people money seems easily fixable.

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Speaker 5: Well, you're putting your finger on a very important point.

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Speaker 5: All right, we don't do enough data sharing in the government.

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Speaker 5: We need, frankly, to modernize our information systems. We need

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Speaker 5: to move towards integrating our information systems. The most up

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Speaker 5: to date death registers held by the Social Security Administration

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Speaker 5: that needs to be shared on a frequent, if not

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Speaker 5: on real time basis, with all the other department, governents

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Speaker 5: and agencies. I mean, one of the things all of

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Speaker 5: them we need to try to do is to do

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Speaker 5: what Brazil did now they have a consolidated integrated information

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Speaker 5: system for all of the federal government.

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Speaker 6: If Brazil can do it, we can do it absolutely.

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Speaker 3: Port David don't want to ask you something that I

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Speaker 3: guess touches on the philosophical side of things, because Democrats,

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Speaker 3: it seems that, especially in the last half a century

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Speaker 3: or as well seventy eighty years since the New Deal,

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Speaker 3: Democrats are always in favor of spending more money, giving

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Speaker 3: out more resources to people who may or as we

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Speaker 3: are seeing in the case of Snap, may may not

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Speaker 3: need it. Is there a way to reverse that thinking

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Speaker 3: for Democrats. Is there a way to incentivize Democrats to

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Speaker 3: pull back on the notion that if you provide these

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Speaker 3: resources the entitlements to people that it ultimately wins votes.

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Speaker 5: Well, first, understand that the only thing that can constrain

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Speaker 5: current and future Congresses is a constitutional amendment. And my

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Speaker 5: view is in the group that I chair, it's focused

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Speaker 5: on trying to get a constitutional amendment that will limit

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Speaker 5: how much debt as a percentage of the economy we

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Speaker 5: can take on through an Article five limited Convention of States.

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Speaker 5: Focus solely on that issue. And the reason debt to

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Speaker 5: GDP is because it's pro growth. If you grow the

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Speaker 5: economy faster than the debt, even if the debt is

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Speaker 5: going up, you're making progress. And it doesn't tell Congress

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Speaker 5: how to solve the numerator problem, how much how it

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Speaker 5: is spending reductions mandatory discretionary, how much is revenue increases.

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Speaker 5: It just says you have to solve it, and if

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Speaker 5: you don't solve it, things happen.

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Speaker 6: That's what is needed. Believe it or not.

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Speaker 5: The Congress should have called a convention to propose a

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Speaker 5: fiscal responsibility as far back as nineteen seventy nine. I've

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Speaker 5: brought that to their attention. Now we're trying to make

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Speaker 5: progress on it. And if they don't call that convention,

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Speaker 5: I expect the States will sue in the coming months

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Speaker 5: and that will ultimately go to the Supreme Court.

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Speaker 1: Good friend, and Mark Meckler has been arguing on this

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Speaker 1: for years.

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Speaker 2: I know you have to.

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Speaker 1: It would be an extraordinary moment of history on the

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fiftieth birthday of America if that could happen.

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Speaker 2: One last question for you before we let you go.

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Speaker 1: There are lots of middlemen that profit in the middle

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Speaker 1: and drive up the cost of government. Their middlemen in

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Speaker 1: the pension between the pharmacy benefits manager sort of industry

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Speaker 1: that cropped up their middlemen that pitched snap benefits to people.

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Speaker 1: They are middlemen that pitch benefits for Obamacare and get

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Speaker 1: people on who don't need it or never use it.

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Speaker 1: Getting rid of the middlemen that drive up the cost.

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Speaker 1: How important is that and can it be done quickly?

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Speaker 5: It's very important, There's no question about it. And let

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Speaker 5: let's look good healthcare as an example. I mean, you've

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Speaker 5: got brokers that right now are trying to pitch people

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Speaker 5: on their healthcare options. Obviously they're going to make money,

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Speaker 5: but the bottom line is is that take health We

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Speaker 5: have to have a fundamental reassessment of how much universal

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Speaker 5: healthcare is appropriate, affordable, and sustainable. We've way over promised

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Speaker 5: in healthcare. We've way over subsidized. We spend almost twenty

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Speaker 5: percent of our economy on healthcare, and yet we get

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Speaker 5: below average results. Healthcare costs continue to grow faster than

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Speaker 5: the economy. We can't do nip and tuck. We need

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Speaker 5: radical reconstructive surgery.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 1: That is something that we definitely need and something we

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Speaker 1: can think about even as we recover from this wonderful

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving dinner. David, I just want to say this. I've

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Speaker 1: been in this town about thirty five years, and you

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Speaker 1: have been such a voice of reason, such a voice

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Speaker 1: of constructive criticism and constructive solutions. And if this country

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Speaker 1: is ever going to fix it, I have a strong

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Speaker 1: sufficient you're going to be in the middle of that fixed.

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Speaker 1: Your service to your country is so important. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for that on this Thanksgiving and thanks for joining us.

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Speaker 6: Thank you, Joon and Amanda all the best. Happy Thanksgiving.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving, sir? What a great guy? All right, folks,

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Speaker 1: Cort commercial break.

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Speaker 2: More on this topic right after these messages.

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Speaker 1: Hey, folks, Americans are losing trust in the system right,

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Speaker 1: banks collapsing, inflation eating away savings, and now the Federal

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Speaker 1: reservists pushing for a central bank digital currency. If that happens,

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Speaker 1: every dollar in your account could be tracked, traced, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately controlled. Imagine not being able to donate to a

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Speaker 1: cause they disagree with, or being locked out of your

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Speaker 1: money because of your opinions or associations. We don't want that.

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Speaker 1: likes Gold dot com. Take the time now, because once

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Speaker 1: the switch flips, there may be no going back.

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Speaker 3: Welcome back everybody to just the news and the noise,

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Speaker 3: and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you again. The government

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Speaker 3: shutdown helped to illuminate some very important things, like the

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Speaker 3: fact that our current rate of spending on entitlements is

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Speaker 3: completely unsustainable. So how do we solve this crisis in

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Speaker 3: a way that doesn't hurt low income Americans?

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Speaker 4: And what are the consequences if we don't. Joining us

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Speaker 4: now to discuss that.

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Speaker 3: The founder and president of Mainstream Economics, Less rubn Less, thanks.

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Speaker 4: So much for being here.

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Speaker 7: Happy Thanksgiving and same to you, and thanks for having me.

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Speaker 3: We are delighted to have you, and you know, throughout

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Speaker 3: the shutdown and then even since then, we have learned

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Speaker 3: about some pretty egregious instances of fraud that are happening

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Speaker 3: far too often.

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Speaker 4: It's not just you know, a flash in the pan

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Speaker 4: here or there.

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Speaker 3: Secretary Rowlin said that they want to kick everybody off,

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Speaker 3: have everybody reapplied to figure.

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Speaker 4: Out if it is critical for them to be on

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Speaker 4: the program.

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Speaker 3: But this this is a federal program, but it's administered

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Speaker 3: and managed by the states. If we're going to kick

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Speaker 3: everybody off and then bring people back on, is this

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Speaker 3: the perfect restart opportunity to put more of the power

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Speaker 3: of screening folks on the states instead of the federal

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Speaker 3: government because the federal government screws it all up.

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Speaker 7: Well, I'll say I'm into that. If you want something

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Speaker 7: done inefficiently, give it to the federal government. Yes, I

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Speaker 7: think it would be far far better to have the

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Speaker 7: states in control of the whole program, and the federal government,

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Speaker 7: if it wants to pay the money, it can block

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Speaker 7: grant certain amount of funds. Let the states handle it.

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Speaker 7: They will be much more efficient in doing what they do.

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Speaker 7: The closer you get to the people, the better off

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Speaker 7: I think we are. The federal government just seems to

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Speaker 7: manage to get very inefficient in everything they do.

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Speaker 1: So listen, I want to ask quickly, just how did

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Speaker 1: snap get so big? When I came to Washing thirty

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Speaker 1: years ago, we still had food assistance back then, but

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Speaker 1: it wasn't nearly as massive in size. Proportionate to the

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Speaker 1: rest of the budget. What have been beyond fraud, what

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Speaker 1: have been some of the other driving factors?

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Speaker 7: Well, I think the driving factor is the politicians want

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Speaker 7: to give away as much as they can, and they're

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Speaker 7: focused on the next election, not the next generation. So

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Speaker 7: what they're interested in is getting votes, and you give

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Speaker 7: votes by giving things to people, and the more you give,

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Speaker 7: the more they vote. The more they vote, the more

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Speaker 7: the politicians given. You get into a circle where all

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Speaker 7: we're doing is giving away our money and no controls

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Speaker 7: over it. So we're a rich country and we should

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Speaker 7: be helping those that are truly needy, but we don't

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Speaker 7: have fifty million people that are truly needy, and so

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Speaker 7: that's we just keep expanding the program, and that's what's

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Speaker 7: killing that and many other programs. We never go back

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Speaker 7: to check and see whether or not we should be

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Speaker 7: giving these people certain amount of funds or if they're

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Speaker 7: even legitimately there. The fraud and abuse is all over the.

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Speaker 8: Government unless if they model their excuse me, if they

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Speaker 8: model their screening process similar to the way they did before,

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Speaker 8: then they're just going to end up with the same

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Speaker 8: folks back on the program.

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Speaker 4: But if they do a few different things.

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Speaker 3: It'll be a self shifting process, and maybe some people

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Speaker 3: will take themselves off the program. Number one being if

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Speaker 3: they return to actual physical food stamps instead of cards

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Speaker 3: that practically resemble credit or debit cards. And number two,

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Speaker 3: if you narrow the parameters of what's available, if they

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Speaker 3: go back to those two items that really were the

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Speaker 3: case for a long time since the inception of the program.

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Speaker 3: Is that a way to get people to take themselves

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Speaker 3: off the program?

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Speaker 7: Well, I don't know if you can get people to

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Speaker 7: volunteerily voluntarily take themselves off. But if you make the

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Speaker 7: criteria such that they have to qualify, and we go

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Speaker 7: back and requalify people based on truly needy people, I

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Speaker 7: think we can start purging the roles. I'm not even

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Speaker 7: sure that the roles are accurate. There's probably a lot

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Speaker 7: of double dipping and non existent people, and the fraud

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Speaker 7: seems to go get rampant. But all of that will

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Speaker 7: help try and pare down the roles. But the politicians

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Speaker 7: don't want to take away anything once they've given it,

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Speaker 7: and that's an ongoing problem. You can never get rid

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Speaker 7: of a federal program. You can't seem to reduce the

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Speaker 7: scope and size of anything. The current debacle over the

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Speaker 7: extension of the Obamacare as an example, that was intended

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Speaker 7: to expire, but nobody wants to let it expire. You

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Speaker 7: can't get rid of anything once you give it to people.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask about that culture of entitlement because

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Speaker 1: it started obviously for protecting our senior set with Social

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Speaker 1: Security and Medicare.

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Speaker 2: Then Medicare came to.

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Speaker 1: MCA Medicaid, and then Medicaid went to food stamps. But with

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Speaker 1: the Zoran Mandami effect, the entitlement program is going to explode.

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Speaker 1: Now to bus fairs and to rent, freezing and other things.

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Speaker 1: These have been tried, grocery stores, government run grocery stores.

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Speaker 1: These have been tried in socialist countries. They usually end

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Speaker 1: up in breadlines and dysfunctional transportation lines. Is Zoran Mandami

442
00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 1: and what happens in New York a potential boomerang moment,

443
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:36,760
Speaker 1: meaning it's the place where we realize we don't want

444
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 1: government involved in so many things.

445
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 7: Well, I hope so if he first of all, I'm

446
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,680
Speaker 7: not sure he can do all the things he promised.

447
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 7: I mean, that's what politicians do. They promised this, that

448
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 7: and the other and I'm not even sure they have

449
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,680
Speaker 7: the power to do all of that. If he does

450
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 7: try government run grocery stores, that's been tried in the

451
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,399
Speaker 7: Soviet Union and in other places, and what you have

452
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,360
Speaker 7: is a cheap variety of nothing. You have no choices.

453
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:12,520
Speaker 7: The availability starts to disappear, so he won't be taking

454
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,159
Speaker 7: over all the grocery stores, and what they do will fail,

455
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:21,159
Speaker 7: and hopefully that'll lead to people realizing that socialism doesn't work.

456
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,879
Speaker 7: It's never worked. It's been tried over and over again,

457
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:26,840
Speaker 7: and each person says, well, I'm going to do it

458
00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 7: right this time, but that never works. It never has.

459
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,320
Speaker 7: There's not been one instance where socialism has led to

460
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 7: a betterment of the living standards for the populace. It

461
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 7: just does not work. It's lacking the proper incentives to

462
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 7: ever work properly, so it's just grounded on principles that

463
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:50,679
Speaker 7: are destined to fail.

464
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 3: Last, I want to ask you about how we get

465
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 3: our debt under control, because it's almost a law of

466
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:01,280
Speaker 3: diminishing returns of a sort, except it's a law diminishing options.

467
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,080
Speaker 4: The more our debt explodes.

468
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 3: The fewer options we have to actually get it under control.

469
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,600
Speaker 3: So the longer we wait, the lesser the chance of

470
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:09,919
Speaker 3: ever actually fixing it.

471
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 4: What can Republicans do now?

472
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 3: And does it seem to you like they have a

473
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 3: fire under their fanny big enough to actually do it.

474
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,879
Speaker 7: I don't think the politicians will do it until we

475
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 7: get public support. If you stop and think, one of

476
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,480
Speaker 7: the programs that I'm working on right now with some

477
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 7: other people is a national public education. The voting public

478
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 7: doesn't understand how serious the problem is, and until they

479
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 7: wake up and understand that, we will not get Congress

480
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 7: to fix it. The Congress is worried about how getting

481
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:51,119
Speaker 7: reelected and let's face it, and if the public doesn't

482
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 7: demand it, they're not going to do it. So one

483
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 7: of the things that I am working on right now

484
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:02,280
Speaker 7: is a massive national voter education campaign to explain number one,

485
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 7: the problem and how serious it is and it will

486
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 7: lead us to bankruptcy if we don't fix it, and

487
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,439
Speaker 7: two what can we do about it? And entitlements is

488
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 7: one of the biggest and certainly the biggest dollar impact

489
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 7: on our government. If you look at Social Security, Medicare,

490
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,159
Speaker 7: and medicate, those three together are costing a billion and

491
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 7: a half dollars every year. That can't go on. We

492
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 7: have to reform those systems. And then there's many other entitlements.

493
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,479
Speaker 7: My damis wanted to give more and more things away.

494
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 7: It doesn't work, it won't work, and maybe that's the

495
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 7: trigger that will cause people to realize that, hey, we

496
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 7: got to be real or else we're going to fail.

497
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 7: This country will go bankrupt some day if we don't

498
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 7: fix the problem. There actually are some very good examples

499
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 7: going on right now. If you look at what's going

500
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:02,199
Speaker 7: on in Argentina, they had a basket case of an

501
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 7: economy and they got an economists elected president, and look

502
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:11,160
Speaker 7: what's happened. It's almost a miracle. And you look at Venezuela, yeah,

503
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 7: look at Venezuela Knicks in South America as well, that's

504
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 7: a basket case. But they don't have elections. The elections

505
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 7: they have, it's a military dictatorship basically, and the poor

506
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:26,200
Speaker 7: people there are just suffering.

507
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's unfortunate to see, but you're right, Argentina is

508
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,960
Speaker 3: a great example of how things can change overnight if

509
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 3: you get somebody responsible and they're less Reuben, founder and

510
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 3: president of Main Street Economics. Always a pleasure of having

511
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,440
Speaker 3: you here, sir, Happy Thanksgiving and.

512
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 7: Happy Thanksgiving to you and thanks for having me.

513
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:45,640
Speaker 4: Yes, Sarah, thank you all right, everybody?

514
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,320
Speaker 3: Next, how bad is food insecurity actually in this country?

515
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 3: We're going to get to that and some more necessary

516
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 3: reforms for our benefits programs after this.

517
00:26:53,920 --> 00:27:00,679
Speaker 1: Great Hey, Mark, I got a quote for you. Do

518
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,159
Speaker 1: doctors have Black Friday sales? I got the answer. The

519
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:04,879
Speaker 1: doctors at brick House Nutrition.

520
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:05,240
Speaker 2: Sure do.

521
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,399
Speaker 1: They just announce their Black Friday thirty percent off sale,

522
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: the biggest sale of the year. The most impressive health

523
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Speaker 1: and nudition products in the industry are now thirty percent off,

524
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,920
Speaker 1: like lean the doctor formulated weight loss supplement for people

525
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 1: who want to lose meaningful weight without those injections, and

526
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: thirty percent off Creotone, that creating designed just for women

527
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 1: to help you look leaner, in shape, and toned without

528
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 1: extra dieting or exercise, even thirty percent off. One of

529
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: my favorites, Field of Greens, the only superfruit and vegetable

530
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 1: drinks shown in the university study to actually slow aging.

531
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,800
Speaker 1: In only Field of Greens promises better health results. Your

532
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 1: doctor will notice every brick House product, from Better Sleep

533
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 1: to Superior Collagen is thirty percent off. But hurry because

534
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 1: these Black Friday deals go fast. Visit brick house sale

535
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: dot com and save thirty percent off. That's Brickhousesale dot Com.

536
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 1: One more time, Brickousesale dot Com.

537
00:27:55,640 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 2: Go there today. Welcome back in America. Happy Thanksgiving.

538
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,400
Speaker 1: We study the growth of entitlements and we see them

539
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 1: go off the chart, as does our national debt. But

540
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 1: the question is does that expense actually cover what's needed?

541
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,119
Speaker 1: Or is there less hunger, less need than actually what

542
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:26,680
Speaker 1: we're spending for. Here to answer that very important question

543
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: for us is Heritage Research Fellow on Welfare and Family Policy,

544
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: Rachel Scheffeld Rachel, good to have you on.

545
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 2: Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving.

546
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 9: Thanks for having me on.

547
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 2: Great to have you on.

548
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: All right, So SNAP benefits look like a plane taking

549
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: out of Reagan National Airport. They go straight up. You

550
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 1: look at the bell curve. Same thing with healthcare subsidies.

551
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: When Obamacare started. Are we spending the right amount of money?

552
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 1: Are we spending more than the need?

553
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 9: Well, we are spending right now. We have forty two

554
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 9: million Americans on SNAP. That's one in eight Americans on

555
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 9: this program. And that is you know, that's a number

556
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 9: that has continued to increase. The cost for SNAP is

557
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:13,720
Speaker 9: now over a hundred about one hundred billion dollars a year.

558
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 9: And so what we've basically seen over time with with

559
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 9: SNAP and actually with the entire US welfare system, as

560
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 9: we have seen spending increase and we have not seen

561
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 9: poverty decline. Basically it stays flat. So what that is

562
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 9: telling us is that we're spending all this money, we

563
00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 9: have this welfare system, but we're not actually helping people

564
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 9: move forward, improve their lives, become more self reliant. What

565
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 9: that's telling us is that we have a welfare system

566
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 9: that grows and grows, and it's just it's trying to

567
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 9: address the symptoms of poverty rather than actually address the causes,

568
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,400
Speaker 9: rather than actually helping people move forward. So it's trapping

569
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 9: people in poverty. We're not helping Americans improve their lives.

570
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 9: And that is that's the problem. That's the big problem

571
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 9: here that we're facing with the US welfare system.

572
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what it is. It's just amazing.

573
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 3: And you know, while while the allocation changes from year

574
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 3: to year depending on the budget, this is a zero

575
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 3: sum game when it comes.

576
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 4: To these resources.

577
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 3: So you know, I know Republicans have worked hard to

578
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 3: make sure that it's only lawful Americans who are receiving

579
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 3: benefits for programs like SNAP. But there's states like California

580
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 3: that they will they they will work their darnedest to

581
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 3: make sure that they work around those systems. So if

582
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 3: we are able to find a way to make sure

583
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 3: that these states are incentivized to boot illegals off of

584
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 3: these programs, that's a lot more resources for people who

585
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 3: truly need it, isn't it.

586
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 4: Yeah.

587
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 9: I mean, we want to make sure that our welfare

588
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 9: system is going to people who are you know, who

589
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 9: are here legally. We don't want to be giving benefits

590
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 9: to people who are not in the country lawfully. That's

591
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 9: the problem. Yeah, absolutely, when we look at you know,

592
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 9: again welfare system that has just continued to grow, continue

593
00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 9: to bring more and more people on, you know that

594
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,440
Speaker 9: those are taxpayer dollars though, those are you know, those

595
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 9: are dollars that we want to make sure that are

596
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 9: going to to the people who need them most. We

597
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 9: want to make sure that we are not just kind

598
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 9: of creating dependents, that we're not incentivizing people to come

599
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 9: to our country illegally to provide you know, to incentivize

600
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,600
Speaker 9: that with benefits. So yeah, there's definitely important work to

601
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 9: be done to reform our system, and that's that's one

602
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 9: of the biaeces of this of this this this mess

603
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 9: that we have that we need to to clean up.

604
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 1: So I think there's a lot of people that are

605
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: finding very popular that maybe in the future or in

606
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: the current we tie benefits to work for people because

607
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: a larger number of people on assistance don't have any jobs.

608
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: Work requirements create a pathway towards self sufficiency. But another

609
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:58,560
Speaker 1: one that Heritage does a lot of work on it

610
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,080
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting is removing some of the

611
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: penalties that encourage single parents and single family single headed households,

612
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: the marriage penalties. I know Heritage talks a lot about that.

613
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: That could have a profound effect. A lot of the

614
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 1: SNAP recipients are single headed households.

615
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, what you're talking about there is the marriage

616
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 9: penalties that exist in programs like SNAP and in basically

617
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 9: every other US welfare program. There are ninety different programs.

618
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 9: It costs well over twllion dollars a year, and yes,

619
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 9: basically all of those penalized marriage. What happens is, you know,

620
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 9: if people remain unmarried then you don't have to have

621
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 9: that combined income on the books, right, and so if

622
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 9: rather than if you know, a couple gets married, then

623
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,320
Speaker 9: you know, their benefits decline because suddenly their income goes

624
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 9: up generally speaking, and so so yeah, so that's a

625
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 9: problem with our system, especially when we consider the fact

626
00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 9: that marriage is one of the greatest protectors against poverty,

627
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 9: against child poverty, and so when we're creating these barriers

628
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 9: to marry, uh, you know, with our welfare system, we

629
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 9: are we are we're creating a barrier to to protecting

630
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:18,120
Speaker 9: against poverty, to helping people move out of poverty. So so, yes, absolutely,

631
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 9: addressing the marriage penalties, that's that's a huge that's a

632
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 9: huge problem. You know, work and stable families, those are

633
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 9: the two things that are going to most protect people

634
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 9: against poverty, and unfortunately, our welfare system undermines both of

635
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 9: those crucial, crucial, you know, crucial behaviors.

636
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, shout out to LBJ for incentivizing the brilliant idea

637
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 3: of non nuclear families. I want to ask you about

638
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 3: the homelessness crisis in this country because I looked into

639
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 3: the history of it and it looks like at least

640
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,239
Speaker 3: in this in this century under Bush, there was a

641
00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 3: prioritization of housing, but it was kind of a band

642
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 3: aid situation because they weren't addressing the root causes of homelessness,

643
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 3: job loss.

644
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 4: Psychological issues.

645
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:09,520
Speaker 3: And then you had an issue where because they were

646
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,720
Speaker 3: prioritizing housing over the main problem, it exploded in this country.

647
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 3: Now we're in a new era where the numbers of

648
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 3: homeless in this country, especially in places like southern California,

649
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 3: have exploded beyond what they were even five years ago.

650
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 4: How do we fix it?

651
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,800
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's right. What you're talking about is a policy

652
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 9: that the federal government has pushed called Housing First, and

653
00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 9: like it sounds, it basically focuses on providing housing without

654
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 9: any barriers to entry. So what that means is that, hey,

655
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 9: let's give people housing that'll solve the problem. Again, you know,

656
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 9: it's this idea that, hey, if we just give people

657
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,799
Speaker 9: money or benefits, it's going to fix the problem. It

658
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,920
Speaker 9: completely overlooks the reality that there are underlying human needs

659
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 9: and so so again that's been the policy. By prioritizing

660
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 9: programs like that, it drives other programs out that that

661
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 9: that help people, you know, that would say, hey, you know,

662
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 9: we're gonna we're going to provide you shelter, but we

663
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,439
Speaker 9: need to work on uh, you know, drug addiction or

664
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 9: or we we want to you know, have a requirement

665
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 9: that you need to be, you know, looking for work

666
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,600
Speaker 9: or preparing for work or doing something. So housing first

667
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,319
Speaker 9: it undermines self sufficiency.

668
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:22,600
Speaker 6: But the problem with.

669
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 9: It too is that it's very expensive, as you can imagine,

670
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 9: to provide permanent housing, and and and data that you know,

671
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 9: research shows us that it actually does not decrease the

672
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 9: overall amounts of homelessness we've seen. Yet, as you say,

673
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,919
Speaker 9: we've seen homelessness increase, even as you know, these these

674
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 9: these housing first programs have been pushed, you know it,

675
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 9: it doesn't actually decrease the problem. And so we're not

676
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,879
Speaker 9: we're not really helping people when we're just saying, hey,

677
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 9: the problem is or you know, hey, we're just going

678
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,879
Speaker 9: to solve this by providing a one way transfer. Yeah,

679
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 9: So what we really need to see is, you know,

680
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 9: programs that are designed to help people improve their lives

681
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 9: to say, let's let's let's help you with whatever is

682
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 9: holding you back, and let's let's let's not just assume

683
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 9: that you can't improve your life that you can't do better,

684
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 9: and that's that's yeah, that the Housing first has been

685
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 9: has been a failure and something that needs to be reformed.

686
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 1: Status quo sustenance and what we really need is disruption

687
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: of that sort of dependency. It's going to be interesting

688
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: to see if Congress and this president can deliver it.

689
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:34,880
Speaker 1: Rachel Sheffield on this Thanksgiving Thank you for all the

690
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:36,880
Speaker 1: great work that the folks that the Heritage Foundation do

691
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,000
Speaker 1: every day to make us smarter. Great to have you

692
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:39,720
Speaker 1: on the show today.

693
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 9: Hey, thanks for having me.

694
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, great conversation.

695
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 1: All right, folks, were gonna take a quick commercial break,

696
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 1: but more at it on the corner.

697
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 3: Welcome back everybody to this special thanks give edition of

698
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:02,400
Speaker 3: Just the News and the Noise. We are so thankful

699
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 3: that you're spending a bit of your Thanksgiving evening.

700
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:05,560
Speaker 4: With us tonight.

701
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,480
Speaker 3: Now, while we are all giving thanks this evening, it

702
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,520
Speaker 3: is important to remember charity too. We all here in

703
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 3: our country think that charitable giving is a good thing.

704
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:14,880
Speaker 4: In fact, our.

705
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 3: Country is tops in the world at it, and the

706
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,280
Speaker 3: government gives out a lot to help those in need,

707
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,480
Speaker 3: but here at home and both here at home and

708
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 3: around the world. But the problem is the rate of

709
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,320
Speaker 3: government spending just isn't sustainable anymore. You've heard that throughout

710
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,000
Speaker 3: all of tonight's show. And one of the consequences of

711
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 3: that is if the government fails, all of those benefits,

712
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 3: they go away for everyone, including the needy. So joining

713
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 3: us now to talk more about what we can do

714
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 3: economists with the American Institute for Economic Research Jason Sorens.

715
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 4: Jason, thanks so much for being here.

716
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:49,319
Speaker 2: Great to be here.

717
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 3: You know, whenever I hear conservatives complain about how much

718
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,720
Speaker 3: the government spends on welfare and social programs in general,

719
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 3: I always have to throw a back at them and say,

720
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,359
Speaker 3: you know what, if the private sector, if churches, if

721
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 3: charitable organizations were doing more, the government would not have

722
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:08,839
Speaker 3: to fill in. But unfortunately, we are in a place

723
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 3: where so much of this welfare in our country is

724
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:14,720
Speaker 3: centralized with the federal government.

725
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:17,280
Speaker 4: But we saw this amazing thing when.

726
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,719
Speaker 3: People were worried about their snap benefits being canceled on

727
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 3: November first, it was churches filling their pantries and offering

728
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 3: it to their neighbors. It was you know, private organizations

729
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:27,880
Speaker 3: collecting food, collecting cans.

730
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 4: They were filling in the gaps.

731
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,239
Speaker 3: It seems to me that's the way we solve this problem,

732
00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 3: not with the federal government.

733
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 10: That's right, and I think the evidence of the last

734
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 10: few weeks when the snap payments were briefly suspended is

735
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 10: that welfare programs actually do crowd out private charity, and

736
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 10: so the more the government does, the less families and

737
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 10: churches and charities do to address those needs. You know,

738
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,799
Speaker 10: when we look at the history of welfare spending in

739
00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:00,360
Speaker 10: this country, one hundred years ago, the government spent about

740
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 10: forty five times less as a percentage of the economy

741
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,840
Speaker 10: on welfare than it does today, and it was a

742
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 10: much poorer country. So were people starving in the streets.

743
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 10: There certainly was quite a bit of poverty. But you

744
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,839
Speaker 10: had institutions that would take care of people. You had

745
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 10: strong churches, you had strong mutual aid societies. Most Americans

746
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,839
Speaker 10: belonged to some sort of fraternal society that would help

747
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 10: you if you fell on hard times. So those things

748
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,799
Speaker 10: have disappeared because the welfare state took their place, and

749
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 10: we've lost something as a result of that.

750
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 3: So, Jason, what happened first, because it kind of sounds

751
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:39,880
Speaker 3: like a chicken and egg scenario, was the situation that

752
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,480
Speaker 3: the government ballooned in its welfare provisions, and therefore churches

753
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 3: and charities drew back their efforts in creating.

754
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 4: These provisions for the communities around them.

755
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 3: Or was it that these private institutions, churches, whatever, they

756
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 3: shrunk back and then the government had to fill in.

757
00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 4: Which happened first, Well.

758
00:39:58,960 --> 00:39:59,919
Speaker 6: It's a complicated story.

759
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,879
Speaker 10: I think it's more the first. So we see that

760
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 10: welfare programs expanded significantly during the Great Depression, and that

761
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 10: makes sense. There was a lot of poverty, then there

762
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:13,400
Speaker 10: was a need for poverty relief. But those programs were permanent,

763
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 10: and even when prosperity returned, they grew and grew, and

764
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:20,520
Speaker 10: in fact were expanded dramatically during the prosperous nineteen sixties

765
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,919
Speaker 10: when the economy was growing fast. So, you know, those

766
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 10: are the things that we spend a lot on today,

767
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:33,040
Speaker 10: and we've seen a decline really in private charity since then.

768
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,880
Speaker 10: So there really is a story here where government spending

769
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 10: is crowding out charity. But also we need to acknowledge

770
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 10: that it was sort of an unprecedented economic crisis that

771
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 10: drove some of those government programs to begin with.

772
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,080
Speaker 3: All Right, So snap is one of these programs that

773
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 3: definitely needs to be reformed. We've got Secretary Roland saying

774
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 3: she's going to kick everybody off and then everyone reapply

775
00:40:57,160 --> 00:40:59,759
Speaker 3: so that they can rescrutinize all of those applications. And

776
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:02,320
Speaker 3: that's great, but there have got to be other social programs,

777
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,719
Speaker 3: big social programs that could use that same treatment. What

778
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:07,320
Speaker 3: are some of the other problematic areas.

779
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:13,279
Speaker 10: Yeah, well, so you know, taking a big picture view

780
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:16,719
Speaker 10: of this, you know, we don't need to abolish all

781
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:20,000
Speaker 10: these programs right away, and that would cause a lot

782
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 10: of social instability and a lot of problems for people

783
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,160
Speaker 10: who've come to rely on these programs. But with some

784
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 10: simple reforms, we can gradually shrink them and allow the

785
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,560
Speaker 10: private sector to take their place. So, if we're talking

786
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 10: about food stamps, about the SNAP program, the evidence is

787
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 10: that there is about fifty billion dollars in improper payments

788
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:39,760
Speaker 10: according to the government's own data over the last twenty years.

789
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 10: So we need to do more there to ensure that

790
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 10: we're not giving money to people who don't deserve it,

791
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,520
Speaker 10: who don't qualify for it. And one of the real

792
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 10: problems there is that the states administer the program, but

793
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 10: the federal government funds it, so states don't really have

794
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 10: an incentive to weed out fraud. So that's a reform

795
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 10: that we could make. If you look at the big

796
00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,920
Speaker 10: entitlement program social Security and Medicare, those are also headed

797
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:09,680
Speaker 10: toward a track to insolvency, Medicare very soon and social

798
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:13,000
Speaker 10: Security a few years later. There are some actually pretty

799
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 10: simple reforms we could make to those programs that wouldn't

800
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 10: abolish them or anything like that, certainly not overnight, but

801
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 10: that would render them solvent. So, for instance, social Security

802
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 10: benefits are actually adjusted for wage growth, not inflation, so

803
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:33,000
Speaker 10: as the economy grows faster, social Security benefits go up.

804
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,760
Speaker 10: So that makes it really hard for us and possible

805
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 10: for us really to grow our way out of that

806
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 10: Social Security liability. When we look at what we're facing here,

807
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 10: the net federal liability for all of its debt and

808
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 10: these entitlement programs amounts to eight hundred thousand dollars per

809
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:59,280
Speaker 10: household in America. So think about that eight hundred thousand

810
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 10: dollars of debt for your household that we're going to

811
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 10: have to pay back. So we definitely need to make

812
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 10: some reforms to these programs.

813
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, there is there a weaning process that you feel

814
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,880
Speaker 3: like is going to need to be done, especially in

815
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 3: the welfare situation with programs like SNAP.

816
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 2: I think that.

817
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 10: I think so, you know, at just a little bit

818
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 10: of a personal data here, I grew up poor. My

819
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:29,240
Speaker 10: family was poor, and I remember we didn't take cash welfare,

820
00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 10: and we did get some help from from charities, but

821
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,200
Speaker 10: we did take food stamps at least for one year

822
00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:38,359
Speaker 10: that I can recall. So you know, people do use

823
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,920
Speaker 10: these programs, but we can gradually reduce them. You know,

824
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 10: we are a much more prosperous country now than we

825
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 10: used to be, and that's evidenced in frankly, access to food.

826
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,799
Speaker 10: When we look at obesity data, for example, we see

827
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:57,319
Speaker 10: the forty three point nine percent of adults living in

828
00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,520
Speaker 10: households below one hundred and thirty percent of the federal

829
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 10: poverty line are obese. That compares to forty point three

830
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,560
Speaker 10: percent of all Americans. So as your income goes down,

831
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,359
Speaker 10: you're more likely to be obese. So that tells us

832
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,360
Speaker 10: that most people that are at or below that federal

833
00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,040
Speaker 10: poverty line actually are getting enough food or getting plenty

834
00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:19,440
Speaker 10: of food. So that food insecurity that we used to

835
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 10: worry about, so much. We can start to worry about

836
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,279
Speaker 10: that a little less, and as we're able to cut

837
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,360
Speaker 10: spending and cut taxes, that's more money that can go

838
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:31,600
Speaker 10: back into the private economy to boost wages and to

839
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 10: give people money to donate to charity.

840
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 2: Yeah.

841
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Jason Sorens some really really great ideas here economists

842
00:44:39,239 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 3: with the American Institute for Economic Research.

843
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,400
Speaker 4: Jason, Happy Thanksgiving.

844
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:44,960
Speaker 10: To you, Happy Thanksgiving to you.

845
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:46,759
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.

846
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:48,440
Speaker 3: All Right, everybody, John and I are going to be

847
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:51,839
Speaker 3: back to wrap things up on this Thanksgiving Thursday, right

848
00:44:52,000 --> 00:45:13,680
Speaker 3: after this last quick break. Welcome back everybody to this

849
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,799
Speaker 3: final segment of our Thanksgiving edition twenty twenty five. My

850
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 3: first Thanksgiving that we are doing the show together in studio.

851
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 4: Thankful for that alone.

852
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 2: A whole year has been great having you here and

853
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:26,040
Speaker 2: having you at the White.

854
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:28,720
Speaker 1: House where you can ask presidents the questions of the president.

855
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:29,720
Speaker 2: It's such a blessing.

856
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:31,919
Speaker 1: And we're going to head into a twenty twenty six

857
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:33,319
Speaker 1: where Justin News is going.

858
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:34,520
Speaker 2: To explode in size.

859
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: We've got a massive increase a dozen reporters coming on.

860
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,960
Speaker 1: We just bought Human Events and post Millennial and very

861
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: excited about that. We have more acquisitions coming. They're going

862
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:47,759
Speaker 1: to announce right after Thanksgiving. I'm just thankful that so

863
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 1: many good people in this country care enough to read

864
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 1: and engage what we do and try to make our

865
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:56,440
Speaker 1: country better. And on this Thanksgiving I'm thankful. I'm thankful

866
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 1: for raving all the extraordinary things that real America's voiced

867
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,360
Speaker 1: us to give a real voice to real people, not

868
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 1: all of the elitists in Washington, New York and Hollywood.

869
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm so grateful for that.

870
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 3: I'm grateful to the folks who go to just the

871
00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 3: news every day and read stories, read real journalism. I'm

872
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:15,600
Speaker 3: thankful for your newsroom and John, the legacy that you've

873
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,480
Speaker 3: built here of people who value the truth and people

874
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:21,800
Speaker 3: who put the truth first over everything else in their reporting.

875
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:23,439
Speaker 4: And it's quite a legacy built.

876
00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:25,879
Speaker 1: I gave a speech in Silicon Valley just talking about

877
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:27,520
Speaker 1: that we're in the middle of a war on truth

878
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 1: and how important facts are too combating a war on truth,

879
00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:33,800
Speaker 1: and I'm just so grateful. I Mean, my first boss

880
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:35,440
Speaker 1: told me you're only as good as your next story,

881
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 1: So that drive is always what can we get that's

882
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 1: the next truth we can tell the American people. But

883
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:41,719
Speaker 1: we're surrounded by you. You know this because you're here now.

884
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 1: We're surrounded by some pretty remarkable journalists here who just

885
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:45,240
Speaker 1: care about facts.

886
00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 2: That's all they care about. And you're one of them.

887
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 1: And it's just such an honor to have such a

888
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 1: great team here, it really is.

889
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 2: It's fun.

890
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:53,960
Speaker 4: It's an honor to be here. All right, Let's get

891
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 4: into some of the fun stuff. Are we talked about

892
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 4: our favorite dishes.

893
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:58,400
Speaker 3: You said, wait, I don't think you told me your

894
00:46:58,400 --> 00:46:59,319
Speaker 3: favorite dish you talked about.

895
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna get out, all right. So

896
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 1: I have a weird one. I only cook it on Thanksgiving.

897
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 1: Judy won't my wife won't even cook it. It's mind

898
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 1: to cook. But I love to make turnips on Thanksgiving

899
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,240
Speaker 1: only I know. But I mix in some other things

900
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:15,200
Speaker 1: so it doesn't taste so bad. A little bit of carrots,

901
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:15,719
Speaker 1: a little bit of.

902
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:21,280
Speaker 3: Cinnamon, turnip, greens, turnips.

903
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 2: And then you cut them up.

904
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:20,319
Speaker 3: Ye.

905
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 1: I mix them in with some carrots, and then I

906
00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:26,760
Speaker 1: mix them in with some brown sugar and some cinnamon.

907
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,000
Speaker 1: I had a couple lighter things, and they kind of

908
00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:30,879
Speaker 1: taste like turnips with a little bit of candy put

909
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: on top. But they're vegetables, so they count towards a

910
00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 1: healthy thing. But I only eat them on Thanksgiving the

911
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,120
Speaker 1: day after, and then we don't cook them all year.

912
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: But it's one of my favorite dishes. And then I

913
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:42,640
Speaker 1: am a sucker for pumpkin pie. I'll just have to confess,

914
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 1: aha side, I like my pumpkin pie.

915
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:48,319
Speaker 3: Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is good, my my. You know,

916
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 3: I'm not a big pie person in general, so I

917
00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:53,200
Speaker 3: opt for other types of desserts.

918
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:54,799
Speaker 4: I don't even know what is in this. I know

919
00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:55,840
Speaker 4: it's a lot of vanilla.

920
00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,279
Speaker 3: But my aunt, my aunt Susie makes these things called

921
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:01,560
Speaker 3: chess bars, and I'm sure someone in our audience is

922
00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,279
Speaker 3: familiar with them, and maybe there's another name for them.

923
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:09,279
Speaker 3: But that is absolutely my favorite dessert. But meal wise, yeah,

924
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:11,279
Speaker 3: I mean ham takes the cake. I mean, what's your

925
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,760
Speaker 3: favorite tradition as far as not the eating side of things,

926
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:15,480
Speaker 3: but other things.

927
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: I like the week before Thanksgiving, the week before Christmas,

928
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 1: my family always goes and does something of public service

929
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:26,360
Speaker 1: or giving back.

930
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:26,760
Speaker 2: To the community.

931
00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:28,880
Speaker 1: We're blessed to live in a great country, and so

932
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 1: whether it's going to the soup kitchen or going to

933
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: the home the shelter, which my son Josh just loves

934
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:34,920
Speaker 1: to do it. He's like a rock star when he

935
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 1: goes there or not because we've been doing it.

936
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 2: Like thirty years.

937
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:41,080
Speaker 1: But just having that moment of realizing too much is

938
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: given much as expected and being able to return that

939
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,440
Speaker 1: to the people around us in your community, it's great.

940
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:51,600
Speaker 1: And I'm often reminded of the extraordinary people in this country.

941
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 2: We have so much division.

942
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:54,919
Speaker 1: We complain about the fighting and the epsteins and blah

943
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,000
Speaker 1: blah blah, but you know, every day I see extraordinary

944
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:00,680
Speaker 1: things go on. You know, the other day I collapsed

945
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 1: on Madison Square Guarden stet and Jack Pasovia just went

946
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 1: and get cared for him. I was on a plane,

947
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,000
Speaker 1: a little baby had a seizure, and then so many

948
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:11,440
Speaker 1: people came to help. We are still an extraordinary country

949
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:13,719
Speaker 1: and I just love that. And doing those things on

950
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: Christmas and Thanksgiving reminds me that.

951
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:16,680
Speaker 4: Yeah.

952
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:19,920
Speaker 3: Well, as you know, the Iron Bowl is always the

953
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:23,440
Speaker 3: two days after Thanksgiving, and this year, for the first

954
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:25,480
Speaker 3: time in a handful of decades, it's going to be

955
00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 3: a night game, and for an Auburn Tiger team that

956
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:30,240
Speaker 3: has absolutely nothing to lose because it's.

957
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:31,160
Speaker 4: Been in a busmal season.

958
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, and everybody knows you can throw out the record

959
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,359
Speaker 3: books when it comes to things like that. So my

960
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:39,040
Speaker 3: favorite tradition is Iron Bowl hunting, obviously spending time with family.

961
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 4: So hopefully after this, I wouldn't.

962
00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 2: Be surprised if John Gruden is Auburn's thanks coach.

963
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 6: We'll see night.

964
00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:48,760
Speaker 4: I think that that's probably a good gift. All right, everybody,

965
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:50,000
Speaker 4: Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

966
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,160
Speaker 3: We're so thankful for you. Thanks for being with us tonight.

967
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:53,280
Speaker 3: We'll see you tomorrow.