It's a great storm and I don't know it. Welcome everybody, here we
go. It is that time again, Matt Connerton Unleashed and we are live
from the studios of w m n H ninety five point three FM in glorious
downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. Also on Comcast ninety seven if you're in Manchester,
and hello to all of our online listeners across an age and around the
globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot com for all of
your live streaming options, social media links, contact in folk show archives,
etc. Etc. Today is Tuesday, May sixteen, two thousand twenty three.
We have an exciting show for you today coming up in a just a
few minutes. Hopefully it works out. The last time we had an international
guest, there was a little bit of a technical kerfuffle, but it did
get figured out using Skype, so we hope for the best. But we
have another European who's gonna be skyping in, our new friend, Yuri from
the band oberdon Or. I'm sorry, Oberon. I keep wanting to put
a d in there that's not there. It's Oberon. He's gonna be skyping
in at four or fifteen from Italy, and we'll talk with him for a
bit. Really like his music. We played a couple of his songs yesterday.
In fact, yesterday I opened the show with a song called Time to
Sleep Part one, and the one that you just heard was Time to Sleep
Part two. I feared that would be an appropriate opener for today, and
we'll play something else of his later as well. So he's gonna be joining
us again. Good Lord William and the creek sn't rise. That's an expression
I've heard, So that'll be uh coming up at four fifteen. And then
in the second hour today, we're going to be joined in studio by Steve
Laughey, who is a a Republican presidential candidate, one you might not have
heard of. You know, we hear about you know, we hear about
Donald Trump, and we hear about Ron DeSantis and some others. But Steve
Laughey, he's a former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, and he's gonna
be joining us in studio today and we'll talk with him. He also used
to host a radio show, so I'm interested in asking him about that as
well. But so busy show today, lots lots to do, but I
also want to mention too. Jenny is in the chat room and says shalom
peeps from Washington, d C. Yes, Jenny is in Washington, d
C. Right now. She landed there safely, and we'll be testifying later
today. I think it's gonna she said. It's supposed to stream on the
official Senator Bernie Sanders facebook page. She's gonna testify in the for the or
give her a presentation or speech, which she did rehearse and I think it's
excellent. So I think I know she's gonna do great and I can't wait
to see the video. But that will be happening this evening and then so
she'll be flying back tomorrow. She's gonna stay in Washington, DC overnight.
So very proud of her. She's doing a great job, great work that
she's doing. So I can't wait to hear all about her trip, that's
for sure. So great weather for it, at least it is here,
although here it looks like it could there could be thunderstorms. I don't know,
but so far the weather has been nice, little humid, but I
don't mind it. I don't mind it at all. So anyway, so
we have a couple of great guests coming up today on the program. Let's
go ahead and say hello everybody quickly. In the Facebook live chat, Jenny,
I did mention, is in there. Also our friend Melanie Liberty from
the great state of Vermont joins us. Also Jay Fed, also from Vermont
joins us. And Ronda Favero all the way from California says greetings, Hello
Ronda. Melanie says good luck Jenny, and Jay Fed says great job.
Jen Coffee. Yes, absolutely absolutely we should mention today too. So their
meeting again today for a debt limit discussion, and it looks like Biden is
going to be cutting his trip a little bit short overseas. We'll know more,
I mean, honestly, we'll probably know before the show is over today.
You know, if you remember the last time that they met, it
was a relatively brief meeting. I think it was over before the end of
the show, and I'm concerned that today might be similar. I would really
like to see them get this done. I did see this pop up on
Political Centrist Democrats are plotting to a save McCarthy strategy for the debt limit if
the Speaker cuts a deal that alienates conservatives, some Democrats are willing to help
save his gavel. Now this is interesting. It says here, Kevin McCarthy
faces a clear challenge as he tries to strike a debt limit deal, and
he compromise he makes with President Joe Biden risks sparking a conservative rebellion aimed at
ending his speakership. Remember part of what uh you know, the deal that
McCarthy had to make. So finally, on the I think the fifteenth attempt
he could get enough votes to make him speaker. He had to really give
away quite a bit. And I think it only takes uh did it get
down to one in the final deal? I think it only takes one Republican
congressman to call for a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. So
it says here some Democrats have a plan to spare him. And why would
they do that? Of course, well to get the debt limit raised.
You know, if you can get I mean this is this would be kind
of an end run around the you know, they used to be the Tea
Partiers. Now we call them the House Freedom Caucus. The Republican members of
Congress who either want very deep cuts in the budget before they'll agree to a
debt limit raising, or they would rather just say a default, you know,
which apparently is a former President Trump's position, as he discussed in the
CNN town hall, might as well default, which I think is insane.
So it says you're a small group of moderate Democratic lawmakers have quietly reassured its
House GOP counterparts that it can help protect McCarthy's gavel if his right flank revolts
over a debt agreement. According to two people familiar with the discussions, if
Conservatives responded to a McCarthy Biden deal by forcing a full House vote on ousting,
the California Republican Democrats say they have enough members to help block it,
keeping him in power quote will protect him if he does the right thing,
said one of the House Democrats involved in the talks, who requested anonymity because
of the ongoing debt negotiations. That democrat added that McCarthy himself has been briefed
on the discussions. It's a polarizing strategy for those centrists to entertain and private
with other Democrats, let alone admit to planning to deploy and senior Republicans dismiss
the likelihood the gambit would come to pass. That's because it's not clear that
Conservatives would try to depose a speaker even if he edges away from the position
he's staked out on the debt limit, and should they try to. Republicans
from McCarthy's camp on down insist there can be no Democratic bailout. Well,
ultimately, he'll do what he has to do to hang on to his disposition
as Speaker. McCarthy's spokesperson Mark Bednar said in a statement, quote, the
Speaker has never heard of this garbage, has zero interests in it, and
thinks Democrats would be better off focusing on doing the jobs they were elected to
do. Unquote. Well, of course he has to say that, because
even if, even if there have been discussions, even if even if there
have been discussions directly with McCarthy himself, he can't admit that right when some
Democrats floated a similar offer to then Speaker John Bayner in twenty thirteen, similar
during a similar fiscal fight with the GOP. Within the GOP, he later
decided to resign rather than lean on his opponents to keep the gavel. However,
its potential insurance for McCarthy and a sign of the growing sense of desperation
on the Hill as the White House and congressional leaders raced toward a debt I'm
sorry, I race toward a deal to avert an an economy rattling debt crisis
in the coming weeks. Those who revealed the conversations on condition of anonymity declined
to name who's leading them, But chatter about the protect McCarthy idea is growing
across the Democratic Caucus, and it's perhaps the loudest in the bipartisan problem Solvers
Caucus. Well, that absolutely makes sense, and it's okay, so Democrats
in the problem solvers And if you don't know the Problem Solvers Caucus is a
bipartisan well I guess actually, well, I guess it's it's actually House members.
I'm sorry. You know, uh, Whenever, whenever Republicans and Democrats
do work together in a bipartisan fashion and some sort of official or quasi official
capacity, it has to have a name. Very often it's referred to as
a gang of something like there was the Gang of six, the Gang of
eight, the Problem Solvers Caucus. I think it's a good thing. You
know, you want to have you want to have people working together to solve
problems. Imagine that Democrats in the Problem Solvers Caucus, which has a reputation
for attempting to back channel during high level talks, are specifically looking to counterbalance
the influence of the roughly forty ultraconservative Republicans in the Freedom Caucus with their own
members forty of them by the way, forty ultraconservative Republicans and the Freedom Caucus.
So that's a lot of people who either think we should go ahead and
default, and that is the stated position of some of them, hopefully not
many of them, but who either think we should default or we need deep,
deep cuts in the budget. The group includes thirty two Democrats. Not
all of them are involved in the talks about backing McCarthy on a so called
motion to vacate the speakership, but their numbers are nearly enough to neuter the
threat from the right. Members of the Problem Solvers have privately discussed the idea
for months, though conversations have become less theoretical as debt talks advanced in recent
days, according to both people involved in the conversations, Even outside of that
moderate group, however, senior Democrats have also been floated the protect McCarthy idea,
even raising it for party leaders, according to three other people familiar with
those conversations, and they said some Democrats have suggested the House Minority Leader Hakim
Jeffries that he used it as leverage over the speaker in the debt negotiations.
Jeffries insisted that any game planning for a potential GOP move to topple McCarthy should
play no part in the debt debate. Quote. No, I don't think
that the two are connected at all, unquote he said in a brief interview.
Well again, though, even if he knows about it and he thinks
it's a good idea, he can't say that. No one can say anything
out loud about this until it happens, or the whole thing will blow up.
Hello to DJ Steve, who joins us in the Facebook live chat.
And Melanie made a comment that I can't read on the air, but let's
just say she sounds like she thinks Kevin McCarthy is in a big heap of
trouble. I think the young people say that heap of trouble. It says
here, and Republicans are already rejecting the notion of a Democratic salvage mission for
McCarthy. Should he and Biden an ink pact that alienates conservatives. Representative Chip
Roy, Republican of Texas, who, by the way, was one of
the early early members of early Republicans in Congress to come out and endorse Ron
de Santis to over Trump. He got out, He got out there early
and did that. He's an interesting guy, Chip Roy. He said,
quote, we're not talking about all that stuff. Republicans remain united. We're
not going to negotiate against ourselves. Unquote. Melanie in the chat room says,
thanks, Matt. I thought big heap of trouble would be inappropriate to
say in the chat I hate to be inappropriate in here, I know,
Melanie. Yes, you can say big heap of trouble, big heap of
trouble. Just don't as long as you don't say it in an aggressive tone,
because then people get nervous. They're like, oh, when you say
big heap of trouble, is that directed at me? I'm gonna have a
big heap of trouble. Nobody wants a big heap of trouble. Whether it's
a big heap of small heap of heaping helping. Nobody wants trouble, Uri,
is that you? Sorry? Yeah, of course, oh but there
is I think that there isn't the video for you. Yeah, there's no
video. We're strictly audio with this. Okay, sorry, okay, Yeah,
no worries. Hey, I'm just glad we were able to connect.
Sometimes, uh, when it's uh, when we're crossing continents with Skype,
it doesn't always work on the first try. We had a band uh skype
in from Germany a couple of weeks ago, and uh it took a few
times to get it to work. So that happens. But uh, yeah,
but I'm happy. I'm happy to talk to you. We featured some
of your music. Yes, yes, much for the interview and for giving
me the opportunity to to be there, So thank you so much. Oh,
happy to do it. How do you announced your last name? Christians
you But don't worries, Yuri is fine, You're good, okay, very
good, very good. Yeah, sorry for my English because I'm yeah,
you know, I'm Italian. So yeah, no worries, no worries.
Can I can I understand you? Can? I can understand you? Fine?
Okay, okay, absolutely so. Um so, we've been playing some
of your music. We played some yesterday and it got a really got a
really great response from the audience. And I opened with one of your songs
today too, the tracks from Oberon. Am I saying that correctly you're your
band? Yeah? Yeah, this is correct. Yeah, it's correct.
Yeah. Now in in Oberon? Is that do you do everything or do
you have other musicians who you work with? Well, it's a it's a
project of mine. So it's basically I compose all the music and uh and
then with other musicians we can uh yeah. We we played in the studio
and uh yeah. But basically I compose all the music and then I share
it with with other musicians and uh yeah that's it basically. Um So,
Well, in that album the Sleep Producers Monsters, I played guitar and then
other people played bass, guitar, drums and organs. But I I I
composed all the music. So yeah, okay, uh do you has it
been that way from the beginning with that that project? You you write everything
yourself? Or are there any co writers at any point? Or is it
all you? Yeah? No, No, I write I read everything by
by myself. So yeah, it's it's my project, and then I share
the music with with other musicians and then uh yeah, we we record them,
we record the music and then uh uh yeah. Basically that that it's
a mind it's a project of mind. So it's a like a solo solo
project, but with occasional musicians that play the past for me that I can't
play maybe or something like that. So it's um yeah, it's it's a
solo project, but with other musicians involved. So yeah, okay, um,
Now, everything that I've listened to so far of that project is instrumental.
Are are there any tracks with vocals or do you strictly do instrumental?
Well, we we recorded two albums at the moment, and the first the
first one is with a uh um yeah, with a singer, a female
singer, and the second one is instrumental. So the Sleep Producers mosters is
the instrumental is an instrumental album. And yeah, during this year, I've
recorded another album and in which I will I will sing. So I am
the new I hope so and the new the new singer of the of the
project. Oh so very good, very good. Yeah. Yeah basically that
so it's a it's an evolving project and uh yeah, I like to,
you know, to to evolve myself and to evolve my my music into and
try different things, you know, so from instrumental music and the next album
is more like Pink Floyd but more more jazz and more a little bit more
problems. So it's a you know, trying different stuff and uh, um
yeah. Basically that it's it's an evolving project. So it's like the progressive
rock. H the I don't know how to say, sorry, it's like
the you know that. Um it. It can be a challenge to describe
your own us. Yeah, well yeah it is, it is, actually
it is. It is a challenge. So I try to to evolve myself
and to to try to try different things and uh and go on with this
with this kind of of thinking, of of of way of thinking, so
like like his progressive rock, so to to go to go further and further.
So yeah, basically do you I I have I have to ask you,
uh this. Um so we've been playing these tracks from from the newest
release, The Sleep Produces Monsters, which obviously is a reference to Nightmares.
Is that something or I assume is that something that you've had a problem with
do you do you have a lot of nightmares? Do you have difficulties sleeping?
What? What? What? What was it that inspired this? Yeah,
well it was inspired by the by a lot of things, I think,
because the way of right a concept album is more is a personal way.
So there are a lot of things in but yeah, there are there
are a lot of point of view, I think, so, uh,
you know, and I don't want to to give an answer to that question
because I think that in art there are no answers. So I think that
you know, um, every people has to to give an answer to uh,
to what he sees, to what he's listening to. So but yeah,
it's like, yeah, it was a troubled period for me, and
I wrote this, uh this album to you know, like, um,
you know, to like a way of of of escapism from from the reality
see and yeah, to me, it's a very personal album. So um,
yeah, you know, it's a different it's it's a different questions so
sure, and yeah, it's it's a way of of escapism from from a
difficult period and yeah, in my life, so yeah, okay, it's
it's not so related to nightmare to nightmares but I think it's related to nightmares
in real life. Uh yeah, you know, I think that you can
hear it from the from the tunes with especially with guitars, because it's very
guitar, a guitar driven album, so you know, so that this kind
of guitar, fuzzy guitar, it's very impactful. I think. So yeah,
I think you can hear it on the on the records. I hope
so, yes, yes, um. And I noticed in your bio that
you sent us you said something about you you don't like to necessarily put limits
on what you're doing musically. You you keep it. Uh so does that
mean when when you approach these songs, do you not necessarily say okay,
I want it to sound like this. Is it more kind of an exploratory
thing where you're just seeing where it leads you when you start writing. Yeah,
for sure, definitely like this. I think that, Yeah, I
don't have limits, and I don't I don't want limits, and it's a
it's another thing that and I I love music and I love to work like
that, and I also love I think you're you read it in my bio.
I love the I love the fact that I'm starting composing music for films,
and and yeah, it's it's another territory, it's another um, you
know, a place to experiment in any ways, so I think it's great
because you don't have any limits. And and also in my personal music,
I don't want any limits, you know, like a verse you know two
verse chorus obviously, and you know the bridge and other chorus and other verse,
you know, something like, I want to be free and without limits
in that um when I'm compusing music. So yeah, it's like that with
composing for a soundtrack? Is that a big adjustment in the in the sense
that it's not just your vision that you have to be concerned with, but
also what the film is is that is it difficult to kind of change your
approach or or maybe your approach doesn't change very much. I don't know,
but it is the process much different. Well it's not that different, but
but at the same time it is. So it depends on your on your
on your sensibility, I think, and you know, oh yeah, I
think it depends on your sensibility because composing music for I love I love composing
music for films, and I love that the way the music work with with
images, and yeah, I think it's it's easier for me also because when
I compose music for my for my project, for my albums, I start
visualizing some some images and then trying and then trying to compose music for that
for that specific situation or something like that. So it always starts in my
mind with, yeah, with a sort of a film or or a short
images or or something like that. But um, you know we are we
are always looking for um, yeah, for for for this spiration. I
think that you can find it on the on the feelings on the or on
our images. But yeah, I think it's easier for me. Also.
Okay, okay, how many how many films have you have you written for
and recorded for so far? Well, I've done a future film and about
I think six or seven short films. So yeah, so you're not bad.
Yeah, So it sounds like you're you're doing more of that than than
writing your own years. Yeah, and the last few years I'm doing so
much more U soundtracks instead of playing or composing for my project. But because
I'm recording my my next album for the Oberall project, I'm yeah, it's
like three years I'm recording it due to the COVID situation or other problems.
But I've just finished it and maybe the next year will come out, so
I hope so and uh yeah, but yeah, it takes time. Yeah,
fortunately, it takes time. Yeah, but I'm happy with the results.
So hope. Oh yeah, I think that the next year will come
out another album for for the Oberon project. So yeah. And do you
have any um plans to tour with Oberon or have you been touring well at
the moment, No, because uh, basically I'm I'm a solo artist with
friends that helped me when I have to to record music. And uh but
maybe, you know, I don't know, in the future, sure,
maybe the next album will will be uh, I don't know, will be
better or could give me the possibility to to tour or to to do some
you know, some some events or some festivals or I don't know. But
you know, I'm I think I'm more an oriented, a studio oriented person.
So at the moment, I'm I'm constructing myself to compose music and to
to produce new albums. But maybe I I think that there's a possibility and
we will see the next year maybe, So yeah, I hope, So
yeah, obviously. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, um Uri, thank you,
thank you so much for for skyping in in with us. It's it's wonderful
to uh talk with you. And um, I want to ask you too,
do you have new um, do you have a new obviously you know
you're always working on soundtrack music, but yeah, um, any idea when
your next Oberon release will be or is that well is that half away is
a bit? I'm working on releasing some new singles on the next few months,
so uh, I think that maybe maybe on the alpha of the next
year, a new album will come out okay Lee and yeah, and two
more albums for my projects for my soundtrack projects. So yeah, I'm working
on a lot of things and U I can't wait to share with to share
them to to the people that can listen to to my music too, because
I would love to to start working on something new again. So you know,
it's a yeah, I I would love to. I always love to
to produce new music. So I can't wait to uh yeah, to release
to release it, and I hope to do so in the next few few
months or maybe at the beginning of the next year. Sure great, well,
whenever you do, we'd love to have you back. Like I said,
we've we've been playing thank you so much. We've yeah, we've been
playing you on the show and and to great response. And uh, in
fact, in a moment, I'm gonna work, I'm gonna go. When
we finish our conversation, I'm gonna go back in time a little and play
something from the Mountain of Fate. Uh oh, thank you. Yeah,
that'll that that'll be fun to listen to. UM, listen to how it
all started, this track, sailing Oblivion. Okay, thank you so much.
Really, it's a it's a really great thing for me. And thank
you for so much for your support. Absolutely, Urie. Before you go,
what should what should listeners know about where to find you online to keep
up with your music and everything that you're doing where they can. They can
reach me out on Instagram for sure, okay, or Facebook at you know,
the the Auberon page or uriqus that is my personal uh Instagram okay,
and also on Spotify for for the for listening to the trucks that at the
least, and yeah x excellent and of course you're on band camp as well,
and yeah, yeah for sure, camp every everywhere, everywhere, Um,
very good, very good. Well, Uri again, thank you so
much for skyping in today all the way from Italy. This has been wonderful.
We will definitely, absolutely, we will definitely talk with you again when
you have some some new music and I look forward to hearing it and I
wish you continued success. Thank you so much, thank you so much so
for the for the opportunity. Absolutely absolutely our pleasure. All right, Yuri,
thank you, take care, Thank you so much, take care,
you got it, bye bye bye. All right, wonderful. That was
our new friend, Yuri, all the way from Italy, and I'm glad
that worked out with Skype. I'll tell you when it's when it when it's
a call coming in from Europe. It never works, It never works the
first time. But we got there. We gotta figured out outstanding. So
we will finish off the segment with um this track from the first Oberon album,
Uh, Mountain of Fate, and this is what the singer that he
was talking about that he had on this um Uh. This is called Sailing
Oblivion. And then we'll come back and I think uh actually shortly our guests
are our number two Numero doos guests should be arriving. But we'll see,
so after the song we might have him here, or it might be a
few minutes and we'll we'll get into some other stuff in the interim show,
some left to our sponsors and so forth. But but here it is.
This is sailing oblivion from Oberon. Here on Matt Connerton Unleashed. Check this
out. I really like what this guy's doing. Welcome back, everybody.
This is Matt Connerton Unleashed as we enter our number two numrods live from the
studios of Wmnheve point three FM, inglorious downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, although
it looks like it's gonna rain. Also on Comcast ninety seven if you're in
Manchester, and hello to all of our online listeners across the nation and around
the globe. You can go to my website Matt Connerton dot com for all
of your live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives,
etcetera, etcetera. Today is Tuesday May sixteen, two thousand twenty three,
and I am not alone. We have at the news desk. He
looks like an actual new he looks like a news anchor. I'm ready.
Steve Laughy is here. Presidential candidate and businessman and uh and former radio hosts.
From what I read, so, I was delighted to see that that
you are a brother in broadcast. I love it. Yeah, it's yeah.
Well, I do want to ask you about that. Um. I
was I was reading up on you, and obviously you know, we'll talk
about your presidential campaign and all that. But UM, a couple of things
as I was reading about you that I said I definitely have to ask him
about this. One is is um when you were on the air in Providence
and um, and the other is and I. So I have not read
Uh, you're also an author. We should mention, UM, I have
not read the book that you've written yet, but it is I'm going to
put it on my reading list. About your your center, well, uh,
the title really got my attention, and UM, I love that kind
of stuff, and you know I'm a political junkie, so UM, so
I want to ask you about that too. And Elizabeth Dole got involved apparently
all that from what I was reading online. But I do want to read
the book and then you know, hopefully you'll come back in the future and
we can have a deeper discussion about that after after I've had a chance to
read it. But I do want to ask you a little bit about that
today. But if you have any questions or anything at all for our guest,
the Republican, he's a Republican candidate for the presidency in twenty twenty four,
give us a call. The studio line is open six zero three two
five O six zoo seven six zo three two five ozho six zero seven.
You can also text me at six one seven nine one seven four four seven
six. I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can interact end opine
in the Facebook live chat uh, and of course you can email me Matt
at matt Connerton dot com. But the best thing to do so that we
can hear and enjoy your dulcet tones is give us a call at six three
two five oz six o seven. Our friend Melanie la Liberty from the Great
State of Vermont in the chat room says, he looks super serious. I'm
kind of scared. Well, well, he has a presidential candidate now and
now are you? Um? Are you going to be on the ballot in
New Hampshire? Is that I was the first person to take on Donald Trump
February first I announced, and uh, listen, the nation just refuses to
directly confront these problems, giant problems. I mean, if I get one
more email from another Republican, tell me all Democrats a Marxis send the money,
I'm gonna throw up. We need serious people, and the time is
right for a financial expert, me who has my unique background we can get
into. Yeah, yeah, to fix these problems. I don't really do
anything but fixed problems. I mean fix, like really fix and make people
vote my way. That's what I do. Do you feel that Donald Trump
is un serious? Yes, and I think it's been even well what happened
last Wednesday. We don't have to get into all his stuff, but yeah,
you know, it's just it's not serious stuff. Yeah, you're you're
afraid of the town hall? I mean really, people laughing when he's talking
about it of a women who I don't know anything about. I don't know,
really, I don't pay much attention to it. But you know,
Pete, what's the what's who? They're not my fellow Republicans in the order.
Yeah, yeah, you know. I mean we haven't been a serious
country for many, many years, but certainly not on the bush Obama,
Trump or Biden. We've spun out of control. And I hate to say,
we'd love to have Bill Clinton backs. We can get some kind of
a balanced budget, but but the debt, the debt now is simply too
big. And so my background is just we get into a by background is
unique. I wanted to mention you mentioned Bill Clinton, and do you know
Greg Moore from the New Hampshire's Chapter of Americans for Prosperity. No, I
don't, I haven't. He's um. You'll probably meet him at some point.
Uh, he's been on the show. He hasn't been on in a
long time. I haven't seen him in a long time. But I remember
him saying something once about Uh. He said that Bill Clinton was actually the
last fiscally conservative president that we ever had, you know, because he did
leave us with a balance budget and a surplus actually um and uh, you
know, and then of course w came in and we went to war and
didn't win everything with you know Bush in the second Bushes. We went to
war, but we didn't win immediately like it went on for years. It
was the first, by the way, in my US Senate race, and
No. Six, I was the first Republican to call for Don Rumsfeld's resignation.
Kidd, and I got all this national attention, but I didn't realize
that was the first one. I mean, I must say, now that
I look back at some of these things, how was I the first one
to do this? Like it was a It was a terrible job. Right.
It's the same thing with the Federal Reserve today. We need their resignations,
Like Matt, if you're in a business and you're off by a factor
of four or outside three standard deviations of normalcy, like they want inflation at
two, but it ran at eight for a year and a half. I
mean, in June of twenty twenty one, the head of the Fed says
it's going to run it three and a half. By the end of the
year it's seven point four. These are like, and you don't have to
we don't have to fire you. You need to come in with your residence.
And they don't. There's no apology. The middle class people out walking
the streets I see today. You know, spent four thousand dollars more on
energy course last years. And by the way, just so people know,
when inflation finally ends, whatever that is, whenever the Paul Voker shows up
again. Um, they don't. They don't send you the money back they
took. They took it. It's gone true. Anyway, Well let me
ask you. I do have questions about your background and um so, uh
yeah, tell me about you hosted a show and it was in Providence,
correct, Yeah, radio show, weekly show. So when you time my
quickly my just my real background. I'm a relatively poor kid from Cranston,
Rhode Island, who at eighteen went to went to Bowden College up in Maine.
I'm from Rhode Island, so pretty you know. I've been in New
Hampshire hundreds of times. Yeah, yeah, I've been at ruggles minds with
kids. I've been there when I was a kid. Right. So I
ended up at Howard Business School at the age of twenty two. Okay,
I was a directed man. I graduate. I spent most of my career,
almost all my career, in the financial field. This is the key.
I helped run a financial firm, the largest one in the South.
I was the president, the chief operating officer. I started and ran the
venture capital operation. All this was successful. We sold the firm for seven
hun eighty five million dollars when Alan Morgan, wonderful man, the CEO,
my power of convention. We convinced him in an hour. I did to
sell a firm he was never going to sell because it was best for the
shareholders. It was best for him, but it wasn't best for me in
a sense. I left. I went to Stovermont. I was going to
start a hedge fund. Should have maybe went to Loon Mount, but I
went to Stovermont and so and so. I just had this vision I should
go to Cranston. My wife who was with me today, and some of
our kids we went the next day. Yeah, and Cranston went bankrupt.
Cranston around effectively didn't declare bankruston because I became the mayor, but it was
borrowing three month money at fifteen percent, the worst bond rating in the United
States of America. The day before I was elected, nobody knew who I
was. When I came home, I hadn't been home in twenty years,
eighteen to thirty eight. And we fixed it in the most rapid financial turnaround.
And while I was doing that, I taught the top finance course at
the University of Rhode Island. Heard the word finance like I know money.
This is what I do, and that's why the time is right Like this.
In the seventies, the time was right for Jimmy Carter to become president.
He was mister clean. He was a really good guy. I mean,
things overcame him as presidency and so forth. But but after Watergate,
but in November seventy five, people didn't know who he was, right,
and so I decided, this is my time, we should we should mention
two. You won reelection in Cranston right with the widest margin in Cranston's history.
Fairly conservative, populace, Republican and the most democratic state. You know,
maybe you're not Vermont, but hardcore, you know, stay hard to
get elected as a Republican. No statewide elected officers have been elected since I
left. So after I laughed, you know, and I ran for the
US Senate in oh six and it was the biggest race in the country.
That's why I have a big book deal with Pegwood Books, and my book
Primary Mistake is still read by many people, especially when they get ready to
run. Yeah. I get calls from people over the country or friends,
Hey, this guy's running for government, this guy's running for House of Representatives.
Just read your book. Is it really liked it? I'm like,
yeah, really it really was like that. So the NAT I am the
only elected Republican to be attacked when running for higher office. According to Craig
Shirley, Reagan's biographer, he wrote an article about No. Six. Yeah,
to be attacked by the National Republican Party, that's me, Steve laughing.
Okay, they preferred a person who was far to the left of Nancy
Pelosi in a Republican primary. If you're in a Democratic primary, like looks
good in Rude Island. But Lincoln chaffing. Yeah, they attacked being with
millions of dollars us. He's an odd guy. And yeah, he's a
very very odd guy. By the way, he couldn't be a nice guy.
If you talk about horses. I know, I've heard, I've heard.
I've never met him. I'ford he is very nice, but just I
just, uh, he seems odd. Yeah, stop talking to him about
Listen, he ran for president. He wanted to do the metric system.
I'm running for presidents to fix social security. Remember, so it's a vast
different you know, I have these five things that have to be done to
fix the country. We can talk about yeah, but no seven and after
I lost, I wrote a book and it's that's what happened. And in
twenty ten I told the people of Rhode Island, really, and I say
this very seriously, you really only want me Rhode Island, where I'm from,
if you have a financial problem and you want to fix it. Christon
did Rhode Island doesn't. I'm on my way. I moved to four Collins,
Colorado, and I raised I have six children, by the way,
Yeah, and so I have a unique background in education where I've homeschooled my
own children and healthcare. I homeschooled them because my daughter came down with stage
four cancer. That's the way. For eight or nine yeads. You haven't
heard from me. Okay, my beautiful wife here. She went to the
hospital for two hundred nights a year at the Child's hospital, and she's alive.
By daughter. She's graduating from bu grad school a week, no,
not a week in five days on Saturday. She's still let's cancer. If
you just go to Steve Laughey dot com and you read some of my substacks,
the person who corrects that is Sarah Grace laughing. He's alive. She's
twenty six, She's going to get married, but she still has cancer.
The brave person. So I've seen five to seven million dollars of healthcare cross
crossed my desk, which I didn't have to pay, but a lot of
people do. Yes. So with my kids, I personally have homeschooled there.
The last three are all sophomores at Kiro State University. One is fifteen
years old. He's the youngest admitting in the school's history because I homeschooled them.
So I know education. I know what goes on into public schools.
I've dealt with antagonistic school committees. All these things we can talk about.
But my background is unique to be able to help the country at this point
and if all I really do is change the direction of the Republican Party,
So someone takes this seriously rather than a joke or try to be the mini
Trump and not have answers for people like you when you come on. But
yes, to be directly about two thousand and five, WPR Row the powerhouse
stationed down there, you know, wanted me to always have a show.
Yeah, and they thought I would lose my Republican primary for mayor. But
I didn't so the very good people, yea. And I love doing I
did lots of radio. I've hosted for lots of people. I filled in
for people like you all over country. Yeah. I just walking with do
shows. Yeah yeah. So I did the Steve Laughy Show because mister Cass,
who had the biggest show, you know, the most popular guy,
he didn't want he was older, he didn't want to come in on Friday,
and so I came in. So the Steve Laughy Show was started.
Now, the big story about it, why it was a national story,
was that the Democrats, who kind of run the board of Elections, decided
that I could not have a show. Think about it. I can be
the mayor, I can brush my teeth right at the same time, I
can have a radio show. I can write an op ed piece. It's
called free speech. Yeah. But they were so crazed by what I was
talking about in the radio, which was widely popular. The lines are full
people that either hated me loving me, you know. Yeah. And if
they'd only asked, like Steve, when are you gonna get off? I
would have said, when I announced for the US Senate, that's my employe,
I would have told them. Okay. So they sued me, yeah,
to stop me from having a radio show. And the federal judge in
Rhode Island, Judge Leasy, who didn't wasn't who said she wasn't really up
on the second, you know, the first Amendment. I don't know how
she get to be a judge, but she she agreed with them. So
I went to the first Court of Appeals, one step away from the Supreme
Court in two weeks, and in that ruling, three judges heard the case
yeah, and literally said something like to the other side, Hey, listen,
it's Thursday. It's twelve noon. By Monday morning, laugh, he's
on the radio. Wow, Okay, we don't want to hear another word
about this. Really, Okay. They basically there's the dumbest thing they ever
heard, and you need to deal with your murky rules down there. Well,
what was what was the grounds under which they sued he that I'm not
clear on that. I was that I was actually elected official. Now,
oh, it made no sense. There were a lot of elected officials,
by the way, Rudy Giuliani had had a radio show. Yeah, he
was mayor. Lots of people around the country did yeah, and ran many
of the elected officials couldn't talk that well, so I guess they didn't.
But it wasn't unusual in the country, right right, So that was the
case that went to It was all big national story. But is there an
actual law on the books that they know? They just made it up.
That's why they slapped them around so hard. Okay, and just said it
so we don't even want to write a ruling just he goes back on the
year. If he's not on by Monday morning, we're gonna have to take
another action. Yeah, and so that and then I got off after a
couple more weeks because I ran for the US edit. So that was your
So you were intending to when you announced your sun that was my implicit agreement.
I didn't have to legally get off then yeah. Yeah. Being the
only US Senate candidate, what would be a big time race, right right.
Wpr Row and I we just sort implicitly said, I said, listen,
if I go run for higher office, which they knew I was going
to, Yeah, then I'll get off the week before and I did.
Yeah. Yeah, So that's my radio that's my radio show. But you
know, the country today needs a financial expert not a real state developer.
We need these. If you're listening to this show and you're like forty year
under, it must be quite the thing to get your security fighter thing.
And no, you're not getting it. Like let's say someone out there's making
fifty grands, say they make it a hundred grands. Whatever they make it,
they make it a hundred grand, and they're forty. They're getting twelve
grand taken out and they're not gonna get it. But at Steve Laughy dot
com, we have a complete plan to fix it, not to like just
say we're going to raise the retirement age like Nicky Haley and she doesn't know
how. She doesn't know anything about it. Does she set up Yeah?
Okay, but she doesn't know what to raise it too because she doesn't spend
any time on it. Yeah, or Donald Trump say I'm not going to
touch it. That just immoral, financially immoral. The governor of Florida not
going to touch it now. When he was a congressman, he wanted to.
He wanted to hack it. But we don't need to do either.
We need to modernize its, strengthen it, especially for the twenty year old
entending the work system they need to get. By the way, I wrote
a paper about this in economics in nineteen eighty three. Oh I know about
this like that. The returns have been terrible for people getting it. So
just remember, if you go to Steve Laughy dot com, what we're gonna
do. We're gonna take the twenty year olds and put up in a new
system. Everybody's sixty two, it's gonna get we promised them, and the
people in between are gonna get, are gonna get a hybrid some of the
old, some of the new. But if you're twenty, you're gonna get
five to six, seven times eight times more. And if we don't do
this, sixty one trillion dollars unfunded liability. Like this is how we fix
it. If we don't do it, you're gonna get a check one day,
but it's just gonna be the eighteen hundred dollars they promised you, and
that letter they sent you, it'll be eighteen hundred dollars ten years from now,
twenty years from now, it'll just be three hundred dollars. Is this
um as inflation is what you're proposing. And by the way, I'm bad
at math. So if you throw a number. I mean, you can
throw numbers at me. I might miss a lot, but the audience is
I have a smart audience. Whatever I don't get that, they'll they'll be
able to figure out. But um, are this sounds like tell me if
I'm right? Is this um? Because during the w administration it was briefly
talked about, but the idea didn't really go anywhere at the time. Privatizing
social security? Is that what you're suggesting, I'm gonna want to privatize it
at all. So let's just take the twenty year old. We're gonna take
ten percent of his pay. We're gonna put it in a mixture of stocks,
bonds, real estate, everything. But but isn't that privatization? No,
Okay, he doesn't know, he doesn't get it. It doesn't go
to Charles Shwa. That's that's what Bush wanted to do. He wanted to
privatize it. It lasted six days. Yeah, he only lasted six days,
and he gave us that's because that's because he didn't have he didn't have
a real progum. He never really thought it through. So if you take
any forty forty five year period, so let's say your twenty. Here's what
happened. Let's stop with a twenty year old. He gets to be thirty,
gets married. The sexist nature. What goes on SoC soci security today.
Listen to this, ladies, when it was designed, If you're not
married for long enough, you don't get some of your husband's social security.
Does everybody realize this? If you're married to someone for five years, yeah,
and he makes a million or the max and you're staying home raising children,
yeah, you don't get it. Really, Yeah, you're gonna be
married for a certain amount of time, Okay to grab your husband. Now,
it could be the other way around these days, it could be I'm
talking the nineteen fifties. Now, it could be a woman's work and the
father whatever. But implicitly it was. It's unfair. So let's say now
you get married at thirty and divorced at forty. You're both exactly thirty.
To make it simple, you split what you're putting in. Yeah, and
when you're divorced, you split it again. You just don't worry about it.
Right now. You die at forty. Unfortunately, your ears get it
doesn't go to the federal government. But you get to be sixty two.
Now we stop buying annuities with ten percent of it per year or fifteen percent
per year. So when you turn seventy, everybody who's left it's got a
really large check. It's not privatized. It's in one computer child Schwab,
JP, especially JP Morgan. They never get a hold of it because what
happens in four or one cape lands with people who are twenty three twenty six
they switched. You know that was designed when people stayed at IBM for forty
straight years and got a golden watch. Oh yeah, those days are gone,
and now people are switching jobs and cashing out right right, and so
what's going to happen. We're gonna have a giant problem in twenty five thirty
years. So here's the problem or the problem people could call in about.
Can anybody get less mister Laughey maya laughy, Steve laughy. Yes, the
guy who's fifty three who goes into this system the day we do it.
Yeah, yeah. And by the way, the difference between me is I'm
actually gonna do this. So at the end of this thing you might say,
what's the first thing you're gonna do? Steve laughy. I'm gonna do
this, Like people say, I just talked about it for an hour,
but I'm gonna do this to save our children, because we sixty year olds
have taken way too much from our kids. So you're fifty three, you
go into the new system, but you're still getting the old system. Whatever
it said, you're gonna get it. Fifty three, you're gonna get that.
Okay, But you have seven, ten years, nine years to go
to the new system. Could you get less? Yes, we could have
nine bad years. Biblically, we could have seven straight bad Well, I
was gonna say, is there not an element of risk to this? There's
not really any real By the way, let's compare the risk to stay doing
what we're doing when they cut your check by your third in twenty thirty.
Okay, so right, so let's take the risk that's really there. There's
sixty one trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities double our national debt. So what that
means for anybody is that the sixty one trillion means discounting from to the today.
I'm from the future, what we're taxing and what we say we're gonna
pay out. Yeah, the difference is sixty one trillion. So it's so
it's gonna it's it's imploding in front of our face, like it's it's over,
Like you're not gonna get it, or they're gonna run inflation so high
that, like I say, when you get it, it won't be worth
anything. So why don't we just fix it? Well part of the problem
too, if I find it. And again I'm far from an expert on
this, but um, we have an aging population and obviously and birthrates are
plummeting. Yes, so there's gonna be just I mean, it's just common
sense. There's going to be more and more people. And so the reason
that we just can't have the future people getting it from the present people today.
What happens today is that when we started Social Security nineteen thirty three,
a temporary program by Roosevelt right, never meant to be all your retirement,
but say it is, whatever we're living into today, we're not living in
eighteen eighty. I'm talking to my fellow conservatives now who want to end it.
We're not doing that. We're gonna fix it, we're gonna modernize it,
we're gonna make it okay. But what happens is now there's three workers,
but those three workers are sending the money directly to Social Security recipients today.
So what's going to happen is that forty years from now when they erect
a statue in my name because everybody's got a great, great job, you
know, and social Security is working out. Really what I'm joking, Okay,
what's going to happen is that the people who are sixty two today are
going to be dead. But the people today just have their system. We
don't even talk about it anymore. If they've owned some New Zealand bond,
some real estate, not in Russia probably, but they own some real estate
in Europe, they own some stocks, they own they own some votes wagon,
they own some all these things together bonds, they're going to do better
than anybody's ever done. They have unless the world ends, And if the
world ends, we're not going to talk about it. Right. The world
has ended, right, So there's no forty year period where this wouldn't have
massively outperformed. Again, I wrote a paper about eighty three. The numbers
I came up with then are still the numbers today. So that course,
that's not the only thing we have to do. You know, this inflation.
Stuff has to stop. We've got a situation where the Feder reserve and
for people who don't know this, and again I'm not saying people and everybody
spends their time like I do without it, but there's nobody running for president
who wants to fix the Feder Reserve. Some people want to end it,
but we're not going to end I hear in libertarian circles. I I often
hear about audit the phrase we should all that stuff. Rand Paul talk about
it, and Rand Paul is correct, and I would prefer a gold standard.
But the first step to get back to some sense of normalcy is for
the FED to only concentrate on inflation and keep it at zero one goal.
Right now, they have what we call a dual mandate. It's really one
long paragraph, but people refer to it as a dual bandit because the FED,
starting in the late sixties seventies, used to just do inflation, but
then they put in that they should try to keep employment high or unemployment low.
They call full employment. Yeah, well, folks, they have like
not to get into algebra two and bore people. But if you can remember
back to algebra one, they were like these three unknowns and two equations,
and you couldn't solve They can't solve that problem. And so what's been happening.
We've had way worse situations because the FED has been worried about employment and
inflation. The people worried about unemployment have to be the people in Congress.
What they've done is handed their power to the FED, and that's why they've
never called for their resignations. They've handed the power of fiscal power to the
FED Reserve. So if the Fed Reserve is only worried about inflation and the
job was to keep it at zero, and I can get seventeen people from
my high school buddies to do this, yeah, it's not Listen, it's
not that hard. Are there are? I don't want to quote the Taylor
rule from John Tanuel at Stanford. There's lots of ways that we know about
money supply to keep inflation at zero. But when you also worried about employment,
you let inflation run too hard. That's what happened in twenty twenty.
They were worried about a collapse. They should not have been. They should
have been keeping inflation at zero. Well, but in twenty twenty, I
mean that was such a I mean, you know, the pandemic just I
like to say it. You know, it took the puzzle and just threw
all the pieces in the air we were in. It should have been the
FETs problem to overreact about employment. It should have been the Senators and House
of Representatives people if they wanted to do something, if they wanted to backstop
unemployment, which is all they really had to do, they didn't. They
did much more. The PPP program is full of nothing but fraud. There
are law firms in New England who each partner got fifty six thousand dollars oh
yeah, yeah, and so they did that. And Donald Trump signed that,
and I was against all of that. But the governor of Florida was
for it. Nikki Haley was for it. The President was for it.
Vice President Pence was for it, like Pompeia was for They were all for
it because a very quick and easy thing to get their friends money. Really
rich people took advantage of it. Really more people got a check for fourteen
hundred right, yeah, yeah, and their inflation was four thousand dollars more
p year for two years. A few of the rich people did give back
the money but that's just because they got caught. That's true. It's true.
So this is the serious nature of running for president that we're having.
Yeah, that other people I'm having. Can I ask you though about inflation?
And again I'm far from an expert, but isn't a big part of
the problem there's all this price gauging going on and and and by the way,
I have no idea what you do about that, but but it isn't
that a big part of what's going on? Because I feel like, this
is my perception, there's a lot of price gouging. The mainstream media doesn't
talk about it because you know, they're part of of this, uh,
this corporate ecosystem, because the only way I learned about it is through alternative
alternative media, you know, and these these numbers, and again a lot
of it's over my head. But um, but it seems to me like
so prices have been artificially raised to some degree. The media for the most
part ignores it because like I said, they're they're part of this, this
whole corporate apparatus. And then we're just sort of fed this thing um that
uh, you know, and and by the way, I understand, you
know, there's other factors. Suit Like I said, the pandemic really just
threw everything up in the air. But but it isn't that isn't that part
of it? The price gouging. No, price gouging is one of the
things that you know, people talk about, but it's really a very small
problem. I mean, for example, look at Tyson Foods recently the President
Biden said they were price gouging a year ago. The profits are falling off,
the going down, the price is going down. They're not price gouging
now. I gouging among chief executive officers of Lodge corporations. Price gouging the
shareholders been going on for thirty years. They make way too much money.
They and by operating out of China and taking jobs out of Manchester, right
for thirty years. For thirty years, this has been going on. Yeah,
they've been gouging the CEOs and that's been okayed by Republicans and Democrats.
But price gouging. Listen, the truth is if the price of butter went
up, you'd buy margarine. There's a lot of substitutes for a lot of
things. But what happened is that the money supplied for twenty ten to twenty
twenty, money supply went up at about five percent. What we call the
velocity of money, how many times it turns over, Like if you're in
Venezuela right now, or in Argentina. Argentina inflation one hundred percent. If
we wake up in Argentina and some of you hand me some Argentina whatever lara
or whatever they call it, I spend it as quickly as possible because by
the end of the day it's gonna lose ten percent of its value. I'm
gonna buy an apple. I'm gonna go We're gonna do it in America.
That's not what's going on. The velocity went down five percent per year.
Not to get again, I don't want to get two technical, but I
know this stuff. The feder Reserve didn't let the velocity go up because it
paid banks not to lend. So the economy grew slowly, not didn't grow,
it grew slower one of the reasons. But in twenty twenty, money
supply went up twenty percent very quickly. Now just pictures a scene where we
all wake up tomorrow morning. It happens overnight. Everybody's got twenty percent more
money in every bank account. Overnight. Well, the guy who figures it
out first makes out like a Bandit buys that house in Florida. You and
I show up a month later, like too bad. Prices up, some
prices, some things didn't go up. Then you do have the supply change
problem, right, you have the problem of what's happening out of China.
They closed their economy. We depend way too much on prescription drugs, on
things from China. I fight about this. By the way, my movie
is I travel the country this movie. And if you watch Fixing America,
my movie at Amazon, I can for our Facebook viewers. In fact,
I can put the camera on me for a moment and hold it up.
Yeah, you brought me this dvd. Fix in America. This is um
and this is currently available on Amazon. Correct, sure, Amazon, you
can stream it. It's an old movie. But if if, if,
if you don't show the debt clock to somebody in the movie, you wouldn't
know. I didn't make it yesterday. It's me traveling the United States of
America talking to regular folks like here in Manchester, about China, about the
debt. Yeah, about energy that by the way, that's something I think
everybody can agree on. Uh, you know that we need to rely a
lot less on China for things like prescription drugs and and but here's the problem.
I've been talking about this since two thousand and five public he made a
movie about it. Yeah, my Republican Party is finally sort of coming around
to understand this, right, And the reason it takes so long is that
daring company, Big giant Walmart. They made their CEO so much money in
the backs of workers here in America losing their jobs. But that's how they
did it. Now, it's unusual for Republican to say this, but but
it happens to be the truth. Yeah, And I've been wanting to stop
this for a long time. And by the way, it's starting to stop
anyway. China became a one person rule company. One person runs that company's
a dictatorship. Now it's not even a communist party, right, So we're
going to be bringing stuff home anyway. This supply chain stuff's stopping like it's
not going to be come from China. So we need to be the leader
in logistics and bring this stuff back to America, Canada, Mexico. Some
stuff is better to be in one of the country's neras but it's better for
Americans because the one thing that's true about manufacturing jobs, and my father was
a toolmaker. I watched him lose his job, lose part of his work
during the Japanese thing in the seventies, you know, the japan Dam was
taken over the auto manufacturers. Yeah, and so I mean Amber's chain where
he worked. Harry Mbers kept everybody working, but maybe twenty hours a week.
Sometimes maybe they closed for seven. He wanted to keep everybody there.
My father was the shop stewart. So I lived this growing up about you
know, I lived it was tight financially, all these kind of things.
Yeah, so, but it never stopped happening because China took over. So.
But but a manufacturing job coming back to America, it's four jobs.
What do I mean by that? You open up a manufacturing concern over here
to make bicycles, swin bicycle comes back and starts making them over there.
Whatever, Well, someone shows up and serves coffee, right, they need
they need some parts of handles there, some guy up in Littleton, I
don't know where right or or over in bath made or something right. So
a manufacturing job is the biggest job creator and we need them to come back.
Now. Will they all come back now? I mean, can China
still make T shirts? Great if they want to make T shirts, but
a lot of high tech stuff has to come back to America. Yeah,
And I'm a guy who buys. By the way, everything you can look
at here is made in America. And I didn't do it for the show.
This This tie was made by bow tizing Vermont. I do think too.
I mean, I would say, you know, obviously you're a Republican,
but I think you can probably reach a lot of Democrats with that message
too, because I do think there's a lot of unanimity on the idea that
we just have to stop depending on China, especially with I hope it doesn't
come to this ever, but you know, the possibility of war in the
future and so forth, or or if they decide to move on Taiwan and
then we're involved, and which these are nightmare scenarios that I don't like.
As a leader. We have to try to avoid these things, but we
have to. We have to know that missus Jones out here and she needs
tilital or she needs liperto. I don't know what she needs, but we
know that ninety percent of it, the active ingredients and stuff is still made
in China today. Yeah. No, in twenty twenty again the talking politicians,
the Tom Cotton from the Republican Party, probably a great guy. He
talked and talked and talked about it, and do anything about it. Right.
So in this country, by the way, and now we're facing medication
shortages. Yes, and that's and that's. This is the kind of stuff
that I know how to. Yeah, that this is what we're talking serious
stuff. So far we're not talking about dastardly democrat. I mean it's gotten
to the point now where there's so many disconnected people they don't think it can
change. It goes to our campaign finance laws. For example, when I
was making the movie in two thousand and eleven, this is what my conservative
friends always disagree with you about, right Yeah, And I'm a pretty conservative
guy, by the way, but because I think that's what works. But
when I talk to them about campaign finals laws, and I say, listen,
I'm going through Youngstown, Ohio. I could have been in nashviewa New
Hampshire. But people generally have, like I don't know, a couple hundred
bucks they want to put into a campaign over a year if they want to
help somebody. But then they read George Soros on the left has sixty million
for a race and the Koch Brothers on the right have seventy million for a
race, and they're like, what is my fifty bucks going to do?
So that needs to change. That needs to be that, that needs to
stop. It can't be that special interest unknown people five or one C fours
and no one knows who they are. They can't be funding dark money.
Yeah, we just gotta stop it. And maybe it's gonna have to be
something. There's gonna be some limit we got to put on it, you
don't you know what I always say though too about this, and this is
an unpopular opinion. I think that as much as we all complain about it,
um, you know, we talk about it a lot on the show,
I also think though that the American people, we need to take more
the onus ourselves of actually just doing the research, because it's not hard to
do. I always say, if you go to a like a great website,
Open Secret Stock or great website, you go to a website like that
and you look up a candidate or someone who's currently in office, and you
can find out who who Actually it is public information except for the dark money
that you know, the shadowy packs. That's got to go. But but
as far as companies, organizations, law firms that are actively donating to these
campaigns, lobbyists, you can find that out. And I always tell people,
once you know who's donating to these candidates or the people who are currently
in office, once you know that, then you know exactly who they actually
work for, because they damn sure it don't work for us, that's right.
You know they have it for a long long time, right, I
mean, you're you're gonna hit the nail on the head. This has to
change. This is about the corruption that goes on. And it's not the
corruption when people get arrested. It's the PPP program, the paypack, it's
that. It's The Wall Street Journal wrote four giant articles starting five months ago
to like three months ago. They wrote four articles about not even about elected
officials, front running trades. Yeah, they wrote about the agency people,
the guys who work at the Department of Energy who meet with Chevron coming in
and they're gonna allow some drilling or whatever. Twenty six hundred of them front
running people who have to show up in front of them publicly traded companies.
So my policy is vastly different, and you won't hear any about to say
this. Yeah, but we want to align the president, the vice president,
the Congress, the senators, whatever, with the American people. If
all of them couldn't do blind trust, blind trust, really, come on,
if someone they're not blind, it's a joke. Right when Mitt Romney
was running, we heard we suddenly heard that phrase quite a bit, the
silly what if they all had to keep their money at banks like most people
do in the US dollars? Let me ask everybody a question. You think
they would have paid you zero on your interest from two thousand and nine to
two thousand and twenty one, or would they paid you three or four percent,
three or four percent like it used to be? The powers that be
by keeping rates too low, took a trillion dollars out of the people listening
to this show over twelve years. The guy who's like, hey, I
got I make sixty grand, but I say forty grand. I want to
buy a home. I used to you know, that guy used to get
twelve hundred dollars at zero. So the twelve hundred dollars. The missing twelve
hundred dollars didn't allow him to have enough lobbying power to go down to what
would take him twelve hundred dollars to get a hotel room for two nights to
go see his congressman. Right, So he didn't do it. But the
really really rich guy I was like, well, it's the grace thing.
Ever. Yeah, I own these stocks. They're gonna go up because the
alternative investment is zero. He used to be five percent. I own I
owned gold, I owned silver, whatever. They're gonna make a lot of
money. They did. Yeah, but the average American got hosed. So
we stop it. That's what I want to do. These are serious,
serious things that if we could align. And by the way, I have
a gift for this. This is what I'm good at. If you would
call people in Rhode Island, say they'll say I didn't like Laughy. You
know, I didn't like him, blah blah blah. They won't say I
was wrong. There's no article that you looked up that some guy said,
you know what, financially he did the wrong thing. There's not an article
that's true. I didn't find one that's true. There was a palace coup,
there was this. There was no article saying, wow, that guy,
he made a bad decision running that trade. There's no there's no article.
I have a gift for this. I don't have again. I can't
change a lightbulb. I fell off a lot of I had to finally sell
my tractor. I could barely drive it. I stink at a lot of
things. But this stuff put in the right person in the right position to
do the best job. That's my gift. Yeah, getting to the heart
of a matter and forcing other people to vote my way, that's my gift.
UM, I want to look at the I don't know if this.
UM. I thought I saw a question for you in the chat room.
Well, you know what I wanted to ask you while I look for that
is Oh, yeah, it was about um. Someone had asked a question
in here. It's hard to find this a busy chat room today. But
somebody had asked about schools, and you had mentioned home schooling, and I
had read you were talking about it. Is it true? Is it still
your position you want to actually eliminate public schools? Ultimately not tomorrow morning,
But yes, I think that that that let me go let me go through
this with people, because oftentimes, even in New Hampshire, which is by
the way, there are many good schools, I mean, yes, relatively
good schools, right so yeah, yeah, so, but for the nation
as a whole, by the way, the local people want to keep this
schools go ahead. It's just that the state and the Feds, what are
they really doing? How have they improved things? So think about it.
From nineteen sixty two one, our test scores have gone down. Last week,
our history scores for eighth graders found that thirteen percent, not thirty three.
Thirteen percent of eighth grades in the United States America were proficient in history
knowing who George Washington was. Twenty percent were proficient in civics. Do we
have a democracy? Do we have a monarchy? They didn't know. Now
people listening today may be listening to a school somewhere in New Hampshire were sixty
or sixty five percent of the kids are proficient, which is still, by
the way, terrible, It's terrible. But that means in Denver, Memphis,
Detroit, Jacksonville, we got numbers near zero. Because they get the
thirteen percent. You've got to have some places like in Los Angeles. In
Los Angeles in the pandemic, they didn't know what happened to twenty five percent
of the kids. So public schools in a totality have failed. Many people
listening might say, well, what are you talking about? I just saw
that episode of Little House in the Prairies and like that. No, or
they might say to themselves, yeah, what happened to those PTA meetings?
They don't exist, folks. When I was a kid in the sixties and
square dancing in first grade, you know, and the parents were yelling,
I want little Johnny to blah blah blah, mister Hayes the principal. So
you haven't lost my facility yet. I know. I know all my teachers,
so I'm not too old. So so that that doesn't exist. What
exists our teachers unions that are way too powerful, right, Sure, some
teachers on the paid to some overpaid. I don't want to get into that.
What I want to tell you is I think a lot of them are
underpaid. They could very well be, of course they have the summers off
and blah blah anyway, whatever, But the parents need to get a check
and we need competition, and especially at the federal level. If you if
you're someone listening to this and you don't have kids, especially your property taxes
wherever you live. The largest input is probably schools, but they're averaging twenty
to twenty three thousand dollars a kid. I homeschooled my kids and put them
in this and that for four thousand. Catholic schools are doing it for eight.
I mean the margins of getting a better education and cheaper we can do
that now at the federal level. Let's all as think about one thing.
How do you know that the federal government couldn't kill us? Do you think
they do? Right now? There's something called the internet came around the late
nineties, and right now today the best algebra one teacher could be for free,
free on that federal website doing videos talking about why equals MX plus B,
what the slope is boop. They could do all that for free.
So when little Johnny or little Isabelle miss got sick or had a pandemic,
the moms could say, let's just watch this tonight. It doesn't exist,
they don't have it up there. They'd be bold into the National Teacher Union,
who would never allow it. A lot of this could be done for
free. Now, am I trying to do away with school sports? I'm
not listen. This is one of these things that will take years. But
well, this is a This is a tough sell because a lot of people
really love their public school system. I. Um, there was a moment
on the show. This was a few months ago, but it was kind
of funny. Rob as a veto who hosts a show here. He came
in early for his show and he sat and we were talking, and my
dad called, and my dad's very conservative, he'll he'll probably he'll, he'll
probably be very approving of a lot of what you're saying. But he got
into it was a pretty pretty big moment. Actually, he had into a
bit of an argument, like a yelling argument with Rob, because you know,
my dad was talking about the failure of public schools and Rob was saying
that his kids have had a great experience in public school and um, and
I believe that, you know, they've they've done very well and they're going
off to college and so forth. And I think that, Um, part
of the problem you run into with this idea is I think that, yes,
there obviously there are schools, school systems around the country that are are
very doing a very poor job. And and that is evidenced by when you
contrast our numbers of learning proficiency with that of other countries, other modern industrialized
nations. It's it's it's pretty bad. Um. But there are also school
systems where where they do a great job. And I'm not sure how you
how you sell this to parents in school districts who are doing a great job.
They don't have to. Yeah, if somebody out there in some rural
community says we want to keep it and blah blah blah blah blah, but
just don't depend on the state for money. While you're depending on the state
for your kids, you can't. The more things we keep local and not
federal state, the best off we are. We have a call and my
dad must have been listening because he's on the line. Hello, Hey,
Maddie, I love your guests. Your guest is presenting such a I knew
you wrote information, and uh, I just this is between us. But
I'm gonna be brief because I want to your guest to have the the opportunity
to continue. And I know we're right out of the time. I just
gotta have a meeting, But do you remember, um a debate I had
with you a little bit, but more with a guest about the perils of
public education. Do you remember that one? Well, I just I just
referenced it. I assumed that's why you were calling. Yeah, I was
just telling Steve about that the argument. Uh, And it did become quite
the argument that you had with Rob as a veto on the show. Yes,
Rob, I love and I Rob. I love Rob as of Vito,
and I didn't know that it was he. I would have taken a
different tack. But my point is that you've got books out there, like
uh, your guests probably read them or aware them. Like I just mentioned
too, Waiting for Superman is a great book by Ton. And then there's
Golden Book, which I love. It's called Savage Inequality and it goes to
the issues your guest is talking about public education. In New Hampshire. We're
doing reasonably well, but not nationwide at all, and that's a disgrace.
And it's you know, just parenthetically. And this is not to pin roses
on me or to try to hurt anyone's feelings, but I grew up in
a different world and all of my life experience not perfect by any means,
of course. But from grammar school to high school to college and graduate schools,
I had great mentors and great opportunity for training and education even in the
military. You know, I was very, very fortunate. That was a
grace of God in my judgment. I know we're not a religious program,
so I'm not gonna go too far. That was. But but we need
to challenge the issue of public education, which has become more indoctrination and propaganda.
And these kids can't think. They can't they don't know how to problem
them solve. They don't know how to ask for help. They don't know
they're mathematics. You know. I still practice my algebra. Not because I'm
great at math, guys, but because it's a challenge to help me think
critically and logically. It's a discipline for me. I don't advise that necessarily
for other people, but for me, it works. You know, I
don't want to. But this goes to elite capture, and there are two
parts of elite capture. I just want to throw that out for your guests
too. It's it's more an oblique reference, but it's important and it's related.
It's germane and that is that you have elite capture A and b A
is easy to see. It's when a corporation or organization or teachers unions are
Chinese Communist governments, even Romainian governments. Apparently we still need to know more
delineate that more foid with Biden. But they try to influence pedal and they
do. You know, they capture people's behavior and policies through big money.
But then there are I'm not going to go into the mall but today because
of time, but there are four other aspects of persuasion and buying, control
and propaganda. So I'll just mention one of them, and that is the
separation, purposeful separation of families from the government, particularly the federal government.
But that includes school boards when people are not included and people don't get involved.
You know, two sides of the same a similar coin there. And
as a result of that, secrets are kept, issues of personal values are
kept, and education is undermined. So that's elite. Sure, that's a
structure that's not only problematic, but it is pernicious. And you see this
with that thirteen percent your guests just mentioned. I'm so appalled by that and
discouraged by that, but I'm not surprised at all. And the twenty percent
we need to do so much better. You know, some of these kids.
When I was in eighth grade, and again it's not meaning by my
other students too, we had teachers that taught these things. We were interested.
Our parents reinforced that and demanded that and had a discipline with that.
We knew who the senators were, We knew how how many states were in
the union. We knew the three branches of government and we could talk about
it. We know who wrote the Constitution and why it was important. These
kids don't know today. So I'm a little bit vindicated on that issue.
But there are many things we could do, I believe, to improve the
situation, but we have to have the will and the value system to do
that. Finally, I just wanted to say, God bless Jenny. We
don't always agree on some major issues, and I don't call to debate her,
are you or anything like that, but I am with you guys,
one hundred percent. I never thought I'd be with Bernie Sanders on anything,
frankly, but we need to have one a system in this country where everyone
gets medical care. Uh, these insurance companies have abused it. I've been
slow to come to this conclusion, but I'm there now with you, guys,
So kudos to you. I'll stop there, guys. Great show,
matt I love the way you take a balanced position on these issues is very
sophisticated. I'm very proud of you. Oh, thank you. Appreciate that.
I assume you were talking to me, or did you mean Steve?
Actually, actually I was talking to you. You're my son, Mattie,
and I think Steve is a distant relative. I think I may be a
great uncle or something. The work you're doing, well, we're gonna we're
gonna get this across to America. And your dad's a very wise man.
You mean, one you learn over time. And the bottom line for education
is simply this, with these kind of test scores that keep going lower,
what does everybody else want to do? That's the same time, I mean,
we have Republican governors who want to take the wokeness out of schools.
God God bless him. That'll six That'll fix three percent of the problem.
The problem is right now your dad talking, is that there's a guy like
your dad. I don't know what he did the kids named Steve Lampy.
He's sitting in Detroit right now, he's sitting in Memphis, he's sitting somewhere
in Manchester. And he's either really smart and get ahead, but no one's
letting him get ahead. By the way, the three kids I homeschool because
of the cancer in my family. One of them is the youngest Admitia cars
State University in the history of the university, at the age of twelve,
so he wasn't held back the other one by one. He was only two
years older there. So listen, we can we have to change this thing
radically. We can't wake up. We're gonna wake up next year and I'm
gonna be on the show and you I'm gonna tell you about the new math
scores that are lower. And someone's gonna call in and say, oh,
we can't do that. Our schools are pretty good. We'll keep ump.
But I want to check for every mom and dad so they can make the
choice. And here's the math that the unions always do. Oh, you're
gonna take our best students. Do the math? Folks, if at seven
thousand dollars a kid out of a hundred kids in one school and ninety leave
and there's ten left. Heck, you can give him all forty grand and
save money for taxpayers and get better education for all. We're so d Dad.
We gotta let you go in a second. Just a quick question though,
before you go. Are you are you prepared now publicly to dump Trump
and endorse Steve Laughy. I just want to hear you saying yeah, yes,
I am, yes, yeah, send me some material, you know.
I gotta say, just very critically quickly. I do like uh Vivic
Lamaswami. Have you guys listened to him at all? Ye, yes,
I have to get into it. But he's a very smart guy. But
lots of stuff he comes up with doesn't solve the problem, like having the
FED look at commodities, but we're not gonna look at commodities. We're gonna
keep it at zero. But the importance, but the important thing is Dad,
you have you have said you are willing to dump Trump and Okay,
well we gotta go. Purpose that's right. I know it's all right Dad.
Well we do have to go, though, But thank you for the
call. I appreciate it, my pleasure or not. Thank you for your
guests. Wonderful presentation. All right, love you all right, by bye?
All right. That was my dad, Martin Connerton. I do want
to get this in Steve just quickly because a few people brought it up in
the chat room concern about um in terms of education kids with disabilities, if
we go to a primarily a homeschool model, they're probably listening and that kind
of that kind of model, we're gonna have to listen. As an eighteen
year old kid, I was president Student Council Ranston East. Joe Ventetula walks
in and we're integrating special needs students. We had different names for it back
then, and he's like, you know what, you're the president student council.
No one makes fun of these kids down syndrome and so forth. Yeah.
So, by the way, we had a great year. We did,
and I got all the clicks together, the greed what we would call
greasers and you know, hockey players, and we just made sure we had
a great ear kids with doing stuff. Yeah. Listen, in the end,
we're always gonna be left with people that really really need our help,
and we'll got to spend the money to help them. Yeah, and that's
going to be a special situation. But here's the problem with what the federal
government does. They go like this with the PPP program. My arms are
as wide as I can. Instead of saying, you know what with a
rifle, what do we really need to do? I figured, of rifle,
what do we need to do to help? So we're always going to
help the special needs kids, the kids who have down syndrome, we're gonna
put We're not gonna put them away so we don't see them. They're gonna
be out in front, and we'll have extra money to spend on them so
they have the fullest life. And by the way, I grew up with
families that had these situations. Now I had different situations. I had schizophrenia
in my family. I had a lot of different things going to my family.
Right. Yeah, my brother tried to burn down the Institutentmental Health in
Cranston, Rhode Island while I was the mayor. Wow, you got locked
up in a psychiotic ward for criminally in saying oh howny many years wow.
So I know this stuff, right, It's not like I'm trying to ignore
it, but when it comes to that kind of stuff, we are.
But let's have the extra money to target on special needs, not wasting it
left and right. And by the way, these eighth grade kids should be
deciding like they do in Germany in many respects. Hey, you know what,
I don't want to do algebra two. I'm gonna fix cars. Why
not? Right, what we do is we keep taking the square peg and
we kind of keep jamming these round holes. Right, the square peg can't
go into these round holes. Let's find a better situation for the kids.
We're Yeah, we are about out of time. I feel like we just
barely at the surface. So well, if we'll have to have you on
again soon. Are you in New Hampshire, I'm Steve Laughy. I'm in
New Hampshire. I've been here since off and on since February twenty fifth.
Yeah, I don't have any intention of leaving. We're gonna make it on
the ballot and we're gonna make our We're gonna make our breakthrough the way Herman
Kaine did in Florida in twenty eleven, who became a friend of mine.
Which is why I have the nine tax plane at Steve Laughey dot com and
um because we need a simple system that people can understand it. It works
and we collect a lot more money. But I'm gonna be in New Hampshire.
I'm here, I'm just here. Yeah, I'd love to have at
it again. I'd love to have an in depth conversation with you about healthcare.
Um. You know, Jenny is uh, you know, as as
my dad referred to and as I mentioned earlier in the show, Jenny is
in Washington, DC right now. We probably disagree on that, but you
know we support she and I and my dad too at this point, support
socialized medicine. But I know you have a lot of ideas about healthcare.
Um, so i'd love to talk to you about that and renewable energy and
some other things. So yeah, well we'll do the again. We'll do
this again soon. And um and you got my dad to say that he'll
dump dump Trump, so that's good. I'm not I don't know how you
feel about I'm not a fan. No, while you're running against him,
so I'm running against him, and I think I think a lot of it
is marketing. And listen, as a conservati there were some good things that
happened if you're a conservative person like myself, But it's but running. But
listen to everybody listening who hasn't yet dumped Trump. President Trump, I try
to be respectful. We if you're listening in your conservative we were totally against
Barack Obama's eight trillion dollar deficits over eight years, and many of them not
me. I was always against him, never voted for Donald Trump. We
were okay with eight trillion dollars deficits in four years, and now we're not
okay with Biden's less than that in four years. But we're not okay with
any of it. We want to shut down the Government's not that, that's
it. We we have no credibility Republicans. Listen, Let's get back to
the basics, and that means stuff. I'm talking about, real solutions and
acknowledge that some people won't like it. Well, I always say Republicans only
care about the debt and deficits when there's a Democrat in office. You got
it. I care about it every day because I am no I have no
debt. I don't have any debt. I always run surpluses. Yeah,
I know, you got to end the show, but yeah, it's Steve
Laughy dot com. By the way, I'm the only website with this hundreds
of hours of stuff you want to hear about me and Ariel Sharone. I
got an hour on that. I don't know why anybody would, but I
didn't take anything down. What I've said for a long time, I still
say it. Well all right, well yeah, so we will. We
will have you back, and thank you for coming in. Wonderful to meet
you. I actually have I actually have a song. I'm gonna close.
I picked a special song for you. This is a little weird, but
there was a hip hop group called d Foelle and they had a song called
Laffy Taffy. And I was reading about you online and I saw that when
you were running for mayor, you gave out laughy taffy at a campaign event.
At a campaign event, I bought a crate of it, did you.
Yeah, it's too long to tell you. Yeah, yeah, but
lay became. So let's just put it this way. In Cranston walking behind
some kids with my kids, and one kid in front says, hey,
what's with this laughy taffy? This year? Why that was the yard won
the election? There you go. That might have been around when the song
came out. Actually it's a terrible song, but I just I thought I
thought it was funny, so yeah, let's go with it. Well,
we'll end with this, but thank you, thank you again, Steve,
thank you very much for having me absolutely Republican candidate for the presidency Steve Laughy.
And thank you again to a Yuri from from the band uh. Let
make sure I get the name right this time from the band Oberon who skyped
in all the way from Italy. During the first hour. If you miss
any part of today's show, it'll be up in just a little bit of
WMH radio dot org and in my website Matt Connorton dot com. And tomorrow
is Wednesday, which means in the first hour will be joined by Eric Pilcher
as he's doing a new segment with us on Wednesdays where we talk about media.
And then in the second hour we have a musical guest, Horsefly Gulch.
We'll be joining us and they are coming in live in studio. So
that's going to do it for us for now. Oh and if you're listening
live on Tuesday, coming up next immediately after this show is through the Stage
Store hosted by Rob Dyon, and then at seven pm, a replay of
Friday Night's retro Spectrum Radio with Pauli c and Steve Laughy. Thank you again
and here's a little bit of Laughy taffy for you.