WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.200 My opinion around here these days is laugh for while 2 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:07.160 you can, monkey boy, ask not what your country can 3 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:10.960 do for you, Ask what you can do for your country. 4 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:15.519 Mister gorbachaw tear down this wall. 5 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.399 It's the Ricchet Podcast with Charles C. W. Cook and 6 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:21.679 Stephen Hayward. I'm James Lillax. Today we're going to talk 7 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:25.239 to Charlie Gasparino about his new book, Go Woke, Go Broke, on. 8 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.320 The inside story of the radicalization of Corporate America. So 9 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:29.800 let's episodes a podcasting. 10 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:32.280 Grocery prices of skyrocketed. 11 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:36.240 Cereals are up twenty six percent, bread is up twenty 12 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.679 four percent, butter is up thirty seven percent, maybe formulas 13 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.320 up thirty percent, flowers up thirty eight percent, and eggs 14 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:47.759 are up forty six percent, and many items are at 15 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:49.359 much higher rates than that. 16 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:56.840 Welcome everybody. This is the Ricochet Podcast. Number seven oh 17 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.320 who cares? Who cares what number it is? I mean, 18 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:00.799 it's not like you can go back and say you 19 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:02.479 said something at seven oh two that I believe was 20 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:05.000 contradicted by a guest in number two hundred and four. Now, 21 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.920 no what he's keeping drat Okay, it's seven four and 22 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.000 We're very proud we have got this far. It's a 23 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.319 rainy day here in Minneapolis. I'm joined by Stephen Hayward 24 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:16.040 somewhere and Charles CW which does not stand for conventional 25 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:18.680 Wisdom Cook, who I believe is still being the ultimate 26 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:23.079 Florida man down there. The nation's waning, and you know, gentlemen, 27 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:28.760 it's those who forget history are doomed to repeat, et cetera. 28 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:29.359 Et cetera, et cetera. 29 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.239 But how about a good round of price controls on 30 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.000 food that's worked out so. 31 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:35.159 Well everywhere it's tried. 32 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.719 What do you think of a VEEP presidential hopeful, Kamala 33 00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:41.879 Harris's proposal to do that? 34 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:44.040 And Hi, thanks for being here. 35 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:47.719 Well, all right, I'll go first, since I'm at Steve 36 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:50.519 Hayward sitting in for Peter Robinson again. You know it's 37 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:56.799 bad when even the Washington Post economics columnist Catherine Rampel says, well, 38 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.200 her subhead is, it's hard to exaggerate how bad Mala 39 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:06.280 Harris's price gouging proposal is. Yeah. I actually remember having 40 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.080 done research years ago on Nixon's wage and price freeze 41 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.159 from the nineteen seventy one and one of their problems 42 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.919 was how do you enforce her set price controls on food? 43 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:20.719 And one of the more comical elements was orange juice. 44 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.879 The price of frozen orange juice wasn't defrozen, but oranges 45 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:28.000 were not because they're seasonal, right, And so all became 46 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:31.599 arbitrary and ridiculous. And I'm trying to remember there are 47 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.719 a couple of other categories. I don't know, it was 48 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.319 tomatoes or whatever, where they just it was chaos and 49 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:38.840 you couldn't possibly make it work. So this is just 50 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:41.520 an attempt to deflect blame for inflation that everyone's mad 51 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:43.120 about and say it wasn't our fault, it was the 52 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:46.199 fault of Albertson's and Kroger and Win Dixie or something 53 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:46.599 like that. 54 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.400 Charles Well, I think that's right. I think that's primarily 55 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.599 why she did it. It's a political ploy, not an 56 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:59.280 economic ploy. She is aware that, despite how many attempts 57 00:02:59.319 --> 00:03:04.280 to sinuate otherwise, he is still called Harris, that Harris 58 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:08.280 being the Harris of the Biden Harris administration. She is 59 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.800 in the office of the Vice President as we speak, 60 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.680 and massive overspending later inflation, and people are angry. So 61 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:20.520 she wants to point at the mustachioed man from Monopoly 62 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:24.039 and say he did it. That said, although I have 63 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.560 been a leading exponent of this idea that this is 64 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:28.879 a political ploy not an economic one, I do think 65 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.560 it's incumbent upon voters to take it face value what 66 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:37.759 candidates say they want to do, and not least because 67 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:42.840 although he hasn't gone this far, Biden has been with the. 68 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:44.159 Federal Trade Commission doing. 69 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:46.800 Some of this stuff already, And there are people within 70 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.879 the FTC who are very much in favor of this 71 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:55.479 sort of thing. And once again, Harris has not mentioned Congress. 72 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:59.080 This is a running trend. She never mentions Congress. Back 73 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:00.919 in twenty nineteen, she said over and over and over 74 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:03.560 again she could do anything without Congress, including gun control. 75 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:05.879 Even she was going to ban the AAR fifteen without Congress. 76 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:11.759 So when Jason Furman, Obama's economics friend, said this morning, Wow, 77 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.159 this is a terrible idea. So it won't happen, Yeah, 78 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.639 under our constitution lawder that's probably true. But if she's 79 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.920 going to leverage the administrative state, which is already poised 80 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:23.959 to try this sort of thing, then you should be 81 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:27.000 worried about it. And I think she should pay a 82 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:28.519 price for having proposed it. 83 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.920 Yeah, I mean there's there's an epicycle to these things too. 84 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:37.399 That comes up a lot here in California. When oil 85 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:43.279 prices are high, the left says, oh, it's collusion, price 86 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.439 gouging by the oil companies and the refiners. Let's investigate. 87 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.120 The government at all levels has been investigating high prices 88 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:52.639 and gasoline and so forth for forty or fifty years now, 89 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:55.800 and they always come up empty because it's wrong. But 90 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.879 then the other side of the mouth, they say, we 91 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.079 should have higher tax on gasoline to discourage consumption. Well, 92 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.959 which is it. It's actually an easy lesson. The left 93 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.560 is only happy when high gasoline prices are because of 94 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:11.759 taxes and not because of market forces. And the same 95 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:15.959 thing's happening now on groceries. And you're right, though, Charlie, 96 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:19.480 I mean again an old story. When the Reagan people 97 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.240 came into office in nineteen eighty one, they found the 98 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:25.519 Federal Trade Commission had an open investigation not of my 99 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.120 dog marking in the background, but of the serial company, 100 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:31.040 you know, Kellogg and Posts. And the argument was they 101 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:34.680 were monopolizing shelf space in grocery stores and that had 102 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.399 to be stopped. And the Reagan, people scratched their head 103 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:39.600 and said, go away, this is stupid, which of course 104 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:39.959 it was. 105 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:42.720 If I could just very very briefly out another cycle 106 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:45.560 to that which has amused me enormously, that is that 107 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:51.040 when prices go up when a Democrat's president, it's price gouging. Apparently, 108 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.720 big companies don't price gouge under Republicans. You think they 109 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:56.240 would be more likely to do that because evil Republicans 110 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:59.399 love corporations, but they price goug when Democrats come in. 111 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:01.920 When the price is when the prices go down, that's 112 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.000 because of the president. So we've seen the most hilarious 113 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:07.240 trend under Biden where prices are gone and he would 114 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:11.399 say this is outrageous collusion from the supermarkets and the 115 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.600 meat producers. And then he would go down and he 116 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.399 would say, happy Thanksgiving, Joe Biden wishes to tell you 117 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:18.720 that your potato is a less than they would have 118 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:19.399 been last year. 119 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:24.199 Right, Well, how do you think that this Let's say 120 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:26.399 she gets elected president and she does she decides to 121 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:28.680 go around Congress to do this. How do you possibly 122 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.120 think that would manifest itself as an executive order that 123 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:33.680 would say what because I know that this is just 124 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:36.360 thrown out there for as you said, for political means, 125 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:39.600 but it is revelatory of what somebody wants to do 126 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:43.800 and thinks they can do. How would she possibly keep 127 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:48.879 the grocery stores profit margins within an acceptable amount for 128 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:51.399 her executive order saying. 129 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.600 What, well, I think Charlie put his finger on it. 130 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:56.319 That'll use things like the Federal Trade Commission to harass 131 00:06:56.759 --> 00:06:59.600 big business and the grocery Chaine and so, I mean 132 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:01.839 they aren't The Justice Department is trying to block a 133 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.279 big grocery store merger right now. I think it's I 134 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:06.600 forget it's Albertson's and somebody. It might be Kroger, I 135 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.000 can't remember, but they'll do that kind of thing. And 136 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.439 you know that that always has some effect. But what 137 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:15.319 the effects that we will see as consumers are shortages 138 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.759 hoarding black markets pop up. It's the old story, especially 139 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:26.680 with supermarkets and low margin items, is that's why you 140 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:28.839 run out of toilet paper when there's price controls. 141 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:33.959 For example, I mean, the profit margin for supermarkets in 142 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:37.160 the United States is about one point one eight percent, 143 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:43.319 it's the latest figure. One point just very low relative 144 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.879 to most American businesses. That's lower even than health insurance, 145 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.040 which always get told that they're making gobs of money, 146 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:55.120 which they're not. One point eight percent. So the actual 147 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:01.240 capacity of the Federal Trade Commission to do anything here 148 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:05.680 is limited, and as Steve says, the product of that 149 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.839 will not be a change in profit margins, but shortages. 150 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:16.199 But that doesn't mean that the attempt won't be extremely difficult. 151 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.120 I mean, it's a bit like being sued. Even if 152 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.519 you're right on the law. You could be one hundred 153 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.560 percent right on the law, but if somebody decides to 154 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:26.120 make your life hell, the process becomes the punishment, and 155 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.000 you end up having to spend all your time. 156 00:08:27.800 --> 00:08:31.279 Complying with this or that and paying lawyers and frankly 157 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:32.399 just worrying at night. 158 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:35.440 And I think you know, if indeed I am right, 159 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:39.679 which I am sometimes, and this is a political rather 160 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:42.480 than an economic thing, then that sort of harassment will 161 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:45.240 be more likely, not less, because she'll want to point 162 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:46.879 to it and say, look at all of the stuff 163 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.720 that I'm doing. I'm an outsider, I didn't have anything 164 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:52.480 to do with this. I'm trying to stop it, and 165 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:54.759 that will make it worse for publics, not less. 166 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.960 People don't understand the percentage of the American workforce that 167 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:03.639 it is involved in compliance. It tells you something about 168 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:05.440 the reach and the power of the regulatory state when 169 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.200 you have so many, when you have entire departments as 170 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:12.080 companies engaged in compliance, the name of which just sounds 171 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:14.480 as if we're in a state of constant servitude with 172 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:19.559 our heads bent and arms manacled. But you're right about 173 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.320 the profit margins, Charlie. They are absolutely thin. And how 174 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.440 do they make their money then. 175 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.840 Well, with really highjacked up stuff that people pay for. 176 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:31.320 I mean the profit margins on ready to eat meals. 177 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:33.279 You walk into the store and you see a sandwich 178 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.879 for twelve dollars, you see an entree for fourteen or something, 179 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:37.399 and people pick it up because they can and it's 180 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:38.000 convenient and the. 181 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.080 Rest of it. And that's where the profit really comes from. 182 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:43.480 Because the margins are so huge, Is that in itself gouging? 183 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.320 Are we to have the never blinking eye of the 184 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:52.960 pentopticon fall upon the deli meat section and called their 185 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:56.679 margins too fat? If it all ends with people, as 186 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.200 you said, a black market, people in going to an 187 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:01.799 alleyway some or where somebody sells them a plastic baggy 188 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.320 full of Captain crunch. That is not exactly the America 189 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:08.240 I signed on for. Then again, I'm speaking as one 190 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.240 of those people who owns a house and isn't troubled 191 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.360 by the market today, which is very expensive and bad 192 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:16.960 for first time homeowners. I think the best way to 193 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:21.320 stabilize the homeownership market, get more people in, and bring 194 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.080 the price down is to give everybody twenty five thousand 195 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:25.320 dollars if they're buying a house. 196 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:29.039 Some say ridiculously that that would just mean that twenty 197 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:32.200 five thousand dollars would be tacked under the price. I 198 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.320 don't understand this. 199 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.679 Thing called echoonomics, but that's what they say. Is this 200 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:40.399 another serious proposal or is it just another bit of 201 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:41.799 political grand standing? 202 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.440 And I think we know the answer to that. 203 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.279 I mean, wage and price controls are one thing, but 204 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:51.279 proposing this kind of substy for housing really does remind 205 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:56.039 us once again how economically illiterate leading Democrats have become. 206 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:58.279 I mean, one of the reasons, in fact, one of 207 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:03.080 the main reasons thatigher education costs have risen I think 208 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:07.039 at twice the rate of healthcare is the government subsidizing 209 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.080 student loans, having lots of grants and the colleges are 210 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:13.639 even though they're nonprofit quote unquote institutions, they capture those 211 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.080 subsidies in higher prices and can get away with it. 212 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.240 And why you would think that wouldn't happen in housing 213 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.679 is beyond me. And you know, the rent control proposal 214 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:27.159 is also that Biden has already floated and Harris is 215 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.399 doubling down on, will have the same effect on rents. 216 00:11:29.399 --> 00:11:31.480 It's just gonna raise prices or raise rents. 217 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.000 And I don't know what remind me again with the 218 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:39.600 rent control proposal is because we've had it here. 219 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:41.879 In the Twin Cities and it has been disastrous. 220 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.960 They put a I mean they captained at three percent 221 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:47.799 or something like that over the course of X number 222 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:50.679 of years, and what it meant was that just about 223 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:55.039 everybody who's going to build something said, nah, no, I'm 224 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:56.960 not gonna do that. I'm I'm gonna go build it 225 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.360 over here across the border from your tout. 226 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:02.799 It never works. 227 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.200 But are they remind me again, because I've had a 228 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:08.720 busy week and I have been able to follow every little. 229 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:14.000 Detail of rent controlled national rent control laws well as I. 230 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:16.720 Understand that the Biden proposal was to apply this to 231 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.320 large corporate owners of multi family housing, so that would 232 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.840 be you know, your large apartment reads like avalon Bay 233 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:26.159 and people like that. But also supposedly hedge funds have 234 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.080 been buying a lot of residential property, both single family 235 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:31.440 homes and apartments, and so they want to gouge the 236 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:35.240 big guy. But eventually that's going to trickle down to 237 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:38.320 the little guy. It just has to, because it seems 238 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.840 to me if you're going to be consistent about it, 239 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.000 which they have been in places that have rent control, 240 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.840 like you know New York. From New York's rent control 241 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.120 started as a temporary measure in World War One, just 242 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:49.639 to remind people, and we still have a century later. 243 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:55.600 So there are a few liberals. I'm surprised to find 244 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.080 them out here in California, and maybe, James, you have 245 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.480 some in Minneapolis who are been saying I never thought 246 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:03.279 I'd live long enough to hear this, that the problem 247 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.440 with housing is we over regulate land use and building 248 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:09.399 too much. And there's actually so of this left wing 249 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.519 it's actually here in California called the NIMB movement, NIMB 250 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.639 Meeting or nimby sorry, yes, in my back back yard, 251 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.279 and they actually say pretty sensible things along with a 252 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:21.440 lot of nonsense about you know, segregation and redlining and 253 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.559 stuff like that. But you would think that this would 254 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:27.360 trickle up to the Biden administration or Democrats at the 255 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.360 national level, but so far not much progress on that front. 256 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.720 Yeah, this is this has cracked me out. It's like, 257 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.399 you know, you have someone who's a heroin addict, and 258 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:40.000 he's like, it's causing me all sorts of problems being 259 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.039 a heroin addict. I'm I'm late for work and I 260 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:47.000 can't remember to do stuff and my work's really low quality. 261 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:48.759 And you say, well, what are you going to do 262 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:51.840 about that? And they go, I've seen you getting up earlier. Well, 263 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:56.519 this is certainly one option. Well, okay, any other ideas well? 264 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:58.639 I was Thineking of setting alarms that tell me to 265 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.879 do my stuff. You know, I'm going to take some nanacs. 266 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:03.159 Maybe stop being a heroin addict. 267 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:05.639 Like it's it's. 268 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.679 Obviously a complicated issue, but one of the core problems 269 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.240 with housing in the United States is that it is 270 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:15.360 so regulated, especially in places like California, and union rules 271 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:18.639 and environmental rules make it so difficult to build at 272 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.960 cheap prices that people are struggling to get into the market, 273 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.519 and the fact that the inflation that we cause led 274 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:29.039 to high interest rates has not helped people get into 275 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:31.840 that market either. And the one thing I mean, she 276 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.559 says nothing for a month, nothing. She's an avatar candidate. 277 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:37.360 The press does all of her work, and she says, 278 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:38.960 I'm going to make a big speech, and the one 279 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:41.480 thing she can think of is give people money. On 280 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:46.000 the demand side, you can't see, you can't see all 281 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:48.480 of the stuff that everyone's been talking about. 282 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.600 You want to give people money on them. 283 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:54.960 It's just astonishing, totally inability to see the problem. 284 00:14:55.639 --> 00:14:57.559 Well, at this point, of course, everybody in her side 285 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.559 are saying, well, what about Trump and troosts, And that's 286 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:02.320 another versation. We can have all of these conversations, but 287 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:04.879 at the moment we have our guest, and our guests. 288 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:05.679 Popped up and we're glad that he did. 289 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:09.799 It's Charlie Gasperino, senior correspondent for Fox Business, also columnist 290 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:11.759 for The New York Post and an author, most recently 291 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:15.159 of Goo Go Broke, The Inside Story of the Radicalization 292 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:16.320 of Corporate America. 293 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:18.559 Charlie, thanks for joining us today. Charlie. 294 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.960 I know that this is a this is a nation 295 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:24.519 that has many problems that afflict it, many deep societal 296 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.000 problems that were eager and keen to grasp with some 297 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:27.399 of them. 298 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.320 Some of them we are too painful and we turn away. 299 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.080 But I know that when I want guidance in where 300 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:35.440 the soul of America should be headed, I look to 301 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:42.039 tractor companies and motorcycle makers. So let's talk about the company, 302 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:46.480 the ones that I just mentioned, for example, the problems 303 00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:48.159 that they face may not be. 304 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:50.799 Instantly knowable to the people who aren't on Twitter and 305 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:51.360 the rest of it. 306 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:55.840 But Harley Davidson is the most recent company for people 307 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.960 to look at them and say, wait a minute, iconic 308 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:03.039 American brand, symbol of the open road, the throaty engine, roar, 309 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:06.360 the smell of the gas, the great American icon, and 310 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:11.360 they're they're lecturing us about the need to reinvent capitalism. 311 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:12.519 Sadly, they're not alone. 312 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:15.600 I mean, I mean, one of the things in my 313 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.159 book that I point out is just you know, how stupid, 314 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.080 just just how pervasive wokeness is at companies. And now 315 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.840 you would think corporate America is a right wing pursuit 316 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.000 right capitalism. Uh, it is within the confines of wokeness. 317 00:16:32.039 --> 00:16:36.000 At least lately. I mean, all these companies have evolved 318 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:41.399 into sort of messaging the the cultural dynamics of the left. 319 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.879 And I know this sounds really sort of academic when 320 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:50.879 I explain this, but you read the book and you'll 321 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:54.080 both get a laugh out of it, because watching corporations 322 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:56.320 do stupid woke stuff is really fucking funny. 323 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.919 Right, it's a New York Post. 324 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:04.799 We mentioned New York. It absolutely is. It is. 325 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:08.319 It's amusing and its cluelessness and their and their inability 326 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:09.680 to read the room and the rest of it. 327 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:10.400 Let's go down. 328 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.079 Let's go down some of the examples you talk about 329 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:13.720 in your book, and then let's also get to the 330 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.920 important question, do they really go broke? I mean, Disney 331 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.759 still trading, Harley still selling cycles, that farm supply guys. 332 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:22.480 You know, they may have taken a little hit, but 333 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:23.920 they're going to be still around. 334 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.279 Do they really first example, your favorite example of a 335 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.960 company that went woke for no good reason at all. 336 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:36.200 Well, it's gotta be Budweiser. Well, you know, it's it's 337 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.480 a brand. Budweiser is a brand in the people. The 338 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.960 Anheuser Bush owns Budweiser. It's it doesn't. It's sold that 339 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:47.039 two thousand and nine, I go through the buyout. The 340 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:49.839 Bush family became very rich by selling it for billions 341 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:53.400 of dollars to a company called ab Imbev, which is 342 00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:57.720 essentially a bunch of Brazilians and uh and uh and 343 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:02.079 Belgian you know, the businessmen very Davos who bought the 344 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:05.240 brand and uh. And you know, that's where you could 345 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:11.119 trace the increasingly sort of progressive branding of Budweiser and 346 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.039 there and other brands to that purchase. And you know, 347 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.160 it reached its sort of high or low part point 348 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.960 with the Dilla mulvaney trans woman in a bubble bath 349 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:27.000 drinking a bud light you know, yeah, which, yes, did happen, 350 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.920 but I, you know, sort of that to me was 351 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:34.839 the most infuriating and the funniest and also it just 352 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:39.119 really captured you know, why this is this this occurred. 353 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:39.799 And I'll tell you why. 354 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:42.759 I you know, I covered this when it went down 355 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.640 in twenty twenty three, and the company tried to blame 356 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:46.960 it on you know, a couple of misfits in the 357 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:50.000 marketing department, and as I found out, it was much 358 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:54.160 more than that. It was literally those misfits in the 359 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.480 marketing department. First of all, if it weren't such misfits, 360 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:59.599 were actually good marketers. But they were under some pretty 361 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:05.079 strict sidelines too, to impose DEI diversity equity and inclusion 362 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:09.400 in various parts of the branding of their of their beer, 363 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:15.039 including the use of influencers. So what happened was they 364 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:19.519 want they abm that was increasingly going there. It wanted 365 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:23.519 to include in its you know, in its DEI mandates 366 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:28.480 for influencers. Uh, trans you know, the trans community essentially 367 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.039 as part of that DEI mandate. 368 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:32.480 And if you're going to go to the. 369 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:36.160 Trans community to sell beer, you know, Dil mulvaney becomes 370 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:39.279 like someone that you go to even though the company 371 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:41.519 like sits there and says, oh, we've never heard of 372 00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:45.519 this person before. I mean, Dil Molvaney is a famous transactivist. 373 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:46.359 Uh. 374 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:53.039 She interviewed Joe Biden before the before those ads hit, 375 00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:56.519 and you know, and and it became sort of a 376 00:19:56.519 --> 00:20:00.960 cultural touch touchstone, the whole the whole Budweiser lap or 377 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:06.119 bud Light flap. She chronicled on Twitter or on Facebook 378 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:09.680 and Instagram and TikTok her three hundred and sixty four 379 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:12.319 days of Man of becoming. 380 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.200 A woman girl. 381 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:14.559 No, it's called being a girl. 382 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:17.400 Yeah, I mean it was really and and by the 383 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:20.680 way she did doing it was pretty off brand if 384 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:24.839 you did any research into her, her brand was bizarre 385 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:28.279 because it was so activist. I mean, no, I listen, 386 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:30.880 I have trans friends, no problem with people that want 387 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:32.720 to go there, and that's your business. I have a 388 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:36.440 problem with proseetizing, obviously, but you know, you could make 389 00:20:36.440 --> 00:20:38.519 a case that you might have proselytized kids. There was 390 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:40.960 a Ted Cruz told me, and it's in the book 391 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:45.640 the Senator from Texas about how she had some did 392 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:49.160 some skit on on Instagram or TikTok about her name 393 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:52.240 being Eloise and she's six and she's dancing around. I mean, 394 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.079 it's it's I mean, it's just it's bizarre that that 395 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:01.319 Budweiser go there. But if you know d you understand 396 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:03.720 why they went there. And that's part of the whole 397 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:08.680 corporate woke movement. Now when I say go woke, go broke, listen, 398 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:12.559 I mean, obviously I'm not prone to exaggeration here, but listen, 399 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:16.359 there is a there is a brokeness to this. Budweiser 400 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:21.880 went from the number three brand, number one brand to 401 00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:25.880