Latest / Brian Thomas / Groucho and the National Debt - Big Picture with Jack Atherton

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Groucho and the National Debt - Big Picture with Jack Atherton · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: 705 at 55 KRC Talk Station. It being a Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: this is a great time of week to be tuned
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  Speaker 1: in to the 55's KRC Morning Show because this moment
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  Speaker 1: in time every Wednesday on the morning show, we get
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  Speaker 1: the brilliance of Jack Atherton. We all remember Jack, anchorman, author, lawyer, raconteur,
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  Speaker 1: and historian. Jack, always appreciate your brilliance shining through every week.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the show, my dear friend.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Brian. And a big salute to all
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  Speaker 2: veterans and active duty members, including my late dad. who
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  Speaker 2: served in the Navy in World War II. The terrible
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  Speaker 2: irony is that the thing our veterans protected, free elections,
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  Speaker 2: may have just put America in grave danger if we,
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  Speaker 2: the people, don't protect our Constitution.
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  Speaker 3: But, brother, I don't want to be gloomy.
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  Speaker 2: Let's lighten things up. We can't laugh off another looming
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  Speaker 2: disaster for which both parties are responsible. But maybe the
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  Speaker 2: Marx Brothers can. 90 years ago, nobody dreamed America's national
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  Speaker 2: debt could ever reach $ 40 trillion. Nobody even knew how
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  Speaker 2: many zeros it took to write one trillion. So I
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  Speaker 2: looked it up.
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  Speaker 3: 12.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That same number comes up in the movie Duck Soup. Groucho,
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  Speaker 2: who has somehow become the president of a tiny country, Fredonia,
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  Speaker 2: asks a neighboring country for a loan of $ 20 million.
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  Speaker 3: They turn him down. Well, Groucho says.
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  Speaker 2: Can you let me have $ 12 until payday?
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  Speaker 3: I'll give you my personal note for 90 days. If
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  Speaker 3: it isn't paid by then, you can keep the note.
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  Speaker 2: In effect, America is asking our creditors, the countries and
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  Speaker 2: people who buy our government bonds, to accept a personal
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  Speaker 2: note for $ 40 trillion. In return, we actually pay those.
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  Speaker 3: Creditors $ 80.
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  Speaker 2: Billion in interest every month, money that could go back
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  Speaker 2: into the pockets of taxpayers or do some other good.
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  Speaker 2: Not all countries can get away with this. What makes
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  Speaker 2: America different from France? Not that much. They have Dom
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  Speaker 2: Perignon champagne. We have Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. They have
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  Speaker 2: socialists burning down Paris and Limoges. We have socialists burning
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  Speaker 2: down Minnesota and Portland. The biggest difference is that the
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  Speaker 2: French cannot print money. The euro is not the world's
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  Speaker 2: biggest reserve currency. Our good old U.S. greenbacks But would everybody,
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  Speaker 2: from Red China to U.S. pension funds, want to squirrel away?
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  Speaker 2: For now. Until the U.S. government reveals itself to be
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  Speaker 2: an incorrigible, deadbeat, spendthrift debtor. Which could happen sooner than
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  Speaker 2: you think. 250 years ago, the newly independent and not
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  Speaker 2: yet fully united states were in the same position as
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  Speaker 2: Groucho begging for a $ 12 loan. Congress could not pay wages.
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  Speaker 2: to the Continental Army. And that pretty much continued for
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  Speaker 2: another seven years of the war, until officers asked George
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  Speaker 2: Washington to declare himself king. In response, the general took
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  Speaker 2: out a letter he had received from a member of Congress,
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  Speaker 2: asking for patience. Washington could not read the letter aloud until,
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  Speaker 2: for the first time in public, he wore reading glasses. Gentlemen,
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  Speaker 2: the general said, you will permit me to put on
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  Speaker 2: my spectacles, for I have grown not only gray, but
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  Speaker 2: almost blind in the service of my country. The rebuked
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  Speaker 2: officers openly wept, and Congress was more or less given
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  Speaker 2: Groucho's 90 days to make good on its obligation. That
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  Speaker 2: never happens anymore. We just keep issuing Groucho notes, $ 40
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  Speaker 2: trillion worth. Creditors keep buying them because we keep paying
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  Speaker 2: that $ 80 billion a month in interest. And we keep
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  Speaker 2: on spending money we don't really have. Our currency has
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  Speaker 2: not been tied to anything real since Richard Nixon took
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  Speaker 2: us off the gold standard in 1971. Not because James
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  Speaker 2: Bond's Goldfinger tried raiding Fort Knox. We ditched the gold
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  Speaker 2: standard because the U.S. was issuing more dollars than we
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  Speaker 2: could back up with gold or anything else other than
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  Speaker 2: our productivity and promise to pay. The biggest reason we
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  Speaker 2: need $ 40 trillion in debt is to pay for our
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  Speaker 2: three biggest entitlements, which keep ballooning every year. Social Security,
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  Speaker 2: Medicare for seniors, and Medicaid for lower-income and disabled people.
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  Speaker 2: Social Security is supposed to be self-sustaining, but it's never
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  Speaker 2: kept up with longer lifespans. And the Democrats' demand of
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  Speaker 2: Medicaid for all is, in effect, socialized medicine. Apart from
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  Speaker 2: the fact that socialized medicine in other countries provides substandard
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  Speaker 2: rationed care, unless you can pay for your own treatment,
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  Speaker 2: socialized medicine is also bankrupt in countries that cannot issue
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  Speaker 2: Groucho's Notes, that cannot print money like the U.S.
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  Speaker 3: Of A.
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  Speaker 2: Now, in fairness, Republicans have done almost nothing to reform entitlements.
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  Speaker 2: When it comes to Obamacare, which was always intended to
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  Speaker 2: be a glide path to national health care, Republicans in
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  Speaker 2: Trump's first term repealed the mandate for everyone to obtain
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  Speaker 2: an Obamacare-compliant policy. That was good, but they passed nothing
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  Speaker 2: to take its place, even though Trump said he would
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  Speaker 2: sign any health reform bill. His Republican majority in the
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  Speaker 2: pocket of insurance companies refused even minimal reform, like expanding
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  Speaker 2: personal health savings accounts, or making insurance portable from one
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  Speaker 2: job to another and across state lines. That's just one
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  Speaker 2: reason Republicans lost their majorities, paving the way.
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  Speaker 3: For Democrat disaster.
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  Speaker 2: As Groucho would say of Republicans, marry me and I'll
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  Speaker 2: take a vacation. And as the stars of Duck Soup
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  Speaker 2: would say of Democrat socialists, well, Brian, there's nothing you
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  Speaker 2: really can say other than duck.
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  Speaker 3: What do you say, my non-Marxist brother?
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate that because I think I've seen all the
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  Speaker 1: Marx Brothers movies and some of them stand up better
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  Speaker 1: at the time than others, but very funny they were.
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  Speaker 1: But you mentioned the mandate, the Obamacare mandate. That was
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  Speaker 1: the one thing the Supreme Court gave us by way
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  Speaker 1: of gift because they said you can't use the Commerce
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  Speaker 1: Clause to force people to buy something. So that just
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  Speaker 1: ruined the entire Obamacare model. So what do they give
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  Speaker 1: us in return? They take away choice in the world.
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  Speaker 1: You can effectively achieve a mandate by taking away the
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  Speaker 1: options that exist to avoid the Obamacare mandate, which is
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  Speaker 1: what we have right now. At least some measure of
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  Speaker 1: flexibility with the private insurance market, but they're clamoring to
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  Speaker 1: get rid of it. I mean, forcing you to capitulate. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Jack, you mentioned $ 40 trillion. That is exactly
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  Speaker 1: the price tag. I believe it was Cato and many
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  Speaker 1: other number crunchers have put on the price tag for
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  Speaker 1: Medicare for all over 10 years. I'm just still waiting
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  Speaker 1: for one of these leftists to explain to me how
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  Speaker 1: we're going to pay for it. I mean, at some point,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to have to pay so much interest on
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  Speaker 1: the bonds that people still buy. They're going to be
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  Speaker 1: considered junk bonds. Yeah, it's risky because the fiat currency
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  Speaker 1: in the United States is, well, rapidly being printed into oblivion.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what? We're willing to pay north of 10%
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  Speaker 1: if you're willing to back us and continue to back
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  Speaker 1: this printing press. That can't last forever, Jack.
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  Speaker 3: I just don't understand. Yeah. volcano. And you've been talking
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  Speaker 3: about another problem, huge problem.
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  Speaker 2: And now we've got Jensen Huang involved in it, what's
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  Speaker 2: going on with AI and the chips. We've got Democrats,
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  Speaker 2: including Hinojosa, the new governor of Texas, saying that she's
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  Speaker 2: going to put not just a moratorium, she may shut
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  Speaker 2: down the entire industry for a while, but that may
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  Speaker 2: ultimately be permanent.
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  Speaker 3: Who knows what they're going to do?
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  Speaker 2: And there's another problem related to that, Brian, that you
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  Speaker 2: would have gotten around to. I know A few geniuses
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  Speaker 2: are launching these new technologies, but we ignore declining standards
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  Speaker 2: with a total absence of standards for every one of
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  Speaker 2: our inner-city.
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  Speaker 3: Public schools students who have to.
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  Speaker 2: Go to these union-run schools. And the unions, of course,
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  Speaker 2: were the biggest winners in the last election. We ignore
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  Speaker 2: also the fact that the U.S. birth rate has been
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  Speaker 2: declining for the last decade, falling well below the replacement rate,
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  Speaker 2: and that endangers Social Security. and other social payments that
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  Speaker 2: are supposed to be sustained by people who are earning
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  Speaker 2: wages in this country, not just being given welfare. No
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  Speaker 2: matter how much money you take from billionaires, you can't
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  Speaker 2: make up for the fact that too few people are
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  Speaker 2: actually out there earning money. Now, we're not the first
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  Speaker 2: society to ignore these warnings and others. Take the most
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  Speaker 2: glaring example. Hitler, in his book Mein Kampf, My Struggle,
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  Speaker 2: told the world exactly what he was going to do,
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  Speaker 2: yet he was... freely elected. He was made chancellor, and
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  Speaker 2: then he became a dictator. Democrats have told us they
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  Speaker 2: plan to pack the Supreme Court with leftists, make Washington, D.C.
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  Speaker 2: and Puerto Rico states, and take other measures that will
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  Speaker 2: fundamentally transform, as Barack Obama promised, America into a one-party nation.
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  Speaker 2: We have been warned. The time is now to prepare
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  Speaker 2: for the 2028 presidential and congressional elections.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And getting rid of the electoral college is another one
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  Speaker 1: of their short list of items. They just cannot wait
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  Speaker 1: because you look at the state of Ohio and you
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  Speaker 1: got all of those red counties that can't compete with
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  Speaker 1: the population density of these left wing cities. That's basically
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  Speaker 1: what it would look like in the map of the
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  Speaker 1: United States. All those dark blue areas with dominant Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: population zones will outvote the rest of America if you
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  Speaker 1: get rid of the electoral college. So we are going
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  Speaker 1: to be governed by Californians and New Yorkers. It's just
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  Speaker 1: a frightening, frightening reality if that sets in, Jack. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they want to get rid of the Constitution.
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  Speaker 3: It is, and.
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  Speaker 2: Once again, let's go back to the people who are
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  Speaker 2: trying to protect that Constitution. And we've got to hope
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  Speaker 2: that we keep it strong. I was very disheartened to
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  Speaker 2: see that Republicans are not taking a more aggressive stance. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: Jim Jordan, thank goodness, is going to be leading the
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  Speaker 2: minority caucus in the House. But my goodness, how do
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  Speaker 2: we go back to John Thune?
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  Speaker 3: I understand. I understand.
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  Speaker 1: And, Jack, just a thought question. I've asked this question
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  Speaker 1: out loud before. Before we part company, I may as
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  Speaker 1: well throw it out there since, again, going back to
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  Speaker 1: the $ 40 trillion hole that we've dug for ourselves. That's
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  Speaker 1: $ 40 trillion additional dollars that were pumped into the American
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  Speaker 1: economy over that period of time. What would the country
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  Speaker 1: look like if we hadn't created a fake additional $ 40
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  Speaker 1: trillion and pumped it into the economy, Jack? What would
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  Speaker 1: we look like?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, you can't go back to Jefferson's agrarian
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  Speaker 2: United States. There's been a debate ever since our founding
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  Speaker 2: between the Jeffersonians, and Madison joined that group too, who said,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we have to keep the federal government as
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  Speaker 2: small as possible so that the rest of the country
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  Speaker 2: can continue to be productive. It won't be crowded out
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  Speaker 2: by government spending. Hamilton, on the other hand, was in
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  Speaker 2: favor of a big government, and I suspect that's one
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  Speaker 2: reason that he's become a hero to the left.
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  Speaker 3: Also, his ties to colonialism. He was born, of course,
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  Speaker 3: in the Caribbean.
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  Speaker 2: But Hamilton wanted our country to grow big. He wasn't
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  Speaker 2: a modern-day Democrat. Go ahead and read the Ron Chernow
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  Speaker 2: biography of Hamilton, which is the basis of the musical,
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  Speaker 2: and you'll find that Hamilton was much more complex and
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  Speaker 2: much more of a Jeffersonian than he's ever given credit
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  Speaker 2: for now. But, yes, this country would have to rely
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  Speaker 2: on the kind of people who came to America in
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  Speaker 2: order to find freedom. Not freedom to obtain welfare, but
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  Speaker 2: freedom to work and create businesses. And we're losing those people.
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  Speaker 2: We are.
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  Speaker 1: And isn't that how we became so great? There was
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  Speaker 1: no guarantee of a free plate of food or shelter
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  Speaker 1: or housing or Social Security or medical or anything. You
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  Speaker 1: came here because you had the resources to get here.
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  Speaker 1: You had an idea and confidence in yourself and we
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  Speaker 1: were the true bastion of freedom compared to the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the world where your ideas might bear fruit and
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  Speaker 1: in order to your benefit and certainly the country's benefit.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's just, we seem to be overwhelmed with people
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  Speaker 1: that just want free stuff and things. And it's a
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  Speaker 1: sad thing when our own population expects free stuff and
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  Speaker 1: things when they're free to get up and work and,
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  Speaker 1: and earn and participate and then earn the right also
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  Speaker 1: to complain about taxation.
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  Speaker 2: So once again, on this veterans day, Let's not just salute.
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  Speaker 2: Let's support the people who are out protecting the Constitution.
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  Speaker 1: And leave it on that positive note. Happy Veterans Day,
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  Speaker 1: Jack Atherton. As always, best of health and love to
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  Speaker 1: you and your better half. We'll do this again next Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: I certainly appreciate your time here on the 55KRC Morning Show.