Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / How The American Small Business League Is Working to Have One Leg Up For American SMALL BIZ 6-23-25

Transcript

How The American Small Business League Is Working to Have One Leg Up For American SMALL BIZ 6-23-25 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: All right, well you're on Alex Garrett's one leg of network.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: So many thoughts going into this podcast tonight. Obviously we're
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: following the us I RAN situation, but I want to
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: actually put that aside for a second because I found
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: out the MTA, who knows you know, has the lar
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Cares program where you can have services for those disabilities
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: and accommodations needed at any train station in the branches
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: are available for accommodation of arriving trains and actually trains
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: that come into the station. They can help you get
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: on and off as well. Found out yesterday that that
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: LR care program does not work after ten pm. So
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: every day this week, no matter what I'm talking about,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say this right off the bat, disabled
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: people live life after dark. After ten we are still
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: out and about and I would love to see changes
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: at the MTA and the LR to address this need
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: for helping out people with disabilities after ten pm. I'm
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: going to say that every day this week at least,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: and we'll keep you posting and see if there's any
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: developments with the MTA to solve this issue of the
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: lack of care and lack of lar our care after
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: ten pm. Can't wait to start a dialogue with the
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: MTA on this and go further and enhance the point
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: and hit home the point that people with disabilities have
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: lives after dark after ten pm. Now today, in an
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: interview that just just breaks the surface on how important
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: small businesses are to America, I want to welcome Bruce
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: de Torres, the communications person director for the Small Business
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: League of America, to talk about what is happening to
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: these small businesses during all this tenuous times and how
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: during these tenuous times we cannot lose track of our
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: small businesses. Bruce, thanks for joining the One Leg Up
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Network with Alex Garrett today.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Alex greed to meet too privilege And.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: You know I was recommended to you by Publiusts, so
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: shout out to them and their PR firm and the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: great work they're doing. But you know you want to
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: comment on so many stories since the original pitch, so
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: much has gone on. So where do we start?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Because I had.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: John for the Elon Musk Trump disaster, and I know
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you want to comment on that, But now we've got
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the israel I ran war. But first and foremost all
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: these news stories do impact small businesses, don't.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: They absolutely not, least of which ALEX is something most
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: people don't know, or if they know, they don't know
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: how important it is. Which is this. Ninety nine point
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: nine percent of all businesses in America our small businesses,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and ninety eight percent have less than one hundred employees
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: they employ, or over half the workforce they create, up
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to ninety eight percent of all new jobs. So, for
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: all intents and purposes, America is our small businesses. You
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: can't make America great unless you're trying to let our
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: small businesses be great. Don't get in their way at
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: the very least. And then anything that you can do
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: at the federal level to help and assist and encourage
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: our small our small our small businesses pays huge dividends.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: That's the opportunity at our fingertips. And now what I'd
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: like to do is take a minute to describe the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: major problem that we are in the business of posing
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and trying to solve, which is going to take a movement.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: We can't do it ourselves, okay, and then we can
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: apply this foundational stuff. I'll spell out ALEX to the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: current events, to every aspect domestically and internationally, and tariffs
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and war and everything else. All right, and here it
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: is twenty three percent of all federal contracts are supposed
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to go to our small businesses. That's around three hundred
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: and forty five billion dollars in business every single year.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, the SBA Small Business Administration, which is responsible
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: for ensuring that this happens, lies to us and says
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: twenty three percent, twenty five percent, twenty six percent this year,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: every year of our contracts of federal contracts went to
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: small businesses. How about a loan. Let's talk about the loans.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the loans, and how about a loan
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and lay wauitch here.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Tell me the Small Busines Association only gave twenty three
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: percent of brands to actual small businesses. Is that what
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: I'm hearing here?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: No, I haven't explained it well. The law says that
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: twenty three percent of federal contracts are supposed to go
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to small businesses. If small businesses got the twenty three
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: percent of the federal contracts that they're supposed to alex,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: they would create two million new jobs every year to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: do the work of those contracts. The big businesses who
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: get them. Unfortunately they're already big. They don't create one
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: new job. So this is an economic ripoff of epic proportions.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: How do we know this, Well, our founder and president,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Lloyd Chapman, about forty years ago, Oh sued. I think
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: it was the Pentagon to find out what should have
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: been public information. Who were the small businesses? You say
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you gave a portion of this particular contract too, way
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: back when they wouldn't tell them, And when it was
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: finally revealed in court because we won, Lloyd won, it
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: showed that the Pentagon had lied. They didn't meet whatever
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the goal of that particular contract was. It can vary,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it's not necessarily twenty three percent in each and every contract,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't the goal. They had lied. In fact,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in that particular case, something like one sixteenth of one
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: percent of the contract amount went to legitimate small businesses. Well,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: this inspired Lloyd to sue again and again and again
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: to find the truth, and he has won over one
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: hundred freedom of information legal battles showing that routinely big
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: businesses get contracts and they're called small businessess they the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: agencies that are worth these contracts don't reveal the companies
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: they gave the contracts to. All manner of obfruscation happens.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: That lets the SBA every year lie and say that
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five percent of federal contracts went to small
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: businesses and teams.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Under administrations or is this an administration? You know, it
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter who the office. This is always the thing.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: It's always the scene. It's always this thing, and it's
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: worse to under Republican administrations. Under Clinton and under Biden,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: things were had better. But George W. Bush came in
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and said, I want to close the SBA. This is
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes because no one publicly comes out and
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: says that. However, President Trump came in in twenty sixteen
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: first term, the SBA budget was at the lowest it
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: had ever been. He lowered it even more. Is the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: only agency alex dedicated to America small businesses ninety nine
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: percent of all businesses in America. It's the only It
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: should be the They should have one of the biggest budgets.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: It should have one of the biggest footprints, with offices
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: not only just in big cities, but in every big town, Sir,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: and not just pushing loans to get us in debt,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: but to emphasize and make easy the pursuit and the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: awarding of federal contracts to small businesses. This was first
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: established in nineteen fifty three by the Small Business Act,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: which created the SBA, and back then it said a
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: fair portion of federal contracts must go to small businesses.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: And in the seventy years since then, it's been codified
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: in you know, on paper, it's got to be twenty
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: three percent of all federal contracts must go to small businesses. Now,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: guess what what's happening under the new administration of Back
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: in March a couple things. The Department of Education was
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: declared going out of business. You know, the administrator wants
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to close it. And the SBA, we were told couldn't
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: manage six hundred million dollars in loans under the SBA's
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: responsibility went to fraudulently to children and went to people
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifteen years old, you know, and older.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Couldn't manage six hundred about six hundred million dollars in loans.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: But we're going to give the SBA. Also, the staff
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: just got cut by forty three percent, which is going
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: to bring its budget down. So here's the SBA. It
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: can't manage six hundred million loans. We're going to shrink
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: its staff by forty three percent, but we're going to
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: give it the one point six trillion dollars student loan
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: portfolio from the Department of Education. Clearly, the SBA is
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: being set up to fail. Also that it's been announced
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: they're going to relocate offices out of some of the
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: biggest cities in America New York, Boston, Atlanta, and now
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: because of the riots in LA, we're going to punish
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: LA by relocating the SBA office out of LA. Well,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: why isn't every other federal agency pulling out of LA
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: in protest to how the city is not a responsive
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to the immigration policy.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: And you know you mentioned in your in the pitches
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: that that was one of the hardest hardest businesses with
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: small businesses that were being looted, rioted, bricks thrown through
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: their window type of situation.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, and that is very specifically a law and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: order issue. It has nothing to do with whether the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: SBA office or it's got nothing to do with the
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: SBA having an office in LA closing it and telling
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: us you're going to relocate it is part of a
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: pattern of weakening an evisc serrating the SBA. We see
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: it being set up to fail for everything that I've described, Alex,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: we will not be surprised if we soon hear you know,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it really was a mistake to burden the SBA with
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the one point six trillion dollars student loan. Let's push
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: some of its functions or all of its functions into
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the Department of Treasury or the Department of Commerce, and
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: like I say, lost in the fog of bureaucracy will
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: be the contracting program. Because it's not easy for small
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: businesses to find what contracts they could bid for or
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: learn how do you apply for a federal contract. This
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: is an economic stimulus at our fingertips if enough honest lawmakers, presidents,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: and administrators of the SBA. Kelly Loffler Hello, took this
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: on and said this is unacceptable, and that's what we
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: exist to make known.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: All right, let me ask you this, because there were
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: a lot of SBA loans that got approved that might
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: have been fraudulent, and yet maybe more small business were
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: hurt by those fraudulent loans being approved, not their own.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: So out of the American how did the ASBO step
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: in when the SBA couldn't for those small businesses during
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: that horrible time of COVID. Of course i'm talking about
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and have you seen improvement for small business since then?
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: No? And we don't focus on anything except spreading the
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: word Alex about the contracts that are not going to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: small businesses. If the SBA, okay, is the Titanic, the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: whole for our small businesses or our economy is the Titanic.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: The hole in it that we want fixed is the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: fact that three hundred and forty five billion dollars in
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: business is not going to our small businesses that should
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: whereby we would create two million new jobs. And I'm
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: going to get back to your question. On top of
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the two million jobs at America typically creates every single year,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: this would create an economic boom of epic proportions. What
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the SBA does about is loans. What causes everything else
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: that causes small businesses to struggle, and it's legion. There's
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: tons that are pressing on small businesses, that are raising costs,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: that are making it harder and harder. And COVID was
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a catastrophe and it's hard to imagine that it was
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: anything but intentional for the big box stores to stay open,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: for the online stores to stay open, for liquor stores
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to stay open, but millions of mom and pop and
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: small businesses close their doors. I understand a lot of
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: them came back, but I also understand that a lot
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: of them didn't. And everything about technology, all trends are squeezing,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: as we see it, small businesses out of existence. Even
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the convenience of ordering online and having things shipped to us,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: even working from home, working remotely, all kinds of things
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: are pressuring small businesses in a really dangerous but worse
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: outrageous way because it's being done criminally right now.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: You know, one of my biggest examples I've solved this
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: was Coogan's restaurant in the Bronx, not to borrow from
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital was closed down. Meanwhile the Starbucks
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: and the McDonald's are all open. And it's like, this
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: is the picture right here of the small business struggling
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: while the big businesses could get that leg up if
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you will, And we exist to give that small business
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: another leg up because they need it. And the excuse
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: we heard the whole time, Bruce was while small businesses
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: aren't catching up to the big business Then.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Help them catch up to them. That's what I'm saying,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: don't close them, especially since ninety nine point nine or
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: small businesses that means one tenth of one percent or
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: big businesses NFO about half the workforce works and small businesses.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Why are we steering ninety seven percent of federal contracts
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: to the one tenth of one percent of businesses that
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: are huge businesses. It's clearly an intentional suffocating strangulation, squeezing
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: out of existence our small businesses, which then puts on
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: the table the logic or the appeal of something as
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: anti human and un American as UBI universal Basic income. Now,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: this is my personal opinion. You're not going to find
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: these kind of conversations on our website. On our website
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: asbo dot com shameless plug, you'll find this account, this
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: report I'm telling you about the contracts that should go
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to small businesses that are not, and tons of documentation
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: to prove these controversial claims. Because if you search Google
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: or you search the new sites, they're going to repeat
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the lie that, oh, every year, twenty three percent or
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: more of federal contracts go to small businesses. Everything's fine,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: how about a loan. Let's talk about a loan. They
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: really want you to think. If you ask most people
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: what does the SBA do, they would say loans, right, yeah, loans, Oh,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and maybe some coaching, Oh, how to start a business,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: how to launch a business, how to scale, how to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: use AI, maybe some sales in marketing. Buried is this
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: enormous economic stimulus intention which is twenty three percent of
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: now A couple of things to discover waste fraud and
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: abuse because you know mentioned, you know, the Trump Musk
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and all these other things that affect small business over
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: the last few.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Months, and these DOGE situations are not helping small businesses, right.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Or are they No, they're not. And most egregiously, it's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: like a magic trick. You know, I'm waving a handkerchief here,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: that's DOGE. But with the other hand, I'm picking your pocket.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: And by that analogy, I mean this. If President Trump,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Elon Musk was or DOGE is serious about finding waste
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: fraud and abuse, they would target one agency, the Department
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: of Defense, which anyone could google and find. In the
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: last twenty five years or so, it has admitted up
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: to thirty five trillion dollars in accounting adjustments, which really
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: means money. We can't account for thirty five trillion dollars.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: But you're going to shrink the SBA because you think
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: it's got some fraud, waste and abuse going on there
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: with a measy little budget of less than a billion
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: dollars a year. And worse, the Pentagon, just we just
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: got told, is going to have its budget increase from
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: now on. Its annual budget is going to be a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: trillion dollars a year. And here's other huge things people
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: need to know. The federal government is the largest perch
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: serve goods and services on the planet, the United States
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: federal government. Okay, and half of the budget goes two
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: or four the Pentagon. So now anyone of a certain
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: ager who has read a little history, alex can see
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: g In nineteen sixty one, outgoing President Eisenhower, in a
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: national farewell address, warned us about the military industrial complex,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: this unusual and unprecedented combination of a huge armaments industry
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and a huge military presence and organization. He said, it's
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: necessary at the time because of the Cold War, but
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: we must never let it have undue influence. Whack they
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: take out President Kennedy, who was moving toward peace, who
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: was talking about ending the Cold War in nineteen sixty three,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: who was talking about not just arms control, but disarmament
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: regularly in his three years. President Kennedy reminded the American
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: people and the press and and interviews and in press conferences, well,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: as you know, since the nineteen twenties, our goal is
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: general and complete disarmament. He's the last president Alex who
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: ever said those words nineteen sixty three, and since then
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: we can see all kinds of Bologney conflicts, wars, attacks,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and destruction of foreign countries that we have implemented. And
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: this is Bruce's personal observation, not necessarily the Asbl's, although
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you know Lloyd, our president, would have no
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: argument with what I'm saying. It's all to maintain the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: money flowing to the companies and the institutions and the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: people els who make big money because of our gigantic
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and unnecessary military. If the world seems like a dangerous place,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: much of that is a result of the propaganda and
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the money influence into the media to demonize whomever it
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: takes in order for you to think, gee, people are
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: about to attack, attack us decade after decade after decade. Therefore,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: we have to keep pouring more and more money into
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: this gigantic and unnecessary military that makes the world a
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: more dangerous place and destroys the lives of the people
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: we decide to attack and propose a boloney reason as
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to why we should attack them and why they're dangerous.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: So the Pentagon is really at the heart of sucking
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: up and vacuuming and capturing the vast majority of federal contracts.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: And meanwhile, Americans have to work two or three jobs
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and struggle to keep the lights on and struggle to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: be able to buy enough napkins and straws and salt
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and pepper for their little restaurants.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I always say, think troops, but I also get
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: where you're coming from as well, that you know, there's
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: so much money that goes into it. But but the
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: you know, small businesses do good like looked over a lot,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: you know, overlooked a lot. I guess I'm trying to say, so,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: where does the ASBL, you know, aside from all of that,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: where does the ASBL come in and support small businesses
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: that are truly in need? And I also mean legally
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: because you know, a lot of small businesses seem to
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: get punished for the littlest things and whatnot. Maybe I'm
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: wrong on that, but it seems like if you're gonna,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: you know, arrest someone, it's usually a small business owner
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: over somebody else. So does the ASBO protect not only
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: financially but legally as well.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: No, We're we're an advocacy group that, like I say,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: if you go when you when people go to ASBO
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Well, also, is that is that correct that sometimes small
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: business owners do get arrested for like No, you know,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: the small business that punish more than the regular big
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: businesses don't.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I haven't looked into that, so I have no opinion
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: about that, Alex. I take your word for it. It
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: sounds like you're speaking from an impression based on real
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: examples that you've heard regularly over time. So it has
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: reinforced to something that sounds like a conviction on your part,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and that would be fascinating. I'll put it this way.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised, okay, knowing the grip and the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: influence on not only our media and laws and legislation
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: in Washington, but certainly maybe down to the local law
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: enforcement on the street, or maybe it's coincidental, because where
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: does crime happen. You know, it happens on the street.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: It happens. You know. It's enough to know that there
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: was a great intention on the books, this fair amount,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and now it's become twenty three percent of federal contracts.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: And we could talk about, you know, President Trump and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the tariffs over the last and the trade deals and
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: things like that, eight deficits over the last few months.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: And I also wouldn't mind talking about a nuance inside
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the twenty three percent goal to small businesses, since ninety
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: nine point nine percent of all businesses or small businesses
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: is twenty three percent? The most fair amount of federal
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: contracts that should go to small businesses? Should it be
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: thirty percent? Now dig this. Here's our favorite drum de bang.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: It's the fact that on the books, women own businesses
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: are supposed to get only five percent of federal contracts.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Full stop, screeching, halt alex. Women are half the population,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: they own forty two percent of all businesses. Why should men?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: For decades, companies owned by men get over ninety five
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: percent of all federal contracts. So we've got a short
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: list of fixes that we are actively emailing and calling
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the members of the House Small Business Committee, the Senate
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Small Business Committee. Plus we've made lists of hundreds of
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: people alex who are running for Congress next year, both
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: for the House and for the Senate, and we send
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: them a letter from me that says, hey, twenty three
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: percent is supposed to go to small businesses. They're not.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And worse, women are half the population, they own forty
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: two percent of the business, they're only getting five among
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: We tell these people in this letter, you will win
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: because elections are won by a handful of percentage points. Okay,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: women and fair minded men will vote for you if
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: you run. To do a few things. Expose the fraud
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that small business contracts are going to big businesses, said
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: another way, that big businesses are being called small businesses
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: for the sake of getting contracts that they really really
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: shouldn't get. Also, raise the requirement from five to fifteen
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: percent a federal contract should go to women, and make
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the remainder fifteen percent go to companies owned by men,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: so that the total comes up to simply thirty percent
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of federal contracts must go to small businesses. And then
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: there's a couple other points. I want to give you
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a chance to ask a question instead of being a
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: mic hogue.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: No, no, this is this fascinatings up because I love
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: what you're doing with your project. Don't cheat women or yeah,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: don't treat women as the project. And congrats on all
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: this advocacy that you're doing. I can tell you're passionate
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: about fighting for those small business owners that are looking
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: back a seat to the table and looking for that
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: one leg up because look, they work so hard. Why
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: should we eat them?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Men and women?
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: But you know, I get the women being able to
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Why should we cheat any of these people? Because they've
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: built a business and.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: They need to be rewarded.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: That's the whole American spirit is rolling up your sleeves
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: and doing something instead of just sitting back on your
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: iPhone and scrolling the whole day Anyway, I go on
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: and on, but as you can have small business is
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: a passion because I want to see all of them succeed.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: And I feel like you guys are helping them absolutely.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: And you know the senators that you're probably writing to
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: probably have on their platform they want to help small businesses, Well,
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: then actually help small business right.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Right, instead of just giving us lip service, you know,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and a couple of the things we're telling them is
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: run on those things, but also run to change the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: definition of a small business right now, quote unquote officially
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: it's five hundred or less employees. Okay, we think that's
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: too big. Up until the nineteen eighties, the definition of
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: a small business was up to one hundred employees. Ninety
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: eight percent of all businesses have less than one hundred employee.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: The average business in America has somewhere between four and
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: ten employees. That's it. But because of decades of corruption
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and big money being made by these big corporations, plus
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the revolving door of the agencies loving to give the contracts,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: especially the Pentagon, to giant corporations, they groom contract officers
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: who actually kind of cut corners and let the Pentagon
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: get some advantages maybe you know, lower prices or whatever,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and also be called or codified as small businesses. And
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: after twenty years at a company as a contracting officer,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: they'll move into a leadership position at the agency. So
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: it's there's a decade of momentum that are causing the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: capture of these contracts by the biggest corporations, and the
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: complete ignoring of steering this economic boom and this business
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: into our small businesses. And there's a couple other things
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: that So when we send these letters out to the candidates, hey,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: let us know if you'd like to talk about these things,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: many of them are saying, tell me more. So then
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I write back and say, well, I'd love to record
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: a zoom conversation with you as an episode on our podcast.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: It'll the first half will be all about you and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: why you're running for office, and the second half will
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: be me telling you everything I can about this problem
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and encouraging you to run on it because we want
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: to see by next year the midterms. Alex twenty thirty
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: forty fifty candidates running on this platform a pro small business.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: I'm getting, folks, because I see now right on your
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: page you've got candidates for twenty twenty six the page
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: in different areas of the country, right, So these are
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: different races that you guys are highlighting through your podcast.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: So kudos to you guys for doing that, and you know,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: putting the pedal of the metal, as they say, with
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: these different edits, And what have they been telling you anything?
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: That's fascinating, eye opening.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Or well, they they're often blown away by the scam
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I'm exposing. You know that big businesses get small business
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: contracts there many of them are blown away by the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: fact that ninety nine point nine percent or of all
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: businesses are small businesses. Most folks don't know that because
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: look at the brainwashing and the propaganda we're up against.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: You watch the nightly news or mainstream feeds every day
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of your life since the day you were born. You
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: think the economy and the news and Wall Street and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: job creation is by the Amazon and Google and Walmart
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: and you know, the most giant companies. You never hear
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: small businesses. It's a shock to know even though you
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: work for small business or you own one, you've got
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a cringe factor because you know how hard it is
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: to survive, and you're not being talked about. Whereas you
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: can't make America great unless you make our small businesses great.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: You're not even talking about America if you're not talking
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: about our small businesses. You're talking about the rich companies
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and institutions and legacy families that have captured America. There's
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty five members of Congress. Between the
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: House and the Senate, there's something like thirteen thousand registered
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: lobbyists whose full time job is to arm twist. The
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: special issuers who armed twists are legislators and the department
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: heads and our politicians and our leaders to serve the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: one tenth of one percent who are rich by.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: We're going to continue this on another episode because I feel, yeah,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: a lot of talk about but before we rep up
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: on today's show, I want to get you repped up
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: on the tariffs because we all though, look, I'm in
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: favor of in some form of way, you know, making
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: sure if they're going to tear of us high we
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: we balance it out. However, we can also say it's
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: not helping small businesses with these tariffs. So I'm sure
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: you'll want to say about that before we wrap up today.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can. I can briefly say this. It seems
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: almost uh, haphazardly implemented. It's it's too uh, it's gonna
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: I don't want to insult what you just said. I
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: have to say this, right, it's too simple to say, well,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: because they've got high tariffs on us, we're just going
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: to raise our tariffs. Because you see the destruction. Do
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: you see the harmon it's doing. It's just raising costs
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: if and but it's supposedly going to help us reindustrialize
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: and bring our manufacturing back. WHOA. That would take such
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: long term planning, that would take such an investment in
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: rebuilding our infrastructure, that would take training and pushing out
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: new technology of manufacturing to all the factories that have
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: closed to bring our manufacturing back to the point where
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: we could afford to raise tariffs. You have to have
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: the horse before the cart. So this looks like political
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: grand standing. It might be just chest thumping and ego
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: boosting on that surface measure. Oh you're tariffing me high,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tariff you high. That's looking at it
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: from the president's point of view. And the last thing
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I'll say about tariff's alex is that they are a
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: very powerful component of an economic program that works. It's
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: called the American system of economics. It's what Alexander Hamilton
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: persuaded George Washington to implement. It's the policy of the
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: nationalists who fought the American Revolution so we could break
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: free of England's colonial, exploitive, tyrannical slaveocracy. Okay, the economics
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: of empire don't want other nations to become economically strong
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: so that they could become militarily strong. Okay. And in
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the United States, nationalists fought back with economics, including tariffs,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: an easily available credit, so that we could develop our
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: domestic manufacturing, a domestic economy where we buy and sell
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and get rich among ourselves, so we could have a
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: military that's strong enough and be an independent, sovereign nation.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And it was fought every step of the way by
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: traders who were serving and still serve London's British empire
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: economic view of raping and pillaging as much of the
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: world as possible and keep people poor so they can't
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: develop their own manufacturing, their own economies, their own military,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: and become you know, sovereign and independent. And that is
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the huge battle of mankind for the last three hundred years.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: And one could argue, and one does. And I could
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: tell you the history books to read that the evil
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: forces of Empire, represented well by London in the city
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: of the Bank of London, recaptured the United States during
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and after World War Two. Kennedy stood up to a
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: little bit. But now we are enmeshed and now it's
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: called free trade and globalization. It's nothing but the economics
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: of empire and exploitation. Is a great book called Confessions
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. I recommend everybody
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: read to cut into the heart of this. And one
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: more book it's called Who We Are by Anton chait
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: kinh Ai t ki n Volumes one and two.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Well, why did I investigate that? And thank you for
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: your time. But the money question I have for you
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: today is the asbl insure that every day is not
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: it is Small Business Saturday for Americans of small businesses,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: meaning you know, we celebrate it once a year. How
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: do you guys make sure it's celebrated every day and
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: honored every day by helping out the small businesses?
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Thirty second answer, it's by teaching everybody that ninety nine
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: point nine percent of all businesses in America are small businesses.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: When you buy from a small business, support a small business,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: you are doing the single greatest thing to keep your
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: community viable, with the highest standard of living in life possible,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: for the safety of your kids on the streets and
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: at school, for having enough money in the coffers to
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: keep the potholes filled, and to keep things clean and
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: nice and all the good things of life.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Bruce de Torrez a very informative conversation. Thank you for
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: joining us tonight here on the One That Got Network,
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: and I want to play your cut one more time
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: where you made this statement about how important small business
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: is to America.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: You can't make America great unless you make our small
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: businesses great.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: That should be played on every reel, not only on
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Small Business Saturday, but every day. And we have arranged
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: to have Bruce on again later in July. Can't wait
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: for that. And thanks as always for listening to the
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: One Leg Up Network. I'm Alex Garrett