Latest / The Rick Smith Show / The Rick Smith Show 10-29-2026

Transcript

The Rick Smith Show 10-29-2026 · The Rick Smith Show

0:00
[SPEAKER_02]: It's time for the Rick Smith show.
0:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, here is the voice of a working class, Rick Smith.
0:12
[SPEAKER_05]: And welcome, brothers, sisters working class heroes.
0:17
[SPEAKER_05]: This is the Rick Smith show.
0:19
[SPEAKER_05]: Thanks so much for being here.
0:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Today on the big program, I must have got two lots to talk about.
0:24
[SPEAKER_05]: I gotta play this clip.
0:24
[SPEAKER_05]: Gonna start right off with Kevin Hassett, our director of the National Economic Council was on Fox Business, had this to say about the affordability crisis.
0:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Because of the income boom, the capital spending boom, the fact that people aren't losing their jobs, all the things that have made the economy great, means that affordability crisis, it's a myth.
0:49
[SPEAKER_03]: And sure they could talk about gasoline, President Trump's right, that it's going to drop like a rock soon.
0:54
[SPEAKER_03]: But the bottom line is if you adjust for inflation, you adjust for changes in prices, that Americans are a trillion dollars better off.
1:01
[SPEAKER_03]: that they were in President Trump took office and so this whole idea about affordability, the way they're presenting it, is inconsistent with the data.
1:10
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh my goodness, affordability is decreasing.
1:14
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a myth.
1:15
[SPEAKER_05]: We're a trillion dollar richers.
1:17
[SPEAKER_05]: Do you believe that?
1:18
[SPEAKER_05]: And the struggle that you're feeling, the struggle that you have, keeping gas in the tank and food on your table, just inconsistent with the data?
1:26
[SPEAKER_05]: That's all.
1:32
[SPEAKER_05]: Um, it's a U-problem.
1:34
[SPEAKER_05]: That's it.
1:35
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a U-problem.
1:36
[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, you're just doing the economy wrong.
1:39
[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, now my question is, where's this trillion bucks of what you speak?
1:43
[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, has it as said, consumption is up about 5,000 bucks per household.
1:47
[SPEAKER_05]: On average.
1:49
[SPEAKER_05]: And the, the weird thing about averages is if I'm in a restaurant in Elon Musk walks in who we're multibillionaires.
1:57
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, the rest of us, maybe we're not being able to pay our rent, but average with Elon, we're all billionaires on paper.
2:06
[SPEAKER_05]: And look, that's not my frame.
2:08
[SPEAKER_05]: That's, that's Brookings economist Dave Wessel, who says that Musk and Zuckerberg spend a lot, and that brings up the average.
2:16
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, the rich people spend a lot.
2:18
[SPEAKER_05]: In fact, Moody's, Mark Zandy, says the top 10% of earners now do roughly half of all consumer spending.
2:28
[SPEAKER_05]: which means they're doing just fine.
2:31
[SPEAKER_05]: Their AI powered stocks have made sure of it.
2:34
[SPEAKER_05]: The rest of us, everybody else, not so much.
2:38
[SPEAKER_05]: In fact, after inflation marks and he says wages are actually falling.
2:42
[SPEAKER_05]: In September, hourly pay went up one tenth of a percent, while prices went up six tenths.
2:48
[SPEAKER_05]: That's a pay cut in the data, just so Kevin, you know.
2:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So who's inconsistent now, Kev?
2:57
[SPEAKER_05]: And today I had this conversation with a guy who says, I don't see any suffering.
3:00
[SPEAKER_05]: He says, sure, prices are higher, but everyone's just complaining.
3:05
[SPEAKER_05]: And of course he doesn't see it, because understand, suffering doesn't put up a billboard.
3:10
[SPEAKER_05]: I've been homeless in my lifetime.
3:12
[SPEAKER_05]: And never once did I ask for help.
3:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I never let anybody know I was struggling.
3:18
[SPEAKER_05]: Pride did that.
3:20
[SPEAKER_05]: And look, there's nothing wrong with asking for help.
3:22
[SPEAKER_05]: I want people to know that.
3:23
[SPEAKER_05]: You should.
3:24
[SPEAKER_05]: But most people are like I was, like a duck.
3:27
[SPEAKER_05]: You're calm on the surface, everything looks okay, but underneath paddling like crazy, just to keep from sinking.
3:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's your coworker with the same lunch every day, your neighbor, Mo, and the grass on Saturday, with the shut off notice on the kitchen table.
3:41
[SPEAKER_05]: You don't see it because they're working hard to make sure you don't.
3:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Now watch what this administration does with that pride.
3:51
[SPEAKER_05]: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, bragging.
3:54
[SPEAKER_05]: And I quote, it's it's a pretty big win when we move five million people off of food stabs and understand she she says it's it's fraud we crack down on fraud and of course the better economy kind of like Kevin a win in her view.
4:10
[SPEAKER_05]: So look at the big win since the Republican budget law passed in July 2025 snap his drop by more than five million people it has 13% absolutely about two million of those five million people are children.
4:24
[SPEAKER_05]: Snap is at its lowest level since 2009.
4:27
[SPEAKER_05]: And the question is, is did five million people land great jobs?
4:31
[SPEAKER_05]: Did the economy get so good while we weren't looking that they don't need groceries?
4:35
[SPEAKER_05]: No, that's not reality.
4:38
[SPEAKER_05]: The law pushed a work requirement up to the age of 64.
4:42
[SPEAKER_05]: It stripped exemptions for veterans, homeless people, and young people aging out of foster care.
4:47
[SPEAKER_05]: It put the states on the hook for errors or states buried people in paperwork.
4:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Arizona's own agency called it unprecedented call volumes in administrative hurdles.
4:59
[SPEAKER_05]: The AP says enrollment has dropped faster than expected and why?
5:04
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, because people are struggling to meet the deadlines or their missing documents.
5:09
[SPEAKER_05]: and research shows work requirements kick people off without raising employment or earnings.
5:16
[SPEAKER_05]: So this is not a jobs program.
5:18
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a paperwork trap.
5:19
[SPEAKER_05]: We know this.
5:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And here's the cruelty of it.
5:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Take the people already too proud to ask for help.
5:26
[SPEAKER_05]: And I know all about this.
5:29
[SPEAKER_05]: Make asking even more humiliating.
5:32
[SPEAKER_05]: Then make them prove it month after month after month with a stack of documents that never seemed to be right and they call them frauds on TV.
5:41
[SPEAKER_05]: Most people aren't going to fight it, they're just going to quietly disappear.
5:46
[SPEAKER_05]: Then you hold up the shrinking number and call that a victory, understand?
5:50
[SPEAKER_05]: They don't stop being hungry, they just stop being counted and it's about to get worse.
5:57
[SPEAKER_05]: Employers have blamed AI.
5:59
[SPEAKER_05]: for more than what 120,000 announced job cuts this year so far?
6:05
[SPEAKER_05]: That's the top reason given more than double of all than all last year.
6:09
[SPEAKER_05]: Now look, when a boss can say, yeah, I got a machine that could do your job.
6:13
[SPEAKER_05]: You're not going to be able to negotiate anymore.
6:15
[SPEAKER_05]: You're going to beg.
6:17
[SPEAKER_05]: The market's not going to fix that.
6:18
[SPEAKER_05]: The government has to, our government has to step in.
6:22
[SPEAKER_05]: So if Democrats take power in Washington, there are some things they've got to do quick, undo the snap and Medicaid cuts immediately, bring back the health insurance subsidies to make health insurance more affordable for folks and then move in my view start moving towards a Medicare for all system because that's what we desperately need.
6:42
[SPEAKER_05]: They need to raise the minimum wage.
6:43
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm sorry, 725 since 2009 is outrageous.
6:49
[SPEAKER_05]: past the proaxial workers can organize and fight for better wages, hours, conditions, and take on the boss.
6:56
[SPEAKER_05]: Restore the and expand the child tax credit so that we help families who are struggling and actually do something about AI.
7:06
[SPEAKER_05]: Do something with teeth.
7:08
[SPEAKER_05]: real advance layoff notices, wage insurance, paid retaining programs, and all by the way, maybe we start taxing businesses who are throwing people out on the curves, make it more expensive to get rid of them.
7:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Because understand, the ducks legs are getting tired, man, and Kevin Hassett keeps telling us that our struggles are inconsistent with the data.
7:33
[SPEAKER_05]: Because
7:37
[SPEAKER_05]: It's all we are.
7:39
[SPEAKER_05]: They've never cared about working people.
7:42
[SPEAKER_05]: They only care how much they can profit off of us, and how much they can sell us, and how they can get rid of us when we need something.
7:50
[SPEAKER_05]: That's simple.
7:51
[SPEAKER_05]: One of your thoughts, are you seeing the struggle?
7:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Are you part of the struggle?
7:55
[SPEAKER_05]: Email me, RicketTheRixMithShow.com.
7:57
[SPEAKER_05]: One of your thoughts.
7:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Good to take a quick break, right back.
8:07
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History Inter.
8:11
[SPEAKER_05]: This day in Labor History, the year was 1861.
8:15
[SPEAKER_05]: That was the day that the Pony Express made its last run and passed into legend.
8:21
[SPEAKER_05]: The bail delivery service had lasted only a year and a half, until it folded under competition from the newly completed Transcontinental Telegraph.
8:30
[SPEAKER_05]: The idea for a faster Western male delivery service came from the owners of the wagon freight company, Russell Major's in Wattel.
8:38
[SPEAKER_05]: At the time, the railroad terminated in St. Joseph Missouri.
8:42
[SPEAKER_05]: The goal of the Pony Express route was to cover the 2000 mile route from St. Joe to San Francisco in 10 days or half the time of competitors.
8:52
[SPEAKER_05]: riders would travel between one station and another on horseback, switching horses as they went.
8:57
[SPEAKER_05]: For this arduous job, the company targeted young men, sometimes in their teens.
9:03
[SPEAKER_05]: The goal was the higher small men to keep the weight low for the horses.
9:07
[SPEAKER_05]: The riders had to sign a pledge not to drink gamble, fight or swear.
9:12
[SPEAKER_05]: To back up the clean living, they were each issued a Bible.
9:16
[SPEAKER_05]: Riders were paid a minimum of $50 per month in addition to room and board.
9:21
[SPEAKER_05]: The writers faced many hazards from bad weather to thieves.
9:24
[SPEAKER_05]: They often traveled across lands in dispute between the US government and Native Americans adding to the potential danger.
9:32
[SPEAKER_05]: The fastest expressed delivery ever was Lincoln's inaugural address, which made it to California in under eight days.
9:40
[SPEAKER_05]: Perhaps the most famous person who claimed to be a Pony Express writer was Buffalo Bill Cody, although it's unlikely he ever carried the mail.
9:48
[SPEAKER_05]: He incorporated the Pony Express into his wild West Show, turning the mail service into the stuff of legend.
10:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to the Rick Smith show.
10:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, here is Rick Smith.
10:18
[SPEAKER_05]: So you got a lot of Kevin has it.
10:19
[SPEAKER_05]: The director of the National Economic Council, because you just heard him.
10:23
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, the reality is you just heard him say, because of the the income boom, the capital investment boom, that affordability thing, that that,
10:34
[SPEAKER_05]: that crisis, just a myth, just a myth.
10:36
[SPEAKER_05]: And in fact, it's your trillion dollars richer.
10:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So you're struggle to keep gas in the tank and food on the table, in his words, you're in consistent with the data.
10:48
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's a U-problem, not an economy problem.
10:52
[SPEAKER_05]: And look, look at all those rural farmers who are going bankrupt and whining and complaining about diesel fuel, they should be sucking it up
11:02
[SPEAKER_05]: it's inconsistent with the data and here to share some thoughts on well how those farmers are doing and how rural America is doing thanks to Trump's policies he's got a new piece out over at the Guardian Trump has been a total disaster for rural America and written by labor reporter Stephen Greenhouse Stephen thanks for the time for us.
11:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Great to be here, Red Club, you're well.
11:23
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's all a myth.
11:25
[SPEAKER_05]: The affordability crisis, a myth.
11:29
[SPEAKER_05]: We're actually a trillion dollars richer, Stephen.
11:31
[SPEAKER_05]: We're actually better than we think we are.
11:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know where this million dollar thing comes from.
11:38
[SPEAKER_04]: It sounds crazy.
11:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Maybe a trillion dollars richer for the 15 wealthiest billionaires in the country.
11:45
[SPEAKER_04]: And I just, this is not about farmers, but I was working in other story.
11:49
[SPEAKER_04]: And I saw the Philippe average Americans, since Trump came to office,
11:55
[SPEAKER_04]: weight, inflation has been 5.4% and wages have also risen 5.4%.
12:02
[SPEAKER_04]: So there's been no net gain, people have barely have not kept up with inflation, it's been even.
12:10
[SPEAKER_04]: So people are not doing great.
12:14
[SPEAKER_04]: That's why they're complaining about affordability.
12:22
[SPEAKER_04]: really pushed up prices and then typical Americans are angry and the story wrote in the Guardian that farmers are really pissed off.
12:29
[SPEAKER_04]: They, one of the big reasons they, you know, red states voted for Trump, was he promised he was going to reduce prices on day one.
12:37
[SPEAKER_04]: He even promised he was going to bring gas prices down to $2 a gallon.
12:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Ha ha ha ha.
12:42
[SPEAKER_05]: No, there's going to be this euconomic utopia.
12:44
[SPEAKER_05]: And in fact, he's failed so badly.
12:46
[SPEAKER_05]: But I just wrote a story that Mississippi is in play for the Democrats.
12:50
[SPEAKER_05]: Not just Kansas, because Kansas hasn't seen a Senator and what, nearly a Democratic Senator, and nearly what a century?
12:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.
12:58
[SPEAKER_04]: One of the crazy things we're seeing about rural America is that Trump won Iowa by more than by 13% or more.
13:06
[SPEAKER_04]: He won Kansas by 13% or more.
13:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, there's a good chance, you know, the Democratic Senator of Candidate is going to win there, the Republicans are going to lose.
13:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And the overwhelming reason is that people have really sowered seriously on Trump.
13:24
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's mainly over inflation and the war in Iran.
13:28
[SPEAKER_04]: And diesel prices.
13:29
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, farmers spend thousands of thousands of dollars a year in diesel, you know, for their trackers, for their combines.
13:35
[SPEAKER_04]: And, and these surprises have risen 70% you know, and, and, and, and in my story, I quote a farmer in Kansas who says, I, I've, I've had to spend $50,000 more on diesel this year than last year.
13:49
[SPEAKER_04]: And, and he said, I'm a Republican and I am pissed.
13:53
[SPEAKER_04]: And you know, you could just see that so many farmers are angry and that, you know, they, they regret that they voted for Trump because he hasn't delivered what he promised.
14:04
[SPEAKER_04]: But, and then to Steve, as I said yesterday, oh, you know,
14:08
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, right after the election, the gas prices come way, way down.
14:11
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's so quickly.
14:12
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, just like we promised the gas prices would be $2 a gallon if you would elect him.
14:16
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just you can't believe the guy can't believe anything he says.
14:21
[SPEAKER_05]: But, but Steven, you know, he did show up in Kansas promising some some some welfare.
14:26
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, what about a billion dollars in fuel relief?
14:29
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, yeah, I mean, something.
14:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, so, you know, as a result of Trump's policies,
14:38
[SPEAKER_04]: the tariffs, the tariff, the trade wars, the Iran war, American farm exports are way down.
14:47
[SPEAKER_04]: China is so pissed off at Trump that they've usually cut their soybean imports from the U.S. And farmers are really hurting.
14:55
[SPEAKER_04]: So now that they've got their imports less, but the prices they get for their products are less.
14:59
[SPEAKER_04]: So Trump,
15:00
[SPEAKER_04]: is rushing to spend $8 billion in taxpayer dollars to help bail out farmers and hope and he hopes sway them maybe to vote Republican.
15:10
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's after he did another bail out for farmers in December of $12 billion because his policies were hurt farmers and he's using taxpayer money.
15:19
[SPEAKER_04]: Tax family money.
15:20
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, farmers are hurting and I really sympathize to them and Trump has really screwed up in how he's treated farmers.
15:26
[SPEAKER_04]: So the one thing he does to try to You know, a lay alleviate, you know, calm them down a little socialism here's a 12 billion dollar handout here's another eight billion dollar handout
15:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, a little socialism for a party that doesn't believe it's socialism.
15:40
[SPEAKER_05]: That's accusing the other side of socialism.
15:42
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, as you point out in the piece, farm bankruptcies are up.
15:46
[SPEAKER_04]: Is this accurate up 85% from, you know, right from 2024?
15:52
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, the year before Trump took off.
15:54
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's kind of the worst than the farm farm aid era of the 80s.
15:59
[SPEAKER_05]: It's, uh,
16:02
[SPEAKER_04]: There were more, there were more bankruptcies than generally, but, you know, because there were more farms, but the number is increasing rapidly, you know, it's 85% increase is huge and I worry it's going to be even higher next year.
16:18
[SPEAKER_04]: Remember, you know, interest rates in in 1980s are like 20% not really.
16:23
[SPEAKER_04]: It was horrible, horrible farmers.
16:25
[SPEAKER_04]: And now it's the high diesel prices that are killing them.
16:28
[SPEAKER_04]: And now interest rates are going up.
16:30
[SPEAKER_04]: No, but you saw, if Ben makes these go up big time next year too.
16:35
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'm glad you pointed that out because look, this was self-inflicted.
16:38
[SPEAKER_05]: You can make the argument that, you know, there was a whole bunch of things back then that made that happen.
16:43
[SPEAKER_05]: This, this was predictable.
16:45
[SPEAKER_05]: You started war with Iran.
16:46
[SPEAKER_05]: This was very predictable.
16:48
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm I'm just a dumb truck driver and I know the only card I ran has is to close the straight on her moves and shut down oil moving back and forth and I know that hurts our farmers.
16:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I think with China, you know that the only thing they're going to do is they're going to go after after our aggings.
17:05
[SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely, so one of them are startling.
17:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Poll results I've seen recently, and this is from Fox News, you know, not a far left-robinate.
17:13
[SPEAKER_04]: This is a Trump supporting right-wing Fox News.
17:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Their recent poll, like a week ago, said that 77% of Americans blame Trump's policies for increasing inflation.
17:25
[SPEAKER_04]: That's a remarkable number.
17:26
[SPEAKER_04]: And it only as economists say, inflation was going down under Biden, yes, it,
17:33
[SPEAKER_04]: sort to, you know, climb to 9% during the pandemic, but the month by the time Biden left office, it was 3% and heading down towards 2% but then Trump's, you know, the reasons, the reason inflation come up are two Trump policies, tariffs and the Iran war, so inflation's up to 3.7% which is pretty bad.
17:54
[SPEAKER_04]: And, you know, so people, you know, all these economies say never before
18:00
[SPEAKER_04]: and his policy has been so overwhelmingly responsible for increases in inflation.
18:06
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, they can never.
18:06
[SPEAKER_04]: And Trump denies that he'd never, ever, ever admits that he did something wrong.
18:11
[SPEAKER_04]: No, he even said it the other day though.
18:13
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, if you heard JD Vance, he said, you know, every time a tin pot dictator decides they want to start a war, oil prices go up and it spikes inflation.
18:21
[SPEAKER_05]: He got it.
18:22
[SPEAKER_05]: He even had the dates right.
18:23
[SPEAKER_05]: He basically said the Biden inflation was because of Russia invading Ukraine, which is what the the reason was not because of Biden's policies.
18:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, so many farmers, many Americans.
18:38
[SPEAKER_04]: are, you know, were angry at Biden for inflation, but during a pandemic, you know, factories closed, shipping, really, you know, really was greatly reduced.
18:48
[SPEAKER_04]: So prices shot up, not just the United States, but in every industrial country in the world.
18:53
[SPEAKER_04]: So if, if, if prices rose in France and Germany and Japan and United States, you can't just say, oh, it must be Biden's fault,
19:03
[SPEAKER_04]: attacking Ukraine and not really pushed up oil prices and again shut down shipping in in in in some places and again That's not Biden's fault.
19:14
[SPEAKER_05]: That's couldn't fault right and it sucked at our inflation was nine percent But that wasn't Biden's fault So let me ask you this because you know you and I are in the same era Are we still remember the cold war era?
19:29
[SPEAKER_05]: We remember there you have a
19:31
[SPEAKER_05]: you know the the the battle there.
19:33
[SPEAKER_05]: Um, could you ever imagine what what Trump did with Russia here recently?
19:38
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, basically, you know, he signs this tough bill on sanctions and then, you know, a couple weeks before they were to take place, basically surrenders.
19:46
[SPEAKER_05]: We're now filling Russia's war chest to fight Ukraine because we need diesel, I guess.
19:54
[SPEAKER_05]: Am I in the only run who sees this as a sign of a surrender?
19:59
[SPEAKER_04]: What Trump has done in supporting Putin, who's really a work criminal and a horrible dictator and any arrests and kills dissonance like Alexander Navalny and any kills people in England.
20:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And he's killed.
20:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Many, many, many people, you know, 70,000 civilians in Ukraine and now like 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and then, you know, this was an unprovoked war of aggression by Putin and, you know, Biden was totally correct.
20:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Now what's Trump doing, he's backing the aggressor, he's backing the dictator, he's backing the work criminal, no American president would ever have done something like that.
20:46
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like it's like during World or two, you know, two or three years in FDR.
20:52
[SPEAKER_04]: you know, after helping Britain, after helping France, and he decided, oh, I'm going to change sides and support Hitler and decide that what Hitler is doing is fine.
21:00
[SPEAKER_04]: Trump said what Russia is doing with Ukraine is fine, which is this unbelievable.
21:06
[SPEAKER_04]: The another amazing thing, Rick is, so Trump is doing this two weeks, but two weeks, one week, two weeks before the election, even though only 4% of Americans support Ukraine, sorry, support Russia over Ukraine.
21:21
[SPEAKER_04]: The humongous majority of Americans support Ukraine because they know that Russia has wronged Ukraine and acted criminally, and it's tragic sad, disgusting, despicable to see our president support, you know, the horrible aggressor that it's committing all sorts of work crimes, bombing kids, bombing schools, it's just terrible Trump is done.
21:51
[SPEAKER_05]: been measured.
21:52
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, it's those Ukrainians who are bombing the oil, the diesel refineries, it's Putin who's been measured.
22:00
[SPEAKER_04]: So another absurd thing about Trump, he says, of the reason diesel prices have gone up is that Ukraine has started bombing Russian refineries.
22:12
[SPEAKER_04]: No Donald, that's not the reason diesel prices have sort.
22:14
[SPEAKER_04]: The reason diesel prices have sort is that you declared war against Iran.
22:19
[SPEAKER_04]: And Iran's, you know, a horrible regime don't get me wrong.
22:22
[SPEAKER_04]: Not the fundamental thing, they were not close to developing a bomb, that's total,
22:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and that's a pre-cut.
22:30
[SPEAKER_04]: So the reason, you know, gas prices have skyrocketed, you know, 40%, 40% that diesel prices went from like 350 gallon to 650 gallon, imagine that, up 70% is because after Trump and Israel started the war against Iran.
22:48
[SPEAKER_04]: Iran closed the straight of Hormuz and you know, oil could not move and that caused those prices to skyrocket.
22:57
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, you started, you know, Ukraine, which is, you know, trying to figure out how to really slow the huge Russian war machine, war machine is to like bomb their refinery.
23:06
[SPEAKER_04]: So that has pushed up diesel prices slightly, but Trump won't admit that the big reason diesel prices are up so much and that high diesel prices are hurting, you know, farmers in Kansas and Iowa and Texas and Ohio and.
23:19
[SPEAKER_04]: and Michigan and Illinois in other places so much is Trump's war in Iran, which has proved to be a disaster and Trump doesn't know how to get out of that war and it's really terrible for Americans because it's going to cost us probably hundreds of billions of dollars before we get out.
23:36
[SPEAKER_05]: And the trickle down effect, it means everyone is going to be affected because food prices are going to continue to go up.
23:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So last line of question I've got for it because obviously the war, his war of choice, obviously his tariffs.
23:47
[SPEAKER_05]: And then this big nightmare bill, the big beautiful bill, that's going to cut Medicaid for some nearly two million rural Americans.
23:56
[SPEAKER_05]: Probably going to close a bunch of rural hospitals when this really takes hold.
24:01
[SPEAKER_05]: Um, is there a chance that that those places that voted for Trump wake up to the reality that they never really cared about them and they were kind of the, uh, the doops and this and maybe maybe there's a chance for Democrats to grab some of those seats and and get something done.
24:31
[SPEAKER_04]: Kaiser Poles found that 610 rural Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy where about half believed the economy is in worse shape than when Trump returned to office.
24:42
[SPEAKER_04]: And I said 77% of Americans say Trump's policies are to blame for higher inflation.
24:49
[SPEAKER_04]: And also remember, you know,
24:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Red America World America voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2024, you know, 60, you know, almost two thirds of row of row of voters voted from now, according to, again, a Fox News poll, you're not a leftist poll, a Fox News poll, 49 percent, less than half a row of voters, 49 percent say they are not going to support GOP candidates this fall.
25:13
[SPEAKER_04]: So, that's why just Turk, you know, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who,
25:16
[SPEAKER_04]: is all about affordability, might win an Iowa and why Adam Hamilton, who's also talking tons about affordability, might win a Kansas and why James Tolerico in Texas is talking tons about affordability and how Trump's corruption has worsened the affordability, probably why all these people in states that trumped one by
25:35
[SPEAKER_04]: double digits, why these Democrats might win and why, well, like Sherry Brown might win in Ohio and why even in Mississippi, the Democrat might win, even though Trump won Mississippi by 22 percentage points.
25:48
[SPEAKER_05]: It's going to be interesting to see what happens in a couple of days.
25:50
[SPEAKER_05]: I do have to get one more thought out of the, uh, the Ohio governor's race.
25:54
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, you're someone who follows this stuff closely.
25:56
[SPEAKER_05]: How despicable was the Vivek Ram Swami's ad.
25:59
[SPEAKER_04]: It's
26:02
[SPEAKER_04]: It is the worst, and again, all these experts say this is the most despicable, vicious, lowest ed we've ever seen.
26:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And Amy Acton, you know,
26:16
[SPEAKER_04]: uh, our stepfather's and died for raping her when she was, I think, 12 years old and, and the stepfather fled the state and her mother instead of backing the daughter and doing the right thing when the daughter's, you know, when the, you know, daughter's been raped.
26:32
[SPEAKER_04]: The mother leave the state with the stepfather who committed the rape and, and, you know, the, you know, the mother decided to
26:42
[SPEAKER_04]: You know, the rape, the rape or stepfather rather than her daughter.
26:45
[SPEAKER_04]: And it's like beyond ugly, and it's incredibly uncrischent to, you know, for, for Ramaswami to run the mother's head condemning the daughter.
26:56
[SPEAKER_04]: And basically saying, you were lying and accusing her stepfather, rape
27:01
[SPEAKER_04]: even though the stepfather was indicted by the government and even though the stepfather fled the state and refused to face trial because he evidently so sure he was gonna lose.
27:12
[SPEAKER_04]: So it's a horrible, horrible ad that Ramaswami won and it was just as horrible for JD Vance and Trump to 1,000% support Ramaswami for running this despicable ad.
27:26
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I'm right there with your Stephen as always great work.
27:30
[SPEAKER_05]: Hope folks check out the article over at the Guardian We'll get links out on social media Trump has been a disaster for rural America written by Stephen Greenhouse.
27:38
[SPEAKER_05]: Thanks so much, Stephen Thanks.
27:40
[SPEAKER_05]: Do you ever want to hear your thoughts email me Rick at the rx myth show dot com are you in rural America?
27:45
[SPEAKER_05]: How's it working for you?
27:46
[SPEAKER_05]: How these policies?
27:48
[SPEAKER_05]: How they working out for you?
27:49
[SPEAKER_05]: You mail me Rick at the rx myth show dot com right back to crumbs
28:00
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History in 2.
28:03
[SPEAKER_05]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 1933.
28:06
[SPEAKER_05]: That was the day garment factory owners locked out dress makers in several shops throughout Los Angeles.
28:13
[SPEAKER_05]: The women garment workers overwhelmingly Mexican.
28:16
[SPEAKER_05]: had been organizing with the ILGW for over a month.
28:20
[SPEAKER_05]: They began conducting strikes at selected shops the previous month to press their demands.
28:26
[SPEAKER_05]: The women wanted Union Recognition, a 35-hour work week, and to homework, shop floor committees, a guaranteed wage, and more.
28:34
[SPEAKER_05]: Historian Douglas Monroy observed that their demands reflected the harsh working conditions that they fixed.
28:40
[SPEAKER_05]: It was a volatile.
28:42
[SPEAKER_05]: competitive seasonal industry businesses worked tirelessly to undercut each other and job out the work.
28:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Women workers were routinely unemployed or underemployed, subject to widespread wage theft and discrimination.
28:54
[SPEAKER_05]: They were frustrated by promises of the new industrial recovery act which promised the right to organize but held no provisions for enforcement.
29:03
[SPEAKER_05]: Employers flaunted the new legislation and continued to discharge workers for union activity.
29:10
[SPEAKER_05]: Local 96 looked to the AFL's central labor council to sanction a general dressmaker's strike, which started four days later on October 12th.
29:20
[SPEAKER_05]: As many as 3,000 Latina strikers maintained solid picket lines despite dozens of arrests.
29:27
[SPEAKER_05]: ILGWU Organizer Rose Passata arrived from New York to help with food distribution and packing the picket lines.
29:34
[SPEAKER_05]: The rank and file leadership produced a bilingual strike bulletin and made daily radio announcements.
29:39
[SPEAKER_05]: The strike ended in arbitration that conceded few gains to the garment workers.
29:44
[SPEAKER_05]: But the women of local 96 continued to organize throughout the Los Angeles area.
29:49
[SPEAKER_05]: They led a series of strikes that would eventually win the closed shop.
29:54
[SPEAKER_05]: Labor history in two brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and the Rick Smith Show.
30:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
30:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it's worthless.
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Worst than worthless, GOP policy won, Billx taxpayers to pay billions of dollars a year to bail out the biggest corporate firms.
30:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Two, it forces productive family farmers out of business by intentionally eliminating their markets, and three, it rips off consumers by letting food conglomerates gouges with monopolistic price hikes.
30:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Consider Trump's ideological tariff nonsense.
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It has needlessly shut off multi-billion dollar markets that America's farmers count on, while simultaneously jacking up the price they must pay for essentials like fertilizer and diesel fuel.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The Republican Terifwar has crushed farm income,
30:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Leading the GOP's once proud free market lawmakers, racing to rebrand themselves as big business socialists.
30:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So far this year, they have handed out $55 billion in crop welfare payments, with train loads of that going to the biggest agribusiness operators.
31:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, Trumpers don't really care about saving farmers, but saving their own political hides.
31:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Notice that while they're doming out government welfare checks to Big Ag, they're coolly dismissing the real pain of work-a-day families who are being knocked flat by skyrocketing food prices.
31:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, Trump himself admits his ag-biz giveaways or just partisan politics.
31:30
[SPEAKER_00]: campaigning in Kansas for Roger Marshall, one of the Sick of Fanish Congress Critters, he promised to enact another subsidy for the region's corn farmers, but only if Kansas re-elect Marshall next week.
31:43
[SPEAKER_00]: If the people choose the democratic contender, potentite Trump says, I'm not doing it.
31:49
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Jim Hatera saying, there you have it.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Farm vote bribery, another example of the current GOP
32:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to the Rick Smith Show.
32:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, here is Rick Smith.
32:10
[SPEAKER_05]: So I talked about this yesterday on the program a little bit about how I'm not an RFK junior fan.
32:16
[SPEAKER_05]: Again, I'll tell the story once bitten twice shy when my oldest daughter wouldn't my wife was pregnant with our oldest daughter.
32:23
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll back in 2001 with with with with.
32:26
[SPEAKER_05]: It was, my wife was of advanced maternal age, and they called it a geriatric pregnancy.
32:33
[SPEAKER_05]: She was like 32, but yeah, so this is what it was, and we were concerned, concerned about autism, because the advanced age with the mother, you know, potential, and then this guy talked about tomorrow's song on the vaccines and how it would do my good, it was bad.
32:50
[SPEAKER_05]: And turns out, well, none of the vaccines that my kids were going to get had the Tamaris all in it.
32:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I was all much ado about getting him attention and creating a movement.
33:01
[SPEAKER_05]: And again, I look back.
33:02
[SPEAKER_05]: It's about the lawsuits.
33:03
[SPEAKER_05]: It's about the money lawyer, not a doctor.
33:06
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, he's the head of our health and human services and has according to the folks over at the Center for American Progress.
33:19
[SPEAKER_05]: Had my attention for about 30 seconds before they went completely crazy because we do need to get a lot of chemicals out of our food We do need to have fresher produce in our in our aisles and in our schools and here to share some thoughts on maybe How we get there?
33:34
[SPEAKER_05]: I've asked Jill Rosenthal to come share some thoughts with us Jill is the director of public health policy there at the Center for American Progress You could check out their latest piece
33:43
[SPEAKER_05]: you are what you eat an alternative to maha for healthy food and fewer chemicals.
33:48
[SPEAKER_05]: Jill, thanks for taking time for us.
33:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, thanks for having me.
33:52
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm going to start right where I started.
33:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Look, I look at RFK Jr.
33:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I view him as a cook, anything that comes out of his mouth.
33:59
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm going to go once bitten twice.
34:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Shy, move along because of the whole, you know, the vaccines cause autism and being the anti-vaxxer who I blame, a huge portion of this measles outbreak we're having in my neck of the woods.
34:15
[SPEAKER_05]: I put him in that box.
34:18
[SPEAKER_05]: But here this, this, this food movement, you know, I was at the beginning going, yeah, I'm not, I'm not against now we're talking about beef talo, the hell is that.
34:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, um, yeah, I think this is why our FK Jr. has been popular, I think, is that he has identified.
34:40
[SPEAKER_01]: real issues in some cases, but the problem is that his solutions aren't going to get us in the right direction.
34:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is a good example where, yes, it resonates.
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We understand that we are consuming food that might not be as healthy as it should be, where consuming food that has toxic chemicals in it, ultra-processed foods that's not making us healthy, and it is true that
35:05
[SPEAKER_01]: they are linked to chronic disease.
35:07
[SPEAKER_01]: So he has identified a problem, but his solutions are not going to get us where we need to go, and that's what we're trying to point out.
35:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So at the same time that the administration talks about making America healthy again, they're putting in place policies that make it harder for us to do that.
35:24
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're making it harder for us to
35:27
[SPEAKER_01]: access healthy foods when they are approving new pesticides that can be used in growing of our food.
35:34
[SPEAKER_01]: They're making it harder for us when they replace a panel of scientists who come up with dietary guidelines with a bunch of RFK juniors handpicked people.
35:44
[SPEAKER_05]: who support the agenda that he has and then tell us to eat things that don't make us healthy so that's that's why we are where we are Yeah, but just social media influencers because you know, I do spend too much time on social media and I have seen a lot of these so called experts who it's it's bizarre how they'll point out hey there's red six nine five in this
36:05
[SPEAKER_05]: and it's illegal everywhere, and you find out that it's really not, it's just named somewhere something somewhere else.
36:10
[SPEAKER_05]: But there's this hype and this fear, and then their solution is always a buy this supplement or this quick fix.
36:19
[SPEAKER_05]: Instead of what we really need to be doing is the hard work
36:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Maybe more organics, more oversight, but the weird part, Jill, is your polling shows 79% of Republicans want more regulation on harmful chemicals, and yet this is the party of deregulation.
36:37
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is the party who saying, let business do what they want to do because they're going to do the right thing, government's bad.
36:44
[SPEAKER_05]: So how do you, how do you, how do you square the two?
36:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's a really interesting poll, and it's interesting what the public is saying.
36:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a bipartisan issue.
36:57
[SPEAKER_01]: As you said, people want more accountability for the people that produce and market and make our food available.
37:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So people want the government to step in and do a better job here.
37:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So it is really interesting, because we don't typically see that.
37:17
[SPEAKER_01]: from people who identify as Republican, but the fact is that our food is being engineered.
37:22
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of our food is being made to heightened flavor and drive convenience and also it's being produced to get us to over-consume.
37:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So putting in certain flavors and chemicals and
37:38
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, all the stuff that they're putting in it, which makes it, you know, you look at the label and you can understand anything on it.
37:44
[SPEAKER_01]: That's getting us to, you know, eat foods that actually have addictive properties to them.
37:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I think that's recognized by the public and their demanding change.
37:58
[SPEAKER_05]: And the other thing that thing you missed, I think the biggest part of it is increased our profits.
38:04
[SPEAKER_05]: Absolutely.
38:04
[SPEAKER_05]: To make it as profitable as possible, you're health way secondary and I would argue and you guys go into this a little bit into your into your research Which is an incredibly long piece.
38:14
[SPEAKER_05]: I got to be honest very thorough and well worth the afternoon to get through it
38:19
[SPEAKER_05]: But you point out that Europe, for instance, has a fragment of the cost of health care that we have in dealing with obesity and diabetes and all of these things, because their food supplies a little bit different.
38:32
[SPEAKER_05]: But I would argue it's because they've got national health care, and they have to pay for it.
38:37
[SPEAKER_05]: We've kind of, you know, shoved that off onto somebody else or rationing for poor people who are the ones who are struggling the most.
38:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, in fact, the polling is actually really interesting on that, too, because it shows that people want the government to hold food companies accountable and part of the reason is that they don't want to get sick because they know they can't afford health care.
39:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's actually a really interesting point you're making and I think it really is true that people can afford to treat the consequences of
39:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm getting sick of chronic disease that comes with unhealthy diets, but here here's the other part and this is where I'm going to defend people with unhealthy diets because, you know, look, as a kid growing up in the housing project, using clown money to go buy food from the grocery store that only there was holy certain food that the clown money would be able to buy.
39:38
[SPEAKER_05]: and it wasn't you know vegetables and it wasn't fruit and it wasn't it was uh what you could fill up on it it was usually noodles and spaghetti or or just you know ultra-process garbage and it's what we've done with snap benefits because we've given poor people a tiny amount of money to try and make it to the end of the month and let me tell you that never made it to the end of the month our coverage were always bare the last week of the month.
40:01
[SPEAKER_05]: But it's it's it's created an environment where we were we're looking down on poor people and then making sure that they can only eat garbage That's profitable for corporation seems like we've got it screwed up and really badly
40:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, and this is, you know, one of the things that I really struggle with that bothers me a lot is that, you know, when I was talking earlier about how the solutions don't match the problems, we the administration is sending a message that it's your responsibility.
40:32
[SPEAKER_01]: pick healthy food, you'll be fine.
40:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're not recognizing these factors that lead people to not eat as healthy as they might like to.
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And that has to do with lack of access, lack of availability, lack of affordability, and healthy food.
40:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the heavy marketing of unhealthy food is focused on low-income people.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, those are also people that are
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: more exposed to some of the unsafe chemicals in the food, right?
41:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So they may be living in areas where their more exposed to chemicals already.
41:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you add the food on top of that.
41:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think what
41:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, what the message I want to send is this is not just about the choices you make is an individual.
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we cannot be telling people to eat healthy and then take away snap benefits.
41:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Take away subsidies for farmers to grow fruits and vegetables.
41:31
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't, you know, what this is when I'm saying that our solutions don't match the problem.
41:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the problem with the Trump administration.
41:37
[SPEAKER_05]: One of the interesting things that I did see and you correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about the report is talking about subsidizing fresh fruits and vegetables kind of the way we do with like corn and soybeans, right?
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, the subsidies that we have now really predominantly focused on things like soybeans and corn and that's used for animal feed and it's also used for making ultra-process food.
42:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, we need to be investing and incentivizing farmers to be able to grow the food that we want to eat that will keep us healthy.
42:13
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, look, you know, the whole Mahah thing started.
42:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I didn't buy onto the whole Mahah movement because it was from it seemed to me from the beginning attached to Trumpism and this, and I believe it was going nowhere positive.
42:28
[SPEAKER_05]: But I was on the side of luck.
42:29
[SPEAKER_05]: We need to have a better food supply.
42:31
[SPEAKER_05]: We need to have better incentives for our farmers.
42:34
[SPEAKER_05]: I would like to see smaller less industrialized farms.
42:37
[SPEAKER_05]: I'd like to see corporate
42:42
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, farm to table kind of programs, especially in our classrooms, because it seems like that's where we could get the best bang for the buck.
42:50
[SPEAKER_05]: Uh, how how how.
42:52
[SPEAKER_05]: How do you get people like me who in theory are on board with with that idea and melden with the people who are, you know, look, I know there are people who are in the maha movement who truly just want the best for their kids.
43:06
[SPEAKER_05]: How do we bring this together because I think people agree universally red hat blue hat no hat that that what we each shouldn't kill us.
43:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's kind of understanding that this really is not just about you deciding what you're going to eat.
43:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a bigger problem here.
43:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a problem of corporate capture and it's a problem of prioritizing profit over the health of Americans.
43:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that that message.
43:37
[SPEAKER_01]: resonates with a broad swath of the public and they understand that that's why we need to put in place these kinds of policies that support local farmers, that support healthy school meals, support healthy food and hospitals.
43:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that that's something that people really understand.
43:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we need to be creating environments where people can thrive and be healthy and make good choices.
44:08
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, I look at Trump, but I look at our FK junior.
44:10
[SPEAKER_05]: I look at what they've done, our FK junior throughout the dietary guidelines for report that I can only say was meant for people who are social influencers and, of course, people who are tied to corporate America.
44:26
[SPEAKER_05]: And then he fired the entire vaccine advisory panel.
44:29
[SPEAKER_05]: Trump used the Defense Production Act to promote this glass phosphate, the weed killer, I guess,
44:37
[SPEAKER_05]: that's a lot of questions around and then canceled well what a billion dollars in local food money for schools this doesn't sound like the the underpinnings of a movement that wants to make things better so given what they've done which I think is the antithesis of making things better what should we be doing what would you what are you guys advocating in this report
45:04
[SPEAKER_01]: We're advocating for, first of all, banning things that we know are unhealthy.
45:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, there's pesticides, there's chemicals that are banned in Europe that aren't used in the food system.
45:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So some of those bands could go into effect right away.
45:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to eliminate the loophole that food producers have where they can just say that their products are safe and it doesn't go through FDA review.
45:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's called a generally recognized as safe provision.
45:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We shouldn't have that provision.
45:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that we should know what's in our food and we should know if it's healthier or not.
45:46
[SPEAKER_05]: I guess the question is generally
45:51
[SPEAKER_01]: by the company.
45:52
[SPEAKER_01]: This is exactly the problem.
45:54
[SPEAKER_05]: This is where my problem is.
45:55
[SPEAKER_05]: And the sad reality is we've politicized this now to the empty level.
46:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Was it always this political?
46:01
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, look, we haven't gotten what we've wanted over the decades.
46:06
[SPEAKER_05]: But I don't remember it being this this one sided.
46:11
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, maybe it was just because it was in something we didn't think about and maybe think we could, we should be thankful to Trump and Kennedy for bringing this to our attention of just how bad and how political it is.
46:21
[SPEAKER_05]: But shouldn't this be something that should be nonpartisan, I mean, shouldn't we have like, I don't know a commission of of actual scientists to set our dietary guidelines and actual set of people who have studied their lives on vaccines and screening and all this stuff shouldn't that be who sets these policies and not some political hack.
46:40
[SPEAKER_05]: Who chops off a beaver's penis?
46:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know what, that's what we had.
46:47
[SPEAKER_01]: We had expert panels.
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We had scientists who had expertise in vaccine safety, and expertise in food safety.
46:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were making our recommendations.
46:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Up until this recent administration, which has cleared out folks that they didn't agree with and appointed their own people who will agree with their agendas.
47:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, we need to restore health, sorry, restore trust in science and health so that people, you know, trust the experts to make good decisions.
47:22
[SPEAKER_05]: And they've got to be in our interest, I mean, ultimately, and this is where there's a knock on both parties, corporate America has way too much influence in every policy that happens in Washington and state houses across this country.
47:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is how we've gotten here, the fact that we haven't banned PFAS is the forever chemicals already is beyond me.
47:41
[SPEAKER_05]: The fact that, you know, they still, this, what was that generally acceptedly safe for whatever that is, how that ever became a standard, I have no idea.
47:50
[SPEAKER_05]: but this is where I'm hoping there is a political movement of red hat blue hat no hat green hat I don't care balled I don't care of people going we should want food that's not killing us
48:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, and that's the direction we were moving in.
48:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we had a rule on the books that was going to keep six PFAS out of our water sources and the administration rolled it back.
48:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, but you know, there is, there is movement.
48:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's been interesting to look at like a police like Iowa, Iowa where they're finding they have the highest cancer rate.
48:29
[SPEAKER_01]: in the country and you know they're they're now finding associations with chemicals informing and they're starting to kind of rise up and a bipartisan or nonpartisan way.
48:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it definitely appeals to more and more people.
48:43
[SPEAKER_05]: So last question I've got for you because you know what you've talked about.
48:48
[SPEAKER_05]: I know the right is going to lose their mind and go to you we just can't we can't do it.
48:52
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, it's just too expensive.
48:53
[SPEAKER_05]: We can't afford it.
48:54
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm sure you've heard this because we can't afford health care or child care or anything else How can we possibly give fresh fruits and vegetables to every elementary school child in this country?
49:04
[SPEAKER_05]: How can we possibly afford that?
49:06
[SPEAKER_05]: How can we possibly do all the things you want to do?
49:08
[SPEAKER_05]: Like subsidized farmers to grow fruits and vegetables?
49:11
[SPEAKER_05]: How can we how can we do that jail?
49:13
[SPEAKER_05]: We can't afford it.
49:13
[SPEAKER_05]: We don't have the money
49:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We do know that those federal food nutrition programs improve health and they reduce costs so if we provide people with safe healthy food we can prevent chronic disease and
49:31
[SPEAKER_01]: it'll reduce health care costs.
49:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's how we do it.
49:34
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
49:35
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah.
49:36
[SPEAKER_05]: You're thinking long term, not right now.
49:38
[SPEAKER_05]: The profits would go down and that would be bad for corporate America and think of all that health care dollars that are going to to investors and business and all that.
49:47
[SPEAKER_05]: We would just destroy an industry by making people healthy.
49:50
[SPEAKER_05]: We need disaster capitalism, Jill.
49:54
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm clearly being facetious.
49:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
49:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I hear it.
49:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I think that's a matter of what are our priorities.
50:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, people, the Maha idea resonated with people because it was about making America healthy and if we want to make America healthy, we need to implement solutions that are going to move us in the right direction.
50:16
[SPEAKER_05]: No, look, I, the kid, the 10 year old growing up in the housing project that I grew up in that house that I grew up in.
50:22
[SPEAKER_05]: I want that kid to have better opportunities than I ever had.
50:24
[SPEAKER_05]: And I want them to have fresh fruits and vegetables and a better diet so that you don't have a lifetime of battling.
50:31
[SPEAKER_05]: And that, that they get the best opportunities possible.
50:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think that's what, that's what we should want for every next generation.
50:36
[SPEAKER_05]: But George, I appreciate you taking time for us.
50:39
[SPEAKER_05]: Great report.
50:39
[SPEAKER_05]: Hope folks will check it out over at americanprogress.org.
50:42
[SPEAKER_05]: You are what you eat.
50:44
[SPEAKER_05]: an alternative to maha for healthy food and fewer chemicals.
50:48
[SPEAKER_05]: Jill Rosenthall, thanks so much.
50:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Rick.
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Take care.
50:51
[SPEAKER_05]: Want to hear your thoughts?
50:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Is there a better way of doing what we need to do?
50:55
[SPEAKER_05]: Can we get people fed?
50:56
[SPEAKER_05]: And still, I don't know.
50:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Not die.
51:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Want to hear your thoughts?
51:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Rick at thewrixmithshow.com.
51:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Right back.
51:03
[SPEAKER_05]: It's the cramp.
51:10
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm Rick Smith, and this is Labor History Inter.
51:14
[SPEAKER_05]: On this day in Labor History, the year was 1965.
51:18
[SPEAKER_05]: That was the day that the St. Louis Gateway Arch was completed in St. Louis.
51:23
[SPEAKER_05]: The project was the result of a nationwide design competition.
51:27
[SPEAKER_05]: The Arch saw 630 feet above the ground, and is the highest monument in the United States.
51:34
[SPEAKER_05]: The Arch was made from 900 tons of stainless steel.
51:37
[SPEAKER_05]: It was meant to symbolize St. Louis' role as gateway to Western expansion.
51:43
[SPEAKER_05]: The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in 1959.
51:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Workers from multiple unions were involved in building the arch.
51:51
[SPEAKER_05]: 250 boilermakers from local 659 in Warren Pennsylvania built the arch sections.
51:57
[SPEAKER_05]: Iron workers completed the onsite assembly.
52:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Electricians and plumbers were involved in the construction as well.
52:04
[SPEAKER_05]: According to historian Clarence Lang, the construction of the arch also became a focus of local activists' frustration by the lack of integration in federally funded construction projects.
52:16
[SPEAKER_05]: In July of 1964, Percy Greene, a black activist and Richard Daley, a white activist, scaled up 125 feet of the unfinished arch.
52:27
[SPEAKER_05]: The 29-year-old green was the chairman of the Employment Committee for the Congress of racial equality or corps, as green and daily perched on the arch they shut down construction that day.
52:38
[SPEAKER_05]: Other protesters held a press conference below.
52:41
[SPEAKER_05]: They demanded that 10% of the work on the project be provided to African Americans.
52:46
[SPEAKER_05]: No black workers were hired as skilled craftsmen on the project.
53:23
[SPEAKER_05]: So again, you know, I think back to the article and I highly suggest to check it out over at American progress.org.
53:34
[SPEAKER_05]: You are what you eat and understand we have allowed corporate America to dominate our food supply for far too long.
53:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So at the beginning when the Maha folks were
53:45
[SPEAKER_05]: not quite maha folks yet there are people who are concerned about our food supply being dominated by corporate interest in the ultra-processed foods you know taking over our diet being more than more than half for adults and more than like 65% for children we have really failed generationally
54:04
[SPEAKER_05]: to help the next generation.
54:07
[SPEAKER_05]: And, and to look, lives are fast-paced.
54:09
[SPEAKER_05]: You'll always look at for something quick, easy, cheap, especially as grocery prices keep going up.
54:16
[SPEAKER_05]: But, you know, here's the weird thing.
54:17
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, you keep throwing all this artificial stuff in there.
54:21
[SPEAKER_05]: I, it does give people a lot of angst, which is why when I, when I pay attention to some of the Mahah people, like I get videos all the time of, do you know they're, they're making eggs in a petri dish and, and they're, they're putting them in little egg shells.
54:41
[SPEAKER_05]: There are companies that are making artificial all this stuff out of all kinds of stuff.
54:49
[SPEAKER_05]: overseeing it.
54:49
[SPEAKER_05]: I used to have some faith.
54:50
[SPEAKER_05]: And this is where, you know, I think most of us are not waking up to the reality that we're, we're, we've lost faith in our government.
54:59
[SPEAKER_05]: We're always a little, little lyric, you're always always questioning, always a little quite sure.
55:05
[SPEAKER_05]: Now with this administration and the people that they've put in charge, they've really just gone, you know, we've jumped the shark.
55:14
[SPEAKER_05]: There's, there's not even the facade that they're going to try.
55:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And, you know, because I look at these these so-called influencers, and why anyone would listen to these people is beyond me, because in every bit, it's much like the thing I talked about with RFK Jr in the, in the vaccines, there's a kernel of truth, a kernel of reality, and all of these stories.
55:41
[SPEAKER_05]: You give a mouse enough red this or that, chances are they're going to get cancer.
55:47
[SPEAKER_05]: uh... you give them enough water they're gonna drown uh... arsenic is something that we we have in our system too much of it bad for you so you know i kind of believe and we talked about this yesterday uh... on the daily jolt uh... you could check that out over at labor force media dot com uh... the daily jolt was ricksmith uh...
56:08
[SPEAKER_05]: I talked about this in the fact that we're not believing in science as much as maybe we should.
56:14
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, I think it was like 13th in the world, according to the study that they did, 12 of the top 16 countries are European countries who still believe in science, you know, we're falling.
56:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And that's that's on purpose, I think.
56:31
[SPEAKER_05]: It's so that we don't, we don't, we don't believe anyone.
56:34
[SPEAKER_05]: We question everything.
56:36
[SPEAKER_05]: We question everything, but believe nothing and that is of dangerous place where there are no authorities There's no one we go.
56:44
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, yeah, that that's that person understands that person's at expert There's always something to tear at a part and that's been the mastery of of the maha movement To the point to where there actually believing people who have zero zero
57:02
[SPEAKER_05]: Nutrition expertise, you know, they may have read a story or watch the YouTube video did their own research.
57:11
[SPEAKER_05]: And it seems always selling some kind of supplement, oddly enough some kind of unregulated supplement.
57:22
[SPEAKER_05]: Now the studies on that, you know,
57:25
[SPEAKER_05]: Depending on who you're looking at, I've read some that say they're worthless.
57:27
[SPEAKER_05]: I've read some of the best in the world.
57:29
[SPEAKER_05]: I've read some that said you're most of the time you're just, it's just going out through the kidneys.
57:35
[SPEAKER_05]: So we're in a really weird spot.
57:37
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think this piece by the Center for American Progress is something that we should, I don't know, maybe take a little look at bringing expertise back, bringing science back, having some kind of independent thought that goes along with how we make policies.
57:53
[SPEAKER_05]: And then in a way, questioning all the crazy that we've been seeing.
58:00
[SPEAKER_05]: I would love to have, because we used to, we used to have independent panels
58:06
[SPEAKER_05]: We used to have experts who were fighting this kind of stuff.
58:11
[SPEAKER_05]: We've drained a lot of that.
58:15
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's interesting to me that the Mahafawks, who are offshoot of the Magafawks, that they want regulation while their dear leader is all about deregulation.
58:30
[SPEAKER_05]: So I do agree with the Center for American Progress is prescription on how to at least move in the right direction.
58:36
[SPEAKER_05]: We do need independent bipartisan commissions to set up dietary guidelines and facts, and vaccine guidelines and screening recommendations of food warning labels and all of those things.
58:47
[SPEAKER_05]: We need that.
58:48
[SPEAKER_05]: People with actual understandings, with actual degrees, with actual expertise.
58:54
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, people who know what they're talking about.
58:58
[SPEAKER_05]: You should never never let me put this this way.
59:00
[SPEAKER_05]: You should never take diet advice for me or any one on the internet Let's go with that Want to hear your thoughts email me Rick at the rxmithshow.com Miss any portion of the program make sure you grab the podcast review your favorite podcast You'll find hours and as always.
59:20
[SPEAKER_05]: Thanks so much for being here.
59:21
[SPEAKER_05]: We'll see you back here next time
59:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You've been listening to the Rick Smith Show.
59:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Email Rack at RackAtRackAtTheRickSmithShow.com.
59:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Until next time, this has been the Rick Smith Show, where working people come to talk.