Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central Jam.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central and actually
five special report.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
The Daily Show presents Indecision twenty twenty four, the first
present of the date again now with fifty percent last.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh man, here's your host.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
John Stewart.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Hello, Welcome to The Daily Show, minors. John Sir, the
second presidential debate has just wrapped up. We are live,
well technically technically, I guess this is the second president
the first presidential debate of this matchup. I can't wait
(01:17):
to see who the winner will take on next.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I think we'll come to your live ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
The stakes couldn't be higher as we all try and
figure out who will be the next president of Paul winev.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
MIAs Gang.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
It's an exciting night for citizens of that esteemed nation
as the rest of us watch with great interest from
the neighboring country of no.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
One gives a shit A stand.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
By the way, if you have any friends in Paul
and Nevas, can you see if they can do anything
about congestion pricing? All right, I forget it, but so
far it seems like this presidential race is going to
be a tight one.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
The election now a.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Dead heat, separated by razor thin margins neck and.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Neck, feels like a jump all race right now.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
For all intensive purposes, horseshoes and anger and ades.
Speaker 6 (02:12):
It's a it's a coin flap, the tightest race in
a generation.
Speaker 7 (02:15):
As tight as it can get, tight as a.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Tick, as tight as a two tight bathing suit and
a too long car ride home from the beach that
seems very tight.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
It's as tight as a teenage boys pants during a
Sydney Sweeney film festival. Oh no, it's tighter than Sydney's
Sweeney's scheduling windows, given how busy she is with projects
in demand as a producer, to say nothing of the anyway,
she's very talented. Of course, with an election this tight,
(02:59):
it's important to build out a more diverse coalition, and
recently Donald Trump has picked up the unexpected support of
former Democrats RFK Junior and Telsea Gabbert, and might even
have picked up one of Jeffrey Epstein's most esteemed former lawyers.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I am no longer a Democrat. I am no longer
a member of the Democratic Party.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
This was not my party. I just felt appalled.
Speaker 7 (03:21):
When I watched the Democratic National Convention.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
I can't associate myself with the party itself.
Speaker 8 (03:27):
No, wait, don't go oh, you're no longer the Democratic Party,
Alan Derschwitz, who guess what?
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Democrats don't want you anyway because the Democratic Party has standards.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
Okay, wait, don'tast week.
Speaker 7 (03:48):
Former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Vice President Harris.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Would you excuse me?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
What's I don't know what came over me anyway going
into the debate, one thing was I'm sorry, you know what,
Dick Cheney?
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Can you meet me over by camera? One?
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Fuck off, sharenside, fuck off? You game this close to
destroying the entire world. We were this close closer than
a teenage boy's pants.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And no, I'm not gonna have any fun with this.
And by the way, who in God's name is that endorsement? Gonna? Sway?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Well, I like the Democrats policy on child tax credits,
but are they bombing enough Middle Eastern countries?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
There's still some buildings standing. Someone should really do something.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I'm fine, it's fine. Seriously though, fuck that guy now? Obviously,
oh please, but an aero dye takedown. Obviously, each candidate
was going to have their goals and strategies for Kamala Harris,
(05:39):
it was going to be quite a needle to thread.
Speaker 9 (05:41):
She really wants to make sure that Americans know her backstory,
walk away understanding her policy stances, to make sure she
needles Donald Trump, gets him to lash out, expose the
flaws that she sees in him, to states, calm, be ready.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
For all attack. She's got like two minutes. Is there
anything else?
Speaker 9 (05:59):
There are some people who are worried that she might
be over.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Prepared for really after doing all that, you know, Trump
was encouraged to take a simpler approach. They expect some
goading remarks from Harris.
Speaker 7 (06:10):
They have stressed to him over and over again, do
not respond if you're going to respond at all, to
use facial expressions, not to actually go out there and
say anything.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Kamala say everything. I say nothing.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
But here's what you do, mister former president. If Kamala
says something that surprises you, you just go. And if
Kamala says something that makes you angry, you just go.
And if Kamala says something that makes you feel sexy,
time you go.
Speaker 8 (06:51):
Oh yeah, So those were the goals.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Both candidates have now entered the arena Biden and Trump
did not greet each other, and Kamala, Oh wait did
you go?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
She went for the handshake.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Ladies and gentlemen, what an incredible display of the awkward
tension happens when your son is dating a biracial girl
and you meet her parents for the first time.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Do I I love you? Credit you are.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
As per tradition in American politics, the first question is
always asked by the most handsome person in a ten
to fifteen mile radius.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans
are better off than they were four years ago?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Ooh?
Speaker 10 (07:39):
First, Yausa, Hey, yeah, Second.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Answer the question, miss Vice President.
Speaker 11 (07:55):
I imagine and have actually a plan to build what
I call an opportunity economy. My plan is to give
a fifty thousand dollars tax deduction to start up small businesses.
I intend on extending a tax cut for those families
of six thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Holy shit, we're one question in we're all millionaires.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Oh my god, Donald, your.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Response to the question, is the economy better now than
it was four years ago?
Speaker 7 (08:20):
We have millions of people pouring into our country from
prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums. They're dangerous,
they're at the highest level of criminality. They are taking
over the towns, they're taking over buildings, they're going in violently.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
I just want to say, after surviving the PTSD of
the last presidential debate, how unbelievably refreshing it is to
go back to the same old Nobody's going to answer
any fucking questions.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
This is unbelievable. We're back, America's back.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, that's gonna question.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
They just turned the dime and answer whatever they want
to answer.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
And now that we're returning to the cliches the standards
of American political theater, I think it's only fair if
someone would do the honors of the first baseless at hominem.
Speaker 7 (09:16):
She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist. Her father's
a Marxist professor in economics, and he taught her well.
But when you look at what she's done to our country.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oh shit, she's about to be like, motherfucker, let's just
do this.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
I'm gonnaoo. She's about cup a Marxist.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
She's about to open up a can of ass capital
on Donald Trump. Lindsay Davis, you better change the subject
before the fingers on Kamala's hand, unite.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I want to turn to the issue of abortion.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Oh boy, I'm not super s but this is where
the wheels fell off for Biden. He was asked about abortion,
then he somehow spun it into wire immigrants raping people,
and he ended with the classic phrase, We'll never forget.
And that's when we finally beat medicare. They're feeling it too,
(10:18):
ladies and gentlemen. As before President Trump, you have the
first crack at answering why you killed Rov Wade.
Speaker 7 (10:26):
We've gotten what everybody wanted. Democrats, Republicans and everybody else,
and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back
into the States, and the states are voting, and I
did something that nobody thought was possible.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
John Stewart from me, I was watching this live timespicking
what you just said. Yeah, that's actually insanely false. The
majority of people wanted it, you know what, Kamala Harris,
Kamala Harris, can you address this with a bit more eloquence.
Speaker 11 (10:55):
I have talked with women around our country. You want
to talk about this. This is what people wanted pregnant
women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering
from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room
because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail.
And she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
She didn't want that.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Oh, she thrashed that this.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
Is like this is like.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
What this is like one of those crowdhog Day movies
where you get to go back and fix the bad
way that something happened earlier to the good way, and
then you learn Italian and the piano, and then you
get sad and then despondent, and then you learn how
to love yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Anyway.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Trump will now finally have to answer to his abortion policy.
Speaker 7 (11:53):
You know what, it reminds me of when they said
they're going to get student loans terminated and it ended
up being a total catastrophe.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Ah, you don't have suside student loan smoke bomb. But
we're settling into a rhythm here, nice back and forth.
I got to give it to Trump. He's sticking to
his guns and he's not letting Kamala Harris get under
his skin. I actually think she's not going to be
able to need a them.
Speaker 11 (12:18):
I'm gonna invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies.
He will talk about win Mills cause cancer. And what
you will also notice is that people start leaving his
rallies early, out of exhaustion and boredom.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Old shit, He's just gonna start taking off his ears.
I left DoD say, motherfucker, Lets go, folks. The eagle
has landed.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
She has attacked what is Donald Trump's most cherished family member,
his rally crowds. Donald, Remember, the question is about why
you killed the bipartisan immigration bill.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You don't need to think.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
About you prisoner my responders to the rallies, she said,
people start leaving.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
People don't go to her rallies, Son of the beds.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
People don't leave my rallies.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in
the history of politics. Our country is being lost. We're
a failing nation. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs the
people that came in. They're eating the cats, they're eating
they're eating the pets of the people that live there.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
What the fuck just happened?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Because these unbelievable rally eating dogs Springfield, the immigrants are eating.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
People's dogs, which reminds me, if I may, for just
a quick moment, a quick reminder of all the pet
owners out there, always remember to leash your dogs. It's
an important way to keep your dogs from fighting other dogs,
(14:27):
or being hit by a car, or being eaten by
your immigrant neighbors. Oh, I'm sorry. Also, fuck off Dick Cheney,
But I'm sorry you were saying.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I just want to clarify here. You bring up Springfield, Ohio,
and ABCDS did reach out to the city manager there.
He told us there have been no credible reports of
specific the claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused
by individuals within the immigrant community.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
All I seeing people intelligen let me just say, this
is the people on television. My dog was taken and
used for food. So maybe he said that, and maybe
that's a good thing to say for a city manager.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
I'm not taking this from the people are televisions.
Speaker 7 (15:17):
Say dog was eaten by the people that went there.
Speaker 5 (15:21):
Again, the Springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Having spent some time in Springfield myself, I believe I
know what's happening here. I believe Trump himself may be
becoming one of Springfield's most famous residents.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
And I believe we have some footage.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It's right and being all, no one listens to you.
Someone ain't my lord.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
And finally, no debate with a former president would be
complete without addressing the former president's closing number of the
Trump Show's first term.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Mister President, on January sixth, you told your supporters to
march to the Capitol. You said you would be right
there with them. Is there anything you regret about what
you did on that day?
Speaker 7 (16:29):
It wasn't done by me, It was done by others.
It would have never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the
mayor of Washington did the jobs. I wasn't responsible for security.
Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn't do her job. I
had nothing to do with that, other than they asked
me to make a speech.
Speaker 6 (16:45):
I showed up for a speech.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
You spent two months riling up your base that our
country had literally been stolen from them through fraudulent means
that you could never even get a whiff of in
a court of law, and let and let yourself just
abuse them. You pressed on, you abuse their trust. You
showed up for a speech. You fucking tweeted join me
(17:14):
on January sixth. It will be wild. But suddenly now
I would use the hired magician to the baum midside.
I didn't do anything. I showed up with a hat
and a rabbit, and then the whole party went out
of control. And this is it, ladies and gentlemen. I
(17:35):
don't know if this debate is going to change anything.
I really don't. People are awfully set in the manner
that they view these proceedings. What I think is a
home run answer for one candidate, someone else views as
a dodge or a lie or any of those other things.
In some ways, it doesn't matter what.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
They say anymore.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
But one thing will always be true, and it is
the quality of the former president.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I respect the least.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Whenever he is cornered and forced to face even the
smallest of consequences for his own mendacity and scheming, he
reverts to the greatest refuge of scoundrels.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
As Shaggy would say, it wasn't me. I did nothing wrong.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I just showed up.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
They're the ones who went crazy.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
This man who constantly professes to be your champion, who
says they're gonna have to go through him to get
to you. Will always when the boat is going down,
be the first into the lifeboats, because in that moment
he will always say the same thing.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I didn't know anything about it.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I was just told to show up for a cruise,
even though everybody knows he was the fucking captain of
the ship.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
In any other country, that lad in any other country.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
In any other country, that lack of accountability would be disqualifying.
But in this country, it means the race is tighter
than a would you excuse me for just one second,
We'll be right back after this ky.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Bob let's call a helly, I was decided me a
(19:32):
what about the show?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I have a quick bit of breaking news, if you'll
excuse me, I just I have some breaking news. I've
just been handed this bulletin breaking news.
Speaker 8 (19:47):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So we talked a little bit earlier about you know,
these debates, do they even mean anything? Do they even
do anything?
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Apparently they did move the needle enough for one undecided voter,
a miss Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Right, So that's what happened. So, uh, you know what
this means. Taylor Swift and I were watching TV at
the same program.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Like that said, yeah, I guess tonight, my god, Tonight
is the former CEO of Microsoft, He owns the Los
(20:39):
Angeles Clippers and is the founder of USA Fax.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Please welcome to the program, mister Steve Bomer. So nice
to see you.
Speaker 9 (21:02):
Good to be here.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now, young man, I I said, so a storied career.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
You're one of the first employees in Microsoft, you become
a CEO of Microsoft, you own the Los Angeles Clippers.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
You have this.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Dream life that as a kid you probably never even
thought those were the heights that you might be able
to attain, and in that moment, you turn your attention
to creating a fact website.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I retire from Microsoft, and I have nothing to do, yes,
except to dive deep dark into government numbers.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Seriously, it feels like an anti midlife crisis.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
It feels like.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
A manner's decided, well, I'm just going to give up.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well, my wife kind of got after me to start
helping with the family philanthropy, and I kept saying, no, no, no, no,
government takes care of all those things, and they don't.
And she said, you're coming with me, and I snuck
in the back. It said, but I'm going to look
up the numbers.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
And you did look up the numbers, and so what
you've done is and it's a phenomenal site. And I
make jokes, but it is so necessary in this world
to provide the data from reputable sources. How do you
even how do you decide what to put in there?
How do you decide what are the sources? We have
a guy here, Adam Chodakoff and childs we trust. He
(22:25):
is a researcher extraordinary. He is the one who aligns
us with That's kind of a part is insight? You
might want to stay away from that. That's kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Is that how you operate it? Or is this an algorithm?
How is this done?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
No, it's We started with the concept that said, let's
look at government in its totality, because if you look
at little pieces, boom, I grab a number and I
can make it sound large, I can make it sound small.
So let's put things in context. Let's put them in
context with history. Let's only use government numbers. We go
to a one hundred different government databases, and then we
(22:58):
said what does government do who? We turned to the
prologue or the cons Preamble to the Constitution. It lays
out four missions. We took everything government spends money on boom,
how much taxes are we raising.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
And other money?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
How much are we spending and what kind of outcomes
are we getting? Because government's not like a lot, like
a business, So.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
That to me is the crucial aspect.
Speaker 4 (23:22):
You know, when Democrats talk about we need to tax
billionaires more, no offense, and when we need to do
these things. I think the one place where it falls
short is I don't think people feel that more money
is necessarily the answer, but maybe efficacy. The way we're
it's not like we don't spend money on anti poverty,
(23:42):
it just the efficacy might not be there. Did you
discover programs that seem to be really effective in other
areas where that money seems to be squandered?
Speaker 1 (23:52):
What were some of the data points that you found
that gave you a clear picture.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Let me start with eighty six percent of all federal
and talk separate about state, local ste Yes, but eighty
six percent of all federal spending is in a few
simple areas.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Okay, let's go number one. Paying our debts, got to
pay the interest on our debt?
Speaker 4 (24:11):
How much goes to the debt. I've seen breakdown of taxes.
I've heard that the third largest or second largest portion
of our tax money goes to pay down the interest
on the debt.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
It's creeping up there. It's number five right now. Social
securities number one.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Medicare number two.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
Okay, So two things that we pay into but don't
get till we're older.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Correct, Okay, correct, that's number three. Number three is the military. Okay,
Medicaid part of the four. Medicaid is four. Okay, exactly, sorry,
the debt is four. Oh, Medicaid is five. Okay, Veterans benefits.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Okay. Let's see if I forgot any known.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
So let's let's stop right there, because I stop right
there because there's no inefficiency so far.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
So I would disagree with you, Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
If I'm thinking about this country, and I'm looking out
into the audience, and I'm saying, so, what is the
tension in their lives? And I don't necessarily know that
because we've only worked together as an audience once before.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
But I would say it's the squeeze.
Speaker 4 (25:14):
It's people that had some college debt, but now they're
in their forties or fifties, and just as they're clearing
out all those things and getting into a decent earning place,
their kids are getting ready to go to college, and
the costs of that have exploded. And just as that's happening,
their parents, who they thought were going to be fine
with their social Security and their medicare and all those
other things, are now needing real elder care and assisted
(25:38):
living care. So now all the equity that they have
built up over that time is now dissipating between.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Those two groups.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
So childcare, health care, elder care, all those things, the
first six tranches of where our tax money goes doesn't
seem like it's spent efficiently on relieving that pressure on families.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Now, that might be the wrong way to look at it.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Let me, let me push back, pleat me, push back.
I give you, not you you can give me. I'm
sixty eight. You give me a social Security check.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
I take money from you.
Speaker 6 (26:12):
You take money from me as just my premise.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Okay, fine, probably good one, you're probably a good premise,
is fine, totally good press.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Anyway, a family gets a social Security check, right, that's
going to help that senior who may need care, may
need this may call that may need something else.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
But designed mostly by the government because they thought we
would all be dead by sixty five. Like we've all
out we've lived much longer than the government thought we would.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
The promise, Yeah, the promise of FDR days, we've outlived it.
Nobody's quite sure what to do about it. We do
know that people are doing less of their own elder care.
More that's getting paid for in the by the government.
In the market, right, you.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Do see a lot of people who their elder care
is paid for by whatever equity they had left, so
they can't leave anything to their kids. They mortgage their house,
or they go through those things where they converted into
liquidity and they use that money hopefully and it's there
till they pass.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
It's a little bit of whack a mole though.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yes, we can increase taxes, we can borrow more money, right,
or we can live with the kind of spending profile
we have today. I mean something gives in that equation,
and me personally, I will confess non partisan view for
USA facts. We just give you the data. You make
up your own mind. I'm a businessman. Balancing the budget
(27:34):
seems good to me, and so I look at it
and said, simple, we probably need some more taxes, probably,
and we probably need less spending.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
Probably less spending or more efficient spending. Is it a
question of are we using? For instance, so Mark Cuban
was on and you, guys, I'm sure go to the
billionaire's brunch, which, by the way, I never understood.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Why do they do that at waffle house? It feels
like you could get a better We'll forget it.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
It's billionaire's basketball lunch. In that case, you are that
billionaire's basketball lunch.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
So he finds out that these pharmaceutical benefit managers are
jacking up and hiking all these pharmaceutical prices. The government
is not really allowed to negotiate with him, so he
creates this business in which he does that is too
much of our money that we spend on poverty programs
or elder programs going through these middlemen that are enriching themselves.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Even the ACA.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Right, you think about Obamacare, what it really is is
a boon for insurance companies to jump into another marketplace
where the government says, well, we'll keep this same inefficient
system where you get to deny care when you want to,
and the pricing isn't transparent, and it's not really a
free market system because healthcare is in a free market system,
and we're just going to subsidize that insurance policy. It
(28:53):
doesn't really change the dynamic of how healthcare is given.
Isn't that inefficient?
Speaker 6 (28:59):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And you put on a bit yeah, son of a bitch,
you put in it a little bit of context.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Okay, it's inefficient.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
But if I tell you it's less than one percent
of total health care spending in the US, less than
one percent, you can say it's inefficient. I won't disagree
with you. I can say it's one percent. And so
even if we crushed the issue you're talking about down
to nothing, down to absolute nothing, we still have a
problem with health care spending.
Speaker 6 (29:28):
We still are the need to deliver health care.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
But isn't some of the problem we have with health
care spending because the largest tranch of customers are unable
to really negotiate effectively because it's not we have a
for profit health care system. When you can't comparison shop
for heart attack doctors, you basically get driven to wherever
is closest.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
There are three people basically who ensure almost everybody. Ninety
two percent of Americans are not sure, But let's just
talk about who are the three Okay, medicare where they
can negotiate some things but not others, for example, prescription
benefits except for the new caveats Medicaid where government negotiates.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
Really hard, really hard.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I'm really impressed by what the government negotiates on behalf
of the Medicaid page. And then private insurance for private
insurance companies and their grinders. Baby, you know, they're delivering
healthcare six thousand dollars a person. Now they're younger, Medicaid
the most vulnerable people in our population ten thousand dollars
a person, harder to take care of, and then senior
(30:34):
sixteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Medical satisfied with their care. And those three tranches. Private insurance,
no question, private insurance own.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
I mean again, I don't have data from the US government,
but I'm going to guess private insurance.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Is there any quomp in your mind of you know,
they say that the biggest reason people go bankrupt is
medical bankruptcy. Is is there any reason in your mind
that a country like ours would the wealth that we have,
should ever have a situation where people who are sick
so they might be more satisfied, But is it at
the cost of the percentage of them that will go
(31:10):
bankrupt because there's no government backstop on it?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Well, do I think it's a good thing. No, I
don't think anybody should go bankrupt for their health. I
don't now how do we get from where we are
to their Yes, is important, it is important. I have
no prescription for that, but me personally and emotionally I
agree with you one thousand percent. But to solve that problem,
(31:35):
what other changes are we going to make? What are
the things that we're going to give up, What are
the things that we're going to get It seems like
a much smaller fix to fix that problem than to
try to reinvent the healthcare system. Again when healthcare, Look,
we have problems in our healthcare system, but the inefficiency
I think right now tends to be if you just
compare us to Europe, we do about twice as many
(31:58):
procedures as they do in Europe, and our medical professionals
get paid about twice as much as European medical professionals.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
So doesn't that sound like it's a system incentivized to that?
Speaker 4 (32:08):
It is, and it is, and it is, and we
accept medicaid, right, So they don't do twice as many.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Accept medicaid because medicaid is essentially it's on an HMO model, right,
and things get negotiated differently.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
Do you think that a public option, you know, the
one that everybody shouts is the death of it all,
is the thing that blows up the system, Because in
some ways I always look at it, like, what do
I think government's purposes? Like I love the fact that
we're a checks and balances system, right, And it seems
like within the government there is okay, judicial, congressional, executive,
(32:43):
and they're all pushing and pulling. They weren't expecting the
kind of partisan battles that we get, but we get them.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But it does seem like.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Corporate power, transnational multinational corporate power also needs a check
and a balance because capitalism is at its heart destructive.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
There's collateral, it generates wealth, but it's destructive.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
Why do we fight so hard against the government being
a proper check on that, against that exploitation, whether it
be in the medical field or in the college education field,
or any of the other things. It seems like in
European countries, I'm not saying it's a panacea. They pay
more money, but they seem to get the services that
(33:26):
connect more directly with their lives. Sort Of back to
the earlier conversation that we were having. I think if
you read these changes out to a European social democrat, whatever,
they would think, well, that's crazy. You haven't gotten anything.
You haven't gotten any childcare, you haven't gotten any of
the things. You haven't gotten free education. Why is it
(33:47):
that we have so much trouble? We generate so much wealth,
Why do we distribute it so inefficiently?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
It would seem well, let me give a perspective, please.
I think the twin towers of the or democracy and capitalism. Okay,
I really believe that wholeheartedly.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
I don't want to tell you how that story ends,
but go ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:09):
Good point.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
But so.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
You're killing me here, you're killing me here.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
It's tomorrow for Fox saying Jesus, what are you doing
away New York Walk? I didn't, I'm sorry, I apologize.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
What do you think I'm doing all day tomorrow? All right?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
God?
Speaker 6 (34:33):
Two killers about pillars?
Speaker 5 (34:39):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Much better.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
Capitalism is the predictable one.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Actually, really, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
You you give capitalism set of rules people are going
to compete. They're going to try to make as much
money as they can, and that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
It's predictable, but you.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Don't think it's it's by its nature exploitative though, like
the monopoly.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
The rigging of this is that seems all built into.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
I'm going to get to the second I'm sorry democracy.
So the fact that capitalism is predictable is actually a
great tool for government.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Government needs to then train this highly predictable tool to
do what society wants it to do. That's the role
of democracy is to not it is a role of
democracy is to inform where you want to point this
highly predictable capitalist motive and look, if the world needs
(35:32):
more regulations, put them in.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
But you're going to get I don't know, but it
certainly needs to be something that helps protect us against
capitalism's baser instinct.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
In some respect.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Just let me give it a base instinct. Okay, Okay,
let's say my base instinct is to.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I want to destroy the habitat of a set of
birds by building a windmill.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
Okay, let's says that's the topic.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Can I just say something very quickly, you bastard. Why
you son of a bitch.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Okay, mister democracy, let's take it on no birds. Yes,
the capitalist is going to try to get that windmill built. Sure,
if you want it built, capitalists still get it built.
If you want to protect the birds, the capitalists will
stop trying to build that windmill. I talk to guys
who's actually trying to build one of the largest wind
(36:34):
farms in the world.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I'm going to give you a different example.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
Give me a different example.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
Capital lists want to find the cheapest labor they can
possibly find, so they offshore all the jobs in manufacturing
and all these other things to Vietnam and Bangladesh and
India and China and places where worker protections don't exist,
undercutting American workers, and the democratic system fails its own
(37:00):
workers and not only allows it encourages it, and then decides, well,
you're doing so well on labor costs, why don't we
cut your taxes as well.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
So that's in my mind, I view it.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
As the pendulum has swung completely and we are at
the mercy of those instincts, and democracy is failing in
whatever it's directive is. It doesn't sound to me like
democracy points capitalism it sounds to me like capitalism points democracy.
Speaker 6 (37:28):
I'll speak, I would think I'll speak now as a
former CEO.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Capitalism responds. Maybe, Look, people are generally good people. They'll
respond to. You give us an incentive, we'll go do it.
You give us a regulation, We're going to obey it.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
That's what that's what. No, it's what happens. It really
is all right to the ninety nine per se.
Speaker 9 (37:53):
You want to get anywhere here.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I give you two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
But no, so saying is if somebody, let's take your
labor labor class issue, perfectly good issue. Yes, businesses are
going to try to reduce labor class. If you don't
want those jobs to move, then government needs to put
a tax or an incentive. They're sort of kissing cousins
if you will to keep the jobs on shore. But
(38:21):
what about and take the consequences.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
But then we're competing for their love? What about this?
Speaker 4 (38:28):
They get the benefit of our stability, of our capital,
of all the things that make us a free market,
stable democracy, and they have no responsibility. They get all
of the infrastructure and none of the toll And that's
the part that I don't understand. You know, we have
states competing with each other for who can fuck over
(38:49):
workers the best. You know, when everybody talks about globalization,
and you know Mexico and India are stealing our jobs. Well,
South Carolina is stealing them from New York. So they're
all competing to see who can give the sweetest deal.
And that feels like where the balance is off, where
the pendulum has to swing.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
I personally have no problem with government providing more direction
to capitalism. I don't, but then there sometimes are untoward consequences.
Let's just take the offshoring. Sure, short Okay, let's just
say whatever the policy is, it gets more jobs on
short at higher wages, Prices will go up.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
Prices will go up.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
And as long as that trade off is the tradeoff
that people want less buying power but more people have
higher paying jobs, how that actually shakes out.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
For the America.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
And I'm not an economist, I'm not going to make predictions,
but there is a trade off on most of.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Them's decision ability though that there's a renegotiation of what
normal is in terms of profit margin, and in terms
of capitalization, and in terms of corporatization, and in terms
of tax is there is there a new normal that
can be achieved? You know, we saw it in the pandemic,
where of course there were supply chain you know, crunches,
(40:09):
and that drove up prices. But there's no question that
a lot of companies took advantage of a difficult moment
to set a new bar of expectation for people. And
now that the supply chain has eased, that expectation still exists.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Since the start of the pandemic, yep CPI price index
is up about nineteen percent, right, Okay, we still have inflation.
Those prices are not going to come back down, They're
just going to grow more slowly. Wages were up twenty
one percent, right. Wages were actually up more than prices,
you know. And so if you take a look at it,
the buying power it's not much, but the buying power
(40:46):
of Americans increcreased slightly slightly. So nobody likes inflation. It's
too disorienting, et cetera. But it wasn't a net negative trade.
It feels bad, people feel bad, I know that.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Do you think though, that as complex as inflation is
and all the different avenues that go into it, do
you think a portion of it at least because I
listened to some of those earnings calls in the pandemic
and people are.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Like, we're kimning it.
Speaker 4 (41:13):
Our profits have never been higher, and everybody's like, yay,
so isn't isn't that a part of it?
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Then I would say if I was to make a suggestion,
go increase corporate income taxes, just increase corporate income taxes.
Speaker 6 (41:30):
That reduces profit, I just don't know. I mean, that's you.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
I just don't know if it's it's.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
You want to lot the business regulating individual decisions just
is my point of view?
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Right?
Speaker 6 (41:41):
Bad do you want it? You want to take my profits?
As there a company.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
I think there is a transaction to be had between
government and corporate leaders where they come to an understanding
that it's a more symbiotic relationship and not an exploitative relationship.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
The invisible hand, so to speak of Adam Smith. Yes,
there is no master planning. You can't say, be nice.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
But we're not freemark. There is though there's subsidies that
they get.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
There is no subsidies, and there's regulations. There are rules,
and I love that, right, I love Look, there's some
regulations if I'm running a company I might like or not,
like we just built an arena for our basketball team.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Why we had to have our own homes?
Speaker 6 (42:22):
Just kidding so we can beat the Knicks when they
come to town.
Speaker 1 (42:25):
Let me just explain very quickly that was but chat, No,
it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Listen, man, It's an incredibly complex conversation, and I really
do appreciate your patience with me on it and all that.
It's just I think the frustrations have been with what
I love about your site, and let's bring it back
to that is that you've brought together all the data
and context necessary to have these conversations, because these conversations
(42:58):
feel like they don't occur. All that occurs on the
news is how do you think that's going to play
in Wisconsin? Like nobody seems to want to get into
the weeds on what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Well, that's what we're trying to do. We have very
conscious nonpartisan here's the data. We're going to make it
digestible for you. We're not going to try to tell
funny stories. We're not going to make forecasts about the future.
There's a quote that's very motivating to me as we
started this thing from James Madison's you go all the
way back to the signing of the country Ahead. No,
(43:29):
I'm just he said something like a popular government without
popular information or the means of acquiring it is a
prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both.
And as I sit here and I observe lots in
American politics, I believe that. And our site is trying
to combat that by making popular information available to our populace.
Speaker 6 (43:53):
We make videos.
Speaker 4 (43:54):
Who's the start of the videos, Steve Bond. I'm just
going to say, unreal play not for nothing. You live
in Los Angeles. You couldn't grab hanks. Come on, you know,
come on, throw them out there to give some facts.
It's a fabulous site and you're doing great work there
(44:15):
and I so appreciate you coming on and giving us
such interesting perspective on business and government and regulation and
all those different things.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
It's really helpful. So thank you for doing that.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
Take out you up study facts dot Org, mister Steve
Bodam And you're not gonna beat our knicks.
Speaker 6 (44:31):
Let me heard, I got Let me tell us home?
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Are you not going to be.
Speaker 6 (44:51):
Hello?
Speaker 3 (44:51):
Everybody? That is our show for tonight.
Speaker 4 (44:54):
Thanks June tomorrow night Jordan's clock, our returns by the rest.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Of the week. Here it is, your moment is on.
Speaker 7 (45:01):
If we can come up with a plan that's going
to cost our people, our population less money and be
better healthcare than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it.
But until then I'd run it as good as it
can be run.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
So just yes or no. You still do not have
a plan. I have concepts of a plan.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by
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Speaker 6 (45:24):
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Speaker 7 (45:27):
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Speaker 6 (45:40):
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