Candace Owens - June 06, 2025


The American Trucking Industry Runs on Exploitation — Here’s The Proof ｜ Candace Ep 196


Episode Stats

Length

51 minutes

Words per Minute

175.02885

Word Count

9,048

Sentence Count

539

Misogynist Sentences

12

Hate Speech Sentences

13


Summary

Benjamin Lord has a profile on a trucker that he rode with for a week while he was trying to learn about the shipping and logistics that go into our groceries. And it is shocking. Trucking is the most common form of employment in the majority of American states, with more than 12 million commercial drivers circulating our highways. That is almost 5% of adults in America working in trucking. And without trucking, life in America ceases.


Transcript

00:00:00.260 What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue?
00:00:04.120 A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door.
00:00:10.840 A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool.
00:00:15.320 Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered.
00:00:19.460 Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders.
00:00:24.340 Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply.
00:00:27.020 Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver.
00:00:30.720 Pop quiz.
00:00:32.140 What year did the United States of America abolish slavery?
00:00:35.700 You might have answered 1865.
00:00:38.640 But are you sure about that?
00:00:40.820 Because today, we're going to talk about the modern mask of slavery in America
00:00:44.820 and the indentured servitude that is creeping into more and more of our biggest industries
00:00:49.620 and trapping more and more of us while the rich just keep getting richer.
00:00:54.700 Welcome back to Candace.
00:01:00.000 We're going to talk about the secret life of groceries, Benjamin Lord has a profile on a trucker that he rode with for a week
00:01:15.780 while he was trying to learn about the shipping and logistics that go into our groceries.
00:01:19.540 And it is shocking.
00:01:21.800 And last time, I covered a story from this book and it involved a lot of reading in order to contextualize the character of Thun Lin,
00:01:27.820 who was a slave laborer in the shrimp industry in Thailand.
00:01:30.120 This time, I won't do as much direct reading, but rather mix together quotations and summary to convey just how absolutely insane and messed up the world of long-haul trucking is.
00:01:40.100 And similar to the last story, this one's going to start out seemingly somewhat mundane.
00:01:45.220 And by the end of it, you'll be rethinking your entire perception of America, the grocery store, and every single product that you buy.
00:01:52.660 Because it turns out, our American way of life isn't just dependent on brutal slave labor in faraway places like Thailand or India.
00:02:00.900 More and more Americans are slipping deeper into what can only be called indentured servitude and bordering on outright slavery as well.
00:02:09.140 And truckers are a vast and underappreciated lot.
00:02:13.800 So, first of all, understand that everything, everything in your life comes to you on a truck.
00:02:21.060 From the big appliances of our lives to the smallest bite of food, every single staple, butter knife, copper wire, or ceramic mug comes via a truck.
00:02:31.000 If you build it yourself, the parts you use for building arrived on a truck.
00:02:35.180 If you grow it, the seeds, organic fertilizer, and baling wire for your compost bin arrive that way too.
00:02:41.860 Trucking as an industry is gargantuan.
00:02:44.800 In America, 10.7 billion tons of freight are moved per year.
00:02:49.800 That breaks down to 54 million tons a day, or 350 pounds of freight per man, woman, and child moving around this country every single day.
00:03:01.040 Today, to support our modern American lifestyle, 350 pounds of stuff got moved from one place to another in our supply chain, just for you.
00:03:12.000 Plus another 350 pounds for me, plus 350 pounds for Candace, and another 350 pounds for baby Roman.
00:03:18.700 Every single day.
00:03:20.640 Trucking is the most common form of employment in the majority of American states,
00:03:24.760 with more than 12.6 million commercial drivers circulating our highways.
00:03:29.420 That is almost 5% of adults in America working in trucking.
00:03:34.780 Without trucking, life in America ceases.
00:03:37.580 They are like our nation's circulatory system, bringing everything that is needed, where it is needed, when it is needed.
00:03:43.940 And the industry ebbs and flows with minute shifts in our economy or our tastes for the holiday season.
00:03:49.360 And yet, it's also one of the most dangerous jobs, right up there with deep-sea fishermen and timber cutters.
00:03:55.480 Trucking has the highest numbers of deaths per year of any job.
00:04:00.320 In The Secret Life of Groceries, Lohr writes,
00:04:03.120 The trucker is constantly on edge, recalculating braking distance based on the load, expecting and then reacting to major equipment failure,
00:04:11.560 tensing up at the slightest precipitation in a manner that simply has no analog in the modern car.
00:04:16.640 Runaway ramps are meaningful lifelines.
00:04:19.040 Shifting into the wrong lane, merging onto any and every off-ramp, a momentary lack of caution,
00:04:23.760 or just for half a second, treating your truck like a regular car will lead to death.
00:04:28.520 Lynn Riles, the trucker that he's profiling, says,
00:04:32.680 In a car, your blind spot might be a few feet.
00:04:35.640 Mine is 53 feet.
00:04:38.020 Lohr lived in the cab with Lynn Riles for a week, and he describes one load in particular,
00:04:43.400 just any old average trip from somewhere to somewhere else, but indicative of the shape of Lynn's life.
00:04:49.360 And at the end of the trip, they arrive at an Aldi distribution center.
00:04:52.380 This trip was dairy, starting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was 1,050 miles, stopping at three different distribution centers.
00:05:00.540 For this trip, Lynn was paid $1,231 gross, or $1.16 per mile, which is pretty decent for a brokered load, apparently.
00:05:10.700 On top of that, she was also paid $368.50 for fuel, which doesn't cover the fuel.
00:05:16.260 But all told, for two or three days' work, it doesn't sound so bad, right?
00:05:20.760 Well, as Laura puts it, that's the lure.
00:05:24.360 But here's the hook.
00:05:25.640 The deductions.
00:05:26.880 Right off the top, Cargill, who she drives for, takes 28% of her gross pay and 10% of her fuel pay for the privilege of driving in their fleet.
00:05:35.680 Then, the $300 weekly fee for leasing her truck.
00:05:39.020 She still owes last week's truck payment, too, because it was a slow week, so it was double this week.
00:05:44.380 Then, she has to pay the guys who unload her truck as well.
00:05:47.240 There's also a mandatory cleaning fee out of pocket, maybe a couple hundred more bucks.
00:05:52.840 Then, there are the fixed costs that are due each month and year.
00:05:56.300 Lynn pays taxes per mile, per state, and needs to pay an accountant to handle the complexity of all of that.
00:06:01.480 Not a choice for her, as Cargill requires it.
00:06:04.020 They also require her to retain a lawyer to handle billing disputes, then insurance, also mandatory with their approved insurer, then maintenance on her truck, which she doesn't own, which, Laura points out, when you drive 12,000 miles a month in a big rig, it's a whole different thing than for a regular car.
00:06:20.800 Then, she has to pay into an escrow account called her security, which, once again, she is contractually obligated to fill, despite the fact that it is held by the trucking company in case she ever decides to quit on her lease-to-own agreement.
00:06:33.800 And lastly, there are lots of other little fees, like food, cell phones, GPS, and other electronic devices that she is required by her carrier to use, etc.
00:06:42.540 And then, there's risks outside of her control, like the week before this book was written, when a newbie trucker accidentally backed into her and then sped off to avoid liability.
00:06:52.120 It's just one example.
00:06:53.800 Lynn was left with the insurance claim for the damage, and no one on the other end of it.
00:06:57.480 There's a saying in trucking, the open road is unpredictable in almost every way except one.
00:07:03.440 The longer you're on it, the more certain something costly will happen.
00:07:07.520 A hit-and-run might be rare, but it's just one risk among thousands.
00:07:11.500 Trailer brakes failing, tires blowing, reefer lines freezing.
00:07:15.060 Collectively, these risks become inevitable.
00:07:17.900 And in the case of this hit-and-run, the damage was minor, and so her deductible didn't even cover it, and she had to pay out of pocket.
00:07:25.280 Lynn said, quote,
00:07:26.180 If I need a repair done, and I actually have the money, I just pay for it.
00:07:29.760 But that is never the case.
00:07:31.200 Instead, I gotta get approval, then I gotta get a loan, then they charge extra fees for the loan, and then I have to use their garage to get it fixed.
00:07:38.320 Plus, the whole time she's doing that, she's grounded with no income, and so a tiny accident can easily become a slippery slope into complete financial ruin.
00:07:47.700 Lynn estimates that she grossed $200,000 last year, and that she took home less than $17,000.
00:07:54.480 And she is a 14-year veteran driver who knows her industry inside and out, lives in her truck, and stays out on the road three weeks at a time.
00:08:03.820 She works more than 70 hours a week in a state of constant vigilance, sleeping in four- or five-hour bursts, and waking up for 3.30 a.m. jobs.
00:08:12.500 She didn't see her mother for two years because she didn't have the time off and couldn't get loads that lined up with her mother's location.
00:08:20.720 And Lore points out that that $17,000 figure is a number likely inflated by pride.
00:08:27.320 In the week he spends with her, Lynn receives a weekly paycheck for just $100, which is what she received the week before.
00:08:34.960 And the week before that.
00:08:37.780 Quote,
00:08:38.600 It's in my contract, Lynn says.
00:08:40.920 No matter how many expenses I have, I always have the right to a check for $100.
00:08:46.080 So that is what I usually get.
00:08:48.020 I've gotten pretty good at knowing how to stretch it.
00:08:51.500 That is nothing.
00:08:53.240 Lore estimates that in the week he spent with her, she netted something closer to negative $150,000.
00:08:57.960 After factoring in her cell phone bill, unanticipated repair, and just the food she has to eat.
00:09:03.280 One night, he overhears her on the phone asking for a cash advance from her future $100 paycheck so she can afford to eat dinner that night.
00:09:10.980 The next morning, Lynn turns to him and says,
00:09:13.540 I think I can get back in the black.
00:09:15.320 Maybe another three or four weeks of this.
00:09:17.640 And it is completely unclear to him what she means.
00:09:20.280 Because she's losing money.
00:09:21.940 Another three or four weeks like this, and she will be even deeper in debt, further beholden to Cargill.
00:09:27.960 Or, I could just run into a ladder on the interstate that tears my brake lines, she says, to complete what they are both thinking.
00:09:35.260 Lynn, like most truckers, is homeless, sleeping exclusively in the cab of a truck which she does not own, and almost certainly never will.
00:09:43.900 And she'll almost certainly lose it when she can no longer make her payments.
00:09:48.240 Her credit is shot.
00:09:49.520 Her health is destroyed.
00:09:51.040 She can't eat most food because she lost all her teeth and her new dentures are not properly fitted, so it hurts to chew.
00:09:56.820 Her obsession with Pepsi for calories shifts in Benjamin's awareness into just absolute sadness when he learns this.
00:10:04.860 And all that, despite the fact that she's extremely good at her job, hypervigilant on the road, and extremely hardworking.
00:10:12.120 A team player who never once in Benjamin's presence complained about any task or hardship or even her whole lot in life.
00:10:19.480 These things, he points out, are not unrelated.
00:10:23.900 That's Lynn Riles, one very experienced trucker with more than a decade on the road, still working to pay off her truck, which is more like her prison than her form of employment.
00:10:33.400 But now that you have some texture for what life is like behind the wheel, the real darkness in the trucking industry becomes apparent when you zoom out.
00:10:41.920 If you hadn't picked up on it yet, debt is the weapon used to shackle drivers to these trucks and to their contracts, and hope is the lure that keeps them on the line.
00:10:51.140 Trucking recruiters frequently recruit from homeless shelters, soup kitchens, recovery wards, and prison work release programs.
00:10:58.860 Truckers also frequently come from minimum wage retail or construction or from serving in the military overseas.
00:11:04.940 Recruiters promise guaranteed jobs, big pay, no experience required.
00:11:09.960 You'll get a free one-way bus ticket, free hotel, and food during your orientation.
00:11:14.840 But then, on the fourth day or so, you're given a contract to sign.
00:11:18.880 And then, you're officially a student driver.
00:11:21.560 And, you suddenly have all the student debt to prove it.
00:11:25.400 Then, they have a new enticing offer.
00:11:27.440 After you've signed your contract for school and debt, of course.
00:11:30.940 You could be an owner-operator, not just an employee.
00:11:33.880 You can get your own truck and be the master of your own destiny.
00:11:37.400 You don't have to pay a single cent up front.
00:11:40.240 That's how they get you.
00:11:41.660 They force you to take on a literal truckload of debt, which is to be taken out of your future paychecks, plus interest until you pay it off, which almost no one ever does.
00:11:52.400 Instead, you get thrown into an impossible industry, where you work insane hours under high pressure and serious risk of death,
00:11:59.780 all just to earn your minimum, which you quickly learn is $100 a week, assuming you don't spend it on food.
00:12:08.180 If, at any point, you realize that this isn't your cup of tea, no problem.
00:12:12.120 Because then you realize that that contract you signed, yeah, none of this was free.
00:12:16.700 It was all on debt.
00:12:17.980 And now, if you want to walk away, that debt is coming with you.
00:12:22.060 Turnover in the trucking industry is insane.
00:12:25.020 Over the last decade, industry turnover has ranged from 95% to 112%.
00:12:31.460 It's hard to graph what that actually even means.
00:12:35.520 Turnover at a competitive law firm is 17%.
00:12:38.700 Turnover at Starbucks is around 65%.
00:12:41.960 100% turnover in the trucking industry means that every single member of any given fleet either quit or was fired and successfully replaced that year.
00:12:52.400 But trucking is not a declining industry.
00:12:56.500 It's not shrinking.
00:12:58.000 It's growing aggressively all while this is happening.
00:13:01.500 Because as with every other industry, just like in the private equity playbook,
00:13:06.480 trucking has figured out how to not just make humans replaceable, but how to actually profit off of their replacement.
00:13:12.720 First, they recruit dishonestly, convincing people to take out lines of credit for the opportunity.
00:13:19.020 And then, they pay them the lowest possible wages, or training wages, while simultaneously unlocking a critical new superpower.
00:13:27.800 They can force you to drive in pairs.
00:13:30.140 And when you're driving in pairs, you are not bound by law to take the same number of breaks to stop to sleep like a solo driver would be.
00:13:37.800 Suddenly, trips can be completed in far less time, and drivers work for far lower pay.
00:13:44.760 Lynn, who we met at the beginning of this episode, she was making a little over a dollar per mile,
00:13:49.480 which is still left or broke and destitute at the end of a 70-hour work week on the road non-stop.
00:13:55.980 Student drivers frequently are paid wages as low as 12 cents per mile.
00:14:01.160 You could hire almost 10 student drivers for the price of Lynn's starvation wages.
00:14:06.540 Even driving in teams, that's four or five times as many trucks on the road.
00:14:11.920 Student drivers are the cash cow that the modern trucking industry lives off of.
00:14:17.000 Trucker Desiree Wood said in the book,
00:14:19.360 quote,
00:14:20.040 There is so much money in students.
00:14:22.300 They work so cheap, 12 to 13 cents a mile.
00:14:25.220 It pays for the entire system.
00:14:27.340 And a lot of these trainers have been driving less than six months themselves.
00:14:31.740 She goes on to say,
00:14:32.720 This is not far from sharecropping.
00:14:35.220 It's debt bondage.
00:14:36.180 It's sharecropping where instead of the field, they are tenants on wheels.
00:14:41.140 So that's one side of the story, a side most Americans don't know about.
00:14:46.020 But now I want to take it to a conversation Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro had about six years ago
00:14:51.180 to voice another side of the story so we can really grasp the whole complexity of this issue.
00:14:55.900 You talk in the book about technology and how it's shifting and taking away jobs from folks.
00:15:01.900 And you make specific reference to truck driving and the fact that there are going to be these automated cars on the roads.
00:15:05.940 So would you, Tucker Carlson, be in favor of restrictions on the ability of trucking companies to use this sort of technology
00:15:13.020 specifically to, you know, sort of artificially maintain the number of jobs that are available in the trucking industry?
00:15:18.780 Are you joking?
00:15:19.920 In a second.
00:15:21.420 In a second.
00:15:23.020 In other words, if I were president, when I say to DOT, Department of Transportation,
00:15:26.360 we're not letting driverless trucks on the road, period.
00:15:29.900 Why?
00:15:30.680 Really simple.
00:15:32.200 Driving for a living is the single most common job for high school educated men in this country, in all 50 states.
00:15:38.500 By the way, that's the same group whose wages have gone down by 11% over the past 30 years.
00:15:42.780 The social cost of eliminating their jobs in a 10-year span, five-year span, 30-year span,
00:15:48.000 is so high that it's not sustainable.
00:15:51.960 So the greater good is protecting your citizens.
00:15:58.600 And he's not wrong.
00:16:00.720 Tucker has a great point.
00:16:02.360 I used to hold the same view.
00:16:04.180 And in some ways, I still do.
00:16:06.240 Because already driverless semi-trucks are on the highways of America.
00:16:10.180 And it's only a matter of years before this industry, one of the largest sectors of employment in America,
00:16:15.160 is largely replaced by robots and AI.
00:16:18.240 But Tucker uses a phrase that I want to highlight.
00:16:21.160 He said, decent people living happy lives.
00:16:24.700 And if that were still true, I would completely agree.
00:16:27.920 And that used to be true.
00:16:29.140 But as progress has marched on, prices have ground down and margins have slimmed,
00:16:34.820 more and more of this massive industry is preying on these largely high school educated people
00:16:40.740 that are, for lack of a better phrase, extremely vulnerable to exploitation.
00:16:45.040 And they wind up where we left off, with Desiree Woods saying, quote,
00:16:50.080 quote, this is not far from sharecropping.
00:16:53.120 It's debt bondage.
00:16:54.600 It's sharecropping where instead of the field, they are tenants on wheels.
00:16:58.640 And listen, I don't know the solution.
00:17:02.320 I don't know what to make of it all.
00:17:04.020 But at least now I have a little more compassion for truckers on the road.
00:17:07.580 And now that I know what they go through, I find myself giving them more space to do their job on the road.
00:17:13.120 And just a little more patient when I'm waiting behind an 18-wheeler in the passing lane.
00:17:16.740 These are the men and women that make the world work.
00:17:20.080 And they've got a pretty rough go of things.
00:17:23.160 And speaking of sharecropping, next we'll talk about plantations that operate today as prison labor camps,
00:17:30.540 eerily similar to their slave master roots.
00:17:33.640 But first, I want to take a minute to tell you about ground news.
00:17:37.460 Let's be honest.
00:17:38.540 The media is not here to inform you anymore.
00:17:40.740 It's here to steer you, to bury inconvenient facts, distort headlines, and promote whatever narrative keeps the power where it is.
00:17:48.520 That's why I don't trust a single outlet to tell me the truth.
00:17:51.720 I use ground news because I want to see what's really going on, not just what the media wants me to believe.
00:17:57.280 Ground news is an independent platform that brings together news coverage from across the political spectrum
00:18:01.880 to expose how each outlet spins the same story.
00:18:05.500 You'll see how different sides report or ignore the same event
00:18:08.980 and exactly what they're trying to get you to think.
00:18:11.720 It also shows you who's behind the reporting.
00:18:13.960 That's the part most platforms won't show you.
00:18:16.520 The tool I use the most?
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00:18:19.120 It reveals which stories are being covered heavily by one side and buried by the other.
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00:18:25.580 That's where you look.
00:18:26.780 Ground news is fully independent, supported by subscribers,
00:18:29.660 and it doesn't play by the legacy media's rules.
00:18:32.440 That's why I partnered with them.
00:18:33.940 If you're tired of media gatekeepers deciding what you see and what you don't,
00:18:38.080 take back control.
00:18:39.480 Go to groundnews.com slash Candice or scan the QR code on screen.
00:18:43.720 You'll get 40% off the Unlimited Access Vantage plan, which is what I use.
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00:20:07.740 So, now that we've talked about sharecropping on wheels, let's talk about the slaves that
00:20:13.260 still work the plantations to this day.
00:20:15.660 A lot of people don't know that the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States,
00:20:21.420 didn't actually abolish slavery.
00:20:23.960 It just put one very simple condition on the practice.
00:20:28.140 In the very first line, it says, quote,
00:20:31.440 Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the
00:20:37.620 party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place
00:20:42.220 subject to their jurisdiction.
00:20:43.240 And so, we get the prison industrial complex.
00:20:48.060 Some prisons sit literally on the land of former plantations, and their fields are still
00:20:53.280 worked by a slave population to this day, which is predominantly composed of Black Americans.
00:20:59.060 And although many people have contributed to this modern slavery and the racial bias of
00:21:03.260 its selection process, perhaps no one has contributed more to it than this man, Joseph R.
00:21:09.760 Biden.
00:21:10.300 In 1986, Joe Biden authored and championed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which, among other things,
00:21:17.480 imposed extremely harsh penalties on crack cocaine use versus powdered cocaine.
00:21:22.660 The penalties for crack cocaine were 100 times stricter than for regular powdered cocaine.
00:21:28.500 So, the minimum sentencing was five years for five grams of crack, or five years for 500
00:21:34.460 grams of powdered cocaine.
00:21:35.940 You might notice in the snippet from the New York Times here that it says this was an amendment
00:21:40.280 to the 1984 minimum sentencing bill.
00:21:43.120 Joe Biden championed that bill, too.
00:21:45.440 In fact, all throughout the 70s and 80s, Joe Biden was at the front of the charge to expand
00:21:51.300 the power of the prison system.
00:21:52.580 And he authored numerous acts to expand prison populations that were written in ways that
00:21:57.620 clearly skewed towards black Americans.
00:22:00.500 I probably don't need to remind you that it was our own CIA that was flooding poor black
00:22:05.540 neighborhoods with crack cocaine at the time.
00:22:07.920 And so, from 1973, when these laws started passing and prisons started expanding, until 2009,
00:22:14.300 when this trend peaked, the imprisonment rate in America increased sevenfold.
00:22:18.840 We went from just a couple hundred thousand people in prison to over 1.5 million.
00:22:24.580 Except, by some data sets, it's over 2 million, and has been since 2005, depending on who you trust.
00:22:31.320 When you look up official Department of Justice fact sheets, though,
00:22:35.000 they conveniently show the data going back just to 2009, when prison populations had peaked.
00:22:40.480 So, it looks, in this graph, like prison populations are decreasing.
00:22:45.320 What a convenient way to present it.
00:22:47.020 You see, they just show this last little decrease at the end there, highlighted in pink.
00:22:52.500 Pay no attention to Joe Biden's legacy.
00:22:55.920 The Sentencing Project reports that one in five black men born in the year 2001
00:23:00.900 is likely to be imprisoned at some point in their lifetime.
00:23:04.600 Black Americans account for nearly seven out of ten people in American prisons.
00:23:09.240 Biden actually went out of his way as a Democrat senator to reach across the aisle
00:23:13.720 and ally with segregationist Republican senators to pass these bills throughout the late 70s,
00:23:19.160 the 80s, and the 90s.
00:23:21.500 In 2013, Biden boasted on the Senate floor that, quote,
00:23:26.300 every major crime bill since 1976 that's come out of this Congress,
00:23:30.760 every minor crime bill,
00:23:32.400 has had the name of the Democratic senator from the state of Delaware,
00:23:36.300 Joe Biden.
00:23:36.920 And so now, for every 100,000 black adults in America,
00:23:41.680 1,196 are in prison.
00:23:44.860 The rate for white people is 229.
00:23:47.800 You know this is a liberal publication, too,
00:23:49.780 because they say Latinx,
00:23:52.000 a term that no Latino person has ever used.
00:23:54.700 Literally, their entire language is gendered,
00:23:57.200 but whole sidetrack.
00:23:58.900 It's also worth noting that almost half of federal prison inmates are there
00:24:03.740 because of drug charges,
00:24:05.420 a fact they have the war on drugs and Joe Biden's crime bills to thank for.
00:24:10.100 Only 21% are in prison for weapons-related charges
00:24:12.880 and just 7.3% for violent crimes.
00:24:16.480 Now, this problem is incredibly complex and multifaceted,
00:24:21.280 and all too often,
00:24:22.920 people don't want to account for all of these different factors that are contributing.
00:24:25.920 The justice system has been designed to target and more severely punish black people.
00:24:30.600 Also, black culture has been infested by music, celebrity, and gang culture
00:24:35.240 that glamorizes criminality.
00:24:37.400 Poverty and schools in predominantly black parts of America
00:24:40.100 make it all too easy to slip through the cracks.
00:24:42.500 And none of these truths should serve as any excuse.
00:24:45.560 More than one thing can be true at once.
00:24:47.840 Just because you're black doesn't mean you're bound for a life of criminality with no way out.
00:24:52.180 But if you're born into a class and culture
00:24:55.000 where criminality is the norm
00:24:56.820 and even seen as cool and high status
00:24:59.520 and you see it all around you,
00:25:01.840 well, it's a vicious cycle.
00:25:03.620 And regardless of the color of your skin,
00:25:05.640 once you're in,
00:25:06.660 the 13th Amendment's abolishment of slavery is out the window
00:25:09.860 and you join a vast hidden workforce
00:25:12.320 that enriches all of America's most beloved megacorporations.
00:25:16.820 From Frosted Flakes cereal and ballpark hot dogs
00:25:19.660 to Gold Medal Flour, Coca-Cola, and Rice Land Rice,
00:25:23.240 prison labor products are on the shelves
00:25:25.320 of virtually every supermarket in the country,
00:25:27.940 including Kroger, Target, Aldi, and Whole Foods.
00:25:31.800 We even export some of these products
00:25:33.520 to countries that we have previously blocked imports from
00:25:36.760 in protest of those other countries' poor labor practices,
00:25:41.300 which to me is peak American hypocrisy.
00:25:43.820 Some prisoners work on the exact same plantation soil
00:25:47.600 where slaves harvested cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane
00:25:50.760 more than 150 years ago.
00:25:53.100 And slaves are still picking cotton today.
00:25:55.940 Willie Ingram, who was featured in this expose
00:25:57.880 by the Associated Press,
00:25:59.460 picked everything from cotton to okra
00:26:01.200 during his 51-year stay in Louisiana State Penitentiary,
00:26:04.760 known as Angola,
00:26:05.900 which is built directly on top of an old plantation.
00:26:09.180 Quote,
00:26:09.460 Angola sits on a massive plot of farmland,
00:26:22.100 previously owned by one of the largest slave traders in the U.S.
00:26:25.660 Today, it houses about 3,800 men
00:26:28.360 who head to the field within days of arrival.
00:26:31.300 At first, they work for free,
00:26:32.500 but then they can earn between 2 cents and 40 cents an hour.
00:26:37.980 And across the country,
00:26:38.920 work is done for most of our biggest brands,
00:26:41.920 whether it's manufacturing products
00:26:43.460 specifically for that company
00:26:44.740 or producing raw ingredients
00:26:46.380 that are then sold into the supply chain.
00:26:48.420 This is just a small list
00:26:49.760 that the AP was able to directly observe
00:26:51.940 in their investigations.
00:26:53.760 And they do it
00:26:54.520 because it's incredibly profitable.
00:26:56.840 These workers don't have benefits
00:26:58.420 or protections
00:26:59.260 or typical safety standards.
00:27:01.160 They hardly get paid
00:27:02.320 and so can produce goods
00:27:03.840 for much cheaper than a normal worker.
00:27:06.280 And then,
00:27:06.720 these products and goods
00:27:07.980 are sold on the open market
00:27:09.520 where they compete on price
00:27:11.020 with regular farmers and manufacturers,
00:27:13.520 further pushing on family farms to cut prices.
00:27:16.520 Prisoners also often work in industries
00:27:18.800 with severe labor shortages,
00:27:20.600 and so they wind up doing
00:27:21.600 some of the dirtiest
00:27:22.500 and most dangerous jobs in America
00:27:24.240 for basically no pay.
00:27:26.700 Altogether,
00:27:27.580 the modern slave labor industry
00:27:29.000 brought in more than $2 billion in 2021.
00:27:32.760 And that's just the prison labor,
00:27:34.240 not to mention work release
00:27:35.820 and other programs.
00:27:38.840 Curtis Davis,
00:27:40.100 who spent more than 25 years
00:27:41.880 in a penitentiary,
00:27:42.900 said,
00:27:43.660 slavery has not been abolished.
00:27:45.840 It is still operating in present tense.
00:27:48.400 Nothing has changed.
00:27:50.640 And next,
00:27:51.780 we're going to talk about how
00:27:53.020 they're trying to bring slavery
00:27:54.560 to the middle class.
00:27:56.400 To you.
00:27:57.460 But first,
00:27:58.360 let's take a break.
00:27:59.740 Real quick, guys,
00:28:00.700 I want to tell you about American financing.
00:28:02.800 We're all feeling it.
00:28:04.100 Inflation is eating away at everything.
00:28:06.040 Gas, groceries,
00:28:07.320 home repairs.
00:28:08.480 And if you're a homeowner,
00:28:09.900 you've probably thought,
00:28:10.840 should I call American financing
00:28:12.220 to refinance
00:28:13.040 and pay off this credit card debt?
00:28:14.660 But then you second guess yourself
00:28:16.220 because of that low mortgage rate
00:28:17.620 you currently have.
00:28:18.840 Listen,
00:28:19.540 that low rate,
00:28:20.380 it is not saving you
00:28:21.440 if you're drowning
00:28:22.060 in credit card interest
00:28:22.960 at 25% or more.
00:28:24.640 That's the math
00:28:25.460 that no one wants to face.
00:28:26.400 But it's costing you thousands.
00:28:28.360 So here's the truth.
00:28:29.580 If you're only making minimum payments,
00:28:31.220 that debt will follow you
00:28:32.480 for years.
00:28:33.480 That's why people
00:28:34.140 are calling American financing
00:28:35.560 because they're saving customers
00:28:37.140 an average of $800 a month
00:28:38.820 by using their equity
00:28:39.940 to finally break free
00:28:41.080 from credit card debt.
00:28:42.560 You owe it to your family
00:28:43.460 to see what's possible.
00:28:44.740 No upfront fees,
00:28:45.760 no pressure.
00:28:46.580 It costs you nothing
00:28:47.440 to find out
00:28:48.040 what you could save every month.
00:28:49.580 And if you start today,
00:28:50.620 you may be able to delay
00:28:51.800 two mortgage payments.
00:28:53.360 Call American financing today,
00:28:54.860 800-795-1210.
00:28:57.360 That's 800-795-1210.
00:29:00.120 Or visit AmericanFinancing.net
00:29:02.420 slash Owens.
00:29:04.040 So the poorest
00:29:05.900 and most rock bottom
00:29:07.280 are being farmed out
00:29:08.460 as prison labor
00:29:09.300 on literal plantations.
00:29:11.420 People on the verge
00:29:12.520 of falling through the cracks
00:29:13.600 or just crawling out of them
00:29:15.200 are preyed on
00:29:16.040 by the trucking industry
00:29:17.120 among many other
00:29:18.220 exploitive fields.
00:29:19.960 Average Americans
00:29:20.720 are locked into dead-end jobs
00:29:22.340 that used to be enough
00:29:23.160 to buy a house,
00:29:24.020 a car,
00:29:24.800 and send your kids
00:29:25.420 to college on.
00:29:26.380 Now those same jobs
00:29:27.600 have Americans on food stamps
00:29:29.020 and taking out debt
00:29:30.180 for just basic purchases.
00:29:32.200 So how do you break free
00:29:33.440 of this rat race?
00:29:34.620 How do you chase
00:29:35.360 the American dream
00:29:36.220 out of the rat race
00:29:37.280 and change your fortune?
00:29:39.300 You start a business, right?
00:29:41.400 Wrong.
00:29:42.380 Because, oh boy,
00:29:43.740 is the franchise industry
00:29:45.040 up to the same games.
00:29:47.200 And listen,
00:29:48.220 we are about to skim
00:29:49.480 the surface
00:29:49.940 of an incredibly complex dig.
00:29:52.140 And I've done my best
00:29:53.280 to keep it from getting too dry
00:29:54.940 and keep it interesting
00:29:56.000 the way that I try to do.
00:29:57.500 Because it's not always
00:29:58.680 the flashiest,
00:29:59.580 most Twitter viral news stories
00:30:01.080 that is going to be
00:30:02.160 the most important
00:30:02.960 to actually know about.
00:30:04.340 Many of the most important
00:30:05.360 things happening in our world
00:30:06.420 are bound up
00:30:07.180 in complex legal filings
00:30:08.680 and drawn out
00:30:09.580 across years and years
00:30:10.940 of, frankly,
00:30:12.120 boring processes.
00:30:13.540 And this one,
00:30:14.640 it matters.
00:30:15.680 It matters in so many more ways
00:30:17.480 that I'm going to be able
00:30:18.540 to fit into this segment.
00:30:20.020 But,
00:30:20.940 this is a start.
00:30:21.720 Because, you see,
00:30:23.720 if you're the type
00:30:24.480 of upstanding citizen
00:30:25.360 with good credit
00:30:26.520 and some amount of savings
00:30:27.720 and income
00:30:28.520 that you could consider
00:30:29.520 applying for the loans
00:30:30.780 required to open a business,
00:30:32.640 you are an even more
00:30:33.820 valuable cash cow
00:30:34.920 to be milked.
00:30:36.240 And the franchising industry,
00:30:37.740 which has for generations
00:30:38.900 been the most accessible way
00:30:40.640 for regular people
00:30:41.600 to become business owners
00:30:42.700 and achieve the American dream,
00:30:45.000 it has found a way
00:30:45.940 to extract every penny
00:30:47.460 that that dream is worth.
00:30:49.560 Many people think
00:30:50.800 of their net worth
00:30:52.080 as how much they have
00:30:53.720 in the bank.
00:30:54.600 How much money
00:30:55.280 do you actually own?
00:30:56.960 But truly,
00:30:58.120 you're worth so much more
00:30:59.380 than that,
00:31:00.220 even in a strictly
00:31:01.060 financial way.
00:31:02.460 That's because we have
00:31:03.700 credit.
00:31:04.780 You have credit.
00:31:06.080 And it's important
00:31:06.780 before we go down
00:31:07.580 this rabbit hole
00:31:08.200 to unpack credit
00:31:09.040 a little bit.
00:31:09.700 Because credit
00:31:10.280 is not just a plastic card
00:31:11.960 that you keep
00:31:12.740 in your wallet.
00:31:14.040 Credit is your future.
00:31:15.540 It's a promise
00:31:16.240 to pay it back later.
00:31:17.700 And it's a promise
00:31:18.360 to exchange
00:31:18.920 your future time
00:31:20.120 and your future work
00:31:21.580 for something right now.
00:31:23.340 And give yourself
00:31:24.260 some credit.
00:31:25.560 You can probably be worth
00:31:26.640 so much more
00:31:27.600 down the line
00:31:28.480 than you are worth today.
00:31:30.720 And that precise
00:31:32.220 monetary fact
00:31:33.260 is what private equity
00:31:34.840 and megacorporations
00:31:36.060 have learned
00:31:36.640 to prey on
00:31:37.440 in the franchising industry,
00:31:39.000 which has started
00:31:40.040 a whole predatory practice
00:31:41.720 of contracting people
00:31:43.240 into new businesses,
00:31:45.180 milking them
00:31:45.680 for all the credit
00:31:46.760 they can take
00:31:47.320 out of the bank,
00:31:48.000 and then leaving them
00:31:49.240 with the bill
00:31:49.860 to pay for the rest
00:31:51.000 of their lives.
00:31:52.340 It all starts
00:31:53.160 with a discovery process
00:31:54.660 and a contract.
00:31:56.500 Suppose that you
00:31:57.520 wanted to start a business
00:31:58.760 or do something meaningful,
00:32:00.600 something to change
00:32:01.320 your family's fortunes
00:32:02.320 and provide a better life
00:32:03.500 for your kids.
00:32:04.520 And you hear about
00:32:05.360 this great new idea.
00:32:06.880 A martial arts studio franchise
00:32:08.340 and a burger franchise
00:32:09.620 are advertising
00:32:10.620 a new business model
00:32:11.780 in your town.
00:32:13.080 They're looking for someone
00:32:14.100 to open a new franchise
00:32:15.420 location in your town
00:32:16.600 and the business
00:32:17.360 is basically turnkey.
00:32:19.140 It's ready to go.
00:32:20.340 You hardly even need
00:32:21.420 to spend any time
00:32:22.320 working on it
00:32:22.940 because their proven
00:32:24.000 business model
00:32:24.680 is actually so dialed in
00:32:26.260 that you just open up shop,
00:32:28.100 hire some workers,
00:32:29.000 and the business runs itself.
00:32:30.760 Pure passive income.
00:32:32.520 You just work a few hours
00:32:33.680 a week on the side.
00:32:34.920 You can even keep
00:32:35.780 your day job if you want.
00:32:37.740 It sounds too good
00:32:38.840 to be true,
00:32:39.700 but you decide
00:32:40.600 to schedule a meeting
00:32:41.460 with them
00:32:41.840 just to hear them out.
00:32:42.800 Maybe this is actually
00:32:44.120 your family's lucky break.
00:32:45.920 When you sit down
00:32:46.880 with them,
00:32:47.400 they show you
00:32:48.100 all kinds of materials
00:32:49.420 and data.
00:32:50.020 It's actually true.
00:32:51.480 These franchises
00:32:52.320 are opening up
00:32:53.160 all over the country
00:32:54.160 lightning fast
00:32:55.120 and they're profitable
00:32:56.060 almost right away.
00:32:57.600 The burger place
00:32:58.440 comes with crazy
00:32:59.220 celebrity endorsements
00:33:00.360 and the martial arts studio
00:33:01.540 runs totally hands off.
00:33:03.460 It's awesome.
00:33:04.740 They have all the equipment
00:33:05.600 you're going to need.
00:33:06.300 It's already sorted out.
00:33:07.420 All the branding,
00:33:08.560 the advertising,
00:33:09.420 it's all sorted out.
00:33:10.900 All you need to do
00:33:12.000 is secure the financing
00:33:13.440 to open up shop
00:33:14.520 and your life
00:33:15.440 will change forever.
00:33:16.940 You think it over
00:33:17.840 with your family,
00:33:18.720 it's a pretty big risk,
00:33:20.220 but you know
00:33:21.100 that you're hardworking
00:33:21.880 and you've always
00:33:22.740 dreamed of more.
00:33:23.820 The document you took
00:33:25.000 home with you
00:33:25.660 is extensive.
00:33:26.820 It's several hundred
00:33:27.620 pages long
00:33:28.300 and it details everything
00:33:29.560 about how to open
00:33:30.380 and run the store
00:33:31.220 as well as all
00:33:31.860 the legal stuff.
00:33:32.640 And I mean,
00:33:33.260 really,
00:33:33.580 it's actually mostly
00:33:34.440 all legal stuff,
00:33:35.480 but it also has
00:33:36.420 all the data
00:33:36.980 about how many other
00:33:37.860 successful businesses
00:33:38.800 that franchise
00:33:39.480 has opened
00:33:40.200 across the country
00:33:41.100 lately.
00:33:42.060 So you decide
00:33:43.400 to do it.
00:33:44.320 In your next meeting,
00:33:45.380 you sign on the line
00:33:46.520 and you officially
00:33:47.340 join the brand family.
00:33:49.380 Next,
00:33:50.000 you're off to the bank
00:33:51.020 to secure a loan
00:33:51.960 in order to open up
00:33:53.080 your new business.
00:33:55.060 And I'm sure
00:33:56.560 that you see
00:33:57.140 where this is going.
00:33:58.880 Sometimes,
00:33:59.680 this process
00:34:00.220 does work great.
00:34:01.320 If you're working
00:34:01.800 with an honest company,
00:34:02.880 this really can be
00:34:03.880 the path
00:34:04.340 to a new life.
00:34:05.500 But all too often,
00:34:07.120 that document
00:34:07.940 that you're holding
00:34:08.640 is actually filled
00:34:10.140 with deception,
00:34:11.440 half-truth,
00:34:12.200 and outright fraud.
00:34:14.080 The Federal Trade Commission
00:34:15.300 sued a franchise
00:34:16.360 called Burgerim,
00:34:17.680 the burger joint
00:34:18.420 that I described
00:34:19.040 just a moment ago
00:34:19.880 in our intro,
00:34:20.900 for fraud.
00:34:21.980 They were selling
00:34:22.720 their franchisees
00:34:23.640 a pipe dream
00:34:24.400 that had nothing
00:34:25.380 to back it up,
00:34:26.440 even though they had
00:34:27.180 information in that document,
00:34:29.020 causing these people
00:34:29.900 to take out
00:34:30.520 huge amounts of debt
00:34:31.820 only to have nothing
00:34:33.340 actually materialize.
00:34:35.020 The Franchise Times
00:34:36.040 reported that
00:34:37.100 they sold at least
00:34:38.480 1,550 franchises
00:34:41.180 and collected
00:34:41.820 at least $57.7 million
00:34:44.020 in just initial
00:34:46.020 franchise fees
00:34:46.900 from 2015 to 2019.
00:34:49.380 But they had only
00:34:50.620 opened 130
00:34:52.260 out of 1,550 locations
00:34:55.640 by 2018.
00:34:56.980 To make it even worse,
00:34:58.420 they were advertising
00:34:59.260 to veterans
00:34:59.900 and then extracting
00:35:00.820 all of their credit,
00:35:01.960 all their future time
00:35:03.040 and earning potential,
00:35:04.280 only to leave
00:35:05.000 these veterans
00:35:05.760 broke and destitute.
00:35:07.100 on empty promises.
00:35:09.280 Bergerham was pitching
00:35:10.080 this as a business
00:35:10.920 in just the way
00:35:11.680 that I described earlier,
00:35:12.920 a business in a box,
00:35:14.440 and the company
00:35:15.180 was targeting veterans
00:35:16.400 with discount programs
00:35:17.660 to lure them
00:35:18.300 into the business.
00:35:19.600 It sounds kind of insane
00:35:21.160 and even unbelievable,
00:35:23.180 but actually,
00:35:23.740 it's a lot more common
00:35:24.880 of an occurrence
00:35:25.480 than you might realize.
00:35:27.520 In 2023,
00:35:28.920 Lena Kahn,
00:35:29.720 the chair of the
00:35:30.660 Federal Trade Commission,
00:35:31.540 which is the government
00:35:32.260 body that oversees
00:35:33.480 all this stuff,
00:35:34.100 she posted a request
00:35:35.580 for comment
00:35:36.140 from franchisees
00:35:37.300 so business owners
00:35:38.480 could share their concerns
00:35:39.620 and grievances
00:35:40.220 about the industry
00:35:41.160 at large.
00:35:42.280 Her inbox
00:35:42.880 was flooded
00:35:43.980 with comments
00:35:44.820 from franchise owners
00:35:45.900 who had experienced
00:35:46.940 these same
00:35:47.580 predatory practices
00:35:48.720 and lost everything.
00:35:50.340 She later published
00:35:51.220 a document summarizing
00:35:52.400 the findings
00:35:52.840 of her investigation,
00:35:53.920 and it had paragraphs
00:35:55.120 like this in it.
00:35:57.040 Quote,
00:35:58.060 several franchisees
00:35:59.320 discussed misrepresentations
00:36:00.760 franchisers made
00:36:01.820 during the sales process.
00:36:03.260 Startup costs
00:36:03.900 and sales revenue
00:36:04.700 and profit data
00:36:05.620 were some of the critical areas
00:36:06.800 where commenters reported
00:36:07.700 receiving information
00:36:08.580 they believed
00:36:09.160 was false
00:36:09.800 or misleading.
00:36:11.000 One commenter described,
00:36:12.440 sales data
00:36:13.140 that does not add up
00:36:14.180 and a completely false
00:36:15.720 estimated profit margin.
00:36:16.880 Another commenter said
00:36:18.200 that, quote,
00:36:19.100 Dickey's barbecue business model
00:36:20.420 involves selling stores
00:36:21.600 as substantially more
00:36:22.700 than quoted
00:36:23.200 with Dickey's getting
00:36:23.860 a big portion of the cut.
00:36:25.480 Dickey's will tell franchisees
00:36:26.940 the cost will be $400,000
00:36:28.300 and it will cost
00:36:29.080 sometimes double that,
00:36:30.280 but you don't know
00:36:31.060 until you are already
00:36:31.940 heavily invested.
00:36:33.200 Then,
00:36:33.740 the owner would default
00:36:34.660 on their SBA loan
00:36:35.840 and the next buyer
00:36:36.760 comes in
00:36:37.260 and pays half,
00:36:38.240 but then they will default
00:36:39.300 until the restaurant
00:36:39.940 is sold for about 10%
00:36:41.160 of the original cost
00:36:42.220 to build.
00:36:43.380 Note how they said
00:36:44.340 the owner will default
00:36:45.660 on their SBA loan.
00:36:47.120 We're going to come back
00:36:48.280 to that because
00:36:48.980 private equity
00:36:49.880 has figured out
00:36:50.580 how to make the government
00:36:51.660 backstop this fraud
00:36:52.840 and now,
00:36:53.780 when these franchisees
00:36:54.840 are bankrupted
00:36:55.760 and penniless
00:36:56.520 because the business
00:36:57.420 they were promised
00:36:58.040 was all a lie,
00:36:59.540 the government
00:37:00.160 actually pays
00:37:01.000 the bad loans
00:37:01.900 and the private equity firm
00:37:03.420 walks away rich.
00:37:05.320 Some of these
00:37:06.200 private equity firms
00:37:07.040 are actually setting up
00:37:08.200 webs of shell companies
00:37:09.380 and doing what's called
00:37:10.520 the Texas Two-Step
00:37:11.520 to hide their assets
00:37:12.780 in tax shelter LLCs
00:37:14.420 while bankrupting out
00:37:15.660 of their failed business
00:37:16.720 before anyone
00:37:17.720 they stole from
00:37:18.620 has a chance
00:37:19.220 to sue for damages.
00:37:20.660 We'll get back
00:37:21.160 to that in a minute
00:37:22.080 because it's super messed up.
00:37:24.580 But anyways,
00:37:25.660 in Lena Kahn's report,
00:37:27.400 she listed
00:37:27.880 the top 12 complaints
00:37:29.300 along with
00:37:29.960 what franchises
00:37:30.920 were most frequently
00:37:31.800 mentioned
00:37:32.220 in that type of complaint.
00:37:34.220 And Michael Browning Jr.
00:37:36.020 finally got that
00:37:37.000 sweet, sweet recognition
00:37:38.700 that he always craved.
00:37:40.260 his company
00:37:41.480 Unleash Brands
00:37:42.880 was top of the industry
00:37:44.160 in misrepresentation
00:37:45.960 and deception,
00:37:47.580 actual and threatened
00:37:48.720 retaliation,
00:37:49.920 Tiffany's story
00:37:50.480 is just one of many,
00:37:52.540 franchise disclosure
00:37:53.480 document issues,
00:37:54.580 which is a nice way
00:37:55.280 to say fraud,
00:37:56.420 and private equity
00:37:57.820 takeovers.
00:37:59.000 But,
00:38:00.000 it's worth noting
00:38:01.280 that almost all
00:38:02.400 of these top complaints
00:38:03.320 from business owners
00:38:04.140 are all separate elements
00:38:05.640 of the same
00:38:06.380 fraudulent scheme
00:38:07.320 where you lie
00:38:08.360 to get people
00:38:08.960 to buy into
00:38:09.700 your franchise.
00:38:10.840 Then,
00:38:11.420 you trap them
00:38:12.200 in predatory contracts
00:38:13.260 that change over time
00:38:14.940 to be more exploitative.
00:38:16.860 If they speak out,
00:38:18.060 you retaliate against them
00:38:19.120 with lawfare.
00:38:20.100 You can take their businesses,
00:38:21.580 bankrupt them in court,
00:38:22.900 or,
00:38:23.680 just charge them
00:38:24.380 the $200,000 fee
00:38:25.680 that they owe you
00:38:26.460 when you fire them.
00:38:27.820 Because you recently
00:38:28.780 amended the contract
00:38:29.760 they signed years ago
00:38:31.280 to add this little tidbit in.
00:38:33.880 They tried to speak out
00:38:35.140 against it,
00:38:35.960 but obviously,
00:38:37.200 a contract's a contract,
00:38:38.560 right?
00:38:39.220 Like,
00:38:39.620 I really cannot convey
00:38:41.140 how insane this stuff is.
00:38:42.920 It sounds impossible.
00:38:44.300 It sounds like someone
00:38:45.080 would stop it.
00:38:45.960 Like,
00:38:46.260 there would be
00:38:46.800 any amount of justice.
00:38:48.780 Like,
00:38:49.040 you can't just pretend
00:38:49.960 to have a business
00:38:50.680 and sell millions of dollars
00:38:52.480 of fake franchise burger joints
00:38:54.180 and then launder the money
00:38:55.300 out into a chain of LLCs
00:38:56.800 and say,
00:38:57.180 whoopsies,
00:38:57.900 money's gone,
00:38:59.080 guess there's nothing
00:38:59.660 we can do?
00:39:00.560 But,
00:39:01.160 that is literally happening
00:39:02.540 in broad daylight,
00:39:03.700 right in front of the courts
00:39:04.800 and the regulators.
00:39:05.700 The comments
00:39:06.920 that the FTC received
00:39:08.100 were cries for help.
00:39:09.540 Here are just a few
00:39:10.500 that specifically highlighted
00:39:12.180 Unleash Brands.
00:39:13.680 Quote,
00:39:13.940 Franchisees were forced
00:39:15.620 to use a construction
00:39:16.660 management company
00:39:17.520 named Foxfield
00:39:18.420 that was stealing money.
00:39:20.100 Foxfield Company
00:39:20.780 set up a shell corporation
00:39:21.960 for a bogus procurement company
00:39:24.000 that franchisees
00:39:25.080 were required to use.
00:39:26.140 Foxfield's owner,
00:39:27.540 Chuck Piazza,
00:39:28.540 put his wife in charge
00:39:29.580 of the procurement company.
00:39:30.920 The sole purpose
00:39:31.660 was to create
00:39:32.300 an additional markup
00:39:33.380 on items.
00:39:34.040 Markups were in excess
00:39:35.000 of 80% on some items
00:39:36.760 and stole tens of thousands
00:39:38.180 of dollars
00:39:38.600 from each franchisee.
00:39:40.480 Quote,
00:39:41.200 Unleash Brands
00:39:41.980 has ruined my family's life.
00:39:43.360 I am a franchisee
00:39:44.340 of Premier Martial Arts
00:39:45.360 that has lost everything
00:39:46.580 I own in under two years.
00:39:48.560 They lied to us
00:39:49.360 countless times
00:39:50.080 during the due diligence
00:39:50.900 and sales process,
00:39:52.280 and Miles Baker,
00:39:53.100 Vice President
00:39:53.600 of Premier Martial Arts,
00:39:54.760 told us to suck it up
00:39:56.300 and get over it
00:39:57.280 when my husband and I
00:39:58.400 confronted him
00:39:59.000 about all the lies
00:39:59.800 he told us.
00:40:00.740 Unleash Brands
00:40:01.400 and PMA
00:40:01.900 have treated franchisees
00:40:03.340 not only in PMA,
00:40:05.120 inhumanely,
00:40:06.120 and might as well
00:40:06.740 be called the mafia.
00:40:08.600 Quote,
00:40:09.100 It is traumatizing
00:40:10.560 to be told
00:40:11.140 they are trying
00:40:11.980 to bankrupt
00:40:12.540 anyone with your family name,
00:40:14.780 all while they continue
00:40:15.840 to siphon money
00:40:16.680 from our accounts.
00:40:18.340 Unleash Brands
00:40:19.020 are monsters
00:40:19.640 and the franchise industry
00:40:20.860 should be disgusted
00:40:21.720 by the example they set.
00:40:23.440 The stories about
00:40:24.200 Unleash Brands
00:40:25.000 piled up
00:40:26.080 and got pretty specific.
00:40:27.900 One franchisee
00:40:28.860 even claimed
00:40:29.480 that Steven Polizola,
00:40:30.800 the lead lawyer
00:40:31.900 for Unleash Brands,
00:40:33.060 said to them,
00:40:33.960 quote,
00:40:34.720 We are going to crush you
00:40:36.060 into submission,
00:40:37.320 just like we are doing
00:40:38.420 with Premier Martial Arts
00:40:39.680 and The Little Gym.
00:40:41.420 It is sickening
00:40:42.240 to see how people
00:40:43.140 are being treated
00:40:43.760 after we used
00:40:44.500 our life savings
00:40:45.260 to start a business.
00:40:46.900 And they are using
00:40:47.820 their life savings
00:40:48.660 as well as their life's credit
00:40:50.220 over and over again.
00:40:51.940 So many franchisees
00:40:53.600 have the same story.
00:40:55.160 They are lied to
00:40:56.040 in the process
00:40:56.740 of buying into the business
00:40:58.060 and not just little lies,
00:40:59.800 overt fraud,
00:41:00.880 felony level lies,
00:41:02.400 many of which
00:41:03.780 are blatantly provable
00:41:05.120 in the very documents
00:41:06.520 themselves
00:41:07.080 if any regulator
00:41:08.180 cared to investigate.
00:41:09.780 Then,
00:41:10.500 as soon as you sign
00:41:11.420 on the line,
00:41:12.260 they own you
00:41:12.920 and little by little,
00:41:13.960 the fees are added on,
00:41:15.380 the kickbacks pile up,
00:41:16.700 and the fraud
00:41:17.440 and extortion
00:41:18.020 slowly bury you
00:41:19.220 into bankruptcy.
00:41:19.920 If you try to get out,
00:41:21.600 they can sue you
00:41:22.380 or charge you
00:41:23.240 tens or hundreds
00:41:24.200 of thousands of dollars
00:41:25.260 in exit fees,
00:41:26.280 which are often
00:41:26.920 written in from the start
00:41:28.000 or added on
00:41:29.100 to your contract.
00:41:30.180 But even more appalling,
00:41:31.920 private equity
00:41:32.440 has latched on
00:41:33.240 to a new strategy.
00:41:34.740 They tell franchisees
00:41:35.820 to use special
00:41:36.700 SBA
00:41:37.400 and ROBS loans.
00:41:40.200 A ROBS loan,
00:41:41.300 short for
00:41:42.040 Rollover as Business Startup,
00:41:44.160 although in this case
00:41:44.900 the abbreviation ROBS
00:41:46.000 conveys way more clearly
00:41:47.600 what they're actually doing,
00:41:49.320 they are a way
00:41:50.080 for you to pledge
00:41:50.920 your retirement account
00:41:51.940 as collateral
00:41:52.660 to fund your business.
00:41:54.360 And so now,
00:41:55.160 the private equity firm
00:41:56.380 not only gets these people
00:41:57.620 trapped in contractual servitude
00:41:59.320 and milks them
00:42:00.180 for all the credit
00:42:00.980 they can acquire,
00:42:02.280 but it also
00:42:03.180 gets all their liquid assets,
00:42:05.560 but then it also
00:42:06.520 gets their retirement account
00:42:08.460 on an empty promise
00:42:10.080 that you're going to have
00:42:11.520 a brand new business.
00:42:13.180 Just trust us.
00:42:14.060 Sign on the line.
00:42:14.800 If that wasn't bad enough,
00:42:17.500 they make sure
00:42:18.140 that whenever possible,
00:42:19.840 their victims
00:42:20.320 are using SBA loans,
00:42:22.140 which are special loans
00:42:23.320 for starting small businesses,
00:42:24.700 which are backed
00:42:25.420 by the government.
00:42:26.520 I presume that
00:42:27.640 the initial idea here
00:42:28.560 was to encourage banks
00:42:29.680 to lend to people
00:42:30.680 that are starting
00:42:31.240 small businesses
00:42:31.860 so it could spur the economy,
00:42:33.680 but what it has become
00:42:34.780 is a way for private equity
00:42:36.320 to extort the system
00:42:37.680 and steal from
00:42:38.560 our tax dollars
00:42:39.620 to the tune of
00:42:40.540 Lord knows how much
00:42:41.880 each year.
00:42:42.740 Because an SBA loan,
00:42:44.060 if you go bankrupt
00:42:45.340 and can't pay it back,
00:42:47.000 as so many of these
00:42:48.160 aspiring franchisees cannot,
00:42:50.560 it's backed up
00:42:51.440 up to 85%
00:42:53.020 by the federal government.
00:42:55.280 And so what winds up happening
00:42:56.640 is based on these
00:42:58.100 false promises
00:42:58.960 and often fraudulent documents,
00:43:01.200 predatory private equity groups
00:43:02.780 can convince regular people
00:43:04.460 to take out massive loans
00:43:06.280 that they would never qualify for
00:43:07.800 if they weren't joining
00:43:08.700 an apparently reputable franchise.
00:43:11.280 And when it turns out
00:43:12.300 that the business model
00:43:13.440 isn't what they were told,
00:43:14.920 they're bankrupted,
00:43:16.120 their franchise is closed down,
00:43:17.960 private equity walks away rich,
00:43:20.060 and the taxpayer dollar
00:43:21.460 covers the bill to the bank.
00:43:23.620 In this way,
00:43:25.120 private equity is using
00:43:26.180 average Americans
00:43:27.160 as willing suckers,
00:43:28.980 as go-betweens,
00:43:30.320 who get tricked
00:43:31.140 into extracting
00:43:32.020 every ounce of cash,
00:43:33.700 savings,
00:43:34.280 and future credit
00:43:35.400 that their whole life represents.
00:43:37.940 And private equity
00:43:38.800 can run this whole scheme,
00:43:40.220 never having taken on
00:43:41.740 any risk at all,
00:43:43.160 except risk of going to prison
00:43:44.660 if any regulator
00:43:45.600 or law enforcement agency
00:43:46.900 would ever wake up
00:43:48.160 and do their jobs,
00:43:49.160 which so far
00:43:50.280 has not exactly happened.
00:43:52.160 And so,
00:43:53.340 the show goes on.
00:43:54.680 This happened to basically
00:43:55.800 every owner
00:43:56.440 of a premier martial arts franchise.
00:43:58.200 They all tried to sue
00:43:59.060 Michael Browning Jr.,
00:44:00.040 and he crushed most of them
00:44:01.080 with lawfare and arbitration
00:44:02.460 and regular court as well.
00:44:04.200 This happened to dozens
00:44:05.260 and dozens of little gyms,
00:44:06.780 but this also happens
00:44:07.720 with other private equity,
00:44:08.660 like Burgerim,
00:44:10.300 like Dickie's Barbecue Pit,
00:44:11.880 like Dagwood's,
00:44:13.100 and Subway,
00:44:14.040 and I Heart Mac and Cheese.
00:44:15.280 It's also happening
00:44:16.100 with mental health care clinics.
00:44:17.580 And the list goes on and on.
00:44:19.580 And it's going on right now
00:44:21.120 for thousands of franchisees
00:44:22.860 around the country.
00:44:24.060 I Heart Mac and Cheese
00:44:24.960 is in arbitration right now,
00:44:26.460 and the lawyer representing
00:44:27.460 all of these regular Americans
00:44:28.860 is fighting with everything
00:44:30.360 she's got.
00:44:31.260 If you want to know more
00:44:32.520 about how corrupt
00:44:33.400 the franchising industry
00:44:34.540 has become
00:44:35.160 and just how this fraud works,
00:44:36.880 FranchiseRealityCheck.com
00:44:39.060 is a website
00:44:39.640 started by Genevieve Prado,
00:44:41.420 who was the first franchisee
00:44:43.020 to buy into the
00:44:44.020 I Heart Mac and Cheese brand
00:44:45.400 based on false promises
00:44:47.140 and fraud
00:44:47.920 exactly as we've described.
00:44:49.840 She has now been in litigation
00:44:50.860 for seven years
00:44:51.880 against the company,
00:44:52.780 and she lays everything out
00:44:54.240 on that website in detail
00:44:55.420 with explanations
00:44:56.180 and evidence,
00:44:57.160 and it's all true crime rabbit hole
00:44:59.100 if you want to check it out.
00:45:00.860 I Heart Mac and Cheese
00:45:01.640 is particularly dark
00:45:03.200 because the owners
00:45:04.280 are in the process
00:45:05.120 of doing what is called
00:45:06.140 the Texas Two-Step,
00:45:07.700 where you open
00:45:08.660 a new legal entity,
00:45:09.920 in this case called
00:45:10.780 Pilar Coffee Bar,
00:45:12.020 and then you transfer
00:45:12.900 all of your assets to it,
00:45:14.160 but none of your debt
00:45:14.900 or liabilities.
00:45:15.860 And when you're bankrupted
00:45:16.940 because,
00:45:17.800 oh, I don't know,
00:45:18.800 you're running
00:45:19.260 an entirely fraudulent
00:45:20.260 business model
00:45:20.880 that was designed
00:45:21.700 to defraud
00:45:22.380 your franchisees,
00:45:23.900 then there's nothing
00:45:24.680 in the bank account
00:45:25.620 when they finally make it
00:45:26.780 through a decade-long
00:45:27.580 legal battle
00:45:28.160 to seek some form
00:45:29.080 of compensation
00:45:29.760 because you've
00:45:30.480 transferred it away.
00:45:31.860 You get away
00:45:32.480 with the fraud
00:45:33.100 and you walk away rich.
00:45:34.260 They get taken
00:45:35.120 for all their cash,
00:45:36.180 life savings,
00:45:36.940 and land with a lifetime
00:45:38.080 of debt to boot.
00:45:39.500 It sounds unbelievable,
00:45:41.060 even impossible,
00:45:42.380 but as we've learned
00:45:43.440 over the last couple
00:45:44.280 of weeks,
00:45:45.100 the system is designed
00:45:46.180 to protect the big boys
00:45:47.720 and to exploit all of us.
00:45:50.060 At virtually any franchise
00:45:51.520 owned by Private Equity,
00:45:52.860 you can expect
00:45:53.640 some version
00:45:54.300 of this playbook
00:45:55.080 because franchising
00:45:56.240 is supposed to be
00:45:57.060 a long game,
00:45:58.140 a business built
00:45:58.900 over decades
00:45:59.840 and generations
00:46:00.620 like McDonald's
00:46:01.860 originally was.
00:46:02.660 But Private Equity
00:46:03.960 lives on annual growth
00:46:05.560 and two-year cycles,
00:46:06.960 extracting as much cash
00:46:08.300 as possible
00:46:08.880 as quickly as possible
00:46:10.360 with little or no thought
00:46:11.920 of the damage
00:46:12.560 or consequences
00:46:13.300 left in its wake.
00:46:15.060 And so now,
00:46:16.220 we've covered
00:46:17.260 three different versions
00:46:18.140 of the same story,
00:46:19.360 essentially,
00:46:19.960 in three different
00:46:20.960 class segments of society.
00:46:22.680 It's happening
00:46:23.220 to the middle class,
00:46:24.400 it's happening
00:46:24.860 to those at the bottom,
00:46:26.040 and it's happening
00:46:26.580 to anyone who falls
00:46:27.680 through the cracks
00:46:28.280 into prison.
00:46:28.820 But I'm sure
00:46:30.340 there are thousands
00:46:31.040 of you out there
00:46:31.780 that work in other fields
00:46:33.200 that have other
00:46:33.900 similar stories to this
00:46:35.140 because various versions
00:46:36.600 of these stories
00:46:37.280 are becoming more
00:46:38.160 and more common
00:46:38.900 every year.
00:46:40.280 This is the natural
00:46:41.160 progression
00:46:41.600 of the system
00:46:42.540 that they've built up
00:46:43.320 around us
00:46:43.940 where the ultra-wealthy
00:46:45.340 write the rules
00:46:46.040 and the ultra-wealthy
00:46:47.380 have a secret court system
00:46:48.600 that works for them
00:46:49.380 and the ultra-wealthy
00:46:50.520 control the politics
00:46:51.360 through donations
00:46:52.060 and powerful leverage.
00:46:53.640 And with every new
00:46:54.380 advancement in technology
00:46:55.500 and AI,
00:46:56.600 with every new
00:46:57.200 economic emergency
00:46:58.220 and corporate bailout,
00:46:59.540 every new war
00:47:00.540 and an omnibus
00:47:01.320 spending bill,
00:47:02.320 we are all being
00:47:03.360 marched deeper
00:47:04.160 and deeper
00:47:04.780 into indentured servitude.
00:47:07.040 The two primary
00:47:08.260 levers of power
00:47:09.000 that control the world
00:47:09.920 are money
00:47:10.640 and the law.
00:47:12.320 We are all trapped
00:47:13.220 under an ever-increasing
00:47:14.560 inflationary vice
00:47:16.000 while our tax dollars
00:47:17.380 pay for their kickbacks,
00:47:18.620 their bailouts,
00:47:19.420 and their wars.
00:47:20.920 And if any of us
00:47:21.660 slip through the cracks
00:47:22.460 or into their secret courts,
00:47:24.520 they've got a prison
00:47:25.160 labor system
00:47:25.820 ready to catch you
00:47:26.640 at the bottom
00:47:27.140 and put you to work.
00:47:28.980 This is their vision
00:47:30.020 of the future,
00:47:31.400 where you will be
00:47:31.960 a good little worker bee
00:47:33.300 slaving away
00:47:34.440 in the lower caste
00:47:35.260 of society
00:47:35.880 while they sit mint juleps
00:47:37.400 in their McMansions,
00:47:38.740 where there's one tier
00:47:39.800 of justice for the rich
00:47:40.820 and another tier
00:47:42.040 of justice for us,
00:47:43.680 where they write the rules
00:47:45.000 and we are the ones
00:47:46.480 bound by them.
00:47:47.360 And the whole system
00:47:48.660 relies on us
00:47:50.020 staying distracted,
00:47:51.280 on us not knowing
00:47:52.380 how the law works
00:47:53.340 or how arbitration works.
00:47:54.940 These stories
00:47:55.660 are too complex,
00:47:56.600 too boring for us
00:47:58.000 to pay attention to
00:47:58.960 when the TV
00:47:59.780 is filled with flashy
00:48:01.000 pop stars
00:48:01.680 and big booty hoes.
00:48:03.140 Just go to the movies,
00:48:04.460 turn off your brain,
00:48:05.480 and enjoy some good
00:48:06.520 old-fashioned entertainment.
00:48:08.620 Nothing to see here.
00:48:11.040 But not you guys.
00:48:12.720 Y'all are something special.
00:48:14.220 I want to commend you
00:48:15.540 on getting through
00:48:16.860 another incredibly complex episode.
00:48:19.100 I do my best
00:48:20.400 to make these digs
00:48:21.240 meaningful and entertaining,
00:48:22.960 even when it's a subject
00:48:23.860 that is inherently
00:48:24.640 so complex and boring
00:48:25.900 that most people
00:48:27.060 will probably never
00:48:27.660 learn about it.
00:48:28.640 So, thanks for sticking
00:48:29.960 through to the end
00:48:30.580 of that dig.
00:48:31.220 I hope you learned something
00:48:32.440 or will at least
00:48:33.220 think differently
00:48:33.740 the next time you see
00:48:34.460 a semi-truck on the road
00:48:35.520 because I know that
00:48:36.640 personally,
00:48:37.200 I can never look at
00:48:38.240 trucking the same way again
00:48:39.320 since I learned
00:48:39.940 all this crazy s**t.
00:48:41.280 And to me,
00:48:41.940 that's the beauty of learning.
00:48:43.400 Not only do we grow smarter,
00:48:45.040 but hopefully also
00:48:46.000 more compassionate
00:48:46.760 for other people
00:48:47.560 by at least walking
00:48:48.820 a short distance
00:48:49.680 in their shoes.
00:48:50.700 So, lastly,
00:48:52.120 let's close the week off
00:48:53.380 with some of your comments.
00:48:55.120 And I just want to say,
00:48:56.500 you guys leave
00:48:57.320 the best comments.
00:48:58.300 It's so heartwarming
00:48:59.620 to read a Candace comment section.
00:49:01.840 Y'all are some of the nicest
00:49:02.900 and most informed people
00:49:04.340 out there.
00:49:05.040 And the dash of
00:49:06.760 sort of conspiracy theory
00:49:08.420 sprinkled throughout
00:49:09.260 is just,
00:49:10.120 it's just,
00:49:10.860 oh, it's so good.
00:49:11.780 I love it.
00:49:12.880 So,
00:49:13.760 Kimberly says,
00:49:14.920 we better start adding
00:49:15.720 Ian to the prayers
00:49:16.480 for his safety
00:49:17.160 and maybe state
00:49:18.040 that he is not suicidal
00:49:19.000 at the end of each episode.
00:49:20.300 I'm going to be okay, guys.
00:49:21.360 I'm safe.
00:49:22.000 And I am, of course,
00:49:22.880 not suicidal.
00:49:23.940 Very happy.
00:49:24.800 Lovely life.
00:49:25.500 But I appreciate you.
00:49:26.440 Please do keep me
00:49:27.000 in your prayers.
00:49:28.540 SW said,
00:49:29.660 Ian needs to start
00:49:30.380 a history channel.
00:49:31.440 I do feel like
00:49:32.100 I'm just doing,
00:49:32.980 like learning
00:49:33.520 more and more history
00:49:34.420 because all the history
00:49:35.160 that we were taught
00:49:35.760 is lies.
00:49:38.020 I think it's fun.
00:49:39.580 Norm Deplume said,
00:49:41.020 my husband did
00:49:41.820 four deployments
00:49:42.640 in Afghanistan.
00:49:43.500 He was a military
00:49:44.120 intelligence officer
00:49:44.920 and he spent
00:49:45.340 the entire deployment
00:49:46.420 protecting poppy fields.
00:49:48.300 If you have not yet
00:49:49.120 seen the dig
00:49:50.160 that we just did
00:49:50.880 into the opium trade,
00:49:52.960 poppies,
00:49:54.020 the U.S. government's
00:49:55.780 involvement in drug trafficking,
00:49:57.340 that was spicy.
00:49:58.500 I'm very proud
00:49:59.160 of that video.
00:49:59.720 Very proud
00:50:00.080 of the team
00:50:00.460 for how it came out.
00:50:01.740 Definitely go check it out
00:50:02.680 if you haven't seen it yet.
00:50:03.960 Nakia Clark said,
00:50:05.720 Candice,
00:50:06.040 we miss you,
00:50:06.560 but Ian has been
00:50:07.100 nothing short of fantastic.
00:50:08.460 Aw.
00:50:09.280 You two should do
00:50:09.940 a regular podcast together
00:50:11.120 from time to time.
00:50:11.960 Enjoy your maternity leave.
00:50:13.100 Candice is enjoying
00:50:13.880 her maternity leave.
00:50:14.920 She's around.
00:50:15.500 She's doing great.
00:50:16.320 Baby Roman's doing great.
00:50:17.940 I do love coming on.
00:50:19.500 I'm going to love
00:50:20.100 when I come back
00:50:20.760 and do podcasts
00:50:21.280 in the future,
00:50:22.320 but unfortunately,
00:50:23.420 I was talking to Candice
00:50:24.040 and I do have to travel
00:50:24.780 more this year.
00:50:25.300 I got a lot of plans,
00:50:26.200 but I'll definitely
00:50:26.720 always come back
00:50:27.460 and come check in
00:50:28.140 because you guys
00:50:28.680 are the best.
00:50:29.520 Candice is the best
00:50:30.140 and the team is the best.
00:50:31.320 So Emily Hag says,
00:50:33.880 quote,
00:50:34.340 drink your water,
00:50:35.100 love your family
00:50:35.720 and do something nice
00:50:36.460 for someone is the best
00:50:37.500 sign off line.
00:50:38.400 Yeah, it's just like,
00:50:39.460 I mean,
00:50:40.300 like we just need
00:50:40.840 a little more positivity
00:50:41.680 in this world.
00:50:42.640 We got to remind ourselves
00:50:43.540 sometimes to keep it light,
00:50:44.720 to keep it happy.
00:50:45.380 And so I think
00:50:46.440 there's a good place
00:50:47.140 to end it,
00:50:47.760 good place to close it out.
00:50:48.780 So thanks for watching
00:50:50.660 the whole video with us.
00:50:51.820 Thanks for liking it
00:50:52.640 before you leave.
00:50:53.600 Thanks for subscribing
00:50:54.200 to Candice
00:50:54.720 and for following
00:50:55.300 the link in the description
00:50:56.160 to go to my channel
00:50:57.120 on YouTube,
00:50:57.980 Ian Carroll Show
00:50:58.700 and subscribing over there.
00:51:00.740 And be sure,
00:51:01.360 of course,
00:51:01.860 to drink your water,
00:51:03.260 do something healthy
00:51:03.860 for yourself
00:51:04.440 and tell someone
00:51:05.140 you love them tonight.
00:51:06.420 And we'll see you next week.
00:51:11.680 We'll see you next week.