00:00:31.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:40.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:00:53.000Welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:00:55.000We are thrilled to be joined today by a friend of mine, Jeff Webb, a true American, a successful business owner.
00:01:02.000And he wrote a book that I really, really enjoy.
00:01:05.000And everyone listening should check it out.
00:01:08.000It's called American Restoration: How to Unshackle the Great Middle Class.
00:01:12.000And when I first met Jeff, it was almost two or three years ago.
00:01:16.000And the first time we sat down, we were just, it's almost as if we knew each other for quite a long time because we were on the same cadence of the same topics about how the middle class is getting crushed, about how corporations are really not acting in the interests of private markets, but really in the interests of the ruling class.
00:01:34.000And Jeff took a lot of our conversations, we worked together on a lot of different things, and wrote this terrific book.
00:01:40.000Jeff, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:01:45.000And so Jeff gave a barn burner at our Student Action Summit.
00:01:48.000If you have not listened to it, you got to check it out.
00:01:51.000An Only in America episode also we did with Jeff talking about his amazing business career.
00:01:57.000But Jeff, I really want to get into your book here because I think it's so applicable to what we're living through right now in our country.
00:02:03.000You talk about how we need to unshackle the great middle class.
00:02:07.000Can you talk about how important it is to have a robust middle class for our country's future?
00:02:14.000Well, you know, Charlie, one of the things that has separated our country from the rest of the world, frankly, for the last 60 years has been the fact that we have this large and relatively affluent middle class.
00:02:28.000Most countries are much more segmented.
00:02:30.000They have the great majority of the wealth at the top end than kind of everybody else.
00:02:36.000So, you know, our middle class has been a key to our economic, robust economic performance over all these years.
00:02:45.000And it's given us this great, broad-based society where people feel connected.
00:02:51.000Now, you know, the middle class has been under assault for 30 to 40 years.
00:02:58.000And when you go all the way back to the period right after World War II, when the GIs came home and they went back to work and back to school and started raising families, it created this incredible economic growth, built the greatest economy in the history of the world.
00:03:13.000But gradually, gradually, that's being eroded.
00:03:17.000And, you know, what we're finding out is that there's such a squeeze on the middle class and that they don't have extra money to save, that they're being squeezed by high tuition, high health care costs, lack of job security.
00:03:30.000And of course, now you have the pandemic on top of that.
00:03:34.000And the middle class has probably been hurt more than anybody else in this pandemic.
00:03:39.000So it's going to be very interesting to see how we rebound.
00:03:42.000And to be honest with you, it's very troublesome.
00:03:44.000Some of the things I'm seeing that President Biden has come out with in the last couple of weeks don't exactly make me optimistic we're going to have a robust economic recovery.
00:03:55.000And so I want to zero in on some of the specifics your book talks about.
00:03:59.000You have entire segments on ending political corruption, ending the endless foreign wars, which I definitely want to talk about, which is a passionate subject of mine, as you well know.
00:04:20.000And so, Jeff, in the last year, in the midst of the shutdowns, the lockdowns, and the pandemic, billionaires have increased their wealth by $500 billion on average.
00:04:30.000Mark Zuckerberg has added $80 billion to his net worth.
00:04:34.000Elon Musk, who is probably my favorite of the bunch, I actually think he's kind of a creative genius, but still, he has increased his net worth by over $80 billion.
00:04:44.000Bernard Alnot, who runs Louis Vuitton, another $90 billion.
00:04:49.000Jeff, middle-class families are not able to celebrate the same amount of wealth expansion in the last year.
00:05:55.000And that's really why I've gotten involved and created this movement, if you will, to really help people understand that the middle class is so important to our country and making sure that people have an opportunity to do well and provide for their families and have a hopeful future.
00:06:11.000We all need to be committed to this if we're going to have the kind of country we want to have.
00:06:16.000And so, Jeff, let's talk in specifics.
00:06:18.000I think some of these companies have assumed way too much power as people that are definitely not socialists or liberals.
00:06:26.000But a lot of people are watching and they're not a conservative.
00:07:05.000And we've talked at length here about how these companies are no longer acting in the best interest of their workers and the American people.
00:07:14.000And it's a small group of companies, but they're a powerful group of companies.
00:07:18.000So can you have a whole part on big is bad?
00:07:25.000Well, if you look at big government, you have this kind of unholy alliance now that's gotten more and more pronounced over the last 10 years.
00:07:36.000I mean, look at the difference in size of Amazon and Facebook and Google, Twitter, from where they are right now and five years ago.
00:07:43.000The growth and the expansion of their power is profound and it's having a profound impact.
00:07:50.000And, you know, the book was written before the election, obviously, and before some of the things that have happened and deplatforming and suppression of speech over the last couple of months.
00:08:02.000We were already headed down a bad path.
00:08:05.000But you have this kind of developing, I call it an unholy alliance in the book, as you see, between big business, big corporations, the wealthiest, as you talked about earlier among us, and the government ruling class.
00:08:21.000And big companies have gotten better and better through lobbyists in gaming the system and getting unfair advantages.
00:08:29.000They have the advantage of scale in the competitive market against mom and pop or smaller businesses.
00:08:35.000But then they also get these special carve outs through their lobbyists and the legislation and then how the legislation is actually enforced by our bureaucrats.
00:08:46.000And it's leading to a lot of what you talked about earlier, where you've got this shift to the big companies and the smaller companies and the middle class getting squeezed.
00:08:55.000So that type of relationship and that type of concentration of power in things that are very important to our democracy and to our way of life are frightening and they have to be addressed.
00:10:35.000I don't have a better one, but exactly.
00:10:37.000Populist and all this, but I'm an American first and foremost.
00:10:40.000However, Jeff, can you talk about how you've had a lot of business experience, 45 years in the business world?
00:10:47.000You've built some of the most amazing businesses that we know.
00:10:49.000Can you talk about what you've learned about how some of the people that are quote unquote running these big corporations might not actually always have America's best interest at heart or the middle class's best interest at heart?
00:11:05.000Well, I think if you look at these companies, it's obvious.
00:11:08.000Look at where they're doing their manufacturing.
00:11:10.000Look at the jobs that have been taken offshore and out of our, especially our small towns, our good paying manufacturing jobs.
00:11:20.000Look at the squeeze on the middle class, the opioid crisis, the suicide, all these things that have negatively affected working Americans.
00:11:31.000And more and more, you see even anything about patriotism, anything about our own American citizens, that's looked down upon by a lot of these big companies.
00:12:04.000You know, I will say this about, you take people like Mark Zuckerberg and you take all the Apple executives, Microsoft.
00:12:11.000My hat's off to them from a business standpoint.
00:12:14.000They built an incredible business and many of them for pretty meager means, frankly.
00:12:20.000And so you have to take your hat off to them for what they have done from a business standpoint.
00:12:24.000However, what nobody expected was that through technology, these companies would become so powerful and have such a direct impact on our daily lives.
00:12:37.000Our ability to communicate with each other, our ability to exercise rights of free speech and free expression.
00:12:44.000So they've been successful to a fault and they've become companies and they've gotten into things that nobody envisioned.
00:12:56.000And so I want to talk about one entity in particular that I have been a vocal critic of, which is the United States Chamber of Commerce.
00:13:04.000And we get a lot of emails from our listeners and our listeners can email us freedom at charliekirk.com of people that say, well, Charlie, the local chamber does a good job, but I always differentiate between the local chamber and the national chamber.
00:13:16.000And usually the more territory the chamber represents, the more corrupt they end up being.
00:13:21.000So a statewide chamber is going to be a little bit more wishy-washy than just like the local chamber of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which represents local businesses.
00:13:30.000But let's talk about the United States Chamber of Commerce, the Big Daddy.
00:13:42.000They represent those same big corporations that have accumulated all that power and all that money.
00:13:48.000And a lot of that and some of that money goes to help support the chamber.
00:13:52.000So again, you have kind of this, I almost call it legal corruption.
00:13:57.000You've got this big bureaucracy that's able to work between big government and big companies and exercise power and influence.
00:14:07.000And people in small business and the general public should understand, in my opinion, and I know you share this, that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not the friend of small business and everyday Americans.
00:14:21.000They are the friend of big business, the wealthiest among us, and the big in big government.
00:14:29.000And Jeff, I'm so glad you've said that because a lot of our listeners are confused because they say, well, the local Chamber of Commerce in Billings, Montana does a nice job.
00:14:37.000And that might be, but that's not the national chamber of commerce.
00:14:40.000No, that Chamber of Commerce, Billings, Montana, is working on getting new jobs for Billings, Montana, and expanding the economy and supporting the local businesses.
00:14:50.000In most cases, these local chambers of commerce do a great job.
00:14:53.000But that should not be confused with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
00:17:07.000And if he had come in and said, I really do want to work with the Republicans, because by the way, nearly 50% of the people voted against me or for the other side.
00:17:17.000And instead, he came in and started immediately, as we've seen in the first two weeks, all of these strictly partisan, heavy-handed regulations.
00:17:28.000And all of a sudden, the wind has gone out of the sails, and now we're right back to where we were.
00:17:35.000The people around him, you know, we keep hearing about that there's one group of people that are more moderate, more traditional, his background, frankly.
00:17:44.000But then we've got the other set of people who are much more progressive, if you will, much, much a little more extreme.
00:17:51.000And we're trying to see who's really going to have the influence.
00:18:12.000And I think if President Biden had come in and had taken that approach right off the bat and been patient, I think he would have ultimately been more successful.
00:19:25.000But then when you add on that, onto that, again, the suppression of free speech, how they're canceling people, how they're deplatforming people is absolutely frightening.
00:19:35.000We cannot have a dynamic economy, a growing middle class, just a growing, again, a growing economy without the kinds of freedoms that we've enjoyed in this country for over 200 years.
00:20:34.000His handling of the COVID crisis and then what he's done now to address these issues.
00:20:41.000I mean, head-on, you know, unemotional, but very, very pragmatic, very rational, very intelligent.
00:20:50.000So what he's done with regard to big tech is amazing.
00:20:56.000And, you know, it's like, if we think the way things are now, if we're going to get anything done with regard to big tech and their heavy-handedness through Washington for the next four years, we're wrong.
00:21:10.000You know, the Democrats are benefiting from what's happening.
00:21:41.000I'm going to protect these citizens from bad behavior from these companies.
00:21:47.000And by going in and making it illegal for these companies to filter content, to decide what people can and can't see, to say to somebody, I'm sorry, I don't like what you said.
00:22:01.000We're going to deplatform you to get involved in politics, to help determine what the elections are by using their algorithms and what comes on to the various screens of people who use these devices.
00:22:15.000He said, we're not going to let it happen.
00:23:10.000Now it's up to these other governors and these state legislatures to follow suit.
00:23:15.000And it's up to our citizens to put pressure on them to do it.
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00:23:29.000Gold is up more than 30% since March of 2020.
00:23:32.000Silver surged more than 50% over the same time period, reflecting the correlation among precious metals during times of financial volatility.
00:23:39.000But providing financial protection is not the only role that precious metals play in this fight.
00:23:43.000Precious metals also have broad applications in the medical field that go well beyond the dental uses most people associate with their value.
00:23:51.000But providing financial protection is not the only role that precious metals play in this fight.
00:23:55.000Gold and silver nanoparticles are essential part of virus research and prevention.
00:24:00.000As the China virus mutates, science will have to adapt its prevention methods accordingly, and precious metals will continue to stay in demand.
00:24:07.000As for me, I will continue to trust the team at Noble Gold, a leading authority in the precious metals industry.
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00:24:31.000Jeff, it's not just now the big tech issue.
00:24:33.000Ron DeSantis, I think, has liberated the conversation and reminded us that the states created the federal government.
00:24:39.000The federal government did not create the states, that we are still laboratories of democracy, that we are a bottom-up government, not a top-down government.
00:25:41.000And by the way, Jeff, that National Guard deployment costs taxpayers $500 million to bring 25,000 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. You talk about ending political corruption.
00:25:53.000States could pass robust ethics reform where none of the members that are in their delegation could be receiving certain types of corporate money or foreign money.
00:26:05.000Jeff, can you build out this idea of how states can now help implement this agenda?
00:26:12.000Yeah, well, I think you can look at almost every single thing that's happening with the federal government and the overreach, and there should be a state reaction.
00:26:23.000And I think, again, that it could be that this issue with what Governor DeSantis has done, because everybody is so sensitive to it right now, Charlie.
00:26:32.000This could open the eyes of people that this is the way.
00:26:37.000Everybody is looking at the federal government for everything.
00:26:40.000And so this is a way for kind of our system of federalism, again, to begin to take hold and have more influence.
00:26:47.000But you can see it in almost every aspect of commerce.
00:26:49.000You can see, again, this is the perfect example, but you're right.
00:26:53.000The state legislatures, we can do things to make them more responsive.
00:26:58.000You can see what's being done in Texas, by the way, with regard to the wall and the lawsuits that the state of Texas is bringing against the federal government.
00:27:37.000But I think you're going to see more and more of that in the next two years in particular, as I think the Biden administration tries to really put the pedal to the metal on these on regulation.
00:27:50.000So let's get to a couple specific policies that you talk about in your book around ensuring our children's future.
00:27:57.000Jeff, the topic that no one wants to talk about that gives more American families anxiety, especially American families that are 45 and older, is the topic of health care.
00:28:09.000It is a topic that drives people into debt.
00:28:12.000Medical debt is the least talked about but most economically catastrophic form of debt.
00:28:19.000Where the interest is just sometimes insurmountable.
00:28:23.000The not invoices, but the bills you get are inexplicable at times, where you say, I was only there for a couple hours and now I have to pay how much?
00:28:32.000Can you talk about, in your book, you talk about affordable and accessible health care?
00:28:56.000The answer is you have to get started.
00:28:58.000And I think you start with the smallest, the smallest chunks, you know, take the easy wins if you can.
00:29:03.000Competition between states, you know, that's that's a good one to start out with.
00:29:08.000But I think that, you know, you and I talked about this before, you know, that the Republicans have been late to the switch here because you can't just be against something.
00:29:18.000You know, you have to offer alternatives.
00:29:21.000And I think finding ways to get the relationship between the actual physician and the patient back into the picture is absolutely critical.
00:29:31.000I mean, there are so many physicians now that work for a hospital system, work for a big company, that more and more the patient's right to know what's happening, not only what treatment they're getting, but how much it's costing as they go along, what their alternatives are.
00:29:47.000As you're saying, a lot of times these are not even presented to the patient.
00:29:52.000And people need to be able to be in control of their own decisions about their health and make those decisions.
00:29:59.000There has to be so much more transparency, which we just don't have.
00:30:03.000And our entire system is basically a debt-financed system.
00:30:08.000A lot of our education is financed by debt.
00:30:12.000Our obviously housing is, but that's more of a healthy form of debt because you actually build equity that long-term should go up with in value.
00:33:42.000Yeah, college tuition or Starbucks is a Starbucks.
00:33:45.000How is Starbucks able to get away with $4.50 for a grande coffee?
00:33:50.000The reason is because Starbucks, either consciously or unconsciously, while looking at the price model, realizes that their cost of production to keep their profit margins, they have to adjust their prices, meaning that they're adjusting to inflation whether or not a macroeconomist tells them that.
00:34:06.000And inflation destroys a middle class.
00:34:10.000Vladimir Lenin famously said that I will crush the middle class through taxation and inflation.
00:34:43.000And I think we've already had a crisis in education.
00:34:48.000And we're seeing right now what's happened to students across the country who've been unable to go to school, who are trying to die, who are trying to use their computer at home.
00:35:07.000You've got Catholic schools and some private schools, and frankly, some public systems that have gone back.
00:35:14.000But across the country, we're seeing just this deterioration in the quality of education.
00:35:19.000Now, having said that, the other part of this is that we are losing the opportunity.
00:35:26.000We started making some progress and now there's a movement to push back on people being able to make their own choices about where they go to school and what they do, what teachers they have, that there being competition.
00:35:39.000The result of this, that does not affect the wealthiest among us, because guess what?
00:35:45.000Their kids are going to go to the best private schools.
00:35:48.000They're going to get tutors to have their kids take their SATs and ACTs and college entrance exams, all these kinds of entrance exams, how to get in the best colleges, how to interview, how to build your resume, and then they get in the best colleges.
00:36:16.000Education is the great equalizer, the great equalizer.
00:36:21.000We have got to be committed to putting students first.
00:36:24.000We've got to be committed to letting parents decide what's best for their kids, where their kids can get the best education.
00:36:31.000And if we can get going down that path, we have a chance.
00:36:35.000But these kids who are stuck in these bad schools and these kids who come from disadvantaged neighborhoods or disadvantaged families, they don't have a chance to get out without education.
00:36:46.000So it's something that affects all of us.
00:36:49.000People who think that I'm not, you know, I've got a pretty good school.
00:37:14.000They have to look at these various causes.
00:37:16.000The things that I have in my book, there are organizations that are designed out there for every one of them that people can go and get involved and help.
00:37:25.000But it's got to get back to citizen involvement, Charlie.
00:37:29.000I mean, you're the perfect example of someone who's gotten involved and built this amazing organization and people out there that are doing something, taking action.
00:37:42.000That's exactly what it's going to take.
00:37:57.000The book is American Restoration, How to Unshackle the Great Middle Class.
00:38:02.000Jeff, any closing thoughts or any topics that we wanted to cover that I might not have hit?
00:38:09.000You know, when I started writing this book, it was just as the pandemic began, if you will, and I had a lot of time to really reflect and talk about so many of the issues that I'd pondered and talked to people like you about and put them together.
00:38:22.000But in that short period of time, from then, from last April until now, you know, the plight of the middle class is that nothing would get worse.
00:39:04.000Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
00:39:06.000If you want to get involved with Turning Point USA, where we play offense with a sense of urgency to win America's culture war, go to tpusa.com.