The Glenn Beck Program - July 06, 2026


Best of the Program | Guest: Jaco Booyens | 7⧸6⧸26


Episode Stats


Length

43 minutes

Words per minute

136.78

Word count

6,001

Sentence count

233


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
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00:00:30.000 wow cnn is gonna come as a surprise cnn is wrong again cnn they believe america is 250 we are the
00:00:43.240 most politically divided uh you know than we've ever been well i'd say the civil war was a little
00:00:48.740 more divided but that's not the problem that's not why they're wrong um and i explain on today's
00:00:55.020 podcast. Also, blood and ink. The patriots that came in with the masks and the flags and said
00:01:06.680 they are patriots, they're an abomination. They're white supremacists and they're an abomination.
00:01:13.160 I denounce them strongly, but I take it a step further. And I want you to play it for your
00:01:23.040 friends who might be for some of the other uh you know black lives matter or palestinian i want you
00:01:31.240 to listen because we are under an illusion that these things are different and they're not also
00:01:37.040 sweden it's not socialist mom donnie that's not what we're headed for
00:01:43.160 a very eye-opening podcast today don't miss a second of it here it is
00:01:53.040 all right so your electricity bill has gone up okay and not because you know you ran the air
00:02:11.180 harder or you added another room or you bought a hot tub or something you did nothing different
00:02:16.020 you're living exactly the same way you've always you've run the same numbers you know for air
00:02:22.420 conditioning and heat and the number at the bottom of your bill just keeps climbing and nobody in
00:02:28.240 your state capital will look you in the eye and tell you why so let me look you in the eye and
00:02:33.460 tell you why there's a new study out if you live in a blue state and you're furious about what you
00:02:40.160 pay just to keep your lights on stop cursing the weather stop cursing the power companies hold
00:02:47.060 music. Here's the problem. Uh, it was a choice and that choice is not yours. Never has been
00:02:54.660 yours. Well, it used to be yours. It's not now hadn't been for a long time. There's a analysis
00:03:02.160 out now, always on energy research and the Institute for energy research. And they're
00:03:09.100 pulling right from, uh, from the government's own numbers and it lands on something. I mean,
00:03:16.620 something that's so clear, it's almost rude to say it out loud. Of the states paying more than
00:03:22.260 the national average for electricity, 86% of them voted for Democrats in the last two presidential
00:03:29.160 elections. Of the 10 cheapest states in the country, 80% voted for Republicans. Now, you could
00:03:38.180 wave that off as a coincidence if you'd like, but there is a pattern with a cause, and the cause
00:03:45.300 has a name and the name is net zero. Renewable mandates, zero emission targets, portfolio
00:03:55.700 standards. They order your utility to buy a certain amount of a certain kind of power by a certain
00:04:01.700 date, whether it's ready or not, whether it's cheaper or not, whether it keeps the lights on
00:04:06.580 in January or not, it doesn't matter. And your utility company is not fighting these mandates
00:04:12.560 It's because your utility gets richer by building them.
00:04:17.480 A power company makes its money spending money.
00:04:22.260 Every new wind farm, every new line, every grand green promise is another mountain of infrastructure that it's getting paid to build.
00:04:32.620 And reliability doesn't pad the profit.
00:04:35.500 Doesn't matter.
00:04:36.040 Affordability doesn't pad the profit.
00:04:37.800 Building the stuff does.
00:04:39.420 So the mandate and the monopoly shake hands over your bill and you're the one holding the check.
00:04:47.860 How does that make you feel?
00:04:49.260 Who is actually in charge of your life?
00:04:52.160 That is the thing that the whole Declaration of Independence was all about.
00:04:56.280 Who is in charge of your life?
00:04:58.600 You or a group of faceless people that you don't know?
00:05:05.000 Now, you look at these numbers and you go, wait a minute.
00:05:09.420 Here, Mr. Beck, Washington and Oregon seem to do pretty well.
00:05:15.160 Uh-huh.
00:05:16.200 They're both deep blue, both of them, and their power is cheap.
00:05:20.820 Yes, it is cheap.
00:05:23.020 Now, let's think that through.
00:05:25.980 Why is Oregon and Washington, why is their power so cheap?
00:05:32.140 Why?
00:05:33.780 It's called hydroelectric dams.
00:05:36.600 It works with water and gravity, the cheapest, most reliable electricity that God and engineering ever made together.
00:05:47.660 So there is the exception.
00:05:50.420 Blue states, cheap power, two of them, except here's what they've left off the postcard for you.
00:05:57.080 That same coalition, the governors, the tribes, the green lawyers, the whole apparatus, along with the last administration,
00:06:06.600 signing its name right there at the bottom is in federal court right now trying to rip
00:06:12.420 four of those dams out of the snake river four lower snake dams working hydroelectric dams
00:06:20.480 making clean cheap power for hundreds of thousands of homes sitting there doing the one thing
00:06:27.240 everybody claims they want and those those uh deep blue states want those gone they want them
00:06:34.680 blown apart breached they want to drain uh back into a river and they want to do it on purpose
00:06:40.440 but they've made a promise to you they no no no no seriously they've made this promise it's
00:06:46.180 dressed up in a thousand different costumes don't worry we'll replace it and we'll replace
00:06:51.220 the dam power with wind and solar and batteries and it'll be better and cheaper uh-huh we're
00:06:59.760 gonna replace the the barges with trains and we'll replace the water somehow trust the study
00:07:06.120 trust the model trust us i don't think i trust you guys no 30 billion dollars a decade of faith
00:07:14.400 to tear something out that already works that already makes free power every single day
00:07:21.940 because of a flowing river um i don't know i think that that pleases my bottom line you know
00:07:29.460 a cheap electric bill that that helps me an awful lot now here's a part that lands on my doorstep
00:07:37.260 maybe yours i live in idaho half the year i live in idaho idaho sits upstream of every one of those
00:07:43.600 dams and the very same fight that wants those gone has spent years now reaching past the state line
00:07:52.720 for our water the water held in our reservoirs to flush the system out for fish our stored water
00:08:01.420 the water a farmer in magic valley is already counted on to bring a crop in out of the dust
00:08:09.100 because remember without water it's all dust they'll spend all of that water on salmon and
00:08:15.240 call it science and then the man watching his field go brown gets told well your water was
00:08:21.600 needed some more, more virtuous than your field. So don't tell me the blue states have cracked the
00:08:27.280 code on cheap power, cheap water. They didn't crack anything except possibly the dam. They
00:08:33.060 inherited a river and the politics that run them is in court right now, trying to break the very
00:08:40.940 dams the rivers turn and, and, and reaching them into my water while they're at it.
00:08:47.140 anyway i just want to ask you who owns your stuff really honestly who is in charge of your life
00:08:54.760 you know cheap power exception is not proof that they were right it's the next thing on
00:09:01.620 their list to tear down and all the numbers underneath of it are ugly no matter what your
00:09:07.920 zip code is electricity prices in this country rose 27 from january 21 through january of 25
00:09:15.060 than another 11% in just the nine months after that.
00:09:19.240 And that's not a blip.
00:09:20.180 That's a direction.
00:09:21.960 Part of that is caused because green energy.
00:09:24.620 The other part of that is caused because now we need more power.
00:09:29.160 Ties into everything I said about the truck.
00:09:32.560 Under the Federal Power Act, the states, not Washington, not the weather,
00:09:37.740 the states have exclusive authority over what kind of power feeds their grid,
00:09:41.960 where it's built what you get charged for it exclusive which means when your bill climbs
00:09:48.720 it isn't fate it isn't bad luck it's a room full of people that you can name that you made the
00:09:56.720 decision to hire to elect people you can look up that reaches through your wall and into that one
00:10:05.360 outlet you thought was yours. Same exact hand. So when you're electing the socialists, this is
00:10:13.120 what you're going to get. The same hand that sealed the hood of my truck so I couldn't fix
00:10:17.420 the engine is the hand reaching into your wall to set the price of your own light and your own heat.
00:10:23.080 And the same hand again, reaching up to the river to drain the dam and take the water.
00:10:27.620 it's the same instinct every time that somewhere far beyond your kitchen a body of experts and
00:10:35.820 officials and activists know better than you know how to warm your house how how your what your
00:10:43.100 light should cost how long you should be able to run your lights and whose water gets spent on what
00:10:49.120 and they'll say the same thing it's the planet it's the salmon it's the future they'll call it
00:10:55.240 everything and anything but what it is is control just dressed up in a night suit for church
00:11:02.380 strip the robes off and it's the oldest question there is the only one that i really ask anymore
00:11:12.180 who owns the truck in your driveway you were the men who locked you out of it who owns the power
00:11:21.220 in your wall? Who pays for every watt? Is it you or the collective that priced it in a room you
00:11:28.500 weren't invited to? Who owns the water and the dam and the river and the people who live and farm
00:11:35.220 and raise their kids alongside of it? Or a distant few who've decided your whole way of life is just
00:11:40.520 a rounding error against their vision? Who actually runs your life? Who gave you the right?
00:11:48.940 do they have the right or do you have the right? This is where the Declaration of Independence
00:11:53.760 comes in. And you're not imagining the number at the bottom of that bill. You're not bad with
00:11:58.980 money. You're paying month after month for decisions made in your name that you were never
00:12:04.420 asked about. And some of the people making them are not finished yet. Be careful how you vote.
00:12:12.380 the water on your land was supposed to be yours it's always supposed to be they just forgot to
00:12:19.560 tell you that it i guess now it comes with a landlord a socialist one
00:12:23.220 you're listening to the best of the glenn beck program
00:12:29.460 you know can we ever find anyone on the other side that will speak honestly i mean cnn is so
00:12:41.440 wrong once again you know here we are 250th anniversary cnn says we're the most divided
00:12:49.260 we've ever been we've been divided before you think during the civil war you think yeah but
00:12:55.020 this one this one is really bad worse than the civil war really yeah you know why donald trump
00:13:02.080 whoa now you completely took you took me by surprise there cnn i didn't wait donald trump
00:13:08.500 what that's a whole new theory yeah Donald Trump because he um he makes things worse
00:13:16.520 because he's uniquely dangerous he's uniquely dangerous yeah yeah because he picks at people
00:13:29.300 he picks at scabs uh he uh he mocks people he is keeping political divisions uh wide open
00:13:38.380 Donald Trump is
00:13:40.160 Wow
00:13:41.720 Wow okay
00:13:44.280 Alright let me give you
00:13:46.420 CNN let me give you every bit
00:13:48.540 Of that I don't agree with that I think
00:13:50.480 Donald Trump has done some really
00:13:51.960 Divisive things yes
00:13:53.860 And that's
00:13:56.400 Unfortunately kind of the way he is
00:13:58.460 At times he gets pissed and he'll do things
00:14:00.480 Like that and I don't like it so I'm
00:14:02.500 Going to give you absolutely
00:14:03.960 Every bit of that I'll say Donald Trump
00:14:06.640 is really divisive will you give me that your side is saying exactly the same things
00:14:17.100 september 1st 2022 donald trump and mega republicans represent an extremism that threatens
00:14:23.820 the very foundations of our republic why because we don't like socialism why because we believe
00:14:29.840 in small government why because i believe in the constitution and the declaration of independence
00:14:35.880 Don't assign, you've made me, you've made me into a MAGA Republican.
00:14:42.400 I don't know what a MAGA Republican actually is, other than somebody who goes, yeah, I think Donald Trump is doing pretty good, and believes in the country.
00:14:50.120 That's all I know that that means, okay?
00:14:52.480 But now I'm a threat to democracy because I believe in the republic?
00:14:57.920 Wow. Okay. All right.
00:14:59.760 And he did that over and over again and said that MAGA Republicans are fascists.
00:15:06.940 I don't know, that seems a little divisive.
00:15:09.500 I mean, maybe it's just me, you know.
00:15:12.860 It's usually not done, you know, not said, you know, in polite company.
00:15:17.860 Hey, Bill.
00:15:19.200 Oh, man, good to see you, you fascist.
00:15:21.740 It's usually not a compliment.
00:15:23.720 It's usually a little divisive.
00:15:26.500 Hillary Clinton, quote,
00:15:28.580 You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic.
00:15:40.000 Half of the people who voted the way that you didn't vote, half of them are all those things?
00:15:48.060 I don't know.
00:15:48.840 Sounds a little divisive.
00:15:50.720 A little bit.
00:15:51.380 A little bit.
00:15:53.120 Yeah, but you started it.
00:15:54.300 Hmm.
00:15:56.880 2008.
00:15:58.580 Small-town Americans cling to their guns or their religion or their antipathy to people who aren't like them.
00:16:13.640 What, I don't have a problem with that? I don't cling to my God and my guns? What?
00:16:20.380 by the way he was saying that as he was claiming that we engage in voter suppression
00:16:27.060 and attacks on democracy that's in 2008 by the way nancy pelosi said republicans are enemies of the
00:16:35.980 state chuck schumer warned uh gorsuch and kavanaugh you've released the whirlwind and you'll
00:16:42.960 pay the price kamala harris said pearl harbor in september 11th are just like january 6th you mean
00:16:50.200 the one you hyped up and had a bunch of
00:16:52.340 FBI that we now know
00:16:54.220 had all kinds of
00:16:56.120 government operatives at? You mean that
00:16:58.200 one?
00:17:01.620 Yes, but
00:17:02.320 he is suppressing free speech.
00:17:04.460 Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump
00:17:06.060 suppressing.
00:17:07.840 Have you ever heard of the Twitter files?
00:17:11.200 Have you ever seen the litigation
00:17:12.500 that, you know, showed the communication
00:17:14.380 between the FBI,
00:17:16.300 the White House, and social media
00:17:18.160 companies just on the 2020 election that's not even that's just the beginning of it because that
00:17:23.860 went through the hunter biden laptop where we were called deplorables we were called crazy we were
00:17:29.900 called conspiracy theorists we were a danger to the republic the fbi said that we were in bed
00:17:36.440 with russia if we believed the hunter biden laptop stuff you mean that kind of stuff that
00:17:42.800 was so uniting or was it the covid stuff that was so uniting you know where we said hey i don't
00:17:50.420 think that we should rush into this covid vaccine and because we wouldn't we wouldn't take the
00:17:57.720 vaccine we were going to kill everybody every grandparent on earth that we shouldn't we shouldn't
00:18:03.760 have medical care because we were crazy and deplorable we were killers because we said hey
00:18:11.180 I think our own government, not the Republicans, Democrats, our own government was involved with the COVID vaccine, and we were called hate mongers for saying that, anti-government people.
00:18:27.280 Wait, what?
00:18:28.580 What?
00:18:29.500 Now that that's all proven, now do we get an apology?
00:18:33.360 No, nobody apologized.
00:18:34.640 Or for the masks that you told us was science, and we shouldn't question science, and we now find out.
00:18:39.220 No, that was arbitrary.
00:18:40.300 in fact it made things worse
00:18:42.800 or the vaccines
00:18:44.940 that we said maybe we shouldn't
00:18:47.160 rush and people lost their jobs
00:18:49.180 their livelihood were called
00:18:51.140 all kinds of names and now
00:18:53.340 it shows that
00:18:54.600 the vaccines
00:18:55.920 might be part of the problem
00:18:59.120 no this one
00:19:02.780 will make you don't
00:19:04.540 have any immunity
00:19:06.480 you have no natural immunity for the first
00:19:08.720 time in all of human existence you have no human no natural ability to fight this and create your
00:19:17.640 own defense against it your body has no really wow wow no no no you got to take it and you better
00:19:26.840 listen to those teachers unions you know those significant learning loss increased mental health
00:19:32.220 problems greater impact on lower income students but we were the hate mongers for saying it
00:19:37.020 oh and i haven't gotten into the russian collusion thing or the parents at the school
00:19:44.420 board meetings here in virginia that were monsters monsters i didn't even get into the censorship i
00:19:53.220 mean forget the 2020 censorship how about the censorship with the white house and the social
00:19:57.860 media companies on covid how about any of those i don't know cnn seems like you might be wrong
00:20:06.740 yet
00:20:08.320 again
00:20:09.200 may I suggest something
00:20:19.580 the answer is found
00:20:23.800 in our founding documents
00:20:25.380 what is this really all about
00:20:27.240 because I'm going to take on those dirtbag
00:20:29.240 patriot front
00:20:30.780 white supremacists
00:20:32.800 those guys that were down here
00:20:35.000 in Washington D.C.
00:20:36.740 Uh, over the weekend for 4th of July, dirtbags, all of them, dirtbags, dangerous dirtbags,
00:20:44.920 stupid, pathetic, dangerous dirtbags. I'm going to take them on because that's an embarrassment
00:20:52.440 to our nation. So give me a second before I get there, but I want you to think about something
00:21:00.180 all throughout the show today. I just want you to think about one thing.
00:21:03.840 what is the real problem what is the real problem well it's marxism okay what is marxism boil down
00:21:13.900 to the individual exists for the state or for the class okay it's one class against another
00:21:24.560 it's that class that is keeping you down so this class can wind up and the individual is for the
00:21:32.020 state. Fascism. Same kind of idea. The individual, there is nothing beyond the state and everything
00:21:41.540 is the state. So fascism is saying the same thing. The individual doesn't matter. Go get the Jews.
00:21:48.340 Go get the handicapped. Doesn't matter. It's for the collective good. White supremacy.
00:21:53.860 White supremacy. Go get the blacks. Go get the Jews. Go get the Hispanics. Go get anybody who's
00:22:00.020 different than you because whites are the real solution whites should have all the power
00:22:06.800 what's the difference between that and some of the extremists on BLM and DEI that are saying
00:22:14.060 whites are the problem blacks are the ones the minorities and what's the difference between that
00:22:21.740 and the Palestinian crazies that are saying you know the real problem is the Jews
00:22:27.980 do you notice all these have one thing in common collective they've all become about the collective
00:22:41.300 and who are the enemies who are the enemies the ones who believe
00:22:49.000 all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights who
00:22:54.640 actually believe that not playing the game who actually believe in the power of the individual
00:23:00.740 what is the other target the other target is those who believe god knows you by name
00:23:09.640 not some collective crazy not not barack obama's collective salvation
00:23:17.820 but actual salvation that jesus came for the individual you don't have you don't have the
00:23:24.960 crime of your father he doesn't take on your crimes you don't take on his crime you're judged
00:23:30.980 as an individual isn't it interesting that every group that we are seeing right now that is trying
00:23:39.740 to pit us apart they all have a different definition of the collective but they all
00:23:44.760 arrive at the very same conclusion. Your rights come from the group. Your value comes from the
00:23:51.600 group. Your duty is to the group. The American experiment says, no, your rights come from God.
00:23:58.360 Your dignity comes from your creator. The state exists to protect your liberty, not to define your
00:24:05.560 worth? You see, it's really not that hard. We're really only arguing one thing, and we're arguing
00:24:23.420 the same thing with the white supremacists that we're saying to the Palestinian crazies,
00:24:27.360 that we're saying to the BLM people, that we're saying to the fascists, that we're saying to the
00:24:31.700 communists, that we're saying to Zoran Mamdani, that we're saying to the Republican progressives,
00:24:39.380 that we're saying to the Democrat progressives, socialists, saying the same thing. It's the same
00:24:46.960 argument. I think we should get a little smarter and we should just boil it down.
00:24:54.040 I think we should be able to go, oh, we know your argument. You're just wearing a different uniform.
00:24:58.560 oh you're wearing the red white and blue with the black uniform in the mask and you're marching why
00:25:06.000 because oh whites are supreme yeah i put you in the same box as those people over there
00:25:12.240 who are marching and saying that the palestinians are supreme and we should wipe out all the jews
00:25:18.420 you two you actually have a lot in common
00:25:21.980 it's the same argument which then should lead you to why does everyone hate us
00:25:33.980 why is all why do all of these groups hate us what do we believe that we have in common
00:25:41.480 the founding documents that's what they're really after that man can rule himself that we don't need
00:25:53.680 an overlord that we don't need somebody telling us you can't fix your effing truck
00:26:00.420 that you have to follow religion my way that you have to keep your temperature at this
00:26:08.020 temperature because whatever it is it's always good for the collective what we have in common
00:26:15.440 on our side is we believe in the power of the individual and not in some irresponsible way
00:26:22.560 where we say screw everybody else we know because the american experiment proved it to be true
00:26:30.920 man can rule himself and he can change the world for good
00:26:38.360 more in a minute
00:26:41.420 this is the best of the glenbeck program and don't forget rate us on itunes
00:26:50.600 hello america you know we've been fighting every single day we push back against the lies the
00:26:58.960 censorship, the nonsense of the mainstream media that they're trying to feed you.
00:27:03.500 We work tirelessly to bring you the unfiltered truth because you deserve it.
00:27:08.340 But to keep this fight going, we need you.
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00:27:37.000 And thanks for standing with us. Now let's get to work.
00:27:40.760 I can't believe it's been four years since the overturn of Roe, but tragically, abortions have continued to rise.
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00:28:40.640 this is the best of the glenbeck program
00:28:45.120 so here's mom donnie uh on july 4th listen to this as we mark 250 years
00:28:54.640 What do we see?
00:28:56.440 We see a city of contradictions within a nation of contradictions.
00:29:01.020 We see the wealthiest country in the history of the world,
00:29:04.160 one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more.
00:29:09.280 We see monopolies that dominate every industry and oligarchs who buy elections.
00:29:14.840 We see masked agents terrorizing our streets,
00:29:18.040 eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans.
00:29:22.940 We see a nation whose immense wealth has been built by those with calloused, dirt-streaked hands, those who toil on factory floors and chisel into stone.
00:29:33.160 And we see a nation that has allowed so much of that wealth to be held instead in the soft hands of a precious few.
00:29:41.880 The soft hands of a precious few.
00:29:43.920 Let's just use Elon Musk.
00:29:47.880 Has he not earned his money?
00:29:49.320 I mean, I don't know how you earn a trillion dollars, quite honestly.
00:29:52.940 um you know but is he does he not deserve what he has brought to the world through speech and
00:30:04.540 technology on communications what he has done for the world where they can now communicate
00:30:10.860 freely in countries where you could not be free to speak he's got the satellite system up he's
00:30:19.020 reinvented the car and given all of the tech he didn't put a patent on it he gave the patents
00:30:24.600 away for free so anyone can use it he is transforming the idea of space he is building
00:30:34.120 a space a space economy which you won't understand for another five to ten years but
00:30:42.840 When that thing hits, you will understand.
00:30:48.680 He may have soft hands, but he's done the intellectual plowing of almost every field.
00:30:57.820 I don't want to get this.
00:30:59.200 You know, I'm just tired of socialism.
00:31:02.240 I'm tired.
00:31:03.460 I just wish we could have an honest conversation.
00:31:06.260 But we are dealing with so many people that are so uninformed.
00:31:09.840 yes there are great disparities in wealth yes and you say and while they're buying elections yes
00:31:17.760 like soros do you mean soros or is he exempt because i would like the money to get out of
00:31:23.520 politics as well but it's not an honest fight most people who are saying that's not honest
00:31:30.740 if you have a problem with all the money in politics good good so do i if you have a problem
00:31:40.380 with corrupt capitalism so do i but the answer is not bigger government
00:31:46.200 but socialism will work let me tell you america's been told a really simple story for a very long
00:31:58.360 time if america could only be more like denmark now we're not even talking about denmark or sweden
00:32:03.660 you know or norway anymore we're not talking about that they are talking about a different
00:32:07.580 kind of socialism now but let's just say they're talking about we just want to be like norway and
00:32:12.060 sweden it's it's it's the favorite exhibit in almost every debate about capitalism and government
00:32:18.880 the nordic countries they're proof socialism works but before you remodel your house after somebody
00:32:25.120 else's blueprint let's walk through the front door first okay because the story that almost
00:32:30.800 everyone tells you about scandinavian nations leaves out the part that actually made scandinavia
00:32:37.020 successful the leaders themselves reject the label socialist don't believe me look it up
00:32:46.420 the former danish prime minister andres rasmussen or something came to the united states and addressed
00:32:54.440 it directly he said americans associate denmark with socialism then he added and i'm quoting
00:33:01.260 denmark is far from a socialist planned economy denmark is a market economy
00:33:08.260 wow how come it how come where are the posters for that that's a remarkable statement imagine
00:33:14.380 somebody insisting texas is a communist state while the governor keeps coming out going we're
00:33:18.980 not we're not we're texas we're not communist and yet the myth survives somehow
00:33:24.840 so what's really happening the nordic countries have built generous welfare states that part is
00:33:34.500 absolutely true they provide universal health coverage college is subsidized heavily subsidized
00:33:42.080 or free. Parents receive paid leave. Safety nets are extensive, but those benefits sit on top of
00:33:50.340 economies that depend on capitalism every single day. Not just capitalism, competitive capitalism,
00:33:57.840 strong property rights, private ownership, entrepreneurship, open trade, innovation,
00:34:05.140 businesses that are expected to compete in the marketplace rather than survive on government
00:34:10.020 protection those days are long gone and this is the part that never makes it to a campaign speech
00:34:16.820 according to the index of economic freedom denmark has consistently ranked among the freest
00:34:24.000 economies in the entire world the country most often used to argue against capitalism
00:34:31.780 scores routinely as the world's freest capitalist economy wow does that make you curious at all
00:34:39.920 at all? I mean, should we look into that?
00:34:45.180 During the post-war decades, Sweden dramatically expanded government spending,
00:34:51.400 the taxes, the regulation. By the 1970s and into the 1980s, economic growth slowed way down.
00:34:59.540 Investments weakened. Entrepreneurs left. Some of Sweden's most successful companies and business
00:35:05.240 leaders moved they just moved out of the country ikea relocated ownership to the netherlands
00:35:12.240 tetrapak moved to switzerland sweden's relative standing among wealthy nations fell sharply for
00:35:21.220 two decades and then everybody turns away and doesn't say so what happened next sweden didn't
00:35:28.440 double down okay they didn't double down it reversed course governments from both the left
00:35:35.180 and the right reduced regulations they reformed the pensions these are things we're not doing
00:35:42.020 they introduce private competition into education that's that'll never happen right
00:35:48.000 today more than 800 independent schools operate with public funding private companies run a
00:35:55.260 substantial share of the Swedish primary health centers. Taxes were restructured. Markets were
00:36:01.960 liberalized. The reforms were not a rejection of the welfare state. They were an acknowledgement
00:36:08.020 that somebody first has to create the wealth to pay for it. It's really hard to redistribute
00:36:15.880 prosperity after you've regulated prosperity out of existence. And that's what New York is doing.
00:36:21.520 And here's another fact that surprises most Americans.
00:36:26.540 The Nordic countries, they don't finance their governments primarily on taxing billionaires.
00:36:33.280 Did you know that?
00:36:35.220 Nope.
00:36:37.000 They tax everyone.
00:36:39.980 The cashier, the plumber, the teacher, the nurse, the mechanic.
00:36:44.360 Not just the billionaire, everyone.
00:36:46.600 In Denmark and Sweden, value-added taxes of around 25% apply to everyday purchases.
00:36:54.220 So that means if you want this, your taxes are going to go up at the very bottom,
00:36:59.020 and you're going to get a 25% VAT tax.
00:37:02.180 You buy shoes, furniture, television, dinner at a restaurant,
00:37:05.440 a significant amount of that, 25% goes to the government.
00:37:10.420 Income taxes are broad.
00:37:12.980 Payroll taxes are broad.
00:37:15.340 Consumption taxes are broad, meaning everybody pays them.
00:37:21.060 And the system works there because almost everyone contributes.
00:37:26.360 Now, do you think Americans are going to accept that?
00:37:29.920 Because I don't.
00:37:33.580 Would you trade that?
00:37:36.360 Another myth deserves some attention here.
00:37:39.160 Many people believe Scandinavia punishes wealth more aggressively than America.
00:37:43.060 nope nope nope the reality is that several nordic countries actually have abolished their wealth
00:37:49.680 taxes because they don't work sweden get this one no longer has an inheritance tax
00:37:56.360 norway is debating reducing its wealth taxes because the high net worth individuals are
00:38:03.360 leaving the country that's what's happening in california where are they going they're leaving
00:38:08.640 new york to go to florida they're leaving california to go to texas if it was all countrywide
00:38:13.640 these extensive socialist taxes they'd leave america because the policymakers understand
00:38:21.100 something every country eventually discovers but we just don't capital moves entrepreneurs move
00:38:28.420 investments move governments compete as well and here's one of the biggest misunderstandings we
00:38:37.100 have it's it's on health care health care is free it's not free it's never free nothing's free
00:38:44.940 nordic health care systems are financed through the taxes that every remember i told you everybody
00:38:51.380 pays taxes citizens pay throughout their working lives many systems also include co-payments for
00:38:58.380 doctor visits prescription drugs or specialist care look at canada you're paying for private
00:39:03.720 insurance on top of it. Now, different countries use different arrangements. Some are good,
00:39:08.840 some are not. The point is, it's not that their systems are bad. The point is that they're paid
00:39:14.900 for by the taxpayer and not the billionaire. Somebody always has to pay. The bill doesn't
00:39:21.600 just go away. It just arrives in a different envelope. Let me give you this. This is even
00:39:28.120 more interesting nordic countries are filled with private companies filled with private companies
00:39:35.540 global companies innovative companies successful companies volvo ericsson lego spotify cone
00:39:44.800 they all compete around the world and their governments expect them to succeed because
00:39:52.380 those companies generate the tax revenue that supports the welfare system. Why do you hate
00:39:57.880 successful companies if they're expected to pay taxes? But our taxes, everything is so screwed
00:40:05.140 up here, we've made special exemptions for everybody. Everyone should pay taxes.
00:40:10.840 No successful business, no generous welfare state. It's that simple. You get rid of business,
00:40:17.500 you don't have the the welfare another ingredient that economists often point to and that is trust
00:40:24.300 something we don't have sweden denmark finland norway consistently are the highest trust
00:40:30.700 societies in the world people generally believe their neighbors will obey the rules now that's
00:40:36.780 changing because of the border situation government corruption is relatively low it's not here
00:40:42.940 institutions enjoy broad public confidence not here look at the fraud that's going on
00:40:48.920 that kind of social capital is incredibly valuable because it lowers the transaction cost
00:40:55.980 it simplifies regulation it allows systems to function with fewer layers of enforcement
00:41:01.740 trust you cannot legislate trust it develops over generations and once it's gone it's gone
00:41:10.680 And that's why culture matters, and institutions matter, and history matters.
00:41:17.820 I'm not selling the Nordic model down the river, and I'm not saying it's perfect.
00:41:23.200 It has its strengths, it has its weaknesses, like every system designed by human beings.
00:41:30.900 The real lesson here is not about socialism versus capitalism.
00:41:36.540 The real lesson here, I think, is about intellectual honesty.
00:41:40.680 If somebody proves or points to Denmark as proof that socialism works, now you have the information.
00:41:49.980 You have to say, would you acknowledge Denmark's commitment to private enterprise and taxes?
00:41:58.460 If somebody praises Sweden's welfare system, you want to mention Sweden's market reforms after 1990?
00:42:05.940 Well, Finland, their public services, we want to mention Finland's strong support for private
00:42:13.300 business and global competition. You know, good ideas don't travel alone. Neither do bad ones.
00:42:21.740 The danger comes when we import only the policies we like while ignoring the conditions that make
00:42:28.660 them possible. It's like pointing to a championship football team and deciding the secret to winning
00:42:34.320 is a fancy stadium no no no it's not yeah but look at the stadium it's visible yeah but the
00:42:40.900 years of practice i don't see that well but they may not be visible well it's it's really the
00:42:47.160 secret is the trophy no it's the discipline that you don't see in the in the case the welfare
00:42:53.160 benefits are visible but the productive economy underneath often isn't and every society eventually
00:43:01.220 faces the same question. How much can you distribute? The answer depends on the other
00:43:08.020 question that comes first. How much can you produce? That's the question that humbles
00:43:15.780 governments. History is filled with nations that become wealthy and then debate how to share the
00:43:21.340 prosperity. History is also filled with nations that try to distribute prosperity before they've
00:43:26.880 created it. And those stories always end the same way. The pie shrinks. Everybody receives
00:43:33.100 a smaller slice. The Nordic companies remind us something worth remembering. Markets create
00:43:39.600 wealth. Governments redistribute that wealth should you choose. But you can't redistribute
00:43:46.740 wealth that no longer exists. And that's what New York needs to learn.