WEBVTT NOTE Walter Block, Guest Appearance on "Our Story" 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.000 And welcome to another segment of our story. We appreciate you coming and visiting with us again, and just as a quick reminder, we are with you live each and every Wednesday at 7.30 on Channel 77, followed by replays on Saturday at 1 on Channel 78, and again the following Wednesday on 78. 2 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:32.000 So we thank you for taking the time to visit with us and hopefully you'll be able to take something of value away from here with you when you go. 3 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:44.000 We have a lot of coverage we're going to do this evening. We've got a lot of subject matter we're going to talk about and we're going to get into some things with 4 00:00:44.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Professor Walter Block from Loyola University who is an economist and we're going to let you know that that's coming so you can sit tight, but before we get into that, I want to talk about some of the things that are going on with this election year climate. 5 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:15.000 We are talking about the debates that they are having, and actually they had one this evening right before we came on. 6 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:26.000 But I wanted to make a quick observation concerning the debates, especially the one they had last week, and that is this. 7 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:38.000 I was interested to learn and to look and to see that out of all of the candidates running, five were chosen for the debates. 8 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:49.000 Now, in a free democracy, quote-unquote, how do you determine which candidates are viable and which candidates are not? 9 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:59.200 In fact, it's grossly unfair and unjust to select someone as your slate of candidates 10 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:06.320 and then give them to your audience as being the legitimate candidates. 11 00:02:06.320 --> 00:02:18.480 Well, if it were left up to me, this is one more reason why the myth of democracy in America 12 00:02:18.480 --> 00:02:28.000 is just that, truly a lie and a myth. Now, one of the things that we want to deal with 13 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:41.320 today are the situations that we have had to live with and deal with post-Katrina. And 14 00:02:41.320 --> 00:02:49.520 I have some footage that I want to share with you because the footage shows a number of 15 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:55.720 problems this city, state and federal government has. 16 00:02:55.720 --> 00:03:08.080 Here we are, November the 1st, 2006, more than a year after Katrina. 17 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.040 And what do we find ourselves doing? 18 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:21.120 We find ourselves still waiting on aid and assistance and not handouts from the Federal 19 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:28.760 Government but I'm talking about monies from the insurance companies and monies that have 20 00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:41.240 have been allocated by the federal government for reconstruction of the post-Katrina catastrophe. 21 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:51.960 Now they have us as if we are recipients of welfare when many of us, most of us have paid 22 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:59.820 some hard premiums to still be fighting with companies about whether we're going to be 23 00:03:59.820 --> 00:04:02.600 able to be made whole or not. 24 00:04:02.600 --> 00:04:06.960 But we're going to get back to that. 25 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:17.960 What I'm going to show you is footage that I'm 99.9% sure you haven't seen before, at 26 00:04:17.960 --> 00:04:21.700 least not in the media. 27 00:04:21.700 --> 00:04:29.340 But this footage is going to show you without a doubt the resilience of our people here 28 00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:37.820 in New Orleans of taking care of each other and then the disaster that happened to our 29 00:04:37.820 --> 00:04:45.380 people and the lies that were told about what was really happening and the fact that they 30 00:04:45.380 --> 00:04:55.380 They could have gotten us out of here the second day, the first day, but given that even on the second day they could have gotten us out of here. 31 00:04:56.380 --> 00:05:14.380 They didn't do it, they refused to do it, and they have left us here just as if we were like the same group of people that this happened to many, many decades ago. 32 00:05:15.380 --> 00:05:31.380 Which I refer to as the indigenous people in this country, whom they ran off and stole their land and incarcerated them and had reduced them to mere nothing. 33 00:05:32.380 --> 00:05:35.380 Let's roll that first clip, please. 34 00:05:35.380 --> 00:05:40.380 The yellow house on the other side of the blue house, that's Wil and another guy. 35 00:05:40.380 --> 00:05:45.380 We've just been a rescue effort. I would go, but I don't swim. 36 00:05:45.380 --> 00:05:55.380 I don't have a life vest also. But I think even if I was a good swimmer, I wouldn't worry about the life vest. 37 00:05:55.380 --> 00:06:00.380 They're trying to invest in the media and the red out over the wave. 38 00:06:00.380 --> 00:06:20.380 Now this is Meru Street, three blocks off of Franklin Avenue. That's what you're viewing now is Meru. 39 00:06:30.380 --> 00:06:54.900 Now I hasten to point out that this is one of our very own war correspondents here, Brother 40 00:06:54.900 --> 00:07:02.900 William, who is leading the pack here, and they're showing you fish on Miru. 41 00:07:24.900 --> 00:07:26.900 Hey, baby, can you backstroke? 42 00:07:30.900 --> 00:07:33.900 Look here. Did Patty sit in on grandma? 43 00:07:41.900 --> 00:07:43.900 Will, what's in the water chest? 44 00:07:43.900 --> 00:07:45.900 What's in the ice chest? 45 00:07:45.900 --> 00:07:47.900 Okay. 46 00:07:47.900 --> 00:07:49.900 All right, we'll meet y'all around the front. 47 00:07:50.900 --> 00:07:53.900 Another rescue save by old, tired-ass Will. 48 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:37.140 It was floating. Then look at it, there's his dog. He found that dog yesterday. But there's 49 00:08:37.140 --> 00:08:47.340 his dog, his buddy, his partner. That dog earned his friendship. Made some friendship. 50 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:54.340 of Money and State, The Theory of Money and State, The Theory of Money and State, The 51 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:21.340 This is the part that shows you they're bringing in the helicopters. 52 00:10:21.340 --> 00:10:29.340 This is called the Chinook, which is a troop movement transport helicopter. 53 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:38.340 They brought troops in with these type of aircraft, and they leave empty. 54 00:10:38.340 --> 00:10:43.340 They could have been ferrying people out of there with these same crafts. 55 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:54.340 I know they have enough in this part of the country that they could have gotten people out of there in a 24 hour or less period of time. 56 00:10:55.340 --> 00:11:01.340 Trucks you see there, they came in afterwards. They came through the water. 57 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:08.340 So the federal government was able to get in and out of New Orleans during the flood. 58 00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:13.340 But why were we forced to stay here? 59 00:11:38.340 --> 00:12:07.340 Anti-Helicopter leaving the Superdome 60 00:12:08.340 --> 00:12:15.340 of Money, The Theory of Money and State, The Theory of Money and State, The Theory of Money 61 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:54.340 And as you can see, the problems at the Superdome were created, were caused. They had no one 62 00:12:54.340 --> 00:13:01.020 there in authority, no one there giving any instructions, no one there leading the way. 63 00:13:01.020 --> 00:13:10.860 and for any way, form or fashion, chaos, planned chaos. 64 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:17.220 And these are the kinds of things that we as a community and we as a people have to 65 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:23.060 deal with every day here in New Orleans and around the country and around the world. 66 00:13:23.060 --> 00:13:37.540 Now you know, it's time, it's been past time, that we stop accepting this kind of treatment. 67 00:13:37.540 --> 00:13:47.460 Now, one of the questions for this evening is going to be, what are the alternatives? 68 00:13:47.460 --> 00:13:56.180 And we are going to discuss with the professor from Liola, who is an economist, what are 69 00:13:56.180 --> 00:14:03.540 the alternatives, what are some of the kinds of things that we can do or look towards to 70 00:14:03.540 --> 00:14:06.220 answer and resolve some of these problems. 71 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:11.780 Welcome to our story, Professor Walter Block, appreciate having you and we thank you for 72 00:14:11.780 --> 00:14:13.180 taking this time out. 73 00:14:13.180 --> 00:14:15.180 My pleasure to be here. 74 00:14:15.180 --> 00:14:25.120 I'm going to ask you what is the overall solution for the problems of the negligence that the 75 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:31.460 government has shown and the lack of leadership that we get from our elected officials? What 76 00:14:31.460 --> 00:14:35.220 would you say would be the answer to this? 77 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:39.900 Well I think that the answer is free enterprise and capitalism. We've seen in the clip that 78 00:14:39.900 --> 00:14:44.860 that you've just showed, and it's a horrible clip showing the plight of the people, that 79 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:50.580 government is not responsive. If you compare this to private enterprise, there's sort of 80 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:56.540 a fail-safe mechanism working in private enterprise that doesn't work with government. For example, 81 00:14:56.540 --> 00:15:01.820 if we go to a pizza place and I don't like the pizza, I don't go there again. If you 82 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:05.860 don't like the pizza, you don't go there again. Amin doesn't like it, he doesn't go there 83 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:40.860 There is a system that has an automatic feedback mechanism that penalizes mistakes. 84 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:47.860 And when the mistakes are penalized, if we have the system that continually reduces mistakes, then we have a better system. 85 00:15:47.860 --> 00:15:53.860 Whereas if you have the political system and you rely on government, whether it's federal or state or local, it doesn't matter. 86 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:56.860 That helicopter is taking off without people. 87 00:15:56.860 --> 00:16:02.860 If there was a private helicopter doing that that we had hired to be our safeguard, we'd never pay them again. 88 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:07.540 They go broke, but it was a government one, so there's no way we can stop them. 89 00:16:07.540 --> 00:16:11.960 You didn't show this clip, but there were a whole bunch of yellow school buses that were 90 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:16.640 sort of half up to their hubcaps in water or higher. 91 00:16:16.640 --> 00:16:20.880 Those buses could have taken people out of here, but no, they didn't. 92 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:23.460 The people responsible for that are political. 93 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:28.280 The problem with politicians is that you only get to vote for them every four years. 94 00:16:28.280 --> 00:16:33.240 And then, when you get to vote for them, you get to vote for them on the basis of all-or-none 95 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:38.800 kind of deal. You can't pinpoint your vote. For example, you might like politician one 96 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:44.680 on policies one, three, five and seven, and politician two in policies two, four, six 97 00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:50.440 and eight. But you can't distinguish between those two. It's a package deal. Whereas in 98 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:54.360 the market, you can vote for a red tie or a blue shirt or this kind of a wristwatch 99 00:16:54.360 --> 00:17:24.360 Let me ask you something. We're talking about this utopian system that would be created by privatization. Where in the world do we find 100 00:17:24.360 --> 00:17:27.360 The Theory of Money and Credit 101 00:17:27.360 --> 00:17:30.360 The Theory of Money and Credit 102 00:17:54.360 --> 00:18:07.360 What I'm asking is, where is this system set up and operating today? 103 00:18:07.360 --> 00:18:18.360 Well, it's right here, in part. In other words, what we now have is a mixed economy where part of it is capitalistic and part of it is socialist, fascist, whatever. 104 00:18:18.360 --> 00:18:22.360 And we can see that the good parts are the parts where there's no problem. 105 00:18:22.360 --> 00:18:27.360 Where is the crisis of pizza? Where is the crisis of red ties? There is no such thing. 106 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:32.360 But I tell you, if the government were in charge of making red ties or blue shirts or something, 107 00:18:32.360 --> 00:18:36.360 there'd be shortages, there'd be crappy shirts and crappy ties, 108 00:18:36.360 --> 00:18:39.360 because we wouldn't have any way to get rid of them. 109 00:18:39.360 --> 00:18:46.360 Now, if you're asking, where is there a society where the entire thing is free enterprise and there's no government at all? 110 00:18:46.360 --> 00:18:53.360 Well, you've got me, there ain't no such place now, but there are places that are closer 111 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:59.440 and further away. The places in Africa and South America have heavy government operation 112 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.880 and are very poor because of it. The places in Western Europe and North America have less 113 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:09.520 government relative to those places and therefore are more prosperous. So we can see that the 114 00:19:09.520 --> 00:19:15.480 market works and produces and satisfies consumers, whereas the government sector doesn't, and 115 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:19.280 In the Soviet Union, it was practically all government sector and we saw what happened 116 00:19:19.280 --> 00:19:20.280 there. 117 00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:21.680 I mean, people were trying to get out of there. 118 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.040 The Berlin Wall, the traffic was one way. 119 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:28.840 It was out of the communist east and into the capitalist west. 120 00:19:28.840 --> 00:19:34.360 So we have all sorts of evidence that shows people voting with their feet against socialism 121 00:19:34.360 --> 00:19:36.280 and for free enterprise. 122 00:19:36.280 --> 00:19:38.920 What countries in Europe were we talking about? 123 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:44.120 Well, I guess the countries in Europe that are more free enterprise are France and Germany 124 00:19:44.120 --> 00:19:50.640 and the countries in the 80s anyway that were less free enterprise were Hungary and the Soviet 125 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.880 Union and Czechoslovakia and places like that. 126 00:19:53.880 --> 00:20:00.240 Well, don't we see, I mean, aren't we finding the people they're protesting as vigorously 127 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.520 as we find in this country? 128 00:20:02.520 --> 00:20:04.720 The people in which country are protesting? 129 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:12.000 Germany, France, UK, with problems, I mean, they're not, even UK is a socialist country 130 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:55.000 When you talk about Europe, when you talk about Africa, first of all, what countries are we talking about in Africa? 131 00:20:55.000 --> 00:21:03.000 We're talking about the market and about the government, and they're poor because of the government. It's a heavy government over in Africa. 132 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:09.000 Well, pretty much all the countries in Africa have less economic freedom than countries elsewhere. 133 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:10.000 Why? 134 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.000 Why? Why? That's a good question. That's a nasty, vicious question. 135 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:22.000 Well, I'm sorry. Let me go back, because you said that if the government wasn't there, then there would be more freedom. 136 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.000 Well, it would be more of a free market, correct? Okay. 137 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:34.000 The reason why it is that Africa is poor, which it really is not, is because they're stealing from Africa. 138 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.000 They haven't been for the longest. 139 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.880 How can the country that we get all our diamonds, juries and just about all our gold from be 140 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.960 so poor because of a government? 141 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:44.960 And that's private. 142 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:45.960 That's private. 143 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:46.960 It is private. 144 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:54.960 Well, I think that the countries in Africa, to a great extent, the government is kleptocracy 145 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:01.120 where the dictators steal the money from the people and put it in Swiss bank accounts. 146 00:22:01.120 --> 00:22:02.120 Something like America. 147 00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:32.120 In America we do that too, but to a much less degree. In America you have more economic freedom than in parts of Africa and parts of South America, and North Korea, the people in North Korea, I mean we have almost controlled experiments, in economics you usually don't get a controlled experiment, but North and South Korea were bussed down the middle in the war, and they were the same people, the same language, the same human capital, the same intelligence, whatever. And all of a sudden North is following 148 00:22:32.120 --> 00:22:36.920 The South is following a different system, not a perfect system. 149 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:38.720 They have problems there too. 150 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:43.920 But the problems that they have in South Korea are as nothing compared to the problems they 151 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:45.040 have in North Korea. 152 00:22:45.040 --> 00:22:46.720 The same with East and West Germany. 153 00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:59.000 Let me ask you something because you're painting this picture of private companies being able 154 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:09.080 to Administer or to Govern Better than the Structured Political Systems that we now have. 155 00:23:09.080 --> 00:23:16.120 And realizing and understanding that, I'm looking, well first of all, the world, the 156 00:23:16.120 --> 00:23:29.480 A world of economics is controlled by a few families or a few of the higher-echelon individuals 157 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:36.800 that control the flow of money, not only in America but throughout the world. 158 00:23:36.800 --> 00:23:46.600 And if you have a free economy, then how is it possible that you just have this certain 159 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:53.560 group that just controls all of the wealth and makes sure that the distribution of wealth 160 00:23:53.560 --> 00:23:56.720 is more in their favor than it is in the rest of our favor? 161 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.280 Well, there are really two kinds of companies. 162 00:24:00.280 --> 00:24:06.640 One earns its money totally on the market, for example, Microsoft and Wal-Mart. 163 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:12.000 And there are other companies like Bechtel and Halliburton, where the lion's share of 164 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:17.040 their receipts don't come from people making choices to support them, but rather come from 165 00:24:17.040 --> 00:24:21.520 government, government contracts, government favoritism, what have you. 166 00:24:21.520 --> 00:24:25.900 The second system, the Bechtels and the Halliburtons and these other companies, I don't call that 167 00:24:25.900 --> 00:24:28.640 free enterprise, I call that fascism. 168 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:33.640 That's similar to the Nazi system of Stuka and BMW and companies like that, that were 169 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:35.040 hand in glove with Hitler. 170 00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:40.000 I'm certainly not advocating that, and I agree with you that that does occur to a great degree. 171 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.080 But I would oppose that kind of capitalism. I wouldn't call that free market capitalism. 172 00:24:44.080 --> 00:24:47.320 I would call that state monopoly corporate capitalism. 173 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:50.040 But Microsoft and Wal-Mart, you would say... 174 00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:54.240 Yes. Microsoft and Wal-Mart, I think, aren't hand in glove with the government. The way 175 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:59.960 they make their money is by satisfying consumers. Microsoft started in some guy's garage or 176 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:06.960 Wall-Mart has a lot of problems as far as their health is concerned. I mean, they hire the handicapped and the elderly, they pay them terrible wages, and I mean, they just don't know what to do. 177 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:40.960 Microsoft, on the other hand, has had a number of problems because, who is their competition? 178 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.960 IBM, Apple, Mac. 179 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:55.960 Mac and Microsoft started out together, and Microsoft, I don't know, usurped whatever they created together and ran with it. 180 00:25:55.960 --> 00:26:10.960 So, I'm getting this understanding and this impression that business, big business, little business, any business, only thrives at someone else's demise. 181 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:11.960 Someone else's expense. 182 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:12.960 Yes. 183 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:13.960 Well, I don't think that's true. 184 00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:17.960 I think that the essence of business is voluntary trade. 185 00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:19.960 You've got a lovely hat there. 186 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:49.960 If I offer you ten bucks or a hundred bucks for the hat, and you value the hundred bucks more than the hat, and I value the hat more than the hundred bucks, we make a trade. And that's the essence of business. We both gain. You value the hundred bucks more than the hat, I value the hat more than the hundred bucks. There's mutual benefit. Whereas when Halliburton gets its money, it gets it through the government who tax people coercively. It's very, very different. Now, I don't think that Walmart is exploiting anyone. We've got a new Walmart out in, you know, 187 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:56.200 in New Orleans, and people come in the shop there, they must pay enough wages because 188 00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:00.760 they keep employees. If they were exploiting the workers, they wouldn't get any workers, 189 00:27:00.760 --> 00:27:07.520 the workers would all quit. So I think that Walmart helps the poor, Walmart hires the poor, 190 00:27:07.520 --> 00:27:12.040 Walmart sells to the poor, and to the middle class and to the rich too, because they have 191 00:27:12.040 --> 00:27:17.560 great service. I don't see that Walmart is the enemy. Walmart is a voluntary operation. 192 00:27:17.560 --> 00:27:22.560 As soon as we didn't like Walmart, they'd go broke, unlike FEMA. 193 00:27:22.560 --> 00:27:23.960 I'm sorry, you really think so? 194 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:27.800 Yeah, if most people didn't like Walmart and refused to shop there, they'd be out like 195 00:27:27.800 --> 00:27:28.800 them. 196 00:27:28.800 --> 00:27:30.800 Look, there was the Edsel. 197 00:27:30.800 --> 00:27:33.720 This might be before your time, but I'm sure you remember the Edsel. 198 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:39.260 This was a car that the Ford Motor Company put out that costs zillions of dollars. 199 00:27:39.260 --> 00:27:40.260 People hated it. 200 00:27:40.260 --> 00:27:42.720 Johnny Carson was making jokes about it. 201 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:46.080 He was sort of the Jay Leno of the day. 202 00:27:46.080 --> 00:27:52.080 They lost zillions on the Edsel. Had they kept going, one more Edsel, they would have been out of business. 203 00:27:52.080 --> 00:28:02.080 Yes, if you look at the Fortune 500 companies for the last 10, 20, 30 years, you're going to see a lot of companies that seem very powerful and all of a sudden they're not there. 204 00:28:02.080 --> 00:28:13.800 Since you remember the Edsel, let me take you back to 1962, when Chrysler was on the 205 00:28:13.800 --> 00:28:24.680 verge of bankruptcy, and Chrysler developed a turbine engine for a car. 206 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:31.800 They produced 50 and put one in each state as a test model. 207 00:28:31.800 --> 00:28:42.440 The turbine would run off of anything flammable. Rubbing alcohol, drinking alcohol, kerosene, 208 00:28:42.440 --> 00:28:49.240 anything that would burn, they could put into this engine. When they developed 50 and put 209 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:57.040 it in 50 states for a tryout, the government came in and virtually paid Chrysler not to 210 00:28:57.040 --> 00:28:59.040 to Produce that Car. 211 00:28:59.040 --> 00:29:01.040 Do you recall that? 212 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:03.040 No, you have the advantage of me here. 213 00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:05.040 I don't remember that situation. 214 00:29:05.040 --> 00:29:07.040 But in terms of the General Chrysler case, 215 00:29:07.040 --> 00:29:09.040 they were almost on the verge of bankruptcy 216 00:29:09.040 --> 00:29:11.040 and the government had to come and rescue them. 217 00:29:11.040 --> 00:29:13.040 This is horrible. 218 00:29:13.040 --> 00:29:15.040 What they should have done is let Chrysler fail 219 00:29:15.040 --> 00:29:17.040 because people weren't willing to pay them 220 00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:22.040 enough money to pay for the costs of making automobiles. 221 00:29:22.040 --> 00:29:25.040 When the government gets in and puts its finger on the scale, 222 00:29:25.040 --> 00:29:36.040 The government puts a big fat thumb on one of the scales, then it violates consumer sovereignty. 223 00:29:36.040 --> 00:29:46.040 But doesn't the government underwrite, protect and maintain big business in this country? 224 00:29:46.040 --> 00:29:52.040 Yes, it does, and it's horrible, and they should stop doing it because that's the direction of economic fascism. 225 00:29:52.040 --> 00:30:05.040 What I'm saying is they should stop doing that and they should just allow business, assuming that there's no fraud or anything like that, and that would be a legitimate government function to stop fraud, at least in the limited government philosophy of classical liberalism. 226 00:30:05.040 --> 00:30:14.040 But it's sort of like when the referee grabs the ball and starts dunking it, how are you going to have a basketball game? 227 00:30:14.040 --> 00:30:25.040 The purpose of the government in this government philosophy is to be the referee, to make sure that nobody punches out anybody or rapes or murders or what have you or commits fraud. 228 00:30:25.040 --> 00:30:32.040 But when the government starts helping some companies, it has to hurt other companies because it's doing it with taxes. 229 00:30:32.040 --> 00:30:41.040 So I think we have to distinguish between laissez-faire capitalism on the one hand, which is good, and corporate monopoly state capitalism or fascism on the other. 230 00:30:41.040 --> 00:30:46.040 To go back, you talked about North Korea and South Korea, and I'm going to come back to what we're talking to for now. 231 00:30:46.040 --> 00:30:50.040 You said North Korea is doing better than South Korea. 232 00:30:50.040 --> 00:30:52.040 No, no, the opposite. South Korea is doing better than North Korea. 233 00:30:52.040 --> 00:30:53.040 They are? 234 00:30:53.040 --> 00:31:02.040 Oh, yeah. Sure. In North Korea, they're practically starving. Not practically. I think you're making a slip of the tongue here. 235 00:31:02.040 --> 00:31:06.040 That's what they print in the press here, but that's not the world picture now. 236 00:31:06.040 --> 00:31:11.040 from what I've seen, North Korea has been holding its own because they've been 237 00:31:11.040 --> 00:31:15.040 partnershiping with China quite a bit and they seem to be doing quite well. 238 00:31:15.040 --> 00:31:21.040 Well, I don't know what to say about that. Take another case, East Germany and West Germany. 239 00:31:21.040 --> 00:31:27.040 Again, the same people, the same language, the same culture, the same religion, the same everything. 240 00:31:27.040 --> 00:31:32.040 And due to the accident of World War II, the country was split about 60-40 percent. 241 00:31:32.040 --> 00:31:44.040 And there was one-way traffic. People were trying to get out of East Germany and try to get into West Germany. East Germany was an economic shambles. West Germany was magnificent compared to East Germany. 242 00:31:44.040 --> 00:31:55.040 And again, we have this control experiment where you have socialism in the East and semi-capitalism in the West. And the market speaks, people speak. 243 00:31:55.040 --> 00:32:00.040 All right. We talked about Wal-Mart and McDonald's. 244 00:32:00.040 --> 00:32:08.800 We talked about that businesses don't thrive when one of them goes down. Like you have 245 00:32:08.800 --> 00:32:14.360 Wal-Mart Burger King rallies, Popeyes, and you've got churches. Why is there Popeyes 246 00:32:14.360 --> 00:32:18.600 on this corner and the churches right across the street from it? Why is there McDonald's 247 00:32:18.600 --> 00:32:21.880 on this corner and the Burger King right across the street from it? Because if the Burger 248 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:23.560 King wasn't there, there would be no competition. 249 00:32:23.560 --> 00:32:27.100 Well, you don't have to have competition right across the street. You can have two 250 00:32:27.100 --> 00:32:33.940 If there were no Burger Kings and only McDonald's, then there would be no competition, so they 251 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:37.140 couldn't sell at the price that they're selling it. 252 00:32:37.140 --> 00:32:39.260 Well, first off, hold on. 253 00:32:39.260 --> 00:32:45.980 Secondly, you were saying that McDonald's and Burger King are satisfying their customers. 254 00:32:45.980 --> 00:32:46.980 Yes. 255 00:32:46.980 --> 00:32:51.140 No, they're killing their customers, really. 256 00:32:51.140 --> 00:32:54.780 Which is another question, brings up another question about big business. 257 00:32:54.780 --> 00:32:59.780 Do we sacrifice people's health for profit purposes? 258 00:32:59.780 --> 00:33:04.780 Look, they're satisfying their customers in the eyes of the customers, otherwise the customers wouldn't be lining up there. 259 00:33:04.780 --> 00:33:08.780 Now, maybe in some sort of overarching sense, like take cigarettes. 260 00:33:08.780 --> 00:33:13.780 I would say cigarette manufacturers are satisfying their customers. 261 00:33:13.780 --> 00:33:17.780 And my proof or my evidence for this is that people buy them voluntarily. 262 00:33:17.780 --> 00:33:21.780 Nobody comes up with a gun to a guy and says, hey, you better buy some cigarettes or I'm going to plug you. 263 00:33:21.780 --> 00:33:28.780 Rather, they buy it themselves. So it satisfies customers in the sense of the consumer's choice. 264 00:33:28.780 --> 00:33:32.780 Now, from a medical point of view, maybe cigarettes aren't good, but I'm not talking about that. 265 00:33:32.780 --> 00:33:36.780 I'm not talking about McDonald's makes you fat or whatever it is. 266 00:33:36.780 --> 00:33:41.780 I'm saying that they choose McDonald's rather than soybeans or whatever else the alternative is. 267 00:33:41.780 --> 00:33:44.780 Excuse me. Hold on. We have a caller. We're going to take the caller. 268 00:33:44.780 --> 00:33:46.780 Caller, are you with us? 269 00:33:46.780 --> 00:33:47.780 Yes, I am. 270 00:33:47.780 --> 00:33:49.780 Question or comment? 271 00:33:49.780 --> 00:33:57.780 Question. He's talking about privatizing. Let's take, for example, Chevron and Texaco. 272 00:33:57.780 --> 00:34:02.780 Let's deal with the racism in Chevron and Texaco. How does that help, folks, when you have Chevron and Texaco? 273 00:34:02.780 --> 00:34:06.780 What choice do you go to force for black people in this country? 274 00:34:06.780 --> 00:34:10.780 When you go from Chevron, you go to Texaco, and you're dealing with the same racism. 275 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:17.780 And you'd privatize, and let's look at Avis and budget. If I left from Avis and went to budget, 276 00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:23.780 Because I'm having problems at Avis. You know, Avis and Budget are the same parent company? 277 00:34:23.780 --> 00:34:29.780 Well, do you think that we'd be better off if all car rental places were run by government? 278 00:34:29.780 --> 00:34:31.780 No, no. 279 00:34:31.780 --> 00:34:37.780 That's not the question. I'm saying when you're talking about private business, private owned, 280 00:34:37.780 --> 00:34:44.780 I'm talking about racism in this country and how private industry doesn't help the matter themselves 281 00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:49.260 themselves when they're being very racist and prejudiced towards people in this country. 282 00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:50.260 Okay? 283 00:34:50.260 --> 00:34:54.940 What I'm saying is, if I went to Avis, or if I went to budget, if I went to Avis and 284 00:34:54.940 --> 00:34:58.460 I had a problem and went to budget, but I don't know as a consumer, they're both owned 285 00:34:58.460 --> 00:34:59.460 by the same people. 286 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:03.620 Well, look, if they're both owned by the same people and that's such a great advantage, 287 00:35:03.620 --> 00:35:04.620 then they'll be great... 288 00:35:04.620 --> 00:35:05.620 It's not a great advantage. 289 00:35:05.620 --> 00:35:10.420 Let me just finish my point. 290 00:35:10.420 --> 00:35:14.340 If both companies are owned by the same parent company and this is such a great advantage, 291 00:35:14.340 --> 00:35:44.340 Okay, but what I'm saying, you're missing the point here. What I'm saying here, when I used Chevron and Texaco, for instance, we went to Chevron, we found out Chevron had racist harm practices. Okay? And people decided, okay, we can't go to Chevron anymore. We'll switch and go over to Texaco, find out they had the same problem. Okay? So if you privatize things in this country to where you're going to be able 292 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:57.340 The private industry is having all types of racial issues. How does that affect black folks in this country when they're going from place to place and they don't even know who's who in all of this? In other words, you don't know what's behind all of this. 293 00:36:14.340 --> 00:36:18.340 If they have lower wages, then you can make more profits by hiring them. 294 00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:23.340 And if you can make more profits by hiring them, that's the market solution to the problem of racism. 295 00:36:23.340 --> 00:36:28.340 Look, suppose a black person is worth $10 an hour. 296 00:36:28.340 --> 00:36:33.340 And a white person is also worth $10 an hour. They're each equally productive. 297 00:36:33.340 --> 00:36:41.340 But due to racism, the white person is making $10 an hour, but the black person is only making $7 an hour. 298 00:36:41.340 --> 00:36:47.340 Well, if that's true, then the employer who's hiring him is making an extra $3 an hour profit. 299 00:36:47.340 --> 00:36:48.340 So that's okay? 300 00:36:48.340 --> 00:36:54.340 That's great, because then what will happen, as a first step, let me just finish, 301 00:36:54.340 --> 00:36:58.340 because then what will happen is that the guy who hires the black worker under this scenario 302 00:36:58.340 --> 00:37:01.340 will put out of business the other guy, because he'll be able to underprice him. 303 00:37:01.340 --> 00:37:07.340 So I'm supposed to support this philosophy of business? 304 00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:09.340 Yeah, it'll get rid of racism. 305 00:37:09.340 --> 00:37:21.500 The point you just said, how will it get rid of racism if we're being paid $7 an hour, 306 00:37:21.500 --> 00:37:25.360 you're being paid $10 an hour. Supposedly the guy that's being paid $10 an hour goes 307 00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:29.860 out of business. How does that have to do with anything with the racism? What it looks 308 00:37:29.860 --> 00:37:35.900 like it has to do with the other guy making more money over the other guy, which really 309 00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:37.460 is a monopoly. 310 00:37:37.460 --> 00:37:41.460 The person who's hiring the white is going to go out of business. 311 00:37:41.460 --> 00:37:48.460 The person, the company that's hiring the black, whose only color is green, as in money. 312 00:37:48.460 --> 00:37:51.460 He doesn't care white, black, green, blue, skin is irrelevant. 313 00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:53.460 He's only concerned about green, as in money. 314 00:37:53.460 --> 00:37:58.460 We hear that a lot, but that's only in theory. It never works practically. 315 00:37:58.460 --> 00:38:02.460 Oh, no, no. Look, I think that's a problematic way to look at it, 316 00:38:02.460 --> 00:38:05.460 because theory is supposed to be a theory about reality. 317 00:38:05.460 --> 00:38:09.460 If it's good in theory, then it describes reality. If it doesn't describe reality, it's not a good theory. 318 00:38:09.460 --> 00:38:11.460 So it's a bad theory, but it's reality. 319 00:38:11.460 --> 00:38:13.460 No, no, I think it's a good theory. 320 00:38:13.460 --> 00:38:15.460 The way the market gets... 321 00:38:15.460 --> 00:38:19.460 You're not describing reality, so obviously it's a bad theory. 322 00:38:19.460 --> 00:38:20.460 Yeah. 323 00:38:20.460 --> 00:38:27.460 Well, I think I am. I'm showing you a situation where people who engage in racist behavior go broke, 324 00:38:27.460 --> 00:38:30.460 which means that the people who are left aren't racist. 325 00:38:30.460 --> 00:38:33.460 Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Who goes broke? 326 00:38:33.460 --> 00:38:35.460 The Racist guy is going broke. 327 00:38:35.460 --> 00:38:36.460 Wait, they do? 328 00:38:36.460 --> 00:38:37.460 Yeah. 329 00:38:37.460 --> 00:38:41.460 So why is Chevron still in business, Exxon still in business, Wal-Mart still in business? 330 00:38:41.460 --> 00:38:44.460 We can go down the whole thing all day. 331 00:38:44.460 --> 00:38:46.460 You have to prove to me first that they're racist. 332 00:38:46.460 --> 00:38:50.460 I'm saying if they're racist, but where's the evidence that they're racist? 333 00:38:50.460 --> 00:38:56.460 Okay, let's look at it this way then, since you need some evidence. 334 00:38:56.460 --> 00:39:06.460 How many black executives are in the Fortune 500 companies? 335 00:39:06.460 --> 00:39:11.460 What is the percentage of black executives? 336 00:39:11.460 --> 00:39:22.460 What is the percentage of monies that these companies spend in black neighborhoods or where blacks will benefit? 337 00:39:22.460 --> 00:39:25.460 You know, I mean, it's almost non-existent. 338 00:39:25.460 --> 00:39:30.940 Well, blacks are about 14 percent of the population, give or take, something like that, 13-14 percent. 339 00:39:30.940 --> 00:39:32.940 That's the myth that they've been telling us, yes. 340 00:39:32.940 --> 00:39:37.460 No, I think that's true, that black people are about 13 or 14 percent of the population, 341 00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:43.220 and certainly the CEOs are way less than that, so blacks are vastly underrepresented among 342 00:39:43.220 --> 00:39:44.220 CEOs. 343 00:39:44.220 --> 00:39:48.460 On the other hand, they're vastly overrepresented in NBA and NFL. 344 00:39:48.460 --> 00:39:53.140 Okay, let's go, let's do something closer to home here. 345 00:39:53.140 --> 00:40:01.900 You will take New Orleans pre-Katrina, because we knew what the demographics were pre-Katrina. 346 00:40:01.900 --> 00:40:03.780 You are at Liola. 347 00:40:03.780 --> 00:40:13.540 You have Tulane next door to you, two universities that cater to mostly whites. 348 00:40:13.540 --> 00:40:17.740 On your staff, how many blacks do you have as opposed to how many whites? 349 00:40:17.740 --> 00:40:27.940 I'm sure it's overwhelming, yet you're in a black city that you pull from the pool of 350 00:40:27.940 --> 00:40:35.140 students that you bring locally in, or mostly white, and all of the monies that are spent 351 00:40:35.140 --> 00:40:38.680 or spent mostly in the white community. 352 00:40:38.680 --> 00:40:43.300 So we're in a predominantly black city, so how do you justify this? 353 00:40:43.300 --> 00:40:47.100 I thought we were going to talk about Katrina, but I'm happy to talk about this. 354 00:40:47.100 --> 00:40:56.100 I don't know the exact statistics, but I think there are very, very few black professors at Loyola. 355 00:40:56.100 --> 00:41:04.100 There might be two or three out of 250. Very, very few. Black students are a little higher percentage. 356 00:41:04.100 --> 00:41:09.100 I would guess 5%. I'm not sure. I just don't have these numbers at my beck and call. 357 00:41:09.100 --> 00:41:22.100 I don't see that this is racism. I mean, people who think that it's racist think that every profession should have the same proportion of people in it. 358 00:41:22.100 --> 00:41:35.100 No, I don't say that. What I'm saying is based upon the standards of business, the business should reflect its climate. 359 00:41:35.100 --> 00:41:45.100 If you are in a predominantly white area, then it should reflect a predominantly white workload. 360 00:41:45.100 --> 00:41:52.100 If you're in a predominantly black area, it should reflect a predominantly black workload. 361 00:41:52.100 --> 00:41:55.100 I don't think so. I think that there should be freedom. 362 00:41:55.100 --> 00:41:59.100 People should be free to hire whoever they want, as long as there's no coercion. 363 00:41:59.100 --> 00:42:01.100 That, to me, is the free society. 364 00:42:01.100 --> 00:42:06.660 And where does this freedom come in? Because you talked about earlier, you were talking 365 00:42:06.660 --> 00:42:14.860 about the freedom of economic systems, the fail-safe systems, the better systems. You 366 00:42:14.860 --> 00:42:24.300 talked about Wal-Mart. And you said the example you gave was if someone wanted to, if something 367 00:42:24.300 --> 00:42:30.420 about a pizza, if people stopped buying at a pizza store, then it would go out of business. 368 00:42:30.420 --> 00:42:34.420 The market would correct itself, I think is what you were trying to say. 369 00:42:34.420 --> 00:42:43.420 Then if that's true and correct, how in the world is big business benefiting from products that are killing people every day? 370 00:42:43.420 --> 00:42:48.420 Health, accidents, all, you name it, in any category. 371 00:42:48.420 --> 00:42:56.420 They are producing weapons that are killing folk in large numbers every day. 372 00:42:56.420 --> 00:43:21.920 They're not allowing, they're not, people are not able to make decisions based upon reality, they're making decisions based upon something that is called, there's a term for it, subliminal subduction, I'm sure you're familiar with that. 373 00:43:21.920 --> 00:43:23.420 Subliminal advertising. 374 00:43:23.420 --> 00:43:32.420 Yeah. Which means that you are loading the gun, and you are pulling the trigger, and the people don't even see it coming. 375 00:43:32.420 --> 00:43:39.420 Well, if you want to talk about debts, my most recent book is on highways, which are run by government. 376 00:43:39.420 --> 00:43:43.420 And you know how many people die on the highways every year? 40,000. 377 00:43:43.420 --> 00:43:44.420 From what? 378 00:43:44.420 --> 00:43:46.420 From motor vehicle accidents. 379 00:43:46.420 --> 00:43:48.420 The government, they don't make the motor vehicles. 380 00:43:48.420 --> 00:43:50.420 No, but they make the highways. They run the highways. 381 00:43:50.420 --> 00:43:55.120 So you're saying that it's not the fault of the business, it's the fault of the government 382 00:43:55.120 --> 00:43:58.780 because the government has the highways, but the government's not responsible for what's 383 00:43:58.780 --> 00:44:00.340 put on the highways. 384 00:44:00.340 --> 00:44:01.340 That's right. 385 00:44:01.340 --> 00:44:04.820 I'm saying that if we privatized the highways and we allowed highways to compete with each 386 00:44:04.820 --> 00:44:08.460 other, they would come up with ways to reduce the death penalty. 387 00:44:08.460 --> 00:44:10.460 Sorry, not the death penalty. 388 00:44:10.460 --> 00:44:12.460 How do we jump to that? 389 00:44:12.460 --> 00:44:16.340 Well, you're the one that said that business is killing people en masse. 390 00:44:16.340 --> 00:44:20.340 I mean, they might be killing them through cigarettes, but it's a voluntary killing. 391 00:44:20.340 --> 00:44:25.340 And I insist that people have a right to be killed if they want to be killed by cigarettes. 392 00:44:25.340 --> 00:44:32.340 I gotta cut you off. You say voluntary killing. You know what brainwashing is? 393 00:44:32.340 --> 00:44:33.340 I do. 394 00:44:33.340 --> 00:44:34.340 So how could that be volunteer? 395 00:44:34.340 --> 00:44:40.340 No, no, no, no. My point is, why is there, if it's not there, then it used to be. 396 00:44:40.340 --> 00:44:45.340 Well, I know there's a drug store in every corner in the black neighborhood. 397 00:44:45.340 --> 00:45:00.340 In every neighborhood, there used to be a gun store in every corner of the neighborhood, and on every TV ad, billboards, you see liquor, smoke and guns. You do not see that in any white communities. Period. Why? 398 00:45:00.340 --> 00:45:08.340 Well, evidently the people that are selling these products think that they'll make more profits by selling these to black people because they think that black people want these more. 399 00:45:08.340 --> 00:45:10.340 White people smoke too! 400 00:45:10.340 --> 00:45:11.340 Of course. Well, there's... 401 00:45:11.340 --> 00:45:21.580 I think they do, but I'm assuming that your facts are correct, I've never noticed this, 402 00:45:21.580 --> 00:45:25.220 but assuming that you're stipulating that you're right, it's because... 403 00:45:25.220 --> 00:45:29.900 Okay, you say you never noticed this, around Loyola, I know you drive around there a lot, 404 00:45:29.900 --> 00:45:37.820 is there any drugs, liquor store, billboards of cigarettes or alcohol? 405 00:45:37.820 --> 00:45:43.820 There are no billboards at all, and there are no stores right there, but there are grocery stores, and grocery stores sell alcohol. 406 00:45:43.820 --> 00:45:51.820 In other words, they stay out of the middle-class and upper-class neighborhoods. They bring it down in our neighborhoods. That's where you find it prevalent. 407 00:45:51.820 --> 00:45:58.820 But you talk about business. Are you aware that one of the biggest businesses in this country was slavery? 408 00:45:58.820 --> 00:45:59.820 You're aware of that? 409 00:45:59.820 --> 00:46:00.820 I am. 410 00:46:00.820 --> 00:46:06.820 and that the Civil War was fought and people think it was about the emancipation of black folk 411 00:46:06.820 --> 00:46:09.820 and it had nothing to do with the emancipation of black folk. 412 00:46:09.820 --> 00:46:18.820 It had to do with changing or transferring, excuse me, transferring the marketplace 413 00:46:18.820 --> 00:46:22.820 from the private sector to the public sector. 414 00:46:22.820 --> 00:46:28.820 Slavery was transferred from the private sector which was the slaveholders 415 00:46:28.820 --> 00:46:34.220 and it was put on the dole or on the government's shoulders. 416 00:46:34.220 --> 00:46:40.820 Well first of all, I oppose slavery, it's a coercive act and I'm very much opposed to 417 00:46:40.820 --> 00:46:43.220 slavery of any kind. 418 00:46:43.220 --> 00:46:45.900 I don't think it was a civil war, it was a war of southern secession. 419 00:46:45.900 --> 00:46:49.380 A civil war means that there are two sides wanting to fight, each one wants to take over 420 00:46:49.380 --> 00:46:52.100 the whole thing, the whole government. 421 00:46:52.100 --> 00:46:56.500 In the war of 1861 or the war of southern secession, the South didn't want to take over 422 00:46:56.500 --> 00:47:00.100 The North wanted to take over the South, so minor correction. 423 00:47:00.100 --> 00:47:04.620 I think, Amin, your point is sort of like, you know, there's this joke, there's a mouse 424 00:47:04.620 --> 00:47:08.740 on top of an elephant and they walk across the bridge and they make the bridge sway, 425 00:47:08.740 --> 00:47:11.060 and the mouse said, boy, we made that bridge sway. 426 00:47:11.060 --> 00:47:16.980 Well, I think your focus on cigarettes and alcohol and things like that is like the mouse 427 00:47:16.980 --> 00:47:17.980 problem. 428 00:47:17.980 --> 00:47:21.780 I think there are much more deep problems for the black community than those. 429 00:47:21.780 --> 00:47:23.140 I think those are the mouse problems. 430 00:47:23.140 --> 00:47:25.100 The elephant problems are... 431 00:47:25.100 --> 00:47:26.100 Name them. 432 00:47:26.100 --> 00:47:34.740 The fact that drugs are, heroin and marijuana are prohibited and black people are shooting 433 00:47:34.740 --> 00:47:40.340 each other just like white people shot each other and Elliot Ness and the mafia when we 434 00:47:40.340 --> 00:47:45.060 had prohibition of alcohol in the 30s, white people were shooting each other and some blacks 435 00:47:45.060 --> 00:47:50.360 but the point is that if drugs were legalized, young black men wouldn't be butchering each 436 00:47:50.360 --> 00:47:51.360 other. 437 00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:53.400 It's a horrible thing. 438 00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:58.920 So to talk about some people smoking cigarettes and other people drinking booze, I think 439 00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:07.600 it's just misguided, I think the real problem is that they're prohibiting heroin and cocaine 440 00:48:07.600 --> 00:48:12.640 and marijuana, and if they were legalized, there'd be no more killings over that than 441 00:48:12.640 --> 00:48:14.680 there are now killings over alcohol. 442 00:48:14.680 --> 00:48:21.440 Let's talk about the legal drugs then, the drug companies that sell drugs through prescriptions 443 00:48:21.440 --> 00:48:22.440 legally. 444 00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:23.440 Yes. 445 00:48:23.440 --> 00:48:30.680 And we're finding that we have more prescription drug junkies in this country than we have 446 00:48:30.680 --> 00:48:33.280 illegal junkies in this country. 447 00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:38.600 Well, I don't think that the problem, I think, again, this is the mouse versus the elephant. 448 00:48:38.600 --> 00:48:43.400 I think the prescription drug problems, of which there are some, are mouse-like problems, 449 00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:47.200 whereas the problem of heroin and cocaine and marijuana, that's the elephant problem. 450 00:48:47.200 --> 00:48:50.240 It's sort of like there's this big elephant sitting in the room and no one's talking about 451 00:48:50.240 --> 00:48:51.240 it. 452 00:48:51.240 --> 00:48:58.240 Well, wouldn't, isn't that normally the position of big business that to minimize what is being viewed as being the villain, the villain of big business? 453 00:49:21.240 --> 00:49:28.240 When you have identified the villain, so they minimize it and try to take you off point 454 00:49:28.240 --> 00:49:38.320 to miss, so you can miss the point and go chasing a dove instead of chasing the mark? 455 00:49:38.320 --> 00:49:42.360 I don't think this is a business problem. I think it's a government problem. They prohibit 456 00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:46.320 drugs. Let me talk about another problem, I mean, that is an elephant kind of problem, 457 00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:52.000 And that's welfare. And what welfare has done has not... You know, you were talking about 458 00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:58.000 slavery before? In some sense, slavery was not as damaging, in some sense, slavery was 459 00:49:58.000 --> 00:50:04.960 not as damaging to the black community as welfare because after slavery ended in 1865, 460 00:50:04.960 --> 00:50:11.640 the black family was still intact. For years after 1865, people were looking for each other. 461 00:50:11.640 --> 00:50:15.560 They were saying, you know, Emily Lou was sold up the river, Joe was sold down the river. 462 00:50:15.560 --> 00:50:17.560 They were trying to get their families together. 463 00:50:17.560 --> 00:50:23.320 As late as 1910, the white and the black families were equally intact, roughly. 464 00:50:23.320 --> 00:50:25.560 There was a percentage difference. 465 00:50:25.560 --> 00:50:33.840 Welfare started really in 1965, and nowadays many, many black kids are brought up in single 466 00:50:33.840 --> 00:50:36.600 family houses without a man in the family. 467 00:50:36.600 --> 00:50:37.960 And the reason for that is welfare. 468 00:50:37.960 --> 00:50:43.120 It's sort of like when you put a frog in boiling water, the frog knows enough to jump out, 469 00:50:43.120 --> 00:51:13.120 And the boiling water is like slavery, but when you put a frog in cold water and heat it up slowly, this is the welfare, the frog doesn't know. It's very insidious. So a big, big problem is to get rid of welfare, which emasculates the black family, and we get to the call, but before we get to the call, let me just say this to you. That's the view of most white racists. Actually, welfare is nothing more 470 00:51:13.120 --> 00:51:24.320 Then the deliverer or the system by which government monies are transferred to business through the welfare recipients. 471 00:51:24.320 --> 00:51:27.120 They are the carriers of the monies. 472 00:51:27.120 --> 00:51:30.120 Caller, you are with us. Question or comment? 473 00:51:30.120 --> 00:51:39.620 Comment. I wanted to comment about the admission standards at Loyola University, at Tulane University, and the University of New Orleans. 474 00:51:39.620 --> 00:51:52.120 While the Vietnamese population represents maybe 2% of the total of our city, there's a higher percentage of Vietnamese students in all three of those universities. 475 00:51:52.120 --> 00:52:02.120 Now, is that a racist thing, or is it the fact that these students worked hard, studied, got the grades, and gained admission to these fine universities? 476 00:52:02.120 --> 00:52:10.120 Well, I don't think it's racist at all, nor do I think that it's racist that the blacks are, what, 90% of the NBA and 80% of the NFL? 477 00:52:10.120 --> 00:52:17.120 I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but something like that. And in baseball, they're way more than 14%. I don't think that's racist. I think that... 478 00:52:17.120 --> 00:52:31.120 How is it that the Vietnamese who didn't come to our study until the early 80s, that they have managed to bring themselves to the point where they have a higher admission rate than the black community that has been here for 200 years? 479 00:52:31.120 --> 00:52:54.120 I've got a very good answer for you, and thank you for the call. I appreciate it. But it's quite simple. The Vietnamese are Asians, so they share the same, they share the same qualities and quantities of life that the whites share. 480 00:52:54.120 --> 00:53:15.120 Actually, they're kin. You have Caucasians and you have Asians. You have whites and you have yellows. They are kindred. So they're taking care of each other. And that is why you have more Vietnamese, more Asians in jobs where blacks should be. 481 00:53:15.120 --> 00:53:29.120 Now, you're going to tell me that blacks are not qualified, but yet you do everything you can possibly do to make sure that you keep us in a bad position. 482 00:53:29.120 --> 00:53:37.120 So, thank you for your call and comment, but you need to really look at the situation that's going on in this country and around the world. 483 00:53:37.120 --> 00:53:44.120 Well, I have a very different answer to that. There's this guy, Thomas Sowell, who I'm a big fan of. 484 00:53:44.120 --> 00:53:49.120 He is a black economist. Some people call him an Oreo cookie or something. I don't think so. 485 00:53:49.120 --> 00:53:55.120 I think he deserves a Nobel Prize in Economics not because of affirmative action, but because of his merits. 486 00:53:55.120 --> 00:53:58.120 Because he agrees with you. 487 00:53:58.120 --> 00:54:00.120 I agree with him. We agree with each other. 488 00:54:00.120 --> 00:54:02.120 So, I mean, the same thing. 489 00:54:02.120 --> 00:54:09.120 Well, that's not why I think he's so great. There are other people that agree with me that I don't think deserve a Nobel Prize in Economics. 490 00:54:09.120 --> 00:54:12.120 I hate to cut you, but we'll have to invite you back. We're run out of time. 491 00:54:42.120 --> 00:54:47.520 You can call in and have your questions ready for him. Brother Mien, do you have anything 492 00:54:47.520 --> 00:54:50.160 before we go? You have about 30 seconds. 493 00:54:50.160 --> 00:54:54.800 I just wondered, you talked about the welfare situation in slavery, but one of the reasons 494 00:54:54.800 --> 00:54:59.000 that people have welfare is because you're coming from broken homes, a mother and a child, 495 00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:05.760 no father. That's the slavery mentality. If you know the Willie Lynch letter, that's 496 00:55:05.760 --> 00:55:08.360 why it's welfare. There's nothing to do with it. 497 00:55:08.360 --> 00:55:18.540 You have to understand that it's been a systematic problem from the beginning of bringing us 498 00:55:18.540 --> 00:55:27.000 over here in the beginning and maintaining that same mentality, that same economic climate 499 00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:33.400 that is a thrust and a must in your communities to be able to champion your causes and your 500 00:55:33.400 --> 00:55:34.400 culture. 501 00:55:34.400 --> 00:55:41.600 Remember, until next week, stay strong, stay proud. 502 00:55:41.600 --> 00:55:44.600 Black Power and Black Nationalism is the way. 503 00:55:44.600 --> 00:55:45.600 Later.