The Daily Signal - #475: Why Capitalism, Not Socialism, Encourages Morality, According to a Former CEO

Episode Date: June 3, 2019

Andy Puzder grew up in a blue-collar home. He went on to be the CEO of a major fast-food company and he credits capitalism for helping him improve his lot in life. Now he wants young Americans to understand that socialism isn’t just ineffective, but is morally inferior to capitalism. We also cover these stories:•Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issues a warning to China on the thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. •Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard is warning U.S. against imposing tariffs, saying they would be counterproductive.•A former Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, is booed for speaking out against socialism. The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, June 4th. I'm Kate Trinko. And I'm Daniel Davis. Andy Puster grew up in a blue-collar home. He then went on to become a CEO of a major fast food company. And he credits capitalism for helping him improve his life. And he wants young Americans to understand that socialism isn't just ineffective. It's actually morally inferior to capitalism.

It's a very interesting perspective. I had the chance to sit down with Andy recently. And today we'll share that interview. Plus, is President Trump getting behind gay pride? We'll discuss a new development that has some Trump supporters wondering. By the way, if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider leaving a review or a five-star rating in iTunes and please subscribe. Now on to our top news. Well, President Trump touched down in London on Monday for a state visit, meeting with the Queen and the Royal Family, before a planned state dinner.

But the president didn't arrive quietly. Before his plane touched down, he tweeted against London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, who had criticized British officials for inviting him. Trump tweeted, quote, Sadiq Khan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as mayor of London, has been foolishly nasty to the visiting president of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone-cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me, end quote. Well, the president is set to meet with Prime Minister Theresa May. who's on her way out the door after having failed to deliver Brexit. She's announced that she'll resign in the days after Trump's visit. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre,

where Chinese communists killed scores of protesters. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, over the decades that followed, the United States hoped that China's integration into the international system would lead to a more open, tolerant society. Those hopes have been dashed. China's one party state tolerates no dissent and abuses human rights whenever it serves its interests. He also said,

We urge the Chinese government to make a full public accounting of those killed or missing to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history. Such a step would begin to demonstrate the Communist Party's willingness to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. We call on China to release all those held for seeking to exercise these rights and freedoms. halt the use of arbitrary detention and reverse counterproductive policies that conflate terrorism with religious and political expression. Mexico's foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, is warning the U.S. against imposing tariffs, saying they would be counterproductive and would not affect Mexico's immigration policy. Abraud spoke in Washington on Monday as trade talks got underway, just days after President Trump threatened to impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods in the U.S. as punishment for not stemming the flow of migrants.

Ebrard said, quote, Mexico is ready to work on issues of common interest. The imposition of tariffs will have a counterproductive effect and would not reduce the migratory flow, end quote. He also said, if there are only punitive actions, it's not going to work. Speaking at a gala in Ohio, organized by LGBT group, the human rights campaign, former vice president and current 2020 contender Joe Biden reportedly said that his number one priority if elected would be to pass the Equality Act. The Equality Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, could potentially make it illegal for schools to not allow biological males who identify as female to play

girls' sports, as well as have implications for doctors and other medical professionals who do not wish to be involved in gender reassignment surgeries. According to the Associated press, Biden said, quote, just like with racial justice and women's rights, we are seeing push back against all the progress we've made toward equality. Well, John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, spoke to his fellow Democrats at the state convention in California over the weekend. He delivered a simple message, don't embrace socialism. Well, turns out they're not embracing him.

If we want to beat Donald Trump and achieve big progressive goals, Socialism is not the answer. First years for Democrats, helping to reelect the worst president in American history. Illinois has no interest in being known for hospitality to the unborn, apparently. Both chambers in the state have now passed legislation that states, quote, a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this state, according to National Review, which also reported that the legislation, quote,

repeals the state's abortion performance refusal act, which protects doctors and hospitals with moral objections performing or participating in abortions, end quote. The legislation also says that women have a, quote, fundamental right, end quote, to abortion. Well, despite that legislation, here's the new encouraging poll for pro-life Americans. Most people in America either want Roe v. Wade overturned or modified. According to a Harvard Capp's Harris poll released by the Hill, 36% of Americans say that Roe should be modified, and another 18% say it should be struck down completely. 46%, on the other hand, say that it should be upheld.

And a plurality of 41% say abortion should only be allowed in cases of rape or incest. Only 8% said that abortion should be allowed in the third trimester, and only 6% said that it should be allowed up to the moment of. of birth. Next up, we'll feature Daniel's interview with Andy Puster. Tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger government, become a part of the Heritage Foundation. We're fighting the rising tide of homegrown socialism while developing conservative solutions

that make families more free and more prosperous. Find out more at heritage.org. Well, I'm joined now by Andy Puster. He served as the CEO of CKE Restaurants for. about 17 years, which is the parent company of the chain at Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. So if you enjoy those burgers, this is the man who made that happen. Thanks for joining us on the podcast today. A pleasure to be here, Daniel. Thanks for having me.

So you were a CEO of this company, but you didn't begin your career that way. No, not all. Tell us about your upbringing and particularly about how America's system of capitalism enabled your life story to happen. My dad was a World War II combat vet and a Ford car salesman when I was a kid. And we were working class. I mean, it was, you know, but it didn't seem strange at the time. Everybody seemed to be working class. The kids on TV were working class.

The kids you went to school with were working class. It was kind of just the way things were. For me, there was a change one day when my dad asked me to go to deliver a car with him to a very rich guy in a very rich area near us. His name was George Humphrey. His father had been secretary of the treasury, and he was in this area called Hunting Valley. which is this beautiful part of Ohio east of Cleveland.

So anyway, I went with him. We pull up to these huge gates. I don't think I'd ever seen gates before. So they may not be as huge as I remember them, but I was 10 years old, so it was 1960. So these huge gates open, we drive in, there's this beautiful, beautiful White House. It was kind of, it was sunset,

it must have been painted in high gloss paint. It was kind of shining. And everything's perfectly manicured. You know, we lived in like a 2,000-foot ranch house, you know, with my brother, my sister, my mom, and my dad. Anyway, we drive, and my dad starts to drive around the house and drive away. I said, why didn't you stop? And my dad looks at me and says, that was the guest house.

So we keep driving. We go by these stables, which were probably nicer than the house we lived in. It was Hunting Valley. There was fox hunting, and there was a polo field nearby, so he had horses. We come around the corner, we come to this house that, in my mind is like Doughton Abbey. I can't tell you how big it actually was. But to a 10-year-old kid, it was Doughton Abbey. And I'm stunned by all.

I've never seen anything like this. we go up to the front door, Mr. Humphrey knew my dad, they got along well, they exchanged keys for the trade-in and the car my dad was delivering. They talked for a bit, and we're walking back. I asked my dad, I said, what does Mr. Humphrey do that he can live like this? And my dad said he's a lawyer and he owns a company. And I can still remember thinking to this day a lawyer. You know, I could be a lawyer. Now, thank God we lived in a country where a working-class kid like me could become a lawyer. and have a chance to eventually become the CEO of an international corporation myself. So that was the point of which, look, it was important that I thought that. It was important that I thought, you know, I can do this.

Maybe I could do this. I think it was more important was what I didn't think. I didn't think, you know, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, S.O.B.'s in the 1%. He must be screwing us. Right. You know, he's like a robber baron. That didn't occur to me because you didn't think about it that way back then. Back then what I thought was, you know, maybe maybe I could do this.

So that's kind of my introduction, I think. That was Adam Smith's invisible hand kind of tapping me on the shoulder. Yes, yes. Well, you mentioned that 1%, and that sort of gets into this discussion of socialism. You know, increasingly young people in America are enamored with socialism, as it's been popularized by Bernie and Company and AOC. What's the basic misperception that you want to point out to young people who see this as a good thing? I think the thing that young people need to understand is that socialism is not benevolent and capitalism is not based on greed.

If you're in a capitalist economy, the only way you can succeed is by meeting the needs of other people. You have to meet the needs of your consumers. When I rent CKE, when I rent Carls and Hardys, it was trying to figure out how we could provide customers with the products they wanted at the price that they could afford. We spent millions of dollars trying to figure that out. Every business does that. The better you meet the needs of other people, the more. you will succeed in a capitalist economy. And it empowers voters. It empowers, excuse me, consumers who then vote with every dollar they spend as to which products succeed and which fail. So it

actually empowers the masses and focuses everybody's energies on meeting their needs, resulting prosperity and abundance. Socialism, on the other hand, focuses you inward. You're focused on what you can get, how you can get the most for yourself from a limited supply of goods or services the government makes available. Whether it's food or health, government-mandated health care or gasoline, you're standing in a line to get gas or you're standing in the bread line to get food.

You're not thinking about what the people in front or behind you want. You're thinking about what you can get at the end of that line, how you can get the most for yourself. The way you get the most for yourself is satisfying not the masses, not consumers, not your fellow human beings, but by satisfying the needs of the government elites. If you can satisfy the needs of the government, elites in a socialist economy you can get more. So socialism really focuses you on being greedy,

trying to get the most for yourself, whereas capitalism takes that desire to improve your life and focuses it outward on the needs of other people. And of course it's not just theory. I mean, it's playing out before us right now in Venezuela and North Korea. I mean, it's kind of remarkable how you look at all these countries and the leaders of these countries are the really the only ones enjoying prosperity. It's just the exact opposite of what they promise. Look at North Korea. You know. People can't eat. There's no food. The grocery stores are like fake food. They're not real food. It's just for people taking pictures. But look at it. Think about Kim Jong-un. Just get a picture of them in your mind. Look like that guy's missed a meal lately. I mean, you know, this is what happens with people in socialist countries. The government elite who control the economy do very well. In capitalist country, the consumers, the masses who control the economy do very well. So with capitalism, you end up with prosperity and abundance. With socialism, you end up with poverty. and want. And it happens over and over and over again. And by the way, Denmark is a free market capitalist economy. It is not a socialist economy. So when like Sanders is out there or AOC saying,

oh, you know, we're Denmark, we're not Cuba, we're not Venezuela, we're Denmark. Well, you know what? Denmark, people in Denmark get irritated when they say that. Right, right. No, they say the democratic socialism is the term. There's no such. Democratic. What is? Democratic isn't an adjective. You know, capitalism is democratic. It's the most democratic economic system. You've with every dollar you spend. They have to add democratic to socialist to make it sound better than it is. I mean, look, socialists are great at propagating myths. The big myth is that socialism is either necessary or desirable to protect the masses from capitalist greed. That's a myth. It's also a lie. Myth being a polite word for a lie in that circumstance. But they're great with stuff like because,

oh, it's democratic socialism, it must be okay. That's baloney. People think. You've got to think. Look, look, every place, every time, every place, everywhere, socialism has been tried. It results in disaster. Venezuela was the richest country in the world in 2011. It sits on an ocean of oil. The people are eating their pets. I mean, it's a terrible, terrible situation there. So, you know, be careful.

You just might get what you ask for if you're promoting socialism. Well, the socialist crowd is also pushing a policy. They call the fight for 15, this minimum wage, federal minimum wage policy. That's something that I suspect you would have a lot to insight on having run a company that would have been affected by that. From your vantage point, if you're running a company like Carl's Jr. or Hardee's, what does the minimum wage, what's the practical impact of that on your company? When you increase the minimum wage beyond what the market can bear, what you force businesses to do is, number one, stop growing because they're only at open profitable businesses. And for the ones that are already open, you force them to find ways to cut labor. Now, if you want to increase wages, Trump is proving this.

The way to do that is economic growth. We're now seeing the most spectacular wage growth we've seen in a decade and maybe more. And it's primarily impacting people in the restaurant industry, hotel workers, retail workers. They're actually getting more. Their wages are up about 4% year over year, whereas wages generally up about 3%. economic growth can drive wages up as employers compete for employees. So when you have employers competing for employees, wages go up and there's more demand for workers. When you force economic growth down by requiring businesses to pay more for people than the market can bear,

then you reduce economic growth and fewer people are employed. Now, the unions can then take credit. Well, we got $15 an hour wage. They don't tell you that businesses didn't open. People lost their jobs. People have their hours reduced, automation increased. You don't hear about any of that. Right.

So I mean, going to a $15 minimum wage two, three, four, five years ago would have been a disaster. Today the reality is it's becoming increasingly irrelevant. We've had Amazon, Target, Costco, have all gone to 15. Walmart's over 13. Bank of America, which is one of the first ones to go to 15, is now saying by 2020, they'll be at $20 now. So the market is driving wages much more effective. effectively and much faster than any unions could or the SEIU or any government entity.

And it's being done in a way that businesses are actually competing for employees, and that's raising their wages. That's remarkable. Well, Andy Puster, really appreciate your insights on all of this. Happy to do it, Daniel. And if you want to celebrate capitalism, maybe go get a Carl's Jr. Burger or something like that. Or the capitalist comeback, my book. I wish I will make no money.

I'm donating all the proceeds to a charity that encourages entrepreneurship and minority. communities. I know. Gave this big capitalist lecture. Now I'm telling him, I'm giving the money away. I'm doing a reverse Bernie Sanders. I'm not going to tell you I'm keeping the money. I'm telling you I'm going to give the money away. Perfect. But, so if you buy the book, you won't benefit me economically, but I didn't write it to benefit economically. I did it to get the word

out. The capitalist comeback. That's what the book is called. Great. Andy Puzzler, appreciate your time. Thanks, Daniel. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head? If you want to understand what's happening at the court, subscribe to Scotus 101, a Heritage Foundation. A Heritage Foundation podcast, breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip at the Supreme Court. Well, President Donald Trump is ready for Pride Month. He tweeted, quote, as we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions

LGBT people have made to our great nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation. My administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort. So, Daniel, what do you think about the president celebrating Pride Month? Yeah, there's a lot in that tweet because, I mean, Pride tweets technically. Well, that's true. That statement.

Yeah, he releases statements, multiple tweets, one statement. I kind of wish he would have the little in brackets like one out of two or something. They just, they're tagged. It's not that complicated. I feel like this is an unnecessary request on your part. So, like, there's a lot in this tweet, right? I mean, the decriminalization of homosexuality is kind of its own issue, right? I mean, Pride Month is a whole other thing.

So I get that he associated the two, but they're not the same thing. So, I mean, we can all be in favor of, you know, pressuring countries to stop, you know, imprisoning and executing. I mean, there's human rights violations against folks based on their sexual orientation. I found surprising. I think a lot of people found surprising that the president was making a verbal, giving a nod to the LGBT Pride Month, because that has been something that President Obama, that was something he did when he was president. Obviously, after the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell, he lit up the White House and the rainbow colors, and that was kind of a big deal. But with Trump, you know, he's always had this very carefully crafted coalition, you know. He really needed relationships. religious conservatives in 2016 to get elected. And so I felt that even though he was maybe paying some lip service to LGBT to that community, he didn't really endorse their policies. In fact, the 2016 Republican platform remained in support of traditional marriage. So I think it's

interesting that this is kind of the first affirmative statement that he's given about Pride Month. but what do you think? I thought it was interesting in the sense of, you know, I thought it brought attention to a very important fact that, you know, around the world, you know, LGBT people do face, you know, heinous punishments. And I think that's something that the left in this country often loses sight of, you know, the way they talk about certain things. You would think the United States, you know, is almost as bad as so many other countries

which execute people, which is genuinely heinous. And I don't think anyone basically on the religious right would agree with, except some fringe person who's a nutcase. So I thought it was good that he sort of pointed out, like, the perspective there. But I was sort of frustrated because I just feel like every year it seems like Pride Month becomes more and more of a thing. And I, it's just, it's a very controversial thing. And yet everyone acts like, I mean, this is where I feel like you sort of see the authoritarianness

of the left. For instance, one of my favorite brands, Anthropology, on Facebook, there are women's clothing, housewares brand, way too expensive. Don't get into them. But they posted weirdly a gay couple, even though they serve women. They don't sell men's clothes, but whatever. And then they later followed up. I guess people were posting stuff in the comment boxes and they wrote this message that said, we're all for love at anthropology and we believe that love is for all. In the spirit of pride, we will not be lending our platform to or in any way engaging with. hateful or intolerant content.

We will be removing any comments that detract from our message of inclusivity, compassion, and love. Which is like, I mean, I haven't read every comment, so I can't swear that this is right. But that sort of reads to me, you can't even politely say, hey, I don't celebrate Pride Month. I'm disappointed to see you do this. Right. And it feels, I mean, all these corporations, all this pride stuff, it's like, you forget that, like, the country was completely split on this issue a few years ago.

And that there's still, you know, about a third of Americans who are not on board with the LGBT agenda. Yeah, no, it's true. That is a third. And the polling, it's a third that still don't agree with it. But I think these companies need to be careful because they might be overshooting. I mean, a lot of people who disagree with the LGBT agenda are silent about it because they have been forced into that silence because of this kind of thing. and they don't want to have their lives and career ruined and the reputation ruined, which does happen when people speak out. So, you know, that's a pretty big share of the market. And people, I mean, these companies might be surprised to see their bottom line getting hit.

Like, oh, didn't realize we had a lot of people that, you know, don't want to buy from us now. I mean, it happened when Target had the transgender bathroom policy a few years ago, they got hit and then they modified their policy in return. So I think companies can do whatever they want, but consumers can too. And that's the give and take of the market. And I think it's a great thing. Yeah, I mean, good point. Absolutely.

Anthropology and these other companies can do whatever they want. It's just frustrating as a consumer. But then you can push back by not buying them. Oh, that would be really tough. See? Who has the will? Who has the will to win the culture? This is the thing.

And this is the thing with Netflix too now. Some people are boycotting Netflix because they've come out against the Georgia abortion bill. And I'm thinking in my mind, like, maybe I need to talk to my family and say, hey, maybe we need to like get rid of our Netflix family subscription because we need to value human life over our own personal entertainment. Also, there's other forms of entertainment out there. Yes. I share an account with my sisters and we have a group chat going on right now that is sort of about our addiction to various old sitcoms like The Office versus like, oh, this is. is really horrible what they did in Georgia. Just buy the DVDs.

Okay. No, I don't even own a DVD player. You buy one. Okay. It's a lot cheaper than Netflix over this course of a year. Okay, aside from my moral smallness when it comes to Netflix, the other thing I wanted to ring up was I was really irritated that President Trump talked about LGBT Americans or I forget exactly how he phrased it.

But like this whole, your whole identity is your sexuality. I know conservatives have made this point over and over. But it just, it seems weird. It seems weird if you're straight. It seems weird if you're polyamorous. It seems weird if you're, you know, LGBT. Like, you are so much more than your sexuality. And I don't really see how your sexuality affects how you are as an American.

And I just find it frustrating that he spread that message. Yeah, it'd be kind of weird to have a tweet. You know, I would like to announce to all straight Americans. Yeah. Or all tall. Or all height challenged. We're all like, you know, like there are so many. different things you could do here.

And it's just, I don't know. People, there's too much obsession with what makes you, you now. Yeah. Well, that is a great place to leave it. And we have many more weeks to talk about Pride Month. There may be more things that Trump says, and we can talk about that too. And apparently, I'm never going to be able to buy anywhere again. Well, we are going to leave it there.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast, brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google, Google, or SoundCloud, and please see us a review or a five-star rating on iTunes. We'll see you again tomorrow. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis, sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.