The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 594 Dear Socialists, Do You Have a Heart?

Episode Date: November 20, 2017

Hooray for capitalism, your Thanksgiving dinner is getting cheaper thanks to free markets. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-17/too-many-turkeys-means-cheaper-thanksgiving-as-demand-stagnates   So Trump gets this man’s son out of a foreign prison and then he attacks Trump? Is he insane? https://t.co/Wmm2zwazyS   This government housing policy is causing more problems than it is solving. https://www.cato.org/blog/what-effective-looks-hud   This study found that masculine, wealthy, men are the most attractive. Snowflakes must be losing their minds. https://www.studyfinds.org/white-macho-men-attractive/   The media must be kidding with their take on the Rand Paul attack. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/reporting-the-rand-paul-attack-was-it-lawn-clippings-or-journalistic-fertilizer/article/2640906?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Examiner+Today&utm_source=StructureCMS   Is bitcoin overpriced? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-19/bitcoin-soars-past-8-000-as-technology-shift-concern-vanishes     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

get ready to hear the truth about america on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host dan bongino all right welcome to the dan bongino show producer joe how are you today and all ready for another action-packed week dan hey you dude you believe this this uh lavar bell or ball what a butt basketball i, is this guy for real? Folks, for those of you who missed this story, I mean, I'm really having a tough time with this one. President Trump can do nothing without getting kicked in the teeth by the left-wing media hacks and Democrats.

It's really pathetic. So for those of you who missed the story, LeVar Ball, his son, is it LiAngelo Ball? I'm not really sure of the name, but LiAngelo Ball was one of the UCLA basketball players who, again, if you missed the story,

got caught shoplifting in China. UCLA, the basketball team, went over there to play a game. There were three players who were caught by the Chinese shoplifting. They've admitted it. This isn't an alleged incident. They've admitted to doing it, okay?

They got caught by the Chinese government. They were apprehended, and they were being held in custody. So most of you may know, some of you may not. Well, Trump gets involved, the President Trump, and basically personally gets involved and asks for their release. They are subsequently released back into the United States. And I'll say this. They gave a press conference to three players, LiAngelo and the two others.

Their names are escaping me right now, Joe. And they were very gracious, I thought. They thanked the President. They did not in any way try to put lipstick on it. They were like, we screwed up. We embarrassed ourselves. We embarrassed their team. Listen, I believe in the power of redemption and forgiveness.

I hope they're sincere. I don't know what was in their heads, but they certainly sounded sincere to me, Joe, right? Yes. Trump then releases a tweet, a very gracious tweet, too, where he says, listen, people screw up all the time and basically says, I hope these guys go on to live really great lives. Now, in a normal, non-insane liberal world, Joseph, right, that's the end of it. It's me. It's not me clapping. That's me wiping my hands of it. That's not me clapping. That's me wiping my hands of it.

Guys screw up. U.S. citizens, president personally gets involved, gets them released from a foreign country, a communist regime. They thank him. He says, terrific. You know, you guys, I hope everything works out well. Goodbye.

Well, of course, that's not enough because Trump derangement syndrome, this viral infection, like uh what is it like mad cow disease infecting liberals hollywood types entertainers and sports types has just it's like a parasite eating their brains liangelo ball's dad lavar ball comes out and says in an interview he goes goes, well, listen, this guy's trying to take credit for this. And he didn't really do too much to get him released. And basically takes a shot at Trump.

So I tweeted out this week and I'm like, let me get this straight. Step one, shoplift in a foreign country. Step two, get caught shoplifting in a foreign country. Step two, get caught shoplifting in a foreign country. You know, step three, the POTUS, President of the United States, intervenes to get you released from the foreign country. Step four, your dad goes nuclear on Trump the next day. Like, what the heck?

Folks, seriously, we're living in bizarro Superman land. Now, what's amazing about the story is not that that happened. You know, great, it's news. You know, I sometimes do news of the day, sometimes pick different stuff. What's interesting to me about this story, Joe, is the media spin on this again. Now, to media types that listen to my show, and I know there are some, I get emails personally from some producers.

You know who you are. I appreciate you listening. And by the way, I mean, some of them are actually conservative, too, who've tried to pitch some of the stories to their staffs. I get they're really great emails, by the way. I will never name your names. Don't worry. I don't want to get you in trouble. I know you work for the left wing media.

God forbid you actually propose stories that are not left wing narratives. But what's fascinating about this is the hack left-wing media is now blaming this on Trump. What the hell did Trump do wrong? Trump intervenes to get your kid released after he admits to committing a crime in a foreign country, right? He admits it. Trump intervenes with burning political capital with a foreign country to get your kids released who screwed up, or your kid in this case. I don't know what the other parents uh think they didn't say

anything to be fair but to get your kid released and then you open your mouth and you take a pot shot at the president so what happened the president fired back on a tweet and said well hey you know maybe i should have left him in jail then all right you know it's typical you know trumpy and he's gonna always fire back when he wants to but they blame it on Trump oh my gosh he said he was gonna leave the American citizens in jail what you mean like uh what do you mean like Obama and Otto Warmbier who uh who died by the way when he was released from a North Korean oh you mean like that you mean like that guy that you mean like that guy folks again you see now why i wake up every single day thinking what fight are we gonna have with intellectually vacuous liberals today

so you have a problem now with trump who by the way you've declared over and over to be a racist despite no evidence of that being actually true because everybody's a racist to you. He gets three black basketball players released from China who admitted committing a crime. The father then attacks Trump and then Trump who fires back is now the guilty party. Oh, boy.

But by the way, don't apply the same standard, Joe, to Obama, you know? Yeah, right, okay. Who did nothing to get, you know, I mean, well, I don't want to say did nothing, let me be fair, but did not get warm beer released. Who is now dead. Let's not apply that standard.

Let's just move on and forget. I mean, it's really disgusting, folks. And you wonder why the media, what is it, 90% of Republicans think the media is the equivalent. I don't even want to say the National Enquirer, because the National Enquirer once in a while actually breaks a true story. The media is just total, complete don't even want to say the National Enquirer because the National Enquirer once in a while actually breaks a true story. The media is just total, complete hackery.

It's just disgusting. It's totally, completely pathetic. And on that note, before I move on to my next story, because I don't know if I was going to cover this, but on that note, the Rand Paul story, equally disturbing. Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky is attacked by his neighbor. The guy breaks six ribs,

causes some kind of fluid buildup in and around his lungs. The guy's in the hospital, Rand Paul from Kentucky is attacked by his neighbor. The guy breaks six ribs, causes some kind of fluid buildup in and around his lungs. The guy's in the hospital, Rand Paul. He's having a tough time breathing afterwards. He's viciously attacked by his neighbor. And the media is still, I'll put this story in the show notes today at Bongino.com. And if you subscribe to my email list, I'll send it to you. There's an interesting story by the Washington Examiner about how the media is dying, Joe. Dying to portray this story as

a dispute over lawn clippings. Yeah, saw that. You saw the one? Despite the fact, Joe, that the neighbor, this is like one person's account. Everyone else in the neighborhood is like, lawn clippings? What are you talking about? Despite the fact that the neighbor, when you look at his Facebook post, is like a

devout socialist and Hillary supporter, or Bernie supporter, whatever it is. Now, Joe, reverse the script here and make that a Democrat lawmaker attacked by a Republican neighbor, breaking his ribs, causing fluid buildup around his lungs, causing a hospitalization, very serious injuries. And the story right away will be crazy maniac, Republican, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, phobophobic, istaphobe, a tax poor Democratic senator. Republicans should all be summarily executed on a firing line in the state of Kentucky. The devil reincarnate.

Yes. The devil reincarnate, of course. But because it's a Republican lawmaker attacked by a socialist, the story is about lawn clippings. Lawn clippings. Read the piece, folks. The story is about lawn clippings. Lawn clippings. Read the piece, folks. The media, they're just disgusting entities. They really are. They're just filthy.

Just ignore them. Just ignore them and go out and seek your own sources, your own credible sources of information. Because counting on anything from the media to be actually accurate, it's just absurd. Attacking Trump, Joe. Trump, Trump trump because he gets the guy's kid out of jail you know he shouldn't have responded that way you know dan that's that's

a hell of an example to set for your kid i'm sorry man right isn't it you know what i'm saying joe let me listen you know i mean you're a dad i'm a dad i don't have boys you have a boy i have two girls yeah but honest question for you i mean already know the answer, but you catch your kid shoplifting somewhere, and he admits to it, by the way. It's not a question of like, was he profiled or anything? You come home. Yeah, I got caught stealing. By the way, I wasn't caught stealing like bazooka gum.

Okay. Remember bazooka? The five cent gum where your kids are younger listeners are like, what the hell is bazooka gum? He got caught stealing a pair of expensive sunglasses. The guy in China. The store owner, let's say, brings your kid home, and he's like, listen, we're not going to press charges here, but your son, he caught your son, whatever, he's on tape, he admitted

to it, stealing sunglasses. What's the first thing you say to him, Joe? I forgive you, but you're going to have some time to serve at home, pal. You're damn right. Yeah. Your allowance is gone. Give me, pal. You're damn right. Yeah. Your allowance is gone. Give me your phone. You're punished.

And by the way, that trip we were going to take, whatever. My daughter, you know, she likes Disney or anything like that. Gotcha. Yeah, that's out too. I mean, I'm not going to, I don't like to, you know,

I feel like I owe you all a sense of insight into my personal life because you've allowed me so much insight into yours by playing my show every day. But I had an incident with my daughter last year. I'm not going to say what. It wasn't that serious, but it was serious enough that it bothered me. And she was staying up on my mother-in-law's up in Vero.

I got in my car and drove my caboose up there. That day, it was like, get in the car. Even my mother-in-law didn't even say hello when I walked in because she knew how serious it was. Oh, hi, Danny. I'm like, give me the kid. That was it. And your first response is to defend your kid and attack the president?

My gosh, you really have to be kidding me. Trump derangement syndrome, out of control. All right, today's show brought to you by our buddies at Filter By. Hey, thank you to everyone who has been really helping out and buying products from our sponsors. We're pretty selective about who we pick over here, and it means a lot to me. The sponsors are extremely happy and it's thanks to you. I really appreciate it.

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but these guys have been great and they keep the show free for all of you. All right. Story. Number two, um, Mary Anastasia, you know,

Grady, Oh, Grady, who, uh, reports on South America for the wall street journal has, uh, I'm sorry to switch topics on you. I know these segues are always uncomfortable between happy stories and...

You know what I'm saying, Joe? And Joe, you're in it radio all the time. You're reporting on... Merry Christmas, folks. Santa's going to be... Joe's up in Baltimore in that area. And Tal's in today. And then the next story is like a cop is shot.

And you're like, well, how do we segue there? So these are always uncomfortable. This is a really troubling story. So Mary O'Grady reports on South America for the journal, and she always writes really thought-provoking good pieces. I'm always fascinated about what's going on in South America because I spend a lot of time down there. My wife is from there, so I enjoy reading her pieces.

She has a really troubling piece on Venezuela. And I'm sorry, Joe, I never, Joe asked me what we were going to talk about. I should have told him like we were going to proceed onto a rather macabre story afterwards, but he's used to rolling with it. So I read the piece and it's about the destruction of a formerly great country in Venezuela,

formerly powerful economy, and the destruction of it since the implementation of it since the implementation of socialism during the Chavez and now Maduro era. Now, folks, I'm asking you a personal favor now. For those of you listening who have friends who are socialists, who have young kids who are impressionable. I get a lot of emails from parents who say, you know, Dan, my kid, she or he or she was a, you know, we had them going with conservative principles

and freedom and liberty and they got to college and now I can't get them back and we're losing them and they're turning to the left. These college professors are indoctrinating them. Just have them listen to this piece. They can read the piece, but it's,'s you know a lot of it's subscriber only but let me read you a quote from what's going on in venezuela since the government implemented socialism which again for the joe what is this the umpteenth thousandth time umpteenth thousandth the millionth umpteenth

thousandth times ten time socialism is because we can't argue about the benefits or detrimental effects of socialism if we have no idea what it is. Now, for those of you out there who don't know what it is and profess to know what it is, socialism is clearly the government control of the means of production. It's basically a government control of the economy. That was implemented in Venezuela. Now, here's a quote from a piece about what's happening, and this is devastating. You can't listen to this as a good person, a Christian, a Jew, a Buddhist,

or anyone who cares about anyone else and not be really physically, you know, get wretched by this. Their children, Joe, talking about the Venezuelans, they cry all day, and their mothers can only give them water. They are dying. The residents of Caracas, of venezuela's largest cities have lost an average of 30 pounds folks you don't have to have kids

like joe and i to be disturbed by that i'm asking you for a second to visualize this very scene in Caracas, where you have, say, a dad who, say, is an average-sized dad. He's, what, 5'9", 150 pounds, who's now 5'9", 120 pounds, whose wife is, say, 5'3", 100 pounds, who's now 70 pounds, who are now sitting at a dinner table with their kids with no food. The kids are now crying out of pain because there's no food to eat. Physical pain because they have nothing to eat. And all they can do is give them water. They don't even have Kool-Aid for calories. These kids are crying.

They're dying, folks. People are dying in a socialist country. To all of our younger listeners out there who may have partaken in that poll or had allegiances with the poll that we spoke about last week, Joe, where millennials now, a good solid portion of millennials

think socialism is a positive path forward. Yeah. Does that bother you at all you know i to make sure i didn't get lost on this and get into a rant rather than a fact based discussion i just wrote one simple line down below this on my notepad here for the show where's your heart where is it you think this is a mistake? Do you think that every time socialism is implemented, the mass starvation and death that follows afterwards is just some mistake?

If it is a mistake, why is it a mistake unique to socialism? Why is that mistake not happening here? In other words, for you defenders of socialism out there, who will defer to the, Joe, typical explanation I hear, oh, that's not really socialism, that's just corrupt people involved. So there's no corrupt people anywhere else, Joe. In other words, they're only dying and starving in socialist regimes.

Everyone else is non-corruptible, It's just socialism that corrupts people. How is that a defense of your argument for socialism? So corruption, which is a problem everywhere in the world. Joe, can we agree? Yeah. The United States, in monarchies, in tyrannies, in oligarchies, in socialist countries, human beings are always corruptible.

Those corruptible human beings only seem to cause massive death and starvation when socialism is implemented. And that's the best defense you have? Where's your heart? I'm serious. I'm really probing you for a second to ask you to dig within your soul

if you're a young kid that's been suckered by a college professor into believing that socialism, and I'm going to explain to you in a minute why this is happening, in case you have any illusions otherwise that I'm making this up. I'm asking you, where's your heart? The reason you support socialism, by the way, is because you've never been subjected to socialism.

You know, I'm not going to give you my exact address because it would expose who he is, but my neighbor came from a Cuban regime. He is pretty darn conservative because he actually lived in a socialist country in Cuba. Folks, here's the problem now, too, they're having in Venezuela. Because now getting back to just the quick economics on this because this is pretty simple stuff for you college kids are having a tough time and you adults who are having even tougher time shaking the scourge of socialism because you're some it's like it's magnetic allure to you and it's rhetoric matters equality for all

yeah equality and death and starvation you're absolutely right except by the way for the government bureaucrats who enrich themselves. Here's what's happening. When you price control an economy, you're always going to get a couple of things. Or actually, you're going to get four things to be specific. You're going to get increased demand for products because the products, when you push the price lower than the market price, more people are going to want them. You're going to get decreased supply. You're going to get black markets and quality control. You're going to get decreased

supply because no one's going to produce a product, i.e. Joe, food, if the government says, hey, Johnny Appleseed, farmer, farmer guy, hey, Johnny, here's the deal. You can only charge a dollar for whatever, 20 bushels of wheat, whatever it may be. Yeah, but it costs me $2. Yeah, but we just said you can only charge a dollar. This is socialism. We know better than you. Shut your mouth. So Joe, what do you think Johnny Appleseed Farmer does? Well, this Johnny Appleseed would stop producing, baby. You would be right. Joe's right again. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Joe, you're amazing. You're really, really, you're like a PhD economist. No, I think that you're smarter than a PhD economist. Thank you, Dan. Because there are PhD economists like Krugman who actually believe in this type of crap. Yeah. So you're amazing. Really, you're like a PhD economist. No, I think you're smarter than a PhD economist.

Thank you, Dan. Because there are PhD economists like Krugman who actually believe in this type of crap. So you're actually more intelligent than they are. I'm not kidding. I'm dead serious. You are actually smarter than they are. So they're not producing food.

A price control is a hallmark of socialism. When you don't let the market determine a price, you let the government determine a price, you let the government determine a price, which is below the market price, which forces people to scoop up what they have now and produces to produce none of it later. It also causes black markets and quality controls, because if you're forced to produce at a dollar, even if you're done at the end of a barrel of a gun, you will produce for a dollar. You're not going to work as hard as if you were actually making a profit. So you wind up getting crap products like the Lada,

the Russian car which fell apart the minute you drove it off the lot. But here's the problem they're having now, Joe. They're going through hyperinflation because what did the government do? Well, the government, you know, socialism, they're all geniuses. They control the economy and the means of production. They also control what? The printing of money. So, of course, government bureaucrats, they've got the system pegged,

Joe. They've got it pegged. They said, I got a great idea. Let's just print more money. Yeah. I know. I know we're living in like bizarro Superman land. So the government printed more money, which devalued the currency they had now. So what happened? The Venezuelan currency collapsed because if you're making a bunch of bagels for a market for bagels and there's 100 people for 100 bagels and you decide you're going to make 400,000 bagels,

your bagels aren't going to be worth anything because you're going to overflood the market with bagels. The same thing happens with money. So the Venezuelan currency has basically collapsed and they have no hard currency. In other words, foreign currency that hasn't collapsed, Joe. They have no hard currency to exchange, reserves

that they can buy in foreign. Remember I told you about trade deficits that not to worry too much about trade deficits because U.S. currency is only spendable in the United States or on U.S. denominated assets? Well, the Venezuelans are running out of hard currency, U.S. dollars, euros. They're running out of hard currency U.S. dollars euros they're running

out of it so what's happening now they can't buy U.S. products to replace the food they're not producing at home due to the price control so people are starving and dying so now what happens of course what happens next in socialism regime so they implement price controls producers stop producing people starve you run out of hard currency because your currency is collapsed and the trade value for it collapses so you don't have any hard currency to buy things from overseas in their currency joe because your currencies collapse your trade value your exchange rates completely collapse you need 25 billion venezuelan uh bolivars right to get I mean, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.

You can't buy anything from overseas. So now your people starve even more because you can't supplant production that stopped locally due to price controls with foreign production because you don't have foreign money. And then what happens? Inevitably, what always happens in foreign regimes, and Mario Grady puts this in there, there now is a penalty of 20 years in prison, Joe,

for inciting hatred due to your politics. Basically, open is a penalty of 20 years in prison, Joe, for inciting hatred due to your politics. Basically, open your mouth and get 20 years in prison and get a big ass kicking in Venezuelan prison. Real nice. Cute, folks.

You know, I bring it, I know like my show, I know we have a lighter tone sometimes, sometimes not, but I know we can be sarcastic at times, but folks, it's really serious. It's not a joke.

You have a group of people out there in the United States who, despite all available evidence of the death and destruction, this sick, deranged economic organization system we call socialism, imparts onto people, they still, still propagate the myth that this is a successful path forward. It is so deeply disturbing. To the college kids out there, I ask you to please, I'm begging you, I'm really, if you like me, you don't like me, you trust me, you don't trust me, just do your own homework on this outside of your college professor who lives in an insulated environment with a guaranteed tenure and financial security. He knows nothing about the economy or she. Nothing.

All they know is ideology because they're not subjected to the ideology themselves. Did you notice how none of them go and voluntarily live in Cuba, North Korea, or other communist regimes that strike you as slightly odd? It's frustrating, guys and ladies. It really is. All right. I got a couple other things to get through. So I spent a little more time on that than I cared to, but it's an important point.

Yeah, it was a good piece. Thank you, bud. Appreciate that. Sorry, I'm just unlocking my phone again because it locks like every two minutes. All right. Today's show also brought to you by my buddies at iTarget, folks, with Christmas around the corner now. Crazy, isn't it? How time flies.

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and i got a lot of feedback, 90% positive, 10%. I wouldn't say negative, but some people said I didn't go in-depth enough and some people said I went too in-depth. I'm not going to redo that show on what Bitcoin is and cryptocurrencies are. But I just do want to lend a note of caution here. And I'll put this story in the show notes. And I strongly, strongly encourage you to read it if you are either an investor in Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies or are considering it. Folks, they've been all over the place in recent weeks. They've had three

plunges or more of 25% of their value. Now, my caution to you at Bitcoin, I'm not saying it's not a good idea. This is not an investment show. I'm not telling you to invest or not. I give opinion. This is my opinion. If you don't like it, disregard it. That's fine. They've had three plunges of 25% or more in value in the recent weeks, and they've recovered. They've recovered substantially. It's now over $8,045 Bitcoin as of, I think, last Friday when they closed. Here's a couple issues I have, and just why I'm encouraging you just to be cautious. I'm not telling you don't invest in it. Are we clear on that, Joe?

Because I know I'll get an email. Folks, Bitcoin is a value exchange. It's no different than, say, the use of gold coins to buy something or the use of FRNs, Federal Reserve Notes, what we would call dollars in the United States. Understand this is not an investment. This is an investment in money. Now, you may say,

oh, well, we're investing in the technology, blockchain. Ah, okay, kinda. But that's like saying, you know, with Federal Reserve Notes, oh, well, we were investing in the intaglio printing process. blockchain uh okay kinda but that's like saying you know with the with you know federal reserve notes oh well we're inventing in the we were investing in the intaglio printing process that's not what blockchain is in other words the use of bitcoin is as a proxy for currency which is a store of value right we don't trade in refrigerators joe in other words you don't go i'll give you two refrigerators for an hour your work wait what we give you money why because it's convenient it's transportable and it's

exchangeable and it's relatively liquid so if you're investing in bitcoin understand that it's not the technology you're investing in because the blockchain technology by the way which is very good there are other ways to invest in that where it's not, in fact, the money you're investing in. You get what I'm saying, Joe? There's going to be blockchain technology for everything, encryption methods, everything. That's fine. You can invest in a cybersecurity company. But if you're investing in Bitcoin based on the technology,

that's not what you're investing in it in the actual currency that uses the technology. My point in this is it's a simple one. that uses the technology. My point in this is, it's a simple one. Don't invest in money or monies or transferable, you know, semi-liquid assets like this on the hope that it's the technology that's going to get you through. Because the technology, by the way,

I think in the relatively near future due to quantum computing and the use of qubits over bits, blockchain, I think in gold as an alternate currency, are investing it for security. Security is the value it adds to their life. And I understand that. You get what I'm saying, Joe? I get it. Like if you're investing in gold because you say the United States government is printing money and the money is going to be worthless soon, you're paying a premium for gold for money. You're basically paying money for money, but you're paying extra money for money, a premium, because you believe in the security it offers you rather than the security of the United States currency, the Federal Reserve note.

Right. I get it. But you have to ask yourself with Bitcoin, is that premium for the safety of Bitcoin and blockchain technology? Is that worth the premium you're paying now at $8,000? I don't know. I'm not sure. Be cautious. Dan, I've actually seen a bitcoin being uh some of these firms advertising this use for retirement accounts yeah i mean there's there's

actual banks out there now that are going to be doing uh uh futures in in bitcoin and i listen i think it's a wonderful idea please don't send me hate mail on it and again i'm not telling you not to invest in it or look into it to diversify your portfolio at all. It's not an investment show. I'm just telling you, I read the story this morning. I'll put it in the show notes about Bitcoin going up and down. And I would be very cautious. I read a story a while ago showing how the value of Bitcoin right now, it's more than the value of basically most of the products you can purchase with it based on the liquidity of it. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. the products you can purchase with it based on the liquidity of it. I mean, that doesn't make any sense. So just be a little bit cautious there. Oh, boy. All right. Oh, hey, here's some good news. Let me get some good news, by the way, because it is a Monday and we need good news. And this

is really good news. So you can smile at the end of this story. There are a number of different entities right now that are extremely optimistic about the future growth potential of the economy. And folks, I have to agree. Having said that about qubits and quantum computing and blockchain, which I think is fantastic, the technology, if the quantum computing doesn't crack it, by the way, or find some way to weaken it. I mean, I would never crack it because of the way it's designed, but find a way to weaken it in the future. But these are all unbelievable things. Gene coding, stem cell technology, which I'm going out. I'll let you know, by the way, I'm going out next week to do my shoulders again with stem cells.

We are on the verge, folks, of some really big things. And I think the fact that Donald Trump has brought some sanity back to the courts through a relatively conservative constitutionalist court appointment show, he's engaged on a pretty robust, vibrant, anti-red tape agenda, regulatory reform in Washington, D.C., and this push he's doing for tax cuts, if we can in fact get them, tax rate cuts, and get more money in the hands of private consumers. I think we are on pace for an absolutely incredible 2018. I am not on my own here. I've said that before.

I'm a big believer in the power of the American economy. The Federal Reserve right now is, and I'll put this story at the show notes, by the way, is one in the Wall Street Journal and one from Bloomberg, in case you think I'm randomly pulling these numbers out of thin air. The Federal Reserve Journal is looking at potentially 3.5% growth next quarter, which they're upping from 3.4% growth. That is an extraordinary number compared to the eight years of 2% and less growth by Obama. Remember, Obama during eight years in office, never, folks, never, ever reached 3% growth in any year of his time. He is the first president to never do that.

And he had the worst recovery based on GDP growth in modern American of his time. He is the first president to never do that. And he had the worst recovery based on GDP growth in modern American history post-World War II. Trump has now hit two consecutive quarters of 3% growth during his presidency. And just to be clear and be fair, I don't blame every single economic problem on Obama, and I don't blame every single economic success on Trump. But I do believe the president sets the tone. I do believe that it is a fact that President Obama was not a big fan of capitalism as we know it and set a generally anti-business environment through Obamacare and tax hikes and things of the sort.

I believe Trump has reversed that trend and I believe business confidence is skyrocketing. So is consumer confidence. The Fed is now predicting 3.5% growth. Folks, that is a big number in the next quarter. That is a huge number. You know what that means? That means the competition for employees, because businesses are going to grow. That's what growth means. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but that's what 3.5% growth means. And we're producing more stuff. Businesses are growing. Why would they produce more stuff, Joe? Because they're selling more stuff. That's

going to mean what? They're going to need more employees, which is going to mean what? Competition for labor, which is going to mean what? Which is going to mean people like Joe and I and everyone else, competition for our skills and our labor and our services, Joe, are going to enable us to do what? Ask for more money. Now, just in case you say, well, the Federal Reserve, and granted, I agree with you there. I'm always skeptical of the Federal Reserve because that 3.5% number, to be clear, was their prediction for the next quarter. Goldman Sachs is predicting a 2.5% growth, which is still a pretty decent number compared to where we were. Now, I'm not a huge advocate for Goldman Sachs. They've been right.

They've been wrong. They're sometimes all over the place. But even at that number, we're still looking at enhanced growth from the Obama years, folks. So I say around this Christmas season, Thanksgiving season, this holiday season, at the end of the year where people are generally pretty cheery and it's great to give gifts and the economy gets a little bit of a boost from the extra consumption around the holidays, I think 2018 is going to be a really, really fantastic year. And I think you can all smile.

I think it's going to be good. Now, you know, this stuff is always, of course, if we don't get the tax cuts, this could all change in a heartbeat. But one quick note on that, too, just to the Republicans listening, I don't know if they understand, Joe, how deeply in peril they are if they don't pass this tax cut plan. You will be in a world of trouble. I'm out there. I'm still an activist. I talk to people all the time. You better get this tax thing done. You better get it done. It's going to be deeply

disturbing if you don't. Okay. Oh, gosh, man, I missed this. This really pisses me off. I'm sorry. I was talking about the Venezuela thing in the beginning, and I had a quick contrast, and I missed it because I was so excited to get onto the Bitcoin story that I casually glossed right over it. But just a quick note. I'm not returning back to the Venezuela story, but for those of you who listen to the show and you can just tune in right now, obviously, you heard me talk about the destructive power of socialism and how kids are starving tragically in Venezuela.

This was the point I wanted to make for the socialists listening and for the parents who are having their kids listen to this. Folks, contrast this with what's going on in the United States. So, again, we had this starvation in Venezuela, an average loss of weight of 30 pounds in Caracas. Kids are crying because they're crying from hunger. Their parents have no food for them. A horrible human interest story going on right now. Compare and contrast with a relatively free market, a relatively capitalist society in the United States. What's going on now, Joe? Joe, turkey demand. It's around Thanksgiving, right? Yeah. Do joe turkey demand it's around thanksgiving right yeah do you know turkey demand is doubled in the united states in the 1980s no i didn't i found that interesting what does this have to do with venezuela or anything else and it states that it's been stable since so just to be

clear venezuela food demand is goingist government, because the population is growing. Socialist government is implemented. People are starving, losing weight. Their kids are crying. In the United States, turkey demand doubled in the 1980s and stayed stable ever since. And by the way, there's an article in Bloomberg about this. I'll put in the show notes.

You can read it yourself. Turkey, Joe, is 1.6% cheaper this year in the United States than last year, and the whole meal is the cheapest since 2013. Oh! Oh! Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. So let me put myself into the college kid mode right now

in the college camp. I'm not insulting college kids. You're doing the right thing in college. But you're listening to your socialist professor who's extolling the virtues of socialism where people are literally losing weight and dying and kids are crying because they have no food and they're drinking water. So that system, you have increased demand for food and increased demand for services. You also have increased starvation, increased death, poverty, hunger, and destruction everywhere

you go. The United States, what your socialist professor would call whatever the evil empire, the imperialist nation, the white privilege, racist, istophobic, homophobic, racist,

misogynist, Islamophobic, transphobic, LGBT-phobic nation, the worst country on the history of mankind. Turkey demand doubled, stable, stayed stable ever since.

And Turkey is now 1.6 percent cheaper than it was last year and the whole meal is the cheapest it's been in four years hey big round of applause for capitalism i would say round one ding ding ding ding ding capitalism now yeah again given the old do you want to live right now just let me ask you yes or no college kids right now who've been suckered by socialism do you want to live in a country where the price of turkey and the whole meal is going down meanwhile people are working less hours to pay for the same food they ate four years ago or do you want to work in a country where you're having squirrel for thanksgiving if there is a squirrel left in your backyard because someone has to eat it just quick yes or no which one you want to live you want to live in capitalism

cheaper turkey cheaper meal or socialism squirrel thanks Thanksgiving if there's a squirrel left? Which one? Just quick. Okay, thoughts up. Yeah, thanks. You can't get through to him, Joe. You can't. All right.

Oh, a couple more, folks, just because these are doozies. Another story I saw in the journal today. You know, the tax bill right now has a provision in it to get rid of the exemption for state and local taxes. So in a nutshell,

if you live in a blue state where you pay an exorbitantly high state and local tax rate, where Joe lives in Maryland, New York, California, these are typically blue states that charge high state income taxes, local taxes,

that used to be exempt. You'd be able to write those off in your federal tax bill. The effect of that is high tax states, people get, I don't want to call it a subsidy because they're still keeping more of their own money, but they get a break and they basically make the paying of state and local taxes less impactful on their wallet than for people in other states. I live in Florida. There is no state income tax, so I don't get the benefit of that. But if you live in a blue state, you do. You basically get a write-off I don't get. I don't think that's particularly fair. So the tax code is getting rid of that. Excuse me, the tax law. Joe, New Jersey lawmakers are going bonkers. Let me give you a quote by their Senate president,

a guy named, what is it, Steve Sweeney. He says they're, quote, going to have to reevaluate everything now. Now, they were considering passing a millionaire's tax in New Jersey, and now that they've elected this far-left governor, Phil Murphy, it looks like this millionaire's tax is going to pass. But now, just to show you the power of common sense tax reform, because I got an email from a lady in New Jersey, Joe. She was really upset at us. She seems to think we were attacking New Jersey. Well, I'm not attacking New Jersey. I'm trying to get your taxes lowered. What are you talking about?

And by getting rid of this state and local tax deduction at the federal level, do you understand how now this has even hit the liberal lawmakers hard? How liberal lawmakers now who wanted to institute a millionaire's tax, Joe, are quote, this is Derek, the guy's a Democrat, folks. Steve Sweeney, Senate President of New Jersey. The Democrats said, I'm, quote, going to have to reevaluate everything. Why? Because they're now not being, you know, I hate the word subsidized, but they're now not getting

their little carve out for blue state taxes that they got before this is forcing them to reevaluate it because now they know that the taxes they're imposing on their citizens are actually going to be paid by their citizens not the citizens of other states make sense joe yes yeah so i but again before you send me a and i listen i appreciate your listenership but before you send me a nasty gram because i i think this state and local tax deduction is a horrible idea, I'm telling you in the long run, this is going to benefit you, not hurt you. Because now every tax hike they try to ram down your conservative throat in a blue state is going to have to be reevaluated on the actual cost, not the cost, Joe, minus the deduction you used to get in the past. And maybe you won't get the tax at all. So, you know, again, I appreciate your emails, but I was not hitting blue state people.

It's not your fault. I'm trying to save you from your own lawmakers there. I know some of you can't leave. I get it. I was trapped in blue states most of my adult life. I get it. Hey, on email, by the way, another one of these tangents, right?

I got an email from a guy this morning. He's all upset about how sometimes I veer off into the topic of religion and spirituality. Hey, man, I'm sorry. Viewer feedback obviously matters to me. Listener feedback, I should say, matters a lot.

But that's part of me. That's not going to go anywhere. And I have to strongly suggest that this may not be for you. I know it's not the thing you're supposed to say in this business, but I mean it. My faith and religion matter to me. I mean, I get it. I'm not your preacher. I'm not trying to convert anybody out there. That's the bedrock of everything I talk about, freedom, liberty, God-given rights rights and he said something at the end which I found kind of strange he's like like he goes you're alienating at least a third of your

audience and I thought Joe say what yeah I know well I thought how does he know that does he have access to our Libsyn account that's kind of strange because he hacked in um that's actually entirely inaccurate our audience for that show was enormous so I don't I don't know what you're talking about I it's just I mean, you're just making that up. And I don't understand also why you would be offended about a common sense, non-professorial, very non-preachy conversation about spirituality and the origins of consciousness and religion. Does that bother you? I mean, I don't understand why that bothers you.

Are you so bothered by confrontational ideas that you tune out? You may have to. That's fine. I appreciate you listening, but this may not be for you then. If you're a committed, hardcore atheist and any conversation about any alternative idea bothers you, the show is definitely not for you. Okay. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to tell you. I respect it. I have an atheist who emails me a lot. He has some very thoughtful comments. You're more than welcome here. But again, I listen to commentary about atheism all the time because I try to sit there and say, well, why are they thinking what they're thinking?

If you can't accept the alternative, again, go tune in to another show. I don't know what to tell you. But I really was bothered by the email. That's the kind of commentary that I really don't enjoy. Hey, all right, one more quick thing. Getting back to the point. Great article in Cato today

about another liberal program designed to so-called help Joe air quotes here that actually kicks you in the teeth and knocks you on your butt as you try to get up. There's a program out there called the Low Income Housing Credit. I've talked about this before.

It's a credit given to developers to provide low income housing for poor people. Oh, Joe, great idea. Joe, what a great idea. So wonderful. The government's so smart, aren't they? Let's give a credit to developers to build low-income housing

and we'll decrease the price of housing for poor people. Lose again. So there's a great, great report and Cato would be in the show notes today. One third, one third, that means 33% repeating, what is it, repeating decimal, three, three, three, three, three, three, three, three. 33% of that goes to tenants.

Wait, wait, wait, hold on. It's a low-income housing credit, so surely this helps poor people. Yeah, one third of it. Okay, well, where does the other two thirds, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, six, where does that go? Banks, developers, and accountants. Nice job, government. You guys are really terrific.

And here's the, Joe, and accountants. Nice job, government. You guys are really terrific. And here's the, Joe, this is great. This is, I want to talk about like completely kicking you in the teeth as you go to get up. Nearly 100% of the low-income housing produced due to the, quote, low-income housing credit is offset by a reduction in the number of unsubsidized low-income housing. So now you have taxpayer subsidies going live. Listen, I got no problem with developers or accountants, but I do have a problem

with you taking taxpayer money, okay? Two-thirds of it goes to accountants and developers, right? Only a third of it goes to tenants, and 100% of the homes are offset by the decreased building of low-income homes when they're not subsidized.

This is it. Great show. You guys are just awesome in the federal government. And they write about it because apparently I love Ben Carson, but he was touting the benefits of this program the other day and Cato was like, wait, wait, what? Come again

on this? I love the guy, but listen, get the government out of the housing business. My gosh, haven't we done enough damage at this point? All right, folks, thanks again for tuning in. Please go to Bongino.com, subscribe to my email list. And again, you're always free to comment here. Daniel at Bongino.com, subscribe to my email list. And again, you're always free to comment here. Daniel at Bongino.com is my email.

I read them all. I try to respond to as many as I can. I'll see you all tomorrow. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show. Get more of Dan online anytime at

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