The Young Turks - Schultz Gets Berned

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

Episode summary: "Stark to hear you say": CNN’s Kaitlan Collins shocked to hear senator declare Congress has gone "as far as we’re going to go" on guns. Senate hearing today: Howard Schultz testifies before the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee. New report claims Blackstone Group is buying San Diego’s affordable housing, hiking up rent prices. HOSTS: Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE: ☞ https://www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks FACEBOOK: ☞ https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER: ☞ https://www.twitter.com/theyoungturks INSTAGRAM: ☞ https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK: ☞ https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕 Merch: https://shoptyt.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Woo! It's up! Welcome to TYTY, I'm your host, Anna Kasperian, and I'm your host Anna Kasparian, and I got to be honest, with you. I'm super excited for today's show. One of my favorite stories today is a hearing that House Republicans didn't want you to know about, but the hearing took place in the Senate.

Bernie Sanders called on Starbucks or former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to testify before the committee he chairs and answer some questions about his union busting tactics. So we'll get into some of the highlights from that story. In the second hour, John Iderola will be joining me where we will basically dunk on moronic Republican lawmakers in the House like Lauren Bobert. The House had its own hearing today. It's a little conspiratorial coming for me, but I suspect that they held their hearing to kind of divert attention away from the Senate's hearing with Howard Schultz. But in the House hearing, they talked about the D.C. efforts in DC to essentially update their criminal code. And somehow Lauren Bobert manages to represent

herself as the dumbest person in the room. So hold for that story. That'll be in the second hour. And we'll also discuss a little of what is happening in the country in regard to the rollback of reproductive rights. Things are not looking good in Florida when it comes to nearly a full on ban on abortion. So we'll give you the details on that and more. But as always, just want to encourage you guys to like and share the stream if you're watching us on YouTube. You can also become a member by going to t.yt.com slash join. Or if you're watching us on YouTube, just click on that join button and you can become a member that way. Without further ado, let's do some update on what Republican lawmakers are saying in regard

to the need for gun legislation. Do you think that there should be action here in the wake that shooting? Look, I put myself in a position where I look at those families and I see these things and I look at my colleagues up here and there isn't anybody here that if they could find the right approach wouldn't try to do something because they feel that pain. Republican Senator Mike Rounds is about to get real frank with the American people over how worthless Congress is in accomplishing anything that improves their lives or keeps their children safe.

And yet when we start talking about it. about bans or challenging on the Second Amendment, I think the things that have already been done have gone about as far as we're going to with gun control. As far as they're willing to go with gun control, meaning we're not going to do anything. Even after three children, as young as nine years old, were gunned down by a mass shooter recently. Now, I'm not surprised by any of this. This is the same thing that happens every time there's a mass shooting, a school shooting, anytime we hear about the tiny bodies of school children being ripped apart by assault weapons, Republican lawmakers who are well funded by gun manufacturers

and the gun lobby, like the NRA, line up to tell the American people that there's nothing they're willing to do because their campaign donations from the gun lobby happen to be far more important than saving human lives. But then they'll turn around and simultaneously claim that their pro life as they punish women and control their bodies while stripping away their reproductive rights, because that's who they are. That's what they really represent. Now, even Caitlin Collins in that video seemed a little surprised at the unwillingness to do a damn thing about gun violence in this country. And rounds not only admitted that he plans to do nothing, he also admitted to having no qualms, zero, about voting against insanely mild gun control

just last year. Let's watch. It's pretty stark to hear you say that you don't think there's anything else legislatively that Congress can do when it comes to guns. You voted against the gun safety legislation that was passed and signed into law last year. Some of your Republican colleagues voted for it. Do you still stand by that vote, Senator? I do. I do. I do. Even milk toast, incredibly mild gun control, I'm unwilling to get behind. Because that money, got to make sure that my campaign coffers come first. But he's not the only one. I don't mean to pick on Senator Mike Rounds.

Poor Mike Rounds. Why don't we actually talk a little bit about Congressman Ken Buck, another Republican. He's actually from the state of Colorado. and he had posted a video that asked Biden to come take his guns. In fact, why don't we take a look at that? Back in 2020, you went viral. You posted this video after a similar plea. Take a watch.

I have a message for Joe Biden and Beto Ork. If you want to take everyone's AR-15 in America, why don't you swim by my office in Washington, D.C. And start with this one. Come and take it. I guess my question is, is your concern as a federal official, as a lawmaker, as somebody who legislates, that something like that maybe diminishes the impact of what this moment is and kind of the conversations that's happening, at least if you're trying to reach a resolution on issues. Well, if Joe Biden is interested in reaching a resolution on the issue, let him deal with the southern border. We have drugs coming across the southern border.

And this crisis, this mental health crisis that we have in this country has a direct relationship to our drug laws being loosened. the lack of funding at the state level for mental health services. So let Joe Biden deal with some of the issues. Now we're going to respond to his claims about the need for mental health services. We're going to talk about his worries about cartel violence and drugs flowing in from the southern border allegedly. I'm going to address all of that. But before I do, I can't help but mention the video that he had no problem putting out there and more importantly defending. the video where he's holding onto his gun and telling Biden like,

oh, you want to take our guns away? Come take my gun. Can you really posture as a tough guy when you're just a bitch for the NRA and the gun lobby? Genuine question. And if you're wondering what I'm referring to, I can give you some numbers. Now, this is a little bit outdated because it was reported by ABC News back in 2018. So I would imagine the numbers could be higher when you look at the total amount of campaign contributions that Ken Buck has taken from gun manufacturers and the gun lobby. But this is interesting because back in 2010, the NRA spent nearly $830,000 in an unsuccessful effort

to replace Democratic incumbent Michael Bennett with Republican Ken Buck in Colorado. Buck, however, was able to win the seat only after Bennett left office to run for the Senate back in 2012. Now, the NRA didn't get involved in the 2014 race, but Buck was backed by another pro-gun group called Gun Owners of America. Now, if the NRA was willing to dump nearly a million dollars into your efforts to win that congressional seat, you feel a little loyal to them. We don't want to do right by the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers who happen to fund the gun lobby. That is what matters to Ken Buck more than anything.

Now, let's address all the other stuff that he brought up because he claims to be super concerned about our southern border. I mean, let's deflect, let's not talk about the guns. No, the real concern is the southern border. They're smuggling drugs. Let's talk about that. So where are the drugs coming from? One of the top killers, one of the top contributors to overdoses in America right now

happens to be fentanyl. And to be sure, we should be concerned about that. We should be thinking about policies to minimize the number of overdose deaths Americans are now facing. As many as 100,000 overdose deaths a year, the large, the bulk of those overdoses happen to be a result of fentanyl overdoses. So I am concerned about that. But I'm not interested in deflecting from the very real issue of gun violence in America

by talking about some other issue that, to be clear, Ken Buck doesn't actually give a damn about. But let's talk about where the drugs come from and what the reality is. The reality is that fentanyl actually is sourced from China. China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment. as well as the main source for all fentanyl related substances trafficked into the United States. I'm not saying that. You want to know who's saying that? The DEA.

That is a statement from the DEA. Now also, the drugs coming in from the southern border are actually not brought in by undocumented immigrants as Republicans would have you believe. In fact, I didn't even know this until today. Fentanyl smuggling is ultimately funded by U.S. consumers who pay for illicit opioids. I knew that. Nearly 99% of whom are U.S. citizens. Now, in 2021, U.S. citizens were 86.3% of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers, 10 times greater. then convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense. And that's according to the Cato Institute. And by the way, if you're wondering, what are one of the main ways that the drug is trafficked or sent to the United States?

It actually gets sent over through mail. And that's left out of the conversation. But again, we're not talking to you about the drug epidemic right now, Ken Buck. We're talking to you about gun violence because six people were just gunned down at a private religious school. And you claim to care so much about little children, three of those victims were nine-year-olds. But let's get into some more details here. Because he also talks about the need for mental health care. We tried and true tactic.

These guys are one-trick ponies when it comes to responding to gun violence in the country. We're very concerned about mental health in America. very concerned. So concerned that anytime mental health comes up, we vote against it. We'll get to that in just a minute. But before we do, why don't we talk a little bit about mental health services? Because that happens to be one of the main drivers. The lack of mental health services in America is one of the main drivers for why we are facing a very serious mental health crisis. As the National Institute of Mental Well-Being Rights, Mental health services in the United States are insufficient despite more than half of Americans.

56% seeking help. States are struggling to keep up with demand due to lack of funding and facilities and to a lesser extent providers. Texas, Wisconsin, and Georgia ranked among the lowest in terms of lacking adequate numbers of providers, facilities, and funding to support the state's populations. there is also a large disparity in access to mental health care based on level of income and location. So when they bring up the issue of mental health in America, it's a good issue to bring up. I have no problem with that. In fact, I think a robust, comprehensive approach to our gun violence problem in America is to focus on making it a little more difficult for people who shouldn't have guns, being able to get them.

It's incredibly easy to buy a gun. On top of that, we absolutely should fund mental health in America. We are completely neglecting that issue, and I think we should focus on both. But understand that Republicans, like Ken Buck, mentioned mental health care after mass shooting events, not because they care about mental health, but because they want to pivot away from any discussion on necessary common sense gun legislation. By the way, when it comes to funding mental health, when it comes to voting on legislation to appropriate the resources necessary to take mental health seriously in America,

Republicans vote against it. 205 Republicans vote against Bill to expand school mental health services. And that was a headline from Truth Out in September of last year. In fact, only one House Republican, one. And that's Representative Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania, voted in favor of that bill in order to fund mental health services, something that they claim to care so much about, only after mass shootings, though. It's also worth noting that if Buck is so concerned about cartel violence and violence coming from the southern border, maybe we should think about not arming members of the cartel inadvertently because of our lack of. gun laws. The Mexican government estimates that more than half a million guns are smuggled from the United States each year, arming Mexico's deadly cartel wars. Officials in Mexico,

which has just one gun store and issues fewer than 50 gun permits a year, blame lax U.S. gun laws and the prevalence of gun shops in America for the bulk of weapons that allow cartels to flourish. I'm not done yet. If that information is shocking to you, get a load of this. Between 70 to 90% of guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico can be traced back to the United States. Drug cartels in particular by those weapons in the United States, mostly in Texas or Arizona, and smuggle them across the border. So not only are we fueling the gun violence in America, thanks to our lax gun laws, we're also fueling cartel violence south of the border because the cartel members can just

easily buy guns due to our lax gun laws. But Republicans would have you believe there's nothing they can do. There's nothing they can do. I live in California, which happens to be one of the states that has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. I decided I wanted to purchase a weapon for self-defense. And I have one. And guess what? Process ain't that difficult. Background check doesn't take that much time.

I don't feel like my second amendment rights have been violated. There was a background check conducted to ensure that I'm a law-abiding individual that is not going to use this weapon of death to kill innocent people. And I think all abiding citizens in America should be able to practice their Second Amendment rights. I do not want to ban guns. However, common sense gun, needs to be not only considered but voted in favor of in order to mitigate what we are now experiencing in this country on a regular basis, children getting slaughtered on their own campuses. The Republican Party can't, on one hand, claim they care about children and human lives

when it comes to regulating the bodies of women and then turn around and say, there's nothing we can do when it comes to regulating guns that are used, of course, in all of these mass shootings that we're experiencing all throughout the country. And please spare me the garbage about how, oh, well, Chicago, Chicago's got some gun laws and it's not working out so well for them, except Chicago is not an island. Okay, Chicago is a city that is surrounded, that is in a state, surrounded by other states that have incredibly lax gun laws. Very easy to cross state lines and buy a weapon somewhere else.

We all know this. So they're insanely weak talking points that attempt to counter what we're arguing in favor of here, which is common sense gun legislation falls flat immediately, which is probably why people like Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker, run away from reporters who want to know if he's going to do anything, if House Republicans are even going to consider any legislation when it comes to gun control. Now with that said, I want to go to the final video here because it is a compilation of all the GOP cowards who would much rather pander to the gun lobby and to weapons manufacturers than to keep their own constituents lives safe. Let's watch. Why don't I take action to ban

AR-15s in the aftermath of all these terrible shootings? Because I believe in this Second Amendment. And we shouldn't, you know, we shouldn't penalize law-abiding American citizens. Banning those weapons that were used in attacks like things. I'm certain that politics will waive into everything. But right now, I'm not focused in the politics of the situation. I'm focused in the families. Even not ban AR-15s. Why not talk about the real issue facing this country in regards to the shooting, which would be mental health? At the end of the day, I don't know if there's much space to do more, but I'll

certainly look and see. Kevin McCarthy running away from reporters. We can talk about movies. We can talk about Easter. We don't care about what your thoughts on movies or Easter. You're an elected lawmaker who has a leadership position in the House of Representatives. You are the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, running away from reporters who are asking you legitimate questions about what you plan to do in response to the endless gun violence in this country. Running away from them is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. But what's also incredibly pathetic is hearing lawmakers claim that they're concerned about families right now. They're concerned about the families, while also letting us all know that they will do nothing to keep us safe, orderly.

represent our best interests. And they do it with the straight face with absolutely no shame. It is incredible to see it. And they get more brazen after every mass shooting. Some of the stuff they say today, they wouldn't dare say after the Sandy Hook shooting. Just brazenly telling us we're not going to do anything. But there is no real way of holding them accountable other than voting. And unless we get organized, outside of this congressional situation, outside of electoral politics,

unless there's a persistent, well-organized pressure campaign that holds these lawmakers accountable, they're never going to listen to us, they're never going to care. Even their own constituents in these red states indicate in poll after poll that they are in favor of common sense gun legislation. They are in favor of background checks. So let's work with people, let's get organized, and let's actually create a campaign that applies persistent pressure against these politicians. So they actually listen to people. So they actually listen to their constituents and maybe reconsider whether the gun lobby is

more important than saving human lives. We got to take a break. When we come back, we've got more for you, including the hearing in the Senate today featuring former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. We'll also talk about Carvana. Apparently selling people stolen cars, some drama there. Don't miss it. We've got those stories and more.

Welcome back to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and I am very excited to share this next story. Why just survive back to school when you can thrive by creating a space that does it all for you, no matter the size. Whether you're taking over your parents' basement or moving to campus, IKEA has hundreds of design ideas and affordable options to complement any budget. After all, you're in your small space era. It's time to own it. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca. with you. Now, I'm not usually one who gets excited about congressional hearings because usually it's nothing more than theater and there's no real takeaway. But in this case, when it comes to Senator Bernie Sanders, who's now the head of a very powerful Senate committee, I'm definitely interested. So let's do it. Over the past 18 months, Starbucks has waged the most aggressive

and illegal union busting campaign in the modern history of our country. That union busting campaign has been led by Howard Schultz, the multi-billionaire founder and director of Starbucks, who is with us this morning only under the threat of subpoena. I love that salt coming from Senator Bernie Sanders, who now chairs the powerful health, education, labor, and pensions committee. And he not only threatened to subpoena Howard Schultz, the now former CEO for Starbucks. But after issuing that subpoena threat, Howard Schultz is like, okay, I guess I'll go ahead and testify in this hearing. He had no choice. He did show up. The hearing took place today. And it really was incredible. So before we get

to some of the highlights from this hearing, I think it's important to back up and remember what the union busting tactics were. And this, of course, happened in response to hundreds of Starbucks stores across the nation organizing and voting to unionize. And guess what? Nearly 300 of them voted in favor. So, 360 stores in total have held union elections and they've been met with aggression from their employer, Starbucks. Now, 83% of those elections have, resulted in a union victory. What is insane is that even though it has been now a few years since the first store voted in favor of unionizing, Starbucks has yet to sign a single contract with a single unionized store. In fact, instead of

negotiating in good faith, even though Howard Schultz will lie up and down and claim that they have been trying to negotiate in good faith, they haven't. What they've really done is try to bust the union or any unionization effort. So Bernie goes on to say that the National Labor Relations Board has filed over 80 complaints against Starbucks over violations of federal labor laws. But it doesn't stop there. There have been over 500 unfair labor practice charges lodged against the company. In addition to that, federal judges, federal judges.

So this is not like, oh, they've been accused, but they haven't really, there hasn't been an investigation, we don't know if they're guilty. No, federal judges have found that Starbucks broke the law 130 times across six states since the workers started organizing to form unions in the fall of 2021. And some of those charges include illegally firing 12 Starbucks workers. for attempting to organize their workplace. Now, with all of that context in mind, let's hear a little more from Bernie Sanders.

Just a few weeks ago on March 1st, an administrative law judge found Starbucks guilty of, quote, egregious and widespread misconducting, quote, which showed, quote, a general disregard for the employee's fundamental rights, end quote. In a 220 page ruling, this judge found that Starbucks illegally retaliated against employees for unionizing, promised improved pay and benefits if workers rejected the union, conducted illegal surveillance of pro-union workers, refused to hire prospective employees

who supported the union, relocated union organizers to new stores and overstaffed stores ahead of union votes, all clear violations of federal labor law. Look, I'm only speaking for myself when I say this. I know people like to think of TYT as a monolith, we're not a monolith, everyone has differences of opinion. Sometimes Jane can get a little salty when it comes to Bernie because he wants to see Bernie fight harder. But in my mind, there is literally no one in Congress, not a single person except for Bernie Sanders who has consistently fought on behalf of workers in America throughout his entire career from the very beginning. Bernie Sanders is the real deal. You might not be in favor of

his style. Maybe you want him to be more aggressive. I hear you on that. I personally also enjoy aggressive tactics. But in regard to what he's doing with this incredibly important leadership position, I couldn't be prouder to be a major supporter of Bernie Sanders. Because what What he's up to makes it abundantly clear that his top priority is the American worker. And that is so rare to see in a political landscape where corruption is basically on the minds of everyone. Everyone's thinking about their corporate donors, everyone's thinking about doing right by the corporations that fund their campaigns. Bernie Sanders, though, he's different. And even though he's been a politician for decades, even though he exists in this system where all the insuffer,

are for you to do the wrong thing, he's resisted those incentives and he's actually looking out for what the workers' best interests are, and I love to see it. With that said, he mentioned what the federal judges had found Starbucks to be guilty of. He also mentioned a little later that federal judges ordered Starbucks to reinstate seven workers who were legally fired, reopen a pro-union Buffalo New York store that was illegally shut down and also pay reasonable consequential damages to more than two dozen Starbucks workers whose rights were violated due to the union busting tactics that were used by Starbucks. Now, it's also important that Bernie laid out all the labor violations that Starbucks committed

based on these federal judges and their rulings because Schultz would go. on to basically lie about it during the rest of the hearing. But here are some more details you should know about before we get to some fun video. Noting that the first group of Starbucks workers to win union elections have been waiting more than 460 days to negotiate a first contract, Sanders pressed Schultz to promise that Starbucks would exchange proposals within the union or with the union within 14 days of the hearing. Schultz declined to make any such promise. He did say the company would continue to bargain in good faith in face-to-face sessions,

but not in sessions streamed on Zoom as demanded by the union, citing safety and privacy concerns. What are the safety concerns when you're doing a meeting on Zoom? You're worried your internet might drop off and you might have difficulty reconnecting? Like what safety concerns? What are you talking about? No, they don't want to negotiate in good faith. And they're worried that if they hold these negotiations online via Zoom, someone might record it and leak it to the press and make it abundantly clear to the American people that the employers here, Starbucks, doesn't actually give a damn about the workers and is not negotiating in good faith. But with that said, at one point, Howard Schultz uses the fact that the federal government has failed to increase the federal minimum wage.

And I have no problem criticizing the federal government for that. But I do have a problem with it in this context. And after we watch the video, I'll explain why. Today, baristas in our stores earn on average $17.50. Respectfully, it's more than the minimum wage of every senator that's represented a state on this committee. Including respectfully, Chairman Sanders, where the minimum wage is, in Vermont is 1318. We're at 1750. So let me get this straight. Corporate America bribes politicians to keep the federal minimum wage

at the pathetic $7.25 level that it's at today. And then corporate America has one of their representatives, Howard Schultz, in this case, use that fact against policymakers. and lawmakers? Now, Bernie Sanders is not responsible for state legislation in Vermont. He's a United States senator. And to be sure, he's been one of the biggest warriors in trying to increase wages for Americans, in trying to increase the federal minimum wage for American workers. So it was a weird attempt to dunk on Bernie Sanders. But we know how this game is played, Schultz. We know how corporate America bribes politicians to avoid ever having to increase wages. But one of the exceptions is Senator Bernie Sanders. We all know that. But good try, good try.

Now, while it was clear that Bernie was looking out for workers in the context of this hearing, that wasn't really the case for the Republican Party, which shouldn't be surprising for anyone. Let's actually start with Mitt Romney, who argued that senators like Bernie are calling for the hearing because they're corrupt. I also think it's rich to not recognize the extraordinary conflict of interest we have, which is our democratic colleagues overwhelmingly get their campaign funds from unions and therefore would like to find every possible way to extend unions, even if an enterprise feels that it's in their best interest to pursue a different course.

Okay, all right. I mean, come on, how rich is that? Mitt Romney, are these democratic lawmakers corrupt? Which, by the way, a lot of them are. They absolutely are. But to bring up unions and their contributions to various campaigns while pretending like we don't know about the corporate capture of our legislature is insane. In fact, why don't I just bring that up now?

Because I did look into how much Starbucks spent on lobbying in 2022 alone. For the midterm elections alone, how much did they spend on lobbying? Oh, would you look at that, according to Open Secrets, $1,170,000 in just one election cycle alone. But of course, Mitt Romney didn't bring that up. Instead, he brought up the campaign contributions that some members of Congress take from unions. What do you expect unions to do? To just sit back and allow corporate America to do all the bribing, which, you know, you do a comparison. corporate America's got them beat considerably in terms of the dollar amount.

But with that said, I do want to go to one more graph, also from Open Secrets. This one shows annual lobbying by Starbucks. And so I didn't see in 2013, there was quite a spike in lobbying. But if you look at the last several years, the amount that they spend on lobbying has gone up consistently. And I would venture to say that the increase in the dollar amount that they're willing to spend on lobbying might have something to do with the increased interest that their workers have in unionizing their stores. But the most embarrassing person in this entire event, in my opinion, was Rand Paul. So let's go to his clip. Get a load of this. Ayn Rand's Howard Rorick points out the ingratitude that man has for the entrepreneur, the creator.

Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burnt at the stake he taught the others to light. But he left them a gift that had not been conceived and he lifted darkness from the face of the earth. Now, Starbucks didn't exactly discover fire. But Starbucks did somehow, somewhere discover in the depths of man's soul that he would pay. as much for a double mocha latte as he once did for a week's worth of coffee. Convincing the public to buy very expensive coffee is not the discovery of fire, but still it deserves respect. Instead, Congress convenes today not to praise Starbucks, but to bury them. The hearing

today is convened to attack a private company for its success. If the goal is to destroy the goose that laid the golden egg, then by all means this hearing is a good beginning. For me, I see the fabulous success of Starbucks, and I understand that luxury, the luxury to spend an extraordinary amount of money for a cup of coffee is a testament to capitalism. It's a testament to the fact that we have enough money that we can do that. Imagine sitting there and saying with a straight face, Starbucks is actually a hero. What a hero corporation for fleecing the American people for their crappy specialty coffee drinks. Shouldn't we celebrate that?

Shouldn't we celebrate that they're willing, that they somehow convince... One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging. It's often your hormones, too. When they fall out of balance,

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These are the companies we should uplift. Who cares about the workers? Who cares about the workers? And by the way, if that's genuinely his take, if his take is, no, Starbucks is awesome. I mean, yeah, they didn't create fire, but close. I mean, they are. so persuasive in getting people to buy their crappy coffee that like we should celebrate them. Okay, great. Who makes the coffee? Who makes the specialty drinks? What generates the revenue at Starbucks? Is it Howard Schultz? Or is it the workers who actually make the coffee drinks, the tea drinks, all of the products that they sell in their stores? Who does that? It's the workers. And that gets left out of the equation in every argument I hear from the anti-labor, anti-union Republicans.

And what I loved about the entire hearing is every time a Republican had their turn to speak and ask questions, like we, you know, we told, I believe in people's right to organize. I mean, if workers want to organize, I have no problem with that. I have no problem with that. But also, I'm going to provide cover for Starbucks as it is busting unions and firing workers. if they get any inkling that those workers are trying to organize their workplace. I mean, it's just so, it's so pathetic. And quoting Ayn Rand, I mean, they're caricatures.

These are caricatures of Republicans. I mean, they really do fit the stereotypes. It's incredible stuff. But finally, I want to go to Senator Tina Smith because she had an exchange with Schultz that really stood out to me. Because billionaires love being billionaires, but they don't like. it when people call them out on being billionaires. And Tina Smith had mentioned Howard Schultz's fabulous wealth. He got a little testy about it. Let's watch.

I thought my entire life was based on the achievement of the American dream. Yes, I have billions of dollars. I earned it. No one gave it to me. You earned it how, Howard you earned it how and that's really the mentality that's so incredibly frustrating because in their minds they're successful and they're fabulously wealthy because they earned it it's their hard work that made that happen but i don't think i'm saying anything controversial when i point to the fact that he would have nothing if it weren't for the workers in all these stores all across the country all across the world, by the way, who do the hard work, who deal with the customers, who deal with the, I don't like this, you didn't make it right, make it again,

all of the trials and tribulations that come along with being a barista, which I also personally experienced, not at Starbucks, but at coffee, bean, and tea leaf. It is an incredibly difficult job. It is a job that deserves respect, a job that deserves a livable wage, good, benefits, and more importantly, it's the kind of work that honestly deserves respect from management and from the executives. Because for all the bragging that Howard Schultz wants to do about his hard work and how he earned it, he wouldn't have a damn thing if it weren't for the workers. And if they want to organize, if they want to seat at the table, if they want to have any ability to negotiate their working conditions and their wages,

they should have that right. And that's what Bernie Sanders is trying to protect. That's what Bernie Sanders is trying to hold Howard Schultz and the executives at Starbucks accountable for because of their union busting tactics ever since these stores started to organize. Finally, I'm going to read one more graphic. Interrupted by Sanders telling him his time had run out, Schultz managed to add, it's your moniker constantly, it's unfair, meaning being referred to as a billionaire. Stop calling me a billionaire. It's unfair. Why is it unfair? I thought you earned it. I thought

you're proud of it. The thing is, citing his insane wealth is a reminder of the inequality that American workers are dealing with today. Because when you see these workers lose their livelihoods over wanting to organize their workplace, and then you see the compensation for the executives at Starbucks, you'll understand why it's important to organize your workplace, why it's important to have a seat at the table, and why this inequality is crushing the vast majority of Americans across the country. If it weren't for Bernie Sanders, we'd never hear about these issues in Congress. So thank you to Senator Sanders for holding this hearing. I hope he does a lot more. We got to take a break. When we come back, I'm going to do my best to not talk too much

spend too much time on one story. We'll talk about Blackstone, the nation's largest slum lords when we return. in our super chat section. It has to do with the story we just covered about the Starbucks, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz testifying in a Senate hearing today. Worked for Starbucks for over five years. They have better pay and benefits than similar companies, a low bar to clear. But that doesn't excuse the terrible working conditions, which get worse every year.

You're absolutely right about that. So when Howard Schultz was testifying about, oh, we actually have higher pay than most companies and we have these great benefits, he wasn't lying about that. That's true. But you can't protect that pay or those benefits unless you have a seat at the table. Because in coming years, what's going to stop executives from making a decision that they need to cut some of these benefits in order to provide a higher return on investment to their shareholders? So that's why unionizing is important in the context, especially in the context of these major corporations because remember like the investors are going to look for

higher returns year after year. And the biggest cost for these companies is labor. So that is the first place they go when it comes to making cuts. But thank you for that perspective because I think it's important to bring that up. All right. For now though, let's go to one of my favorite stories. How much I hate Blackstone. to the rental business. Reuters reported, the picture that emerges is one of leaky pipes, vermin, toxic mode, non-functioning appliances, and months-long ways for repairs. Private equity firm Blackstone Group is now the country's number one landlord,

meaning they own more rental properties than any other institutional investor or mom-and-pop landlord in the country. In fact, if you think mom and pop landlords would even have a shot at beating Blackstone Group, you would be mistaken because Blackstone Group has acquired quite a bit of real estate, both single family homes and apartment buildings. And their whole play here is to focus their energy on low income neighborhoods and moderately priced real estate, essentially take these single family homes and these rental units, maybe do some renovations, shoddy renovations to be sure, and then jack up rent and evict people, by the way, with no problem at all if they're unwilling

or unable to pay the insanely high rental prices or pay some of the needless fees that are associated with corporate landlords like Blackstone. Now recently there was a report done on how Blackstone and its real estate ventures have impacted San Diego specifically. And the report was done by two organizations, the private equity stakeholder project and the alliance of Californians for community empowerment. And the report is damning. And it's not just about San Diego. The report might just be about San Diego, but this is a practice by Blackstone across the country and it could very likely be impacting you. So the report highlights San Diego County where private equity firm Blackstone purchased 5,600 naturally occurring affordable housing

units in 2021 and how as units become vacant, the company has raised rents in some units between 43 to 64% in just two years. Let that sink in. Let that sink in. Who can afford rent that increases that much, especially in the midst of a pandemic, at a time when the economy, yes, I know, I've heard all the lies from the Biden administration, they've created so many jobs, yada, yada, yada, yeah. The economy is garbage for the vast majority of Americans. Inflation has crushed them. And to add insult to injury, you got Blackstone Group coming into communities, buying up all this real estate and jacking up rent. So, Blackstone is now the third largest landlord in San Diego.

At the Fashion Hills apartment complex, the average rent as of September of 2021 was $1,641 a month. Under California law, the maximum cap of 10% for an annual rate hike would mean an increase to an average of $1,805. Yet Blackstone is listing one bedroom units starting at $2,354 a month, which by the way, is 43% higher than the previous average, and two bedrooms starting at $2,690 a month, which is 64% higher than the previous average. I don't know how and why they're able to get away with that, considering California has some pretty strict laws pertaining to, you know, tenants' rights and tenants' protections. I mean, I just, I don't understand why Blackstone is able to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, with absolutely no consequences, with complete impunity. But the story gets worse. Blackstone, in addition to jacking up rents, also charging.

ridiculous fees, unnecessary fees. And it does impact communities and families who just can't afford the jacked-up rent and the fees on top of it. Here's the story impacting one family in Los Angeles, California. Blackstone tenants also face predatory fees. According to a recent lawsuit, an elderly Los Angeles woman who had fully paid her rent was threatened with eviction because she had $40 in unpaid fees. What a great country we live in, right?

Threatening to evict an elderly woman because of her inability to pay a $40 fee, they don't care. They'll evict an elderly woman over $40. Even though we're talking about, I mean, a company that manages over $900 billion in assets, it's never enough. The greed is unbelievable. And they don't hesitate to evict people. For instance, Blackstone filed over 350 evictions in Florida between August and November of 2022. And there may be way more evictions coming up as Blackstone may impose larger rate hikes or rent hikes. So in December of 2022, for instance, the head of

America's real estate for Blackstone estimated that the private equity firm can increase rents 20% higher than the company was charging, apparently it's not enough. Go higher. Charge 20% more than what you've already jacked up the rents to. It's unbelievable, but except it's not unbelievable. It's absolutely believable. And look, the one thing I want everyone to keep in mind is that while we absolutely need to build more housing, what's to stop Blackstone or some other private equity firm from jumping in and immediately snatching up those new homes that are built in order to alleviate the housing crisis. There needs to be a legislative effort to stop this from happening. I mean, you're going to have a lot more luck in my opinion if you try

to get legislation passed on a state level. So do it. Organize in your state and try to get something done legislatively. The Biden administration, this isn't even on his radar. Congress isn't thinking about this, besides which we can't even get Congress to pass common sense gun legislation after children are slaughtered in mass shootings. You think they're going to do a damn thing about Blackstone group and private equity firms? Now, Blackstone also lobbies to prevent policies that would protect and create affordable housing. So Blackstone spent millions of dollars Fighting against rent control in California, Blackstone, in fact, gave over $7 million in 2018 and more than $7 million in 2020 to oppose statewide ballot initiatives that would have limited rent increases. The private equity firm specifically focuses on snatching up properties in minority communities, which shouldn't be surprising, where tenants are more vulnerable economically.

A review of almost 400 properties owned by Blackstone found the 240 of them. were in neighborhoods where people of color make up more than half of the residents, including almost 100 properties where people of color account for 80% or more of the area's residents. The average Blackstone-owned property is in a neighborhood where people of color make up 58% of residents. And I should note, I said it once, I'm going to say it again. We're talking about a company, a private equity firm, I should say, that manages 975,000. billion dollars in assets. And despite the economic fallout of the pandemic, Blackstone founder and CEO, Stephen Schwartzman,

who by the way is a good friend of Joe Biden, received $1.3 billion in compensation in 2022, a 15% increase from the $1.1 billion he received in 2021. Schwartzman is also one of the wealthiest people in the world with a net worth of 30,000. billion dollars as of February 2023. They're real quick to evict an elderly woman from her home over $40, knowing full well that they're raking in, the executive, the head, the CEO is raking in. I mean, you really need a billion dollars in your annual salary on top of your already fabulous $30 billion wealth.

But make sure you evict that. poor elderly woman from her home because of her inability to pay a $40 fee. We have no one actually protecting ordinary Americans. And that's the problem here. When you have a capitalist system, which has one goal and one goal only, maximize profits, you need to have a robust government effort to protect consumers, to protect workers, to protect the American people. We have no watchdogs.

There is no cop on the beat. And in the meantime, what was left of the American dream is being gobbled up by private equity firms who just can't get enough money, enough resources, you can't get richer. It's never enough for them. This is how the system's working out because we have no one looking out for us. That's the reality of the situation. And as I said, it's not just San Diego. This is happening all across the country.

not a single piece of legislation proposed, at least that I know of, to mitigate this. It's just going to keep happening. We got to take a break when we come back. John Ida Rola will join me where I hope that we will be more productive and we'll cover more than three stories. Okay, we'll see you in a few. Thanks for listening to the full episode of the Young Turks, support our work, listen to ad-free, access members-only bonus content, and more by subscribing to Apple Podcasts at apple.com at apple.com slash t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.