The Young Turks - TYT Extended Clip - April 16th, 2020

Episode Date: April 17, 2020

22 million Americans are now unemployed. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks. 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. 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, everything feels off. But here's the good news. This doesn't have to be the story of your next chapter. hormone harmony by Happy Mammoth is an herbal formula made with science-backed ingredients designed to fine-tune your hormones by balancing estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and even stress hormones like cortisol. It helps with common issues such as hot flashes, poor sleep, low energy, bloating, and more. With over 40,000 reviews and a bottle sold every 24 seconds, the results speak for themselves.

A survey found 86% of women lost weight, 77% saw an improved mood, and 100% felt like themselves again. Start your next chapter feeling balanced and in control. For a limited time, get 15% off your entire first order at happy mammoth.com with code next chapter at checkout. Visit happy mammoth.com today and get your old self back naturally. All right on the end of All right, back at the end, Charks, Jake Eugher Addick is buried with you guys. so we've got a big show for you guys I got weird energy going on I'm in a weird mood

I need you to keep calm can again when we go to one shot we got another new shirt today I know you guys are all wondering about it so it combines keep calm and don't forget to wash your hands okay but keep calm with kind of a

fight club soap can you keep calm and be fight club at the same time only one way to find out shop t-y-y-t.com okay so that's happening the vanga bus is coming just so you guys know uh and uh and we're gonna reopen the country okay it's about time we're gonna get out there some people got to die but you know what we're gonna reopen the country uh so we got a lot of news about that coming up in one second actually big plan big bigly plan uh and and and in michigan they've lost their minds of course. The only thing about that is a Florida's piss. Like, Michigan's out-crazing us.

It's not going to stand. Anyways, thermometer, T-Y-T, keep hoping TYT alive. Through these tough times, we absolutely need it. The small business administration just ran out of money. Anyway, t-y-t.com slash go. T-y-t.com slash go, even though I'm in a giddy weird mood, we really need it. Okay. If we get to 143, another 50,000 kicks in. So it's matching grants right now. You give a dollar wrong. It's $2.00. You give $100 wrong and $200.t.com slash go right now. Casper, go ahead, open up the country. All right. Well, we have a late breaking story that I wanted to share with you all. So it turns out, turns out that Donald Trump has released his guidelines or his plan to reopen the country.

And honestly, much to my surprise, the adults seem to still be in the room. He is not exercising total authority in pressuring or forcing governors to open their states prematurely. In fact, this is a pretty reasonable guideline that he's put out. The guidelines actually suggest that reopening the states would require the states to see a sustained decrease in the number of coronavirus cases. So not only do you have to prove that the curve is flattened, you have to prove that it's been flattened for about 14 days. That suggestion is in line, luckily, with recommendations of public health experts. So there's no uniform policy here. The guidelines

are for all the states, of course, but every state is in a different position right now. So Trump is allowing the governors to decide whether or not it makes sense for them to open up their states. I still do worry about the red states in this regard, but there are also three different phases outlined by the Trump administration, which I want to share with you in some greater detail. But, Jank, first jump in, tell me what you think. Yeah. So look, it just came out. So I'm sure there'll be more details as we go forward. But for the moment being, I share your sentiment. The timeline is not as rushed as it could have been, and there's actually one other benefit to this, which is that as the right wing starts to get fidgety, and we'll show you that

later in the show, if you miss any part of the show, members get all of it anytime they want t.yt.com slash join. In Michigan, they're losing their minds, right? So what this does is it's kind of a release valve. So, hey, guys, don't worry. We are going to reopen the country. and we're going to do it in this way, and, you know, hopefully, it's always the devil's in the details, but so far the details seem okay. It's certainly smart to do it based on the number of cases and see if they're declining. One other thing that has to be noted is this has to be accompanied by universal testing. We've got to be able to test and isolate people. And I like the three phases that Anna's about to explain it as well. Are we not the fairest show in America?

Okay. If Trump comes up with a good plan, we'd love to give him credit for it. So so far, this one looks pretty good. Again, we'll find out more details as we go along. But let's share the three phases. Right. So in regard to testing, he seems to finally understand the importance of testing in general, right? Because he was really downplaying the significance of widespread testing when it comes to the decision to reopen the economy. And so he had a meeting with business leaders yesterday. And again, I mean, there are so many surprises in this story because I was shocked to find that during that hour long meeting with business leaders, they urged him to avoid pressuring

governors to reopen their local economies unless there was testing available. And so in making an announcement about his guidelines, Trump said, testing is very interesting. Okay. And then he says, there are some states where I think you can do with a lot less testing than other people are suggesting. Some are big believers in testing. Some believe a little less. But the important thing is once the business leaders made clear to him that they want testing available, Trump finally seemed to understand the importance of that. And that's baked into the guidelines here, which is important. So phase one is very similar to what many States are already doing, but it loosens the restrictions just a little bit. So, for instance,

it calls on employers to telework if they have the capacity to do so. I think this is assuming that people who can't telework or can telework aren't already doing so. But he urges in phase one, if you can do so, you should. Also, vulnerable people should shelter in place. And in order to even make it to this phase one, the state needs to show that they've flattened the curve and the number of coronavirus cases have decreased within 14 days. And so that's important. And it's again, very similar to what we're experiencing now. Now phase two is where non-essential travel would open up for employers.

So business-related travel would be much more accessible. In phase two, we would also see schools begin to reopen, bars and restaurants would begin to reopen, but with social distancing baked into their plans. Churches can reopen, but again, with social distancing, and elective surgeries can resume. Now there are some numbers that governors should look at, of course, including hospital capacity, the number of coronavirus cases in their state, and whether or not testing is widely available. available in their state in order to make it to phase two. And then finally, phase three is where things really start to loosen up.

That's where gyms would open, large venues for concerts would open with limited social distancing. Things wouldn't necessarily get back to normal. It's going to be a long time until we really experienced that or if we ever experienced that at all. But in phase three, there would still be some social distancing involved even in large venues. Okay. I want to make a couple things clear. So in phase three, even the vulnerable

individuals get to come out. So we're really back to normal at that point. Again, as normal as we can be. Gyms are allowed to be open even in phase one. So are movie theater, sports venues, but they have to practice social distancing. I don't know what that would entail. And I'd be, that's the part I'm most worried about. Phase one where we, you know, where some states might go into it too early, people might think, hey, movie theater's open. That means we all go packing movie theater. So it's not like we're out of the woods. And also at the same time, to be fair to this plan, it's not like he's being implemented tomorrow. So you still have to go through some steps here. When Trump says some people believe in testing and others don't, that's not a thing.

Every rational person believes in testing and thinks testing is super important. That's how South Korea got the virus under control as part of Germany's big plan. And all these have worked way better than what we've done here in America. The only person who does believe in testing is Donald Trump. I mean, who, I mean, just as a matter of logic, that makes no sense, let alone what every scientist is saying. But the biggest point here is, Jake, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Hold that thought because it's important to just mention one other thing about testing.

Trump also made it very clear that these states are on their own when it comes to acquiring testing and that the federal government will not be held responsible for insurance. that the states have testing, which is concerning because remember, the federal government under FEMA started basically getting involved in taking orders away from various hospitals throughout the states. Trump would then make decisions about who would get various medical supplies. And oftentimes he would grant medical supplies to politically vulnerable Republicans seeking reelection. So on one hand, he says states are responsible for getting the testing they need, but we know from history, like recent history, that he just jumps in and stop

certain orders from even getting to certain states with FEMA basically, you know, intervening. Yeah. So we did a story a little while back about a week ago where a state had ordered ventilators. FEMA came in and said, no, we're going to take him instead, and only gave 100 to Colorado and said, oh, it was because you're great Republican Senator Cory Gardner got You 100 ventilators. So these are horrible, horrible political tricks to do in the middle of the pandemic. The fact that he's saying, ah, man, the federal government ain't gotten on to do with testing is a terrible idea.

So look, we're being fair. The reopening plan sounds okay for now. And so we got no, if you got a good plan, fantastic, I'm happy about it. But saying that the federal government doesn't care if you get testing right or not, that's up to your state is not a good idea. I mean, what if you have a stupid governor, i.e. a Republican, and you're in Alabama or Wyoming, and they're like, forget it. We're not going to do it. Okay. So what? But people in Alabama travel. It's not like we have walls on all of our states. Maybe we need a big, beautiful

wall to wall to wall up the red states. So anyway, that's definitely the wrong way to go. So now back to the point I was going to make about the business leaders, there's one big difference between Trump and the business leaders. For those giant multinational corporations and the giant banks and financial institutions that give money to politicians, not all of them don't give corporate donations, right, to politicians. But the ones that do, yeah, they get it. They're smart enough to understand. You buy off the government, you get anything you want. And you give them a couple of million dollars. They give you a couple of billion or a couple of trillion dollars. So they rob us for a living. But at least they're smart and competent.

So one of the things they know that Trump is too stupid to understand is, hey, if we rush people back to work and we rush to reopen the economy and then the virus rebounds, then we got to shut it down a second time. And that's what I've been saying now for about a month straight. And that doesn't help anybody. All that does is set all of the businesses further back. So that's why they go and talk to the man child and they go, now remember Donnie, we're the one giving you the campaign contributions. Donnie's like, oh, money, money. Okay, I'm paying attention.

And they're like, Donnie, this is the way that you do it. Don't rush. But at the same time, obviously, we have an incentive to reopen our businesses. And so if they're the adults in the room, even through their corruption, et cetera, it's still better than what Trump had planned originally. So for the moment being, I'll take it. So let's move on to some pretty disturbing news when it comes to our economy. And it really does highlight how broken our system is. More than 5 million additional people filed for first time unemployment last week, which brings the total jobless number to 22 million.

But the very companies that laid off their own employees and will receive trillions of dollars in bailouts are allowed to pay their investors dividends. So these are two different stories, but they're very much involved. because, or they're very much connected, because on one hand, you have 22 million Americans who not only lost their jobs, but in many cases lost their health care coverage, which was given to them by their employer. And then at the same time, those same employers could then turn around and take the bailout money that the stimulus package granted them to buy shares of their own stocks or, in this case, pay dividends to their investors. And I want to give you more details

on that. Zach Carter, by the way, at Huffington Post has been absolutely killing it with these reports. I want to give him a shout out. Yeah, so Zach's a great, great reporter. So look, I want to be clear about a couple things here. First of all, on the unemployment numbers, you could actually take unemployment now because of the new laws, even if you're a contractor or a part-time employee. So it might not be quite as dire as those numbers indicate, but even if it's not quite as dire. It's still really, really dire. And so, and the same part of it that some reports mention but most don't is every time somebody's laid off, they also lose their insurance. So, yeah, employees do, a lot of employees, not all, offer COBRA while you're laid off, but that is

very expensive. So now we're going to get to a story about that a little bit later. But These unemployment numbers are disastrous. I am a nuanced take on Zach's story about the dividends as well, but why don't you explain further ahead? Yeah, sure. So before we get to the dividends, I do want to just show you a little bit of, you know, the failing leadership that we're dealing with here. So Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was asked about the state of the economy back in March.

Not too long ago, March 18th, but it does feel like a million years ago right now, because considering the social distancing that everyone's experiencing. So here he is talking about the state of the economy. This is on March 18th. He used a number, and it's been quoted, maybe 20% people laid off. Well, that's FDR. That's the Great Depression, not the Great Recession. When you say that, of course, it trembles and fight through so many hardworking Americans.

Is there a way to cut that down? Jim, I want to be very clear because I've seen that number in the press, okay? and I didn't in any way say, I think we're going to have that. And let me be clear. If we follow the president's plan, we will not have it. What I said was just a mathematical statement, which is 40% of the people that are employed in the private workforce are employed by companies, 500 people and less. It was just a mathematical statement to say, if half these people were to lose their jobs, this is what it would be.

But we're not going to let that happen. The president has said, we're going to make sure that companies have money, so that they continue to pay those employees. That did not age well. So 22 million people have filed for unemployment, but there's a huge caveat to that number. You need to consider how difficult it is for people to file unemployment in their own states right now.

The systems are overburdened. They weren't prepared for the huge influx of people trying to sign up for unemployment insurance. And so the number is likely higher than the 22 million that I mentioned. And the statement that he just made about how Trump has a plan in place and they're not going to allow these businesses to suffer. Jank, you're a small business owner.

Why don't you jump in and tell us what the reality is? Yeah, the CARES Act provided money for small business owners. They ran out of money today. And a huge percentage of small businesses did not get the money. So you just said, oh, sorry, we ran out. Congress might or might not pass a new law. Did they run out of money for big businesses? Hell no.

Big business always has enough money, and they could fire their employees and give their money to the shareholders, where small businesses must keep their employees, which is a good thing you should apply to big business as well. But even if you did, they're like, psych, we're just kidding, we ran out of money. So they let all of that happen, and then the small business owners that do employ so many people as Benuchin, that's the one correct thing that he said, now have to let more people go. So it's disaster on top of disaster. If they really don't replenish that stock after they made the promises to small business owners, there'll be way more people laid off next week. Yeah, exactly.

And just to give you the numbers, there was $350 billion set aside to help small businesses In order for small businesses to qualify for that money as a grant, as opposed to a loan, they had to avoid firing or laying off a single employee. Many businesses followed suit, hoping that they would qualify for that money. But as you mentioned, Jank, that money has already run out. When it comes to massive corporations, companies that employ more than 500 employees, there is literally trillions of dollars set aside to bail these people out. And what can these companies do with that money?

they can pay dividends to their shareholders, even as they are laying off their employees. So Zach Carter at Huffington Post reports, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continues to let the biggest banks in the country cut checks to their shareholders, aka rich people, in the parlance of our times, as a matter of routine, almost half of all dividend income flows to the top 1% of income earning households, while less than 8% of households in the bottom 60% earn any dividend income at all. Also, it's important to note that there was very little fight in Congress in order to prevent this from happening, right?

So Congress could have written this legislation in such a way where bailed out companies would not be allowed to pay dividends to their investors. But no one fought this, including some of the progressives we love. Oftentimes people think that were nothing more than hacks for people like Bernie Sanders. That's not the case here. Not only did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi go along with this nonsense, but populists like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders certainly didn't fight it either. Also, the restrictions on dividend payouts to shareholders, even for companies that receive a bailout from the coronavirus bill,

only apply to airlines and national security critical businesses. A lot of firms are about to lay off a bunch of workers to cut costs while sending checks to their shareholders. Congress and the Trump administration are letting it happen. All right, quick comment about the Democrats. Then when we do criticize Bernie Sanders or AEOC, people are like, how dare you? Well, which one is it? So in this case- We're going to be honest.

We're going to be honest. So go ahead and get mad about it. Yeah. So in this case, AOC actually gave a great fiery speech before the vote. Now, the problem is with all of the progressives. They have the right ideas. And AOC, Bernie Sanders, Jayapal, wonderful job in putting those ideas for putting the legislation forward.

But when Pelosi says, no, everybody falls in the line. And the thing they'll never tell you, and I'll tell you, is Pelosi is corrupt. Pelosi and the Democratic leadership and Schumer and all those people, they take giant donations from those giant banks that Zach Carter's writing about. Does that influence them? 100% it influences them, completely and utterly. Okay, so we got more on that later in the show. You miss any part of the show, become a member, get it all.

TYT.com slash join, okay? 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, everything feels off. But here's the good news. This doesn't have to be the story of your next chapter.

hormone harmony by Happy Mammoth is an herbal formula made with science-backed ingredients designed to fine-tune your hormones by balancing estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, and even stress hormones like cortisol. It helps with common issues such as hot flashes, poor sleep, low energy, bloating, and more. With over 40,000 reviews and a bottle sold every 24 seconds, the results speak for themselves. A survey found 86% of women lost weight, 77% saw an improved mood, and 100% felt like themselves again. Start your next chapter feeling balanced and in control. For a limited time, get 15% off your entire first order at happy mammoth.com with code next chapter at checkout.

Visit happy mammoth.com today and get your old self back naturally. Now, one more thing about Zach's piece. Look, guys, if a company doesn't take any bailout money at all or the money is not flowing through them. So let's say a company like Zoom that's doing well, that's doing better in this, in this, circumstance because more people are using it. And they didn't take any bailout money. And they want to give dividends. Well, how about it, Haas? There's no problem with that. And Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, said, hey, look, this is capitalism. But wait a minute. Yeah, that's capitalism. But if someone is giving out dividends and they did

take bailout money, that's not capitalism. That's socialism. You took taxpayer money and you gave it to those corporations. Then you don't get to say, hey, capitalism, baby. They gave it away all to the rich. No, no, no, no, no, that's our money, okay? Now, in the case of the banks, specifically here, the money flows through them. So it's a little bit more complicated. But the Federal Reserve offers up a giant amount of money to the banks. The idea that the banks are out of the goodness of their heart going to have more easily available credit is preposterous. That doesn't happen. But the banks do facilitate loans. And so they They have giant advantages that arise out of the bailout money.

So should they be restricted in giving out dividends since the taxpayers are funding a huge part of that? I think the answer is yes. But obviously the politicians who take money from those same banks say no. And how about the Federal Reserve? If you miss my interview with Nomi Prince, you should check it out on the conversation. You get that on YouTube or t.com. But if you don't know, the Federal Reserve is just the big banks.

The New York Federal Reserve, for example, their board is made up of the big giant banks. So the head of the banks says the banks should be able to pay dividends to their shareholders. Of course! Of course he does. Jerome Powell's not some disinterested referee. He's basically the servant of the banks. So Dave decided, yes, we will print more money and give it to ourselves and put no restrictions on it.

Yeah. It's absolute madness. Anyway, we have more on Nancy Pelosi when we come back from the the break. She has, I guess, unwittingly placed herself in the position of ice cream queen when she should be showing actual leadership in protecting the working class right now. That's not what we're seeing. I'll give you the details on more when we come back. We need to talk about a relatively new show called Un-F-The Republic or UNFTR. As a young Turks fan, you already know that the government, the media, and corporations are constantly peddling lies

that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. But now there's a podcast dedicated to unraveling those lies, debunking the conventional wisdom. In each episode of Un-B-The-Republic or UNFTR, the host delves into a different historical episode or topic that's generally misunderstood or purposely obfuscated by the so-called powers that be, featuring in-depth research, razor-sharp commentary,

and just the right amount of vulgarity, the UNFTR podcast takes a sledgehammer to what you thought you knew about some of the nation's most sacred historical cows. But don't just take my word for it. The New York Times described UNFTR as consistently compelling and educational, aiming to challenge conventional wisdom and upend the historical narratives that were taught in school. For as the great philosopher Yoda once put it, You must not learn what you have learned.

And that's true whether you're in Jedi training or, you're uprooting and exposing all the propaganda and disinformation you've been fed over the course of your lifetime. So search for you and FDR in your podcast app today and get ready to get informed, angered, and entertained all at the same time. All right, back on a young church, Jake and Anna with you guys. Let me read some of your comments. First, Twitter, the math magician says Anna, Jacob Bernie. or AOC had tried to fight the passage of this bill, Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi would have called recess without passing the bill and blamed them when millions of families starve, so they had

them by the something, something, okay? And yeah, that's the tricks of the establishment. And then they say, oh, no, it was all their faults. If you don't give away trillions of dollars to my corporate friends, it's Bernie and AOC's fault. And you're right. I got to add one quick thing to it. So it's a little different in the Senate where they actually did have a normal vote on the legislation. In the House, they did the yay or nay thing, where they all either shout yay or shout nay. And AOC has been very vocal against the bailout. So I do give her some credit and her situation was different than what we saw in the Senate. But overall, look, I agree.

It's the same situation that we deal with when it comes to various legislation. There's usually some sort of poison pill or something in there that makes the legislation terrible. But then there's, you know, something in there where people desperately need the help. The unemployment insurance was good, but it's dwarfed by the money that's being spent on the bailout. Totally. All right. Tim Joyce says, hey, Trump is talking about reopening the Canadian border. As a Canadian, let me make it perfectly clear.

We don't want you here until America gets a proper health care system. You're an unacceptable risk. Hashtag, keep the border closed. Canada, this thing you're building a big wall, a big, beautiful wall. At least it's got a door on it. And we'll pay for it. And we're going to pay for it. That's right. That actually might happen. Anyway, on YouTube Super Chat, author Trina Spillman writes, and listen to Trump or TYT. TYT wins. Thanks for all you do.

Ghani 012 says, yay, Anna, twice in one day. That's true. Anna, was on damage report. And Garnett ZX says, I missed the studio settings. There are a way you guys can go back to the studio with some plastic screen between you guys or do you have to wait it out? A, no, there's no way we can go back. We are going to have to wait it out. B, a plastic screen between us. That might be a good idea no matter what. Okay?

That's mean. Yeah, like you would need, like I would need the screen. Anyway, Gabby, Marita in the member section says, does Steve Mnuchin want a revolution? Because this is how you get a revolution, or at the very least, riots. Let's hope not, but they are egging in that direction. Last one, Michiganer, UFCW member says, I'm so sorry for my state. This event will almost certainly be the vector by which the second wave tears through our state.

Hold. We're getting to that story in a second. Thank you for being members. TYT.com slash join or join button underneath the video if you're watching on YouTube. And of course, please keep our audience funding drive going at t.com slash go. All right, Anna, what's next? Well, while 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment thanks to the pandemic, it's likely that most of them have lost their health care.

And we've heard stories about the Trump administration spending tens of billions of dollars on funding health care directly to hospitals in order to ensure that COVID-19 treatments in some cases are taken care of. What is Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party proposing as a solution? Well, not so good, pretty disastrous. And at the same time, you end up seeing videos like what we're about to show you where Nancy Pelosi shows off the insane, wealthy situation she's dealing with while most people are suffering. This was an actual video made its rounds online.

Let's take a quick look. Speaker Pelosi, what have you found? What are you going to share with us from your home? Chocolate. Really? Chocolate. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, candy. Oh, wow.

And this is something you can get through the mail. Okay. Run out. Now show me. Yeah, absolutely. This is the episode of Cribs. I never knew I needed. Oh, my.

Wow. Other people in our family look for some other flavors, but chocolate and then we have some other chocolate here. She's so lovable because she likes chocolate and ice cream. Okay, look, I want to preface this by saying, I don't hate on people simply because they have means, right? You live a nice life, you worked hard for it. You have two sub-zero refrigerators where each one costs $12,000. Do you boo?

I'm not hating. However, if you are a lawmaker, if you are part of democratic leadership, at a time when tens of millions of Americans, at some point even more Americans, are going to absolutely suffer, not going to have the health insurance they need, not going to have the means necessary to pay their bills, put a roof over their heads, and stay safe. Putting out videos like that is just so unbelievably tone deaf. I can't, I can't even believe it. And she wears the sweater. And she wears the sweater. Well, Anna, she's about to go yawning, so of course you need the sweater. So- It's amazing. But Anna, to be fair to Nancy Pelosi here, It depends on which culture you're in.

If you're above 45 years old and you're in the TV culture, they like to have their leaders look fancy and speak down to them and, you know, and they need to look good. If they don't, they say, oh, I don't know, is that a respectable, incredible leader? Maybe not. If you're in the internet culture under the age of 45, you look at that and go, okay, you're going to rub it in now? I mean, that looks like the richest house I've ever seen in my life, and you're going to go on TV and tell us about what a great time you're having with, you know, I don't know if that's

a basement where she also buried single payer. I don't know if the posters are around the corner. But you know, you live this kind of lifestyle and you're going to rub it in our face. So it's totally different. For young people, that's our reaction. I say, oh, I'm above 45, but for older people, they like that. They're like, ooh, that is a respected leader about to go yachting in the middle of this catastrophe.

And look, she's so rich, I respect her more now. So this week, we shared a story with you guys from the American prospect, David Dayen doing the reporting showing that the measly $1,200 one-time stimulus check that Americans are getting this week can be immediately garnished by creditors and the banks if you have, let's say, overdraft fees or any type of debt that you owe to that bank. The congressional leadership did not write any protections in the stimulus legislation protecting that money. And then the Treasury Department also refused to do anything to protect that money.

So all these Americans who have lost their jobs, they've lost their health care, they can't get through their state's unemployment system in order to sign up for unemployment insurance. They're not getting any income coming in. They're reliant on that stimulus check. In many cases, if you have debt, creditors can garnish that check because Congress wrote the legislation in such a way that it does not offer protections for you and that money. Just one other thing to mention. And then when it comes to the healthcare question, what are Democrats proposing?

This story is unbelievable, but really not so much when you consider the private health care industry and the lobbying that they've been doing behind the scenes. So Donald Shaw over at Sledge reports that Democratic leadership in Congress, have embraced a measure in the next coronavirus package to expand subsidies for COBRA health insurance program, allowing people who lose their jobs to keep the same insurance plan that their employer had made available to them. Oh, that's interesting. Cobra's really, really expensive. So what are they offering here? Well, under the plan, which was viewed by Vox, the federal government would pay the most or the full cost of the premiums to private health

insurance companies to keep laid off people on their plans. It can be prohibitively expensive because laid off people are on the hook for part of the insurance premium as well as their employer's part, on average $7,200 for an individual and more than $20,000 for a family. So there's a catch. They don't actually cover the full premium. There are parts of the premium. There is a part of the premium and other parts of the health care coverage that the consumer

is still responsible for. So it offers a little bit of relief, but it's really not much when you consider how expensive COBRA really is. And it's not much help when you consider that these Americans are not getting any income coming in right now. This is a disaster. So this one is actually worse than it appears. So you think, well, if you're laid off and COBRA is really expensive and this legislation

is going to pick up the premium for you, that sounds pretty good, right? So now, let's talk about the catches and what the other options are. Number one, as Anna was alluding to, yeah, even if they cover the whole premium, they don't cover the deductible. It's the same plan you used to be on with your employer. So some folks have deductibles up to $5,000. That's why they're not going to go get tested or treated or they're going to be reluctant to do those things because they don't want to hit the deductible.

And so it doesn't really take care of the problem. Now, what's the alternative? The alternative is you could just say, hey, if they're laid off, they can go on Medicaid, and that way it'll be covered. But that would fix it much more holistically, and it would actually be cheaper because you cut out the middleman of the insurance companies. But they're choosing not to do that. Now, Bernie Sanders and Primalogynapal have introduced legislation that would be even better.

Anyone, not just people who are laid up, anyone who gets sick and needs treatment for this disease during the coronavirus epidemic would get free treatment under Medicare. Now, there's a lot of logic to that. Number one, everybody gets peace of mind. Number two, again, you cut out the middleman and it's cheaper. And number three, this is like, this is a virus. So it's like a fire in a sense. That's why we've talked a lot on the show about how we used to have private fire insurance,

but it makes no sense because if your neighbor doesn't have insurance in his house on fire, The fire's going to spread to your house anyway. In a virus, same thing. You have a contagious situation, even if you don't cover the person who doesn't have insurance, that could then spread to you who does have insurance. So that is a perfect situation where the government can step in and should step in to control the virus. And Medicare is a perfect way to do it.

So obviously, it has 0% chance of passing. 0% chance. Yeah, well, I'll give you the numbers on why. You're going to mention the lobbyist, so go ahead. No, it's the health insurance companies and they, and this is very, very important because this is the top place where the mainstream media will gaslight you. Republicans bad, but oh, Democrats, don't criticize Democratic leadership. They're looking at for it.

They're the same as progressives. I don't know why you guys are complaining. No, they're not. They're corrupt. They take bribes from insurance companies. That is why they're doing the less efficient plan that funnels all the money to premiums that goes where? Not to you, but to insurance companies who are their donors. Now, Anna, give them the numbers. So first, some context. So less than a week before the Democrats floated

their plan to expand COBRA, the presidents and CEOs of Blue Cross Blue Shield and America's health insurance plans, which is the health insurance lobbying group, sent a list of policy proposals to Congress, including a recommendation that it provide full federal subsidization of COBRA premiums. Okay? Again, let's be specific. It'll cover the COBRA premiums, not the deductibles and other health related costs that come along with it.

And by the way, when it comes to how much the industry has spent, just know that so far in the 2019-2020 cycle, lobbyists who represent the health insurance industry have raised more than $736,000 for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, D-Triple-C. So when you're about to hit a million dollars in campaign contributions to this political apparatus that benefits the Democratic Party, do you think the Democratic Party has any interest in expanding government-controlled health insurance or health care? Of course not. Because big business, even in the middle of a pandemic, it's got to make its money.

I mean, no one can afford it. That's the thing that blows my mind. Even with the premiums taken care of, people can't afford those deductibles if they have no money coming in. This is not a solution. This is another mandated handout. Well, it's not mandated, but it's another handout to private industry. So that's just the D triple C.

That doesn't include the insurance money and the drug company money. That's a whole different batch that gets directed to the individual Congress people, to the The DNC, R&C, and the Senate and congressional campaigns of both parties. So they direct millions of dollars into these corrupt politicians' hands. And when it comes to the D-Tri-C money, a lot of the Democrats that take money from the D-Tri-C say, oh, I don't take any corporate money. The D-Truple-C does and then gives it to me. That's called money laundering, okay?

Now, of course, now it's all been legalized, bribery's been legalized, money laundering is being legalized. As long as it's going to politicians, of course they're going to make it legal. And so these corporate Democrats are not your friends. The final part of this is just think about this, okay? So under this plan, this COBRA plan that the Democratic leadership's in favor of, if you get sick and have coronavirus, you might actually not be covered. So you might have a deductible, and so you might have to pay the whole thing.

Or you're not unemployed, and you have to pay the whole thing for treatment. especially if you have a deductible. But the money does go somewhere. It goes to premiums. But wait a minute, premiums aren't if you're sick. The premiums are just payments to insurance companies. So in essence, this is not saving you or your life. This is a giant bailout for insurance companies.

And that's how this game is played. When we come back from the break, we'll give you the details on what's been going on in Michigan with the protests. At TYT, we frequently talk about all the ways that big tech companies are taking control of our online lives, constantly monitoring us and storing our data. But that doesn't mean we have to let them. It's possible to stay anonymous online and hide your data from the prying eyes of big tech. And one of the best ways is with ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN hides your IP address, making your active ID more difficult to trace and sell the advertisers.

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And if you go to ExpressVPN.com slash TYT, you can get three extra months for free with this exclusive link just for TYT fans. That's EX, P-R-E-S-V-V-N. dot com slash t yt check it out today are back on a young turks jank and anna with you guys lots of comments here and first of all you're going to let 40 people have oxygen right now you know how you're going to do it aspiration dot com slash t yt once we're about a win win when you sign up are they aspiration and t yt together plant 10 trees one tree allows it produce enough oxygen

for four people to breathe it i'm not saying anything, I'm just saying, save the planet, aspiration.com slash TYT. All right, Amanda O on YouTube super chat says, I'm in a crazy mood today, too, Jake. Here is some of my stimulus because TYT is my light in the darkness. Thank you, Amanda. Love you for that. Thank you for using YouTube super chat. And let's go to TYT.com slash go, see where we are.

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A lot of people made similar comments here, but let me read 0-0-0-83 on YouTube super chat. Pelosi looks like Marie Antoinette, let them eat chocolate instead of cake. Unfortunate, but perhaps accurate description of what that segment looked like. And last one is imitation Asian on YouTube super chat. That says, I'm considered DOD critical infrastructure and it was still working.

I live with my cousin who works in the healthcare and was just confirmed with COVID-19. I'm now quarantined at home. I may have already spread it already because we need guns more than health. That is a sorry state of events and that's where our country is. Thank you for writing and telling us about that. And we all hope that you get better. Thank you. All right, Anna.

All right. Well, protests have been breaking out. in Michigan in response to Governor Greshon Whitmer's extended state-at-home order to slow the spread of coronavirus. Now, people are at their wits end at this point, even though there are certainly hot spots for COVID-19 in Michigan, people decided to not only participate in this protest, but in some cases do it in a way that puts themselves and others at risk. The protest dubbed Operation Gridlock was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a DeVos family-linked conservative group.

So there was one person, her name is Marion, she's the conservative coalition co-founder. She says citizens are frankly tired of being treated like babies. As adults, we now know what needs to be done to stay safe. So I want to just quickly go to this video that kind of shows what the scene looks like and explains what's going on in greater detail. Governor Gretchen Whitmer had an order in place early on, and then last Thursday she extended that order, but she doubled down on the things that you could and couldn't do. And that is really what has brought all of this on. Now, if you take a look behind me, Chuck, you can see traffic going blocks down the street. Now, yesterday, this street was empty because it's the street here, Congress Street, right in front of the Capitol in Lansing.

Legislature's not in. Everybody's home, but today it is jam-packed. Now, as you were talking about, When they did this rally, they were saying that they wanted people to stay in their cars. Social distance, honk your horn, bring your truck, but stay in the truck. Well, as you can see behind me here, that has not happened here. A lot of people decided to come on foot. Now, there are a number of differing groups that have decided to go along with this protest, and that's what we've discovered because the original group that wanted people to stay in their cars, for the most part, people did stay in their cars.

But in this particular instance, other groups joined. in as well. And real quick, Brett, I want to go to the very last graphic because this protest was dangerous in that, in some cases, it blocked entrances to a hospital. So one person posted a picture saying that the Michigan Proud Boys organized a blockade of the intersection at a green light outside Sparrow Hospital. A doctor came out of the hospital to plead with them to let the ambulances through. It must be proud indeed.

So, look, I've said throughout here that we don't want anybody to get it, and it's not an aha thing. A lot of these pastors that came out and said, oh, my God, it's no big deal. Jesus is going to cure all this stuff, and I won't get it if I have Jesus with me. Some of them got it. Some of them died. We told you that. And those are all tragic, even though they're ridiculously wrong. You know, still they've got families and our heartbreaks for them, et cetera.

I say that all that is a prelude to, yeah, go ahead and hug each other, you know, these MAGA guys in Michigan who are all getting together. Look, I know you're going to, there's no winning here. They're going to spread it. And I know they got non-Maga family members and friends. But I mean, they're trying our patience. So they get out there with their stupid Confederate flags, bunch of traitors. Idiots go out there and then they come right up to the reporter. They go next to each other. They're not social distancing. at all. All right, go, go get together and make out. Okay, spread it anyway. You're like, just don't go anywhere near us. Okay? Yeah, there's this enormous divide in this country. There's nothing we can do

about it. 40% of their country has decided that they like being ignorant and they're super proud of it. That's why groups like that are called proud boys. Proud to be stupid. Proud to be ignorant. So, but there are neighbors. What can we do with them? But now they're going to The virus everywhere. So I think that there are like, I wouldn't even necessarily say two different groups. I think that within this group of protesters, there's certainly incredibly dumb behavior. But the people doing the dumb things, I think are co-opting a message that we should be a little more sensitive to because I think people are feeling it all over the country, not just

in Michigan. Look, Congress has failed to adequately address the material needs of working. class people, okay, average Americans. And so this shutdown has been okay and pleasant for, you know, the wealthy people for the Nancy Pelosi's of the world who can, you know, retreat to their sub-zero temperature, you know, refrigerator and eat all the ice cream they want. But if you're a working American, if you were already struggling to begin with before this pandemic even struck, The social distancing and the stay-at-home orders are absolutely crippling you and your family, right? And so I think that that's what we're seeing with these protests. Like, because people

have been told over and over again, the government is not going to help you. They're not out there trying to protect you. You need to fend for yourself. You need to pick yourself up by the bootstraps. But what happens when there are no boots and there are no straps, right? Like, what do you do? And so A lot of these people, yes, they just want to go shopping or whatever, dumb things like that. But a lot of them just want to get back to work because they want to feed their kids. And I think that's part of the discussion that's being left out. Well, you know, you're more merciful than I am. So yes, there's different groups.

The guys blocking the hospital are not the same as the guys in front of the state capital. The guys staying in their car are not the same as the ones that came out. But really, the ones staying in their car, what's your point? So, like, you're going to go and block traffic for what? So is Gretchen Wittmer's order perfect? No, I don't think so. So if I understand this, right, and it's reported by NBC News, it doesn't allow you to travel to your vacation home.

But it really, is that a thing? Is that like how many people are vacation homes and they're outraged that they can't travel to it? And besides which, nobody's going to arrest you, just drive your vacation home. Nobody cares. It's not a thing. It actually is a problem, because I had the same reaction to it. And then I wanted to kind of understand.

the reasoning behind it. And what's happening, let's say in New York, for instance, a bunch of people fled New York. They had coronavirus. And then they went to their vacation homes, to, you know, various, like, small towns to kind of get away from people. And then they ended up spreading the virus in those towns. So the travel is actually a significant issue, right? And so I think that's what informed her decision to do it. But yeah. I get it. Anna, at this, Same time, like, I'm giving that as an example of like a thing maybe you're frustrated about because it's taking away your freedom, right? But that's not even that, even if you're super angry about that, that's, you're going to go block

the streets about that. No, no, they just want the whole thing to be over. So I don't want them pretending that they're fighting over little nuances in the stay-at-home order. They don't want to stay-at-home order at all. So the fact that they stay in their cars is kind of ironic. In a sense, the guys who got out of the cars are more true to what the protest is about. If you want to stay at home order to end, why wouldn't you get out of your car? If it ends, everybody gets out of their car.

So to your point, though, there definitely are some unsavory people involved in all of this who have the wrong intentions. And we have one more video to show you that. So let's take a look. I can't go between those houses. You can't buy paint. You can't buy lawn fertilizer or grass. or whatever. Come on. All statewide, really? You know, it's time for our state to be opened up.

We're tired of not being able to buy the things that we need. Go to the hairdressers, get our hair done. So my wife was watching the longer version of that video yesterday. They go on and say things like, did you're going to wear a freedom, man, or freedom to get a virus? No, he didn't say the last part. But really, that is what it is in this case. Look, I'm lucky. I'm privileged here. And I'm gonna admit my privilege. My wife cut my hair and it was a fantastic haircut. And I look like a European soccer star and everyone knows it. But guys, that is not a reason to endanger your life and the life of others.

I get it, you're frustrated about staying at home. But we're not doing this for our health. The scientists all agree on it. And finally, much worse than that video was a person who was quoted, In the crowd. She said, no, I don't believe these so-called scientists. I hear you get herd immunity if you stick close together. Oh. I'm a strong believer in herd immunity. That's what she said. That's not a thing. That's the exact opposite of the truth. And so they start to believe these insane conspiracy theories. Why? Because the right wing media keeps pushing it out. And from time

to time, so does Trump. Stop believing in things that are not true. Science is real. Trump isn't? In the postgame show today, we're going to talk about how Geraldo Rivera is urging cable news networks to avoid fact-checking Trump. So we have that story, including Senator Kennedy, John Kennedy, saying some pretty terrible things about how we just need to open up the economy, my stock portfolio, guys, it's really suffering. Become a member. Go to t.t.com slash join.

And for everyone else, you should become a member. But other than that, have a great night. We'll see you soon. 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 t-y-t. I'm your host, Shank Huger, and I'll see you soon.