December 24, 2025 • 35 mins
1. Christmas and Its Religious Significance
- The discussion begins with warm holiday greetings and reflections on the meaning of Christmas.
- Emphasis is placed on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, highlighting its spiritual importance over commercial aspects like gifts and Santa Claus.
- Ben and the Senator share personal traditions, such as reading Luke Chapter 2 during Christmas dinner, and discuss cultural practices (e.g., Cuban Christmas Eve celebrations with roasted pig vs. vegetarian meals).
- There’s commentary on a resurgence of faith among younger generations, citing record-breaking Bible sales in 2025.
2. Economic Outlook and Media Bias
- The conversation shifts to positive economic news: U.S. GDP growth of 4.3% in Q3, the strongest in two years.
- They argue this growth contradicts negative media predictions and accuse mainstream outlets of political bias.
- Key points include:
- Strong consumer spending during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- Positive impacts of trade policy, tax cuts, and deregulation under President Trump.
- Criticism of media framing economic success negatively compared to previous administrations.
3. Welfare Fraud and Systemic Issues
- Historic fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid and welfare programs, estimated at $9 billion, and allegations that funds were diverted to terrorist organizations like Al Shabab.
- Predicting similar fraud in other Democratic-led states (California, New York, Illinois).
- Wall Street Journal op-ed by Phil Gramm and John Early is mentioned about structural flaws in the U.S. welfare system:
- Welfare spending has surged 765% over 50 years, now costing $1.4 trillion annually.
- Many benefits are not counted as income, creating misleading poverty statistics and perpetuating dependency.
- The argument advocates for welfare reform to encourage work and reduce generational poverty.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in his VERDICTUS Center, Ted Cruz, it is nice
to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Senator.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We've got a lot to talk about during this Christmas week,
and some of it is really good news. It deals
with the economy. That is something that has made a
lot of people excited about going into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Well, there's a lot good going on. But I want
to start by just saying, Merry Christmas. And I hope
that at Christmas time you're spending time with your family.
I hope you're taking time to hug your kids. I
hope you're taking time. I hope you're having some fabulous
meals where you're stuffed, you have some great presence, you
have some great love. But I also want to encourage
(00:37):
everyone remember what Christmas time is about. Christmas Time, Yes,
it's about family, Yes it's about coming together. But Christmas
is when we're celebrating the birth of Jesus, the birth
of our Savior, who came God incarnate, came to earth
to live as a man, to live without sin, and
then to die willingly, voluntarily, freely, to die for your sin.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And my sins.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I don't know about you, Ben, but Christmas is my
favorite time of year. I love Christmas. I love the music,
I love I love everything about it, and I love
celebrating the incredible mystery and marvel that God cared so
much about each of us that he was willing to
(01:22):
send his only son to die force.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah. Amen to that.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I think it's really been sad over the last several years,
how much people try to just get rid of the
meaning of Christmas. I also feel like we're seeing part
of that Bell curve come back around. I was really
encouraged Sunday at church to see so many people coming
not on Christmas service, but the week of Christmas, and
it was there just seems to be a new awakening.
(01:48):
I saw some really cool data the other day that
there are more people under the age of forty. We
had record breaking number of people that bought Bibles in
twenty twenty five. Some of that they actually think is
because Charlie Kirk's assassination and his bold faith. Uh and
and and evil. They're always is good that can come
out of evil. But to hear that we are are
(02:08):
having record sales and Bibles this year, that gave me
such encouragement. Especially you've got kids like I do. I
worry about the future of this country. It's why we
do this show. We fight for this country, we fight
for our rights, we fight for our religious freedom, and
to see that there is there seems to be this
real awakening among this younger generation that really inspires me
(02:29):
and and it makes me even more excited about Christmas.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, and listen, I will say there are a lot
of folks who listen to this show who are parents.
You may be a young parent, you may have young
kids at home. I'll tell you what my parents did
did every Christmas for me, and what I try to
do with our girls is when we sit down for
Christmas dinner, by the way, and a Cuban household typically
will we'll have a Cuban celebration on Christmas Eve, uh
(02:53):
and and then we tend to have an American Christmas
on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So I got to know, what is the difference, what's
the difference stween how rowdy is Christmas Eve?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Because that sounds like it's kind of fun.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah. So look, when I'm with the Cuban side of
my family, like the tradition is is that we'll roast
a whole pig and and and that's that's that's on Notcheguena.
That that that that's a great tradition. This year I
was with Heidie's side of the family, so we we
we had a Christmas Eve dinner. But but actually her
family are all vegetarians and and so what we do
instead is.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Bad for the whole pig.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That would be yea, yeah, the whole the whole pig
idea doesn't work, and and and and so instead instead
we have fondue, which is nice. We like we like
make up fondue on the on the stove, and and
and all of us like fondue, and and and dipping
it in and then and then we do on Christmas
Day typically either a turkey or a ham for the
carnivores there and and lots of lots of vegetarian options
(03:46):
for for Heidie's family. But but one thing that I've
tried to do every year is when we're sitting down
on Christmas Day, just just to read from Luke chapter two,
uh and and to read the story of Christmas. And
so so if you, if y'all indulge I want to.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Do that right now, well it go for it.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And it came to pass in those days that there
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed, And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and all went to
be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of
Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is
(04:24):
called Bethlehem, because it was of the house and lineage
of David to be taxed. With Mary, his espoused wife,
being great with child, and so it was that while
they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered, and she brought forth her first born son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in
(04:46):
a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round and about them,
and they were sore afraid, And the Angel said, unto them,
(05:07):
fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people, For unto
you is born this day in the city of David,
a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the Babe,
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly
(05:31):
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. And it
came to pass, as the angels were gone away from
them into the heaven, the shepherd said, one to another,
let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this
(05:53):
thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad
the saying which was told them concerning the child. And
all they that heard it wondered at those things which
(06:13):
were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all
these things and pondered them in her heart. And the
shepherd's return, glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told
unto them. And you know that's obviously the story of
the birth of Jesus. And every year we take our
(06:34):
kids to go to the Christmas Show and they do
all sorts of great great Christmas shows. This Christmas Show
this year that they emphasized shepherds, in particular shepherds out
caring for the sheep and talking about how the shepherds
would look for the unblemished sheep, for the pure, pure
(06:54):
baby sheep and set that sheep aside, and they would
wrap that baby sheep in swaddling clothes, and and that
was to signify that this sheep was being set aside
to be used as a sacrifice at the temple. And
swadling close everything about Jesus's birth from literally the moment
he was born, he was wrapped in the same rapping
(07:15):
that that that that that that a lamb would be
be wrapped in, or a sheep would be wrapped in
to show that that that that they were. He was
the lamb, he was the sacrifice. He was born to
be sacrificed for our sins, and and and and that's
such an important Christmas makes no sense without Easter. Christmas
in Easter are are our bookends of the life of Jesus.
(07:38):
And the life of Jesus is willingly coming to earth
as a man and then willingly giving his life even
though he had not sinned. He did not deserve death.
I deserve death. You deserve death. All of us are
are fallen creatures. And so that so the Christmas time,
I would just say to the parents, take some time
read that passage, read other passes, and just talk with
(08:01):
your kids about what it means, because it is at
the end of the day. It's not about a fat
man and a sleigh. It's not about presence. It's not
about all the food and the rest. Christmas time is
celebrating the birth of Jesus, and I just want to
tell everyone Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Aim into that. Merry Christmas. And I love that you
read that. And I would encourage others for people that
maybe miss it. What passage again was that, so they
make sure they've got it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That's Luke chapter two, and it's basically the first half
of chapter two tells. The version appears several times in
the Gospels, but I like Luke Chapter two to be
very concise.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Center there was a Christmas gift that was given to
all Americans.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It didn't matter if you're rich or poor.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
It didn't matter if you were black or white, or
Hispanic or anything else in between. We got some new
economic data and it was I tell you what, if
there's anybody that had coal in their stocking, it was
the media. There was an article that came out by
the New York Times predicting the complete opposite of what
GDP report showed. Of course, they're not going to retract it,
but they do look like idiots. And again you got
(09:03):
to ask yourself this question, are they really willing and
wanting to hurt Americans? They want Americans to suffered just
so Donald Trump looks bad because that's what their reporting
seems to look like.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, listen, the news that broke just this week is
the economy is booming. That the latest GDP numbers show
four point three percent GDP growth, which is terrific GDP growth.
And let me read from the Wall Street Journal, consumers
power strongest US economic growth in two years. A long
delayed government report shows third quarter GDP grew at an
(09:37):
annual four point three percent rate. Robust spending by US
consumers drove greater than expected economic expansion in the third quarter,
and the strongest growth rate in two years. Gross domestic product,
the value of all goods and services produced across the economy,
rose at a seasonally and inflationally adjusted four point three
(09:58):
percent annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department
said Tuesday. The report was delayed nearly two months by
the government shutdown, and looks back at the period before
the shutdown was in effect. It does, however, offer a
snapshot of an economy that has managed to keep humming
along for much of the year. Growth picked up from
(10:20):
three point eight percent in the previous corner and easily
beat the three point two percent forecast among economists polled
by The Wall Street Journal. It was, by the way,
it's over a point higher than expectations. That's a big deal,
As the journal said, it was the strongest expansion since
the third quarter of twenty twenty three. Rising consumer spending
(10:42):
was partly driven by healthcare, including outpatient services and at
hospitals and nursing homes. International travel, legal services, and spending
on products like personal computers and software also contributed. Artificial
intelligence related spending helped too, though the pace of growth
appeared to from the second quarter. Overall business investment grows
(11:03):
slow to two point eight percent in the third quarter
from seven point three percent in the prior three months.
This is great news. And listen, when GDP is booming,
what that means is it means there's more jobs, it
means there's more productivity. It means the stock market is
going up. It means people four oh one k's are
going up. It means wages are likely to rise. And
(11:26):
so GDP growth, it's not always immediate. Are there still
people struggling, Yes, But GDP growth is driven. And I'll
tell you one of the things we're seeing is the
Christmas spending numbers are very, very strong, and so that's
one of the signs of consumer confidence that you know,
if you're worried, if you're scared about not being able
to pay your rent or your mortgage, then you don't
(11:48):
necessarily go out and do some big shopping for Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
We see the record breaking numbers on Black Friday and
Cyber Monday. And that was as the Democrats were saying
that we were in a tail spin and this was
disaster of an economy and they were trying to say
Donald Trump is ruining your Christmas. I'm like, well, the
data says that people, as you just mentioned, they're going
out and spinning at record numbers on Black Friday in
Cyber Monday.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So that tells me that someone's lying.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's exactly right. And here I want to show you. You
talked about the press being dismayed, and I got to
say that the corporate media is utterly corrupt. They are dishonest.
I just want to read to you two tweets. The
first tweet is from October thirtieth, twenty twenty four. Now, now,
what was happening right after October thirtieth, twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Twenty four the election presidential There.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Was a presidential election, and who was president of October
twenty twenty four, at least nominally?
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, the auto pen But if you're what an actual
person with a heartbeat, we'll go with Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Okay, So here's what ABC News tweeted tweeted October thirtieth,
twenty twenty four, one week before the presidential election. Just in,
the US economy grew at a robust two point eight
percent annualized rate in the third quarter, slowing slightly from
the previous quarter but continuing to dispel any concern about
(13:08):
a possible shutdown. This report comes just ahead of the
presidential election. All right, so that was a year ago.
Now that was two point eight percent. What do you
think ABC News said about four point three percent?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Just?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
In the US economy expanded more than economists expected over
a recent three month period, recording robust growth despite concerns
about sluggish hiring and cash strap shoppers. Federal government data showed.
So two point eight percent is robust and fantastic, and yeay,
(13:44):
four point three percent, Well, we're really worried about sluggish
hiring and cash strap shoppers. And yeah, okay, I guess
it is like almost twice as high. But damn it,
we don't like those numbers. That is not news. And
I literally whoever wrote that tweet should be fired. Like
if ABC pretended to be a journalist, you'd say, okay,
(14:05):
go work for the DNC because you want to be
a partisan parrot. That's who they are and it's why
people don't trust the news. Now I want you to
listen to Kevin Hasset. Kevin Hasset is the head of
the National Economic Council in the White House. Listen to
Kevin talking about these recent GDP numbers.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
No, it's a fantastic report. Four point three percent. That's
just about as good as GDP numbers get, and especially
coming on the heels of the CPI report consumer Price
Index report we got, which you actually showed some interesting
data that consistent with this showed the quarter inflation is
all the way down to one point six percent. And
so I think that these numbers are showing the President
(14:45):
Trump's trade policy and his supply side policy, which is
really increasing a new factory production and so on, is
having a big, big effect, as is his trade policy.
So if we abstract from the reduction in the trade deficit,
then the four point three percent number would only be
two point six percent. So Trump's trade policy is really
working as well.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
You know, as they mentioned trade policy, because that was
one of the other big lies this year in twenty
twenty five, which is the shelves are gonna be empty
at Christmas. The toys you wanted for your kids were
going to be not on those shelves. You're not gonna
be able to afford basic things. Half of the store
is gonna be gone at Walmart and Target and Costco
and Sam's Club.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
None of that happened.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And they said there was gonna be massive spikes and
prices for everything that you couldn't afford. Again, that didn't
happen either. While we collected record number of tariffs and cash.
The presence trade deals seem to actually be working and
the leverage seems to be working, and they don't want
to admit that this has not been a disaster.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Well, Listen, there's still some volatility when it comes to
trade policy. And I know I'd been advocating that the
President uses trade policy as leverage to open up forward markets,
and he's been doing that that has been very, very successful.
This also underscores basic supply side principles. When you cut
taxes as we did, and when you repeal job killing
regulations as President Trump is doing, it results in more investments,
(16:07):
more jobs, and the economy is booming. This is basic
cause and effect.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Senator, There's another big story that I want to get to,
and that is the out of control fraud. We have
now got a number and it could go higher. At
least nine billion was looted from the Minnesota medicaid programs,
plus there was welfare fraud as well. In a bombshell
report coming from the Wall Street Journal, this does not
look good for the governor there and a lot of
(16:34):
mayors have now sent him a letter saying we are
in trouble and it's your fault.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Look, the level of fraud we're seeing welfare medicaid fraud
in Minnesota is staggering. It is an order of magnitude
greater than we've seen. And here are the basic facts.
Federal prosecutors alleged Thursday that Minnesota may have lost billions
of fraud in its medicaid program. The latest development in
(17:03):
an ongoing investigation, as much as half half fifty percent
of the roughly eighteen billion dollars Minnesota has spent since
twenty eighteen on fourteen medicaid programs, particularly vulnerable to abuse,
may have been siphoned off by fraudsters, according to Assistant
Ussistant Attorney Joe Thompson. Thompson made the remarks as prosecutors
(17:26):
announced additional charges in the ongoing investigation of the staggering
industrial scale fraud engulfing the state. Quote, the fraud is
not small, It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated.
What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of
(17:47):
at bad actors committing crimes It's a staggering, industrial scale fraud.
It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know
about our statel it half of medicaid for years. That's
in Minnesota. By the way, if you watch the corporate media,
(18:07):
you've seen very little about this. They don't want to
cover this at all because it is it is the
complicity of the Democrats in office. And understand, Minnesota is
a one party state. It is governed by Democrats. Democrats
are in charge. They looked the other way. Why did
they look the other way? Well, much of this fraud
was carried out by Somali's We covered the previous verdict
(18:28):
how the single largest contributor to Al Shabab. Al Shabab
is a radical Islamist terrorist organization in Somalia. The single
largest contributor to al Shabab are the Minnesota taxpayers. That's
the level of the theft that went on. And Democrats
elected Democrats in Minnesota. They happily looked the other way.
(18:51):
Why because they were buying votes. And you know what
if they actually watched the taxpayer dollars and didn't let
the criminals steal it, well, somebody might be upset if
they had even the tiniest modicum of scrutiny. It is shocking.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Well, and you know what you mentioned a moment ago,
and that is that the media has not been touching this. Luckily,
local media has CBS, for example, locally in Minnesota. They
did a report on this that was just kind of
throwing your hands up in the air, like this is
so egregious.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
We need you to know.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
The national media completely silent, no accountability for the governor.
There are those in leadership under him. I want to
play this for people. This is again the local CBS affiliate.
They're talking about the fraud crisis. Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Minnesota's fraud crisis is growing today. Prosecutors charge more people
for billing the state for social services they did not provide.
The federal prosecutor says it's possible half or more of
the eighteen billion dollars billed to fourteen programs since twenty
eighteen is fraudulent. We have team coverage started with Joana
Kaplan with more on what we've learned about these latest charges. Jonah,
(20:00):
we've gone from maybe a billion dollars to possibly nine
billion or more.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
Well, we've heard from the new US attorney Frank that
we're not even at the end of the beginning of
this investigation, and now we know why feeding our future
was just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
The fraud is not small, it isn't isolated. The magnitude
cannot be overstated.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Prosecutors on Thursday indicting six people, including one already charged
in another case. The five new defendants are all accused
of defrauding a state program meant to provide housing assistance
to the disabled and those dealing with addiction. Two people
charged aren't even from here. According to officials, Anthony Jefferson
and Lester Brown came from Philadelphia to Minnesota looking for
(20:43):
an opportunity to make money. They set up two fake
companies and collected three point five million dollars.
Speaker 8 (20:48):
This is an instance of what essentially fraud tourism. Mister
Jefferson and Brown were residents of Philadelphia. We had no
connection to Minnesota except for they heard that Many Soda
and its Housing Stabilization Services program was easy money.
Speaker 7 (21:04):
The state already cut off the housing stabilization program because
of suspected fraud, but it's one of fourteen social programs
now under federal investigation. Together, they build eighteen billion dollars
since twenty eighteen. We asked how much could have been fraud.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
You know, I don't make these generalizations in a hasty way,
So when I say a significant mount, I'm talking in
an order of half or more. But we'll see.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
One of the new indictments accuses of fraud serve of
exploiting a program to help children with autism. Court documents
say Abdi Najib Hasan yusef use some of the six
million bucks he stole to buy a freightliner semitruck. Governor Walls,
in a statement said he applauded the new indictments, saying, quote,
this is exactly the type of strong action we need
from prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are put behind bars. Frank,
(21:50):
this is not going away anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I love the end there, Frank, this is not going
away anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Well, if Democrats have their way and the governor this
will just be like a one time reporter.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Then we just move on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And hey, if it goes from nine billion to twelve
billion or fifteen billion, who knows where the number could end.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
And that was what they were referring to there at
CBS Local.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
They're like, hey, we went from one billion to nine billion,
and that may not be the final number.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Well, and Tim Waltz says he applauds the indictments. Well,
my question is where was Tim Waltz. Where was the governor?
He was like, where's Waldo? He was popping up everywhere
he could. He he was following Kamala Harris on the
campaign trail, but he was not actually doing his job
as governor. And listen, there is a political reason. And Ben,
I'm going to make a prediction right now.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I love it when you do this because usually you're right.
So pay attention to everyone.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
As horrific as this fraud is in Minnesota, and it
is staggering, it is historically bad. I'm going to make
a prediction that it is worse. That there is even
more fraud in New York, California, and Illinois.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So you don't believe this is an isolated innsign to there.
I follow my money, I do not.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I think in bright blue states where the Democrats control
all of the levers of government, all of the machinery,
I think the same incentives that cause the Democrat politicians
in Minnesota to try to buy votes by allowing people
to rob the taxpayers blind. I think those exact same
incentives are playing out in New York. I think those
(23:24):
exact same incentives are playing out in Illinois. And I
think those exact same incentives are playing out in California.
So I'm calling on the Trump administration to audit, audit
every state, but start with the big blue states, because
I think that is where you were most likely to
find find the fraud, where the pattern is the same.
And I got I gotta tell you, people like Gavin
(23:46):
Newsom are sweating right now. They don't want anyone looking
at the fraud in California because my the incentives are identical,
and I suspect you're going to see the very same
pattern playing out over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
You know you mentioned they don't want you looking. There
was a very interesting playbook. When Democrats get in trouble,
they usually just start playing the race card, throwing down
the race card. Tim Waltz had a press conference and
he was asked about the fraud in the small community,
the money going back to the terrorist organization Al Shabab,
and how much just total pure corruption there was, And
then he was asked about ice raids in Minnesota. He's
(24:26):
obviously against that. They are a welcoming state, as he
describes it, they're a sanctuary state. And what Tim Waltz
had to say back it really did kind of make
me laugh because it's so predictable, and yet it's the
classic playbook they've been using. You question them on anything
they get wrong, they're like, oh, well, your racist, a
big at, homophobes, xenophob The list goes on on, Well,
now it's white supremacy if you actually enforced the law
(24:49):
of the land with the legal immigrants in the state.
Here's how he put it, Tim Waltz in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
So this is what happens when your own federal government
wages war against you. What happens when they target communities
for their own benefit. This is what happens when they scapegoat,
And this is what say happens when they no longer
hide the idea of white supremacy. When you hear the
Vice President of the United States talk about now white
people won't have to apologize for being white. That's never
(25:15):
happened once in my whole damn life. And I think
everybody in this room knows what they're doing. So we're
here today to say enough of this. We're here today
to stand that Minnesota will protect their neighbors.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Minnesota will protect their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And this is what happened, rob blind, Yeah, and rob
them blind nine nine billion that we know of, right,
And he says, we're not gonna We're know we're gonna
allow them to hide the idea of white supremacy. When
you hear the Vice president, I mean, this is the
classic democratic playbook. Don't look at what I'm doing. I'm
gonna yell you're a racist.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Like he has literally overseen the biggest recorded fraud in
US government history. Not just a fraud on the taxpayers
that defrauded the taxpayers of Minnesota, that defrauded the taxpayer
of every state, federal taxpayers, uh, but also that saw
the federal tax dollars diverted to illegal immigrants to Somali's
(26:10):
who sent it to al Shabab, a radical Islamic terror organization.
So it's fraud funding Islamist terror. And and and what
is Tim Waltz's response to scream white supremacy, white supremacy?
At some point those talking points get a little tired,
and and and it's a clear and transport parent effort
(26:32):
just to avoid any accountability and and and and to
be avoid being held responsible for for what what he
allowed to happen.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
All right, Ceder, I want to move to another part
of this story, and it's bigger than Minnesota. We were
talking about the fraud there, but the Wall Street Journal
came out with a very interesting report and I think
it's worth as taking a moment to talk about it.
It's the biggest fraud in welfare and it just talks
about how much abuse there is in the welfare system.
It's costing hundreds of billions of dollars to American taxpayers.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Well, and in particular, what it talks about is is
bogus bookkeeping that covers it up. And this is an
op ed that was written by Phil Graham and John Earley.
Phil Graham was previously senator from the state of Texas.
He's an economist. Phil is a good friend of mine
and it's an important op ed that he wrote December
seventeenth in the Journal. It's entitled the Biggest Fraud and Welfare.
(27:24):
The government gives tens of thousands of dollars in benefits
to the poor, which it doesn't count as income, and
so this is in some ways an accounting story, and
please don't go to sleep right now, particularly if you're driving.
Don't go to it is an accounting story that matters.
So here's what Phil Graham wrote. Something is profoundly wrong
with the US welfare system, a problem that runs far
(27:46):
deeper and is more dangerous than the shocking fraud in
Minnesota that has been making headlines across the past half century.
America has seen what in any other country would be
considered a golden age in which lower income households have
made incredible progress. Despite the end of our post war
economic dominance around nineteen seventy five. The country's real per
(28:08):
capita gross domestic product grew by one hundred and forty
two percent from nineteen seventy four to twenty twenty four.
More than two thirds of US households have inflation adjusted
incomes today that would have put them in the top
one fifth of households in nineteen sixty seven. So used
(28:28):
to be the top one fifth of households in nineteen
sixty seven. Today, more than two thirds of US households
have inflation that would put them there. Sixty two percent
of all children who grew up in the poorest fifth
of all households in the seventies and eighties worked their
way up to a higher income bracket as adults, some
all the way up to the top quintile. Yet, even
(28:50):
as our economy has experienced broad based growth, real federal
welfare spending has soared by what do you think the
number is?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I guess seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Seven hundred and sixty five percent, more than twice as
fast as total federal spending, and now costs one point
four trillion dollars annually.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Incredible.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
We're that were that money simply to be doled out
evenly to the nineteen point eight million families the government
defines as poor each household. How much you think each
household would receive a year if you just took all
the welfare payments and sent a check to each household directly.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm going to guess in the thousands.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
More than seventy thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
For Tell me about I mean that? I mean that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Tell me that's not a perfect example of government waste
when you could just send direct checks of seventy grand
a year to people.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
The source of this dramatic mismatch is a fraud built
into how various programs determine welfare eligibility. The government doesn't
count any refundable tax credits or benefits that aren't paid
in cash as income to the recipients. Some claim this
is appropriate because the beneficiaries aren't free to spend non
cash benefits on whatever they like, but that is a
(30:13):
specious argument, because money is fungible. Receiving Medicaid, for example,
frees up cash that would otherwise be spent on healthcare,
allowing the recipients to spend the newly freed cash on
other things. Non cash benefits aren't, in the end, that
different from income, except that salaries are taxed while government
benefits aren't. And if individual welfare programs often don't even
(30:34):
count benefits paid in cash as income for the purposes
of gauging eligibility, the government's failure to count its largess
as the recipient's income allows welfare households to blow past
the income level above which a working family no longer
qualifies for government help. Take a single parent with two
(30:54):
school aged children who earns eleven thousand dollars annually from
part time work. The government considers this household in poverty
because its income is below twenty five thousand, two hundred
and seventy three dollars, But this family would qualify for
benefits worth fifty three thousand, one hundred and twenty eight dollars.
It would receive Treasury checks of three thousand, four hundred
(31:16):
dollars in refundable tax credits and four thousand, four hundred
dollars in refundable earned income tax credits. Would also receive
food stamp debit cards worth nine thousand, two hundred and
sixteen dollars a year, nine thousand, four hundred and seventy
six dollars in housing subsidies, eight hundred and seventy seven
dollars of government payments for utility bills, sixteen thousand and
thirty three dollars to fund medicaid, three thousand, one hundred
(31:37):
and two dollars in free meals at schools, and six thousand,
six hundred and twenty four dollars in temporary assistance for
needy families. All this puts the family's income at sixty
four thousand, one hundred and twenty eight dollars, or two
hundred and fifty four percent of the poverty level, and
look the point. Phil Graham goes on on this, But
the point is when they're measuring income, they exclude all
(32:00):
the welfare and benefits that are going down, and then
they measure income and said, look how poor people are
without counting the money that is going out out the door.
And by the way, this also contributes to the massive
fraud we saw in Minnesota because because the Democrats and
the federal government and state government are just focusing on
shoveling cash out the door, and they're not focusing on
(32:24):
how do you actually ensure any accountability or even more importantly,
how do you get people off welfare. Look, one of
my favorite phrases is that the social safety net should
be a trampoline and not a hammock. And by that
what it means is, listen, many people get down on
(32:46):
their lock.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
They need help.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
But the entire focus should be to get you back
on your feet. The entire focus should be to spring
you out of the safety net and get you where
you're working, where you have a job, where you're providing
for your own family. You know, there's a dignity to work.
You look at families that are trapped in generational poverty,
one generation after another, after another and you lose the
(33:13):
self respect.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
One of the amazing successes of welfare reform, one of
the amazing successes of the first term of Trump that
saw over seven million people go off food stamps and
go into the workforce, is that seven million people that
get to experience the dignity of work. I mean, that's
(33:35):
literally a single mom who comes home from her job
and is carrying two bags of groceries and puts those
groceries on the kitchen table, and she looks at her
kids and she has the self respect of knowing, Hey,
I'm providing for you and the kids look at her
and know that my mom is providing for you. Look, look,
(33:55):
God created mankind. I believe to work and to be productive,
to make a difference, to provide for your family. And
this welfare machine that the Left is so invested in
traps people in dependency. And you're not doing anyone a
favor by making them dependent on government. Instead, you're sapping
(34:18):
them of the path to the American dream.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah. No, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And it's almost modern day slavery, where you keep people
addicted to it so that they owe you on election day,
And it seems to be what the Democrats are obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It truly is.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
It's sad, it's also shocking, and it's also predictable now
the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
We do this show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so
make sure you subscribe to Vertic with Tech Cruise wherever
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(35:00):
the center. I will see you back here next week
on this radio station and all week long on our
podcast
Welcome in his VERDICTUS Center, Ted Cruz, it is nice
to have you with us.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Senator.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We've got a lot to talk about during this Christmas week,
and some of it is really good news. It deals
with the economy. That is something that has made a
lot of people excited about going into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Well, there's a lot good going on. But I want
to start by just saying, Merry Christmas. And I hope
that at Christmas time you're spending time with your family.
I hope you're taking time to hug your kids. I
hope you're taking time. I hope you're having some fabulous
meals where you're stuffed, you have some great presence, you
have some great love. But I also want to encourage
(00:37):
everyone remember what Christmas time is about. Christmas Time, Yes,
it's about family, Yes it's about coming together. But Christmas
is when we're celebrating the birth of Jesus, the birth
of our Savior, who came God incarnate, came to earth
to live as a man, to live without sin, and
then to die willingly, voluntarily, freely, to die for your sin.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And my sins.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I don't know about you, Ben, but Christmas is my
favorite time of year. I love Christmas. I love the music,
I love I love everything about it, and I love
celebrating the incredible mystery and marvel that God cared so
much about each of us that he was willing to
(01:22):
send his only son to die force.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah. Amen to that.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I think it's really been sad over the last several years,
how much people try to just get rid of the
meaning of Christmas. I also feel like we're seeing part
of that Bell curve come back around. I was really
encouraged Sunday at church to see so many people coming
not on Christmas service, but the week of Christmas, and
it was there just seems to be a new awakening.
(01:48):
I saw some really cool data the other day that
there are more people under the age of forty. We
had record breaking number of people that bought Bibles in
twenty twenty five. Some of that they actually think is
because Charlie Kirk's assassination and his bold faith. Uh and
and and evil. They're always is good that can come
out of evil. But to hear that we are are
(02:08):
having record sales and Bibles this year, that gave me
such encouragement. Especially you've got kids like I do. I
worry about the future of this country. It's why we
do this show. We fight for this country, we fight
for our rights, we fight for our religious freedom, and
to see that there is there seems to be this
real awakening among this younger generation that really inspires me
(02:29):
and and it makes me even more excited about Christmas.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Well, and listen, I will say there are a lot
of folks who listen to this show who are parents.
You may be a young parent, you may have young
kids at home. I'll tell you what my parents did
did every Christmas for me, and what I try to
do with our girls is when we sit down for
Christmas dinner, by the way, and a Cuban household typically
will we'll have a Cuban celebration on Christmas Eve, uh
(02:53):
and and then we tend to have an American Christmas
on Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So I got to know, what is the difference, what's
the difference stween how rowdy is Christmas Eve?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Because that sounds like it's kind of fun.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah. So look, when I'm with the Cuban side of
my family, like the tradition is is that we'll roast
a whole pig and and and that's that's that's on Notcheguena.
That that that that's a great tradition. This year I
was with Heidie's side of the family, so we we
we had a Christmas Eve dinner. But but actually her
family are all vegetarians and and so what we do
instead is.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Bad for the whole pig.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That would be yea, yeah, the whole the whole pig
idea doesn't work, and and and and so instead instead
we have fondue, which is nice. We like we like
make up fondue on the on the stove, and and
and all of us like fondue, and and and dipping
it in and then and then we do on Christmas
Day typically either a turkey or a ham for the
carnivores there and and lots of lots of vegetarian options
(03:46):
for for Heidie's family. But but one thing that I've
tried to do every year is when we're sitting down
on Christmas Day, just just to read from Luke chapter two,
uh and and to read the story of Christmas. And
so so if you, if y'all indulge I want to.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Do that right now, well it go for it.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
And it came to pass in those days that there
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed, And this taxing was first made
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and all went to
be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of
Nazareth into Judea, unto the city of David, which is
(04:24):
called Bethlehem, because it was of the house and lineage
of David to be taxed. With Mary, his espoused wife,
being great with child, and so it was that while
they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered, and she brought forth her first born son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in
(04:46):
a manger, because there was no room for them in
the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round and about them,
and they were sore afraid, And the Angel said, unto them,
(05:07):
fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people, For unto
you is born this day in the city of David,
a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the Babe,
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly
(05:31):
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. And it
came to pass, as the angels were gone away from
them into the heaven, the shepherd said, one to another,
let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this
(05:53):
thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath
made known unto us. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad
the saying which was told them concerning the child. And
all they that heard it wondered at those things which
(06:13):
were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all
these things and pondered them in her heart. And the
shepherd's return, glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told
unto them. And you know that's obviously the story of
the birth of Jesus. And every year we take our
(06:34):
kids to go to the Christmas Show and they do
all sorts of great great Christmas shows. This Christmas Show
this year that they emphasized shepherds, in particular shepherds out
caring for the sheep and talking about how the shepherds
would look for the unblemished sheep, for the pure, pure
(06:54):
baby sheep and set that sheep aside, and they would
wrap that baby sheep in swaddling clothes, and and that
was to signify that this sheep was being set aside
to be used as a sacrifice at the temple. And
swadling close everything about Jesus's birth from literally the moment
he was born, he was wrapped in the same rapping
(07:15):
that that that that that that a lamb would be
be wrapped in, or a sheep would be wrapped in
to show that that that that they were. He was
the lamb, he was the sacrifice. He was born to
be sacrificed for our sins, and and and and that's
such an important Christmas makes no sense without Easter. Christmas
in Easter are are our bookends of the life of Jesus.
(07:38):
And the life of Jesus is willingly coming to earth
as a man and then willingly giving his life even
though he had not sinned. He did not deserve death.
I deserve death. You deserve death. All of us are
are fallen creatures. And so that so the Christmas time,
I would just say to the parents, take some time
read that passage, read other passes, and just talk with
(08:01):
your kids about what it means, because it is at
the end of the day. It's not about a fat
man and a sleigh. It's not about presence. It's not
about all the food and the rest. Christmas time is
celebrating the birth of Jesus, and I just want to
tell everyone Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Aim into that. Merry Christmas. And I love that you
read that. And I would encourage others for people that
maybe miss it. What passage again was that, so they
make sure they've got it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
That's Luke chapter two, and it's basically the first half
of chapter two tells. The version appears several times in
the Gospels, but I like Luke Chapter two to be
very concise.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Center there was a Christmas gift that was given to
all Americans.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It didn't matter if you're rich or poor.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
It didn't matter if you were black or white, or
Hispanic or anything else in between. We got some new
economic data and it was I tell you what, if
there's anybody that had coal in their stocking, it was
the media. There was an article that came out by
the New York Times predicting the complete opposite of what
GDP report showed. Of course, they're not going to retract it,
but they do look like idiots. And again you got
(09:03):
to ask yourself this question, are they really willing and
wanting to hurt Americans? They want Americans to suffered just
so Donald Trump looks bad because that's what their reporting
seems to look like.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Well, listen, the news that broke just this week is
the economy is booming. That the latest GDP numbers show
four point three percent GDP growth, which is terrific GDP growth.
And let me read from the Wall Street Journal, consumers
power strongest US economic growth in two years. A long
delayed government report shows third quarter GDP grew at an
(09:37):
annual four point three percent rate. Robust spending by US
consumers drove greater than expected economic expansion in the third quarter,
and the strongest growth rate in two years. Gross domestic product,
the value of all goods and services produced across the economy,
rose at a seasonally and inflationally adjusted four point three
(09:58):
percent annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department
said Tuesday. The report was delayed nearly two months by
the government shutdown, and looks back at the period before
the shutdown was in effect. It does, however, offer a
snapshot of an economy that has managed to keep humming
along for much of the year. Growth picked up from
(10:20):
three point eight percent in the previous corner and easily
beat the three point two percent forecast among economists polled
by The Wall Street Journal. It was, by the way,
it's over a point higher than expectations. That's a big deal,
As the journal said, it was the strongest expansion since
the third quarter of twenty twenty three. Rising consumer spending
(10:42):
was partly driven by healthcare, including outpatient services and at
hospitals and nursing homes. International travel, legal services, and spending
on products like personal computers and software also contributed. Artificial
intelligence related spending helped too, though the pace of growth
appeared to from the second quarter. Overall business investment grows
(11:03):
slow to two point eight percent in the third quarter
from seven point three percent in the prior three months.
This is great news. And listen, when GDP is booming,
what that means is it means there's more jobs, it
means there's more productivity. It means the stock market is
going up. It means people four oh one k's are
going up. It means wages are likely to rise. And
(11:26):
so GDP growth, it's not always immediate. Are there still
people struggling, Yes, But GDP growth is driven. And I'll
tell you one of the things we're seeing is the
Christmas spending numbers are very, very strong, and so that's
one of the signs of consumer confidence that you know,
if you're worried, if you're scared about not being able
to pay your rent or your mortgage, then you don't
(11:48):
necessarily go out and do some big shopping for Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
We see the record breaking numbers on Black Friday and
Cyber Monday. And that was as the Democrats were saying
that we were in a tail spin and this was
disaster of an economy and they were trying to say
Donald Trump is ruining your Christmas. I'm like, well, the
data says that people, as you just mentioned, they're going
out and spinning at record numbers on Black Friday in
Cyber Monday.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
So that tells me that someone's lying.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
That's exactly right. And here I want to show you. You
talked about the press being dismayed, and I got to
say that the corporate media is utterly corrupt. They are dishonest.
I just want to read to you two tweets. The
first tweet is from October thirtieth, twenty twenty four. Now, now,
what was happening right after October thirtieth, twenty.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Twenty four the election presidential There.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Was a presidential election, and who was president of October
twenty twenty four, at least nominally?
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, the auto pen But if you're what an actual
person with a heartbeat, we'll go with Joe Biden.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Okay, So here's what ABC News tweeted tweeted October thirtieth,
twenty twenty four, one week before the presidential election. Just in,
the US economy grew at a robust two point eight
percent annualized rate in the third quarter, slowing slightly from
the previous quarter but continuing to dispel any concern about
(13:08):
a possible shutdown. This report comes just ahead of the
presidential election. All right, so that was a year ago.
Now that was two point eight percent. What do you
think ABC News said about four point three percent?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Just?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
In the US economy expanded more than economists expected over
a recent three month period, recording robust growth despite concerns
about sluggish hiring and cash strap shoppers. Federal government data showed.
So two point eight percent is robust and fantastic, and yeay,
(13:44):
four point three percent, Well, we're really worried about sluggish
hiring and cash strap shoppers. And yeah, okay, I guess
it is like almost twice as high. But damn it,
we don't like those numbers. That is not news. And
I literally whoever wrote that tweet should be fired. Like
if ABC pretended to be a journalist, you'd say, okay,
(14:05):
go work for the DNC because you want to be
a partisan parrot. That's who they are and it's why
people don't trust the news. Now I want you to
listen to Kevin Hasset. Kevin Hasset is the head of
the National Economic Council in the White House. Listen to
Kevin talking about these recent GDP numbers.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
No, it's a fantastic report. Four point three percent. That's
just about as good as GDP numbers get, and especially
coming on the heels of the CPI report consumer Price
Index report we got, which you actually showed some interesting
data that consistent with this showed the quarter inflation is
all the way down to one point six percent. And
so I think that these numbers are showing the President
(14:45):
Trump's trade policy and his supply side policy, which is
really increasing a new factory production and so on, is
having a big, big effect, as is his trade policy.
So if we abstract from the reduction in the trade deficit,
then the four point three percent number would only be
two point six percent. So Trump's trade policy is really
working as well.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
You know, as they mentioned trade policy, because that was
one of the other big lies this year in twenty
twenty five, which is the shelves are gonna be empty
at Christmas. The toys you wanted for your kids were
going to be not on those shelves. You're not gonna
be able to afford basic things. Half of the store
is gonna be gone at Walmart and Target and Costco
and Sam's Club.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
None of that happened.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And they said there was gonna be massive spikes and
prices for everything that you couldn't afford. Again, that didn't
happen either. While we collected record number of tariffs and cash.
The presence trade deals seem to actually be working and
the leverage seems to be working, and they don't want
to admit that this has not been a disaster.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Well, Listen, there's still some volatility when it comes to
trade policy. And I know I'd been advocating that the
President uses trade policy as leverage to open up forward markets,
and he's been doing that that has been very, very successful.
This also underscores basic supply side principles. When you cut
taxes as we did, and when you repeal job killing
regulations as President Trump is doing, it results in more investments,
(16:07):
more jobs, and the economy is booming. This is basic
cause and effect.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Senator, There's another big story that I want to get to,
and that is the out of control fraud. We have
now got a number and it could go higher. At
least nine billion was looted from the Minnesota medicaid programs,
plus there was welfare fraud as well. In a bombshell
report coming from the Wall Street Journal, this does not
look good for the governor there and a lot of
(16:34):
mayors have now sent him a letter saying we are
in trouble and it's your fault.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Look, the level of fraud we're seeing welfare medicaid fraud
in Minnesota is staggering. It is an order of magnitude
greater than we've seen. And here are the basic facts.
Federal prosecutors alleged Thursday that Minnesota may have lost billions
of fraud in its medicaid program. The latest development in
(17:03):
an ongoing investigation, as much as half half fifty percent
of the roughly eighteen billion dollars Minnesota has spent since
twenty eighteen on fourteen medicaid programs, particularly vulnerable to abuse,
may have been siphoned off by fraudsters, according to Assistant
Ussistant Attorney Joe Thompson. Thompson made the remarks as prosecutors
(17:26):
announced additional charges in the ongoing investigation of the staggering
industrial scale fraud engulfing the state. Quote, the fraud is
not small, It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated.
What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of
(17:47):
at bad actors committing crimes It's a staggering, industrial scale fraud.
It's swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know
about our statel it half of medicaid for years. That's
in Minnesota. By the way, if you watch the corporate media,
(18:07):
you've seen very little about this. They don't want to
cover this at all because it is it is the
complicity of the Democrats in office. And understand, Minnesota is
a one party state. It is governed by Democrats. Democrats
are in charge. They looked the other way. Why did
they look the other way? Well, much of this fraud
was carried out by Somali's We covered the previous verdict
(18:28):
how the single largest contributor to Al Shabab. Al Shabab
is a radical Islamist terrorist organization in Somalia. The single
largest contributor to al Shabab are the Minnesota taxpayers. That's
the level of the theft that went on. And Democrats
elected Democrats in Minnesota. They happily looked the other way.
(18:51):
Why because they were buying votes. And you know what
if they actually watched the taxpayer dollars and didn't let
the criminals steal it, well, somebody might be upset if
they had even the tiniest modicum of scrutiny. It is shocking.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Well, and you know what you mentioned a moment ago,
and that is that the media has not been touching this. Luckily,
local media has CBS, for example, locally in Minnesota. They
did a report on this that was just kind of
throwing your hands up in the air, like this is
so egregious.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
We need you to know.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
The national media completely silent, no accountability for the governor.
There are those in leadership under him. I want to
play this for people. This is again the local CBS affiliate.
They're talking about the fraud crisis. Take a listen.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Minnesota's fraud crisis is growing today. Prosecutors charge more people
for billing the state for social services they did not provide.
The federal prosecutor says it's possible half or more of
the eighteen billion dollars billed to fourteen programs since twenty
eighteen is fraudulent. We have team coverage started with Joana
Kaplan with more on what we've learned about these latest charges. Jonah,
(20:00):
we've gone from maybe a billion dollars to possibly nine
billion or more.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
Well, we've heard from the new US attorney Frank that
we're not even at the end of the beginning of
this investigation, and now we know why feeding our future
was just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
The fraud is not small, it isn't isolated. The magnitude
cannot be overstated.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
Prosecutors on Thursday indicting six people, including one already charged
in another case. The five new defendants are all accused
of defrauding a state program meant to provide housing assistance
to the disabled and those dealing with addiction. Two people
charged aren't even from here. According to officials, Anthony Jefferson
and Lester Brown came from Philadelphia to Minnesota looking for
(20:43):
an opportunity to make money. They set up two fake
companies and collected three point five million dollars.
Speaker 8 (20:48):
This is an instance of what essentially fraud tourism. Mister
Jefferson and Brown were residents of Philadelphia. We had no
connection to Minnesota except for they heard that Many Soda
and its Housing Stabilization Services program was easy money.
Speaker 7 (21:04):
The state already cut off the housing stabilization program because
of suspected fraud, but it's one of fourteen social programs
now under federal investigation. Together, they build eighteen billion dollars
since twenty eighteen. We asked how much could have been fraud.
Speaker 8 (21:18):
You know, I don't make these generalizations in a hasty way,
So when I say a significant mount, I'm talking in
an order of half or more. But we'll see.
Speaker 7 (21:27):
One of the new indictments accuses of fraud serve of
exploiting a program to help children with autism. Court documents
say Abdi Najib Hasan yusef use some of the six
million bucks he stole to buy a freightliner semitruck. Governor Walls,
in a statement said he applauded the new indictments, saying, quote,
this is exactly the type of strong action we need
from prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are put behind bars. Frank,
(21:50):
this is not going away anytime soon.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I love the end there, Frank, this is not going
away anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Well, if Democrats have their way and the governor this
will just be like a one time reporter.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Then we just move on.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
And hey, if it goes from nine billion to twelve
billion or fifteen billion, who knows where the number could end.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
And that was what they were referring to there at
CBS Local.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
They're like, hey, we went from one billion to nine billion,
and that may not be the final number.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Well, and Tim Waltz says he applauds the indictments. Well,
my question is where was Tim Waltz. Where was the governor?
He was like, where's Waldo? He was popping up everywhere
he could. He he was following Kamala Harris on the
campaign trail, but he was not actually doing his job
as governor. And listen, there is a political reason. And Ben,
I'm going to make a prediction right now.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I love it when you do this because usually you're right.
So pay attention to everyone.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
As horrific as this fraud is in Minnesota, and it
is staggering, it is historically bad. I'm going to make
a prediction that it is worse. That there is even
more fraud in New York, California, and Illinois.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
So you don't believe this is an isolated innsign to there.
I follow my money, I do not.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I think in bright blue states where the Democrats control
all of the levers of government, all of the machinery,
I think the same incentives that cause the Democrat politicians
in Minnesota to try to buy votes by allowing people
to rob the taxpayers blind. I think those exact same
incentives are playing out in New York. I think those
(23:24):
exact same incentives are playing out in Illinois. And I
think those exact same incentives are playing out in California.
So I'm calling on the Trump administration to audit, audit
every state, but start with the big blue states, because
I think that is where you were most likely to
find find the fraud, where the pattern is the same.
And I got I gotta tell you, people like Gavin
(23:46):
Newsom are sweating right now. They don't want anyone looking
at the fraud in California because my the incentives are identical,
and I suspect you're going to see the very same
pattern playing out over and over and over again.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
You know you mentioned they don't want you looking. There
was a very interesting playbook. When Democrats get in trouble,
they usually just start playing the race card, throwing down
the race card. Tim Waltz had a press conference and
he was asked about the fraud in the small community,
the money going back to the terrorist organization Al Shabab,
and how much just total pure corruption there was, And
then he was asked about ice raids in Minnesota. He's
(24:26):
obviously against that. They are a welcoming state, as he
describes it, they're a sanctuary state. And what Tim Waltz
had to say back it really did kind of make
me laugh because it's so predictable, and yet it's the
classic playbook they've been using. You question them on anything
they get wrong, they're like, oh, well, your racist, a
big at, homophobes, xenophob The list goes on on, Well,
now it's white supremacy if you actually enforced the law
(24:49):
of the land with the legal immigrants in the state.
Here's how he put it, Tim Waltz in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
So this is what happens when your own federal government
wages war against you. What happens when they target communities
for their own benefit. This is what happens when they scapegoat,
And this is what say happens when they no longer
hide the idea of white supremacy. When you hear the
Vice President of the United States talk about now white
people won't have to apologize for being white. That's never
(25:15):
happened once in my whole damn life. And I think
everybody in this room knows what they're doing. So we're
here today to say enough of this. We're here today
to stand that Minnesota will protect their neighbors.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Minnesota will protect their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And this is what happened, rob blind, Yeah, and rob
them blind nine nine billion that we know of, right,
And he says, we're not gonna We're know we're gonna
allow them to hide the idea of white supremacy. When
you hear the Vice president, I mean, this is the
classic democratic playbook. Don't look at what I'm doing. I'm
gonna yell you're a racist.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Like he has literally overseen the biggest recorded fraud in
US government history. Not just a fraud on the taxpayers
that defrauded the taxpayers of Minnesota, that defrauded the taxpayer
of every state, federal taxpayers, uh, but also that saw
the federal tax dollars diverted to illegal immigrants to Somali's
(26:10):
who sent it to al Shabab, a radical Islamic terror organization.
So it's fraud funding Islamist terror. And and and what
is Tim Waltz's response to scream white supremacy, white supremacy?
At some point those talking points get a little tired,
and and and it's a clear and transport parent effort
(26:32):
just to avoid any accountability and and and and to
be avoid being held responsible for for what what he
allowed to happen.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
All right, Ceder, I want to move to another part
of this story, and it's bigger than Minnesota. We were
talking about the fraud there, but the Wall Street Journal
came out with a very interesting report and I think
it's worth as taking a moment to talk about it.
It's the biggest fraud in welfare and it just talks
about how much abuse there is in the welfare system.
It's costing hundreds of billions of dollars to American taxpayers.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Well, and in particular, what it talks about is is
bogus bookkeeping that covers it up. And this is an
op ed that was written by Phil Graham and John Earley.
Phil Graham was previously senator from the state of Texas.
He's an economist. Phil is a good friend of mine
and it's an important op ed that he wrote December
seventeenth in the Journal. It's entitled the Biggest Fraud and Welfare.
(27:24):
The government gives tens of thousands of dollars in benefits
to the poor, which it doesn't count as income, and
so this is in some ways an accounting story, and
please don't go to sleep right now, particularly if you're driving.
Don't go to it is an accounting story that matters.
So here's what Phil Graham wrote. Something is profoundly wrong
with the US welfare system, a problem that runs far
(27:46):
deeper and is more dangerous than the shocking fraud in
Minnesota that has been making headlines across the past half century.
America has seen what in any other country would be
considered a golden age in which lower income households have
made incredible progress. Despite the end of our post war
economic dominance around nineteen seventy five. The country's real per
(28:08):
capita gross domestic product grew by one hundred and forty
two percent from nineteen seventy four to twenty twenty four.
More than two thirds of US households have inflation adjusted
incomes today that would have put them in the top
one fifth of households in nineteen sixty seven. So used
(28:28):
to be the top one fifth of households in nineteen
sixty seven. Today, more than two thirds of US households
have inflation that would put them there. Sixty two percent
of all children who grew up in the poorest fifth
of all households in the seventies and eighties worked their
way up to a higher income bracket as adults, some
all the way up to the top quintile. Yet, even
(28:50):
as our economy has experienced broad based growth, real federal
welfare spending has soared by what do you think the
number is?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I guess seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Seven hundred and sixty five percent, more than twice as
fast as total federal spending, and now costs one point
four trillion dollars annually.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Incredible.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
We're that were that money simply to be doled out
evenly to the nineteen point eight million families the government
defines as poor each household. How much you think each
household would receive a year if you just took all
the welfare payments and sent a check to each household directly.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm going to guess in the thousands.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
More than seventy thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
For Tell me about I mean that? I mean that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Tell me that's not a perfect example of government waste
when you could just send direct checks of seventy grand
a year to people.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
The source of this dramatic mismatch is a fraud built
into how various programs determine welfare eligibility. The government doesn't
count any refundable tax credits or benefits that aren't paid
in cash as income to the recipients. Some claim this
is appropriate because the beneficiaries aren't free to spend non
cash benefits on whatever they like, but that is a
(30:13):
specious argument, because money is fungible. Receiving Medicaid, for example,
frees up cash that would otherwise be spent on healthcare,
allowing the recipients to spend the newly freed cash on
other things. Non cash benefits aren't, in the end, that
different from income, except that salaries are taxed while government
benefits aren't. And if individual welfare programs often don't even
(30:34):
count benefits paid in cash as income for the purposes
of gauging eligibility, the government's failure to count its largess
as the recipient's income allows welfare households to blow past
the income level above which a working family no longer
qualifies for government help. Take a single parent with two
(30:54):
school aged children who earns eleven thousand dollars annually from
part time work. The government considers this household in poverty
because its income is below twenty five thousand, two hundred
and seventy three dollars, But this family would qualify for
benefits worth fifty three thousand, one hundred and twenty eight dollars.
It would receive Treasury checks of three thousand, four hundred
(31:16):
dollars in refundable tax credits and four thousand, four hundred
dollars in refundable earned income tax credits. Would also receive
food stamp debit cards worth nine thousand, two hundred and
sixteen dollars a year, nine thousand, four hundred and seventy
six dollars in housing subsidies, eight hundred and seventy seven
dollars of government payments for utility bills, sixteen thousand and
thirty three dollars to fund medicaid, three thousand, one hundred
(31:37):
and two dollars in free meals at schools, and six thousand,
six hundred and twenty four dollars in temporary assistance for
needy families. All this puts the family's income at sixty
four thousand, one hundred and twenty eight dollars, or two
hundred and fifty four percent of the poverty level, and
look the point. Phil Graham goes on on this, But
the point is when they're measuring income, they exclude all
(32:00):
the welfare and benefits that are going down, and then
they measure income and said, look how poor people are
without counting the money that is going out out the door.
And by the way, this also contributes to the massive
fraud we saw in Minnesota because because the Democrats and
the federal government and state government are just focusing on
shoveling cash out the door, and they're not focusing on
(32:24):
how do you actually ensure any accountability or even more importantly,
how do you get people off welfare. Look, one of
my favorite phrases is that the social safety net should
be a trampoline and not a hammock. And by that
what it means is, listen, many people get down on
(32:46):
their lock.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
They need help.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
But the entire focus should be to get you back
on your feet. The entire focus should be to spring
you out of the safety net and get you where
you're working, where you have a job, where you're providing
for your own family. You know, there's a dignity to work.
You look at families that are trapped in generational poverty,
one generation after another, after another and you lose the
(33:13):
self respect.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
One of the amazing successes of welfare reform, one of
the amazing successes of the first term of Trump that
saw over seven million people go off food stamps and
go into the workforce, is that seven million people that
get to experience the dignity of work. I mean, that's
(33:35):
literally a single mom who comes home from her job
and is carrying two bags of groceries and puts those
groceries on the kitchen table, and she looks at her
kids and she has the self respect of knowing, Hey,
I'm providing for you and the kids look at her
and know that my mom is providing for you. Look, look,
(33:55):
God created mankind. I believe to work and to be productive,
to make a difference, to provide for your family. And
this welfare machine that the Left is so invested in
traps people in dependency. And you're not doing anyone a
favor by making them dependent on government. Instead, you're sapping
(34:18):
them of the path to the American dream.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah. No, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
And it's almost modern day slavery, where you keep people
addicted to it so that they owe you on election day,
And it seems to be what the Democrats are obsessed with.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It truly is.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
It's sad, it's also shocking, and it's also predictable now
the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
We do this show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so
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(35:00):
the center. I will see you back here next week
on this radio station and all week long on our
podcast
Host
Ben Ferguson
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