Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Then he goes on television he says, oh, Trump is
a dictator, and.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
A lot of people have here. So the line is
that I'm a dictator, but I stopped crying. So a
lot of people say, you.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator,
but I'm not a dictator.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I just have to stop crying.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Good Wednesday morning. So nice to have you with us
on the forty seven Morning Update.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And we've got two major stories for you.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
First up, Donald Trump was right and even the media
is in shock by how much money Americas bring in
through tariffs, and it could be as much as a
half a trillion dollars this year. I'll give you those
details in just a moment. Also, Cracker Barrel, they screwed
up big time. The President said it's time for you
(00:50):
to go backwards, correct the course, and learn from your
mistake quickly so you can be successful. Well, within twenty
four hours of the President weighing in on the issue,
Cracker Barrel decided, Yeah, we're going to do exactly that,
and we've got the story behind it. It's the forty
seven morning update, and it starts right now.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Story number one.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Donald Trump promised you that tariffs were going to work,
not only so America wouldn't be taken advantage of anymore,
especially hard working Americans. He also said it was going
to bring jobs back to America, and he said it
was going to raise money. That was not going to
be a pass through to you. Well, now we're finding
out just how successful some of the US tariff could
(01:33):
be by the end of the year, as US tariff
revenue could actually top five hundred billion dollars a year.
The US Treasury Secretary Scottvissent said today the customs duty
revenues from President Donald Trump's tariffs may surpass five hundred
billion a year, with a substantial jump from July to August,
(01:54):
and likely a bigger jump in September, October and November
with tismiths coming into the US. Estimates of a three
hundred billion annual tariff collection rate was too low. He said, quote,
we had a substantial jump from July to August, and
I think we're going to see a bigger jump from
August to September. So I think we could be on
(02:16):
our way well over half a trillion maybe towards a
trillion dollar number.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
This administration.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Your administration has made a meaningful dent in the budget deficit.
Now tariff revenue would offset the deficit. Increase is triggered
by the Republican tax cut and Spending bill passed this
year as well. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the
bill would widen the deficit by three point four trillion
over the next ten years. Well, Trump's tariffs drove July
(02:45):
US customs duty collections up by nearly twenty one billion
from the seven billion collected in July of twenty twenty four.
And even with that, you had a twenty billion dollar
increase that was registered in June. Now, this is a
significant increase in tariff rates for nearly all trading partners,
and that kicked in on August to seventh.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
What does that mean? Even more money?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
The US Treasury reported on Monday that is of August
the twenty second, the government had collected twenty nine point
six billion dollars twenty nine point six billion in combined
customs and excise taxes so far during August, matching its
total for the whole month of July.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
And yes, there are still quite a few days left
in the month.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Now, as of July twenty second, that combined figure stood
at seven point eight billion, but customs duty collections can
vary from day today now. The Treasury Secretary Pisent also
noted that the Congressional Budget Offices upwardly revised estimates last
week a federal revenue from Trump's tariffs, forecasting that it
(03:56):
could quote reduce federal deficits by four trill million dollars
over the next ten years, saying quote and I would
expect that that number could go up from here.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The latest Congressional Budget Office estimate marks an increase from
June when it was forecasts at revenue from new tariffs
would reduce deficits by three trillion over the next ten years. Well,
now that may jump to four trillion dollars. So the
President United States of America not only making sure that
we're protecting jobs, but also when it comes to our
(04:32):
national security issues. Scott Pssent went on the Ingram angle
talking about the risk to our economy and how dependent
we've been on foreign industry China included. Here's part of
what he had to say about bringing industries back to
our country and getting the mirror as quickly as we can.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Rare than the magnets. Obviously, those are the critical things
we need from China. How difficult a situation are we
in without industrial policy that it almost makes it an
emergency for us to be independent of our strongest adversary
when it comes to those critical things. Rare earth and magnets.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Oh well, or it's rarear, it's magnets, but it's so
many other things. Is the single biggest point of failure
for the US economy and for the Western economies. Ninety
nine percent of high value chips are made on the
island of Taiwan. So we're trying to bring semiconductor manufacturing
back to the US. We're trying to bring steel production
(05:31):
back to the US. We're bringing pharma back to the
US under President Trump's leadership. There's a group of us
in the Cabinet in the White House who believe, if
we have not de risked the US economy and brought
these industries back on shore, when we walk out the
door in January twenty twenty nine, we will have failed.
And we are not going to fail.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
And your message to Congress tonight, because without Congress really
taking action and spending real money for our own industrial policy.
This is going to be more difficult.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
We've got to do this. The only good thing about
COVID was it was a beta test. We could see
there are plenty of unreliable suppliers. I mean, think about this.
Eighty ninety percent of the precursor pharma products that we
get for very basic medicines. You know, the antibiotics for
children come from China or India. So we have to
(06:22):
bring a big amount of that home.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
You just heard it there. We've got to bring it
back home. We stress test this because of COVID. This
actually maybe one of the only good things that came
out of COVID was realizing just how risk we are
as a country, including on the issue of pharmaceuticals. And
so the present is not backing down on this. That
is very clear.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Now story number two.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
You would think that companies would learn from the fiascos
and the disasters of woke ideology. A great example of
that is what happened with bud Light using a transgendered
person a dude acting like a chick to try to
promote their brand.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
We all know how that ended.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You would also think that CEOs in twenty twenty five
would understand that there's quite a few Americans out there
that just want brands to be normal and not push
in agenda, or if they have a core audience, don't
be ashamed of them and who they actually are. Well,
you would think that CEOs of companies would understand that
(07:28):
insert cracker barrel aiming to quote modernize. Under the new
CEO appointed in twenty twenty three, they decided it was
a good idea to trash an entire brand, but not
just the brand, actually trash the customers that had propped
up that brand for decades. They unveiled what they described
(07:49):
as a minimalist text only logo and upditted the restaurant
de core, dropping the iconic image of Uncle.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Herschel, the overalls clad.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Man leaning on a barrel, and removing the quote old
country store from all of their branding. Yes, it was
a slap in the face or a middle finger, however
you want to describe it to the customers that love
cracker barrel Oil. Customers and branding critics then slammed the changes,
(08:19):
accusing the chain of abandoning not only it's nostalgic but
also its southern country identity. The company's stock tumbled by
more than ten percent, in fact, to seventeen percent if
you look at the latest reports, and the brand lost
as much as one hundred million dollars in its valuation.
(08:42):
But apparently that wasn't enough for Cracker Barrel leaders. They
stuck to their plan day after day as it continued
to get out of control, and then when they knew
they had a real problem, they went on Good Morning America.
The Cracker Barrel ceo on the restaurant runs that had
made everyone start talking about the brand. Here's what she
(09:05):
had to say when was asked about, Hey, did you
guys maybe make a mistake?
Speaker 6 (09:10):
And I got asked this question, I believe I'd probably
know to answer. What if all the customers are coming
at you hard enough about the look at a restaurant
and they want to go back to.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
The old way, would you do it?
Speaker 7 (09:21):
Honestly, the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive that people like what
we're doing. I'll give you another SoundBite. I actually happened
to be in Orlando last week with all of our managers.
We bring them together and once every other year, and
the number one question that I got asked Michael was
how can I get a remodel? When can I get
a remodel? How do I get on the list? Really
so because the feedback and the buzz is so good,
(09:42):
not only from our customers, but from our team members.
They want to work in a wonderful restaurant. So we're
doing everything for our guests and our team members.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
When Jula Messino, it's wonderful to have you here.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Pleasure to thank you.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
I answer those questions for all the Crack and Berry
fans out there. There's a lot of great changes.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Thank you so much, a lot of great changes.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Is how Good Morning America put it well? That didn't
go over well. Fast forward to Monday, and finally Cracker
Barrel admitted defeat and their woke CEO realizing she had
a very big problem on her hands. Cracker Barrel acknowledged
that it quote could have done a better job of
sharing who we are and who will always be. Attempting
(10:23):
to calm the furious customer base that had abandoned the store,
their public communications team emphasized that quote beloved elements like
Uncle herschel rocking chairs out front, the classic decor would
in fact remain in the stores, and then there's the
politics of this. Donald Trump weighed in strongly, saying quote,
(10:45):
Crackerbrell should go back to the old logo and made
a mistake and manage the company better than ever before.
Hours later, the White House, via the pre Secretary Caroline Levitt,
praise Crackerbrell's decision to revert, stating that Trump has unmatched
business instincts and that the brand made a great decision
(11:07):
to trust the President of the United States of America.
By Tuesday evening, Cracker Barrel had changed her tune even more.
They announced it would scrap the new logo entirely and
revert to the original old Timer design, with Uncle Herschel
and the old Country Store naming back. The company described
(11:28):
the change as listening, quote to its customers and reaffirming
the importance of tradition, hospitality, and comfort. Now, Donald Trump's
vocal criticism and the public urging made a massive difference
and aligned with widespread customer outrage as well as the
financial losses, and then Cracker Barrel had to fully admit
(11:51):
that the rebrand was a mistake. Not only was it
a mistake because they were ashamed of apparently their image,
they were ashamed of their customer base. They wanted to
be new, trendy and woke. Well now, Cracker Barrel said,
after losing one hundred million in their market cap, Okay,
I guess we're just gonna go back to how things
were before. Remember, nothing was actually broken. And this is
(12:16):
the bigger question that so many people should be asking,
especially in the advertising, marketing and the business brand world.
Why on earth would you try to take an iconic
brand like Cracker Barrel and change it into something clearly
that doesn't align with your customers. It's an amazing brand,
(12:37):
it's a business that people love going into. The food
is actually incredible, and the President United States of America
calling them out was a brilliant move. By the way,
he was also protecting so many of the people that
worked there and people that invested in the business. Job
well done, the President of the United States of America
for doing this. It'll be very interesting to see how
(13:00):
long the leadership at Cracker Barrel will still be employed
after this nightmare and disaster.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
you're listening to this podcast right now and for.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
More in depth news.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will
see you back here tomorrow