December 4, 2025 • 8 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you've got a new study that shows main street businesses,
you know, the mom and pops for lack of a
better term, are not doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, there was a federal program. It was launched in
twenty twenty and it was to help small businesses and
individuals restructure their debts. And the point it was to
help them do it more cheaply and also quicker than
traditional Chapter eleven bankruptcy. But what they found out was
that there was an eight percent increase from last year,
(00:31):
and there are more mom and pops that are going
out of business, they're filing for bankruptcy. And some of
the reasons are because of the high borrowing costs and
weak consumer demand and economic pressures and decline in small
business ownership and optimism towards small businesses.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Now, look are small business owners in this country. You
are the heroes. You are the backbone of this country.
You don't get near their respect or things that you
you do. For many, many years, I earned my living
owning various small businesses. Still have a little side hustle
that I do, though not a you know, an integral
(01:11):
part of my existence. But still file all the taxes
and all the ever you know, paperwork associated with that.
So I still keep a little toe dabbled in that.
But like I remember when I sold my radio station
and it was like such a relief because it was
getting so hard. Now this is pre you know, a
couple of years ago. Now whatever, Right, it's been a
(01:33):
long time, but I remember being done with it and
just saying, it's gotten so hard to not only start,
even start, but maintain a small business and the work
that goes into it versus the reward that comes out
of it. I'm done with that forever, right, Like I
got the entrepreneurial spirit out of myself at a you know,
(01:55):
at a young age, and I used to have it.
I used to, you know, think all I would think
of was creativity, creative ways to do things, new programming,
to put on new things that you know, we could
do to broadcast. And it's just like that was so draining.
I think about it that in my twenties and thirties
versus trying to do that in your forties. And there
are people who get up and do that every single
day to make this country work, and they're getting blood drawn.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, like going back to the healthcare conversation that we had, earlier.
We're with a big company, so they're able to negotiate
on scale. Yeah, imagine if it's a small business and
you only have two, three, maybe four employees and you're
still providing health insurance, that cost is even higher.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, and it was always like the little things you
had to think about that nobody processes. So if you're
a small business and you're right like we work for
a big company. You know other Indus people that own
radio stations, TV stations in this industry, they're big companies.
But as a small entrepreneur you had to think about
things like with the FCC, there were different reporting requirements
(02:58):
based on how many employees you had. Employee list if
it was below a certain level was way lower. The paperwork,
the cost of at the attorney's fees, all that was
way lower. So we had to be super cognizant at
all times of how many people actually working for us
to stay under the number the.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Actually didn't want growth.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
No, No, I mean like, well I would have to
do it. Every decision I would make would have to
be okay, how many people who have working for us?
Can somebody do this? If not, can I do it?
Because we have to stay under this number because of
all the things that opens up you have to do
same thing with like Osha and all these other things.
Right that the average person, and I'm not blaming anybody
goes to work each day. I'm one of those guys
now right. I'm cognizant of it because I've been on
(03:34):
the other end of the paycheck. I've signed checks on
the front. But the average person who gets a paycheck,
and God bless you if you go to work and
you're earning that money and nobody's saying you're not, but
you don't understand a lot of times it goes into
that check and the person behind the scenes on a
small business who especially may not have you know, some
robust HR department or or or you know, robust accounting
(03:54):
firm working for them. It's a war zone out there
right now, and we are not doing anything to help
these people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Some other bankruptcy trends Chapter thirteen Consumer bankruptcy filings. They're
also on the rise. Over one hundred and eighty thousand
cases have been filed through November of this year, which
is a five percent increase from last year.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And again, the question becomes, if we get into a
world without small business owners, which is the as you're
laying out in great detail there statistically, where we're headed.
What does that look like like?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
What does that? What does our country look like if
we just have large companies, many of them foreign, and
those that are here detached from any sort of sense
of humanity or civic pride. I mean, remember you, you
showed this to me. I think it was you that
sent this to me. Some guy on Twitter did an
(04:53):
intense breakdown of the Dell guy. Right, did you send
that to me? I did, yeah, and I retweeted it
at Rob Kendall. So yes terday, Case and I did
a big segment on Michael Dell I think is the
guy's name. He's the CEO now of Dell Technologies, right,
the computers, the chips, ba blah blah blah. And he's
getting all this praise because he has given money to six.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Point twenty five billion dollars to fund the Trump accounts. Yeah,
the the twenty five million kids.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Right, these savings accounts that are being set up for
kids that are born during Trump's term, and he's giving
money to part of that. People are like, oh my gosh,
this is so great. And I said, well, wait a second,
I said, I've got a major concern not about philanthropy.
This guy wants to give his money to help kids.
It's great, but you've got a guy essentially buying his
way into the government when his company is a major
beneficiary of government policy and more importantly, government money. It's
(05:45):
Jim Mersay all over again. I've never given Jim Mersey
any credit for his philanthropic nature because a lot of
that money that he earned came by force from taxpayers,
because we had to pay for that stadium, which is
the primary source of his wealth, the expayers paying for
Lucas Oil stadium. It's like, we just gave him money. Well,
is he philanthropic if he took money from me and
gave it to somebody else. It's the same thing with
(06:07):
this guy. Dell Technologies has been an immense beneficiary a
recent government policy related to chips and things going on
here and this guy and people were like, well, there
goes rob just pouring cold water on everything again. And
then some guy on Twitter, which we reach tweeted. I
retweeted at Robin Kendall, you want to read it went
through the breakdown on how much this dude has actually
(06:29):
benefited from the government that now he's buying back into.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, the one thing that I that stood out to
me was after that announcement was made, Dell stock jumped
four percent, so they gained six billion dollars in market
value from the six billion dollar donations, so that was
in that neutral and.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
He got a tax write off for all that money
he gave away. So he's made huge amounts of money
by doing this, which is exactly what I said. And
I always find this so funny that people are like
with me when I will say something that is just
it's irrefutable what I'm telling them, but because it doesn't
sound nice, well, it's like he's doing it. What am
I supposed to do? Not act like that's not happening.
Am I supposed to just not say anything about it?
(07:10):
It was a great business move on his part because
he's buying into the government, he's increasing his stock value,
he's getting the tax right up, and they're benefiting from
these policies that we're paying for as taxpayers. Am I
supposed to be excited that some guy who's boosting his
wealth off of my back is giving some of that
back to the taxpayers. Well, and the select ones, not me.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The other thing you have to think about is this
isn't tax free, it's tax deferred. So when that money
comes of age, when those children are eighteen, they're going
to be taxed on that money, which will go back
to the government.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
That's right. Yeah, So anyway, I just thought that was
fet that we're talking about this, that we had mentioned
that yesterday, and people some people are like getting very
angry about it, Well, nothing will make you happy, and
I was like, no, you have to look at what
this guy's doing. He's using the governor meant to enhance
his own wealth and portfolio and the profile of it.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And it comes off as a pr move that he's
helping there.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
That was just so great that that dude went into
great detail. But I was like, as usual, Casey least
favorite part of every show.
So you've got a new study that shows main street businesses,
you know, the mom and pops for lack of a
better term, are not doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, there was a federal program. It was launched in
twenty twenty and it was to help small businesses and
individuals restructure their debts. And the point it was to
help them do it more cheaply and also quicker than
traditional Chapter eleven bankruptcy. But what they found out was
that there was an eight percent increase from last year,
(00:31):
and there are more mom and pops that are going
out of business, they're filing for bankruptcy. And some of
the reasons are because of the high borrowing costs and
weak consumer demand and economic pressures and decline in small
business ownership and optimism towards small businesses.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Now, look are small business owners in this country. You
are the heroes. You are the backbone of this country.
You don't get near their respect or things that you
you do. For many, many years, I earned my living
owning various small businesses. Still have a little side hustle
that I do, though not a you know, an integral
(01:11):
part of my existence. But still file all the taxes
and all the ever you know, paperwork associated with that.
So I still keep a little toe dabbled in that.
But like I remember when I sold my radio station
and it was like such a relief because it was
getting so hard. Now this is pre you know, a
couple of years ago. Now whatever, Right, it's been a
(01:33):
long time, but I remember being done with it and
just saying, it's gotten so hard to not only start,
even start, but maintain a small business and the work
that goes into it versus the reward that comes out
of it. I'm done with that forever, right, Like I
got the entrepreneurial spirit out of myself at a you know,
(01:55):
at a young age, and I used to have it.
I used to, you know, think all I would think
of was creativity, creative ways to do things, new programming,
to put on new things that you know, we could
do to broadcast. And it's just like that was so draining.
I think about it that in my twenties and thirties
versus trying to do that in your forties. And there
are people who get up and do that every single
day to make this country work, and they're getting blood drawn.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, like going back to the healthcare conversation that we had, earlier.
We're with a big company, so they're able to negotiate
on scale. Yeah, imagine if it's a small business and
you only have two, three, maybe four employees and you're
still providing health insurance, that cost is even higher.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, and it was always like the little things you
had to think about that nobody processes. So if you're
a small business and you're right like we work for
a big company. You know other Indus people that own
radio stations, TV stations in this industry, they're big companies.
But as a small entrepreneur you had to think about
things like with the FCC, there were different reporting requirements
(02:58):
based on how many employees you had. Employee list if
it was below a certain level was way lower. The paperwork,
the cost of at the attorney's fees, all that was
way lower. So we had to be super cognizant at
all times of how many people actually working for us
to stay under the number the.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Actually didn't want growth.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
No, No, I mean like, well I would have to
do it. Every decision I would make would have to
be okay, how many people who have working for us?
Can somebody do this? If not, can I do it?
Because we have to stay under this number because of
all the things that opens up you have to do
same thing with like Osha and all these other things.
Right that the average person, and I'm not blaming anybody
goes to work each day. I'm one of those guys
now right. I'm cognizant of it because I've been on
(03:34):
the other end of the paycheck. I've signed checks on
the front. But the average person who gets a paycheck,
and God bless you if you go to work and
you're earning that money and nobody's saying you're not, but
you don't understand a lot of times it goes into
that check and the person behind the scenes on a
small business who especially may not have you know, some
robust HR department or or or you know, robust accounting
(03:54):
firm working for them. It's a war zone out there
right now, and we are not doing anything to help
these people.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Some other bankruptcy trends Chapter thirteen Consumer bankruptcy filings. They're
also on the rise. Over one hundred and eighty thousand
cases have been filed through November of this year, which
is a five percent increase from last year.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
And again, the question becomes, if we get into a
world without small business owners, which is the as you're
laying out in great detail there statistically, where we're headed.
What does that look like like?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
What?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
What does that? What does our country look like if
we just have large companies, many of them foreign, and
those that are here detached from any sort of sense
of humanity or civic pride. I mean, remember you, you
showed this to me. I think it was you that
sent this to me. Some guy on Twitter did an
(04:53):
intense breakdown of the Dell guy. Right, did you send
that to me? I did, yeah, and I retweeted it
at Rob Kendall. So yes terday, Case and I did
a big segment on Michael Dell I think is the
guy's name. He's the CEO now of Dell Technologies, right,
the computers, the chips, ba blah blah blah. And he's
getting all this praise because he has given money to six.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Point twenty five billion dollars to fund the Trump accounts. Yeah,
the the twenty five million kids.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Right, these savings accounts that are being set up for
kids that are born during Trump's term, and he's giving
money to part of that. People are like, oh my gosh,
this is so great. And I said, well, wait a second,
I said, I've got a major concern not about philanthropy.
This guy wants to give his money to help kids.
It's great, but you've got a guy essentially buying his
way into the government when his company is a major
beneficiary of government policy and more importantly, government money. It's
(05:45):
Jim Mersay all over again. I've never given Jim Mersey
any credit for his philanthropic nature because a lot of
that money that he earned came by force from taxpayers,
because we had to pay for that stadium, which is
the primary source of his wealth, the expayers paying for
Lucas Oil stadium. It's like, we just gave him money. Well,
is he philanthropic if he took money from me and
gave it to somebody else. It's the same thing with
(06:07):
this guy. Dell Technologies has been an immense beneficiary a
recent government policy related to chips and things going on
here and this guy and people were like, well, there
goes rob just pouring cold water on everything again. And
then some guy on Twitter, which we reach tweeted. I
retweeted at Robin Kendall, you want to read it went
through the breakdown on how much this dude has actually
(06:29):
benefited from the government that now he's buying back into.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, the one thing that I that stood out to
me was after that announcement was made, Dell stock jumped
four percent, so they gained six billion dollars in market
value from the six billion dollar donations, so that was
in that neutral and.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
He got a tax write off for all that money
he gave away. So he's made huge amounts of money
by doing this, which is exactly what I said. And
I always find this so funny that people are like
with me when I will say something that is just
it's irrefutable what I'm telling them, but because it doesn't
sound nice, well, it's like he's doing it. What am
I supposed to do? Not act like that's not happening.
Am I supposed to just not say anything about it?
(07:10):
It was a great business move on his part because
he's buying into the government, he's increasing his stock value,
he's getting the tax right up, and they're benefiting from
these policies that we're paying for as taxpayers. Am I
supposed to be excited that some guy who's boosting his
wealth off of my back is giving some of that
back to the taxpayers. Well, and the select ones, not me.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The other thing you have to think about is this
isn't tax free, it's tax deferred. So when that money
comes of age, when those children are eighteen, they're going
to be taxed on that money, which will go back
to the government.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
That's right. Yeah, So anyway, I just thought that was
fet that we're talking about this, that we had mentioned
that yesterday, and people some people are like getting very
angry about it, Well, nothing will make you happy, and
I was like, no, you have to look at what
this guy's doing. He's using the governor meant to enhance
his own wealth and portfolio and the profile of it.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
And it comes off as a pr move that he's
helping there.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
That was just so great that that dude went into
great detail. But I was like, as usual, Casey least
favorite part of every show.
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