Thanks to Bruce De Torres of ASBL, the American Small Business League, for joining One Leg Up With Alex Garrett!
More on the mission of the ASBL: https://asbl.com/
More on the mission of the ASBL: https://asbl.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, well you're on Alex Garrett's one leg of network.
So many thoughts going into this podcast tonight. Obviously we're
following the us I RAN situation, but I want to
actually put that aside for a second because I found
out the MTA, who knows you know, has the lar
Cares program where you can have services for those disabilities
(00:29):
and accommodations needed at any train station in the branches
are available for accommodation of arriving trains and actually trains
that come into the station. They can help you get
on and off as well. Found out yesterday that that
LR care program does not work after ten pm. So
(00:51):
every day this week, no matter what I'm talking about,
I'm going to say this right off the bat, disabled
people live life after dark. After ten we are still
out and about and I would love to see changes
at the MTA and the LR to address this need
for helping out people with disabilities after ten pm. I'm
(01:12):
going to say that every day this week at least,
and we'll keep you posting and see if there's any
developments with the MTA to solve this issue of the
lack of care and lack of lar our care after
ten pm. Can't wait to start a dialogue with the
MTA on this and go further and enhance the point
(01:33):
and hit home the point that people with disabilities have
lives after dark after ten pm. Now today, in an
interview that just just breaks the surface on how important
small businesses are to America, I want to welcome Bruce
de Torres, the communications person director for the Small Business
(01:58):
League of America, to talk about what is happening to
these small businesses during all this tenuous times and how
during these tenuous times we cannot lose track of our
small businesses. Bruce, thanks for joining the One Leg Up
Network with Alex Garrett today.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Thank you. Alex greed to meet too privilege And.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know I was recommended to you by Publiusts, so
shout out to them and their PR firm and the
great work they're doing. But you know you want to
comment on so many stories since the original pitch, so
much has gone on. So where do we start?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Because I had.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
John for the Elon Musk Trump disaster, and I know
you want to comment on that, But now we've got
the israel I ran war. But first and foremost all
these news stories do impact small businesses, don't.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
They absolutely not, least of which ALEX is something most
people don't know, or if they know, they don't know
how important it is. Which is this. Ninety nine point
nine percent of all businesses in America our small businesses,
and ninety eight percent have less than one hundred employees
(03:09):
they employ, or over half the workforce they create, up
to ninety eight percent of all new jobs. So, for
all intents and purposes, America is our small businesses. You
can't make America great unless you're trying to let our
small businesses be great. Don't get in their way at
(03:32):
the very least. And then anything that you can do
at the federal level to help and assist and encourage
our small our small our small businesses pays huge dividends.
That's the opportunity at our fingertips. And now what I'd
(03:53):
like to do is take a minute to describe the
major problem that we are in the business of posing
and trying to solve, which is going to take a movement.
We can't do it ourselves, okay, and then we can
apply this foundational stuff. I'll spell out ALEX to the
(04:15):
current events, to every aspect domestically and internationally, and tariffs
and war and everything else. All right, and here it
is twenty three percent of all federal contracts are supposed
to go to our small businesses. That's around three hundred
and forty five billion dollars in business every single year.
(04:40):
And unfortunately, the SBA Small Business Administration, which is responsible
for ensuring that this happens, lies to us and says
twenty three percent, twenty five percent, twenty six percent this year,
every year of our contracts of federal contracts went to
(05:04):
small businesses. How about a loan. Let's talk about the loans.
Let's talk about the loans, and how about a loan
and lay wauitch here.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Tell me the Small Busines Association only gave twenty three
percent of brands to actual small businesses. Is that what
I'm hearing here?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
No, I haven't explained it well. The law says that
twenty three percent of federal contracts are supposed to go
to small businesses. If small businesses got the twenty three
percent of the federal contracts that they're supposed to alex,
they would create two million new jobs every year to
(05:39):
do the work of those contracts. The big businesses who
get them. Unfortunately they're already big. They don't create one
new job. So this is an economic ripoff of epic proportions.
How do we know this, Well, our founder and president,
Lloyd Chapman, about forty years ago, Oh sued. I think
(06:04):
it was the Pentagon to find out what should have
been public information. Who were the small businesses? You say
you gave a portion of this particular contract too, way
back when they wouldn't tell them, And when it was
finally revealed in court because we won, Lloyd won, it
showed that the Pentagon had lied. They didn't meet whatever
(06:24):
the goal of that particular contract was. It can vary,
it's not necessarily twenty three percent in each and every contract,
but it wasn't the goal. They had lied. In fact,
in that particular case, something like one sixteenth of one
percent of the contract amount went to legitimate small businesses. Well,
this inspired Lloyd to sue again and again and again
(06:45):
to find the truth, and he has won over one
hundred freedom of information legal battles showing that routinely big
businesses get contracts and they're called small businessess they the
agencies that are worth these contracts don't reveal the companies
(07:06):
they gave the contracts to. All manner of obfruscation happens.
That lets the SBA every year lie and say that
twenty twenty five percent of federal contracts went to small
businesses and teams.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Under administrations or is this an administration? You know, it
doesn't matter who the office. This is always the thing.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
It's always the scene. It's always this thing, and it's
worse to under Republican administrations. Under Clinton and under Biden,
things were had better. But George W. Bush came in
and said, I want to close the SBA. This is
behind the scenes because no one publicly comes out and
(07:49):
says that. However, President Trump came in in twenty sixteen
first term, the SBA budget was at the lowest it
had ever been. He lowered it even more. Is the
only agency alex dedicated to America small businesses ninety nine
percent of all businesses in America. It's the only It
should be the They should have one of the biggest budgets.
(08:11):
It should have one of the biggest footprints, with offices
not only just in big cities, but in every big town, Sir,
and not just pushing loans to get us in debt,
but to emphasize and make easy the pursuit and the
awarding of federal contracts to small businesses. This was first
(08:33):
established in nineteen fifty three by the Small Business Act,
which created the SBA, and back then it said a
fair portion of federal contracts must go to small businesses.
And in the seventy years since then, it's been codified
in you know, on paper, it's got to be twenty
three percent of all federal contracts must go to small businesses. Now,
(08:56):
guess what what's happening under the new administration of Back
in March a couple things. The Department of Education was
declared going out of business. You know, the administrator wants
to close it. And the SBA, we were told couldn't
manage six hundred million dollars in loans under the SBA's
(09:20):
responsibility went to fraudulently to children and went to people
one hundred and fifteen years old, you know, and older.
Couldn't manage six hundred about six hundred million dollars in loans.
But we're going to give the SBA. Also, the staff
just got cut by forty three percent, which is going
to bring its budget down. So here's the SBA. It
(09:44):
can't manage six hundred million loans. We're going to shrink
its staff by forty three percent, but we're going to
give it the one point six trillion dollars student loan
portfolio from the Department of Education. Clearly, the SBA is
being set up to fail. Also that it's been announced
(10:05):
they're going to relocate offices out of some of the
biggest cities in America New York, Boston, Atlanta, and now
because of the riots in LA, we're going to punish
LA by relocating the SBA office out of LA. Well,
why isn't every other federal agency pulling out of LA
in protest to how the city is not a responsive
(10:27):
to the immigration policy.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And you know you mentioned in your in the pitches
that that was one of the hardest hardest businesses with
small businesses that were being looted, rioted, bricks thrown through
their window type of situation.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well, absolutely, and that is very specifically a law and
order issue. It has nothing to do with whether the
SBA office or it's got nothing to do with the
SBA having an office in LA closing it and telling
us you're going to relocate it is part of a
pattern of weakening an evisc serrating the SBA. We see
(11:02):
it being set up to fail for everything that I've described, Alex,
we will not be surprised if we soon hear you know,
it really was a mistake to burden the SBA with
the one point six trillion dollars student loan. Let's push
some of its functions or all of its functions into
the Department of Treasury or the Department of Commerce, and
(11:24):
like I say, lost in the fog of bureaucracy will
be the contracting program. Because it's not easy for small
businesses to find what contracts they could bid for or
learn how do you apply for a federal contract. This
is an economic stimulus at our fingertips if enough honest lawmakers, presidents,
(11:48):
and administrators of the SBA. Kelly Loffler Hello, took this
on and said this is unacceptable, and that's what we
exist to make known.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
All right, let me ask you this, because there were
a lot of SBA loans that got approved that might
have been fraudulent, and yet maybe more small business were
hurt by those fraudulent loans being approved, not their own.
So out of the American how did the ASBO step
in when the SBA couldn't for those small businesses during
that horrible time of COVID. Of course i'm talking about
(12:20):
and have you seen improvement for small business since then?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
No? And we don't focus on anything except spreading the
word Alex about the contracts that are not going to
small businesses. If the SBA, okay, is the Titanic, the
whole for our small businesses or our economy is the Titanic.
The hole in it that we want fixed is the
(12:47):
fact that three hundred and forty five billion dollars in
business is not going to our small businesses that should
whereby we would create two million new jobs. And I'm
going to get back to your question. On top of
the two million jobs at America typically creates every single year,
this would create an economic boom of epic proportions. What
(13:11):
the SBA does about is loans. What causes everything else
that causes small businesses to struggle, and it's legion. There's
tons that are pressing on small businesses, that are raising costs,
that are making it harder and harder. And COVID was
a catastrophe and it's hard to imagine that it was
(13:33):
anything but intentional for the big box stores to stay open,
for the online stores to stay open, for liquor stores
to stay open, but millions of mom and pop and
small businesses close their doors. I understand a lot of
them came back, but I also understand that a lot
of them didn't. And everything about technology, all trends are squeezing,
(13:56):
as we see it, small businesses out of existence. Even
the convenience of ordering online and having things shipped to us,
even working from home, working remotely, all kinds of things
are pressuring small businesses in a really dangerous but worse
outrageous way because it's being done criminally right now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You know, one of my biggest examples I've solved this
was Coogan's restaurant in the Bronx, not to borrow from
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital was closed down. Meanwhile the Starbucks
and the McDonald's are all open. And it's like, this
is the picture right here of the small business struggling
while the big businesses could get that leg up if
you will, And we exist to give that small business
(14:38):
another leg up because they need it. And the excuse
we heard the whole time, Bruce was while small businesses
aren't catching up to the big business Then.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Help them catch up to them. That's what I'm saying,
don't close them, especially since ninety nine point nine or
small businesses that means one tenth of one percent or
big businesses NFO about half the workforce works and small businesses.
Why are we steering ninety seven percent of federal contracts
(15:06):
to the one tenth of one percent of businesses that
are huge businesses. It's clearly an intentional suffocating strangulation, squeezing
out of existence our small businesses, which then puts on
the table the logic or the appeal of something as
anti human and un American as UBI universal Basic income. Now,
(15:30):
this is my personal opinion. You're not going to find
these kind of conversations on our website. On our website
asbo dot com shameless plug, you'll find this account, this
report I'm telling you about the contracts that should go
to small businesses that are not, and tons of documentation
to prove these controversial claims. Because if you search Google
(15:52):
or you search the new sites, they're going to repeat
the lie that, oh, every year, twenty three percent or
more of federal contracts go to small businesses. Everything's fine,
how about a loan. Let's talk about a loan. They
really want you to think. If you ask most people
what does the SBA do, they would say loans, right, yeah, loans, Oh,
and maybe some coaching, Oh, how to start a business,
(16:13):
how to launch a business, how to scale, how to
use AI, maybe some sales in marketing. Buried is this
enormous economic stimulus intention which is twenty three percent of
now A couple of things to discover waste fraud and
abuse because you know mentioned, you know, the Trump Musk
(16:34):
and all these other things that affect small business over
the last few.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Months, and these DOGE situations are not helping small businesses, right.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Or are they No, they're not. And most egregiously, it's
like a magic trick. You know, I'm waving a handkerchief here,
that's DOGE. But with the other hand, I'm picking your pocket.
And by that analogy, I mean this. If President Trump,
Elon Musk was or DOGE is serious about finding waste
(17:03):
fraud and abuse, they would target one agency, the Department
of Defense, which anyone could google and find. In the
last twenty five years or so, it has admitted up
to thirty five trillion dollars in accounting adjustments, which really
means money. We can't account for thirty five trillion dollars.
(17:31):
But you're going to shrink the SBA because you think
it's got some fraud, waste and abuse going on there
with a measy little budget of less than a billion
dollars a year. And worse, the Pentagon, just we just
got told, is going to have its budget increase from
now on. Its annual budget is going to be a
trillion dollars a year. And here's other huge things people
(17:55):
need to know. The federal government is the largest perch
serve goods and services on the planet, the United States
federal government. Okay, and half of the budget goes two
or four the Pentagon. So now anyone of a certain
ager who has read a little history, alex can see
(18:18):
g In nineteen sixty one, outgoing President Eisenhower, in a
national farewell address, warned us about the military industrial complex,
this unusual and unprecedented combination of a huge armaments industry
and a huge military presence and organization. He said, it's
(18:41):
necessary at the time because of the Cold War, but
we must never let it have undue influence. Whack they
take out President Kennedy, who was moving toward peace, who
was talking about ending the Cold War in nineteen sixty three,
who was talking about not just arms control, but disarmament
(19:05):
regularly in his three years. President Kennedy reminded the American
people and the press and and interviews and in press conferences, well,
as you know, since the nineteen twenties, our goal is
general and complete disarmament. He's the last president Alex who
ever said those words nineteen sixty three, and since then
(19:29):
we can see all kinds of Bologney conflicts, wars, attacks,
and destruction of foreign countries that we have implemented. And
this is Bruce's personal observation, not necessarily the Asbl's, although
I'm sure you know Lloyd, our president, would have no
argument with what I'm saying. It's all to maintain the
(19:55):
money flowing to the companies and the institutions and the
people els who make big money because of our gigantic
and unnecessary military. If the world seems like a dangerous place,
much of that is a result of the propaganda and
the money influence into the media to demonize whomever it
(20:18):
takes in order for you to think, gee, people are
about to attack, attack us decade after decade after decade. Therefore,
we have to keep pouring more and more money into
this gigantic and unnecessary military that makes the world a
more dangerous place and destroys the lives of the people
(20:39):
we decide to attack and propose a boloney reason as
to why we should attack them and why they're dangerous.
So the Pentagon is really at the heart of sucking
up and vacuuming and capturing the vast majority of federal contracts.
And meanwhile, Americans have to work two or three jobs
and struggle to keep the lights on and struggle to
(21:01):
be able to buy enough napkins and straws and salt
and pepper for their little restaurants.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I always say, think troops, but I also get
where you're coming from as well, that you know, there's
so much money that goes into it. But but the
you know, small businesses do good like looked over a lot,
you know, overlooked a lot. I guess I'm trying to say, so,
where does the ASBL, you know, aside from all of that,
where does the ASBL come in and support small businesses
(21:27):
that are truly in need? And I also mean legally
because you know, a lot of small businesses seem to
get punished for the littlest things and whatnot. Maybe I'm
wrong on that, but it seems like if you're gonna,
you know, arrest someone, it's usually a small business owner
over somebody else. So does the ASBO protect not only
financially but legally as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, We're we're an advocacy group that, like I say,
if you go when you when people go to ASBO
dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, also, is that is that correct that sometimes small
business owners do get arrested for like No, you know,
the small business that punish more than the regular big
businesses don't.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I haven't looked into that, so I have no opinion
about that, Alex. I take your word for it. It
sounds like you're speaking from an impression based on real
examples that you've heard regularly over time. So it has
reinforced to something that sounds like a conviction on your part,
and that would be fascinating. I'll put it this way.
I wouldn't be surprised, okay, knowing the grip and the
(22:24):
influence on not only our media and laws and legislation
in Washington, but certainly maybe down to the local law
enforcement on the street, or maybe it's coincidental, because where
does crime happen. You know, it happens on the street.
It happens. You know. It's enough to know that there
(22:47):
was a great intention on the books, this fair amount,
and now it's become twenty three percent of federal contracts.
And we could talk about, you know, President Trump and
the tariffs over the last and the trade deals and
things like that, eight deficits over the last few months.
And I also wouldn't mind talking about a nuance inside
the twenty three percent goal to small businesses, since ninety
(23:11):
nine point nine percent of all businesses or small businesses
is twenty three percent? The most fair amount of federal
contracts that should go to small businesses? Should it be
thirty percent? Now dig this. Here's our favorite drum de bang.
It's the fact that on the books, women own businesses
(23:32):
are supposed to get only five percent of federal contracts.
Full stop, screeching, halt alex. Women are half the population,
they own forty two percent of all businesses. Why should men?
(23:53):
For decades, companies owned by men get over ninety five
percent of all federal contracts. So we've got a short
list of fixes that we are actively emailing and calling
(24:13):
the members of the House Small Business Committee, the Senate
Small Business Committee. Plus we've made lists of hundreds of
people alex who are running for Congress next year, both
for the House and for the Senate, and we send
them a letter from me that says, hey, twenty three
percent is supposed to go to small businesses. They're not.
(24:34):
And worse, women are half the population, they own forty
two percent of the business, they're only getting five among
We tell these people in this letter, you will win
because elections are won by a handful of percentage points. Okay,
women and fair minded men will vote for you if
you run. To do a few things. Expose the fraud
(24:57):
that small business contracts are going to big businesses, said
another way, that big businesses are being called small businesses
for the sake of getting contracts that they really really
shouldn't get. Also, raise the requirement from five to fifteen
percent a federal contract should go to women, and make
(25:20):
the remainder fifteen percent go to companies owned by men,
so that the total comes up to simply thirty percent
of federal contracts must go to small businesses. And then
there's a couple other points. I want to give you
a chance to ask a question instead of being a
mic hogue.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
No, no, this is this fascinatings up because I love
what you're doing with your project. Don't cheat women or yeah,
don't treat women as the project. And congrats on all
this advocacy that you're doing. I can tell you're passionate
about fighting for those small business owners that are looking
back a seat to the table and looking for that
one leg up because look, they work so hard. Why
(25:59):
should we eat them?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Men and women?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
But you know, I get the women being able to
Why should we cheat any of these people? Because they've
built a business and.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
They need to be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That's the whole American spirit is rolling up your sleeves
and doing something instead of just sitting back on your
iPhone and scrolling the whole day Anyway, I go on
and on, but as you can have small business is
a passion because I want to see all of them succeed.
And I feel like you guys are helping them absolutely.
And you know the senators that you're probably writing to
probably have on their platform they want to help small businesses, Well,
(26:30):
then actually help small business right.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Right, instead of just giving us lip service, you know,
and a couple of the things we're telling them is
run on those things, but also run to change the
definition of a small business right now, quote unquote officially
it's five hundred or less employees. Okay, we think that's
too big. Up until the nineteen eighties, the definition of
a small business was up to one hundred employees. Ninety
(26:55):
eight percent of all businesses have less than one hundred employee.
The average business in America has somewhere between four and
ten employees. That's it. But because of decades of corruption
and big money being made by these big corporations, plus
(27:18):
the revolving door of the agencies loving to give the contracts,
especially the Pentagon, to giant corporations, they groom contract officers
who actually kind of cut corners and let the Pentagon
(27:39):
get some advantages maybe you know, lower prices or whatever,
and also be called or codified as small businesses. And
after twenty years at a company as a contracting officer,
they'll move into a leadership position at the agency. So
it's there's a decade of momentum that are causing the
(28:03):
capture of these contracts by the biggest corporations, and the
complete ignoring of steering this economic boom and this business
into our small businesses. And there's a couple other things
that So when we send these letters out to the candidates, hey,
let us know if you'd like to talk about these things,
many of them are saying, tell me more. So then
(28:24):
I write back and say, well, I'd love to record
a zoom conversation with you as an episode on our podcast.
It'll the first half will be all about you and
why you're running for office, and the second half will
be me telling you everything I can about this problem
and encouraging you to run on it because we want
to see by next year the midterms. Alex twenty thirty
(28:48):
forty fifty candidates running on this platform a pro small business.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I'm getting, folks, because I see now right on your
page you've got candidates for twenty twenty six the page
in different areas of the country, right, So these are
different races that you guys are highlighting through your podcast.
So kudos to you guys for doing that, and you know,
putting the pedal of the metal, as they say, with
these different edits, And what have they been telling you anything?
(29:14):
That's fascinating, eye opening.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Or well, they they're often blown away by the scam
I'm exposing. You know that big businesses get small business
contracts there many of them are blown away by the
fact that ninety nine point nine percent or of all
businesses are small businesses. Most folks don't know that because
(29:36):
look at the brainwashing and the propaganda we're up against.
You watch the nightly news or mainstream feeds every day
of your life since the day you were born. You
think the economy and the news and Wall Street and
job creation is by the Amazon and Google and Walmart
and you know, the most giant companies. You never hear
(30:00):
small businesses. It's a shock to know even though you
work for small business or you own one, you've got
a cringe factor because you know how hard it is
to survive, and you're not being talked about. Whereas you
can't make America great unless you make our small businesses great.
You're not even talking about America if you're not talking
about our small businesses. You're talking about the rich companies
(30:24):
and institutions and legacy families that have captured America. There's
five hundred and thirty five members of Congress. Between the
House and the Senate, there's something like thirteen thousand registered
lobbyists whose full time job is to arm twist. The
special issuers who armed twists are legislators and the department
(30:46):
heads and our politicians and our leaders to serve the
one tenth of one percent who are rich by.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
We're going to continue this on another episode because I feel, yeah,
a lot of talk about but before we rep up
on today's show, I want to get you repped up
on the tariffs because we all though, look, I'm in
favor of in some form of way, you know, making
sure if they're going to tear of us high we
we balance it out. However, we can also say it's
not helping small businesses with these tariffs. So I'm sure
(31:13):
you'll want to say about that before we wrap up today.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, I can. I can briefly say this. It seems
almost uh, haphazardly implemented. It's it's too uh, it's gonna
I don't want to insult what you just said. I
have to say this, right, it's too simple to say, well,
because they've got high tariffs on us, we're just going
(31:38):
to raise our tariffs. Because you see the destruction. Do
you see the harmon it's doing. It's just raising costs
if and but it's supposedly going to help us reindustrialize
and bring our manufacturing back. WHOA. That would take such
long term planning, that would take such an investment in
rebuilding our infrastructure, that would take training and pushing out
(32:02):
new technology of manufacturing to all the factories that have
closed to bring our manufacturing back to the point where
we could afford to raise tariffs. You have to have
the horse before the cart. So this looks like political
grand standing. It might be just chest thumping and ego
boosting on that surface measure. Oh you're tariffing me high,
(32:23):
I'm going to tariff you high. That's looking at it
from the president's point of view. And the last thing
I'll say about tariff's alex is that they are a
very powerful component of an economic program that works. It's
called the American system of economics. It's what Alexander Hamilton
(32:45):
persuaded George Washington to implement. It's the policy of the
nationalists who fought the American Revolution so we could break
free of England's colonial, exploitive, tyrannical slaveocracy. Okay, the economics
of empire don't want other nations to become economically strong
(33:10):
so that they could become militarily strong. Okay. And in
the United States, nationalists fought back with economics, including tariffs,
an easily available credit, so that we could develop our
domestic manufacturing, a domestic economy where we buy and sell
and get rich among ourselves, so we could have a
(33:32):
military that's strong enough and be an independent, sovereign nation.
And it was fought every step of the way by
traders who were serving and still serve London's British empire
economic view of raping and pillaging as much of the
world as possible and keep people poor so they can't
(33:53):
develop their own manufacturing, their own economies, their own military,
and become you know, sovereign and independent. And that is
the huge battle of mankind for the last three hundred years.
And one could argue, and one does. And I could
tell you the history books to read that the evil
(34:15):
forces of Empire, represented well by London in the city
of the Bank of London, recaptured the United States during
and after World War Two. Kennedy stood up to a
little bit. But now we are enmeshed and now it's
called free trade and globalization. It's nothing but the economics
of empire and exploitation. Is a great book called Confessions
(34:36):
of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. I recommend everybody
read to cut into the heart of this. And one
more book it's called Who We Are by Anton chait
kinh Ai t ki n Volumes one and two.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Well, why did I investigate that? And thank you for
your time. But the money question I have for you
today is the asbl insure that every day is not
it is Small Business Saturday for Americans of small businesses,
meaning you know, we celebrate it once a year. How
do you guys make sure it's celebrated every day and
honored every day by helping out the small businesses?
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thirty second answer, it's by teaching everybody that ninety nine
point nine percent of all businesses in America are small businesses.
When you buy from a small business, support a small business,
you are doing the single greatest thing to keep your
community viable, with the highest standard of living in life possible,
(35:41):
for the safety of your kids on the streets and
at school, for having enough money in the coffers to
keep the potholes filled, and to keep things clean and
nice and all the good things of life.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Bruce de Torrez a very informative conversation. Thank you for
joining us tonight here on the One That Got Network,
and I want to play your cut one more time
where you made this statement about how important small business
is to America.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You can't make America great unless you make our small
businesses great.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That should be played on every reel, not only on
Small Business Saturday, but every day. And we have arranged
to have Bruce on again later in July. Can't wait
for that. And thanks as always for listening to the
One Leg Up Network. I'm Alex Garrett
Here's your host, Alex Garrett.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, well you're on Alex Garrett's one leg of network.
So many thoughts going into this podcast tonight. Obviously we're
following the us I RAN situation, but I want to
actually put that aside for a second because I found
out the MTA, who knows you know, has the lar
Cares program where you can have services for those disabilities
(00:29):
and accommodations needed at any train station in the branches
are available for accommodation of arriving trains and actually trains
that come into the station. They can help you get
on and off as well. Found out yesterday that that
LR care program does not work after ten pm. So
(00:51):
every day this week, no matter what I'm talking about,
I'm going to say this right off the bat, disabled
people live life after dark. After ten we are still
out and about and I would love to see changes
at the MTA and the LR to address this need
for helping out people with disabilities after ten pm. I'm
(01:12):
going to say that every day this week at least,
and we'll keep you posting and see if there's any
developments with the MTA to solve this issue of the
lack of care and lack of lar our care after
ten pm. Can't wait to start a dialogue with the
MTA on this and go further and enhance the point
(01:33):
and hit home the point that people with disabilities have
lives after dark after ten pm. Now today, in an
interview that just just breaks the surface on how important
small businesses are to America, I want to welcome Bruce
de Torres, the communications person director for the Small Business
(01:58):
League of America, to talk about what is happening to
these small businesses during all this tenuous times and how
during these tenuous times we cannot lose track of our
small businesses. Bruce, thanks for joining the One Leg Up
Network with Alex Garrett today.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Thank you. Alex greed to meet too privilege And.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know I was recommended to you by Publiusts, so
shout out to them and their PR firm and the
great work they're doing. But you know you want to
comment on so many stories since the original pitch, so
much has gone on. So where do we start?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Because I had.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
John for the Elon Musk Trump disaster, and I know
you want to comment on that, But now we've got
the israel I ran war. But first and foremost all
these news stories do impact small businesses, don't.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
They absolutely not, least of which ALEX is something most
people don't know, or if they know, they don't know
how important it is. Which is this. Ninety nine point
nine percent of all businesses in America our small businesses,
and ninety eight percent have less than one hundred employees
(03:09):
they employ, or over half the workforce they create, up
to ninety eight percent of all new jobs. So, for
all intents and purposes, America is our small businesses. You
can't make America great unless you're trying to let our
small businesses be great. Don't get in their way at
(03:32):
the very least. And then anything that you can do
at the federal level to help and assist and encourage
our small our small our small businesses pays huge dividends.
That's the opportunity at our fingertips. And now what I'd
(03:53):
like to do is take a minute to describe the
major problem that we are in the business of posing
and trying to solve, which is going to take a movement.
We can't do it ourselves, okay, and then we can
apply this foundational stuff. I'll spell out ALEX to the
(04:15):
current events, to every aspect domestically and internationally, and tariffs
and war and everything else. All right, and here it
is twenty three percent of all federal contracts are supposed
to go to our small businesses. That's around three hundred
and forty five billion dollars in business every single year.
(04:40):
And unfortunately, the SBA Small Business Administration, which is responsible
for ensuring that this happens, lies to us and says
twenty three percent, twenty five percent, twenty six percent this year,
every year of our contracts of federal contracts went to
(05:04):
small businesses. How about a loan. Let's talk about the loans.
Let's talk about the loans, and how about a loan
and lay wauitch here.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Tell me the Small Busines Association only gave twenty three
percent of brands to actual small businesses. Is that what
I'm hearing here?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
No, I haven't explained it well. The law says that
twenty three percent of federal contracts are supposed to go
to small businesses. If small businesses got the twenty three
percent of the federal contracts that they're supposed to alex,
they would create two million new jobs every year to
(05:39):
do the work of those contracts. The big businesses who
get them. Unfortunately they're already big. They don't create one
new job. So this is an economic ripoff of epic proportions.
How do we know this, Well, our founder and president,
Lloyd Chapman, about forty years ago, Oh sued. I think
(06:04):
it was the Pentagon to find out what should have
been public information. Who were the small businesses? You say
you gave a portion of this particular contract too, way
back when they wouldn't tell them, And when it was
finally revealed in court because we won, Lloyd won, it
showed that the Pentagon had lied. They didn't meet whatever
(06:24):
the goal of that particular contract was. It can vary,
it's not necessarily twenty three percent in each and every contract,
but it wasn't the goal. They had lied. In fact,
in that particular case, something like one sixteenth of one
percent of the contract amount went to legitimate small businesses. Well,
this inspired Lloyd to sue again and again and again
(06:45):
to find the truth, and he has won over one
hundred freedom of information legal battles showing that routinely big
businesses get contracts and they're called small businessess they the
agencies that are worth these contracts don't reveal the companies
(07:06):
they gave the contracts to. All manner of obfruscation happens.
That lets the SBA every year lie and say that
twenty twenty five percent of federal contracts went to small
businesses and teams.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Under administrations or is this an administration? You know, it
doesn't matter who the office. This is always the thing.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
It's always the scene. It's always this thing, and it's
worse to under Republican administrations. Under Clinton and under Biden,
things were had better. But George W. Bush came in
and said, I want to close the SBA. This is
behind the scenes because no one publicly comes out and
(07:49):
says that. However, President Trump came in in twenty sixteen
first term, the SBA budget was at the lowest it
had ever been. He lowered it even more. Is the
only agency alex dedicated to America small businesses ninety nine
percent of all businesses in America. It's the only It
should be the They should have one of the biggest budgets.
(08:11):
It should have one of the biggest footprints, with offices
not only just in big cities, but in every big town, Sir,
and not just pushing loans to get us in debt,
but to emphasize and make easy the pursuit and the
awarding of federal contracts to small businesses. This was first
(08:33):
established in nineteen fifty three by the Small Business Act,
which created the SBA, and back then it said a
fair portion of federal contracts must go to small businesses.
And in the seventy years since then, it's been codified
in you know, on paper, it's got to be twenty
three percent of all federal contracts must go to small businesses. Now,
(08:56):
guess what what's happening under the new administration of Back
in March a couple things. The Department of Education was
declared going out of business. You know, the administrator wants
to close it. And the SBA, we were told couldn't
manage six hundred million dollars in loans under the SBA's
(09:20):
responsibility went to fraudulently to children and went to people
one hundred and fifteen years old, you know, and older.
Couldn't manage six hundred about six hundred million dollars in loans.
But we're going to give the SBA. Also, the staff
just got cut by forty three percent, which is going
to bring its budget down. So here's the SBA. It
(09:44):
can't manage six hundred million loans. We're going to shrink
its staff by forty three percent, but we're going to
give it the one point six trillion dollars student loan
portfolio from the Department of Education. Clearly, the SBA is
being set up to fail. Also that it's been announced
(10:05):
they're going to relocate offices out of some of the
biggest cities in America New York, Boston, Atlanta, and now
because of the riots in LA, we're going to punish
LA by relocating the SBA office out of LA. Well,
why isn't every other federal agency pulling out of LA
in protest to how the city is not a responsive
(10:27):
to the immigration policy.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And you know you mentioned in your in the pitches
that that was one of the hardest hardest businesses with
small businesses that were being looted, rioted, bricks thrown through
their window type of situation.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well, absolutely, and that is very specifically a law and
order issue. It has nothing to do with whether the
SBA office or it's got nothing to do with the
SBA having an office in LA closing it and telling
us you're going to relocate it is part of a
pattern of weakening an evisc serrating the SBA. We see
(11:02):
it being set up to fail for everything that I've described, Alex,
we will not be surprised if we soon hear you know,
it really was a mistake to burden the SBA with
the one point six trillion dollars student loan. Let's push
some of its functions or all of its functions into
the Department of Treasury or the Department of Commerce, and
(11:24):
like I say, lost in the fog of bureaucracy will
be the contracting program. Because it's not easy for small
businesses to find what contracts they could bid for or
learn how do you apply for a federal contract. This
is an economic stimulus at our fingertips if enough honest lawmakers, presidents,
(11:48):
and administrators of the SBA. Kelly Loffler Hello, took this
on and said this is unacceptable, and that's what we
exist to make known.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
All right, let me ask you this, because there were
a lot of SBA loans that got approved that might
have been fraudulent, and yet maybe more small business were
hurt by those fraudulent loans being approved, not their own.
So out of the American how did the ASBO step
in when the SBA couldn't for those small businesses during
that horrible time of COVID. Of course i'm talking about
(12:20):
and have you seen improvement for small business since then?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
No? And we don't focus on anything except spreading the
word Alex about the contracts that are not going to
small businesses. If the SBA, okay, is the Titanic, the
whole for our small businesses or our economy is the Titanic.
The hole in it that we want fixed is the
(12:47):
fact that three hundred and forty five billion dollars in
business is not going to our small businesses that should
whereby we would create two million new jobs. And I'm
going to get back to your question. On top of
the two million jobs at America typically creates every single year,
this would create an economic boom of epic proportions. What
(13:11):
the SBA does about is loans. What causes everything else
that causes small businesses to struggle, and it's legion. There's
tons that are pressing on small businesses, that are raising costs,
that are making it harder and harder. And COVID was
a catastrophe and it's hard to imagine that it was
(13:33):
anything but intentional for the big box stores to stay open,
for the online stores to stay open, for liquor stores
to stay open, but millions of mom and pop and
small businesses close their doors. I understand a lot of
them came back, but I also understand that a lot
of them didn't. And everything about technology, all trends are squeezing,
(13:56):
as we see it, small businesses out of existence. Even
the convenience of ordering online and having things shipped to us,
even working from home, working remotely, all kinds of things
are pressuring small businesses in a really dangerous but worse
outrageous way because it's being done criminally right now.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You know, one of my biggest examples I've solved this
was Coogan's restaurant in the Bronx, not to borrow from
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital was closed down. Meanwhile the Starbucks
and the McDonald's are all open. And it's like, this
is the picture right here of the small business struggling
while the big businesses could get that leg up if
you will, And we exist to give that small business
(14:38):
another leg up because they need it. And the excuse
we heard the whole time, Bruce was while small businesses
aren't catching up to the big business Then.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Help them catch up to them. That's what I'm saying,
don't close them, especially since ninety nine point nine or
small businesses that means one tenth of one percent or
big businesses NFO about half the workforce works and small businesses.
Why are we steering ninety seven percent of federal contracts
(15:06):
to the one tenth of one percent of businesses that
are huge businesses. It's clearly an intentional suffocating strangulation, squeezing
out of existence our small businesses, which then puts on
the table the logic or the appeal of something as
anti human and un American as UBI universal Basic income. Now,
(15:30):
this is my personal opinion. You're not going to find
these kind of conversations on our website. On our website
asbo dot com shameless plug, you'll find this account, this
report I'm telling you about the contracts that should go
to small businesses that are not, and tons of documentation
to prove these controversial claims. Because if you search Google
(15:52):
or you search the new sites, they're going to repeat
the lie that, oh, every year, twenty three percent or
more of federal contracts go to small businesses. Everything's fine,
how about a loan. Let's talk about a loan. They
really want you to think. If you ask most people
what does the SBA do, they would say loans, right, yeah, loans, Oh,
and maybe some coaching, Oh, how to start a business,
(16:13):
how to launch a business, how to scale, how to
use AI, maybe some sales in marketing. Buried is this
enormous economic stimulus intention which is twenty three percent of
now A couple of things to discover waste fraud and
abuse because you know mentioned, you know, the Trump Musk
(16:34):
and all these other things that affect small business over
the last few.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Months, and these DOGE situations are not helping small businesses, right.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Or are they No, they're not. And most egregiously, it's
like a magic trick. You know, I'm waving a handkerchief here,
that's DOGE. But with the other hand, I'm picking your pocket.
And by that analogy, I mean this. If President Trump,
Elon Musk was or DOGE is serious about finding waste
(17:03):
fraud and abuse, they would target one agency, the Department
of Defense, which anyone could google and find. In the
last twenty five years or so, it has admitted up
to thirty five trillion dollars in accounting adjustments, which really
means money. We can't account for thirty five trillion dollars.
(17:31):
But you're going to shrink the SBA because you think
it's got some fraud, waste and abuse going on there
with a measy little budget of less than a billion
dollars a year. And worse, the Pentagon, just we just
got told, is going to have its budget increase from
now on. Its annual budget is going to be a
trillion dollars a year. And here's other huge things people
(17:55):
need to know. The federal government is the largest perch
serve goods and services on the planet, the United States
federal government. Okay, and half of the budget goes two
or four the Pentagon. So now anyone of a certain
ager who has read a little history, alex can see
(18:18):
g In nineteen sixty one, outgoing President Eisenhower, in a
national farewell address, warned us about the military industrial complex,
this unusual and unprecedented combination of a huge armaments industry
and a huge military presence and organization. He said, it's
(18:41):
necessary at the time because of the Cold War, but
we must never let it have undue influence. Whack they
take out President Kennedy, who was moving toward peace, who
was talking about ending the Cold War in nineteen sixty three,
who was talking about not just arms control, but disarmament
(19:05):
regularly in his three years. President Kennedy reminded the American
people and the press and and interviews and in press conferences, well,
as you know, since the nineteen twenties, our goal is
general and complete disarmament. He's the last president Alex who
ever said those words nineteen sixty three, and since then
(19:29):
we can see all kinds of Bologney conflicts, wars, attacks,
and destruction of foreign countries that we have implemented. And
this is Bruce's personal observation, not necessarily the Asbl's, although
I'm sure you know Lloyd, our president, would have no
argument with what I'm saying. It's all to maintain the
(19:55):
money flowing to the companies and the institutions and the
people els who make big money because of our gigantic
and unnecessary military. If the world seems like a dangerous place,
much of that is a result of the propaganda and
the money influence into the media to demonize whomever it
(20:18):
takes in order for you to think, gee, people are
about to attack, attack us decade after decade after decade. Therefore,
we have to keep pouring more and more money into
this gigantic and unnecessary military that makes the world a
more dangerous place and destroys the lives of the people
(20:39):
we decide to attack and propose a boloney reason as
to why we should attack them and why they're dangerous.
So the Pentagon is really at the heart of sucking
up and vacuuming and capturing the vast majority of federal contracts.
And meanwhile, Americans have to work two or three jobs
and struggle to keep the lights on and struggle to
(21:01):
be able to buy enough napkins and straws and salt
and pepper for their little restaurants.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I always say, think troops, but I also get
where you're coming from as well, that you know, there's
so much money that goes into it. But but the
you know, small businesses do good like looked over a lot,
you know, overlooked a lot. I guess I'm trying to say, so,
where does the ASBL, you know, aside from all of that,
where does the ASBL come in and support small businesses
(21:27):
that are truly in need? And I also mean legally
because you know, a lot of small businesses seem to
get punished for the littlest things and whatnot. Maybe I'm
wrong on that, but it seems like if you're gonna,
you know, arrest someone, it's usually a small business owner
over somebody else. So does the ASBO protect not only
financially but legally as well.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, We're we're an advocacy group that, like I say,
if you go when you when people go to ASBO
dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, also, is that is that correct that sometimes small
business owners do get arrested for like No, you know,
the small business that punish more than the regular big
businesses don't.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I haven't looked into that, so I have no opinion
about that, Alex. I take your word for it. It
sounds like you're speaking from an impression based on real
examples that you've heard regularly over time. So it has
reinforced to something that sounds like a conviction on your part,
and that would be fascinating. I'll put it this way.
I wouldn't be surprised, okay, knowing the grip and the
(22:24):
influence on not only our media and laws and legislation
in Washington, but certainly maybe down to the local law
enforcement on the street, or maybe it's coincidental, because where
does crime happen. You know, it happens on the street.
It happens. You know. It's enough to know that there
(22:47):
was a great intention on the books, this fair amount,
and now it's become twenty three percent of federal contracts.
And we could talk about, you know, President Trump and
the tariffs over the last and the trade deals and
things like that, eight deficits over the last few months.
And I also wouldn't mind talking about a nuance inside
the twenty three percent goal to small businesses, since ninety
(23:11):
nine point nine percent of all businesses or small businesses
is twenty three percent? The most fair amount of federal
contracts that should go to small businesses? Should it be
thirty percent? Now dig this. Here's our favorite drum de bang.
It's the fact that on the books, women own businesses
(23:32):
are supposed to get only five percent of federal contracts.
Full stop, screeching, halt alex. Women are half the population,
they own forty two percent of all businesses. Why should men?
(23:53):
For decades, companies owned by men get over ninety five
percent of all federal contracts. So we've got a short
list of fixes that we are actively emailing and calling
(24:13):
the members of the House Small Business Committee, the Senate
Small Business Committee. Plus we've made lists of hundreds of
people alex who are running for Congress next year, both
for the House and for the Senate, and we send
them a letter from me that says, hey, twenty three
percent is supposed to go to small businesses. They're not.
(24:34):
And worse, women are half the population, they own forty
two percent of the business, they're only getting five among
We tell these people in this letter, you will win
because elections are won by a handful of percentage points. Okay,
women and fair minded men will vote for you if
you run. To do a few things. Expose the fraud
(24:57):
that small business contracts are going to big businesses, said
another way, that big businesses are being called small businesses
for the sake of getting contracts that they really really
shouldn't get. Also, raise the requirement from five to fifteen
percent a federal contract should go to women, and make
(25:20):
the remainder fifteen percent go to companies owned by men,
so that the total comes up to simply thirty percent
of federal contracts must go to small businesses. And then
there's a couple other points. I want to give you
a chance to ask a question instead of being a
mic hogue.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
No, no, this is this fascinatings up because I love
what you're doing with your project. Don't cheat women or yeah,
don't treat women as the project. And congrats on all
this advocacy that you're doing. I can tell you're passionate
about fighting for those small business owners that are looking
back a seat to the table and looking for that
one leg up because look, they work so hard. Why
(25:59):
should we eat them?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Men and women?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
But you know, I get the women being able to
Why should we cheat any of these people? Because they've
built a business and.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
They need to be rewarded.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
That's the whole American spirit is rolling up your sleeves
and doing something instead of just sitting back on your
iPhone and scrolling the whole day Anyway, I go on
and on, but as you can have small business is
a passion because I want to see all of them succeed.
And I feel like you guys are helping them absolutely.
And you know the senators that you're probably writing to
probably have on their platform they want to help small businesses, Well,
(26:30):
then actually help small business right.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Right, instead of just giving us lip service, you know,
and a couple of the things we're telling them is
run on those things, but also run to change the
definition of a small business right now, quote unquote officially
it's five hundred or less employees. Okay, we think that's
too big. Up until the nineteen eighties, the definition of
a small business was up to one hundred employees. Ninety
(26:55):
eight percent of all businesses have less than one hundred employee.
The average business in America has somewhere between four and
ten employees. That's it. But because of decades of corruption
and big money being made by these big corporations, plus
(27:18):
the revolving door of the agencies loving to give the contracts,
especially the Pentagon, to giant corporations, they groom contract officers
who actually kind of cut corners and let the Pentagon
(27:39):
get some advantages maybe you know, lower prices or whatever,
and also be called or codified as small businesses. And
after twenty years at a company as a contracting officer,
they'll move into a leadership position at the agency. So
it's there's a decade of momentum that are causing the
(28:03):
capture of these contracts by the biggest corporations, and the
complete ignoring of steering this economic boom and this business
into our small businesses. And there's a couple other things
that So when we send these letters out to the candidates, hey,
let us know if you'd like to talk about these things,
many of them are saying, tell me more. So then
(28:24):
I write back and say, well, I'd love to record
a zoom conversation with you as an episode on our podcast.
It'll the first half will be all about you and
why you're running for office, and the second half will
be me telling you everything I can about this problem
and encouraging you to run on it because we want
to see by next year the midterms. Alex twenty thirty
(28:48):
forty fifty candidates running on this platform a pro small business.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I'm getting, folks, because I see now right on your
page you've got candidates for twenty twenty six the page
in different areas of the country, right, So these are
different races that you guys are highlighting through your podcast.
So kudos to you guys for doing that, and you know,
putting the pedal of the metal, as they say, with
these different edits, And what have they been telling you anything?
(29:14):
That's fascinating, eye opening.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Or well, they they're often blown away by the scam
I'm exposing. You know that big businesses get small business
contracts there many of them are blown away by the
fact that ninety nine point nine percent or of all
businesses are small businesses. Most folks don't know that because
(29:36):
look at the brainwashing and the propaganda we're up against.
You watch the nightly news or mainstream feeds every day
of your life since the day you were born. You
think the economy and the news and Wall Street and
job creation is by the Amazon and Google and Walmart
and you know, the most giant companies. You never hear
(30:00):
small businesses. It's a shock to know even though you
work for small business or you own one, you've got
a cringe factor because you know how hard it is
to survive, and you're not being talked about. Whereas you
can't make America great unless you make our small businesses great.
You're not even talking about America if you're not talking
about our small businesses. You're talking about the rich companies
(30:24):
and institutions and legacy families that have captured America. There's
five hundred and thirty five members of Congress. Between the
House and the Senate, there's something like thirteen thousand registered
lobbyists whose full time job is to arm twist. The
special issuers who armed twists are legislators and the department
(30:46):
heads and our politicians and our leaders to serve the
one tenth of one percent who are rich by.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
We're going to continue this on another episode because I feel, yeah,
a lot of talk about but before we rep up
on today's show, I want to get you repped up
on the tariffs because we all though, look, I'm in
favor of in some form of way, you know, making
sure if they're going to tear of us high we
we balance it out. However, we can also say it's
not helping small businesses with these tariffs. So I'm sure
(31:13):
you'll want to say about that before we wrap up today.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, I can. I can briefly say this. It seems
almost uh, haphazardly implemented. It's it's too uh, it's gonna
I don't want to insult what you just said. I
have to say this, right, it's too simple to say, well,
because they've got high tariffs on us, we're just going
(31:38):
to raise our tariffs. Because you see the destruction. Do
you see the harmon it's doing. It's just raising costs
if and but it's supposedly going to help us reindustrialize
and bring our manufacturing back. WHOA. That would take such
long term planning, that would take such an investment in
rebuilding our infrastructure, that would take training and pushing out
(32:02):
new technology of manufacturing to all the factories that have
closed to bring our manufacturing back to the point where
we could afford to raise tariffs. You have to have
the horse before the cart. So this looks like political
grand standing. It might be just chest thumping and ego
boosting on that surface measure. Oh you're tariffing me high,
(32:23):
I'm going to tariff you high. That's looking at it
from the president's point of view. And the last thing
I'll say about tariff's alex is that they are a
very powerful component of an economic program that works. It's
called the American system of economics. It's what Alexander Hamilton
(32:45):
persuaded George Washington to implement. It's the policy of the
nationalists who fought the American Revolution so we could break
free of England's colonial, exploitive, tyrannical slaveocracy. Okay, the economics
of empire don't want other nations to become economically strong
(33:10):
so that they could become militarily strong. Okay. And in
the United States, nationalists fought back with economics, including tariffs,
an easily available credit, so that we could develop our
domestic manufacturing, a domestic economy where we buy and sell
and get rich among ourselves, so we could have a
(33:32):
military that's strong enough and be an independent, sovereign nation.
And it was fought every step of the way by
traders who were serving and still serve London's British empire
economic view of raping and pillaging as much of the
world as possible and keep people poor so they can't
(33:53):
develop their own manufacturing, their own economies, their own military,
and become you know, sovereign and independent. And that is
the huge battle of mankind for the last three hundred years.
And one could argue, and one does. And I could
tell you the history books to read that the evil
(34:15):
forces of Empire, represented well by London in the city
of the Bank of London, recaptured the United States during
and after World War Two. Kennedy stood up to a
little bit. But now we are enmeshed and now it's
called free trade and globalization. It's nothing but the economics
of empire and exploitation. Is a great book called Confessions
(34:36):
of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. I recommend everybody
read to cut into the heart of this. And one
more book it's called Who We Are by Anton chait
kinh Ai t ki n Volumes one and two.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Well, why did I investigate that? And thank you for
your time. But the money question I have for you
today is the asbl insure that every day is not
it is Small Business Saturday for Americans of small businesses,
meaning you know, we celebrate it once a year. How
do you guys make sure it's celebrated every day and
honored every day by helping out the small businesses?
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Thirty second answer, it's by teaching everybody that ninety nine
point nine percent of all businesses in America are small businesses.
When you buy from a small business, support a small business,
you are doing the single greatest thing to keep your
community viable, with the highest standard of living in life possible,
(35:41):
for the safety of your kids on the streets and
at school, for having enough money in the coffers to
keep the potholes filled, and to keep things clean and
nice and all the good things of life.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Bruce de Torrez a very informative conversation. Thank you for
joining us tonight here on the One That Got Network,
and I want to play your cut one more time
where you made this statement about how important small business
is to America.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
You can't make America great unless you make our small
businesses great.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That should be played on every reel, not only on
Small Business Saturday, but every day. And we have arranged
to have Bruce on again later in July. Can't wait
for that. And thanks as always for listening to the
One Leg Up Network. I'm Alex Garrett
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