August 31, 2025 • 43 mins
The conversation explores pressing issues surrounding law and order in America, particularly focusing on crime rates in Chicago and D.C. The discussion highlights contrasting leadership approaches to crime and community safety, with insights from former Chicago city clerk J.J. Lasky. The dialogue then shifts to the recently passed 'Big Beautiful Bill,' examining its implications for tax relief and economic opportunities for American families. The conversation concludes with a focus on energy policy, discussing the need for innovation and a balanced approach to energy sources.
Guests:
JJ Laski, Former Chicago Alderman
Jill Homan, Deputy Director, Trade & Economy Policy, and Campaign Director, America First Policy Institute
Adam Michel, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute
Guests:
JJ Laski, Former Chicago Alderman
Jill Homan, Deputy Director, Trade & Economy Policy, and Campaign Director, America First Policy Institute
Adam Michel, Director of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, welcome to everybody right now. We're delighted to have
you one Made in America. Another adventure today for what's
going on out there, and it certainly doesn't get boring.
I can tell you that watching what's happening in the
different cities in the country and seeing what's going on
and the you know, the polarization and the things that
are happening in terms of law and order, and that's
something we touched on last week, and I think I
(00:38):
want to keep going back to that for a while
because it seems like eighty one percent of the country
really or a really high number in the country, see
that law and order and crime is a major, major
deal to them. That's in a survey that came out
this week that they're they're taking it pretty seriously, and
fifty three percent of the country is polled by a
number of people have indicated that they approve what President
(01:02):
Trump is doing in terms of Washington, d c. And
getting you know, the National Guard out there to protect us.
And interestingly, when he first did that, you know, we
had browser saying she wasn't a favorite, she wouldn't support it.
Now things have changed. So the question comes, and this
is where we have a very special guest today, JJ Lasky.
(01:25):
James Lasky's city clerk from ninety five to two thousand
and six in Chicago, and he was an alderman at
first in ninety one, and then he became well, he
became the city clerk in ninety five through two thousand
and six, just did really really well in the elections
and actually scored more votes than the actual mayor of Chicago.
(01:45):
So I got to tell you, JJ's welcome, just welcome
to Made in America. Delighted to have you here. A
good friend.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, it's a pleasure, rich and you and I go
way back, and we've seen a lot of action over
the years.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So yeah, I mean, I guess you know, if anybody
when when we're talking about Chicago, I mean, I'm going
to talk to JJ LASKI mean, JJ, you basically ran
that city, as you know, as a city clerk, which
is a pretty powerful position. It's the second most powerful
elected position in the city. If I got that right
and right and and Jay, you know, just give me
(02:19):
a give give me the skinny on this. You know,
we listened to the mayor, things aren't all that bad.
And some other people. When you listen to other people,
including those who live there, you know they're not very
happy with the crime rate in Chicago. So what are
you seeing as a as a city clerk from years past.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, first of all, let me let me just say this.
I was always always a loyal Democrat in Chicago. You
were a Democrat or you were barred from politics. So
I was always a loyal Democrat. But after I left office,
and we've seen changes in Chicago with the with the
(02:59):
administration and the leadership, and we've gone from a common
sense party, the Democrats, to a far left progressive party
where we have a mayor whose approval rating is probably
somewhere around eight to ten percent. And put that in context,
(03:20):
I don't think anybody in elected office has ever had
that lover rating. This is a guy, Mayor Johnson, who
he's more worried about teenage rights, where kids can be
out passed curfew, where kids can jump on cars on
Michigan Avenue and State Street. He's always talking about we
(03:43):
don't need more police, we need to invest in communities.
How about the mayor take a look at investing in
family values and having parents be more responsible for the
kids who are out past curfew, kids who have no
sense of direction from their parents, and issues like can
somebody walk out of their house without getting shot? I mean,
(04:07):
Mayor Johnson has taken a direction that is so far
left that you know, we can talk. And like I said,
I'm not a big fan of Trump, but he has
touched a lot of the hot button issues as you
alluded to, with crime, with illegal immigrant illegal immigration issues
that people are very, very concerned about in democratic cities,
(04:31):
Republican cities across this country. And it's time for Democrats
to wake up and smell the coffee and say to themselves,
what do we want? Do we want a safe community?
Do we want one where kids don't have the run
of the streets. I mean, people outside of Chicago would
be appalled to see teenagers blocking traffic on State Street
(04:53):
or Michigan Avenue in Chicago, jumping on cars, spitting in
police officers' faces. I have to say, say, rich, where
has this country gone? And my wife has always told me, Jim,
the fish stinks from the head down, and and and
that's our problem. Our leadership stinks from the head down.
We don't have common sense leaders anymore, common sense politicians
(05:18):
who who take to look at, you know, the overall issues.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
When I was at all yeah, no, let me hang
on in there for a second. I think is a
good segue here. I think, what's what You're very very
correct and and when I when I listen to these folks,
particularly for you know, Mayor Johnson, you know he he
doesn't think more police is the answer. You know, he's
thinking affordable housing. You know what. I want to play
a quick click right now. The mayor just the other
(05:43):
day talking about Trump's efforts in Chicago and why he
doesn't think it's going to work.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Do you believe that the streets in Chicago would be
safer if there were more uniformed police officers on the
streets of Chicago.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
I believe the city of Chicago and the cities across
America would be safer if we actually had you know,
affordable housing.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Look, that's not the question I asked my question, but
and I just idiots or no. Do you believe the
streets of Chicago would be safer if you got all
of those other extraordinary programs put back into place, which
do have a history of being successful. If that's if
that's complimented by having five thousand more cops on the
(06:30):
streets of Chicago.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
I don't believe that we should narrow it down to
just police officers. What I'm saying that is an antiquddit approach.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Is that amazing? I mean, that's just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Rich question, Yeah, I mean answer, Yeah, this is this
is old time thinking that. You know, Brandon Johnson, he
plays the race card. And you know, I've always said
when I was an elected official, and when I was
on the radio, and when I still do this stuff,
(07:05):
I say, can we get back to some family values
and we can talk about parents raising their kids in
the right way. You want to invest in the community,
how about freaking haven some family values where parents know
where their kids are at night. Okay, and you want
to talk let me just go back to what I
was going to say. When I was Alderman, I used
to say I was a glorified custodian where I you know,
(07:27):
I made sure all the potholes were fixed, garbage was
picked up, and the place was clean and neat, and
people could walk out of their house without getting shopped. Okay,
you know that's that's what it's all about. And I
never had a problem with an election or reelection because
that's what people wanted. They wanted some bang for their
their their tax payer buck. And the current mayor does
(07:49):
not provide that. We are losing business after business after
business in residential communities downtown on the lakefront, lake Shore.
They people are moving because they don't want to deal
with it anymore. Because crime is not taken seriously by
the mayor.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
We have a bit Well, what I tend to agree
with that JJ, And what I find amazing is that
no I agree with affordable housing and stuff like that.
We have that problem down here and I'm going to
talk about that on the show later with another guest.
But you know, I'd like to take a listen to Browser,
mayor Browser out of Washington, d C. And she at
(08:29):
first was against this having the troops there. Absolutely against it. Oh,
she was very against it. But listen to what you
just said yesterday and the.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
Next couple of days, I will issue a mayor's order
that spells out how our Emergency Operations Center will continue
to engage with the Federal Clean and Safe and Beautiful
Task Force and ensure that task for as resources continue
(09:02):
to be strategically deployed in the district. This is what
we think, in just a couple of weeks of experience,
has worked. Having more federal law enforcement officers on the street.
We think having more stops that got to illegal guns
has helped. We think that there's more accountability in the system,
(09:26):
or at least perceived accountability in the system, that is
driving down illegal behavior. We know that we have had
fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced in
extreme reduction in carjackings. Well, we know it's not working.
Is a break and trust between police and community, especially
(09:50):
with new federal partners in our community.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Okay, so you know, by the way, I have the
correct it's Bowser, Why said browser, I'm looking at my
computer Bowser. But JJ, how can it be now here?
You ran one of the biggest cities in the in
the country, a gorgeous city, by the way, and here
you have DC's mayor saying, you know what, Basically you're saying,
(10:18):
you know we needed this. This really is working. You know,
it's safer. You can walk the streets of Washington, d C.
Here we see a mayor in Chicago who's saying, oh,
it's not gonna work. I mean, stopping crime isn't the answer.
You know, Let's just invest more in the in the problem,
(10:38):
and we think the money and the programs are going
to make it better. If that were the case, JJ,
then the War on Poverty would have with twenty two
point three trillion invested since nineteen sixty five, would have
really solved a lot of problems. I don't think it has.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well. First of all, he's in he's in denial. Johnson
and your people aren't going to invest in Chicago. They
all feel safe. They're moving out, big businesses moving out.
Who wants to invest in in Michigan Avenue. People used
(11:15):
to love to go down Michigan Avenue, go downstate. When
I was a teenager, that was like the big thing
to do at night is to go downtown. Nobody wants
to go downtown anymore. And when you hear about shootings,
they're outside, you know they're in the downtown area. So
you know, I mean he needs to well, first of all,
you know his reelections coming up in about two years
(11:36):
or a little less than fifteen. Yeah, he's campaigning, he
needs the campaign. Yeah. Anyway, the bottom line is is
we need better leadership, and that starts with Chicago's mayor.
So that's what I thought, is, well.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's a good place to end it right there, JJ,
you have a great day. I want to get back
on the show because I think Chicago is going to
be a major topic for us. We're going to be
right back with Jill Homan talking about well, we're gonna
be talking about the great Big Bill and things that
can happen there and opportunity zones and oh my god,
all this other stuff that might be good for us.
Don't go anywhere. Okay, welcome back to Made in America
(12:21):
with the Light of Dream here. You know, we started
out with the conversation regarding law and order in Chicago
and d C. And it was interesting to see the
ying to the yang. I mean, actually they were both
in the same position about a week ago. But it
seems like DC has changed his tone a little bit.
In the Mayor Bowser has admitted that having the troops
on the streets has really lowered the stats of crime
(12:43):
in the in the DC area, which is remarkable and
and I and I plodded for that, I really do.
I think that's really remarkable to hear that on the
other hand, and this is where I'm going to lead
into our next guest. You know, the Mayor of Chicago, Jansen,
has indicated did that he doesn't think the answer to
the crime on the streets and a lot of people
(13:05):
deny that. There's really a lot of climb in the streets,
which is remarkable to me. But it is really not
going to be helped by law and order. It's really
going to be helped by investment in the community and
particularly for workplace and you know, public housing in the
sense that we have a chance for people to have
affordable housing. So that's really interesting. So having said that,
(13:26):
I know that's a serpentine leading. Jill Home is with
us right now. Jill is the deputy director Trade and
Economy Policy and campaign director for America First Policy Institute,
and we're delighted to have Jill here. Jill, welcome to
Made in America.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Thank you so much. It's great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Well, thank you. Listen, So boy, are you at the
right place at the right time. And by the way,
I don't I don't. I don't really normally go to
crack rebelll it just it would I would gain weight.
I don't do that. But but you know, but it
is Americana, right, It's a it's American is going in
your actmee supermarket wheor di Agastino's. I don't know what
you have in d C. But I knew I had
when I was growing up. Let's talk about this bill
(14:07):
for a second. I think it's really important. You know.
I am sure you're delighted that the bill passed and
it was signed. Yes, but why if you give us
some insight on this in late terms? Why why are
the Democrats saying bad for our country and bad for families?
I mean, that seems to be a bad rap.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
But I think we all know this is that those
in opposition to the bill are in opposition to the
bill because it came from Republicans that came from this administration.
And so I think it would be an interesting thought
exercise and if the President and the leaders in Congress
(14:51):
were to actually put forward what Democrats are saying, then
they would reverse course and be against that. And it's
just so dishart because you have a portion of the
country elected these people to Congress to serve them, and
they're putting their own self interest first instead of what
is going to be best for America and also uplift people,
(15:15):
uplift this country. And I think that's really the theme
that I found within this One Big Beautiful Bill, which
is really what I wrote about about this being an
opportunity bill and how it extended the opportunity zone tax credits,
and how it provided tax relief from workers who are
(15:37):
tipped workers all the way to just families who are
earning and would receive a higher tax deduction. And so
I think this bill has a lot in it which
I think we need to continue to tell what's in
the One Big Beautiful Bill, because there's a lot that's
going to benefit American families. And I think it's great
(16:01):
that you're shining a light and sharing more about this
that was passed.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, you know, you're so right. I mean, here, here,
let's sen a couple of things that are important. Because
we only have about two and a half minutes, A
married family earning one hundred thousands expected to see a
tax bill shrink by close to three thousand dollars. I mean,
I think that the Republicans and Conservatives and the President
and independence are seeing life in real time. A single
(16:27):
restaurant server can realize up to thirteen hundred dollars in
taxi leap because he's not going to tax tips. That's it. Wait, man,
that cuts across the board. You know. That then gots
remarkable that they could do it. You know, a veteran
working overtime job, you know, can get a fourteen hundred
dollars tax credit, your childcare credit, car repairs. It seems
(16:49):
to me that this bill really addresses the average you know,
Jane and Joe in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Absolutely, and not only that, it's with opportunities and lifts
people in poverty. And the previous bill has been calculated,
has helped create over a million jobs, and there's been
over one hundred billion dollars that have flown that has
gone into low income communities. And so these are areas
(17:16):
that are in desperate need of investment. And the liberals
will have you say and they will say that, you know,
oh it's gentrification or oh you know, you're pushing people out,
but it's not. These are areas that the governors themselves,
whether it's Republican or Democrat, have said, we need, we
desperately need investment, Please invest in these areas. And so
(17:36):
it's a false narrative don't believe what the left is
saying about these types of advarrass So I think this
is a fantastic bill that's helping both low income people
all the way up to working families.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, you know, it's very interesting, you know when you
talk about opportunities zones and are really we got to
get you back and talk about that. P three's that's
how I define it. Public private partnership and P three's
are remarkable we have, I mean, Florida led the way
with the public private partnerships years ago. We developed major roads,
we developed buildings, we developed rail we did all sorts
(18:13):
of things down here. The Dominican Republic is exemplary on
that right now, redefining themselves as the logistics center of
the Americas. But this is such a good opportunity, it's
a great time. Listen, every newborn in the United States
gets one thousand dollars in an interest free account, I
mean a tax free account, and that's just it's a
(18:35):
remarkable thing. And social Security you don't pay tax.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
On, and it's really being that's how an individual can
accumulate wealth is starting at this young age and learning
the magic of compounding interests. And I think It's what
we get when we have a president like Donald Trump
who understands business but also loves the country that he's
put his business interests as I to really serve to
(19:02):
serve this country.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I know that is just remarkable. Well, listen, I've got
to tell you something, Joel. I want to get you
back on the show for a longer segment because there's
so much to talk about, and I embrace everything you're
doing right now at your organization. And Steve Moore is
a good friend of ours as Well've been on the
Shame many many times. I love Steve. He's a terrific guy.
But please come back to mead in America. Can you
(19:25):
promise to do that.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Absolutely, we're going to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
We're going to do that. Jill. Thank you. Jill Homan,
Deputy Director, Trade and Economy Policy and Campaign Director for
the Institute, Thank you so much. We'll talk to you
next time. We're going to be right back, right back
with a discussion about with Adam Mitchell talking about the
Great Big Bill and the things that it brings.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
For energy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Promoting American industry.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
This is made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Welcome back to Meadian in America. This is Rich Rothman,
your host, and we are having a really good conversation
about the big, beautiful bill. We just had Jill Homan
on talking about opportunity zones and all the good things
that are in the bill and things that really help
the average American, although you wouldn't know that if you
talk to the Democrats. They don't seem to believe that.
But that's just the fact.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Jack.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
But right now we have Adam Mitchell. Adam is the
director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and
we've had lots of people from CATO over the last
fifteen sixteen years, where he focuses on analyzing the economic
and budgetary effects of taxation in the US. Oh my god,
So you get you and Grover on the stage. We'll
(20:54):
never get you off, the two of you. Oh my god.
Grover Norquest, I'm sure he's a friend of yours. Adam,
Why did to have you here? So let's talk about
this bill? You know why? First of all, well, let's
just talk in generalities and that we're going to get
into the green thing, which I'm passionate about, by the way,
on your side of the table. But why is it
getting you know, why is it getting such a bad
(21:16):
rap from these people in outright, outright lies of what
it really does. I mean, it's yeah, well it's going
to help wealthy people. I don't know. To me, it
looks like it's helping the average American. What do you think, Adam, Well,
thanks for having me on.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
This is the playbook that high tax advocates come back
to time and time again. We saw the exact same
rhetoric come after the twenty seventeen tax cuts that were
passed during the first Trump administration, and in both cases,
in the case of the twenty seventeen tax cuts, and
these tax cuts, Republicans actually went out of their way
(21:55):
to ensure the largest tax cuts as a share of
what people were already paying the government, went to the
lowest income Americans. It's just a fact that because the
disproportionate share of taxes are paid by the highest income Americans,
do cut taxes for everyone, of course, they're going to
see the largest dollar value share. That's just simple mass.
(22:16):
But both of these reforms were targeted middle class, lower
income American tax reforms in a whole bunch of different ways.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So I want to you know, it's interesting that when
the number of people out there are, Bill Maher being one,
Let's go to look at clip number four phil Bill
Maher said, Dems offer high minded and tangibles while Trump
offers tips, shoes, and toilets in the real world. Let's
take a listen to that.
Speaker 9 (22:46):
While Democrats offer up high minded intangibles like equity and
saving the soul of America, Trump says, hey, waitress, how'd
you like to pay no tax on those tips? Remember that?
And everybody was like, Las Vegas is a town where
everybody gets tipped. So maybe that's why Trump was the
(23:08):
first Republican to win Nevada in twenty years.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I mean, it's got to tell you something, doesn't it, Absolutely,
don't you think, Adam.
Speaker 8 (23:19):
Certainly good retail politics. This bill that includes the sort
of no tax on tips and overtime, a larger senior deduction.
This is a departure from the traditional Republican playbook of
lower tax rates, broader tax base, but it is it
is most certainly part of the Trump playbook, which is
(23:40):
which is targeting specific policies to the const constituencies that
he needs.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Well, yeah, I mean, in particularly with social security, that's
a huge block and you know people have been really
annoyed with that that they worked all their life, they've
been paying tax on it all their life, and then
here they get the bet the advantages of it. They
actually take the money they put in, and they're attacks
again as income. It's just unbelievable. It's not fair. Okay,
So let's jump ahead a little bit. And you know
(24:10):
you wrote a tremendous piece that Fox News has out
there right now. Congress repealed the Green New Deal? Can
Trump finish the job? What do you mean? Can Trump
finish the job? I thought they passed the bill? How
does that work?
Speaker 8 (24:23):
These bills are incredibly complicated. And what they what they
did in the bill is they repealed about half more
than half a trillion dollars worth of the Green New
Deal energy subsidies that were passed under Biden. But the
law leaves some room for interpretation around especially big wind
and solar projects. In order to qualify for the credits
(24:44):
before they phase out, the Treasury Department is going to
have to determine things like how much investment you have
to make in order to qualify for the credit this
year before it goes away, and what are those thresholds
and can you ask for extensions, And so there's a
lot of lobbying from into street, as there always is,
to make those rules as generous as possible, to extend
(25:04):
these credits through regulatory interpretation as long as possible. And
so my call for the for the administration is to
simply say no, shut the door on these on these
special interest carve outs, and shut it fast. Otherwise, as
things tend to do here in d C, they're they're
gonna they're gonna start growing back, coming back from the grave.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah, No, I get that, I get the swamp.
I understand that. But you know, I think the last
thing we want to see is the situation that we
had in the Obama administration when we the government gave
money to corporations that were just getting up and running
like Soleindra, I mean, Cylindri became the poster child for, uh,
you know, everything that's bad about the government choosing winners
(25:47):
and losers. And and it seems like along with the
whole concept of climate change and that time, it was
you know, global warming, which that didn't work, so they
change out the climate change and I mean every day
the climate changes. So I guess it proves that there's
climate change and everyone can relate to that. I suppose
that's a nice way to do it, playing with semantics,
But the truth of the matter is, you know who
(26:12):
made the decision. We lost seven hundred million dollars with Cylindra.
So I don't think that's a good thing on a
policy that basically hasn't been proven one hundred percent that
it's mankind that's causing that. So it looks like this
bill is a step in the right direction at him. Yes, no,
what do you think?
Speaker 8 (26:29):
Yeah, So the changes that were included in the one
big beautiful bill to roll back these green subsidies was
is one of the highlights of the bill in my view.
The reasons were, as you laid out, these subsidies that
were put in place under the Biden administration sort of
failed on every margin that they were sold on. They
were an inefficient jobs program, costing somewhere in the realm
(26:52):
of two to seven million dollars per job created. There
failed industrial policy. Almost half of the Biden era stubs
that I was manufacturing projects through things like these green subsidies,
have already been delayed or canceled, and it's also incredibly
costly environmental policy. Even if your goals are carbon ebatement,
(27:14):
this is an inefficient way of meeting those goals. So
it's just sort of piling failure on top of failure,
and it could cost up to five trillion dollars over
its lifetime if Republicans hadn't started to scale some of
these subsidies back.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, no, I think it's awful. But also I mean,
I think part of the problem that I found onerous,
extremely onerous, is that the government needed decision the lefties,
and the government made it. Well, our list of Democrats
made a decision, because I don't think the Republicans did
accept a handful of you know, rhinos. But I don't
(27:52):
think America embraces the whole concept of green energy. I don't.
I mean, ask the people in Texas from you know,
three years ago, when everything froze up and people were dying.
They didn't have electricity and they couldn't get their heater system.
You know, even if you have an oil heating system,
you still have an electric powered HVAC that blows that
(28:12):
hot air that it's creating throughout your you know, your home.
And so people were you know, in a lot of trouble,
and the same thing in Europe. I mean that same
winter they had a very very cold season in Europe.
Believe it or not, they didn't have the winds coming
off the North Sea the way they did in years prior,
and their windmills just weren't functioning and and so they
(28:33):
had a problem. So it seems to me, and let
me know what you think about this, that we're going
to actually move forward, and moving forward means we megawatts
going forward. I mean we don't agree to that, wouldn't
we with AI and so forth. If we don't have megawatts,
if we don't have safe, secure and plenty of and
affordable energy, then we can't be competitive in the world.
(28:56):
Is that right? I think that's correct.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Yeah, Yeah, that's that's exactly right. And it's why it's
so important to let markets and consumers drive both energy
prices energy demand. That then ultimately tells the producers where
to produce, how much to produce, and what mix of
energy is most sustainable. And that was one of the
problems that these subsidies that were repealed created is they
(29:24):
made intermittent and less reliable sources of energy like wind
and solar the predominant thing that was being invested in,
which ultimately made it made the grid less stable and
made these problems of when the sun isn't shining or
the wind isn't blowing, and made the grid much strained
(29:47):
to the point of sometimes breaking. And we would have
seen more of those problems going forward if if Republicans
hadn't stepped up to the challenge and actually started scaling
back some of these markets to store.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah, and and and I think also I've been listening
to Thune and others that with the green of the
new of the big beautiful bill, with the new bill
that was paid which, by the way, I think you
want to change the name of it now now that
it's passed. He needs to market it differently. But and
we will have a comment from Trump a little bit later,
President Trump. But it seems like that, uh, as as
(30:24):
much as we embrace this, we need to move forward
in terms of other sources of energy. Now does this bill,
I think it does in a way give us the
opportunity to get back on track with more you know,
conservative or traditional forms of energy. That being and it
(30:45):
was really funny, but not all from fossils. This is
like really not right. But fossil fuels, you know, diesel,
gasoline and so forth. Coal. We did a show, I
mean I moderated a panel for clean coal Technology CEO
in the country years ago. We got completely ignored by
the Obama administration. It's really sad, but it seems like
(31:07):
are we freeing these people up to get out there
getting permits. Used to be you would take four or
five years to get a permit to actually start working
on an energy project and out in the field. And
then before when you start doing that, the crazies on
the left would go ahead and then sue you. They
would bring litigation against you to stop it and extending
even more. Do you think that's going to go away?
Speaker 8 (31:28):
The administration is doing some work on their own to
streamline much of that process. But the bill itself also
included some regulatory simplification. It lowered some of the royalty
taxes on oil exploration. It opened up federal lands for
additional leaf sales for oil and gas and mineral exploration,
(31:52):
and it included some additional money for omb here to
help with the deregulatory process. And so all of those
things will will remove some of the impediments that were
placed on the sort of traditional energy sectors. And this
isn't to put a thumb on the scale of fossil
fuels over anything else. It's trying to level the playing field,
(32:12):
treating all energy type equally so that then the market
can tell us sort of what the best energy mix is,
because central planners here in DC certainly don't know what
that is.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, that's that's We're going to stop there for a
second and we're going to take a break and let
some of the affiliates make some money out there. We're
going to be right back. We're having a really good
conversation with Anna and Mitchell, and we're talking about the
beautiful new Deal, the beautiful big Bill and how it
affects green energy going forward and which really means, you know,
how is it going to work for your house. We're
(32:45):
going to be right back. Don't go anywhere, you're going
to learn something really. Okay, Welcome back to Madadi in America.
I'm Rich Roffman, your host, delighted to have you here.
We have Adam Mitchell here. We're talking about the bill
that was passed, the most significant tax bill I think
(33:06):
in history of the United States. I mean it's gonna
do some really wonderful things for the average American. You know,
whether you know you're a waitress and you don't pay
tax on tips, or you're a veteran you're working overtime,
you don't pay tax on your overtime. You know, if
you're a senior and you're qualified to get your Social
Security you're not going to pay tax next year or
not this year on Social Security income. Why is that? Well,
(33:29):
maybe because you've been taxed on it all your life,
you know. And there's some you know, a child is
born in the United States, they get one thousand dollars
to go into a tax free interest bearing account, so
they really understand they get a chance to generate. Well,
I mean, this is really good stuff. And so I
find it amazing that we have this problem. I want
(33:51):
to get back to green energy for a second. I
got to tell you something, what really concerns me is
that going forward can't just be fossil fuels and the
traditional sense and the excuse me, and you know what
we heard from them for the last four or five, six,
seven years, actually going back to Obama, that you know
(34:13):
it's settled science. I mean, Adam, that was That was
the sentence that used to drive me insane. It settled science.
Ninety nine percent of all the scientists in the world
believe that climate chase is man made. And you know,
the world's coming to an end and al Gore is
going to save the world. And you know, you know,
I mean, go watch the movie day after tomorrow. I mean,
it's laughable. I mean, it's laughable what these people are
(34:36):
actually because they believe it. I just absolutely believe. Oh
my god. You know, I watch all the people down
here in South Florida driving Tesla's, and I'm looking at them.
First of all, they all looked like they were polypide
majors at Syracuse University when I went there. Every one
of them looks like they're polypide majors because they all
drove Vovos when I was in college there. And but
the truth of the matter is they're just virtue signaling
(35:00):
to me, because just because you're driving an EV, just
because you're driving a Tesla or whatever else is out
there by Toyota and so forth, it doesn't mean you're
saving the world. Look at how they make the batteries.
Look at how they make the product, Look how they
ship everything. Look at the electricity that has to be
generated in terms of megawats, and that's going to be
not generated by wind and sol. Lookers, the ain't gonna
have enough of it, and they need mega watch, which
(35:22):
means they're gonna have to have something else. Now here's
something else. And here's where I want to go with this.
What do you think is going to happen with this bill?
Will this bill help us get back to nuclear energy
which has actually been out of business since Michael Douglas
you did the China Syndrome. I think that movie alone
completely destroyed the nuclear energy industry in the United States.
(35:44):
What do you think do you think we're gonna get
a chance to get back?
Speaker 8 (35:48):
Well, you're virtue of virtue signaling signaling. EV drivers are
actually virtue thinking. The link at the extensive US taxpayers
because there's subsidies for evs which are now repealed in
this bill. The bill did not repeal some subsidies for
nuclear energy. But the big barrier to nuclear is on
the regulatory side. And uh and then just the sort
(36:10):
of public opinion as you as you laid out, and
those are those are more difficult barriers to overcome. My
understanding is that the administration is looking at some of
the regulatory barriers and streamlining some of those pieces of
the puzzle. But most certainly to the extent that we're
not we're not subsidizing competing energy sources, certainly can make
(36:32):
the alternatives, uh be more for economical.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, I mean, I really hope you get back to that.
And not only that, the nuclear energy of the facilities
today are not what they were with Three Mile Island.
I mean one thing, they're much smaller, and they're much
more efficient and they're less scary. So I think we
have a great lot of new there's.
Speaker 8 (36:53):
A lot of new technology on the on the horizon
on sort of small nuclear that that is at the
cusp of breakthrough hopefully or so you read. And so
as those types of things come online, assuming that there's
a regulatory pathway to bring it to reality, then yeah,
there's a lot of potential, especially with the demand from AI,
(37:15):
can open up a lot of doors around energy innovation.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Well, you know, we're not inventing that. European nations, France
being one, was very pro nuclear and they were able
to you know, survive an energy gap a few years
ago because they had nuclear energy. So I think it's
a great opportunity. And you're right. I mean they're smaller,
they're more regional than they were before. I mean, look,
if we can power an aircraft carrier with a nuclear reactor,
(37:44):
and that's like a sid men. I landed in a jet.
I was invited by the government. I actually landed on
an aircraft carrier in a jet, which was scary as hell, unbelievable.
But and then I took off, which was even more scary,
by the way, because you go one hundred and thirty
hundred and forty nine in about I don't know, two
and a half second, three seids. That's scary, amazing. But
(38:07):
but the point of the matter is that they have
their nuclear power, and our nuclear power plans are unbelievable now,
and I think we really need to do that because look,
we need energy to go forward, we need energy to create,
we need energy to innovate. So I think, you know,
this is a very very good opportunity. So all right,
in the in about the thirty seconds forty seconds, we
have left Adam. So where are we going with this?
(38:28):
This is good stuff, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
This is good.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
I think it sets up that vision that you just described.
It sets up a future of American energy innovation. The
government is getting out of the way, getting the thumb
off the scale, and we're going to let the market
sort of drive innovation as Americans do so well. And
I'm excited to see what that.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Future looks like.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know what you just said something really important innovation
that Americans do so well. We are exceptional. I mean,
I have to embrace that. One of the things that
I've always loved about America is that we're different. We're
different for a lot of reasons. One our forefathers actually
got on a boat not knowing where they're going exactly,
and I'm talking about in the seventeen hundreds, and they
came here. That was pretty scary stuff in the day.
(39:13):
I got to tell you that. So the type of
person that came here, Adam, is not your normal person.
Who are saying Now, I think I'm going to stay
over here in Europe. At least I know I can
walk around. I don't know where I'm going. Someone told
me you can fall off the edge of the earth.
Not saying it is, but I'm not sure. You know,
the whole thing was scary. So we are a nation
of immigrants. We're a nation of people who take risks.
(39:34):
So innovation it really is in our DNA. I mean,
we are exceptional in the DNA of every American and
those that come here have that unique quality. At least
they're legal, they have that unique quality. Adam, any final words,
you got about fifteen seconds.
Speaker 8 (39:49):
Yeah, I think that sums it up well. America is
an amazing place and it's not just the people, but
the legal and institutional frameworks will allow them or to thrive.
The government doesn't get in the way, and we need
more of that, not left.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Right, forget the central planning. My god, watch doctor Shivago.
You see it doesn't work anyway. Adam, you have a great,
great week, have a good weekend coming up just soon,
and we're going to get you back on real soon
with Made in America. I'm delighted to have had you
on the show today. Thank you so much, excellent, Thank
you for having me. I thought it was an interesting show,
and I really enjoyed talking about the bill and the
(40:24):
tax bill because I could not understand why folks on
the left for fighting that bill so badly. It just
seems like everything that you want an opportunity. I mean,
look at the people. You know what I find amazing.
Biden and company always says, you know, the kitchen table conversation.
He's so full of it. The kitchen table conversation. Well,
the kitchen table conversation where people are working their butts
(40:44):
off and giving a lot of taxes back to the
government and they're looking for an opportunity to keep more
of their money. Well, the way I see it is
that the people who are going to really benefit the
most are going to be the people sitting around that
table sharing a cooked chicken. And I got to tell you,
I think we have an opportunity here if we can
lower the Listen, if people can save three thousand dollars
(41:04):
in taxes with one hundred thousand dollars income husband and wife,
that's a good thing. That's a really good thing for people.
If they're going to get tax credits so their kids
can go to private school or a charter school, that's
a good thing. That's gonna think of the unattended consequence
of that they go to the school if they want,
because we know the public schools are failing us. They're
just failing us. Listen to the you know, the the
(41:26):
the Department of Education, folks that used to be there,
and the unions and so forth. Oh my god. There
so they got it so wrong. We have such a
lack of readability and mathematics. Oh my god. To know
math and be good with math is racist. Oh my god.
I mean that's just embarrassing. But we have an opportunity
here for you know, tax credits. We have an opportunity
(41:47):
to not pay tax on Social Security. Oh my god.
That affects millions and millions and millions of average Americans.
Somebody who's inhortentately wealthy doesn't care about the Social Security
the way somebody who relies up on that to pay
a bill, pay the electric bill. How ironic we're talking
about that. But you see what I'm saying. This is
the average Joe, average Jay, and great opportunity. This is
(42:09):
what this bill can do. So here's a final shot.
I want us to listen to President Trump talk about
his bill. Let's go number four.
Speaker 10 (42:17):
And last month, in a landmark achievement, I also proudly
signed the largest working class tax cuts in American history.
So the bill that I'm not going to use the
term great, big, beautiful, that was good for getting and approved,
but it's not good for explaining to people what it's
all about. It's a massive tax cut for the middle class,
(42:37):
it's a massive tax cut for jobs, and.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It's I mean, think of it.
Speaker 10 (42:43):
No tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, So seniors,
I don't know how you can vote for anybody else
and you just think of that. And no tax on overtime,
so you work overtime, you don't have to pay tax
on overtime.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
So it looks like we're in the right direction right now.
If we can keep it together and keep the House,
keep the Senate, we got our president, we can do
some really good things. If you listen to the folks
on the left, you're gonna think everything is just falling apart.
But the truth of the matter is everything that was
falling apart was under their domain, as in Chicago. The
fact that we know and one week we saved DC,
that's just just remarkable. So we're gonna be back next week.
(43:23):
We've got even better stories to tell. We're gonna dig
in and let you know where you're really gonna be
in six seven months from now. So thanks for listening
to me. In America, I'm delighted to be here. Rich Roffman,
you want to get a hold of me, Richard rich
Roffman dot com to see you next week. Don't go anywhere,
We'll be right here.
This is Made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, welcome to everybody right now. We're delighted to have
you one Made in America. Another adventure today for what's
going on out there, and it certainly doesn't get boring.
I can tell you that watching what's happening in the
different cities in the country and seeing what's going on
and the you know, the polarization and the things that
are happening in terms of law and order, and that's
something we touched on last week, and I think I
(00:38):
want to keep going back to that for a while
because it seems like eighty one percent of the country
really or a really high number in the country, see
that law and order and crime is a major, major
deal to them. That's in a survey that came out
this week that they're they're taking it pretty seriously, and
fifty three percent of the country is polled by a
number of people have indicated that they approve what President
(01:02):
Trump is doing in terms of Washington, d c. And
getting you know, the National Guard out there to protect us.
And interestingly, when he first did that, you know, we
had browser saying she wasn't a favorite, she wouldn't support it.
Now things have changed. So the question comes, and this
is where we have a very special guest today, JJ Lasky.
(01:25):
James Lasky's city clerk from ninety five to two thousand
and six in Chicago, and he was an alderman at
first in ninety one, and then he became well, he
became the city clerk in ninety five through two thousand
and six, just did really really well in the elections
and actually scored more votes than the actual mayor of Chicago.
(01:45):
So I got to tell you, JJ's welcome, just welcome
to Made in America. Delighted to have you here. A
good friend.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, it's a pleasure, rich and you and I go
way back, and we've seen a lot of action over
the years.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So yeah, I mean, I guess you know, if anybody
when when we're talking about Chicago, I mean, I'm going
to talk to JJ LASKI mean, JJ, you basically ran
that city, as you know, as a city clerk, which
is a pretty powerful position. It's the second most powerful
elected position in the city. If I got that right
and right and and Jay, you know, just give me
(02:19):
a give give me the skinny on this. You know,
we listened to the mayor, things aren't all that bad.
And some other people. When you listen to other people,
including those who live there, you know they're not very
happy with the crime rate in Chicago. So what are
you seeing as a as a city clerk from years past.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, first of all, let me let me just say this.
I was always always a loyal Democrat in Chicago. You
were a Democrat or you were barred from politics. So
I was always a loyal Democrat. But after I left office,
and we've seen changes in Chicago with the with the
(02:59):
administration and the leadership, and we've gone from a common
sense party, the Democrats, to a far left progressive party
where we have a mayor whose approval rating is probably
somewhere around eight to ten percent. And put that in context,
(03:20):
I don't think anybody in elected office has ever had
that lover rating. This is a guy, Mayor Johnson, who
he's more worried about teenage rights, where kids can be
out passed curfew, where kids can jump on cars on
Michigan Avenue and State Street. He's always talking about we
(03:43):
don't need more police, we need to invest in communities.
How about the mayor take a look at investing in
family values and having parents be more responsible for the
kids who are out past curfew, kids who have no
sense of direction from their parents, and issues like can
somebody walk out of their house without getting shot? I mean,
(04:07):
Mayor Johnson has taken a direction that is so far
left that you know, we can talk. And like I said,
I'm not a big fan of Trump, but he has
touched a lot of the hot button issues as you
alluded to, with crime, with illegal immigrant illegal immigration issues
that people are very, very concerned about in democratic cities,
(04:31):
Republican cities across this country. And it's time for Democrats
to wake up and smell the coffee and say to themselves,
what do we want? Do we want a safe community?
Do we want one where kids don't have the run
of the streets. I mean, people outside of Chicago would
be appalled to see teenagers blocking traffic on State Street
(04:53):
or Michigan Avenue in Chicago, jumping on cars, spitting in
police officers' faces. I have to say, say, rich, where
has this country gone? And my wife has always told me, Jim,
the fish stinks from the head down, and and and
that's our problem. Our leadership stinks from the head down.
We don't have common sense leaders anymore, common sense politicians
(05:18):
who who take to look at, you know, the overall issues.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
When I was at all yeah, no, let me hang
on in there for a second. I think is a
good segue here. I think, what's what You're very very
correct and and when I when I listen to these folks,
particularly for you know, Mayor Johnson, you know he he
doesn't think more police is the answer. You know, he's
thinking affordable housing. You know what. I want to play
a quick click right now. The mayor just the other
(05:43):
day talking about Trump's efforts in Chicago and why he
doesn't think it's going to work.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Do you believe that the streets in Chicago would be
safer if there were more uniformed police officers on the
streets of Chicago.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
I believe the city of Chicago and the cities across
America would be safer if we actually had you know,
affordable housing.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Look, that's not the question I asked my question, but
and I just idiots or no. Do you believe the
streets of Chicago would be safer if you got all
of those other extraordinary programs put back into place, which
do have a history of being successful. If that's if
that's complimented by having five thousand more cops on the
(06:30):
streets of Chicago.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
I don't believe that we should narrow it down to
just police officers. What I'm saying that is an antiquddit approach.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Is that amazing? I mean, that's just absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Rich question, Yeah, I mean answer, Yeah, this is this
is old time thinking that. You know, Brandon Johnson, he
plays the race card. And you know, I've always said
when I was an elected official, and when I was
on the radio, and when I still do this stuff,
(07:05):
I say, can we get back to some family values
and we can talk about parents raising their kids in
the right way. You want to invest in the community,
how about freaking haven some family values where parents know
where their kids are at night. Okay, and you want
to talk let me just go back to what I
was going to say. When I was Alderman, I used
to say I was a glorified custodian where I you know,
(07:27):
I made sure all the potholes were fixed, garbage was
picked up, and the place was clean and neat, and
people could walk out of their house without getting shopped. Okay,
you know that's that's what it's all about. And I
never had a problem with an election or reelection because
that's what people wanted. They wanted some bang for their
their their tax payer buck. And the current mayor does
(07:49):
not provide that. We are losing business after business after
business in residential communities downtown on the lakefront, lake Shore.
They people are moving because they don't want to deal
with it anymore. Because crime is not taken seriously by
the mayor.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
We have a bit Well, what I tend to agree
with that JJ, And what I find amazing is that
no I agree with affordable housing and stuff like that.
We have that problem down here and I'm going to
talk about that on the show later with another guest.
But you know, I'd like to take a listen to Browser,
mayor Browser out of Washington, d C. And she at
(08:29):
first was against this having the troops there. Absolutely against it. Oh,
she was very against it. But listen to what you
just said yesterday and the.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
Next couple of days, I will issue a mayor's order
that spells out how our Emergency Operations Center will continue
to engage with the Federal Clean and Safe and Beautiful
Task Force and ensure that task for as resources continue
(09:02):
to be strategically deployed in the district. This is what
we think, in just a couple of weeks of experience,
has worked. Having more federal law enforcement officers on the street.
We think having more stops that got to illegal guns
has helped. We think that there's more accountability in the system,
(09:26):
or at least perceived accountability in the system, that is
driving down illegal behavior. We know that we have had
fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced in
extreme reduction in carjackings. Well, we know it's not working.
Is a break and trust between police and community, especially
(09:50):
with new federal partners in our community.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Okay, so you know, by the way, I have the
correct it's Bowser, Why said browser, I'm looking at my
computer Bowser. But JJ, how can it be now here?
You ran one of the biggest cities in the in
the country, a gorgeous city, by the way, and here
you have DC's mayor saying, you know what, Basically you're saying,
(10:18):
you know we needed this. This really is working. You know,
it's safer. You can walk the streets of Washington, d C.
Here we see a mayor in Chicago who's saying, oh,
it's not gonna work. I mean, stopping crime isn't the answer.
You know, Let's just invest more in the in the problem,
(10:38):
and we think the money and the programs are going
to make it better. If that were the case, JJ,
then the War on Poverty would have with twenty two
point three trillion invested since nineteen sixty five, would have
really solved a lot of problems. I don't think it has.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Well. First of all, he's in he's in denial. Johnson
and your people aren't going to invest in Chicago. They
all feel safe. They're moving out, big businesses moving out.
Who wants to invest in in Michigan Avenue. People used
(11:15):
to love to go down Michigan Avenue, go downstate. When
I was a teenager, that was like the big thing
to do at night is to go downtown. Nobody wants
to go downtown anymore. And when you hear about shootings,
they're outside, you know they're in the downtown area. So
you know, I mean he needs to well, first of all,
you know his reelections coming up in about two years
(11:36):
or a little less than fifteen. Yeah, he's campaigning, he
needs the campaign. Yeah. Anyway, the bottom line is is
we need better leadership, and that starts with Chicago's mayor.
So that's what I thought, is, well.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
That's a good place to end it right there, JJ,
you have a great day. I want to get back
on the show because I think Chicago is going to
be a major topic for us. We're going to be
right back with Jill Homan talking about well, we're gonna
be talking about the great Big Bill and things that
can happen there and opportunity zones and oh my god,
all this other stuff that might be good for us.
Don't go anywhere. Okay, welcome back to Made in America
(12:21):
with the Light of Dream here. You know, we started
out with the conversation regarding law and order in Chicago
and d C. And it was interesting to see the
ying to the yang. I mean, actually they were both
in the same position about a week ago. But it
seems like DC has changed his tone a little bit.
In the Mayor Bowser has admitted that having the troops
on the streets has really lowered the stats of crime
(12:43):
in the in the DC area, which is remarkable and
and I and I plodded for that, I really do.
I think that's really remarkable to hear that on the
other hand, and this is where I'm going to lead
into our next guest. You know, the Mayor of Chicago, Jansen,
has indicated did that he doesn't think the answer to
the crime on the streets and a lot of people
(13:05):
deny that. There's really a lot of climb in the streets,
which is remarkable to me. But it is really not
going to be helped by law and order. It's really
going to be helped by investment in the community and
particularly for workplace and you know, public housing in the
sense that we have a chance for people to have
affordable housing. So that's really interesting. So having said that,
(13:26):
I know that's a serpentine leading. Jill Home is with
us right now. Jill is the deputy director Trade and
Economy Policy and campaign director for America First Policy Institute,
and we're delighted to have Jill here. Jill, welcome to
Made in America.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Thank you so much. It's great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Well, thank you. Listen, So boy, are you at the
right place at the right time. And by the way,
I don't I don't. I don't really normally go to
crack rebelll it just it would I would gain weight.
I don't do that. But but you know, but it
is Americana, right, It's a it's American is going in
your actmee supermarket wheor di Agastino's. I don't know what
you have in d C. But I knew I had
when I was growing up. Let's talk about this bill
(14:07):
for a second. I think it's really important. You know.
I am sure you're delighted that the bill passed and
it was signed. Yes, but why if you give us
some insight on this in late terms? Why why are
the Democrats saying bad for our country and bad for families?
I mean, that seems to be a bad rap.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
But I think we all know this is that those
in opposition to the bill are in opposition to the
bill because it came from Republicans that came from this administration.
And so I think it would be an interesting thought
exercise and if the President and the leaders in Congress
(14:51):
were to actually put forward what Democrats are saying, then
they would reverse course and be against that. And it's
just so dishart because you have a portion of the
country elected these people to Congress to serve them, and
they're putting their own self interest first instead of what
is going to be best for America and also uplift people,
(15:15):
uplift this country. And I think that's really the theme
that I found within this One Big Beautiful Bill, which
is really what I wrote about about this being an
opportunity bill and how it extended the opportunity zone tax credits,
and how it provided tax relief from workers who are
(15:37):
tipped workers all the way to just families who are
earning and would receive a higher tax deduction. And so
I think this bill has a lot in it which
I think we need to continue to tell what's in
the One Big Beautiful Bill, because there's a lot that's
going to benefit American families. And I think it's great
(16:01):
that you're shining a light and sharing more about this
that was passed.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, you know, you're so right. I mean, here, here,
let's sen a couple of things that are important. Because
we only have about two and a half minutes, A
married family earning one hundred thousands expected to see a
tax bill shrink by close to three thousand dollars. I mean,
I think that the Republicans and Conservatives and the President
and independence are seeing life in real time. A single
(16:27):
restaurant server can realize up to thirteen hundred dollars in
taxi leap because he's not going to tax tips. That's it. Wait, man,
that cuts across the board. You know. That then gots
remarkable that they could do it. You know, a veteran
working overtime job, you know, can get a fourteen hundred
dollars tax credit, your childcare credit, car repairs. It seems
(16:49):
to me that this bill really addresses the average you know,
Jane and Joe in this country.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Absolutely, and not only that, it's with opportunities and lifts
people in poverty. And the previous bill has been calculated,
has helped create over a million jobs, and there's been
over one hundred billion dollars that have flown that has
gone into low income communities. And so these are areas
(17:16):
that are in desperate need of investment. And the liberals
will have you say and they will say that, you know,
oh it's gentrification or oh you know, you're pushing people out,
but it's not. These are areas that the governors themselves,
whether it's Republican or Democrat, have said, we need, we
desperately need investment, Please invest in these areas. And so
(17:36):
it's a false narrative don't believe what the left is
saying about these types of advarrass So I think this
is a fantastic bill that's helping both low income people
all the way up to working families.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, you know, it's very interesting, you know when you
talk about opportunities zones and are really we got to
get you back and talk about that. P three's that's
how I define it. Public private partnership and P three's
are remarkable we have, I mean, Florida led the way
with the public private partnerships years ago. We developed major roads,
we developed buildings, we developed rail we did all sorts
(18:13):
of things down here. The Dominican Republic is exemplary on
that right now, redefining themselves as the logistics center of
the Americas. But this is such a good opportunity, it's
a great time. Listen, every newborn in the United States
gets one thousand dollars in an interest free account, I
mean a tax free account, and that's just it's a
(18:35):
remarkable thing. And social Security you don't pay tax.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
On, and it's really being that's how an individual can
accumulate wealth is starting at this young age and learning
the magic of compounding interests. And I think It's what
we get when we have a president like Donald Trump
who understands business but also loves the country that he's
put his business interests as I to really serve to
(19:02):
serve this country.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I know that is just remarkable. Well, listen, I've got
to tell you something, Joel. I want to get you
back on the show for a longer segment because there's
so much to talk about, and I embrace everything you're
doing right now at your organization. And Steve Moore is
a good friend of ours as Well've been on the
Shame many many times. I love Steve. He's a terrific guy.
But please come back to mead in America. Can you
(19:25):
promise to do that.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Absolutely, we're going to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
We're going to do that. Jill. Thank you. Jill Homan,
Deputy Director, Trade and Economy Policy and Campaign Director for
the Institute, Thank you so much. We'll talk to you
next time. We're going to be right back, right back
with a discussion about with Adam Mitchell talking about the
Great Big Bill and the things that it brings.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
For energy.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Promoting American industry.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
This is made in America with Rich Rothman.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Welcome back to Meadian in America. This is Rich Rothman,
your host, and we are having a really good conversation
about the big, beautiful bill. We just had Jill Homan
on talking about opportunity zones and all the good things
that are in the bill and things that really help
the average American, although you wouldn't know that if you
talk to the Democrats. They don't seem to believe that.
But that's just the fact.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Jack.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
But right now we have Adam Mitchell. Adam is the
director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and
we've had lots of people from CATO over the last
fifteen sixteen years, where he focuses on analyzing the economic
and budgetary effects of taxation in the US. Oh my god,
So you get you and Grover on the stage. We'll
(20:54):
never get you off, the two of you. Oh my god.
Grover Norquest, I'm sure he's a friend of yours. Adam,
Why did to have you here? So let's talk about
this bill? You know why? First of all, well, let's
just talk in generalities and that we're going to get
into the green thing, which I'm passionate about, by the way,
on your side of the table. But why is it
getting you know, why is it getting such a bad
(21:16):
rap from these people in outright, outright lies of what
it really does. I mean, it's yeah, well it's going
to help wealthy people. I don't know. To me, it
looks like it's helping the average American. What do you think, Adam, Well,
thanks for having me on.
Speaker 8 (21:32):
This is the playbook that high tax advocates come back
to time and time again. We saw the exact same
rhetoric come after the twenty seventeen tax cuts that were
passed during the first Trump administration, and in both cases,
in the case of the twenty seventeen tax cuts, and
these tax cuts, Republicans actually went out of their way
(21:55):
to ensure the largest tax cuts as a share of
what people were already paying the government, went to the
lowest income Americans. It's just a fact that because the
disproportionate share of taxes are paid by the highest income Americans,
do cut taxes for everyone, of course, they're going to
see the largest dollar value share. That's just simple mass.
(22:16):
But both of these reforms were targeted middle class, lower
income American tax reforms in a whole bunch of different ways.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
So I want to you know, it's interesting that when
the number of people out there are, Bill Maher being one,
Let's go to look at clip number four phil Bill
Maher said, Dems offer high minded and tangibles while Trump
offers tips, shoes, and toilets in the real world. Let's
take a listen to that.
Speaker 9 (22:46):
While Democrats offer up high minded intangibles like equity and
saving the soul of America, Trump says, hey, waitress, how'd
you like to pay no tax on those tips? Remember that?
And everybody was like, Las Vegas is a town where
everybody gets tipped. So maybe that's why Trump was the
(23:08):
first Republican to win Nevada in twenty years.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
I mean, it's got to tell you something, doesn't it, Absolutely,
don't you think, Adam.
Speaker 8 (23:19):
Certainly good retail politics. This bill that includes the sort
of no tax on tips and overtime, a larger senior deduction.
This is a departure from the traditional Republican playbook of
lower tax rates, broader tax base, but it is it
is most certainly part of the Trump playbook, which is
(23:40):
which is targeting specific policies to the const constituencies that
he needs.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Well, yeah, I mean, in particularly with social security, that's
a huge block and you know people have been really
annoyed with that that they worked all their life, they've
been paying tax on it all their life, and then
here they get the bet the advantages of it. They
actually take the money they put in, and they're attacks
again as income. It's just unbelievable. It's not fair. Okay,
So let's jump ahead a little bit. And you know
(24:10):
you wrote a tremendous piece that Fox News has out
there right now. Congress repealed the Green New Deal? Can
Trump finish the job? What do you mean? Can Trump
finish the job? I thought they passed the bill? How
does that work?
Speaker 8 (24:23):
These bills are incredibly complicated. And what they what they
did in the bill is they repealed about half more
than half a trillion dollars worth of the Green New
Deal energy subsidies that were passed under Biden. But the
law leaves some room for interpretation around especially big wind
and solar projects. In order to qualify for the credits
(24:44):
before they phase out, the Treasury Department is going to
have to determine things like how much investment you have
to make in order to qualify for the credit this
year before it goes away, and what are those thresholds
and can you ask for extensions, And so there's a
lot of lobbying from into street, as there always is,
to make those rules as generous as possible, to extend
(25:04):
these credits through regulatory interpretation as long as possible. And
so my call for the for the administration is to
simply say no, shut the door on these on these
special interest carve outs, and shut it fast. Otherwise, as
things tend to do here in d C, they're they're
gonna they're gonna start growing back, coming back from the grave.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah, No, I get that, I get the swamp.
I understand that. But you know, I think the last
thing we want to see is the situation that we
had in the Obama administration when we the government gave
money to corporations that were just getting up and running
like Soleindra, I mean, Cylindri became the poster child for, uh,
you know, everything that's bad about the government choosing winners
(25:47):
and losers. And and it seems like along with the
whole concept of climate change and that time, it was
you know, global warming, which that didn't work, so they
change out the climate change and I mean every day
the climate changes. So I guess it proves that there's
climate change and everyone can relate to that. I suppose
that's a nice way to do it, playing with semantics,
But the truth of the matter is, you know who
(26:12):
made the decision. We lost seven hundred million dollars with Cylindra.
So I don't think that's a good thing on a
policy that basically hasn't been proven one hundred percent that
it's mankind that's causing that. So it looks like this
bill is a step in the right direction at him. Yes, no,
what do you think?
Speaker 8 (26:29):
Yeah, So the changes that were included in the one
big beautiful bill to roll back these green subsidies was
is one of the highlights of the bill in my view.
The reasons were, as you laid out, these subsidies that
were put in place under the Biden administration sort of
failed on every margin that they were sold on. They
were an inefficient jobs program, costing somewhere in the realm
(26:52):
of two to seven million dollars per job created. There
failed industrial policy. Almost half of the Biden era stubs
that I was manufacturing projects through things like these green subsidies,
have already been delayed or canceled, and it's also incredibly
costly environmental policy. Even if your goals are carbon ebatement,
(27:14):
this is an inefficient way of meeting those goals. So
it's just sort of piling failure on top of failure,
and it could cost up to five trillion dollars over
its lifetime if Republicans hadn't started to scale some of
these subsidies back.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, no, I think it's awful. But also I mean,
I think part of the problem that I found onerous,
extremely onerous, is that the government needed decision the lefties,
and the government made it. Well, our list of Democrats
made a decision, because I don't think the Republicans did
accept a handful of you know, rhinos. But I don't
(27:52):
think America embraces the whole concept of green energy. I don't.
I mean, ask the people in Texas from you know,
three years ago, when everything froze up and people were dying.
They didn't have electricity and they couldn't get their heater system.
You know, even if you have an oil heating system,
you still have an electric powered HVAC that blows that
(28:12):
hot air that it's creating throughout your you know, your home.
And so people were you know, in a lot of trouble,
and the same thing in Europe. I mean that same
winter they had a very very cold season in Europe.
Believe it or not, they didn't have the winds coming
off the North Sea the way they did in years prior,
and their windmills just weren't functioning and and so they
(28:33):
had a problem. So it seems to me, and let
me know what you think about this, that we're going
to actually move forward, and moving forward means we megawatts
going forward. I mean we don't agree to that, wouldn't
we with AI and so forth. If we don't have megawatts,
if we don't have safe, secure and plenty of and
affordable energy, then we can't be competitive in the world.
(28:56):
Is that right? I think that's correct.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Yeah, Yeah, that's that's exactly right. And it's why it's
so important to let markets and consumers drive both energy
prices energy demand. That then ultimately tells the producers where
to produce, how much to produce, and what mix of
energy is most sustainable. And that was one of the
problems that these subsidies that were repealed created is they
(29:24):
made intermittent and less reliable sources of energy like wind
and solar the predominant thing that was being invested in,
which ultimately made it made the grid less stable and
made these problems of when the sun isn't shining or
the wind isn't blowing, and made the grid much strained
(29:47):
to the point of sometimes breaking. And we would have
seen more of those problems going forward if if Republicans
hadn't stepped up to the challenge and actually started scaling
back some of these markets to store.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Yeah, and and and I think also I've been listening
to Thune and others that with the green of the
new of the big beautiful bill, with the new bill
that was paid which, by the way, I think you
want to change the name of it now now that
it's passed. He needs to market it differently. But and
we will have a comment from Trump a little bit later,
President Trump. But it seems like that, uh, as as
(30:24):
much as we embrace this, we need to move forward
in terms of other sources of energy. Now does this bill,
I think it does in a way give us the
opportunity to get back on track with more you know,
conservative or traditional forms of energy. That being and it
(30:45):
was really funny, but not all from fossils. This is
like really not right. But fossil fuels, you know, diesel,
gasoline and so forth. Coal. We did a show, I
mean I moderated a panel for clean coal Technology CEO
in the country years ago. We got completely ignored by
the Obama administration. It's really sad, but it seems like
(31:07):
are we freeing these people up to get out there
getting permits. Used to be you would take four or
five years to get a permit to actually start working
on an energy project and out in the field. And
then before when you start doing that, the crazies on
the left would go ahead and then sue you. They
would bring litigation against you to stop it and extending
even more. Do you think that's going to go away?
Speaker 8 (31:28):
The administration is doing some work on their own to
streamline much of that process. But the bill itself also
included some regulatory simplification. It lowered some of the royalty
taxes on oil exploration. It opened up federal lands for
additional leaf sales for oil and gas and mineral exploration,
(31:52):
and it included some additional money for omb here to
help with the deregulatory process. And so all of those
things will will remove some of the impediments that were
placed on the sort of traditional energy sectors. And this
isn't to put a thumb on the scale of fossil
fuels over anything else. It's trying to level the playing field,
(32:12):
treating all energy type equally so that then the market
can tell us sort of what the best energy mix is,
because central planners here in DC certainly don't know what
that is.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, that's that's We're going to stop there for a
second and we're going to take a break and let
some of the affiliates make some money out there. We're
going to be right back. We're having a really good
conversation with Anna and Mitchell, and we're talking about the
beautiful new Deal, the beautiful big Bill and how it
affects green energy going forward and which really means, you know,
how is it going to work for your house. We're
(32:45):
going to be right back. Don't go anywhere, you're going
to learn something really. Okay, Welcome back to Madadi in America.
I'm Rich Roffman, your host, delighted to have you here.
We have Adam Mitchell here. We're talking about the bill
that was passed, the most significant tax bill I think
(33:06):
in history of the United States. I mean it's gonna
do some really wonderful things for the average American. You know,
whether you know you're a waitress and you don't pay
tax on tips, or you're a veteran you're working overtime,
you don't pay tax on your overtime. You know, if
you're a senior and you're qualified to get your Social
Security you're not going to pay tax next year or
not this year on Social Security income. Why is that? Well,
(33:29):
maybe because you've been taxed on it all your life,
you know. And there's some you know, a child is
born in the United States, they get one thousand dollars
to go into a tax free interest bearing account, so
they really understand they get a chance to generate. Well,
I mean, this is really good stuff. And so I
find it amazing that we have this problem. I want
(33:51):
to get back to green energy for a second. I
got to tell you something, what really concerns me is
that going forward can't just be fossil fuels and the
traditional sense and the excuse me, and you know what
we heard from them for the last four or five, six,
seven years, actually going back to Obama, that you know
(34:13):
it's settled science. I mean, Adam, that was That was
the sentence that used to drive me insane. It settled science.
Ninety nine percent of all the scientists in the world
believe that climate chase is man made. And you know,
the world's coming to an end and al Gore is
going to save the world. And you know, you know,
I mean, go watch the movie day after tomorrow. I mean,
it's laughable. I mean, it's laughable what these people are
(34:36):
actually because they believe it. I just absolutely believe. Oh
my god. You know, I watch all the people down
here in South Florida driving Tesla's, and I'm looking at them.
First of all, they all looked like they were polypide
majors at Syracuse University when I went there. Every one
of them looks like they're polypide majors because they all
drove Vovos when I was in college there. And but
the truth of the matter is they're just virtue signaling
(35:00):
to me, because just because you're driving an EV, just
because you're driving a Tesla or whatever else is out
there by Toyota and so forth, it doesn't mean you're
saving the world. Look at how they make the batteries.
Look at how they make the product, Look how they
ship everything. Look at the electricity that has to be
generated in terms of megawats, and that's going to be
not generated by wind and sol. Lookers, the ain't gonna
have enough of it, and they need mega watch, which
(35:22):
means they're gonna have to have something else. Now here's
something else. And here's where I want to go with this.
What do you think is going to happen with this bill?
Will this bill help us get back to nuclear energy
which has actually been out of business since Michael Douglas
you did the China Syndrome. I think that movie alone
completely destroyed the nuclear energy industry in the United States.
(35:44):
What do you think do you think we're gonna get
a chance to get back?
Speaker 8 (35:48):
Well, you're virtue of virtue signaling signaling. EV drivers are
actually virtue thinking. The link at the extensive US taxpayers
because there's subsidies for evs which are now repealed in
this bill. The bill did not repeal some subsidies for
nuclear energy. But the big barrier to nuclear is on
the regulatory side. And uh and then just the sort
(36:10):
of public opinion as you as you laid out, and
those are those are more difficult barriers to overcome. My
understanding is that the administration is looking at some of
the regulatory barriers and streamlining some of those pieces of
the puzzle. But most certainly to the extent that we're
not we're not subsidizing competing energy sources, certainly can make
(36:32):
the alternatives, uh be more for economical.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
Yeah, I mean, I really hope you get back to that.
And not only that, the nuclear energy of the facilities
today are not what they were with Three Mile Island.
I mean one thing, they're much smaller, and they're much
more efficient and they're less scary. So I think we
have a great lot of new there's.
Speaker 8 (36:53):
A lot of new technology on the on the horizon
on sort of small nuclear that that is at the
cusp of breakthrough hopefully or so you read. And so
as those types of things come online, assuming that there's
a regulatory pathway to bring it to reality, then yeah,
there's a lot of potential, especially with the demand from AI,
(37:15):
can open up a lot of doors around energy innovation.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Well, you know, we're not inventing that. European nations, France
being one, was very pro nuclear and they were able
to you know, survive an energy gap a few years
ago because they had nuclear energy. So I think it's
a great opportunity. And you're right. I mean they're smaller,
they're more regional than they were before. I mean, look,
if we can power an aircraft carrier with a nuclear reactor,
(37:44):
and that's like a sid men. I landed in a jet.
I was invited by the government. I actually landed on
an aircraft carrier in a jet, which was scary as hell, unbelievable.
But and then I took off, which was even more scary,
by the way, because you go one hundred and thirty
hundred and forty nine in about I don't know, two
and a half second, three seids. That's scary, amazing. But
(38:07):
but the point of the matter is that they have
their nuclear power, and our nuclear power plans are unbelievable now,
and I think we really need to do that because look,
we need energy to go forward, we need energy to create,
we need energy to innovate. So I think, you know,
this is a very very good opportunity. So all right,
in the in about the thirty seconds forty seconds, we
have left Adam. So where are we going with this?
(38:28):
This is good stuff, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
This is good.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
I think it sets up that vision that you just described.
It sets up a future of American energy innovation. The
government is getting out of the way, getting the thumb
off the scale, and we're going to let the market
sort of drive innovation as Americans do so well. And
I'm excited to see what that.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Future looks like.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
You know what you just said something really important innovation
that Americans do so well. We are exceptional. I mean,
I have to embrace that. One of the things that
I've always loved about America is that we're different. We're
different for a lot of reasons. One our forefathers actually
got on a boat not knowing where they're going exactly,
and I'm talking about in the seventeen hundreds, and they
came here. That was pretty scary stuff in the day.
(39:13):
I got to tell you that. So the type of
person that came here, Adam, is not your normal person.
Who are saying Now, I think I'm going to stay
over here in Europe. At least I know I can
walk around. I don't know where I'm going. Someone told
me you can fall off the edge of the earth.
Not saying it is, but I'm not sure. You know,
the whole thing was scary. So we are a nation
of immigrants. We're a nation of people who take risks.
(39:34):
So innovation it really is in our DNA. I mean,
we are exceptional in the DNA of every American and
those that come here have that unique quality. At least
they're legal, they have that unique quality. Adam, any final words,
you got about fifteen seconds.
Speaker 8 (39:49):
Yeah, I think that sums it up well. America is
an amazing place and it's not just the people, but
the legal and institutional frameworks will allow them or to thrive.
The government doesn't get in the way, and we need
more of that, not left.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Right, forget the central planning. My god, watch doctor Shivago.
You see it doesn't work anyway. Adam, you have a great,
great week, have a good weekend coming up just soon,
and we're going to get you back on real soon
with Made in America. I'm delighted to have had you
on the show today. Thank you so much, excellent, Thank
you for having me. I thought it was an interesting show,
and I really enjoyed talking about the bill and the
(40:24):
tax bill because I could not understand why folks on
the left for fighting that bill so badly. It just
seems like everything that you want an opportunity. I mean,
look at the people. You know what I find amazing.
Biden and company always says, you know, the kitchen table conversation.
He's so full of it. The kitchen table conversation. Well,
the kitchen table conversation where people are working their butts
(40:44):
off and giving a lot of taxes back to the
government and they're looking for an opportunity to keep more
of their money. Well, the way I see it is
that the people who are going to really benefit the
most are going to be the people sitting around that
table sharing a cooked chicken. And I got to tell you,
I think we have an opportunity here if we can
lower the Listen, if people can save three thousand dollars
(41:04):
in taxes with one hundred thousand dollars income husband and wife,
that's a good thing. That's a really good thing for people.
If they're going to get tax credits so their kids
can go to private school or a charter school, that's
a good thing. That's gonna think of the unattended consequence
of that they go to the school if they want,
because we know the public schools are failing us. They're
just failing us. Listen to the you know, the the
(41:26):
the Department of Education, folks that used to be there,
and the unions and so forth. Oh my god. There
so they got it so wrong. We have such a
lack of readability and mathematics. Oh my god. To know
math and be good with math is racist. Oh my god.
I mean that's just embarrassing. But we have an opportunity
here for you know, tax credits. We have an opportunity
(41:47):
to not pay tax on Social Security. Oh my god.
That affects millions and millions and millions of average Americans.
Somebody who's inhortentately wealthy doesn't care about the Social Security
the way somebody who relies up on that to pay
a bill, pay the electric bill. How ironic we're talking
about that. But you see what I'm saying. This is
the average Joe, average Jay, and great opportunity. This is
(42:09):
what this bill can do. So here's a final shot.
I want us to listen to President Trump talk about
his bill. Let's go number four.
Speaker 10 (42:17):
And last month, in a landmark achievement, I also proudly
signed the largest working class tax cuts in American history.
So the bill that I'm not going to use the
term great, big, beautiful, that was good for getting and approved,
but it's not good for explaining to people what it's
all about. It's a massive tax cut for the middle class,
(42:37):
it's a massive tax cut for jobs, and.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
It's I mean, think of it.
Speaker 10 (42:43):
No tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, So seniors,
I don't know how you can vote for anybody else
and you just think of that. And no tax on overtime,
so you work overtime, you don't have to pay tax
on overtime.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
So it looks like we're in the right direction right now.
If we can keep it together and keep the House,
keep the Senate, we got our president, we can do
some really good things. If you listen to the folks
on the left, you're gonna think everything is just falling apart.
But the truth of the matter is everything that was
falling apart was under their domain, as in Chicago. The
fact that we know and one week we saved DC,
that's just just remarkable. So we're gonna be back next week.
(43:23):
We've got even better stories to tell. We're gonna dig
in and let you know where you're really gonna be
in six seven months from now. So thanks for listening
to me. In America, I'm delighted to be here. Rich Roffman,
you want to get a hold of me, Richard rich
Roffman dot com to see you next week. Don't go anywhere,
We'll be right here.
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