Trump and deregulation

Ray Keating, Cheif Economist- Small Business and Entrepreeneurship Council

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Made in America with Rich Rothman Metal Well.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hello everybody, it's delightful to be here with you on
another adventure of Maide in America. This is Rich Rothman
and I am your host, and we have a I
can't even begin to tell you. We have so much
to talk about. You could talk about every hour. There's
something happening that's totally different. So you can't ever say
that we don't have a good news day. There's a
very active news cycle right now because it just never, never, never, never,

(00:36):
never stops. I got to tell you one of the
things that stood out in my mind when I was,
you know, watching the news, which basically that's all I do.
You know, you want to ask yourself, have you changed
your viewing patterns? Are you still watching TV the way
you did before? Because I don't. Maybe I'm nuts, which
is very possible. If he asked my first wife, she'd
probably tell you that and a lot more. But the

(00:57):
point is things have changed dramatically. I mean I do
watch movies. I love movies, My kids love movies. My
sons in the entertainment business. My other son works for Apple.
They're pretty cool. They're into that. It's wonderful. But I
got to tell you, I watch, you know, I get up,
I watch the news, I go to sleep. I watch
the news when I'm standing in an elevator, I'm looking at,

(01:19):
you know, my phone, and when I'm really looking at
the news and what's going on out there, because some
of this is just incredulous. For example, for example, so
they had, you know, the US Trade rep was being
grilled and I use that word on purpose. He was
being grilled the other day in Congress over you know,
what we were doing with the tariffs, and you know,

(01:41):
how the world is changing, and you know what was
isn't and what is may not be, and what may
not be may kill us, and the world's coming to
an end. And next thing, you know, we're all acting
in Ghostbusters and cats and dogs sleeping together. Everything is
going to hell. And and so I'm listening to the
Democratic rep who's basically barking and barking. And it's not

(02:02):
because they're cats and dogs sleeping together in the streets,
as Bill, you know, Murray said, it's because he's so
freaked out. And that's their thing. You know, we think
about it. What do the Democrats have right now? They
don't have an agenda. They do have an agenda. Their
agenda is to fight our agenda. And the only thing
they can do is they say that we're fools, we
don't know what we're doing. We're insane. Everything's going to hell,

(02:24):
nothing's working right, we have an oligarthy is controlling the country.
You know, Musk has no right to do this. He's
an illegal, unelected individual who's ending things unilatterally doing things
by himself, and the world is, well, what did I
say before? It's going to hell? The truth of the
matter is that's their agenda. So their agenda is really
no agenda. The agenda is to fight, you know, block.

(02:45):
You know, it's sort of like an insurrection. I don't
know what January sixth, I don't know, maybe not, but
they don't want it to work. They don't want anything
that Trump's doing. They didn't want anything that the administration
is doing. The any't want anything that you know, the
Republican Congress in the Senate to They don't want any
of that. They don't want anything. And I have to
tell you something, watching it and watching the news kind

(03:07):
of intrigues me because I think there whoever's controlling this
group Soros or you know, it's probably three or four
guys or women that we have no idea even exists,
not a clue, maybe not even the United States. But
let's assume it's Obama. Let's assume it's Susan Rice, you know,
Let's assume it's you know, done. Let's assume it's all
those cats that were in the last you know, well,

(03:29):
all those from the Biden administration. Wouldn't you say, you know,
that's that's accurate. So so what I'm saying is that
they will do and say anything, And if you watch
the stuff right now, it's total insanity. So w t F.
I want you to think for a second, what is
w w TF mean? You know, it's saying it stands

(03:49):
for what the f right? What the F? You fill
in the rest of the letters. I'll give you the F.
You fill in the one, two, three letters following that.
And I'm listening to this guy completely losing his s
since we're using abbreviations, he's losing his sen once again.
S above, fill in the three letters that we didn't
have there before. And it's not the same three letters
from the other at it's a different one. Not to

(04:10):
be confused. But he's screaming at the guy, like, who
gave me permission? What's going on? How dare you people
do this? We're upsetting the market. Nobody's happy. You're insane.
You people have no right, I mean everything, if you
think about it that well, I don't know what obliterates
anything that we're trying to do. Which, by the way,

(04:31):
and this is where they're the amazingness of the Democrats
and the lefties and so forth, I really find them amazing,
absolutely amazing. The thing that's so remarkable is that they
act like they won the election and they know better,
and their agenda is the agenda that's obviously right, not
our agenda. Almost eighty percent of this country voted for Trump,

(04:52):
people crossing over more minorities than ever before. They embraced
what we were saying. They want to stop the insanity.
Don't want to stop the insanity, you know, not our insanity.
The Democrat in sanity. Why because everything was going to
well hell and and and that's a fact. Whether it's energy,
whether it's gonna be the border, whether it's gonna be

(05:13):
foreign affairs, and and it's gonna be you know, the
mid East and it's gonna be you know, the Ukraine,
whether it's gonna be Russia, whether it's going to be China,
whether you know, interestingly, North Korea. I probably shouldn't say that,
but they seem pretty quiet these days, don't they. That's
kind of intriguing. But in the meantime, getting back to
our guy, who's the WTF guy, He's saying, well, who

(05:35):
gave you permission? What are you doing? You're destroying the world.
And I got to say, I find that to be
and I find this with everybody, whether it's gonna be him,
or it's gonna be you know, others from the Bidery administration,
is gonna be other you know, Chuck Schumer, who's saying
that obviously, you know, we don't know what we're doing.
We're destroying the stock market, everything's going to hell. As
we said before, see above three or four paragraphs above us,

(05:56):
everything's not working right. According to the Democrats, of course,
things are actually working right. So I find that when
you start listening to congressional people and they're resorting to,
you know, throwing mud. You know, this is like metaphoric mud,
and the WTF is thrown to everybody. How dare you.

(06:19):
You can't do that not gonna happen. You know, it's
almost like Richard Nichen, I didn't do that. But the
point of the matter is it doesn't work for them
and it works for us. And they don't have anything
to say. They don't know what to say. So the
only thing they can say is that we're insane, that
we have no right, that we're unelected officials, that we're
doing things that's upsetting the world, that the tariffs are

(06:40):
going to end the world as we know it, as
we know it. And as a result of that, the
stock market took you know, a major dump this week
for a while. You know, it's kind of scary, but
you know, s happens again, filling the other three letters,
and but it came back. Then it goes down, It
comes back and down. You know. Bottom line is they

(07:02):
have nothing to say. We have a lot to do,
and they will do everything they can to say to impede, stop, block,
destroy and create carnage for everything that we want to do.
And I find that to be just a remarkable place
right now. Whether it's you know, Kamala Harris, they're they're
you know, keeping her out there and they're giving her

(07:24):
hidden actually a little bit, because they're going to create
this new idea that she's some bloody genius who knows
what to do and you know, uh with her word style.
And I mean that she could do is probably get
a job with Ken's Steakhouse Dressings, which I see are
doing fairly well these days. And she can probably get
a Actually that's not a bad idea. Why doesn't she

(07:45):
become a spokesperson for Ken's Steakhouse Dressings. I got to
tell you that we're in South Florida. Public is selling
a hell of a lot of this dressing and maybe
it should say endorsed by Kamala Harris. I'm just saying,
just throwing that out. But anyway, we have a great
show for you today. We're gonna be talking about taris. Wow,
that's a surprise. We're gonna be talking about some of
the regulations and anti competitive barriers that have been put

(08:08):
in by you know, the Democrats who are now running
around saying wtf. We're gonna be talking about that. I
think I'm gonna touch on a little bit with Daylight
Savings time because I have some personal thoughts on that
and we may have a few surprises along the way.
So buckler, seatbelt. We're gonna be right back. We're gonna
take a short break, and then we're gonna come right
back with a conversation. I think it's gonna nacky. Socks up,
don't go anywhere, You're gonna learn something, and we're gonna

(08:30):
fill in the blanks. Okay, welcome back to Maidian America.
This is rich Roffman, and I am your host on
the Maid in America Show. And with us right now
we have Ray Keating, who is the chief economist with

(08:52):
the Small Business Entrepreneurship Council and and he is very knowledgeable,
and he's gonna tellus a whole about of stuff that
we need to understand and we need to get involved with.
It's particularly you know, when we talk about made in America,
we talk about the backbone of the United States. The
backbone of the United State for jock creation is small
to mid sized companies, the SMEs and being in South

(09:12):
Florida and being an entrepreneur and having these different companies
that I've had, you know, for thirty forty years. South
Florida is a c part in the pun of let's
say ocean. We don't have to see. We have an
ocean of small businesses. I mean, particularly Miami, Miami, My god,
Ray's going to really validate this. Miami is a city,

(09:33):
It's an environment that encourages the American dream. The American
dream is for people to start small companies and grow
it and do the best they can for themselves and
their family and become part of the American you know,
capitalistic market, which is great. We're all capitalists here, so Ray,
delighted to have you on the show. Welcome to Maide
in America.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Glad to be here, Rich, how are you.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
I'm kind of fired up today. I'm trying to find
out why I'm so. I can't figure it out, but
somehow I'm you know, I tell you why I said
this in my monologue. I said this because I watch
what's happening out there right, and it's just you can't
write this stuff. This is this is really I mean,
it's too bad. Mail Brooks is so old because he's
not writing scripts anymore. But I've got to tell you,

(10:15):
I watched this stuff that's happening. Right. Let's talk about
small businesses. You know, we worked with Alfredo Ortiz up
in New York at the you know, the his conference
that he has up there for small businesses Job Creation Network,
and it is the backbone of the United States, isn't it.
Aren't these small businesses really main street? Aren't they everything

(10:35):
that we want to aspire to? And people say, you can,
you know, be all you can be, you know, try
and do the best you can. You know, what do
you think just to find that a little bit and
then we're going to get into regulations.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sure, no, you know, it's across the board though a
lot of people think that, and you're right, it's from
it's from main Street. But it's too technology. It's it's manufacturing.
We are very much a small business economy. And you
look at the total number of businesses out there when
you count employers and non employers, well, guess what, ninety
nine percent are small and mid sized businesses. They're only actually,

(11:10):
I mean, out of what I'm trying to remember the
latest number, like thirty four thirty five million businesses in
the United States, only seventeen thousand have more than five
hundred employees. I tell people that and they're like, come on, like, yeah,
that's the reality. The reality is we are a small
business economy, and that's what we fight for in terms
of you know, whether it's getting the word out on

(11:31):
how people can start up their businesses or getting the
word out to policy makers. You know, let's not do
anything dumb that you think is only going to affect
big businesses, but they actually affect small business and by
the way, they shouldn't be doing dumb things to affect
big businesses either.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
No, no, no, you know it's very interesting. You know,
for fifteen actually fourteen to fifteen years, still knows it
because he produced the show. My partner and I did
a show call Made in America and we were talking
about you know, Neil had a my partner, Neil Asberry,
who I love and he's my brother kind of speaking,
you know, metaphorically speaking, he's my brother, and he has

(12:08):
a very very big company all over the world. He's
in one hundred and thirty five countries. He's now at
this point he's probably a multi billion dollar company. I'm
very proud of Neil. He defines everything that you can
be that you just talked about. You know, his family
came from West Virginia. His father was in the coal mining,
you know, business, very very hard upbreak he went to
college and all sorts of great stuff wound up in

(12:29):
Indonesia and Asia and became one of the largest food
exporter products, and I mean food, but the products that
you would see when you walk into McDonald's. Everything you
see that's chrome, saaleless Salle Ontoba. They would fabricate all
the major uvens and things that would go in Rich
Carlton's and you know, all these different places around the
world he would create and throw out there. Big company.
On the other hand, my background is in media. Other

(12:52):
than a stint when I was a corporate member of
the Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation up in Fort Lauderdale. For a while,
I've been with small companies other than teaching college and
so I've had employees. I think the largest number I
had is one hundred and thirty five employees. Neil had
like six hundred. I mean, he's in another world. But
the the the problems that we shared ray which is

(13:15):
exactly what you said, or it's agnostic because he would
pay a ton of money to abide by the rules
and regulations coming out, you know, from those who would
impose that on us. I on the same side, had
also a lot of rules and regulations, so we would
we would share, you know, in different levels short frustration

(13:38):
of exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Go ahead, yeah, I mean, the only thing I would
is the only right. You're actually right. It's agnostic. It
hits businesses of all sizes in terms of regulations and
tax burdens and so on. You know, the only thing
you could say for larger businesses is that they tend
to have the resources to at least, you know, somehow
another deal with this, where smaller businesses usually don't, and

(14:00):
that's why they get to hit so much harder when
you know, regulatory burdens are put in place and taxes
are increased. I mean, when you break out, you know,
whole hosts of studies have been done in terms of
how you know, the regulatory burden falls harder on small businesses,
and if you do it on a per employee basis,
it's like the latest study I saw was twenty twenty
five percent higher for small businesses in terms of the burden,

(14:22):
and if you go into manufacturing, it's more than double.
The per employee costs is more than double for small
businesses as opposed to large business So you're right, everybody
pays the price. You know, there's always going to be
I mean, listen, we all know, you know, bad players.
There is going to be the you know, the large
business that tries to use the system and the regulatory
burdens to stop competitors from coming into the market and

(14:44):
so on. Yeah, I've seen that, I know economic history.
But that's the exception because small businesses face these burdens.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Well, yeah they do. But you know what what's interesting,
and you're so correct. I remember Neil talking about this
and Phil was you know, was reducing it then that
you know, Neil would spend thousands and thousands and thousands
of dollars on his larger accounting and now I had
a large accounting firm too, I'd be honest with you, KPMG.
Neil had somehe at that level, you know, there used

(15:13):
to be what seven or eight and then went down
to like one. You know, it's like, wait a minute,
is Bobby still around? No, that he took him out too,
The DJ took him out. Go see you know Weisman,
Andrew Weisman, you see if we can figure that one out.
But but the truth of the matter is, yes, it
does affect us. It bothers us. But I got to
tell you what bothers me ray in all these rules

(15:36):
and rags, and we were just And it came out
this week that the EPA is starting to set back
a lot of these rules and we're gonna and you
know where I'm going with this. I'm gonna go with
a shower rule. I mean, everyone was talking, you know,
all of a sudden. Not only are we hearing people
in Congress saying w TF, which I found to be astounding,
WTF what are you talking about with the trade rep?
But they also start saying, well, how do you take

(15:58):
a shower? And I found to be really remarkable conversations
that have ted Cruz as well. You know, I got
to stand there a long time or you had, you know,
other people saying well I have to flush seven times?
You know, So we're running these habits of these people.
I don't know if you want to hear that, but
what you know, what it comes down to read, It

(16:18):
comes down to cronyism. It comes down to that that
the the those who impose these rules and REGs, you know,
really control how we think, what we do, and they impede,
you know, coming forth with a new product, don't you
think yes?

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And they also don't have a clue. And I've seen
this firsthand with too many elected officials. They have no
clue as to what it costs businesses to deal with
these regulations. And I can't decide with some of whether
they don't have a clue or they just don't care.
It's probably a combination. But they really don't understand. They
view businesses as cash cows, and no matter what Congress

(16:56):
does in terms of imposing taxes and opposing regulation, they
think it's the business is just going to keep doing
what it does, and investors are just going to keep investing,
completely disconnected from any economic, any economic reality. But that's
the overwhelming assumption. And they love listen, they love power,
and they love being able to control things, and they

(17:17):
love putting forth What was it? I mean, the reason
that this is brought up is thirteen thousand word regulation
on shower heads. I mean, come on, I mean it's
the most glaring, ridiculous example. But there is so many
more that that reach. I mean, even obviously far beyond
beyond shower heads. And you know, the foot part of

(17:38):
the other part of this is the average person. You know,
part of my mission in life is to spread the
news about economics and how it works. Right, and the
average person can kind of get the wrap their brain
around taxes, right. They pay taxes, they get their they
get their paycheck, they see the taxes go out, they
pay their property taxes, they go buy something sales. But
you know what they don't really I always call regulation

(18:00):
the hidden tax. It's real. It costs them money, it
costs them jobs, it costs economic growth, lost productivity, all
these things that we economists have been saying. But the
average person doesn't see it firsthand. But you know who does,
business owners and small business owners certainly.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well yeah, and you know there's always unattended consequences to
this stuff when when you when you you know, impose
these things. See, I found the rules and reds when
it came to the green energy was one of the
most amazing things I've seen in terms of choosing how
we were going to go forward and what people are
going to buy, which I found to be the most
Unamerican thing that I ever imagine and anti capitalistic because

(18:40):
you can't really you know, you know, living and we're
gonna we're gonna go to a break in just about
a minute. But living in South Florida, we're in an
environment that's very inventive. We are a lot of people
coming from a different from different parts of the world
that're from all over the place, and you know, in
different different languages and different thoughts, and they come here
because they can be freeing their sense that they can
create something. So we get a lot of ideas floating

(19:02):
out there, which is great. I think that's a great idea, good, bad,
and a redifferent. It's because stalt psychology. Out of all
this chaos comes some order, and I like that. I
kind of think that's pretty cool. But but when when
you have somebody or a group with an agenda that's
going to come forth through these rules and REGs you're
one hundred percent correct, it really plays on the folks

(19:24):
who are running those companies, who want to do the
right thing for their product, and somehow they're being thwarted
because they have to follow some insane rule by somebody
who has no idea about business because they majored in
seventeenth century literature, I have no idea. Well that's all
about all right, listen, We're gonna take a break for
the affiliates We're going to go out let them make
a few bucks. I'm gonna make a few bucks, and

(19:44):
then we're gonna come back with Ray Keating Hate. Rick
Heating is the chief economists Small Business Entrepreneurship Council. We're
going to be right back. We're going to be talking
about rules and REGs and maybe, just maybe we'll have
even better rubvens. We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
M promoting American industry. This is Made in America with
Rich Rothman.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Okay, welcome back. Delighted to have you here with us today.
So this is Rich Rothman. I'm your host on Made
in America with Ray Keating. Ray is a chief connoct
with a Small Business Entrepreneurship Council, and he's telling us
all these amazing things that you know, we have to
suffer with, you know, suffer the children in terms of
rules and regulations and how expensive things get in the world.

(20:40):
Right let me let me let's go back to an
idea that why does the word cylindra come in my
mind when I think the rules and REGs and in
uh in the energy industry. What would you when you
hear someone say that, do you go down a certain
road because to me, that's one of the most obvious
rules and regulated industries that almost got destroyed by the crazies.

(21:00):
What do you think about that? I mean, maybe I'm
nuts down me I by him.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Well, yeah, there's a long list of industries that have
been you know, pushed out of existence quite frankly due
to you know, and jobs pushed out of existence due
to government regulation because the costs becomes so high that
you can't possibly operate. So yeah, unfortunately, the list is long.
One of the things that's amazing to me, you know,

(21:24):
when you talk about energy is you know, the energy
industry overall, and I'm talking oil, natural gas, and so on. Right,
they have been targeted by elected officials in this country
for quite some time, twenty plus years, quite frankly, with
exceptions along the way, thankfully, but overall it's been a
very hostile environment. Yet the resiliency and innovation in what

(21:47):
we think of as an old line industry is astounding
because you know, I can remember George W. Bush saying
that we were, you know, dependent upon everybody else on
the face of the planet and so on, and that
was at the birth of these innovative changes in terms
of hydraulic fracturing and you know, drilling, new methods of
drilling and so on, and now we're the number one

(22:09):
energy producer on the planet in terms of natural gas
and crude oil. That's what the private sector can do
in spite of regulatory hostility. Right now, Think about what
can be done if we actually provided some just common
sense relief to a whole host of industries. So you know,
when we talk about wanting to be competitive in the
global marketplace, we are. I mean we're still we are

(22:32):
the global economic leader in so many different areas. But
why why limit ourselves for no good reason? Why put
these restrictions and rules and regulations and costs on American
industry when whether it's energy or tech or everything in between,
we are getting it done due to entrepreneurs in a
private sector. Managintive government, you know at least got out

(22:54):
of the way or maybe even helpful.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Little well, I got to tell you that. I mean,
go into a governmental agency and you'll have to do
something and deal with the bureaucracy. I don't want to
think about those people making rules and regulations and forcing
it on my life. I mean, my god, listen, you
can buy a light bulb for a dollar ten. But

(23:17):
you can't do that under the old rules and rerects,
which are being changed right now by the Trump administration.
You're going to have to spend you know, four dollars
and eighty cents on an LED or one of those
other like squiggly likes whatever they call it. So I
got I got to ask you something. So we've talked
about energy for a second, and we are in a
strange place with energy in this country. And I think we're
on the right track right now. We were, we got off,

(23:38):
we're back all right. Regulations EPA, they went after it ray.
So what is a small business Entrepreneur Council think about
things like, Oh, I don't know coal nuclear? I mean
that requires tremendous research development. You know, it's possible to
have clean coal. I moderated panels to some of the
top CEOs in the country getting clean coal, which we

(24:01):
can do. We can deal with that. Or in terms
of nuclear energy, we seem to be on the verge
of a breakthrough in new nuclear plants and it looks
like that the you know, the administration wants to go forward.
So where do you guys stand on that?

Speaker 3 (24:16):
It's exciting across the board. It goes to exactly what
I just said in terms of the innovation going on
in the private sector. So, yeah, you can get cleaner coal,
you can get nuclear power. That that that you know,
obviously the disposal of nuclear waste and so on is
the issue that is huge on that front. But there
are ways to deal with this, innovative ways to deal

(24:37):
with all of this. And I think the bottom line
here is that guess what, the market works. Guess what, entrepreneurs,
businesses and investors are a heck of a lot smarter
than the people in Washington, d C. So, you know,
let the market work lay the foundation for sound incentives,
light regulatory touch. Obviously, you know, you stop things that

(24:58):
are going to be that cause problem of health and
the environment and so on, and fraud and abuse, all
those things that we agree on that government should be doing.
But you know, stop the excessive stuff and let the
market work. Because this is what you know, entrepreneurs do.
They find new and better products to offer people, They
find solutions to problems. That's what's the beauty of free

(25:19):
enterprise system.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Well, I think that's one hundred percent correct. I mean,
you can look back to the thirties, and you can
see the Stalinist you know, doctrine were was central planning.
And if you don't think, well, well, look what happened
with the Russia. Their research and development was like nil
compared to the United States and a free market environment.
So you're I think from a small business entrepreneur point

(25:44):
of view, you know, you you let the market dictate
what needs to be I mean, that's one of the
basic things that I saw in one of my favorite
movies is Seabiscuit, beautiful film, Just beautiful. And the guy
who started started in the film who's protagonist. He owned
sea Biscuit and but he you know, you know what

(26:06):
did he do. He was starting out and fixing things
and dealing with horses. Someone comes along to his shop.
He had bike, that's right, he had a bicycle and
he comes someone comes along with the shop with a
Stanley Steamer car. He gets involved in fixing the machinery,
gets intrigued by the car, and then you find out
decades later he's a big buick dealership General Motors, and

(26:28):
he's a billionaire. He is making a lot, a lot,
a lot a lot of money. So but what happened
in that case is that the market dictated. Horses are pretty,
they're wonderful. We can jump them, we can ride them,
we can do all sorts of things. They can be
good friends for us, you know, you know, it's just
a great thing to have, But in reality, dealing with
a car is going to work much better for us

(26:49):
in the long run. So I guess see.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
That's the economist example. I was just gonna say that.
I don't want to hit up the economist example of
you know, there used to be a thriving buggy whip
industry in the United States, but that went away and
for the better, right.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Well, according to the Biden administration, it didn't. They were
using it on the border of Texas and they were
still using something like that. No, you're right, that's exactly correct.
So things that were may not be in, things that
may not be will become something else. I guess sounds
logical to me, right.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
No, that's absolutely correct. And the beauty of it is
is that you just don't know. You don't know what's coming.
And you know, as the old saying goes, who's the inventor,
the innovator, the entrepreneur working away and his or her
garage right now. That's going to change an industry. And
that happens on as long as you provide the right foundation.
You know, all the institutions that free enterprise and needs

(27:45):
you provide that foundation. People are pretty darn and genious
and creative, and that's what we've learned over the years.
But unfortunately not everyone has learned. And that goes back
to you know, every once in a while, I look
around and see some things going on. Wow, I've spent
my lifetime as an economist. State maybe I haven't done
a great job of communicating this stuff.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Now you've probably done a great job. You're doing a
great job right now. So what it comes down to
is that.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
You're right.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
You've got to communicate. You've got to let the market
go where it's going to go. And and I have
to ask you one final question. I can't it's I'm
compelled to ask. If we were talking about energy, and
I'm trying to think about the nuclear energy in the
United States, and the one thing that I want your
opinion it is going to let me know if you
watch film. And I used to teach film in college,

(28:34):
by the way, so I'm into this. But China syndrome
if I'm going to use two words to define who
completely rapped out the entire nuclear energy in the United
States for decades China syndrome. What do you think? Give
me a good one on this. It's gonna be a
good SoundBite.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, well, let me give you Listen. I'm also a novelist,
so I understand the power of storytelling, and I think
this is is this something that our side still has
to flew in on that movies and novels and all
these things actually matter. And yet you have all sorts
of movies and stories that have had wild impact on people.

(29:11):
I try to point them, you know, for movies real quick,
I try to point them to a movie like Tucker
the Man in His Dream Is that's the story of
an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
My god, that is such a great That is such
an underrated film. That's a great story of a guy
going up against the system. What of course, And it
was Bridges, the same guy who was in Seabiscuit.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yep, exactly that. And you know what, listen, they don't
stay listen to a movie, you know, you don't learn
her history from there. It's a movie, but the story
is about the entrepreneur looking to make innovations. The system,
government stopping him, special interest stopping him. And you know what,
even when he stopped, if you remember the end of
that film, he's working on the next idea. That's an

(29:50):
inspiring movie.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
To me. That's an entrepreneur. That is what small business
and entrepreneurship is all about. You just to find it.
This is called full circle, right, This was great, Ray Keating,
delighted to have you on the show. Raise the chief
economists again from the Small Business Entrepreneurs Council. Hey, if
somebody wants to send a note to you, how would
they do that?

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Just go to our website sbucouncil dot org. You can
email me at our Keating at SBU council dot org.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Delighted to have you listen. You have a great week.
We're looking forward to having you back on the show
real soon. Take care, Ray, thank you for being with us.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
It's fun.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Take care you bet. We're going to be right back
with more of Maide in America, So don't go anywhere.
Welcome back to Made in America. This is Rich Roffman
and it delighted to have you here on the show.

(30:48):
You know it's intra We had a really nice segment
with Ray Keating. And you know that I've been telling
you this a lot if you listen to the show today.
He's the chief economist for the Small Business entrepreneuri Entrepreneurship
count so I'll get that right. And when we were
discussing you know, rules and regulations and how it affects
businesses and how it really affects us. I mean, if

(31:08):
you think about it, you know, we went through a
revolution in the United States with the with I think
the crazies on the left that changed everything that didn't
have to be changed, including you know, the appliances that
we have. They took away the they changed our air
conditioning system, they changed you know, how we run our cars,
They changed the lighting that we have, They changed the

(31:28):
water systems in our house. I mean, really, how many
of you And I know we kind of beat this
a little bit today, but it is very personal. And
someone says, well, you know, we've got to put some
filters in the shower heads because we have to conserve
the water. Whatever that means, I don't know. And so
we have to conserve the water, so we're going to

(31:49):
make sure that it comes out in a trickle. As
opposed to a steamy hot chower. That's great and you
can enjoy yourself. And of course everybody when you get
something installed, you know, everyone looks and says to the
plumber and store this stuff saying, hey, listen, look in
there and do me favor. If there's a filter, take
it out. The interesting thing is that some of these
guys who actually are installing this stuff will say, well,
you know that's the EPA thing. I can't do that

(32:13):
because I'm gonna be violating the EPA rules and regulations.
So I got to leave this filter in, and de
will be damned you don't you know you're gonna have
to do the water that you've got. And the point
of the matter is that I say to them, is really,
do you think the EPA are going to come here
into the shower while I'm taking a shower and say,
we've noticed, by the way that you've been using a
lot more water than you should be using. We really

(32:35):
want you to stop doing that. Ain ain't gonna happen.
So so I know all of us sharing that. The
other thing you should be aware of, by the way,
now that we're talking about this is in Florida, we
have you know, smart readers, smart electric readers, you know
on the outside the meters that you've got, well in Florida,

(32:55):
they're digital and and everyone goes, ah, this is great.
You can just see what's going on. It's very hip
and you know, FP and L can very clearly see
what's happening, and they can whatever whatever whatever. The truth
of the matter is that they can actually then collect
data and they can figure out to a t how
much electrical are using on a given day at a

(33:17):
given time, and peap peeriods and low periods, and you know,
they could have if they wanted to, if somebody's nefario
isn't evil enough to do that, they could actually cut
you out. They could shut down your electric and say, well,
we've determined that using more electricity than you're allowed. Going
back to our discussion, by the way, which is really

(33:37):
talking about styling this stuff from the nineteen thirties. But yeah,
I mean they could do that, and so the smart
so it really isn't so smart because we're screwing ourselves
in the long run, because we run the risk if
somebody evil gets in and they could do something really
really bad to us. I don't like that all right,
enough of that, so I want to continue. I want
to follow up on something that Ray said that maybe

(33:58):
you people should. We love having it listening to the show.
Thank you so much for that, and all our affiliates.
We're so happy that you're with us, and we're happy
to have them join us every week. But the movie
Tucker really is a spectacular movie. It was never a
huge success, but it's a great story. And the story
of Tucker is a guy that really went up against

(34:18):
you know, the major car companies, sort of like Deloreion.
We'll save him for another conversation, but Delaurien is another
example who was taken and beaten down by the car companies.
And I have lots of good thoughts about that. I
love John Delorian and what he did for GM and
the Pontiac Division and other divisions and what they were
grooming him for. But anyway, Tucker comes out with a

(34:39):
car in the late forties, post World War Two that
had all sorts of advanced ideas like oh, I don't know,
seatbelts and padded dashboards, you know, front wheel drive with
the wheels turned with you better, and a light that
would turn as you turn a corner. The light would
turn a little bit, so you're not turning into the dark,

(35:01):
you're turning into the light. You know, things that you know,
we kind of take for granted today, but back in
the in the end of the day, were really a
danger to the major car companies because they're represented. They
would have to put more money into the car, and
they may not be able to charge as much as
they want to charge because they're going to outprice the car.
In reality, we went to those things anyway. But Tucker

(35:24):
very much like doctor Stockman in The Enemy of the People.
That's an Ibsen thing, where he knows that the water
at the uh these baths that they have in this
community is bad and anyone who goes in the water
is going to get very very sick, and some people
could die. And as a doctor he has to tell
everybody what's right and what's wrong for the betterment of

(35:45):
you know, whatever you know, for the society. And in
that case he became the enemy of the people as
opposed to the hero of the people. He's really a hero.
He's saying, don't go in the water. You know, don't
go near the water. It's you know, it's not a door.
Stay from the sixties, don't go near the water. But
it really was a situation where he knew what was

(36:06):
going to happen, and that the families and kids could
get sick, and so forth and so on. In Tucker's case,
you had a man go up against the General Motors
and all these other big corporations who were humiliated by him,
and they try to destroy him, and they did. But
as Ray aptly pointed out, being the true entrepreneur, he

(36:26):
was looking down the road and they may get me
on this one, but they're not going to get me
on the next one, which is, you know, sort of
like the exceptionalism of American DNA, because we are exceptional.
We are exceptional. We were so different than the rest
of the world. And that'll be the subject of another
show one of these days. But we are, if you
think about it, an exceptional nation with exceptional people. So,

(36:51):
having said that, part of my throat right now, I
want to talk briefly in the time that's left on
daylight saving time. I know how you feel about daylight
saving time, and I know I think most people kind
of like it. They go, oh, I kind of think
it's really great it's light out, until I don't know
ten o'clock at night. No, I'm lying, it's light out
until seven five or eight o'clock at night, you know.

(37:13):
And then as you get into August it starts waning
a little bit and so forth. One of the things
I like as a kid growing up, and I grew
up in New York City. In New York City in
the wintertime, around four thirty in the afternoon starts getting dark.
Northern climbs get darker faster than they do down in
the south. It's just you know, sort of like you know,
being in Ireland in the UK and so forth, kind

(37:34):
of north And to me, it gave me I can't
explain it, but it was really like a blanket enveloping me.
So the darkness surrounded me. And I can't explain it totally.
Maybe you can, you think about it, discuss it with
your family. But it made me feel secure. It made
me feel like I wanted to be home with my family,

(37:57):
and it gave me a real sense of security in
a comfort that the day was over. You know, I'm
going home, there's gonna be dinner. You know, You're gonna
see my mother, my father, and my sister, and I
kind of like that. I can't really. I know that
may sound hokey today, but what the hell, I'm hoky,
but I kind of like not having daylight savings time.

(38:22):
That changed, of course, you know when when daylight Saving
times kicked in and we you know, spring ahead for
an hour. I don't like that. So it's interesting that
Congress now and it looks like it's bilateral they're trying
to do something about daylight savings time and ended. I'm
not so sure Trump wants to end it, because I

(38:42):
think he made a comment that he wants to keep
as much light at the end of the day for
whatever reason. That's another time, another place, and another galaxy
far away. But in this case, it seems like there
are a serious number of Democrats and Republicans that have
an interest in ending And I'd love to know your thoughts.
If you want to talk to me about it, you
why don't you send me a note it rich at

(39:03):
rich Rothman roffm an rich at rich Roffman dot com
and let me know your thoughts and I'll respond to
you and I'll let you know on the next show
how we're doing with our comments on daylight savings time.
Because I again I am absolutely I'm against it, and
I like having it dark when it's supposed to be
dark at night. I like having it light in the

(39:24):
morning when the kids are going to school. I thought
that was a much safer thing to do, and to me,
that made an awful lot of sense. And also having
gone to Syracuse and living out in the countryside, I
lived with a bunch of farmers. They were my neighbors
and Camillis, New York. I didn't stay at Syracuse all
the time. I wanted to break out of there and

(39:44):
get someplace else and have a lot more fun than
living in a dormitory, that's for sure. But all of
the farmers, the kids started their days at like four
thirty five o'clock in the morning. Hardest working people on
the planet, most underappreciated people on the planet. I love farmers.
And they would work and work and work and work,
and then they take a shower, then they have breakfast,

(40:04):
then they grab their school books, they go to school,
they come home from school, they do their chores, they
do their homework, they clean up, they have dinner, and
then they start, you know, rinse and repeat, do it
over and over and over again every day and it
never stops. By the way, if you're a farmer's seven
days a week. So so anyway, so I kind of
I'm voting against daylight savings. Time. Love to know what

(40:26):
you think, Rich at rich Roffman dot com. It would
be delightful to have you, you know, respond to it.
I'm gonna you know, I'll use first names, not last names.
Don't worry, that'll never happen. The other thing that before
we go, we were talking about cronyism that with the
rules and regulations, and Abomba excelled at this and I

(40:47):
used to do for years a cronyism report all the
things that the you know, Obama administration was really picking
winners and losers, Solendra being one. And I'm going to
just real briefly. You know, they give seven hundred and
eighty million dollars to Cilindra for creating solar panels, and
as soon as they gave the money, within a short

(41:08):
period of time, they filed for bankruptcy. God knows where
the seven hundred and eighty million dollars went. I don't.
I don't think we have a full accounting for that.
There are you know, suspicions that it just gets recycled
and winds up back on the you know, in the
Democratic Party somehow, some of it through donations and so forth.
It's a dangerous thing. It's a dangerous thing to have

(41:31):
a government decide what you can and cannot do. You
shall win and you shall lose. That's not a good
thing you think about that. You know. Look what happened
during COVID, I'll tell you, and that really bothered me
a lot. Now I live in the Free State of Florida,
that's what they called it. It used to be Kansas,
but the Free State of Florida. You know, we didn't

(41:53):
we didn't go with all the rules and REGs, and
we didn't close down forever, and we let business come back,
and we didn't arrest I mean they rest did people
on the beach in La way out, you know, running
along the ocean, nobody around, and they arrested this cat
for doing that because they made the decision you can't
do that. But worse than that was a decision that

(42:16):
some companies, some businesses, are essential and some businesses aren't.
And as a result of that, a lot of small
family businesses went out of business. But the large, big
block stores, which had thousands of people in the store
every day. Well that was essential. You couldn't do that,

(42:37):
even though the other stores were small, family owned hardware
stores and so forth. May only have twenty people in
the store at the time, fifteen people in the store
at the time. You're not essential everything that maybe your
grandfather founded the company, everything that you did for all
those decades, Well that's not essential anymore, is it. It's
got to end because well, we know better. Because we

(43:00):
know better, and we're watching out for you, we have
your back. Sure, right, So you think about that. With
the rules and regulations. When we hear Congress and the
you know, the Trump administration out there saying we are
going to change things, you want to pay attention and
realize maybe it's for the better. Maybe we're going to

(43:22):
go in the right direction, and maybe we're gonna save
the moths and pots and the small and mid sized
businesses and ultimately the United States and what everything is
stanped for for generations upon generation. Okay, that's it for today.
We're gonna come back next week. I'm made in America.
I am so excited to be here with you. This
is rich Roffman. See you next week. Stay around, Looking

(43:44):
forward to talking to you