The Bill Martinez Show 12 24 25

0:00 Are you ready? Yeah, Okay, let's do it. Ill Martinas Live a program about current events, our culture, our values, our politics, and our future. And now Bill Martinez. Hey, good morning America. Six minutes after you talk the R. Right now, doctor Michael Butler is with us. Hey Michael, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you. And the same to you, bro. Thanks for having me. Hey, lots to catch up on. Donald Trump is doing something that I got to tell you. For many years when I was a consultant, I had worked with almost exclusively CEOs of companies, and one of the things that I reminded them of is that they always have to consistently pound the drum of the mission of the organization.

0:45 And you know, and someone would say, why do I have to do that? Because I get kind of bored. I go, you may get bored, but your employees don't. And in Donald Trump's case, you're talking three hundred and thirty million, three hundred and forty million people. They need to instantly hear the refrain of his agenda, what he has accomplished, what is yet to be accomplished. So he's got to constantly be casting that vision, not only because people have a tendency to forget number one. But on the other hand, you've got the mainstream media that still has control of about forty percent of the ears and eyes of America, you know, with their bias perspective, really deceiving and misleading the American people on the economy. Is that fair to assess?

1:32 Yes, it is, And it's especially difficult now because the government was shut down for those six weeks and there was no data that came out about economic growth and what's happening to inflation and even the jobs market. See economic growth numbers are the ones that are most interesting. In the third quarter, we should have had that number out finished in September. We should have had the number out knocked, but the government was shut down. We still don't have the number yet, but it looks like the third quarter had about three and a half percent annual growth rate, up from the three percent in the first quarter, which is good in the second. Quarter, rather which is good the fourth quarter.

2:15 We won't get that data at the earliest till the end of January, but the fourth quarter would have shown about a four percent annual growth rate. Now the government's shut down, I'm not sure what the impact that that's going to be. It will be negative on the growth rate, but the economy is growing. Although the inflation rate we don't have all the numbers for the consumer price index. Some of the numbers that we do have show that inflation stays under three percent, may have benged up slightly in the last couple of months. So wage increases are greater than the rate of inflation, which means really people are earning more money and more money to spend, and that will i prove the standard of living.

3:01 So Trump's right. I think he's gone around the country this week to kind of teut how his economic programs have worked so far, and to remind people that the builder was passed in July. The tax cuts on pips working overtime, sold security, et cetera. They don't go into effect till January. First, they were exactly twenty twenty six, so we'll see a benefit there. And then from all of this money, Trump has been able to get foreign companies to invest in the US. And it's some number well into the trillions. Well, it's like, what seventeen nineteen trillion I've heard as much.

3:42 As that's it's some of the numbers I've heard once. That happened, I mean that that's unprecedented. Michael, right. Yeah, that's a huge amount of money. And once it happens. Now it's going to take a year or so for all of that to be fully invested, but that'll create more jobs, will create more growth for the economy, and again should help to improve the standard of living. I also believe that the inflation rate will be down to the two percent range by the end of next year. Now, most people. Don't agree with me, understand that the reason I'm saying it is energy prices have fallen. Oil is under sixty dollars a barrel fluction.

4:24 I paid two point fifty nine in Florida two days ago. Michael, Yeah, I. Paid two eighty six the other day, and I was very happy. The national average is now under three dollars. Once energy prices come down, that has a large impact on the consumer price index. Energy prices directly effect about seven percent of the consumer price index, but indirectly it affects over another twenty percent because it affects the cost of energy to produce goods and services. So Trump is correct. He says, if you can get energy prices down, inflation will come down. And that's true, and I believe that will happen next year. I think oil will be down under fifty five dollars of barrow, perhaps as low as fifty dollars. That'll take the national average for gasoline down under two dollars and fifty cents a gallon. And once that starts to happen and people say that they're not spending so much on a lot of products, energy included, they're going to start to feel better about the come Exactly.

5:31 The problem now is people just don't feel good about it because. We got we had to get through this stuff. You and I talked about it before, Michael, the last time we were on, and that is that the economy has been stifled because we're trying to get all this sludge and drudge out of the pipeline that was all put there with Democratic policies and Joe Biden. The thing is, I think it's interesting to hear you lay this out. What is somebody like Gavin Newsom to do when everybody else is you know, they hear figures of under three dollars and in California they're paying five dollars for a gallon of gas. I mean, you gotta think California is going to start revolting there.

6:12 You would certainly think so. Remember when Newsom entered office, there was a large surplus and the government budget and a surplus fund. It's now a. Deficit in the budget and they've spent all of that surplus. So the policies that he puts into effect didn't work in California. And I hope he doesn't get a life in the US. Because the policy certainly won't work well in. The How could he really seriously be considered. I mean, like you said, I think he's over sixty billion upside down right now in the state. You got the LA fire. Still that's still a mess. I mean, even when Donald Trump went down there Karen Bass, everybody's, oh, yeah, we're gonna, you know, get the regulation out of the way, We're going to allow people to build their homes. It is a hot mess. And it's so unfortunate that that state, and then that's not even talking about the homelessness issue, the drug addiction issue, all these things, immigration that the state really is a failed state.

7:12 Michael, Yeah, it certainly is. You know, when Trump went down and talked to Mayor Bass, he said, I want these permits issued as soon as possible, and she made a comment, well, we should be able to get them within a year, and Trump said, no, I want them issued as soon as possible. Like next week. Yeah. So here it is nearly a year later after the fire. There's a total of one house that has been built so far. It's actually a sample for a developer wanting to build more houses. But that's the only house that's been built. And it's almost a year now, and these people can't get their homes rebuilt. The permitting process anywhere is difficult. In California, it's next to impossible. They have all these environmental right relations, certain materials you can and can't use. You have to have solar panels, even if you don't want them.

8:06 So all of these. Regulations slow down the building of these new homes and significantly adds to the cost. And we have not just in California, all over the country. We have an affordability crisis with. Housing. Young people can't afford their first house and that's not a good thing. Well, look at all the tax base that is eroded as a result because they don't have homes on that property, right exactly. I mean, you got that the impact that has all the way down the supply chain, you know, retail operations, everything in that area economically. I mean, Michael, they're not even embarrassed by this. This is what blows me away.

8:49 Now, this whole thing could have been avoided. You know that some of the water was diverted when for environmental reasons it shouldn't have been diverted. To have fire hydrants not half water is inexcusable. Well that's that's like Hawaii all over again. Anyway, we got to go to quick break. We've got more from doctor Michael Butler. After this stay with. Us December deal drops at loads or wrapping up, but there's still time to snag something worth bragging about. Get up to forty percent off select major appliances, and members save an additional one hundred dollars on a new and exclusive Samsung French door refrigerator now just eighteen ninety nine. Need new tools, Select tools and accessories are up to forty five percent off this week loaves we have you saved, valid through twelve twenty four while supplies last selection varies by location. Loyalty program subject to terms and additions. Seelows dot Com slash terms for details so you.

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14:11 Is that so? I think so encouraging. It should be for people if they have ears to hear, and if they haven't been so dumbfounded by the negative reporting from the mainstream media. Excuse me Trump, you know, he talks about affordability, but he can back it up as opposed to Mom, Donnie and these other Democrats. To them, affordability is just a word. There's no substance. But with Trump, as you mentioned, man, the big beautiful bills just around the corner. You can still see things lighting up. The revenue from tariffs. He wants, you know, he wants to send a two million dollar check to stemy check to everybody because of all the money that we raised from tariffs. So there's a lot of you know, gold in them nar hills that are not just necessarily buried. I think they're just around the corner for And you.

15:01 Know, one thing, when the government shutdown was ended, they always signed roughly a seventy five day bill to get us to the end of January. And at that time they said we'll be able to negotiate something because of the rising healthcare cost. Now, what happened with the healthcare This Affordable Care Act passed and twenty ten was supposed to bring premiums down, improve the quality of healthcare, and increase the number of people being covered. It hasn't done anything premiums.

15:41 It's functionally a myth exactly. You know, it was never designed to do what they said that was going to do. And here all these years later, what fifteen years later, there's clear proof that it is a big was a big lie. It was a shell game, and we've got to you know, Congress has got to move quick because unfortunately, thank you very much, and this was the Democrats. No Republican voted for this, remember, okay, but the fact of the matter is this is a bipartisan problem right now, and people need to be serious about resolving this stuff because of what they did to the people. Just like in the same way when you know, the Democrats said, hey, we're there, we're watching your back, and they shut down the government for forty three days. And what did they do.

16:28 It wasn't like they were writing checks are going down, chasing money to help pay people for snap money or any other deficiency was going on. The only person was doing that was Donald Trump exactly. And the Democrats say, well, well, look, by January thirtieth, we have to pass legislation that will fund the increased cost of Obamacare to the people that are signed up on the exchanges. Now that's going to cost about one hundred and fifty billion a year. We measured these things over ten year period. That's a trillion and a half dollars. And whenever they spend money like this, although Trump is changing this somewhat, whenever they spend money, there's no mention of where the money.

17:08 Is coming from. They don't say, so we end up having to borrow it, and that's why we have a thirty eight trillion dollar debt. Now Trump is trying to change some of that. So he wants to give people a two thousand dollars rebate because tariffs may have helped with the place, etc. But he's getting it from the tariff revenue, so that's where the money is coming from. Then he said, I want to start. These accounts where you give a thousand dollars to every child born that they keep until they're eighteen you can add to which I think is a great idea. But how are you going to fund it? Michael Dell just kicked in six point three billion dollars to pay for this. So when Trump says I'm going to increase spending, he finds ways to show how the spending will be financed, where the money will come from.

17:58 We have to start really. Doing that with everything. Every time we decide we're going to spend money. You have a good cause and people want to I understand all that, but then you just have to say, where's the money coming from? Right If you don't have an answer, it means we're borrowing it, and we can't do that anymore exactly. Talked on this show numerous times about the thirty eight trillion dollar debt, the nearly two trillion dollar annual deficit. Although the President is bringing that down, drop down the one point eight billion in twenty five. Roughly, it looks like it will come down to maybe one point four trillion in this year. So he's trying to bring the deficit down, or we need to do that as soon as possible. This public debt is too heavy a burden for this generation. More importantly, it's way too heavy a burden for our children and our grandchildren. We need to address it really immediately.

18:53 Michael, you touched on something earlier, and I wanted to address because I thought you hit on something that we need to consider, and that is that, no doubt, the job's landscape is changing all right now. When this came up under Joe Biden, he came up with some kind of goofy story about, oh, you just go out there and go find a job, you know kind I mean, it was like, you know, good luck, you're on your own, so to speak. In anticipation, in understanding that the market is going to change and there's going to be new demand, that we ought to take some of that tariff money and invest it in re educating the labor force so that we get in front of all this AI industrial this new industrialized revolution that's going to take place, so that way we can hit the ground running.

19:40 What do you think, Bill, that's exactly right, all this manufacturing that's coming back from foreign investments, at what American. Companies are bringing back. In order for us to compete on a worldwide basis, we have to keep the cost down. Now, we can't compete with some of the countries in Asia where they pay are people a dollar an hour because I make thirty forty dollars an hour. So the only way. To compete is to have our production capital intensive rather than labor intensive. Capital intensive means we have robots on the assembly line, we use artificial intelligence, we automate wherever we can, and that will enable us to produce at roughly the same cost, we hope as the foreign competition that has a real low labor rate. However, for people to be able to take these new jobs, you're absolutely right, they need to be retrained. Education is really the key to really bring people out of poverty and any of the disruptions in the labor market due to artificial intelligence.

20:47 And there will be many artificial intelligence will take the jobs that are more routine to do. And we've lived through things like this before, you know, in the earlies and eighties and nineties, we said, well, the personal computers coming out, what's going to do? What about all these secretary pools that having corporations. When I worked in corporations now, back in the seventies and eighties, if I had to write something, I wrote it out, took it to the secretary pool, they typed it up for me and brought it back. People don't do that anymore. Everybody writes their own memos and their own emails right on their own computer. There are no secretary pools any anymore. So things have changed, re educate the people that were working there. They now become administrative assistance. So rather than just typing, they help all the business people, all the people they work or become more productive.

21:38 But that takes in their hour and their hourly wage increased. MIC. That's the other thing people need to understand that is it is not going to be stagnant. I mean the kind of jobs that are around the corner are six figure jobs, and so you have to think in terms of that. So your technical skill level has to be increased so that you can you know, you can earn six figures because those jobs are going to be available. But if you're but if you know you're going to be a knucklehead and not get educated and not get trained, then you're gonna sit there and you're going to be you know, you're gonna be stuck in a minimum you know, minimum job type of environment. That's right.

22:19 You know, people have to take personal responsibility. Amen. So you say that, look, I can see that my job is going to be faded out. I'm not going to say to the government, all have the job, you know, give me welfare, give me food. Said what they should say, is I need to learn how to do something else so I can take advantage of this new economy and the way things are are being done. Personal responsibility and the visual responsibility is very important. The prior administration tried to shift away from individual responsibility and towards social responsibility. Don't worry, the government will take care of you. The government will provide the health care of the government take care of that. That's a disastrous way to go, and it's contrary to where our system works.

23:01 It's anti American, Michael. It turns you into socialist and you're beholding to the government. And so as we know what the government giveth it can take it away. Right. Yeah, absolutely, so people have to learn. Look, our system encourages individual freedom, so you're free to do pretty much what you want. As long as you don' own friendship any anybody else's rights, you can pretty much do what you want. Well, with that individual freedom comes individual responsibility, So you have to take responsibility for yourself. As long as you're mentally and physically able to do that, you should take responsibility for yourself. See where it is, the where the opportunities lie. Prepare yourself to take advantage of those opportunities, and you'll do well in the economy, and the economy will fare better because there's less people. We have to we have to support it.

23:53 You'll be happier and more fulfilled, and that's what we want for you. Doctor Michael Butler, public policy analysts, it CAN expert, and a professor of finance at Stockton University in New Jersey. Michael is always great to have you with us. I have a great holiday. I thank you you all right, take care, we're going again. This vacation offer is so good, I'm going to repeat it. If you're in your forties, fifties, sixties, even up to the eighties, come to Port of Iort in Mexico for sixties all meals, include it for only two ninety nine. Again, come to Port of Iarta, Mexico, all meals, all drinks to ninety nine. We'll even give you a free cruiser land package if you're one of the first fifty people to call right now. Again, come to Port of Iarta, Mexico for only two ninety nine.

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28:05 Nutrition for Patriots, Hey, we're back with you. Bill Martinez here. Good to have you with us, and we've got the author Michael Finch his brand new book, A Time to Stand the Dire Hour to Defend American Beauty. Michael, Welcome to show good to have you with us. Well, Bill, thank you. I'm very grateful for you having me on and I'm very thankful. So I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. I'm excited to talk about your book, I mean, because hey, we're talking about restoring America's beauty, I mean, what has made America great. And it's interesting the timing of your book in light of you know, Marxism and socialism, you know, seems to be spreading and igniting across the country. And it's like, whoa wait a minute here, you know, we're really kind of jumping the shark here, and we're ignoring some rich history and culture that truly has has made America great, that started two hundred and fifty years ago.

29:03 So it's interesting right now that on the brink of our our two hundred and fiftieth year anniversary, that our US Constitution and all our values are being challenged right now. Well, I mean that's what the left is doing. I mean, Marxism is certainly on the march in New York City. We'll find out soon enough just how much they're embracing Marxism to elect a Marxist mayor. But you're right, I mean, the left is on the March, and we have to be vigilant and fight every day for the greatness of this country. The fact is the left doesn't like beauty. It hates beauty. And the Left has been at war with American greatness and our history and our culture for well over half a century. And I mean I work for the Freedom Center.

29:47 I worked for David Horowitz for over twenty three years, and I've learned a lot from David. Of course, spent first half his life as a committed Marxist and then came to his census. In the second half his life. He committed the redressing those sins and teaching us about how dangerous the left is. The Left wants to destroy our faith, our family, our culture, and our history. And we have to fight back because they are never going to relent. And You're right, they are on the March. They wake up every day with these kind of passion to create this new utopian heaven on earth. And to create a heaven on earth, you have to destroy what came before it. And then the self loathing of our history and our culture is so destructive.

30:28 Bill. So that's what we need to fight and restore the greatness of this country. Well, they want to delude you into thinking they're going to create a heaven on earth. But when you look historically at what they've done more it looks more like hell than heaven. Well, hundreds of millions of people down hundreds, over one hundred million people died in the twentieth century chasing those because of those illusions, right, false illusions. So you're absolutely right. It only leads to massive death and misery and depression. I mean, it would would destroy this country, It could destroy the world if we go down that path. But like I said, over one hundred million people died sacrificed on this altar of this utopia. We cannot let and to think that it can happen here, I think would be foolish. I mean, thank goodness, we have a majority of the people. We have a faithful people. We believe in this country, we believe in our liberty and freedom.

31:22 So we're going to fight it. But you know, they've they've had some successes quote unquote, and they keep thinking, well, we just didn't do it right. Stalin and Lennon didn't do it right, Mau didn't do it right. Poule Pop didn't do it right. Oh we can do it right here? I mean, is that what the voters of New York are thinking, that this guy's actually going to create this wonderful utopia or is he going to drag New York down? He's gonna make David Dinkins look like a George Washington exactly. Well, And the thing is, here's this young man who said, you know, really no experience. You know, has he ever run of business? Has he signed the you know, the front of a paycheck? I don't see any history in that.

32:06 I mean, he you know. The thing that galls me. I gotta tell you, Michael, is that here this kid comes to America at the age of seven. He and his parents, they are protected and covered and enjoy the benefits of this country, and they flourish. And his way of saying thank you is we want to deconstruct what protected me for the last almost thirty years of my life. Right yeah, it's it's mind blow elon Omar. You could the Congress congresspon in Minnesota the same thing and they go, why did you come here? I mean, you want to destroy what makes this country great, destroy the principles of our founding. It's really frightening.

32:47 You know. Look, I mean we could say, well, you know, woe to be to New York. You know that you deserve what you get. But the fact is New York is the financial capital of the country, if not the financial capital of the world. New York is important. Look, I mean, we may suffer through this and wait for the next election, but I think really tough times are coming for that poor city and its citizens. Well, Michael, you're right. You know, New York like any city Minnesota, they're all important. You can't surrender ground. This is what is upset me about the Republican Party right now. Is it that they're not fighting back in New York. They've surrendered. They're not, you know, like it or not. Kurtis Leewa has been. He's the standard bear for the Republican Party, fighting against a corrupt governor, a young kid who doesn't know what he's doing, offering all kinds of free stuff. And I guess he hasn't even seen, you know, the balance sheet of New York to realize they're out of money. So where is this free stuff going to come from?

33:47 Well, yeah, you're going to run out of other people's money, right, I mean, that's the really dangerous thing. And another thing that David Horowitz kind of taught us is how seductive the left vision is. Right, their ideology is incredibly we're going to get rid of want and hunger and poverty and racism and sexism. We're going to get rid of all of that and everything will be perfect. Everyone will be equal, equally, either dead or living in incredible poverty and misery, misery the top right exactly, So you know, but it is, it's very seductive. And people look, I mean, if we've wanted to be God since the Garden Adam and Eve, I mean, there's been this impulse to create this heaven on Earth where we could replace God and become God.

34:30 And we're never going to eradicate that. It's going to be here to the end of the time. So exactly, Unfortunately, Bill, we're never going to be able to wake up and say we won we defeated the Left. We're never we can push back, but we're never going to defeat them. Ronald Reagan said, we're gonna have to fight every generation. Well, we're in that generation right now where we're fighting something very serious and very dangerous. Well, it definitely is intensified because of the conditions that were created, you know, for lots of reasons, you know a lot of it. You know, democratic policies, Michael, they've created this and uh so it has made New York unaffordable. Uh it's it's caused a lot of pain. And so these young kids all they know and of course that younger generation, this younger generation has been coddled. They don't know much about pain because God forbid, they have a booboo, you know, because you know, the parents, the helicopter parents that we were, you know, so protected them that we didn't allow them to go out there and scrape their kneecaps and uh and so here it is, all the conditions are ripe. And that's what you see Historically, when the conditions are ripe, it gives rise to Marxism and all these other isms because they're promising relief from the pain.

35:43 Right exactly. But you know, the really tragedy, tragedy is that the horrible things are going to happen in New York. I mean, the deep policing. I mean, he hates the police, right, I mean it's just so what's going to happen is the people that vote for him don't live in those neighborhoods, right, I mean, they're all up set that Trump calls in the National Guard to Washington, d c. To kind of police the people live in those neighborhoods. The polling is like ninety percent pro Trump, right, so they need and it is they don't want their kids being shot at walking to school. So you know, But the people that endorse this, these Marxists whatever wherever they call themselves, they don't live in those neighborhoods, so they're not worried about it. They just see this as some kind of vision and it's going to eradicate all the horrible things of capitalism and the American system. And how foolish. But again, how dangerous.

36:31 I mean, this really is dangerous. We're going down a really scary path. When everything triggers you, it becomes it becomes a problem, you know, And and sadly, and I'm sorry that they get triggered so easily, whether it's the National Guard restoring peace and law and order to a community that was ninety five percent voted against Trump, now they're ninety five percent saying thank you Trump. My kids, I can take them to the park, I can my wife and I can actually go out and have a date at a restaurant and feel like, hey, we're going to get back home safely and be with the kids. And Trump was the difference. It wasn't maryel Bowser, it wasn't Chuck Schumer. Right right, Well, look, Trump's transformed the Republican Party. Frankly though, he's transformed the entire country. He's transformed the citizens world exactly.

37:20 And the Demo, the far left, the radical left, is represented by the potential new mayor of New York, Ma'm donnie. They've taken over the Democrat Party. But what Trump has done is created this new Republican Party, which is now the middle American working Man's or working Americans Party, right, I mean, that's the party of the working class. Hispanic Americans, African American Americans are coming over in droves supporting Trump. I mean, the votes increased tremendously last last year, and it's going to tremendous. I mean, I don't know who is going to be left in the Democrat Party to vote. So, I mean, you know, I guess there's some silver lining in this that the common sense and the basic goodness and faithfulness of the American people understand this, and they are coming to Donald Trump. And let's just hope that what comes after Trump, the America First policies that take care of the working man continue post Trump. That's really going to be critical to kind of cement his legacy.

38:19 But the Democrat Party has just abandoned all common sense. And I was never a Democrat, but you know, we had some common sense Democrats back in the day. Some and now I you know, scratch your head to find one exactly. We're off to break and stay with us. We've got more from Michael right after this. Stay with us. Whether you're gifting, decorating, or treating yourself. Lowe's December deal Drops are here to help you save more all month long. Get up to seventy five percent off select holiday decor plus get up to forty five percent off select tools and accessories. Shop new December deal drops every week this month and get so much more out of your holidays.

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43:15 In fact, it was interesting here recently the left went absolutely bonzos. When was it Sweeney came out with that with the gene zad you know, she has good genes. They went, they went, they could not see beauty, and that's quite telling. So it's interesting that you use American beauty because you know, people that are fair minded and liberated, they see beauty in everything. They acknowledge it. It's easy for them to do it. The left, if they acknowledge it, it's like they've surrendered their brains or something, or their political stance. It's hysterical. Yeah, I mean the left hates beauty. I mean that's been written, and it's interesting. You know, Theodor Dostoevsky, the famous Russian novelists, said that beauty will save the world. Now, he didn't really explain exactly, but I'll take that. I'll take him for his word for it, just on that basis. Look, beauty and art, beauty and culture, beauty and everything is really our kind of effort to try to kind of reach the heavens and reach God.

44:17 We can that we're going to fail, or you said that, We're exactly right. But that's the effort and that's why the left hates it. They hate I mean architecture, art. I mean to put the across in a vat of urine and say this is art. I mean, sorry, art is not in the eye of the Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. I mean there's beautiful art and then there's really ugly art. That's that's a fact. Right. So you know when Bach wrote music, not an American but still one of the great, obviously the great musician of all time. Every single piece he wrote, he said he did an honor and worship of God. It was for God. He was trying to reach something. And the great paintings, the great literature, the great everything, anything, anything that represents our culture is a way to to reach the heavens. And it's I mean, look, I'm a Christian.

45:03 You can be Jewish, but the Greeks and Romans were neither Jewish nor Christian, right the original classical Greek and classical Roman civilizations. But when they built those incredible buildings that are still many, of course still exist in some form today, they were trying to reach to something higher. Even they understood. It may not have been the Christian God, but they were reaching to their God. And that's true all over the world. So this idea, once you take God out of the equation, then beauty doesn't exist to me either. There is no beauty. And when you lose beauty, you've lost You've lost everything. And America has such an incredibly rich and beautiful culture, which unfortunately, again the left has attacked education. America is a stained, sexist, racist, imperialistic, environmental destroying it's you know, we're supposed to be we self loathed over our own history in our schools, which is really tragic, and they attacked then the culture is not even taught. We have this Howard's version of American history that is running rampant in our public schools, and we have to fight that and restore the greatness of our history and culture.

46:09 Well, you consider the beautiful aspects of our history, Michael, and I would dare to say that that was probably at times when we were closer to God. Oh, there's no question. And the only thing the more I reflect on the spill, and I don't know, you know, but I have a feeling that we're we could be approaching another great awakening. I just I think there's a rise. Americans are thirsting. You know, when you put them down, you put down our history, you put down, you know, our faith, then there's going to be a kind of a blowback to that. And the blowback is, no, We're proud of our country, we're proud of our history, and we're proud of our faith, and we are going to restore that. So I sense, you know, you saw with the work that Charlie Kirk did exactly what to say, gradually take taken away from us, but you know, he was reaching students, young people, and a lot of it was really about this conservative principles and capitalism and so forth.

47:03 Much of it, increasingly so, especially toward the end, was about faith is Christian faith, and people are thirsting for this. And I think there's a kind of an overwhelming response to that. Again, whether or not they're being awakening next week, next year, in the next ten years, I don't know. We don't know, but you can see the signs that Americans are thirsting for that kind of to be closer to God, for the country to be closer, no question. Well, that's where the answers lie, Michael. They don't lie on this plane. The answers are in heaven, and that's why we need to seek God. Charles Finney says, a revival happens when it's most needed. And I think what you're seeing and discerning, I'm seeing the same thing that America is in need of another awakening. And I've seen what I call bonfires, a revival being ignited, you know, around the country, and it's just waiting for some sort of ignition that you know, kind of couples them in such a way where it really really takes off. Now when we say that too, Michael, it's not like it's going to get you know, you're going to be a thousand percent that's never going to happen. You know, you're always going to have still, as the Bible talks about in terms of wheats and terrs, you're gonna have the wheat growing alongside the terrors. And so just like in any other revival back in the seventies, you know, we saw what happened there. You had, you know, the Jesus movement, and then you had all the hippies and Woodstock and all the wacky crazy stuff going on. It was a parallel universe that was happening, and the people that sought

48:35 Jesus and turned to Jesus different, different outcome than those that you know, aligned with everything that happened in Woodstock for example. Well, I think, you know, a great awakening, it doesn't even have to be the majority. It can be even a minority that has moved in that way. I mean, look the Declaration of Independence, the founding of this country. The we didn't have a major, there was not all gone of the colonists that many of them were either indifferent or they were loyal to the crown. But we moved the world because we had a core, a minority corps that was faithful and dedicated to these principles of liberty.

49:16 So I'll take an awakening movement that reconnects us with Jesus that can move this country and save this country. Again, it doesn't have to be seventy percent. So we're moving in that direction possibly, but you kind of like seeing the signs. You like seeing that there's going to be this kind of thirst to come together with God again. And look, look what liberty has provided for us, Michael, historically in the two hundred and fifty years. I mean, how this country has flourished because of that, because of freedom. And freedom is God given, it's not given to us by a government. And this is why America is such a magnet because people instinctively are drawn where liberty resides.

50:00 And yes, you know there's been some impingement on liberty. But again, as you say, we need to re embrace and renew our thinking in such a way to where we can be like our founding fathers to say, you know, give me liberty or give me death. Well, absolutely, and liberty is and freedom will not exist without virtue. So you know, a virtuous people citizenship, citizenry is really critical otherwise you know that we're going to lose the liberty. So the two go hand in hand, they always have. America was founded by Christians, you know, along the Judeo Christian ethic. Okay, that is indisputable. Again, the left hates that as well. So we need that, we need the virtue and order, virtuous citizens in order to kind of hold on to this liberty because again we're in a battle every day and there are many that are attacking. It's a minority, but it's a very strong minority, and they're driven. This is their religion. It's another thing David taught us that it's not like they can call themselves atheists or they don't believe. They have a really religion, and that reception is this ideology to create this heaven on earth. And if you're driven by that, then you're gonna stop and anything that stands in your way and that build that you and me and millions of others are gonna have to be pushed out of the way, either that they're going to want to re educate us or push us out of the way. And that's how you get the millions of dead. So that's how serious this is. And look, we're you know, we still have very strong country. We have a leader and President Trump who believes very strongly and all the things that we're talking about. So look, we're in a good position.

51:31 We're in a strong position, but there are a lot of danger signs and if we slip, if we if we let down our guard again, it won't take a generation. We'll lose all of this. Yeah. What certifies our position all the more, I'm convinced, Michael, is that we hold to the truth, okay, and truth comes from God. And that's that's what we're anchored in. Uh, and that's what's going to sustain us. I mean it's interesting right now when you look at the nearest ass of Donald Trump, you can talk about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, talk about the disassemblage of the mainstream media. I mean, it's a shell of itself right now, podcasters, you know, exploding. You know, I still maintain Elon Musk is my hero for nothing else, because he opened up the gates of our first Amendment, two first speech, in purchasing in purchasing Twitter. I mean, he really opened that gate again, and we're grateful, you know. So when you look at the alignment of these events where we are right now, if they didn't happen, we'd really be in trouble.

52:44 Well yeah, I mean, they took over quote unquote mainstream media. But at this point who cares. Nobody's watching, nobody's listening to mainstream media. The explosion of what you're doing, Bill, the podcasters, talk radio, on and on the Internet. And you're right, there are great champions of speech. I mean some of them, even coming out of Silicon Valleys. Even that the movement that there's this kind of slow change in Silicon Valley and the tech world that I'm not saying they're embracing the First Amendment, but there's movement there. And I want to just you mentioned something about truth, which is so important. That's why I stay optimistic, is because we have truth on our side. And I'll bring up another Russian writer souls in each and said live not by lies. Well, the Left lives by a lie.

53:27 It is a lie. The idea that they can create this heaven on earth that will make everything perfect and wonderful is a lie. They know it's a lie. So they're in pursuit of a lie. We cannot live by that. We can live by the truth. We have truth in God on our side. So that's again that if you want some reassurance that all is not lost, we need to hold on to That doesn't mean we don't have to fight, but we do have truth on our side. Amen. His book time to stand the dire hour, and it is a dire hour to defend American beauty. Michael, this is a blessing, you know what you have given to us. And thank you for your efforts to put this out there to uh, you know, plant a flag you know on truth and liberty for the sake of all Americans. And then what we're realizing it's more than America.

54:17 I mean, our consequence and our impact universally extends. I mean, and this is why I believe that God has blessed us in the manner in which he has. Yeah, the last best hope. I really believe that. So we lose America and I think liberty is lost. So we have to keep this experiment going. The exceptional aspirational culture in our history has to be restored. It's make America great in every aspect. So, you know, God bless everything that you were doing. Bill. I mean, we you know, we were in a battle and we're going to We're going to win this battle. You got it. Michael Finch, thank you, Thank you so much for being with his Take care we Bill talk soon. Thank you? Have you written a book, or do you have a manuscript ready and just need to find the write publisher.

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55:41 Eight hundred four to three nine one five paid eight, eight hundred four to three nine one five eight eight, eight hundred four to three nine one five eight eight. That's eight hundred four three nine fifteen eighty eight. Getting America back on track. Bill Martinez livey. Six minutes after the top of the hour. Right now, Bill Martinez here with Scott Powell, Scott Is, the senior Fellow at Discovering Institute, got to talk about his book, Rediscovering America. Well, I'll say it is powerful, a great holiday gift, a stocking stuffer that will be the gift that will keep on giving for anybody that reads this book.

56:24 It reminds us of the exceptionalism of our country. It's not exceptional just because we say so. It's exceptional because of the history and the facts, Right, Scott, that sounds a great. Bill Well said, well, you know, well be my agent. Yeah, you can't help but be proud of this great country of ours. And you know we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we're so blessed that. You know, from the pilgrims that came to the New World to escape Christian persecution, religious persecution, they begged God, God, please give us a place where we could worship You and be able to freely exercise our faith. And God answered their prayer, their prayer and fasting for twelve years.

57:17 Scott, I know, it's quite remarkable, quite remarkable. So knowing that about our history should give us a lot of hope. But the substance of our hope really has to come you know from repentance. You know, the Israelites lost God's blessing at various times. We all are familiar with the Babylonian captivity where they were literally cast out of Jerusalem in Israel, and you know their city was destroyed, their walls were destroyed, and they had to go into captivity. Well, I would say that we have been in captivity just about seventy years Americans. It's now twenty twenty five. Seventy years back would be nineteen fifty five. Well, it was right around that time, in early nineteen sixty that we really began to take steps and do so through the Supreme Court rulings, even to drive God out of our culture.

58:17 And as we've driven God out of our culture, we see the results and we see the wisdom and the truth of our Several of our founders, notably the first and second Presidents, George Washington and John Adams, who commented that our constitutional republic was suited only for a religious and moral people. Exactly, the system would not work, The freedoms that were given through a constitutional republic would not work unless people recognize that they know that there was a higher order, that there was God's order, exactly, and so that's where we are, and I think we are at a turning point. I think there is a spiritual awakening going on. We could see what happened in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination. He became a martyr, and martyrdom led to a Christian revival. Well, you know, let's hope that that has legs and continues and continues to grow, because it's really our only hope is that we that our culture could you know, could again restore to its rightful place, the role of religion in our country, in the culture. Not the government has no authority to tell us what to believe. It it has it has the responsibility to protect our rights to practice our religion as we see fit. Religious freedom is a First Amendment right.

59:46 So that's the role of government. Protect free speech. It's not doing a very it's not been doing a good job of protecting free speech. It's not been doing a good job of protecting the First Amendment. I mean, people have been arrested for praying outside abortion clinics. That's their of course, it is exactly exactly. Well, you know, you said so much there, and there's lots to unpack. First of all, I want to start out with hope. Yes, hope is the initial week of the advent season, and what it should cause you to stop and have, Like the Bible talks of you know, sala moment s e l at h that we need to pause and really think about what it means to hope and who you hope in. Like, for example, you know, people were hoping in the government until they government shut down for forty three days, and so how did that hope work out for you? They've been hoping in Obamacare and Obamacare has been on life support for the last ten years plus and it's failed, and so what does that do? So your hope needs to be anchored on something and someone that is sustainable, someone who is the same yesterday, today and forever and the only person and being that I know that fits that is God o himself. Is that fair to say?

1:01:02 That is very fair to say, that's very accurate. Yes, all right, So, so hope is the issue and the deal is you talk about, you know, seventy years being in judgment. The thing is is I would say that if the people understood we were in judgment, the children of Israel understood, they were in judgment because everything, their walls came down, they were kicked out of their country, their religious system was all violated and desecrated. You know, you know, their neighbors were making fun of them. They were coming in and raping and pillaging, you know, their once holy land. It was obvious that they were in big trouble and they were feeling the consequences. Here in America, we're kind of like that frog in boiling water. We're getting cooked ever so gently, and we're in judgment, but we don't even understand, we don't even see. If you don't appreciate that you're in judgment, you're not going to change your evil ways. Scott and I think this is the casualness that America has towards. If you want to say this is God's judgment. You know, things happen, you know Rob Reiner's murder, Charlie Kirk's murder nine to eleven, And it happens, and it goes, and it's just like a news cycle. It comes and goes. Nobody sees it as and I say nobody, by and large the culture is not seeing it as maybe is God lifting his hand of protection and love that was once upon this country that we said that you know that we would saying God bless America to well.

1:02:33 I do think that in driving God out of our culture, it changes the spiritual atmosphere, if you will, gone. When we have a heavenly spiritual atmosphere, godly, godly spirit's protecting us, if you will, and they're driven out, it leads a vacuum. And what we've seen is really the you know, the growth of demonic evil spiritual forces. I mean, it's obvious that so many of us, I mean, because you can't explain the level of evil now in any other way. It's not explainable rationally. And so if it's not explainable rationally, it must be because it's a powerful spiritual force that is dividing us, that has brought us to incivility in our cities, that has caused former generals to act treasonously against the President of the United States, recommending that military troops and government officials not obeyed laws that come down from the president. And these laws that they're encouraged to disobey are simply laws to protect the American citizens, right exactly.

1:03:43 That's the primary role of government. Yeah, it's called law and order really simple, right, yeah. And the thing is, like you said, is the chaos that has ensued since this country has turned its back on God. You think, okay, can you start to connect the dots here? I mean, look at where we are right now. We've got eighty ninety different gender choices. Now we've got people talking about that your birth you know, you know your birth, your gender is assigned at birth. Oh really, I mean it's just endless the kind of chaos and the craziness that's happening in our country. You know, let's go ahead and let's have gender diffusion or delusion.

1:04:28 And so let's go ahead and start removing you know, body parts in order to you know, somehow satisfy this confusion. And meanwhile, the science and the proof is out saying it doesn't work. You know, that doesn't happen. In fact, all you've done is taken a segment of society and decided to exacerbate a suicide rate. Right, that's absolutely right, Bill, And so I think we get back to you know, we get back to the truth of exactly of God's creation. I mean most okay, Buck, I want you to hold on that, because we're gonna come back we got to go to break. We've got more from Scott after this. Stay with us so you need less many gifts, no judgment.

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1:09:43 And we're back with you right now, just about nineteen minutes after the top of day. I'm mere Christmas to you. By the way, good to happy with us. I'm Bill Martinez's Scott Powell, Senior Fellow Discovery Institute, the author of Rediscovering America. Check it out. He's also a member on the Committee on This Present Danger. And as I mentioned, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, Scott, you said something at the end there that the end of that first segment is so key. All this anchors in the truth? Yes, right, I mean if we're not anchored in the truth. And oh yeah, by the way, where does the truth come from? Where does the undeniable truth come from? Scott Powell? Well, it comes from one book and it's called the Bible. Yes, But who's the Who's the But? But it is God himself.

1:10:26 God himself reveals him through the through the Bible. We know God's principles and his truths. And the Bible, by the way, is more verifiable as an ancient document. The Bible of course has stories going back to Genesis to Moses' writings, you know, ancient writings when they didn't even have a paper, they maybe had papyrus through it. But how is it that we can be sure that the Bible is is is true and more reliable than any other ancient written document. Well, there's three things. When we speak of the New Testament, we have the accounts of Jesus written down by eyewitness accounts within a generation of Jesus coming exactly, and then we have surviving documents the other So you have, first of all, how many eyewitness accounts are there and how quickly was it recorded in writing, so we can trust it because in the early days, you know, all history was oral, and as it's oral, it can be changed easily over time. So and then thirdly, it's when we're talking about ancient history and the veracity of ancient history, how many how many original manuscripts if you will, or documents have been recovered that verify this truth.

1:11:58 You know, we could say, if we compare Jesus to ancient figures like Homer's Eliad that has more historic record than any other famous writer, but it is dwarfed by the surviving documents that have been put together that support the Bible Old Testament. You know, there's twenty five thousand original you know, original documents if you will, and they're not all you know, they're over time. You know, these these documents were they were recorded in different ways and they broke up into pieces, and so they have to be put together that all happened in Christian history. And so we find that the Bible is the most reliable document of ancient history that we know of.

1:12:56 Well, when you consider, like you focused on the New Testament first, there's a plethora of documentation, as you said, and things that we're finding out and you know, and antiquity, you know, things that come up all of a sudden, God says, okay, check this cave out, and you start pulling out you know, original manuscripts and Dead Sea scrolls and things like that is just incredible. But the other thing, though, when you look back, like you said, the documentation of you a scripture early on, it relied a lot on oral tradition. Yes, but you look at that and how consistent was that oral tradition that was passed on over thousands of years Scott. And then when you look at it and you compare it, whether you look at it scientifically, sociologically, theologically, Wow, it is consistent. And if you cannot see the hand of God who has preserved this for us, you know, for our well being. You know, it's like it's been said many times that it's God's love letter to his creation.

1:14:03 And God has preserved that love letter to us not to harm us, but to give us a future and hope again. There's that hope again, so that we know that we're just not here, you know in this uh, you know great expanse of universe, waiting for another big bang to happen, right. Of course, right, No, it's about it's about, you know, our eternal life really and and through Jesus Christ, we have assurance that we have an eternal life living in the heavenly realm. And that is something that I think everybody should desire, you know, the the to be unsure of that. You can get that cleared up very easily.

1:14:48 And it's Christmas season and I would encourage people to you know, to attend church reflect on the significance of the birth of Jesus and his his his death and resurrection, and what he gave to us is a path to God. Unlike any other religious course, all other religions rely on works. You have to be you have to perform certain rituals and certain certain uh you know, traditions and dietary things, and so with Jewish people and others. Right, it's all about works. But the reality is that that we're never good enough. We are sinful people, and we fall short.

1:15:31 God's solution to all of that was to take his only son, his precious son, Jesus Christ, and to offer him as a sacrifice, standing in our place as sinners. It is us who should should be, you know, punished for our sin. But Jesus stood in our place took the punishment, a horrible punishment, you know, a beating that all was killed him before he was put up and nailed to the cross. But he gave his life in order to give us life. All we need to do is acknowledge who he is, who he was, and who he is, because resurrection means that he lives, He lives spiritually, he's alive. He can be alive in our life, to acknowledge that bring him into our life and continue to walk with him through prayer and reading, you know, reading the Bible. There's no substitute for it. Even if you can only spend ten minutes a day, it's the most important ten minutes you'll ever spend.

1:16:38 Right exactly each Well. Well, the thing is is that, as you say, Scott, a lot of these religions because they focus on works short you know, kind of short circuits the process. Yeah, because the process really starts with faith. You've got to have faith first of all. It's something that wakes you up at three o'clock in the morning and says, hey, you need to know you need to know the Son of God. You need to know about this Jesus guy. This is why so many Muslims, you know, we were talking about the other day, a lot of conversions happening in the Muslim world. People are dreaming, They dream dreams. God uses dreams to speak to them, and that seed of faith is deposited into their spirit and and and it's it's counterintuitive, especially when you're used to working thinking. You got to work your way into heaven.

1:17:25 You know, you start building, you know, towers of babel all over again. You're gonna you're gonna do it on your own, you know, build your own babble, your own tower to heaven. Uh. And and that short circus the process. So, first of all starts with faith. Faith is what what caused Peter. When Jesus asked them, who do they say? I am? Peter said boldly, you know you're Jesus, You're you're You're the Messiah. And Jesus said, hey, you you only know that because the Father told you. That is the seed of faith that was planted in Peter, that was demonstrated. And then Jesus said, hey, because you told me who I am, I'm gonna tell you who you are. And it went to you know, pronounce his purpose to him shortly after that. So it starts with faith. What happens after faith is it blossoms into belief. You begin to believe it, and you say and and then people say, well, Scott, you know, why why do you believe that? And you're still working through it, and you go, I just I just believe it. I'm not you know, I'm really not sure, but it's just something I believe. It sets in my heart and my spirit. I know it to be to be true, and then what happens when you believe, Then you begin to gain understanding. And when you gain understanding, as Augustine says, it's irrefutable. And now the seed of faith that God planted, that began to blossom into into belief and now understanding is just a gorgeous offering and bouquet, you know, to the Father to say thank you Lord.

1:18:57 Yes, isn't it? Isn't It's significant that Christmas is celebrated in many non Christian countries. I mean, Japan is a good example that that really turned down Christianity, and yet Christmas is one of their biggest holidays. Why it's the power of Jesus Christ. You've got even Jews, Jews singing Christmas carols. I love that, Yes, exactly, dear boy. So. And time is broken into before Christ and after Christ for all nations of the world that have no connection to Judaism or Christianity, but they nonetheless have accepted that it's either before Christ or after Christ. And then you have the fact that you know, there's no other there's no other person that was prophesied so many times ahead of time. Even there's very few people that were prophesied that they would come at a later time. Exactly eighteen prophets prophecies in the Bible, tracing all the way back to David, a thousand years before Christ. And what was his prophecy? He actually described the horrible punishment of crucifixion before crucifixion even existed anywhere.

1:20:22 Exactly. So, how is that all possible? How is it possible that that, you know, Christ was prophesied to, you know, to be born in Bethlehem. Yeah, exactly. It's actually named the town of Bethlam is named as the place that the Messiah would come. Yeah, one hundreds five, six hundred years before Christ was born. Yeah, And you could keep going down and Bedlam is known as is the bread basket, and here it is the Bread of life is born. That's right there, right in the city of Bread, Bethlehem. Hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, with estimates typically ranging from three hundred to four hundred prophecies fulfilled by one man, that's right, one god man, Jesus Christ himself. And we pray that this would be a season of special joy and revelation for you, for those of you who are being woken up in the middle of the night, and the seed of faith is being deposited into you. May it come and be realized to its fruition as purpose by God Almighty himself, because that seed was not dropped into your spirit by accident, was it.

1:21:36 Scott. That's right. You're here listening to Bill Martinez and Scott Powell because you were destined to be here at this time. And so there are people out there listening now that can make this, you know, make this commitment which will give you assurance of eternal life and really help you in every aspect of the remaining years that you have to live. And make this a very Mary, Mary, Mary, Christmas, Mary Christmas for you and your family. He's a senior fellow at Discovery Institute, author of the book Rediscovering America, available at Amazon. Get it if you haven't already, and share it, and oh, you know, might as well get two or three because that's a good way to share it as well.

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1:26:54 It, Thanks for having me well. As Americans are dealing with the holidays, you know some strategy holiday strategy should come into play, and you know we've got you here to help us navigate some of these headwinds. Yeah. Absolutely, many consumers are very concerned about continued inflation and pending tariffs, So got to make the most of your holiday budget this year. And definitely things like discount stores can really help offset those costs. And in our survey, eighty seven percent of Americans plan on shopping at discount stores as holiday season.

1:27:35 Well, we've got some good signs already. It seems that the American people are still fairly optimistic. I mean, Black Friday look pretty good. Cyber Monday also came in with some strong numbers. So it's good that people still have this hope and positive attitude in some regards for the economy. But we just need to be smart. About it, right, Yeah, absolute we saw three percent increase and spend in the month of November in the retail category, which is really strong. It's just indicative that while things are more expensive and there's uncertainty, people are having to make choices, but they're doing it in a really responsible way.

1:28:18 So that's where things like secondhand stores warehouse stores can really help. And when we look at our data, we're seeing a ten percent increase and lower ticket items and a two percent decline and high ticket items like furniture and luxury goods. Mary Hines, can you elaborate a little bit more on these trends that you just referred to that are you know that are there and that are you know, having an impact on holiday spending. Yeah, well, definitely in the discount stores space, we're seeing a huge increase year over year and second hand store so thrift shops, things like the Real Real, which is indicative not only people wanting to make their money go further, but just showing that younger generations are shopping differently than in the past and it's perfectly okay to buy a used item. Also seeing a lot of people use AI in order to come up with gift ideas as well as find the best price for those gifts.

1:29:18 Fifty one percent of the people that. We surveyed indicated they'd be using AI this holiday season. And when you look at the younger generations, seventy one percent plan on using AI to make the most of their holiday purchases. Well, I think it's interesting that you bring up, you know, the character buying habits of you know, the younger generation, Uh, because they are coming in with a lot of force and power you know, for our economy, aren't they. Yeah? Absolutely, But you're also seeing the impact social media is having on the purchase decisions of these younger generations. So I mentioned Dukes that's when you get something that is similar in quality and design as a higher priced branded item, and they're often duke videos on TikTok that then go viral and people would rather have the dupe, which is at a lower price than the more expensive item, which is very much in contrast to older generations.

1:30:14 Right exactly. And it's interesting that that has become a factor. You know, I'm watching in the background and seeing ice skaters in the background, and reminds us that, you know, every year, for many years, we would go to New York, and New York was famous for dupes on every corner, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and these are. Necessarily knockoffs where it looks like the branded item, exactly, but it's more of a similar item at a much lower cost. That's really taking off now. Certainly people are still getting the full knockoffs. I see people on the corner every day on my way to the subway, exactly, right.

1:30:55 Yeah. But still the bottom line is even the younger generation still appreciates value. Value is still there, right. Yeah. And I not only appreciate value, they wear it with a badge of honor, like it's cool, I got this, this is vintage. I got it at a second hand store versus being embarrassed about that. So it's definitely a different mindset on let's make the most of the money that we have and make. It go further. Because while we are sitting strong spend growth year over a year, things are more expensive and that's why those trade offs are important for you to still get everyone on your list the right gift. Well exactly because you know, the reality is is we're still having to navigate around some of these headwinds. You know, inflation is still there, some of the things that we expected.

1:31:44 You know, we're told now by the economists that we may have to wait until the second quarter. But you know, there's some I think there's some positive signs here that are giving people hope for this holiday season, don't you think. Oh absolutely. I mean when you think of the things that are more expensive, it's kind of the necessities utilities, property taxes, insurance, and so that leaves them less money for holiday spending, but they're using that money really wisely going to warehouse stores. But they can buy and bulk and get things at a lower cost for things like shopping stuffers and food for holiday dinners and things. And then you know, when they get to the retail purchases, those other discount big box retailer stores like Target, Walmart, and Amazon just continue to grow on popularity exactly.

1:32:36 We're talking to Mary Heinz Drokes. She's the head of Consumer Small Business Products and Analytics at Bank of America. She oversees strategy and management for a wide range of lending and deposit products, along with consumer investments and the Preferred Rewards program. Mary Hines, you know, I was just reading the other day that it looks like there's to be a lot of money coming back by way of our income tax And do you think that some of the consumers are looking at that positive report and saying, Okay, maybe I can spend a little bit more this holiday season because my income tax return is going to be a lot higher because the government's talking billions of dollars being distributed.

1:33:24 Yeah. Well, certainly for lower income Americans, they're likely to get more in their tax refunds as no tax on tips. If you bought an Arta alone, you're getting a rebate there and that'll come in in February. So maybe that's propelling some of the spend left. But also what is most important in any economy is employment. And Americans are still employed. They're still seeing wage growth. It's moderated this year, but it's still higher year over year, and I think that's creating the optimism we see with consumers. It'll be interesting to see what kind of purchasing we see once those tax refunds to come in, starting, you know, as early as February. Well, I'll take a little bit of hope for you know, right now, and I think most people are feeling the same way.

1:34:09 Yeah, go ahead, Yeah, I mean, the consumer is resilient. We have retail spend growth year every year. That's an incredibly good sign for the economy. Well, let's talk about some other smart ways to manage our spending this holiday season. Well, it's really important that you create a list for all of your holiday purchases, the gifts for people, how much do you want to spend, all the other things you do for the holidays, wrapping paper, scotch tape, and then stick to that budget. It's really easy, especial FLEA with things like social media and retargeting, to get lured into making purchases you didn't attend. And that's where when you're making your purchases.

1:34:50 Using the secondhand stores warehouse stores can really help you stick to that. List right exactly as you say, you know, it's the season you know, for buying and selling and giving and receiving in that, and I get that, and you can get caught up in it, and then next thing you know, you've blown past your budget. So hey, but it's also a season to enjoy and say, hey, look at it, I'm done, all the gifts are wrapped. Let's enjoy family time. Right. Oh absolutely, I mean it is the best season of the year, and so you want to make sure that you do it in a responsible way so you can truly enjoy it and not feel financial stress. Well, let's talk about credit card rewards. We haven't touched on that. H We've got some good news there. Tell us what consumers can do to make the most of credit card rewards.

1:35:39 Yeah, I mean credit card. When you're making your holiday purchase, using a credit card that comes with rewards is a great way to extend your purchasing power. You can either use those rewards to buy additional gifts or use them to help offset your bill when it comes in in January. I always use my customized past rewards from Bank of America, where new clients get six percent back in the category of their choice. I choose online spending because that's where I do all of my holiday spending and it's just a great way for me to use that cash back I earn to pay down my bill in January. Well, as we wrap things up, Marines, where can consumers go for more information and also what can consumers do to get ahead of their twenty twenty six financial resolutions.

1:36:31 Well, you can always go to Bankoamerica dot com for more information and on we also have a site better Money Habits dot com and it can really help you with budgeting tips. And one of the ones that we most highly recommend as you go into the new year is establish your budget for the year. Allocate fifty percent of your income to those the things that you have to pay for insurance, rent, gas, groceries, thirty percent to the thing that you enjoy doing going out to eat, traveling, shopping, and then twenty percent goes into savings. And if you can stick. To that for the entire year of twenty twenty six, you're going to be in great financial health.

1:37:13 Well that's some great advice. Thank you so much. Mary Hines Drugge She's the head of Consumer in Small Business Products and Analytics at Bank of America. Thank you, Mary Heines, Take care. Thanks Bell, Take care. Whether you're gifting, decorating, or treating yourself. Low's December deal drops are here to help you save more all month long. Get up to seventy five percent off select holiday decor plus get up to forty five percent off select tools and accessories. Shop new December deal drops every week this month and get so much more out of your holidays. Lows we have you say. Selection varies by location, while supplies last.

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1:41:08 Thanks John, you heard it. Folks, take advantage of this opportunity and call now eight hundred seven four five nine zero nine zero. Advertisement sponsored by Legal Health Center. May not be available in all states. Good morning, welcome back, Good to have you with us. Bill Martinez here, and Elon Bento is with us. He's the writer and co director of this new documentary, The True Cost of Defense. Elon, welcome to the show. Good to have you with us. Thanks very much. Bill. Well, you're the writer co director of the True Cost of Defense. It's an our documentary. As I mentioned, it peels back layers of the US defense budget, revealing its deep, deepest cost, the human one. What brought this, Elon to your attention? To you and your production partner, Kit Berry, sure.

1:42:06 You know, like many people, Kip and I have looked at these pie charts of the defense budgets, but in all these different slices, each with different categories, and we were curious what really went into those categories. That's sort of what sparked it. And then we expanded our focus beyond what is strictly the defense budget out into things that are peripheral to the defense budget but are closely bound with our military, things like the veteran affairs budget, money that is donated to charitable organizations and support of veterans and military families, things like that, and you see that the total cost goes up quite a bit. And from there we just wanted to dig into what is being spent on what and why.

1:42:56 When you broke the budget down and realized that maybe the top line what's being reported is about bullets and guns, not necessarily the human cost, and certainly the post war human cost, right. That's right. A lot of people tend to fixate on things like fighter jets and aircraft carriers, which are expensive, but those costs pale in comparison to, as you said, the recruiting and the training and housing and maintaining the military and then all the costs that go into post retirements or you know, meeving the military healthcare and pensions and things like that. And so we spent a lot of time doing that. We went to Sacramento, California, and spent time with some Marine recruiters, went to Fort Sill, some Army basic training, went to different duty stations. Saw spend time with deployed troops abroad and uh and then spend time with veterans severely injured and otherwise to discuss their their pensions and medical care and what they felt was was good and what they felt uh, you know came up short.

1:44:17 Elan when you uh, as you did your investigation and all these interviews in putting this documentary together, the true cost of defense? Uh? Was there a bigger number that you came up with as opposed to what's being reported uh to the American people in terms of the cost of our defense. Sure. I mean when you take into things, uh, you know, money spent by the State Department, money spent by the Department of Energy, the v a charitable donate, you know, donations to charities, all of these things, everything having to do with the military. You know, you start to approach one and a half trillion dollars, and it's all sort of part of the same picture. So having the military that the US has ultimately costs quite a bit more than just that that eight hundred plus billion.

1:45:20 Right exactly, because the goal is is in order to protect the freedom in this great American idea, it comes at a grave cost. And we've demonstrated that, you know, time and again, have we not. Yeah, that's right. I mean, ultimately, a message that we came across multiple times was when you look at our budget and the amount of money that the US spends, especially compared to kind of near peers, China, Russia, the goal is not parody, you know, the goal is sort of overwhelming superiority. And the reason for that is not just to win wars, but to deter them. Ultimately far costlier in terms of money and lives to fight a war than it is to maintain a military that can help the United States avoid one.

1:46:19 Entirely, right. And I think this is what we're realizing, you know, currently with as many wars that are out there, and I think you know, it's estimated there's nineteen wars right now happening around the world of course, a lot of eyes on Ukraine and Russia, and we see the costs there in humanity, not to mention just the raw cost you know, bullets and armaments and all that that just keeps mounting up. And to your point, going to war is a very expensive proposition. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, look at obviously you see different numbers when it comes to lives lost over in Ukraine, but it is and should be unimaginable to Americans to lose that many lives fighting a war. And that's certainly what a war that the US could be involved in could look like, right, And so if a lot of money can be spent to try and save that off, it seems like a good investment.

1:47:33 Yeah, without a doubt, because i mean, look at there's been a lot of conversation about the military industrial complex, and you know what they're there for. It's, you know, they're there to execute wars, to spend you know, military budgets. You know. But like you said, if we can avoid a war and we do this, you know, by having the build up that we have to deter people from wanting to go to war with America. And if if we have like this current president is doing leveraging America's influence to keep people from going to war. I got I gotta believe that's a good thing.

1:48:14 Well, avoiding war is definitely a good thing. I think everyone would would certainly agree with that. We did spend you know, you mentioned the military industrial complex, and we do have a section on procurement developments things pertaining to the defense industry, and we tried to look at that also from all sorts of angles. One, you know, uh, hearing the arguments for and against the amount of spending, and and and the fact that most of it gets funneled one way or another through a handful of companies, which is a relatively new development over the course of American history. But also looking at the communities impacted by these jobs. You know, in certain places in Norfolk, Virginia, all sorts of places across the country. You've got generations of people that have earned money for their families and had it flow into their communities because they work in these jobs. And so you can see how the reduction of military spending also would really impact just your average Americans.

1:49:26 So that's an interesting thing to consider as well. It's not just the boeings and rapeons that stand to lose something from reduced military spending, all the folks that work for them, some two million people work in the aerospace and shipbuilding industries. Well. The documentary is currently streaming on YouTube and rolling out on public TV stations nationwide. True Cost of Defense explores the costly, human and financial side of keeping the US and its allies safe. What do you want the audience to take away from the eelon after they viewed this? Sure, you know, we didn't go into this project with the hope of initiating some sort of policy change. Our our overriding goal was to inform the American public as much as possible about defense ending so that they could be more adequately prepared to enact whatever change they want when it comes to their vote.

1:50:30 Did you conclude that we're spending the right amount of money? I mean, because you've done I mean, this is such a great job in what you've done in this documentary and laying out you know, the true cost of defense. And as you said, you know, you took a look at the supply chain how this affects you know, millions of people that support the UH you know, support our military and our defense. Well, you know, as an American, you hope that when you dig into the defense industry and the military itself, that you find that it is being competently run by competent folks. And I was pleased, at least in our experience, to find that we were very impressed. We were impressed by the enlisted personnel, the young people operate and you know, making the military run. We were impressed by the technology that we witnessed and the maintaining of that technology. So as ultimately a layman, it was hard for me to point my finger at anything and say this is a waste of money, especially when it comes to people. And I was very impressed by the standards maintained by those marine recruiters we spent time with. I was impressed by the recruits themselves all the way through the you know young tank commander that we saw in Poland, she was

1:52:05 in her early twenties, and yes, she was extremely sharp and impressive and so across the board. Well, and I love the part that you brought out elon that she had her tank, her tank that she trained with, was was shipped to Poland and was ready to go. I mean, it's it is impressive to think about how our military operates. There's lots of layers that are involved here. We've got to leave it there. Elon Bento is the writer and co director of the True Cost of Defense. It's a one hour documentary that is on YouTube right now and you'll be able to see it on public TV as well. Is there a website that people can go to Elon for more information?

1:52:50 Yeah, if you go to free to Choosemedia dot org, you can see the documentary there, or you can just look up The True Cost of Defense on YouTube. Well, very good. Elon Benzol, thank you so much for being with us. He's the writer and code director of The True Cost of Defense. Thank you, Elon, thank great job. Appreciate it. Take care. Do you have Medicare and do you use a SEAPAP machine. This is a National Healthcare alert regarding your SEAPAP supplies. Using a clean SEAPAP mask and clean supplies is important to staying healthy. The best way to make sure your SEATPAP equipment is clean is to get new supplies.

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