music therapy at once to have access to the water surrounding somalia for both military and commercial reasons. the dispute as to do with the doing the corner of east africa, the exposure for, you know, i don't want to have access to the whole. she's the or the, what does that sound? somebody. yeah. and then we all know that to be a guy, you know, in 1993, which is the largest rental company when she did the loan, she says he goes back. so he told me to use this as a be just open the door. yeah. if you need to talk she's, and of course, hopefully she doesn't really kinda triple. she's the one access to. ready ready i know we need to the ceiling so that the able to act crazy. i was calling them is definitely useful. so sorry. it's very important that you haven't got funded the

money by the cause would have come through such as the united states in present because it was part of a, you know, this part of why don't say to get the stuff like that. so for me, if i south my colleagues, jessica taylor will be with you at the top of the hour with fresh updates. i'm they show on josh, stay with our tea international. the, [000:00:00;00]

the the newest congressional pork report is apt, and this year american tax payers are set to pay for creative research as spending projects like the $477000.00 for transgender monkeys, or 460 $5000.00 for christina's, were pigeons. but do the gambling 10 my favorite, $25000.00 to teach chinese students surfing on sky now hughes, and on this edition of $360.00 view, we're going to look at one of the oldest traditions in washington dc. wasteful

spending and maybe find one or 2 good investments and the next years and us federal budget. maybe let's get started of the $33000000.00 in debt historic milestone, which a treasury officials blame on a roughly 50 percent increase in federal spending between 2019 and fiscal 2021. of course, the treasury is not going to take accountability and just like a teenager is going to blame the rapid increase in government spending, which happened during the cold and 19 pandemic. now the multiple stimulus programs decrease tax revenue and tax cuts. but how long can they actually play the cove at 19 blaine game card considering wasn't like they weren't born. this was going to be the result. i mean, when you,

when the government encourages businesses to stay closed and workers to stay home, what else to expect? you know, there's a government helping citizens because there's a pay demick going on. i can give it a little grace. however, the amount of money, if you guys, states government is currently given and foreign aid, especially to those countries. and the mr. battle is a whole nother situation. not to mention. well, there's always been comical investments and various research private projects by the united states government. it seems like they have really raised the bar this year with the absurd projects they deem worthy of us tax care dollars. i wanna look at a few others and who specifically is asked for them to $6000000.00 for the us just s grid presidential library at mississippi state university in stark though, as lobby by cit or cindy high, smith, republican from mississippi, now represent mark penn a democrat from wisconsin was budgeted $250000.00 to restore the driver opera house in darlington,

wisconsin. and those are just 2 of the more than $7396.00 earmarks. that were noted, which was a 43.9 percent increase from the previous year. lots of numbers and the only number that matters. this cost of $26100000000.00 an american tax payer money. so to help us look at what are the over this traditions in washington dc, wasting taxpayer dollars was bringing our panel. we have political strategies and radio host malik abdul, a political commentator and ready to host steve gill business at all. it's hillary ford, which was also the ceo of a strong mark and a member of the british american business association. the board of directors, thanks for joining me today. port port port. i think you said the best seller would came on. nobody likes sports and yet lots of people do actually, if you're in elected office, you use it. so in preparation for today show, i actually asked all of you to kind of bring in some of your favorite,

wasteful spending projects that you found. i went ahead and hillary, you actually went back in time and found one of your favorite ones. oh yes, i did. and actually i did, i did want to start off by saying, i always loved margaret sacked as quote, there's no free lunch. so people think the government's paying for everything i or anything. i say the government has 0 money, it has your money, your money in your money. i'm my money so it doesn't have any money but so secondly, this isn't anything new. do you know what president james monroe said in 1822. he said, when asked about public works, he said that he thought that they might end up being abused, that it might be a product of able for more public work. so it's nothing new now to answer your questions specifically my favorite pope. our object of course was the $10000.00 toilet seat. i think that was so absurd. i know we followed up by the $1000.00 pair of pliers, so it's nothing new. this is going on, and that is why in 2011, remember that the republican majority put a stop to old m. okay. well, they thought they put a stop the point of the way to door tools. steve, do you have one that you like or you always have such tidbits?

this is always great conversations at the dinner table by the way, to bring up, well and, and to follow up on, on hillary's point, if you ask taxpayers, should that, should the federal government pay for this or pay for that? their answer is yes and polling. if you ask them, should taxpayers pay for that? the answer is no, we don't have this ability distinguished between taxpayer money. it's all government money and that's why they can keep doing this year. you had a few years back the, the bridge to nowhere in alaska, the people living there and it was millions and millions of dollars spent there. and we're actually funding a m u z. i'm in the homage. last i checked. that's not even in the united states. well, that's interesting because we talked about the port projects in the united states. there's a whole slew of them that we're paying in other countries. which brings you the question, the league. why did port projects even exist? we saw that the republicans said they cut them, obviously did it. what is the purpose of them? well, technically, so port when people talk about port spending, meaning you may get a library in your so they attached these riders to bills where you may get

a library or you may get your roads in your area fix, or it could even be something like internet access like broadband access, so ro politicians add these riders to be able because they help their constituents, those constituents typically like those sort of things. like if you say that you're going to build a facility or something like that, the people in the community to say, yes, my politician is working for me, but i have an example of wasteful. it's been a be able, was a project, anyone remembers what was that the big dig or the big it was the boston. it's about 70 mile road down the road. yeah, yeah. so we're about 7 miles of road that they were trying to actually put under ground. it initially started, people don't remember this, it initially started. it was a tip. o'neill was one of the ones that was pushing for it back in 1981 in 1981. the cost of the big, the big, big, the cost of it was about $2000000000.00 when they finished it in 2007. the total

was $15000000000.00. now the question that people ask, what, how did it get to $15000000000.00 for everyone knows that if you want to get paid charged the federal government because the federal government will always pay it. and there's a surcharge typically added to when you're talking about the federal government. so wasteful spending, but everybody kind of shrug and at least boston has 7 miles underground like 7 miles of road. well, and that brings the point, steve, on this and some port, there is a service report that's just wasteful throwing out that when you said training squirrels, how to or dan of all versus things that actually do help. the community may be a library. i don't want to just that i say the opera house is so important. good. well, and just the irony of the list. he's s grant museum in mississippi for all the that one is mind boggling. yeah, the port can be good if it's, if it's actually, again, delivering some tax payer money in a specific way to a specific project. the problem is really points out is there's no real

accountability. we've got to the defense department and you can account for hundreds of billions of dollars of equipment and machinery. we left 80000000000 behind in afghanistan. there's no accountability. you know, if a, if a private in the marine corps loses his rifle, he has to pay for it. but a general can lose $80000000000.00 in afghanistan and nobody gets fired. nobody gets held accountable. and that's a big part of the problem is it's not just where it goes at the end of the day, it's where we don't know where a lot of it's going well, and that's a part of it. you know, what role do lobbyist plan? that's obviously, people are up on what will i be as you know, literally cover the l a more than politicians testing. there's like a $3.00 to $1.00 ratio. what role did they play and advocating for their fun? oh, we know it's, i'm so evolves guilty of and actually the beginning to show you brought top. obviously the whole, all the covet and emphasis on what from home and stay at home, which talks did so well. doing cobit all of the funds, find stokes facebook. amazon, netflix, google, add onto that microsoft airlines,

an older ones with all the stocks that will stay at home or to find stokes with the ones that did well. they have the lobby as to lobby. and of course big pharma. it's . ringback truly, every network is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and as we know pharmaceutical companies from the american medical schools and the chemical companies get the chemicals to put enough food to make a sick. but then the medical medical school supposedly kills us with the po for now . so this is suck heuer to us view, which is loving yes. basically, money follow the money if you want to know what is the root of anything, those lobby as the funded by people that are necessary. having all individual corporate or national best interest at heart and is both parties, i mean, the republican debate, the 1st republican debate as they were debating and fighting over the evils of tech talk the 1st ad after that block was a tick tock ad. yes, yes. mm. hm, so it, that's, it is both parties that go to it. yeah. both parties rail against it moving. both parties have spent enough money. why is there not more tiny account about it?

they always say the republicans actually spend more than democrats do. do you agree with that? do you believe that there should be better kind of a warrant, each party holding themselves accountable for their point, their fingers? well because they were required raining in congress, putting good checks and balances and congress, which none of them work. we talked before about the military industrial complex and how 100 percent of the time politicians on both sides of the aisle are always for funding this military industrial complex. we see in places across a year, which is different. what we're seeing here in america remembered last year, there was all of this economic anxiety built up when he's heard of the protests in paris in brussels, in all across. this was literally economic anxiety. there was no protest in the man in america. there were no and you know, um, economic anxiety protests in america. we typically in america, we will focus on the cultural issue. so whether that's abortion, or like gay rights or things like maybe police brutality will march in the streets

on those. but when it comes to actually focusing on our economy, trying to force our government to do things, we won't take to the streets at all. and in many ways we'd shrugs and is this something that i actually can not explain why americans are that way? because in europe, they take the streets in europe and the last time you obviously melnik's absolutely right on this the last time that really happened in america was in the 1920s with a huge strike on washington dc, which was the world war one veterans not being paid and you're right, so we're basically a century later on. it's a very good point. we haven't seen that sort of, i would call economic outraged. we don't see that well and simon congress. so i would actually say they encourage projects because it might put money back in their own own economies in those communities. so they are not that economic outrage. they actually can see spinning of the federal government taking care of it. is that a good justification for the well, i think you'll early a point was this is link to early point is that such thing as a good pool? i think there are projects that within the community all necessary and a needed. and the certainly, i know i'm from pennsylvania, i mean, i think about,

you know, centers of shoes, the, i mean he had the infrastructure, they say that the infrastructure in pennsylvania is credit to him. those words being beneficial for the community. so i think there is such a thing as something that's a benefit. well, i want to take my panel and hold it right there, cuz i want to continue this discussion about the good and the bad part of the break says, looking at specific items, we're going to look at apartments of the federal government, which ones are not a good return of investment for us texting. stick around

the the welcome back. let's continue our conversation about the wasteful spending by the us government with our panels. typical side just to rate. it hasn't really got bill global business analyst, henry ford, which and so it will come to any rate. it has to steve. gail, thank you so much for continuing this conversation. obviously there's a lot of pork, so there's a lot to talk about. i'm gonna start with you, gil, since you've had a lot of experience with the, with the united federal government, what department of the government do you feel like is wasting the most money? and i did that work for the federal government over 2 administrations for

a while at the us trade representative's office, which is a small big law firm. but the department of commerce, if you want to place somebody that somebody's brother in law, sister in law, cousin don't, or department of commerce is usually where they end up. i think most people go, what does the actual department of commerce do here we're talking about things that actually produce tangible goods. what is the commerce department commerce actually do? they, they promote the sale of goods here and abroad. they do some good things, but it just doesn't take the thousands and thousands of, of workers. and we were talking earlier about the, about which agencies maybe waste the most. i'm involved in health care business, and it is not a secret that if you want to over price something and sell it, the department of veterans affairs is where it goes. during cove, it we were selling face mask, we were selling the face shields. we were selling them and most people were selling for that $15.00 to $17.00 item, the department of veterans affairs, and some cases of paying $50.00 and $60.00. there's nothing worse than ripping off our vets. and yet it's gone and reported and punished and, and needs

a lot more attention. but that's person who's doing that states who do you expect to, to not only report on who's actually benefiting from those sorts of things. but the vendors that are selling it for a bit, the problem did it, that's the key. it wasn't like this was it on check. her loving, we'll say, department education, that would would immediately come to mind. not that we shouldn't invest our children's education, but they look at usually that's a large amount. do you feel like the department's education commerce that they are doing the proper scrutiny and why not? is that on purpose? yeah, and i think one of the things is the script and they should also be on all day propaganda machines on, are they solving on nation disturbing? is this overall tax payers is funded regardless of what your political belief? so if you're democrats, you want to be over public anointed, which it isn't, of course. but if you're republican, when did you want it to be all democratic too, and i don't think they should be as, as politically aligned as they all. so that's number one, number 2, when you asked about which one has the most wasted, i remember when trump was elected, i remember when 23, i'm senior executives walked out of the state department. i thought, well, what was the difference? we actually didn't go to wall,

so maybe it's better with 23. 0 count. nobody's like wow, good. what's happening to our basement? fully to bits. and then with regard to columbus, i just like to make a comment on this. so i'm, i'm based here in washington dc. very established, you know, i being a member of all sorts of clubs and all the business associations. you can imagine whether it's a board of trade in the northern virginia technologist. so i could list like 20 of them being a member of my company for 23 years network. go to all these events, breakfast lunches, and dinners before covet. i never once, not even once met a member of the commerce department out the business. well, what are they doing if they're not in the business? well, how can they work with international businesses of american business, the photo businesses, if they're not in the business world and do think they're not in washington, but they're in iowa or west virginia? i don't think so. so my question was, what are they will do in that building if and not in the business? well, that's my question, which is why i asked you, steve, what exactly does the commerce department do? yeah, that's why i'm saying, okay, yeah, we've had it back. yeah. and up, i mean you have a great building. another to watch community. are they? are they type in your zip? everything online is that they may find it. they collect paychecks and they go to,

you know, some seminars. they go to uh, you know, community gatherings in the rest of the country, but they aren't really interacting and isn't my view creating business. you know, the other thing i point out on this whole issue is, it's not just how these port projects hit us in the pocket book, which it does. it hits us in the policy arena as well. you know, we're pouring billions into ukraine right now and can't really justify where the money is gone. they, they can't really tell us where, where it's going, where it's been spent. but the defense contractors, the same ones that advertise on the sunday morning shows not because they want to sell me an f 16. and they're wanting the members of congress and the senate to know they've got clout. they've got money. and if they want it in their next election, they've better, you know, tells a line. so whether it's there, whether it's in the middle east, a lot of what we do in, in military is to fund the same folks who are funding congress. and the same thing as ever we mentioned when it came to cobit all the ads that they were running on fox and they must nbc cell and you get the box, get the backs were being paid for by the big farm. others to fix all month,

which was getting tax their dollars on the ice. and how one does about this. he said, be with a military industrial complex. so we have money for border in another country, but not to school. our own military and big farm are equally danger. yes, and one might be more dangerous people abroad, the other ones very dangerous that here at home. but along with wasting tax payer dollars and like, do you, do you feel like politicians or even political parties use tax payer dollars to buy the favors to buy the votes within the community? and is that the right thing? let's look at the entitlement system. has it truly just become a way of buying votes? well, so i think there are a couple of things. so we talked about the port spending and there are, there is good port spending. i know no one likes to say that, but there are good projects that are beneficial to communities, but then there are other wasteful projects. what we're seeing and i wanted to pick you back off of what steve said about this wasteful spending at the department of veterans affairs. it was my last government job. so i worked in not the, you know, i worked actually in the headquarters not far from here. around the corner from here, and i know then just the amount of contractors that governments now is not just the

department of veterans affairs, but the number of contractors that you have doing duplicate works. you may have 3 different contractors working for 3 things. different companies focused on, let's say, communications meaning writing, press release is. this is where the government spends is money. but if i could add an agency that i believe is wasteful in that spending. and in fact, research reports have suggested that very thing is d o. d, which is why we have this conversation now where congressmen they don't even know where the money that we sent to you. crane is going, there is no accounting for any of that. because when he comes to our military industrial complex, no questions are ever asked. but you know that these defense contractors are making money hand over foot because of what's happening now in ukraine and what they're ramping up, getting ready to in the support for israel. so i would say the department of defense as far as the wasteful spending, we need to start looking at, we just had

a plane crash of our newest fighter this the most expensive fighter ever had because it can't fly in bad weather. or we just don't like schedule was about to do it long as i'm sorry, we can't fight today because it's, it's cloudy, little savvy. yeah. and this is a surprise, but that goes back to like there's no accountability on this. there is this being done on purpose, is this why there is this web, a bureaucratic protection around these dollars because it's too hard to figure out where it actually goes to. so people just give up and don't care. well, i think it's a cute, i think it's, you know, you scratch my back all scott, jewels on. i think it's acute us in washington dc, and it's both sides of the army. so i don't know how you and, and it's, and again, if, if president james monroe was complaining about the same thing and eyes and how long does the same thing, this is nothing new and it's human nature to be greedy. and i don't see how you end items and how you enter as, as, as long as we have lobbies, it will never end because they are the ones who are feeling these industry. where does the pharmaceutical industry, the defense industry lobbyists are making

a killing. and everybody knows if you want to make a lot of money, if you want to leave. capitol hill become, are government affairs director at some company or something which is effectively a lobby as you go back and you make lots of money and how many of them are greasing this kids for that next job with contracts with the things because they know that when they leave, those guys are going to hire them. we've got generals that have retired are now advocates and lobbyist for saudi arabia and many of our of our internet. and yet they still have their security clearances. why are we telling them our secrets that they're then selling to their clients? mm hm. which comes back to alterations, complaint about this wasteful spinning. never want to do it. rand paul's famous for he constantly talked about bad. spinning it back, he's become kind of a celebrity in that area. yeah. and he himself doesn't ever do anything about this? why is it so hard? why are more politicians, they talk about it, but no action. you mentioned a lobbyist like money, but the politicians are also making money off to ride hillary? absolutely. well, actually i'm a, i read something recently that had a,

the net worth of all the presidents when they went into office to present into the presidential into put capacity on what they was when they came out on one of the ones. for example, obama was worth 1200000 when he went in to office 8 years later, he's worth 80000000. it has almost somebody said, oh, he sold his book. i'm like, well, here's the rate or the i don't actually know anybody has the book. but it's not the, it's not just obama, every single one of them increase the net was in office. now how does that happen? i mean, we know the trunk david salary back in didn't take us out. right. but even still, all of them increase our network. how does that happen now? the other thing is, of course, with fighting for how long he's been in office. i actually did me a very what i think it was. it sounds like an oxymoron, an honest congressman. okay. this was years ago and he was a cold coke. i'm a conservative congressman from california and he had one child at the time as a single mother putting lots of kids through school. i know how much it costs. he was relieved when his one song was not going to be going to the same university was going to go to the community college instead because he would save money and i was thinking,

he's been in congress all these years. he can't even afford university. meanwhile, biden's been in office all those years on a government salary. how one box do you afford all those properties how to just the beach, how's a loan in delaware? there's no government official who was just on a government paycheck could ever afford a house on the beach in delaware. it would be impossible. so my question is, we should all schools the how do you afford your properties? where does that money come from? all of them dianne feinstein just passed away with a 100000000 dollar estate and a 70 $1000000.00 plane working in government for the last well 2 centuries. how did she master that right at a $180000.00 a year? so it is literally is financially impossible. yeah. but it was gonna ask that you're, you're literally looking at the, the wolf to check the hen house on this one. you all because the reality of it is, they're all doing it. you know, like said the one that's not, can't afford, you know, the kids going to community college. we're asking the same thing with terminal as politicians to check each other. is there any chance that that will ever happen? no, they're not going to,

they're not going to do that. and i would even say if politicians actually, if americans want it to do something, pressure, call the politicians to do something. they would say if the government shuts down members of congress, you don't get paid either. well, i think that's a fantastic point and i like the very good point we'd l, your staff, either anything nor there the health care they get exemptions from the older child, healthier man, today's visit. it was a woman's from yeah. for everything able to use their insight or knowledge to trade stocks and millions of dollars that you are. i would go to jail for one thing i would say on that you're absolutely right. even the one that is as simple as husband all the trading demands, there was an app and i think i would like to quote what i know to be definite. i believe it's cool people, but you can actually use the app to track what they're trading and then you can follow it. so, you know, you're definitely not a because like what we get inside of knowledge that we haven't given the citizens knew what, how much money they were getting from the lobbyist. and it's not easy to find. i think they should have to, whenever they go on the floor of congress, they should have to be like a nascar drive. i don't have that. oh, i like that, or i like not tell you and i like them, well, you make a point, even us athletes at least goals. let's have the locals along the we know who's fine

or even pension. so we haven't even discussed punches that the congressional pension project is probably a lot more than you and i average forget the business. say thank you so much for this. we can continue, have this conversation about it. and we will, i can promise you that because at one time a p j over arc once said, is a popular delusion that the government waste vast amounts of money through inefficiency and swap a norm as effort and elaborate planning are required to waste fish much money. however, just like with most of the problems which politicians complain about on the campaign trail, fixing, the problem is never their goal with the federal budget. so large is the sheer amount of almost $200.00 pages plus it's almost like they know they can get away with it as who has the time to actually read every page with a fine tooth comb. sadly, there are real issues in american straits which need attention. but i guess, unless the homeless population or veterans find a way to pay for a large lobbying firm,

they will always be viewed by the belt way as less important than the transgender monkeys on sky. now he's, and this has been your 360 view face to watch the the see the silver, the somebody how can it be that um the ship to the middle east from a country whose top officials constantly complain about shortages of munitions and military equipments. literally locating the blueprint bus llc, or even little boy in your system with below grade level nominal facility or some of those other slash them about the easiest. and they also wanna know we have more of an easy, some better mobile bubble, a sort of wellness that will kind of get this, that have gone on now. well,

why are weapons from ukraine spreading over the world? to turn this country into a major arms hub, will continue to bolster ukraine's and forces by rushing them occasionally use that they need to defend their country. the everyone knows very well that we don't sell but known as pineapples or any kind of children's toys. we sell women's yes, we're also known in the world as homes dealers that we must not be ashamed of that the of

the, [000:00:00;00] the us and u. k. forces launched a fresh series of strikes against that. yeah. man, with a pen to them saying a to see side whitehead. we're still exposed to this aggression and the dangers slowly approaching the associations had course escaped until on the display thing. they already displayed the palestine read pressing says people in golf are now being full of pretty even farther south. in light of the latest is really advancing