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Massive Somali Fraud in Minnesota with Nick Shirley, California Asset Seizure, $20B Groq-Nvidia Deal

December 31, 202501:43:22
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All right, we have a massive show for
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you today, besties, but it's not going
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to be our prediction show. We thought we
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were doing predictions end of the year,
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but we had so many amazing stories to
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cover in the news that we're going to do
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predictions next week. The first story
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is we have investigative journalist Nick
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Shirley on. He has uncovered in a
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breaking 42-minute video that went viral
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$110 million in potential fraud in
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Minnesota. It's part of $9 billion in
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overall fraud. and we've got him on the
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show here exclusively. This video
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apparently perhaps prompted responses
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from Cash Patel and DHS Secretary
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Christy Gnome who have sent agents in to
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inspect these facilities. Here's some
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sort of important context. These
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entitlement frauds in Minnesota have
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been going on for over 10 years. It's a
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13 14 year old story. It started by an
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investigative reporter named Jeff Balon.
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launched his first investigation into
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this in February of 2013
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at Fox 9 News, local investigative
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journalist. Uh, and after that expose,
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charges were brought in 2014 against a
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Somali woman and her husband. They skip
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bow. They never faced trial. Here's a
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45se secondond clip from 2016 from
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Balon.
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>> Ali is facing numerous counts of theft
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by swindle and racketeering. She ran a
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daycare business and home healthcare
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company that catered to lowincome
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families. But former employees told the
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Fox 9 investigators back in 2013 that it
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was really part of a scam to collect
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millions in public subsidies.
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>> When I saw the bank account for the
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business, there were large Cath
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withdrawals on a continuous basis.
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>> Can I ask you a few questions?
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>> A year after our investigation, Ali was
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arrested and charged with billing the
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state out of about $4 million.
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>> Okay. Since 2018, Minnesota has seen 9
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billion around 9 billion in entitlement
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frauds according to federal prosecutors.
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Just to give you guys a a concept of uh
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what that means, that's half of the
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total amount spent on 14 entitlement
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programs in the state. So, here's the
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direct quote from the federal prosecutor
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on the Minnesota fraud. The magnitude
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cannot be overstated. It's staggering.
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Industrialcale
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fraud. There have been over 90
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convictions for more than $800 million
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in fraud since 2022.
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In 2022, 47 defendants were charged in a
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$250 million fraud scheme called Feeding
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Our Future that was supposed to feed
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hungry kids. Then up to 220 million was
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stolen in funds for kids with autism.
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Then 300 million was stolen in Medicaid
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funds meant to help people with
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disabilities avoid homelessness. So
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starting with that feeding our futures
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fraud in 2022, 82 of 92 people charged
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have been
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Somalian. Joining us right now,
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23-year-old investigative journalist
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Nick Shirley. Welcome to the program.
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>> Thank you. It's been a crazy past few
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days out here in Minnesota.
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>> So I guess a good place to start is uh
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you could tell the audience a little bit
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about your background. uh when you got
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into investigative journalism.
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Obviously, you've got a YouTube channel.
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I watched some of your early videos when
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you were 16, 17 years old. I would say
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along the Mr. Beast vibes and then
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suddenly making a turn into politics
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specifically around immigration and some
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Vox pop uh kind of man on the street
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stuff. But maybe you could tell us a
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little bit of how you got into all this
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and how you got into this specific
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story. Yeah. So, I've been doing YouTube
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as far as I can pretty much remember
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since as I was as a sophomore in high
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school. It was just uh something I
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thought I could would be good at. So,
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I'd do YouTube videos and all I could do
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in high school was to do prank videos,
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sneaking into places, just kind of a fun
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stuff you can do on the weekend. And
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then as I've grown older and I've had
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other experiences, um I've matured and
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I've wanted to get more into more
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serious topics. And so, uh, as I've been
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able to go places and kind of see the
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world for what it is in different
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countries and whatnot and have different
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experiences, um, it kind of led me to
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get into this more investigative
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journalism content. And also, back in
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around 2020, you couldn't even make
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political content on YouTube without
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word without being demonetized. For
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instance, if you were to put Trump in a
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YouTube title or thumbnail on my
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channel, you would get demonetized cuz I
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was a smaller channel. So, it was
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impossible to make that sort of content
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and I was younger. I was about 17, 18
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years old at that time.
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>> And now YouTube allows you to monetize.
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I noticed you had ads baked into the
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program like many podcasters. And you're
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not affiliated with any news source. And
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I to the best of my knowledge, you're
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not backed by any special interest
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groups. You're not backed by some rich
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billionaire. Where's the money coming to
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do this reporting from? and and just to
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confirm that with the audience.
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>> Yeah. Everything I do, I'm 100%
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independent and so I make my money off
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of YouTube, off of brand deals inside of
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YouTube videos. And if people want to
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donate money, they can do that. However,
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everything I do is straight from my own
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hands and I don't have any other people
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really working for me other than me,
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myself, my mom, and a few other editors.
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>> So, tell us about the origin of this
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story, and then I'll hand it off to the
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rest of the besties to do some follow-up
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questions. Yeah. So, I've been looking
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into this fraud for a long time. Since
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last June, I came to Minnesota to kind
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of do a video on what was happening with
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the Somali population as far as like how
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much it was increasing and and how
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certain towns have been uh the
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demographics have changed um and how
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churches are turning into mosque and how
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mosques are growing inside of
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Minnesota. I thought it'd be an
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interesting topic for people to see. And
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when I was there, a lot of people were
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starting to tell me about the fraud that
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was taking place. And I was like, well,
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how do I I just can't come and label
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everyone saying there's fraud happening.
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I need evidence. I need actual proof.
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And so I I've been doing my own
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investigation. And then a man by the
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name of David who's inside my YouTube
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video, he's been doing his own
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investigation for years as he's as he
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works next to some of these childcare
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centers and he's driven by and he's
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never seen a single child at any of
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these daycarees. And so he started
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looking into the funding and he was able
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to get the numbers of how much money
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these people were receiving from CCAP
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funding
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which is tax exempt and it was in the
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millions of dollars. And so I was I told
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him, "All right, I'm coming to
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Minnesota. Let's go see what's happening
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on these daycarees." And when I got
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there, I was shocked to see when the
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first daycare we went to, all the
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windows were blacked out and you didn't
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even have the option to open the door.
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Everything was locked. So explain the
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the mechanics of the fraud just so the
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audience if they haven't seen this
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understand how these frauds are being
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played out.
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>> Yeah. So massive welfare frauds being
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committed. People are opening up these
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dayc carees, home healthcare clinics,
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you name it. anything that has anything
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to do with like health welfare or even
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just like helping people in general like
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with daycare or with uh healthcare,
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they're opening up these companies and
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then they're able to receive millions of
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dollars. And the state, for instance, I
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don't know if they're doing any checkups
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on these places because these places
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literally had signs that said learing
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instead of learning on their on their
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doors on outside. And what business is
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operating in a way where you can't even
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go inside or the windows are all blocked
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out? Very strange.
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>> Nick, let me ask you a question that I
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think a lot of people have, which is
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when your video, first of all, let me
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just say, took a lot of courage and it
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was well produced and you communicated
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some very complicated information in a
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very simple way, which I think is a
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tremendous skill.
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But the question that everybody asks is
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how do we know that you are right? And
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in traditional investigative journalism,
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there's a process that people follow and
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there's insurance that you have to get
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and then there's errors and omissions
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and you typically have to deal with
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lawyers.
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Did you go through that process when you
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made this? And do you think that it's an
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important part of what needs to be done
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for your credibility and for this piece
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to stand on its own?
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>> Yeah, I think everyone knows that
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fraud's been going on for years now.
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Like Jason was just saying, everyone
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knows that the fraud's being committed,
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but nobody's actually went to go see it
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firsthand. They know this fraud's been
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happening, right? And that's why it's
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been so hard for people to say, "Well,
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this is happening." Or this is why
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mainstream media's had such a hard time
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to actually get exposure on the fraud
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because they've actually never gone and
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seen it firsthand or they've had the
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opportunity to have a platform where
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they can share on their own. Right. But
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did you check all the traditional boxes
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that the New York Times or other people?
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Because what I'm trying to get to is how
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do we make sure that then you're not
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attacked and that you're not discredited
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and that people say this process is
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faulty and he's mudslinging and how do
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we make sure that you're not sued into
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oblivion?
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>> Yeah. And to specific to build on that
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Shimoth the allegation has come out. Oh,
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you went on a Saturday. Oh, you went
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during Christmas. And I guess you could
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address that because now people are
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obviously vetting your journalism. Yeah.
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Well, it's on I went on December 16th is
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a weekday before Christmas break. So,
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there's that. And then, um, sorry, the
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question as far as like did I do the
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vetting and whatnot. The man who helped
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me like lead the investigation himself,
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David, he had all the paperwork from the
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capital. He had somebody from inside the
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capital leaking him the information. So,
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there was my like fact check, per se,
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was he had a source from inside the
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capital. That's how we were able to get
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the number specifically. Do you think
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that it's going to be important for you
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to
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have lawyers that help you navigate?
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Because like if you build on this,
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there's obviously more fraud in
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Minnesota.
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>> There's a bunch of stuff in our home
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state. A lot of people would love you
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and people like you to start looking in
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all of these crevices.
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But how important will it be that you
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have all of the legal eyes dotted, tees
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crossed here?
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>> Yeah, that's a good question. I haven't
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really thought too much about that
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because every I've never been in this
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position where you have hundreds of
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millions like I think over 500 million
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people saw that video just alone just
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from all the impressions aside from the
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main video getting 100 million 125
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million views, right?
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>> So yeah, that's something I definitely
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need to think about. But I think more
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than anything, I'm not trying to go in
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and I'm more so just giving people
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transparency from the outside where
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people can't see it when they're sitting
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from behind a desk talking about it.
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Right. Right. I wasn't trying to barge
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in any of these businesses. I was simply
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asking like, okay, like is it possible
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to enroll in ch a child into here? And
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they would say no. Like what daycare
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center doesn't have a paper for somebody
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enroll a child? So I think like yeah, I
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guess if I wanted if I was going to do
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defamation on specific people and stuff
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like James O'Keefe style, I know he's
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always having to lawyer up which I don't
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want to ever have to do. That's like
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would suck cuz that I hate getting I
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don't want to ever have to deal with
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that stuff. Are you done with Minnesota?
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Like, have you uncovered everything you
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need to uncover and now you're going to
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look at another state? There was a lot
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of traffic this weekend about Ohio,
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Illinois, California. What do you do
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now?
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>> Yeah. So, I've been making YouTube
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videos consistently for the past 104
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days, and I'll continue to def show the
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fraud that's taking place here inside
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Minnesota. It's not like I only just do
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videos on fraud, but um I think just
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showing people what's happening inside
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the country is super important. And yes,
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there's a lot more fraud taking place
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here in Minnesota. And I do have a part
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two episode on a whole different segment
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of the fraud that is taking place within
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the the state of Minnesota. And like you
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said, a lot of people have reached out
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to me, whether it be California, Ohio,
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and uh at that point, I will have to
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kind of I'll be doing my research as
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well to then not have to be in a
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position where somebody can try and sue
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me.
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>> What does it make you feel, Nick, as an
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American and also as a young American?
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you grow up, whatever your belief system
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is, what do you think? Put aside the
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investigative journalist pardon, what do
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you think as just an American, as a
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young American
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>> about the fraud?
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>> Yeah.
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>> Yeah. I think it's very upsetting. I
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mean, so many of my friends and so many
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people are working. We're like, we're
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working so hard just to be able to get
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by. Like, I don't even have a friend
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that owns a house at this point in their
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life. And they're 23 years old. And we
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talk to our grandparents and they're all
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like talking about how they bought their
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first house. We're married. And it's
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like that's not even a possibility for
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most of us, right? And so when you see
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that people are making millions of
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dollars and not only is it millions of
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dollars, it's tax exempt money. They're
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getting it from CCAP funding, which is
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uh tax exempt, right? And so when we're
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working hard and we're paying anywhere
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from 20 to 50% of our money back into
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the hands of the government while people
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are just funneling money, it makes us
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all mad and it's not fair to anybody
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quite frankly.
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>> It's interesting. Freeberg, I know
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you're you're interested in the media as
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well, like I am. This story has been
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covered for over 10 years by local news.
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You came in and did this. It became
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essentially a national story. But when
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we did our research, we did find a New
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York Times story last month, but none of
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the CNN's of the world have actually
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covered this. So, there seems to be a
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little pocketing going on here,
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Freeberg. the local news covering it
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doggedly,
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uh, running gun journalists like
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yourself, Nick, doing an incredible job
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knocking on doors, but there's this
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vacuum, Freedberg, on the national
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level. Any thoughts on that? Well, Nick,
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I think one of the things that makes
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your content so compelling is that it is
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long form. When you watch 60 Minutes or
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CBS or whatever, they're cut down.
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They're sort of like segment pieces.
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It's seven minutes long. What's so great
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about your footage is you get the raw
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true experience. It really is what
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citizen journalism is meant to be and
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you and I have talked for a while. I
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think you know we talked months ago
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about some of the work you were doing in
00:14:02
Portland cuz like I was asking all these
00:14:04
questions like well what is everyone
00:14:06
else in Portland up to cuz all the video
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from all the news stations was what's
00:14:09
going on right outside that gate where
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the ice facility was and there was like
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20 people going crazy but like what's
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the rest of Portland like? and you went
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out and collected that content. That's
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the sort of stuff that I think makes
00:14:21
your work so compelling is it feels so
00:14:22
real. There just isn't a way for a
00:14:24
network news station or CNN to do that
00:14:27
sort of work where you can sit down and
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spend 45 minutes looking at like the
00:14:31
very real footage that you put out,
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which is awesome. Can I ask you a
00:14:35
question? So, you grew up Mormon, is
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that right?
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>> Yeah.
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>> And did you do a mission?
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>> Yeah, I did do a two-year mission in
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Chile. Do you think that that prepared
00:14:44
you like knocking on doors or engaging
00:14:47
people openly in your missionary work to
00:14:51
be able to do this? Because I can tell
00:14:52
you I know so many journalists who would
00:14:54
be scared shitless to go do the stuff
00:14:56
you've done in New York City and
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Portland now in Minneapolis where you're
00:14:59
actually going into these facilities
00:15:01
looking people face to face. Like how
00:15:03
did you develop that that capability?
00:15:05
Was it rooted in your missionary work? I
00:15:06
mean, I think that might come from a
00:15:08
little of it, but I think being the
00:15:10
youngest brother also really just always
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having to impress your older brothers
00:15:15
and being the daredevil for him and his
00:15:17
friends. Like, I just didn't grow up
00:15:19
with fear. Like, it wasn't even a
00:15:21
concept for me to go and do go do the
00:15:24
bike jump when I was 5 years old, right?
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So, it's always been something that I
00:15:27
haven't been afraid of and I've never
00:15:29
been afraid of rejection as well. I used
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to do door cells and the mission you
00:15:35
literally are just walking around trying
00:15:37
to talk to people about Jesus for two
00:15:39
years straight and you just get denied
00:15:41
every single day and you're just hoping
00:15:43
to have like a small sliver of success
00:15:46
for what you actually do. And so that
00:15:49
definitely helped.
00:15:50
My mission more so taught me about the
00:15:53
effects of mass migration because I
00:15:55
would see so many people fleeing
00:15:56
countries like Venezuela and then I came
00:15:58
to the back to the US and I saw what was
00:16:00
happening at the border and I was able
00:16:02
to learn Spanish. But the I think just
00:16:04
like my upbringing in general being the
00:16:06
youngest brother and then also uh my
00:16:09
morals from being a member of the Church
00:16:11
of Jesus Christ Latterday Saints. I
00:16:12
don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do
00:16:14
any of that. So I feel like I have a
00:16:16
advantage for compared to a lot of
00:16:18
people as far as like my mind's always
00:16:21
I'm not getting skewed with addictions
00:16:23
or trying to go and do something else.
00:16:26
>> Nick, are you still very religious?
00:16:28
>> Yeah, I am.
00:16:29
>> Sax, what's your take on this? And um
00:16:32
the question I asked Freeberg, which you
00:16:33
didn't get to, maybe you could take,
00:16:35
which is this hasn't seemed to made the
00:16:37
make the the national uh press, but it
00:16:40
has been on the local and obviously it's
00:16:43
on X. Maybe you could give your
00:16:44
handicapping of the media sphere and
00:16:48
Nick's role in it as you see it in 2025.
00:16:51
>> Well, I think it's an indictment of the
00:16:53
press. They haven't covered this and
00:16:55
they still haven't covered Nick's video,
00:16:57
which is now, like you said, a viral
00:16:59
video with hundreds of millions of views
00:17:01
and everyone can see what's happening.
00:17:02
You basically have this huge
00:17:05
multi-billion dollar fraud taking place.
00:17:08
Yes, there were stories going back a
00:17:10
decade like you said Jason, but they
00:17:12
were isolated stories where they could
00:17:13
be portrayed that way. And I think what
00:17:16
Nick has done is show that the fraud is
00:17:18
massive and in plain sight and no one
00:17:20
bothered, no one cared enough to expose
00:17:22
it. And you know, Nick, you did this by
00:17:25
just going around to all these supposed
00:17:27
daycare centers which are receiving
00:17:29
vouchers from the government anywhere
00:17:30
from what one and a half to $4 million
00:17:33
per daycare center per year based on
00:17:36
fictional enrollments of children. And
00:17:39
these centers aren't even operating and
00:17:41
they're collecting millions from the
00:17:42
government. All told, I guess it's adds
00:17:44
up to 8 to 10 billion. So this is
00:17:47
taxpayer money that's being stolen from
00:17:49
Minnesota that's being stolen by this
00:17:52
Somali
00:17:53
community basically. And I think the
00:17:56
story's gone viral because it includes
00:17:58
so many aspects of dysfunction. I mean,
00:18:01
you've got the issue of illegal
00:18:03
immigrants. Some of the people in the
00:18:05
Somali community got here illegally.
00:18:07
Some of them didn't. You then have these
00:18:10
progressive judges who foolishly voided
00:18:15
convictions of some of the fraudsters
00:18:17
who were doing this. I mean it's just um
00:18:19
classic example of suicidal empathy or
00:18:21
something like that. So you have that
00:18:23
aspect of the story and then you've got
00:18:25
the political corruption. Again these
00:18:26
are not isolated incidents. This is a a
00:18:29
case where I think we have to see this
00:18:31
as a system at work not just an example
00:18:34
of like a few isolated fraudsters.
00:18:36
There's some roundt tripping here where
00:18:38
some of the funds that are going into
00:18:40
the pockets of the Somali community
00:18:41
through this fraud end up back in the
00:18:43
hands of politicians. And the really
00:18:45
extreme example of this is that Tim
00:18:47
Waltz even changed the flag of Minnesota
00:18:51
to resemble the Somali flag. I mean, he
00:18:54
lowered the old flag and raised this new
00:18:55
flag to that resembles the Somali flag,
00:18:59
which shows the political clout of this
00:19:01
community, which is why I think a lot of
00:19:03
politicians turned a blind eye to what
00:19:04
was going on. So, I just think you've
00:19:06
got all the ingredients here of this
00:19:08
story. You've got this suicidal
00:19:10
immigration policy that we've had
00:19:11
combined with massive government fraud
00:19:14
with dereliction of duty and
00:19:16
incompetence
00:19:18
combined with political corruption. And
00:19:20
that's why the story is going viral and
00:19:22
has gotten hundreds of millions of
00:19:23
views. So kudos to you, Nick. And of
00:19:25
course, the way that they are defending
00:19:28
themselves. Well, first of all, the
00:19:29
press is trying to ignore the story as
00:19:30
much as possible. But to the extent that
00:19:32
they
00:19:34
have to confront it, what they do is
00:19:36
just accuse us of being white supremacy,
00:19:38
that anyone who notices that this fraud
00:19:41
is being perpetrated by this Somalian
00:19:43
community, that somehow that must be
00:19:45
racial animist, that's the only reason
00:19:46
people care about or something like
00:19:48
that. And so they've accused Nick. And
00:19:50
that actually is the last element here,
00:19:51
which is again this tired, worn out
00:19:54
trope of accusing anyone who threatens
00:19:58
this corrupt government machine of being
00:20:00
somehow racist. Any event, let me stop
00:20:02
there. Nick, let me get your reaction to
00:20:04
all of that.
00:20:04
>> Yeah. No, I love everything you said
00:20:06
because it's so true, especially like
00:20:08
for instance, they found a man here with
00:20:09
$7 million he had committed in fraud and
00:20:11
then the judge overturned it, right? And
00:20:14
then Tim Waltz is calling people like me
00:20:16
a white sup white supremacy. He says
00:20:18
we're acting on white supremacy. No,
00:20:21
Tim, it's millions and billions of
00:20:23
dollars in fraud of hardworking motan
00:20:25
people that's being sent who knows
00:20:27
where. And so it's not like and then
00:20:29
today I'm just looking at the media and
00:20:31
people are it was the craziest thing. I
00:20:34
get on there and people are starting to
00:20:35
say all these like crazy allegations
00:20:37
about me. I'm like whoa where are you
00:20:39
guys? People have even came out say said
00:20:41
I'm like a a pedto. It's like what? Like
00:20:44
I literally just went and did the job
00:20:45
that everyone's been wanting to see done
00:20:47
for years, right? And I just brought
00:20:50
limelight to everything, tried to make
00:20:51
it as uh just a simple issue about fraud
00:20:55
happening.
00:20:55
>> Let's just be clear. You just went to
00:20:57
these daycarees and just I I looked up
00:20:59
the CCAP that you mentioned. It's the
00:21:02
Minnesota Child Care Assistance Program
00:21:04
is what CCAP stands for. And it's a
00:21:06
state administered program, but it's
00:21:08
funded largely by federal dollars to
00:21:11
subsidize childare for low-income
00:21:13
families. So, it's not just motans who
00:21:15
are paying for this. It's all of us
00:21:17
through our federal tax dollars. And I'm
00:21:19
seeing a lot of follow-on commentators
00:21:22
in other states now saying, "Hey, you
00:21:24
know what? In Ohio or in the state of
00:21:26
Washington, we're looking at the
00:21:28
government roles and we're seeing that
00:21:30
there's over 500 Somali owned daycare
00:21:33
centers." And by the way, that's just
00:21:35
like one type of fraud or one type of
00:21:38
very suspicious behavior, but you can
00:21:40
start to see that people are starting to
00:21:42
pull the thread here and they're seeing
00:21:44
like where this fraud goes. And it's
00:21:46
starting to raise questions about lots
00:21:47
of other government programs as well.
00:21:50
For example, in California, we have $24
00:21:53
billion going to quote unquote homeless
00:21:56
programs. And yet, the number of
00:21:57
homeless people keeps rising. And you
00:21:59
know, everyone knows it's called the
00:22:00
homeless industrial complex. they can't
00:22:02
pass an audit. The state refuses to even
00:22:05
permit an audit. So, we know there's
00:22:07
massive fraud going on in that program.
00:22:08
There's massive fraud going on in
00:22:11
entitlements across the country. And I
00:22:13
think part of the reason why Nick's
00:22:15
video has gone viral here is people can
00:22:17
kind of feel that the whole country is
00:22:19
really being eaten alive by this fraud
00:22:22
and corruption. And it is a huge part of
00:22:25
why we have such a huge deficit, why we
00:22:27
have so much government debt. And it
00:22:29
feels like finally someone's blowing a
00:22:31
lid on it. And Nick, it feels like
00:22:33
you're achieving what Doge set out to
00:22:36
do. And I think there's no one feeling
00:22:37
more vindicated right now than Elon Musk
00:22:40
because literally some of the things
00:22:42
that he was saying back in February, you
00:22:45
have now proven true that there's huge
00:22:47
amounts of of entitlement fraud. Some of
00:22:49
that money that is stolen then goes to
00:22:51
politicians who then either support the
00:22:54
expansion of that system or turn a blind
00:22:56
eye to what's going on. And some of this
00:22:58
is even connected, I think, to voter
00:23:00
fraud. So, you're talking about here
00:23:02
stolen money maybe leading to stolen
00:23:04
elections. I mean, it really feels like
00:23:06
you've kicked this rock over and we're
00:23:09
starting to see a bunch of nasty things
00:23:12
underneath it. And what I think is
00:23:15
really cool is that you're inspiring
00:23:16
copycats. Now, some people have called
00:23:18
this decentralized Doge where now, you
00:23:20
know, hopefully we get a thousand or a
00:23:22
million Nick Shirley's all over the
00:23:24
country who start to show up and try to
00:23:27
shine a spotlight on what's going on
00:23:29
with all these government programs.
00:23:32
>> Yeah, I think it's essential that people
00:23:33
realize what's actually happening and
00:23:35
realize that, like you said, like we are
00:23:37
getting eaten from the inside. Like, why
00:23:39
is our money going to these places? We
00:23:41
we always talk about Tim WS was ranting
00:23:43
about healthcare the other week. I'm
00:23:44
like, well, maybe you shouldn't be
00:23:46
giving hundreds of millions of dollars
00:23:47
to healthcare companies that have
00:23:49
nothing to show when you go to their
00:23:51
business
00:23:53
and all the other stuff that goes along
00:23:55
with what you were saying. Like, yes,
00:23:57
this like I think Elon's why it sparked
00:23:59
Elon's interest is because it's
00:24:01
physically showing people with their
00:24:02
eyes, not just a contract. And it's
00:24:06
sparked such con such conversation
00:24:08
across the internet because it's
00:24:10
something people can physically see and
00:24:12
people are actually feeling inside of
00:24:14
their communities.
00:24:15
>> Nick, do you think that the fraudsters
00:24:17
are going to get a little bit better at
00:24:18
covering their tracks now that you've
00:24:20
exposed them? Cuz I I feel like one of
00:24:21
the things that was really amazing is
00:24:24
you would just show up at these
00:24:26
daycarees that, you know, you can see
00:24:27
from the government roles are receiving
00:24:29
millions of dollars. They call
00:24:30
themselves a learning center, but they
00:24:32
misspell the word learning. So, it's a
00:24:34
learing center and it's these cinder
00:24:37
block buildings like there's there's no
00:24:40
reception. There's no one there. I mean,
00:24:42
it's almost like they've made it too
00:24:44
obvious. Then there were cases where you
00:24:46
would have people that got busted a
00:24:48
decade ago. The locations didn't even
00:24:49
change. They just renamed those
00:24:51
fraudulent businesses and they were
00:24:52
literally operating from the same
00:24:54
locations a decade later. I mean, it's
00:24:56
almost like there was just no attention
00:24:59
paid whatsoever to where this money was
00:25:01
going. And I'm just I I guess the only
00:25:04
thing I'm kind of worried about now is
00:25:05
that with you blowing the lid off this
00:25:07
thing is whether the frauders are just
00:25:09
going to get better at covering their
00:25:10
tracks.
00:25:11
>> Yeah. Well, I think that they're gonna
00:25:12
have to look into where they're sending
00:25:14
all this money, right? Because they if
00:25:16
they wanted to really confront this
00:25:17
fraud, they could have just cut off the
00:25:19
they could have just cut off the money
00:25:20
and said, "All right, one sec. Let's
00:25:22
take a month. Let's figure this out."
00:25:23
But no, they just kept giving more and
00:25:25
more and more and they even started
00:25:27
expanding it. For instance, how does a
00:25:29
place just have an increase in autism?
00:25:31
like how does that happen? Yeah, it
00:25:33
start it made me wonder whether a lot of
00:25:35
our statistics about issues like that
00:25:38
like autism like to what extent are they
00:25:40
manufactured because we're creating this
00:25:43
huge incentive for people to create
00:25:46
cases of autism of these like you know
00:25:48
fraudulent
00:25:49
healthcare centers and it does make me
00:25:51
wonder like well can we trust any of the
00:25:53
numbers
00:25:54
>> just to be specific in the areas that
00:25:55
you guys are talking about where they
00:25:57
think there was fraud Medicaid claims
00:26:00
for autism in Minnesota spike like 130x
00:26:04
in 5 years.
00:26:06
>> X what the heck
00:26:09
X
00:26:10
130 not to 1.3. Oh my god.
00:26:13
>> From 2018 to 2023 it went from 3 million
00:26:16
to $400 million.
00:26:18
>> It's probably the water. It's probably
00:26:19
the water or vaccines. It could be
00:26:20
anything. Who knows what it could be? It
00:26:22
could be fraud.
00:26:24
>> Jason, I have a question for you which
00:26:25
is twofold. One, what do you think of
00:26:27
what Nick did if you've watched the
00:26:28
video? two, why are your former brethren
00:26:32
trying to bury this story?
00:26:34
>> So, I think Nick is doing the most
00:26:36
fundamental act of journalism for which
00:26:38
he should be lauded and is correctly
00:26:39
being lauded, which is just go knock on
00:26:41
a door, right? And asked the most simple
00:26:43
question in the most unbiased way. Now,
00:26:46
>> are there kids here? And can I send my
00:26:48
kid here?
00:26:49
>> You know, I I looked into Nick. I looked
00:26:51
into your videos.
00:26:52
>> Most basic could you get?
00:26:53
>> Yeah. Incredible. And they failed test.
00:26:56
They failed the most basic test. the
00:26:58
most basic simple test and you know I
00:27:00
looked into all of Nick's videos because
00:27:02
I saw
00:27:03
>> anytime you do something like this
00:27:04
investigative journalism people will
00:27:06
correctly and you alluded to this chumat
00:27:08
in the beginning start to vet the veter
00:27:10
right and I was like okay tell me
00:27:11
everything about Nick Shirley let's look
00:27:13
at all his Twitter feed let's look at
00:27:14
his YouTube videos like who is this
00:27:16
person why are they doing what they're
00:27:18
doing and I watched Nick as you ask
00:27:20
questions at a Bernie rally uh and uh
00:27:24
some other events when you're doing your
00:27:25
man on the street stuff which is also
00:27:26
very brave because you can get your ass
00:27:28
kicked. I don't know if you have
00:27:29
security or not yet, but you're going to
00:27:30
need it. Do you have security?
00:27:32
>> Yeah, now I have to.
00:27:33
>> Yeah, of course. So, this is brave
00:27:35
stuff, but this is the core task of
00:27:38
journalism is to get this primary
00:27:40
information and let the viewer decide
00:27:41
without bias. And we can criticize 60
00:27:44
Minutes and the New York Times and there
00:27:46
there's plenty to go around, but if you
00:27:47
look at the history of it, I think Nick,
00:27:48
you've got incredible potential to sort
00:27:50
of take the baton that you saw from that
00:27:52
local newscaster on Fox 9 and keep
00:27:54
building on that. And to your point,
00:27:56
David, I think Freberg you made about uh
00:27:58
crowdfunding and crowdsourcing this
00:28:01
journalism, it's it's going to be very
00:28:03
powerful in the future. If you look at
00:28:06
how long it takes though to do this,
00:28:08
these things take decades. So I think
00:28:09
you got to stay on the story and if you
00:28:12
look at the Catholic Church spotlight,
00:28:13
the frontline documentary, you look at
00:28:15
60 Minutes
00:28:17
and what they did with Big Tobacco,
00:28:19
these things do take a long time. So you
00:28:21
should keep your hooks into them and
00:28:23
keep working it. The other thing I
00:28:24
thought that's really interesting here
00:28:26
is this could be the opportunity right
00:28:28
now is everybody in the United States
00:28:31
who is a taxpayer does not want to see
00:28:32
fraud. They don't want to see waste.
00:28:34
They don't want to see abuse. So
00:28:36
although Nick, I I think your leanings
00:28:37
are right.
00:28:38
>> Are you sure?
00:28:39
>> I am pretty sure that 90% of Americans
00:28:42
don't want to see their tax dollars
00:28:44
wasted.
00:28:45
>> What if there's a group of people that
00:28:47
would be okay with it even if they were
00:28:49
told it was fraudulent, but it allows
00:28:50
their side to keep winning? Yeah, I I
00:28:53
that's like a conspiracy there. I don't
00:28:55
think
00:28:55
>> No, it's not a I'm just saying it's a
00:28:57
boundary condition. I just wonder if you
00:29:00
actually put it there that you would get
00:29:02
95% that says this is wrong.
00:29:04
>> Yeah, I think you'll get 95% that will
00:29:06
say it's wrong. But we'll see. And what
00:29:07
I think could happen here is that this
00:29:09
could be the issue that pulls Americans
00:29:11
together that we could have consensus
00:29:12
on, which is we don't want to waste our
00:29:15
tax dollars. Putting aside the fact,
00:29:16
Nick, that you're conservative, it
00:29:18
doesn't matter. You're religious. It
00:29:20
doesn't matter. What matters is the
00:29:21
truth. And the truth here is there's
00:29:23
massive waste, fraud, and abuse. And
00:29:25
Elon saw it. Elon told us, he confirmed
00:29:28
it. And he got attacked for it. Elon was
00:29:31
100% right. Everybody who attacked him,
00:29:34
they may not have liked his tactics and
00:29:35
how fast he was going and locking doors
00:29:37
and turning off credit cards, his
00:29:38
techniques, they may not have liked, but
00:29:40
we as Americans can all get behind not
00:29:43
allowing any more fraud. And we should
00:29:45
not be increasing taxes into a system
00:29:48
that is ripe with fraud. that I think
00:29:50
everybody will agree on. And when all
00:29:52
that fraud happens, it keeps us from
00:29:54
actually sending the money to things
00:29:56
that we might actually as a country uh
00:29:58
that might pull us together even more,
00:30:00
which is like I don't know, maybe we
00:30:01
could have universal healthcare like the
00:30:03
other 80 most developed countries in the
00:30:04
world if we rooted out this fraud
00:30:06
because there's just far too much waste.
00:30:08
And so I I think you did a great job,
00:30:09
Nick. And I think this is where we could
00:30:13
see massive opportunity for investment
00:30:16
in new publications
00:30:18
and new news sources that take folks
00:30:20
like Nick, pair them with two or three
00:30:22
other folks and now you got a team which
00:30:24
it seems like you're building and then
00:30:26
you could have a permanent funding
00:30:27
source. So if you could get
00:30:29
>> You only have GoFundMe Nick right now.
00:30:31
>> No, I don't have GoFundMe. I just accept
00:30:33
donations via Venmo or if you want to
00:30:36
send
00:30:36
>> Yeah. You should start a subscription
00:30:37
service, you know, like Substack or any
00:30:39
of the other ones, Beehive, and you
00:30:41
should literally use this momentum to
00:30:43
get to 10 to 100 to a million dollars a
00:30:46
month in donations that reoccur. That's
00:30:48
the key is the reoccurring. Go ahead.
00:30:49
>> You have young people reaching out to
00:30:50
you that want to do this work with you
00:30:52
now.
00:30:53
>> Yes. I think people are interested like
00:30:55
people are like, "How do we start or how
00:30:56
do we do it?" And uh it's a good
00:30:58
question. I think most people like I
00:31:00
didn't I didn't go ask somebody how to
00:31:02
do it. I just went and did it.
00:31:03
>> Mhm. And so a lot of people are so
00:31:06
scared to take those steps when in
00:31:07
reality you just have to go do things if
00:31:09
you want to make stuff happen.
00:31:10
>> There was an image that I saw on X and
00:31:13
it had a ship
00:31:16
running into the iceberg. Nick, maybe
00:31:18
you can find it. And the ship's name was
00:31:21
the USS taxpayer. And the top of the
00:31:24
iceberg that was visible was Minnesota,
00:31:27
but the bottom of the iceberg was
00:31:28
California,
00:31:30
which
00:31:31
>> that's great. which is the fourth
00:31:33
largest economy in the world is just the
00:31:36
state of California. I don't know if you
00:31:37
can just show the tweet from Kevin
00:31:39
Kylie,
00:31:41
which I retweeted with a couple of
00:31:42
things on. Here it is. What he says is a
00:31:44
third of college applicants were fake.
00:31:48
17 billion was spent on high-speed rail
00:31:50
with no track. 24 billion in
00:31:53
homelessness funds disappeared. 32
00:31:56
billion was lost to unemployment fraud.
00:31:59
medical and SNAP are rife with improper
00:32:01
payments. It's probably a hundred
00:32:03
billion dollars a year that's being just
00:32:05
completely pilered out of California.
00:32:07
So, I don't know if Nick Shirley you
00:32:10
have the time to come out west, but if
00:32:12
you do, you're just going to find an
00:32:14
entire treasure trove of opportunities
00:32:15
to look at. Oh, there's massive fraud in
00:32:18
California. I mean, the homelessness has
00:32:20
just increased as they receive more
00:32:22
money. And that's just one part of it.
00:32:24
And like you talked about the the light
00:32:25
rail and everything like that. Yeah. The
00:32:27
fraud is like crazy in California and
00:32:30
they have the highest taxes.
00:32:31
>> Yeah. They want more.
00:32:33
>> Yeah.
00:32:34
>> Nick, has anybody approached you about
00:32:35
this thing? I tweeted it about it. I had
00:32:37
never heard about it, but these guys
00:32:39
educated me on it called Quit, which is
00:32:41
this framework where you can actually
00:32:44
sue on behalf of the state and on behalf
00:32:47
of taxpayers. Has anybody approached you
00:32:49
about thinking about using all of the
00:32:52
information that you've garnered to try
00:32:53
to launch some of these lawsuits or No.
00:32:56
Yeah, I actually had somebody reach out
00:32:57
to me the other day about it. So, I'm
00:32:59
going to actually hop on a phone call
00:33:00
with that guy.
00:33:01
>> Yeah. Also, as I understand it, some of
00:33:03
these whistleblower laws reward the
00:33:05
whistleblower with something like 20 to
00:33:06
30% of amounts that
00:33:08
>> up to 50% in some cases.
00:33:10
>> Yeah. That are I don't know if it's like
00:33:12
fines or it's amounts that are
00:33:13
recaptured.
00:33:14
>> Recaptured. Yeah.
00:33:15
>> But I don't know, Nick, you could become
00:33:17
a billionaire here just with all the
00:33:18
billions you've exposed.
00:33:21
>> I got I got to sit down and figure it
00:33:22
out. I know that's not why you're in it,
00:33:24
but
00:33:24
>> you'd be the most well-loved billionaire
00:33:26
in America if you didn't.
00:33:27
>> Absolutely. Well, the way to do it is,
00:33:28
you know, since you're drafting off of
00:33:30
these other news reports, is to set up
00:33:32
your own tip line. So, Nick, what's your
00:33:33
website or do you have a website where
00:33:35
people can donate? And do you have a tip
00:33:37
line? Because you wouldn't get the
00:33:40
whistleblow awards for the stuff Fox9's
00:33:42
been doing for a decade, but for the
00:33:44
next one, you could. So, what is your
00:33:46
website where people can donate, Nick?
00:33:48
>> Yeah, everything just on social media.
00:33:50
So they can message me on any platform.
00:33:52
I should probably get a website going.
00:33:54
Um, so
00:33:57
>> Nick, what's your social media handle
00:33:59
where people can DM you and donate?
00:34:01
>> Yeah, it's just Nick Shirley. And if you
00:34:02
go on X, I do have my tip section open.
00:34:04
So if you would like to donate there,
00:34:06
that gives them all the whether it be
00:34:08
Venmo, Cash App, Crypto, you can all do
00:34:11
it right there.
00:34:11
>> So X.com/nickshirley,
00:34:14
you can go right there and you can tip
00:34:15
if you want to support this kind of
00:34:16
research. Well done, Nick.
00:34:19
>> Thank you. Are you spending all your
00:34:21
time in the US or are you still thinking
00:34:22
about some international stuff?
00:34:25
>> Yeah, I have a international trips
00:34:27
planned for this month as well that I
00:34:29
had planned before this because it's
00:34:31
funny that like everyone's talking about
00:34:32
this fraud stuff, but I I have a
00:34:34
business I have to run with my YouTube
00:34:36
videos. I've been posting every week
00:34:37
consistently for the past 104 weeks or
00:34:40
so at this point. And so I have to keep
00:34:42
moving on and keep producing content for
00:34:43
my followers. So yeah, I do have other
00:34:45
videos and I have other places I'm going
00:34:47
to go film as well. Look into those
00:34:48
whistleblower laws. I think uh
00:34:50
>> Yeah, make some money. Make some money,
00:34:52
man.
00:34:55
>> No shame in the profit. You probably get
00:34:57
a ton of investors.
00:34:59
>> Yeah. Yeah. I need to look into all that
00:35:01
stuff. So, it's been cool. Like the cryp
00:35:03
I've had like some crypto communities
00:35:05
that have like even like funded money. I
00:35:07
have I'm like just down on my laptop at
00:35:09
night and people are sending me money.
00:35:10
I'm like, what's going on?
00:35:11
>> It's awesome.
00:35:12
>> Well done.
00:35:12
>> What's the sweatshirt you're wearing?
00:35:14
Just show us the sweatshirt. the quality
00:35:16
of
00:35:16
>> lyricsing
00:35:17
center. Is that for sale now? Is that
00:35:19
the merch?
00:35:19
>> Yeah. I'm going to go do a video outside
00:35:21
of it right now. And uh
00:35:23
>> you put on your YouTube channel for
00:35:24
merch?
00:35:25
>> Yeah, I'll put on my YouTube and I'll
00:35:26
just put like on X. I'll probably like a
00:35:28
one time drop.
00:35:28
>> Oh my god, dude.
00:35:30
>> You saw the guy who I guess runs that
00:35:32
place or owns it. He had a video on X
00:35:35
today saying that. No, no, no, no, no,
00:35:37
no. This is a real daycare center. Nick
00:35:39
just happened to come by in the morning
00:35:41
and that's when all the kids are at
00:35:42
school. So, he just came at the wrong
00:35:45
time.
00:35:45
>> What was super funny about that too is
00:35:48
the Department of Children was doing a
00:35:50
live feed at that same time and she said
00:35:52
that the daycare had was closed one week
00:35:55
ago and it closed after I posted my
00:35:58
initial video. So, like while he while
00:36:01
he was saying that it's open, the lady
00:36:03
who runs the whole thing or runs
00:36:05
something in the government said they
00:36:06
closed it last week.
00:36:08
>> Sorry, Nick. Just one before we lose
00:36:09
you, do do you have evidence or have you
00:36:11
collected evidence that people within
00:36:13
the agencies are part of the fraud
00:36:16
syndicate and that they're participating
00:36:18
in the fraud?
00:36:21
It's hard to say like that you have like
00:36:23
the paper trail of it because you don't
00:36:24
it's hard to get get me the access to
00:36:26
that. But um I think if you just look at
00:36:29
like Elon Omar's net worth, if it's true
00:36:31
that went from negative to 30 million
00:36:33
since she's been in Congress.
00:36:36
>> Yeah.
00:36:38
Let's Yeah, let's make sure we put a
00:36:39
couple allegedly.
00:36:40
>> No, it's all over Yeah, you're right.
00:36:41
It's all over social media, but
00:36:43
>> Yeah, which means it could be wrong. It
00:36:45
could be wrong.
00:36:45
>> I haven't seen a fact check. I mean,
00:36:47
I've not seen it.
00:36:49
>> Always put an allegedly there. Just
00:36:50
>> Yeah. Also, I think I think Congress
00:36:52
people can report a range. I think the
00:36:53
range is 6 to 30. So, they use the
00:36:56
upper, but let's just throw in a couple
00:36:58
of allegedly.
00:36:58
>> Still, she went from negative to being a
00:37:00
multi-millionaire in
00:37:01
>> I'm not debating that. I think the trend
00:37:03
the trend is quite curious, Nick. I'm
00:37:05
not talking about the federal
00:37:07
congressperson. I'm talking about people
00:37:09
within these agencies that are signing
00:37:11
off on the check, signing off on these
00:37:12
centers. In your investigation and the
00:37:14
conversations you have, do you have
00:37:16
reason to believe that the individuals
00:37:18
within the agencies within the
00:37:20
government agencies are complicit and
00:37:22
partnering and participating in the
00:37:25
economic fraud?
00:37:26
>> Yeah, 100%. Because a lot of these
00:37:28
daycarees, there's six, seven violations
00:37:31
and they're still continuing to give
00:37:32
funding to these daycarees. Um, and they
00:37:35
have the same name, the same person has
00:37:37
opened up. I was in one of their fraud
00:37:39
committee meetings. The same person had
00:37:40
been opening up daycarees and healthcare
00:37:43
companies and it was all big. W They had
00:37:46
all the they had all mapped out and
00:37:48
somebody from inside the government in
00:37:50
Minnesota still continuing to write
00:37:52
these checks. So,
00:37:54
>> they're not they can't be dumb, right?
00:37:56
They can't be that dumb, I guess, is the
00:37:58
point. Well, I mean, it's possible that
00:38:00
they're totally incompetent or they're
00:38:02
turning a blind eye or they're getting
00:38:05
payments. Probably one of the first two,
00:38:07
but who knows, right?
00:38:08
>> Well, the thing with the money they're
00:38:09
receiving is that CCAP money, it's a tax
00:38:12
exempt. And so, they they literally get
00:38:14
like the the money and they get it in
00:38:16
cash somehow. They don't pay the women
00:38:18
that are working there. Like, there's
00:38:19
videos of them just handing the ladies
00:38:21
cash. In Muslims, they're able to have
00:38:22
four wives and so they're able to
00:38:24
collect the welfare on top of that.
00:38:26
That's why 81% of the population, small
00:38:28
population side of Minnesota is on
00:38:29
welfare because they're actually not
00:38:31
paying the people. They're just
00:38:32
collecting the welfare from it. And then
00:38:34
if you go into any of the grocery stores
00:38:36
here, they're not grocery stores. They
00:38:38
have like six different shops inside of
00:38:39
them. And they all have money
00:38:40
transferring sites inside there where
00:38:42
they're just siphoning money out to
00:38:44
other countries and back home. And a lot
00:38:47
of time you can there's actually a Fox
00:38:50
did a thing on it in 2017. Um, and I
00:38:53
actually had somebody who's going to be
00:38:54
in my next video talking about this. He
00:38:56
used to work at TSA. And the Somalians
00:38:58
would literally bring in millions of
00:38:59
dollars in cash through TSA and they'd
00:39:02
fly from there to Atlanta and then to
00:39:04
Dubai and then cuz there's no taxes in
00:39:06
Dubai, they then send that money back to
00:39:08
Somalia. And so like the rumors of them
00:39:11
funding al-Shabaab, they're real because
00:39:14
they've been able to funnel all this
00:39:15
money and once they go through the TSA
00:39:18
with a luggage full of cash and they
00:39:20
make it to Dubai, they're able to send
00:39:22
it to wherever they'd like.
00:39:23
>> That's a terrorist group or
00:39:24
>> Yeah, the terrorist group. Nick, let me
00:39:27
ask you another question.
00:39:30
In the last two days since your video
00:39:32
went viral, we've seen the mayor of
00:39:34
Minneapolis and the governor come out
00:39:37
and effectively say, "Hey, we need to
00:39:39
protect this community." Why do you
00:39:41
think the leadership is not up in arms
00:39:44
on the obvious fraud that you've
00:39:46
demonstrated so clearly? Why are the
00:39:48
government officials within Minnesota
00:39:50
not throwing their hands up saying, "We
00:39:51
have to make this stop right away." Why
00:39:53
are they taking a defensive posturing?
00:39:56
they're like incompetent or do you think
00:39:57
there's like complicit behavior here?
00:39:59
>> It's because if there that's such a
00:40:02
large group of votes that they can
00:40:03
receive and David said it as well,
00:40:06
there's some weird voter fraud that's
00:40:07
also taking place here where you just
00:40:09
literally need a license. Like even in
00:40:11
one of their committee meeting meetings,
00:40:13
they said that. But essentially like
00:40:15
this happens in the UK too is that when
00:40:17
they bring in uh specifically Muslims to
00:40:20
a lot of these areas and then comes time
00:40:22
to vote, the leader of the mosque or the
00:40:24
leader of this apartment complex will
00:40:25
say, "All right, everyone, now it's time
00:40:27
to go vote and let's go vote for this
00:40:29
person." And because it it the the
00:40:33
it's tough because of uh Islam and
00:40:35
everything like their religion
00:40:39
like they should be more conservative if
00:40:40
they're actually voting off what they
00:40:42
care for because of their values, but
00:40:45
they're always voting democratically.
00:40:46
They're always voting for the Democrats.
00:40:49
Like if you people are going to give
00:40:51
more money
00:40:53
and so they're not really voting for
00:40:55
what they actually believe in. They're
00:40:56
voting for who's going to keep funding
00:40:57
them and who's going to keep writing the
00:40:59
checks. And so that's why you'll see
00:41:01
them going to eat at a Somalian
00:41:03
restaurant and you can tell the guys are
00:41:05
ready to barf when he's trying to put
00:41:07
the food into his mouth and then the
00:41:08
lady putting the hijab on inside of one
00:41:11
of their grocery stores. It's just all
00:41:13
panhandering to get the most.
00:41:15
>> Nick, you mentioned this terrorist
00:41:17
allegation and the funding of terrorism
00:41:19
from the social programs. Is that
00:41:21
something you've firsthand investigated
00:41:24
or something you read online or
00:41:27
something you talked to an insider
00:41:28
about? Can you unpack that first because
00:41:30
that's a pretty explosive one and I know
00:41:32
Bessant has mentioned it but you can
00:41:34
unpack your firsthand knowledge of it if
00:41:37
>> well there's the reports from 2017 and
00:41:40
then it's also came out still coming out
00:41:42
and people are talking about that. I
00:41:44
think even the government, the US
00:41:46
government has said that as well. And
00:41:48
also I've talked to people as well
00:41:50
inside of these grocery shops where they
00:41:52
have 10 different stores and I asked
00:41:54
them like what do they do and they have
00:41:55
these shops where they wire off the
00:41:57
money to Africa.
00:41:59
>> Right. But specifically the funding of
00:42:01
terrorism, you don't have firsthand
00:42:02
knowledge of that just to be clear.
00:42:04
>> Well, I don't think uh Somalia I I don't
00:42:07
think it's like very ran very well. So
00:42:10
>> I mean there's a lot of corruption
00:42:11
there. I mean when your main import and
00:42:13
exports pirates and piracy I don't think
00:42:16
that's probably the best thing.
00:42:17
>> Okay, got it. Just want to confirm
00:42:19
because it's like a explosive
00:42:20
allegation. Want to make sure you're not
00:42:22
saying you know this
00:42:23
>> said it on national TV today Jay Cal
00:42:26
this morning.
00:42:26
>> Yeah. No, no, I know. That's why I'm the
00:42:28
way Nick phrased it. I wanted to make
00:42:30
sure if there was firsthand knowledge he
00:42:32
had or if he was just referencing the
00:42:33
the best and stuff.
00:42:34
>> Yeah, it's really tough to say like it
00:42:36
firsthand because it's always like how
00:42:39
how does somebody just go get the
00:42:40
papers? And so that's why you rely on
00:42:42
the government for instance like he just
00:42:44
said like Besset comes out and talks
00:42:45
about it and so like it's our
00:42:47
responsibility to keep investigating and
00:42:49
looking into it and then also trusting
00:42:51
the people that we trust.
00:42:52
>> Is that going to be your international
00:42:54
trip? Are you going to go try to track
00:42:55
that down on the international if even
00:42:57
$1, if even $1 went abroad to a terror
00:43:02
network?
00:43:03
>> This is an entirely whole new kettle of
00:43:05
fish because now you're not just talking
00:43:07
about domestic fraud. Now you're talking
00:43:08
about international terrorism. And now
00:43:11
you're going to bring in every single
00:43:13
agency of the United States of America
00:43:16
who will have an opinion.
00:43:17
>> Yeah.
00:43:18
>> That is bad news bearsers for these
00:43:20
guys. If this is true,
00:43:21
>> I'll tell you where you double clicked
00:43:23
on it. This is like this could be the
00:43:24
next story.
00:43:25
>> Watch out. Yeah. And I'll tell you where
00:43:27
I have the most concern as a citizen.
00:43:30
I'd be most concerned about these
00:43:33
members of the government that are
00:43:36
complicit or turning a blind eye to
00:43:38
allow this capital to flow to
00:43:40
individuals who then turn around and use
00:43:42
that capital to make donations to those
00:43:44
government representatives campaigns. If
00:43:46
that paper trail is found that the
00:43:48
government representatives are causing
00:43:50
money to flow basically back into their
00:43:52
own pockets or their own campaign
00:43:54
coffers, that to me is the most
00:43:56
offensive thing as a citizen that not
00:43:58
only are they fraud, but
00:44:00
>> we already know that.
00:44:01
>> I've had mayors in California tell me
00:44:03
about that. Um who've given me firsthand
00:44:06
accounts of them knowing the family
00:44:07
members of people inside of the
00:44:09
government opening up nonprofits and
00:44:11
then that's how they get a lot of
00:44:13
campaign money.
00:44:14
>> Yeah. Look, there's a very important
00:44:15
word here that we haven't used. We've
00:44:18
talked about incompetence, greed, theft.
00:44:20
There's a very important word,
00:44:21
patronage. This is a patronage system.
00:44:24
An exac account called Amuse wrote a
00:44:26
really good blog post about this. Let me
00:44:28
just read you this part. Basically, this
00:44:29
fraud is is not incidental misconduct.
00:44:32
It is the patronage system operating
00:44:34
exactly as designed. Large welfare
00:44:36
states generate predictable cash flows.
00:44:38
Fragmented bureaucracies create blind
00:44:40
spots. Language barriers, slow audits,
00:44:42
cultural difference paralyzes
00:44:44
enforcement. When one operation is shut
00:44:46
down, another opens under a new name, a
00:44:49
new board, and the same people. Money
00:44:51
moves through layered nonprofits, shell
00:44:53
entities, and informal remittance
00:44:55
networks. Accountability evaporates. And
00:44:57
then, crucially, the system does not
00:44:59
require that all patrons be Somali. It
00:45:01
requires only that patrons be paid.
00:45:04
Non-Somali politicians learn quickly.
00:45:06
They adopt the language, symbolism, and
00:45:07
rituals of the community. They attend
00:45:09
the right events. They avoid
00:45:10
uncomfortable questions. In return, they
00:45:13
receive votes. Campaign muscle and money
00:45:16
and insulation from accusations of
00:45:18
racism or Islamophobia. Investigations
00:45:21
stall. Prosecutors hesitate. Regulators
00:45:23
retreat. The system expands. And play
00:45:25
this video. This is of Tim Waltz. Just
00:45:28
play that video.
00:45:29
>> Whoa. Wait a minute.
00:45:32
This is Tim Walsh, the governor of the
00:45:33
state, replacing their old flag with a
00:45:36
new flag that's designed to resemble the
00:45:39
flag of Somalia.
00:45:40
>> So the allegation, Saxs, just to be
00:45:43
clear, is they are giving this money
00:45:46
knowing it buys votes and knowing that
00:45:50
>> Somalian community is incredibly
00:45:51
wellorganized in Minnesota. There was an
00:45:54
interview with the attorney general
00:45:55
where he was saying that this is another
00:45:58
ex video that you can find. I think his
00:46:00
name is Keith Ellison. Anyway, he was
00:46:02
saying that the Somali community was
00:46:03
incredibly potent politically and was a
00:46:06
big reason why he got elected. And like
00:46:09
I said, it's very well organized and
00:46:12
they're turning to get their votes by
00:46:14
giving them this money to steal.
00:46:17
>> It's not even a question. It's a fact
00:46:18
that that's why they're g only after and
00:46:22
so they're they're allowing the fraud to
00:46:23
happen because of the votes. Wait,
00:46:25
that's just again that you're saying
00:46:28
that's a fact that they are
00:46:30
>> Please don't act shocked. Come on.
00:46:32
>> No, no, no. It's a It's an allegation. I
00:46:34
I just I would I would tell you a
00:46:36
journalist in training Nick to put
00:46:38
>> You think that's a coincidence allegedly
00:46:40
in the front of these things until you
00:46:42
actually know it's
00:46:42
>> Where did that new flag come from?
00:46:44
>> I I I'm not saying it's not pandering to
00:46:46
them, but to say it's quit proquo. Just
00:46:47
>> that's the same thing. Yeah. In instead
00:46:49
instead of taking Sax's advice here, my
00:46:51
best advice, put the word allegedly
00:46:53
until you know it's a fact. Don't say
00:46:55
it's a fact. Unless you know it's a
00:46:56
fact.
00:46:57
>> Allegedly. Okay.
00:46:58
>> Yeah. Just just so you don't get sued
00:47:00
and you know
00:47:01
>> I mean like is speaking the truth like
00:47:04
criminal because it is a fact.
00:47:06
>> Okay. Great. You say it's a fact.
00:47:08
>> How much more proof do you need, Jacob?
00:47:10
>> No. No. It's
00:47:10
>> You won't believe it until Tim Walls is
00:47:12
caught on video accepting an envelope
00:47:14
from, you know, one of these small
00:47:17
frauders. Not my point. My point is this
00:47:19
is political patronage and look, a lot
00:47:22
of it is incompetence and they probably
00:47:24
didn't think they're going to get
00:47:25
caught. But on top of that, it's turning
00:47:27
a blind eye to an obvious problem
00:47:29
because it's going to alienate a
00:47:31
critical demographic who supports and
00:47:34
has supported you in all of your
00:47:35
elections. It's that simple.
00:47:37
>> What's the poly market say, Jay Cullen,
00:47:39
whether Waltz is going to get
00:47:40
prosecuted, go to jail?
00:47:41
>> Let's find out from our friends at Poly
00:47:43
Market. Tim Waltz charged by dot dot dot
00:47:47
and there's a lightly traded uh $60,000
00:47:51
9% chance
00:47:53
>> 29% before 2027
00:47:55
>> and here's your other poly market will
00:47:57
anyone be charged over daycare fraud in
00:47:59
Minnesota by
00:48:01
the end of January the end of June the
00:48:03
end of December 56 91 94 so people are
00:48:06
betting somebody is going to be charged
00:48:08
over this and if Tim Waltz is
00:48:12
specifically knows about this and did it
00:48:14
to buy votes and that can be proven, he
00:48:15
should go to jail. And if he knows and
00:48:17
anyone over there knows that this money
00:48:19
has been routed to a terrorist
00:48:21
organization, that would be treasonous
00:48:22
and that would be an even higher level.
00:48:25
Uh so we need to investigate this
00:48:27
massively. So if Besson is listening,
00:48:29
friend of the pot, yeah, double click,
00:48:32
double click, double click.
00:48:34
>> It's already on Scott's agenda. That's
00:48:36
why he talked on TV talking about it,
00:48:38
dude. He's been all over it.
00:48:40
>> You can't hide now. that that this is
00:48:42
Pandora's
00:48:42
>> as part of that investigation. Someone
00:48:44
needs to investigate why these three
00:48:47
liberal judges have repeatedly refused
00:48:50
to hold Somali fraudsters accountable
00:48:53
even when the evidence is overwhelming
00:48:54
and a jury has convicted them.
00:48:57
>> Unbelievable.
00:48:57
>> These three judges set aside
00:48:59
convictions.
00:49:00
>> Well done, Nick Shirley. And uh next
00:49:02
time you have a great office,
00:49:04
>> please come on the pot again and and let
00:49:06
us know. Thank you. I appreciate you
00:49:07
guys. Appreciate all the side of
00:49:09
history.
00:49:09
>> Support on uh X and everything like that
00:49:11
means a lot.
00:49:12
>> And believe me, there's there's a ton
00:49:13
more in California.
00:49:15
>> Okay, let me just go around the horn
00:49:16
here. Lightning round Sachs. A year from
00:49:18
now, what will happen in relation to
00:49:21
what we've seen in Minnesota?
00:49:23
>> Well, I hope that there will be a
00:49:25
serious investigation. I hope that there
00:49:27
will be indictments. I hope there will
00:49:28
be deportations, hopefully massive
00:49:30
amounts of deportations. And I hope
00:49:32
there'll be impeachments of some of
00:49:34
these officials who let the fraud
00:49:36
happen.
00:49:37
>> So the country is being eaten alive it
00:49:40
feels like by fraud. Government funds
00:49:43
are being stolen. Votes are being
00:49:44
stolen. I believe elections are being
00:49:46
stolen. And it all comes from the fact
00:49:48
that the party of government doesn't
00:49:51
really care where the money goes. It's
00:49:53
all just patronage to them. Whether it's
00:49:55
to Somali daycarees or whether it's to
00:49:58
this high-speed rail line that doesn't
00:49:59
have one piece of track. I mean, how
00:50:01
much has California wasted on that?
00:50:03
>> Yeah.
00:50:04
>> Or 24 billion to the homelessness only
00:50:06
to see the homeless population increase.
00:50:07
Look, these politicians don't care how
00:50:10
the money is spent at all. All they care
00:50:13
about is rewarding their supporters.
00:50:15
That's the whole game. And then those
00:50:16
supporters round trip a portion of the
00:50:19
illotten gains they've gotten from the
00:50:20
government back to those politicians.
00:50:22
That's the whole game. And then when the
00:50:24
whole thing blows up because it's just
00:50:27
so corrupt and inefficient and so
00:50:29
absurd, what do they do? They try to
00:50:31
find productive people to scapegoat. And
00:50:34
they say that billionaires are your
00:50:35
problems. They'll blame billionaires for
00:50:36
that or they'll blame the tech
00:50:38
community. Look, the startup community
00:50:39
or the tech community is one of the I'd
00:50:41
say last extremely well functioning
00:50:44
parts of American society, but they
00:50:46
don't control it yet. And so that's what
00:50:48
the politicians will do is they will try
00:50:50
to find scapegoats to expand their
00:50:52
control and expand the size and scope of
00:50:54
the corrupt system that they're running.
00:50:56
>> Freeberg,
00:50:58
what do you think a year from now, where
00:51:01
will we be? And
00:51:04
what do you think this um says about
00:51:06
America at the end of the empire? And
00:51:08
yeah, which you've been focused on.
00:51:09
Yeah,
00:51:10
>> probably two things. So this is like
00:51:12
everyone pocketing the silverware as the
00:51:13
Titanic is sinking because the spiraling
00:51:16
spending, the lack of audits, the lack
00:51:19
of accountability
00:51:21
effectively enables an environment like
00:51:23
this because we've basically increased
00:51:25
government spending so much to basically
00:51:28
try and grow the economy, prop up the
00:51:30
debt, keep the debt service payments
00:51:32
flowing,
00:51:33
etc. So as a result, anytime you have a
00:51:36
bubble, and in this case, we have a
00:51:37
bubble in government spending, you have
00:51:40
frothy, fraud behavior. There's my guess
00:51:44
tip of the iceberg. Elon's estimate was
00:51:46
20% of federal spending falls under this
00:51:48
kind of fraud camp, could be more. And
00:51:50
then when you add in state and local
00:51:52
spending and you start to do the
00:51:54
accounting on all of this, we're
00:51:56
probably talking about a sizable
00:51:57
percentage of overall GDP that is
00:52:00
effectively theft through government
00:52:03
agencies or government checks being
00:52:05
written. And I think that's going to be
00:52:07
the great uncovering of 2026 is we're
00:52:10
going to see on the order of trillions
00:52:12
of dollars of
00:52:14
>> trillions
00:52:15
>> trillions of dollars of this sort of
00:52:16
behavior happening across the economy.
00:52:18
And I also think the other side, nothing
00:52:20
will happen. And and I think nothing
00:52:23
will happen because the cost is going to
00:52:25
be so significant. It's almost like
00:52:27
staring into the abyss. It's gonna make
00:52:28
people feel sick to try and address it.
00:52:31
>> Actually, let me ask you a question. How
00:52:33
do you differentiate between legal theft
00:52:35
and illegal theft? Meaning, I think what
00:52:37
the Somali daycarees were doing was
00:52:39
outright fraud and is illegal. But when
00:52:41
Stacy Abrams creates a NGO in the final
00:52:44
days of the Biden administration and
00:52:46
that gets stuffed with$2 billion
00:52:47
dollars, I mean technically I guess
00:52:50
that's legal, but it's clearly a
00:52:52
different kind of theft and fraud.
00:52:54
>> Would you throw up in your mouth when
00:52:55
you heard the news? That's the that's
00:52:57
the test.
00:52:58
>> That's the little test
00:53:01
that Yeah. And I call that the common
00:53:03
sense vomit in the mouth test. If you
00:53:06
don't pass the common sense vomit in the
00:53:08
mouth test, it doesn't matter whether
00:53:09
it's legal or illegal. It's [ __ ] up
00:53:12
and you'll realize that pretty quickly.
00:53:15
>> Chimath, your thoughts on what we just
00:53:18
discussed and maybe a year from now,
00:53:20
will any of this change? It is a
00:53:23
crucible moment for American society.
00:53:28
If nothing happens and we deem this kind
00:53:32
of theft acceptable, it is the beginning
00:53:35
of the end of the American Empire.
00:53:39
It's just a level of
00:53:42
disrespect and
00:53:46
lack of care
00:53:49
for this country. I think so. I will be
00:53:55
waiting and observing how important it
00:53:58
is to root this out. That's number one.
00:54:00
The second, which is more tactical
00:54:03
political calculus, this is an enormous
00:54:06
opportunity
00:54:09
for the Republican party. If they take
00:54:12
this and run with this, is there waste,
00:54:14
fraud, and abuse in every state?
00:54:16
Absolutely. I don't think this is
00:54:18
endemically a Democratic problem, but
00:54:21
the scale of it is so gargantuan in
00:54:24
these Democratic states that if the
00:54:26
Republicans don't take advantage of it,
00:54:31
I think it is a huge political
00:54:33
miscalculation. So there is this
00:54:35
tactical opportunity which I think if
00:54:37
you want to have a chance in the
00:54:38
midterms and if you generally want to
00:54:40
have a chance to
00:54:42
level set the country you must take this
00:54:46
and run with it.
00:54:47
>> Yeah.
00:54:48
>> And separately if as Freebrook says it
00:54:51
does die on the vine
00:54:53
it is the beginning of the end of the
00:54:55
American empire unfortunately.
00:54:57
>> Yeah. I was thinking the same thing as
00:54:59
you. These Democrats have nothing to
00:55:01
hang their hat on. They have no
00:55:04
platform. They're lost. They're a drift.
00:55:07
If you know, it's going to be impossible
00:55:10
for Gavin to do this because there's
00:55:11
been so much corruption in California.
00:55:12
But if he did, theoretically, Gavin
00:55:15
Newsome, Josh Shapiro, Pritsker, if they
00:55:17
came out and said Elon was right, Doge
00:55:20
is the right idea. We should take what
00:55:23
Elon did and we should take every
00:55:25
agency, audit them, and we should
00:55:28
prosecute anybody and fire anybody who's
00:55:30
incompetent, prosecute anybody who's a
00:55:31
criminal, and we should cut these
00:55:34
programs, you know, 10% a year for two
00:55:36
or three years and tighten them up and
00:55:38
make them perfect for the American
00:55:39
people so we can lower taxes and we can
00:55:42
provide better services. And that's my
00:55:44
platform for 2026 and 2028 for
00:55:47
president. that is going to be the
00:55:49
easiest path to victory and rebooting
00:55:52
the failed dopey Democratic party.
00:55:54
>> Yeah, I think you're you're right, Jay
00:55:56
Cal. If the message from both parties is
00:55:58
enough is enough and let me just end on
00:56:00
an optimistic note and they say enough
00:56:03
is enough. We've seen it. It's
00:56:06
staggering. We are going to fix it. That
00:56:09
is the party's message. That is the
00:56:11
country's message. That is the
00:56:12
government's message. Whether they're
00:56:14
holding hands or yelling across the
00:56:15
aisle saying, "We're going to fix it."
00:56:16
No, we're going to fix it. It's an
00:56:17
opportunity. And the reality is if the
00:56:21
fraud, waste, and abuse is of the scale
00:56:23
that it seems it might be based on what
00:56:25
we're just seeing with the tip of the
00:56:26
iceberg here, then there is a very
00:56:28
significant opportunity for us to
00:56:31
significantly reduce government spending
00:56:32
and get out of the debt spiral at a
00:56:34
federal, state, and local level. If it
00:56:36
is this easy to just stop this sort of
00:56:38
[ __ ] and you could actually save
00:56:40
trillions of dollars of wasteful
00:56:42
spending, we could be in a very good
00:56:43
position with a growing economy. Here's
00:56:46
why I think it will actually happen.
00:56:49
I'll build on something that Freeberg
00:56:51
and I talked about over the holidays
00:56:54
last week. We were talking about all of
00:56:56
this fraud in California and he said,
00:56:58
"Chimmoff, mark my words, wait until the
00:57:01
bond market sniffs out how fake and
00:57:05
propped up the California economy and
00:57:08
balance sheet and pension system is."
00:57:11
and he said, "You're going to see these
00:57:12
bonds run because those folks don't care
00:57:17
about anything other than the ones and
00:57:19
zeros of their own financial survival."
00:57:22
I completely agree with that. So, if you
00:57:25
take that to the limit, the optimistic
00:57:29
part of this is that now that this is
00:57:32
being exposed,
00:57:34
you are going to see risk get repriced.
00:57:38
And if risk gets massively repriced and
00:57:41
MUN [ __ ] the bed and a bunch of state
00:57:44
bonds [ __ ] the bed and a bunch of these
00:57:46
issues get broken,
00:57:49
these folks will have no choice except
00:57:51
to run and hide and cover their ass
00:57:53
>> and and that is a very and by the way so
00:57:55
that falls on the feet of a lot of
00:57:57
people outside of the United States who
00:57:59
when they see this issue will have a lot
00:58:02
less tolerance even if Americans
00:58:05
may not run to solve it. So the good
00:58:07
news is that there is an overwhelming
00:58:10
amount of debt in the United States.
00:58:13
There is an even larger amount of debt
00:58:15
that's owned by outsiders
00:58:17
and those folks fortunately I think will
00:58:20
have zero tolerance for this. They will
00:58:22
want their debts paid back.
00:58:24
>> This is so key because mun bonds have
00:58:26
been the tax-free stable. I mean I've
00:58:29
tra
00:58:29
>> tax advantage but not for much longer.
00:58:31
If you if you know that this is
00:58:33
happening
00:58:34
>> yeah if you break munis
00:58:35
>> you can't underwrite this. I mean what
00:58:36
happens to bridges and schools and all
00:58:39
these in order to build infrastructure
00:58:41
you need these mun bonds to work and it
00:58:44
all starts with three words Elon was
00:58:46
right that's why I said at the beginning
00:58:48
the first Democrats to say Elon was
00:58:49
right they are going to win the prize if
00:58:52
you don't say that you don't win the
00:58:53
prize
00:58:55
>> I don't think they're going to say that
00:58:56
>> those are wonderful sentiment those are
00:58:58
wonderful sentiments Jay Cal
00:59:00
>> but Democrats can't do that look
00:59:02
Democrats denouncing government waste is
00:59:04
like Don Corley Leon denouncing the
00:59:06
mafia. Okay.
00:59:09
>> It's a myth. It's an urban legend.
00:59:11
>> No, that is what they are. It's not like
00:59:16
it's like
00:59:17
>> the Democrat party is the party of
00:59:21
government waste and spending tax. It's
00:59:23
the party of government, okay? And they
00:59:25
just want the government to be as large
00:59:27
as possible. And if a big chunk of that
00:59:29
goes to fraudsters, so be it. You know
00:59:31
what? Those fraudsters are donors, too.
00:59:34
And that's the issue here is this is all
00:59:36
just political patronage. So yeah, you
00:59:38
know, it would be a smart strategy for
00:59:39
some Democrat to say the words that
00:59:42
you're saying. And in fact, Roana just
00:59:44
did. He said, "I support having an
00:59:46
investigation to root out government
00:59:48
inefficiency."
00:59:49
>> Perfectly to our next story. Thank you
00:59:51
for the master.
00:59:52
>> I don't I don't believe them. I don't
00:59:54
believe them because they are the party
00:59:55
of government. And so and it's the
00:59:57
Republican party when it functions well
01:00:00
>> is the party of the people,
01:00:01
>> right? It's a party of everyone else.
01:00:04
>> No. When it functions well, it's the
01:00:06
party attack comes from the rich. And
01:00:09
Trump marshals that populist energy.
01:00:11
>> So, it's got to come from the
01:00:12
Republicans may not deliver.
01:00:14
>> I'm not saying the Republicans are
01:00:16
perfect, but the Republicans, let me
01:00:18
just explain to Marshall that populist
01:00:19
energy.
01:00:20
>> Okay. Go ahead.
01:00:20
>> The Tik Tok of this is you have all this
01:00:22
fraud.
01:00:23
>> Let's say in California
01:00:25
>> or Minnesota, you're going to bury it.
01:00:28
Okay. Per Freeberg. Nobody wants to do
01:00:30
anything. They want to just sweep it
01:00:31
under the rug and keep it going. Okay,
01:00:34
the fraud needs to keep going. The
01:00:37
deficits keep growing because again,
01:00:39
it's fraudulent, right? You're not
01:00:40
accomplishing your goals. You keep
01:00:42
raising taxes and eventually people
01:00:45
start leaving. First, it's the people
01:00:47
that can leave, then it's the people
01:00:49
that must leave, and then you have
01:00:51
whoever is left over left over. Now your
01:00:54
tax roles actually start to shrink at
01:00:57
some point and your deficits start to
01:00:59
become bigger and bigger again because
01:01:01
you've decided to not root out the
01:01:02
fraud. The bond market will look at that
01:01:06
and they will throw up in their mouths
01:01:08
first. So they will pass the throw up in
01:01:10
your mouth test that Freeberg talked
01:01:11
about and then they are going to down
01:01:14
the throat of these state balance
01:01:16
sheets. That is the technical term that
01:01:19
I want you to understand down the
01:01:22
throat. And what that means is that the
01:01:25
401ks and the pension systems that all
01:01:28
rely on these mun bonds and all these
01:01:31
tax advantages to actually generate
01:01:33
yield will start to turn and it will be
01:01:36
the fault of these politicians who let
01:01:39
that happen.
01:01:41
And what I am warning all of the
01:01:43
governors and all the politicians that
01:01:46
listen to this pod is you need to get in
01:01:48
front of this issue because even if you
01:01:50
think the voting population will not
01:01:52
force you to do something, the financial
01:01:55
markets will. And now that they seen
01:01:58
this, they will not stop. They will
01:02:00
repric and repric and repric this risk
01:02:04
until they get you to capitulate.
01:02:06
California has half a trillion dollars
01:02:09
of bonds outstanding and the state of
01:02:12
California is looking at an 18 billion
01:02:14
dollar deficit. They're going to
01:02:15
continue to issue bonds over the next
01:02:16
year. That number is going to climb to
01:02:18
30 billion. So, the bond market is
01:02:20
crucial for California to continue to
01:02:22
operate. This is the world's fourth
01:02:23
largest economy, the state of
01:02:25
California, and it is already in a bit
01:02:28
of a fiscal bind. Not to mention what
01:02:30
we've talked about in the past, which is
01:02:32
the looming pension obligations. The
01:02:34
state of California is going to have to
01:02:36
borrow somewhere on the order of
01:02:38
another, this is going to sound crazy,
01:02:41
half a trillion dollars plus in order to
01:02:44
pay out their current pension
01:02:45
obligations. How the hell is that going
01:02:47
to happen? The US government will give
01:02:49
it to them. That's it. That they're
01:02:51
going to go to the Fed. Obviously,
01:02:53
they're going to try to get bailed out,
01:02:54
which is what the states always do. Just
01:02:56
go for the bail out.
01:02:57
>> My point is the pressure the pressure is
01:02:58
on. And I think Chimath is is right that
01:03:01
this market is going to start to
01:03:03
basically put pen to paper on the
01:03:06
reality of how things are operating.
01:03:09
It's not just going to be
01:03:10
>> And by the way, we're about to light the
01:03:12
spark, which is the billionaire tax act.
01:03:15
Once the BTA, if it gets on the ballot
01:03:17
and gets passed, it lights the spark on
01:03:20
the death spiral of these states.
01:03:22
>> Right. Yes.
01:03:23
>> Yeah. I think you're all right. I think
01:03:24
you're all right. And I think Jay's
01:03:26
right about you. Look, California,
01:03:28
Illinois, New York, these states are all
01:03:29
in a death spiral. They're all in the
01:03:31
process of collapsing. And they will try
01:03:33
to get bailed out by the feds. That's
01:03:34
their only potential savior cuz they're
01:03:36
not allowed to declare bankruptcy. By
01:03:38
the way, that would be a good thing if
01:03:39
states could declare bankruptcy so you
01:03:41
could unwind some of these crazy
01:03:43
obligations they've taken on. But you
01:03:45
can't do that. So, they will go to the
01:03:47
feds. And I think they're all just
01:03:49
trying to hold on until they can get
01:03:51
Democrats elected back in Washington. So
01:03:55
2028 will become a very very important
01:03:57
election because this going to determine
01:03:59
whether these states have to finally
01:04:02
make ends meet or whether they will
01:04:04
basically just try and federalize their
01:04:05
problems.
01:04:06
>> No, the bill always comes due. That's
01:04:07
the truth. The bill always comes due.
01:04:09
>> I've gone through that scenario analysis
01:04:11
with a bunch of macro folks and a couple
01:04:14
of external
01:04:16
central bank folks. That's not going to
01:04:18
happen. And the reason that's not going
01:04:20
to happen is then you'll see a 20 to 30%
01:04:22
of the bond buyers just leave the US
01:04:24
bond market. And so you will have
01:04:27
auctions that start to fail. This is
01:04:29
what I'm saying. There is no way out for
01:04:30
these states. If the states think that
01:04:32
they can fail and they will federalize
01:04:34
it, that's not going to happen. Because
01:04:35
once whoever is the then sitting
01:04:38
secretary of the Treasury starts to call
01:04:40
and says we're going to run this
01:04:41
auction, they are not going to like what
01:04:43
they see. And the reason is because of
01:04:46
what Nick Shirley has exposed. Because
01:04:48
everybody will go back to this and say,
01:04:50
"Hold on a second. If you could have cut
01:04:51
20 to 30% of all of your budgets over
01:04:54
the last 10 years, that's 25 or 30
01:04:57
trillion dollars you could have used to
01:04:59
pay down your debts and you chose not to
01:05:01
and now you want to come to us." So I
01:05:03
just think that it's an untenable
01:05:04
situation. The dollar will basically
01:05:06
have decayed in that entire process
01:05:08
another 90%. So, whoever is sitting in
01:05:11
the seat of government at the federal
01:05:13
level will not be able to do anything at
01:05:16
that time. That could be 28, it could be
01:05:18
32, it could be 36. My point is, this is
01:05:22
just a wakeup call for America. We don't
01:05:24
have a choice. As much as you thought
01:05:26
you could hide it, you can't hide it
01:05:27
anymore. So, you're just going to have
01:05:29
to clean it up.
01:05:30
>> Do you think that Gavin Newsome will cut
01:05:32
$1 of state spending? I don't think so.
01:05:34
>> No, no, no. I'm What I'm not I'm not I'm
01:05:36
not saying he will cut a single dollar
01:05:37
of it proactively. he will try to keep
01:05:39
the gravy train going growing. What I'm
01:05:40
saying is whoever is the then secretary
01:05:44
of the treasury, if somebody goes
01:05:46
bankrupt at the state level and they ask
01:05:48
to federalize the debt, what he or she
01:05:51
will do is sensitize the United States
01:05:53
balance sheet to absorb that and then
01:05:55
have to go and see who's willing to buy
01:05:57
the debt of the United States of America
01:05:59
to backs stop that. What I'm saying,
01:06:01
David, is that's when it fails.
01:06:02
>> That's your prediction. Yes. And it
01:06:03
makes sense. Yeah.
01:06:04
>> I think that these scenarios can be run
01:06:07
now.
01:06:08
And I think that that's why it probably
01:06:11
makes sense for the Federal Reserve and
01:06:13
all these folks to basically write the
01:06:15
white paper now that says we're not in a
01:06:17
position to do it. So the states get the
01:06:19
memo.
01:06:20
>> This is all going to require
01:06:22
somebody to get elected who has the
01:06:25
platform of austerity and fiscal
01:06:28
responsibility. And
01:06:29
>> you don't need austerity. These programs
01:06:31
can work. Stop pilfering and stop
01:06:34
stealing.
01:06:34
>> Number one, it's
01:06:35
>> be competent.
01:06:36
>> Yeah. But it's going to require a
01:06:39
message to the American people, Chimath,
01:06:41
that I am not going to allow not only
01:06:42
fraud, which people agree on, but we're
01:06:44
going to need to have some level of
01:06:45
austerity as a country. And nobody has
01:06:48
gotten elected on that.
01:06:49
>> You don't need austerity.
01:06:50
>> You need fiscal responsibility. I do
01:06:52
think that is different than austerity.
01:06:54
You don't need to cut these programs.
01:06:56
These programs don't work. They don't
01:06:58
work because everybody's stealing all
01:06:59
the money. Why don't you first spend the
01:07:01
money for what you told us you were
01:07:03
going to spend it on when you asked us
01:07:04
to give you the money and forced us to
01:07:06
give you the money, then measure it,
01:07:08
then tell us it's not working and before
01:07:10
you ask for more.
01:07:11
>> I mean, I I I think this is the core of
01:07:14
this issue is going to be can somebody
01:07:15
get elected on the platform of fiscal
01:07:18
responsibility and nobody has been able
01:07:20
to. I will say this, we did have, I
01:07:23
think, a bit of impact on this podcast
01:07:25
when we kept harping on, you know,
01:07:28
lowering the deficit. Even though that
01:07:31
hasn't happened, it's still top of mind
01:07:32
in the country. And I think putting
01:07:35
above that, my number one issue going
01:07:37
into these elections going to be who is
01:07:39
Doge positive and will run Doge at all
01:07:42
levels of government. If you're not
01:07:43
willing to say, I attack fraud first and
01:07:45
then second, balancing the
01:07:47
budget/reducing the deficit, then why
01:07:49
are you even running for office now? You
01:07:51
have to do those first two things. If
01:07:52
you don't do those first two things,
01:07:54
everything's ex existential from that
01:07:56
point on, which leads to our next story.
01:07:58
>> Well, I hope you can admit that closing
01:08:00
the border was a big win in this regard.
01:08:02
>> 100%. like that was long overdue and I
01:08:05
was wrong about how many people were
01:08:07
coming in because it made no logical
01:08:09
sense to watch it go like this and my
01:08:11
hand is going straight across at a
01:08:13
million a year or so and then pop up to
01:08:15
three or four and there was no data to
01:08:17
support it other than people sharing
01:08:19
random clips which I don't trust. The
01:08:22
the border problem has exacerbated this
01:08:25
massively because there are some there
01:08:28
are states giving entitlements to people
01:08:30
who are here illegally. That's insane.
01:08:32
And if we want to maintain a low
01:08:34
unemployment rate while jobs are
01:08:37
displaced, the best way to do that is to
01:08:39
shut the border and not let more people
01:08:40
in because they're going to take jobs,
01:08:42
obviously. So, that actually could be
01:08:44
the mitigating factor in all of this.
01:08:45
And it's probably the I would say that's
01:08:47
the topic that got Trump elected. Uh the
01:08:50
number one reason Trump got elected is
01:08:52
because Biden was a was is scenile. And
01:08:54
the second is because Kamala was an
01:08:56
idiot and couldn't even debate. So you
01:08:57
take those two things together, you
01:09:00
know, the third issue was obviously
01:09:01
immigration. Okay, but we have to get on
01:09:03
to this next story because I don't want
01:09:04
to run out of time for it, which is
01:09:07
California wants to do an act called
01:09:10
BTA. This act stands for Besties to
01:09:13
Austin. This is the Besties to Austin,
01:09:18
and it's marked. Two of four besties, I
01:09:21
believe.
01:09:22
>> Well, no, no, four of four. The other
01:09:24
two are actively looking for houses. We
01:09:26
just haven't. They're circling. They're
01:09:28
They're in India.
01:09:28
>> We haven't found something we like. I
01:09:30
don't want to say where I'm living, but
01:09:32
>> Okay. Besties to Austin,
01:09:34
boys.
01:09:37
Let's go. Ride them, boys. There's the
01:09:40
four of us on horses.
01:09:43
Let's go. Let's get some Terry Blacks.
01:09:47
Oh, man. Sax and I Terry Blacks eating
01:09:49
beef ribs with our shotguns and our
01:09:51
pistols. It's going to be a good time.
01:09:53
Let's go. Uh anyway, we brought this up
01:09:56
back in October. A lot of people taking
01:09:57
victory laps. U but we got on this
01:09:59
first. This tax for billionaires is
01:10:02
going to target residents with over a
01:10:03
billion in net worth. The history of
01:10:06
this is really interesting. Freeberg,
01:10:08
why don't you walk the all-in audience
01:10:10
through how this came to be? So,
01:10:13
California has a direct democratic
01:10:16
ballot process. So anyone can file for
01:10:19
something to go on the ballot and it
01:10:22
allows them to get around the state
01:10:23
senate and the assembly and basically
01:10:25
allow the citizens to vote directly on
01:10:27
an issue. When they make a filing, it
01:10:29
costs $2,000. Anyone can file for a
01:10:31
ballot measure and then you have to go
01:10:33
collect signatures and you have to
01:10:35
collect roughly 900,000 signatures. Once
01:10:37
you've collected those signatures, it
01:10:38
makes it on the next ballot. The state
01:10:40
attorney general looks at it to make
01:10:42
sure that it's legally compliant and so
01:10:43
on. They write their summary of it and
01:10:45
then it makes it on the ballot. people
01:10:47
vote for it and if it votes it passes.
01:10:48
So in this particular case, the
01:10:50
billionaire tax act as it's titled which
01:10:52
is likely going to get retitled when
01:10:54
it's finally filed for people to review
01:10:57
is a 5% tax on the assets of anyone
01:11:02
that's got a net worth over a billion
01:11:03
dollars. It was proposed by a guy named
01:11:05
Dave Rean who runs SEIU which is one of
01:11:07
the unions in order to make up for the
01:11:10
healthc care shortfall
01:11:12
that his members are going to be
01:11:14
experiencing. So, this was not a broad
01:11:15
coalition that filed this. This is not
01:11:18
filed by the state. This is not filed by
01:11:19
anyone in the Assembly or the Senate.
01:11:21
This is one individual at one union
01:11:23
that's put it forward and is now trying
01:11:24
to collect signatures to get it put on
01:11:26
the ball.
01:11:26
>> To be clear, I just want to read it back
01:11:28
to you. It's a union leader who has a
01:11:30
shortfall in health care for some number
01:11:33
of members. I don't know how many
01:11:34
members are in that union. and they just
01:11:36
came up with the idea, people hate
01:11:38
billionaires, we'll seize their money,
01:11:40
5% of it, to get health care for our
01:11:42
members of this very specific union.
01:11:45
>> And the truth, the truth is it's
01:11:46
actually been set up as a negotiating
01:11:48
technique. So, it's primarily it's it it
01:11:51
may be. Yeah. I mean, look, there's a
01:11:52
momentum behind it at this point, but
01:11:54
it's fundamentally a point that creates
01:11:56
leverage that allows this individual to
01:11:58
go out and negotiate with other parties
01:12:00
to try and find a way for this money to
01:12:02
show up so that he can reduce the
01:12:04
healthcare costs for his members, which
01:12:06
is what his objective is. And this is
01:12:08
the way the direct democratic process
01:12:09
works in California. Now, it's not the
01:12:11
first time a wealth tax has been
01:12:12
proposed in California. And I want to be
01:12:14
really clear on this. I think this is
01:12:15
very important for everyone to
01:12:16
understand. Forget the term billionaire.
01:12:18
Forget the term wealth. What we are
01:12:21
talking about and this is now being
01:12:23
proposed in multiple places in the
01:12:24
United States and there's also a federal
01:12:26
bill being proposed several federal
01:12:28
bills that have been considered. We are
01:12:31
talking about for the first time a tax
01:12:33
on individual people's private property
01:12:35
not on your income. So the way taxes
01:12:38
work today is when you earn income
01:12:41
either via labor so you collect a
01:12:43
paycheck or via the sale of an asset. So
01:12:46
you sell a house and make a profit or
01:12:48
you sell a stock or bond and make a
01:12:49
profit. You are earning income and you
01:12:52
pay a tax on that income and you only
01:12:54
pay taxes when you realize income when
01:12:56
you sell something or do work and get a
01:12:58
paycheck. So only when you get paid
01:12:59
cash. So for the first time ever we are
01:13:03
talking about placing a tax on people's
01:13:06
private property that hasn't turned into
01:13:08
cash. For example, you own some real
01:13:10
estate, you own an apartment building.
01:13:12
>> Well, I think it's worse than that. I
01:13:13
think it's worse than that because a lot
01:13:14
of people were calling this an
01:13:15
unrealized gains tax, but it's not an
01:13:17
unrealized gains tax. You could have
01:13:20
realized, let's say, let's say that you
01:13:22
had just had a a big outcome
01:13:24
>> and you sold your stock and you made a
01:13:26
billion dollars. You were fully paid up
01:13:28
on all of your taxes.
01:13:29
>> Let me Yeah, let me just say not even a
01:13:31
billion dollars, right?
01:13:32
>> Forget about a billion. Let's say that
01:13:33
this asset tax because in some cases
01:13:35
it's being proposed on anyone over 50
01:13:36
million or anyone over a million dollars
01:13:39
>> in the country and and wait a second.
01:13:41
This story just got really important to
01:13:43
me
01:13:43
>> in the country of and this is why this
01:13:45
is such a principled discussion and I'm
01:13:47
trying to avoid this current California
01:13:49
thing as the primary topic because there
01:13:51
are multiple of these being proposed
01:13:52
around the country and they have been
01:13:54
tried in the past. You sell a stock or
01:13:56
you do some work, you make some money,
01:13:58
that money now sits in your bank
01:14:00
account. You've paid your taxes on that
01:14:01
money. You sold your stock. You sold
01:14:03
your house. You did your work. You got
01:14:06
paid. You pay your taxes. After you pay
01:14:09
your taxes, the government comes and
01:14:10
says, "Hey, how much money do you have
01:14:12
in your bank account? What's the value
01:14:13
of your car? What's the value of the
01:14:15
thing that your grandma gave you? Give
01:14:17
me the value of everything you have in
01:14:19
your house. Add it all up and give me a
01:14:21
percentage of it." That's what this is.
01:14:23
It's a private property seizure. It is a
01:14:26
seizure of your assets to pay a tax
01:14:29
based on all the things you own, even if
01:14:31
you've already paid your taxes on all
01:14:33
those things. Correct? Now, this has
01:14:35
been tried and I'll give you guys a
01:14:36
couple of
01:14:38
anecdotes about this. In France in 1988,
01:14:41
1989, they passed this millionaire tax.
01:14:44
Anyone with 1.3 million euro or greater
01:14:46
net worth had to pay a tax of like 1% a
01:14:49
year, 1 and a half% a year of their
01:14:51
total assets.
01:14:53
And it raised 4 to 5 billion euro a year
01:14:55
in new tax revenue. But what
01:14:57
happened?€200 billion euro of net worth
01:15:01
left France and the total income tax
01:15:03
went down by 8 billion. So they ended up
01:15:06
seeing a complete reduction in overall
01:15:09
tax revenue for the country of France
01:15:11
when they passed this. So by the year
01:15:12
2018, they tried to revamp it a bunch of
01:15:14
times. They never got it to work. 20
01:15:16
years later in 2018, it got completely
01:15:18
turned off. So there's no longer this
01:15:20
asset tax in France and that was a small
01:15:22
asset tax. The reason they're calling it
01:15:24
a billionaire tax is to make it easier
01:15:26
for people to vote for it and sign up to
01:15:29
this entirely new tax system that
01:15:32
they're proposing to put on all
01:15:33
Americans at some point in the United
01:15:35
States and for the first time ever
01:15:37
degrading our private property rights.
01:15:39
Forget about how much wealth you have.
01:15:41
Forget about how rich you are. Forget
01:15:42
about the term billionaire, millionaire,
01:15:44
whatever it is. We're creating or
01:15:46
proposing the creation of a new tax
01:15:48
system that allows the government for
01:15:50
the first time ever to come in and audit
01:15:52
everything you own. All the jewelry your
01:15:54
grandma gave you, all the value of all
01:15:56
your couches in your house, the value of
01:15:58
your car, the value of all your stocks
01:16:01
and bonds, and the government can now in
01:16:03
and for the first time look through the
01:16:04
veil into your personal property and
01:16:06
say, "Here's how much all this stuff is
01:16:08
worth. I'm charging you a percentage of
01:16:10
that. That's what I need to get paid."
01:16:11
And it doesn't matter that it starts
01:16:12
with billionaires. What matters is that
01:16:14
we're giving the government the right to
01:16:16
look into our private property and take
01:16:18
a percentage of it every year, which is
01:16:20
different than an income tax where every
01:16:22
time you sell a stock or bond or your
01:16:24
house or get a paycheck, you pay tax,
01:16:26
which is totally reasonable because all
01:16:28
of that is trackable and that's a
01:16:29
transaction that's happening legally in
01:16:31
the public and so on. So, the government
01:16:33
has a right to look at that stuff, but
01:16:34
we're giving the government the right to
01:16:36
look into our private property. Now,
01:16:37
I'll say another thing. It's totally
01:16:40
reasonable to say that billionaires
01:16:41
aren't paying their fair share of taxes.
01:16:43
And it's totally reasonable to say that
01:16:44
ultra high net worth people aren't
01:16:45
paying their fair share in taxes. They
01:16:47
pay an income tax, but the truth is a
01:16:50
lot of ultra wealthy people borrow money
01:16:53
against their assets and live off of
01:16:54
that borrowed money so they never have
01:16:56
to pay taxes by selling the stuff that
01:16:58
they own. That's the core fundamental
01:17:01
issue that people are trying to address
01:17:03
when they say that folks aren't paying
01:17:04
enough. And there's a simple way to
01:17:06
address it, which is to charge them a
01:17:08
capital gains tax if they borrow against
01:17:10
their assets that they haven't paid
01:17:11
capital gains tax on. Very simple that
01:17:13
can resolve this. Another thing you can
01:17:16
do, you can raise the capital gains tax
01:17:17
rate. Sounds unpopular. I don't agree
01:17:20
with that, but that's another way to
01:17:21
deal with this, which is take the
01:17:22
capital gains tax rate from 20 to 30.
01:17:24
Make it sound more make it more like an
01:17:26
income tax. You could do that. And I'll
01:17:28
give you guys another statistic. In the
01:17:30
state of California, these billionaires,
01:17:33
there's 200 of them. The total net worth
01:17:35
of billionaires in the state of
01:17:37
California is $2 trillion.
01:17:39
So you're talking about raising hundred
01:17:41
billion on this onetime 5% tax or as
01:17:44
Roano would say 20 billion a year.
01:17:47
California is looking again at a $1.5
01:17:52
trillion liability hole that it's
01:17:54
facing. Taxing billionaires doesn't
01:17:56
solve any of our problems. We have more
01:17:59
fundamental problems with respect to
01:18:01
spending and the overall debt levels
01:18:03
that we've already taken on. And if you
01:18:04
tax billionaires of the whole country,
01:18:06
let me give you guys the statistic on
01:18:07
this. There's about 900 billionaires in
01:18:08
the United States. The total net worth
01:18:10
of billionaires in the United States, $8
01:18:12
trillion. So if you took, let's say 1% a
01:18:16
year, every year you take 1% of the
01:18:18
billionaire's worth, that's $80 billion
01:18:21
of income for the federal government
01:18:22
every year. That will pay 20 days of
01:18:25
interest on our debt. 20 days.
01:18:28
>> Yeah. The real money is in the middle
01:18:30
class. The net worth of the United
01:18:31
States, the middle class, and everyone
01:18:33
else is 170 trillion compared to 8
01:18:36
trillion of the billionaire.
01:18:37
>> They need a way to open the door so that
01:18:39
they can go after the real honeypot. The
01:18:41
real honey.
01:18:42
>> So the real the real goal of this, just
01:18:44
so everyone understands, the real goal
01:18:45
of this is not to tax billionaires
01:18:47
because there are other ways to tax
01:18:49
billionaires. real goal of this is to
01:18:50
create for the first time in American
01:18:52
history a private property asset seizure
01:18:54
tax
01:18:55
>> and to use that as a way to take a
01:18:57
percentage because they're going after
01:18:59
the they're going after the 170 trillion
01:19:01
not the 80 trillion of the billionaire
01:19:02
normalize auditing every American to
01:19:05
understand what they own and then take a
01:19:07
percentage of it every year it's been
01:19:09
tried in France it's been tried in other
01:19:10
countries it never works people leave
01:19:12
>> never worked it normally
01:19:14
>> that's why this is so offensive why not
01:19:17
just raise as you said capital gains or
01:19:18
an here. Yeah.
01:19:20
>> The biggest lie in this whole debate
01:19:23
over this supposed tax is the term one
01:19:26
time. They keep describing as a one-time
01:19:28
tax. See, even you said a one-time tax.
01:19:30
It's not a one-time tax. There's no
01:19:32
guarantee in the language of this ballot
01:19:35
initiative that they'll never do it
01:19:36
again. They're not writing into the
01:19:37
Constitution that, okay, we're just
01:19:39
going to take 5% this one time and then
01:19:41
we're going to prohibit doing it
01:19:42
thereafter. This is the first of many.
01:19:45
This is not a one-time tax. It's a first
01:19:47
of many tax. It's a presidential tax and
01:19:50
like you said the goal here is to create
01:19:52
a new I don't like using the word tax
01:19:55
because
01:19:56
>> it's not it's it's a taking it's not
01:19:58
based on
01:19:59
>> income it is it's an asset seizure and
01:20:01
the idea
01:20:02
>> property seizure system
01:20:03
>> it's a it's a private property seizure
01:20:05
it doesn't matter whether the assets are
01:20:07
realized unrealized whether you pay tax
01:20:09
to do it again
01:20:10
>> but look the point is that it
01:20:12
establishes a precedent that we can
01:20:14
define an arbitrary group of people and
01:20:18
confiscate a bunch of their property
01:20:20
because they're politically unpopular.
01:20:22
And if it succeeds here, it it will be
01:20:25
replicated over and over and over again.
01:20:27
And obviously, the line will come way
01:20:29
down below billionaires because there's
01:20:30
not enough money there.
01:20:33
8 trillion out of 170 trillion of
01:20:35
assets. The billionaires aren't the
01:20:37
target. At the end of the day, the
01:20:38
billionaires don't make a dent. If you
01:20:39
took 1% of the billionaire's net worth
01:20:41
every year, even if you took all their
01:20:42
net worth, you still wouldn't make a
01:20:44
dent. You've still got 40 trillion of
01:20:45
debt outstanding at the federal level
01:20:46
and we're adding nearly 2 trillion a
01:20:48
year. It's not going to make a
01:20:49
difference. The impact is in the middle
01:20:51
class.
01:20:51
>> Let me tell you another lie about this.
01:20:53
>> That's where the money is.
01:20:53
>> So when you got into that debate with
01:20:54
Roana, who by the way I think is
01:20:56
actually very smart and as far as
01:20:58
progressives go, I like him in a lot of
01:20:59
ways. But he was trying to frame this
01:21:01
thing as oh it's only 1% right 1% a year
01:21:04
for 5 years.
01:21:05
>> That was the first line.
01:21:06
>> Yeah. And again this minimizing language
01:21:08
they're using 1% one time. They're
01:21:12
trying to say, "Well, this is just an
01:21:13
insy beansy little thing." It's like,
01:21:15
"We're only gonna use the pinky, not
01:21:17
>> not the fist, right? Uh, we're gonna use
01:21:20
as well.
01:21:22
>> Just the tip of the pinky."
01:21:23
>> This just the tip of the pinky here.
01:21:25
>> Oh, too much. Too much. Too much.
01:21:28
>> Too much. No, the point is they're
01:21:30
trying to minimize it because they know
01:21:31
that the real value here is in
01:21:33
establishing a new precedent that now
01:21:36
asset seizures are permitted and that's
01:21:38
the beginning of basically the
01:21:40
government owning all of your property.
01:21:42
In fact, all of your property is
01:21:44
effectively owned by the government
01:21:47
subject to people thinking that you're a
01:21:50
good enough person that you should be
01:21:51
allowed to keep your property. Because
01:21:52
basically what they're saying is look,
01:21:53
there's an old line about democracy that
01:21:56
democracy can't be two wolves and a
01:21:59
sheep voting on what they're going to
01:22:00
have for dinner. In other words, people
01:22:02
have rights. And so you have the system
01:22:04
of of democracy, but you also have this
01:22:07
system of of rights. And those two
01:22:09
things go together. And so we have a
01:22:11
bill of rights. We have protections.
01:22:12
There's some things that a majority of
01:22:15
the population cannot take from you. A
01:22:17
lynch mob cannot hold on. A lynch mob
01:22:19
cannot vote to take your life. You have
01:22:22
rights. You have due process.
01:22:23
>> I just want to make it clear. Look, I
01:22:26
think what's going to happen is that if
01:22:28
people don't see the forest from the
01:22:29
trees here and this thing passes, it's
01:22:33
going to get litigated because I think
01:22:35
many of us feel that this is
01:22:38
fundamentally
01:22:40
illegal. That's going to take 6 7 8
01:22:43
years to resolve itself. And I suspect
01:22:45
that it will go all the way to the
01:22:47
Supreme Court. Let's just say that it
01:22:49
does pass. The thing is, it's much
01:22:51
easier for 900 Americans
01:22:55
to litigate in tax court
01:22:58
that this asset was mispriced, that
01:23:00
other asset was mispriced, because
01:23:01
you're going to be talking about big
01:23:03
chunky things. But by the time that that
01:23:06
rule, if it's valid and it stands, legal
01:23:10
scrutiny,
01:23:11
rolls down the hill to 170 million
01:23:15
Americans,
01:23:17
they're not going to be in a position to
01:23:19
take it to tax court. And what's going
01:23:21
to happen is that there's going to be
01:23:23
these frameworks and these actuarial
01:23:25
tables and all these other things that
01:23:26
are set up that says, "Oh, you have a
01:23:29
2025 Lexus. It's worth this." and you'll
01:23:33
say, "But I don't think it's worth that.
01:23:34
It's a little beaten up. I had a car
01:23:36
crash in it. You know, this and that.
01:23:38
Sorry, that's the price." And you're
01:23:40
going to have no recourse. You live in a
01:23:43
certain neighborhood. Your house is
01:23:44
worth that. You have a certain asset.
01:23:46
Okay. Well, we think it's worth this.
01:23:47
Your wedding ring, which is a class C
01:23:49
diamond, it's worth this. And you'll
01:23:51
say, "But, you know, it's kind of nicked
01:23:53
and it's not." Sorry. And when you
01:23:55
multiply that by 170 million people,
01:23:57
there is no recourse. And now you have
01:24:00
this level of taking
01:24:04
which is just I think egregious. And
01:24:05
then on top of that, what are you
01:24:07
actually taking it for? Because we've
01:24:10
now just already proven that you can't
01:24:12
spend properly what you're already being
01:24:14
given. And you're creating some kind of
01:24:17
corrupt money wheel, but you're going to
01:24:19
create this another avenue of just
01:24:21
taking more and more and more. I think
01:24:24
it's crazy. And the fact that this story
01:24:27
broke the same week that you had this
01:24:29
California state auditor released a
01:24:31
92page report that over $70 billion in
01:24:34
taxpayer funds had been quote lost. I
01:24:37
think that's a euphemism for stolen. It
01:24:40
can't be accounted for, you know, and
01:24:42
this includes things like the 24 billion
01:24:43
on homelessness, the 18 billion for the
01:24:46
highspeed rail where not a single track
01:24:47
has been laid, 2.5 billion for snap
01:24:49
fraud. I don't even think this includes
01:24:51
the 30
01:24:52
>> that 72 billion would have paid for the
01:24:54
healthare and it would have plugged the
01:24:55
deficit
01:24:55
>> and that's kind of where I was going
01:24:56
>> just by not allowing it to leak out.
01:24:59
>> And that's kind of my point. But it's
01:25:01
politically easier to say that you're
01:25:04
going to plug this hole by confiscating
01:25:07
the wealth of an unpopular group or a
01:25:09
group of people that you can demonize as
01:25:11
opposed to actually making the
01:25:12
government more efficient. Because
01:25:14
again, every single one of those
01:25:15
fraudsters who receive the government
01:25:16
payment, they're basically a political
01:25:18
supporter. I mean, those people don't
01:25:20
get chosen by accident, right? It's a
01:25:22
patronage system and they're the ones
01:25:24
who are part of the Democrat machine.
01:25:26
You know, this homelessness industrial
01:25:27
complex and all the rest of it. So,
01:25:29
they're never going to see cuts.
01:25:31
And by the way, the only reason this
01:25:34
hole happened, this cut, if you want to
01:25:36
call it that, is because in Big
01:25:37
Beautiful Bill, it said that you can't
01:25:39
use federal Medicaid funding anymore for
01:25:42
illegal aliens. That's the origin of
01:25:45
this whole thing. That's why they're
01:25:46
trying to plug this hole. But look, this
01:25:48
is why these deep blue states are
01:25:50
fundamentally broken and probably
01:25:52
unfixable. I don't want that to be the
01:25:54
case. But Sax, is the Trump
01:25:56
administration or Congress, if that's
01:25:58
what it's going to take, going to be
01:26:00
able to get legislation passed or an
01:26:03
order passed that will allow for
01:26:06
bankruptcy of states? Because some
01:26:08
people, I think you've mentioned this,
01:26:09
but some people have suggested that
01:26:10
that's going to ultimately be a path to
01:26:12
resolution on the bad fiscal condition
01:26:15
that these states are in and will allow
01:26:16
them a way to kind of crawl out of the
01:26:18
holes with respect to all the
01:26:19
obligations that they've accured that
01:26:21
they can't actually pay for.
01:26:22
>> I just don't know. I mean, I I think
01:26:24
it's a great idea. I think that states
01:26:26
should be able to declare bankruptcy. I
01:26:27
also think that if states go broke,
01:26:29
there needs to be a way to put them in
01:26:30
some sort of receiverhip, right?
01:26:32
>> They're not allowed to today, right?
01:26:33
There's no mechanism.
01:26:35
>> Yeah.
01:26:35
>> I don't understand what happens when a
01:26:37
state goes broke, which these states are
01:26:39
on the verge of of being. So, I don't
01:26:42
know what happens. But, you know, to get
01:26:44
something like that passed, either you
01:26:45
do it through reconciliation, get 50
01:26:47
votes. Maybe that's possible. But, I
01:26:49
don't know. I haven't heard a lot of
01:26:50
conversation about that in Washington.
01:26:52
Not yet. But it should be on the docket.
01:26:55
If anyone's listening, I think it's a
01:26:57
good thing to start thinking about.
01:26:58
>> You have the ear of certain people that
01:27:00
might be able to do something about it
01:27:02
to keep us posted.
01:27:03
>> Just to uh do a little self-reflection
01:27:05
here. I always like to think why or how
01:27:09
did we get to this billionaire's tax?
01:27:11
And I think the fundamental issue is
01:27:14
that people really don't feel safe in
01:27:16
this country when it comes to healthcare
01:27:18
and housing. We heard that come up with
01:27:20
our guest earlier. He said, "None of my
01:27:22
friends have a home." And then obviously
01:27:24
we hear it come up all the time with,
01:27:25
"Hey, can I get some forgiveness for my
01:27:27
student loans?" But just looking at
01:27:28
healthare, the fact that the United
01:27:30
States does not have universal house
01:27:32
health care is complete disgra. There
01:27:34
are 80 countries in the world that have
01:27:36
it. We are the second biggest economy in
01:27:40
the world. We are the leader of the free
01:27:42
world still to this day. The fact that
01:27:44
we are so polarized as a country and we
01:27:46
have so much fraud as a country that we
01:27:48
can't solve something as simple and
01:27:50
basic as universal healthcare that is
01:27:52
the root of this evil and I think the
01:27:54
technology industry has not participated
01:27:56
in universal healthcare but there is a
01:27:59
solution to it and I think if we as very
01:28:02
affluent people and as leaders cannot
01:28:05
come up with a way to give the poorest
01:28:07
people in this country and this is not
01:28:08
virtue signaling this is just catching
01:28:10
up to the modern world where people can
01:28:13
feel some base level that they can go
01:28:16
and get healthcare. We're going to
01:28:18
continue to see people go to a
01:28:20
billionaire's tax. We're going to
01:28:21
continue to see people like, you know,
01:28:23
the CEO of United Health get murdered.
01:28:26
That's where this is coming from. There
01:28:27
is a deep fear in poor people, in the
01:28:31
lower classes in this country that feel
01:28:33
like, hey, if I get sick, I could go
01:28:35
bankrupt. We must solve this problem.
01:28:37
And it's become such a political hot
01:28:39
potato that there's no creativity.
01:28:41
There's no plan. It's just fighting and
01:28:44
Obamacare is terrible and you know back
01:28:47
and forth. That's what needs to be
01:28:49
solved. I don't know which politician is
01:28:51
going to be able to create some unity on
01:28:52
this entrepreneurs
01:28:54
>> as poor people get incredible
01:28:55
healthcare. It's the middle class that
01:28:57
gets screwed over.
01:28:58
>> Okay. The the people in this country
01:28:59
still feel fear that we don't have
01:29:01
universal healthcare. And if we solve
01:29:04
this problem, I believe that a lot of
01:29:05
this resentment
01:29:06
>> the problem is the middle class is
01:29:07
getting squeezed because the price of it
01:29:09
keeps going up because Obamacare did not
01:29:11
bring down the price. It made it more
01:29:12
expensive.
01:29:13
>> Yeah. So what's your solution?
01:29:14
>> You keep wanting to give away for free.
01:29:17
>> I know you guys can criticize it. What
01:29:19
is your plan? What is your plan for
01:29:21
doing? And you don't have to give it to
01:29:22
me now, but I think as an industry, we
01:29:25
represent the technology industry here.
01:29:26
Sax, you represent uh the 47th
01:29:28
administration in some way. You're part
01:29:30
of it. We need to come up with a plan
01:29:33
for America.
01:29:34
>> If you look at healthare just as an
01:29:36
example and you can graph it, there was
01:29:38
a trend line in the cost of healthcare.
01:29:40
It was going up. And to your point,
01:29:42
which is fair, under all
01:29:44
administrations, we had not yet cracked
01:29:45
that code. Okay. But there was something
01:29:48
that was massively discontinuous that
01:29:50
happened in Obama passed in 2010,
01:29:52
implemented in 2014. And what was that?
01:29:55
Obamacare had this one incredibly fatal
01:29:57
flaw, which I still cannot understand
01:30:00
how these folks did not understand this.
01:30:02
They cap the gross margin. Some people
01:30:04
at the extremely high level would say,
01:30:07
"Well, that makes sense." Except it
01:30:09
doesn't because then how you make more
01:30:11
money is by just charging more. If you
01:30:13
can only make 15%, instead of making 15%
01:30:16
on $1,000, you'd rather make 15% on
01:30:19
$10,000.
01:30:21
That is what's happened. It has just
01:30:23
gotten steadily up up up up and then the
01:30:26
quality has obviously decayed. So if
01:30:28
we're going to unwind this, we need to
01:30:30
unwind the gross margin caps that exist
01:30:33
in Obamacare and try to wind these cost
01:30:36
curves back to normaly.
01:30:38
>> Frag if we look at ourselves globally.
01:30:41
I'm curious what you think. Actually,
01:30:44
hold on. Let me just
01:30:44
>> You mentioned 80 countries that are
01:30:46
supposedly better than us. Would you
01:30:47
want to have surgery in any of those
01:30:48
countries? Just wondering.
01:30:50
>> Oh, for me, I'm rich. I can do whatever
01:30:52
I want. I would go to the best place.
01:30:54
And if you look at Americans,
01:30:56
>> in your view,
01:30:57
>> absolutely America.
01:30:58
>> Oh, unless it was plastic surgery, then
01:31:01
South Korea.
01:31:02
>> Yeah. But
01:31:03
>> so these 80 countries supposedly that
01:31:05
have figured it out somehow the
01:31:07
healthcare you would not want to go
01:31:08
there for.
01:31:09
>> No, no,
01:31:09
>> just wondering. No, I'm just wondering
01:31:11
>> if if you looked at the price to value,
01:31:14
which is the point I was about to get
01:31:15
to,
01:31:15
>> where would you get your next
01:31:16
proctologology exam
01:31:18
>> on the All-In podcast? They have to
01:31:20
remove a gerbble from your ass. Where
01:31:21
are you going?
01:31:22
>> I would go to you. You seem to have the
01:31:24
most experience.
01:31:26
>> I would look to you for a referral. Sax,
01:31:28
where did you get your stuff?
01:31:30
>> Good sir.
01:31:31
>> But the point is, let's get serious. I
01:31:32
No, I want to finish my thought. Thank
01:31:34
you. If you look Freeberg at the cost
01:31:36
here, knee surgery in the top five uh
01:31:40
you know health care providers that have
01:31:43
countries that have universal
01:31:44
healthcare, it's six to eight times more
01:31:48
for bypass surgery, four times more for
01:31:50
a knee replacement. You know, just
01:31:52
getting an MRI is 5 to 10 times more
01:31:54
than the United States. Obviously,
01:31:56
there's some problem here with where
01:31:58
we're paying a lot more than everybody
01:32:00
else and we're not getting 5 to 10%
01:32:03
more. What do you think if you had a
01:32:05
creative solution? If you put your great
01:32:08
entrepreneurial mind to this, how do we
01:32:11
solve the problem of America not having
01:32:13
universal healthcare?
01:32:15
>> I'm not the guy to answer that question.
01:32:16
>> AI jali,
01:32:18
>> there are people there are people that
01:32:19
study this and
01:32:20
>> is going to solve all these problems.
01:32:21
>> There are a lot of proposals out there.
01:32:23
>> This I want to throw up this one chart
01:32:24
because I do think this is our politics
01:32:26
in a nutshell.
01:32:27
>> Here we go.
01:32:27
>> Someone had this great tweet. I've got
01:32:29
to just show this and then we then we
01:32:30
got to move on. But the the people who
01:32:33
created the red lines are blaming the
01:32:36
people who created the blue lines. This
01:32:37
is our politics in a nutshell.
01:32:39
>> Yeah.
01:32:39
>> So look how the the issue with the more
01:32:42
the government gets involved and I agree
01:32:44
you got to have healthcare for poor
01:32:45
people. I understand
01:32:46
>> but the more the government gets
01:32:47
involved in healthcare the more
01:32:49
expensive it gets. And the same thing
01:32:50
for college tuition and every other
01:32:52
category
01:32:53
>> sack. What would you do?
01:32:54
>> Well I mean look you got to have market
01:32:55
forces. That's what that chart shows is
01:32:57
that where you have the most market
01:32:59
forces, which is technology,
01:33:02
>> that's where you have continual quality
01:33:04
improvements and price decreases.
01:33:06
>> And while that's happening, the people
01:33:08
who create the red lines, basically the
01:33:09
people who create this out of control
01:33:11
fraud and corruption and cost problem,
01:33:14
they're the ones attacking the people
01:33:17
needs to attack this with innovation and
01:33:19
marketplace dynamics and get the
01:33:21
government out of it. That's the
01:33:22
solution in part. It's a solution
01:33:25
>> in part.
01:33:26
>> That's what I'm trying to get across
01:33:27
here is that we are actually our
01:33:29
industry is uniquely qualified to lower
01:33:31
costs and create marketplaces and
01:33:33
competition. I would like to inspire our
01:33:35
industry to maybe get back on this. I
01:33:37
know that none of us do it because it's
01:33:38
the hardest castle to take, but we could
01:33:41
as an industry, I think, have a dramatic
01:33:43
impact on this, just like our friend
01:33:45
from Spotify, Daniel, is, you know,
01:33:47
doing his 3D scanning and then you have
01:33:49
function health superpower. Tons of
01:33:51
these companies trying to get
01:33:53
self-directed healthcare going and lower
01:33:55
costs. Anyway, we have one thing we need
01:33:57
to get to here on the docket, which is a
01:34:00
victory lap for our bestie, Chim Poly
01:34:03
Hapaya. This week, Nvidia entered into a
01:34:06
licensing agreement to uh license
01:34:09
Brock's technology for inference chips.
01:34:12
Chamath was the backer of this company
01:34:16
for close to a decade and um had to come
01:34:19
rescue it a couple of times. It was a
01:34:21
brutal non-conensus bet. Uh you invested
01:34:25
in Grock essentially formed the company
01:34:28
with your partners 5 years, 6 years
01:34:30
before chat GPT even debuted. So this
01:34:33
was a visionary thing to do and it was a
01:34:36
hard bet and so congratulations from one
01:34:38
Bessie to another on uh this incredible
01:34:41
non-conensus bet you made Chamath but
01:34:43
maybe take us through a little bit of
01:34:45
the backstory. We started the business
01:34:47
10 years ago and the whole idea was just
01:34:52
observing that there is these patterns
01:34:56
that was happening inside of AI that we
01:34:58
wanted to be ready for. And I think that
01:35:01
this is going to be really important
01:35:02
over the next 5 to 10 years. So to the
01:35:04
extent that you're either a technologist
01:35:06
or an investor, let's just take 30
01:35:07
seconds. So in a world of kind of these
01:35:10
LLMs, there's two terms that I think
01:35:13
you're going to hear a ton about over
01:35:15
these next few years. The first term is
01:35:16
prefill and the next is decode. Gavin
01:35:18
Baker had an excellent tweet that broke
01:35:21
this down. Nick, you can include that in
01:35:22
the show notes. What prefill and decode
01:35:24
are is two very distinct ways of how
01:35:27
models think and how a model goes
01:35:30
through the process of answering a
01:35:32
question that you ask it. And so when
01:35:34
you send a prompt to AI, what happens is
01:35:37
that the model processes it. This is
01:35:39
called the reading phase or prefill. It
01:35:41
reads your entire prompt all at once and
01:35:43
then it does a bunch of math. Okay?
01:35:45
Calculates all these relationships
01:35:46
between all the words and it stores them
01:35:48
in temporary memory.
01:35:51
The problem is that this is really
01:35:52
compute bound. So it requires massive
01:35:55
brute force and NVIDIA GPUs crush you
01:35:58
and their architecture is designed for
01:36:00
massive parallel processing which makes
01:36:02
them really amazing at digesting these
01:36:04
long prompts, right? And Sax and a bunch
01:36:07
of other people have talked about
01:36:08
context windows growing and growing. So
01:36:10
the problem just gets bigger and bigger.
01:36:11
Nvidia just completely dominates. But
01:36:13
the next phase though, this critical
01:36:15
phase, the decode phase is the writing
01:36:18
phase, right? So the model starts to
01:36:20
generate a response. You ask it a
01:36:22
question and its response one token at a
01:36:26
time and then to pick the next token to
01:36:28
pick the next word it has to look back
01:36:30
at everything it has said already so
01:36:32
that it doesn't hallucinate.
01:36:34
The problem is that this is incredibly
01:36:36
memory bandwidth constrained. The math
01:36:39
of all of this is easy but then you got
01:36:40
to do all of this nonsense. Imagine like
01:36:42
a building and from getting from point A
01:36:44
to point B, you got to take an elevator,
01:36:46
go up to the 10th floor, take the next
01:36:48
elevator, go back down to the ground
01:36:49
floor, then walk across. That would
01:36:50
never make any sense. You'd want to just
01:36:52
walk across the hallway, right? And in
01:36:55
our architecture a long time ago, we
01:36:58
made these design decisions from day
01:37:00
one. We said, you know what, there's an
01:37:02
entire technology stack that Nvidia and
01:37:05
Google have pioneered. If we try to go
01:37:08
and build a building that looks like
01:37:10
that, we will fail. they're too smart,
01:37:12
they're too capitalized, they're too
01:37:14
good, they're too big, they'll get the
01:37:16
best deals, and we'll just be shut out.
01:37:18
And so what we did was we took a very
01:37:21
different architectural approach. We
01:37:23
took a very conservative process
01:37:24
technology. We weren't pushing the
01:37:26
boundaries of physics and we used a lot
01:37:29
of what's called SRAMM, so memory on the
01:37:31
chip so that we could do this decode
01:37:33
thing as well or better than everybody
01:37:35
else. And so now when you put these two
01:37:37
things together, I just think it's going
01:37:39
to create
01:37:40
a huge acceleration in
01:37:44
the ability for this entire
01:37:46
infrastructure layer to get much cheaper
01:37:48
and much more valuable, which I suspect
01:37:51
then it'll have a lot more developer
01:37:54
pull. You'll get a lot more applications
01:37:56
being built, billions and billions of
01:37:59
more people using it. So think about it
01:38:02
as pre-filled decode. We were really
01:38:04
great at decode and I think partnering
01:38:06
up was the strategic rational. And so
01:38:08
essentially what happened was last May
01:38:10
Nvidia announced this thing which
01:38:12
allowed their chip to talk to other
01:38:14
things and our team reached out and said
01:38:17
hey can we experiment to see if our chip
01:38:19
could talk to your chip and we could do
01:38:22
this thing better. And over the summer
01:38:24
there was some kind of like spreadsheet
01:38:26
work that happened. Then they were
01:38:30
interested enough where they were like,
01:38:31
"I'll give you a couple engineers." And
01:38:32
Jensen was kind of curious about it.
01:38:36
And then about a month ago, he and I had
01:38:38
a call on a Saturday and he's like, "I
01:38:40
think this thing is really real."
01:38:43
And I called Jonathan and Sunny right
01:38:45
away and I said, "You should be prepared
01:38:47
that if this thing works, there's going
01:38:48
to be something interesting to be done
01:38:49
here." And one thing led to another and
01:38:52
they acted decisively. Here's what I'll
01:38:53
tell you about Jensen. to seeing a
01:38:55
little bit up close. He is operating at
01:38:58
a level of insight about what's
01:38:59
happening in this industry that I've
01:39:01
really never seen with other folks in
01:39:02
other industries other than Elon in his
01:39:04
industries. It's a level of mastery and
01:39:07
a level of skill that is really
01:39:08
impressive.
01:39:11
Obviously, it's a really big deal and
01:39:14
I'm really thankful to have been a part
01:39:15
of it. Yeah, it's great.
01:39:16
>> Slack 25 billion, Grock 20 billion. Two
01:39:19
incredible
01:39:20
>> but Slack we sold to Salesforce. The
01:39:22
thing with rock is I just think that it
01:39:24
wasn't a point product. I think what
01:39:25
will happen here is if successful we
01:39:28
will be a foundational layer that Nvidia
01:39:30
can use to again make AI much more
01:39:33
accessible, much cheaper, much more
01:39:34
beneficial to everybody.
01:39:36
>> Was there a point just as a capital
01:39:38
allocator, as an entrepreneur, which I
01:39:39
consider you very entrepreneurial in the
01:39:41
case of Grock,
01:39:42
>> that this looked like it was going to
01:39:44
get not make it because we went through
01:39:46
co we went through things and and
01:39:49
>> years first eight years. I mean look,
01:39:51
Jonathan is a genius. I said this on X
01:39:53
of biblical proportions. His vision for
01:39:56
the V2 chip, V3, V4 chips. He is a
01:39:59
volcano of technical creativity, a true
01:40:01
volcano. He was the inventor of TPU at
01:40:04
Google. There is very few people like
01:40:06
this in Silicon Valley or the world.
01:40:09
>> Savant,
01:40:10
>> but he's not a Savant. I just think he's
01:40:12
incredibly brilliant. Okay. So if that
01:40:15
road map can be married with Jensen's
01:40:17
brilliance, I think that like I said
01:40:19
it'll be hugely beneficial for AI in
01:40:21
general. And then separately though two
01:40:23
years ago they acquired definitive and
01:40:26
we were able to bring one of our other
01:40:27
besties Sunonny Madra in as president
01:40:30
and I think the combo of those two
01:40:32
Sunny's team which are very practical
01:40:34
kind of like put your head down go to
01:40:36
market technologists plus Jonathan's
01:40:38
vision and technical brilliance frankly
01:40:41
allowed a lot of this to happen. It
01:40:42
wouldn't have happened without those two
01:40:44
working together.
01:40:45
>> Well, congratulations. It's awesome to
01:40:46
see you get a win.
01:40:47
>> Yeah. I'd like to I'd like to say a
01:40:49
couple things to a couple of people.
01:40:51
>> Yeah, you do. Absolutely. It's like the
01:40:53
my ostensible, you know,
01:41:02
you got
01:41:08
okay to number two to the VC community.
01:41:11
You can also
01:41:30
number three. I have a message to all
01:41:33
the people on social media, Reddit. You
01:41:36
can also
01:41:39
>> now the audience knows what it's like to
01:41:41
lose a huge pot.
01:41:44
>> Yes. Wow. For your turn, B
01:41:48
for your pre.
01:41:49
>> He's a sore winner. He's a sore winner.
01:41:51
>> Winner loser.
01:41:53
>> He doesn't give a speech when he loses
01:41:55
like Helmouth. He gives a speech when he
01:41:56
wins and he berates you.
01:41:58
>> Yeah.
01:41:59
>> And how stupidly you played the hand.
01:42:01
>> They were terrible. And I hit my TWO
01:42:03
OUTER. LIKE LITERALLY Grock was a two
01:42:05
outer. He bakes it and he's like, "I
01:42:08
TOLD YOU IT WAS COMING. SO MUCH FOR YOUR
01:42:11
NUT FLUSH."
01:42:12
>> All right, boys.
01:42:13
>> All right, everybody. This has been
01:42:14
another amazing episode of the All-In
01:42:16
podcast. We'll see you next week for our
01:42:18
prediction show. Sorry it got delayed.
01:42:20
We just had too much on this document.
01:42:21
Love you besties.
01:42:23
>> We'll let your winners ride.
01:42:31
We open sourced it to the fans and
01:42:33
they've just gone crazy with it.
01:42:35
>> Love you. Queen of
01:42:38
>> yours.
01:42:44
Besties are gone.
01:42:46
>> That is my dog taking your driveway.
01:42:51
>> Oh man, myasher will eat me.
01:42:54
>> We should all just get a room and just
01:42:55
have one big huge orgy cuz they're all
01:42:57
just useless. It's like this like sexual
01:42:59
tension that you just need to release
01:43:00
somehow.
01:43:06
>> That's going to be good. We need to get
01:43:08
merch.
01:43:09
>> I'm going all in.
01:43:17
I'm going all in.

Podspun Insights

In this episode, the spotlight shines on investigative journalist Nick Shirley, who dives into a shocking story of entitlement fraud in Minnesota, revealing a staggering $110 million in potential fraud linked to a broader $9 billion scheme. The conversation kicks off with Shirley discussing his viral video that has sparked national attention and prompted responses from government officials. He recounts his journey into investigative journalism, detailing how he transitioned from lighthearted YouTube content to tackling serious issues like immigration and fraud.

As the discussion unfolds, Shirley shares his firsthand experiences visiting suspicious daycare centers, where he encountered locked doors and blacked-out windows, raising eyebrows about their legitimacy. The hosts and Shirley dissect the implications of this fraud, touching on the systemic issues within government oversight and the political ramifications of such widespread corruption.

The episode also delves into the emotional weight of the situation, as Shirley expresses frustration over hardworking Americans struggling to make ends meet while fraudsters exploit the system. The conversation takes a deeper turn as they explore the potential connections between fraud, political patronage, and even allegations of funding terrorism, leaving listeners with a sense of urgency about the need for accountability.

With a mix of humor and serious reflection, the episode wraps up with discussions about the future of journalism, the importance of transparency, and the potential for a new wave of citizen journalists to emerge in response to the challenges facing society today.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most shocking
  • 95
    Best concept / idea
  • 95
    Most viral
  • 92
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • Nick Shirley's Journey into Investigative Journalism
    At just 23, Nick Shirley shares how his YouTube channel evolved into serious investigative work, focusing on fraud.
    “I’ve been doing YouTube since I was a sophomore in high school.”
    @ 03m 40s
    December 31, 2025
  • The Impact of Fraud on Young Americans
    Nick Shirley expresses frustration over entitlement fraud while his generation struggles to get by.
    “We’re working so hard just to be able to get by.”
    @ 12m 20s
    December 31, 2025
  • Uncovering Fraud
    Nick's investigation reveals systemic fraud and corruption across government programs.
    “We’re starting to see a bunch of nasty things underneath it.”
    @ 23m 09s
    December 31, 2025
  • Taking Action
    Nick emphasizes the importance of taking initiative to address issues.
    “You just have to go do things if you want to make stuff happen.”
    @ 31m 07s
    December 31, 2025
  • Allegations of Fraud
    Nick raises concerns about potential fraud involving government agencies and daycare funding.
    “Yeah, 100%. Because a lot of these daycarees, there’s six, seven violations and they’re still continuing to give funding.”
    @ 37m 26s
    December 31, 2025
  • Political Patronage
    Discussion on how political patronage affects government accountability and fraud.
    “It’s a patronage system.”
    @ 44m 21s
    December 31, 2025
  • A Crucible Moment for America
    If nothing changes, it could signal the beginning of the end for the American Empire.
    “If nothing happens and we deem this kind of theft acceptable, it is the beginning of the end.”
    @ 53m 35s
    December 31, 2025
  • California's Billionaire Tax Act
    California proposes a 5% tax on assets of billionaires to address healthcare shortfalls.
    “Forget the term billionaire. We are talking about a tax on individual people's private property.”
    @ 01h 12m 15s
    December 31, 2025
  • The Real Target of Taxation
    The real goal is to create a private property asset seizure tax, not just tax billionaires.
    “The real goal of this is not to tax billionaires; it’s to normalize auditing every American.”
    @ 01h 18m 45s
    December 31, 2025
  • The $70 Billion Mystery
    A California state auditor reveals over $70 billion in taxpayer funds can't be accounted for.
    “I think that's a euphemism for stolen.”
    @ 01h 24m 34s
    December 31, 2025
  • Healthcare and Fear
    The fear of bankruptcy due to illness is a pressing concern for many Americans.
    “We must solve this problem.”
    @ 01h 28m 37s
    December 31, 2025
  • Sore Winner
    He doesn't give a speech when he loses, only when he wins, berating others.
    “He's a sore winner.”
    @ 01h 41m 49s
    December 31, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Minnesota Entitlement Fraud01:56
  • Nick Shirley's Background03:12
  • Political Corruption18:19
  • Systemic Issues23:09
  • Border Closure Win1:08:00
  • Besties to Austin1:09:10
  • Universal Healthcare Debate1:27:30
  • Sore Winner1:41:49

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown