Host Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 48 stations) by challenging Republicans to get back to their roots of supporting entrepreneurs by toning down their rhetoric against funding the Export-Import Bank which helps provide capital to U.S. exporters so they can compete on global trade.
Returning as a guest on Made in America was David Harsanyi, Senior Editor at The Federalist, who castigated Hillary Clinton for not embracing her accumulated wealth, thereby contributing to the liberal perception that there’s something wrong when you are successful and rich.
“Hillary really can’t say much about her accomplishments in office because she really didn’t achieve anything. But being successful financially at least is an achievement. Anybody who can get $200,000 per speech and get an advance of $14 million for a book that didn’t sell, is doing something right,” suggested Harsanyi.
He maintained that by running away from her wealth, Hilary is adding to the social unrest connected to income equality. There’s nothing wrong with living in the White House and being shuttled around the world as Secretary of State. It’s a life most of us would love, noted Harsanyi.
“I think it would force her to confront these things if she had a viable candidate running against her. It would also force her to talk more about Benghazi, which she has resisted. She’s trying to connect with voters by portraying herself as a regular person—but she’s not, and politicians fail all the time that try and pull this off,” said Harsanyi.
One of the biggest repercussions about downplaying wealth is that it sends a message to millennials that wealth isn’t achievable, dooming them to a life of government entitlements and living in their parents’ basements. Worse, is that they become risk adverse, unwilling to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur where they could really start accumulating wealth.
Neal and co-host Dr. Rich Roffman, returned to the topic of the Ex-Im Bank, advocating on behalf of an organization that is under attack as being another form of corporate welfare, when in reality, Ex-Im Bank has supported 1.2 million private-sector American jobs since 2009 and over the past five years, the Bank has earned $2 billion more than the cost of its operations after covering loan loss reserves.
“As an exporter, I have relied on Ex-Im Bank to help me with the loan guarantees I need to compete on the global stage. This is especially important for U.S. exporters that don’t receive the government help that exporters do in other countries. For example, the American government places zero value on receivables from the largest and most successful foreign based companies while at the same time, providing large credit lines backed by receivables from some of our most unstable domestic companies.
Without the Ex-Im Bank, our export sales would plummet, impacting hundreds of American jobs. And we are just one company,” proposed Neal, adding that American exporters don’t want handouts, and are willing to pay full freight for whatever they get, which means that Ex-Im must stay.
Dr. Roffman agreed, who, like Neal, is saddened that the Republican Party, historic champions of business, are in the vanguard of voting against giving Ex-Im the funding they need.
Joining Made in America was Charlie Kirk, Executive Director and founder of Turning Point USA, who returned to the topic of the plight of today’s millennials, 40% of whom are unemployed.
“They voted for hope and change, but the change they got is that there are no jobs and they are getting addicted to government dependency. Most depressing is that they feel they can’t do anything to improve their lives,” according to Kirk, whose organization works on 40 college campuses to encourage students to embrace capitalism and free enterprise so they can live up to their potential.
The final guest on Made in America was Trey Kovacs, Policy Analyst at The Competitive Enterprise Institute, who revealed that even after a VW plant in Tennessee voted against joining the union, the union has found a “back-door” to continuing to press workers to join.
“The union backed off all their promises, including not resuming union activities for at least one year. But they have set up a website where they are trying to recruit workers to vote for the union. VW has made it clear that it will not voluntarily recognize the union, since they are well aware of the power that unions have in Germany. The good news is that VW workers are fighting back against the union by trying to pass legislation that would set up a non-union work counsel which has worked well in other countries,” concluded Kovacs.
Neal applauded the work being done by VW workers and warned that if the union is able to intimidate VW workers, they will start going after other non-union plants in the South that have succeeded as non-union shops.
Neal and Dr. Roffman moved on to their weekly segment identifying rampant cronyism.
“There’s an irony that Warren Buffet, the Oracle from Omaha, is using his ties to Obama, to block construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline because his rail lines would compete with the pipelines, depriving him of billions of dollars. Back in the 1800s Union Pacific’s leader, Thomas Durant, had bought land in Nebraska, using his crony ties to President Lincoln to reroute the rail system so that it ran through Nebraska, reaping him millions of dollars. Cronyism has deep American roots,” noted Neal.
Dr. Roffman picked up on the theme and noted that Warren Buffet is fighting “tooth and nail” with the IRS to lower his corporate tax load, even while he publicly decries that the rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes.
“Why would anyone want to vote against the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is safer, more environmentally responsible, and would create jobs? The answer, as usual, is cronyism, at the expense of the American people,” concluded Dr. Roffman
Each week Neal Asbury’ Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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