Hey!
Thank you.
No! Good evening.
My name is Jon Stewart. Please, sit.
I'm excited. Tonight's show, we're talking death and taxes, bitches.
In these uncertain times, they're really the only two things we can count on.
Taxes, you can always count on to infuriate you.
And death, you can always count on
to prove that the Jews were right all along.
No, I actually don't even know what Jews believe--
It's probably in the Torah, but don't spoil it for me.
Don't tell me how it ends, please, guys.
Do we make it?
Probably.
Hating taxes is America's founding principle,
and we're still as mad about it today as we were in 1776.
I go to the grocery store, guess what? I pay taxes.
I go buy tires for my Ranger, I pay taxes.
Everything we do, we pay taxes.
I freaking hate the government and all these stupid taxes.
No more taxes.
The plaintive wail of the young libertarian.
"Why should I pay for infrastructure I don't even use?"
Americans can't make a buck
without Uncle Sam reaching his dirty little paw down our pants.
We pay federal taxes,
state taxes,
property taxes,
tax on gas,
alcohol, cigarettes,
diapers, tampons, clams.
There's even a tax on sound effects.
Oh, yeah.
It sounded like an ocean liner just came. I don't know…
We gotta be the most taxed people in the world.
What do we got there?
Really? Eight percent is the average tax burden in the United States of America?
That can't be right.
The point is this, it's low.
Lower than you'd think.
So, I mean, if we're mad,
those 38 percent-paying, meatball-eating Scandis
must be absolutely outraged.
I love to pay my taxes.
I pay because I think it-- the system works.
Yeah, I like pay taxes.
From your lighthouse in an Ingmar Bergman movie?
By the way, that gentleman is now available at IKEA.
He's called…
But these folks bring up an interesting point.
They seem pleased to pay taxes because their system is working. Why?
We don't have to worry about getting sick,
we don't have to worry about insurances.
Day care for our kids, free school.
When you go give birth, it's almost free.
Things in Finland's government-issued baby box
that just make sense.
All the pads for your new leaking body.
Condoms so don't you pop out another one right away.
They get a fuck box?
You go to Finland, you get a taxpayer-funded fuck box?
Although I guess, you know, to be fair, any box could be a fuck box if you're…
Pandemic, two and a half years in, you know.
"You gonna finish that Happy Meal? No, no. I don't want the food."
"Just really like the box."
Anyway.
But those are socialist countries. Ice hippies.
Surely countries that don't use reindeer bones for money
are singing a different tune.
If you're diabetic, your prescriptions are free, so I don't have to pay.
The children get free medical care.
There is no extra charge, whether for regular checkups, for treatments,
or for prescription medicine.
Wow. It's amazing what you can pay for
when you haven't been allowed to have an army.
Now…
Right, I invaded Poland. Yeah!
It was me!
In 2022, Americans paid almost five trillion dollars to the government
in federal taxes alone.
So what do we get?
I've spent many days on the phone crying with the insurance
because I can't not let my daughter have her medicine.
There was no way we-- I was gonna be able to ever afford day care.
No vacation, no benefits.
$65,000 in student loan debt.
I can't afford to retire.
I feel like I'll be in debt the rest of my life.
So what accounts for the vast chasm
between their satisfaction in other countries
and our, let me check my notes, debt for the rest of our lives?
Two reasons.
One: what the government spends its money on.
In America, almost one-fifth of all the money collected in federal taxes
goes to defense.
Eight hundred billion dollars.
We spent more than the next nine largest industrial countries combined
on defense spending.
If nearly 20% of all your money is going to defending a thing,
chances are that thing is going to deteriorate
into something not worth defending.
Which brings us to point number two: how the money is spent.
Not where, but how.
We do put 1.4 trillion into health care and we put $200 billion into education,
but Americans are still paying out of pocket
for insurance deductibles, prescription medicines,
still taking out loans for college,
and wondering where our fuck boxes are.
Having a baby in America can run you almost $20,000.
And for what?
They depreciate as soon as you take them out of the hospital.
Not to rain on-- There's a couple here having their first baby.
I-- They-- It gets better.
I wish I had never met them in warm-up.
We're not going bankrupt in this country because of our taxes,
we're going bankrupt because of all the things we're paying for out of pocket
that other countries pay for with taxes.
Because here's how the system works.
The basic tax proposition is simple.
You pay taxes to the government in the form of the money.
The government pools that money and uses it to provide the people
with essential goods and services that they need.
That would be efficient, but there's one catch.
We can't do it that way,
because getting anything directly from the government
or through cost-controlled industries would be considered…
socialism.
There was big discussion on whether the thunderclap
should come after "socialism" or before "socialism",
and I thought, "Let's try before,
because I'm an old man and I don't know where I am."
In this country, we've got a different system for getting the things we need.
Take health care.
We pay taxes to the government, there's the money,
and the government gives our money to a middleman:
for-profit insurance companies or for-profit health providers.
And the insurance companies provide the health coverage
in exchange for maybe some more money from us.
And a deductible that covers not everything,
certainly not your teeth or your skin or your eyes.
It's a pretty good system if you own an insurance company.
Anybody here?
Anybody? Make some noise if you own an insurance…
Aetna in the hizzy? No? Nothing?
Companies like UnitedHealth and Aetna
collect 70% of their health plan revenue from government programs.
Humana, 90%.
These health plan businesses would not exist without our tax money.
We keep them afloat.
And yet, which customer seems happier with their investment?
Medical costs are the largest driver of bankruptcy in this country.
Meanwhile, those companies made over $40 billion in profits in 2021 alone.
And it's not just health care.
It's pharma.
It's oil and gas.
It's higher education.
Taxpayers subsidize these industries, who then take their profits,
and we still pay so-called free market rates for their product.
It's a classic double-dip.
And thus,
the problem with taxes.
The American system of taxation and government services
is the worst episode of Shark Tank ever.
Shell, Aetna, Pfizer,
they all come into the tank looking for a billion dollar investment
in exchange for 0% of their company.
We don't own any of it.
We don't even get to leverage our buying power to control costs.
We don't even get a fucking employee discount.
Our taxes guarantee customers and funding to for-profit companies
but do almost nothing to lower the price of the shit we desperately need
from those for-profit companies.
So we get the worst possible service for the highest possible price.
Our tax is a wealth redistribution scheme.
It redirects our money from the middle class to the middleman.
You need medicine?
For over a decade,
our tax money has funded every new pharmaceutical to hit the market.
Every single one.
Xtandi, Neupro, Mirapex, Jizzadrene, Ana-Lex.
Ball o' jizz.
In exchange, we pay more for prescription drugs
-than any other developed country. -Wow.
College education?
Our federal tax dollars go directly to for-profit colleges.
Seventy percent of their revenue comes from the taxpayer.
Return on investment?
You'll pay more for college here than almost anywhere else in the world.
And "wow" is right. The audience is-- Their minds are blown!
But hope is on the horizon.
As we speak, there is a hero working on the taxpayers' behalf.
A middleman for the little man, if you will.
I don't know why we worked so hard on everything else.
A middleman for the little man.
Hell of a bumper sticker.
This middleman is a consulting company called McKinsey
and it's been hired-- Wait.
McKinsey's been hired by our government to rethink, quote,
"public-sector contract negotiations to secure value for taxpayers."
I believe the government pays McKinsey tens of millions of dollars
for the work they do for us.
So let's meet them.
We don't do small stuff, we do the big stuff. The big insights.
-To help governments… -Reshape some of the biggest problems.
At our heart, we're a firm of people who like helping other people.
Wow.
The new season of Severance looks amazing.
Most recently, we learned McKinsey did a good thing.
They helped find a way to lower prescription drug prices
by making generic drugs more available to the public.
It was a win, but not really a clean one.
Because unfortunately,
the pharmaceutical companies hired their own powerful consulting firm
to help them raise prescription drug prices in the United States.
-That firm, say it with me, McKinsey! -McKinsey.
Motherfucker!
While we were paying McKinsey millions of dollars to bring prices down,
pharma was paying them to bring prices up.
How much did pharma pay McKinsey?
Information not available.
Error message: 404 file not found.
Now, last year we tried a different method.
Simple tax proposition
that delivered value straight to the taxpayer.
We expanded the Child Tax Credit
and gave money directly to parents every month.
How did that go?
Child Tax Credit money has really helped us with medical expenses.
I was able to purchase my daughter school supplies.
Back to school clothes, haircuts, shoes.
It's gonna put us just into that bracket
where we can afford to live somewhere outside of government housing.
It means we're gonna have a home.
It's gonna change everything. It's gonna change our whole lives.
The expansion of the Child Tax Credit alleviated child poverty by close to 30%.
Thirty percent.
Once again, here's the system we had in place.
Here's the system we put in place.
Guess which one we ended first.
Yeah. They ended the Child Tax Credit program,
that solved child poverty by 30%.
What the ever-loving fuck.
So ask yourself this simple question.
What would you say if you were a shark sitting in the tank,
sharking it up,
and you were asked for a billion dollar investment in a company
in return for zero percent equity, no discounts,
higher prices and shittier service?
You're an ****. Get the **** out of here.
It's a joke. It's a scam.
-I don't get this. -You're just unrealistic.
Take this behind the barn and shoot it.
So for those reasons…
-I'm out. -I'm out.
And we should be, too. Take a look at this.
-Give me your money. -I need more money.
-I like that… -Money.
Money, money, money.
Give us your money because we will put it to good use.
That's what we say but apparently that's not what we do.
Because in reality…
-We won't… -Give any…
-Money back… -To Americans and America's children.
-And don't expect… -Cheaper oil and gas…
…For your education or roads.
No child care.
-No health care. -No medicine. No food.
-Because… -That's socialism.
I almost said yeah. Yeah.
-It's easier… -Simply to give other people's money…
To ExxonMobil.
-Pfizer. -Graft.
-Raytheon. -McKinsey.
-Deloitte. -The Koch brothers.
Tom Steyer and I believe he has a brother.
-Big Bird. -And anybody else who asks.
All of your money…
-Is better spent… -On things like war…
-Corporate bailouts… -And my…
Cocaine-fueled sex orgies.
USA, USA, USA.
-You're getting… -Screwed.
I like that.
Welcome back.
So, I hope you enjoyed that.
We think of taxpayer money when it's wasted as "graft."
But the biggest waste seems to be that we don't get the buying power
that this amount of money would command.
So, here to discuss how we can get a better return on our tax investment,
Linda Miller, a ten-year veteran of the Government Accountability Office,
which is the auditing arm of the government.
Ameshia Cross, who is an education advocate working for non-profits,
and has lobbied Congress on behalf of taxpayers.
And Wendell Potter, former VP of comms for Cigna,
now a whistleblower advocating for health care reform.
Hello, welcome.
I'm gonna throw this out there-- We're gonna start with you, Wendell.
How is this system of taxation and redistribution
to corporate entities and middlemen not legalized corruption?
Well, because it's been legal for quite some time.
The big companies spend a lot of money, protection money,
they spend a lot of money in campaign contributions.
My staff used to dole out campaign cash.
-It's through-- -When you were at Cigna,
you doled out the campaign cash and what was the expectation from that?
That they would be there when you needed them.
That if you needed them to vote a certain way on a bill
you could call on them
and they'd be more likely to vote the way you want them to.
-That's what I-- When I say protection-- -How explicit is that arrangement?
It doesn't need to be explicit.
When you give a campaign contribution there is that expectation that--
And these companies have many, many lobbyists as well too.
They spend a lot of time on Capitol Hill,
if you're talking about Congress,
and they have easy access to these lawmakers.
Most folks don't have that kind of access.
I can't tell you how many times we'll be sitting in the little--
You know, these congressional offices all have a little sitting area.
And you're waiting and no one is talking to you,
and then all of a sudden
five, like, pretty heavyset dudes walk out and you're like, "Who are they?"
And they're like, "Oil lobby."
And they just stroll right past you, and nobody talks to you.
That I think is the biggest problem, because at the end of the day,
for massive non-profits, non-profits that either exist
at the federal level, like several that I've worked for,
or those that exist in cities and states across the country,
you do not have a blank check to write to specific campaigns.
That is not something that we do.
In my role it has largely been working with specific elected officials,
trying to devise plans that will help people who need it,
specifically, most recently, on the student loan debt crisis.
We wanted to have a 50,000 forgiveness as the bare minimum.
And there was so much pushback from banks.
So much pushback from the lobbyists for banks.
So much pushback from those who have essentially given money
to various members of Congress,
that that was basically going to die on the vine.
I've walked into Congress members' offices
with people who have mountains of student loan debt.
People who are teachers, whose been fighting the good fight
in districts across this country
where they're bringing toilet paper for their students,
-washing the kids' clothes at school. -Right.
They're bringing lunches for the students
because they do not have food stamp benefits.
It is very difficult to be that person who is the stand-in essentially
for these families that are suffering.
When you get to those congressional offices,
who are supposed to be working on behalf of these people,
in all honesty, it is-- it becomes annoying
because the people who line those offices outside
when I'm going to meet with them are all lobbyists.
Those are the people who are the gatekeepers.
Right. They're the real owners of the government.
Linda, you're in GAO.
Have we devised an upside down system, that no matter how you audit it
won't reveal the true dysfunction that exists in it?
Well, yeah. I'll start by saying yes.
-I wanted to thank you-- -We're done here. Thank you.
Yes.
I also wanted to thank you
for giving a shout-out to the Government Accountability Office.
That's right. I saw a lot of this.
A lot of this. GAO.
GAO is the most unsung agency in government.
They return $160 for every one dollar that we invest in GAO.
-Right. -I think that's a really important point,
is that, you know, oversight is not something we're seeing a lot of.
There's an enormous amount of corruption going on.
Not just the lobbying, which is a significant issue,
you know, buying congressmen,
but there's also buying agency leaders.
-There's also buying, you know, big-- -Explain that.
What do you mean by buying agency leaders? You mean like FDA, that kind of--
Yeah. Well, like, for instance,
the really big scandal that the Navy has recently gone under
with he's called "Fat Leonard."
-I'm not shaming him. That's just how-- -Understood.
-It's what he calls himself. -Understood.
And he-- and he's now on the lam.
He's cut off his little tag and he's--
Shouldn't be too hard to find Fat Leonard, I wouldn't think.
Yeah. He's-- He's robust.
But he--
Did I say that?
-Again, he asked to be called this. -I understand.
So this-- this guy, Francis Leonard, bought off many senior naval officials
in order to know where these ships were gonna go
so that he could service those ships and take all the money.
He was-- There was prostitutes involved.
There was all kinds of really lascivious and, you know,
kind of sexy, exciting things for an oversight community.
And-- and what we saw-- Yeah, we were excited about that.
No, I understand.
-You don't get a lot of the sexy audits. -No, yeah.
-No, that's good. -Yeah. It's a lot of numbers usually.
Here's what's shocking.
So, all agencies at government level have to undergo an audit.
And speaking of the Department of Defense,
they're the one agency that's never passed an audit.
-Correct. -Not once.
And they have this terrible scandal with Robust Leonard,
and they have all these other situations.
And the penalty and accountability for their corruption
and for their malfeasance was an enormous jump in their budget.
They got almost $100 billion more into their budget,
after we ended 20 years of war and they failed their audit.
-Yeah. -What are we supposed to make of that?
There's no incentives. I'm not even exaggerating.
There are no incentives, for-- almost at any level of government,
to be accountable to the taxpayers.
The concept of program integrity is really, really, really missing.
The focus a lot in Congress is let's put a program out
and then look how great that is. Look, we put this program, everybody.
-Isn't this great? -Right.
They put the press release and then walk away.
The program then is being fleeced by a million types of private-- of companies.
And how frustrating is that for you, Ameshia,
because you see these programs going out and you see the giant trough
that people are dipping into from private companies
and contractors and all these things.
And you're with people that need this help.
And you can't get the access.
The belief is that it's just not working for them.
And to be honest, it's not.
A lot of places have received funding for violence prevention,
have received funding for educational supports
for students who are falling behind for various reasons.
And at the end of the day, that money is like Puff the Magic Dragon.
Nobody has any idea where it's going
but it's not touching the communities that need it the most,
even though those are the people who have been stomping the ground.
And it makes my position extremely difficult
because I have to believe that things can get better.
And because there aren't that many people who are lobbyists "for the people."
So, when you walk into this you know what you're up against,
but there's also a recognition that somebody has to shake the ship.
-Somebody has to change. -Terribly frustrating.
And it seems like we're moving in the opposite direction.
Because we're increasing privatization.
Like Medicare proved to be an incredibly popular program.
And so we went the other way
and said, "What if we turn that into another trough?" and spiraled costs.
How is that privatization enriching middlemen?
Well, it's enriching the big, few big companies.
There are seven companies that are for-profit companies.
Their stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed,
the stock of those companies has increased from--
Like Cigna, where I used to work, about 1,000%…
-Wow. -…since the ACA was passed.
United Health Care, probably 5,000%.
That's where the money is from.
The Medicare program has become the big cash cow
for insurance companies.
We talk about the Medicare, you'll hear politicians talk about,
the Medicare trust fund is gonna go broke.
One reason is because the government
-is overpaying these companies. -Right.
Not only are they--
Not only is it being privatized, but the government
several years ago, decided to pay these companies bonuses
to get them into this program.
And we're just about a year or two away from the majority of people on Medicare
being enrolled in one of these plans.
For these companies, some of the times,
we're 90% of their business, 70% of their business.
We are an enormous profit center for them.
Why can we not leverage that purchase power for better deals,
lower prices and better function?
Well, I think because, as we were talking about earlier,
there's a really, really powerful lobby.
I mean, one of the things we saw right after the CARES Act was passed
and the Paycheck Protection Program was pass-- was created
and the banks made a lot of money in fees.
A lot of money. What we saw when we were doing oversight
was banks were creating, you know, three or four entities
to-- in order to get three or four times the fees.
They passed another law to re-up PPP nine months later
and they added six billion dollars in fees for banks,
-and they reduced the accountability-- -And that is the appropriators,
and that's where the heart of it lies.
We're gonna go talk with the chair of the House Appropriations Committee
to get some sense of what-- why is this.
Ameshia, I'll give the last word to the taxpayer,
to the advocate for the taxpayer.
What would you like to see in a system
that functions with more fairness and more responsibility?
One that's responsive to taxpayer needs,
one that meets the goals of the taxpayers.
As someone who has had several family members,
including my mom and my grandmother, pass away from cancer
because of some of the things that we mentioned earlier,
with the fight to actually get your health insurance to pay out
for things you need to survive,
we need to make sure that we have a system
that fights for the people as much as expected as us, as Americans,
are fighting for our democracy.
Because our democracy is not currently functioning in the way that it should.
-so that means accountability. -That's the issue.
Your money goes in, it goes in for taxes and what comes back to you
is something not worth that value. No-- No return on investment.
Wendell, Ameshia, Linda, thank you guys so much for being with us.
Take a look at this.
Here's to the middlemen.
The pushers, the takers,
the PowerPoint makers
that America depends on for something.
They don't build our roads or provide our health care
or teach our children or grow our food.
They're at a desk somewhere,
making a call to another guy to do some other thing.
Or filling out a form that allows the thing to go to the place,
directing the money to the other money.
Making sure the what-chama gets to the who-chama.
Listen, we don't know what they do.
Without them, we'd be fine.
And things would probably be cheaper.
So here's to them.
You middlemen motherfuckers.
You sick, slicked-backed hair suck-ass twats.
Paid for by the American taxpayers. Go get fucked.
Now…
the Appropriations Committee
is one of the most lobbied committees in Washington,
and they also happen to decide where our tax money goes.
So, I figured why not go down there, speak to the chairwoman,
maybe do a little lobbying myself.
-Congresswoman… -Yes.
…Rosa DeLauro, thank you so much for joining us. Democrat, Connecticut.
Chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
You got it.
Appropriations is, if you're gonna be on a committee…
-'cause you're the-- This is the bank. -That's right.
So we're talking about how Americans hate to pay taxes.
If you were to do an overlay of what people said they needed
-versus what they get… -Well--
…and some of that has to do with,
we allow corporations to use the American government
as a trough filled with customers,
and we don't ask anything of them
for the priority of having access to those customers.
So their profits go up, their prices go up.
We get caught in a spiral in the American government
where the amount of dollars that we have to pay out to get those same services,
-it seems-- -Well, that's our problem.
One of my roles in my job is, I feel, is we have to let people know
what are the kinds of things that we're engaged in,
that their taxpayer dollars are being used for.
We have shifted funding, so that we are now,
where there were cuts before, we are now shifting,
so we have increase in dollars for national institutes of health,
for mental health, for childcare, for early childhood education.
Education in general.
Your mom was a schoolteacher.
What?
-Yeah, so public education-- -She never told me that.
-Public education, transportation. -Right.
-Pandemic preparedness. -Right.
We were not ready.
So we have moved dollars in that direction. And I--
Is the government looking at it from the wrong end?
So we're basically providing customers to private institutions.
The government is saying-- Obamacare is a great example.
We're not giving people health care.
We're giving people a voucher that they can give to Aetna
or Blue Cross Blue Shield or somebody else,
and they will get their health insurance through this private company,
but we don't control cost.
You know, you talked about health care.
Historically, the federal government has not been able
to negotiate the price of prescription drugs.
Right.
-We now have that ability. -Right.
-And so-- -But, see, that seems insane.
Well, it may seem insane, but you're working in an institution--
-That's insane. -That--
You know, you have two political parties, you have different philosophies.
Look, I was here
on that bill when we dealt with the negotiation of Part D of Medicare…
-Right. -…when we're up all night.
You know, there were
between the House and the Senate, 536, 535 members.
They prohibited us from being able to negotiate price,
-but we vote on these things. -Right.
And that is critical.
-You have to have the votes to pass this. -Right.
So, when you're negotiating that bill, how many lobbyists were there?
600 or more.
600.
And how many of those lobbyists were taxpayers saying,
-"Wait, why are--" -Yeah.
"Why are you privatizing something
and it's going to spiral the cost of my things?"
In other words, is this system that we've set up, give no access--
-We're the ones footing the bill. -There is access.
-I'm going to point to you on access… -Okay.
…because this is-- What your recent advocacy…
-Right. -…your recent work,
veterans, et cetera, you know,
it took a while and there was the setback there,
but you advocated for something to happen that makes a difference in people's lives
and saving their lives.
And that happened.
-So-- -That happened.
-If-- If-- -Not because you didn't-- I--
-If I may? -Yeah.
-So, for 10 years… -Yeah.
-…those folks knocked on doors here… -Yeah.
-…and got nowhere. -I hear ya.
And the threat of cameras--
It-- It can't be that for the American taxpayer to get some foothold on policy,
they've gotta find a celebrity spokesperson…
-Yeah. -…that comes in.
Are we not recognizing how broken and corrupt a system is,
that when you're negotiating Medicare Part D,
which for the most part affects people above the age of, what, 65?
Who are going for the things,
and none of them are here, but 600 lobbyists,
the majority of whom are from insurance companies and Big Pharma--
-Yeah, but-- -Is that a system--
-I'm not disputing… -Yeah.
…because, look-- I really am not. The process is maddening.
It can be frustrating,
but like you, you don't give up, like others that don't give up.
-Right. -I don't give up.
-You just keep at it… -But the point is--
…and we are making strides.
Are we making incremental strides,
and are there foundational changes that we need to start thinking about--
-There is a paradigm shift in moving this. -Right.
It's like the-- moving the Titanic, if you will. And--
Right. Please don't-- Can't we just move a different boat?
-Let's move a boat that actually made it. -Made it. Okay.
-We're gonna make it. -Yeah, that's not--
-Okay. Yeah. -We are going to make it.
You now have a focus on children, on families…
-Understood. -…on education, on health care,
-on small businesses… -Yes.
…on the environment, on veterans,
-and that, as I said, is a paradigm shift… -Yes.
…in where federal resources are being used. Now--
But it's not just-- it's not just where they're being used…
-And for whom. -…it's-- it's how they're being used.
Taxpayers are angry because they feel like they put all this money out
but they don't get the value back.
It's a middleman system rather than a system that's more direct.
-Well-- But I-- -And is that the problem?
-Well, yeah, but I-- -Are we getting value with…
-Yes. -…the amount of money that comes in.
-We are. -Do you think we're getting the value
we should be getting?
Well, that's a different question. Yes--
-That's the question. -Well, no, it's not,
because it is where we are trying to address that…
-Yeah. -…to be able to do that.
You know, when-- After we passed the Rescue Plan,
-I went all over my district. -Right.
People, for the first time in a very long time, Jon, said,
"Rosa, if it hadn't been for the federal government,
my business would not be here today."
Hospitals, "Rosa, we could not have survived. We were going under."
But PPP and those programs in the pandemic
were the opposite of everything that the government has done
over the last 50 years.
-It was direct payment, it was immediate. -Well--
How do we change the system to deliver value that's universal--
I don't know how to convince you that we are…
-Yes. -…really working to try to do that.
That, for me, is what needs to be conveyed,
so that the public understands what role that government has in your lives.
Is that shifted here because the lobbyists have such access to the halls of Congress
and the people don't to the same extent? Is that part of it?
Yeah, I think the lobbyists have-- Yeah, I think it's--
So would that be-- Would a fundamental change occur
by finding a way to limit their access and their financial ability?
Look, you are a powerful voice for all of this,
but you have to play the game too.
McDonnell Douglas gave you $70,000. They--
No, and it's not McDonnell, it's Lockheed Martin.
-Lockheed Martin. I'm sorry. -Lockheed Martin.
-McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin. -United Technologies.
-You know what I'm saying? -Yeah.
So that's a defense contractor.
Defense contractors spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying this government.
And their return is hundreds of billions of dollars.
The American taxpayer doesn't get the return on investment
that its money should warrant.
-Yeah-- -For someone like you
to have to play that game as well, when, I think,
clearly from the way you speak, you're aghast by it.
Doesn't that show how entrenched those interests are here?
The issue is, how we go about creating a balance.
Right.
I view that that is what my role and responsibility is to do,
-is to create that balance. -Right.
Is to shift these resources.
Is there a more robust auditing process--
We do. We do that all of the time.
-I'm gonna give you a very good example. -Yes.
-That's what I'm talking about. -I think. I hope you do.
Look at what happened with this infant formula crisis, okay?
You had a corporation who sold a contaminated product. Okay?
IG is looking into that and I'll get--
and FDA, an agency that dragged their feet looking at this.
The whistleblower's report comes out in October,
no one interviews him until December,
nothing happens until February with a recall.
Infants at risk, several die, et cetera.
No supply on the shelf.
So we have health issue and a supply issue,
and there's not one or the other. We have to deal with both.
And a monopoly issue in that there's only--
Now that I want to go to what's fundamental,
-because you asked about fundamental. -Yes.
For me, what's fundamental to that is the consolidation of the industry.
-Yes. -Four corporations have…
-Right. Right. -…the market on infant formula.
Abbott has 43% of the infant formula,
most of which is served through the WIC program.
-Right. -I am looking at the consolidate--
-First and foremost, IG is doing-- -Haven't you just made my point for me?
-No, but listen to me, IG-- -Yeah.
But you're saying it's not being done. It is. IG--
No, it's not that it's not being done,
it's that the system is designed for that outcome.
-We give-- How much of their-- 43-- -It's not designed.
It's moved in that direction. Let's unravel that.
-But that's-- -Let's unravel it and we can.
-That's your point. -Right.
-That's your point. I'm there. But it's-- -Right.
But what I'm saying is your example is a perfect encapsulation
of the way this system operates to the detriment of the taxpayer.
So you have a company that owns 40% of a really important public health issue,
-which is baby formula, right? -Right.
So that should never have been allowed to happen.
-Right. -So somewhere,
in terms of corporate oversight, we never should allow that to happen.
-Right. -Second of all,
the government is providing a tremendous amount of money to Abbott
to make this baby formula
and yet, doesn't leverage the fact that they're Abbott's biggest customer
to make the changes that would allow this to be more resilient.
An agency of the government did that.
And that's what we're investigating.
I understand what you're saying.
-You see my point? -I do understand your point,
but I'm not a-- a doomsday-- I'm gonna…
I understand you're not doomsday.
I'm just telling you that scenario is how--
It's not an aberration.
It's how the government operates
and it leads to those outcomes more frequently than not.
And that's the thing that fundamentally feels like it has to change.
Well, we can change it.
We can change it.
Well, why didn't you tell me that at first, Rosa?
But it's not easy. It's not easy.
I believe you. I feel your fire.
-I feel it. -We have the wherewithal to do that.
You have to stand up and fight. You can't get tired.
You can't get, you know?
My mother, God rest her soul, died five years ago at age 103.
-What? -And she said to me always,
taught me many things, but, "Never give up and don't take no for an answer."
-Right. -So those are guiding principles.
Right, and government has a responsibility then to show its competence
-and to show, you know… -That's right.
…that it has some oversight and accountability.
Yeah. No, oversight, I believe in that.
-You're with it. All right, beautiful. -I'm there. I'm there.
You're a patient and tenacious person and I appreciate you.
Thank you.
I don't understand, why didn't my hair turn purple when I got old?
That's our show. I hope you're still mad about taxes,
but perhaps in a different way than you were before.
If you want to quit your job and become a tax detective
here's a great starting place, or you can check out our website.
Be sure to clear your cookies first, unless you want targeted ads…
that come from me.
We also have a podcast that I record naked.
I have a tattoo of a T-shirt on my body.
You think I'm wearing a T-shirt, but it's not a T-shirt, it's a tattoo.
All right, everybody, that's my time.
Here's your headliner, the funniest man alive,
and now here it is, your Moment of Cruz.
Hi, I'm Ted Cruz.
Well, it's happened again, it's tax day.
I don't think it's any coincidence
that the month of April begins with April Fool's Day
and then two weeks later tax day comes.