Radio Show Hour 1 – 04/10/2025

[00:00:13] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West. You are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. All right. Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans. Sam Bushman live on your radio. Hard-hitting news that ever refused to use, no doubt, starts now. This, my fellow Americans, is the broadcast for April the 10th in the year of our Lord, 2025.

[00:00:40] This is Hour 1 of 2 and the goal always to protect life, liberty, and property. To promote God, family, and country, to do so on your radio and in the traditions of our founding fathers. Yes, indeed, ladies and gentlemen, we reject revolution, unless it's a Jesus revolution. Then we're in because we follow the Prince of Peace. Welcome to the broadcast. It's all about the checks and balances, and it's all about we the people getting involved. You got a republic if you can keep it, said the founders, and boy howdy, we can't let this be a spectator sport any longer.

[00:01:08] Pete Sepp with us. He's president of the National Taxpayers Union. The NTU is the voice of Americans' taxpayers, mobilizing everybody to get together and reduce taxes. Focus on the proper role of taxation. Wow, that's a mouthful and something to achieve, that's for sure. NTU.org. Pete Sepp, welcome back, sir. Always great to be here. All right, it's wild and woolly on the hill these days, my friend.

[00:01:36] And I don't even know where to start, except for I guess we've got to start with the tariff discussion. Donald Trump was going to put tariffs on everybody and their dog. Yesterday he said, hey, we're going to drop it on 75 nations that have been cooperative, 90-day delay. China, 125%. Some people are saying he's smart as all get out. Others are saying he's lost his mind. Is it a method of truth and solutions around the world or is it a method of madness, Pete?

[00:02:06] It is a good question. I would say that the administration pulled off a real miracle here by not plunging our markets into further turmoil, by not creating a recession, which was a great worry. You know, when yesterday and even the day before yesterday, analysts of the markets were saying, don't look at the stock market. Look at the bond market.

[00:02:32] The bond market was also weakening, which is a sure sign that when the stock market is doing the same thing, you're headed to a very dangerous permanent or semi-permanent economic downturn. Yeah, because it relates to short-term and long-term in sync for the negative, right? That's right. That is right.

[00:02:55] And so for that reason, I think the Trump administration said, okay, we had better pull back here and reassess. And I'm glad they did. We can go around and around about what the best tariff rate is, who needs tariffs placed on them, who actually pays tariffs. It's the American people, of course. And whether we want tariffs to replace the current income tax system.

[00:03:22] But in the here and now or the immediate past, this was a real problem for the United States. And I'm glad we took a turnaround here and that we're getting into negotiations with many of the countries that Trump wanted to negotiate with. Now, here's what I find fascinating about this. I support tariffs because I support indirect taxes.

[00:03:46] And I think tariffs have an appropriate role to play in America and around the world to level the playing field, to reward those who are playing by the free market or the free enterprise system, if you will. Those who are against it or subsidize or dump on their markets or do different things that are subsidized and everything else. Hey, we would create a tariff and say, hey, you know what? You can't play by those rules, et cetera. And I think tariffs have an appropriate role in America.

[00:04:13] I think we ought to basically put tariffs in place and abolish the IRS entirely. That's just my opinion. But the reason I bring this up to you, Pete, is Congress constitutionally is in charge of tariffs, not really the president in the first place. And so I get the president trying to provide leadership here and reset the world in terms of finance. I get that we're losing. I mean, we're bleeding money left and right. We've been doing so for decades. That's got to stop. So I think Trump's right on the point. But I think we need to go about this in a little bit more of a calculated manner.

[00:04:42] Tariffs are never meant to be used as a weapon or used as what happens is you create a moral hazard and turmoil in the markets when you do that kind of stuff. So I'm glad we've reined this in a little bit. I support tariffs 100 percent. But there's a proper role for this stuff. And I think right now we're kind of missing the boat on it. Your thoughts? Yeah, I'm afraid so.

[00:05:03] It's really tempting for many of us who consider ourselves fiscal conservatives or even libertarians to say bravo for the executive branch in asserting tariff authority. We're finally having an America-led trade policy. Yeah, the problem is the Constitution didn't envision that role for the president.

[00:05:26] The Constitution said Congress was in charge of laying taxes and bills related to revenues originating in the House. You know, those powers were reserved to the legislative branch for a reason because they feared that an executive with those powers could exercise all kinds of authorities that would ultimately hurt the American people. Congress can certainly do that, too. But they are closer to the people. They are more numerous.

[00:05:56] They are more directly accountable, at least in the House of Representatives. And as you can tell, ladies and gentlemen from past experience, Pete, they're slow as molasses, buddy. Yes, they are. And, you know, this is the other problem, Sam. Many of the powers that have accumulated to the executive branch were not really directly and actively given to the executive by Congress. It's Congress's own laziness. They just have sat back.

[00:06:26] And every time the president tries to assert authority that, you know, may not be illegal but certainly wasn't given by the consent of Congress, lawmakers just sit back and yawn. And now we're in a situation where the branch that we elect to do things constitutionally isn't claiming its power.

[00:06:50] And the branch that we say needs to be limited by our Constitution is asserting power. It's a problem. Well, and to me, it's all about the checks and balances. That's one of the most important things we the people need to understand. And I'm really frustrated with Congress for not codifying a lot of what Trump is doing. A lot of what he's doing is correct. But we've got to have the proper branches of government. Otherwise, it could just be overturned by the next president. That's a very serious concern.

[00:07:17] But here's a phrase from Mike Johnson from this morning, Pete. And I want you to respond to this. Mike Johnson, quote, we have the votes necessary to draft and pass President Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill. In other words, the big spending bill. I reject this. I don't want a big, beautiful bill. I want them to take pieces at a time, straight up and down votes. And first off, you say, hey, is this legislative expenditure constitutional?

[00:07:46] If it's not, then you've got to say we're getting rid of it or we're finding a way to sunset or end it. If it is legitimately constitutional and you can show the backing for it, then pass it and quit playing games with it. And do it one piece at a time. And they've literally had over three months to get that done now. They could have passed hundreds of bills, piecemeal, all these things, straight up and down votes, clear understanding of what we're doing. They could have got all that done. They've wasted nothing but three months. And now they want a big, beautiful bill that doesn't save us any money.

[00:08:15] What do you say, Pete? Yeah, this is the problem. You know, for the first time in recent memory, the so-called reconciliation process for the budget, where the House passes its blueprint for spending and taxes, the Senate passes its blueprint. The two chambers agree on a common blueprint going forward. They pass it. Then they start instructing their committees to reach all of these revenue and spending targets.

[00:08:44] That's not what's happening here. The thing that's going to be voted on today is effectively saying we're going to agree to disagree. We're going to write our own instructions for each chamber as to tax and spending levels. Then we'll pass our bills. And then some point in the summer or the fall, even, we're going to have another argument over how big government should be.

[00:09:11] Well, I don't think that is a recipe for success. And frankly here, the House's bill, the original framework, which calls for $2 trillion of budget savings over the next nine years, isn't even a net spending cut. And the United States Senate can't bring itself to do even $4 billion with a B dollars. You know what kind of gulf that is?

[00:09:40] So let me ask you a question then. Why are Mike Johnson and Donald Trump going for this? It flies in the face of everything they've promised. Yeah, they're going to have to say to the Senate, we have to talk here because if the Senate's going to start with the assumption that practically no federal spending can be touched anywhere in the budget. And the House is saying, look, we just want to pull back a little bit.

[00:10:07] $2 trillion of savings on the $86 trillion we plan to spend over the next nine years. If that's too much for the Senate, we have a real problem here. Well, I think what the House needs to do is simply say this. All spending bills are supposed to originate in the House. So we originated our spending bill. Here it is, Senate. Either you sink the government or you get on board. We're not going to play games and reconcile nothing. Here's our bill. It's passed by us.

[00:10:37] It's stalled by you. And if you beat them up with the media, go ahead and skip the break. Liz. All right. It seems to me that you could just you could literally play hardball, couldn't you, Pete? You could. And, okay, then the people start saying, well, this could shut down the government. No. We've already passed our bill. What are you talking about? We've already passed it. I don't know what the Senate's problem is.

[00:11:06] We're the ones that originate according to the Constitution. We're the ones that hold the purse strings according to the supreme law of the land. And right now we've already passed it. It doesn't relate to us. That's right. You need to talk to the Senate and to your president, people. That's the way the system works. And if enough House members literally boldly stood together on that, I think it's impossible to hand them their head on it. That's right. And then, of course, other naysayers will argue, well, we can't possibly put the brakes

[00:11:36] on spending now because. It doesn't matter whether you can or can't. We've passed this bill and that's what you've got in your hands. You either go along or you fail the people. You take your pick. That's right. That's right. And the American people are going to be failed sooner than we think by a spending machine that is out of control. I don't understand why members of the GOP caucus, the Republican caucus in the Senate are saying,

[00:12:03] well, we're not going to agree to slow down federal spending by $2 trillion out of $86 trillion we're planning to spend because that's too drastic. You want to see drastic? See what happens when the Social Security Trust Fund has to start cutting benefits to people by more than 20 percent less than 10 years from now. That's what's going to be drastic.

[00:12:28] And if we don't get our house in order now and start seriously confronting these problems, there's going to be a lot worse ahead for the American people. We also need to reset this 10-year discussion. I don't mean to be offensive, but I'm going to be blunt. Why on earth are we talking about 10 years? Who gave that magic number? What I want to talk about is one year at a time. Okay? Budgets are done by a year at a time, not by 10-year dishonest manipulative projections. Okay?

[00:12:56] Congress doesn't have the right to spend money years and years and years and years into the future. The fact is, I want them to take action this congressional session. In other words, this year. And if you want to talk about two years, I'll go there because you're elected for two years. But I'm not going to discuss a bill that discusses, you know, hey, in Congress it's five terms later. You could have five different congressmen in place during that time frame.

[00:13:21] What they do is they talk about 10 years, then they betray the 10 years, one, two, three, four, five years down the road, and it means nothing. I want to talk about now. Brian Rust, welcome to the roundtable, sir. And your thoughts on that? I don't want to hear about 10 years. I want to know what they're doing now to save money. Well, glad to be with you, Sam, you and Pete. Appreciate you inviting me on. I think that you're right on as far as we can't wait 10 years.

[00:13:49] And basically, we're looking at a pattern here from government over the last number of years that it's out of control. I mean, you know, spending is reckless. And, you know, you have Rand on the floor stating, can't we just cut 1 percent? No one wants to do that. So it basically shows that they just don't care, I guess. I don't know. Pete, what do you think about my one, two-year idea?

[00:14:16] I don't know why we're talking about, hey, all you have, Congressman, is two years for sure. Now, you may get reelected. You may not. But I don't want to discuss beyond your authority, which is two years. We've given you two years, sir. That's all you have. I don't want to talk about anything past that, right? Yeah, I would agree. And I would sooner accept a small, even a microscopic reduction in federal spending that happens now than a bigger one that happens 10 years from now.

[00:14:45] Because we have past history to show that 10 years from now might as well be forever when it comes to the federal budget process. They'll just push the thing forward and forward and forward and never actually get to the business of reducing or even just controlling the growth of federal spending. Who's to blame? Is it Trump? Is it Johnson? Where do we put the blame? Because if I was in charge, I'm telling you right now, I'd simply say this.

[00:15:15] We're talking about one year. I would frame this in the media. We're discussing one year. Why? Because we pass the budget one year at a time. That's why. Okay? We talk about spending annually, correct? Yes. All right. So I don't want to discuss anything besides this annual discussion. And I'm telling you right now, how much did we spend annually last year? And I'm going to make sure that it's less this year. And I'm talking simple math. You know, you take whatever number it was last year.

[00:15:43] And then this year's got to be less. Okay? Forget all the games. Forget all the gimmicks. Forget all the projections. And I just want one year and less money being spent. Is that, can't that be done, Pete? It certainly can. I mean, we do budget projections in a 10-year window.

[00:16:04] The Budget Control Act tends to do all of these appropriations and authorizations of programs on a 10-year schedule. But that's not written in stone. I mean, Congress could say, well, all right, we're going to keep doing all those estimates and whatnot. But we're going to focus on the year in the here and now. And again, this is not a heavy lift.

[00:16:33] People might think, well, all of the spending we were doing in the pandemic has pulled back. And all that emergency aid is gone. So federal spending must have gone down dramatically. No, not really. Since 2019, federal spending has increased more than 35% after inflation is taken account for. I mean, that's... Which means with that hidden tax, the number's really through the roof.

[00:17:03] That's right. I mean, when you average that out, Sam, that's 6.5%, 7% a year since 2019. What if we simply said instead of 6.5% or 7%, we're going to let federal spending grow, grow next year by half that amount? Could we please agree to that? No, they won't. So do you blame Mike Johnson for this, though? To me, he's the real key to the exercise.

[00:17:31] He's the one that decides what can be discussed, what can hit the floor, what comes out of what committees. I mean, he really controls the whole docket, does he not? He has a lot of control, but there are other members who do as well.

[00:17:44] And frankly, right now, there's a fiscally conservative caucus of lawmakers in the GOP in the House called the Freedom Caucus who are saying, look, the original budget plan the House voted on a month or so ago calling for $2 trillion in pullbacks for federal spending, that has to be the low watermark. And that's why this budget may not pass in the House today.

[00:18:11] We'll see, because the new deal that the Senate is sending back to the House, there's a lot of skepticism going on right now. I'll just say that. Brian Rush, FreeWaterCoinCo.com. I'll like it to you. This stuff just baffles me. It isn't complicated. Okay? And now they're running us up against a debt ceiling. They're running us up against running out of money. And now they want us to panic and kick the can again, Brian.

[00:18:41] Well, it's like I said, it's out of control, like you said. You both said it's out of control. And we just don't get these Congress people held accountable. I don't know why they can't just come together. And it seems like it's the good old boys club that, hey, we don't care what you say. This is what we're going to do.

[00:19:08] Or they tell us this is what they're going to do, but they don't do it. It's just a broken scenario here, and it needs to be fixed. One of the other factors I thought about, too, is do they take into consideration, and maybe Pete can answer that as well, do they take into consideration unforeseen spending, for instance, these natural disasters that come up that we don't know they're coming up, but now there's more tornadoes, or there's more of this, and there's more of that.

[00:19:36] And then you've got states that say, hey, we've got to declare emergency here. Do they – I mean, there's more spending there. I mean, I just – Yeah. I don't understand it. Yeah, there is more spending there. They know it, but they don't plan for it. They don't create a budgetary reserve like a lot of states do, for example. That's just prudent planning for a household or a local government or a state government. The federal government doesn't do that.

[00:20:04] And there surely will be additional federal spending that we know about, call it a known unknown. Donald Rumsfeld used to say that. But we don't know the exact amount. We don't know where it's going to come from, but we've got to plan for it. Washington doesn't care about that. And for years, we've been trying to lobby for them to create a rainy day fund like many states have.

[00:20:32] And the resistance just goes on and on. Big reason. No secret. Washington can print its own money. So let me ask you that now. Doge mentioned this. Elon Musk talking to – I think it was Ted Cruz – and said, hey, these guys got placed in these government departments. They got magic money machines. They just literally created on the computer, send it out to different places with no oversight whatsoever. We know the Federal Reserve's got to be part of that.

[00:21:01] That's criminal stuff. Why aren't people getting arrested and going to prison? That's pretty incredible. I mean, I just saw, for example, that at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they hold trillions in assets backed by taxpayers. Upwards of 100 people just got their pink slips for engaging in potentially fraudulent activities surrounding oversight.

[00:21:28] That's a good start, but it's going on everywhere in the federal government. Yeah, I want pink slips to jumpsuits, though. That's right. That's right. I mean, when you think of the activities that led Fannie and Freddie to go belly up in the late 2000s in that giant financial meltdown, that was criminal mismanagement, and nobody did a day of time in jail for it. Where do we go from here?

[00:21:58] On one hand, Pete, I'd like to put pressure on these people, but I used to call my congressmen and senators, and I used to at least get a staff member. Now all I get is voicemail. Believe it or not, my congressman, brand new guy, too, you would think he'd be more open than this. But anyway, if I call, it says press two if you're a citizen and you want to leave a comment. Press one if you're from another staff office and you need to talk to somebody. Well, I press one and act like I'm a staffer, and I get a human at least. But they don't even take your calls anymore. You can't put any pressure on anybody anywhere.

[00:22:27] You don't know where your congressman is. They won't respond to you. The founders thought it would be one to 30,000, if you will. Now it's about one to a million in terms of representation. I mean, we're off the reservation crazy on this. No wonder we can't get any action. Yeah. I think part of the problem that you point out, Sam, is that we have a very narrow party control of Congress.

[00:22:52] And, you know, obviously, President Trump controls the executive branch. But even there, in narrow party control situations, we have to be able to identify the handful of politicians in the GOP who are willing to say, enough. I'm going to gum up the works. I am going to slow down the process until someone listens about the need for federal spending reduction. And that's what it really takes.

[00:23:22] It takes a Rand Paul. It takes a Freedom Caucus in the House to say, we're not going to take it anymore. And that's where you put your support. That's where you put your calls. Even if you don't live in Rand Paul's state of Kentucky. Even if you don't live in a state which has Freedom Caucus members. Contact them. Send them an email.

[00:23:47] It doesn't matter if those staffers count them up and count up the voicemails, count up the emails, see that they have support from people across the country, not just in their own district. That will give them the spine to keep resisting all of the procedural ledger domain that's keeping federal spending so high. Amen. One quick question for you before we let you go, Pete. I'm sorry, Pete.

[00:24:12] IRS chief to resign in protest of Trump administration over, I guess, sharing information with the Department of Homeland Security. So based on illegals, they're going to use the IRS to give information to Homeland Security to remove illegals from the country. And now the IRS commissioner or IRS chief is going to resign. My response is good riddance, number one. And number two, what better time to shut down the IRS? There's nobody leading it. Just shut it down. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:39] And what better time to finally have the conversation we need about dramatically reforming this agency? I mean, if we want a new tax system, we might as well get a new tax administration agency at the same time. Start fresh. And you think there's hope for that? Is that real? Do you think? Well, we actually are putting out today a new study on complexity in the tax system.

[00:25:06] Americans spend over $7 billion with a B hours just doing paperwork for the federal government. Can you hold on a quick second? Yeah. Hold on a quick second. We'll be right back. ...successful in getting her done. We're ready to move forward. I'm hoping that the speaker and his team and his house colleagues can succeed today, get the budget resolution passed, and that will set us up for the next step in this process. Inflation increased at a somewhat slower clip last month, up 2.4 percent from a year ago.

[00:25:36] Egg prices hit a record high last month as the largest U.S. egg supplier comes under investigation. Cal, Maine, received notice last month and says it's cooperating as the DOJ looks into egg pricing. The Mississippi-based company comes under scrutiny as it provides some 20 percent of the nation's egg supply. Egg prices have hit record highs in recent months, up to an average of $5.90 in U.S. cities in February,

[00:26:03] up more than 10 percent from a year ago, largely due to the bird flu epidemic that's forced farmers to slaughter more than 166 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens. George Williams reporting. The Senate has confirmed former Arkansas Governor, Baptist Minister and political commentator Mike Huckabee serve as America's new ambassador to Israel. The yeas are 53, the nays are 46. The nomination is confirmed.

[00:26:28] The party-line vote installs an evangelical Christian and strong supporter of Israel as ambassador just two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House. Huckabee has expressed support for Israel's right to annex the West Bank in opposition to a two-state solution. That's correspondent Jennifer King. On Wall Street this morning, stocks in the red. The Dow down 758 points. The Nasdaq is off 463 points. More on these stories at townhall.com.

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[00:30:00] I'm broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West. You are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. All right, back with you live, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:30:25] Pete Sepp, president of National Taxpayers Union, NTU.org in the house. Right before the pause, he was updating us on a new research study they just came out with, kind of highlighting what a burden the current system is with the IRS. We've got to simplify and or abolish the system big time. Look, nobody has a problem paying taxes, but who wants to be all bogged down every year in all this complicated? Pete, take it from there and give us kind of an update on what you found and maybe what you think the solutions are. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:30:55] This is an annual study that we've done since 1999. And what we do is figure out how much time and money Americans spend complying, not paying, but complying with the federal individual income tax. They spend 7.1 billion hours complying and $465 billion complying. And that's annual?

[00:31:24] That is annual. Think about this. The federal government collects about $2.5 trillion in corporate and individual income tax revenue. So that means for every dollar the federal government collects, we have to pay an additional 20 cents just to comply with the whole administration of the system. That doesn't count state taxes, doesn't count other types of federal taxes. That's a tremendous burden in its own right.

[00:31:56] Brian, do you want to respond to this? I don't even know how to respond. I think we ought to just sue all of our government officials and say this is so onerous, this is so abusive that it needs to stop immediately. But they're not even voting on it or focusing on it at all, Brian. Well, I think Pete hit it right on the head there. It's just broken. And a proven bad plan is a bad plan. I mean, if these things are all happening and we're seeing they're happening, it's not like it's just we're making this stuff up. This is real.

[00:32:25] And so, yeah, there's got to be – I mean, we just can't keep going the way we're going. It's proven fact. And so I wish – you know, we talk about it, but, boy, accountability seems to be a whole other story. Heard that. All right. What else in the study and what do you think the solutions are, Pete? Well, the 2017 tax relief law pointed the way out of this.

[00:32:51] They simplified some of the tax filing processes, created a larger standard deduction so people didn't have to keep as many horrible records to itemize deductions and get more of their own money back. Well, simplification is the way to go.

[00:33:09] So if we want to move to a tariff-based system with no direct taxes on income on the American people and no taxes without apportionment, okay, good. Let's do that. That's one way. You could even move to a single flat rate income tax if we don't want to go in that direction. You'd save a lot of time and money for the American people just complying with the system.

[00:33:38] Ryan, any final thoughts on this? Well, Pete said it. There's some good ideas that probably need to be pushed forward, and I hope some people are listening. So you think the best thing for us to do is call some of the Freedom Caucus leaders? That's the best time we can spend as citizens supporting this effort? I don't want to be just complaining. I want to highlight the concerns. That's why we bring this up. But I want to be a guy that's focused on the solutions.

[00:34:07] I want to do what I can to actually make a difference. Pete, is that where I should spend my time? I think so. And definitely put those calls of support on the Senate side into Rand Paul and say, stand your ground. We need to do something better with this federal budget right now, not 10 years from now. Yes. All right. Well, we appreciate it, sir. That study will be up at NTU.org soon, right? That's correct. All right.

[00:34:35] So, folks, if you want to get the details of that, you know, hey, we need to really beat, not literally, figuratively, our congressmen and senators over the head with this and say, folks, we're spending a half a trillion dollars annually on just compliance. The amount of hours we spend is out of control. Nobody has a problem paying their fair share.

[00:34:57] But we've got to take away this just absolute – I mean, it's paralyzing when it comes to small business and time and effort. I mean, it's paralyzing every year. Last comment from you about that, Pete. Yeah. It absolutely is vital. We have got to get a tax system that people can understand, one that is transparent. And you know what that's also going to do?

[00:35:24] Once people can understand the tax system, know how much they're paying for real rather than having it just withheld from their checks, knowing that others are paying and knowing how much they're actually paying for their government, they're going to start demanding more value from their government. That's an argument in favor of going to a retail sales tax in place of the current income tax on the federal level.

[00:35:51] You'd see right on your cash register receipt how much your government is costing you. I'll bet a lot of Americans would say, hey, this is too much to pay. We demand better. Last question, Pete. Do you think that Donald Trump's leadership can get this done? We really have, in my opinion, one year to show what Congress, what the House can really do. They've already wasted a quarter of that. Yeah.

[00:36:17] Only if we focus our energy now, not just the tax writing committees in Congress, not just the budget committees, but all the committees in Congress have to work toward the goal of replacing our tax system, fixing our broken budget process. Everybody's got to pitch in in the remaining, well, nine months now that we have. All right. There you have it. Thank you so much, Pete. We'll chat soon.

[00:36:47] Always a pleasure. Godspeed to both of you. NTU.org, everybody. Check it out. They're your partner when it comes to tax accountability, tax transparency, tax appropriate reduction. And they can help you not only on the general level, but all the way down to your local city and county and state level. They make a difference and partner with you with ideas and guidance and direction and sometimes even some dollars and cents to help the cause.

[00:37:14] Get involved, NTU.org, one of my favorite organizations because they are focused on solutions. Brian, they're one of my favorite people because they really do the work in the trenches. Most people don't really realize this stuff is all available at our fingertips because of NTU and other groups that do these studies. They dig in. They get the goods and they get the information that you need. And then it's up to us to take that information and literally push hard. And that's what we're missing, Brian.

[00:37:44] Yeah, I agree. I think Pete and the group is doing a great job. You know, and you mentioned that we're not opposed to paying our fair share. But the issue, I think, Sam, is the fact of what is our fair share. When we look at all the waste and just out-of-control spending and so on, I think we as a body of people just get frustrated. Well, we're paying our time. We're paying and we're supposed to be doing this, that, and the other.

[00:38:14] And we're held to these guidelines. And if we don't hold to these guidelines, we're, you know, penalized. And so, but yet there is no accountability on the other side. And so I think our fair share gets a little bit irritating because their fair share or what they're doing with the money that we're giving is just not, there's no control or plan or whatever. Anyway, I don't know.

[00:38:43] I've gotten so jaded, Brian, and I know this sounds sad. And, I mean, as a leader, I probably shouldn't get this way, but I just can't help it. I look at this stuff and I just go, man, we just have no hope. I mean, right now, the IRS director literally resigned. He said, I don't want the IRS giving information to DHS or the Department of Homeland Security so that we can get rid of the illegal gang members and thugs and people in our country. I'm going to resign over that. And my response is good riddance, resign.

[00:39:13] But what a better time to shut down the IRS than right now when Donald's like, hey, we're going to take care of this with tariffs. We need to give the American people a break. There's nobody leading the IRS now. Just shut it down then. But see, no one's even talking about it. No one's even talking about, even if we don't shut it down, reform. I mean, can we somehow turn a half a trillion dollars annually of compliance into, you know, a very simple plan? No, they're too busy. They're just so preoccupied. They're so busy.

[00:39:42] We can't get that done. And I'm thinking, that alone, you could change the game and save a half a trillion in just compliance costs? 400. How many hours did he say? 400 million hours? Yeah. I can't even remember the number. It's so massive. It's hard to even keep track. Was it millions or billions or trillions or how many zeros? I don't even know. But you could instantly say, we're not going to do this anymore. But they're not even talking about it, Brian. Well, that's it. And when it's broken, it needs to be fixed.

[00:40:12] And it's been broken. You know, this whole process is broken. And it's, you know, it seems like they could come together. And here's a whiteboard here. And let's start listing all the things that are just out of control and broken and not working. And here's some ideas over here on this board of what we can do in moving forward and so on. And let's come together. I don't know. There's a divide. And no, I'm not helping you. And we can't. I don't know. It's a mess.

[00:40:41] It's a tangled mess. Hang tight, ladies and gentlemen. Brian Rust, freewatercoinco.com. We've got solutions on your radio. We're going to have the Honest Money update here in seconds. So hang tight. As you are aware, America is divided over every fault line possible. This is intentionally fostered by those who do not love God, family, or country.

[00:41:07] We believe a peaceful future as a free people absolutely depends on civility. Clarion Call for Civility is looking for funding and volunteers at every level to make our hopes and efforts a reality. Please donate, sign our pledge, and help us in our sacred cause. Please visit callforcivility.com for more details. Callforcivility.com. Bypass the mainstream narrative with Liberty News Radio at libertynewsradio.com. Engage with charismatic hosts live or on demand.

[00:41:36] We cover the crucial news focused on God, family, and country. News that other networks simply refuse to use. Think of LNR as hard-hitting news and podcasts at your fingertips anytime, anywhere. Join us at libertynewsradio.com. Empower your day with the truth because the truth will set you free. Liberty News Radio.com. Why don't we say to the government writ large that they have to spend a little bit less?

[00:42:03] Anybody ever had less money this year than you had last? Anybody ever having a 1% pay cut? You deal with it. That's what government needs, a 1% pay cut. If you take a 1% pay cut across the board, you have more than enough money to actually pay for the disaster relief. But nobody's going to do that because they're fiscally irresponsible. Who are they? Republicans. Who are they? Democrats. Who are they? Virtually the whole body is careless and reckless with your money.

[00:42:33] So the money will not be offset by cuts anywhere. The money will be added to the debt, and there will be a day of reckoning. What's the day of reckoning? The day of reckoning may well be the collapse of the stock market. The day of reckoning may be the collapse of the dollar. When it comes, I can't tell you exactly, but I can tell you it has happened repeatedly in history when countries ruin their currency.

[00:43:02] All right, back with you live, ladies and gentlemen. Brian Rust, Rust Coining Gift is what we used to know it as, but it's FreeWaterCoinCo.com. That's the website, FreeWaterCoinCo.com. You've got a friend in the honest money business. Brian, where's gold and silver sitting, sir? So gold is at $3,128.50. Wow, it's holding above $3,000 longer than it's ever done, huh?

[00:43:27] Yeah, we're up, what was it, last week we were $3,093. Now we're $3,128, so we're up again. Yeah, it's holding strong. It's the leading role of reserve currency around the world. It really is. Gold's the number one key. All right, silver? $31.10. $31.10.

[00:43:57] What's that ratio now? 90 plus to 1 still? It's 100.59 to 1. Has it ever been higher than that? Yeah, I think we were up over 101 or something like that. Okay, but it's close to the highest it's ever been. Yep, yep, yep. That's concerning in and of itself, isn't it? Well, yeah, the ratio is way, it's a major imbalance as far as the silver to gold ratio.

[00:44:23] So silver right now is a real key factor. And if you're looking to invest, silver is great because we're going back to 50. I can guarantee you that. We've been at 50, you know, in 08 and 11 and so on. You know, we're going back there. And we'll, you know, I'm pretty conservative. But to see that at $70, $80, I mean, once it hits that 50, look out. I think now it's moving and we'll see the $70, $80, $100.

[00:44:52] And people project a lot higher. But, you know, can we get to $100? Absolutely. From where we're standing, no doubt about it. All right. I don't know how to deal with this, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. Here's the headline. UN shipping tax to fuel global tyranny. The United Nations, believe it or not, is close to imposing its, quote, first ever tax on humanity.

[00:45:20] If it succeeds, globalists will have all the funding they need to destroy liberty, sovereignty, and more. Our dear friend Alex Newman over at LibertySentinel.org brings us this piece. The United Nations desperately wants access to your money to fuel globalism.

[00:45:46] It's been dreaming of taxing humanity since the inception of the UN. And now it's about to make that dream come true. They're calling it a global shipping tax with catastrophic implications for humanity.

[00:46:04] I mean, this is a powerful but little-known UN agency quietly plotting to impose global taxes on all international maritime shipping. It's all done under the guise of fighting CO2 emissions and climate change. Anyway, the bottom line is the American people will be paying this if we allow it to happen. Brian, speak to this. This is serious.

[00:46:31] This is happening under the radar while everybody else is focused elsewhere. This is happening. Well, I think it's totally wrong. You know, we were talking basically how the UN was, you know, the United States was basically funding the UN until Trump tried to change that and then Biden changed that and then they're back. But I don't see how they – that's wrong, this whole plan of what they're figuring.

[00:46:59] Now, you heard my slogan for the criminal's creed, right? Let's hear it. All right. So, you know, the criminals have this creed that they say that I made up. I'm not a criminal, but I can make up their creed for them. And here it is. What are you going to do about it? Yeah, it's wrong. It's bad. It's evil. It's all – everything that you say, it's criminal. It's against the law. It's all those things, Brian. And it's all true, but what are you going to do about it, buddy? That's exactly right.

[00:47:25] Well, that's the – we've got such disorder and chaos. Maybe they just – now's the time to be bringing this out because amidst the chaos, it's going to, you know, probably going to happen because we – it just goes by the wayside and, boom, pushed into order. And we don't even know it. What are we going to do? Good point. You know, what are you going to do about it? And I know that sounds kind of trite, but I think that's kind of what they're saying because it doesn't seem to me like we're willing to do anything or we can do anything about it. Yeah.

[00:47:55] We can bring it up so you're aware of it and all that kind of stuff, which is my responsibility in the news. But people will be saying, you know, what are you going to do about it? Yeah. Right? That's it. That's their motto, I think. What are you going to do about it? Anyway, I think that's what's happening on the floor. That's the criminal creed. What are you going to do about it, you know? Yeah, you caught me. So? I work with Joe Biden. I've got a pardon. I can do whatever I want to do. There's nothing you can do about it.

[00:48:25] Got it? Doesn't matter if I was competent enough to give the pardons. Doesn't matter if I illegally did this or that. What are you going to do about that? The answer is nothing. We're just going to riot and wring our hands and get all mad and be like, that's horrible. Well, it is. But nothing's going to change. Even when the IRS chief resigns, we don't have anybody to lead it. They still cling to that agency like it's. I mean, it's just shocking. Yeah. All right. This is interesting as well.

[00:48:53] Headline says global CDBC development accelerates. So digital currency is what the CDBC is, right? So global CDBC development. In other words, digital currency accelerates despite Trump's efforts. Even with President Trump's, quote, executive order. What do they call this thing? 14,000.

[00:49:20] 14,178 is the actual executive order number. Even with that signed on January 23rd, 2025. So, you know, hey, three days after he got in, he signed that. Banning the Federal Reserve and other U.S. agencies from pursuing a, quote, central bank digital currency, CDBC. The global race to develop this digital currency has not slowed down at all.

[00:49:48] In fact, it's, believe it or not, speeding up. Brian, what do you say? Trump's trying to stop it, but it's accelerating all around the world and there's nothing we can do to stop it. And here's why. Before, I guess, 134 countries were involved here and currency unions. And it all related to about 98% of the global GDP. They're all on it.

[00:50:13] With the U.S. stepping back, they still have, you know, what, 133 countries? And they still control 70-plus percent, even without the United States. The question becomes, can we stop it? And sadly to say, I doubt it. The U.S. only accounts for 26% of the global GDP. And so, A, we're only $27 trillion of the $105 trillion that's involved in it and everything else. They're all pushing their CDC efforts.

[00:50:43] And I don't know that we can stop it, Brian. Yeah, and I think the motto, as you said before, is what are we going to do about it? What can you, what are you, they're going to do this, and what are you going to do about it? Nothing. And maybe that's it, because we don't have enough, you know, we don't have the majority number. Yeah, it's all out of control. And it'll move forward. And now we're kind of looking at a backdoor approach through stablecoin and through this and that and the other and the other.

[00:51:13] But Donald Trump has been, I mean, he's changed his attitude. He's totally for digital currencies now and everything. But I look at this and I say, you know what? We're big. We're huge. But we're not big enough to stop it that I can see. I wish we were, but I don't see it. Well, and if we try to stop it, does it be, is it anger against, or do they become angry or so on? And then by force or by majority, I don't know.

[00:51:43] Are we heading for, you know, I hate to say a bigger war, another, you know, a bigger, I don't know. Maybe I'm just throwing that out there. Well, what you've got, Brian, you've got trade wars and rumors of wars and real wars and wars that were not declared that we're in and wars that we shouldn't be in that we fund and that we train and that we arm people for and we claim we're not in it. We claim Congress doesn't need it. I mean, we're all over the map, but it just reminds me of the, you know, scriptural references.

[00:52:11] Hey, we've got wars and rumors of wars continually. And we're not about to back away. We just seem to be getting more and more and more over our head in every one of these battles. Yeah, that's exactly true. And now these wars are not just, you know, we line up some tanks. You know, we're talking, you know, major, you know, these major bombs that I ran and others are building and it's a nuclear war, I guess.

[00:52:39] Yes, it's just, we've just got ourselves to this point in disbelief. And I guess it's not disbelief, but the corruption. I guess the corruption that's led us to here, how do we now solve and fix? And you, Sam, you're printing truth and the truth shall make you free.

[00:53:01] But how many are only printing a piece of the truth, but really corrupting a lot of truth because of evil money or the evil side per se? And it's, that's the war. Well, and I'll tell you what's interesting. You know, we put 125% tariffs on China right now. I don't know if Donald will blink or the Chinese will blink or what's going to happen with that or if they'll sit down and negotiate. But I remember years ago, China said, all right, I guess we got to go to the nuclear option. And everybody thought they were talking about, you know, truly nuclear weapons. And then they're like, no, no, no.

[00:53:30] The nuclear option is financial. Yeah. And so China says, hey, we're going to go to the nuclear option financial. And the question is, who can do who can do more damage to whom? You know, right now they say, well, we've got more control than the Chinese do. We've got more on our side for leverage than they do. That may be temporarily true. But long term, I don't know that it's true. And I think we need to lead with a different strategy.

[00:53:59] We don't need to be hostile and in their face. And we can do diplomatic relations and we can work out a way to say, listen, you know, we're just going to simply match your tariffs. Whatever your tariffs on us are, they're going to be the same on you. But we also got to bring manufacturing back. And we can't make that happen overnight. We need to be very strategic about this or it might blow up in our face. Brian, I appreciate you, sir. Hey, thank you much, Sam. God bless you. And we say our prayers. That's what we need to do. Amen to that. Freewatercoinco.com.

[00:54:29] You've got a friend in the honest money business. Thanks so much for being alongside for the ride. LovingLiberty.net, our nationally syndicated network. Doing a phenomenal job. Spread the word. Incredible talk to our hosts around the clock. LovingLiberty.net. Freewatercoinco.com. God save our republic. God save our republic.