“Billionaires Shouldn’t Exist” – Ben & Jerry’s Founder … — Transcript

Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I get out my pint of Ben and Jerry. Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Ben and Jerry. Ben and Jerry. Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's, one of the best business stories we've had in America. Guys, how do you, who has made his money as a capitalist, support a socialist? Poor people are getting screwed. We shouldn't be in a country where you work 40 hours a week full-time and you can't afford to have a decent life. That should be illegal. Do you really want to go there? It's not going to be good. If you really want to go there, hey, speaking of ice cream, you got a spoon? Good [ __ ] isn't it? I've never had dirt. Yeah, pass it over. This is ridiculous. After this ice cream, I'm a socialist. If voting for Bernie was an option, he would have won. I don't need that much money. I can tell you that. I'm part of it, but I'm against it.

Ben, what a capitalist you are though. You know, you're a good consumer. We would classify you as a heavy user, and we appreciate people like you. I don't think we could be the number one, but please tell me you're joking right now that you didn't know you're number one. I, you know, you feel the number one ice cream company in America? I think that there's a form of capitalism that works well. How can you one minute say the government wastes money and the next minute say let's pay more money because we think they can do a better job with it? They're so confused right now. They're about to have a drink right now. That's a confuser. You just confuse the [ __ ] out. [Music] of did. [Applause] You, Adam, what's your, the future looks bright. My handshake is better than anything I ever signed. Right here you are a one of one, my son's right. I think said this before.

Okay, so gang, every once in a while I do a podcast where I have no clue where we're going to go. I'm just being very upfront with it. I have no idea what we're doing today. What I do know is I don't know if you recognize this brand, Ben and Jerry's ice cream. If you've ever had Ben and Jerry's ice cream, the founder Ben is here today, Ben Cohen. Can I tell you an idea about where he's at while we're talking right now?

They're from Vermont. I've been to Ben and Jerry's because the insurance company that we're, we're one of the guys that writes the most insurance policies with them. National Life Group is down the street from you, so I know them. So I've been to Vermont quite a few times. So we go to the headquarters. We have a good time. We're going to try Ben and Jerry's. I brought a lot of other ice cream that he hasn't seen yet. I brought Häagen-Dazs. The reason why this is important is because I used to work at Häagen-Dazs back in '94, '95. So there's a certain affinity. That was the number one banana split maker in the entire Glendale Galleria Mall. I was the best. I had a reputation. What, you know how to split it down? I know how to split it. I know how to put the strawberry, the ice cream, the chocolate, the nuts on top of it with the Nutella. I was the best.

You know, people have lost the art of making a good banana split. We ought to call you in and you can train our people. I may make a comeback. I'm telling you, I was very good at that part. But let me tell you what's kind of interesting about this conversation. Tony tells me Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry's reached out, says he wants to be on the podcast. I said, really? I said, is he not a socialist Bernie Sanders guy? I think he is. I said, why do I think that? They're, you know, Vermont, Bernie Sanders, yeah. And I'm looking at him, I'm like, okay, why does he want to come talk to us? I'm curious.

Well, he's got some things he wants to talk about. Great. To kind of start it off so the audience knows your background, what you guys did, one of the best business stories we've had in America. Guys, let me tell you why. You guys started in '77. You were a potter and Jerry was a, he got rejected from medical school. The two of you guys decided to start a bagel shop, but the bagel machine was too high. You enrolled in a $5 ice cream making course instead. You guys took that a year later, created Ben and Jerry's with $12,000, and you turned that into a machine. You sold it in, I don't know what year, for $326 million, like 25 years ago or something.

That's right. And then today, Ben and Jerry's, just so you guys know how much ice cream they, the founders started an ice cream, they do a billion dollars of sales a year right now. So the question then becomes, how do you, who has made his money as a capitalist, support a socialist? How does that work out? I'm really curious. You know, I think there's social democracies. I mean, I don't think socialism is opposed to capitalism. I think there's a way of doing capitalism that kind of cares about people, that has a better safety net, that is not so rapacious. I mean, what we have in the US is unfettered capitalism, and what ends up happening when you have that is a tremendous spread between rich and poor. You know, when Jerry and I started Ben and Jerry's, the spread between CEO pay and line-level workers' pay was 40 to 1, and we thought that's outrageous. So we had a, we had a lower one. We came up with the 5 to 1 ratio. That's interesting, by the way, and that's changed over time, but so no longer 5 to 1.

I bet Jerry's, but today the salary ratio between CEOs and line-level employees is 400 to 1, and we're in a situation where I don't know what it is, 0.1% of the wealthiest people in the country own 90% of the wealth, which you're part of. You're part of the 0.1%. I'm part of it, but I'm against it. What do you mean you're part of it but you're against it? Well, I am one of the, you know, I'm a wealthy person, yeah, but I'm against the system that creates such a spread between rich and poor. Why though? Because poor people are getting screwed. But why though? Because why am I against it? No, why? So, okay, so please help me understand this. So at first you start Ben and Jerry's, and I saw that you guys were doing a 5 to 1 ratio, meaning if the lowest-level employee full-time was making 30 grand a year, the CEO couldn't make 150 a year, right? That was at the time, correct. What do you think the ratio is right now at Ben and Jerry's? I really have no idea. Would you say it's one in 40? So, so it might be. You work there, so you know what the CEOs make, you know what kind of money they're making. You probably have the context in there. Let's just say the CEO of a company like, if I go right now, Rob, can you find out who is the CEO of Ben and Jerry's? I don't even know it. Ben and Jerry's CEO salary. I don't know what it is. I've never Googled it. Let's just see. Yeah, I'm interested. I've never Googled it either. Okay, so Ben and Jerry's CEO salary back in 2000, we're talking, that was at the time that the company got sold, but at the time the salary was 504, 25 years ago it was 504. Okay, so which became 17 to 1.

All right, so I want you to follow this. So what you just said is, I'm just responding to what you said. Yeah, yeah. So Ben and Jerry's got started. You originally, you guys wanted to be very noble and hey, we're not going to pay anybody at the highest level five times more than the lowest level employee. Lowest level makes 30, highest level makes 150. Okay, cool. Nice guys, noble guys. By 2000 you build a business that's doing 200 million a year. You guys are selling it for 326. Then the CEO pay was 17 times the lowest amount the employee was making. So that disparity went from 5 to 1 to 17 to 1. Let's say today, who is today's CEO of Ben and Jerry's? Dave St? Is it Dave? Dave Stever? What is Dave Stever's salary at Ben and Jerry's? Right, if I go to it, I wish I could see it. I wish it was public. It's not shown, but let's just say he's making a couple million a year. You guys are million. I don't think he is. Does he get stocks? Does he get shares? Does he get a bonus? Does he get LTIP? Does he get—

I don't think so. I would think that, you know, but if it—

they're from Vermont I've been to Ben and Jerry's because the the insurance company that we're we're one of the guys that writes the most insurance policies with them National life group is down the street from you so I know them so

I've been to Vermont quite a few times so we go to the headquarters we have a good time we're going to try Ben and& Jerry's I brought a lot of other ice cream that he hasn't seen it yet I

brought hogendas the reason why this is important is because I used to work at hogendas back in 9495 so there's a certain Affinity that was the number one banana split maker in the entire glandel Galleria Mall I was

the best I had a reputation what you know how to split it down I how split it I know how to put the strawberry the ice cream the chocolate the the nuts on top of it with the Nutella I was the best

you know people have lost the art of making a good Banana Split uh we ought to call you in and you can train our people I may make a comeback I'm telling you I I was very good at that part but

let me tell you what's what's kind of interesting about this conversation Tony tells me Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry's reached out says he wants to be on the podcast I said really I said is he not a

socialist Bernie Sanders guy I think he is I said why do I think that they're you know Vermont Bernie Sanders yeah and I'm look at him I'm like okay why does he want to come talk to us I'm curious

well he's got some things he wants to talk about great to to kind of start it off so the audience knows your background what you guys did one of the best business stories we've had in America guys let me tell you why you

guys started in 77 you were a Potter and Jerry was a he got rejected from Medical School the two of you guys decided to start a bagel shop but the bagel machine was too high you enrolled in a $5 ice

cream making course instead you guys took that a year later created Ben and Jerry's with $112,000 and you turned that into a machine you sold it in I don't know what year was for $326 million like 25 years

ago or something that's right and then today Ben and Jerry's just so you guys know how much ice cream they the founders started an ice cream they do a billion dollars of sales a year right now so the question then

becomes how do you who has made his money as a capitalist support a socialist how does that work out I'm really curious you know uh I think there's a social democracies I mean I I don't I don't think socialism is opposed

to capitalism I think uh there's a there's a way of doing capitalism that kind of cares about people that has a a better safety net um that is not so rapacious I mean what we have in the US

is unfettered capitalism and uh what what ends up happening when you have that is a tremendous spread between rich and poor you know when when Jerry and I started Ben and Jerry's the spread between CEO pay and line level workers

pay was 40 to1 and we thought that's out out rageous so we had a we had a lower one we we came up with the 5 to1 ratio that's interesting by the way and that's changed over time but so no longer 5 to1

I bet Cherry's but but today the the salary ratio between CEOs and line level employees is 400 to1 and what we're in we're in a situation where I don't know what is it 0.1% of the wealthiest people in the country own 90%

of the wealth which your part of of it you're part of the 0.1% I'm I'm part of it but I'm I'm against it what do you mean you're part of it but you're against it well I I am one of the you

know I'm I'm a wealthy person yeah but I'm against the system that had that that creates such a spread between rich and poor why though because poor people are getting screwed but why but why though be because why am I against it no why so so

okay so please please help me understand this so at at first you start Ben and Jerry's and I saw that where you guys were doing 5 to1 ratio meaning if the lowest level employee full-time was making 30 grand a year the co couldn't

make 150 a year right that was at the time correct what do you think the ratio is right now Ben and Jerry's I have I really have no idea would you say it's one in 40 do you so so you it might be I you

work there so you know what the C's make you know what kind of money is making you probably have the context in there let's just say the CEO of a company like if I go right now Rob can you find out

who is the CEO of Ben and Jerry's I don't even know it Ben and Jerry's CEO salary I don't know what it is I've never Googled it let's just see yeah I'm I'm interested I've never Googled it either okay so Ben and Jerry salary uh

CEO back in 2000 we're talking that was that was at the time that the company got sold it but at the time the salary was 504 25 years ago it was was 504 okay so which became 17 to1 all right so I

want you to follow this so what you just said is I'm just responding to what you said yeah yeah so Ben and Jerry's got started you originally you guys wanted to be very Noble and hey we're not going

to pay anybody at the highest level five times more than the lowest level employee lowest level makes 30 highest level makes 150 okay cool nice guys Noble guys by 2000 you build a business that's doing 3 that's doing 200 million

a year you guys are selling it for 320 26 then the co pay was 17 times the lowest amount the employee was making so that disparity went from 5 to 1 to 17 to1 let's say today uh uh who is today's

Co Ben and Jerry da D Dave St is it Dave Dave Stever what is Dave stever's salary at Dave Stever salary Ben and Jerry right if I go to it I wish I could see it I wish it was public it's not shown

it but let's just say he's making a couple million Year you guys are million I don't I don't think he is I I does he get stocks does he get shares does he get bonus does he get L tip does he get

I I don't think so I I I would think that you know but if it was 500,000 25 years ago Ben it's not going to be less than 25 years ago I I believe I believe it probably is but

I don't know I I don't have I know well let's just say it's a million bucks let's say conservatively it's a mill million bucks and let's say the ratio now instead of 17 to1 is 30 to1 so you

guys started off 5 to1 it went 17 to1 let's say it's 30 40 to1 now and then at the time you're saying 40 to1 was what it was in the corporate world now it's 400 to1 you guys have 10x they have 10x

so what's wrong with that what's wrong with if you're creating value Ben you guys had something that's very difficult do you know how many people in America build a business from scratch that go from Z to billion dollars in sales do

you know how oh Ben what you've done is called doing the impossible and I think the market should recognize you for it your level of creativity so that's the part do you think like when you guys originally started and you're building a

business and you and your uh partner you guys are two nice guys Potter and a guy that was rejected from Medical School you built something with a $5 course that you take on making ice cream and at first maybe you guys coming from a place

of socialistic ideologies and then now you're kind of like I maybe capitalism is kind of cool and there's nothing wrong with capitalism have you gone through that Evolution yet or not yet I think that there's a form of capitalism

that works well uh you know we we've always been a capitalistic country uh my understanding is that when Reagan took office the marginal tax rate on the on the highest level was like 80% I mean I'm which nobody paid for it

just so you know that they had it but no one ever paid paid it no really no one ever paid it it's it it was it was what they talked about but everybody adjusted in way so nobody even like people would

do certain jobs so they never pay the highest marginal tax rate well what whatever but but I mean that that's the idea that that's what kind of makes sense to me uh that to have it at 80% well you

know what is it now what's the top marginal bracket what is it if you live in California you're paying nearly 60% but let's just say 43% right you think that's too little uh I I think that the the system that

has created uh such disparity between rich and poor and that's part of it so I no I don't think that works I think a lot of people in this country are being left behind uh I think 50% of the

country is getting screwed economically why though because of uh laws and regulations that favor wealth such as what uh you're a rich man what what is there is there there's lower taxes on capital gains right but but those those

who who don't work those don't work pay less taxes let me ask you a question when you sold you paid capital gains no sure no you did when you sell a company you didn't pay ordinary income you pay capital gains taxes so you guys

sell for 320 26 let's just say at the time you own 80% I don't know what I didn't okay but let's just say whatever it is you still are nine figure guy you made real money each of you guys how

many figures nine figures like 100 million plus uh no I'm I'm I'm I'm eight figures okay but guess what you are you're still very rich compared to the average person but here's a question for you how hard I I I don't need that much

money I can tell you that give it away I give a lot of it away give all of it away just keep a famil eventually well why don't you do while you're alive I'm I'm working on it but why

don't you do it sooner I don't know haven't found a good you shouldn't do it you've earned it Ben you worked your ass off a lot of people that are working their ass off the whole bottom 50% of

the country is working their asses off and getting paid [ __ ] what's the difference between them and you uh what's the difference between them and me you know there's there's some luck involved uh there was a a good idea at

the right time what's the longest vacation you took in the first 10 years of building Ben and Jerry's not much oh really why not other people who have jobs can take longer vacations why don't you take it I guess I chose to build the

business and therefore you made the money that you made most people don't want to work as hard as you you did what you did was very difficult Ben you got to give yourself credit for it so to me

you know I I understand the concept of you know well the rich people are this and the rich is getting richer the poor is getting poor and questioning that but the reason why you make a lot more money than some

of the people that you're saying are left behind you solved a bigger problem you kept trying to find creative ways of coming out with different uh you know flavors of the ice cream you guys kept trying to be creative and you

worked your ass off and a market finally said did these guys really build a business from zero to doing 200 million Year yes holy [ __ ] let's buy it from them and then now would after they bought it from you 25 years ago was

doing 200 million now it's doing a billion year you know what that says you guys built such a good business that somebody after they bought it they made five times the amount of money that's a real business that's not easy to do what

percentage of Americans you think are willing to work that hard as hard as you not that many I come across loads of people that are working really really hard for really low wages uh you know you know so so I yeah

I had an idea and yeah maybe I'm good at making ice cream flavors coming up with ice cream flavors somebody else is a really good roofer and they work really hard Roofing why why shouldn't they get paid you want the roofer to get paid 300

million $326 million I'm not saying that much I all I'm saying is that the you know what is the minimum wage in the country let's say 15 million give or take no the minimum let's say 720 $7 20

cents that should be illegal that's a poverty wage you you shouldn't be we shouldn't be in a country whereby you work 40 hours a week fulltime and you you can't afford to have a decent life I agree with you but

let me ask you a question let me ask you a question for the people that get paid $7.25 for those who do the few that do why do you think they do I well I don't know how many there are but I think

there's a lot but why do you think they only get paid seven they don't have to say yes to it it's the only job they can find I guess why can't they find any other jobs think about that actually answer

that question right why can't they find another why can't can't they find another job uh Rob what's the least amount you ever got paid I I take calculate it be annually 22,000 a year so 22,000 a year divided

by do it divide four four and how many hours a week were you working Rob 50 okay do 50 time 50 is 2500 do 22,000 divided by 2500 seven bucks eight bucks and 8.8 yep so so eight would do you make 8.8 right

now no did you ever think you're going to make the kind of money you're making right now not when I was making 22,000 a year right so but when you came here and all of a sudden you're like well we can

really build something special here right correct but why do we pay you that why do we pay whatever the number you know why do we pay you what we pay you experience hard work what I can do in

the future a combination of all three I think great but have you earned it yes if somebody still earning it though I know you are and you're working your ass up but if somebody right now paid you $725 would you take it no why though

because I've I've gotten to a place where my hard work is deserve to be rewarded that's right and guess what do you if if right now this doesn't work yet do you have options yes but you like being here love

it of course so that's that's the part so for me I have to realize I got to take care of the guy and then for him guess what he's got to realize he's got to bring value and that that's the part

when I hear that message sometimes I'm like okay I get it 720 they don't have to say yes to it you know I think about my life okay uh I'm white uh I grew up uh in a family uh

where my father was a college graduate uh he went to school at night uh he was able to buy a house uh based on a government program that provided money to buy a house for for white people but

by Federal Regulation it was not available to black people uh they they would not loan this was about redlining they would the government would not loan into areas that were mostly black and and even if a black person wanted to buy a house in a

white area they said oh no you can't do that because then it'll be black that's illegal immoral unfair and you know so the the what year was that I I want to what year well I was born in 51 so let's say it was

around there that's when they did it you talking about like 50s is before like this is ml pre MLK era okay and uh it's a different America today though well it's no well well America today is has a lot to do with the

America of the 1950s and and before so my parents were able to buy that house and that's what helped them build wealth that's where they got their Equity that's what allowed them to send me to a decent College okay that's what allowed

them to be in that neighborhood that had good Public Schools and uh there's a lot of other people say black people that that housing program was not available to they were not able to build that Equity they were not able to build that

generational wealth they were not able to go to decent public schools and uh so so they didn't get that education and that's part of what uh lead leads to the current situation where you know if you look at the

disparity in in wealth between black people and white people I mean it's it's kind of huge and you know I mean the whole country was you know kind you know it goes back Generations you're you're you're comparing today to the 50s this is a

very different America I mean I understand so the part that I truly want to sympathize with you and empathize with you and understand is the life you've lived I've not lived your life so I can't sit there and uh put myself in

your shoes and say well you know what I understand why you have the certain feelings that you have we all have our own set of stories I got it but let's face it you didn't have enough money where your parents could Finance it

because you guys have to take a $5 ice cream course to learn how to do this so it's not like your parents gave you $200,000 to start a business with now bring it to me so now how about me I

wasn't born here right my parents got a divorce my dad was a cash she at a 99 cent store I go in the military and I get out I had a 1.8 GP in high school I'm planning on staying in the military

for 20 years should I be felt sorry for because my parents got a divorce and I was a welfare kid and I had a 1.8 GPA and I went over there no I don't my dad never felt sorry for me nobody's talking about

feeling sorry for you but but wait a minute you're saying generational wealth you know how much money my parents gave to me 99 cents but you know what they gave me I was born in I was I lived here at 12 years

old I came to America it's the greatest gift the greatest gift anybody can give you is being born in America so you know what I did with that I went to work and I made some money and I'm not white and

I'm Middle Eastern and I'm from Iran and people have called me a lot of weird names while I was in the military they call me terrorist they call me this they call me that because I was in a military

cuz I have a middle eastern look that i' had never seen when I was in Alabama do I really want you feel sorry for me I don't I don't I think the part about like looking at it from that

standpoint your argument is the generational wealth argument your parents gave you generational wealth and maybe others didn't get it I'm I'm not I'm not saying that they gave me uh money I mean uh you know they were able

to pay for college for me do you think even without College you would have eventually built Ben and& Jerry's what did you learn from college that help you build Ben and& Jerry's I'm curious not much thank you so let's just

say they don't pay you for college would you have eventually s Bill Ben and& Jerry's the what what I'm getting to is is the whole uh the whole way that I the whole environment in which I was brought

up being able to go to really good public schools and you know I I go to lowincome areas in places around our country and the schools are [ __ ] why do you think though why do you think why do

you think do you really want to go there it's not going to be good if you really want to go there I I you know I assume it's about money and funding do you know out of the top

25 crime cities in America how many of them are ran by a Democratic mayor 21 of them sometime it's 17 sometime it's 21 why do you think so what are what are you saying that that they're high crime because they're run

by a democratic of course it is do you know since DC I don't I don't that that is the logicaly but do you know DC I want to talk about the Lo logical fallacy I learn in debate break down my ARG it's

the logical fallacy of post Hawk Argo propah Hawk right after it therefore because of it that okay because something happens after something happened doesn't mean that it caused it Ben can you pull up What are the top five cities in America in

crime pull up there what are the top five cities in America in crime in crime let's just can you zoom in a little bit so because my eyes yeah I had Memphis Tennessee St Louis Detroit Michigan Baltimore Maryland Little Rock

Arkansas can you do me a favor keep that page and can you uh ask the same question who are the mayors of each City I don't by the way I don't know this because we're just we're just spit right

I don't know the answer I may five of them may be Republican and I may look like a fool right now so do me a favor Rob take each one of them copypaste Paul Young and Memphis Tennessee uh and just put mayor next to

it yeah let's is that him can you go and see where he's at politically Democratic party top right okay let's go to the next one let's go to the next one Tashara Jones mayor let's do the same thing

and again I don't know she's probably a republican nope she's a Democrat okay let's go to the next one go to the next one I want to know what your point is let's assume they're all Democratic I mean we know that most cities it's

called horrible policies what's this one is this one a republican unaffiliated it unaffiliated can you go uh click on the guy's profile let's go a little bit deeper if you can go on as wikkipedia zoom in so Detroit

Michigan o go a little bit lower right Rob can you okay there it is political party Democrat he just changed last year after Trump but I want to know what your point let's go to the next one I'll make

my point let's go to Brandon Scott Baltimore Baltimore Maryland Democrat another the Democrat let's go to the fifth one what an interesting exercise this was I wasn't even expecting to do this boom 545 54 five so why why do you think that

is though by the way DC when you think about the biggest income disparity in America you know what city's the biggest income disparity with the most people making over 200,000 and the most people making less than 20,000 it's

DC can you look up when is the first time DC had a mayor when is the first time DC had a mayor let's look at this I'm I'm happy to look at it but I'm concerned that you're making The Logical

foul but let me let me let me let's look at this when's the first time DC first ever elected mayor of DC Rob can you type in first ever elected mayor of DC first ever elected mayor of DC I think it's like 70s 73 Walter

Washington okay can you go on um Chad gbt and ask since 1973 how many republican mayors has DC had zero zero so here's my question for you if all these people look at that Walter Washington Democrat Marian Barry

Democrat uh Sharon Kelly Democrat Marian Barry again Democrat Anthony Williams Democrat Adrien Fenty Democrat Vincent gray Democrat Muriel Bowser Democrat if they've had this city as a democratic voter since 1975 and they are so Noble and they have such great policies and

black how come they they haven't been able to fix it why I don't know you don't know no I don't you don't think maybe it's bad policies you don't think it's that maybe we have to try something else well like what so let me ask you

why do you think Trump got elected why do you think Trump won I think he won because the bottom 50% of the population is getting screwed by both parties both parties both parties really yes I do because of the way that our economy is

structured which means that virtually all the money goes to the top and virtually none of the money goes to the people on the bottom why though because of the laws because of the laws and the regulations so why why

do you think so many blacks why do you think so many Hispanics voted for Trump like we've never seen before so why do you think the poor low middle-income support for Trump skyrocketed where kamla Harris who is according to her africanamerican

Jamaican Indian we don't know what she is or Biden why is it that even with her she lost seven Battleground States and she lost the majority why do you think that is why do you think black people in

Hispanics trusted a white guy Trump Republican more than they trusted an African-American lady to solve their problem I think people were really unhappy with the status quo and I think they voted for not the status quo I I

actually believe that uh that if voting for Bernie was an option he would have won against Trump yeah because they're both against the status quo they're both against well I mean they both say they're against corporations controlling the country I mean I I personally

believe that it's in words only in terms of trump but I think I think in terms of Bernie I I think he genuinely would want you know would work on reducing corporate influence I mean you know I mean the whole the whole I mean when

when we talk about capitalism I mean you know capitalism ends up having a small number of people accumulate a huge amount of wealth and they end and then you have the Supreme Court saying that well money is the same as free speech

and therefore we can't regulate uh uh spending in elections and what we have in our country is a system of legalized bribery and it used to be that uh the corporations and the rich and the wealthy were influencing legislation and they were

influencing who gets elected and now they are who's getting elected and uh you know I I I would I would rather see a representation of of what the country actually is I mean the country is not just uh 100,000

really 100,000 yeah or I don't know 10,000 really really wealthy people the country represents a very broad swath and a representative democracy that's that's what there ought to be running the country but we you know we have election that

are financed by millionaires billionaires and uh we end up with a with a government that favors that class of people does that include Bernie does that include was was Bernie funded by rich people no no he wasn't do

you remember that exchange when uh hex set asked him a question I don't know who it was Rob when he says I don't know who it was somebody asked him and said I'm sorry your campaign 45% of your

campaign was from Big Pharma I don't know if you remember that one do you remember that one when he was when no I don't remember who's 45% of the percentage whose campaign was from Big ber Sanders no that is absolutely

totally 100 1,000% incorrect well I mean he he got very upset about it because but even with him even with him here's a socialist that's worth1 million honors he's a pretty rich guy he used to say Millionaires and billionaires now he no

longer says Millionaires and billionaires why did he drop millionaires what ban because he he he wrote a book and he got a he got a million dollars or whatever you can you can I mean but you know I mean I was I was helping on

Bernie's campaign and uh I think he got screwed by the way just so any know by Hillary Clinton if you ask me did absolutely and I like Bernie I do too yeah and I just don't think he's good

for the economy I really like Bernie I think he's a good guy I just don't think he's good for the economy I I think he would be good for an economy that works for all Americans instead of just the

Upper Crust like you and me I think in 2000 when you were selling your company you wouldn't have voted for Bernie absolutely I would have voted for Bernie I totally would have voted for Bernie I voted for Bernie when he was mayor when

he when he first ran for mayor Burlington if capital gains went to 80% and you sold your company you're okay with that yes I am okay with that because because I do not believe that we should have a country where what .1% of

the population owns 90% part of it you're part of a 0.1% and you don't want to give up your wealth you're still keeping it here's your friend Bernie Rob can you play this clip watch this clip make America healthier than other

countries in the world right now will you guarantee do what every other major country does that's a simple question and by the way Bernie the you know the the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies it's in Congress

too almost all the members of this panel are accepting including yourself are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry oh no protecting their interest no I thought that that would no no no no I ran for president

like you I got millions and millions of contributions they did not come from the executives not one nickel of pack money from the pharmaceutical they came from 2020 in 2020 you were the single largest because I reer of pharmaceutical money

from workers all over this country workers not not a nickel from corporate tax with a single largest except pharmaceutical dollars no from workers in 1.5 million yeah out of 200 million all right but Bernie didn't like you have not answered last question so again

the hypocrisy and politics is a little bit frustrating because I understand Bernie says well we got to do the millionaire is a billionaire class the moment he becomes a millionaire he drops the millionaire he just wants to bash

the billionaires now I don't want to take any money one and a half million comes the eventual challenges the hypocrisy that shows up and I think that's the part that Americans are tired of it they're just sick of the games

that politicians play and they're eventually saying they're done with it you know I when I was working with Bernie uh you know he was saying billionaire should not exist and uh you know that that struck me as kind of

weird I mean I said why why shouldn't billionaires exist why shouldn't we have billionaires and then I realized that nobody needs that kind of money there and how can you accumulate uh that kind of kind of wealth when you've got so many other

people that are barely getting why why shouldn't we have a system you know it is kind of peculiarly American I I I I don't believe that that kind of spread exists in in a lot of other countries in a lot

of European countries yeah because we actually believe in free enterprise and free market and we allow you to build it as big as you want and here's the crazy thing Ben very crazy thing I I mean there's free enterprise in any of the

Scandinavian count the levels we have not at the levels that we have we we we recognize guys like you who even if you're a socialist we recognize guys like you who took a ice cream company hey speaking of ice cream you got a

spoon I me you one I'm good with it I got you a spoon well I don't see the spoon where you homberto probably took the spoon and have an ice cream in the back so I got mine over here HTO did you

leave the spoon or what happened okay which one you think I should try tell me which one I should try uh what you we got chocolate fudge we got dirt cake what's this one here wow interesting strawberry cheesecake well you know chocolate fudge

brownie is interesting because uh by the way is it true that you can't taste flavors you just taste the the mus TT texture I'm very texture forward person you can't taste any of it well you know I mean I can kind of taste it but not

not the way you can not the way normal people can so let's see yeah it's pretty good is it um you not taking the chocolate fudge Brown which you me you want me to try I'll try this no I'll try this B I mean the nice

thing about the chocolate fudge brownie is that the brownies are made by the gryon bakery in yoner New York okay a lowincome area and the bakery is owned by a religious organization whose purpose my God it's good [ __ ] isn't it oh my

god oh oh my God so the purpose of the bakery is to provide jobs and job training for people who you know what after this ice cream I'm a socialist that's it I'm shut out of it there you

go I'm this ice cream converted me all right all right I watched I was watching mansurian candidate last night robbed with the kids and you know is that the one about MK Ultra whatever listen they put something in this ice cream that

causes you to consider Bernie Sanders as a candidate it's working on me watch second by this one I may even cons look at this nicely done AOC oh my God holy moly by the way all jokes aside this is

absolutely delicious well you know it's at exactly the right temperature it's perfectly tempered oh my God this is ridiculous now let me ask you what do you think about hogen it's really good ice cream not not the best but it's really good it's in

there who are these guys but I've never seen this one is it I I don't know about tillamuk tilamook okay somebody brought tilamook hey do you know that chocolate chip cookie dough was invented by Ben and jer's seriously yeah seriously yeah

yeah I mean Ben what a capitalist you are though what a great you know I there's there's a social form of capitalism there's a form of capitalism you did it how many jobs did you guys create how many jobs did you create who knows

honestly how many employees you got right now Ben and Jerry how many total employees I don't I you know it's a division of un I mean how many employees does Ben and Jerry have dude it's like the best social

program is the job you create let me eat this one so this one is what this the [Laughter] cheesecake oh my God I'm not going to lie this is r ridiculous oh my 1,700 employees J that's great job that's job

you changed people's lives Ben amazing and by the way you know what's crazy do you know who recognized you guys in 1986 which Republican president recognize you which one would recognize me I was there manal Rose Garden ceremony crazy we were

the US small business people of the year is that it is that the picture small yeah that's exactly it tell me about the experience how cool was an Italian waiters jacket that I had to buy really quick the morning before and um you know

it's a Rose Garden ceremony but the current guy he's talking about Paving the Rose Garden but anyhow it's it was a Rose Garden ceremony we show up there yeah you know Reagan and and Bush are standing there and Reagan says the only

words that he's ever said to me which is which one is Jerry that was it which one is Jerry now why did he say which one is Jerry you ask him I have no idea how cool was that

experience for you guys did you think that was ever going to happen it was amazing were you did you vote for him that year did you ever vote for have you ever vot no I did not no as a matter of

fact we were thinking that whoever was supposed to vet who gets the award made a mistake in terms of giving that's right that's exactly what it was I remember [Laughter] it yeah what are you guys telling each other what are you guys telling each

other at the time when you're leaving are you saying like I cannot believe I shook a Republican's hand are you saying like what what are you saying to each other you know actually after that ceremony uh you know there was you know

some kind of dinner and and a talk and you know so I'm up there giving a talk and I'm talking about uh you know my my obsession which is the uh how much money the country spends on the Pentagon and and preparing to to

kill huge numbers of people and uh alons deato gets up after after I spoke and talked about what an ingrade I was so who who went up who alons deato was a Republican senator I think yeah put him put him up there I think he got

uh alons deato I think do you have the bit about him being corrupt I don't know I'm sure it's in here Courier columnist boom keep going low personal life no it doesn't say anything about the maybe there is what

did he do what was corrup moved him I don't I don't remember what his corruption was so he had some corruption behind it yes was he was he working you're saying he worked for Ben and Jerry's no no no no he was a Senator he

was a US senator I forgot we're doing a podcast now I just can't stop eating this this ice cream I'm not even G to lie to I'm so how so would you consider yourself somebody competitive competitive are you

competitive I'm not very competitive not at all not very you know I mean I mean I mean if you want to see who can eat a pint fastest I'll do that with you I don't get ice cream headaches you

don't no is that genetics DNA or just like OV exhaustion like yoube may maybe people who can't smell don't get ice cream heada I don't know got it so so what did you want to talk you had something you want what what are you

opening up there you want me to open this here have this what so see you are competitive by the way I was about to open up hogen to go take me back to back and he got upset so would you actually

have a hogen ice cream or no you wouldn't do it no you won't do it no I i' I'd watch you what what what's what's your thoughts like with these other ice cream companies what do you think about

them I think hogendas makes a very high quality ice cream I think Ben and jurries makes a very high quality ice cream you guys are number one though of course Rob can you pull up the statis I think the audience has to know how

competitive and how much of a capitalist he is he's just acting like he's a socialist Rob can you pull up U go to say the number one ice cream company in America people have to realize these guys what you think no looked I don't

think could be the number one I I think you actually are I statista according to statista you are private label is one but you're you're number one Ben and Cherry you're number one look at that you didn't know this uh seriously you

didn't know this I I mean I know that you dude you guys are number one it's unbelievable but but please tell me you're joking right now that you didn't know you're number one I you know people might have said that but I didn't really

believe it you buil the number one ice cream company in America well that was in 2022 maybe maybe we're no longer you're still according to statis you still are that's crazy though that's great we that's beautiful you think you

guys got lucky or you think you work your ass off both okay that there's nothing wrong with that I've heard the harder you work the luckier you get you ever heard that call before I haven't heard that but I think it makes a lot of

sense G so but I think there's a lot of people that are working really really hard and they're not getting lucky well they got to find a way to create their own love by adding additional values and principles and skill sets that they can

pick up and I think that nowadays by the way Ben maybe not your time maybe not your time okay but during our time there's this thing called YouTube where you can literally learn anything back in the days you have to take a course Rob

can you go type in online how to make an ice cream can you can you go type in on YouTube let's see what video comes up man I love talking to capitalists that uh you know love bringing value and

competing and being number one and building a billion doll business look at that homemade ice cream without a machine in just five minutes 28 million views did that exist when you were coming up the the person was stoned but the question is was that

around when you came around no no you had to learn how to do it nowadays all of this is available and by the way you know how much it cost to watch that video on YouTube you think just by watching

YouTube videos you could make stuff as good as what we're eating now I I didn't say as good as you I didn't say as good as you so tell me what's the story with this one do I break it or what do I do

you got you got one of those topped ones that has what do you want me to do with it uh yeah you're going to have to break it all right let's try to break it you know a lot of times people eat it with a

metal spoon it's easier to break I got to tell you this is my favorite one you can dig underneath it no what I'm saying is this is even though it's my third one I'm having this is number one so far

dirt cake you know you're you're a good conern consumer we we would classify you as a heavy user and we appreciate people like you no this is the best one it's not even close what is that dirt dirt cake

it's not even close you know I've never had dirt yeah pass it over this D this is ridiculous what's this one Cherry Garcia all right let's see what Cherry Garcia's guys we're sharing ice cream okay just everybody know

for me I don't mind it cuz I was in the military so we will eat off of anybody yeah you're right this is pretty good this is okay you want me to rank them yeah I'll rank them number one is

dirt cake number two is strawberry cheesecake number three is this guy what's this one chocolate what does it say chocolate fudge Brown you know what I think that one is even nondairy I can't believe it Cherry Garcia the that

chocolate fudge brownie is not doesn't have any DK this doesn't have it it you didn't know it when you ate it did no it was delicious but let me tell you that's the one so you want this back I no I'm

listen I probably shouldn't be eating ice cream right now we just brought the stuff out here to see if we can get you to eat hogen dos because you know hogen daza CMO called us and they gave us a million

dollar sponsorship saying if you can get Ben to eat hog and do will'll give you a million dollars because they're going to say even Benny's hogen do Rob what do you think about by the way that would be a great ad I think that

would be a really good ad would be a great ad can you think about that no but yeah so oh my God out of all the uh things you guys did by the way who was the marketing brand was it you are you the

marketing guy you're the marketing guy right I'm the marketing guy so when I think about stories that you guys did so you you you did flavors for Steven coar Jimmy Fallon yeah Snoop Dogg but you did one for President Bush called I do I do

because of the same-sex marriage stuff which I thought I was funny did you come up with that or did th those were all after my time oh okay got it there's a Bill Clinton one called chocolate chip cookie dough was that your time or no

chocolate chip cookie though I didn't realize there was an association with Bill Clinton mon was white though no it's like chocolate chip cookie dough was kind of like the last flavor during my reign Oh I thought May well also New

York super fudge chunk wait a minute no there was uh fish food that was the very last flavor under under my direction by the way you guys also did one by Colin Kaepernick called it change the world yeah that's a good one change the world

and then you did one with uh not that defund the police it was called rustic remixed in 2020 for criminal justice for black lives matter so I got a question for you when are you doing a trump ice

cream no plans on the on the books that I've seen why not you can do an orange sherbet you can do right Rob I mean you gave that idea there are there are opportunities perhaps tillamuk or Bluebell or hog and

D but let me ask you if if Ben and Jerry's were to do a trump ice cream would the customers be upset ah I who knows what the customers would be but I you I I wouldn't see that well

actually my understanding is that Ben and Jerry's is nonpartisan so stop it how many republican ice creams have you guys made you guys have made it for all the left president you make one for Republican president do one for

Trump like but if you you should do one for Trump what what you you uh you ought to come up with Trump Insurance Trump Insurance you're so funny you're so funny no I think he's doing fine business-wise no I don't run the

insurance company I'm I'm still the CEO but it's not what I used to do by the way this ice cream I'm I'm glad we went through this year uh what's this one here oh Talent that's another one is that good or you respect

it or is it like a I you know I haven't really eaten it much so what's tente it's another another ice cream the way you reacted you didn't react like the tagand so you gave a little bit more

love to talenti what was that all about like it was like you saw an ex of yours or a girl you know back in the days like oh my God it's Mary it it is it is another brand that is owned by my parent

oh really it's owned by Unilever oh so but is does that kind of is that like a that mean they almost don't want you to have it you know I guess maybe I reacted that way because you know C it's a brand

that's owned by my parents so I'm vaguely related to it dude if I open it up and it pops Brandon can you open this up apparently you're not supposed to eat it somebody come open this up I actually

want to try it Rob can you grab this to someone in the back give it to Tony Tony's the the if you it's nice to have staff man you got you got you have 1,700 of them yeah right let's see if he's

going to get it he's 28 years old will he get it he still doesn't have it who's gonna do it Jesus that's amazing bring Tony and Tony will do it Tony Tony's good with the girls and he's going to find a way to use his hands

Tony where's Tony at seriously you know you know like I told you I have no idea what direction this podcast is going to go you got you've got a he lifts weights you've got a video of this we got to

send it to the toen manufacturer you got you did get it all right after a lot of try to the the guys who provided the packaging machine tell them like you almost not want me to get in there it's

like uh and now you've got a delamination of your uh safety uh I need I need to qu the password right this is too much for me give me a try shove that I'm to do yeah that's what I'm going to do all

right let's see what we got so what is this supposed to be is this like a gelato I don't really know looks really good nowadays more than ever the brand you wear reflects and represent who you are so for us if you wear a future looks

bright hat or value tment gear you're telling the world I'm optimistic I'm excited about what's going to be happening but you're a freeth thinker you question things you like debate and by the way last year 120,000 people got

a piece of future looks brigh gearwood value tainment we have so many new things the cufflinks are here new future looks bright this is my favorite the green one just yesterday somebody placed an order for a hundred of these if you

watch the pbd podcast you got a bunch to choose from white ones black ones I I if you if you if you smoke cigars and you come to our Cigar Lounge we have this high quality lighter cutter and a holder

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podcast go to VT merch.com and by the way if you order right now there's going to be a special VT gift Insight just for you so again go to VT merch.com place your order tell the world that you

believe the future looks bright me see tastes like medicine the hell is this this is salted caramel truffle this is a bad look they're not going to they're going to have to edit this video because no doesn't work for me no this

is Fifth Place well maybe the Cherry is fifth place cuz I I'm I'm not a oh cuz you're into the dirt yeah the dirt was delish so all right here yeah this is for me thank you so going back to it

mhm building a business how many people have you fired in your career uh a lot why you fire people these poor guys why you do such a thing well in the early days there were you know we were all we had was a homemade

ice cream shop and uh most of the people that we hired were scoopers and uh some scoopers were like really personable people who would have a lot of conversations with the customers but uh that would kind of slow

down the line and uh you know we couldn't you know we couldn't uh satisfy our customers we couldn't couldn't serve enough people so we we had to fire you know people who engaged in too much conversation with the customer I mean

you want to be friendly with your customer but you know you don't want to take it too far did you ever have lazy employees lazy employees uh we had we had employees that worked at one speed and it was slow they're really

nice people they were really good people why' you fire them though man that's cold it's like a capitalist fire people socialist don't fire people Ben give me a break like look if you were a former employee that Ben fired you and broke

your heart call me let's have some huging us ice cream together right you know you know I would fire some of these uh by the way just so you know don't feel bad I fired a lot of people as well

and and trust me it's never fun to do but sometimes you got to do it right it's a it's a horrible thing to do uh you know I mean sometimes when uh you know Jerry and I knew that you know

somebody needed to get fired we would I would be the guy who did the firing seriously yeah uh we would say the monster is hungry the monster must eat and uh and it was you know meant that that was a person that

needed to be fired you guys literally would go in front of the face of the guy you were firing you would say the monster is hungry moner we were referring to me I'm the firer the and but but but some but

sometimes sometimes uh you know it it was college students and it would be a a woman and you fired women and she and she would start crying and I would say you know you're a college student this is just you know a scooping ice cream

this is a [ __ ] little job that you're doing to get through college this is not a big thing this is not but they're emotional yeah people you know I've been fired from a few jobs and I actually

kind of like it where'd you get fired it's very freeing where' you get fired from I got fired from an's Coffee Park Diner uh who fired you we got to go find this person uh an's husband Ann's husband yeah shame on him yeah I was uh

a short order cook uh and working in the back there and you know you got your steam table and you know somebody ERS you know a hot roast beef sandwich so you open up the refrigerator you get you know the the

the pre-sliced slabs of roast beef out of the refrigerator you you dunk it in this lukewarm water to warm it up and you know you have your white bread on the platter and you kind of put it on it

and put the gravy on top of it and you know we were also doing prep work and uh after the after the the lunch rush there wasn't as much money coming into the cash register and an would turn

off half the lights in the kitchen because she wanted to keep her expenses in line with the income and I was trying to explain to her that you know we're working with sharp knives back here we' we'd like to be able to see what we're

doing and this went back and forth and she would shut off the lights and I'd turn her back on and eventually how old were you when you got fired were you in your 20s like were you yeah I got fired

once's big boy or not oh Bob's Big Boy yeah Bob's Big Boy in Burbank or Glendale off of Glenn Oaks you know why I got fired they had a walk-in freezer and I used to hide in the walk-in freezer and eat

klaw and I got caught one too many times and the guy's like look man you cast said the klaw is so good it was the best klaw and finally they're like today's your last day so I got fired from Bob's

Big Boy eating klaw can't make that story up that's you know the people that work there they they would remember me when that happened because they wouldn't even make me a waiter they said you talk too much I was a bus boy mhm how was the

bus boy boy the entire time and I got along with the chefs and the chefs would make me shrimp and shrimp when you're poor it's rich man's food you know when you eat shrimp on your broke making 475

an hour my first job was 375 or 425 I don't know what Elaine paid me from hogen D but it was either 375 or 425 you know I got a chance to Bill Clinton came to glendel Galleria and I got a chance

to shake his hand at 14 years old met him later on but as a 14-year-old met Clinton shook his hand so how do you feel about what's going on right now with Doge what Elon is doing Pentagon budget how do you feel about

all that stuff uh you know when when when Trump got elected and when Doge came into being uh we were concerned that uh you know Doge might Overlook the hugest source of waste uh in the in federal budget which happens to be in the in the

Pentagon budget uh you know these these other little slivers are pretty much Small Potatoes I mean you know there was this big Hub up about uh us aid but compared to the Pentagon uh you know I think usaid is

about 5% of the of the Pentagon budget the represents about half of the of the federal discretionary budget so we wanted to make sure that Elon um didn't ignore that and and so we started the Doge versus blob. org uh

Campaign which is kind of on X and it is to uh encourage is this it there it is it's the Doge yeah and you did this this is you guys this is us guys really yeah yeah this this is me and Ed

Ericson uh and uh yeah if you if you so so it's Doge you know who doge is and there's the blob which is another name for the whole military industrial complex the the Pentagon and the War profiteers uh and as you can see uh The

Blob has invaded uh the capital and uh if you scroll down uh you can win dogecoins uh for coming up with these memes uh that refer to the various kinds of waste that are in the the Pentagon budget

uh so there's the facts that slays so here's the here's the content and the idea for the contest is to come up with a with a meme that talks about some of these ridiculous wasteful so Pentagon spend items $5,700 for a soap dispenser you

can snag at Amazon for seven bucks Air Force spend 10 grand for toilet seat to cover low sales for 28 bucks pentacon paid $4,300 for a single half inch metal screw the value is a buck 38 yeah now that's the that's the the

Small Potatoes you know you get into nuclear weapons and you know we had you know we exploded one nuclear bomb on hirosima it killed a 100,000 people instantly uh and then another 100,000 eventually died uh from radiation poisoning and sickness MH huge number of

people with with Burns all over their body amputations blindness deafness that was one nuclear bomb and today the Arsenal in the US is huge as a matter of fact I have a little demonstration can I can I do this

I'm going to I'm going to show you the size of our of our nuclear Arsenal what is that you got there BB these are BBS right I'm going to toss them in this bucket so here's one BB that represents let me just move

this over here so I can uh here's one BB that represents the bomb that blew up over hirosima and now here's 15 BB's that would be enough to blow up every major city in say Russia and what I want to do now is show

the amount of our total nuclear Your Arsenal so that's the equivalent of 50,000 Hiroshima bombs that is the current explosive capacity of the US nuclear Arsenal not only that the country is now preparing to spend another $2 trillion on a whole new generation of

nuclear weapons now that is sick it's immoral it's crazy it's irrational and it is a huge waste of money and lives it's it's unbelievable and it is it is just a uh indic CER it's a window into the

general Pentagon War profiteer mentality that more is better if one nuclear bomb is good gobs more must be better and what really slays me about it is the incredible waste of resources and the effect that it has on

our Spirits our soul as a nation that we're spending 50% of our discretionary Budget on preparing to kill gobs of people I mean you know the Vatican came out with this statement that uh the arms race even if the weapons are never

used kills the poor by causing them to starve our Pentagon budget is $900 billion a year you know I one of the reasons I got into this is because I you know I mean you talk about a billion nobody has any conception of

how much a billion is and Ben and Jerry's got up to a level of around 300 million before it got sold and I started to understand that well a billion is three times the business we were doing and that amount of money is

just unbelievable and that's just one billion you know how many how many years you'd have to live before you lived a billion seconds plug that into your machine and try it's about 30 so that's how much a billion is 30 30

years of seconds and we take that much and we take 900 billion and we use that preparing to kill people like you and me fathers mothers sisters brothers Sons daughters in other countries who just had the bad luck of being born on some

other side of some imaginary line when I mean I think the US is the richest country in the history of the world I I think we need to start to measure our strength in terms of how many people we can care for how many H H

how much how much we can improve the quality of life for people as opposed to killing people so okay that was a very uh uh interesting visual to see what we did versus what it is now absolutely insane

how much more do we have so but but if we were to ask the question I mean this has been going on over a long time why do you think we've been doing it why do you think we are increasing our nuclear

capabilities the way that we are what's the what's the purpose of it C profit you think it's you think it's purely the military-industrial complex I I think a lot of it is driven by that I think uh another part is driven by

politicians who are deathly afraid of being called weak on defense and you know a lot of this stuff is is kind of complex uh you know it's international relations you know how do we know how many aircraft carriers we actually need

etc etc uh so what ends up happening is that military strength becomes measured in terms of the size of the Pentagon budget and politicians try to outdo each other from both parties this is this this is like the one bipartisan area of agreement

over the years you know the Democrat says I'm going to spend x amount on the Pentagon well the Republican says well I'll spend a little more and then the Democrat says well I'll spend a little more and there for they're the strongest

on defense you know I before this I I was doing a little prep work I uh saw this quote by Eisenhower Republican president Eisenhower what was it fourstar General five-star general uh who said that we can a country can bankrupt

itself in the vain effort to achieve absolute security you can't achieve absolute security dirty But continuing to spend our money I mean when you think about how much uh that's the size of the deficit so much of that is uh driven

by Pentagon expenditures War expenditures I mean you know what one of the I mean the the major thing that kind of brought me here is Trump's statement that uh he wants to denuclearize he wants to work with uh

the leaders of of of Russia and I think now Iran and and uh and China to to reduce nuclear weapons and that he wants to reduce our Pentagon budget very significantly I mean he said 50% I mean that makes so much sense I mean all

these countries they wanted help the people who live in their countries and when you're spending so much of your money on just preparing to kill other people and and the weapons are so [ __ ] expensive you should excuse me

uh it just saps all everything you've got it it it saps your wealth we're on the same page here so you you're not saying anything that we we are fully on the same page the fact that we are overspending the

level of Pentagon accountability Rob if you can play one of the clips of the guy saying $90,000 for washers just to validate his point go for it this Mr secretary is a bag of bushings this bag of bushings Stamped

Out by machinist don't need a high don't need a you know they need a high school uh uh diploma so not not anything Hightech about this all of this bag is compliant with the FAA specifications how much do you think the Air Force pays

for this bag of bushings I don't know Congressman $90,000 this is a $90,000 bag of bushings that you need for any jet turbine engine just to operate so the exorbitant cost due to DOD only buying commercial parts from

the oems which is essentially Soul source is literally driving us out of business I mean the interest on our debt alone is now exceeding for the first time in American history the entire defense budget we can't afford it

anymore exactly right and you know the the example that he gave of those washers is really excellent because we all know what a washer costs MH but then when you get into things like the F-35 program uh a fighter bomber jet uh that

is hugely flawed you know it it's it's a little more complex to to understand it but it's the same pricing it's the same overly inflated prices uh you know that that fighter program that weapon system costs 1.5 trillion uh and it doesn't work I mean

it's it's in the shop over 50% of the time but the what what you have going on the the corruption in the Pentagon is that the the generals uh that are supervising these contracts uh with the weapons manufacturers when they

retire they go to work for the weapons manufacturer mhm and uh you know they're they're they're incentivized to look the other way uh at all this price gouging okay so then what this tells me is you're agreeing what the president is trying to

do Trump to save from ex wasted expenditure you're like what musk is doing you're like what he's doing to go to the table with Putin and Russia and hey find ways to lower everybody's commitment with nuclear weapons that's

you're talking about so you're liking what president Trump is doing in terms of the Pentagon budget and in terms of nuclear weapons and in terms of the idea of solving our problems uh in ways other than killing huge number numbers of people I mean

Trump has said I I want to be clear that there's a shitload of things that I disagree with Trump on but there are some things that I do agree with him on and and he has said that if he were

president there never would have been a war in Ukraine and do you agree with them I do I I think that the war in Ukraine was absurd it I think the US provoked it uh and uh by expanding NATO and uh and I think

Russia Russia was essentially saying you know the US has a sphere of influence it happens to be the entire world Russia wants a little sphere of influence you know don't put uh you know weapons aimed at us in this neighboring country uh

what do you disagree with them what do you disagree with the president uh you know I there there's a uh there there's a very long list um did you vote for him no you voted for Kamala uh yeah did you vote for

Biden uh I think so okay so you voted for Biden you think Trump would have stopped the war if he was president but then yet you still voted for kamalo what prompty do you want to vote for kamalo over

Trump even though you know he could stop the war you know in in general uh I think a a big part of uh what I believe is that uh I think there's a real lack of compassion I think there's a lack of

honesty um can you be specific you can't just say that and not give me specific you got to be pretty specific what do you mean by lack of compassion and dishonesty because K Harris obvious always tells the truth

and We Know Joe does always they never lie but what do what do you think with Trump uh I you know I just think there's a a long list of things that uh he's lied about that I don't have off the tip

of my tongue and and and I and I think you know I'm I I believe strongly in in racial Justice and I don't think that uh Trump does uh racial Justice yeah he was the first guy that did the prison reform

that even van Jones went and stood behind him crying saying I cannot believe this just happened he did that what this was the uh the first uh you don't remember that do you remember that or no I yeah I do yeah I mean if if

there's if there's anybody that's about about you know the racial Injustice side it's Trump it's not you know this is a guy that's done a very good job in that but but I want to know specific from your side what what is it

because you're not a you know when you're when you're as successful as you are you can't Wing answers you cannot Wing answers now let me tell you why you can't Wing answers because how many like if I was to check

right now Rob can you go to Chad gbt how many businesses how many businesses in America went from0 to a billion doll in Revenue okay so if we go how many business go from Z to billion dollars in

[Music] Revenue the exact number um fast I want to know how many total companies is what I want to know can you see that how many total companies have gone from zero to a billion dollar in Revenue okay it's it's got to be a big number I

don't know if they have the number or not it's got to be a lot of them okay you you built a number one ice cream company in America yeah you can say luck you're very creative just right now you

did that you know your mind is a creative mind to come up with certain things you can't just say lies and certain things and not be specific I guess maybe the question is is better to ask you the following following way who

inspired you politically when you were younger like who was your hero when you were a kid Martin Luther King Martin Luther King he was your hero yeah why was he your hero CU he was fighting for justice and

you know fighting for people who had been oppressed and screwed and uh and he he was a very you know a really inspirational leader he was an inspirational leader to you yeah okay who else that was there a

book that you read was there something that influenced your politics uh did you read Communist Manifesto no uh you've never read Communist Manifesto I've read the book how is it you've never read it no Ben what can I say okay all right well

listen you're missing outa reading I think if you read Communist Manifesto you may go to Communism I mean you're one step away from socialism but was there anything there I want to know why you're so I mean socialism is a is a

word that gets used to refer to a lot of different things yeah and uh you know so I I think the old or official definition of socialism is that the state owns all the means of production I mean I I don't I don't

favor that uh but I you favor 80% taxes marginal tax rate yeah so you think let's process that I'm actually curious know what you'll say here so when somebody like you says 80% taxes you know what you're really saying you

think the US government can do better with our money than we can do with our money that's what you're saying you think Congress and Senate can do better with our taxpayer money than we can well you know if you had a marginal tax rate of

80% on the you know Millionaires and above uh you wouldn't have so many people with so much money that were influencing the the our elections and our legislation on uh in order to make it better for their own selves so yeah I I

I think that it would it would certainly decrease the the spread between rich and poor and you know how and and I think you know I mean you think about education you think about child care you think about uh Health Care yeah uh these

are things that uh you know especially things like like uh Medicare for all it it needs to be some things need to be done by by the government okay so let me get this straight and so just 10 minutes

ago you are speaking to the audience who is loving watching you and you showed how much the government wastes money then 10 minutes later you you say you trust our money going to the government that they'll do a better job than

staying in our pocket do you know the average person watching this they're so confused right now they're about to have a drink right now that's how that's how confus you just confuse the [ __ ] out of them they're sitting there saying so let

me let me understand you man I really want to understand you I like you I eat your ice cream seem like a really nice and you sincerely seem like a nice guy and I'm really enjoying this how can you one minute say the

government wastes money and next minute say let's P more money cuz we think they can do a better job with it because I think that both things are true I mean you know I mean I I think about my own business uh you know as Ben

and Jerry's was getting larger and larger I was saying we're wasting all this money you know this thing is wrong that thing is wrong it's leaking over here it's you know there there's a uh something that's not working right over there I

I I couldn't believe how much money was being wasted okay and and then I came to understand that uh yeah there there's some waste in most anything that human beings do oh but there's one tricky thing here why why do

you think you were overly protective of the money that was being wasted why because I needed to make a profit because it's your money money well it's it's your money that's why cuz you busted your ass to make that money

to create jobs so now imagine these guys are spending $90,000 on a bag of washers that are the lows I can buy for 329 okay you want me to trust them to raise taxes hell to the no when when I see Doge and I see the money

stuff that comes back you know what I tell myself how soon are you guys lowering taxes cuz you guys have no clue what you're doing with our money that's what it makes me think about why would I give you more money that you have shown

over and over again that you like to waste it because so you give them more money you don't think there's going to be more military contractors you don't think there's going to be more big farmer coming in wanting contracts for

people to get unhealthy so they can sell a hundred billion dollar of vaccinees so fizer's Revenue goes up100 billion you think Co helped that fizer you think Co was a very good event for fiser stock what do you think you think Co you know

Rob isn't it true that even uh uh fiser Co didn't even take the vaccine but hey the rest of us had to you think that was a profitable event for them you think they want another covid you think they

want another pandemic of course why because the money goes you know there was one of the guys from the big pharmaceutical companies that never took the vaccine I just don't know which one it was you don't think that funnels back through no I think the

American people the reason why they love doge is because they're done with wasted expenditure and they don't trust the government it's the lowest Ben it's ever been you've been around since said you were born in 1951 I think you said 51

right did you say 51 a lot of wasted money from 51 till today look at the year you were born look at the trust it was 80% is where we what we hit look where it's at right now okay lowest it's ever

been what happened they don't trust they don't trust the media they don't trust the government because they're full of [ __ ] they keep wasting our money and you want you want to sit here you know what I'd love to see you do go run

on the campaign of raising taxes to 80% marginal see what happens today let's have Bernie Sanders go campaign and see what happens today who's going to be against raising taxes to 80% marginal on incomes over several million dollars a lot of people

it's my money why should I give it to you how how many I I I mean by the way the people that are creating Commerce who want to mind their own business like you used to when you ran your business

and you try to create savings those people are going to mind it's easy for you to say right now you're you know you're in your 70s and you've already made your money to say hey let's do it to the guys now I didn't get it now let

me do it to the other guys that's not fair you know pick pick a number pick a number that's a reasonable number Fair they you have to earn the right to raise taxes the government has to earn the

moral authority to be able to say let's raise taxes how do you earned a moral Authority by showing what you do with the money 7 years Pentagon hasn't been able to show our audits they failed an audit 7 years in order you want us to

trust the US government that there there there are some functions that government needs to perform you know I don't disagree but not as much money as you want us to give to you well I mean half the discretionary budget is going to the

Pentagon let's let's cut that you know I'm not suggesting we totally eliminate uh all weapons I think I think the president is wanting to cut this is why he want so many democr can you imagine were you a John F Kennedy fan when you

were younger yeah you know his nephew went to the other side you know his nephew who loved his dad and loved his uncle became an addict for 14 years because he lost his dad and we almost lost Bobby he eventually got so sick of what

the left did and he went to the other side so did Tulsi so did Trump trump used to be a Democrat so did musk musk used to be a Democrat so did Rogan Yan used to be a Democrat he may still

be I mean this is the most devastating season ever for Democrats Ever every state turned more Republican 89 counties turned more Republican seven Battleground States majority went to him the last time that happened was 20 some years ago this is one of those moments where

Americans sat there and watched the Democrats had control during covid and they tried to abuse Americans and they said leave us the alone leave us alone I don't want you to force me to do anything and for you been a successful

man like you that built an incredible business that the rest of us get to smile you make people smile every time somebody has your product they are smiling they're happy you know what is the most happiest we the moment of my

week when I get to take my daughter to this ice cream shop in for laudale and she eats her ice cream and her reaction I melt you produced a product that put millions of PE smile on millions of

people's faces that's what you produce because you worked your ass off and you took advantage of the opportunities that they gave you you saved every penny so you can pay your people better to create a better company you're a hero you're a hero and the

other side like likes you because you give him money but if you didn't and you were a republican you would be despised by the other side you'd be considered a rich greedy man and all you ever did is

start a company with your best friend and turn it into what you turn it into and that's not cool it's not cool it's not cool that it's because somebody has a dream and they go work hard and I'm

supposed to go out there and feel guilty about it I'm sick of it I'm sick of them making success feel guilty and hey you make too much money you're a billionaire you're a bad person you're this you're that let's recog iiz Our Heroes let's

start like stop like undermining anybody and everybody that they win we just tarnish tarnish tarnish tarnish tarnish oh he's a horrible man tarnish tarnish stop it I'm I'm not about tarnishing people I'm not saying you but it's a lot

of people on the left and it's enough it's enough it's too much and people honestly the people are tired of it that's what happened in 2024 on November 5th you know I I think a lot of what happened is that people were voting

for something different so you you know I mean a lot of times you look at presidential elections and it and it's choosing between the least worst and uh you know Trump uh I don't regard him really as a

republican I don't either I don't regard him as a Democrat he you know I I think I think he's kind of more of an independent I agree and and I think that's what people want I agree they want someone who's not the status quo

not the not the norm and the only choice they had was Trump I agree I agree and by the way you know what's the what's the other thing that they were sick of sick and tired of did you watch the uh State of the

Union no Okay so there was multiple moments that were embarrassing one moment where the ladies on the left are wearing all these pink outfits and president Trump says we want to keep boys out of women's sports none of them stood up or clapped for it do

you agree that transgenders should be competing against men against women do you sincerely you think Martin Luther King your hero would agree with that you think Martin Luther King would have said yeah you you're a man you were born a

man yeah so you want to go compete with women yeah yeah no problem with that you think Martin Luther King who said one day we're black boys and white no can you think that man would be okay with

puberty blockers seriously you think your hero would be okay with puberty I don't think so you don't have a painting in my house you know who's in my painting John F Kennedy Martin Luther King two My Heroes every time I've ever had an

office I've always had a picture of Martin Luther King there he's a hero to so many of us I just don't think he would have been with that and then you want to teach my kids lgbtq if a person wants to be gay

go at it I don't have any problem with it but we don't need to sit there and indoctrinate leave it alone that's the painting Martin Luther King all the way to the right I have Tupac in the painting I have John F Kennedy have

Einstein have Lincoln have Milton fredman the shaw Senna and couple hidden messages in there you know what's sitting on the table they're debating a book it's Communist Manifesto and Atlas Shrugged representation from both sides of the economy sit down and debate that

that's the painting in my uh uh Club room in my house 15t painting but to me I'd love to see someone who for you to build a business the way you did you have to know how to reason and use

logic if you don't you will fail you'll be bankrupt yeah uh you know I I like that painting and uh you know what strikes me is uh Einstein I when you talk about uh logic I mean he said that it is not

possible to simultaneously prevent and prepare for war I I think that is really really true Did you I mean the quote goes on to say that the very energy and resources that that are necessary for the prevention of

War are actually greater than preparing for war so if you're going to prevent it you you need to use those resources to prevent it and what you how' you do this what you got telepathy no it's Rob that's why Rob

doesn't make 725 an hour I can't I can't give him only 725 my mind to your screen man I I love it last thing before we wrap up what do you think about Hamas and Israel the war and do you have any opinions on

that I I I think it is a genocide I I think it's awful horrible I to a guy who's who's getting killed I don't think it matters whether it's in a gas chamber or because it was a bomb dropped on his head I I

don't I I'm I'm just hugely opposed to to to taking weapons and slaughtering people it it's absurd I mean I I'm I'm I'm also hugely opposed to what happened on October 7th with uh you know with people coming in and and

slaughtering people in Israel but I I totally don't believe that it that it justifies slaughtering an entire population it's about to get very ugly after what the president put out there I don't know if you saw this or

not did you see this Shalom Hamas means hello and goodbye you can choose release all the hostages now or later uh not later and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered or it's over for you only sick and

Twisted people keep bodies and you are sick and twisted I'm sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say I have just met with your former hostages whose lives

you have destroyed this is your last warning for the leadership now is the time to leave Gaza while you still have a chance also to the people of Gaza beautiful future awaits you but not if you hold hostages if you do you are dead

make a smart decision release the hostages now or there will be hell to pay later how do you feel about that I believe uh the hostages should be released uh I do not believe that we should be uh slaughtering people so what

if they don't release the hostages so Ben maybe you have a better strategy how do you get them to release the hostages share it with us I don't know honestly so what should he do what should he do should he send a

case of ice cream guys release them here's Ben and Jerry's maybe he sends the dark chocolate the dirt dirt what is it called dirt uh dirt cake my favorite they may not like that because it's you know dirt cake so but what what did

a I you know I I don't I don't have a solution could it be because as a leader you have a position that sometimes you have to make a tough decision that the average person will not understand and

there's burden that comes with being a president well I I I I definitely I I agree that that there are times when you need to make tough decisions as a leader do you have kids I do I do as well if one of

those hostages got forbid were our kids how soon would you want them to make a move so they return to you so you can hug them again I I'm not looking to I I I wouldn't I wouldn't say

uh return my kid or uh I'll Slaughter thousands of people so you would sacrifice your daughter or your son if they stay there I I wouldn't sacrifice my my daughter every day they're there their their their days are numbered each day

they're there your imagination you're a great marketer in your imagination as a father your imagin what they're doing to your daughter you're okay with that I'm not okay with it uh you know I I don't know what the solution to the

problem is why it's tough yeah it's tough it's tough and so no matter what he does he's going to have hate but he's got to make a decision this is why being a leader is not for everybody especially

being a president it's a lot of Burden that comes with it especially president like him that's actually making decisions that a lot of people are giving him a hard time with and he's got a big support big people that are

sitting there saying let's go Ben I can tell you one thing I had no idea where we were going to go honestly I had a blast with you I had a time I so appreciate you for reaching out I hope

we stay in contact and uh I have friends in Vermont that I go to and I stay at this house my uh good friend I'll give a shout out to the mean assadi who's the co of national life group and incred man

I don't know if you've met him before or not he's been to your place before phenomenal father he's a great CEO and I've been to Vermont just to visit him um mean assadi he has a Persian accent he

doesn't like it when I say that but he is a a he's a very very very dear friend of mine so anyways well let me know when you're in town I will I didn't get to show you all of my toys oh what is it

what you you want you yeah tell me what's one of my toys this is a limited edition uh Ben and Jerry's ramp walker uh there's no batteries there's no nothing to wind up uh it it Waddles let me see if we can

here set it up for you here excuse me I'm moving go for it do it go on go on guys oh wow Isn't that cool that is super cool they don't go off they they always get out of here stop they know they've got a

look at these guys and it's low Tech it's not like I've got a sensor or this is crazy so it's not battery generated no no no this is uh wow you know when when these first came out 20 years ago

25 years ago people wen't that crazy about it but now that everything is all Hightech and everything they like this yeah it's retro can I have it can you have it baby this is your it's got your name on it not only that I'm giving you

one that's totally unopen oh you're amazing you know eBay you know when when your business goes down to the tube you sell that on eBay you know get we'll get rid of the capital gains tax listen you're amazing right you're amazing all

right here's my other to what your pens don't do this dude that is pretty sick I mean you know you go around selling insurance with this thing but this one here talks about global military spending you know here's

how much the US spends here's how much China spends here's how much Russia spends they got closeup lens on that [ __ ] thing here's how do you see it or no here let me show you do you see it Rob

it's pretty sick that is cool I love this all right don't say I never gave you nothing no no I have look you're gonna leave and I'm going to say great things about you but I'm going to say when you leave I I I'm

very glad that President Trump finally has your support it's great to to see that you know all it took was podcast qu qualified sir truly an honor to meet you truly and honor to meet you I appreciate you for coming out really enjoyed it

gang I hope you enjoyed it as well just so you know if you're going to go buy ice cream this is my favorite flavor out of all of them God bless everybody take care bye-bye bye-bye nowadays more than

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