Washington needs new leadership in November.

0:00 Speaker 1 With us today is borough President of Staten Island, the Vito for Sella, and he is angry on some of the things happening in Washington. He was a congressman before that. Vito for Sella talk to us about it.

0:17 Speaker 2 Well, A good morning, John, Thanks so much as always for having me on. Appreciate it. You know, there’s going to be a big election coming in the next few months, and I think people are going to start to if they haven’t already, begin to see what’s coming out of Washington.

0:32 And it looks like a hodgepodge of insanity from time to time for people who just want to get their country back and back on track. And I think that’s why you see so many folks think the country is moving in the wrong direction. It needs better leadership, stronger leadership, and some sanity. Just recently, for example, one of the

0:53 top economic advisors to this administration really couldn’t even explain how the money supply works. I mean, that’s the essence of our fiscal system, of that drives interest rates, that drives whether they have inflation or deflation. And this is economic sort of one on one, and they can’t even get their ROMs around how the system works, and it’s

1:15 a little bizarre and borderline frightening that that’s those are the folks who are making the decisions.

1:21 Speaker 1 These days understood, And uh, there is some lacking talent. Talent in in Washington. People seem to get hired because of their sex or because of their uh I guess influence, or not because of their talent and and and the right things to do is get hired because of your talent and your expertise.

1:53 Speaker 2 Yeah, the one common thread that I think will stand in the test of time is when you evaluate individuals on merit and their ability to perform and their ability to add value, whether it’s in school. You know, they still give exams in schools and you get one hundred and some kids get seventy right. And then you apply

2:14 to college and some kids get in and some kids don’t. And you apply for a job, and over time you want to just be merit based. That’s the fairest, most equitable thing to do. And then what happens is you start to fabricate what’s important and what’s not and you end up with bad results. So getting back full circle

2:33 to Washington, DC. These days, you know, we all live every day to day, you got to go to a grocery store and you’re paying you know how much more than you were three years ago. You know that’s inflation.

2:44 Just a couple of years ago, we were told, hey, it’s just transitory, don’t worry about it. Now it’s stuck and inflation is going to come down. So what does the Fed do? They don’t touch rates. Meanwhile, folks who wanted to buy a house can’t afford it because mortgage rates are higher. This impacts every single American household. And

3:05 these are the decisions made by folks in Washington that they just don’t translate to good policy. And it hurts, and it hurts in particular with the middle class who see their dollars shrink or the value of their dollar shrink, in large part because people, I think in DC have no clue what’s going on in the ordinary household, whether

3:25 it be on Staten Island or across the country.

3:27 Speaker 1 A Vito I understand. Last week, and there was a lawsuit and some individuals won against New York City for I think it was three million dollars because he the person was fired and they hired somebody that was nowhere near his expertise and because of certain favorites that were going on, and things like that are happening, and it’s.

3:59 Speaker 2 Not one you know, I just don’t know. John, You’re one of the most the smartest guys I’ve known, one of the most successful business people because I think, and I’m not gonna put words in your mouth. You choose people, and you’re loyal to people who work hard, do the right thing, and try and bring value, whether to your

4:20 business or the baseball team, whatever the case may be. And we try to instill that in our kids. Work hard, study hard, try your best, and if you do it, good things will happen. But then along comes these folks who just change policy and say, you know, the good guys go out merit doesn’t matter. We’ve got to check

4:39 some boxes and then we’ve got to please other people. And I don’t think it works. You know, see public companies that do that all the time, and what happens Their share price drops because their obligation is to some fictitious proposal as opposed to what they should do is bring value to their shareholders. And I hope that the

4:59 time comes that we can walk away from those things and get back to what really matters. Work hard, like the American way. Anything is possible in this great country if you work hard and do the right thing, not if you just sort of manufacture stuff, because you’re going to hurt some good people, like the person you just

5:17 mentioned who lost a job to somebody who was unqualified.

5:22 Speaker 1 Vito Facello Borough, President of Staten Island, Thank you so much, and we’ll catch up with you again real soon.

5:29 Speaker 2 Have a great one, John, thank you so much, appreciate it.