In this YouTube excerpt, Lee Habeeb (host) and two guests (Speaker B and Speaker C) dissect a recent New York Times/Newsweek story about FedEx’s claim of creating 33,000 jobs in Memphis. The conversation swings between praising the job creation as a boon for the local economy and questioning the real fiscal impact, especially tax contributions to city services and schools. The participants argue that the narrative is driven by ideology, noting that FedEx’s employees pay various taxes (income, gasoline, etc.) that are often omitted from the story. They reference feedback from a figure named Bennett, criticize the media’s framing, and propose producing a PragerU video to set the record straight. The dialogue ends with thanks to Lee Habeeb for his role in the Newsweek piece and a brief mention of where to follow the discussion.
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They're lobbying for tax cuts. These are the kind of jobs that everybody wants.
33,000 of them, though, Dennis, are in my own backyard. 33,000 jobs in the little city of Memphis, population—
I am stunned at these numbers.
These are big numbers, Dennis. And by the way, FedEx, with those 33,000 jobs, if anyone owns a nail salon, hair salon, restaurant, car dealer, what would happen to all of those businesses? That's right. Who would pay for the teachers' salaries? And the mayor's salary. Who would pay all these government bills without Bennett?
Yes, exactly correct. That is exactly correct. Well, it doesn't matter because it's all ideology. Look, you wrote this. Any feedback thus far? It just came out. What's the story?
Oh, I got all kinds of feedback from Bennett. They loved it and they thanked me, especially telling the story, because Dennis Prager, all Bennettists, we all say capitalism or socialism, We don't really tell the story.
That's right.
One job creates three.
That's right.
Next three creates six more.
We should do, I think it's so powerful, your piece and the whole story. Maybe we should do a PragerU video on it. It's, uh, people don't know, they don't understand that. And they don't—
This happened on a business section. This happened in the business section of a paper, the business section. That's what was most shocking. It was, and it wasn't an op-ed. It was a, it was a news.
Paid zero in taxes, right? The fact that, you know, tens of thousands of Americans have well-paying jobs, that's irrelevant. That's what, that's what they're saying. That's irrelevant. How much taxes have— did you, did you increase employment or did you increase the government?
That's— by the way, when you— they're not counting all the taxes the people pay who work at FedEx, the gasoline tax. Yes, yes, right. Oh my goodness. It's billions of dollars.
All right, where do people follow you? We put it up, that's right, at Newsweek. Lee Habib, you're a joy, and thank you for your help on the Newsweek issue.