[Music]
all right welcome back a lot of other
topics to get through this morning let's
bring in the roundtable former Majority
Leader of the Michigan State Senate
Randy richardville is here bridge
magazines Chesley Pratt dossie back with
us again
Dennis Cowen a head of government
affairs for Plunkett Cooney and the
former mayor of the city of Royal Oak
and Stephen Henderson of Detroit today
from WDET gang thanks very much Dennis
let me start with you a topic that did
not get very much attention this past
week because we were so dialed in on the
immigration battle the president we've
talked already about what's going on
with Mexico and Canada relative to trade
but it really ratcheted things up again
this week with China this is healthy yes
it's about time we fight back and I'll
tell you why because pandering has not
worked surrender has not worked the
American Center American Commission on
the theft of intellectual property was a
bipartisan think-tank estimates that
annually the our country loses between
225 and 600 billion in revenue this
affects new technology pharmaceuticals
fashion almost everything that we do is
being stolen so we have to institute a
theft tax that's what the tariffs are is
there gonna be some temporary pain could
it affect us here in Detroit in Michigan
yes but the the loss and the sustained
loss over time is even greater in fact I
just read recently that in ten years
there's a prediction that General Motors
could be out of China because you're not
going to need them
Stephen that's it that's a one tricky
but China is a different animal when it
comes to this this trade battle but when
the president says trade wars are easy
to win
China also would seem that that's a
difficult one yeah well I mean as Dennis
points out the problems here are we all
agree on those right we lose the trade
game over and over the question is what
you do about it and whether you repeat
the mistakes of the past or you come up
with a way to try to deal with these
things in a way that long-term will
solve them I challenge anybody to come
up with an example of an historical
example of US tariffs actually
accomplishing what they were intended to
accomplish I challenge anyone to come up
with an example from history
of us tariffs not tanking our own
economy Holley being the the the most
classic example right you raise tariffs
you sink deeper into the Great
Depression
Donald Trump is is going to that
playbook to try to solve the problem
rather than saying look this is more
complicated than everyone wants to think
it is and we got to come up with some oh
yes you just said trade war which is
what a lot of people have been kind of
discouraging around that they don't want
to call it that but clearly that's what
we seem to be at least in the very
preliminary stages of absolutely you got
China saying already thirty four billion
dollars worth of tariffs are back at ya
America you got nine states that export
a billion dollars or more to China so
what's the long-term and short-term
solution you know like like Stephen was
saying you know if this hasn't worked
before can't you do or think of
something new because people are gonna
want to know how is this going to affect
many short-term in a long term is this
really going to work and you're talking
about just with the other day twenty
percent tariff on autos out of Germany
how is that going to affect the American
economy how is that going to affect
German I'm sorry
American autos here and abroad and then
when Canada even says hold up wait a
minute
back at you America here's a tariff for
you then you know people are wondering
like with the lumber tariffs now is
homeownership going to be harder in
America what's the short-term problem
that this is going to cause and is it
worth what you think the long-term and
advantages are gonna be compared Randy
what you think yeah well I'm more with
Dennis I believe that we we
conservatives believe in a free market
and the competitive market works and
works in the United States what we've
done is offered a discounted market so
if you live outside of the United States
we'll give you a discount to come into
our market it's not fair it's been going
on for a long time President Trump isn't
afraid to get everyone's attention by
making decisions and then acting on them
sure he's rhetoric sometimes gets a
little far out there but he's a doer and
then before the the the problem is
solved there are people that come in and
take that initial solution and massage
it so that it works well our economy in
the United States is doing pretty well
right now and he
the guy that's doing that and and I
believe that we need to expand that into
the rest we point out your conservatism
Dennis you would too but and this is the
part that I keep if I had to come to you
three years ago and said tariffs ought
to be a part of the conservative
playbook I I just I'm not sure you would
have agreed with me I might not have but
Randy's burger we weren't in power
always deal from a position of strength
that's one of the presidents tenets and
negotiation right now we have a very
good economy this is the time to make
this money and the other thing is also
why it seems to son we have the most
successful economy in the world and to
show up at the g7 and complain about
trade is why two summits like the New
York Yankees complaining about where the
fences are the Yankees kept on winning
so the other thing the other thing is
the definition of is it's of insanity is
keep doing what you're doing and you get
the same result and that's why we have
to make a change right I want us to
quickly move on to another topic got a
lot I wanted to get to this morning
chasity bridge magazine recently talked
about this political sort of influence
that's being brought to bear and what's
being taught in schools and social
studies and I guess my question I mean
reading debate we can get down to the
nitty-gritty of some of these things
about how much you say about Roe vs.
Wade of the KKK but I guess my broader
question is how much do politicians have
to do with curriculum and that was the
thing bridge broke the story Lindsey van
Holly and Ron French broke the story
just doing regular old school journalism
looking through some of the things that
were coming through in the legislature
these things happen all the time
people don't understand when there is a
change that people in the Department of
Education want to make they shop it
around the state before they make the
the procedural change and this was just
something that had been going on in
nobody was paying attention and and that
is the question Devon how much do
Americans people in Michigan want our
legislators dictating what is gonna be
in the curriculum should that be left up
to educators should that be left up to
the Department of Education even the
Michigan State School or what does a
legislator know about social studies in
the seventh or eighth grade should they
even be involved ready am i naive in
thinking that it hasn't always been that
way is there always a sort of a
political Bend on curriculum well of
course there is you know there are those
that say that most of the teachers most
of the professors in education today
whether it's k12 or whether it's in
higher education
our our liberal and changed the
curriculum but you know in in the
classrooms I believe that's true
and that granular level however I think
this case and whether you're Democrat
Republican conservative liberal I don't
care I think this is hypocritical this
is the same guy that stood up on a
platform and said Common Core is evil we
have to fight it we don't want the
government telling us what to do and in
our school boards and now he's saying
well except the state if I have a chance
to introduce something I think it's
hypocrisy and I think that you should
let the local school board's decide what
their curriculum is versus the
government so I think we're in agreement
more maybe about at the beginning mark
that down is points to a larger
governance problem we have in the state
of Michigan if I ask you who's in charge
of education in Michigan what's your
answer is it the state school board is
it the governor is it the state
superintendent is it the legislature
they all have their hands in the soup
and it's not clear sort of what the
lines are supposed to be we keep coming
back to these questions without I think
dealing with the sort of central issue
which is that governance problem which
does not look the same in other states
if you look around the nation other
states have sort of streamlined now
those lines of authority cut down on the
ways in which different different
political interests in particular can
muck around in education we haven't had
that conversation here in the state of
Michigan Dennis a lot of people have
complained of course for many years that
education in America and in the Western
world is largely Eurocentric tends to be
dominated by white men when we talk
about the history of of the world this
narrows it down even more if we start
really letting people pick and choose at
a government level what's important
doesn't it or not well first of all if
you're if you're looking for diversity
you certainly can go on college campuses
but that's might what's one of my
biggest concerns is the freedom of
thought that we have in our schools
especially on our college campuses but
drill down the K through 12
my daughter's a public school teacher
and she tells me there's a lot of
government mandates please don't start
micromanaging what we have to teach in a
classroom I agree with that
I think we should leave teaching up to
the professionals and the local school
boards and that the politicians do what
they do best some people don't think
that they do best which is let them
govern and let teachers teach yeah
lastly I've only got about a 45 seconds
left what do you expect out of the
debate coming up who who has the most to
gain or lose coming up with the
Republicans on Thursday night well I
like shree's commercials the best but I
think he's probably lowest evil he will
not be here for the Republicans the best
I don't know you know it was what's
really bothered me about this race so
far and haven't been close to both of
these individuals or all three of these
individuals over the years is how ugly
it's gotten I'm just tired of whether
it's Democrat versus Republican
Republican versus Republican and I'm
just tired of that I hope that they come
out with positive ideas about what they
can do and influence voters in it in the
right way but I'm just I'm just tired of
all the negative rhetoric I would say we
need to elevate the discussion but
expect fireworks we're not that far away
from the primary
we're getting there very spec fireworks
yeah all right we'll wrap things up a
big thank game thank you very much we'll
wrap things up this morning right after
this