Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / U.S. Customs Revenue on Track to Top $500B plus Cracker Barrel Backtracks After Branding Blunder

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U.S. Customs Revenue on Track to Top $500B plus Cracker Barrel Backtracks After Branding Blunder · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Then he goes on television he says, oh, Trump is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: a dictator, and.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of people have here. So the line is
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: that I'm a dictator, but I stopped crying. So a
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: lot of people say, you.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator,
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: but I'm not a dictator.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I just have to stop crying.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: You're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with Ben ferguson.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Good Wednesday morning. So nice to have you with us
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: on the forty seven Morning Update.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: And we've got two major stories for you.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: First up, Donald Trump was right and even the media
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: is in shock by how much money Americas bring in
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: through tariffs, and it could be as much as a
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: half a trillion dollars this year. I'll give you those
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: details in just a moment. Also, Cracker Barrel, they screwed
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: up big time. The President said it's time for you
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: to go backwards, correct the course, and learn from your
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: mistake quickly so you can be successful. Well, within twenty
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: four hours of the President weighing in on the issue,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Cracker Barrel decided, Yeah, we're going to do exactly that,
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: and we've got the story behind it. It's the forty
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: seven morning update, and it starts right now.
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  Speaker 4: Story number one.
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump promised you that tariffs were going to work,
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  Speaker 3: not only so America wouldn't be taken advantage of anymore,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: especially hard working Americans. He also said it was going
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: to bring jobs back to America, and he said it
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: was going to raise money. That was not going to
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: be a pass through to you. Well, now we're finding
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: out just how successful some of the US tariff could
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: be by the end of the year, as US tariff
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: revenue could actually top five hundred billion dollars a year.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: The US Treasury Secretary Scottvissent said today the customs duty
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  Speaker 3: revenues from President Donald Trump's tariffs may surpass five hundred
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: billion a year, with a substantial jump from July to August,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: and likely a bigger jump in September, October and November
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: with tismiths coming into the US. Estimates of a three
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: hundred billion annual tariff collection rate was too low. He said, quote,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: we had a substantial jump from July to August, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: I think we're going to see a bigger jump from
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  Speaker 3: August to September. So I think we could be on
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  Speaker 3: our way well over half a trillion maybe towards a
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: trillion dollar number.
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  Speaker 2: This administration.
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  Speaker 3: Your administration has made a meaningful dent in the budget deficit.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Now tariff revenue would offset the deficit. Increase is triggered
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: by the Republican tax cut and Spending bill passed this
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  Speaker 3: year as well. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the
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  Speaker 3: bill would widen the deficit by three point four trillion
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  Speaker 3: over the next ten years. Well, Trump's tariffs drove July
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: US customs duty collections up by nearly twenty one billion
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  Speaker 3: from the seven billion collected in July of twenty twenty four.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: And even with that, you had a twenty billion dollar
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: increase that was registered in June. Now, this is a
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: significant increase in tariff rates for nearly all trading partners,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: and that kicked in on August to seventh.
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  Speaker 2: What does that mean? Even more money?
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  Speaker 3: The US Treasury reported on Monday that is of August
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  Speaker 3: the twenty second, the government had collected twenty nine point
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  Speaker 3: six billion dollars twenty nine point six billion in combined
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  Speaker 3: customs and excise taxes so far during August, matching its
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  Speaker 3: total for the whole month of July.
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  Speaker 2: And yes, there are still quite a few days left
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  Speaker 2: in the month.
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  Speaker 3: Now, as of July twenty second, that combined figure stood
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  Speaker 3: at seven point eight billion, but customs duty collections can
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  Speaker 3: vary from day today now. The Treasury Secretary Pisent also
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: noted that the Congressional Budget Offices upwardly revised estimates last
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: week a federal revenue from Trump's tariffs, forecasting that it
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: could quote reduce federal deficits by four trill million dollars
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: over the next ten years, saying quote and I would
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: expect that that number could go up from here.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 3: The latest Congressional Budget Office estimate marks an increase from
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  Speaker 3: June when it was forecasts at revenue from new tariffs
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: would reduce deficits by three trillion over the next ten years. Well,
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  Speaker 3: now that may jump to four trillion dollars. So the
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: President United States of America not only making sure that
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: we're protecting jobs, but also when it comes to our
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: national security issues. Scott Pssent went on the Ingram angle
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: talking about the risk to our economy and how dependent
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: we've been on foreign industry China included. Here's part of
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: what he had to say about bringing industries back to
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: our country and getting the mirror as quickly as we can.
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: Rare than the magnets. Obviously, those are the critical things
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  Speaker 5: we need from China. How difficult a situation are we
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  Speaker 5: in without industrial policy that it almost makes it an
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  Speaker 5: emergency for us to be independent of our strongest adversary
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  Speaker 5: when it comes to those critical things. Rare earth and magnets.
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, or it's rarear, it's magnets, but it's so
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  Speaker 1: many other things. Is the single biggest point of failure
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: for the US economy and for the Western economies. Ninety
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: nine percent of high value chips are made on the
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: island of Taiwan. So we're trying to bring semiconductor manufacturing
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: back to the US. We're trying to bring steel production
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: back to the US. We're bringing pharma back to the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: US under President Trump's leadership. There's a group of us
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: in the Cabinet in the White House who believe, if
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: we have not de risked the US economy and brought
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: these industries back on shore, when we walk out the
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  Speaker 1: door in January twenty twenty nine, we will have failed.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: And we are not going to fail.
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  Speaker 5: And your message to Congress tonight, because without Congress really
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: taking action and spending real money for our own industrial policy.
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  Speaker 5: This is going to be more difficult.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: We've got to do this. The only good thing about
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: COVID was it was a beta test. We could see
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: there are plenty of unreliable suppliers. I mean, think about this.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Eighty ninety percent of the precursor pharma products that we
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: get for very basic medicines. You know, the antibiotics for
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: children come from China or India. So we have to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: bring a big amount of that home.
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  Speaker 3: You just heard it there. We've got to bring it
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: back home. We stress test this because of COVID. This
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: actually maybe one of the only good things that came
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: out of COVID was realizing just how risk we are
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: as a country, including on the issue of pharmaceuticals. And
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  Speaker 3: so the present is not backing down on this. That
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: is very clear.
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  Speaker 4: Now story number two.
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  Speaker 3: You would think that companies would learn from the fiascos
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: and the disasters of woke ideology. A great example of
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: that is what happened with bud Light using a transgendered
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  Speaker 3: person a dude acting like a chick to try to
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  Speaker 3: promote their brand.
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  Speaker 2: We all know how that ended.
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  Speaker 3: You would also think that CEOs in twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 3: would understand that there's quite a few Americans out there
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  Speaker 3: that just want brands to be normal and not push
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  Speaker 3: in agenda, or if they have a core audience, don't
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: be ashamed of them and who they actually are. Well,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: you would think that CEOs of companies would understand that
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: insert cracker barrel aiming to quote modernize. Under the new
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  Speaker 3: CEO appointed in twenty twenty three, they decided it was
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: a good idea to trash an entire brand, but not
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: just the brand, actually trash the customers that had propped
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: up that brand for decades. They unveiled what they described
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: as a minimalist text only logo and upditted the restaurant
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  Speaker 3: de core, dropping the iconic image of Uncle.
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  Speaker 2: Herschel, the overalls clad.
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  Speaker 3: Man leaning on a barrel, and removing the quote old
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  Speaker 3: country store from all of their branding. Yes, it was
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: a slap in the face or a middle finger, however
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: you want to describe it to the customers that love
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: cracker barrel Oil. Customers and branding critics then slammed the changes,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: accusing the chain of abandoning not only it's nostalgic but
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: also its southern country identity. The company's stock tumbled by
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: more than ten percent, in fact, to seventeen percent if
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: you look at the latest reports, and the brand lost
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  Speaker 3: as much as one hundred million dollars in its valuation.
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  Speaker 3: But apparently that wasn't enough for Cracker Barrel leaders. They
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  Speaker 3: stuck to their plan day after day as it continued
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  Speaker 3: to get out of control, and then when they knew
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  Speaker 3: they had a real problem, they went on Good Morning America.
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  Speaker 3: The Cracker Barrel ceo on the restaurant runs that had
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: made everyone start talking about the brand. Here's what she
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: had to say when was asked about, Hey, did you
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  Speaker 3: guys maybe make a mistake?
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  Speaker 6: And I got asked this question, I believe I'd probably
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: know to answer. What if all the customers are coming
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  Speaker 6: at you hard enough about the look at a restaurant
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  Speaker 6: and they want to go back to.
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  Speaker 2: The old way, would you do it?
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: Honestly, the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive that people like what
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: we're doing. I'll give you another SoundBite. I actually happened
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: to be in Orlando last week with all of our managers.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: We bring them together and once every other year, and
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  Speaker 7: the number one question that I got asked Michael was
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: how can I get a remodel? When can I get
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: a remodel? How do I get on the list? Really
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  Speaker 7: so because the feedback and the buzz is so good,
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  Speaker 7: not only from our customers, but from our team members.
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  Speaker 7: They want to work in a wonderful restaurant. So we're
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: doing everything for our guests and our team members.
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  Speaker 6: When Jula Messino, it's wonderful to have you here.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Pleasure to thank you.
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  Speaker 6: I answer those questions for all the Crack and Berry
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  Speaker 6: fans out there. There's a lot of great changes.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, a lot of great changes.
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  Speaker 3: Is how Good Morning America put it well? That didn't
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  Speaker 3: go over well. Fast forward to Monday, and finally Cracker
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  Speaker 3: Barrel admitted defeat and their woke CEO realizing she had
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: a very big problem on her hands. Cracker Barrel acknowledged
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: that it quote could have done a better job of
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  Speaker 3: sharing who we are and who will always be. Attempting
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: to calm the furious customer base that had abandoned the store,
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  Speaker 3: their public communications team emphasized that quote beloved elements like
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Uncle herschel rocking chairs out front, the classic decor would
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: in fact remain in the stores, and then there's the
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: politics of this. Donald Trump weighed in strongly, saying quote,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Crackerbrell should go back to the old logo and made
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  Speaker 3: a mistake and manage the company better than ever before.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Hours later, the White House, via the pre Secretary Caroline Levitt,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: praise Crackerbrell's decision to revert, stating that Trump has unmatched
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: business instincts and that the brand made a great decision
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: to trust the President of the United States of America.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: By Tuesday evening, Cracker Barrel had changed her tune even more.
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  Speaker 3: They announced it would scrap the new logo entirely and
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: revert to the original old Timer design, with Uncle Herschel
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  Speaker 3: and the old Country Store naming back. The company described
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the change as listening, quote to its customers and reaffirming
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: the importance of tradition, hospitality, and comfort. Now, Donald Trump's
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: vocal criticism and the public urging made a massive difference
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: and aligned with widespread customer outrage as well as the
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: financial losses, and then Cracker Barrel had to fully admit
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: that the rebrand was a mistake. Not only was it
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: a mistake because they were ashamed of apparently their image,
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: they were ashamed of their customer base. They wanted to
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: be new, trendy and woke. Well now, Cracker Barrel said,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: after losing one hundred million in their market cap, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: I guess we're just gonna go back to how things
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: were before. Remember, nothing was actually broken. And this is
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the bigger question that so many people should be asking,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: especially in the advertising, marketing and the business brand world.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Why on earth would you try to take an iconic
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: brand like Cracker Barrel and change it into something clearly
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  Speaker 3: that doesn't align with your customers. It's an amazing brand,
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: it's a business that people love going into. The food
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: is actually incredible, and the President United States of America
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: calling them out was a brilliant move. By the way,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: he was also protecting so many of the people that
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: worked there and people that invested in the business. Job
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: well done, the President of the United States of America
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: for doing this. It'll be very interesting to see how
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: long the leadership at Cracker Barrel will still be employed
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: after this nightmare and disaster.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 13:12
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• 13:15
  Speaker 2: More in depth news.
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: Also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: see you back here tomorrow