Frogs In Boiling Water – Lessons From Venezuela – with Jorge Galicia – [Ep. 244]

Linda J Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 Breakroom Economics® Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck® and the creator of the Breakroom Economics® Online course.

The book, the course, and the entire podcast library can be found on prosperity101.com. I seek to connect boardroom to breakroom and policy to paycheck. By empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful®.

I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit prosperity101.com.

Thank you so much for joining with me today. I appreciate you taking time to listen to this podcast and I want to say a special thank you to all of our prosperity partners, those who support us to keep these podcasts on the air. So thank you. And if you, listener, would like to become a prosperity partner, please go to the website prosperity101.com and click on the prosperity partner link. You can just click on the prosperity partner link to join us as a prosperity partner. Help us spread the freedom message.

I'd like you to support our strategic partners. Today I'll focus on the U.S. Christian Chamber of Commerce, Red Balloon and Pro-Life Payments. So please go to the show notes and support our freedom partners.

So with that, I'll get into the interview and thank you again for listening. I have a return guest today. I'm so glad to have Jorge Galicia with me today. Jorge has been on before and I love his message because he has lived under the type of government we are trying to prevent here in the U.S. Jorge is a native of Venezuela. He has seen what Marxist communist policies do to a nation and to families. And he has been an outspoken voice for freedom here in the U.S. and really around the world because of where his message reaches. He is currently a spokesperson for Turning Point. I appreciate so much that he came back on the podcast. So thank you, Jorge, for joining with me again.

Jorge Galicia: Thank you, Linda, for the invitation. I really appreciate it. 

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, well, it was great to see you at AmFest 2024 where we reconnected again. But we've been trying to get this podcast scheduled for several months, and it seems like our schedules did not align. But I thank you so much for making time. So we are entering into a new era of politics here in America.

I know in a recent episode that I published, we talked a lot about national security. We talked about the threats of China. We talked about the threats of Sharia law and all these things that are coming in and infiltrating our nation. You have seen personally in your own life what happens when these types of policies start to infiltrate governments and start to infiltrate the culture. So what is top of mind for you as we enter into a new administration? And what would you say to the listeners?

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, I'm particularly hopeful about the next four years. I believe it's going to be amazing. I am extremely optimistic about the future of this country right now. I believe that the Trump administration is bringing the best ideas to the table. I am particularly happy about the work of people like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy because I think they're speaking about the important matter, which is cutting spending.

I believe that should be our number one priority as a nation right now because I believe we're spending too much. Our deficit is too big. Our public debt is really just too big. I am convinced that if we keep following that path for the upcoming years, well, we're going to see ourselves in a really, really not the best economic situation.  I know this for a fact because I know this is how exactly Venezuela started taking steps into what it is today, because we were a nation that were unable to control our levels of spending, our deficit, our public debt. Everybody became dependent on all of these different social programs and subsidies and everything, and the bureaucracy that the government, all different governments started to build, and well, now we're paying the consequences.

I don't want to see that happening here in America. And hopefully, I am really hopeful that this administration will bring fiscal control to the table and we're going to be responsible with our finances once again. I think that's, in a nutshell, that will be my main priority. Like the one thing I want to see fixed the fastest, I would say.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, that is a really good point. And you and I have talked before about the fall of Venezuela, basically, and how all of these social programs, they promise everything and deliver nothing over time, right? And as I say, probably almost every episode, the government has nothing until we, as the taxpayers and citizens, give it to the government first.

So when you overtax the citizens and bloat the government, or you create this inflation with just printing money and inflating the economy, I mean, it's just a recipe for disaster. And there's a point in time where it can't be taken back. It's going to fall.

But we have time now to correct it. I think that you're really wise to alert people to the fact that this overspending, the bloated government, the social programs are not the way to true prosperity and flourishing here in America. So from your personal experience, I know before you talked about what your life was like in Venezuela before government policies and leadership changed. Tell us how it was and then what it became.

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, as I always say to people, I came from a middle class family. During my first years in Venezuela, we used to have a pretty happy and decent life. For example, my mom and I used to go to restaurants or we used to travel across Venezuela, sometimes even abroad, out of the country. I used to have video games and birthday parties. It was a pretty happy life and a normal one.

But then, in the year, let's say 2013 and everything that came after that, things changed dramatically for me and my whole family. Basic things, for example, as basic as having water supply, it almost stopped being a thing in my house. Trash management almost disappeared completely as well. Electricity started to fail. Internet connection, all of those things. I mean, even food. I stopped eating as much as I wanted to eat at some point because of these Marxist policies that were implemented in Venezuela.

I always like to remember this because when I was in Venezuela, when everything was kind of functional, I used to, and many people used to, take a lot of things for granted. Like, for example, having electricity or having water supply at your house. Those are things that you never really consider that could be gone super fast if a country starts following the wrong ideas.

So for me, it was part of nature. Like having electricity, water supply, I never really appreciated the value of it until, of course, it was gone. And the reason it was gone is because, as I said, the government in Venezuela decided to follow some really, really bad economic ideas.

Like, for example, they decided to nationalize all the companies that were handling the trash or the companies that were providing water to the houses in Caracas or the company that provided electricity. And of course, they did this under the belief that the government was better to run these companies. But by the end of the day, this wasn’t the case.

They bankrupted all of these companies. And then we started paying the consequence of these really, really bad economic ideas. And I believe that many people here in the U.S. are trying to do, if not just that, things that are really similar to these policies that we saw in Venezuela.

And we really need to stop them. I believe this upcoming administration is going to do just that, which is why I'm particularly optimistic. So yeah, that's how it was. I went from being part of the Venezuelan middle class to being, well, poor, a guy who wasn’t even able to eat properly at some point.

Linda J. Hansen: I remember you telling me that story and some of the things that you tried to do to even earn money as a young person. And it’s just so heartbreaking. And the fact that you took it for granted, I think everywhere, when we have freedom, we take it for granted, right? We think it's the same as we wake up, we turn on the lights, we turn on our computers, we pour water out of our tap.

And we have it, and we need to think about that. And we can see the effects of policy mismanagement and policy issues as we look at what's happened in Western North Carolina. These people are still waiting. The government has not been helping them at all. And then now we see what's happening with the wildfires in California. These people are hurting so much. And a lot of these things are related to policies and what people decided to spend money on and what kind of programs they decided to pour the taxpayer money into.

So it’s really important. In Venezuela before the fall, in a sense, what type of citizen engagement was there? Was there an active citizen movement trying to protect freedom?

Jorge Galicia: No, honestly, I don't think there was. I think that's part of the reason why it was so easy for someone like Hugo Chávez and now Nicolás Maduro to take over. Because at least here, you have really good citizens that are being organized to defend private property rights, to defend gun rights, to defend religious liberty. I mean, in Venezuela, unfortunately, especially during the 2000s and the '90s and probably the '80s, all of these decades, basically the socialists won the argument for good.

And we only had discussions between factions of socialists. People were saying, "No, I want to do socialism this way." But others were like, "No, let's do it this way." But everybody was on board with the idea that the government should basically control as much. Right. And that's why I also, even though at some point you may see that America is not following the right direction, I still hold a lot of hope in the past, even before the 2024 election, because I did see how there were a lot of people who were interested in defending the right ideas. And that always gave me a lot of hope.

But I always like to make a point that these changes didn't happen from one year to another or one month to another. This is a process, at least in Venezuela, it was the case. It was a process that started at least in the year 1975, which is when we nationalized our oil industry and we started spending as never before. So of course, I don’t see the U.S. as I see Venezuela right now. Right now, Venezuela is a really chaotic place controlled by a tyranny. And of course, it's not nearly the same to what we're witnessing here in the US.

But I do see a lot of similarities to the kind of Venezuela that we had in a year like 1975, where we were a well-functioning democracy, we had functioning institutions. But then our leaders decided to follow really bad economic ideas. They stopped paying attention to the deficit. They started to spend as never before. And I believe that 1975 was the genesis of the problems that we're seeing today in Venezuela. And I can see some of that replicating here in the U.S.

I am convinced that if we don't put a break into all of those bad economic ideas and incentives that politicians are putting in, maybe in the next 10, 20 years, or maybe even less than that, we could see ourselves in a really bad economic situation. And that's what we need to stop.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it is, and I appreciate your voice. You've been part of the Dissident Project with Young Voices as well. And as an outspoken dissident, you have spoken in defense of freedom all over. So, I want to encourage you and just say it doesn’t just help America when you speak, but you are helping your home country of Venezuela. And think of all the countries you're helping as well when people hear your message and citizens start to become awakened to what they need to do in their own country. I mean, it's really encouraging.

I mean, just recently, think about how Argentina has changed so much. And elections have consequences, ideas have consequences, policies have consequences, and they’re positive or negative. And so we can see a big change in Argentina. Maybe you want to touch on how it’s maybe even impacted Venezuela. And then there’s Brazil. That’s a whole other thing. We have the whole issue with Bolsonaro, the “Trump” of that region, in a sense.

I’d like you to touch on this, how these different countries, what’s happening, and how that’s all impacting America, and what we can do as American citizens to not only strengthen our own nation but then to really help that impact Venezuela and these other countries.

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, I mean, the reason why I always try to speak to Americans about this issue is because, well, first of all, I escaped from Venezuela to America. I don’t want to escape again. I don’t know where to go if something like what happened in Venezuela ever comes to happen in the U.S.—God forbid. But yeah, that’s probably the main reason I do it.

And also as a way to say thank you to America for opening the door for me. I think what you have here in the US is so beautiful, and it’s a wonderful country. I want to do my best in helping you guys keep it this way.

But also, as you said, I believe that I also help my own country. Because the Maduro regime in Venezuela, the socialist regime, they pay a lot of money to different influencers from Venezuela and even across the world to visit Venezuela. They give them tours across the beaches and the mountains. They take a lot of pictures because it is true, Venezuela has some really beautiful landscapes here and there. But they only want to show the beautiful things that are left, and they want to ignore the horrible truth about what socialism does to the country.

So that’s the image this regime is trying to sell to the world. So I see myself as someone who is making the argument against these lies that the regime is selling, because they want to make people believe that socialism is indeed working in Venezuela. And the only reason why there are problems is because of American influence or stuff like that, which is, of course, not true.

Right now, my favorite place on Earth, I think it’s Argentina because I see firsthand this guy, Javier Milei, is probably my favorite president ever. He has proven that it is possible to do the political changes that we need even reforms that everybody used to believe were unpopular, like reducing the deficit. Everybody tends to believe those are unpopular things because, of course, you're taking away the ways of living of many people who are dependent on this stuff. But he said, “Hey guys, we either do this or we lose our nation.” And everybody went on board with that.

I think this 2025, we’re going to start seeing the results of those smart economic policies, which I hope are replicated here in the U.S. My only issue with Argentina, though, is that they were at the brink of hyperinflation before they finally realized that change was needed. I hope we don't need to reach that point in the U.S. before our leaders finally decide to do the reforms that are needed. It looks like Argentina learned their lesson, but they almost lost their economy before making the right decision. And I hope we don’t have to reach that point here in the U.S. in order to do the right things that they’re doing right now in places like Argentina.

Another thing about Argentina that I want to say is that, it also gives me hope about the future of Venezuela whenever we recover our democracy. The main foreign groups supporting the current Argentinian government are Venezuelans. They organize, they root for this guy, they defend this guy. And Javier Milei loves the Venezuelan diaspora for this very same reason because most of us understand what socialism does to nations. And we want to stay as far away as possible from these socialist ideas.

I am convinced that if our diaspora is behaving that way everywhere we go, once we recover our freedom in Venezuela, if that ever happens, I’m sure that we’re going to have some promising reforms in the future if we ever recover our own democracy.

Linda J. Hansen: Exactly. And for those of you who are listening and might not know the term "diaspora," it’s really the freedom fighters. There’s the diaspora in communist China right now. There’s diaspora everywhere—freedom fighters. And there are freedom fighters in Brazil as well.

Brazil is another country that has truly used the lawfare tactics like they have here in the U.S. against President Trump and his people. Brazil is another country that’s been rich in resources and it’s just in a horrible situation right now. But it can turn around. There is hope there.

We run into the whole thing about rigged elections. You mentioned Maduro in Venezuela. We can see what happened in Brazil with the elections there. I will say I’ve seen the effects of voter fraud here in the U.S. So we have to have real clean, clear, transparent, open, honest elections. And that really helps people to have the voice that they need.

These people need to be educated too.

Jorge Galicia: If I may touch on Brazil really quick, that’s also part of the reason why I’m so happy about the upcoming Trump administration because I think he also understands the issues that we’re seeing in Brazil. Trump himself suffered firsthand all of these lawfare and corrupt tactics done by the opposition against him. And it's exactly the same or even worse than what's happening to Bolsonaro right now in Brazil. Their judiciary is extremely corrupt. They are censoring people for writing stuff on social media, for posting a meme. Spreading misinformation is a crime. The only problem is, who defines what misinformation is? A corrupt judge with a political bias.

It’s really worrying what we’re seeing in Brazil. I hope that now with the Trump administration taking care of the State Department and foreign policy agenda, they put heavy sanctions against these corrupt judges and these corrupt people that are trying to get rid of freedom of expression in Brazil. These allies because they are allies of the conservative movement in Brazil can take back control of their country.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, as you’ve been talking, I’ve been thinking of the phrase: “Socialism—ideas so good you have to force them.” These are not the policies that make for a prosperous nation or for freedom and prosperity for families and individuals. So we really need to protect that.

And as we think about the people in the U.S., and that’s why I love what I do so much, really trying to help people understand how policies affect their paychecks, their daily lives, and how important it is for them to be engaged citizens.

You talked about our leaders in the U.S. making good decisions. One thing about the U.S. is the leaders are actually "we the people." So it’s up to us to take on that role and become the leaders that we need to be as citizens and be the voices for freedom, be the activists for freedom, be the ones that hold the elected officials accountable because we are their leaders. They are not ours.

And so we really need to take on that role of citizenship more seriously. And that's why, I'm just going to say to employers, please educate your employees, because, you know, Jorge, as you have talked about, these next four years could be really profitable for the U.S. They could be really a turnaround. But we can see how quickly things can slide backwards again, how quickly we can start to lose freedoms again.

And you mentioned how in Venezuela, the citizenry was not equipped. They weren't educated. They weren't aware. They didn't realize the freedoms they had, let alone how quickly they could lose them. And so, my heart's cry is to educate citizens on not only the freedoms we have, but how to protect them. And for so many people that are in the workforce now, they've never had any kind of education like that. They've mostly been taught how to hate America in their educational system. Many of them.

I say to employers, please, be that voice of reason and truth. And, you know, you mentioned truth, and when truth is spread, you know, truth wins in the end and lies can spread quickly. But truth and time go together. So what would you say to employers who want to help employees understand the importance of all of this?

Jorge Galicia: No, yeah, I think your description was perfect, because, again, in Venezuela, unfortunately, we never had people caring about changing the culture for better. The socialists just won the argument across almost every sector of the society. We saw how universities were spreading socialist ideas. The media was spreading socialist ideas. Politicians, even those who oppose each other, were just opposing on how to implement socialism. So, I do believe that this educational aspect and this cultural aspect as well is extremely important.

I believe, for example, people should be more supportive of organizations like the one I work for or many others like Turning Point or Young America's Foundation. I can think of a lot of different organizations that are trying to educate the youth. And if you want to replicate their efforts at your own companies, explaining to everybody why freedom of economy is important, why it is important to give a budget that is balanced and responsible, and why it is important to have low taxation.

And how having big spending reflects on the taxes that you pay by the end of the year or the beginning of the year. All of those things are so important. I think liberty is going to be better defended if we all focus on this educational aspect. If our people are well-educated, I know they're going to be wiser when it comes to voting and choosing our leaders in Congress and the presidency and elsewhere. So yeah, really important.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, very important. So with that, I know our time is coming to a close. Do you have any other closing comments that you'd like to make sure our listeners hear before we give them information on how to contact you?

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, sure. I would like to make the point about a really dangerous Venezuelan gang called the Tren de Agua. It's hard for me to admit, but not all Venezuelans are like me. There are some others that are doing really dangerous stuff. And that's also another reason why I'm happy about the upcoming Trump administration, because I think he's going to put a stop to this influence of dangerous actors. I know that he knows the reason why these people are coming here, these bad actors, is because Maduro himself is sending them.

So I am convinced that if you really want to see the problems we're seeing with migration, with illegal immigration at the southern border, fixing what's going on in Venezuela or helping us fight for democracy and recover our republic, I think that's going to help big time to stop that massive flow of people of all kinds. Because there are good people that are just trying to leave that horrible regime and have a better life here in the U.S. But at the same time, among them, there are a lot of really dangerous people. So I think this is creating a national security risk not only for the U.S., but for the whole hemisphere.

I am convinced that Trump is going to help us recover our democracy, which is my biggest dream. And once we do that, a lot of these people that have come, even myself, perhaps, I'm going to go back to Venezuela and help rebuild. And yeah, I just want to make that argument.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it's so good that you brought up the immigration issue. And I am for stopping all immigration at this point. It's like we were talking before we were recording, I just really believe that when you have something destroying your body or poisoning you, you want to stop eating or drinking it or being around it. This massive influx of immigration is actually destroying our nation. So we just need to stop, re-evaluate, look at how all of the immigration programs, every single one of them, is impacting our nation and our economy, our freedoms.

You mentioned the crime and the Venezuelan gangs. Actually, the small town in Wisconsin where we raised our children, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, here's a shout out to Prairie du Chien, a beautiful little small town, great people, right on the Mississippi River, southwestern Wisconsin, beautiful place, this fall, there was an arrest of a Venezuelan immigrant who was part of that gang. He was assaulting a woman. And I told people in that small town, this isn't the only one that's here. You can be sure there are more here and they're everywhere.

Whether it's the Venezuelan gangs, the Chinese Communist Party soldiers that have come in and are under the radar all over, or Islamic extremists who believe in Sharia law and believe that they need to kill us all, there are many threats to our nation. One of the things we need to do is stop the flow and evaluate and make sure we get our nation back. Then we can reevaluate all of these policies and protect our citizens and support and help the citizens in these other countries who really just want the same freedoms we have.

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, I mean, just look what happened in Syria. After the Assad regime fell apart, now we're seeing big lines of Syrian people, especially from Turkey and other places, making lines to return to their home country. I believe that could happen here in the U.S. and elsewhere, where there are a lot of people like us who are just looking forward to recovering our nation and our liberties.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, you have family there.

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, more than half of my family is still there. And it's hard not to be able to be at the place where you grew up and where your parents grew up. It’s not fun. My grandma is getting older with the passing of time. I really wish to see her before God takes her. And that's my dream. I am convinced that if we solve the Venezuelan situation, many of the things we're seeing at the southern border will naturally at least reduce significantly. So maybe not only focus on building a wall, which is helpful, of course but try to fix the root incentive of why people are coming here in the first place.

Linda J. Hansen: Right.

Jorge Galicia: I think Argentina is doing that right now. Hopefully, if we manage to recover our democracy... because another thing, these criminals, I am convinced, are being sent here by Maduro himself on purpose. They have political connections with him. It’s not just criminals walking across the continent. I believe Maduro gave them a mission to cause chaos here in the U.S.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it isn't just Maduro. It is coming from the globalists. It is a whole globalist assault on the freedom of America and really working to destroy America from within. As I've been speaking out on these issues for 40 years, I've always said it was highly unlikely that America would topple from a military invasion at our borders. We would fight, right? What would happen is it would be the slow, slow, slow drip of erosion, of our culture, of our values, of our system of government, of our freedoms, and it would all happen from within.

And you can see that in Venezuela. You can see it here. So thank you for being a voice for freedom. Thank you for standing up and being willing to sacrifice being with family to speak and fight for freedom. We thank you for that. We thank you that you're here and can be this great dissident voice. Not only a voice of wisdom and warning, but also of hope. So thank you for providing all of that to us. If people want to reach you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Jorge Galicia: Yeah, you can follow me on my social media, both on X and on Instagram at JorgeGalicia95. And then I can follow you back, you can send me a DM.

By the way, I work for this program called the Dissident Project. Basically, we visit for free schools, high schools across the country. So maybe if you're a teacher out there and you have a group of kids that you’re interested in having them hear from someone like me speaking against socialism, we even have speakers from North Korea, from Iran, you can book a presentation from one of us for free, at no cost to you or the school. We would love to visit your state or wherever you are. So if you're interested, send me a DM and I can send you more information.

Linda J. Hansen: Right. And if by any chance you missed that, you can always contact me and I'll get in touch with Jorge. You can contact me at prosperity101.com. Maybe you’re a student listening, not a teacher or an administrator, or maybe you’re a business leader and you’d like to put together a presentation for your employees or for a group of businesses in your area. This is so important that we get this information out.

Students, talk to your teachers, talk to your administrators, talk to your parents, and get this information out. We really need to make sure people know how to defend freedom. So thank you, Jorge. I look forward to having you back again in the future. Keep fighting for freedom. We appreciate you.

Jorge Galicia: Thank you. Thank you for the invitation, Linda. God bless you and God bless your audience. Bye.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity101® podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share and leave a great review. Don't forget to visit prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library, to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck®, or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics® online course.

You can also receive the free ebook, 10 Tips for Helping Employees Understand How Public Policy Affects Their Paychecks. Freedom is never free. Understanding the foundations of prosperity and the policies of prosperity will help you to protect prosperity as you become informed, involved and impactful®.

Please contact us today at prosperity101.com to let us know how we can serve you. Thank you.