Ted Jenkin, serial entrepreneur, author and columnist for Fox News, joins Dom to discuss …

Welcome to Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano, a podcast devoted to preserving your parental rights, including the right to choose the best school for your child. This podcast is dedicated to gaining the option of school choice for every parent in America.

Here's your host, educator, and noted talk media commentator, Dom Giordano.

All right, everyone. Welcome in to Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano.

Our guest this week is a guy who's been doing all kinds of work with me, both nationally, locally, Ted Jenkins.

Ted, welcome. Thank you very much for joining us.

Your main day job, Ted, is you are an entrepreneur and you help advise people, particularly if they're selling a business, among other things. But you have a lot of things going on, including your work with Fox and the columns that I read. So tell us a little bit about Ted Jenkins. We got to know you. And what we're talking about today is the column you wrote on socialism, capitalism, pre-Trump Mondani.

Yeah, thanks, Tom. I'm a serial entrepreneur. I've sold three of my own companies and I've done a lot of media over the years, but I'm good fortune to write a column every week now for Fox News and putting together op-eds for them. And my day job today as an entrepreneur is I sell people's companies when they're ready to take it to market and help them realize their dreams after working hard for many years. And then at the end of it, we advise them on how to beat the government in income taxes, which I love doing, by the way. I love beating the government in income taxes.

Well, we certainly condone that. So, Ted, thank God that I was doing this show and we're looking at Mondani Trump getting ready for this. I wouldn't call it a confrontation, but I think I told you I was disappointed. I was hoping the president could engage him at least publicly a little bit more on the socialism, capitalism. Your column for Fox kind of previewed that. And you took a look. And what I do, Ted, my background,

I was in teaching before I got into talk radio. So I'm used nationally on all kinds of issues like this. The biggest thing I see in schools with socialism or with people even in their 20s, the appeal of it is it appears to them to be new. Why didn't somebody think of this before? Now, you know, you and I have gone through this and we've seen this a lot, that this has been around forever to greater or lesser degrees. How do we, what do we do?

do to try to get the message across. This is not new. This is a fixed battle. We're on the cusp of Thanksgiving. The pilgrims engaged in socialism when they first got there, and they almost starved to death. A lot of them did. They recognized that, at least I believe they did, and it turned out well. So how do we approach this, particularly with younger people? And you have a big YouTube show coming up that we want to have you back on in January, in which you're going to talk about wealth, building wealth, etc.

So approach that any way that you would, Ted.

Yeah. I mean, Dom, look, I grew up in a household where my mom was a fifth grade public school teacher in New Jersey for 35 years. I went to public school. And, you know, when I was in public school, they actually taught you something more than how to pass a test. And what I mean by that is I took shop, I took auto, they had entrepreneur classes, they didn't really have a military class, but like, we've lost the kids to me way, way back here.

in the early days of education to say, listen, there are many, many tracks to be successful in life. And one of them is promoting entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and what it means in America, because it's the entrepreneurs that innovate. They take the financial risk, the human risk, the personal risk. They create a business, they create lots of jobs, and then you should be rewarded when you do all that. So I just feel like we need to bring back some of these tracks much, much earlier to talk about different ways you can succeed.

in life besides just passing a test.

The junior league was one when I was teaching high school.

There was that type.

I don't even know if these things are going on.

And once you get somebody on that track, the rest of this stuff goes away.

It's not that difficult to persuade.

But in this great battle, the gripe against capitalism right now seemingly gets into affordability.

We don't have a middle class is what the argument.

You're in Atlanta.

I'm in Philadelphia.

I don't know Atlanta as well, but it strikes me as livable. There's a middle class. New York City, let's face it, is not. It's going to be very hard to live in New York. You got to be making at least $100,000 a year, and then you're going to get an apartment about as big as the room you're in or I'm in. That's it, right? Yeah, it's true. I mean, listen, this has been the quintessential argument the last, let's just call it eight to 10 years now, is that we have more billionaires and billionaires. I feel like I've got Bernie Sanders

I see Alexander's voice in my head when I say that word. And that, you know, all the small people in America are there. They're not just not able to make it anymore. And certainly, you've got to have a system that's fair over time. But at the same token, a lot of those people that aren't making it today, these were the entrepreneurs of yesteryear. Like a lot of these entrepreneurs didn't start with a golden spoon in their mouth. They started with $50 in their bank account and they took loans and they took risk to be able to grow it.

and grow their wealth. And so I think we've been sort of, you know, beaten down into this system today where a lot of people are like, you know, it's just better off if I'm average, if I let the government take care of me. And it's a really warped way of thinking because how you think is how you act and how you act are the results you get in life. So we have a problem, Dom, in the thinking area, like people, how they're thinking about all of this.

Now, your mom, I didn't know that until you mentioned it. And you know my teaching background, Ted. Your mom was a schoolteacher. So it didn't strike me when I was teaching that teachers were that entrepreneurial. There was not a lot of that. And if you don't have more people like that that are in that field, then how do we inculcate? Where's the modeling for students? So you got it from where?

Where is it that it came for you to be doing this and advising people? Yeah, well, first of all, teachers are the most underpaid job in America. We have way missed the boat in there. And that's why there's so many people who don't want to be school teachers. And I do remember that a bunch of my mom's cronies, you know, and not all of them took off for 10 weeks during the summer. Many of them would start a side hustle or have some other business during the summer. But my mom encouraged me ever since I was the age of 10 years old to basically

and when I was 11, I had my first pet walking business that my mom drove me to.

I used to take care of people's pets while they were away and I made money.

And, you know, maybe it was in part because she said, listen, I got I was able to make a finite amount of money.

And if New Jersey didn't give me this great pension, I'd have been screwed in retirement.

She would have just gotten Social Security before she got a pension.

But those pensions don't exist anymore.

So think about this, Tom.

It used to be the three-legged stool of retirement, Social Security, pension, savings. Now it's a pogo stick. It's savings. There's no pension anymore. And it's suspect about where Social Security is going to head. So all the people that are thinking about socialism, you're banking on the fact that the government is going to take care of you? Where are they going to take care of you? Yeah, absolutely. So in the article, and I didn't know it was once a week. So when does your article drop on Fox? What day and Sundays?

It depends on the week and when I write it. It'll be anywhere usually like Thursday to Sunday.

Okay. So the great part of this for everybody, particularly I would hope teachers and I know both political part, I think Mondani for various reasons is really who the Republicans are going to make the leader of the Democrat Party. And that's smart to do that because I think he'll fail.

Capitalism, you're right, expands supply, socialism rations it. Why is that, Ted? If you were challenged and we were in a school classroom trying to get kids to see this, why is it that capitalism creates it and socialism rations it? Yeah, I mean, just think about what happens in jail. Think about any countries that have a state-run society. I laughed in the article, Dom, because I was like, listen, capitalism creates

choices of cereal. When you got socialism, you'll shrink it down to two choices of cereal, right? It'll be Rice Krispies and Cheerios, and that's it. And it's because capitalism sparks innovation. It's why we're the greatest country in the world, because we innovate like no other country in the world, right? We have a system where you can get up, you can borrow money in many cases, and you can start a business, create an idea, and now you've created something else that Americans can buy.

or a service that they can use. That's what makes all these choices. When you're in socialism, you're not creating, you're not inventing because you're expecting somebody else to do for you and not for you to do for yourself. And that's what the capitalism world is. It's not what have, what are you going to do for me? It's what am I going to do to create a better world for myself? That's, that's the big difference. And it's why we have so many more choices than other countries. Just go to another country that's socialist.

now and look how many choices of cereal do they have on the shelf right you know yeah the thing i wanted to ask too is you're going to hear this criticism constantly bernie sanders is very good at this it's not going to be socialism like we had communism soviet union it's going to be the kind socialism and particularly in talking with you now on two other occasions your response to this is something that i think is really worthy of kids hearing too and that is well denmark sweden

They have socialism.

So they're taking away X amount of money.

Look at what you get back for it.

You're going to be covered.

Yeah.

I mean, listen,

people need to recognize that capitalism is an evil system.

It's just a system where you get rewarded for what you do.

And in the socialist societies, they could say, well, everyone's happy,

but everyone has the same stuff.

So if you were listening to this today or watching this and saying, you know what,

If you just pay me $70,000 a year and I could never get a bigger house, a nicer car, a better vacation, eat out at a better restaurant, that's what your world is going to look like. That's what socialism is. Same insurance. You're going to have the same house. You're going to have the same car. And if you like hearing that, then by all means, then vote for it, right? But the majority of Americans, when you position it like that, Dom, and you say, listen, okay, you really like this idea?

that 4,000 square foot house you live in that you like and you got your little pool in the back, gone. You're going to have a 2,000 square foot house because everybody gets the same house. Nobody wants that. People can say they do, but then when you get down to really talking about what it is, nobody wants that. No, it's the dream. And I can see just seeing you in person even more. I should have done it by YouTube. You just bristle with that sort of energy and the type of thing that we see with capitalism, et cetera. And I can hardly wait. So this will be on YouTube. Do you have

a title for the show in January. It's called the red, white and green podcast, financial advice for people that love America. And I do hope because I think you've tapped into what I'm really interested in. You address how parents or others can influence like you were young people, schools, et cetera, by this raising kids. It's I think when they see the parent engaged in this, that becomes a role model. My father had his own business, got into that.

I did my own business. My son has all kinds of things going on. He saw what I did on a smaller basis and larger. That's the best way to get kids get their feet wet and to turn them into strivers, somebody who really wants to achieve. 100%. You know, I've got three kids all in their 20s. They all work with me in different businesses now. I'll give you a quick story that my oldest daughter went to University of Georgia. She got a degree in criminal justice. She went out into the world, spent a year, 18 months, realized, gosh,

I don't know if I love this and it doesn't pay anything. And I told my daughter that there's no women in blue collar businesses. Let's go buy a concrete business. And we bought a driveway business and my daughter paves driveways now. She runs a company. We do stacked stone, patio, stuff like that. And you know what, Dom? She loves it. She loves it, but was never taught it in middle school, high school, college. It was like, get a degree and get a real job. By the way, laying concrete is a real job.

And parents need to hear that message loud and proud that this country was built on plumbers, carpenters, people that could do electric work. And by the way, your local mechanic probably makes more than your kid who got a college degree and is working in Starbucks right now. So yeah, absolutely. One other note to the second column I saw of Ted Jenkins was about Christmas creep. Just to show you're not a stone hearted capitalist. We want to soften that image that you're concerned. And this is a tell.

that you chose to write about the fact that Thanksgiving, I think the greatest of holiday, because it's the simplest. We know what it's about, is being squeezed out by Christmas coming into this. And my listeners hate the idea of Halloween too soon, but your column really talked about the significance, how small it is financially versus Christmas. And we're seeing this push Thanksgiving out of the way. It's like we have a couple of days and that's it to think about.

Right. You know, the Christmas creep is really retailer creep. It's like, you know, we can't even spend a day with all these retailers not worrying about how many clicks they get or how much money they're making. It's sacrilegious for there to be all this Black Friday shopping on Thursday. It's one day, one day that we have fun, family, food and football. Let us enjoy it. And what happens in society now is we got a month and a half of pumpkin spice lattes. And then as soon as that ends on Halloween, boom, right into

the Starbucks peppermint mocha cups. It's like, you know, give us a chance to breathe and enjoy the one day we can be thankful for all being Americans, having family, being around friends. It's not political. It's completely agnostic. Just enjoy the day. Well, I have to tell you what a pleasure it is. What a blessing it is that I happen to be sitting in on this national show and we got you. Thank you, Mondami. There's a gift that keeps on giving. We want to have you back and we want to remind people again, this YouTube starts early January.

where people will be able to find you. J-E-N-K-I-N. Ted, thank you so much. Have a great Thanksgiving. And please keep me in your loop so we can continue to promote this together. Yeah, thanks, Dom, and happy Thanksgiving to you. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, Ted, very much. What we're trying to do with old school, new school, next school is get at choice. That's what capitalism is. Socialism is not. School choice is the epitome.

of what capitalism would be about. Maybe capitalism with a heart, some of the harsher elements of capitalism. We know that. But school choice is the thing that emboldens parents, frees up innovation, and creates more and more opportunity. A couple of things as we head toward Thanksgiving, a couple of things I'm very thankful for here on Old School, New School, Next School. One, the big, beautiful bill, we haven't forgot about that, that comes into play.

in January. This is the bill in which President Trump and the Republicans have gotten over the finish line. And this bill will not only cut the tax on tips and Social Security and overtime, all good things, but it puts billions of dollars out there in school choice. And wherever you get this podcast, you have to start pressuring your governor in most of these states, as I understand it, like in Pennsylvania, where I am,

The governor will decide whether or not to accept this money for school choice that will go to nonprofits and then parents will tap into them around the monies that are coming out of this bill. Governor Shapiro has not indicated in Pennsylvania whether he do it. It's not taking away from the public school. The public schools would not get this money. It's an add-on. And in fact, some of the money would go back to help the public schools.

So this will be coming up in 2026. I'm thankful for it because it is the single biggest alley of monies that I've seen the federal government or anybody make state by state. I'm thankful, too, for teachers, although sometimes we joust with the teachers' unions. Big difference between the NEA, the AFT, and the average everyday teacher who sacrifices and does great work in the classroom.

I'm also thankful for bringing you guests like Ted Jenkin or people like Corey D'Angelis, the real apostle of school choice that we've had on several times, or Ryan Walters, who's duking it out now with the teachers union. There's a lot to be thankful for doing this podcast that we see developing across the country, a pushback against places like the Chicago public schools.

We saw recently this week that one of their leaders, several of their leaders, traveled so extensively. The bill was over $1.4 million and all these travel to foreign countries and the like. We see the excesses of what goes on with the big city public schools particularly. And parents just want to make a decision about that or a better way for them to bring it all together as this plays out in New York.

I'm thankful as tough as it will be for New Yorkers that Mondani was elected because now we're going to see this experiment we're going to see if socialism that's exactly what he's been preaching does that bring a better way of life I will tell you in the schools it does not he is about Mondani the new mayor of New York so-called equity doesn't like gifted and talented programs what's wrong with gifted and talented programs they give an opportunity inside the public schools to enrich kids who are obviously

ahead. It doesn't mean we don't want to uplift all kids, no matter if they're the brightest or not. But it does mean now parents are pulling out of the New York public schools because he's already said he's going to gut those programs. We'll see what happens on that. It's just one snapshot of the difference. Do we want to continue with the model, the monopoly of the public schools? There are some good public schools, some teachers.

Or do we want to unleash parental choice? Nothing more powerful. Who knows their child better than the parent? Certainly not the public schools. So have a great Thanksgiving and a great as we lead up to 2026, which is going to be exciting. Dom Giordano, if you have a question or comment, you can always reach me, domshow at aol.com, D-O-M-S-H-O-W at aol.com.

Signing off this week here on Old School, New School, Next School. Old School, New School, Next School with Dom Giordano is a presentation of Giordano Productions, LLC. Copyright 2025. All rights reserved.