Jimmy John’s restaurant chain founder Jimmy John Liautaud told Breitbart News that welfare destroys “a man’s soul” and America’s businesses in an exclusive interview at Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
“There’s 14 states that are giving out between $80,000 and $100,000 a year in welfare for a family of four. Well, that’s just not sustainable,” Liautaud told Breitbart News.
“And nor is it good for the recipients of the welfare,” he continued, “Maybe for a short time, but if they’re capable, you destroy a man’s soul. You destroy a family. You don’t want to give them a fish. You want to teach them to fish.”
“When the government is your biggest competitor, it makes it really, really hard to start a small business,” Liautaud said. “When there’s five or six million people that are unemployed, that are totally capable, that are earning this free money from the government.”
The Jimmy John’s founder went on to say that “the government works for us, and they serve us. We don’t serve them.”
“And they’re using this money as bribe money to have people vote for them, and keep them at home,” he said. “So it’s completely mixed up right now. It’s a tough time.”
“We have businesses right now that are very successful, but prices are going up, things are getting more expensive, and it’s getting much harder. So it’s adapt or die,” Liautaud added.
The entrepreneur also noted that “we don’t have days in America where we celebrate the producers, and celebrate those people that produce the tax base for those in America that are not paying into the tax base.”
“But Hollywood has a party for itself every week, with tuxedos and red carpet and limousines and excess,” he said.
Watch the full interview below:
Jack Knudsen / Breitbart NewsYou can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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