Neil Freiman

Actually, when you look at the actual audits, it still seems like the IRS is doing at least some of them toward large corporations.

The IRS initiated more audits of large companies last year.

Then in 2024, they've opened even more criminal investigations into identity theft and money laundering.

So they're coming from a place of we don't need as many humans to do this.

Opponents say, yes, you actually do need humans with longstanding know-how and to work with tax lawyers who want people to have this experience.

And that has led to a pretty yawning tax gap, which is the difference between taxes owed and paid.

I know you're plotting our fellow Americans, 85% are paying their taxes, but that 15% leads to a pretty big number.

The former IRS commissioner said it was approaching, this tax gap was approaching $1 trillion a year from the taxes owed to the taxes paid.

There's a pretty juicy personal backstory to this.

I mean, personal for me, but personal for Scott Kirby, who is the CEO of United.

Previously, he was the president of American Airlines, but he was passed over in the succession to become the next CEO.

So he jumped ship, went to United, then became CEO there in 2016.

And by all accounts, he's done a much better job at leading United than the people, the folks who have been leading American have.

United has a market value of about $31 billion.

billion, American Airlines has a market value of just $7.4 billion, which is setting the table for Kirby to maybe lead American once again.

All right, let's talk about whether this merger is going to actually happen, because when we first saw this news, we were like, how is this possible?

I mean, the government blocked JetBlue from taking over Spirit, and now it might let United take over American.

I mean, there's only four major airlines in the country, so this would shrink it to three.

Wouldn't this drive up prices for consumers, reduce competition?

The answer is maybe, probably, which is why...