Report: U.S. College Graduates Went on to Lead Chinese Defense, Surveillance Firms | The States

Government Accountability Office estimates billions lost to fraud, U.S. colleges educating Chinese state-linked executives, egg price fixing lawsuit, the end of DOGE, and Michigan passes a state budget. Sam Shulman, Director of Research at Strategy Risks, joins to discuss a report examining Missouri State University's MBA pipeline for Chinese state-linked executives. The program trained over 1,500 students over more than two decades. Graduates went on to lead Chinese defense and surveillance firms like AVIC and iFlytek. Estimated taxpayer cost of the program totals $54 million. Also in this episode: - A 2024 GAO report estimates the federal government loses $233–521 billion annually to fraud. - The Biden administration once called that estimate "not plausible," but the Trump administration now backs it. - None of the GAO's three fraud-prevention recommendations have been fully implemented. - The DOJ reached a proposed settlement with egg producers Cal-Maine, Hickman's, and Versova. - The companies allegedly manipulated egg price quotations. - The settlement includes donating over 53 million eggs to food banks in 17 states. - The Department of Government Efficiency will not issue a closing report after it officially ended July 4th. - Some question the success of the department after it failed to deliver the ambitious savings promised when it started. - Michigan missed its July 1 budget deadline for the second year in a row. - Lawmakers ultimately passed a roughly $80 billion budget after a marathon session. - Republicans criticized the process for lacking transparency. - Democrats highlighted new child care funding and Medicaid protections in the plan. - Wisconsin is projected to have a $2.7 billion surplus tied to inflation-driven sales tax collections. - North Carolina's governor is weighing whether to sign the state budget and other pending bills. - Arizona's congressman marked the one-year anniversary of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." - A new report finds rural hospitals at risk of closure in California, Texas, and Kansas. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.