Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Houthis Seize Key Islands | AI Could End Humanity

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Houthis Seize Key Islands | AI Could End Humanity · The Bill Handel Show

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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handel on demand from KFI AM 640.
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Speaker 2: KFI AM 640. Monday morning, September 14th. Some of the
0:15
Speaker 2: stories that are trending and we're looking at. Oil and
0:20
Speaker 2: diesel prices and gasoline prices are going through the roof.
0:25
Speaker 2: It is pretty depressing. My wife has a large car.
0:29
Speaker 2: She has an Escalade. Just filled it up, $ 140. Isn't
0:36
Speaker 2: that lovely? I mean, just crazy making. And so price
0:41
Speaker 2: of oil, gas, it's just going through the roof. And also,
0:46
Speaker 2: what else is going on? Oh, intelligence and tech leaders
0:50
Speaker 2: in China and the U.S. are now clashing over AI
0:53
Speaker 2: development pacing. And coming up at 8.50, last segment, I'm
0:57
Speaker 2: going to give you another spin on AI. between China
1:01
Speaker 2: and the U.S. And you have not thought about this,
1:04
Speaker 2: but I want to sort of fill in the blanks
1:07
Speaker 2: on this. Now, what is going on with the price
1:10
Speaker 2: of oil and why has it gone completely crazy? Because
1:13
Speaker 2: yet another oil transportation system pipeline has shut down. Now,
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Speaker 2: the Strait of Hormuz we all know about.
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Speaker 3: Right.
1:21
Speaker 2: That's between Iran on the north and then you have
1:24
Speaker 2: the Emirates and Oman at the south part of it.
1:28
Speaker 2: And Iran closing down the strait, as we know, because
1:33
Speaker 2: of the war that was started. And now if you
1:36
Speaker 2: look at a map, so you have the Strait of Hormuz.
1:41
Speaker 2: That's on one side, basically, of Saudi Arabia. That's the
1:45
Speaker 2: big point. It's not that straight. It's the whole sea
1:49
Speaker 2: up there, I think, the Persian Gulf. Now, on the
1:52
Speaker 2: other side of Saudi Arabia is their other way, their
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Speaker 2: other pipeline, because the pipeline goes across the country, and
2:01
Speaker 2: that is a port that is open or was open.
2:06
Speaker 2: So now Saudi Arabia's entire output has been shut down.
2:10
Speaker 2: And it's caused even more of a, well, a gridlock
2:16
Speaker 2: for oil leaving that area. And that's because of the
2:19
Speaker 2: Houthis out of Yemen. And they have captured a few
2:24
Speaker 2: strategic islands. They have shut down that strait. And that
2:29
Speaker 2: means they now control a major maritime shipping route that
2:34
Speaker 2: was used by Saudi Arabia. These were two islands that
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Speaker 2: had been picked up. a key passage for Saudi oil
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Speaker 2: because it serves as the alternative to the Strait of
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Speaker 2: Hormuz and no longer serving because it's been shut down.
2:48
Speaker 2: It is a choke point that is really choked up more.
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Speaker 2: More than a month now, the Houthis have been striking
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Speaker 2: Saudi oil infrastructure. The Houthis are doing this because they
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Speaker 2: are allies of Iran. Hezbollah in the north of Israel
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Speaker 2: is an ally of Iran, and the war has expanded.
3:11
Speaker 2: Iran gets attacked. Okay, they will go to war with
3:14
Speaker 2: the United States, as we know. And the Houthis then,
3:18
Speaker 2: on behalf of Iran, they go crazy. And what they've
3:21
Speaker 2: done is they have successfully shut down Saudi Arabia. Saudi
3:26
Speaker 2: Arabia is not a friend of Iran. It's one of
3:28
Speaker 2: the biggest enemies Iran has. The Saudis are not happy
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Speaker 2: and are frightened to death of Iran. because they have
3:35
Speaker 2: different religious views. Iran is obviously an enemy of the West.
3:40
Speaker 2: Saudi Arabia is one of our best allies. Not quite Israel, obviously,
3:46
Speaker 2: but one of the biggest allies we have. So Saudi
3:51
Speaker 2: Arabia is an enemy of Iran. And by the way,
3:54
Speaker 2: I'll tell you one of the reasons they're so scared.
3:56
Speaker 2: If the Iranians take over and Iranians want to expand...
4:00
Speaker 2: The first group of people that will be hanged will
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Speaker 2: be the royal family. So they're not very happy about
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Speaker 2: that at all. So now what happens? Well, that becomes
4:12
Speaker 2: a real problem because now we have the war continuing.
4:16
Speaker 2: It was supposed to go four to six weeks. Of course,
4:19
Speaker 2: now we're in month seven. We're in the middle of
4:22
Speaker 2: month seven. And the Iranians have not backed down. even
4:27
Speaker 2: though the economy in Iran has been decimated. A lot
4:31
Speaker 2: of its infrastructure has been decimated. But since the Iranian
4:38
Speaker 2: civilian population has no say at all in where Iran
4:42
Speaker 2: is going as a nation, and it's all controlled by
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Speaker 2: the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guard, and they're the ones
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Speaker 2: that are not suffering financially. It's the people of Iran
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Speaker 2: that There is no reason for them to cave until
4:57
Speaker 2: there is, well, a huge uprising or Iran simply disappears
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Speaker 2: as a nation or a coup happens and doesn't look
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Speaker 2: like any of that is going to happen. So this
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Speaker 2: war is continuing on. Now, the president has now said
5:10
Speaker 2: Iran will come to the table and negotiate. As he
5:14
Speaker 2: has said the whole time, they're desperate for a deal.
5:17
Speaker 2: They've asked for a deal. And in fact, they have not.
5:21
Speaker 2: That's just not true. I mean, that's just a given.
5:23
Speaker 2: I mean, you can believe all you want that Iran
5:26
Speaker 2: is about to cave. And now it's they're waiting until
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Speaker 2: after the election. And what does that mean? Well, we'll
5:33
Speaker 2: have a peace with Iran, but only after you have
5:37
Speaker 2: elected and kept the Republicans in power. See, that's what's
5:41
Speaker 2: going to cause the that's going to cause the negotiations
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Speaker 2: and a treaty issue. certainly a truce, if not a treaty,
5:50
Speaker 2: to be entered into. Sure, why not? So now what
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Speaker 2: does Saudi Arabia do? What does the United States do?
5:58
Speaker 2: What does the West do with Iran? Well, looks like
6:03
Speaker 2: there has to be a negotiated peace. Iran is saying
6:08
Speaker 2: no peace unless, well, they've made their conditions that U.S.
6:11
Speaker 2: pulls out of the Middle East completely completely. The Strait
6:14
Speaker 2: of Hormuz belongs to Iran. They control it and they
6:18
Speaker 2: will pay toll. People will or ships will pay big
6:22
Speaker 2: tolls to go through the strait, like two, three million
6:25
Speaker 2: dollars per tanker that goes through or per cargo ship
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Speaker 2: that goes through. And is that going to happen anytime soon? Oh,
6:34
Speaker 2: and all the assets that the U.S. have that are
6:39
Speaker 2: Iranian because the U.S. has tons of assets, the banks.
6:43
Speaker 2: and all sanctions be removed against Iran, all of that
6:47
Speaker 2: happens and sure, we'll negotiate a peace. They have not
6:51
Speaker 2: backed down. And of course, the big one, the elephant
6:55
Speaker 2: in the room is the radioactive elephant, the nuclear program,
6:59
Speaker 2: the enrichment program, uranium immersion program, which Iran to this
7:03
Speaker 2: day is defending it as a peaceful program. A project
7:09
Speaker 2: that they're only using enriched uranium for peaceful purposes, and
7:13
Speaker 2: that is for nuclear energy. And all you need is 2%
7:17
Speaker 2: to 3% enrichment to make that work. Why do you
7:21
Speaker 2: have 60% enrichment? There's only one reason to have 60% enrichment.
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Speaker 2: Nuclear weapons.
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Speaker 3: That's it.
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Speaker 2: Now, you can argue, wait, 60% isn't 90% because you
7:36
Speaker 2: need 92, 93% to really create enough radioactive material to
7:41
Speaker 2: create a bomb. But it's a very small step from
7:45
Speaker 2: 60 to 90. And so Iranians are a bunch of liars, clearly,
7:51
Speaker 2: and they're a bunch of bad guys. But the problem
7:53
Speaker 2: is they are holding the cards. It was just a
7:55
Speaker 2: bad guess by the president, who still maintains his position,
7:59
Speaker 2: of course. And none of that is good news. So
8:02
Speaker 2: I thought we'd just start the day with prices for oil,
8:04
Speaker 2: gasoline are through the roof. Inflation is going crazy in Iran,
8:09
Speaker 2: in my opinion, is certainly winning this one. Okay. Oh,
8:12
Speaker 2: huge story about one of the experts, one of the
8:18
Speaker 2: researchers for Anthropic resigned and went public and said the
8:24
Speaker 2: reason he resigned is he is frightened that the AI
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Speaker 2: will destroy humanity by the end of the decade, three
8:33
Speaker 2: and a half years from now. We're not talking 2050.
8:34
Speaker 2: We're not talking about within a hundred years. We're talking
8:37
Speaker 2: about around the corner. And that has gotten people a
8:41
Speaker 2: little bit upset. And here is the bottom line. Should
8:45
Speaker 2: we be concerned about it? Well, the heads of AI,
8:48
Speaker 2: we're talking about Anthropic and OpenAI are saying, yeah, we
8:54
Speaker 2: should be worried about how far it is going. But
8:57
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, the death of humanity, the wiping
9:01
Speaker 2: out of humanity is going a little bit, is a
9:04
Speaker 2: little bit far fetched. But they did say we have
9:07
Speaker 2: to control it. Even the heads of these companies are
9:12
Speaker 2: begging for help from the federal government, not for money,
9:17
Speaker 2: not for tax breaks, although they're always doing that, but
9:21
Speaker 2: for some guardrails. Now, what gets interesting is while they're
9:25
Speaker 2: asking for guardrails and help, they're moving balls to the
9:31
Speaker 2: wall to increase the ability of AI to do insert
9:35
Speaker 2: name of anything here. The analogy, it's like some kid
9:39
Speaker 2: who has killed his parents and then throws himself on
9:43
Speaker 2: the mercy of the court and says, you have to
9:45
Speaker 2: be sorry. You have to feel sorry for me. And
9:47
Speaker 2: I want a lesser sentence. So here we go. Please,
9:50
Speaker 2: mercy of the court, help us out in this case.
9:53
Speaker 2: We need guardrails while we're killing our parents. We're moving
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Speaker 2: ahead at a massive speed. So is that true? Should
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Speaker 2: there be guardrails? Of course there should be guardrails. Because, again,
10:05
Speaker 2: we don't know where AI is going. And technology always
10:09
Speaker 2: is ahead of the law.
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Speaker 3: Always.
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Speaker 2: I've explained that many times. I've experienced it in the
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Speaker 2: world of reproductive technologies that I was involved with for decades.
10:20
Speaker 2: And I saw it happen right there. I mean, this
10:23
Speaker 2: whole thing started in the early 80s, my world, and
10:26
Speaker 2: it was in the 90s and then in the 2000s
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Speaker 2: where laws were created and court cases were created to
10:32
Speaker 2: deal with this or decided to deal with this. Well, AI,
10:36
Speaker 2: there are no court cases out there. The lawsuits have
10:39
Speaker 2: only started. Governments have only started. Where are the restrictions
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Speaker 2: of AI as far as federal law or state law
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Speaker 2: is concerned? I don't see them, but the technology is
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Speaker 2: going crazy. So, Here is the dilemma, and that is
10:55
Speaker 2: here you have the major AI companies begging the U.S. government,
10:59
Speaker 2: give us some guardrails, give us some guardrails. At the
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Speaker 2: same time, they can't stop galloping towards the future and
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Speaker 2: developing AI. Why? Well, one thing, because of the market,
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Speaker 2: and they don't want to be caught behind who? China.
11:16
Speaker 2: China is moving forward at the most rapid pace also.
11:22
Speaker 2: The president said we are ahead of AI and he
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Speaker 2: is right. We are ahead of the world at AI.
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Speaker 2: But the AI companies are asking effectively government to slow
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Speaker 2: us down, put up some guardrails. China is moving ahead
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Speaker 2: at 100 miles an hour. So if we slow down
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Speaker 2: and we should. until we look at this and say, okay,
11:46
Speaker 2: we need some guidance here. There is no guidance in China.
11:50
Speaker 2: They're not interested at all whether or not humanity is
11:54
Speaker 2: going to be affected. They have tons of people. I mean,
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Speaker 2: they have 1.3 billion people, so they can give up
12:00
Speaker 2: a few people and not have to worry about it.
12:02
Speaker 2: By the way, I don't know if that's their thinking,
12:04
Speaker 2: probably not. And then you have James Hammett, who is
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Speaker 2: the director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. And
12:13
Speaker 2: he said, we tolerate risks, but we fear the new ones.
12:17
Speaker 2: That's the problem here. I mean, we drive in cars
12:20
Speaker 2: more often than planes, but airplanes are perceived to be
12:25
Speaker 2: more dangerous. And they're not. Why? Because every time a
12:29
Speaker 2: plane goes down, boom, there's a news. Oh, my God,
12:32
Speaker 2: it's so dangerous. I'm frightened of flying. The people say
12:35
Speaker 2: they're frightened of flying. Let me ask you, are they
12:37
Speaker 2: frightened of driving in cars? Because statistically, they're going to
12:40
Speaker 2: die a whole lot sooner in a car accident. Now,
12:44
Speaker 2: there are some issues because you feel like you can
12:47
Speaker 2: control your car and in an airplane, you control nothing.
12:51
Speaker 2: And we are on the roads constantly. We're not in
12:55
Speaker 2: the air constantly. But when you look at it, you
12:57
Speaker 2: can't control the other driver. There was an accident that
13:01
Speaker 2: was just reported this morning. That's not going to make
13:03
Speaker 2: the news. I mean, it was in the LA Times
13:04
Speaker 2: as small news items. There was, I think, a McLaren
13:09
Speaker 2: going down the street on Ventura Boulevard. And a guy's
13:13
Speaker 2: at a stop sign, he floors it, almost immediately loses control,
13:17
Speaker 2: plows into a tree, the car is split in half,
13:21
Speaker 2: and the passenger and the driver are killed instantly. Okay,
13:25
Speaker 2: is that making big news? No. If a small plane
13:28
Speaker 2: goes down at the Sepulveda, right near there in the
13:33
Speaker 2: Sepulveda Dam area, man, that makes national news. That's the point,
13:39
Speaker 2: is that we are perceiving risks that are there because
13:44
Speaker 2: we're used to them. AI is brand new, so are
13:47
Speaker 2: we more frightened that AI is going to be doing
13:51
Speaker 2: what it is going to be doing in a negative way? Well,
13:54
Speaker 2: the answer is yeah. Yeah. Because a guy driving 100
13:58
Speaker 2: miles an hour plowing into a tree is not quite
14:01
Speaker 2: the risk that AI has if it goes south on us.
14:06
Speaker 2: And so there's two views. One, AI is going to
14:09
Speaker 2: be there, but it will be under control of humanity,
14:13
Speaker 2: the people that created it and control it. And there'll
14:16
Speaker 2: be laws and guardrails. Or it will be able to
14:20
Speaker 2: figure out any way around it. And this becomes AI
14:26
Speaker 2: the movie. Artificial intelligence. Wasn't that Will Smith that was
14:30
Speaker 2: in there? Is that what's called AI? AI. Where the
14:33
Speaker 2: robot comes in and takes, what was that movie with
14:36
Speaker 2: Will Smith?
14:37
Speaker 3: That was iRobot. That was iRobot, right.
14:39
Speaker 2: Okay, where was- AI is about the kid. Oh, that's right. Yeah,
14:44
Speaker 2: the kid. It was a Spielberg film. Spielberg film, yeah.
14:49
Speaker 2: And that went on for, that was the longest film
14:51
Speaker 2: on the planet. You sat through it and you, then
14:55
Speaker 2: we're kind of coming back. We're going to do a
14:56
Speaker 2: story about AI and AI films and anesthesia. How, no,
15:01
Speaker 2: I'm not going to do that. Okay, that was just
15:04
Speaker 2: a movie review. Okay, we're done. You're going to hear
15:08
Speaker 2: a lot more about AI, tons and tons more. Some
15:11
Speaker 2: stories I want to share with you that we're looking at.
15:13
Speaker 2: I've been talking about AI this morning, and we'll talk
15:18
Speaker 2: a lot more about it, the fear that AI is
15:20
Speaker 2: going to destroy humanity. And a lot of very smart
15:23
Speaker 2: people in the world of AI seem to agree with that.
15:27
Speaker 2: And right now, China and the U.S. are clashing over
15:30
Speaker 2: the pacing of AI. I just did that story. And
15:33
Speaker 2: no surprise about oil and diesel prices. And so with that,
15:39
Speaker 2: let me talk about the cost of doing business in
15:41
Speaker 2: Southern California, the cost of living. Now, I want to
15:44
Speaker 2: reiterate this because I think this is so important, not
15:47
Speaker 2: only politically, which, of course, is something that we have
15:53
Speaker 2: to deal with, particularly with the pandemic. the election, the
15:57
Speaker 2: midterm elections coming up in, what, 50-something days, but also
16:01
Speaker 2: just the difficulty of living here. And the premise, my
16:05
Speaker 2: daughter brings this up. My daughters are 31 years old,
16:11
Speaker 2: and Pamela has said and keeps on saying over and
16:14
Speaker 2: over again, as does my wife, by the way, who
16:17
Speaker 2: is 13 years old, and says, you have ruined it
16:21
Speaker 2: for us. You baby boomers have ruined it. You're the
16:26
Speaker 2: ones that had pensions. You're the ones that had a
16:29
Speaker 2: great 401k plan. You're the ones that have Social Security,
16:34
Speaker 2: which when we retire is going to be nowhere near
16:36
Speaker 2: as beneficial. You've ruined it. You have all the benefits
16:42
Speaker 2: and none of the downside. And you've given us the downside.
16:46
Speaker 2: And what is the downside? Well, a story out of
16:49
Speaker 2: the L.A. Times talks about Los Angeles and Orange County.
16:52
Speaker 2: And we're talking about what happens with the president's off again,
16:56
Speaker 2: on again tariff disputes, the war in Iran, among other issues.
17:02
Speaker 2: And the L.A. Long Beach area ranked the ninth most
17:04
Speaker 2: expensive places to live in the nation in the second quarter.
17:08
Speaker 2: So it's ranked by this nonprofit that does this every year.
17:13
Speaker 2: And they look at six baskets of goods, groceries, housing, transportation,
17:19
Speaker 2: including the cost of gasoline, utilities. 57 items that are
17:24
Speaker 2: individually priced each quarter. Now, it does not include sales taxes,
17:29
Speaker 2: which are the highest in the country. Now, the number
17:34
Speaker 2: one and number two, Manhattan, Honolulu, of course, would be
17:40
Speaker 2: after that, we're in the top. And also what makes
17:44
Speaker 2: it more expensive to live here is not only the
17:47
Speaker 2: price of but the average wages are lower than the
17:52
Speaker 2: average in many parts of the country. Now we're not
17:55
Speaker 2: talking about a high tech jobs. We're not talking about
17:57
Speaker 2: film jobs, film and TV, which are leaving at an
17:59
Speaker 2: unbelievable pace. Uh, but we're talking about other than the
18:03
Speaker 2: high skill jobs, normal wages are not very good relative
18:07
Speaker 2: to other places in the country. And, uh, We're 13th
18:11
Speaker 2: in grocery prices. Shouldn't we be the cheapest places in
18:15
Speaker 2: grocery prices in the country? Because we are the agricultural
18:19
Speaker 2: basket of the United States. Well, no. First of all,
18:27
Speaker 2: we don't have much of a beef industry. So beef
18:30
Speaker 2: has gone through the roof. And one of the biggest
18:33
Speaker 2: drivers is the cost of housing, which ranks ninth nationally.
18:38
Speaker 2: So I bought my first house... in the early 70s,
18:43
Speaker 2: and it costs me $ 120, 000 a year. Okay, move forward,
18:45
Speaker 2: and that same house is $ 1. 3 million. And my question is,
18:47
Speaker 2: and basically, here we go again, you've ruined it for us.
19:01
Speaker 2: The average costs in L.A., in Orange County, is I
19:06
Speaker 2: think $ 1. 3 million. So how does someone buy a house?
19:09
Speaker 2: If you're putting 20% down, that's $ 260, 000. Who the hell
19:11
Speaker 2: has $ 260, 000 in the bank? And that's before mortgage. And
19:13
Speaker 2: the average mortgage payment is $ 6, 000, I think $ 300 a month.
19:15
Speaker 2: Who can afford $ 6, 300 a month? I mean, that is crazy.
19:30
Speaker 2: That's 70 something thousand dollars a year in rent after taxes.
19:36
Speaker 2: You can't deduct that. Who can afford that? And let's
19:41
Speaker 2: look at the price of gasoline, diesel over $ 6, except
19:45
Speaker 2: in California, that's the national average. There are places that
19:49
Speaker 2: are charging $ 7. 5, $ 8 a gallon. You're not going to
19:51
Speaker 2: see any $ 6 a gallon diesel. And gas has gone
19:55
Speaker 2: up in the last week, I think, 15 cents a gallon.
20:00
Speaker 2: And we're hitting prices that we have not seen in years.
20:05
Speaker 2: And it's going to get worse based on what just
20:07
Speaker 2: happened in California. Saudi Arabia with the shutting down of
20:11
Speaker 2: that major pipeline on the other end of the Strait
20:14
Speaker 2: of Hormuz. And it makes it more difficult anyway in
20:19
Speaker 2: California because the taxes, highest taxes in the country for gas,
20:24
Speaker 2: environmental fees because we're California, and you've got the summer
20:30
Speaker 2: blend business, which no other state has. where during gas
20:35
Speaker 2: shortages during the summer, we can't buy gas outside of
20:39
Speaker 2: the state. And the way gasoline works, it's regional. That
20:44
Speaker 2: if one of the states is short, they just buy
20:48
Speaker 2: from this grid that gas companies put into. We're not
20:52
Speaker 2: part of the grid because we're California because our blend
20:56
Speaker 2: is different. So since 2020, The cost of goods and
21:02
Speaker 2: services more than 25% up. Oh, the other thing that
21:07
Speaker 2: is not included in that is the cost of auto
21:11
Speaker 2: and home insurance. And of course, the taxes on the homes.
21:19
Speaker 2: So since we're one and a quarter percent taxes, whether
21:22
Speaker 2: it's Orange County or L.A., think about this. If you're
21:26
Speaker 2: spending a million dollars for a home, you're paying $ 10, 000
21:30
Speaker 2: a year or $ 11, 000 a year in taxes. If you're
21:32
Speaker 2: spending $ 2 million, you're now $ 22, 000, $ 23, 000 a year just
21:33
Speaker 2: for the privilege of living at your house. And if
21:47
Speaker 2: you're getting a mortgage, it's 6% now. And the bottom
21:52
Speaker 2: line is for those of us who have lived in
21:55
Speaker 2: Southern California for a good part of our lives and
21:58
Speaker 2: started buying homes, in my case in the 20s, when
22:01
Speaker 2: I was in my 20s, and I could go up
22:04
Speaker 2: and up and up, I'd sell my house, I'd buy
22:06
Speaker 2: another house. It was a stretch, but it paid for
22:09
Speaker 2: itself because the increase in value. Well, I started at
22:15
Speaker 2: $ 120, 000 and I think I was making $ 70, 000 at the time, uh,
22:22
Speaker 2: $ 70, 000 a year. I was practicing law and working my
22:25
Speaker 2: ass off. And it was, um, well, let me put
22:29
Speaker 2: it this way. If, uh, you're a decent lawyer and
22:31
Speaker 2: you're able and you willing to work 80, uh, 80
22:35
Speaker 2: hours a week, you generally tend to do okay. Um,
22:38
Speaker 2: but the point is today, today, well, I sold the
22:41
Speaker 2: Persian palace. As you know, I built a Persian palace in, uh, 2000,
22:45
Speaker 2: so it was 25, 26 years ago. When I sold it,
22:49
Speaker 2: I could never afford to buy it today. I could
22:54
Speaker 2: not afford my house. That's how crazy it is. And
23:01
Speaker 2: I'm on the other side of this, Mike, and I
23:03
Speaker 2: make a pretty good living. And I am a business person,
23:06
Speaker 2: have been forever. Most of my business is spectacular failures,
23:10
Speaker 2: but some actually panned out. And practicing law. I mean,
23:15
Speaker 2: put all that together. I'm in reasonable shape financially. I
23:20
Speaker 2: could not afford the house. Just wanted to make you
23:24
Speaker 2: feel good, by the way, that pretty soon you're not
23:27
Speaker 2: going to be able to afford that dumpster that you're
23:29
Speaker 2: living in now at the back of that business.
23:33
Speaker 1: Do you remember, speaking of failed businesses, 1-800-REFER-LAW that everybody
23:38
Speaker 1: thought was 1-800-REFER-LAW?
23:41
Speaker 2: Yes. That's very funny, but that's true. Yes, that's absolutely true.
23:45
Speaker 2: It would, that was the problem we had. That's, that's correct.
23:49
Speaker 2: They were all looking to buy a pot. Yeah, that
23:52
Speaker 2: was a bad, that was a bad name. That really was.
23:54
Speaker 3: Okay. Okay.
23:56
Speaker 2: Moving over to going out to dinner, which I think
23:59
Speaker 2: we're doing less and less. I certainly am. I used
24:02
Speaker 2: to go, I love going out. Obviously I love food
24:05
Speaker 2: and I'd go out, I don't know, a couple of
24:07
Speaker 2: times a week, sometimes three times a week. Uh, usually
24:11
Speaker 2: fast food. And my idea of a high end place
24:14
Speaker 2: is a cheesecake factory. Uh, that's, uh, for me, gourmet eating. Uh, yeah,
24:20
Speaker 2: it's good.
24:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.
24:20
Speaker 2: Neil's on.
24:21
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
24:22
Speaker 2: Damn.
24:22
Speaker 3: Like me some cheesecake factory.
24:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Uh, and I don't do it very often.
24:28
Speaker 2: I really look at, wait a minute. Is it really
24:31
Speaker 2: going to cost me $ 40 a head or $ 50 a head?
24:36
Speaker 2: for a pretty good meal. Today, a moderately priced meal
24:40
Speaker 2: is what, $ 40, $ 50 per person, $ 35 per person. I
24:44
Speaker 2: got to tell you, I look twice and I've never
24:46
Speaker 2: looked twice before. A lot of it based on the
24:49
Speaker 2: fact that I don't go to very expensive restaurants. So
24:52
Speaker 2: you know what some restaurants are doing? And this is
24:54
Speaker 2: what happens at restaurants. I just want to point that out.
24:57
Speaker 2: At restaurants, what ends up happening? Everybody has a cell phone.
25:00
Speaker 3: Have you noticed?
25:01
Speaker 2: Everybody sits down and no one's talking to each other.
25:04
Speaker 2: Everybody's looking at their cell phone. And they're scrolling through.
25:08
Speaker 2: They're showing each other cat videos. This is what Amy
25:12
Speaker 2: does all day long is show us cat videos. Come on, Amy.
25:18
Speaker 2: I do not. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.
25:21
Speaker 3: I love a good cat video, but I don't sit.
25:23
Speaker 2: And scroll on them. Exactly. That's my point. Everybody loves
25:27
Speaker 2: a good cat video. I hate good cat videos or
25:30
Speaker 2: bad cat videos. Now, we look at, because of Lindsay,
25:34
Speaker 2: doxy videos. And there are a lot of doxy videos
25:38
Speaker 2: out there.
25:38
Speaker 3: Those are fun though.
25:40
Speaker 2: Those are.
25:40
Speaker 1: They are very hilarious. Special little baby, little puppies. They're
25:44
Speaker 1: so tiny and they're so long.
25:46
Speaker 2: Here, that's true. To see a doxy stretch is really
25:49
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. And seeing a doxy blow its
25:53
Speaker 2: disc out is really a lot of fun because that's
25:56
Speaker 2: what they tend to do. In the meantime, restaurants are
26:00
Speaker 2: pulling back and they're saying, we want more social intercourse.
26:05
Speaker 2: We want people to talk to each other. And I'm thinking,
26:11
Speaker 2: who the hell are you? Don't you want to just
26:15
Speaker 2: sell food? And they're going, oh, you've got several of these.
26:18
Speaker 2: And it's growing the number of restaurants that are saying
26:21
Speaker 2: no cell phones at all. And people are buying into it. So, Neil,
26:29
Speaker 2: you don't go to dinner all that often, but you
26:32
Speaker 2: look at restaurant, the restaurant world. Have you seen that?
26:36
Speaker 2: Have you talked to restaurateurs? And for some reason, they
26:39
Speaker 2: think that's an issue now or a bigger issue? Yeah,
26:42
Speaker 2: they're frustrated with it. That's for sure.
26:44
Speaker 1: They're frustrated with the lack of attention to what they're doing.
26:47
Speaker 1: When you think that your average startup restaurant Minimally is
26:52
Speaker 1: probably between two and $ 4 million to start in Los Angeles.
26:58
Speaker 1: And a good chunk of that is the decor and
27:01
Speaker 1: the vibe and.
27:02
Speaker 3: The energy of the place. They want you to experience it.
27:05
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of the whole influencer stuff,
27:10
Speaker 1: you know, there's there, there are a dime a dozen
27:13
Speaker 1: and they want people to be in there. Even I
27:15
Speaker 1: put my phone away more and more these days. Because
27:18
Speaker 1: I figure if I'm not with my family and they
27:21
Speaker 1: need me, it'll come up on my watch.
27:23
Speaker 2: But how many restaurants, and this is growing too, they
27:26
Speaker 2: don't hand out menus.
27:29
Speaker 3: You're coming back to that.
27:31
Speaker 2: You go to your QR code and then it's printed
27:34
Speaker 2: out your phone. So you're already on your phone. And
27:37
Speaker 2: then you're talking to the waiter, both female and male
27:42
Speaker 2: waiter people, and they're saying that people aren't talking as much.
27:46
Speaker 2: It gets in the way of the operations of the restaurant.
27:49
Speaker 2: And I can see that. I can see that. But
27:51
Speaker 2: let me put it this way. The few times I
27:54
Speaker 2: go out to dinner. And sometimes I go out to
27:56
Speaker 2: dinner with friends or family. I want to be on
27:58
Speaker 2: the phone because these people bore me silly. There's upside
28:03
Speaker 2: to being on the phone.
28:05
Speaker 1: I tend to go out, when I go out now,
28:08
Speaker 1: I tend to go out with real foodies. My buddy,
28:12
Speaker 1: Simon Majumdar, you know, he and I want to talk
28:16
Speaker 1: about food. When you're going out with my buddy, Armando
28:20
Speaker 1: De La Torre, he's focused on food. We want to
28:24
Speaker 1: talk about the food. So I'm kind of spoiled when
28:26
Speaker 1: I go out to a new restaurant for dinner. I
28:31
Speaker 1: want to experience it, and I get that to put
28:33
Speaker 1: the phones away and enjoy.
28:36
Speaker 2: But that is something that you do as a foodie
28:39
Speaker 2: with some food experts, actually with some world. You and
28:42
Speaker 2: I do the same.
28:43
Speaker 1: You and I talk about the food when we go
28:45
Speaker 1: out to something other than Denny's.
28:47
Speaker 3: That's true.
28:48
Speaker 2: You and I do talk, but it's all bath mouthing
28:50
Speaker 2: the people that we work with.
28:51
Speaker 3: No, you do that, and I nod and enjoy the meal.
28:56
Speaker 2: Huh. I thought you enjoy the bad mouthing of the
28:58
Speaker 2: people that I work with and you're nodding in agreement.
29:03
Speaker 3: I'm going, this is really tasty French toast.
29:06
Speaker 2: Oh, okay. Wow. I didn't know that. We've been going
29:10
Speaker 2: out to dinner for 30 years.
29:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.
29:14
Speaker 2: Okay. So much for that. And in the meantime of
29:17
Speaker 2: any restaurant that says, don't use your phone, you go,
29:20
Speaker 2: go pound sand. And that's what I would do. Social intercourse.
29:26
Speaker 2: I don't even know what that is.
29:28
Speaker 3: I don't know.
29:29
Speaker 1: But the first time you said, yeah, Ann was working
29:32
Speaker 1: a little hard out over there. And the minute you
29:34
Speaker 1: said intercourse, I see your head pop up to make
29:36
Speaker 1: sure you weren't saying anything bad.
29:38
Speaker 2: Is social intercourse talking a lot through sex? I don't know.
29:45
Speaker 2: I don't know. Getting religious through sex, I can see.
29:48
Speaker 2: That happens to a whole lot of people screaming, oh, God, oh, God.
29:51
Speaker 2: But that's very different. OK, coming up, I'm going to
29:54
Speaker 2: do a little bit of international talk for a moment.
29:57
Speaker 2: Something this is my wheelhouse, as you know. And I
30:00
Speaker 2: want to talk about what's changed dramatically and moving off
30:03
Speaker 2: into also what's going on.
30:05
Speaker 3: With the world.
30:06
Speaker 2: And that is how the world is now seeing Israel. Boy,
30:10
Speaker 2: have things changed. I'll come back with that and later
30:14
Speaker 2: on a CDC report and an AI story that, frankly,
30:22
Speaker 2: you may not be familiar with because I love doing spins.
30:25
Speaker 2: This is KFI AM 640. You've been listening to The
30:29
Speaker 2: Bill Handel Show. Catch my show Monday through Friday, 6 a.m.
30:33
Speaker 2: to 9 a.m. and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.