Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Release the Epstein Files | The End of the Penny

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Release the Epstein Files | The End of the Penny · The Bill Handel Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: six forty. Better stop singing about NFSTE coming. You don't
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: talk about five am, six forty Bill Handle.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Here. It is a Monday morning, November seventeenth. Zamy Is
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: reported this morning, as far as the weather is concerned,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: we had some insane rain over the weekend, record breaking rain,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and we have a little bit of a break today
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and then it comes back, and then a break and
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: then it comes back again. So we are looking at
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: some very very wet weather and we're not hearing much
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: about the drought, certainly this week. And it looks like
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  Speaker 2: the airports are coming back. Flights are now coming back.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: The FAA is released the reduction of flights. Okay night,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and this obviously became big, big news this morning. Late
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: last night, the President reversed himself and now says that
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: House Republicans should support the measure that would require the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Just Department a Justice Department, to release the information that
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it has related to the Jeffrey Epstein files. And there
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: are tens of thousands of pages. And why did he
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: do that? Because even his most ardent supporters have said,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: this is going sideways for you mister President, you can
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: go ahead and call it a democratic hoax. This whole thing.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: The problem is, does anybody believe that this is a
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  Speaker 2: democratic hoax? Does anybody believe these women were not molested
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  Speaker 2: and trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein?
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  Speaker 1: Is there a person out there? I have not met them.
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  Speaker 2: Now, as soon as the President said it was a hoax,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: for many MAGA supporters, it was a hoax. Now the
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  Speaker 2: President has said, let's release the files, and they say, yes,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: let's release the files. And why did he turn around
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and change his mind? Because he was going to lose
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: big time on this one. Even his most ardent supporters said,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: you are wrong on this one. We have to release
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: those files. We're talking about pedophiles here, pedophiles. We're talking
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  Speaker 2: about the traffic and raping of minor women or minor
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  Speaker 2: girls at that time. There's no protecting anyone on this one.
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  Speaker 2: It just doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: It could be that the files do not release information.
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  Speaker 2: It could be that there is nothing there. Certainly the
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  Speaker 2: President now has said, we've done nothing wrong, so let's
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: go ahead and release the files. What I don't understand
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  Speaker 2: is that the President has said to the Republicans in
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  Speaker 2: the House, you go ahead and vote for the release
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  Speaker 2: of those files. In other words, you vote to mandate
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: that the Justice Department released the files. What I don't
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: understand is, since the President tells the Justice Department what
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: to do every day, why he doesn't simply call Pam
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Bondi and say you've got the files, release them. He
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: has the power to do that. Instead, he has said
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: to the Republicans in the House, release the files.
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  Speaker 1: Now, what's going to happen in the Senate?
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  Speaker 2: Up until the President said he is on the side
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  Speaker 2: of releasing the files, it was probably going to fail.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: In the Senate.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: It was going to be overwhelming. One of his biggest supporter,
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  Speaker 2: Representative Thomas Massey, introduced the legislation to go ahead and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: man date the Just Department. And it was done with
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: a technical provision because Mike Johnson was in favor of
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: making sure the files were not released. Why is that Well,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: because the President told him that, And when the President
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: calls Mike Johnson said this is what I want you
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  Speaker 2: to do, Mike Johnson, Johnson does the same thing. So
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: when the President said you don't release the files, Mike
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  Speaker 2: Johnson doesn't put will not let a vote on the floor,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: which he has the power, and all of a sudden
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  Speaker 2: you have this procedure which you bypass with enough votes
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  Speaker 2: the speaker, and that's exactly what was going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Too many Republicans were going to say, this line is
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  Speaker 2: not going to be crossed, or it's that simple. This
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  Speaker 2: is beyond just politics. And so finally, I guess, up
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  Speaker 2: to this point, the president has reversed himself. He's turned
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  Speaker 2: himself one hundred and eighty degrees, and the files are.
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  Speaker 1: Going to be released.
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  Speaker 2: Now there is a caveat here. Okay, there's a fly
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  Speaker 2: in the ointment, and let me tell you.
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  Speaker 1: What that is.
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  Speaker 2: That is that he has ordered Pambondy, the Justice Department,
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  Speaker 2: to start investigating the Democrats that were named in the
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  Speaker 2: Epstein files.
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  Speaker 1: The number of people of high.
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  Speaker 2: Rollers that were named in the Epstein files just goes
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  Speaker 2: on and on. Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Obama at one
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  Speaker 2: point I believe was connected Epstein or.
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  Speaker 1: Went to a party.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong on that, but every high roller that
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  Speaker 2: you can imagine somehow went to either a part party
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  Speaker 2: or somehow connected because Epstein was connected to big name
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  Speaker 2: players more than I think anybody else. And so Here's
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  Speaker 2: what the President said, I have ordered Pambondy to open
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  Speaker 2: an investigation into the Democrats that are listed in or
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  Speaker 2: named in the Epstein files.
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  Speaker 1: So what does that mean.
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  Speaker 2: That means Pam Bondi can say I can't release any
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  Speaker 2: information relating to those names or others because it's under investigation.
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  Speaker 2: If we're investigating, then anything connected I have to not release.
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  Speaker 2: I cannot release the files. So we'll see. Are the
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: files going to be released? I think to some extent
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: they are. Is are the files going to be sealed
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  Speaker 2: or not released by Pam Bondy. I believe that's going
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  Speaker 2: to happen to because the investigation against the Democrats is
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  Speaker 2: just starting and the Bondi, who is the attorney General,
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  Speaker 2: has said we are now investigating the wrongdoing of Democrats.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see.
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  Speaker 2: We'll see the politics of this though we're going south
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  Speaker 2: for the President. His position of not releasing the files
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: was just not going to fly. Marjorie Taylor Green, this
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  Speaker 2: is one of the big issues why she has split
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  Speaker 2: with the President and has now become a trader and
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  Speaker 2: the President, and she was one of the most adamant
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: supporters of the President. I mean, it was crazy how
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  Speaker 2: much he's supported him, and now she is a trader,
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  Speaker 2: and the President has even said, I am now supporting
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  Speaker 2: anybody who is going to run against her. I am
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: withdrawing my endorsement of Marjorie Taylor Green. And when that happens,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: you know there is a rift going on at least
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  Speaker 2: on this issue for sure. All Right, Okay, A story
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: about the number of women who want to leave the
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  Speaker 2: US has quadrupled over the last decade. A Gallup survey
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  Speaker 2: found that two in five American women and girls age
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  Speaker 2: fifteen to forty four say they would leave the United
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  Speaker 2: States permanently if they could. And that's the four times
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  Speaker 2: four times what it was in twenty fourteen. Now this
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  Speaker 2: is women who said they would leave. How many are
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  Speaker 2: actually making the moves to leave obviously very very limited.
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  Speaker 2: How many people who have jobs who can afford to leave,
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  Speaker 2: and where they're going to.
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  Speaker 1: Now I'm in the middle of living this.
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  Speaker 2: Among those women who are fanatic about leaving the US
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  Speaker 2: happens to be my wife. And as I have pointed out,
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  Speaker 2: she's having a very very tough time with the politics
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  Speaker 2: of this country, as many people are, except she is
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: adamant about leaving the United States at least for a
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: period of years read during this administration. And if you
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: have the wherewithal to leave, you can actually do it.
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  Speaker 2: And we have many friends who have done exactly that
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  Speaker 2: are either making moves to do it or are planning
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  Speaker 2: to do it. And we do have the wherewithal, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I can afford to do it. And I'm under pretty
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: intense pressure to do that. And I say, wait a minute,
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  Speaker 2: I have a contract with KFI that lasts for several
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: more years.
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  Speaker 1: Now can I walk away from it? Of course?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, you can't be forced to work.
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  Speaker 2: There's this thing called slavery. You're not allowed to stop
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: someone you forcing someone to work. It's involuntary servitude. But
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: the thought of moving is a very big deal. And
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: let me tell you how close we are and the
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  Speaker 2: argument I am having with Lindsey.
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  Speaker 1: We got married in Italy.
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  Speaker 2: She wants to move to Italy, to the point where
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  Speaker 2: a couple of months ago she went to Italy to
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  Speaker 2: start looking for rental property to see what it's going
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  Speaker 2: to cost and where she wants to live. And the
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  Speaker 2: pressure is pretty big on me to move.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: I happen to really enjoy Southern California, and when I retire,
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  Speaker 2: don't know when that happens. My idea is to live
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  Speaker 2: a few months there and a few months here because
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  Speaker 2: I just love Europe and I love the lifestyle of Europe,
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  Speaker 2: but I also love living in California. I don't want
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  Speaker 2: to leave California except for maybe a few months a year.
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  Speaker 2: I am not alone. There are so many women two
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  Speaker 2: and five American women. Twice as many women want to
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  Speaker 2: migrate than men. Interestingly enough, it's women that want to leave,
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  Speaker 2: not men. And why is that. I think it's politics
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  Speaker 2: and women's rights. I think that men are not as
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  Speaker 2: engaged in what happened with Roe v. Wade, what happened
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  Speaker 2: with what's going on with transgender You know that now
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  Speaker 2: policy United States, because there's no such thing as anybody
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: who's transgender. Transgender doesn't exist, either the woman or a man.
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  Speaker 2: And again we're talking about individual gender rights, if you will,
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  Speaker 2: And for some reason, women are much much more affected
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  Speaker 2: by that and are I think, if you look at
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  Speaker 2: women in general and the disapproval of what's going on
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  Speaker 2: politically today, are greater than men. And it happens to
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  Speaker 2: do with younger women fifteen to forty four. So what
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  Speaker 2: was the top destination preference for these women that are
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  Speaker 2: leaving the or want to leave the United States? Number
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  Speaker 2: one was Canada, Number two was New Zealand, and I
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  Speaker 2: think a lot of it has to do with language.
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  Speaker 1: Number three was Italy.
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  Speaker 2: Italy Italian is not that easy to learn for someone
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  Speaker 2: who has never taken Italian.
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  Speaker 1: And number four was Japan.
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  Speaker 2: That one I don't understand who in God's name wants
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  Speaker 2: to move and live in Japan. You talk about a
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  Speaker 2: language is impossible to learn, and the sushi is just
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  Speaker 2: as good here as it is there. And to the
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: extent that we're talking about moving, And this is what
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  Speaker 2: Lindsay is going forward with. My dad happened to be
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  Speaker 2: born in Poland. He went to Yugoslavia as a toddler,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: but he was born in Poland because he was Polish.
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  Speaker 2: I can apply for Polish citizenship and that's exactly what
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing, leaving me the opportunity, not that I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to do it, leaving me the opportunity to get a
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: EU passport, a passport that's part of the European Union,
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  Speaker 2: which means I'm gonna need a visa.
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  Speaker 1: I can live wherever I want.
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  Speaker 2: I can work, I can buy a house, I can
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  Speaker 2: do whatever anywhere within the European Union.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: And since.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Lindsey wants to move to Italy, there will be no problem.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: But just to give you an idea, I mean, this
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  Speaker 2: happened even before Trump was elected. She was one of
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  Speaker 2: those people when we first went to Italy. And this
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: is kind of a strange one we first went to Italy.
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  Speaker 2: We got off the airplane, we roll into the baggage area,
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  Speaker 2: go outside and grab a taxi to go to the hotel.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And on the taxi ride, she's looking around at the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: buildings and looking at the streets and the stores, and
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: she turned to me and said, I'm home, which was
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  Speaker 2: kind of weird.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I'm home. I think she you know, reincarnation.
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  Speaker 2: She was a an Italian cook in a pizza restaurant
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: in a previous life. But she is one of those
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: who are part and parcel of I got to get
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: out of the United States, and that is something that
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I deal with every day because for the most part,
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  Speaker 2: I want to stay at least.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Part of the time. I love America.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, so much for that little personal story I wanted
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to share with you. Okay, here's the story that's been
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: going around happened over the weekend, and that is that
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  Speaker 2: last Wednesday, the US Mint in Philadelphia has stopped production
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: of the penny. The penny is no longer being minted
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: because the penny costs a whole lot more than a
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: penny to mint, so it's a net loss. The nickel
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: costs a whole lot more than a nickel to mint.
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  Speaker 1: Now take a hundred dollars bill.
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  Speaker 2: How much you think could cost to print one hundred
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: dollars bill, far far less than a penny. In the
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: point of currency, the currency should not cost more than
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: the value of the currency. Just makes no sense when
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: you think about it. So what is going on? Well,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: the penny is gone and the nicholas on its way
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: to be gone. However, there are some parts of this
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that we have to look at, and that is that
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: how many billions of pennies are out there? Maybe three
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: hundred is what they're saying, three hundred billion. And what
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: do you do with pennies? Does anybody carry pennies? Or
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: you throw pennies in a jar at home? I don't
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: take pennies with me in my pocket. So whatever I'm
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: paying seven dollars and thirty nine cents or seven dollars
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: and thirty six cents, I get four pennies back. I've
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: even had the joy of paying something ninety nine cents
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: and or sorry, seven dollars and one cent and getting
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: ninety nine cents worth of change.
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  Speaker 1: I go, come on, really, well, that's the way we work.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. And then people were in line.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: I'll even go down the street and I say, anybody
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  Speaker 2: got a penny?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Does anybody have a penny.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: That I can use? The penny is a waste of time.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: It's that simple. New Zealand and Australia. Australia eliminated the
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: production of their nickels at the beginning of this century,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: and that was twenty years after they stopped making their pennies.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: The problem is, according to David Smith, who's the professor
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: of economics at Pepperdine.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Says, there is enough nostalgia for.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: The coins to slow any move towards eliminating them. We're
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: talking about Nichols now. Eventually it'll happen, even if it
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: takes what twenty fifteen twenty years so eliminate pnies? Does
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: that mean pennies are no longer going to be used? No,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: they're still legal tender. They still can be used and
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: some cr I got a call once on Handle on
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: the law and some guy bought something that was a
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: couple thousand dollars and he walked in with pennies and
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the vendor said, get out of here. I'm not going
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: to take pennies. And he called up in a huff, said,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: but it's legal tender and he has.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: To take it. And the answer is no, he doesn't
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: have to take it.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: How many places do you know no longer take cash,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: it's only credit cards. Get on an airplane, no, we
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: don't take money. We only take credit cards. Same thing
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: for parking structures, they take no money. So in many
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: cases the penny is legal tender, but they don't have
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: to take it. And I'm willing to bet that there
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: are going to be more and more places that just
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: refuse pennies. No, thank you, fuse nichols. Now the issue
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: is rounding up, rounding down. Does the law allow you
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: to round up and round down arbitrarily? Not really, So
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Congress has to make that change. I mean, what do
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: I do with my pennies? I throw them in a jar,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: and then I don't even know how many. I have
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: a couple of dollars worth somewhere around Neil.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: You have pennies at home? Yeah, in jars and yeah
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I know I do keep some in the car. Yeah,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I don't even bother. Amy. Do you have pennies at
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: home in a jar? And I think I have some
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: in my wallet? Yeah? Crazy? And what pennies makes a wish? Yeah?
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: You can throw it in? Uh yeah, you go to
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: the trevy fountain and throw in pennies.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Well what are you supposed to do throwing a dollar bill?
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Little just disintegree, No, but you can throw in coins
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: in Europe it's throwing.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Well, they do have dollar coins and there is a quarter.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Even wishes cost more these days. Yeah, that's true.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: And in Europe coins you can get coins that are
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of value. For example, the one
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: pound coin they don't have in your in England they
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: don't have a one pound bill. It's a one pound coin.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: First bill they have is a five pound bill.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And you have pennies at home? You heavy to carry around?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: What pennies? Oh, your pennies the obligatory you know a
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: little base of pennies.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cono, you don't have many pennies.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I know that because you were check.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is your paycheck, and so all of us
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: will pennies.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Did I ask you already? No? But yes, so I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: have a jarful.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Sure see, that's the whole point. Everybody has a jar full.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: They don't go out. They're not used except your given
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: pennies from the cash register. When you have a figure
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: that you're buying something that ends up where you get
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: X number of cents back.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: How about pennies from heaven? No, it is not a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: bad song.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I have pennies in a jar and it drives me
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: completely nuts.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm gonna do with pennies, melt
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: them down.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: And by the way, you've ever been to the Trevy
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: fountain in Italy, you throw the coin in, you know,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: you turn your back towards a fountain and you throw
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: it in. Let me tell you, I embarrassed, Lindsey was
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: last time we went. When I actually went into the
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: trevy fountain and want to change for the coins I
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: threw in. Oh boy, okay, we're done. No cops were around,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: so I wasn't gonna be I wasn't gonna get arrested. Okay,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: McDonald's McDonald's. You sort of look at McDonald's as a
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: measure of the economy across all of America. McDonald's is
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: sort of the fast food establishment that sets the bar.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: It's losing its low income customers.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Now, wait a second, McDonald's is all about low income customers.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: What's going on, Well, what's happening at McDonald's is simply
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: a view of what is going on in America.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: There is something called the K economy.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: You're here going to be hearing a lot more about
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the K economy in the next several months.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: And the K economy.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Effectively says the rich you're getting richer moving towards the
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: top of the K and going towards the bottom is
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: or are the poor people or people who don't have
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of money. The bottom line is the
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: richer getting richer, the poorer getting poorer. And McDonald's proves
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: the point, and prices have risen so high that traffic
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: from one of the core customer base is McDonald's low
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: income households has dropped by double digits. McDonald's is just
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: too expensive now. McDonald's used to be cheaper than even
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: making food at home, and when you have people of
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: low income status, what would the family do.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Well, you'd have a night out, you'd go out.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: To dinner, and if you didn't have much money, it
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: was all excitement when going to McDonald's. Kids love McDonald's,
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: so it was a fun night out for dinner.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Well that no longer.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: McDonald's meals have gone through the roof and there is
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: now an affordability issue, not only McDonald's but across the
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: board and the only restaurants, the only services, the only
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: goods hotel rooms that are doing okay are the upper
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: end of the market. The lower end is going through
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: the floor. Good analogy, and that is the problem. Why
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: is that happening? Well, I mean inflation is the number
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: one issue. The price of meat has exploded. Everything is
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: more expensive. Flowers gone up, bread, cheese, I mean, all
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: of it has increased. And McDonald's, like everyone else, has followed.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: The formula has followed, you know, the prices.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: When's the last time you saw a dollar the dollar menu, Neil,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: when's the last time we went to McDonald's and there
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: was the dollar menu. They're trying to bring some of
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: that back, as is some of the other fast food
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: play with the five dollar menu, right, Yeah, it's a
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: five dollar menu now, and it's really unfortunate that people
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: simply can't afford it. Households were well after the COVID
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: programs ended. Households were the first to see increase to
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: linguicy rates increased. Delinquency rates for credit have gone up
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: like crazy. Inflation has come down from a peak in
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, but people are still struggling with high
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: prices and astronomical rent increases. Because here's what happens as
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: the president comes in and of course says I'm going
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: to chop prices in half. And who believe that the
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: point is even if prices remain stable, which they have not,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: inflation is still here. The inflation was already baked in.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Prices do not drop. Prices either remain stable or they
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: go up. And there has been no stability in prices,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: nor should there be, because you have inflation, and of
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: course prices are going to go up. You can't have
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: inflation and prices go down. That's impossible. So the debate
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: round fast food, here's one for you, particularly here in California.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Labor costs have exploded.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: Right, we're now twenty dollars an hour for labor at
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: fast food establishment. There was an analysis by researchers that
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: U se Berkeley's Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics studying
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: two thousand restaurants. The twenty dollars wage did not reduce
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: fast food employment and it led to minimal menu price
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: increases equivalent to eight cents on a four dollars burder.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: That's UC Berkeley.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Why such an explosion of prices inflation?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: It's that simple.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: I went to Costco, how unusual the other day, and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I was going to take a couple of people that
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: are responsible for me making a chunk of money or
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: a good part of my money, and I was going
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: to take them to a steakhouse. And I went, wait
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: a minute, you think I'm going to spend that much
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: money at a steakhouse. So I went to Costco and
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I was buying prime beef and I was going to
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: put it on the barbecue and make dinner at home.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Still really expensive, because prime beef is insanely expensive, but
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: it was going to be a lot cheaper than going
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: to a steakhouse. No one is worth going to a steakhouse.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Matter of fact, very few people in my life were
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: going to I'm going to spend money on prime beef,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: But I did so. I went and I looked at
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: the prime beef prices, and I was going to buy
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: it later because I was a week away or two
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: weeks away from the dinner that I was going to make.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: The price went up five dollars a pound. How is
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: that possible? How is that humanly possible? Now, it was
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of money per pound to begin with, but
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: five bucks a pound, I mean, it's crazy making week
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: to week prices have exploded, especially in the beef industry. Oh,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: all right, enough of that. This is KFI AM six
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: point forty.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.